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Post By Visionary Sun Jun 26, 2005 at 08:26:46 pm EDT |
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The Heart of Darkness, chapter five: Extended Family | |
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Previously: An assortment of ghouls, lead by a time displaced spirit, used a fabled book called the Necronastycon to mystically induce a heart-attack in Visionary. While he survived, it has since been learned that black magics still infuse his heart, and are slowly killing him. As a result, the Legion has scrambled to find a cure in time. Simultaneously, accusations of everything from child endangerment to deviant sexual practices have been leveled against Vizh, forcing his removal as teacher of the Juniors and leading Social Services to threaten to remove him as Kerry's Guardian. In an effort to address their concerns, Sarah has announced her impending marriage to Vizh, making him Kerry's legitimate relative... and also getting the attention of Ma and Karl Shepherdson, who just arrived from Ireland... “Huh” Visionary noted with a grunt, examining himself in the bathroom mirror. In truth, it wasn’t a terribly pretty sight. Whatever mysterious benefits he had gleaned from his contact with Lara Night had obviously worn off. His eyes had grown even darker than usual (which was saying something), and his skin had drained of color and gained a sort of slight translucency… kind of like newspaper stained with grease, he thought. “So that’s what hell looks like” he sighed. “You were expecting it to look a lot more like corn, weren’t you?” his reflection asked with a wry grin. “Gah!” Visionary replied, pulling back with a start at the unexpected reply. “Whoa, hey… calm down” the mirror image told him. “No need to get all riled up. You’re just hallucinating as the dark stuff in your heart begins to affect your mind.” “Oh… well…” the stricken man answered dubiously. “So long as it’s nothing to worry about.” “That’s the spirit” the reflection said. “So how’s it going with the in-laws?” Visionary glanced to Sarah’s bathroom door, which was all that separated him from being home alone with the recently arrived representatives of the Shepherdson clan. “They seem to be less interested in castrating me…” “Gotta leave some fun for the bride to be, I’d imagine.” Visionary shot himself a dark look, but ignored the comment. “Ma Shepherdson has taken over the kitchen, insisting that all I need is some good Irish cooking in me to turn me right around.” He looked to the door nervously. “Um… there is such a thing as good Irish cooking, isn’t there? The Irish aren’t the ones that do ‘haggis’, are they?” “Potatoes” he reassured himself. “Although they may boil meat over there for some unfathomable reason. Hard to say, since I’m you. Besides, you survived the Manga Shoggoth’s experiments with cooking dinner for the Legion, so you can likely handle anything.” “I can still smell colors when I burp” Visionary shuddered. “Nifty. Anyway, shouldn’t you start getting used to Irish cooking, Mr. Dancer?” “I don’t think Sarah cooks much…” the ill Legionnaire noted. “The oven seems to have been converted into a shoe closet.” “Well, maybe you can convince her to bring you back a doggy bag from one of her dates each night.” Visionary glared at his reflection, and waved a finger at himself. “Look, I don’t care who you are, enough with the snarky digs at Sarah.” “Oh, relax, would you?” his reflection responded, rolling his eyes. “We both know her Spark scores. More to the point, we both know she couldn’t be less into you if you actually were an honest to you-know-who boy scout, complete with the short pants and goofy cap.” “Shows what you know…” Visionary growled, putting a hand to the side of his throbbing head. “Plenty of women say I have very cute knees.” The tightness in his chest was forcing him to take shallow, wheezing breaths that did nothing to help his self assessment of his own sex appeal. On top of that, this conversation was beginning to leave himself convinced that he was something of a dick, to boot. If this was the way Sarah’s mirror always talked, it was no wonder she could use more self-esteem. “Look, she doesn’t want to marry you… you know that. She’ll be miserable, because she’s too damn namby-pamby nice not to have guilt pangs when she invariably feels trapped with you as a husband. She’ll tell herself you’re a nice guy, and you’re doing this for Kerry, and so she’ll hate herself instead. You don’t want that, do you?” “Of course not” Visionary sighed. “Well then, the solution is obvious…” “It is?” he asked. If it were really that obvious, he wondered why he couldn’t see it himself. Especially since he apparently already had. “What is it?” His reflection shrugged. “Give up and die already.” “It’s certainly a… unique solution” Asil noted carefully as Lisa and Yo explained the situation. “I was thinking so” Yo agreed with a nod. “And