Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 06:22:37 GMT From: Blake Alexander Subject: Tales of the New Phoenix: My Immortal chapter 2 News From the Author: Eh, I'll just let you get back to reading. E-Mail me! WriteMeAStory@Juno.com My Immortal Chapter 2: A New Age A nice quiet day at the bank. Riiiight. I blasted another cabinet with my ring. The walls groaned as another piece of ceiling fell to the floor. "Windgardium Leviosa!" Devin screamed pointing his wand at a ceiling beam that was hurtling at Jubilee. He stopped it at the last moment. She sent a blast of plasma sparks at a desk, pushing it away from Tabitha, who was desperately trying to fend off a group of flying waste baskets. "Falcon, we have to get out of here! We can't fight the whole damned office!" Alison yelled. "Damn it!" I screamed. "Owl, work the fucking spell!" I erected a force bubble around us as he opened his bag. "They're breaking through!" I turned to where Jubilee was pointing and saw some pens pushing through. Damned Ghosts, we didn't have anything that could hold them back. "Spirit of light, Goddess on High, hear our plea in this moment of need. We beg your touch, your hand of grace, help us calm this unquiet place. Give them substance, corporeal form, so we may find our answers, and stop their masters deeds." Devin had created a ring of light around him, a circle of power, and cast the spell. My ring cut out as a wave of light shot outwards from him. Everything in the air fell to the ground, and the groaning ceased. "Did it work?" Tabitha asked. "Where are they?" I looked around, a destroyed office, but no ghosts. "Why can't we see them?" "He must have called them back at the last moment." Devin kicked a telephone that was lying on the floor. "We have nothing." "We just spent the last thirty minutes fighting our way through an office building that was trying to kill us and every other living person in it, waded through the bodies of those it did kill, to get to the center of the... what did you call it, "spiritual tempest", so that you could cast a spell that would invoke the Faery Goddess of spirits and ghosts to make them real so we could force them to tell us who we're fighting... and we failed?" Tabitha formed a bomb and through it in a corner. It exploded, destroying a copy machine that had a chair stuck in it. "Come on, we should leave." We started to walk to the stairs when our comm's went off. I pressed the watch face, "Green Falcon here." "There is a disturbance in Cupertino." Oracle said "The Friends of Humanity have assembled at De Anza College and are attacking the Preternatural Lessons building. They claim it is trying to turn people into potential vampires." "God Damn it. We have the fucking King of Spirits and Death attacking San Francisco, and now we have to go stop the fucking FOH from attacking students." I created a field around all of us and launched us towards the stairs. I blasted the door and went up the air shaft in the center of the stairs. We broke through the glass skylight and went flying towards Cupertino. "I'll have a Grande Mocha Coconut Frap, hold the whipped cream." I said. The sales girl just sort of stared at me, mouth slack. I laughed. "What, celebrities like Starbucks too." I said with a laugh. She hurried to make me my drink and I looked at Chris. "You sure you don't want one?" I asked. "Do you really want me to get high on caffeine?" "A very good point." I said with a grin. "So, what exactly is it you've been up to out here." I paid and we walked to a empty table in the corner. "Well, I'm slowly putting my album together, I was hoping to have it done by now but... other things took priority." I said. "Blake wouldn't want you to stop your life like this." Chris said. As he said it I felt a flush of anger. "Hear me out! It's been two years since Blake died. Serenity is flourishing. It's one of the hottest spots in the nation. And the team..." He looked around to make sure no one could hear us. He lowered his voice though, just in case. "You're a singer, not a crime fighter. They all have powers, you don't. He never wanted you as involved in this stuff as you are. You made them strong, strong enough that the fucking mayor has them deputized and on call for any weird shit that happens in the city." "I can't stop now. The king of ghosts is trying to take control in the city. The soul bearing vampires need protection from the bigots that think that all vamps are inherently evil. Not to mention that Lycanthropy has become one of the biggest issues in medicine. The aftermath of the Vampire War has left the whole nation a mess, and we are trying to hold this corner of that nation in control." I said. I'd had this fight with all the guy's, and my family. I didn't want to have it again. "We aren't going to end up like Europe." He said. "What? You think that it isn't going to eventually spill into the streets? They made killing Wereanimals legal, they made it ok to kill any vampires found. They found out about the magic community, and