The Old Newcomer

Totally-dead was sat waiting. He had felt his target arrive 30km to the north, and he was bored with his latest toy. Cat was now just a giant lump in the landscape that held no attraction for him whatsoever. He wanted rid of him, and he wanted this little "god" to be back on his feet, if his long term plans were to work. He needed them ALL back to their normal selves.

He felt his target get close enough. He stood up and waited patiently. His target arrived behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Totally-dead slowed himself to a normal speed in turning around. Jerry hit him. While he allowed it to connect, as slow as it seemed to him in this form, Totally-dead was shocked at Jerry in this. He had thought that the guy would ask.

But in the end, it worked into his plans. It was even MORE incredible this way.

Once he was safely sure Jerry was completely out of his awareness zone, Totally-dead sat up and sighed. In that moment, the first true surprise of the day arrived. He recieved a message from Puzzled. As the words appeared out of the little window in spacetime, he could not help but smile. Maybe he should use this for a little side game...

He sat down and widened his awareness. He picked up the 3 blink forms across the world and started focusing his consciousness on each of these spots. Jerry was in North Dakota for now, King seemed to be with Loon and the newly arrived Bunny, and Insanity was still on the Rampage. The fact that Bunny was with King made up his mind. The side game was to commence. Plus he could probably make it work towards the end result as well.

He opened his eyes and moved.

------

MisterTurtle sat at his desk. He was reading a newspaper in awe at the stupidity of humanity in trying to explain the current astrological events. Volcanic eruptions? Debris in the upper atmosphere? Long term solar eclipses? WTF is wrong with these idiots?

He heard the creak of a window opening in the hall. In 2 seconds he was in the corner behind the plant with 2 automatic pistols in each hand and his foot on a button that would basically kill anyone in the corridor in 5 rather certain ways, if pressed.
The door opened about ten inches, after which three holes penetrated throuh it`s wood at head height and 2 at heart level. MisterTurtle waited, but he didn`t hear any body fall. At this point he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He froze. "Good shot", said and all too familiar voice. "If I had been normal, and still there, I would be very very dead. A pity about the door though."
"I have 5 in reserve in the basement.", said MisterTurtle in a tight voice. "To what do I owe this highly dubious pleasure, Dead?"
Totally-dead smiled. In a light breeze, he seemed to teleport to the chair, and raise a glass of scotch that had suddenly appeared in his hand. MisterTurtle`s bottle seemed emptier.
"I have a business proposal. I need you to find Puzzled, team up with him and locate Bunny, when a new friend of mine is finished with her. You are still in the... Mercenary/Detective business, no?"
MisterTurtle did not feel any more relaxed.
"You want me to go out there in the current circumstances? To find the only other "normal" immortal I know of, and jump into a game of hide and seek with a knife mad psycho?"
"Yes. But if it is any consolation, that is the LEAST of your problems. The Gods are back, and your little mission is directly involved in their manipulations."
MisterTurtle almost fainted.
"The Gods...?"
"You may have heard? A wyvern in the Arctic? That was our beloved ex-captain."
"Do I have to?"
"It is me, my sister or one of them. I am the only one not asking you to deal with any of us directly. Plus, when things get back to normal, I will give you anything you ask for. One wish. Which I know you need."
MisterTurtle sighed. That He did. He had been holed up here for 5 years since the world`s Mafias had found out how to kill him.

Totally-dead smiled. He stood, nodded to her and disappeared to the familiar breeze.

MisterTurtle shivered. That was the first time he had seen a blue, truely released, in 600 years. And the Gods being back scared him. They had long memories, and he had once been a swanlet, until he had discovered her little genetic difference(He was still annoyed at how involved with Turtles it was). He moved to his desk and started making a list of what he would need, only to find a note in a rather messy script detailing coordinates in Africa, France and the Arctic. Africa was underlined with "Puzzled" scribbled in the margin. Totally-dead may be scary, a pretty damn hot-blooded rapist, and well... a blue, but he was not very neat at writing.

