Lock-Out

Shujai’s arms were outstretched as emerald beams of bio-energy exploded from his palms, deflecting off the field of energy surrounding the ship. Once he exhausted himself, he stopped and took a breath. Hyperion’s Light had no scratch.

“I can’t get through the forcefield,” Shujai explained, “This ship was well crafted.”

“I should know,” Ryan boasted, “I’ve done maintenance on it over the years.”

“Now is not the time to pat yourself on the back,” Intrepid snapped, “We have to get inside that ship.”

“I’m not picking up much mystical activity inside,” Alysa explained, “I don’t think he’s doing much of anything right now.”

“That doesn’t mean Rasputin isn’t still up to something,” Cavalier told her.

“If the forcefield wasn’t up, I’d be able to override the ship and open the doors myself,” Astra mentioned.

“You don’t have to worry about getting in because I’ve come to you,” Rasputin suddenly appeared two stories above, on top of the ship’s roof as blue energy swirled around him.

“I’m picking up readings of Neutronium energy,” Astra quietly told the team.

“We kinda noticed he was glowing,” Ryan grumbled.

“Fear not, I won’t be attacking you,” Rasputin clapped his hands and a beam of blue light shot across the sky, then hit a nearby hill where it began to swirl into an ovid shape. Not wishing to see what happened next, Cavalier shot a shield-disc which struck Rasputin and forced him to disappear behind the ledge of the ship. The swirl of blue energy remained, however, and Ryan instantly understood what was happening. “He created an inter-dimensional riff,” he explained, “Guess we know what he needed the Neutronium for.” The shape elongated, revealing a hole in space that led to a strange void. Soon, they saw a humanoid figure emerge but Intrepid was the only one who recognized it.

“The Surrealist,” she muttered aloud. The crystalline figure sauntered forward, its body conveying little detail apart from a vague, human-like shape and nearly opaque flesh (or what constituted as flesh for this being). Within a fifty foot radius, lights and shapes began to swirl through the air: gray tentacles swatted at the sky before disappearing, the rocks turned into a strange gelatinous substance and when the creature opened its mouth and spoke, it sounded like a whispering crowd, “Advanced participles regret the nature of entanglements that promote excess.”

“The hell did it say?,” Alysa asked.

“Advanced participles regret the…,” Astra began to recite its words exactly.

“Figurative speech,” Ryan sneered impatiently.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Intrepid, you recognize that thing?,” Cavalier asked.

“We called it the Surrealist,” Intrepid began, “It emerged from the Nowhere Place, a dimension of pure subconscious thought. When the Badges fought it, two of our people ended up in a hospital and we needed our elite members to send it back to its home dimension.”

“I take it the IMD shared this information with Rex, which resulted in it being on the ship’s file.”

“Affirmative.”

“And if the ship knew it,” Cavalier pointed to the mad monk on top of Hyoerion’s Light, “He knew it.”

Suddenly, Rasputin was standing next to them, “As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” he glared at Cavalier, “I will not be killing you today,” he pointed to the Surrealist, “That creature will.” Rasputin briefly disappeared in a flash, then reappeared on top of the hill where he sat down in anticipation. “I trust you won’t be holding back,” he bellowed as if he was an audience member in a Roman coliseum, encouraging gladiators to spill blood.

The Surrealist stood still, its reality-warping effects shifting the area immediately surrounding it. It didn’t seem to acknowledge anyone but continued to incoherently babble to itself nonetheless. “No matter what it does, do not engage,” Intrepid whispered, “It is essentially mindless and does not attack unless provoked.”

“Are you sure?,” Shujai asked nervously.

“What did she just say?,” Alysa snapped at Shujai, then turned to Ryan, “So Rasputin knew about this thing from the files but how did he know to open that portal and everything?”

Ryan explained, “We know our Russian friend read Rex’s files, including the ones on Dali’s fever dream over there. I imagine he also read up on the machinations used to open the original portal to the Nowhere Place and used the energy from the ship’s engine core to do just that.”

“That doesn’t explain why he wanted to release it,” Cavalier continued.

“I don’t have all the answers, Cav. Just most of them.”

“God, Creed was right about you,” Alysa rolled her eyes.

“Everyone stop talking,” Intrepid growled.

“She’s right,” Cavalier agreed, “We gotta form a plan to take down Rasputin.”

“No, the Surrealist is more dangerous.”

“But I thought we weren’t supposed to attack it,” Astra stated curiously.

“We don’t. We send it back where it came from.”

“We gotta do something, ya’ll,” Alysa said finally.

