Wednesday, December 21, 1987
Limbo a Realm between dimensions
“No!” “No, we haven’t!” young Lucy shouts as Master Warrior pulls himself up from below the edge of the metal rim.
Master Warrior stands up at the edge of the plane donut to untie the rope around his waist. “Thanks guys, it was touch and go for a minute there,” he says in gratitude returning his arsenal to the shape of a strap on his leg.
“Where are we?” the impatient Co-pilot asks. “What did you see out there?”
“I am sure now that we are no longer in the Earth dimension, we are somewhere in between, in limbo,” Master Warrior explains. “The good thing is we are moving horizontally.”
“Moving?” Michael repeats. “Moving to where?”
“Wherever it is Overmind wanted to send us,” Master Warrior replies. “The best thing we can do is stay calm for now until we arrive there.” “Then we can figure out how to get home.”
“Why not figure out how to get home from here?” Jay Downs asks sitting back down in his seat to take hold of his new bride’s hand trying to comfort her.
Walking around the couple who sit at the edge of the ring of hull Master Warrior explains, “Trying to dislodge what is left of the plane from limbo could land us anywhere, might even disturb whatever power is holding this atmosphere all together.”
“Why would that Chinaman do this to us?” Joan Riker shouts.
“Mom, please!” the young girl chastises her mother for her comment.
“That doesn’t matter now,” Master Warrior tells the worried mother. Not wanting to tell these people that he suspects that this has all been an attack on him. “What matters now is that we work together to find a way home.”
“All of this is so outside my world of understanding,” Michael says sitting back down in his seat.
“It’s simple dude,” Branden Wurthy tells the seminary student. “The universe is made up of more than just our world, there are other worlds vibrating at different speeds that exist in the same space as Earth.” “We are in a place that is changing the speed at which we are vibrating to reach another plane of existence.”
“Wow, that was right on the mark,” Master Warrior compliments. “Not many ordinary people understand that.”
“I’m a Quantum physics major,” Branden tells the group. “This is going to be the most awesome thesis paper ever!” He and his friend, Billy bump fists and shoulders in agreement.
“Then you know how we can get home from this other place we are going?” Davis asks Branden.
“Not really but it seems to me in theory that even if our nature vibrations are altered to enter this other dimension, it is still our nature state of existence.” Branden explains. “There is a theory that there are naturally occuring weak points in the dimension fabric between two places.” “If we can find one of those weak points we should be able to return to Earth.”
“Our honeymoon is ruined!” Selene Downs sobs on her husband’s shoulder. Just then the plane donut hits what can only be described as a speed bump.
“Everyone get back in your seats, this is it!” Master Warrior shouts as the area outside the ring turns back to clear blue sky. “We need to brace for impact.”
“You’re a Superhero!” “Can’t you just fly out there and catch this thing?” Joan Riker pleads.
“I’m not Superman, I’m not that strong!” Master Warrior explains sadly.
“We are lower than the plane would have been, it won’t be that hard of a hit,” Davis shouts to the panicked passengers.
Reaching up to the low ceiling of the ring Master Warrior braces himself for the impact as the ring hits the ground. It slides for over a hundred feet grinding off the outer hull until it begins to roll. Back on land Master Warrior jumps free of the ring to tuck and roll away. Springing back to his feet Master Warrior runs to take flight to stop the roll of the plane hull ring.
Flying around in front of the ring Master Warrior forms his arsenal into a shield that wraps around his shoulder as he puts it forward to lean into the oncoming metal ring. Making contact with the ring filled with the eight passengers he gently slows the roll. The ring slides for another fifty feet until it comes to a stop.
Master Warrior rolls the ring upright to allow the passengers to climb out of their seats in the wreckage. All of the passengers are shaken up but none of them have more than cuts and scrapes from the wreck. As Master Warrior tries to calm the mother and daughter, Davis Taylor looks around to find there is a road nearby. Leading the group to the road they find a sign that was clipped off by the crash. “Master Warrior, do you have a moment,” Davis calls out.
Master Warrior walks to the edge of the road where Davis holds up the sign. “What is it, what did you find?” he asks. The sign has three words and three numbers written on it; Mahrud 10, Hgielar 20, Nosliw 30.
“Is that English?” Davis asks. “Those are not cities I have ever heard of.”
Master Warrior studies the sign and recognizes something the Co-pilot does not. “I don’t know how the distance is measured here, but those are the names of cities in North Carolina spelled backward, Durham, Raleigh, and Wilson.” “It would make sense that this would be around that distance from Philadelphia.”
“This looks nothing like North Carolina,” Davis observes. “It looks more like Utah.”
“Who the hell are they?” Billy calls out drawing Master Warrior and Davis attention back to the wreckage. Headed down the road from the north is a group of men that stagger and stumble toward them. As they draw closer the group can clearly see that these men are not well.
“They look like Freaking Zombies!” Branden announces.
“Don’t be an idiot, there is no such thing as Zombies!” Joan exclaims, holding her daughter tightly to her side.
“There is no telling what they are, we are not on Earth anymore,” Master Warrior reminds. “Everyone stay back I will handle this.” Master Warrior walks cautiously down the road toward the men. Oddly again Master Warrior feels no danger to himself but if these are not Zombies like Branden said, they are surely sick with some awful disease. “Hello!” he calls out to the leader of the group whose smell reaches him before he does. This is not a good sign he thinks. “Could you tell us where we are?” The dead on his feet looking man lurches forward at Master Warrior swinging out his arm. The man’s claw like fingers graze across the bottom edge of Master Warrior’s flight vest. The hero reacts with a punch to the zombie’s shoulder sending him down to the ground.
Backing away from the living corpse that flops on the ground like a fish out of water, the mob looms closer not giving any verbal response other than moans. Davis approaches Master Warrior to advise, “We should just go, before they get any closer.”
“I think you might be right,” Master Warrior agrees. “Take the others south, run if you must, I will catch up!” The closer they come, Master Warrior can see the putrit shape the people are in. Several appear to have broken bones that they ignore to continue staggering forward. He can see limbs hanging on threads of skin and muscle. He fears that Branden is right, they are the walking dead.
Davis turns back to the survivors shouting, “Let’s go, we are leaving!” The Co-pilot corrals the other passengers as they begin to run down the road away from the herd of Zombies leaving Master Warrior to deal with them alone.
The sheer number of the people in the herd is far beyond what any of them could have ever imagined. Master Warrior knows there is no way he could possibly tackle this many men, dead or alive. He can see only one option. He raises his arms in front of himself. He has not drained his gauntlet since his encounter with Samso, but the thickness of the pattern on them tells him they have power stored. At twenty-five feet the smell of the herd of dead is sickening. Master Warrior brings his gauntlets together with enough force to create a wide wave of what every might be stored in them.
The energy released from Master Warrior’s gauntlets is enough to force the Zombie army about five feet off the ground and back about a hundred. He watches as the walking corpses hit against each other to the ground. He can hear the crack of more bones as they fall to form a heap of rotten flesh on the road. To his shock he still sees movement as bodies crawl from the grotesque pile.
Turning south Master Warrior takes three steps to leap into the sky to fly after the group. About a mile down the road he is relieved to see the passengers still running. It is by sheer luck that they are all uninjured and able to escape this terrible event behind them. Master Warrior flies over them dropping down to the road in front. “I think it is okay now, they won’t be following in a hurry,” he tells them, bringing them to an exhausted stop.
“What were they?” Selena Downs pants.
“I hate to say it but Branden might have been right,” Master Warrior reluctantly admits. “We need to be on guard to stay safe until we can find a way home.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Branden Wurthy says, less winded than some of the others. “Am I the only one to feel like we are going in the right direction?”
“I feel it too. It is like a magnetic pull to the south,” Selena Downs confesses. “I’m a meteorologist and it feels like when a tornado is building.” “Almost like Ozone but different.” The others nod their heads in agreement.
“I think it’s our ticket home,” Branden tells them. “There must be a hole in the dimensional fabric back to Earth to the south.” “Like I said we may be here but we are still tuned into Earth.”
Nosredneh, Ghaza
The truck Miracle Maiden rides in pulls into the Truckstop at the edge of town. In the lot several other of the strange flatbeds sit in the parking lot. Each of them with an all woman crew. Some have similar cargo to what sits on the back of the one she rides in. “Is this our destination?” Miracle Maiden asks Sloan.
“No, this is a pit stop,” Sloan explains. “The town of Nosredneh was completely lost to the Zombins over a year ago.” “It was all the locals could do to seal it off and keep the demons contained.” “Capture Crews come here from all over to make pick ups.”
The leader of this Capture Crew is Totem who gets out of the cab to walk around to the back of the flatbed. “Standard protocol, shifts of two guards on the cargo,” she instructs. “Stranger you are with me!”
“My name is Miracle Maiden,” the Stranger says.
“Like I said Stranger you are with me!” Totem reinforces her attitude. Miracle Maiden follows the uniformed woman into what must have once been a popular Truckstop and restaurant. Miracle Maiden is led into a small dirty office where the first normal man she has seen sits behind a computer console of a desk. On the opposite side of the room is a large chair with wires connected to it. It reminds her of an old Electric Chair.
“Who is this?” the man dresses in a khaki t-shirt and cargo pants asks.
“Your guess is as good as mine that is why I brought her here, for bio-scan I.D.” Miracle Maiden isn’t too sure she likes the sound of that. “Can you get online to the General Consulate?”
“After those solar flares last week we have had the best connection in years,” the clerk replies. “Hook her up and we will have the I.D. in minutes.”
“You heard the man, have a seat,” Totem instructs, looking at Miracle Maiden.
“I didn’t agree to any test,” Miracle Maiden replies.
“You don’t have a choice!” the woman glares at her. “Have a seat or I throw you in with the Zombin infected!” Miracle Maiden hates to admit it to herself but this woman is right. If she is going to find a way home she is going to need their help. Reluctantly Miracle Maiden steps up onto the platform where the chair rests to take a seat in it.
Totem straps Miracle Maiden in using metal bands across her wrist and a metal halo around her head. “This chair will scan your bio-makeup to compare it to all known world records to find a match.” the clerk explains from behind his console. If anything strange begins to happen Miracle Maiden has no intention of staying in this chair. The scan begins very uneventfully with a hum at the back of the chair. The clerk and the soldier look on as if something is supposed to be happening and does not. “Totem, come look at this,” the clerk says.
The stern woman called Totem pulls her attention from Miracle Maiden to walk around behind the console. “What is that?” she says looking at the reading on the console screen.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the clerk replies. “She doesn’t appear to have any of the usual Ghazain markers.” “Look at this energy level!” Miracle Maiden can see a panic in the clerks eyes as he quickly moves to adjust some dials on the console. Whatever he is doing doesn’t appear to be working as he jumps from behind the console to grab hold of a large cable that connects to the chair in which Miracle Maiden sits. He pulls the cable free of its connection with a shower of sparks. The hum in the chair goes silent as Totem draws a strange gun from her holster to point it at Miracle Maiden.
