Evil Game Master Society

November 17th, 1999

The rain made the day dismal and gray as the graveside ceremony progressed. Six police officers had been killed in the line of duty when Fear, Inc. crashed a charity fundraiser at the Royal Ontario Museum and taken the attendees hostage. The Sentinels arrived too late to save the police officers, but were able to drive off the villains and rescue the hostages.

The heroes had been invited to attend the funeral by the mayor and police commissioner, and the press was covering the proceedings with more than their usual vigor.

The Sentinels thought back over the past few months. Things had been unusually quiet - very few crimes that needed their attention, and life had settled into a dull routine of daily life. Guardian and Eldritch left in July, each needing to take care of “personal business” and not saying when, or if, they’d ever return.

Robert MacLachlan stood at the edge of the crowd, watching the somber mood of the people at the graveside. He had arrived in York two nights ago, drawn to the city but not sure why. All he knew was that the Sentinels were involved.

Such urges are never by chance, Robert knew. He did not believe in chance. He stood dressed in black, quiet as all the mourners, and merely watched. Old as he was, he had learned patience. He was a ripple on the surface of one of Fate’s many streams, waiting for the moment of decision, when the streams of destiny may be crossed or changed.

Watching the caskets roll slowly by, he mused on mortality and wondered briefly how his own immortality has affected him. He shuddered at the thought that the human race might pass him by, ever changing, while he remained eternally the same.

For whatever reason–the recent turmoil in their ranks, or perhaps the very routine of their relations itself–Rosie felt that the Sentinels hadn’t really become a team yet. It bothered her partly because they could turn only to one another at times like this. Who else could really understand? She hoped that it wasn’t still because of their misunderstanding, that first night.

Cynthia had been ecstatic the night the Sentinels had signed her up–”higher than a kite,” Grant had joked when she’d gotten home, some hours later. Her friends and lovers–her family–loved and supported one another unconditionally, and when she told them what had happened–minus actual names or locales, let alone the truth about Aidan–they had had to remind her that a lot of people still separated love into different categories for different people.

In any event, they had been there for her when she came back from the battle at the museum. And she had needed their closeness and comfort even more than usual. The four of them sat up in bed and watched the news most of the night, once Barbara, Grant and Martin had gotten over their fear that Cynthia might have been seriously hurt herself. They had also unanimously made an anonymous donation to the Police Widows and Orphans Fund, in the name of the officers killed there. The four of them shared deep bonds, but they still couldn’t fully share this part of her life…

All of these thoughts, never far from her awareness, were brought back into focus by the funeral. She decided that things could not go on this way, that she needed to talk with the others at the earliest opportunity. With that, Rosie gave her full attention to the service, helping with the eulogy and trying to balance coverage of the Sentinels with that of the fallen officers, emphasizing that the latter were the real heroes this day.

Nick Carter, aka Hyperkinetic, arrived at the graveside partway through the eulogy. He had been unable to get away from the shop as early as he wanted, and traffic had been murder. Standing near the edge of the crowd, he was barely able to see the Sentinels, standing off to one side. Cracklin’ Rosie looked to be paying full attention to the service, while Boreas and Jezebel seemed to lost in thought and oblivious to their surroundings.

Her comrades’ distraction was not lost on Rosie. She nudges them to either side, slightly. “What’s with you two?” she prison-whispers. “Is Guardian’s disappearance still bothering you?” She sighed, even as she kept looking straight ahead. “Right now, this is where we’re needed. But I’d like to talk with you both, later on.”

_Maybe I’ll be able to get to them and talk briefly after the service,_ Nick thought to himself. _I need to talk to them about joining up, and to let them know what I’ve been hearing._ He shook his head. _The police think that the pushed of that Super Juice drug left town. He hasn’t, and now he’s got an even more powerful version ready to go to market…._

It was at that point that he saw Joe Zandros, the reporter. Nick wondered why he was at the funeral. Was it because of the Sentinels?

Robert listened to the service with half an ear and began to scan the crowd. Something had flickered in the corner of his eye, something that only his Second Sight was able to see. There was something there, centering around the graves, and while he couldn’t tell what it was, Robert felt that it was definitely malevolent.

Having seen that the service was nearing its conclusion, Nick had found an out of the way spot to change.

As the service was drawing to a close, he had made his way though the crowd towards the Sentinels, now wearing the costume he had chosen for Hyperkinetic: knee-high, black patent leather boots, navy blue trousers with gray piping down the legs, a skin tight, short sleved gray top with navy blue eding at the collar and sleeves that matched his trousers and a black leather half-face mask that left his strong jaw and wavy blond hair exposed.

He had approached them slowly, openly. When, at last, he had stood before them, he said: “I come in peace… or is that just too cliche for words?”

Rosie stopped a couple of paces away from the newcomer. “Actually, I think it’s refreshing,” she replied, “though your timing leaves something to be desired.” She gestured to either side. “In alphabetical order, we’re Boreas, Cracklin’ Rosie, and Jezebel. Who are you?”

