Lazlo Society - Disapearance - Cybermancer

[Ron Caliburn]

Hannah just called me from New York, apparently sometime this morning, it appears that some sort of other dimensional creature grabbed Cybermancer and took him away.

They don't know who took him, they don't know where he was taken and why don't know he was taken. What they do know is the assailant(s) were able to enter Cybermancer's workshop grab him and disappear without leaving any physical evidence besides a sulfurous smell.

Some of Cybermancer's family and the Lazlo Society are already there and they are conducting their own investigation into this using both conventional and unconventional means. So far there is nothing certain. Even those closest to Cybermancer are unable to get any sort of psychic or mystic connection to him even existing, which may mean he is no longer in this dimension or that something worse has happened to him.


I am opening this thread to warn people that something may be stalking us again and to provide a spot for updates as we learn more.

Obviously anyone who might be able to help out in finding Cybermancer and/or his attacker(s) and is willing to do so can also use this thread to co-ordinate their actions so we don't end up with unnecessary duplication of efforts.

[Grace]

Someone is going to get shot in the face for this.

I've come by a lot of money doing bad things in my life. Maybe I can do something good with it.

I know a lot of you are good people who will help just because it needs doing. But we all have bills to pay so I'm putting this out there anyway.

$10,000 for anyone who uncovers a solid clue about that happened, who did it, who else may be involved and were Cybermancer may be right now. That's per clue.

If you actually are able to tell us where he is, that's $50,000.

Lead us to him, and that's $100,000.

Find out who did it and tell us, that's $50,000.

Lead us to them and that's $100,000.

Rescue him and that's a cool $250,000 that Uncle Sam doesn't need to know about.

Bring us whoever is reponsible and that's $250,000 if you bring them in alive. I would like very much to talk to this person or persons. If you gotta bring 'em in dead, I guess that's worth $75,000 but you better be able to prove it was them.

In case it wasn't obvious, I'm pretty pissed about this and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is on this.

So if whoever did this is reading? Yeah, I'll pay a ransom if that's your game. But you best not try to jerk me around on it, either.

[Hannah]

Hello everyone.

We know who did this and they have threatened to to kill Cybermancer if we reveal who they are publicly. They have yet to give us ransom demands, but we are sure that they will someday.

Those with an understanding of infernal law are particularly welcome to assist.

Hannah

[Grace]

Those with an understanding of infernal law are particularly welcome to assist.

I know some, Hannah. Although it can vary between factions. Still, my trainers felt it important that I know the enemy.

-Cynthia

[Hannah]

Cynthia,

Talk to your Momma, she'll fill you in and let us know what you two figure out.

Hannah

PS: Thanks a bunch.

[RAVEN]

Some time ago, I did encounter creatures which could pass between worlds, and they would have a beef with Cybermancer. Those monsters, however, could not fit into a workshop without tearing the roof off of it first. Also, that was the other Cybermancer at the time. I apologize that I can not be more help in this case. If he requires a safe house when he is returned, then I can help. Until then, I offer my cheers.

Infernal law -- sooooo many lawyer jokes come to mind.

[Grace]

Thanks RAVEN. Hopefully a safe house won't be required.

Time to update this.

A little while ago, we learned who took Cybermancer and where. We still can't say who did it, but there's nothing stopping us from saying where he was taken. He was taken to the otherworld, underhill, the realm, the world of the fey.

What's been galling about this is that the kidnapper refused to offer us terms until after we made an attempt to rescue him. They wanted us to realize how futile trying to recover him on our own would be.

Futile or not, we had to try.

There is a compound we all know in the mid-west that has a strong connection to that other world. It's quite the road trip to get there, let me tell you. Ron doesn't fly you see, and we don't have papers for Cynthia yet. Which is fine, because I love any chance to take my car out and let the engine rev. Cleans out all the carbon, you see. If you have a fast car, make sure you ride her hard once in awhile.

We were met there by Mel, Jinx, Hannah, Matt's older sister Christina and his god-father, Austin. The plan was simple. Austin and Hannah would work together to create a way to cross over to the realm of the fey.

However, only Ron, Mel, Jinx and myself would be crossing over. Austin is too old for this sort of thing. Christina isn't as young as she used to be either and what's more, she's a wife and mother of young children. As for Hannah, well after a screaming match with her father that must have lasted two hours, she finally agreed that crossing over with us would only endanger the mission since our destination was one where Robin was known to have access to.

So it was just the three of us girls and Ron when we crossed over.

It was just as dark as I remembered it from last time. The trees had no leaves and the branches were knarled claws ready to swipe at us. The wind whipped through the woods, whistling a warning to us.

