Okay, here's the next episode. This one was a little hard to write because I just kept wanting to add more, I have so many ideas for Dystopia and the lore of it. So rest assured, this is just our first toe dip, we will return to Dystopia in the future. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I love to hear what you think and what your guesses are. I cannot confirm or deny anything in this author note, so you'll just have to stay tuned.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy this episode.
Danger S1E25: Dangers in Dystopia
March 1, 2022
"Heck yes! Let's go!" AWOL cheers exuberantly as soon as Danger announces his plan to go to Dystopia to them and Nurse Cohort in the back of an ambulance at Penury Crater. He jumps up, fist clenched and says, "Hop on!"
"Woah! Woah! No!" Danger returns staunchly. "No. No. No. No. No! We are not just popping over to Dystopia and I never said you were invited along."
"How else do you plan to get there quickly?" AWOL asks impudently. "We don't have time for a long trip with two twenty-plus hour flights; even if it's just you that goes, that's the situation where Shadow Man goes on a crazy killing spree."
"Well, there is no way I am letting any of you into a country where hundreds of physcos and magic wielding killers run rampant," Danger argues.
"Well, we're not going to let you go there alone!" Volt retorts. "If it's that bad, going alone would be suicide!"
"I know what Dystopia's like," Danger says sternly, "and I'm not taking any of my sidekicks there. I will deal with that hellscape on my own. We're not having this argument."
"We might be sidekicks but that doesn't mean you just get to cut us out of stuff because you don't think we can handle it!" Shoutout protests. "We're a team, we are supposed to fight together and help you on important missions."
Danger shakes his head. "It's not about your capabilities. No one can 'handle' Dystopia; the Heroes League wrote it off for a reason. I'm not going to let you come to keep you alive."
"But what about keeping you alive?" Brainstorm questions with a frown.
"We need you," Lil' Dynomite agrees. "What are we supposed to do if you go alone and get killed?"
"We don't want to go because it's a mysterious faraway place…" Shoutout asserts.
"That might be a little bit of it," Volt comments offhandedly.
"… we want to stop Shadow Man and this is the next step. You don't get to do this alone or leave us behind." Shoutout completes her statement.
"I said 'No'. End of story. We are not having this argument." Danger vows immovably to the ring of sidekicks around him, though the firmness of it does nothing to stop their protests.
"What about me?" Nurse Cohort wonders. "What 'help' do you expect from me? How will you going to Dystopia lead to us killing Shadow Man?"
Danger sighs. "I… know some people there who can help us figure out what he's doing with his magic. They'll be able to help us combat his magic. In a way more than just throwing it back at him."
She scowls at the snide comment and fingers her recently holstered black gun, "Don't tempt me. I still thinking killing you would be a way to mess up his plans."
"My Dystopian frie… alli… acquaintances," he searches for the right word to describe his relationship with the Dark Angels, "should be able to tell us how we can really stop him, without blowing holes in the city."
Thoughtfully she considers him. "Good luck with that. I'm not going with you."
He nods at her, "I wasn't going to ask you to come. You should go to the hospital, see if they can do anything for your burns."
She glares at him and grumbles the complaint, "We both got hit, and he chose to heal you and not me. That's not how the villain community is supposed to work."
"He doesn't seem the type for community," Danger comments.
She frowns and refuses to make any more conversation with him. "Go find us a way to kill him," she commands.
(Theme Song: Henry's voice dubbed over the image of Captain Man's Bronze statue. "It all just kinda happened. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He shouldn't have died. But now here I am, doing his job." Cut scene to Man's Nest in chaos as members of Danger Force and Scwhoz run around reacting to alert blaring through the base. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Henry states and the music of the theme song begins to play...)
March 8, 2022
Henry gets ready for Dystopia, taking a whole week to prepare before deciding to finally leave. Once he's ready and about to head to the airport to find a last-minute flight, his sidekicks confront him in the Man's Nest. He frowns at them. "I told you, you're not coming," he says.
Chapa cuts off his sidestep. "And we've made it clear you're not going without us."
"We've all been preparing to go all week too," Mika says. "I even researched Dystopian fashion and had Schwoz make us gumballs so we can be incognito."
"Uh, why did you do that?" Miles asks.
"It wouldn't really do to have Danger Force all being spotted in Dystopia. Henry's taking his Barricade/Dystopian uniform instead of his Danger one, so I think we should try to blend in too," she says.
"You're not coming," Henry repeats.
"Yes, they are!" Schwoz argues, coming into the room with a tray of gumballs. "Here are your Dystopian gumballs," he says passing them out to the kids.
"Schwoz, I'm not taking them to…" Henry says.
Schwoz cuts him off, "Yes, you are. You are not going alone. Charlotte and Yasper aren't here to go with you, so you are going to take Danger Force and Dawson. No arguments."
"Schwoz!" Henry argues.
"I said no arguments!" Schwoz says. "You might be the boss around here now, but I am the oldest and I say you are all going. So that you can protect each other, and all come back alive."
"Schwoz!" Henry protests again.
"Henry!" he return shouts. "Dystopia is dangerous! You are scared of it so much you never even talk about any of it. You can't go there alone. We already lost Ray when he went after magic all alone," he explains more subdued and far more needling. "Now you think we're going to let you go to where we know there's lots of magic and way more crazies like Shadow Man without taking back up? Not likely!"
"Cool!" Miles says. He and the others have blown their bubbles and are now wearing darker, grungier clothes. Not too dissimilar from their normal looks but with more black, muted colors, and torn fabric. "So, it's settled then. We're all going. Grab on." Miles says without a break as Henry takes in the look and gapes. The rest of Danger Force and Dawson do as Miles says. Miles grabs Henry and teleports them before he can say any more.