He got to work.

------

Totally-Dead let his awareness extend as he sat on the roof. This time he felt the 3 blinks in the same place. Bunny, Loon, Jerry, and a particular Giant, were all in the Arctic. His focus noticed that events were very much to his liking, save for the fact that he may have just lied to MisterTurtle. As events advanced he noticed something he thought he would not see for a while yet. Jerry blinked. And THAT made him smile.

And then things finally took the step he needed them to take. He felt Jerry disappear with Loon, Insanity and the idiotic pair. He knew where they had gone, and he knew that his inability to find her, meant that she was already there. Jerry would find a little unwelcome surprise in the only place he knew of that Gods could go without him. His sister could, but only thanks to her long standing friendship with Kokoro. Something to do with inventing hairdressing 1300 years ago. He had avoided details of that one.
He had not known any of Kokoro`s peers, but he had summised some must exist, just not... This many or this kind of power.

It was what was left that he did not like. The Giant was carrying off Bunny. Totally-dead could only imagine that was for one thing. Bunny had been with King. Therefore Bunny may know about Insanity and King. He had been able to spot that a mile off. Cat was a jealous fuckhead as far as he had understood in his brief time with them. Jerry must have assumed that he would just undo it all again, if he got wind of the fact. And Bunny, being mortal, was too fallable in Jerry`s eyes, not to tell someone.

He moved.

------

Once Quan had gotten his money he moved off with a little regret. He had liked that little girl. She had been pretty and crazy. Boss man would probably make her go Bye Bye, for God Boss man. He was not happy.

At this point in time, he he felt a light breeze brush him. Suddenly there was a dark blue figure in front of him. It was frowning in a severe sort of way. He stopped and tried to decide if he should crush it or talk to it.

"I have been out of touch with recent events. What is going to happen to the young girl you just gave over to that unpleasant woman? Rosebud, I believe?"
"She go bye bye. Who you?"
"I am part of the reason your boss must get rid of her. And I feel responsible for her. As a result, I cannot let it go by that she disappear."
"Then you must go bye bye, because God Boss man need her bye bye."
Quan launched himself at the figure, only to punch at empty space.
At this point he felt a small but incredibly powerful object hit him on the side and throw him 50 feet into a tree, which he crushed. The last thing he saw was the first midday sun in several days, being blocked for a millisecond by a giant brown blur. The branch smashed into splinters and smashed him out of consciousness.

Totally-dead looked at the giant in front of him. He decided that this guy should be a message to Jerry. He lifted him onto his back and moved.

20 minutes later, the local town supermarket found their paint section inexplicably out of blue.

------

Jerry floated in his typical leg folded, coffee drinking pose. Around him, Insanity was still trying to come to terms with the recently told events and looking at the sleeping Kokoro, Cat and King were bickering over what Totally-dead may or may not have done to him while he was blinked, and Loon was sulking off to the side over the fact that no-one had a change of clothes for her.

Jerry was still naked. He was still comfortable this way, and had decided he wanted the others to suffer as much as possible. Plus, it had helped to keep the questions at bay. It is hard to ask questions when a hairy naked guy is looking at you like you are disturbing the most sacred act of his entire existence. Coffee break.

At this point he heard the light giggle he really did not want to hear right now. He groaned.
"What the FUCK are you doing here?!"
"Me? I am just floating around, eavesdropping on old friends and admiring your fluffy behind. Generally enjoying my stay at our mutual friend`s proverbial Summer House."
"How? I mean... How? Just how are you here? I thought only certain people could get here?!"
"Yes. Those Kokoro grants access to. I am a very old friend of her`s."
"You hid THAT fact from me!"
"Of course. I needed you to think that you had a way of escaping me. It helped you to think that you could play me as easily as I was playing you. Apparently, my brother has decided to play a little too...".

