Insert Red Skies Twilight Here (part 4 of 6)

"All of this hate
 And all of this pain--
I'll burn it all down 
As my anger reigns,
Till everything burns."
-'Everything Burns' by Anastascia

Willowe strode into Adrian's office slowly, glancing this way and that as she took in the bookshelves, his desk, the picture of Tash on the wall, and several pictures of people or places she didn't recognize. "For one of the most powerful men in existence, his office is surprisingly simple..."

"Feh, who cares? He's finally dead and that's all that matters." Harold shouldered his way past the female Sue and flexed his fists a bit. "The only good thing the Librarian did was get rid of that annoying Silver for me...bastard..."

He marched to the rear of the office, casually blasting the desk out of his way and reducing it to smithereens. Stopping at the seamless, handle-less door, he drew back his fist and with one punch, sent in flying into the darkened stone hallway beyond. "There. This is what we came for, right?"

"Yes." Willowe stepped him behind him, four or five of the remaining Agent Smiths and Chi hanging back behind her. Adrian had wiped out a huge chunk of her forces, barely leaving her anything that could be called an 'army'. "The Fourth Wall should be at the end of this hallway."

"Good. Let's go already." Harold started down the hallway, even his Super Saiyan aura failing to light up the dark stone passage. His eyes flicked left and right as he passed the alcoves, growling in frustration as he heard and saw little whispers of movement in them and voices humming in his ears now and again. "What is this freaking place, anyway? Is there something alive in here or something?"

"Perhaps. It would be wise not to disturb the alcoves" Willowe said and glanced at one of the alcoves, waiting as a shadowy figure slid into view and then out of sight again. "Runoa said this is the section of the Library where the Librarians keep the things that are too dangerous to the Library's normal visitors or even things that the Librarians themselves cannot understand..."

"Tch..." Harold sneered and flicked a marble-size sphere of energy into one of the alcoves , watching as it exploded, destroying whatever was in the alcove, but strangely, the flare of light the explosion produced did not extend beyond the alcove. It stopped like it had hit a wall before it reached into the hallway. "It's all a bunch of junk..."

Then his eyes widened and he backpedaled as something reached out of the darkness of the alcove and latched onto his wrist with a skeletal hand. "What the hell!" He strained to break free, but even with his improbable strength, his caught arm wouldn't budge an inch. "Let go, you freak!"

He started to charge up an attack his other hand, but then he screamed as he saw his caught hand was decaying, bits of flesh and muscle and nerves dropping away like leaves off a tree, revealing pearly-white bone beneath. "Gaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Then Excalibur slashed at the grasping hand and it instantly released Harold, retreating into the shadows whence it came while Willowe backhanded Harold across the face. "You idiot! I told you not to disturb the alcoves! We've come too far for you to screw it up now!"

Harold rubbed his cheek and glared at Willowe. "Watch it. What's stopping me from killing you right now and performing this plan myself?"

Then he went pale as he realized Excalibur was pressed against his throat and he hadn't even realized Willowe had moved at all. "Ahhh..."

Willowe narrowed her eyes at him. "You had better hope that first punch kills me, Harold. Otherwise, I'm going to slice off your limbs and let Runoa do Immaculation on you." She leaned closer to him and her sword point drew a droplet of blood from his throat. "Want to see if you can regrow limbs?"

"N-no..." Harold shook his head fervently. "No..."

"Good." Willowe resheathed her sword and started down the hallway, the subdued Harold following her. "Then remember who is in charge here."

The little group made their way farther down the hallway, Harold, Chi and the Smiths doing their best to ignore the things that moved in the alcoves or the faint whispers that sounded in their ears and minds or the soft touches that had them glancing back nervously over their shoulders every few minutes.

"InTruDErs..."

They all stopped and glanced around, Willowe's hand flying to her weapon as Harold charged up energy in his fists. "Who's there?"

"IntrUDeRS...WHo EntERS ThIS PlaCE...? YoU Do NoT HaVe PermiSsiON AnD yoU ArE NoT WeLComE..."

Willowe glared at the surrounding darkness. It sounded like a hundred voices were speaking all at once. "Who are you! Show yourself!"

Shadows and light swirled around in front of them and when it cleared, something was standing in their way. In the darkness, its form was impossible to make out and they only caught the outline, shimmering in and out of sight like a mirage...a clawed hand...a spiny shoulder...a barbed tail. "We aRe ThE UnWriTteN...YoU ArE noT oF Us, InTRUders..."

'Unwritten?" Harold growled and the energy in his fists glowed brighter. "What the hell is this guy?"

"Runoa mentioned something like this to me..." Willowe murmured, hand still on her sword's hilt. "Some ideas that are never fully formed or never written into stories, but through sheer force of will, manage to avoid being pulled into the Vault of Abandoned Ideas... but she never said they'd be in here!"

"AdrIAn bAdE Us tO GuARd tHIs plAcE... He GaVe uS a NaMe AnD PuRpOSe... To PrEvEnT tHE WrITtEn FrOm CrOSsINg thE WaLl..." The Unwritten's shrouded form shifted and stirred before suddenly launching forwards and falling over them like a thick blanket. "YoU wiLL BeCome Us..."

Willowe struggled to draw her sword, but the Unwritten pressed and swarmed around her, feeling like it weighed a hundred tons and pressing against all of her senses at once. She felt rather than heard the Smith copies dissolve away and Muhammad screamed as his body started to dissolve away into mist, which was drawn into the Unwritten.

She herself felt it crushing her, sapping away at her spirit, her memories, her thoughts, her past, stripping everything that made her a individual and she felt tired, so tired...

(No!) Willowe drew herself together and felt the draining away slow, then stop. (No! I will not be taken like this! I am Willowe Foxblade! And I will NOT yield!)

With a howl, she unleashed a flare of crimson energy that blew the Unwritten away from her, the shadowy fog retreating like it had been stung. "I am not afraid of you, you pathetic shell!"

The Unwritten swirled angrily and regathered itself. "YoU WilL BeComE uS!" Then it hurtled towards Willowe at full speed. "We WilL FuLLfIll OuR PuRPosE!"

"Then fulfill it by dying!" Willowe drew Excalibur and slashed it through the air, a crescent of golden energy leaping from the tip and slamming into the mass of the Unwritten, the entity letting out a hundred-voiced howl as it was dissolved away and scattering into miniscule wisps of shadows that were absorbed by the darkness around them and faded from view.

"Erggg..." Harold got to his feet, rubbing his head. "Did you really manage to kill that thing?"

"No." Willowe replied and shook her head. "You can't kill an idea...but I hit it hard enough that it will take a very long time before it collects itself, so we shouldn't have to worry about it anymore."

"Good." The Saiyan turned and yanked Chi off the ground by her collar, causing the smaller Sue to squeak and tremble in fear as he glared at her. "What's the big idea? How come you didn't warn us there'd be something like that guarding the Fourth Wall?"

Chi squirmed in his grasp. "Xavier and I never entered the Library ourselves! We just sent Subplot Bunnies through the crack in the Wall! And none of them ran into any defenses!"

"That's because all species of Plot Bunnies are not really alive-they're just ideas." Willowe explained as Harold gruffly dropped Chi on the ground. "We're Sues and Stus-we are more than just ideas..." She glanced at the pile of empty suits that had been the Smith clones. "But if our grasp on our identities isn't strong enough, it can be stripped away from us, as Muhammad and the Smiths just proved..."

She turned and started down the passageway, the other two falling into step behind her. They had gone about a few dozen more yards and then Willowe jerked to halt, Chi plowing into and bouncing off the leader's legs.

"Hey! What gives?" Chi muttered, getting back to her feet and rubbing her nose.

"It's another defense..." Willowe replied and gestured in front of her where a set of floating words were in front of her. "It's an invisible barrier and I'm guess we have to solve this riddle before we can move on."

She took a couple of steps back and studied the riddle from top to bottom:

"I am what all want.

Use me as if I were a sword and those you slay will rise up against you

Use me as if I were armor and I will trap and suffocate you

Use me as if I were decoration and only your mirror will look upon you.

Use me as if I were a fire and you'll find my flames do not warm you.

Use me as if I were food and I will never chase hunger away from you.

Use me as if I were an enemy and I will be heavier than any chains upon you.

Use me as if I were a friend and I will devour you.

Use me as if I were medicine and I will poison you.

But if you do not use me, then I will serve you well forever.

What am I?"

"Rrrg..." Harold cracked his knuckles. "I hate riddles and we don't have time for this!" He wound up and threw a sledgehammer-like fist at the barrier with the force of a small bomb. "Let's just smash it down!"

Then he gasped as his fist disappeared into the barrier and then emerged right in front him, smashing into his face and sending him flying backwards, clutching a bloody nose. "What the 'effin hell!"

"Looks like the barrier throws whatever you throw at it right back at you!" Chi laughed at the bigger man as he got back to his feet. "Means you have to use your brain, porcupine-head! And you don't have one!"

"Shut it, little brat!" Harold growled menacingly. "Before I squish you and wipe you off my heel! And if you're so smart, then why don't you solve it?"

"Of course!" Chi stuck her tongue out at him. "And I already have!"

Willowe raised her eyebrow. "That was awfully fast..."

Chi waved it off. "We're Sues, stuff like this is easy for us." She walked up to the barrier and smirked broadly. "That answer is love!"

They all waited a few moments. "Is... something supposed to happen?"

"Hey! What gives? I know I got it right!" Chi stamped her foot. "Come on, you stupid barrier and words! Disappear!"

Then she blinked as she felt something chilly wrap around her feet. "Huh...?" She glanced down and screamed.

Some kind of light was working is way up her feet and legs, hardening and turning her into crystal. "Aggh! No, no! Make it stop! Make it stop! Stooop!"

Willowe and Harold watched with wide-eyes as the crystalline light worked its way up Chi's legs and then her torso. "What kind of power is this...?"

Chi squirmed and writhed, desperately trying to chip away at the light, but it was turning her entire body to crystal and there was no way to free herself without shattering her own body. "Help me, help me, help me! Make it stop, stop!" She jerked and gave one final scream as the light crept up over her head and it was over in seconds. Where once a Sue had stood, was now a perfect crystal statue of her, her face transfixed into a look of horror.

The other two stared at her for a long moment and then Willowe reached out to touch, but withdrew her hand as the shadows from the edges of the hallway swarmed over Chi and dragged her away, drawing into her in a nearby alcove and into the darkness.

"Now what, Willowe...?" Harold asked. "We gonna bring everyone else up here and keep guessing at answers till we're all a bunch of cheap art decorations?"

"Hush." Willowe folded her arms and studied the riddle for a good minute, trying to put herself in Adrian's shoes. He had thought it up, obviously...

Then she grinned. "I have it." Stepping up to the barrier, she spoke her answer.

TTTTTTT

"So... what do we do now?"

The question was posed by Michael, as he sat at one of the tables, Claire sitting next to him and holding his hand. Across from the couple was Kuroneko, who as idly sharpening her claws with one of her fans. The Society Agents were scattered about the room, in pairs or groups, subdued and quiet after hearing Adrian's letter. Tash was sitting in a corner, clutching the Codex of Index to her chest tightly while she just stared out at nothing, as Val and Miriku sat with her, cuddling her and trying to reassure her.

The Counter Guardians were far more relaxed, Vergil, Saito and a man white-haired man dressed in a some kind of molded armor and red trenchcoat that told them his name was 'Archer' were all leaning against various walls, arms crossed as they waited patiently and Saito smoked a cigarette. Aramayis was seating in another corner, legs crossed and hands clasped before as him he meditated. Despite the loss of one of their own, they did not seem all that affected by it.

Kuroneko held out her claws and looked at them carefully. "We wait. Counter Guardians could travel to the Library and fight them there, but against such powerful enemies, we risk destroying much of the information and knowledge stored there and it would take centuries to regather it all, if it would be even possible."

"Wait?" Michael narrowed his eyes, obviously not happy with that idea. "Adrian is dead, Willowe has the Library and she's going to invade here at any moment and you want us to wait?"

Kuroneko fixed him with a sharp look. "I just told you we can't invade the Library and it will be easier for us to fight Willowe on our own terms here than letting her pick the battle ground. And you Society Agents are here in an advisory capacity only. You are not going to fight."

