[55] Obstacles to the Mask

Chapter 55: Obstacles to the Mask

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Night fell over Texas like a thick blanket, bringing blessed relief from the oppressive heat. We'd spent the afternoon in tense preparation, going over building schematics that Grandpa had somehow acquired. Charmcaster had proven surprisingly helpful, pointing out likely magical defenses that his Plumber intel had missed.

Now we sat in the RV, parked just outside the facility's sensor range. The place looked even more forbidding in the dark, lit up like a prison yard.

"The artifact is here," Max said, pointing to a spot deep in the building's basement. "Vault Seven. Reinforced steel, biometric locks, the works. I hope we can do this quickly and cleanly, guys. Ben, got any good ideas? I got news that SHIELD is interested in this too, and plans to send agents to check it out."

In the cartoon, this episode was one of the weirder ones. Because Grandpa Max grew unusually grumpy, insulting the kids, not trusting them with anything, and just generally an ass. The kids hated him for it.

In this world? He was the same good old grandpa, just a tad bit serious since indeed this job wasn’t a light one. And he didn’t look down on his grandchildren, proven by how he allowed Charmcaster in based on my suggestion, and now even asking for my ideas.

“What’s SHIELD?” Charmcaster asked. She'd changed into something more practical, black leather that made her look like she'd stepped out of an action movie.

I was about to explain but Gwen shot me a look and explained herself. “It’s a secret government facility that deals with threats that endanger Earth, and apparently supernatural stuff falls under their radar too.”

Whoa, she’d rather explain by herself rather than letting me talk to a girl? That’s crazy, I noted with a shake of my head.

"Huh… that’s not good. No wonder this place is so heavily guarded. I think this place might have those laser security systems and stuff from movies," Charmcaster added.

“I think I know what to do, Grandpa,” I said while studying the blueprints, running through my options. Ghostfreak would be perfect for this.

Phase through walls, possess guards, easy infiltration. But something held me back. We'd just dealt with a Xenocyte, a corrupted alien from the Anur system, and that werewolf was also from the same place.

In the original timeline, Zs'Skayr – Ghostfreak, who escaped the Omnitrix – led those two along with the Frankenstein alien to attack Earth. But since no Ghostfreak incident had happened with me, I don’t think Zs'Skayr is stuck in the Omnitrix.

Regardless, I could never be too careful. If I’m just assuming stuff and Ghostfreak in this world also has a will of its own, what if using him now, with all this magical energy in the air, gave Ghostfreak the opening he needed to escape?

No. Too risky.

I've got a better way, I noted with a smile. No ghosts. Just an Upgrade.

“Close your eyes!” I clicked down on the watch.

The transformation was always a bit weird with Upgrade. Instead of changing shape, I became shape. My body liquified into living circuitry, black and green biomechanical fluid that moved like mercury with a mind.

"That's… disgusting? But a little cute, too." I heard Charmcaster mutter as I flowed toward a ventilation grate.

“Be water, my friend,” I corrected her.

The world changed as I entered the building's systems. Everything became data streams and electrical currents, a digital highway I could navigate by thought. I found the security hub and merged with it, becoming one with the facility's electronic nervous system.

Cameras started showing looped footage. Motion sensors went selectively blind. Electronic locks cycled open in a specific pattern that would guide my team right where they needed to go.

"Welcome mat's out," I said through the comms, my voice distorted by the electronic interface. "Try not to track mud on the floor."

I watched through a dozen cameras as they entered through a maintenance door I'd conveniently unlocked. Grandpa moved like the seasoned professional he was, all smooth efficiency. Gwen kept her charms ready, eyes darting to Charmcaster every few seconds. And Charmcaster... she moved like smoke, barely seeming to touch the ground.

They made good time through the sterile white corridors. I kept clearing their path, making sure no patrols came their way. It was almost too easy.

From my vantage point within the security hub, I had eyes everywhere. The team moved through the first corridor and I guided them.

"Okay team," my voice crackled through their comms, distorted by the electronic interface. "Security hub shows a large staging area just ahead. Looks clear, but my sensors are picking up some weird energy dampeners... Be ready for anything."

I watched on three different monitors as Grandpa Max took the lead, rounding the corner into a cavernous, metallic chamber.

It looked like a central nexus where several hallways met. And it was anything but clear. I only noticed them when they walked into the hallway. The CCTVs behind them weren’t working. Must be some EMP they were carrying.

Standing in the center, arrayed in a perfect battle formation, were the original villains of this episode. The Forever Knights.

So was I thinking too much? I thought I’d meet some magician. The one in the lead was clearly the boss. It must be the guy named Enoch. His face was hidden behind a stern, gold-colored mask, topped by a chainmail hood and a small, grey-blue pointed crown that seemed almost ridiculous on top of all that armor.

A deep burgundy surcoat, emblazoned with their cult-like symbol, was cinched at the waist by a heavy grey belt. He and his six cronies looked like they'd just stepped out of a very angry, very well-funded Renaissance faire.

They looked ridiculous. I had a feeling I wouldn’t have to interfere for them to be taken out.

His voice, muffled and metallic, echoed through the chamber's acoustics. "So, the rabble arrives. First the sorceress, then the Plumber filth,” he muttered to himself, clicking his tongue. “Max Tennyson, it has been a while. This is a sacred quest, an endeavor to purify the world of alien influence. You are unworthy to even witness it."