Meanwhile Rasputin remained lounging on top of the hill, appearing visibly bored. The Surrealist was not making a move and the heroes seemed to be arguing down below. He shook his head, “Why is it always up to me to spice up a party?,” he muttered in Russian and flicked his wrist toward the Surrealist. The blast of eldritch energy sailed overhead, circled back, then hit the creature in the chest, knocking it down. The team froze. The Surrealist stood up, smoke billowing from its chest and while the blast did not harm its durable hide, the creature very clearly understood it had been attacked. Its expression was blank but it raised its head toward the direction of the strike and, seeing the first people in view, aslowly walked toward them.

“Looks like we have a fight after all,” Alysa’s palms ignited with mystic energy.

“Do not engage!,” Intrepid shouted.

Alysa had already sent two fireballs at the creature by the time the agent had repeated her order but once the flames came within 50 feet of the Surrealist, they turned into long, pink strips of paper that shot past the creature as it continued to make its way toward them, “Trail-blazing functions commemorate the ideals.” And while the rocks began to twist and turn into ethereal vapors, Ryan noticed patches of grass remained the same, “It’s not manipulating organic material.”

“The theory is that it can’t,” Intrepid explained, “Or it won’t.”

“The effects of its power also seem limited to a certain perimeter,” Shujai said and flew forward.

“Wait!,” Intrepid called after him but, once again, it was too late. Shujai wrapped his arms around the Surrealist and attempted to fly it out of the area so it could no longer be a threat. “Why do they keep ignoring me?,” Intrepid said in Hebrew and flew after him. She found herself missing the Badges as they were far more likely to follow orders. Meanwhile, Shujai lifted the creature over the hill and toward the Gulf of Maine and while in flight, he noticed the creation of strange clouds following him which soon formed cherub-like faces; when the cherubs opened their mouths, green lightning shot forth, striking Shujai. He howled in pain and was forced to drop the Surrealist while suffering a barrage from multiple angles. At that point, Intrepid caught up to him and hovered in air as he recuperated, “The Badges tried to remove it from the area before. It didn’t work. It will eventually be someone’s problem unless we specifically send it back to the Nowhere Place.”

Back at the ship, Ryan activated pocket-sized drones to fly at Rasputin, armed with tasers. Rasputin waved his hand, breaking them apart, before descending to the ground where Cavalier charged at him. A Russian saber materialized in his hand and blocked the sword attack. Astra leapt at him from behind with a pair of elongated arms but, without looking, he raised a hand and blasted her away then turned his attention to Cavalier and knocked him down with a palm-thrust. Next, Alysa charged her hands with energy and placed them on the ground, creating a small tremor which opened a chasm. In response, Rasputin flew into the air to avoid falling in the newly created hole but the Cavalier lost his footing. As he fell, Astra quickly stretched an arm out and pulled him to safety.

He turned to Alysa and clearly seemed annoyed despite the helmet covering his face, “Watch out!”. She shrank back apologetically, “My bad.” As she was used to fighting alongside Farrell Creed, she realized he never got caught in the crossfire because he was familiar with Iseda magic well enough to know when to clear an area, a luxury the Cavalier and the others did not have. Rasputin landed again, “I told you I didn’t want this fight but if you insist…,” he trailed off as he noticed Hyperion’s Light hovering high in the sky. A holographic screen appeared over Ryan’s watch as he began punching in commands, “Thanks for giving me time to get the ship up and running again,” the ship’s Tractor Beam began to light up, “Just stay there and I can send you right back where ya came from.” “No!,” Rasputin defensively raised his arms out and promptly disappeared in a flash of light.

Ryan waited a few seconds and cautiously surveyed the area before asking, “Is he gone?”

“I don’t sense him no more,” Alysa answered.

Ryan punched a few more buttons on his screen and the hologram of Hyperion’s Light disappeared from the sky while the real ship decloaked on the ground, “I wasn’t lying when I said I had the ship’s systems up and running again… or at least some of them. I thought tricking him into thinking he was about to go back into the light was a good way of getting rid of him so we could regroup.”

“It was a good trick but I doubt he’d fall for it twice,” Cavalier told him, “Now he’s in the wind and the Surrealist is still a problem.”

The creature in question stood on the beach, using its power to manipulate the sand around it, “Obligated frankness is what has been desired internally but has yet to be manifested.” Above, Shujai and Intrepid hovered and once they were satisfied it was no longer an immediate threat, they flew back to meet the others and create a new strategy.

“I apologize for my failure,” Shujai told her, “I am used to fighting alongside U’ntari. We were trained for specific strategies with little room for improvisations.”

“I had similar training with the Badges,” she admitted as they flew through the air, “We all know each others’ powers and skills and use them in tandem in such a fashion that our battle tactics are intuitive. I’m not used to… whatever it is we have right now.”

“I fear we must learn to fight together quickly,” he added, “Otherwise, I’m not sure there will be a planet left.”

Next: This Time, We Have a Plan