Author's note: So this is the short story that I promised you! This one started BEFORE book 1, next one will be book 1 although not sure if she will meet Skulduggery and Valkyrie then...
Plus, I promise there will only be two extra OCs and then that's it! Plus, the other woman in here rarely appears and neither does the other OC, so don't worry about it!
It was now winter in Germany's quaint countryside; the used-to-be green and lush meadows and farmlands were now coated with a thick layer of snow, like icing layered on a cake. The starry night sky was shut away from view because of the giant curtain of dark clouds; the ground still peppered slowly by them with new layers of snow. On the great expanse of snow and dead grass, there stood a random shed.
If it weren't for the fact that it looked broken down and not used in ages, people passing by might have been suspicious. However, the moss growing on most of it's sides and the gaping holes on the roof and door made it seem all the more old and less conspicuous; in addition to the aging wood and the ancient moldy scent around it.
Let us be honest here my dear readers, what passer by would bother to stop, take a look inside a broken shed and then climb down the wooden staircase that they would find if they opened the hatch door which was hidden under a rug? And what passer by would coincidentally happen to have a key card that would open a giant metal door that they would find if they climbed down the wooden staircase and continued to walk through a cement, spherical tunnel? Let us not forget the infinite amount of guards that this passer by would have to be brave enough to walk past if he opened the door with his coincidental key card, which would open into a strange underground facility with cement walls and floors.
Not many would admit into claiming to have met such a passer by and those who have... will most certainly have to nominate him the Oscar award for Countryside Curiosity.
However, such a person did commit all these acts and he wasn't merely passing by. In fact, as soon as the enemy found out he was in the building, they didn't hesitate to track him down and drag him into an interrogation room.
It was cold and had a foul rotten eggs smell hanging in the air like a soft haze. It had a simple squarecement design, much like the rest of the underground building. The ceiling was covered with pipes of all different shapes and sizes; every now and then one or two pipes would let out a burst of hissing steam that wouldn't last for long and the room would return to it's deathly silence. Well... a silence that would only last for a short while, before the repeated sharp sounds of knuckles meeting flesh would begin again.
The previous trespasser had his arms and legs tied up to a plastic chair with thick wire rope; a single harsh bright light was shining down on him, leaving ghastly shadows on his face. His ridiculously large jaw was bruised and cut from the amount of beatings it received, one of his eyes were shut and bruised ; his bleeding bulbous nose was crooked at a very awkward angle and his lips were puffy and bloody. The only part of his body that wasn't injured was his brown hair, that was hanging loose in shoulder-length greasy strands.
His "interrogator" was a large muscular man in a white unbuttoned dress shirt with large sweat spots. He had a short Mohawk and his knuckles were bloody from how long the "interrogation" was taking.
"Genug!"
The Mohawk interrogator looked over his shoulder and stood up from his punching stance. Out of the shadows came a rather stout, balding man in a black double breasted suit. The little remaining grey hair on his head was slicked back with obvious care and the same could be said for his chin puff beard. His blank, ice blue eyes looked like they were constantly squinting and his upper lip barely showed behind his thick bottom lip. His suit looked brand new and not a speck of dust or rubble was to be found; he also wore an expensive-looking golden watch on his wrist. Overall, he had the air of a firm businessman and not the clean type either...
Mr. Hokrux slowly took two steps forward, gazed at the slouching and bleeding figure before him and snorted.
"You know, for a woman as well endowed and tactical people claim Ms. Magnanimous to be," He commented "I didn't think that she would be foolish enough to send some unprofessional weakling straight to the lion's den."
He didn't have a thick German accent, but there was a hint of it when he spoke. The only reply he got was a choking sound which then lead to the captive coughing out blood. Hokrux's mouth tilted into a small amused smirk.
"Oder hat sie vergessen, was passiert ist, um die letzte Person, die zu tun ist meine Basis zu infiltrieren versucht?" He mockingly asked with a raised eyebrow.
How could anyone forget what happened?
