Re: The Great Belligerency [Round 2: New Shambhala]
05-07-2011, 12:52 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.
4517 Raenforth Street was not a particularly impressive building by New Shambhala's standards, and Cole was by now accustomed to the city enough to realize this.
It was still a much nicer building than the one he had lived in during his college days, he reflected.
He flew to the third story, and clung to the wall of the building. He started walking around, wondering how he was going to identify Apartment 392 without actually entering.
It's this one.
The thought of questioning this mental direction never occurred to Cole. He dropped to the balcony and forced the door open.
He entered and found himself in the kitchen. Before he had time to examine it properly, however, he was interrupted by a young lady screaming and hurling a small metal statuette at his head. It was in the shape of a bull's head.
Just before he passed out, he uttered words that he quickly realized were not his own.
"We are always being watched, Ambrose Lom."
***
Zanthuala sighed. Flyers were so difficult to deal with. Of course, that was why he always got them.
Very few of Minotaurus' agents could keep up with a swift flyer while remaining unnoticed. Zanthuala had a valuable asset to make up for this, however - his telepathy. He could send small, subliminal messages to whoever he was protecting, guiding them away from danger.
Unfortunately, Ambrose had left little choice but to give himself away - Cole would soon start to wonder about how he had arrived so easily, at least once he regained consciousness.
And that was another problem - Cole was unconscious. That meant that the mental link had been broken, and Zanthuala would be unable to reestablish it without seeing his target. Cole was only a few blocks away, but those few blocks were very dangerous - the human soldiers were in the area and would shoot him on sight, and the goddess was a danger as well.
Nevertheless, Zanthuala could not fail in his mission. Besides, he was naturally low to the ground, at least.
Zanthuala watched carefully as Reinhardt's men ran past, then when the way was clear, slithered out across the street as quickly as he could.
***
"Minotaurus sent you, didn't he," Ambrose said to her guest as he picked himself up from the floor.
"Not technically," Cole groaned. "But I suppose he is the reason I'm here, in the end."
"I considered moving you to a bed, but the shock when I touched you made that less than feasible," she replied, without a hint of apology. "Now tell me what the hell is going on."
Cole answered quickly and thoroughly.
"An extradimensional entity called the Executor has brought me and seven others - six now - to fight until only one of us survives. Minotaurus asked me to kill one of them, one Vandrel Reinhardt, as soon as possible. As for what I'm doing here, another of my opponents told me that I should come to this apartment in order to complete that task - I'd really rather not get into details as to how that worked, he's very unpleasant. Also, I think someone else has been in my head, and I suspect Minotaurus is responsible for that as well."
Ambrose took it surprisingly well.
"Well. That answers quite a few questions. This 'Matthew Vanhart' and this 'Julia' I've been investigating... they seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. And combined with the electromagnetic field that apparently came from a different universe... This little contest of yours wraps up the loose ends quite neatly."
"Vanhart is more than likely Reinhardt," Cole replied. "I don't know anything about Julia. There was a young woman entered in the contest, but she was introduced to us as Amy, and I know very little about her. Other than that, our only female competitors are a crazed goddess and the Spirit of Fairy Tales." He noticed her reaction. "No, I am not lying about that."
"Well. As it happens, I've been tracking Julia through the net. I think she'll lead us to Vanhart or Reinhardt or Newhart or whatever the hell his name is - he's disappeared entirely. Problem is, I've just hit a dead end... sort of. This way."
Cole followed her to her computer terminal. A map of the city was displayed, with various trails running throughout that he couldn't interpret. Ambrose pointed to a flashing dot.
"This is where the trail stops. I think I can pick it up again if I head over there. Thing is... you've probably noticed, but the city is kind of a warzone right now. Plus, Minotaurus warned me against using my aircycle. So... I could use a ride."
Cole stared at her with compound eyes.
"I can carry you, if you don't mind being shocked for the whole ride," he said.
She looked at him thoughtfully.
"I think I've got an idea. You look pretty strong; am I right?"
"I can be," he replied. "Why do you ask?"
"You'll see," she said, walking off and gesturing him to follow. "Come on, we'll head to the garage."
***
About three minutes later, Cole was flying through the air, carrying an inactive aircycle with one passenger in his arms.
He felt rather silly about it.
4517 Raenforth Street was not a particularly impressive building by New Shambhala's standards, and Cole was by now accustomed to the city enough to realize this.
It was still a much nicer building than the one he had lived in during his college days, he reflected.
