The Snake Moon

Suki sat on the seat reading the latest adventures of a group of mutants who were at a special school due to their gifts. She enjoyed reading since it helped pass the time between here and there. Depending on where there was and how long it took to get there, she would indulge in a trivial form of reading. 

Her attention was focused on the sound bubble of each page, reading the story that unfolded. Drawing her in deeper and deeper into the continued story arc.

She was just getting to a good part when she flipped the page and the story arc was To be continued... and that irked her to no end. She picked up a sharpie and turned to the front cover and wrote down the date and a few numbers on the upper left corner. 

"You know that devalues the price," Goner commented.

"Well duh," she shot back. 

"Then why are you doing it?" he inquired.

"Just in case the next shift doesn't carry over this copy," she replied matter-of-factly. "I know that if ever I get back to this shift or a version similar to it that has this line of comic I can pick up where I left off."

The Day of Ends

Max gripped the rifle, his eyes looking around at the others, looking through their eyes and reading their souls. 

He glanced down at the valley below where hordes of cyborgnetic humanoids were congealing below. He didn't like the odds one bit.

Frank rested a hand on his good friend's shoulder. "You thinking about going Butch and Sundance, are you?" 

Max let slip a laugh. It was the first time in a while that he had a good little chuckle. Somehow, it relieved the gravity of their situation a little.

"Well Butch," Frank said as he checked the rounds that he had left in his guns. "You take the horde to the right, and I'll take the horde on the left."

In Murky Waters

Before he even reacted the creature clamped its teeth around Max's leg and jerked him into the water. He didn't even get a chance to shout out before the water was over him like a blanket on a very cold day. 

Max could feel the creature's incredible power, flailing him around like a kite in a strong wind, dragging him away from the shore and into the heart of the river. He struggled to hold his breath, but he knew that was next to impossible.

He managed to get his fingers onto a butt of one of his guns, but the creature twisted him around, making him lose his grip. The .45 slipped from his fingers and into the murky water. 

Max knew that he had precious moments to spare and that his time would come to an end if he couldn't get from of the creature's power grip. He could feel the teeth serrate his leg. 

This is so stupid, he thought. He banked on the hope that someone at camp heard and saw what happened.

Tracks in the Rain

Simon Light turned in the swivel chair to look at his superior. Simon was an Arcana 16 Rank Psychic. He had recently undergone his Tower Ordeal and was being briefed on the mission that would earn him his Star, a prestigious feat for a LEGACY Agent. 

“There’s something I’m not sure about…” 

“Yes Simon?” 

“I’ve been studying the files we have on the target’s recent activities in the Plex… Theory Division is speculating that there’s been an overall increase in Continuity and a corresponding decrease in Liminality in the target’s experiences…” 

“There seems to be,” replied his superior. “More stable recall between shifts, recurrence of allies, that sort of thing.” 

“If it’s accurate, shouldn’t we maybe hold off for a while, and let Cube be subsumed by the Status Quo? Wouldn’t it be easier to take him out then?”

The Professor smirked under his bushy mustache. “Agent Light, leave the questions about Continuity to Theory. You just keep trying to figure out a way to read Cube’s mind.”

Across the Uniplex...

It was the sound of thunder that woke Max. His eyes opened as nature's freight train rattled the windows. He heard the rain fall hard against the pane, a violent love affair streaking down the glass.

"Saigon. Shit, I am still in Saigon," he muttered to himself and then chuckled.

He got up and stretched and headed out of his bedroom and down into the kitchen. He opened his fridge and saw a solitary beer bottle; it was a sign and he took it. Twisting the cap and flicking it onto the counter, he took a long pull and went to his laptop.

He lifted the lid and the screen began to glow its radiant glow once again. As soon as the operating system kicked in he received a message

Magnum: Hi QT! I've been waiting for u.

Max smiled and than proceed to type:

CubeSquared: Morning.
Magnum: This is freaky isn't it?
CubeSquared: That it is. This has to be a first.
Magnum: It could be. But then again we could have done this before and a shift wiped any memories of ever doing this. :P

She had a point there. But this shift was kind of different since it had shattered the team into different realities, but everyone was still connected via the internet.

Happy Halloween

Morganfokker's Costume (version.Farscape)

Max's Costume (version.Memento)

The Dragons' Costumes (version.Avengers)

featuring Suki as

 

A Noise Means Nothing

The train stopped and the doors slid open. Max stepped out on the platform and looked around; he glanced back inside the car and gave a slight nod.

Suki stepped out of the other door, Godhammer glowing and ready for action. She walked as if she was like a summer breeze blowing a leaf across an empty garden. She tilted her head to the side as if trying to hear something.

