The Survivor
Disclaimer: I own neither Kingdom Hearts nor GI Joe or the X-men Evolution. The Misfits were created by Red Witch. H.G. Wells is the author of the Time Machine, which inspired this particular work. Van Helsing belongs to Universal Studios, but the character of Filbert Maitland however is my creation.
AN: I'll get back into the other storyline momentarily, this is to introduce the other thread of the story.Red Witch – It wouldn't feel right to have a Misfit community without you being in charge of the whole affair since you created it, I figure it'd be best if you manage the C2 community.
Great Britain, 1888: Disorienting. If one word could describe the sensations felt by the time machine this word would be it. The student felt that sensation as he was propelled half an hour forward in time. The machine came to a halt and the jarring impact caused him to become disoriented.
Filbert Maitland pulled his watch from his pocket; it read six thirty in the evening where the clock on the wall read seven o'clock. The Creator of the time machine stood on the other side of the room smiled in his enigmatic way. "You see, Filby, the concept of time travel truly does work." The Creator said.
"It's remarkable." Filby said, at a loss for words.
"But traveling in space as well, that was the design flaw of my original machine." The Creator said, "That is why the Morlocks were able to get a hold of it."
"Turning the dial to the right of the control levers can send you certain distances in space as well." The Creator replied, "I do believe I've ironed out all the bugs in this thing at long last."
There was a knock at the door and the Creator said, "Come in."
Entering the room was a young woman, about nineteen years old, with dark brown hair and eyes, a slim figure and a kind countenance. "Amelia, how is your father doing?" the Creator said.
"He is not well." Amelia replied, "He is in a bad way."
As she entered the room, Amelia had been sure to bar the door. The Creator had always been rather secretive about his work, especially since that day he returned, two years earlier, beaten up as though he'd been in a street fight and babbling on about Morlocks and Eloi and the like. It seemed too fantastic to be true, but the Creator told it with so much conviction that it had to be true.
"Perhaps Dr. Lanyon could be of better help than we." Filby replied, still feeling slightly woozy from his trip thirty minutes into the future.
"Do you have the medicine for my father?" Amelia asked Filby.
"I bought it from the Chemist earlier this afternoon." Filby replied.
"Thank you Filby." Amelia replied, "You've truly been a good friend…"
Friend? Is that all I am to you Amelia? Filby thought. "You're welcome. I only wish my friendship could be better expressed better than searching for the chemicals your father needs to heal his infirmity." Filby replied.
"You've been a true friend since I came to Britain from America eight years ago." Amelia replied.
Before Filby could reply there the sound of pounding against the heavy wooden door resonated. Filby instinctively grabbed a crowbar from the nearest work bench and asked the Creator, "Who is it?"
"Open up! Do you want to die old man!" came the shout.
"I must confess, Filby, some of the parts of my machine I acquired from dealings with an unsavory man…" the Creator replied, taking an old revolver from his coat, "I must reap what I have sown, but I will not sell my life cheaply."
The Creator's face took on a sad expression, "You've been the son I've never had, Filby, these past three years you've been a great help."
"You've been a second father to me as well." Filby said, choking back emotion, "What of Amelia?"
"They will permit her safe passage, Filby." The Creator said, "And thank you, Filby, but you must go."
"But…" Filby protested.
"The blueprints…They must not fall into his hands." The Creator said, throwing them into the seat of the time machine.
As he did a creature the like of which neither Amelia nor Filby had ever seen jumped through the window. It was shorter than either human; its skin was black as night, its eyes glowed yellow and its hands were twisted claws. It leapt for Amelia and Filby shoved her away, swinging the crowbar as he did. The bludgeon connected with the creature and Filby could hear the sound of its skull fracturing.
The door buckled and finally gave way. More of the shadow creatures came swarming through the door and behind them was a fellow in a black mask. The Creator fired shots from his pistol, some going wide, one or two hitting their target but inevitably he ran out of ammunition and Filby watched in horror as they swarmed over him. Amelia screamed and her scream galvanized Filby into action. Enraged he charged towards the creatures, swinging the crowbar, fracturing skull and limb as he did so. A creature jumped onto Amelia's back and Filby stabbed the crowbar at it, impaling it through one eye.
"Filby! Run!" Amelia shouted, "Save the blueprints! Save yourself!"
The creatures held Amelia down, dragging her off. Safe passage, hah!
Filby blinked back a tear as he activated the control levers on the time machine and turned the dial for an unknown destination and time. The room spun crazily and his view of all around him distorted as the machine began its journey. He saw things that he couldn't explain, worlds similar and different from his own, distant lands, a star blinking out before he finally blacked out himself.
