Chapter 32
"Hey, I think she's coming to..." An excited voice whispered.
Gwen groaned as she put a hand on hr aching head, keeping her eyes closed tightly because of how bad the headache was.
'What the hell hit me?' Gwen thought.
'Someone attacked you from behind but I can sense they are not an enemy.' Andromeda replied.
'If a guy attacks you from behind and they are not an enemy I hate to think what they do to their real enemies.' Gwen slowly opened her eyes.
"Hey there."
Gwen's eyes shot opened as she quickly sat up on the nice comfortable bed she had been resting on to see the person sitting a chair in front of the bed with a Coke can in his hand.
"Hey there, Gwenny. Nice rest?" Kurt asked with his usual smirk.
"You ass!" Gwen threw the covers off her, thankful she was still wearing her clothes. "Was it you that knocked me out in that alley?! Because if it was get ready for the beating of ten life times!"
"Whoa! Whoa!" Kurt raised his free hand. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"The hell you don't!" Gwen pointed between Kurt's eyes. "Nothing like this ever happens without you knowing! You had better not knocked me out for some stupid reason and you had also better not copped a feel while I was out!"
"I have a girlfriend! Why the hell would I do that?!" Kurt stood up, looking offended. "Just when the hell did you get so paranoid? No wonder your relationships never last!"
He quickly ducked as Gwen tried to punch him and jumped back as she pulled out her sword.
"Kurt, I am not in a good mood at the moment so just tell me why you brought me here." Gwen growled.
"I didn't, he did." Kurt pointed at the door.
"Hi Gwen." Carlos poked his head into the room. "Have a nice sleep?"
Gwen was silent but she narrowed her eyes. "Carlos, why am I not surprised?"
"I don't know. Why does anyone get surprised?" Carlos asked, not understanding her question.
"You knocked me out in that you alley, you creep! Just what the hell was that for?!" Gwen snapped. "I've got a killer headache because of that!"
"Oh...that." Carlos tapped his chin. "Yeah, that could have gone easier but I didn't want you shouting as I dragged you off. It would have looked weird."
"And knocking me out and dragging me away on live TV wasn't weird!?" Gwen had to rub her head because her headache got a whole lot worse because of the two idiots in front of her. "Do you realize the amount of trouble you have caused?! The authorities will be all over the country looking for me, my friends will be worried while my mother has a heart attack out of sheer horror when she finds out what happened!"
"Oh right...Didn't think that through the whole way did I?" Carlos weakly chuckled.
"Are you kidding? That was great!" Kurt laughed. "When this is over we make a big announcement that we saved her life and we'll get a big reward! We're not only going be heroes but we're going to be rich!"
"Why would we want to be rich?" Carlos asked.
"You could buy a factory of Klondike Bars."
"OH YEAH! WE ARE GOING DOWN IN HISTORY BABY!" Carlos let out a load roar as he punched his fists into the air. "FILTHY RICH!"
'Why do I even try to understand?' Gwen fell back onto her bed. 'It's like talking to pair of hyperactive pair of monkeys.'
"Okay, the hero thing aside we had to get you out of there Gwen or very likely you would have died on live TV." Kurt started, his face turning serious. "There was actually a plot by a spirit aimed to kill you in that alley and if Carlos hadn't knocked you out when he did it would have attacked and you most likely would have been dead."
"And how do you know that?" Gwen sat up. "I can handle myself now, Kurt. I don't need you rescuing me from minor little ghosts and sprites anymore."
"If they were ghosts and sprites I'd be okay, but it wasn't a minor loser looking to make a name for itself." Kurt shook his head. "This was actually something that literally almost made me jump out of my skin."
"Who would have it out for me so much you and Carlos would show up here in London?" Gwen asked, wondering what made Kurt so serious.
"Jack the Ripper is active again." Kurt stated.
That made Gwen silent for a moment. "...I thought he'd be asleep for at least another twenty years."
"So did we until the Avatars assigned here sensed a spike of spirit energy. The Detection Methods found this." Carlos held out a small hand and in it appeared a small mist that was colored yellow with black streaks. "This is a sample of the color of Jack the Ripper's spirit aura."
"They were found in the same club your team was at during the challenge." Kurt continued. "We had thought Jack the Ripper had awoken early somehow and found his next victim but when the Methods detected your team we came to the conclusion that he was targeting one of you."
