Clanverse: Post Shadow Morn Celebrations

From before I had finalised the plans:
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“You know,” She panted as she gazed the skies, having never appreciated the clouds racing across the blue skies as much as she did now, “I’m not sorry that’s over.”

He chuckled, finally taking the chance to read the name on her DuelDMU jacket, “Me either.” He replied as his Silver Fang and her White Queen discussed something that neither of them could hear, “I’m Luke by the way.”

“Alyss.” She grinned, shaking his head, “Nice to finally get a name.” She giggled. Her White Queen turned to look at her questioningly. “Hi, umm, thank you for your help, but I’m not sure how to send you back...” Alyss told the Queen who gave her a smug look, glowed white and disappeared, Silver Fang following.

Alyss and Luke sat down on the steps of the SU, exhaustion suddenly catching up with them, grinning at each other. “So,” Luke said, watching his partner in battle carefully, “We can’t say that the uni year didn’t end with a bang...” He commented jokingly and was rewarded by Alyss’s laughter.

“No,” Alyss replied, smiling, “No we can’t.” She leant back so she could see the sky again, “What do you think that was?” She asked, mostly ignoring the student nurses who were rushing around to help the students who had been attacked by the shadows, even if she couldn’t help but notice they gave the Duelists a wide berth.

“No clue.” Luke admitted, as confused as she was, having summoned Silver Fang into their duel just moments before the odd miasma had settled and having been surprised to find that his beast had started attacking the shadow creatures without orders. “It could have been anything...”

“I wonder if we’ll get extra marks for defending the uni...” Alyss commented, wistfully thinking.

“Doubt it.” Luke snorted, “Would be nice though. Either that or I wouldn’t say no to a reduction on student fees.”

“Yeah right.” One of the other student Duelists, who had been fighting down by the library, commented as he and his opponent came and joined them on the steps, “A university? Give anyone a break on their fees...”

“Point.” Luke sighed, “I’m Luke, this is Alyss.”

“We know Alyss.” One of the Duelists chuckled, also sporting a DuelDMU hoodie, “I’m Tate and he’s Lyle.”

“You’re not serious.” Luke spluttered and Alyss chuckled, having heard of these two but never actually fought them herself.

“Blame the Dueling club. They decided that since we normally tag duel, they were going to nickname us something intelligent like that.” Lyle snorted.

“And once it stuck, it stuck.” Tate nodded.

“It could be worse; we could be Jessie and James, or Butch and Cassidy.” Lyle added.

“True.” Luke nodded.

They slipped into a tired silence for a while, just watching what was going around them. Alyss did get up at one point to offer her help, but since the injured student had flinched away from her, she’d rejoined the group on the steps to watch.

“So now what?” Tate asked after a while, bored of getting odd looks from other students.

“Pub?” Lyle asked.

“Pub sounds good.” Alyss nodded, “Or it would if I had any money.”

“I’ll pay.” Lyle snorted, “Let’s get out of here before someone calls the cops on us.”

The four of them could agree on that and they wandered off, heading into town and the Witherspoons, which did cheap food and good booze.

LINE_RECOGNITON_HAS_GONE_AGAIN

By the time the cops finally found them, wanting to ask them the same questions they’d asked every Duelist they’d found that had been caught up in the attack on the uni, the four of them had gotten rather drunk.

“We’d like the four of you to come with us please. We’d like to ask you some questions privately.” One of the officers said, pleasantly surprised when the inebriated Duelists got up without a fuss, other than one of them complaining he wanted to finish his (obviously unnecessary) drink, and another of the boys getting him to shut up by glowering at him and the girl needing a hand to her feet, having tried to keep up with the guys and failed.

“No ploblem...porblem...” The girl chuckled, “I can’t say problem.”

“You just did.” One of the guys sniggered back.

“No trouble officfers.” Another of the guys chuckled, “But you might have to ask me, Alyss can’t hold her drink.” 

“I can!” The girl protested, glancing at her glass before they moved away from the table, “But it’s empty.”

