Skulduggery cursed, loudly and viciously, as his left radius and ulna disappeared into the stinking sludge. He plunged his functioning right arm into the marsh mud and heaved the bones out with a squelch, then proceeded to painfully reattach them to his humerus.

As he worked, Skulduggery recalled Darren Wield's army dismantling his limbs, then dumping his body at this god-forsaken corner of the burnt highland. His body tensed with fury.

Yet the freezing anger intensified as he thought of Valkyrie, lying crumpled in the palm of the enemy.

But he needed backup. Skulduggery couldn't face this enemy alone; he would just be endangering them both by charging in by himself.

He pushed the anger down and turned to begin the long slog down the mountain.

China smoothed her beautiful knitted sweater as she glided across her tasteful apartment to the phone. Its delicate ringing had alerted her to the fact that she was receiving a call, and with Valkyrie and Skulduggery missing in action at this point in time, she could easily guess the subject of the call. China tapped the speakerphone button with one elegantly manicured finger.
"Hello."
"China," Skulduggery's voice, taut with anger, came through the phone lines.
"Skulduggery," she replied, standing straighter, "it's very nice to hear your voice. You do know you've been the talk of the town since you and Val disappeared -"
"There's no time. They've taken Valkyrie. I need backup and Fletcher isn't answering his phone."
"He's here right now. What happened -"
"Tell him to get to Cayrefield. He's been here before. Bring Tanith and Ghastly too. And send word to bring Cleavers."
"Skulduggery -"
"China. Now!"
He hung up.

They appeared in front of him: Tanith, looking fiercely protective in her tight leathers, Ghastly with his intimidating scars and physique, China with her beautiful dark hair and light eyes, and Fletcher with his obnoxious hair but determined eyes. The four broke the contact that had allowed them to teleport along with Fletcher, and approached Skulduggery.

When he spoke, his voice was low and quiet. As he filled them in on the situation, his voice occasionally became strained, and the rage that he controlled broke through momentarily.

It scared Tanith.

She had faced down hundreds of foes over her lifetime, imprisoned the scum of society, and locked away the worst criminals there were. But this was different.

This was almost insanity.

Tanith wasn't the only one to notice something was off. Ghastly took in his friend's strained voice and filthied suit. Mud dripped slowly from the lapels, and Skulduggery did nothing to stop it. His usually treasured hat was missing, and the lace of his right shoe was undone. Ghastly frowned, and shared a glance with Tanith.

"Fletcher. We need you to take us up to the plateau," Skulduggery jerked his head to the west, "and then you can stay or go. Whatever you care to do."

Fletcher's eyes narrowed with hurt and confusion, but he complied, and everyone linked arms.

China blinked, and suddenly they were standing on soft mud, gazing out at miles of black; a burnt and festering wound in the skin of the earth. She shuddered with revulsion. At her side, Fletcher squeaked and pranced as his shoes began to sink into the squelched mess below them. She heard him mumble something about how he didn't want to spend his vacation to Ireland rescuing his ex girlfriend and ruining his shoes. China's lips curved into a smile.

Skulduggery took off at a run, heading for where he knew the decimated remains of the shack would lie. The wind whistled through his eye sockets, bringing a lonely keening that filled his head. Abruptly, the pain in his chest spiked, and he bent over, wrapping his arms around his ribcage. Skulduggery needed her back. He needed Valkyrie by his side, with her witticisms and her intelligence and strength and support and her dark eyes watching him. The pain grew to be too much, so he shoved it away and focused on getting her back.

He straightened up, glanced over his shoulder, then took off at a sprint.

So I'm gonna write in bold now, so you know it's me!

First of all...a huge shout out to the most amazing Guest who's my first reviewer! Thank youuuuuuuuuuuu xx and in reply, even though length is not my forte, I'm gonna start trying to extend these chapters. I've already written the next couple of chapters so they'll be short, but I'll fix that soon.

Smerfrlger. Maybe you noticed all of my story shuffling going on, but I think I know how to work it now. Lol that's embarrassing.

But there's like 27 views for this already, second day up! Yay!

I'm gonna go now. This is getting awkward.

Oops btw I forgot to say that I don't own any of these characters; they belong to the one and only Mr. Derek Landy (except for Darren Wield, he's minee) but the story ideas are my own.

I promise I'm leaving now.

Please rate&review(: