PHALANX - The series

Episode eleven: Cleaning up.

 

"How are you feeling, love?" Frederic asked, kissing his wife on her forehead. They had awakened mere minutes before, and were still lying in the large bed.

"Much better. But I'm glad that we've finally gotten some rest. That was some party we had yesterday." She purred, snuggling closer to him. He protectively wrapped his arms around her, and smiled.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, love. Yes, that was quite a party. It's a miracle everyone got home."

"Or at least in the correct dimension." Jennifer laughed. Frederic laughed as well.

Daphnix got up, washed and clad himself. After his breakfast, he walked to the bridge, and noticed he was the first one there. Smiling and shaking his head, he sat down in the command chair. The Ortega was back in orbit of Earth001, with the Yamato and Endeavor deactivated back on the far side of the moon.

Finally, Frederic and Jennifer walked on the bridge, their arms around each other, as usual. They were laughing, also as usual. Daphnix smiled, it had been too long since everyone was together on the bridge, and that there were no sour faces. 

"Good morning." Daphnix smiled at his two friends.

"Good morning, D. And? Sleep well?" Frederic asked.

"Like a brick." Daphnix responded. "Now, would you care to explain what happened during your battle with that Destroyer guy? I saw you pull stuff I never thought possible."

Frederic and Jennifer looked at each other, and smiled. "Sure. Why not?" Frederic finally said. "When the Destroyer nearly killed me, I got in contact with a back-up program. A program I created. It contained all the deadliest knowledge and abilities. Knowledge and abilities I didn't have until then. The program merged with me, giving me the abilities and knowledge contained in it. With it, I managed to call upon the forces of nature. I used them, but in my normal form I was unable to defeat the Destroyer. Then, everything just fell into place. It was like a jig-saw puzzle was completed in my mind, a puzzle which allowed me to summon the greatest force ever seen."

"The Dragon." Daphnix said, standing up from the command chair. Jennifer took Science as Frederic sat down in his chair.

"Exactly. Every head of the seven-headed elemental Dragon represents one force of nature. Each one more powerful than anything you've ever seen. Those powers were strong enough to get rid of the damn Destroyer." Frederic said.

"And, what's the deal with the Ketari powers?" Daphnix asked, having taken Tactical.

Frederic pulled a Sword. "I'm not sure. Until Jennifer is strong enough to transfer the Human powers back to me, I think I'll hang on the Ketari powers." He said, looking thoughtfully at the green-glowing blade.

"And what about the fact that they have never been tamed?" Daphnix asked.

"Then I will have to fight Raglan again. There is one plus: Raglan will only have the Ketari powers, since they are what I'm fighting for. But I will be fighting with the Human, Oech-anya AND Ketari powers at the same time." Frederic smiled.

"Meaning that Raglan will not stand a chance." Daphnix grinned.

"Exactly." Frederic said.

"But there are still some things I don't understand." Daphnix said, shaking his head. "How did the Gods know where to find us? And why in hell didn't you use the level 2 powers, and obliterate the guy?"

"They are Gods for something, D. Besides, if we can travel to different dimensions, why shouldn't they be able to do the same? And the Destroyer was a god-like being. If I had gone to level 2, so would he, and I wouldn't have stood a chance. I had to do it on my own." Frederic responded, glancing at the displays in his armrests every now and then.

"Gods or no Gods, the least they could do is send us a congratulations." Daphnix mumbled.       

 Frederic and Jennifer laughed.

"Funny, D. We did our jobs. That's it." Frederic snickered, and looked at the main screen, looking out over the stars.

"Congratulations." The three people swirled around at the now familiar coming-from-everywhere-and-nowhere voice.

"Oh shit. Where's the trouble now?" Frederic said, coming out of his chair and bowing to the God.

"How would you feel about going back to school?" the God asked, casually.

"School? What school?" Daphnix asked.

"High school." The God said, barely able to cover his smirk.

"High school?" Frederic repeated dumbly.                                                       

"That's what I said,” the God responded.                      

"What for?" Jennifer asked. "Why would we have to go to high school?"

"Because there is something there that's killing teenagers. We've tried to locate what's doing it, but whoever or whatever it is, it's shielding itself from us. All we know is that it is something from the forces of darkness. That is why we need you to go undercover instead of just waltzing in, and taking everything apart." The God responded.

"Why the sudden help? First we don't hear from you since you ordered us to kill the Ureeat Getor, and now you help us two times in the same week without our asking?" Frederic asked.

