Okay, I am really sorry for the disgustingly long lull, and it's inexcusable, but things have been very busy in the real world. And hey, guess what? Your waiting will be rewarded, because very soon we'll be seeing... the Lex and Scar Animated Webseries! But until then...

Part II of Scar vs. Comicon.

Roll film.

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DAY 2

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, APRIL 14, 2005

) ) ) Lex ( ( (

Okay, this is how it feels to be me right now.

I'm married to a Yautja, for starters.

That's a weird statement in and of itself.

Next, I find out that we're going on what seems to be an actual vacation. But lo and behold, some really freakish crap decides to start happening.

Now this vacation is becoming another hunt.

And it's not any normal hunt.

Coat says that there might be other fictional characters involved. From comics, movies, TV shows, everything.

And another Author.

One as powerful as Coat. Maybe more so.

An this guy's got some real malicious intent.

So here I sit at the edge of a hotel bed, discussing what to do about it with four monsters, a pregnant waitress, and an interdimensional fanboy.

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"You're sure it's another Author?" asked Carrie worriedly.

"I'm certain. There's nothing else that could suddenly generate a facehugger spontaneously in the middle of a crowd. And counteract my power," the Coated Man replied, taking a drink of his Monster.

"How is the girl?" Asked Wolf.

"She'll be fine. Unfortunately, though, the only way to counteract the chestburster was to have Chet facegrab her. No big deal, though. Only some discomfort for her."

"Has she been taken to a hospital yet?" Asked Lex.

"That's just it. All communications -- cellphone, landlines, internet -- are completely blocked off. Aside from moving from the hotel to Comicon, we have no contact with the outside world."

"We can still go to get help though, right?" said Lex.

"No."

He walked over to the window, moved the curtains back. They all looked out the window to see what appeared to be a normal cityscape -- that stretched several yards, but just suddenly ended in inky blackness.

"What is this?" Wolf said in disbelief.

"Ambiguity Barrier," explained Coat, "Nothing gets in or out. It's as if neither side exists to the other. Only an Author could make something like that."

"So," said Carrie, "What do we do?"

"We stop him. If we apprehend him, everything he has done will dissolve."

"Only problem is," Scar said, "We don't know where he is or even who he is."

At that moment, they heard a knock on the door. Coat removed his shotgun from the holster on his back, slowly moved toward the door, looked out the peephole. His wary look was soon replaced with a pleased smile as he opened the door. Behind the door was a boy of about Coat's age, only slightly shorter, with blue eyes, a mop of messy brown hair, wearing a black t-shirt emblazoned with a silver helix.

"Davis!" shouted Coat, catching the blue-eyed kid in a bear hug.

"Good to see you too, Coat."

"What're you doing here?"

"Heard you were at Comicon. Decided to drop over, catch some of the action."

"You might've bit off more than you can chew in that department."

"Excuse me," said Lex, annoyed, "I hate to break up this emotional reunion, but who are you?"

"Guys," said Coat, "this is Davis. He's an Author." He turned to Davis, "Davis, this is Lex, Scar, Carrie, Wolf, Raven, and Newt."

"A pleasure."

"Now, Davis," Coat said seriously, "About all this weird stuff happening. Don't tell me it's you behind it all."

"I wish it was, then we'd probably have quite a bit less to worry about. Actually, Coat, it's Damian."

"Damian," Scar echoed, recognizing the name.

"Damian's here?" said Coat, "I thought he was banned?"

"Didn't we all. But he's back. I got a tip that he was here. He's writing under a different name now, but it's definitely him."

"Damian is an Author?" asked Scar.

Davis and Coat looked at him.

"You know Damian?" said Davis.

"I just met him at Comicon. I knew there was something strange about him..."

"He was creepy," Wolf intoned.

"Why is he so bad?" Lex said.

"Damian has been banned from four different Author Alliances," explained Coat, "He's infamous for abusing his powers in creative ways."

"Ever wonder if you could strangle 57 people in the space of one page?" said Davis, "Just one of his many 'records'."

"Alright, another Author, who is also psychotic," Scar thought aloud, "what exactly are we gonna do about it?"

"What about you, Raven?" Wolf asked the Huntress, "you've been less than verbose."

Raven shook her head as if snapping out of a reverie, "Hmm? Oh, I dunno. I just kinda got stuck on the whole strangling 57 people thing."

Scar rolled his eyes.