At the same time, she was sending out a signal. *Aidan? It’s Rosie. I think we have a possible newcomer.* The irony of her referring to someone else that way was not lost on her; she herself had not been with the Sentinels very long, after all.

*Has he identified himself,* Aidan asked, his message being relayed through the transmitter that had been set up back at the base.

Robert lay a hand on the Amulet, feeling its weight. “By the pricking of my thumbs…” he whispers to himself, quoting the play set in the land of his youth. Whispering the words of an ancient rite, he changes into the guise of the Warlock, but remains hidden under his trenchcoat and hat, waiting and watching.

Nick had felt an instant of relief, and was sure it showed in the set of his jaw. Patrick always said his face was an open book…

“My apologies for approaching you like this, but I have information that you should hear. You can call me Hyperkinetic — that’s a descriptive term, not a disorder.”

Rosie had been on the verge of telling Aidan ‘no’ when the young man spoke. *He has now,* she said instead. *He calls himself ‘Hyperkinetic’*–the engineer in her could not help but be amused, and she suspected Aidan would also find it curious–*and he says he needs to talk.* Aloud she replied, with a smile, “It’s suggestive, in any case. So what’s on your mind?”

Guess she’s the new spokesperson for the group, Nick mused to himself. “Super Juice is on my mind. The word I’ve been getting is that there’s a new shipment coming in, and it’s stronger than the stuff that’s been going around. Somebody needs to put a stop to this, and I’m just the person to help you do it.”

Jez watched this newcomer with a wary expression, not sure what to make of all of this. She assumed herself to be the pessimist of the group, so there was a standard to maintain.

She felt an odd kind of tickle in the back of her mind, causing her to narrow her eyes a bit in suspicion. Her eyes scanned the crowd and settled on a man who seemed to be concentrating on something above one of the graves, rather than looking down at it. Something was odd about this fellow, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Rosie’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Super Juice. Her memory of the first time she’d seen a user of the stuff wasn’t likely to go away any time soon. That and his apparent self-assurance helped her make up her mind. “Maybe we have something to talk about after all,” she replied. “Oh, I’m just ‘Rosie’, now that we’ve been introduced. Is there something a little shorter that we can call you?” Then she turned to her teammates. “What do you ladies think? Should we continue this discussion elsewhere?”

She had learned that Jezebel was a particularly good judge of character, however much Jezebel might deny it herself. She was also keeping the line of communication open to Aidan: *Aidan, our new friend says there’s some new and more powerful Super Juice coming to town. Can you arrange transportation so we can talk about this someplace reasonably private? And can you check for anything that might corroborate his story?*

If Jez was paying attention to this conversation, she wasn’t showing it. Her eyes were busy examining the man in the crowd. She was trying to decipher what it was that was bothering her, but wasn’t able to make the connection yet.

Jez and Boreas would have guessed that Rosie was already in contact. She and Aidan had been working for some time on a way to take advantage of their respective abilities to create a very secure communications mode. Once they got it all worked out, it would even be possible to give them transceivers so they could also use it, or so they said.

Rosie had more or less gotten used to Jezebel being taciturn. Under the circumstances, she could even understand Boreas being less lively than usual. It was clear, however, that Jez was reacting to something in particular. Rosie glanced in the direction Jez was looking, then waited for the other woman to speak up.

Again, Jez showed no reaction to the conversation, the confused expressions of her compatriots, or having anyone else’s attention turned in her direction. Whether her lack of reaction was from concentration or obliviousness, no one could tell.

So,” Hyperkinetic said after waiting several beats for a response. “So. Is there some kind initiation here? Some form to fill out in triplicate, secret hand-shake, Anything? Should I have brought my towel? I don’t have to face some ravening bugblatter beast, do I?”

Hyperkinetic looked around as if realizing where he was and raised a hand to his lips:”Oh, I’m sorry. Are we taking like too seriously today? The sign said the price of admission was some tight threads and a flashy nickname. So are we gonna go bust some heads before another kid dies, OR WHAT?!”

Boreas watched the newcomer with interest. She had been one of the hardest hit by the brutality and deaths that they had witnessed. She thought that attending the funeral may relieve her depression, but it was having the opposite effect. What struck her most was looking at the kids of the fallen officers. If only they had been a few minutes quicker in their response.

She leaned in close to Rosie, “I’d feel more comfortable if we did this someplace else.”

Rosie met Boreas’s gaze. “I agree. Let me just set it up.” To Hyperkinetic she added, “We’ve got transportation, and shortly we’ll have a destination to go with it, where we can work this out.”

*Aidan, we have a consensus. It looks like we’re going to need another secluded rendezvous. Would you set it up and get back to us when you’re ready, please?*

*Is there a particular location you wish to use,* Aidan asked.

*Who, me?* Rosie replied. *Don’t tell me you forgot that I’m still new in town. No, I trust your judgment. Pick something suitable… like the hotel where you took me that first night, you fast mover, you.* Changing her tone so that Aidan would know she’d been teasing, she added, *Not the same place, though, certainly. Oh, and send transportation for four, too. Thanks.*

*Affirmative,* Aidan replied.

