Armageddon

by Erik Schubach

  On that thought, I looked to the Tower Bridge and the two twenty-foot bronze statues adorning the towers. One of the Red Hood, looking down into the city, her cape billowing behind her as she took aim below with her famous crossbow. The other, Daria, in her hellhound guise, preparing to leap onto the deck of the bridge below. Honoring the Day of Defiance, when the Red Hood had arrived as the gates were failing, and rallied London to hold off the assault of compelled wolves in human form.

  I exhaled in resignation, realizing that no... the Queen would not leave London until each and every person had evacuated.

  I leapt and flew down to the woman that I couldn't see as anything other than my mother, thanks to the make-believes of the Lost Boys and... I'm not apologetic in any way... my and Wendy's own imaginations which in Neverland or on the Sea Devil, has the power to change reality with a make-believe.

  I gave her a toothy grin and hip bumped her away from the ship's wheel to take it myself and lock it down. She snorted and kissed the top of my head. “Scamp.”

  I did a silly shrug and realized again that I was acting like the teen I appeared. That was the only annoying thing about how things turned out for me. No, I take that back, I looked back to my tail which had a mind of its own as it swished to broadcast my playful mood. That damn tail that the Lost Boys refuse to imagine away, just like my elongated canines that were about half the length of my wolf form fangs I am told.

  Where I think I can live with being stuck in my second round at being a teen forever, the tail broadcasts to the world that I am not human, and I am different than everyone else. But at least it isn't as bad as my love got. I glanced over to Robyn, with her large fairy wings, and the pointed ears of the last living Elf which she used to be able to hide under her hair, are somehow always exposed, poking out of her hair on full display as she is flying. And she didn't look a day over nineteen... lucky... I looked eighteen at most now.

  I whispered with a lustful grin her way, “I believe in fairies, I do, I do.” As I clapped lightly. A bell tinkled and her wings sifted a large amount of dust to the deck. She spun around with an angry look, scanning the sailors until her eyes landed on me. I swung side to side innocently and her aggravation turned to patient love as I winked at her.

  Then I blurted, “Ow!” as Tinkerbell flicked my ear as she landed on my shoulder.

  “Mandy! Behave.” I lowered my eyes and whined, “Yes ma'am.”

  “I got dust all over the clean counter when you did that just to tease your girl.”

  I nodded in remorse then looked up and cursed, “Fuck!” Because she was my mom's wife since their wedding in Kansas, the magic had me thinking of her as my stepmother, and subordinate to her. I was done being a beta to anyone... fucking make-believes!

  She laughed, knowing what my frustration was. It was like the tinkling of bells chiming, and it was easy to see how she got her name. She kissed my cheek and I knew her lip prints would stay there for quite some time before the sparkle faded. “Sorry, it is just so much fun playing house. You are the best stepdaughter I've ever had.”

  “I'm the only stepdaughter you've ever...” Doh! She was doing it again. I sighed. “You're shameless. If I didn't love you so much, you'd be bug splatter on the Sea Devil's windshield.”

  She giggled as she hopped off my shoulder, and “bigged”, becoming human-sized long enough to lay a heated kiss on Wendy before shrinking in an instant to buzz away to the railing. I truly enjoyed the dreamy and smitten look on Wendy's face as she watched the trail of sparkly fairy dust settle. I liked seeing mom happy.

  She checked her flintlock pistol load and patted her saber. This was my cue as I checked my bandoleer, pulled the twin flintlocks to check the loads, then my knife and cutlasses crossed on my back.

  Then pulling my leather buccaneer jacket aside, which had a cartoon skull and crossbones with its little pink and purple bow embroidered on the left breast – fucking Lost Boys – I drew my dual pink Glocks, crossing my arms to pull the slides back and clearing them then slamming the butts down on the row of rapid-loaders across my chest then slid them into my shoulder holsters.

  Wendy chuckled, “Seriously, baby girl? Do you really need to be a walking armory?”

