XL

"I'll be dammed!" Venus utters in shock, so are the other ghouls who didn't know he is capable of such thing. For Clawdeen, Frankie and Scarah who have seen him before performing sorcery like this, it is only breathtaking, but not by much, and uncomfortably foreshadowing. "How did you —"

"If you want to know how I did this, I'm telling you right now I got no time to waste explaining anything to you," Keith cuts Venus abruptly "Like literally no time, this fissure will only stay open a minute or two at best. Now this should have been first, but who besides Wonder Wolf wants to literally jump into spoiler zone?"

Venus raises her hand. "I do. I got… people in there I need to make sure is still alive."

"I'm coming too — I feel like you guys might need any hands you can get, why not though copper hands?" Steam states.

"I'm not, I think I should sit this one out, shouldn't even be here," Operetta says.

"I'm staying, maybe I can help guard the doors, just in case. Also I don't want any spoilers." Jinafire says.

"This sis is smart," he smirks.

"I'm going, Casta is my friend, I can't abandon her — or my cousin for that matter," Viper states walking toward the flames.

"All right, anyone else?"

Twyla is quick to take a step forward, along with Scarah, whose enthusiastic stride is cut by his hand.

"Sorry, you're not going."

"Wait why —?"

"Because we're at peak capacity… if you wanna make yourself useful, stay here and don't let anybody cross the doors, also psychics and superheroes are a cool match but I don't want that cocktail right now, same goes for you redhead. Use that lovely singing voice of yours to keep people away from here," he turns to Operetta, then to Frankie who stands away, arms crossed. "Franny… Guess, you're coming too."

"No thanks, I refuse to literally jump into danger again. Also, who's gonna make sure they stay and help keep people away from here?" She answers with only a faint trace of anger in her voice.

"Very well, a werewolf warrior, a post-apunkalyptic Amazonian plant queen, a gorgon and a steampunker, could have done worse. Everyone chop-chop!" he orders, and as if waiting for the order they jump into a dangerous place, with Clawdeen — that is Wonder Wolf — jumping last of the girls.

Picking up Selina, he gives a final glance at the girls left behind.

"I trust you to take care of everything here Fran," he stares at Frankie before jumping in with his cat in his hand, and as soon as he jumps through, the fissure closes itself.

Jumping through portals is one hell of an experience, the ride of a lifetime, that is… until you have jumped one portal too many. This is about the tenth one portal too many for most of these ghouls, so with all their experience, is no surprise to see them all but Viper land with a somewhat more graceful thud, already braced for the fall rather than plummeting against the pavement.

"He, first time jumping through a portal?" Twyla asks Viper as she offers her hand.

"Yeah…" answers with an awful pain in her head, elbows, shoulders and knees, you know just every part that moves.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it with time." Venus remarks.

"Yes… Just spend enough time around Clawdeen and the inner circle and you'll see, this kind of things happen to them all the time, they're like magnets for weirdness," Robecca points derisively. "Speaking of, where is she?"

The answer comes as a howling from the sky. Fixing their eyes on the clouds they see Wonder Wolf, a green and purple glowing rocket headed for them.

"Oooooh… She's gonna make a superhero landing!" Twyla says a bit too excited.

Gleaming sword in one hand, golden shield in the other, her fur cape dancing against the wind, her body falls heavy like a boulder hitting the sidewalk with a thunderous impact just strong enough to shake the ground beneath their feet, raising a cloud of dust. Soon as it clears, it reveals her gorgeous and tall lithe body, athletic and statuesque, in a perfect and heroic pose — the iconic three point landing used by all stylish flying or swinging heroes when landing. She strides over the broken ground, she seems and feels taller than ever, smiling, ready for a scrap.

Stunned by her prowess, she smiles at herself and remembers Keith's words.

…and I really hope everyone in a costume became the character which they're dressed… I guess you were right as usual… dearie.

"Wow, nice super-hero landing! That is so great for style but so bad for your knees on the long run, anyhow, that's why I never pick up a fight with you. Clearly you're far too much dude for me." Twyla says

"Yeah, nice way to show that sidewalk of evil to behave, pretty it will think it twice before getting in our way," Venus adds.

