LJ presents: Strange Horizons, part two
There truly is no better feeling, after a crappy week, than sitting down on LJ's floor to play a game of super heroes.
Not this game, sadly - the one you're about to read. I am once again a few weeks behind in my chronicles (if only my work wasn't, well, full-time and essential for our continued financial security). But in some ways that's okay because, having played a mind-boggling game with the kidlet today, I now get to go back in time and re-live another awesome adventure (starring Sunburst, Ironclad, Quickdraw and Shield-Maiden) before bedtime. Talk about good fortune!
When last we left our heroes, they had discovered a new friend and resolved to save her from (what they perceived to be) an unfair, over-protective father. But to succeed in their mission, they're going to need some help from an old friend...
----------
LJ presents:
STRANGE HORIZONS
PART TWO
Written and directed by LJ
Novelisation by SF
In a flash of rainbow hues and a blur of motion, four young heroes found themselves standing in the realm eternal. Shield Maiden, Quickdraw and Sunburst looked around the great clockwork chamber of Bifrost, awed by its majesty. Ironclad strolled calmly to the centre of the immense transportation chamber where stood mighty Heimdall. Resplendent in his golden armour and horned helmet, the towering Aesir pulled his sword from the chamber's central column and regarded them with his all-seeing eyes.
"Welcome to Asgard, young ones," he said. "And welcome back, Maria Stark. I trust this concludes our business."
"Very much so," Maria grinned, "at least, after you send us home. Us... and Torunn."
The ghost of a smile crossed Heindall's face. "You will find the princess in the palace," he said. "It would be... pleasing... were you to pierce the sorrow that clouds her every waking moment. Pleasing for all of us here in Asgard."
Ironclad nodded, flipped down her armour's faceplate and took off, rocketing along the Rainbow Bridge. Still staggered and more than a little confused, her friends followed. "So Heimdall owed you a favour?" Shield Maiden, clinging tightly to Sunburst to keep up, shouted. "When did this happen? And why didn't you tell us about it? And how do you know your way around Asgard, anyway?"
"Long story," Ironclad replied. "I'll tell you another time - we're almost at the palace."
At the end of the bridge, on the steps of the palace, the heroes found Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg - the Warriors Three! The noble trio greeted them warmly for they, like all conscripted into the Ultra Revolution, owed their lives and freedom to Ironclad and her friends. But carousing and merriment was quickly silenced when, with the thunderous clang of armoured boots on marble tile, mighty Odin himself appeared atop the stairs!
"Mortals? In the hallowed halls of Asgard?" he thundered. "What be this nonsense?"
Each of the Warriors Three immediately dropped to one knee in deference; the young heroes, well and truly freaked out, did the same. "Lord Odin," Ironclad managed to squeak. "Forgive our intrusion, but..."
"You again?" Odin boomed. "I thought I made it quite plain last time, Maria Stark, that..."
"Please," Ironclad interrupted - earning a grim stare from Odin. "We're here on a mission of great importance, and we can't succeed in it without Torunn!"
Whatever protest Odin was about to make died in his throat. "Torunn?" he asked. His body language changed instantly; his posture softened, his grip on his enormous staff slackened. "You have come to seek her aid?" There was a long pause. "Good," the All-Father said at last.
Quickdraw blinked. "Good?"
"The sorrow of a princess," Odin said, "is a burden on the hearts of all who love her. Though I wish it were otherwise, Torunn is a child of two worlds and much of her heart was left in Midgard at the battle's end." He looked over the young heroes. "I know each and every one of you and, while your trespass here is unwise and impolite, Asgard's debt to you all cannot be understated. My debt to you all cannot be understated." He nodded. "Go forth and release my granddaughter from her chains of despair."
The young heroes rose, thanked Odin and hurried along before he changed his mind. Shield Maiden was about to ask what Ironclad had done last time she was in Asgard when the sound of battle assailed her ears. Exchanging panicked glances with her friends, she forged ahead and followed the telltale clang of sword-on-sword. Lowering her head and raising one of her shields, Peggy burst through a thick Asgardian door... and found Torunn locked in vicious combat with her own mother, the Lady Sif!
----------
"Honey," Deadpool called, "I'm home!"
