Play Testers Wanted Pt. 08

I felt like Ripley from the second Alien movie where she sat in the command vehicle while a group of marines walked into a devastating trap. I was glad we weren't dealing with Xenomorphs, that would suck on a massive scale. If there were Yautja Predators in Latveria, could there by Xenomorphs down here? A nightmare scenario would be demonic version of the Alien. I shivered just thinking about trying to take out one of them when there would be twenty or more.

"Watch your ass," I urged over my commlink.

"He must be talking about you Selene." One of the mercs joked. How the hell did I miss her?

"Kiss my ass Jablonski!" She cursed and he aimed his body cam at her backside. "Fucking perv!"

"They are all going to perish," I whispered to Nathanial and he shook his head. "Tension brings out silliness."

"Exactly," he replied with a hungry glance at Selene's ass.

They reached the chamber with the ship and many of them commented on it. It was clear that none of them had seen anything like it before.

"Shi'ar?" One of the members threw out.

"Nah, you remember what their ships looked like." Another replied. "No, this is something else."

"Shi'ar," I asked. "When did you guys run into them?"

"Dude!" A new voice piped up. "Where the hell have you been? The mothership in orbit, the blockade, sheesh, oh wait..." he paused, and someone whispered to him. "Never mind. Anywho, it was all a big misunderstanding. They traced an alien ship from their sector of space back to Earth. The Shi'ar had never seen that configuration before. They believed we had sent it. No one ever did track it down and they apologized for all the hullabaloo. I don't blame them for getting all pissed off. If my home world just up and vanished, I'd be all kinds of angry." He stopped his rant when Conrad spoke up.

"Scan it Ritchie," Conrad ordered but before I could tell them it was useless Ritchie replied.

"Weird!" Ritchie commented as he analyzed the relic. "It is giving off in deep infrared nearly into the microwave range. That explains the dried mud." He continued. "Man, will you look at those drag marks... shit! Whoa! It just went dark. The thing is cold now like room temperature. It is like it realized I was scanning it. Whatever tech we are dealing with it might have some sort of A.I. and it is a clever little bugger. Trying to see what the hell it is made of. Fuck me... it is reflecting my scans!" He cursed. "Scanning the surrounding area." Pause. "We got a mix of tachyons, neutrinos, and an unidentified particle. Sending the data to you guys. Maybe one of you can make heads or tails of it."

'Surfer?' I silently sent to her. 'Want to try diagnosing this new particle?'

'On it Boss!' She gleefully purred. 'I love puzzles!'

Conrad removed a sphere-shaped drone from his pack and tossed it into the air. They switched to ultraviolet on their goggles as the drone spat out UV light in all directions. Unless there was something down there that saw in that spectrum, they wouldn't see anything as obvious as flashlights to warn them of the group's approach. They were silent after that point. The drone sent out regular pulse transmissions that formed an ever-growing map of the cave system. No bodies had been discovered so far. The mud ended shortly after the chamber and so any hint of where the men had gone was lost. They halted when the cave split or offered multiple tunnels. A core of ten men stayed in place and they would send either two five-man teams or one ten-man team to map and investigate. Other members had an orb drone and they used them to map and light their way.

"I had no idea it was so extensive." Nathanial stated as he poured himself a glass of wine. "The entire neighborhood seems to be located over the caves."

"Should we warn your neighbors?" I asked and he damn near panicked.

"NO! I mean no, these are skilled professionals. They'll get this done." He declared.

Text suddenly appeared on the bottom of one of the displays.

'Selene here. We've encountered something. Audio to follow.'

"...EE-Ahh EE-Ahh Shoo-Ma-Gore-Ath..." the inhuman voices chanted.

"What the hell is a..." Nathanial began and faltered.

"Shuma-Gorath, one of the Many Angled Ones. Dr. Strange mentioned it once or twice along with dire warnings." I explained. "I have to go. Shit just went sideways!!"

'Steph?' I mentally reached out.

'Sorry Ghost, busy right now! Portal is opening and something big is coming!' She anxiously sent.

'Shuma-Gorath?' I asked and I felt her shock like a slap across the face.

