Hellhound all up in your garden

[joseph]

Joseph trudged through the hall and into his room, slamming the door behind him. Another boring day in a dreadful city. He had never felt at home in London, with all its tall buildings and pollution. He turned on some music on his computer and lay down on his bed with today's newspaper. The headlines were more of the usual nonsense: the country's ongoing financial woes, another cathedral being attacked (the only casualty yet again being the residing bishop), rape, murder, unemployment. He sighed and turned to the arts section and gave it a quick read before throwing the newspaper into the bin and picking up his laptop.

Joe liked conspiracy theories, and the latest ones popping up about sightings of monsters appearing in cities all over the world being fought by a strange man with a sword and pistol were really grabbing his interest. They seemed to carry more substance than the usual wackjob idiots spouting nonsense about how 9/11 was set up by the Bush administration. He was browsing through a collection of pictures taken on the day the Vatican was destroyed when he heard a loud crash coming from the garden, below his bedroom window. He paused his music and looked out of the window.

"Holy shit!"

He saw a huge, lumbering dog-like creature standing in his garden. The flames pouring from its body set fire to the grass around it, and he could see the hole in his neighbour's fence where it had crashed through. The dog looked up at his window when he cried out. It licked its lips and bounded over to the building. It sank its claws into the brickwork and began to climb towards his window.

[michael]

Michael had been tracking this hell hound for half the day now, it seemed to have the ability to camouflage itself against any background like a chameleon, when it did emerge it was to kill which meant the trail was at least easy to follow. As he fell into the garden where Betsy (as he had dubbed the hell hound) was staring at a window, he heard the yell of the occupant inside and cringed knowing fully well that Betsy would now go for the boy. Michael quickly pulled his side-arm and fired two bullets into the hound's rear, it roared angrily and pushed off the stone of the house to face its attacker.

"That's a very bad girl, Betsy!" he yelled, pointing a finger up at the massive fiery beast. "Don't make daddy rub your nose in something!"

The beast reared up and roared angrily, it clearly understood what he was saying to a minimal degree and certainly didn't like being treated like a simple pet by anyone. Michael gave and amused grimace at the reaction, laughing as the beast swiped one of its huge claws at him, the nails on that thing would've literally cut him in two but he avoided it handily before firing two more shots into Betsy's side just to aggravate her into making a mistake.

"Is that how you thank me? I take you in, I give you a saucer of milk, some dog food and all you can do it attack me?!" he cried, clear mockery in his voice and a hugely over-exaggerated mannerism to the whole thing.

As Betsy swiped again Michael timed it and leapt onto the large paw to be carried up and leap up upwards to end up on the fiery beast's back, seeming to be protected from the hell fire spewing off it by some invisible shield which came from his own telekinetic powers being made equal to the force of the flames so they literally just cancelled one another out harmlessly. Now on top of Betsy he kept his balance superbly before pulling his sabre and slamming the blade down into the top of the beast's head, it didn't even get a chance to whimper as the as usual strange sword killed the daemon instantly.

Withdrawing the blade he found himself suddenly stood on nothing but air as Betsy burst into nothing but black ash that faded into nothingness, looking down he widened his were as he fell and he just barely avoided hitting the ground by quickly using his telekinesis to catch him just before he hit the ground and then right himself onto his feet where he brushed himself off and sheathed the sabre. He then looked around curiously for a moment, realized the boy in the window had seen the entire thing and just waved casually.

"Sorry about that," he said, acting like it was nothing. "Bit of pest control."

[joseph]

During Michael's exchange with Betsy, Joseph had reached for his mobile phone and filmed the whole thing. He now stood with his mouth open, totally stunned by what he had just seen. He tried to rationalise things whenever he could, but he couldn't find a rational answer for this. A giant, flaming dog had just crashed into his garden, followed by a strange man who didn't seem at all phased by the creature - even going so far as killing the thing.

He finally mustered up the wits to speak again, "What the hell was that thing?! W..wait there! I'll come down to you." he shouted at Michael. He quickly picked up his jacket and slipped on some shoes. He ran downstairs and outside as quickly as he could, hoping that the man would wait for him.

[michael]

Michael raised an eyebrow as the boy, rather than being frozen with fear rushed to get outside to him, his arms crossed and his brow creased as his telepathic abilities picked up a strange sensation from this boy. When he finally got outside he would find Michael sat down in a garden chair next to the garden table that had been completely totalled when Betsy had crushed it under one of her massive paws while turning back to face him. His legs were crossed and resting on the remains of the table while he gave the young man a studying stare.