We were not there to be warned off so easily.

Jinx took the lead, pulling out a brass compass that belonged to Cybermancer. The man has a real thing for antiques. She used whatever mumbo-jumbo people like her do to get a 'bearing' on him and she started leading us down the trail.

In the distance there was the sound of wolves baying. Every few minutes, they seemed to be getting closer. “Did you hear that?” Ron would say, flashing his light into the woods.

For a moment, once or twice, two red eyes appeared in his beam of light but were gone before we could bring our weapons to bear.


“Creepy...” Mel muttered.

Ahead of us, Jinx had paused.

“What is it?” Ron hissed in a whisper.

She pointed off into the woods. “He's that way.”

“We're not supposed to step off the path.” Mel said with uncertainty.

“I just want to check something.” Diana took a step to our right... and was gone.

[Cybermancer]

Good day all,

As you've no doubt noticed by now, I'm back from the otherside.

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to:

Austin, my god-father
Christina, my older sister
Jinx, a dear friend
Ron Caliburn
Nemesis
Gotham Witch
and of course,
Hannah.

Once those who risked their lives for me in the realm of the fey are done telling their stories, I'll start relating the pertinent events of my incarceration in a castle dark, with chains upon my feet.

Again, thank you to all who risked and sacrificed much on my behalf. It is sincerely appreciated and will not be soon forgotten.

[Grace]

I was there too, you know. Even if mostly what I did was stargaze with Papa and Auntie Mel.

-Cynthia

[Ron Caliburn]

There was a hushed pause after Jinx vanished. We waited, hoping that the forest would spit her out as suddenly as it had swallowed her.

Nothing.

“Stay on the path or go after her? ” Nemesis asked. Normally she was quite decisive, but the unusual nature of a landscape that was itself so hostile was throwing us all for a bit of a loop.


Gotham Witch shook her head. “ We can’t go off the path, but we also can’t find Matt without Diana. ”

I peered into the darkness of the forest around us. I could see movement, but nothing stayed in place long enough for me to discern what it was.

“Without her the mission’s a scrub anyway and I don’t like leaving folks behind.” I took my rifle off safe. “Stay close.” And I stepped off the path at the spot where Jinx had disappeared.

…

Despite stepping out into what I thought was level terrain I immediately found myself tumbling down the side of a high steep embankment. I did my best to stabilize myself and keep a grip on my rifle, but ultimately I found myself in a muddy heap among the rotting leaf litter at the bottom, rifle nowhere to hand.

I quickly checked myself for injuries and finding nothing serious, I got into a crouch and looked around. Even with my goggles on the darkness was oppressive. Only the faint glow of fungus shed any light. I carefully called for the others.

No response.

Pulling my Piece and my Blade, I rose to my feet and began to sweep the area, looking for any signs of the others, or a gentler piece of the slope that would take me back up to the path.

I had only taken a couple of steps when I suddenly found myself in the midst of a raging snowstorm. A Gale force wind drove the snow with stinging force into my face and at several points almost off my feet. I tried to step back towards the forest, but it was gone. As if it never was.

Through the blinding snow I began to see shapes moving around me, circling. Howls and war whoops began to echo above the wind. Something was setting up for an attack.

I don’t like staying on the defensive. Picking the closest of the shapes I charged as best I could in the waist deep snow, letting my Piece bark its own battle cry and hoping that all the effort I had put into hammering iron cores for my bullets into shape had paid off.

In moments I was the center of a melee that swirled as fast as the snowstorm. Squad, misshapen creatures riding on wolves the size of ponies charged in and soon my world was nothing more than a blur of fang, fur, blade and bullet.

I was being overwhelmed, but I was making them pay for every moment of it. The question wasn’t if, it was when would they get to me.

[Hannah]

Thank you Matt.

Cynthia, you certainly were there. I was glad you were.

Hannah

[Cybermancer]

You're welcome, Hannah.

And my apologies to you, Cynthia. Of course I appreciated your presence as well. Just as I appreciated your recent visit.

[Grace]

Your welcome, Cyber.

I suppose I better get out what happened next so we can all see what Cyber was up to while we were all busting our chops.

"RON!" I called as he disappeared from our sight. I couldn't believe he could disappear so completely and so quickly. Stubborn, stupid male. Could have at least waited for me to grab onto him. Now there was no telling where he was.

I turned to face Gotham Witch, "I don't suppose you can sense either of them?" I tried to keep the distress out of my voice.

She shook her head, looking about as upset as I was.

Scanning up and down the path I asked, "any idea where this path leads, anyway?"
"That's... a good question. One we should have asked before we left." She frowned at our collective lack of foresight.

