Ultimate S.H.A.D.E. #19: Monster Street, part 2

[jackalope]

Ultimate S.H.A.D.E. #19
Monster Street, part 2

With jagged steps the giant birds jerks forward. It twists its neck, waving its beck around and glaring down at the agents with one eye and then the other. Its beak clips together impatiently. Internally, Frankenstein's S.H.A.D.E. access whirrs, trying to identify the beasts, whilst his eyes flicker around him. Outside of the ring of light cast down by the street lamp above, silhouetted creatures are gathering. His giant blue hands readjust their grip on the archangel's sword. Behind him, the garish pink and purple costume of the Weird floats, captivated by the 12 foot bird-thing. Agent Brink has her back to Frankenstein’s covering their rear. Finger hovering over the trigger, a drop of sweat rolls down her cheek, to her chin.

The tiny red, earless monkey dances and giggles.

The bird's neck launches its beak towards the Agents. Frankenstein dodges, clipping the side of the creature's beak with his sword, which sparks like metal. A furred blue paw swipes at him from the shadows. Frankenstein swings out into the darkness, spraying green blood. Brink fires, letting loose a volley of rounds into the surrounding attackers. The Weird watches as claws and long jaws pass through him.

Strange roars and angry muttering fills the area. A yelp follows the severing of a pink furry limb, which twitches on the ground. Five creatures leap on the stitched agent, climbing over him with unnatural speed, biting and clawing at him. He growls with frustration as he pulls the things off, him and breaking their limbs, whilst attacks still occur on all sides. The female Agent screams as she lets another volley loose. Bullets rip into the darkness and are trailed by screeches and yelps. A flurry of swipes hit Frankenstein. He ducks aside, drawing his huge steam-pistol and firing into the attackers. Suddenly two long orange arms grab the Brink's legs and drag her into the darkness.

“WEIRD!” Frankenstein roars, as he pulls the limb from an unfortunate blue monster. The purple mask of the alien figure turns to Frankenstein, who kicks the head in of a green furred thing. “Save Brink!” he commands.

“Who's Brink?” the Weird calls, then remembers with a withering stare of disbelief from his commanding agent, “Oh her... I got it.” The brightly coloured agent floats up and dives down into the shadows.

* * *

“...makes up the majority of the R & D department. We of course have a wide-array of weaponry and devices. The diversity of threats we deal with means that we need to be adaptable in what we create. We never know what will be needed for any given situation.” The short man in the white lab coat finishes his little spiel as the balding Mr Peters walks around the huge white room that makes up the base of the S.H.A.D.E. Science department.

The government representative looks back at Father Time. “And who exactly is in charge of S.H.A.D.E.'s science department?”

“Well...” Time starts.

“Over here.” Mr Peters rotates to see the young black kid, Niles Caulder, in a lab jacket, standing by what looks like a large black tyre fitted with and internal seat. The kid drops a cigarette and crushes it with his green Chucks. “I'm Dr Niles Caulder, and this is my latest invention. I call it the 'All-Situation-Support- Heavy-Armour-Transport, or ASS-HAT.” He smiles to Father Time, who shakes his head. “This baby will take you where-ever you need to go, it's fast, bullet proof, and when I say all- terrain...” Niles touches a button and the vehicle launches itself off, crashing through tables and desks, smashing items and inventions. Scientists dive aside. Time winces. When it reaches the back wall the vehicle hits it and switches directions, crawling up the wall and then onto the roof. Caulder points as his invention approaches the middle of the roof above them. “I mean all-terrai...” The A.S.S.-H.A.T. suddenly drops off the roof, flying straight towards Mr Peters, whom Time leaps to pull aside. The wheel bounces on the ground, onto another table, before spinning on the spot and then imploding in a ball of flame.

“Of course,” Niles concedes, “it is still in the testing phases of its development.” Scientists run in the background to put out the flames.

“This is who you have in charge of your research department!?” Mr Peters asks, as he picks himself up and dusts off his jacket.

“Niles is... a co-head of our research department.” Time scratches his head. “Our other head has been...”

“On lunch,” Jules Brun concludes, as he enters the room. Behind him a large metal box is being wheeled in by another scientist. Brun looks at the flaming mess and rolls his eyes. He stretches his hand out to Mr Peters, “Je suis desolee, Mr Peters. My colleague is a little 'leap-first- think-later,' sometimes. He is, as you can see, quite young.” Jules looks briefly to Niles, who pokes out his tongue.

Mr Peters nods and shakes his hand. “I'm sure it is not representative of how S.H.A.D.E. normally operates.”

Jules smiles. “I am Professor Brun, and this is what I have been recently working on.” Turning back to his assistant, the mousey-haired woman leans in to the large crate and pulls a young ape. Passing it to Brun, the Professor cradles it, turning it to Mr Peters, for him to have a better look. “This is an infant gorilla, saved from poaches in Africa.”

“Ok,” Mr Peters says, “That's all very well, Professor, but what does it do? I mean is it going to rip my face off?”

“No, no,” Jules reassures. He holds up the young Gorilla.

