Insert Descent Into Hell Here

by Mei1105

Anti-Cliche and Mary-Sue Elimination Society fic. After two years of nothing but silence from the Powers That Be, Adrian, Harriet and Emily descend to a dangerous level of hell to find the Library Arcanium and get the plot finished once and for all. Part 1 of the Season 2 finale.

A/N: Anti-Cliché and Mary-Sue Elimination Society fic. Visit our C2 if you've never heard of us.

If anyone missed the completion of Insert Epic Space Opera Here, you'd better go read that first. Otherwise you might be confused as to where everybody's gone.

OOO

Insert Descent Into Hell Here

Two years was a really long time to be acting on orders, Harmony thought to herself.

Drumming a finger against the arm of the chair, she sipped at her chai latte, and squinted out of the window. Nothing. The same as it had been yesterday, and the same as it would undoubtedly be tomorrow.

It was surprising just how exhausting watching could be.

As a rule, the Library Arcanium appeared only when characters were in need of its services. Its usual radius was two streets and a right turn away from the centre of the plot, which was fortunate for Harmony, as this cafe was at least pleasant to sit in.

Now if only her company could be more stimulating.

She liked Order. She was one of the few Sovereigns that actually did like him. She understood his need for logic, regulation and organization. She respected it. And Order liked her – her ability to calm and restore balance to a situation was one talent that he actually appreciated. But his single mindedness, and the way that he had stared resolutely across the street every day, heading up to sit on the rooftops at night when the cafe closed, for the last two years, meant that he was not very exciting in terms of conversation.

Harmony's loyalty to Runoa was solid. She believed in her boss, and the orders that she gave. But even she had to admit that something about the last two years did not sit well with her. Though Runoa had never specified a timeframe when she had gone into the Library, Harmony could feel in her bones that something had gone wrong. Two years was just...too long.

Her senses rippled and her lips quirked as she detected the appearance of two strong presences. Seconds later, the cafe door opened, and Creation slipped in. Her smile was tired, and there was none of her usual spring in her step, and when she fell into Harmony's waiting hug, there was a drain to her that made Harmony squeeze a little tighter.

"I need a drink," the artist Sovereign greeted, sinking gratefully into her chair. "Where's Resolve?"

It was a silly question. Resolve never moved.

"Up on the roof, watching the other end of the street," Harmony nodded off in the direction of their missing colleague. "Large hot chocolate with cream?" she asked the barista, as the door opened, and Life strode in. She did not stop to greet them, instead demanding a large iced coffee and a double espresso shot, and flinging herself into a chair.

"That was pointless," the puppetmaster huffed, pointedly in Order's direction. The Sovereign gave no indication that he had even noticed her sitting down, remaining with his gaze fixed firmly out the window, even as Life leaned forward and waved a hand in his face.

"You'll get nothing out of him at this time of day," Harmony informed her gently, before frowning. "Any sign?"

Life rolled her eyes. "Not a hint. I checked every film fandom in existence – there was nothing."

Harmony's eyes darted towards Order, but the other Sovereign remained motionless. "And of the Library?"

"Nope," Life shrugged. "Either nobody needs to access it..." she trailed off, not needing to address the or on the end of that sentence.

"How about you?" Harmony turned to Creation, who shook her head.

"Same in the book fandoms too. Not a hint," she frowned and looked around the cafe. "Where are Elegance and Purity?"

"Shouldn't be much longer," Harmony assured her. "I did say two pm." She gave a fond smile as Life opened several of the packets of sugar, and began using her strings to sprinkle them down the back of Order's shirt. He remained completely oblivious.

As the barista delivered their drinks, the door opened again, and Purity staggered in, the smell of burning radiating off his clothes. In a gruff voice he ordered a small iced lemonade, and sat stiffly into the seat by the window. Creation inched pointedly away from him.

"Where the hell were you?" Life demanded, knocking back her espresso in a flash. "We all got here ten minutes ago."

The angelic Sovereign gave her a pointed look. "I was occupied."

"Doing what?" Harmony wrinkled her nose. Purity was an ice user – to smell him burning was wrong on a lot of levels. Creation on the other hand, seemed to guess what he had been doing.

"For goodness sake, Purity – I thought we were weaning you off?"

"I don't know what you mean," the Sovereign said, folding his arms and staring out of the window hopefully. "I got held up in the Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom. Nothing more."

"Yeah right!" Life snorted, sucking on the straw to her drink. "You were absorbing magic from the firebenders, weren't you?" She shook her head, her fingers weaving her strings into a cat's cradle. "Pathetic."

Purity seemed to inflate. "I have it under control!"

"Tash isn't here, so you go sucking up other fire user's magic?" Harmony sighed. "That's not under control. You have got to get a grip on this-"

"I do have a grip on this!" Purity snarled. "And it's really none of your business anyway, Harmony."

But the influx of power coming off him was definitely her business, in Harmony's opinion. Purity's cheeks had lost some of the sunken look that they'd been sporting for the last few months, and his pupils had dilated massively. He looked like someone had given him a huge shot of cocaine – which, she reflected, was pretty much what had happened. As his iced lemonade arrived, Purity sucked down half of it in an instant, to the raised eyebrows of the rest of the table.

"Fine," Harmony dismissed, although she had no intention of dropping this completely. "Anything in the TV show fandoms?"

"Not a thing," Purity ceased drinking for a moment to fill them in. "I searched them all. I'd have had better luck looking for a snow shovelling business in the Sahara."

Well that settled it, in Harmony's mind. Purity was high on fire magic – sarcasm was not his forte in normal circumstances.

"You were wasting your time," Order finally chipped into the conversation. "Lady Runoa said that she would give us a signal. That indicates that we would have done just as well to wait here for the Library to appear to us, instead of running around to other fandoms to look for entrances. She will let us know when she is ready for us."

Taking a deep breath, Harmony braced herself for the fallout. "They weren't looking for the Library," she informed Order. "I asked them all to look for traces of Divinity."

That got Order's attention. His silver eyes wrenched themselves off the door, and landed accusingly on the singer. "For what conceivable reason would you ignore Lady Runoa's direct orders-"

"Because this isn't right!" Harmony burst out, her fist coming down hard on the table in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. "I don't care about Runoa's orders – it's been two years, Order! Two years, and not a peep out of the Library in any fandom whatsoever? It's not normal! And Divinity vanishing at the same time as the Library? Tell me there's nothing suspicious about that?"

"Whether that is true or not is completely irrelevant," Order snapped, seemingly annoyed both by this blatant disregard to instructions, and by the fact that Harmony had interrupted him. "We had orders, Harmony. Those orders were to wait until Lady Runoa gave us a signal to enter the Library. What she is doing in there is not our concern. Whether it is two years, twelve years, or two hundred years – we wait. That was what we were commanded to do." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Insubordination will not be tolerated. I suggest you think hard about where your loyalties lie."

"Don't you dare!" Harmony hissed, jabbing a finger right between Order's eyes. "My loyalty is to her! But my common sense right now is not! Are you really so incapable of seeing what the rest of us can?" she neglected to mention that Resolve was also unconvinced, and Life had only gone along with this because she was bored. "There hasn't been a peep from the Library in two years! Not in any fandom across the multiverse! That's not normal! There are a flood of Sues in the Harry Potter fandom running around unchecked, and it's not the only one. Marvel. Game of Thrones. Yu-Gi-Oh!. Twilight is a mess. The Library isn't just hidden – it's vanished!"

"That is ridiculous," Order countered, curtly. "The Library exists between all of time and space – it cannot vanish."

"Well something went wrong, because clearly it has," Creation pointed out. "And it's not the only thing. We haven't seen Divinity since Star Wars. It can't be a coincidence that the last time we saw her was the last time we saw the Society...the last time we saw any evidence of the Library. Divinity should have joined us at the end of that fight. But she didn't. We all felt that power."

Harmony shuddered. She had felt it. She had felt the balance of the world warping and twisting to accommodate her. The Sovereign who had once been Phoenixia filled her with dread.

"If she has gone rogue, she will be destroyed in due time," Order said. "Until then, we shall do as we have been instructed – wait for Lady Runoa's signal."

"We can't sit around and wait for something that we don't even know is going to happen anymore!" Harmony argued.

"Enough!" for the first time that afternoon, Order appeared to lose his temper, towering over the rest of them, his eyes dark pools of fury. "We have our orders, and we will obey them! To disobey Lady Runoa's exact instructions is to go against her! We are her Sovereigns, and we only have one goal – aiding her however she has requested. To suggest otherwise is treason!"

He looked so formidable, with aura blazing around him that even Purity stopped eating ice cubes for a moment to eye up this new threat warily. Resentful, but knowing better than to press her luck, Harmony slowly sat back down in her seat, wondering what had happened to the Sovereign that she had liked so well.

"Yes Order."

"Good," carefully, with as much control as he could muster, Order sat back down in his seat and resumed his locked gaze on the street through the window. "I will hear no more of these foolish expeditions to other fandoms. And if I do hear of them again, I will make sure that they are the last thing that you ever do."

Sensing an opportunity, Harmony glanced up at him. "Elegance has not come back yet – do we have your permission to go and search for her?"

Order ceased staring to give her an exasperated look. "There is nothing out there that Elegance cannot handle herself."

OOO

White...swirling around her...touching at her face and her arms...caressing her body like silk...

That was the only warning that Elegance had, before the air around her body seemed to solidify, catching her in a choking gasp.

"Hmm...oh dear..." came the falsely surprised tone from nearby. "I suppose you cannot twist or dance your way out of this, pretty ninja. How do you fight against the air? It's everywhere..."

The white seemed to slither away, wrapping itself lovingly around the nude figure which strode into her line of sight.

"There is a simple answer, I suppose," she contemplated casually, before her smile took on a sharpness at the corners. "You can't."

The air seemed to squeeze, and Elegance screamed in horror as the flesh on her fingers seemed to melt away, atoms peeling themselves free before scattering into the wind. Skin...muscles...blood...and then bone, dissolving into nothingness, as Divinity's giggle spread throughout the fandom.

OOO

The fandom was dark, gritty, and civilisation was verging on the edge of collapse. A hazy fog rolled around the dystopian city, and the lights in the windows were dull and faded like the colours outside. Shops boarded up their windows and doors, and people raced for their homes, not looking up once as helicopters swept ominously over the streets like giant birds waiting to dump on the heads of the unsuspecting population.

One person in particular was hurrying, not out of a desire to escape the choppers up above, but out of knowledge that there could be something far more dangerous out there waiting. The hooded jumper slipped slightly, revealing a few strands of silver hair, before it was hastily yanked back up, and the same hand reached out to knock five times in a distinctive pattern on the door.

Flickering lights greeted the figure as the wood was opened a crack. Gripping tightly on the bag, Adrian sucked in a breath, and slipped in through the gap. Almost as soon as he was in, the door snapped shut behind him, and locks were hastily put back into place. In spite of the warm, delicious smells coming from the bag he was carrying, Harriet was still aiming a scowl in his direction.

"My daughter is picking up bad habits from you. She's doing your thing again."

"What thing?" Adrian was in no mood for cryptic comments – he'd been shot at twice on the way home.

"You know. Substituting food for sleep."

"Sleep is overrated," Adrian said, shrugging out of his hoodie. He missed his trenchcoats – hoods really did not do anything for him – but he could not afford to be picky.

"Not for her," Harriet barely held back her irritation. "You will set a good example for her tonight by getting some rest. Got it?"

Ears drooping, the Librarian sagged. "Yes, mother." He wasn't sure what he had expected from two years stuck with only Harriet and Emily for company – for them all to become closer, yes. For them all to work together well as a team – most likely. For the journey to be difficult but ultimately fulfilling – of course.

What he had not expected was for Harriet to start behaving like his mother. He was used to bossy British women – he was dating Tash after all – but unlike his girlfriend, Harriet actually expected him to do all of this stuff, and with all due speed. Emily was not much better, snapping at everybody who was not her adopted mother, and all but superglueing herself to the technology that they carried with them.

Sure enough, on entering the tiny one bedroom apartment that they had been sharing for the past month, Adrian found Emily hunched over three laptops at the rickety looking desk in the corner. Wires and cables led from the computers into a portable generator and a black server box on the floor, and one of the oddest devices that Adrian had ever seen in his long lifetime. It seemed to be a mishmash of cutting edge science, and steampunk brass. At the top was a single ball, comprised of golden wires, which seemed to pulse with some unseen power. As Adrian watched, drops of liquid gold seemed to ooze through plastic tubing, and collect in a copper container beneath, where dials and an iPad measured all sorts of calculations, most of which went over the Librarian's head. The machine hummed and huffed as it worked.

"How's the phlebotinum collecting going?" the Librarian asked, dumping the bag on the table, the smell already permeating the entire room.

"Adrian, I swear, if you call it phlebotinum once more, I am going to stab you with my pen," Emily snapped through gritted teeth. Everything about her suggested that she had been working hard for a very long time – her boots were unpolished and unlaced, her blouse had several stains on the cuffs, and she had failed to notice that she had buttoned up her waistcoat lopsided. There was also a blob of melted plastic affixed to one side of her lab goggles, but she did not seem to have noticed.

"I just brought you fish and chips!" the Librarian retorted.

"What do you want? A medal?" was the curt response, and the Librarian felt his irritation flare – partially because Emily was being rude, but mostly because Harriet had been right, which made him wrong. But short temper aside, Emily did close the programme on the nearest laptop, and get up wearily to join them at the table.

"If you're that desperate not to have decent food," Adrian pointed out, over his cod (which for a near apocalyptic society, was not half bad). "We could always go back and tap The Walking Dead fandom again."

Both Emily and Harriet gave him a look which spoke volumes.

"Yeah, because I just love getting the side of my face almost bitten off by an overly friendly zombie," Harriet drawled. "No thanks. Let's stick to fandoms with low death rates, please?"

"Most of the popular ones are ones where people die," Adrian acknowledged, knowing that the more popular the fandoms were, the better it was for them. He turned to Emily. "How are we doing for phlebo-" he eyed Emily's plastic fork warily before correcting himself. "Creative Adrenaline?"

Emily snorted. "This fandom is all but dry. We need to tap somewhere big."

Adrian nodded, turning his head to eye up the tiny droplets of golden liquid trickling through the tubes. "We'll see what the scans turn up after dinner and maybe start to think about moving on."

"Can we go back to Glee, please?" Emily begged hopefully. "That filled up three quarters of a syringe in just a week!"

"Too dangerous," Adrian countered, his eyes going dark at the thought.

"It wasn't that bad."

"Divinity almost ripped my head off!"

"I thought she was giving you a neck massage..."

Harriet interrupted the discussion by snapping her fingers. "How about we try hitting Le Mis? That's still pretty popular."

"We could," Adrian acknowledged. "We'd have to steal some clothes though – we lost our last lot of period dress in Downton Abbey. Oooh Assassin's Creed might be good..."

"No we didn't," Emily corrected sleepily, causing Adrian to blink at this seemingly random statement.

"Assassin's Creed might be good...we didn't?" he queried. Emily rolled her eyes.

"We didn't actually lose our period dress in Downton Abbey. If you remember, we legged it to Fifty Shades in order to hide out, and that was when the fire actually took hold and scorched them beyond repair. So technically-"

"Oh eat your battered sausage and hush," Adrian's ears twitched, as he remembered their disastrous escape attempt.

"Could have been worse," Emily conceded, before her face fell. "Oh wait...running naked through Fifty Shades of Grey – no it couldn't."

"Next time we'll hide out in Eastenders again, if it bothers you that much," Adrian huffed.

"I'm not going back in there unless someone gives me a McVities chocolate digestive," Harriet declared, over a mouthful of chips. "A lot of McVities chocolate digestives. A plane full of McVities chocolate digestives actually..."

Adrian barely restrained himself from facedesking into his chips. But the exasperation had to go somewhere, so he rolled his eyes to the ceiling instead. Unfortunately, Harriet was sharp eyed, and did not miss it.

"You could show a little more gratitude, y'know," she said, tersely. "If it weren't for Emily and I, you'd still be trapped unconscious in the hospital wing of the Library. Now, what was the first thing that we did when we got you out of there, Emily?"

"Erm..." Emily stroked her chin. "We plotholed into the Shadowchasers fandom, called Jalal and got Adrian to a hospital so that he could continue healing."

"Yes, and who was it who conceived of using Creative Adrenaline as a means of negating the spell on the Library?" Harriet asked.

"That would be you, Harriet," Emily concluded, catching onto what Harriet was getting at. "And who was it who designed the system for farming and refining Creative Adrenaline, completely on her own, with limited resources?"

"You, my dear daughter," Harriet finished, before rounding on Adrian again. "And yes, Mr Librarian, you are very badass and powerful, and have managed to get us away from Divinity safely on more than one occasion. And it is your money and resources that we are using in our endeavours. And it might have been you who correctly identified the spell on the Library, and concluded that it wasn't just a sleeping spell, and that it would prevent any creative input or output from there until lifted. And we are very grateful for all those things. But it would be nice if you took a moment to remember that you would not be in any sort of position to fight or get the Library back if it weren't for us."

Feeling very small, Adrian's ears pressed flat against his head, and he poked his last few soggy chips sheepishly. "...you're right. I'm sorry." He rolled the mushed up potato across the paper. "I just...don't feel right not being in the Library. I'm the Librarian – it's where I belong. I really miss it."

His concession soothed Harriet's ruffled feathers somewhat. But Emily was too tired to really care.

"We all miss it Adrian," she snapped. "It might have escaped your notice, but the Library wasn't just your home. It was all our home."

She got abruptly to her feet with her can of coke, and went back to her desk. "I should have almost finished the seventh syringe once this batch finishes refining," she announced shortly, before tapping at the keys again, and becoming completely absorbed in the world of measures and numbers.

"Let's save the new fandom for tomorrow morning," Harriet suggested quietly, as she and Adrian screwed up the greasy paper and placed it inside the slightly damp plastic carrier bag, ready for the bin. "When everyone's had a good sleep."

Adrian nodded, feeling every bit five years old again – well lectured and a little bit ashamed. Emily had already started running the search for suitable fandoms, but it could wait until the morning. They needed fandoms with a regular and large supply of creative input, the fresher the better. Adrian was not powerful enough to break the spell over the Library, and they could not rely on the Society authors to help them, the spell blocking all of their creative input from reaching the Library in the first place. So they had to find other means to wake their friends and their home up from the spell on their own.

That was where Emily's incredible machine came in, sucking up the residual creative energy from other stories and refining it into a shot of pure power, that would start the creative juices flowing again. The energy that authors, showrunners, scriptwriters and other storytellers generated was phenomenal, and would be just the kick that they needed to break the spell that had rendered the Library creatively dead, and put all the characters inside it into their prolonged sleep. They just had to be careful not to choose fandoms where they would stand out. Divinity had a habit of tracking them down when they least expected it, and they'd already had four close encounters since their last meeting in Star Wars, and all four times had ended with them barely escaping with their lives and equipment in one piece.

While Emily's machine was still in one piece though, it was becoming apparent that its creator was not, as she tapped at one of the iPads while the computer on the far left ran the fandom search. Sighing heavily, and banishing her previous snappishness from his mind, Adrian approached the younger girl.

"Emily, you really need to sleep."

"Why?"

"Because you're playing Angry Birds upside down."

"...oh," sheepishly, Emily flipped her iPad up the right way, causing one of the birds to careen off screen. "But the scan-"

"I will sleep with them," the Librarian promised. "If they even peep, I will hear them." Actually, now that Harriet had insisted, Adrian had to admit that he was secretly looking forward to a little nap. The advantage of being a cat was that he didn't need a bed – laptop keyboards were lovely and warm and an excellent place to put one's head down for a while. It also meant that if there were any disturbances, he would be awake in less than a second to deal with them. He loved being a kitty – and he had lied to Harriet. The thing he missed most about the Library was not the building itself, but the ear rubs from his girlfriend.

Emily looked sulky, but shut the iPad off regardless. "Fine. Whatever. But only because I'm too tired to argue."

She weaved off to the bedroom in search of shower gel, leaving Adrian alone in the main room. Carefully he padded back across the floor to inspect the window above the sink, and the front door locks to their flat (although they would be hopeless if Divinity decided to come calling), and once satisfied, he flicked off the lights. He could hear Harriet moving around in the bedroom, which she shared with Emily, and he knew that she would secure the lone window in that room before she turned in.

Checking that all of the searches were operating smoothly, Adrian allowed himself to morph back into a cat, and made himself comfortable on the top of the keyboard, taking care not to press anything vital as he settled down, hoping that maybe for once, they could all have a little respite from the drama.

OOO

Creation lifted the two blades - the names Rhythm and Silence etched into the handle - and let out a whimper, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes in two tiny balls. Harmony felt a little more of her spirit break, at the same time her senses sharpened for any hint of danger. Another loss...another tip in the balance of power, and another thread of their precious little group unwoven by death.

"We can't stay here," she whispered, tugging on her friend's arm. "We have to go. Please Creation-"

But the girl was on her knees, sobbing miserably into her smock, cradling the two blades like children. Kneeling on the damp ground, Harmony squeezed her shoulders, pressing her own head into the crook of Creation's neck, to soak up any tears that might show up. But no tears gathered or fell. She could not afford to cry - not while they were so vulnerable and exposed in this fandom.

She just felt the unbalance roiling away in her stomach. It was worse - worse than the jolts to her heart that Death, Wisdom and Passion had left. Worse than the explosion of sickness that had assailed her when Runoa had been busy immaculating Phoenixia. They were getting worse all the time. What would happen the next time – No! She could not think like that. There would not be a next time. There could not be a next time.

A piece of glass cracked under a shoe nearby, and Harmony's heart began to race.

"We have to go!" she hissed urgently into her friend's ear, hauling her upright like a bag of wet sand. She could feel the blood pounding through her body – it could be a canon character that had made that noise, or even something as innocuous as an animal. But she could not take that chance. It was too dangerous. Yanking on Creation's arm with a bruising grip, she dragged the stumbling girl back away from the scene.

"No, no, no..." Creation was wailing into the twin blades, but Harmony knew that they could not wait any longer. Ripping a plothole into existence, she shoved her friend through it, before following herself.

They would not go back to Order or the other Sovereigns. Not yet. She did not care how pissed Order was, or even how angry Runoa might be that they had abandoned their one job to watch the Library. Something was wrong - she could feel it deep in her gut along with the churning that signified the loss of a friend. Something was wrong with the Library, and it had to do with Divinity...Divinity who had murdered Elegance. It had to be her. Nobody else could obliterate a Sovereign with no trace.

No more watching. It was time to fix the balance of power. And if Divinity was out there, she only knew of a few people who would be able to help. It was a slim chance, but it was all she had.

Checking swiftly to see where they had landed, she was pleased that she sensed no hint of malice that usually accompanied the rogue Sovereign. They were safe here – for now. They seemed to have dropped into some kind of fairytale fandom, for the forest around them twinkled in a way that had nothing to do with natural dew, and the spring nearby seemed to glitter with otherworldliness. The peacefulness was only ruined by Creation's hiccupping sobs.

"She's dead...she's dead..." the artist repeated faintly, her breath catching in her throat in a way that made her sound pitiful. She had lost the will to stand again, curling up on the ground with her forehead brushing the drops of dew that clung to the tips of the grass.

"I know," sinking to the ground next to her, and feeling the dampness of morning through her dress, Harmony felt her hands shake, as the grief finally began to sink in. But she could not give into it now. There would be time to cry later.

Instead she cast her senses out for a different presence, far across the multiverse. She was looking for power...but a different sort than Runoa or the other Sovereigns...and instantly her senses rang like a bell. Not quite what she had in mind, but even better in so many ways. Her broken heart seemed to beat back into life.

"Come on," she repeated, pulling the stricken girl upright. "We can't go back to the others yet. We need to stop Divinity."

Eyes watery, Creation blinked at her slowly, tears clinging to the ends of her eyelashes, just like the dew on the grass. "But...Order-"

"I don't give a Flying Spaghetti Monster what Order thinks," Harmony said, more bluntly than she ever had in her life. "For once, he and I are in disagreement. I am not going to let Divinity stride around and do things like this to our friends." She gripped Elegances swords pointedly, not caring about the shallow cut that Silence cut into her palm as she did. "We're going to find someone who can help - and I know just where to start looking."

OOO

"What is this?" Adrian asked, temporarily abandoning his job of packing rations into the rucksack, to stare at the thermos. They didn't need rations or rucksacks really - with Adrian's credit cards, they could afford to stay in five star hotels while this mission took place. But luxury attracted attention, and with several close encounters with Divinity still fresh in their minds, they knew that that was not a risk they could take.

"Chicken and barley soup," Harriet announced, sniffing it and smiling. "It's pretty good actually considering that this is a post apocalyptic dystopia."

Arching an eyebrow, Adrian took a sniff - it didn't smell poisonous, which was a plus. "Not a very...traditional breakfast, is it?"

"If you wanted traditional you could have got up earlier and prepared us a fry up," Harriet stated, shouldering her own rucksack. "And besides, you know I don't eat cereal in the morning. Milk slows down my metabolism."

Taking her point, Adrian took a sip, and concluded that actually, it was very good. It was warm and strangely hearty, which he suspected was why Harriet had chosen it, given the amount of fandom hopping that they were going to probably end up doing today. Emily's search had located a handful of fandoms which were ripe for harvesting from, and they would probably be on the go for a while.

