This is a story in the LNH2 imprint. This means it's a POSSIBLE
future - perhaps not the most likely, perhaps not the one the
authors plan for the characters. You're warned.
Also, Acra Flight is (in principle) a tightly knit mini-series,
so don't expect to understand the stuff too well if you haven't
read the previous issues, and even then, you won't understand
it fully until you read the whole arc. Sorry. :-)
Acraphobe warning: to correctly represent the LOH characters, I
had to use some strong words in this story. This isn't
officially Acraphobe, but if you're offended by swearing,
consider this issue Acraphobe2 or whatever.
Sorry for the size. This issue is my revenge against myself for
the undersized #2. :-)
****************************************************************
"I was kinda hoping you guys would help us find out WHO caused
it to begin with", said aunt Emily.
"I don't know, sorry. And any rituals Occie could do to look
into it would require living plants, which of course would be
rather unpractical to get right now. But I can suggest you go
to London."
"Uh? Dad you fine?", I asked, puzzled.
"I think, Blackbird", said Analysis, "he is trying to tell you
to search for the LOH."
"Yes, that what I mean. And bring the kid", said dad, pointing
to Analysis, "he's bright enough to help you with the clues.
And it sucks to play chess with him anyway. But don't let
anything too bad happen to him, you don't want to see his
family angered."
We looked from dad to Analysis to Occultism Kid. Aunt Emily
looked tired; she hated this "hero" stuff, and she hated it
even more to ask dad for anything. I felt it was time to start
to grow up.
"Ok", I said to Analysis, "If you want to come, tag along." And
I started moving. I had been to London before via Occultism Kid
Express, so I knew the door. I looked back to see the boy and
aunt Emily (carrying SoWhat) following. The baby looked around
at everything as if an interdimensional space filled with
mystical stuff and a disembodied owner drinking coffee was the
dullest and less interesting thing in the world.
I opened an old oak door, and we were in an old structure built
of rock. We walked along the corridor to join a group of
tourists; soon, we were out of the Tower and in the margins of
the Thames. By that time Analysis just went "wow"... the
architecture in that part of the city is quite impressive...
yes, for anyone except SoWhat... and with his powers, he
probably perceived a lot more than the rest of us.
I looked around. Aunt Emily looked defeated. I was going to be
leader, it seems. Great. It had been a nice life.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Who Cares Studio presents:
ACRA FLIGHT
#3
Family Business
Part of the LNH2 imprint. Any similarities between the
characters and events described in this story with real life
characters and events - or with characters and events in your
stories for that matter - unless otherwise stated are purely
coincidental.
Most characters (see end of message) and this story are
copyright (C) 2000 by Fernando "Lalo" Martins. Other
characters are (C) by their creators as credited below.
The text of the story may be copied in any form or medium, for
any purposes, provided that the text is copied verbatim. To use
parts of it, or to create derivative works, please contact the
author at mailto:lalo@hackandroll.org
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Ok", I said, "what next? Who the hell are we looking for
exactly? And where are we going to find them?"
"Kirsty and Andrew Garrold. They live in North London. 45
Constable Road, Chingford."
Analysis walked off towards a news stand. A few seconds later,
he was back with a map.
"I got it. We can use the subways, there is one station over
there. We'll be there in 53.72 minutes."
Fifty-three minutes and twenty-three point two seconds later, a
doorbell was being pressed in a house that stood in an
overshadowed road in the borough of Chingford, and a pleasant
clang resulted.
Except for the cars, the road looked like it didn't change a
lot in the last 20 years. Small houses (by the American
standards), lots of cars parked on the street, leaving a narrow
path between them in the tarmac-scarred pavements. I wondered
whether it would be possible for two vehicles to pass in
opposing directions.
The door opened, revealing the head of a chestnut-brown-haired
girl in her early teens. She was gasping, as if just out of a
wildly fun game, and her smile mutated into deep amazement
while she studied us - an auburn-haired woman in farming
clothes, skin showing the signs of working under the sun, and a
two-year-old almost-exact copy looking all around with the
expression of someone desperately trying to find something
interesting somewhere.