'How in the hell... oh! It appears our missions are interconnected! I... Shit!'

The connection was lost. I reached out and touched the mind of the only female on the team below, Selene. I teleported to her side and clamped a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. I mouthed the word 'sorry' and she nodded. She pointed to the flickering light ahead. There were two dozen of the things. They appeared to be kneeling and prostrated before a stone idol of a starfish shaped creature with an all-seeing eye at its center. The creatures were nightmare made flesh. They were facing away from us and I could catch what scant detail the flickering candles revealed. Their skin was heavily textured with a flexible exoskeleton and dripping an oozing ichor from joints, blow holes, and the front of their heads. I could not use the word face since I had not yet seen it. The inhuman voices came from the blow holes on the top of their skulls.

"Ia! Ia! Shuma-Gorath!" They continued to chant. We were close enough to catch the creature's scent. It was somewhere between a strong coppery smell with a blend of rotting flesh and sweet sickly decay.

I gestured to Selene and touched her mind briefly. 'Go! Fall back to the space craft! If you have explosives with you set them behind the ship and detonate them if any of these things get out. Bury the damn ship! Now go!'

She returned to the squad and they withdrew. I prepared to launch my assault on the creatures. If I struck swiftly enough it might help Steph and the others. I gave the mercenaries one minute before I attacked. During that time, I picked my combat music and prepared my gear. I activated the Yautja cloaking technology accentuated with the black glass effect, powered up the shoulder cannon, and drew out my lightsaber. I took aim at the lead creature and started my music. It was nearly twice as large as its brethren while my foot silently tapped in time with the song. I guessed at a vulnerable spot right behind the thing's third eye on the side of its head that was exposed. I fired just as the music swelled killing it instantly. I targeted the others as they scattered. I continued firing as they tried to surround me. Once they were ten feet away, I teleported to the stone idol, ignited my weapon, and struck down the image of Shuma-Gorath slicing it into pieces. If killing the leader had upset them, destroying the image of the Many Angled One drove them into a berserk rage.

"Come on mother fuckers!" I shouted desperate to keep them focused on me. It appeared to work rather well.

I kept on teleporting out of their reach and slashing at their armored bodies. I got my first real look at their facial features. They were hideous with a large grouping of facial tentacles and just above them were two angled lines of eyes. There were three blazing orbs on either side of the thing's head. I noticed pulsating organs whose functions could only be guessed at. The violet blade of my lightsaber cut through their flesh easily enough and filled the air with the burnt stench of alien matter. I dodged, flipped, and struck out as the things swarmed around me. The music pulsed in my ears as I clenched my teeth and let the amethyst blade reach out and deal death all around me.

"Explosives are set." Selene whispered in my ear. "None of the damned things has appeared yet."

"Blow it! Bury the damn ship!" I ordered.

"Stop! No!" Nathanial screamed. "We can..."

"Wah-thoom!!" The explosives spoke followed by the roar and rumble of collapsing earth.

"Halt!" One of the monstrosities ordered to the others. "This fool has trapped himself with us. We shall wait until the air runs out and he suffocates."

"Holy shit, it can talk!" I exclaimed truly surprised. "I'll be damned." I cursed as I turned off the music so I could hear it clearer.

"Damned with the rest of us." It chuckled. "Nice work. You've killed half our number and then a noble sacrifice to boot."

'Surfer. Scan the roof and find the key load bearing portions for me.' I sent silently.

'Yes boss.'

"You serve the Many Angled Ones or just Shuma-Gorath?" I asked keeping my weapon ready and ignited. I set the triangular targeting reticule between the speakers eyes on a particularly nasty looking patch of oozing pustules.

"On this occasion only the great Shuma-Gorath." It purred as the dust slowly settled and the candles began to sputter a bit. "We serve any of them that require us with complete conviction."

"What have you done with the humans?" I asked as I looked around the killing ground. I spied a glint of grey-green beneath the makeshift altar. The tablet! If it was there it must be important, I reasoned. I looked back at the speaker and it appeared to be laughing but I couldn't be sure. "Ah, I see. No corpses to find are there."

"Observant for a mere mortal," it chuckled.

