The Kick-A-Long Saga is several writers' project where each writer takes turn in writing a chapter, each taking it in whatever direction they want, then kicking it along to the next writer for their chapter until it comes back around. All the characters were created by the group members.
@joshmightbe you're up next.
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Giovani Pistrucci, Grand Vizier of the Order of Wormingford, lead the hooded figure down the tight spiralling staircase into the dungeon space of the Chateau de Katzenee, the wall mounted emergency lighting glowing a dull green giving off an unearthly tint to the descent.
"Tell me Hansel Gothenburg, Lord of the North East what do you know of the spiritual significance of the chameleon to the Bantu faith in Africa?" Giovani asked, as they reached a metal door with an attached biometric security system.
"I know very little of that particular story." Hansel replied. "Only that the chameleon failed to deliver a message proclaiming that the life of men would be everlasting. The reptile was slothful and greedy allowing a gecko to deliver a message that all men would be doomed to die, thus damming all humanity."
"You are indeed correct, and now we have our very own chameleons stalking the world, ones who use secrecy as effectively as we have." Giovani announced as the biometric system read the features of his hands and eyes before opening the door with a grinding screech. "We are forced to strike like vipers and keep hidden like their prey when discovered, and we have been discovered by this Dot Comelon who like the gecko stole a great treasure from us."
"What would you ask of me Grand Vizier?" Hansel asked, as the pair of them walked into the dungeon chamber and came to a stop besides a modern looking cell sunk into the rock of the castle. "If you ask it I will find this Dot Comelon and brings its head back to the lodge along with the treasure it stole from us."
"That will not be necessary Lord Gothenburg." Giovani stated, as the tinted plastic panel on the front of the cell door lightened just enough to reveal a humanoid shape inside. "We captured this creature just outside Maralinga. Initially we thought it was the last of the Line of Minos, but know we know that the beast metamorphosed from its base form due to atomic energy exposure." He turned to Hansel and smiled as he moved to one side giving the lord a glimpse of the horned figure inside.
"What purpose can this synthetic minotaur have in the capture of our prey?" Hansel asked, as Giovani brought out a manila envelope out of the folds of his robes and handed it to his subordinate. Opening it, Hansel removed half a dozen stills of a facility sunken into the rock of an island. "What am I looking at?"
"A facility known as the Cove situated on the Isle of Lewis. We seek a device confiscated from one of the prisoners held there, one that will not only insure an end to the war with the creatures of the Otherworld but also allow us to remain hidden." Giovani explained. "But you are to remain covert, that is why you will have control of the bull. He is your wall breaker, your distraction and you are the man who will bring victory to our order. The war will be over soon, and humanity not these low creatures will be victorious."
**
Doctor Verisimilitude sat in the break room, his fingers tapping the screen as he played his game of Farmville 3. Taking a sip from his coffee he looked over at the red haired woman sitting at the other end of the table scribbling notes down on a stack of lined paper. "So Doctor Cheeseman you busy tonight?"
"Yes Doctor Verisimilitude, you're not the only one who was brought here for this project." Cheeseman replied before going back to her notes. "Just as you've been paid to psychoanalyze subject twenty, I've been paid to taxonomically classify the species of worms that infest het body. Now please let me get back to work, the sooner I finish the sooner I can get back to my fiancé and my wedding." She added as the door to the break room opened and a woman dressed in a suit walked in, her cane tapping with each step. Dr Verisimilitude couldn't help but stare, the woman's left cheek had collapsed in on itself, and her ribs looked like they'd buckled under some immense pressure.
"Just a reminder, Governess Montgomery will be arriving for a progress report on subject twenty, I expect the two of you to have something to report by then." The warden stated as she snatched Dr. Verisimilitude's phone away before walking over to Dr Cheeseman and shook her head and ripped the front page off, the paper doodled with the image of a woman in a bridal gown. "These distractions will not be tolerated.""
"Don't you have a heart?" Verisimilitude asked. "Any kind of emotion?"
"My ex-husband was ruled by emotion, Maxwell flew into such brutal rages at the smallest provocation and he passed it onto my daughter." The Warden stated. "She did this to me when she was nine because I wouldn't buy a toy for her. It didn't matter that I planned to get it for her birthday in a few weeks, she wanted it now and she was ready to beat me for it. Emotions are a weakness Doctor, finish your work and you can leave, but until then I want Subject Twenty to receive your full attention, do you understand me?"
"Yes Warden." The two doctors mumbled as the older woman clattered away on her cane, before looking at each other for a brief second and then hanging their heads as they got up from the table and headed out of the breakroom and into a long corridor lined with mostly empty cells. "If I miss out on those new premium items there will be hell to pay." Verisimilitude mumbled to himself. “I don't even know what they even want to do with that thing."
"Simple Doctor." A voice echoed from one of the cells. "Here's a hint; Tools of Warfare (7)."
"Who are you?" Verisimilitude gasped as he looked frantically around the corridor.
"Answer the question Doctor." The voice ordered. Without hesitating Verisimilitude gave his answer. "They're weapons of course, I still don't understand what you mean by weapons. Subject Twenty is dangerous but she can't be controlled."
"That's your role, you are akin to a shaper of metals (10)." The informant explained.
"I'm a Psychiatrist not a Blacksmith. I don't see how my work could make Subject Twenty any more dangerous than she already is?" Vermistude spluttered as he began to walk away from the cell.
"Oh you'll come to understand 'blacksmith'," The voice hissed, "and when you do the pair of us will finish our little game on the main stage."
**
Eka held Ashiwara's hand as they walked into the hospital room where the woman who'd saved the life of the little girl lay, her skin gleaming softly under the lights as she laid staring at the ceiling. Releasing Ashiwara, Eka bowed his head as he removed the stuffed Sylveon plushie from the bag followed by a small bouquet of flowers, both of which were placed on the cabinet beside the bed.
