LIGHTNOVELONLINE Ch 33 – Fools Rush In
A flash of greenish light trailed after the enchanted blade as it sliced down through the insubstantial apparition.
Museums in Reverse World are odd.
Part research facility, part containment facility, your average museum is usually a front for some sort of shadowy organization, if privately owned. The alternative is that it is run by some sort of shadowy government agency. To remain shadowy, most have the 'front area' where normal people can show up and look at the historical exhibits while the really interesting shit happens in the basement. Well, if you are lucky the interesting shit happens in the basement. Occasionally the interesting shit happens to visitors, but we won't get into the Chicago World's Fair debacle of 1979.
If you want someone to blame, blame the British and their obsession with all things Egyptian.
You can hardly shovel a clod of dirt in Egypt without uncovering some ancient artifact that will take over your mind or embed itself in your skull giving you superpowers. If not that, then some old mummy who arises to attempt to become the Pharaoh of the world. Of course, a bunch of pharaohs all rose up at the same time that the Anti-Christ arrived, which is half the reason that most of North Africa is about five hundred micro-states all battling each other for supremacy. Frankly, they cancel each other out fairly well.
Of course, quite a number of those mummies were in British museums at the time and for some reason, it did NOT discourage people from warehousing very dangerous artifacts of unknowable power. Can anyone explain this? Why is it that when there is some sort of unnatural disaster involving a horrible monster rising from ancient antiquity the first thing a government official thinks while staring at the devastation is:
'We can do better.'
Alas, there are other cultures with just as much, if not more, baggage than Egypt. In a world constantly on the brink, no potential source of power can be dismissed. If the sane factions in the American government had their way, they'd lock all this shit up under a mountain and never look at it again. Alas, times are tough, and no stone can be overlooked. The problem is, who do you trust to watch items that could be compared to a particularly virulent combination of radioactive anthrax and the N-word? Do you give it to the vague yet MENACING government agency or the vague yet THREATENING government agency? So many choices to choose from and not a single one has a scrap of oversight. What. So. Ever.
Enter The Insurance Companies.
Every cape on the planet knows that museums are a team's bread and butter. You have to fight tooth and nail to get a territory that includes a museum. Yes, it's basically a combination of an Indian burial mound, Chernobyl, and a 1950s B-movie mad scientist's laboratory, but they have the highest level ultra-platinum insurance plans, or are self-insured, in the case of the government-run museums. Either way, they have very, very, VERY deep pockets. So when something goes wrong at the very illegal boson vivisection lab resulting in something called HIGH ENERGY CHEESE FOOD that causes all dairy products that come in contact with it to frenzy, OR the secret government-run Memetic Kekron Collider under half of central park accidentally rips a hole into Nazi World, your team is the first on-site and the first to cash in.
The Rascals did not have a museum in their territory.
The Caretakers were right next door to the biggest museum in Empire City. Because of this, the government felt safe in putting its most dangerous research in The Empire Memorial Museum of Art, better known to Empire City as The EMMA. However, the main team also has to handle problems all over the world, so they aren't usually available when the place goes into lockdown. Normally they'd have no problem handling a problem at the EMMA, but since they are rarely in Empire City, they have a second-string team that's usually on standby to handle problems next door. So when a problem started at the EMMA, team EMMA went in.
And only half of them made it out alive.
There are many kinds of threats in this world, but the one that is the hardest to deal with is just straight-up magic. Not a whole lot of magic users in this world. Being a magic user is hard and usually requires years of training. If you got the monads, you usually develop other powers first that are easier to use. But if you are below the threshold of manifesting, you can go off to strange, out-of-the-way places to study magic.
Side note, there is no Sorceress Supreme. Well, there was, but she and her entire order was the target of the Anti-Christ's opening strike when he manifested, along with the occluded tower of sorcery. People keep waiting for someone to rise up and claim the mantle, but nobody can find her Tibetan retreat. The place itself was enchanted so well nobody can even find the mountain it was on, although occasionally people stumble across some of the rubble, which was scattered across most of the plateau. We know this because sometimes invisible chunks of rock that are hard to look at appear for sale on Botany Bay. What's Botany Bay? Oh. Do you know what eBay is? Botany Bay is eBay for supervillains.
