ic Double Dutch

[Heritage]

Grim peered down at the pages and curled her lip. "And things just keep getting more and more creepy! Maybe he was in like a cryo-sleep or something, an only awake a few days a year to extend his life? That might explain the sarcophagus." She shook her head and shuddered. "Alright, I'm going to go fetch us a native speaker from outside; be right back!"

 

She flew outside and scanned the faces out there before resuming normal size and addressing the servants in Dutch. <"May I have your attention please! I need a volunteer to help translate some of the Duke's lab notes so we can figure out what the hell happened to him, and maybe fix this whole disturbing mess. Some of it looks fairly technical, so if any of you have a background with machines or the like, that would be awesome."> She paused and cast a  sympathetic gaze over the crowd. <"I know you've all been through a lot, but we could really use your help here.">

[Supercape]

GM

 

The staff, assembled outside the castle in the luxurious grounds muttered to themselves, someone disconcerted at the events. A pixie woman springing to full size in front of them was equally disconcerting. 

 

"<We would like to help...but...we really don't know what's going on...>" sobbed one Maid, overcome with the events. "<We always knew the Duke was...eccentric....but since you arrived the foods been drugged and the Duke too...and then we were told to take you down stairs to his laboratory...we...we don't know what to think....!>" she cried. 

 

They were interrupted by a horn beeping. 

 

Across the grounds, a magnificent Rolls Royce sped, churning up the grass and giving the grounds keeper a heart attack. Who should lean out the window?

 

That's right. The Duke!

 

Dressed in an elegant top hat and tails, he shook his fist at Grimalkin. 

 

"Try to crate me off would you? I suppose you would post me to England? or worse, the States! the Horror!"

 

As his car sped towards Grimalkin, he shouted orders at the Staff. 

 

"<Do not listen to these people! They are sorcerers! Witches! Warlocks!>" he said with a jaunty smile as the Car tried to Run Grimalkin over...

[Heritage]

At the sound of the manic beeping, Grim groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

 

Oh for the love of Pete! If this jackass keeps showing up out of the blue, I'm going to have to conjure up a 'Duke Motel'; "Dukes check in, but they don't check out!"

 

As the beautiful white beast careened her way, the American hero grinned, shook her head and actually ran toward it. "Oh no, not today, you don't!" At what seemed like the last possible moment, she jumped up, ran across the hood, over the roof and landed in a roll on the other side; hopping up to her feet, she called out to the staff.

 

<"As you can see, your former employer is in fact insane! Why would you listen to him anymore, people? Help us end this madness now!">

[Supercape]

GM

 

The staff started to scatter in response. Some ran away from the Castle, some ran towards it. Some ran in circles, screaming. 

 

The Duke screeched the car to halt, skidding slightly and gouging more unslightly lines on the otherwise flawless grass. 

 

He leant out of the old  car and spared a moment to shout at his staff, calling them traitors, turncoats and Judas. And to inform them they were fired. 

 

He then turned to Grimalkin and gave an angry speech. "You can't find the staff these days, can you, Pixie girl? Never mind, I find that my wealth allows me to buy things!" he smiled, before poking another Crossbow out of the Bentley Window. 

 

"You are moving from delightfully annoying to less delightfully annoying, my dear. But I have survived much, and I am sure I can survive you! My schemes are working wonderfully, you see! You are merely ornamental to them. Very pretty. Very pretty, but dangerous too...."

[Heritage]

Once upon a time, Grimalkin had a pretty short fuse; it didn't take much to set her off, and her temper, once unleashed, was downright scary to behold. Nowadays, she was older and wiser, and had a much thicker skin; it took a lot to get her really worked up these days. But deep down, the cold fury of her mother's temper was still there, and the Duke had been pushing her buttons all day...

"Listen to me, you pathetic fat b######d. I've been hearing a lot of talk about how clever you are and how impressive your schemes are, and so far that's all it's been: talk. You have yet to lay a finger on either me or my partner, and your crazy mad science lab looks like something out of a lame old horror movie. I don't think you have the slightest idea what you're doing, so-" She folded her arms and shrugged. "Go ahead, fire away; you scare me about as much as a box of soggy saltines."

