CHAPTER SIX
The King, The Queen & Brooklyn
After he hung up on Lawman Gumble, King Morten retreated down the winding escalator staircase to his vault. Contrary to what everyone in the West believed, most art was not destroyed, yet kept in a private collection in the bottom chamber of the castle.
Art was outlawed in the first place because it could either pacify, control or otherwise manipulate a people. Yet as soon as a new generation rose it always had the opposite effect of the previous. If one generation were sparked to revolution by art, the other would be complacent. After a while it was believed that since it produced neither consistent radical or warrior it was of no value to the public, therefore only those fit to rule deserved to view art and do with it what they saw fit.
King Morten’s libraries walls were made of shelves stacked with books, reels of films, Betamax, VHS, laser discs, DVD’s, blurays, USB drives, vinyl records, cassette tapes, CD’s and hardrives of hours of endless entertainment, music and art. A ten by twenty foot screen stood in the center of the room. King Morten clapped his hands, and the ceiling projector in back of him came to life, the screen warmed. Before his call from Gumble, Royal spies had returned after obtaining his sons’ film from the black market. It had been loaded in the projector waiting for him. He was prepared to love this film no matter what, especially given the deathly circumstances of his progeny; instead, when the lights went up the only the King could feel was anger. He hated their movie, and the fact that they needlessly lost their lives because of it in anyway was infuriating.
KING MORTEN
How could they have died over this TRASH!?
The King was about to tear apart the screen with his bear hands when the chiming of the castle doors went off, announcing an arrival.
When he arrived upstairs in his royal study the Duke & the Dutchess of the West were seated in front of desk, in a mood to match the King’s, their wrath written all over their glaring eyes.
KING MORTEN
M’Lord, M’Lady-
DUCHESS OF THE WEST
Enough with the formalities Morten.
DUKE OF THE WEST
We demand to know what the hell is going on!
KING MORTEN
In regards to…?
DUCHESS OF THE WEST
To our daughter for one thing! She runs off with your boys, last we hear from you “I got this covered”. Now there’s a rumor she’s blowing up diners in the Outskirts!
DUKE OF THE WEST
Not to mention this business of that Lawman of yours murdering a protected artist in front of patrons at our restaurant.
DUCHESS OF THE WEST
We have the bill….so you know!
KING MORTEN
Your highnesses, we’ve known each other for quite a while yes?
DUKE OF THE WEST
Too long if you ask me.
DUCHESS OF THE WEST
Come on darling it’s only been five decades, one and a half of which, was quite grand, if I recall.
KING MORTEN
So we can agree it has been some time, and its safe to say that welcomes have worn thin?
DUKE OF THE WEST
Are you going anywhere with this?
KING MORTEN
Yes.
With a flick of his wrist, his golden revolver spun into his hand from his mechanical sleeve BOOM! BOOM! With a rapid fire he shot the Duke and the Duchess in their left shoulders. They winced in pain as the King stood over them.
KING MORTEN
To address your grievances; all of our children are dead. Your daughter did not blow up a diner; she was blown up outside of one. I do apologies for the behavior of my Lawman, but I will not be paying his bill, as I cannot send a check to wherever it is you’re going.
BOOM! He Shot the Dukes right eight out. BOOM! He shot out the Duchess’ left eye. Their bodies slumped, slowly falling from their chairs to the ground.
The King took the elevator to the top floor of the castle, which he had allowed Dr. Belfry, his chief and sole Scientist in all of the land that once was the United States to work, the entire floor was filled with five hundred beds that held that many attendance.
Out of all of the films passed on from King to King, Morten’s favorite was what was known as Frankenstein. The film allowed him to get the idea to remake soldiers from the parts of others who had fallen, he had conceived of this idea as a boy, which is why he had the Neo-Samurai and then the Bounty Hunters slaughtered; so he could pick their parts to build a full army.
All of the spliced cadavers were hooked up from the two bolts on their foreheads to a series of wires that went into one of the few remaining nuclear missiles. The missile was also attached to a machine that allowed Dr. Belfry to control how much energy he was pumping into his subjects. The doctor bowed as the King entered.
DR. BELFRY
Pleasure to-
KING MORTEN
Get up and tell me how much time I have left!
DR. BELRY
Once the atomic energy is drained they will be fully awake. This will not be for another half day.
KING MORTEN
You can ready them for air travel in that state without connecting them?
DR. BELFRY
It will be difficult but it is possible.
KING MORTEN
Have them ready to board my airship in eighteen minutes.
DR. BELFRY
But after they awake, they will be ravenous!
KING MORTEN
Which is why I am going to land them right into the heart of Haven City.
*******************
In the time before all that was, this planet was a temporary one given to five gods and five goddesses who called themselves the Clandestine.
