by Grover Young
“If anything,” he didn't drop his gaze, “they need care and assistance, as well as the others who appear so badly hurt they act like the robots they look like. However, all are here; ready to defend this country, this world. Please treat them with respect.”
There was silence in the command post except for the radios and other background noise.
He barely kept his disappointment from showing, as particularly the Guild representatives could hardly keep their avarice to themselves. Their greed for what Lapis Lazuli carried in that box made him sick. He'd always known the Guild really wasn't a superhero organization. It was more of one that policed their own, but had their own agenda's. Some did follow the path of the hero, but that wasn't the Guild's mandate. In exchange for keeping the supernatural and other magical 'problems' under some kind of control, the Bureau left the Guild to run its own affairs.
“I want to add,” Lapis Lazuli spoke again, “that's only after we have all of that in writing, with the appropriate seals and guarantees, then we'll sit down and plan out how to close that thing.
“Oh,” she looked the wizard in the eyes, “I know that it requires life essence to cross that 'portal'. The Bastard used us on several occasions regarding gates. We might've been 'made', but the force that drives us is the same thing that gives life to all living things. I am aware of the laws in respect to creations that such as we might be considered.”
“For decades,” Ebony shook her mass of black hair, “we involuntarily served one of the smartest, craziest Sonsofbitches on this planet. During about half of that time, he treated us as his students, right up to having us dress as schoolgirls. Like it or not, we've listened to endless lectures on alchemy, summoning and other things that rated 'X' doesn't even come close to covering. So, don't think for an instant that you can use techno-babble or magical mumbo jumbo to pull the wool over our eyes. The odds are we know more about it than you do!”
The dark, polished, wooden woman crossed her arms defiantly.
“That is why we're worth those pardons and exceptions to the existing laws, even if by the spirit of those same laws, we're exempt from them anyways,” Emerald took her turn, “Oh, and by the way, I was a lawyer once upon a time, so those documents had better have every 'T' crossed and each 'I' dotted.”
“We also reserve the right,” Levana spoke, “of agreeing to this plan or not. We will not commit to suicide, and it will not be us alone. It had better include all of the available assets. Our lives are just as important to us as yours are to you.”
“That deal does include our sisters who did not wake when we were freed,” Lapis Lazuli clarified, “The essence of the person who was sacrificed to give these shells life is still inside. Otherwise, they would be as inanimate as this billiard table. As such, they need care and attention as well as examination to help determine what is the best treatment for them.
“They are still here because The Bastard was trying to destroy the world, and from what we've seen, he may have succeeded,” Lapis Lazuli didn't pull any punches, “To close that Gate may take everything we've got, and like it or not, ten women with superpowers might be able to give us that edge. We'll deal with the fallout if any of us are still alive to talk about it.”
“I'll have to contact the Bureau,” Hyperion sourly replied, “I don't have the authority to okay any agreements like that.”
While they waited, Grey made sure Claire was sent to safety. At least one person who stood on that hill would survive.
“Hey,” the Cheerleader looked up at the seven foot tall woman, “watch out for each other, okay? I owe both of you for seeing I didn't end up dinosaur food.”
Watching her go, Grey found himself holding Lapis's hand, but when she didn't object, he made no move to stop. He completely missed everyone else smiling and grinning at them. Well, with the exception of if they were part of the Guild or a hero named Hyperion.
She flew over the smoking, shattered remains of Arkham. Fires raged unrestrained, whipped by the wild stormy winds that, thankfully, carried the stench of roasted demon away. Reports from the jet pilots said that the hazardous weather was bad enough to make attack runs here very risky.
Lapis agreed with them as she fought the gusty, icy winds spitting sleet and snow. Ebony flew at her side. While not a fast flier, her dark sister rode on one of the black-hand projections like a genie on a magic carpet. However, since she used her actual hands to control the darkness she produced, using one to fly cut back on her ability to do other things like defending and attacking. Then again, she could also carry others when flying which was a major part of what had made her such an effective mercenary and later a member of the Six, her sheer versatility.
