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SENTINEL COMICS #1 Chapter 1
"Well, what do we do now..." They all stood thinking, "I suppose we should find somewhere to retire to first and work out what’s happened to us and what we do next," said Azangel, "I for one would like to find out how to become male again." "I don't know, I think your very pretty Az *OW*!" "Shut up Bish!" As they stood there, a disheveled figure approached them. "Excuse me, anyone like to buy my business? I suddenly want to leave town…" The group looked at the wretch in surprise. "Is this for real???", Artemis responded, "You can't be serious?" "I am…" the man replied "I'll take anything for my pub, anything!" The group was almost knocked over by the force of silent wonder radiating from Hairbutt. They noted he had an almost beatific expression on his face. "I'LL TAKE IT!" "Alright then, done!", The man looked very relieved. "$5", said the Hippo. The man thought for a second. "Sure whatever" The group was stunned by this turn of events! As Hairbutt handed him the money an argument broke out. "You can't be serious!!!" "What’s going on here???" "Is this legal?" "Can my anteater live there?" The man handed over the deed to the premises and it was as if a great weight lifted from his shoulders. "I can't thank you enough for what you did for me…. you know I would have given it to you for nothing!" Hairbutt cursed. Artemis strode forward, "ALRIGHT! What’s the catch? What’s wrong with this 'pub'??" The man cowered back, "Nothing, Nothing at all!" Artemis notched an arrow. The man squealed. "Alright! Alright! There'sonesmallhitch…" , he gibbered. Az unfurled "her" wings, "And that IS???" The broken figure replied, "There's a ghost.." Silence. "He calls himself the Ghost of Days Past, he's all but scared the clientele away from the bar. Not that he's malicious or anything, just very annoying. It'll take a better person than myself to tame him. I've given up." "Well then, when it comes to someone between me and a pub, I'm your Hippo!", stated Hairbutt, "I'll take care of this little problem and turn the business around. Think I'll call the place 'The Hair and Hippo'. C'mon guys, I feel a big thirst comin' on!" As they left in the direction of the pub, Bishop turned to the man and asked, "Is there anything else we should know about this ghost?" The mumbled reply came back. "One of the lads tried to track down who he was before he died. He eventually found out he was a 'gad about town' who was full of life and mischief. He disappeared under very strange circumstances. About 3 years ago he began to haunt this place and no-ones been able to get rid of him. Bishop paused, "Just out of interest, what was his name?" The man leaned forward and whispered…. "Wesley Dodds!" _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 2 Bishop leaves the barkeep, and runs to catch up with the others. "Guys, wait! I need to tell you something!" he hollers after them. "Guys! WAIT! " "Or should that be guys and GALS now?" snickers Thanos. "Just. You. Wait." replies Åzangel, looking at Thanos like he's about to become the worlds largest shish-ka-bob. "First chance I get..." "She" draws he finger across her throat in a quick slicing motion. Thanos gulps. "Did I tell you look cute this way?" he stammers. "Wrong answer!" Az unfolds metal wings and steps menacingly towards Thanos. Artemis steps in between them. "Hey Az, it's not that bad, really. You'll get used to it!" "I DON'T WANT TO GET USED TO IT!!!!!!!!!" Bishop catches up with the others. "Hairbutt, I, uh, found out what's wrong with the bar. It's not too good, Hair." Bish waves his hand in front of the Hippo's face. "Hair?" The immense pachyderm is staring ahead, nearly teary - eyed. "MY PUB!" "Wow! That's a pretty good-sized bar!" exclaims Bishop. "But back to the problem..." "What problem? I don't see a problem! It's great! It's tremendous! IT'S ALL MINE!" exclaims an enraptured Hairbutt on his way inside the large two-story building. He gets stuck momentarily in the door, but makes it anyway. "Needs a bigger door" he mutters. "Someone needs a D I E T..." laughs Artie on her way inside behind Hairbutt. Bish looks up at the ironwork balcony and mutters, "I don't like this at all. And about this ghost in the hotel..." "Oh, forget about it Bish, it can't be that bad...what's one little ghost?" replies Rydgen. "DUCK!" came a voice from inside. Rydgen gets hit in the face by a flying beer stein and tumbles backward into Az and Bish. Silver Lantern simply flies out of the way. "OW! Who threw that?" asks Rydgen, brushing the shattered pieces off his forehead. "Someone get this moron off of me!" yells Azangel at no one in particular. "And get your hand off of my..." "I'm getting! I'm getting! Just put your wings away before you hurt someone!" screams Rydgen. "I just wanted to know if they were, you know..." "If WHAT?" shrieks the enraged Azangel. "Real! If they were real!" replies Rydgen, getting as far away as possible from the wings. "That does it. SOMEONE DIES!" Az lunges at Rydgen, only to find "herself" contained in a silver sphere. "Simmer down, Az. Kill him later. One ghost to deal with at a time is enough." jokes Sil. "..." "Calm?" "CALM!" "You don't SOUND calm" "I AM CALM!" "You SURE you're calm?" "YES, I AM CALM!" "Are you gonna try to kill someone if I let you out?" "HELL YES!" "Ok, fine. In you stay." Sil "rings" Az inside. "Come on, the rest of you. Let's see what Hair's new pub looks like on the inside!" Rydgen and Bish enter the pub, followed by Thanos. Once inside, they gasp in amazement. The main room is huge. Absolutely gigantic. The bar is well stocked but empty of customers, save Azangel, whom Silver Lantern has released from the bubble. "She" is drinking Dom Perignon. From the bottle. "He, er...she...uh...Az promised to behave, Ry. It's ok." Stammers a still gender confused Sil. "Hey Az! You have to pay for that, you know!" laughs Artemis. "And a real lady would use a glass!" adds Thanos. "Er...that's what I've heard at least." "That does it. I'm gonna look around upstairs. Just leave me alone, alright?" Az grabs the bottle and heads upstairs. "I think he has PMS already!" whispers Rydgen to Artemis. "I HEARD THAT!" "D'OH!" Bishop, meanwhile, is checking out the cellar. "Hey guys, take a look down here! JACKPOT!" Hairbutt sticks his immense head in the door. "Bloody HELL! Look at all this stuff! It's fully stocked, even for a wine cellar." Hundreds of bottles of various vintages line the walls. Bish pulls one out and wipes the dust off the label. "Chateau Lafitte 1828. What is that?" Bishop hears a mighty crash as the Hippo hits the floor. Artie, Thanos, Sil, and Rydgen rush over to the Hippo to help him to his feet. Hairbutt regains his balance, and in a voice just over a whisper, says to Bishop... "Please...carefully...put the bottle back on the shelf." Just as Bish reaches up with the bottle, mist begins to swirl at the side of the room, near the wall. It swirls until it takes shape and the shape is of a young man in his very early teens, wearing a gas mask and trenchcoat. "Wes!" shouts Bishop as he drops the bottle. As the bottle hits the concrete cellar floor, Hairbutt faints again. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 3 Hairbutt opened his eyes and stared at Bishop's pale, firm face. "Thank heavens," he whispered. "It was only a dream..." "Well, I didn't think you'd make it, but you certainly did." "You mean... I own my own bar? With no ghosts?" "No," Wesley interrupted. "You regained consciousness. The bar still has ghosts." Hairbutt screamed for all he was worth. * * * * Hairbutt opened his eyes and stared at Bishop's pale, firm face. "Thank heavens," he whispered. "It was only a dream..." "Well, I didn't think you'd make it, but you certainly did." "You mean... I own my own bar? With no ghosts?" "No," Wesley interrupted. "You regained consciousness. The bar still has ghosts." Hairbutt screamed for all he was worth. Bishop grabbed his arm, and shouted, "This is not a dream!" * * * * "Guys?" Aztek whispered, poking her head through the door of the Ladies room. Superboy and Bouncing Boy were playing with a pack of cards. Superboy peered over top of his cards, and replied "Yes, Az?" "Can you... send Artemis in here?" "Why?" "I... I can't work it." "Work what?" "It." "It?" "IT." "Oh... Uh... Artemis!" * * * * "What is it with you people and my drinking problem? I do not have a drinking problem! I don't even drink, period!" "Haunted... Of all the people to haunt my beautiful new bar..." Hairbutt was being carried over Bishop's shoulder. "Wesley, its not that we think you drink, its just that..." "Why me? I was always nice to people... I went to church on Sundays..." "Oh, I get it... You're just like the rest of them." Wesley crossed his arms and frowned. * * * * Wesley stared at them in shock. "Aztek's a girl?" Bouncing Boy nodded vigorously. "Yep. Artemis is in the bathroom with him... Trying to help him... er... adjust..." "Well, once can be forgiven. Impulse has been turned into a woman three times. We try not to talk about it." "Yeah," Bishop replied. "Remember when Hellboy started being Hellgirl? I get the shakes whenever I see her." "No, its THREE TIMES COUNTERCLOCKWISE! Now, here's what we do with the cotton swabs..." A deathly pause drew over the poker table. "So what do we do now?" ____________________________________________________________ Chapter 4 Hairbutt regained consciousness. "Oh man, I had this weird dream that Wesley was a ghost and we were back on Earth Weiland and SB, Pat and BB were there and...." Az interrupted, "Well I don't know about being back home, but we still have a ghost facing off at us. Weird, it's not our Wesley, but it is A Wesley! Must be this dimensions parallel version." Hairbutt stared at the ghost. It was a slim young fellow wearing a 1940's style suit and horn-rimmed glasses. For some reason it was holding a gas mask. The ghost cleared its throat, "Excuse me, I have a few questions to ask. Let me begin: 1. Comic books like Chronos and Chase have presented us with examples of what may be the comic book of the future. As the adult comic book readers now have the most buying power, comic books are being tailored to more sophisticated tastes. Would you like to see this approach continue, or would you rather see more of the "simple, not simplistic" approach? 2. Is theology out of place in modern society? 3. If in a relationship at present, how long do you intend to wait before proposing? 4. Do you condone the recent persecution of Bill Clinton? Must the president be a representative of American ideals? 5. Do you feel that Marvel or DC will one day merge? Would you like to see this happen? 6. Have Spider-Man writers forgotten the heart of the character? 7. Is the state entitled to take life in the name of upholding justice? 8. Do the rights of the individual extend to a point where they can infringe on the rights of another? 9. Should the government find an alternative to prisons? If so, what..." Rydg whistled between his teeth, "No wonder he drove everyone away. He doesn't stop!" "10." the ghost continued, "DC ONE MILLION raised one or two interesting points in a wonderful Jonathon Swift manner. The Flash's challenge took place on Mercury, where the currency of that world is information. Will society ever reach a point where information is more valuable than printed money? 11. Do butlers burgle banks? 12. Is that a gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me? 13. If you hit death in the back of the head with a duck, what would happen? 