"Thought Marcus!" Adrian skidded into the corridor in time to see the more nerdish version of Marcus racing out of room three, a rabid looking Potential Subplot after him.
Adrian swung Hoshikuzu at it, but the bunny leaped sideways, bouncing off the bookshelf that lined the corridor. The problem, Adrian realised immediately, was that they were so small and desperate to infect so many potential authors in the vicinity, that dodging was second nature to them. The Librarian now understood why fangirl mallets and bottles of disinfectant were often the only course of action when these showed up in fanfictions.
"H-help m-m-me!" Thought Marcus screamed, pulling books off the shelves lining the corridor, in the hope of squashing the bunny. It did not work – the Potential Subplot just leaped clean over them.
As the bunny launched itself at Marcus, teeth bared, a book came flying out of room two, and squashed the bunny comically against the opposite wall. It peeled away and splattered to the floor like a pancake of the most horrible variety.
Thought Marcus sank against the wall in exhaustion. "T-thanks M-miri!"
The red head adjusted her pharaoh collar and grinned, her staff resting in her free hand. "No problem! Where are the others?"
Adrian barged his way through the mess that Thought Marcus had made, conscious of the bangs and crashes sounding from the other rooms, along with the sound of rushing water, and loud, emotion filled cries of "DIE! DIE! DIE YOU FURRY BASTARD!"
As the Librarian stepped past Thought Marcus, Miriku suddenly screamed, and something purple and furry bounced out of her room, and burrowed its way through her frizzy red mane.
"It's in my hair!" Miri shrieked, jumping in circles and waving her arms and staff dangerously. "Get it out! Get it out!"
Thought Marcus backed away into the shelf in fright, as Adrian levelled his sword, preparing to slice the bunny in two, as soon as he got a clear shot. As he pushed through the books however, there was a sickening squelch of teeth sinking into flesh, and Miriku went completely still, her arms falling limp by her side, and her head resting on her chest. The subplot reappeared, spitting out a portion of Miriku's hair on to the floor.
Adrian swung for the bunny, but even as he moved he knew it was too late. Miriku's staff came up to block the swing, her head rising from her chest to reveal swirling purple eyes, and a blank smile.
"Time for us to play."
Her voice was a monotone, and her attacks were ferocious. Adrian parried every blow, but he was afraid to strike back in case he hurt Miri – she was brainwashed, and didn't know what she was doing.
As she pushed the Librarian back down the corridor, and towards rooms seven and eight, a blast of freezing cold air appeared from room five, and Aster marched into the corridor, still in fae form, her staff in one hand, and a block of ice frozen to the end, with the Potential Subplot frozen inside. Seeing Thought Marcus getting slowly to his feet, she smiled and pointed the ice block towards him.
"Bunny on a stick, Marcus-kun?"
Thought Marcus was saved from answering however, as down the corridor, Adrian gave a yell of "Librarian Art 9 – Pillars of Knowledge!" and six giant pillars erupted through the floor of the corridor and trapped Miriku between them.
Aster blinked at this display. "Kyaa~ Why is Adrian-kun attacking Miriku-chan?"
"M-miriku w-was b-b-bitten b-by a P-p-potential S-subplot," Thought Marcus stuttered. "I-it b-b-brainwashed h-her."
Aster's eyes went wide, and she made to charge in to help Adrian, however the door to her right exploded outwards, and Emotion Marcus stood tall, his eyes a swirling shade of purple, and the Potential Subplot still attached by the teeth to his arm.
Thought Marcus gulped, as his other half turned his gaze on him.
"O-oh n-n-no!"
And with a scream of fear, he was off, with Emotion Marcus in hot pursuit. Aster blinked again.
"…that was weird," she declared, giving a yelp as door one was blown off its hinges by a gust of fire, which warped and shrunk back into Tash's staff as she marched into the corridor.
Aster frowned as she realised that the leader's eyes were purple, and her look was malicious. "Kyaa~…this isn't my day," the fae declared, as Tash gave a battle cry and charged at her, flames erupting out behind her.
OOO
"Got it!"
It was the best thing Emily had heard all day. The ten year old slipped the last of the bottles into her bag, and slung it over her shoulder, picking up a supersoaker in her other hand, and hurried over to Phoenixia, who was sitting next to the hanger computer, with her eyes closed, mentally scanning through the Library's online archives and cataloguing system.
"Adrian will know which section it is," the hologram assured her. "So all you need to tell him is the room number, the shelf number, the section code, and the name of the book."
"Okay…" Emily had a pen out, and prepared to scrawl the numbers on the back of her hand. "Go for it."
"Room seven," Phoenixia listed. "Shelf thirty five. Section six, the books name is "Dream and flashback: spells for your memory". According to my chapter listings, he wants somewhere in chapter four."
Emily finished jotting down the book name, along with the string of numbers, and shoved her pen into the pocket of her shorts. "Thanks Phoenixia. I'm going to find them. I'll call Adrian as I go."
"Good luck!" the hologram called, as the former Sue shouldered her weapon and raced from the room. Anxiously, she flicked the computer monitor back to the main reading room, where all the other agents were sprawled out asleep, and then to the corridor where Michael, Claire and Valerie were making their way slowly towards another section of the Library.
"This looks bad," she muttered, scanning the status of the agents stumbling towards the correct rooms. She could tell that two of them were fine, but one of them was about to fall asleep – her body was slowing down.
"Come on Emily… run faster."
OOO
"Juari-Ken – Gihardi!"
Tash's staff slammed through Aster's guard, and landed powerfully into her chest. The fae felt pain spread through her ribs and her eyes watered as she skidded backwards into the wall. The books that had littered the floor earlier were now smoking, or smouldering, and several of the bookshelves were ablaze. The corridor was getting hotter, and Aster was running out of water in the air to use her powers with.
"Juari-Ken – Rinwi!" Her staff came down on the floor, and Tash pole vaulted toward Aster, raising her staff above her head ready to strike.
A pillar of ice shot up and crushed the Society leader against the ceiling. The grip on her staff was lost, and it clattered to the ground. Aster seized it quickly and surveyed her handiwork.
"Kyaa~...that should hold you for a little while."
"H-h-help!"
Thought Marcus raced past Aster, having apparently done a lap of this area of the Library, screaming his head off all the while. Emotion Marcus was right behind him. Lacking the umbrella – which Marcus had left in his room for the party at Harriet's request, for safety reasons – the louder half of the agent had a pile of books under his arm, and was apparently throwing them at the fleeing Thought Marcus, trying to knock him out. As Thought Marcus raced around a corner, another book was hurled with such force that it left a dent in the wall, and Emotion Marcus hurried after him, already raising another projectile in his right hand.
Aster blinked, and leaned against her ice pillar, which she could already feel melting from the nearby fires. She tried to draw more water out of the air to put the fires out, but there was so little to work with that she only managed a few dice sized drops. Giving up, she opted instead to draw all the oxygen away from the flames, instantly snuffing them out. The air smelt strongly of smoke, which hung like a thick cloud in the corridor.
"Aster?"
The fae turned to see Valerie, Michael and Claire appear from another corridor, all of them horrified at the damage done by the fighting.
"...Adrian's going to kill you," Claire stated, her eyes slowly following the ice sculpture up, and up, until she reached the top with a loud splutter. "Is that Tash up there?"
Aster nodded. "Hai... a purple bunny bit her and she went crazy. Marcus-kun and Miriku-chan too."
"Miri?" Michael was already barging past her toward the next corridor, where the sounds of crashing bookshelves, clangs of staff on sword, and a cry that sounded horribly like "BOOT TO THE HEAD!" were audible.
To you left, boy! the Darkness cried, a snake tentacle shooting out and seizing the attacking Potential Subplot in midair. There was the disgusting sound of fangs squeezing into the bunny's body, before it was tossed limply to the side of the corridor.
No one bites my host but me! the Darkness snarled, and then as an afterthought. And your lover too I suppose...
Michael blushed, and was infinitely thankful that no one else could hear that.
OOO
Adrian, Hoshikuzu in its staff form for less damage, surveyed Miriku, who was currently being pinned under crushed stone pillars and multiple copies of various encyclopaedias. He could smell burning from the next corridor and knew that Tash must have been fighting too – whether she had been attacking or defending he couldn't tell.
There was a thundering of footsteps, and Thought Marcus shot right past him, without stopping to say anything but a terrified "HELP!" He was followed closely by Emotion Marcus, who's purple eyes had an enraged look in them. The louder of the two had run out of books to throw, and seemed to be resorting to try and strangle Thought Marcus with his bare hands – if he could catch him that was.
Wow…that's the only time I've ever heard Thought Marcus scream as loud as his counterpart, Adrian thought to himself. To his surprise, Thought Marcus seemed to slow suddenly, and with a great yawn, he flopped bonelessly to the floor, completely asleep. Emotion Marcus screeched to a halt, but he was running too fast and tripped spectacularly over his sleeping other half, arms flailing wildly, and landed on top of him with a dull 'oof!'.
Adrian approached cautiously when neither of them moved, and prodded Emotion Marcus gently with his foot. He got a loud snore in response, and the Librarian breathed a sigh of relief.
"MIRI!"
Adrian mentally groaned as he realised what Michael must be seeing as the agents all rounded the corridor. He had Miri buried in fallen rubble and books, and both halves of Marcus comatose on the floor. Michael's whole body was trembling with rage, and Valerie was supporting Claire, who was struggling not to fall asleep on the healer's shoulder.
Aster screamed, "His eyes! He's been bitten!"
A dramatic blast of wind buffeted the Librarian, who braced himself against the hurricane that had materialised in the corridor. Above the noise he could hear Valerie screaming:
"ASTER! His eyes are always purple!"
The storm like winds abruptly ceased, and Aster looked sheepish. "Oops… sorry Adrian-kun…"
The windswept Librarian had not time to reply. Two tentacles of Darkness pinned him by his throat against the wall, a third wrenching Hoshikuzu from his grasp. Adrian choked, as he saw Michael advance, a murderous gleam in his orange tinted eyes.
"M-Michael…" Adrian tried to splutter. "I-I…"
"You. Hurt. MIRI!" Michael bellowed, more Darkness bursting from his back. A sleepy-looking Claire hugged him from behind and pulled him back.