"Thank you for rescuing my daughter." Eka announced, as the woman struggled to sit up, her eyes looking over him with a mixture of sorrow and relief. "The nurse said that your skin healing was a miracle, I couldn't believe that you had been healed especially when they found the driver."
"Please don't tell me." The patient said weakly as she removed the plushie and held it close to her chest.
"Thank you for saving me." Ashiwara chirped, as she popped up next to the bed. "You're like Suephro and Dragonfire mixed into one." She added as the feed moved towards the next room where a hazmat tent had been erected over a bed. Pausing the image, the figure sitting in the darkened room tapped the screen, the driving licence of one Julian Flores popped up."
"Disengage Marcus, the internal feed for both rooms are stable and operating at optimum levels." A metallic sounding voice stated, as the figure touched the screen, the light shining from the monitor revealing a hand punctured with cables and supporting a biometric scanner in the palm. "Case 9-14 can wait, the truck carrying the chemical was registered to Ceres Agricultural Research and Development, but running through the public data I can't find any product advertised that has the same side effect as those that happened to Miss Butters and Mr Flores."
"I assume it's the standard server hack routine then Dot?" Marcus asked as he walked past both live feeds towards the door out of the ward.
"Affirmative, standard gear should suffice." Dot Comelon replied, as the communication link was terminated. Tapping the screen again feed of another hospital room appeared, this one featuring a young woman lying comatose on the bed connected to numerous medical equipment and computers. "They slipped up again Dot," Comelon hissed. "Ceres slipped up five years after you blew the whistle on their safety record. It's finally time to get justice for you and everyone else connected to the Santiago Report. It's five years too late but it's finally here."
**
"So is this guy Porteus?" Robbie asked as Suephro dodged a flying Buick launched at her by the Cyclops, before cutting through a second vehicular missile thrown her way with her war-axe.
"I wish, this is Arges, one of the Cyclops Smiths of Olympus and a fine warrior." Suephro replied as Arges slammed the last car down onto her shoulders, the weight and strength of the giant forcing the concrete to crack around the heroine before a massive foot slammed into her knocking her back several blocks along the street. "My father is a two faced grain administrator who avoids the glory of battle for more trivial pursuits. Come to think of it you two would probably get on."
"It beats being pummelled by that guy." Robbie stated, as Arges bent down to pick an item off the ground. "I mean could it hurt to talk to your dad this..."
"A BM27 Launch System!" Suephro gasped with glee as Arges shouldered the sixteen barrelled missile launcher on his shoulder, Robbie's comment going unnoticed or more likely ignored. "Arges you must tell me where you got that, it's the accessory I've been looking for, it goes with almost everything I own."
"Picked it up in Ukraine on Zeus's 3000th anniversary of his Stag Night. Ares started an armed struggle, you would have enjoyed it, it was far better than the paintballing Morpheus suggested." Arges announced as he fired a missile down the street. Calmly Suephro waited until the last moment and stepped to one side, her axe cutting through the projectile, the warhead exploding in a blinding flash.
"Okay now you we're blind, all because you won't..." Robbie began to say, only for Suephro to yell. "Give me another!" Grinning with amusement Arges fired a second missile, only for his target to deflect the projectile back at Arges, the round slamming into his belly with a street shattering BOOM. Not wasting any time Suephro charged at her foe as he put down the missile launcher and swiped at the demi-goddess only for her to scamper up his arm towards his face. Her vision still blurred the heroine rose her axe and swung it down towards Arges eye.
"Nice try!" Arges cackled, as Suephro's axe bounced off the surface of the eye, the impact sending Suephro sailing back first onto the ground and revealing an electronic lens over her intended target. "This device does more than protect my eye, it allows me to see hidden things such as the release of soul energy coming off your body or like that gas main you're lying on." He added as he removed a three foot long metal spike and slammed it down through the road next to Suephro.
"What did he mean soul energy?" Robbie asked as Suephro got to her feet and sprinted away from Arges just as a seismic pulse radiated out of the spire detonating the gas main, the explosion radiating down the street in a wall of flame. "And why won't you talk to your father?"
"I have no idea." Suephro replied as Arges removed the spike and threw it down the street into the side of the building closest to his adversary, the vibrations radiating up and down the structure. "As for my father, he tried to force me into a marriage with the Shinto God Namazu." She added as the side of the building collapsed, burying her in an avalanche of debris.
"Selfish goddess, your marriage would have cemented an alliance against the destroyer Maheswaran!" Arges boomed, as he approached the pile of debris, the shockwaves caused by his feet causing more masonry to collapse onto the heap. "She killed herself to prevent being married but preserved a parasitic piece of her essence in a suit of ceremonial armour. Most of it was lost to time, but one piece endured, one piece allowed her to drain her host's life-force to fuel her need for combat."
"You're...you're killing me?" Robbie gasped as Suephro smashed through the pile of masonry, her axe raised, only for a giant fist to knock her backwards again. Not wasting any time Arges removed a loop of fine silk and threw it around the demi-goddess before pulling it taunt, his thrashing prey coming to a halt, her eyes boring into him with volcanic fury.
"I got that from the dwarves, sometimes it pays to outsource your work." Arges stated. "The unbreakable filament has a charm placed on it. Your host now has control of muscle and voice while bound by the chain. Listen kid, this is your chance to be free. Throw the helm away and, not only reclaim your life but help save all reality as well. It's a fair deal, fairer then anything she's ever offered you I wager."
"It's really my choice?" Robbie asked, his words in her voice shocking him slightly. "There is no choice, I've already made my decision."
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