And of course there was me, as always, in black from my hair to
my socks. I had summoned a black wool trenchcoat for the
late-winter London evening, and I probably looked very much
like a real bird standing uneasily on my feet. And Analysis,
looking very serious in a businesslike suit which somehow
didn't look ridiculous on an 11-year-old boy.
"Uh Mum? Would you care to come over here for a sec?" The girl
started to sound worried. And then she finally talked to us.
"You're here to see Mum and Dad right? About their past?"
"That's pretty much correct", I said.
"But you're... so young!"
"Sorry ma'am, don't let us children interrupt your rest", I
mocked.
"No", she said in shock, "that's exactly the problem! You're
about my age... which means I'll probably have to join you in
the story! And by all means I'M NOT READY!"
A tall woman with dark-brown hair and a handsome guy with
bright red hair down to his chest and a copious mustache opened
the rest of the door and motioned us in. "Ok, I don't know who
you are", said the man, "but we were waiting for you (I always
wanted to say that line). I'd really prefer to kick you all out
and tell you we're out of this business, but we happen to be
involved in the problem to begin with, so that is not an
option. Come in, I'll make the tea."
The girl stepped aside and we slowly walked in. SoWhat for once
was very interested in the house; it was a pretty standard
suburban place, very warm and comfortable, and the only thing
that hinted about the couple's past as Net.Heroes was the set
of photographs above the fireplace.
On one of the biggest of them, younger versions of them were
holding each other, he wearing a trenchcoat over red-and-yellow
spandex and she wearing a very intimidating costume which
seemed to be composed entirely of scales. To one side, a
middle-aged woman who looked like Kirsty's mother, and to the
other side... what, Kirsty again? That's what it looked like.
And of course, behind them, a tall man with fading black hair
wearing a green trenchcoat. I studied him for a while, and then
I felt the woman looking over my shoulder.
"Yes", said Kirsty - formerly known as Leviathan Lass - "this
kind of sums up the problem."
----------------------------------------------------------------
A few minutes later we were all having tea around a big table.
There were the four of us, Kirsty, Andrew, the young girl,
Kirsty's mother, and the "other Kirsty" I saw in the picture.
"Actually", I was telling them, "we're not currently affiliated
to the LNH, so don't usually read the archives, or even have
access to them. So, tell us your story from the beginning."
"Well", Andrew started to tell us, "it all starts quite
twilight-zonesque. To begin with, we're from a different
reality - I, Kirsty and Green Trenchcoat, the Legion of Occult
Heroes.
"In our world, the LNH was the work of a single man, one big
Godfather - whom we knew as Israishus.
"One day, around the time Kirsty's mother died - because she
was one of the most important occult LNHers by that time -
Israishus decided he wanted a whole team just to deal with
occult stuff. So he assembled the Legion of Occult Heroes - the
LOH. He gathered Mr. Trenchcoat and Grim Lad - these two were
trenchcoaters in this reality - plus me and Kirsty; and there
was Green Trenchcoat, a representant of the forces of the Earth
Spirit who decided to join the LNH and was assigned to the LOH.
The Magnificent Five... we eventually even managed to save the
world when we weren't on each other's throats.
"Well, but our world was created by Writers in a reality itself
parallel to the reality where the Writers of this world live.
So, this reality was at one point overrun by fundamentalists
who decided to shut down all creative newsgroups and websites -
they probably even had a Ministry of Truth or something...
"So, the LNH was pretty much dead, but there it was worse;
because, after the authors resisted, they decided to make an
example of RACC. They would post a series of stories where our
world would die horribly for one reason or another.
"Well, but Kirsty works for an entity known as the Leviathan,
who is not bound to our world. It has one single agent for all
realities, and it couldn't afford to lose this agent just
because her world would die, no.
"So a few weeks before our world died, the Leviathan dropped us
in your world, and retconned enough support with us that we
wouldn't suspect we were in a different world - it couldn't
risk us going back to die with the rest. For one, it bound
Green Trenchcoat to the Earth Spirit of _this_ Earth, and this
is where all the trouble starts."