"Well, since 254's Destroyer problem, we have changed our minds. If the Destroyers interfere, we Gods can't stay out of it either." The God responded.

"And why the high school?" Daphnix wanted to know.

"We watch this universe extra carefully, since it is both your and our home. And the job needs someone who can go undercover. You three are some of the few people we think are capable of doing the job."

"That’s why you asked us to go back to school, huh? Well, as long as we don't have to finish the entire year. What's the cover?" Frederic asked.

"You choose amongst yourselves. But may I suggest you try to get into as different environments as possible?"

"I don’t like the sound of this. Do you mean we have to split up?" Jennifer asked.

"And how long will this job last? We promised Luke to be back in one week, to finish my training." Frederic asked.

"It is but a mere suggestion, and I don't know long it will take. Anything from one day to one month, I think. Everything depends on how fast you are able to locate the darkness that's doing this." The God said. "Good luck, my friends." The God disappeared.

"Friends my ass." Daphnix said. "At least this one will be interesting."

"Next problem: who will we be?" Frederic asked. "We can hold our original names, but what will we be?"

"If we're going to do this right, we should follow the God's advice. I will infiltrate the cheerleaders, unless one of you gentlemen would like to take that job?" Jennifer said, smirking.

"I wouldn't mind." Daphnix said.

"Oh yeah? Dress up like girl, and strut around school like that?" Jennifer smirked even more. Daphnix grinned, and admitted defeat.

"I will take the sports annex bully department. That way, Jen and I can hang out together." Frederic said, casting a glance at Jennifer. "We can't tell them we're married, and this is the next best thing."

"Damn. That leaves me with the nerd department, right?" Daphnix said.

"You don't have to do it. You can be whatever you want." Frederic said to comfort his friend.

"But it would be best for the mission, right?" Daphnix said.

"Come on, it's not that bad. Look at it this way: you won't have to act, since we've got all those years of experience. Me on the other hand, I will have to improvise a lot." Frederic said.

"Hey! And I've never been in a high school, let alone been a cheerleader there!" Jennifer said. "This'll be fun!" she smirked.

Daphnix smiled. "Alright. I'll do it. But where is that damn school anyway?"

Frederic tapped the console in his armrest. "Chicago." He said. "We will have to create our personalities before we go in and blanket everyone into accepting us."

"We'd better be going then." Daphnix said, receiving a nod from Jennifer.

"You go ahead. I'll just use one of my reserve identities." Frederic said. "I created a whole bunch of them when I got into computer business."

Everyone knew what Frederic meant by computer business: his little operation to get people in or out of the country. Frederic tapped one of the keys in his armrest, and started scrolling through the list.

"Let me see. A jock, huh? This one will do." He said, pulling up a file on the main screen. Jennifer and Daphnix whistled.

"Damn. You really are good at this, aren't you? Look at this, an entire family, complete with backgrounds, jobs, birthplaces, this file has everything. And the worst of it all is, I would believe this thing if I ever got it under my nose." Daphnix said.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Frederic said, mysteriously. "The file comes complete with birth certificate, four forms of ID, including driver's license, a social security number, and everything else you can think of. That is why it's not difficult for me to create an alternate identity. Unfortunately, I never got around to making one for you." He said to his two friends.

"Don't worry. We'll just go through Linda's alternate identity program you wrote." Jennifer said.

"You do that. I'll just make some more adjustments to this." Frederic said, beginning to put in some minor alterations, mostly to make sure that his cover would hold long enough, and to make sure he would fit in the selected crowd.

"So, how are your covers coming along?" Frederic asked.

"I'm almost there. Just my grandparents, and some general background info." Jennifer said.

"I just have to make sure my previous educational institution is up to my level of intelligence." Daphnix said.

"Great! We haven't started yet, and he's already getting into character." Frederic smirked. "Way to go, D!"

Daphnix grinned. "  Anything for a better performance." He said.                         

"Before I forget, this is a PHIS, the Personal Holographic Imaging System. Its energy is limited, so it's limited to emergencies only." Frederic said as he held out a small box, with a clip on the back.                                                      

"What does it do?" Jennifer asked.

"And when did you come up with something like that?"

"It projects the image of someone else over you. It also changes your voice to sound like the person you're impersonating. No one will recognize you. If your cover gets blown, get to a secluded spot, and use it. It will make you appear as someone else for about 10 minutes, long enough to get out. And D, I came up with the idea in my one-month seclusion. I finalized it during my stay with Luke and Leia." Frederic explained.