"I'll tell you where it doesn't go," I said, making a decision. "It doesn't go where ever Ron is."

Gotham Witch was starting to look panicked. "Stay here." I told her firmly. "Stay on the path and stay safe. Things will probably get a lot nicer here for you once I'm gone anyway."

Determined and with thoughts of Ron firmly in my mind, I stepped off the path.

And smack dab into a blizzard. The wind howled in my ears as the cold smacked my cheeks. This was a barren wasteland. A place where things went to die and death ruled supreme. I knew this place even though I'd never been here. I had sent many on their way here. Death itself was once summoned with a knife of mine. True story.

The snow came up past my hips, making any sort of progress forward a difficult prospect at best. Yet somehow the giant white wolves with their deformed humanoid riders charging me had no such difficulties. I started picking off riders, making every hard wrought round Ron had provided me count.

When finally the beasts bore down on me, I surprised one, grabbing hold of its shaggy fur and pulling myself upon its back where a rider had once been. Leaning forward, I whispered in its ear, "fight me and I'll kill you. Take me to the man and I'll let you go." The great beast made no response aside from lurching forward and away from the others of its kind and their riders.

Soon enough and despite the whiteout conditions, I soon made out a swirl of fur, blood and man that was Ron Caliburn making his last stand against a horde of ungainly shapes and despicable creatures. I opened up immediately, taking down opponent after opponent.

The beast I rode stopped short of the melee. It turned its head to look at me over its shoulder. It had fulfilled its part of the arrangement. I took the time to scratch it behind the ears. "Thank you, if we meet in battle, let the victor be swift." It seemed like the right thing to say at the time.

It shrugged after I dismounted and then lurched away from the scene, apparently having no appetite for more battle that day. That was quite all right as its brethren were more than keen for combat. I waded through snow and battle towards Ron. First I used pistols and then I pulled my knives when bullets ran out.

He saw me coming and so didn't gut me when I put my back against his. "Fancy meeting you here." I said with some dark humour.

Ron grunted a reply while stabbing an opponent. We fell into a rhythm of battle. Covering each others backs and holding the enemy at bay as well as we could. It wasn't about winning or even surviving. It was about delaying the inevitable and taking as many of them down with us as we possibly could.

"Ever think it would end like this?" He asked. The weight against my back told me that he was leaning on me as much for support to stay upright at this point as anything else.

Given the leaden weights that my limbs had become, leaning against him was all that was keeping me up as well. "Couldn't have pictured it any other way." I said grimly, yet oddly satisfied.

We prepared for one more push by the enemy.

[Rowan]

Wait a minute—the two of you went to—relatively—the same place once you stepped off the path? Perhaps it’s just my lack of knowledge about that realm—but that surprises me. Unless you were being herded—or had a guardian, it just seems . . . strange.

[Grace]

Well Rowan, I don't know a lot about these sorts of things. I don't know if it happened that way because Ron and I are a lot alike or because I was thinking of him and trying to get to him at the time.

But it's also possible we had a guardian and didn't know it at the time.

[Hannah]

Rowan,

The Fae lands tend to put you where you want to be, rather than where your next step would logically take you. My dad was probably thinking more about stepping off the path than going to Jinx, so that's why he went in a random direction.

By focusing on where you want to be it is possible to more or less instantly travel around realm of the fae. I call it Long-Stepping. You imagine where you want to be, take a step and you are there. The results are pretty hit and miss until you get the hang of it, but once you do, it's really handy.

Hannah

PS: Also Darcy, did you think I'd let you go and traipse across the Faerie kingdom without having a few of my friends there look out for you?

[Tms3]

You went under hill and to deal with the sidhee with out taking me, or even inviting me how could you?

*taps my foot glaring at hanna and mel*

[Hannah]

Actually we weren't there to deal with the Fey. There just happened to be something we wanted being kept there by a devil.

As for not inviting you, we wanted to keep this party as small and close as possible. The less folks involved, the less people this devil might chose to seek revenge upon if things went badly.

Also, I may only be 19, but I have been going to and from the fey realms for about a decade now myself and Matt's god-father has a long history of dealing with extra-planar beings as well. So it's not like we were totally unprepared.

I just wish we hadn't had to send in Dad, Darcy, Diana and Mel like that. But we needed someone to distract the devil.

Hannah

[Gotham Witch]

Speaking of devils, I suppose I should post my part soon.

Tomorrow, I promise.

[Tms3]

point taken.... and the last thing I want to deal with is a possession

[Cybermancer]

You went under hill and to deal with the sidhee with out taking me, or even inviting me how could you?

