The Academy of Super-Heroes Universe Presents in association with Blackbird & Countinghouse E.U.R.O.P.A. Eurasian Union Ruling Order Paranormal Authority A Three-Issue Limited Series copyright 1999 by Tony Pi #3 - "RIDDLES AND TRAGEDIES, ACT III: Secrets of the Sphinx" [cover shows a Hangman game, where the cryptogram is missing only a few spaces and the hanged man is missing only an eye and the mouth; the conundrum reads 'P_ZZ_ES WI__ BE T_E DEAT_ OF YO_.' There is a single drop of blood splattered on the very last blank.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EUROPA ROLL CALL ARC Claire Auger, FRANCE Kinetic Energy Battery MISSING YMIR Erik Qvenhild, SWEDEN Cold Projection ACTIVE ONI Saori Taya, JAPAN Astral Form/Magnetism ACTIVE RASPUTIN Yevgeny Sosnov, RUSSIA Illusions MEDICAL LEAVE CASTOR Cas Ierulli-Kiris, ITALY Enhancement/Mimickry PROBATION POLLUX Pol Ierulli-Kiris, ITALY Telepathy DECEASED HOTSPUR Harry Keane, ENGLAND Metal-Melting PROBATION LLYR Daffyd Glwych Garanhir, WALES Photon Manipulation CANDIDATE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [NOTE: All conversations are in French, the official language of the Eurasian Union, unless otherwise indicated. Hotspur speaks a basilect or "street speak" of Eurolac, not the acrolect of Eurolac that is steadily increasing in prominence in the Eurasian Union.] ____ | | | | | /===\ * __'_ ___ ___ ___ _____ _____ _____ _____ __ _ * "So, we have time to kill before my minions arrive, and six hostages make six ways to entertain," said Rebus. He had all six of them tied up in the center cabin. "The game is simple, Claire. I grant you all an hour to think up a puzzle with which to save your lives. If I cannot solve each puzzle within ten minutes' time, you live...if the solution's true. If I unriddle it, you die." He smiled menacingly at the EUROPA agents. "And try to make them interesting." "You bastard," growled Claire. "Your word is worth the filth you are. You'd kill us anyway." It was a miracle they had survived the landing. Thanks to Rebus's piloting and her absorption of the kinetic energy of the plane, they had landed with minimal damage to the prison transport somewhere in Russia. "Words are my game, and my word is the prize. So earn your living." "But you killed those men in Las Vegas. You tricked us. There was another trap at the casino," said Ymir. "That was Triton's idea; he's fond of red herrings. I am not. I designed the rebus that gave you the clue, and I followed the rules of the game exactly," said Rebus. Claire exchanged glances with Erik, who had recovered from his fever when Rebus Anchored him down. Now they were forced to play a game that few of them had a chance to survive. Rebus had made no mistakes with the bonds, and neither she nor Erik could use their superhuman assets to escape, not while Rebus nullified their powers. She did not know who it was that Rebus contacted, but hoped that EUROPA would come to their aid before Rebus's friends arrived. After all, the pilots had sent out a distress signal before they crashed. No...that was wishful thinking, she told herself. They may not get here in time. She had to extricate herself from the mess she landed them in. She remembered something Dan Tracey said during mission debriefing: he survived his encounter with Rebus by exploiting his love of puzzles. Would that extend to games as well? "Then let's raise the stakes," she ventured. "Or are you afraid of playing an even deadlier game?" Rebus shook his head. "You forget, it's my game, and you are my pieces. *I* make the rules." "Then the game is a sham. A game is not a game without risk on both sides," said Claire. "Or do you think you're playing a child's game here?" Rebus stared into her eyes, and Claire shuddered. "You learn fast, my pupil. Prey on my weaknesses, and push your own strengths. But I too learn from my mistakes." Claire's heart fell. Had she failed her colleagues? She could not hide the anxiety in her face, and perhaps Rebus noticed it. So perhaps he teased her when he spoke again. "Yet you do intrigue me. How do you intend to up the ante?" "Hangman, if you're brave enough," she said. Jay had told her about a joke he made in General Pushparajah's office, and she did not understand the reference to 'Hangman', so he described it to her. You were supposed to decipher a cryptogram by choosing letters you thought were in the puzzle. If you picked a letter not in the puzzle, a body part was drawn on the gallows. If all the body parts were drawn before the cryptogram was solved, the guesser lost the game. At the time, she thought it was a gruesome idea. But here, she saw a way to turn things around. "Go on," said Rebus with a glint in his eyes. "You put down the CSV's secrets in cryptograms, and play Hangman with us. If the player solve your puzzle before he or she 'hangs', you let that person free immediately. And then..." "Ah, a game with a fighting chance is well and good, but it's only fair to alternate between you and I in naming rules. I have power to name the next rule. If the player 'hangs', I will indeed 'hang' the loser." Was she just making things worse? No, she decided. He would have killed them anyway; at the very least she could lure him into thinking more about the game than blocking her power. Maybe she could surprise him. "Players have an hour to solve each puzzle," she added. "My noose tightens with every wrong letter." Rebus cut a parachute cord to make a garrote. "We can confer to solve the puzzle together." "But I choose the 'hanged man' each time. I am *so* enjoying this!" Claire would be sweating if it weren't so cold in here. Did she dare say other rules? Or would Rebus pervert her game more? Would any of them survive to make use of information they gain, if any? "How do I know if your secrets are true?" "By the Sphinx, I swear it. It certainly will make the game challenging if any of you actually survive to make use of the information." "Then let us play," said Claire. She prayed to the Virgin Mary that she had not condemned them all to torturous deaths.... Rebus looked over his choices, his new stranglecord in hand. There were agents Mackinnon and Burstynsky, normal human agents of EUROPA; the pilot and the co-pilot; Ymir and Arc. He stopped in front of Burstynsky and wrapped the cord around his neck, almost gently. "I have chosen." * __'S ___ ___ ___ ____S _____ ____S __S_S __ _ * Elektroschock tried to tackle Hotspur and jolt the living daylights out of him, but the Vogue Ghoul got no more than three steps before the aluminum melted beneath his feet, induced by Hotspur's Feuer. He slipped on the thin layer of slippery molten metal and nearly fell off the train. The only thing saving him from plummeting off the train was a handrail that he grabbed. The regenerator, Doppelgang, growled and grew. He split into two versions of himself, and the newborn paraganger moved to pull Elektroschock back onto the train. Doppelgang snickered. "Ein, zwei, drei," he counted his side. "Und only one of you." Hotspur saw Elektroschock's eyes widen, and turned to look over his shoulder towards the front of the train. They were about to enter a tunnel, and there appeared to be very little room for people to stand on top. He could hear fighting in the car below. Had the two other paragangers gained access? Was Peryton freed? There was one way to find out. Targeting everyone's feet including his own, he ringed the train roof they stood on with his Feuer, melting circles that collapsed under their weight. All of them fell inside the vehicle moments before the train entered the tunnel. Inside, the situation was grim. Sharma was dead, strangled to death. The Anchor, Krieger, had locked himself inside the same bulletproof polymer cube as the chained Peryton, trying to evade Strecken, the paraganger with stretching powers, and Irrlicht, who could transform herself into a will-o-the-wisp. Irrlicht and Strecken could probably both fit through the ventilation grid, but the Anchor field prevented them from doing so. This standoff was broken by the unexpected arrival of Hotspur and the others, falling through the roof. Hotspur recovered quickly, only to find Strecken had reached over with an elongated arm, choking him. Hotspur could not free himself of the noose. He couldn't breathe, and he might pass out at any minute. Hotspur's only recourse was to reach out with the fullness of his power. First, he melted the connections between the prison car and the one before it. Then he made the metal wheels and the track melt. The train derailed. The jolt threw everyone inside the train. Irrlicht saved herself by turning into her wisp form, while Strecken lost his grip on Hotspur and bounced. Peryton and Krieger were badly bruised, but remained conscious inside the nearly impenetrable cube. Doppelgang and Elektroschock were not so fortunate. They were knocked out cold, and the doppelganger reverted to a spot of blood and hair. Hotspur would have been knocked out cold too, had not a force lifted him by his iron belt buckle and formed a magnetic crash cage around him, preventing him from hitting the walls or being hit by flying metal debris. "Danke, Oni," said Hotspur to the air. He looked around. Strecken was trying to ooze through a small hole to escape, but after Krieger threatened to Anchor him right there and cut him into halves for what he did to Sharma, he flowed back into the car and surrendered. Only Irrlicht escaped, drifting quickly away on the wind outside. There would be much clean-up to do in this tunnel, and much to explain to General Pushparajah. Hotspur hoped that three extra prisoners might make the bad news go down easier. * __'S ___ ___ ___ ___ES _____ _E__S __SES __ _ * "AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" Ymir struggled against his bonds, but could not stop Rebus from strangling Burstynsky. "None of us know Japanese, you bastard!" Rebus left the body where it fell. "Then let me enlighten you. The cryptogram translates as 'Chinese Anchors loyal to the Conclave come to rescue me.' Too bad I will eventually have to kill them, but they are too eager to serve 'their leader'. All played within the boundaries of the game. Head, torso, arm, arm, leg, leg, eye, eye, then the smile of death. As we agreed." "But you tricked us!" spat Mackinnon. "Don't blame me, Ymir-san. Blame your lack of education and respect for one of your own Eurasian Union countries. What do they teach you at ASIE, anyhow? Also blame Arc. She was the one who did not make up a rule about the language of the puzzle," gloated Rebus. "It's not too late, though. Add the rule or rules, but for each I am entitled to add another of my own." "He's right," said Claire bitterly. "I should have been more careful. Let there be a rule that the language used must be English or French," she said, citing the two languages that everyone in the crashed helijet spoke. If only Oni were here! thought Claire. She could have solved it and saved a life. But even if Saori *were* here, Rebus would have just picked a different language that none of them knew. "Well then, let me add another rule. The freed man has two minutes to run, before I hunt him down for sport." "You CAN'T! You said you'd let them go!" shouted Arc. "We can't survive out in the cold!" "You chose this game, remember? Make yet another rule, if you dare." "Don't, Claire," begged Erik. "You'll make things worse. Let's just play the game as it stands. Let the bastard strangle himself with his game. I ask you as a friend." "You mean let me strangle myself with *my* game," replied Claire. "I got us into this, Erik. My responsibility." Just like she was responsible for Burstynsky's death. "Then I ask you as Acting Leader. Don't make any other rules." "I'm sorry, Erik. I need to give us a fighting chance." She cleared her throat, and spoke the next rule. "The prisoner may choose a weapon to fight with before he or she leaves." "Yet they may not leave with articles of clothing other than what they have on at present. Enjoy the winter wonderland outside." He ran a finger across the cheek of the co-pilot. "Come, pilot...what's your name? I will write it on your tombstone after you die." * __'S A__ ___ A__ _A_ES _____ _E__S __SES A_ _ * Nearly everyone was still staring in disbelief at the spot where Castor lost control of his powers, where the ghosts came to haunt their unwitting killer. Dr. Nardini and his aides were rushing the woman out of the testing lab, so they could take an X-ray to see if there was any internal bleeding. Nardini asked the Anchor to go with him in case the patient's flesh started shrinking again. "GENERAL!" shouted General Pushparajah's secretary, a young Belgian man, as he burst onto the scene. "Rebus's