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For those that may have missed out the first time, or those who want to see if they're mentioned (yet) in the ongoing stories, here is Volume One of The Dark Files:
Volume 1
Contents:
1. The Dark Files
2. The Dark Files: Snuggly Strikes Back
3. The Dark Files: First Strike
The Dark Files.
Many of you may not realise what goes on in the world around you. How battles against evil are fought every day whilst you sit their playing on your Xboxs, play football, or do other everyday things. Little do you realise that your safety lies in the hands of one man and his amazing powers. The powers of the Albino.
Few men even know he exists, but those who do know that Albino-man is the only person who can keep the balance between light and dark, and if that balance should tip the wrong way, it would mean the end of all things.
Dark Mark didn’t always know of his abilities. He thought himself as just a regular guy doing a regular job at his local supermarket, but things started to change for him.
“Just one Cornettoooooo,” Dark Mark sung as he filled the shelf with ice-cream, “give it to meeeeee.”
He didn’t feel the cold of the freezers. He thought this was unusual but carried on stacking. Taking the tubs of ice-cream off the roller and placing them onto the freezer shelf.
After placing the final tub on the shelf, Dark Mark turned to face the roller, but in the corner of his eye, he could see something flying at a high velocity towards him.
He didn’t have time to duck out of the way, but instead he raised his hand to block the impact, and closed his eyes tightly bracing himself for the impact.
However, the object didn’t make impact.
Dark Mark opened his eyes and saw the object floating in front of his hand. It was a large white box labelled as ‘cola’. He stared at the box for a while, trying to figure out what was going on. In the background, he spotted someone wearing a purple robe disappear rather quickly around the corner, and as he changed his glance, the box dropped to the ground with a large thud.
Dark Mark finished his work then decided to head home. As he was leaving the store, he felt he could sense the robed figure nearby. He stopped and looked around noticing a white van in the car park. He focused on the van and it started to fade! He paused for a moment, realising it couldn’t be chance, and focused harder on the van. The van quickly became invisible, and left in the centre was the robed man.
The robed figure started walking towards Dark Mark, and as he did so, the supermarket car park disappeared in a flash, to be replaced by the interior of a cave. This cave was completely dark, yet Dark Mark could still see the man in the robes.
“I am Creepy Magician. I have been watching you for some time.”
”What do you want?” replied Dark Mark, still rather confused by the events so far.
“I was confident that your powers were growing. Your abilities are increasing every day yet you didn’t know until I threw that box at you.”
Dark Mark raised his hand, pointing at Creepy Magician, “So it was you who threw it. You could have killed me! And what are you talking about, ‘my powers growing’?”
Creepy Magician smiled, “I knew you would stop the box. Attacking you was the only way I could get you to realise your powers effectively.”
Creepy stopped for a moment then revealed a crystal ball. He whispered a spell whilst waving his hand on the ball until it glowed with sheer intensity. When the light faded, Dark Mark could see SR Towers, to which the summit reaches high into the clouds.
Creepy began to speak, “SR Towers is one of the most important structures on the planet. It used to be home to The Great Albino. The keeper of all things white. However, he is old and it wont be long before he passes away and so he has already began the transfer of power. The power to control all things white.”
Dark Mark’s brow raised, “So that is how I stopped that box?”
Creepy answered, “Yes, and I have been assigned to guide you into developing these powers to fight the dark forces of evil. Whenever you are in danger, focus your powers and fight the evil. You shall keep your identity a secret, and to do so, you must give yourself a new name.”
Dark Mark thought for a moment, realising his current name wasn’t really appropriate. “I shall call myself,” he paused, waiting for the perfect name to enter his head, “the…Astonishing Albino-man!”
And with that, Creepy vanished and the cave disappeared in a flash, returning Dark Mark’s surroundings to the car park he disappeared from.
As he walked home, he considered what he had been told by the magician. Have I really got powers like that? Can I really control all that is white?
He looked up at the sky, saw a cloud in the sky and as the thought of rain entered his head, the cloud started to empty its contents.
He turned and saw a white cat, sat on the doorstep of a house he was passing. He thought it would be funny to see the cat stuck up a tree, and in the blink of an eye, the cat was clinging onto a branch with its claws trying not to fall.
“It’s true,” he said out loud, “I really do have powers!”
He began to notice that more and more items contained white, and that he could control them by merely thinking about them. Car number plates, road signs, even the paint on the roads were under his control. The potential in his powers was almost overwhelming.
Meanwhile, Psycho Edgy, who had dropped the title for the preferred Edge-man since his Notable hunting days, was walking through his local park when he saw something suspicious. El Robin, known thief and trouble maker and his gang of JATS had just taken a Game Boy Advance and game off Darwock.
Edgy hid in the shadows and crept towards El Robin, who was laughing at the childs futile efforts to get back his Game Boy.
”With this I can make my own games! Soon I shall be the richest man in the world! Hahaha!”
Edgy grabbed his axe, it was cold through lack of use, and shouted, “Give that back El Robin, or suffer the consequences!”
El Robin turned to face Edgy, his eyes glowed red with rage. “JATS! KILL HIM!” he commanded, and his minions started to approach Edgy.
Edgy instantly recognised one of them. Dean Chambers, general homosexual and spam-meister. He swung his axe in front of him causing Dean Chambers to see his own reflection. He fainted.
Another JAT approached with a large staff. They engaged blows, mainly striking each others weapons until the JAT fell to his knees. Edgy raised his axe high into the air, holding it with both hands, and brought it down onto the JAT’s staff, causing it to split into two pieces. Splinters flew through the air, but this didn’t deter the rest of the JATs.
“ATTACK!” El Robin commanded, and the JATs all advanced at once, surrounding Edgy completely. Edgy held the axe in a vertical position in front of his face, the blade pointing towards the JAT directly in front of him. With his eyes closed, he poured his energy into his weapon. There seemed to be a glow around Edgy, in a perfect circle, the circumference edging at the JATs feet. Despite the unusual goings on, the JATS in their stupidity continued to close in on Edgy.
The axe began to glow with energy, spreading through to Edgy’s hands, then his arms, until it completely engulfed him His appearance changed to that of a man dressed in a long black leather jacket, wearing a black shirt, black trousers and black shoes underneath. The axe had turned to a black metal.
El Robin’s jaw dropped, his eyes flashed with even more rage, and his voice seemed to boom, “Psycho Edgy. You’re back!”
”Edgy swung the axe in a complete circle, knocking the JATs to the ground. “Pleased to see me?” he questioned in a humorous tone. “By the way, it’s Edge-man now.”
”Edge-man, you will pay for this!” El Robin exclaimed as more JATs seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Edgy took out two of the JATs with ease, though had to put up a fight against the third. He punched one in the face with his left hand, however his other hand was struck by a heavy force, knocking the axe to the ground. The JATs carried on attacking, and Edgy wished Dringo could have been around to give some much needed assistance. Edgy’s resistance proved to be ineffective against the swarm, and they soon had him secured.
El Robin approached Edgy, looking down at him with an evil grin upon his face. He picked up Edgy’s axe and started playing with it in his hand, feeling its weight. He gave a couple swings in the air and stated, “Impressive weapon. Perfectly balanced, strong, sharp blade, and not a single dent or mark on the dark metal.”
With his knees to the ground, Edgy considered his options. He needed help. He couldn’t get out of this on his own. Looking to the ground, he noticed a couple ants were going about their normal business, looking a little distressed from all the noise.
Edgy whispered something then replied to El Robin, “You want it gift wrapped?”
“Dark Mark!” Cried the Great Albino, clenching his chest in pain. “Dark Mark!”
Mr. Snuggly rushed to his side trying to calm him. “What is it Great Albino?”
The Great Albino looked confused, staring into Snuggly’s eyes. He appeared to change his attitude when he spoke, to a more calm and knowledgeable status. “He…he’s in trouble.”
Mr. Snuggly frowned, “Dark Mark? Why should he be in trouble. He’s been pretty quiet lately, making the odd comment, but still quieter than most.
“No! No, no, no,” the old man focused his gaze, “Edgy’s in trouble. Dark Mark must save him.”
It was Mr. Snuggly’s turn to look confused. “Save him? How?”
The old albino slowly reached up and grabbed Snuggly’s shoulder, edging him closer. “Inform Dark Mark that Edgy’s in trouble. Promise me you’ll do it now!” Promise me.”
Mr. Snuggly nodded then walked back out to his office on the top floor of the building. He sat at his desk, minimised his game of Solitaire and brought up the SR Operations window. He typed in his password and put on his headset. He used the mouse to select ‘Comms.’ He noticed in the corner of the screen a flashing icon. It was shaped like an Ant. He selected it and a new window popped up flashing “Incomming transmission, play?”
Mr. Snuggly selected ‘Yes’ and watched the screen. It was a video message from Ant.
“Sir, it seems like one of our allies is in danger.”
”Edgy?” replied Snuggly.
“You already know, sir?”
Snuggly quickly requested that he carry on.
”A couple ants have reported that Edgy has been secured by enemy forces. He is in immense danger and isn’t going to last much longer.”
”Where is he?”
“In a park somewhere within south Wales. Sheepy knows the area well, shall I send him?”
“Negative, we don’t want to compromise the project.”
Ant nodded and Snuggly thought for a while.
“I have a feeling that we could use some help from another Welshman. Lets contact Dark Mark.”
Ant again nodded, then cancelled his transmission.
Dark Mark crossed the road, curious to try out his new abilities on anything he could find. As he reached the other side, his mobile began to ring. Picking it out of his pocket, he flipped it open and said, “Dominoes Pizza!”
”No time for humour,” said an unfamiliar voice, “We’ve got trouble!”
”Who’s this?” asked Mark, thinking it more than just coincidence after his encounter with the magician.
“It’s Ant, from SR Towers. I haven’t got much time to explain, but we really need your help.” He sounded panicky.
“What can I do you for?” he asked.
“Your mate Edgy is in trouble. I’m not sure why, but Mr. Snuggly has requested that you help out however you can.”
”Um…ok,” responded Mark, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Dark Mark closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. Unsure what to do next, he carried walking for a bit. Quietly to himself, he asked, “Where’s Creepy when you need him?”
With a flash, Dark Mark was back in the cave.
“Creepy Magician, I need your help. Edgy’s in trouble and…”
He was interrupted by Creepy’s voice, “Take this pill. It will help you find your destiny.”
Mark didn’t question Creepy, just swallowed the pill. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like all the cries in the world all at once. He grabbed his head with both hands and closed his eyes in pain, then it just stopped.
“Focus on Edgy,” Creepy advised, “Focus.”
Within a flash of light, Dark Mark was back on the pavement where he left off. He could hear Edgy making sarcastic comments. Then he heard El Robin saying something else. Then Edgy shouted something back.
Mark concentrated on the voices, closed his eyes, and focused. Without knowing it, he had begun to rise into the air, travelling at an immense speed until he felt the temperature change. He opened his eyes to find he was standing behind El Robin.
“Nice of you to drop in,” Edgy said, confusing the JATs and especially El Robin.
Mark quickly surveyed the situation and noticed that the t-shirts the JATs holding Edgy were wearing were very white.
“Been on the Daz again have we?” he said, “Making your clothes whiter than white?” With a wave of the hand, their T-shirts began to shrink, causing them to choke. “Maybe you shouldn’t have put them on such a high heat?”
Edgy attacked the JATs, still struggling to breathe. They fell to the ground and lay unconscious as Mark focused his attention on the rest of the JATs. Mark ran towards a nearby wall, the JATs followed, closing in tightly. Mark jumped, kicked his leg off the wall, spinning him around, his other foot impacting with the JATs faces. They fell to the ground like dominoes.
“STOP!” commanded El Robin in a booming voice. “I HAVE THE AXE NOW!” And with that he charged at Edgy, slicing the air around him until Edgy gave him a punch in the chest. Despite the blow, El Robin seemed to have plenty of strength left in him, being fed by the rage in his eyes. He struck at Edgy knocking him to the ground. He raised the axe and was about to bring it down when suddenly a bolt of lightning stuck the axe.
“Shocking!” said Dark Mark.
El Robin turned to face him, Edgy got back up onto his feet and backed away out of reach of the axe.
“I don’t believe we have met,” Said El Robin in a questioning tone, “Do I know you?”
Mark smiled, “I am the Astonishing Albino-man!”
”Oh really,” laughed El Robin, “And what do you do?”
”I bring light to darkness.”
Edgy butted in, “Do you really think you can take us both on El Robin?.
No response.
“Just give that boy’s Game Boy back and it’ll all be over.”
No response.
Mark looked up into the sky and saw some heavy clouds were forming. He thought about the weather and the clouds began to drop hail. Heavy, large hail, but only upon El Robin. One ball of ice fell onto his arm causing him to drop the axe. Another hit him on the back of his leg, causing him to fall.
Edgy picked up his axe and hid it under his jacket. Mark reached for the Game Boy, the hail always missing his arm. He took it and gave it back to Darwock, who ran away quickly.
