CAST
THE
ROBOMEN
THEIR ALLIES
OTHERS
| FIRE-PIXIE |
HEATWAVE |
SORCERESS
MIKO |
 |
 |
 |
-ACT I-
THE TIME:
April 7th, 2010
Shortly after 2am
The room was
pitch-black, save for a six-foot-wide pentagram in
its centre, marked by brightly-glowing candles. At
each of the pentagrams five points sat a man; his
skin was black, and he wore nothing but a white
loincloth and carried a short, silver athame in
his right hand. His head and body was completely
without hair - for all intents and purposes, he may
as well have been the same man, mirrored five times.
Standing at the
heart of the pentagram was a woman. Her skin was
white and pale, but her dark orange hair made her
skin appear more ruddy than it might had her hair
been blonde. Like her male companions, she was almost
naked, her modesty taking the form of a skimpy red
bikini, the top of which barely contained her breasts
while the bottom hung loosely around her hips.
Slowly, the woman
began to dance, but she never left the clearly-marked
pentagon at the centre of the pentagram. As her eyes
fell on each of the men he raised his athame and
started to chant, releasing a deep, guttural growl of
a sound, which in turn caused the woman to dance more
quickly and seductively.
Suddenly, a door,
which had been invisible in the darkness, burst open.
It fell with a loud, wooden crash! against
the wall beside it and the dull, electric glow of a
streetlight dimly lit a narrow path from the door to
the pentagram.
Neither the dancer
nor the men who chanted around her stopped to look at
the opening in the wall - they were too entranced by
their rhythmic ritual; but they did notice it,
and without missing a beat they cast a quick glance,
never moving their heads, at the silhouette in the
doorway.
"So, you're all
still here."
The voice that came
from the doorway was soft at first, but grew louder
and more commanding towards the end of the sentence.
The silhouette stepped forward, blocking most of the
light from the streetlamp, and slowly looked one from
chanting man to the next until finally stopping to
stare at the woman.
"Yes,
mistress," the dancer replied as she continued
to twist and turn in time with the chanting. "We
have never left this abode, save to acquire the
essentials for our rituals."
"I thought that
my capture would be enough to dissuade even the most
loyal among you from our cause."
"Never,
mistress!" the dancer cried. "We knew that
even in the hands of our eternal enemies, you would
never stop worshipping the master. Knowing that, we
could never stop worshipping you!"
"That is...
good to know."
A moment later, the
chanting - and the dancing - stopped. The woman stood
straight in the centre of the pentagram as the men
placed their athames in front of their bodies, the
tips pointing toward the woman, through the centre of
the pentagram's five points. Then, the woman began
to chant.
"No," the
other figure, still nothing more than a silhouette,
said. "You do not need to do this."
"But
mistress!" the woman responded. She had stopped
chanting, but turned and dipped her head toward each
pentagram point in turn. "It is my destiny, and
my only desire."
"I do not want
you to do this. Your loyalty to me and to our
cause is enough of a sacrifice. I need no more from
you."
"But
mistress...!" the woman began again.
Suddenly, the
silhouette was illuminated by a bright blue light,
revealing a black-cloaked woman also wearing a black,
pointed witch's hat over long, pink hair. Beneath her
cloak was a short, white and pink dress. On her
shoulder sat a six-inch tall but otherwise identical
figure, glowing brightly - the source of the blue
light.
"And I,
Sorceress Miko, am your mistress! If I tell
you I do not want you to do something, you do not
do it. Do you understand?"
The woman remained
silent.
"Speak!"
Miko demanded.
The woman turned to
the men around her. She raised her right hand,
briefly, and they stood. The blue light glistened off
their athames, which still rested on the cold floor,
as they started to move the candles which formed the
pentagram.
"Yes, mistress.
I am sorry," she said finally.
Miko frowned and
rubbed her forehead.
"No,
Serafina," Miko said. "I am the
one who should be sorry. You were only doing what I
asked, what I brought you from Italy to do.
It is still your destiny to serve the master, just
not in this way, and not tonight."
Serafina frowned.
"Mistress, has
something happened?"
Miko looked at the
men. They moved slowly, their minds still sluggish,
still attuned to the rhythm of the dancing and the
chanting. Only one point of the pentagram had been
even partly disassembled - the five of them, working
together, had moved only a single candle.
"... yes,
Serafina. Something has happened."
Miko crossed the
room and stepped into the centre of the pentagram,
beside Serafina. The door slammed shut behind her,
but she did not seem to notice or care; she merely
wrapped her fingers around Serafina's wrist and
waited as the tiny, glowing blue figure slid down her
arm and stood where the two womens' skin met.