He flew to the third story, and clung to the wall of the building. He started walking around, wondering how he was going to identify Apartment 392 without actually entering.
It's this one.
The thought of questioning this mental direction never occurred to Cole. He dropped to the balcony and forced the door open.
He entered and found himself in the kitchen. Before he had time to examine it properly, however, he was interrupted by a young lady screaming and hurling a small metal statuette at his head. It was in the shape of a bull's head.
Just before he passed out, he uttered words that he quickly realized were not his own.
"We are always being watched, Ambrose Lom."
***
Zanthuala sighed. Flyers were so difficult to deal with. Of course, that was why he always got them.
Very few of Minotaurus' agents could keep up with a swift flyer while remaining unnoticed. Zanthuala had a valuable asset to make up for this, however - his telepathy. He could send small, subliminal messages to whoever he was protecting, guiding them away from danger.
Unfortunately, Ambrose had left little choice but to give himself away - Cole would soon start to wonder about how he had arrived so easily, at least once he regained consciousness.
And that was another problem - Cole was unconscious. That meant that the mental link had been broken, and Zanthuala would be unable to reestablish it without seeing his target. Cole was only a few blocks away, but those few blocks were very dangerous - the human soldiers were in the area and would shoot him on sight, and the goddess was a danger as well.
Nevertheless, Zanthuala could not fail in his mission. Besides, he was naturally low to the ground, at least.
Zanthuala watched carefully as Reinhardt's men ran past, then when the way was clear, slithered out across the street as quickly as he could.
***
"Minotaurus sent you, didn't he," Ambrose said to her guest as he picked himself up from the floor.
"Not technically," Cole groaned. "But I suppose he is the reason I'm here, in the end."
"I considered moving you to a bed, but the shock when I touched you made that less than feasible," she replied, without a hint of apology. "Now tell me what the hell is going on."
Cole answered quickly and thoroughly.
"An extradimensional entity called the Executor has brought me and seven others - six now - to fight until only one of us survives. Minotaurus asked me to kill one of them, one Vandrel Reinhardt, as soon as possible. As for what I'm doing here, another of my opponents told me that I should come to this apartment in order to complete that task - I'd really rather not get into details as to how that worked, he's very unpleasant. Also, I think someone else has been in my head, and I suspect Minotaurus is responsible for that as well."
Ambrose took it surprisingly well.
"Well. That answers quite a few questions. This 'Matthew Vanhart' and this 'Julia' I've been investigating... they seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. And combined with the electromagnetic field that apparently came from a different universe... This little contest of yours wraps up the loose ends quite neatly."
"Vanhart is more than likely Reinhardt," Cole replied. "I don't know anything about Julia. There was a young woman entered in the contest, but she was introduced to us as Amy, and I know very little about her. Other than that, our only female competitors are a crazed goddess and the Spirit of Fairy Tales." He noticed her reaction. "No, I am not lying about that."
"Well. As it happens, I've been tracking Julia through the net. I think she'll lead us to Vanhart or Reinhardt or Newhart or whatever the hell his name is - he's disappeared entirely. Problem is, I've just hit a dead end... sort of. This way."
Cole followed her to her computer terminal. A map of the city was displayed, with various trails running throughout that he couldn't interpret. Ambrose pointed to a flashing dot.
"This is where the trail stops. I think I can pick it up again if I head over there. Thing is... you've probably noticed, but the city is kind of a warzone right now. Plus, Minotaurus warned me against using my aircycle. So... I could use a ride."
Cole stared at her with compound eyes.
"I can carry you, if you don't mind being shocked for the whole ride," he said.
She looked at him thoughtfully.
"I think I've got an idea. You look pretty strong; am I right?"
"I can be," he replied. "Why do you ask?"
"You'll see," she said, walking off and gesturing him to follow. "Come on, we'll head to the garage."
***
About three minutes later, Cole was flying through the air, carrying an inactive aircycle with one passenger in his arms.
He felt rather silly about it.
There's no reason for this | Or this | Death is inevitable | You can't challenge fate | The smallest change | I'm overwhelmed
I'm serious | It makes perfect sense | Easy as ABC! | I can't even explain it | Cleaning up someone else's mess
I suck | I rule | I've got it made | Really, I'm serious | This bugs me | It's all lies | I want to believe | Beauty is a curse
I'm serious | It makes perfect sense | Easy as ABC! | I can't even explain it | Cleaning up someone else's mess
I suck | I rule | I've got it made | Really, I'm serious | This bugs me | It's all lies | I want to believe | Beauty is a curse