The hail stopped and El Robin stayed to the ground, his eyes normal. Mark told him to go home and to remember this day should he consider doing such a thing again, and the two heroes walked away, leaving El Robin to recover.
Realising the responsibility behind the power, Mark vowed to use his powers only for good. He asked Edgy to keep his powers a secret, and knew that no one would believe El Robin if he should say anything. After all, the boy who cried wolf?
El Robin, got to his feet, the clouds now gone. He found his minions stirring and moaning about the pain but forced them all to their feet. His eyes flashed red again and in a booming voice he said, “If we can’t defeat the two, we shall defeat the many instead. To the towers!”
Now ‘The Astonishing Albino-man’ is bound to have to face more powerful foes than El Robin. He was just a petty criminal trying to make some money. But there are forces who want to disturb the powers that be. And Albino-man may be the only person who can prevent this from happening. Will El Robin strike SR Towers? Will Darwock tell others about his superhero discovery? And what is the project that Mr. Snuggly and Ant are involved in?
To be continued…
-------------- ------------------ --------------------------- ----------------------- -----------------
2. The Dark Files: Snuggly Strikes Back
Previously on “The Dark Files”:
Edgy turned to Timmargh, “DON’T PRESS THAT BUTTON!”
…
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
…
Mystique asked, “What’s it like at third base?”
Albino-man replied, “It’s like making love to a warm dish of lasagne...without the onions.”
…
“Wow, thanks for saving my life Spider-man!”
Spider-man responded, “Everybody gets one.” Then he disappeared.
…
“Dude, what does my tattoo say?”
”Sweet! What does my tattoo say?”
”Dude! What does my tattoo say?”
”…
El Robin’s going to attack SR Towers!
And now the continuing story:
Mark and Edgy continued walking the way back. Mark’s phone was hovering beside his ear the whole time, the white print on the buttons being enough to control them.
“So you’re saying that El Robin and his minions are already on their way to SR towers?”
”Affirmative, the ants in the region overheard him commanding his JATs. They plan to steal your powers,” was Ants response, “I’ll keep you posted.”
Mark explained the situation to Edgy, as his phone folded itself and slipped into his pocket.
Edgy asked, “How long?”
In a quiet voice, Mark answered, “Not long enough.”
“I’ve told them, sir,” explained Ant, “They should be on their way now.”
Mr. Snuggly checked the coast was clear. Speaking into his headset he said, “Excellent,” he paused, “Excellent. Just remember you can’t tell anybody about the plan. Not Sheepy, not your ants and especially not Edgy. If Tony asks, I am ordering you to lie.”
”Roger, Ant out.”
Mark stopped suddenly. “I need a costume!”
Edgy laughed, “Just don’t go putting your pants on over your trousers.”
Mark’s expression changed to that of frustration, “I need something to conceal my identity. Something nobody would associate with me.”
Edgy added to the frustration, “Something like a nurse’s uniform then?”
”Ye…no! You know what I mean!”
”Well, whatever you pick, make sure it doesn’t clash with my outfit,” said Edgy, motioning his jacket with his hand.
“Snuggly, report.”
Snuggly began to read out a list. One that had been tampered with, “All systems are go, our base in Bristol is secure, as are our London branches. Awaiting a full report from the rest, but I have been assured everything is A-ok.”
Tony nodded, “And the towers?”
”We’re risk free, sir. Perimeter defences fully operational, and all posts have checked in.”
Tony rubbed his chin, “Good, good. Time to go back to watching ‘Caroline in the City’ I think.” Tony walked out of Snuggly’s office.
El Robin approached SR towers. He taught himself to control his rage and used the energy to transfer himself to the gates. They opened for him with a squeal, and after his minions passed through, the gates shut with a bang. They approached the doors, and El Robin stopped. He turned to face the minions and said, “This is it guys. I shall be in control of the power!”
“How about this?” asked Mark. He was wearing the stereotypical superhero costume. A dark grey and black leotard with grey tights and grey sleeves. In the centre of his chest was a shield logo with the letters, “AA” in the centre.
Edgy frowned, “Are you sure you want to be advertising Alcoholics Anonymous? I know of your Christmas do but…”
Mark stopped him, went back into his room and changed. When he returned, he was wearing almost the same costume with “TAA-M” printed in the shield.
”Nah, you still look old fashioned. And I seriously hope that’s a Mars Bar in your pocket!”
M
He went back to his room to get changed again. This time, he returned wearing a T-shirt with the words, “Make me!” printed on the front, and some dark denim jeans.
“That’s more like it!” stated Edgy, “Though that’s the kind of thing you normally wear.
“Exactly! Now if I wear these dark blue shades, no one will see my eyes, and I’ll look cool too.
Edgy shrugged, and then decided to ask the next big question, “So what shall we use for transport?”
Mark smiled, “I’ve already thought of that…”
“Go on,” said Edgy, with the urge to run increasing.
“Well I’m an albino, therefore I can control myself. I can fly through the air, right?”
Edgy nodded.
“If you were to wear something white under your costume, then I’d be able to control you too!”
Edgy got up from his chair, “So you’re saying that you’ll control my flying? What if you lose concentration?”
Mark whistled whilst moving his hand shaped like a vessel heading towards ground. As his fingers made impact with his other hand, he mimicked the noise of an explosion.
“You fill me with lots of confidence, Mark.”
El Robin walked in through the SR Towers main door. Surprisingly, there was nobody around. No one at the reception desk, no elevators moving, no sign of life at all.
El Robin decided that he was just lucky, and motioned his minions to an elevator.
”Meet me at the top floor. If you’re there before me, attack.”
They each nodded their heads in acknowledgement, and El Robin entered the second elevator. He pressed for the top floor and the elevator doors closed and began to rise.
After just a number of seconds, he could hear the noise of screaming. He frantically reached for the ‘emergency stop’ button but found that it had no reaction.
Suddenly there was a bang, and he could feel heat coming through the vents. “Damn,” he muttered to himself, “I could’ve done with their help.”
Eventually, the elevator came to a halt. With a ping, the doors opened. Again, there was nobody there, except for the back of an old man he could see through the door left ajar, lying on a bed in the room at the bottom of the corridor.
”That’s him!” he said to himself, and began to creep through the corridor, being careful not to make a sound. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a knife. He started spinning it by the handle. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He was so close to getting the powers!
When he got to the door, he stared at the back of the old man. Two steps and a thrust and SR Towers would be his!
He pushed the door. It made a slight creak, but not enough for anyone to hear. Who was there to hear anyway, he thought to himself. The only person around was lying on the bed.
He stepped forward, staring at his desired target. Stepped again. Raised his arm slowly, knife facing downwards, and as he was about to thrust it into the old mans back, he rolled over.
“Were you looking for someone?” Mr. Snuggly said as El Robin froze. “You might want to drop the knife.”
The door slammed shut.
“I have those corridors filled with armed guards, and last thing I heard, your friends were creating quite a mess in the basement.”
El Robin dropped the knife, “bu…bu….”
”But what,” pressed Snuggly, “but what about the old man? He may be old but he can still move for Caroline in the City. He’s in the other room with Tony. Doesn’t even know what’s happening.”
El Robin’s expression turned to that of a helpless child.
“Take him to the dungeon, boys,” ordered Mr. Snuggly.
Edgy wasn’t comfortable at all. He felt like he was being pushed the whole way to SR Towers, but he did admire the view. From their height, he could see the tops of mountains and imagined them to be rather large breasts. Looking straight ahead, he could see SR Towers and pointed at the building, made of a single base with two towers side by side, both of them identical.
“Mark…I mean, Albino-man, can you see which one El Robin’s in?”
“No, however there appears to be damage in the left tower. I’ll take us to the roof.”
Edgy nodded and hoped for a smooth landing.
Mark landed perfectly as if he was never even in the air. Edgy, however, fell at quite a high velocity, but managed to roll as he dropped softening the blow.
“Watch the jacket!” he said as he brushed off the powdered cement.
Mark put on his shades, everything looked like it was tinted blue, but he didn’t think anything of it. Edgy checked his axe was still there and they both headed for the roof access door.
“Do you think they saw us?” asked Edgy as he held the handle to the door.
“I don’t think so. But I can’t be sure.”
Edgy opened the door and the two started down the steps. Noticing the noise they were making was echoing down the entire staircase, Mark decided to use his powers to make the two levitate.
As they reached the door to the top floor, Mark lowered them down. The door was white, so Mark focused his powers upon it and to him, it appeared as if it was fading. Beyond the door he saw no one.
He nodded and Edgy slowly opened the door, careful not to make a noise.
They both went through and noted that they were next to the elevators. They could see the corridor was completely empty, except that there was a light emanating from one of the open doors.
Edgy focused his hearing and realised that inside of that room, a television was on. He whispered, “Reminds me of that time Kernal pretended to be gay.”
They both laughed but quickly covered their mouths.
“Wha…what was that?” came a voice from the room.
“Don’t worry about it Great Albino, it was probably just the wind again,” came another voice.
Edgy crept to the nearest side of the door frame. Mark made himself turn invisible as he crept to the other side. They both peered in and spotted the two men staring at the TV.
Mark made himself visible again and Edgy started walking into the room. “Hey Tony, remember me?” came the voice of Edgy.
The old man carried on staring at the screen, fascinated by the goings on of Caroline in the City. The other man turned around, it wasn’t Tony. It was Mr. Snuggly.
Mark thought nothing of it but Edgy had a feeling in his gut. There’s something wrong with this situation, he thought to himself, but greeted him nonetheless.
Mr. Snuggly started to explain how the elevator got damaged and how El Robin was stopped. Edgy didn’t like it at all, though. Why would Tony allow people to die in his towers so easily? He sat silently, listening to the whole thing, though he seemed to be in a state of deep thought. Mark was nodding, laughing and waiting to hear more.
“Let me see him,” said Edgy.
Mr. Snuggly stopped suddenly, the edges of his mouth began to curl to a smiling position. “No problem he said,” and showed them the way to the lift.
They stepped in, now noticing an “Out of order” sign on the door to the other. Mr. Snuggly pressed the button for the basement.
As the elevator decreased its altitude, Mark and Mr. Snuggly started talking about Special Reserve in general. Mr. Snuggly started to talk about the history of the company, Mark commented, however Edgy stayed silent. There was something wrong about the whole situation, but he couldn’t figure out what.
As the door opened, Edgy spotted a tall basket with a sign on one side. “No Weapons” it stated. A guard was sat behind a counter and asked them to disarm.
“We don’t allow any weapons in the dungeon,” he said, “in case they try to escape.”
Edgy dropped a hand axe into the basket, and Mark told them he carried none.
They stepped past the counter and another guard took out a swipe card. He swiped it through a card scanner. The lights upon it blinked yellow and red until they all flashed green, and the guard opened the door.
Mr. Snuggly motioned them in. Mark stepped in first, then Edgy.
Edgy paused, turned around and shouted, “Wait!” but it was too late. The door had slammed shut and it couldn’t be pushed open.
Edgy faced Mark and said, “I knew it. I knew there was something wrong! Tony watches Caroline in the City, Mr. Snuggly hates it.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Mark.
“We break out of course.”
El Robin’s eyes flashed red, though the other two didn’t notice.
”My powers are useless in here,” stated El Robin. “They appear to have rectified some sort of dampening field around the cell.
Edgy faced Mark, “I can’t turn invisible. I think El Robin is telling the truth.”
”That’ll be a first” whispered Edgy as he reached for his back.
“Snuggly knew I had an axe,” Edgy said, his voice at a normal tone, “but he didn’t know how big!” Edgy pulled out his large black axe and El Robin’s eyes lit up.
El Robin dived towards Edgy, but Mark’s fist blocked his path through the air.
“My powers may be blocked in here but I’m not stupid,” said Mark as El Robin collapsed to the floor.
El Robin grabbed Mark’s feet and pulled him to the ground. Mark was too startled to react as El Robin put his hands around his neck.
With a single swing, Edgy’s axe sliced into the back of El Robin, causing blood to splatter around the immediate surroundings. “Damn, he dirtied my axe” Edgy said, then turned his attention to the door.
Mark knocked on the door and shouted, “El Robin’s hurt, he needs medical attention!”
The guard got off his chair and walked toward the door. He opened a slat and peered through, seeing El Robin sat with his back against the wall, blood dripping down his chin. “Stand back” the guard said and he pulled out a pistol. He used a swipe card on the door and it unlocked with a click. The guard pushed the door, watching Mark carefully. He took a couple steps forward and heard a thud behind him.
”Mind if I drop in?” questioned Edgy who hit the guard across the back of the head with the lower side of the handle. The guard dropped to the ground.
“I’ll find Snuggly,” stated Edgy, “you find the Great Albino. If you see Tony, let him know the situation.” They both rushed up the stairs.
They had climbed only half way up when the alarms sounded. They heard doors opening and guards running, so they went through the nearest door they could find.
They were surrounded. Guards were everywhere brandishing weapons of all varieties.
“Do not kill them!” the chief guard heard Snuggly say over the radio. “I want them alive!”
At that moment, one of the guards opened fire. It was Tiltawhirl!