Three Hours Later: The machine finally stopped spinning and disgorged Filby into an open field. He had no idea where he was, what country he was in, or even what century. All he could tell was that it was night time. He folded the blueprints up and stuffed them into the pocket of his suit jacket. It was a bit too cool for the clothes he wore as he removed the control levers from the time machine. Without the two rods the machine would simply not run. The time machine chronometer read that it was still 1888 and he'd merely traveled three hours into the future.
He went to inventory what he had on him, which wasn't much really. His pocket watch, a handful of matches, the crowbar and the control levers and blueprints. There was a river flowing nearby and having grown up in Australia until the age of fourteen he understood that if one follows a river one usually finds civilization.
He'd not gone but a mile when he encountered the creatures from the lab again. The swarmed towards him and Filby was determined to make his last stand. They would get the plans over his dead body. He backed up into a tree, preventing the Heartless from sneaking up from behind him. They still came towards him and he swung the crowbar, smashing in the head of the first attacker. With desperate strength that overcame his dizziness and weakness, Filby fought against them, the crowbar making hollow cracking sounds as it connected with flesh and smashed bones.
One of the antennae headed beasts was limping away as the crowbar had smashed its right leg. He swung again and caught a leaping creature in the midsection, breaking ribs. They came towards him, a like a determined band of thugs desiring to claim their victim. Filby's face took on a grim expression, he was going to make them pay dearly for those blueprints, and already three of them lay dead in pools of black blood. He was going to kill as many of those little bastards as possible, because they robbed him of two people important in his life. He swung the crowbar again as two of them jumped his way. The first he knocked back. He turned towards the second monster and jabbed the crowbar into its eye socket.
There were too many of them and Filby knew eventually he would tire out and they would easily take the blueprints away from him. He kept swinging the crowbar, breaking bones and killing Heartless that came too close. Sensing he was tiring they jumped him in a large group. Filby pulled several matches from his pocket and struck them throwing them around the place. The resulting fire on the dry grass would kill them both and ensure the plans didn't fall into the hands of his attackers…
"That's odd." Carl, the friar, said to the man in the black duster and full brimmed hat, "Smoke near the river…"
"Where there's smoke, there's fire, Carl, come, let's go." Van Helsing declared. The two men urged their horses into action and Van Helsing drew his two pistols.
As they rounded the trail bend they could see the grass was on fire and some of the strangest creatures they'd yet seen. They were short, about the same height as Dwergi, with glowing yellow eyes and antennae. Their hands ended in twisted claws and several of them were on fire. There were three of them swarming around a man barely conscious, a crowbar lying just a few feet away and a box of matches which he had presumably used to start the fire.
Van Helsing didn't hesitate, he knew evil when he saw it, and began to shoot at the strange little beasts. He took them down in one or two bullets, sending the careening end over end and sprawling in death. As he did so, Carl rode his horse through the flames and dragged the unconscious young man to safety.
A few days later: As slowly Filby opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that he had numerous wounds, mostly scratches and deep cuts. "Where…"
"You're in the Vatican my son." A voice said. It belonged to a Frenchman, "Cardinal Jinette, and who are you?"
"Filby." The man replied, for some odd reason he remembered very little, only fleeing from the monsters with the glowing yellow eyes, the name of someone named Amelia and the fact that she was in danger, and that there were some important plans he had to guard.
"Short for Filbert, I imagine." Cardinal Jinette began.
"Yes." Filby said.
"Cardinal…" Carl said, as he entered, "I finished dissecting one of the creatures we found attacking our young friend."
"Yes Friar, what did you find?" Jinette replied.
"They are entirely unrelated to the Dwergi, which proves my initial theory wrong." Carl began, "But I've made an interesting discovery. They have no hearts. What they have instead is a hard, bony casing one fourth the size of a human heart filled only with a vacuum."
"Truly such a creature can only be evil." Jinette replied.
"The plans, what became of them?" Filby asked.
"They are safe here, now." Jinette began.
"Who are you people…?" Filby asked.
"We do not exist." Jinette began, "Once I answer that question there is no turning back."
"Can you help me find someone?" Filby asked, "Her name's Amelia and she is in danger…"
"We have existed since time immemorial, protecting the world from an evil so ancient humanity has no idea it even exists." Jinette replied, "We are the Knights of the Holy Order. We will help you with your search, if you will help us…"
"I will." Filby replied.
"Good, your training will begin as soon as you have fully recovered." Cardinal Jinette began.
Five years later: Filby stood in the bowels of the secret chambers underneath the Vatican. No longer dressed in the light weight suit he would likely have worn for the balmy fall day. Instead he wore rough gray working clothes, and over that he wore a long gray duster, concealing the many weapons the many worlds were likely to throw at a man in his line of work.