Boreas then extended her gloved hand out to Hyper Kinetic, “Hi I’m Boreas, nice to meet you.” She tried to put on the friendliest face despite the situation.

Robert noticed Jezebel’s interest in him and was about make a comment to himself when he felt a surge of energy nearby. Chaos energy…

Jezebel watched the man in the trenchcoat and realized that he noted her looking at him. Suddenly she felt an alarm bell go off in her head and her gaze was drawn to the air over the graves of the slain police officers.

One of the police widows screamed. “Oh my god, what’s that?!”

A dark, sinister apparition was forming over the graves, a thing with large skeletal wings, glowing eyes and claws as long as a grown man’s hand.

Rosie looked in the direction that Jezebel turned. “What the hell…?” Rosie breathed. *Aidan, belay that for now,* she followed up quickly. *Someone’s twisted idea of the Grim Reaper just materialized over the cops’ gravestones, we’ve got bystanders out the wazoo, and “I see bad things arising,”* she quoted. *I wish I could send you video as well as audio.* With that, she electrified herself and hovered just off the ground.

Jez’s blinks her eyes for a moment, refocusing her attention just above the man’s head. It was the cemetary behind him that was drawing her attention, not him. She drew back her lips and gritted her teeth, giving herself a decidely demonic expression.

“Damn it!” she cursed mostly at herself for not realizing it all sooner. She’d have to figure out later whether this unknown man had anything to do with the apparition.

“May lau ngan leu geen goon choy!” she shouted at the top of her lungs as she threw herself into a run towards the graves. To the casual observer it would appear a run of reckless abandon. To someone looking for the details, they would notice her left hand diving underneath the right side of her coat.

To those fluent in Cantonese, they’d recognize her shout as “Shed no tears until seeing the coffin!”

“Well, alright now!” Hyperkinetic crowed at the appearance of the wraith-like beastie. He cracked his knuckles and flexed his fists, but for all his apparent bravado — made a point of stepping between the apparition and the closest bunch of normals.

He steeled himself for the rush of energy that was sure to accompany the first blow and shouted:”Take you best shot bone-breath!”

Rosie naturally had no idea what Jez had just said, let alone what she was doing. All these months, and they still knew very little about one another. Nobody else needed to know that, though. She hung back as her teammate appeared to know what she was doing, ready to back her play, but not wanting to trip Jezebel up, either. Hyperkinetic’s war cry made her blink, though: .o0 He’d just better hope Jez doesn’t remember him saying that. 0o.

Casting aside his mortal mantle, the Warlock appeared amidst the crowd, a figure wreathed in fire and shadow.

“By the Seven Thunders of Maelos! Be abjured! Begone from this holy place!” he cried, his fingers crackling with power as he spoke.

The Warlock erected a Chaos ward over the assembled mourners, protecting them from the beast on the tombstone.

The screams caused Boreas to come to life. Surveying the situation, she noted the shrouded specter looming over the gathering. She fervently wished this was some sort of prank. On second thought she should have figured on something like this. It seemed that every time they met a new potential candidate, somebody nearly always tries to ruin the day.

Boreas did not fare too well in the last such encounter. She decided that this time she would fair better.

“Rosie, Jez…you gusy think you can handle the creepazoid here, I will take a quick glance around to see if he’s got any friends in the neighborhood. I mean we are in the cemetery, what better place to scare up a few ghosts and ghouls, right?”

“Good thinking,” Rosie replied as she watched the obvious power of the new stranger. Then she added, softly, “Help any stragglers you find. Then try to get behind this thing, if you can.” She decided not to get into the subject of whether she felt up to dealing with the creature itself.

The shadowy figure let out a scream of rage and hatred, its attempt to attack the mourners foiled by the Warlock’s spell. Evil glowing red eyes appear in the darkness of its form as it turns and attacks the mage.

Warlock felt a chill run through him to the core of his being when the creature struck him, but he felt certain there was no physical damage - this time.

“Begone! You are not permitted to reenter this world!” Warlock’s voice rang with power “By the power of the Seven Seals I command you!” Opalescent white energy flowed from his hands and washed over the creature. It let out another scream of rage and flew at the mage, narrowly missing him.

.o0 RE-enter?! 0o. The thought flashed through Rosie’s mind.

“Shit,” Hyperkinetic muttered under his breath, glancing at the energy shield protecting the assembled mourners. He wondered for just a second if he was out of his league, then launched himself in a flying side kick at the spectre.

Hyperkinetic felt as if he had suddenly thrust into a deep freeze as his leg passed through the spectre with apparently no effect.

That attack decided things, as far as Rosie was concerned. She rose up, now fully electrified, and aimed one of her standard lightning blasts at the monster. “You heard the man,” she called out. “Get lost, whatever you are!”

The creature turned its malevolent gaze at Rosie and its sneer turned to a look of shock when the heroine’s attack hit. The monster screamed out in pain and writhed in the air, obviously in agony.