"Michael… Miriku's eyes are purple. She was bitten."
His own eyes clearing, Michael released Adrian, who leaned heavily against the wall coughing hard, as air rushed into his grateful lungs.
"You didn't have to knock her out," Michael growled. Feeling safer with his sword in his hand, Adrian bent to pick up Hoshikuzu before he answered.
"She got bitten… she attacked me and Thought Marcus…"
"Emotion Marcus is the same," Valerie reported, fishing around in her first aid bag. "Aster said bunnies. Potential Subplots, am I right?"
Adrian nodded, "Brainwashing…"
Valerie flipped open a roll of material, which contained vials of different coloured medicine, and began selecting one. Michael still looked angry, but muttered an apology, that Adrian would have missed had he not been watching his lips move. The awkwardness was broken as Claire's eyes fluttered closed and she rested completely on Michael.
"Baby?" Michael's voice took a frantic edge. "Baby, wake up…"
"Kyaa~…Michael-kun. She's not going to." Aster said gently, as Michael cuddled his girlfriend against his chest. "We need to find that spell." It was rare to hear the fae sound so serious. Adrian nodded in agreement, and glanced around.
"Valerie, you get that antidote administered."
The healer was already on it, filling the first syringe with one of the bright yellow medicines.
"Aster, what happened to Tash?" the Librarian asked. Aster blinked slowly.
"She's on top of one of my ice pillars… I hope she's not cold…"
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Adrian pointed back to the other corridor. "Go keep an eye on her. Valerie will come round with the antidote when she's ready. Michael?"
Michael did not look up from Claire, but he nodded to show he was listening.
"I'll search," he agreed, before the Librarian could ask. He rested Claire gently against the wall, and turned to Valerie. "Take care of her."
The healer nodded, tapping the syringe, and depressing it to get the air bubbles out. "You know I will."
As she took Miriku's arm, there was a loud squeak, and Aster came running back into the corridor, as a low growling noise appeared from behind her. All the agents looked up and paled.
The Potential Subplots had been taking advantage of their distraction, and begun breeding. Ten of them now blocked the corridor exit.
"How fast do these things breed?" Michael demanded in horror. He knew instantly that there was no way they would be able to defeat them all. There were too many of them and they were all too damn fast.
"Like rabbits," Adrian muttered, raising his sword, as the mass of bunnies charged, teeth bared and ready for blood and chaos.
"TAKE THIS!"
The bunnies all seemed to pause mid leap, and turn their heads behind them just in time to get a face full of clear, strong smelling liquid. There was a hiss and the stench of burning fur, and the bunnies tumbled to the ground, rolling about the floor in agony as their flesh began to burn. The corridor was filled with deafening screeches of pain, before they all evaporated into atoms.
At the end of the corridor, stood Emily.
The former Mary-Sue was clutching her supersoaker, and had a bag across her shoulder, open and baring several bottles labelled "Fangirl Strength Disinfectant". As soon as the last bunny vanished, she pulled one out and began reloading her weapon.
"…do you want to swap?" Michael asked, offering Emily his sword.
"Thanks Emily," Adrian lowered his own sword. "But it's too dangerous here…"
Emily rolled her eyes. "I don't care if it's dangerous here. I came to help."
She marched to Adrian and raised her hand, displaying the numbers she had scrawled on the back of it. The Librarian's eyes went wide as he realised what they were.
"How?" was all he could splutter. Emily smirked.
"Phoenixia. I had her run a search."
She was swept into a suffocating hug by a relieved Adrian.
"You're a genius!" he declared, before racing off back towards the rooms.
"Kyaa~…I think the kitty costume is going to his head…" Aster declared, hurrying off to check on Tash, as Adrian had ordered. Everyone left jumped as Miriku gave a loud groan, and she opened her eyes, which had gone back to their usual colour.
"Owie…" the girl protested as she tried to move. "What fell on me?"
"Bunnies!" Emily shouted, raising her supersoaker, and drenching five Potential Subplots that had rounded the corner of the corridor. Unfortunately she also drenched Aster, who was once again beating a hasty retreat back round the corner.
"Emily-chan!" the fae yelled, wiping the liquid from her costume. Though she had quickly changed the molecules upon contact with her skin so that it did not harm her, she did not appreciate being soaked.
"You jumped in my way!" Emily screamed in her defence.
"Do I look like a bunny?"
"…do you really want an answer to that, Aster?" Michael questioned, propping Miriku up against the wall, two snake tentacles catching a Potential Subplot in mid air and ripping it into two pieces.
Emily watched the last of the bunnies evaporate on the spot, and wiped her forehead. "That's all of them…question is, where did they come from?"
Aster looked thoughtful, and hurried around the corner of the corridor before she could be stopped again. She returned not half a minute later, with the Subplot that had attacked her earlier, still frozen in a block of ice.
"Here," she said, passing him to Michael, stepping carefully over Valerie, who was administering the antidote to Emotion Marcus. "Hold this. I'm going to check on Tash-san."
Michael held it at arms length as though he expected it to jump out of the ice and bite him at any moment. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
I could rip it apart, The Darkness suggested. I've always wanted to try frozen vermin...
"I hate you sometimes..." Michael thought.
"Valerie-san!" Aster called from the next corridor. "Tell Adrian-kun that Tash-san is sleeping!"
The healer chewed her lip, as she slipped the used needle into a pot in her bag, and prepared another antidote. "Its just down to us..."
"No need to tell me," the Librarian stated, stepping back into the corridor, chewing his lip in worry. "I heard."
"Did you find the counter spell?" Valerie demanded, and her heart sank as Adrian shook his head.
"There's no spell... there's only one way to stop it..."
He approached Emily, and the ten year old could tell from the look on his face that she was not going to like what he was about to ask of her.
"You guys all get to my office. You'll be safe there –" He raised his voice. "You too Aster! Take Tash!"
"Kyaa~"
"Emily," Adrian continued. "I need your lab key."
The former Sue fixed the Librarian with a cautious look, her forehead creasing into a frown, as she dangled the key on the end of her finger. "What do you need it for? You've got the master key..."
"Not to the room I need," Adrian explained, snatching the keys from her hand, and turning back to the closed door. A click of his own keyring later, and the door opened to the dark tech lab staircase.
"I know how to wake everyone. Just get yourselves to my office and keep those Subplots back."
"Adrian!" Emily shrieked after the Librarian's shrinking form. "Why do you need my key? What room can't you get into?"
A squeak sounded from behind her and she blasted an approaching bunny in the face, as realisation crashed over her like a splash of icy cold water. The bunny disintegrated as she raced toward the staircase.
"Adrian! Don't you dare touch the dues ex machina!"
OOO
"Okay, Tash-san, down you come," Aster grinned widely, gripping her staff and shifting the water molecules so that they unfroze. Like a geyser that had been reversed, the water collapsed to the floor, drenching Aster further, and sending Tash crashing painfully to the floor with a loud jingle of her outfit.
"ASTER!"
Aster turned to see she had accidently soaked Michael and Valerie, who were struggling to carry everyone. Claire was resting on Michael, while Valerie carried Miri. Marcus had been merged back to one person, and was being carried by two tentacles of Darkness.
Aster sweatdropped. "Gomennasai..." She bent to pick up Tash, and winced. "Ouch... she fell on her coins again!"
OOO
"You should go back and help the others."
"Adrian I'm telling you! Don't use that thing! You know what happened last time!"
"I take orders from no one Emily! This is the only way!"
"But it's dangerous! – DON'T!"
And for the briefest fraction of a second, the Library went white.
OOO
The only sound in the main reading room, was the gentle snoring of the sleeping agents, and the occasional splatter of slowly solidifying chocolate running down the side of the abandoned chocolate fountain. Occasionally one of the sleeping bodies would twitch.
Then Rhia twitched so much that she fell off the sofa, and landed heavily on the floor.
Or at least, it should have been the floor...
"Ow!"
Rhia's eyes snapped open and she found herself face to face with Cristoph – she had landed directly on top of him. The ninja was blinking slowly at her, and as she watched, colour seemed to seep into his cheeks.
"Is he blushing?" Rhia wondered, internally giving a small giggle that was often reserved for Merlin characters. "Aww...he's actually kinda cute when he's embarrassed."
"Not that I mind, Lady Rhia," Cristoph began. "But would you care to remove yourself from me?"
And with a flood of embarrassment, Rhia felt her own cheeks flame as she realised just how they were positioned. She scrambled off hastily, shyness overcoming her.
"I'm so sorry!" she squeaked, scurrying back onto the sofa, and cuddling a pillow tightly as though it would cover her embarrassment. Cristoph looked around the room with a smile.
"It appears the spell is broken..." he commented, as other agents began to stir. Some were yawning widely, and others were just looking confused.
Then an alarm began to sound, and Tash's voice appeared through the Library.
"All agents, arm yourselves and assemble at Adrian's office. Quickly as possible."
OOO
"...so what exactly did you do?" Michael asked, folding his arms and giving the Librarian a stern look. Adrian sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"The book said no spell existed and to use some other deus ex machina to stop it..."
"...so you thought that quite literally using the Deus Ex Machina to fix it would be a good idea?" Emily demanded furiously.
"Well it worked, didn't it?" Adrian spluttered. "Everyone woke up, and we aren't sealed in anymore..."
The Librarian was not used to having to explain his intentions – it was so much easier when he saved the people, they were just grateful, and didn't care how he did it...
"What repercussion was there?" Valerie asked, knowing full well that something must have happened.
Tash, who had been given an antidote in record time by the healer before she could wake up, was sitting next to the computer, poking the screen. She had suggested holding this meeting in the monitor room, but it was too small to hold all the agents present. Indeed. Adrian's office seemed to have magically doubled in capacity in order to fit everyone comfortably.
"Well... thankful as I am that someone saved our a-rears," Tash amended her language for Emily's sake. "I'm afraid that Adrian and the Deus Ex Machina just gave 4Kids the right to dub the new YuGiOh movie..."
Every YuGiOh fan present groaned loudly. Adrian rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on! They probably would have got the rights anyway..."
Aster, who was not a YuGiOh fan at all, and was examining the ends of her hair for fire damage, asked. "So... who cast the spell?"
