Chapter I - Sword and Shield

Completed chapters of the serial storyline are stored here after completion.
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter I - Sword and Shield

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

The werewolf scoffed and shook her head. "Perhaps so. It seems that humanity is always willing to go to war over the littlest things." Crystal then became thoughtful. "Is there any consensus on what your group is going to be called, Archie?" she asked.
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter I - Sword and Shield

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Archie nodded in the negative. "We've largely been focusing on the essentials and the logistics. The aesthetics of it all have not been dealt with as of now.
- We'd agreed on no uniforms, right?" asked Three, to the tone of someone who wanted to remind Holden of a point. The Clank seemed disappointed.

"But you would've all looked so dashing in Navy blues and formal epaulets! I could've had a stalwart clothier of mine - a vampire, obviously, to have designed my morning coats for most of my career - make you little golden buttons with double H letters!
- Sorry Arch," replied Amazo, "I'm Amazo the Magnificient, not Captain Amazo, otherwise known as Captain Nemo's lesser-known cousin. And I don't think the kids would like the idea of being suited as the local Steampunk squad.
- A laminate or a badge on a lanyard would do it for me, thanks a lot," quickly added Three, to clearly cut off any of the dejected spy's potential retorts. "Or one of these little cop-esque badges in a folding leather case."

Archie tried to perk himself up. "As for a name, I'd thought of something to stand in stark opposition to the conspirators and ne'er-do-wells we'll have to face. Something inspiring; something noble and proud..."

There was a pause, during which Holden grabbed one of his morning coat's lapels and brandished his other hand's index finger. "The Lumiaries."

Three almost did a spit-take on his mouthful of beans, saving face with a quick gulp from his glass of soda. "Yay, The Luminaries! That sounds like the most pretentious bit of bullshit ever, like founding this team would make us level up a few rungs in the social hierarchy! Either that, or it makes me think of a bunch of overhead lamps."

He snickered. "Golly gee, Luminaries! Thanks for saving me with your powers of low-energy halogen lighting!"

Amazo couldn't help himself but to add to the fire. "Nonono - do you know what it reminds me of? That's the sort of name an Ivy League school's Greek trivia team would come up with," he joked, chuckling. "The Luminaries kick back in Yale's Kappa Beta Epsilon frat house before their bus ride back to Hope, because they managed to beat the locals with the exact date for Henry Tudor being outed as a Vitellian or something."

Cordatus adopted his best attempt at a self-absorbed trivia host's countenance. "For three hundred points, what is the current occupation of Henry Tudor, former undead king of England?"

Sarah tapped a fork against her glass. "Oooh, I know! He's Andrew Maley's weight loss instructor and things aren't looking too well!"

The Western dragon couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Three hundred points for Hope and the Luminaries!"

Most of everyone at the table seemed fairly amused, but Archie had shifted from the proud bearing of someone who'd had a capital idea to holding his head up with one hand, elbow on table, while the fingers of his other hand drummed out his lack of amusement.
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter I - Sword and Shield

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Crystal bit back a chuckle and smiled. "Good choice. Badges with civilian clothes should do just fine, as well as save some funds for other things. As for your group's name, my opinion should be that it signifies what your prime objective is and avoid florid connotations. You want the public and the HPD to take you seriously; no offense, Archie. Keep it simple and straight to the point."
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter I - Sword and Shield

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Amazo smirked. "You should've said that to some of the outfits I ran with, when I gave shows out of town. New York had its League of Heroes, Chicago had a Justice Squad, Los Angeles had its Defenders... Then the nineties came along and you couldn't have a superteam if you didn't have an edgy name like The Bloodpack or The Outcasts."

He then shook his head. "Plus - what was it with the nineties and superhero costumes being full of utility belts? You had side pockets, back pockets, shoulder pockets, bicep and forearm pockets... Even the pockets had pockets!"

Three scoffed amusedly. "Dad tells me supes used to be all tactical, back then. Before that, the order of the day consisted of running up to the villain as a single group, getting your ass kicked repeatedly, and then having one of the gang find out or remember the bad guy's one main weakness just as all hope seemed lost.
- Which is more or less what happened when we faced Gawain," reminded Archie. "If it were not for Gubbin's timely intercession, chances are we would not be here to have this conversation."

Three shrugged, feeling somewhat ashamed by this. "We should've taken our time with this situation, found a way to twist Gawain's turning into a True Fae against him...
- How?" asked Amazo, "it wasn't like we had a convenient portal back to the mortal plane that would've led to a room entirely lined with iron...
- We might have to invest in something of the sort," noted Holden pensively. "We are likely to take perpetrators in for questioning, and will need a versatile holding cell."

Three pouted. "So - a cell made out of Fae iron bars and lined with suppression spells for mages or any aggressive supernaturals we might catch. Denser metals would have to be used in the surrounding walls to scramble or block off telepaths and mentalists from the inside, and we'll need some serious containment measures to deal with potential superhumans. We need a space that could survive a firestarter's attempts at torching the place out and hold out against a bruiser's punches."