Poor Lixon was a man who was foolish enough to ask Mr. Hokrux for a favor, but one thing lead to another and in the end costed the lives of his wife, son and all of his money. He tried to take revenge by blowing Hokrux up in his own home, but the one who provided him the explosives sold him out and Lixon was caught. The day after, people found a man's private part dangling from a thin rope under a bridge. It didn't take a genius to figure out who's private part it was and what message Mr. Hokrux was sending.
The big-jawed prisoner shivered from the memory and replied with a heaving glottal voice "T-the f-fire..."
Hokrux simply scoffed "Was merely a distraction set for the security while we made our escape."
There has been a vicious rumor going around that Jocelyn had developed a very powerful shielding mechanism that would revolutionize the magic world, only this rumor managed to spread to Germany and it's underworld syndicates and gangs. Another rumor spread there that Hokrux had his eye on Jocelyn's merchandise for quite some time and others say that the Diablerie and Necromancers have offered him a very good ransom if he could get his hands on the blueprints for the weapons.
"And now that we have managed to get our hands on the blueprints, they are being analysed by our top engineers as we speak," Hokrux continued while turning his back on the prisoner, who suddenly went completely silent. "And even if Jocelyn tried to take them back, she would soon find herself given the same treatment that was given to our dear Mr. Lixon."
Hokrux suddenly heard a sharp whooshing sound, followed by a painful grunt and the large thump of a body collapsing to the ground.
"But you're forgetting one thing Mr. Hokrux."
The stout man's eyes widened with shock before he whirled around and saw his interrogator lying on the floor with a sharp, metal needle-like bullet jammed messily through the side of his neck. Blood flew and dripped from the Mohawk man's lips as he desperately tried to pull out the shard with shaking hands, but soon was lying still with lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. Hokrux slowly looked up from his friend's profusely bleeding carotid artery and saw his suddenly female prisoner biting onto a weird pen-like tube while smirking at him with a mischievously evil twinkle in her eyes.
"I don't have a dick to lose"
Before Hokrux could yell for help, his captive shot another needle-like bullet at a pipe above him and a huge billow of scaldingly hot steamed burst onto him, burning his entire head and hands. Hokrux let out a painful screech as he held his burnt hands close to his body. He tried to stumble away from the bursting pipe, but some of the steam was shot into his eyes which left him wobbling around blindly.
"I wasn't foolish enough to go straight into the lion's den Hokrux" Jocelyn's voice echoed tauntingly around him.
Hokrux tried to open his tearful eyes to catch a glimpse of his prisoner, but by then the room was already filled with steam that continued to erupt from the pipe. Hokrux was now sweating like a pig; his eyes, while blinking out tears of pain, were now wide with panic and fear as he turned around left and right like a gazelle being circled by a lion.
When a shadow grew over him, he whirled around and gasped shockingly as he stumbled back and collapsed to the floor. Jocelyn stood there in all her bloody glory, the thick wire rope that held her captive was now held by her like a whip. She was now a 5 ft 8 woman with pixie cut brown hair and a long nose with rather big nostrils; the clothes from the previous man she was disguised as (a ragged and bloody two piece black suit with black dress trousers and a leather belt) were now very baggy on her.
"I just needed a little evidence." She grinned at him and held out her other hand which had a weird, small and bloody hole right on the palm. There were soft and short sounds of flesh being ripped apart and Hokrux whimpered with disgust and horror when he saw a strange, metallic device slowly grow through the hole. It looked like an old fashioned mini-microphone that was covered in blood with a magic symbol on the tip. Jocelyn bent her finger and gently touched the symbol before it lighted up. Suddenly, Hokrux heard his own boasting voice being played back to him:
"And now that we have managed to get our hands on the blueprints, they are being analysed by our top engineers as we sp-"
Jocelyn tapped the symbol again and the light shut off along with Hokrux's voice recording.
Hokrux's face drained of all colour and he whimpered in fear when Jocelyn started to step slowly towards him, the wire rope in her hands now dangling threateningly towards him.
Jocelyn's grin widened into a cruel smirk and just before she could raise her arm, a sudden buzzing sound echoed around the room. Al Yankovic's "the Saga Begins" started to play and Jocelyn patted around her clothes in search of where it's coming from while Hokrux still sat frozen in a cowering position, too afraid to move an inch.