"And how did they infiltrate my Library?" Adrian grumbled. Michael, who was still carrying the slowly melting block of ice, waved it at everyone.
"Easy way to find out," he declared, and everyone turned to look at him curiously. "Someone sent their little pets in here... let's send them back to master."
He poked Jess in the side, and the now sober agent nodded, and pressed her fingers to the tattoo on her back. A small blast of fire later, and the Potential Subplot was released, shivering and shaking water off its fur. It was immediately seized by a snake tentacle, and began to scream and shriek at the top of its lungs. Michael clapped its mouth shut with another tentacle.
That went straight through my ears... the Darkness winced.
"You don't HAVE any ears," Michael reminded it.
...oh shut up boy...
"Heh, Michael three hundred and fifteen, Darkness two hundred and three..."
I said shut up!
"Alright bunny," Michael started, waving another tentacle threateningly above the Subplot's head. "You're going to show us how you got into this Library. And if you mess around...well, the Darkness is hungry..."
The bunny looked petrified, as Michael released it, and it immediately scampered as fast as it could between the legs of the agents, who backed away just in case it decided to turn around and bite one of them. Michael followed closely, snake poised a mere ten inches behind the Subplot at all times.
With a squeak, the bunny leaped straight for the handleless door that Emily had gone through earlier, and vanished from sight. Michael was right behind it, touching the door and disappearing from sight.
"I'll bet its heading for the Fourth Wall!" Emily gasped, and the Library gave a hideous shudder as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
"That's the Fourth Wall?" Drake asked in disbelief, causing another miniature quake.
"Stop talking about it!" Adrian demanded, tersely.
"Follow that bunny!" Harriet yelled, jabbing her cricket bat in the direction of the door and sending the agents surging for the door like a fast sweeping tide. There were a few cries of pain as people trod on each other's feet, and several agents' costumes were poked places they really shouldn't go.
"Don't touch anything else in there!" Tash advised.
"And don't go down any of the side bits!" Emily added with a shudder.
"Hey!" Adrian yelled, as everyone began vanishing from the room. "You can't go in there!"
No one paid any attention to him, and the Librarian growled.
"No one takes me seriously in this costume!"
OOO
"That wasn't there before!" Emily declared, pointing at the anomaly, though there was really no need – it was so big that you would have to be blind to miss it. "At least...I don't think it was that big before..."
In the centre of the Fourth Wall was a massive, gaping crack, big enough for most people to fit through. It looked as though someone had taken a chainsaw and gouged the material out of the wall, leaving a gaping wound behind.
The Potential Subplot took advantage of everyone's awe and wonder to leap back through the crack and to safety.
"I'm thinking bad guys on the other side of the wall?" Michael suggested, and there were several nods of agreement.
"Wait just a minute!" Adrian pushed his way to the front of the crowd, determined to regain some of his presence. "We can't all go barging in there. Someone needs to stay here in case anything happens."
It was clear from the expressions on the agent's faces that no one wanted to miss out on the opportunity to harm whoever it was who had ruined their party.
"I'll stay," Emily stated finally. "I've had enough excitement and running for one day."
"I meant someone over five feet," Adrian replied, and Emily stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oh, that rules me out then," Tyler said gleefully.
"I can stay behind," Miriku volunteered, and no one wanted to argue with her. Emily handed Harriet her supersoaker and bag of disinfectant, before running over to Miriku and hugging her tightly around the waist. Adrian just looked relieved that someone had listened to him in this outfit.
"When we get back," he muttered to his girlfriend. "I'm burning this costume and punishing you."
Tash gave a wide grin. "You shouldn't tempt me at a time like this, love."
"Ladies first," Cristoph invited, waving a hand toward the crack. Claire, armblades and pinecones at the ready, rolled her eyes.
"Men only say that because they're scaredy cats," she declared, before linking arms with Tash and Jess and stepping through the wall.
OOO
The other side of the Fourth Wall was the interior of a tower.
The walls were cold metal, lined by humming lights all the way to the top. The ceiling was so far above their heads that none of the Society agents could see that high. Stationed at four corners, were four small chariot-like platforms, which seemed designed to rise to the top of the tower.
In the corner of the room was a cage, filled with Potential Subplots, leaping around, mating, and some trying to gnaw their way out of the cage. Most of them were brainwashing Subplots, like the one from the Library that was currently trying to wriggle back into the cage, but there were a handful that were red with various patterns, and a couple that were pink.
"Hang on..." Michael said, craning his head and trying to see the top of the tower. "This is Alcatraz Tower... we're in the YuGiOh fandom!"
"No we're not..." Tash shook her head, tapping away at her Plot Summary. "This is the YuGiOh Abridged Series fandom...there's a large streak of crack running through this world."
"That explains the Subplots!" Harriet nodded, aiming her borrowed supersoaker at the cage. "The Abridged Series is right in the middle of season two, and Marik is running around brainwashing people."
"Making it the perfect breeding place for brainwashing Subplots to sic on you idiots!"
The Society rounded on the door to the tower, and everyone's jaws dropped simultaneously in an almost comical manner. Several people gasped in disbelief, and Harriet dropped the supersoaker.
It was Marcus who spoke first.
"Chi? Xavier?"
"Surprise!" Chi snickered, giving a wave. Xavier tossed a strand of white hair over his shoulder and folded his arms smugly.
"Well it seems you all survived our spell," the Stu observed. "What a waste of time..."
"How did you even cast that spell over the Library?" Adrian pushed forward, his arms folded, his kitten ears twitching. Chi and Xavier's eyes moved from top to bottom and then back up again, before they both burst into harsh laughter.
"Kitty costume Librarian?" Xavier snickered. "Very badass."
Chi appeared too overcome with giggles to add any kind of intelligent comment, and Adrian blushed brightly. By his side, Tash couldn't help but grin widely.
"In answer to your question," Xavier explained, completely unfazed by the fact that every agent was levelling their weapons at them and they were outnumbered two to forty. "The same way you just came in – through the fourth wall...this fandom breaks it so much that it was easy to cast a spell through it."
"And the Library couldn't alert you or throw us out," Chi added grinning. "Because we were never inside it in the first place!"
Adrian's whole body was twitching by this point, as he realised that the Library would never register
recreational spells such as flashback spells or sleeping spells as deadly, because usually they were never used that way. He would have to step up security once they got back.
"Well your spells failed," Harriet declared boldly, stepping forward, levelling the supersoaker in one hand and her cricket bat in the other. "And we're all awake and kicking...so are you both going to come quietly and save yourself a beating?"
Both Sue and Stu snorted with laughter again.
"Oh please! We Sues always have more than one plan!" Chi stated, pulling out a small (very cliché looking) black box with a giant red button on the top. "And YuGiOh Abridged may only be reaching the end of season two, but you all remember what happens to this tower at the end of season three... right?"
The gaze of every YuGiOh fan in the vicinity seemed to travel to the top of the tower and back down to the bottom again, where they all gulped audibly.
"Bollocks," Tash summarised.
"Kyaa~...what happens in season three?" Aster inquired, hovering above everyone's heads curiously.
"This tower blows sky high," Harriet summed up simply.
"How did you hack into Kaiba's self destruct system?" Adrian demanded.
"In the words of this fandom," Chi smirked. "I used my elite haxzor skills to bring down one of Kaiba's satellites so that we could gain access to his computer system!"
"Hooray for cyber-terrorism," Xavier added dryly.
"But you'll kill yourselves!" Harriet spluttered, at the apparent stupidity of this plan.
"Oh really?" Chi asked. "Or did you forget that the Fourth Wall is impervious to normal forms of breaking? And you've just left a nice empty transdimensional space for us to go back to."
"Of course!" Adrian mentally smacked himself. "They knew all the Society agents would come here to get even with them, and so they planned to destroy us inside the tower while they hop through the Fourth Wall to the Libra-"
"Librarian! Stop having an internal monologue!" Xavier snapped. "It's very impolite!"
"Yeah! We're trying to reveal the full brilliance of our plan!" Chi's pout wiped instantly from her face as she raised the button high above her head. "The death of the Society!"
Xavier joined her in an obligatory round of evil laughter.
"Say goodbye, agents!"
Chi's thumb came down on the button, as the Society charged en masse toward their two enemies. Red lights flashed all over the building, and a klaxon blared into the ears of everyone present. A pleasant female voice rang out over the chaos.
"Auto destruction engaged. Two minutes until detonation. Evacuate immediately."
"You just don't know when to back off, do you?" Harriet cried over the hubbub. "One night! We get one night where we can just enjoy ourselves and you screw it up for us! You put us to sleep. You make us relive some of the worst moments of our lives. You try to blow us up! And you RUINED a brilliant party!"
There appeared to be some massive crush going on in the centre of the crowd, with Chi and Xavier right in the middle. Most agents had abandoned the use of their weapons and magic in such a confined space, and were opting instead to punch, kick, prod or beat the Sue and Stu however they could.
"There's only one thing you two deserve!" Harriet bellowed, and all the agents seemed to hold their breaths as the leader bellowed the one command they had all longed to hear.
"SOCIETY DOG PILE!"
And in that instant, Chi and Xavier realised that they had made a huge mistake enraging the Society in this way.
Xavier's eyes went wide as several agents slammed into him with such force that he wound up flat on the floor, his beautiful face being squished uncomfortably into the concrete. Chi was suffering a similar fate, however she managed a smile as she realised just who was pinning her to the floor.
"Double the Marcus?" she sounded surprised, and then pleased, her voice taking on a suggestive tone. "Double the fun."
"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT STRAIGHT!" Emotion Marcus bellowed over the din.
Over on Xavier, things were no less chaotic.
"Sorry Tashy!" Harriet blushed. "I think I just kicked you in the chest!"
"Oh relax," Tash muttered. "Its not like there's much there to kick..."
There was a squeak and an awkward cough from on top of them.
"We really need to stop meeting like this Lady Rhia..."
"I can't breathe!" Xavier rasped, but there was so much noise in the air that no one heard him.
Adrian stood to one side, sweatdropping. He had tried to join the dog pile, but backed off when he saw how tall and ridiculous looking the piles of agents were getting, and figuring he should try and retain what little remained of his dignity.