"Well, that was clawesome! Now where is Keith?"

Now she is become the real Wonder Wolf, the guardian of worlds, the shield of the unguarded, an unstoppable howling force for justice, a true heroic spirit made flesh, yet most stunning for her is how this unnatural change comes to her so quickly and so instinctively, so… natural, as if she had been born this way or to be so.

"Wasn't he with you?" Twyla asks.

"I thought he would be here already."

"Any chances he bailed on us?" Venus inquires, a second before he steps out of the shadows with his cat on his left hand, his dagger in the right, and the purple glowing fissure closing behind him.

"There he is."

"Why did he just simply walk into this place while we literally fell of the air?" Viper wonders out loud, not hiding her discontent. Snake hair hissing.

"Because you jumped in, and I just walked in, with that in mind the portal gave the entrance you wanted. Magic is about intention, remember that. Also, I'm the one who casted the spell, so you know… it wasn't about to hurt me like that, magic is a tricky thing as fickle as a cat, now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go pay for it," he explains, gently putting his cat down on the sidewalk, then grabbing the nearest trash can to throw up.

Once. Twice. Thrice! Every time he beats the trash can. It is an awful sound as if he were puking his entrails, which given the vibrant crimson color of his vomit, could be the case.

"O god I don't see worthy of worship should you be real, I don't feel good," he drawls with the sickest voice ever.

For a moment that feels too long Clawdeen feels he might die right there and her heart clenches in sorrow and guilt for she knows deep down that she is responsible for whatever is happening to him. Also, it is a bit disgusting to see him throw up like this.

"Dear, are you —?" she tries to reach out to him.

"Don't touch me!" He snaps suddenly at her, eyes flaring with an anger she's never seen in them before. "This why I told you to wait for this spell to wither, but no! You — you could not listen to me! And because I'm a sucker I end up doing a spell —" then a fourth throw up and another punch to the can, "…all to please you. This is what I meant when I said magic comes at a price, I hope you're happy now!"

Clawdeen stares at him in shock and disbelief with an ounce of heartbreak, never before he has spoken to her with such fury and she doesn't know what to make of this. What can she say that makes things better?

"I… I didn't —"

"Don't talk, let us just finish this soon, I don't wanna be here any longer than I need to, and stay close to me. Don't make it any harder for me to love you."

"I… sure." What?

Pulling out his dagger, still glowing blue, he cuts his left hand, from the wound oozes thick black liquid that could be confused with oil, but is his own blood, dripping black as the night itself, then with his right hand glowing purple he forces the infection out of his body guiding it thought the veins to the wound until his blood is crimson once again.

"The things I do for love."

Not even giving her a second glance, he begins to move forward. Approaching her from behind Viper asks "Clawdeen, is, uh, your… boyfriend okay?"

"I don't know, I don'r really think so — wait, who told you he's my boyfriend?"

"Lala and Frankie might have mentioned something about it, also you just called him dear," she points out at the word that so easily and naturally slipped ner tongue without her noticing. "I was hoping we could talk — you know catch up a little bit in the party but I guess that will have to wait."

"I am so going to kill them," she growls striding over to Keith's side who is otherwise absorbed by his thoughts.

What manner of aberration is this? he wonders sensing a strange vibration in the air, and with good reason.