"Actually," Davis interjected, "I took the liberty of bringing along my entourage."

Davis opened the door, and from the hallway entered a strange-looking group: A blonde girl in a cheerleader outfit; a short Japanese man wearing glasses; a man with short hair and a scar over his eye (he was wearing a duster); a large man with chiseled features, a pronounced jaw, a shotgun on his back and a chainsaw for his hand; a boy of about seventeen wearing bronze and black armor and a black mask; and a girl of about the boy's age, wearing a dark blue cloak.

"May I introduce to you Claire Bennet, Hiro Nakamura, Peter Petrelli, Ash Williams, Robin and Raven," Davis introduced his entourage respectively.

"Nice to meet you all," Scar said.

"Great to be here," said Ash, "Makes a nice relief from my normal job."

"Here, here," Peter agreed.

"Hey, not cool," Coat said, stepping forward, "Since when are Raven and Robin in your entourage?"

"Since I wrote them into my Heroes/Teen Titans crossover."

"You so ripped that idea off of me."

"I haven't seen it in writing."

"Guys," Claire stopped them, "Let's not start this again."

"Sorry," the Authors said in unison.

"So, do we have a plan?" asked Lex.

"Get to Comicon," said Robin.

"Find Damian," intoned Raven.

"Do what we do best," said Peter.

"Oh," Davis said, "There's one more thing."

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They stepped into the cool night air, (which was odd, because it was 10 AM), and only then did they realize the scope of the Ambiguity Barrier; it blocked out everything, including the sun. It seemed as though they we're floating on an island in the middle of an infinite black abyss. Once they had gotten used to the Dark Wall (which wasn't easy), one thing was immediately prevalent: a huge, singed and acid scarred Armored Personnel Carrier parked next to the curb.

"Ooh," Coat squeaked, gravitating toward the vehicle, "niiice ride." Shaking himself out of his dazed stupor, he added, "How come you get an APC?"

"Because I have my license." Davis replied.

Coat crossed his arms, pouting.

"What exactly is this?" Carrie asked.

"It's an APC!" Newt chipped in, "It's fun to ride in and it crushes aliens' heads like balloons!"

"Interesting," Raven said.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Coat said jubilantly, climbing up into the vehicle, "Let's see what this puppy can do!"

As soon as he had entered the APC, a high-pitched scream issued forth as Coat stumbled backwards out of the vehicle, landing flat on his tush.

"S-s-s-s-badbadbad!" He stammered.

"What's the matter, Author?" came an even, ominous voice. A figure dressed in a hooded coat and a baseball cap stepped out, a half-smile on his unshaven face. "Afraid of a little headache?"

"Sylar! BAD GUY ALERT!"

"Relax," said a disembodied voice, "surely the Guy With the Gun himself isn't going to back down from actually meeting Sylar?"

"Wait," Coat said, standing, "I know that voice..."

"You certainly do," the voice said. A figure now emerged from the shadows, that of a girl of about 17 years, dressed in a deep purple t-shirt and blue jeans. What was unusual, however, was that over her regular street clothes she wore a long, black cloak and a fedora. "I'm only the one who got you started on the path of the Author."

Coat smiled, "I think that's a bit of an overstatement, Keeper -- "

Before you could say "Opera Ghost", the Cloaked Authoress had drawn a sabre and pressed it into Coat's neck.

"I told you never to call me that. It's the Keeper of the Cheese or Cheesy. That's all."

"I have to let you know, Cheesy," Coat said, putting his hand at the tip of the razor sharp blade. Slowly, the blade shrank until it was a tiny dagger. "My powers have doubled since we last met."

Cheesy appraised the dagger for a moment, then ignited it into a lightsaber

"So have mine."

"Okey dokey!" Davis suddenly said, stepping between them just as Coat reached for his shotgun. "Man, Coat, what did you do to piss Cheesy off?"

"I haven't updated in a while."

"That's it?"

"It's been a rough lull."

"That's it?"

"Hey, writer's block isn't fun! You have to know what that's like, Cheesy."

"Well... I guess," the Authoress said thoughtfully, "Writer's block really is no fun. Call it even?" She extended a hand toward the Author.

"Even," Coat said, shaking her hand. "Now, did you bring all of your entourage?"

"But of course," she said, whistling.

From the shadows stepped a few imposing figures; one, tall, dressed in a tidy black tuxedo, a cape and a fedora, wearing a glossy white half mask. Another, dressed in a ruffled white shirt, tight pants, a leather vest and frizzy blonde hair.