"An' about time, too," Harley Quinn admonished. "I had a whole big night planned out for us, Wade! I was gonna cook dinner... well, order Chinese... but from the nice place... an' I was gonna fill the spa with bubblebath and those fizzy bomb things you like an'..."
Deadpool took his lady love by the hand. "I'm sorry, babe, but something came up ---"
"Oh?" Harley snapped, snatching her hand back. "Something came up, did it? On the night before Valentine's Day? What, you suddenly felt the urge to go hang out with your loser friends in the mercenary world?" She crossed her arms and pouted. "Chee. Ya move in with a guy an' all of a sudden you're invisible unless he needs someone ta wash the entrails outta his mask..."
"Babe, sweetie, toxic sugar plum," Deadpool soothed, "it ain't like that at all! I felt like a heel, sure, but when you see what I've got waiting out in the hallway I know you're gonna be fine with me having stayed out all night!" He looked hopefully at Harley and received only a scowl in return. "Okay, I can see you're mad, but you're gonna be fine when you see..."
He dashed out of their quarters and then dashed back in. Lord Death-Man, his costume repaired and freshly laundered, was tucked under his arm like a carnival game teddy bear. "This!" Deadpool said triumphantly. "Ta dah!"
Harley raised and eyebrow distastefully. "You went dwarf-tossing?" she asked. "And ya brought one home? Dressed for Halloween?"
"What? No!" Deadpool facepalmed. "Harley, this is Lord Death-Man, the pint-sized would-be supervillain who bedeviled Robin and the girls I used to babysit! But he's not a would-be supervillain anymore. See, I was thinking: if Batman can have a sidekick to train... a ward to raise in his stately manner... why can't I?"
Harley was silent for a moment. "You mean ta say," she began, her voice rising dangerously, "that th' very first thing you get me for Valentine's Day, immediately after ya ask me ta move in with you, is somethin' ya get for me the night before Valentine's Day when yer supposed ta' be spending a romantic evening with me is something that immediately transforms us from being a honeymoonin' couple in love to a family?!!?"
"Yup!" Deadpool said, hooking his thumbs in his bandoliers like they were suspenders and looking well pleased with himself.
The grin of delight that split Harley's face would have put her ex-boyfriend to shame. "I love it! I love him! I love you!" she squealed, snagging Death-Man by the cape and leaping into Deadpool's arms, effectively forcing a group hug. "Oh Wade, we're a family at last!
----------
They watched, horrified, as mother and daughter attacked one another with murderous intent. But they watched for only a moment: only too familiar with mind control, demonic possession and parents being just plain untrustworthy, the young heroes sprang into action. Shield Maiden blocked Sif's sword-staff while Ironclad blindsided her with a repulsor blast; Sunburst flew in and punched Sif in the face as Quickdraw swept her legs at high speed. Just as they were gaining the upper hand, a lightning bolt stabbed down and separated them from their opponent.
"What are you doing?" Torunn yelled, her expression a mixture of fury and disbelief. "Have you all gone mad? We were just training!"
Mortified apologies were offered but Sif laughed them off. "It's good to see none of you have lost your fighting prowess since last we tangled. You would make fine Valkyries, each and every one of you." She took in the looks on the young women's faces and her mother's intuition kicked in. "But perhaps such things are best spoken of another time. Torunn, I'll leave you to speak with your friends."
An uncomfortable silence descended over the five friends. "So," Shield Maiden said at last, "how come you don't answer Skype anymore?"
The conversation that followed was no less uncomfortable. Torunn was, on the one hand, ashamed by her "failure" to protect the others during Ultron's assault. She had spent every waking moment training with her mother, determined to "temper" herself "into the sharpest of swords and strongest of shields". That wasn't, however, the only reason for her lack of communication.
"You say you all forgive me and I know that's true," she said. "But you don't understand how it feels for me. The four of you grew up together, you've been side-by-side since birth. I was born here, in Asgard, and came to your world later. No matter how much you love me, and I you, my bond with each of you is lesser than your bond with one another. I'm the outcast, even though you don't mean it that way - the one you don't really need." Tears welled in her eyes. "Ultron proved that. I fell to his first sortie - you, through your sisterhood, saved the universe."