14. Do your light bulbs speak to you? 15. Has your calculator ever flashed "kill them all" for a moment, before switching off? 16. Are they all out to get you...." The droning voice started getting to everyone. Bishop was on his knees, Azangel stared wildly at the figure with gritted teeth and Arty and Rydg were slowly backing away. Time for this to end, thought the Hippo, "ENOUGH!", he yelled. "Take your own time to answer the questions..." the ghost replied, "17...". "Look you pale little git, if you keep this up then I'll have to resort to drastic measures! I'm quite happy to let you stay here.... But under my rules!" Wesley stared disdainfully at the Hippo, "What can you do to me, I'm a ghost?" "I have this "knack",", the hippo replied. "You could sort of call it a talent. You see, I can find things spontaneously. If I need a gun I can just glance in a corner and there's one there. It's not a power like teleportation or magic. It'll just happen to be there." "Doesn't make much difference to me, "Wes said, "Guns can't hurt me...." "It's not just guns, anything! People as well. It's not that I can track things. I can keep track of things. If I need to find someone I just happen to come across them. It's a gift." "Again, what does that have to do with me?" The Hippo stared intently at the ghost. "There's a side of this talent that I've very rarely used. Not only can I find things, I can lose them as well!" "How can you lose a ghost???!!! That's stupid!" The Hippo's stare became like daggers. He leant in towards the ghost and evenly whispered.... "I don't know.... But we could find out!!!" Unnerved, the ghost seemed to consider what the hippo said. It's voice quavered a little as it said, "Okay, okay! I give. Geez I've pretty much given up on my vendetta anyway. I'll keep the annoying questions to a minimum." "Right," the Hippo said, "Now that that little problems taken care of, lets have a drink!" Turning to Wesley the Hippo asked as they headed upstairs, "Tell me, can you touch things?" "Well, I can use a form of telekinesis, but only on small objects, Beer glasses, door handles and such, you saw that when you first entered. It's difficult but not impossible." "Great!" The Hippo said, "As you tell me your story you can pour me a beer...." "By the way," Artemis remarked to no-one in particular as the shaken heroes pulled themselves together, "anybody seen Thanos???" _____________________________________________________________ Interlude Silver Lantern probed the edges of reality. He had retired to one of the upstairs bedrooms when the situation with the ghost had seemed to be resolved. Now he was using the power Oan to try and detect a way home through the dimensions. Back to the Weilandverse. Not that he was interested in going back. It was just safer to know that if escape was needed then they had the means. Gently his will probed through a dimension where intelligent carrots ruled over Dairy Products. There's some weird stuff out there he thought. Suddenly his will touched on something familiar. That’s it! His inner voice rejoiced. Now to find something to latch onto. He became aware of a power that seemed to be a good focal point. He bent his probing will toward it. To his astonishment, he felt the power become aware of him and suddenly arc out. Before he could prepare any defense, it latched on to the power Oan and began travelling back to the source. It felt familiar, though Silver Lantern prepared to take the offensive anyway, if it was something that would threaten the team he'd be ready. Strange, he couldn't shake its grasp, the Power Oan was a thing of Willpower, science and cosmic forces. This was something different. What could it be...MAGIC! He thought. Suddenly there was a blinding white light in the room and whatever it was broke contact. Silver Lantern returned all his senses and thought to his room. "Hello! It's good to see you again. Sorry to drag you away from our home dimension." "That's OK. I wondered what happen to you guys back in the past. Its obvious you saved the pre-historic CBR. Besides, there were a few annoyances back there. It's good to get away and explore new worlds." "Great! Well shall we go downstairs? We can have a reunion celebration with the others and fill you in on what’s been happening." "As long as its a mineral water, I'd like that." replied Patience. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 5 Suddenly there was a blinding white light in the room and whatever it was broke contact. Silver Lantern returned all his senses and thought to his room. Somewhere, in the void between realities... "I wonder if the Oan Avenger recognized me? Doubtful. I hardly recognize myself anymore." [ OUR TIME TOGETHER HAS INDEED CHANGED YOU. ] "That it has Cosmic Heart. That it has. The joy of feeling magic course through my being is...indescribable!" [ THE TIME DRAWS NEAR. YOU MUST LEAVE SOON SENTINEL.] "Yes, very soon indeed." Meanwhile, back at the bar... Hairbutt the Hippo adjusted his bowtie for the millionth time, and looked around nervously. It was the night for the grand re-opening of his bar, and he wanted everything to be just right. He glanced up at the brand new sign over the door, with bright cheerful letters that said; "Welcome to the Weasel's Bar and Grill" Ah yes, this was a happy night for Hairbutt.... Wait a minute.... Weasels????? "THANOS!!!!! GET THAT STUPID SIGN DOWN NOW!!" Bishop almost choked on his beer from laughing so hard. It felt good to be relaxing with his friends, even in this strange alternate timeline. All in all, they'd come through the crisis pretty well. Except for Az being turned into a girl, and Wes being a ghost now. And of course, their former friend turned diabolical lunatic with goofy delusions of grandeur, the Zen Reaper, had been lost in the time stream somewhere. Bishop turned to Ry, "Ya know, we never DID find Zen's body. That kind of worries me. You don't suppose he's out there somewhere, cooking up more trouble do you?" "Naww. Besides, we've got more important stuff to worry about. Like getting Az back to normal." "Yeah, I suppose you're right." "Wesley Dodds rule of comic book physics number...umm...79; If there's no body, the villain's still alive," said the ghost of Wes. Bishop was about to reply when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, he was dumbfounded to see a seven-foot tall pig dressed like a police officer standing behind him. "Excuse me son. Can I see some ID?" _____________________________________________________________ Interlude "Ya know, we never DID find Zen's body. That kind of worries me. You don't suppose he's out there somewhere, cooking up more trouble do you?" "Naww. Besides, we've got more important stuff to worry about. Like getting Az back to normal." "Yeah, I suppose you're right." "Wesley Dodds rule of comic book physics number...umm...79; If there's no body, the villain's still alive," said the ghost of Wes. Bishop was about to reply when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, he was dumbfounded to see a seven-foot tall pig dressed like a police officer standing behind him. "Excuse me son. Can I see some ID?" Hairbutt came to with a sharp sensation of pain on his cheek. Why am I on the floor??? he thought. "Hippo what happened???? One minute you were heading to the bar for a beer, next you suddenly keel over and start mumbling!" Hairbutt stared at the ring of concerned faces. "I'm not sure...", he mumbled, "...but this one seemed to be trying to tell me something. You know.... I think Zen might still be alive...." The others glanced worriedly at each other. "I'm sure he's lost for good somewhere in the time-stream." Rydgen replied. "I mean there was no conceivable way for him to escape." "You're probably right," the Hippo pondered, "But I still can't seem to shake this nagging feeling..." Their attention was suddenly diverted by Silver Lantern coming down the stairs. Behind him they noticed a familiar figure following. "Sil, who's that with yo.... Pat!" The excited heroes gathered around asking questions. "How did you get here???" "I don't understand...." "This is amazing!!!" As Patience returned their greetings with a smile, somewhere at the back of her conscious thoughts a little voice chimed in...."You know, this place isn't bad.... It definitely has possibilities...." As Azangel joined in the revelry a sudden thought came to her as well, "You know.... I still haven't seen Than in a while...." _____________________________________________________________ Interlude 2 Wind swept up and down the mountain, whipping flakes of snow into a frenzied dance. The air tingled with the snow, whitewashing the sky, the ground and the very fabric of the immense pile of rocks. A figure slowly made its way up the mountain, as it stood tall. It had been climbing up for what seemed like weeks, never knowing how close to its goal it was. The figure climbed up a few more feet and kneeled down, looking at the various bits of ice-covered rock. "Ah. Here it is." The figure stood up tall and walked to its right a few feet then began to slowly pull an immense rock away from the face of the mountain. The blurred darkness of the figure continued to pull until a dark opening had been cleared. The figure stepped inside, closed the rock back over the entrance, and shook snow off of its being. In the abyssal blackness the figure reached into the bag it was carrying and produced a glowing red bat. The corridor the figurehead been standing in was suddenly immersed in a bright glow. Large pillars stood on the sides of the corridor, and behind the pillars great stone walls carried ancient pictures and writing. At the end of the corridor, approximately 50 feet from where the figure had entered, a simple black door sat, closed. What had been standing in the corridor could now be clearly seen. He had an orange and blue costume, with great orange gloves and boots. His skin was colored a deep teal, and his neck and right shoulder supported a small brown strap from a bag, which rested against his left side. His glowing red bat was carried comfortably in his right hand as he glanced around the corridor. His face was devoid of emotion, save for the barely perceptible sullen formation of his lips. As he slowly made his way down the corridor the noise of his heavy steps echoed off of the walls, around the pillars, flying throughout the room. He reached the door and stared at it for a second. It had been too long, he thought, too long since last he had stood here. He took a deep breath and opened the door. As he stepped through the room, his eyes were suddenly treated to a brilliant display. Candles stood everywhere in an enormous room, giving the place a healthy glow, but keeping some parts of it shrouded in mystery. The candlelight reflected off of piles of rocks and a large amount of grimy bones. Suddenly, a voice boomed from the corner. "Hello, Thanos. So glad to see you here." He suddenly jerked his head over to the upper right-hand corner. He had forgotten where Zen had placed his throne, but in an instant he was reminded. A dark figure sat on an immense black throne with bits of gold shining in the light and heavenly-looking red padding. Light was shining back from his devious eyes and grand smile, and behind the throne a door stood open, leading into imperceptible darkness. "Hello Zen. It has been a while." "Ah, but you don't really mind, do you?" Zen laughed at his own words as Thanos began walking toward the throne. "So Thanos, to what do I owe this visit? Are you ready to begin the plan?" "No, not exactly." Thanos continued to stare at Zen. He cleared his throat and began speaking again. "I have been thinking about what I'm doing for quite a while, and as the weeks have dragged on I have gained an great deal of respect for these people. I cannot betray them...I...they are my friends." Zen laughed again. "Ahahahah...oh...so, what, now you want out of our bargain, hmm?" Suddenly Zen changed his voice from a jovial tone to a very serious rasp. "Have you forgotten what I have in my possession, 'tyrant'? Has it taken only this long for you to forget that I hold your essence?" "I..." Thanos' eyes began to glow a deep red. "I had forgotten...no matter...if you will not return what is mine, I will take it back! I will no longer be your puppet!" Thanos unleashed a stream of red energy from his eyes towards the throne as Zen tumbled away. Thanos charged toward Zen and grabbed him by the collar. "Ufff...temper...temper! I did so love that...that throne," Zen smugly gasped. "Now, put me down..." Zen snapped his fingers. "...I wouldn't want you to hurt your friends." Slowly, figures started to stumble from the doorway which had been behind Zen's throne. Without even looking, Thanos knew who it was, but a glance at the shadows confirmed his thoughts. Roland, Trixxs, BobDoleHulk, Chickenpuppet, Shocwave, and Stryfe stood there, blank looks on their faces, slowly making their way towards Thanos. "...Alright Zen. Have it your way. I will honor our treaty." Thanos threw Zen to the ground and walked towards the door. "If you do anything to cross me, though..." He stopped in front of the door and let his arm fly forward knocking the door clear through the corridor. "I will return." He quietly walked towards the mountain entrance. As he reached the end of the corridor, his eyes told him of a dancing shadow in the corner. He told his eyes to look again, but nothing was there. His mind told him to ignore it as he stepped out onto the mountain and began his descent. Inside the corridor, a shadow moved across the wall, laughed, and devoured itself. ____________________________________________________________ Chapter 6 It was ShowTime. Hairbutt the Hippo's grand opening of his newly purchased tavern was underway. The people piled in, drinking, laughing, and all together having a good time. Hairbutt stayed out among the people, smiling to himself, thinking how great his luck was to buy this place at such a cheap price… About Wesley Dodds, the ghost who "haunts" the bar, and the past few days events… how he and his teammates are stuck in another world, a variant of their own… and he wonders how they'll ever get home. Everything was running smoothly. Only two things had caused