"What!" Michael stood up, slamming his fist on the table and knocking his chair over, as everyone in the room (sans Tash and the other Counter Guardian) fixed their attention him. "How can you say that? Adrian sent us out of the Library so we would have a chance to fight back! He gave his life for us! And you expect us not to do the same for everyone else!"

Kuroneko's glare hardened." Adrian was an extremely powerful Counter Guardian and the Librarian and he sent you to the Real World to save your lives! Do you really think that you're going to be able to fight against the Sues and Stus as ordinary humans? Willowe, Harold, the others? They could probably wipe out entire human armies out by themselves! What hope do you have, boy?"

Michael didn't back down. "I refuse to sit by and do nothing while our world is taken over!"

As the two glared at one another, a door burst open, halting the rising tension before it could burst and Stacey, who had gone with a few others to try and distract themselves by watching TV, poke her head in the door. "You guys better turn on the news. You'll definitely want to see this."

Saito detached himself from the wall and picked up the remote from off an end table, flicking on the TV with a press of a button. "This should be interesting..."

Everyone watched as the image jumped, jerked and then settled down, where a news reporter was standing on a rooftop with what looked like Big Ben behind him...and an ever-growing cloud for red twilight growing in the background. "Scientists and meteorologists around the world today can other no explanation for the mysterious spots of red twilight that are appearing world-wide..."

The image switched to the Eiffel Tower, where a second cloud of red twilight was growing, then the Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, The White House and the Hollywood sign, Tokyo, St. Petersburg, the Pyramids, the Vatican...all of them with growing clouds of red twilight in the sky. The people the Agents could see on the cameras reacted in incredible extremes, some running away in a panic, while others fell to the ground and prostrated themselves or prayed or screamed about the end of the world. Others tried to ignore it, some were taking pictures and some were rioting and looting, swept up in the world-wide panic of the fear of the unknown.

It switched back to the reporter. "Everywhere, people panic and riot, some claiming the end of the world or the Rapture or an invasion by aliens. Some claim it to be the arrival of the devil and world leaders urge their peoples to remain calm and that this mysterious phenomenon will be explained by scientists soon. But we have heard theories ranging from meteor showers to alien race. One scientist, Professor Ron Hamilton of NASA, a different theory..."

The screen split, showing a bearded man with glasses and dressed in a lab coat. "Well, I believe it is merely the light from several stars that have gone supernova in distant galaxies eons ago finally reaching us. The odds of several of them going supernova and reaching us at the same time, let alone being visible all over the world, are indeed very high, but not all that unlikely given the fact that many of the stars in our sky are already long gone, but their light will be reaching us for centuries to come.."

Saito muted the volume. "It looks like it's beginning, then..."

"What is it?" Hati asked, the look of confusion and fear on her face mimicked to varying degrees by the other Agents in the room.

"It's a Red Skies Twilight..." Archer explained from his position against the wall. "In comics, it's a term used when major crossover events happen that threaten the whole of that Universe all at once and the skies turn red to signify this, hence the name." He gave a small smirk. "Fitting, considering we are about to be invaded by super powerful fictional creations..."

"That's not all..." Aramayis stood up. "I can sense the energies coming from those spots of twilight and it's becoming much stronger as they grow in size. That energy is what will let Willowe and her cohorts enter this world at full power. Once the world is completely covered by them, the invasion will begin..."

All of the Society Agents all seemed struck still by this realization...then Michael bolted for the door and vanished through it outside and all the others followed him a split second later.

TTTTTTT

Willowe stood in front of the Fourth Wall, the mishmash of building materials that looked like had been built by a child who merely squashed everything they could find together. It looked decidedly unstable and like a good push would knock it over. Hard to believe such a mishmash of construction represented the ultimate barrier for beings like Sues and Stus.

A barrier that was now a barrier no more.

Behind her, arrayed in a semi-circle, seven pedestals bearing the Necrominicon, Fountain of Youth Water, Spear of Destiny, Tabula Rasa, the Holy Grail, Rosetta Stone and her Excalibur, stood. The seven items glowed the colors of the rainbow and their energies leached into and through the Fourth Wall, connecting to their Real World counterparts on the other side. The energies blended together and formed a swirling portal of red that was their hole in the dike, so to speak.

She watched as the Sues and Stus and the Smith copies poured through the portal, one after another. It had a been moment she had longed for, planned for and now it was finally here...the Real World would be theirs and they'd be able to complete any fandom, any story, any myth or legend, however they wanted.

Willowe was almost disappointed. It wasn't as grand or epic as she had imagined it...just stepping through a portal, like every Sue and Stu did when they traveled from place to place. It was so simple...and in this case, it was everything. Quite the irony...

"I can't wait..." Harold smirked maliciously and flexed his muscles. "The first thing I'm gonna do is use my energy blasts and carve my name across as many States as I can..."

"That will have to wait." Willowe told him. "We still have to worry about the remaining Society Agents and by now, the Counter Guardians will have caught wind of us and probably be waiting."

"So what?" Harold smirked and his Super Saiyan aura flared brightly once. "We're Sues and Stus. We're perfect! There's no way those guys could beat us!"

Willowe nodded in agreement after a moment. "Destroy them all, Harold. All the Counter Guardians and all the Society Agents. Destroy them, kill them, blast them, crush them, it doesn't matter. Once they are gone, there won't be anyone to stop us."

The Saiyan-Stu smirked. "My pleasure." With that, he stepped through the portal and was gone, leaving Willowe completely alone.

She remained still for several moments, then turned and grabbed Excalibur from its pedestal, slung it over her back and quickly stepped through the portal before it winked out of sight.

There was no turning back it. It was truly victory and total domination of the Real World... or death trying.

TTTTTTT

The Agents burst outside into the hotel's parking lot and gasped and stared in awe as the crimson light spread out over head, overwriting the starry night sky with ease. From horizon to horizon, it was nothing but a Red Skies Twilight.

"Oh my god..." Valerie shivered at the sight. Despite the fact being in the Real World toned down her empathic abilities sharply, the eerie sky still felt incredibly unnatural to her. "It's like... like the sky is bleeding..."

"You think that's bad, just look around us!" Ossa said, pointing across the street. A man was frozen like a statue, clutching at his hat as he ran away, one leg in the air.

The Agents glanced around and realized she was right. Everything around them was frozen in time. A car driving through a puddle of water, and they were able to count every droplet of the spray. A boy waiting to catch a ball that would never come back down. A woman falling as she tripped over her heels, stuck at an angle that no human should have been able to hold. Birds frozen in mid-flap, squirrels pausing in mid-leap, dogs and cats chasing one another in a race that they would never finish.

"What... what's going on? Why is everyone frozen?" Hati murmured, reaching out to touch a nearby pedestrian and immediately yanking her hand back. "They feel so cold... like they're covered in ice... or dead..."

"Not everything..." Miriku reached out and grabbed a bit of the nearby water spray. She shook out her hand as soon as she grasped them, drops of water flying off. "It's just everything that's alive is frozen... if we touch something that's not alive, it seems to become unstuck or thawed or whatever..."

"I don't get it." Marcus folded his arms. Out of all the Agents, he seemed to be taking this whole thing the best. "Why freeze time? Why not just invade? A show of force by destroying some kind of major landmark or capital would definitely show the world how powerful they are..."

"Because Willowe's a lot smarter than that, fools!"

The Agents gazes fixed on the center of street as a form landed their gracefully and twirled about a bit, their dress swirling with the motion. "Hehehe... ah, it's amazing! I feel so powerful here!"

"Mary-Ann Twilight..." Michael murmured and positioned himself in front of Claire. "They're invading faster than we thought...and how'd she even get here? Even Sues and Stus can't just teleport themselves around!"

Mary-Ann giggled and stuck out her tongue. "Foolish fools! We're Sues, we can all flash-step if want!" She danced around a bit. "We're all more powerful here, too. It's incredible...to breathe real air and to feel real water on your skin..."

Then she pouted as she noticed the Counter Guardians all filing out from the hotel and pushing their way to the front of the Agents. "Well, crap... we were hoping that you guys and the Society wouldn't have hooked up yet...guess Adrian was more thorough than we thought..."

Aramayis fixed Mary-Ann with a sharp look. "Indeed he was. Though I will admit none of us anticipated the spell you used to crossover freezing time across the world..."

"Hehehe, that was Willowe's idea." Mary-Ann smirked. "Instead of having to make a statement or do a lot of fighting, Willowe is going to simply freeze the world until she's finished with her entrance statement. She's going to alter the world to the point where, when she unfreezes everything, they'll have no choice but accept she's the new ruler of the world!"

"Hmmmph...quite a lot of arrogance, if you ask me..." Saito smirked mockingly at Mary-Ann. "And just where is your beloved leader, child? You are outnumbered by quite a lot, in case you aren't perfect at math and even a single Counter Guardian is more than enough for you."

Mary-Ann scowled at him. "You're an annoying man... and Willowe's in the Sahara Desert, if you must know. Not that you'll be able to do anything to stop her..."

"The Sahara?" Kuroneko blinked in surprise. "Why go there? She's just wind up getting sand everywhere..."

"You see, you are foolish fools." Mary-Ann giggled. "Where better to prove your power over reality than the Sahara? Willowe's going to turn it into the site of her capital and create a giant castle and make the entire Sahara a paradise. There is no way anyone can ignore that or deny that her power is that great!"

She put a finger to her lips, as she had just remembered something. "Oh yeah, I nearly forgot this...it's almost an afterthought..." She pulled something out from her sleeve and flicked it towards the group of Agents, where it bounced and skidded to a halt at Tash's feet. "Willowe thought you might want this... it's all yours..."

Tash reacted for the first time since she had finished reading Adrian's letter and knelt down, picking up the object. It was small and attached to a broken chain. Her eyes went wide when she realized what it was. "It's... his... no..."

It was Adrian's pendant, cracked and chipped and top left portion of it missing completely. Originally, it had been a way to store Hoshikuzu, but he had switched methods and so Tash got him a replica for their six-month anniversary. Tash ran her thumb over the pendant and it smeared red and it was only then she realized it was covered in blood. Adrian's blood.

"We don't know how it survived the fighting and his death...but did." Mary-Ann shrugged and then grinned evilly. "Do you want to know how he died? It was rather sad, really... he fought well for a while, but then he started weeping and begging for mercy and calling Tash's name over and over... it was so pathetic... like a little child crying out for mommy..." She laughed. "Willowe slicing off his head was probably the most merciful thing she could have done... that way, even he didn't have to listen to his own mewling!"

"You bitch!" Michael clenched his fist and started to step forwards, but Claire's hand on his other wrist stopped him.

"Don't... you can't fight her, you know that..." she whispered. "And I don't want you to die, too..." Then a blur rushed past her. "What?"

Ossa bolted through the Counter Guardians before they could react and leapt towards Mary-Ann, fist cocked back to strike. "Shut up and die!"

Then Mary-Ann's hand flashed out and snagged the Cherokee girl by the throat. Despite the fact she was several inches shorter than Ossa, the Sue easily held her off the ground like she weighed nothing at all. "That's not very nice... and it was very stupid, too..."

She took a step back and held the struggling Ossa out in front of her like a shield when the Counter Guardians all reached for their weapons. "Ah! Don't move! Or I'll snap her neck right here!" To prove her point, she shook Ossa like a ragdoll and then let out a yelp of pain as Ossa's foot smacked into her cheek. "That hurt!"

"It... was... supposed... too!" Ossa clawed desperately at Mary-Ann's hand even as she glared death at the Sue, but it was impossible to break her grip. Mary-Ann had her in a vice and she wasn't letting go. The Cherokee girl coughed and struggled harder when she realized blackness was forming at the edges of her vision. (Damn... damnit...)

Hati, who had been keeping one eye on the situation and one eye on Tash, ready to leap to defend her friend if Mary-Ann should target her for some reason, paused she when realized Tash's shoulders had stopped shaking and she had stopped crying and had gone very quiet. (Uh-oh...) "Everyone, scatter!"

Most of the Agents and even Mary-Ann shot her a bewildered look, but the British founder pushed the nearest people away from Tash to emphasis her command. "I said, scatter! Now!"

As the Agents hurried to do so, Tash stood up, her head still bowed and clutching Adrian's pendant and the Codex in her hands tightly. "You took him away..."

"Beg pardon?" Mary-Ann blinked at her, pausing in her strangling of Ossa.

