Haze & Chaos - The Hunt Part 3
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“Jack, let’s roll!” Will called out as he startled everyone in the garage with his sudden entrance. Garage XA was notably bigger than others given that it was used for special vehicles. The MRAP itself was rumbling ready to go, sitting there with its brilliant red paint job reflecting the LED-based lights far above. It was easy to tell Jackson had not taken it out for a spin yet.
“AGH, Weatherman, where’d you come from?” Jackson said as he stepped over to the three.
“Well I wanted to go straight to Bethany’s place, but Marcus said no.”
“Aw come on, Amigo–you wouldn’t get to ride in this bad boy,” Adrien said as he walked over and patted Will on the back. “Sam, Barry, Hola!”
“Heya, Adrien–everything going well?” asked Morrigan.
He nodded and shrugged, adjusting his coat that had been tied around his waist. “For the most part–Dorado’s doing fine and got put through its paces by a group of insurgents in Columbia, but otherwise no issues.”
“I see,” Barry said with a nod. “So, this… behemoth of a car here!”
“A car!?” Jackson cried with a laugh. “Barry, babe, this here is a Marauder! An MRAP straight out of South Africa. I went for one of the cheaper 10 ton ones, but it still climbs, tumbles, and plows through the thickest mud and cars imaginable – and if dad and GENADIER can drop a six figure check on some BTRs, I can pick myself up this bad boy…” He climbed up the ladder to get to the front door. “Elaine is a little put off by it, but Leo loves it. Now if you guys could hop on in the back, we’ll be off.”
Adrien quickly hurried over to the back door and got it open, helping the three as they climbed up the small ladder. “We would’ve had Satsuki here, but he’s off looking for Jun. Either way, you guys get to see this thing’s first official deployment.”
“Ooh, nice,” Morrigan complimented as she sat down in one of the rugged seats lining the walls. It was not the most comfortable, but that was to be expected. “Shoot, are we going to use this for the squad, Adri–Captain?”
“Ciertamente, Devilfay,” he said as he went to the passenger-side front seat. “Jack’s a part of the squad after all…”
Jackson chuckled as he pressed some buttons as the garage doors opened. “We would’ve had this for September, but you know how getting something like this overseas goes–especially during all of that chaos… This thing doesn’t even have a key! You press buttons to get it going.” Surprisingly the vehicle was quite smooth rolling out of the garage, despite its hulking size.
Will could not help but smile as they set out for the base of Mt. Steadyrock. “Doesn’t matter if it’s late, it still feels good to set out in this monster, haha!”
The group thundered down the roads in their massive, armored truck, prompting people to record with their phones as they made their way to the roads leading to the base of Mt. Steadyrock. The idea of rolling down a window and waving to people crossed Will’s mind, but he was not in that type of vehicle and they were on duty. What he could do was tell Morrigan and Barry more about his past missions and the times he got to ride in the big military vehicles–even a tank on one occasion. Despite being someone who was not fond of the military, Will certainly seemed to love the perks his career came with. And to be fair, he was not dumb–he had heard the horror stories, even Antares’ pre-Liger Brigade mission to the middle east in a country that vanished from existence due The Extinction Order trifling with djinn. Will recognized that while war was hell, someone had to put their foot down and take a stand–and in this case, he had his own business to tend to given the chaos centering around Sebastian back in September.
The two combatants duking it out in the alpine fields before the endurant Mt. Steadyrock heard the thundering of a large vehicle approach, despite their contest of might, and slowed down to see who it was. Hopping out of the truck was Will first, followed by everyone else, and they saw both Aoife and Ernust. Aoife was a strong, muscular woman with long brown hair, wearing a black unitard and had strange, glowing regions on her arms that pulsed with the colors of the rainbow. Ernust was equally muscular and quite tall, having an imposing figure that was accentuated by his roughed up clothing and norse tattoos–which had an arcane feel to them given all of the runes. His face was one of someone who had dealt with all levels of strife, but never let him get it down despite his questionable past. And while he had worked closely with Sebastian before, it was difficult to sense any bad bones in Ernust’s body just by looking at him.