Emily for her part, was looking far better rested than she had in weeks, and had already demolished an apple and the contents of her own thermos, before flying around the room, putting all the computers into standby so that they could be safely moved, and quickly booted up again, and carefully extracting another vial of pure golden fluid from the machine. She had added it to a small box in her bag, along with six other vials.

As Harriet disappeared into the bathroom, to rinse her hands off, there was a knock at the door, causing Adrian's fur to stand on end, and Emily to shriek as she dropped one of the laptops on her foot.

"Who was that?" Harriet asked, peering around the corner, assuming that somebody had walked into something. Hastily, Adrian waved her silent.

"Divinity?" Emily whispered fearfully.

"Can't be," Adrian shook his head. "She wouldn't knock."

He put his soup down on the table, and swiftly crossed the room, towards the strong and powerful presence that he could sense just loitering in the corridor. There was a tiny, filthy peephole in the door, which was one of the things that had attracted them to this flat in the first place - that and it was on the ground floor for better escape. Carefully, he peeked through it, sure in spite of his own words that he would be greeted by the floating wisps of clinging fabric and the menacing white eyes.

He was shocked and relieved, when he found neither. Instead he unlatched the door, and yanked it open.

"Bloody hell guys!" he greeted, yanking the visitors in by their arms. "You scared us half to death!"

Smoothing down his shirt where the Librarian had grabbed it, Aramayis gave him a look. "You? The Seventh Librarian? Scared of a few Counter Guardians?"

Feeling a touch embarrassed, Adrian scowled. "Yeah well, you try being homeless for two years and see if it doesn't make you the tiniest bit unsettled!" He huffed, as Harriet and Emily nervously reappeared from the bedroom, where they had taken cover. "What do you want? We were just about to move out."

"Chicken and barley soup?" Harriet offered, ever the pleasant hostess. "I'm afraid we haven't got mugs since we packed everything away, but we've got thermoses."

"No thanks," Kuroneko shook her head. "Still alive then?" she asked, showing a hint of fang in her smile.

"Just about," Emily admitted, gingerly picking up the laptop from where it had fallen. "Glad it's you and not Saito this time - did he get bored of mocking the lesser mortals?"

"Nope," Kuroneko smiled at the ribbing of their fellow Counter Guardian. "He and Kitsune are still liaising with the Powers That Be."

Harriet blinked slowly. "Saito is a cynic with an attitude problem, and Kitsune doesn't talk…what a marvellous liaison team that will be…"

"What's the news with them?" Adrian asked, folding his arms and sitting on the table. Aramayis shrugged.

"There's not much they can do. They're still blocked from doing anything to the Library, and it's showing no signs of easing up. It's like the spell sucked away all of their motivation to write."

Adrian's ears drooped. He had been expecting this, but that did not make it any less depressing.

"There is more news, I'm afraid," Kuroneko said. "We'll leave you to decide whether it's good or bad. With the lack of creative input to the Library, it's been...moved."

"Moved where?" Harriet frowned. "You can't move the Library - it's everywhere."

"It was everywhere, until Divinity's spell hit it," Kuroneko sighed. "You need to understand. That spell was designed for fandoms - not for places like the Library, which exist in between fandoms. So in it's state of existence and non existence it's been moved out of the way."

Adrian's ears were twitching in confusion as they tried to puzzle out the latest twist to their little adventure...and then his face drained of colour as he realised what she was getting at. "Oh no..."

"Mhmm..." Kuroneko nodded. "I'm sorry Adrian, but you're almost out of time...and out of a home."

"But The Powers That Be-"

"Can't do anything," Aramayis shook his head. "You know how that place works. Once you're in...it takes a miracle to get out."

"A miracle...or a massive shot of Creative Adrenalin," Adrian said pointedly.

"Adrian, what are they on about?" Emily asked, shoving the last of the technology into her hammerspace enhanced rucksack with an impatient clatter. "Where's the Library?"

As white as his fur, Adrian finally turned to answer. "Where do all stories go when their authors run into problems?"

Emily gasped. "The Vault of Abandoned Ideas?"

"No," Adrian shook his head, seeing the terrified looks on Harriet and Emily's face. "Worse than the Vault. The Vault is for Ideas - characters and little plot notions that get abandoned or cast aside. This is far worse...this is where stories go when their authors hit a creative block that halts them for years...sometimes forever."

"Development Hell," Kuroneko interrupted Adrian's overly dramatic monologue in an effort to speed the process along. "The Library is in Development Hell."

There was a full, complete second, where nobody moved – where Harriet and Emily took a second to absorb the full meaning of this statement, and where Adrian took a moment to full comprehend that he may truly never see the only home he had known for centuries ever again – before the entire top half of the building was ripped clean off from over their heads with an almighty tearing sound of brick and cheap insulation. Dust and plaster rained down into the living space, and everyone dropped to the floor, anticipating the blow or blast that was sure to have followed such a monumental act of destruction. But there was only spine chilling laughter that made adrenalin flow, and hair stand on end.

"There you are..." Divinity singsonged.

Life moved so quickly around Adrian that even he barely had time to comprehend it. As the last teasing note echoed from Divinity's mouth, the wards that he had put in place around the building finally kicked into life, snapping around Divinity with a mesh of orange magic, which clung to her like a neon net. It was a sealing spell, which would supposedly hold anything, but Adrian knew from experience that it would not last long with Divinity. Emily made a tackle for her rucksack, which was abandoned in the dusty ruins of the table, while Kuroneko's fans flashed into view. Aramayis was ready for battle too, his stance steady and firm, and his eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

Divinity cackled, and snapped her fingers, the magical mesh disintegrating as though it were made of breadcrumbs. Scythes of wind leaped from Kuroneko's fans, slicing through the air and impacting with the hovering figure, while Aramayis began vaulting up the nearest standing piece of rubble.

"Go!" Kuroneko barked, raining blows upon Divinity one after the other like waves.

"Are you sure?" Adrian asked, even as Harriet scrambled to help Emily shift their precious gear. He wanted to stay and fight - he should stay and fight - he might not have been a Counter Guardian any longer, but he was still the Librarian.

"Just go! The Library needs you!" Kuroneko insisted, pausing with her eyes narrowed at the spot where her attack had been landing. The dust cleared, revealing no sign of the deadly Sovereign. "Where are you...?"

She whirled just in time to slash her razor sharp fans up Divinity's arms, as the Sovereign materialised behind her like a ghost. Laughing at the metal jammed against her bones, Divinity swung her arms inside Kuroneko's and kicked her hard in the face. The blades withdrew with a screech of blood stained steel, and Kuroneko leaped clear, blood pouring from her nose, as Aramayis leaped down from above to deliver a punishing blow to Divinity's head. The white-haired Sovereign laughed it away again, her wounds sealing like magic as she darted and side stepped around Aramayis's lightning fast punches.

Snapping his fingers, a plothole ripped into existence behind Adrian, and he turned to hurry Harriet and Emily through, just as Aramayis went flying into the crater of rubble that had once been the front door. With a snap of the Sovereign's fingers, Harriet's rucksack leaped from her hands, and hovered before Divinity.

"Now what do we have here?" the Sovereign mused, before the rucksack began to rip and shred into tears before their very eyes. "Is it important? Could it be the thing you have been fluttering around the multiverse for for the last two years? Did you think I wasn't watching?"

"My Hampshire Cricket calendar is in there!" Harriet shrieked, as the last of the bag and it's contents evaporated into thin air. Kuroneko was back, more wind scythes slashing their way across Divinity's body, but she barely seemed to feel it, snapping her fingers and disintegrating the plothole.

Furious now, Adrian began to utter the first spell that came to his mind. Emily's supersoaker was in her hands, but before she could pull the trigger, Divinity was there, yanking it out of her hands, and crushing it into dust with a single flex of her fingers. She batted Emily to the side casually, but it still sent her flying with painful force into the wall. Harriet's efforts to help were thwarted, as Divinity seized her by the throat and with a single thrust, tossed her up high into the air.

"Humans," she smiled musingly. "They break so easily."

As she squinted up into the sunlight, she realised that something was wrong with the incoming picture, and her eyes widened, as Harriet plummeted back to the ground, her beloved piece of sporting equipment in her hands. The wood splintered with a heart rending crack over Divinity's head, as Harriet thrust it down with all her might as she fell. The Sovereign staggered as her target crashed into the ground in a Harriet-shaped crater. The leader was groaning, but for once, some damage had been done, and Divinity blinked hard a few times, her hand coming up to prod the bump on her forehead, which was already shrinking back into smooth skin thanks to her healing.

"You...you...hit me!" she exclaimed, and for a moment, nobody moved. Then she threw back her head and laughed. "You actually hit me! I applaud you, dear leader. Not many people can manage that!"

Harriet's only response was another incapacitated groan - whether from injury or mourning the loss of her beloved cricket bat, nobody knew. She did however, gasp in pain as something gripped the ends of her fingers and started to scrape, almost like a knife. Bits of her skin began to float off, vanishing into space.

"On reflection," Divinity mused. "There's a reason not many of the people who can manage that are around any longer. Contemplate that for the last two seconds of your life!"

Emily screamed. Divinity laughed. But before Harriet could float off into atoms, ten runes glowed to life around Divinity, and a shield of white magic surrounded her. She chuckled morosely.

"Oh yes...you're still here, aren't you Librarian?" she asked musingly. Adrian glared and snapped his fingers. Energy flooded the dome like a blinding snowstorm, obscuring the Sovereign from view.

"Will that kill her?" Emily gasped. She was crawling on the ground towards him, and sounded as though she had broken a few ribs.

"Not a chance," Adrian said grimly. "Just get through a plothole before-"

The dome shattered, sending energy flooding out across the ruins that had once been a row of terraced houses. Laughing madly, Divinity burst free, the tendrils of cloth that swirled around her now reaching out and ensnaring the Librarian in their clutches. Twisting out of their reach, Adrian barked out another spell, and purple flames burst along the cloth. They did not even smoulder at the edges, and the Librarian bit back a few creative curses, as Divinity materialised behind him in a second, and landed a punishing blow into his kidneys. Adrian twisted, sending his own punch into her face. He did not feel the flicker of conscience that he used to feel at the prospect of hitting something that looked so like Phoenixia – it had been two years, and he had accepted that she was not her any longer.

For a long time, Adrian did not register the hits he was taking, only focusing on those that he was landing, and how quickly they seemed to fade from Divinity's body. Finally blood spurted from his mouth as one of her blows landed in his throat, and his body seemed to crumple in the face of the damage that had been done. Breathing hurt. His kidneys were in agony, and he could feel pain in his hip from his injury two years ago. His right leg was not capable of supporting his weight, and he suspected that it was broken. She must have hit him on the head as some point, because his vision was swimming as he sank to the floor.

"Well...it's been a fun two years, playing with you all," Divinity smiled. "But I'm afraid this is where we say goodbye."

She'd been toying with him, Adrian realised, in that far off manner that one usually had when they were about to die. She could have killed him the instant he got her attention. But she had been enjoying seeing him struggle. She had been quick to drop the Counter Guardians and his friends, and had drawn out the fight with him because she loved it...but now she was just bored, and the end had come for him again.

"I'm sorry guys," he thought to himself, wretched that he would have to do this to everyone again, and he braced himself for the end.

Something round and heavy crashed from the heavens, and dropped barely an inch from Adrian, straight on top of Divinity, crushing her into the ground. That something, was a very large, very round grey boulder.

Adrian blinked. Now he had definitely seen everything.

"Don't just lay there staring!" Creation snapped, hauling him up by the back of his shirt, and groaning when he fell back down again. "That boulder won't hold her forever!"

Vision still swimming, Adrian squinted, and saw Harriet being forcibly thrown through a plothole by a blonde, blue-clad figure. As she turned to scoop a slack-jawed Emily up off the floor, Adrian realised that it was Harmony. The boulder began to crack, and Adrian found himself falling to the floor again.

"Oh bugger!" Creation was sweating as she flipped open her sketchbook and began to draw. "Oh bugger bugger bugger bugger!"

As the boulder cracked like an egg, Adrian had just enough time to get a glimpse of the furious look on Divinity's face, before a bridge materialised out of nowhere and crashed on top of her.

"Get moving!" Creation snapped, her hand still flying across the sketchpad. "I can't keep this up forever!"

She was yelling at the Counter Guardians, who were making their way painfully, but with all due speed towards the plothole. Adrian held out his hand, and Aramayis obligingly grabbed it and hauled him along with him as the bridge shattered, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. Shards of metal cut into Adrian's face and arm, and he closed his eyes against Divinity's earth-shaking rage, and the pieces of brick, glass and wood that now hovered from the floor and sharpened themselves into points. There was a wail like an incoming aircraft, another tug, and then he was falling...