"You took Adrian away..." Tash's hand clenched hard around the pendant, so much so that blood began to trickle out between her fingers. "You took him away from me..."

"Well, it wasn't me personally, but I would have liked too..." Mary-Ann gave Tash a smile. "Maybe I would have played around with him first...he might have made a good toy..."

"I loved him..." Tash's shoulders trembled and she clenched her fist tighter. "I loved him and you took him away for me!" Her head snapped up and Mary-Ann took an involuntarily step back at the blazing emotion in them. "SO NOW YOU ALL HAVE TO DIE!"

Then the air around her ignited into a roaring inferno of flames that swirled around her like a tornado and hid her from view as the Agents all shielded their faces and shied away, so bright was the light and so intense was the heat.

The flames roared and twisted, contracting around her as the spun until it was a narrow fiery pillar that reached skywards for what seemed like forever, scorching the concrete and melting a nearby letterbox into slag. With a flare of blazing sparks and a wave of searing heat, a pair of wings snapped free and blew the pillar apart.

Mary-Ann lowered her arm and then burst out laughing as she saw Tash. "That's it? All that yelling and fire and heat and all you got out of it was a sword?"

Indeed it was. The fire-orange blade was nearly four feet long and the silver hilt was shaped like a phoenix, the wings curving down towards the handle to form a guard. Light glinted off the faint gold-etched name just above the hilt on the blade: Nephthys.

Tash's wings, now made entirely out of burning orange-and-red flames beat folded against her back as the British girl gripped her great sword with both hands and twirled it around in a series of maneuvers, little sparks dancing around the blade and trailing it's wake as she did so and she fixed Mary-Ann with a cold stare, her blue eyes nothing but ice.

The Sue was still laughing when she blinked and realized that Tash was behind her. "Huh..?" She looked over her shoulder and saw that Tash was holding Ossa in one arm. "But... I've got that girl, here in my hand..."

She looked to at her hand, as if expecting to see Ossa magically appear there... only to realize there was no hand. And no arm.

Tash dumped Ossa on the ground as the Native-American Agent yanked the Sue's now limp arm off her throat and gulped down air before turning around to stare coldly at Mary-Ann.

"H-hey... that... that's my arm... give-give it back..." Blood pouring from her wound, Mary-Ann reached her other hand towards the pair, her eyes wide and a bit disbelieving. Then there was a 'fwoosh!' sound and she glanced at her stump of an arm, realizing it had caught fire somehow. "Oh... how odd..."

Then the flames roared and washed over the rest of her and she screamed wildly as she was burned. There was one bright flare of flame and heat that forced everyone save Tash to shield their eyes.

Aramayis lowered his hand and stared in quiet astonishment, for where Mary-Ann had been, there was now a tiny pile of ashes. (I don't know how she managed get that blade... no human should be able to do that, yet she did... and the blade was so hot it ignited that Sue's body on fire and incinerated her in seconds...)

Tash watched the pile of ashes that had been Mary-Ann blow away and her wings flared open and with a single flap, she launched herself skywards in a shower of embers and sparks.

"Tash, wait!" Hati yelled after her, helplessly watching as the streak of flames that Tash had become arced towards the south, becoming smaller and smaller.

"Holy crap... just how fast is she going?" Kuroneko asked, helping Ossa to her feet.

Saito brushed a few embers off his sleeve casually. "She's probably pushing just below Mach1... and is probably heading for the Sahara to fight Willowe."

Michael frowned. "It'll take her hours to get there!"

"Much less, actually." Aramayis said. "She's flying in an arc, not a straight-line. She'll fly as high as she can and then arc towards the Sahara and hit Willowe like a meteor...at the most, her trip will probably take half an hour."

"We've got to go after!" Valerie said, grabbing Aramayis' arm. "There's no telling what she'll do in the state she's in and we can't let her die, too. Besides, Willowe is the threat you Counter Guardian's have to deal with!"

"I know. But only two of us will be going after Willowe. The rest of us and all you Agents will be going to Stonehenge." Aramayis explained calmly and then smiled at the confused/surprised looks he got from the Agents. "Stonehenge functions as a gateway between Earth and other places. It's the strongest type of that signal on the planet and the obvious location for Willowe's forces to finish arriving."

Kuroneko dashed for a car, gesturing for the Agents to follow her. "We'll use the vehicles. Stonehenge is only twenty minutes away from this village by car. And don't mind the traffic laws, kids. No one's aware enough to give you a ticket."

As the Agents all scrambled for vehicles, Aramayis made a few gestures with his hands, trails of shadow in their wake and then he and Saito were swallowed up by it and he tried not to dwell on the fate of Earth and a massive portion of Multiverse came down to these two battles... and if they lost, there would be no tomorrow.

Only a twilight of red skies...

Insert Red Skies Twilight Here (part 2 of 6)

"I loved you, you made me. 
You gave me hate, see. It saved me. 
And these tears are deadly. 
You feel that? I rip that. 
Every time you try to steal that, 
you feel that, you feel sad.
 
"I'm sorry. It was my heart, my life. 
It was my start, it was your knife.
This strife, it dies and this life and these lies.
And these lungs have sung this song for too long. 
It's true, I hurt too.
Remember, I loved you!"
-'Black Dahlia' by Hollywood Undead.

Marcus ducked another knife swing from the false-Tash, this one slicing off a few strands of hair. "Watch it! You about took my head off!"

"That's the idea!" The insane Sue cackled and lunged at him again, missing by a few inches. "Now hold still and I promise I'll make this as painful as possible!"

"No thanks!" Marcus rolled out of the way and leapt to his feet, snatching his umbrella from where it was leaning against the wall. Whirling, he swung it at her head, intending to knock her out with the blow…

Only for her to grab it with a hand a few inches from her face. "Not bad, boy, but there's no way a measly umbrella can…" Then she was floored as Marcus tapped the released button and the umbrella sprang open. "Hey!"

With a grin, Marcus snagged the umbrella behind her head and yanked her close, slamming his fist right into her face. "You know, everyone laughed at me when I got this thing…"

The Pseudo-Tash staggered a bit, her eyes rolling around in their sockets, blood pouring from her nose. " It's snot fair… I's always… gets the short ends of the stick…" Then she toppled backwards and collapsed on the floor, out cold.

Marcus looked at her for a minute as he folded up his umbrella, then shrugged and dashed out of the room, heading for the sounds he hoped weren't explosions. (If she got out, then I'm betting that some of the others did, too. If that's the case, the other Agents will need my help…)

TTTTTTTTTT

Tash screamed as Harold's punch to her gut rocketed her backwards and embedded her into a wall amidst a cloud of dust.

"Tash!" Valerie shouted and then barely manages to leap aside as Harold casually tossed a sphere of energy at her, the attack zipping past her shoulder and slamming into a target, completely destroying it with a small explosion. The rest of the training was covered in small craters and scorch marks form near-misses, last-second dodges and Tash's fiery strikes.

"Hehehehe…" Harold chuckled as he slowly charged up another energy attack. "This is kind of fun…I've been playing with you for ten minutes and I'm still not bored…"

"Radiance..." Kyle came out of nowhere and slammed his glowing fist into the Super-Saiyan's gut and an explosion of light leapt from the impact point, Harold roaring in pain as it started to shove him backwards even as Kyle slammed his other fist into him and another punch and another and another, till his arms were nearly blurs. "Barrage!" Finally, the Agent clasped his together and wound up, slamming a two-handed haymaker across Harold's face, the blow actually lifting him off the ground and Kyle whirled, landing a powerful kick that sent Harold flying into the wall.

"Rrrrrgggg...tch...!' Harold pried himself free and wiped a bit of blood away from the corner of his mouth, his Super-Saiyan aura still burning around him. "You got guts, kid and you know how to fight, I'll give you that..."

Kyle just glared and got into a battle-stance, trying to ignore the pain in his arms. While Radiance Barrage was one of his more efficient techniques, as he only had to channel a small out of energy into his fists, it still had it's toll, as several dozen miniscule pin-prick like- cuts had opened from the move, leaving his forearms streaked with blood. "I'll going to burn you away with the power of my soul..."

"Not if I get him first! "Tash leapt out of the wall, twirling her staff and leaving a trail of flames it's wake. "Jurai-Ken- Tainrenso!" She crouched down and launched herself forwards in a split second, becoming a tornado of fire, leaving a trail of scorched floor in her wake.

Harold smirked and his hand snapped out, deftly catching the head of Tash's staff and halting her momentum instantly. "You really think such a little attack is going to work... you're too slow, I can see your moves!" Then his eyes widened as a pair of flaming wings erupted from Tash's back. "Oh..."

"Jurai-Ken- Abari!" With a battle cry, Tash's wings flared larger and she rocketed forwards , spinning like a top till she and Harold had punched through the wall and into the next room, smashing through bookshelves and colliding with a marble pillar that halted their momentum and then the head of Tash's staff erupted with flames like a small bomb.

Tash flipped away and beat her wings, putting some distance between her and the Stu, staff at the ready. "Bet you're not so smug now…"

Then an echoing boom sounded and Tash cried out as a wave of sound slammed into her while at the same time it blew the smoke surrounding Harold away and cracked the floor next to him, revealing that he had merely clapped his hands together. "That hurt..."

He glared up at Tash and opened his hands. "But not as much as this will! Destructo Disk!" A pair of serrated-energy disks burst into existence in his hands and he flung them towards the Society leader, forcing her to fly and dart and dodge in a mad game of tag in and out of bookshelves and pillars.

Harold smirked arrogantly as he directed the disks motions with his hands, watching them sheer the top of a bookshelf, a chunk out of a marble pillar and neatly cleaved a statue of Zeus in two, Tash barely able to keep ahead of them. "You aren't going to last, girl! I'll cut you into pieces!'

Tash twisted around one of the disks and yelped as she saw the second hissing right for her. In desperation, she folded her wings around her just as the disk hit. For a moment, energy and fire sparked and flared against one another, then Tash snapped her wings apart and knocked the disk away, destroying it with a swift blast of fire from her staff. "Ha!"

Then Tash heard a humming behind her and turned, knowing that she wasn't going to be fast enough to block or avoid the second disk...

Then a thin blue-arrow shot past her ear and collided with the disk, both of them exploding in a small flare of energy. "Whoa..."

Harold glared towards the hole, where Valerie was standing with Seiryu active, it's edges flicking with uncontrolled energy. "You're next, then!" He cupped his hands together and began to charge up a sphere of golden energy.

"Not likely!" Kyle dropped down from above and drove his Omni-weapon, in the shape of a broadsword into the floor right in front of Harold and discharged a burst of power through the weapon, cracking the floor beneath the Stu's feet heavily.

"Huh? What?" Harold saw a few bits of dust drop down in front of his face and lifted his head, just in time to see the last arrow strike the ceiling above him and it gave way, a huge chunk of it falling his way and accompanied by the books and shelves that rested on it. "I hate you all. So much..."

Kyle leapt away to join Valerie and Tash landed next to the pair as Harold was buried under the ton of debris from the floor above and the floor beneath him a gave way, dropping him out of sight. "Thanks, you two."

"You're welcome." Val nodded and glanced towards the hole they had just made. "I don't know how he got out, but if he has, I bet the others have as well. We need to find the others and Adrian and regroup. The Library's too large and if we don't have a plan, we'll never find them all."

"Right." Tash agreed and pulled out her communicator, pressing the 'Contact All' button and speaking. "This is Chief Agent Tash. I don't know why or how, but it looks like the Sues and Stus have escaped from the basement and their Prohibitors have been removed. Be on alert for any of them and work together. As soon as you are able, get back to the Briefing Room to regroup."

As she finished speaking, a burst of golden energy erupted form the hole and the three Agents grimaced. "I knew that wouldn't take him down..."

Kyle took a step forwards and slid into a battle stance. "You two go on ahead-I'll stall him and beat him down…"

Val shook her head. "He was beating the tar out of you one-on-one and there's no way the three of us can beat him like this. We need to beat a retreat." She whistled once and Ari appeared, latched onto Kyle and in a split second, vanished with him into between.

Tash grabbed Val and with beat of her wings, alighted into the air and flew through the hole in the wall, even as Harold tore his way through the debris burying him and flew after his prey.