The world was a copy of the very one you, as the reader inhabit. In this proxy of Earth the Clandestine learned who people were, for better or worse; as well as concepts such as war, geography, art, history, culture, math’s and sciences.
After passing a series of trials it was time for the Clandestine to move on, but the ninth god, Zych Chromatic, had grown too attached to this preliminary world. After a fight ended in bloodshed, the others abandoned the ninth god.
As time went on events replayed themselves out under Chromatic’s watch. However, because he did not create this world he could not change its loop, the same events played out for centuries. His abilities as a deity were suppressed; over time he went insane, deciding to use his abilities to destroy this world.
Chromatic poured rays of dormant cosmic energy into the planet’s core then left the proxy Earth to search for his kin, not caring to see the aftermath. When the ninth unleashed his power, he infused the Earth with enough cosmic radiation that allowed the Earth to reform and replay its loop except now the supernatural had been added.
Natalie Bowers was a shy, inquisitive eight-year-old girl who lived with her family in the ruins of Manhattan, New York a decade after Chromatic’s exodus. A catastrophic ice storm fell upon the Eastern seaboard; it was made sentient by the Earth’s energy and hungered for souls. The Ice Storm came upon Natalie deciding it wanted her form; the subzero phantom fused with the girl, flash freezing then consuming her soul from the inside out, Natalie was no more and in its place was Polar Vortex.
Immediately christening herself “Queen of the East”. Polar Vortex went on to take over the entirety of what was once the Eastern United States, challenging the Royals of the West, conceding due to her abilities diminishing the further they got to the center of the ruined landscape. A truce was made, granting Polar Vortex full control of the East and the West to King Morten’s ancestors.
After what became known as “The Neo-Samurai’s Last Stand”. The Girl at 18 awakened in a frozen cavern with eight other women from the academy, all chained and shivering. The two frozen over steel doors SLAMMED open, the blinding light came in sharp, yet was muted by Polar Vortex, flanked by fifteen Copperhead Sisters.
POLAR VORTEX
Welcome, welcome my friends. You may be wondering many things.
Her cold voice vibrated off the walls of ice.
POLAR VORTEX
Such as the fate of your other sisters, well, not everyone is meant for frost transportation; they were weak and that is the last they will be spoken off.
Gliding through the prisoners, the Girl watched as their souls in the form of a bright translucent cloud were torn from their bodies and absorbed into Polar Vortex through her eyes, nose and mouth. The Queen inhaled all eight souls, leaving behind light blue eyes in her victims who now stood amongst the Copperhead Sisters. When Polar Vortex came across the girl she was perplexed to see that she could not take her soul.
POLAR VORTEX
And what is your story little one?
THE GIRL AT 18
I don’t talk to strangers.
POLAR VORTEX.
I like that.
The Queen caressed the girls face, and then stood.
POLAR VORTEX
Go, and leave the rest from the academy.
The Copperhead Sisters did as they were told, leaving the remaining eight.
POLAR VORTEX
I need a second in command, I suspected there would be one of us, those touched by the fantastic amongst the neo-samurai. I lost many soldiers today, glad it seems to have paid off…Kill everyone of your peers and the position is yours.
THE GIRL AT 18
If I refuse?
POLAR VORTEX
Then they will tear you apart. Which is a pity but not an inconvenience.
Polar Vortex undid the Girls shackles, the Girl came at the Queen who turned and used her ability to lower the Girls body temperature.
POLAR VORTEX
I may lack access to your mind, but I can control the rest of you.
The Queen pushed the Girl to the ground, throwing a dagger in front of her before slowly exiting through the line of possessed ex neo-samurai.
THE GIRL AT 18
WAIT!
The Queen watched the Girl standing in front of her. She had already been trying to mentally connect to them before they were possessed what was odd yet to her benefit is that whatever Polar Vortex had replaced with their souls felt more mechanical than human to the Girl she was instantly able to control them.
The Girl had the possessed ex-samurai turn and bow to the Queen.
THE GIRL AT 18
I can get them to do whatever you want. You don’t have to kill them.
POLAR VORTEX
Bravo my dear.
That night the Girl was given her own quarters at the Queens Fortress the entire fifth floor of what used to be the Empire State Building. While dreaming she saw The Boy in a field of cherry blossoms with a heavy wind at his back.
THE GIRL AT 18
Where is this?
THE BOY AT 18
I have no idea but it feels….
THE GIRL AT 18
Too real?
He nodded.
THE BOY AT 18
Where are you?
THE GIRL AT 18
Taken to the East, you?
THE BOY AT 18
In the highlands, with George, after the academy, after Gumble betrayed me…. Are you hurt?
THE GIRL AT 18
No, but I don’t want to be here either.
THE BOY AT 18
I will find a way to you.
THE GIRL AT 18
If I don’t find a way to you first.