Edgy dived to his right, the bullet narrowly missing his shoulder, and Mark ducked instinctively.
The chief guard aimed his pistol at Tiltawhirl’s feet and fired two bullets causing him to fall to the ground. “You heard Snuggly! Take them alive!”
Tiltawhirl moaned in pain and two other guards carried him away. More guards entered the door behind Mark and Edgy. They were trapped!
”Ready for some fun?” Mark asked Edgy, whose reply was a quick nod.
“There’s no way out,” shouted the chief guard, “You may as well surrender!”
”I think it is about time I showed them my disappearing act.” Mark said to Edgy.
“And I’ll show them my axe,” said Edgy, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his blood. He was ready for action.
Mark reached for his phone and with a slight wrist action he flipped it open. He put it near his mouth and said, “Beam me up, Scotty,” and with that he vanished.
The guards looked at each other in confusion; however the chief focused on Edgy.
“Get him!” he shouted, and the guards charged at Edgy from both sides.
Mark, completely invisible attacked a line of guards in front of himself with a body slam. They fell to the ground with a thud, and the surrounding guards stepped back.
Edgy swung his axe in a complete circle, giving himself a bit of space to move, then continued to knock out some guards with the handle of his axe.
Mark re-materialised behind the guards in the corridor and noticed their white shirts under their jackets. He held his hand up and two guards started to levitate in front of him. Mark, moved his hand in a twirling motion and the guards turned to face each other.
One of the guards reached for his gun, the other attempted to copy, but as they started to aim at Mark, he used his power to tighten their sleeves causing them to drop their weapons in pain.
Struggling to move, the guards seemed to float apart, both able to guess what was coming next, but they couldn’t do anything about it. They were forced together at incredible speed, knocking each other out cold. Then Mark changed his focus onto the next set of guards, causing the two to fall.
By this time, Edgy was in a spot of trouble. One guard had grabbed his shoulders whilst another in front of him was attempting to break his ribs with his fist.
Edgy jabbed his elbow into the guard behind causing him to let go, then he swung his axe three feet high into the wall.
He let go of the axe and stepped back. With a leap he was stood on the handle, the guards again running to attack. Edgy jumped forward and ran along their shoulders pushing them to the ground, before vaulting towards Mark’s position. As he landed, he rolled forward picking up the two guard’s guns. As he straightened up, he threw one of them to Mark who again decided to use his invisibility.
Mark charged through the guards again until he reached the chief. He grabbed him by the neck as he re-materialised, pointing the gun at his head. Edgy aimed his pistol at the guards in front of him and shouted, “Drop your weapons!”
They turned to face their chief.
“Do as he says,” he stated.
Every guard dropped his weapon and Edgy ordered they put their hands to their heads. He then walked through the guards, watching each one carefully, aiming his gun at one of them each and every time he passed them. He approached his axe and pulled it out of the wall with a yank.
“Move in there!” Mark commanded, indicating a room with his gun.
The Chief nodded and the guards, the ones not out cold on the floor, slowly walked into the room.
Edgy approached the chief, still held hostage, and removed his communicator and swipe card. He then pulled the door shut and fired the pistol at the swipe-card reader, locking the guards in the room. “That should hold them,” he said.
Edgy looked at the name badge on the chief guard’s shirt. ‘Belldandy’ it said.
He then picked up the communicator and pressed the button on the side, “Belldandy to Mr. Snuggly.”
”Snuggly here, have you caught them?”
”Yes sir, they’re secure and back in their cell.”
”This time, if they call for help, ignore them. They can rot!”
”Understood, Belldandy out.”
Edgy dropped the communicator and stamped on it.
“Now to rescue the Great Albino,” Mark said as the alarms faded to quiet.
They decided to take the elevator to the top floor. Mr. Snuggly wouldn’t suspect anything, so why not?
Upon reaching the top, the doors opened with a ping, and the two, with their hostage, stepped out. This time they walked straight to Snuggly’s office, to catch him by surprise.
They waited outside and listened in on the conversation they could hear.
“Ant, all is going to plan. The two ‘heroes’ are in a cell, Tony is watching his favourite show and the Great Albino is resting in his room. All I have to do is steal the powers…”
”And SR Towers shall be ours!” Ant butted in.
“NO!” Snuggly shouted. “Not ours! Mine!”
Ant quickly apologised, “Of course sir, what do you need me to do?”
”Inform the branches that they shall soon have a new leader. Any resistance is futile.”
”Will do, sir. Ant out.”
Edgy kicked down the door with a daring kick. It fell with a bang and Snuggly looked up.
Mark entered the room with his hostage at gunpoint. Edgy ran off in search of Tony.
“The game’s up, Snuggly. We know what you’re planning. We heard every word!”
Snuggly grinned, “And what are you going to do about it? Kill me?”
”If I have to,” stated Mark, “though I would prefer a peaceful solution.”
Edgy found Tony, watching another re-run of Caroline in the City. Tony looked surprised but pleased to see Edgy, and asked him if he would like to join him.
“No thank you,” Edgy said, “but there is something you should know.”
“You should know Albino-man, that the villain is always one step ahead of the superhero.”
”What do you mean?” Mark replied.
”Watch,” Said Snuggly as he pressed a button under his desk. A Metal pipe dropped from the ceiling encasing Snuggly in his chair.
Mark fired his gun. The bullets ricocheted off the metal pipe. It rose into the ceiling and Snuggly was gone.
Mark knocked out Belldandy with one swift blow to the back of the head. As he fell to the ground, Mark ran to the window. Outside he could hear the blades of a helicopter rotating above. Moments later, a black Chinook carried Snuggly away, leaving Mark only able to stare in disbelief that he got away.
Edgy ran in with Tony seconds later.
“Did you get him?” Tony asked.
“He escaped, and I fear that you and the Great Albino are in trouble.”
Tony rubbed his chin, “What do you think we should do?”
With a flash, the room became a dark cave. Mark, Edgy, Tony and the bed with the Great Albino laying upon it were all clearly visible. Creepy Magician appeared.
“I can grant you sanctuary until Snuggly is stopped. But if he finds this cave, I fear I won’t be able to protect the two of you.”
He turned to face Mark, “Mr. Snuggly has many allies that you must be ready to face. He will stop at nothing to gain absolute power. Edgy, you must go back to your normal life. You won’t be able to face these beings with your axe alone. Albino-man, however, you must be alert at all times. Danger is everywhere and Snuggly will seek you out. Without you to stop him, he will gain power.”
”Man, you really got to sort out your décor,” Edgy commented.
”This is serious,” stated Creepy, “the fate of the world lies in the hands of The Astonishing Albino-man. Fail to stop Snuggly and the world will cease to exist as we know it.”
Will Snuggly ever be stopped? Can Creepy be trusted? And will Edgy ring Changing Rooms to sort out the décor of Creepy’s cave?
To be continued…
-------------- ------------------ --------------------------- ----------------------- -----------------
3. The Dark Files: First Strike
Previously on The Dark Files:
”That’s the seventh fleet to pass through the wormhole. They’re sending an army through! They must be stopped!”
”We must mine the entrance to the wormhole.”
…
”This is serious,” stated Creepy, “the fate of the world lies in the hands of The Astonishing Albino-man. Fail to stop Snuggly and the world will cease to exist as we know it.”
And now the continuing story:
Mr. Snuggly’s helicopter was piloted by Ant, who was dressed in a dark blue military uniform. Ant seemed to be extremely focused on his flying, but had a question to ask.
“Sir, what are we to do now?”
Snuggly was sat to the left of Ant and was still wearing his normal work attire. “We are to head to my alternate business HQ in Scotland. I have many contacts who will be able to assist us.”
Ant nodded and turned the helicopter to north. He noticed a light flashing on the controls. “Sir, we have an incoming transmission.”
Snuggly pressed a button on his side of the controls and across the windshield of the helicopter, he could see a clear image of Tony.
”Mr. Snuggly, I am ordering you to return to SR towers immediately.”
”And if I don’t?” Snuggly asked, half expecting a generic answer.
“If you don’t, I shall be forced to take forceful action.”
And muttered to himself, “How forceful!”
Snuggly laughed with an evil cackle. “You really think you can stop this chopper? It’s the most technologically advanced air transport device in the world. Nothing you can do will stop me from getting away. Snuggly out.”
Tony switched the viewscreen back to an external view of the craft. Satellite imagery provided a rear view of the craft, as well as co-ordinates on a map in the lower right corner of the screen.
“Edgy,” Tony asked, “recommendations?”
Edgy was holding his axe in one hand. It was still warm from battle. He considered various possibilities and soon came to an answer. “How about we fire a homing missile at his helicopter. High chances it’ll kill him and his pilot, but the alternative involved a lot more bloodshed.”
”Agreed,” replied Tony who seemed saddened by the idea. “Timmargh, lock a missile onto his tail.”
Timmargh punched a command into his control console. “Target locked sir.”
”Fire!”
Timmargh pressed the fire button and the building began to shake. In the grounds of SR towers was a small hill. The peak appeared to slide to the side, grass and mud slid off a metal hub.
A small missile was propelled into the air via a projectile system, and with a roar, it started burning fuel.
The missile hovered for a second then it began to angle itself. Away it went into the air, out of sight from visible eyes except for the clouds of smoke that formed behind it.
In the cockpit of the helicopter, alarms sounded and red lights flashed simultaneously, startling the pilot and his passenger.
“Mr. Snuggly, we are under attack. Incoming missile bearing 180.0 degrees.”
Snuggly grabbed the sides of his seat, “How long?” he asked.
“Approximately thirteen seconds, sir,” was Ant’s reply. “We won’t be able to avoid it.”
Snuggly smiled, “Plenty of time,” he stated, “Why don’t we try the new cloaking device the Great Albino helped us develop?”
Ant nodded and flipped a number of switches above his head. The internal cockpit lights dimmed and the siren halved its volume.
The missile carried on its velocity and stayed on target.
Snuggly and Ant watched the small radar monitor. In the centre was a large dot representing the helicopter, and edging closer to it from the lower frame of the monitor was a smaller dot representing the missile.
Closer and closer it got to the invisible helicopter staying directly on target.
“Five seconds ‘til impact!” exclaimed Ant. Snuggly still looked confident.
The small dot was right beneath the large dot now.
”Three!”
Beads of sweat appeared on Ants head.
“TWO!”
Ant wanted to do something, but knew he couldn’t.
“ONE! Brace for impact!”
The missile exploded causing a huge ball of fire to light up the sky.
However, the helicopter was almost completely unaffected. It rocked slightly on it’s course but continued nonetheless.
That night, Dark Mark did not sleep. He lay in his bed thinking of the days events. First of all he discovered he had new powers. Secondly, Edgy and himself had kicked some serious ass, as well as caused some fatalities. Thirdly (and more importantly), he realised he had left the large freezer open at work! At least tomorrow was Saturday and he didn’t have to worry about the freezer. Some other unlucky employee would get the abuse and have to deal with the situation. The thought of this caused him to laugh, but he quickly stopped when he realised that life was only going to become more difficult.
Dawn eventually came and Mark arose out of his bed, the weight of his thoughts still heavy on his mind. For the mean time, today was going to be an easy day, as a phone call confirmed the missile exploded on contact with Snuggly’s helicopter, destroying it without a trace. He thought he would chill and play some videogames to try and take his mind off things.
Mark turned on his television, pressed the power to his Xbox, put on his Live headset and sat in his chair with the controller in his hand. It was too early for his surround speakers, so he left them off. He decided to start a game online and set his personal preferences. Eventually he entered his own lobby and invited a few of his online acquaintances into the game.
As he stared at the screen, his eyes began to itch. He rubbed them which helped, but they still felt the strain of a sleepless night. Staring back at the screen, he saw a name appear in the lobby. Atleast he thought it was a name.
Mark rubbed his eyes again and focused on the name. He seemed to concentrate so hard that everything else around him seemed unimportant, but no matter how hard he tried, the white lettering on the screen still seemed to blur.
First Mark nodded slightly at the screen and all other white light emitted from the screen vanished, leaving black. This helped.
He focused all his attention on the white writing again, the letters still fighting his gaze. Until…
Da-dum.
Mark slowly turned his head around, the rest of his body still.
Da-dum.
First he wanted to find the source of the noise. Then he noticed…
Da-dum.
…his room had disappeared. Though not like last time. This time it was different. No magician, no Great Albino. Just darkness. Everywhere.
Da-dum.
Mark put a hand to his chest.
Da-dum.
It was his own heartbeat. However, it appeared to be everywhere.
He could hear it above him, below him, everywhere.
Da-dum.
He turned his attention back at the screen. The letters were clear now. “WELCOME – ALBINO-MAN” they said.
Mark jumped back in surprise. What was going on?
Da-dum.
The heartbeat became more fast paced, as if he had been running, yet he felt calm.
“Welcome Albino-man.”
Mark looked around. He heard the voice, but where did it come from? He couldn’t see anyone in the darkness!
”Welcome.”
It wasn’t one voice. It was many, yet they all sounded as if they were from the same person. All spoke in complete harmony.
