Crossover Earth '98
AN AMERICAN SORCERER IN LONDON
MICHAEL SURBROOK and RUSSELL WALLACE
Somewhere over the Atlantic:
Looking out the tiny circular window of the Concorde, Avalon stared at the dark blue-black sky outside. He presumed it was mid-day, but they were flying at such an attitude that the normal blue of the sky had darkened to a dusk-like purple. The horizon didn't look quite right either. The sky and sea met at a bright line, a line that was slightly bowed.
Turning away from window, Avalon glanced over at his seat mate. Katsumi was quietly reading a book, apparently oblivious to her surroundings. Sighing, Avalon took another sip of his Coke and pushed his glasses back into place. He and Katsumi were flying to Paris after a short stay at his Maryland home. The two of them had left Hawaii a little over a week ago and Avalon felt that he was losing touch with the current time. In Hawaii he and his apprentice had taken a look at the future... well, not quite the future, more of a future, but the future nevertheless. Now he was bound for Paris, traveling eastward at better than eighteen miles per minute, a trip that was going to require him to meet with Jean Liqueur for a bearably short interval, before leaving once again for London. Jet lag from his current rapid pace was making it hard to think; in the past week had had switched Coasts and time zones the same way some people might change clothing. He was tired and worried and suspected the beginning of a wonderful headache.
Titling his seat back slightly, he glanced back over at Katsumi. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Extradimensional Travel by Azusa Kanzaki was the title of the book, the lettering a bright gold against the black leather of the binding. Avalon shook his head slightly, where did she find these things?
"Katsumi?"
"Hmmm?" Katsumi's response sounded faintly distracted.
"That book cannot be a factual account."
"Of course not, but it's pretty funny to read."
"I see..."
Katsumi returned to her book and Avalon switched his gaze to the ceiling, studying it closely as he assembled his next sentence with great care.
"Katsumi?"
"Yes?"
"Midori should have a proper father, do you not think so?"
Blinking in surprise, Katsumi put her book down. "What do you mean? It seems she will have quite a fine father."
"Yes..." Avalon paused, slightly unsure how to proceed. "What I mean is, I think Midori should have a proper set of parents, ones who are there from the start, that will raise her and train her together."
Katsumi stared at her mentor, brows slightly furrowed as she considered Avalon's words. "Avalon... are... are you asking to marry me?"
"I... uh... I mean... Yes."
Katsumi gaped, open mouthed, her eyes wide with surprise. There was a slight thump, as her book, all but forgotten, slid out of her lap and onto the floor. "Really?" she whispered.
Turning to face Katsumi, Avalon gently caressed the side of her jaw with one hand. "Yes, it would be only proper. I cannot let you bear such a burden alone. So... I ask you now; Katsumi will you marry me?"
Heads all around the tiny cabin looked up, faces a mixture of puzzlement and amusement as the dark-haired woman threw her arms around the white-haired man with a joyous cry of "YES!".
The south of France:
The sudden shaking of his shoulder yanked Avalon out of strange and confusing dream, one that was dominated the the image of a man wearing a crown and having the power of a thunderstorm at his fingertips. Blinking his eyes in an effort to clear them, he myopically peered at the dim confines of his room here in the Liqueur mansion.
"Yes?" he managed as Katsumi's out-of-focus face hovered into view.
"Avalon?" she asked, her voice a dry croak, "Can... can.. can I stay with you tonight?"
"What?" Avalon woke up quickly, his sleep-muddled brain not quite sure it had heard her words. "Katsumi, what is wrong? You sound like you should be twelve or something."
"I... I had a dream."
"Oh."
Reaching out, Avalon brushed long strands of sable hair from her face and off of her shoulder, feeling the shudders that wracked her body, even now. "What did you see?"
Katsumi took a deep breath and calmed herself. When she spoke, her voice was low and flat and her eyes were unfocused and staring, as if looking at something beyond the walls of the small room.
"'There were voices and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And there followed hail and fire mingled with blood. There fell a great star from heaven, burning as if it were a lamp. And I beheld, and heard an Angel saying with a loud voice woe, woe, WOE to the inhabiters of the Earth.'"
She stopped and fell silent, her eyes closed and her head slumped between her shoulders. Avalon gently combed her hair with his fingers, trying to reassure his apprentice and possible wife.