plane sent out a distress signal...we believe they've crashed!" The announcement was the second shock to hit the assembled crowd in as many minutes. First, ghosts appeared in the hallways, marching forth to accuse Castor of their deaths. Now, even more tragic news, perhaps their colleagues...and loves...lost. "Where?" asked Pushparajah. "Central Siberia, Sayan Mountains...near disputed territory. We're trying to confirm their last known location with satellite data as best we can." "Go, take the Anchor with you," agreed Pushparajah. "We will deal with Castor. The rest of us need to act fast. Organize a search mission immediately." Several people spoke up simultaneously: Jason Teller, Yevgeny Sosnov, and Cas Ierulli-Kiris. "General, on behalf of STRAFE, I volunteer..." "Sir, you know I am best qualified to lead..." "CLAIRE! I MUST GO TO HER...!" "Lieutenant Teller, Captain Sosnov...request granted." He turned to Cas. "And YOU...you have much to answer for, and your time is best served in solitude contemplating your acts. Llyr, take him away to the holding cells, then join the search party." Llyr, though still shaken by the appearance of his brother's ghost, nodded and approached Cas. "NO!" shouted Castor. "A thousand curses on you, 'Parajah! I will not sit idly by when Claire's life might be threatened by that maniac on the plane! Let me go or she's as good as dead! I swore to Pol I'd protect her in his place!" Llyr raised his hand and created a photonic robot to restrain Castor. Castor struggled, but to no avail. "Come," said Llyr, his voice hollow. He muttered under his breath: "Brother killer." * __'S A__ __N AND _A_ES _N___ _E__S __SES AN _ * "Lad, choose your weapon," said Rebus. "Then I will free you." This cryptogram had been much easier than the last; Claire suspected that Rebus intentionally did it so that he could hunt down the poor man. "MR. STRINGS, CARYATID AND I CONTROL THE CONCLAVE OF SUPER-VILLAINS, YET ONLY THE ANCHOR CROSS NOW CONTROLS THE CONCLAVE OF ANCHORS" was the solution to the rather lengthy puzzle, but what good was that information? The co-pilot, Umberto Raposa, could not help but tremble as he contemplated his choices. Finally, he named his weapon: "Th-the pistol." Rebus opened the emergency hatch that led onto the right wing. A blast of cold air rushed in. He tossed the pistol along the ice-coated wing. It skidded to the end of the stubby wing, threatening to fall off at the slightest provocation. Ymir cursed Rebus vehemently, while Agent Mackinnon shot Claire a chilling glance. The pilot sobbed, and the co-pilot pissed himself. Claire hissed at Rebus. "You're not giving him even a fighting chance!" "In games, rules are all you have. If it's not prohibited by the rules, you can take advantage of that," said Rebus, as he cut through Raposa's bindings with a knife in one hand, an assault rifle in the other. Raposa fell to his knees once he was freed. "PLEASE. I don't want to die, sir! I'll help you! Just tell me what to do!" Mackinnon cursed Raposa. "Traitor!" Rebus smiled and prodded Raposa with his rifle. "You're just a lowly gamepiece, not worth even a pawn. Time's a-wastin'. You have a minute-and- a-half to piss yourself again." Raposa went over to the hatch, fighting the cold wind that was breezing into the cabin. He took a hesitant step out onto the icy wing, moving slowly towards the gun. The prisoners held their breath, well aware that a sound might distract the doomed man. "Be careful...it's a deadly fall," shouted Rebus, watching the sobbing man inch his way towards the tip of the wing. "Twenty seconds left." He began counting down the numbers. "Nineteen...eighteen...seventeen...." Claire shut her eyes. She had condemned another man to death. Save your confessions for later, a part of her said. If rules are all there are to the game, and Rebus plays by the rules faithfully, then she must be very careful with her rules. She still had that power: each rule was a dangerous wish that she had to word very, very carefully. "Eight...seven...six...." She knew that they needed a real fighting chance, and that meant that Ymir or she must be freed before the other two were put in jeopardy. Yet Rebus would save the two EUROPA agents for last, especially if he wanted to use them as hostages. She had a couple more rules thought up. "Two...one...ZERO." When Rebus reached zero, Raposa panicked and rushed for the gun still two meters away. However, he lost his balance and fell off the wing, screaming. The gun teetered off and followed him down. Rebus looked down. Raposa had broken a leg in the fall, and was whimpering in a growing pool of his own blood, the gun resting on his chest. Unfortunately, it was of no use to a man in too much pain to grab it, much less aim and fire. Rebus raised his rifle to finish Raposa off, but thought better of it. He took a knife and threw it with deadly precision. "Don't trump with an ace when a two will do." "REBUS!" shouted Claire. "New rules!" Mackinnon hissed. "What now, Arc? Have you lost your head? That's two deaths on your conscience, if you have one." "Shut up!" snapped Claire, though she didn't mean to. "I'm trying to save your life, Agent Mackinnon." She turned her head back to Rebus. "During the remainder of the games, we may choose one person to substitute for another." "Oho! How self-sacrificing. Well then, that is to be applauded. Agreed. And *my* rule is, Ymir gets veto power over that decision." Arc's heart fell. Knowing Ymir, he would sooner sacrifice his own life than let another die. She wanted to a chance to prove herself against Rebus. Still, she could give Ymir a fighting chance. "Second rule: you must remain blindfolded for the duration of your 'hunt.'" Rebus nodded. "You're catching on. That would make my hunt much, much harder...but not impossible. But it is now my turn." Claire took a deep breath, not anxious to hear what diabolic rule Rebus made up to counter hers. "My prey will be blindfolded as well for the duration of 'my hunt.'" Mackinnon moaned. "Thanks a lot, Arc. Not all of us want to play the martyr. If we live through this, I swear I'll see you banished from EUROPA. I don't know how I'll do it, but you don't deserve to be a hero." "Oh, but you won't live through this, Mackinnon," said Rebus. He looped the noose around Mackinnon's neck. "Because you're next." "NO!" shouted Ymir. Arc turned