Teressa Martin, MD, PhD, code name: Lady Quantum

Apollo was already moving as Hailey tried to call him back, and I dove through the shattered doorway right behind him.

I can’t honestly say what Apollo was seeing right at that moment; I can only say that what I was sensing was not physically possible, and, coming from me, that means something.

The entities barring our path held the seeming of enormous, jet-black, shaggy wolves, with some notable exceptions.  Their fur did not reflect light; instead, it was like looking into the night sky, and all you could see was an all-consuming darkness broken by the occasional flare of a distant star.  Their eyes were supernovas caught in the instant of absolute destruction.

Even though I could see the boundaries of their forms, my senses were screaming at me that I was looking into an endless void, extending far beyond where even Tyche’s senses could reach.

As we crossed the threshold, they turned and snarled at us, revealing long, razor-sharp crystalline teeth, white-hot plasma dripping from their maws and sizzling into nothingness before it could touch the floor.  An unnatural terror sank icy claws into my chest, and the realization that the fear was being applied from outside of me barely kept me from cowering into a corner.

I’ve heard it said that anger is an effective mask to cover fear; it was certainly true in this case.  The dark hound leapt at me and I found myself moving forward to meet its charge in midair.  My hands shot out and I grabbed its forepaws before they could land; I twisted hard, flipping the body through the air to land with a crash, collapsing an ancient coffee table into splinters under the force of the monster’s fall.

It was back up in an instant, trying to find an opening by which to attack me, but my guard was up, now, and there was no way I was giving it a free shot at me.

A flare of nearly blinding golden light sizzled past me, hitting the monster in the center of its chest, but it seemed as if the energy was simply sucked into its ebony fur with almost no effect.  Almost, I say, but it got the hound’s attention- its glowing eyes swung to turn on Hailey, whose aura was now nearly a miniature sun in its own right.  It opened its mouth and a sound that was neither bark nor howl, but more of a chill rasp hissed from its chest and it stepped sideways into the corner where the floor and the wall met and winked out of existence.

Hailey cursed words that I hadn’t heard since the last time I’d met some drunk Navy guys in a bar- I was impressed with both the breadth and depth of her vocabulary- and, at the end, added a word that meant nothing to me: “Azathoth,” she hissed.

Before I could ask what she meant, the thing reappeared; it gave my senses no warning- one second it didn’t exist, the next it was in mid-leap from the corner of the ceiling and the opposite wall from where it had disappeared.

I flung up an arm to protect my throat and its jaws snapped shut with bestial fury over my wrist.  I drew in a breath to scream, anticipating the pain that those jaws must surely inflict- and then I realized that I wasn’t hurt.  The jaws had failed to puncture my skin.

The thing blinked and attempted to adjust its grip, gnawing with teeth that I had no doubt should be able to sever meat and crush bone with ease, and it blinked at me, obviously feeling every bit as confused as I was.

Just as I was preparing to formulate a response, Apollo slammed the still-struggling body of the other hound into the one valiantly attempting to savage my arm, knocking them both free before he pounced on top of them and, holding them both down with metahuman strength, bit down hard over the top one’s nose.

He was back on his feet an instant later, spitting and looking thoroughly disgusted but, to my surprise, both hounds stayed on the ground, bellies on the floor and tails tucked underneath their bodies.

“Sit!” Apollo barked, somewhat inappropriately since they were both laying down, “Stay!”

He turned to me and wrinkled his nose, brushing a sleeve across his face.  “Yuck.  Remind me never to do that again…”

Hailey shook her heads, eyeing the hounds warily.  “That… should not have worked,” she informed us, “The Hounds of Azathoth are the guardians of chaos- when they show up, it’s to protect some great madness.  Mere humans- even metahumans- can’t stop them…”

Luke snorted.  “They’re still dogs,” he noted drily, “if they didn’t want to respond to doggie-dominance games, they probably shouldn’t have been dogs.”

*****

Alessia Troisi, MD, DVM, code name: Tyche

With the dogs cowed- they actually heeled at Apollo’s side- we had no further trouble making our way into the house’s most profane space.  Little demons skittered away from us in terror as the menacing hounds flanked our progress, and we passed several rooms with piles of assorted fun-size candy bars.

I mentioned it to Hailey, leaving the actual question implied rather than explicit, but she got my drift.