...silence enveloped him like a welcoming blanket, and he slipped into unconsciousness with a profound sense of relief.

OOO

"Oh don't you do this to me," Harriet felt rattled, like every bone she possessed had gone into a blender, along with a good amount of her own flesh. Her brain was sluggish, like it too had joined the blender in forming the Harriet-smoothie that was her body. But she did not care. She did not care that Harmony and Creation were here, sitting awkwardly in the uncomfortable hospital chairs next to them. She did not even care what fandom that they had landed in. Harriet had been vaguely aware that they had landed in some kind of desert fandom briefly before someone had dragged them through another plothole and into a proper hospital. She did not care that she really was not supposed to be getting up and moving around right now, as the doctor's had confirmed that she was concussed and had fractured something in her shoulder that was requiring her to wear a stupid looking brace. Right now, all she cared about was making sure that all her hard work getting Adrian out of the Library two years ago, and getting his hip back to normal had not been for nothing.

"Don't you dare do this to me after all that physio I made you endure! Don't you do this to Tashy! She is going to kick your fluffy white ass if you die on us now! Do you hear me Adrian?!"

In spite of her furious words, the Librarian did not stir beneath the thin hospital sheet. In the bed next to him, Emily was hugging her rucksack, which had somehow survived the attack, like a giant teddy bear, heedless of her own fractured ribs.

"How does he live through this stuff?" Emily sounded like she was still in pain, and Harriet rolled her eyes.

"Use your clicker, Emily," she insisted. Emily groaned, but clicked her little button, sending another shot of morphine into her system. Technically as she was still a minor, Harriet was supposed to be doing the clicking, but Emily was having none of that.

"Magic mostly," Aramayis stated. He had fractures in his arm, but he had set them himself and already they were knitting themselves back together – he had not even bothered to inform the doctor of his own injuries. "He'll be awake soon – and back on his feet in a day or two."

"We might not have a day or two," Creation muttered fearfully. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she had gone back to darting her eyes everywhere there was a shadow, as though expecting the white haired psychopath to appear and pay her back for dropping things on her.

Kuroneko, who was still wheezing from some unseen injury, but walking unaided, scowled at the Sovereign's suspiciously. "Why did you help us?"

"Who cares?" Harriet demanded. "They helped us, and I'm not going to spit in their faces when there's a chance Adrian might die!"

Neither Aramayis nor Kuroneko dared say anything to that, and Harmony shot Harriet a grateful look.

"Divinity killed Elegance," Creation said shortly, her eyes welling up with tears as she spoke. "And she's done something to the Library – something that's made it stop appearing for two years. We need to stop her, and get the Library back – and we think that you guys know how."

Harriet's eyebrows arched into her hair. "You're offering a truce between the Society and the Sovereigns?"

"No," Harmony corrected. "We're offering a temporary ceasefire between Harmony and Creation, and Harriet, Emily and Adrian. Order and the others don't know that we're here. They're happy to just sit and wait for things to start moving again. But we're not."

Concussion aside, Harriet did not miss the finer points of Harmony's words. Still, she nodded. "Works for me."

"And while we're on the subject of assistance," Emily put in. "Why are you two here?" she nodded to Aramayis and Kuroneko. "You don't normally stick around to get involved in our drama unless the world is ending." The cat-eared Counter Guardian huffed.

"The Powers That Be have no jurisdiction over the Library while it's in Development Hell, nor any ability to influence it. They have asked Aramayis and myself to shadow you three until such a time as the situation can be resolved."

"The Library is in Development Hell?!" Creation shrieked.

"Keep your voice down!" Harriet snapped. Though there was nobody around who would understand, the ward was not exactly private.

"What does this mean?" Creation hissed, in a slightly more subtle tone of voice.

"It means...that we need a new place to put books," Emily answered.

"This is serious, Emily," Aramayis declared. "The longer a story is in Development Hell, the less likely it is that it will get out. We don't know how long it's been in there for already – we were just told that it was." He eyed her bag. "You don't have time to go gathering any more of your phlebotinum."

"S'not phlebotinum," Emily grumped, and she gripped her rucksack tighter.

"Have you actually looked in there yet?" Harriet asked suspiciously. Her charge gave a sheepish duck of her head.

"No...I'm too scared. Stop staring!" she added, squeezing it close to her, reminding Harriet all too well of a plushie. "I don't want to look! What if I broke everything when I got flung into the wall?"

"Well it's not going to get fixed just holding onto it," Kuroneko pointed out, sitting on the end of the bed and patting the sheets by Emily's feet. "Open it. Let's check the damage before we start writing things off."

Frowning, and still obviously reluctant, Emily unclipped the top of her bag and peered inside before reaching in for the nearest object. It turned out to be her iPad, which was mostly unharmed.

"Good start," Harriet said encouragingly, as Emily passed the device over to Kuroneko so that the cat-woman could play Angry Birds. The next item was the first laptop. It too, was in one piece. Emily stacked it by her feet and added her toiletries, and several pairs of clean socks to the pile.

She groaned as she pulled out the second laptop. Something (probably the wall) had smashed hard into the back of it, and the screen was hanging off feebly by one hinge.

"Ouch..." Harmony winced, while Creation obligingly held up the bin.

"I can repair this stuff for you, if you want," she suggested. "I mean, not today – making that bridge and then the 747 took a lot of out of me – but maybe tomorrow-"

"No point," Emily said, sighing as she pulled out her device for extracting the creative adrenalin from the fandoms. Parts of it were salvageable, but the main tank had been crushed like a bad car accident at one end, and the gathering point was ruined. She dropped the broken parts into the bin, before adding the rest to her pile of stuff. "Not if we don't have time to gather any more-"

She let out a shriek of rage as her questing hands found her iPhone. "How the hell did that happen?" she demanded, holding up the device, which was bent like someone had wrapped it around a pole. The screen was cracked beyond the help of any sort of warranty, but the body of it had mostly remained intact.

"Still works..." Creation said, taking it from the bin, where Emily had thrown it in disgust, and playing with it. She pressed a button and laughed. "Oh cool! It can take pictures of itself! I'm so keeping this!"

"You can barely work the screen!" Harmony exclaimed, but her friend was busy uploading snaps of her new toy to Instagram, and wasn't interested in anything else.

Emily unloaded many things from the bag, including glow in the dark shoelaces, a sharpie, a squeaky rubber duck, a pair of live white mice, a biscuit tin containing a small community of angry fairies, two bottles of dinosaur urine, and a barrel cacti which yelled obscenities at her when she pulled it out (it shut up after Emily pointedly extracted a lighter).

"Emily, use your clicker," Harriet reminded, seeing her daughter grimace as she lifted her arms high to accommodate the huge pair of oars that she was pulling out of the bag.

"In a minute!" Emily huffed, thrusting her hand into the bottom and grinning. "Aha! Found it!"

And she extracted the precious box from the canvas, and popped it open. A sigh of relief escaped her in a rush.

"They're all okay," she reported. "All seven of them."

Her eyes darted nervously to Creation and Harmony, who were leaning over her bed like a curious pair of birds. Emily tried to shuffle away from them, but only whined in pain as her ribs flared up.

"What is that?" Harmony asked, her eyes taking on a curious sparkle. Pausing to use her clicker, Emily pointedly snapped the box shut.

"Creative Adrenaline," she said. "Difficult to get hold of – even more difficult to refine. It's like a massive energy boost. If we had enough of it, we could wake the entire Library up-"

"But you don't," Aramayis stated practically. "With that amount, you could only wake seven people...six, since somebody would have to take one themselves in order to enter the fandom safely to administer it in the first place."

There was a pointed expression on his face, and Harriet was not sure that she liked it. Fortunately, Adrian chose this moment to let out a soft sigh of pain. His head shifted just a fraction, and the sigh escalated into full groaning.

"Ah, the lord of so called badassness returns to us," Emily drawled, as violet eyes flicked open. "How are you feeling, Adrian?"

"Ow…" came the Librarian's pain-filled whimper.

"Hooray, he's not dead!" Harriet cheered, forgetting for a moment that her back was in agony.

"I told you he was too stubborn," Aramayis snorted, folding his arms. "He should recover more quickly now that he's awake – although, he will never be as fast as he was before."

Adrian's ears twitched as he registered someone being rude about him.

"Just stating facts my friend," Aramayis smiled pleasantly.

"What d'you mean?" Emily frowned. "He always heals faster than the rest of us."

"He did," Kuroneko conceded. "And he always will. He's a magical being, and they will always heal at a more accelerated rate than a normal human being. However, were he still a Counter Guardian, he would already be walking again."

She gestured to herself pointedly, while Harriet's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?!" she demanded, leaning over Adrian's bed like the world's most terrifying mother. "What do you mean were he still a Counter Guardian? When did he stop being a Counter Guardian?"

Kuroneko's eyebrow lifted in curiosity. "He didn't tell you? Counter Guardian's are automatically released from their contracts in the event of their death. Adrian never relinquished his position as Librarian, so that title returned to him upon his resurrection, but he is no longer a Counter Guardian – hasn't been for a while." A look of resentment flickered across her face. "That's why they make it so hard to kill us…it's very difficult to get out of a contract with the Powers That Be once you're in it."

Slack-jawed, Emily leaned over, heedless of her ribs, so that she could stare at Adrian. "You jerk!" she exclaimed. "You didn't think that this was something that we should know?!"

"Of course he didn't," Aramayis shrugged. "You use his Library as your headquarters, but you have no bearing on his role as one of the Multiverses's protectors. It was none of your business whether he was or was not a Counter Guardian."

"It is our business because we are his friends!" Harriet snapped.

"Really?" Kuroneko's eyebrows were both forming perfect arcs now, her ears folded forwards in curiosity. "Do you think he sees it that way? You share food and living space with a dog – does that make the dog equal to the human? Friends implies equality in all things, and you and your little group – astonishing as you are for have surviving this long against such enemies – are sadly, not his equal. He supervises you in your battles, and pulls you out when you need saving, and then patches up your wounds. There can be no friendship on those grounds."

"I am sitting right here you know!" Adrian finally mustered up enough energy to huff irritably at them. He almost immediately seemed to regret it, as pain flared across his features.

"What the hell would you know about friendship?" Emily snarled, ignoring Adrian's struggle to join in the argument. Kuroneko shrugged.

"I have tried for friends for centuries – now my only friends are Counter Guardians. Make of that what you will. I know what brand of cigarettes Saito favours. I know where Mara feels most comfortable sleeping. I know Kitsune's favourite food. And I know perfectly well who Aramayis is secretly infatuated with."

"That's hardly a secret," Harmony muttered. "Even we know that, and we don't live in the Library."

"And if you asked any of them the same questions about me, they would be able to answer." Kuroneko continued as though she had not heard the interruption. "And yes, you might be able to answer those questions about Adrian. Good for you." She pierced Emily with a look. "But answer me this – if he is truly your friend, and he did not tell you about losing his status as Counter Guardian, what else has he not told you?"

There was silence in the hospital ward, broken only by the steady beep of Adrian's monitors. Emily sank back against the pillows, glaring at Kuroneko, but unwilling to say anything. Finally Harriet got stiffly to her feet and muttered that she was going to get a cup of tea.

On this occasion however, it failed to solve her problems.

OOO

"Where are they?" Order was pacing. It was never a good sign when Order paced. "Where could they possibly be that is more important than our orders!"

"Oh for goodness sake!" Life snapped, necking her espresso shot back. "Why don't you marry our orders, if you love them so much!"

Order gave her a scowly look. Purity wisely stayed silent, his mind on other matters. The smell of coffee was not particularly pleasant to him, but he was getting used to it. Order's chair was sitting haphazardly across from him, leaving Purity to glance every so often out the window to check that the Library had not put in a sudden appearance. Resolve, as always, was up on the roof, and would not come down for anything less than a direct meteor strike, and then only long enough to find himself another vantage point.

He too had been pondering the words and whereabouts of their colleagues for the better part of the day. He disliked disobeying on principle - when someone told you to do something, they usually had a very good reason for it, as he had learned to his cost in the past. And yet he could still recall all too well, the malevolence that had followed Divinity all around like a cloud of sulphurous gas. He had faith in his own abilities, and those of his colleagues...it was just that Divinity's abilities were far stronger.

His fingers began to twitch, and his stomach coiled. He fought against it. Too often lately he had given into temptation while out exploring the other fandoms. He must not give Harmony the satisfaction of being right. Nor would he allow anyone to see how far his desires were leading him. He almost wished that the Library would pop up and Runoa's signal released, just so they could have something to do to take his mind off running off to another fandom for a fix of magic.

But if Harmony and Creation are right, he thought to himself, then the Library won't be popping up for ages...and neither will she.