Three's father took a sip from his beer. "Lucky for you, I've got Nigel Griffin's number..."
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Chapter I - Sword and Shield

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Neasa scoffed. "Wow, that's pretty useful. Could he also develop a cell that restrains Void Weavers? Capturing Gawain might have been possible, but the Chamberlain would have shown up anyway. Maybe Mr. Griffin could figure out a way to dampen Black Speech or prevent one from manipulating matter? I mean, he tried to make us stop breathing and shoved an invisible wall against you, Aidan. How much is a cell with those features going to cost?" she asked.
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Chapter I - Sword and Shield

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

"I have no clue," admitted Aidan. "I doubt anyone has a clue, either. We'll be stuck improvising for a few years, I think. If we manage to stay alive and in one piece, we'll probably figure out something."

Archie nodded in the affirmative. "Recognizing the urgency of the matter is one thing, but recognizing the need for patience is another. I would rather we acted in full cognition of our enemy's capabilities than rested on unverified potentials for the simple sake of having done something."

Three seemed uncertain. "Sure, but the Chamberlain could've pancaked me easy.
- Ah," noted the Clank, eyebrow raised, "but he did not, didn't he? Our fellow likes to gloat, mister Drake, and he seems to have singled you out. Narcissistic sorts are not too keen on murdering their favorite audiences, and I've met a few of those in my time. We won't kill any of us, as he wishes to dance on our collective grave. I'd stake all of my mustaches on it, point in fact!"

The human scratched the three scars on the back of his neck. "I hope you're right, Arch - for all our sakes..."

* * *

The afternoon turned and so did the evening and night, and several weeks that followed. Planning turned from an urgent necessity to something that was lived-in on a daily basis. Doing a little bit of something every day was far less stressful than spending the remainder of the summer looking over your shoulder, hoping that no tentacled horrors would visit you. If the entirety of the looming threat felt impossible to tackle, then its disparate components were easier to narrow down.

Visually, nothing changed in Holden Hall, at least if you went by the first two stories. If you stepped foot inside, however, the previously extraneous marks of adventuresome wealth and good standing that had been the spy's numerous reading and drawing rooms had been turned into offices. Little brass name plates stood out here and there - fairly sparse in number, for now. Several had been made but never affixed to their respective doors, Tam having elected to stay focused on her other employment options and Charles having decided to unravel the mysteries of his and Aidan's shared gifts on his own.

Friends had left, hopefully only saying goodbye, and not farewell.

On the other hand, the extra space did come with a few new opportunities. Katherine's handler was affected to the mansion as its offsite Telecoms operator, even if he hadn't stepped foot on the premises yet. Arthur Holden had his own office as well, and the smaller number of team members afforded for bigger, more comfortable and customizable offices. Not much had needed to be done in terms of renovations, as several of the rooms communicated with one another. Failing that, the team did spend a few days accidentally discovering the residence's array of secret passageways. There was no need for a doorway between the selkies' offices, for instance, as most of them were connected by dummy bookcases.

Discreetly, the place turned into a command center, a gymnasium, an armory and a private library. The overly-spacious kitchen and dining area in the servants' quarters was turned into the team's Rec room and cafeteria, while the old bedrooms on the top floor became assigned bedrooms the team could use, should an assignment require an all-nighter spent on the job or for someone to stay on call. All the same, some corners remained the exclusive property of the Clank. He still slept in the same room and ate at the same table when alone. Bucky still had his own bedroom and drawing room, and Crystal's growing attachment to the spy had led to another one of the master bedrooms becoming hers on a defacto basis, even if she and the Clank often slept together. She wasn't consistently there, but was present on a sufficient basis as for the honorifics to be quickly dropped. Pretty soon, she essentially existed as a joint commanding instance that complemented Archie's guidance, her title being restored as soon as she set foot in the city's central precinct.

Cases came slowly and hesitantly at first. A stolen heirloom here, an arcane case of domestic disturbance there. Zebediah Buck to drive back home after a drunken magic-based brawl, or to simply drop off at the Hall, where he'd noisily snore until some semblance of duty - or guilt - made him put his grey matter to good use. Aislinn's power and control slowly grew, and so did Three's instinctual understanding of his abilities. He still had no idea what he was, but he was learning to live with it, to tame the parts of him that were superhuman, where once had been a mundane young man's aptitudes. The complexity and danger weren't rising, but the group's existence was making the rounds, helped by the end of the registration acts within Rhode Island's legislation. Caliban hadn't been able to extend his victory on a country-wide basis, but progress was something which, he said, moved slowly. For now, he'd be happy enough knowing his home State didn't penalize the survivors of Gawain Machae's failed terrorist attack. Powers were emerging, and the only ones who could teach these sometimes confused individuals were those who had at least some experience in the field of plying their gifts for the good of all.

