Madeline Beaufort and the Moon Thief

That was cool.

The fibers were being powered by the ship, so I guess it probably likes electricity? Human skin has a tiny amount of electrical current iirc, which is probably why it was grabbing at you. It's pretty cool to look at, just not, you know, when it's smothering a space ship. Maybe you can attach a lil piece to a AAA battery and keep it in a terrarium? See if there's any that's still wiggling.

> Calm down and take a breather. After all that, you need to recoup.

Madeline sat down in exhaustion, catching her breath and wiping the sweat off her forehead. This is not what she expected her first time in a spaceship would be like. She took a moment to process what had just occurred, What was that light? Where did it come from? Already a part of herself knew the answer to those questions, that she was responsible for it. Even if deep down she felt this to be the truth, she still had no explanation as to how such an amazing thing was possible.

She suddenly remembered her new friends and the bug man that was in trouble. Madeline peered over the side of the cockpit, “Are you guys alright?”

“Yeah! You did good, kid!” Said James, who was somewhat distracted as he and the Abyssal continued to look for their compatriot.

A little arm reached out from the pile. Madeline pointed it out to the two. “Over there!”

James and the Abyssal rushed over. The bugman was pulled from the now still vines. Madeline crawled out and slid down the side of the saucer, falling into a pile of tendrils that had coalesced at the bottom. Madeline thought about cutting the tip of one tendril and putting it in her pocket, but she didn’t know what purpose it would serve other than as an interesting trinket.

“What are these things anyways? Why are they attached to the ship?”

The bugman responded, still catching his breath, “Internal biological fibers. Used for insulation and conducting energy. They work especially well with the kind of metal alloy that used to be utilized in this discontinued ship model.” He glanced at James and the Abyssal, “Although usually they are supposed to stay internal... but something caused them to grow out of proportion.”

“You think this was our fault?” James responded.

“I’m not placing any blame here, but biologics are your department.”

James was not happy with the insinuation. “The big guy thinks it was tampering, and I’m inclined to believe him. This might sound like ego, but we worked on these fibers ourselves little over a week ago and we don't make mistakes like this.”

The insectoid looked concerned and glanced at Madeline. “Should we be discussing this in front of the guest?”

Both of them looked at Madeline and then the two tapped at devices equipped on their respective suits. They began to have a conversation in what Madeline could only assume was an alien language, consisting of low guttural tones and slimy growls.

Madeline could do nothing but watch the conversation that played out. James, and to a lesser extent, the Abyssal were noticeably upset with the small bug scientist. However, while watching the scene play out Madeline had the sudden realization that body-language could be entirely unique for different alien cultures. Madeline figured that James was enculturated on earth so his mannerisms must be similar enough to humans. The Abyssal seemed angry because of the increased frequency and force of his undulations, but from Madeline’s brief experience with the being was that it could mean he was simply experiencing any emotion at all. Context helped her decided it was probably anger.

The Bug scientist shot back at the two. This being was harder to read than the others. Madeline listened for any words that might sound remotely like english, but the whole dialect was formed with entirely different sounds. Despite this she thought she detected a hint of condescension from this insect man.

James cut into the bug man’s lecture, now taking a tone which felt like sarcasm to Madeline. James's grandiose gestures played to this. He melodramatically waved as one might if describing a current location in a community theater play, and then pointed in Madeline’s direction. Madeline figured James was talking about some relationship between herself and the base, and his confidence seemed to lend to a positive relationship.

The insectoid began talking again, this time at a low volume and slow pace, as if to underline the point he was making. He made a gesture towards the duo, and then reflexively glanced in Madeline’s direction.

Overall Madeline was perplexed, This seemed to be the third fight that had broken out since she had been here. The behavior of the aliens when interacting with each-other often seemed contradictory to what she had imagined beings in top secret bases would act like. She reasoned that perhaps this was because most of the aliens on the base were already considered classified simply due to their existence, and didn’t have to worry about not being professional by human standards. Regardless, this sort of behavior still made Madeline uncomfortable

Madeline was fed up with the whole thing, but especially by being left out of a conversation that was clearly about herself. “Look you two, I don’t care what you are saying but I know it’s about me! I don't much appreciate it so if you don’t mind how about James, Mr. Abyssal and I leave.”

James tapped at the device, which Madeline had come to realize was a translator equipped on the duo. “Right. Sorry Madeline... Hanging around this ungrateful grease anthropoid is no way for a HERO to spend her time.”