"Cool." Daphnix said, taking the box and clipping it to his belt, after Frederic pulled out two more boxes for himself and Jennifer. When all three were ready, Frederic said:   

"One more thing. Since our Swords are retractable, we will be the only ones armed. D, you have the authority to use mental force when confronted with a demon. But you are advised to call in help immediately." Frederic said. Daphnix nodded, and laid down his Sword of Destiny.

"Now, if I could only remember how you did that . . ."Jennifer said, pulling out the Human Sword of the Phalanx.

"It's easy." Frederic said, and showed her. The Sword's blade disappeared, and the handle-dragon's mouth closed. Frederic did the same with his Ketari Sword. The handles were easily stored in their pockets.

"Remember, we will have to find three separate residences. No contact is allowed outside normal school behavior. If we do need to contact each other, the code name is Zeus. The code sequence is Thor, Jupiter." Frederic said. Both his friends nodded as they stored the information.

"Great." Daphnix mumbled. "I get to be a geek, and I can't even contact my friends unless it's an emergency."

"It is vital for the mission. Remember, this is home ground. We want it clear of darkness, for now and forever. The ESMF and the Slayers have done a great job so far, but they can't be everywhere at once." Frederic said.

Frederic beamed down somewhere near the school he would be attending tomorrow. He looked around, scanning his surroundings. Jennifer would beam down in one hour, and Daphnix in two. They would not meet unless in school.

"Alright. According to the newspaper, there is an apartment suited for me a couple of blocks away." He said, and started walking. After five minutes, he went inside the apartment building. It was a lower-class apartment building.

He took the empty apartment, paid in cash, and went inside. He beamed down his 'wardrobe', his weaponry and everything else he would need for the stay. He got the place in order and then knelt down in the middle of the living room. The flat itself was small, one bedroom with a single bed, a small kitchen, a bathroom and a living room with TV and telephone.

After he had assumed his kneeling position, he focused. He blanketed the entire building, and the entire surrounding area with a few commands and memories. The program he had created was basic: everyone would think he had lived here for months, since the beginning of the school year. He would be recognized as a tough guy, with loud music till 10 in the evening, and a little hard to get the rent from, but he always paid after the necessary stimulation.

Frederic checked his watch. 4:30 p.m. He got up, and ordered pizza from a nearby pizza joint.                                           

 After paying the delivery boy, he ate the pizza alone, in front of the TV. He went to bed early, thinking of how lonely he felt surrounded by people he didn't know in a building he didn't know in a city he was not familiar with.

 

Jennifer beamed down. She was wearing expensive clothes. She smiled in herself. She had created a character that was richer than God, and that had its advantages. She would be the one who got to use the APV, and she would get the nicest apartment. She got in the car and drove off, after first scanning the surroundings.

She stopped at one of the nicest apartment buildings in the city, and paid in cash for the nicest room they had available. She too, beamed down her clothing and weaponry after she had been left in her fancy room. She stowed it all away, and blanketed the building and its surroundings in a way similar to Frederic’s. She didn't order pizza, though. Her status wouldn't allow it.

She made a reservation for a fancy restaurant, and drove there in the APV, now in convertible mode. The parking attendant parked it for her, and she gave him one of her dazzling smiles as tip. She could swear the guy had major problems with a sudden bulge in his pants. She smiled softly as she strode inside the fancy restaurant.

After confirming her reservation, she was guided to one of the best tables. She too, ate alone. After dinner, she got back outside and tipped the attendant. She drove off in 'her' convertible, and got into bed as soon as she got home.

Daphnix was dressed as a geek, included checkered shirt and suspenders. He smiled, scanned the surroundings, and walked to the apartment he would be staying in. It was not as nice as Jennifer's, but it wasn't a complete dump, like Frederic's, either. He got the room, beamed down his stuff, and orderly cataloged it and placed it away.

He ordered pizza as well, by coincidence from the same place Frederic had. He went to sleep early as well, after blanketing the building and its surroundings.

 

The next morning, Frederic got up and got ready for school. Although he had already been through high school, he felt as nervous as if it was his first day. He walked to school, and blanketed the building to make it appear as if he had been here since the beginning of the year. Frederic shook his head.

"I'm a senior, and as a jock nonetheless." He thought to himself. He lifted the knowledge of what he would need, and what his schedule was, from one of the other senior students. The guy's name was Brad. Frederic nodded. He would remember the name.