“Bonjour Monsieur Peters.”

Mr Peters raised an eyebrow. “Did he just...?”

“Indeed,” Mr Jules agreed. “He can talk.”

“Comment ca va? How are you?” the young gorilla asked.

“Very well,” Mr Peters said, bending slightly towards the Gorilla. “He speaks French and English? Does it, he, have a name?”

“Oui, his name is Mallah.”

* * *

The Weird swoops through the crowd of monsters that surround the now alone Frankenstein. In the darkness, lit only by a dim reddish light, Weird spots the thing ahead. Agent Brink, the human woman, is being dragged by a huge orange looking minotaur-type creature. She screams and tries to kick herself free, but the lumbering monster is unaffected. Skidding on her back, she loses grip of her gun. She is whipped around a corner into another alleyway. The Weird twists in the air, making himself incorporeal, and phases through the brick wall of the building between them.

He feels warmth. The insides of the walls are strangely soft and seem to move slightly, like the building itself is a living thing. The first room has no furniture, save for a picture on the wall. A green skinned man, with blue hair, stands by the window playing the saxophone. The Weird keeps moving. A single chair sits in the middle of the next room opposite a television. On the chair a fuchsia coloured monsters sits watching static. Weird floats on. The next room is fully furnished. Two almost human looking beings sit yelling at each other about who was supposed to take out the rubbish. The angry looking yellow skinned one pulls out a rolling pin. The Weird closes his eyes and flies faster. Two more abstract looking rooms pass and he feels the cold air again.

He crashes into a rubbish bin and stands up. He sees the bull monster dragging the woman into the distance.

“Yo! Fucker!”

“What?” Weird turns his head down to see an ugly green slime-covered creature crawling out of the knocked over trashcan.

“You knocked over my home! Fucking dumbass cracker!” The thing looks at him with hatred.

“I'm sorry,” the Weird reassures, “I'll come back and help fix it but there's this human I'm supposed to save.” He floats a couple of feet and looks back. “Do you know where I am?”

“Same street buddy! That's all that is and ever will be.”

The Weird nods and rockets off. Same street? He scratches his head. The red brick walls on either side of him now seem closer together. Odd shaped figures look down upon him. He wonders whether Niles TiVOed Desperate Heiresses for him. He passes a little pink monster playing jump rope. Something about this place, he thinks, something familiar. In the distance he sees a crowd of monstrous things. He stretches out his hands and fires some energy. Two purple creatures fly aside with the blast. A huge brown bear stands on its hind leg and turns to see the oncoming Weird. Blood spurts and its head drops off. Frankenstein kicks over the body and catches sight of Weird.

“What are you doing here?!” the stitched giant growls.

“I thought...” The Weird tries, “She was being dragged this way, it's just...”

Frankenstein lunges around to strike another monster, spraying blood. “Help me,” he commands.

The Weird points two fingers at the remaining monsters. “Pew, pew, pewpewpew.” Multi-coloured lights fire from his fingers, knocking the creature off their feet. Frankenstein slashes another and leaps as the giant yellow bird creature aims a bite at him. He lands on the back of the bird-thing and grabs its long neck, pulling it towards him. He points the sword to the avian's head. The remaining creatures scatter into the darkness.

“Make a move to attack me and I willst end your existence.” The giant bird is suddenly very still, except for a shiver that travels down its neck, ruffling its thick yellow feathers. “Do you understand creature?”

The thing nods slowly.

“Good, now answer, where has our agent been taken?”

The creature turns its head to look at its rider. “The mother has her. The mother needs her; a mother must feed her babies.”

Frankenstein snarls, “You will take me to this Mother. Weird, you will light the way.”

* * *

“Of course the Gorilla is only a small part of our effort to train the next generation of S.H.A.D.E. agents.” Father Time smiles as they step off the train onto floor 17. “The work we deal with is highly dangerous, and of course we have a high rate of 'turn over'.” An employee opens the door for Time and Mr Peters, who follows him.

“You are talking of your 'Para' human soldiers? The monsters that you convince to work for you...” Mr Peter says, whilst making a note on his clipboard.

“Agents, not soldiers.” Father Time raises an eyebrow. “And I try not to think of them as 'monsters.' The Para-humans I employ, for the most part, had no say in being what they are. I try to give them that benefit on the doubt.”

“Yes, I agree,” says Mr Peters, following the man dressed in the Indian chief headdress through the corridor, passing a number of doors, “but the Administration wishes to make sure that the threat these mons... employees present is not underestimated. Tensions are high around the world these days, the attack in England, terrorism here, the situation in Byalia...” As they reach another door, the administration representative sighs, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes. “We need reassurance that you have things under control.”

Father Time nods and points to the door. “Inside this door we have the next generation of S.H.A.D.E. agents. Gathered from around the world, most of them are the stuff of legend, gifted beyond measure and what they represent is potential. Some of these kids will save the world one day and right now we are training them, teaching them, so they will be able to do that. But what you have to remember is they are still kids. Children. We look after them, we give them that chance.” Smiling he opens the door. “And I reassure you that we have things under contr...”