“I think the four of you have had enough to drink today.” One of the cops said, amused, as they headed outside and round a corner, out of side of the majority of people on the high street. “Now, can I get your real names? For the record.”

“Dinah Roberts, aka Alyss.” The girl replied, slurring her first name and finding it amusing.

“Luke Hembrow.” Luke replied without slurring, being the most sober one of the four, if not by much.

“Nicolas Penbrook, aka Tate.” Tate nodded, trying to appear presentable, even if he had mangled the word officer earlier.

“Alexander Philips, aka Lyle.” Lyle didn’t even try. The officers looked like they could see for themselves how drunk the four of them were.

“Tate and Lyle?” The second officer looked disbelieving.

“Blame the Dueling Club.” Lyle shrugged.

The first officer nodded, “I’m Louis Stanfield, this is my partner George Michaels. We need to ask you about the incident in front of DeMontfort University.”

“Some weird creatures attacked. We called our monsters out, somehow and we won.” Tate’s celebratory mood infected the other Duelists and they grinned, thinking about a job well done.

“You called your monsters somehow?” Officer Michaels asked.

“Luke’s Silver Fang was already out.” Alyss explained slowly and carefully, so she didn’t mess it up, “My White Queen appeared from a card in my hand. I don’t know how. I got attacked and she saved me... how did it work for you two?” She asked Tate and Lyle.

“Summoned Skull and Meteor Dragon were on the field as part of our duel and when the skies darkened they started blasting those creatures into tiny pieces.” Tate explained, “They were really good at it too.”

Officer Stanfield nodded, “Did you use any field cards in your battles? Anything that might have clouded the skies?”

“I only use one field card and it can’t do that.” Alyss shook her head, “And Luke didn’t use one...”

“I have field cards, but none of them affect the skies.” Tate shook his head, “They make mountains instead.”

“And I don’t play field cards, I’m waiting for the next release.” Lyle interrupted.

“Do you mind if we look through your decks to check that?” Officer Michaels asked.

All four hesitated. “You’re not going to confezscate... confaiscate... take them away?” Alyss asked, worried.

“Ten to fifteen minutes at most, and we need to check your bags for any cards that could cause the chaos earlier.”

“You think a Duelist did it?” Tate looked insulted.

“We guessed they would.” Luke poked him, emboldened by the Carlsberg in his system, handing over his beast deck. “Once they’ve checked our stuff we can get back to celebrating.” He continued with a shrug.

“Be careful with my White deck.” Alyss told the officers as the four of them shrugged off their bags and handed their decks over.

“We will.” Officer Stanfield nodded, starting to check the decks as his partner checked the bags.

Lyle snorted, sitting down, “I dunno, save the uni and we’re the criminals.”

“Stow it Lyle.” Tate snorted at him, watching as Stanfield checked his deck and handed it back. “We didn’t summon that purple stuff so we’re ok.”

“Yeah, I feel sorry for however did though.” Alyss’s chuckle was a little vindictive. “Every Duelist at that uni’s gunna be pissed at them.”

“Every Duelist in Leicester.” Officer Michaels corrected. “We have men out everywhere, talking to Duelists from all around town.”

“Wow. That would need a really big projector.” Alyss sounded awed.

“We think they were doing it in concert with others, or hacked the local Kaiba Corp network and caused every Duel Disk in the area to malfunction.” Stanfield handed back Alyss’s deck and the female Duelist hugged it before putting it in her deck holster.

“I suppose that could work.” Luke nodded, “So what’re the Police going to do? What if it happens again? You can’t ban people from playing games.”

“We’ll come up with something.” Officer Michaels shrugged, still checking their bags.

“We could stop the creatures again.” Tate posed, overconfident in his inebriation, “We’re good at battling those things.”

“The police will come up with a plan.” Michaels stated again, half amused and half frustrated by the drunk ramblings of the four they were trying to question.

“Fine.” Tate looked insulted.

“They don’t want us showing them up.” Lyle chuckled.

“Guys!” Luke protested, “They still have two of our decks! Be nice!”