After the flash of bright yellow, the six of them appear on a dark, dank street under a smoggy sunset. The dozens of pedestrians stop and stare at the newcomers. Their expressions turn from shock and surprise to hostility and anger quickly as they each get a good look at the six of them. Henry grabs hold of Miles and Chapa forcefully and pushes them away with quick steps and the order, "Move. Move now."
"Hey!" they both protest as he forces them into a nearby alley. Dawson, Bose and Mika obediently follow him, trotting to keep up.
"What wrong?" Mika asks, noticing how all the people on the street follow them with their eyes without making a move.
"Move, just move," Henry presses stressfully. He drags them, Chapa's resistance being entirely futile, through several dark alleys and streets. He doesn't stop until they're several blocks away. He checks all around them for any prying eyes and shoulders a door open. Once inside the wet and moldy basement room he finally takes a breath and turns to his confused sidekicks. "Are you insane?!" he demands of Miles, more tense than they've ever seen him.
"What?" Miles responds.
"What did he do?" Bose asks.
"Oh my god," Henry mutters, pacing and raking his fingers over his head. "This is exactly why I should've come alone. You know nothing about Dystopia."
"I did a lot of research!" Mika says defensively.
"What exactly did I do wrong?" Miles asks with equal irritation.
"You teleported us into the middle of a busy street," he says to Miles. "You thought you could research Dystopia," he tells Mika. "And you're all wearing masks!" he emphasizes.
They exchange looks. "Uh… so?" Miles asks.
"I don't understand," Dawson says.
"Don't we need masks? To protect our identities?" Bose asks.
"No," Henry sighs and slumps against the wall.
"Then what…?" Chapa begins.
"Shh!" Henry orders abruptly. He steps alertly to the door and peers through a crack.
"Why?" Chapa asks.
"Shh!" he hisses again. They stand in silence, not knowing why but very put off by Henry's behavior and growing more and more scared by the moment.
He watches through a crack in the door as two dark figures creep along the street outside. He doesn't move, desperately hoping they'll move on quickly. For several minutes they prowl the area. Even after they do move out of sight, Henry waits several more minutes before relaxing enough to move.
"What's going on?" Mika asks. "What is happening?"
"Okay," Henry says hushed to his sidekicks. "Stay quiet and listen. I'm going to give you a little crash course in how to survive in Dystopia before we go back out in the streets."
"Crash course?" Bose asks.
"Why do we need…?" Chapa asks.
"Listen!" Henry whisper yells. "We need to hurry. We want to spend as little time in this place as we can." He waits for them to all indicate their agreement to do so. "Good. Now, first thing: get those masks off and throw them away."
"But our identities?!" Miles immediately pipes up in protests.
"You're in more danger if you keep them on," Henry promises. "Remember the time I visited from Dystopia? I told you we don't wear masks here."
"You said that was because you were 'above that'," he mocks.
"I may have joked about it, but Dystopia is serious about thinking they're beyond the need for masks. They believe no one should ever hide who they are regardless of what they're doing. The overall emotion of the people here is that everyone should always be one hundred percent their unfiltered self, meaning no one should ever suppress any part of who they are. Which, yeah, sounds nice, in that 'we're the most accepting people' way, and in a way maybe they are. But this is also why crime and evil are so rampant here: the general consensus of be who you 'are', 'do what feels right to you', and 'never suppress any thought or feeling' means they actually encourage psychopaths to indulge their deepest, craziest desires. Nothing is off the table here. To them, wearing a mask is one of the only true crimes you can commit. Wearing one is like putting a gigantic target on your face and telling everyone, 'Kill me now!'. I'm not going to let any of you take another step here with one on so get them off."
Dawson and Bose are quickest to obey, having pulled them off well before his explanation is over. Chapa, Miles and Mika are fast to follow suit, Henry having clearly instilled a great deal more fear into them in his few sentences. They fling them into a corner without another look. Henry nods satisfied at them for that. "Good."
"What about our identities? If we can't wear our masks?" Dawson questions quietly, worrying his lip with his teeth.
"Your identities will be fine, just like mine is," Henry promises. "We'll get to that in a minute. Right now, let's finish fixing the rest of your outfits," he grumbles considering them with a grimace.
"I worked really hard on these!" Mika complains. "I did all the research, these fit the style of what people where in Dystopia."
"Yeah, maybe in the 70's," he answers sarcastically. "Look, Mika, I'm sorry I have to tell you this, but all your research on Dystopia is worthless, utter garbage."
She glares and angrily demands, "Excuse me?!"
"Shh!" he hisses in return. "I don't mean any offense. I'm sure you did your best. But nothing you read or heard about Dystopia isn't true, unless it came from someone who'd personally spent a chunk of time here, like me or Charlotte or Jasper. Nothing the internet has on it, almost none of the stories you hear, have any reality too them."
"But all the stories say it's a creepy, crime infested, dark place," Chapa says. "And you just said that it is."
"Yeah," Henry nods. "I'm not saying the stories are over exaggerations or fictions to give it a bad reputation. They're under-exaggerations and fictions that don't touch the true level of horror that happens here."
"That's disturbing," Mika mutters.
Bose nods shakily. With a tight voice he says, "The stories about Dystopia are always so bad. But you're saying it really a lot worse?"
Henry nods. "Now you're getting it. There are reasons I don't ever talk about it."
"Oh god," Mika says looking a little green.