The classroom is frantic. The Para-kids are throwing paper-balls at one another, whilst at the front of the class Robotman, Mr Tobius, and Ms Yuts stand in tense discussion.

“How could you let them..?!” Ms Yuts near-yells in a harsh whisper.

“You were on lunch duty!” Mr Tobius retorts.

“It doesn't matter, we just need to concentrate on finding them,” Robert says, holding his metallic arms out. “I'm cycling through security footage now...”

“Hmm-hmm.” Father Time clears his throat. The three teachers turn to see Father Time standing beside a man in a suit and glasses, who is taking notes on a clipboard. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Nn.. no, Father Time.” Robert Crane tries, “We just have a little situation we're working through.”

“He lost two of the kids,” Ms Yuts yells pointing at Mr Tobius.

He looks at her with shock, “You slander me with such...”

“STOP IT!” Father Time commands. “Lock down the levels. Robert, you get eyes on them, find out when they went missing. I want security on all floors looking for them.” He turns to the class who instantly quieten down. “Everybody sit. Ms Yuts please get on with you lesson.” The three faced teacher nods nervously, and Time escort Mr Peters back into the corridor, which is now flashing red. “They're good kids really.”

* * *

The Weird glows. The hazy spectral light that emanates from him lit the dark streets like a lava lamp. Frankenstein hated the 70's. He turns to see a dog like creature on two legs run into cover. He can sense more around him, hiding in darkened windows and shadowed alleyways. The intentions of these creatures are simple, little evil or good, mainly curiosity or anger. Like the emotions of a child. Pulling the belt that had been tied around the bird's beak; he slows the creature, as it approaches a set of large grey steps.

“This cursed place is a labyrinth,” the blue giant concludes. “Each turn returns us onto the same street.”

“Same Street,” whispers Weird, as he floats beside Frankenstein.

“This is where she lives,” the Bird screeches.

Frankenstein looks up at the building. It's brick, much like the other buildings but somehow it warps into something bigger, like a school, or a palace. He drops off the bird and pulls it up the steps. Two large oak doors stand at the top of the steps. They are heavy and twice the size of his own massive stature. He bangs the wood, testing it, and traces his hand around to try and find a handle. He looks to the glowing agent. “Weird, phase in and open this entrance internally.”

The Weird nods and flies to it. His face slams into the wood, followed by him body. Flopping to the ground, he groans. “Oww.” He stands up and knocks on the wood. “I can't get it. It must be magic or really not like me or something.” He shrugs. Frankenstein looks to the giant bird, lifting his blade.

The bird tilts its head to look at them with its large bulbous eyes. “You just need to ask it.” It looks to the door. “Open Sesame.”

The huge doors creak open.

The inside is an enormous chamber. A checked black and white pattern covered the floor leading to a long curve staircase, covered in red carpet. At the top of the staircase hang two red curtains, like at an old theatre. Gold and crystal chandeliers are suspended from the domed roof, and red curtains, like tapestries, hang draped on the walls. The room is filled with the strange shaped monsters, some huge and some tiny, they line the red carpet that leads down from the staircase through to the entrance where Frankenstein, Weird and the big bird stood. In the corner music starts to play from a darkened orchestra pit.

The Monsters start to sing:
“It's time to play the music
It's time to light the lights
It's time to meet the Mother on the Mother's Show tonight.”

Frankenstein starts to walk in. The monsters dance with a certain synchronicity, like that are well practiced, or controlled by someone.

“It's time to put on makeup
It's time to dress up right
It's time to raise the curtain on the Mother's Show tonight.”

At the top of the stairs, the stage curtains part, revealing a huge archway. Monsters carrying a litter on their shoulders appear. On top of the carried platform, a woman can be seen in a huge pick dress. The front two creatures, a naked frogman and a giant teddy bear in a hat, lower the woman down as the music continues.

“And now let's get things started!”
“Why don't you get things started?” sings along Weird.

“It's time to get things started
On the most sensational inspirational celebrational...”

BANG A strange hook nosed monster holding a trumpet, drops to his knees, gripping his shoulder. Frankenstein lowers his steam-pistol. The creatures gasp. “Enough! Monsters of whimsy, I come here seeking the location of my agents. I willst not hesitate to slay every one of your green-blooded kin, until they are found!”

“No no no!” a female voice calls from the top of the stairs. “The explosion is supposed to come after the trumpet is blown. You've ruined everything!” The woman in the oversized dress runs down the stairs towards the S.H.A.D.E. agents. Angrily she marches down the red carpet. As she approaches they can see her more clearly, revealing herself to be a young girl, fairly average looking with mousey brown hair.

“You're the 'Mother'?” asks Weird, as she stops in front of them.

Spitefully she looks at each of them. “Yes I'm the Mother! Who are you and why should I not let all of my children upon you, and have them tear you apart!?”

“What is your name child?” Frankenstein says; sheathing his blade on his back.

“I am Dorothy,” the girl says, “and I will destroy you for what you have down to my children today!”