"Even if that was true... and it isn't... that wouldn't make you any less special, or any less important to us," Shield Maiden said. "We're sisters, the four of us? Okay - if that's so, then you're our best friend in all the worlds. You're the one who makes us better because you force us to communicate, to think like a team, to include others in our lives, to think of people other than ourselves." She put an arm around Torunn. "You may not be from our world, Torunn, but that's what's so important: you're the one who opens other worlds up for us."
"And now," said Ironclad, joining the group hug, "we need you to do it again for someone else." She grinned. "This'll appeal to that fairy-tale mentality of yours, princess - we need you to help us rescue a girl from a magical tower."
Torunn listened to her friends' story, to the details of Selena Strange's life, and felt a stirring within her. She knew, only too well, what it was like to chafe under the restraints of a well-meaning but over-protective father. She knew, only too well, how it felt to learn there were realms beyond one's own experiences - that there was a "normal" world with beauties and terrors all its own. And most of all, she knew there was no one better in all the universe to steer a sheltered, naive girl through those beauties and terrors than the four friends who'd helped her, so long ago.
She looked up and saw her mother re-entering the room... and saw that she knew the same things, too. Sif smiled tightly - thrilled to see her daughter regain her purpose, heartbroken to know she'd be leaving - and Torunn smiled, too.
"Then let us be off," Torunn told her friends, "for adventure awaits!"
----------
Vision, like everyone else in the House of M, was only too happy to welcome Lord Death-Man into their ranks. Yet a palpable sense of dread descended over the synthezoid as he watched Magneto show the wide-eyed, grateful boy around his new home. If the others noticed they didn't mention it, content to give Vision his privacy. Mystique, however, took perverse delight in his discomfort.
"What's the matter, artificial man?" she asked nastily. "New blood in the house helping you remember what you don't have under the hood? Feeling a little queasy that you can't give Magneto grandchildren?"
"Far from it," Vision said stiffly. "I am experiencing... consternation... due to the date. With all we have endured of late, I was remiss and failed to highlight today in my internal calendar. Now it is Valentine's Day and I... I..."
"You don't have a gift," Mystique sighed, rolling her eyes. "The tin man living in the hippie community is upset he doesn't have a gift for his pagan mutant girlfriend. I really have died and gone to hell, haven't I?" She rubbed her face angrily. "Newsflash, genius: there are these places called 'stores' and they sell things called 'goods'. Maybe you should take Wanda shopping? Hmm? Treat her to a day out?"
Vision turned slowly toward her and smiled. Something about the look on his face worried Mystique. "Thank you, Raven," he said evenly. "That is a lovely idea. I believe I'll take you up on it, confident that the House of M will be well-defended while we're gone thanks to your presence."
"You played me," Mystique gasped. "Now, wait one second..."
"Ooh, did somebody say 'shopping trip'?" Deadpool asked, bounding into the room. "Capital idea, Vision old chap! Just capital, by George! See, I didn't buy anything for my little rancid muffin, either, and what with the kid and all..." He sighed theatrically. "But now Mystique's here to guard the place and babysit junior until we're back, so we're copacetic! Let's grab the girls and amscray!"
"Babysit?" Mystique cried. "I didn't say anything about ---"
But it was too late. In less time than it takes to tell, Vision and Deadpool had swept their respective girlfriends out the door and toward Super Hero City. Magneto had excused himself to take care of essential paperwork while Poison Ivy had retired to her roof garden for watering, pruning and the judicious application of fertilizer. All of which left Mystique alone, in the courtyard, with a 10-year-old kid in an ill-fitting cape and skeleton costume.
"Hey there, good lookin'," Lord Death-Man winked, "wanna be my Valentine?"
Frustrated beyond words, Mystique screamed.
----------
They had planned their return down to the finest detail: how they'd sneak into Hero Headquarters, where Torunn would hide, how they'd evade the security system. Yet their scheming was all for naught - the mansion was empty. The New Avengers were out on a mission. Ironclad, Sunburst, Quickdraw and Shield Maiden led Torunn upstairs to the stables, and to a joyous reunion with Sleipnir. The eight-legged steed was essential to the second phase of the young heroes' plan: breaking into the Sanctum Sanctorum!