“That’s more like it!” she said, readying another blast, a more concentrated one this time.

At the same time, Rosie gave herself a mental slap in the forehead. .o0 Some engineer I am. 0o. *Aidan, I just remembered: you can do quantum computations no sweat, and I have the entire communications spectrum at my fingertips. We’ve got at least 2 THz to play with. So get ready for digital audio and video! * And she sends him what she is seeing and hearing.

Boreas arrived next to Rosie and looked up at her. “Looks like Mr. Fright Night here came alone. Should we put him on ice or what?”

“Oh yes,” Rosie replied, keeping her eye on the thing. “He rates the full treatment. Just stay out of his reach. Go!”

“Look! It’s the Sentinels,” one of the police officers in the crowd shouted as he and his compatriots tried to get the rioting crowd under control. “Get that thing, whatever it is!”

“Always good to have the local team on your side,” Rosie said softly to Boreas. And she flew over in Hyperkinetic’s direction, to put herself between him and the ghoul. She also let fly with her next bolt, once she’d gotten as close as she could to the young man. “Stay back!” she shouted to him.

The bolt that flew from Rosie’s hand struck the creature and again caused it to scream in rage and pain.

“Had enough?” Rosie said. “Looks like nature and anti-nature don’t mix.”

Boreas, out of the corner of her eye saw a flash of light off of glass. Turning her head slightly, she saw Joe Zandros standing off to one side, television camera balanced on one shoulder, filming the battle.

“What is your mission here, creature of chaos? Why have you come?” The Warlock continues his abjuration as he speaks.

The creature does not speak, but the Warlock gets the impression that its purpose there was to cause as much havoc and kill as many people as possible.

“Damn,” Hyperkinetic swore under his breath as got to his feet and dusted himself off. “I AM out of my league..”

“Can you hit him with something other than hand-to-hand?” Rosie said over her shoulder to Hyperkinetic. Then she moved again, up at an angle, so she wouldn’t present a stationary target.

One of the police officers near the edge of the crowd appeared to begin to panic and drew his gun, training it on the spectre. He shot off three rounds in quick succession and - to the spectre’s surprise most of all - the bullets struck, tearing through the spectre like a hot knife through butter.

The Renegades and the Warlock all noticed that the spectre wasn’t translucent anymore, and they could see a black ichor-like substance oozing from the bullet wounds.

Rosie’s eyes went wide. “Do the cops in this town pack silver bullets or something?” she asked rhetorically. She watched to see the thing’s reaction, preparing another blast of the same intensity as the last one.

“That IS more like it,” Hyperkinetic shouted, as he noticed the black blood streaming from the wounded beast. The other Sentinels seemed to be doing okay, but Hyperkinetic wasn’t too sure the police officer who had shot the thing would fare so well if it turned its attention his way. So Hyperkinetic took a few steps and leapt…landing in position between the beast and the police officer.

“C’mon!” He shouted. “Let’s do this.” And he flexed his fists in preparation/frustration…

Two other police officers had drawn their guns and began to fire upon the creature, their shots winging it, causing more blood to run.

“Go away and leave my daddy alone!” A little boy’s cries could almost be heard over the din. Rosie and Hyperkinetic realized that he was the son of one of the slain police officers, and they watched as he picked up a rock and threw it at the creature. The rock hit the creature and glanced off, doing no damage.

“I’m serious,” Rosie called out. “What do you make your bullets out of?” And she let fly with the bolt that she had been holding.

*How’s the signal, Aidan?* Rosie sent. *Are you getting this? And if so, do you have any ideas about what’s going on? Because I’m at a loss. Is there something in their bullets that isn’t in that rock?* At the same time she wondered, what happened to the rest of the team?

*The bullets used by the York police department are standard issue -nothing special about them,* Aidan replied. “Perhaps there was something about your first attack against the creature that changed its molecular structure, or otherwise made it vulnerable to normal attacks.*

This cannot be permitted, thought the Warlock. He drew upon the Lesser Rune of Order, and shouted “Avaunt, demon! Lay no hand upon the youth, I command you!”

The boy picked up another rock and threw it. Again, the boy hit, and again, the rock bounced off without doing any damage

“Damn,” Rosie breathed as her latest bolt merely sizzled the air as it went past the monster. Rising until she was directly overhead, she pointed her hands straight down at the thing and unleashed still another bolt. “What part of ‘go away’ don’t you understand, you miserable bastard?” she shouted, riding the increasingly familiar sensation of energy coursing through her effortlessly.

She flew higher, moving to hover above the creature, as she let fly another bolt that barely hit - the creature had chosen the same moment to move, flinging itself at Hyperkinetic.

With a demonic howl, the creature rushed Hyperkinetic, slashing at him as it fled. Hyperkinetic felt the creature’s blow land with a solid thunk as his arm went numb from some otherworld energy.

The creature let out another howl of fustration and it disappeared into the distance.

The Warlock lowered the shields protecting crowd and boy, and looked around with vigilance for any further threat. He could sense nothing.