They came to realize that their telepathic bond stretched boundaries as they had further meetings in their dream world.
Over the next ten years the Girl continued to grow in the Queens favor, on her twenty first birthday, she was given the entire burrow of what used to be Brooklyn and assumed the moniker for herself.
Not having the same affliction as Polar Vortex, Brooklyn was able to venture further East, under the guise of gaining more recruits for the Copper Sisters, or finding more people with abilities. She was ordered to kill every male on sight and leave any females. Instead she offered the males safe passage into the underground parts of her territory, as well as cultivating all of those with abilities, teaching and learning from them how to strengthen their skills.
Today, Brooklyn has fifty students and disciples, split proportionately in half male to female ranging from the ages of six to thirty. They were planning an over throw of the Queen when news spread of the Western Royals; first their journey to Haven City, then of their untimely demise at the hands of the Flannel Ronin.
She locked herself in her private quarters, going into the dream state; he was waiting for her under the same tree.
BROOKLYN
This is where you explain yourself right?
THE FLANNEL RONIN
Not much to explain, the royals were impulsive and without honor.
BROOKLYN
You are in a lot of danger.
THE FLANNEL RONIN
I am on my way to you.
She stopped herself, then grinned wiping a concerned tear from her eye.
BROOKLYN
You crazy fool.
THE FLANNEL RONIN
So I’ve been told.
The ground around them began to shake, the sky darkened, it began to hail as a malicious laughter echoed all around them, the dark clouds formed into the face of Polar Vortex.
POLAR VORTEX
Very naughty my dears!
Brooklyn was pushed out of the dream world back into her quarters as her floor was being raided by Copperhead Sisters. Four of the sisters burst through her paper walls. Brooklyn grabbed her two daggers sliding across the floor, slicing their heels until they dropped. More Copperhead Sisters entered, knowing she would be overtaken, Brooklyn ran through her window shooting through the glass like a bullet then using her honed telekinetic abilities to run down the side of the building into the frozen streets.
She went underground to her cultivated hamlet of survivors, but it was too late. Polar Vortex was there, with all fifty refugees on their knees, hands in the air.
POLAR VORTEX
You know darling, I would be impressed if I wasn’t so heart broken.
BROOKLYN
Let them go!
POLAR VORTEX
I sent you to kill them, their lives are just currency to your pain.
Brooklyn took out her daggers, clicking the hilts, igniting the mechanism that extended both blades into swords then charged at the Queen. Polar Vortex had formed a blade of ice from her right elbow past her hand. The two traded blow for blow. After managing to get Polar Vortex distracted Brooklyn spotted twelve-year-old Samantha and connected with her.
BROOKLYN
Get to the others; tell them to concentrate all their energy on the Queen when I give the signal.
Samantha nodded.
Polar Vortex gained back her footing, tackling Brooklyn to the ground, holding the ice blade to her throat.
POLAR VORTEX
Any last words child?
BROOKLYN
My left arm is free.
Brooklyn ran her sword through the Queens’s left rib cage.
BROOKLYN
NOW!
The fifty survivors concentrated all of their telepathic energy on the wounded queen, levitating her in the air and bombarding her with their thoughts. Polar Vortex was restless; the sub-zero phantom grew, tearing apart its host, exposing itself for the first time in centuries.
BROOKLYN
There you are.
POLAR VORTEX
What is this?
BROOKLYN
The end of the line, demon.
POLAR VORTEX
How?
BROOKLYN
From the moment you took me I’ve been plotting my escape and I used your hunger against you to gain an army!
POLAR VORTEX
There was no way you could have foreseen today!
BROOKLYN
True, so I treated every day as if it were this one.
POLAR VORTEX
What makes you so sure you can kill me?
BROOKLYN
Death is too good for you.
The Fifty had moved Polar Vortex over the marker. Brooklyn connected her mind to the trap, turning the electro-magnetic field generator on trapping the sub-zero phantom, the air engines kicked in sucking Polar Vortex into a three-foot tall canister.
The Queen was gone, but this was only the first part of Brooklyn’s plan.
Later that night she greeted the Flannel Ronin in their dream world. He could not contain himself and kissed her as soon as he saw her
THE FLANNEL RONIN
You’re alive!
BROOKLYN
I sure am Mister.
THE FLANNEL RONIN
The Queen?
BROOKLYN
Dealt with, for now.
THE FLANNEL RONIN
Good, I should be there-
BROOKLYN
I’m coming to you.
THE FLANNEL RONIN
What?
BROOKLYN
There’s no reason to be here anymore.
THE FLANNEL RONIN
Fine.
Ten of each of the fifty was scattered to center of all of the former Burroughs of Fallen New York City. Concentrating their minds, the power grid for the city was turned on, subways roared to life, neon lights beamed threw walls of ice, then the ground shook.
The Drewniverse 44 