Ironclad was confident it would work. "The Sanctum's a big tesseract, right? So we're talking quantum physics. Well, anything from Asgard... like Sleipnir... shreds quantum theory."
Torunn blinked. "Huh?"
Ironclad groaned. "Pony versus magic door equal splat," she said, gesturing toward the ceiling of the hangar bay. "But magic pony versus magic door equals rescue."
The princess of Asgard climbed astride her noble mount. Ironclad gripped his tail and the others formed a human chain. With a loud whinny and the clattering of eight hooves, Sleipnir launched himself into the air. All five young heroes winced and braced themselves as his front four hooves pierced the hangar bay's ceiling as if it were a dimensional portal - which, in truth, it was - and let out loud, simultaneous sighs of relief when they landed, unharmed, in Doctor Strange's front parlour.
"I hate this place," Quickdraw muttered.
"Stow it," Shield Maiden said, powering up her signature armaments as she took the spearhead position. "Let's get Selena out of here."
The group moved down the hallway... but, had their tarried but a second longer, they would have spared themselves pain and agony. For as the young heroes began their search, the sharp tip of a spear poked through one of the Sanctum's walls. It sawed up and down, carving a half-metre slit in the magical wood, and then withdrew. The thick blade of an axe crashed into the thin gap, widening it, and crashed three more times into the wood. The structure was weakened but held steady - until a blast of fiery energy slammed against it, and it splintered and fell.
The Destroyer stepped into the breach. The enchanted Asgardian suit of armour was accompanied Frost Giant and, behind them both, stood the God of Mischief himself. Loki swept into Dr Strange's parlour, swirled his cape dramatically and planted his staff in the lush carpet like an explorer would a flag.
"The distraction worked," the Frost Giant grunted.
"Of course it did, you barely-brained oaf," Loki sneered. "No being in all the realms is as predictable as my dear brother. The slightest hint of threat to his precious Midgard will send him scurrying to assist. It's quite pathetic, really." He raised his chin arrogantly. "But enough of Thor! This is Loki's day, Loki's triumph and Loki's treasure to loot! Soon, every last erg of Stephen Strange's magical energy will be mine!"
-----TO BE CONTINUED!-----
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF
Not this game, sadly - the one you're about to read. I am once again a few weeks behind in my chronicles (if only my work wasn't, well, full-time and essential for our continued financial security). But in some ways that's okay because, having played a mind-boggling game with the kidlet today, I now get to go back in time and re-live another awesome adventure (starring Sunburst, Ironclad, Quickdraw and Shield-Maiden) before bedtime. Talk about good fortune!
When last we left our heroes, they had discovered a new friend and resolved to save her from (what they perceived to be) an unfair, over-protective father. But to succeed in their mission, they're going to need some help from an old friend...
----------
LJ presents:
STRANGE HORIZONS
PART TWO
Written and directed by LJ
Novelisation by SF
In a flash of rainbow hues and a blur of motion, four young heroes found themselves standing in the realm eternal. Shield Maiden, Quickdraw and Sunburst looked around the great clockwork chamber of Bifrost, awed by its majesty. Ironclad strolled calmly to the centre of the immense transportation chamber where stood mighty Heimdall. Resplendent in his golden armour and horned helmet, the towering Aesir pulled his sword from the chamber's central column and regarded them with his all-seeing eyes.
"Welcome to Asgard, young ones," he said. "And welcome back, Maria Stark. I trust this concludes our business."
"Very much so," Maria grinned, "at least, after you send us home. Us... and Torunn."
The ghost of a smile crossed Heindall's face. "You will find the princess in the palace," he said. "It would be... pleasing... were you to pierce the sorrow that clouds her every waking moment. Pleasing for all of us here in Asgard."
Ironclad nodded, flipped down her armour's faceplate and took off, rocketing along the Rainbow Bridge. Still staggered and more than a little confused, her friends followed. "So Heimdall owed you a favour?" Shield Maiden, clinging tightly to Sunburst to keep up, shouted. "When did this happen? And why didn't you tell us about it? And how do you know your way around Asgard, anyway?"
"Long story," Ironclad replied. "I'll tell you another time - we're almost at the palace."