"Second person in as many weeks I've come across who hasn't run off screaming, or been frozen in fear by these things." he said calmly, looking at the young man with narrowed eyes as he tried to make sense of what he was picking up from him. "You don't act that bravely to such things unless you're used to seeing strange things about you. So... why don't we do this fairly, you tell me what makes you so brave to these things and I'll tell you what it was."

[joseph]

Joe stopped to catch his breath for a minute while thinking about just how to respond to the man. He had been scared at first, that much was certain, but some small amount of courage had certainly prevented him from running away at first sight of the creature.

"I..I dunno, I just didn't feel too scared, and when I saw you there I - yeah, you're that guy everyone on the 'net's been talking about, the guy with the sword and the gun, right? Oh, do you want some tea or coffee? Diluting juice? Oh, right...you asked me about why I wasn't scared. Well, it's just that I think...no, that's not it. Well, when I..fuck, no. Not that either."

He took a deep breath, clearly not knowing quite how to explain things properly.

"Look. A couple of years back, when all this crazy stuff started happening around the world - monster sightings, that kind of stuff - I...changed. I mean, I woke up one morning and my hair was green! I know it looks blonde, but that's just hair dye because, well, green hair's weird and just looks tacky. Oh, and I was floating above my bed! I didn't tell anyone about that bit. My parents just thought I had dyed my hair green, so yeah...this other time, when some guys were gonna beat me up and..and this tree..it picked them up and started beating them about. You know, like in Harry Potter."

He sighed and looked down at his feet, realising that he must sound like a complete lunatic, worried that the man would just run away without giving him any answers to sate his curiosity.

[michael]

"I'm being talked about?" He lifted an eyebrow, he didn't like the sound of that because it meant people were looking out for him, which could only lead to problems later on if he was ever found.

He sat and listened patiently to the young man's tale of what had happened to him, he still couldn't place it but he knew there was something familiar about what he sensed, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully before finally shaking his head. He hadn't the time to figure it out now, but the boy's story had been enough to pique his interest and so after some silence he decided to keep his end of their deal.

"It was a daemon," he said, standing up again with his sabre clinking a bit as he did so. Michael was dressed in black combats that looked worn and a black shirt which looked like it might've one time been a part of a military black ops uniform and the entire thing was finished off by his combat boots. "Lower caste, a mere beast though if it had been left to kill and eat it may have evolved further, it clearly had enough clarity to understand my jeering which meant it was getting close to becoming sentient."

He stared the boy down and then smiled, going back to his previous offer for a beverage of some sort. "I think a cup of tea would be lovely, and you look like you need to sit down with a drink."

[joseph]

"Tea. Right. My parents are out with my brother, and my sister's upstairs with some of her friends. Should be alright for you to come in for a while, but I'd hide that sword and gun if I were you..."

He walked inside and switched the kettle on, got a couple of mugs out from a cupboard and set about making tea for both of them. His hands were shaking now as the adrenaline wore off and his head was bursting with so many quesitons. Several times he made to ask a question, but no words came out. It was all too confusing for him. He felt comfortable with science and logic, but all this talk of "daemons" put him on edge. "Too much like religious garbage" he thought to himself.

He placed the two cups of tea, a jug of milk and some sugar down on the table in the kitchen and sat down. He realised now that he had just invited a madman into his house for tea. He pulled out his phone and held it under the table - texting one of his friends, telling him to call the police.

[michael]

"You can put that away," he said.

Suddenly the phone was torn out of his hands by some invisible force and landed neatly on the table, just before he could press send to have the text reach his friend and Michael glared across the table, clearly he was not amused by this sudden betrayal of trust. Rather than berating the young man, he put two sugars into his tea and some milk, stirred and then took a sip while not letting his eyes leave the young man.

"I believed your story, came into your house in trust - and you deem to betray my belief and trust by having me arrested." he stated calmly, his eyes still locked on Joseph. "Or perhaps you are just in disbelief, you don't like religion. Relax, neither to do I."

It was clear that Michael was getting all of this information beyond normal means, that fixated glare seemed to tell of some sort of mind reading, though admittedly the boy was harder to read than a normal human which only reinforced Michael's interest in him even if he was ready to sell him out to the police. "Religion and I are old foes, the vatican fell because I made it fall and as for those bishops and priests... I enjoyed every moment seeing their wretched, lying lives fade."