"Ow!" came Ben's voice. "Who just punched me?"
"Sorry!" Doug yelled. "I thought you were Chi!"
"Sixty seconds, and counting." the pleasant female voice interrupted. Adrian paled and raced for the nearest computer console.
"Someone shut down the system!" came Michael's voice from somewhere under the pile of bodies.
"Way ahead of you!" the Librarian called over his shoulder, ripping out of the front panel of the computer and groaning as he saw a complex system of computer circuit boards, wires and other technical gismos that kept the whole system running. He swiftly pulled out his communicator and dialled.
"Phoenixia? I need help!"
"Hey!" came Ben's voice from somewhere on the Chi pile. "Who am I kicking?"
"That's me!" Tyler protested. "And that really hurts!"
"So if that's you?" Drake asked, feeling beneath him. "Who's that beneath me?"
"That's me!" squeaked Karissa, and from the slapping noise which followed, Drake had clearly just accidently grabbed somewhere he shouldn't have.
"Where's Chi?" Ben demanded. "You landed on top of her first!"
"I thought Drake was on top of her!" Karissa replied.
"YOU GUYS LANDED ON CHI?" Emotion Marcus cried. "THEN WHO AM I ON TOP OF?"
"M-me!" Thought Marcus squealed. "Y-you're a-all o-on t-t-top of m-m-me!"
Slowly, the agents disentangled themselves from one another, and sure enough, on the bottom of the pile, were the two halves of Marcus, one on top of the other.
"Thirty seconds, and counting."
"Where's Chi?" Drake paled as he saw a rapidly shrinking plothole behind them. Chi had apparently taken advantage of the chaos to slip out from beneath the pile of agents and summon a plothole. All twenty agents dived for it, and slammed simultaneously into the tower wall as it vanished completely, leaving the mound of bruised and groaning agents on the floor.
"Damn it!" Tash snapped from the second pile. A finger poked into her ribs. "Ow!"
"Tash you yelled that right down my ear!" Harriet winced, and slowly the second dog pile of agents began to untangle themselves. Jess, who was sitting on the bottom, had somehow miraculously managed to extract a prohibitor from her bag, and clasp it around Xavier's wrist.
"Xavier Nathaniel Zenith Peacemaker, you are under arrest for multiple counts of fandom manipulation!" Jess declared as everyone got to their feet.
"A-and s-s-sending m-me on a w-wild g-g-goose c-chase t-through m-multiple f-f-fandoms!" Thought Marcus spluttered.
"AND RUINING A PERFECTLY GOOD PARTY!" Emotion Marcus added promptly.
"And trying to kill us!" Tash finished.
The euphoria lasted only a second, as an identical expression of "oh fuck" spread across everyone's faces as they remembered a little too late, that they were in a building that was set for explosion.
"Twenty seconds, and counting."
Adrian yanked harder and harder, and eventually toppled away from the console, sitting up and regrasping his communicator, growling in annoyance as he had to move the device in order to hear properly.
"What next?"
"Okay, you did pull out the blue wire, right?" Phoenixia's voice had the air of one trying to be calm under severe stress that was enough to turn ones hair grey. Adrian paled.
"You told me red!" he grabbed the wire that he had evidently just yanked out, which sure enough, was cased in red.
"No, I said blue!" the hologram screamed back.
"RED!"
"BLUE!"
"RED!"
"BLUE!"
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP AND DO SOMETHING ALREADY?" Tash screamed what everyone was thinking. She was interjected by a helpful computerised voice.
"Ten seconds, and counting."
And still the argument continued.
"RED!"
"Five."
"BLUE!"
"Four."
"RED!"
"Three."
"BLUE!"
And as if by magic, the lights stopped flashing, the alarms died down, and the computerised voice announced in a slightly snarky tone.
"System shut down."
Every agent in the building had a suitably confused WTF moment affixed to their faces. Just when they had thought things could not get any weirder...
"What happened?" Adrian finally asked. "Why did the system shut down?" He turned hastily to Phoenixia on his communicator. "It did shut down, right?"
The hologram nodded, looking equally perplexed. The computer however, had the reply everyone was looking for.
"After hearing such a pointless argument, I concurred that waiting for a deactivation order would take too long. So I wiped the command from my memory."
The Librarian, and several other agents blinked.
"That was... unexpected," Adrian finally commented.
"Well this is YuGiOh the Abridged Series..." Phoenixia shrugged. "Not too unexpected."
"True..." Adrian agreed, yelping as a spark shot out from the computer panel and zapped him. His hair stood on end, smoke floating up in wisps, and the fur on his tail was standing on end like a stiff wire brush.
"What was that for?" he cried, as the assembled agents burst out laughing behind him.
"You ripped off my panels and tore at my wiring," the computer replied. "I never go third base on a first date!"
OOO
An hour later, after Xavier had been thrown into the basement, the Library's computer systems set up to track Chi, and Adrian had repaired the crack in the Fourth Wall and changed his outfit ("Finally!" he had cheered upon finding his wardrobe hidden on top of the Phoenix Zord's head), the Society sat back in the main reading room, all looking beyond exhausted, but primarily upset.
It was with a very subdue air that Rhia quietly gave the order to clear away the tables and take all the uneaten food to her kitchen. Most agents were sprawled around on sofas, cushions, and beanbags, all still in costume (except for Adrian) and some curled up in the blankets that had been moved there earlier that evening.
"Now that the excitement is over..." Harriet began, trailing off, as her mind was forced back to the memories she had been forced to flashback through all evening.
"...we've got nothing to distract us from what we saw," Valerie sighed, from where she sat surrounded by her teammates on a pile of cushions.
"The worst moments of our lives..." Emily muttered, her eyes filling with tears. She hopped up and sat next to Harriet, her arms held out for a cuddle. The Leader obliged, if only to hide her own face.
Tash was cuddling Adrian, but for once, was not petting his ears. The Librarian looked a little less sombre than everyone else, but that was hardly surprising – he was used to encountering his past every time he closed his eyes to rest.
"The one night we try and enjoy ourselves," Tash was chewing her lip. "And it gets ruined by our pasts..."
She sighed heavily. "I guess there's only one cure for this melancholy."
Everyone looked at her in curiosity, as she pulled out her phone, checked her watch briefly, before pressing a number on speed dial.
"...hello, Dominos Pizza? Can I place an order for collection, please?"
OOO
FLASHBACK
Something was touching him...
"Shh love... its only me... go back to sleep..."
He wouldn't be fooled. He wouldn't let that happen again. He couldn't...
"Nothing can hurt you while I'm here..."
A moan broke free, and he tried to struggle away from the persistent touch. "No..."
Arms were all around him, touching, intruding, branding him with a mark he didn't want...
"Wake up love..."
"Don't... TOUCH ME!"
The Librarian exploded out of sleep, pulling himself and his perceived threat off the bed and slamming the offender into the wall. When the voice spoke it was tinged with pain, but this time Adrian recognised it.
"Calm down love... its just me..."
Blinking slowly to clear the terror that his mind had left him in, he backed slowly away from his girlfriend, who rubbed her arms where he had grabbed her. "I..."
"Its me... no need to panic," Tash was whispering. She was still fully dressed, and had apparently only just returned from whatever it was she had been doing, but Adrian comprehended none of this. He was still trying to sort out the reality of his waking moments from the incredibly realistic nightmare.
He clutched his head. Nothing made sense at the moment. "I... I was there again... she chained me... couldn't move... can't make it stop..."
He sank back to the bed, and Tash knelt, cuddling him gently and trying to soothe her frightened lover.
"Its okay... you're here now, and she can't hurt you again..."
She knew... of course she knew. Adrian remembered telling her about this particular memory of his past, and the scars (both physical and mental) he still had to show for it. Right now though none of this seemed relevant in his confused state.
"It doesn't stop... helpless... I can't go back... don't make me go back..."
Between his desperate pleas he began to cry softly into Tash's shoulder.
"I can't..."
No...
Wait... not again!
This isn't supposed to be happening!
OOO
Adrian awoke with a start, and immediately reached over, fearing that he was alone. To his relief he found the familiar sleeping body next to him, stirring slightly at his unease.
"Mmm... what's wrong, love?" Tash's voice was thick with sleep and confusion. The Librarian cuddled close to her.
"I had a flashback... I thought the spell was over though. We shouldn't be having them!"
Sensing that he was getting worked up, the kitty ears were rubbed, tweaked and petted, instantly wiping all concerns from the Librarian's stressed mind.
"It's a clipshow love," came the sleepy reply, before a pair of thin arms wrapped around him and snuggled close. "Just go with it... go back to sleep..."
For the first time in his life, Adrian was relieved to hear the Fourth Wall rumble, as if to reassure him that all was well, and he settled quickly back to sleep.
OOO
When the Librarian awoke, his girlfriend was nowhere to be found. Frowning at this strangeness, he pulled on his clothes and headed for the kitchen, expecting to find her there.
To his surprise, the kitchen was deserted. No one was around, grabbing a snack, or munching through breakfast, or cramming some form of caffeine down their throat in order to properly wake them up.
Feeling a little anxious after the events of last night, Adrian hurried through the corridors in search of another living soul. He could still sense people in the Library, so he was not panicking that he had been left alone once more (he still shuddered every time he remembered his all too silent life before the Society had moved in), but he was worried. Where had everyone gone?
Fortunately, he eventually ran into Michael and Claire, who were walking arm in arm toward the monitor room, presumably to share the duty that morning.
"Where is everyone?" Adrian asked. The couple blinked at him in surprise, before adopting suitably grave expressions.
"They've all come down with an infectious disease," Michael said solemnly. Next to him, Claire was nodding her head in a sad manner.
"...what kind of disease?" Adrian frowned.
Claire blinked in surprise. "You don't know? It's November the first."
"Which means they all have the NaNoWriMo disease," Michael stated. "They've all gone and huddled in one of the smaller reading rooms to write and make up for the time they lost last night while we were running around like loons."
Adrian felt horror dawn on him. "So let me get this straight? We're supposed to run the Society for an entire month with half of our staff huddled in a room over their laptops, running off nothing but caffeinated beverages and large amounts of sugar?"
"...pretty much," Michael beamed. "Aren't you excited?"
