Chapter 4:
Hanging by a Thread OR In Which More Stuff is Explained
New York has always thought to be the start of the end. In popular American fiction, if a disaster was going to occur, it would almost always start in New York. A meteor going to hit the Earth? New York would be ground zero. A portal opening to allow a ghost from another dimension to come and destroy the world? Who ya gonna call? New York. A cursed museum? The Museum of Natural History in New York. Mobsters and cops shooting it out on the streets? (Actually that was Chicago.) An insane group of mitochondria calling itself Eve and trying to kill humanity starting in one city? New York.
Thus, when fictional characters came to life and needed a city to make their headquarters, guess which city they picked to make their police station? Toronto, Canada. Apparently, it was the only city the characters could agree on since many of the Japanese characters wanted Tokyo and the American characters wanted New York because it felt close to home. To compromise, they picked a city none of them wanted. Toronto.
However, changes needed to be made to the current Toronto police station to make it the new headquarters of Fictional City PD. Constructions occurred days after the murders ended but was halted after one of the characters completed a cost projection and realized it would be too expensive to convert the already existing building to the building the characters envisioned. Around the same time, one of the characters decided to destroy a large section of the city. After arresting their fellow fictional character, they decided to build their headquarters on the destroyed land. Construction began again and soon Toronto gained the nickname Fictional City due to the concentration of fictional characters found in the city.
Although Gothic looking, the building was larger than a few city blocks and towered over the surrounding area. It was at least fifty floors tall and mostly made of stone due to the material being more durable than glass or steel. The front doors were made of oak and were tall enough to allow even the Hulk to pass through them comfortably. The back doors were made of reinforced steel but characters seemed to dislike using them so they were always locked and chained shut. On the roof were a helipad, an airplane runway, and an area for flying fictional characters to take off and fly towards their assigned areas.
Inside, the police station appeared more modern. If one passed through the large oak doors they would find themselves in an open lobby. In the centre of the large room was a front desk. Characters that were not suited for raids or basic patrols to search for normal crime sat at the desk and would direct anyone who passed through the doors. To the left and right of the desk were elevators for the public's use. These elevators led to the basement levels and to the first three floors of the station. Behind the front desk were two doors. One led to the room which housed the many private elevators that characters used to travel to the other floors of the station including the roof. The second doors led to the back area of the first floor where basic bookkeeping for the station occurred. There fictional characters could receive a paper copy of their route or orders if they were distrustful of modern technology.
If one was to take the elevator to the basements, one would find well lit cells and interrogation rooms where criminals could stay and await trial. Below the holding cells was the training range for those characters who could not train in the open world due to their power and strength. The final level of basements was dedicated to the testing of new weapons and occasionally authors received their sentences in the underground sections.
Conversely, if one rode the elevator upwards, one would see the other floors had different functions. The second and third floor often acted as court rooms for sentencing authors although an assault suspect had been convicted in the same court room as well. The next few floors acted as a medical ward for characters that were injured in the line of duty or were suffering adverse effects due to their new climate. The final floors were used as living areas for the fictional characters who called the city home. They were often empty as most characters preferred to be out on the streets than sitting and twitting their thumbs (if they had thumbs). It was easier to forget if they were busy working but a few fictional characters didn't have that opportunity. In the medical ward, a few characters lay on the border between life and death.
Originally there had been six characters holding onto life but now there were five. The ten year old, pink hat wearing boy had perished months ago. The remaining children seemed to be about the age of thirteen. They lay close together on hospital beds with white sheets. Three were boys and two were girls. Oxygen masks covered their faces and the television screens embedded in the headboards of the beds showed a graphical representation of their vital signals. At the foot of their beds were their names; Yumi, Aelita, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy. The black haired girl's hand twitched as one of the fairies who acted as healers lifted her hand to check her pulse.
Although Fairy Godmother had come to trust the machines, she still preferred the old way the best. She shook her head which caused her white bob-cut styled hair to peek out from under her blue hood. It pained her to see these children in such a state. She had thought only Cinderella's tears could move her so deeply but she had been able to make the child smile with her magic. Unfortunately, these children were beyond the help of a good old bibbidi bobbidi boo spell.
With a small sigh, Fairy Godmother placed the girl's hand back on the bed. She patted the back of the hand gently before moving to the pink haired girl. Unlike Yumi, this girl did not seem aware of the gentle hand lifting her arm. The boys were also unaware although the one called Odd opened his mouth and seemed to call for a kiwi. Fairy Godmother wasn't sure if this was a sign of good fortune or an ominous gesture.
After checking their pulses, Fairy Godmother moved away from the children and turned her attention to her other charges. She was forced to pause beside Jeremy's bed as another fairy floated into the room. The fairy was dressed in green robes and wore a tall, pointed green hat which was secured in place with a long piece of light green fabric. Fauna quickly flew to Fairy Godmother's side, her small fairy wings flapping frantically on her back.
"How are they doing?" she asked.
Fairy Godmother sighed as they watched the small chests of the children rise and fall. Each time the children exhaled, it took a little bit longer to inhale. Soon they would stop breathing altogether. Again, Odd opened his mouth and called for a kiwi.
"I'm afraid they don't have much longer," Fairy Godmother said.
