Author's Note: ...
Hey, if Doctor Who can take a year off, why can't we?!
So yeah, this isn't Double Trouble. That story has taken a backseat because after I basically churned out four feature-length stories last year, I kinda wore myself out. However, in lighter news, Swing123 is back! And he pitched me this story idea that we've been working on all year, and I'm happy to say it's nearly done, so you can expect weekly uploads! Woot! We're also outlining the rewritten Double Trouble, so with a little luck, that should follow on sometime in 2017.
In the meantime, please accept this story as an apology for taking so long, and we hope you'll enjoy. This story takes place between Lost at Sea and The Collective, so bear that in mind while reading. Hope you enjoy!
Do not whisper to the wind,
For wind winds far and deep,
Deep down into the shadow land
Where evil creatures sleep.
The echo of thy uttered word
Can wake them, make them creep.
Do not whisper to the wind,
For seething monsters hear;
The winds will carry monologues
To meet their careful ears,
And they will rise up from their tombs
To plague the world with fear.
Do not whisper to the wind
For demons know, they say,
Where rests thy sleepy, pretty head
When darkness swallows day,
And in the night they'll come on thee
And steal thy soul away.
Do not whisper to the wind,
For evil's waiting there
With anxious claws and open ears
Just listening to the air.
And waiting for a foolish child
To whisper unaware.
Do not whisper to the wind,
For beasts come leather skinned
With eyes aglow in sickly hue
And figures tall and thinned.
Thou may not, shall not, cannot
Ever whisper to the wind.
"It's going to be dark in an hour, Uncle, we need to move faster..."
A small lone carriage pulled by two brown and white horses silently rode down a slightly cracked and worn brick road. Surrounding them were several darkened houses with all the shades drawn. The sunlight was slowly fading away and the street was dim, save for a few street lamps which were emitting a strange almost pulsating white light from them. Beyond the houses, the road stretched out to several Victorian style buildings and houses, some of which had gargoyles and other statues decorated around them.
Upon the carriage two men were sitting, one slightly younger looking than the other. The older one, the coachman, looked to be in his mid-50s with an untrimmed goatee and slightly tired expression and was wearing a heavy brown jacket over a black suit. The younger man however looked to be in his 20s, and was as well wearing a heavy brown jacket over a dark suit. However, he was also wearing a scarf and gloves and seemed to be growing increasingly nervous as the sun continued to set, as he sat in his seat, shivering slightly and clutching a bag to his side.
"We're almost there, Jarrod, just calm down," the coachman grunted, in a thick Scottish accent.
"We aren't going to have time to get back," the original man, also Scottish, sighed, sinking into his seat a little bit.
"I've already arranged to stay at the guest area of the center," the coachman replied. "We're almost there. How's the package?"
The boy looked over his shoulder into the back of the carriage. A large wooden crate sat on the floor.
"I haven't heard anything from inside for the last twenty minutes…," he muttered. "Wha… What do you think is in there?"
"That isn't our concern," the coachman said, as the carriage began to slow down.
"But aren't you the least bit curious?"
"No. I just want to be rid of it. Anything that Cooper gives to us to deliver is never good."
The carriage finally halted in front of a large grimy tower, reaching high above the other buildings, also decorated by gargoyles near the top. A few crows were perched on the statues, and looked down ominously at the carriage below.
The two men stared at the building for a short moment.
"You've dealt with these men before?" the boy asked turning to his uncle.
"Never personally," the man said stepping outside and tying the horses to the hitching rail beside the door. "But I've seen the work they've done and given them endeavors in the past that have always turned out exactly how they said it would."
"They're good?" the boy asked stepping out of the carriage.
"They're the best."
"I look forward to meeting them, then," the boy said, looking up again at the tower.
"I don't," the uncle said, straightening himself up.
Jarrod gave his uncle a strange look. "Why?"
"These men go out at night. They see the things that happen, and sometimes... they cause those things to happen. They're the only ones who truly know what it's like in this city after nightfall."
"I don't understand. Why is that bad?"
"When a man sees nothing but one thing, it becomes all he knows," Jarrod's uncle sighed. "And it changes him, Jarrod… There's something you need to understand before we go in there."
He walked over to his nephew and put his hand on his shoulder. "These are not good men."
Leaving that line hanging in the air, he turned and started towards the door. The boy shivered again slightly and looked over his shoulder nervously, before following suit.
"Emergency. Emergency. There's an emergency going on."
A small red portable CD player was sitting completely still on the desk of a certain six year old boy's bedroom. It was a very handy device, if not a bit over powered. In addition to the fact that it served as a time machine, teleporter, and endless supply of knowledge stemming from the super computer built into it that would make all the nerds of the world drool, the quaintly named MTM provided additional input and character with his charismatic and appropriately British AI personality.
At this point in time however, he was not doing that. He had been sitting in silence on the desk for hours, while his two comrades, Calvin and Hobbes, had been busy with other matters. Calvin was quietly complaining to himself while he did his homework, while Hobbes slept silently on the residing bed. All had been relatively peaceful until MTM had randomly erupted with a blaring alarm which filled the room, causing the two occupants of said room to startle at the sudden noise.
Calvin was laying on his back on the floor, having fallen backwards in his chair and his feline companion was currently attached to the ceiling his hair ruffled and on end.
"Thanks, MTM," Calvin muttered, still slightly in pain from his fall. "You can turn the alarm off, now."
MTM obliged and the noise stopped.
Calvin slowly picked himself up, while Hobbes fell back down to the bed, and looked around in all directions, still disorientated from being jerked awake.
"What's the deal?" he said in a squeaky voice, trying to sound like he hadn't been startled.
"I'm detecting an unrecognized life signature that's currently approaching the house." MTM replied flatly.
"And you felt the need to blare an alarm about it?" Calvin growled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Hey you're the one who told me to keep track of who comes and goes around here. We only have an entire alien civilization and like two or three mad scientists that want to kill us."
"Who is it and where are they?" Calvin muttered straightening himself up. "I may need to warn my parents of this."
"It's a female... Between the ages of 18 and 21... Red hair... freckles... Ooh..."
"Ooh what?" Hobbes said, worriedly approaching the desk.
"Never mind, I just did a mental overlay of her general IQ. I don't think she's capable of taking any of us out."
"Nevertheless, we need to find out what she wants," Calvin said, picking the CD player up, and turning for his door. "Let's find Mom and investigate further."
Before Calvin could reach his door, however, he saw the doorknob turn, and it opened, revealing a tall brown haired woman who appeared to be in her early to mid-30s. She was wearing a black dress, had a lot of makeup on and was currently trying to correctly position an earring, while she looked around the room.
"Calvin, what the heck was that noise?" she asked, looking around for anything that could have possibly made the insanely loud alarm.
"MTM's proximity alarm," Calvin said, holding the CD player up. "That's not important though. There's someone coming up to our front door. No one we've ever seen before... She might be an enemy. Shall I deploy the traps?"
"No Calvin, I swear you never listen to me, I've told you this like nine times now that..." Her voice trailed off as she thought about what her son had said. "...What traps?"
At that moment, the sound of the doorbell ringing was heard throughout the house.
"I got it!" Calvin's father was heard calling out from downstairs.
Calvin shrugged. "Just need to push one button, and it'll start," he said simply. "You might not want to go outside for a while though."
"Hush, Calvin, she's here." Mom said trying in vain to straighten the boy's hair.
"I'm aware of that, Mom, that's the whole point that I'm..." Calvin trailed off, when he realized what his mother was wearing. "You're in a dress..."
"I know that..."
"You never wear dresses..."
"Mmhm..."
"Or put on makeup..."
"Mmhm..."
"...Unless you and Dad are going out..."
"Ah-yup..."
"Which means... that girl... is a babysitter?!"
"Hey Jess, I'm glad you found the place okay." Calvin's dad said, shaking the teenage girl's hand. "Thank you again for coming on such short notice. It's just that our regular babysitter is busy and we really had no one else we could call..."
"It's not a problem," the red haired girl replied with a smooth and confident voice. "Thank you for the offer. I love children, so I always love the opportunity to look after one."
"Well, as we warned you, Calvin can be a bit of a handful," Dad sighed.
"I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle," Jessica chuckled. "Where is he right now?"
"Well, my wife just went upstairs to get him so he's probably..."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"
Dad and Jessica jumped as an ear piercing screech rang out through the house, marking the second unexpected blaring loud noise of the evening.
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! IT'S NOT FAIR! I CAN LOOK AFTER MYSELF! I CAN HANDLE SOLITUDE! DON'T DO THIS TO ME, MOM! IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Dad and Jessica stared up the staircase for a long moment. Dad turned back to Jessica.
