ULTRAMagic Interval - Chapter 23
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“Hey, Sam? You don’t think Orion’s going to go rummaging through my stuff, do you? I mean, like my personal stuff…”
“I don’t think he would, Will. He didn’t come off as that kind of kid.” Sam then set her drawing tablet down on the lounge table. “Boyo, you realize the elephant in the room, right?”
“Yes?”
“We technically have a child now…”
Will stood up, stretched a little, and walked over to the windows to lean on the sills. “One that ‘convinced’ us to adopt him, but yes.”
Sam twiddled her thumbs, then took a breath to steady her nerves. “Will, are… When are we going to get married?”
This caught Will off guard, causing a small tinge of adrenaline to enter his veins. “Well, that… um, yes?”
“Will, we’ve been together since 2018 and have adopted a son. I think the time is finally upon us.”
Will laughed with a hint of anxiety and joy. “OF COURSE” he cried, blushing a bit. “Obviously I want to marry you… it’s just, do I have to propose right this second?”
“Of course not. Let’s wait until there isn’t a target on your back.” She then got up and went over to him, setting her hand on his shoulder. “Also relax, I fully understand what you’re going through… I’m going through it too, remember?” This made both of them laugh, given how ridiculous things had become.
“I love you, Sam. You’ve been there for me and I can’t imagine a world without you.”
Sam gave him a hug in response. “Hey, this goes both ways. Even after everything we’ve gone through here, you’re still a beacon of positivity. How do you manage to pull it off?” she said as she lightly pinched his nose and wiggled it.
Will giggled and broke away to pace. “Well you know me: I have no reason to be negative. Nothing would get done.”
“Exactly. You know, I just realized we should probably knock off the adult stuff, the little of it we do…”
“Err, yeah.”
“And no more hanging out with other succubi, Boyo.”
He paused, accepting the call out. “To be fair, that was in 2020 and… 2020 was a cursed year.”
Sam nodded, a bit concessionary. “Uh-huh, no two ways about that one.”
Buster then entered the lounge, completely unnoticed barring the noises of the cape of his true form. “Hey guys! I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“Ah, hey, Buster,” Will welcomed, a little startled.
“Not at all,” Sam replied. “What’s up?”
Buster gave his throat a light clearing, highlighting the strange, subtle echo his voice had in his current state. “Jackson wants to see you and I, Sam. Apparently Elaine found something…”
“Oh shoot, Elaine’s here?” Will interrupted.
“Nope, sorry. She’s still in The Unlight.”
“Aw, bummer.” Will then looked at Sam with curiosity. “Wait, is that where she’s been disappearing too? Did you know?”
Sam sighed with a lurking feeling on her chest. “Yeah. Ellen asked me not to say and, well, you know my feelings towards all that. Buster, does this relate to you and me specifically?”
“Possibly. Jackson and Fractal seemed to be pushing towards that.”
Sam bubbled her lips out of frustration. “Alright, let’s go…”
“It probably won’t be that bad” Will tried to assure her as they left the room.
“Oh, Will, how’d it go with Orion last night?” Buster inquired.
“Great apparently. Antonio called this morning and said he’s been enjoying some of my older games. And I guess he’s got a bit of magic potential according to Randalph.” After making their way to the end of an empty hall, Will remembered something. “Hey, how are those interviews going?”
“Fantastic,” Buster replied as the three approached a checkpoint. “Everyone’s been a blast to work with. We even convinced Reynard and Trumna to do some skits with us for the video compiling everything.”
Given that the three were heading towards Anomaly Containment, security personnel were everywhere. Naturally each of them had to verify their credentials at a security gate. The guards were kind and patient as they swiped their cards and looked into an iris scanner. Once everything was cleared up, the trio were allowed to proceed, with Buster leading the way. Olivia soon met up with them and led them to a receptionist desk before heading to the laboratory where Jackson was.
Anomaly Containment was a strange place to say the least. Guards were all over the place and the employees looked a little on edge. The walls and floors were sleeker than usual, allowing for no gaps or cracks whatsoever. While the four waited at reception, Will took a look around. He had heard of the section during prior visits to M.A.I.G., but the closest he had ever gotten was Bran’s laboratory. The soft, fluorescent lights seemed calming, but the whole area felt dangerous regardless.