“Well,” she said, “gluttony is a sin, right?”

We came upon a pair of ornately carved double doors that would have been more at home in a grand cathedral instead of at the bottom of a long stairway beneath a moldering house.  Apollo ordered the hounds to sit, guarding the entry, and Lady Quantum took the lead, shoving both doors open with a hard push.

They opened slowly, majestically, and silently, but what they revealed was nowhere near as impressive as the buildup had led us to expect.

The chamber beyond the double doors might have, at one time, been quite spacious, if it hadn’t been slowly annexed by bookshelves, tables, crates, and workbenches of all sorts.  The master of the house had even installed sturdy rail-and-board shelves on the walls.  About the only relatively clean spaces in the room were a corner where an old single mattress had been laid upon the floor- obviously meant for use when the master was too deeply involved in some working or other to leave the chamber and return to his bedroom- and a large circle in the center of the room, around which everything had been pushed back by several feet so that glowing runic traceries, obviously empowered with mystical energy, would not be subject to accidental disruption.  In the center of the circle, a black portal shot through with red, orange, and gold pulsed with angry light.

The owner of an improbably squeaky, high-pitched voice was hidden behind a large, wooden desk.  “No, wait, Askavon- keep your master away from this and I’ll split the take with you!”

The portal seemed to hum in response, a deep, bass thrumming and buzzing that I could feel in my bones: “My master knows nothing, yet, and I will not tell him… but if you cross me- if your treasure is any less than magnificent- the suffering Azazel would grant you will seem a mercy by comparison.”

“It is- it is better than magnificent, and it is nearly all gathered!  And, of course, after midnight I will quit this benighted pit and return to Hell, and your master may take full control of the madness I’ve wrought!”

“You dare much, petty imp,” the portal rumbled, “if you manage this feat, you will, indeed, gain true power amongst even the lowliest of heroes.  I will enjoy watching you, whether you succeed… or fail.”

The portal, which had seemed almost a burning wound through time and space, turned black and lifeless.

I confess, I was somewhat confused; this sniveling, whining thing did not seem the sort of powerful force that should have been behind the insanity spreading across the city, but he’s as much as outright claimed to be the mastermind behind it all.  As surprised as I was, though, Hailey looked even more shocked.

“No,” she stated, her voice flat and hard, “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

She strode around the desk and we followed her.

The owner of the squeaky voice was barely a third of my own height, with scrawny, emaciated limbs and a too-large head.  It had tiny horns and hands that ended in wicked claws, oozing some sort of toxic slime.  It had wings, but its general unhealthy condition suggested to me that it would be too weak to actually get airborn.

As it spotted our red-headed sorceress, it seemed to grow a shade paler and its eyes grew into huge, glowing saucers.

“Eek!” it shrieked, backing up until it hit the desk.

“I don’t believe it,” Hailey just about spat, “I thought we’d sent all of you back to Hell years ago.”

“Not all- not all,” the imp protested, raising its arms in a warding gesture, “I escaped before things got out of hand…”

Hailey looked more annoyed than anything else.  “Fine,” she grunted, “that’s one mistake I can remedy even without my magic.  All I need to do is snap your scrawny neck, right?”

“No, wait!” the imp cried, “I didn’t mean anything by it… no harm!  No harm!”

Lady Quantum’s mouth was set in a thin, straight line.  “I think he’s right,” she admitted, “at least- there doesn’t seem to be any more 9-1-1 calls going out than on any other holiday; less, actually, and most of the stuff on the paramedic chatter is pretty benign, despite all the chaos.”

“Worked it in,” the creature said, still holding his arms in front of him as if he thought he might be able to repel us if we really tried to get at him.

“I don’t get it,” Apollo said, “you made this spell so it wouldn’t kill people?  Why?”

The imp looked uncertain.  “Hailey,” I said, “back off.  Let’s give it a chance to explain what’s going on, okay?”

“Listening to demons is a bad idea,” she frowned, but she took a step back anyways.

“That’s right,” the imp cried, puffing up its toast-rack chest as it gained confidence, “you should cower before me!  I am a Lord of- urk!”

