Ultimate Primal Forces #03 - Blood Red Blues Pt .3

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Primal Forces #3

Blood Red Blues Pt. 3

Previously in Primal Forces: Buddy Baker, an agent of a government agency tasked with controlling out of control natural elements, is tasked with looking after a transfer agent from Mumbai. Investigating leads on an incident within the town, relating to Buddy's own powers, the pair visit an imprisoned former member of the group and are embroiled in a battle within the holding facility...

“Jeff, What the hell man?”

Buddy charged down the corridor, with Chandi in tow behind him. Jeff, locked in battle with a bearded man, rebounded his fist off his head.

“Raagghh!” Jefferson Pierce yelled. Sparks jolted from his balled fists, flashing off the skin of the the bearded blonde man. He was sent flying back, bouncing off some iron bars at the end of the room, while Jeff desperately tried to right himself. The Bearded man was immediately on his feet, a tear in his cheek revealing metallic skin underneath. Behind the bars, Pamela Isley gripped the metal tightly, starting intently at the two men, battling just outside of her prison.

“Jeff! Get a hold of yourself, for godsakes!” Buddy tackled his former partner into a wall, a burst of electricity throwing him backwards into Chandi.

“Get of me!” Jeff shoved his hands against Buddy's chest, lifting him into the air.

“What's happening?” Chandi yelled. The bearded man thrust his fist forward, a small button of light igniting between his knuckles. A mushroom cloud of force billowed out from his hand, knocking the trio, and Pamela in her cell, over. Buddy skidded off Jeff and Chandi grazed her palms on the floor. For the first time she noticed the detail, the fossils of million year old insects and plants built into the concrete around her.

“Stop him!” Jeff yelled.

“Try saying something that doesn't sound like a five year old wrote it, Jeff,” Buddy said. He pushed himself to his feet, but he already knew the bearded man would be gone by the time he got himself to the doorway.

“We've lost him.”

“You've lost him!” Jeff roared, “I had him until you got in my way!”

“Why are you even here, Jeff?” Buddy replied, “You're not even active.”

“I don't have to explain myself to you, Buddy,” Jeff said. He barged past the smaller man.

“You do, actually. As of this moment, I'm the only active agent in this room,” he paused, “Sorry Chandi.”

She affected a brief nod to him, which he returned.

“Why are you here?” Buddy asked again.

“He's seeing me,” a small voice said from behind the grouping. Pamela was leaning against the bars of her cage, her face squeezed between them. Chandi took a step back to appropriately take in her looks. Her skin was green, her body was not covered in skin, instead it appeared to be hundreds of tiny leaves which folded around each other into a criss-cross of veins. Her fingernails were almost tangible roots, jagged and uneven.

“What?” Buddy asked.

“He comes to see me once a week,” Pamela continued, “Because he cannot get over the idea that I could do this of my own volition. That I was not acting within my right mind when I...”

“Did what you did,” Jeff quickly added. Pamela nodded slowly.

“He does it because he misses me, and I miss him,” Pamela said. Her attitude was to the point and frank, though her voice never went above the same monotone. Her eyes constantly flicked to the three people assembled in front of her, but in a slow, calculating manner. She wasn't flustered and she wasn't going to move beyond her normal, ponderous speed.

“Jeff?”

Jeff breezed past Buddy, heading towards the wall.

“Whatever. Pamela, I want to talk to you about something. Get your opinion.”

“You can ask, Buddy,” Pamela said, turning away from the bars, “That doesn't mean you will get.”

Buddy snorted.

“Don't give me that plant patience shit, I know you're just as human as I am.”

Pamela smiled, crossing her arms and facing a wall.

“You're the most human of all of us, Buddy,” Pamela grinned, her verdant eyes seeming to focus on Chandi. “Aren't you?”

“Will you just answer some questions?”

“I am, am I not?” Pamela replied, “Besides, if you want questions answered – face me on opposing terms, Buddy. I will not speak to you while you wear the suit humanity, instead of your suit of Red.”

Buddy looks frustrated at the ground, while Pamela offers him nothing more than a vague smile.

“Fine,” He said. He stepped up to the gate, offering a quick glance to Chandi. He began to unbutton his shirt, letting it drop onto the floor. Soon it was joined by his trousers, his shoes, socks and underwear. He opened the metallic gate, completely naked and moved quickly into the cell. Pamela stood in silence, observing him in the manner of a disinterested parent, observing a child's drawing. He slammed it tight and made sure the lock had clicked into place. He stood in silence, staring at Pamela. With every step his skin and eyes became more stained with blood. It grew to a point, seeped out of his eyes, dribbling down his cheeks and across the scared tributaries of his chest.

Chandi, sensing this could be a long conversation, moved to where Jeff was slumped against the wall. She crouches down next to him, and places some fingers lightly on his shoulder. Jeff ran his fingers through his goatee, avoiding her eyes.