Noticing it was her boy that had shown up, Aoife had a subtle, mischievous smile appear as she blew a strand of hair out of her face. Ernust was not expecting her to throw a strong punch, and was even more caught off guard when it turned into a barrage that he blocked with his fists–and then he noticed that Aoife was holding back, using her aura magic to create a barrier to cushion each impact. He needed to get back to his investigation, but Aoife was not going to let him get away that easily, and the others most likely wanted to ask him questions. Before he could finalize how he was going to respond to Jackson and Adrien, Aoife launched into a series of kicks one after the other. Aoife’s body seemed to be heating up like a volcano as the glowing regions of her arms turned fiery orange, so Ernust focused his magic to put some distance between the two. The runes on his arms glowed, and an invisible force shoved Aoife back. Not one to take that sitting down, Aoife focused her energy, causing the ground to rumble–she was getting pumped at this point.
The group were cheering Aoife on, and just as Ernust blew into an old, rustic whistle that summoned a giant snake from a portal in the ground, a loud roar was heard that caused Ernust, Aoife, and the snake to look up towards the familiar crypt entrance–it was Bethany in her manticore form. “ALRIGHT, ENOUGH WITH THE RUCKUS!” she barked as she hurried down the hill. “JESUS–I MEAN JESUS! Could you two be any louder?!”
“Oops, sorry about that, kiddo,” Aoife apologized as she cooled down.
“Entschuldigung, Bethany,” Ernust said as he gestured for the snake to return to the realm it had come from.
Bethany shoved her tail in his face. “Ernust, I said no skulking around my home–Clara’s bar is fine…”
“Excuse me, dear, but a bar?” Aoife interjected as she went to get her ‘World’s No. 1 Mom’ hoodie off of the ground. “How old are you again?” she questioned with a laugh.
“I’m past 300…” she grunted.
“Well my goodness!” Aoife said with a smile and her hands on her hips, making Bethany groan like that of a child being embarrassed by an adult.
“Mom!” Will called out as the group approached.
“KIDDO,” Aoife exclaimed as she picked him up for a bear hug. “Good to see you again, sweetie!”
“MOM, I’m 29!” he complained, causing the others to laugh.
“I don’t care, you’re still my little kiddo!”
Adrien looked like he was putting something together in his head as he moved his fingers back and forth. “So she’s not his current mother…”
“Four iterations back–shenanigans involving The Lich of Old,” Jackson reminded him, causing Aoife to subtly wince. “Alright, Ernust, what’s the big idea?”
Ernust adjusted his leather, fingerless gloves and cleared his throat. “Looking for Nobu, just like Jun currently is–”
“Don’t let him hear us calling by his name,” Will added as Aoife put her arm around his shoulders. “Remember, he wants to be called ‘Dethblade the Hunter’ at the moment.”
Ernust shook his head with a subtle smile. “In der Tat. I’m not sure where Nobu and Dustin are hiding, which is what I am trying to discern at the moment…”
“For who exactly?” Jackson inquired, crossing his arms.
“My employers, you could say…”
Bethany did not appreciate him being vague and stated “Sebastian, Clara, Jun, and… X-Pen?”
“How did you…?” Ernust questioned with a confused look on his face.
Bethany smirked as she changed back to her human form in a calm flash of red and magenta light. “Me and the manticore are getting to know each other better.” Notably she lacked her makeup, her hair was messy, and it looked like she had been laying around watching television.
“Bethany, are you okay?” Morrigan asked, a little concerned as she reverted back to being Sam.
With an eyelid twitch, Bethany shrugged. “Eh, I’m fine–I’m slowly remembering the circumstances of my death, my big sister is still missing, and Feblandstan got wiped off the face of the map–NO BIGGIE!” Everybody calmly took a step back to give her some space…
“Mein Beileid, Bethany,” Ernust replied, unsure of what else to say–if he had known she was that frustrated, he would have been a bit more discreet. “I do have some information that I would like to relay to your superiors, Jackson, Adrien–some of it relating to Nobu, but others relating to…” He then leaned in towards the two. "Die Krankheit…”
Jackson nodded and glanced towards Adrien, who also nodded. “Sebastian’s not on his way to sack the city again, is he?”
