The summer blockbuster, continued.
The year is 2020. The heroes: a few dozen young men and women, most in their late 20s. Fifteen years earlier, four friendly-seeming but mysterious people gathered them on what was then known as the World Wide Web, dropped hints about an important destiny or mission they were to fulfill, and then vanished. Over the years, some of the group kept in touch; others drifted apart. Now a great danger has brought them all back together again…
Boy the old thread got big fast! I will join if someone tells me the whole story so far…
I’d join, but I’m not sure how I’d fit into the story…
the man for aeiou shot down more hpbs.they had started to turn into cats and dogs.. he thoght back to the last ten years. there had been a lot of cat-and dog- nappings. this is who did it. the hpbs. they were making a army of cats and dogs. the gapas were part of it. he had freed rebeeca. he must find the rest…
rebeeca was still slepping when the amn for aeiou found something out: he was no were near the mbers. it was a trap!
***
so there four sence of action:
the trap.
the er
the kidnapers lair
shadowkat.
and no rebcea is not dead and she will neather will be. she was unconsus and now she is waking up.it is the 5 day of deember and the bunney are discing the new years ball as a bomb that will explode over nyc on news years eve 2020.we have 26 days to stop them. o.k.?
Yay! Its already up! I thought we’d haveto wait a week or something. Ya know what really stinks? I just decided today to put a shortcut to the fanfiction on my desktop, and then you guys close it 15 mins later. xD
4-hahaha
3- Didnt you see? I already wrote in my idea in the last part.
Wow. That was fast.
3- No offense the man for aeiou, but I think we should stick to my idea, considering I alreqady wrote it in.
8- What is it? Shadow technology? I liked that. I want to keep it.
9- Yup. Thank you. ^-^
c+q, lovely person that she is, made a very good compilation of the story. I’ll go and fetch it.
“Good night!” wrote E2MB “See you in the morning!” Little did he know, this was the last comment ever to be moderated on the MuseBlog.
When E2MB logged on the next morning, he was shocked to see that no one had posted in the time he had been sleeping. He was a good deal more shocked to see that, on the very top of the page, even above the random thread, was a single post. It said, “BLOG CLOSED DUE TO.” Due to what? He clicked on the random thread, only to find it closed. All the threads were! When he had worked through the entire year of 2010, he realized the awful truth: The MuseBlog was truly closed.
…
“Zark,” Sweet Melpomene said at last. “This is big. Really big. And BAD.”
“Do you think–” Widdershins looked around at the others. “Do you think the GAPAs knew?”
Juliette shrugged. “You mean ‘knew’ as in ‘had foreknowledge of’? Like Hari Seldon and his psychohistory? Not zarking likely.”
“I’m not so sure,” Purple Panda said. “They sounded as if they did. There was one thing in particular that Robert posted, just a few days before…”
“Robert!” FrigidSymphony scoffed. “That old fraud. He’d be the last person I’d listen to.”
Shadowkat reached across the table and tousled FrigidSymphony’s waist-long hair. “Still smarting from that time he banished you, are you, Fridgey?” she teased.
“That has nothing to do with it,” the musician shot back. “I just found Rebecca and the other Administrators more helpful.”
Alice looked pensive. “I always wondered about Rosanne,” she said. “She seemed very quiet and sweet, but I got the impression that there was a lot more to her than that. I suspect that she was the brains of the outfit, the one pulling the strings. And then one day they were all just–gone…”
For a moment, the group sat in uneasy silence.
“Anyway, they did their job,” Red-tailed HAWK said at last. “They got us together. Now we’ve got a job to do.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ebeth burst out. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s get out there and DO it.”
“Not so fast,” Prarilius Canix said. “We can’t afford to rush into this. It’s too important for that. Failure is not an option here. We have to be sure what we’re dealing with.”
E2MB smiled grimly. “Well, whatever it is,” he said, “one thing is for sure: it is definitely NOT mostly harmless.”
Shadowkat looked Prarilius Canix. “PC is right,” she said. “We have to find out what it is we’re dealing with. Those disappearances…did anyone notice any kind of order to them? Do you think it could be…the bunnies?”
FrigidSymphony glanced up from admiring his hair. “Bunnies? I’ll kill ’em. I’ll…”. He broke off, turning his attention to a small stain on his shirt. “Dammit, I just washed this crap yesterday! Bloody pasta…”
“Obsess much?” muttered Shadowkat. She raised her hands in response to the glare she got from FrigidSymphony. “Just making an observation!” she said defensively.
“Hey, I care about my appearance,” he shot back, “because it’s worth the effort.” He gave her a cocky grin.
Shadowkat grinned back, and thought, Well, at least one of us hasn’t changed…. “I care about mine, too! But, you know, you really don’t need to do anything…you’re naturally gorgeous.” She winked at him.
“Will you two stop the banter? We have a crisis on our hands!” Prarilius Canix snapped. He was irritable, having been awake for the past two nights, researching. “It’s not just the GAPAs. Whatever did this wanted to get them out of the way first, because it thought that they were the only ones who could stop it. People have been disappearing all over the world.”

“You’re talking about this as though there was some intelligence behind the disappearances,” said Lizzie. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“I think it’s probable,” Pentatonikk mused. “The bunnies…?”

“What are you talking about?” Prarilius Canix hissed. “The bunnies are imaginary and this is real.”

Silence.

“Right?”


Silence.

“Well… ” said Kiki the great, nervously fingering her red hair. “You never went to Kokonventions…”

“And you hadn’t been in contact with us much in the past few years,” the man for aeiou said. “Until now, that is… “

“I’m sorry, PraCan,” Taiwan Hippo Fan said. “We didn’t realize there was anyone here who didn’t know.”
“Know what?” asked Alice, just as clueless as Prarilius Canix. “Oh! You mean . . . that?”
Shadowkat looked at the others, then turned to Prarilius Canix. “Alright, look, you remember that day back in ’07, April Fool’s Day, when the HPBs took over MuseBlog? And we all thought, ‘Haha, what a joke, that can’t be real!’? Well…it was. I know some connections who might have some information about the disappearances…should I call them?”

“PC, the bunnies are real. Well, in a sense…it was an accident.” Sobriquet whispered, concerned.
“Wait,” interrupted Lizzie. “I seem to have missed the memo. Who are Shadowkat’s ‘people’ and what do they have to do with the disappearances?”
“I have no clue,” volunteered Alice, unhelpfully. “Shadowkat?”
FS pulled a flask ot of his pocket and took a long drink, then said: “I think we should all use our assets and dig up whatever we can about these disappearances. I’ll contact the Thelema, see if the occultists can give me some info… As for the rest of you…”
“My ‘people'” retorted Shadowkat, “are a few parties with whom I have certain useful connections. And that’s all you need to know. Now, should I contact them, or not?”
“What about the rest of us?” asked Alice. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. I mean, since the the Wawona sunk I don’t even have a ship!” She paused. “Of course, most of you don’t have ships either, so I suppose it’s not that unusual.”
“I’ll be doing some research. Again,” Prarilius Canix sighed. “I’ll look through the newspaper archives, see if I can find any pattern to the disappearances. If I can find the time and place they started, we’ll have something to work with.”
Shadowkat sighed.
”And I’ll contact my people, see what they know…and trust me, they’ll know something. Anyone else have an assignment for me? I’ll need something to keep me busy once I’m done…” She glanced at FS, who raised his eyebrows. “Well, never mind. Anyone?”
Canix left the room. Moments later, a sleek white Prius with a BOOK♥ER license plate pulled out of the parking lot below and drove off in the direction of the library.