Rosie dove straight down to Hyperkinetic as the thing vanished. “Are you all right?” she asked. She was careful not to touch him, afraid that it might just hurt him worse. *Aidan,* she called, *we could use that pickup now, if you don’t mind. Whatever that thing was, it seems to have messed up our new visitor, and I think he could use our help.*

*Understood,* Aidan replied. *The van is on route, and will arrive at your location in approximately 10 minutes.*

*Thanks. We’ll be ready.* Rosie replied.

Aloud she continued, “I think we can help one another.” Then she stood back and waited for the others to regroup.

Turning to the crowd, Rosie called out, “Is everyone all right?” Then she said to the team, “Our transportation is on its way.”

The Warlock stood off to one side, observing.

“Yeah… yeah,” Hyperkinetic replied as he flexed his fingers and rubbed his arm. “Gonna be okay, I think. Hey, you don’t fight things like that too often, do ya’? ‘Cause I was feeling a little outclassed…and my powers didn’t react to its attack at all.”

“Where are we heading?” Hyperkinetic had asked Rosie. “You mentioned transportation….I hate to say this, but I’ve got a con…umm, a thing tonight. I know this superheroing thing doesn’t really have regular hours and all, but I’ve got people counting on me.”

“If you’ve got another engagement, just say so,” Rosie replied. “You seemed to have something urgent to talk about when we interrupted, and I thought we might go someplace more private to pick up where we left off.” The she shrugged. “But if you’ve got another engagement, we’re not going to twist your arm about it, either. On the other hand… our paths would have to cross again like this, if you wanted to get in touch with us again. It’s up to you. Now as to your other question…”

“If it’s any consolation,” Rosie said, “I’m not much for the supernatural either. Jezebel seems to have an idea what it was,” she continued, nodding toward her leather-clad punk teammate, “but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether asking her is a good idea.” Before he could decide how responsive her answer is, Rosie changed the subject. “Now, Hyperkinetic, was it? While we’re waiting, is there something shorter we can call you? Five syllables is a mouthful in action situations. Two or three is better,” she smiled.

“Yeah, just call me HK. Guess I didn’t really think about that when I was coming up with a name. Not too big on the supernatural, huh? What about the dude {nodding his head towards Warlock} over there flinging the mystic bolts and raising energy shields? Think he might know something about it?”

“I guess he might, if we could get his attention,” Rosie said. “He didn’t answer when I called out, but then, neither did my teammates. Dealing with supers is sort of like the proverbial ‘herding cats,’ I suppose.” She smiled. “If you’re sure you’re all right, then I’ll try again.” She stopped, then turned around. “HK, huh? That works, but just be careful you don’t put an ‘and’ between them.”

“Hey, hey, don’t get all hot one me, toots. I came to you for a good reason, and I plan to see it through. But I didn’t expect to be met by a reject from the Creature Feature, nor did I say I had to go NOW! I was simply stating that I had somewhere to be TONIGHT. “I realize we’re not getting off on the right foot here…I have the utmost respect for the lot of you, but I AM new at this whole thing. And I tend to mouth off when I’m nervous! “If we’ve got someplace to be, I’ll be. You can count on that.”

Rosie stops and turns around. “‘Toots’?” she says with a smile. “You’ve got spunk, and I like that. Stick around. This could be interesting.” To herself she adds, .o0 If only you knew how new we all are at this game. 0o.

Rosie went over to try to talk to the other newcomer.

“Hi. I’m Cracklin’ Rosie, and thanks a lot for helping us out. You seem to know something about that… whatever-it-was. Would you mind coming back with us and talking about it?”

The black-and-silver figure seems to notice her for the first time. He settles down from the slight height at which he hovers, golden mist dispersing beneath his boots. “That depends,” he says with a slight smile. “On who ‘we’ are. And where ‘back’ is. And you may call me ‘Warlock’.”

Rosie alighted in turn, meeting his smile with hers. “How do you do. ‘We’ are Boreas and Jezebel, who, along with myself, make up the Sentinels, of whom you may have heard, and this young man, who calls himself Hyperkinetic. As to where we’d be going, we haven’t decided yet. It will be private, though. We’re just waiting for transportation. What do you say?”

“I say that I will come with you, young Rosie, and hear what you have to say,” Warlock replied. “It was brave of you to confront the creature of Chaos.”

“I’m glad we got that out of the way,” Rosie smiles. “I think that what you know about that thing would be far more enlightening, though.” To Aidan she says, *I think we’re just about ready to go. What’s your ETA?*

*Three minutes, forty seconds,* Aidan replied. *There may be delays due to the people feeing the cemetary in the aftermath of the attack.*

“Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me.” Rosie saw a man she recognized as Joe Zandros approaching quickly, trying not to hit anyone with the portable television camera he was carrying. Zandros had made a reputation for be the one in the right place at the right time to cover Harbinger-related news stories.

