To RandomFanAuthor- thank you! ^_^
To JasonGraceIsNAPPING- um, no, not quite yet :P
"Okey dokey pe-op-lee, this the best room ever."
"It's a dump."
"It's my dump and you shall treat it with respect!" Joel pouted. Calypso simply nodded, biting her lower lip as she regarded him once. "If you think I'm insane, then you're not very original." Joel snarked lightly. They had been taken to his workshop, but there seemed to be no work and all work ongoing. In the middle of the room, he had an island of desks in a rough square, a gap to get in the centre to his gaming swivel chair. The desks all but groaned under an array of computer screens and keyboards and drawing tablets and various other components, some dismantled, wires strewn everywhere like wild spaghetti. The outskirts of the room were lost- to bits of cars, bikes, computers, weapons, mish-mash of tech and junk and health code violations. No walls were visible and Calypso doubted she could remember where the door was in case of emergency.
She moved forward carefully, keeping a firm grip on Louisa's arm.
"Do not touch anything." She instructed sternly, glowering until Louisa nodded meekly.
"NO!" Joel flailed, making his guests jump. Leo crashed into half an engine, Louisa cracked her elbow on a filing cabinet and Calypso found a wrench, toppling a tower of debris, and ready to swing. Joel held his hands out, eyes darting between them, crouched as though prepared to flee.
"What?" Calypso demanded. "What is it?"
"You almost stood in the dead patch."
"The what?"
"Oh, not this again." Lucy-Jo huffed, brushing past Calypso. Joel squealed at her until she hopped over the 'dead patch'- a dark, splotchy stain on the grey carpet, approximately three feet long and about a foot wide at the widest point.
"The, um, the dead patch, did you say?" Leo laughed nervously, eyeing the stain distrustfully.
"Yes." Joel implored, nodding vigorously. "It's where Granny Flo lives and if you step in it, she'll get mad and mess up my stuff."
"Who's Granny Flo?" Louisa frowned. Lucy-Jo groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Part of this place used to be a care home, like, yonks ago. Joel's adamant there's a ghost in the carpet."
"Not in the carpet; in the dead patch."
"It's not the dead patch, Joel, you're just a muppet."
"Neville believes me! Where's he gone?"
"Errand. He does have a life outside of you, you know." Joel snickered with disbelief and then laughter got the better of him, loud and rambunctious, wiping at his eyes. Lucy-Jo sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Leo glanced over at Calypso, radiating major WTF. She looked back at him blankly, lowering her wrench a fraction. Louisa, who had been tending her bruised elbow, looked up at the racket, puzzling at the continuous mirth.
"Life outside of me…" Joel eventually repeated, a considerable time later, giggling feebly and wheezing. Lucy-Jo looked up from her watch, feigning boredom. "Aww, good one, L.J. Like you lot could have a life outside of me, what nonsense! Haha!" He dissolved into giggles once more. Lucy-Jo closed her eyes.
"Seven, eight, nine, ten." She muttered, taking a deep breath. She looked at Louisa. "Joel wanted you to come here. He wants to work on jogging your memory."
"Um, no offence," Leo raised his hand, "but how is he going to do that when the gods can't?"
"I think you'll find the gods won't rather than can't." Joel grinned.
"I'm not sure if I should listen to you, you think there's a ghost in the carpet."
"In the dead patch!" Joel protested, voice cracking. "Ugh, why do I even bother with you people?" He crossed his arms in sulk, pouting irritably. Lucy-Jo cleared her throat, tapping her watch with her forefinger. "Oh, right, right." Joel perked up again, smiling. "Just gonna start dead simple, follow follow, mind Granny Flo, that's it, follow me, my underlings."
"Leo, I think we've found someone even more big-headed than you." Joel ushered them into the centre of the desk island, plonking himself down in his chair with a gleeful laugh and enough force to make him spin a couple of times.
"Excellent, more subjects!" He beamed, rubbing his hands together. "I nominate you for virgin sacrifice," he winked at Leo, "and without further ado, behold! My stuff!" He spread his arms, grinning broadly and ignoring how red Leo had become. "The plan is, uh, we basically show Lou old videos of her doing cool shit and hope it sparks something-"
"Videos?"
"Yes, moving pic- right, no, I know you know, what I mean is that I have- wait, do you know what a video is?" He pointed at Calypso, shaking his head before she even realised he was talking to her. "Nevermind, we'll learn as we go! Louisa, my dear sweet melon, come here come here, don't touch my stuff, no, come here."
"Joel spies on people with his drones."
"It's security surveillance!" Joel blew a raspberry. Lucy-Jo replied in kind, perching herself on the edge of a desk. "I am the eye in the sky and if I happen to see something cool, I keep it. For science."
"Or gossip."
"Spill thy tea! No, wait, what are we doing again? Cool stuff, no, I know, I know! Uuhhhhh, which folder did I put it in?" He gave his mouse an overexuberant shake, the computer screen lighting up. His background was a chocolate Labrador wearing a top hat.
"Is that your dog?"
"No. Sssh, watch the master work."
"Sure thing- let me know when they get here." Leo smirked. Joel cut him a look, pursing his lips disapprovingly. He pulled up his list of files, sighing. Leo leaned closer to the screen, horrified. "Dios bueno, do you organise anything?"
"I have organised! I now have eight folders!"
"He did have two."