TTTTTTTTTT

Mytheus Primal smiled as the couch he had been firing on finally crumbled apart "About time…" He tromped forwards and savagely kicked away the remains of the couch his prey had been hiding behind. "Alright, who wants to be filled full of holes first!"

Then he paused and glanced around. "Hey, where'd you all go…?" Then he heard a loud cry of 'Push!' and turned around just in time to see a towering bookshelves collapse, raining books on his form as it collapsed on top of him. "Awwww…"

Standing on the far end of the room, having pushed over the line of bookshelves that caused them to fall like dominoes, Claire and Miriku high-fived each other. "Yes, we rock!"

Then the bookshelf groaned and then blew apart as Mytheus Primal burst free. "You really think that can hold me!" He yanked another laser rifle off his back and braced it against his shoulder, aiming it at the two girls. "Say your prayers…"

Claire grinned and waggled a finger at him. "Didn't you notice my fiancé isn't around anymore?"

"Huh… so what…?" The Mytheus' eyes widened as he felt himself start to sink. "Hey, what's going on!" He glanced down and a swirling void of darkness where the ground should have been, slowly drawing him down into it's depth. "What the hell is this!" He struggled and even tried to transform, but the darkness' grasp was too strong and soon it drew him completely under.

For a few moments, the void of darkness sat there, swirling silently and then Mytheus' head came flying out, trailing sparks and wiring, his mouth frozen in an expression of surprise and horror. It clattered to the ground and bounced across the floor, rolling to a stop in front of Claire.

She nudged it with her foot. "Wow… that's impressive…"

The shadows next to Miriku rippled and Michael stumbled out, breathing heavily as he dropped to one knee. "I got him… but… I… don't… think… I'll… be able… to do that… again…"

"C'mon, bro…" Miriku and Claire helped Michel stand and the trio headed out the door. "We need to find the others and get out of here before anymore of them show up…

TTTTTTTTTT

Xavier blinked in amazement as the colossal Phoenix Zord in front of him, nearly brushing the giant room's ceiling. "Wow... when I broke into this room I thought there would be Agents here, not this..."

Cackling, he rubbed his hands together and began to search for a way up to the top. "I can cause a lot of damage with this new toy of mine...now how do I get it to work?"

"You won't." A voice commanded from behind him and Xavier whirled, ready to fight...and then grinned saucily at what he say.

"Wow..." He leered at her. "You've got more curves than a racetrack, baby."

Phoenixia, dressed in her normal look of bodysuit and trenchcoat, snorted and folded her arms across her breasts. "Please, don't even think it. You've got a better chance of finding water on the surface of the sun than even getting close to me."

"Oh really?" Xavier smirked and suddenly lunged for Phoenixia, as fast as he could, hands out stretched. "We'll just see about that!"

Phoenixia didn't bother to move, but merely smirked as Xavier passed right through body like it wasn't even there. "Told you so..."

The Stu crashed painfully into the floor and picked himself up, rubbing his bruised face. "What the heck are you, some sort of hologram?"

"I'm a fully capable sentient, naughty computer program. I just have a holographic body." Phoenixia turned to face him. "And that means I can control how I want to look, make any part of me any size, and can make myself intangible at will. So, considering that I can alter myself so I can bench press a semi-truck and smash it on your head, gain claws and slice you to ribbons or literally kill you with marshmallow hell, I suggest that you surrender right now."

Xavier laughed. "Ha! You may be a hologram and a computer, but you can't do real damage to me. Asimov's Three Laws and the fact you're made out of light prevent that."

"Those laws apply to robots, not something like me. And I'm a hardlight hologram- means I can interact with the physical world however I want. And lastly, I'm a computer program and that Zord behind me? Guess who controls it?" Phoenixia smiled sweetly at him as the Zord's eyes lit up and a panel slid back on one of the wings, revealing a rocket.

Xavier's eyes bugged out. "Oh..." Then he turned to run, but didn't quite make it...

TTTTTTTTTT

Adrian leapt forward and caught Chrys as Silver finally managed to throw the hanyou off him. "Gotcha!"

"You little runt..!" Silver leapt to his feet, his hair mussed up and his face covered in claw marks, while bits and pieces of his robe had been torn or ripped. As always though, he somehow made it look really handsome. "You almost ruined my perfect self! I'm gonna make you burn for that!"

"No, you're not..." Adrian set Chrys down and pushed her towards Emily and Mizuho at while he raised Hoshikuzu in front of him. "You've got me to deal with first, Silver!" Then he lunged.

Silver laughed and met Adrian's lunge head-on, parrying the blow and retaliating with a decapitating swipe, which Adrian blocked and then both of them flash-stepped out of sight, reappearing all over the room for split seconds in various poses of combat as they collided again and again, shaking Adrian's office.

Mizuho kept Chrys and Emily behind her, as her partner was still a little loopy. Her eyes darted back and forth rapidly, barely able to keep with the two. "Amazing..."

"Yeah..." Emily watched in awe. She had known Adrian and a fully-powered combat-class Stu like Silver were incredible powerful, but hearing it and actually seeing it were two completely different things.

A sharp cry, pained cry sounded and suddenly Adrian crashed into the floor at her feet, blood pouring from a wound in his side. "Oh, no!"

Then she felt the air behind her shift and her eyes widened as she glanced over her shoulder to see Silver standing behind, blade drawn back to strike. "Ah...!"

The Bleach Stu sneered as his blade began to absorb light from the surrounding area, cracking ominously. "Death to the traitorous imperfection!" Then the blade swung down and there was a blinding flare of light that forced Emily, Chrys and Mizuho to shield and close their eyes and even then it shone so bright it burned.

Then the light dimmed and faded and Emily felt something warm trickle down her cheek and opened her eyes, seeing the violet blade of Hoshikuzu extending past her face, the tip having bit into the flat of Silver's sword to stop it, mere inches from her face. "A-Adrian..."

Adrian panted as he strained from his awkward position, of half-kneeling, half-sitting up and struggling to prevent Silver's sword from overpowering his own and keeping Hoshikuzu from biting into Emily's skin any further. "You... leave her out of this, Silver...!"

"No." Silver sneered again and then frowned as he strained against their strange-weapons lock. "But why are you still standing! Even if you did block my swing, the power of my attack should have incinerated you!"

"That would be me!" Aster floated in front of him and waved at him cheerily. "Sorry, but I can't let you do that and because I can nullify light, I got rid of your shiny sword's power. Otherwise, you would've hurt a lot of people and we can't have that, kyaa~?"

Silver stared at, dumbfounded that this little sprite of a girl had beaten him so utterly and so easily. Then it turned to rage. "You little brat, I'll crush you!"

Adrian took advantage of the distraction and grabbed Emily's shoulder, pulling her away and rising to his feet, yanking his weapon free and attacking Silver, raining rapid-fire sword strikes down at him from all sides.

The Stu let out a snarl of rage as he blocked and blocked, bits of blood staining on his clothes and face as Adrian's blows nicked him again and again. "Damn you...I...am...perfect! I will..not lose!" With a shout, he caught Adrian's blade in one hand and yanked the Librarian closer, stabbing him deep with Tekogozan in the shoulder and as Adrian jerked in pain, yanked the weapon free, blood spraying the air. "I AM PERFECT! PERFECT!"

Shoving Adrian away, he leapt towards Emily, charging his blade with power even as Mizuho and Chrys leapt in front of the ten-year old protectively. "And you imperfections should not exist in my world!"

Then he howled in agony as a lance of ice come down from above and pinned his foot in place as seconds a later, another lance of ice pierced his sword-wrist and pinned it to the floor as well, Tekogozan clattering uselessly to the ground. "No... you... you damn imperfection..!"

Aster landed in front of him, glaring. "You tried to kill Adrian-kun, Chrys-chan, Mizuho-chan and Emily-chan... you tried to kill my friends."

Silver moaned in pain and desperately tried to tug the ice pinning his limbs free, but it was impossible. "You think... that I'm going to let you beat me! I'm perfect! I'll crush you all!" Light gathered around his good hand and he thrust it towards Aster defiantly, but the fae merely negated it, the attack dying before it even left him. "Imperfection... Imperfection... you damn Imperfection!" He howled and his body began to crackle with power. "You...you shouldn't not exist in my world! I am perfect!"

With a howling cry, he jerked hard, the ice piercing his wrist shattering and he grabbed Tekogozan up and snapped it towards Aster's head. "DIE!"

Then he gasped and the light in his eyes faded as Hoshikuzu pierced his heart from behind. "But... I'm... perfect...!" Then his body began to dissolve away as Adrian pulled his weapon free.

Adrian turned to the other four in his office and grabbed a scrap of cloth off the ground, wiping his sword clean with it. "If Silver's gotten free, then we need to assume everyone in the basement has, too. Mizuho, Chrys, go get Emily to the briefing room and Aster..." Adrian pulled open a drawer at his desk, pulled out a small black book and tossed it to the fae, who caught it deftly. "Get that to Tash and then go round up the others, just like we planned."

"Yes, Adrian-kun." Aster nodded and with a beat of her wings, the fae zipped out of the room.

The two Peacekeepers looked at him for a long moment, Chrys looking like she was on the verge of tears. "Adrian.."

"It'll be okay, Chrys." Adrian smiled reassuringly. "Now, go. Hurry! We haven't got much time!"

"He's right, dummy." Mizuho thumped Chrys on the head with her fist and the hanyou winced in pain. ("Mizuho, that hurt!"). "Now's not the time for cry-babying. C'mon!" She turned and dashed down the hallway, practically dragging Emily with over the ten-year-old's protests that she could walk fine on her own, Chrys scrambling to keep up.

Satisfied that things were going to work out for now, Adrian closed his eyes and extended himself to his connection with the very Library Arcanium itself. Judging from the damage the Library was receiving, he could tell where the battles where and get a vague sense of who was fighting who.

Exerting more of his will, he began to shut and seal all the doors of all the empty rooms and some of the doors that the fighting was going on it, and rearranged some of the rooms to give his fellow Agents the quickest routes to the Briefing Room. Meanwhile, he need to give them some help against the onslaught. "Librarian Art 4: Fiction Press…"

All over the Library, books slid themselves out of shelves and opened, emitting rays of light from their pages as figures began to take shape…

TTTTTTTTTT

Harriet scrabbled over the nearest couch, another scything wave of golden light hissing overhead and shearing the top half of the couch's back off. "Oh bollocks…"

"Does anyone got a plan?" Jamie asked, as he and the four women huddled behind the couch.

In response, Ossa yanked a chunk debris the size of her head from the floor and stood for a brief moment, hurling it at Willowe as hard as she could.

The Sue simply batted it aside with the back of her hand, not even losing step.

"Okay, now we're out of plans..." Aimee muttered as glanced for a way out of Hati's office. Unfortunately, there was only one and the sword-wielding Sue was blocking.

"Come, Mummy…" Willowe drawled out as she tapped Excalibur against her palm while advancing on her helpless creator and her friends. "Let's just end this…hold still and I promise I'll make it a swift, painful end…"

"Not on your life!" Harriet snapped as she and the others slowly backed away from her one-time creation, gulping as she felt her back press against the wall. "I'm sorry that things had to turn out this way, Willowe, but I can't change it anymore. You're the one who let it get this far, the one who decided trying to conquer a world was the best way out!"

"I didn't have a choice! I was trapped in that damn story you never took the time to finish!" Willowe snarled, kicking the ruined couch aside. "You abandoned me and left to suffer the same sequence of events over and over again! Well, I'm done serving someone else! From now on, I make the rules…" She grinned evilly. "After I get rid of you, of course…"

Then the Sue snapped up Excalibur, the blade's edge shining with light as she flicked a glance at Ossa. "Ah, ah, ah...don't even think it, girl. You don't have a weapon and no matter how good you are at fighting, you won't survive the energy my sword can unleash."

The Native American girl growled softly and still stepped protectively in front of Aimee and Jamie as Hati and Jess did the same.

Harriet was a skilled kick-boxer, but she also knew that such skills were nothing compared to someone of Willowe's power and fighting her was probably tantamount to suicide. Desperately, she glanced around for anything she could use as a weapon, for anyone to help her.

And someone did.

Willowe paused as she heard a snap-hiss!Thrumm!- behind and she could see bits of red light dancing against the wall in front of her. Frowning, she whirled around and for one of the few times in her life, she was completely surprised.