"Oh yes. Totally thrilled..." the Librarian groaned.
Adrian swung Hoshikuzu at it, but the bunny leaped sideways, bouncing off the bookshelf that lined the corridor. The problem, Adrian realised immediately, was that they were so small and desperate to infect so many potential authors in the vicinity, that dodging was second nature to them. The Librarian now understood why fangirl mallets and bottles of disinfectant were often the only course of action when these showed up in fanfictions.
"H-help m-m-me!" Thought Marcus screamed, pulling books off the shelves lining the corridor, in the hope of squashing the bunny. It did not work – the Potential Subplot just leaped clean over them.
As the bunny launched itself at Marcus, teeth bared, a book came flying out of room two, and squashed the bunny comically against the opposite wall. It peeled away and splattered to the floor like a pancake of the most horrible variety.
Thought Marcus sank against the wall in exhaustion. "T-thanks M-miri!"
The red head adjusted her pharaoh collar and grinned, her staff resting in her free hand. "No problem! Where are the others?"
Adrian barged his way through the mess that Thought Marcus had made, conscious of the bangs and crashes sounding from the other rooms, along with the sound of rushing water, and loud, emotion filled cries of "DIE! DIE! DIE YOU FURRY BASTARD!"
As the Librarian stepped past Thought Marcus, Miriku suddenly screamed, and something purple and furry bounced out of her room, and burrowed its way through her frizzy red mane.
"It's in my hair!" Miri shrieked, jumping in circles and waving her arms and staff dangerously. "Get it out! Get it out!"
Thought Marcus backed away into the shelf in fright, as Adrian levelled his sword, preparing to slice the bunny in two, as soon as he got a clear shot. As he pushed through the books however, there was a sickening squelch of teeth sinking into flesh, and Miriku went completely still, her arms falling limp by her side, and her head resting on her chest. The subplot reappeared, spitting out a portion of Miriku's hair on to the floor.
Adrian swung for the bunny, but even as he moved he knew it was too late. Miriku's staff came up to block the swing, her head rising from her chest to reveal swirling purple eyes, and a blank smile.
"Time for us to play."
Her voice was a monotone, and her attacks were ferocious. Adrian parried every blow, but he was afraid to strike back in case he hurt Miri – she was brainwashed, and didn't know what she was doing.
As she pushed the Librarian back down the corridor, and towards rooms seven and eight, a blast of freezing cold air appeared from room five, and Aster marched into the corridor, still in fae form, her staff in one hand, and a block of ice frozen to the end, with the Potential Subplot frozen inside. Seeing Thought Marcus getting slowly to his feet, she smiled and pointed the ice block towards him.
"Bunny on a stick, Marcus-kun?"
Thought Marcus was saved from answering however, as down the corridor, Adrian gave a yell of "Librarian Art 9 – Pillars of Knowledge!" and six giant pillars erupted through the floor of the corridor and trapped Miriku between them.
Aster blinked at this display. "Kyaa~ Why is Adrian-kun attacking Miriku-chan?"
"M-miriku w-was b-b-bitten b-by a P-p-potential S-subplot," Thought Marcus stuttered. "I-it b-b-brainwashed h-her."
Aster's eyes went wide, and she made to charge in to help Adrian, however the door to her right exploded outwards, and Emotion Marcus stood tall, his eyes a swirling shade of purple, and the Potential Subplot still attached by the teeth to his arm.
Thought Marcus gulped, as his other half turned his gaze on him.
"O-oh n-n-no!"
And with a scream of fear, he was off, with Emotion Marcus in hot pursuit. Aster blinked again.
"…that was weird," she declared, giving a yelp as door one was blown off its hinges by a gust of fire, which warped and shrunk back into Tash's staff as she marched into the corridor.
Aster frowned as she realised that the leader's eyes were purple, and her look was malicious. "Kyaa~…this isn't my day," the fae declared, as Tash gave a battle cry and charged at her, flames erupting out behind her.
OOO
"Got it!"
It was the best thing Emily had heard all day. The ten year old slipped the last of the bottles into her bag, and slung it over her shoulder, picking up a supersoaker in her other hand, and hurried over to Phoenixia, who was sitting next to the hanger computer, with her eyes closed, mentally scanning through the Library's online archives and cataloguing system.
"Adrian will know which section it is," the hologram assured her. "So all you need to tell him is the room number, the shelf number, the section code, and the name of the book."
"Okay…" Emily had a pen out, and prepared to scrawl the numbers on the back of her hand. "Go for it."
"Room seven," Phoenixia listed. "Shelf thirty five. Section six, the books name is "Dream and flashback: spells for your memory". According to my chapter listings, he wants somewhere in chapter four."
Emily finished jotting down the book name, along with the string of numbers, and shoved her pen into the pocket of her shorts. "Thanks Phoenixia. I'm going to find them. I'll call Adrian as I go."
"Good luck!" the hologram called, as the former Sue shouldered her weapon and raced from the room. Anxiously, she flicked the computer monitor back to the main reading room, where all the other agents were sprawled out asleep, and then to the corridor where Michael, Claire and Valerie were making their way slowly towards another section of the Library.
"This looks bad," she muttered, scanning the status of the agents stumbling towards the correct rooms. She could tell that two of them were fine, but one of them was about to fall asleep – her body was slowing down.
"Come on Emily… run faster."
OOO
"Juari-Ken – Gihardi!"
Tash's staff slammed through Aster's guard, and landed powerfully into her chest. The fae felt pain spread through her ribs and her eyes watered as she skidded backwards into the wall. The books that had littered the floor earlier were now smoking, or smouldering, and several of the bookshelves were ablaze. The corridor was getting hotter, and Aster was running out of water in the air to use her powers with.
"Juari-Ken – Rinwi!" Her staff came down on the floor, and Tash pole vaulted toward Aster, raising her staff above her head ready to strike.
A pillar of ice shot up and crushed the Society leader against the ceiling. The grip on her staff was lost, and it clattered to the ground. Aster seized it quickly and surveyed her handiwork.
"Kyaa~...that should hold you for a little while."
"H-h-help!"
Thought Marcus raced past Aster, having apparently done a lap of this area of the Library, screaming his head off all the while. Emotion Marcus was right behind him. Lacking the umbrella – which Marcus had left in his room for the party at Harriet's request, for safety reasons – the louder half of the agent had a pile of books under his arm, and was apparently throwing them at the fleeing Thought Marcus, trying to knock him out. As Thought Marcus raced around a corner, another book was hurled with such force that it left a dent in the wall, and Emotion Marcus hurried after him, already raising another projectile in his right hand.
Aster blinked, and leaned against her ice pillar, which she could already feel melting from the nearby fires. She tried to draw more water out of the air to put the fires out, but there was so little to work with that she only managed a few dice sized drops. Giving up, she opted instead to draw all the oxygen away from the flames, instantly snuffing them out. The air smelt strongly of smoke, which hung like a thick cloud in the corridor.
"Aster?"
The fae turned to see Valerie, Michael and Claire appear from another corridor, all of them horrified at the damage done by the fighting.
"...Adrian's going to kill you," Claire stated, her eyes slowly following the ice sculpture up, and up, until she reached the top with a loud splutter. "Is that Tash up there?"
Aster nodded. "Hai... a purple bunny bit her and she went crazy. Marcus-kun and Miriku-chan too."
"Miri?" Michael was already barging past her toward the next corridor, where the sounds of crashing bookshelves, clangs of staff on sword, and a cry that sounded horribly like "BOOT TO THE HEAD!" were audible.
To you left, boy! the Darkness cried, a snake tentacle shooting out and seizing the attacking Potential Subplot in midair. There was the disgusting sound of fangs squeezing into the bunny's body, before it was tossed limply to the side of the corridor.
No one bites my host but me! the Darkness snarled, and then as an afterthought. And your lover too I suppose...
Michael blushed, and was infinitely thankful that no one else could hear that.
OOO
Adrian, Hoshikuzu in its staff form for less damage, surveyed Miriku, who was currently being pinned under crushed stone pillars and multiple copies of various encyclopaedias. He could smell burning from the next corridor and knew that Tash must have been fighting too – whether she had been attacking or defending he couldn't tell.
There was a thundering of footsteps, and Thought Marcus shot right past him, without stopping to say anything but a terrified "HELP!" He was followed closely by Emotion Marcus, who's purple eyes had an enraged look in them. The louder of the two had run out of books to throw, and seemed to be resorting to try and strangle Thought Marcus with his bare hands – if he could catch him that was.
Wow…that's the only time I've ever heard Thought Marcus scream as loud as his counterpart, Adrian thought to himself. To his surprise, Thought Marcus seemed to slow suddenly, and with a great yawn, he flopped bonelessly to the floor, completely asleep. Emotion Marcus screeched to a halt, but he was running too fast and tripped spectacularly over his sleeping other half, arms flailing wildly, and landed on top of him with a dull 'oof!'.
Adrian approached cautiously when neither of them moved, and prodded Emotion Marcus gently with his foot. He got a loud snore in response, and the Librarian breathed a sigh of relief.
"MIRI!"
Adrian mentally groaned as he realised what Michael must be seeing as the agents all rounded the corridor. He had Miri buried in fallen rubble and books, and both halves of Marcus comatose on the floor. Michael's whole body was trembling with rage, and Valerie was supporting Claire, who was struggling not to fall asleep on the healer's shoulder.
Aster screamed, "His eyes! He's been bitten!"
A dramatic blast of wind buffeted the Librarian, who braced himself against the hurricane that had materialised in the corridor. Above the noise he could hear Valerie screaming:
"ASTER! His eyes are always purple!"
The storm like winds abruptly ceased, and Aster looked sheepish. "Oops… sorry Adrian-kun…"
The windswept Librarian had not time to reply. Two tentacles of Darkness pinned him by his throat against the wall, a third wrenching Hoshikuzu from his grasp. Adrian choked, as he saw Michael advance, a murderous gleam in his orange tinted eyes.
"M-Michael…" Adrian tried to splutter. "I-I…"
"You. Hurt. MIRI!" Michael bellowed, more Darkness bursting from his back. A sleepy-looking Claire hugged him from behind and pulled him back.
"Michael… Miriku's eyes are purple. She was bitten."
