SG: Aurora #45 - Above and Beyond (Part Seven of Nine)

[Frobozz]

CONTINUED FROM PART SIX

    There was a wrenching sensation. Doyle knew that the computer systems
around him had died. If it weren't for a simple wish, Doyle knew that he
would have died with them. Instead, he found himself on the floor of the
office where he'd entered the system, alive thanks to Doug. Now there
were words that he'd never thought he'd get a chance to say.
    Yet while Doyle lived, he realised that he'd left something behind.
Doyle remembered those last few moments in the network as he'd been told
to run. He'd reached out, trying to bring two with him...
    He could feel one still with him, badly damaged and quiet, but his
code preserved against the destruction of the computers. Once the
computer systems were back up he could try to heal the intelligence he'd
rescued. Doyle hoped that he was up to the task.
    Once the systems were restored, Doyle would also be able to see who
had made it. But almost more important, he could find out who hadn't.
    There was so much still to do and he couldn't waste a second on rest
or remorse. Wearily, Doyle levered himself up and then staggered as his
legs failed him, before catching himself on a chair. All right, maybe
he'd have to rest for a few minutes. But then, there was so much to do.
So much ground to reclaim. And so many friends about whom he had to
worry.
    Doyle whispered a silent prayer that they would be all right. He was
answered by silence, but that was all he had expected.

***

    Fortunately, most of the superguys on the field were professionals.
They had had years of experience dealing with the supernatural, the
paranormal, the supernormal -and- the paranatural. Many of them had
fought creatures who could only be defeated by true love, Brahm's
lullabye or any number of exotic and sometimes downright arbitrary
banes. It was no wonder that these teams hit the bars so hard on their
off hours.
    So very few of the superguys assembled batted an eyelash when word
came over the Aurora-furnished links about what they had to do to weaken
the creature. Three groups quickly formed from the ranks of the heroes.
Though they had been fighting with very little organization before,
these were the best of the best and when the time came to come together,
they knew how to come together.
    The first group was formed from those who had been closest to
Gladiator when the call came out. Summer, Mike and Link of Team
M.E.C.H.A.; Trashman of the Adjusted League Unimpeachable; Boomer of
Mythos; Phobos of the MMM; Pilgrim from the Sentries and Space Moose
himself fought in this phalanx. They dodged and wove, pressing Gladiator
to fight back while doing their best not to be hit. Their job was
unenviable: they were to keep Gladiator distracted enough not to notice
the organization going on behind them.
    The rest of the teams gathered into knots. EnSonique watched those
knots gather for a moment before glancing to the Seer. It's a shame the
band wasn't hiring anyone new, because being able to anticipate
disasters before they happened would be -major-. He would've earned his
keep just preventing the wah-wah pedal incident alon--
    "NOW!" she yelled, breaking her train of thought as she saw the look
of horror cross the Seer's face. Like the professionals they were, the
remaining superguys reacted to her signal by launching themselves
towards Gladiator's left flank. Distracted as he was by the ants who
were making pests of himself, Gladiator didn't notice this attack coming
until it was almost upon him. And upon noticing it, the Gladiator
laughed. -This- was the best that the sons and daughters of Sin could
do? He felt his power surge as he turned to confront these oh-so-proud
warriors.
    And just as he closed to engaged, Gladiator felt something begin to
nibble at those powers. He whirled about, realising that he'd ignored
his rightmost flank while attending to his left; and caught a powerful
fist across his face from Spandex Babe, who led the third group of
heroes, swung hard at the demon.
    Summer moved quickly, risking a thrashing as she caught the demon in
metal arms. But the spandex-clad warrior's punch had already sapped some
of Gladiator's fighting spirit and he hesitated a second too long before
trying to tear the M.E.C.H.A.n limb from limb, giving Adam Douglas a
chance to close fast.
    "Dog, give me strength," he implored of his Totem, reaching out to
touch the hellspawn. There was a flash of magic and Gladiator was
knocked clear of Summer. Tina, one of the Sentries, rushed into position
under the arc of his fall as if she was playing a game of demonic
volleyball. She reached up and made contact with the plummeting demon,
letting out a fwash of energy that spiked him skyward again.
    Vedding watched Gladiator rise towards him. He winked at the demon,
then -slammed- a fist into the Hell(tm)ish warrior, driving him back
into the ground with piledriver force. Angel darted close followed by
her eternal companion Shard, as the pair gathered up both her guilt and
the remorse belonging to the rest of the right-side phalanx, hurling it
as a telepathic bolt into Gladiator's mind. The demon struggled
momentarily against the psychic battery and tried to gather a stone to
hurl towards the glowing lump of rock who was marshalling it, but his
plan -- and motion -- was quickly stilled by a powerful stomp to the
neck by Spandex Babe.
    "I love it when a plan comes together," said Al, folding his arms in
satisfaction as he watched the carnage.