“What are you?” Totem shouts. “Some other kind of demon!”
“No, no,” Miracle Maiden pleads, phasing free of the chair device. “I told you I am not from here, but I am no demon!”
Returning to the console the clerk shouts, “Totem, stop, she isn’t lying.” “From these energy levels, she is the farthest anyone could be from a demon!” “She might possibly be our savior!”
The road to Mahrud
The saviors of flight 684 walk south led by Master Warrior and Michael McCoy who talk to each other softly. “What are you exactly?” Michael asks bluntly his skepticism showing through.
“Just a guy like you, trapped in an alien dimension looking for a way home,” Master Warrior replies with a smile behind his camouflage face.
“No, you are not anything like me,” Michael responds. “I am a man of God who cannot fly or lift two tons of plane debris.” “I’ve heard about people like you and no one in the church knows what to make of any of you.”
Master Warrior contemplates the religious man’s words and finds it rather ironic that it should be Sentry’s brother saying these things. Clearly she hasn’t shared her secret with him for good reason. “Think of it in the terms that I have these special gifts and I’ve had a calling to use them to help others, like your own calling to the church.”
Master Warrior’s words do not completely calm Michael’s concerns, as of late he has been questioning his own “calling of sorts”. “So you are making a mockery of Religion by saying that you are avatars of the almighty,” Michael retorts.
“I’m not saying that at all,” Master Warrior tries to clarify. “What I am saying is I could hide what I can do and be something I am not or I could use it and live up to my full potential.”
Now Master Warrior sounds like his sister that is always telling him that he is hiding behind religion because he can not accept who he really is. “Have you ever tried to be just a normal person?” Michael asks as they stop to stand over a road sign apparently mowed down by some kind of vehicle. It reads Mahrud is a distance of eight ahead.
“Yes, but in the end I couldn’t help but to be who I am,” Master Warrior explains. Looking back at the Co-pilot Davis Taylor, Master Warrior calls out, “Davis, does it seem to you that we have only traveled two miles?”
“I’d say more like five,” Davis replies from the back of the group.
“Then I would have to say that whatever these number measurements are on these signs it is not in miles,” Master Warrior guesses.
“Are those car tracks?” Joan Riker asks of the marking running off the side of the paved road. “Is there someone with a car nearby?”
“Sure looks like it to me,” Billy says as he and Branden are already running ahead.
“Wait!” Master Warrior calls after them, “We need to stay close together!” The hero takes to the air trying to get an aerial view of the college guys while not losing sight of the others that follow them off the road. But it is already too late as the students arrive quickly at the accident scene.
Billy comes up to the side of the crashed vehicle with the window busted out. Before Master Warrior can reach him a withered and decayed hand reaches out to grab Billy’s arm. Panicked the young man pulls away bringing the zombie out through the window.
“Holy shit!” Branden shouts grabbing for a piece of the sign post that sticks from under the car. Raising the metal post Branden brings is down across the Zombie’s neck and shoulder knocking it out of the window to the ground. The angry young man continues to beat on the corpse severing its limbs from its body. “Take that you Freaking Zombie!” he shouts. Master Warrior swoops in pulling the post from Branden’s hands.
“Dude, you save my life!” Billy exclaims from the ground. “I love you, man!” Branden stands over his friend smiling from ear to ear with pride.
“I for one am not crazy about either of you!” Master Warrior tells them. “That was all very reckless!” Master Warrior turns back to the others that come down the embankment.
“Look out!” Davis shouts springing forward. Behind Master Warrior the Zombie springs up from the ground to bite Branden in the neck causing his jugular to spray blood onto the dry ground. Before the hero can do anything to help the college student the Zombie falls back to the ground as Branden’s throat gushes blood onto Billy who moves to catch his friend who falls forward.
“On my God, Brand!” Billy shouts in horror as his friend falls into his arms. The two college roommates tumble to the dusty ground. Branden gasps his last breath in his friend’s arm. Billy begins to sob as Branden’s arm twitches.
Master Warrior’s danger sense surges at the sight of the dead college student. “Get away, get away from him!” the hero shouts, grabbing the corpse’s leg and pulling him from Billy’s lap. “All of you get back to the road!” Master Warrior shouts as Branden’s body reanimates crawling up on his knees. The rabid college student lunges up as Master Warrior raises his gauntlet to land in Branden’s bloody mouth.
“No, I won’t leave him!” Billy cries out.
“Michael get him out of here!” Master Warrior shouts, taking Branden by the throat to hold him off the ground at arm’s length. Michael McCoy takes Billy by the shoulders and forcibly drags the college student back to the road. The Zombie Branden’s arms and legs flail as he tries to make contact with the hero. Master Warrior looks into the young man’s blank eyes lost behind the horror he has become. The kid was only trying to save his friend. Master Warrior can’t help but to feel responsible for what has happened to this kid. He can’t bring himself to put the kid out of his misery.
50 kilomile from the city of Hgielar, Ghaza
Miracle Maiden now rides in a small faster vehicle headed for Hgielar. She sits between Sloan who drives and Totem who she suspects holds some kind of hidden weapon on her. The last few hours have been a lot to absorb. The test these people ran on her back at Nosredneh revealed many things to these soldiers. The first was that Miracle Maiden is a woman born of two different dimensions, which is something she has known for a year now. The second was that the Bio-energy her body naturally produces could possibly be the means to saving this world from the Zombin demons. Miracle Maiden has spent years learning to control her Bio-energy to use it for many different things, but saving an entire world from a demonic invasion seems to be something far beyond her limits.
Miracle Maiden has to admit their theory that her phasing power works by slipping partially into another dimension does make some sense to her. The story that her birth father traveled to Earth from another dimension suggests that he had the means to travel from one dimension to another possibly giving her half that power. The only problem Miracle Maiden sees is that she has no idea how opening a dimension rift on a larger scale is going to work.
Nevertheless Miracle Maiden agreed to come with them to this Breach Station in hopes that it would somehow be her ticket home. It is Totem’s attitude that she questions at most the woman is unwavering in her need to be in charge. Diana Carter has known people like Totem before and it never goes well when they learn that they are in the wrong. Miracle Maiden fears that will be the case with Totem when the time comes for her to go home. It is clear to Miracle Maiden that Sloan was chosen for this trip because Totem knows that the young soldier would never disobey her commands, meaning that Miracle Maiden can’t depend on her new friend to do what is right when the time comes if it goes against Totem’s orders. Making her seat right now a rock and a hard place.
The abandon city of Mahrud, Ghaza
The sun has begun to set in this strange land the saviors of flight 684 have found themselves. What appears to have been a large city at one point now looks to be totally deserted. There are signs of old battles that have left skeletons behind on the streets. In some places of greater destruction there are remnants of an odd polymer substance that can not be identified. Mostly there are just abandoned strangely constructed homes.
The temperature quickly begins to drop with the setting sun. The group who has already lost one member seeks shelter for the night. After much discussion they find a small home that they agree can be easily defended should any other of the Zombies appear.
The home is built out of some kind of natural mud similar to an Adobe house built like Native Americans did back on Earth. It is a small three room dwelling with a large main room with a fire pit at the center. The second largest room appears to have been used like a kitchen for the storage and preparation of food. While the final room is what must pass for a bathroom in this world.
Being a High School Science teacher Jay Downs goes to work trying to figure out how the fire pit works. He manages to determine that the fire pit is one that uses some kind of gas as fuel that he ignites to bring some warmth to the small home that has cooled in the chill of the setting sun. The women search through the kitchen trying to find something that resembles food. Michael McCoy sits off in a corner with Billy Benson trying to comfort the inconsolable young man.
Davis discusses the situation with Master Warrior, “What did you do to the kid?”
“I let him go, killing him a second time would have done no one any good,” Master Warrior explains. “My main concern is the other kid,” he says looking at Billy sitting in the corner with Michael. “He is taking the death of his friend very hard.” “I’m afraid he might act out, rebel against me to risk the safety of the rest of the group.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Davis replies. “Maybe it would be best if I was in charge.”
“Agreed,” Master Warrior says. “I’m going to go outside to have a look around, why don’t you talk to the others, get an idea of how they are feeling.” Master Warrior steps outside the small house. After he exits the house Davis begins by talking with Jay at the fire pit.
Not far away Michael and Billy talk softly not to be heard by the others. “We were going to his parents’ place in Florida for Christmas,” Billy says almost sobbing. “It would have been the first time I met his family.” “Now what do I say to them?”
“I don’t know, this is completely beyond any ordinary situation,” Michael agrees. “None of us ever imagined this is how the flight would end, but we all have to be strong for now, for Branden.” “What happened to him was horrible, even impossible at home.”
“It was all my fault!” “He saved my life and paid for it with his own,” Billy says burying his face in his hands. Michael reaches out his arm to put it around the young man’s shoulders to comfort. “At least he died knowing I loved him.”
“Of course you did,” Michael says, not really understanding the deep meaning of Billy’s words. “You can’t blame yourself for any of this,” Michael says, holding the college kid around the shoulders as he begins to rock him gently. Part of his seminary training has been to deal with mourning families, never did he imagine this would be such a situation.
Meanwhile outside Master Warrior patrols the grounds around the small house. There are a great number of houses just like the one they have taken for the night. They are built rather close together only about twenty or thirty feet apart. The thought of taking an aerial view of the neighborhood crosses his mind but giving away their location might be a mistake. Since there are no people living in these homes there is no telling how many Zombies might be in the area. They haven’t seen any but that does not mean there are not any.
Then Master Warrior hears some movement behind him. Pulling his arsenal from his leg he instinctively shapes it into a sword. Turning to face his foe with his sword raised he is caught by surprise to see the young girl, Lucy standing near the house holding a plate. She is instantly frightened by his aggressive stance. “I am so sorry,” Master Warrior says, lowering his sword. “You really should not be out here alone, it isn’t safe.”
The young girl holds out the plate, “We found some kind of food, we can’t figure out what it is but it doesn’t taste bad,” she says. “Mamma wanted me to bring you some.”
Master Warrior takes the plate from the small girl with a smile, “Thank you it looks…” his sentence trails off. “Yeah, it looks alright.” Whatever it is that the women found in the house appears to be out of a can, possibly dog food. Leaning closer to the plate, “Oh and it smells….. okay.”
“Like I said it doesn’t taste bad,” Lucy smiles. “It will help keep you big and strong to protect us from the monsters.”
“I’m sure going to try,” Master Warrior tells the girl. He squats down to shrink his sword to the size of a knife to try to eat the substance on the plate. Young Lucy sits down on the ground next to him to watch him eat the dinner. Master Warrior tries not to show how disgusting the chunky mush on the plate really tastes.
“So what is it like to be a Superhero?” Lucy asks with a playful grin.
Master Warrior looks to the little girl who appears enamored with him. “It is hard work and takes a lot of responsibility,” he tells her.