Jocelyn quirked an eyebrow confusedly and tilted her head slightly to the side when she couldn't find the device. Finally a look of realization dawned on her face; she lightly smacked her forehead while chuckling amusingly and pressed a finger against her ear.
"Hello, Magnanimous Speaking!" She cheerfully greeted with a large grin while dropping the wire rope and reaching up towards the metal bullet stuck into the pipe.
Hokrux finally broke out of his stupor and saw his chance to escape. While Jocelyn wasn't looking, he quickly spun around, tried to get up on his feet and run towards the door. However, before he could even place one foot on the ground, he felt a sharp and excruciating pain on his leg which made him howl in agony again. He looked back with tearful eyes and saw Jocelyn crouching down next to his leg while holding onto the needle-like bullet that was jammed through his calf. She smiled mischievously and wagged her finger at him teasingly, like she was scolding a child.
She stabbed the bullet deeper into his leg (earning another scream of torture and another spurt of blood) and held up a finger before replying pleasantly "Sorry sweetie, how much time did you say I have again?"
The sound of a squeaky voice started to project from...whatever device Jocelyn had plugged into her ear and Jocelyn simply nodded and hummed in confirmation as it continued to ramble on. However, it was what she said later on that made Hokrux freeze in terror:
"And all the bombs are in place?"
Bombs?! How did she ever place bombs in his building?! These were a few of the hundreds of questions that were running a million miles per second in Hokrux's head, along with: Will I be spared? and How long will it take for security to get here?! But all these thoughts were wiped out of his head when he felt Jocelyn sharply pull the bullet out of his leg, causing another tormenting wave of pain to course through his entire leg. By now, his entire body was shuddering from the agony and blood loss it was going through. Hokrux, now heaving with pain, flipped himself around (very slowly and painfully) until he was in a close enough sitting position and looked up again at Jocelyn while clutching his injured leg.
She stood up from her crouching position and Hokrux saw the wired rope now back in her free hand again, while the other was still pressed against her ear. She gave a cheerful farewell and ended the call before turning back to the pathetic and sniveling man cowering on the floor beneath her.
"Well Mr. Hokrux!" Jocelyn beamed, somehow making Hokrux even more terrified "It seems that I will take my leave soon, so I'll have to cut this meeting short."
It was only when Jocelyn's smile miniaturized into a malicious smirk and when she whipped the wire rope into both her hands, did Hokrux truly understand what Jocelyn meant by cutting this meeting short...
A man in a security guard uniform was walking through the cement corridors filled with various and similar metallic doors, only to find one left ajar...and a pool of blood leaking through the small gap.
He was stared in shock for a moment, as if not fully comprehending what it was and then quickly ran inside...only to clasp a hand to his mouth before he could puke. He quickly ran out again while bellowing into his handheld transceiver in German, probably to sound the alarm or to send reinforcements.
However, the door was left wide open for all to see the massacre inside: the headless corpse of Hokrux lying on the floor with limbs twisted at awkward angles; the messily cut neck spilling gallons of blood along with the open leg wound. Lying next to the pool of blood surrounding the victim was a long wire rope left on the floor in a loop, covered in the same liquid...
By now, the entire underground base was on full alert: giant masses of guards ran along corridors with all sorts of weapons, from guns and rifles to grenades and machetes. They were all barking commands at each other and searching through each and every room for the escaped prisoner. There was an alarm that rang very loudly throughout the entire building, which added to the effect of chaos and panic.
And where was Jocelyn while all of this was happening? Why, where all protagonists go to escape and where the antagonist would never bother to look: the ventilation shafts!
After Jocelyn managed to eliminate her target, she wrapped her jacket around the severed head and gathered all the equipment taken from her when they captured her. A simple stripping of the Mohawk man and analyzation of his body and she was able to shift into his form.
Fun fact about Jocelyn's shifting: it wasn't a simple matter of memorizing the person and turning into them. Since Jocelyn was only half shape-shifter (father was a sorcerer and mother was mortal), she had to analyse the person's body: their height, their muscle contour, etc. And then she'd be able to memorize the details and shift into him or her; Jocelyn thought this technique was more accurate than simply taking the average body shape of another person and applying another's face.