'I have determined which three spots will do the most damage.' Surfer informed me.

"It is him, isn't it?" One of the other damned things asked the leader. "They spoke of his interference."

"Silence fool!" The lead creature growled. "We were pledged to secrecy upon that dire matter!"

"Holy shit! Korriban!" I exclaimed and there was a hiss among the creatures. "Ha! I blew that fucker to hell." I laughed as I marked the points that Surfer had located for me. I primed the shoulder cannon and fired in sequence leaving the closest target for last. I didn't forget about the leader. The first plasma blast took it squarely between its ugly fucking eyes. The next three struck the ceiling and brought it down in a lethal cascade. My last action was to telekinetically snatch the metal tablet. "Tata must dash."

I teleported to New York harbor. I gasped when I spied the tentacled horror the others were desperately trying to drive back into the open portal.

"So, that is Shuma-Gorath," I exclaimed as the heroes attacked the colossal figure.

I tried to estimate the size of the portal and the titanic demon pushing its way through the collapsing gate. It was on scale with the crashed capitol ships on Korriban. I was about to shout out a warning when the iceberg exploded freeing a second creature to attack them from behind.

"Oh no you don't!" I hollered as instinctively teleported into range.

I was able to levitate while I built up a powerful strike. I attacked the thing with the strongest Force burst I could muster. The thing shrieked alerting Steph and her companions as its internal organs turned to mush. It wasn't dead but it was badly injured. I screamed as a psychic attack slammed into my mind. I had garnered Shuma-Gorath's attention.

"Ghost! I got you!" Steph cried out.

Mystical syllables filled the air as she conjured the famed Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and ensnared the smaller creature. She used the cloak of levitation and began spinning. Steph anchored herself in one spot and the monster orbited her faster and faster. Steph called out a warning and the others moved aside while she flung the creature at Shuma-Gorath sending both through the portal and back to their home dimension. Thor blasted the gate with lightning forcing it to close faster.

"Yes," was the last thing I remember Steph saying. Something in my head hurt badly and I lost consciousness.

I woke surrounded by a gold aura and hovering somewhere naked in the Sanctum Sanctorum. Steph was healing me and as the last of the pain faded away so did the aura. I tumbled to the floor and she let out a surprised gasp.

"Sorry. I was caught up watching you." She admitted.

"Friend Ghost," Thor roared as he slapped me on the back. "Your timely attacked saved us a planet of harm."

"World of hurt?" I whispered still weak from the mental assault.

"That's it!" He chuckled. "Fear not we have made sure the ship was buried and the fiends slain. All is well so worry not."

"Great! Wait, this isn't the Sanctum." I realized. "Where the hell am I?" I asked as I shakily got to my feet.

As if summoned by those very words the door opened and a lovely woman entered wearing a gown of green and gold. Her hair was done in an intricate up do. I recognized the resemblance to Thor. She approached me cautiously and appeared concerned about my welfare.

"Mother! You have returned. What news?" Thor asked the Lady Frigga.

"Odin sleeps. I feel like I am cheating on the All Father. A dark elf here in our very home!" She hissed with uncertainty. "If your father discovers he'll strip you of your powers again."

"He is my friend and unlike the rest of his race." Thor said standing up for me. "We fought one of the Many Angled Ones together! Surely that must mean something mother."

She looked at me and then at Thor. A slow smile crossed her face as her cheeks flushed with color and she nodded.

"Tell him to dress lest the maidens rush in and rape him." Frigga suggested with a wink in my direction. I took on my human form and slipped on my dark robes, so I didn't appear hostile in any fashion. "Make your stay here brief."

"I wish to give my friend a gift worthy of defeating the fell demon." Thor declared. Frigga pointed at a dusty trunk in the corner. "Of course! So many tokens I collected on my journeys through the nine realms. Surely there is something worthy of a hero like Ghost."

He upended the trunk's contents and began rummaging through them. He shook his head as he placed them on the bed, his bed. I felt a sudden rush of energy and went over to see a pair of gloves that were decorated with a line of runes at each cuff. I picked one of them up and ran my fingers over the smooth dark material. I didn't recognize the runes and Thor stopped and stood frustrated.