The years of searching and hardship had given him a weathered look. Much of the boyishness of the young student who was a protégé at the Creator's lab was gone. It was replaced by a weariness, of a search that was forced to be put on hold. For the five years Cardinal Jinette sent him to track the creatures, which he now knew as Heartless, all over Europe. Finally it appeared that he had finally killed the last of them.
"We need you to carry out one more task for us." Cardinal Jinette said.
Filby's face was emotionless, but inside his face fell. For five years he had been forced to put his search for Amelia aside whenever the Vatican deemed he was to carry out another task. "What is it you require of me, Father?" Filby replied.
"That wonderous machine we found nearby when you were first found," Cardinal Jinette replied, "It has the ability to take people to different worlds as well as different times. We have learned much about these Heartless creatures from our research and dissections of living specimens. We have also learned in the future they will consume many worlds. You must travel to the year 2004, to a world known as 'the Misfitverse'. It is an accursed world, populated by all sorts of bizarre and unholy creatures."
Filby went deeper into the recesses of the underground laboratory. If anything the Knights of the Holy Order were very meticulous about equipping their soldiers to face evil in any form. The hard working men who created the weapons in the lab were some of the finest minds from every faith on earth. Rabbis rubbed elbows with friars and mullahs with nigh serious conflict to mar relations.
Carl approached him, saying, "Here's your equipment you'll need for this mission."
As they walked by a couple lab benches, Carl picked up a weapon that resembled a crossbow but had a chamber of some sort in the stock and a cylindrical device underneath the weapon. "What is it?" Filby asked.
"I've heard the stories of the Heartless and the other enemies you'll likely encounter, you'll need this." Carl replied, "I've ironed out all the bugs from the original design. It has twice the ammunition capacity, there is a built in air compressor, and it still retains the automatic fire mode of the original."
Filby picked up a shotgun from the table and Carl handed him six cases of shotgun shells, "Three different loads. The red shells are standard buckshot, composed of silver nitrate, a substance proven to be almost instantly fatal to Heartless and serve well to fight them at close distances, especially if they fight in large numbers. The green shells are flechette rounds which fire seven stainless steel darts in a cone. It has the same reach as a buckshot round but does twice the damage, especially at close range. Finally the yellow shells are solid slugs, which have the longest reach and are best for opening locked doors."
"Of course your standard pistols for mid-range fighting." Carl said, "And for closer fights your shivs are still in place."
The friar was referring to a set of brass knucklers with razor sharp blades on the front. "Now this device goes on your right wrist and has a range of three to five meters. It's perfect for close in fighting."
Carl showed him a leather wrist guard that had a double barrel on it, and what looked like the components of a derringer pistol. "To fire the darts, which you can load with chemical concoctions or put rocket tips on, you merely need to squeeze your fist. To fire the derringer you simply press the stud on your right knuckler shiv with your thumb, it fires a .357 cartridge."
Carl handed him a rifle-like device, about the length of Filby's thigh. "This is the bola snare rifle, which fires weighted cables that entangles your prey and shocks them with electrical charges. The dial on the handgrip will adjust how much force the cable will be fired with, meaning if it is fired with enough force it can twist spines and necks enough to break them. At lower settings the weapon will merely immobilize enemies."
"What does this do?" Filby asked, hefting a stick about the length of his shotgun.
"Ah, that is a prototype weapon I call the shock stick. At close range it can be used as a melee weapon, powered by a rechargeable galvanic cell. I modeled it after Igor's weapon of choice from our Transylvania assignment, with some modification. Just above the adjustment dial on the hand grip is a button, use this to launch nets of a sticky substance identical to that of spider silk but strong enough to restrain the strongest bull." Carl said, "And that's all the specialized equipment you will need for this mission."
Filby carried the bags containing his equipment and walked up to the Time Machine. Underneath the control console was a heavy steel equipment locker. Four other machines had now been constructed by the scientists of the Vatican. For the purpose of scouting, three of the machines were one passenger affairs like the original model. The other had room for two occupants and needed equipment. He put the crystalline levers in place and activated the machine…
Roadblock, Cover Girl, Shipwreck, Spirit, Lowlight, and the Blind Master waited with Hal and Julie and the older Misfits in the lab where Lifeline, Trinity, and Airtight were dissecting the two weird creatures that Hal had killed earlier.
"What have you found?" Roadblock asked when he saw Airtight walk out of the room in his surgical attire.
"Well, it's humanoid for one." Airtight replied.
"We know that." Julie replied, "What have you found."
"The samples from that trail of black fluid near where Hal gunned them down indeed pass for blood for the creatures." Airtight replied, "It's a liquid with the average consistency of motor oil."
"You're saying they're mechanical?" Cover Girl asked.
"Not really, but they seem to use different chemical processes to supply the needed essences of life." Airtight replied, "But they are especially peculiar, because they do not have hearts."