“I wonder what he’s up to,” Alice mused. “He didn’t even wait for us to explain about the bunnies.”

“He’s probably going to catch up on some of the old MB threads, see if he can find out something about them himself.”

“Makes sense. That’s where it all started.”
“God, I feel useless,” moaned Alice. “All I can do is write, really. I suppose I could help PC research, but…” She trailed off. “I don’t know.” She rested her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands. “I’ve never been very good at making plans, either.”
Shadowkat looked around at everyone. “Well, I’m gonna go talk to a few people, alright? Everyone knows what they’re doing? Good.” She got up and headed for the door. Glancing over her shoulder at FS, she said, “You coming?” He nodded, and they left together. A black and silver Honda motorcycle with two dark-clothed figures on it glided out of the parking lot a few minutes later.
…
Prarilius Canix stood up, heaps of newspaper falling off the computer desk. It was so obvious. Why hadn’t he spotted it before?
He scribbled a few important points on a sheet of notebook paper, stuffed the sheet in his pocket, and dashed out into the rainy street, ignoring the funny look he got from the librarian.
”This could alter the fate of the entire world,” he thought. “They’ve got to know about it.”
He was so focused that he didn’t notice the figure standing nearby beneath an umbrella, or what that figure held in its free hand and was pointing at him.
There was a sharp crack, like a gunshot. In fact, that’s what it was. Prarilius Canix collapsed against the library wall and slowly slid to the ground.
…
Kagcomix looked up, from where she was sitting on the floor. “So they are real,” she muttered, coughed once and continued. “Animal shelters”.
“What do you mean?” asked Alice, bending over to look at Kagcomix.

“Well, normal rabbits multiply rapidly, right? But the HPB’s are different. Aren’t they spawned from talk of dogs vs. cats? And where better to find dogs and cats than at an animal shelter? I think we should check out the local shelters. I can do some volunteer work there while checking stuff out.” As Kagcomix finished she curled into child’s pose, her sword hugged to her stomach. She felt tired and ached. Kagcomix drifted off into thoughts and reflections, about her training, about her bionic right arm and other wounds, about her past.
A loud bang filled the air. Kagy started and banged her head on the table.

“Sorry,” Red-tailed HAWK said. “I didn’t know it actually worked.”
RtH held a gun in his hand. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry!” he said again.

“Where exactly did you get that?” asked Widdershins.
“Uh….this secret compartment thingy slid open when I put my hand on the table,” RtH explained.

“Maybe there are more, but HAWK, DON’T go pulling triggers indoors. It’s dangerous!”Alice snapped at him.
“Anybody have a laptop?” Sobriquet asked. “We should check the news. We should keep track of any more unexplained dissapearences or bunny sightings.”

Alice handed over a small silver notebook. “For writing.” she offered. “I take it everywhere.”

The group skimmed the headlines. One read “Man Shot At Chicago Library”.

“Wasn’t PC headed for the library?” E2MB asked.

Sobriquet clicked the link. At the top of the page was a picture of Pralirius Canix lying unconcious on the library steps.
Kagcomix got up. She had stopped paying attention and drifted off, but people seemed to be leaving now so she guessed she should be too. Kagy grabbed her sword and walked to the door. On the street the air felt good on her face. I’ll go to the library to see how PC is. Besides, I want to pick up a book, she thought.
A horrific scene met her eyes as she reached the steps. Police tape everywhere, and PC lying by the library doors. With a disregard for the police and everyone around her Kagy ran towards PC.
”Pralirius, who did it, where did they go?” she whispered.

“Dunno, they went down the side street,” Pralirius gasped.

“It’s okay PC, I’ll get them. Just don’t die.” She smiled down at him before running off down a sidestreet. She didn’t need anyone dying, at least not this early in the game.
“Wait!” Prarilius gasped. He held up a blood-soaked scrap of paper, with a neat, round hole through the middle of it.

“That’s evidence. Hand it over, and everything will be all right,” said a young, nervous-looking policeman.
Canix coughed, then fixed the policeman with a baleful stare.
“This is more important than you could possibly imagine. Don’t touch it.”
The policeman backed off.
Kagy took the paper. Only three words were legible, and their last few letters had been cut off.
”Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read.
…
At that very moment, the former MuseBloggers were gathered around the tiny laptop on the big table, reading the dreadful article.
Suddenly someone asked, “Where’s Kagcomix?”

“Good point,” said Alice in surprise. “Where is Kagcomix?”
Green Qween burst into the room quite suddenly.
”Am I late? What’s going on?” she blurted out. “I saw Kagy in the street, and she was running away from something.” She stared at the small group huddled around the laptop. “What did I miss?”
…
Suddenly, a female police officer reported for duty. “What’s going on here, Cook?” she said, addressing the man. Suddenly she stepped back a ways. “PC?” she whispered faintly. “Is that you?”
“How do you know my blog name?” the bloody man whispered from the ground. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“Cat’s Meow,” the lady said. “And boy, it’s been way too long.”
…
Cinnamon Moon stepped quietly into the room. The few people still sitting around the table turned toward her. She moved purposefully towards the table, then introduced herself.
“Cinnamon Moon. It’s been too long, my friends. Please tell me – what has happened? I don’t understand every thing. Can you explain?”

E2MB began. “It started with the bunnies…
“It happened at kokonvention #30 at Muse HQ. Shadowkat was showing her make-alive 3000 with a computer and ’07 januray muse. She typed in a random thread number and hit enter. She fed the Muse in. The make-alive made a ring sound and a thing popped out. It was a bunny! Then another, and more! Soon all of Muse HQ was filled will bunnies! Some were paper and some were from that april day in ’07.”
As E2MB finished recounting what had happened in the last few years, the room fell gloomily silent as the grave nature of what had taken place began to truly sink in.
The MBers sat silently, pensively, in the ever-darkening room, looking up on occasion, wondering what, exactly, had to be done. A disquieting atmosphere ensued until a familiar voice crackled once more through the PA speakers in the room.
“Zark, zark, zark,” muttered Sweet Melpomene. “This is already getting out of hand; I don’t think I can still risk talking to you from the lab, even if I do wipe the computers… I’ll be over to the Royal in a bit–”
A loud crash was broadcast, followed only by static before the speakers fell silent.