“If he does, me and Wendelin will put our feet down, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t.”
“Alright–if you guys could excuse us for one moment…” Jackson said as the three of them stepped far enough away so they could whisper amongst themselves without being heard.
Barry hummed with a curious sound of electricity and nodded in the direction of Jackson and the others. “Interesting… So how’s it going, Aoife?”
“Very good, Barry–you and Will getting to bed on time?”
“For the most part,” Will replied. “And don’t worry, we swung by to say happy birthday to Blood.”
“What are you up to at the moment, Aoife?” Barry inquired. “I think we’ve got this under wraps…”
Aoife smiled and shook her head. “Well you know me–I love seeing my boy, and I was able to get a hold of Inkblot for once–he’s around here somewhere.”
Will nodded as he gestured for Aoife to let go of him. “Oh yeah, Mayhem mentioned him. Sorry for the ruckus, Bethany.”
“Aw, don’t worry, it’s alright,” she said with a dismissive wave.
Sam then stepped over, wanting to address what was bugging Bethany. “Bethany, is there something you’d like to talk about? We’re here if you need us.”
She put her hands on her hips and bubbled her lips, looking out towards the horizon as the sun started to shift to late afternoon. “Valentin’s been trying to chat too–it’s… it’s an entire history lesson, Sam. And you guys got a mission to tend to, so we’ll save it for later.”
While that was not an outright rejection, Sam still felt the need to push the matter. “Okay, but just know that we’ll probably have down time during this mission, so feel free to come hang out with us over at M.A.I.G.”
“Yeah, plus I’m pretty sure Marcus will make time for you,” Will added.
“Ha, you sure about that?” Barry put in.
Will waved his hand around in an unsure manner with nods of his head. “I mean, Bethany is one of us at the end of the day, and there’s the Vermilion Manticore…”
“Mm, yes,” she dismissively said, implying she wanted Will to stop talking about her like she was not there. “Will, what’s wrong with your void magic?”
This caught Will off guard, and he was not sure what to say to that. “There’s something wrong?”
“Yeah, I can sense it–there’s like… three people–no, four people… five? The hell?”
Aoife nodded, as she was picking up on it too. “Sweetie, is there something you’re not telling us?”
Will had to take a step back from the group, as they were making him feel weird. “Guys, what’s going on here? Like–there’s nothing wrong… I mean, yeah, Mads is getting a little antsy over Nosmirc, and my dreams have been getting really weird, but I’m pretty sure I’m fine.”
Barry gave off a skeptical-sounding hum of electricity, which was noticed by Jackson and Ernust. “Will, you know just as well as I do that in our field of work strange dreams are never a good sign–”
“WILL!” Bethany cried, having stuttered over her words. “Jeez, remember the dreams I caused!?”
Will went silent with an awkward smile, then nodded in concession. “I mean, I suppose we can talk about it when we get back to the base…”
There was a pause, with Aoife putting her arm around Will’s shoulders again. “So, Kiddo, when are we going to see your current parents?”
“Mom, we’ve talked about this…” Will groaned.
“Oh?” Bethany inquired, very curious.
Sam sighed, with it sounding more like a complaining moan. “Aoife wants to go meet his current parents, but Boyo’s being stubborn…” This warranted a low growl from Will, of which Aoife lightly shook him to throw him off balance.
“Well it can’t be all that bad, can it?” Ernust questioned as the three rejoined the group.
“We’re not interrupting anything, are we?” Jackson asked.
Adrien visually inspected everyone’s faces and nodded. “Problemas familiares…”
Jackson had a rough idea of what he said and cleared his throat. “Well anyways, we need to get back to HQ, stat. Nobu’s nowhere to be found at the moment, but I’ve got stuff dad and Marcus need to see. Bethany, you want to come with us?”
“Not right now,” she said as she started to walk back up the hill. “I might swing by later to say hi to everyone, though. Let me know if Uncle Valentin shows up.”