"I slipped into the crowd and when I saw you following that punk into the alley I got the strange feeling you were being lured into a trap. I was right because I was informed Duncan had been hiding the in the Der Schitzel Kickers dressing room. Kurt guessed the Duncan you were following was the work of a Shadow Duplicate Method." Carlos jumped back in.
"Really? I didn't feeling anything wrong with him." Gwen pointed out.
"A Shadow Duplicate Method works by taking a sample of someone's life energy and then creating a spiritual copy that disguises itself as a human. It can mimic the human body perfectly right down to the internal organs." Kurt explained. "It's been long suspected that Jack the Ripper was a master of this Method since the authorities never captured him. It's rumored that all serial killer based spirit have some form of Method that allows them to deceive everyone, even Spirit Avatars."
"Is it true about the..." Gwen glanced at Carlos.
"The Marauder? Obviously or the slippery bastard would have been toast by now." Carlos simply shrugged. "The point is the Spirit Avatars assigned here suspect Jack the Ripper is active and they're pointing the finger at us."
"Let me guess why. They know about Nebula and they know we haven't caught him yet." Gwen sighed. "They should try tracking him."
"Yeah well, they believe that Nebula was behind Jack the Ripper's early awakening. We don't know how he did it but we know from what happened in the alley that he was targeting you. Probably because you were separate from everyone else. He liked to stalk woman when they were alone and where they couldn't call for help." Kurt continued.
"I know. I did a speech on him, remember?" Gwen smirked.
"Yeah I remember. You really are a scary little girl sometimes, you know that?" Kurt remarked. "I should have known better than to give you a book on history's famous killers being spirits."
"But I learned so much." Gwen said, pretending to be a grateful little child who had just got what she always wanted on her birthday.
"Oh she is good." Carlos whispered.
"The point is we realized Jack the Ripper was about to attack so we had to get you out." Kurt got back to the point.
"I get it but what happens when it's seen on live TV that I was kidnapped?" Gwen pointed out.
"Oh we got several plans for that." Kurt grinned.
"Do tell." Gwen had a bad feeling.
"Well, the best case scenario we say you were mobbed by crazy fans who wanted you to come to their Total Drama party because saw you and reacted for the once in a life time chance to have a real celebrity in their basement!" Kurt laughed at the plan.
"That's...that's...actually not the worst plan you've ever come up with." Gwen admitted.
"I know! I'm a genius!" Kurt stood up with an air of victory surrounding him. "When you need a quick plan to throw the heat of your back I am your man!"
"Who likes to charge extra." Gwen continued.
"I know. Greedy bastard." Carlos grumbled.
"But still how do you plan to deal with Jack the Ripper? Avatars have tried for years to try and get rid of him." Gwen pointed out.
"Perhaps but at the same time the situation with Nebula has called in Avatars from around the world and we have assembled a group to help out the Avatars in the London sect." Kurt explained. "Some of the best Avatars will be here, including a few you have already met from what I heard. Alonso Carter, Avatar of Chimera, Alessa Morgan, Avatar of Nike, and Bobby Collins, Avatar of Hawke."
"Really?" Gwen asked, actually happing to be seeing some familiar faces.
"Yep. We all got to make sure that Jack doesn't go on a killing spree again. The hard work we put in to making sure London didn't end up as a city that known across the world for the bodies dead woman being in alleys is in danger here and we can't let that happen." Carlos replied with a rare serious look on his face. "This screams Nebula and Red Marauder to me."
"Then shouldn't I be back on the plane with Dawn, Elliot, and Jimmy to help them look for Nebula's Avatar?" Gwen asked.
"Maybe but we need all the help we can get with the Ripper and you've done a lot of reading up on him." Kurt pointed out. "We'll have Avatars at the next locations of the next challenges watching Dawn and Elliot while we sort the problem here out."
"I guess so." Gwen sighed reluctantly. "Where's the meeting?"
"Downstairs." Kurt opened the door and led them downstairs.
As they walked down the stairs Gwen noticed that they were in what looked like an old style bar with candles used for lights.
"You brought me to a bar? Are trying to drive me to drink?" Gwen sarcastically asked.
"Yeah right." Kurt chuckled as they stepped onto the floor. "Like I'm actually crazy enough to try that."
"Enough with the banter, we got company." Carlos pointed at the tables.
Gwen looked forward and spotted who she assumed were the Avatars gathered for the assignment. She instantly recognized Alessa, Alonso, and Bobby sitting patiently at the tables along with a few new faces she didn't recognize.