a few arguments and heated debates in the past week. The first was trying to find the missing Thanos who had not returned for a week or so, and the second was the arguments he had had with Patience about his pub. She wanted it to be converted to a nite club, but Hairbutt had always dreamed about owning his own bar and would have none of it. But then he had partly relented and the back bar had been converted. Strange he should change his mind that way. A nasty suspicion began to rise in the hippo's thoughts. Maybe there was more to Pat than he bargained for. Oh well, it could wait. He had other things to worry about at this point. He shrugged it off, as he continued to walk around his pub. Meanwhile, in the backroom… "Couldn't we just ask Wesley where Thanos is? I mean, he's a ghost, for god's sake. He probably knows these things," Rydgen stated. "We've tried, friend Rydgen," Bishop answered. "He gives us a line about how 'Wesley Dodd's Law of Comic-Books#1839' says that he cannot give out the location of any living person." Silver Lantern spoke up, "I can scout around for him," he then added, "but I don't know where to begin. With that Bag O' Evil of his, he can be anywhere in the world by now." "Well," Patience began, "I can tell you where to look. My mystic abilities tell me that his bio-signature is somewhere in a… in a…" "What's wrong, Pat?" Artemis asked, worriedly. "Give me a sec… I'm seeing… I'm seeing somewhere cold… there' snow… and mountains…" The entire Sentinel's looked around at each other. "Now… now he's with… something of immense evil-! I can't pin point it… but… but… ZEN!" She screeched as she fell over from the strain. Azangel and Rydgen were at her sides, and helped her ease to the floor. Bishop ran back to the bar section to get a wet towel for her forehead, as Artemis went to get a pillow. "Did she say-?" "Not now. We've got to make sure she's okay, first. Pat? Pat, can you hear me?" It was no use. She was out cold. "Uh-Oh. This doesn't look good. Someone go get Hair. He'll help us get her up to a bed." Coming back with a towel, Bishop immediately ran back out to the bar section to get Hairbutt. "B… Bish? HURRY! I… I don't feel a pulse!" _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 7 "Well, she's appears dead. There's no pulse and she's not breathing, but.....She’s not dead exactly." The others stared at Hairbutt as he said this. "How can she be dead and yet, not dead????" Azangel exclaimed. Hairbutt tried to think things through. The night was well underway and the Hippo felt tired. Worse, he hadn't had a chance to grab a drink. He was very bloody annoyed. He'd carried Patience up to her room and tried to work out if there was a chance to revive her. Bishop and Artemis had been sent back downstairs to look after the party. But things were not looking good. "Well its like this. We still don't know a hell of a lot about Pats powers...." "Uh...Hairbutt....." "Just a minute. Maybe she has something that is helping to preserve her until something can be done......" "...Haaaaaaiiirrr......" "Yeah, hold on....I think this'll give us a bit of time to revive her. Maybe the Power Oan can..." "HAIR!!!!!" "What!" The startled Hippo replied. "Look behind you." Rydgen pointed. The Hippo turned and was astonished to see an opening in reality. Behind the rift, the swirling gray nothingness of limbo could be glimpsed. "OH BLOODY HELL!" Hairbutt shouted. "That’s just great! Look what someone’s done to my pu..." Just then a mysterious figure stepped from the rift. He was of Asian appearance, but his skin was blue and he wore a long red robe. "Hello. I hope I'm not disturbing you, but I thought I might be able to help. :-)" The astonished heroes were at a loss. "Who're you???" Azangel eventually blurted out. "You can call me Guardian. :-)" The figure replied. "Lets just say at the moment, you all interest me and can consider me a friend. :-)" Guardian approached the bed where Patience lay. "HOLD ON! What are you gonna do???" The Hippo exclaimed. The heroes tried to approach Guardian, but were stopped short by a barrier that was suddenly before them. From where they stood they saw Guardian reach into his robe and retrieve what looked like an action figure dressed as a witch. He then held it above Patience and a green glow enveloped both the figure and Patience. " Look. Her chest is moving!" Rydgen said. Az hit him in the back of the head. "I mean she's started breathing!!!" Rydg yelped in pain. "Oh.... Sorry Rydg." The glow faded and Guardian replaced the figure within his robe. He turned to the heroes and said "She'll sleep for a few days, but she'll be fine now. Well, I've got to go. Things to do, you know how it is. :-)" "Wait! What is all this about???" As the figure stepped into the rift he replied, ":-)" The rift then closed, Silver Lantern turned to Rydgen and said, "How DOES he do that????" "Well, it must be some form of teleportation or dimension jump." "No, I mean how can he say a smiley face and we understand it?" The two intrepid heroes were interrupted by Hairbutt, "Well, he's right. She's alive and breathing and sleeping peacefully." "Well this is GREAT!" Azangel blurted. "Dead witches, Mysterious blue beings from limbo and some cryptic words about Zen which, I might add, we won't find the meaning of for a few days......What else could happen tonight????" Suddenly Bishop burst through the door, "Hey guys! You won't believe this!!! Thanos is back!!" _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 8 Thanos casually sauntered into the upstairs bedroom. (As casually as a 600 pound creature can saunter, that is.) "Where have you been?" exclaims Silver Lantern. "What, I can't even do a little exploring without you people calling out a search party? Is that what all the fuss is about?" Thanos asks. "You don't TRUST me? And you didn't even wait for me before you started the party! I'm hurt!" "NO! We trust you! We just had a little.... Accident." answers Bish, looking over at Pat's sleeping form. A bluish gray cat had jumped up onto the bed and was curled up next to her side. He hissed lightly and arched his back at Thanos as he entered the room "So I see! So what happened?" asks Thanos, a bit worriedly. He looked at Pat, and glared menacingly at the cat. The cat stared back, unblinkingly. It yawned, and didn't budge. Unsuccessful at scaring the cat away, Thanos returned his attention to the others. "Well.... We were looking for you, and she made psychic contact with Zen Reaper! He's still alive, and she said that he was somewhere close to you! We thought you might be in danger, that maybe he had attacked you!" stammered Bishop nervously. "ME? In danger from ZEN? Don't make me laugh! He's just a tin plated dictator with delusions of grandeur! He couldn't even build a time machine worth a DAMN!." Thanos roared. "HE'S the reason we are STUCK here! AND the reason Pat is hurt!" continued the obviously angered Than. "Thanos, calm down." soothed Azangel. "We know you're upset about Pat, she's out friend too..." Az didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence as Thanos stormed out of the room, shaking the entire floor and making the cat hiss louder than it had before. "Well, that went pretty bad." mumbles Azangel. "I'm going to go get the cat some milk." "Then I'm going to take the first watch on Patience. I'm worried she might relapse." The others agreed, and went downstairs. Hairbutt stood in the doorway, watching Pat. Where did this cat come from? Wondered Hairbutt to himself. --------------- Wesley Dodds' ghost was having problems of his own. He was casting a shadow as he moved quickly through the hallway. He had tried to shake it, turning invisible, walking through walls, even going down to view his own body in the sub-basement. It was still following him. He knew that this was wrong, ghosts don't cast shadows! But it had followed him, matching him precisely in every movement, so maybe this was some new power of his? It was more important that he let the others know what he had heard and seen about Thanos, so he ignored it. He started to walk through the wall into Pat's room, to talk to Az, to tell her what he knew. The shadow grabbed his foot just as he got close to the wall. It hurt! Wesley realized that this was not just a shadow as he vanished into it. ---------- Downstairs, Hairbutt had finally gotten the beer he wanted, and then some. "Wes!" he shouted. "Wes! You're supposed to be the barkeep! Get down here and do your JOB!" shouted the Hippo as the orders piled up. Rydgen was serving up drinks as fast as Hairbutt and Artemis could pour them. "WES!" he shouted one last time. That pale bugger left us! If he wasn't dead, I'd kill him! Thought Hairbutt. Thanos wandered downstairs and into the throng of drinkers, who were being waited on by his new teammates, his friends. He looked at the mass of revelers with some small measure of contempt, thinking that perhaps Zen had the right idea... These people had no place in Zen's new world... But... that was no justification for what he was about to do...it was STILL wrong...Zen must be stopped...but he had Thanos' essence! His very SOUL! He HAD to betray the others...or he would never be free! Thanos' inner turmoil was only betrayed by the bright red glow in his eyes. He looked quickly away from his friends, hoping they wouldn't notice. Silver Lantern watched the whole scene in utter silence. He floated back into the room to watch over Patience with Azangel. Rydgen, Artie and Hairbutt were too busy serving drinks and taking money from customers to have noticed the little scene that had just played out. Bish, who had gone downstairs to get a bottle of brandy, noticed a flicker of life in the shadows, but when he tried to look directly at it, it was gone. He shook his head, and went back upstairs. I must be tired. My imagination is playing tricks on me! He laughed as he opened the door to the bar. Loud music and laughing enveloped him as he closed the door. Behind him, in the shadows, Wesley's face appeared. The shadow issued a single keening scream, and vanished into itself. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 9 It was the day after. "Man, what a night!" Hairbutt thought as he stumbled out of bed with the worst hangover of his life. "Get a little food into me and I should be fine...." Throwing on a robe and grabbing his clothes, he made his way to the bathroom down the hall. He considered his reflection in the bathroom mirror, especially the look of his eyes. "Geez, p***holes in the snow..." Slowly he showered and dressed taking great care to get all the buttons in the right holes. He loaded up on headache tablets and made his way to the kitchen. There he found Azangel, Bishop, Silver Lantern, Rydgen and Artemis having breakfast. Artemis exclaimed, "Great Hera Nutty, your eyes look like pis.." "I know, I know," rumbled the Hippo, "What's for brekky?" "Ham & eggs." Bishop said cheerily. Damn underage chirpy bugger! The Hippo thought. "Well what a night..." Rydg stated. "So many things going on and half of them are a mystery." "You got that right." answered the Hippo. "How’s Pat doin'? And where's Than?" "Than's still holed up in his room. Sulking. And Pat stills sleeping." Az replied. "And that cute l'il blue cat is keeping her company!" Artemis added. "You know there's something I don't trust about Pat..." Hairbutt said,"...too many mysteries and something about her makes me itchy when she's near." "I'm sure your just imagining things Hair," Bishop replied. " I think she's cool. And she's our friend." Ry looked slyly at Bish. "Bish has a girlfriend.... Bish has a girl...." "That’s enough Ry!" Az snarled, "Don't make me come over there and slice you!" "OK, OK," Ry backed off. "I'll stop. You know what a pain it is growing back limbs." Just then Patience entered the room. "Pat!" Artemis objected, "You shouldn't be up! You've been through a lot recently. You need to rest!" "No, I'm OK", Pat replied, "I'm a fast healer and I feel fine now." Sitting down she helped herself to some toast. "Besides I have to tell you a few things." "You mean about your cryptic comments about Zen Reaper?" Hairbutt cut in. "I have a few questions about that myself. Especially after my recent fainting spells. I dreamt some things about that bastard." Before Pat could answer however, a loud explosion rocked The Hair and Hippo. The building vibrated from the shockwave and Silver Lantern, who had stood silently nearby listening, stumbled. "What the heck was that???!!!" the hippo shouted. "Kenny, you all right?" "Someone’s attacking the pub," Sil cried, "When we first moved in I had the foresight to erect a protective invisible bubble around our new home in case of trouble." "Thank the Lord you did", Ry said "From the sounds of that concussive blast, we wouldn't be alive!" SL probed the area outside the bubble. "Seems we have some people outside trying to get our attention." "Well let’s not disappoint them..." The hippo stated as he stood and grabbed his guns from the top of the fridge. "Any damage to the pub and I'll take it out of their arses..." he muttered. The team rushed outside and were greeted by the site of Zen Reaper and some others waiting. "Well hi there guys and gals, we meet again!" Zen said. "Cut the crap!" Hairbutt snarled, "What is it you want?" "OOH! Get up on the wrong side of the waterhole this morning hippo?" Zen laughed, "Well first of all I wanted to thank you for giving me a whole new dimension to play with.... and second, to tell you I'm tired of putting up with your meddling interference and I, and my associates are here to put an end to it! OK my Raiders.... KILL THEM!!!!," With that Zen vanished. His minions, however, seemed to wake from a trance and charged towards the heroes. "OK everybody!" the Hippo bellowed, "Grab a dancing partner and let's end this now!!!!" And with that the team attacked. Not much of a rousing battle cry... Rydgen thought. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 10 The Russians have invaded! Except for the fact that they weren't quite Russian… and, well, they didn't really invade anything… Zen Reaper and his Raiders have attacked! Better. Only a few short moments since the Hair and Hippo Bar had been ambushed, with the quietest of both groups - Bishop of the Sentinels and an odd looking guy named "Shocwave" for the Raiders-began their scuffle just outside of the tavern. Shoc using his ability to strike the ground, thus creating a rather large seismic blast-nailed the very earth itself and sent Bishop flying back into a nearby cow. It mooed, Shocwave laughed, and Bish got angry… "Holy Cattle Ranch, Batman! You could have made me hurt that cow! For that you die," Bishop yelled. Doing an impressive somersault, Bishop landed roughly three meters from Shocwave's position. After a pitiful dodge by Shoc, Bish managed to grab a hold of his ankle and throw him to the ground. "I know it's a little late for this, Mon ami… but there's really no reason to fight. You sound like a nice guy-why follow Zen and his satanic plan?" Bishop asked. "You don't understand, hero. Zen has taken something from me… I must ally with him." "Taken from you? What is it? If that's all you need, we'll help you get it back, friend." "Friend? FRIEND?" Shoc screamed, almost in agony from the ground. He jumped out of Bishop's hold and got into his face. "Do you know what a friend is, little guy? Do you? A friend would be able to get back what was taken from me-" Shoc looks around at all of his Raider teammates-"From all of us!" Through pure force of strength, Shocwave hit Bishop straight in the jawbone. Flying back with a small yelp, Bishop hit the ground, wiping the blood from his nose. "I told you I'd help you with what you need." "Really? That's something…" Shoc then whispered to himself: "I didn't know anyone could get back a soul…". A flash quickly lit the sky above the two opponents, then a voice followed. "Friend Shocwave… why do you listen to this Neanderthal? I am your ally. Not he," the voice finished. And as you may have guessed… it was Zen Reaper himself. "He's right," Shoc followed up on. "He is my ally… my friend… not you, Bishop!" Once again, a seismic bolt swung at the grounded Sentinel. Screaming in pain, Bishop let go of his jaw and held his side where the blow was hit. "I must, Bishop… It… it is not my choice…" said Shoc, raising up another seismic energy blast. "Then don't, Shocwave… for the love of god… don't…" "Do it, friend Shocwave. Finish him." Zen whispered into Shocwave's ear. "Do it for our revolution." "Yes… for us… I must kill him… for us… for me… for… for Natalie…" Shoc quietly replied. But instead of striking the finishing blow at his enemy, Shocwave simply bowed his head in silence. "Natalie…?" Bishop asked from the ground. "Who…. Who is…" "Natalie… she… she was my wife…" "Was?" the fallen Sentinel asked again, swallowing up the building pain in his body. "Yes… before she… before she died." "Enough of this, minion! Stop this at once and kill him! She was nothing! A wrong hearted woman who was no loss to anyone!" Zen screamed. The rage could be seen in his eyes… … While a small tear could be seen in Shocwave's. " 'No loss'… to anyone? How-How dare you!" Shocwave turned his head towards his master. He stood firm, knowing full well the consequence in showing no feebleness in front of Zen. "Quiet, you! And never-ever-talk back to me. You know it's true, too! She was a nothing in a world of greats. She was dragging you down, Shoc! And isn't life better, now? More free? Now that you work for me?" Zen yelled back. "Why you stupid shell of a man… you will NEVER talk to her like that! I swear to god himself… I will kill you if you dare do it again!" "Kill me…? You've just said the wrong thing at the very, very wrooooooong time. I'm in no need of you anymore! I'll take this pitiful Bishop on myself! Have fun joining your beloved in hell, Mr. Shocwave…" In a force so great all of the battling heroes of the two teams stopped their actions, Shoc screamed as he lunged at his master. Striking a powerful blow to Zen's lower chest, Zen yelled in agony and hit the ground. "She… you killed her, didn't you? You just wanted me…" Shoc quietly stated, falling back on his hands and knees. As a member of the human race, many of us have seen powerful moments… touching, at the least… but none so much as this fallen man, holding back tears with every morsel of his body. And everyone present continued to watch the latest revelation… and it sparked something in them all. All but Zen. "Heh… you got me there, Shoc… didn't expect you to attack me… you drained almost all of my power, you worthless traitor… But I spared enough to… to finish you and get away." Raising his arm for a shattering blow, Bishop clenched his side (and teeth) as he jumped up to save the former herald of Zen. Grabbing the Reaper's hand just before it impacted with Shoc's skull, Bish slowly raised it up until he looked Zen square in the eyes. "No. He's down. He chose not to kill me… and I won't let you kill him." Bishop said sternly. "You'd risk your life for another petty villain?" the Master of Evil asked. "He…" Bishop looked down at the Raider. "He is not just another petty villain. I think he proved that tonight. He had a life… which, evidently, you took from him. For that… I bid you ado, Mr. Reaper." The youngest Sentinel let go of Zen's wrist only long enough to punch him right between his evil, glaring eyes. As he fell, Shoc got back up and wiped away his tears. He thanked Bishop, and informed him he was no longer on Zen's payroll. "For Nat," was the last thing he said. He started to walk away… and Bishop thought of what he would do next. Hopefully build up a life again… he hoped, at least. He hoped. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 10 interlude Bish turned around to confront Zen again, but he was gone. He then realized the fight was still going on, and decided to see what could be done next. As Shoc strode away, he headed for an alleyway that would take him as far from the fight as possible. Picking his way through the garbage cans he suddenly froze as if time itself had stopped. "Well that didn't work the way I expected" Zen emerged from the shadows. "Hmmmmm....I thought by giving them false memories and the illusion of some free will, that they would not lose the edge they need to operate independently from my influence. Unfortunately it gives them a little too much independence. Well, I'll write this off to experience and come up with something better next time." With that Zen gestured and Shoc jerked into action like some very bad stop frame animation. Slowly he made his way to Zen’s side. "Lucky I decided to stick around and see how you guys worked out in your first confrontation. Let me tell you I'm not happy!!! And that play acting I had to come up with in front of Bishop to hide your real circumstances was just appalling! That'll go down in the history of villainy as one of the worst all time performances. I wish I didn't have to let that little snot hit me in the nose though," he added as he tenderly rubbed his injury. "Anyway, his day'll come. Come on Shoc my mindless minion. We've got to visit Thanos!" And with that he disappeared. ____________________________________________________________ Chapter 11 'Damn I hate being wrong!' Rydgen thought as he rushed with his fellow teammates towards Zen Reaper's underlings. It would appear that just because one is left in limbo that doesn't mean that that person is stuck there, as Zen has proven. He's very much back, and with reinforcements. Ry recognized some from the Weilandverse, such as Stryfe and Shocwave. Others were new to him. Take the being running to confront Rydgen for instance. Ry has never seen him before. He is a normal looking guy, a little on the pudgy side, wearing slacks and a sweater, His eyes hid beneath thick square glasses, which accentuated his receding hairline. His left hand was hidden in his pants pocket. 'Reaching for a weapon,' Rydgen thought as he drew his fist back to punch. They met three feet from each other, ready to get it on. Before Rydgen could swing his fist down into his opponent’s face, the fiend quickly whipped his left hand out of his pocket and into Ry's face, revealing... "A chicken puppet?!" Rydgen exclaimed as he stared perplexed at the googily-eyed, yellow and red, fowl mimicry before him. "Not just any chicken puppet," the evil hand puppet said in a menacingly British voice, "I am the Chicken Puppet!" "Yes!" the man whose hand seemed to be controlling the puppet yelled, "Show this freaky, green-haired, uh,... freak, who will rule this fight!" Rydgen was still poised to strike, soaking this scene in. A grin crept on one side of his face, which spread to his other side quickly. He started snickering, which turned to giggling as his fist lowered, dangling at his side while he went into a laughing fit. "Hahahaha!! This is what I'm up against? *Snickers* A Mr. Rogers reject and a hand puppet?!?" Rydgen managed to ask between tears and chuckles. "Why must everybody laugh so when you reveal me, Pete?" the chicken inquired of his host. "I've said before my liege, your protrusion into our dimension resembles the form of a chi--" Pete answered weakly. Rydgen was ROTFLHAO in the meantime, as his comrades fought their individual fights around them. "Yes, yes," Chicken Puppet cut in impatiently, "but that does not mean I will tolerate being laughed at!!" punctuating his sentence with a green, green glow in his eyes. "No!" Pete shrieked, "do not hurt me my liege, hurt him, hurt he who dares laugh at your powerful grandeurment!" he finished, shielding himself with his other arm. Rydgen had tears streaming down his face, but managed to get up and say, "HA! What're you going to do? Peck my eyes out?" Chicken Puppet's eyes glowed greener as steam puffed out of his nostrils. "Oh, wait! I know! You're going to shoot raw eggs outta your bu--trooooooooooff!!!" Rydgen was caught completely off guard by the chicken's burst of hypocondensed rotten egg yolk energy beams from his eyes. It knocked him a couple buildings down the block, leaving him on his back in an unbelievable stench. "Oh crap!" Rydgen yelled as he inhaled the fowl, er, foul odor, sitting up. 'This might be a tad harder than planned,' he thought as Chicken Puppet flew himself and his host to where Rydgen sat. "No, not crap, but a smell far more powerful. What you experienced is just a small taste of what is to come, you weak excuse for a hero!" he said, looming ominously over the flannelled metahuman. Rydgen made a quick sweep with his feet and knocked Pete's feet out from under him, planting him on his back. In the process Rydgen leaped up and wrapped his hands around the base of the puppet. "Gahgk! Ggrgannghraffigirble!!" is all Chicken Puppet could say in protest as Rydgen's hands tightened their grip. "Stop choking... *ungf*... my chicken!!" Pete yelled, slapping Rydgen with his free hand. Hearing this, Ry started laughing uncontrollably, loosening his hold on chicken puppet slightly. Bad move... "SQWAWKKA BOKKA BAKKA WOKKA MEKKA LEKKA HYKKA MEKKA HYKEE BAWK!!!!" Rydgen was swept in Chicken Puppet's Sonic Squawk, flinging him several blocks away, slamming him head first into a Pepski machine, spilling soda cans everywhere. Rydgen shook his head, trying to get the phrase, 'Caffeine'll kill ya!' to stop repeating in his mind. Chicken Puppet once again flew to where Rydgen was downed, charging his eyes up. Rydgen got up from the mess and started flinging cans at him, hoping to slow him down a bit. Chicken simply defrazzled them with his eyes. 'Well,' thought Ry, 'he won't be able to charge fully wasting his blasts on these cans.' Ry kept throwing cans at him, making sure he kept firing at them. Rydgen was looking around, trying to form a plan before the demented puppet arrived. Rydgen reached for another can, only to find he was out of ammo. So he lifted the machine itself and hurled it at Chicken Puppet. Chicken dodged it, but his host wasn't as fortunate, taking it in the right shoulder. This caused them to spin a bit to the right out of control, and they plummeted into a fruit stand with a soft THUKSH! Seeing his opportunity, Rydgen dashed into Smiley's Sports Center, a sports equipment store. He ran down the aisles, trying to find something to subdue his opponent with. 'Rifle?' he thought as he searched frantically, 'No, no need to kill him. Just need to stop him from killing me.' He kept trotting around, looking for something to subdue Chicken Puppet with, when the column of shelves to his left toppled over on him. Pete jumped on top of the fallen racks, which were on top of Rydgen, increasing the pressure. "HA!" Chicken Puppet yelled as he zoomed into Rydgen's face. "Now I have you pinned, right where I want you! Well, not exactly where I want you, but in the in the right circumstances, you understand what I mean." Rydgen was reaching for something, anything, under the rack with him to get an edge while Chicken was caught up in his victory speech. He found a long something that would have a good swing to it, and pulled it slowly out, so as not to attract Chicken's attention. "Now I shall terminate you," Chicken Puppet continued, "and let my benefactor Zen Reaper assume power of this new unive--SQWARK!!!" You'd say that too if you were clocked sharply in the beak with a nine iron, taking some beak and fabric particles with it. Well, maybe something more human, like NYRARGH!! You get the point. Chicken and Pete were knocked way off the shelves from the blow, allowing Rydgen to push it off of him and escape. Pete got up and rubbed Chicken's wound with his right hand, like he would a hurt animal. "Do not patronize me, worm! I am fine, just a flesh wound," Chicken yelled at Pete. "But your beak is busted up real bad, and my shoulder is dislo-" "I know what's wrong with me, dammit! I can still fight!" As the two were arguing, Rydgen managed to find a few things to help him out in this fight. "Yes, but you must rest and regroup, my liege." "I know my limits, and I know when I need to regroup. I am quite ready to take this peon doww-owwwwn!!" Pete lost balance as a flannelled form whizzed by, sticking a hockey stick out. "Who's down now, Chicken Little?" Rydgen asked as he rollerbladed over to Pete's fallen body. "You dare insult me?" Chicken Puppet asked as Rydgen lifted the two up with his left hand. "Yeah, I sure dare, omelet-for-brains!" Rydgen replied. "And now I'm going to--OOOOouwwOOUCH!!" That would be the sound you would make if a puppet in the form of a chicken ripped your arm off with his beak. Pete fell back down on his feet, with Rydgen's lower arm and hand still attached to his sweater. "HEY!!" Rydgen yelled as Pete wobbled away, "That's my frakkin' arm you got on your shirt, flabby!!" Ry waved his stump, which was already regenerating slowly, at Pete and started blading towards the two. He reached into the golf bag, which he was using as a quiver of weapons, and pulled out a bunch of golf balls. Rydgen rolled the balls towards Pete's feet, underneath him, making him lose balance, knocking him back down. "How you like them balls, eh, feather-face?" Rydgen asked as he bladed around Chicken and Pete, keeping his distance this time. "Now I just have to figure out how to keep you down long enough, and in one place..." Pete got up, right arm dangling at his side, left arm extended with Chicken Puppet's eyes charging his rotten green beams. 'Right, now what?' Rydgen thought as he sped into an aisle lined with tennis equipment. 'Must formulate a better plan. I can't keep up this knocking him flat bit.' Then Rydgen made a realization. 'It seems that Chicken Puppet is anchored to that Pete guy, as if Pete was a host, or something. Maybe if I can--' Ry's thoughts were disrupted by a rotten beam hitting close to his head into a rack of tennis balls, melting them. "Your aim is off, my liege, from the strike you acquired earlier!" "I see that,... somewhat!" "Hey look, a cock-eyed cock!" Rydgen yelled from the other side of the aisle, pulling a few things from his quiver with his newly grown left hand. Chicken Puppet turned to look at Rydgen. "You think those puny things will hurt me?" he screeched. His host wasn't as sure about it as he was. Pete's right shoulder was dislocated, and he was bruised pretty well on his right side. "Well, yes and no, Mr. Clucky," Rydgen replied, dropping a hockey puck on the floor beside him. He swiftly whipped a hockey stick around and swung it into the puck, sending it sailing into Pete's head, knocking him out utterly. "Fool," Chicken began, "I can still use my powers to drag him where I want, and I can still use my powers of --HYURGK!!" While Chicken Puppet was ranting, Rydgen produced a fishing rod from behind him, flicking his wrist back and forth a few times to get a fluid cast going. He released the fishing line, letting the hook and sinker soar across the aisle, snagging in Chicken Puppet's material. With a deft flick, Rydgen yanked Chicken off of Pete's hand, reeling it in as Chicken struggled to get loose. "Oh yeah," Rydgen said, impersonating a fishing show host, "Lookit this beauty, will ya? What a fighter! I bet it has to weigh at least 25 pounds!" "Ngfh!! Let go of me!!" 'This looks bad,' he thought, 'I figured he'd stop moving if disconnected from his host, but he hasn't! That and his eyes are charging again! Wait, I got it!' "Ooooooh, looky there," Rydgen was now ripping Chicken Puppet from the tangled hook, sinker, and fishing line, "looks big, but I think it's slightly too small to keep." He produced a ruler from his quiver, "Well, just the right size! I'll stow you away for later, big guy!" With that Rydgen grabbed the bottom of the puppet, and with the ruler pushed on Chicken's head until the fowl was inside out. Taking the fishing string, he tied the open end of the puppet really tight, so he can't get righted within any time soon. "Mgg ngf rdg ngl ftrnd!!" Chicken Puppet yelled from inside his own body. "Yeah, that does suck," Rydgen answered, rolling him up and shoving him in his back jeans pocket. Rydgen put the merchandise back where it belonged, except the roller blades, thanked the owner (who for some reason was not the bit surprised by the events that just went on in his store), raced out of the shop, and made his way back to the pub, where everyone else was still fighting. 'I hope there's still some evil left to fight,' He thought as he sped past the smashed Pepski machine. 'That was a pretty good fight, but now I'm ready to do some major damage!!' _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 12 She was following the others when the floor gave way.... It startled her, but only for a minute. Free falling for what seemed like an eternity, she had time to think. What was that Rydgen always said? Drop and roll? The ground came up quickly and shocked her body as she landed on her feet and tumbled for a few yards. A dank and musty smell seeped into her nostrils...and something else. The smell of evil. The room was dark, without a streak of light. She closed her eyes and waited a second. Opening them again, she scanned the room with her infravision. A red glow, unmistakably human sat in the corner. Artemis then heard a low chuckle escape from its lips. Oh what fresh hell is this? She thought. Whomever or whatever it is doesn't seem friendly, so I won't play nice. Just then the figure stood up and slowly walked towards her. She placed her hand on her short sword in readiness and slowly stood up. "You can put the sword away Artemis. You never were very good with it." Said a very powerful and masculine voice. At once she knew. "Roland! Only you would have the mental capacity of a gnat to trap someone in this manner." "Well it worked Artemis. Here you are, with no way out." He smirked. "We're not done yet, Roland. I will find my way out, and you will not be able to stop me." she said with more conviction than she felt. Artemis drew her sword, and as she did, Roland switched on the light. Damn it Roland!! Her eyes stung as they adjusted to the light. He didn't give her time to think. With one swift movement He grabbed her by the ponytail and swung her around the room, until she landed face first into the wall. Now I'm angry. She thought Short sword in hand she lunged for Roland. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's not NICE to hit girls?!!" She said mockingly as she thrust her sword into his robe. Roland just smiled and laughed. The sword went straight through and Artemis was taken by surprise. "Oh what the hell. Roland, I thought you gave up wearing those stupid invincible robes by now. You know, they don't become you at all." She said. Well Hairbutt always did say to try the direct approach… With one quick movement she grabbed the seam of his robe and pulled...flinging it to the floor. "Artemis! I didn't know you felt this way." "Shut up Roland." Roland’s powerful figure was exposed. "Roland, my, my. You've been working out. Not the same body I remember at all." Artemis slowly strode towards him, short sword at her side. She let the sword drop to the floor as she came closer to him. "You know Roland, we never did get to know each other better." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hairbutt peeking in a window high above, gun ready in his hand. "So, how about it Roland? You're powerful; I'm a trained warrior. Together we could wreak a lot of havoc on the world." She said seductively. Coming closer to him, almost a breath away, she put her hand on his chest. She could feel him beginning to submit. "Now you're talking my language Artemis. I never did see what you saw in those do-gooders you ran around with. But you and I on the other hand...That makes sense. " Artemis smiled and leaned closer to kiss him… At the same time, her right hand was pulling a poisoned dagger out of her belt. As she got with in inches of his lips, she plunged the dagger into his stomach and then pulled the dagger upwards, ripping his flesh. Roland’s face contorted with pain. She released him and he staggered backwards. "Never trust a woman Roland." She smirked. Just then Rydgen broke the window up above, and lowered a rope to Artemis. She grabbed onto it and started to climb, but not without a last look at Roland. He had fallen to his knees, and was clutching his stomach. "This isn't over Artemis. You may have won the battle, but you and your little friends will not win the war. " As she reached the top, Rydgen pulled her into the opening. "That was cold Artemis." He said in awe. "I know Rydg" she said with a smile. Leaning out the opening she yelled back to Roland. "Believe what you want to believe Roland." And she blew him a kiss. Turning to Rydgen, she said. "I have no idea what that was about, but we better find the others." And down the corridor they went. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 13 Hairbutt surveyed the battlefield. So far, everyone but Patience and him had found an opponent to fight. Strange, he thought, Patty isn’t doing anything. She had just drifted to the sidelines and hasn’t moved since. Hairbutt stared intently at the witch for a few seconds, going over his earlier suspicions and forming some brand new ones in the process. Oh my… The sickening realization hit him like a ton of bricks. She’s a traitor! She must’ve made up that whole thing with Thanos to throw us off the track! And now she’s standing around the sidelines waiting for a chance to sabotage someone’s fight. Of course, there really is only one course of action when such a thought dawns on you when you are in such a situation, and Hairbutt naturally took that course when the thought had finished dawning on him. "Ooff! What in Nifelheim are you doing, you great oaf!" Patience angrily kicked the large hippo away from her and the dent the two had made in the wall. "Stopping you from interfering with the battle! I know what you’re up to, you witch!" "You were so effective I know longer remember what I was up to." Patience replied, seething with anger. Must he challenge me at every turn? She thought to herself, I don’t have time for this! The Mystic stood and muttered a few words in some ancient tongue. When her portly opponent looked up, he felt as if the shadow she cast completely engulfed him and she seemed to have grown over fifteen feet during those few seconds. The interesting feature of Hairbutt’s powers is that he can find anything, anything he wants, even courage. Now, this is an extraordinarily useful power, especially in a situation where someone is purposefully robbing him of his natural courage. Patience seemed to be losing hers as she crashed into a wall for the second time that day. That was nothing to worry about, however, because bigger worries were afoot. She had been murmuring the words to a second spell at the time Hairbutt chose to toss her into that wall. Now, cutting off a spell in the middle with "OMPH!" tends to be problematic at best. The ground surrounding the two combatants turned in a lake, ten feet across and ten feet deep. Patience stared levelly at Hairbutt, an eerie calm in her eyes, while a horrific dark aura began to emanate from her. The Hippo heard her steady, impassive voice say "I am soaked," before he felt his thoughts collapse from the back of his mind and drift out into the world. --------------- Within a few moments she was hovering a few feet above the lake, eyes closed, arms outstretched. Her aura stretched out around her and permeated the surrounding reality, giving an effect of sunset. She felt the air run through her and her aura, and started sense the energy that she had pushed out of Hairbutt’s mind. A figure wandered closer to her, drawn by the terrible darkness she gave off. He paused at the edge of the lake and gazed at the deadpan face. Her eyes opened. "You did this." "Yes" He smiled evilly when she lilted her head slightly at him. "It was especially easy, given the Detective’s natural distrust of you. Would you like to see someone really impressive?" She nodded impassively, moving no muscle below her neck. "Do you see those two lovebirds over there?" He pointed at a young couple walking down the street in each other’s arms. She wafted to shore and alighted next to him, her aura still spreading. "Watch this." He stared intensely at the couple. Their expressions soured, they began to argue, and eventually violence ensued. "Mildly impressive." "That all?" "Yes." "I see," He sulked a bit, then decided a different approach. "Well, that’s not all. My name’s Stryfe, and so is my business." Stryfe turned to smile fully at the woman, and trained his eyes on her legs, where her coat opened slightly. He viewed them while waiting for her reply. --------------------- On the opposite side of the lake was a far more talkative woman, and we shall return to her in a moment. ---------------------- "And you are…?" "Patience…" "I think I’ve been really…" "Patience is my name." "Oh." He dug his feet into the ground and flushed a bit. There weren’t women like this where he came from. Patience’s aura, in the meantime, had surrounded the lake, the pub, and the battlefield with darkness and it was beginning to take on a red tinge. "So, Patience—" "So that little trick with the Hippo was yours…" "Uh… Yeah…" I thought we’d covered that. He shrugged, so she’s a little slow, that can be a good thing. "Then I believe I owe you something." The aura suddenly burst into a blood light. Stryfe never knew what hit him. ---------------------- "Come on… Just a little more… There you go…" The other woman used all of her strength to help the heavy hippopotamus climb out of the lake. ----------------------- Patience circled her true foe while chanting. The darkness compacted into her. It clung to her form and oozed into her shadow. A glowing blue spiral of light rose from the ground, starting where she tread and closing in on Stryfe. Soon he was unable to move. "You’ll find that you’re also unable to exercise your powers," the Mystic smirked. "I must apologize for the discomfort, but this is a complicated ritual and I can’t deal with the distractions you’d created when not bound as you are." Patience opened her coat, revealing a blanket of stars and night underneath, and pulled out a silver sword, decorated with runes. She stuck the sword in the ground and meticulously buttoned her coat. When finished with this, she stared intently at Stryfe, picked up the sword, and drew an arc in the dirt in front of her. ------------------------- Hairbutt, who had been struggling to collect his thoughts as he was struggling to get out of the water, looked up and lost all reason. It seemed to him that before him stood the most gorgeous creature in the planet. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 14 "Hi Hairy!" And she smiled a most brilliant and bedazzling smile. Hairbutt was pulled into that smile and was amazed. "Well Hairy, I can see you’re going to be li’l Trixxsys best of friends!" Hairbutt stared at the slim form. She looked about sixteen with honey blonde hair and the most beautiful features he had ever seen. She began to walk towards him, swaying slowly and seductively. Hairbutt was frozen on the spot. It was as if he was watching her through a haze. She approached him and he began to lose himself in a pair of the brightest blue eyes. OOGA BOOGA! He thought. She stared a long time at him and again smiled. "The very best of friends…." she whispered. As if in a dream, Hairbutt felt himself leaning towards her, but at the back of his mind a voice screamed. He tried to hear what the voice was saying and the haze faded. He jerked back in surprise. Trixxs’ face seemed to twist into an evil mask of anger, but just as suddenly the awesome smile was back and the haze returned to Hairbutt's mind. Slowly Trixxs leaned forward and melted into Hairbutt's ample frame. "That’s better, Hairy. I can’t let you think for yourself now, can I. Trixxsy knows what’s best...." It was like a jolt of electricity passed through the hippo’s body. All thought disappeared as she leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Your mine now. And forever an’ ever an’ ever." Hairbutt's mind slowly sank into oblivion as the warm body of Trixxs and those beautiful bright blue eyes stole away all thought. "That’s right…" he seemed to hear from a distance, "Your mine. And you will keep me happy and contented. I need you Hairy, I need your help. A nasty man gave me power and tried to take my will. He doesn’t know, but I’m not totally his. But I love what I’ve become and I don’t want to lose that. Or my new friends. You’ll help me won’t you. To destroy the nasty man and keep my friends together for me. And you’ll be mine forever an’ ever an’…" "Actually he’s mine you know…" A voice rang in his head. "Who???" "Just someone who doesn’t like air headed bimbos stealing my friends." "Well your out of luck you two-bit witch!" "Oh really? We’ll see about that." Suddenly an image of Patience appeared in Hairbutt's mind. "You really wouldn’t abandon me for this bimbo would you, my lovely Hairbutt?" The image said coquettishly, "I really don’t think I could live with that, sweety." she pouted. Hairbutt began to gather his thoughts. He had never realized how cute Patience had looked. With her long brown hair and pixie face. "Now Hairy…" another voice crooned and looking down he saw Trixxsy staring wide-eyed up at him, "We can’t have that. I need you to be with me! And you will be…" she sighed as she leant up on tiptoe and kissed Hairbutt. It was a long kiss and Hairbutt felt his thoughts dissolve again. Then Patience was there. "That’s enough! He’s mine and so are his friends." "Not for much longer…I’ll take him and then all your friends and you’ll be left all alone you poor li’l witch. You’ll be alone forever!" "I think not…" And with that the image opened its coat. Hairbutt stared into the eternity of space. "They’re mine to do with as I will!" He heard as his thoughts tumbled into the cosmos that was revealed before his mind's eye. He was wrapped in power and felt himself dissipate into the feeling. From somewhere in infinity he heard Patience’s voice whisper sweetly, "We both may have power over men, but that’s not the only thing I can do. You just don’t realize what you’re dealing with li’l Trixxsy…" Hairbutt was suddenly thrown backwards by a blast of power. He landed roughly and struggled up through the clearing haze and dust. He was back in J Street! What had happened? Last thing he could remember was being stuck in a lake. He looked around and saw Pat standing over a girl who was lying on the ground. "NOOOOOOOOO!" he heard the girl cry as she tried to struggle to her feet. "You can’t have what’s mine…" he heard Pat say as a bolt shot from her hand knocking the girl unconscious. Hairbutt rose and stumbled over to Patience. He noticed the girl was very pretty, but he turned to Patience. "What the bloody hell just happened?" he enquired. "Oh nothing. This is Trixxs. She tried to enslave you and I stopped that." "How?" enquired the Hippo. Looking at Hairbutt, Patience smiled, it was a most brilliant and bedazzling smile, "C’mon "Hairy", a girls got to have some secrets." A haze filled Hairbutt's mind for a minute then cleared. Patience was no longer standing in front of the hippo. Startled, he looked around and spotted her heading off to see what else needed to be done. "Hmmmmmmmmmmm…." Thought Hairbutt. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 15 Silver Lantern looked at Zen’s force, the Zen Raiders. BobDoleHulk was one of them, and looked pretty angry! Silver lifted BobDoleHulk in a silver bubble and flew a few blocks further down J Street. "I can’t have you killing anyone, Bob! And stay out of Hair’s pub!!" "Puny ShinyMan does not tell BobDoleHulk what to do! I am on the campaign trail to the White House!" BDH said while struggling inside the bubble. "Bob, this isn’t the U.S.A., this is J Street and besides, you lost the election." "LOST? ShinyMan makes fun of BobDoleHulk?" BDH breaks out of the bubble, falls to the street and looks up at Silver. "GGRR!!" Silver stops 20 feet above BDH and hovers there. "Bob, THINK, man! You’re being manipulated by Zen! You don’t want to fight!" "ShinyMan not BobDoleHulk’s friend! Don’t call me ‘Bob’!" BDH leaps up at Silver Lantern, carrying him off his board and into a building! CRASSHH!!! "BobDoleHulk votes to kill Shiny Man!" PUNCH!! Silver blocks with an Oan shield, and counters with a hit into Bd.'s gut. Whamm!! BDH throws a right cross back!! WHAMM!! The building shakes while the various species of citizens pour out into the street, yelling and screaming in fear! Silver gets punched hard in the chest and is propelled back outside, into an alley. A bum runs for his life onto J Street. "Somebody help me! He’s tryin’ tuh kill me! Damn costumes all over J Street! It ain’t safe fuh none uvus!" BDH smashes his way through the building into the alley after his prey. "RRAARGH!! BobDoleHulk will veto ShinyMan!" BDH leaps at Silver, throwing them both further down the alley and into… ...a desert at night! Huh? Silver Lantern’s board falls silently from 20 feet above its hover of J Street and is still. Silver Lantern Oan blasts BDH off of him. ZZAPP!! "How the hell did we get here? Where are we? Where’s J Street?" The answer comes to Silver Lantern; they have come through a dimensional portal and are on a world in another universe. J Street is back through the portal, which is invisibly right over th... WHAMM!! BDH SLAMS INTO SILVER LANTERN! SL is sent flying through the air! He lands 100 feet away, and begins to stand up. "Okay, Bob. I have had ENOUGH!" , Silver Lantern glows. "RRAARGH!! BobDoleHulk smash LiteBriteMan!", as he races toward SL. ZZAPP!! BDH is hit with an Oan Bolt and placed in a silver bubble, but begins tearing it apart. "BobDoleHulk will slash taxes like this shinything!" "Bob, I’m warning you. I DO NOT want to hurt you! Snap out of it!" BDH leaps at SL with his hands open to place around Silver’s neck. "RRAARGH!!! BOBDOLEHULK SNAPS YOU!!" Silver dodges the rampager and trips him with his foot. "SHINYMAN IS COWARD!!...WILL NOT FIGHT!!!...LIBERAL PACIFIST!!" ZZAPP!! An Oan Bolt hits BDH as he was standing up. "BobDoleHulk gets stronger as he gets madder!" BDH gets to his feet. Silver enhances his strength with Power Oan; the silver aura is growing in intensity! With charged fists, he starts pounding on BDH, who pounds back! The desert echoes with each blow!! "RRAARGH!!" BDH lifts Silver and throws him against a cliff-face. "NOW...YOU...DIIEE!!!!! BDH rushes Silver Lantern. With no board, Silver has nowhere to go. He concentrates; he focuses his willpower. "No, Bob! NOW...YOU...FALL!!!!" BDH is three feet away when, with his whole body, Silver blasts with THE POWER OAN UNLEASHED!! KKAAABBOOMM!!!! THE DESERT SHAKES! THE SKY IS SILVER!! All is quiet in the desert. Silver Lantern stands slowly, and limps to the unconscious normal body of Bob Dole. SL lifts him and walks to the portal, through it, and is in the alley off J Street. ------------- Drizzt Do’Urden knew that the surface was a dangerous place. In all the realms travelled, he had never witnessed such power before. The sky had lit up like day, and the thunder had been deafening. He would keep a respectful distance from whatever it was. He continued his sojourn through the desert, on the world called Toril. -------------- Two policemen are carrying a shiny green surfboard into the JSPD station when it leaves their hands and flies away. "What the...?" ---------------- Bob Dole wakes up, lying in a pile of garbage bags. Silver is stepping onto his