"I should probably tell you he has been known to dress up in his super hero costume and attack his babysitters in the past." He said, flatly.
Silence greeted these words.
"Okay..." Jessica started, slowly. "Anything else I should be aware of?"
"You don't have any homework or important documents on you, right?"
Calvin, Hobbes and MTM all laid quietly under Calvin's bed. Hobbes was reading a comic book via flashlight while Calvin gripped the MTM, looking back and forth suspiciously.
"What's the news from the front, MTM?" Calvin whispered, quietly.
"The babysitter's still in the living room, watching TV."
"How long has it been since my parents left?"
"Nineteen minutes and fifty three seconds."
"Drat... We still have at least another couple hours..."
"Ya know, there's always the possibility that this babysitter isn't as bad as Rosalyn," Hobbes chimed in. "We haven't exactly gave her a chance."
"Hobbes, I want you to think back on all our past experiences, and name one example of a teenage girl we've gotten along with." Calvin sighed, shaking his head.
"To be completely honest, the only teenage girl we've ever interacted with around here is Rosalyn." Hobbes said, tapping his chin.
"Not the point," Calvin continued. "What we have here is a rare occasion where the babysitter is leaving us alone. I think we should embrace that, and not prod the situation any by 'giving her a chance', as you coin it."
Hobbes shrugged.
"Whoop, hold on, something's changing," MTM chimed in.
"What have we got?" Calvin inquired.
"She's texting someone."
Calvin rolled his eyes. "Yeah... teenage girls do that. Can we keep the updates relevant to our situation?"
"I mean, probably not, because I don't exactly see this person doing anything to affect our hiding under the bed..."
"Hey, we're not hiding!" Calvin protested. "We're acquiring a better vantage point for a strategic advantage!"
"That's what you say every time we hide," Hobbes said, raising an eyebrow.
"Fine... what do the text messages say?" Calvin grumbled.
"Hang about," MTM yawned. "The first text message is from a contact called 'Chris', and it says 'hey babe wut r u doin'."
"Okay..."
"The following text from the girl reads 'lol nm just sittin here watching tv wbu'.
"Kay..."
"Chris responds 'nm i miss u'."
"Uh huh..."
"'i miss u 2 3', 'im going camping next 2 the lake tonite wanna come', 'cant babysitting :((((', 'bring with haha', 'haha i wish lol', 'will u come', 'parents will be home tonite haha', 'just come by for a while i want 2 c u,' 'ily babe 33333'."
"Okay, can you stop now?" Hobbes asked, rubbing his temple. "I can feel my brain cells killing themselves..."
Calvin simply stared ahead in confused. "Do... do people actually talk like this?"
"From what Socrates tells me about the internet, it is far worse," Hobbes sighed.
"Uh oh...," MTM suddenly piped in.
Calvin's eyes widened at this. Nothing ever good comes from the all-knowing super computer saying 'uh oh'.
"What do you mean, 'uh oh'?"
"We have an update on the girl's movement. She's coming up the stairs. I didn't see the last few texts, but the last one that was sent said 'c u soon ily'."
Calvin was not a fan of camping. In fact it was one of his least favorite things to do. He always preferred his own bed to any cold tent, plus he had several repressed memories from his previous camping trips which made even just the word 'camping' enough to run a chill down his spine.
Basically, he didn't want to go.
"Hobbes, quick, we need a plan!" Calvin's head turned to right, looking to his larger feline friend for assistance. It was then that he found that he was alone under the bed. Hobbes had vanished.
Calvin's eyes narrowed, and he turned to MTM.
"All right, MTM, we're on our own on this one. Initiate teleporter!"
"That's a negative, ghost rider." MTM said. "Teleporter's down."
"What do you mean, teleporter's down?! Why?"
"Scheduled maintenance. Should be back up in about an hour."
Calvin growled and slapped his forehead, as his bedroom door began to open, and the red haired babysitter stuck her head inside.
"Calvin?" Jessica asked sweetly, looking around the room. "Do you like camping?"
"It's as if this lady wants to get on my bad side." Calvin grumbled, sinking further into the darkness of his bed.
Calvin sat on a log in front of a dying camp fire with his arms crossed and a deep scowl on his face. Surrounding him was a large forest that gave off an eerie feeling in the silent darkness. The only sounds that surrounded him were the occasional chirps of chipmunks and birds. Sitting across from him on another log were Jessica and her apparent boyfriend Chris. Jessica was sitting in the boy's lap while their faces remained attached to one another, as they had been for the duration that they had been together.