…
Shadowkat pulled up to the abandoned apartment building. She looked it over, noticed the broken windows, tattered curtains, unhinged door. Home, sweet home., she thought, somewhat sarcastically. She had dropped FrigidSymphony off at a phone booth outside of a “well-thought-of” bar in town. They would meet up later, when she was done with her current business.
She got off her bike, set the safety, and went into the building.
Two men were waiting for her in the kitchen just inside the front door. She turned to them.

“Buona Notte, Signor Tomaschino, Masacci.”

“Ciao, Kat.” They replied in unison.

She looked them in the eyes. “Do you have the information I asked you for?”

“Yes.”

“Well, let’s see it, then.”
Tomaschino pulled a few sheets of paper out of the front pocket of his jacket and handed them to her. She looked at the papers for a few minutes, eyes narrowing as she read each sentence, then looked up at her companions.

“Is this all you could find?” she asked them skeptically.

“Yes.” answered Masacci, with a touch of aggression.

Shadowkat returned in kind, “Well, it had better be. This is more important than any of your kind will ever know.” She spat out the last phrase as if it were poison. Which, to Tomaschino and Masacci, it was. Tomaschino took a step towards Shadowkat threateningly.

“If you weren’t my cousin…” he warned.

“If you weren’t my cousin, you’d be dead by now.” interrupted Shadowkat. She snatched the papers of the heavily-stained table where she had set them, turned on her heel, and marched out the door.
”Ciao, gentlemen!” she called from the street. With a roar and a vroom, she was gone.
…
Ring, ring! Ring, ring!
Alice picked up the phone in the meeting room.

“Hello?” she said, a little tentatively.

“Alice?”

“Yes.”

“It’s me, Shadowkat. Have you and the other MBers meet me downstairs. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I have some extremely important information.”
Click.
…
Back at the library, the scene of the crime was buzzing with activity. After Kagy rushed off, someone finally had the sense to call 911. Paramedics had flooded the area, and PC was rushed into an ambulance. As an authority figure, Cat’s Meow had recieved word that PC hadn’t lost a fatal amount of blood, but he was still in critical condition.
Five blocks away, Kagy swung around the sharp corner of a dank brick building. What she came face-to-face with in the alley made her stop dead in her tracks. From a distance, the dreamlike sound of sirens speeding away reached her ears, but she did not hear it.
…
The downtown Chicago emergency room had seen better days. Minor dilemmas had been hindering progress since 8:00 that morning, especially since the latest batch of interns were starting today. Among these clueless medics was 29-year-old ‘Dotty-kay, who at the moment had quite a lot to worry about. She had recently recieved a mysterious message that her old MuseBlog friends planned to meet at a secret location this very day, supposedly for a reunion. She had suspected the matter at hand was a bit more urgent, but she had a dilemma since her internship began today. She couldn’t afford to miss this training, and so declined the invitation. Now she doubted the wisdom in this action. With rumors of an assassination attempt so early on, it was looking like she would be giving the MuseBlog conspriacy a higher priority than her career at this point.
Cat’s Meow had been thinking along these same lines, and had stowed away on PC’s ambulance just before it left, disregarding the fact that she was still on duty. Now as the vehicle raced into the emergency entrance, she tried to communicate with PC. From his grunts and fragmented sentences, she gained that he had just made an earth-shattering discovery. She followed the strecher inside the ICU, where Dot almost collided into the party.
…
There was a barbed wire fence but it only stopped Kagy for a moment. She ripped the barbed wire aside with her right(and bionic) arm. Kagy could feel her heart pumping as she ran down the side street. It was long and it didn’t have a turn off for a long while. It was more of an alleyway, now that she thought about it. Its narrow grimy brick walls from the buildings on either side leaned in close. She could see a figure running up ahead. Kagy clutched the paper from PC tigter in her fist and put on a spurt of speed. She was getting closer. Her muscles ached but she kept going. Her sword was strapped to her side, in its hilt, but she pulled it out. Suddenly there was gunfire. Three bullets rocketed past her bouncing off the walls, one going dangerously past her ear. Kagy ran faster. If she could just get into sword-reach…
As Kagy neared the figure she noticed it wore a long trench coat and a big hat. Both the hat and the trench coat were black, but under the hat something pink was poking out. Kagy barely had time to wonder what it was when another round of gunfire erupted.
This time Kagy couldn’t doge them all. One was lodged in her right shoulder.
At least it wasn’t my real arm, she thought. The gunfire wasn’t stopping and Kagy noticed that more people in trenchcoats and hats were emerging from a turnoff she hadn’t noticed before. Kagy turned. There was no way she could face this many gunmen by herself. She grabbed onto a sturdy looking pipe with her good arm and scampered up the building. Trying to doge bullets and climb up pipes was no easy task.
Kagcomix was finaly on top of the roof of one of the buildings when the gunfire died down. Kagy had two more bullets lodged in her arm.
Zark! i guess it’s another night without sleep to fix THIS! she thought. With her still intact left hand she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.
”Hello? is that Dotty Kay?”

“Uh huh”

“It’s Kagcomix. I need your help.”

“Hey Kagy. I’m kinda busy right now.”

“With PC?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’m special.”

“Uh.. okay… why are you calling me?”

“Because I don’t know anyone else’s number.”

“Okay. So what do you need?”

“I don’t know if PC told you, but he gave me a sheet of paper. I can’t really read most of it but i know that you were on MB before i was and you might know what it means. Does ‘Ljubl… uh… Lagomo…Extrater’ make any sense to you?”

“Sorry, Kagy, but you’ve caught me at a really bad time. I’m not sure what that means, but go back to HQ, someone there will be bound to know what you’re talking about.”

“Thanks anyways, Dotty Kay.”
As Kagcomix put her phone back in her pocket she realised what the pink from under the hat had been: BUNNY EARS!
…
In a room at MIT, a girl is checking her email in an attempt to procrastinate. “Why can’t this paper make sense? I can’t do it. It’s impossible. What else can I do?” She opens a web browser, Internet Fire Safari 9.999 Optimised. “I haven’t used that email address in years. It’s some excuse.” She types a password, clicks on something. “Chicago… MuseBlog… I got this two weeks ago… oh, no.” She takes out a phone and dials.
“Potato Chip? Yes, it’s me. Remember MuseBlog? When we were thirteen. I used to be curious and questioning. You had some people’s facebook from then, right? Can you contact them? Now. There’s kind of a problem. I’m emailing you. Checking your old email accounts might help too. I’m going to try calling some other people from that DC kokonvention. If you find anything, call me or email. My thesis can wait a little bit longer.”
…
Kagy ran across rooftops until she reached HQ. She didn’t want to make a scene with her bullet holed t-shirt and her wrecked arm.
Finally Kagy was able to climb down from the roof into the building they had been in before. It seemed there were hidden passageways everywhere. As she entered the room, Sweet Melpomene looked up.

“ZARK! Kagy, what happened? Should I call the ambulance?” Sweet Melpomene asked, shocked at the holes that adorned Kagcomix’s shirt.