The craving got worse, and he shook his head furiously as a ripple in the fandom signified a plothole being used nearby. Ten seconds later, Harmony and Creation were striding through the doors of the coffee shop.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Order was furious, and did not seem to care about the dirty looks being sent their way by the gooey-eyed couple at the next table. "Our orders were to wait here, and you deliberately go gallivanting off-"

He was silenced as Creation pointedly slammed Silence and Rhythm down onto the table with a loud clatter. Her lip was wobbling, and as Purity took a closer look, he realised that there was a paleness to her skin that only came when she had been using her powers for something big.

"Elegance is dead," Creation said, glaring furiously at Order. "Divinity killed her."

It was the same, every time somebody died, but it never got any easier. Purity's eyes slid closed and his body suddenly felt twice as heavy as before. No more Elegance dancing through their headquarters, her twin blades flashing in the air. Assassination was not a noble profession in Purity's eyes, but he had liked the little ninja of their team. He had respected how she could turn something as sinful as battle into a thing of beauty.

Order seemed to waver for a few seconds, as he digested this new information. His eyes fell on the twin swords, now masterless forever, before he drew a breath. "Okay. You were right about that. But even so, our orders-"

"Oh bollocks to our orders!" Creation snapped, slamming her fists on the table, and causing the cups to bounce. "Do you want me to say that I apologise and regret vanishing off to go and look for Elegance? No! I still have a heart beating in my chest, Order! Now we can sit here and wait for Divinity to pick us off, one by one, or we can go and look for her ourselves!"

Order's eyes narrowed. "She is one of Lady Runoa's creations, and you would have us destroy her?"

"After what she's done to the Library?" Creation asked. "Yes I would!"

"Wait a second there," Life, who had been staring at Elegance's blades with a sort of emptiness, now came back to the conversation. "What's this about the Library?"

Placing a hand gently onto Creation's shoulder, Harmony stepped forwards. Unwillingly, Purity found himself leaning into the table, and the pulsing of blood in his head suddenly thudding louder. "The Library is in Development Hell," Harmony said gravely. "Divinity cast a very powerful spell on it that put everyone in there into a sort of stasis sleep - I've seen this kind of work before. It's almost impossible to resist."

Purity was instantly curious. His belief that there was only one hell, where the souls of the damned went, did not extend to all aspects of life. He fully accepted that humans had the ability to make the mortal world into their own hell, and being an original character he had an instinctive knowledge of what happened to stories when they were left abandoned. He knew the punishments that awaited the Society within. He felt instinctively pleased that the Society were suffering for their sins, and angry that she would be in there with them when she was his to purge...

"If our boss lady is still in the Library," Creation finished, ignoring the way Order sneered at her for lack of respect. "Then she's asleep too, along with most of the Society. She's not coming out, guys. Not unless the Library is brought back out."

Order twitched. "Convenient that the Library would be put into such a situation that would require us to abandon our posts. Where exactly is your proof?"

Creation groaned, and Harmony folded her arms. "We don't have proof. We only have the word of two Counter Guardians. But they would have no reason to lie. Adrian, Harriet and Emily certainly seem to think that it's true. That's why they've formulated a plan-"

Purity had half a second to brace himself before Order exploded. "You abandoned our vigil to seek out the Librarian!"

"We didn't seek him out, you idiot!" Creation glared. "Don't you listen? We were looking for Divinity - she just happened to be kicking the shit out of them when we arrived!"

"All of you shut up!" Life ordered, yanking Order down into his seat, and clicking her fingers to summon the barista. "Another espresso shot, a hot chocolate, a vanilla frappe and a chai latte please. Now, girls," she leaned forwards toward and yanked them both down by their sleeves. "Sit. And start from the beginning. Order, shut your face and let them talk. We need details."

By the time they had started from the beginning, recounted their finding of Elegance's blades, and their run in with Divinity, coupled with the information that they had discovered, the drinks were cold, and Creation's hot chocolate was developing a skin on top. Order was growing steadily more and more purple in the face.

"Disobedience," he snapped. "Wilful fraternisation with the enemy-"

"Oh who gives a toss about fraternisation?" Life asked, stacking her espresso mugs neatly. "The girls are right. We can't sit on our arses and hope that those three will be able to get the Library out themselves. Divinity won't let them, and we could be here for millennia waiting for Runoa to give a signal that she simply cannot give because she's sleeping."

"You would ask us," Order said, with mounting disbelief in his voice. "To go directly against Runoa, and assist the Society and Adrian-"

"This isn't about assisting them," Harmony said, trying to calm the situation. "This is about assisting us. Assisting Runoa. She might be powerful, but even she won't be able to break that sort of spell. It can shut entire worlds down. If the nature of the Library weren't multidimensional, and we weren't multidimensional beings, we would have been stuck under it's influence too."

Order sniffed primly. "Mind your tongue, Harmony. I think that you underestimate our leader."

"And you are being stupid," Creation put in, sounding very much like Passion the longer she spoke. "We don't even really have to help them - it sounds like they have a way to get in and access the Library, and hopefully get it out of Development Hell themselves. What we have to do, is make sure that they can carry this out, without Divinity crashing the party."

Purity was torn. While he rebelled against the idea of helping their sworn enemies - particularly that sinful creature the Librarian - he did see the logic in this plan. Still, he could not deny that the idea of facing Divinity made him nervous and jumpy. He wished that there was a magic user nearby...

"Lady Runoa created Divinity herself," Order reminded them. "You would ask to destroy one of her creations?"

"She admitted before she did the Immaculation on Phoenixia that she wasn't sure how it would work out," Harmony pointed out. "That was why Phoenixia was so worried about it. That was why I wanted to stay with her during the process - in case it all went wrong. That's why Runoa offered her Immaculation in the first place - because Phoenixia's psychotic side was too dangerous to let run loose. I think it's clear to us now, that that side has not been contained. And besides, it's not like we haven't destroyed failed test subjects before."

This was true, Purity reflected. They had often been called upon to dispose of the more dangerous or unpredictable Usurped which failed Immaculation. However there was a huge difference between stopping a roomful of wild monsters, and taking on Divinity. He said as much to the table, prompting Creation to roll her eyes.

"Well I don't know how we'd defeat her!" she said irritably. "We'll have to use our imaginations."

Purity snorted at the expression on Order's face - imagination was not something that he had an abundance of.

"Look at it this way," Creation said. "What have we lost if we don't succeed?"

"Dignity? Pride? Self respect?" Order asked.

"It's a bit late for that," Life snorted, snapping her fingers at the barista. "Another espresso please!"

"Alright," Harmony sighed, in that voice that she sought to use when she wanted a compromise. Sure enough, Purity felt the familiar tingle of Harmony's magic, trying to soothe all of them. His squirming nerves seemed to calm slightly. "Let's make a deal, Order? If you're so worried, Creation and I will shadow the Society agents, and see what they do. You can all stay here. If we need you, we will let you know, and you can send two of you to help us, and two of you to stay here and watch the Library. That way we're not disobeying Runoa, and we can still make some progress towards helping her. Sound good?"

The Sovereign raised a withering eyebrow at her, and opened his mouth to complain some more.

"If there is trouble," Creation interjected. "We will take all the blame. It was our idea, and we executed it. You will have no part in it."

With a scowl on his face, Order levelled the two with a pointing finger. "Lady Runoa left me in charge of you all in her absence. You now seek to disobey her instructions, and my authority as second in command. I do not care about passing the blame - I will receive it anyway if she were to find out about your behaviour, for I would be guilty of failing to control you."

Purity sighed. The girls had tried - he could not fault them that.

"However," Order continued, seeing Harmony and Creation about to protest. "Divinity is also a Sovereign, and was also left under my instruction in Lady Runoa's absence. She was the first to disobey, and she needs to answer for that. For that reason alone, I will allow you to investigate - but only so that she may answer for her abandoning us."

Harmony smiled radiantly at him, while Creation high fived with Life. "Thank you Order."

"Save it," the commanding Sovereign glared, folding his arms and turning back to the window. "Just go. If you require assistance, Life and Purity will be available to help. Do not make me regret this decision."

As the girls all but skipped their way out of the coffee shop door, Purity knew that Order would not regret this.

And neither would he.

OOO

"You were a little bit harsh to them," Aramayis said gently to Kuroneko. The cat Counter Guardian paused in the act of ripping a crust off her tuna fish sandwich, and shrugged.

"They needed to hear it," she said. "Adrian won't be around to babysit them forever. You would think that they would have learned that after his death."

"Still," Aramayis sighed. "They are vulnerable at the moment."

"And we are not?" Kuroneko asked, folding her arms, and letting crumbs fall to the floor. "The Library is one of the cornerstones of the Multiverse. If it becomes trapped in Development Hell forever, everywhere will suffer. Adrian's responsibility to the Library must come before his need to shadow the Society. He is above their level of power in the grander scheme of things. Harriet and the others cannot fool themselves into thinking that he is one of them."

She tore a mouthful of bread and fish, and chewed it hungrily. Hospital food was not great, but you could not really go wrong with tuna mayonnaise.

"That's where I think you're wrong, my dear," Aramayis said. "He might operate at a higher level than them, but he has tried so very hard to make him one of them. He has brought himself down to their level out of loneliness. Do you remember what he was like when we first brought him to the Library? Arrogant. Brash. Always needing to be the hero – to be the most powerful person in the room and the one who had all the answers?"

Kuroneko rolled her eyes. "Well thank goodness they beat that out of him." She drawled sarcastically.

"I think that they did," Aramayis said quietly. "To an extent. It may not be entirely obvious the first time that you set eyes on him, but Adrian yields to others now in a way that he would never have considered centuries ago. When he first arrived in the Library, would he ever have let a group of children magic him into kitty ears? Would he have kept them? Would he ever have consented to date a mortal? Would he let them smuggle a marine reptile back into his home? Would he give them the free reign that they have to hop from one fandom to the next? He is not the man he was before. And I think that that will only continue the longer the Society remain with him. He was put in to be a restraining force - to keep them in check. That was why the Powers That Be agreed to him joining and offering them to the use of the Library...I wonder if they ever anticipated just how changed he would become."

Kuroneko eyed him. "Should we intervene?"

"What's done is done," Aramayis said. "I do not think that we could stop it now if we wanted to."

"And you don't want to?" Kuroneko surmised. Aramayis was not hard to guess.

"Oh life is more interesting that way," Aramayis gave one of his smiles. "But for now, let's just focus on getting the Library back. The Society can come later. For now, we have a Library to infiltrate."

"You still think that it should be us?" Kuroneko asked.

"No, I think it should be me," Aramayis corrected. "They trust me more than they trust you, thanks to my more regular appearance in the Library." His cheeks pinkened as he recalled the subject of his regular appearance in the Library – he did miss teasing his little fae. "Adrian certainly is in no fit state to do it himself at the moment, and something of this magnitude should not be left to Harriet or young Emily. And I think we can both agree that none of us would trust those Sovereigns with this."

As he spoke, one of the Sovereigns in question appeared from the corridor, charging around the corner, fixing her eyes on them and marching over.

"Harriet wants to see us in the ward," Creation ordered impatiently. "Today would be good?" she added, when Kuroneko pointedly began to finish her sandwich.

OOO

Emily had perfected her death glare from years of schooling, and now put it to good use, staring down the two anxious Sovereigns, and bemused Counter Guardians.

Lifting up Emily's open rucksack, Harriet demanded in her sternest voice, "Who took them?"

The accused looked at each other in confusion. "Who took what?" Harmony asked. She did not know why they had been called there. She only knew that they had been instructed to find the Counter Guardians and all meet in the ward. The bed on the other side of Adrian was occupied by a car crash victim, but no visitors had arrived for him yet.

"The vials of course!" Emily snapped, wincing as pain lanced across her chest – damn her ribs! "Someone has stolen the vials of Creative Adrenaline!"

She watched as all of their eyes opened wide. One of them was a very good actor, she had to give them that. They all went predictably silent, not wanting to give away any sign that they might have been responsible.

"Alright, I guess we get to start accusing then," weak from injuries, but at least clear eyed in the state of an emergency, Adrian examined each of them critically. "Creation? Harmony? Where have you been for the last hour?"

Emily had to admit, she was expecting a trade of guilty looks between the two girls, and was surprised when Harmony answered straight away. "With the other Sovereigns, giving them an update."

"Excuse me?" Harriet exclaimed.

"If we hadn't gone to see them, then they would have come looking for us," Creation explained. "We have a tentative agreement to aid you in getting the Library out and neutralising Divinity if possible. We can also call the others for back up, in the event that we feel we're in over our heads-"

"Why are you so keen to get the Library out?" Adrian asked. Emily had to admit, she had been wondering that herself.

"Because Runoa's in there," Harmony said honestly. Now it was Adrian's turn to shriek.

"You what?!"