  I mock thought on it, then nodded enthusiastically. I had been a specialist in the Issaquah Police department and former special ops before I got my ass wolfed by the lupus contagion. Now I'm stuck looking like a character from some young adult coming of age adventure romance book, but that doesn't mean I'm any less deadly.

  I had been the weapons specialist for the Avatars before the whammy, and my body doesn't change who I am or my training. I was... a rustling came from my jacket pocket. My eyes went wide and I put a finger to my lips and shushed the baby alligator I had put in there. What? He's just so cute. Oh for fuck's sake. I knew it was juvenile but I didn't want to get rid of him.

  Robyn landed in our group with her modified sling for her bow and magic arrow quiver hanging at her hip instead of over her back where it gets tangled with the wings. Her other shapely hip had a buccaneer's cutlass hanging from it.

  The four of us looked at each other and nodded as one. Wendy called out, “Mr. Meriwether, you have the helm.” Then we dove over the edge and flew down to the group of officials that looked to be gathering below.

  As we swooped down it looked to be an assemblage of military and civilian law enforcement and... I sighed... a few suits. I hated suits more than anything. They always had some secret agenda that didn't always coincide with doing the right or moral thing. I looked up to see the longboats being lowered with the US military reps and soldiers that sailed the veil with us.

  The two suits with us had their eyes on their British counterparts, I sighed in disgust, I'm sure they'd make beautiful babies together. I aborted a snort. Robyn slapped the back of my head as we landed. Hey, if she knew why I had almost snorted, then she was thinking the same thing. The brat.

  A silver-haired man with a well-groomed mustache stepped forward. All the medals and regalia on his chest told me he was definitely in charge. He tucked his cap under an arm as he strode up to us with the rest. “Right then, you'd be the Avatars we were told were coming. I'm Brigadier General Alton Greene. Nasty mess this, I wish we were meeting under more ideal circumstances.” He offered a hand and shook our three hands, then backpedaled and almost tripped over his own feet when Tink bigged in front of him and offered her hand with a silly grin on her face.

  The man straightened his uniform and said, “Sorry, was just a bit startled there. Pleased to meet you, miss.” Tink shook his hand, and shook, and kept shaking until I kicked her ankle and she let go of his hand, giggling before zipping off to mom's shoulder back at her proper fairy size.

  The man said in wonder, “Oh my.” Then composed himself. “I've the pleasure to have met the Red Hood before. Amazing woman that one. At the gates just there on the bridge on the Day of Defiance. The United Kingdom owes the Avatars a debt we cannot hope to repay.”

  Mom reached up and tipped her buccaneer hat down slightly in acknowledgment then said, “Wendy Darling... Captain Hook of the Sea Devil,” She turned to us. “My daughter, Amanda Danes, and her mate and Avatar, Robyn of Locksley.” Then she nudged her chin to the woman who was laying on her shoulder head propped up on her elbows, watching in fascination. “My wife, Tinkerbell of Neverland.”

  He inclined his head to each of us. And he motioned to his colleagues, “We're all interested in what intel you have for us on this impending threat. We've been in constant contact with the White House, but it seems they are not being as forward with the information as one would hope. Politics at a time as dire as implied seems to be counterproductive.”

  Robyn nodded and said, “My Mandywolf has a military background and will fill you in as much as we know. But be assured, whatever you were told is not sufficient to understand what is coming. The Elders will not stop until our very reality is wiped from existence.”

  The G
eneral took a half step back, his hand dropping halfway to his sidearm as he blurted, “Wolf?” Then he closed his eyes and calmed himself. “Terribly sorry, years of fighting werewolves, you see. Of course. You are one of the few remaining wolves. I should have known, miss.” Then he narrowed one eye when he saw my tail tuck up behind me.

  He grinned like a loon after that and called back over his shoulder, “A wolf has finally made it past our gates.” A nervous chuckle rippled through the gathered officials.

  Then he made an ushering motion. “Miss Danes, the command tent is being set up this way.” Then he cocked his head. “A little young to have military experience aren't you?”