Edited November 26, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Oh my dear, I don't mean to scare you!" smiled the Duke. "You are a work of art, after all. No no, quite too beautiful to scare" replied the Duke, pulling the car to a complete stop and stepping out of the vehicle. 

 

"I have plenty of ideas what I am doing" he bowed. "I have spent years doing what I do. I am only forced to such regrettable acts as today out of necessity. I am slowing down, and I want to speed up" he explained. "Your friend in my Castle, my guest, is doing an admirable job powering me up again. Every time she moves, she feeds me" he smiled jauntily. 

 

"But I find myself unsatisfied with a merely regular speed. No! I can taste it, and I want more. More!" he said, raising his hands to the heavens and pointing the crossbow once more at Grimalkin. 

 

"So please don't get in the way" he explained, firing again. 

[Heritage]

The bolt caught Grim right in the left shoulder, a good solid hit; the pain shot through her whole left side, and there was a burning sensation in the wound as well.

 

Damn it, this guy just loves his poison, don't he?

 

She wasn't sure what the poison was supposed to do or if it was even, but standing hurt a lot right now, so she decided to let herself sink slowly to the ground and allow this SOB at least that much satisfaction. At least she was able to give him the finger as she crumpled to her knees in pain.

 

I am going to do...such horrible things to this guy when I have the chance...

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Not so fast now, my pretty little butterfly! Why you are simply gorgeous! Such a shame to puncture you. I do apologise for the pain and blood. Not really my style. But on the other hand I do need to put you to a sweet slumber. I can't be distracted by sparkly things like yourself, much as I tempted..." he sighed. 

 

Quickly, he put another bolt in his Crossbow. Grimalkin could see it laced with the same drug that had hit her. 

 

The Duke took cover behind the door of the car, window down, and aimed once again, sticking his tongue out and closing one eye to take better aim. 

 

Chunk...

 

The arrow hit the turf twenty feet behind Grimalkin, after sailing by her. His aim was true, but Grimalkin was faster. The grass did not sizzle or burn. Not acidic, at least. 

[Heritage]

Grim turned to the rest of the staff that was still in the area and yelled as loud as she could manage. <"Don't worry about the Duke; I can..I can take care of him! Go into the cellar and...help my friends; Velocity will protect you!">

 

Wait, isn't that the exact opposite of what you told them earlier? Oh well, things change.

 

Then Grim did her best to focus on the Annoying-ness, not easy to do through the cloud of drugs, pain and rage. "You really are...pathetic, you know that? Not only do you...selfishly waste your talents and resources on yourself, but you can't even...can't even shoot a girl!"

 

With great effort, the American changeling rose to her feet, still clutching the bolt sticking out of her shoulder; the grimace on her face was a mixture of agony and pure, unbridled hatred. "Well this little butterfly can shoot back!" She formed a pistol with her finger pointed up in the air high above the crouching madman's head, then brought her thumb down like a hammer. "Pow."

 

And then a large wooden rabbit suddenly dropped out of the sky towards the Duke! Luckily Grim was nice enough to leave a hole in the bottom...

Edited September 16, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Duke looked up to see the Wooden Rabbit in time. 

 

"But I am a Fox!" he announced, jumping forward and into a roll, then springing to his feet as the Rabbit landed behind him. For all his girth, the Duke was surprisingly nimble. 

 

This Duke was apparently as unflappable as the other ones. "Oh ho ho! What poetry! Most elegant! The fine swing of word, the fine thrust of phrase! Rapier wit ho ho! Ah, dear Oscar would have loved you, my little pixie!"

 

He took a moment to give a heart laugh. 

 

"Don't think I fall for such foolish jibes about girls and aim, my dear. I have lived for a long time, over a hundred years. I have heard every jest and taunt there is. I enjoy the poetry of them, but stopped falling for them decades back. And I can assure you, my dear..." he said, taking aim with another crossbow bolt. 

 

"My aim is extremely good...."

 

Chunk!

 

Another section of turf ruined. But the Duke was not lying. His aim was perfect. Grimalkin was just faster...

[Heritage]

S###, that was close!

 

Grim could not keep this up forever; the man was an amazing shot and it didn't seem possible to rattle him, so eventually he would hit her again and she'd be down for the count. Her plan had been to keep him occupied to buy one of the servants time to get down to Robert and Velocity, but it was probably asking a lot to expect a frightened civilian to act against their former employer, especially when said employer was an insane Xerox copy packing a poisoned crossbow.