"You were quoting from the book of Revelations."
"Yes..." her voice was still slightly shaky and Avalon realized that Katsumi was sweating with fear. "And there was more, the trees and the grass and sky..."
"'...and the third part of the trees were burnt up and all the green grass was burnt up. And He opened the bottomless pit and the sun and air were darkened,'" Avalon finished.
"Yes."
Have you ever had one this bad before?"
"No, I think they are getting worse as the millennium nears."
Taking Katsumi into her arms, Avalon held her close. "Yes, you can stay with me tonight. But... what will your father say?"
Katsumi wrapped her arms around Avalon, resting her head on his shoulders, "I really don't care."
Somewhere under the English Channel:
The monorail rattled and clanked faintly, shuddering at each joint in the rail. Outside, lights flashed by in a blur as the train made its way through the 'Chunnel', speeding from France to England at well over one hundred miles an hour.
Sitting by the window, Avalon watched the bright bars of light whip by. Deep in thought, he tried in vain to make some sort of sense out of the direction his life had suddenly turned. At least Jean Liqueur had been civil enough, even after Katsumi had informed him of her intent. Of course, having someone with the power and prestige of Avalon marrying into your family certainly wasn't something the patriarch of the Liqueur clan could ignore easily. Actually, Avalon figured the man was secretly delighted by the prospect, although Avalon would be damned if he was going to let the French sorcerer try and make policy for his family. Perhaps he'd start his own clan. He had Ashley, and once he married Katsumi and Midori was born, Avalon would be well upon his way to creating his own sorcerous lineage upon the Earth. This would take some thought.
"What did the Tagelohn's say?" Katsumi's voice cut through his musings.
Avalon shrugged and continued to stare out the window. "They have not heard of anyone targeting colleges. They did speak of an increase on incidents of psychic-related attacks. Known espers killed or vanishing under unusual circumstances."
"Do you suppose someone is trying to eliminate a perceived threat?"
"Possibly," Avalon turned to look at Katsumi, his face grave. "Or eliminate any form of opposition."
London, England
London was, as usually, gray and dreary. Avalon had only been in there a few times, mainly on research expeditions. He certainly didn't consider it a vacation spot. If he wanted that, he'd go visit Katsumi out in Hawaii.
Sapphire spotted the two sorcerers emerging from the train and waved as she headed in their direction. "Hi! How was your trip? Can I give you a hand with anything?"
Katsumi gave Sapphire a slight nod and a smile. "The trip was tolerable, although I think Avalon was starting to fray from being cooped up for so long."
She led them through the crowds out to where her car, a small blue Fiat, was parked. By the looks of it, while it mightn't yet be ready for the great parking lot in the sky, it had certainly seen its better days. "Okay, you probably want to check in at the hotel first? We can head round to the college later, there won't be anyone in the society room this evening."
Avalon nodded. "That sounds excellent," he said in a tired voice, "I'd like to get some rest before doing any spell casting."
A retrocognitive spell was significantly less complex than one allowing sight into the future. The past was already determined, already set, it was unchangeable, fixed, all one had to do was view the events as they happened, not try and create a window to look in on events that might happen. Still, there was some preparation. Sapphire had taken Avalon and Katsumi to the society room where the assault had occurred and had carefully closed off the door to make sure no one disturbed them. Now, she knelt in a corner, silent watching the two sorcerers do their work.
Nothing was touched, all was left as presented. A few brief marks were chalked onto the floor, and the two wizards sat down facing one another. The space between them marked the spot where Frank had been sitting when the test had occurred. Closing their eyes, they began to chant, the words sounding distinctly odd to Sapphire's ears.
As the chant went on, the room dimmed slightly, then began to lighten again. This pattern of brightness and dark went on and on, giving the room a strange, grayish cast, before settling down to the deep black of a December evening. The society room itself was well lighted, although lesser used used objects were visible only as faint shadows. Only the two figures at the center of the room existed clearly, the passage of time having not yet begun to erase their existence.
A man, presumably Frank, sat at one side of a table. Sapphire, or the woman who would soon become Sapphire sat at the other side. Between them was an upright barrier, preventing any visual contact between the two.
Avalon recognized the format of the test. Frank was to think of an object, any object. Once he had the object firmly fixed in his mind, he would signal with a knock on the table, at which point Sapphire was to try and pick up Frank's psychic signals.
