Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

Well, looks like this book just may get 21 chapters, but don't hold me to that.

New chapter.

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Nine-Tenths of the Law

The meeting was going long, and the four geist wraiths quickly bored of it. It was not like they could make their voices heard, either. They no longer had voices in the most literal of senses. Each of the four were getting restless and irritable hearing the conversation between the corporeal RAFians going in circles, and they didn't even seem to notice!

The four became rather disgruntled and left the auditorium, left the forum. They were not heard, and they were not seen. Granted, they were not seen because only Cloak, Shadow, Blaze, Demos, Asmo, Estelore, Richard, and Broken were proven to be able to see them. All four were feeling particularly moody. They fought the despair of never being able to be reunited with their rightful bodies, as it threatened to overtake them with every yard away from the forum.

They stumbled upon a campsite, where the campers looked to be the responsible sort, though young. There were like four campers, the eldest being around seventeen, eighteen, and the youngest about fourteen, fifteen. They were all male.

And they were all terrified. A male grizzly had wandered to their campsite in search of food, as winter would be coming soon enough. The RAFian geist wraiths, abandoning their own worries about their problems for the moment glided over to try to help.

All they succeeded in doing was accidentally possessing the campers -- all except Aquilai who possessed the bear, which was somehow scared when the other three possessed the other three campers. The bear apparently could sense them, if not see them.

Of course, though, it was the same with the RAFian Bear, as well as the decidedly-inhuman RAFians. They could sense them, just not see them. Or hear them.

Anyway, Aquilai lumbered away in the bear's body, waiting until it was a safe enough distance away. Then he abandoned the ursine body and returned. He discovered that only the youngest was -- ah -- unoccupied. And the boy still had enough fear coursing though him that Aquilai was still able to possess him.

Blue had possessed the eldest. The eighteen-year-old boy was rather stocky, in an average way, and wore a blue shirt, a black belt, boots, and blue jeans. Blue wore a serious look on his face, and showed discomfort in what truly amounted in identity theft.

Aquilai had possessed the youngest. The fifteen-year-old was round-shouldered, short, and wearing a bright orange shirt, flip flops, a black belt, and blue jean shorts. Aquilai wore a quizzical look upon this boy's face, as if this was an odd sensation.

Parker had possessed the third-eldest, despite being the tallest. The sixteen-year-old boy was thin, lanky with diastema. He wore a old purple shirt that was draped over his frame, blue jeans with a black belt, and simple work boots. Parker wore an inscrutable look upon the boy's face.

Phoenix had possessed the second eldest, and second-shortest. The seventeen-year-old boy was thick-bodied and stocky. He wore a rather tattered red shirt, worn jeans with a beaten up belt, and worn out shoes. Phoenix looked at this boy's hands, which he could move as his own.

"I feel dirty." Phoenix had said. But he spoke not with his own voice, but with the boy's.

"We didn't do this intentionally," Blue said. His voice was that of his host too.

"I kinda did," Aquilai said. "But what choice do we have?"

"None of you have ever experienced being possessed." Phoenix pointed out. "I have. Back when Mummundrai Evile or whatever took me over. I know what it feels like. Now I'm forcing it upon this kid."

"We don't have a choice," Parker said, dryly. "If we want our opinions heard by the others, so they can stop arguing in bloody circles."

"Well, we best go now. These kids pretty much have already packed up their camp before that bear came along, so let's finish up," Blue suggested, breezily, "and head back to the forum."

[redtailedsaffa]

Wait, how come the others can't see the wraiths?

[Cloak]

Well, while similar to ghosts, they are not true ghosts. It basically is the ren of the soul, the identity that had been seperated. And they are more similar to Afterlights, which, under normal circumstances, cannot not be seen by the living. This makes geist wraiths dementor-like, in a way. Only some people can see them. Cloak and Shadow because they're Realm Walkers, Blaze because he's part angel, Demos and Asmo also because of their species, Estelore because she's a wild card in this somewhat, and Richard because, well, he's Richard.

New chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Complexities

It was a bit of a shock when the four showed up in their borrowed (or, as Phoenix ruefully thought of it, stolen) bodies. They each bore a Mark in the appropriate places, but it was not as strong as everyone else's.

"They're fake, then!" Rotiart said. Apparently enough time had passed since the Corruption incident that Rotiart thought it was safe to be himself again -- an obnoxious jerk.

"No, they're authentic," Cloak said, scrutinizing the Marks quickly.

"You can't know that!"

Cloak locked eyes with Rotiart, and he quelled at the intensity of it. When Cloak spoke, each word felt as if it had been charged by electricity. "I helped create the blasted Mark. I would be able to detect a forgery!"

"But why does it seem half powered?" Saffa asked. She could not help but feel weird about the four possessing the campers. Who knows how long they stayed in there already? What if there was a time limit before they got stuck? "Shouldn't it be fully-fledged?"

"Probably because our true bodies are still alive, and the Mark has ties to both RAFian mind and body," Aquilai said, though his host body's voice made it sound rather more comical than he intended. "So the power of our Marks have been split in two."

"Which makes sense when you atop to think about it," Parker said, his gapped teeth distracting. "Since we, the four of us here, are essentially in two places at once."

"And we have to occupy these bodies like filthy parasites," Phoenix muttered.

"Hey!" Myitt protested. "Not all parasites are filthy!"

Phoenix was moody, and this protest did little to sway him. He felt dirty. Unclean. "Your host body is voluntary. This boy is unaware of my using his body to meet my ends. It's not the same thing."

"Phoenix -- that is you, right? -- What's the matter?" SuperNate asked.

Phoenix didn't answer, but Cloak surmised what it was. "Mummudrai Evile."

"What?" Underseen asked.

"Mr. E?" Faerie asked. "What about -- oh, right. . . ."

Phoenix turned away, and folded the teenager's arms in a surly way.

"So," Richard said, in a tone of summation, "seems to me that the logical first step would be to find the coordinates where your bodies are being held."

"This just in!" Yarin said. "It seems to be a -- a fax?"

"A fax?" Genies asked. "When did we get a fax machine?"

"Never mind that! There's coordinates on it!" Yarin yelped in shock.

"That's . . . convenient." Richard said, slowly.

"Too convenient," Cloak said, quickly. "It's gotta be a trap."

"Everything's a trap," Saffa quipped.

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Who Are You Gonna Call?

"If there's something strange
in your neighborhood,
Who ya gonna call?
Wraith -busters!
If there's something weird,
and it don't look good,
Who ya gonna call?
Wraith-busters!
I ain't afraid of no geist wraiths.
I ain't afraid of no geist wraiths.
If you're seeing things,
running through your head.
Who can ya call?
Wraith-busters!
A intangible man,
sleeping in your bed,
Who ya gonna call?
Wraith-busters!
I ain't afraid of no geist wraiths.
I ain't afraid of no geist wraiths.
Who ya gonna call?
Wraith-busters!
If ya all alone,
pick up the phone
and call
Wraith-busters!
I ain't afraid of no geist wraiths!
I ain't afraid of no geist wraiths! --"

"Shadow," Cloak said, addressing his rather overexcited neice, "you do know that this is a stealth mission, right?"

"Sorry!"

The two Realm Walkers, Blaze, Gaz (with overprotective Laserbeak, of course), Broken, and Helen were heading out to the coordinates. Cloak was absolutely sure that it was a trap of some kind.

The four geist wraith RAFians had returned their host bodies to the precise area that they were in before ditching them, leaving them to figure out the lost hours of their lives. They went with the team to the coordinates, and they didn't really appreciate Shadow's song.

"Oh, lighten up, Cloak," Blaze said. "Phoenix, Parker, Blue and Aquilai have all scouted ahead and reported that there wasn't anything."

"That doesn't mean there isn't anything up ahead," Cloak said cautiously. "Traps can be cleverly concealed."

