Chapter Two
Liz scrambled to her feet, Meggan hovering around her like a shadow as the warrior used the shadows to "melt" the rubble away from her former partner, Captain UK.
"Blessed Lady, Liz," Meggan whispered, "Look what they've done to her… Please tell me she's still alive!"
She telepathicly scanned Linda McQuillan, with care, examining her for the severity of her injuries, carefully removing the other woman's helmet, [Yes… she's alive, but barely conscious. She took a hell of a beating… but I know just how tough she really is… Going to see if I can help her come around!]
Captain UK coughed as Meggan and Liz helped her sit up, "unnnhhh…. wh-where am I? who….?"
Liz spoke softly, "Easy, luv. It's Liz, and you're on Earth 616.. . You're safe now…"
Linda shook her head, struggling to move, "NO! Not safe! None of us are…."
"From what?" Meggan asked, sensing the rising terror in one of her former maids of honour, "What could scare you that badly?"
Liz was better able to put it in perspective as she was still mindlinked with Linda, realizing the source as the other woman became more lucid, "Not "what", but rather "who"…"
"The Majestrix," Linda began explaining, "A fortnight ago, hoards of strange creatures descended upon the realm of Otherworld, like locusts almost….
although their origins remain a mystery, their evil intent was clear…"
"From the furtherest reaches of the multiverse, the Captain Britain corps rallied to repel these invaders, but even our greatest heroes proved no match for those monsters…or the insanity of the one who summoned them!"
Liz looked from Brian to Meggan and then to Dane, "Majestrix Roma? The patroness of the Corps? As in Merlyn's-daughter-who-was-nothing-like-her-scheming-power-mad-father-Roma?"
Brian's eyes were as wide as saucers as his psychic sister confirmed Linda's story, showing them the events from Captain UK's point of view. Meggan was repulsed, as any extremely sensitive psychic would have been, Brian leaned over the railing and lost both breakfast and lunch, while Dane and Liz steeled themselves, both having seen wholesale carnage in their careers as adventurers.
It wasn't pleasant, but it was the truth….
When he recovered enough dignity, Brian protested, "That's impossible!"
Linda's healing factor was kicking in, repairing the damage as she straightened up to look him in the eye, "Tell that to the dead, Braddock. So many of our brothers and sisters have already sacrificed themselves to stop her madness, only a scattered few of us remain… Otherworld needs us!"
But it wasn't Brian she was looking at, but rather his sister, "Otherworld needs Captain Britain…"
Brian was too absorbed in overanalyzing what he'd just seen, and between that, and his wife's distractions, he missed the telepathic exchange between his sister and Captain UK.
"The corps decimated?" he muttered to himself, "Otherworld in flames? Just like my nightmares… But why? What could have possibly possessed Roma? Unless this is another of Merlyn's sick, twisted mindgames…?"
Meggan flittered around him like a worrisome mother hen, drawing her own conclusions, "Of course! That must be it! She's trying to trick you.. Merlyn did it before, so they must be doing it again!"
Brian shook his head, trying to bat her away, "There's only one way to find out…."
Meggan blinked, not quite grasping what he had in mind, "But, Brian.. without yer powers? How can ye possibly stop someone who's practically a goddess?"
"I dunno, Meg," he muttered, as his wife clung to him, not notising the sour look as he though of his lack of powers and her plethora of them, "I have to find out…"
"I'm coming with you…" she announced as Liz's determined mindvoice rang in their minds, [We all are. Though I've lived most of my life on Earth, Otherworld's in my blood and soul, too. Besides, what better chance to spend some "quality" family time with my brother and sister-in-law—than while saving another universe?]
Linda tried not to chuckle, "Alrighty, then it's settled… Grab your gear…."
Dane gave Brian a bemused look as his former partner donned his old Captain Britain outfit, which would at least give him some protection, "And how exactly do you plan on beaming us up there, Scotty? Otherworld's an entirely different dimension all its own!"
"One of the benefits of being head researcher at Darkmoor is having total access to the most bleeding edge interdimensional technology available on Earth…" Brian replied, looking rather smug, "I've got toys that would make Reed Richards drool…. All I have to do is analyze the residue from Widget's teleportation signature, replicate it into a new matrix, cross-referencing all possible dimensional points… and I should be able to generate a dedicated wormhole that bypasses Otherworld's mystical barriers… forcing them to interface with this particular terrestrial plane of existence…."
Liz rolled her eyes, pushing a strand of amethyst hair our of her eyes, "My brother could not be a bigger geek…."
Her brother looked over his shoulder, "When all of you arrive with all of your internal organs still on the inside, you'll be thanking me…"
She chuckled, "Really?"
"Now, stand back, you lot," he announced, puffing out his chest, "This is about to get tricky…"
Meggan's eyes grew wider, "Look! It's working!"
The verdant column of inert plasma began to spin off arcs of lightening as it brightened momentarily and then winked out of existence….
"Bbbbububutt…" Brian mumbled as he rechecked the settings, the screen flickering several times before it, too, winked off…."Bloody HELL!"
He pulled back a fist to punch the damaged systems, but when his fist impacted, it sank into its own shadow, as his sister's mocking chuckle reached his ears, "Didn't count on the power going out, did you, little brother?"
She looked at the other three, "Take a deep breath, make like you're swimming,
because the next stop is Otherworld…"
And then she plunged them into the liquid darkness that was the Crimson Dawn….