her head to look into Ymir's eyes, and plead him not to say anything. But Ymir smiled sadly, and spoke. "I will take Mackinnon's place." * __'S ALL __N AND _A_ES _N__L _E__S L_SES AN _ * "Tell me what the hell happened back there, Rasp," asked Teller as the helijet flew them to the airport. "Were those...real ghosts?" "Apparently Castor's powers aren't telepathic in nature after all," explained Rasputin, shouting over the roar of the jet engines. "Here's what I think happened. He mimicked it from Pollux all along, magnifying it. I suspect Castor can copy the powers of other paras, and in the process simulate an Alchemical Marriage. Both of them receive magnified powers." "And he didn't even know it?" said Teller incredulously. "No. Remember...all his life he's mimicked Pol's telepathy. I would conjecture that during training sessions when Pollux was out of range, Castor's powers went wild. It likely latched onto a surrogate and increased the para's powers exponentially. Unfortunately, he also caused the enhanced power to become like a cancer, going wild and overloading the neurons of the original, causing burnout. I guess that solves the riddle of the Euro- Burnout Killer at ASIE." "And the ghosts?" "He was clinging on to the last vestiges of Pol's telepathy, last manifested as a mindlink between myself and Ymir," said Rasputin. "By the looks of it, Castor took the drug Emp to boost his powers, not knowing that he had the enhanced mimickry power. Once that residual link was boosted, he magnified my illusion power a hundredfold. His subconscious apparently gave him a guilt trip. Thus, the ghosts came out of his mind...all those that died because of him, crafted from illusions. "Castor had the same effect on Ymir's ice powers too. In that telepathically-induced fever, I could sense Ymir's plight, and overwhelming guilt from Castor for taking Emp." "Then he's to blame for their distress signal too." Teller cursed. "What else can go wrong?" Rasputin knitted his eyebrows together and left that question unanswered. * _T'S ALL __N AND _A_ES _NT_L _E__S L_SES AN _ * "Only you and Pollux came close to knowing how painful it was to lose a twin brother, when Pwyll died," said Llyr bitterly. "Only you two broke me out of the self-destructive fantasy world I created. All this time, I thought you were my friend." "I AM," answered Castor. Llyr was about to lock him inside a cell, and he couldn't let that happen. However, the photonic construct was too strong for Castor to break free of. "Please, Daffyd...there need not be bad blood between us. By God, if I am guilty of causing all those deaths, I am sorry...and I should be punished by God's wrath. But think of Arc and Ymir. I *saw* Arc freeing Rebus, through Ymir's eyes. If she did so, she must have had no choice. Do you want to leave her there with that MONSTER?" "MY BROTHER DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!" spat Llyr. "You are not even a true twin, are you? You are just a template killer, and you cannot wash the blood of those you killed from your hands so easily. It's not twenty Hail-Mary's and all's well. It's a hell you will live in for the rest of your life and your next. No one can grant you forgiveness, not even His Holiness." He slammed the door and locked it. Castor grabbed Llyr through the bars, but the light construct walked out of the cell through the bars and pried Castor's fingers off Llyr. As Llyr left, Castor shouted after him. "MARK MY WORDS, LLYR! I WILL ATONE FOR MY SINS!" Cas slumped down onto the floor, and stared at his hands. There might as well be blood on them. Those ghosts knew, and accused him of being a murderer. What *was* he? Just a mirror of others? A funhouse mirror that distorted...and killed. Just like he would have amplified that poor woman's power until she shrunk herself to death. Just like Pwyll was consumed by his own shadows. Llyr was right. He was a template killer of a kind. That explained why his telepathy faded after Pol's death. It was never his power to begin with, just stolen from others. He admitted it, finally: all his life, he was just a thief. Wasn't a telepath someone who stole other people's thoughts? And now it was painfully obvious that he stole other people's powers and their lives too. Worse, he stole his brother's face, his brother's powers, his thoughts, and yes...even his emotions. How could he have doubted it all along? It wasn't his brother's emotions that he had to tell Arc. It was his own desire for Arc that he hid behind Pol's. Maybe he didn't want to compete with Pol for her affections, or maybe he stole the emotions from Pol. It didn't matter where the feelings came from: he simply realized that he could not lie to himself about his love for Claire any longer. And then he realized what he had to do. He had to accept the dark fate thrust upon him, and use it to right all the wrongs he caused. He sought out that vestige of telepathic power in himself. In his mind, he imagined fingers holding onto the little flame of telepathy that he stole from Pol. Why was he still holding onto it? It took intense concentration to force those fingers away from the Feuer. Pol's flame died. "I'm sorry, Pol," whispered Castor. "Llyr," he said, sending out his newly-discovered fingers towards Llyr's power, his Feuer. The fingers knew where to reach, for the first time not flailing wildly to grab onto just any Feuer within reach. He felt Llyr's photon manipulation power surge into a bonfire as he touched it, and partook in its heat. Yes, he was like a template assassin...only he didn't feel like one. He tried conjuring a robot like the one that had held him captive. It coalesced, but was undetailed and clumsy. However, it was raw power he wanted, and he certainly had that. He gathered his grief and anger and blasted the bars away with his newly-stolen power. Was it ethical to steal Llyr's power? he asked himself when he reached the roof. He didn't really care right now. He hardly paid any attention to the alarms or the guards that tried to restrain him. He willed his body to become semi-solid light, as Llyr could do, and simply flowed out of the guards' grasp. With a leap he flew into the sky, and conjured a flying arrow to follow. He trusted his heart would guide him to his love. * _T'S ALL __N AND _A_ES _NT_L _E__S LOSES AN _ * Unsure if the solution was correct, Arc