"Yeah, the reality is a lot worse. But the rest of the world doesn't know that because of how much Dystopia dislikes the rest of the world. Their disagreements on morality and life and laws and basically everything else, led Dystopia to cutting itself off from the rest of the world to the highest extent it could. They don't participate in international confederacies of any kind, have no treaties or alliances with anyone. They created their own separate internet and built huge barriers around the entire border," Henry lists.
"Well, not all of it," Mika corrects.
"Yes, all of it," Henry counter-corrects. "There is either a physical wall or magical defenses surrounding the entire country. These barriers make it easy to come in but very hard to get out. You would've noticed little about tourism in your research?" Mika nods. "Trick question; there is none. Anything you read was a ruse, trying to trick people into coming here. Even the charity Charlotte was supposed to be running here last year was like that: not real, a trap."
"They trapped Charlotte?" Miles asks amazed.
"Of course not, she would've figured them out before hand," Mika says.
"Well…" Henry shrugs.
"They trapped Charlotte?" Miles asks again even more amazed.
"No way! She's too smart to fall into a trap like that!" Mika defends.
Henry nods seriously against her statement though. "Didn't you ever wonder how she ended up with cybernetics in her?"
For once, none of them have anything to respond with. They gape, standing stiff and looking around for someone to change the story. Henry shrugs and goes on with explaining, "That's how Dystopia is, one big trap meant to lure you in. Almost nothing and no one ever gets out. Meaning, now that we're here, we can't get out. The magical barriers will at the least make it hard, if not impossible, for us to even teleport out."
"We're stuck here?" Dawson asks nervously.
"Yeah," Henry says bluntly. He considers all their anxious faces and body language. "You still glad you came?" Their silence is answer enough. Their muffled whimpers and moans, the way their lips tremble and their eyes glisten, tell Henry he's gotten through to them; they understand how in over their heads they had gotten themselves. He breathes with some small relief and softens while saying, "We're going to be okay. I've been in and out of here twice, it is possible to escape. And as long as you listen to me and don't do anything stupid, none of you should get hurt either."
They don't seem particularly comforted. Bose steps quickly forward to hug Henry. Henry wraps his arm around him and promises, "We'll be okay. Okay?"
"Okay," Bose nods with trust.
"I'm sorry," Miles mutters. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have brought us here; I should have listened to you."
"We'll deal with it. We're here now, we can't well change that," Henry comforts. "Let's just do what we came to do and get out of here quick."
"I still think it's a good thing we're here," Chapa comments. She is no less horrified than her friends, but she puts on a brave face to say, "If Dystopia really is a lot worse than we ever knew, then we were even more right about how dangerous it would've been for you to come here alone. You need us."
With a sigh Henry concedes, "Maybe."
"So, what's wrong with our outfits then?" Mika asks shyly.
"Um…" Henry says with a smirk, "first of all, what's with the huge furry collar on Miles' jacket?"
Miles considers the large yellow fluff draped over his shoulders. "I… uh… thought that big collars were a popular thing here."
He nods. "Kind of, but not like that. That looks a bit too bougie; unless it was from a fresh kill that you were showing off like a prize, fur isn't a big look around here. Second, can you patch the tears in your pants? The less skin you show here, the better. More layers are better, so good job on the jackets, and the tall boots over your pants and I actually really like the scarf and the headband thing." He genuinely compliments Mika. "But the rips aren't great."
"I could find something," she says, fingering the distressed denim of her black jeans. She rips off a piece of her tattered grey scarf and ties it around the hole.
"Good. As for the hats," he points to the blue beanie on Bose's head and the rusty orange chullo hat on Dawson's, "…you're lucky it's March and still cold around here. The Gloves are good, fingerless or otherwise. But one question with that," he says with a more amused grin. "Are you and Bose planning to get into fist fights while here? Because yours look like boxing hand wraps."
Miles and Dawson laugh lightly as Bose and Mika look awkwardly at their wrap-gloves.
"Dawson, zip up that black vest, the orange flame shirt is a little bright, you'll stand out like a caution cone in that color," Henry instructs. Dawson does so, quickly with a sheepish look. Henry looks them all over again and determines, "Okay. Better."
"Nothing to change in my look?" Chapa questions.
He smirks, "Nah, you look pretty alright."
She hums shortly with a smug shrug. "Don't take credit," Mika warns, "I designed yours too." She turns back to Henry, "Are we good now?"
"Good enough, just try to keep a low profile," he encourages.
"Okay, all that's good. But, seriously, what do we do to protect our identities?" Chapa asks.
"As I said, Dystopia doesn't keep up with the rest of the world and actively prevents the rest of the world from keeping up with it. They set up and use their own internet entirely unconnected to the world wide web so that they don't ever have to hear anything about what's going on in the outside world and the outside world never really knows what's going on here. What happens in Dystopia, stays in Dystopia. Literally," Henry says. "You don't have to worry about anyone connecting your identities. Just don't going saying your names and nobody will ever even know who you are."
They look nervously unconvinced. "I hope you're right," Miles says.
"I am," Henry says confidently. "Are you guys ready to go back out there?"
After five variations of "yeah" and getting their promises to obey whatever he tells them to do, Henry leads his team back out into the open streets of Dystopia.
(Commercial Break)
"This place sucks!" Chapa complains as Henry directs them all in the opposite direction of a group of guys mugging a woman. This is not the first blatant crime he'd not allowed them to thwart.
"We have to help her!" Bose agrees.
"She'll be fine, she can take care of herself," Henry assures once again. "It'll only cause more trouble if we get involved."