Watching the researchers move about, Will noticed some were carrying strange objects and artifacts. A scientist with dark hair and a short beard stepped over to Will and asked if he could touch the gem in the middle of a tablet real quickly. The object seemed to relate to fae-folk and it was up in the air if it would react to a dullahan. After it glowed for a brief moment, the scientist thanked Will and walked off. That experiment had given Will the heebeegeebees and annoyingly he started spotting a shadow person out of the corner of his eyes, unsure if it was an anomaly or if he was seeing things.
“Alright, you four are clear to head to Lab-BX1,” the receptionist stated as she hit enter on her computer’s keyboard. “What’s the matter, Mr. Ford?”
“Well, um, I keep seeing a… shadow person here and there…”
The receptionist sighed and pressed a button on her phone’s receiver. “Reception to containment squads, The Earl of Shadows is out again.”
“I take it he’s a regular troublemaker?” Buster wondered.
“You could say that. Thankfully he’s one of our more benign guests… Mr. Ford, did you see him after you touched the tablet Dr. Arntz was carrying?” He nodded, with the receptionist pressing a different button on the receiver. “Gerrit, Mr. Ford started seeing the earl after he touched the gem, make a note of that.”
Buster indicated for his friends to follow him. “Best of luck to all of you, Ms. Dreessen.”
Over at the lab, Jackson was leaning against a countertop and fiddling with his communicator. It was in the style of a flip phone, so he kept opening and closing it. “Hey, guys! Glad you could make it” he said as the group entered through the double doors.
“Sorry I took so long, Jack,” Buster replied as the others looked around.
“Don’t worry about it, the object of interest ain’t going anywhere.”
“Huh, this looks like a standard chem lab, truth be told,” Will noted.
“Well hey, sometimes all you need is the basics,” Jackson said as he put a large canvas bag on the center countertop. “Now Sam, I don’t mean to dredge up bad memories, but we could really use your help on this one…”
Sam gave an exasperated sigh. “It’s alright. What’s in the bag?”
“Right…” Jackson unzipped the bag and pulled out what looked like a longsword made of a bone-like material. He could see the stunned look on Buster and Sam’s faces. “I assume you guys recognize this blade then?”
Buster was taken aback as he picked up the sword. “This… this is Odo’s sword!”
“Really? Um, who’s Odo?”
Sam nodded, looking like she had seen a ghost. “Oh yeah, that’s his…”
Jackson then patted his sides. “Well that’s the quickest answer to something I’ve ever seen. Seriously though, is Odo a family member or something?”
“He’s my older brother,” Buster answered as he studied the blade. It was in perfect condition despite the dirt here and there.
“So that’s really his?” Olivia inquired. “What’s it doing here?”
“Normally us Vector-Children have these manifest as a part of our being, so you’ll have to forgive me for being unsure myself.” Buster then turned to Sam, who was averting her gaze slightly. “Morrigan, you were right. Odo has to be alive still if this is here with us. It’s the only way I could be holding it…”
Sam turned away and crossed her arms. “Well of course he’s still alive. He survived the Tyrant War after all. Blood made sure of that…”
“Sam, can you tell us more?” Will wondered.
“Again, not to push a sore subject, but any info you have would help,” Jackson added. “Matters like these are fairly important to M.A.I.G. It’s in the name, heh.”
It was a little tough for Sam to work up the nerve to talk, but a reflection of Morrigan nodding encouragingly gave her the push she needed. “Jack, what does Elaine have to do with this, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Well back in 2022, we approached her about joining M.A.I.G. after finding out she was in The Unlight. Since we want to start looking into that realm on dad’s suggestion, we figured it would be a mutual relationship. We can keep tabs on Elaine and she can provide us data on that insane realm.”
“I see…” Sam then took a seat at the counter and sighed again. “I personally didn’t capture Odo, but I did give the order to do so.”
“Why, Sam?” Will asked.
“Oh, just some awful entity from the Realm of Chaos called Karnage the Traitor who tricked me into thinking the ULTRAMagic Guild needed to be overturned to protect the Cosmos. One thing led to another and he resurrected a rogue god that should have stayed dead…” Her tone sounded like she could have started crying, but Sam maintained her composure. “If you want the full story of the Tyrant War, have Elaine go talk to the ULTRAMagic Guild about it, Jack. Given that I didn’t realize what was going on until it was too late, I vowed to never return to the Unlight. I'm in no position to recount the event…”
Seeing how distressed she was, Will took Sam into his arms and hugged her. “It’s going to be alright, Sam…”
“Boyo, you’re hugging someone who nearly destroyed the Cosmos.”