*taps my foot glaring at hanna and mel*

Well, Tms3, the time to get involved and offer your abilities probably would have been when this thread first went up. Your post history shows you were active on the forum at this time.

As Hannah has pointed out, there was quite a bit going on at the time. And full details could not be made available to those who were not involved.

Hannah says that they wanted to keep involvement to a minimum but at the same time, I'm sure your presence would have been a boon, especially to Ron, Darcy, Mel and Jinx who had a rough time of it.

So it seems a little presumptious to me to get bent out of shape over not being specifically invited when you posted no response previously in this thread offering neither help nor sympathy.

And let us not forget that this was not about taking a trip to otherside.

It was about saving me from a devil who not only stole me away from the world, but also stole away my mind from me for the duration. She initiated torments with this scheme against me that are still being felt after the fact. And probably will be for weeks and months-if not years.

So forgive me for not being impressed with your tapping foot. Forgive also for ranting. The invitation to help was made public in the first post of this thread. If you want to be of assistance then I would suggest in the future you man up and answer the call when it goes out and worry about where it may take you afterwards.

Also, thank you Mel again for your assistance in all this. I know you were put in a difficult position and it would have been easy to walk away from it all. I'm very grateful that you didn't and that you helped to do the right thing.

[Tms3]

and I also under stand the need some times to keep the group small enough to be mobile rember my Grand father was OSS and latter MI

[Gotham Witch]

Walking away was never really an option, Matt. But you're welcome.

[Cybermancer]

Well Mel,

I was always taught growing up that if you wanted to know who family was, look around yourself when the going gets tough and then you'll know.

[Gotham Witch]

Like I said Matt, such things aren't really a choice. I'm not saying that because I was really forced, but because I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror in the morning otherwise.

That said, I'd totally do it again if I had to.

[Gotham Witch]

As I watched Darcy vanish off of the path, the forest became a bit more… gloomy. The trees became darker and creepier. The shadows became longer as ambient light became less defined. And to top it off, there were creepy animal noises somewhere nearby – I couldn’t place them, but they sounded like they were all around me.

A lot nicer, Darcy says. Yeah, right.

I clenched my shotgun tighter as I stood there, trying to calm myself down. The fact the trees and the animal noises all felt closer suggested it wasn’t working.

I took a deep breath as I calmed myself, letting all the tension and nervousness go as I exhaled. It was a trick I picked up from Ronin (thanks, by the way), and it worked to some extent here. After a few more breaths, the forest began to ‘back away’ so to speak, the path becoming less clustered and narrow and the creatures keeping their distance.

Everything still looked a bit gloomy and depressing though. Ah well.

I continued down the path, being a bit more focused as I glanced around. In place of the animal shapes through the darkness, I could see balls of light zipping around over what appeared to be marsh, zipping around and twirling in circles almost rhythmically.

It might have been my imagination, but as I watched them go about their confusing little pattern, I kind of felt like they were trying to tell me something.

…which was exactly what they wanted me to think, I realized as I shook my head and looked about… only to find myself in the middle of an eight-road crossroad, a bouncing will-o-the-wisp taunting me on each path as they floated in their little circles.

“Fantastic.” I murmured, circling about.

I grasped quickly they were trying to lead me astray – presumably to my doom. That’s what they do, after all. I wasn’t expecting them to be quite this clever though. Leading me into the swamp was one thing, but this was… really clever.

I glanced around slowly, trying to keep as many of them in my field of vision as possible as I thought of a way out. It seemed just as plausible one of the paths led to safety as none of them leading to safety – these were fey, and nothing here quite was what it seemed. Of course, it was possible they were harmless. But the fact they were slowly bouncing towards me in unison had me on edge.

Focusing a bit of power – and there was a lot of it around to work with – I murmured the words to a locating spell, focusing on Jinx.

As I finished the spell, my attention was drawn to a dried leaf, swooping lazily past my nose as it drifted off of the path, the spell lingering even as it vanished in the space between the roads.

I remembered Hannah mentioned things didn’t work in Fey like they did in life – times of year were places. That leaf – a red maple leaf you’d only see in autumn – was out of place in what was more or less a spring or summer time forest…

The balls of light were getting a bit close by this point – I had nary five feet of room to maneuver. Figuring I didn't have any other options, I leaped for it.

I landed with a thump in a pile of crisp, freshly fallen leaves, looking about as I landed in an autumn grove. The trees were brightly colored reds and yellows, with the air having a bit of chilly bite to it. The sky was an appropriate golden-orange shade in the distance, fading into a deep blue on the other side of the horizon.