“Who are you?” Mark asked, still trying to find the source of the voice.
“We are everything. We are the beginning, the end, the creation and the destruction.”
Mark stopped moving, his physical search for an answer seemed futile.
“Where are you?” Mark said, expecting another cryptic answer.
A hand appeared on Mark’s shoulder. Mark defensively attempted to repel the hand with a strong burst of white energy.
The hand stayed.
“We are here,” the voice said. The direction of the voice was now clearly behind him.
The heartbeat’s intensity increased.
Without realising he was doing it, Mark turned himself around to face the being and found himself to be facing a child, looking no older than ten, dressed in a dull white dress going right down to her feet – which weren’t quite touching the ground.
“What’s going on?” was Mark’s first question.
The girl levitated herself to Mark’s eye level, her expression seemed that of curiosity, yet lacked emotion. She didn’t appear to be fearful, nor confident. She just was.
“You must know,” she spoke, no emotion in her voice, “About the danger you are about to face.”
Inside, Mark felt like he had been crushed to death. Or near enough anyway.
“Time out! Time out!” he said in a raised voice whilst tapping his hands together into the shape of the letter T.
The girl tilted her head to the side.
Mark continued, “What danger? Why me?”
”You are the Great Albino,” was her reply.
“What does that mean?” Mark asked, he felt rather tense. The sound of the heartbeat doubled its speed.
The girl straightened her head again, and said “You are the Great Albino.” This time, she said it as if he should know what that means.
“Cut the crap,” Mark said, “Stop the David Blaine act, cut out the sound effects, and stop talking in riddles!”
Mark started glowing again, blue emissions of light surrounded him yet the girl’s stance was unaffected. However, Mark was unaware of his actions.
The girl slowly floated back down to ground level with a low hum. Upon landing, the heartbeat stopped and the girl stared into Mark’s eyes with her own.
Mark felt drawn to stare back, though he couldn’t understand why, until suddenly he appeared to be zooming in on them at great speed. Without time to react, he appeared to travel right through her eyes until he found himself back in Creepy Magician’s cave.
In the cave, Mark saw the old man lying on his bed. Mark felt a sense of warmth seeing that the Great Albino was safe. Comfortable. Out of harm’s way.
Further away he could see Creepy Magician in his dark purple robes. However, he was unable to see his face, or what he was doing.
“You are the Great Albino,” came a voice from above.
Mark looked up and saw the same girl sat on a ridge high up in the cave. He immediately ran towards the bed of the old man and shouted, “Leave him alone!” However, he failed to see the large stone on the ground, tripped and fell, sliding along the ground at rapid speed.
Mark felt like he was travelling in slow motion, looking straight ahead he saw the bed coming towards him. He braced himself for impact, closing his eyes instinctually. When he opened them, he was the other side of the bed, yet he felt no pain.
He stood up, brushing himself down. A sense of realisation came over him as he looked back up at the girl. She was playing with her hair, looking at it with curiosity.
“Fascinating,” she muttered to herself until her self discoveries were interrupted by Mark.
”This is an illusion isn’t it?”
She looked up at Mark then turned her head towards Creepy Magician. She repeated herself, “You must know about the danger you are about to face.”
Mark turned to face Creepy who was holding something glowing white in his hands. He zoomed his view on that white object and noticed it was a test tube.
Creepy lifted the test tube to his mouth and emptied it of its white liquid contents.
Mark turned his attention to the old man. But as he turned his head, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head…
“Are you there?” came a question from an unfamiliar voice.
“Hello?” came another.
“Lets go join another game” said a third, and Mark opened his eyes.
He was back in his room, sat in his chair with his Xbox controller in his hand.
He felt confused for a moment; dazed after the vision he just had. Or was it just a dream? After all, he had very little sleep. No. It was too real. It couldn’t have been a dream. Not a normal dream anyway. It was too surreal.
Snuggly sat at his desk. His chair felt more like a throne, his office more like a sanctuary of power. In his office, he knew he could control all situations. He could overpower anyone if he should choose to.
He pressed a button positioned under the frame of the desk. With a buzz, a small computer monitor rose out of the polished finish at a customised angle. Snuggly looked into the monitor which informed him that Creepy Magician was in proximity.
Snuggly looked around and noticed a small section of his wall was glowing. Out of it stepped Creepy.
The magician smiled and said, “I’ve done it.”
Snuggly raised a glass from his desk containing whisky. He took a sip and tasted it on the end of his tongue. With a smile he looked at Creepy who was standing directly in front of the desk looking back.
“When will I receive payment?” Creepy asked. He wasn’t smiling back.
Snuggly rolled his eyes and pointed them at the glass. “This was Tony’s. He was keeping it for a good occasion. Fancy some?”
Creepy continued staring at snuggly, but he couldn’t hold his gaze for long. His eyes rebelliously took a peek at the whisky. Snuggly poured him a drink to which he quietly accepted, and Snuggly continued to talk.
“This is just a small taster of what is to come.” He paused for a moment. “When you have destroyed Albino-man there will be nothing left to stop me from being the most powerful man on the planet!”
Creepy nodded, though he didn’t entirely agree. He did, however, want Albino-man gone. Once destroyed, the powers would transfer to whoever holds the most White. In this case, as Creepy knew, it was him.
Creepy made his mind up as to what he should do. He slowly placed the glass to his mouth and with a quick flick of the wrist, downed the lot and squeezed until the glass smashed in his hand, cutting him in several places. “It is time,” he said as he dropped the shards and walked to and through the far wall.
Snuggly just stared, grinning menacingly.
Mark used his powers to press the buttons on his mobile. It rung for a while until he got an answer.
”Edgy?”
”Hey, Mark. What’s up?”
Mark sighed. “I think we’ve got trouble. Where are you?”
Edgy answered, “It’s a Saturday morning…where do you think?”
Edgy waited expectantly for a reply. All he got was a blinding flash of light.
”Creepy! He’s killed the Albino!”
Edgy’s eyes normalised again and noticed Mark was standing in his living room. He turned of the television and asked the first thing that entered his mind, “How do you know?”
Mark opened his mouth to speak, but realised what he was about to say would sound ridiculous. “I just know, ok?”
Edgy nodded, “You’re the one with the powers. So what do we do now?”
Mark sat on a chair to Edgy’s left. He placed his head in his hands. “He is going to come for me now. It is just a matter of waiting.”
Saturday passed without event, as did Sunday. Mark still had no sleep, but he was tired. Tired of waiting. Tired of thinking. Tired of being different. Sure, I’ve got powers, he thought to himself, but what good are powers when you can only use them when no one’s around?
Work seemed to go as normal. In fact, all was fine until closing time.
The store had been unusually quiet, customers making quick shops, then leaving without fuss. The announcements over the speaker system were virtually non-existant. And not one staff member smiled. There was something wrong and everyone felt it. But none felt it more than Dark Mark.
The customers all but left and Mark decided he had done all he can for the day. He walked out to the warehouse to finish up his duties. Heading to the freezer, he noticed a bright flash inside. With curiosity, he said, “Hello?”
No answer.
Mark walked closer, he could hear laughing.
“Anyone there?”
More giggling. Moving.
Mark stepped up to the door. He took a deep breath, took two steps forward and…
SLAM!
Mark went into a defensive stance, he realised he had been shut in!
He turned to face the icy door and gave it a push. It wouldn’t budge.
He pushed the frosted emergency exit bar. It wouldn’t budge.
He pressed the emergency alarm button. It made a slight buzz, but drained into nothingness.
Again came the giggling, and Mark reacted by facing the noise. There was nothing there. Not even the crates and rollers that normally occupied it! Just poles, a few boxes and other items lay scattered on the icy floor.
Mark tried to use his power to teleport himself out of the freezer. His attempt failed.
Somewhat startled by this, Mark walked to the centre of the freezer to see if there was anything that could help him get out.
As he crouched to move the bits of metal, plastic and wood, a strong force knocked him to the ground with a thud.
Mark lay on his back recovering his breath. As he stared up, he could see a rippling effect shaped like a humanoid directly above him. Mark raised his hand and an enormous flash erupted from the air, blinding those that stared into it. This made the invisible figure lose concentration and he became visible again.
It was Creepy Magician!
Creepy laughed, “That was Flash, now prepare for Ming!”
Creepy raised his arms and conjured a large Ming vase from empty space! He held it above Mark and thrust his arms downward, bringing it down towards Mark’s skull.
Mark rolled out of the way and got to his feet as the vase shattered.
“Didn’t your mum ever tell you not to play with the ornaments, Creepy?” was Mark’s response.
Creepy smiled and his left eyebrow rose. He conjured a large sword for himself, and swung it round like a skilled swordsman. “No, she never told me not to play with knives either.”
Mark grabbed a pole from near his feet and held it defensively. Creepy attempted a vertical downwards swing and Mark blocked with the pole, colliding with a loud clang.
Creepy then tried to thrust the sword underneath the pole, but Mark knocked it out the way with the pole, continuing the swing to hit the back of Creepy’s purple robed legs, causing him to fall backwards.
Creepy still held the sword and with his right arm, aimed it at Mark’s chest. “Catch!” he said as he threw it in a perfectly straight line, using magic to guide it.
Mark saw it coming and quickly demolecularised himself causing the sword to pass right through him and cut its way straight into the door behind.
“Careful, you might cut yourself.” Mark said in a sarcastic tone.
Creepy slowly got to his feet, his legs sore. When he stood, he pushed his arms downward making his palms face the floor. He started hovering.
Mark, however, wasn’t going to just stare. Instead he reached for a large horseshoe magnet lying in the pile of objects, causing it to fly through the air towards his hand. The frost on it was white, allowing him to interact with it.
“May the fire gods burn the ground and destroy all who stand upon it!” commanded Creepy, his eyes now glowing as red as El Robins.
The ground started to produce steam and the ice upon it vaporised in an instant. Mark’s feet began to sting and so, with a leap, Mark thrust the magnet into the air until it stuck itself to the metal ceiling. He gripped the magnet tightly with his hands and watched as all the objects on the floor began to melt and burn.
“Things are steaming up in here” said Mark who was watching Creepy hovering beside the large fans at the back of the freezer.
“Still making jokes when facing impending doom? How fascinating!” chortled Creepy, his eyes still raging with intent.
Mark took his right hand off the magnet and almost lost his grip entirely. Creepy laughed but continued to watch.
He held his hand straight ahead of him, aiming the palm of his hand at Creepy. He closed his eyes and focused his energy through his hand.
Suddenly, all the steam and frost in the air seemed to be drawn to his hand. It circled itself into a ball that got whiter and whiter until Mark opened his eyes, now glowing blue. He appeared to have fused energy with the frost and fired it in a beam at Creepy.
On impacting his chest, it pushed him closer to the fans. He seemed distressed for a moment until he blocked the beam with his own hand.
”FOOL!” Creepy shouted. “You really think your powers can effect me?”
Mark continued firing the beam, only for it to be absorbed by Creepy’s hand.
“I have the power of the Great Albino himself! Light can’t beat light!” he exclaimed, then roared a laugh of terrific evil.
Mark continued the beam, whilst considering his options. He noticed the control panel for adjusting the fans on the wall to Creepy’s left.
“Now to finish you off!” Creepy said as he raised his other hand.
Mark quickly released the focus on Creepy and turned his hand toward the controls of the freezer. The controls made a buzzing sound until they fried, however the fans they controlled started to increase their rotational velocity.
Creepy seemed unaffected, yet the increase in power to the fans made his body temperature drop immensely!
Mark braced himself for attack, but it didn’t come. Creepy was being frozen alive!
“I think we’d better just chill out,” was the last comment Creepy heard as Mark waved his hand slightly, causing the freezing effect to increase its speed.
Eventually, Creepy couldn’t hold his levitation any more and he fell onto the molten ground, slowly sinking.
Mark wasn’t sure whether he actually melted or not, but he was certain of one thing. He wouldn’t have to face Creepy again.
Suddenly, there was a white flash! Mark noticed the ground was back to normal and lowered himself down.
When he landed he felt an intense rush of energy flow through him. He felt strong, powerful, and felt like he could do anything he wanted that he couldn’t do before!
He looked down at his hands and realised they were gloved. He was wearing black gloves.
Confused as to where they came from, he looked around the freezer again. To his amazement, he noticed the girl who warned him before was standing nearby, facing him.
”Those are to protect you,” she said, “take them off only when you really must.”
”What about Creepy?” Mark replied, he decided to stray from the subject of the gloves.
“You are the Great Albino” she said, then faded into thin air.
To be continued...
(Volume 2 is in the works)
Volume 1
Contents:
1. The Dark Files
2. The Dark Files: Snuggly Strikes Back
3. The Dark Files: First Strike
The Dark Files.
Many of you may not realise what goes on in the world around you. How battles against evil are fought every day whilst you sit their playing on your Xboxs, play football, or do other everyday things. Little do you realise that your safety lies in the hands of one man and his amazing powers. The powers of the Albino.
Few men even know he exists, but those who do know that Albino-man is the only person who can keep the balance between light and dark, and if that balance should tip the wrong way, it would mean the end of all things.