Don't think about it too hard. You won't like where your mind takes you.
Truth told magic is just another form of superpower, but it is something that most people don't develop because, well, it's a ton of work. This is the downside. On the upside, it's very rare, and not many people know how to deal with magic, especially because it is so versatile. Magic takes TIME, but in the end, you can do just about anything with it. There is a shortcut, however.
The golden knight took that shortcut. Specifically, you find someone who has spent a great deal of time learning magic and you have them craft you up magical equipment. You bind it to yourself and you're good to go. Not everyone has the strength of will to bind magic items, but if you do, it's a much faster way to get some new, kick-ass powers. This is also why some people, desperate to 'become someone' will often wind up searching deep into the depths of far-off places for artifacts of power.
Which brings us back to the EMMA.
Apparently, it wasn't just any magical artifact that went haywire, but one that raised the dead. Dealing with the undead is an absolute bitch. The only thing worse than dealing with the walking dead would be souls bound to serve. Insubstantial spirits without a solid body to make contact with are an absolute nightmare for most capes. When you are dealing with ghosts, you need psionics or magic if you want to have any hope of dealing with the problem, and using psionics is more of a last resort, because most undead are highly resistant to mental attacks.
As it turned out, nobody in team EMMA at the time the alert went out was psionic, much less magical.
Enter The Rascals.
When the call came in, Sass was practically drooling at both the amount of money to be made, as well as the opportunity to show up her mother by taking a call right in The Caretaker's backyard. The only problem, most of the team would be useless in this fight. However, that wasn't about to stop Sass. They took the call, dropped everything to get out there, calling in everyone they had including everyone on 'the bench' And started by surrounding the building and securing the area.
The fact it was still day and the sun was out helped because with Adam boosting Ivy's powers, she found it possible to cover the entire building in a web of living vines. One of the known weaknesses of ghosts is that they cannot pass through living things without possessing it and then going out the other side, and it is rare for a ghost to have the green thumb needed to pass through a plant. Yes, they were trying to kill the vines from the inside, but Ivy kept circling the building, repeatedly tossing seeds and regrowing the vines to make sure the problem was contained. Once the place was covered, she no longer needed Adam's boost to maintain the containment.
Well, until the sun finally slips beneath the horizon in a few hours.
There were some reports of animated skeletons, which would be a hell of a lot easier to deal with than ghosts, but if there were any corporal undead about, they weren't trying to leave. If they existed and were going to try and get out, it would most likely be when the sun went down. Unfortunately, that would also be when Ivy would be at her weakest. Most likely the vine containment web would fail and that is when things would be ugly. However, the Rascals were assured that before the sun sets, the Caretakers will be back and The Rascals didn't have to do anything else. Just keeping the problem contained was enough.
That bullshit was not going to fly with Sass, however.
A plan was formed. Wanderer and Golden Knight would go in, recon the building, and at least figure out what was going on. If there was an easy solution, report in and we'll handle it here and now. Priority was to rescue anyone still trapped inside. Defeating whatever was behind all this was secondary. Sass wasn't stupid, but she wanted to milk this for everything she could and to make sure that this went as smoothly as possible, Sass also sent in the only backup that would be of any help inside with the two
Adam Angel would be assigned to the recon team.
Adam let out a little yelp as the ghost jumped out of a statue at him, rotting visage for all to see as its boney fingers grasped for his face. He had basically set up a moderate level of buffing for Wanderer's mental blast, Golden Knight's sword, and both of their mental defenses. Of the three, Jack was the most vulnerable because he could only give himself a pittance of mental defense. His powers worked must better if something was already there.
Amplifying Wanderer made her visually invulnerable, which was little comfort considering her enhanced mental blasts only seemed to be tickling the ghosts. If Adam poured extra energy into boosting her attacks, she MIGHT be able to stagger one, but it wasn't cost-effective, considering how fast it wore Adam out. Amplifying Goldie's mental defenses made her moderately resistant, but that sword? Ooo. That boosted sword was a game-changer. Normally it glowed gold, like the golden knight, but when it was boosted, Adam's characteristic blue aura melded with the magic and it took on a green hue.
