Hope everyone had a happy new year! This chapter is a little longer that the rest, so it took a little longer to finish. Enjoy !
"Come on Doyle! Get up! The secret scientists are here!", A young voice yelled from the opposite side of the door.
"Huh, wha?" Doyle yawned, sitting up and stretching in bed, what "What time is it?"
"It's morning Doyle, mom wants you to get up already" Zak called, now banging on the door with his fist instead.
"Alright, alright I'm awake, just give me a minute okay?" He said stumbling out of bed in the direction of the bathroom. He could hear the humming of Beeman's ship from outside whilst he went to grab a comb to cure his bedhead but as soon as he lifted his arm into the view of the mirror…. The comb dropped to the ground with a soft thud, Doyle stood paralysed in shock. There was something peculiar on his right arm, spanning from shoulder to elbow. At first glance it appeared to be like some kind of tattoo, but it was jet black and felt odd to the touch. It burned, almost like it was welded to his skin. The design itself was something that he would never find himself getting as a tattoo of. It consisted of two snakes, weaved in and around each other, with a few flame shapes around the edges, it looked like something carved into the Kur stone. "SNAKES? WHY SNAKES?" he yelled "OKAY ZAK! Nice prank, now can you tell me how get this thing off my arm?". Doyle growled under his breath and turned back to the marking.
Doyle tried everything to get it off. He tried to wash it off by soaking it in the sink, but the ink wouldn't budge, he tried peeling it off like a sticker, he even tried hair spray and nail polish remover, but it wouldn't come off. The skin around it was beginning to turn red from the scrubbing and it itched and burned like a raw rash, so in the end he bandaged it, layer after layer until he could no longer see the outline of the snakes or symbols. By now he was already late and by the time he got down to the hanger, an argument had broken out. Drew noted his entrance, but then her eyes trailed down to his poorly bandaged arm.
"What did you do to your arm?" She asked curiously.
"Err… well I kinda fell over in the shower and cut myself" He lied, grinning and rubbing the back of his neck.
Drew rolled her eyes and turned back to Epsilon, who was currently arguing with Doc.
"Well I don't much care about your policies Epsilon" He said coldly to the scientist and grey man.
Doyle's eyes flicked over to where Komodo was sneaking over to the griffin, the lizard somehow activated the engines and a trail of smoke clouded the room as fisk and Zak made their escape. Doyle couldn't help but smirk, that kid never missed a beat, then he turned his head back to the advancing scientists.
…..
It had been an hour since Zak and the cryptids had escaped and now the secret scientists, along with sis and Doc, were analysing the footage of the gorilla cat on his midnight rampage. My arm was still tingling and I had to resist the urge to scratch it. I was getting really bored of this debate and so was Drew, she was arguing with Epsilon who was blocking the way to the airship. I was seriously bored of this now. I grabbed the arm of one of Epsilons "people", winced as my arm flared up and tossed him into the air. Everyone else seemed to follow my lead and start to fight, although 3 vs 8 isn't a very fair fight, but we managed to reach the airship, closely pursued by the scientists. Once aboard Doc and Drew started making plans to rescue Zak from the so called "Mondays" that they thought were behind this. I was told to keep an eye on the newsfeeds, to watch for any possible clue to where they could have gone.
After about five minutes of checking the news feeds, my arm began to throb, this time on the back of my hand, I pulled off my gloves to find another mark, it was faint, but it was starting to show through on my skin. This one wasn't a snake, it was a distorted spiral. I pulled my glove back on to hide it, but it didn't stop the pain, it made it spread. My head began to reel, the room spinning violently. I dropped to my knees, gasping for air, holding my head in my hands.
….
"NOT AGAIN!" Doyle cried at the top of his voice as the markings began to glow a strange colour.
"Oh yes my servant, did you think you could escape a dark queens mighty power"
"YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER ME!"
"Oh but I do, you're only human, I can bend your mind to my will"
"How, h-how are you doing this you freak!"
"It is unwise to insult me fleshling, I speak on behalf of Kur and soon, you will too"
"Who's side do you think I'm on"
"That isn't your choice" She hissed, closing the gap on the resistance Doyle's mind was trying to muster, causing the ex-mercenary's pain to worsen to a point where he began to writhe around on the floor.
"If you stop resisting human, the pain will subside" It worked, Doyle's headache became to exhausting and he gave up fighting the inevitable and in almost an instant, Rani was able to pounce on his subconscious.
"Now my servant, can you tell where the Lemurian is?"
"Tell you where the Lemurian is?"
"Tell me"
"Not here, searching for him, is lost" were the only words Doyle's overloaded brain could muster.
"WHAT! Where is the boy then instead?"
"Lost too, with the Lemurian, trying to find him"
"Oh you humans are absolutely useless; you can't even keep track of your own young! I shall return later servant; you'd best remember this is our little secret"
"Yes master, I understand…"
Doyle's mind was released immediately and he sprang up with a start, grasping his arm, breathing heavily. He pulled off his glove to find the marking fully formed and that a similar marking was forming on his other hand and that his fingertips on both hands were turning black and becoming slightly rough, scaly even.
"This, this can't be real, what's happening to me?" He whimpered, standing up and turning back to the computer screen. He noticed a familiar sight one the monitor, Fiskerton was smashing windows and flipping cars with the Eiffel Tower in the background. "Paris" He said weakly, wandering back to the bridge to alert his sister and brother in law.
"Got something. News wires lighting up all over France, monster animals attacking Paris"
Poor Doyle, that got nasty fast, expect the next chapter mid next week.