Stanfield couldn’t help but be amused that he was more concerned about his deck then their bags.

“What else do you need to know ociffers... offices... sirs?” Alyss asked. “Do you need to know any more details?”

“We just need your home address, term time address and contact numbers.” Stanfield shook his head, deliberately leaving Lyle’s deck till last, to make sure Lyle stayed polite.

“I can write it... maybe I can’t...” Alyss paused, “I have paper in my bag. I don’t know how well I could write right now.”

“I’ll take them down while my partner finishes checking your bags.” Stanfield said, handing back the last decks and taking some paper out.

They took the details and once the Duelists’ bags were cleared, the officers offered the students an escort home, stating that they’d rather do it now, than have to be called back later because the four of them couldn’t stand up.

They took the offer, at least as far as Alyss’s flat. The boys didn’t make it home. Instead they ended up crashed out on the floor of the woman’s kitchen.

Better Shadow Treaty Preview

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright herding this lot around?” Yugi worried at Tristan as he watched the last few refugees gather their bags and suitcases and head for the rooms they had been assigned.

“I should be asking you the same thing.” Tristan scowled at him in reply, “Are you really sure this is a good idea?”

“Taking in the refugees?” Yugi blinked at him, confused.

“No, heading back to England.” Tristan rolled his eyes, “Especially with only the four of you.”

“Five.” Yugi reminded his friend, who had been adamant that he should be going with them, “I have Yami too.”

“You and Yami only count for one again now, remember?” Tristan grouched in response, causing Yugi to let out a huff.

“Yes, but we’ll have Harry, Joey and Hermione for backup.” Yugi stated, counting them off on his fingers as he did so, “And we went over this last night, something’s bound to go wrong and we shouldn’t take too many people in case it does.”

“I still don’t think you should be going at all.” Tristan poked him, catching the attention of the last stragglers, who stopped to watch the altercation. “You should be here, dealing with this lot, keeping Industrial Illusions afloat and…you’re not going to agree with me, are you?”

“As long as Voldemort is hunting Shadow Touched, he’s my problem.” Yugi shook his head. “It was our,” He gestured to the Puzzle, “Screw up that created them, it’s our responsibility to protect them.”

“You couldn’t have known that Bakura was there.” Tristan pointed out, poking Yugi again, “Or what he was going to do. You’re walking into a trap because of something that wasn’t your fault!”

“Tristan…” Yugi trailed off. He knew his friend was just worried about them but they had hashed out every idea and talked them over to death. This was the plan that allowed for the greatest margin of success.

Harry had to go, no one else could get the orb out of the Hall of Prophecy. If Harry was going, so were Yugi and Yami. With his link partner going into danger and the enemy able to summon monsters equivalent to the Egyptian God Monsters, Yugi had to go, if only to ensure Harry would return.

There had not really been any question of Joey not going. He had had Yugi’s back for nigh on a decade, there was no way in hell he was going to let Yugi and Harry walk into danger without him now.

Which left the debate over the last spot.

Tristan had put himself forward before anyone else could and was still fuming over how quickly he had been shot down. It was his own fault, he knew that. He had had no magic before the gang had been split up by the Ministries of various countries. He hadn’t practised with his Shadow Magic since he had gained access to it. He didn’t have a wand, or any training with one and he was not used to the Magical Community in England.

He had the physical strength, but in this, just as he had been in every other battle his friends had fought, he was utterly useless and it was driving him to distraction.

With Kaiba taking himself out the running, since he needed to run his company, Ombre refusing to risk the safety of anyone else by going with them while her control was shot and Ryou stepping back for much the same reason, that left Mokuba, Luna, the Weasleys and Hermione.

Kaiba had nixed any thoughts his little brother had of going. Mokuba was needed to help prevent Kaiba Corp falling into complete collapse. Unspoken was that Seto refused to let Mokuba go into battle without him there to fight at his side. There was no way the elder Kaiba, who was his little brother’s guardian, would allow Mokuba to go. The elder Kaiba knew Mokuba would eventually forgive him for the oath he had extracted from his little brother to prevent just that.