Max didn't even bother with a witty comeback. He just calmly tapped a buckle on his belt. With a low hum, a sleek, black suit materialized over his clothes. It wasn't bulky armor, but a form-fitting composite material with subtle, glowing green lines tracing its contours. It was the uniform of a man who meant business.

He drew his Plumber blaster, its advanced design contrasting to the Knights' own advanced swords and halberds.

"My turn to be unimpressed, Enoch," Max said, his voice flat and professional. "Still playing dress-up, I see."

That was the only warning they got. The six knights charged, their high-tech halberds crackling with energy.

From my all-seeing view, the fight was a beautiful, chaotic play. Max was a blur of motion. He didn't meet their brute force head-on; he was too smart for that. He sidestepped a clumsy swing from one knight, his blaster firing a precise shot that shorted out the man’s weapon with a fizzle. He used a sweeping leg kick to take another knight off his feet, followed by a non-lethal stun blast to the chest that made the guy's armor seize up.

His movements were economical and brutal but efficient, a lifetime of experience condensed into this fight.

Gwen and Charmcaster instinctively formed the backline. Gwen threw up a shimmering telekinetic shield, absorbing a volley of energy blasts that would have turned them to ash. From behind the safety of the barrier, Charmcaster unleashed a torrent of crackling purple bolts that slammed into the knights' armor, sending sparks flying and forcing them back.

I saw Gwen levitate a charging knight, leaving him dangling helplessly in the air, and Charmcaster, without missing a beat, ensnared him with spectral tendrils and slammed him into two of his comrades like a bowling ball.

"Nice combo, you two!" I sent through the comms. "Didn't think you had it in you to work together without trying to hex each other."

While the girls handled the grunts, Enoch charged Max, his own energy sword blazing to life. The duel was a clash of ideologies. Enoch was quite powerful, his swings telegraphed and full of resentment toward Grandpa.

Max was a dance of calculated dodges and precise counterattacks. He used his blaster to parry the energy sword, the impacts sending shockwaves through the air. He wasn't trying to win through strength, but through strategy.

"Grandpa, two on your left flank!" I called out, watching a feed from a camera behind him. "Their armor is weaker at the joints!"

The information was all he needed.

Max feinted left, drawing Enoch into an over-extended lunge. In that split second, Max holstered his blaster, grabbed Enoch's sword arm, and used a complex joint-lock maneuver that twisted the knight's limb at an unnatural angle, forcing him to drop his sword with a loud clang.

Simultaneously, Gwen and Charmcaster finished their part. Gwen ripped a section of metal paneling from the wall with a grunt of effort and sent it spinning like a deadly frisbee, knocking the last two knights off their feet. Charmcaster sealed the deal, whispering a quick incantation that caused their armor's power sources to overload. The lights in their suits flickered and died, leaving them immobilized inside their own high-tech coffins.

Silence descended on the chamber, broken only by the groans of the defeated knights. Max released Enoch, who crumpled to the floor, his grand quest ending in a pile of useless armor.

Max’s suit retracted back into his belt buckle with a soft hiss. He gave Gwen and Charmcaster a rare, approving nod. "Not bad," he said dryly. "For amateurs."

Charmcaster scoffed, but I could see a small, proud smile touch Gwen's lips. She was happy to get Grandpa’s approval for once, since it was usually me who stole all of it.

They stepped over the littered forms of the Forever Knights, proceeding down the now-clear corridor that led toward the vault.

"Okay," my voice said in their ears. "That was impressive. The vault door is just ahead. Let's finish this.”

The fight was a setback of a few minutes, but it was easy enough. A little too easy, honestly. As if the universe had more things in plan…

Should have known better than to think that.

They'd just reached the vault door when every alarm in my electronic consciousness started screaming. A door I hadn't even known existed slid open at the far end of the hallway. Not on any blueprint, not connected to any system I could access. Like it had just materialized out of nowhere.

A woman stepped through.

No, that was like calling the sun a light bulb. This was presence incarnate, beauty weaponized into something that made reality itself take notice. Raven hair flowed like liquid midnight down her back. Her dress was elegant simplicity, black silk that suggested rather than revealed. She moved with the casual grace of an apex predator who'd never met anything higher on the food chain.

The temperature dropped twenty degrees. The lights dimmed like they were bowing.

And then the psychic pressure hit.

Even through the electronic interface, I felt it. Age. Hunger. Power so vast it was like staring into an ocean made of darkness. My connection to the building's systems flickered as my consciousness tried to process what I was sensing.

A name surfaced from memories I'd almost forgotten. Comics read in another life. Marvel deep lore that most people never touched.

Oh fuck.

Oh fuck fuck fuck.

Selene Gallio. The Black Queen.

"Well," the woman said, slowly looking up at one of the CCTVs, at me. Her voice was like aged wine poured over broken glass. "It seems my private acquisition has attracted some... pests."

What in the hell is an immortal soul-vampire mutant doing in Texas?

She smiled, and it was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen. Like a cat who'd found some particularly entertaining mice.

Just in time, Grandpa’s group reached the place before I could warn them about the danger. He paused, as did she. To my surprise, she frowned.

"Magister Tennyson?" she asked, focusing on Grandpa with eyes that had seen empires rise and fall. "Did the Plumbers Send you to stop me? I’m disappointed. I expected better security for my property."

And… she knows Grandpa? What the fuck.

[Image Here]

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