“Excuse me, Cracklin’ Rosie? Do you have time for a few questions…”

Rosie turns to him, bringing her natural charm to bear as well. “Certainly, Mr. Zandros,” she smiles. “But we’ll be leaving here in just a few minutes, so we’ll have to be brief.” To the others she says, “Five minutes, people. If you’re coming, be ready to go.”

Warlock stands by enigmatically, watching, but not speaking.

Hyperkinetic saw the TV camera coming and stepped back a few paces, but was sure to say to Rosie: “I’m ready, Hotstuff.”

Keeping his back towards the camera as much as possible, HK went to the man who called himself Warlock. “So what the hell was that thing, and how come I couldn’t affect it? When I get hit, I usually absorb the kinetic energy of whatever hit me… but that thing…nothing.”

“There was no kinetic energy there to hit,” replies Warlock. “It was not truly in this world, though it was real enough and could do great damage. It’s energy was spiritual, for it was a being of pure chaos.”

Rosie smirked in HK’s direction, then shivered slightly at Warlock’s remarks. To compensate, she turned up the brightness on her smile when she faced the camera head on. “What can I do for you?” she asked.

“Cracklin’ Rosie,” Zandros said, focusing the camera on her. “You and the other Sentinels attended the funeral of the police officers who were murdered by Fear Inc. at the Royal Ontario Museum. Did you expect trouble of some kind?”

“Do you know what that monster was, and if it was in some way connected to Fear, Inc.?”

Rosie took a deep breath, then looked Zandros in the eye. “We attended this service today for the same reason that everyone here attended,” she said, “to pay our respects to heroes–those selfsame officers who gave their lives in the line of duty. As to that creature, at this time we cannot say what it might have been, or where it might have come from.” She paused, then added, not unkindly, are there any other questions, Mr. Zandros?”

“I saw you were talking to Hyperkinetic. Is he going to be joining the Sentinels? And this gentleman,” Zandros said, moving the camera to focus on Warlock. “Who is he and will he he joining the Sentinels as well?”

Warlock smiles enigmatically and says nothing.

“You’ll have to ask him yourself who he is,” Rosie replied, smiling again. Then she looked at Warlock and HK. “As to whether he or Hyperkinetic will be joining us, all I can say right now is that if they decide to join us, they would be welcome as far as I’m concerned, after what just happened here.”

“Not truly in this world?” Hyperkinetic mused. “I suppose that could do it. Good thing you were around, huh?” He said loudly, giving Warlock a solid clap on the back and smiling warmly.

“Excuse me, sir?”Joe Zandros took a few steps towards Warlock, the camera focused on the mage’s face. “Can you tell us who you are? Will you be joining the Sentinels?”

“I am the Warlock. And that remains to be seen. There are forces that wish to remain anonymous, yet desire that this city and its people remain safe.

For now, I am their emissary.”

“I see,” Joe Zandros said. “Warlock. You are a mage? Do you know Talisman?”

“I met her once when she was alive, yes. Her loss impoverished us all. We who remain honor her memory.”

“So you believe the rumors of her death to be true?” Zandros continued with his questions.

“Absolutely.”

“What makes you so certain,” Zandros asked. “No body was ever recovered.”

“You said it yourself, Mr. Zandros. I am a mage. It’s magic. That’s all I have to say on the matter.”

As Joe Zandros continued to question Warlock, Rosie saw the familiar primer gray van pull up to the curb about 100 metres away.

Rosie stood back and listened. She wasn’t entirely sure what they were talking about, and figured it was best not to show her ignorance unless absolutely necessary. Then she decided to ask someone who might be more forgiving. *Aidan?* she sent. *Are you getting this? Do you know about this woman ‘Talisman’ that they’re talking about? If so, who is… or maybe, was, she?*

*On second thought, Aidan,* Rosie added, *you can fill me in on the way.* Aloud she said, “Excuse me, Mr. Zandros, but I’m afraid we’ll have to cut this short.” She nodded in the direction of the van. “You see, our transportation has arrived, and we must be going.” To the others, she gestured inclusively. “After you.”

Zandros nodded. “Of course, Cracklin’ Rosie. Thank you for your time. And thank you, Warlock,” he said with a smile. “For answering my questions.”

Hyperkinetic had looked over the van before saying: “Wow, you guys really travel in style. But I guess getting there is the important thing, right?” And then he headed for the van.

Rosie waited until they were inside the van to reply. “What you’ve got under the hood is more important than what you look like.” When everyone was seated, she said, *OK, Aidan, let ‘er rip.*

“She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid.” HK said in his best Han Solo impersonation…”Or something like that? I don’t mean anything by it, HotStuff…”

Rosie was blase. “I didn’t think you did, son.”

“Son…SON! Ha…that’s more like it! We’ll make a ’straight man’ of you yet. “So where did you say we were goin’, anyway?”

“I didn’t say.” Though she was in the driver’s seat, Rosie was conspicuously not touching either the dashboard or the steering wheel. “That’s because, at the moment, I don’t know. But the van will get us there, with a minimum of fuss.”