made it illegal to practice in three countries." I heard my name called for my drink, stood up and got it, then came back. I took a sip and looked Chris in the eyes. "I have friends that are Vampires. One of my best friends lost his sister during the wizard hunt in Germany. The world hated Mutants, but couldn't do a whole lot because there is genetic proof that they are humans that just have new genetic structures. Lycanthropy is a disease, Vampirism has always been feared and hated, and throw in people with magical powers and you have the new hate in the world." "But you don't have to fight this fight..." Chris started. I wouldn't let him finish. "No, I don't have to, I want to. Blake would have, and I would have been beside him. Mutants are still persecuted, but now they have all the preternatural beings right there with them." I said. Chris let out a sigh. I took another sip of my drink and smiled. "I still can't believe you did a cartoon." I said with a smile. He gave me a look that could melt lead, and I started laughing louder. "Hey, `The Fairly Odd Parents' rock!" We got there to find a campus in turmoil. The police were caught in a crossfire from the FOH that had brought weapons and the mutant students. I also saw a wereleopard that was snapping at a FOH that was going after a couple young girls that were cuddled against a wall. "I'll take the building, press the FOH back." I lowered us to a patch of grass just away from all the fighting. "Dazzler, you take the north. Owl, you have the south. Jubilee, east. Boomer, can you guess where you get to go?" "West?" She asked with a smirk. "Let's go guys." They started running to their sections as I flew up and over the building I landed us behind. I descended onto the roof of the newest building on campus, the Preternatural Studies Center that was headed by representative of the White Council, the council of Wizards and Witches in the US. It had been overseeing the magic community in much the same way the Ministry of Magic worked in the UK. There were bodies lying on the ground at the main entrance. I saw a man in a FOH shirt rush the door, to be met by a blast of yellow magic. I lifted my ring to my mouth and spoke at it. A large green image of me appeared above me, speaking over the roar of the crowd. "Can I get quiet please?" I said over the din of voices. They slowly subsided. "Now this can end one of two ways. One, I knock out anyone that approaches this building or two, you all go home peacefully." I man stepped forward with a blow horn in his hands. "Green Falcon, you can't stop us all. This building is an affront to all that is good in our country. They did the right thing in Europe. And the President will see that soon enough. Until then it is up to us to put an end to this." He motioned to someone near him who spoke into a radio. Trucks came squealing from the distance, pickups with large machines on the back. I recognized them, plasma cannons. There were at least ten of them. They circled the building. Guess where they were pointed. "Crap." I whispered. I heard the door to the roof open and spun to see who was coming. An old man wearing a green robe strode towards me with a cane. "Hello madam." He said with a smile. "Sir, we need to evacuate the building. How many people are left?" I asked. "None. I had a tunnel carved out bellow this building during construction. It empties out in the campus center. I knew this sort of thing would happen, and planned accordingly." He stepped towards the edge of the building. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to allow my building to fall to these mad men. I still have students around the base of the building. Ones that didn't get inside in time to escape, or who chose to defend it." The first cannon fired and I raised my ring to it. I couldn't blow the machine, it would take out half the court yard and most of the students. I simply blocked the blast. It ricocheted into the sky with a scream. "Those things will keep firing, and I don't have the strength to defend this place all day." "No, but the fey can stop them now." He pulled a pouch from his robes and opened it. He sprinkled it out and whispered, "Come to my aid, wind riders and flower jumpers. Come to me and aid me as I aided you so many years ago." The golden dust lifted high into the air with the sound of bells, then faded from sight. "Green Falcon, that was a warning. Get off the building or I will destroy you." In the distance I saw Devin fighting his way towards a pickup, but he wouldn't make it in time. I had a feeling that the girls wouldn't either. I pointed my ring straight into the air and formed a green shield over the entire building. "I can keep this up for about 15 minutes under the fire of those plasma cannons. Will your friends be here by then?" "They are here now." I looked around and saw things dancing in the corner of my eye, but not when I would look at them. "They use glamour to hide." "But not when we see friends." A musical voice said. A small girl