“Don’t care. We’ve come this far, haven’t we?”
“Yeah,” she agreed as she broke away.
“So, can we still go to the Unlight, like you promised?”
“Shoot, I did promise that, didn’t I?”
Will nodded. “Didn’t you say the other day we can’t run from our pasts?”
After giving him a mildly incredulous look for a moment, Sam pulled Will in for a kiss. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
“Um, hey, Morrigan?” Buster interjected. “I forgive you.”
Sam was not expecting that in the slightest. “Eh? Come again? Just like that?”
“I mean, Sam, we’re all best friends. Yeah, I was angry for a while so long ago, but I’ve gotten the chance to know you. And it’s clear it wasn’t actually your fault.”
With a smile on her face, Sam shook her head. “You boys are too sweet, you know that, right?” Will and Buster chuckled in response.
Buster then looked over, noticing Olivia off to the side. “What’s wrong, Olivia?”
“Oh, nothing…” she replied as she fiddled with some instruments.
Jackson could sense what was up, feeling a bit awkward. “Yeah, right. I’m gonna go shoot Elaine a text real quickly…” he said as he headed for the side room.
“Alright then…” Buster turned his attention back to Olivia. “What’s the matter? I know you too well for there not to be something up.”
She chuckled as she set down the instrument. “Persistent as ever… Oh, I don’t know. I just feel like I’m lagging behind, I guess…”
“How so?”
“Well I mean look at you! All of you, arm cannon and cape. Me? All I have is my good looks…”
“So? That doesn’t change anything. Not to get all mushy, but I love you no matter what.”
Olivia gave a light sigh. “My grandfather was Amadeus Briggs and all I can do is get in the way…”
Buster put his hand on her shoulder. “We can change that. Want to learn magic?”
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“Olivia, you’re smart, pretty, and a hard worker. You can do anything you set your mind to, especially if you have the patience to deal with us, ha.”
She giggled and hugged Buster. “Why do you always have to be so plucky, you big goofball?”
Sam chuckled as she walked over to look at Jackson’s documents. “I mean come on, Olivia: you live with mages and demons. How hard can it be?”
“Fair point, Sam.”
“Hey, boyo, how old is Elaine again?” Sam asked.
“Um, hold on… 31,” Will answered. I always considered her one of the big kids back in elementary school.”
“And how old’s Jack?”
“34.”
Sam slowly nodded as she sifted through the papers, noticing curious personal notes on them. “Indeed… a little older, but I guess it’ll do…”
Jackson then reentered the room as if on cue. “Alright, Elaine’s heading to the guild as we speak…”
“Jack, pardon my asking, but are you dating Elaine?” This had everyone’s attention.
He went a little red in the face once he realized that he had left his documents out in the open, promptly snatching them up. “Er, yes, no! I mean, we’ve been talking a lot recently…” Will gave him a surprised look, which Jackson immediately noticed. “Hey, she has a lot of cool things to talk about, what can I say?”
Sam and Olivia looked like they were both about to start teasing Jackson when the conversation was interrupted by the wall alarms flashing red and sounding off. “ALERT: ANOMALY TRANSFER IN PROGRESS” a computerized voice announced.
“Oh hey, Anderson’s finally arriving. Come on, let’s go see what’s up,” Jackson said as he led everyone out of the lab.
Buster sheathed Odo’s sword at his side as they left. “Jackson, can I keep this blade, since it's my brother’s?”
“I guess so, just make sure you tell the higher ups. I don’t see why you couldn’t.”
The group made their way to a loading bay where a large truck was opening its trailer. Signal alarms were going off everywhere as Anomaly Containment staff got into position. Stepping out of the trailer (which looked more like a small containment cell on the inside) was what appeared to be a shadow construct. This one looked older, however, like it came from a different era. If Sebastian’s constructs could be considered modernity, then this one could have easily been placed in the 18th or 19th century. From what could be overheard, the construct was complaining about M.A.I.G. not being up to his standards, compared to The ACF.