The tiny figure
placed one hand on each of the women and began to
glow even more brightly. The blue glow extended from
its hands to cover each of the women and even to
spill from them, onto the ground and around the
carefully-placed candles.
The door burst open
again and, reflexively, Miko pulled away. She and her
miniature twin stopped glowing immediately, but while
the glow around Serafina dimmed, it did not entirely
leave her.
"Who's
there?" Miko asked loudly. "This sanctum is
off limits to - "
Miko heard the loud
crack of thunder and saw, in the are lit by the
streetlight outside, that rain was falling and had
begun to pool near the door.
"What...?"
she whispered. "There was no sign of rain when I
entered..."
There was a bright,
silvery-white flash - lightning - and for a moment,
the figure in the doorway was fully-revealed. It was
a man, a young man, with short, dripping wet black
hair and sunglasses covering part of his pale face.
He wore tall black boots, black trousers, a black
shirt and a long black trenchcoat. Protruding from
beneath the trenchcoat was a brown belt, with a black
handgun holstered at each hip. Strapped diagonally
across the man's back was a long wooden staff, almost
as long as he was tall.
"You!"
Miko gasped.
"I knew I'd
find you eventually, Miko," he said. "I
didn't think it would be this easy. We scoped this
place out before we caught you the last time - you
could have told your little puppets to start hiding
somewhere new."
"How can you be
here? We destroyed Science Island!"
"After I
left," the man said. He stepped into the room,
and another white flash allowed him to see all that
was in there with him. He stared for a long time at
the strong-looking men, but they did not seem to even
know he was there.
"Don't worry
about the zombies," Miko told him. "They
only respond to the presence of females. These only
respond to the presence of Serafina."
The man nodded
appreciatively.
"Tetrodotoxin
and datura?" he asked.
Miko shook her head.
"Not even
close, soldier boy." She shook her head again
and smiled. "You know, for awhile I thought you
might be a real threat, but you have no idea what
you're dealing with, do you? Do I even need to
learn your name?"
"You know my
name."
"No, I heard
your name, when you imprisoned me on Science
Island," Miko reminded him. "I didn't see
any reason to remember it."
"Mistress..."
Serafina interjected.
"Quiet,
Serafina. Your mistress is speaking to... oh, come
on. What is your name?"
The man smiled.
"Senshi. Sato
Senshi."
"That's right...
I think I did remember that. I thought at the time
how ironic it was, the jarhead thinking of himself as
a warrior."
Senshi snorted.
"How are we
going to do this?"
"We're not. At
least, not here, not in this temple to the
master."
"You mean this
abandoned hovel off an alley in the centre of the
city where you'll only be disturbed by rats?"
"Like you?"
Miko quickly retorted. "I am a powerful woman,
Senshi. Don't try to - "
There was another
flash of lightning, followed by a roar of thunder so
loud that even the zombies stopped what they were
doing and stared for a moment at the door. More rain
was pouring down just outside the temple.
Miko clicked with
her left hand. Her small companion began to glow
again.
"Send him
away," Miko said. She raised her hand and the
creatured moved to the end of her fingers...
... and the door
slammed shut, blocking out all light, save for
Serafina's dim glow.
Senshi moved
quickly. With his right hand he pulled his staff in
front of his body and took hold of one of his guns
with his left hand. He fired upward, not aiming at
anyone else in the room, and used the flash of the
muzzle to guide his movements as he swung his staff
around in well-practiced movements.
Once, twice, he
swung his staff, getting closer to Miko each time. He
moved to pull his trigger and swing his weapon once
again, but felt a strong pair of hands close around
the staff's tip.
"No-one harms
the mistress!" Serafina shouted.
Senshi looked up.
Serafina was still in the centre of the pentagram,
but her hands were raised above her head. She moved
her fingers only slightly, and as four of the zombies
continued to slowly take apart a single point of the
pentagram, the fifth held tightly onto Senshi's
weapon.
She brought her left
hand down violently and the zombie snapped the staff
in half. He uttered a growl so loud that even Miko,
who should have been sure of her safety, took a step
back. Finally, he charged forward and threw Senshi to
the ground. The black-garbed man tumbled roughly
across the floor, and knocked over several candles
without losing their general place within the
pattern.
Within seconds the
pentagram, which had been marked by the small flames
burning from the top of the candles, was illuminated
by long streaks of flame as flickering orange fire
bridged the gap from one candle to the next. The
flames stretched several feet above the floor, and
trapped Serafina completely.
"Serafina!"
Miko shouted.