Chris was a very scrawny young man, who was wearing clothes way too big for how small his body was. His baseball cap was on sideways, and he wore several silver necklaces and had a couple ear piercings.
After a couple minutes of very disturbing slurping and squishing noises, the couple finally parted, and Jessica spoke.
"I dunno Chris, I might need to start heading back soon," she said, worriedly. "It's like an hour, and I don't know when his parents are coming home..."
Chris stared at Jessica for a long moment with an expression that did not express understanding of what she had said to him, before turning towards Calvin, who still had not moved from his previous position.
"Do you know what time your parents get back?" he said in a very slow voice, as if he was putting considerable brain power towards every word before he said it.
"No," Calvin said simply, not looking up. He was still very angry at the situation. Mostly Hobbes for disappearing on him, once again, but the entire scenario in general was definitely putting him in an off mood.
Chris blinked. "Fifteen more minutes?" he said, turning back to Jessica.
"That's what you said half an hour ago," She said, playfully twirling her finger around his chest.
They stared at each other for a short moment of sickening puppy love, before their faces reattached.
Calvin's patience drew ever thinner as he watched the couple.
Suddenly, they stopped kissing very abruptly, and Chris began whispering something into Jessica's ear. Jessica giggled, and the two proceeded to stand up.
Calvin raised an eyebrow as he watched them.
"Hey Calvin?" Jessica said, turning towards him. "Chris and I are gonna go over behind those trees for a little bit. Don't... wander off or anything, okay?"
Calvin pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved a deep sigh. He was beginning to miss Rosalyn's tyranny.
"You people... are just asking for some kind of horror movie death scene, you know that right?" he grumbled.
"We promise we won't leave you for long," Jessica said, clearly misunderstanding who Calvin was talking about. "We'll be back before you know it."
Calvin didn't reply. He simply continued to pout and glare at the ground.
"Calvin... you know... not to tell your parents about this, right?" Jessica started again, slowly.
Silence was met from these words.
Calvin's face softened, and his eyes widened slightly as a scheming smile began to spread across his face. "Hmm... yes, that would be rather unfortunate, wouldn't it?" he said, turning an evil smile onto his babysitter.
Jessica stared at him for a short moment, finally realizing she had made a mistake with her words. "Yeah...," she said, slowly. "You... won't tell them right?"
Calvin chuckled and stretched a kink out of his neck. "I dunno, Jess, I've been known in the past to have loose lips," he said. "Maybe… a little incentive would help your chances?"
Jessica and Chris exchanged glances.
"We'll go home as soon as Chris and I get back...," Jessica promised.
"I want cookies."
"I'll buy cookies..."
"And gummy worms."
"Sure..."
"I'd also care to have access to the TV for the rest of the night until my parents get home."
"Whatever you need...," Jessica agreed.
"Oh, well, if we're going that far, I also want ten bucks and a pizza." Calvin chuckled.
Jessica grimaced. She conceded to keep her mouth shut finally, to avoid making her situation more expensive. She simply nodded.
"We'll be right back," she assured the boy, as she took her boyfriend's hand, and lead him away towards the darkness of the forest.
Calvin watched them depart.
"MTM, where are my parents right now?" he said, raising his eyebrows.
"Restaurant, still." MTM was heard saying from Calvin's pocket. "I'm hearing talks of a movie theater, so we still have a few more hours."
"Man, those people eat slowly... Still, good to know. I'm going to milk this as far I can." Calvin chuckled.
"You're still gonna tell them, aren't you?"
"You know me so well," Calvin nodded. "And with any luck, we'll be able to get through this without a hitch... just so long as Hobbes doesn't raid the pantry or something while we're gone... Stupid cat, running off like that, I swear when we get back I'm gonna..."
Suddenly, an ear piercing scream rang out through the forest. Calvin looked up and his brow furrowed.
"... The heck was that?" he started.
"Well, at the risk of sounding cliché, I'd have to say it was probably your babysitter." MTM replied.
There was a deafening silence that followed this.
"Should we go check it out?" MTM suggested.
Calvin shrugged. "I mean, I guess."
"What else do we have to do right now?"
"Good point."
Calvin stood up and stretched, picking the MTM up, and holding him in front of him like a metal detector.