As soon as Rosie finished speaking, the van began to move, steering its way through the parked cars and pedestrians. *Cracklin’ Rosie,* Aidan’s voice sounded in her head. *Could you please inform the others that the windows of the van will be darkening and not to be alarmed. It is for their own protection.* She could hear a touch of humor in his voice.

*My pleasure, Aidan,* Rosie replied. *And feel free to just call me ‘Rosie’ in private. It’s allowed.* There was a touch of humor in her manner as well. Aloud she said, “Let me once again welcome those of you who are joining us for the first time. You may notice the windows starting to darken. That’s intentional. Just a safety measure. Enjoy the ride.”

As the van pulled away Rosie noticed a black sedan pulling into traffic behind them. Seeing black sedans in cemetaries may not be unusual, however this particular car had been sitting idle the entire time the Sentinels had been at the funeral, and had arrived the same time the group had.

Rosie maintained her nonchalant posture. *Aidan, you sent only this one vehicle to the funeral, right? Well, someone seems to be surveilling us. Can you deal with it?* And she showed him the black sedan as she was seeing it.

*Only one vehicle was sent. The van is not equipped with anti-surveillance or counterespionage equipment,* Aidan replied. *Please wait while I run a trace on the license plate number.*

A moment later, Aidan spoke to Rosie again. *The car belongs to Avis, a rental car company.*

*Uh-HUH. What do you figure the chances are that it’s the same people who’ve been dogging us lately?* Rosie asked rhetorically.

*Very likely, if the manner in which they have been following you has been consistent,* Aidan replied.

*Roger that,* Rosie said. *In the meantime, I’ll tell the others. And if they are hostiles, can you try to lose them? You’re driving, after all.* Aloud she said, “Folks, we may have picked up a tail at the funeral. We’ll try to lose them, but if that fails, we may have to take more direct measures. Are you up for it?”

When Rosie looked in the review mirror, she suddenly remembered that, over the past few weeks, someone had been tailing the Sentinels whenever they had appeared in public. Rosie had never gotten the feeling that whoever - or whatever - it was had hostile intentions, just that they were being watched. The tail never interfered in anything the group had been doing - it was just there.

*Right. What do you say we pull over and ask them what’s going on? Find a spot that’s out of the way, if you wouldn’t mind.* To the others she said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to make an unscheduled stop. There’s reason to believe that whoever’s following us has been doing so for a while now. So if it’s all right with you, I’m going to ask them who they are and what they want. You’re all invited to join me. So far they’ve been nosy, but not threatening. So let’s not start anything unless we have to.” Rosie looked at her teammates. “Jez? Boreas? Shall we?”

“Why don’t we ask ‘em?” HK said, cracking his knuckles. “Real polite, like…” he added, with a twisted grin and violence in his eyes.

“Down, boy,” Rosie replied. “Like I said, we don’t start things. Besides, they’ve had plenty of ppportunities already, if they wanted to make trouble. We’ll give them a chance to explain themselves. If they start something, we’ll finish it, though, don’t worry.”

“Perhaps a confrontation is not what they seek,” says the white- haired Warlock, leaning forward from the shadows. “Why don’t we allow Miss Rosie the chance to speak with them before we react?”

“It was just a suggestion,” HK said. He leaned back, stretched his legs and crossed his ankles and laced his fingers together behind his head. “Diplomacy isn’t necessarily one of my strong suits, but I’ll be here to back you up if it gets ugly.”

“Thank you, gentlemen,” Rosie said. “Part of what I’m betting on is that while they saw you leave with us, they may not know who you are. I’d like to keep that ace in the hole while we can, if it’s all the same to you, just in case things do go south. Besides, right now you are our guests, which makes us responsible for what happens.”

Once the van and their tail stopped, Rosie looked around before getting out. She gestured for her teammates to follow her. As an afterthought, she looked back at the two men. “I’m just ‘Rosie’ to my friends,” she said with a smile. Then they walked out, stopping midway between their van and the black sedan. *Here we go, Aidan,* she signaled.

The sedan door opened and the driver stepped out. A black haired man, dressed in a dark blue suit wearing wraparound sunglasses. He closed the door and began to approach the Sentinels. As he approached he opened his jacket to reveal that he was carrying no weopons.

As he reached the trio he closed his jacket and extended his hand. “Good afternoon ladies, I apologize for the way we’re meeting. My name is Rook.”

HK turned to the cloaked magickian, cursing at the window’s darkness. “Ain’t these people ever heard of one way glass? Anything YOU can do to help us keep an eye on the ladies out there?”

“Yes, there is.” Warlock leans forward and opens the back door to the van.

“Damn, why didn’t I think of that.”

Rosie bowed slightly, but did not take his hand right away. As she did so, she glanced over his shoulder to see whether there was anyone else in the car. “How do you do, Mr. Rook. Now that you have our attention,” she replied, with just a touch of irony, “may I ask what it is you want?”