 

Time to shake things up a bit.

 

This was going to take a little effort. First Grim conjured up a wooden hunting blind around herself for cover, something she should have done a loooong time ago; then she traced a circle in the air to open up her Vault, reached in and retrieved the other Duke's crossbow and cocked it as she called out, "Your move, your Ducal-ness!" Lastly, she shifted her senses over to the rabbit, to get a better idea of what he was up to right now.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Goodness! What a marvel! Perhaps I should be siphoning off that effervescent spirit of yours, my dear" said the Duke, laughing once more. 

 

He took aim for a second with his bow, but if he had difficulty hitting Grimalkin now...the odds were significantly worse in his favour. 

 

"Tut tut! I have had a hundred years practice, but still...you are a most evasive bullseye, my dear. And I have the wits to recognise it. In my experience, and it is a formidable experience, it is best to change ones tactics if one is flogging a dead horse. Yes indeed!"

 

He jumped into the Car, which was still running, and jammed it into reverse...

 

"I find it is better to change course haha!" he shouted merrily, stamping on the accelerator and churning turf with spinning typres. And then, the Car started to belt, in reverse, towards Grimalkin and the blind...

[Heritage]

Holy S###!

 

Grim only had a moment to react as the massive Rolls came flying her way; her first thought was to run or fly out the back, but then her quicksilver mind came up with something different. In a flash she traced a circle on the grass with a finger and dropped down into the Vault, mere seconds before the huge white sedan plowed right through her little hunter's shack and flew right over her head, the rush of its passing sending dirt, grass and splinters down into the small trans-dimensional bower all over her head and shoulders.

 

The pain....was excruciating.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Rolls slid to a halt, covered in the shattered remains of wood and splinters. The poor, previously immaculate lawn now looked like it had been home to a half dozen games of rugby, one after the other. It would have brought tears to the eyes of any grounds keeper. 

 

"What a bothersome mess! Why you would try the patience of a saint, my dear" muttered the Duke as the Car slid its final few inches past Grimalkins head. 

 

"Fortunately, I have the patience of a whole army of saints. I am not vexed, not one bit!" he said gaily. "Why, this is a splendid game! More fun than I have had in quite a few days, I dare say!" He chuckled quite loudly. 

 

"But I fear it is time to depart. I have other business you see, you might say a global business, haha! I will see you later!" he announced, before falling asleep at the wheel, snoring loudly. 

[Heritage]

Grim's whole body ached; not as badly as if she'd actually been hit by the car, but more like a sudden and massive hangover or a twenty-four hour flu bug. She'd be fine in a few minutes, but she really didn't want to have to move.

 

After about a minute, the changeling quickly poked her head out, looked around and just as quickly withdrew it; satisfied, she gingerly climbed out of the hole, chucked her crossbow back into it, and was about to close it again when she remembered this Duke still had one. As gently as she could, she reached inside to fetch it, then tossed the second one in after the first and finally closed the Vault shut.

 

Jeez, the guy must buy in bulk!

 

What to do with this sleepy-headed a-hole? She dropped down on all fours and scampered around the Rolls, carefully puncturing each tire with a razor-sharp thumb claw; she was sorely tempted to claw up his paint job, but that would be an act of pure spite, whereas the tires stunt was at least nominally strategic. Then she slowly made her way towards the castle, still holding a hand over her injured left shoulder, and pointed at the nearest servant who didn't appear to be paralyzed with fear.

 

<"You, come with me; we need to stop this madness once and for all.">

 

Soon she reappeared in cellar followed by the servant, having conjured up a sling for her left arm. "Hi, sorry we took so long; me and His Douchy-ness were out playing 'Dukes of Hazzard' on the front lawn. Fun times!" She turned back to the native Dutch speaker. <"Please, we really need your helping translating the Duke's notes.">

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Servant gulped, clearly anxious. 

 

"Well...I....er...yes of course...I am glad to help..." he said, wiping his brow with a silk handkerchief. He seemed to be the cook, judging by his girth, jowels, and stained apron. Despite this, the Duke seemed to have insisted all his servants had silk handkerchiefs. Presumably to wipe the Duke down. 

