Mary yawned as she stumbled into the kitchen of the BASEment and poured herself a steaming cup of tea. It was only as she took her first sip and fully opened her eyes that she realised the rest of the team were already gathered with Jeeves around the kitchen counter and were all staring at her. “What?” she asked as she took a second sip and sighed.
Jeeves huffed slightly then explained that they’d been contacted by Bethany who wanted to ask a favour of them. “And..?” “She has asked if you could possibly visit Romaine Wharf in London’s Docklands this morning. She wants the team to go to the Challenger-Wildeman’s and meet with their visitor?” He momentary paused, expecting questions. When no one spoke up he continued, answering the unasked question, “No, she didn’t say who or why, only that she’d be grateful if you all could make the time.” Akira sniggered as Mary muttered an “Of course, immediately after breakfast?” It was Bethany asking after all and for so many reasons they wouldn’t say no to her without an extremely good reason, like the apocalypse occurring.
An hour later, having parked the Crate nearby, they walked over to the main entrance to the Challenger-Wildeman’s home, labs and offices in one. They stepped through the door and were ushered towards the lifts by security staff, who were clearly expecting them.
It helped that Mary had gone as Banshee, Paragon had costumed up with his anonymity collar switched on disguising his face, and Akira had gone as Akira – wearing the clothes he always wore – he had elected to wear the Medallion of Modrossus though.
Most of the 50-storey skyscraper was leased to other businesses, including a large Thai restaurant on the ground level with only the top ten floors used by the Challenger-Wildeman’s. Actually that wasn’t quite true as floors 40 to 44 were deliberately kept unoccupied except for security devices and was intended as a buffer zone between the Challenger-Wildeman’s and the other residents. The 45th floor was also deserted but was sealed off as it held all sorts of vital security equipment apparently. The lift they were in only went up as high as that floor and they exited into a secure and armoured airlock-like chamber where they had their retinal patterns and fingerprints checked and even took a pinprick of blood to confirm their identities matched and they weren’t Meta shapeshifters or Unity aliens. The last check though was the one that caused security problems, as their equipment couldn’t pierce Paragon’s skin to get a sample. A staff member had to head down and manually bypass the security systems. Only then, could they leave the chamber and proceed to the separate lifts on that floor that served the next five floors above. They went up to the next floor and were directed to a large conference room with a massive picture window that completely filled one wall.
Sitting in front of it, looking out over the Docklands was a short, stocky muscular man about five foot three inches tall. His unruly salt and pepper hair, his beard and moustache was equally wild but it was his piercing amber eyes that seemed to be sizing them up. They recognised him immediately from his many television appearances over the years. This was Daedalus, the seemingly immortal genius that claimed to have been born three and a half thousand years before in Athens and had been the first man in modern history to travel to the stars and make contact with extra-terrestrial life – surprisingly also human.
Standing nearby was one of the CW housebots, the vaguely raptor-like dwarf robots identical to the droids that had helped to rebuild the BASEment.
The man’s voice when he spoke was soft in tone but commanding in its impact on them. “Hi, thank you for coming. I’m Daedalus.”
What immediately caught their attention seeing him in the flesh was his uncanny facial resemblance to Peter’s progenitor Icarus and therefore to Peter when his anonymity collar was inert.
Daedalus continued, “I wanted to meet with you as I need to know why my estranged son Icarus is looking for your team?”
Paragon paused as he considered how much to reveal then hesitantly he explained, “I think he might be looking for me.” That caught Daedalus’ attention. “Why?” he asked, “My son disappeared some time ago, his trail went dark.” He paused in shock as Paragon reached up to his neck and switched off his anonymity collar and the hologram faded revealing his real face.
After a few seconds that seemed to last hours, Daedalus hesitantly asked, “His son or clone?” Paragon almost spat out the reply, “Clone!” To his surprise Daedalus apologised, “I’m sorry, my son was always inclined to be… inhuman at times and considers himself above humanity.”
Akira muttered, “He hasn’t changed.”
Daedalus went white in the face then regained his composure. “How much do you know about his… Your background?” He asked. Paragon replied, “Only that I’m a clone of your son.” “That would make sense,” was the reply, “my son is… Are you familiar with the Atlan? The First People?”
“Yes, well some… I’ve heard of them before but what I know is just that they exist, existed.”
“What I’m going to tell you shouldn’t leave this room. Daedalus took a deep breath and paused, clearly considering what to share. Then in a quiet voice he explained, “The First People are meta-humans and immortals that travelled back in time, fleeing a disaster or possibly persecution in the 27th Century and gradually formed the Empire of Atlan in the distant past.
They arrived back 350 to 360 thousand years before the common era, before humanity had evolved into a single race. The natives had no understanding who or what these new arrivals were and ended up worshipping them as Gods.
Back in the 27th century, Homo Superior and Homo Immortalus had, have, will interbreed. Although extremely rare, a new breed of humans, Homo Deus for want of a better name, evolved. they were both powered and immortal as long as no one killed them. The Atlan were a group that included Homo Deus that had fled back in time.
Many of these eventually became the origin of the various pantheons, as they were like gods to the primitive humans they interacted with. To avoid a paradox, they felt they had to assume the names and identities of known Gods but decided to keep their distance from humanity during recorded history so as to not alter their own timeline too much.
Then something unexpected occurred. I don’t know much about this but for some reason their descendants, their offspring, were born Meta-castrated, despite having the potential for both immortality and Meta abilities in their genes they lived and died as though they were mundanes.”
Akira muttered, “I’m learning more about Paragon all the time. I now know he can’t grow old but can be killed and he should be able to sing in a high-pitched voice. What more is there to know?”
Daedalus ignored him and continued, “When I was still mortal three and a half thousand years ago, I was a bit of an adventurer and ended up the lone survivor of a quest into what we now call Africa. Injured by the primitives and seeking refuge in a cave, I came across a Goddess in her shrine. She nursed me back to health and had me drink from a chalice that she said would judge whether or not I was worthy. It, she, made me immortal. I still don’t know how or why.
Years later, I fathered Icarus, your… your progenitor and according to the Atlan Athena, he inherited my immortality gene but for some reason, the same genetic block that affected the Atlan’s descendants, also affected him. His abilities failed to activate so wasn’t immortal, despite his hereditary potential.”
Paragon nodded, “So, why did he, ahh?” Daedalus interrupted the stumbling question. “Create his clones?”
“Yeah, why did he create me?”