“Jefferson Pierce?” she asks. Jeff looks up, his face covered in sweat. He looks worn out. She was struck with how old he looked within his eyes, which did not match his young, strong ebony face.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“I am Chandi Gupta. I am here on transfer from the Mumbai branch,' she said. She sat down carefully next to him and took his burnt hand in her own.

"Didn't know there was a Mumbai branch," he said. Chandi smiled.

"Many would say the same thing, arguably, there is not."

Jefferson looked up at Chandi, then down at his burnt hand. He wrapped his fingers around her delicate own and squeezed.

“Things haven’t been the same since the war,” Jefferson said. He put his hands behind his head and stared down at the floor, his eyes unfocusing.

“No, they have not." Chandi looked carefully at him. She crouched down, her own eyes catching his own. "Jefferson,” she said, “Talk to me.”

His eyes focused suddenly.

“The War, Chandi,” Jefferson said, “I don’t even know where to...”

“From the beginning, Jefferson,” Chandi said. She took both of his hands in her own.

“Nobody knows where or when it started, I guess. It just did,” He said, “I was working with Pamela back then. We were doing small scale stuff. I don’t…It doesn’t matter. It’s not important. The point is, it just started.”

“What started?”

“This War…When it started here, it did something. Don't ask me what it did, but, I think. Well, I feel, like it made some things and it killed some things. The elements broke.”

Jeff pulled his hands back.

“Made some things?” Chandi asked. Jeff nodded slowly.

“Buddy told me, maybe it was someone else, actually, but someone told me that there were a certain amount of core elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, The Green, The Red and The Rot. We think, well, I think the War started because of my Parliament coming into existence. The Sparks, there are a few others as well.”

“The Lights,” Chandi said. She stared off into the distance. Jeff touched her knee gently. The pair shared a look.

“Buddy know?”

Chandi swallowed loudly.

“Not yet,” she said, “I'm waiting for the right time.”

“Wait longer,” Jeff said, “Buddy and the Lights don't get on so well.”

Chandi nodded. She let her hair fall down around her face while Jeff continued. On contact with his skin she noticed that the henna tattoo's on her hand and wrist glowed, while the bones in Jeff's hands exuded a dull blue glow.

“At some point we started fighting harder. I don't know when we made that distinction, between the little stuff, like cats with human faces, or Trees that were made from water, the scale of this thing got bigger. We traveled all over the world – Across America fighting Cactus' that shot fire, and Beetles that were made from wood. Everything was something else – It really...it ruined Buddy,” Jeff glanced over his shoulder. “Ruined him.”

“Ruined him?” Chandi asked. She glanced over at Buddy, who stood in the cell with Pamela, the pair of them hardly wearing any clothes.

“Does that look like the behavior of a man who is switched on?” Jefferson asked. Chandi allowed herself a smile.

“It looks like a man who is comfortable in his own skin, at least. Not something I am accustomed too.”

“Skin? Have you seen his skin?” Jefferson asked. Chandi looked over her shoulder again at him, paying more attention to his body.

“The human body isn't supposed to maintain contact directly with a Parliament for any extended period of time. That's why we're all breaking down like this,” Jeff lifted his hands up to show her more clearly. Beneath the dull glow, Chandi could see the electrical burns that crisscrossed over Jeff's fingers, and spiraled up his arm. Almost as though it were mimicking her own tattoos.

“He used to be kinder than this, Chandi. He used to care and I never saw him use his fists. Ever. He'd talk to someone until they were okay, he'd use his powers to find something in the animal kingdom that would work to calm them instead of fight them. My powers aren't for calming, are they?” Jefferson looked at his scarred fingers.

“My powers are for breaking.”

Chandi closed her hands together and put them neatly in her lap.

“You traveled the world? Did you ever come to India?”

“No, we didn't. Buddy, Me and Pamela, we traveled a lot. We spent a lot of time in Africa, a few months in Libya and the UK, some time in Greenland and a month in Australia. When the giants came we didn't know what to do, and that...that was when it all went really wrong.”

“Giants?” Chandi said. Chandi hadn't heard anything about any giants. She'd seen reports of whole scale destruction but she hadn't seen much else.

“Yeah, about six of them in total. We managed to stop three of them from getting up, broke one of them before it stood up fully and then needed some assistance to break the other two. The last giant we faced was in Greenland. That was the one that ruined it all. Nick, me, Buddy and even Nathaniel were fighting this thing, pouring everything we had into it, and Pamela got side tracked. She was taking some kind of alternative path of investigation.”

"Why didn't we hear about this?" Chandi asked.

"Governments," Jeff said, "Same reason you don't get pilgrimages to your Town to visit the Zones there, or in Greenland or whatever. Governments repress this information, like their lives depended on it. I guess everyone's lives did. Imagine what the world would be like if everyone was scared of their pets? or the Wind?"

"Yes," Chandi said, "I can imagine that."

“What sort of alternative path did Pamela investigate?” Chandi asked, trying to get her back to the original line of conversation. It was becoming too revealing.