“Nah, ‘sokay. They only got my bionic arm.” Kagy responded.
“So, what exactly happened?” E2MB asked.

“Well, I saw PC and he gave me a note. Then I rushed down an alleyway and got shot at by people in bunny suits, black trench coats and hats. The little #@$%@^&* screwed up my arm! I came over the roof tops to get here.” Kagy explained.

“Bunny suits?” E2MB asked.

“Guess so.” said Sweet Melpomene. “What did PC’s note say?”

“most of it’s gone but what i can read is Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” said Kagy.
“It’s a good thing I left my bag here earlier, because my arm realy needs work. That’s where I keep spare parts,” she explained. Kagy took off her ripped shirt and started down to work on her arm.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Sweet Melpomene asked as Kagcomix dug out the bullet and started repairing broken wires and plates.
“Nope, only near my collarbone because that’s where the metal meets the flesh. Otherwise I don’t have that much feeling in my right arm. I mean, I can feel the bullets in there and I can feel being shot, but if you were to, say, run a feather down it I wouldn’t feel it. I always wear a tank top under my shirts for situations like this. It’s realy hard to repair my arm if I keep having to roll up my sleeves.”
“You’ve been shot at before?” asked E2MB increduously.
“Yup! And stabbed too! Wanna see my scar?”

“Not really. But why?”

“In my line of work you come to expect calamity.”

“I thought you were a cartoonist!” Sweet Melpomene jumped in.
“That and defending justice,” Kagy replied. “So do either of you know when PC might get out of the hospital? Because no one I’ve asked so far seems to know what his note means.”

“No idea.” answered E2MB.
Alice had been thinking hard. “Hang on,” she said suddenly. “What did the note say again?”

Kagcomix obligingly fished it out of her pocket with her real arm. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read. Alice took it from her.

“What?” asked agagabagabag.

Alice looked up. “I’m not sure about Ljubl and extrater, but Lagomo seems awfully similar to lagomorph.”

Everyone looked at her. No one moved.
“Which is…?” asked Fire_Falcon22.

“I can’t believe you don’t know that!” burst out Alice. “You’ve all grown up to be hugely successful, and none of you know what lagomorph is?”
When no one answered, Alice explained. “Rabbits aren’t rodents. They’re lagomorphs.”
“Oh my goodness, Alice, you’re right!” cried Cinnamon Moon “I’m so sorry for not having kept in touch. Maybe we could have found this out earlier! But after the news about Rebecca…” She looked at the blank faces around her. “You mean-” she faltered. “Robert never told you?”
…
Shadowkat pulled into the Royal’s parking lot, the papers she’d just received folded up in her pocket. I wonder where Fridgey got to…, she thought. When she’d asked the bartender whether or not he knew what had happened to a tall, handsome, black-clad man, the ‘tender had said he’d never seen a man like that. Odd. She got off her bike and went inside.
Bursting through the door of the lobby, she immediately dropped and rolled as a dart whizzed by her head and slammed into her shoulder. She began to feel its effects even in the seconds between impact and when she pulled it out. Her vision started to cloud. No! she thought. Must…stay…awake!
She bolted for the door, whipping out her cell phone as she did so. Apparently, the gun that her attacker had used was a one-shot deal, at least for a while.

The phone on the other end rang. And rang. And rang some more. Then:
”Hello?” said a strange voice from the other line, a voice she didn’t recognize.

“What have you done with the MuseBloggers?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

“Oh, don’t worry, S-kitty…” She cringed at the use of her MB nickname by a stranger. “…they’re safe…for now.” The connection broke.

“What?! Where are they?!? WHERE ARE THEY?!?!” she screamed into the phone, desperately trying wrap her mind around all this. Just a few minutes ago, they had been fine. And now, they weren’t. She darted around to the side of the building and started to climb. For once in her life, she truly thanked Master Chi for how hard he’d made her train. She crawled onto the roof. Luckily for her, the meeting room in which they’d been was on the top floor; she’d hear any commotion coming from it. She crept along the roof to the air vent, listening. Suddenly, the wind changed direction, and she could hear voices.

“…–ouldn’t be helped, sir.” said a somewhat high-pitched, squeaky voice.

“What do you mean, couldn’t be helped?!” roared the voice from her most recent phone conversation. “We had all of the others in our grasp, and YOU let this one slip through our fingers!”

“Yes, but, sir, the poison, she got the dart out–”

“I wouldn’t have cared if she’d thrown it back into you!!!” interrupted the one who appeared to be in charge. “It was your job to get her, and you didn’t! Now she’s probably on her way to the–”

Ding-a-ding, dong, ding, ding-a-ding, dong!, went Shadowkat’s phone.
”@#$%!!!” she swore under her breath. She heard a clatter from the room below. She hurriedly leaped onto the next roof over, which, fortunately, was quite close, as she was in the city. She scrambled down the far side of the building onto which she had just leaped, dropped into the alley at the bottom, and opened her phone. The display screen read “Alice”. She pushed the “Accept” button.
…
“Told us what?” asked Alice. “It seems like we have a lot of information, but it’s all mixed up. Could everyone just sit down and explain in an organized fashion?”
Alice excused herself to get a drink of water, and walked out into the hall. It seemed strange to just sit there, doing nothing, but it had always been her nature to stay on top of the confusion, even at thirteen, and this confusion needed more staying on top of than any RRR. She bent down to drink from the water fountain, and her head exploded into blackness.

She woke into blackness, and were it not for her awareness of the enormous lump on the back of her head, she would not have realized that she was awake. Her eyes searched the darkness for something light to rest them on, but there was only coal-blackness.
Then it hit her. Her cell phone! It was only for business calls, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have the phone numbers of other MuseBloggers.
Her hands weren’t bound, and she pulled her cell phone out of her bag. Its screen was glowing, and she fixed her eyes on it, glad of the relief from the darkness. She dialed Shadowkat’s number.

“Hello?” said Shadowkat.

“Hi, Shadowkat,” said Alice. “It’s Alice. I think I’ve been kidnapped. I’m in someplace dark.”
…
“Well, what is it?” asked Donaldo as Alice left. Finally, someone had voiced what everyone was thinking.
All the MBers turned to Cinnamon Moon as she opened her mouth to explain. Taking a deep breath, she began.
“Well, there was a reason we all called her–” she was cut off by a loud creaking sound.
“What’s happening?” shouted agagabagabag.
E2MB paled as he realized what was happening. “The whole room’s being moved!”
“What?” said several MBers simultaneously.
“That’s not possible!”
“It’s still bolted in place, for the moment!”
“I thought the Royal was safe!”
“How did they find us?”
“What’s that noise?”
Several people slammed into the door as the room began to shake. Widdershins struggled to pull it open as the lights went out. Gasping for breath, she and a few other MBers fell through as the rest realized they were trapped in what was acting like a gigantic, descending elevator.
“Zark,” she muttered as several people climbed off of her, apologizing profusely.
The group stared at the open doorway, catching a few last glimpses of their friends’ shocked faces as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.
“Well, one thing’s for sure,” said Sweet Melpomene. “We have to get out of this building, stat.”
…
Fire_Falcon22 tried to move, but then realized he was tied up. He reached as far as he could for his sword. He grabbed the hilt, but was unable to pull it out of his sheath. He pulled and pulled until he was able to get the hilt through the rope. He grabbed the blade and moved it slowly up the rope, and after a minute of bringing the blade back and forth, he finally cut the rope.