Liz scrambled to her feet, Meggan hovering around her like a shadow as the warrior used the shadows to "melt" the rubble away from her former partner, Captain UK.
"Blessed Lady, Liz," Meggan whispered, "Look what they've done to her… Please tell me she's still alive!"
She telepathicly scanned Linda McQuillan, with care, examining her for the severity of her injuries, carefully removing the other woman's helmet, [Yes… she's alive, but barely conscious. She took a hell of a beating… but I know just how tough she really is… Going to see if I can help her come around!]
Captain UK coughed as Meggan and Liz helped her sit up, "unnnhhh…. wh-where am I? who….?"
Liz spoke softly, "Easy, luv. It's Liz, and you're on Earth 616.. . You're safe now…"
Linda shook her head, struggling to move, "NO! Not safe! None of us are…."
"From what?" Meggan asked, sensing the rising terror in one of her former maids of honour, "What could scare you that badly?"
Liz was better able to put it in perspective as she was still mindlinked with Linda, realizing the source as the other woman became more lucid, "Not "what", but rather "who"…"
"The Majestrix," Linda began explaining, "A fortnight ago, hoards of strange creatures descended upon the realm of Otherworld, like locusts almost….
although their origins remain a mystery, their evil intent was clear…"
"From the furtherest reaches of the multiverse, the Captain Britain corps rallied to repel these invaders, but even our greatest heroes proved no match for those monsters…or the insanity of the one who summoned them!"
Liz looked from Brian to Meggan and then to Dane, "Majestrix Roma? The patroness of the Corps? As in Merlyn's-daughter-who-was-nothing-like-her-scheming-power-mad-father-Roma?"
Brian's eyes were as wide as saucers as his psychic sister confirmed Linda's story, showing them the events from Captain UK's point of view. Meggan was repulsed, as any extremely sensitive psychic would have been, Brian leaned over the railing and lost both breakfast and lunch, while Dane and Liz steeled themselves, both having seen wholesale carnage in their careers as adventurers.
It wasn't pleasant, but it was the truth….
When he recovered enough dignity, Brian protested, "That's impossible!"
Linda's healing factor was kicking in, repairing the damage as she straightened up to look him in the eye, "Tell that to the dead, Braddock. So many of our brothers and sisters have already sacrificed themselves to stop her madness, only a scattered few of us remain… Otherworld needs us!"
But it wasn't Brian she was looking at, but rather his sister, "Otherworld needs Captain Britain…"
Brian was too absorbed in overanalyzing what he'd just seen, and between that, and his wife's distractions, he missed the telepathic exchange between his sister and Captain UK.
"The corps decimated?" he muttered to himself, "Otherworld in flames? Just like my nightmares… But why? What could have possibly possessed Roma? Unless this is another of Merlyn's sick, twisted mindgames…?"
Meggan flittered around him like a worrisome mother hen, drawing her own conclusions, "Of course! That must be it! She's trying to trick you.. Merlyn did it before, so they must be doing it again!"
Brian shook his head, trying to bat her away, "There's only one way to find out…."
Meggan blinked, not quite grasping what he had in mind, "But, Brian.. without yer powers? How can ye possibly stop someone who's practically a goddess?"
"I dunno, Meg," he muttered, as his wife clung to him, not notising the sour look as he though of his lack of powers and her plethora of them, "I have to find out…"
"I'm coming with you…" she announced as Liz's determined mindvoice rang in their minds, [We all are. Though I've lived most of my life on Earth, Otherworld's in my blood and soul, too. Besides, what better chance to spend some "quality" family time with my brother and sister-in-law—than while saving another universe?]
Linda tried not to chuckle, "Alrighty, then it's settled… Grab your gear…."
Dane gave Brian a bemused look as his former partner donned his old Captain Britain outfit, which would at least give him some protection, "And how exactly do you plan on beaming us up there, Scotty? Otherworld's an entirely different dimension all its own!"
"One of the benefits of being head researcher at Darkmoor is having total access to the most bleeding edge interdimensional technology available on Earth…" Brian replied, looking rather smug, "I've got toys that would make Reed Richards drool…. All I have to do is analyze the residue from Widget's teleportation signature, replicate it into a new matrix, cross-referencing all possible dimensional points… and I should be able to generate a dedicated wormhole that bypasses Otherworld's mystical barriers… forcing them to interface with this particular terrestrial plane of existence…."
Liz rolled her eyes, pushing a strand of amethyst hair our of her eyes, "My brother could not be a bigger geek…."
Her brother looked over his shoulder, "When all of you arrive with all of your internal organs still on the inside, you'll be thanking me…"
She chuckled, "Really?"
"Now, stand back, you lot," he announced, puffing out his chest, "This is about to get tricky…"
Meggan's eyes grew wider, "Look! It's working!"
The verdant column of inert plasma began to spin off arcs of lightening as it brightened momentarily and then winked out of existence….
"Bbbbububutt…" Brian mumbled as he rechecked the settings, the screen flickering several times before it, too, winked off…."Bloody HELL!"
He pulled back a fist to punch the damaged systems, but when his fist impacted, it sank into its own shadow, as his sister's mocking chuckle reached his ears, "Didn't count on the power going out, did you, little brother?"
She looked at the other three, "Take a deep breath, make like you're swimming,
because the next stop is Otherworld…"
And then she plunged them into the liquid darkness that was the Crimson Dawn….