“Back in their original century they had developed a technology to transfer a person’s mind and personality into a cloned body, even someone else’s clone, though that was frowned upon. This ‘reincarnation’ process meant that even normal humans rich enough to afford the process could be potential immortals who could not die. The Atlan time travellers brought this technology back with them and in time instituted a caste system, with the immortals both genetic and resurrected at the top and their non-powered, non-immortal offspring (known as half-bloods) at the bottom, potentially without access to cloned bodies and the resurrection cradles unless an immortal elected to allow it for some reason. Few did.
When my son Icarus was born, he, like the Atlan’s own half-blood descendants, had the genetic potential for immortality but remained mortal.
It is said that Icarus flew too close to the sun and died. In reality he rebelled against the Atlan, sided with another race the Baelim, or Annu as they were sometimes known, from outside this dimension against them; a rebellion in Heaven if you will though he refused to fight alongside the Atlan traitor Hades. They were a race of undying alien intelligences. Icarus decided that the best way for them to succeed was to attack the Sky God, leader of the Atlan and one of the original exiles. Icarus attacked Ra’s grav-powered sky palace and his flier was shot down by Ra, or Zeus or Suz’ as I knew her (she was a shape-changing, energy blasting immortal after all).
The stolen flier crashed to Earth. When I found Icarus he was still alive but dying from his injuries.
I made the mistake of trying to save him by transferring his personality into a clone body of another Atlan, into an existing adult clone of Osiris, giving him both Osiris’s powers and immortality. As an outsider Icarus had no clones of his own at that time. Later he killed the original Osiris in revenge at Ra’s attack and stole his, her resurrection cradle. Then after this assault Icarus vanished, though I have managed to encounter him several times over the millennias.”
Paragon seemed stunned. “So, this body isn’t his?”
“His clone bodies were adapted over the centuries to become his. It has his original appearance now, but he retained Osiris’s powers and abilities.”
Akira couldn’t resist commenting. “Peter, don’t take this too badly now. I know your ‘dad’ has just told you that you were a mistake but if you need someone to talk to someone, were here for you.”
Paragon smiled, “Thanks for that, knew I could count on you for a sympathetic ear.” He turned back to Daedalus. “So, do you want me to try to stop him or what?”
“No, the reason I wanted to meet with you was that I’m aware that Icarus has reappeared and is trying to track the team but hasn’t yet managed to confront you. I think he’s currently sizing you up but I didn’t know why, until now. I had thought he wanted revenge on you for some reason. “
So, I’m a mistake?” muttered Paragon. “No, let me just point out that the only mistake that was made was by me, millennia ago when I refused to let him die and transferred him into a cloned body not his own. One with more power than he could control. It twisted him. Corrupted and warped him.”
Akira spoke up, “So there is a twisted Meta, a more powerful version of Paragon, out there somewhere looking for us? Great!”
Daedalus again ignored the interruption and continued talking directly to Paragon, “It would appear you have inherited the powers he possesses currently, or at least some of them. I have had no contact with him for centuries but I believe he is one of those behind the criminal organisation the Labyrinth – named after the structure I designed and built for King Minos. It’s a petty attempt to make me feel guilty.
Do you want to know more at this time? I don’t want to burden you with more knowledge than you can bear to hear just now. Please realise you are not him and you are not a mistake. I don’t know how you came to be, or why but you seem to have inherited a mind of your own, obviously untainted by Icarus’ warped personality. You are what he should have been, not what he became.”
Paragon seemed embarrassed by the praise and muttered a thank you, then continued, “This is a lot to take in.” Daedalus nodded, “We will speak again when you’re ready.” He handed him his card with his personal contact details, his sleeve slipping up his arm to reveal his control bracelet. “If at a later date you would like to speak again, contact me on this number and we I’ll do my best to answer as many of your questions as I can. I’d like to know about your origins but I realise now is not the time. Please keep yourself safe, my son, my ah other son, has a warped sense of morality. I don’t understand why but I know that it’s likely that he will try to punish you, even if it isn’t your fault.”
Paragon smiled, “He can damn well try.”
As Daedalus went to leave Banshee asked him how he knew that Icarus was tracking them. He paused and replied, “I’m aware that he interrogated a local hero called Thorn after his return and the team’s name was mentioned during that exchange. Since then there have been several other reports of him trying to get information about the team. I have sources, ways of tracking where he has been and who he has spoken with and the only common factor has been your team.
Unlike my son I have never had to use a resurrection cradle, I’m still the original me, despite the years. My son though has a tendency to use a resurrection cradle, to transfer into a clone body every time he is seriously injured but since his return and despite having obviously suffered serious injuries, he hasn’t. That worries me as I don’t know why. What’s changed?” He looked again at Banshee. “So yes, he’s tracking you, or at least the team.”
Paragon realised that Icarus had never seen him without his anonymity collar but may know of Peter Smith as his picture had subsequently appeared in a number of newspapers after he had been discovered an amnesiac by his ‘mum’ all those years ago. Might Thorn have mentioned a link to the Balance when she had been questioned by his progenitor?
As Daedalus was leaving the room they noticed several security personal rushing towards the stairs to the next floor, looking concerned and checking instrumentation readings on their pads. With his enhanced hearing Paragon ‘overheard’ one of them state, “it’s affecting the shielding unit.” He immediately passed this information to his teammates even as he heard Daedalus mutter, “This wouldn’t be happening if the Earth still had a Master Mage!” as he headed towards the lifts.
Paragon turned to the others and said, “I think there are magic issues at play, something is happening that’s causing their instrumentation to go off the charts.”
In response, the housebot suddenly spoke up, << A new artefact stored in the museum has begun emitting a new, non-harmful radiation signal… The staff are worried as it is being answered and they have not been able to identify where from. >>
Akira asked what type of artefact and again the housebot responded, this time by activating a holographic display. It displayed a short serpentine-looking staff – the head curved round a large pearl-like stone. It looked both ancient and inhuman.
“Can you take us to it?” asked Paragon. It replied <<The object, designated “unknown staff, awaiting transfer to Artefact Research Centre” is not the source of the replying signal, which is emanating from the forty-ninth floor while the object is stored on the fiftieth floor. Due to security status as guests, I will take to the fiftieth floor but cannot permit access to the area designated as museum. Please signal compliance.>>
They followed the bot up the stairs. As they passed the entrance to the 49th floor they saw through the glass panels that a large device of some sort was reacting ‘energetically.’ Banshee realised that this was the dimensional shield that blocked the dimensional breach in the sky outside from reopening. It seemed to be unexpectedly activating.