Being a hero, as it turned out, meant you spent a lot of time in high school gymnasiums, taking questions from overwhelmed kids who had harmed loved ones or destroyed property because of their poorly-understood gifts. It meant mending a lot of broken hearts and beaten minds; not with heroic deeds but with kind words. Archie was skilled in the cloak-and-dagger aspects of their work, but Three and the selkies had all known loss in some form or another. The spy found he had to learn from these youngsters, figure out how to freely dip his hands into the wellspring of his own life and share his own experiences. Kids needed more than wooden reassurances. The more he let his heart speak, the more he realized it didn't contradict his comfortably musty morals.

A lot of paperwork, three dozen foam darts with suction cups, a lot of hugs and laughter - and danger, once in a while. Injury, too. Very rarely, death's shade would pass over an assignment. They gave it an honest shot - but someone died, sometimes within earshot, sometimes within eyesight. A victim, a bystander, someone who'd called them... Through all the happiness of those first few weeks, all of the shared grief and all of the annoyances, they'd have changed. Amazo wasn't just a teacher to them all, now. He was a friend; the kind you forged out of shared hardships. They were all turning into the sort of friends everyday life doesn't produce often. In some cases, a little more was sparked to life. Bucky hadn't found many people who could appreciate him at his loosest and least self-conscious, and Neasa was the first person he could afford to playfully bop on the shoulder - a solid bop, and not just a careful nudge with a knuckle - without bruising her or breaking a few bones. She was the first person in a long time who didn't mind sitting around with him reading a few books, sharing a few words or simply basking in the silence.

If anything, life is what returned to Holden Hall, noisier and bolder than before. Gone were the Clank's tranquil halls, as there was always a printer buzzing somewhere or a radio spitting the local news, when a police scanner wasn't squawking into life. Archie felt he had one last thing to wrestle against, one last impulse to painfully push through his own guarded nature.

He wanted to thank "the lads and lasses", as he called them. For being here, if not every day, then at least once every two or three days. For pushing him out of his contented and frustratingly English routine of little gestures made for the sake of propriety. He could feel his phantom heart beat for Crystal, yes, but it also beat for his coworkers and friends. A few near-death experiences in, and he was thinking he ought to hang a few pictures of them all as a group, atop the Huntsman's Room's fireplace. If he'd been one of these modern tykes, he'd have already said "I love you, guys!" at least a dozen times.

They were working, but hadn't been officially inaugurated. Knowing Lady Eirean, chances were she'd planned something with the mayor, skipped over the formalities and let the group go straight to the nitty-gritty, all the better to have more time to more appropriately recognize their newfound knighthood. That was another thing that loomed over their heads, maybe heavier and more tangibly present than all the supposedly mind-rending threats to have been named.

Honestly, after all the fuss about Void Weavers, they'd turned out to be remarkably quiet...

* * *

The sixties' Volkswagen Beetle tended to strike a perfect balance between anonymity and recognizable appeal. Its driver was a reedy type who'd insisted on wearing a chauffeur's cap and black leather gloves to go with the suit. Calvin was his name, and to the untrained eye, he would've looked like any other six-feet-something Caucasian beanpole. In the rear view mirror, the fedora-sporting passenger wore black tinted glasses held in balance over a faceless and nose-less mien. It smiled with teeth - dozens of them, small and barbed. A wicked smile if there ever was one. Still, he spoke on a quietly cheerful tone.

"Relax, Calvin. She'll be there; the descent sometimes requires a few passes, as I'm told. It smooths out any potential turbulence.
- With all due respect, mister Gammell, I'm not worried about her. She's capable enough, if what you've told me is true. It's this disguise I'm worried about.
- If I had the slightest suspicion your prostheses might fail, don't you think I would have acted by now?" asked the monster. "As the Americans might say, this isn't my first rodeo. The skin is calibrated to my exact specifications, your eyes have been quintuple-checked, no less, and your wig is more than adequately affixed. Only she could see you for what you are, and she would be the least of your worries.
- Are you sure? How sure are you, sir?"

A smile curled up on the monster's face, wide enough to make the back of his head produce subtle creases.

"Sure enough to risk this trip," he replied. "Tinted windows, proffered glasses, my least favorite fedora, a hastily-assembled Veil... There is no safer place on this Earth, my boy, than at her side."

Gammell shrugged. "And mine - but I don't like to brag," he added, silently chuckling.

Calvin fidgeted nervously. "Are we double-parked? I think we're double-parked. We can't-"

The Toymaker kept silently chuckling, preferring to raise a finger in front of his closed, if ruinous mess of teeth. Silence, then.

"Let me enjoy this moment, would you? I don't get that many chances to see something other than what is across from my street. I do love seeing the people mill about..."

Then, somewhere beneath the skin, the silent rush of great, ancient and terrible power. Via tickling the Toymaker's being with a thousand minuscule hands, gooseflesh running up and down his pallid skin.

"Ah," he calmly noted, peeking through the tinted glass to spot the familiar auburn curls, "there she is..."
Locked