board. "Senator Dole, It is I, Silver Lantern. Are you alright? Are you ‘in control of yourself’?" "What...? Where am I? The last thing I remember..." Bob Dole instantly vanishes. There is no trace of energy as to where he has gone. Home, perhaps? Silver recharges his ring, and flies back to the pub. The others may need him. He rushes down the few blocks separating him from the others, hoping no one has gotten hurt... _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 16 As the other Sentinels square off against their respective "dance partners" as Hairbutt so eloquently put it...Az finds herself face to face with Dream World. "I’m almost afraid to find out what you can do..." remarks Az, looking at the disheveled man standing in front of her. "Are you gonna give me nightmares or something?" "More or less!" he whispers. He stares silently at her and she feels a cold chill run down her spine, even though her costume is fully insulated. What the hell? she wonders. I feel like someone just stepped on my grave... She looks around quickly, realizing that he has vanished from view in the short amount of time she was thinking to herself. "Ok, plan ‘B’" she mutters, beginning a full spectrum search for DreamWorld. Still nothing. No infrared, no heat signature, nothing. And it was so damn dark! Without the help of the helmet she would have been blind! "Were in the world could he have gone that fast?" she mumbles. Well, there’s always the old fashioned way..."Come out, come out wherever you are!" Suddenly the air around Az shifts, and where seconds ago there was nothing but darkness, an immense black shape forms. It shrinks and solidifies into a solid black jaguar, looking like something out of a nightmare, with massive jaws and claws that looked like they could shred steel. "Oh $#*!" Az jerks back in surprise as the huge cat slashes at her. "Nice kitty...nice kitty...I don’t want to hurt you..." As if! she thinks to herself. "Why don’t you find a nice, juicy mouse...." The paw catches her and sends her sprawling. She tries to stun it with a low - powered plasma beam, but the black jaguar shakes it off. She follows that up with a net from the wrist armor, but the cat simply melts out of it. It reforms a few seconds later, seemingly bigger than before. She slices through the creature with her wings. It has no effect, as the jaguar again simply reforms into its original shape. NOW what? Tasers won’t work...and it will probably be able to smell me if I turn invisible, so THAT’S out...and it REMINDS me of something.... something old...something important... Az shakes her head furiously. I just can’t THINK straight here! It’s almost like I’m asleep and dreaming! OF COURSE! That must be it. Maybe if I just ... The black jaguar interrupts her thoughts, as it lunges and catches Az by surprise, slamming her hard into the building behind them. "OW! That’s it. No more Mr....er, Ms...Nice...um...person!" The impact was enough to slightly crack the helmet, and a thin trickle of blood runs down Az’s face. All I have to do is concentrate...maybe I can take control of the cat...or ... As she watches, a nearly identical creature slinks up behind it, the only difference being that this one is the size and color of a normal jaguar, with a black stripe down its face. Hey! It worked! She concentrates some more. The black jaguar turns around suddenly, surprised by the low, guttural sound behind it. The second cat was now snarling, fangs bared and hackles up. She watches in amazement as the second, smaller cat slices the larger black cat to ribbons, the remains of which fade away into mist. I don’t believe it, it worked! She sighs and leans back against the wall. The impact of a moment ago had left her breathless, and she wasn’t sure, but she thought she had a concussion from the first cat’s attack. Her head hurt, and she was having trouble adjusting her eyes. She really wanted to lie down and rest... and then she heard the noise. She looked up at the jaguar, the one she had seemingly created. It was laughing, with an almost human voice. Wait a second here...cats don’t LAUGH! She thinks. The cat runs straight at her, and jumps. Instead of slamming her against the wall, however, the big cat simply disappears as he contacts the center of the armor, where the battery is. She leans back on the wall, dazed and barely conscious. The bump to her head was more serious than she thought...She looks up, realizing that even though both of the cats were gone, something worse had taken their place. "Well well! Look what we have here!" DW hisses. "The lovely little birdie got it’s wings clipped! And by a figment of her own imagination yet! Not much of a fighter, are you!" he smirks as he pulls her face up to look in her eyes. "Zen! I got one of them! What do you want me to do with her?!?!" He lets go and turns his back on Az. She slides down the wall to the ground, unconscious. "Are you sure I can’t keep her?!" he talks into a previously unseen communicator. "But she’s CUTE!" He nods as Zen speaks. "All right! I got it Zen! You don’t have to yell!" He turns to face Az. "Too bad...!" he blinks. She was right there! "SURPRISE, fool..." Hisses a low voice from nearby. DW staggers as an invisible hand grasps his throat. "Sacrilege! You tried to conjure up something from dreams that you could never control, or even comprehend! Fool." whispers the raspy voice in his ear. He goes flying through the air and into a pile of garbage. Before he can react, three small wires appear out of nowhere and imbed themselves into his chest. The tasers are quickly crackling with energy, and the electricity knocks DW even further down the street. "AAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHH!" he screams. Metal blades the size of feathers stab into his back, even as he tries to stumble to his feet. He succeeds, but it does him little good. The toxins coating the blades make him numb and slow...running he looks more like a punch - drunk fighter than a fearful force of evil. "Get back here, I’m not done with you yet!" comes the taunting voice from nowhere. A plasma beam flashes out, striking DW square in the back as he attempts to run. He goes flying, landing face down in a puddle of mud left over from Hairbutt and Patience’s battle with Stryfe. "Stop it! I surrender! I SURRENDER!!!!!" DW chokes out as he spits mud from his mouth. "Surrender? Only cowards surrender." Azangel appears, no longer invisible, behind DW. "So I’m a coward! Stop hurting me! Please!" DW stammers and begins to cry. "All right." chuckles Az, firing a net from her wrist armor. "So you’re a coward. Do you know what the Aztecs did to cowards?" DreamWorld looks up hollow-eyed from beneath the net. He saw the razor sharp wings unfold like huge guillotines. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He began to whimper. "What are you? You aren’t the same...." "You’re right. Now don’t tell anyone. It’s our little secret." replied the raspy voice. DW whimpered again as the wings came down towards his neck.... And a silver bubble deflected the fatal strike. Az looked up quickly. Silver Lantern! Of all the times... "Az, we need to talk. NOW." his voice was angry. "I saw most of this fight. IF you can call it that. It looked to me more like a slaughter." "Sil, Az, get over here! We’re going after Zen!" comes Hair’s voice from down the street. "We’ll have this discussion later." Sil tells Az sternly. Az turns around to look at DW, only to discover he is no longer in the net. She flashes Silver Lantern an ice-cold glare and follows him. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 17 I remember it like it was yesterday. Of course, it probably was yesterday...can't remember....but that isn't important. I was minding my business at the pub, carefully completing a puzzle I had brought with me from some strange planet, when I heard a small buzzing noise. I turned around, and a blue hole seemed to be floating in the middle of the room, increasing in size and glowing. I was very confused to say the least. If it was a friend, they knew better than to blindly teleport into my room. If it was an enemy, this was not a very good way to surprise me. As the dot got larger and larger, I grabbed for my bat and stood alert, ready for anything (at least I thought I was...). To my surprise, Zen stepped through, bowing politely, grinning his awful grin. His eyes seemed to be carefully piercing my skin, watching every cell in my body, hoping for an answer to some unanswered question. I angrily demanded an explanation of what he was doing. He just continued to smile and asked if I wanted to take a "little journey". Before I could even answer, he grabbed my shoulder and stepped back through the now wide-open portal, dragging me along. I seemed to be flying quickly through a great blue tunnel. At the end of the tunnel I could see a tiny image of the pub, blurry and moving around. Suddenly I saw the Raiders running towards the pub. I closed my eyes for what seemed to be a second, but when I opened them again I was a lot closer to the end of the tunnel, and the image had turned to a confrontation between the Sentinels and the Raiders in the middle of some giant field. I suddenly heard a pop and I could just make out Bishop and Shocwave fighting. My vision was blurred and I couldn't get a clear view of what was going on. About a minute passed as I heard a lot of commotion, then heard Zen whisper something about being a "good actor". He guided me towards a new portal, and after what seemed to be a lot less time then I spent in the previous teleportation, we arrived at Zen's mountain base. And that is where the trouble began. ----------------- "Ah, Thanos, did you enjoy your trip?" Zen laughed and sipped at a glass of wine. He was sitting at the end of an enormous table, orange light reflected around the room. Thanos stood at the entrance to the room, rubbing his eyes, a look of annoyance spread across his face. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times. "Well, have a seat. We have much to talk about." "No, we don't." Thanos continued to stand near the entrance, arms crossed over his chest. "I told you last time I was here that I wanted no more to do with your plans." "And I told you that if you didn't lead my Raiders in battle, you wouldn't get this back." Zen reached behind the table and produced a glass tank. A frog sat inside, resting in the plant-filed water. "Familiar with this little fellow? Yes, I think you are..." Zen reached inside and grabbed the frog. "I know what happens if you lose this before you can get back to your homeworld. And I would like to see it happen if you don't comply with my wishes. This is the last time, the last time I will bring this up. You don't have your whiffle bat or your Bag O' Evil here, so one of two things is going to happen: I kill the frog or you lead my army. Choose now." Thanos stared at the frog, concentrating on something within his head. Planning, calculating, deciding. "I choose..." Thanos' eyes began to light up. "I choose to defy you." A beam of sparkling red energy quickly struck Zen in the hand, causing him to drop the frog. Zen leaped up from the table, his eyes wide and his smile now an angry frown. "You...you must have lost your mind." A yellow blast flew from Zen's left hand and struck Thanos in the chest. Thanos' eyes rolled back and he fell sideways, screaming in agony. He curled into a ball and gasped for air, his mind in a chaotic state of shock, eyes wide open. "You think you can control energy better than I can? Have you forgotten who I am?" Zen blasted Thanos again, in the back, but Thanos did not move. The expression on his face slowly moved from wide-eyed in shock to wide-eyed in anger. Zen simply walked around Thanos in a circle, looking at his nails. "Hmph. I'm sorry Thanos, I really am. You had so much potential. But you grew a conscience, and that is not something I want in my troops. So much wasted potential..." Zen stared at the ceiling. "All we had to do was defeat the Sentinels, and the world would have been ours. With you commanding my zombies it would have been so easy." Zen stopped walking around Thanos and looked at him, balled up and only his wide-open eyes peeking through his hands. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you, dammit!" Zen kicked Thanos in the side with all the strength he could gather. "Listen!" He continued to kick Thanos. Suddenly, Thanos' hand shot out and grabbed Zen's foot. Thanos pulled and Zen came tumbling to the ground. Thanos quickly elbowed Zen in the stomach and punched him in the nose with all of his strength. He picked Zen up, violently shook him, and threw him at the table, causing the table to collapse. Zen lay dazed among the splinters of wood, his nose bleeding and his eyes closed in pain. "YOU listen to me. I'm going to take my frog. You are going to teleport me back. Then I will never see you again. Is that understood?" Zen slowly started to stand up. "I loved this table. Uhhhh...." He grabbed his side. "Fine, fine...as a matter of fact, you no longer interest me. Be my guest." Zen motioned to the door, where a new portal was opening. "Get out of my site." Thanos laughed to himself and walked over to pick up the frog, whose tank had shattered when the table collapsed. Thanos then sighed and walked through the portal. ----------------- The defeated Raiders slowly began to disappear, one by one, as the Sentinels stood in the middle of the field. "Geez, where is Thanos?" Bishop blurted out as Hairbutt quietly spoke to the rest of the group. "This would have been much easier if he was here." "Ah, he's never here," Az stated. "He's probably off killing some ducks, or knocking fishermen into the ocean so his precious fish can live." Suddenly, a blue hole appeared in the sky and began to widen. As the Sentinels hurriedly prepared themselves for another battle, Thanos fell through and landed on the ground, a great rumble as his feet met the dirt. He rushed over to the Sentinel, very confused. "Where are the Raiders?" Hairbutt also looked confused. "We took them down...where have you been, and what are you doing with that frog?" _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 18 "Ummmmmmmmm....." Thanos stammered, "..I'm not really sure...." Laughter pealed through the street. "Of course you aren't fool. Actually it’s a trap!" The team looked about. "Zen! Where are you?" Az cried out looking almost evil in her anger. "Well my Raiders weren't obviously ready for you this time. I'll give it a little time to perfect their skills and to broaden their ranks a little. I'm not foolish enough to appear on my own against you lot without any preparation am I?" "Better believe it," Ry replied, "otherwise we'd be forced to kick your butt again!" The voice retorted, "Yes well, you don't concern me for the moment. I'm more concerned with the fate of my minion here." The team was bewildered. "Look!" Bishop cried and pointed at Thanos. The frog was glowing and the light had surrounded Thanos. He was frozen in place with a frantic look in his eye. "You mean you hadn't worked it out by now?" Zen was astonished. "Why, Thanos was my creature all along. A creature I no longer need. I created him to be the ultimate engine of destruction. He has the power to destroy reality itself!" The team raced to Thanos' aid, but it was no use. They could do nothing to break the frog from his grip. "It'll do no good you know. The trap is complete. He betrayed me and this is the price he pays!" "And just how did he betray you???" Hairbutt yelled, "By not turning on his friends?" The voice almost spat "Friends! No he betrayed me long before now. I created him in the image of Thanos from Marvel Comics quite some time ago. I gave him the power to split the universe. Just like the infinity gems. But I..uh..erred. Somehow he became a bit...human. And the warring sides of his programmed brain sent him a little loopy. That’s why his thoughts and actions are so odd. And he wasted his mighty powers on trifles! Like the bat and bag he carried. When he could accomplish anything!" Zen paused. "He also became more rebellious as well. To temper that I planted the thought in his head that I held something of his. Something that would destroy or condemn him if he rebelled. His mind, though, couldn't exactly visualize the concept. Sometimes he thought it was the very essence of him, sometimes a soul. The last a frog! And so a frog I gave him. Now everyone, say Bye-bye to our friend Thanos!" They stared in horror, as the glow grew more intense, then with a screaming sound, he seemed to dissipate. "What have you done to him????" Arty screamed, tears in her eyes. "Let’s just say he's having a little jaunt across the dimensions. And as the dimensions are infinite, I suppose that’s how long he'll be travelling." Zen laughed evilly. Hairbutt strode forward, a determined almost dread expression on his face. "This isn't over Zen. We'll avenge Thanos and finish your stinking plans for this. You are gonna regret everything you've ever done and I'll make sure, when you realize that you have nothing left, that you are in torment forever!" The others stared at the Hippo through their anguish. His voice was chilling and his glare of determination was like a laser. The reply came back from the ether. "We'll see...." And then was gone. Hairbutt turned to the others and they stepped back involuntarily from his expression. "Would you believe...I need a drink?" he stated. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 19 The team was arrayed along the bar. Silent for the moment. Those who felt like it with a drink in front of them. Suddenly "Hairbutt spoke, "I'll get the bastard for this! And somehow, someway, we'll find Than again." Patience piped up, "A good point but our recent battle and the loss of Than does bring up a good question. What do we do now? Are we going to try and find Zen? Than? Try and get back to the Weilandverse? Stay here?" After all I have plans.... she thought "Well I think we're stuck here," he replied. The others nodded. "Its not so bad. We have somewhere to stay and I happened to find that safe full of money buried in the wall. I guess we stay here for the moment and run a bloody pub." "What about Than?" Bishop cut in despondently. The hippo pondered. "There's not much we can do for him at the moment," he replied, "That doesn't mean we'll stop trying to find a way to rescue him, though." The Hippo swore. "And Zen must pay for this! I'll ram his smug git expression right up his.." "Yes we know," Arty wearily replied, "But do we go after Zen?" The Hippo looked around, "What does everyone think? Az you're awfully quiet." Az looked at the Hippo and then turned back to the counter. Just staring. "I'm too tired to think right now..." She murmured. Well as I haven't said too much," Ry answered, "Lets just wait and lick our wounds. He'll come to us sooner or later. We'll just have to keep an eye out for him." "I agree..." Sil added, "We have what we need and this dimension is as good as any other to live. Besides we need the time to.... Work a few things out." His glance strayed to Azangel. The Hippo thought about it. "I suppose that’s the best we can do about it. We'll just have to be Sentinent. Keep a watch for Zen or his Raiders and stop him from ever accomplishing his evil plans!" Bish chirped up, "That makes us the J Street Sentinels I supposed...." He laughed. "Yeah, whatever." And Hairbutt drained his glass dry. ------------------- From the room in limbo, Guardian watched. Good, he thought. It's about time. Things will be very interesting from hereon. He turned and viewed the figures he had just carved. A fine addition to the collection, he thought. Carefully he placed them a shelf, next to the other shelves. Last, he picked up a carved figure of Thanos. You, I'll save for later. And with that he placed the figure in a drawer with other, half finished figures. Things will be VERY interesting, he thought again. With that he turned and faded away. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter 20 The hippo finishes his drink and wanders over to the bar for another. Taking this as their cue that the meeting is adjourned, the others start to wander off in different directions as well. Patience interrupts. "AHEM... Our first official order of business, since there's nothing we can do about Thanos...should be finding that little twit, Wes." Anything to get our minds off Thanos... She thinks. "I don't like the fact that he just up and vanished on us. And to do it during our grand opening yet!!!" "Well, he IS a ghost. Isn't that what they do best - vanish?" laughs Bishop. "I thought we could trust him!" Hair adds, looking down at the floor miserably. "We all did, Hair. It's not your fault...is it?" a brief pause as Artie looks at Hairbutt suspiciously. "You didn't use your power on him, did you? He WAS pretty annoying...but that's no excuse to get rid of him!" "Of COURSE NOT! Why would I get rid of a bartender I didn't have to PAY?" replies Hairbutt. "Ah. Good point." concedes Artie. "Any idea where to start looking for him?" ------------------- While the other members of the JSS bicker about the vanishing ghost, the ghost in question is screaming his lungs out. "Guys, I'm right here! GUYS! HELP ME! " "They can not hear you. Now...you will be silent, little spirit, or I shall destroy you. I have not yet finished my work here. When I am done, I will release you. But if you interfere again, your fate will be MUCH worse than simply being a wandering spirit." hisses a cold voice from all around Wes. Wes shudders and looks around for the source of the voice. He can make out no solid objects in the darkness where he is being held. As the darkness swirls around him he realizes there is nothing around him "They can not hear you. Now...you will be silent, little spirit, or I shall destroy you. I have not yet finished my work here. When I am done, I will release you. But if you interfere again, your fate will be MUCH worse than simply being a wandering spirit." hisses a cold voice from all around Wes. Wes shudders and looks around for the source of the voice. He can make out no solid objects in the darkness where he is being held. As the darkness swirls around him he realizes there is nothing around him EXCEPT for the darkness. Wes considers shouting for help again, taking his chances with the faceless voice he keeps hearing around him... He quickly decides against it as from the darkness a figure appears; holding in one hand a human heart and what looks to Wes like a glass dagger. The dagger glows from inside with a reddish light, and Wes falls silent, wondering if a ghost can die again... ----------------- Pat's head snaps up and surveys the room quickly. Hair and the others look at her quizzically. "What's wrong?" "I heard something...very faint. A mental cry for help." replies Pat. Her brow furrows as she searches. "It's gone now." "Are you sure?" asks Sil. "I heard nothing..." Pat glowers at him for a moment. "Positive...but like I said, it's gone now." "Well, if there's no other subjects to cover..." Hair pauses. "This meeting is adjourned! Goodnight everyone." As the group breaks up and wanders around the pub, Az gets up and heads towards the stairs that lead to the bedrooms. --------------- Silver Lantern rushes over and stops her at the first step. "Azangel, a moment please, I must speak with you." Az turns and looks at the Protector of the Universe, their amalgamated universe now lost somewhere in the vastness of ALL. Silver begins. "I am concerned for you. Your recent behavior has been...reckless. I know you are not content being a woman, but that is no excuse for your excessively violent nature of late. You nearly killed Dream World...and you seemed to be enjoying it. We are HEROES; we have a code to follow, and you nearly broke that code. You know the words as well as any of us, 'With great power comes great responsibility'. Part of that responsibility is the preservation of life...all life." Azangel continues to stare at Silver Lantern silently. Silver continues. " I know that you're tired and this is not the best time to discuss this matter, but please think on my words. To continue this way, you risk losing your honor, and in doing so, losing yourself. Whatever is troubling you, we can address it together. After you rest, let us speak further." Azangel turns away and continues upstairs without saying a word. Silver Lantern watches him...her walk away. What was wrong with Az really? And why didn't the others seem to notice? He sat at a table in the corner alone. He was concerned for all of them. Once upstairs, Az immediately reaches for the light switch and dims the lights to where she is in almost total darkness. She closes the door, and walks over to stand in front of the bed. "Finally" hisses a quiet voice as cold as ice. "The Silver one suspects...but he knows not what he suspects. He seems formidable, and so he must be eliminated as soon as I regain my strength." As the voice continues, shadows begin to ooze out of the joints of Az's armor like oil, and as they do, they coalesce into the center of the room. As the last of the shadows leave Az, she collapses on the bed like a puppet with its strings cut. "She will regain consciousness soon, but all the necessary adjustments have already been made. She will remember nothing of the truth." speaks the shadows with a touch of Wes's voice. The missing ghost's face appears in the shadows, and quickly vanishes as it is pulled under the surface by clawed fingers. "You cannot leave yet. Not until I have a proper host." The shadows take the form of a jaguar, walk through the wall and disappear into the night. ________________________________________________________________ |
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