Haze & Chaos Reunion A Part 4
“As Will has no doubt told you by now, Sam, our focus is actually supposed to be extraterrestrial activity,” Antares explained as they entered Reception Area A-X. It was not as populated as the other areas, but there were a few operatives and soldiers in the spacious, comfortable room with some potted plants in the corners. “But given the ongoing conflict with The Eternal Order, it’s been an ‘all hands on deck’ situation. Obviously we’re well equipped to handle magic anomalies, as you’ve no doubt seen by now.”
“Oh yes, absolutely,” Sam acknowledged. “Although in hindsight I’m surprised I didn’t see any Ligers in Nightsalem City back before The Tyrant War kicked up…”
“Well we do have Gemini active in New York City as a way of making sure nothing spills over from The Unlight,” Antares pointed out. “Speaking of which, Will, they’re dying to see you again, especially after the obvious.”
Will nodded as they walked up to a reception window. “Yeah, definitely. I saw Liam a few times while I was in The Unlight.”
Antares dinged the bell on the countertop, causing a middle aged yet fit, red-haired woman to scoot over in her office chair. “Ms. Streintenfield, could you have Sam’s badge sent here? She’s in.”
“Right away, Lt. Colonel, Sir. Welcome to the Brigade, dear.”
“Thanks,” Sam said with a smile.
Antares rang the bell a couple of times just to mess with it a little, his excuse being he was just testing it. “Sorry about that, hehe. Anyways, Sam, I don’t mean to pry, but have your memories fully come back? You were saying some odd things before you left and we have some sources that contradict what you told us…”
Sam groaned a little, with Kyu and Will and quietly chuckling to themselves, albeit for slightly different reasons. “You know, when I see Siegberht again I am going to get on his case about the spell he cast to suppress my memories…”
That caught Antares a little off guard, as he was not quite privy to all of the details. “Hold up, our Siegberht?”
“Siegberht and his brother, Tressacht?"
Sam nodded with an odd feeling in her head. “Yeah?”
“Those are some of Anton’s boys, and they lend us, M.A.I.G., and The ACF a hand whenever they’re in the neighborhood.”
“Oh my goodness…” Sam said to herself as she went to lean up against a wall to think. She had always wondered about those two and why they showed up at just the right time…
Will could see the worried look on the faces of his commanding officer and the secretary and smiled. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. We found out some pretty strange stuff during our time with The ULTRAMagic Guild.”
Before anything else could be said, the group was interrupted by another familiar voice. “Hey hey, Weatherman!”
Will turned around and smiled. “Hey, Jack! I’m back!”
“Good to see you again, Will,” he replied as he gave him a bro hug. “Staying out of trouble?”
Will laughed as a woman with white hair on one side, black on the other, and heterochromatic eyes walked over. One eye was blue and the other was yellow, and she also had a faint line going down her face. To say she gave off an odd aura was fair, it being infernal in nature. “Come on, Jack, it’s Will we’re talking about,” she said with a giggle.
“Hey, Elaine,” Will replied with a light laugh. “Yeah, Dust Gullet Gulch and the Future Squad Mission were something else. Hey, Sam?”
“Hey guys…” she said with her arms still crossed. “Don’t mind me, just thinking about some stuff…”
Jackson glanced over to Antares, then Will. “I take it there’s some things from her past bothering her?” he asked in a subtle voice.
“You could say that…” Elaine confirmed. “Oh, Will, how are things going with Teunis and Roger at the moment?”
Will had the most worried smile on his face as he nervously chuckled into his answer. “Um, yeah, they’re really going at it at the moment. I didn’t get the full details, but it sounds like the Volf Blitz situation in The Uncity has the two high strung at the moment… I mean Teunis was pretty chill with me, but it sounded like him and Infinity were fighting again.”
“Oh dear, that’s not good…” Elaine concluded. “Oh, Jack, do you want to show them your magic before they head out?”
“Right, that!” he replied as he got out a special, green leaf that glimmered in the light. “So Faustus got me hooked up with someone, and I’d like you guys to meet him…”
This caught Sam’s attention and brought her out of contemplation as she walked over. “Ooh, who’d you meet?”
Will chuckled. “Yeah, I’m definitely curious too.”
Jackson shook his head, knowing he deserved that comment. He then tossed the leaf and called out “Hey, Spruce? You got a minute?”
A light, late-spring breeze blew past the group as a swirl of leaves appeared where the special leaf had landed. A brown and green devil then appeared in a soft flash of what looked like sunlight. He had green hair, antler-like branches emerging from his head, brown bark for skin, and lovely, green eyes. After brushing himself off, he looked at Jackson and smiled. “Sure, Jack. What’s up?”