Emerald, Kobab and Levana rode with her now, which more than made up for any lack of offensive power. Grey Wolf's van had been pressed back into duty as a transport as Ruby carried it with her magnetic powers.
Hyperion, Victrix, Sollarc and Bladestorm were flying along side. The Bureau had come through on the pardons and painfully carefully worded exemptions that stated they were 'transformed' victims of that madman and not soulless constructs or undead. The Mystics Guild wasn't happy about it one damn bit, but Lapis couldn't care less. She, her sisters and Grey Wolf had the authorities over a barrel, and she wasn't about to let the opportunity go to waste. Justice would be done, even if the supposed defenders of what was right were going to choke on it.
Like it or not, The Six had been the Bastard's muscle and the hands he used to enforce his will. They had done such evil in his name, even if they'd been helpless to resist or stop him.
She'd been disappointed when she'd broken that pentagram that the monsters hadn't just taken the Bastard right then and there. The reason why she'd been able to do anything at all was conflicting orders. One was to guard and make certain that no one disturbed the summoning, but an older command was to always protect him from harm.
However, the pentagram itself may or may not have protected that evil old man from the bolt. If magical in any way, it would've bounced off. The odds had been great that anyone gunning for the Golem Master would've been using just that.
To her at the time, the chances for that monster to die were much higher if she'd disrupted the pentagram which was what she did. That ass Sazonox did call it right when he called this Gate 'nonstandard'. The Gate should've disappeared, taking the Bastard with it. In no way was the SOB even vaguely a virgin or innocent, so his blood should not have opened the thing at all.
Then again, the fact he had tried at all indicated he had known something none of them did. That worried the hell out of her, but they had no choice except to trust the 'experts'. Given the wizards' frank greed for the Bastard's blackest secrets, Ebony summed it up by saying, “She would keep one hand on her wallet while the wizards were around.”
They all understood that those stones that held all of their souls were at stake. Perhaps not all who studied magic were evil SOB's, but understandably, none of the Bastard's victims were particularly trusting of those who studied the magical arts.
It was even possible that they did honestly only want to study what was done and not to try to take control of her and the other automatons, but not a one of them was willing to give any damn one the slightest chance or opportunity.
Even Grey Wolf, who she perhaps trusted more than anyone, wasn't trusted with the stones of her and the other awakened. The ones she'd begun calling her sisters for lack of any better terminology weren't allowed access to that so precious box either.
Rather surprisingly, they didn't have a problem with that. All four simply accepted it, but Lapis learned it also meant she got four bodyguards. Well, if you could call the overcompensating, wise cracking, somewhat damaged souls in these bodies of precious metals and gems, protection.
The flight of Air Force fighter-bombers heavily loaded down with all kinds of nasty stuff roared by. That was their signal. The top of Hangman's hill disappeared in a hell-storm of fire and smoke as tons of explosives and in
cendiaries burned it clear of demons.
Grasping the Wizard's charm, she dove into the inferno as her sisters, Grey's Wolf Pack, and the Bureau followed to support her.
Flying up out of the smoke a demon-bird screamed as it kamikazied into her. Its talons tried to gore her while the toothed beak snapped at her head.
Snarling right back, Lapis's right hand pistoned like a machine crushing the demon's skull like an egg-shell. Much of the energy she'd absorbed from Emerald's thunder and lightning show still remained. There wasn't much that she couldn't pulverize.
“Shit!” Ebony cussed, “these can fly!”
Leaner and with wings large enough to allow flight, the demons rose to meet them, some literally still burning from the incendiaries.
“And they can fall,” Levana calmly put an arrow through the eye of one as it tried to attack Ebony, “as armored as they are, they are still vulnerable.”