"And about a thousand other things-"
"Three thousand, nine hundred and thirty-five. And about four hundred WIPs."
"Whips?" Calypso echoed.
"WIPs. W-I-P, Work-In-Progress or Wonderboy-In-Peril. Either one, they stress me out regardless."
"And yet, you still come up with more." Lucy-Jo mused.
"My brain can't contain all the ideas!"
"Hmm, must not be much space with all that pillock up there." She poked him in the head, snorting when he pouted and waved her hand away. He engrossed himself in his task, leaving the others to chat.
"I still don't understand what you do." Calypso admitted, aiming a curious finger gun at Lucy-Jo. "We heard the others call you Lieutenant, but lieutenant of what? A teenage army?"
"No. We're not all teenagers. It's mainly this division, we train here. Depending on skill, we will be sent elsewhere when we're older."
"Or stay here and train the noobs." Joel interjected, scrolling through files rapidly. Leo didn't see how he could recognise anything at that speed, but was beginning to understand not to question the techie.
"Yes," Calypso stressed, "but what do you do? Train for what? Lieutenant why?" Lucy-Jo narrowed her eyes, chewing her thumbnail.
"You're very nosy."
"Just want answers."
"Oop, too far." Joel began scrolling the other way, humming and clicking his tongue, bobbing his head to a tune only he could hear. "L.J, my pringle, I can feel you staring."
"Chop chop, Joel, I've got things to do."
"You asked for the promotion. Not my fault you've got work. Ugh, work." He stopped scrolling to grimace at the ceiling and shudder. Lucy-Jo coughed and he quickly focused, humming again.
"What does Neville see in you?"
"As you're his sister, I will not answer that one."
"You're disgusting."
"I know! Ain't it great?" He grinned. "There! I found it, I found it! Haha, I'm a genius."
"Don't throw that term around so loosely." Lucy-Jo muttered. Joel flapped his hands, drawing them into a huddle around him.
"This one is my fave!" He beamed. "Laaaake daaaaayy!" He sang excitedly.
"Are you sure you keep these videos for science?" Leo asked.
"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. Lou's not my type." He laughed, pinching Leo's cheek and cooing. "She's far too dickless for my taste, now ssh! The film's starting!" He shushed them all again for extra measure, leaning forward in his seat.
The video opened with a gentle buzzing, motors running as the drone zipped about, the footage swerving and tilting as the drone manoeuvred. It sped its way over hills, the very ones Lucy-Jo hiked Louisa over earlier that day. There was no lake. In its place was another liquid body. Or so it seemed.
The audio was not the best- Joel informed them the speaker had been damaged earlier- but they could still hear ravenous snarls and thwacks of flesh on flesh through the tinny speakers. Beasts as large as wolves and bigger writhed and thrashed, desperate to gain purchase on any surface they could to maul their way through black clad figures. Their skin was waxen, ranging from sickly whites to dusty blacks, scarlet mess flushed their jaws, screams of the dying snapping off as their throats were torn out. Gore, bone and life slathered their claws, thickening and darkening with each victim.
Calypso turned away, feeling Leo's hand on her arm.
"Joel-" He began thickly.
"Mm, not that bit." Joel agreed. "Look there." He waggled a finger over the screen. Leo saw flashes of green, tugging on Calypso's sleeve. She peeked warily, a little relieved to see the familiar colour. There was a brighter flash and the beasts were flung away, clearing a large radius. Those that remained scrambled together, injured and bleeding, their dead outnumbering their living. Louisa was amongst them, clothed in black and purple. She held no weapon, pulsating green the length of her body. She said something to the others, thunder splitting the air. Joel snapped his fingers and motioned frantically. Those that stood with Louisa moved to the dead. The beasts were gathering and their prey were collecting their fallen, distracted.
Louisa looked around, smeared with fresh and drying blood. The sky blackened, more thunder. Leo had seen this before, all too familiar with her storms. Their attackers were launching the next wave. Keepers scrambled, most didn't even have weapons.
But they had a Louisa.
The image on the screen became increasingly harder to determine, the only light from her green ability. Lucy-Jo, next to Leo, mumbled something about the force that struck the manor, the damages to supports, windows and plumbing alike. The grounds suffered too, topography forever changed, and not just due to the lake.
That came next. Water, storms, hurricanes. The hillside buckled, splitting with a yawn, folding when it became top heavy. Louisa cast her hands out, green light spiking out on a scream. The drone corkscrewed in a tidal wave, buffeted by winds one could almost see, such was the force behind them.
Joel tapped a few keys. Grey lines flickered over the screen and the picture gradually returned. They could see no monsters. Keepers were unsteadily rising, rubbing at the ears, glancing nervously at the sky still swathed in storm, recovering the fallen. The lake was there, dappling with raindrops. Joel pressed the space bar and the video froze. He sat back in his chair, lacing his fingers over his stomach.
Leo leaned across, rewinding. He paused just before the light overtook everything.
"Cal, look." He pointed. She leaned closer, putting her weight on Joel's shoulder. He spluttered indignantly, but said nothing when she frowned. "It's there again."
"I know." She sighed.
"What's there?" Lucy-Jo puzzled.
"The glowy eye thing." Leo reached for the controls again. Joel smacked his hand and hissed.
"Heh." Lucy-Jo snickered. "Do not touch Joel's keyboard." Leo glanced over at the techie, seeing a demented, wide-eyed stare. "Also, question- where's Lou gone?"