Suddenly the smile returned and he leaned forward to fix his eyes directly on Joseph's, "I have no mental illness if that is what worries you. Which would make sanity in this case a point of view, you think I am insane and yet you recently witnessed something you do not believe could exist. But on the other hand... there's your hair and what you made that tree do... not to mention the levitation."

Suddenly the majority of the kitchen's occupants began to lift up from their resting places and hover there before being carefully replaced where they were, Michael continued to smile. "You aren't the only one with that levitation trick, though. So, are you finally genuinely interested or would you prefer to try and have me arrested?"

[joseph]

"Hooooly shit." Joe stared with his mouth wide open at Michael. The display of telekenisis wasn't something he had really expected, but the apparent mind reading was what really astounded him. However, his inquisitive nature got the better of him as he decided to start questioning the man.
"You can read my mind? Alright then, Professor X, if this isn't some religious crap and I'm not hallucinating, why don't you take some time to explain things a little more clearly to me. Like where did this daemon thing come from? Why was it here? How the hell can you do all that crazy psychic stuff? And how can I?"

He stared at the man, desperate to get the answers he needed at last. He tore his gaze away at last, realising he was staring, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable. So he sipped at his tea instead.

[michael]

"Well, that's a long story." he replied flatly, watching Joseph for a while but it seemed he clearly wasn't going to let it go, he craved answers and remembering his own manifestation of powers Michael couldn't blame him. "All right, I'll tell you."

"My name is Michael Sanford, I have these powers because in the universe I originate from humanity was much the same as it is here, however there were rare bloodlines whom had unnatural abilities." he explained, pausing to take a sip from his tea. "I have found no signs of any such bloodlines in the Earth of this, the prime universe. You are the first which to me makes you unique and even possibly a distant relative... or perhaps you are more than human."

Michael once again stopped and went to his tea, he wanted to give time for it to sink in before he continued, but he did so before questions were asked so that he could get everything out so that only valid questions were asked.

"You aren't wrong about religion, all of it is rubbish. It all came from the same source, I suppose you could call the Abrahamic religions the first true world conspiracy. A cult of daemon worshippers known as the Vaticanus created the religion as a form of control, a way to keep the world in order while he moved ahead with its plans to open a gateway to Hell big enough to allow the daemons onto Earth as a large scale sacrifice before being used as a staging ground to invade the entire mortal realm."

He stopped again and finally finished off his tea, giving Joseph the same level stare, which gave the impression he was clearly telling no lies at least from how he knew it. "Gods exist, the Divine Order are the guardians and protectors of the mortal realm, true immortals. But they are bound by rules of non-interference which means unless the daemons do break through, there's nothing they can do to stop them and my retinue of people who know the truth has only increased by one in all these years because I do not broadcast these things."

He smiled as he leaned back in his chair, putting his cup down at last and a small sigh followed. "As for your science, it's every bit as relevant as it ever was, if not relatively simple compared to the sciences of the advanced races in the universe. So there it is, the truth as it happens to be."

[joseph]

Joseph stood up and began pacing around the room. He stopped and looked out of the window to where the pile of ash that had once been Betsy now lay.

"I don't know why, but I believe you. Somehow. It just all seems...right, in some way." He glanced over his shoulder to Michael. "I've always felt out of place, you know? Like...I don't think I belong here, and that there was something bigger out there - something better, and now you come along and tell me about this stuff and I just know I want - no, I need to be a part of it all."
He looked away again and sighed. "But you're just going to say I'm too young, aren't you. 'Leave this to the adults'..." he clenched his fists. Joe wasn't sure why he felt this way. He never understood why he got so frustrated when he walked the streets of London, in the midst of a concrete jungle. He never understood why mundane, every day life bored him, or why he had refused to go to church as a child. He knew it was because somewhere, deep down inside, he knew there was something more.

He had never felt so torn in his life. On the one hand, he had his familiar life, a loving family and a stable existence. On the other hand, he had the truth. He punched the kitchen counter in frustration. It collapsed. "Ah...shit..."

He decided to sit down again and put his head in his hands. "What the hell's going on?" he asked. His head was bursting and he found it hard to focus. His entire world had just been turned on its head, and it seemed as though everything was a little bit too much to handle for the young boy as all of his frustrations from over the years finally came to the surface.

[michael]

Michael watched him pace around the kitchen without a word, listening to him ramble on about how he had always felt like he didn't belong, he knew that feeling all right. When Joseph punched the counter and it collapsed, he just raised an eyebrow and looked at the young man as he finally collapsed into his chair again at which point Michael just started laughing. He waved his hand a bit as he continued to laugh, shaking his head before it finally faded and he just looked at Joseph with a smirk.