“Do you like being a Superhero?” she asks next.
“Most of the time all of the hard work pays off, unlike what happened with Branden,” he says wondering how this kid is doing with what she might have seen. “How are you doing with all that has happened, I see you aren’t crying anymore.”
“I’m still scared but I know you will protect us and get us home,” Lucy tells him the worry showing in her small blue eyes.
Then Master Warrior’s sharp ears pick up something else, a groan from their left. “Hurry back inside, now.” he tells Lucy as he stands back up helping her to her feet. As the girl runs back to the house he can’t help but question a mother’s judgment to send her daughter out here alone.
Tossing the plate to the ground he expands his sword again to full size to investigate the sound coming from the darkness between the other houses. Stepping cautiously forward he can see figures staggering toward him. “Damn it, I knew this was too good to be true,” he mumbles under his breath. His first thought is to try to draw them away from the house where the others are but it is too late, clearly the light from the fire inside has drawn their attention.
This group of Zombies is different from the last, there are fewer of them maybe twelve tops. As the one leading the group comes into the moonlight Master Warrior can see that he is the most decayed of the bunch. Most of his skin is gone, his muscles barely hanging on his bones as he stumbles forward. Master Warrior lunges at the creature, sword raised over his head.
The others watch from inside the house through a window as Master Warrior brings his sword down on the lead Zombie’s skull cleaving his body in two down the center. As the decayed body lays on the ground a scarlet red phantom rises up from it. It instantly fires toward Master Warrior’s chest penetrating his flesh.
The hero’s knees buckle as he cries out in pain that rattles the windows of the surrounding structures. But the voice that echoes through the streets is not Master Warrior’s alone. The veins on his arms, chest, and neck pop as every muscle in his body is flexed. Master Warrior’s mind spins with images he can’t understand as his body seizes in agony. Falling forward onto all fours on the ground as the other Zombies close in around him. The cry from Master Warrior changes to something completely inhuman.
There is pulsing on Master Warrior’s back that pushes his flight vest out in a bump. Then the scarlet phantom breaks free of his body. The ragged group of Zombies back away as if in shock. They sway and bend to look at the phantom as it twists over Master Warrior’s body tethered by a strain to his back. Then it lets out a final shriek to vanish. Master Warrior falls over onto his side unconscious.
Hours later
Outside of Mahrud, Ghaza
It has been a long ride before they stop for a break outside the city at another depot. Clearly its current use is not for what it was originally designed. A fifteen foot high fence has been erected around the area. Guards stand at a gate checkpoint that the vehicle passes through. The solid permanent structures make it appear to be a highway rest stop like back on Earth. But there are many other trailers and less permanent buildings around the location. This time as she gets out of the vehicle the soldiers treat Miracle Maiden much differently. She is more of an asset rather than a prisoner.
Miracle Maiden follows Sloan into the largest of the solidly built structures. It is what the people of this world consider a restroom. There are no segregations between men and women here for the restrooms and Miracle Maiden knows why. Although Sloan and the others appear completely human to Miracle Maiden, she realized back at their first stop that these people must have a very different physiology. Unlike humans they do not digest and pass food through their bodies and out. It appears to Miracle Maiden that their digestive systems work more like snakes or owls in the way that they vomit waste in the form of hard pellets. It is a nasty process in her eyes. She is grateful that the restrooms still have stalls for privacy. The inside of the stall is a little trickier for Miracle Maiden as to the fact the waste receptacle is more like a sink mounted at chest height on the wall.
Sloan finishes in her stall much quicker and waits for Miracle Maiden to emerge. “In watching you, I’ve noticed that you are different from the others,” Miracle Maiden comments to Sloan as she exits the stall wishing there was a real sink in this place. “You don’t seem like the military type to me.”
Even alone with Miracle Maiden, Sloan still appears to be afraid to talk candidly. Miracle Maiden can only guess that is because of the fear she has for her commander Totum. “I was an artist before the invasion,” Sloan finally says. “When war against the demons had reached its lowest point everything changed.” “There was no longer a choice to do what you loved or be a soldier, there was only to be a soldier to survive.”
“This invasion has taken over your whole world then?” Miracle Maiden questions to a nod of Sloan’s head. “I am at a loss then how your Commander believes that I can save your entire world.” “I am only one woman.”
“Totum had told me very little of the plan, but she believes as the other scientists do that your power is going to save our world from the demon horde,” Sloan says almost with hope in the tone of her voice. It is the first time Miracle Maiden has heard the young girl sound anything other than depressed.
It is then that Totum enters the restroom to announce, “We will spend the night here and leave for Hgielar in the morning. Totum leaves no time for discussion as she moves to enter one of the stalls to begin to hack. Miracle Maiden takes that as her cue to leave.
Outside Miracle Maiden notices something odd, across the lot she sees a soldier doing something at the fence that seems out of place. Then there is a glimmer of light reflected off of a tool of some sort that the soldier carries. Sloan walks out to join Miracle Maiden next to the building. “Look over there, what is she doing?” the heroine asks the soldier. “Are those bolt cutters?”
“Look what is on the other side of the fence!” Sloan exclaims drawing Miracle Maiden to the movement in the dark outside the fence. “She’s cutting open the fence to let them in!”
“I thought you said the Zombins didn’t possess women!” Miracle Maiden questions.
“I said they choose not to, not that they couldn’t!” Sloan repeats. “We need to sound an alert!”
“There is no time for that, I’ll do what I can!” Miracle Maiden shouts as she runs across the lot toward the fence where the Zombins quickly move through the hole. Coming up behind the soldier who opened the hole she can clearly see now that the woman is dead as she lunges at her. Phasing is not an option this time she must stop these creatures. Miracle Maiden has no idea how her Bio-energy will affect these animated corpses but she fires anyway. The pink beams explode from her eyes at an intensity she has not known. The Bio-energy strikes the possessed soldier in the chest blasting an unexpected hole that gaps wide open. A red phantom escapes out the hole in the corpse. It swirls around the now lifeless body as if it is trying to retake its former host. Miracle Maiden reacts by blasting the red phantom again causing it to implode.
Miracle Maiden’s powers never worked like this at home, perhaps Totum is right. Grabbing the sticky arm of one of decaying men she sends a surge of Bio-energy into it causing the same effect of freeing the phantom from the rotting flesh. An eye blast implodes the demon phantom as it did the first. She moves faster now grabbing one disgusting Zombin after another to shock free the demon inside of it. She feels as if her power is unlimited as she continues on dispatching the demons that now try to escape her touch.
By the time Totum and Sloan arrive with troops only a few of the Zombins remain. The women warriors of Ghaza marvel at Miracle Maiden’s power as she eliminates the invaders. When only one remains Totum shouts, “Stop we need one to interrogate!”
Miracle Maiden freezes in her tracks holding the last of the Zombins by the back of the neck. Its natural instincts to attack the living is gone, it only wants to flee as the soldiers approach to secure it. “That was amazing!” Sloan says as the soldiers drag the captured Zombin away.
“I know,” Miracle Maiden replies. “I have never felt so powerful, so alive.” “I feel as if I have tapped into the fabric of this place, if that makes any sense.”
“Just as we thought you could,” Totum says, almost smiling. “The power you have on your home world may be great, but here the dimensional barriers are thinner.” “Easier for you to draw from the Zombin’s prison world.” “The equipment at the Breach Station should be able to focus that power.” “With the proper adjustments you will be able to send all of the Zombins back to their prison world at once.”
Not far away in the a small home in Mahrud, Ghaza
Master Warrior wakes on the floor by the fire, his head spinning as he sits up. “Wha..what happened?” he mumbles.
“After that thing came out of you and vanished, the other Zombies got out of here as fast as they could,” Jay Downs explains. “We dragged you back inside.”
Davis stands at the window keeping watch, “None of them have returned either.”
“They’re not Zombies,” Master Warrior manages to say, trying to focus on Jay’s face. “Not in the sense that we know Zombies.” “They are demons!”
“Demons!” Michael exclaims jumping up to approach Master Warrior. “There are so many of them, how is that possible?” Michael is truly confused by the revelation. “To have real proof that demons are real is nothing short of astounding.” “Why couldn’t it possess you?” “Do you hold back some great sin from us?”
“I know that is what religion teaches you but not all demons are drawn to sin,” Master Warrior says. “Some just want to feed.” “Help me up.” Michael and Jay take the bigger man’s arms to help him to his feet. “I think it failed to possess me because I am alive.” Master Warrior’s visions begin to clear. “These demons only possess the dead.” “The one who tried to take me was desperate, its body needed to be replaced.” “It thought the others would fear him if he took me over.”
“How did you escape its control?” Michael interjects.
“These are weaker demons, that is why they prey on the dead,” Master Warrior explains. “I guess my will was too strong for it.” “Could someone get me something to drink?”
“And this is information you learned from it?” Michael questions.
“It was in my head, my mind and I was in its mind too,” Master Warrior tells them as Selena brings him a glass of water. “When I forced it out, it must have been too much for it to survive without a host.”
“Does that mean that they will come after the rest of us because you were too strong for it?” Joan asks in fear.
“I doubt it, whatever Master Warrior did scared the others away,” Davis assumes. “They fear him now!” “That could surely work to our benefit.”
“I hope so because I have never felt such horrible pain in my life!” Master Warrior asserts as he sits down on a cushioned bench along the wall.
Master Warrior remains awake for the rest of the night while the others sleep. His mind is still processing all that happened when the demon tried to possess him. He has no desire to sleep and risk having a premonition dream about a demon apocalypse. After his first trip to the strange bathroom he decides it is easier to just go outside. He slips out the door trying not to wake anyone, they will need their sleep. It is an even longer walk to the next city. Hopefully they will be able to find some kind of help there.
On the floor in the corner of the room away from the others Michael McCoy sleeps with Billy Benson’s head laying on his shoulder. Billy finds some comfort in the sound of Michael’s heartbeat and breathing as he drifts off to sleep. No one comprehends what Branden meant to him or how great of a loss he has suffered. The sound of the door closing behind Master Warrior was enough to wake Billy.
Billy lifts his head from Michael’s shoulder to look around the room lit only by the dim gas fire pit. Everyone else is asleep, even the Newlywed couple who were whispering and giggling before he fell asleep. Billy lays his head back to Michael’s shoulder and moves his hand to the other man’s chest to feel the firm muscle. Gently he unbuttons the man’s shirt and slides his hand under it to further inspect his body. This guy is really cut for being a Priest in training, he thinks. Bringing his hand back out his fingertip grazes Michael’s sensitive left nipple causing the man to stir in his sleep. Jerking his hand back he looks to the man’s still closed eyes. Billy’s glance moves to Michael’s plump lips as he wonders what the rest of the man’s body looks like. He thinks of all of the stories of recent years about Catholic Priests and their misdeeds. This wouldn’t be the first time Billy took this risk as he lifts his head to sit up. Looking down at the man who isn’t much older than him Billy takes the risk as he leans forward to Michael’s lips.
