(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of The Broken Mirror. I can't believe we're already reached chapter 20, thank you to my wonderful dev team who have kept this story going on and develop the fiction's plot. I'd also love to thank the followers and reviewers who have been reading this fic and keeping the story alive. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)
Chapter 20- Two Hearts, Two Worlds
Arthur needed a lot of convincing to be alone in an interview room with Doctor Strange, the blue furred wolf was still reeling from the revelations that he was on a different earth, that Team Ceartais had come to his rescue (and that both of Chief Wilde's daughters were in their ranks) but what he couldn't get over was the strange looking mammals known as humans. These humans had imprisoned him, had tortured him and a member of this violent species was behind the kidnapping of his friends. Arthur didn't trust a single one of these monsters no matter how much Ceartais told him that the majority of them were good, the only reason Arthur buckled into speaking with Strange was due to the insistence of Luna Wilde and his curiosity about what 'Seren' was.
Arthur deliberately sat in the chair that was closest door, so he could escape in case Strange tried anything. Strange was sat on the other side of the table studying the wolf opposite him, it was easy to see that Arthur was tense, frustrated and uncomfortable so the sorcerer tried a friendly approach "Well seeing as I know your name, I should tell you mine; I'm Doctor Stephen Strange." Strange introduced himself, extending his hand over the table for a handshake.
Arthur ignored the offered handshake and said curtly "I want to know how you know my name."
Strange took back his hand and sighed "Ah, yes. I suppose this is your first time travelling the multiverse, allow me to explain..."
"I know about alternate universes, I've seen enough sci fi shows to know the basics." Arthur cut in "What I want to know is how you know about me or at least the other me."
It was clear that Arthur was shaken by what was happening around but what he needed was direct answers, Strange obliged and answered, "The human version of you was a colleague of mine."
"He was a hero?" Arthur reacted with a question, wondering if his human counterpart shared his powers.
"No, he was very much an academic. You see as well as being an Avenger I am part of a society known as the Masters of The Mystic Arts, a talented group of scholars and magic users who gather knowledge from across the globe and protect humanity against dark magic." Strange briefly explained.
"Magic?" Arthur replied dubiously "Magic isn't a real."
"I beg to differ." Strange said with a straight face, waving his hand and making a fine china tea set appear out of thin air "Milk and one sugar, right?"
"...Y-yeah." Arthur stammered, stunned by what he just saw.
As Strange poured the tea he continued to explain "This earth's version of Arthur Knight was one of librarians and researchers of the London Sanctorum for two decades before relocating to the New York branch eight years ago to focus on a new research project,"
Arthur was confused by a lot of things, but the age of his counterpart didn't make sense "Wait, how old is your Arthur? I'm only 28."
"Let me think now, um, I think he was 58 when he died." Strange answered, sliding over the cup of tea to Arthur.
"Died? He's dead?" Arthur asked in a stressed manner.
"Well, murdered in fact. Murdered for the research he was working on." Strange answered, supping his tea, purposefully sounding casual despite the subject manner, he was gauging Arthur's reactions "He was studying the book of Seren, trying to unlock it's secrets."
"Seren, you said that before." Arthur said, the word seemed to echo in his mind, like it meant something important.
Strange read Arthur's face, assured that the wolf didn't know anything about his earth self's work but he was still suspicious of the canine's knowledge so he carried on "The book of Seren is a series of collected texts about the forces of the multiverse dating back to the middle ages, it is linked to the village of Seren on the English/Welsh border where a calamity from the night sky destroyed half the village some time during the 1200s."
There was a flicker of realisation in Arthur's eyes, he had heard this story before but instead of trying to remember the details of it he closed off his mind, instead focusing on Strange "So what's that got to do with other dimensions?" Arthur tried to redirect the conversation.
Strange could tell Arthur was deflecting, the story had sparked a memory in the wolf and the sorcerer wanted to make that memory to come aflame "I'm not sure of the exact link between multiverse and what happened at that village seeing as I never read the book of Seren myself but there is always a common element when anything event occurs around that book." Strange reeled Arthur in.
"And that is?" Arthur asked, ignoring his cup of tea.
"That coat of arms." Strange answered, pointing at the pendant hanging around Arthur's neck.
"W-what?" Arthur choked, instinctively gripping the necklace.
"The family crest of a dynasty sworn to research and protecting the secrets of the calamity, whose name has been lost to the ages so the family of guardian knights of Seren simply became the Knights." Strange pressured, observing the increasingly agitated expression forming on Arthur's muzzle.