The bug man was entirely displeased by this comment, “Take that back! I'm an arthropod and you know it!”

James stuck out his sharp tongue at the insect man as they walked down the hallway. “Well, we should probably get to the combat room at this point.. But we’ll have to go our separate directions after that so we could kill probably find someway to kill another 10-20 minutes if you want. I'm here if you have any questions.”

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Spoiler>_ Go to the combat room? Somewhere else? Any last minute questions for James or The Abyssal?

Combat room sounds good, considering we've already had a hostile encounter (sort of). Might be useful to learn some things about fighting in case that happens again.

Madeline was exhausted from the whole ordeal, and while she knew there was probably infinitely more intriguing things to see in the base, they only led to more questions. If she wanted answers, she knew she would have to go to the combat room.

“As lovely as it’s been to hang out with you two, James and Mr. Abyssal, I think we should proceed to the combat room.”

James seemed to agree, “Alright then. Let’s go.”

With a mix of apprehension and eagerness Madeline wondered what new fantastic surprises awaited her in the Combat Testing Room. With James and The Abyssal leading the way, the three set off down the labyrinthine corridors that covered the base.

Chapter Three: The Test

The Combat Testing Room was the largest room Madeline had seen. It was the size of two or three auditoriums, with a ceiling that seemed to stretch into an abyss. The room was only made larger by the fact that it was entirely empty and covered with white panels.

Rex, Major Hernandez and Dr. Thompson waited for Madeline towards the center of the room. The walk over to the two took a few moments, and Madeline took the time to take in the sheer size of the room. She looked back and realized that James and The Abyssal were not following her and instead stood in the doorframe. They waved.

“Good Luck!” said James.

When Madeline got closer to the three, she noticed that they were standing beside a couple of shelves which seemed to be covered in various objects, most of which were weapons of practically every kind, both medieval and modern. Other objects however seemed to be mundane everyday tools, things like hammers, mops and even art supplies. Her backpack was hung on a rung off the side of the shelf, some of her supplies laid out carefully on top, including her camera and stuffed animal Mr Bill.

“Welcome!” Rex boomed, “Did you enjoy the tour?”

“Very much, yes! There was quite a lot to take in.”

“I can imagine, I’ve been there too.” Dr. Thompson chimed in.

Madeline looked over at the shelves. The Major spoke this time, “Enough small talk. Pick a tool.”

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Spoiler>_ What tool should Madeline pick?

Pick up the same accessory as your plucky protagonist from your favourite book/TV show.

Go for a baseball bat, that's always a solid choice.

Madeline scanned the shelf, and her eyes were drawn to the titanium baseball bat propped up along the bottom. In her favorite show Toon, the one she watched every morning, the main character used a mallet with cartoon physics that could be reshaped into various other weapons. Often he would choose to shape it into a bat and send the bad-guys flying through the air. She grabbed the bat and swung it a couple of times.

“This one” She said.

The major seemed to approve, nodding her head. Dr. Thompson simply took notes and Rex hardly had any reaction at all.

“Let’s begin then” Said Rex. “Stay where you are.”

The three proceeded to walk to the far side of the room as an observation platform about sixty feet up emerged from behind the wall. The blank white of the panels on the far wall suddenly shifted and turned into stairs. As they walked up the stairs to the platform they would disappear back into the wall.

Over a microphone Dr. Thompson spoke from the platform, “This is a test. If you are going to go on your mission, we need to be sure that you are capable of certain... abilities.”

“Abilities?” shouted Madeline, hoping they would hear her from way down at her location.

“No need to shout dear, we can hear you fine from the display up here” Thompson pointed at the counter they were behind, and Madeline assumed that there must be screens and technical equipment upon it. “Yes, abilities. Let’s just say we have reason to believe you have the capacity for them. I know we’ve inundated you with a lot of life changing information already so we think it’s best not to bother you with too much more exposition. It might actually be counter productive for our purposes. We’re just going to throw you in the deep end here and hope for good results.”

“Great.” She said with sarcasm, crossing her arms. “What exactly am I supposed to be doing then?”

A robotic voice dictated over the speakers "Maneuverability Exercise: Difficulty 6." The whole room began to change as platforms rose out of the floor with staggered heights, effectively creating a blocky mountain before Madeline. Also at staggered heights were alcoves in the wall which revealed some kind of long barreled gun machines on a stand.

The Major spoke. “Make it to the top. Try not to get hit.”

“You’ll do fine Maddie. I believe in you.” Said Rex.