At first the sleeping man’s lips return the kiss and then Michael’s eyes spring open quickly followed by him pushing Billy away. “What are you doing?” Michael exclaims in a panic as Billy falls back to the floor.
“What, you must have been dreaming!” Billy insists as Michael gets up from the floor.
There is fear in Michael’s eyes as the storms across the room stirring the others. Michael is out the door of the small house before anyone really knows what has happened. As the cold night air hits his face Michael’s mind is filled with memories he has spent the last ten years trying to push down, erase from his brain with little success. Falling to his knees it is anger that he feels the most. Anger at what he let happen, anger at what he did, and mostly anger over how it made him feel. He silently prays for forgiveness as he has done so many times before as well as the strength to stay on a righteous path.
Not far away Master Warrior returns from behind another of the cookie cutter houses after taking a leak. He is still buckling his belt trying to get himself adjusted properly again. These pants are definitely not meant for long time wear, he thinks having never had to urinate wearing them before this trip. Looking up he spots the shadow of a man kneeling outside the house. “Who is it, who is there?” the familiar voice calls to Master Warrior.
“It is okay, Michael it is just me, Master Warrior,” he calls back as he watches the man return to his feet. Coming into view in the darkness Master Warrior can see that Michael is buttoning up his shirt. “What are you doing out here alone?”
“You knew, didn’t you?” Michael charges as they come face to face. “Somehow you knew this would happen!”
“What would happen?” Master Warrior asks in confusion.
“That Billy would try to seduce me!” Michael accuses. “That is why you wanted me to take care of him after Branden was killed.”
“Believe me Michael, I had no idea that would happen,” Master Warrior insists. “I just assumed that you had training and experience dealing with the grieving.” “Are you saying that Billy and Branden were more than just college buddies?”
“I would have to say yes,” Michael replies with anger still in his voice. “They surely were sinners of the worst kind!” “It does not surprise me that the demon would have been drawn to them now.”
“I’m sorry that this happened to you, I truly am,” Master Warrior tries to make amends for whatever happened while he was outside the house. “I understand your beliefs but the demon did not attack them, because they were gay.” “It attacked them for the same reason it attacked me, to feed.” “These demons are surely evil in their intent but they do not fall into the same guidelines Christianity has placed on demons.” “If you want we can stay out here, I’ll go get you a blanket if you need one,” Master Warrior suggests.
“No, that might make matters worse, if Billy thinks I rejected him for you,” Michael replies with less anger in his voice. “I am sorry for accusing you of something you knew nothing about.”
“That is alright, this is a very stressful time for all of us.” “Now let’s get back inside out of this cold,” Master Warrior tells Michael as they move back inside.
Thursday December 22, 1987
Gateway Arch National Park
11 N 4th St,
St. Louis, MO
Earth
Overmind draws his power from others that exist on dimensional planes beyond Earth. He draws now on the power of illusion to blend in with the other patrons of Gateway National Park. Hidden from suspicion he walks the freshly snow cleared path. In the summer months there would be more tourists in the park. Last week’s snow storm has kept the park clear of visitors for the most part. The Chinese man who calls himself Overmind views the park in a different way than the rest. He searches for the means to enact his plans.
The architect of the 630 foot monument was Eero Saarinen. Unknown to all he was not an immigrant from Finland but from a much different place. He designed the arch for a purpose that to this day remains unknown by the rest of the world. Overmind intends to use the Gateway Arch for its true reason for construction. First he must find all of the hidden controls built into the structure and ready them for their maiden use. The illusion power Overmind uses makes it easy for him to get where he needs to be to accomplish his goal, but when the time comes he will need to acquire different powers that will make his presence known. So all must be ready when that time comes.
He draws now on the power of a heat conducting alien from the dimension of Atlantis. Though the paths in the park have been cleared of snow and ice, some of the things he must access have not. Reaching out his hand he melts away two feet of piled up snow to access a hidden passage under a large boulder.
“Hey, what are you doing there?” a Park Ranger shouts as the hidden door opens. Overmind has no time for such small beings as he turns to raise his glowing hot hand to the uniformed official. The Ranger reaches for his gun, but it is too late as the wave of heat washes over his human body turning it to dust that blows in the cold St, Louis winter wind.
The city of Hgielar, Ghaza
The sun is rising as Miracle Maiden, Sloan and Totum arrive in Hgielar. It was late when they left the last outpost. They spent the time helping the people stationed there clean up and repair the fence after the breach. Apparently the soldier that had let the Zombins in had committed suicide without anyone knowing, allowing a demon entry into the base. The rest of the staff had to be interviewed to establish that there were no more soldiers on the verge of such an act before the three could leave.
On the ride Miracle Maiden has had plenty of time to think over Totum’s plan. Since using her Bio-energy powers the connection she felt has dimmed. She wonders if what she was feeling during that link was similar to getting high on drugs, because she can feel an urge to do it again. Miracle Maiden has resisted that urge out of fear of what it might be. But she is still eager to feel it again.
This city is around the size of New York back home she assesses as they move through the near abandoned streets. Miracle Maiden catches glimpses of people peering from behind barred windows, some of them only covered with boards. Random Zombins stagger on the streets to be corralled by female soldiers. It is a bleak and sad existence she thinks to herself. If she can truly do for these people what Totum believes she can, Miracle Maiden has no choice but try to do all she can to return this world to normal. She only hopes that in the process she can find a way home.
As they travel to the center of the city Miracle Maiden spots the large cathedral style building in the distance. It is clearly the destination that Sloan described to her in private. From down the street she can see that the building loses its grantor on the street level with the addition of electrical fences and guard posts that have been added to protect it from Zombin intruders. Making it past the main entry checkpoint Totum parks the vehicle in a secure underground garage where they disembark.
“This building is the most secure hub of Ghaza’s military and it has the most educated scientists our world has known,” Totum explains with pride in her voice. She leads them across the parking level to the elevator to where another guard waits. Totum shows her identification as does Sloan. The guard eyes Miracle Maiden with suspicion. “This woman is the most important discovery to save our world!” Totum announces. “The High Totum is expecting us!”
The guard lets them pass into the elevator where another guard stands at the controls. “SC-level 18” Totum instructs.
Miracle Maiden leans into Sloan to ask, “Totum is her title and not her name?”
“Yes,” Sloan whispers, making it clear that she does not want to discuss this subject. The elevator comes to a stop and the doors open. Totum leads the two women down the corridor toward what appears to be the center of the dome at the top of the building.
When they enter the laboratory Miracle Maiden is surprised by the fact that all of the people working in the lab are men, not a woman to be found. Their appearance is much different than she expected after spending so much time with these women. They are all rather soft in nature, not the brutes that would make good hosts for the demons at large.
On the road to Hgielar, Ghaza
Master Warrior’s group is very different today. Billy and Michael are at the furthest distance apart on either side. Davis leads the group as Jay brings up the rear with the women in the center. Master Warrior flies slowly over the group carrying his arsenal as a staff. Moving this slow is much harder than his usual flight tiring Master Warrior to maintain control.
They have been walking for hours and up until now the Zombies they have seen along the road have kept their distance. From his vantage point Master Warrior can see that there are no Zombies for miles in any direction so he takes advantage of this situation to join the others on the ground. He descends to the center of the group next to young Lucy to relieve the stress on his mind.
“Master Warrior, can I fly with you when you go back up?” the eleven year old girl asks.
“No you can not,” her mother answers for the hero, “It isn’t safe.”
Master Warrior looks to the girl sadly to say, “Your mother is right, in more ways than one.” Carrying someone using the flight vest is usually limited to around 300 lbs, but using the belt to move so slowly has taken a toll on him he did now expect. Master Warrior rubs his head to feel the sweat on his brow, this might be the first headache he has had in his life. “Maybe one time after we get home I can take you for a flight,” Master Warrior tells the disappointed little girl, as he gets a look from her mother that says differently.
“Master Warrior can we speak?” Davis calls back to him, getting him off the hook with Joan Riker. Master Warrior trots up to walk next to the Co-pilot. “What is going on with Billy and Michael?” he whispers. “I heard some kind of disturbance last night.” “We can’t be fighting among ourselves here.”
Looking over his left shoulder and then his right at the two other men Master Warrior isn’t sure if he should reveal what he knows to Davis even though it was agreed he would take charge. “It was my fault,” Master Warrior explains. “I pushed Michael to council Billy and it would seem that Billy took Michael’s concern in a different context.” “If we need to take a break this would be a good place, there is no sign of anyone for miles.”
The lost Earth people do take a break at the side of the road in what appears to have been a roadside attraction of some sort. The men and women take turns using the public restroom that has no gender division as Master Warrior waits with the group outside. When Jay Downs comes out of the restroom he suggests to Master Warrior, “It works best to sit on it,” before the hero takes his turn.
Entering the strange facility Master Warrior sees that there are no stalls in this restroom, only four of the odd receptacle lining either wall. Alone in the restroom Master Warrior decides that after last night’s struggle with these pants it would be easier to change first before climbing onto the alien toilet. Touching his ear stud his blue and gold costume vanishes to be replaced by Steve’s jeans and Corona T-shirt. With the compression of his flight vest gone, Steve feels an irritation at the bottom of his rib cage on his left slide. Lifting his shirt in front of the mirror on the wall he spies a deep scratch that appears to have become infected. That first zombie attack on the road he thinks. He must have grazed the edge of my vest and because it is so tight I didn’t feel the scratch until now. Steve is confident that whatever disease these Zombies might carry his immune system is up to the task.
Taking down his underwear and pants to his ankles Steve hoist himself up onto the chest high wall mounted basin. The lack of paper when it comes to a bowel movement is thankfully not a problem for his amazon physiology. Steve sits on the edge of the basin leaning forward to release his bladder. Putting his face in his hands, he tries to ignore his headache. Perhaps this infection is why that demon thought it could take him over. Then he turns his attention to analyze why Overmind would have possibly done this to these innocent people.
“Excuse me, Master Warrior could we talk for a moment pri….,” Michael says coming back into the restroom unexpectedly. At first he tries not to look at the man seated on the wall basin. When he does he is surprised not to see the blue and gold costumed hero but the man who sat in the seat next to him on the plane. “Oh my Lord, that is how Master Warrior was on that plane!”
Looking up Steve erupts with the words, “You can’t tell the others!” “Please Michael tell me I can trust you with my secret!” Steve hops down from the basin to pull up his pants and underwear.
“Does Eileen know?” Michael asks.
Steve isn’t sure how to respond. If he says yes it might lead Michael to suspect his sister’s duel identity so he replies, “No, this will be our secret, okay?”
Michael stands silent for a moment as his mind pieces together when he first met Steve Roberts and Master Warrior in Boston. Both of the men were from Philadelphia, how could he not have seen it then? “Yes, I swear to God I will never breathe a word of this to anyone!” Steve touches the diamond stud on his right ear lobe and his clothing vanishes to become Master Warrior again. Michael looks on in amazement as Steve Roberts’ clothes are transformed, it is incredible but he realizes something. Master Warrior is just a guy in a costume, not some divine messenger from God.