"What?" Shipwreck replied, "There's no way a creature could live without something to circulate blood?"
"That's true." Spirit replied, "Even worms have a primitive pumping device to circulate their blood."
"When we dissected the first creature we thought it was an anomaly of some kind." Airtight replied, "But when we dissected the other creature we found a hard, bony chamber roughly the size of a human fist where a heart should be. Inside it was merely a vacuum."
"This is something we've never seen before." Lifeline said, removing the surgical mask he had been wearing, "It matches no known lifeform on earth today."
"Actually, Lifeline, my clan has some legends involving these creatures." Blind Master began, "These creatures originate from the Shadows and feed on the hearts of man. I'll need to contact Stormshadow and see if he can't tell me more about these things."
"Whoa, so you're saying these things are evil?" Julie asked.
"They are an evil more ancient than time itself." Blind Master confirmed, "Our clan has fought them for centuries, but for nearly three hundred years these beasts have not been seen or heard from."
"It seems that they have made a reappearance." Spirit replied.
"I'll go visit Stormshadow in Japan and see what I can learn." Blind Master replied and touched his teleportation watch, vanishing immediately.
"Lowlight, you and Maitland go out on a scouting patrol, I think it's time he gain some field experience." Roadblock said, "Follow that blood trail of the creature that survived the gunfight."
A blood trail, the creature had been wounded. Filby had hidden the Time Machine in a deep gulley and removed the control levers earlier. Almost as soon as he had recovered from the disorientation that time and space travel produced he had come upon the telltale trail of black blood.
He drew out the gas crossbow and flicked the switch to single fire mode. The occupants of this world had obviously discovered that the Heartless existed and wounded this one. As its tracks indicated, one of its legs had been injured. Wherever this creature would go, it would lead him to its horde, for Heartless rarely traveled alone.
The creature was limping when Filby located it, leaking blood as it headed to the drywash where its horde obviously hid. He aimed through the optical sight of the weapon and slowly squeezed the trigger, sending a crossbow bolt downrange at tremendous velocity.
Filby waited for a few more moments and to his surprise saw not only two Soldier Heartless and five Shadows, but about half a dozen strange looking soldiers wearing bluish uniforms with black trousers and carrying bandoliers of ammunition. They were led by a fellow wearing blue, a black coalscuttle helmet and an eye patch.
Too many to attack at any rate, this was bad, for the Heartless had already aligned themselves with the villains of this world. Obviously this eye patch wearer was their leader of their group. They surrounded the corpse of the creature, which lay killed by a crossbow bolt sticking out of its head.
"Range Viper, find the man responsible for this, he can't have gone far." The eye patched brigand ordered.
"Yes sir."
Filby began to sneak away from the high rocks he had been hiding on. Suddenly his foot slipped on a rock, sending it clattering. The Heartless and the Range Vipers turned towards the sound and Filby knew that stealth couldn't be relied on any longer. He flipped the switch to full automatic and sent a storm of crossbow bolts downrange. He saw both Soldier Heartless fall dead, each perforated by a half dozen crossbow bolts. One of those Range Viper soldiers fell, wounded, for he still aimed his odd rifle. The Range Vipers opened fire with their rifles.
Filby ducked behind the rocks as bullets skipped and bounced. He began to run away from the fight, throwing a smoke screen to obscure his path…
Lowlight and Maitland, both armed with telescopic rifles, the former carrying an H&K PSG-1 and the latter carrying an M24 SWS. The difference between the two weapons was that the former fired faster, one round whenever the trigger was pulled because it was semi-automatic and had more ammunition (10 rounds per magazine) whilst the later had only five rounds in the magazine and had to be manually recocked every time a bullet was fired. Both men also had M-16s, with Maitland having an M203 grenade launcher bolted to his.
Lowlight was leading the patrol when he raised his fist. Both men slung their sniper rifles and unslung their assault rifles. Just then what sounded like gunfire echoed to their right.
"Call the rest of the team." Lowlight said.
Maitland complied, the Misfits had been put on standby since the discovery of the strange creatures, they would be ready to respond. Just then a bullet cracked past his head. Hal fired a grenade from the 203 over the rocks where the COBRA had been firing from. He heard a blast and a truncated shout as a Range Viper was felled.
More Range Vipers and those strange creatures began to converge on their position and Low Light said, "Run! We'll rendezvous with the others later."
Low Light began to run, while Hal fired off a magazine downrange against the COBRAs and Heartless and fired off another 40mm grenade at a large cluster of their pursuers. As soon as Low Light got to a safer area, he began to fire his own M-16 off. As soon as his magazine was depleted, Hal had taken a position a few meters behind Lowlight and opened fire. The two men leapfrogged until they were able to break contact.
TBC (Up next: The gang meets Filby, and a bit more character exploration of my OCs)