They hurried on up the stairs to the floor above and saw a large inhuman monstrous creature in the stairwell suddenly appear out of nowhere. It was twice the height of Paragon at the shoulders, vaguely rhino-shaped with horns on its forehead, massive hooked claws on its limbs and a weaponised, hooked tail. Its skin strobed in luminous greens and blues as it uttered a challenging roar. Had it portalled in, phased through or possibly been invisible and did that mean there might be others present at the top of the stairs that they couldn’t yet see?
The housebot classified the creature as an <<unidentified intruder>> as sirens began to rip through the building. That was good enough for the team.
It immediately struck out with its front claws at Paragon and grabbed him as he rushed up and tried to squeeze, only for him to break free before it could do any damage.
Akira felt sure this reptilian-looking creature wasn’t sentient and was likely being controlled by someone or something though he couldn’t say why he thought that. He was convinced it was not from this dimension, which fit if this was a mystical assault on the building. He unleashed a mystical blast at its face as it opened its mouth trying to take a bite out of a dodging Paragon. The attack missed but had surprised it. It was remarkably agile for such a big creature he thought.
Behind Banshee, another massive creature materialised. Similar in size and with the same pulsing colour scheme, this resembled a flying insect, one that was intent on stabbing its intended victim with its stinger. In response, Banshee turned insubstantial only to realise that her attacker was also phasing and was trying to match her specific frequency. Something in her shared memories with the Ban Sidhe gave it and the other beast a racial name – Annu.
Banshee unleashed an icy stare at it, hoping their phasing was matched enough for such an attack to affect her would-be attacker. It must have been close enough as ice formed on its eyes and face causing it some damage. The attack had also made it angrier though hopefully the frostbite might slow it down a bit.
Paragon meanwhile was still facing off against the other Annu.
Paragon was well aware of his role in the team. He thought of himself as a one trick pony, it was his duty to take the blows the others couldn’t and return the privilege – and he knew he was bloody good at his self-appointed task.
He focused on his attacker as he flew up and went to bring down a two-handed strike onto the top of its head, hoping to at least stun it, but on seeing it start to move out of the way, he feigned a miss and then immediately smashed upwards with an uppercut to its bony jaw. Caught by surprise, the blow connected and dazed it. Its tail lashed out at Akira in response even as its fangs tried to take a bite out of Paragon.
Its teeth snapped at his limbs but again Paragon managed to fly out of range even as the tail smashed down towards Akira. He dodged out of the way even as a humanoid appeared next to the creature. This looked as though someone had mixed a cobra and a tall human together. It had a hooded crest and serpent-like face, had arms and stood on two legs but had a long, flickering tail and was dressed in colourful ceremonial robes as it floated above an organic-looking platform drifting towards them. This appeared to be the beast’s controller.
This floor was starting to become very crowded, Banshee thought as she again dodged her attackers’ stinger even as she heard someone scream from the floor below that the shield device was out of phase. She knew the feeling!
Behind her, she saw another multi-coloured beast manifest on the steps, this one resembled a giant scorpion with two tail-like metasoma, each of which ended with a sharp stinger and venom glands. Okay, now it definitely was over crowded, she needed a holiday – somewhere with sun, sea, sand and sangria would be nice.
The reptilian humanoid acted at the same time as the scorpion beast appeared. He gestured and suddenly everything around them changed. Instead of a stairwell, they found themselves transported to a dark, sinister void filled with floating rocks. Something unidentifiable was heading their way; multiple somethings, which despite the distance, were moving fast towards them.
Unfortunately, the beasts and what they thought of as the ‘priest’ were also present in this unearthly domain, having arrived with them. Perhaps this was just an illusion, they couldn’t be sure. Before Banshee could do anything, the winged creature attacked Banshee and, despite being insubstantial, its stinger seemed to strike at her legs. Thankfully, it got wrapped in her ‘skirt’ and its paralytic venomous stinger failed to strike her body, though it did hit hard and painfully against her leg. Had she not been phased she knew the blow would likely have shattered it.
Akira knew they weren’t in Kansas, he’d seen similar ‘scenery; on the astral plane, could they have travelled there leaving their physical bodies unconscious and vulnerable back on the material realm? He glanced down. No silver cord was present. When he projected himself astrally, an intricate structure of energy filaments, like an umbilical cord, always linked his physical body to his etheric form. He considered unleashing the Baleful Bindings of Bal’Hemoth on one of the attacking beasts but unsure of his surroundings elected to fire off mystical blasts at two of the beast and at least try to keep them at bay. He fired off a blast at the ‘scorpion’, which hit it on the chest and caused it to move away from them. The second blast at the rampaging ‘rhino’ beast missed though.
The ‘scorpion’ swung its stingers down at Paragon. The stinger struck but again failed to pierce his body even as Banshee unleashed a shattering shriek at the ‘priests’ floating platform. It shattered into a hundred pebbles causing the ‘priest’ to tumble to fall forward and hit a solid, if invisible surface only about half a metre below where it had been levitating.
Paragon headed towards him intending to punch him using all of his strength, only for him to move out of the way, impossibly weaving his neck and head out of the way of the attack. It hissed at him in response.
The ‘rhino’ stampeded towards Akira intending to impale him on its primary horn only for Akira to knock it aside. It continued stampeding towards Banshee who, unwilling to risk seeing if her insubstantiality still worked wherever they were, immediately dodged as it rushed past and collided with the ‘scorpion’.
The ‘priest’ vanished from sight, though whether it had turned invisible or teleported away they had No idea.
Akira grasped the medallion round his neck and called upon the Modrossus trinity to nullify and banish any supernatural creatures, if that’s what they were. A blast of light caused the void around them to vanish, replaced by the stairwell. It seemingly had been a mystically induced illusion after all. Pity they couldn’t say the same about the ‘priest’ who stood before them. He was holding a young girl, the youngest member of the Challenger-Wildeman’s, with the ragged long claws of his right ‘hand’ at her throat, ready to pierce her artery, while in his other he held the staff that the Housebot had shown them earlier. He hissed at them. Could he be trying to communicate? Unfortunately, none of them spoke fluent hooded cobra!
The beasts were in the process of fading away, or possibly turning invisible? Akira didn’t trust his eyes when it came to these creatures. He glanced over at Paragon who nodded. Seems he could hear the young girl’s heartbeat, so she was really present. Damn, damn and triple damn. They had to save her.