said it tentatively. "ANCHOR CROSS, CARDINAL SIN, CHOOSE TART, WE SIEGE PERILOUS?" It sounded almost too strange, but it was the only English phrase that would make any sense. Rebus loosened his stranglecord around Ymir's neck. "Very good." "But what does it mean?" asked Claire. "It's a cryptic," said Rebus. "I never said I would give all the secrets away easily. But don't you fear...I've given you a very delicious prize, one of the leaders of a shadowy, far-reaching Anchor conspiracy." "Why do you hate Anchors?" Any distraction might save Ymir's life. Rebus answered whilst blindfolding Ymir. "My mother was a paranormal, my father an Anchor, and we worshipped the gods of ancient Egypt. When the gods came to collect their loyal followers, they passed by my father and I, for our blood was unworthy. My mother was to be taken by Hathor, but she too was denied the blessing of the goddess...on July 6th, 1998, Tymythy Twystyd slew her and half the world to deny the the gods their harvest of souls. I vowed that day that I would find a way to become greater than the gods that abandoned us, and the paranormals that killed my mother like kine. "My father decided to introduce me to his deepest secret, one he even hid from my mother. I had deduced that my father was involved with some secret organization by then, but never knew that he was a member of a global order called the Anchorites: elite bounty hunters unaffected by tamperings with reality. When the Causality Wars hit...don't look so surprised at my knowledge of the term...the Anchorites saw their chance to dominate the world. Shape it as they desired, controlling which paranormals had access to their powers. "Five of the world's most powerful Anchors first met in 1999, conspiring to take over the crumbling world. "My father, Pino Archangeli, codename Pyramid. He had popularized Egyptian worship among Anchors even before the Godmarket. It was he who was the genius behind the conspiracy, until his death in 2010. "Devlin Marx, former board member of Magnum Industries, a multinational megacorp that supplied paranormal technology until the collapse of the Godmarket. He eventually rebuilt his financial empire through Anchor-run casinos, and gave the Conclave its financial might. Ah, I see you've heard of him...one of the wealthiest men in the world. He was called the Eye of Horus, but you don't need to worry about him any more. "Ambassador Duan Zhang of the People's Republic of China. He worked to gain political power for the Conclave. Zhang became an aide to Premier Xu. Ironically, Zhang would have been a contender for the position of next Premier of the PROC had he not also been caught in the Devastator's nuclear holocaust last summer. "I was the fourth. My father named me for my love of puzzles: the Sphinx, 'Hor-em-Akhet' in ancient Egyptian, or 'Horus in the Horizon.' No matter that the Sphinx of riddles comes from Greek myth; I savour the double entendre. I pushed myself to the *true* human limit, not the false bounds of the Magene. I trained with the best masters in Japan, Hong Kong, India and elsewhere, mastering many forms of combat and sharpening my mind. I have eidetic memory, you know. I became their best 'Fetter,' Anchoring their 'Fenris Wolves.' All the while, I sought a way to destroy the Conclave. "The fifth...today, only the fifth controls the crumbling Conclave of Anchors. Solve the cryptic and you shall know what corruption lies at the heart of all your beliefs." Rebus shook his head, as if to exorcise old ghosts that haunted him still. "Enough stalling. Name your weapon, Ymir." "Arc." "What?" said Arc and Rebus together. "You heard me. ARC. I believe the rule was, and I quote, 'The prisoner may choose a weapon to fight with before he or she leaves.'" "But she's NOT A WEAPON," argued Rebus. Ymir didn't lose a beat. "There is nothing in the rules to the contrary. And I quote, 'In games, rules are all you have. If it's not prohibited by the rules, you can take advantage of that.' Your words, and I quote, 'Words are my game, and my word is the prize.' So earn your own living, bastard." Rebus was speechless. "You clever shit, Erik," said Mackinnon, a smile flashing across his face. "He's got you there, Archangeli." "FINE!" said Rebus through gritted teeth. In one hand, he held his assault rifle. With the other hand, he grabbed Arc and dragged her to the hatch. "You want your weapon?!" he screamed at Ymir. "Fetch!" He shoved Arc out of the hatch and off the wing. And Arc fell. * _T'S ALL _UN AND _A_ES UNT_L _E_US LOSES AN _ * Finding Llyr's brother suddenly sitting in an empty seat on EUROPA's fastest jet was the first sign that something was wrong. If it had been the first time Pwyll had showed up that day, it would have been far more shocking. Still, it made Llyr shiver. "Another of your ghosts, Rasp?" asked Teller. He flicked a peanut towards the illusion, expecting it to simply disappear into Pwyll's body. It didn't. The peanut bounced off Pwyll. 'Pwyll' did not react. "Definitely not one of mine," said Rasputin, shocked. "Llyr?" Llyr blinked. When he squinted, he could make out the photonic matrix that made up 'Pwyll.' "Yes, he's a light construct of mine, though I didn't intend to make him appear." It was true, however, that he could not stop thinking of his brother's apparition. He was growing warmer. "But your control isn't that good yet!" exclaimed Rasputin. A young female EUROPA agent at the comm-panel shouted, "Rome issued a warning: Castor's escaped! They say he turned into light and fled. He's headed this way, at Mach 4!" Teller snapped his fingers. "Castor? Can he affect Llyr even from this distance?" They were perhaps half an hour away from the crash site, even flying at top speed. "He certainly affected Ymir at that distance," answered Llyr. "It was a horrible thought. What if Castor was going to burn him out, too? "At that rate, he'll reach the crash site fifteen minutes before we do," calculated Teller. "How are we going to intercept him?" "I'll go," said Llyr, standing up. He dissipated the Pwyll construct. "If Castor can travel that fast, so can I." Llyr was able to fly by doing the reverse of photonic construction: he destabilizes his solid form, becoming semi-photonic. However, under ideal conditions he could only attain Mach 1. At higher speeds, he lacked the power to sustain his photonic matrix, and