"So", I said, amazed and looking to the "other Kirsty", and
then to Leviathan Lass; "she is really another version of
Leviathan Lass? The Kirsty Jones of our world?"
"Yes", Leviathan Lass said, "here she graduated in History,
because she wasn't the heir to a line of Leviathan agents and
her mother didn't die as a superhero. I met her shortly after I
came here (and she graduated), and we've been thinking of each
other as sisters since then. She went on to become a respected
writer, then she married an Earl... and I, of course,
eventually dropped out of the LNH to marry Andrew, and a few
years later we had Katherine, the pretty girl who opened the
door for you."
"And you live with your mother."
"Yes. It's a pretty nice arrangement. For a few years after we
stopped working with the LNH, our enemies wouldn't let us
forget Demon Boy and Leviathan Lass - and neither would the old
Leviathan. So sometimes we needed someone to take care of Kathy
while we dressed in spandex, scales and trenchcoat and went out
in the sky." She smiled. "We also have a video, comics and
memorabilia shop, and we've been doing pretty well. Even the
Leviathan isn't bothering us too much recently..."
"Well", I asked, "so then, what happened?"
"It wasn't really us who disbanded the LOH. It turned out that
Green Trenchcoat was actually a woman... of course, it's
probably easier for a woman to bind to the Earth Spirit", Demon
Boy started to explain. "Vicky Delaware was her name. She even
had a husband. When she joined the LNH, she decided to disguise
as a man... she had all sorts of powers, and shapechanging of
course was quite easy.
"But after being Green Trenchcoat for a few months, she started
to develop a different personality for it. When our world died
- and her husband with it - she really went nuts and almost
helped some villain take over this world. And then we had some
strange adventures in the past, and it was when she told us
about her true identity, and from that point on she started to
get better... but not really.
"She started to be Vicky more time, and to get a life as Vicky.
But also Green Trenchcoat started to be a different person,
more and more, as each day passed. And after some time they
started to really hate each other. Then they left the LNH and
went solo, and we decided to leave too and we came here.
"Shortly after that, she found a way to separate her
personalities... she built a body for Green Trenchcoat, infused
it with life from the Earth Spirit and transfered that portion
of her consciousness to the new body, and then they were really
two different beings. In the process she lost all her powers,
which was also part of the plan. They went their separate ways,
and Green Trenchcoat even re-joined the LNH."
"But it doesn't end there", said Demon Boy. "There is always a
sequel.
"A few months ago, we heard of Vicky again. She had traveled
the world, she had lived a lot, and somehow she had her powers
again. Green Trenchcoat was solo again by that time, ever since
the LNH takeover - seems he doesn't like AOL - and she went for
him to arrange some way of working together. And that's the
weirdest part - they started to get along pretty well. Of
course, after all the hate settled down, they had more in
common than any two people can have."
"To sum it up", said Kathy, "the marriage was about one year
ago. Presided over by the Earth Spirit herself, it was quite
impressive. And that's the last time we heard of either of
them. One year later, all plants simply die... coincidence?"
"Holy nothing", I said. "So, first thing we must do is find
them. Any clues?" And I looked at Analysis.
"And who are you?", Kathy Garrold asked him.
"I am... well, call me Analysis. It's a good name. As for where
they are, well, a lot of things could have caused such a
collapse in the Green, according to the story you told us. But
the details would be just wrong. By what I observed, I can give
97,368% sureness that they are stuck in a different plane, and
drawing some major amount of Green force there, for some
reason."
"In other words", said Kathy, "we're as stuck as we were; we
know they're not on this plane, and that's all."
"No, it's worse than that", I said.
"And who are _you_?", she asked.
"Uh, my name is Blackbird. And yes, that _is_ my real name.
Blackbird Jones. Don't ask, strange parents." Aunt Emily gave
me an amused look as I said this. She never liked "mom".
"So, we're going to be sitting here or what?"
"Well, first we must find out where they are, and we don't even
know where to start looking. And then, of course, we need to
find a way to get there."
"Uh oh", said Leviathan Lass.
"What", most of us asked in one voice.
"I think we're going to get help. And I think we aren't going
to like it."