His own eyes clearing, Michael released Adrian, who leaned heavily against the wall coughing hard, as air rushed into his grateful lungs.
"You didn't have to knock her out," Michael growled. Feeling safer with his sword in his hand, Adrian bent to pick up Hoshikuzu before he answered.
"She got bitten… she attacked me and Thought Marcus…"
"Emotion Marcus is the same," Valerie reported, fishing around in her first aid bag. "Aster said bunnies. Potential Subplots, am I right?"
Adrian nodded, "Brainwashing…"
Valerie flipped open a roll of material, which contained vials of different coloured medicine, and began selecting one. Michael still looked angry, but muttered an apology, that Adrian would have missed had he not been watching his lips move. The awkwardness was broken as Claire's eyes fluttered closed and she rested completely on Michael.
"Baby?" Michael's voice took a frantic edge. "Baby, wake up…"
"Kyaa~…Michael-kun. She's not going to." Aster said gently, as Michael cuddled his girlfriend against his chest. "We need to find that spell." It was rare to hear the fae sound so serious. Adrian nodded in agreement, and glanced around.
"Valerie, you get that antidote administered."
The healer was already on it, filling the first syringe with one of the bright yellow medicines.
"Aster, what happened to Tash?" the Librarian asked. Aster blinked slowly.
"She's on top of one of my ice pillars… I hope she's not cold…"
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Adrian pointed back to the other corridor. "Go keep an eye on her. Valerie will come round with the antidote when she's ready. Michael?"
Michael did not look up from Claire, but he nodded to show he was listening.
"I'll search," he agreed, before the Librarian could ask. He rested Claire gently against the wall, and turned to Valerie. "Take care of her."
The healer nodded, tapping the syringe, and depressing it to get the air bubbles out. "You know I will."
As she took Miriku's arm, there was a loud squeak, and Aster came running back into the corridor, as a low growling noise appeared from behind her. All the agents looked up and paled.
The Potential Subplots had been taking advantage of their distraction, and begun breeding. Ten of them now blocked the corridor exit.
"How fast do these things breed?" Michael demanded in horror. He knew instantly that there was no way they would be able to defeat them all. There were too many of them and they were all too damn fast.
"Like rabbits," Adrian muttered, raising his sword, as the mass of bunnies charged, teeth bared and ready for blood and chaos.
"TAKE THIS!"
The bunnies all seemed to pause mid leap, and turn their heads behind them just in time to get a face full of clear, strong smelling liquid. There was a hiss and the stench of burning fur, and the bunnies tumbled to the ground, rolling about the floor in agony as their flesh began to burn. The corridor was filled with deafening screeches of pain, before they all evaporated into atoms.
At the end of the corridor, stood Emily.
The former Mary-Sue was clutching her supersoaker, and had a bag across her shoulder, open and baring several bottles labelled "Fangirl Strength Disinfectant". As soon as the last bunny vanished, she pulled one out and began reloading her weapon.
"…do you want to swap?" Michael asked, offering Emily his sword.
"Thanks Emily," Adrian lowered his own sword. "But it's too dangerous here…"
Emily rolled her eyes. "I don't care if it's dangerous here. I came to help."
She marched to Adrian and raised her hand, displaying the numbers she had scrawled on the back of it. The Librarian's eyes went wide as he realised what they were.
"How?" was all he could splutter. Emily smirked.
"Phoenixia. I had her run a search."
She was swept into a suffocating hug by a relieved Adrian.
"You're a genius!" he declared, before racing off back towards the rooms.
"Kyaa~…I think the kitty costume is going to his head…" Aster declared, hurrying off to check on Tash, as Adrian had ordered. Everyone left jumped as Miriku gave a loud groan, and she opened her eyes, which had gone back to their usual colour.
"Owie…" the girl protested as she tried to move. "What fell on me?"
"Bunnies!" Emily shouted, raising her supersoaker, and drenching five Potential Subplots that had rounded the corner of the corridor. Unfortunately she also drenched Aster, who was once again beating a hasty retreat back round the corner.
"Emily-chan!" the fae yelled, wiping the liquid from her costume. Though she had quickly changed the molecules upon contact with her skin so that it did not harm her, she did not appreciate being soaked.
"You jumped in my way!" Emily screamed in her defence.
"Do I look like a bunny?"
"…do you really want an answer to that, Aster?" Michael questioned, propping Miriku up against the wall, two snake tentacles catching a Potential Subplot in mid air and ripping it into two pieces.
Emily watched the last of the bunnies evaporate on the spot, and wiped her forehead. "That's all of them…question is, where did they come from?"
Aster looked thoughtful, and hurried around the corner of the corridor before she could be stopped again. She returned not half a minute later, with the Subplot that had attacked her earlier, still frozen in a block of ice.
"Here," she said, passing him to Michael, stepping carefully over Valerie, who was administering the antidote to Emotion Marcus. "Hold this. I'm going to check on Tash-san."
Michael held it at arms length as though he expected it to jump out of the ice and bite him at any moment. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
I could rip it apart, The Darkness suggested. I've always wanted to try frozen vermin...
"I hate you sometimes..." Michael thought.
"Valerie-san!" Aster called from the next corridor. "Tell Adrian-kun that Tash-san is sleeping!"
The healer chewed her lip, as she slipped the used needle into a pot in her bag, and prepared another antidote. "Its just down to us..."
"No need to tell me," the Librarian stated, stepping back into the corridor, chewing his lip in worry. "I heard."
"Did you find the counter spell?" Valerie demanded, and her heart sank as Adrian shook his head.
"There's no spell... there's only one way to stop it..."
He approached Emily, and the ten year old could tell from the look on his face that she was not going to like what he was about to ask of her.
"You guys all get to my office. You'll be safe there –" He raised his voice. "You too Aster! Take Tash!"
"Kyaa~"
"Emily," Adrian continued. "I need your lab key."
The former Sue fixed the Librarian with a cautious look, her forehead creasing into a frown, as she dangled the key on the end of her finger. "What do you need it for? You've got the master key..."
"Not to the room I need," Adrian explained, snatching the keys from her hand, and turning back to the closed door. A click of his own keyring later, and the door opened to the dark tech lab staircase.
"I know how to wake everyone. Just get yourselves to my office and keep those Subplots back."
"Adrian!" Emily shrieked after the Librarian's shrinking form. "Why do you need my key? What room can't you get into?"
A squeak sounded from behind her and she blasted an approaching bunny in the face, as realisation crashed over her like a splash of icy cold water. The bunny disintegrated as she raced toward the staircase.
"Adrian! Don't you dare touch the dues ex machina!"
OOO
"Okay, Tash-san, down you come," Aster grinned widely, gripping her staff and shifting the water molecules so that they unfroze. Like a geyser that had been reversed, the water collapsed to the floor, drenching Aster further, and sending Tash crashing painfully to the floor with a loud jingle of her outfit.
"ASTER!"
Aster turned to see she had accidently soaked Michael and Valerie, who were struggling to carry everyone. Claire was resting on Michael, while Valerie carried Miri. Marcus had been merged back to one person, and was being carried by two tentacles of Darkness.
Aster sweatdropped. "Gomennasai..." She bent to pick up Tash, and winced. "Ouch... she fell on her coins again!"
OOO
"You should go back and help the others."
"Adrian I'm telling you! Don't use that thing! You know what happened last time!"
"I take orders from no one Emily! This is the only way!"
"But it's dangerous! – DON'T!"
And for the briefest fraction of a second, the Library went white.
OOO
The only sound in the main reading room, was the gentle snoring of the sleeping agents, and the occasional splatter of slowly solidifying chocolate running down the side of the abandoned chocolate fountain. Occasionally one of the sleeping bodies would twitch.
Then Rhia twitched so much that she fell off the sofa, and landed heavily on the floor.
Or at least, it should have been the floor...
"Ow!"
Rhia's eyes snapped open and she found herself face to face with Cristoph – she had landed directly on top of him. The ninja was blinking slowly at her, and as she watched, colour seemed to seep into his cheeks.
"Is he blushing?" Rhia wondered, internally giving a small giggle that was often reserved for Merlin characters. "Aww...he's actually kinda cute when he's embarrassed."
"Not that I mind, Lady Rhia," Cristoph began. "But would you care to remove yourself from me?"
And with a flood of embarrassment, Rhia felt her own cheeks flame as she realised just how they were positioned. She scrambled off hastily, shyness overcoming her.
"I'm so sorry!" she squeaked, scurrying back onto the sofa, and cuddling a pillow tightly as though it would cover her embarrassment. Cristoph looked around the room with a smile.
"It appears the spell is broken..." he commented, as other agents began to stir. Some were yawning widely, and others were just looking confused.
Then an alarm began to sound, and Tash's voice appeared through the Library.
"All agents, arm yourselves and assemble at Adrian's office. Quickly as possible."
OOO
"...so what exactly did you do?" Michael asked, folding his arms and giving the Librarian a stern look. Adrian sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"The book said no spell existed and to use some other deus ex machina to stop it..."
"...so you thought that quite literally using the Deus Ex Machina to fix it would be a good idea?" Emily demanded furiously.
"Well it worked, didn't it?" Adrian spluttered. "Everyone woke up, and we aren't sealed in anymore..."
The Librarian was not used to having to explain his intentions – it was so much easier when he saved the people, they were just grateful, and didn't care how he did it...
"What repercussion was there?" Valerie asked, knowing full well that something must have happened.
Tash, who had been given an antidote in record time by the healer before she could wake up, was sitting next to the computer, poking the screen. She had suggested holding this meeting in the monitor room, but it was too small to hold all the agents present. Indeed. Adrian's office seemed to have magically doubled in capacity in order to fit everyone comfortably.
"Well... thankful as I am that someone saved our a-rears," Tash amended her language for Emily's sake. "I'm afraid that Adrian and the Deus Ex Machina just gave 4Kids the right to dub the new YuGiOh movie..."
Every YuGiOh fan present groaned loudly. Adrian rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on! They probably would have got the rights anyway..."
Aster, who was not a YuGiOh fan at all, and was examining the ends of her hair for fire damage, asked. "So... who cast the spell?"