"Well that's a fancy story from this universe, too bad it doesn't ring true where I'm from." Arthur dodged with an icy tone.
"You're a police officer where you're from, correct? So why are you using the same defensive bravado that a perp would use?" Strange poked.
"Maybe I'm being defensive because I'm on another bloody earth with no clue where my friends are." Arthur growled lowly.
"Or you're trying to distract from the fact that you do know what that pendant signifies, that you do know about your ancestry and you're trying your best to not to hear any more about it." Strange accused before pursuing "I can sense hearing my words is bringing back bad memories for you but denying it and keeping what you know from me and the others will only harm them and the kidnapped mammals you wish to save. You can't run from your powers."
Strange had struck a nerve in Arthur, he did his best not to bare his fangs but hissed "I'm not running from anything, I got powers when the purple cloud came to Zootopia."
"If you won't share your story with me at least share it with your fellow mammals." Strange bargained.
"This is my business, not theirs!" Arthur snapped.
"That's unwise." Strange stated, sipping his tea and giving Arthur a judging look "You'll need to work together with Ceartais and The Champions to save your friends and keeping secrets will only hinder your effectiveness as a team."
Arthur had heard enough, he didn't care about the history of his pendant, he only cared about what it meant to him "You want to know what this pendant is?" Arthur asked angrily, his eyes moist with a hint of tears "Every time I look at this god damn shield I'm reminded of how I got it and it still causes me heartache...it belonged to a wolf who was like a father to me, but he's gone now, and this is all I have left of him. So, you can shove your book of Seren, your multiverse research and all your theories about me up your arse." Arthur then stormed out of the room leaving behind a humbled Strange.
"Well that we well." Strange sighed sarcastically.
Arthur stomped back into the medical bay where the heroes and Hill were already embroiled in a heated argument "You should be locked up for what you did to Officer Knight!" Robyn seethed, staring up at Hill.
"I was acting in the interest of safety for this nation, I did nothing illegal." Hill responded, not intimidated by the furious hybrid.
"Pretty sure imprisoning someone innocent without charge breaks a few laws Maria, you went too far." Captain America waded in, his arms folded across his chest.
"It's illegal to imprison a human without charge but no laws concerning locking up an animal deemed dangerous." Maria replied, looking at Arthur, hoping to bait him into a fight.
"I'd love to show how dangerous I can be," Arthur spoke bitterly "but I've got more important things to do, like finding my friends."
"And Tazerface!" Rocket reminded, getting the feeling he was being forgotten.
Arthur paid no mind to the raccoon he didn't know and asked Luna "Do you have any leads, Dr. Wilde?"
"Kind of, we're about to split up and track some suspects." Luna replied.
"Good, I'll go with you guys then." Arthur reacted, looking at the heroes.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Luna shot down.
"But-" Arthur began to protest.
"You're exhausted from using your power, you haven't eaten properly in a while and you need a shower. You need to stay behind and recover before you can help in the search, doctor's orders." Luna insisted.
"You expect to stay here with that monster?" Arthur complained, pointing at Maria.
"No, you can go to the safe house with my wife and one of The Champions." Luna persuaded.
"I'm not going somewhere with these human-things...I don't trust them." Arthur admitted, causing some uncomfortable looks to ripple through the room.
"Then allow me to be the guard from The Champions, I am not a human." Viv stepped forward.
"Your voice...you're the one that saved me." Arthur realised, his eyes growing wide as he looked at the synthezoid.
"You should be thanking Bullet, she's the one who figured out you were here." Viv corrected.
Arthur turned to the gunslinger and promptly said "Thanks Bullet."
"No problem." Bullet chirped.
"Ok daylight's burning and we've got some targets to protect and bad guys to beat." Captain Marvel rallied, putting a hand each on Ms Marvel and Bullet's shoulders "We all have our assigned teams, stick together and have one another's backs."
"I must see to my sister's safe return to Wakanda, I wish you all luck." Black Panther said before exiting the room.
"Well Hill I'd say it's been a pleasure, but it never is with you." Iron man said smugly as he strolled out of the room with the rest of the heroes.
Once everyone was gone Hill looked at the bedridden Wasp and said, "You don't realise what you've done releasing that wolf."
"So, he has powers, from what I can see he's a good guy." Wasp parried, taking some grapes from the fruit basket by her bed.
"A good guy who doesn't even understand his powers can be more dangerous than any villain." Hill said, walking out of the room.