"But, what if they hurt her and we did nothing?" Mika frets.
"That woman is tougher than she looks," Henry promise. His sidekicks don't take their eyes off her though, and in mere moments get to witness the woman turn on her would be attackers and slaughter several of them before dragging the remaining handful up the stairs and into the door of the nearest building. "Told ya," Henry comments as they gape. "A good rule of thumb to remember here: The most helpless and innocent looking people, are probably the ones who'll kill you fastest. Everything here is laced in traps. Now stop staring before she comes after us."
He pushes them to keep moving but not another half minute later they are again reacting dramatically to something happening down the street. Mika shrieks, quickly shutting herself up with a hand slapped over her own mouth as the cry had broken the border between merely terrified shock and super-powers. "Oh god!" Miles cries.
"What the butt are those?" Chapa exclaims simultaneously.
Bose whimpers and gapes. Dawson looks to where they're all staring, towards the bodies of the dead muggers, and asks, "What are what?"
Henry glances back a bit irritated to see what they're all so worked up about. "Dang it!" He curses at the sight. "Where were they to get here so fast?"
"Where were they? How about what are they?" Miles asks.
"Gore Wraiths," Henry answers. "Look away and move faster."
"What?" Chapa asks, still staring as they trot farther away from the scene. "What the heck is a gore wraith?"
"Those are," Henry says simply.
"What are?" Dawson demands looking between his friends and the spot they all seem to be looking. "What are you talking about?"
"The freaky blood-dripping robe-less dementors over there!" Mika points incredulously.
"What?" Dawson asks looking even more confused.
"You can't see them," Henry tells him. "Be glad of it. And look away, all of you. You don't want to see any more of them than you have."
"I haven't seen anything!" Dawson complains still glancing that way even as the others follow instructions eagerly. He doesn't see any dark creatures that Mika had described but as he watches the already well-eviscerated bodies of the muggers lift off the ground inexplicably and begin ripping apart. "What the…!" he shrieks.
Henry grabs him and forces his head away. "Don't look!" he orders. "Just because you can't see them doesn't mean you can't see what they do."
"Oh my god," Dawson wheezes clinging to Henry horrified.
Mika whimpers and throws her hands over her ears, turning her reverse-hearing aids all the way down as the sounds of the violence behind them rise. Bose and Miles step to either side of her to hold her hand or wrap his arm over her shoulder. The six of them are all but running, holding onto each other, as the screams of civilians and the strange guttural evil sounds of the gore wraiths echo down the street.
Doors all up and down the street open, a variety of people stick their heads out to see what's happening. Some quickly retreat back in but others call out to the people on the street "Come in! Come in! Away from the wraiths!" "Safety is here!" "Join us inside!"
One more aggressive petitioner steps into the street to beckon to them. "You cannot escape them if you stay out here! Come! Bring the children inside!" They say, reaching for Chapa.
With barely a faltered step, Henry pulls Chapa away, swapping her places so she is with Dawson and he is dealing with the petitioner. He elbows them remorselessly in the face and kicks out their knee. "Not happening, creep!" he says and keeps running.
"You'll get them killed!" The petitioner calls. "The gore wraiths will have them!"
"I think I know a bit more about gore wraiths than you!" Henry returns. Catching up to his sidekicks in a few seconds he screeches to a stop beside them upon seeing another pair of gore wraiths coming down that road. "Oh, come on!"
"What?" Dawson asks, being pulled back by the others.
"More of them!" Bose cries.
"This way!" Henry directs them back, past the petitioner to peer curiously down a parallel street. "There's none this way."
"You can't know that!" the petitioner calls cautiously. "It would be better to find a place to hide! I have food, rare delicacies, protective charms!"
Henry ignores him and pushes the kids ahead of him to run down the road. "Keep Lil' D in the middle. Stop if you see another!"
"See?" the petitioner questions shocked. "You can see them?!" Henry scoffs at him with a glance. "You're… you're not…?" the petitioner wonders, "…Him. You're the one they call Heart?!"
The shout is followed by a sudden stillness. Those who'd heard the exclamation quickly repeat the name. They all turn around in circles to search until after only a few seconds, every eye is on Henry. "Dang it," Henry curses quietly.
"Um, they all know you?" Mika asks. All the heroes have stopped now, the five sidekicks looking around in almost as much surprise as all the people on the street.
"Yeah, I was running around here playing hero for a year," Henry reminds. "Stay behind me. Keep an eye on those gore wraiths."
"Heart, the Heart," the petitioner says in awe, following them. "I have always wanted to meet you. This is truly the opportunity of a lifetime." They smile viciously, flicking a pair of throwing knives from out of their sleeves.
"And they hate you?" Bose asks.
"I told you Dystopian logic is backwards," Henry says.
The former petitioner throws the knives, they bend through the air as if they have their own wills. Streaking out then back in like boomerangs they aim towards Henry's face. He deflects them easily off his forcefield and they return to their master's hands. "Us backwards?" the knife-wielder questions. "I'd say it's the rest of the world who's backwards. You think us evil? Yet it is only you who can see the gore wraiths, which are an embodiment of evil."
"Seeing them doesn't depend on a level of evil," Henry explains.
"Yeah! We're not evil," Miles contests.
"You're the one calling him 'Heart'," Bose adds. "Which means love and goodness, which is the opposite of evil."
Multiple people blink at him. Henry makes a face somewhere between a smile and a frown and says, "No dude, like my name 'Hart'. Not 'Heart'."
"Oh," Bose says awed as he gets it. "Oh yeah."