“Ah, finally.”
Fire_Falcon22 got up, and put his sword back in its sheath. He couldn’t see a thing but he heard a voice. He tried to follow the voice, but soon hit a wall. He got up, but he sensed the presence of someone behind him. He turned around to see an odd figure, with a skin color so bright, he could see it, even through the darkness.
Hot pink.
The figure – more hopping than walking- moved slowly towards Fire_Falcon22. The figure pulled out a gun from his jacket.
Fire_Falcon grabbed the hilt of his sword. The figure shot the gun, and Fire_Falcon deflected the shot with his sword, and the bullet bounced back at the figure.
The figure jumped back and shot a few more shots at Fire_Falcon. He deflected a few, but then one hit him in the shoulder. He crouched down to the ground, clenching his wound.
The figure came closer.

“Who are you?” asked FF.
The figure didn’t say anything, he just pointed the gun towards FF.
FF sat there in shock, not knowing what to do…
…
The MBers still caught in the moving room fell silent as the walls began to grate on the sides of the shaft. Cables and pulleys screeched against each other, guiding what once was a safe place down, down, down. Slowly, the air began to thicken and, one by one, the members of the group fell unconscious.
They awoke groggily in what appeared to be the same room, minus the conference table. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim pink lighting.
Someone sat in a corner, next to a pile of bindings.
“Oh, look! My rescue party’s arrived,” FrigidSymphony said, coating the sentence with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Which, on a bad day, is far more than average.
Ebeth rolled her eyes and gave him a disdainful look before scanning her surroundings. A few other MBers followed suit.
“Doors are probably sealed, no windows, PA system’s cut off…” Purple Panda listed to herself. She turned sharply to FrigidSymphony. “Exactly how long have you been here?” she asked politely.
“If I had my bloody watch, I’d probably have escaped by now,” he muttered before saying, “Since a little after I left. Damn bartender… he spiked my drink…”
“Right,” said Panda absently, as she continued to scrutinize the walls.
“They couldn’t even leave the chairs,” mumbled Ebeth. She, too, was looking around curiously. “When I get out of here, I’m renaming myself Ebeth the Amazing Escape Artist,” said Ebeth suddenly.
…
“What the zark was that?” said Widdershins, breathing heavily after her run out of the building.
“An amazing feat of engineering, if I do say so myself,” said someone behind her.
“We tried to get here sooner, but…” said another person, finishing her sentence with a tired sigh.
“curious and questioning! Potato Chip!” the group exclaimed.
Brief ‘hellos’ were made as the group followed the two down the street, to a modest-looking parking garage.
“There’s another place we can try to reach, if it’s not too late. We have two cars…” said curious and questioning calmly.
“Make that three,” added Sweet Melpomene. “I left mine here, too.
“Great,” Potato Chip said, “we can split up, so it’s even harder for them to capture the rest of us.” She handed a few pieces of notebook paper to SM. “Directions,” she explained.
SM scanned them, and then shoved the directions into an inner coat pocket. “We’ll meet you there; Kagy and I are going to try to get into the hospital. We’re going to try to find Canix and Cat’s Meow.”
They hurried off into the garage until Juliette stopped abruptly. “Wait, where’s Fire_Falcon22? He fell out of the door with us, didn’t he?”
…
Dot snapped her phone shut and quickly shoved it in her pocket. Looking around to make sure the doctor hadn’t seen her recieve a call, she spotting Cat’s Meow standing awkwardly next to PC’s bed. They exchanged worried glances, and then Dot came over to adjust an IV in PC’s arm.
“I just got word from Kagy,” she muttered to her two friends. It was hard to tell if PC was listening. “She got your paper, Prarilius, and she’s taking it to show everyone else.”
…
Snagging a most-likely-illegal parking spot, Kagcomix and Sweet Melpomene hopped out of the car. Slamming the doors and rushing into the hospital entrance, they quickly navigated their way to the emergency room.
“Please, ladies, what’s the problem?” a stern female voice said from the reception desk.
“We need to get in!” SM spluttered. “It’s urgent!”
The receptionist glanced them over. “If it’s not a medical emergency, I’ll have to ask you to head to the waiting room.”
“But our good friend is in there, and we have to talk to him!” said a frustrated Kagy.
“This is a matter that could alter the virtual world permanently, and now threatens our reality!” SM added.
“An online relationship crisis, eh?” sneered the receptionist. “I can’t help you. Patients’ visitors may be immediate family only.”
…
There was a clatter on the end of the line. “What’s that?” asked Alice uncertainly. Not much had changed since she was thirteen, when it came to bravery. “Shadowkat?” said Alice, when there was no response. “SHADOWKAT?” Still no sound came from the phone.
But somewhere in the darkness, a familiar voice called, “Who’s that?”

“Alice!” Alice yelled back. “Where are you?”