The three newcomers all wore hooded coats that began to dissipate into nothing as they stepped into view. They had obviously come fresh out of a portal or several portals. The first of them was a young dark haired boy around Gwen's age who looked like he hadn't shaven as of late-being an Avatar made it hard to keep up with hygene, wearing a simple shirt and jeans. The second was a woman who was a full head taller than Gwen, and had tanned skin with brown hair that was pulled back into a tight pony tail, wearing a light blue T-shirt with cargo shorts. The third was a short but stocky man with a trimmed beard and tattoos all along his exposed arms, a white muscle shirt, green business pants, and dark shoes.
"Gwen, meet three of the top Avatars assigned to this part of France." Kurt said. "Eugene, Avatar of Goliath."
"Goliath?"
"The Night's Black Wing." Eugene, the unshaven youth, nodded. "Born from the belief of gargoyles. He is not a real looker."
"But I can still spank you silly if you keep disrespecting me, you brat." A deep voice growled from a ring on Eugene's right hand.
"And here's Theresa, avatar of Artemis, Huntress' Patron...I think you can guess where that one came from." Carlos joked before she picked him up by the coat and held him up off his feet. He simply continued to grin at her and nodded. "Sup?"
"You owe me for that motorcycle you mutated and broke last time you were here," Theresa growled.
"Oh right...I tested out Warhawk's ability to mutate physical matter into something else." Carlos chuckled, looking at Gwen. "It was hysterical. I made it fly, and it shot fire out of its tail pipes! I've gotta show you some time."
"Not if you touch another of my bikes," The third Avatar threatened Carlos. "Don't bother Kurt, I'll introduce myself. Name's Hank."
"...and?"
"Just Hank...oh yeah, Avatar of Crichton Leprechaun." Hank nodded. "Mischievous little bastard."
"Is that really his title?"
"Nah," Hank shook his head. "More like the Judge of Mischief...or the Joke Judge. Or the Joker, but that's been copyrighted and I ain't got the time or money to pay DC Comics."
"Those bastards stole that title from me!" A voice resembling a somewhat stereotypical Irish accent shouted from a metal earring on Hank's right ear. "I may be a spirit, but I still want me pot of gold!"
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"Don't let him fool you, the guy's the leader of the France Division." Kurt whispered to Gwen. "Alright, we're all here so let's get this meeting started. And as our first topic: no you cannot hit Carlos for kidnapping Gwen on live television."
"Dang," Theresa pouted and dropped Carlos to his feet.
"I love you too," Carlos winked as he stepped back and then joined the others at the table. "May this meeting of the Knights of Badassery come to order. To start: I elect that we take five since I'm bored as hell already."
"Why did we invite him?" Alessa glared at Bobby. "Who invited him anyway?!"
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...
"Beats me," Bobby shrugged.
"Meh," Alonso shrank in his seat a bit to avoid being pointed out. "I thought it was you. Thought you'd bring him in to hose him again."
"I didn't," Kurt shook his head. "He invited himself, as always."
"Yyyyep. And if any of you argue my right to be here I will gladly pull your spinal cords out through your eye sockets!" Carlos said cheerily, making the others edge away from him a bit.
"And you all know of Gwen Rivers here, Avatar of Andromeda, Heaven's Star." Kurt gestured to Gwen.
She shared a brief nod with Alessa while Alonso smiled at her.
"Hey there, little lady. How's it feel to be off that show?" Bobby asked, grinning. "Probably sucks you won't get that money now."
"What? And leave you alone with no one to safe you when your ancient ass is getting kicked? Yeah right." Gwen smirked.
Bobby chuckled. "Still the sassy little spitfire I remember from before!"
"Please keep it down; we're having a meeting here." Alessa said sternly.
"Stills as stiff as usual huh?" Bobby smirked at her.
"Just eager to end this as soon as possible." Alessa replied, ending the topic.
"All right then, we're all here because there is reasonable cause to believe that Jack the Ripper is active again and that Nebula, the Stalker in the Stars is responsible. At this point we don't know if he convinced his Avatar to do it or the possibility that Jack the Ripper has a connection with the Black Star." Kurt began the meeting. "Let's start with what we know of Jack the Ripper. He was a famous serial killer who operated in the Whitechapel district of London, targeted and killed woman by slashing their throats and mutilated their bodies. The police could never connect the murders and they never caught the culprit who supposedly disappeared after the death of Mary Jane Kelly but what no one knew was there was more than one culprit. The murderer was a deranged spirit who possessed more than one person who was near the victim but that same time committed the murder after making sure the possessed person was not spotted by police or witnesses."