If Mokuba wasn’t going, then it was decided that no one under Harry’s age should go, much to Ginny’s outrage, though Luna looked as if she had expected it.

The only hesitation Weasley twins had had was that they were looking for one person, not two, and while they were skilled at tricks and treats, they were not amongst the group that had trained for combat for the last year.

Finally it had been decided that Hermione, who had trained alongside the others, worked on her Shadow skills until they were second nature alongside Kari and knew spells far beyond her age level would take the last spot.

Ron had exploded with rage, launched a long, ranting and mostly rude tirade against the group, and then stalked off back to the castle.

Tristan, in all honesty, had wanted to do much the same but knew it wouldn’t have helped anything.

“I need you here.” Yugi reminded him, “You’re the most ‘normal’ person here. You saw how the refugees acted towards me, it was ‘Yes, Mr. Mutou’ and ‘thank you, Mr Mutou’ and ‘we’re really grateful for this, your highness.’ They’ll listen to me, but they won’t actually settle in if they think I’m hovering around. You can help them with that better than I can.”

Yugi did have a point, Tristan thought as the stragglers decided that the argument was over and started moving again. And that wasn’t the only task he had been entrusted with. Yugi was leaving the Millennium Items, all except his Puzzle and Draco’s Ring, in his care.

“Fine.” Tristan smirked slightly, “But when you get back, I’ll have full control over your people and your Millennium Items. Then you’ll have to duel me for them.”

“Don’t even joke.” Yugi groaned, even as a smile graced his features, “The last thing I need is you going villain on me.”

“Not that,” Yami appeared in his ghostly form at Yugi’s side, causing Tristan to jump out of his skin, “I’m too worried.” He said with a confident smirk, “You still can’t duel your way out of a paper bag and it’s been how long?”

“Damn it Yami! Warning!” Tristan snarled at him. When Yami continued to look amused, Tristan turned to Yugi, “You lot had better come back in one piece, because I refuse to be the one to tell the Ishtars they have to wait another five thousand years to send Atem on.”

He’d meant it as a joke, but Yugi flinched and Yami’s amusement fled at his simple statement. “It won’t be that long.” Yugi murmured, looking at the floor, “Just until the war is over.”

“Are you sure you can’t get Yami a new body?” Tristan asked, “I mean you managed it by accident last time.”

“We don’t know how the magicks merged back in first year.” Yugi shook his head, “We don’t know what Bakura was trying to do and Joey’s forgotten what he was trying to cast. Trying to recreate the effect could hurt more people than it helps.”

“But there has to be other ways.” Tristan pointed out. “Voldemort...”

“I am not using that ritual.” Atem snapped, more furious at Voldemort for his actions than at Tristan’s suggestion he try the same thing, “I don’t know where my father is buried for one and I wouldn’t disturb his rest again.” He looked at Yugi, “And I won’t ask Yugi to disinter his family for me.”

“And everything else we’ve had recommended runs the risk of the body being disenchanted during a fight.” Yugi finished, not entirely sure he could bring himself to do so, even if Yami had asked.

“So that’s it then?” Tristan asked, his own good humour fleeing, “You’ve made up your minds? Defeat Voldemort and then that’s it?”

“It’s not but I’ve been around long enough.” Atem nodded, slightly dejectedly, “Yugi doesn’t need me anymore and it’s not fair to ask him to host me.”

“I’ve never minded.” Yugi reminded his darker self.

“I know, but I can’t go back to living like this, not again. It was fine before I had my own form, but...” Yami trailed off for a moment and then, “If it wasn’t for Voldemort and the war, we’d have gone already.”

“We’d better go grab our bag.” Yugi’s comment came completely out of left wing, but Tristan could understand the need to change the subject, “We’ll see you later.” With that Yami faded into the Puzzle and Yugi fled the room.

