In Too Deep

Okay so pretending to be a prostitute was a very bad idea.  This copycat Jack the Ripper actually chose me to abduct and now I’m tighed up in a cold basement of some kind.  I think this might actually be it, who’d have thought it?  My name is Bethany Collins, unemployed, due the the economic crisis, I’m a 20-something that can’t keep her nose out of anything to do with urban legends.  You see about five years ago London was destroyed by the last of the super people.  They stopped the world from being destroyed but they all vanished during the epic battle royal.  The government assures us that the even wiped out all super powers good and bad.  They’re wrong.  Take this Jack wannabe so instance.  Some might say he is just a man, an evil man at that.  But the accounts, which my friend swiped by haking into the police database, say he has red glowing eyes, can jump over buildings and even breath fire.  The fact the police either ignore these details or just keep it from the average joe shows me how naive the world has gotten.  Do they really think all super powers would have just vanished?  I have tracked down loads of myths and legends that our coming out of this “Dark Age”.  The fact that I have no physical proof is nether here or there.  Take a look at the Russian Prime Minister at the moment.  They said he saved a reported from a tiger.  I saw the real, un-aired footage.  That was no tiger and the Prime Minister seemed a lot stronger than you or I.  Luckily this Jack story was closer to home.  But now I’m screwed.  This guy is creepy.  He keeps staring at me, his eyes are like hell fire boring into my skull.  He keeps calling me Martha, telling me it won’t be long now.

The Five

During the last Dark Age creatures of myth and legends traveled the lands of men.  The hunted, killed, raped and kidnapped humans from their own homes.  Men and women lived in fear of the forests.  The wide jaws of night howled over mountains and moorlands. The streams and rivers bought mankind water and food, but the spirits that dwelled within them took away their children.  Mighty heroes fought back but with little hope.  The sword wielders and the greatest of hunters needed help.  The most brightest and those that would dare, broke into the kingdoms of fae, the nests of slumbering monsters and the resting place of histories brightest scholars.  These people learnt the art of spells.  They became Witches and Warlocks, sacrificing a apart of their humanity to save the world.  Some of them became mad as unforbidden secrets became revealed.  The crazy became evil, worshipping ancient daemons to enhance their own selfish powers.  Over the decades these beings started to be hunted.  Despite all of this a handful of Witches and Warlocks kept to their task and learnt everything they could to wipe the lands of these beasts.  Five of them created a pact, each using their unlocked powers to create The Otherworld, a place just out of phase with the real one, and they pushed the demons, monsters and fae into this prison.  Heroes and innocents had to be sacrificed though.  Within the borders of this new world the battle still wages on.  Mythical creatures who had seen the good light turned on their kin to fight beside the Knights and warriors, they guard the gates on that side of the rift.  Over the centuries the offspring of The Five have passed down the knowledge to keep the gates shut.

Thomas sat up in bed, a cold sweat coated his body.  The ghostly image of this ancestor closing the last Rift to The Otherworld lingered in the air above his bed.  “Shit.”  He spoke softly.  For years he had felt the tugs of the Rift as each individual creature escaped into our world and for years he ignored them.  His mother died years ago in the fatal battle above London, Thomas was scared and didn’t want to go in a blaze of glory.  Now the migraines became too much to take.  The Rift was tearing and it was his place to correct it.  All he had to do was find the other four and bring back The Five.  He knew this was going to be a difficult task as they could be anywhere in the world, on top of that the last time he saw them he managed to piss them off royally.  Thomas laid back down to finish his sleep before his world became a more dangerous place.  However his dreams of the howling darkness prevented his rest.

Persuasion

“How was your stay in Japan?”  Vagabond asked.  His voice smooth and gentle like a stream passing over stones on an idle summer afternoon.  His robotic body, scratched and marked from years of travel, shifted slightly to look at the approaching woman.  “It was worth going.”  Emily Hart answered.  Her New Zealand accent easy to establish.  

“And the climb to meet me?” 

“Good exercise.  Why Mount Cook though?”  Emily removed her snow goggles and rested them on her head.  “Wasn’t planning on coming back for a while yet.”

Vagabond stood, a lithe yet stable body, towering two heads above his companion.  “Because I have never seen the view from this angle before.”  

Emily placed her climbing axes into the two sheafs on her thighs.  “Your message said you needed to see me urgently.”

“Indeed.  Have you felt the wind change recently?”  Trinkets from his journeys clattered against his body as a gust of cold air blew by, as if summoned by his words.  “I have been approached by an old acquaintance.  He is looking for special people to bring light to the darkness.”