"...we thought that you knew," Harmony said, confused. "I know she can mask her presence, but you must have felt somebody who was not a Society agent entering the building?"

"I was unconscious and haemorrhaging blood into my lungs!" Adrian exclaimed. "I couldn't feel anything other the pressure on my chest!"

"Why is Runoa in the Library?" Harriet cut to the chase.

Both Sovereigns shrugged. "Search us. She just said that it was vital to her goals that she get in there. From what we understand, she left a load of backdoors open to her after she got kicked out - that was how she managed to get Willowe in in season one."

Emily saw Adrian tense as though expecting the fourth wall to rumble, but of course, nothing happened. There was a flash of pain in his eyes when the room remained motionless.

"Backdoors?" Harriet questioned. "The Library is completely impregnable!"

"Not entirely," Creation pointed out. "Otherwise nobody would ever be able to get in. People find the Library when they have a need of it. Runoa exploited this fact and left a couple of backdoors open for her. It's true, she can't just snap her fingers and get in - it takes a phenomenal amount of power. Like a powerful Foxblade, or a very large plothole generator being powered by a demi god, which could be focused down to a very sharp point."

"So that's what she was doing with the Damocles station!" Adrian groaned. "And I'll bet that's how Divinity got the spell in - she probably saw the open door and threw it in before it closed up again!"

"We're off topic!" Emily reminded them. Fascinating as she found this conversation, she wanted her vials back. "You want Runoa out of the Library - was taking the Creative Adrenaline part of your plan?"

"Okay, firstly, when would we have had time to steal it?" Harmony asked, trying to calm the situation. "That bag has been by your side since you got to hospital. And secondly, if we had nicked them, why would we come back in time for you to discover the crime? If we were going to steal from you, we'd get out of the hospital, go straight to Development Hell, and stay there. It makes no sense for us to come back."

"It's a fair point," Harriet conceded, her eyes narrowing at Kuroneko and Aramayis. "And it's too obvious. Perhaps you two would like to turn out your pockets?"

"Why would we steal it?" Kuroneko asked, making no move to do any such thing.

"Call it a hunch," Harriet stated. "But you seemed a little too keen earlier to point out that only one of us could go, Aramayis. And then Kuroneko, you spent the next quarter of an hour giving us a great The Reason You Suck Speech, since clearly we are not up to the job of rescuing the Library ourselves."

"Why would we bother stealing from you guys?" Kuroneko asked. "When we can just overpower you?"

"I don't know Kuroneko," Harriet snapped. "Maybe because you're our babysitters and you should be doing all of the dangerous stuff."

"And who said they get to go?" Adrian's ears were twitching and he looked highly indignant. "If anyone is going to go into the Library and retrieve it, it should be me."

"Oh yes, I can see you moving very fast there in your hospital bed," Emily drawled. "Or were you planning on using a wheelchair?"

"Give me a few days," Adrian said. "And I will be fine."

"We don't have a few days," Harmony said urgently. "The longer the Library stays in Development Hell, the more likely it is that it will not come out again. We can't take that chance."

"So what?" Adrian asked, folding his arms. "You'll just go in without me? None of you know what you're doing."

"And you do?" Kuroneko asked.

"I know the Library," Adrian argued. "I have been breathing and feeling that Library for centuries. And I know what is required to get it out. The story needs to be continued - we inject a handful of characters to get the plot going again - the rest will wake up naturally once the Library gets moved out of Development Hell."

"Well thanks Adrian," Emily huffed. "Now you're not the only one who knows how to get it out, you've just ruined your only bargaining chip."

The Librarian squinted. "I'm sorry. It's this morphine."

"Alright, enough of the plan," Emily shook her head impatiently. "The plan won't go anywhere without those vials, so would whoever has stolen them, please just give them back? We can decide who gets to go in later, but for now, can we just have them back? Whoever has taken them, please just hand them over?"

Once again, none of the four budged, and Emily's heart sank.

"Fine," Adrian said stiffly. "I guess we'll find out who's done it when we get to Development Hell tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Harriet squawked. "You said you weren't getting out of bed for a few days!"

"No, I said I wouldn't be healed for a few days," Adrian corrected. "I'll be out of bed tomorrow."

"Adrian, do I need to remind you how many bones you shattered?" Harriet asked. "No sane doctor will discharge you - this isn't a magical fandom. You can't just explain away your injuries."

With a rakish grin, the Librarian waved his hands. "The Force can have a strong influence on the weak minded."

"What if we run into Divinity?" Emily asked. "Even if you're walking tomorrow - and that's a big if - you certainly won't be up to fighting. If we run into her, it'll be game over."

"Staying here is not an option," Adrian objected. "Harmony is right about that - the longer the Library stays in there, the less likely it is that we will get it out again. I'd go today if I could stand without shaking. But I can't, and I need the rest so that I can do the magic to heal Emily's ribs and Harriet's shoulder tomorrow."

Emily was cheered at the thought of being well enough to move again, but she was not so enthused about the idea of the Librarian putting himself in danger.

"What about the rest of us?" Harmony asked. "Do we still get to go, or should we consider this the end of our truce?"

She folded her arms pointedly, and Adrian eyed her up and down, weighing up the options. Finally, with a sigh, he shook his head.

"No, you guys can come. Whatever reason that Runoa is in there doesn't really matter right now. What matters is that she's in there, and you want her out just as much as we want the Library back. So you can come." His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "But I will find out who stole the vials. Finding the Library is all well and good, but we need that adrenaline to wake it up and get the plot moving again."

"The plot is moving, just very very slowly," Harriet grumbled, muttering something about needing another cup of tea, before turning and leaving.

Still glaring suspiciously at their four supposed allies, Emily dropped her bag by the side of her bed, and began to recline it. "Wake me up if anything interesting happens," she said pointedly, closing her eyes against the sight of Adrian clicking his drip for more morphine, and the Counter Guardians and Sovereigns nervously shuffling their way to the door. In the bed next to Adrian, the man who had been in the car crash did not stir, and Emily closed her ears off to the background noise of the hospital.

But as the image of those vials now missing from her bag danced across her eyes, she knew that sleep would be a long time in coming.

OOO

Harriet did not like mornings - she was always slower in the mornings, and the residual ache in her back from the battle that previous day had only served to make her every movement slower and more calculated.

So it was a good thing that the ward sister was fussing around and keeping a close eye on all three of her mystery patients that morning. It meant that in spite of being awake and having healed Harriet's shoulder and Emily's ribs, all three of them were still confined to their beds, which gave Harriet a chance to get some extra sleep. Personally, she thought that Adrian needed it - there were shadows under his eyes, and Harriet was not sure that they were because of the battle the previous day. He must be worried about losing his home forever.

This however, was the least of Harriet's concerns at the moment.

"Oh please zip up!" she begged her rucksack, jerking at the offending zip as hard as she dared. A nervous glance at the desk told her that the eagle eyed ward sister was currently occupied with another patient.

"How much stuff can you possibly have after being on the run for two years?" Aramayis sounded perplexed.

"You'd be surprised," Emily quipped, already dressed, and squeezing her own bag hopefully. "Is the coast still clear?"

"Yes, it's clear," Creation insisted, her eyes locked onto the ward sister, waiting for the precise moment she started moving back to their beds. "If you're going to get up Adrian, you'd better do it now."

"I'm trying!" the Librarian complained, wincing as he slipped his boots on. "I had five breaks in my leg!"

"Six," Harriet corrected, giving the zip an impatient yank, and sighing as it finally jerked closed. Adrian grumbled something incoherent as he tied his laces. The aforementioned leg was still braced, and Harriet just knew that as soon as her back was turned, Adrian would be removing it.

"I feel naked without a trenchcoat," he mumbled

"Yes, you've told us...every day, since we left the Library," Emily grumbled, her eyes darting around anxiously. "Come on! I've got to open the plothole, but you still need to walk through it!"

With a wince, Adrian placed his feet on the floor. His body had healed, to the extent that his bones had knitted back together (with the help of some magic) and the ligaments had been reattached, but the pain was by no means gone, and if he moved too violently, he's snap the fragile healing again. Magic was taxing at the best of time, and the length of time Adrian had spent apart from his home was not helping the situation in the least.

"Can someone loan me a shoulder?" the Librarian asked, his teeth gritted. Rolling her eyes, Kuroneko obliged, and Adrian sank gratefully against her.

"Thanks Kuro," he smiled. He only got a sour look in return.

"Don't pull that face with me, Librarian," Kuroneko huffed. "It's your own fault you're this badly hurt. If you were still a Counter Guardian you wouldn't be in this situation."

"Oh is that why you're being so unfriendly?" Harriet asked, in her most acidic tone. "Because you only hang out with people on your level of epicness, and now that Adrian isn't a Counter Guardian anymore, he isn't badass enough to be your friend?"

There was a long and uncomfortable silence in the ward. Adrian's eyes darted accusingly to Kuroneko, who didn't seem able to look at him any longer as she recalled her words from the day before.

"Umm...I don't mean to interrupt," Creation whispered urgently. "But we've got a sister closing in fast on our location."

The spell broken, Emily snapped her fingers, and a plothole appeared. "After you," she bowed graciously to Adrian, who was awkwardly manoeuvred into the swirling vortex by the cat-eared Counter Guardian. Harriet and Harmony both followed at a quick trot.

Harriet was not sure what she expected from Development Hell. Roaring flames and pits of writhing souls seemed a little too cliche. Certainly things were a little warm where they stood, but it was not the tormented brimstone and smouldering ash which greeted them. Rather they stood in a lobby, a long queue of people of all shapes, sizes and species neatly and politely waiting for their turn. A row of post office style desks lined the back of the room, and boxes of different coloured paper were mounted to the wall on the left. The source of the warmth was apparently the broken air conditioning unit above the main desk, beyond which, a single door could be seen. Nobody seemed to notice or care about the swirling black portal, through which the rest of their group now appeared, nor did they bat an eyelid as it vanished into nothing.

Adrian took one look at the queue and groaned.

"I can't stand for that long," he whined.

"Ugh, you wouldn't last two minutes in England," Harriet lifted her nose, and dutifully joined the back of the queue, facing straight ahead, her back straight, and her posture dignified...

...the people in front of her, gave a yelp of protest as she swiftly grabbed the inconspicuous but totally out of place shovel stacked against the barrier, and whacked the closest unsuspecting person on the noggin. He slumped to the floor motionless.

"But we are in a hurry," Harriet conceded. "So come along!"

And she charged off through the queue, elbowing and smacking people out of the way with her new weapon.

"...does this sort of thing usually happen?" Aramayis leaned over to ask Emily. The auburn haired girl shrugged.

"Pretty much," she said, adjusting her rucksack and marching off after her mother. Kuroneko gave Adrian a side long look, before manoeuvring him carefully down the scattered queue.

The humourless looking woman behind the counter seemed oblivious to the kerfuffle in the room, choosing only to arch one eyebrow over horn rimmed spectacles when Harriet pushed the person at the front out of the way.

"Hey!" the furious man, who's skin was iridescent like water on petrol. "I'm next!" He received a shovel to the cranium for his efforts.

"Good morning," Harriet chirpily greeted the woman, who's only acknowledgement was a lift of her other eyebrow. "We've come to retrieve a world from Development Hell."

The woman folded her hands on top of her paperwork, and pointed to the wall. "The requisition forms are the pink ones in the top left hand corner, if you wish to make a claim-"

"This isn't a claim," Harriet cut her off, her voice still politely neutral. "We haven't dented our car. This is the central repository of all knowledge in the entire multiverse, and it shouldn't have been put in here in the first place."

It was with a singularly unimpressed expression that the woman replied. Close up, Harriet could see that the badge pinned to her green cardigan gave her name as "Jackie".

"There are procedures in place for the removal of a fandom, ma'am - all claims must be accompanied by the appropriate requisition form, signed with two witnesses, handed into this office. The forms will then be processed, which will take between ten to fifteen working days. At this point, you will be referred to a specific representative, who will take charge of your case. You must give them at least thirty days to take the relevant steps to locating your fandom. Upon this, you will then need to submit proof of your ownership-"

There was a slashing of blades, and Kuroneko's fans were visible for only a second before she replaced them on her belt. The desk behind which Jackie the unhelpful secretary sat, sat motionless for a moment, before toppling forward onto the floor in a heap of wood.

"I'm starting to get the hang of how the Society do things," Kuroneko smiled, waving a hand to Emily. Smirking, Harriet's ward skipped forwards, ignoring the expression on Jackie's face.

"You have not filled out the appropriate forms!" the woman squeaked.

"Ma'am," Aramayis leaned forward into Jackie the secretary's personal space, a winning smile on his face. "Two Counter Guardians, two Sovereigns, one Librarian, and two rather furious young British ladies, say that we have filled in the appropriate forms. Good day to you."