"Both are fitting, you sickeningly light hero," the knife-wielder spits like it's a disgusting insult.
"Gore wraith!" Mika warns. Three are ambling down the alley from the other way.
Henry glances back. "Dang it!" he curses.
His moment of distraction allows the knife-wielder a free shot and he lands both. One tearing though Henry's forearm; sleeve, skin and muscle. While the other slashes across his brow and begins pouring blood over his eye. "Gah!" Henry cries, pressing at his head.
"Hope you didn't like that shirt," they jeer. Henry blinks and wipes at the blood, squinting back at them. "Though that may not be your main problem right now."
"Gore wraiths! Gore wraiths! Coming closer!" Miles shrieks
"Oh, are they close?" they ask teasing. "Well, they are so drawn to fresh blood and you are spilling quite a bit of it there. Too bad. Guess this is the end for you, Hart. You shouldn't have come back to Dystopia."
Henry sneers. "I wouldn't worry about me," he says and pulls out his gum tin. Everyone watches him chew and blow his gum. The transformation serves the double purpose of cleaning the blood from his skin and eye, if only for a short moment, and covering the two cuts with his leather jacket and mask, leading to a decrease in the amount of blood spilling around him. "I can at least see them. When you start to bleed, you won't know they're coming until it's too late."
The sight of his old Dystopian uniform also has the effect of setting off all the Dystopian people around him. The knife-wielder glowers at him hard as Henry kicks the nearest blood-covered, corpse-like wraith to the ground. "You silly, secret keeping, self-controlling interloper! Why in the abyss would you out on a mask?! We all already know what you look like!"
"Blast them, their physical enough that you should be able to hold them off, a least for a little while," Henry orders his team regarding the gore wraiths before responding to the knife-wielder. "I'm at least as comfortable in a mask as out of one. This is no less the real me than when you see my unmasked face. And you all hate me anyway, might as well put one on."
"Aaa!" Mika shrieks. They are working on sending the gore wraiths down the street with their powers, but the dark beings continually stir against them.
"No, no, no!" Bose yelps.
"I am not touching that!" Chapa decrees.
"I'm out!" Miles says and tries to teleport. The flash or yellow strobes a moment and he ends up crashing back to the ground on his spot instead of leaving. "Dang, I really can't teleport out of here." He throws his fists up again and succeeds in retreating down the block.
"Don't leave me closest!" Dawson protests as they all back away from the gore wraiths quickly. "I can't even see them!" Henry glances over at Dawson, grabs his shoulder and pulls him to his side.
The Dystopian again sends their knives flying while Henry is distracted. Bose calls a warning too late. With a flash of dark metal, the knives miss entirely, deflected by a rough ebony blade.
Holding the long, curved knife, is a gorgeous woman. Her short dark hair frames a smooth heart-shaped face, her dark eyes sparkle powerfully like her weapon and the enormous gauzy black wings on her back hold her hovering just off the ground in front of them.
"Oh my god!" Dawson cries, jerking away from the blade inches from his face. She whips it away so fast he can hardly see it move. She stalks towards the former knife-wielder, their knives broken shards on the ground. They run, without a single word. She turns about, wings fluttering, she launches over their head and begins slashing at the gore wraiths. "What…?"
"Oh come on!" Henry curses under his breath.
"What?" Mika asks, shaking her head. "Don't tell me this is worse."
He grimaces in a way that doesn't give a clear answer.
"Man, she's really not very good at hitting them," Chapa notes.
Nonetheless, the gore wraiths retreat from her aura of power. She pursues them only to the corner of the next building. Then she comes flying back towards them. Henry tenses. "That" she says strongly to Chapa, "would be because I can't see them. I'd like to see you do so well against them without your super-sight. YOU!" she snaps around to Henry, glaring and swinging her ebony knife to stop a centimeter shy of his throat. "You have five people here with you as backup and you can't manage to keep yourself out of trouble with that kind of lowlife?"
His ambiguous grimace doesn't change, even as he greets her, "Hi Gemma."
"What are you doing here, Henry?" she asks him. "You got out, that's what you wanted, why would you come back?"
He sighs and reluctantly confesses, "I need the Angels' help." She raises an eyebrow but doesn't lower her weapon. "Please. I'm kind of desperate."
She laughs. "You must be. What makes you think we'll help you?"
(Commercial break)
"How could you never tell us about this place?" Miles asks Henry, wide eyed and staring at every black winged warrior that they pass. Gemma has brought them to the fortress of the Dark Angels. Every one of the angels is as beautiful as Gemma; female or male, all are vixens of flawless skin, shiny hair, and entrancing eyes, with dark wings of gauze, feathers or scales.
"Don't go getting any ideas," Henry warns harshly yet in a careful whisper. "You do not want to tangle with an angel." All the angels watch the heroes pass, then turn to each other and whisper.
"Oh, I think I would," Miles smiles flirtatiously at a couple of the younger girls among the angels' ranks. They eye him appraisingly and giggle.
Henry grabs hold of the thick fluffy collar of his jacket and drags Miles away. "Don't."
"Oh, come on!" Miles complains.
Chapa scoffs at him, "Don't be pathetic."
"How can it be pathetic when they really are that attractive?" Mika asks. She eyes some of the men, far more subtly than her brother.
Henry sighs, "Stop it."
Gemma leads them to the central chamber of the fortress, a large chamber where six regal angels hover gathered around a six-foot stone table with a red fire burning in the center. The six stare impassively at Henry as he enters with Gemma and his sidekicks. Gemma steps up right to the end of the table, Henry fearlessly taking a place beside her. She inclines her head in a bow and addresses the six, "Seraphim."