At the end of the bridge, on the steps of the palace, the heroes found Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg - the Warriors Three! The noble trio greeted them warmly for they, like all conscripted into the Ultra Revolution, owed their lives and freedom to Ironclad and her friends. But carousing and merriment was quickly silenced when, with the thunderous clang of armoured boots on marble tile, mighty Odin himself appeared atop the stairs!
"Mortals? In the hallowed halls of Asgard?" he thundered. "What be this nonsense?"
Each of the Warriors Three immediately dropped to one knee in deference; the young heroes, well and truly freaked out, did the same. "Lord Odin," Ironclad managed to squeak. "Forgive our intrusion, but..."
"You again?" Odin boomed. "I thought I made it quite plain last time, Maria Stark, that..."
"Please," Ironclad interrupted - earning a grim stare from Odin. "We're here on a mission of great importance, and we can't succeed in it without Torunn!"
Whatever protest Odin was about to make died in his throat. "Torunn?" he asked. His body language changed instantly; his posture softened, his grip on his enormous staff slackened. "You have come to seek her aid?" There was a long pause. "Good," the All-Father said at last.
Quickdraw blinked. "Good?"
"The sorrow of a princess," Odin said, "is a burden on the hearts of all who love her. Though I wish it were otherwise, Torunn is a child of two worlds and much of her heart was left in Midgard at the battle's end." He looked over the young heroes. "I know each and every one of you and, while your trespass here is unwise and impolite, Asgard's debt to you all cannot be understated. My debt to you all cannot be understated." He nodded. "Go forth and release my granddaughter from her chains of despair."
The young heroes rose, thanked Odin and hurried along before he changed his mind. Shield Maiden was about to ask what Ironclad had done last time she was in Asgard when the sound of battle assailed her ears. Exchanging panicked glances with her friends, she forged ahead and followed the telltale clang of sword-on-sword. Lowering her head and raising one of her shields, Peggy burst through a thick Asgardian door... and found Torunn locked in vicious combat with her own mother, the Lady Sif!
----------
"Honey," Deadpool called, "I'm home!"
"An' about time, too," Harley Quinn admonished. "I had a whole big night planned out for us, Wade! I was gonna cook dinner... well, order Chinese... but from the nice place... an' I was gonna fill the spa with bubblebath and those fizzy bomb things you like an'..."
Deadpool took his lady love by the hand. "I'm sorry, babe, but something came up ---"
"Oh?" Harley snapped, snatching her hand back. "Something came up, did it? On the night before Valentine's Day? What, you suddenly felt the urge to go hang out with your loser friends in the mercenary world?" She crossed her arms and pouted. "Chee. Ya move in with a guy an' all of a sudden you're invisible unless he needs someone ta wash the entrails outta his mask..."
"Babe, sweetie, toxic sugar plum," Deadpool soothed, "it ain't like that at all! I felt like a heel, sure, but when you see what I've got waiting out in the hallway I know you're gonna be fine with me having stayed out all night!" He looked hopefully at Harley and received only a scowl in return. "Okay, I can see you're mad, but you're gonna be fine when you see..."
He dashed out of their quarters and then dashed back in. Lord Death-Man, his costume repaired and freshly laundered, was tucked under his arm like a carnival game teddy bear. "This!" Deadpool said triumphantly. "Ta dah!"
Harley raised and eyebrow distastefully. "You went dwarf-tossing?" she asked. "And ya brought one home? Dressed for Halloween?"
"What? No!" Deadpool facepalmed. "Harley, this is Lord Death-Man, the pint-sized would-be supervillain who bedeviled Robin and the girls I used to babysit! But he's not a would-be supervillain anymore. See, I was thinking: if Batman can have a sidekick to train... a ward to raise in his stately manner... why can't I?"
Harley was silent for a moment. "You mean ta say," she began, her voice rising dangerously, "that th' very first thing you get me for Valentine's Day, immediately after ya ask me ta move in with you, is somethin' ya get for me the night before Valentine's Day when yer supposed ta' be spending a romantic evening with me is something that immediately transforms us from being a honeymoonin' couple in love to a family?!!?"
"Yup!" Deadpool said, hooking his thumbs in his bandoliers like they were suspenders and looking well pleased with himself.