with Dream to be working with the Juniors, Meggan was being excited to do all she could be doing.” “Thankfully, getting Meg excited has never been a huge chore” Lisa observed. Still, the First Lady of the Lair Legion had to agree that Yo had a point… This wasn’t going to stay Vizh’s problem for long…. The accusations were bound to hit the students as well, and CSFB’s mom bridged the two concerns nicely. “Of course…” she said, “Hiring a porn star as Visionary’s official spokesperson when he’s being charged with being a sexual deviant isn’t the way most people might have gone.” “I am sure that between the two of you, you can be making Visi seem pure as the snow being driven” Yo encouraged the lawyer. “That’s true enough…” Flapjack muttered slyly as he walked through the room, “Put between the two of them, even the Marquis De Sade would seem the pure one.” “Not to be worrying…” Yo assured the clone girl, ignoring the hunchback. “It will all be working out. You will see. Everyone is to be eager to do whatever they can be doing to help out poor Visi.” “Dominic” a voice called out with quiet resolve. Mr. Epitome glanced up from the figures spread out on the desktop that he and Secretary of Homeland Security Tomas Range were studying. A green hued woman stood in the doorway to his office looking small and tired, despite giving off a faint glow. “This is a restricted building” he frowned. “You shouldn’t have been able to get in here, Hallie.” “Shouldn’t…” Secretary Range choked, bewildered. “What the hell is this?” “You’ve heard what’s happened to Visionary” she said, not as a question. Dominic Clancy nodded. “He’s dying” she stated. “I understand the Lair Legion are investigating the problem thoroughly. I’ve learned not to underestimate their ability to find an answer.” Not necessarily the right one, mind you… but he kept that observation to himself. “Why are you here, Hallie?” Disappointment flashed in her eyes and she swallowed heavily before answering. “Back in December… when Visionary and I went to face the Hellraisers alone outside of Phantomhawk Memorial Hospital… I was human. I was human and I was knocked unconscious. I woke up in a hospital bed…” “Clancy… what the hell is this?” the Secretary repeated. “Is that thing what I think it is?” He held up a hand to request silence and let the holographic woman continue. Best to get it out and over with. “Last month, I finally found out the reason I was suddenly human. The island’s defenses… resurrected me. My flesh was made up of mathematical formula that were to be the defense against an incursion by the Fairly Great Old Ones. I fought off ghouls powered by the black magics of the Necronastycon. The same black magics that are choking off Visionary’s heart.” “Why are you here, Hallie?” he asked again, resigning himself to what was going to happen. “Please Dominic…” she said softly, looking at him earnestly. “Please… Give me back my blood.” “What, did you fall in?” Karl asked as Visionary finally exited the bathroom. “Hmph” Visionary grunted as he plopped down on the couch next to his brother-in-law to be. “We’ve never heard that one before here in the States” he quipped darkly. Splashing some cold water in his face had put an end to the eerie one sided conversation, but it hadn’t improved his mood any. “You know, since you’re new to the whole Irish clan thing, I should tell you that with you being involved with my sister, I’m traditionally allowed to punch you whenever I want.” “Oh” the Regular answered carefully. “Gotcha. Dialing down the sarcasm.” He made a mental note to have Hallie research Irish customs online. He wasn’t too sure about some of the ones Karl had mentioned… especially the ones about the fiancé having to go out and buy the brother-in-law a case of beer upon his arrival, or having to be the one to tell Ma Shepherdson that her cooking definitely needed more salt. He had shirked tradition with the latter, based on the grounds that if that kind of thing were really custom, then no Irish grooms would ever survive to their honeymoons… thus ending the Irish race altogether. “Anyway, Con called whilst you were in the loo. Said he’s sending someone over to take a look at you and help you with your problem. Didn’t specify which problem.” The huge Irishman handed over a scribbled address. “The person in question will be meeting you there. Nine o’clock.” “Con Johnstantine?” the Regular looked at the post-it note dubiously. Johnstantine was about the last person he wanted to accept help from… but then the Englishman was supposed to be something of an expert in occult dealings, which had somehow been involved in Visionary's original heart-attack. “Will you and Ma Shepherdson be okay here while I’m out?” “Yeah, Sarah called and said something came up down at the mission, so Ma and I are going to go see a show... Something called Matrix! The Musical.” “Ah” Visionary noted judiciously. “Um… that’s a fine choice. I’ve heard it