 

"Gods! This is...unbelievable...." he said, tracing a finger through the lines of the notebook. "The Duke...he has been around this long? Nearly seventy years...if not more. Lets see.... I cannot understand it all, lots of Science. Talking about cloning bodies, medicine, physics...all beyond me, I am afraid..."

 

He moved to the last pages. 

 

"Here...what does this say?"...

 

"I am now certain. Every time I jump from body to body, something is lost. A drop in the ocean, perhaps. But what is an ocean but drops of water. I am slowing down. If I keep up this, over the years I will be lost. The drop is an exponential curve. If I am to keep this up, I must find a way to counteract the slowing. Something to speed me up again. I have made some progress with my experiments, but I need a power source...something with unnatural speed, something I can use for temporal lensing, to regain myself..."

[Thevshi]

Velocity had just started to get a bit impatient about what could be taking Grim so long when she returned with one of the servants, commenting about running into another Duke outside.  "Another one?"  The speedster commented with a small frown.  "This certainly appears to be getting out of hand."

 

She then was quiet as the servant began looking over the Duke's journal, confirming that it did indeed appear that the Duke had been writing in it for well over seventy years. When the servant translated the last entry, Velocity was lost in thought for a few moments.  Well, a few moments for her, which was more a fraction of a second to everyone else.

 

"So, he jumps 'from body to body,' what exactly does that mean?  Does he have clone bodies that his consciousness moves from one to another?  Is he somehow duplicating himself?  Or is it something else?  Maybe the Duke somehow hijacking other people's bodies, and reshaping them as his own?"  She then posed to Robert and Grim.  "I think one of the first things we need to do is figure out how to shut this little mad scientist experiment in here down."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Robert was still sleepy headed. The Coffee was helping however. The Duke had not skipped on strong, aromatic beans and they had oozed into his sluggish system. 

 

"Well, it should be simple enough...just pull the plug!" he said cheerily. 

 

He leant down to pull the cables away, but pulled his hand away sharply as it sparked and crackled. He turned to gaze at the cobweb of cables all around the floor. 

 

"Yeah...maybe not that easy..." he muttered. The cellar was a death trap. 

 

"But if we can cut the power, then the whole thing shuts down. Which means I hope someone brought a flashlight..." he explained, scratching his head. 

[Heritage]

Grim  was thoughtfully stroking her lower lip as the cook translated the notebook, as well as going over a few things the two Dukes she'd had to deal with had said. "I think this whole thing, at its root, was an immortality scheme; I keep making new bodies for myself and transfer my mind into them so I never have to die. But then he found out he could transfer his mind between each body at will, and he became intrigued by the possibilities."

 

The graceful heroine carefully tiptoed through the cables to get a closer look at the sarcophagus. "Maybe he makes the new bodies in this thing? Anyways, one of my Dukes admitted he lured you here to steal your...I dunno, 'speed energy', and for that I feel bad, Vel; if I hadn't recommended you, you and your...Robert wouldn't be here."

 

She sighed and shook her head. "He said he's been doing this for over a hundred years, which might explain the Mary Shelly vibe to this lab equipment. It's not time travel, it's kind of the opposite, really; Time is finally catching up with him, and he's scared s###less." She turned to look right at the speedster, a concerned frown on her face. "You might actually have to leave, Vel, if you're what's powering him now."

Edited September 22, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

GM

 

Robert gave a yawn, and had another drink of his coffee. 

 

"She may be right, you know. All these spikes. Your speed is being amplified and fed back through a temporal lensing effect. At least, that's how I would describe it..." he said, his concentration returning. 

 

"Simply being here powers this...whatever..." he said to the majestic monolith in the centre of the room, humming from the power cables. "But when you do your superspeed thing...it spikes significantly. Switches from grazing to gorging so to speak. It is not actually draining your speed, well, no more than a nanosecond here or there. But it is using it..." he explained. 

 

Just then, the old phone, littered amongst the clutter, rang, nearly jumping off the hook...

 

Bring Bring...Bring Bring...Bring Bring...

[Thevshi]

Velocity was frowning slightly as Robert and Grim theorized more on what was going on and how it was likely her presence made things all the worse, particularly when she was using her speed.  She gave Grim an encouraging smile as the other heroine mentioned feeling badly about drawing her and Robert into this.  "Don't worry about it Grim.  Getting draw into these sorts of things sort of goes with our line of work.  And in any event, I would rather be here than you facing this alone."