Hundreds of more demons rose up out of the dust and smoke of the bombing. Lapis took her attackers corpse and slung it into the rising flock. The Wolf Pack opened up with their mixed salad of lasers, fire, ice and just about everything else anyone could imagine.
Hyperion, in a wild spinning dive, smashed into them taking out a half dozen. Following close behind, Victrix's gladius left a stream of blood splashing in the wind. Bladestorm's whirling energy blades carved another path of gore as Sollarc's plasma ignited the demons.
“Yee-Haw!” With a rebel yell any of her ancestors would've been proud of, she rocketed past the defenders to the bomb blasted hilltop.
Using the emerging demons from the Gate to break her fall, she discovered that the demons had been exiting from both sides of the upright black disk. That explained some of the impossible numbers that they'd seen.
However, even with the whole hillside bombed and looking like the moon from all the craters, hundreds of demons survived. All about her, winged demons, hurt in previous bombing attacks were tearing themselves free of the cocoons they'd woven to heal themselves.
Since land bound bird-demons were still pouring through the Gate, the cocoons had to be some kind of adaptive mechanism letting them transform themselves to deal with changing conditions. If so, that made them all that more dangerous, and all the more reason to end this now.
About her, the melee strong members of the Wolf Pack had landed, as well as Victrix and Levana.
“Amazon!” yelled the Roman as she beheaded a foe, “we have your back.”
“Let's end this!” Lapis answered as she fought the tide of bodies from the Gate.
Conserving her energy reserves, she drew on it to heighten her speed, since she was already strong enough to deal significant damage to these monsters. It was their numbers and coordination that made them truly dangerous to her.
She'd almost made it close enough to use the charm when she was jerked off of her feet, Hyperion!
He'd grabbed the so important box she'd slung over her shoulder.
“Nobody makes me look like a fool!” he barked, nastily.
His eyes flashed bright as his Hyper-vision cut the box's strap as he flew straight up, slinging her into the Gate.
Seeing his plan, Lapis twisted, holding out her left hand with the charm. This wasn't what she'd intended, but she still remembered how to improvise.
Her left hand and the charm went into the Gate as she used her flight to angle her body over the top like a pole vaulter, going over the bar.
Instantly the Gate vanished leaving parts of demons behind which had been in mid-transit along with her hand.
Clutching the stump, she flew upwards. There was a certain asshole she wanted a piece of.
Three weeks later
Easter Sunday
Isla De Los Dragones
“I wish I could've seen his face when he opened up that box!” Grey laughed, reclining on his beach towel, “but we were a little busy. When you guys touched down to close that Gate, each and every one of those damn demons did a one-eighty right back to defend it. In a way, that was good, since that drew all of them back towards Arkham and kept them out of Salem, but at the time it sure didn't feel like it.”
He took a long pull at his fruity drink. Lapis Lazuli was at his side dressed in a one piece swimsuit while browsing the news on her tablet. For all that they would deny it, Ebony and Kobab were flirting with a pair of muscular guys who were playing beach volleyball. Levana and Emerald in contrast had their own towels and umbrella, taking comfort in each other’s company while dealing with the pain of missing their families.
“He'd used his Hyper-vision to cut himself,” the golden woman gleaming in the tropical sun laughed lightly, “Then, the big dufus had thrown open the box so he could bleed onto the 'stones'. She made ditto marks with her recently restored hand.
It'd been weird as hell to watch the molten gold poured onto the stump form itself into a hand as if there was an invisible mold. Just as strange had been when she'd used her power to cool the gold to her normal body temperature in a heartbeat. In no time at all, it was as good as new with no signs of an injury at all.
As if finding out just how much Nazi gold and other precious metals that madman had kept for himself had been a surprise. Well, Lapis and her sisters’ 'construction' materials had to come from somewhere, he mused.
“You are right though,” she smiled at the memory, “when he saw he had bled all over a set of billiard balls, I thought the 'mighty' hero was going to have a stroke!”