Darth Vader stood in the door, his ignited lightsaber in his hand, breathing mechanically as he regarded. Flanking him were Solid Snake and what looked like… Superman?

"What… the… hell!" Harriet stared in amazement. She had believed things couldn't get any weirder since she founded the Society and now it looked she was wrong.

Willowe narrowed her eyes at the three newcomers. (They feel funny… I don't think they're the real deals, but they could prove quite a threat… so I'll take them out first!) She lunged and sparks flew as Vader blocked her weapon with his lightsaber. They traded blows for a few moments and then Willowe was literally blown off her feet as Superman unleashed his Arctic Breath, blowing her across the room and freezing her in a solid block of ice.

Seconds later, the ice shrieked and blew apart as the Sue exerted her power, only to be sent staggering Snake opened up with a pair of twin carbines, unleashing an endless stream of bullets. While they didn't really do much damage, the sheer volume of the attack kept her pinned to the wall as Superman and Vader both advanced on her.

"Holy crap..." Ossa said as she and the others watched Willowe and the three fictional creations fight, the Sue decapitating Superman with a backhand swing and then blasting Vader and Snake to wisps with burst of energy from her palm. "What's going on here?"

Willowe lowered her palm and turned back towards the Agents. "Now then, where were we...?" Then she disappeared under a wave of people as they tackled her. It looked to be the entire cast of the 2008 Star Trek movie dog-piling the Sue.

"Now's our chance! Let's go!" Hati lead the way as the Agents darted out of the room.

Aimee slid to a stop and doubled back, grabbing Ossa by the arm and practically dragging her out the door. "C'mon! We are fleeing for the safety of our lives here!"

"But... but... but... C-Chris Pine!" Ossa wailed in protest as the Irish girl pulled her away.

TTTTTTTTTT

Doug and Cristoph ran pell-mell down a hallway, the gun-toting Agent slamming a clip into his pistol on the run. "Just how many rockets does she have!"

"I do not know and I do not care to stay and find out!" Cristoph responded, as they turned a corner sharply and he opted to actually run up and along the wall without skipping rather than leap over the stand in front of him.

"That's it, that's it! Run, run!" Mary-Ann cackled and chased after the two Agents, moving quite fast despite her petite size and the hugeness of the rocket launcher on her shoulder, firing what seemed to be an endless barrage of rockets that screamed down the hallway, blowing holes in the walls and demolishing pictures, doors, end tables...pretty much whatever they hit. "But don't think you can doge forever! One of my rockets hits you... and boom! No more Agent!"

Then she blinked as she felt the weight of her weapon disappear from her shoulder. "Huh?" Still running, she glanced over her shoulder to see a blue-and-red costumed Spider-Man clinging to the ceiling, obviously the one responsible for yanking her weapon away. "How did he get there...?"

Then a strand of webbing shout of from in front of her and Mary-Ann yelped as she tripped over it. "Ack!"

Groaning and rubbing her sore face, she sat upright and paled a bit when she noticed the several Spider-Men in both his traditional costume and black variant surrounding her on the walls and ceiling. "Oh... nuts..."

Doug and Cristoph watched as the Spider-Men attacked the Sue and threw a glance at one another in confusion before just shrugging and dashing away down the hall towards the Briefing Room.

TTTTTTTTTT

"Venasaur!" The giant blue/green Plant Pokemon bellowed, the flower on it's back shaking as it hurtled of whipping vines down the hall.

"Tyler! Why did you have to go and poke it?" Drake shouted as he and his partner-in-crime ran desperately trying to stay ahead of the dangerous vines.

The smaller Agent shrugged. "I was hungry..."

"It was the size of a car and had a giant flower on it! What on earth made you think it was food!"

"I eat just about anything..."

Drake ducked a vine and swore under his breath. "Tyler! If you ever poke a giant plant-thing to see if it's alive again, I will kill you! Seriously! Who does that!"

Tyler shrugged again while running. "If I had some dressing, I could make a nice salad..."

"ARRGH!"

TTTTTTTTTT

Agent Smith loaded another clip into his pistol and returned it to his jacket pocket, glancing around at the bullet-ridden corpses of the Aragons, Gimilis and Legolases that had tried to attack him a few moments ago. "So this is what Runoa was talking about…well, she certainly wasn't kidding when she told me they're be plenty of new people to work with."

Walking over to the nearest corpse, he knelt and plunged his hand into it's chest, the fictional beings legs and arms twitching sporadically as a mercury-like substance spread from Smith's hand and over the being's body.

Moments later, Smith was looking down at himself and smirked darkly. Helping his double up, he and the copy went about their work silently, turning the fictional characters into copies. Two… four… eight… sixteen… Smiths rose from the dead and began to spread out amongst the Library, grabbing whatever fictional being they could find and overriding them, turning them into copies.

Into an army.

TTTTTTTTTT

Tash and Valerie burst a doorway into a reading room, the Leader setting Val down and leaning her hands on her knees, panting for breath as her wings folded up against her back. "Do... do you think we lost him?

Val glanced back the way they had come and listened intently. "I don't know... I don't hear anything and I don't sense, anything either. So I think we're safe for the moment."

"Good.." Tash panted out and gulped down some air, straightening. "I've never flown so much in a such a short time and definitely not while carrying someone else. I'm glad we found some time to rest..."

The healer glanced around the room, but didn't recognize it. Like so many of the Library's reading rooms, it was simply a few coffee tables, chairs and sofas next to fireplace while every free inch of the walls were lined with bookshelves. "Where do you think we are? I don't recognize this section of the Library and we need to get the Briefing Room..."

Tash wiped her brow and took a quick look around. "I think I know where we are. If I'm right, we just need to cut across this room, take a right down the hallway and go up two flights of stairs..."

Valerie opened her mouth to ask what they'd do if the Library rearranged the rooms again, but the words didn't make it was with a loud 'Thud!' Kyle fell from above the two girls and landed on the floor between their feet.

Ari swooped down and alighted onto Valerie's shoulder. (My apologies, but I cannot slip into the Briefing Room from between, the magic prevents me. And I did not mean to drop him either, but he was getting heavy.)

"It's fine, Ari." Val told the muse, stroking her snout with a couple fingers as Kyle picked himself up off the floor. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, save for my wounds from fighting Harold." Kyle responded, dusting himself off. "Though... moving between is a rather... interesting."

Valerie merely smiled. "You get used to it."

"I think I'll stick to flying, Portal Guns and Adrian's doorways, thank you." Tash said, having finally got her breath back. "Anyway, we need to find the others and Adrian and come up with a plan..."

"Tash-san!" All three Agents looked up as Aster flew down from out of nowhere and flapped to a stop right in front of the British leader, hovering at eye level. "I found you!"

"You did. What is it, Aster?" Tash asked. Then her face grew worried. "Is it Adrian? Did something happen to him? Is he hurt?"

"No. He just asked me to give you this." The fae produced a thin black book and pressed it into Tash's hands. "He said if the Library were ever to be invaded, then you were to get this and keep it on you at all times."

"Uhh... Okay..." Tash took the book and glanced it over. It had no title or markings on the cover or spine and felt light in her hands. But if Adrian had said it was important, then it was good enough for her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Aster nodded her head and blinked when she caught sight of Kyle. "There you are!"

"Here I am...what?" Kyle blinked back and then yelped as Aster grabbed his arm and with a beat of her wings, took off, dragging the hapless Agent behind her. "Not again!"

Valerie, Ari, and Tash stared after them. "It's always an interesting experience talking to that one..."

"Uh-huh."

TTTTTTTTTT

Hati, Jess and the Ossa Power Trio burst into the Briefing Room, skidding to a halt as they saw it was already filled with their comrades. "Did everyone make it here alright?

Claire, who was busy making her fiancé drink some water, spoke up. "I think so... I did a headcount a few minutes ago and we've got thirty people in this room, including you four."

"Good." Hati glanced around at the assembled Agents. "Now can someone tell me what the hell is going on? The Sues and Stus broke out of the basement, Willowe is in the Library and we're getting out butts handed to us! How did this happen?"

"I don't know." Ben, who was seated in one of the rows of chairs, Bella tying a bandage around his arm. Bahamut was leaning against the chair on his other side and judging from the way it was smoking a bit, had seem some serious action recently. "One minute, Bella and I are together, the next, Alianna Flamewing comes bursting in with a bunch of guys in suits and sunglasses..."

"Agent Smith clones." Tash confirmed as she and Valerie applied bandages to Chrys and Mizuho while Emily ran held the first aid-kits in her arms. "They're from the Matrix movies. Adrian and I watched them once...despite that he's really close to a Stu, he's not one. So I don't know how they got him to work for them..."

"That would be Runoa's hand in this." Everyone's heads snapped up to the other door to see the Librarian already coming down the steps to where everyone was gathered. "She somehow resurrected him after his defeat at Neo's hands and Runoa's the reason Willowe and Smith got into the Library and probably how they managed to free the Sues and Stus in the basement and remove their Prohibitors."

"So what are we going to do?" Michael asked, finishing his water. "We can't just sit here and retreat all the time – even the Library isn't big enough for that. We need to form a plan and hit these guys where it hurts!" Nods of agreement and words filled the air after Michael's words.

"I'm afraid that's impossible."

For a second time that day, everyone's attention was focused on Adrian, though this time it was one of disbelief.

"Agent Smith's ability has enabled him to turn my Fiction Press creations into his copies. " Adrian continued as he descended the last steps and now everyone could see the bloody wound in his shoulder and numerous bullet holes in his trenchcoat. "And even if we could mount a counterattack against Sues like Harold and Willowe, Smith would eventually overwhelm us with sheer numbers and kill us all."

"So what do we do?" Valerie asked as she and Tash made their way over to him, ready to bandage his wounds, but Adrian waved them off.

"I have a plan, but we need to hurry. Despite locking all the doors and the Library rearranging the rooms, there's only so much time before they find us..." As if summoned by his words, the room shook violently and many of the Agents toppled over, unable to balance themselves or grab something in time.

The Librarian was one of the few who managed to remain standing, one hand catching Tash as she fell while Valerie grabbed a railing and he stretched out his good hand, which glowed softly for moment and then a large wooden doorway appeared, with a paneled door that had a crystal handle on it. "There... everyone get through there!"

Hati pried herself off of Ossa and Jess, who in turn quickly got up so that they weren't crushing poor Aimee. "What? What is that and where does it go?

A grim smile crossed the white-haired man's face. "You guys didn't really think that I hopped dimensions using Plot Holes, did you? I'm not a Stu. I'm the Librarian and I can summon these doorways to move from place to place when I need to... and this particular door leads back to the Real World."

"WHAT!" Came the simultaneous cry from many of the Agents, several of them tossing curses and swears.

Michael stormed over and grabbed the front of Adrian's shirt. "You mean we're just giving up? Just like that?"

Adrian detached Michael's hand. "We're not giving up, you're retreating to fight another day." He fixed everyone in the room with a penetrating look, and when he spoke, it was the Librarian of the Library Arcanium speaking and not Adrian. "You do not have a choice in this matter. If you do not want to die and not find a chance to beat back our enemies, you will go through the door."

"But what about Emily and Bella? They're Sues- they can't exist in the Real World!" Hati demanded. "And why do we have to go to the Real World? Surely there are other places we can retreat to, ones were we can get an army or weapons or something!"

"I will get Emily and Bella to a place until the crisis is over where they'll be safe." The Librarian replied calmly. "And you have to retreat the Real World because it's only from there that you'll be able to back into the Library of your own power, because the Portal Controls have been destroyed, meaning the Plothole Generators will not work. Now, go!"

Everyone stood there, wavering between arguing with him, staying and fighting or doing as he said.

"He's right..." Everyone glanced over to Valerie who was a bit pale in the face, but her voice was strong and level. "If we stay here, we'll all die. We're all wounded and tired and most of the Sues and Stus are fresh, not to mention we are seriously outnumbered."

A long silence reigned and the room shook violently again before Hati, frustration clearly on her face, spoke. "Everyone... get through the door!"

As the Agents became to make for the door, Tash grabbed her boyfriend's arm, worry on her face. "You kept saying 'you', not 'we'. Does that mean you aren't coming with us?" Without waiting for him to respond, she kept talking. "Because if you aren't, then I'm staying with you. Wherever you go, I'm going with you!"