"Oh, come on," Coat said, stepping forward, "No Joker? I thought you were gonna get him and Scarecrow from the Dark Knight universe?"

"Couldn't make it. Apparently, Gotham's pretty busy this time of year."

"Figures," Coat sighed, "But Jareth, Erik, Sylar. Nice catch."

"Catch," Erik scoffed, "Interesting choice of words, but abduction would be more the term."

"You mean she didn't offer you cookies?" Jareth said sarcastically.

"Quit complaining," Cheesy told Jareth, "You said you were bored, remember?"

"Yes, but a good game of chess would've sufficed. I didn't expect traveling to another reality to do battle with slavering beasts."

Off to the side, Coat's own entourage was watching the banter with detached (and confused) fascination.

Scar leaned down to Lex, "Are you getting any of this?"

"Actually, I just stopped paying attention."

"I enjoy watching Cheesy and Coat interact," Raven pointed out, "It's a bit like G'raal and I."

Coat spun, somehow hearing, "Don't even go there."

"Ahem," Sylar cleared his throat, "I know this is going to sound completely unlike me, but shouldn't we… fight evil, or something?"

"An excellent point, but we have to pick someone up, first," said Cheesy.

"Who?" asked Davis.

Cheesy got a strange, smug look on her face.

Davis paled, "No. Not her."

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At the corner, the APC stopped and the door opened. Waiting there was a group that almost made theirs look mundane; A girl with orange skin and red hair, a man in faded green battle armor, a strange half-man half-fish person, and, of course, the giant brown creature with horns upon which was riding a young teenaged girl with blonde hair. She wore the robe of a Jedi Master, under which was a blue t-shirt and sweatpants. She slid down from the monster and deftly landed on her feet.

"Good boy, Ludo."

The shocked entourage waited in the APC while Cheesy got out and greeted the newcomer.

"Glad you could make it, Nip," said the Authoress.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"You're going to have to greet her at some point," Coat said to Davis, who was curled in a ball in the corner of the vehicle. "Might as well get it out of the way."

Davis merely babbled something about "fanservice".

"Is he alright?" asked Scar.

"I don't know," replied Coat.

Outside the APC, Cheesy and Cheese-Nip were still conversing, and the orange-haired-girl was now bear hugging the beast, calling it her "big fuzzy portkin".

Coat let out a shrill whistle, gathering their attention.

"I hate to interrupt Authoress time, but... evil Author; Ambiguity Barrier; Aliens?"

Cheese-Nip looked speculatively at the APC.

"Will we all fit?"

"Don't worry," Coat said with a grin, "It's bigger on the inside."

Indeed it was. In fact, it was several meters in volume, and resembled the interior of a certain Firefly-class transport.

Closing the door after her entourage, Cheese-Nip's face suddenly brightened; she'd spotted Davis.

"Oh, crap," said the Author.

Before he could manage another word, the young Authoress was upon him, catching him in what will be referred to as an "epic glomp".

"Davis, I can't believe you made it!"

"Yeah, good to see you, too, Nip..." Davis returned, turning an unhealthy shade of gray-red. "I... can't... breathe..."

Lex turned to Cheesy, "Do they... um... know each other?"

"What was your first clue?"

) ) ) Carrie ( ( (

Watching Nip's reaction to Davis, I can't help but wonder if there's some sort of underlying governing what keeps each Author at bay.

Perhaps for Coat it's lack of sleep.

For Cheesy, maybe Coat himself.

And for Davis, there's Nip.

For each impossible power, there's something to balance it out. I find myself more and more hopeful about this suicide mission we're sending ourselves into. We now have a virtual army of fictional characters; I recognize Ludo from Labyrinth, Boba Fett from Star Wars, Abe Sapien from that movie Hellboy, and I believe the orange girl is from Teen Titans. Add to the entourages of Coat, Davis and Cheesy and, well... I think we can take whatever Damian throws at us.

As the APC slows in front of the Comicon building, we get out, and armor is dished out. This time I get a shotgun, and I feel ready as I'll ever be.

But as we head through the front door, I feel something...

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Heading through the door, Carrie lagged a bit, winced.

"Are you alright?" asked Wolf.

"Yeah," she said, shaking it off, "I'm fine..."

But, in fact, she wasn't. In a few moments, she'd be rendered quite not alright.

Because Carrie had just gone into labor.