As the ‘Priest’ backed towards the window, Akira ran towards the two of them even as an extremely bright light potentially overpowered their sight. Akira still reached out and grabbed hold of the girl Andi, pulled her away before immediately teleporting both of them to behind Paragon. As he did so, the scenery around them again changed, back to the void they had seen previously. The difference was that they were surrounded by the creatures that Paragon has seen stampeding towards them last time. The creatures were close enough that they could make out their beaked, squid-like mouths, the bat-like wings, the monstrous claws and multiple tentacles trying to grasp at them. There was something cthuloid about them as they chattered and stretched out their tentacles and advanced towards them. Akira immediately recognised them as dwellers from the astral plane though he’d never had to deal with them before. When he had teleported the girl away, could the ‘priest’ have transported them all back into the void?
They swarmed forwards, clattering their multiple rows of teeth in anticipation. Did that mean their physical bodies were now unconscious and vulnerable in the mundane realm? The young girl wasn’t present. Had the ‘priest’ got his claws into the young girl again?
This time he was sure that this wasn’t an illusion, he could feel the presence of his silver cord even if he could no longer see his unconscious shell back in the physical realm. He wanted to scream at Paragon in particular a warning that his Meta-abilities wouldn’t work here but he had no voice to enable him to speak. Paragon immediately panicked slightly as he tried to blast the nearest Cthuloid with his eye blasts only to find nothing happened. Then he ‘heard’ Akira’s voice in his head telling him he needed to wake up and quickly. The Medallion around his neck seeming capable of communication in the here and now.
They needed to get back to the physical realm, to their bodies and quickly. They just had to will themselves awake or at least that’s how Akira usually exited the astral. Unfortunately, this was hardly a ‘usual’ situation.
Akira smiled despite the imminent danger. Paragon had taken his telepathic instruction to use his silver cord to guide his psychic self, back to its physical shell literally and was busily using his to try and pull himself into the mortal realm before the psychic cephalopods could get close enough to attack.
To his surprise, Akira awoke in his own body and looked around. Paragon’s strategy had worked and both he and Banshee were getting up. The ‘priest’ had vanished and thankfully, the young girl was still present, apparently untouched. She was currently being cradled and cuddled by one of her sisters. As she was led away Paragon heard her mutter to her sister something about her sending ‘the bad thing away.’ What did she mean she ‘sent’, he wondered? He looked around, there was no obvious way out so how had the ‘priest’ left? Had it teleported away or phased through the wall? However it had left, it had taken the staff with him.
From the floor below they could hear one of the staff members shout that the “generator was now back in-phase.”
Akira stepped over towards one of the shielded windows and looking out asked, “Shall we go after him?” Paragon looked up, “Can you use your magic to track him?” he asked. Akira replied, “I can try. I will summon the Airts of Ahgrazul. It’s intended to guide travellers on the winding coils between worlds but, when mystically combined with the Faerie Blade pendant I keep in my pouch, I have previously managed to use it to track mystical objects.”
He pulled out the crystal pendant and walked away to focus on petitioning Ahgrazul. A few minutes later, he was back. “It’s gone south, to somewhere hot and covered in unending desert. I think it’s heading towards the middle east somewhere, heading towards a dark that’s claustrophobic in the extreme. I’m sure we can find it but we’ll need to take the Crate.”
Suddenly the little girl was back and pulling at his sleeve. “Akkadia” she stage-whispered. “The bad snakeyman’s gone there, he wants to bring the darkness.” Before anyone could say anything, she turned and skipped back to her aggravated older sister. “Tol’ him!” she explained as they went into the lift.
They learnt more about the southern country of Akkadia from Tess. It was currently at war with its larger neighbour, the Babylonian Caliphate and, as a result, large sections of both Syria to the North and Akkadia to the South were disputed territories and martial law was enacted by the Caliphate invaders. It was not considered a safe place to visit at the moment.
Given Akira’s sheltered upbringing and Peter’s background, it was unsurprising that nether one knew anything about the region. Banshee grimaced. Seems Kuwait had recently reclaimed the name of Akkadia in this world and Iraq was now an Islamic Caliphate, governed by a seemingly benevolent despotic Metahuman known as Caliph or King Babylon? Crazy.
Hopefully, they would be able to avoid visiting the unofficial warzone region thought Banshee then laughed to herself, not with their luck! No, though she didn’t know how, the little girl Andi, knew the location of the staff and Banshee just ‘knew’ she was going to be right. Their luck promised that it was going to be somewhere in the disputed area, probably with several landmines tucked beneath it!
“Pick up lots of Factor 100 sunblock, people. It’s time to go…” said Akira. “Snakemen” muttered Banshee, “time to dig out the freeze guns. Its cousins didn’t like the cold, hopefully neither will he.” Akira smiled, “Good idea, if nothing else we can use them to cool us down.”
They headed off following the Airts and blade via Saudi Arabia to avoid flying over the Caliphate into the disputed territories, as Banshee had feared. Despite the serious drain on power, they felt it was necessary to switch over to stealth mode. Their journey took them to some recently uncovered ruins of an ancient city located deep in the desert. It had to have once been located on a now forgotten trade route surely?
Welcome to Akkadia, or was this disputed land now considered part of the Babylonian Caliphate? Officially the Caliphate wasn’t at war with Akkadia, it was an ongoing rebellion by religious fundamentalists who claimed to want to unite with the Caliphate. Unofficially many of the invaders were soldiers of the Caliphate and all were armed by them.
Akira smirked as he looked at the scenery. Sun, sea and sand, exactly what one expected from your holiday location, except there was no sea, the sand was apparently the ‘wrong’ type, though in fairness there was plenty of sun. Too much, the heat of the sand below them was hot enough to roast something on, assuming he had something other than himself to roast. At least they’d avoided interacting with the Caliphate’s troops or with any of the Caliphates’ powered defenders, whose team title translated as The Powerful.
The design of the city below fascinated Akira. There was something familiar about the street layout so like a certain mystical glyph. Could the ruins below belong to the fabled lost city of Urak? If so, its main God had been the God of chaos and darkness, Apophis, enemy of the Sun God.
Akira sensed something was wrong down on the ground, something dark and tainted. It was centred on a large circular hole, like a well, in the centre of the ruins that seemed to absorb the light. Looking at the layout of the buildings surrounding it he surmised that this had to be the entrance to an underground temple, and an important one at that given its prominent location at the centre of the once buried city.
Paragon explained that the Akkadian Empire had reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests by its founder Sargon of Akkad, or possibly Gilgamesh who may have been the same person as Sargon. Surprisingly he was familiar about all this. Something about a school project he’d had to do for History class.
One legend Paragon suddenly remembered related to Sargon in Assyrian times, “My mother was a changeling, my father I knew not. The brothers of my father loved the hills. My city is Azurpiranu (the wilderness herb fields), which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates. My changeling mother conceived me, in secret she bore me. She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid. She cast me into the river, which rose not over me. The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. Akki, the drawer of water, took me as his son and reared me. Akki the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener. While I was gardener Ishtar granted me her love, and for four and (fifty?) … years I exercised kingship.” Gardener was a fancy term for king and the story seemed to suggest he might have been the original Moses as well. Did the changeling mother bit mean he was a half-blood Atlan?
