8FOLD: Darkhorse # 2, "That Cold Wind Calling"

[Drew Perron]

On 5/15/2016 12:33 AM, Tom Russell wrote:
<snip>
>    She re-reads the email that Simon Morgan had sent her. "The other
> night I felt like Kate was with me. Not just in my heart or my memory,
> but THERE, with me, just this side of tangible. She's out there and
> you'll find her. I know you will."
>    "Of course she was," says Melody softly to the thin air. "Of course
> she's right there! Oh, I'm a dummy!"

It's okay, you haven't read Jolt City. The rest of you, however, have no excuse! u.U

>    "Not a good time," says Dr. Fay. "We may have accidentally opened a
> peephole to a nether-region (wow, that sounds like a porno), and we're
> having a teensy bit of trouble closing it."

Heeheeheehee. :>

>    "Wow, you weren't kidding," says Melody as she blurs past the mass
> of super-thin, flailing, microfilament whip-like tentacles pouring out
> of an inch-wide rip in the fabric of space and time.

Oh my. o.o;

>    "No, we weren't," says one of the Doctors Fay.

Wait, what. XD Did I miss a story or--

>    "Near as we can tell," says the other-- there are two of them now,
> there was a lab accident--

--ohhhhhh, okay. :3 More Fay is more fun!

>    "Intelligent?" says Melody.
>    "Instinct, mostly," guesses one of the Fays. "But they know well
> enough not to stick more than their tentacles in."

Oh my.

>    "I've got an idea," says Melody. "It's either going to be
> completely awesome or completely terrible."
>    "That's the best kind of idea!" they say in unison.
>    "I'll need you both to step outside of the room, for your own safety."
>    "Even better!"

XD

>    Once they've left the room, Melody positions herself at the end of
> the room directly opposite the pinpoint, just out of reach of the
> tentacles. Then, she runs to the nearest perpendicular wall, runs up
> its side, back along the ceiling, down the other perpendicular wall,
> back along the floor, like Fred Astaire in ROYAL WEDDING, doing a
> thousand circuits a minute, creating a vortex that exerts itself upon
> the tentacled denizens of the nether-region. A shriek comes from the
> portal, and they withdraw from our world in an awful hurry, closing
> the pinpoint behind them.
>    "I'd classify that as completely awesome," says one of the Doctors.

I agree!

>    "When the original bad guy Dr. Metronome was in jail in the
> seventies for his metronome-related crimes, some schmuck got hold of
> the belt. Technically the schmuck's Dr. Metronome mark two, and Kate's
> a thirdy like yourself. Only no one remembers the in-between guy. He
> was running from somebody or another, tried to phase through a wall."
>    "Tried?" Melody winces.

Eeesh. ^^;

>    "No, it's not. Maybe it would have been different if Costello had
> the belt, but she didn't. I think that's one reason why Chicagoland
> was so hot to try to get Kate on a Fitzwalter charge. There's still a
> lot of military types who want to have something like the Vibra-Jacket
> in their arsenal without the trans-dimensional shenanigans that come
> with basing it on how you and yours do it."

Makes sense.

>    Melody nods. "Thanks, guys. That's actually tremendously helpful."
>    "Self high-five!" says the Fays, and then they do that.

Aaaaaaaaaaa <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

>    She knocks. The playing stops. Simon cracks open the wooden door,
> sees Melody, then smiles. "Come on in."
>    Melody phases her way through the screen door. "You're up late."
>    "Usually am," he says. "I work the noon shift, and the shelter's
> only ten minutes away, so I don't need to wake up until quarter to. So
> I can stay up late, work on my projects."

Well jeez, he's so nice that I'm worrying about a twist.

> I'm hoping you can give me a DNA sample."
>    "Sure, anything," says Simon. He tugs at a piece of his hair and
> yanks it out with a wince.
>    "Actually, there's some severe limitations as to what we can do
> with DNA from hair. Blood would be better."
>    "Now you tell me."

Awwwwww. <3

> Melody arranges to meet with Derek Mason (Blue Boxer) at
> his place in Jolt City. She wears her civvies so as not to blow his
> "carefully-guarded secret identity", har-har.

Heeheehee.

>    "If they have the shrink gene," continues Melody, "then they're
> already subtly tuned into a phased state, which would explain why they
> never had any accidents.

Ahhhhhh, that's where that detail is coming from. Cool cool.

> And that's how we bring her back; we shrink her."

!!! NICE.

>    "Medusa?" says Derek. "Can you pull up my map?"
>    "What do you say?" says Medusa.
>    "Please?"
>    "That's better."

Heeheehee. ^.^

>    White circles appear. There are spots where they occur alone, and
> spots where they overlap yellows or greens or blues, but the only
> spots where all four occur at once are the sixteen red circles.
>    "So, what's the fourth factor?" says Melody.
>    "Tina Wazowie concerts," says Derek.
>    Melody nods. "She uses shrink rays to implode inanimate objects as
> part of her show. Rampant, low-level shrink radiation could pull Kate
> together, if only for a few seconds.

Ahhhhhh, bringing it all together. :D

> "But this means we can predict when and where the four of them are
> going to overlap again... okay. I got it. It's going to be... the
> second of January."
>    Melody shakes her head. "No. That's not fair."
>    "Hey, hey, Melody..."
>    "That's not fair!"

ohhhhhhhh. :<

>    "I know whose fault it is," she says, a little icily.
>    He grimaces. "Yes," he says, staring at the floor. "Yes, I know
> it's my fault. I should have sent you after Dingham in the first
> place. I know that. It was a tough call, and it was the wrong call.

Poor Derek, tho. Jeez.

>    "Excuse me, geniuses?" says Medusa.
>    "That sounds suspiciously like sarcasm," says Derek warily.
>    "What is it, Medusa?" says Melody.
>    "I've just got off the phone with Tina Wazowie. She's agreed to do
> an impromptu concert on Tuesday night, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
> It's the next time the other three factors will appear. You're
> welcome."

Medusa, you're the best. :D

Drew "she's so cool" Perron