Sam got a good look at it and realized it seemed familiar. “Wait, is that one of Dunja’s constructs? I thought they all got wiped out…”
“Well let’s ask,” Jackson insisted as he looked around, soon spotting exactly who he wanted. He gave a quick whistle. “Hey, Sirius!”
Fractal was amongst the researchers and came walking over. “Ah, Jackson and company! Good to see you all on this… rather hectic day. How’s things going on your end?”
“Great. We confirmed who the vector sword belonged to. Also Sam’s wondering who made Anderson.”
“I see you have a great deal of experience with Shadow Constructs, Morrigan…”
She sighed once more. “Unfortunately…”
“Well Anderson, ACF-040, is one of the shadow constructs that escaped the final battle for Shadowland so long ago. The team organized by Prince Barna Schindewolf was fairly thorough when Milosh Proch tried to fight back against the destruction of The Eternal Church, but it appears some constructs slipped through the cracks. It’s no surprise that it was one of Dunja’s creations that managed to survive. As for Anderson, evidently he made his way to Earth in the 50s, developing proper intelligence as he went along and would become what we have dubbed as a level 2 construct.”
“Wow…” Sam was unsure how to feel, but was impressed regardless. “So what’s he being brought in for?”
“ACF-008.”
Jackson shuddered. “Jeez, that thing…”
“It’s that bad?” Will questioned. “What is it?”
“Top secret, and trust me, you don’t want to know. As an aside, if Anderson can’t figure it out, we’re handing 08 off to The Liger Brigade.”
“I don’t know how to feel about that…” Will was a little worried for some reason, like something was watching him just then. “So why is Anderson so different from the other constructs we’ve encountered?”
“Despite the shadow orb being a fairly profane act, Dunja was a master craftsman,” Fractal answered. “We would be in legitimate trouble if Sebastian were able to match her caliber. Here’s hoping he stays at Milosh’s level…”
“Yeah, considering Anderson can take a hit,” Jackson put in. “I’ve seen it myself.”
Fractal could see that the group looked concerned. “How about we go to talk to Anderson himself? You will all find that he’s actually quite the people person…”
Next: Chapter 24
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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“Hey, Sam? You don’t think Orion’s going to go rummaging through my stuff, do you? I mean, like my personal stuff…”
“I don’t think he would, Will. He didn’t come off as that kind of kid.” Sam then set her drawing tablet down on the lounge table. “Boyo, you realize the elephant in the room, right?”
“Yes?”
“We technically have a child now…”
Will stood up, stretched a little, and walked over to the windows to lean on the sills. “One that ‘convinced’ us to adopt him, but yes.”
Sam twiddled her thumbs, then took a breath to steady her nerves. “Will, are… When are we going to get married?”
This caught Will off guard, causing a small tinge of adrenaline to enter his veins. “Well, that… um, yes?”
“Will, we’ve been together since 2018 and have adopted a son. I think the time is finally upon us.”
Will laughed with a hint of anxiety and joy. “OF COURSE” he cried, blushing a bit. “Obviously I want to marry you… it’s just, do I have to propose right this second?”
“Of course not. Let’s wait until there isn’t a target on your back.” She then got up and went over to him, setting her hand on his shoulder. “Also relax, I fully understand what you’re going through… I’m going through it too, remember?” This made both of them laugh, given how ridiculous things had become.
“I love you, Sam. You’ve been there for me and I can’t imagine a world without you.”
Sam gave him a hug in response. “Hey, this goes both ways. Even after everything we’ve gone through here, you’re still a beacon of positivity. How do you manage to pull it off?” she said as she lightly pinched his nose and wiggled it.
Will giggled and broke away to pace. “Well you know me: I have no reason to be negative. Nothing would get done.”
“Exactly. You know, I just realized we should probably knock off the adult stuff, the little of it we do…”
“Err, yeah.”
“And no more hanging out with other succubi, Boyo.”
He paused, accepting the call out. “To be fair, that was in 2020 and… 2020 was a cursed year.”
Sam nodded, a bit concessionary. “Uh-huh, no two ways about that one.”
Buster then entered the lounge, completely unnoticed barring the noises of the cape of his true form. “Hey guys! I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“Ah, hey, Buster,” Will welcomed, a little startled.