“Will, Sam? This is my partner devil, Spruce Springstep. Spruce, this is Sam and Will.”
“Hey, that’s Faustus’ partner!” Spruce pointed out, going to shake their hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you!”
“Way to go Jack,” Will complimented after he finished his handshake. “He hasn’t been too rough around the edges, has he, Spruce?”
Spruce chuckled, knowing what he was referring to. “I know, Faustus warned me–but Jack has been a pleasure to work with. And it’s a good thing I was brought in, given the state of his magic, mm-hmm.”
“Spruce…” Jackson said with an embarrassed chuckle.
“What kind of magic do you prefer to use, Spruce?” Sam inquired.
“Plantamancy. Jack does the heavy lifting while I cover his back and make sure he stays all healed up.”
Will nodded, recalling something that would interest the two. “Oh! You two should talk to Scotty at the guild when you get the chance. He’s like a master plantamancer.”
“Scotty?” Kyu wondered. “Who’s Scotty?”
“Scotty Cottonwood, and I know what Will means,” Elaine put in. “I think you’d like him, Jack.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of him too,” Spruce noted. “What do you say, Jack?”
Jackson shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
“Scotty’s been working with Gemini recently, so you should be able to catch him on Earth if you can’t catch him in The Unlight,” Antares added. It was then that a package arrived in the reception office, with Ms. Streintenfield bringing it to the counter. “Alright, Sam, here’s your badge. You still need to fill out some paperwork, but keep this on you at all times. And if you can’t do that, put it somewhere where you can find it. And don’t worry, we’ll get you your communicator soon.”
“Shoot, I thought she was going to join M.A.I.G.,” Jackson commented with Elaine nodding along.
Sam chuckled as she marveled at the silver and indigo badge depicting the face of a tiger with a lion’s mane. “Well I guess the Ligers got to me first.”
“Given what the others told me about Will’s track record, it’s better this way,” Kyu stated. “Now, we should probably get moving to Wing X, before Bran comes looking for us or 008...” he shuddered a little.
Antares clapped and nodded. “As fun as it was, Jack, we need to get moving. Lots to do today…”
Jackson laughed in sympathy. “Hold on to your seat, Sam, as you’re going to see some of the really weird stuff. See you guys later,” he said as he began to leave the room with Elaine and Spruce.
“Best of luck to all of you,” Spruce added.
“I’ll see if I can’t get Roger to calm down,” Elaine put in. “Bye for now, guys.”
Antares then indicated for the others to follow him out the other end of the room. “Jack’s really come far, hasn’t he? Between getting a girl and starting to learn proper magic…”
“Yeah, I noticed he seems a lot more happy now,” Will agreed.
“I imagine you can attest to that one, Will,” said Kyu, warranting a chuckle from him.
Sam then found her curiosity getting to her and she had to ask a relevant question. “Antares, do you have a girlfriend?”
He shook his head as they came to a gateway, with him entering something into the keypad to open the door. “Nope, still single.”
“Goodness!” Sam was floored.
“I just haven’t found the woman for me yet, and it’s kind of hard when you're on duty all the time.” There was a hint of disappointment in his voice that was emblematic of a lonely heart, someone who had trouble going out and talking to people. It was bizarre given Antares’ position in the Liger Brigade, but at the same time, Will, Sam, and Kyu could not help everyone.
Moving into Wing X, which was the anomaly containment and extraterrestrial research section of Camelot, was like moving into a completely different facility. The walls had gone from white silver to onyx black lined with white, LED lights. It maintained the sleek decor and architecture of the rest of Camelot, but that could not shake how different it felt. Will and Kyu were not phased, but Sam had a chill run up her spine as they crossed through another gateway. They each had to scan their badges, and Sam’s threw up an alert on the console that was cleared up by Antares and the guard present. Will gave her some reassurance and the group continued on. Sam felt so weird being that intimidated, given the fact that she had been through events such as The Tyrant War, but at the same time there was something a little more foreboding about the strangeness of the Cosmos being present on Earth.
Wing X was a truly strange place, and the reasons became immediately apparent. There was alien life interacting with the Liger Brigade operatives and soldiers. Some were humanoid and looked close enough to humans while others were quadrupedal or were just an object that hovered in the air. And as if that was not surreal enough, some of the alien lifeforms were saying hello to Will and Kyu. Seeing humans going about their business, entering offices and checking in at reception desks, and just casually doing this alongside aliens was a little overwhelming for Sam as she went into autopilot, shaking various hands and saying the bare minimum for greetings. After becoming acquainted with a diplomat from a planet in the Andromeda galaxy, the sound of a tooting birthday whistle caused Sam to yelp and jump into Will’s arms as an alien boy happily dashed along the main hall.