"That brings up a good point," Broken said, airing on the side of caution as well. "We should have seen some trouble before now. A booby trap, an ambush."

"A geist wraith," Cloak added. "But no. Nothing. The air is too still, and . . ."

Cloak stopped midsentence, as he thought he sensed something further on.

[redtailedsaffa]

Haha, I was wondering when you were going to throw Ghostbusters in here.

[Cloak]

Yep. Though this book is loosely based on "Geist", a GameCube title, I believe.

New chapter.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Monstrokokhlos*

They had entered a cave as they were speaking. It was rather spooky -- if you were a child younger than Shadow. Cloak could tell that there were labyrinthine tunnels beneath it. It was a trap.

Huh, imagine that.

But Cloak sensed something. Something that had pulsed an evil energy. This wasn't the thinking, deliberate evil most sentient beings associated with the word. This was more ancient, more savage and brutal, and far less forgiving. He looked all around, but couldn't find anything with his eyes.

So. Malice had procured a guardian, a bodyguard, a herald. But, no, this freature was far more bestial than any other evil Cloak had sense, except for perhaps Mummudrai Evile -- "Mr. E". Even Malice did not contain this sort of unrestrain malevolence. What possible beast could this creature --

"Demon snail!" Shadow said, as the creature slammed to the ground.

It wasn't a demon snail per se, that was overgeneralization on Shadow's part. It looked like a Shellmon in body style, with the lower body enclosed in a shell (though this one was spiraled vertically), two limbs rather like the forelegs of a wolf or lion with opposable thumbs and fingers, thick human-like shoulders, and its head was like a Bolovax Vikian, only with eyes like that of an Arcona. Its flesh was red as if it had been flayed alive, though its eyes were like glittering diamonds.

But the most dangerous part was its shell, its metallic shell. Cloak could tell that it was a dangerously unstable alloy of adamantium, vibranium, and n^th metal. Cloak knew enough about the metals to know that they don't go together like that. Not without them being extemely and exceedingly volatile.

"This is bad," Cloak muttered.

"It's a monstrokokhlos," Blaze said, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"A what?" Gaz said.

"A demon snail," Blaze answered.

"Thank you for clearing that up," Helen said.

"I could have told you that," Shadow said, folding her arms rather petulantly. "Oh, wait. I did!"

"Enough arguing!" Cloak snapped, a tiger's roar intermingling his words as if woven together. "Do not understand how volatile this creature's shell is?"


*"Monstro" = "monster"; "kokhlos" = Greek for "spiral shell", I think

[redtailedsaffa]

It's an exploding demon snail?

[Cloak]

In a manner of speaking, yes. It's actually based off a boss character in "Geist".

New chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Escar-Got Owned

"Looks normal to me," Helen said. "Well, normal for a monster snail shell. That's metal."

"A dwarf kaiju," Blaze added.

"It must be only people who have mastered Earthsight and Metalsight, then." Cloak said. "But that shell is definately not biometallic."

"Wait, is that what the --" Shadow asked.

"Yes," Cloak answered, wearily. He had foreseen what would have to happen and the amount of energy that it would take from his neice and himself. "I know it looks like the metals are continuous. That they are homogeneous, but the shell is not. It is an alloy made of materials that should not mix. Although the adamantium and vibranium could, I suppose. The n^th metal destabilizes the whole mixture, though."

"Are you speaking English?" Blaze asked, as the demon snail -- the monstrokokhlos, as Blaze put it, the "spiral-shelled monster" -- took notice of them, but did not seem to notice the geist wraiths or had no interest in them because they lacked flesh.

The monstrokokhlos roared belligerently at them, which sounded like the roar of a hoarse tyrannosaur, and scooted towards them with rather astounding, astonishing speed for one of its size. That was in relative terms. In actual terms, its speed wasn't anything to brag about and its agility was virtually nonexistent.

Cloak, for one, did not which to test its offensive capabilities. There could be only one chance. There was a metaphorical chick in the monstrokokhlos's armor, and Cloak thought that he could "see" that with seismic sense -- his Earthsight and Metalsight.

It roared again, almost drunkenly. Cloak wondered if it was supposed to be the personification of belligerent drunkenness, but musings on that would have to wait for a later date. There were more important things to concern himself with.

"Cloak, what's the plan?" Gaz said.

Cloak felt a stab of fear completely unrelated to the task at hand. He had always feared being in positions of power. He feared allowing power to corrupt him, as it had to his mother. He had given her power over him, and she abused it. Was corrupted by it. Cloak feared the same would happen to him. But then, whoever was in charge of fate, had gave him the potential to master the Six Elements since his birth. They gave him the power, power he still thinks he doesn't deserve. . . .

"Cloak?" Broken pressed.

Not the time for introspection now. A plan needs to be made and the monstrokokhlos needs to be dealt with.

"Blue. Aquilai. Phoenix. Parker." Cloak said, "go topside through the ceiling and see if we're  nearby anything that looks like a settlement. Just confirm or deny. Don't worry about explanations."

They followed suit, but Cloak did not hesitate in the next stage of the plan.

"Shadow, Blaze, Helen," Cloak said. "And Broken, if you know an appropriate spell. Be prepared to contain the explosion."

"Explo-- Cloak, you're not serious?" Gaz said.

"I am, Gaz." he said. "It's go time."

The beast managed to get close enough that Cloak could smell its breath, which was about as fragrant as you might expect. Cloak eyed the one spot on the monstrokokhlos's shell that seemed to be the weakest, most volatile spot, according to his Earth and Metalsight. This would take percision.

Cloak pulled five marble-sized earth pellets, which hovered around his fingers. He focused his mind, his will, everything on that one spot. He balled his outstretched hand into a fist, and the earth pellets shot off like bullets, each hitting that one spot, one-after-another, albeit at different angles.

The shells seemed to have crackled with energy, and Cloak frowned that it didn't work as the freature roared with defiance and annoyance. But Gaz had saw where they hit, had Laserbeak go into his blaster mode, and fired. Thankful, but mind on the present thing, Cloak shouted, after the blast hit its mark, "Now, guys!"

Shadow and Helen contained it within an energy bubble, while Blaze coated the interior of the bubble with a literal firewall, and Broken had shouted, "AEROGA!" and added a spiral of wind as a defensive shield for them. The explosion was blinding in both visual aspects and via Earthsight.

It was gone, but Cloak narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"That was too easy," Cloak said, suspecting something larger at play -- the demon snail wasn't the thing he had sensed, he realized. But it wasn't Malice. He didn't know what it was, but was gone now.

"You're kidding, right?" Blaze said.

Cloak said nothing.

[redtailedsaffa]

If the demon snail was a distraction... that's one hell of a distraction.

[Cloak]

Not exactly, Saffa. More like -- well, that'd be telling.

Feeling some anxiety right now (I don't have the greatest job security, I guess -- I'm always afraid that I don't work hard enough). Of course, you'll benefit from it, because it means more chapters.

New chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
A Weakness for the Dramatic

The tunnel managed, more or less, to remain intact.

"Well, that was unbelievably convenient," Gaz pointed out, as Laserbeak panicked and began to examine if Gaz had been injured. She wasn't. "Or remarkably coincidental, I don't know which -- Laserbeak, enough! I'm fine."

Laserbeak wasn't satisfied by this, and continued his diagnostics. Gaz resigned to let him do so as they proceeded further into the cave.

"Wait a minute," Broken said, with sudden realization, "what if there are more monstrokokhlos ahead."

"There aren't," Cloak said.

"How do you -- oh right. Earthsight. Metalsight." Helen said, her violet Star Sapphire light illuminwting the dark cavern. Cloak didn't need it, though.

"They're back," Blaze said, indicating the geist wraith RAFians. The four motioned fervently up, and Shadow and Cloak -- in a near mirroring of a scene from the first season of "The Legend of Korra" -- open the tunnel to the surface, causing fading sunlight to eke into the tunnel, somehow making the darkness seem deeper, thicker. Odd.