“I’ve been watching your group for about six weeks now, but I didn’t know if I wanted to approach you until today. Going to the funeral showed a lot of integrity and compassion, many people wouldn’t have gone. Sorry, that sounds condescending, and it wasn’t meant to.”

“Don’t worry,” Rosie smiled back. “I didn’t take it as condescension. We don’t know one another well enough for that yet.”

Rook leans over slightly allowing Rosie a better view of the empty vehicle. “Now back to your question, we’re in the same business and I’ve moved my area of operation to York. I wanted to make sure we met in the open and quietly as oppossed to on some rooftop, in the middle of the night.”

“Well, that’s very thoughtful of you,” Rosie replied. Via link she said, *Aidan, can you find references for recent incidents that might be linked to this gentleman?* Aloud she continued, “Would you like to be more specific about that?

*No reported activity of anyone by the codename of Rook,* Aidan replied to Rosie.

*OK, let me rephrase that. Can you find any reports of situations likely to have involved lone crimefighter activity in the past six weeks? Rank in descending order of probability that someone fitting this gentleman’s description was involved.* Rosie sometimes had to remind herself that, for all the sophistication of his fantastic distributed intelligence, Aidan was still a computer at heart, and thus, sometimes still required much the same degree of care in the phrasing of queries, in order to get meaningful responses.

There was a brief pause. “No reports of any activity that could be attributed to Rook’s description. However, there was a notation made by Canadian Immigration that Mindblade, a powerful psychic Harbinger and member of the Mercury Foundation team based out of St. Augustine, Oregon, entered the country two days ago.”

“I thought it would be best if I made my presence in York known to you, after all this is Sentinel turf. I’d hate to be mistaken for a bad guy and get my ass kicked.”

“It would probably be counterproductive, yes,” Rosie drawled. “Well, we can simply agree not to step on one another’s toes where possible, and leave it at that. It’s a big city, after all. Or better yet, we’re on our way to a meeting. Would you like to join us? We could then continue this discussion in private, at our leisure.” She gestured at the van, then looked at her teammates. “What do you think? Do we have room for one more?”

“That might not be a bad idea, if you don’t mind having another guest,” Rook replied.

“That should just about settle it, then. I think we can also arrange to have the rental agency pick up your car, too.” To Aidan she said, *You can arrange that, right? And by the way, what do you think of us making this a full-fledged recruitment drive?*

*It is being taken care of,* Aidan replied. *As for a “recruiting drive”, it might be appropriate. My calculations show that, among other things, there is a 72.35572% chance that the unknown group that attacked the Sentinels at the CN Tower will make their presence known, and a 25.77746% chance that there will be a terrorist bomb threat in the city at one of three major landmarks. These probabiliites do not, of course, include regular crimes committed by the criminal population, be they normal human or Harbinger.*

“I’d appreciate that, I’d hate to have to cover the damage deposit if anything happened to the car. Just let me get my bag out of the car, the rental agency really doesn’t need the equipment I have in the trunk. Rook walked around and took a large duffel bag out of the trunk, walking towards Rosie he smiled and gestured to the van. “After you.”

Rosie glided over and opened the side panel, smiling and gesturing in turn. “Have a seat. Your rental won’t be any problem.” She gave Boreas and Jezebel a knowing glance. When everyone was inside, she introduced Rook to Hyperkinetic and Warlock, then said to Aidan, *Take it away.*

HK looked over at Warlock. “So, what do you make of that?” He’d asked, inclining his head towards the core of the Sentinels and their darkly garbed and mysterious male companion. “He might even be spookier than you…in a ‘covert ops’ kinda way, o’ course..”

The van began to move again and they were on their way. With all windows of the van darkened, it was impossible for them to know where they were going. After about twenty minutes, they could hear sounds that the van must have entered a building of some kind.

*You have reached your destination, Rosie,* Aidan told the heroine. *This is a secure location where you can have your discussion. Unfortunately, a situation has a risen for which I need Boreas’ and Jezebel’s assistance. You will be capable of conducting the discussions without them? And do not be concerned if things turn bad -I have… representatives on the premesis that will render assistance if required.*

*The day I can’t handle three men by myself is the day I retire my boots,* Rosie joked. *If you need their help, by all means, ask them. This seems to be a pretty well-behaved crowd, but it’s always nice to know there’s backup if necessary. Thanks.*

To the others, she said, “As you may have guessed, we’ve arrived. All ashore that’s going ashore. Boreas, Jezebel, you’re needed elsewhere.”

Boreas and Jezebel look at each other, then Jez nods.

“See you later, Rosie,” they both say in union, causing them to laugh slightly.

Rosie smiled and blew them a kiss in return as she got out of the van. “Take care y’all,” she said.

Rook took his cue from Rosie and jumped out of the vehicle, reaching back he retrieved his duffel bag and moved away from the van, waiting for the others.

*OK, Aidan, we’re here,* Rosie said. *Where to now?*

*Have the meeting anywhere in the building that you like,* Aidan replied as the door of the van closed and it pulled away.

Continued in Darkness Rising

© Lisa Hartjes, 2001