Adrian gave her a small smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You can't. I am the Librarian and a Counter Guardian. It is my duty to protect the Library and everyone else. My path, not yours."

"I don't care!" Tash said sharply and her face was strained, as if she could not choose between crying and looking fiercely determined. "I love you! You're everything to me! I don't want to lose you! I can't lose you!" Then crying won out and tears started running down her cheeks. "I'm staying with you, Adrian and you can't stop me!" Tash gripped her staff determinedly.

Adrian's violet eyes met her blue ones and he smiled sadly. "Yes, I can." Then his arm moved faster than her eye could follow and Tash felt pressure on the side of her neck. "Sorry, my love..."

"No..." Tash gripped at his shirt with her free hand, fighting with all her strength not to lose consciousness. "I won't... won't... let... you... die..." Then she lost her battle and collapsed into Adrian's arms, out cold.

The Librarian looked down at the woman he loved in his arms and gently brushed some hair out of her face and leaned down to kiss her forehead, but seemed to think better of it and straightened back up. "Here." He handed Tash to Michael, who was looking at the Librarian strangely. "Get her to safety. And...tell her I'm sorry."

Then the room shook violently again and this time, Adrian had to grab a railing to steady himself and the door cracked and buckled. "Everyone, hurry! They're here!"

Then he was charging up the steps, Hoshikuzu appearing in his hand as the door buckled in, then gave way, dozens of Agent Smith copies pouring into the room, weapons drawn as Adrian leapt headlong into them...

Insert Cliched Halloween Clipshow Here (part 4 of 5)

"Ben? Ben it's Stacey. Can you hear me?"

The seer pinched hard on Ben's thumbnail, but the agent did not stir. Rather his forehead seemed to wrinkle in worry.

"Anything from Drake?" Tash asked, lifting Ben's head and placing a cushion beneath him. Valerie, who was tending to the other unconscious person, had a hand on his forehead and her eyes closed, trying to determine his current state. Her worry was written all over her face, and she shook her head as she registered Tash's question.

"Try slapping him!" Harriet suggested, trying to get to her feet. She lost her balance and toppled backwards into her seat, dropping her plate of sandwiches to the floor. "Whoa... I am so drunk..."

"You can't get uuuuup!" Jess teased, parking herself on the leader's lap. Harriet pouted.

"Heeeey! Get off! I wanna slap the unconscious bodies!"

"They're not unconscious, they're sleeping," Valerie declared, taking everyone by surprise (including herself from the tone of her voice). "There's a lot of REM activity going on up there."

"So they're dreaming?" Tash summarised, and Claire gasped suddenly, causing everyone to jump.

"Or flashbacking!" she exclaimed. "We've been having them all night!"

Valerie was looking dark as she observed all the gathered agents, trying to determine if anyone was going to nod off where they stood. "I smell a rat," she declared. Harriet and Jess looked around curiously, leaning down to peer under the tables.

"Where?"

"Can I eat it?"

That response came from Tyler, who was promptly smacked around the head by Doug.

"It's a figure of speech," he informed the shorter agent.

"Uh, Lady Tash..." Cristoph's voice was tense, and everyone felt anxious. It took a lot to make Cristoph worried. "I do not wish to cause alarm, but does anyone know how long Lord Pete and Lady Charis have been sleeping?"

A cold chill seemed to sweep through the room, as everyone's gaze fell on the sleeping couple. Valerie got to her feet and crossed the room, but she froze before she could reach the sofa.

"They're not the only ones sleeping," she said, raising a finger and pointing across to a corner of the room. Ossa, Aimee and Jamie were slumped asleep against the bookshelves, Aimee's head in Ossa's lap, and Jamie's resting on her shoulder.

"God damn it," Tash muttered, yanking one of the blankets off the sofa, and over Ben. As the agent slept, the leader was positive she heard him give a soft, worried moan, and the name 'Bella' slip from his lips. She frowned.

"Definitely flashbacking," she muttered.

"Charis?" Karissa was shaking her sister gently, while Valerie worked on Pete. Both agents were sound asleep, and from the flickering beneath their eyelids, were dreaming deeply.

"What is this?" Marcus demanded, crouching down next to Ossa and her friends. "Some kind of flashback spell?"

"Combined with a sleeping spell," Tash guessed. "It took the sleeping spell longer to affect us than the flashback spell, which is why we've been flashbacking all night. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to the spell though. It's just picking people-"

She was cut off as Rhia's eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped against Cristoph, who caught her easily, and gently rested her on the nearest sofa.

"- randomly," Tash finished.

"So we're all going to fall asleep?" All the agents were looking worried, and Valerie could sense that some of them were about to panic. She got to her feet, and levelled everyone with a calm gaze.

"We're not going to fall asleep," she said firmly. "We're going to find a way to counter this spell. It doesn't seem to be spreading incredibly fast, and there's nothing to say that once the flashbacks are over they won't wake up again."

Deep down, Tash was having doubts about that. If a flashback spell had been cast without anyone realising it, it was unlikely to be a friendly cause. She nodded along with Valerie however, not wanting to alarm anyone.

"Valerie is right, and we won't figure this out by panicking," she turned to Aster. "Aster, track down Adrian, wherever he's gone. We will need him. Jess," she turned to the Moulin Rouge dancer, paused as she remembered how drunk she was, and turned to Michael and Claire. "Michael, Claire, all three of you go to check on the Sues in the basement. For some reason I'm seeing their finger prints all over this."

"You got it Aneki," Michael nodded, taking Claire's hand, and leading her out of the room. Jess followed, shouldering her purple handbag and trying to perform some kind of military march as she exited the room.

"Miri," Tash pointed to her little sister. "You and Cristoph go check the monitor room. See if there have been any active plotholes into the Library, or if there is any way anyone could have broken in here."

The two agents turned and headed for the door, just as Adrian, Emily and Aster reappeared, the former two looking white in the face, and the latter fluttering above their heads in first fae form.

"Found them Tasha-san!" Aster sounded pleased with herself, and Tash smiled.

"Aster, get out of the air," Valerie ordered, from where she was arranging for her team members to fetch more blankets and pillows from wherever it was that the Library kept them. "If you go to sleep I want you to do it close to the ground so you don't have as far to fall."

"Do as she says," Tash ordered, before turning to Adrian. "You're white, love. What's wrong?"

So worried was her boyfriend's face, that Tash failed to notice that Adrian had somehow located a trench coat, and thrown it over his kitty costume.

"The Fourth Wall has been sealed off," Adrian reported, gripping her shoulders and speaking in a low voice so that no one would hear. Valerie and Aster, who were close enough to hear however, did crowd around.

"What?" Tash cried, before chewing hard on her lip as she realised that several people had looked up in fright. "Sorry... what?"

"There's some kind of spell blocking us from getting to it," Emily said, lowering her voice to a whisper so as not to alarm anyone. "I noticed that people were breaking it all night, and nothing was happening, so I went to check it out. It's not breaking because it's been sealed off from the Library."

Hearing the hushed whispers, Harriet tried to get up, but once again, failed miserably.

"Hey! I'm leader! I want in on the secret conversations!"

"Umm actually, I'm in charge," Tash corrected, pulling out a long, rolling piece of paper, with a gold header at the top declaring itself to be "The Anti-Cliche and Mary-Sue Elimination Society Rules, Regulations And Other Minute Little Crap That We May Forget At One Point Or Another And Thus Needs To Be Written Down In Case Of Emergency (R&R for short)".

"Rule three thousand and ninety six of the Society R and R – should Harriet and Lauren fall under the influence of excessive alcohol, sugar or cricket withdrawal, Tash is in charge."

"You made that rule up five minutes ago!" Harriet spluttered. Her housemate smirked.

"It still stands! I'm in charge!"

FLASHBACK

"I'm going to check it out," Harriet stated, picking up her cricket bat and resting it over her shoulder. "Tash, you're in charge."

She stepped through the portal and vanished. Tash's jaw dropped and she morphed her necklace into her staff.

"You are not going alone Harriet! I'm coming too! Michael you're in charge!"

Michael blinked slowly as his sister vanished after their leader. He glanced at the monitor, and gasped.

"Gah! Harriet left her handbag!"

He seized Harriet's bright blue handbag, stuffed with paperwork, cricket magazines, a prohibitor and two copyrights, and raced for the portal.

"Aster, you're in charge!" he bellowed over his shoulder, leaving a small, blinking fae alone in the room.

"...Kyaa~"

OOO

"...Did anyone else just see that?" Tash asked. Aster and Harriet raised their hands.

"Another flashback?" Valerie guessed, from the dazed expression on their faces.

"Another? What's going on?" Adrian asked, having only just noticed that the music had been switched off, and most of the Society agents were sitting on the floor, on cushions or on sofas. Tash chewed her lip.

"We have a problem..." She broke off to glare at Harriet, who had just let out a wide yawn.

"...what?" the leader blinked, as she noticed everyone scowling at her.

OOO

"Here's an agent, there's an agent, and a bloody lot of agents. Fuzzy agent, funny agent, agent, agent, Sue!"

"Jess?" Claire looked over her shoulder at the singing brit, who appeared not to have noticed that they had arrived at the basement, and that Michael was fumbling with the keys.

"Agent, agent, Hati, agent, Tashy, Willie, Aster, agent. Agent, agent, Michael, agent, agent, agent, Sue!"

"Jess!"

"That one's the Librarian, Tyler ate the cake. Shirley is a scary stick, Rhia knows how to bake. Emily paints naked pics, while Tyler eats the mail. Keep away, little child, for I'm about to fail."

"JESS!" Claire shouted, getting the older girl's attention. "I'll give you this cookie if you stop singing!"

She dangled a cookie that she had snatched from the plate upstairs in front of Jess's nose, and the girl thought for a second before nodding.

"I am a little hungry, so okay!"

Handing over the cookie with a sigh of relief, Claire returned to her boyfriend, who turned the key clockwise and pushed the heavy door open. Replacing the keys in his pocket, he took Claire's hand and led her down the stairs.

"Keep an eye on her," Michael advised, not trusting Jess's footing when she was this drunk. The last thing they needed was an accident at the bottom of the staircase. Claire nodded, and took Jess's hand gently. The still tipsy girl smiled in a seductive manner.

"I'm flattered Claire, but don't you have a boyfriend? Won't he mind?"

"Of course he'll mind Jess!" Claire sighed, turning to give the other girl a withering look. She made a funny strangled gasping noise. "And put it away! Jeeze!"

Michael swung his head around, but did not get the chance to see just what Jess was flashing (which was probably for the best) as with a swing of her hand, Jess pushed the heavy door closed behind her, and cut off most of the light on the staircase. Claire immediately felt cold, and she moved closer to Michael.

"Jess! What did you do that for?" Michael hissed, his eyes glowing a soft orange tone, and snake tentacles slithering from his back to bask in the darkness.

Ah this is much better the Darkness crooned in his head. So fitting, don't you think?

"What do you mean?" Michael snapped back. There was a sinister chuckle in the back of his mind.

Well... it's dark... and this is Halloween isn't it? The time of year when ghosts are said to run around and frighten you mortals into an early grave?

"Stop it!" Michael growled, taking a firmer grip on Claire's hand, and feeling for the next step.

Not to mention you're heading for the cells where your most hated enemies are kept...

"Shut up!" Michael screamed, stopping dead, causing Claire to walk straight into his back, and the Darkness to snigger.

So easy to scare...

"I'm sorry," Michael apologised to Claire. "The Darkness was BSing."

But you know I'm right, young one.

"Beware of the things that lurk under your bed..." Jess giggled in a creepy manner, as they descended. All the lights were out, and it was impossible to see anything. "The creepy crawlies sneaking under your sheets..."

"Enough Jess!" Michael told her, and Jess took another bite of her cookie. "Where's the light switch? I've only ever been down here in the day with the door open."

"Its on that wall," Jess pointed.

"...I can't see where you're pointing Jess," Michael informed her dryly.

Left, you fool, the Darkness informed him in a grudging tone. Steering the snake tentacles directly ahead of him, to stop him walking into anything that could potentially break his nose, Michael released Claire's hand and stepped forwards toward the left wall.

He stopped as he trod on something soft, and a loud shriek filled the air. Claire and Jess screamed, and Michael stumbled back in horror.

"What the bloody hell was that?" he yelled, still beating a hasty retreat. His back collided with something warm and moving and he screamed, along with Claire.