“Shit.” Honda snarled, wheeling around and punching the nearest wall, “Damn Neos, damn Bakura and damn Voldemort!” With each ‘damn’ he punched the wall again, only stopping when he realised he was damaging the plasterboard.

He pulled his hand out of the dent and winced when he saw that his knuckles were bloody.

“Damn the crappy building work too.” He growled as he stalked off to get his hand treated.

Author Note: Sorry

Sorry for no update on the 3rd, I was distracted hatching many many many many Pokemon Eggs. And working on the new Shadow Treaty chapter. Mostly hatching eggs though.

Preview - Ennead: Season Zero: Chapter 27

“Nice shooting!” Jou high fived Honda, grinning as he did so.

Bakura ignored the characters in favour of watching the other player. This wasn’t Yugi, her soul was in the Birdtail figure on the table. So who was this? Yugi had called this new spirit ‘Anesan.’ That thought brought something Yugi had said to her to the forefront of her mind.

“Yugi no Oneesan, I presume?” Bakura asked irritably, having been so focused on victory, she had forgotten about the other spirit.

“Bakura-san.” Oneesan nodded, irritation obvious, “I wanted information, not my friends stuffed into lead figurines.”

“It’s just Bakura.” The other Millennium spirit corrected, “And I don’t know, they look better like that.” Bakura smirked at her, “And now you’re the only one in that body. You should be grateful.”

“I’d rather share this vessel with its rightful owner for a thousand years than steal it away from her for even a moment.” Oneesan scowled, “I was happy to sit back and let Imoto-chan play, even when I realised there was more going on here than just a game. But you attacked our friends and sealed her soul into her figurine so now you have to deal with me.”

“She was sealed at her own request, I will remind you.” Bakura tutted at her opposite number, “Do you think you can handle the pressure of having the lives of your ‘sister’ and your friends in your hands where she couldn’t?”

“I don’t lose so their lives are in no danger.” Oneesan informed Bakura, who smirked slightly, enjoying the game even more with someone facing her who wasn’t even slightly cowed by the powers at work.

“Then let the game continue.” Bakura crowed, the Shadows in full swing now, bringing the board and figurines on it to life properly. Oneesan felt her little sister balk to start with, as the Shadows first moved, and braced Imoto-chan’s mind, glad she was able to do that despite the separation.

Yugi looked up at Oneesan and smiled gratefully, not saying a word about the issue to her friends in order to help them keep calm. 

“It’s a new round of combat.” Bakura informed them, “And though he just lost his hand, Zorc looks almost uninjured. Plus things are looking worse for the Adventurers.” As she said that the hand shifted and split, taking the form of two monsters.

“Any piece of my flesh cut from my body transforms into monsters under my control!” Zorc informed them, sounding smug. “Minions. Deal with them, I grow bored.”

He turned to leave and Yugi stepped forward, wanting this over as soon as possible. “Are you running away?” She demanded, “Stand and fight us!”

“I have a special place set up for our final battle.” Zorc informed her, “Make your way to my castle while the fires of hate still burn within you, if you can.” With that he took off, flying ahead to the castle.

“Jerk! Creep! Power Gamer!” Jou roared insults after him, “Just wait! We’ll get to the castle no matter what it takes!”

“We’re playing right into Bakura’s script.” Yugi mentally grimaced, “We really are stuck in her game world.”

‘You’re right.’ Yugi jumped a mile and wheeled around to look up at her elder sister, shocked when she heard Oneesan’s voice echoing in her mind, ‘Bakura made Zorc appear when your guard was down, then she was able to seal your souls into figurines. Everything’s gone according to her plan. She’s a Game Master to watch out for.’

“I think she’s cheating.” Yugi informed her elder sister, needing to warn her. “Whenever she rolls she gets a critical.”

‘I know.’ Oneesan replied, delighted that she could finally talk to her little sister outside of the soul rooms despite the situation. ‘And I can stop her.’

Deleted Shadow Treaty Scene

Yugi frowned as he realised he didn’t have very much to pack. Bar the Millennium Items, his wand, his deck and his Duel Disk, everything he owned had been destroyed in the fires. Everything he had outside of those ten things had been requisitioned from the Ministry or bequeathed to him by Pegasus’s will.