“What was it you wanted to talk about?” Master Warrior asks.
“Never mind, it doesn’t matter now,” Michael replies as he turns to leave the restroom.
Outside there is another surprise waiting for the two men. A group of armed men and women stand surrounding the building. These people are humanoid in appearance with pale scaly skin and coarse green hair. This group looks nothing like the men that were zombies they have met up until now. “We mean no harm, we are just lost,” Master Warrior says, stepping forward. “We are not from around here.”
“I already tried that,” Davis tells Master Warrior, trying to not look intimidated by the humanoids. “They don’t seem to care.”
“We know that,” a man dressed in a large military looking hat covering his short cropped green, white streaked hair says, parting the barrier line. “We have been following you since the crash.” “What we have seen has brought us to believe you might be able to help us.”
“Help you how?” Master Warrior asks.
“These demons did not come to our world by chance, they were brought here by a man who called himself Overmind.” the leader of the armed people reveals.
“Overmind?” Master Warrior repeats. “He is the one who sent us here!” “All we want to do is get home.”
The leader confers with another in the group, a woman who holds a large rifle of some kind. Then he turns back to the group from Earth. “Clearly the demons fear you,” he says to Master Warrior. “That is why we believe you can help us.” “Help us to defeat the ones here that still follow Overmind.”
The Breach Station
Hgielar, Ghaza
Miracle Maiden has laid on a table inside of what she can only compare to an MRI machine for hours now. Whatever they are doing to her does not hurt but she does get the feeling that they are siphoning off her Bio-energy that now seems to be limitless. This High Totum man has explained the process to her but has not made it clear the purpose of it other than it will enable them to banish the demons. When she asks about them returning her home both of the Totums make the excuse that the demons must be cleared from Ghaza first but give her no time frame for that. If she had any other options Miracle Maiden would have left by now. She has to ride this train to the next station at least.
Sloan stands next to the cylindrical apparatus giving her some solace but not enough. “Sloan, can you tell them I need a break?” “It has been hours!” Miracle Maiden asks her cautious friend.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Sloan replies as she walks to her superior Totum. When Sloan returns to Miracle Maiden’s side she tells her, “They need to shut the machine down now anyway, there has been a security breach at the city’s border.
“What kind of breach?” Miracle Maiden asks as the hum of the machinery begins to quiet. “Can I be of help?” Sloan helps Miracle Maiden out of the machine and takes her to a monitor station that is connected to a camera at the north side of the city. Miracle Maiden watches as a group of people entering the city are surrounded by about fifty soldiers. Seven of them are clearly dressed in Earth attire and one of the seven is a child. But it is the eighth member of the group that draws most of Miracle Maiden’s attention. “Showboat!” she whispers to herself.
“That man’s face is hidden like yours,” Sloan comments. “Do you know him?”
“Yes, Miracle Maiden do you know this new arrival?” Totum asks, walking over to the monitor station where the two women watch the events unfold.
“More importantly does that man have the same power as you?” The High Totum salivates.
Looking back to the monitor she was relieved to see that the group surrendered to the soldiers without fight. Maybe she doesn’t give Showboat enough credit after all. “No, he doesn’t but he is from my world,” Miracle Maiden explains. “Where will they be taken?”
The two officers look to each other and the High Totum nods to his underling. “They will be brought here to the cell in the lower levels,” Totum responds.
Miracle Maiden knows that she can show no more interest in Master Warrior’s arrival, because it is clear that these people are not to be trusted any farther now. “He is not of any use to anyone,” she says with disgust in her voice. “Little more than an irritation.”
The Breach Station
Prisoner cells
Hgielar, Ghaza
Master Warrior and his group are led into the main cathedral style building through a back heavily guarded entrance. The infection in his side has grown noticeably worse since exposing it to the air. He is glad that the plan was to offer no resistance to capture, because he feels as if he would have been of little use in a fight. They are led down stairs deep under the science station. The dungeon that is their destination is not what any of them would have expected. It is rather clean and streamline for being a prison for unwanted intruders.
One of the members of the group keeps to himself as they are placed in cells. He sits down in a corner of the cell pulling his red Temple University hoodie down over his face, his hands in his pockets. Most of the group pay little attention to him, but Michael has begun to feel bad about the way he reacted to Billy’s advances last night. The Seminary student knows there is nothing he can do for Billy now, except be patient.
Master Warrior is placed in a cell by himself giving him the feeling that the people in control here view him as a greater threat. A threat that he would be if he were not feeling so sick from the wound under his vest. Illness is not a usual thing from Master Warrior so in a way it is hard for him to resist giving up hope when he really is no judge of the seriousness of his illness.
The Earth people sit in their cells for a few hours speaking very little about their plight. It is as if they wait for a rescue that they should have no reason to expect. Then there is a sound of someone else entering the prison space. The buzz of electronic equipment signifies that two have entered the cells.
“Well you sure look like crap, Showboat!” Miracle Maiden announces as she walks up to the bars of Master Warrior’s cell.
Master Warrior doesn’t even respond to her remark as he moves to stand up weakly. “I don’t know what you are doing here but you need to get these people back to Earth!” he says stepping up to the bars bracing himself against them.
“One thing at a time, you really do look like crap, what is going on with you?” Miracle Maiden responds almost sounding concerned he thinks.
Master Warrior groans as he moves to pull up the left side of his flight vest that hides the zombie wound that has become extremely infected. “I think it is this,” he moans. The others who have been traveling with Master Warrior gasp at the sight of the oozing wound in his side. None of them had any idea he was suffering. “You need to fulfill my promise and get them home!”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Michael says from the cell with the other men.
“That is why that demon thought it could take you,” Davis adds.
Miracle Maiden glances to the others before turning back to Master Warrior. “Stop being so noble, you are not getting off this easily!” Miracle Maiden replies reaching through the bars to touch his side. He feels a surge of energy from her hand almost like a shock that causes him to pull away from her. “Sorry about that, still getting used to my increase in power here.”
Master Warrior looks down to his side and it is completely healed. “Thank you, that was amazing, no, a miracle,” he says, feeling rather foolish for losing hope.
“Master Warrior is this your girlfriend?” Young Lucy calls out.
“NO!” both of the heroes shout in unison.
“These people are planning a way to banish all of these demons using the increased power I have here to help,” Miracle Maiden explains. “I’m not sure what their full motivation is but there is something they are not telling me.” “Or if I should trust them to do as they say.”
Spotting the soldier behind her Master Warrior exclaims, “Miracle Maiden look out!”
Miracle Maiden glances over her shoulder to see Sloan walking toward her. “It’s okay she is a friend, she snuck me down here to see you,” Miracle Maiden explains.
Sloan moves quickly now as she reaches under Miracle Maiden’s arms to place a belt around her waist. The clasp on the front instantly latches shut with a click.
Miracle Maiden spins around as Sloan backs away taking a small remote control from her pocket that causes another set of bars to jut up from the floor to the ceiling between them. “You must be joking!” Miracle Maiden says rushing toward the bars to discover she can not phase through them.
Sloan stands with her head hung low, “We have been studying you, the belt blocks your energy powers.” “The High Totum has syphoned all the power he needs from you to begin the invasion.”
“Sloan, I thought we were friends, how could you betray me like this?” Miracle Maiden pleads. “I know you fear Totum, but why?”
“Because she is my mother,” Sloan replies, turning to leave the cells.
Miracle Maiden watches through the bars as Sloan walks out of the cell block closing and locking the door behind her. Miracle Maiden feels so foolish having gone along with what these people had told her to do, to have helped them. All along she believed she was in control of the situation and now she learns that she wasn’t. Turning around to see the eight other Earth people held prisoner she was a fool that has now put their lives in jeopardy as well.
A student of body language Master Warrior can guess what Miracle Maiden is feeling as she leans her back against the new set of bars. “Don’t blame yourself,” he encourages. “You had no idea we were here.” “You were only looking out for yourself, I would have done the same.” In Miracle Maiden’s mind the Showboat’s words do not make her feel any better.
“Great now what do we do that we are all prisoners!” Jay Downs grumbles.
“Looks like we take the next step,” Master Warrior says, turning to the college sweatshirt wearing man on the floor of the other cell. “Is all going as planned, Farris?”
Alone in the corner of the cell the young man in the red Temple University hoodie stands up from the floor. He drops the hood to reveal his short cropped green hair and pale scaly skin. Pulling his hand from his pocket he holds a small radio. “The others have located us and are making plans to rescue us,” the young snakelike man says, his forked tongue showing as he speaks. “It appears that the Hindar are loading up trucks to leave.”
“Who is he and what is going on?” Miracle Maiden demands more than a little surprised by the appearance of the alien looking man.
“You were right, the people you have been working with can not be trusted,” Master Warrior explains. “Farris here is one of the other race of Ghaza that we met while traveling here.” “His race was always treated as inferior because they appear less evolved than the others.” “But that difference has made them immune to possession by the demons.”
Farris steps to the front of the cage to finish the tail of Ghaza. “It was the Hindar that released the demons to Ghaza, their plan was to use them to conqueror a world in another dimension that they believe was key to ruling the universe.” “But controlling the demons was not as easy as they believed.” “Before they could close the Gateway our world was overrun with the demons.”
“Then why was having me help them to send the demons back a bad thing?” Miracle Maiden asks.
“Because they can not send them back to where they got them,” Farris explains. “They intend to continue with their original plan and send the possesses to a place called Earth.”
“Earth!” Miracle Maiden exclaims in horror. “Then I did help them!”
“Look I told you this isn’t your fault,” Master Warrior tells her again. “Now that we are all together we can go home together!” “I’ll admit a half an hour ago, I didn’t know how I was going to stop all of this as sick as I was becoming, but you changed that.” “Now working together I am sure we can stop this invasion from the source!” “All we need to do is get that belt off of you.”
“Well in retrospect there is one good thing,” Miracle Maiden says standing up. “With my suspicions I had kept my body at full density and strength.” She reaches out to grip one of the bars to bend it aside. “I would seem that I still have my strength if not my other powers.”
Suddenly there is a loud explosion and the north wall of the prison shakes in the aftermath. “They’re here,” Farris says. “They have breached the north wall!”
“Then I would say it is time to go!” Master Warrior smiles as he bends open the bars of his cell to slip out. He moves to free the others, bending open the bars of the other two cells. Miracle Maiden breaks apart the rest of the bars that Sloan trapped her with to run to the door and kick it down.
Farris leads the group through the complex with Master Warrior and Miracle Maiden following close behind. “So, where’s the cape, Showboat?” Miracle Maiden asks as they run.
“Turns out it was the doorway to a prison of the nastiest man I ever fought,” Master Warrior replies.