Dark Mark didn’t always know of his abilities. He thought himself as just a regular guy doing a regular job at his local supermarket, but things started to change for him.
“Just one Cornettoooooo,” Dark Mark sung as he filled the shelf with ice-cream, “give it to meeeeee.”
He didn’t feel the cold of the freezers. He thought this was unusual but carried on stacking. Taking the tubs of ice-cream off the roller and placing them onto the freezer shelf.
After placing the final tub on the shelf, Dark Mark turned to face the roller, but in the corner of his eye, he could see something flying at a high velocity towards him.
He didn’t have time to duck out of the way, but instead he raised his hand to block the impact, and closed his eyes tightly bracing himself for the impact.
However, the object didn’t make impact.
Dark Mark opened his eyes and saw the object floating in front of his hand. It was a large white box labelled as ‘cola’. He stared at the box for a while, trying to figure out what was going on. In the background, he spotted someone wearing a purple robe disappear rather quickly around the corner, and as he changed his glance, the box dropped to the ground with a large thud.
Dark Mark finished his work then decided to head home. As he was leaving the store, he felt he could sense the robed figure nearby. He stopped and looked around noticing a white van in the car park. He focused on the van and it started to fade! He paused for a moment, realising it couldn’t be chance, and focused harder on the van. The van quickly became invisible, and left in the centre was the robed man.
The robed figure started walking towards Dark Mark, and as he did so, the supermarket car park disappeared in a flash, to be replaced by the interior of a cave. This cave was completely dark, yet Dark Mark could still see the man in the robes.
“I am Creepy Magician. I have been watching you for some time.”
”What do you want?” replied Dark Mark, still rather confused by the events so far.
“I was confident that your powers were growing. Your abilities are increasing every day yet you didn’t know until I threw that box at you.”
Dark Mark raised his hand, pointing at Creepy Magician, “So it was you who threw it. You could have killed me! And what are you talking about, ‘my powers growing’?”
Creepy Magician smiled, “I knew you would stop the box. Attacking you was the only way I could get you to realise your powers effectively.”
Creepy stopped for a moment then revealed a crystal ball. He whispered a spell whilst waving his hand on the ball until it glowed with sheer intensity. When the light faded, Dark Mark could see SR Towers, to which the summit reaches high into the clouds.
Creepy began to speak, “SR Towers is one of the most important structures on the planet. It used to be home to The Great Albino. The keeper of all things white. However, he is old and it wont be long before he passes away and so he has already began the transfer of power. The power to control all things white.”
Dark Mark’s brow raised, “So that is how I stopped that box?”
Creepy answered, “Yes, and I have been assigned to guide you into developing these powers to fight the dark forces of evil. Whenever you are in danger, focus your powers and fight the evil. You shall keep your identity a secret, and to do so, you must give yourself a new name.”
Dark Mark thought for a moment, realising his current name wasn’t really appropriate. “I shall call myself,” he paused, waiting for the perfect name to enter his head, “the…Astonishing Albino-man!”
And with that, Creepy vanished and the cave disappeared in a flash, returning Dark Mark’s surroundings to the car park he disappeared from.
As he walked home, he considered what he had been told by the magician. Have I really got powers like that? Can I really control all that is white?
He looked up at the sky, saw a cloud in the sky and as the thought of rain entered his head, the cloud started to empty its contents.
He turned and saw a white cat, sat on the doorstep of a house he was passing. He thought it would be funny to see the cat stuck up a tree, and in the blink of an eye, the cat was clinging onto a branch with its claws trying not to fall.
“It’s true,” he said out loud, “I really do have powers!”
He began to notice that more and more items contained white, and that he could control them by merely thinking about them. Car number plates, road signs, even the paint on the roads were under his control. The potential in his powers was almost overwhelming.
Meanwhile, Psycho Edgy, who had dropped the title for the preferred Edge-man since his Notable hunting days, was walking through his local park when he saw something suspicious. El Robin, known thief and trouble maker and his gang of JATS had just taken a Game Boy Advance and game off Darwock.
Edgy hid in the shadows and crept towards El Robin, who was laughing at the childs futile efforts to get back his Game Boy.
”With this I can make my own games! Soon I shall be the richest man in the world! Hahaha!”
Edgy grabbed his axe, it was cold through lack of use, and shouted, “Give that back El Robin, or suffer the consequences!”
El Robin turned to face Edgy, his eyes glowed red with rage. “JATS! KILL HIM!” he commanded, and his minions started to approach Edgy.
Edgy instantly recognised one of them. Dean Chambers, general homosexual and spam-meister. He swung his axe in front of him causing Dean Chambers to see his own reflection. He fainted.
Another JAT approached with a large staff. They engaged blows, mainly striking each others weapons until the JAT fell to his knees. Edgy raised his axe high into the air, holding it with both hands, and brought it down onto the JAT’s staff, causing it to split into two pieces. Splinters flew through the air, but this didn’t deter the rest of the JATs.
“ATTACK!” El Robin commanded, and the JATs all advanced at once, surrounding Edgy completely. Edgy held the axe in a vertical position in front of his face, the blade pointing towards the JAT directly in front of him. With his eyes closed, he poured his energy into his weapon. There seemed to be a glow around Edgy, in a perfect circle, the circumference edging at the JATs feet. Despite the unusual goings on, the JATS in their stupidity continued to close in on Edgy.
The axe began to glow with energy, spreading through to Edgy’s hands, then his arms, until it completely engulfed him His appearance changed to that of a man dressed in a long black leather jacket, wearing a black shirt, black trousers and black shoes underneath. The axe had turned to a black metal.
El Robin’s jaw dropped, his eyes flashed with even more rage, and his voice seemed to boom, “Psycho Edgy. You’re back!”
”Edgy swung the axe in a complete circle, knocking the JATs to the ground. “Pleased to see me?” he questioned in a humorous tone. “By the way, it’s Edge-man now.”
”Edge-man, you will pay for this!” El Robin exclaimed as more JATs seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Edgy took out two of the JATs with ease, though had to put up a fight against the third. He punched one in the face with his left hand, however his other hand was struck by a heavy force, knocking the axe to the ground. The JATs carried on attacking, and Edgy wished Dringo could have been around to give some much needed assistance. Edgy’s resistance proved to be ineffective against the swarm, and they soon had him secured.
El Robin approached Edgy, looking down at him with an evil grin upon his face. He picked up Edgy’s axe and started playing with it in his hand, feeling its weight. He gave a couple swings in the air and stated, “Impressive weapon. Perfectly balanced, strong, sharp blade, and not a single dent or mark on the dark metal.”
With his knees to the ground, Edgy considered his options. He needed help. He couldn’t get out of this on his own. Looking to the ground, he noticed a couple ants were going about their normal business, looking a little distressed from all the noise.
Edgy whispered something then replied to El Robin, “You want it gift wrapped?”
“Dark Mark!” Cried the Great Albino, clenching his chest in pain. “Dark Mark!”
Mr. Snuggly rushed to his side trying to calm him. “What is it Great Albino?”
The Great Albino looked confused, staring into Snuggly’s eyes. He appeared to change his attitude when he spoke, to a more calm and knowledgeable status. “He…he’s in trouble.”
Mr. Snuggly frowned, “Dark Mark? Why should he be in trouble. He’s been pretty quiet lately, making the odd comment, but still quieter than most.
“No! No, no, no,” the old man focused his gaze, “Edgy’s in trouble. Dark Mark must save him.”
It was Mr. Snuggly’s turn to look confused. “Save him? How?”
The old albino slowly reached up and grabbed Snuggly’s shoulder, edging him closer. “Inform Dark Mark that Edgy’s in trouble. Promise me you’ll do it now!” Promise me.”
Mr. Snuggly nodded then walked back out to his office on the top floor of the building. He sat at his desk, minimised his game of Solitaire and brought up the SR Operations window. He typed in his password and put on his headset. He used the mouse to select ‘Comms.’ He noticed in the corner of the screen a flashing icon. It was shaped like an Ant. He selected it and a new window popped up flashing “Incomming transmission, play?”
Mr. Snuggly selected ‘Yes’ and watched the screen. It was a video message from Ant.
“Sir, it seems like one of our allies is in danger.”
”Edgy?” replied Snuggly.
“You already know, sir?”
Snuggly quickly requested that he carry on.
”A couple ants have reported that Edgy has been secured by enemy forces. He is in immense danger and isn’t going to last much longer.”
”Where is he?”
“In a park somewhere within south Wales. Sheepy knows the area well, shall I send him?”
“Negative, we don’t want to compromise the project.”
Ant nodded and Snuggly thought for a while.
“I have a feeling that we could use some help from another Welshman. Lets contact Dark Mark.”
Ant again nodded, then cancelled his transmission.
Dark Mark crossed the road, curious to try out his new abilities on anything he could find. As he reached the other side, his mobile began to ring. Picking it out of his pocket, he flipped it open and said, “Dominoes Pizza!”
”No time for humour,” said an unfamiliar voice, “We’ve got trouble!”
”Who’s this?” asked Mark, thinking it more than just coincidence after his encounter with the magician.
“It’s Ant, from SR Towers. I haven’t got much time to explain, but we really need your help.” He sounded panicky.
“What can I do you for?” he asked.
“Your mate Edgy is in trouble. I’m not sure why, but Mr. Snuggly has requested that you help out however you can.”
”Um…ok,” responded Mark, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Dark Mark closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. Unsure what to do next, he carried walking for a bit. Quietly to himself, he asked, “Where’s Creepy when you need him?”
With a flash, Dark Mark was back in the cave.
“Creepy Magician, I need your help. Edgy’s in trouble and…”
He was interrupted by Creepy’s voice, “Take this pill. It will help you find your destiny.”
Mark didn’t question Creepy, just swallowed the pill. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like all the cries in the world all at once. He grabbed his head with both hands and closed his eyes in pain, then it just stopped.
“Focus on Edgy,” Creepy advised, “Focus.”
Within a flash of light, Dark Mark was back on the pavement where he left off. He could hear Edgy making sarcastic comments. Then he heard El Robin saying something else. Then Edgy shouted something back.
Mark concentrated on the voices, closed his eyes, and focused. Without knowing it, he had begun to rise into the air, travelling at an immense speed until he felt the temperature change. He opened his eyes to find he was standing behind El Robin.
“Nice of you to drop in,” Edgy said, confusing the JATs and especially El Robin.
Mark quickly surveyed the situation and noticed that the t-shirts the JATs holding Edgy were wearing were very white.
“Been on the Daz again have we?” he said, “Making your clothes whiter than white?” With a wave of the hand, their T-shirts began to shrink, causing them to choke. “Maybe you shouldn’t have put them on such a high heat?”
Edgy attacked the JATs, still struggling to breathe. They fell to the ground and lay unconscious as Mark focused his attention on the rest of the JATs. Mark ran towards a nearby wall, the JATs followed, closing in tightly. Mark jumped, kicked his leg off the wall, spinning him around, his other foot impacting with the JATs faces. They fell to the ground like dominoes.
“STOP!” commanded El Robin in a booming voice. “I HAVE THE AXE NOW!” And with that he charged at Edgy, slicing the air around him until Edgy gave him a punch in the chest. Despite the blow, El Robin seemed to have plenty of strength left in him, being fed by the rage in his eyes. He struck at Edgy knocking him to the ground. He raised the axe and was about to bring it down when suddenly a bolt of lightning stuck the axe.
“Shocking!” said Dark Mark.
El Robin turned to face him, Edgy got back up onto his feet and backed away out of reach of the axe.
“I don’t believe we have met,” Said El Robin in a questioning tone, “Do I know you?”
Mark smiled, “I am the Astonishing Albino-man!”
”Oh really,” laughed El Robin, “And what do you do?”
”I bring light to darkness.”
Edgy butted in, “Do you really think you can take us both on El Robin?.
No response.
“Just give that boy’s Game Boy back and it’ll all be over.”
No response.
Mark looked up into the sky and saw some heavy clouds were forming. He thought about the weather and the clouds began to drop hail. Heavy, large hail, but only upon El Robin. One ball of ice fell onto his arm causing him to drop the axe. Another hit him on the back of his leg, causing him to fall.
Edgy picked up his axe and hid it under his jacket. Mark reached for the Game Boy, the hail always missing his arm. He took it and gave it back to Darwock, who ran away quickly.
The hail stopped and El Robin stayed to the ground, his eyes normal. Mark told him to go home and to remember this day should he consider doing such a thing again, and the two heroes walked away, leaving El Robin to recover.
Realising the responsibility behind the power, Mark vowed to use his powers only for good. He asked Edgy to keep his powers a secret, and knew that no one would believe El Robin if he should say anything. After all, the boy who cried wolf?
El Robin, got to his feet, the clouds now gone. He found his minions stirring and moaning about the pain but forced them all to their feet. His eyes flashed red again and in a booming voice he said, “If we can’t defeat the two, we shall defeat the many instead. To the towers!”