One of the guns rose out of the floor 20 feet in front of her, Then turned to her position. It fired a projectile between the size of a beanbag and a dodgeball which rocketed through the air with a significant speed, hitting Madeline square in the forehead and completely toppling her to the ground.

"Ow." said Madeline "That was a cheap shot, I wasn't ready."

"Life doesn't wait for you to be ready, Beaufort." Snapped back Major Hernandez.

Still on the ground recovering, another projectile fired at her. Madeline wasn't going to wait for a third, she scrambled up and got behind the shelf full of tools. She looked at the towering course in front of her. I can do this, she thought, I just need a plan.

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Spoiler>_ What's the plan?

Try knocking the projectiles back at the guns with your bat.

> Take them out to the ballgame!
Hit the bags; make them proud!

This was just like the batting cages her moms used to take Madeline to when she thought she might try out for softball. Only the projectiles would hit harder if she missed the pitch and it was also combined with a gymnastic aspect, moving up the platforms. Still, Madeline was confident in this plan. She ran out towards the first platform, keeping her eye on the turret machine as it tracked her movement. It fired.

Madeline swung hard and made contact. It hurt her hands but it was better than getting knocked down. The projectile deflected and flew high into the air. Foul ball! She joked in her head.

She plotted her trek up the course a few steps in advance, as she approached the next turret. This time she was ready and when another projectile was sent flying her way and she smacked it away.

“Impressive.” Said Thompson “This course is difficult even for trained agents. Still we’re not getting the results we wanted. We’re turning up the difficulty.”

The robotic voice spoke again Maneuverability Exercise: Difficulty 7. The course shifted ever so slightly, raising the platform Madeline was on a few feet along with the others. More turrets were revealed as panels slid into the wall creating more outcroppings. Madeline continued forward.

She made good headway for a bit continuing to return the projectiles where she could, and dodge others when she had to. Ultimately it began to prove too much for her as she reached the next platform a projectile barely caught her leg, causing Madeline a slight limp. About 20 feet off the floor and in pain, the pressure was on.

Madeline moved to a more calculated tactic, moving forward at a slower pace to deflect each individual projectile. This stratagem seemed to work expertly, especially if she timed the jumps to the next platform between rounds. Platform after platform was cleared as she made her way to the top. About to succeed, Madeline glanced up at Rex and the others to see what they thought of her performance.

A projectile hit her straight in the gut knocking her to the edge of the platform. Another round hit her back and she slid off the side. Madeline grabbed the lip of the platform and hung on, hoping that the exercise might halt now. She hurt all over, knowing that she would likely get quite a few bruises from the previous events and her body was almost completely exhausted.

“Madeline.” said Rex over the speaker “Don’t give up now. Will yourself victorious.”

He put special emphasis on the word will, and she couldn’t place why. She had plenty of coaches over the years of her parents forcing Madeline into social activities, and something was off about Rex’s verbal push. That didn’t seem like words of encouragement, thought Madeline. It seemed more like a hint. But Madeline couldn’t figure out what he could possibly be hinting at.

She heard the firing of a projectile from behind her, a sharp pain in her back, and then suddenly she was falling.

> Hit another beanbag downward hard enough to get you going back upwards.

A flurry of thoughts shot through Madeline’s head as she fell, racking her memory for any place to reach to or somewhere to wedge the bat into that could break her fall. She even briefly wondered if she could get hit by another projectile, knocking her back upwards, which probably wasn’t even physically possible. She looked towards the three on the platform, just hoping they would do something, but the only one who looked concerned was Rex, as he gripped the side of the console digging into it with his claws. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, and then, much like the situation that occured only a half hour earlier with the ship, calm washed over Madeline.

And then she was on the ground. She opened her eyes and looked up at the platform above her. I fell from that height? She thought it was almost comedic.

“Stay where you are Madeline, don’t move.” Thompson urged Madeline over the speaker. “You’ll be relocated to the medbay, you likely broke your legs from a fall like that.”

She actually did hurt pretty badly, but it was from the beating she took by projectiles. Madeline barely felt like she fell ten feet, and certainly did not feel like she fell from the sixty foot drop from the platform overhead. She decided not to listen to Dr. Thompson’s words and stood up. She briefly expected to be overcome with an immense delayed pain and fall over, but no such reaction occurred.

Even from her position, below the observation platform Madeline could hear them speak amongst themselves.

“Jesus Christ” said Thompson, no longer talking over the speaker.