"Angel," they return her greeting in unison. Their eyes flick to her for the briefest moment as they greet her before their eyes flit back onto Henry.
"You've brought us Henry Hart," one of the women, an unnaturally tall and pale beauty with long, midnight hair and wings like leaves, notes in an unusual accent. "How exactly can the Dark Angels assist the most famous superhero in the world?"
Henry grimaces and admits reluctantly, "I need some advice. My city has come under attack of a terrible magic user, and I'm not equipped to stop him."
A small tittering of laughter and small smirks run around the table. "You want our advice? I would've thought the great Danger would have resources enough that he would never need set foot in our fortress again." Mocks the youngest male seraph; a wiry and impish boy with sharp wings of glass and a mischievous glint behind his eyes, he hardly seems older than Henry and Gemma, but his aura decrees he's not out of place among the elder dark angels.
Henry intends to explain but hesitates. "How do you know that name? I never used, nor even mentioned it here. Dystopians don't follow world news; or believe in nam de plumes. So, how do you know mine?"
More laughter. "Even here in Dystopia we heard about the resurrection of the Kid Danger," the large, dark, bare-chested seraph with bird-like wings explains in a deep voice. "It's not everyday that a super hero returns from the grave."
"You're the most infamous person to ever live in Dystopia; and you escaped, which few ever do," the fourth of them speaks. She is young and very petite; and with her delicate wings of shimmery film, she looks like a fairy. "You were immediately recognized, and the news spread through every corner and crevice of Dystopia. There is not a soul here who doesn't know your name and moniker."
Behind the stone-faced Henry, the five sidekicks shift and murmur worried notes to each other, unable to hide their apprehension as he does. The last man in the group, a lizard-winged, older guy with a dark grey beard asks, "Who are these children you've brought into our fortress?"
"There none of your concern," Henry replies firmly without hesitation.
"They're his new little lackeys," the young impish male seraph surmises with amusement. "He got himself an upgrade on the cyber-girl and the sleepy boy."
"I liked the cyber-girl," the small fairy girl says. "She had potential."
"He's here to ask for our help. Meaning, they cannot be better than the others were," the pale woman agrees.
"What and who they are is none of your business," Henry insists. "I came here to talk to you; you will deal with me."
"Do not presume to give us orders," says the only one of the six who has not yet spoken. Not particularly tall or strong by appearance, she exudes more dark power than any of the others. Her angled eyes sharp with cunning and her angelic wing black as an abyss. "You brought them into our fortress, that makes them our concern." She sounds harsh and impossible to argue with.
Henry does so anyway. "I will be the one you deal with. My team will have nothing to do with any of this, or you, and you will have nothing to do with them."
Her huge black angel wings flap and she comes to hover nose to nose with him. It takes some willpower, but he doesn't flinch as her eyes meet his. After a long minute, in which the five kids watch tensely and the Seraphim with amusement and curiosity, she smiles enigmatically at him and says, "I don't dislike you, Henry. You have fortitude worthy of an Angel; and I admire your loyalty to your people. But your unfailing devotion to goodness is an inexcusable weakness and is incredibly annoying."
"You and I have different ideas about weakness," He asserts.
She hums and backs off. "So, what can we do for you, Danger?" she asks.
"There's a magic user in Swellview, a really powerful one. He can kill with a single touch. He casts physical darkness that hurts anyone it touches. He can use shadows to teleport. He's turned my town on its head and is gathering power for something. I need your help to stop him," Henry says.
"That is powerful magic," the glass-winged young man considers.
"What is it you are hoping we can help you do against him?" The angel-winged woman asks.
"I want to kill him," Henry says darkly.
The shirtless dark man laughs, the sound booming in the stone chamber. "What was that about 'goodness'?" he asks.
"I don't care," Henry grumbles. "He killed my best friend and dozens of other people. I need him gone. So far, I can hardly get close enough to touch him; I want you to tell me how I can kill him."
"Well, that may be something we can do," the old man says.
"We can," the tall pale woman agrees. "But for what purpose? Why should we care about Henry Hart's problem?"
Henry glares at her and answers, "Because you hate powerful magic being wielded by anyone besides the Dark Angels."
"But this magic user is in Swellview. He is no threat to our dominion," She argues with him. "Does he have plans to come here? To attack us?"
"I don't know," Henry says. "I don't know what his plans are beyond killing people to gather power and keeping me alive until he's ready to use me for something."
The dark brawny man strokes his goatee, his bird-wing feathers ruffling. He says, "A soul harvester then." Henry doesn't respond, taking the information in thoughtfully. Gemma scoffs quietly beside him. "What does he want with you?"
"Not sure," Henry says. "But he's saved my life a couple times and he healed the magical wounds I got when he lost control of his power."
The seraphim all pause, suddenly far more alert. "Lost control?" The powerful angel-winged seraph asks on behalf of them.
"Yeah, he was shot with a magic gun and his dark powers burst out of him. It tore apart the street and buildings and nearly killed all of us there," Henry says.
The seraphim exchange looks. "Tell us everything you know about this soul harvester." The angel-winged woman instructs.
So, Henry does. Sparring no detail, he expounds on the entire story of all Shadow Man has done in Swellview for the past nine months. The Seraphim say nothing, listening attentively. Even once he's done, they take several moments to speak again. "Ridiculous," the older bearded man scoffs. "What a waste of magic."
"Is that all you took from that?" Henry asks irritated.