On the surface, it was like stepping into the first level of "Slender Man". It was a forest with trees on all sides. The slipping light and the retreating sun made all the shadows look longer, more dangerous, and deeper. Cloak wasn't afraid. Darkness was never a barrier to his feline eyes.

They saw they were mere feet awy from a cottage, where the truck from the asylum still stood. And around the truck were what looked about to be four people with their backs to the RAFians. The geist wraith RAFians descended upon them, pushing out the weaker geist wraiths who apparently were expecting the RAFians to come from that direction.

And yet . . . and yet they didn't seem to put up much of a fight. They seemed to be either puzzled or sullen, as they didn't try to take back the bodies they stole. They just hivered where they were pushed in a melancholic or desolate way, Cloak couldn't be sure of which.

"Geesh, where's Slender Man?" Blaze muttered.

"Who's Slender Man?" Shadow asked.

"First Light!" came an irritated voice. "You took your sweet time getting here."

"Malice." Cloak snarled, seeing her sitting on a rocking chair as if there was no problem in the world. As if she was just a knitting granny or something. "You wanted us to come."

"Oh, stop it, Cloak." Malice said. "You know you need me as much as I need you."

This actually caught Cloak off-guard for a bit, before he recovered. "You've clearly taken leave of your senses, Malice."

"Oh, don't act like you don't see it." Malice lectured. "The give and take. The mental gymnastics. The drama. You need me as your antagonist, as your foil. Without me here, your life would fall into the insufferable doldrum of mediocrity. I give you the spice of adventure, my schemes give you adversity to over come."

"You sanctimonious twit," Cloak snarled, his feline feats somehow more pronounced as he spoke. "You are so completely full of yourself. Have you never thought that I might enjoy the mediocrity? Have you never paused to think that I might have already had had far enough adversity in my life?"

"You need me. Admit it."

"No, Malice, I really don't." Cloak said. "It's the other way around, isn't it though? You are the one who needs me. You are the one who needs this everlasting conflict to break up the long tedium of your life without it. You have no friends. You have never felt love. You are a pathetic old spinster that can handle that someone had found happiness whilst you must have everything, and everyone under your control, at your beck and call. You live the life of a narcissist -- and such lives inevitably lead to lives of loneliness."

Malice stood, her mouth flapping up and down, indignation strangling her voice. But she eventually found her voice. "You know nothing, you impudent whelp! Nothing!!"

[Cloak]

New chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Gigantophaetos

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." Cloak said. He Earthsighted the ten cryogenic tubes below them in a secret, underground laboratory. Wait -- ten? Of course. The other geist wraiths were just poor souls that Malice ripped from their bodies. Cloak was more inclined to be sympathetic to them, but not by much.

"Don't ignore me, boy!" Malice screeched.

Cloak deliberately did just that. He pulled back his fist to punch the ground, so he could create a tunnel to the underground bunker of a lab. But then, Malice screamed, "Get him!"

"Uncle!" Shadow cried, and Cloak dodged the blow with his feline agility and speed. Cloak wheeled around to see his attacker, expecting some belligerent beast controlled by Malice. The beast was a gigantophaetos, a giant ghost. It had translucent, iridescent indigo body of ectoplasm, a singular Cyclopean eye and thick body that made it look more like an overlarge Yellow Devil*. How was Malice controling it?

Ah. A spiral around its arm with crystals studding the outside decoratively, like the collar that Shedder used to control April O'Neil in "Catwoman From Channel Six", but also like the control spiral from the second Digimon season -- series? Oh, it didn't matter.

BAM!

Cloak nimbly dodged away from it, landing on his feet in a graceful manner. Cloak knew why the gigantophaetos was focusing on him. He had struck a nerve with Malice, and she didn't like it one little bit.

"Incarcerous!" Broken shouted.

The magically-conjured chains passed right through the gigantophaetos, but the others joined in, with Blue, Aquilai, Parker, and Phoenix hanging back, not for fear of battle, but fear of injuring the bodies that they were currently stewards of. Parker rankled a bit at missing the action, being a person who never liked being on the sidelines.