"All right, what do you see?" he asked, waving him back and forth very slowly in the direction the two teenagers walked off in.
"Hm, at the moment, not much," MTM admitted. "Something's interfering with my scanners."
Calvin scrunched his face up in confusion as he started towards the forest.
"Interfering with your...? What could be doing that?"
"Not sure. Give me moment to asses."
For a short moment, Calvin walked very slowly through the silent forest, straining his eyes to see any of the area around him. The only sounds he heard around him were the crunching of twigs under his feet and the periodic beeping from the MTM. All the other sounds of the forest had ceased, creating a fairly creepy atmosphere.
"Hmm," MTM said, thoughtfully.
"What?" Calvin murmured, still a little unsettled by the stillness around him.
"There seems to be a dimensional rift opening not too far from here." MTM explained. "Well, no, actually, two dimensional rifts, but one is a lot stronger than the other. The energy is messing with some of my software."
"Great," Calvin grumbled. "We got one of these adventures coming up. I trust you're putting your shields up."
"Already on it." MTM replied. "I'm rebooting my scanner, hang about a mo. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand... done. Processing... processing... Hmm..."
"Hmm? What hmm?"
"We are currently surrounded by sixteen people. None of them are recognized by my bio scanner, so it's no one we know."
"Greeeeeat...," Calvin growled. He turned his head all around, searching the entire visible area in front of him, yet saw no sign of anyone. Everything was still completely silent. "What about the morons? Where are they?"
"Keep walking straight. They're ahead by about a hundred and fifty feet. Life signatures are dim though. I think they're both unconscious. You're going to run into one of the aforementioned sixteen persons before you get to them."
"Noted. Get your overcharge weapon ready and follow my lead," Calvin whispered, placing the MTM away in his pocket. "We don't want these people knowing I got you."
"Right, because that's always made a difference in the past."
"Shut up."
Calvin trudged forward, silently complaining to himself about how he could be watching TV right now, when he came to a small clearing. The moon illuminated it enough to the point where he could see a very small field surround by trees and tall grass. Kneeling in the center of the field with its back to him was a figure.
Calvin squinted through the darkness to make out the details. The figure appeared to be female in her late 20s with long blonde hair. Her hair was matted and dirty, and had mud, grass and several twigs stuck in it. She was wearing a white nightgown which also had mud on it and she was rocking back and forth with her head down. Calvin could very slightly pick up on her whispering and laughing to herself.
Now here's the point where we discuss the difference between Calvin and other children his age. Present this situation to any other six year old boy or girl, or even anyone up into their 20s for that matter, and we would have a terrified, sobbing mess of a human being, feeling a deep and dark fear they had never before felt, and running to the nearest shelter attempting to find their mothers. Calvin, however, was the exception. While the woman certainly creeped him out, the boy was very hard to actually 'scare'. He craved adventures and all things weird, and this was yet another odyssey he would actively seek out to the end. An almost unnoticeable smile crept across his face as he confidently approached the woman.
"Hey lady!"
The whispering stopped and the woman froze.
"I'm looking for a couple teenagers. Have you seen them?"
Seconds passed, and the woman did not respond to him, and simply sat frozen in the grass.
Calvin took another step forward. "Hey! Are you listening? This is kind of import... Well, important-ish... I'd prefer not to have to explain to my parents that my babysitter just disappeared."
The woman began to straighten up, and slowly turned her head towards the boy. It was then that Calvin noticed that the eyes of this woman were completely white. There were no iris or pupils, simply white spheres that almost seemed to glow in the darkness. She had a twisted smile on her face, revealing chipped teeth covered in blood and dirt.
Calvin stared at her for a short moment. Undeterred, he continued. "One of them has red hair... kind of a stupid expression on her face... The other has a sideways baseball cap on... also has kind of a stupid expression on his face..."
"I saw them..."
Calvin's eyebrows jumped. The first words out of the woman's mouth were quiet and ominous, with a tone that was unmistakably excitement.
"Cool. Then hopefully, this will be simple, and you're just a quirky woman in the forest who will just point me in the right direction?"
"They're with my sisters…," the woman continued. "They will be part of the ritual."
Calvin sighed. "Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna say that… Well, what are the chances that you'd give them back to me if I politely asked?"
"Who are you, child?"
"Why, I'm Calvin the Bold." Calvin chuckled. "You may remember me from a few years ago, I was kind of a big deal."