“Over here!” yelled the voice (which Alice was fairly sure belonged to Fire_Falcon) “I’m kind of in trouble right now!”
…
Shadowkat was backed up against the alley wall, with a gun pointed at her head. Holding the gun was a man. A tall man, fairly good-looking. But dark, and not in a good way. He wore a jet black suit made of what appeared to be silk, and dark glasses, too. No eyes could be seen through those.
“You won’t get away this time, you little brat!” the man growled. “Too long have I lied in wait, too long have I held my grudge, itching for revenge…and now,” he smiled an evil, toothy smile, “it’s over.” He fired.
“NO!!!” Another man, quite a bit younger than either of the people present, leaped in front of the firing gun. He groaned, having taken a bullet to the left shoulder. It seemed like a never-ending moment in which Shadowkat stared down at her savior in shock, mouth agape. She knew this young man, and quite well. He was her brother.
“T.J.!!!!!!!!” she screamed, and it felt like her vocal cords ripped. She whirled on the man in the the suit, the man who had just shot her little brother. “You…” she snarled, looking as much like the cat from which she took her Blog name as was humanly possible. The man backed against the opposite wall, afraid of the thirst for blood in her eyes. She whipped out her own gun and stormed towards him, holding it aloft. She slammed him into the wall.
“What do you want with me?!” she shouted into his face.
“It’s not…just you,” the man panted.
“Who is it, then?!” She got no response. “Who is it?!?!”
“…MuseBlog…” he spat, venom dripping from his words. A groan escaped his lips. Shadowkat backed away from him in horror. The man let out a sickly laugh.
“Hahaha…you’ll never stop us, Kitty-kat, and neither will any of your little playmaaates…hahahaaa…” He trailed off as the poison with which he had injected himself took its effect.
Shadowkat let his body fall to the ground in a heap. She turned and knelt down next to her fallen brother, who was coughing up blood. The bullet in his shoulder was holding his flesh together in that spot for the most part, but he still needed medical attention, and fast.
“T.J.” she shook him, keeping him with her.
“Katie…” he groaned. “I…didn’t think I’d…make it in time…”
“Wait, Teej, what do you mean? Did you know something–?”
“Yes. Kate, it’s the creators…the creators of…”
“What, T.J., what?! The creators of WHAT?!” He passed out.
Shadowkat jumped up and called Sweet Melpomene, who, since she’d had a bit of training in chemistry, might have some idea of what to do with her brother (known as “The Tominator” on the Blog) before they could get him to the hospital.
…
“So, tell us now, before it’s too late. What happened to Rebecca?” asked E2MB.
“Lady Bunniful was… well… I don’t know how to say this, but I’ll try. Rebecca was being controlled by the bunnies. But she resisted, in the last few months of Museblog. Then, she was taken by them. We haven’t heard anythlng since. The rumour is that she might be – dead. I don’t know. Our forces haven’t uncovered anything substantial.”
“Wait a second!” burst in another blogger. “What do you mean – ‘our forces’?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know about those either!!!” cried Ebeth. Cinnamon Moon whirled on her.
“Ebeth, please! Calm down! Lot’s of people don’t know about lots of things, so let’s just keep our head on straight and explain, alright?” At a nod of acknowledgment from Ebeth, she continued.
“Well, a few MuseBloggers and I were kind of worried that the HPB’s would try to take over MuseBlog, again, so we arranged for monitors (the sources we were talking about) to watch Lady Bunniful, as we suspected she might be the first they’d try to take over. Our monitors, though, not only watched over Rebecca, but also made sure the Blog was always ok, and nothing “funny” was going on. To do this, they talked to the Editors, Writers, and other people related to Muse. They were very careful, and good at what they did. They never took their eyes off Rebecca, though. I know this, because I was there on that fateful day when, suddenly, Lady Bunniful disappeared. Just like that. She was sitting in front of her computer, moderating, when she was just…gone. Of course, some claim to have seen a faint pinkish glow where she’d just been, right after she vanished, but that was never proven. Nothing else that our sourced found ever led to anything. Rumors, yes, those have gone around, but never have any been shown to be true. It’s…well, it’s…scary.” she finished.
The others stared at her with wide eyes. No one knew quite what to say.
…
“What sort of trouble?” asked Alice. “And where are you?”
“Right here!” yelled Fire_Falcon. “And it’s -” he broke off.
“It’s what?”
There was a scuffle in the dark, and a popping noise, and silence. “FF?” Alice ventured tentatively.
“Right here,” said FF, from a few yards away. “It was a hot-pink bunny.”
“What happened to it?”
“I don’t know. It just…vanished.”
…
Sweet Melpomene’s phone rang. She jumped. She was a little bit paranoid, right now, after her recent experience. Looking at her phone, she saw that the display screen read, “Shadowkat”. She opened it up. She didn’t even say hello.
“Shadowkat! Where have you been?! The other MuseBloggers and I were attacked, and some of us escaped, but I don’t know where the rest are, and–”
“Yes, Mel, I know.” interrupted Shadowkat. “I was the one who tried to warn you guys, and ended up talking to some deep-voiced man, who then tried to kill me! But, Mel, he didn’t, because my brother took a bullet for me, and he’s passed out, and fading fast, and I–”
“Where are you?” asked SM.
“Behind the building east of the Royal.”
“I’m coming.”
…
Beavo the Great suddenly bursted around a corner, the one Shadowkat happened to be at, and crashed right into her. Shadowkat, who was very nervous by this time, jumped away and stared at this messy-haired, un-matched-clothed young man who sprawled at her feet. He looked up. She took a step back.
“Hey. You must be Shadowkat from your discription at the Muser Profiles. I’m Beavo. And that must be your brother.”
“But how did you know all this about…this stuff? You weren’t at any of the meetings, the attacks, and you weren’t even at the ER with PC!”
“That my friend, is for me to know and you… not to know. Right now, we need to get help with your brother.” Beavo took a huge bandage, a scotch tape dispenser, and a cell out of his pocket. As he started to put the bandage on Shadowkat’s brother, he handed her the phone.
“Here, call someone with this. We need help.”
“I already did!”
“Who?”
“SM.”
“And she is…?”
Sweet Melpomene rounded the same corner as Beavo did, and crashed right into Shadowkat. She heard Beavo mutter “Deja Vu” as she picked herself off the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked up at Shadowkat.
…
“Now, we just need to get out of here,” said FF.
“Yes, but where is here? And how do we get out? Man, this would make a great book.”
Fire_Falcon rolled his eyes in the dark.. Alice thought that everything even remotely exciting would make a good book.
“I don’t know where we are,” he said, “or how we’re going to get out. But we always have cell phones. We could call the other Musers.”
Alice moaned. “Don’t remind me,” she said. “If I wasn’t such a Luddite, we could be out of here already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those new cell phones – not the disposable ones – have the nice tracking systems, and the maps. They can be tracked by other people, and by you, and they can have whole maps on them. But I’m so anti-tech that I didn’t even bother. You wouldn’t have one with a map, would you, FF?”
“All I have is a sheet of disposable ones,” said FF.
“Oh, great,” began Alice, but suddenly stopped. “Hang on,” she said, “I might not have high-tech cell phone, but I have a compass!”