"The consuming of souls as a magical power source is a wasteful and futile practice," the older man says. "The more he uses, the more he needs. His need for more will only increase in quantity and frequency and will never be satisfied. Meanwhile the only soul he's really destroying in his own."
"More importantly, it's how he killed dozens of people," Henry argues. The seraph waves him off.
"Most importantly," the tall pale woman says, "is that he doesn't have control of this powerful magic. Whatever his end goals are, it could be catastrophic for the entirety of the world and all magic."
"Yes," the bearded man agrees. "Something must be done."
Henry feels relief but tries not to let it show too much, he knows how the Dark Angels would perceive it. "Does that mean you will tell me how I can stop him?"
"No," the old man says.
Henry glowers back at him. "We can't," the angel-winged woman explains. "As interesting as your story is, you simply don't know enough for us to go off. In order to combat him, we'd need to see or interact with his magic to be sure what exactly it is he's doing." Henry frowns more dissatisfied with that answer.
The little fairy seraph hums and suggests, "There may be a way for us to do so. You mentioned having received injuries from his magic? Injuries that his magic inhibits the healing of. We could, potentially, use the magic within them to create a connection to him."
Henry sighs and shakes his head. "He removed all the magic from my injuries after the explosion in Penury Square. They're all healing, rather quickly actually."
"Oh," the fairy-girl shrugs. "I suppose we'll have to find another way."
Behind Henry, the kids nudge each other and whisper. Henry flicks his eyes for one moment, silently willing them to be quiet; but he does his best to ignore them and hopes the Seraphim will too.
"We might have to send an excursion to Swellview to observe this Shadow Man in person," the glass winged young seraph suggests.
"No!" Henry says firmly. "I'm trying to get a powerful magic-user out of Swellview, I'm not about to let more in."
"It may be the only way," the angel-winged woman says.
"No." Henry isn't the only one to say it this time. He turns to stare his disapproval at Dawson for drawing attention to himself.
"Pardon me?" the white-skinned seraph asks.
"We all have magical injures," Dawson says. Henry staring warning and disapproving at him while he explains. "Shadow Man didn't heal ours. You could use us to make the connection.
"No!" Henry cuts in.
"We have to stop Shadow Man!" Chapa argues.
"Not by using magic on any of you." Henry insists.
She glares back, "Well, too bad. Shadow Man seems determined to keep you alive, so you don't have the option to do it instead. One of us is going to have to."
"Sounds reasonable to me," The fairy seraph says, reaching out for Chapa, who reaches back.
"No!" Henry shouts and pulls Chapa away. They glare at each other for a moment. Then she smirks at something behind him. "What?" he turns and sees that Bose is giving his arm to the fairy-girl.
"I have his mark. He attacked me, almost killed me," Bose is saying.
"Show me." She says, unwrapping his arm from his sort of Dystopian glove.
"Dude! No!" Henry yells.
"It's just a little of my arm," Bose assures. "Where the wound is."
"They're all half-naked anyway. They're more vulnerable like that than he is with his glove off." Mika adds.
The seraphim laugh once more. "Do you think so?" the tall pale woman asks, she being in the skimpiest clothes of beaded lingerie. "Do you think you could even touch my bared skin without my permission?"
Mika backs away from the tree of a woman as she emits a powerful magic aura. "Nope. No, I would even try."
"It's a show of power. One none of you should implement. Put your glove back on," Henry orders Bose.
"He killed Ray! He killed their aunt!" Bose argues back and gestures to the Macklins. "We have to stop him, whatever it takes."
"We all agree," Mika says.
"And you can't hold back all five of us," Miles adds defiantly.
Henry pauses open mouthed unable to argue that point and furious for it.
The young glass-winged seraph laughs, "I like your new team."
"I'm doing this," the fairy-girl says. Even her magic glimmers in a pixiedust-like way as she casts it over the wound. Bose whimpers in pain. Henry glares tense and steps up to Bose's side. "You'll be part of the spell." She warns.
"You're not doing anything to him without me," he responds.
"Like that would change what I do," she says off handed.
Her magic expands. The other seraphim cast their own magic in with hers, six different dark trails come together and envelope them. Henry and Bose are drawn into the magic spell with the seraphim and a vision of darkness around them.
Things happen quickly, snippets of Swellview and their memories of Shadow Man fly by. Bose cries from the pain igniting in his magic wound, but the Fairy-girl holds in. Henry holds on as well, encouraging him. The seraphim watch as the magic and memories stream by. Then Shadow Man himself appears. The dark magic breaks into a whirling maelstrom. Pained voices cry out indistinguishably. The seraphim react with surprise and confusion. Shadow Man regards them with the same for a moment, questioning, "Dark Angels?"
Then he sees Henry, who's now shielding Bose protectively from sight. Shadow Man smiles. "Ah. Gone for help, I see," he says. He peers around at Bose, Henry moving to keep him obscured. Shadow Man smiles wider. "You're sidekicks with you? Don't tell me you left Swellview without protection for a land you can't escape."
Henry's insides go cold, so cold it burns. Shadow Man knows they're out of town, and Henry knows Swellview is about to be under a massive attack without any superheroes to defend it.
"Man of Shadows, you have perverted the magic and misused the inherent power of souls," the bearded seraph says judicially.
Shadow Man glances his direction entirely unaffected. "I have pushed myself, taken magic further than anyone else. I no longer use the magic, I've taken control of it."
"You have broken it," the angel winged seraph says in barely more than a whisper. "Your actions have sealed your fate, you will die for your insolent treatment of the dark power."
