by I'm Not Mister Mxypltk and Danny
Pisa, Italy:
Tom stood outside the Uffizi Museum. He had been standing there for quite some time, actually. At this point, the strange looks people gave him for his clothing didn't bother him at all. He was still keeping the sunglasses, though. Not only did they hide the weird light that came from his eyes, they also made him look cool.
It was starting to rain when he decided he didn't want to stay standing in front of that museum for the rest of his life. He knew he must do something.
"So..." he said, to no one in particular, "...what now?" His question was answered with a word that popped into his mind: Berlin.
"Berlin, huh?" he said. He started calculating the distance from Italy to Berlin. "All right, what the hell? Let's go."
And with that, Tom started walking, heading for Berlin.
The Fish Factory, La Perdita:
Danny Hearn was in his room finishing packing his things when Mick Harrison walked in.
"Hey there," Mick said.
"Hey," Danny replied. "Did you finish packing?"
"Uh... I think."
"Shirley doing the packing for you, eh?"
"Yup."
"How does she find the time to do all the work she does AND babysit you?"
"She makes it work," Mick said with a shrug. "Anyway, you wanted to talk to M-X-Y?"
"Yes. Can you call him now?"
"Sure. I gotta warn you, he's been kinda weird lately..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, M'xy's--"
When Mick said those words, K'tl took possession of his body. When he had secretly traded places with M'xy, he decided to keep the whole name mechanism M'xy set untouched in order to avoid any suspicions. He also made sure to disguise the black shadow that came out of the eyes of the person he possessed and made it look like the light M'xy used.
In the moment he awoke, K'tl realized Danny was standing in front of him. Immediately, he connected with M'xy's mind to find out exactly what his reaction would be to this situation. Another thing K'tl did when he traded places with M'xy was leave him imprisoned in a higher dimension, with the help of some friends he had made there.
K'tl then found that acting like M'xy was impossible for him, and that if he tried doing that, M'xy's friends would realize he wasn't M'xy in no time. So he decided to make a direct connection with M'xy's mind, to find out exactly how he would react to each situation. This, of course, would drain M'xy's mental energy and leave him weak, and that served the purpose of preventing he escaped.
The last couple of times K'tl connected with M'xy's mind to steal his reactions, he was surprised to see that he wasn't where he had left him, but in Hell. This made little difference. In fact, Hell was a more fitting prison for his adversary. And, as long as he remained weak, he wouldn't be able to go back to the third dimension.
Now K'tl tried to connect with M'xy's mind again to face Danny, and for the first time he failed. This could only mean one thing, K'tl thought. He was in the third dimension once more. M'xy was back.
All this passed through K'tl's mind in the moment that Mick said the magic word.
Now Danny was looking at him. And he didn't have M'xy to tell him how to react.
"M'xy, I made Mick call you to talk to you for a second..."
"Danny!" K'tl shouted, in the guise of M'xy.
"Uh... yes. That's me. Listen, I just wanted to talk to you for a second..."
"Yes! You did just wanted to talk to me for a second! For I am M'xy!"
"...Yes..."
"THE MIGHTY M'XY!"
"...You sure are. I'm not sure how much of our conversations you hear when Mick is in charge, so I just wanted you active for a minute so I could fill you in on the mission."
"Mission! The mission. That I'm going on. For I am M'xy. M'xy's mission. Mission: Possible!"
"Yes. That mission, I guess..."
"See, it's like the TV show, but I changed Impossible to Possible. It's wordplay. M'xy likes wordplay!"
"He sure... you sure do. Listen, we're going to Berlin..."
"Berlin is where the pictures come from. The German pictures."
"I'd imagine so... so, it's you, Tobias, Velo, and myself. We're raiding the tomb of a Nazi war criminal in order to see if he's been buried with the Liber Vitae, or any clues to its whereabouts." Danny stopped to consider the ridiculousness of what he was saying, but only for a moment. "I can fill you in on the exact details next time we speak. I just wanted to give you the rough idea."
"Thank you. I like cows. For I am M'xy!"
"Okay, yeah, cows are pretty good..."
"Delicious."
"Anyway, we're all packed. We just need to get to the airport."
"Done and done! M'xy can do! Do that! It's done!"
Danny wondered what he meant by that when he felt the building start to tremble. It started slowly, but soon picked up in both force and volume.
He's not doing what he I think he's doing, is he?
"I hope not, Hal."
The sound of tearing metal and splintering wooden beams filled the air around them as the building was ripped from its foundations. Danny thought he heard screaming from the other rooms.
Oh, shit.
Danny was thrown to the floor as the building shot upward and began to hover.
"M'xy!"
K'tl, in M'xy's form, floated freely in the middle of the room. "To the airport."
Danny looked up from his place on the floor to the room's window. He could see treetops outside, lining the waterfront. The treetops began to move, picking up pace.
Now, trees beginning to move of their own accord would just be silly, which meant, in Danny's mind, there was one real possibility.
"M'xy! What the hell are you doing?!"
K'tl stopped. The building stopped. Everything stopped.
"...Taking us to the airport."
"Put the building back exactly the way it was. Now."
Looking up, Danny thought he noticed the yellowish light that exuded from M'xy's eyes fade for a moment. Just for the briefest of moments. It almost seemed as if it was replaced by a darker light. But only for a moment.
"Okee-dokee artichokee."
Danny stumbled and fell to the floor again as the building shot back the way it came. It planted itself back on its foundations, and strange noises echoed around them as pipes and wires repaired themselves. Wood and concrete re-molded themselves. The building was settling back exactly the way as it was.
This went on for a minute, and Danny listened silently. Eventually it stopped.
"M'xy..." he said softly, once he was sure that the work was finished. "I want you to listen to me very, very carefully."
"Okay. I shall listen. For I am M'xy," came the reply, just as softly as Danny's remark had been.
"Do not do anything without clearing it with me first. There are some things you just shouldn't do. Lifting up a building and throwing it across the island is one of those. And the list continues well beyond that. If you're thinking about doing anything like that again... ask... me... first."
There was a brief silence. Danny thought he saw the darkness once more, but that could have been his eyes playing tricks on him. He was still dizzy from the spinning building.
Danny blinked and realized M'xy was still shining brightly.
"Okay."
"Good."
If K'tl had been more adept at interpreting human emotion, he may have seen something in Danny's eyes that amounted to doubt, or perhaps suspicion. Maybe.
"Now, can we please have Mick back?"