Jerry floated around to look at the dark blue young woman sitting daintily on a floating crystal. To anyone who did not know her, she looked roughly 19. She was wearing a light green dress that contrasted with her real colour, and he hair was a lighter blue than her skin. Her eyes though were virtually black. A sign that Jerry knew meant she was very angry and entirely focused in this moment.

At this point, Insanity noticed her. She sighed in an unsurprised way.
"Of course you are like him. You are his sister. How come we have never seen you like this before?"
Annie looked at Insanity with an indulgent smile.
"Because I, unlike my brother, did not focus my emotional calm on being sexually satisfied, but rather satisfaction of hunger. I have not eaten in 3 days. We decided we would hide our current selves in an old magic that we can do to our selves should we wish it, that allows us to create a normal human form. But as a result, to maintain that form we must keep a basic human need constantly satisfied or lose it. I think my brother prefers it as a human. Whereas I only take MINE when I feel the need to talk to Gods who do not know me as me, or normal people."
Cat, King and Loon had now cottoned on to the new arrival and listened to this in shock. Only Jerry seemed unsurprised at this revelation.

Annie looked back at him. "You have a question, I believe?"
"How is it Kokoro and you are friends?"
"Oh you remember back in the dark ages, when things started looking up for humans? Everything was becoming more... Ordered. Well Koki was starting to feel left out. As though they no longer properly worshipped Chaos anymore. You remember her tantrums? Well I... helped a little."
"How?!"
"I invented Hairdressing."
"Whaa...?"
"I invented Hairdressing. A way that humans purposefully sought out chaos on a part of their very bodies. One that would never disappear. And I must say that recently that particular seed has been bearing some GREAT fruit for Koki."
"That doesn`t even make sense!"
"Few of the aspects of your powers do. Sense has very little to do with reality, I find."

Jerry now looked at Loon with a regretful expression. He wished he had left her with Quan now. She did not need to know this, and was not going to be helpful unless(or probably until) one of the others blinked again. She was fast becoming the complication he did not need. One that would force him to intervene yet again.

Annie smiled. "Do not worry. She will be the least of YOUR worries Jerry."
Jerry sighed and looked back at her. Insanity looked confused, while King and Cat suddenly looked a little worried. They both knew what Totally-dead was like in action, and nothing Jerry had told them made them feel any more comfortable with his sister if she was unhappy in any way. Especially seen as they knew they were between a rock and a hard place in that particular fight.
"What is it this time, Annie? You knew I wasn`t going to stick to any deals WE made while mine were blinking all over and Totally-dead was letting himself loose. I needed to adapt and dealing with Totally-dead was a good method to keep a good view on his activities. It worked. I got my 2 most volatile elements out of anywhere they were going to blink for now, and I got Insanity back. Not to mention I got them away from him, the aimless madman he is."
"Did it occur to you why I had kept the existence of everyone but Kokoro from him for so long? Or what he might aim to do, if he ever found any further gods and their rather crazy forms? He is most certainly not aimless, not anymore. But unless I give him something to occupy himself with, then he will start to carry out a plan that made me hide myself from him for this long. And I do NOT want that to happen. Kokoro made this place to stop it, so that she could escape him, if he ever decided the time was right!"

Jerry looked up at that.
"What? What could possibly have been so bad?"
"I am not going to tell YOU that. Just understand that there is a reason we dance this dance, and that I do what I do. One that you would probably understand. Also it is the reason I am going to do what I will do shortly."
"Bu-"
"Shut up. Cat, King. I am going to leave you here. You will have no way of leaving unless you wake Kokoro, which I do not advise, or you wait until me or Jerry return for you. Insanity, I do not really care if you come or not, I would just prefer it if you avoid Blinking again, all that will do is complicate matters. You and Loon have a crew on the loose and which may need direction. Not to mention your swanlet factions are in uproar. You may accompany us."
With that she moved and grabbed Jerry by the hand sending his coffee spinning away, which he followed looking forlorn. She then created a sort of window which she threw Jerry through and looked expectantly at Insanity. Insanity grabbed Loon round the waist and followed Jerry. Annie followed, with a last look of serene expressionlessnous at Cat and King, and it closed behind them.