Now ‘The Astonishing Albino-man’ is bound to have to face more powerful foes than El Robin. He was just a petty criminal trying to make some money. But there are forces who want to disturb the powers that be. And Albino-man may be the only person who can prevent this from happening. Will El Robin strike SR Towers? Will Darwock tell others about his superhero discovery? And what is the project that Mr. Snuggly and Ant are involved in?
To be continued…
-------------- ------------------ --------------------------- ----------------------- -----------------
2. The Dark Files: Snuggly Strikes Back
Previously on “The Dark Files”:
Edgy turned to Timmargh, “DON’T PRESS THAT BUTTON!”
…
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
…
Mystique asked, “What’s it like at third base?”
Albino-man replied, “It’s like making love to a warm dish of lasagne...without the onions.”
…
“Wow, thanks for saving my life Spider-man!”
Spider-man responded, “Everybody gets one.” Then he disappeared.
…
“Dude, what does my tattoo say?”
”Sweet! What does my tattoo say?”
”Dude! What does my tattoo say?”
”…
El Robin’s going to attack SR Towers!
And now the continuing story:
Mark and Edgy continued walking the way back. Mark’s phone was hovering beside his ear the whole time, the white print on the buttons being enough to control them.
“So you’re saying that El Robin and his minions are already on their way to SR towers?”
”Affirmative, the ants in the region overheard him commanding his JATs. They plan to steal your powers,” was Ants response, “I’ll keep you posted.”
Mark explained the situation to Edgy, as his phone folded itself and slipped into his pocket.
Edgy asked, “How long?”
In a quiet voice, Mark answered, “Not long enough.”
“I’ve told them, sir,” explained Ant, “They should be on their way now.”
Mr. Snuggly checked the coast was clear. Speaking into his headset he said, “Excellent,” he paused, “Excellent. Just remember you can’t tell anybody about the plan. Not Sheepy, not your ants and especially not Edgy. If Tony asks, I am ordering you to lie.”
”Roger, Ant out.”
Mark stopped suddenly. “I need a costume!”
Edgy laughed, “Just don’t go putting your pants on over your trousers.”
Mark’s expression changed to that of frustration, “I need something to conceal my identity. Something nobody would associate with me.”
Edgy added to the frustration, “Something like a nurse’s uniform then?”
”Ye…no! You know what I mean!”
”Well, whatever you pick, make sure it doesn’t clash with my outfit,” said Edgy, motioning his jacket with his hand.
“Snuggly, report.”
Snuggly began to read out a list. One that had been tampered with, “All systems are go, our base in Bristol is secure, as are our London branches. Awaiting a full report from the rest, but I have been assured everything is A-ok.”
Tony nodded, “And the towers?”
”We’re risk free, sir. Perimeter defences fully operational, and all posts have checked in.”
Tony rubbed his chin, “Good, good. Time to go back to watching ‘Caroline in the City’ I think.” Tony walked out of Snuggly’s office.
El Robin approached SR towers. He taught himself to control his rage and used the energy to transfer himself to the gates. They opened for him with a squeal, and after his minions passed through, the gates shut with a bang. They approached the doors, and El Robin stopped. He turned to face the minions and said, “This is it guys. I shall be in control of the power!”
“How about this?” asked Mark. He was wearing the stereotypical superhero costume. A dark grey and black leotard with grey tights and grey sleeves. In the centre of his chest was a shield logo with the letters, “AA” in the centre.
Edgy frowned, “Are you sure you want to be advertising Alcoholics Anonymous? I know of your Christmas do but…”
Mark stopped him, went back into his room and changed. When he returned, he was wearing almost the same costume with “TAA-M” printed in the shield.
”Nah, you still look old fashioned. And I seriously hope that’s a Mars Bar in your pocket!”
M
He went back to his room to get changed again. This time, he returned wearing a T-shirt with the words, “Make me!” printed on the front, and some dark denim jeans.
“That’s more like it!” stated Edgy, “Though that’s the kind of thing you normally wear.
“Exactly! Now if I wear these dark blue shades, no one will see my eyes, and I’ll look cool too.
Edgy shrugged, and then decided to ask the next big question, “So what shall we use for transport?”
Mark smiled, “I’ve already thought of that…”
“Go on,” said Edgy, with the urge to run increasing.
“Well I’m an albino, therefore I can control myself. I can fly through the air, right?”
Edgy nodded.
“If you were to wear something white under your costume, then I’d be able to control you too!”
Edgy got up from his chair, “So you’re saying that you’ll control my flying? What if you lose concentration?”
Mark whistled whilst moving his hand shaped like a vessel heading towards ground. As his fingers made impact with his other hand, he mimicked the noise of an explosion.
“You fill me with lots of confidence, Mark.”
El Robin walked in through the SR Towers main door. Surprisingly, there was nobody around. No one at the reception desk, no elevators moving, no sign of life at all.
El Robin decided that he was just lucky, and motioned his minions to an elevator.
”Meet me at the top floor. If you’re there before me, attack.”
They each nodded their heads in acknowledgement, and El Robin entered the second elevator. He pressed for the top floor and the elevator doors closed and began to rise.
After just a number of seconds, he could hear the noise of screaming. He frantically reached for the ‘emergency stop’ button but found that it had no reaction.
Suddenly there was a bang, and he could feel heat coming through the vents. “Damn,” he muttered to himself, “I could’ve done with their help.”
Eventually, the elevator came to a halt. With a ping, the doors opened. Again, there was nobody there, except for the back of an old man he could see through the door left ajar, lying on a bed in the room at the bottom of the corridor.
”That’s him!” he said to himself, and began to creep through the corridor, being careful not to make a sound. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a knife. He started spinning it by the handle. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He was so close to getting the powers!
When he got to the door, he stared at the back of the old man. Two steps and a thrust and SR Towers would be his!
He pushed the door. It made a slight creak, but not enough for anyone to hear. Who was there to hear anyway, he thought to himself. The only person around was lying on the bed.
He stepped forward, staring at his desired target. Stepped again. Raised his arm slowly, knife facing downwards, and as he was about to thrust it into the old mans back, he rolled over.
“Were you looking for someone?” Mr. Snuggly said as El Robin froze. “You might want to drop the knife.”
The door slammed shut.
“I have those corridors filled with armed guards, and last thing I heard, your friends were creating quite a mess in the basement.”
El Robin dropped the knife, “bu…bu….”
”But what,” pressed Snuggly, “but what about the old man? He may be old but he can still move for Caroline in the City. He’s in the other room with Tony. Doesn’t even know what’s happening.”
El Robin’s expression turned to that of a helpless child.
“Take him to the dungeon, boys,” ordered Mr. Snuggly.
Edgy wasn’t comfortable at all. He felt like he was being pushed the whole way to SR Towers, but he did admire the view. From their height, he could see the tops of mountains and imagined them to be rather large breasts. Looking straight ahead, he could see SR Towers and pointed at the building, made of a single base with two towers side by side, both of them identical.
“Mark…I mean, Albino-man, can you see which one El Robin’s in?”
“No, however there appears to be damage in the left tower. I’ll take us to the roof.”
Edgy nodded and hoped for a smooth landing.
Mark landed perfectly as if he was never even in the air. Edgy, however, fell at quite a high velocity, but managed to roll as he dropped softening the blow.
“Watch the jacket!” he said as he brushed off the powdered cement.
Mark put on his shades, everything looked like it was tinted blue, but he didn’t think anything of it. Edgy checked his axe was still there and they both headed for the roof access door.
“Do you think they saw us?” asked Edgy as he held the handle to the door.
“I don’t think so. But I can’t be sure.”
Edgy opened the door and the two started down the steps. Noticing the noise they were making was echoing down the entire staircase, Mark decided to use his powers to make the two levitate.
As they reached the door to the top floor, Mark lowered them down. The door was white, so Mark focused his powers upon it and to him, it appeared as if it was fading. Beyond the door he saw no one.
He nodded and Edgy slowly opened the door, careful not to make a noise.
They both went through and noted that they were next to the elevators. They could see the corridor was completely empty, except that there was a light emanating from one of the open doors.
Edgy focused his hearing and realised that inside of that room, a television was on. He whispered, “Reminds me of that time Kernal pretended to be gay.”
They both laughed but quickly covered their mouths.
“Wha…what was that?” came a voice from the room.
“Don’t worry about it Great Albino, it was probably just the wind again,” came another voice.
Edgy crept to the nearest side of the door frame. Mark made himself turn invisible as he crept to the other side. They both peered in and spotted the two men staring at the TV.
Mark made himself visible again and Edgy started walking into the room. “Hey Tony, remember me?” came the voice of Edgy.
The old man carried on staring at the screen, fascinated by the goings on of Caroline in the City. The other man turned around, it wasn’t Tony. It was Mr. Snuggly.
Mark thought nothing of it but Edgy had a feeling in his gut. There’s something wrong with this situation, he thought to himself, but greeted him nonetheless.
Mr. Snuggly started to explain how the elevator got damaged and how El Robin was stopped. Edgy didn’t like it at all, though. Why would Tony allow people to die in his towers so easily? He sat silently, listening to the whole thing, though he seemed to be in a state of deep thought. Mark was nodding, laughing and waiting to hear more.
“Let me see him,” said Edgy.
Mr. Snuggly stopped suddenly, the edges of his mouth began to curl to a smiling position. “No problem he said,” and showed them the way to the lift.
They stepped in, now noticing an “Out of order” sign on the door to the other. Mr. Snuggly pressed the button for the basement.
As the elevator decreased its altitude, Mark and Mr. Snuggly started talking about Special Reserve in general. Mr. Snuggly started to talk about the history of the company, Mark commented, however Edgy stayed silent. There was something wrong about the whole situation, but he couldn’t figure out what.
As the door opened, Edgy spotted a tall basket with a sign on one side. “No Weapons” it stated. A guard was sat behind a counter and asked them to disarm.
“We don’t allow any weapons in the dungeon,” he said, “in case they try to escape.”
Edgy dropped a hand axe into the basket, and Mark told them he carried none.
They stepped past the counter and another guard took out a swipe card. He swiped it through a card scanner. The lights upon it blinked yellow and red until they all flashed green, and the guard opened the door.
Mr. Snuggly motioned them in. Mark stepped in first, then Edgy.
Edgy paused, turned around and shouted, “Wait!” but it was too late. The door had slammed shut and it couldn’t be pushed open.
Edgy faced Mark and said, “I knew it. I knew there was something wrong! Tony watches Caroline in the City, Mr. Snuggly hates it.”
“So what do we do now?” asked Mark.
“We break out of course.”
El Robin’s eyes flashed red, though the other two didn’t notice.
”My powers are useless in here,” stated El Robin. “They appear to have rectified some sort of dampening field around the cell.
Edgy faced Mark, “I can’t turn invisible. I think El Robin is telling the truth.”
”That’ll be a first” whispered Edgy as he reached for his back.
“Snuggly knew I had an axe,” Edgy said, his voice at a normal tone, “but he didn’t know how big!” Edgy pulled out his large black axe and El Robin’s eyes lit up.
El Robin dived towards Edgy, but Mark’s fist blocked his path through the air.
“My powers may be blocked in here but I’m not stupid,” said Mark as El Robin collapsed to the floor.
El Robin grabbed Mark’s feet and pulled him to the ground. Mark was too startled to react as El Robin put his hands around his neck.
With a single swing, Edgy’s axe sliced into the back of El Robin, causing blood to splatter around the immediate surroundings. “Damn, he dirtied my axe” Edgy said, then turned his attention to the door.
Mark knocked on the door and shouted, “El Robin’s hurt, he needs medical attention!”
The guard got off his chair and walked toward the door. He opened a slat and peered through, seeing El Robin sat with his back against the wall, blood dripping down his chin. “Stand back” the guard said and he pulled out a pistol. He used a swipe card on the door and it unlocked with a click. The guard pushed the door, watching Mark carefully. He took a couple steps forward and heard a thud behind him.
”Mind if I drop in?” questioned Edgy who hit the guard across the back of the head with the lower side of the handle. The guard dropped to the ground.
“I’ll find Snuggly,” stated Edgy, “you find the Great Albino. If you see Tony, let him know the situation.” They both rushed up the stairs.
They had climbed only half way up when the alarms sounded. They heard doors opening and guards running, so they went through the nearest door they could find.
They were surrounded. Guards were everywhere brandishing weapons of all varieties.
“Do not kill them!” the chief guard heard Snuggly say over the radio. “I want them alive!”
At that moment, one of the guards opened fire. It was Tiltawhirl!
Edgy dived to his right, the bullet narrowly missing his shoulder, and Mark ducked instinctively.
The chief guard aimed his pistol at Tiltawhirl’s feet and fired two bullets causing him to fall to the ground. “You heard Snuggly! Take them alive!”
Tiltawhirl moaned in pain and two other guards carried him away. More guards entered the door behind Mark and Edgy. They were trapped!
”Ready for some fun?” Mark asked Edgy, whose reply was a quick nod.
“There’s no way out,” shouted the chief guard, “You may as well surrender!”
”I think it is about time I showed them my disappearing act.” Mark said to Edgy.