would lose too much of himself. Now that Castor has copied and magnified his power, all bets were off. "I owe it to Pwyll...and Pol, to stop him." Llyr looked to Rasputin for his consent. Rasputin stroked his goatee, a dark look spreading across his face. "Should we stop Cas?" Llyr couldn't believe what he heard. "Sir?" "Rebus is a dangerous opponent. Cas can reach them faster than any of us except Llyr, perhaps save a few lives that we can't. Perhaps we should let him get there first," explained Rasputin. "He'll kill Rebus if he had the chance," warned Teller. "Again, should we stop him?" asked Rasputin. "The man is a murderer. The CSV did *this* to *me*." He gestured at his useless legs. "We can't let him kill Rebus," said Teller. "I know what they did to you makes you mad as hell. I know that the longer they live, the bigger the chance they will escape to kill more. But if we try to kill him...Rebus wins. He got us to do exactly what he wants us to do." "But it will be justice to see him dead," said Rasputin. "He contemplates genocide. You would defend such a man?" Rebus would kill all Anchors to achieve godhood, as he admitted to Dan Tracey during the Haven battle. "Don't tell me that when you and Arc threw the Astro-Spear into Skyhaven, you didn't realize it could have killed all of the villains onboard." "I'm not condoning him for what he did, or what he might do to Claire and Ymir and to all Anchors! Yes, we kill in the line of duty. Death is a fact of our chosen career. And I can sympathize with Cas's feelings. But we are not arguing over whether Rebus lives or dies; we are talking about a man's soul. Castor lost his brother and then discovered he was responsible for the deaths of his friends. Now the man who killed his brother threatens the woman his brother loved. Let Castor act out his revenge, and he will lose forever any chance of redeeming himself. If he was ever your friend, you'll stop him." Teller meant that for both Rasputin and Llyr. After a long silence, Rasputin grumbled. "Go, Llyr. Save our friends. May God fly with you." "Yes, sir," said Llyr. Taking a deep breath, he willed himself into light form, and phased through a window. Once out, he shot towards the crash site on a straight-line trajectory. That he could outpace the jet so easily was more evidence of the effect of Cas's power on him. He would stop Castor from killing Rebus. But Llyr didn't know if he'd stop Rebus from killing Castor, if it came to that. * _T'S ALL FUN AND _A_ES UNT_L _E_US LOSES AN _ * By absorbing the kinetic energy of her fall, Arc escaped broken bones, but it still knocked the wind out of her. Luckily for her, she had recovered much of her power now that she had gotten farther away from Rebus. Two minutes, she thought. No time to lie here idly. There were two prisoners that Ymir and she had to save, and one villain to capture. Arc channeled the energy from her fall into a burst of super-strength and ripped apart the bonds on her wrists and ankles. She was free. "Arc!" shouted Ymir. "I'm all right!" "Catch me!" The blindfolded EUROPA agent jumped off the wing, landing safely in Arc's arms as she sapped the kinetic force from the fall. She worked fast to untie Ymir, but he stopped her before she could remove the blindfold. "If we break the rule, it will be reason enough for him to do the same. We can't cheat." "Then I will be your eyes and ears." She pooled the energy into strength again, carrying Ymir on her back. "What's the plan, chief?" They had a minute before Rebus started his hunt. "What do you see?" "We've landed on the side of a mountain. Rock, snow, a dead man, a knife and a gun." She quickly gathered up the two weapons. "Stay clear of his Anchoring range. He's got long-range weapons. Besides the gun and knife, our powers are all we've got: ice powers, kinetic absorption, bursts of speed and strength." The slopes gave her an idea. "Avalanche," she whispered. If they could lure Rebus off the plane, they could bring down an avalanche and bury him. It would be an indirect attack on Rebus, not subject to his Anchor powers. She could absorb the kinetic energy and store it up to dig herself and Ymir out. Ymir would be immune to the cold. The plane would be buried too, but the two hostages had a much better chance of surviving an avalanche than playing Hangman with Rebus. Ymir grasped her meaning immediately. "Perfect plan," he whispered. If it worked. Their two minutes were up. Arc could glimpse Rebus poised at the threshold, blindfolded. Strange sense of honour, thought Arc. She squeezed Morse code with her right hand on Ymir's behind, forgetting all sense of propriety. This was no time for modesty. -.-r hunts by ear. quiet. up slope now-.- Arc had to take Ymir up farther, so that he could create more snow and ice, destabilizing the snow on the mountainside to begin the avalanche. However, she had to be absolutely silent. Rebus was not giving her a clear shot, and she wasn't sure if she could hit Rebus or even outdraw him. Now, it became more of a game of cat-and-mouse. Rebus was waiting patiently for sound, any sound at all. If she had more energy stored up, she could race up the slopes with superspeed. But where could she find a source of kinetic energy to steal? The gun. If she were ready for it, theoretically she could absorb the kinetic energy from bullets. That might be sufficient energy to give her boosts of speed. Obviously, this wouldn't work in cases when she didn't know when or where a bullet was coming from, but if she knew exactly where and when the bullet was about to hit.... The only problem was, the noise would instantly alert Rebus to their location. Could she channel the energy quickly enough into superspeed to avoid getting hit? She knew just how quick Rebus's reflexes were, first hand. Perhaps if she pushed her physical reserves at the time of the shot, she could immediately move them out of the way, then use the absorbed kinetic energy to recover from her exhaustion. Okay, so that wasn't the only problem. So she might also mistime the bullets. -.-take gun and shoot me-.- Ymir squeezed her shoulder. .-.crazy?.-. -.-shoot my shoulder on third squeeze. hang on-.- .-.trust you.