000
Back in Zootopia the major crimes bureau's latest case was growing bigger by the hour, after Lyla had called Jack to update him on the discovery of the murdered giraffe the striped rabbit had told Lyla and Aleks to meet him at another crime scene near the rebuilt Little Rodentia; another body had been found. Aleks and Lyla walked into a car body shop which worked on cars for mammals for all sizes, the agents noticed a distraught female mouse with ginger fur being comforted by two rodent cops at the entrance, they walked past them and the other cops to find a haunted looking Jack Savage looking at a small mouse corpse on a workbench. The mouse was covered in motor oil, he was wearing a mechanic's overalls and his open mouth was overflowing with oil, he had been drowned in it. "Sir." Aleks greeted, getting Jack's attention.
"I thought my wife told you to take some time off, Rojek." Jack pointed out, his eyes fixed on the corpse.
"I'm better if I'm at work sir, besides with the amount of bodies piling up, looks like you could use my help." Aleks countered.
"You're from the powered mammal division, not homicide." Jack said firmly.
"The powered mammal division also deals with 'weird' cases and nothing about these murders have been normal." Lyla butted in, hoping to help her boss.
"You can say that again...fine you can stay Rojek but don't draw attention to yourself if word gets out that you're here Skye will have me sleeping on the couch." Jack caved, feeling sorry for the silver fox.
"Understand, sir." Aleks nodded "So what's the story?"
"This body shop is owned by that crying mouse over there, Pepper Potts." Jack told, motioning to distraught mouse "Anyway her boyfriend was working late here last night and didn't come home, Pepper comes in this morning and finds her boyfriend's body here next to the oil can."
"What's his name?" Lyla queried.
"Tony Stark, been working here for the past few years, recovering alcoholic, no priors and no links to criminal organisations." Jack listed "The ZPD arrived and looked at the security cam footage and immediately called us; looks like the 'Monster' in the Andraste costume came here to kill this mouse...I don't know what the killer is or why she's dressed as a hero."
The default ringtone of Lyla's phone began to sound causing the otter to retrieve and say "I gotta' take this, excuse me a sec." She then walked off and answered her phone.
Aleks looked at the body and mused "All brutal killings, the murderer enjoys her work, but these mammals aren't selected at random, there must be something linking the victims."
"Well Basil Dawson from the ZPD has already updated me with some of the DNA analysis from the first crime scene, turns out the monster left a strand of her red hair at the scene, he says the DNA belongs to no currently living mammal." Jack informed, looking troubled.
"What does he mean 'Currently living'?" Aleks questioned.
"According to Basil the monster's DNA is that of a primate, a subspecies of mammals that went extinct millions of years ago." Jack answered.
"What?" Aleks nearly gasped.
"Guys." Lyla alerted, rushing back over "Just got off the phone with my snitch, I told him to ask around to see if there were any more sightings of the 'Monster'."
"And?" Jack asked eagerly.
"There was a sighting in The Meadowlands last night apparently two rich sheep siblings were both wounded with arrows last night near a casino." Lyla informed.
"If they were attacked last night why hasn't the ZPD informed us about it?" Aleks wondered.
"Because a snatcher gang got to their bodies first." Lyla said in a disgusted voice.
"Shit." Jack cursed.
"I'm sorry, what's a snatcher gang?" Aleks asked, he had specialised in SWAT and never focused on organised crime during his time in law enforcement.
"Body Snatchers; they're organ harvesters, they go around in ambulances pretending to be first responders, but they take dying or freshly dead mammals then harvest their organs to sell them on the black market." Lyla explained.
"I don't suppose your snitch knows where the gang operates out of?" Jack asked, praying that the sheep were still alive.
"Of course." Lyla smiled confidently.
The snatcher gang worked out of a funeral home in the Rainforest District known for hosting the funerals of mobsters, it didn't take long for Jack to get a warrant and assemble a team of agents to storm the place. The veteran agent would lead the assault from the back of the funeral home, through the embalming room where the harvesting was most likely to take place. Jack was poised at the back door with Aleks and Lyla backing him up, all of them had their handguns drawn, he checked the door to find it unlocked and could hear voices come from inside. He then spoke into his radio "Get ready to breach the front, team b in 3, 2, 1!" Jack kicked open the door and rushed inside yelling "MCB, put your hands up!"
"MCB! MCB!" Lyla hollered, aiming her gun at a jaguar holding a liver over the corpse of an aardvark.
"Hands up!" Aleks warned, levelling his gun at another snatcher who had dropped the cooler box he was carrying and quickly raised his hands.
