Passengers inside the 747 watched the world below. Children squirmed in their seats and flight attendants finished cleaning up after the last snack. Everyone quieted down as a soft bell rang and the pilot’s voice came over the intercom.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re approaching New York and will land in Laguardia in half an hour. It’s a beautiful day, do not worry about those puffy clouds outside, they’re just greeting us as we approach our destination. Now...” The speakers all cut as the pilot dropped the device.
Everyone heard the copilot say, “What the heck is that!”
The plane trembled, and then the cabin darkened quickly. Gasps and screams filled the air as the people crowded their little windows to see what was happening.
The white puffs of cloud outside grew darker and expanded with unnatural speeds. The darkening clouds turned black and rose into great peaks. Those mounds of black cloud changed into demonic faces, lightning crackling throughout the horrid visages. Fang-filled mouths opened and closed. Some seemed to laugh. Above and below the plane, far in the distance and right next to them, these cloud demons all appeared. The ground was gone, the blue skies had vanished, it was a sea of this blackness, the flashes of lightning revealing the faces again and again.
The people screamed and dove away from the windows as one of those faces flashed before their eyes, and it was coming for the plane. They entered the mouth and burst out the other side, but the damage was done. The plane shook and turned, listed to one side and then the other. The winds sheared against it, blaring louder than the massive jet engines.
A streak of lightning cracked through the darkness and hit their right engine, blowing it apart. Fire and smoke burst out and the entire vehicle lurched to the side. Another bolt hit the fuselage and all the lights inside exploded, sounding like firecrackers popping.
Breathing masks dropped and people scrambled to grab them. This wasn’t easy as the plane was in a nosedive, completely out of control.
The terrifying descent slowed and then they leveled off. Slowly, the plane inched back up to a safe height, even though the horrid demon storm remained active.
“LOOK!” A man yelled, muffled by his mask.
Everyone looked to either side of the plane. Crimson Guardian held up one wing while Fiero held up the other. Crimson smiled at the people, even giving them a thumbs up. Fiero didn’t acknowledge them, she remained focused.
Suddenly, a green serpent came spiraling around the body of the plane. It flew beyond them and then made a giant curve in the sky. Thousands of bolts of pure white lightning sprayed out from the serpent and the storm melted away. In a matter of seconds, the sky appeared as it did before this all started.
***
Nova stood in the middle of the command center of BADGE. With him were Chase, Strange Quark, and Leprechaun. The four main monitors were active. One had a live feed from Lord Dragon’s palace where several of the heroes worked directly with the Dragon. The other monitors displayed various images of horrible demon appearances. The main video they were watching was a live newscast from Laguardia where Crimson, Fiero, and Quetzalcoatl were being cheered as they left the scene of the successful plane landing.
Nova calmly muted the news screen and then said, “I want answers.”
Quark said, “I don’t know what to say. So many various forms of demons or evil spirits have been appearing at random all over the Earth.”
Nova looked at Lord Dragon through the monitor. “Could this be Jinn’s doing?”
“I cannot say. However, generating fear among the population would fit into his tactics.”
Leprechaun added, “He was always flashy. Over-the-top. Sure feels like something he’d do.”
Nova scoffed as he paced. “He’s taunting us. That’s what this is. He knows he’s one step ahead...no, make that about ten steps ahead, and we can’t find any way to catch up.”
Lord Dragon calmly said, “Do not take this personally...”
Chase cut him off. “PERSONALLY!” She stood up, nearly knocking over her chair, “THAT BASTARD KILLED GAR!” Her eyes welled with tears and she left the room.
Quark, who had been next to her, said, “She’s taking his death hard.”
Lord Dragon responded, “I, of all people, should take his actions personally. However, if this is his doing, then it is not merely to entice BADGE or even me. This is to terrorize an already destabilized population on this planet.”
“Why?” Nova asked.
No one answered. There was a thoughtful silence in the room, followed by a unified state of confusion.
Just then the door of the room opened and Crimson came in with Fiero beside him. “We’re back everybody!”
“Glad to see you,” Nova said. “Where’s the mythic?”
“Right here.” Fiero invited the strangely dressed man in.
Quetzalcoatl walked to the center of the room and then bowed toward Lord Dragon. “My Lord, it is good to see you. My heart aches to learn of Lady Phoenix’s passing.”
“Greetings, my old friend. Please assist BADGE with any knowledge you have.”
“I shall try.”
Nova approached Quetzalcoatl. “Welcome to BADGE HQ. I’m director Nova.”
“Nova...” Quetzalcoatl frowned. “I know your face. Have we met?”
“Perhaps, a long time ago, which is not important right now. Please take a seat.”
Quetzalcoatl found a seat near Leprechaun, who sat on a small chair on top of the table.
Quark smiled, “Hey there. So, what can we call you?”
“Humans called me Quetzalcoatl.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Quark stated. “Do you have another name? Maybe the first one they called you from your world?”
“We did not have names among our kind, not like humans. We knew each other through our power, our magic. Even the name of our race was given to us by off-world peoples. I know this one here,” he nodded to Leprechaun, “because I can sense the essence of his magic. Though, I do not sense as much as I could before.”
Leprechaun sneered, “I...lost my power.”
Nova interrupted this. “We can meet and greet later. Right now we have a bigger problem. We need to find out who or what is causing all these demon images to appear and if they are connected to Jinn.”
Quetzalcoatl said, “They belong to one of my kind.”
“How do you know this?”
“When we left my Pyramid, we found a religious place defiled by some demonic power. We also encountered those black clouds, filled with terrible faces. All of this smelled of our kind of power.”
Nova asked, “What was this about a defiled religious building?”
“Oh, yeah, this.” Crimson came over with a chunk of rock. “When we got back to the topside from being under that pyramid, we found the people of the city smashing this statue. They told us it was formerly a statue to Mary, but it had turned into a demon. I grabbed this chunk to examine it.”
Nova took the stone from Crimson. “I want to know what he is doing. Why is he defiling religious sites? Why is he showing people the satans of every religion? It makes little sense.”
Crimson said, “I don’t know either. And that stone there, it’s just good ole volcanic stone. I thought maybe Chase could examine its history...where is she anyway?” He looked around at the gathered people.
Quark said, “She is having a hard time right now.” He stood up and held his hand out, “I’ll bring this to her, see if she can help us.”
Nova handed Quark the stone. “Don’t push her if you don’t have to.”
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