Inexplicably pleased, Harriet bonked the approaching security guard on the head with the shovel, and linked arms with Emily as they marched through the door.

The office continued, stretching off down an impossibly long corridor, with cubicles and smaller offices lining either side. It reminded Harriet of the set of a low budget police crime drama, like The Bill, only with less out of work actors in poorly fitting uniforms. The whole place smelt like paper and a slightly dodgy coffee machine. Most people continued working away at their desks, their views obscured by piles of pink, green and yellow forms, however one or two stopped to stare at the formidable group now striding down the corridor. Harriet gave them her creepiest smile in return.

They had been walking for seven minutes and twenty one seconds (according to Emily's watch), when someone finally stepped in their way. A severe looking creature, with dark scales, and the face of a catfish. His whiskers trailed down almost to the floor, and Harriet wondered how he managed not to step on them - she knew how hard it was to walk up stairs when in a long skirt, and the thought of treading on those long yellow feelers made her wince.

"May I help you with something?" the catfish asked, in a surprisingly deep voice. Out of the corner of her eye, Harriet saw Adrian open his mouth to explain, and she decided to beat him to it.

"No, no you can't," she said, cheerfully attempting to sidestep the massive creature. The catfish was remarkably quick though, stepping with her, his whiskers moving in interesting patterns by his side.

"I must insist," the catfish said. "It is not often that we get visitors back here..." His eyes flickered across the group. "Kuroneko, how charming to see you again." He sounded anything but truly pleased.

"Marius," the cat Counter Guardian folded her arms, leaving Adrian to take his weight by himself, much to his protests. "You look as decidedly unappetising as ever."

"Charming," the catfish responded in his deep baritone. "I never expected to run into you again. You're not an author after all."

"And you're not an office manager," Kuroneko returned. "I'm surprised that this is where you were shoved after I brought you in."

"You know him?" Creation asked, curiously. Harriet was less than pleased with this delay, but she knew an interesting story when she heard it, so she listened.

"Yes," Kuroneko examined her claws idly. "Marius Scintificus, also known as Marius the Great. Attempted to alter the patterns of magic running along leylines in order to flood three worlds and turn them into his Endless Ocean."

"It was a rather ingenious plan," Marius shrugged. "And took no small amount of effort and organization on my part. Kuroneko was the Counter Guardian sent to stop me."

"I was the Counter Guardian who did stop you," Kuroneko corrected, her tongue flicking across her smirking lips as she remembered. "Those were important worlds you were trying to flood Marius. The Counter Guardians are always watching."

"Hmm...and meddling," the catfish stated, his eyes flicking across the group. "Two Counter Guardians...it must be my lucky day...and you must be the Librarian," he smirked at Adrian, who did his best to stand tall and straight, even though Harriet could see the lines of tension running through him. If he carried on like this, she was going to give him a shot of morphine, and she did not care how much he protested. "Is he a relative of yours Kuroneko?"

Kuroneko's ears twitched as she snorted. "He wishes," she muttered. Marius ignored her, and gave an oily smile to Adrian, who just watched him coolly through his pain.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. Your predecessor was my Librarian - charming woman indeed."

"Wait, you met Runoa?" Harmony asked, tilting her head. Marius chuckled, his lips making a strange smacking sound as he did.

"Indeed. Must have been millennia ago. Such a shame that her tenure had to end. I was instigated in this place by the time she fell. I have to say...such a pity. She had drive. I respected that. But I got the impression that she was restless and done with the place. It had not brought her the kind of answers that she wanted. She would have moved on eventually."

Emily snorted. "Maybe you missed the real story, but she didn't move on. She was kicked out." But Harriet was turning his words over in her head, and not focusing on Emily.

"What do you mean, my Librarian?" she asked.

"There is only ever one Librarian at a time," Adrian explained. "When one leaves, another takes it's place immediately. Characters usually only ever meet one Librarian. If they go to the Library more than once in their lifetime, they will usually meet the same one. It's very rare for a character to know two Librarians." He eyed Marius with an almost grudging respect. "You must be one of the lucky few, to be meeting me now."

"Indeed," Marius said, his whiskers floating up like strings in a breeze. "Although, it really does depend on your definition of lucky..." he gestured to the office around him.

"Well fascinating as this is," Harriet drawled, not really meaning it, because it was rather interesting. "We have things to do, people to see, worlds to rescue..."

She attempted to sidestep Marius, but the catfish seemed to move with the grace of a prima ballerina. "How the hell is he doing that?" Harriet thought, equal parts impressed and frustrated.

"I am one of the official representatives of Development Hell," Marius explained. "And there are rules to follow in this area."

"Yes yes, we heard all of the rules from Jackie the irritating secretary outside," Emily interrupted. "Can we please just get a move on?"

Marius's whiskers arched like a pair of eyebrows. "Jackie? I shall have to file a formal complaint with the HR department. You will find that brute force and magical powers do not get you far down here," he advised, with a particularly pointed look at Adrian and the two Counter Guardians. "Nor does the arrogance that such powers entail. Down here, everyone is as equal as the next. That is why we have the system."

"Yeah, but do you know what we have?" Harriet asked, leaning forward just a fraction enough to make it seem like a secret. Sure enough, Marius leaned forward expectantly in return, and Harriet beamed.

"A Travelling Shovel of Death."

And she neatly clobbered him over the head with a single strike.

"Man, he almost had us there," the leader wiped her brow. "Very distracting. Good thing we saw through it, hey?"

Kuroneko's mouth was opening and closing goldfish style in disbelief. "I spent the better part of three weeks chasing him down across three worlds, swimming in oceans," she said with a shudder that made her fur bristle. "Enduring the wrath of all the tidal spirits at his command...and you just shovelled him?!"

Arching an eyebrow of her own, Harriet glanced between the unconscious catfish, and the Counter Guardian, before eyeing her with a pointed look. "Would you have felt better if I'd spent five minutes calling my attack in some needlessly over dramatic fashion? Admit it – this was more fun."

She swung the Travelling Shovel of Death over her left shoulder and beamed. "Come on! We've got a Library to locate! Adrian, you're a bookworm – can you feel any stories nearby?"

Adrian was torn between laughing at the expression on Kuroneko's face, and wincing in agony as his bruised ribs flared up. "According to my sources, the Development Hell vaults are a literal circle of hell...they're accessed via the basement."

"Which according to the signs is that way," Harriet pointed to the conveniently placed signpost by the water cooler. "Onward my underlings! We can't be far away!"

OOO

There were some sentences that Harriet really needed to stay away from.

"Harriet we've been following these signposts for three hours!" Adrian wailed. "We're lost!"

"We can't be!" Emily protested. "We haven't gone in the wrong direction!"

Normally Harriet would have conceded that they were lost, it was just that logically, she did not see how they could be. She was tired, and more than a bit fed up, particularly with the whining that kept coming from her fellow travel companions.

"Hmm..." Aramayis inspected the nearest signpost, which dictated that they should continue turning right down the next corridor. "It would stand to reason that we should have reached some sort of exit right now, instead of continuing to pass by offices..."

"Fandoms can be endless," Harmony pointed out, sitting on the floor and rubbing her feet. By her side, Creation doodled idly in her sketchbook.

"Not true," Adrian corrected. "Fandoms only give the impression of being endless. They're as wide or expansive as their creator makes them. It's the perception of those inside which is altered."

"Well fascinating as this is, what do you propose we do?" Harriet asked, folding her arms. "I don't see any other way we can go, except back the way we came."

"That's my point," Aramayis said, grimly. "Think of everything that we have experience since we got here - the queues, the forms, the unhelpful staff, the endless bureaucracy...this fandom appears to be designed specifically to waste time. I fear that these helpful signs may simply be another distraction."

Harriet blinked at him slowly. "...so you're saying that we've been mislead? For the last three hours?"

"Mhmm," Aramayis confirmed. "I would wager anything that the entrance to the basement is more simply hidden, and this endless circle of corridors is simply a means of entrapment."

Harriet groaned. She had no patience for this any longer.

"So how do we get downstairs?" Emily demanded. "As fun as it has been watching Harriet beat people up, I don't think we can bash our way through the floor and into the circles of hell in the basement. And Divinity disintergrated my supersoaker yesterday."

There was a moment's pause, and Harriet was about to ask Adrian if he thought he had enough strength to perform a spell, when Creation snapped her fingers, causing everyone to jump.

"We don't need to find a door," she said, whipping out a sketchbook and a pencil. "And we don't need to bash one open either. We can just draw one!" A quick flurry of pencil strokes later, and a simple oak door with a golden handle appeared in the floor. Gently, Creation turned the handle, and let it fall open.

"After you," she smiled.

"You're a genius," Emily singsonged, before jumping in first. "It's okay! It's not a long jump! Come on down!"

Shifting her bag so that it was comfortable on her shoulder, Harriet slid her legs in first, before pushing off from the floor. She dropped a few short meters and landed in a heap next to Emily, who's wide eyes were taking in the expanse around them.

Now this looked more like hell, Harriet reflected. It was like a wasteland, only a very well organised one. There was a forceful wind rolling over the plains, twisting dust into the air and tangling around Harriet's hair. Row after row of trunks and boxes lined the vast expanse of space, like badly formed gravestones, and Harriet shuddered, wondering just how many potential stories were contained here.

A fluffy ball landed at her feet, and Adrian shifted back into a human almost immediately. He groaned in agony at the shifting of his bones.

"You shouldn't be out of bed," Harriet admonished.

"I had to come," Adrian countered, but his voice was weak. "I couldn't let you go do this on your own."

"Why?" Harriet put her hands on her hips. "Where does it say that you have to injure yourself further and put yourself in harms way to get the Library back? And don't give me any of that crap about it being your home and your responsibility."

"It is my responsibility," Adrian said, rubbing his side, almost shyly. "It's just...I'm the hero. I'm supposed to be the one who saves it."

Harriet rolled her eyes. "You have a bigger hero complex than Harry Potter! You aren't a Counter Guardian any more Adrian, you have limits. They might not be human limits, but still-"

"You don't understand!" Adrian objected, not seeming to notice that everyone else had jumped in through their door, and were now picking themselves up from the ground. "My job is to be the hero. Always. Even as a Counter Guardian-" He broke off looking uncomfortable, and Harriet wondered if he had ever had to explain this before. "I'm always the one who has all the knowledge and the skills to save the day. That's why it has to be me today, regardless of how much I hurt."

Rubbing her forehead, Harriet decided that she did not have time for this. "Fine. I see your point. Just don't die on us. Tash will kill us."

And she began pacing a circle, in an effort to find a starting point, but mostly so that she did not have to look at the gleeful expression on Adrian's face.

"What are you so happy about?" Emily huffed.

"Harriet agrees with me," Adrian beamed, pleased with himself. "I knew it wouldn't take long for her to see sense."

Harriet resisted the urge to turn and remind the Librarian that she could hear every word of his preening. Frayed from months of back and forth, as well as pure exhaustion, Emily smacked herself hard in the forehead. "Harriet doesn't agree with you, Adrian."

"Uh...yeah, she does," Adrian's ears twitched. "She said so."

"Oh Cthulhu's graces," Emily turned so that she was facing him. "You've lived with British people how long? When Harriet says to you 'I see your point' what does she mean?"

Adrian's eyebrows arched, sensing a trap, but he answered anyway. "That she agrees with me?"

It was the destiny of Emily's forehead to remain permanently red for the duration of this trip.

"No, she's thinking 'I disagree, and I don't want to have this conversation anymore'. Harriet is British, Adrian. Never ever presume to know what she is thinking."

It was a sweet pleasure to listen to Adrian splutter helplessly at how that didn't make any sense, and Harriet savoured it as she glanced around at the wasteland and it's occupants. "I guess each of these boxes has an abandoned story in it, right?" She asked, getting everyone's attention.

"It would appear so," Harmony confirmed, examining the closest one.

"And since we have no idea how these are ordered," Harriet continued. "We are probably just going to be playing a guessing game while we're down here."

"Let's get looking, then," Emily's voice had gone strangely tight.

They obligingly began to shuffle their way around, each of them scanning the plaque on the nearest box for any hints of the Library and their friends. Harriet grasped that the size of the box was directly proportionate to the size of the fandom, and how big the ideas had been before they were shelved, but other than that, there was no way of marking them or organizing them.

"They don't seem to be by date..." she sighed, eyeing a tiny box on the ground which was dated in the late eighteenth century, sat next to a trunk which detailed a fantasy series that had been drafted in 2013.

"Not by genre either," Kuroneko stated, her ears twitching as she examined a box. "It sounds like they're talking. Can anyone else hear whispers?"

"Not over this wind," Creation huffed.

"Can we keep moving?" Emily demanded, already stomping her way in another direction, with her arms wrapped around her stomach. Harriet's eyes narrowed. Emily was definitely bossy (one of the better qualities that she had picked up from her mother), but she did not usually sound so desperate about it.