“You may not look as flashy without it but Showboat still fits you,” Miracle Maiden replies almost smiling under her disguise
Friday, December 23, 1987
The Gateway
Hgielar, Ghaza
It is early morning when the group of Insiles and the Earth refugees arrive at the location that the Hindar have gone. They all ride in stolen vehicles from the Breach Station that go unnoticed by the military that have set up a camp at the base of a great stainless steel arch. The vehicle comes to a stop just outside the encampment, out of sight of the guards.
In the back of the vehicle Master Warrior uses his arsenal like a lock pick trying to remove the belt from Miracle Maiden’s waist. “I’m sorry but I’ve never been much of a detail lock picking kind of guy,” Master Warrior apologizes feeling rather self conscious working so close to her low cut front. “I’m more of a smash and break it kind of guy.”
Miracle Maiden’s mind wonders what Tracey would be saying now as she looks down at the back of the man’s neck and broad shoulders as he works on the lock. Probably some crack about a chastity belt. “So I’ve noticed,” she says pushing his hands away. “Why don’t we wait until we are outside, I’m sure I’m dense enough for you to tear this thing off without injury.” “But there might be an energy backlash when you do.”
“It looks like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis,” Davis comments to the others in his vehicle as they draw closer to the location. “How is that possible?”
“It is the Gateway that they built to invade Earth nearly thirty of your years ago,” Farris tells them. “The Hindar had sent an agent to Earth to design and build another there but they lost contact with their agent.” “When they activated this arch it opened a portal that let the Zombins escape into our world.” “Only recently have the Hindar regained contact with their agent on Earth.” “He communicated that he would be sending a woman to supply the power to the arch and a man who was a threat to their plans.”
“That is us, isn’t it?” Miracle Maiden guesses. “They were playing me all along.”
“So it was Overmind that sent us both here,” Master Warrior accesses.
“Overmind?” Miracle Maiden repeats.
“An Asian guy with a white streak in his hair who runs around wearing a bath towel,” Master Warrior explains.
“Wait I know that guy, he attacked a veteran’s Clinic in New York a few days ago,” Miracle Maiden reveals. “He murdered everyone in the waiting room and when I tried to stop him he vanished.”
“No doubt a test to see if you were the one he was looking for,” Master Warrior suggests. “I just don’t understand why am I such a threat to this plan.”
“Because like us you are immune to the Zombins,” Farris explains. “Moreover they fear you!”
“So, what is our plan?” Davis asks.
“I would say we let them open the portal.” “As soon as it does, Davis, you drive this vehicle through back to Earth while Miracle Maiden and I put an end to this invasion!” Master Warrior explains.
Gateway Arch National Park
11 N 4th St,
St. Louis, MO
Earth
Bruce Stacey and his Chaperone Phil Kinkaid have come to the park on a sightseeing trip. Bruce hasn’t quite been the same after what happened with Deke in Avalon. With the coming arrival of Bruce’s first Christmas without his father, Phil has decided that time spent touring the city. Hopefully it will get his charge into a better mood to start writing his next book.
With all that has happened in the past months Bruce is not very impressed with the 630 foot arch as they walk around in the snow covered park. Then Bruce notices something rather odd. A path is melted in the snow up to a large boulder that is completely devoid of snow. The path up to the rock and at the base around it the grass is burnt. Also the mud is disrupted as if the boulder has been moved recently. “What is that over there?” Bruce asks his companion.
Looking at the scene that Bruce points out Phil responds, “I don’t know maybe it got struck by lightning.” “That storm the other night was pretty bad.”
“That is not what it looks like to me,” Bruce says charging over the path of burnt grass to the boulder. Reaching out to touch it, the boulder is still warm. “Someone did this,” Bruce says as he turns to Phil who slowly follows him down the path.
“I say we leave now before you do something that is going to cause a scene,” Phil suggests reaching out to take Bruce by the arm. He soon finds himself holding Bruce’s jacket as he slips out of it. Bruce quickly removes the rest of his clothing to reveal his grey and red costume. “Please don’t do this, put your clothes back on,” Phil pleads.
“This needs to be investigated,” Olympian insists, pulling his mask on over his head. He rolls the boulder over on its side to reveal a passage with stairs leading down underground. In the process of moving the boulder Olympian has damaged the mechanical equipment used to move it. “Take my clothes home and wait there, this will be fine.” Olympian does not wait for a response from his companion as he begins down the steps. Phil hates that Bruce has begun this career as Olympian, more out of fear for his own safety than Bruce’s. Bruce also has concern for Phil’s safety after what happened to Deke but he still is glad he has taken to wearing his costume under his clothing.
All along the passage are electric lights that are rather old in appearance but still work just fine. It is clear that the lights and this passage have not been used in a very long time. The fact that the lights are on now, leads Olympian to believe that he is not the first to walk this tunnel recently. Sound is carried on air and Olympian has learned to use his Null-force powers to control the air in many different ways while in Avalon. He can draw the air in the passage ahead to him, bringing with it any sound to hear from a distance. The further the distance the less clear the sound. When the sound reaches Olympian, he is sure there is something going on up ahead.
He listens to the sound of his footsteps on the concrete floor thinking that he should quiet them. Reducing the pull of gravity on his body he floats up from the floor. Then using the air to glide him forward down the corridor toward the sound. The concrete tunnel begins to descend gradually back in the direction of one of the legs of the Arch he believes, almost as if he is moving deep under it, even below its sixty foot foundation.
When he reaches the end of the tunnel he learns why. There is a room filled with what appears to be antiquated generation equipment. From what Olympian has learned about the Gateway Arch it had no electricity generation capacity. These generators are different and for what purpose he has no idea but he can guess that it might not be for anything good.
Entering into the room he follows the sounds to find an Asian man wearing very little clothing standing on a ladder. What is he doing? Olympian thinks, is he working to repair that apparatus? Drawing closer, Olympian can see that the man is vomiting what he can only call a purple gelatin substance into a large vat. This is no ordinary repairman, Olympian concludes. “You there, what are you doing?” he calls out, drawing the man’s attention. “What is this equipment?”
The man on the ladder turns with a look of disgust on his face to see Olympian approach. “How many of you people are there?” he questions in a deep throaty voice. In aggravation Overmind turns to projectile vomiting the same gelatin at the approaching hero.
His reflexes sharpened by his recent training Olympian lets loose a vibratory pulse of Null-force to defend against the attack. The result is a messy one that sends the gelatin in every direction, splattering over the walls and machinery. By the time the last of the gelatin vomit hits the floor the man on the ladder is gone. On the floor footprints made with the strange vomit lead away from the scene. Olympian gives chase as the machines start to hum with new life.
The Gateway
Hgielar, Ghaza
As Miracle Maiden and Master Warrior get out of the vehicle they are swarmed by Zombies that have been drawn to the energy released onto the Arch. The animated death lurch around them like groupies at a rock concert.
“What are they doing?” Master Warrior asks out loud.
“I think I know, here get this belt off of me,” Miracle Maiden says, turning to hold the belt out from her waist. Master Warrior slid his hands in behind the belt tight to her abdomen. Her body is so hard to the touch that it doesn’t give an inch as he grips the belt.
He looks up to where her eyes should be. For the first time he realizes how irritating this whole facial distortion thing must be for others. “Are you ready for this?” he asks.
Nodding her head she takes a deep breath. Pinching his fingers behind the belt as Master Warrior pulls on it in both directions away from the lock. There is a crackle of energy around the connection of the buckle that moves up over her body as he breaks the clasp apart. Then there is a wave of energy that washes out, passing harmlessly through Master Warrior and onto the Zombies that now kneel around them.
“Holy Shit!” Master Warrior exclaims. “What was that?”
“Look,” Miracle Maiden says, gesturing around them. The Zombies begin to keel over one by one until nothing is left but a field of corpses. “I think they were using me as a conduit,” she explains. “Whatever the energy is that the Hindar stole it wasn’t mine.” “At home my energy works on the human nervous system, here it banishes these Zombin demons back to where they came from.” “They don’t want to be here anymore than the Insiles want them to be.”
“Do you think you can send them all back, a whole world full of them?” Master Warrior asks.
“I’m not sure, but with the increase in my power I have to try,” Miracle Maiden answers. “I have to try to return that energy the Hindar stole back to where it came from too.”
“Then let’s split up, you work on that and I’ll work on clearing a path to getting my friends home,” Master Warrior tells her. Turning back to the vehicle he sees that Billy has also gotten out and witnessed what has just happened. “Billy you need to get back in, I’m going to get you all home,” he tells the college kid still dressed in the Insile body armor.
“No, I am staying behind,” Billy says bravely. “If she can banish all the demons, Brand might be out there looking for me.”
“Billy, you can’t believe that, I held his throat in my hand after the demon took him,” Master Warrior tells the young man. “I’m sorry for what happened but his body was dead, he bleed out in seconds from the bite.”
“Still I need to stay,” Billy says, backing away from the hero.
Master Warrior looks into the clearly heartbroken young man’s eyes, “I can’t force you to come back with us, but if you stay there may be no way for you to ever come home.”
“I accept that fact,” Billy says calmly. “There is no place for me on Earth without Branden.” Master Warrior can’t help but to feel a little jealous of this college kid. He can only hope that he will find a love that strong on day.
“Good luck then,” Master Warrior says reaching out his hand to shake Billy’s. Then he turns to take to the air, leaping over the vehicle to lead it through the encampment.
As the vehicle follows on after Master Warrior, Michael McCoy looks out the window to the sad college student that he had branded a sinner days ago and questions his faith again. How could something that comes from so much love be a sin?
Gateway Arch National Park
11 N 4th St,
St. Louis, MO
Earth
Olympian’s fight with Overmind brings them above ground as the Asian man’s power changes again to the purest of solar energy blasts. Olympian’s Null-force power is barely enough to shield him as he erupts from the ground. The solar power that Overmind now wields is both hot and forceful enough to send Olympian far out into the Mississippi River.
His opposition dispatched Overmind returns to his task as she begins to drive away anyone else in the vicinity of the Arch. He has no care for anyone who may be inside the Gateway Arch structure as he begins to heat the outer shell of the 630 foot arch. As the temperature of the stainless steel exterior rises so does the temperature inside on the tram that travels to the top of the Arch.
Olympian emerges from the River to bear witness of what is occurring. His first thought is of the people inside the Arch. Speeding into the sky toward the observation deck at the top of the Arch he has no time to waste. The thick carbon steel glass of the windows are designed to withstand winds up to 150 miles per hour which is going to make it near impossible for him to gain access to the inside. The people on the other side of the glass appear to have no idea what is occurring below them, which is good. They will remain calm as he devises a plan to get them out before they are cooked alive.
Olympian must make himself some extra time as he descends back to the park below. Overmind’s form is nearly completely obscured by the light from the amount of solar energy he now focuses on the Arch. Coming down on the ground behind Overmind, Olympian thinks he looks like a star. “Stars belong in the sky!” he shouts. A blast of Null-force sends the shining man up into the sky like a rocket.