shimmered into sight in front of the wizard. When I say small, I don't mean young, I mean she had the body of a Barbie Doll with large butterfly wings of green and gold. She wore a skirt that matched the colors, and a piece of cloth that tied just bellow where her wings met her back with a bow to cover her breasts. She looked 17 or 18, just very tiny. "It is good to see you Lahoora of the Green Leafs." The wizard said. "As it is good to see you Green Wizard of the White Council. You have called us to your side, what do you need of the Green Leaf Court?" She asked. Royalty I realized, I was looking at a Fairy Queen. "My school is under attack by humans. They fear us all, and wish us harm. I need all bellow that smell of hate to be asleep. You will know them at an instant for they have a hate built on fear." The fairy nodded and put her delicate hand to her chin. She started pacing in the air, wings beating harder and faster then any butterfly I had ever seen. "This will clear the debt owed you by my court." She said. "I saved your entire court from the Shadows a hundred years ago, I feel you owe me a bit yet." He said with a twinkle in his eye. "I merely need you to sprinkle the people asleep." "You have all the courts in your dept, but owe us nothing. Your maneuvering and conniving is worthy of the Queen of Air and Darkness herself." She said. "The Queen of Air And Darkness is a force unto herself. As is the King of Light and Illusion. I wish never to cross either court of Sidhe. But the lesser fey have always been kind to me. Even before the Shadow Battles of old." "Not of old, they were all too recent." She said with a smirk. "You remind me that I am only mortal Lahoora. Now, will you grant me this Aid? This Green Warrior can not stand for long." Both of them turned to me. The FOH had started firing moments after I erected the shield, and I had sweat on my brow. "This woman, she defends you and is human. Not humans of touch, but mortal human. And she has a weapon of star mortal magic." Lahoora fluttered to me, and stared into my eyes. "She is a fine being. Pure of soul. Please ease her burden this day, hers, the Wizard's, and the three women of touch, not to mention my students. They all fight to defend this building." He said. "Very well. We remain in your debt, and shall do as you wish Green Wizard." She fluttered to the edge of the shield. "I feel we shall meet again Green Warrior." "It will be my honor." I said. It was the first thing I had said. She faded from view. "What are they going to do? I saw more movement in the corner of my eye." "They are even now doing what I asked of them." He said. I looked out amongst the crowd. The members of the FOH were falling to the ground all over. Within minutes there were all asleep on the ground, weapons at their sides. Devin and the girls ran to the cannons and powered them down as the police swarmed the area. "Well, we should go explain ourselves to the police." I said. He nodded. We went. After explaining for the tenth time to Lieutenant Phelps what had happened, how the Fey had been called in to put the bad guy's to sleep, we gave up and said it was a spell. I lost my cool at about explanation 6, the wizard, who I had learned is named Sir Brian Logan, was the one who finally broke and named it the spell. We left the good officer... after another hour of questioning... and went back to Sir Logan's office with Devin and the girls in tow. We sat in an office that looked far older than the building. It had a freaking fireplace. Of granite. That had a fire in it. "Nice office." Jubilee said, spinning a globe. "Thank you. I loved it so much at my homestead I simply had to bring it with me." He said with a smile. "Wait, are we actually in your home?" Devin asked looking to the window. It looked like the campus. "Good gracious no. That is far too showy a spell." He said taking a seat behind a desk that was covered in papers. "I simply cast a spell to move my office from my homestead here." "Oh..." Devin said taking a seat at one of the chairs opposite Sir Logan. "Listen, since we are here we thought we would ask your advice on a certain situation." I said taking a seat in the chair beside Devin's. The girls sat down at the small couch. "I am in your debt for today. I will answer any questions you have." He said. "We have been battling a very powerful creature," Devin leaned forward a bit. "The King of Spirits and Death." Sir Logan leaned back into his chair, his face unmoving. "The White Council has come up against him before, and lost. He is a creature of nature itself. Quite like the fey." He looked at a plant on his desk. "The reason I am known as the Green Wizard is that I studied within the Seelie Court. This is before their exodus to the States, when they were still in Europe. The Sidhe were once worshiped as Gods. The King of Ghosts and Death is one of the Gods that they replaced." "How do we stop him." I asked. "You don't understand Green Falcon," He said, a slight look of fear on his face, "you don't."