The grin of delight that split Harley's face would have put her ex-boyfriend to shame. "I love it! I love him! I love you!" she squealed, snagging Death-Man by the cape and leaping into Deadpool's arms, effectively forcing a group hug. "Oh Wade, we're a family at last!
----------
They watched, horrified, as mother and daughter attacked one another with murderous intent. But they watched for only a moment: only too familiar with mind control, demonic possession and parents being just plain untrustworthy, the young heroes sprang into action. Shield Maiden blocked Sif's sword-staff while Ironclad blindsided her with a repulsor blast; Sunburst flew in and punched Sif in the face as Quickdraw swept her legs at high speed. Just as they were gaining the upper hand, a lightning bolt stabbed down and separated them from their opponent.
"What are you doing?" Torunn yelled, her expression a mixture of fury and disbelief. "Have you all gone mad? We were just training!"
Mortified apologies were offered but Sif laughed them off. "It's good to see none of you have lost your fighting prowess since last we tangled. You would make fine Valkyries, each and every one of you." She took in the looks on the young women's faces and her mother's intuition kicked in. "But perhaps such things are best spoken of another time. Torunn, I'll leave you to speak with your friends."
An uncomfortable silence descended over the five friends. "So," Shield Maiden said at last, "how come you don't answer Skype anymore?"
The conversation that followed was no less uncomfortable. Torunn was, on the one hand, ashamed by her "failure" to protect the others during Ultron's assault. She had spent every waking moment training with her mother, determined to "temper" herself "into the sharpest of swords and strongest of shields". That wasn't, however, the only reason for her lack of communication.
"You say you all forgive me and I know that's true," she said. "But you don't understand how it feels for me. The four of you grew up together, you've been side-by-side since birth. I was born here, in Asgard, and came to your world later. No matter how much you love me, and I you, my bond with each of you is lesser than your bond with one another. I'm the outcast, even though you don't mean it that way - the one you don't really need." Tears welled in her eyes. "Ultron proved that. I fell to his first sortie - you, through your sisterhood, saved the universe."
"Even if that was true... and it isn't... that wouldn't make you any less special, or any less important to us," Shield Maiden said. "We're sisters, the four of us? Okay - if that's so, then you're our best friend in all the worlds. You're the one who makes us better because you force us to communicate, to think like a team, to include others in our lives, to think of people other than ourselves." She put an arm around Torunn. "You may not be from our world, Torunn, but that's what's so important: you're the one who opens other worlds up for us."
"And now," said Ironclad, joining the group hug, "we need you to do it again for someone else." She grinned. "This'll appeal to that fairy-tale mentality of yours, princess - we need you to help us rescue a girl from a magical tower."
Torunn listened to her friends' story, to the details of Selena Strange's life, and felt a stirring within her. She knew, only too well, what it was like to chafe under the restraints of a well-meaning but over-protective father. She knew, only too well, how it felt to learn there were realms beyond one's own experiences - that there was a "normal" world with beauties and terrors all its own. And most of all, she knew there was no one better in all the universe to steer a sheltered, naive girl through those beauties and terrors than the four friends who'd helped her, so long ago.
She looked up and saw her mother re-entering the room... and saw that she knew the same things, too. Sif smiled tightly - thrilled to see her daughter regain her purpose, heartbroken to know she'd be leaving - and Torunn smiled, too.
"Then let us be off," Torunn told her friends, "for adventure awaits!"
----------
Vision, like everyone else in the House of M, was only too happy to welcome Lord Death-Man into their ranks. Yet a palpable sense of dread descended over the synthezoid as he watched Magneto show the wide-eyed, grateful boy around his new home. If the others noticed they didn't mention it, content to give Vision his privacy. Mystique, however, took perverse delight in his discomfort.
"What's the matter, artificial man?" she asked nastily. "New blood in the house helping you remember what you don't have under the hood? Feeling a little queasy that you can't give Magneto grandchildren?"
"Far from it," Vision said stiffly. "I am experiencing... consternation... due to the date. With all we have endured of late, I was remiss and failed to highlight today in my internal calendar. Now it is Valentine's Day and I... I..."