“When this is over, I’m letting Tea drag me shopping.” Yugi commented, earning himself a chuckle from his other self who had been pacing the bedroom and had only stopped because he was getting in Yugi’s way.

‘Perhaps I’ll stick around long enough to watch.’ Atem sent over the link in return, wincing as he felt Yugi’s mood turn from nervous worry to misery. ‘I can’t stay Yugi, not now.’

“I know.” Yugi admitted, sitting on the bed and staring at the destroyed deck on his bedside. “I don’t... It’s not fair.”

‘No.’ Atem admitted, sitting next to his lighter self, ‘It’s not but I’ve been around long enough. You don’t need me anymore. It’s not fair to you to have to host me anymore and I can’t go back to living like this, not again. If it wasn’t for Voldemort and the war, we’d have gone already.’

The truth hurt, but Atem was right. Yugi had already considered taking Atem and the Millennium Items to Egypt, getting it over with and removing the seven golden treasures of his ancient life from evil’s hands forever. But they had promised. Sworn that they wouldn’t go until the war was over and Sirius returned from England.

“Once Voldemort’s done. I promise Yami.” Yugi smiled sadly, “Once he’s done, we’ll go and you’ll finally be free.”

‘Yugi...’ The sounds of someone knocking on the door interrupted the Pharaoh before he could finish what he was saying.

“Come in.” Yugi spoke, his voice trembling slightly with the tears he refused to let fall. Others had lost so much more than him, he was only going to have to give up what he shouldn’t have had for this long anyway, he had no right to complain.

Harry entered, a full backpack on his back, sympathy on his features. “Hey. Hearing half a conversation is weird.”

“Sorry.” Yugi murmured, looking at the floor.

“You don’t have to come with me.” Harry tried offering again, “I’m sure if you stuck here and asked the Japanese Ministry they could help you get a body for Atem and then he wouldn’t have to go.”

“Harry.” Yugi’s head shot up, tears forced back by the anger now gracing his face. “No. We went over this.”

‘You’re not going. Not alone. And not without us.’ Atem agreed, ‘Besides we don’t know how the magicks merged back in first year. We don’t know what Bakura was trying to do and Joey’s forgotten what he was trying to cast. Trying to recreate the effect could hurt more people than it helps.’

“But there has to be other ways.” Harry protested, “Voldemort...”

‘I am not using that ritual.’ Atem snapped, more furious at Voldemort for his actions than at Harry’s suggestion he try the same thing, ‘I don’t know where my father is buried for one and I wouldn’t disturb his rest again.’ He looked at Yugi, ‘And I won’t ask Yugi to disinter his family for me.’

“Everything else we’ve had recommended runs the risk of the body being disenchanted during a fight.” Yugi replied, knowing that even if Yami had been willing to ask, he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to do it.

“You’re set on this, aren’t you?” Harry asked, confused considering he knew Atem wanted to leave about as much as Yugi wanted him to go.

“Unless a miracle happens, we’ve no choice.” Yugi’s tone turned miserable again, “I can’t ask Yami to stay, not now. If he still had his own body...”

‘If I still had my body, I wouldn’t even be thinking about leaving.’ Atem let out what would have been a heavy sigh, if he could have taken in the breath to release for it, ‘But we have more important things to think about first.’

“The prophecy.” Harry nodded, knowing his friends considered helping him more important than anything else. No matter what he said and did. It both reassured him and made him feel guilty, knowing Yami was pushing his own existence aside to aid him. “You realise it’s probably a trap, right?”

“We went over this last night, Harry.” Atem took control of the body and moved over to the window, watching the kids from the refugee group playing on the plain below, “We know what this is. We have a backup plan, remember?”

Plan B. Harry smiled slightly as he remembered it. There was nothing that could match Yugi and Yami in strength when it came to the Shadows. Nothing that could stop them when they were at full strength as they were now, not with Zorc gone. The Pharaoh planned on using that power, not to destroy but to help them escape. And possibly take a few Death Eaters out on the way.

