Mace sighed deeply; it had been just over 18 hours since their return to their own time and the team was still all crowded round the Med-Bay hoping against hope that the “tête de porc-épic” – no, in English that should be ‘porcupine-headed’, anyway the strange-looking alien Rhan and the boy Ashen would be successful in bringing Locker out of his coma.
She was exhausted but also knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. Danni had slipped away within minutes of their return, not even stopping to sample any of Jeeves’ specialist coffees, which was so very uncharacteristic of her. She was later to realise that Danni’s prompt and sudden departure had been a well-timed strategic withdrawal.
Anyway, she was doing no good propping up the Med-Bay’s viewing window and she did need to confirm a theory she had regarding their interaction with the past, specifically 1888. She asked Jeeves to contact her immediately if there were any signs of recovery and headed to the Lounge for a chat with the A.I., Frankie.
Almost as soon as she entered the room, a disembodied voice spoke, “Designation: Mace, how may I be of assistance? Perhaps you would like to play a game?” There was an edge of enthusiasm in its voice that forced her to remember that Frankie was now autonomous, a sentient being in her own right and no longer just a well-designed computer interface.
“Frankie, it seems this place has a serious lack of historical reference books and I need to check what impact our actions may have had on history, in particular in relation to 1888 and Jack the Ripper. Would you be willing to help look something up for me? I’d do it myself but I’m not sure I’m seeing straight at the moment..?”
<< Compliance. Of course, I am always happy to be of assistance – is there something specific you would like me to check?>>
Mace sighed and slipped her hands behind her back as she crossed her fingers superstitiously, momentarily ashamed of the childish reflex. She had to know if their actions had managed to change history and preserve a very specific life. “If we were successful, the Ripper should not have killed Marie Kelly, ah I think that may be listed under Mary Jane Kelly? She lived at…”
Before she could finish she heard Frankie sigh, an oh-so-human sound, <<I am sorry Designation: Mace history records a fifth victim, Mary Jane Kelly (who sometimes went by the name Marie Jeanette Kelly) who died on the 9th of November 1888, mutilated in her property by the serial killer designated Jack the Ripper. Do you wish for me to check the details and you can confirm whether they match your own memory of the events?>>
Mace nodded, unable to trust herself to speak. As the details were relayed by Frankie she realised to her anger and disgust that Marie Kelly had still died in the horrible way she remembered.
So, what had happened? Had Quincey not left with the others or had the whole lot of them delayed their hunt for Drakul until November, allowing them to hunt down Marie?
She asked Frankie to search for any evidence that Professor Abram Van Helsing and his companions, the NightWatch had left England for the continent and if so when. After a few minutes of intense searching of historical records Frankie revealed that there was evidence that a group of people that matched their description (after all a woman with a prosthetic leg travelling with an older scholarly gentleman, her ladies’ companion and an American did stand out somewhat) had left Hull on the 3rd of September, bound for Amsterdam.
Subsequent records showed a consistent record of coach hires across Europe heading to Bulgaria and then Transylvania and while Quincey could have returned to England in time to murder Marie Kelly, all indications pointed to him continuing on the journey with the Professor.
No, it seemed her actions had not prevented the violation of Marie Kelly and despite what history recorded, it seemed likely that her murderer had been a copycat killer after all.
She knew that there had been those who’d always believed that Marie had been the primary target because her murder had been different, more vicious, the only victim killed indoors her body had been the most horribly mutilated and her death the reason why the murders had finally stopped. She was by far the most discussed, analysed and hotly debated among all of the Ripper victims and some believed she hadn’t been a Ripper victim at all.
Deep in thought she barely heard Frankie’s analysis that the Balances’ only recorded impact on that year appeared to have been the earthquake under the Houses of Parliament as stated in their report and rumours that Bram Stoker may have written an earlier draft of his novel Dracula that he then subsequently rewrote before it finally saw publication in 1897.
Mace ignored the information, angry at herself for not insisting on staying and trying to prevent the last murder anyway, even though deep down she knew there was no way Danni would have allowed her to interfere. She had to accept it was history; after all, would she have wanted to have remained behind in Victorian London if Danni had insisted on taking the rest of the team back when she did?
Or worse, would they have stayed and tried to make a life for themselves in Victorian England? She shivered, realising that if she’d stayed so would the others – it was the “All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall…” sort of vibe the team had. Then another thought, what then would have happened to Locker if they had stayed? She needed to take her mind off Marie’s fate and something that Danni had said previously suddenly came to mind.
Back in that draft community hall when she had seen the woman with her own facial features, Danni had said that “Agent Sparrow was a member of the Locksley family and a member of the Agincourt Irregulars.”
The Locksley family? Had Danni meant that she was a descendant of Robin of the Hood or Robin of Loxley, the legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film? According to legend, he had been a highly skilled archer and swordsman.
She was familiar with Rémy Loxlei or ‘Archer’ of the French and Belgian L’Avant Garde superhero team and of course the original Bowman in the 1920’s had eventually been identified as Robert Locksley. Was she somehow a descendant of the same family? Was that the reason she’d been trained so extensively in the use of her wrist-bow; some stupid family tradition?