has great wire-fu for a stage production.” “Whatever” Karl noted. “Ma wanted a production that hadn’t turned sis down, so our choices were kind of limited.” “She’s really quite talented…” Visionary defended his teammate. “It’s just… she’s had trouble finding the time to pursue her stage career quite a thoroughly as she’d like to…” “Yeah, that’s the problem with sis…” Karl noted, draining his beer. “She always did lack focus.” “I can keep this up all night, if I have to…” Dancer stated sweetly. “Actually, with the modifications that Enty made, I’m told this can keep playing continuously for 47.3 years before the battery’s halflife degrades too much or something.” She considered the NTU-pod mp3 player in her hand carefully. “Of course, the radiation by that point might make you sterile… but that’s not so much an issue for you fellows now is it?” Chompvski’s reply from inside his sealed coffin was quite insistent, though somewhat difficult to make out. “What was that?” “Arrrgh! He said enough already!” Fingers shrieked. “Shut it off! Shut it off!” Sarah thumbed the stop button on the small device, and Yo’s recording of The Hamster Dance stopped its endless loop. “So you’re ready to talk now?” “Well, he’s not…” Buggerov growled with obvious relief at the silence. “Chompvski ate his tongue about a week ago. Had the bright idea to escape his punishment by swallowing his own head. Elmo made him crack.” Dancer considered Chompvski’s sarcophagus, and then the small television stuck permanently on PBS that was their only diversion during the undead ghouls’ incarceration. She reminded herself not to feel too sorry for them, as these were the ones responsible for Vizh’s initial heart attack. She also reminded herself not to get on Abyssal Greye’s bad side, if this was an example of his idea of punishment. “Will it grow back?” she asked, concerned. “Sadly, yes” the Abyssal Rasputatius observed acidly. “And you may as well resume your tortures, because we’ll never tell you anything! And one day when you least expect it, we’ll be free… and you shall taste our bitter wrath for these torments! Let that thought haunt you in your darkest nights… that we wait, with unyielding hatred beneath the cold, dead ground, plotting…” “We don’t know anything” Fingers interrupted. “It was some HV guy what did it” Buggerov elaborated. “Gah! Shut up you fools!” the twisted Abyssal screamed at them, his own sealed coffin rocking wildly with his agitation. “I’ll have the flesh flayed from your rotting bones for this, you traitorous…” There was a gurgling sound as the Manga Shoggoth swelled up out of the darkness to fill the room. “With your permission…” it bubbled towards the ghouls’s jailor, Abyssal Greye, “perhaps I might speed things along…” “Be my guest…” their host offered politely. “Wait… what do you…” Rasputatius began uncertainly as the four sealed coffins were enveloped in the mass of the Shoggoth. Dancer averted her eyes to avoid the queasy feeling that bounced around the back of her brain at the sight. What followed was a horrid variety of sucking, squishing noises overlapping with undead shrieking. Finally, with a last slurp and a pop, it was over and a bandaged Shoggoth reformed in the center of the chamber. “I believe they are telling the truth… The stench of the Necronastycon has faded from them. They do not know anything about Visionary’s current condition.” It turned back towards Greye. “You may resume the broadcast of Barney and Friends once more” it informed him. “They will likely find it most comforting now.” Sarah tried to ignore the happy broken gibbering coming from the captives and hurried to follow the Shoggoth from the chamber as the song “I love you… you love me…” filled the room. She was definitely not cut out for this type of interrogation work she decided with a shudder... She would have to find an FTD Pick-Me-Up bouquet to send to the captives to thank them for their cooperation… “So what now?” she asked worriedly. “We hope the others are having more luck” the Shoggoth gurgled. “I will transport you back to the Mansion, and then check in with Ebony and Miiri on Lemuria to see if their research has turned up any clues on Visionary’s condition.” “I’m surprised you were able to get Miiri to head back to Lemuria with what’s happening with Vizh” Dancer observed. “It was a… difficult… discussion” it admitted. “However, with the nature and quantity of suspicious happenings aimed at Visionary, I was able to impress upon her the possibility that she might be a target to be used against him.” Sarah nodded. “At this point, better safe than sorry.” “Indeed” the loathsome elder beast concurred, rearing up to engulf the Legionnaire. “Especially until she gives birth.” “Right” Sarah agreed, then froze. “Wait… What? Gives bi….?! Even the horrid taste of a mouth full of Shoggoth goo could only distract one from so much... to be continued... |
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