Madeline couldn’t see the giant lizard-man from her perspective but she recognized Rex’s voice, “That’s confirmation, right? It has to be.”

“I mean, probably.. but it’s Inconclusive. Usually we would have picked something up on the scanners. If it was an ability, it manifested inwardly, so there’s no data to prove it.” Said Thompson. “A healing factor, maybe?.. Major, where are you going?”

“This is the sixth attempt already. I’m done with this.”

The stairs activated and protruded out from the wall. The major stood at the precipice of the observation deck, her gun out of the holster, aimed right at Madeline. She charged right towards the girl and fired, a bullet sailing right through Madeline’s hair as the gunshot echoed through the immense room. “I’m going to solve this one way or another.”

> Flip out

Jump. See just how high you can go.

Rex, stop the major!!

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SpoilerAuthor note: Hey i know this isn't the most adventure-y adventure, so I wanted to let you know DeviRuto has the right idea! The majority of the adventure takes place from Madeline's perspective, but when you guys think it's appropriate feel free to suggest actions for the other characters, or even environment!

Madeline took off running, her body pulsing as if she was made of electricity. Oh damn! That was a real bullet! She thought, I’m being shot at! Why? Another bullet fired off in her direction. She dove and slid behind the shelf of weapons.

“Madeline! Stay down!” Yelled Rex. Madeline could barely hear it, but Rex commanded Thompson, “Turn the course up to 10.” Rex jumped off the platform without even touching the stairs. “Hernandez! Stop this!” he roared.

The speaker blared once more: Maneuverability Exercise: Difficulty 10 and the entire room shifted, more platforms were raised and more turrets were revealed, but on this difficulty, panels started consistently rotating and a maze-like labyrinth was formed. The whole room looked like a mario level from hell.

She took a peek out from behind the weapons shelf to see what was happening. The change in the room’s geography had forced the Major to reroute, taking a less direct path to Madeline. Rex was hot on her tail, but his order to increase the course’s difficulty made it harder for him to catch up, his large size making him a constant target for the turrets. He charged at the major, who didn’t fire at him. It appeared as if he meant to grab her, but a projectile hit him right in the face in the last moment, and his charge turned into a tackle which sent the major flying, and Rex toppling to the ground. The major picked herself up, turning towards Madeline.

Madeline ducked back behind her cover. There has to be something here in this shelf full of weapons that can help me, she thought. And then she saw it, a handgun at the bottom of the shelf. She didn’t know the second thing about guns, (everyone knows that the first thing about guns is you point it at what you want to shoot and pull the trigger, and Madeline knew that much at least) but her life was being endangered and this was her best recourse.

She grabbed it, and took a deep breath. Knowing she would probably only get one good shot out, so she had to make it count. She leaned around the corner, pointed at the major and pulled the trigger, only hearing a forced click. Damn! Remembering that most guns have safeties, Madeline ducked back behind the cover. She found the safety switch on the side of the pistol and flipped it back. Madeline closed her eyes and made a quick prayer to get out of this alive, leaned around the shelf once more. The major was still, looking towards rex, so she took her opportunity and fired.

The gun released the full force, and having never had used a firearm before, Madeline’s faulty technique caused the gun to recoil right back into her face. It hurt more than anything else in that day, and she knew it was going to leave a nasty bruise. Her body wanted to give up and she would have passed out if it wasn’t for all the adrenaline coursing through her brain. She dropped the gun, and it slid out from the safety of the cover.

Rex roared “Maddie! you're looking for the wrong kind of weapon! You have an ability that can stop Hernandez in her tracks, I know it! Somewhere in that shelf, there is something that’s calling to you. Listen for a tool that can focus that power, and use that.”

She had to 'listen' fast, because she would only have a few moments until the Major rounded the corner and would have a clear shot on her.

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Spoiler>_ Listen carefully! What object is speaking to you?

> Your camera is calling you!

A.... flashlight? One of those old-fashioned, cudgel-like metal suckers.

She closed her eyes and listened closely for something to call her, but Madeline heard no sounds coming from the shelf, or anywhere else for that matter. Frustrated, she opened her eyes and scanned the weapon rack once more. She scanned the top of the shelf, where her personal effects were. Her first thought was that she wanted to hug Mr. Bill for dear life, but she couldn’t help but but be drawn to her camera.

She grabbed it off the shelf and turned around, facing the corridor of the recently formed maze Major Hernandez would have to go through to get to her. Madeline expected the major to have already made it to this point, but all there was before her was an empty hallway. Madeline wondered, how could a camera help me in a situation like this? It seemed absurd, but strangely it felt like the right choice, she just hoped this was what Rex meant by being “called”.