Gaz blasted the giant ghost with Laserbeak, and this seemed to have some effect. Although they weren't strong enough to more than irritate the giant, spectral beast. But she kept firing in tandem with Helen's and Shadow's potshots with their respective energies.

Blaze quickly discovered that his sword wasn't effective. Not melee weapon would be. So he changed his weapon to a crossbow, and fired arrows of flame at it, which did see some marginal success.

"Stopza!" Broken shouted. And this, too, saw some marginal success.

"Dwellers, Hatchling, back off! Cloak has this coming!" Malice ordered. "Back off! That's an order!!"

"She can't be serious," Phoenix said, in commentary.


*This:

[redtailedsaffa]

This ghost isn't transparent or what?

[Cloak]

About as transparent as the ghosts from "Danny Phantom". There is a reason behind it, which will be in a future book.

New chapter. One more to go.

CHAPTER NINETEEN:
Ghost Dusted, Bodies of Evidence

"I ORDERED YOU TO BACK OFF!!!" Malice roared, sounding more like a spoiled brat than a geriatric. She was apparently very used to getting her way, despite the sheer volume of defeats that Cloak and the RAFians handed her time after time. "STOP IT NOW!"

She apparently still held on to the ludicrous belief that Realm Walkers were superior to Realm Dwellers -- why? Just because. It was this ideology that made Cloak so disgusted with his own species. He refused to believe such a patented bigoted thing. Yet, all the Realm Walker Councils seemed to abide by this faulty logic and, naturally, were corrupted and cast out of office eventually.

"HEAR ME YOU LITTLE --"

"Oh, shut the Veil up already!!" Cloak roared. "Who do the bloody Veil do you think you are? They are not required to obey you. They are not serfs. They are not slaves. They are thinking, feeling beings with rights! Whether or not you wish to acknowledge it, Malice, does not make it untrue! Get out of the archaic and get into the present! Such ideologies that condone oppression of another, sentient species should be discarded, done away like a cancerous limb!"

With the outburst, the RAFians focused their Marks on the gigantophaetos, and with one triangulated Unity Pulse, the gigantophaetos seemed to have been vanished. Shards of the control spiral lay upon the ground. Cloak was so agitated by Malice's sheer arrogance and bigotry the failed to notice that there was something deeper going on . . . but that's another story.

He looked over the the four geist wraith RAFians. Malice, seemingly understanding Cloak's intention, says, threateningly, "Don't you dare!"

Cloak, of course, ignores her. "There are ten cryogenic tubes in an underground bunker. I think all are occupied. Your bodies are probably there. You geist wraiths too."

Apparently, the geist wraiths that Malice had tried to suppress the free will and identies of failed, and they had been slowly regaining them over time. All ten went down and reunited with their bodies, losing their geist wraith powers.

"No!!" Malice moaned. She glared at Cloak, and snarled. "You'll pay for this."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Send me the bill," Cloak said flippantly. The RAFians and Shadow returned to the forum as the six others returned to their daily lives.

***

When they returned, Kelly was insistent on giving Blue, Aquilai, Phoenix, and Parker a full check-up. Her demeanor became rather Madam Pomfrey-ish as she looked over the four. They knew better than to argue with her.

And yet . . . yet Cloak was disquieted.

[Cloak]

New chapter. Last one of this book.