First period, Algebra II. Frederic went inside with the rest of the students, and sat down in theback of the class. The teacher was a woman in her mid forties. She must have been very pretty once, but the years were clearly showing. He already knew the stuff being taught, even without his Phalanx knowledge. Frederic was bored to death.

So far, he hadn't been able to come up with anything that would help in his search. Suddenly, he was jerked from his stupor.

"Would you care to give the correct answer, since you appear to be done with the exercise already?" the teacher was standing right next to him. Frederic’s mind, still half in 'thinking mode', responded automatically. He looked at the blackboard, and responded:

"X is 5.7482165."

The teacher looked at him. "And how did you know that? Your page is empty."

Frederic could curse himself for slipping like this. He began preparations to blanket the room, when he saw the female student in front of him, with the correct answer. He aborted his blanket, and said: "Carla was so nice to show me." He grinned.

The girl turned around at the sound of her name, and shot him a glance. He just gave her a devil-may-care grin back.

"Cheating, huh? Next time, do the exercise yourself, Mister Fromthefield." The woman shot.

"You couldn't do it yourself, you old bat." He thought to himself. Now that he had almost slipped up, he kept his attention on the blackboard. Classes passed slowly. He ate lunch with the rest of the jocks, but nothing came up.

 

For Jennifer too, classes passed slowly. As had been the case with Frederic, she had trouble to keep from contacting him. She too, ate lunch with her 'friends', those she was supposed to be befriended too.

The assignment was the hardest on Daphnix, who played the nerd, and was very good at it. He became the center of attention of the jocks. Frederic kept out of it, but gave some puns every now and then, just to make sure his cover would be sustained. Telepathically, Frederic apologized every time, and Daphnix sent back that he knew what had to be done.

After school, Frederic had basketball practice. Given his enhanced abilities, he was the best. The coach kept telling the other to be more like Frederic, but only he knew how futile the attempts were.

The next day passed just as uneventfully. After school, the jocks hung out at the cheerleader practice.

"Hey, dig that chick!" one of the guys, Adam, said. He pointed at Jennifer. Her abilities had her clearly standing out above the others. "She's cute."      

"Gorgeous is more like it." Frederic grinned. "I wouldn't mind getting a piece of her." He stayed in character. He smiled inwardly he had already had a piece of her. And a lot more than a piece, too.

"Uh-huh." Adam agreed.

Again, nothing was found. The third day was as empty as the other two, with meaningless classes, boring teachers and little or no challenge to the three warriors.

The fourth day brought the turn around. Two more students had disappeared. Quiet interrogations conducted by the three warriors soon found a correlation. A single person both students had gone to see: the principal.

Surprised, Frederic had himself sent to the principal's office. Instead of just mind controlling his way, he decided to make it as real-life as possible. He insulted the same Algebra teacher, and that did the trick just fine.

After his talk with the principal, Frederic had no more answers than he had when he had stepped in. he had scanned the room, but that had yielded nothing.              He contacted both his friends telepathically.

<<No answers in the principal's office. Suggestions?>> He asked.

<<Getting ourselves captured is one of them.>> Jennifer said.

<<It's dangerous.>> Frederic said. <<D, what do you think?>>

<<I agree. Getting ourselves captured is the only solution. Our undercover work has wielded nothing.>>

<<Very well. And how are we going to get ourselves captured?>> Frederic asked.

<<The last two disappeared after their meeting with the principal, which took place after the end of class. I think we should try to duplicate those events.>> Jennifer suggested.

<<Agreed. Problem: we can't mind control the principal. He's probably in on it, and it would only draw suspicion to ourselves.>> Frederic said. Just as he completed his thought, his name was called over the intercom, asking him to come see the principal.

<<Again? What in hell is going on?>> Frederic asked. He got a 'don't know' back from both his friends. He said he'd be back in a minute, and disappeared into the principal's office.

He hadn't fully entered before he felt a stinging blow to the back of his head. He was knocked to the ground, and started to crawl up. His healing abilities raced to their maximum extent, but a second blow and a kick to his ribs sent him tumbling down again. He heard a shot in the distance, followed by a sting of a tranquilizer dart at the base of his neck.

His enormous willpower forced him to stay conscious and, struggling for control, he got to his hands and knees, and was rising up when a second and a third shot knocked him out.                                                 

When Frederic regained consciousness, he was tied spread-eagle, and naked, across a large X, standing upright. He looked around, and the scene reminded him so much of the pits of hell he encountered while underway to raiding Ketaria, that he almost lost his lunch.