Then Olympian takes control of the air above the Gateway Arch to draw the cooler currents down over the superheated base. He hurries to the tourist entrance that he and Phil used earlier to ride the tram to the top of the Arch. On the other side of the glass door it is packed full of the gelatin that Olympian saw the man filling the vat with earlier. As he watches the gelatin bubble and expands to fill the space behind the door. Olympian realizes that this is no ordinary gelatin, it is Proto-plasma that has been activated by the heat. His hand protected from the heat by his aura Olympian pulls open the door to allow the proto-plasma to ooze out onto the concrete pavement that quickly begins to dissolve.
Pushing past the wall of proto-plasma he is untouched by it as he closes the door sealing himself inside. A wave of his hand brings down the cold wind to cool the escaping proto-plasma to stop its decay of the walkway. Then it is a simple action to repel what is left of the floor to lift up above the Proto-plasma. Clearing the bubbling goop he can see that it has dissolved everything within the structure, but the structure itself. The proto-plasma continues to expand up under him as he thinks about the lives in jeopardy. He has to find a way to get the people off the observation deck.
Finding his way to the tramcar shaft that has begun to heat up again. He is running out of time! The Proto-plasma expanding behind him now he needs to take drastic action! Ahead of him in the shaft the stalled tramcar sits blocking his path. Turning up the juice Olympian repels a head making contact with the tramcar to push it up the track toward the top away from the approaching proto-plasma.
Arriving at the platform Olympian emerges from behind the string of eight cars. The people waiting on the platform no longer seem as calm as they did when Olympian arrived outside the viewing window. The heat must be pushing one hundred from the appearance of the sweaty patriots. He has a plan. “Everyone listen to me!” he shouts trying to sound confident. “I need everyone to stay calm and as many people as possible get into the tramcars as once!”
“Excuse me sir, but there are safety regulations,” an attendant tells Olympian. “The transport can only carry so much weight at a time.”
“That doesn’t matter anymore,” Olympian insists. “The trams can not go back down the way they came, now everyone move calmly into the cars!” Luckily, December is not the highest time for tourists at the Arch, so fitting all of the people into the two trams may not be comfortable but it does work.
Olympian turns to the wall of observation windows and his strongest blast of Null-force breaks them free of their mounts, sending them out into the Mississippi River. Next he focuses his power like never before to lift the two trams out the open wall. Looking back over his shoulder the Proto-plasma emerges from the tram shaft melting away everything that was added after the original construction of the Gateway Arch. Floating out after the trams full of people he uses the high winds at the top of the arch to help steady and suspend the trams. It is a tedious process as he begins to lower the trams the 630 feet to the ground.
The Gateway
Hgielar, Ghaza
It has taken the better part of a half an hour for Master Warrior to fight his way through the mob of Zombies that crowd in toward the huge stainless steel arch that is a replica of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on Earth. He and the vehicle come to a stop at a wall of huge blocks of polymer with moving body parts of Zombies sticking from them. The blocks line the whole length of the space between the legs of the Arch. Each of the blocks is fitted with a gallon sized jug attached to some kind of electronic device. “What are these things?” Master Warrior asks Farris who walks up beside him with Billy.
“They are Zombins captured in polymer by the Hindar,” Farris replies. “We never learned what they were doing with them once captured, now their use is clear.” “It is their calls that draw in the other Zombins to create an invading force when the gateway opens.”
“Are those bombs attached to the blocks?” Billy asks.
“Not explosive ones, the liquid in the jars will most likely dissolve the polymer when detonated.”
“So if we move these blocks of polymer, it will lead the other Zombins away?” Master Warrior questions.
“It is worth a try,” Farris replies, calling for ground support on his radio.
Underneath the Gateway
Hgielar, Ghaza
Miracle Maiden can still feel the energy the Hindar used her to steal and it has led her here. A large military complex below the surface of the planet. Getting in was the easy part, finding where the energy is being stored is becoming more difficult. It would seem that the energy has been dispersed all through this complex. Miracle Maiden’s only hope is to find a main access point at which she can draw it all back out of the system. The size of this complex is unknown to her, but it is far from small. She has taken down a dozen guards already and has the feeling that is just the tip of the iceberg.
“Hello Miracle Maiden,” a voice she recognizes says from behind her. “I see you managed to get the belt off.”
“Hello Totum,” Miracle Maiden replies, turning to face the woman she never truly trusted. “I know the truth now of how you have been using me and what you plan to do with the energy you stole.”
“We knew the Insile would get to you sooner or later,” Totum replies. “But in the end it paid off by revealing their spy.” “There will always be the weak afraid of progress that must be silenced.”
“You call invading an unsuspecting world progress?” Miracle Maiden questions.
“Unlike your world there are only two factions on Ghaza,” Totum explains. “Long ago we concluded that there is no value in conquering the Insile.” “We need a place with more to offer us.”
“Earth is that place, of course.” Miracle Maiden replies. “The natural resources, the knowledge, the science.”
“Yes, all of those things and so much more,” Totum smiles, taking a weapon from her side. “All things you can not stop us from taking!” Totum fires the weapon at Miracle Maiden. It is not the same as the weapons she has seen the Hindar use before on the Zombins. It fires a ball of energy that feels similar to the stuff surging all around them in the complex.
Instead of trying to avoid the energy ball, Miracle Maiden reaches out to catch it. She is as surprised as Totum as she harmlessly takes hold of the glowing sphere. Miracle Maiden examines the glowing ball in her hand and then crushes it in a shower of sparks. “I do believe that was a big mistake,” she tells Totum, looking the general in the eyes. “You’ve just opened my eyes to what I have to do!”
Totum stands in shock. The High Totum was sure that the polluted energy would kill the Earth woman. She reaches for her other standard weapon, but it is too late as Miracle Maiden jumps up phasing through the ceiling.
Gateway Arch National Park
11 N 4th St,
St. Louis, MO
Earth
After getting the people from the Arch safely to the ground, Olympian retrieves the glass window panels of the Observation Deck from the river to replace them, preventing anymore of the Proto-plasma from falling to the ground below. He also managed to cool the proto-plasma on the ground to an inert state before it could cause too much damage. It would be impossible to do the same with the huge quantity now filling the Gateway Arch.
Then the purpose of the Proto-plasma is clear as the Arch begins to glow creating a web of energy between its two 54 feet wide legs. The gossamer threats continue to weave to create an opaque curtain of light energy. Olympian knows this is not a good thing to be happening. Before he can do anything he is struck from behind by a bolt of pure solar energy. “You are too late, alien!” “There is nothing you can do!” Overmind shouts as Olympian’s body hurtles downward plowing through the few feet of snow on the ground.
Olympian pulls himself out of the snow bank as the first visitor arrives through the curtain of light. Then a second and a third stagger into the park’s winter scene. These are clearly not healthy people, Olympian thinks. There is no telling what is wrong with them. Soon there are a half dozen Zombies wandering around at the front of the arch. Aloft in the sky Overmind laughs at his accomplishment. Olympian finds no humor in the situation as he blasts the Zombies back through the portal with his Null-force power.
Then Olympian is like a missile toward Overmind in the sky. His fists repel the light and heat of the villain’s aura as he hits him head on. Overmind is sent sailing across the Mississippi River into Illinois where Olympian chases after him. It is clear to the hero that the villain’s power offers little protection from his attack so he continues his physical assault. Olympian’s third punch takes Overmind nearly halfway across the state of Illinois.
The villain’s solar flare power begins to dim now revealing that the sarong he once wore has burnt away. The nude Asian man begins to tumble to the Earth below. Olympian swoops down to grab the battered man by the arm, murdering this man was not his intent. Finding a way to contain him is going to be much harder.
The Gateway
Hgielar, Ghaza
Master Warrior and the Insile squad have cleared away most of the Zombin imprisoned blocks. The fear that Master Warrior instilled in the Zombins seems to have faded as the number of them has increased at the site. Now he must depend on his immunity to them like the Insile people who fight the moving Zombins closing in on the Arch as it begins to glow. Master Warrior knows at once what is happening as the portal home opens. He watches as some of the Zombins that slipped past the squad walk into the curtain of light.
Master Warrior leaps into the sky toward the passageway to stop any more from crossing over to Earth. Then suddenly the Zombins come flying back through the portal, sailing into the others lurching forward. There must be someone else on the other side helping! He looks back to the vehicle with his friends from flight 684, they must be his top priority now! Doubling the size of the sword in his hand Master Warrior begins to cut a wide path through the staggering Zombins back to the vehicle. He makes sure to only incapacitate the Zombie as to not release the demons held inside.
By the time he reaches the vehicle he turns around to see that the path he has cleared has already closed. He has only one option left as he leaps up over the vehicle to land behind it. Putting his shoulder to the back of it he begins to push. Davis gunning the engine helps as the vehicle begins to move, plowing a new path through the possessed dead Hindar people. Soon Master Warrior is running as he pushes the vehicle forward toward the glowing gateway. At only a few feet away he gives one final shove to the vehicle sending his new friends back home.
Not wanting to look back at the scene he has created in the wake of saving his friends, Master Warrior looks up to the Arch. How am I going to turn this thing off? he wonders. Then spots a small figure emerging onto the top of the Arch. Flying up to investigate he finds Miracle Maiden moving into position. Her entire body glows with the same energy that forms the portal.
“You need to go through too!” she shouts. “Get all of the Zombins back to this side!”
“What about you?” he asks.
“I can close this thing and drain the power so they can never use it again but I must do it from here!” she replies. “Now get a move on Showboat, before too many escape to Earth!” Master Warrior doesn’t need to be told a third time as he drops down to fly through the portal.
Gateway Arch National Park
11 N 4th St,
St. Louis, MO
Home
Returning to the park Olympian finds dozens of Zombies clambering around a strange looking van of some kind. Swooping down he begins grabbing the decaying people and throwing them back through the hole in space between the Arch legs. Making his way to the van window he can see the driver is a normal looking black man dressed in some kind of uniform. Moving around the vehicle Olympian continues to grab the Zombies as some of them begin to fight back, biting, snapping and attacking him.
“Need a hand?” Master Warrior asks landing behind Olympian to pull a Zombie from his invulnerable back. Throwing the Zombie back at the portal it vanishes back into Ghaza. Scanning the area Master Warrior spots a S.W.A.T. team arriving on the scene.
“Master Warrior!” Olympian exclaims in surprise and admiration. “I sure could, do you know what is going on?”
“What I hope to be an easily defeated invasion from the dimension of Ghaza,” Master Warrior replies as he throws another Zombie back through the portal. The other possessed men now in small numbers are once again fearful of Master Warrior and try to elude his grasp. “We have to contain this, not let civilians get involved.” “Not even the police.”
“I don’t understand, they could be of help,” Olympian says as the rank creatures claw at him.
“Clearly you can’t be hurt by them, but one bite would kill a normal person and put them at risk for possession.”