"And how did they infiltrate my Library?" Adrian grumbled. Michael, who was still carrying the slowly melting block of ice, waved it at everyone.
"Easy way to find out," he declared, and everyone turned to look at him curiously. "Someone sent their little pets in here... let's send them back to master."
He poked Jess in the side, and the now sober agent nodded, and pressed her fingers to the tattoo on her back. A small blast of fire later, and the Potential Subplot was released, shivering and shaking water off its fur. It was immediately seized by a snake tentacle, and began to scream and shriek at the top of its lungs. Michael clapped its mouth shut with another tentacle.
That went straight through my ears... the Darkness winced.
"You don't HAVE any ears," Michael reminded it.
...oh shut up boy...
"Heh, Michael three hundred and fifteen, Darkness two hundred and three..."
I said shut up!
"Alright bunny," Michael started, waving another tentacle threateningly above the Subplot's head. "You're going to show us how you got into this Library. And if you mess around...well, the Darkness is hungry..."
The bunny looked petrified, as Michael released it, and it immediately scampered as fast as it could between the legs of the agents, who backed away just in case it decided to turn around and bite one of them. Michael followed closely, snake poised a mere ten inches behind the Subplot at all times.
With a squeak, the bunny leaped straight for the handleless door that Emily had gone through earlier, and vanished from sight. Michael was right behind it, touching the door and disappearing from sight.
"I'll bet its heading for the Fourth Wall!" Emily gasped, and the Library gave a hideous shudder as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
"That's the Fourth Wall?" Drake asked in disbelief, causing another miniature quake.
"Stop talking about it!" Adrian demanded, tersely.
"Follow that bunny!" Harriet yelled, jabbing her cricket bat in the direction of the door and sending the agents surging for the door like a fast sweeping tide. There were a few cries of pain as people trod on each other's feet, and several agents' costumes were poked places they really shouldn't go.
"Don't touch anything else in there!" Tash advised.
"And don't go down any of the side bits!" Emily added with a shudder.
"Hey!" Adrian yelled, as everyone began vanishing from the room. "You can't go in there!"
No one paid any attention to him, and the Librarian growled.
"No one takes me seriously in this costume!"
OOO
"That wasn't there before!" Emily declared, pointing at the anomaly, though there was really no need – it was so big that you would have to be blind to miss it. "At least...I don't think it was that big before..."
In the centre of the Fourth Wall was a massive, gaping crack, big enough for most people to fit through. It looked as though someone had taken a chainsaw and gouged the material out of the wall, leaving a gaping wound behind.
The Potential Subplot took advantage of everyone's awe and wonder to leap back through the crack and to safety.
"I'm thinking bad guys on the other side of the wall?" Michael suggested, and there were several nods of agreement.
"Wait just a minute!" Adrian pushed his way to the front of the crowd, determined to regain some of his presence. "We can't all go barging in there. Someone needs to stay here in case anything happens."
It was clear from the expressions on the agent's faces that no one wanted to miss out on the opportunity to harm whoever it was who had ruined their party.
"I'll stay," Emily stated finally. "I've had enough excitement and running for one day."
"I meant someone over five feet," Adrian replied, and Emily stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oh, that rules me out then," Tyler said gleefully.
"I can stay behind," Miriku volunteered, and no one wanted to argue with her. Emily handed Harriet her supersoaker and bag of disinfectant, before running over to Miriku and hugging her tightly around the waist. Adrian just looked relieved that someone had listened to him in this outfit.
"When we get back," he muttered to his girlfriend. "I'm burning this costume and punishing you."
Tash gave a wide grin. "You shouldn't tempt me at a time like this, love."
"Ladies first," Cristoph invited, waving a hand toward the crack. Claire, armblades and pinecones at the ready, rolled her eyes.
"Men only say that because they're scaredy cats," she declared, before linking arms with Tash and Jess and stepping through the wall.
OOO
The other side of the Fourth Wall was the interior of a tower.
The walls were cold metal, lined by humming lights all the way to the top. The ceiling was so far above their heads that none of the Society agents could see that high. Stationed at four corners, were four small chariot-like platforms, which seemed designed to rise to the top of the tower.
In the corner of the room was a cage, filled with Potential Subplots, leaping around, mating, and some trying to gnaw their way out of the cage. Most of them were brainwashing Subplots, like the one from the Library that was currently trying to wriggle back into the cage, but there were a handful that were red with various patterns, and a couple that were pink.
"Hang on..." Michael said, craning his head and trying to see the top of the tower. "This is Alcatraz Tower... we're in the YuGiOh fandom!"
"No we're not..." Tash shook her head, tapping away at her Plot Summary. "This is the YuGiOh Abridged Series fandom...there's a large streak of crack running through this world."
"That explains the Subplots!" Harriet nodded, aiming her borrowed supersoaker at the cage. "The Abridged Series is right in the middle of season two, and Marik is running around brainwashing people."
"Making it the perfect breeding place for brainwashing Subplots to sic on you idiots!"
The Society rounded on the door to the tower, and everyone's jaws dropped simultaneously in an almost comical manner. Several people gasped in disbelief, and Harriet dropped the supersoaker.
It was Marcus who spoke first.
"Chi? Xavier?"
"Surprise!" Chi snickered, giving a wave. Xavier tossed a strand of white hair over his shoulder and folded his arms smugly.
"Well it seems you all survived our spell," the Stu observed. "What a waste of time..."
"How did you even cast that spell over the Library?" Adrian pushed forward, his arms folded, his kitten ears twitching. Chi and Xavier's eyes moved from top to bottom and then back up again, before they both burst into harsh laughter.
"Kitty costume Librarian?" Xavier snickered. "Very badass."
Chi appeared too overcome with giggles to add any kind of intelligent comment, and Adrian blushed brightly. By his side, Tash couldn't help but grin widely.
"In answer to your question," Xavier explained, completely unfazed by the fact that every agent was levelling their weapons at them and they were outnumbered two to forty. "The same way you just came in – through the fourth wall...this fandom breaks it so much that it was easy to cast a spell through it."
"And the Library couldn't alert you or throw us out," Chi added grinning. "Because we were never inside it in the first place!"
Adrian's whole body was twitching by this point, as he realised that the Library would never register
recreational spells such as flashback spells or sleeping spells as deadly, because usually they were never used that way. He would have to step up security once they got back.
"Well your spells failed," Harriet declared boldly, stepping forward, levelling the supersoaker in one hand and her cricket bat in the other. "And we're all awake and kicking...so are you both going to come quietly and save yourself a beating?"
Both Sue and Stu snorted with laughter again.
"Oh please! We Sues always have more than one plan!" Chi stated, pulling out a small (very cliché looking) black box with a giant red button on the top. "And YuGiOh Abridged may only be reaching the end of season two, but you all remember what happens to this tower at the end of season three... right?"
The gaze of every YuGiOh fan in the vicinity seemed to travel to the top of the tower and back down to the bottom again, where they all gulped audibly.
"Bollocks," Tash summarised.
"Kyaa~...what happens in season three?" Aster inquired, hovering above everyone's heads curiously.
"This tower blows sky high," Harriet summed up simply.
"How did you hack into Kaiba's self destruct system?" Adrian demanded.
"In the words of this fandom," Chi smirked. "I used my elite haxzor skills to bring down one of Kaiba's satellites so that we could gain access to his computer system!"
"Hooray for cyber-terrorism," Xavier added dryly.
"But you'll kill yourselves!" Harriet spluttered, at the apparent stupidity of this plan.
"Oh really?" Chi asked. "Or did you forget that the Fourth Wall is impervious to normal forms of breaking? And you've just left a nice empty transdimensional space for us to go back to."
"Of course!" Adrian mentally smacked himself. "They knew all the Society agents would come here to get even with them, and so they planned to destroy us inside the tower while they hop through the Fourth Wall to the Libra-"
"Librarian! Stop having an internal monologue!" Xavier snapped. "It's very impolite!"
"Yeah! We're trying to reveal the full brilliance of our plan!" Chi's pout wiped instantly from her face as she raised the button high above her head. "The death of the Society!"
Xavier joined her in an obligatory round of evil laughter.
"Say goodbye, agents!"
Chi's thumb came down on the button, as the Society charged en masse toward their two enemies. Red lights flashed all over the building, and a klaxon blared into the ears of everyone present. A pleasant female voice rang out over the chaos.
"Auto destruction engaged. Two minutes until detonation. Evacuate immediately."
"You just don't know when to back off, do you?" Harriet cried over the hubbub. "One night! We get one night where we can just enjoy ourselves and you screw it up for us! You put us to sleep. You make us relive some of the worst moments of our lives. You try to blow us up! And you RUINED a brilliant party!"
There appeared to be some massive crush going on in the centre of the crowd, with Chi and Xavier right in the middle. Most agents had abandoned the use of their weapons and magic in such a confined space, and were opting instead to punch, kick, prod or beat the Sue and Stu however they could.
"There's only one thing you two deserve!" Harriet bellowed, and all the agents seemed to hold their breaths as the leader bellowed the one command they had all longed to hear.
"SOCIETY DOG PILE!"
And in that instant, Chi and Xavier realised that they had made a huge mistake enraging the Society in this way.
Xavier's eyes went wide as several agents slammed into him with such force that he wound up flat on the floor, his beautiful face being squished uncomfortably into the concrete. Chi was suffering a similar fate, however she managed a smile as she realised just who was pinning her to the floor.
"Double the Marcus?" she sounded surprised, and then pleased, her voice taking on a suggestive tone. "Double the fun."
"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT STRAIGHT!" Emotion Marcus bellowed over the din.
Over on Xavier, things were no less chaotic.
"Sorry Tashy!" Harriet blushed. "I think I just kicked you in the chest!"
"Oh relax," Tash muttered. "Its not like there's much there to kick..."
There was a squeak and an awkward cough from on top of them.
"We really need to stop meeting like this Lady Rhia..."
"I can't breathe!" Xavier rasped, but there was so much noise in the air that no one heard him.
Adrian stood to one side, sweatdropping. He had tried to join the dog pile, but backed off when he saw how tall and ridiculous looking the piles of agents were getting, and figuring he should try and retain what little remained of his dignity.
"Ow!" came Ben's voice. "Who just punched me?"