“Will do, little lady. Aoife, need a ride?”
“Sure, thank you, Jack,” she replied with an enthusiastic tone, as per her unshakable positive nature.
“Alright then,” he said as he started to walk back to the truck. “Ernust, you’re free to go. No more rough housing though, and let us know if you see anything.”
Ernust chuckled, given how old he was compared to Jackson. “Danke, Herr Woodall. And Will, you should go see your parents again, given the thankless conflict we find ourselves in…”
“That’s easy for you to say…” Will grunted, only to get slapped on the back by Haze. “OW, HAZE!?”
“Enough griping, mister, or I’ll leave you high and dry for this mission!” This made the others laugh, to Will’s embarrassment.
“Está bien, está bien,” Adrien interrupted. “Let’s save any disagreements for HQ so we don’t have to worry about getting caught with our pants down… Haze, please.”
“What?” he replied with a snicker. He had altered his bodysuit form to cause Will’s ‘pants’ to drop and show his underwear.
“HAZE!” he exclaimed as he pulled them up and hobbled back to the truck, with the others giggling and chuckling.
“Careful, Boyo, don’t hurt yourself,” Sam called out as he saw him being a little reckless climbing up the back ladder. She was followed by Adrien and Jackson, who also got on Will’s case.
Barry gave off another electrical arc that indicated his anxiety. “I’m starting to think we should have kept him in The Unlight–all of his Earth issues are really weighing on him…”
“I can’t say that I blame him,” Aoife remarked as she started to walk with Barry.
“Does he ever sit down and have a drink at die Kneipe?” Ernust inquired.
Barry and Aoife both lightly scoffed. “Of course he doesn’t,” Barry answered. “He’s too paranoid about his liver and gut, despite having ULTRAMagic…”
“I keep trying to tell him a drink or two here and then won’t kill him,” Aoife added.
Ernust put his hand to his chin in contemplation and nodded. “Huh, I should talk to Clara and have her extend an invite to the bar… Viel Glück euch allen!” he called out as he headed off.
Next: Part 4
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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“Jack, let’s roll!” Will called out as he startled everyone in the garage with his sudden entrance. Garage XA was notably bigger than others given that it was used for special vehicles. The MRAP itself was rumbling ready to go, sitting there with its brilliant red paint job reflecting the LED-based lights far above. It was easy to tell Jackson had not taken it out for a spin yet.
“AGH, Weatherman, where’d you come from?” Jackson said as he stepped over to the three.
“Well I wanted to go straight to Bethany’s place, but Marcus said no.”
“Aw come on, Amigo–you wouldn’t get to ride in this bad boy,” Adrien said as he walked over and patted Will on the back. “Sam, Barry, Hola!”
“Heya, Adrien–everything going well?” asked Morrigan.
He nodded and shrugged, adjusting his coat that had been tied around his waist. “For the most part–Dorado’s doing fine and got put through its paces by a group of insurgents in Columbia, but otherwise no issues.”
“I see,” Barry said with a nod. “So, this… behemoth of a car here!”
“A car!?” Jackson cried with a laugh. “Barry, babe, this here is a Marauder! An MRAP straight out of South Africa. I went for one of the cheaper 10 ton ones, but it still climbs, tumbles, and plows through the thickest mud and cars imaginable – and if dad and GENADIER can drop a six figure check on some BTRs, I can pick myself up this bad boy…” He climbed up the ladder to get to the front door. “Elaine is a little put off by it, but Leo loves it. Now if you guys could hop on in the back, we’ll be off.”
Adrien quickly hurried over to the back door and got it open, helping the three as they climbed up the small ladder. “We would’ve had Satsuki here, but he’s off looking for Jun. Either way, you guys get to see this thing’s first official deployment.”
“Ooh, nice,” Morrigan complimented as she sat down in one of the rugged seats lining the walls. It was not the most comfortable, but that was to be expected. “Shoot, are we going to use this for the squad, Adri–Captain?”