The woman stared at him, not responding.
"The whole missing for a month thing? Up in the mountains? It was on the local news."
No response.
"Stopping an alien invasion and all that jazz? They left that part out, but it definitely happened."
"My sisters and I do not partake in society's traditions," the woman said coldly.
"Well see, that's just a shame because that means you don't know about gummy worms," Calvin sighed. "The red ones are the best, but they're usually the rarest, surrounded by thousands of the white ones."
"The worms will dine upon your friends by the night's end."
"Now come on, why you gotta turn everything I say into something morbid?" Calvin said, slapping his forehead. "And don't call them my 'friends', I barely want to admit I know them..."
"Then why do you fruitlessly search for them?"
"I dunno, it's not like I have anything else going on," Calvin shrugged. "Plus the girl is kinda my ride home, so…"
The woman held a bony finger up at Calvin.
"If you value your tiny life, you will leave this place. The ritual must be completed!"
"Yeah, you keep saying 'ritual', but I'm still a bit at a loss for what that means."
"Your immature mind would not comprehend our ideals!" the woman said, beginning to raise her voice slightly. "The ritual will bring about the second coming of our father!"
Calvin was silent for a moment while he considered this, nodding to himself.
"That's... ambitious," he shrugged. "Not sure how you want me to respond to that, but sure."
"Respond by abandoning your hope for rescuing the sacrifices!" the woman was now shrieking angrily. "Unless you wish to take their place upon the altar!"
"Not particularly what I had in mind for my evening."
"Then leave!"
"Geeze, fine lady, I'm leaving. You don't need to get all huffy about it."
And with that, Calvin turned and started off in the other direction.
"What do you make of it, MTM?" he whispered.
"Hm? Sorry, wasn't listening." MTM's voice came from Calvin's pocket.
"Why weren't you listening? What have you been doing this whole time?!"
"Monitoring the rift. It's getting bigger. We should probably consider doing something about it."
"Yeah well, I'm kinda busy getting yelled at by crazy ladies talking about raising their father with sacrifices or some nonsense."
MTM paused at this. "Wait, that's what she said?"
"Yeah? Why?"
"You do realize that sounds like demon summoning, right?"
Calvin stopped. "Oh... yeah, I guess it kinda does… Now that I think about it, I think she said something about an altar."
"Yeah, pretty sure that's demons."
"Uuugh... Does that mean we have to deal with it?"
"Well I mean... Not really, but if we don't it sounds like we're gonna have evil spirits summoned in our backyard."
Calvin groaned and turned back around. The woman was still eyeing him, holding her finger outstretched at him. Her eyes were wide, and blood was now dripping from her mouth.
"Yeah I guess that kinda does look all demon like, huh?" he admitted. He sighed, and started back towards her. "All right, never mind! All bets are off. I gotta stop you, now."
The woman stared at him for a long moment before she threw her head back and laughed. It wasn't the usual maniacal evil laugh that Calvin heard on a regular basis from his standard array of enemies, but was instead a deep and demonic sounding cackle, that sent a slight shiver down his spine. He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms, waiting for her to finish. Finally she did, and she took a step towards Calvin.
"You have thirty seconds to hand over the morons," he said in an emotionless tone. "Otherwise, I may have to resort to showing off. For your sake, don't make me show off."
"You think you can stop our father's rise to the physical realm?!" the woman screeched.
"Can we?" Calvin asked quietly, looking down.
"More than likely," MTM replied.
"More than likely," Calvin said, looking back up. "You will be summoning no Matt Damons on our watch, lady!"
The woman took another step towards the boy. It was then that he noticed that other figures were beginning to appear from the darkness of the forest. They were all wearing black cloaks that covered their faces, and were quietly chanting in unison. They slowly began closing the gap.
Calvin took a defensive stance and chuckled, reaching into his pocket. He pulled the MTM out and held it in front of him.
"MTM initiate force field."
"Done."
A transparent and electrified blue dome appeared around the two and electricity began crackling from the tip of the CD player.
The group continued closing in on Calvin without hesitation. "This is almost going to be too easy. Hobbes is gonna be so jealous when he finds out what he missed out on."
"Shield capacity at 95 percent. Shall I shock them?"
"Wait for it…," Calvin said, holding his hand up, watching the cult approaching him. "Wait for it... Now!"
A slight bit of sparks flickered from the MTM, and the dome surrounding them flickered slightly.