“Not at all,” Sam replied. “What’s up?”
Buster gave his throat a light clearing, highlighting the strange, subtle echo his voice had in his current state. “Jackson wants to see you and I, Sam. Apparently Elaine found something…”
“Oh shoot, Elaine’s here?” Will interrupted.
“Nope, sorry. She’s still in The Unlight.”
“Aw, bummer.” Will then looked at Sam with curiosity. “Wait, is that where she’s been disappearing too? Did you know?”
Sam sighed with a lurking feeling on her chest. “Yeah. Ellen asked me not to say and, well, you know my feelings towards all that. Buster, does this relate to you and me specifically?”
“Possibly. Jackson and Fractal seemed to be pushing towards that.”
Sam bubbled her lips out of frustration. “Alright, let’s go…”
“It probably won’t be that bad” Will tried to assure her as they left the room.
“Oh, Will, how’d it go with Orion last night?” Buster inquired.
“Great apparently. Antonio called this morning and said he’s been enjoying some of my older games. And I guess he’s got a bit of magic potential according to Randalph.” After making their way to the end of an empty hall, Will remembered something. “Hey, how are those interviews going?”
“Fantastic,” Buster replied as the three approached a checkpoint. “Everyone’s been a blast to work with. We even convinced Reynard and Trumna to do some skits with us for the video compiling everything.”
Given that the three were heading towards Anomaly Containment, security personnel were everywhere. Naturally each of them had to verify their credentials at a security gate. The guards were kind and patient as they swiped their cards and looked into an iris scanner. Once everything was cleared up, the trio were allowed to proceed, with Buster leading the way. Olivia soon met up with them and led them to a receptionist desk before heading to the laboratory where Jackson was.
Anomaly Containment was a strange place to say the least. Guards were all over the place and the employees looked a little on edge. The walls and floors were sleeker than usual, allowing for no gaps or cracks whatsoever. While the four waited at reception, Will took a look around. He had heard of the section during prior visits to M.A.I.G., but the closest he had ever gotten was Bran’s laboratory. The soft, fluorescent lights seemed calming, but the whole area felt dangerous regardless.
Watching the researchers move about, Will noticed some were carrying strange objects and artifacts. A scientist with dark hair and a short beard stepped over to Will and asked if he could touch the gem in the middle of a tablet real quickly. The object seemed to relate to fae-folk and it was up in the air if it would react to a dullahan. After it glowed for a brief moment, the scientist thanked Will and walked off. That experiment had given Will the heebeegeebees and annoyingly he started spotting a shadow person out of the corner of his eyes, unsure if it was an anomaly or if he was seeing things.
“Alright, you four are clear to head to Lab-BX1,” the receptionist stated as she hit enter on her computer’s keyboard. “What’s the matter, Mr. Ford?”
“Well, um, I keep seeing a… shadow person here and there…”
The receptionist sighed and pressed a button on her phone’s receiver. “Reception to containment squads, The Earl of Shadows is out again.”
“I take it he’s a regular troublemaker?” Buster wondered.
“You could say that. Thankfully he’s one of our more benign guests… Mr. Ford, did you see him after you touched the tablet Dr. Arntz was carrying?” He nodded, with the receptionist pressing a different button on the receiver. “Gerrit, Mr. Ford started seeing the earl after he touched the gem, make a note of that.”
Buster indicated for his friends to follow him. “Best of luck to all of you, Ms. Dreessen.”
Over at the lab, Jackson was leaning against a countertop and fiddling with his communicator. It was in the style of a flip phone, so he kept opening and closing it. “Hey, guys! Glad you could make it” he said as the group entered through the double doors.
“Sorry I took so long, Jack,” Buster replied as the others looked around.
“Don’t worry about it, the object of interest ain’t going anywhere.”
“Huh, this looks like a standard chem lab, truth be told,” Will noted.
“Well hey, sometimes all you need is the basics,” Jackson said as he put a large canvas bag on the center countertop. “Now Sam, I don’t mean to dredge up bad memories, but we could really use your help on this one…”
Sam gave an exasperated sigh. “It’s alright. What’s in the bag?”
“Right…” Jackson unzipped the bag and pulled out what looked like a longsword made of a bone-like material. He could see the stunned look on Buster and Sam’s faces. “I assume you guys recognize this blade then?”