“They’re not going to know what hit them.” Harry chuckled slightly, already imagining the sort of power he had felt in the theme park used against Voldemort. There was no way, no matter what any prophecy said, that Yugi and Yami could lose to the Dark Lord.

Fate could be changed after all. Kaiba had proven that.

With that in mind, it was ridiculous, the risk that they were taking to get a hold of the prophecy sphere. It was only to prevent their adversary getting another tool to use against them that they were even thinking of walking into the enemy’s territory. Otherwise Harry would have considered leaving it rather than risk the safety of his friends. It wasn’t like anyone he cared about was on the line if he didn’t go and get it after all. Not unless it held some secret to defeating the Dark Lord for good.

“Trap or not, we’ll win.” Yugi’s confidence was shaky, but it was there, bolstering Harry’s nerves a little, “We have to.”

“We had a bad turn, that’s all.” Atem agreed, determined to win, if only to protect those he cared about and those who now looked to his light for their safety, “The game’s not over yet.”

“Then let’s go.”

LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN

Author Note: NaNo2013

So that's NaNo over for another year. I actually finished on the 20th at around 2am but I thought I'd update in increments for you guys. I've left it open at the end for a reason. I want to be able to play around in this universe next NaNo or when I'm bored and they have so many more stories to tell that I'm looking forward to it.

Must admit it's been awesome to see my reader count shoot up over the course of this project, I was wondering if any of you have any opinions on what's gone on. Feel free to post if you do. I've left the comments open for everyone.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 30

“Well you see, that wasn’t our only base. We have more. They’re just waiting on orders from me. Grabbing all of you at once was too big, too obvious. Taking you lot one at a time, now, that’s the route to take.” He gloated, “And you just made yourself the first victim.”

“You do realise, if I disappear, my friends will hunt you down and several of them aren’t like me. I don’t kill, they’ll shred you.” Speedster pointed out, “I’m the rule keeper, the voice of reason. You take me out, you’re opening yourself and many others to a world of hurt.”

“I don’t really care about anyone else.” He smirked at her, “And who would you prefer we grabbed. The soldier? The martial artist? The film student?” Speedster growled slightly, “How about the Gamer or the new freak?”

“Don’t you dare touch them.” Speedster could feel the power rising again at the thought of her friends in danger, but even as she tried to clamp down on it she knew that she wouldn’t be able to control it for too long without Luna around to help her keep her temper.

“We don’t need to.” The man informed her, “You’re here. We can start with you and believe me, we have so many experiments to run you’ll do just fine for months.”

“You honestly think you’ll be able to hold me for months?” Speedster asked, amused even as she fought with the growing power. “You couldn’t do it for three minutes, yet alone months.”

“It’s really simple.” The man shrugged it off, “All we have to do is stop you running and you’re caught. You’re not that special after all.” He chuckled. “Now,” He looked at the man behind her, “Take Miss Speedster to the jet. We’ll be going up to the Scotland base and it will be easier for all concerned if she doesn’t have to follow the plane.”

“Come on.” The gun nudged her, causing her to move towards the plane. As she started climbing the steps, she faked a stumble, tripping up the stairs and causing the barrel to lose its position. She swept out the gunman’s legs before darting away, getting halfway across the hanger before he opened fire, getting off six shots.

Only one hit, piercing her left side. She let out a pained cry and tripped, rolling as she hit the floor. Her hand going to her side as she continued rolling, managing to get to her feet, pain coursing through her, and keep going.

“You idiot! Are you trying to kill her!” The new leader demanded as the gunman started shooting again, missing with every shot. “Shit!” He yelped as Speedster started her tornado trick, managing to sweep up every human in the hanger in the blue, glowing whirlpool of energy, before flinging them in every direction.

The new leader groaned as he opened his eyes only to realise that he was collapsed at the bottom of a wall, being glowered at by Speedster, who had a gold aura that kept turning itself off and on, her eyes flickering between green and red too.