There are so many reasons why this Reality Bubble is such an aberration, Keith knows that from the moment he touched it, even with just looking at it, first of all is not her dreams that's become real in here but also the dreams of everyone in a costume — because when they put on a costume they're playing a fantasy, for as long as they're in that costume they're living the dream of being a hero or villain, or a knight or a monster. It is all an illusion, unreal, simple make believe. Except with her unmastered magic the illusion becomes tangible, the dreams become a reality of their own and now everyone in a costume has become in what they're disguised. But that is only half the problem, the other half is that Casta's illusion, an scene from the movie where she plays a superheroine — the supersexy superheroine, and that illusion has become too real as well, just as too frightening… and to make things worse those in a villain costume are now fighting along with the villains from the movie against those who have come as heroes. Which means now there are two things that shouldn't be, fighting each other, and is really hard to tell whether or not this people are so lost in their dreams that now they no longer remember who they really are, or if they're just living it to the fullest, fighting giant evil demons from space. Either way that's what they got here. An scene indeed worthy of this next summer's blockbuster with capes flying around while stuff blows up with giant unreasonable creatures wrecking havoc — heroes unable to stop them and no sign of hope in sight. And none of this should be even if the illusion spell got overloaded! He understands that now that he's inside, or rather he has a feeling that is the case — maybe the part where the scene of the movie becomes real, but no the costume thing, there has to be something more here, a reason behind her control to explain why she lost control of her spell in such way. Surely is just a feeling he's got, a hunch, but the first thing his mother taught him about magicks is to know he must never ignore those feeling — thus he will always trust his guts… but verify. For which he needs to find the caster of the spell, his favorite witchy singer Casta Fierce.

"Shouldn't be hard to find Casta. She's the Emerald Enchantress, she's wearing black leather with glowing pumpkins, long boots, tights and fish nets…" Keith explains, calmly as if he were completely foreign to the chaos unfolding around them which conveniently enough is completely ignoring them. "You can tell her apart from your regular street sex service provider because she loves throwing cursed knives that never seem to end and rarely miss. Chances are the ghouls are with her."

At least he's back to his usual… disinterested self, Clawdeen thinks, feeling the tension lessening. Damn, since when am I this sensitive to other people's feelings? she wonders just noting how acute her empathy has become. As a werewolf she has always had a capacity for sensing other peoples moods, in part due to her nose smelling people's pheromones, but there is also that other sense, that animal thing as he would call it; she has always preferred to keep it to the minimum though, makes it easier, yet lately it has been too high, suddenly more so now they're in here. I guess now I'm Wonder Wolf all my senses are hyperactive.

"Funny, I thought you'd be fanboying all over it." Wonder Wolf points out, hoping some conversation would lighten his mood, or rather that he's in the mood for talking.

"Not in the mood, really. I just wanna be in my bed eating candies, but definitely when we see Casta, yeah when we see her… once this is all done," explains without looking at her

"Well… I haven't found any knife throwing enthusiat slutty super witch, but would you settle with a chain and spike loving doe-eyed purple ghost in high heels?" Venus asks, pointing at Spectra — now Polterghoul!

"Actually no, I don't."

"Are you, sure? Cause we got one right here," Twyla interjects, with a snarky voice.

"Any other night I would, but not tonight." Keith answers, his mood… better left unsaid.

"That is Spectra! And she's in trouble," Clawdeen points at the purple glowing ghost girl fighting dark and scary creatures with chains and escaping a giant… being that seems the love child of a giant mecha and the creatures they're used to kill, if that creature was made of mud — yeah, let's say is mud. "I bet she knows where the others are!"

"Well, I guess we'll have this wrapped up sooner than I thought. One Super Ghoulfriend found, many left to go, unless they're so lost in character they can't recall who they are." Keith adds.

"Would you stop guessing? Because whenever you do that, it happens to be the case and is always something bad!" Clawdeen snaps.

He smirks odiously. In that moment they try to draw her attention, succeeding only when Clawdeen lets out a powerful howl that reverberates through their bones.

Watching them from among the clouds, she dives in towards them, masterfully dodging the hands of the giant evil golem, the wraiths though, those are far too many for her to elude.

"She can't escape them all, we gotta do something!" Clawdeen says.

"Nah, you know the rhythm of these movies, they always seem in trouble until they're not."

"It doesn't seem like she's getting out of trouble." Venus points out, as Polterghoul gets overwhelmed by more ghastly of the creatures in ragged black robes.

"I'm sure this is all part of the show," he stares at her with a casualness that blends with indifference.

"She needs help!" she snarls then, noting how unmoved he is, takes a deep breathe and calls for patience.

"If you wanna help go help, I'm not going to hold you back. Good luck fighting those things. How do you plan doing that?"