They settled the Crate down nearby and headed in under their own powers. As they got closer, they discussed what the staff might be capable of and whether, once liberated, they should hold onto it themselves rather than return it and risk more problems at a later date.
As they arrived at the fortified outskirts of the ruins, they could see in the distance a flume of sand indicating a convoy heading in their direction. Paragon looked using his enhanced vision and saw that it was Caliphate (though officially classified as rebel) troops in a convoy of armoured trucks, each armed with what looked like advanced weaponry. They were heading towards them at speed though perhaps given their very recent arrival, they weren’t the reason for their presence.
It was likely the troops that they’d seen heading there way would be in the city very soon and they had no idea what they wanted, though some of the jihadi fundamentalist rebels did have a reputation for destroyed ancient, non-Islamic statues, artefacts and temples.
Briefly Paragon considered keeping them busy while the other two investigated the underground structure but was talked out of it as they had no idea what they might face. Reluctantly he agreed though he was concerned that the rebels might decimate this ancient city.
Turning the team invisible in their various ways, they headed towards the well. On the surface was a camp that they assumed had been some sort of archaeological expedition. It now consisted of ripped fragments covering disembowelled bodies, though it was hard to see under the swarms of flies covering their human remains. This had been a barbaric and seeming inhuman slaughter. Akira tried for a bit of graveyard humour, pointing out that it was a “bits in tents”. The others failed to appreciate the attempt at humour as they momentarily gagged on the stench from the corpses.
The three of them ignored the slaughter and entered the well-like structure, flying down into the darkness. They got the impression that this went a long way down. Almost immediately, everything was in total darkness. Banshee’s darkvision and Paragon’s enhanced vision helped a little but still it was sinister the way the walls absorbed any light from above.
Akira summoned the Eight Eyes of Ios, a glowing ring of unblinking golden orbs that floated around his head like a ring of magic torches. They granted Akira the ability to see in all directions, through any concealment including total darkness. He guided Peter down and down and down into the bowels of the earth. After several minutes they found themselves nearing the ground into a lit chamber, the circular walls giving off luminescence lighting up the centre of the pit. On the ground around another large dark hole were several circles of massive skulls; human in shape but not in size. Were they proof that giants had once roamed the earth? The skulls were easily four times the size of a normal adult humans, were they storm giant skulls or from another species altogether like Nephilim?
The airts and blade guided them down as they saw what initially looked like a plume of dark smoke merge from the centre of the concentric ring of skulls. Off to one side a cobra-hooded figure holding a now familiar staff stepped into view.
Paragon immediately let go of Akira’s hand and flew towards him only for a giant reptilian serpent to materialise out of the plume of smoke in front of him, so big that Paragon was the size of one of its fangs. Its gaping chasm of a mouth tried to close around him. The snake was the size of a skyscraper in comparison as it tried to swallow him like an annoying fly.
Akira assumed this had to be Apophis, the destroyer of worlds, which might mean that this place was the mystical crossroads known in legend as the Well of Souls. He had to know if this was a physical manifestation or something else? The ring of glowing eyes pierced the veil and confirmed that this creature was in the process of becoming a physical entity. If Apophis materialised completely it would cover the earth in darkness as it called forth its thousand offspring to feast.
The orbs confirmed that this was one of the Baelim, the undying. It had not yet fully substantialised out of the darkness erupting from the pit but its head and fangs were certainly real enough.
Akira thought it was linked to the ‘priest’; he may have summoned it but was clearly not in control of it. He had heard of this creature before, one of the early gods that opposed the God of light, Ra. A God-like creature also known as the dweller in outer darkness. It was capable of changing its shape, of hijacking the bodies of other creatures but at the moment, it occupied and controlled the emerging body of a hundred metre plus serpent.
Akira was sure that the staff was somehow linked to its emergence. Paragon wondered if destroying the staff might banish it as he tried to avoid being swallowed. “Not sure” Akira muttered as he headed down towards the ‘priest’ intending to retrieve him of the staff.
He prepared himself for pain as he summoned the Bidding of Bal’Hemoth ensnares the other’s will. It was not a spell to be used lightly and it enacted a painful price on the caster.
The sinister Bal’Hemoth was said to have been worshipped in ancient Lemuria as the brutal iron-fisted master of order and enslavement. He taught dominance and the power of the strong over the weak, although Bal’Hemoth’s ways were subsequently overthrown through generations of slave rebellions against the Serpent People of Lemuria and their inheritors and its workings deliberately forgotten. It was a very dark magic indeed and he’d only discovered the forgotten spell by accident while studying at the London branch of The Library.
He sliced at his own wrists with his nails to allow some blood to spill and then used that to form the sigil of Bal’Hemoth in the air using his own blood to appease him as he quietly muttered again and again, “My mind to your mind, I command your obedience.” As he did so, he mentally demanded he hand over the staff to him.
He felt the alien thoughts in his own mind and shuddered as he suddenly was reminded of being cast out of his body by another reptilian intelligence a few years before. Then he felt his mental ‘claws’ grasp hold of the others mind and he became entranced as Akira tried to compel him to release his grip on the staff. Instead, he was forced to pull it free.
Banshee was well aware that at least part of Apophis was still insubstantial and only a fragment of her storm-like being was in this world. She turned back into Mary and manifested her harp as she began to play the soothing tune she knew as the ‘Oak of Two Blossoms’, a Fae melody designed to calm and relax and lull its hearer into sleep. Unfortunately, Apophis seemed immune to its effects.
Paragon went dizzy for a few seconds as though someone else’s sight was being superimposed over his own vision of the Well of Souls and Apophis, he found himself looking down on the desert and felt uncontrolled anger wash over him. It was as though he was in two places at once and seeing through their eyes as well as experiencing their emotions.
He looked down on the ruins outside from a great height and felt the wind on his face and body as though he was flying fast. Then it came to a sudden stop and dropped towards the ground outside what had once been the city gates. Paragon forced the vision away and moved in again on Apophis, he would deal with whatever it was, later. For now, he had an ancient God of Chaos to deal with.
As he tried to figure out what to do with the monster in front of him, he saw the ‘priest’ standing in a daze and a wave of uncontrolled anger swelled inside him as he dodged another attempt by Apophis to swallow him and flew down towards the reptilian figure standing on the skulls. Paragon smashed into him and knocked him to the ground, awaking him from Akira’s spell while physically smashing him into the ground, he looked dazed but was no longer entranced.