The sudden bang of gunshot echoed through the room and zipped just over Aleks's head and into the wall behind him, the marksman reacted swiftly and fired two shots into his chest. Another snatcher appeared from the staircase and shot at Lyla and Jack, the otter dived behind an autopsy table for cover before popping out and shooting the snatcher square between the eyes. Jack saw the jaguar drop the liver and reach for a scalpel but before the feline could attack Jack shot him in the shoulder "That was a warning, next one goes in your skull!" Jack bellowed.
Aleks had his back to the open door of a body freezer and realised too late that there was a hare snatcher behind him, the hare dashed out and tried to wrestle the gun from Aleks' paws, the silver fox let out a roar of anger and kneed the hare in the crotch before shooting the snatcher in the head, covering him in blood. Aleks then screamed "Bastard!" before kicking the freshly dead body of the hare.
"Rojek." Jack warned.
But Aleks just snarled and carried on kicking the body.
"Rojek!" Jack shouted, marching over but Aleks was still kicking the dead hare over and over. Jack pulled Aleks away and blasted "Aleks stop!"
Aleks staggered back, panting, looking dazed, his eyes glossed over and muttered incoherently "Don't be a sourpuss...nothing's going to snow for a while anyway..."
"What?" Jack reacted, completely baffled by Aleks' words as more agents piled into the embalming room and began arresting the snatchers
"Jack, I found the sheep, they're both dead." Lyla said in a sorrowful voice, looking at the bodies on the other autopsy tables, their chests ripped open and their organs hollowed out. The otter then glanced at their belongings and found an open wallet, she could see a driver's licence belonging to the female sheep, her name was Sue Storm.
"Damn it..." Jack whispered before looking back at Aleks, who was in no fit state to work this crime scene "Rojek go outside and cool off, we'll be having words."
Aleks let out a snarl before barging out of the embalming room and out into the back alley, he was about to punch a wall in a rage but stopped before his fist could hit the bricks. "Zoe..." Aleks whispered, choking up. His trembling paw reached into his shirt and pulled out a set of dog tags that were hung around his neck, one tag belonged to him and the other was his wife's, the bat wore the matching set of tags even on missions. He kissed the tag with her name on and tried to steady himself, but it was hard when despair was dragging him under.
000
Even though Zoe was sat in the darkness, the faint glow of her tablet was lighting up the air duct enough, so she could look at the dog tags in her hand. The flying fox traced her thumb over the name of her beloved husband and whispered, "Don't you be a sourpuss now, don't be sad, I'm coming home." The soldier knew Aleks could be emotional when stressful situations arose, so she was dreading the thought of him freaking out of her kidnapping. Zoe wished she could tell him that she ok, that she could kiss him, that should could hold her twins in her wings, but she knew wishing was useless, if she was going to make it back home she would have to do it herself not wait for a miracle.
After escaping her cell one of the first things Zoe had done was try and find her equipment, she had found it in some sort of Maintenance room, her drones had been dismantled but her tablet was still working. The bat had tried to hack into the cauldron's security system, but the technology was completely foreign to her, she had no chance of cracking it. But she had started to notice something bizarre since she had broken out of her cell, she could feel when the doom bots were close by, she didn't know how but she could sense them. She could also sense where the security cameras were before spotting them, she had begun to wonder if her captors had done something to her. A rumble in her stomach dragged Zoe from her thoughts, she hadn't eaten since yesterday and she was famished, she needed to find where they stored the food but before she could even head off looking for the food stores the sound of whistling caught her attention; it was coming from a nearby vent cover. Zoe shuffled through the vent and peeked through the grate to find a lynx lying on a top bunk, whistling to herself and using her claws to sharpen the handle end of a toothbrush into a shiv. Zoe was puzzled by the fact that one of the kidnapped mammals was fashioning a weapon, but she was more interested by the sight of a pack of dried apricots that the lynx had beside her "Hey." Zoe whispered through the vent.
Esso stopped his whistling and looked around her.
"Up here." Zoe signalled in a hushed voice.
Esso looked up and instantly gasped "You're the soldier! You're Zoe!"
"Quiet." Zoe cautioned before adding "Yeah I'm Zoe."
"Clara told us about you, she said you escaped your cell. How?" Esso asked in a low voice, looking at the door to her cell to see if anyone was nearby.
"I...I don't know. I remember feeling angry, I wanted to get out and then it opened, just like that." Zoe recalled, her mind hazy on what happened.