Okay, asking him for help isn't working, he clearly is either too upset —and stubborn — to at least pretend to care for anybody and help them doing any more than he's already, or worst, just doesn't see the problem. Either way he has reached past his threshold of usefulness tonight… unless I try a different approach.

"Hey, honey…"

"…"

"You said maybe everyone in a costume would become the character they're dressed."

"Yes, why? Is it not working on you?"

"Oh no, is doing quite a wonderful job, I can feel all my senses on levels I haven't had, and I also feel like am much stronger and tougher than I have ever been — I mean, you should have seen the superhero landing I did when I first got here, but…"

"Good, I was counting on that."

"Wait, you were?"

"Well, yes of course. Now I got you, my wonderful and fabulous guardian wolf to protect me from the great dangers… of spoilers," and now the smiles.

Clawdeen stares at him peeved, arms folded, unsurprised to hear him say that.

"Leaving that aside," she sighs flustered, "you came to the party as Anubis — a God! You must be more than able to help, just put on your mask."

"I could, yes I suppose I could if I knew what price would I be paying for such magic and as you can see," he raises a shaky left hand to her face, "I'm still paying for the last spell. So you are on your own, and better act quick," adds looking at the ghoul losing the fight, and just to be clear he knows that won't come at any price, he is just not going to help any more than he has for a while.

"Fine! I'll do it myself!" Clawdeen snarls, remembering his words before getting inside …you can kiss nice Keith good bye… so this is what he meant, eh?

"Wait, do you even know what powers do you have now, or how to use them?" Twyla asks.

"Oh please, just think of me as Wonder Woman with the moon on my side and glowing green hair — and I think I've seen enough superhero movies to know how to super punch bad guys in the face. Besides, don't they learn how to use their powers along the way?"

"You were filling me with confidence just until the last part," Twyla says.

"But… can you fly?" Viper cuts in.

"Well, I wouldn't be much of a Wonder I couldn't… you just watch."

"Fine, we'll be waiting for you in that nice French café over there that would end up as a nice overlooked background," he points at the local to their left, still standing with tables, chairs and parasols barely damaged.

Oh wait, so you're seriously letting me do this on my own? Well, no problem, I have done stupid dangerous things like this before without you, I can still do it myself… glad to know I can't count on you for that. Clawdeen thinks, frowning at him as he easily walks over to the café, getting replied by a little and calm voice that sounds just like herself, saying Give him a break, how many times he's done something he didn't want to do only for you just tonight? And you just saw him throw up blood — hardly a good indicator that anyone is in any shape to get in a fight.

Clawdeen sighs deeply again then commands the girls "Go with him, wait for me."

But can you fly? Pfft. What of kind of stupid question is that?! Of course I can fly! I mean… I believe I can fly — I know I can fly! I am superhero now, so… obviously I can fly. I'm Wonder Wolf now!

"Hey slim, are you sure we should just sit here?" Twyla asks sitting next to him, legs crossed as a lady, scratching Selina's back, with Robecca, Venus and Viper on the table to his right.

Putting down the coffee mug he must have either found on the table or made out of nowhere, he makes a circular gesture with his right hand, whispering the words Protego Diabolica, casting a ring of blue fire around them.

"I guess that should do it."

Watching the chaos spreading all around her shoots adrenaline inside her blood, her body responds howling for action, and with little hesitation she jumps into the fight. In an instant she is there and the other she's not. In an instant the wolf warrior — for that is what a he's now — leaps forth with a feral roar. Her take off shakes the earth, crushing the pavement beneath her feet by the sheer force of her wonderful long legs, and the speed of the charge moves the air around her creating a small windstorm that fans the blue flames around the tables, charging as a purple and green glowing bullet, slaying her foes with her sword.

"I don't think she's really flying, she just jumped very hard." Robecca says.

"Just wait, I'm sure we still got plenty of time to see if she can fly." Twyla says, amused.

"For the record, I always knew she had in her to get super high." Venus retorts with a smirk.

Confusion, amazement, and relief, these are the words that fit Polterghoul's look.

"What… what was that? Clawdeen, is that you?"

"I… am Wonder Wolf!" she answers as she defies gravity such as the ghost before her.