"It seems like an entire lifetime ago I was sat where you are - granted I hadn't just crushed a kitchen counter - being told this world changing information by my old friend and mentor." he explained, realizing it was quite rude to just burst out laughing like that. "I wonder if I looked as much like a lost puppy as you do."

Michael stood up and put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze and acting almost like an older brother as he had done for many newcomers into the Midnight Society back in his own universe. "Just take a few deep breaths. We had a young man called Chris back home, thirteen years old could control computers just by touching them. He used to hack files for us from the government. So frankly, you being fifteen isn't an issue."

He let go of his shoulder and sat back down, looking across the table at him again. "If you want to find a real use for your abilities, I can give you on - I can even teach you to control and focus them if you want me to. I can make it so your parents believe you are away living with an uncle and aunt somewhere, they'll never fret over your absence."

[joseph]

Joe clenched his fists when Michael began laughing and began blushing rather intensely. He didn't like being laughed at, but when Michael explained himself he calmed down. When he spoke of teaching him how to use his abilities and of giving him the opportunity to go along with him, Joe almost jumped out of his seat.

"Seriously? Just like that, I can come with you? I'd need some time to pack my things, but...well, of course I'll come with you! Holy crap, this is so cool!"

Without waiting for a response, Joe stood up and almost skipped up to his room. He quickly packed some clothes into a backpack, grabbed his laptop and placed it in its case, then picked up his violin - also in its case - before heading back down to the kitchen, assuming Michael would still be there finishing off his cup of tea. He shouted a goodbye to his sister, to which there was no response as usual, but he felt it was the only decent thing to do.

"So, when do we leave?" he asked as he opened the kitchen door, without even waiting to see if Michael was still there.

[michael]

"Well that was unexpected," he said, laughing as Joseph stood in front of him with his things packed and waiting to leave. "All right, let's go."

Michael walked past him and toward the front door, leaving the back way would be a pain as he'd literally climbed into the back garden, there being no gate back there. As they came outside he would lead Joseph down the road for a while, pausing and turning around to look down the street again, apparently getting his baring before he continued. Finally he set off down the right path down the next street, he had left his ship in stealth with Sarah on board getting accustomed to its systems so that she could fly it when he wasn't there.

"Oh, I get the feeling you're the kinda guy who'll love this." he said to Joseph, then walked up to a guy about to get into his car, deciding he didn't want to walk all the way to the ship especially with Joseph carrying his things along. He waved his hand in front of the man, a pointless action as he didn't need to do any such things to control a mind, but he thought it'd make the kid laugh. "You want to give me your car." "I want to give you my car." "You want to play the lottery today, it's a roll over." "I want to play the lottery toda-" "Yes yes, shoo."

The man walked off down the road as if in a slight trance, disappearing around the corner and Michael just turned toward Joseph again, opening up the boot with the keys to the car in his hand. "Well put your things in, it's a good half hour on foot with all that stuff to get to my ship. Don't worry about him, he's going to get the winning ticket, he'll have a better car than this by tomorrow."

[joseph]

"You can do Jedi mind tricks?! No. Fucking. Way. Aw dude, this is so freakin' cool!"

Joe giggled a little as he dumped his things in the car boot. He got into the passenger seat, visibly shaking with excitement.

"And you have a ship. Do you mean like a spaceship? Oh, please tell me you have a spaceship! Haha, oh man...I really hope this isn't some fucked up dream. I should text Kev. He'd freak out."
Joe had picked up his phone before they left, and he took it out again and began typing away. He stopped mid-text. "Wait...is it like 'against the rules' to talk about this stuff? Heh, I can imagine it now - 'The first rule of super power club is you don't talk about super power club.' Is that the deal here? Or can I tell people anyway?"
He was grinning widely now, blown away by the prospects of all his fantasies becoming a reality.

[michael]

Michael pulled the car away and listened to Joseph freaking out in the chair next to him, shaking his head and just tutting with a faint grin of amusement. As he went to text his friend he raised an eyebrow, his eyes flickering toward him briefly before looking ahead again, stopping at the lights he finally answered. "I don't care who you tell. But I'm not going to say telling anyone is a wise thing to do, if you trust this 'Kev' enough though then be my guest. Just don't be surprised if you don't get the response you might expect."

The lights changed and Michael continued on toward the nearby park, where his ship was hidden by a stealth field to stop anyone finding it, unless they walked right into it and who would believe anyone who said they had done that. Finally stopping he stepped out of the car and moved to open the boot, peering around while he waited for Joseph to get his bags so they could walk to the location of the ship hidden in the trees. Raising a strange looking remote he pressed a button and it became visible, in all its hi-technological glory with the ramp falling to allow them entry.