"Just like that, huh?" Esso replied, "Well Clara thinks you have what it takes to get me and the other mammals out of here."
"I'm going to try." Zoe assured "Where is Professor Bloom? I need to speak with her."
"She's with Kurt near the engine room." Esso answered.
"Who's Kurt?" Zoe asked, intrigued.
"Some blue demon dude who's keeping us alive." Esso said, being coy.
"What?" Zoe squeaked.
"Go and see for yourself." Esso smiled.
"Ok...uh, look I know this is rude, but can I have those apricots? I'm starving." Zoe asked, her mouth-watering at the sight of fruit.
"Sure." Esso replied, slipping the snack bag through the grate "Come back later and give you a few pudding cups from my horde."
"T-thanks." Zoe said, stuffing the dried fruits in her mouth and munching them quickly before scurrying off in search of Clara. It took the soldier nearly half an hour to figure out where the engine room was, after a few dead ends she felt drawn to an area, it was calling to her. She didn't understand why but she knew she head in this certain direction, it was like the ship was telling her where Clara was.
Zoe moved silently under the metal grate floor listening to Clara chatting to someone she couldn't see "I think I've got it!" Clara said in an excited voice "If I can optimise the device that draws your power it will take less so you won't be strapped to that table all the time."
"Tausend dank, Clara." A tired voice spoke "Just make sure there's enough power to keep the ship afloat, your kind must survive. "
"I told them about you, Kurt." Clara said, Zoe could see Clara mover away from the workstation and over to an operating table "They are thankful to you and they're rooting for you."
Zoe moved around in the floor compartment and had to hold in a gasp when she saw the face of Kurt, she thought she was seeing a demon, his skin blue and furless, his eyes yellow and his tail was pointed "Ororo would be ashamed of me if I didn't try my best." Kurt said, even though he sounded drained there was a hint of happiness that could be heard in his voice.
"Who's Ororo?" Clara smiled "She your sweetheart?"
"Ororo is my...friend." Kurt struggled.
"You hesitated." Clara grinned "Meaning you've got something for this female."
Kurt gave a weak chuckle before saying "You are sharp, Clara. But Ororo is a teamate of mine in the X Men, she's known as Storm, a powerful mutant who can control the weather."
"Who you've got a crush on." Clara bantered.
"Me and Ororo have danced the dance of love many times but something was always in the way of us...of us being together." Kurt revealed "How about you Clara? Do you have someone special?"
Clara's grin softened to a warm smile as she said "His name is Kodi."
"Ah, this a new love, I can tell. You speak like a smitten schoolgirl." Kurt teased.
"Am I that obvious?" Clara laughed softly "Yeah we just started dating but he gives me this feeling in my chest."
"It sounds like he has a hold of your heart." Kurt spoke surely.
"Just like Aleks has a hold of mine." Zoe spoke up.
Clara looked down through the floor grate and half shouted "Zoe!?"
"Don't look down, there's cameras in this room!" Zoe hissed.
Clara obeyed while Kurt asked, "Who is it?"
"She's a soldier from my world, she's a bat called Zoe." Clara said, making sure not to look down.
"Glad to see you're doing well Professor, who's your blue friend?" Zoe asked, looking at the creature with suspicion.
"It's hard to explain but he's a prisoner like us, his power fuels this ship." Clara answered, keeping her eyes on Kurt.
"He's powered? Like everyone else? Makes sense." Zoe figured "Look Clara we can't talk for long, we'll be noticed. The bots will figure out we're talking so tell me what you need me to do."
"I need you to look in the lower decks of The Cauldron, I'm betting whatever Doom has in store for us is down there." Clara instructed.
"Hold up, who's Doom?" Zoe asked.
"The asshole running this ship, some insane ego maniac." Clara growled.
"Right, I'll get on it." Zoe replied, "You keep the others' morale up, I'll figure out what this Doom guy is up to and how to get us off this ship."
"Good luck Zoe." Clara wished.
"I don't need luck." Zoe reacted "Now I have an enemy to fight." the seasoned soldier crawled through the floorspace, it was easier for her to move forward now, she had a foe to defeat and defeat them she would. Nothing would keep her from her husband and children, even it was Satan in the pits of hell.
000
"Look all I'm asking is that we just see Octavius." Iron Man tried to barter.
"Mr. Stark, Otto is safe and sound in solitary confinement with his books, no villain could get into there without us knowing." The Head Guard responded.