At the moment Frank seemed to be concentrating, his eyes closed. Then he knocked once on the table, the sound loud in the otherwise quiet room. Sapphire let her mind go blank, her eyes loosing focus, as she tried to receive impressions from Frank's mind.
"This isn't working, Frank." Sapphire said suddenly, as she stood and walked to the window, lighting a cigarette. She looked out the window at the grayish unformed image of what would be courtyard, in the real world.
"Well," Frank replied, "at least we know neither of us is telepathic. You do pretty well on the cards, though. Maybe we should make a research trip to Monte Carlo."
The door to the room opened. Frank and Jennifer both turned as four men dressed in black entered the room. Their forms were hazy and indistinct, the only things that showed clearly were the black hoods obscured their faces. Two of the men closed with Frank and struggled with him, while a third slipped behind Frank and struck him over the head. The fourth man headed toward Jennifer.
Jennifer's eyes darted to either side, looking for escape, but finding none in the narrow confines of the society room. Then, as the man was nearly within arm's reach, she vanished.
"Damn!" The man's voice was muffled by the hood he wore. Turning, he moved back to join the other three. "Bring him along, at least this won't be a total waste. We'll let the boss figure out what to do about the girl."
The four men picked up Frank and moved out of the room.
With a shaking of his head, Avalon awoke, glancing about the society room as if to reassure himself it was still there. Rising to his feet, he looked over at Katsumi, she still sat quietly, staring at the floor.
"They spoke of a 'boss'," she said quietly. "Sapphire, you should be careful when and where you use your new talents, I fear that they will strike again."
Sapphire blinked. "What exactly did they say?"
She listened to the words the man had said, and nodded quietly. "I see. Yes, I will... I already was being... but I wonder how they knew about me the first time."
"Yes," Avalon nodded, "This is becoming more complex the deeper we go. It is not unlike peeling an onion, with layers upon layers."
"Our mission now is clear, we must locate Frank. Sapphire, I need you to bring us some sort of personal item of Frank's, so that we may track him by his aura. Katsumi and I will stay here and prepare the needed spells."
Sapphire nodded. "Can do. I know where he lives... lived... I'll be back shortly." She reached out, located a house on a London street, and folded space.
As she vanished, Avalon turned back to his apprentice. "This does not bode well. Someone is going to great lengths to find and abduct those with any measure of esper powers. It is possible that you or I may be one of the ones that will be targeted by this pogrom. We must be careful in our actions."
Katsumi nodded, "Do you think that these abductions may be related to the events we saw in Hawaii?"
Avalon gave Katsumi a grave look, "That is a prospect that I find very probable and very chilling."
South of London
Once Sapphire had returned with a personal item of Frank's - a coat that she said he favored - Avalon and Katsumi had resumed their cross-legged poses on the floor of the society room. Focusing on the psychic impressions left in the coat, they then cast their minds adrift, slowly searching the surrounding city for any similar trace.
Hours had passed, while the two wizards slipped deeper and deeper into their trances. Sapphire had began to wonder if either of them were really awake, since neither had moved even the slightest in the last two hours. Then, finally, Avalon had risen his head and announced, "I have found him."
The resonance, Avalon explained, was very faint, and located somewhere to the south of the city, out in the countryside. Pausing only to refresh themselves, Avalon and Katsumi then prepared transport spells, allowing the three to quickly leave London far behind.
So, it was here, in a rambling patch of woods that Avalon, Katsumi and Sapphire found Frank. He lay in a shallow grave, hastily dug. Of the black-clad men who had taken him, there was no sign.
Sapphire turned pale, leaning back against a tree and closing her eyes for a moment. She'd guessed their search might well end in this way; but guessing something like that and knowing it for certain were two different things. She waited quietly while the sorcerers worked their magic in an attempt to discover the precise events leading up to Frank's demise, then arranged their swift return journey to the city.
London, England
Sitting by the window of their London hotel room, Avalon stared out into the night. Behind him, Katsumi could be heard quietly making tea. The two of them were exhausted and drained, both physically from the day's spell-casting, and mentally, from trying to sort out the tangled mass of images and impressions they had uncovered.