“Wha...what’s happening to you?” He asked, staring.

“Run.” She suggested, her voice harsh not just from the pain, but from something deeper. “Now.”

He took her advice, darting out of the hanger and into the waiting arms of the police, who, alerted by Rowena and her men who had tracked Speedster’s phone signal to the airstrip, were waiting for them.

“Sa...Save me!” The man begged, pointing towards the hanger, trembling in fear.

When the police entered, Speedster left, hanging around just long enough to ensure they arrested the rest of the men before shooting off to check on her friends. With the man in charge in custody she felt it was finally safe to go and make sure they were okay.

Her phone went off, alerting her to a text message as she darted through Newcastle, taking the long way round and burning off some of the energy that had been trying to take her over. It let her know where her friends had been sent to be checked over. Noting that it was a normal hospital, not some hidden lab in the middle of nowhere, she headed there, instead of for the ruined base.

The moment she stepped through the door, the nurses were on her, noting the blood and dealing with the bullet wound. Then it was off to the secure room where the others were waiting to be looked over.

“Speeds!” Tails looked relieved, grinning at her. “Another war wound?” She chuckled, gesturing at her side.

“My first one in this world.” Speedster corrected, pausing when a very tired but worried looking Luna stepped forward, moving towards her cautiously.

“You...” Luna raised her hand as if to slap her, hesitated for a moment and then lowered it, “Juliet... you...” Luna trailed off, as it not sure what to say.

“It’s over.” Speedster promised, “They won’t hurt us anymore. That’s their entire leadership dealt with.”

“You’re sure?” Mako demanded sharply, worried about possible attacks while they were here.

“He said as much himself.” Speedster nodded, glad to be able to reassure her friends of that little fact.

“Good.” Mako relaxed as much as she ever could in hospitals considering her phobia of the places. “I could do with a good rest.”

“As could the rest of us.” Luna agreed, dragging Speedster over to a chair by her and Tails. “We really need this break.”

“You’ll get one.” All of them jumped as Rowena stepped into the room, looking around and counting heads for a moment before smiling slightly, “Ah good, I see you’re all here.”

“Why I oughta...” Gold got to his feet, only to sit back down again at a snap from Speedster.

“No, it’s fine, Speedster.” Rowena shook her head, “It was us who had the leak that led to today’s events. It’s only right that he be mad at me.”

“What happens now?” Luna asked her, “To the men? Are they just going to go to jail?”

“We’ve arrested them.” Rowena informed the group, “And they will be tried and locked away for a very long time. You won’t have to worry about them again. In fact that’s not your job anymore. Your consultancy job regarding this group ended the moment the police arrested them.”

“So we were bait.” Luna got it first.

“Less bait, more an incentive.” Rowena corrected, “Bait suggests that you lot were helpless and quite frankly between the lot of you, there’s not much you can’t do, so I don’t believe it fits.”

“What about the other groups out there?” Speedster asked, “The other ones he talked about? Are we just going to be an ‘incentive’ to draw them in too?”

“Yes, and no.” Rowena frowned slightly, “Once you’re all healed up, we’ll have a proper meeting and settle everything. For now just be reassured by the fact we have men watching the hospital. You won’t get into trouble here.”

“So what, that’s it?” Mako demanded, “Good job, now get better and go home?”

“Pretty much.” Rowena nodded, “Until the next time something insane...” She trailed off as outside the windows darkness seemed to swarm across the skies and spirits appeared out of nowhere, walking the Earth and frightening the civilians outside out of their minds.

Rowena looked out of the window, turned to the group, smiled slightly and, with far too much enthusiasm chuckled as she headed for the door, “Looks like you lot have another job to deal with.” She paused and looked over at Luna, “And this one might be more your speed than hers.” She gestured to Speedster. “Good luck.”

With that she exited the room, leaving the group behind to work out the best plan of action.

“So...” Luna sighed as everyone turned to her, “Who wants to bet my brother has something to do with this?”