“You have to wonder who told him about how to do that,” Grey shook his head. He'd been in the hero biz long enough to know that people were people no matter what side of the law they were on. Still, it was disappointing to find those with 'feet' of clay.
“Yeah right,” Lapis rolled her emerald eyes, “like that was hard to figure out. Sazonox and his cronies were about as subtle as a train wreck.”
“On a brighter note,” Grey pointed out, “Mr. Magic Man did get slapped down by the Guild. Even they don't care for necromancy. It makes for really bad public relations.”
“True,” she admitted with a smile, watching her sisters and the beach hunks, “even better was Hyperion being assigned to clean up the Arkham Containment Zone. Everyone in the loop knows it's punishment for stepping outside the bounds.”
“He's going to be less than pleased when he finds that rumored treasure hoard,” Grey had to shake his head again. The woman beside him had hinted where the tarnished hero could overhear about all that Nazi loot the Golem Master had recovered.
However, that was only after she and her sisters had cleaned it out. His poor war wagon had been so overloaded Ruby had to use her powers to keep the frame from bottoming out.
“Surely, he didn't think we helped re-establish the Zone without a visit or two to recover our personal belongings,” she batted her blue eyelashes.
“I don't think any of the Bureau realized that Opal puts Bladestorm's sneaky thing to shame,” he sighed, remembering how the automata could go completely invisible. The unseeable Wolf Pack member had loaded the van with everything from recovered art works as well as left-over valuable materials from the workshop. Of course, he and the others had helped when they could, but Opal did most the work.
And that wasn't half of the wealth Golem Master had built. The reason why the Guild couldn't find him was rather simple in a way. He'd bought the entire township years before under an assumed name after it'd been abandoned. Using the deed as part of his spell, when the Guild came looking for things out of place, their spells passed harmlessly over him because he, as the owner, was supposed to be there. That was also why the whole place was so well preserved for so long, but no more.
The other-dimensional invasion, bombing and being used as a battlefield had turned the place into rubble and ruins.
“Emerald is already working on getting back to speed on the legal system so we can set up a foundation,” Lapis Lazuli replied, enjoying just being on the beach, “We'll see that as much of the stolen properties are returned to the
ir rightful owners as is possible. The rest will be used to help the victims, his and the Nazi's.”
She took a taste of her drink. From what he understood, she didn't need to drink, but she fully enjoyed the taste as much as anyone who was fully alive. Just like in the “Princess Bride” said she was only mostly dead. Besides, being made of metal and gems, she was alive in every other way that counted.
That included basking in the sun on the Island of Dragons’ world class beaches. Once upon a time, the Caribbean island had a different name, but ever since the Dragon moved in no one called it anything else. No, she didn't conquer it, but instead, she brought it. The islanders who wanted to stay got a huge raise in their standard of living, and the others got a very generous relocation fee.
Since then, the Isle De Los Dragons was not only home to the Dragon and her family, but had become a resort for all sorts who really didn't fit into the world at large. The main resort rivaled any in the world and had become famous as being neutral ground.
The Dragon herself was the ultimate keeper of that peace, and to date, any who dared to defy her will had paid dreadfully for it. Of course being a Dragon, any who wished to make generous donations could expect to be welcomed with all the amenities. For those of lesser means, there was plenty of work to be found in the resorts and casinos.
Would-be dragon-slayers learned just how well the Dragon had adapted to the modern world by first encountering her lawyers, accountants and investigators. Most, wisely decided that perhaps this was one hunt that should left alone.
“So, how long?” he asked waving his hand at the beautiful beach and oncoming sunset.
“As long as it takes,” she replied, “All of my sisters, myself included, are going to need help adapting. Our hostess, as well as having one of the most exclusive getaways in the world, also has one of the finest libraries. Since it’s a bygone certainty that the Guild will not be enthusiastic to give us the aid we need, this is the next best place. After all, we spent decades at the shoulder of a brilliant researcher. I'd be surprised if some of that didn't rub off.