She asked Frankie if she had any information on a group known as the Agincourt Irregulars… To Mace’s surprise it seemed there was an informal group of people, primarily British and French, who practiced archery together (followed apparently by private bacchanal parties which had given the group a hedonistic reputation).
The society had been formed, appropriately enough by Robert Locksley, shortly after the appearance of the first Meta. From history she knew the first public Meta had been identified in 1909 in America – initially the paragon had been named by his Government as Captain Victory though he later changed it to Vanguard after the Great War.
However when asked, Frankie stated that the Russians claimed that the first Metas were actually from Siberia and their abilities had activated seven months before Vanguard’s (though that had never been independently confirmed).
That was something she had never heard before and momentarily she got distracted as she asked Frankie for more information about the Russian Metas.
Frankie’s voice raised an octave as she responded. She really was learning to mimic human behaviour, including the subtleties of excitement and happiness, extremely well. She explained that <<According to Russian records Vanguard was actually the third human on the planet to achieve a breakthrough, after the Siberian Bogatyrs – Zhelezo and Kamehn who received their augmentation in 1908.>>
Frankie noted that both claimed to have been at the edge of the mysterious Tunguska event when they underwent their breakthroughs and went on to explain that a large explosion had occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia, on the morning of the 30th of June 1908.
The explosion over the sparsely populated Eastern Siberian Taiga flattened 2,000 square kilometres of forest, and caused at least three human casualties. Its cause still remained unknown to this day and while there was no proof that it had kick-started the Meta breakthroughs, its timing meant than some conspiracy theorists did think it was somehow involved in the evolutionary events that followed.
Thorough as always, Frankie pointed out that Zhelezo (originally known as the Iron Bogatyr) went on to become known as ‘Sickle’ and Kamehn (The Stone Bogatyr) became ‘Hammer’ after the Russian Revolution and served as the start of their Revolutionary Guard. For a moment or three Mace was distracted, wondering why Metas had only first appeared in 1908 or 1909, before Frankie again interrupted her chain of thought.
<<Designation: Mace, I believe I may have found an example of the Agincourt Irregulars taking affirmative action. I have stitched together a theory I would like you to consider.
During the conflict humans refer to as the Great War or World War One there was a popular legend that seems to be at least partially collaborated by both sides of the conflict. In the Battle of Mons on the 22nd to the 23rd of August 1914, there is a popular legend about a group known as The Angels of Mons who supposedly protected members of the British Army at the time of the retreat.
It was reported at the time that phantom bowmen from the Battle of Agincourt summoned by a soldier calling on St. George, destroyed a German battalion.
A German battalion was decimated at Mons and the German army elected to throw a veil over the whole situation. According to travel records from the time Robert Locksley who we now know was the first Bowman (and a direct descendant of Robert of Locksley) and all of his ‘merry men’, the Agincourt Irregulars had travelled to Belgium and were near Mons at the time. There was also a Meta or hero in power armour calling themselves St. George who was also reported as being in that area at the time.
Could the Angels of Mons have been Bowman and his friends fighting alongside an earlier St. George to save the British troops and successfully intervened in the battle to provide cover for the retreating troops? If so it would have been the first occasion that superheroes had intervened albeit covertly in a war?
Human history is so much fun. You are so illogical, emotional and contradictory in your reporting of ‘facts’ that it’s hard to confirm the reality behind any of your historical records. Anyway, your Agincourt Irregulars are still meeting and consists of trained archers from across Europe who support the Loxley family and are willing to honour the legacy of the Bowman and Robin Hood.
There is reason to believe that since Mons the irregulars have supported the various Bowmen on a number of occasions. The most prominent of which was during what some refer to as the ‘Bowman Wars’ though I do not understand why it is designated as a ‘war’ given it was a series of murders by bow that occurred in London, Amsterdam and Paris over a period of 11 years between 1990 and 2001?
At first it was criminals who seemed to be untouchable by the law who were being killed but later a number of civilians (all renowned archers) were also found killed. The Bowman Wars appear to have resulted in an increase in the number of archery heroes and villains, especially throughout Europe. I can download the crime files if you would like to examine them further?>>
Mace struggled to take it all in. After thanking Frankie she sat down to ponder what the Locksley information meant to her. It wasn’t the name on her passports after all though she did wonder about the resemblance to Agent Sparrow and what that might possibly mean?
Then Mikey popped her head round the door to tell her that Jeeves had cooked everyone a meal and everyone HAD to attend… No exceptions. They all had to eat and Jeeves was making it an order. She smiled, slapped the side of her head in a quivering salute and slide out the door heading to gather the others. Mace smiled in return. There would be enough time to try and make sense of all this later, for now the smell of delicious food wafting through from the dining area had enveloped her brain and all she could think about was how long it had been since she had last eaten.
Time to ponder the mystery of her past later she thought, as she followed the aroma trail across to the dining room and a grinning Jeeves.
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 