Cat and King felt suddenly very small. But they both looked at each other and realised they were finally alone.
"Wanna fuck?", they both said in unison.
They had all the time in the world, and only a currently braindead goddess as a witness.

------

Vesa Itzal was sat across from Bunny with a quizzical hungry expression on his face. Bunny was currently unbound with the absolute certain knowledge that she had more chance of escaping stuck in a maximum security prison, with 1000 Quans for guards. She was beginning to speculate as to what this strange... person across from her was. She felt he was a Werewolf, but not in the traditional sense. She also felt that asking him would be a huge mistake.

All this because she killed one little priest on the orders of... that. She shuddered. This seemed to wake Vesa up. He had introduced himself, and the sat in his current position, and not moved for what seemed like the entire afternoon.

"Well it seems that you understand your current position."
He got up and moved gracefully to the door. He turned around.
"You will die or remain my guest forever. I have not decided yet. Jerry needs you out of the picture, and I... owe Jerry and certainly do not feel up to crossing him. Ever. I would advise against begging. I am not known for my mercy and I find people who act in such a way unworthy of life. Good night."
With that, he departed.

Bunny stood up and stretched. She still had that feeling of certainty, and now it was only stronger. She wondered if she was free to move around the Château.

She opened the door and found no guard there. She walked down the steps into a little corridor and found  2 guards there, carrying automatic weapons, with the safeties off. They looked at her and smiled. One gestured down the corridor and told her to go right at the end to hit the mess hall.

Bunny realised that she was now completely at Vesa`s mercy, no matter how unmerciful he was.

------

Rosebud sat back in her armchair expecting her master to return at any moment. She always worried when he did these little favors for those... People. The swan factions were fanatics at best, and their leaders always gave her the impression of being able to crush her at any moment. She felt that her master was playing with fire, especially when he helped one hide things from another. She did not know what, but she understood that Bunny knew it, and that she had to disappear from the outer world for that secret to remain secret.

Vesa entered via the door behind her and looked at her with those wild yellow eyes. She smiled adoringly and stood.

"Master. Will she live?"

Vesa looked at her for few seconds before nodding.
"She has character enough to be useful, and could even teach my men a few things about knives. She cannot leave here for a long time, of course, but her sentence is lifted. Jerry will just have to trust me."

Rosebud was shocked by this. He spoke so casually of forces that were clearly very dangerous to them. Especially seen as they did not know enough about them to know what consequences there could be of being those known to have made Bunny disappear. But she kept silent. He was much more intelligent than her, and she lived to serve his desires. Nothing more or less.

------

Totally-dead looked at the Château with a little knowing smile. He knew this place as well as any. He had always kept himself hidden, but had secretly hoped that he may catch it`s owner prowling the night. Today, he had a different agenda, and one that may just get him the pleasure of catching that which he hunted before.

He hefted Quan and headed for the drawbridge. He walked out in plain visibility, dropped Quan and sat on him smiling up and the modern camera system that looked down from above the french doors. 3 minutes later, 2 snipers appeared on the battlements trying to remain hidden, while a loud intercom system crackled.
"Who and what are you, and what is it you want of us?"
The voice was a calm slightly accented half growl. The person Totally-dead meant to find.

Totally-dead just smiled. He stood up and yawned, looked into the sunset and disappeared.

The 2 snipers lost their heads a third of a second from each other.

------

The guards had all been put on high alert. Rosebud was feeling very nervous. She had seen surprise in the eyes of Vesa for he second time in her life, when the guard had appeared with the camera feed for him. Now she was on alert with one of the four squadrons of Vesas armed clan group, as they waited to take on anything that came through the main gate.

What ended up crashing through the gates was a blue paint covered unconscious Quan, flattening the half of her squadron that was on the ground, under him and the resulting rubble. Those on the surrounding ramparts recieved a little flying stone, but were generally okay.