"Sorry!" Doug yelled. "I thought you were Chi!"
"Sixty seconds, and counting." the pleasant female voice interrupted. Adrian paled and raced for the nearest computer console.
"Someone shut down the system!" came Michael's voice from somewhere under the pile of bodies.
"Way ahead of you!" the Librarian called over his shoulder, ripping out of the front panel of the computer and groaning as he saw a complex system of computer circuit boards, wires and other technical gismos that kept the whole system running. He swiftly pulled out his communicator and dialled.
"Phoenixia? I need help!"
"Hey!" came Ben's voice from somewhere on the Chi pile. "Who am I kicking?"
"That's me!" Tyler protested. "And that really hurts!"
"So if that's you?" Drake asked, feeling beneath him. "Who's that beneath me?"
"That's me!" squeaked Karissa, and from the slapping noise which followed, Drake had clearly just accidently grabbed somewhere he shouldn't have.
"Where's Chi?" Ben demanded. "You landed on top of her first!"
"I thought Drake was on top of her!" Karissa replied.
"YOU GUYS LANDED ON CHI?" Emotion Marcus cried. "THEN WHO AM I ON TOP OF?"
"M-me!" Thought Marcus squealed. "Y-you're a-all o-on t-t-top of m-m-me!"
Slowly, the agents disentangled themselves from one another, and sure enough, on the bottom of the pile, were the two halves of Marcus, one on top of the other.
"Thirty seconds, and counting."
"Where's Chi?" Drake paled as he saw a rapidly shrinking plothole behind them. Chi had apparently taken advantage of the chaos to slip out from beneath the pile of agents and summon a plothole. All twenty agents dived for it, and slammed simultaneously into the tower wall as it vanished completely, leaving the mound of bruised and groaning agents on the floor.
"Damn it!" Tash snapped from the second pile. A finger poked into her ribs. "Ow!"
"Tash you yelled that right down my ear!" Harriet winced, and slowly the second dog pile of agents began to untangle themselves. Jess, who was sitting on the bottom, had somehow miraculously managed to extract a prohibitor from her bag, and clasp it around Xavier's wrist.
"Xavier Nathaniel Zenith Peacemaker, you are under arrest for multiple counts of fandom manipulation!" Jess declared as everyone got to their feet.
"A-and s-s-sending m-me on a w-wild g-g-goose c-chase t-through m-multiple f-f-fandoms!" Thought Marcus spluttered.
"AND RUINING A PERFECTLY GOOD PARTY!" Emotion Marcus added promptly.
"And trying to kill us!" Tash finished.
The euphoria lasted only a second, as an identical expression of "oh fuck" spread across everyone's faces as they remembered a little too late, that they were in a building that was set for explosion.
"Twenty seconds, and counting."
Adrian yanked harder and harder, and eventually toppled away from the console, sitting up and regrasping his communicator, growling in annoyance as he had to move the device in order to hear properly.
"What next?"
"Okay, you did pull out the blue wire, right?" Phoenixia's voice had the air of one trying to be calm under severe stress that was enough to turn ones hair grey. Adrian paled.
"You told me red!" he grabbed the wire that he had evidently just yanked out, which sure enough, was cased in red.
"No, I said blue!" the hologram screamed back.
"RED!"
"BLUE!"
"RED!"
"BLUE!"
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP AND DO SOMETHING ALREADY?" Tash screamed what everyone was thinking. She was interjected by a helpful computerised voice.
"Ten seconds, and counting."
And still the argument continued.
"RED!"
"Five."
"BLUE!"
"Four."
"RED!"
"Three."
"BLUE!"
And as if by magic, the lights stopped flashing, the alarms died down, and the computerised voice announced in a slightly snarky tone.
"System shut down."
Every agent in the building had a suitably confused WTF moment affixed to their faces. Just when they had thought things could not get any weirder...
"What happened?" Adrian finally asked. "Why did the system shut down?" He turned hastily to Phoenixia on his communicator. "It did shut down, right?"
The hologram nodded, looking equally perplexed. The computer however, had the reply everyone was looking for.
"After hearing such a pointless argument, I concurred that waiting for a deactivation order would take too long. So I wiped the command from my memory."
The Librarian, and several other agents blinked.
"That was... unexpected," Adrian finally commented.
"Well this is YuGiOh the Abridged Series..." Phoenixia shrugged. "Not too unexpected."
"True..." Adrian agreed, yelping as a spark shot out from the computer panel and zapped him. His hair stood on end, smoke floating up in wisps, and the fur on his tail was standing on end like a stiff wire brush.
"What was that for?" he cried, as the assembled agents burst out laughing behind him.
"You ripped off my panels and tore at my wiring," the computer replied. "I never go third base on a first date!"
OOO
An hour later, after Xavier had been thrown into the basement, the Library's computer systems set up to track Chi, and Adrian had repaired the crack in the Fourth Wall and changed his outfit ("Finally!" he had cheered upon finding his wardrobe hidden on top of the Phoenix Zord's head), the Society sat back in the main reading room, all looking beyond exhausted, but primarily upset.
It was with a very subdue air that Rhia quietly gave the order to clear away the tables and take all the uneaten food to her kitchen. Most agents were sprawled around on sofas, cushions, and beanbags, all still in costume (except for Adrian) and some curled up in the blankets that had been moved there earlier that evening.
"Now that the excitement is over..." Harriet began, trailing off, as her mind was forced back to the memories she had been forced to flashback through all evening.
"...we've got nothing to distract us from what we saw," Valerie sighed, from where she sat surrounded by her teammates on a pile of cushions.
"The worst moments of our lives..." Emily muttered, her eyes filling with tears. She hopped up and sat next to Harriet, her arms held out for a cuddle. The Leader obliged, if only to hide her own face.
Tash was cuddling Adrian, but for once, was not petting his ears. The Librarian looked a little less sombre than everyone else, but that was hardly surprising – he was used to encountering his past every time he closed his eyes to rest.
"The one night we try and enjoy ourselves," Tash was chewing her lip. "And it gets ruined by our pasts..."
She sighed heavily. "I guess there's only one cure for this melancholy."
Everyone looked at her in curiosity, as she pulled out her phone, checked her watch briefly, before pressing a number on speed dial.
"...hello, Dominos Pizza? Can I place an order for collection, please?"
OOO
FLASHBACK
Something was touching him...
"Shh love... its only me... go back to sleep..."
He wouldn't be fooled. He wouldn't let that happen again. He couldn't...
"Nothing can hurt you while I'm here..."
A moan broke free, and he tried to struggle away from the persistent touch. "No..."
Arms were all around him, touching, intruding, branding him with a mark he didn't want...
"Wake up love..."
"Don't... TOUCH ME!"
The Librarian exploded out of sleep, pulling himself and his perceived threat off the bed and slamming the offender into the wall. When the voice spoke it was tinged with pain, but this time Adrian recognised it.
"Calm down love... its just me..."
Blinking slowly to clear the terror that his mind had left him in, he backed slowly away from his girlfriend, who rubbed her arms where he had grabbed her. "I..."
"Its me... no need to panic," Tash was whispering. She was still fully dressed, and had apparently only just returned from whatever it was she had been doing, but Adrian comprehended none of this. He was still trying to sort out the reality of his waking moments from the incredibly realistic nightmare.
He clutched his head. Nothing made sense at the moment. "I... I was there again... she chained me... couldn't move... can't make it stop..."
He sank back to the bed, and Tash knelt, cuddling him gently and trying to soothe her frightened lover.
"Its okay... you're here now, and she can't hurt you again..."
She knew... of course she knew. Adrian remembered telling her about this particular memory of his past, and the scars (both physical and mental) he still had to show for it. Right now though none of this seemed relevant in his confused state.
"It doesn't stop... helpless... I can't go back... don't make me go back..."
Between his desperate pleas he began to cry softly into Tash's shoulder.
"I can't..."
No...
Wait... not again!
This isn't supposed to be happening!
OOO
Adrian awoke with a start, and immediately reached over, fearing that he was alone. To his relief he found the familiar sleeping body next to him, stirring slightly at his unease.
"Mmm... what's wrong, love?" Tash's voice was thick with sleep and confusion. The Librarian cuddled close to her.
"I had a flashback... I thought the spell was over though. We shouldn't be having them!"
Sensing that he was getting worked up, the kitty ears were rubbed, tweaked and petted, instantly wiping all concerns from the Librarian's stressed mind.
"It's a clipshow love," came the sleepy reply, before a pair of thin arms wrapped around him and snuggled close. "Just go with it... go back to sleep..."
For the first time in his life, Adrian was relieved to hear the Fourth Wall rumble, as if to reassure him that all was well, and he settled quickly back to sleep.
OOO
When the Librarian awoke, his girlfriend was nowhere to be found. Frowning at this strangeness, he pulled on his clothes and headed for the kitchen, expecting to find her there.
To his surprise, the kitchen was deserted. No one was around, grabbing a snack, or munching through breakfast, or cramming some form of caffeine down their throat in order to properly wake them up.
Feeling a little anxious after the events of last night, Adrian hurried through the corridors in search of another living soul. He could still sense people in the Library, so he was not panicking that he had been left alone once more (he still shuddered every time he remembered his all too silent life before the Society had moved in), but he was worried. Where had everyone gone?
Fortunately, he eventually ran into Michael and Claire, who were walking arm in arm toward the monitor room, presumably to share the duty that morning.
"Where is everyone?" Adrian asked. The couple blinked at him in surprise, before adopting suitably grave expressions.
"They've all come down with an infectious disease," Michael said solemnly. Next to him, Claire was nodding her head in a sad manner.
"...what kind of disease?" Adrian frowned.
Claire blinked in surprise. "You don't know? It's November the first."
"Which means they all have the NaNoWriMo disease," Michael stated. "They've all gone and huddled in one of the smaller reading rooms to write and make up for the time they lost last night while we were running around like loons."
Adrian felt horror dawn on him. "So let me get this straight? We're supposed to run the Society for an entire month with half of our staff huddled in a room over their laptops, running off nothing but caffeinated beverages and large amounts of sugar?"
"...pretty much," Michael beamed. "Aren't you excited?"
"Oh yes. Totally thrilled..." the Librarian groaned.
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