by T5
Naecken was worried. That in itself was worrying. He never really worried about anything, except the welfare of his friends. Something was getting closer, something that had been following him at a distance ever since his creation.
He decided to join his friends and consult them. New friend Turkish Stringfellow seemed to understand his agonies and actually made him feel better. But he missed friend Eurostar, with whom he had formed a bond at the old circus in Mandelovia.
The wound was itching.
He noticed all the thrashed furniture and asked Danny Hearn, who was busy helping to clean the place up, "What happened here, friend Danny? Is someone angry?"
"Excuse me? Didn't you see all those little goblin fellows that swarmed in here today? Where were you?" Danny stopped what he was doing and glared at Naecken.
"I was meditating with Stringfellow in my room. Is anyone hurt?"
"No. And not thanks to you. Here you are, this supposedly angelic being, strong as a legendary Hercules, or something, and you're meditating while we need you in a fight? Don't you have some angel sense or whatever that warns you of evil?"
"Actually, yes, but it's..."
"So what were you doing upstairs, then?"
Naecken looked down on the floor and whispered, "I'm sorry... I tried to heal myself... so I was... selfish." He sat down on the floor and rocked back and forth, grabbing the sides of his head, and he yelled, "I'm sorry!"
"Shit!" Danny exclaimed. "Hey, look -- don't take it so hard... I was only trying to understand... I... shit."
Naecken was in pain. His head felt like a volcano, and it was about to erupt.
Danny sat down beside him and put a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Hey, man, I'm sorry. I was just a bit tense after the fight. Cheer up. Help me with this, and we can call it even. You obviously are not in a good shape right now. I know, let's take a walk, get some fresh air, and get our perspectives right. Okay?"
Naecken looked up at him and smiled. "I can show you my favorite place, and you can meet some friends of mine."
Naecken has friends? Danny thought. This will be interesting...
Aberbeeg Consulting Agency, Chicago:
Twenty people wearing smart clothing and sporting serious faces sat around an oval, redwood table. An older man at the end of the table shuffled his papers and looked at them each in turn.
"So, ladies and gentlemen, we are in agreement... yes? We will create a foundation with which to fund a meta search-and-research team, whose purpose is to catch and learn everything there is about the hows and whys of these gifted people around the world. This Chicago incident must never occur anywhere ever again."
Murmurs of agreement sounded around the table.
"I will take it upon myself to look for people best suited for this task. Although I have a few candidates in mind, there is no fault in coming to me with suggestions."
After the meeting adjourned, a woman walked into the ladies' room and made a telephone call. "Hello, it's me. Yes. The meeting went as planned. Soon the threat will be eliminated."
And across the world, in a subterranean chamber, a group of men in dark brown hoods saluted each other with crystal glasses full of wine.