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| Prof. Rasmussen |
The debris from the collapsed building had been carefully removed before his team of expert diggers had moved in, but now it was time to break the news to Mr Law.
Rasmussen pulled out his mobile and hit the speed-dial, connecting him directly to Nick Law's ear-mounted bluetooth.
"What have you got for me, Carl?" Nick asked immediately, knowing pleasantries were unnecessary with his old friend.
"Nothing good, Nick," the Swede said. "There are definitely signs that something large and tubular was here. Any other dig and I'd say it was probably the location of an mains pipe - but then where would it have disappeared to? No, whatever you were looking for is long gone, my friend."
Nick cussed. This wasn't his day.
---""--- ---""---
Pat O'Malley was trying to find the answer to life's problems in the bottom of a beer mug when Joe McGovern pulled up a stool next to him at the bar and signaled the barmaid for two more beers.
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| One of the many Irish bars in Devil Heights |
Joe shuffled a bit with embarrassment, his boss didn't know his secret - that Joe was really the hero Skyscraper that the media were blaming for accidentally collapsing the unfinished building in the Heights the other week.
"Oh, Joe, forgive an old man his moanin'," Pat grinned at his friend and employee. "Things ain't that bad, I suppose. We got other contracts. But I like working in the old neighbourhood. Gives me a sense of pride to be givin' something back. Ain't that what that Law fellah is always talkin' about? Givin' back to the community."
---""--- ---""---
---""--- ---""---
The Surgeon sat in a darkened room, his mind empty of distraction. He wasn't bothered by the recent goings-on with the Agents or the negative backlash from the public, he was simultaneously visualising complex medical procedures, balancing his cheque book and concocting the perfect curry recipe with his 190 IQ.
Nothing else was really of any interest to him.
Nothing else was really of any interest to him.
Although he had his work and his training, Kevin was starting to go a little stir crazy with the enforced "break" that Nick had demanded - especially as his efforts to modify his new belt knife (the original had been lost in the tunnels under the city after he had loaned it to Skyscraper) didn't appear to be progressing.
Thus, the invitation from his old university buddy, Rory Brown, to come round to his house for a meal, some beers and a "catch-up" was just the pick-me-up he needed.
He hadn't seen his dear friend for a couple of weeks and decided a night off was just what the doctor ordered.
Rory was his usual ebullient self, shaking Kevin's metal hand enthusiastically and welcoming him into his home. A young widower, Rory's wife had died in a dreadful car accident but they had two wonderful young children - Michael and John - who were asleep upstairs.
Just as the wine started flowing with the reminiscences of carefree university days, there was an enormous crashing sound from upstairs. Rory smirked. "The boys are excited that Uncle Kevin has come to visit, I knew they wouldn't be able to sleep. Let me just go and check on them."
Rory slipped away from the table and disappeared upstairs. Several moments later, Kevin heard Rory yelling and swearing - it certainly didn't sound as though he was chastising the boys! Something else was going on!
Kevin's bionic legs carried him swiftly up to the top floor bedroom where he burst in to see an incredible sight. The two young boys were floating outside the open bedroom window, sixty or so feet above above the road below. Their eyes were closed and they seemed oblivious of the fact they were being drawn towards the spectral shape of a man (or a boy?) hovering in the air before them.
Rory was leaning out of the window, sobbing and screaming his lungs out. Before Kevin could react the boys and the incorporeal figure seemed to blink out of existence in a flash of light. Something caught Kevin's eye and for a moment he thought he there was a second small blink of light, then he was standing at Rory's side looking out over the rooftops.
Where he put his hands to lean out of the window, the sensors in his bionics detected a slight crunch and he looked down to see a strange, slightly glowing powder or sand of a kind he had never seen before...
Thus, the invitation from his old university buddy, Rory Brown, to come round to his house for a meal, some beers and a "catch-up" was just the pick-me-up he needed.
 |
| Kevin aka Nightshade |
Rory was his usual ebullient self, shaking Kevin's metal hand enthusiastically and welcoming him into his home. A young widower, Rory's wife had died in a dreadful car accident but they had two wonderful young children - Michael and John - who were asleep upstairs.
Just as the wine started flowing with the reminiscences of carefree university days, there was an enormous crashing sound from upstairs. Rory smirked. "The boys are excited that Uncle Kevin has come to visit, I knew they wouldn't be able to sleep. Let me just go and check on them."
Rory slipped away from the table and disappeared upstairs. Several moments later, Kevin heard Rory yelling and swearing - it certainly didn't sound as though he was chastising the boys! Something else was going on!
Kevin's bionic legs carried him swiftly up to the top floor bedroom where he burst in to see an incredible sight. The two young boys were floating outside the open bedroom window, sixty or so feet above above the road below. Their eyes were closed and they seemed oblivious of the fact they were being drawn towards the spectral shape of a man (or a boy?) hovering in the air before them.
Rory was leaning out of the window, sobbing and screaming his lungs out. Before Kevin could react the boys and the incorporeal figure seemed to blink out of existence in a flash of light. Something caught Kevin's eye and for a moment he thought he there was a second small blink of light, then he was standing at Rory's side looking out over the rooftops.
Where he put his hands to lean out of the window, the sensors in his bionics detected a slight crunch and he looked down to see a strange, slightly glowing powder or sand of a kind he had never seen before...
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