“Okay then,” Olympian replies, grabbing for his head as a pain like he has never felt before throbs. As he grapples with the pain of meeting Master Warrior for the first time there is a momentary flash of a memory in a haunted house years ago. Then the memories of that night are gone from his mind. Unfortunately the Zombies are not. Olympian used a surge of Null-force to dislodge the rest of the creatures from his body.
Master Warrior quickly gathers the Zombies up to throw them back into the portal. “Are you alright, big guy?” Master Warrior calls to Olympian.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Olympian calls back as he turns his attention to the approaching police officers. He reaches his arms out to his sides casting his Null-force wide and thin to create a repelling barrier. “I need to stay focused on holding them back, I’ve never done this large of a scale before so you have to hurry.” “Do you know how to close that thing?”
“I have a friend handling that, hopefully she is ready,” Master Warrior says as he throws the last of the Zombies back through the portal. “NOW, CLOSE IT NOW!” he shouts at the top of his lungs as he leaps up toward the top of the Arch. “CLOSE IT NOW!” Miracle Maiden must have heard him as the curtain of light contained within the Gateway Arch explodes out harmlessly washing over the park. The gateway to Ghaza closed Master Warrior continues to the top of the monument to find no sign of Miracle Maiden. “Oh no,” he gasps sadly.
The Gateway Arch returns to normal and Olympian lets down his barrier that holds back the police. He turns back to the strange van. Tearing open the bent and jammed side door he releases the occupants. Joan and Lucy Riker are the first ones out of the vehicle followed by Michael McCoy and the Honeymooning couple. Davis Taylor climbs out from the driver’s seat to shake Olympian’s hand as he exits. “I never thought I’d be so glad to see St. Louis again,” he says with a sigh.
Master Warrior lands back to the ground to get a big hug from Lucy Rinker. “I knew you could do it!” she tells him holding him tight her cheek against his belly.
“I always try to keep my promises,” he tells the young girl as he looks at her mother who smiles for the first time in days. “Unfortunately I think I might have to find a way to go back.”
“Why in God’s name would you do that?” Michael asks in shock.
“It would seem that Miracle Maiden got trapped on the other side when the portal closed,” Master Warrior explains.
“Miracle Maiden was on the other side too?” an excited Olympian asks. “Do the two of you team-up together a lot?”
“I wouldn’t use the word team,” Miracle Maiden says as she appears next to them in the park.
“Thank God!” Master Warrior sighs. “I thought you were trapped over there!”
“Believe it or not as it turned out, all I had to do was teleport and the Primus energy brought me home,” Miracle Maiden explains.
“Like Dorothy,” Olympian comments.
“I guess there really is no place like home,” Miracle Maiden chuckles reaching out her hand to Olympian. “I don’t think we have met.”
“I call myself Olympian,” the tall man replies shaking her hand. “It is an honor to meet you, both of you!” “A while back I was on my way to Philadelphia to help you with that Domina guy,” Olympian says, reaching out to shake Master Warrior’s hand at last.
Master Warrior takes Olympian’s hand giving it a harder squeeze than he would normally do when meeting someone. Olympian looks him in the eyes giving him a smile and squeezing his hand back harder. “Quite a grip you have there,” Master Warrior comments as he squeezes harder. Soon the men are in kind of a hand wrestling contest.
“I was able to banish all of the demons back to their prison dimension in the process of returning the Primus energy,” Miracle Maiden tells them as she watches the grown men behave like little boys on a playground. “Well while you boys have your spitting contest I think I will go.”
“Wait, before you head home,” Master Warrior interjects, freeing his hand. “I want to thank you again, for saving my life back there in Ghaza,” Master Warrior says sincerely.
“Let me tell you a secret Showboat, I didn’t save your life,” Miracle Maiden says reluctantly. “You would have survived that infection, I just sped up the healing process in your body.” “I must admit I do like the humble Showboat much better.” Then Miracle Maiden steps back from the two costumed men to use the last of the Primus energy left in her body to teleport home with one jump.
“Are you leaving too?” Olympian asks.
“Not yet, I need to find an Asian guy in a towel who calls himself Overmind,” Master Warrior explains. “He caused all of this.”
“No need, I already caught him,” Olympian replies. “For a guy with so many different powers, he sure can’t take a punch.”
“I’m sure you know how to give one too,” Master Warrior asks. “Where is he now?”
“I got a paramedic in an Ambulance over in Illinois to sedate him, keep him asleep so he wouldn’t hurt anyone else,” Olympian explains.
Master Warrior looks at the man standing in front of him only an inch taller. He knows it is time to start trusting others in this job. “The ball is in your court now I would say,” Master Warrior tells the new guy. “I need you to follow up on him, make sure the police take him seriously.”
“Can do!” Olympian replies.
December 24, 1987
Dona & Steven Roberts’ house
3005 NW 14th St
Miami, Florida
Taking the red-eye from St. Louis, Steve arrives late at his parents in Florida for Christmas. Thoughts of what happened to flight 684 weigh heavy on his mind. Getting to his parents at around 3 am, his mother leads him to his room. She knows better to question her son about what happened now.
Steve doesn’t sleep late but it is a good deep sleep. He gets up to head down stairs to fix himself some real food for breakfast. In the kitchen his mother already has a pot of coffee on. “Good Morning sunshine,” Dona Roberts smiles from the stove.
Steve can clearly see that his mother has already fixed his breakfast as he sits down at the kitchen table. “Oh look who finally showed up for Christmas!” Christine says not having been up when he arrived late last night. “Unlike Halloween,” She digs as she takes a seat next to her brother at the table, laying several textbooks down.
Dona Roberts glares at her daughter, “Your brother was just about to tell me about his adventure that held up his trip here.”
Steve begins his tale of how he tracked Overmind to a home in New Jersey where he was using weather control powers to hold an old couple hostage. He tells how the villain fled when he arrived out of fear, only to attack him again on the plane. How the section of the plane crashed in the dimension of Ghaza that was overrun with Zombies. Sadly explains how one of the college boys died at the hand of a Zombie after saving his friend’s life.
“As it turns out I wasn’t the only hero from Earth in Ghaza, Miracle Maiden was there too,” Steve explains to his mother’s apparent joy.
“Was she now?” Dona queries. “So how did that go?”
This is the second time the mention of Miracle Maiden has made him suspicious of his mother. So Steve keeps his response professional. “It would appear that she was born of an alien father from another dimension and a human mother that gives her a unique relationship with dimensional barriers that she did not know she had before going to Ghaza.” “With some help from the Ghazain technology one of the race used her to steal power from the dimension of Primus.” “We then learned that the Hindar intended to use that power to open a portal back to Earth to invade using the Zombies.” “It was that portal we used for all of us to come home.” “As the invasion was fought back, Miracle Maiden was able to return the power to Primus.”
“So you worked as a team then,” Dona smiles. “Became friends?”
“I would say she doesn’t hate me as much as she used to,” Steve confesses. “After all she did heal me from that Zombie scratch.” “I thought she saved my life, but she told me she only sped up my own healing.” Dona smiles at her son as if pleased with his story.
Steve glances over at his sister who has put down the book she was reading. She appears to be hanging on his every word, not at all like herself. “What is with you?” he asks. “Suddenly interested in my career as Master Warrior?”
“Maybe a little,” Christine replies. “Did you ever consider that if you and Mom hadn’t let that thing in the sphere loose none of this would have happened?” “That if Master Warrior never existed neither would Overmind.” “That the people on that plane wouldn’t have died?”
“What are you talking about?” Steve questions.
“Figures Mom didn’t tell you,” Christine responds. “That plane you were on crashed in North Carolina, everyone on board died.”
“I learned it at the airport while I was booking a flight here,” Steve explains.
“I knew you were fine,” Dona responds. “Don’t believe for a minute that you were responsible for that plane crash.”
Steve is silent for a moment before he responds to his sister. “Clearly there was a good reason that Overmind was imprisoned in that sphere.” “If I had not become Master Warrior, Mom and I would have still been at that Faire.” “We would have still acted as we did.” “Overmind attacked me out of fear, a fear that I had nothing to do with.” “The death of those people was completely on Overmind, not me or Mom.”
“So saving those few was better than nothing?” Christine suggests.
“I hadn’t really thought about it, but yes,” Steve replies. “Moreover it led to me meeting the guy in St. Louis I read about in the paper a few weeks ago, Olympian.” “He was able to capture Overmind and he helped stop the invaders.” “Overmind will be held accountable for what he did to the plane.”
December 25, 1987
Tracey and Fox Woodlawn’s apartment
76 Clinton Avenue
New York, NY
Diana decides it is best to not mention Wes to Tracey since he was none too happy with her after she disappeared for a week. But what really occupies her mind through dinner is how she actually helped save the world from a real threat. She had never imagined that the creation of Miracle Maiden could do such a big thing to help people beyond her own problems. Not to mention learning that her real father was from a place called Primus. Having that energy flowing through her body felt like home to her, as silly as that sounds. She has tried to tap into it again since returning home but found it is not possible from Earth.
After dinner Abe and Diana find a place out on the balcony to talk privately. “I got the feeling you were about to tell me something about my birth before the shit hit the fan at your office last week,” Diana confesses, eager to hear what Dr. Woodlawn has to say. She knows she has to keep what Miracle Maiden saw him do to herself, no matter how badly she wants to know how he resurrected.
“There is a lot that I couldn’t tell you in my office,” Dr. Woodlawn confesses. “You did have a stillborn twin but there was something else much more amazing that happened when you were born.” “It was the first time I had been the attending doctor on a birth.” “I was still very inexperienced.” “At first I thought it was only my own adrenaline rushing through my body.” “I learned later that there was some kind of energy released at your birth.” Diana looks at the man in shock, she doesn’t know what to say. “I was sick after that, the worst flu I ever had in my life.” “After that I felt different, it is still hard to describe.”
“What exactly are you saying?” Diana asks.
“I’m saying that I did die in that car accident, but that energy that was released at your birth changed me, brought me back,” Dr. Woodlawn tells Diana. “Now when I die I come back, at first it took days, every time it happens faster.” “Now it takes only a few minutes.” “It didn’t go unnoticed.” “I was taken to be studied for years.” “Eventually I was able to become a part of the work of studying people who had gained unusual abilities.” “I learned the origin of my new gift but I kept it to myself as to protect you,” Dr. Woodlawn glares at Diana giving her a strange look.
“ME?” Diana exclaims. “Why would you need to protect me?”
“Whatever that energy was that was released at your birth it changed me, I can only assume it affected you too,” Dr. Woodlawn confesses. “I’ve been reading in the paper about this Miracle Maiden.”
“I have no interest in those types of people,” Diana asserts. “They are popping up all over the place it seems, like urban legends.”
“I met one of those Urban Legends that day you came to my Clinic.” Abe confronts Diana, “Mighty convenient that she showed up just as you left.” The two have reached a stalemate but both have made their point even if they do not speak it out loud.