Frank followed her with a shotgun in his hands and primed for action; he watched the escalators to see if any movement was coming. He walked softly as well, trying not to make any sound at all.

The Protector

Maggie awoke to the sound of shuffling underneath her bed. Her first thought was it was the cat, but then she realized that she never had a cat. Even though she wanted one, she never could get it because of her allergies. She lay there, still, trying not to move and turning her head to hear. 

Thump. Tha-dump.

As if someone was crawling around underneath her bed, she could feel someone moving, coming up from the mattress. 

Her heart froze in her chest. Her hand inching away to where a teddy bear lay next to her. She really didn't want to alert whoever it was that she was up.

Her mattress moved. 

She held her breath, frozen in sheer terror. She didn't know what to do. Then she grasped her teddy bear and held it close.

Then suddenly the movement stopped. There was nothing, no sound. Maggie, still afraid, held her teddy bear. "You'll protect me from the big bad monster," she said to the bear as she turned to see its face. "I know you can do it before it comes back."

Cautiously she peered over the edge of the bed, seeing the darker-than-dark darkness underneath her bed, and she saw what appeared to be two or maybe three glowing eyes. 

She sat up on her bed and looked at her teddy bear.

"You ready?" she whispered to the bear. In her hands the teddy bear's head seemed to nod. "I know you can do it." 

The movement began again underneath her bed, and that's when she tossed the bear underneath. "You go get him MAX!"

They Mostly Come Out at Night...

"The sun is going down," Suki said. "I think we should get moving."

Max held up his hand in a caution signaling wait. He was lying on the floor with one ear to the ground looking more like a tracker.

Suki waited but kept looking around. She was getting anxious since the sunlight was being overwhelmed by the approaching night. 

Max closed his eyes and put his hand on the ground, trying to get a feel of mother earth. He could hear the sound of the Godhammer as Suki activated the gun.

"Whatever you are doing Max, do it fast," Suki said as she saw movement in the long shadows.

The Shadow Eaters

Angst took the drink that Max offered her; her hands were still shaking so much that the contents were spilling over the side. She didn't care about that at the moment, so she continued on with her tale. 

"There were about a dozen or so in the area. I was in the building checking to see what was making the signal while Laker stayed out front on sentinel duty."

She took a sip from the liquid, it felt smooth. No one dared speak up in this pause, everyone intent on listening to what she had to say. 

"The next thing I heard was Laker saying something about shadows moving and by the time I reached the front door, they were on him like a pack of wolves," she said.

"Did you see them?" Max asked. He had stayed in his crouching position beside her. His hand on her shoulder. 

"No," she replied. She dried a tear from the corner of her eye; she wished Frank was here to help comfort her.

"They were just shadows and they ripped into him like he was just a piece of meat."

Goner winced. Suki made a small growling sound. 

"I couldn't shout, because it was one of the most horrible things to see in my life," Angst whispered. "They had a stench about them like burnt ashes."

"That's the first of their incarnations," Maggie finally said. She stepped from the corner of the room. A quiet and sombre tone to her voice. "They're called Acers."

Have You've Seen Max?

Missing Time

Do you hear me. Do you care.
Do you hear me. Do you care?

Max was going mad. The three days of inactivity were the most agonizing he had ever known. There was little for him to do but exercise and sleep. He constantly checked the websites to see if anything was stirring, and it drew a blank.

"Come on," Max muttered to the screen. "Write something!"

Whispers from a Tear

Lanight stood surveying the starving people around him. All of them were dying, weak and malnourished, not fine specimens to experiment on. He noticed a figure walking among the dying. It was a woman; she had stopped by an elderly woman. He signaled Talon. 

"Who's that woman," Lanight inquired as he motioned his head toward her direction. "Is she a nurse? She's not Red Cross."

Talon glanced to where Lanight had motioned with his head. "You mean the old lady with the child in her lap?" 

"No, the one standing right beside them," Lanight said with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"I see no one," Talon replied. He spent another round into the head of another person too tired to raise an arm in defense. 

Lanight saw that she was young and beautiful. A fine healthy body that might withstand the treatments he wanted to try out.

Lanight strolled toward the woman. "Who are you? Where did you come from?". 

Talon strained to see who Lanight was talking to but couldn't see anyone else other than the dozen or so villagers lying on the ground. Before moving on he ejected the clip and slid another into the gun. He began to follow Lanight.

As Lanight approached he saw the woman's face as she pulled back the cowl. 

"You see me?" she asked of him and she smiled. "How quaint."

"I'm not blind you know," Lanight replied as he stopped within arm's length of her. She looked to be a healthy specimen to experiment on. "Explain yourself." 

Maggie looked at him, and smiled. But the smile wasn't warm and inviting.