“Hello up there!” a pleasant voice said to me from near my feet. I looked down, to see about half a dozen small old men in pointy hats waving up at me.

Gnomes. The first nice thing I’d ran into this entire trip.

“Hello there.” I said, waving down to them politely, a bit surprised. I swore they had not been there before.

“Why are you so sad?” Asked one on the right, with a blue hat.

I arched a brow, “What do you mean?”

“Look around you! You’re so gloomy!” Another one explained. I looked around me a moment – the leaves around me were darker and browner than the ones further out.

“I… look, that’s… just how I am, I guess.” I said with a sigh, waving my hand dismissively, “Say, you’re… gnomes, right?”

“As true as the ground we came from.” The one with a grey pointy hat said to me with a bushy smile.

“Well…” I reached into my bag, pulling out a bottle of Belgian tripel for them to see, “I would be willing to give you this if you answer whether you've seen a friend of mine..."

I watched their collective jaws drop as they stared at the bomber of abbey ale.

Before anyone asks, I do not carry beer around in my bag all the time. It was just mission prep. Really!

Regardless, I managed to have a very nice conversation with them, I thought – you know, before they got completely and utterly drunk.

I came upon Jinx wandering along some flower bushes, chasing after the glittering wings of pixies as they ducked amongst the bushes, playing an elaborate game of hide and go seek. A small camera she had brought along was in her hand, as she seemed to relish in the challenge of photographing the little fey.

Less adorable and fey-like was a certain redhead with goat legs. She was walking up behind Diana, a patient look on her freckled face as she moved to sneak up behind Jinx.

I wasn’t about to have any of that.

“Hello Maddie. What are you doing?” I asked in a calm, level tone as I simply walked up behind her.

"Be vawy, vawy quiet. I'm hunting Wabbit." She said, not even jumping in surprise.

I gave a slow, purposeful working of the pump on my shotgun in response, "I'm more in the mood for goat."

Maddie gave a big sigh as she turned about, asking me, "Does this mean we're not friends anymore?"

“When were we friends?” I asked, reaching into my bag as I kept my shotgun leveled at her.

"I wasn't going to hurt her... much. I just want that compass." She explained matter of factly.

“Fair enough.” I said with a shrug, before flinging something white and red in her general direction - peppermint candy.

"Free candy." I announced.

Almost instantly, the darting winged lights dancing around the grove made a sharp beeline towards the devil, zipping about her in a frantic buzz.

"Gah! Bitch! Get them off! Get them off!" Maddie swatted around her as hundreds of excited little bullets crashed into her, picking off every piece of peppermint they could.

I am not going to lie - after the mess the deevil put me through, that was satisfying.

I shouldered my shotgun with a smirk as I walked right by her, approaching a very confused looking Jinx, bewildered at the fact a redheaded devil was ruining her shot.

“Mel? What’s going on?” she asked.

“Just looking for you. We need to find the others.” I said with a grin, offering her a hand.

One down, two to go.

[Grace]

I wonder if the Gnomes knew Mr. Mouse?

-Cynthia

[Cybermancer]

Mr. Mouse, Cynthia?

I'm glad you were there to foil Maddie's attempts to harm Jinx and to bring everyone back alive from that forray.

I suppose I should start relating what happened to me while all of this was going on. Some of it is quite personal but there are lessons to be learned here so I shall relate as much as I can make myself comfortable with.

It was sometime between 8 and 9 in the morning of the 14th. I'd had breakfast and I was in my workshop, working. The shop wasn't complete yet but there was something important that I was working on that I wanted to make sure was done. Besides, the new shop would probably be weeks away from completion anyway.

When working, I often become very focused, and don't notice things going around me. That's one of the reasons I usually have layered levels of security around me. Paranoia aside, I don't like surprises and take steps to be well informed and fore warned of danger.

But like I said, the workshop wasn't complete and that included my usual security. Not that it would have helped much. The first sign that anything was wrong was a slight whiff of sulphur. Since I was in the machine shop and not the chemistry lab, I was immediately suspicious.

Looking up from my project, I saw that I wasn't alone. Standing there with me was a very attractive red head with long hair and green eyes. She was wearing a black business suit and killer heels. Her smile was both alluring and dangerous.

I recognized her immediately of course. I’d known her for a decade. In that time I had seen flashes of decency and a whole lot of evil. Today in her wicked smile and flashing eyes, I saw only Maddie’s evil.

Having only moments to react, I sent out a signal that would allow trusted allies know that I was in grave peril. Attached to the signal would be the time I disappeared along with the GPS coordinates.