Then she spotted 2 who no longer had heads, another who seemed to receive something invisible through his upper torso, and a fourth get thrown extremely hard against the tower wall. She lost consciousness exactly 3.39 seconds later, by which time everyone in the squadron, but her, were dead.

------

The second he saw the Giant fly towards them on the moniter, he ordered the guards to evacuate everyone. The second the guards were out of the door, he transformed. He moved to the door and in one swipe knocked out the lock and squeezed through it. The stink of blood met his nose in an almost overwhelming capcity. The 2 guards he had ordered to evacuate were headless a little way down the corridor.

There he saw the blue figure from the drawbridge. He was covered in fresh blood, which made it hard for Vesa to think clearly. He growled. The blue figure just cocked it`s head to one side and smiled hungrily.
"Everyone but Rosebud is dead. And Quan, of course. I would have to be a LOT rougher to kill him."
Vesa felt the anger rise. He wanted this creature to squeal before he ate him. He would not be kind. Not this time.

Totally-dead watched his prey crouch in order to pounce. He moved to the side up the wall until he was level with the, as yet unaware, giant wolf. Then he came down with a light kick, crunching the wolf into the floor and out of consciousness. Almost immediately the creature sort of went through an enormous sneeze, which produced an unconscious but naked Vesa.

5 minutes later, Totally-dead tied Vesa and Rosebud to Quan. He then turned to Bunny whom he had knocked out while she was stuffing her face in the mess hall. He had decided that she was not going to know his involvement until later. He did not need stories getting to MisterTurtle of what could happen to pawns in this little game. Not with what he intended.
He tied her to Quan as well. He moved.

------

Jerry landed on his feet, shortly followed by Insanity and Loon arriving face first into the grass beside them. Annie just suddenly appeared in front of them, creating a light breeze over the field. Jerry took in her expression, which was one of puzzled amusement. She was looking behind him.

They all turned to see Quan unconscious and covered in blue paint, with beside him the much smaller figure of Rosebud, Vesa`s frequently half terrified little companion as drenched in blue paint as the giant.

"Well well", said Annie, with a smirk. "My brother knew we would come out here. I wonder how."
"Where the hell did you bring us?", asked Insanity tiredly.
"She brought us to my farm. My Arabian coffee shrub farm. This is cow pasture in winter, where I collect their shit for good manure, for the shrubs." said Jerry. "Why?"
"Because I knew that if he wanted to leave you a message it would be on the only hill in territory that can be certified as yours. I believe he left you a note."

She opened another window to Kokoro`s world. "Now if you would excuse me, I have some voyeurism to be getting along with. This should be enough time for those 2 to have realised they could be at it. Zero gravity porn, here I come!"
Jerry shook his head as she jumped through. She was as obsessed as her brother at times.

Insanity looked at Loon and then at Jerry. She wondered if he would let her leave. She started walking away slowly. He didn`t even look up when he said "No blinking". She grabbed Loon by the hand and ran. Loon just followed in a slightly dazed, slightly resigned fashion. Maybe this way she could finally get free of these crazy things. She noticed that Insanity had claimed her Battle axe from somewhere. She smiled. Things were back on track.

As they left Jerry wandered over to the 2 victims. He lifted the little envellope stuck the the paint on Rosebud`s arm. Inside he found a note in a fairly messy script:
"I have decided to keep Vesa for now. I have not had the pleasure of his species, as rare as it is. But on to more important things. Understand that I do not take kindly to people who attempt to remove important pawns from our little collection merely because they know something incriminating. Bunny is now mine. The Crew of the H.M.S. Fuck Logic are to remain alive. Otherwise I will massacre your pawns, one by one. Vesa and those I deemed worthy in his service were left alive. The rest suffered the fate of Insanity`s swanlets. Do not add to that list. You are now the object of my displeasure, as opposed to merely the attempted guardian of desired objects. I suppose that my sister has given you a taste of the true nature of my overall intentions, though I doubt she has told you anything substantial. Suffice to say that I need a small number of Gods for it to work. But I am not really ready yet, so you can relax. Annie never told you where we came from, did she?"