Iron Man, Iron Heart and Roar were at The Raft. A prison complex located on an artificial island floating in the middle of the Hudson river, this prison housed all the super powered criminals that had been brought to justice in New York City. This was the home of the long-time villain Dr. Octopus whose real name was Otto Octavius, a man with a brilliant scientific mind who had fallen into villainy and was a frequent foe of the first Spiderman. But in his last bout with the original webslinger he was brought to his knees in defeat and delivered to the district attorney of Manhattan and had no trouble giving him six consecutive life sentences for his continued tyrannical attacks across the city. And now, for some unknown reason, he was on Doom's kill list. Despite the fact he was a villain, the heroes had a duty to protect him and warn him of the danger he was in. Iron Man had used his connections to gain access to island and to the security office where the head guard was stationed, where all every cell in the prison could be viewed and the portly Otto could be seen on screen, sat at the little desk in his cell reading from a leather-bound book.
"Call me paranoid but I just want to see that the old bastard is all right." Iron Man weaselled.
"Sorry, Mr. Stark but rules are rules." The Head Guard replied with a sigh "I stick to the laws of this land."
Roar who was in his transformed form was getting some wary looks from the other guards in the room so the good-natured lion smiled "Hey, I'm Roar, nice to meet you."
"Uh...Jenkins." One guard stammered "Nice to meet ya'."
Iron Heart who had observed the exchange between the head guard and her mentor decided to manipulate the situation "You know Tony, I heard your fourth of july parties are epic."
Iron Man saw what his young protégé was doing and played along "Yeah, this year's going to be one for the record books. Pepper tells me she wants to break the record for the biggest firework display in America."
"Really?" The old head guard sounded "My grandkids love fireworks."
"Well you should bring them upstate to the Stark estate, I'm sure Tony would be happy to host your family at one of the guest houses." Iron Heart baited.
"Yeah, there's plenty of room. You could bring your entire family for the fourth of july weekend, my treat." Iron Man piled on.
The Head Guard was quiet for a second before saying "I guess you chatting to Otto won't be any harm."
"Thank you so much, I'll get Pepper to arrange your family's stay at one of the guest lodges right away." Iron Man smiled before winking at Iron Heart and Roar.
A few minutes later the heroes were being led down towards solitary confinement. Iron Man looked up at the thirteen-foot Roar and joked "So what's your story, Tiny? You some sort of hulk?"
"N-no, I was experimented on...the same thing happened to my big sister." Roar answered, not prepared for such a personal question.
"So Tiny here is the nice guy of the group, huh? I'm guessing that Robyn girl is the hothead and the magic wolf is the horn dog." Iron Man commented.
"Roar ignore Tony, he's just trying to get a reaction out of you." Iron Heart cautioned "It's sort of a defence mechanism of his; he's sees someone who intimidates him and in turn he makes fun of them."
"Oh..ok." Roar reacted, trusting Iron Heart.
"Riri, your words burn me. Why would I ever seek to make fun of a giant predator who could tear my throat at any given second?" Iron Man asked sarcastically "Fine, if I can't joke with Tiny, I'll focus on you; so, have you asked out Brawn yet?"
"T-Tony!?" Iron Heart stammered, caught unawares by the question.
"That's a no, then." Iron Man smirked.
"So your mentor ships you with Amadeus as well?" Roar smiled.
"You see it to, Tiny?" Iron Man laughed "That's it Riri, you gotta' make Brawn your man."
"Ugh, I hate you guys." Iron Heart said through gritted teeth, marching ahead.
"Um, maybe we should lay off." Roar said to Iron Man.
"Nah, Riri is bull headed sometimes you got to hammer the point home." Iron Man smiled at the lion "She's got it bad for tall, green and handsome but she won't accept it, that's why her friends are here to help her."
Iron Heart reached Otto's cell and instantly froze, a look of horror fell upon her face and she stuttered "Oh g-god."
Iron Man and Roar rushed to where Iron Heart was standing and found what had make the young engineer freeze with terror. Through the bars of the cell was Otto Octavius sat at his desk, with his body rooted in the chair but his head decapitated at the neck and left bleeding on the desktop. "We were too late." Iron Heart mumbled in a frightened voice, her eyes fixed on the pained death mask of the severed head. The heroes thought they were ahead of the game, but the villains had already made their moves, they could only hope that the other targets were safe.
(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! The villains already took out Doc Oc? Does Zoe have powers? Will Ceartais and The Champions save the other targets in time? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on The Broken Mirror; we visit the X Mansion, Arthur tries to figure out the world he finds himself in and Andi makes her move. Please review and c ya soon...)