However, it wasn't long before someone found the body, but by then Jocelyn had already found a ventilation grill.
Jocelyn was currently crouching in a rather narrow shaft wearing a respirator mask and a brown leather satchel, waiting for the guards to pass by underneath her. To avoid crawling into a situation where the shaft would be too small for her to crawl through, she had to switch forms again. Instead of a different person of around the same age, Jocelyn was now a small girl who looked no older than eight with long strawberry blonde hair that was tied up messily in a low ponytail using a scrap of fabric ripped off of her dress shirt. The clothing she wore was very baggy on her little form, so Jocelyn ditched the trousers and jacket before she went in through the unscrewed entrance; the shirt looked more like a dress on her anyway.
Jocelyn started to crawl again when suddenly, she heard another person clambering in front of her.
Fun fact about ventilation shafts: they are nothing AT ALL like what they are interpreted as in the movies. For one thing, you can NEVER crawl silently in a ventilation shaft: the weight against the metal would create a huge ruckus that the people underneath would hear a mile away. Secondly, there is no such thing as a clean ventilation shaft. They are always covered with dirty greasy muck and thick bio hazardous dust (which explains Jocelyn's mask); The one Jocelyn was in was scattered with grime plastered along surfaces that seemed untouched for years.
Soon enough, a woman turned from a corner ahead of Jocelyn and clambered towards her with a peeved face.
"This has got to be the most cliche plan I have ever taken part in..." The woman grumbled.
She was a beautiful woman with slender shoulders and wide hips that kept getting stuck to the sides of the shafts. Her long purple-streaked black hair was tied back in a messy bun and her sweaty pink toned face was smudged with mascara that was messily wiped around her eyes. She was currently wearing a short black pencil skirt, a blue dress shirt with puffy short sleeves and black finger-less gloves.
Jocelyn merely grinned at her widely, her chubby kid dimples roughly shown through her mask "Well, it worked for Sean Flanery and Norman Reedus didn't it?"
Aurelia simply glared at the adorable child and growled "Just shut up and give me the map!"
Jocelyn's eye's widened and her grin shrinked into a nervous smile "Yes...um...about that..."
"... I swear Jocelyn, if you didn't bring it-!"
"No no, I did bring it! ... Well, sort of..." Jocelyn nervously chuckled through her mask before sitting cross legged on the shaft, metal creaking under her. She rummaged around the leather satchel and first handed to Aurelia another respirator mask, which she hurriedly put on. Next, Jocelyn yanked out a scruffy looking piece of paper and showed it to her friend proudly.
Jocelyn grinned at her friend "See? I told you I brought it!"
Aurelia stared with deadpanned eyes at the paper, "...Jo...That's not the map."
"What do you mean? Of course it's the map! Look, it even says at the top 'Map'! I know your mind tends to wander 'Lia, but I would've thought that you can still read!" Jocelyn scoffed at her and pointed at the top where it indeed said 'Map' with rough, squiggly handwriting. The map itself looked like it was drawn by a toddler with a black fountain pen: it seemed to be the schematics of the ventilation shafts of the underground base, but simplified to a bunch of black, messy lines that eventually lead to the surface with a cute doodle of a smiley face car waiting for them. The paper was very wrinkled and there were blotches of ink everywhere.
"Jo..." Aurelia started, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose while she mentally counted to ten. "That is not THE map, that is A map. A week before we left, I left you THE map and even specifically told you 'this is THE map, make sure to memorize it'. Please explain to me how that translated to 'replace this map with a shitty copy and don't forget the stickers'?!"
By now, Aurelia was almost yelling and heaving, her eyes narrowed into glaring slits of fury. True enough, the map had flower stickers in both top corners while the bottom two had smiley face stickers and...was that glitter glue?!
Jocelyn shushed her with her finger on her lips, "Sh! We're still in an enemy base you know! Now about the map...I know you said to memorize it, but...it was just such an ugly map! I mean, did you see the amount of lines on it?! You'd think it was designed by a Zebra wearing a kilt scarf or something! And do NOT get me started on the hideous shade of green it had! Plus, certain circumstances arose which lead me to leaving the memorization until the very last day. BUT! Me being the tactful and dexterous being of awesome that I am, I decided to draw a replica of the map which I conjectured would ensure to speed up the 'memorization' process!"