"Claire?"

"You walked into me!" his girlfriend was breathing heavily, and he felt her fingers brush across his chest. He took them gently.

"I'm sorry... bloody hell you frightened me!"

"Shhh!" Jess hissed suddenly, and all three of them fell silent, their frightened breathing echoing in the silent basement...

...except it wasn't silent. A rasping breath was coming from somewhere ahead of them, and the stench of fresh raw meat was growing stronger, along with a shuffling sound of something moving slowly closer...

"There's a zombie down here!" Jess squeaked, tugging at her frizzy hair in fright. Michael grabbed her arm and pulled her alongside Claire, painfully aware that this was just like every bad horror movie and good horror novel he had ever seen.

"Stay quiet!" he ordered, trying to stay calm. "It's probably just the Sues playing a trick..."

The explanation fell on deaf ears, as Claire let out another shriek.

"Something just brushed past my leg!" she said, clinging tightly to Michael. Her boyfriend froze suddenly as he felt the faintest draft around his ankles.

"There's something by my feet..." he whispered in horror.

Okay, I'm sick of you acting like such a pansy! The Darkness snapped, and the snake tentacles shot out further from his back, one of them impacting with the light switch –

- at the moment something small and stick limbed, chomped down on Michael's ankle, just above his boot. The agent screamed and raced around the now fully lit room, trying to shake the assailant off. The pain in his leg was unbelievable.

"Leonard!" Jess shrieked, recognising the stick-limbed creature attached to Michael.

Sure enough, the deformed conjoined twin was hanging off Michael by his teeth, with the strangest contraption ever attached to his back. It looked like some kind of harness, attached to a pole which rose high above Leonard's head. Attached to the end of the pole, was a long piece of string with a bit of meat attached to the end, so that it dangled above Leonard's face. The intention presumably was to keep him occupied while Jess had been at the party – though it was anyone's guess how he had got down the stairs to the basement.

"Michael hold still!" Claire ordered, grabbing a chair beside the door, and taking careful aim. Michael managed to hold still long enough, biting back his pain, as Claire impacted the back of the chair onto Leonard, ripping his teeth from Michael's leg and sending him sprawling onto the ground.

"HOLY FUCKING HELL!" Michael screamed, sinking to the floor and clutching his leg, which was bleeding profusely. Jess ripped open her bag and dumped it on Leonard's head, scooping him up and zipping it tightly shut.

"Let me see. Let me see!" Claire insisted, prying her boyfriend's shaking hands away. Deep teeth marks were gouged in his skin, and blood was pouring free and soaking into the legs of his black trousers.

"Jess, that creature of yours is a fucking psycho!" Michael yelled. "And I know psychos!"

"I'm sorry!" Jess wailed, kneeling down and rummaging in the pharmacy pocket of her bag for bandages. "Here! Wrap it up with these!"

"Do you all mind?" came the snooty voice of Mary-Ann Twilight, in the nearest cell.

"Yeah we're trying to sleep!" Harold snapped, throwing an empty mug at the bars of his cell, the clang waking several of the more heavy sleeping Sues from slumber.

"Some of us perfect beings need our beauty sleep you know," Silver flicked his 'perfect' hair in the direction of the agents.

"FUCK OFF!" Claire, Jess and Michael screamed in unison, with equal venom. And to everyone's surprise, Silver actually backed off, looking mildly afraid.

"We need to get him back to Valerie," Claire stated.

"Better do what we came here to do as well," Jess added, her fear and the shock of Leonard being down here sobering her fast. She got to her feet, and faced the wide awake Sues.

"Have any of you been having strange flashbacks at all this evening?"

Several of the listening Sues exchanged confused looks, and Harold and Silver smirked.

"Having problems upstairs are we?"

"None of your business," Claire snapped. "Now are you going to tell us?"

Another look was exchanged, and every prisoner in the basement burst into loud laughter. Michael growled, and tentacles of Darkness shot from his back, through the bars, and pinned Harold and Silver against the wall of their cell. Another two lifted him into the air since he had lost use of one of his legs.

"Jess..." he growled. "You do the honours."

Claire smirked and unlocked the cell, while Jess rummaged in her bag and produced her trusty, ferocious looking, body piercing needle. Silver and Harold went pale.

"You wouldn't dare!" Harold hissed, but his pupils shrunk horribly as he saw the demonic smirk on Jess's face, and he realise with a fit of terror, that she would do it without hesitation.

"You'd all better watch closely," she smirked, drawing close to Silver, and brushing his hair away from his ear. "And you'd better stay still..."

"Nooo! My skin! My perfect flawless skin!" Silver wailed as the needle pressed gently against his earlobe. "We'll talk! We'll talk!"

Jess withdrew slightly, smiling widely. "Good... now tell us, have you been having any flashbacks at all this evening?"

"Not a one!" Silver shook his head. "None at all."

"Wimp!" Harold snapped, but he gulped as Jess advanced on him.

"I don't have to use this on your face y'know," she stated, her eyes flicking down to a certain area of the Stu's anatomy. From his position suspended by his tentacles, Michael winced.

"That's hitting below the belt Jess."

"Literally," Jess beamed, sadistically.

"How did Leonard get in?" Claire asked. "That door has been locked all evening."

Michael too was suspecting something amiss here, and was sure that even locked up, the Sues in the basement had something to do with the spell. Harold jerked his head in the direction of the air vent in the corner of the room, just big enough for Leonard to wriggle through, the grate of which was hanging wide open.

"Little bastard came in about an hour ago... frightened us all half to death. The only reason he didn't get into any of our cells was because of that thing attached to his back."

Somehow, inconceivable as it was, Jess was sure that they were telling the truth. Sighing in defeat, she dropped her arm back to her side, and turned on her heel.

"We're done here..." she muttered, shoving the needle back into her bag. Silver let out a smug chuckle.

"Knew she wouldn't do it."

Jess paused at the door to the cell, and turned slowly on her heel, a dark smirk spreading across her face.

"I'd pierce you right now if I wasn't feeling so..."

Her eyes glazed over before she could finish her sentence, and she swayed on her spot, before dropping like a stone onto the floor. Claire hurried to her side, but she knew as she rolled her over that Jess was deeply asleep.

"Damn," Michael muttered. "What do we do now?"

Dragging Jess from the cell, Claire hastily locked up behind her, and Michael let Harold and Silver drop to their feet. "We go back upstairs and let Valerie look at your leg. And we tell Tash what we've learned."

Michael tilted his head, as Claire bent down and hauled the unconscious Jess over her shoulder. "What have we learned?"

Claire gave Michael a grim look that did not match her usually cheerful personality.

"That for whatever reason, this spell is only targeting Society Agents, not Sues."

OOO

"Have you had any flashbacks tonight, Lady Miriku?" Cristoph enquired of the shorter agent. Miriku turned to look up at him.

"Oh yeah. I didn't think much of them though to be honest...you don't really think much of your memories when you're reminiscing, do you?"

Cristoph shrugged. "I would not know. I have very few memories of my past to call on."

Miri wondered briefly if this was what it would be like to talk to the Pharaoh in Yu-Gi-Oh – overly formal, and constantly having to remember not to bring up sensitive subjects, such as self induced amnesia...although whether Cristoph's apparent lack of past was self induced or not, no one knew.

"So what do you think this is?" she asked him, as they turned into the next corridor. "Flashback spells... sleeping spells. Not overly benign is it?"

"Not in the slightest," the ninja agreed. "I am sensing Sueishness all over these events. I can only hope that we have not been infiltrated."

Even as he spoke, the monitor room door was fast approaching, and Miriku picked up her pace. As she jogged toward the door however, Miriku stopped dead and slammed backwards into the floor with a cry of pain. Cristoph skidded to a halt and blinked slowly, before slipping a shuriken from his belt and throwing it down the corridor. Miriku, who was pulling herself upright, shrieked as she saw the spinning weapon flying towards her, and ducked down hastily as it clanged into a large, glass like bubble, blocking their way.

"Well... that's different," Cristoph frowned, as Miriku stood up slowly and placed one hand on the bubble. She winced a little as it was forced away.

"I don't think we're getting through that," she stated. "And you're right. I'm seeing Sueishness all over this..."

Both of them stood, and just stared at where they knew this invisible dome like barrier lay, blocking their progress, before Cristoph spoke again.

"I suggest we report back to Lady Tash."

"Seconded."

OOO

FLASHBACK

"Harriet?"

The leader's head rose from where it had been balanced on her hands. Her elbows were pressed hard into the table, but she didn't care about the ache that had begun to build in her joints. She was still dealing with a small part of her heart that was aching at the enormity of what she had been forced to do today.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Harriet didn't need to look up at Tash to see that her face was shaken. Nor did she need to ask what she meant. But ask she did.

"Tell you what?"

The co founder stepped over the threshold to the leader's office, and into the dark room, trying not to stumble over stacks of paperwork, discarded clothes, and abandoned copies of All Out Cricket.

"Why did you never tell me that Willowe was your creation?"

Harriet still flinched at the word 'creation'. It was like calling the Sue her child.

"Lauren and I never asked where she came from, or why you were chasing her so badly... we just listened to how much you hated her, and we felt it too in time."

Oh how Harriet wished Tash would just shut up. But her friend carried on.

"All this time... these months we've been living together. Why couldn't you trust us with the truth?" Tash stood beside her desk, her eyes begging her friend to erase her confusion. "Did you think we'd hate you, or judge you? We would never have judged you..."

No, you wouldn't have, Harriet thought to herself. You're hiding your own secrets... you know why it must be done sometimes.

She got slowly to her feet, not meeting Tash's eyes.

"I know you wouldn't have judged me. None of you would have. You would all forgive me for my past mistakes, blame it on my age and my own stupidity. But even through all that, I couldn't forgive myself for any of the things Willowe has done."

Tash's eyes went wide. "You... you think... you blame yourself?"

Harriet nodded, her eyes downcast. "You said it yourself. Willowe is my creation... my child." She spat the word out. "Like a child I never wanted to have. I locked her away, destroyed all evidence of her and pretended she never existed. I'm the reason she turned out the way she is. She's my responsibility."

She paused before continuing. "I wonder every day when it all went wrong. When my innocent writing became so deadly. When I became capable of creating a monster." She gave a mirthless laugh. "We authors are cruel people. We have the power to give lives and take them away. We can start war in our books, send famine or plague, or murder a loved one with just a few words. We can torture our characters, and then abandon them in their unfinished stories and not think twice about it. I've done it. You've done it."

Her hands were shaking by now, and Tash had gone still. She had never heard Harriet sound this dark.

"We have so much power that we're capable of becoming the things we hunt..."

"Stop it," Tash finally said firmly. "You can't think like this..."

Harriet carried on regardless. "Every time I think of Willowe, I'll think of the damage I've caused by bringing her into this world. It'll take a long time to put everything she and her sisters have done right."

"Then do it," Tash turned Harriet around to face her. "Forgive yourself and move on. You know you're sorry, and you've made up for it by catching Willowe and locking her away. All that's left to do is make it up to yourself. Help pick up the pieces and just accept that its all over."

Harriet looked sideways at her friend. "Is it over? Do you really think it is?"

Tash chewed her lip. "Yeah... I think it is."

The leader nodded slowly. "Okay... I can do it."

"You sure?"

"...I don't... I don't know..."

"Harriet?"

"I..."

"Harriet!"

OOO

The leader's glazed eyes became clear again, and she snapped her attention to the worried looking healer.

"I'm sorry Valerie," she smiled. "I was having a flashback."

"...that's not a good thing," Valerie informed her, pushing a mug of tea into her hands. The healer was rushed off her feet. In the last ten minutes, Chrys had nodded off, with her head on Aster's shoulder, and Valerie had tripped over Karissa, who was still kneeling next to her sister, sound asleep, clutching her sister's hand.

"Anything?" Valerie asked as she approached Adrian. The Librarian was kneeling beside Tyler and Willie, who had fallen asleep not thirty seconds ago, spilling their mugs of coffee all over the floor. Tash had a handful of kitchen paper and was trying to mop up the mess, while her boyfriend muttered various spells, all of which had no effect what so ever.

"Nothing," Adrian shook his head. "Flashback spells are mostly used for recreational purposes, but this isn't your everyday spell. It's too strong to negated by a general stopping spell. Same with the sleeping spell."