  Tink just giggled her silver bells at me as I sighed and trudged along with the others.

  I kept checking the clock on a tripod in the tent as the discussions went. And as unprepared as they were, they had been flying in support troops and artillery since the word first reached them. It was all so very efficient. Then I said in a hoarse voice as I stood, the others following as I stepped out of the tent and strode toward the Sea Devil, “Time's up.”

  Sundown in Seattle was a few seconds away. We weren't ready, London wasn't ready... the world wasn't ready. And if we were going to fall today, we sure as hell were going to let them know they had been in a fight.

  And the buildings just down the next block started crumbling as reality bent then tore, revealing an army of beings just on the other side of it. Mother slammed her cutlass against her Hook, causing a peal of sound that sliced through the fabric of space, as she looked through the hook to see the truth of everything like none of us could ever comprehend.

  She pointed at a mass of energy off to one side of the rift, which was the only thing moving out onto the streets of London. “There.”

  It looked over at us, somehow knowing exactly where to look as mom stepped in front of us all. Then it morphed into a man in pirate garb. And I could see a little bit of all those around us in him. He was taking on human form to deal with us. He knew what pretty was because I would have called him a beautifully rugged man if I didn't know what he truly was.

  He actually hesitated when he saw mom standing tall, imposing, and defiant as she pulled her hat down to shadow her face. Then his confusion left his face as he spoke. We shouldn't have been able to hear him as clearly as if he were standing next to us at this distance... I mean, I could with my wolf hearing, but this sounded like he was in front of our faces as he asked in a tone full of curiosity as he stared intently at the hook on mom's arm. “Guardian of Neverland? Did your realm fall to our punishment? If you fled to the mortal realm, then you chose poorly and have not learned the folly of crossing us. We have judged a reset necessary so the mortal poison does not spread.”

  Then he inclined his head slightly. “I am Phoebe, second of the elders. And I grant you and yours safe passage from this realm as a courtesy since you are not of here, lest you suffer their fate.”

  Phoebe? She obviously wasn't aware of the biological sexes of humans.

  Wendy just put her hook on her hip and shrugged. “Nah, we're fine here, but thanks.”

  Then her tone cooled enough to freeze a sun as she said, “You, on the other hand, best leave, before I hand your asses to you like the last Hook did, and send you crawling back to where you came from, licking your wounds, bitch.”

  I swallowed hard. My mom was a stone-cold badass.

  Then I realized something silly that actually gave me some comfort. Since the Elders couldn't enter Neverland anymore since it was protected by the Nothing, they don't know what happened there. Which told me that they weren't these omnipotent gods we feared they were if there were things they didn't know. Which meant they were fallible and maybe even defeatable. It had happened in other realms after all.

  And it sounded as if she, he, whatever, couldn't tell the difference between Wendy and Masika's lover, the original Captain Hook. He recognized the hook itself. The artifact of power that had defeated them, further reinforcing the idea that she didn't understand genetic sexes of humans. We probably all looked the same to her, him... hell, I'm calling him him for now. And that made me angry that we were so beneath notice for them to learn anything about us, yet they were passing judgment?

  He shrugged and said, “So be it, guardian. This realm has been judged and found impure, and the sentence is reset. You will die with...”

  I snapped my wrist at my hip and fired a musket ball right between his eyes. The wound just healed up instantly and I shrugged at everyone then said to the Elder, “Eh. Didn't think so, but it never hurts to try, right?”

  He thrust a hand forward as Wendy swept me behind her, her Hook humming with power as it attenuated a flood of energy that vaporized everything along the block between us and the Elder. Then the hordes started charging through the rift as chaos exploded around us when the soldiers behind us, and the Sea Devil above, started firing on the enemy. Magic backed cannonballs cutting a swath of death and destruction through the enemy.