"Perhaps now you would be willing to allow me to try."
The two good fairies turned around the glared at the black-cloaked woman who wore two horns as a hat.
"Maleficent!" spat Fauna. "What are you doing here? You were assigned to the raids."
"True," Maleficent said as she stroked the chin on the raven which was perched on her shoulder. "But I decided to come see the children you were unable to heal. Odd since you seemed to be doing so well with that little Spanish girl with the blue monkey." Maleficent paused and added, "Until she passed that is." Her yellow eyes seemed to run over the children's bodies and caused the good fairies to wish a prince would run a sword through the dark fairy. Fairy Godmother considered reaching for her wand but did not know where she had left it and besides, fighting among themselves was not allowed.
Soon, Maleficent turned her eyes away from the children and back to the good fairies. "Well at least they only have five more lives to live. If they can survive those last few stories, they should be able to recover. Of course, that boy with the fairies had only two stories to go and he only had to live through five stories."
Fairy Godmother opened her mouth to reply but found herself cut off when a glob of pink material with eyes flew into her face and started to wave its pink arms. The creature was chirping frantically and before Fairy Godmother's eyes it transformed into a small gun before turning back into the pink material.
"We will have to finish this later. It seems one of us have been shot."
A second later the door was kicked in. A teen with brown hair stumbled through the door. Leaning on his shoulder was a larger man with a ham-like face. Cybernetic parts in the man's leg and arm whirled as the cyborg and teen limped forward. Blood poured from a wound to the cyborg's chest and the teen was pale.
"Silver was hit!" shouted the teen as though fear had robbed him of speaking normally.
While Fauna flew off to get the other doctors, Fairy Godmother helped the teen lead the cyborg to a bed. Fauna and her fairy sisters quickly flew in. While the blue fairy comforted the teen, Fauna and her red-dressed sister helped Fairy Godmother get to work. This, at least, was a problem they could solve.
A/N: While it may seem as though I killed Dora and other child characters because of hate it was actually out of sympathy. Have you SEEN the stuff that is written about those defenseless characters? It is nuts! And while I may not be too fond of them, I see torturing them on the same level as abusing children because they have that mentality. Also, I could not see Dora becoming a homicidal maniac. I think the experience would have just killed her outright. Thus, most childhood characters have been spared… sorta.
Also, in regards to Toronto. Everyone picks on New York. It was Canada's turn to feel the heat and if anyone from Toronto is offended by the comment about how none of the characters wanted Toronto, I apologize.
Thanks for reading.
-D101
Disclaimer: I do not own any Disney related copyrights (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Treasure Planet), Code Lyoko, Dora the Explorer, Fairy Odd Parents, or Hulk. (Please note this disclaimer does not mention the multiple references made in regards to New York although I don't own any of those copyrights either.)
Cinderella (Fairy Godmother) – A Disney princess movie series. Based on the fairy tale, Cinderella, the Walt Disney movie adds a few details to the story such as talking mice and musical numbers. Fairy Godmother probably has one of the catchiest songs in the movie where she casts the spells that give Cinderellla her clothing and ride to the ball. (The spell is called bibbidi bobbidi boo.) She is also a bit forgetful but she is probably the best godmother anyone could have. Yes, I am looking at you Fairy Odd Parents.
Code Lyoko (Aelita, Jeremy, Kiwi, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi) – A cartoon series. Basically, five kids (Aelita, Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi) battle a computer program called X.A.N.A in a videogame like atmosphere in the computer-generated land of Lyoko. The cartoon is not only about beating X.A.N.A and saving the day, it's also about getting Aelita out of Lyoko and shutting down the supercomputer that powers X.A.N.A and Lyoko. Also, Kiwi is Odd's dog.
Dora the Explorer (Dora, Boots) – A cartoon series designed to teach young children Spanish. Having only watched this show once or twice the best I can say is that Dora goes on adventures with her blue monkey called Boots and various talking items such as a backpack and a map and they often run into a red fox who seems to want to steal Dora's toys.
Fairy Odd Parents (Timmy) – A cartoon series. The basic plot is Timmy is a miserable kid who gets fairy godparents but he isn't allowed to let people know. He makes wishes that often end up putting the world (or his secret) in danger. By the end of the episode though, he usually has figured out some way to fix what he broke.
Hulk - A Marvel comic book, movie, cartoon series, etc. Again, I don't really have a good base in Hulk besides the basics. Normal guy gets hit with gamma rays and now turns into a huge green monster with purple shorts when he gets angry.
Sleeping Beauty (Fauna, Maleficent) - A Disney princess movie. Based on the fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, the Walt Disney movie adds a few details to the story to make it a full length movie. Fauna is one of the three fairies who arrive and grant gifts to the newborn princess and also hid the princess in the forest when the evil fairy (Maleficent) curses the girl to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die. Fauna is the green fairy. Maleficent is the evil fairy that is able to turn into a dragon and, in true blood Disney manner, dies at the end of the film.
Treasure Planet (Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver) – A Disney movie. Treasure Island in space with a few added details. Jim is still fifteen (damn it) but now he is a rebel after his dad walks out on him and his mom. Silver is still a loveable pirate but now he is a cyborg. This movie is seriously underrated!