Heroes Rising Fiction: Golden Hunt part 8

Part 8

Chase wasn’t sure when she blacked out, or why. But she had lost track of everything after she had been picked up in her own clothes. Did she really shrink? What was going on? What is that strange feeling on her face? Again and again, a warm, wet feeling slapped her in the face. Eventually, she realized it was a dog licking her. But she didn’t have a dog, and she wasn’t with a dog. Wait… she is with a dog.

With a burst of motion, she opened her eyes and saw Fleagle standing over her, excitedly licking her cheek. She smacked him in the face, “STOP DOING THAT!”

He fell over, landing on his butt, “Sorry. You wouldn’t wake up and I thought that would help.”

Wiping her wet face, she muttered, “It did...sort of. But, don’t do it again.”

Looking around, she found herself in what appeared to be a cave. Everything near her was the right size, not huge as she expected. Then she looked down and saw that she was wearing the under-suit Nova had given her. It was like a sports compression suit, but with special attributes. “What happened? Where are we?”

Fleagle helped her up, “We are in the Leprechauns home.”

“Then that means...”

A new voice said, “Yeah, we’re tiny. He shrunk us down with some kind of power.”

Chase turned around and then gasped. A muscular man stood there with nothing on save a pair of shirt buttons tied so he had something covering his front and backside. “Who are you?”

“Agent Justin, BADGE. I was sent to track evidence of the Hooded Man and was taken by surprise. The Leprechaun shrunk me down, and I’ve been his prisoner ever since. How come your clothes shrunk and mine didn’t?”

Chase brushed her hand down the arm of her suit, “This is a new suit Nova has been testing. It shrinks with a hero when he or she shrinks. It does other stuff as well. Not sure why he wanted a shrinkable suit, but, it came in handy.”

“I’m lucky he had some buttons laying where I could get to them.”

Fleagle said, “Well, I’ve got nuff fur. So, I’m good.”

Chase muttered, “I still wish you had pants.” She walked away from them, heading for the nearest exit, “Our first job is to get out of…”

“WATCH OUT!”

She hit an invisible barrier and thrown back a few inches. “Ow!”

“Sorry, should’ve warned you to begin with. He has us trapped. We have some room in here to move around, but otherwise, we’re stuck.”

“What’s the point?” Chase rubbed her forehead where she interacted with hat barrier.

Fleagle helped her to her feet, “We overheard him make a call to BADGE.” he pointed to a table where their communicators were resting.

“He called BADGE?”

“Yes,” Justin said, “He pretended to be in trouble and then told them to bring his coins back.”

“What does that mean?”

“We don’t know.”

Just then the Leprechaun came into the room, holding one of those coins. In his hand, it looked like a dinner plate. “It means I will get rid of all the little annoyances in my life.”

Chase took up a fighting posture while Fleagle growled. She asked, “What have you done?”

“Calm down, dog, you can’t hurt me from in there.” He tossed the coin at them, and it bounced off that barrier. He the addressed Chase, “Let’s just say that I have seen an opportunity and intend to take it.”

“What opportunity?” Chase asked.

“I’ve had my fill of this world. We’ve been here for a long time and I’m done. I’ve been done with these people for centuries now. They are foolish, cruel, ignorant, and bigoted. However, due to the choices we all made when we arrived, I was tied down. My power sealed. But, now, with a little help from a new friend, my powers will be unsealed.”

“We? You mean the others like Santa and Cupid?” Chase asked.

“Yes. There are several of us. Including the one who works for BADGE. It really doesn’t matter. After I leave, my friend will finish his little plan and this world will be in enough trouble without me around.”

Chase was about to ask a question when Justin came up, “Who works for BADGE that is one of your people?”

The Leprechaun gave him an amused look, “You...you don’t know.” he looked around all of them, “None of you know. Oh, how interesting. One of the most powerful people on this planet, and you don’t even realize it. How wonderful.”

Fleagle asked, “Who are your people?”

The Leprechaun spent a moment struggling with something. It was as though he wished to speak, but his mouth wouldn’t work. Finally he said, “We...cannot say. The leader of our people forbade us from speaking our name for fear of Legion finding us again. Even now, knowing that my power is still diminished, I cannot bring myself to utter the name. When my power is fully restored, I will shout to the pathetic people of this world the name of our kind and let them know who they lived amongst without realizing it.”

Just then the voice of the hooded man came from another direction. The Leprechaun excused himself and left them to their little prison. The three prisoners stood in silence, absorbing this startling information.