Next thing I knew, I was someplace else with my captor. “Idiot.” She snarled at me. “Did you really think you could leave my true name posted on the internet and there would be no repercussions?”

My mind was registering my new surroundings. The temperature was quite a bit warmer so that my clothes made me quite uncomfortable. The lighting was quite poor and had a reddish hue to it. The walls, floor and ceiling were all hewn stone. But we were in what appeared to be a richly decorated bed chamber. The room was furnished with expensive antique furniture, notably including a massive four poster bed with silk bedding.

The room was lavishly decorated with ornate stone statues, detailed tapestries, lush carpets and rare paintings. There were no windows so the reddish illumination was provided by torches. They didn’t seem able to spread real light at all. There were no doors in or out either.

Everything in this room was fake.

Especially Maddie.

“I was wondering when you’d finally get around to making your move.” I told her, putting forward a bold front, making it seem as if I had anticipated exactly this occurrence.

“So? You were trying to provoke me?” She turned away from me, showing a complete lack of fear for anything I could possibly do to her. With easy strides she walked over to a massive easy chair and sat down, “how’s that working out for you?”

“It brought you out into the open.” I pointed out.

“Yes it did.” She agreed with a smirk, “now that I am, do you like what you see?”

“Not especially.” I commented. “You know that people are going to notice I’m gone? And they will come looking?”

Her smirk didn’t fade. “I’m counting on it.”

“You can’t beat all of them.” I pointed out to her. “And if you kill me, you’ll live to regret it. Just not very long.”

She laughed, “kill you?” Standing up, she started walking over to me again, “kill you, Matthew? Oh no my dear, I am going to do much worse than kill you.” She stroked my cheek, “much, much worse indeed.”

Then she grabbed my face with both her hands and began to force her way into my mind. The first time, I kept her thoughts out. The second time I still held on. The third time she tried to push past my defences and still they held.

But I am only mortal and she had power to spare. On the forth try I felt her mind wash over mine. Every vile memory she had was inside my head. Just as assuredly, all my memories and thoughts were in her head. It was not a joining or communion of two minds. It was a violating and forced intrusion into the most intimate parts of my person.

When it was done, we both took several steps away from each other, clutching our heads and reeling from the experience.

“How do you fit all that in there?” She asked, looking at me with a strange mix of emotions on her face. She staggered a couple of times and seemed to be trying very hard to hold onto what she had taken from me.

I was also staggering, getting the worse of it, I think. Too much weight was put on my bad leg and I collapsed. Right then I knew Maddie better than I ever could have wanted to. It’s not right to know every secret thought like that. Especially the sorts of thoughts she was capable of having on a routine basis. Yet there was much there that would have normally engendered sympathy as well.

That sympathy quickly dissipated as she started to laugh. “You poor dumb fool. You don’t even know what has happened. Oh, I was going to torture you with lies… but this? This is a truth that will cut you so much deeper.”

“What are you talking about, Maddie?” I asked, sitting up and then wincing from the pain in my leg.

Then she started giggling, "it all makes so much sense now! And you almost saw it yourself. Some powerful writing indeed!”

Her mirth was not contagious. “Don’t think I’m about to be taken in by you Maddie.”

She chortled. “That’s just it! I’m not even trying to take you in. Between what you know and what I know, surely you must see it clearly now? Where the red string attached? Did you think that her last wish was just for you to survive? That wouldn’t be enough, idiot! Her last words to you were to be happy.”

Her body was wracked with laughter and giggles, “and she made doubly sure of it too. Think about it, smart guy. Put emotion aside and think.” Maddie’s eyes were dancing now.

“No…” I muttered, trying to push her words and thoughts out of my head. I wanted to push out some of my own thoughts and memories at that point as well.

“Yes!” She flashed her teeth at me. “Yes!”

As she was talking, she had fully regained her footing while I was kept off mine. Horror was something she was naturally more capable of dealing with. “I don’t blame you of course. In your shoes? I would totally have taken advantage of the situation too.”

“Maddie, don’t do this!” I started to plead desperately. While her words were disconcerting at the time, what I saw of her plan for me was by far, worse. “There’s got to be a better way!”

With very deliberate steps she advanced on me. “You started this fool.” She reached down and pulled me to my feet and held me steady. “You have sown the wind and now shall reap the whirlwind!”

Her eyes were still a touch unfocused and her voice suggested that she was trying to convince herself as much as she was me. I realized that I had that one small opening to negotiate, to try and convince her to turn away from this path.

“Maddie, please listen to me. It’s not too late to discuss this. We can come to an accord… look, I’m sorry for what I did, okay? I’m sorry! I’ll make it right by you, if you just don’t do this.”