He looked around the place, seeing the rotting carcasses of the other students, and the bodies of the missing policemen who asked the wrong questions. He sadly shook his head, and tried in vain to break free of his bonds.

A demon entered his view, grinned, and stared directly in Frederic's face. He was so close; Frederic could smell the foul breath.

"I knew you would be involved." The demon said, his voice thundering through the underground hallways. "You gave yourself away when you scanned the principal's office. So, I ordered you brought here. It’s going to be a pleasure to torture and kill you."

"You'll have one hell of a time. My body will not surrender so easily." Frederic said. He could feel his mental abilities come out of the drug-induced stupor, and he combined them with the Force. The bounds ripped as though they were paper, and Frederic's body launched itself towards the demon.

Frederic bounced off it, and regained his composure a couple of meters to the demon's back. He gave a mental yell to his Sword. The handle came flying, and Frederic grasped it in mid-air. The demon attacked, but Frederic dodged out of the way.

He activated the blade, and charged. He soon had the demon on the run, and managed to corner him.

"You're having all the fun without us again, are you?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah! No fair! We deserve a piece of him as much as you do!" Daphnix joined in.

Both warriors had thrown off their school clothes, and now wore their proper warrior outfits. Jennifer had her Sword deployed, and Daphnix had his beamed in. Jennifer and Daphnix held the demon at bay while Frederic went in search of his own clothes.

When he found them, they had been ripped to pieces. He ordered a clothing beam, and was soon dressed in his own warrior outfit. He rejoined his friends, and together, they advanced on the scared demon.

"Please! Don't kill me! I…I…" the demon begged. His voice cut off when he was unable to come up with a reason for them to let him live.

"You will be sent back to the pits of hell, where you came from." Frederic said, aiming his Sword at the demon's throat.

The demon looked frantically for a way out, but the three warriors had completely surrounded him, and he could feel the magic radiating from their Swords. He decided on a desperate attack, and flung himself towards Frederic. Frederic ducked out of the way, and heard a grunt as he righted himself.

He turned, and saw the demon's body, lying on the floor, its head cut off and its bowels cut open. The foul smelling puddle of vileness on the floor made the warriors' noses curl. Frederic hurriedly made a couple of signs and muttered some words. The spell of destruction did its job, and the demon's remains disappeared.

The three warriors holstered their Swords, and walked upstairs. Everybody looked stunned as they reached ground level. First, Frederic appeared, followed by Jennifer and Daphnix.

All the people gasped. A jock, a cheerleader and a nerd walking around like this? What in hell is going on? The crowd made a path when the three warriors approached, and walked to the principal's office. Instead of just knocking, they kicked down the door, and Frederic and Jennifer rolled in, with Daphnix covering them with both quantum pistols.

The principal, who was in fact a dark mage, was ready for them. He attacked with all the magic he could muster in a single spell. The three warriors never even tried to stop it. The evil magic was just absorbed by the rings and the Swords they were carrying, further increasing the objects' strength.

Frederic and Jennifer raised their hands. "Your choice. You can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Frederic said. "Either way, you'll loose."

The dark mage just attacked with another fireball, followed by a chain of lightning. Again, the magical items the three warriors were carrying absorbed the magic.

"You had your chance." Frederic shrugged, and attacked with a level-three fireball spell, coupled to Jennifer's level-three chain lighting spell, it did enough damage to destroy a small office building. The dark mage almost disintegrated, howling in rage.

The three warriors looked at the remains, and shook their heads.

"How did a bastard like that become principal?" Frederic asked no one in particular. Daphnix cast a spell of destruction on the mage's body, and together, they left the office.

The crowd looked expectantly at them. The three, unsure what to say, just stood there for a moment.

Frederic blanketed the room, fazing them out. "What'll we tell them?" Frederic asked. He received a shrug from both his friends.

"Come on, we can't tell them the truth!" Frederic said. "They'd be ruined!"

"People are stronger than we think. They may change, but they wouldn't be ruined." Jennifer suggested.

"Maybe. So, we do tell them the truth?" Frederic asked.

"Yep, but leave the mind-control part out of it." Daphnix said. "They'd freak on that."

"Probably. So, we tell the truth, but not the whole truth, is that it?"

"Yep." Jennifer said.

After telling the people in the school they hunted the forces of darkness, and some made-up truths, the three warriors left. They walked to a secluded spot, and beamed themselves up to the Ortega. The APV was beamed up as well.

Without any further delays, the three people crossed over to rejoin Luke and Leia; so all three of them could learn the art of the Jedi and the ways of the Force.