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#43
- The Cross Time Caper II |
"Distinguished ancestors shed a powerful light on their descendants, and forbid the concealment either of their merits or of their demerits."
- Gaius Sallustius Crispus
Pen Dragon was not amused and he started to get up from the floor.
“Any other day, I’d kick the crap out of you just for fun.” Then he looked at his watch and watched the second hand tick onwards for a moment and then he smiled. “And by my watch, it just became another day.” He unleashed a barrage of hot knives towards his target, a man dressed in a dark green body armour, but it didn’t encumber his target at all and he dodged and dived to avoid the incoming blades and he avoided every shot.
“You’ll have to do better than that to take me down,” he said and Pen shrugged. He hadn’t even started but he was still playing catch-up as to what the hell was going on.
They’d not been in the future that long before this man and his group had come after them. Time agents - that had been what they had called them, which was understandable considering the Claws had arrived in a stolen TARDIS and now the two teams were going at it. It had confirmed that this was an era where the Time Wars were being fought, but evidently whichever side this group belonged to weren’t interested in talking. Anyone who was a Time Agent and wasn’t one of theirs was an enemy. What they didn’t seem to know was that there was a temporal anomaly here that wasn’t them, and they hadn’t been in a mood to listen.
Kate had taken a scanning device from the TARDIS and they had been wandering about. There was very few people about which seemed odd, but this was some kind of post-apocalyptic future – 8162 according to the scanner – and it was getting towards dusk, so perhaps whoever was around here didn’t come out after night. It had suited the team just fine, as they knew they had only a small amount of time to try and find the anomaly and correct it before the Time Lords arrived, and they were going to be very upset with them for stealing a TARDIS, triggering a forced regeneration in their Castellan and basically ignoring what the Time Lords wanted, which was complete mastery of time and to end the Time Wars their way. To that end they had taken over Otherworld, capturing Roma, Merlyn and Gray Poldark and they were using Gray to control the actions of Betsy Braddock, Otherworld’s current Queen and the only people who knew what was happening were the Claws, who had gone out to fight the Time War and try and maintain the status quo. They’d identified this era as a battle point in the Time War and the team had gone out. Kate was leading, closely followed by Pen, with Kylun and Elsa bringing up the rear. Meggan and Wynter were with Dream, each of them using their special gifts to try and determine what had happened in this era, however it hadn’t been long before they had been confronted by this group.
There had only been six of them, and a dog, but they seemed to be the local law-enforcement types.
“Time Agents! You will stand down,” their leader had said. “At the order of the World Development Council, we’re authorised to take you in to the custody of NURSE. Failure to comply will lead to termination. You know how this goes.”
“Actually we don’t,” said Pen. “I don’t know you, I don’t know NURSE and… wait, did you call us Time Agents?”
“You will not turn this place in to your battleground,” the man in green said. “Final warning, stand down. You don’t want to test us.”
“Half a sec,” Pen said and turned to his team. “Dream?” Dream Summers, the newest member of the team and the latest incarnation of the Phoenix had given a cursory scan of them.
“He’s called Dragon,” she said. “And those are the Dragon’s Claws. They used to be players in a game, but they retired and now act as trouble-shooters, taking down renegade former players and anyone else who causes trouble.”
“Bastards stole our name,” Pen muttered.
“I say we take them,” said the man with a scar on his face.
“Dellar,” said Dragon, “we’re supposed to be the good guys – let’s give them a chance to surrender at least.”
“I think we should compare notes,” said Pen. “I’m Pen Dragon and these are the Dragon’s Claws.”
“Didn’t think Timeys had a sense of humour,” said the mangy looking member of the group. “I think they’ve copied us, Dragon.”
“Not very well,” the group’s female said. “They’ve too many women, and none of them look that dangerous.”
“Come here and say that,” Elsa said, quite annoyed and Pen shot her a look.
“We’re not Time Agents, we’re not here to fight…”
“Then surrender,” said the Asian giant.
“That’s not going to happen,” Pen said. “There’s things we need to do before…” He didn’t get chance to finish what he was saying as Dragon interrupted him.