"Well, on you go. There'll be a woman on board, her name is Sarah. She's my partner in crime." he said, nodding for him to get on board. "Try not to drool or jizz on the bulkheads."

[joseph]

Joe stood wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open as the ship became visible. He slowly held up his phone and took a picture without saying a word, then walked slowly up the ramp, looking around at the interior of the ship. He still couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, but that excited him more than anything. A psychic, a spaceship, Immortals, Gods, all of them things he had only fantasised about were, in fact, a reality. He dumped his belongings on the ground when he reached the top of the ramp, then ran off into the ship.

"I promise I won't touch anything!" he yelled back to Michael as he began exploring the ship.

[sarah]

Sarah was blasting some songs on the ships computer humming to herself as she sat down on a swivelly chair at a work bench. It was -really- messy since Michael left, thirteen empty cups stained from coffee stood aligned in a row, the most recent which still had the brown liquid was reaching near cold as it sat closer towards Sarah's reach. To her left was a magazine, not a usual choice for a female as it was a magazine on weaponary called 'Guns & Ammo', the page currently showing a Colt 1911 .45 ACP layed out on a black snooker table surrounded by different coloured balls. Everything else that was sprayed out on the work bench was the remenants of a MG-42, along with different tools. The occupant on the chair that swayed from side to side to the beat of Plink Floyds 'The Great Gig in the Sky' had a small pair of glasses perched on the bridge of her small nose that wiggled from side to side like a rabbit as she concentrated on the firearm in her hand. She was currently re-painting the scratched off golden marking on the based handle of the machine humming away as she heard the door open. Placing the flats of her feet currently sitting in a large pair of black knee-high army boots, she kicked off the work bench causing the chair to blast off into view of the new commer and Michael.

"Welcome back Michael, you took your time. Atleast you can be long in some departme-.." Sarah blinked blushing bright red as she noticed the other boy there letting out an awkward cough. Her long sandy coloured hair was stuck up in a messy bun with strands poking out here and there which strangley suited her really well. She pushed up her small framed glasses to the crown of her head, swiping her fringe out of the way as she did so revealing her peircing emerald eyes that eyed the boy curiously. Her skin was slightly tanned and covered in black and golden paint, even managing to get some on her face, mainly her nose. She stood up brushing the wet paint from her hands and hooking her paint brush behind her right ear as she smiled lightly. She wore a light blue jump suit that currently had the top half wrapped around her slim waist revealing a messy white vest. "Oo you brought a friend heh, how rude of me. Hello I'm Sarah, and you might be?" She kicked the back of her chair causing it go to back to the work bench clapping her hands to stop the music still blushing brightly for her careless greeting.

[joseph]

Joseph was too busy looking around at anything and everything in the ship to really pay attention to Sarah's messy appearance, or even look at her directly for that matter. "I'm Joe..." he mumbled as he continued to look around in awe of everything he saw. "Great Gig in the Sky, huh? Good choice. Love Pink Floyd. Oooo, what does that do?" he asked, looking and pointing at a display screen with some flashing buttons around it. "Does this ship have weapons? Dude, please tell me I can fire the lasers. Just once. Please?"

Like a kid in a sweet shop, Joe continued to look around the ship. He wandered around as though he was entranced by everything he saw.

[michael]

"It's a display screen," he replied flatly, then raised an eyebrow at Joe. "Yes, the ship does have weapons - I'll let you fire them at some asteroids. Pendant, can you give our newcomer a room?"

"The last room on the starboard side is free, Major." The AI spoke through the ship's internal intercom.

"Isn't that the room with the airlock in?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe."

There was a moment of silence that followed, as the AI said nothing more on the matter, but eventually the voice came through again.

"He can have the last on the port side."

"That's better." Michael replied, and looked at Joe pointing down the long hallway which led down the middle of the ship with doors flanking either side that led into different room. "Last door on the left."

Once Joe had wandered off to explore the ship, Michael shrugged at Sarah and walked over to her, brushing some hair out of her face because she looked a right state. "I picked up a stray, he has similar powers to my own, but I get the feeling there's more to it." he explained, watching after Joe for a moment and then walking over to the control panel of the ship to press a few buttons, the ship began to take off the inertial dampeners making the take off and flight completely smooth as the ship headed directly for orbit, the artificial gravity meant they never felt like the ship wasn't perfectly upright.