"..."
A rather awkward silence passed for a moment, with Aurelia staring at Jocelyn with a deadpanned expression and Jocelyn simply sitting there with a frozen (and possibly forced) smile until Aurelia broke it:
"You lost it didn't you?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Suddenly, a bunch of bullets ripped through the gap between the two women.
"And the guards found us didn't they?"
"It would seem so."
"WHICH WAY NOW?!"
The two women (or in this case, the woman and child) were now crawling for their lives, with Aurelia crawling up front while Jocelyn was behind her clutching the pathetic excuse of a map and giving directions. Aurelia flung fire at the adversaries below while Jocelyn dropped a stick grenade (Model 24 Stielhandgranate to be exact) to slow them down. After a rather painful scolding punch from Jocelyn's friend ("DON'T JUST THROW YOUR STUPID BOMBS AROUND IN AN UNDERGROUND FACILITY!"), the two hurriedly scuffled away and now not far from their destination.
Jocelyn looked at her scribble-y map and barked through her mask "Right turn! There should be a tunnel right above us!"
And true to her word, there was a tunnel leading up to the surface right above them. Both looked up and saw a fan blowing out the unclean back to the surface. Shortly after, a small shadow came over the fan and something was suddenly jammed into one of its blades. Aurelia flinched from how loud the screeching sound of the halting fan blades were against the narrow walls of the shaft; Jocelyn simply grinned widely with relief. That relief didn't last for long however when both women heard sharp German bellows a few yards behind them.
"They're going to reach us by the time we blow up the top!" Aurelia warned through her mask, her brown eyes starting to widen in panic.
Jocelyn looked over her shoulder, as if she could see the guards coming through the shafts. She suddenly grinned through her mask.
"Well, guess we're gonna have to go with plan B!" Jocelyn chirped as she threw her satchel and the jacket-wrapped head to her surprised friend.
Aurelia stared at her with a confused face "B? What plan B? We didn't agree on a plan B!"
"Oh, don't worry. I managed to agreed on a plan B around...three seconds ago."
"What the- Then whatever you have in mind doesn't count as a plan B! We stick to the original plan and I'll stay behind and stall 'em!"
Suddenly, a thick rope was dangling in between their faces. Aurelia looked up and found that the rope continued all the way to the top where it was slipped in between the fan blades.
"Look, we'll continue this later, but right now we have to go before-"
Aurelia looked in front of her only to find Jocelyn no longer there. She felt her eye twitch before she growled frustratingly and loudly before she yanked at the rope and started to climb it. As soon as she reached the top where a knot was tied, she grasped her hand on top of it and used the free one to rummage around in the satchel hanging from her shoulder. Soon enough, Aurelia found exactly what she was looking for: it looked like a smaller, symbol-covered version of a dynamite, only it was coloured in a shade of baby blue and the symbols glowed with a small green light; the dynamite was probably the size of a pinky.
The sound of a hand watch alarm went off and Aurelia looked at her wrist to see how much time remained. The watch was now counting down from five minutes before the explosives went off. Aurelia's palms started to sweat. She hurriedly stuck the small blue dynamite onto the grilling in front of the fan (the dynamite had tac on the back), reached into the back pocket of her skirt and took out a small piece of chalk. Then she used it to draw a circle on the metal border surrounding the fan before she quickly scrambled down the rope, her breaths now coming out in labored, panicking heaves through her mask. Aurelia wasn't as fit as her shape-shifting friend; she was a lover, not a fighter!
The elemental looked up towards the circle, now glowing in the same colour as the dynamite. She clicked her fingers, sparking up a flame, and hurled it towards the fan before quickly ducking her head. The dynamite let out an explosion the size of the circle Aurelia drew and blew up the fan and the grilling. Unfortunately, Aurelia didn't take into account of the rope being burnt once the dynamite went off. Hence the sudden fall of our elemental.