CHAPTER TWENTY:
A Better RAF-Catcher

There was a big celebration at the forum after the successful completion of this mission. It was also RAF party night. Helen, who apparently (to Parker's chagrin) was pretty good with an accordion, began to play a good polka:

"Faerie, Esplin, and Az,
Mr. Guy, Estrid, and Gaz,
JFalcon, bladepaw, Whammy,
Yarin, Kitkat, and Cloaky!
Myitt, Claire, Cerulean,
Druid and Gamine!
Traycon and Slushie Man - everybody Polka RAF!
Morfowt, Esty, AniDragon,
Jess, Asmodeus, then Anijen.
Broken, Shanker, Sakki,
Shock and ol' Blocky.
Goom, Phoenix, Richard, AniMel,
Ricardo and, of course, SigardTormel.
Sharky and wildweathel - everybody Polka-RAF!
It's time to polka,
For Breekan and Kelran too.
Come on, Nohensen!
And try not to stamp on little Horse!
You'd better grab yourself a partner!
Like Terenia or Parker (Parker).
Hold on a minute - there's still at least a hundred and twenty-seven more:

Including Nomad and Seryna,
ANna, fao and Nina,
AniTiger and Shenmue.
Hunter and ThinkAgain.
Don't forget about Ash,
Ax Man and Gafrash!
Wotw2112 and Tyler - everybody Polka-RAF!
Everybody Polka RAF!
Everybody Polka RAF!"

The sound and feeling of jubilation was infectious. There was plenty to be thankful for, and the laughter was uplifting. But the festivities were short one RAFian.

Cloak had holed himself up in his thread. He was dwelling o. The presence that he had felt with the monstrokokhlos incident. Malice would have mentioned it, had it been one of hers. Cloak was fairly certain that the Tasmanian devil Realm Walker hadn't a clue about it.

But then who? Would have to wait like a year to find out the answer?

***

Meanwhile, Malice was at a new lair, considering the other one had been compromised. The lair looked like a den carved out from stone, but the fact was it was like that before Malice came here.

She stood looking, almost lovingly, upon a silhouette of what appeared to be a slumbering, muscular, armored man. Then there was revealed to be about nine or ten more.

Malice said, with relish, "Almost time."

[Cloak]

Guess Saffa is busy.

New book, new chapter.

BOOK LXXIII:
A THING ABOUT RAFIANS
CHAPTER ONE:
A Cold Stare

"Good god," Parker said., forming his fusion cannons from his armor in much the same way Cyborg does in "Injustice: Gods Among Us". He, Cloak, Demos, Blaze, Shadow, and Helen were in the midst of battling a man who looked like the unholy union of Ice Man and Captain Cold. His hand-to-hand combat was so atrocious that it was laughable, his intelligence and strategies were really negligible to the point of being practically nonexistent. But he did have a freeze ray vision-- a "cold stare", as it were. "Just great. Now any psycho with a freeze ray, heat vison, a shrinking ray -- even a blasted tickle ray (don't laugh, Helen, it happened and you know it) -- think they can take us one."

"Oh, let them have their delusions," Demos said, his inner demonic nature showing. "It makes crushing them all the sweeter."

"Demos! What a crass thing to say!" Helen scolded as the RAFians easily dispatched the man who called himself Cold Stare, despite everyone being well aware that he was Robert Gulliver, of no relation to the RAFian of a similar nomenclature.

"I'm a demon," Demos said, as they arrested Gulliver. "It's in my nature."

Blaze looked uncertain about this team up -- after all, he was part angel. Yet, here he was working with a demon. What did that say about him, he wondered. But he was pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed how silent Cloak was being.

"Cloak, what's with the silent treatment?" he asked.

"It's nothing," Cloak said, quietly and surly.

"Uncle." Shadow said, with a raised eyebrow and a cheeky expression that only she could pull off.

"It's nothing." Cloak repeated.

"You know bottling these things up aren't good for you," Helen said, after they deposited the criminal in the appropriare prison. "What's wrong?"

"It's n--" he heaved a heavy sigh, and elaborated. "It's been too quiet."

"What do you mean?" Parker said. "We got criminal supes up the yin-yang."

"Such an earthy phrase, Parker." Helen teased.

"Why, thank you." Parker smirked, teasing her back.

"Not these people," Cloak said. "No, I'm talking about a bigger, more dangerous fish."

"Fish?" Blaze asked. "What fish?"

"It's an analogy," Cloak said.

"You're worried about Malice." Shadow said, keenly.

"She's been too quiet. When she gets quiet, it is cause for concern."