Fire_Falcon was completely baffled. “You carry a compass, but you don’t carry anything remotely resembling a tracking device?”
Alice shrugged, though you couldn’t see it in the dark. “Like I said,” she said brightly, “I’m weird that way. Do you have a flashlight or anything?”
FF searched through his pack, that after a few seconds, he realized wasn’t there.
“They must have took my pack. Unfortunately, I dont have a flashlight, so how are we supposed to see the compass?”
Alice thought for a minute.
“Yeah, that is a bit of a downside.”
“Ya think? Did you bring a flashlight?”
“Like I said, anti-tech.”
FF slapped his hand on his face.
Just then there was a gun fire. FF and Alice spun around to see the faint glow of Hot pink. The bunny pointed the gun at Alice, and shot. FF pulled his sword out and deflected the shot. The bunny aimed the gun at FF, but FF charged at the bunny with his sword. The bunny fired, and caught FF in the hand, he dropped his sword, and hit the ground.
“Where’s my sword?!”
“I dont know.” responded Alice.
The bunny continued to shoot at FF, but he dodged as many as he could, until he hit a wall, and fell to the ground. The bunny hopped slowly towards him. He put his small handgun back into his jacket, and pulled out a machine gun.
“FF! Catch!” yelled Alice.
FF grabbed the hilt of his sword, that he surprisingly caught in the dark. He swung the sword towards the bunnies head, aiming at the back. He heard a crucnh, and could see bits of metal all from the back of the rabbit’s head. The rabbit stopped in his tracks, and dropped the gun, and simply hopped off. FF walked towards the bits of metal.
“Some kind of device.”
Alice walked up next to him. “What is it?”
“Hmm. I really dont know.”
…
In another room nearby, a man in a cloke stood in front of many glowing orange screens. The computers started humming.
“Unit damaged. Unit # 707654i5”
The cloaked man punched the table. “They might be on to us…”
…
“Wait a sec!” said Alice suddenly. “How come we can see?” It was true. A faint light filtered through the blackness, and they could see that the room they were trapped in was absolutely enormous. Away across the several acres of floor, they could dimly see a pair of steps, ascending to a door, which was heavy and – as far as they could see – locked.
People, people! I never said that Rebecca was dead. I just said that it looked that way. If someone wants to write a dramatic discovering of Rebecca into the story, please do.
12-I think we are going to. My idea (from reading all the previous posts) is that maybe she’s still being hidden. She probably holds a lot of information that the bunnies don’t want us to know…
Wow!!! Part 2 already????
In response to Alice’s idea, I want to say SORRY! I didn’t realize he had left. How about I just need some fresh air and I run into FS? It would be pretty weird for some people you have known forever to not remember you.
8-we are going with your idea. The bunneys are useing sahdow techologey to turn people into bunneys!
14- But you can’t really run into FS, considering he is trapped. Oh god I’m confused. I can never get my points across.
15-Oh my. Can we keep secrets in this Fanfiction??
17- Depends on the secret.
15-Well, that’s doesn’t really make much sense…I mean, how? We’ll have to work out the possible physical technology for everything we do, or it won’t make sense. It will be just too unbelievable…literally.
Alright, taking tmfa’s idea of laying out the scenes…
Back alley by the Royal–Shadowkat, The Tominator (currently passed out, and bleeding to death), Sweet Melpomene, Beavo the Great
ER–Cat’s Meow, Kagcomix, ‘Dotty Kay, Prarilius Canix
Underground Warehouse–FrigidSymphony, Ebeth, E2MB, Cinnamon Moon, Purple Panda
The Trap–Alice, Fire_Faclon22
Elsewhere–Widdershins, curious and questioning, Potato Chip
(If I missed you, just copy, paste, and re-post with yourself where you belong.)
Hope that helps! Now, just pick a story, and go.
18-It’ll affect the story later. Hugely. If I tell you what it is, you have to pretend not to know about it until it becomes appropriate.
20- I can do that. Tell me!
Sorry for the 2post
19-First of all, it’s 2020, which means there are more high-tech gadgets and stuff so turning people into bunnies actually might be possible. And Tominator is not bleeding to death, I put that bandage (secured with scotch tape) on him.
When Beavo is done putting on the bandage, he picks up his cell phone and starts to dial 9-1-1.
16-He isn’t trapped yet. I run into him, and then we see a figure by some building. It was originally the library where PC was shot and we were going to help him, but now it can be some other building. FS might be looking for something at a building, and I can go with him, jsut because he is the only one who remembers me. Then we get attacked by the decoy, and are BOTH captured
19-I am also in the Underground Warehouse cuz FS and I are both captured.
23- Okay, I can deal with that.
23-Ok.
Does anyone know where RtH is?
Back alley by the Royal–Shadowkat, The Tominator (currently passed out, and bleeding to death), Sweet Melpomene, Beavo the Great
ER–Cat’s Meow, Kagcomix, ‘Dotty Kay, Prarilius Canix
Underground Warehouse–FrigidSymphony, Ebeth, E2MB, Cinnamon Moon, Purple Panda, Donaldo the supercoolio awesome nerd
The Trap–Alice, Fire_Faclon22
Elsewhere–Widdershins, curious and questioning, Potato Chip
(If I missed you, just copy, paste, and re-post with yourself where you belong.)
25- I imagine he’s in the underground warehouse with everyone else (who isn’t not there). There were a lot of Musers in the story that aren’t in the list.
The scene between Donaldo and purplefinch can’t have occurred, because Donaldo and FS are both in the same room.
There were also some MBers who escaped with Widdershins, so who are they?
21-I, as well as Rebecca, have been taken by the bunnies. The real me has been trapped somewhere by the bunnies, and I have been, well, cloned. They are using my clone to find out information and sabatoge any big plans, and anything else I can do. Eventually, you guys will have to find out that I am a clone, and destroy the clone while freeing the real me. Can you handle that? If you can’t I can just go back to being a regular MBer…
NOw i continue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“COME ON! Do you not realize that this is a mater of life and death for more than one of your patients?” Kagcomix exclaimed angrily at the nurse at the front desk. Kagy turned to Sweet Melpomene to say “I don’t think we’ll get through this way.” only to find that SM wasn’t there.
“Whatever!” Kagy said to the nurse, “It’s not THAT important. Could you possibly tell me the room number for [pc’s real name], I want to send flowers.” she finished the last part in a pleasant voice .
“Well, I guess so. It’s room # 308 B.” said the nurse.
“Thanks.” said kagy as she strode out the door. Kagy turned into the tiny laneway beside the hospital. She scaned the side of the building for a door. She found one, right by the dumpster. IT was heavy, using all her strength she pushed open the door. Looking quickly down the hall first, Kagcomix dashed towards the flight of stairs at the end.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ll finnish that later. i kind of have to go to my grad now.
25- I think i am in a building they use to turn people into bunneys in.oh and they made a viris to do it.
26-I don’t know…I was trying to figure that out, and it’s also why I made that note at the end. Anyway, I’m not going to post it again, now, so whatever…later.
Oh, BTW, I was reading the other thread and realized that everyone was writing their profession and background info…
Beavo the Great (the real one) logged onto MuseBlog that fateful morning, and too groggy to see the Blog Closed signs, he posted: ‘ *yawn* Well, good morning everyone! ‘ and clicked sumbit. Little did he know that this comment would never be moderated, and would continue to say “Comment Awaiting Moderation” for the rest of eternity.