"I'd say the sleeping spell is more dangerous right now," Valerie stated, lowering her voice. "What happens if we all fall asleep? There will be no one to wake us up... ever!"

"We'll negate it," the Librarian promised her firmly. "We just need to find the right spell to get rid of it...I'm sure there's a book on it somewhere in the Library."

Aster nervously glanced around the room. "Who's doing this... and why?"

"That's what we'd all like to know..." Valerie muttered, getting to her feet. Even as she spoke, she could see Doug's eyelids drooping, and Monika seemed to sway on the spot. Dashing over, Valerie was by her side, speaking in low worried tones, as her friend closed her eyes and relaxed into the healer's arms.

"Monika?" Valerie was holding back tears. "Wake up... please?"

Stacey's arms were wrapped around the healer's shoulders, as Danielle curled up beside them both. Five seconds later, the redhead was sleeping too.

"We have to stop this," Adrian said, turning to Aster, who was still hovering in the air, and Tash, who was crouched on the floor, paper towels frozen in mid air, her eyes glazed.

"Tash?" Adrian shook her shoulder, and the leader snapped out of it, her cheeks flushing a marvellous shade of red.

"Oh... sorry... that was weird..."

"Another one?" the Librarian asked, Tash nodded.

"But it was strange...most of my flashbacks tonight have been related to what we've been talking about at the time. This time, you guys were talking about this spell, and then I started remembering about..." the blush increased. "Well...the first time you and I..."

Adrian placed a hasty hand over her mouth. "I get the picture love."

"Lord Adrian!" Cristoph skidded to a halt, next to the Librarian, with a disgruntled looking Miriku racing into the room behind him ("I have short legs Cristoph!").

"Any active portals?" Adrian asked. Cristoph shook his head.

"We could not check. When we attempted to approach the monitor room, a barrier prevented us from entering.

Adrian's face paled. "Big and clear like glass? Tried to force you away when you touched it?"

"Yeah," Miriku nodded, rubbing the sore spot on the back of her head, as she panted for breath from the marathon dash between rooms. Adrian nodded.

"That's what blocked the Fourth Wall off from Emily and myself."

At this point, Michael and Claire staggered back into the room, Claire supporting the sleeping Jess. Adrian and Tash were horrified when they saw blood still oozing through the bandage around Michael's leg, and the agent limping heavily.

"What happened?" Adrian demanded, hurrying to give Michael a shoulder to lean on.

"Leonard happened," Michael grumbled, easing onto a sofa. "And then Jess fell asleep, and as soon as we got into the corridor, the Darkness buggered off and we had to carry her."

"Never mind that," Tash stated, taking Jess from him, and dumping her unceremoniously on a sofa, her handbag on her lap. "We need to get Valerie to take a look at that leg."

"Had any of the Sues broken out?" Adrian asked, and he was unsurprised when Claire shook her head. He had not expected this to be the case – after all, the Library's alarms would have sounded.

"No, in fact," Claire paused, trying to organise her thoughts. "The flashback and sleeping spells don't seem to be affecting them at all. Whatever this spell is, its only cast on us."

Adrian froze, and you could almost see the pieces slotting into place in his brain. "You know...I don't think those barriers we've been finding were made to keep us out of places..."

"What do you mean?" Valerie asked, as she shuffled over to take a look at Michael's leg, wincing as she peeled the bandages away, and recognised the teeth marks – she was becoming a little too familiar with Leonard's attacks for her liking.

"I think they were designed to keep us in," Adrian finished grimly. "Whoever's cast this spell has done so from the outside, and they don't want us to escape it by getting out of the Library, so they've blocked off all our exits."

"But how could they cast a spell on the Library from outside it?" Tash demanded. "The Library is transdimensional space."

"I think we need to find out," Adrian stated. "And fast."

OOO

Emily raced for the second time through the Library, but this time she knew exactly where she was going. She only knew of one room in the Library with exactly what she needed in it, and she wished bitterly that it was not so far away.

She had been close enough to see the tears in Valerie's eyes as Danielle and Monika had fallen asleep, and she knew that she needed to do something. Agents were falling asleep one by one, and no one seemed close to finding a counter spell. And searching for one spell in a Library this size would be neigh on impossible before everyone finally succumbed to the sleep – herself included.

They needed a faster search. And she knew of someone that could do just that.

OOO

"When you say one of these rooms...?" Tash asked, in a dread filled voice. Adrian looked equally bleak.

"I mean one of these eight rooms in this corridor."

"And each room contains...?" Miriku was chewing hard on her lip.

"Over ten thousand books in each," the Librarian stated. "Some have fifteen thousand."

"And we have..."

"Sixteen confirmed sleeping agents," Marcus stated, one ear pressed to his communicator. Michael was on the other end, keeping the group updated on the condition of the rest of the Society. "Oh wait... make that seventeen. Terrie just fell asleep."

He hastily split himself in two to better aid the search, Emotion Marcus taking control of the phone.

"I still think I should have come too..." Michael stated on the other end of the line.

"ON YOUR LEG? FORGET IT!" Emotion Marcus bellowed. "YOU STAY RIGHT THERE! WE'LL SORT THIS OUT!"

Adrian ran an anxious hand through his hair and turned to face the few gathered agents who had come with him.

"Okay men-"

"And women," Tash couldn't help herself, and she managed a sheepish grin when Adrian glared at her.

"We should split up and search. Keep the comms open. Anyone who finds anything let me know immediately." He pointed to the first room. "Tash, you take this one. Miriku you take door number two."

Both girls nodded, and split up into their respective rooms. Adrian turned to point to the two Marcus's.

"Thought Marcus, you take room three. Emotion Marcus, room four."

"O-okay..."

"YOU GOT IT!"

"And Aster, you take room five," Adrian finished. The fae nodded obediently and hurried off to the room. Adrian was puzzled as he noticed that Aster had not switched back to human form, and he wondered if she was hoping that she would have more defence against a sleeping spell as a fae.

For her sake, and all their sake, he hoped that they all stayed awake long enough.

OOO

"Oh nice try..." the Stu's voice was smug as he observed the events in the Library, through what appeared to be a hazy looking wall with a large crack down the centre. "But not good enough..."

"Can I do it?" the purple haired Sue was grinning widely, twirling a small silver key between her fingers. The white haired Stu nodded.

"Sure. It'll distract them long enough for the spell to take effect...and provide us with some entertainment while we wait."

The Sue let out an excited giggle as she hurried to a corner of the room, and dragged a large cage into the centre of the room. Placing it beside the wall, she unlocked the top, and picked up one of the small wriggling creatures from within, and tossed it casually through the crack in the wall.

"How many?" she asked. The Stu shrugged.

"Six will do," he stated. "One for each of those unlucky agents."

OOO

"Anything?" Adrian asked, frowning as he realised that his communicator was not built to accommodate kitty-hybrids. He shifted the speaker up to his ear, which twitched as the responses started coming through.

"Not a thing," Miriku stated. "Just a lot of books on how to stop magical plants, fungus and bacteria from spreading in your house...nearly all of them from different universes, I might add, and a handful of them not in English."

"Marcus...both of you," Adrian swiftly amended.

"N-nothing Adrian..."

"STILL LOOKING!"

"Aster?" Adrian enquired hopefully.

"Kyaa~...there's a book on a hundred and one ways to make a three dimensional illusion of any scene from a television show or film..." the fae replied, and everyone could almost hear the light bulb going off above her head. "Hey! I wonder if I could use this for anime..."

Adrian would have told Aster off, were it not for the loud crashing noise, and the scream of "Bollocks!" from room number one.

"Tash?" the Librarian was ready to run to the room, thinking for a wild minute that she might have fallen asleep. But then reason caught up with him – she would not have been able to swear at that volume if she had fallen asleep.

"Ow..." the chief agent's voice was pain filled. "I fell on my coins..."

"What happened Aneki?" Miriku demanded. From the long pause, it sounded as though Tash were trying to get her head together, as she staggered to her feet, the coins of her costume jingling in the background.

Then there was a long silence.

"Umm... guys," from the rapid jingling of her outfit, Tash was beating a hasty retreat away from something. "I tripped over a Potential Subplot."

That was the last thing Adrian expected to hear, and Miriku gasped in fear, while Thought Marcus gulped, and Emotion Marcus began swearing in a loud voice.

"Everyone quiet!" Adrian snapped, silencing the noisy agent half. "Tash what's it doing?"

"It's just... staring at me."

"Get out of there," Adrian said instantly. "As fast as you can."

"I can't! It's between me and the door..."

"Adrian!" Miriku squeaked suddenly. "There's one in my room too!"

Adrian's back straightened and the hairs on his neck prickled, as he felt a set of eyes on him, and he knew as he turned around, just what he would find.

It looked for all the world like a small Plot Bunny. But unlike regular Plot Bunnies, who's bodies were black and comprised of strings of compressed words rather than flesh and blood, these bunnies were brightly coloured, and Adrian could tell just what kind of subplot they were supposed to induce by their markings and colour.

His body went numb.

"Adrian, what do purple Subplots with white circles do?" Tash asked fearfully. The Librarian did not want to answer, but his lips moved anyway.

"Brainwashing subplots."

Tash let out a curse word that while very nasty, was wholly appropriate given the circumstances.

"Run!" Adrian shouted, snatching the pendant from around his neck, and yelling the chant as the bunny jumped off the back of the sofa and leaped straight for his throat.

OOO

"Adrian? Adrian? Tash? Anyone?" Valerie was doing something she rarely did – losing her patience. The search team were not responding to their comms any longer, which either meant that they had found the spell and were trying to put it into practise, they were all distracted, or worse, they had all fallen asleep.

Unfortunately, Valerie was betting the latter. Almost all the agents around her were now sleeping, covered by blankets, shawls and throws, resting on the sofas, armchairs or otherwise leaning on large cushions. Some were snoring gently away, and overs were cuddling each other in their sleep.

"We should check on them," Stacey suggested. "If they've fallen asleep we'll need to continue the search."

"We can't just leave the other agents!" Valerie insisted, waving a hand at the dozing masses in the room, the steady drone of snoring agreeing with this statement. Most of the agents were frowning or whimpering in their sleep, and Valerie could sense that the flashbacks were causing most of them incredible distress.

"Valerie, they're sleeping," Michael pointed out, already getting to his feet and forcing growling as the tentacles of Darkness dissolved to whispers of shadow in the light of the room. Claire hastily got to her feet and offered her shoulder to him, and he smiled gratefully to her.

"And you're injured," Valerie reminded him, nodding to his properly bandaged leg. "You can't carry them back if they've fallen asleep, and Claire can't either while she's supporting you."

"Once we get to the darker corridors I should be able to use the Darkness to support me," Michael argued. "We can't just leave them all!"

"And we can't leave these people either," Valerie retorted. "We don't know what might happen to them while they're sleeping. They need supervision!"

"Guys," Claire interrupted suddenly, pointing to a nearby cushion. "Cristoph is sleeping."

Sure enough, the ninja was sprawled on the floor, completely unconscious. Valerie sighed, and went to check him. Already she could sense the horror that the flashback was putting him through and it brought a lump to her throat. She couldn't leave, not when so many of the agents seemed to be recounting horrific moments of their lives...

You should go, Valerie.

Valerie blinked as the voice of Ari sounded in her head, and the small fire lizard appeared out of between, settling on the back of one of the sofas, and surveying her with sharp blue eyes.

I know you want to stay and help these people. Her guardian spirit stated. But you would do better to help the others find the means to end this spell... after all, there are not many people left awake with magical ability. She nodded her triangular head at the healer. Go. I shall watch the sleeping agents.

Valerie would have hugged her muse, but she was conscious that time was not on their side, and so she hastily got to her feet, projecting her thanks toward the fire lizard, as she turned toward the others, just in time to see Stacey yawn widely. Her determination seemed to shrink as she watched her friend blink.

"I feel tired..." Stacey managed out, before slumping forwards onto a footstool, her camera falling out of her limp hand and onto the floor with a clatter. Valerie chewed hard on her lip.

"Stacey..."

Go. Ari urged, swooping low toward the latest sleeper. I will watch them.

Steeling herself towards the door, Valerie tried not to look at her sleeping friends, less their faces draw her into staying, and focused instead on Michael and Claire. "Let's go... before its too late."