***

    "A criminal."
    "Yes," hissed Jaqueline, turning away from Peterson. "You... know of
this world's Jack Wynn. You've said as much. We both fell in love with a
woman who was destined to become a Wishgiver."
    "The lucky stiff," muttered Peterson, feeling some of his old
jealousy stirring.
    "Maybe," replied Jaqueline, tightly. "Like my counterpart, my soul
bonded with hers. But unlike my counterpart's mate, mine -betrayed- me."
    "You got to watch out for those soul-bound women. They'll break your
hearts every time," quipped Peterson. Hunh. No one had mentioned
anything about a soul-bond. He wondered whether to feel left out of the
loop or relieved that -he'd- avoided the same fate. If Daphne had
accepted his advances, would he have wound up tied to one woman? Like
that? Yeesh.
    "Don't make light," said Jaqueline, her voice deceptively mild. "Your
neck breaks even more easily than your legs."
    "I wouldn't dream of it," replied Peterson. "Please, I'm all ears..."
    "Yes. Well." Jaqueline turned back to Peterson. "She found herself
above many, but below our Pinnacle. It was a difficult situation for her
and I think adjusting to her new status warped her mind, leaving her
unable to adapt to her responsibilities. I wish that I had seen it
sooner, but she hid her soul from me as well as she could and... I
respected her privacy... never mind." Jaqueline straightened. "Her
insanity grew until she yearned for freedom from the system that
embraces us all. She sympathized with your world but knew that as long
as she and I were bound together, she could never have it..."
    "Damn," whispered Peterson. Even though Jaqueline was an evil
conquoror bent on reeducating his world, he could still understand when
a woman did you wrong.
    "She made a wish. As is the wont of her kind. She made a wish so
large that it exceeded her. She wished..."
    "Yes...?"
    "She wished that we would never again be able to reach your world on
our own. She wished that we would require your -help- to reach your
universe. She thought, I believe, that this would ensure we would be
unable to execute our plan until you became aware of us, and either
offered us the hand of friendship or were ready to deal with us on your
own terms.
    "The wish destroyed her. It was simply too large, and I wonder
sometimes whether or not she wanted just that. Being bound to her soul,
it destroyed me too."
    "You... look pretty corporeal for someone who's been destroyed, you
know."
    "I know. Our soul-bond gave me one advantage. It let me wish on her
no matter where she was, or whether she wished to countermand it. As I
felt myself coming undone, I wished that I would return to breach your
world. I felt the last of her power touch me... and then I died.
    "The next thing I recalled, I had been reborn. Perhaps she had been
too, but I haven't found a trace of her since. I grew rapidly, but let
me assure you that however short a span the second time around, you do
-not- wish to go through diaper training again, particularly not with
full self-awareness."
    Peterson winced. Some things sounded worse than fates like, oh say,
having both your legs broken and left unbraced. But maybe not by much.
    "It took me very few months to reach an age where I could contact my
Pinnacle. It wasn't difficult to establish my credentials. The hardest
part was dealing with those who couldn't take me seriously, both as a
child and as a... girl."
    "Yeah, that would be a blow to the male ego..."
    "And to the egos of those around me, the ones who knew me. I think
perhaps they saw in me their own emasculation."
    "So you got back to work. And then when our Colleen built her portal
system..."
    "We had our way back. We needed to control your system. It wasn't
difficult. Say hello to Colleen for me sometime."
    Peterson's eyes widened in shock. "The Hell(tm)? Colleen..."
    "Has been our double-agent for years, Mister Peterson. What better
way to be able to sneak our people through? And when you provided us
with a hostage in the form of your own -leader-? Oh, you trusting
fools."
    Jaqueline shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mister Peterson. Much as that
was cleansing, I'm afraid I should attend to the business I've been
neglecting. I have troops who must be already here, waiting for orders
and I must accomodate them."
    "Uhm..." began Clarisse, but not loudly enough for Jaqueline to take
notice.
    "So now's when you throw me in a cell, right?"
    "No." Jaqueline moved towards Peterson. "I'm afraid it's time for the
curtain to fall on your little play." She raised her hand. "Don't be
afraid. I promise you, the feeling of being dissolved is painless."
    "I guess you don't get many complaints, do you?" replied Peterson,
looking up at Jaqueline.
    "Not a one, Mister Peterson." Jaqueline sighed, pity returning to her
gaze. "It's a shame. You came here, driven by your universe's rules.
There really was no question that you would follow the dictates of your
kind and come alone to try to end this in one idiotic heroic showdown.
Really, there was no question about how this was going to end. The
individual cannot stand against the group. Time and time again, the
world destroys the individual who breaks from the herd."
    "I guess I agree with you on that one."
    "Much too late for it to do you any good, Mister Peterson. Do you
have any last words?"
    "Yeah, just one."
    "One? Such restraint. I'm impressed. Speak it, then."
    "Fire."
    Jaqueline blinked in surprise, having expecting something a little
bit more dramatic. "Fi--"
    Jaqueline never finished the word, as suddenly her head exploded.
    Peterson looked up at the vent where Chambers had hidden herself. He
was so damned sorry that she had to be the triggerman. He'd hoped...
he'd hoped somehow he would have been the one to take the stain of sin
on himself. Not that bright, beautiful soul who sang as beautifully as a
nightengale.
    But deep down, Peterson had known what Jaqueline did. The individual
didn't have a chance. No matter what Peterson had hoped, it had always
been Chambers who would pull the trigger.
    Peterson slumped back as the adrenaline of the last few minutes
started to fade. With the last of his strength, he raised his voice as
he no longer had a loudspeaker to fall back on.
    "Your leader's gone," he mumbled. "My partner has a bead on you. Do
everything she says and... no one else has to gib. I'm just gon' lie
down now..."
    Blackness tried to enfold Peterson. Being no fool, he surrendered to
it without a fight.