She attacks him, the other seraphim joining her without hesitation. The seven magic users battle brutally. The darkness they're all in becomes more chaotic around them, clashing against itself and lashing out at all of them. The fight breaks up, all of them wounded. The seraphim study the actions of the darkness fearful and enraged. Shadow Man stands up and with a great effort, channels the swirling darkness towards them, replying to the promise of his death with, "Not at your hands." The Seraphim disappear. As Henry and Bose are pulled out of the darkness with them Shadow Man gives the final threat of, "Better hurry home, boys. You'll miss all the fun."
(Commercial Break)
After meeting and fighting with Shadow Man the seraphim agree to find a way to stop him. They dismiss Henry and his sidekicks, telling him they'll summon him back in a few days as soon as they've created a way to kill him.
Gemma escorts the heroes out. "We can't wait a few days," Bose worries.
"You don't have a choice," she replies. "Whatever he's done to the magic, it worries them and they need time to figure out how to stop him. Also, we'll have to prepare a way for you all to leave Dystopia anyway, which will also require a little time. You get to stay here for a few days."
"Stay here?" Miles asks. "In the castle with all the beautiful people? You drive a hard bargain, but I suppose if we have no other choice…"
"Stop," Henry commands. "We'll find a place to crash. Charlotte, Jasper and I had several bases around the city."
Gemma smiles sultrily at him, "No need. You can't guarantee they're safe and we have space. I've always got a place in my room for you," she offers with a greedy look in her eye.
"Not happening, Gemma," Henry says sternly, a note of nervousness there.
"Oh, come on. It'll be more comfortable than an old base floor. And I'm sure there'll be some other Angels who'll be happy to host your sidekicks." As she says this, she reaches a magic tainted hand towards him.
He swats it away, "No, Gemma. I'm not sleeping with you and I'm not letting my sidekicks out of my sight. I might have come to ask for help but that doesn't mean I trust you Dark Angels."
She pouts at him. "You're not as fun as you used to be. You're not even going to counter offer me with your place?"
The old base the Swellviewians stay in for the next several nights is run down and far from comfortable, but the days where they venture into the streets are worse. Too many people are eager to have a go at Henry and gore wraiths are everywhere. They have little food, only a few mats and musty bedding for sleeping on and nothing to do but wait and think of what could be going wrong in Swellview right now: who could be dying while they're stuck on the other side of the world.
Henry hardly sleeps at all, even when the kids finally manage to settle down at night, keeping an anxious eye out for trouble and an ear out for news. Finally it comes, Gemma strolls in early one morning to say, "They're ready" and take them back to the hall of the Seraphim.
The six once again float regally on their varied wings before the fire laden table. They watch the Swellviewians approach silently. Gemma doesn't come in this time, so Henry stands alone at the end of the table, noticing the dark blade laying in the fire. He waits for them to speak.
A few tense moments of silence later. "If you want to stop your Shadow Man take the sword. We imbued it with a spell that should help you break through his defenses and will kill him if you can land a solid blow into his vital flesh." The tale pale, leaf-winged woman says.
"What's the price?" Henry asks with hesitation.
"Only that you kill him and end his corruption of the magic," the bearded man with the lizard wings says.
"If you are true about your intent to kill him," the large, dark-skinned, bird-winged man adds.
"That's it?" Henry says.
"Yes," The angel-winged woman says. "Our goals, for once, align with yours. So, as long as you kill this Shadow Man and erase all of his tainting influence from the magic, then we will seek nothing else in return. Take the sword."
Henry slowly nods and reaches for the hilt. The sword is long and slightly curved with one keen edge. The black metal thrums with the magic running through it.
"Take it and go," the short, fairy-winged seraph says, moving her half-blonde braid aside as she directs him towards the door.
Henry turns, following his sidekicks out. "Good luck, Kid Danger," the tanned and vested young man with the glass wings calls before they're gone. "If you don't kill him, we'll be paying your town a visit to do it ourselves, and you won't like the consequences of that."
Gemma leads them out of the Dark Angel's castle, and to the border of Dystopia. "We'll open the magic barrier so you can get through, from there you're on your own. We would've sent you on the chancing-flight again but figured you wouldn't want to be here another three nights."
"If you can get us past the magic barrier, we'll be just fine. Thanks, Gemma," Henry says politely.
She scowls at him and with the help of another dark angel cast a spell into the air and a door frame of sparking darkness appears. "Get going, Hart, and don't come back. I don't want to see you ever again," she says moodily.
"Good. I'm hoping I never have to come back either," he says, calling her bluff.
"Hurry up, Henry, before I change my mind about letting you leave again," Gemma says, still in an angry tone but with the lusting eyes she'd worn when she'd invited him to her room.
He ushers his sidekicks though the doorway and follows them quickly. "It's been real, he says before the barrier close. "Real bad." He mutters as he turns away from Dystopia.
"Dude, I don't get it," Miles says, shaking his head at Henry. "Why would you turn down a hot girl like that when she wants to get you alone?"
"Because I'm smart enough to hold out for a hot girl who doesn't want to keep me as her love- doped prisoner for the rest of my life," Henry says. "If I ever start acting ridiculous or lovestruck about her, slap some sense into me, because I won't be doing it of my free will."
"Wait, what?" Dawson asks. "What do you mean her loved-doped prisoner?"
"Miles, get us home." Henry says, choosing to ignore the question.
"Gladly," Miles says and throws his fist into the sky. They appear back in the unlit Man's Nest a few moments later and every single one of them, whether they'd like to admit it or not let out sighs or exclamations of relief.
To be Continued
Next Episode: S1E26: Devastation