"I am sorry friend Ghost... Ghost? Do you fancy them?" He asked and then smiled. "Ha! I can see that you do. Take them please, it pleases me that they have found a home."

"Thank you, Thor," I said as I fished the mate of the glove in my grasp from the pile of objects. "Where did you get them? What can you tell me about them?"

"Hmm, let me think," he mused. "I remember now! I was called to Nidavellir, the home of the dwarves. They were being terrorized by a dragon. The Warriors Three and I fought together and defeated the fell beast. As a reward I was given those gloves they did something... I am embarrassed to say that I was caught up in returning to Sif and do not recall what kind of enchantment lays upon them. Likely, only an Asgardian would be able to utilize them, I'm sorry."

"No, they are a grand gift," I said. "Let's see if they fit."

He watched as I slipped them on. I felt a rush of energy pass through me and the last of the fatigue left me. I pulled down my HUD and checked my inventory. The gloves had a name attached to them, Járngreipr or quite literally Iron Grippers. I looked at their powers and like many objects I had collected they had two question marks, but the one ability known was modified strength. I swiped over to my stats and nearly cried out. The gloves doubled my physical strength. It was now in the mid-forties.

"Holy shit Thor! These gloves double my strength!" I gasped.

"That was it! I remember now. You can use them, that's odd. I didn't think that would be possible." He thought out loud. "Good. Now you'll be able to handle more powerful foes."

"These are a princely gift," I stated but he was adamant that I keep them. "That said, I need to find something to try them out on."

"Well spoken! Let me summon the Warriors Three and we shall seek out conflict together." Thor rumbled happily. "Come friend Ghost, to battle!"

"Ahem!" The Sorceress Supreme growled playfully. "Guys?"

"Fine, come on woman." Thor agreed reluctantly.

"Sif! Battle!" Steph shouted. "Get your gear!"

"I guess this passes as a double date," Thor chuckled. "To the Bifrost! To battle!"

New York City: 1929 Number 66 6th Street

The police officer was making his rounds. He was bored to tears and spinning his truncheon by its leather strap. The wind blew cold on the late March evening. Patrick O'Reilly pulled his coat's collar up to protect his exposed neck. Manhattan was quiet as usual. He didn't get many calls in this neighborhood. It was upper class and only the occasional apartment building like number sixty-six here.

"Evening Patrick!" Jane Wayne-Carter called out as she took out her key and unlocked the front door of the apartment building.

"Evening Mrs. Wayne-Carter," Patrick replied.

He continued down to the corner and stopped. A soft noise caught his attention. He shivered and clutched his truncheon as his body tensed sensing unseen danger. He reached up and brought his whistle to his lips. In an emergency he would blow it to summon aid. He moved slowly peering into the shadows between the buildings, but no fiend presented itself. Patrick was meticulous in his search and paused in front of number sixty-six again. The strange soft sound caught his attention but this time it was from the street. He glanced as he turned to face the empty street.

"Crud," he cursed. He cried out when a stream of cold water struck his head and quickly soaked him to the bone. "Damn it all to..." Patrick cried out as he spun to face the empty space where number sixty-six should have been.

The water came from a severed water pipe. The only thing remaining of the apartment building were the steps leading up to where the three-story structure should have existed. The soft sound was above him now. Patrick O'Reilly looked up and screamed. His truncheon fell from his nerveless fingers as his sanity snapped. His screams alerted the neighborhood, other police officers, and anyone within range of his voice. It took three grown men to hold him down.

"Hurry!" A police officer urged.

Doctor Jason Strange injected the shrieking officer with a sedative as a diminutive Asian fellow in bright yellow robes stood nearby examining the empty lot.

"Hello there." Jason addressed the figure as he put away the syringe and closed his medical bag.

"Oh, hello," the old man replied. "What do you think?"

"Think? I have no idea. It is preposterous." The good doctor replied. "My poor patients. What has become of them?"

"I have no idea, yet." The Ancient One said smiling. "Deliciously absurd isn't it?" He added as he walked away.

"Where are you going?" Jason Strange asked.

"Bleecker Street. I have research to do." The old man replied.

Fade to Black.