“Take them out,” he commanded and his team went on the attack.
“Good plan,” said Wynter. “Flawless negotiation.”
“I’ll sort it,” said Pen. “Just don’t hurt them too much, eh?” The he confronted Dragon. “Look, you have to listen to me…” Dragon, though wasn’t in a mood to listen and he slammed his fist in to Pen’s gut and as he tried to follow it with another shot, Pen blocked it and smacked him in the mouth. “That’s not listening.”
“I’m not interested in anything you have to say!” Dragon said and the two of them sparred as Pen tried to avoid getting into the fight, and Dragon connected with a vicious shot that sent Pen hurtling to the floor. “Do yourself a favour and stand down,” Dragon ordered and now Pen had had enough.
“Any other day, I’d kick the crap out of you just for fun…”
Kylun stood across the way from the red-garbed samurai. He knew what he had to do here, but neither of them seemed in a hurry to attack each other. The man radiated respect and Kylun addressed him, warrior to warrior.
“I have no desire to harm you,” he said.
“Nor I you,” his opponent answered, as he drew his sword, “but you will stand down.”
“I am sorry,” Kylun said, drawing his own blades. “That’s not going to happen.” The two of them looked at each other and they started to duel, the swords clanging as the two warriors met.
“Kylun,” said Kylun as they paused a moment, each knowing the other had honour enough not to attack.
“Steel,” said Steel. “It is good to engage in real swordplay for once.”
Kylun smiled. “I agree.” In truth he liked it more than the others could realise. He was a warrior, a man of action, trained to fight demons and threats of mystical natures. He was not quite cut out for dealing with time-travel and metaphysical things – he just needed something to fight against and that was what he was good at. This was what he was good at and they adopted a fighting stance and began their duel once more.
Parry, slash, thrust, hack, slice - the strokes of the sword flashed through the air as if they were taking part in some kind of well structured dance, choreographed by years of training at the hands of masters, and played out by those who used the sword as more than a weapon, it was an extension of themselves. Blade met blade and when the strokes were too swift to be met, the combatants moved with incredible agility, dodging and bending to avoid the potential damage of the lightning sharp swords. It was a workout that neither had expected but both relished with intensity. The glory of the fight was enough for them both.
Mercy on the other hand wanted to win, which was the same as Elsa and the two women went at each other in an acrobatic display of physical mastery. For her part, Elsa was without weapons while Mercy was using knives, but even with that advantage, they were quite well matched. Unlike Kylun and Steel, they weren’t blocking the shots, they were letting them come. Mercy had made her name fighting some of the most dangerous players in the game, and Elsa was adept at fighting monsters and creatures of the night. This wasn’t just a fight, this was a bloody and brutal assault on each other as the two women revelled in what they could do, what they were capable of.
Blow was followed by blow, the reflexes they both possessed ensuring that the shots were not serious. They were bruised and cut from each others attacks but nothing that was causing any difficulties and this was just the prelude before they truly went for each other. Elsa smiled, didn’t say anything and Mercy threw her knives to the ground and the two women leapt at each other, the preliminaries over with. The fighting style Elsa was facing was like nothing she had ever seen, but then again she was many thousands of years in the future and it didn’t bother her – she’d grown up fighting vampires, demons and the forces of darkness, taking on the responsibilities left by her father Ulysses Bloodstone, and she had adapted to the lifestyle as best she could, and this was just one more challenge and she knew why she was here, why Pen Dragon knew he could use her.
Every team needed their powerhouse, their Colossus, their Goliath, their Thing, and while she was a lot smaller and prettier than the more famous counterparts, she packed as much of a punch as they did and while Pen had said not to hurt them too much, Elsa knew she was going to hurt the woman pretty badly and she started pounding away, fist after fist and Mercy had to go on to the defensive, backing away, letting the blows come and looking for the opening she needed that would allow to turn the tables and go back on offensive and fight back. She knew that every fighter tired at some point and when they tired they made mistakes and it was that she needed to get back in the fight, as long as she could hold out as the girl had power.