"Yes we know of that part. We also know that he was the spirit of a deceased human who had become deranged from his death, becoming a psycho who took his rage out on the victims he killed." Eugene continued. "It wasn't until after Kelly was murdered did the Spirit Avatars assigned to this branch made the connection that a spirit was behind the murders. They made the connection and managed to stop Jack from killing another woman even though there were several copy cat killings after murders. The problem is that Jack the Ripper is so obsessed with killing that he was almost always too strong for us to try and force him to eternal rest."
"So every few decades when he became active the Avatars assigned here would set up the Exorcist Method to try and force him to leave the material world but his obsession is so strong he can actually negate the Method's affects. All it did was force him into a dormant state that lasted for about five decades at the most." Theresa spoke up.
"We've been researching how to get rid of him for good but so far no success. And this so called Stalker in the Stars has stepped in and caused a lot of trouble for us." Hank finished. "I know he's been hard to catch but this is one hell of a misfortune."
"We've been trying our best here." Gwen pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. That's not important right now." Hank continued, unfazed. "If we want to find out if Jack the Ripper is active again we need to catch him in the act and that means activating the Eye of Truth Method."
Gwen looked confused until Kurt began to explain. "The Eye of Truth is a special Method that was created by the Avatar who hunted Jack the Ripper during the murders in the Whitechapel. The Method grants the user the ability to see things from a great distance but it is capable of projecting a projection of the city inside the user's mind, allowing them to observe the location of the population, they can observe even spirits, Avatars, all things spiritual related. It's how they've managed to catch Jack the Ripper anytime he became active, in fact every Avatar assigned to London is taught how to use the Method which is how we realized Jack was active and that he was targeting you."
"Cool. How come you never taught me this? I never saw you use a Method like that before." Gwen tilted her head. "A Method like this could have come in handy for several occasions."
"It's not the easiest Method to master. It enhances the vision of your eyes beyond normal and if it goes wrong to could lead to blindness or something worse." Kurt explained, looking as serious as he could possibly act.
"What's worse?"
"You don't want to know." Eugene shuddered.
"An Avatar needs to at least able to harness more than five percent of a spirit like Andromeda while mastering Methods to a degree that you could at least cast them without the Omni-Glove." Kurt explained. "If I had taught you this while you were still learning how to harness Andromeda's power in your body it would have been dangerous no matter how responsible you are. But if Jack the Ripper really is active again we can't wait anymore."
"So I'm here to learn this new Method and help out in the search?" Gwen asked, eager to be learning a new Method.
"That's the plan for you anyway. But since neither Carlos nor me know the Method we asked Eugene and the others to help out." Kurt replied.
Gwen looked the new Avatars, seeing their reactions and so far they seemed to accept that part of the plan.
"What about Dawn and Elliot? How are they holding up?" Gwen looked back to Kurt.
"Don't worry, I told them what was going on." Kurt reassured her. "They even asked to you send a message to them when you had the chance."
"Can we move now? We're wasting time." Hank said, getting impatient.
"Sounds like someone hasn't had gotten a hold of Jimmy's bottle yet." Carlos snickered.
"You want to die, Carlos?" Hank growled.
"Ha! You'd be surprised by how many have said that!" Carlos laughed.
"Just him?" Gwen asked.
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"Yes." Carlos grumbled as he sat down, crossed his arms and glared at the now smirking Gwen. "But I know a lot of people were thinking it!"
Gwen shrugged. "Can't argue with that."
"Nope."
"Nuh-uh."
"Anybody want to make a bet on how many people thought it?" Bobby asked. "I bet it's ten thousand or less."
"You think too small. Millions, tens of millions!" Kurt insisted.
"Are we talking just humans here? Not even Carlos could piss off that many people...could he have?" Eugene asked.
Everybody shrugged, and Carlos simply grinned. "You know, this'd be the perfect time for the screen to fade out and get replaced by some disclaimer for a show called 'Everybody Loves Carlos'. Yeah...a picture of me walking off from a burning building, eating ice cream. Now THAT would be a good show."
"Can we please get back to the point of this meeting?" Alessa impatiently demanded. "With each second we waste, another victim could be chosen."
Kurt nodded and sat back down. "Right...alright, the plan is simple: we used the Method to locate Jack the Ripper. Then while one or two of us guards Eugene while he works his magic, the rest of us close in on Jack and neutralize him."
"If it sounds so simple, why do you have so many Avatars here? And why have Carlos here?" Gwen asked.