“And I’ll show them my axe,” said Edgy, he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his blood. He was ready for action.
Mark reached for his phone and with a slight wrist action he flipped it open. He put it near his mouth and said, “Beam me up, Scotty,” and with that he vanished.
The guards looked at each other in confusion; however the chief focused on Edgy.
“Get him!” he shouted, and the guards charged at Edgy from both sides.
Mark, completely invisible attacked a line of guards in front of himself with a body slam. They fell to the ground with a thud, and the surrounding guards stepped back.
Edgy swung his axe in a complete circle, giving himself a bit of space to move, then continued to knock out some guards with the handle of his axe.
Mark re-materialised behind the guards in the corridor and noticed their white shirts under their jackets. He held his hand up and two guards started to levitate in front of him. Mark, moved his hand in a twirling motion and the guards turned to face each other.
One of the guards reached for his gun, the other attempted to copy, but as they started to aim at Mark, he used his power to tighten their sleeves causing them to drop their weapons in pain.
Struggling to move, the guards seemed to float apart, both able to guess what was coming next, but they couldn’t do anything about it. They were forced together at incredible speed, knocking each other out cold. Then Mark changed his focus onto the next set of guards, causing the two to fall.
By this time, Edgy was in a spot of trouble. One guard had grabbed his shoulders whilst another in front of him was attempting to break his ribs with his fist.
Edgy jabbed his elbow into the guard behind causing him to let go, then he swung his axe three feet high into the wall.
He let go of the axe and stepped back. With a leap he was stood on the handle, the guards again running to attack. Edgy jumped forward and ran along their shoulders pushing them to the ground, before vaulting towards Mark’s position. As he landed, he rolled forward picking up the two guard’s guns. As he straightened up, he threw one of them to Mark who again decided to use his invisibility.
Mark charged through the guards again until he reached the chief. He grabbed him by the neck as he re-materialised, pointing the gun at his head. Edgy aimed his pistol at the guards in front of him and shouted, “Drop your weapons!”
They turned to face their chief.
“Do as he says,” he stated.
Every guard dropped his weapon and Edgy ordered they put their hands to their heads. He then walked through the guards, watching each one carefully, aiming his gun at one of them each and every time he passed them. He approached his axe and pulled it out of the wall with a yank.
“Move in there!” Mark commanded, indicating a room with his gun.
The Chief nodded and the guards, the ones not out cold on the floor, slowly walked into the room.
Edgy approached the chief, still held hostage, and removed his communicator and swipe card. He then pulled the door shut and fired the pistol at the swipe-card reader, locking the guards in the room. “That should hold them,” he said.
Edgy looked at the name badge on the chief guard’s shirt. ‘Belldandy’ it said.
He then picked up the communicator and pressed the button on the side, “Belldandy to Mr. Snuggly.”
”Snuggly here, have you caught them?”
”Yes sir, they’re secure and back in their cell.”
”This time, if they call for help, ignore them. They can rot!”
”Understood, Belldandy out.”
Edgy dropped the communicator and stamped on it.
“Now to rescue the Great Albino,” Mark said as the alarms faded to quiet.
They decided to take the elevator to the top floor. Mr. Snuggly wouldn’t suspect anything, so why not?
Upon reaching the top, the doors opened with a ping, and the two, with their hostage, stepped out. This time they walked straight to Snuggly’s office, to catch him by surprise.
They waited outside and listened in on the conversation they could hear.
“Ant, all is going to plan. The two ‘heroes’ are in a cell, Tony is watching his favourite show and the Great Albino is resting in his room. All I have to do is steal the powers…”
”And SR Towers shall be ours!” Ant butted in.
“NO!” Snuggly shouted. “Not ours! Mine!”
Ant quickly apologised, “Of course sir, what do you need me to do?”
”Inform the branches that they shall soon have a new leader. Any resistance is futile.”
”Will do, sir. Ant out.”
Edgy kicked down the door with a daring kick. It fell with a bang and Snuggly looked up.
Mark entered the room with his hostage at gunpoint. Edgy ran off in search of Tony.
“The game’s up, Snuggly. We know what you’re planning. We heard every word!”
Snuggly grinned, “And what are you going to do about it? Kill me?”
”If I have to,” stated Mark, “though I would prefer a peaceful solution.”
Edgy found Tony, watching another re-run of Caroline in the City. Tony looked surprised but pleased to see Edgy, and asked him if he would like to join him.
“No thank you,” Edgy said, “but there is something you should know.”
“You should know Albino-man, that the villain is always one step ahead of the superhero.”
”What do you mean?” Mark replied.
”Watch,” Said Snuggly as he pressed a button under his desk. A Metal pipe dropped from the ceiling encasing Snuggly in his chair.
Mark fired his gun. The bullets ricocheted off the metal pipe. It rose into the ceiling and Snuggly was gone.
Mark knocked out Belldandy with one swift blow to the back of the head. As he fell to the ground, Mark ran to the window. Outside he could hear the blades of a helicopter rotating above. Moments later, a black Chinook carried Snuggly away, leaving Mark only able to stare in disbelief that he got away.
Edgy ran in with Tony seconds later.
“Did you get him?” Tony asked.
“He escaped, and I fear that you and the Great Albino are in trouble.”
Tony rubbed his chin, “What do you think we should do?”
With a flash, the room became a dark cave. Mark, Edgy, Tony and the bed with the Great Albino laying upon it were all clearly visible. Creepy Magician appeared.
“I can grant you sanctuary until Snuggly is stopped. But if he finds this cave, I fear I won’t be able to protect the two of you.”
He turned to face Mark, “Mr. Snuggly has many allies that you must be ready to face. He will stop at nothing to gain absolute power. Edgy, you must go back to your normal life. You won’t be able to face these beings with your axe alone. Albino-man, however, you must be alert at all times. Danger is everywhere and Snuggly will seek you out. Without you to stop him, he will gain power.”
”Man, you really got to sort out your décor,” Edgy commented.
”This is serious,” stated Creepy, “the fate of the world lies in the hands of The Astonishing Albino-man. Fail to stop Snuggly and the world will cease to exist as we know it.”
Will Snuggly ever be stopped? Can Creepy be trusted? And will Edgy ring Changing Rooms to sort out the décor of Creepy’s cave?
To be continued…
-------------- ------------------ --------------------------- ----------------------- -----------------
3. The Dark Files: First Strike
Previously on The Dark Files:
”That’s the seventh fleet to pass through the wormhole. They’re sending an army through! They must be stopped!”
”We must mine the entrance to the wormhole.”
…
”This is serious,” stated Creepy, “the fate of the world lies in the hands of The Astonishing Albino-man. Fail to stop Snuggly and the world will cease to exist as we know it.”
And now the continuing story:
Mr. Snuggly’s helicopter was piloted by Ant, who was dressed in a dark blue military uniform. Ant seemed to be extremely focused on his flying, but had a question to ask.
“Sir, what are we to do now?”
Snuggly was sat to the left of Ant and was still wearing his normal work attire. “We are to head to my alternate business HQ in Scotland. I have many contacts who will be able to assist us.”
Ant nodded and turned the helicopter to north. He noticed a light flashing on the controls. “Sir, we have an incoming transmission.”
Snuggly pressed a button on his side of the controls and across the windshield of the helicopter, he could see a clear image of Tony.
”Mr. Snuggly, I am ordering you to return to SR towers immediately.”
”And if I don’t?” Snuggly asked, half expecting a generic answer.
“If you don’t, I shall be forced to take forceful action.”
And muttered to himself, “How forceful!”
Snuggly laughed with an evil cackle. “You really think you can stop this chopper? It’s the most technologically advanced air transport device in the world. Nothing you can do will stop me from getting away. Snuggly out.”
Tony switched the viewscreen back to an external view of the craft. Satellite imagery provided a rear view of the craft, as well as co-ordinates on a map in the lower right corner of the screen.
“Edgy,” Tony asked, “recommendations?”
Edgy was holding his axe in one hand. It was still warm from battle. He considered various possibilities and soon came to an answer. “How about we fire a homing missile at his helicopter. High chances it’ll kill him and his pilot, but the alternative involved a lot more bloodshed.”
”Agreed,” replied Tony who seemed saddened by the idea. “Timmargh, lock a missile onto his tail.”
Timmargh punched a command into his control console. “Target locked sir.”
”Fire!”
Timmargh pressed the fire button and the building began to shake. In the grounds of SR towers was a small hill. The peak appeared to slide to the side, grass and mud slid off a metal hub.
A small missile was propelled into the air via a projectile system, and with a roar, it started burning fuel.
The missile hovered for a second then it began to angle itself. Away it went into the air, out of sight from visible eyes except for the clouds of smoke that formed behind it.
In the cockpit of the helicopter, alarms sounded and red lights flashed simultaneously, startling the pilot and his passenger.
“Mr. Snuggly, we are under attack. Incoming missile bearing 180.0 degrees.”
Snuggly grabbed the sides of his seat, “How long?” he asked.
“Approximately thirteen seconds, sir,” was Ant’s reply. “We won’t be able to avoid it.”
Snuggly smiled, “Plenty of time,” he stated, “Why don’t we try the new cloaking device the Great Albino helped us develop?”
Ant nodded and flipped a number of switches above his head. The internal cockpit lights dimmed and the siren halved its volume.
The missile carried on its velocity and stayed on target.
Snuggly and Ant watched the small radar monitor. In the centre was a large dot representing the helicopter, and edging closer to it from the lower frame of the monitor was a smaller dot representing the missile.
Closer and closer it got to the invisible helicopter staying directly on target.
“Five seconds ‘til impact!” exclaimed Ant. Snuggly still looked confident.
The small dot was right beneath the large dot now.
”Three!”
Beads of sweat appeared on Ants head.
“TWO!”
Ant wanted to do something, but knew he couldn’t.
“ONE! Brace for impact!”
The missile exploded causing a huge ball of fire to light up the sky.
However, the helicopter was almost completely unaffected. It rocked slightly on it’s course but continued nonetheless.
That night, Dark Mark did not sleep. He lay in his bed thinking of the days events. First of all he discovered he had new powers. Secondly, Edgy and himself had kicked some serious ass, as well as caused some fatalities. Thirdly (and more importantly), he realised he had left the large freezer open at work! At least tomorrow was Saturday and he didn’t have to worry about the freezer. Some other unlucky employee would get the abuse and have to deal with the situation. The thought of this caused him to laugh, but he quickly stopped when he realised that life was only going to become more difficult.
Dawn eventually came and Mark arose out of his bed, the weight of his thoughts still heavy on his mind. For the mean time, today was going to be an easy day, as a phone call confirmed the missile exploded on contact with Snuggly’s helicopter, destroying it without a trace. He thought he would chill and play some videogames to try and take his mind off things.
Mark turned on his television, pressed the power to his Xbox, put on his Live headset and sat in his chair with the controller in his hand. It was too early for his surround speakers, so he left them off. He decided to start a game online and set his personal preferences. Eventually he entered his own lobby and invited a few of his online acquaintances into the game.
As he stared at the screen, his eyes began to itch. He rubbed them which helped, but they still felt the strain of a sleepless night. Staring back at the screen, he saw a name appear in the lobby. Atleast he thought it was a name.
Mark rubbed his eyes again and focused on the name. He seemed to concentrate so hard that everything else around him seemed unimportant, but no matter how hard he tried, the white lettering on the screen still seemed to blur.
First Mark nodded slightly at the screen and all other white light emitted from the screen vanished, leaving black. This helped.
He focused all his attention on the white writing again, the letters still fighting his gaze. Until…
Da-dum.
Mark slowly turned his head around, the rest of his body still.
Da-dum.
First he wanted to find the source of the noise. Then he noticed…
Da-dum.
…his room had disappeared. Though not like last time. This time it was different. No magician, no Great Albino. Just darkness. Everywhere.
Da-dum.
Mark put a hand to his chest.
Da-dum.
It was his own heartbeat. However, it appeared to be everywhere.
He could hear it above him, below him, everywhere.
Da-dum.
He turned his attention back at the screen. The letters were clear now. “WELCOME – ALBINO-MAN” they said.
Mark jumped back in surprise. What was going on?
Da-dum.
The heartbeat became more fast paced, as if he had been running, yet he felt calm.
“Welcome Albino-man.”
Mark looked around. He heard the voice, but where did it come from? He couldn’t see anyone in the darkness!
”Welcome.”
It wasn’t one voice. It was many, yet they all sounded as if they were from the same person. All spoke in complete harmony.
“Who are you?” Mark asked, still trying to find the source of the voice.
“We are everything. We are the beginning, the end, the creation and the destruction.”
Mark stopped moving, his physical search for an answer seemed futile.
“Where are you?” Mark said, expecting another cryptic answer.
A hand appeared on Mark’s shoulder. Mark defensively attempted to repel the hand with a strong burst of white energy.
The hand stayed.
“We are here,” the voice said. The direction of the voice was now clearly behind him.
The heartbeat’s intensity increased.
Without realising he was doing it, Mark turned himself around to face the being and found himself to be facing a child, looking no older than ten, dressed in a dull white dress going right down to her feet – which weren’t quite touching the ground.