Deller looked at Wynter, curiously. Wynter was a very odd Time Agent, dressed in flowing robes and his eyes seemed to be so piercing. He wanted to attack him, beat him down and let the man know that he and his kind weren’t welcome here, but for some reason his hand was stayed and he didn’t know why.
“You picked the wrong era to come to Time Agent,” said Deller, needing to do something. “We know what you and your kind are up to, and we’ve beaten you back every time.” Wynter said nothing, but he raised an eyebrow questioning Deller, which irritated him as it was as if the man believed that he had nothing to fear from the scarred warrior. “I’ll go easy on you, you’re an old man.” Then Wynter smirked and Deller began to angry, his fists clenched as he went for his weapons. “I don’t like being mocked. I’m a super-soldier, trained to be the best.”
“I have no doubt of that,” Wynter answered, “but even a super-soldier should fear the ways of magic.”
“Magic?” Deller said, with a derisive laugh. “There’s no such thing as magic. It’s a story tiold to little children who don’t know any better.”
“Let me show you,” Wynter said, with confidence and he called forth lightning from his hands, casting it down at Deller, who reflexively dodged the incoming bolt, even though Wynter knew it would not hit him, and as Deller moved he pulled out his guns and fired continuously at Wynter, who waved the bullets away and then he began to feel himself tiring and he quickly focused as Deller took the time to reload and he came to a stark realisation – the mystical forces that should have been in England weren’t as potent as they had once been. In about six thousand years, the abundant mystical forces were gone and there was no tangible trace of the Green, of the Bane, no residual energies from the energy matrix, and no sense of Otherworld in his mind. Somehow magic had all but vanished and it was no wonder that nobody believed in it anymore, there was barely enough power for him to keep a shield raised. “Oh dear,” he uttered as he ducked to find some cover. This was not what he had had in mind, and he needed to find something he could use for his magic and quickly.
Meggan looked at the man named Scavenger, reaching out to him with her empathy to try and get a read on him and though she didn’t understand the specifics, she knew what kind of man he was and what he was capable of. She also knew that he would be perhaps the only one of them that his Dragon would listen to.
“Before you do anything,” she said, “I think you should see this.” Scavenger was a gentleman at heart and he waited for her to do whatever it was she wanted to do and then he stood back agog as lights sparkled around her and she changed from a small waif of a girl to a hulking lady and he stood back and he rubbed his chin. They’d seen a lot of Time Agents come and go through here, fighting battles on either side of their little war, trying to out-do each other but he’d never seen any of them capable of doing this. They had weapons that were exotic, but powers on this scale were not anything he had seen in or out of the game.
“That’s not an illusion,” he said. “You can really do that?”
“And much more besides,” she said. “We’re not here to fight, we’re here to stop whatever temporal anomaly is in this era.”
“Anomaly?” said Scavenger. “There are none round here, we know each and every temporal incursion that happens. We’ve been fighting for this era for a while now, because every time the Timey’s come, innocent people get hurt.”
“How?” Meggan asked, returning to her true shape.
“They think we’re an alternate future, a timeline that isn’t really real and we don’t matter.”
Meggan closed her eyes in anguish. She hated the thinking that these sides had and she knew that this needed to be stopped. There was so much wrongness with everything. If it wasn’t Otherworld, it was Earth, if it wasn’t Earth it was time, if it wasn’t time there was something else. Where was the sense of order, the structure to the universe? Why was it nobody was doing anything to stop the madness?
“We’re here to stop that from happening,” she said. “We’re on the run from our friends, from our enemies, from everyone really. We’ve chosen not to sit back and let it happen, we’re going to fix things or die trying.”
“You couldn’t have just surrendered?” Scavenger said with a shrug and Meggan looked at her friends.
“Not really,” she said. “We’re the distraction while one of our team goes to find the anomaly.” Scavenger chuckled.
“I know,” he said. “My dog’s chasing her.” Meggan smiled. They should be working together, not fighting. “Think we’d better end this,” the man said and Meggan nodded but not before a cry came out and they turned to Kate standing over the body of her opponent. “Digit!” Scavenger called out and rushed to where Kate was doing her best to resuscitate him.