-. On the silent count of three, Ymir fired into Arc's shoulder. *BANG* Rebus heard the shot, and fired off a bullet towards the source of the sound from his crouched position. The bullet did not find its mark. Arc had raced at superspeed up the slope in a weaving pattern, stopping when she felt as though her heart would burst. Given a chance to breathe, she shunted the energy from Ymir's bullet to restore her metabolism. Rebus stayed silent, waiting for the next noise. They were still not close enough. It would take two more shots to accomplish the avalanche trick. -.-again-.- Ymir prepared for the next shot. *BANG* This time, Rebus almost got them, but for a split second. Now he knew they were headed upslope. Arc could hear the sound of a helijet approaching. One more shot, and then they would turn the tables, thought Arc. Please let the helijet be an ally. -.-again-.- squeezed Arc. Ymir prepared for the last shot. *click* Rebus had left only two bullets in the pistol. By the click, they betrayed their location to the sniper. No bullet, no kinetic energy for Arc to absorb. Rebus fired. * _T'S ALL FUN AND _A_ES UNT_L _EBUS LOSES AN _ * Getting rid of his tail had been Castor's first thought when Llyr appeared behind him on the horizon, but then he realized they were both heading for the crash site anyway. Still, he did not slow to greet Llyr. Arc was still in danger, and any delay could be costly. It was dark, and Castor was afraid that he might overlook the plane, so he increased the spectrum of his vision. His arrow dipped down, and pointed towards a hulking mass on the slope of a mountain that could only be the prison transport. He heard exchanges of gunfire down below, yet he could also see a helijet approaching from the southeast. It was unmarked, but he recognized the make as Chinese. Castor was amazed that they risked coming into even a disputed part of Russia from the PROC. Yet, they must be Rebus's allies, and thus his enemy too. They must be stopped, decided Castor. He fired off a crushing, flying photonic fist to disable the enemy craft. However, the missile dissipated into harmless light meters before it hit. "Anchors," cursed Castor. He saw that the Anchors' helijet had mounted missiles and machineguns, making them a definite threat. He could not get too close to them, since he would lose his semi-solid form. Yet if he was unable to disable them, Claire and Ymir wouldn't have a chance. Below, the third and final shot fired from the plane was aimed at two people on the slopes. Arc and Ymir! Arc was carrying Ymir on her back, and she ran at super-speed farther up the mountain. Arc seemed to have drawn her last physical reserves to make that final dash, collapsing under Ymir's weight after her desperate dash. "CLAIRE!" shouted Castor. He plummeted down towards his love, appearing immediately beside her. That last burst must have sapped her lifeforce, for her heat signature suddenly dwindled to almost nothing. Ymir rolled off her and tore away his blindfold. He formed an ice wall between Rebus and the EUROPAns. "She needs kinetic energy fast, or she may die!" "Claire, draw upon our power. Draw upon our love," begged Castor, taking her hand. He released Llyr's Feuer and cupped Claire's dwindling Feuer with his phantom fingers, and boosted her power. He could feel her ability to store and channel kinetic energy become his as well. "Share our love." Claire appeared to be managing better, but she still needed an external source of kinetic energy to replenish her depleted reserves. "Brace yourself," said Ymir as another of Rebus's bullets hit the ice wall guarding them. "Here it comes." He unleashed a barrage of unstable ice directly upslope. The sudden strain upon the snow cover was sufficient to trigger an avalanche. The violent wave of snow engulfed Ymir, Castor and Arc, and now bore down on the plane. Rebus tore away his blindfold when he heard the roar of the avalanche. He saw the Chinese helijet in a heated race with the snowslide to reach the plane. The snow was winning. Rebus re-entered the prison transport and booted Mackinnon in the stomach. "Game's over, and now I must go. Tell Arc, my angel, that I will send flowers, lilies for her funeral." Rebus entered the cockpit and strapped himself into the pilot's ejector seat, and silently counted down the seconds. Just before the avalanche engulfed the plane, he triggered the ejector seat and became airborne as the helijet's already useless propellor blades were blown aside by explosive charges. The snow swallowed up the plane while the parachute on the seat carried him gently on the wind. All he had to do was wait for the wind and ice to settle so that the helijet could land, then he could leave with his allies. The helijet soon landed, and Rebus headed for it. He heard a noise from downslope, and turned to look. Castor, Ymir and Arc burst from the snow, Arc looking as though she had stored up more than enough kinetic energy from the avalanche to revitalize her. Castor had Ymir in his grasp, having somehow shielded him from the ravages of the avalanche. Llyr had also landed and created light-based equipment to dig at the site of the buried plane. "Stay and fight me, Rebus!" screamed Castor. He could feel the excess kinetic energy in him like it must be in Arc. He wanted to unleash it to destroy Rebus once and for all. "," said Rebus in Chinese to his allies. "." He took a rifle from one of them. " Fenris Wolves." Official Chinese made it difficult to translate certain concepts, such as "Fenris Wolf" or "helijet." ." He aimed, looking through the sight mounted on top of the barrel with his left eye. Castor packed a snowball, and used some of the kinetic energy as superhuman strength to compress it into ice. In his rage, he never had a doubt he could pull off his intended action. He threw the iceball as hard as he could, using all of the stored up kinetic energy. The ball flew fast and cruel towards Rebus. Then he released Arc's Feuer, and reached for Jason Teller's telekinetic aim. He caught it almost instantaneously, his rage making an otherwise impossible switch possible. He would take off Rebus's head with the ball of ice. "NO!" shouted Llyr, seeing what Castor intended to do. He fired off a missile of light to intercept the ball of ice. The light missile hit the iceball, but too late: it had weakened the closer it got to Rebus, and only changed the iceball's course instead of stopping it. Castor tried using Teller's TK aim to restore the iceball to its original trajectory, but the Anchor