Apophis headbutted Paragon and Akira while in the air. It sent Paragon flying, bruising him across the chest and dazed Akira. A wave of energy overwhelmed Paragon a second later apparently emanating from the ‘priest’. He looked down at the ‘priest’ and said, “My turn!” as he flew down and the ‘priest’ was forced to dodge out of the way.
Akira was trying to figure out if his newly acquired staff was any use as a weapon. It was clearly a key of some sort able to open the portal, what he didn’t know was whether it could also function to lock the portal and if so, how. It would be down to guesswork as to what else it might be capable of. However shutting the door was impossible whilst Apophis held the doorway open. There was nothing he could sense to indicate that it could force something through the portal.
Akira felt that it was the ‘priest’ that was being mind-controlled by Apophis not the other way round. In fact, Akira was convinced that the ‘priest’ had no real desire to release the Dweller in Darkness so it could destroy the world. If legends were to be believed this version of the Beast was her in its least dangerous form. If released completely, it would envelope the world and destroy it completely with or without its thousand young.
Paragon flew down on top of Apothis’s head, slamming into it with all his might, dazing it and followed it with a second blow between its eyes as Mary unleashed the abjurations of Abbridon against it. A properly cast Abjurations of Abbridon were supposed to counteract darkness, bindings, and malevolent summoned creatures but it failed to cast it back into the pit. Akira used the full force of his theurgical-kinesis; all 200 tonnes of force, to try to slam the head back down into the Well. It staggered under the blow, as above explosions could be heard as cannon shells rained down on the ruins then as quickly as it started everything went quiet.
It was Paragon who spoke first, “I think Icarus has arrived, I sensed his presence earlier.” He slammed onto the top of Apophis’ head with all his might once more, this time forcing it to retreat into the void. Akira immediately took the staff and tried to figure out how to use it as a closer. The darkness at the centre of the concentric circles of skulls closed, presumably sealed though no one knew how to check, as the ‘priest’ staggered towards them transforming with each step, his body casting of the serpent aspect and becoming more human in appearance. Within seconds, the ‘priest’ was shrinking down and altering into a small, Middle Eastern, middle-aged man complete with glasses; what Paragon thought of as the atypical professor.
Had they actually managed to banish Apophis or merely delayed its arrival? After all, they hadn’t managed to figure out how to use the staff. Then there was the transforming priest. Could he have been a member of the slaughtered archaeologist expedition they’d seen on the surface, somehow transformed into that serpent-like creature?
Akira approached him and immediately asked him if he knew how the staff functioned? To his annoyance, the man immediately replied in they assumed was Arabic and Akira’s commdot wasn’t set up to translate from Arabic into English and vice versa. They had been in too much of a rush to program them before leaving the BASEment, damn!
For some reason, he appeared to be reluctant to talk to them and was instead walking over the giant Nephilim skulls towards the centre for some reason. That was when it occurred to them that the figure was starting to look a lot like one of the bodies they’d seen butchered in the tents above. It was always possible that they had been twins or alternatively this could be a shapeshifter. Regardless Paragon elected to try to stop him before he reached the centre of the ‘Well’.
He reached out and grabbed him by the arm. He immediately transformed into a monstrous mass of wings, tentacles and teeth, twice as large as the original body had been. They had seen this form before, on the astral plane – it was a Cthulhoid made physical. It stretched out its tentacles and tried to break Paragon’s grip by hitting out at him with its limbs hard across the chest but it failed to break his grip, its mouth snapping closed just a mere centimetres from his face.
Before it could bite down on Paragon’s face, Akira unleashed a series of mystical blasts at it. They hit, discolouring a section of its body. It responded by immediately undergoing binary fission, duplicating its genetic material as it divided into two using cytokinesis. Looking at the duplicate bruise on both, now fully formed creatures, it was clear that each of the organisms had received a copy of their DNA, which included duplicating the injury it had just received.
Paragon power punched into the face of the original creature’s jaw. His fist slammed into the rubbery flesh and hit bone beneath the surface. Good, it had an internal skeleton he could pummel and break.
It staggered back, still gripping Paragon and thankfully didn’t seem to be splitting again – either the catalyst for the binary fission had not been the assault, or perhaps it needed time before separating again? Paragon and Akira released a synchronised sigh of relief. Paragon immediately gripped the tentacle he was holding harder and tried to swing it into the other, newly formed Cthulhoid. He failed to do more that spin it round as it clung to him. To his surprise, the effort left Paragon feeling fatigued.
Mary turned into Banshee and went insubstantial as she unleashed an aura of fear across the chamber at both attacking creatures. The emotion washed over them and the one holding Paragon immediately dissipated while the other staggered backwards under the attack, black ooze dribbling from the corner of its saucer-like eyes.
Akira could see out of the corner of his eye that darkness was starting to billow out of the centre of the ‘Well’ behind the creature. It swirled in the air despite the lack of any wind in the chamber as though it was caught in the centre of a storm. It left a faint impression of a massive serpent with unblinking eyes forming in the darkness. Then they realised that the remaining Cthulhoid was undergoing fission, forming another of its species.
How often could it do this, they wondered as they prepared themselves for a renewed attack. Thankfully, the injuries the first had suffered were also duplicated in the newly spawned Cthulhoid.
It reached out to try to grab Akira but he was too slippery for it. The other creature attempted to grab at Banshee, but given her phased state, the flailing tentacle just passed through her insubstantial body.
Banshee returned the favour with another aura of fear aimed at the beasts. They staggered backwards towards the pit at the centre of the chamber under the onslaught even as the swirling darkness began to take on a now familiar serpentine shape. The chamber began to darken as though the new arrival was somehow absorbing the light emanating from the walls.
Akira immediately responded by trying to figure out how to use the staff to close the pathway. Last attempt at sealing the breach they’d relied on brute strength and ignorance to force Apophis back into the ‘Well’ and hoped that had been enough to close the gateway. It clearly wasn’t as more and more of the darkness began to billow out and take shape, a malevolent eye and fangs forming out of the darkness as they watched.
Akira was sure the staff was the key. It had been necessary seemingly to open the door to Apophis and, he hoped, must have the ability to lock it shut again; he just had to figure out how. Pity it didn’t come with an instruction manual, preferably one written in a variety of languages including at least one he knew.