Whomever was behind the attempted kidnapping of Sapphire was well-trained and well-equipped. Following the discovery of Frank's body, the two sorcerers had once again tried to recreate past events with the aid of recognitive spells. The enchantments revealed little, other than that Frank had been blindfolded during his journey and had been repeatedly asked as to the name of his teleporting test subject. As for the men who had buried them, they had said little, other than complaining about having to dispose of the body. No names, no faces... no leads.
No... not quite. The men who had abducted Frank had come across as psychically 'dead'. Oh, they left visible impressions on their surroundings, but when examined directly, their auras were a null. Avalon has seen spells like this before, he could create one if he wished - if he needed to hid his presence from magical scrying devices - but with these men the effect seemed mechanical. It would seem that someone had a vested interest in silencing those with psychic or esper talents... but why?
London, England (One month later)
Curiouser and curiouser... Alice's words came to mind as Avalon surveyed the six men before him. They were bound to chairs, and scowled darkly at the sorcerer. Katsumi stood nearby, helping Sapphire recover from her recent ordeal. This case, the magician decided, was not unlike an onion. With every layer removed, one found another beneath.
After the discovery of Frank's corpse, Avalon and Katsumi had returned to London, to form plots of their own. Tracking the men who had abducted Frank was impossible, their negated auras saw to that. The only thing they could try to do was lure them out again. To do that would require using Sapphire as bait, a dangerous proposition countered only slightly by the presence of two powerful wizards.
The first part of the plan had been simple. Avalon had prepared a contact card, a piece of heavy cardstock the size and shape of a normal playing card. On it was his portrait. All Sapphire had to do was concentrate on the card and a mystical link would be created between her and Avalon himself, allowing instant and virtually untraceable communication.
The second step was to keep a constant eye on Sapphire herself. Katsumi handled that chore, creating a simple scrying device from a bowl of water. The range was limited, one could scan most of London if needed, but Sapphire doubted she'd be traveling far during the next few weeks.
Naturally, Sapphire checked in with Avalon and Katsumi regularly. She would report her location, the time and any odd occurrences.
Finally, the trap itself was set up and baited. An ad was placed in both the London Times and the local campus paper, asking "Are you Psychic?". Borrowing a spare room at the university, Avalon and Katsumi conducted daily tests in an attempt to draw the men out again.
As suspected, several weeks passed with nothing more accomplished than the discovery that London had more than its fare share of deluded would-be magicians and psychics. Avalon and Katsumi found themselves dealing with self-proclaimed Druids, Wiccan priestesses, magicians, supposed espers, precognitives, clairvoyants and a whole host of the 'psychically aware'. After four weeks, Avalon decided he had heard enough about past lives, channeling, psychometery, the lost continent of Mu, Lemuria and Atlantis, faith healing, ghosts, witches and Stonehenge to last him the rest of his life. He wondered what they would say if he told them that he knew who was really responsible for the creation of crop circles, what actually lived in the depths of Loch Ness, and the true identity of Jack the Ripper? Truthfully, he figured their reaction to be one of disbelief, since his answers would most likely be contrary to all of their precious little pet - and inaccurate - theories.
It wasn't until a month had nearly passed that their enemy finally made his move.
Sapphire was in her apartment, tired from another long day of classes, crank and nutcases, when her door had been kicked in. Four men had entered, dressed in nondescript back suits. The point man produced a pistol and shot the teleporter with a tranquilizer dart. Sapphire fell, and just barely managed to active the contact card before passing out.
Avalon and Katsumi had responded immediately, having prepared for just such an occurrence long in advance. They met the four men on the street outside Sapphire's apartment building, spells ready. Two of the men produced pistols and started firing immediately, while the other two hustled Sapphire's barely conscious form into a parked car.
The response was dramatic, both magicians unleased powerful bolts of psychic energy, designed to drop their intended targets instantly, without inflicting lasting physical harm. The bolts struck home, but the two men barely flinched. Avalon was astounded, such a spell would have rendered the average human unconscious, while the gunman before him looked to be barely affected. Undaunted, Avalon and his apprentice pressed their attack, casting a second barrage of spells. The gunman were staggered by the attack and finally fell to a third set of bolts. Unfortunately, the other two had made off with Sapphire by that point.