One emotion came to the fore to dominate all others within Maddie. Anger. Anger fuelled by hatred. “You can’t make this right, mortal. There is nothing you have I want! Nothing that I can’t take, anyway.”

And then she started two wipe away all that I was.

[Gotham Witch]

And the last bit from our end of the Fey.

Finding the other two wasn't nearly as tricky as finding Jinx - it just required the right mindset. Fortunately, sparing some details I had some insight on how Darcy thought.

I just wish their favored side of Fey was a bit less chilly.

We ended up on top of a snowy cliff, freezing wind and rather large snowflakes obscuring our vision. It took me a moment to orient myself before I got a chance to look around.

"You need to work on the accuracy a bit." Jinx noted.

"Still kind of new at this." I responded as I glanced down the hill.

Down below, I could see the movement of a very large pack of wolves crossing the snowy lowlands, riders of various shapes brandishing knives, spears, and other weapons as they charged on a fixed location. That fixed location were two humans I knew well fighting for their knives, surrounded by what I can describe as a mountain of supernatural corpses.

For all the brutality, I was rather impressed.

"Found them." I noted, frowning as I saw a pack of club wielding ogre-things shambling towards them - considering the two of them were mostly out of bullets, this was a problem.

"They're going to get flattened if we don't hurry." Jinx noted, watching the ogres approach beneath the cliff we were standing on, making their way through a not-narrow enough pass.

I tapped the ice shelf we were standing on, before Jinx and I gave each other an evil grin. We were going to win this - with physics.


An oversized ogre had knocked Darcy to the ground with a swung by the time we made our way down, using a bit of magic as a brake near the bottom as we approached. Her knife had embedded in its shaggy forearm as it reared up with both fists, ready to crush her.

Likely, it'd have missed, but I didn't take any chances as I took aim at its head and fired. The thing's head had just sort of vanished as the rest of it toppled to the ground, giving Darcy a chance to retrieve her knife and swing about, slicing another dire wolf and taking its rider out in one swipe.

"About time you showed up. I was getting worried. " She said, grinning at me as I landed next to her. I handed her a couple clips in response with a wink before beginning to lay down fire with my shotgun.

"Nice to see you too. We need to leave." I said as I said as I fired at one of the wolf riders coming from the other side, slaying its mount as he went flying into the snow. Jinx by this point had followed up behind me down the slope, unloading with controlled bursts of her carbine into the mob.

"I hope you have some ideas." Ron said between gritted teeth as Jinx tossed him some ammunition, taking maybe a fraction of a second to reload as he opened fire once more.

"Jinx." I signaled as I raised my hands, focusing some magical power.

"On it!" Jinx said with a grin as she pulled out a remote control, pressing a trigger as a pair of explosions happened atop the bluff, followed by a rumbling.

I finished my casting as the detonator was triggered as a large spherical barrier came up around us, focusing as much power as I could. Considering the fact we weren't in the real world, and that there were a lot of dead supernatural critters around me, that amount of energy was... well, a lot. I just hoped it was enough.

The snow ogres and the pack of wolf riders looked up at the hill as a wall of ice and snow roared down the hill, moving faster and with more force than a runaway train. As we watched, it was only took several seconds before the warbands on both sides were swept away and buried by the deluge, the avalanche landing on each side of us.

Thankfully, the shield held off the rest - though I might be understating how lucky it was that we didn't get directly hit by either wall of snow.

"That was insane." Darcy said, looking about with what I can only assume was admiration. Our position was mostly unburied - the same could not be said for our opponents.

"Grab my coat and hold on. We're getting out." I said as I let the shield fall, the wind blowing past us once again.

After everyone had made physical contact, I closed my eyes and focused on being back to where had just came from.

The next thing I knew, we were at the edge of the forest, as if we had never left.

[Cybermancer]

Physics for the win!

Also, I'm beginning to become concerned. It seems that everytime Diana and you team up, Mel, she blows something up. I knew letting her hang out with my older brother that one time would have unfortunate reprecussions.

I've had a chance to finish the next entry on my time as a captive.

There is a lot that is still missing from my mind. I knew that Maddie wasn’t working alone in this. I saw it in her memories even if I can’t remember them now. It’s like knowing that you once knew a phone number and maybe you can remember one or two of the digits but you can’t remember all of them or the exact order. That is the best way to describe what little I can recall of Maddie’s memories now.

What happened next, I remember quite well now, though as it was happening, I had no memory of my past at all. I often had trouble making and holding onto new memories during this time.