And BOY did that sword love to eat ghosts! (Literally, by the way.)
Goldie looked at her sword, "Shisui is feeling blood madness." She looked at Adam, "Thine power to enhance is most welcome, lord, but I fear it tis interacting with my blade's persona in a most unhealthy fashion." She held up the blade for the others to see, "I feel her clawing at my mind, howling for more souls to devour." The sword seemed to be vibrating in her grasp as she held it with two hands, "I have never felt it so strong before, nor have seen it hold this much power."
Wanderer maintained a healthy distance from the Golden Knight, "I admit this is going easy, but I still think this is a bad idea."
Adam muttered under his breath, "I never should have let you convince me to do this."
Wanderer looked at Adam, bewildered, "Excuse me? I never tried to convince you of anything."
At the same time, Jack growled in Adam's head, ~Are you INSANE? Did you see those numbers? THIS IS A GOLD MINE! If I thought for one moment these two wouldn't freak out, I'd take over and handle this shit myself! Frankly, we need to find the source of this and handle it ourselves before The Caretaker team gets back!~ This was followed by the mental sound of a cash register being opened repeatedly.
Adam rubbed his forehead, "Sorry. Bad habit of talking to myself. I was thinking about Sass." He looked up at the odd green aura that surrounded The Golden Knight, "I don't get how I'm enhancing your weapons when I can't affect objects."
The Golden Knight turned and continues down the hallway, approaching the next exhibit with her sword drawn while glowing from head to toe in a sparking, yet eerie green light, "I have sworn an oath to the mystic master who granted me mine equipment. I shall fight the forces of evil wherever it shall be found..."
She narrowed her eyes and smirked playfully at the other two, "And smite its ass."
She returned her attention to the hallway in front of them, "When I swore the oath, mine weapon, and mine armor became bound to me. With the binding of thine weapon, it became an extension of mine body." She dismissed the sword which vanished from existence, then made it manifest in her hand by sheer force of will, "In a way, me, mine weapon, and armor are one." She kicked open a door and jumped into a side room with a bright smile on her face. A few seconds she returned, looking disappointed, "Twas empty."
Wanderer frowned at The Golden Knight, "Again with the rushing in without announcing your intended actions first." She shook her head in a disappointed fashion, "Goldie, you are enjoying this to an unacceptable degree." Her hood twitched unexpectantly before she continued, "We should keep moving and keep quiet." Then added while muttering under her breath, "I wish we could maintain a mind link for communications."
Adam followed up from the rear, "That's the fifth time you've said that. If we have a mind link and one of us-"
Wanderer glared back at Adam, "Gets possessed, we all go down. Please don't tell me my job." She turned back to scanning the corridor, "I just feel... diminished if I do not have access to your senses as well." She shivered, "I feel... naked for lack of a better term."
Adam nodded, "When we get out of here, I'll let you access my senses as much as you want."
Goldie staggered for a step at hearing that. She looked back at Adam, "Why does thou always do that?"
Adam looked confused, "Do-"
Wanderer held up a finger to her lips and let out a soft 'Shh' sound. Everyone froze. She closed her eyes for a second, "Intel was right. Whatever is going on is in the auditorium for the Those Amazing Microbes exhibit." She frowned, "We got four hostages." She abruptly twisted her head to the side, "Correction, we now have three."
Adam went pale, "Did... one just die?"
Wanderer nodded, "Yes." She opened her eyes, "We've completed the assignment. I have scanned the room. I have the intel. Let's get out of here."
The Golden Knight looked hesitant about leaving, "Well wait. What kind of forces-" She never got a chance to finish her question.
Adam was already charging for the exhibit. He barreled toward the doors under the large poster board picture of a man dressed as a flea, complete with extra arms and everything. There was a speech bubble above his head that dominated the entrance to the auditorium.