"What's got you so freaked out, Em?" she asked bluntly, causing Emily to jump and freeze where she stood. She shivered.

"I don't know...this whole place just feels...wrong. Can't you sense it? It's like something awful is going to happen."

"You're an original character," Harmony pointed out, gently reaching over and squeezing Emily's shoulder. "This place is death to Original Characters. You probably feel it worse than Harriet does. When the spell first appeared, did you feel unsettled by it?"

Emily swallowed thickly. "Yeah...it felt like...that was what evil looked like."

Harriet did not feel particularly uncomfortable (or more ill at ease than one should be, hanging around in a magical world where abandoned stories were shoved) but as she glanced around their group, she could see a definite change. Kuroneko and Aramayis, who were usually unflappable, had a distinct edge of jitteryness about them. Adrian looked more ill than normal, and Harriet really wished that he would just sit down.

"I think...we should go that way?" Emily hedged, sounding unsure of herself, and catching everyone by surprise. "That way feels...not better, but less wrong."

Harriet shrugged ."Well it's better than our random wanderings. Use The Force my underling, and lead on by all means."

They continued on, down the lines of forgotten ideas, and abandoned plots, and sure enough, Harriet realised that Kuroneko was right - there was a distinct whisper flying from box to box. She wondered if stories talked to each other, trying desperately to keep themselves alive to be reclaimed someday. It saddened her to think of so many wonderful tales being lost forever down here. It was true what they said - ideas were fragile things, and so many of them must break down in this place, beyond repair. She wondered if authors who came down here were less able to discard ideas after they left. Then she wondered, darkly, if any authors ever left this place. They could wander for millennia down here, losing themselves as they tried to search all of the trunks for the one that belonged to their idea.

She inched a little closer to Emily protectively. No wonder she felt nervous down here. She could easily end up in one of those boxes. But as long as she was alive, she would make sure that that did not happen. She would do whatever it took to ensure that she did not lose another agent.

OOO

"That way?" Adrian suggested, and he was pleased to see that he was met with a nod from Emily. The poor girl was looking greener and greener the longer they stayed down here, but she still seemed able to sense the faint tuggings that belonged to their world - their home. It was still odd for Adrian to think of the Library as their home, and not just his home. He wasn't the only one who lived there now, and he was not the only one who had a very personal stake in this.

"Would it be quicker if I drew us a car?" Creation asked, helpfully.

"No, because it would take you days to draw in all of the mechanics and fuel and other bits and pieces," Harmony pointed out gently.

"And the leather seats," Harriet added. Seeing everyone's puzzled looks, she huffed. "I have very high standards!"

"Of course you do," Harmony smiled, before turning back to her friend. "It's a nice thought Creation, but not really practical. We might as well keep walking."

Looking a little put out, Creation linked arms with Harmony and they carried on walking. Adrian was still not convinced that they should be here, and privately, he was still sure that one of them had taken the precious vials of Creative Adrenaline and handed them over to the other Sovereigns. But he could not be sure. Harriet had a point when she had accused Aramayis and Kuroneko, and he was still feeling a little bit resentful of Kuroneko's words the other night. Because if she only considered other Counter Guardians to be her equals and friends, then what did that make him to them, now that he was no longer their equal? Still her friend, or just another burden?

He had not said anything to the Society about his demoted status from Counter Guardian - he hadn't even told Tash. Only Phoenixia had noticed, in the wake of their rescue of Aster, how much weaker he had been, and how his powers and resilience had taken a hit. He had privately hoped that it would never come up with the others. He was still the Librarian, and one of the most powerful people in the Multiverse, it was just that his power was not the same now as the other Counter Guardians. And he was not sure of it's ability to defend the Society any longer, especially when they seemed intent on seeking out more dangerous foe.

Speaking of dangerous foe, his mind floated on a fading haze of morphine to their current nemesis, and he broached the topic that was in the back of all their thoughts.

"Does anyone have any ideas how to defeat Divinity?" he asked. A hushed silence fell on the group, and everyone began avoiding eye contact. Even the wind seemed to shut up.

"Not really," Creation finally admitted with a shrug. "You guys have been getting chased by her for two years – we figured if anyone would know, you would."

"No luck here," Emily shrugged. "I was so busy inventing the extractor and sucking up all the creative adrenaline, that I didn't even think about Divinity beyond hoping that she didn't find us."

"We discussed it, but I was usually more occupied with keeping all of us alive and healthy," Harriet admitted, sparing the Librarian a withering look. "More challenging than you might think, when your daughter refuses to sleep, and the Librarian forgets that mortals need food and sleep to function properly."

Adrian rolled his eyes and performed a hair flip which sent fresh jolts of pain down his spine. "We can't all be as wonderful and awesome as me."

Emily pretended to retch behind a box.

"Okay Mr Wonderful and Awesome," Kuroneko folded her arms. "I take it you have ideas?"

"I always have ideas," Adrian stated, with a confidence that he did not really feel – the misjudged hair flip had given him a headache.

"Good ones?" Emily questioned, sceptically.

"You doubt me?" Adrian tried to sound surprised, but actually he felt a little bit hurt. He was the Librarian – people were supposed to trust his ideas to be the best, because he had the most knowledge and knew better.

"Wouldn't dare," Emily drawled. Pulling his most serious face on, Adrian began to marshal his thoughts.

"I've been thinking – Phoenixia's mind is effectively Divinity right now, just brought to the forefront and all her most powerful traits enhance. So what if I got inside Divinity's brain and went to fight the evil portion so that the good portion could come out again?"

There was a long silence from his friends.

"Adrian," Harriet finally said. "That's the worst idea I've ever heard. How would that work, by any stretch of the imagination? First of all, how would you even get close enough to get into her brain? She would rip you to pieces. And even if you got close enough how would you get into her brain anyway? Even you can't use magic just to jump into someone's head like that."

"How do you know that?" The Librarian fixed the leader with a look. "You don't have magic."

"Yes, but I have a sneaky little daughter who likes to climb through ventilation shafts and listen to conversations between my friend and her boyfriend."

Adrian blushed – he had completely forgotten Emily's sneaking tendencies, and made a mental note to check the vents for her whenever he was discussing strategy with his girlfriend in bed...if he ever got to see Tashy again.

"O-okay, well what if...I merge with Divinity, turn her into a half man half woman, and become part of her-"

"I take it back," Harriet declared. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard."

"No it's a good idea! Because then I could sex the evil out of her-"

"You can't sex your way out of everything! Especially not this!" the leader was getting distinctly impatient. "Next!"

"Fine then. I could turn her into a sexy fox girl-"

"Oh yes, because turning people into sexy anthramoprhic animals magically cures everything! We're not in a Japanese porno manga Librarian. No turning people into magical animals – especially when it doesn't solve the problem."

"Okay...then we use Time Travel-"

"Adrian, how many times to do I have to tell you? There will be no time travel!" Harriet exclaimed. This was a regular point of argument between them.

"It would work!" Adrian insisted. "I'm smart enough to make sure that there are no paradoxes! Time travel fixes everything!"

"I'm not even going to mention the last time you tried time travel, because we all know how that went."

Adrian winced. "Oh hush! My point is-"

"This way," Emily's declaration put a halt to their argument, and the Librarian frowned, at the tingling in his skin.

"No..." he muttered, pulling everyone up short, as he pointed in the opposite direction. "This way."

Emily arched an eyebrow. "No, it's definitely this way. That way feels like going back into the wrongness."

Adrian was confused. He was getting an odd feeling from both ways, it was just that the way to his right was stronger, and so he had assumed that that would be the location of the Library. It had to be that way - what else would he be sensing?

"Doesn't matter!" Harmony called. "I've found it! Emily was right!"

Emily had enough moxie left to stick her tongue out at Adrian, before skipping off to examine their findings.

Of course that box was the Library, Adrian realised, feeling a bit stupid. It was by far the biggest around, with the golden placard on the front displaying the Library's address (Two streets and a right turn from the Centre of the Plot). It resembled a wardrobe the size of a double decker bus, and oddly enough, the floor around it did not seem entirely solid, like the wardrobe was eating a black hole through the ground. It was one of the most bizarre things Adrian had ever seen - an attempt to contain a world that was supposedly infinite. This wasn't a fandom, finite and altered only by the perception of the characters in it, as he had explained to Emily earlier. This was the Library Aracanium, and you could not fit it all into a container, no matter how hard you tried.

"You guys must have some kind of pull towards it, since it's your home fandom," Harmony suggested, with a wide smile.

"Hooray for vague plot-convenient mystical powers!" Emily cheered.

"Okay...who wants to go in first?" Creation asked.

"You can't go in," Adrian patiently reminded her. "The spell is still active. You'd fall asleep the second your feet touched the ground."

"...oh yeah," Creation looked sheepish.

"So now would be a really good time for the thief of the Creative Adrenaline to come forward." Adrian said pointedly.

"Oh give it a rest," Emily huffed, glaring at the Counter Guardians. "If they were going to come forward, they would have done it already."

"Are you still accusing us?" Kuroneko rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well it's either you, or the fanservice over here," Emily jerked her head at the Sovereigns. "So my money is on you."

Harmony blinked in confusion at Creation. "Uhh...we're not the fanservice."

"Yeah you are," Harriet shrugged, casually unzipping her handbag. "I'm pretty sure there's a rule in the season two plot that says there must be at least two hot girls on screen at all time…presumably you can find it next to the rule that says 'Adrian's holy status as hero must never be questioned'."

Adrian gave her a pointed glare, which she only smiled sweetly at. The ground beneath the box gave an all too familiar rumble, which made the lips of every Society member present quirk in amusement.

"Doesn't really matter," Adrian said, the ghost of a smile still lingering. His home was there, right in that box. He was the closest he had been in two years to getting his purpose back...

...so why was that persistent tugging feeling still there in the back of his head, urging him to go explore down the other way?

"So what exactly was the plan then, if nobody came forward with the adrenaline?" Kuroneko huffed. "Just sit here until we're lost forever?"

"Did you have a better plan?" Creation scowled. "I heard Counter Guardians were supposed to fix stuff? Shouldn't you have done this sort of thing before?"

"Not on this kind of level," Aramayis explained, his patience starting to sound strained. Adrian wondered if he too was feeling the same level of unease that he was in this place. "The Library has never been affected like this before. The closest we got was…well," he trailed off, with an apologetic look at Emily and Adrian. "When Willowe broke in."

Adrian understood the unspoken words. When she killed me. Was that really the most serious situation that they as Counter Guardians had ever experienced? He suddenly felt better that he had been killed.

The tugging at the back of his brain became even more persistent and his head yanked around to examine the direction it was coming from.

"Well one of us has to try getting in," Kuroneko said. "As Counter Guardians' it is possible that we-"

"You think you're badass enough to take on that spell and…what?" Emily asked pointedly. "Survive long enough to shake our friends awake? They aren't going to wake up, and neither will you!"

"If anyone is going to go," Adrian interrupted, folding his arms. "It'll be me. It's my Library."

"Not a chance in hell!" Emily rounded on him, jabbing a finger into his sternum. "First of all, it's our Library – get that through your thick skull! Second, we did not drag you out of that hospital almost dead, just so you could go back in and fall back under the spell! Are you brainless?"

She was so furious and so very like her sister, that Adrian did not notice Harriet huddling quietly next to the door to the Library, pulling the box out of her bag, or wrapping a surgical strap around her arm and pulling tight. He did notice however, when the leader calmly extracted a vial of Creative Adrenaline, and loaded it into the syringe.

"Harriet!" Adrian had just enough time to shriek, as the leader pressed the needle into the crook of her right arm and slid it home into a vein. To her credit, she only gave a wince as the golden fluid was slowly pushed into her body, and she calmly unlatched the strap around her upper arm, and slid the needle out with a sigh.

"Well now that we've all stopped bickering," the leader rolled her eyes. "Perhaps we can actually make some progress."

"You had the vials all this time?!" Emily exclaimed. Harriet shrugged.

"Couldn't risk any of you lot running off with them," she gestured to the Sovereigns, the Counter Guardians, and Adrian as she unclipped the used needle and placed it in a small yellow bag. "Besides, you're all so busy trying to be heroes or saving your boss lady, that none of you have a shred of common sense. Now you all sit here and watch. If my plan works, the Library will vanish from this place as the plot starts moving again – once that happens, get yourself up topside and find an entrance."

She bagged the remaining vials and got back to her feet. "Adrian, keep an eye on them," she ordered, pointing at the Counter Guardians and Sovereigns. "Emily, keep an eye on him. And for Gods sake, don't get killed while I am gone!"

And she turned on her heel, yanked open the door to the Library, and vanished in an instant.

OOO