“Ciertamente, Devilfay,” he said as he went to the passenger-side front seat. “Jack’s a part of the squad after all…”
Jackson chuckled as he pressed some buttons as the garage doors opened. “We would’ve had this for September, but you know how getting something like this overseas goes–especially during all of that chaos… This thing doesn’t even have a key! You press buttons to get it going.” Surprisingly the vehicle was quite smooth rolling out of the garage, despite its hulking size.
Will could not help but smile as they set out for the base of Mt. Steadyrock. “Doesn’t matter if it’s late, it still feels good to set out in this monster, haha!”
The group thundered down the roads in their massive, armored truck, prompting people to record with their phones as they made their way to the roads leading to the base of Mt. Steadyrock. The idea of rolling down a window and waving to people crossed Will’s mind, but he was not in that type of vehicle and they were on duty. What he could do was tell Morrigan and Barry more about his past missions and the times he got to ride in the big military vehicles–even a tank on one occasion. Despite being someone who was not fond of the military, Will certainly seemed to love the perks his career came with. And to be fair, he was not dumb–he had heard the horror stories, even Antares’ pre-Liger Brigade mission to the middle east in a country that vanished from existence due The Extinction Order trifling with djinn. Will recognized that while war was hell, someone had to put their foot down and take a stand–and in this case, he had his own business to tend to given the chaos centering around Sebastian back in September.
The two combatants duking it out in the alpine fields before the endurant Mt. Steadyrock heard the thundering of a large vehicle approach, despite their contest of might, and slowed down to see who it was. Hopping out of the truck was Will first, followed by everyone else, and they saw both Aoife and Ernust. Aoife was a strong, muscular woman with long brown hair, wearing a black unitard and had strange, glowing regions on her arms that pulsed with the colors of the rainbow. Ernust was equally muscular and quite tall, having an imposing figure that was accentuated by his roughed up clothing and norse tattoos–which had an arcane feel to them given all of the runes. His face was one of someone who had dealt with all levels of strife, but never let him get it down despite his questionable past. And while he had worked closely with Sebastian before, it was difficult to sense any bad bones in Ernust’s body just by looking at him.
Noticing it was her boy that had shown up, Aoife had a subtle, mischievous smile appear as she blew a strand of hair out of her face. Ernust was not expecting her to throw a strong punch, and was even more caught off guard when it turned into a barrage that he blocked with his fists–and then he noticed that Aoife was holding back, using her aura magic to create a barrier to cushion each impact. He needed to get back to his investigation, but Aoife was not going to let him get away that easily, and the others most likely wanted to ask him questions. Before he could finalize how he was going to respond to Jackson and Adrien, Aoife launched into a series of kicks one after the other. Aoife’s body seemed to be heating up like a volcano as the glowing regions of her arms turned fiery orange, so Ernust focused his magic to put some distance between the two. The runes on his arms glowed, and an invisible force shoved Aoife back. Not one to take that sitting down, Aoife focused her energy, causing the ground to rumble–she was getting pumped at this point.
The group were cheering Aoife on, and just as Ernust blew into an old, rustic whistle that summoned a giant snake from a portal in the ground, a loud roar was heard that caused Ernust, Aoife, and the snake to look up towards the familiar crypt entrance–it was Bethany in her manticore form. “ALRIGHT, ENOUGH WITH THE RUCKUS!” she barked as she hurried down the hill. “JESUS–I MEAN JESUS! Could you two be any louder?!”
“Oops, sorry about that, kiddo,” Aoife apologized as she cooled down.
“Entschuldigung, Bethany,” Ernust said as he gestured for the snake to return to the realm it had come from.
Bethany shoved her tail in his face. “Ernust, I said no skulking around my home–Clara’s bar is fine…”
“Excuse me, dear, but a bar?” Aoife interjected as she went to get her ‘World’s No. 1 Mom’ hoodie off of the ground. “How old are you again?” she questioned with a laugh.
“I’m past 300…” she grunted.
“Well my goodness!” Aoife said with a smile and her hands on her hips, making Bethany groan like that of a child being embarrassed by an adult.
“Mom!” Will called out as the group approached.