Perhaps they needed to make sure the staff as key was in the lock rather than just present in the chamber? That made some sort of sense at least. Now what he didn’t know was whether it needed some sort of ritual to activate it and if so, what? The priest in his human form (how many forms did it have anyway, he wondered?) had been trying to head towards the centre, why? To close the gate or perhaps to try to open it further? The latter seemed the most likely but in his Cthulhoid form he, it, was unable to answer his questions. Meanwhile they stood between the team and the column of darkness billowing out from the ‘Well’.
What he did remember about the ‘Well of Souls’ was that it was supposedly a mystical, interdimensional crossroads to multiple dimensions including the gateway to all, the Convergence. Like all doors, it could only go to and from one dimension at a time, so if one door was open all the other doors leading to this location had to be closed. Without a ritual to permanently seal the pathway to Apophis, perhaps the answer was to leave open a path to another, safer realm instead and close the existing portal by default?
He had the staff to access the lock, now he just needed to find a safer destination and figure out a way to open that instead before more of the Dweller emerged. He needed to focus and that meant leaving dealing with the Cthulhoids to his teammates. He could potentially TK the staff over the pit but did he need to be present and would that be enough to alter the path, he wasn’t sure. Without knowing the specific ritual, he was going to have to McGyver an opener spell or summoning.
Bastardisation of the Airts of Ahgrazul to guide him to the right ‘door’ seemed his best bet if he could just figure out which dimension was the safest. It was Paragon who remembered that there had been a door in Eldrich’s house that opened onto a crossroads in deep space, Akira smiled, that pocket dimensional nexus had been transported to his mansion of Ffrwd Dylluan lock, stock and house elf which meant it was now part of his ‘realm’ and thus shielded against invaders. The only possible drawback was the plume of darkness that was currently emanating from the centre of the ‘Well’ that might prevent one door closing so the other could open.
Akira decided to use the Medallion of Modrossus as he cast the Shining Suns of Sirrion the Sorcerer in Scarlet to call forth a blazing reddish-gold light to banish the darkness that was a currently insubstantial Apophis. He poured everything he had left into creating a small sun, which manifested itself above the darkness. They were forced to cover their ears as a disconnected scream of pain echoed around the chamber even as the rays started to rip through and evaporate the darkness, forcing it to withdraw. Akira struggled to maintain his concentration, knowing that he had to make sure that Apophis was no longer in the doorway when he used the Airts to change the ‘Well’s’ entrance.
Banshee smiled. When she’d asked for sunshine, she’d not anticipated they’d have to create their own sun. Akira had to focus on his magic, which meant it was down to Paragon and her to defeat the two Cthulhoids.
Paragon flew down and slammed his fists into the ground to create a shockwave that knocked them both off their feet. As they hit the ground, they both vanished, dissipated into the air. Banshee cast another aura of fear at the darkness to force it to flee completely.
Finally, after a few minutes, the darkness had vanished completely and the light emanating from the walls resumed, as Akira ran across the skulls and cast the Airts to guide him to the pocket crossroads inside his mansion. He forced the staff into the hole only for it to see it vanish even as the spell opened up the pathway he’d visualised. As he did so, the second sun dissipated.
He regretted losing the staff but he was sure that the current path was stabilising, opening into the void of deep space that now existed inside his house. He just hoped he hadn’t sent any of their attackers there instead.
They now stood alone in the centre of the ‘Well’ surrounded by the massive, impossible-sized skulls.
Hearing silence above, Paragon muttered, “Shall we head up and see what my ‘dad’ is doing?”
They flew up through the now natural darkness of the shaft towards the surface and what they assumed was a ‘family’ confrontation with what they assumed was potentially a more powerful version of Paragon. They emerged into the setting sun. Several buildings within the walls, millennia old, had been recently destroyed by artillery fire from the Caliphate convoy now ringing the north of the abandoned city. In the sky above them, a figure stood in the air surrounded by a small but powerful lighting storm as thunder rumbled across the sky.
Flying towards him were two mysterious figures, both radiating energy. Banshee knew of them, two of the Caliphate’s Meta-troops, known as The Powerful – these two had to be the Metas known as Muqfira Sifr, which translated as Ground Zero and Hayawan Nar, Wildfire.
They had been King Babylon’s answer to making the Caliphate a nuclear power when they couldn’t get hold of nuclear missiles; instead he’d created a cadre of nuclear-powered Metas, regardless of the cost in human life to create them. It was rumoured that he had sacrificed hundreds if not thousands of his own people to create the few that he ‘evolved’ into nuclear powered ‘suicide bombs’ for him to use as a deterrent. It didn’t matter that they had all been volunteers, they’d still died, though looking at Ground Zero’s skull-like face or their need to wear containment suits at all times, those that died may have got the better deal.
The Powerful’s presence meant that they were here for a reason. This was not just a random patrol or a group of religious zealots on a rampage to destroy relics from another era. No, if the Powerful were here then it was because they had been sent by their Caliph, though whether it was in response to Apophis’ arrival, their presence or possibly Icarus’s was unknown.
Banshee had the feeling that it had been the Powerful who had stopped the bombardment of the city. The Caliph had a reputation for respecting other religions, especially the other ‘people of the Book’ and would never have approved of desecration of a religious site, even one dedicated to pagan Gods and the Powerful were his most trusted representatives.
Paragon thought it was time he had a word with his Progenitor and flew up to Icarus. Who knows he thought, this could be a chance to bond, to build some bridges, and in any case it was clear that the chance to slip away undetected was no longer an option even though officially they were within the internationally recognised borders of Akkadia, not in the Caliphate.
As he reached Icarus, it was clear that he was readying himself for a fight with the Powerful. For this height, he could see that the convoy had recently come under attack. At least one truck had been blown up and was still in flames, presumably having been attacked by Icarus prior to their re-emergence from the ‘Well of Souls’.
Paragon got as close as he dared to his ‘twin’. Icarus clearly didn’t recognise him other than that he was a member of the Balance. For the second time that day, Paragon reached up to his anonymity collar and deactivated it. A look of sheer disgust swept across Icarus’ face as he saw his own, though younger face looking back at him.
“You!!!” Paragon replied, “We need to talk, about why you made me…” Icarus almost spat the reply, “I made you for a purpose. You’re useless to me now. You’re spoilt goods. Nothing more than a warped version…”
“I don’t see it like that.”
Icarus paused then, with slightly less venom in his voice he asked, “How did you gain sentience? You were an empty shell, force-grown.”
Paragon stumbled as he tried to find the words. “I, I honestly have no idea. I have a personality and intellect, one that seems to be independent of you. I feel different to you, possibly because of not having your experiences.”