And then there was holocaust.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The room was a complete mess. Almost everything that was wood
was on fire, we were choking in smoke, the lights were dimmed
somehow, and nasty winds made us hold on to whatever we could
which wasn't on fire or too hot.
Well, except for the baby. She was sitting very calmly in her
baby chair, in the middle of the fire, completely uninterested
in the wind, sipping her tea and having fun with a plate of
cookies.
"What the hell?", I managed to say.
"Not hell", said Leviathan Lass. "It's the Leviathan."
And as in response, a powerful voice came out of everywhere.
%That's Correct, My Agent. I Can't Afford To Let This World
Collapse Like This. You Will Fix It.%
"You don't have to tear my dining room apart to tell us that,
you fucking bastard. We were already going to do the job."
%I Can't Let You Proceed With Such A Group. Three Kids And A
Baby...%
"What? The kids are _not_ going anywhere! I and Andrew are
perfectly capable of handling this, as we handled so many
situations before... and perhaps with the help of Mrs. Emily..."
%You Will Fail. I Need To Be Sure. And Each Of These Children
Is More Powerful Than You Three Together.%
"As she said", gnarled aunt Emily, "the kids aren't going
anywhere!"
"Uh guys..." I said.
%Your Two-Year-Old Baby Is Eating Cookies In My Presence. This
Is The Power Level I Need For This Task. I Will Give Her The
Ability To Think And Communicate Like An Older Child...%
"DON'T. TOUCH. MY. BABY."
%It's Done.%
Aunt Emily somehow fighted the wind and reached her daughter.
"Mary? My baby?"
"Mom?", she said. "My tea is cold."
%Now, About The Mission...%
"BE GONE!", my aunt yelled.
And then we all collapsed to the ground as the wind stopped and
all went bright again. Leviathan Lass looked at aunt Emily in
disbelief. "What have you done? You BANISHED the Leviathan???"
"That she did", I said, while I used my trenchcoat to put off
the fire. At least it wouldn't burn or get dirty...
"ARE YOU CRAZY???" Leviathan Less was getting hysterical.
"JESUS CHRIST, IT'S THE LEVIATHAN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT!"
And then we weren't there anymore.
----------------------------------------------------------------
We were standing on an island barely big enough for us, which
projected itself out of what looked like a sea of boiling
stone. The sky was a mass of dark and dirty clouds, from where
lighting occasionally stroke. The same powerful voice we heard
before, but thousands times deeper and louder, talked to us
from below the chasms and lava.
%You Are Indeed More Powerful Than I Thought. But I Will Not
Tolerate This Kind Of Abuse.%
There was no answer. Almost everyone, including aunt Emily, was
too scared to say anything. Me, I was busy appreciating the
coolness of the scenery. Leviathan Lass was standing, defiant,
and of course SoWhat - my two-year-old cousin Mary - was
sitting in a rock with a dull look. She sighed.
%I Should Just Kill You All! Or Just Let Your World Die. It Is
Becoming Really Annoying. Super-Powered Beings Think They Can
Face All The Powers Above...%
"Aw cut it. We have more important things to do", said SoWhat.
%WHAT? Do Not Interrupt Me, Mortal! This Is My Realm, Don't You
Realize? The Whole Realm Is An Extension Of Me, And...%
"Then you need a decorator. I mean, is this meant to be scary?
Yes, most of the others are lying shitless on the ground, but
that's because they're out of this business for too long - in
the case of mom and mr. Garrold - or have never really been
into it, in the case of lady Kirsty and her mother, and
Analysis. But me? Most cartoons I watch have scarier 'evil
realms', and that was before you boosted my intelligence!"
%HOW DARE YOU...%
The ground was shaking, and even I and Leviathan Lass couldn't
stand it anymore. I think I heard her saying something like "oh
my god I never seen it so angered it will kill us all it will
kill us all oh my god Kathy". Me... I didn't bother to die, but
that shit was just too big, and I have as much instincts as
anyone else. Except SoWhat, it seems. Or Mary, as we called her
by that time.
"Oh, dare, dare, dare, how cliché. What are you going to do?
Tear your realm apart on your heads, and then get your big ass
out of this chasm and go fix the Green yourself?"