She grumbled and winced at the pain she felt on the back of her head and backside. She looked back up again; the shaft was clear of any obstacles and it showed a clear view of the night sky above.
Aurelia grumbled again, only this time it contained the odd foul word or two, and looked down at her watch that was now counting down from three minutes.
"Guess I have no choice..." She sighed and looked depressingly at her black, fingerless gloves that were already filthy from the grime that stuck to the shaft walls. She started to crawl up the shaft, each foot sticking to the opposite walls while her hands helped to shuffle her forwards.
Soon enough, Aurelia finally managed to flop herself onto the sweet, sweet ground. She was laying on her back on the snow, her chest rising up and down rapidly with each gasping breath she took. By now, Aurelia looked like a ridiculous pink, sweaty human fish gulping for air with a mascara-smeared face.
"Ms. Beguile, aren't the explosives about to go off any moment now?" a monotone voice suddenly spoke.
Aurelia flinched and sat up, ready to fire at any possible enemy before letting out a relieved breath at who it was.
Standing in front of a black SUV, was a boy wearing a tiger onesie. He had extremely curly Burgundy blush hair (just straight enough to not be an afro) with one side tied up in a black and white striped bow. He skin was completely white, it didn't seem to have a tone at all and his face was peppered with a ridiculous amount of freckles. His eyes were a strange shade of silver with dashes of liquid gold in them.
"Yes Happy, that's why I'm lying on the floor heaving my arse off!" Aurelia growled before scrambling up to her feet and ran towards the SUV, dragging Happy by the hand with her after handing him the jacket-covered head.
Happy's face had a bored and neutral expression as he replied again with a monotone voice "Ah, Mama did say that sarcasm was one of your annoying habits. That and breathing."
"Yeah well, I'm not the one who's about to be blown to kingdom come." Aurelia drawled as she opened the side door of the SUV and shoved the boy inside before sliding into the driver's seat, not even bothering with the seat belt as she turned the car on and stepped on the gas pedal as hard as she could.
Considering they were stuck in the middle of nowhere and all the fields were covered in a thick layer of snow, Aurelia had only one destination on mind: to get as far away from the base as possible before the inevitable would happen. After the previous area was soon out of sight, Aurelia looked down at her wrist watch that was now counting down the last few seconds:
5...
Aurelia clutched onto the wheel tigher...
4...
Happy sat upright onto his seat...
3...
She looked at her rear-view mirror at the previous hill they were on...
2...
Happy put on his seat belt...
1...
Aurelia saw a flash of black came out of the hill...
Time's Up! Time's Up! Time's U-
~KABOOM!~
Aurelia was lounging on the hood of the SUV while smoking on a cigarette, while Happy sat on the snow in front of the SUV. He found make-up inside Aurelia's satchel and decided to play makeover with Hokrux's head. Aurelia's shirt was knotted and showed off her midriff and her pencil skirt showed off her luscious crossed legs.
She was calmly taking a smoke, until something huge suddenly crashed in front of them, making both Aurelia and Happy jump in shock.
A creature that was 8 ft tall stood nude before them with glowing red, cracking grey rock skin that glistened in the pale moon light. It had long, scruffy black hair that hung in dreadlocks that reached below it's shoulders. It's skin looked like it was bursting with muscle and the scraps of burnt clothing that hung from it's shoulder's failed to hide the abs it also had. It had long dark grey nails that looked like claws and it's feet was bird shaped with three toes and large dark grey talons. The most prominent feature were its large, grotesque, bat-like wings that were spread wide; their colour was of the same shade as the grey, rocky skin of the creature and they were large enough to cover the entire SUV! From the subtle curves this creature had and its breasts, it seemed to be female and it had long thick horns that were shaped like a gazelles and grew from it's forehead.
The creature lifted it's head to reveal a hollow and narrow face with cheekbones that threatened to jut out through its skin. It didn't have a nose, instead it had two snake like slits. It's mouth was set into a firm line and it had fangs that slipped through it's thin, black lips. It didn't have any eyebrows and its eyes were two glowing orbs of Duke blue with no pupils.
Jocelyn's black lips spread into a devil-like grin, showing off her blood covered fangs.
"Terribly sorry I'm late."