I had had enough.  I had been stripped of my powers and made about as useless as a square wheel on a bicycle, but I was still a martial artist and a lot stronger than most women my size.  I stepped in and grabbed the tiny creature by its neck.  “Cut it out,” I snarled, “nobody cares about your delusions of grandeur.  Tell us about the spell.”

The imp explained.  To be honest, I didn’t really understand most of it- scientifically, it made almost no sense at all, but, then, it was magic, after all.  The reason so few people had gotten hurt was pretty simple, though- the imp had engineered the spell to inhibit people from doing things that were likely to seriously injure themselves- apparently, jumping a bunch of metahuman heroes was something the spell considered to be an acceptable risk.  The purpose behind the injunction against self-harm was equally simple- people who were too badly damaged to function would have difficulty originating further chaos; in order to contrive maximum madness, the spell sought to keep people actively insane for as long as possible.

Lady Quantum looked disgusted; Hailey, on the other hand, looked impressed.  “That,” the witch admitted, “is diabolical.”

“If we send it back to Hell, the spell ends, right?” Lady Quantum asked, but Hailey shook her head.  She was looking at the symbols etched into the floor.

“No,” she admitted, “we need a counterspell.  I could forge one, given enough time, but I couldn’t cast it without my powers- and I’m guessing we don’t have enough time for that, in any case.  We’re going to have to make a deal.”

*****

Malaphryctious

I am not an unreasonable demon- I would think this would be perfectly obvious to anyone who considered my actions thus far.  While I might have caused a bit of supernatural havoc, it was really harmless.  Well, okay, mostly harmless.

And while I could have used the ensuing craziness to ensure terror and horror without end, I really just wanted some small reward and a certain degree of recognition for my efforts amongst my peers.  That was why I thought my initial demands were so reasonable.

I rubbed my hands together.  “I think,” I said, “if you are going to demand a service from me, I should be able to claim service from…” I thought it over, then pointed to the tall, blond amazon… “that one.  For a period of not less than seventy-seven years.”

The big man- what on Earth had inspired him to wear high-heeled boots?- snorted.  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” he said, and, much to my disgust, the pretty girl shook her head, agreeing with him.

“Well, fine,” I grumped.  I was going to have to make this quick- if Azazel gained control of the portal and the spell, he would punish me for getting caught- and then his seneschal would punish me for failing to deliver on our bargain.  The witching hour was getting far too close for comfort.  “In that case… I will take all of this season’s holiday candy as my just reward for such a clever spell!”

“You can’t even begin to carry that much loot,” the ginger sorceress protested.  She was right, of course- I would have to establish more portals to allow me to ferry my treasure back home, but that wasn’t really my concern.

“Wait, Hailey,” the amazon said, pursing her lips.

We all waited until the brunette said, finally, “What is it, Lady Quantum?  You have idea-face.”

“I think we can all agree that letting this imp make off with all of the city’s Halloween candy is a less than satisfactory outcome, right?”  The heroes, curse them all, nodded their heads in agreement.

“What if, instead, we gave it a prize that no one else had?  A truly unique offering, something worthy of only the most fiendish of demons?”  This time, I nodded in agreement.

“Yes, yes!” I chortled, “if you gave me something no other demon had or could get, it would prove my puissance to the Lords of Hell!  Why,” I expanded, feeling magnanimous and generous, “for something unique, I would even give you a favor to claim for your own at your leisure.”

“One for each of us,” she said, arching one perfectly formed eyebrow.  I bobbed my head in willing acquiescence.  “Fine, then,” she said, lifting her elegant chin, “I have just the thing… although I’ll need some help assembling it.”

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So... I think this proves that I am far more a writer than an artist- this picture took me the better part of two full days to complete.  If I'd realized how much of a PITA it was going to be, obviously I would have started sooner (yeah, right).  Anyways, mea culpa for not getting this out before Halloween- the fault is mine and lies entirely with me, I'm afraid.

All of the models in the picture were designed by , although I was (ir)responsible for the posing, rendering, and compiling of the picture.

Hailey Storm belongs to and is used with permission.

Lady Quantum belongs to and is used by permission.

Apollo, Tyche, and Malaphryctious belong to , but he has no idea how they got into this story.  Apollo refuses to tell him.

All of this weirdness is, of course, happening in that strange and wonderful place known as .

In the words of , "God help us all!"

The previous portion can be found here: 

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Mature Content

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To be continued...