First thing I remembered was waking up. I didn’t know who I was or where I was. There were shackles on my feet. I was in a massive dungeon with bare stone walls. It felt damp and cold. I had to discover that by feeling my way around. There was no light whatsoever in this cell. There was no window and no door.

I wasn’t sure how long I had been there. I couldn’t imagine how long I would be there.

What’s more, though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was in the body of a six or seven year old boy. Specifically my own body at that age. Even my leg was better.

There is no way to know if I was there for a moment or an eternity before there was a flash of reddish light and the smell of brimstone. They were the first new experiences I’d had since waking up and feeling my way around my new world. The light seemed so very brief but the smell lingered and as distasteful as it was, I breathed it in deep, anxious for any sensation in that place.

“Are you hungry? I’ve brought you food.” It was a woman’s voice, harsh like acrid smoke.

Suddenly, I realized that I was hungry and it seemed as though I had never eaten. “Yes! Can I have some please?”

“Aren’t you a polite boy?” The voice had a tone of amusement. It chanted something in some strange tongue and suddenly there was light filling the chamber. I was very impressed that she could create light with words.

The woman was a beautiful red headed woman, unusual in that she had the bottom half of a goat. The horns were also a tad disconcerting. She had a satchel which she lowered to the ground and opened up. Inside were fruits and vegetables and a loaf of fresh bread. “Here you go, squirt.” She said.

“Thank you!” I said as I reached for some of the food.

She grabbed my hand suddenly. Her grip was firm yet not hard enough to hurt. She looked me intently in the eyes and said, “as long as you’re here, you mustn’t accept food from anyone else. Only accept food from me, do you understand?”

I didn’t understand why but I understood what she wanted so I nodded while hungrily eyeing the food.

“I mean it. The food here may be the very best you ever tasted and it will be very tempting to accept it if you’re offered but you mustn’t eat it. It will do you harm that I will not be able to undo.”

She seemed very, very serious so I agreed.

Her eyes studied me for several moments longer and slowly she nodded, “okay, we’re going to practice restraint, okay? Like a game. Even though you’re hungry and that food is going to remain in reach, I want to see if you can avoid eating it until I’m gone. If you win the game, I will bring candy for you next time, okay?”

Eyeing the food, my stomach growled. Yet my curiosity was invoked, “what’s candy?”

She grimaced and looked me over, “it is so hard to tempt those who know not sin.” Then she ruffled my hair. “Candy is a very special food. It won’t fill you up and it won’t do much good for you but it tastes very good and you’ll always want more of it once you have it.”

I thought about this for a few moments, “do you want it even when you can’t have it?”

“Sometimes, yes.” She agreed, watching me carefully.

“But if I never try it, I’ll never want it.” I pointed out.

“Hmmm. I can see you’re going to be a tough nut to crack.” She seemed amused. “If you don’t want candy, perhaps I’ll bring you more of anything you like here.” She gestured to the food that was just within arms reach.

I really, really wanted it at that moment. But I didn’t want to upset this lady by losing the game we were playing, either. “What bad things will food that other people bring me do?”

“It will keep you here forever.” She said in a matter of fact tone.

“I have been here forever, I think.” I told her.

“Yes, but that may change in the future. It needs to be able to change in the future. It’s important that you be able to leave here when the time comes, but not sooner.”

“Why is that?” I asked her.

“It’s important for my safety. There are some people who will want to hurt me and that can only be prevented if you’re safe and able to leave here when the time is right.”

I didn’t want to see this woman hurt. “Okay, I’ll only eat food that you bring me.”

She smiled at me and it made me feel special.

“Do you know what my name is?” She asked, looking curious.

“No.” I said honestly.

She seemed pleased by that. “My name is Maddie.”

“That’s a nice name.” At that point in time, it was also the only name I knew. Which I then demonstrated, “what is my name?”

“Many here will call you Dean, I think.” She smiled, “but those in the know will probably call you Maitiu.”

“What will you call me?” I asked her.

“Maitiu, for now.” She said, “do you like your name?”

“Yes Maddie, I do.”

“You must be very hungry. Do you want me to leave now so you can eat?” She started to stand.

“No.” I said. “My stomach hurts now but my chest hurts all the other times when I’m the only one in the world.”

I swear to god, she looked sad after I said that. But then her face grew hard. “Well Maitiu, sometimes parts of us have to hurt. And you must eat.” With that, she disappeared.

The light lingered for a bit after she left and I was able to collect and eat my food. I ate it all. It didn’t occur to me that I might get hungry again. I was quite incapable of considering what might happen in the future. As soon as she disappeared, I had no thought of Maddie ever appearing again.