 

She then focused back on Robert's suggestions on how to possibly shut off the machine.  "Well, cutting the power might be an idea, if we clear out of here and can find a way to do so.  How about we clear everyone out of this room, then I see how all this stuff handles a contained sonic boom and maybe just break it all?"

 

But before anyone could answer, some old phone rang in the room.  Velocity was able to quickly spot the phone, taking a fraction of a second to thoroughly scan the entire room.  She was then by the phone quickly, but not too quickly.  "What do you want?" 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Ah! Hello!" said the Crackling voice of the Duke down the Telephone. It was not the best of lines. And there was a lag delay of a second or two. 

 

"Velocity isn't it? How are you liking my little Cellar? I suppose the game is up by now? Has that pretty little pixie told you everything? My she is a vexing thing, is she not? If she was not so delightful I would be quite quite Irate with her hahaha!" he chuckled. 

 

"Now, I think you are doing most splendidly charging up my machines. Yes indeed. Very helpful. I think I feel quite normal again. But I confess, your little display of speed is so intoxicating, I find myself wanting more. A little taste of your Velocity, so to speak. Ahaha!"

 

"So if you would be good enough to just run around that Cellar at high speed, be a dear..."

 

"Oh, and by the way, I am currently at Silberman's book store with a lethal gas device and will use it if you don't comply..."

[Heritage]

Grim looked around the room, hands on her hips. "Well, I guess we could clear the Duke and his right hand man of hench outta hear, and you could make with the boom-boom-"

 

When the phone rang, she froze as her blood ran cold; something about that archaic sound made it much more sinister, like a scene from an old slasher film. She was coming to associate all these antiques with their diabolical master, who was no doubt on the other end of the line. When Velocity picked it up, Grim cocked her head slightly so she could hear the conversation more clearly.

 

...

 

There was an audible gasp. Is it possible to have your blood go colder than cold? Maybe her veins were full of dry ice now. In a way, her employees had become like a little family to her, and by simply hiring them, she'd put all their lives in horrible danger. The petite heroine could hardly speak her throat was so tight with fear, and her eyes stared out at nothing.

 

"Go. Save them. I'll stay here. With Robert."

[Thevshi]

Velocity felt a bit of a chill down her spin as well as the Duke threatened the employees and customers in Grim's store.  There was also a fair bit of anger as well.  Giving Grim a small nod, the speedster replied.  "Okay, sure, run around a bit."  She then handed the phone over to Grim as she mouthed to her and Robert shut down this machine.

 

Then the yellow clad speedster was gone in a blur of motion, taking one half lap around the room to at least register a power spike, assuming the Duke could somehow sense it, and then she was gone from the room. 

 

This time, Velocity was not taking things "slow" but poured on all her speed, simply vibrating her body through walls and doors of the castle and some other obstacles as she streaked across the Dutch landscape before reaching the sea and then continuing on across the surface of the water.  Barely a second had passed before she was out into the Atlantic, not slowing as water kicked up behind her from her rapid passage. 

 

The Duke really did not seem to appreciate just how fast she really was, assuming that the distance between them would prevent her from reacting to stop him.  Barely three seconds had passed before she had reached Freedom City and made her way over the West End and the bookstore, quickly scanning the area around the store before vibrating herself through a wall and into the store, where she physically slowed down once more, but was quickly scanning the area for a sign of the Duke...

[Supercape]

GM

 

Silberman's Book Store

 

It was not much different to how Velocity had left it. Staff were milling around. Books were being looked at. Books were being perused. 

 

And the Duke sat in a comfortable chair in a tweed Jacket, tweed cap, and brown shoes, happily ruffling through an obscure compendium on the Cuisine of the Ottoman Empire. He could not have looked more at home unless he wore slippers and smoked a pipe. He probably would have done the latter if it was permitted. 

 

At his feet, a battered leather suitcase of suspicious size and form. 

 

Velocities entrance was announced with a gentle gust of air that flipped over a page in his book, halfway through his visual digestion of spiced goat surprise. 

 

"Goodness, that was fast!" he said, as Surprised as the goat, but managing a friendly smile still.