"Well as I said before he invited himself," Kurt frowned. "And actually there is a very good reason that we could have him here..."
"Which is?"
Kurt leaned in. "Did Carlos and I ever tell you about Warhawk's special ability?"
"Special...Ability? Beyond turning Carlos into a demonic monster or letting him shoot and bathe in flames that would evaporate a whole lake?" Gwen sounded cynical.
"Well like the Omni-Ceremony that allows Andromeda to grant a wish that would be deemed impossible even by our standards, Warhawk has his own special ceremony." Kurt explained.
"The Ceremony of the Dragon." Carlos spoke, looking very serious. "Warhawk's most powerful ability. It works by using a large amount of life energy that either comes from spirits or humans to create a dragon made completely of flames. The dragon's flames act like the Phantom Flare Method, it literally burns away life energy of anything it touches and can instantly incinerate almost any kind of spirit its flame touches. The last time around the Avatars didn't have an Avatar for Warhawk, so they didn't have the luxury of just burning Jack out of existence. However...we now have me."
"And I am proud to say that the Ceremony of the Dragon was mastered within two years of his training." WarHawk said as the pocket holding the switchblade that was the spirit's vessel glowed bright red. "A little determination can go a long way with a set goal in mind."
"What about the toll? If it's a Ceremony, what's the toll?" Eugene asked, sounding just as concerned as Gwen felt.
"Oh I have that one covered," Carlos grinned. "I've sealed up a whole bunch of demons up into a little vessel, more precisely this little vessel!" He held up what looked like a gourd. "...and yes, it's a gourd...I was in a pottery shop when I caught the first one, give me a break. Anyways, the moment I use the ceremony, these demons come out and BAM! They're dragon food...more precisely dragon fuel, and then Jacky Boy becomes Dragon Food, premium and extra crispy."
All of the Avatars shared a look as they sighed. When it came to be being devious Carlos had it in spades and when he was on the job he really had no qualms about using most people as live bait. Luckily they were only evil spirits and demons.
"If that doesn't kill Jack the Ripper for good, nothing will." Carlos finished. "What good is his obsession when his entire existence is burned away and leaving nothing, not even ashes?"
"But will anyone be hurt? When there is an Avatar Ceremony it doesn't just blast away the bad spirit with a simple spell. It could affect the entire city and its entire population." Gwen pointed out. "And if something goes wrong it could wipe all of London off the map."
"Relax, Gwen. At least pretend to have some faith in me but I got to see if it can do it. If it works Jack the Ripper is gone for good." Carlos reassured her.
Gwen sighed. "Can you at least promise that there's not going to be a great big fight that will be probably endanger us all?"
"I guarantee it." Carlos grinned.
Everyone looked at each other and thought one thing.
'We are so dead.'
Xxx
Gwen stood on the roof of the Tower of London, watching with a small amount of awe at the city below. "I never thought I'd be here, even as an Avatar."
"Life has its surprises." Kurt appeared behind her. "Me? I'm more worried about how bad this will get before it's over."
"What's got you worried?" Gwen glanced at him. "I know you, Kurt. You wouldn't have assembled a team like this for a single spirit, even one like Jack the Ripper."
"I got to stop being so predictable." Kurt sighed. "The fact is, I'm not convince that we only have the Ripper to worry about."
"Black Star." Gwen stated.
"Give the girl her free make over." Kurt chuckled. "You're right. Something about this little situation doesn't add up. There was no time for any of the cast to slip away and reawaken the Ripper so this could be another member of the Black Star."
"Or more than one." Merlin spoke up from Kurt's sunglasses.
"A dangerous possibility." Andromeda replied, manifesting her specter form.
"So let's get to work on this new Method." Kurt nodded. "Before something goes horribly wrong again."
Xxx
Three figures stood in a dark room watching a bright blue flame revealing images of the Avatars in the city.
"Perfect, nine Avatars in the same city. Do you even know how rare it is for there to be even two Avatars in the same place at once?" A male voice whispered.
"Let's just go and kill them now!" Another voice growled.
"Patience. We must continue the plan that Nebula has asked for us." The first voice scolded the growling figure.
"I personally don't care but I'm getting very impatient!" A high pitched voice said. "Let's just hurry and get rid of them! I haven't tasted blood in centuries!"
"We must be careful or you will fall again and against spirits like Warhawk and Andromeda we cannot take any chances." The first voice said. "Let us show these Avatars who they are dealing with."