“She was following clues or something. I don't actually know the details. We were partners but she was very private about her connection to things, as well as the paths she followed. She was slow and methodical and liked to build up her own set of facts about things before she even discussed it with me. I on the other hand, well, I don't exactly always think things through.”

Chandi nodded. She was much the same as Pamela. She preferred to quietly sit in the background and analyse.

“Pam found something, when we were in Greenland. She went off on a tangent and I never saw her again until we came home, by that point it was too late.”

Jeff got that far away look in his eyes again. Chandi knew there was more to be said, but she decided to leave the question unanswered for now.

“She found something out there, a leaf, by the looks of it. That's when it all went to hell. That leaf, whatever it was, changed her personality completely. She wasn't Pamela any more she was...someone else.”

“But that was the War, in a nutshell. Elements against each other, instead of working together. The eventual break down in the 'hot spots' is what created the Zonation. Buddy came up with the term for it, but the results where from the War directly. Those Zones are made entirely from whatever that element is, so in Buddy's Zone, the Red Zone, it's nothing but meat, guts and blood.”

Chandi poked her tongue out at the thought of it.

“They don't interact with each other, and are constantly expanding, trying to find new territory to exploit. Sometimes they piggy back on top of one another, and other times they just strike out violently. There is literally no way to predict it, so we spend our lives playing clean up. Or, well, I did anyway.”

“Retired?”

“Yeah, two years ago. After we found Pamela, and built this place for her. I decided I couldn't be a part of this world any more, it was too damaging for me. Too damaging for my family.”

“I didn't want my connection to the Sparks to spill over and hurt my family any more than it already has.”

Chandi nodded sagely.

“One day we'll put it all back in the box,” Jeff said, “Until then we're going to have to be content with clearing up the debris, and getting a little boot in now and then.”

The clank of the metallic gate alerted the pair to the on coming form of Buddy. He was tying his shirt back over his body, allowing Chandi to glance at the scars that wove their way over his skin.

“Pamela isn't up for explaining a lot,” Buddy said. He scratched at his face, and picked a few scabs off his chest before he buttoned his shirt. “There's a particular caveat that she's trying to exploit here guys.”

Jeff pushed himself to his feet. It wasn't until he stood next to Buddy that Chandi realised just how tall he was. Jeff must have been a full two feet taller than Buddy, putting him closer to seven foot than anyone Chandi had ever seen before.

“What does she want?” Jeff asked. Buddy refused to meet his gaze, instead focusing on Chandi.

“Pamela says what happened with the tree earlier today, was to do with someone like her. A version of her from the Red end of the pool.”

“What does that mean? A version of her?” Jeff asked. He clamped his huge hand down on Buddy's shoulder. Small jolts of static electricity clicked from Buddy's shirt to Jeff's palm.

“She's calling herself an Avatar of the Green, now,” Buddy rolled his eyes, “She reckon's she speaks for the Green and the Green speaks to her.”

“Yeah,” Jefferson said, “She's told me that before. I just thought it was more to do with her being insane.”

Buddy nodded slowly.

“I did too, but, she knew about the Tree, Jeff. The place where Chandi and I have literally just come from – a tree made from Green which was over written with Red. Someone there was trying to get rid of me as well.”

“So? She knows Trees. That's her thing,” Jeff shrugged, “It's not unusual.”

Buddy tapped his foot loudly.

“Think of where we are, Jeff.”

A slow realisation crossed his mind.

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“So, what does she want?” Chandi asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

“She wants to be released,” Buddy said. Before Jeff could launch into a tirade, he put his hand against his friends chest, “Into your custody. She wants to be under your control, essentially. She knows what she did was wrong, Jeff. You know she wants to, needs to, make it up to you.”

“And she can fix this? Help with this?” Jeff asked, “Whatever this is? Do you need her for it, Buddy? Do you need me to come out from my retirement to help with this weeks problem?”

Buddy stared at his friend for a long time. Long enough for Chandi to become uncomfortable with the silence of it all.

“You don't want to be retired, Jeff. You want to think you are, but you never will be. You can't let yourself. That's why you're here today, you heard about what happened earlier and knew I'd be here first to get the information from Pamela.”

Jeff said nothing. He turned his gaze away from Buddy and towards Pamela, who stood in silence in her cage. Her green hair tumbled from her head, its length halted only by touching the ground, where the ends were brown and brittle.

“Fine,” he said. There was a touch of reluctance in his voice, but mostly relief, “What does she have to give?”

“She knows where I can find the person who attacked me earlier today, and more importantly, she knows there are two of them.”

Chandi lifted an eyebrow.

“How does she know there are two?”

“In the Green, you need only a root inside something to get a hold on this world, but Pamela knows that the Red is different. In Red, you need two halves of the whole to make something new.”

Chandi scrunched up her eyes in disgust.

“Looks like it's mating seasons then,” Jeff said, “I'll get hold of the Warden and start the paper work. You better try and smooth this over with Nick.”

“Nick can fuck himself, Jeff,” Buddy said, “Tonight, we're going hunting.”