The Stronghold

Contract Of Doom

"Why are you two here, anyway?" Georgina was asking as I strolled over. Josh shrugged and immediately Shaade was there, shadows fading away as he skidded to a stop.

"News," Shaade announced. "Good news."

"What is it?" I said, joining the conversation.

"It's... um..." Shaade looked pleadingly at Josh for help. The latter sighed again with a hint of a smile.

"We found the blueprints for a machine that can extract the demon in us," he explained. "And get rid of it."

"Where does it go?" I asked, interest showing clearly on my face. Josh shrugged and Shaade tugged something out of his back pocket, uncurling it and handing it to me.

"Here are the blueprints," Shaade said. "We don't understand them in the slightest but you will, seeing as you're a genius and all. Or should I give them Georgina...?" He trailed off, grinning. I gave him a cold glare and took the paper out of his hands, walking to my writing bench and clearing a space. Georgina sent anything that had fallen off flying back into the air, catching them and putting them back on the glass object with a soft sigh.

"I'm the only one allowed to make a mess of things," she grumbled. "Not you."

"Theses blueprints really are interesting," I said in awe, ignoring her comment and pulling my glasses from a drawer in the desk. I picked up an ultra-violet light and shone it over the paper, illuminating every line.

"There!" Shaade cried, stabbing his finger downwards. The desk shook and I elbowed him away. He winced for a second before hanging his head.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "Did I break anything?"

"No," I said shortly, reading the thing he'd pointed out. It was a message, written backwards.

"Gibberish," Josh said scornfully. I flicked on my lamp and changed the setting so there was an even larger purple surface area. I pointed and translated the scrawled writing into English.

"Plans tried," I said. "And failed. Modifications in the vault of Thunder, classified 2333."

"What does that last bit mean?" Shaade said curiously, his usual spark returning. I sat back after thinking for a minute or so, bewildered.

"No idea," I said. "Sorry guys."

Shaade's shoulders slumped and Josh shrugged. "Aw," Shaade whined. "I wanted a normal life back."

"Shaade, with you nothing is normal," Josh said. I could tell that Shaade was about to say something rude and so I ushered them both out, forcing them into the lift and waving goodbye hurriedly.

"I'm guessing you do know what it means then?" Georgina said, one eyebrow arched. "Because sure, Shaade is annoying, but..."

"I know what it means, yes," I said, scrabbling about on the table for the letter we'd received that morning. I mumbled as I went, thinking aloud to myself.

"Letter, letter, letter," I hissed, fingers dancing through the sheaves of paper. "Letter... yes!" I picked it up and kissed it triumphantly. "Now, the paper that went with it... yes, that's here... pen, pen, pen..."

All the while Georgina was watching me with a half confused, half afraid expression on her face. Slowly she held out a black inkpen to me.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yes, why?"

"You've gone into mad, rushed scientist mode..."

"I am a mad, rushed scientist," I replied with a grin. "I'm just not doing anything sciencey right now."