Icarus stared at the two figures flying towards him then asked, “What is your purpose for being here, in this place?” Paragon replied, “Why are you?” Icarus responded, “I came here to stop Apophis from emerging.” Paragon smiled, “Oh, we’ve already done that.”
“In that case, be prepared for war” and Icarus flew straight at him, only dodging at the last second as he aimed himself like a human cannonball straight at the red-suited Wildfire who’s face and hands were constantly aflame with nuclear energy.
The skull-faced Ground Zero shouted something in Arabic to which Icarus replied in kind. Pity Paragon didn’t know what was being said but he saw Ground Zero respond with a massive energy blast aimed straight at Icarus.
The blast hit, leaving him dazed. Thankfully, Icarus’ body blocked the worst of the blast as the residual effects of the radiation flowed through him and Paragon felt his skin tingle as the blast unleashed an overdose of radiation, though thankfully his immortality should heal him in time.
Akira mystically blasted both Ground Zero and Wildfire who were dazed by the attack. He tried again and hit Wildfire for a second time, staggering him. Banshee unleashed a wail of the Banshee at Both Caliphate Metas. The effects of the scream caused Ground Zero to fall unconscious to the ground. Wildfire was also caught in the effect but other than bleeding at the ears, he was still able to fly.
Icarus was still affected by the earlier assault leaving him vulnerable so Paragon flew down, slammed into Wildfire catching him unawares intending to send him flying. Paragon slammed into him but failed to move him; even in the air, he was an immoveable object.
Wildfire responded by unleashing some sort of effect on himself, causing his body to glow. Banshee unleashed a Wail that failed to impact. Akira followed it up by firing off a mystical blast that went right though him. It seemed as though he was also able to turn insubstantial. A recovering Icarus eye-blasted him but that also went through his ghosted body.
Paragon looked across at the gathered convoy. The soldiers appeared nervous, clutching tightly at their rifles as they tried to make sense of what was happening above the city. Possibly he needed to make them back off if he could and the best way to do that was redirect their attention. They were gathered just close enough that he might be able to add to their worries. He flew down, slammed his fists hard into the sand and a massive earthquake emanated out towards the convoy. A few seconds later, several of the troopers were knocked off their feet, some accidentally firing their rifles into the air as they collapsed to the ground and a few of the vehicles tyres partially sank into the sand as a result. Caught by surprise, the unexpected quake forced the troop to re-evaluate their own safety.
Wildfire meanwhile had slammed his own hands into the sand and it started to glow as he transmuted it into some sort of radioactive material. Akira could feel the heat as he backed out of range of its effects and put up his shield. Thankfully, it was only a small area of the desert that Wikdfire had transformed.
Banshee seemed unaffected by the transformed radioactive material and flew in close enough that her own phased state could interact with his as she tried to unleash a corrupting touch on him. She initially didn’t manage to lay her hands on him as he blocked her. As she was pushed away she managed to reach over with one of her hands – it interacted and Wildfire collapsed to the ground unconscious.
There was still the matter of the nervous troops gathered outside the city. Akira used the illusions of Idolon to create an image of the two Metas and had them signal their troops to retreat. The two figures suddenmly appeared on the top a nearby dune even as the bodies of the real Metas disappeared, hidden from sight.
They signalled for the troops to retreat just as Icarus unleashed a lightning bolt at the illusions of the Caliphate Metas, having apparently ‘disappeared’ only to reappear on the dune as though teleported there.
The blast turned the sand into glass. Paragon flew up to Icarus aware that the blast, if it had hit, would have seriously injured the two men, if not killed them and that could have resulted in an atomic explosion as their bodies reacted to the deadly attack. Realising it was likely that Icarus would realise he’d just attacked an illusion. Paragon flew up to him and explained what Akira had done and that the two Metas were already unconscious.
To his surprise, Icarus was still trying to find them stating, “it isn’t over until they are both dead.” He ignored paragon’s plea that there was no need to continue fighting, that both had been neutralised and the troops were backing away. “But they are already out of action.” He pleaded. “Not until I’ve killed them for daring to attack me!” was Icarus’ angry reply. He looked around, spotted the two Caliphate Metas and prepared another lightning strike at the two unconscious bodies.
Paragon couldn’t believe his eyes, his ‘twin’ was about to commit cold-blooded murder. Paragon grabbed him and tried to plead with him again only for him to feel electricity flow through his arms as Icarus struggled to break free and unleash a deathblow to the unconscious bodies on the ground beneath him.
A second later, he broke free of Paragon’s grip.
Banshee unleashed an aura of fear at Icarus but failed to make an impact on the immortal. Akira tried creating another illusion of the two Metas in the hope Icarus would target them instead of the real bodies but it didn’t work. He still targeted the real bodies – unleashing a lightning bolt. At that second Paragon screamed out “Stop this isn’t right, don’t make me choose.” and slammed into him with all of his strength.
The unexpected attack, cupled with his earlier injuries, caused his older version to fall towards the ground unconscious. Paragon grabbed him mid-air and flew him towards Mount Kilimanjaro where he left him to recover.
It was a shame as he’d hoped to be friends with his progenitor or at least not enemies, but that seemed unlikely now – he clearly wasn’t all bad after all he had tried to stop Apophis, but his actions towards the Metas showed he had a vicious side to him. Paragon was determined to not give up on him, though on this occasion Paragon thought it best to leave him to recover on his own …
He joined the other two as they left the ruins of the city having moved the two unconscious Powerful closer to the convoy so they could be collected by their soldiers and put in an anonymous call to the Akkadian authorities to come and investigate the attack on the camp in the ruins. Personally Akira would have preferred if the desert reclaimed the city and once more buried the ‘Well of Souls’ but that wasn’t possible now as too many knew of its existence. Given its location in disputed territory though, no one was likely to investigate the city or the Well too thoroughly for the next few months or possibly even years. He had time to come up with a solution to ensuring no one else investigated the underground chamber and started messing with the portal within.
Several weeks later
Jacques walked the beach of Normandy looking for something to play with. His friend claimed to have once found a grenade washed up on the beach but Jacques was sure he had lied. As he scrambled over some rocks something shiny caught his eye; tangled in seaweed and a bit of old netting was a strange looking stick, carved like a serpent with what looked like a large pearl clutched between its chin and chest, it looked like it might be really old, like from before the War even. That was really long ago, even before his grand-père had been born and he was ancient. He picked up the staff and held it so the head was under his arm as he raced down the beach pretending that it was a machine gun and all the moored fishing boats contained hordes of ‘baddies’. He’d pass it to his grand-père when he got bored he thought. Perhaps he’d even manage to persuade the old man to buy him a big bar of chocolate as a reward.
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 