Will and Kyu laughed as Will gave Sam a hug. “Easy, Sam, that’s just Zarnak! Hey, Zarnak!”
The red skinned, black-haired boy wearing a birthday hat and Liger Brigade jumpsuit paused and smiled as he took the whistle out of his mouth. “Private Ford! Hey, good to see you again! And hey, Lt. Colonel!”
“Happy Birthday, Zarnak,” Antares said as he shook his hand.
“Yeah, Happy Birthday,” Will added.
“Happy Birthday from me too,” Kyu finished.
“Thanks, Kyu, everyone,” Zarnak replied. “Where were you, Will? You were gone for a month. I’m starting to learn Earth magic and it’s going great!”
Will put his hands on his hips and said “That is fantastic to hear, Zarnak. Oh, I’d like you to meet someone special. Zarnak, this is my fiancee, Sam. Sam, this is Zarnak.”
Zarnak was honored to meet Sam, and was amazed by how pretty she was. “Whoa… nice to meet you, Sam! Will’s told me a lot about you!”
Sam had to take a breath first, but accepted his handshake. “It’s nice to meet you too, sweetie,” she said in her nicest voice possible, despite the fact she was still weirded out.
Kyu’s feelers twitched as he sensed Sam’s emotions, leading to him snickering. “Sam, how long have you lived with me and Will again?”
This made the others laugh, with Sam becoming a little flustered. “Well I… I mean… Kyu, you’ve… ARGH, okay, all of this is making me a little nervous!”
Will gave her another hug as he finished chuckling. “Don’t worry, Sam, I felt the same back when I was first brought to Wing X…”
“Mm-hmm, he kept jumping when approached," Zarnak added. He then tilted his head as his pure black eyes seemed to focus on something within Sam. “Sam, are you from Inferno?”
She was surprised by that deduction. “How… how did you figure that out?”
“His eyes are special, as they can see in UV and IR, but may also be able to see other stuff,” Antares answered. “He picked up on the fact that Will was a dullahan not too long after he met him.”
“Oh, Will, can you still take your head off?” Zarnak inquired, followed by Will obliging him. “Haha, nice!”
“Zarnak, dear, don’t run off like that!” A woman’s concerned voice called out. Stepping into the area was a kind-looking nurse with long, wavy brown hair and umber eyes. “There you are…”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Sproxton,” he said with his hands behind his back. “I’m just so excited at the moment.
“Hey, Rosaline,” said Antares. “Don’t worry, he was behaving himself.”
“Oh, Lt. Colonel, hello,” Rosaline replied. “And Will and Kyu, how are you doing?”
“Hey, Rosaline, it’s been a while,” Will answered.
“Don’t mind us, just taking care of official anomaly business,” Kyu said with a hint of pride.
“How wonderful… I suppose? And who is this?” she inquired as she looked at Sam.
“This is my fiancee, Sam,” said Will. “She just joined the Brigade and is going to be a part of our squad.”
“Fantastic,” Rosaline replied as she shook her hand. “I’m Rosaline Sproxton, a nurse for Wing X and Zarnak’s guardian.”
Sam nodded, as it seemed to bring her comfort for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that even though Zarnak was an alien, he still had a sense of family… “Neat. So, um, where is he from?”
“He’s a Tennzenthen from Sarnak II, a moon orbiting a super earth in the Triangulum galaxy,” Antares answered. He could easily tell Sam was amazed by that fact. “He just showed up one day because of a temporal anomaly, the MIB found him and handed him off to us, and we’ve been taking care of him ever since.”
Rosaline chuckled a little. “Thankfully his first language, Sarnak Beta, is surprisingly similar to English.” Zarnak then said something in his tongue, making Sam chuckle. “Anyways, we best get to the party so you can open your presents and let Antares take care of their business…”
Zarnak laughed and began to walk away with Rosaline. “Alright, see you later, Sam. All of you come to my party if you can!”
“Sure thing, Zarnak,” Will called out. “Have fun!”
Antares cleared his throat and indicated for them to resume walking. “Rosaline is close friends with Wing Director Bucky Clement, and they take care of Zarnak together.”
“Oh, well that’s nice,” Sam commented as she looked behind her.
“Those two have a thing for each other and everybody thinks they should get married,” Kyu added.
“Yeah, they would make a fantastic couple,” Antares concluded. He then sighed, and it was easy to tell he wanted to take the group to Zarnak’s birthday party instead. “And now we have to deal with 008…”
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