  Chapter 8 – Silence

  We arrived in Cairo, through the gateway Masika had sent us. I looked over when my Rapunzel asked, “Eve?” I nodded, then she checked the others, “Rose, Nicole?” They nodded, Rose had a maniacal look in her eye. She seemed to enjoy the nauseating feel of folding space as she stepped away from the vomiting soldiers that came with us. None of them looked too stable just then. It would take them a few minutes to recover.

  I could feel the magics recede around us. Being a minor magic user myself... darker than I care to admit to, I used to be able to only feel... or sense, dark magics, corrupted black magics until I donned Mari's cloak. Now I feel more animal than human and don't know how Red reconciled it with the dull senses of a human.

  Sharing the mantle of the Red Hood with her, I could see so much clearer, smell everything around me including emotions, and actually taste things in the air that painted a bigger picture of the world around me. And I had an urge to hunt, an urge to eat... raw meat. That was possibly the worst thing, no worse was that after trying some, I craved it more... just like an animal.

  After Maireni rose from the dead and reclaimed the cloak we now share, she pulled me aside to do what had not been done for her, since we were in a unique situation. She explained the curse of the Red Hood to me, sharing intimate details of how it affected her. How it did to us, what the Alphas had tried to gain with the Lycan Curse.

  It in effect gave us all the strength and powers of an Alpha werewolf, but without the changing into a beast on the full moon thing. Our greater strength, awareness, enhanced senses, amplified instincts, and rapid healing made us the perfect tool to hunt the Alphas. And until all the Alphas are dead, we would remain cursed by the Red Hood to protect the world from them.

  The catch? They were all dead, except one, but the curse of the Alphas was forced on him against his will and he swore to never bite anyone to spread the contagion all over again. So it was a Catch 22 for us. Let a peaceful man live and grieve, or kill him so that we could regain our humanity. I'm resigned to being this different version of myself for the rest of my life. A life that may prove to be eternal as I can only be killed by a werewolf or the magic of the demon that originated the curse.

  That is how Mari died... using her cursed blood to close the portal to the demon realm that Styche was holding open with a huge amount of his magic. And now he is dead... true dead. That leaves only our friends, Rachel and Mandy... well and Mari herself who can kill me. Or the remaining Alpha, the last Marcus brother who is in hiding now.

  I am Evelyn, and I will forever be a Red Hood.

  The city was abuzz with activity, but to my surprise, it all seemed to be military and emergency personnel. Had they evacuated the city in the scant few hours of warning they were afforded? I sniffed at the air as Raz laid her head on my shoulder, waiting for me to tell them what I detected.

  I could smell people on the wind, millions of people, hundreds of thousands of outbound vehicles.
... hot sand. They were retreating south into the desert. There seemed to be some sort of massive presence approaching, then stopping... but I couldn't sense it with anything but my ability to feel magics of all sorts now.

  The soldiers with us recovered enough to start moving out toward the incoming military vehicles coming toward us.

  I said, “They've somehow evacuated the populace... there are stragglers here and there but somehow they've got most out of the walled city.” Then I pointed. “It is there, waiting, but somehow not in this realm... about a half-mile that way, beside the river.”

  Rose was already swarming that way on a cloud of writhing black vines and brambles. She was our containment expert. And by that, we mean she can set up huge roiling walls of vines and brambles with neurotoxin laced thorns to keep the enemy confined to one area.

  There was a cost, she doesn't think we know, but every new vine, every thorn, and branch that burst out from her core, the dark lump of blackness that is her heart, actually tears its way through her skin making it as painful as possible. That is her curse. I can smell the pain on her every single time. And it makes me think, that of all of us Avatars, Rose is possibly the bravest of us all.

  But then again, we have three Damaschins in our band of Avatars, my Raz, Rose, and Mari. And they are all amazing women. It is freaky how much Mari and Rose look like each other, like doppelgangers.

  We ran after our slightly off-kilter friend, as the military types met and started coordinating. A large number of military vehicles followed us. I could hear the radios, but my Arabic was rusty, I had learned some so many years ago, and it has changed in the intervening centuries. But it seemed that were following our lead and were setting up defensive positions behind us.