“KIDDO,” Aoife exclaimed as she picked him up for a bear hug. “Good to see you again, sweetie!”
“MOM, I’m 29!” he complained, causing the others to laugh.
“I don’t care, you’re still my little kiddo!”
Adrien looked like he was putting something together in his head as he moved his fingers back and forth. “So she’s not his current mother…”
“Four iterations back–shenanigans involving The Lich of Old,” Jackson reminded him, causing Aoife to subtly wince. “Alright, Ernust, what’s the big idea?”
Ernust adjusted his leather, fingerless gloves and cleared his throat. “Looking for Nobu, just like Jun currently is–”
“Don’t let him hear us calling by his name,” Will added as Aoife put her arm around his shoulders. “Remember, he wants to be called ‘Dethblade the Hunter’ at the moment.”
Ernust shook his head with a subtle smile. “In der Tat. I’m not sure where Nobu and Dustin are hiding, which is what I am trying to discern at the moment…”
“For who exactly?” Jackson inquired, crossing his arms.
“My employers, you could say…”
Bethany did not appreciate him being vague and stated “Sebastian, Clara, Jun, and… X-Pen?”
“How did you…?” Ernust questioned with a confused look on his face.
Bethany smirked as she changed back to her human form in a calm flash of red and magenta light. “Me and the manticore are getting to know each other better.” Notably she lacked her makeup, her hair was messy, and it looked like she had been laying around watching television.
“Bethany, are you okay?” Morrigan asked, a little concerned as she reverted back to being Sam.
With an eyelid twitch, Bethany shrugged. “Eh, I’m fine–I’m slowly remembering the circumstances of my death, my big sister is still missing, and Feblandstan got wiped off the face of the map–NO BIGGIE!” Everybody calmly took a step back to give her some space…
“Mein Beileid, Bethany,” Ernust replied, unsure of what else to say–if he had known she was that frustrated, he would have been a bit more discreet. “I do have some information that I would like to relay to your superiors, Jackson, Adrien–some of it relating to Nobu, but others relating to…” He then leaned in towards the two. "Die Krankheit…”
Jackson nodded and glanced towards Adrien, who also nodded. “Sebastian’s not on his way to sack the city again, is he?”
“If he does, me and Wendelin will put our feet down, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t.”
“Alright–if you guys could excuse us for one moment…” Jackson said as the three of them stepped far enough away so they could whisper amongst themselves without being heard.
Barry hummed with a curious sound of electricity and nodded in the direction of Jackson and the others. “Interesting… So how’s it going, Aoife?”
“Very good, Barry–you and Will getting to bed on time?”
“For the most part,” Will replied. “And don’t worry, we swung by to say happy birthday to Blood.”
“What are you up to at the moment, Aoife?” Barry inquired. “I think we’ve got this under wraps…”
Aoife smiled and shook her head. “Well you know me–I love seeing my boy, and I was able to get a hold of Inkblot for once–he’s around here somewhere.”
Will nodded as he gestured for Aoife to let go of him. “Oh yeah, Mayhem mentioned him. Sorry for the ruckus, Bethany.”
“Aw, don’t worry, it’s alright,” she said with a dismissive wave.
Sam then stepped over, wanting to address what was bugging Bethany. “Bethany, is there something you’d like to talk about? We’re here if you need us.”
She put her hands on her hips and bubbled her lips, looking out towards the horizon as the sun started to shift to late afternoon. “Valentin’s been trying to chat too–it’s… it’s an entire history lesson, Sam. And you guys got a mission to tend to, so we’ll save it for later.”
While that was not an outright rejection, Sam still felt the need to push the matter. “Okay, but just know that we’ll probably have down time during this mission, so feel free to come hang out with us over at M.A.I.G.”
“Yeah, plus I’m pretty sure Marcus will make time for you,” Will added.
“Ha, you sure about that?” Barry put in.
Will waved his hand around in an unsure manner with nods of his head. “I mean, Bethany is one of us at the end of the day, and there’s the Vermilion Manticore…”
“Mm, yes,” she dismissively said, implying she wanted Will to stop talking about her like she was not there. “Will, what’s wrong with your void magic?”