A group of islands next to us started to disintegrate, as if
something was pressing them up from below. The air was heavier,
too, as if the whole world was burning in anger.
"The big bad Leviathan. And to think uncle Occie* is so scared
of you. Look at this place... burning lava, black clouds...
when were you created, in the seventies? It's 2012! This kind
of thing just doesn't scare anymore... have you been watching
holovision lately?"
(* "uncle Occie" is Occultism Kid - Footnote Woman)
The islands crumbled, and a reptilian head bigger than some
cities I've seen raised from the lava. It looked at us with
eyes roughly the size of the LNHHQ and talked to us with a
mouth full of teeth resembling apartment buildings, as if the
number of teeth alone wasn't enough to kill most people of
heart attack.
%SHUT UP!%
She didn't sound too impressed.
"Oooooh. The powerful Leviathan is an oversized lizard." She
cracked up and started laughing. "This is too much, sorry, I
can't take it. If you grow up and adapt to the 21th century
before it ends, feel free to call us again. And when I say
'grow up' I don't mean size!" And she laughed louder.
And then the air just started to cool down, and the clouds
started to dissipate, and the Leviathan itself started to
shrink. I couldn't help but raise my head; what was that?
%What Are You Doing?%
%Noooooo! Stop it! You can't do that to me... stop it!%
"Stop it..."
I looked at the direction where the Leviathan was, and saw a
very old man in rich green clothes. We were standing in the
middle of a deserted city. Leviathan Lass looked at the old
man, incredulous.
"YOU are the Leviathan?"
"No more." He shrugged. "I was silly. I made my biggest mistake
by raising that kid's power... and now she just undid the magic
which turned me into what I was... and uncreated the nether
dimension I built for myself! We're back to my home world,
where I once sacrificed the whole planet in a ritual to gain
more power." He looked around. "Was it worth it? Would I have
done it if I knew what it was like?"
Leviathan Lass just couldn't believe what was happening.
"So, there is no more a Leviathan? And what about me?"
"The prophecy was fulfilled. There were seven in your line. But
I always believed the pact would end with the death of _your_
line, not the end of the Leviathan itself. You're free. Of
course, this also means you don't have any powers now, and your
world is probably going to die while you stay here with me."
"No way", said aunt Emily. "I never tried to banish myself
before, but my power is to send anything to its home dimension,
so, sorry, but our world need us..."
"Mrs. Emily, no, wait...", Demon Boy started to say. But she
was already powering up, and she told the old man who once was
the Leviathan to "behave". As we disappeared from that dead
world, we heard him say:
"Don't worry. I don't want to get back to the sick games I had
to play. I've been a major cosmic power for millennia, and now
all I want is to retire in peace."
----------------------------------------------------------------
And then most of us appeared in the very abused Garrold dining
room. But of course not all. Demon Boy and Leviathan Lass (now
powerless), of course, weren't with us. D'oh. They had just
been banished to their own home world, an Earth no less dead
than the one we just left...
"Uh-oh", said Kathy. "Mum?"
Aunt Emily couldn't help. She lied unconscious on the floor.
================================================================
Next issue: Innovation and Research are the key to get where
you want, wherever it is
----------------------------------------------------------------
Emily and Luke Jones (the ex-Teens in Trenchcoats) are (C)
1999, 2000 by Ben Rawluk.
Occultism Kid is (C) 1994-2000 Josh Geurink.
LOH, or the Legion of Occult Heroes, is (C) 1994, 1995 Paul
Hardy (whatever happened to him?). So is the Leviathan and the
non-super Kirsty and her mother.
Analysis' family (you will know who they are next issue - yes,
I said this last issue, sorry, this time I mean it ;-) ) is
(C) 1995-2000 Jennifer Whitson.
All other characters are my creations, based on those
characters and their stories.
[]s,
|alo
+----
--
Hack and Roll ( http://www.hackandroll.org )
News for, uh, whatever it is that we are.
http://www.webcom.com/lalo mailto:lalo@hackandroll.org
pgp key in the personal page
Brazil of Darkness (RPG) --- http://zope.gf.com.br/BroDar