"You don't have a gift," Mystique sighed, rolling her eyes. "The tin man living in the hippie community is upset he doesn't have a gift for his pagan mutant girlfriend. I really have died and gone to hell, haven't I?" She rubbed her face angrily. "Newsflash, genius: there are these places called 'stores' and they sell things called 'goods'. Maybe you should take Wanda shopping? Hmm? Treat her to a day out?"
Vision turned slowly toward her and smiled. Something about the look on his face worried Mystique. "Thank you, Raven," he said evenly. "That is a lovely idea. I believe I'll take you up on it, confident that the House of M will be well-defended while we're gone thanks to your presence."
"You played me," Mystique gasped. "Now, wait one second..."
"Ooh, did somebody say 'shopping trip'?" Deadpool asked, bounding into the room. "Capital idea, Vision old chap! Just capital, by George! See, I didn't buy anything for my little rancid muffin, either, and what with the kid and all..." He sighed theatrically. "But now Mystique's here to guard the place and babysit junior until we're back, so we're copacetic! Let's grab the girls and amscray!"
"Babysit?" Mystique cried. "I didn't say anything about ---"
But it was too late. In less time than it takes to tell, Vision and Deadpool had swept their respective girlfriends out the door and toward Super Hero City. Magneto had excused himself to take care of essential paperwork while Poison Ivy had retired to her roof garden for watering, pruning and the judicious application of fertilizer. All of which left Mystique alone, in the courtyard, with a 10-year-old kid in an ill-fitting cape and skeleton costume.
"Hey there, good lookin'," Lord Death-Man winked, "wanna be my Valentine?"
Frustrated beyond words, Mystique screamed.
----------
They had planned their return down to the finest detail: how they'd sneak into Hero Headquarters, where Torunn would hide, how they'd evade the security system. Yet their scheming was all for naught - the mansion was empty. The New Avengers were out on a mission. Ironclad, Sunburst, Quickdraw and Shield Maiden led Torunn upstairs to the stables, and to a joyous reunion with Sleipnir. The eight-legged steed was essential to the second phase of the young heroes' plan: breaking into the Sanctum Sanctorum!
Ironclad was confident it would work. "The Sanctum's a big tesseract, right? So we're talking quantum physics. Well, anything from Asgard... like Sleipnir... shreds quantum theory."
Torunn blinked. "Huh?"
Ironclad groaned. "Pony versus magic door equal splat," she said, gesturing toward the ceiling of the hangar bay. "But magic pony versus magic door equals rescue."
The princess of Asgard climbed astride her noble mount. Ironclad gripped his tail and the others formed a human chain. With a loud whinny and the clattering of eight hooves, Sleipnir launched himself into the air. All five young heroes winced and braced themselves as his front four hooves pierced the hangar bay's ceiling as if it were a dimensional portal - which, in truth, it was - and let out loud, simultaneous sighs of relief when they landed, unharmed, in Doctor Strange's front parlour.
"I hate this place," Quickdraw muttered.
"Stow it," Shield Maiden said, powering up her signature armaments as she took the spearhead position. "Let's get Selena out of here."
The group moved down the hallway... but, had their tarried but a second longer, they would have spared themselves pain and agony. For as the young heroes began their search, the sharp tip of a spear poked through one of the Sanctum's walls. It sawed up and down, carving a half-metre slit in the magical wood, and then withdrew. The thick blade of an axe crashed into the thin gap, widening it, and crashed three more times into the wood. The structure was weakened but held steady - until a blast of fiery energy slammed against it, and it splintered and fell.
The Destroyer stepped into the breach. The enchanted Asgardian suit of armour was accompanied Frost Giant and, behind them both, stood the God of Mischief himself. Loki swept into Dr Strange's parlour, swirled his cape dramatically and planted his staff in the lush carpet like an explorer would a flag.
"The distraction worked," the Frost Giant grunted.
"Of course it did, you barely-brained oaf," Loki sneered. "No being in all the realms is as predictable as my dear brother. The slightest hint of threat to his precious Midgard will send him scurrying to assist. It's quite pathetic, really." He raised his chin arrogantly. "But enough of Thor! This is Loki's day, Loki's triumph and Loki's treasure to loot! Soon, every last erg of Stephen Strange's magical energy will be mine!"
-----TO BE CONTINUED!-----
Greet the Fire as Your Friend,
SF