This caught Will off guard, and he was not sure what to say to that. “There’s something wrong?”
“Yeah, I can sense it–there’s like… three people–no, four people… five? The hell?”
Aoife nodded, as she was picking up on it too. “Sweetie, is there something you’re not telling us?”
Will had to take a step back from the group, as they were making him feel weird. “Guys, what’s going on here? Like–there’s nothing wrong… I mean, yeah, Mads is getting a little antsy over Nosmirc, and my dreams have been getting really weird, but I’m pretty sure I’m fine.”
Barry gave off a skeptical-sounding hum of electricity, which was noticed by Jackson and Ernust. “Will, you know just as well as I do that in our field of work strange dreams are never a good sign–”
“WILL!” Bethany cried, having stuttered over her words. “Jeez, remember the dreams I caused!?”
Will went silent with an awkward smile, then nodded in concession. “I mean, I suppose we can talk about it when we get back to the base…”
There was a pause, with Aoife putting her arm around Will’s shoulders again. “So, Kiddo, when are we going to see your current parents?”
“Mom, we’ve talked about this…” Will groaned.
“Oh?” Bethany inquired, very curious.
Sam sighed, with it sounding more like a complaining moan. “Aoife wants to go meet his current parents, but Boyo’s being stubborn…” This warranted a low growl from Will, of which Aoife lightly shook him to throw him off balance.
“Well it can’t be all that bad, can it?” Ernust questioned as the three rejoined the group.
“We’re not interrupting anything, are we?” Jackson asked.
Adrien visually inspected everyone’s faces and nodded. “Problemas familiares…”
Jackson had a rough idea of what he said and cleared his throat. “Well anyways, we need to get back to HQ, stat. Nobu’s nowhere to be found at the moment, but I’ve got stuff dad and Marcus need to see. Bethany, you want to come with us?”
“Not right now,” she said as she started to walk back up the hill. “I might swing by later to say hi to everyone, though. Let me know if Uncle Valentin shows up.”
“Will do, little lady. Aoife, need a ride?”
“Sure, thank you, Jack,” she replied with an enthusiastic tone, as per her unshakable positive nature.
“Alright then,” he said as he started to walk back to the truck. “Ernust, you’re free to go. No more rough housing though, and let us know if you see anything.”
Ernust chuckled, given how old he was compared to Jackson. “Danke, Herr Woodall. And Will, you should go see your parents again, given the thankless conflict we find ourselves in…”
“That’s easy for you to say…” Will grunted, only to get slapped on the back by Haze. “OW, HAZE!?”
“Enough griping, mister, or I’ll leave you high and dry for this mission!” This made the others laugh, to Will’s embarrassment.
“Está bien, está bien,” Adrien interrupted. “Let’s save any disagreements for HQ so we don’t have to worry about getting caught with our pants down… Haze, please.”
“What?” he replied with a snicker. He had altered his bodysuit form to cause Will’s ‘pants’ to drop and show his underwear.
“HAZE!” he exclaimed as he pulled them up and hobbled back to the truck, with the others giggling and chuckling.
“Careful, Boyo, don’t hurt yourself,” Sam called out as he saw him being a little reckless climbing up the back ladder. She was followed by Adrien and Jackson, who also got on Will’s case.
Barry gave off another electrical arc that indicated his anxiety. “I’m starting to think we should have kept him in The Unlight–all of his Earth issues are really weighing on him…”
“I can’t say that I blame him,” Aoife remarked as she started to walk with Barry.
“Does he ever sit down and have a drink at die Kneipe?” Ernust inquired.
Barry and Aoife both lightly scoffed. “Of course he doesn’t,” Barry answered. “He’s too paranoid about his liver and gut, despite having ULTRAMagic…”
“I keep trying to tell him a drink or two here and then won’t kill him,” Aoife added.
Ernust put his hand to his chin in contemplation and nodded. “Huh, I should talk to Clara and have her extend an invite to the bar… Viel Glück euch allen!” he called out as he headed off.
Next: Part 4
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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