Leaving the two men and their highly illegal handguns for the London police, who even now were rapidly approaching, Avalon and Katsumi gave chase. Tracking Sapphire through the tangled maze of London's narrow streets was greatly simplified by the fact the Sapphire still retained Avalon's card, making it quite easy to find out where she'd been taken.
The trail had ended at front of a furniture store. The car parked out front was identical to the one that had sped way with Sapphire. Shaking his head at the stupidity of the would-be abductors, Avalon stormed inside, brushing past the squawking store clerk and purposefully making his way to the back room. Bursting through the door, he found Sapphire, tied to a chair, and a half dozen surprised and angry men.
Having been forewarned against the use of spells that attacked the psyche, Avalon and Katsumi settled for a more physical means of resolving the problem. Mystic bolts from Avalon's staff was more than sufficient to wreak havoc among Sapphire's captor's, while Katsumi's Swarm of the Silver Swallows dropped those still standing in their tracks.
Sapphire having recovered sometime before, Avalon was faced with an interesting problem. The men refused to talk. This, of course, was to be expected. On the other hand, even a simple telepathic scan failed to even detect the most basic of surface thoughts and emotions. It was at that point that Sapphire announced that she had detected a small electronic device within the skull of each man. This device was responsible for the psychic shield that worked so well to deflect and negate any form of mental assault. Katsumi conformed the presence of the objects, as well as announcing that only a very long and very draining ritual casting would allow the shield to be pierced.
Avalon sighed, as much as he would like to get to the bottom of this mystery, he was loath to attempt such an extended spell. Not only would it tax his abilities to their limit, but there was the added problem of the spell reducing their intended target to the mental vegetable, rendering the draining of is psychic shield useless. Leaning back against a table, he scowled darkly the the six men, wishing that for once a criminal mastermind could have flunkies that were not fanatical to their cause.
"Avalon," Sapphire said quietly, "I think I can remove one of the implants."
"How?" he replied in a dubious tone.
"By teleporting it out."
Avalon stared a the young woman for a moment. "And do you believe that he will survive the process?" He gestured at one of her former captives.
"I... I don't know." Sapphire turned to stare steadily at one man. "Let me see if I can learn more."
Concentrating, Sapphire allowed her spatial senses to locate the tiny implant. It was small, almost wafer-thin, surrounded by dead space and living tissue. She was unable to determine if the object was simply placed within the skull, or actually hooked into the body's neural net. If it was the former, there would be no problem, if it was the latter, then removing it could lead to brain damage or even death.
Turning away from the man, Sapphire looked over to Avalon. "I've located the implant, but I still don't know if removing it will harm him."
"Hmm..." Avalon thought for a moment, trying to weigh the need to know against the the man's rights by law. He wasn't a killer, and didn't willingly take lives, but these men had already proven themselves capable of killing without a second thought. Who knew how many other possible espers and psychics these men, or others like them had assaulted and killed?
"We must risk it," he said finally. "There is too much at stake here."
Sapphire nodded and turned back to her captive. A surprisingly short time later, there was a faint pop and she turned back to the sorcerer, a small, wafer-thin disk in her hand. "This is it, although I think it burned up after I took it out."
Avalon nodded, while Katsumi dropped the implant into a small bag for safe keeping.
The man seemed unharmed by the removal, and - unsurprisingly - was quite open to a second telepathic scan. The six men in the room, as well as the two others left outside Sapphire's apartment building, were the entire London organization. Their mission was simple; find any promising but unknown psychics and eliminate them. Established psychics were to be ignored, mainly to avoid calling attention to themselves. Their boss was an American. Or, to be more accurate, was presumed to be an American due to his accent. They had never met the man, and all contact was initiated by this man.
Turning to Sapphire and Katsumi, Avalon gave a tired shrug. "I fear we have found all that we can here. Now, we must return to America and continue our search."
Howard County, Maryland, United States of America
Opening up the morning paper, Avalon gave the headlines a quick glance. Several hundred people were reported dead following a terrorist attack in Disneyland. Kenneth Star was subpoenaing anyone and everyone even remotely related to the Clinton sex scandal. In Chicago, the police were puzzled by the discovery of a corpse found not too far from his own severed head... the puzzlement coming for the fact that no one seemed able to identify the dead man. Closing the paper, Avalon sighed and tossed it on the floor. Katsumi was right, Earth was heading for certain disaster.