***

    "I think he's down," said Adam Douglas, as he knelt next to Gladiator
and prodded him with a finger.
    "It won't be for too long," replied Al Jones, skidding his bike to a
stop next to the felled demon. "Even like this he's already healing.
We're going to have to banish him if we're going to get rid of the guy."
    "And do you happen to know how we could do that?" asked Angellica,
alighting on the ground with a graceful pirouette.
    "Just so happens, there's a ritual I know that could do it," replied
Al. "Takes about three days and a -lot- of crap to pull off but it'll do
the trick."
    "I can help with that," said Douglas. "What do we need?"
    "Yarn, chalk, blood of a virgin ewe, string cheese, a Rubik's cube, a
yak--"
    The most bizarre recipe that most of the assembled superguys had ever
heard was interrupted by a mighty WHOOSHING of wind. Everyone (and their
dog) turned to shield their eyes from the gust. Then as suddenly as the
gust had begun, it had gone, leaving behind only a yellow,
lightly-gummed note on the Gladiator's forehead.
    The demon proved he still had some strength left to him. Reaching up
with the last of it, he tore free the note and began to crumple it up,
then paused. Curiosity got the better of him and he read the words
written on the Post-It note.

     _______________________________________________________
     |I noticed you were having an epic battle. I've been  |
     |distracted by three fires in the Prairies, two       |
     |kittens stuck up a tree, and the aftermath of someone|
     |mixing Coke and Pop-Rocks (poor man). I'm so -very-  |
     |-sorry- that I wasn't here to lend you a hand. While |
     |I am busy, I deeply regret not having made more time |
     |to help out those of you who carry on the fight in   |
     |my name. Once again, please accept my most sincere   |
     |apologies for this lapse. I'm really, really, really |
     |sorry.                                               |
     |                                                     |
     |                               --Superguy            |
     _______________________________________________________

    "Well crap," breathed Gladiator as the sorrow felt by the most super
of all superguys washed over him. It was too much; had he not been
pummeled into submission by the warriors of regret, he could have born
up under this but... but... but...
    There was a sudden flash of Hellfire. And when everyone's vision
cleared, there was nothing left of the demon but a heap of ash on the
ground.
    "Was that the ritual?" asked Phobos, blinking twice.
    "Nope," replied Al. "But that'll do."

***

CONTINUED IN PART EIGHT

---
-Chris
frobozz at eyrie.org
http://www.eyrie.org/~frobozz

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