“What’s going on?” was Mark’s first question.
The girl levitated herself to Mark’s eye level, her expression seemed that of curiosity, yet lacked emotion. She didn’t appear to be fearful, nor confident. She just was.
“You must know,” she spoke, no emotion in her voice, “About the danger you are about to face.”
Inside, Mark felt like he had been crushed to death. Or near enough anyway.
“Time out! Time out!” he said in a raised voice whilst tapping his hands together into the shape of the letter T.
The girl tilted her head to the side.
Mark continued, “What danger? Why me?”
”You are the Great Albino,” was her reply.
“What does that mean?” Mark asked, he felt rather tense. The sound of the heartbeat doubled its speed.
The girl straightened her head again, and said “You are the Great Albino.” This time, she said it as if he should know what that means.
“Cut the crap,” Mark said, “Stop the David Blaine act, cut out the sound effects, and stop talking in riddles!”
Mark started glowing again, blue emissions of light surrounded him yet the girl’s stance was unaffected. However, Mark was unaware of his actions.
The girl slowly floated back down to ground level with a low hum. Upon landing, the heartbeat stopped and the girl stared into Mark’s eyes with her own.
Mark felt drawn to stare back, though he couldn’t understand why, until suddenly he appeared to be zooming in on them at great speed. Without time to react, he appeared to travel right through her eyes until he found himself back in Creepy Magician’s cave.
In the cave, Mark saw the old man lying on his bed. Mark felt a sense of warmth seeing that the Great Albino was safe. Comfortable. Out of harm’s way.
Further away he could see Creepy Magician in his dark purple robes. However, he was unable to see his face, or what he was doing.
“You are the Great Albino,” came a voice from above.
Mark looked up and saw the same girl sat on a ridge high up in the cave. He immediately ran towards the bed of the old man and shouted, “Leave him alone!” However, he failed to see the large stone on the ground, tripped and fell, sliding along the ground at rapid speed.
Mark felt like he was travelling in slow motion, looking straight ahead he saw the bed coming towards him. He braced himself for impact, closing his eyes instinctually. When he opened them, he was the other side of the bed, yet he felt no pain.
He stood up, brushing himself down. A sense of realisation came over him as he looked back up at the girl. She was playing with her hair, looking at it with curiosity.
“Fascinating,” she muttered to herself until her self discoveries were interrupted by Mark.
”This is an illusion isn’t it?”
She looked up at Mark then turned her head towards Creepy Magician. She repeated herself, “You must know about the danger you are about to face.”
Mark turned to face Creepy who was holding something glowing white in his hands. He zoomed his view on that white object and noticed it was a test tube.
Creepy lifted the test tube to his mouth and emptied it of its white liquid contents.
Mark turned his attention to the old man. But as he turned his head, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head…
“Are you there?” came a question from an unfamiliar voice.
“Hello?” came another.
“Lets go join another game” said a third, and Mark opened his eyes.
He was back in his room, sat in his chair with his Xbox controller in his hand.
He felt confused for a moment; dazed after the vision he just had. Or was it just a dream? After all, he had very little sleep. No. It was too real. It couldn’t have been a dream. Not a normal dream anyway. It was too surreal.
Snuggly sat at his desk. His chair felt more like a throne, his office more like a sanctuary of power. In his office, he knew he could control all situations. He could overpower anyone if he should choose to.
He pressed a button positioned under the frame of the desk. With a buzz, a small computer monitor rose out of the polished finish at a customised angle. Snuggly looked into the monitor which informed him that Creepy Magician was in proximity.
Snuggly looked around and noticed a small section of his wall was glowing. Out of it stepped Creepy.
The magician smiled and said, “I’ve done it.”
Snuggly raised a glass from his desk containing whisky. He took a sip and tasted it on the end of his tongue. With a smile he looked at Creepy who was standing directly in front of the desk looking back.
“When will I receive payment?” Creepy asked. He wasn’t smiling back.
Snuggly rolled his eyes and pointed them at the glass. “This was Tony’s. He was keeping it for a good occasion. Fancy some?”
Creepy continued staring at snuggly, but he couldn’t hold his gaze for long. His eyes rebelliously took a peek at the whisky. Snuggly poured him a drink to which he quietly accepted, and Snuggly continued to talk.
“This is just a small taster of what is to come.” He paused for a moment. “When you have destroyed Albino-man there will be nothing left to stop me from being the most powerful man on the planet!”
Creepy nodded, though he didn’t entirely agree. He did, however, want Albino-man gone. Once destroyed, the powers would transfer to whoever holds the most White. In this case, as Creepy knew, it was him.
Creepy made his mind up as to what he should do. He slowly placed the glass to his mouth and with a quick flick of the wrist, downed the lot and squeezed until the glass smashed in his hand, cutting him in several places. “It is time,” he said as he dropped the shards and walked to and through the far wall.
Snuggly just stared, grinning menacingly.
Mark used his powers to press the buttons on his mobile. It rung for a while until he got an answer.
”Edgy?”
”Hey, Mark. What’s up?”
Mark sighed. “I think we’ve got trouble. Where are you?”
Edgy answered, “It’s a Saturday morning…where do you think?”
Edgy waited expectantly for a reply. All he got was a blinding flash of light.
”Creepy! He’s killed the Albino!”
Edgy’s eyes normalised again and noticed Mark was standing in his living room. He turned of the television and asked the first thing that entered his mind, “How do you know?”
Mark opened his mouth to speak, but realised what he was about to say would sound ridiculous. “I just know, ok?”
Edgy nodded, “You’re the one with the powers. So what do we do now?”
Mark sat on a chair to Edgy’s left. He placed his head in his hands. “He is going to come for me now. It is just a matter of waiting.”
Saturday passed without event, as did Sunday. Mark still had no sleep, but he was tired. Tired of waiting. Tired of thinking. Tired of being different. Sure, I’ve got powers, he thought to himself, but what good are powers when you can only use them when no one’s around?
Work seemed to go as normal. In fact, all was fine until closing time.
The store had been unusually quiet, customers making quick shops, then leaving without fuss. The announcements over the speaker system were virtually non-existant. And not one staff member smiled. There was something wrong and everyone felt it. But none felt it more than Dark Mark.
The customers all but left and Mark decided he had done all he can for the day. He walked out to the warehouse to finish up his duties. Heading to the freezer, he noticed a bright flash inside. With curiosity, he said, “Hello?”
No answer.
Mark walked closer, he could hear laughing.
“Anyone there?”
More giggling. Moving.
Mark stepped up to the door. He took a deep breath, took two steps forward and…
SLAM!
Mark went into a defensive stance, he realised he had been shut in!
He turned to face the icy door and gave it a push. It wouldn’t budge.
He pushed the frosted emergency exit bar. It wouldn’t budge.
He pressed the emergency alarm button. It made a slight buzz, but drained into nothingness.
Again came the giggling, and Mark reacted by facing the noise. There was nothing there. Not even the crates and rollers that normally occupied it! Just poles, a few boxes and other items lay scattered on the icy floor.
Mark tried to use his power to teleport himself out of the freezer. His attempt failed.
Somewhat startled by this, Mark walked to the centre of the freezer to see if there was anything that could help him get out.
As he crouched to move the bits of metal, plastic and wood, a strong force knocked him to the ground with a thud.
Mark lay on his back recovering his breath. As he stared up, he could see a rippling effect shaped like a humanoid directly above him. Mark raised his hand and an enormous flash erupted from the air, blinding those that stared into it. This made the invisible figure lose concentration and he became visible again.
It was Creepy Magician!
Creepy laughed, “That was Flash, now prepare for Ming!”
Creepy raised his arms and conjured a large Ming vase from empty space! He held it above Mark and thrust his arms downward, bringing it down towards Mark’s skull.
Mark rolled out of the way and got to his feet as the vase shattered.
“Didn’t your mum ever tell you not to play with the ornaments, Creepy?” was Mark’s response.
Creepy smiled and his left eyebrow rose. He conjured a large sword for himself, and swung it round like a skilled swordsman. “No, she never told me not to play with knives either.”
Mark grabbed a pole from near his feet and held it defensively. Creepy attempted a vertical downwards swing and Mark blocked with the pole, colliding with a loud clang.
Creepy then tried to thrust the sword underneath the pole, but Mark knocked it out the way with the pole, continuing the swing to hit the back of Creepy’s purple robed legs, causing him to fall backwards.
Creepy still held the sword and with his right arm, aimed it at Mark’s chest. “Catch!” he said as he threw it in a perfectly straight line, using magic to guide it.
Mark saw it coming and quickly demolecularised himself causing the sword to pass right through him and cut its way straight into the door behind.
“Careful, you might cut yourself.” Mark said in a sarcastic tone.
Creepy slowly got to his feet, his legs sore. When he stood, he pushed his arms downward making his palms face the floor. He started hovering.
Mark, however, wasn’t going to just stare. Instead he reached for a large horseshoe magnet lying in the pile of objects, causing it to fly through the air towards his hand. The frost on it was white, allowing him to interact with it.
“May the fire gods burn the ground and destroy all who stand upon it!” commanded Creepy, his eyes now glowing as red as El Robins.
The ground started to produce steam and the ice upon it vaporised in an instant. Mark’s feet began to sting and so, with a leap, Mark thrust the magnet into the air until it stuck itself to the metal ceiling. He gripped the magnet tightly with his hands and watched as all the objects on the floor began to melt and burn.
“Things are steaming up in here” said Mark who was watching Creepy hovering beside the large fans at the back of the freezer.
“Still making jokes when facing impending doom? How fascinating!” chortled Creepy, his eyes still raging with intent.
Mark took his right hand off the magnet and almost lost his grip entirely. Creepy laughed but continued to watch.
He held his hand straight ahead of him, aiming the palm of his hand at Creepy. He closed his eyes and focused his energy through his hand.
Suddenly, all the steam and frost in the air seemed to be drawn to his hand. It circled itself into a ball that got whiter and whiter until Mark opened his eyes, now glowing blue. He appeared to have fused energy with the frost and fired it in a beam at Creepy.
On impacting his chest, it pushed him closer to the fans. He seemed distressed for a moment until he blocked the beam with his own hand.
”FOOL!” Creepy shouted. “You really think your powers can effect me?”
Mark continued firing the beam, only for it to be absorbed by Creepy’s hand.
“I have the power of the Great Albino himself! Light can’t beat light!” he exclaimed, then roared a laugh of terrific evil.
Mark continued the beam, whilst considering his options. He noticed the control panel for adjusting the fans on the wall to Creepy’s left.
“Now to finish you off!” Creepy said as he raised his other hand.
Mark quickly released the focus on Creepy and turned his hand toward the controls of the freezer. The controls made a buzzing sound until they fried, however the fans they controlled started to increase their rotational velocity.
Creepy seemed unaffected, yet the increase in power to the fans made his body temperature drop immensely!
Mark braced himself for attack, but it didn’t come. Creepy was being frozen alive!
“I think we’d better just chill out,” was the last comment Creepy heard as Mark waved his hand slightly, causing the freezing effect to increase its speed.
Eventually, Creepy couldn’t hold his levitation any more and he fell onto the molten ground, slowly sinking.
Mark wasn’t sure whether he actually melted or not, but he was certain of one thing. He wouldn’t have to face Creepy again.
Suddenly, there was a white flash! Mark noticed the ground was back to normal and lowered himself down.
When he landed he felt an intense rush of energy flow through him. He felt strong, powerful, and felt like he could do anything he wanted that he couldn’t do before!
He looked down at his hands and realised they were gloved. He was wearing black gloves.
Confused as to where they came from, he looked around the freezer again. To his amazement, he noticed the girl who warned him before was standing nearby, facing him.
”Those are to protect you,” she said, “take them off only when you really must.”
”What about Creepy?” Mark replied, he decided to stray from the subject of the gloves.
“You are the Great Albino” she said, then faded into thin air.
To be continued...
(Volume 2 is in the works)
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Rickoss, Cooky and Grey Fox are all included in Episode 1 Volume 2.
Good story Volume 2 should be good
It's still in the works - have been in work today and have come home with a splitting headache - I have a day off tomorrow so it may up tomorrow afternoon - no promises though
Edgy post episode1 volume 2 if you have finished it im really bored.
Gets his cut and paste button ready.
Gets his cut and paste button ready.
I wonder if anyone would be stupid enough to read the entire quotes?
And as for JATs - one way of becomming a regular is to have a high word count - that is why.
And as for JATs - one way of becomming a regular is to have a high word count - that is why.
Bah if a JAT or newbie did that he or she would be banned in a second.
Damn disclaimer.
I will dont worry.
Grey Fox wrote:
> Silën† Thundêr wrote:
> What an idiot.
>
> MSN please!
I may be able to, but don't be angry if I can't.
> Silën† Thundêr wrote:
> What an idiot.
>
> MSN please!
I may be able to, but don't be angry if I can't.
Silën† Thundêr wrote:
> What an idiot.
MSN please!
> What an idiot.
MSN please!
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