Senshi dragged
himself to his feet and made his way towards the spot
where the door had been in the wall. He stared at the
smooth surface as they firelight reflectly brightly
from it, but there was nothing there - no handle, no
knob.
Miko ran at the
fire, but threw herself back as a jet of flame shot
up in front of her. The fire was beginning to spread
in rippling arcs away from the pentagram, while rain
continued to cascade loudly to the ground outside,
water which could douse the flames if not for the
thin walls keeping it away.
Senshi pounded on
the featureless wall as Miko stared helplessly at the
fire which swarmed around her servant. She looked at
the zombies, which stood motionless as the fire
washed over them before finally turning to Senshi.
"Senshi!"
she shouted. "We need to save Serafina!"
Senshi stopped
struggling at the wall and looked back at Miko.
"I know,"
he said. "She didn't cause any of this. You did."
He paused. "We did. We need
water."
"The door
cannot be opened from the inside!" Miko told
him. "We have to get to the water, not
bring the water to us!"
"How?"
Miko nodded toward
the identical figure still perched on her arm.
"My
Pixie," she said. "She can get one of us -
"
"Serafina,"
Senshi said simply. "The Pixie can get her out
of here."
Miko's jaw dropped.
"I could never
leave her behind," Miko admitted. "I was
going to suggest sending you for help."
"While I
searched for it, Serafina could die. Save her, Miko.
Now!"
Miko raised her arm
above her head and allowed the Pixie to run the tip
of her fingers. The tiny creature jumped off the edge
of Miko's hand and drifted over the flames to where
Serafina remained, still perfectly still. It closed
its eyes and allowed its body to glow once again with
blue energy while slowly descending toward Serafina's
shoulder, until it was stopped as a sudden burst of
flame set it alight.
The burning, glowing
Pixie fell rapidly onto Serafina, and that shimmering
blue glow which surrounded it merged with the energy
surrounding Serafina. The flames, too, expanded to
cover Serafina's larger body and the woman fell to
her knees, screaming in apparent terror.
Before Miko or
Senshi could even begin to speak, to urge each other
towards a new course of action, the door swung open a
third time. Silver-white lightning flashed outside,
followed by the roar of thunder, and slowly rain
began to trickle in, dousing some of the weaker flame
further away from the pentagram.
Miko rushed forward
to stand by Serafina as the orange and blue woman
continued to cry out, but stopped when another flash
of lightning - this time, yellow - entered the room.
It seemed almost to be dancing, jaggedly, around
Senshi and Miko before finding its way along the
zombie-opened path into the pentagram. It passed
without disruption through the flames and hit the
centre of Serafina's back.
"Oh my -
!" Senshi began to exclaim.
The fire had drawn
itself into one, swirling vortex around Serafina. The
yellow lightning crackled around it violently and
thunder resounded through the room. At the centre of
the multi-coloured swirl, Serafina started to float
off the ground; yellow and orange, butterfly-like
wings sprung from her back.
She continued to
rise until, bathed in fire, she struck the ceiling.
With the heat behind her she tore through it easily,
and the orange, blue and yellow light which had
illuminated the room followed her outside, as the
rain, no longer quite so heavy, fell in her absence.
Senshi looked at
Miko as darkness overwhelmed the room, suddenly lit
only by the dim electric light outside. Then, he
dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Miko smiled and
walked calmly from the room. The rain stopped.
In the relative
darkness, something slapped Senshi's face, hard.
He shook his head as consciousness returned and
squinted to try to make sense of what was happening,
with so little light to guide him.
The five zombies
stood around him, shaking, poking and slapping.
"I'm awake! I'm
awake!" he cried.
"Thank
goodness," one of them said. "We thought
the fire took you, too."
"Where's
Miko?"
"The mistress
left."
Senshi nodded
slowly.
"Hold on - you
can talk!"
One zombie nodded
gravely.
"With Serafina
gone, our wills are our own again. Her power was lost
among the flames which engulfed her."
"In that
case... while you're doing your own thing, do you
think you could back away? Big men in loincloths
aren't really my thing."
The zombies backed
away, and Senshi returned to his feet.
"We do not know
what to do," the first zombie remarked.
"Our mistress has abandoned us. We cannot serve
the master without her!"
"The
master?" Senshi shook his head. "There is
no master. Miko was controlling you. Now she's
left you behind. Go... try to find new lives."
The zombie slowly
shook his own head.
"You are wrong.
The master is real..." He looked at each of his
companions before continuing. "... but what you
say makes sense. We will rebuild our lives."
The zombie offered
his hand to Senshi, who shook it firmly. Together,
the zombies walked through the open door and into the
humid, damp night.
"I wish I could
take my own advice," Senshi whispered
after them.