“I just phased through him,” Kate said. “I didn’t know this would happen.”
“Man’s brain is partly cybernetic,” Dragon said. “I’ve never seen him shut down like this.”
“I disrupt electronics when I phase through them,” she answered, the fight effectively over. “I didn’t know.”
“Meg?” asked Pen, seeing if there was anything she could do with her empathy, but she shook her head.
“We’re too far from the Dragon’s Nest,” Mercy said. “I don’t know if we can get him back in time.”
Pen quickly thought about what they could do to help. “Wynter, can you muster a transport spell?”
The sorcerer shook his head. “I can barely conjure a rabbit from a hat,” he muttered, with no small sense of irritation.
“There has to be a reboot switch,” Elsa said. “Every computer I know of has one.” They looked at Dragon, who shook his head.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I…” Then Digit sat up, blinked a few times and looked around.
“An interesting experience,” he said. “It appears that I will need to develop a form of shielding to prevent that from happening again. I believe the instability of the molecular form is held together with a variable electrostatic field to prevent the atomic coherence from dissipating and that variation of the field had an inverse reaction on the cybernetics.”
“He’s fine,” Deller said as the others helped him up. “Now where were we?” He reached for his gun but stopped as Scavenger held out his weapon and pointed it at him, shaking his head.
“Fight’s over,” he said, talking to Dragon. “I reckon we’re all on the same side here.”
Dragon looked at Pen Dragon, eyeing him up. “You could have said.”
“I tried,” Pen answered. “You guys weren’t in the mood.” Dragon removed his helmet.
“We’ve been stung by Time Agents before,” he answered. “We thought they were friends, then they almost blew up London. Since then, we’ve learned neither side can be trusted.”
“There’s more than two sides to the Time War,” said Pen. “My team are in the middle, trying to solve things, but there’s an anomaly here.”
“Impossible,” Digit said. “Our temporal detection field would have found it.”
“I’d show you,” said Kate, “but Dream has the tracker, and she’s following it to the source.”
As if on cue, an astral projection of Dream Summers appeared, and despite the paleness of the image before them, she looked white as a sheet.
“I found the source,” she said, fearfully and Pen could see that something was wrong and he had a sudden sense that whatever was here was something he should have known about. “I think we have a problem.”
“What is it?” he asked, not wanting to know the answer.
“Not what, who,” the young woman said. “It’s the Hound Master. Ahab is here.”
Dragon's
Lair
Notes from the Author
Here's something I didn't think I'd see at one point - a new issue of Dragon's Claws! It was last November when I last wrote an issue, so almost a year has gone by and for that I am sorry. There's been a lot happening, and time got away from me but it's not been unproductive.
We've had a few issues of Pendragons out in the meantime, and I've been working on a mini-series at one of the other satellite sites at Avengers 2000, finishing off the Network saga for what was Marvel 2015 and is now Marvel 2079. That's taken a lot of my time up, and I've struggled a bit with the appearance of the original Dragon's Claws and I'm still not totally convinced I've got them as right as they should be, but never mind, it's here now and I'm on with the next issue already.
Anyway, here's a little note about the last issue from longtime supporter Harry M VanHoudnos III
I have to say, I love the way you are starting to intertwine the two Pendragon titles. It makes sense that if there are people involved in one, they need to be involved in the other. And lets see what Romana and the Time Lord's reaction is to the Dragon's Claws taking the TARDIS! I suspect that they will be upset at first, then use them, as they used to use The Doctor, over the years, to do their dirty work when the situation calls for it!The Time Lords aren't done with the Claws yet, though it's fair to say the Claws aren't done with the Time Lords either, so expect a resuce mission for Merlyn and Roma to be coming soon. It's going to be interesting, and I'm sorry it's taken this long to get back to work.
Thanks for the comments though, Harry. Always appreciated.
Right, I've work to do so I'd best crack on. Dragon's Claws #44 is coming soon, promise!
David
29/8/2007
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Issue #44 | |