field prevented him. Instead of taking Rebus's head off, the iceball hit the rifle with tremendous force, shattering the target sight. A shard of ice and a hail of glass shot down the sight, channelled directly into Rebus's left eye. Rebus screamed. The Chinese Anchors hurried the bleeding Rebus into the helijet, and started to take off. "Let me finish him off!" shouted Castor. He wanted to rush Rebus, but he no longer had Arc's powers. The helijet would be airborne before he reached it. "Arc, it's up to you," he begged of her. "No one else can affect them. Throw another iceball." Arc looked at him with angry eyes. "No. Mackinnon and Holst are still buried. I won't let them die. You've caused enough deaths already." So had she, and she owed it to Mackinnon to save his life. She raced over to Llyr's side, and began to assist in the digging with her speed and strength. She knew, thought Cas. She knew I was the burnout killer. Helplessly, Castor watched the helijet fly away. With several Anchors in that vehicle, none of the EUROPAns would be able to bring it down. "I'll avenge you yet, Pol," said Castor. He felt empty: his vengeance remained unsatisfied, his guilt multiplied. "But first, I must atone for my own sins. "Until then, I have no place in EUROPA." * _T'S ALL FUN AND GA_ES UNT_L _EBUS LOSES AN _ * Mackinnon and the pilot Holst survived with minor injuries, thanks to the quick rescue by Llyr and Arc. It had been difficult for Castor to watch Arc embrace Teller. Rasputin explained to Ymir and Arc what had happened at the Rome HQ, but Arc did not seem surprised at Castor's role in the Burnouts. Llyr had demanded that Castor be held accountable for the Eurasian Burnouts, but Ymir tried to keep the peace between Llyr and Castor, saying that it wasn't Castor's fault. The patrols in the disputed zone between the Eurasian Union and the People's Republic of China were increased, but no helijet had been detected passing through. They had lost track of Rebus. Castor tried talking to Arc in private before they returned to Rome. "I love you, Arc. Don't say a word. I know already that I have not yet earned your love, and that you may never love me. I just want you to know that I would risk my life to save you at any cost. But I swear to God that I will change, and perhaps then you will find room in your heart to forgive me for all those lives I had unknowingly taken." Arc did not say a word. Through coded communication, it was reported that Hotspur and Oni had survived a tangle with Der Zepter, and had caught three vogue ghouls at the cost of two EUROPA agents. Their plan to move Peryton had been exposed somehow, and Pushparajah was busy searching for a more secure location to incarcerate him. Castor was to be escorted back to HQ where he would likely face some sort of justice for the accidental killings he had committed. Castor remained silent throughout the remainder of the flight, but he held up the cross he wore around his neck and meditated. When the plane landed back in Rome, Rasputin's illusion powers suddenly flared, no doubt tied to Castor's mysterious disappearance from the airport. He did not even say goodbye to Arc. * _T'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNT_L _EBUS LOSES AN _ * Rebus literally had an entirely new perspective. "It's all fun and games, until somebody loses an eye," he said to the dead Chinese Anchors at his feet. And that 'somebody' was Rebus. He had planned for it all along, just in case they were caught. You had to plan for your escape ahead of time. That was where Triton had gone wrong. He knew he'd be sent to Siberia, and Peryton to Switzerland, and if the others had been caught, he had backup plans to free them as well. It was all very clear what he had to do next. And it all made ironic sense. Archangeli, without an 'eye' was Archangel. Now that he had concluded his business at this former Soviet bunker in the marshes of Western Siberia, he would travel to Arkhangelsk and meet his contacts there to arrange free passage through the Eurasian Union. Only he hadn't planned on losing his left eye. He pulled a rock from the sole of his boot and threw it down the hallway, aiming at a black crossbow hanging from the wall. He missed by several centimeters. That was unacceptable. Now, only one destination made sense after Arkhangelsk, now that he was half-blind. He would return to Japan, and regain his edge. "Ah, Claire," mused Rebus. "Have you solved the cryptic, my pawn?" * _T'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNT_L REBUS LOSES AN _ * Insomnia brought on by Rebus's cryptic cost Claire days of sleep. The solution came to her the day news finally came about Cas. Cas Ierulli-Kiris had gone to Vatican City, to beg His Holiness for repentance and asylum. The Pope accepted him as a special member of the New Swiss Guard. At least Cas was in a place where he would receive guidance, from the Pope, no less. He was safe in the Vatican. The Vatican. Arc gasped. Of course! "ANCHOR CROSS, CARDINAL SIN, CHOOSE TART, WE SIEGE PERILOUS." The ANCHOR CROSS was a religious symbol. A conclave had CARDINALS IN it who gather to CHOOSE a Pope. A TART was a *pie*, WE is *us*, and SIEGE PERILOUS was the *thirteenth* seat. And "seat" in Latin was "cathedra," another clever reference to the Vatican. Rebus meant that the Anchor Cross was Pope Pius the Thirteenth! She would have to discover the truth for herself, before she could accuse the pontiff of participating in a global conspiracy. What if Rebus was telling the truth? The thought chilled Arc to the bone. * IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL REBUS LOSES AN I * ____ | | | o | /|\ | / \ /===\ THE END ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's Notes: I intended for EUROPA to be far darker than Conclave of Super-Villains, and I hope I've succeeded. Thanks to Marc for his comments on EUROPAn characterization, and Dave for coming up with a nifty double-entendre on the cryptogram that divided the sections. There is a pattern to be found for that cryptogram. Can you find it? Rebus made me do it.... EUROPA characters, with the exception of Oni, Hotspur and Llyr, created by Marc Singer. Llyr and Pwyll created by Matt Rossi. Jason Teller and Pope Pius XIII created by Dave Van Domelen. All other characters created by Tony Pi. The ASH universe created by Dave Van Domelen.