“What?”

The robot sound slightly annoyed that he had to explain further “He...They are searching for talented people to fight the evil that has consumed the world.  Heroes if you will.”

It took a moment for Emily to register that Vagabond was staring at her.  “Me?”

“Your quick at learning, skilled in the use of various weapons and fighting techniques, willing to push yourself to the limit and beyond.”

“I’m an extreme sports fanatic, living life to the fullest, I don’t care about the rest of the world.”

“You should.  This is the start of a new era.  You are worthy to be apart of this.”

“What’s in it for me?”

Vagabond launched himself at the small woman, his mighty fists clenched so tight that the sound of his mechanical parts screeched together to make a deafening sound.  “You selfish...!”

“Now we understand each over old friend.”  With a smile Emily ducked and spun, just avoiding his attack.  She planted a hand on Vagabonds fists, that struck the ground with such force that it shook, and kicked him in the face while doing a handstand.  

Vagabond stumbled slightly from the kick as Emily sprung from his fists and landed in the snow.  “Maybe I shouldn’t kick a robot in the face.”  Still crouched Emily, pulled out her axes and sprang back at Vagabond.  She flipped over the large being planting both blades into his back. 

Vagabond turned and laughed.  Emily smiled and stood slowly.  

“You found that fun.”  It was not a question.

Emily nodded.  “It was a rush, yeah.”  Steam accompanied each word.

“Then consider what I told you.  You could experience that every night.”

Again Emily nodded.  “Maybe.”  She walked over to Vagabond and pulled out the axes from his back.

“You will be good at it, your name will live on forever.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“As you wish.”

Vagabond walked to the edge of the ravine and sat down.  Emily joined him and placed her head on his shoulder.  “I miss you little one.”  Vagabond said.

“I know.”

Passing of the Mantle

The match was hard on him.  Derrick Mason more commonly known as the British pro wrestler named RedFox.  He came to the USA to earn money after he witnessed the death of his team mates and friends.  I came across the pond to see this legend.  My name is Daniel Dobson and I need to learn how to protect my daughter from the evil that took my wife.  After his match I met up with Derrick in his locker room.  “Did you hear that?” his voice is gritty with age, “Half the crowd was chatting retire.”  He looks up his face scared by age and violence.  “I heard, you still looked good out there though.” I try to make him feel better.

“Damn right I did.”  Slowly he stands from his chair, throwing the red and white headwear into a wash basket.  “You still want this old man to train you?”

To be honest Derrick wasn’t much older than me, ten or fifteen years difference if that, but I played along.  It made him happy to have a sidekick again.  “Of course I do, you were a great crime fighter.”  I smiley widely at him as I remember the head lines of newspapers years ago.

“Alright, lets get going.”

I spend six months with him.  My daughter back in England was being looked after by my oldest friend, so I knew she was safe.  Derrick trains me in every fighting style he knows, he also trains me in the history of his codename.  RedFox was a title held by many men over England's history.  Arthurs secret assassin, Robin Hoods mysterious spy, a Highway man who had a flare for the dramatic.  Each time the name got passed on.  Derrick was the latest in a line of legends.  He fought beside some of the greatest super heroes and gods of our time.  That was before the fatal battle over London.  

The six months past with speed.  “Here boy,”  Derrick said after a night on patrol in Chicago.  “I think it’s time you took over.”

“Excuse me.”  I was confused, I didn’t want to take over anything.

“You deserve the name RedFox,  I’ve seen my adventures, saved many people.  Like the crowds say; it’s time I retired.”

“But...”

“You want to protect that little girl of yours?  Protect the streets.  Put the riff raff back where they belong.”  He handed me the mask.  “You don’t have to wear that grubby thing, I’m just giving it to you as a symbolic gesture.”

We both laugh a little.  “I’m honored.”  

“Go make the world safe again.”  I nod and then begin to walk away.  “One more thing kid.  If you hook up with some like minded people, join in the big fights, even if the main man tells you to stay out of it.”

A New Age is About to Begin

"The world used to be a safe place.  Heroes defeated villians, that was the way of things.  Twenty years ago that all changed.  In a final battle to save the Earth the majority of your legends vanished into folklore and myth.  The media have called this era a new Dark Age.  Crime is ruling the countries, people vanish in the night, natural disasters and disease spread throughout your lands.  We have observed these events for we are known in whispers as the Mothman, a myth of warning.  We can no longer allow this world to fall as ours once did.  We can not just watch.  New heroes are coming to fight back this darkness and we will help bring them in.  For we are Hive and we are here to help save your world."