Jerry crumpled the letter and sighed. His non-involvement policy had just gone up in flames.

------

Vesa awoke after landing in a river. He quickly swam to the side and pulled himself out. He looked around him, realising he had no idea where he was. In a forest somewhere, a temperate zone by the looks of the trees, but not anywhere he knew.

It was then that spotted the blue figure sat on the branch above him. He transformed in no time. That was a mistake.

After a time, he did his best to not admit to himself that he was enjoying this, despite the pain. He really hoped no-one ever found out. It would be such an embarrassment to be the only member of his kind to... Uh.

------

Bunny awoke. She jumped out of the bed scared out of her wits. One minute she had been enjoying a good meal for the first time in a while, the second she was here. With a headache. She looked around. She realised she was in a French hotel. A good one in central Paris. As she exited she asked at the reception who had prepaid her bill, and the young man called the manager. The rather brisk woman simply looked at her and shivered before saying that she was booked in for an indeterminate period, and everything was paid for periodically, in kind. This shook Bunny. What could Vesa possibly want with her here?

Then it occured to her. Parisian central hotels were not really a style she could associate with Vesa. This terrified woman was not treating her as a prisoner but rather a terrifying guest representative of a truely scary force. Only one person liked terrifying normal people that much, in an underground sort of way. And that meant she had been rescued. She decided to relax and enjoy her gift holiday. Whatever Totally-dead wanted, he would turn up for it soon. At least she knew that he wasn`t going to be TOO horrible to her. She hoped.

------

Puzzled sat wondering what the hell Totally-dead was doing. He had tried a few more spells to see where he was, but he could not find anything. The only thing he had seen quickly was the Giant hand Bunny over to some woman.

He felt a slight breeze pass, just as he felt the tug of a warning spell telling him that someone had entered the cave entrance to his lair. He picked up a knife and walked slowly towards the entrance, readying several rather dangerous spells in case it was one of the many unwelcome visitors he had expected, the longer he waited here.

Who he met was a welcome surprise compared. Standing there, a silenced pistol in hand, was MisterTurtle. He relaxed and put the automatic away, when he saw Puzzled.
"Finally. I have been searching this place days for you!"
"What? Why? Did someone send you here?"
"Totally-dead sent me to get your help for a job. We are supposed to find Bunny for something. I am not sure what, but I think he means for us all to help him with something. Knowing him, nothing good or simple. But considering the current alternatives... I cannot think of anyone else I would rather hide behind."
"Totally-dead wants us to team up? This thing has got to be sizeable, if he wants us both in on it..."
"Yeah. But I still don`t understand the need for Bunny. She enjoys what we used to do! Almost worse than Loon when she got riled up!"
"Which is what Totally-dead likes remember? Maybe he needs crazy for this?"
"Maybe."

As they moved back into Puzzled`s Lair, he noticed an envelope on his "desk" that had not been there before. He swallowed as he picked it up. Inside was the messy writing that he knew all too well.

"I am glad you are finally together. I will meet you properly in Paris when you find Bunny there. Do not take too long, because you may have a vengeful solar god on your tail soon. I have punished his friends, and he may do the same to mine. I do not know if he associates you with me yet, but I think he will soon. By the way, Insanity is back from her trip. She probably looks to reassemble the old crew. So move quickly, so I can protect you properly."

Puzzled and MisterTurtle looked at each other. They were in trouble now.

------

When he had finished with Vesa, Totally-dead knocked him out and left him on the floor in front of Richard`s coffee house in North Dakota. Just to let Jerry know he knew.

After that he went to the ruins of an ancient little settlement in southern Egypt. He had never allowed archeologists to come here. It was home.

There he waited. He felt the window open.

"Hello, sister."