Buster was taken aback as he picked up the sword. “This… this is Odo’s sword!”
“Really? Um, who’s Odo?”
Sam nodded, looking like she had seen a ghost. “Oh yeah, that’s his…”
Jackson then patted his sides. “Well that’s the quickest answer to something I’ve ever seen. Seriously though, is Odo a family member or something?”
“He’s my older brother,” Buster answered as he studied the blade. It was in perfect condition despite the dirt here and there.
“So that’s really his?” Olivia inquired. “What’s it doing here?”
“Normally us Vector-Children have these manifest as a part of our being, so you’ll have to forgive me for being unsure myself.” Buster then turned to Sam, who was averting her gaze slightly. “Morrigan, you were right. Odo has to be alive still if this is here with us. It’s the only way I could be holding it…”
Sam turned away and crossed her arms. “Well of course he’s still alive. He survived the Tyrant War after all. Blood made sure of that…”
“Sam, can you tell us more?” Will wondered.
“Again, not to push a sore subject, but any info you have would help,” Jackson added. “Matters like these are fairly important to M.A.I.G. It’s in the name, heh.”
It was a little tough for Sam to work up the nerve to talk, but a reflection of Morrigan nodding encouragingly gave her the push she needed. “Jack, what does Elaine have to do with this, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Well back in 2022, we approached her about joining M.A.I.G. after finding out she was in The Unlight. Since we want to start looking into that realm on dad’s suggestion, we figured it would be a mutual relationship. We can keep tabs on Elaine and she can provide us data on that insane realm.”
“I see…” Sam then took a seat at the counter and sighed again. “I personally didn’t capture Odo, but I did give the order to do so.”
“Why, Sam?” Will asked.
“Oh, just some awful entity from the Realm of Chaos called Karnage the Traitor who tricked me into thinking the ULTRAMagic Guild needed to be overturned to protect the Cosmos. One thing led to another and he resurrected a rogue god that should have stayed dead…” Her tone sounded like she could have started crying, but Sam maintained her composure. “If you want the full story of the Tyrant War, have Elaine go talk to the ULTRAMagic Guild about it, Jack. Given that I didn’t realize what was going on until it was too late, I vowed to never return to the Unlight. I'm in no position to recount the event…”
Seeing how distressed she was, Will took Sam into his arms and hugged her. “It’s going to be alright, Sam…”
“Boyo, you’re hugging someone who nearly destroyed the Cosmos.”
“Don’t care. We’ve come this far, haven’t we?”
“Yeah,” she agreed as she broke away.
“So, can we still go to the Unlight, like you promised?”
“Shoot, I did promise that, didn’t I?”
Will nodded. “Didn’t you say the other day we can’t run from our pasts?”
After giving him a mildly incredulous look for a moment, Sam pulled Will in for a kiss. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”
“Um, hey, Morrigan?” Buster interjected. “I forgive you.”
Sam was not expecting that in the slightest. “Eh? Come again? Just like that?”
“I mean, Sam, we’re all best friends. Yeah, I was angry for a while so long ago, but I’ve gotten the chance to know you. And it’s clear it wasn’t actually your fault.”
With a smile on her face, Sam shook her head. “You boys are too sweet, you know that, right?” Will and Buster chuckled in response.
Buster then looked over, noticing Olivia off to the side. “What’s wrong, Olivia?”
“Oh, nothing…” she replied as she fiddled with some instruments.
Jackson could sense what was up, feeling a bit awkward. “Yeah, right. I’m gonna go shoot Elaine a text real quickly…” he said as he headed for the side room.
“Alright then…” Buster turned his attention back to Olivia. “What’s the matter? I know you too well for there not to be something up.”
She chuckled as she set down the instrument. “Persistent as ever… Oh, I don’t know. I just feel like I’m lagging behind, I guess…”
“How so?”
“Well I mean look at you! All of you, arm cannon and cape. Me? All I have is my good looks…”
“So? That doesn’t change anything. Not to get all mushy, but I love you no matter what.”
Olivia gave a light sigh. “My grandfather was Amadeus Briggs and all I can do is get in the way…”
Buster put his hand on her shoulder. “We can change that. Want to learn magic?”
“Oh, I don’t know…”
“Olivia, you’re smart, pretty, and a hard worker. You can do anything you set your mind to, especially if you have the patience to deal with us, ha.”
