by Grimm, Chewy Walrus and GoozX
Grimm and Blackwulf sat at the bar drinking, when the girl from the opening band walked up. Leaning up against the bar next to Grimm, she said, "Howdy, handsome. What's a girl got to do get a drink around here?"
"Keep up with the compliments. We'll see what we can do."
"Hey, Greem, why is bird-boy talking to wall?"
"Eh?" Grimm looked over to see Edulcore Cicciotto speaking to the wall. "Ah, probably one of the hallucinogenic metas has had too much to drink again. No telling what those guys are seeing right now."
Suddenly, Octavia, still standing behind Edulcore, grabbed him by the arm, turned him around, slapped him with one arm, then squirted him with a black liquid substance from another arm.
Edulcore, still not sure what he was seeing, began to reel. Octavia stormed off to the employee section of the bar.
Dr. Quantos and Kristofer Schanz continued their discussion about how impossibly high the ceiling kept getting, when a voice startled them out of their reverie. "Evenin', gents. Hope Octavia wasn't bothering your friend. She's a little skittish, you know."
The two men looked over to see a humanoid, bipedal catfish wearing a pair of overalls with two female metas hanging off of each arm. "Hi there, my name's Jake. I own the place."
Dr. Quantos stood up and took the man's hand. "Hello, my name is Dr. Henry Quantos, and I must tell you that this place is a remarkable achievement! However did you find this tesseract technology and the bathroom door opening out onto different areas of the world?"
"Okay, hold on there, fella," Jake said, laughing. "I don't think you understand. You see, some of our regulars have a peculiar ability to secrete certain substances, which cause people to, you know, see certain things. Sometimes people can't deal with it. We had to start supplying nose filters for some people. Here you go." Jake reached into a pocket and pulled out some nose filters for the group. "If you need any more, just ask the bartender. Gotta go check up on some other customers, make sure they're okay. You guys have a good time now, all right?"
And with that, the large, catfish-like man and his entourage walked off.
Dr. Quantos and Schanz, nose filters in place, walked over to the bathroom door. "It was here, I know it was!" Quantos exclaimed. He looked around hurriedly, but all he could see was a small photo of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, looming large, and another of Tokyo, hanging on the walls.
"Beautiful, ain't they?" the walrus-tusked bouncer asked. "Jake's lived in a lot of places around the world. Swell guy."
Elsewhere:
Zachary...
The large behemoth of a scientist grunted as he heard his name resounding in his head. Opening an eye, he pulled himself up, looking around, trying to get his bearings.
"Where am I?" Dr. Zachary Knell asked, pulling himself to his massive haunches. He looked around at his surroundings, which closely resembled a Gothic cathedral. "The Cassstle..." he finally rasped. Then, finally noticing his leathery voice, Knell slowly looked down at his hands.
And, just as he suspected, they were covered in scales.
"Sssmith..." Knell said, closing his hands into fists. "He double-crosssed me... and Cicciotto'sss dirty little Mod Sssquad sssomehow besssted even me..."
Zachary...
Knell paused, then, as if he felt led to do so, turned around.
As he did, he took in the sight of a mirror sitting in the corner. As the lumbering lizard cautiously stepped toward the looking glass, he noticed that the reflection therein was not that of his leviathan form, but, rather that of his human self. And it was talking to him.
"Hello, Zachary..." his reflection said, smiling from ear to ear. "Welcome to the Castle of Crossed Destinies..."
"I know where I am," Knell hissed violently at his reflection. "However, I remain unaware why I am witnesssing a talking mirror..."
"Quite simple, Zachary," the mirror Knell answered. "The Castle exists on many planes of existence. You and I were both defeated by our respective foes here. Each of us has reasons for vengeance... and I believe I've found the solution."
"That being?" the reptile bellowed, not really having the patience for games and puzzles, especially with some hallucination brought on by a mystic castle.
"Once again, Zachary," the reflection stated, "simple. We must double our efforts... become mutually exclusive, as the saying goes."
At that, the Knell in the mirror extended his hand so that it grazed the looking glass. Ripples like those of water cascaded across the glass as his fingers touched. The Leviathan dropped his jaw in fascination.
"Join me, Zachary," the reflection Knell said, smiling knowingly. "Your very vengeance may depend on it."
Dr. Zachary Knell stood in thought for what seemed like an eternity. Then, without warning, he thrust his scaly hand into the glass.
And, as his world began spinning, a new voice echoed through the walls of the Castle of Crossed Destinies.
THE BEGINNING IS NOW!
The streets of Puerta Mibela, La Perdita, quickly emptied as the rain pounded the asphalt, the sounds of drums in the distance. The parade had earlier ended when it grew dark, but now even the celebrations typical for a Caribbean island had to be dispersed because of the weather, in order to keep from risking harming to any civilians. After all, the PSI-Unit (Psychic Security and Intelligence Unit) were heroes first. Fame just came with the territory.
Devlin, the elder of the group, leaned against the wall of their government-sponsored, star-shaped building, a headquarters if you will. He brushed back his long, dark brown hair and opened the door for his teammates. Guida-Sofia let her wet reddish-brown hair fall in front of her eyes, and with a cute smile she whispered with a slight Italian accent, "Thank you." Her interest in Devlin was much more than just being teammates.
Next through the large steel doors were Daniela and Stefano, already cuddling and giggling to themselves. Stefano nodded a thanks to Devlin, to whom he looked up to like an older brother.
Devlin was happy how well the team had worked together recently. The public had really accepted them over the last few years. Too bad some metas, like the one with the top hat from earlier in the day, still put out a bad rep for the rest of them, who were beneficial to the public. No matter what, there would always be bad seeds.
Brianna and Kevin were fighting in the ran. Kevin used his telekinesis to splash a puddle of water at his sister. She was able to block it with a thought bubble, but then proceeded to tackle him to the ground. It was all in good fun, but Devlin knew that this wasn't the right time.
"Brianna! Kevin!" he said with an English accent.
He was replied with, "He/She started it," in unison from the Irish twins. After they were inside, Devlin looked around. Axel was nowhere to be found.
"Brianna," Devlin called back.
"Yeah?"
"What happened to Axel? I thought he was right behind you."
"I'm not sure. I guess he just got excited about the rain and went to play in it."
Devlin thought to himself, It's not like Axel to just run off without notifying us. Although he's only ten, he is very mature and wise for his small amount of years. Devlin took one more look before moving inside and shutting the large doors. Axel is powerful. He can handle himself.
Plus, no one in La Perdita would even think about messing with the PSI-Unit. No one.