“Look out!” yelled Thompson, over the speakers, who had been watching the whole scene from the platform.

Even while bleeding profusely out of one shoulder, the major had managed to climb one of the walls on her flank and in the process of jumping down. Everything felt as if it went into slow motion for Madeline. The major landed and aimed her gun towards the girl. Rex’s words echoed in her head, will yourself victorious! Letting her instincts guide her, Madeline aimed the camera at the major and took a picture. The flash seemed to linger throughout the whole room.

When Madeline could see, she found the major standing with the gun aimed right at her. Madeline’s first thought was that it didn’t work, and flinched. After a few moments when she looked again, the major was in the exact same position, completely still. Madeline quickly moved out of the way of the gun, and to her surprise the major did not so much as move an eyeball.

Rex rounded the corner. He ran up to the major ready to charge her but noticed the oddity, and began waving his hand in front of her face. There was no reaction out of her. “Oh wow. That’s confirmation if i’ve ever seen it”

“It’s amazing!” Said Thompson, “Some kind of stun spell? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Madeline was filled with just about every emotion, but at this moment it was mostly rage and confusion. “UM- EXCUSE ME. Does anyone want to tell me what the hell just happened?”

Rex responded, “You just used magic.”

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Spoiler>_ You have a million and one questions. Where do you start?

That's silly. Aliens I can swallow, but there's no such thing as magic!

> "No really, what happened?"

> If this was the sixth attempt, who were the other five?

“No really -WHAT JUST HAPPENED! I think I’ve been through enough stuff now that if I'm going to take on this mission you need to be straight with me.”

Rex looked serious, “After all those unexplainable things just happened, you are still skeptical? You met aliens today, Your whole conception of reality expanded, but you draw the cut off for how amazing the universe is at magic?”

“Yes well aliens were a probable occurrence given the size of the universe... Magic is just absurd.”

Thompson pressed a button from the platform and the staircase descended out of the wall. “Come up here, see the footage for yourself.”

Madeline and Rex complied. Major Hernandez continued to stand there frozen in place. Rex raised his hand to what must of been his ear-hole, “Can we get someone to take the major to holding please. Yes, your superior officer.. Technically I outrank her! So get over here asap! She’s not going to give you any trouble in her current state anyway...” They made it up the stairs, Rex engaged with Dr. Thompson, “Jesus, you think by the way they reacted I was asking them to take her to Red-Wing.”

Thompson looked at Rex, then glanced at Madeline and back at Rex without saying a word. He switched the conversation to Madeline, “Come look at this. See here?” It was the moment the major had bounded over the wall. He played the footage in slow motion. Madeline watched as she took the picture and the flash filled up the room, revealing a completely motionless Major Hernandez. Thompson sped the footage up now. What Madeline noticed was the Major had stopped off balance, if this were an improve everywhere prank, a person who did that might expect to sway back and forth slightly. However, the major in the fast forwarded footage, didn’t move in the slightest. Madeline felt that if they zoomed in on her, they probably wouldn’t even see the Major breathing.

All the events in Madeline’s life that never quite added up began to make sense to her. The time at the beach, other minute memories scattered throughout her 11 years of experience, the recent incident with the saucer... They were all times that Madeline used these abilities! She didn't know about any magic, but she could feel deep inside that the cause of these things were her.

“I did that.” Now that she was seeing it removed from the hectic energy of her personal experience, Madeline was amazed.

“Yes. Incredible, isn’t it.”

“When will she go back to normal?”

“I’m not sure. All magic manifests itself differently in the user. I can't say I have ever observed a spell like this one before, so there's really no frame of reference... I might posit that it seemed to be a survival response so maybe if you try to relax the inverse effect might happen? You’re body is probably still hyped up on adrenaline from the whole ordeal.”

Madeline took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. Now, finally assessing her physical condition, the sudden realization of hurt and exhaustion washed all over her, and she couldn’t keep functioning if she wanted to. She didn’t much want to, the appeal of rest was too alluring. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, everything darkening around her.

A few moments later, down on the floor of the combat room, a gun went off. It didn't seem to be fired in their direction.

Thompson “Oh sh-”

Rex roared. “Damn it! Call medical! I’ll deal with Hernandez”

- - -

Major Hernandez found herself unarmed in a white cell, facing a large reinforced glass wall. Rex stood on the other side. He was not pleased.