She giggled and hugged Buster. “Why do you always have to be so plucky, you big goofball?”
Sam chuckled as she walked over to look at Jackson’s documents. “I mean come on, Olivia: you live with mages and demons. How hard can it be?”
“Fair point, Sam.”
“Hey, boyo, how old is Elaine again?” Sam asked.
“Um, hold on… 31,” Will answered. I always considered her one of the big kids back in elementary school.”
“And how old’s Jack?”
“34.”
Sam slowly nodded as she sifted through the papers, noticing curious personal notes on them. “Indeed… a little older, but I guess it’ll do…”
Jackson then reentered the room as if on cue. “Alright, Elaine’s heading to the guild as we speak…”
“Jack, pardon my asking, but are you dating Elaine?” This had everyone’s attention.
He went a little red in the face once he realized that he had left his documents out in the open, promptly snatching them up. “Er, yes, no! I mean, we’ve been talking a lot recently…” Will gave him a surprised look, which Jackson immediately noticed. “Hey, she has a lot of cool things to talk about, what can I say?”
Sam and Olivia looked like they were both about to start teasing Jackson when the conversation was interrupted by the wall alarms flashing red and sounding off. “ALERT: ANOMALY TRANSFER IN PROGRESS” a computerized voice announced.
“Oh hey, Anderson’s finally arriving. Come on, let’s go see what’s up,” Jackson said as he led everyone out of the lab.
Buster sheathed Odo’s sword at his side as they left. “Jackson, can I keep this blade, since it's my brother’s?”
“I guess so, just make sure you tell the higher ups. I don’t see why you couldn’t.”
The group made their way to a loading bay where a large truck was opening its trailer. Signal alarms were going off everywhere as Anomaly Containment staff got into position. Stepping out of the trailer (which looked more like a small containment cell on the inside) was what appeared to be a shadow construct. This one looked older, however, like it came from a different era. If Sebastian’s constructs could be considered modernity, then this one could have easily been placed in the 18th or 19th century. From what could be overheard, the construct was complaining about M.A.I.G. not being up to his standards, compared to The ACF.
Sam got a good look at it and realized it seemed familiar. “Wait, is that one of Dunja’s constructs? I thought they all got wiped out…”
“Well let’s ask,” Jackson insisted as he looked around, soon spotting exactly who he wanted. He gave a quick whistle. “Hey, Sirius!”
Fractal was amongst the researchers and came walking over. “Ah, Jackson and company! Good to see you all on this… rather hectic day. How’s things going on your end?”
“Great. We confirmed who the vector sword belonged to. Also Sam’s wondering who made Anderson.”
“I see you have a great deal of experience with Shadow Constructs, Morrigan…”
She sighed once more. “Unfortunately…”
“Well Anderson, ACF-040, is one of the shadow constructs that escaped the final battle for Shadowland so long ago. The team organized by Prince Barna Schindewolf was fairly thorough when Milosh Proch tried to fight back against the destruction of The Eternal Church, but it appears some constructs slipped through the cracks. It’s no surprise that it was one of Dunja’s creations that managed to survive. As for Anderson, evidently he made his way to Earth in the 50s, developing proper intelligence as he went along and would become what we have dubbed as a level 2 construct.”
“Wow…” Sam was unsure how to feel, but was impressed regardless. “So what’s he being brought in for?”
“ACF-008.”
Jackson shuddered. “Jeez, that thing…”
“It’s that bad?” Will questioned. “What is it?”
“Top secret, and trust me, you don’t want to know. As an aside, if Anderson can’t figure it out, we’re handing 08 off to The Liger Brigade.”
“I don’t know how to feel about that…” Will was a little worried for some reason, like something was watching him just then. “So why is Anderson so different from the other constructs we’ve encountered?”
“Despite the shadow orb being a fairly profane act, Dunja was a master craftsman,” Fractal answered. “We would be in legitimate trouble if Sebastian were able to match her caliber. Here’s hoping he stays at Milosh’s level…”
“Yeah, considering Anderson can take a hit,” Jackson put in. “I’ve seen it myself.”
Fractal could see that the group looked concerned. “How about we go to talk to Anderson himself? You will all find that he’s actually quite the people person…”
Next: Chapter 24
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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