Calvin paused and turned a concerned look onto his invention.
"What was that?" he began, worriedly.
"It's the rift," MTM said, a slight tone of worry in his voice as well. "It's opening... It's messing with my system a little bit... Shield capacity is at 65 percent."
Calvin looked around, frantically. By this point, the cult was upon him, and several of them were banging their fists on the force field, still chanting in a different language. Some of their punches were causing the dome to bend, and others were beginning to get their hands through.
"How is that possible?" Calvin demanded. "You run on interdimensional energy! Why is this affecting you?"
"The rift is literally right on top of us," MTM explained. "What happens when you run too much electricity through a lightbulb?"
"Where is this rift coming from?" Calvin asked. "Is it these freaks?"
"Unlikely," MTM said. "They haven't done this ritual yet, so I'm guessing this is something else."
Calvin's head darted back and forth, desperately trying to think of what to do. "All right, MTM!" he started. "Reduce the power of the force field! Use the remaining power to compensate for their hits!"
"On it."
There was a pause, then the force field completely dissipated. One of the cult members made a grab for Calvin's hair, only to be blocked by a small section of the force field that then reappeared in the perfect size to block the hand.
Others continued to reach for the boy, some trying to kick him, all being perfectly blocked against the flickering sections of the force field, each one being put up perfectly timed to stop each attack.
"All right," Calvin said. "What do we do now?"
"Well, we should probably figure it out before I run out of energy in the next forty seconds," MTM said, flatly.
"Great. That's just great," Calvin grumbled. "What weapons are online?"
"Well... My squirt gun is still fully functional, as is my foam dart gun and Oreo dispenser." MTM replied. "Still not sure why you installed any of those as we've never used them once, but I guess the option is always there."
"Right..."
"Yeah, remember that rift I said was opening?"
"What about it?"
"It is now open."
Calvin looked up. In all the panic, he had been completely unaware of the purple and blue lights that had appeared directly above his head. Even some of the cloaked figures paused their assault to gawk at the phenomenon.
Calvin blinked several times, as he stared blankly at the portal that was opening right in front of him.
"Something's coming through," MTM said. "Scratch that. Two somethings are coming through."
"Uuugh... I don't have time for this right now! I'm already dealing with one emergency! Can you shut the portal down?"
"Nope. Won't have to, anyway. It'll close on its own once whatever is using it is through." MTM said.
"OUR FATHER HAS RISEN!"
"Oh shut up, we all know that's not what's happening!" Calvin spat.
At that moment, something finally reached Calvin's ears. It was screaming. But not a scream of fear or a scream of agony that one would assume to hear in this horror movie style situation. It was in fact a scream of frustration and anger. A very familiar scream of frustration and anger.
"FOR FLIPPING GOD'S SAKE, JACK, MY NAME IS DR BRAINSTORM!"
Several people jumped out of the way, as a tall man with a lab coat and wild red hair and a silver robot collapsed onto the ground from the portal. Upon finally spitting out the two, the portal fizzled and faded out, completely, once again plunging the forest into darkness.
The man straightened himself up and checked his anime style hair, as if expecting it to have been messed up. The robot as well stood up.
"Seriously! I legitimately do not understand why you don't just call me that!" Brainstorm screamed, jabbing his finger at the robot. The mad scientist looked a little beat up. His lab coat was ripped in several places and he had a few scratches and bruises. His screaming, however, caused any notice of this detail to be erased, as he was very clearly not mortally wounded.
"Force of habit, really," Jack said, his metal face glistening in the moonlight. "It's not like I enjoy listening to you yell."
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"I said, 'Oh look, your mortal enemy Calvin is here'."
Brainstorm whipped around and cast his accusing gaze upon Calvin.
"AH HA! YOU AGAIN! TRYING TO RUIN MY PLANS ONCE MORE, ARE YOU?!"
"Not really, I don't even know what you're doing today," Calvin sighed. "What's up, Jack?"
"Oh, you know, the usual," Jack shrugged.
It was then that Jack noticed the people surrounding the boy. The cloaked figures, the crazed demonic woman and the MTM held firmly in Calvin's hand, still sparking slightly. He blinked several times and looked over at Brainstorm, who as well gave him the same puzzled expression, having just noticed himself.
"So…," Jack said, nodding slowly. "Are we, uh, interrupting something?"
"Oh, you know," Calvin shrugged. "The usual."