When Beavo logged on two hours later, he began to sence something fishy. By then, he had read the Blog Closed signs, but too lazy (and laden down with homework) he forgot all about it.
[This part can be cut if nessecary]
Ten years (or so) later, Beavo recived a phone call from the producer of Punk Trash Productions. This was to be his first casting call for a major movie!!! As he flipped his phone shut, his heart pounding, a small alarm began to go off in his head. This alarm said “DO NOT GO TO THAT CASTING CALL”. Beavo’s alarm had actually been telling him something all morning, and now it was ringing profusely. He ignored it. Ever since he had seen It when he was five, he became paranoid. And he thought now was one of those times. It was not.
As soon as he started to put on a good looking shirt, he recived another call. This was a text message. As he read his caller ID, he found it was a number that he did not know. He flipped the phone open and read the message.
bv0 7h5 15 rbc4 1451y 7h3 b|\|5 h4v 74k|\| |\/|3 p1z |)0 |\|07 60 |\|3\/\/h3r3 2|)4y 1 h3r|) 7h|\/| p14|\|1|\| 7h3y |\/|3|\|70|\||) ur |\||\/|3 1|\/| b|\|6 h1|) 1|\|At this point, the message ended. Beavo, ignoring the warnings not go anywhere, immideatly got in his car. As he settled himself in the driver seat, he felt a furry paw settle over his mouth. The last thing he saw was a pink face, then black.
So… who liked it? If it would be too confusing for me to be a double agent, please say so.
Ok, I don’t like the idea that the Blog never goes back into working order…I think that, at the end, we should save the GAPA’s, and they can start moderating again, and everything’s cool. The idea of never having the Blog anymore (even if it’s far into the future) scares me…it’s, like, half of my social life.
31- We already dealt with the blog closed thing, so could we snip that first part? And no text messages; I can’t read them. But other than that it’s fine, I guess.
32-Yes, that was what I was thinking. Then my *yawn* Well, good morning everyone! would be the first post moderated in ten (or so) years!! *does first post moderated in ten (or so) years dance*
32- It will really be half your social life in 17 years? But I would like it if it returned to normal in the end.
(32) Maybe some of you become moderators for the new, technologically advanced MuseBlog and begin
corruptingenlightening the next generation of MBers.Oops, 13 years. Why did I think it was 17?
Sorry I didn’t see Alice’s post…
33-Yeah, I’m not saying that it should be added to the whole shenanigans that is posted every once in a while that tells what is happening so far. It’s just Beavo’s history that didn’t get posted on the previous thread. And that’s the only txt mssge, I promise.
35-I was just talking about now, for the most part, I think, but heck yes, it will!
36-I was gonna try to become a moderator once I turned 18, anyway…:puppyeyes:
37-You were probably thinking of the “7” in “2007”…maybe.
31-Oh! It says, “Beavo, this is Rebecca Lasley. The bunnies have taken me. Please do not go anywhere today. I heard them planning. They mentioned your name. I’m being held in–” Am I right?
hey guys. I really want to contribute, but I’m still catching up on the other thread. I’ll be back later.
***
the man for aeiou took out his cell phone. it was not his fancy model that he had,but a simple, call only model.he called all the mbers.
***
15- But the bunnies are being took over. They arent taking people over, they ARE being taken over by people who want to bring the whole world into complete darkness.
43- the poeple are conting the bunney because the bunney can take over people.
36-If MuseBlog has been taken over, what about Muse? There might not be a Muse, hence no more MuseBloggers!! *sniff* When I’m old (well, twenty or so) and too lazy to get a job, I want to become a moderater. The words Great and Powerful draw me in. :pleasepleaseplease:
40-Yes, in 1337. I figured that since Rebecca has heard us all complain/worship leet, she would have figured out how to use it by 2020 and the bunnnies might not know it. Therefor, it would be like sending me a code. Unfortunatly, the bunnies found her cell phone before she could finish the message.
43-Yes, in a sence the bunnies are the hit-men. Also because they know so much about us. I mean, we’ve been talking about them for, what, ten years? And twenty by the time this happenes.
45-I didn’t even know what leet was…cool! Notice how the GAPA’s said nothing in reply to our statements about wanting to be moderators…:mrgreen:
I want to be a moderator!
44- But the New Years eve thing is kinda stupid (No offence)
46-You didn’t know what leet was??? *shock* I found out when I read Ebeth’s NaNoWriMo and that kid…Melvin was 1337. I thought most MBers knew what leet was! *more shock* Well, I feel spesh to be able to introduce it to you. *feels spesh*
I guess the GAPA’s are just jelous because they know we are so smart and talented and we would not even need those five hundred years of training like they went through and we could just become moderators in a snapAnd how they’re not going to reply to this
49- But you can’t strike smileys!
I’ve tried!
Okay everyone I just want to clear up my idea: HUMANS in a clan, are using the shadow technology, and they are using it to take over the bunnies. BUT They are NOT trying to turn everyone into bunnies. They are just using the bunnies to stop the MBers before the MBers can stop them. Ya understand The Man for Aeiou?
45-Check the old thread out. We have already been throught the stuff about Muse being closed down. It is now actually illegal in the US because the government is secretly being run by HPBs.
I want to be a moderator!!!!!
BTW, what is leet?
52 – Nicegoodus or evilus?
52- An internet language, substituting symbols and numbers for letters.
4|\| 1|\|73r|\|37
Yeah, you get the picture. I don’t know how to make r or l, so I had to stop.
/\ \/\/E50/\/\E ! 50 (00|_! 1 |_1|
/\ \/\/E50/\/\E ! 50 (00|_! 1 |_1KE 1+ /\ |_0+! 1 \/\/1|_ |_ +/\ |_ K +|-|1S \/\//\Y F0R /\ \/\/|-|1|_E!
8\/\/ /\ – |-|/\ – |-|/\ – |-|/\ – |-|/\!
A = /\
B = 8
C = (
D = |)
E = E
F = F
G = 6
H = |-|
I = 1
J = ,_|
K = K
L = |_
M = /\/\
N = |\|
O = 0
P = P
Q = Q
R = R
S = 5
T = +
U = |_|
V = \/
W = \/\/
X = X
Y = Y
Z = 2
I disagree, good sir. Please don’t start talking in 1337.
48,51-no you see they want to turn a lot of people into bunneys so thay can take over. and if you are going to bomb a place, won’t you do it in a place with a lot fo people? and then they can use the ball as a bomb. It is great. and I have been bloging longer than you. your a newibie. *pies ff*
60- But they arent trying to kill everyone! Theyre trying to bring the world to darkness! And the bunnies are just to bring down the MBers. The people dont want the bunnies to take over, THEY want to take over, and THEY are HUMANS! Here, lets put it to a vote:
Who thinks we should use my idea?
Who thinks we should use Man for Aeiou’s idea?
61-the bomb is unleshing a viris wich will turn people into bunneys who minds are easyer to brianwash into obance. then they can trun them back,stilll under there control,and have the elct them to office then the can take over
I vote for the man for aeious idea
tmfa:1
ff:0
re: TMFA’s plotline: I’m with everyone else on this one. Let’s go with the old stuff.
tmfa:1
ff:1
62- You cant vote for yourself! Fine, then I vote me.
tmfa:1
ff:2
:^P
The man for Aeiou, that isn’t quite fair. FF has voted for his idea, clearly, so the score is really:
tmfa: 1
FF: 2
I am staying out of it, due to the fact that I don’t want to upset anyone, but if I really need to, I will jump in at the crucial moment and tip the scales. Let’s set post 90 as the final vote.
FF beat me too it. Whoopsies.
Hey, FF, are you here? (Sorry everybody, I haven’t caught up on the thread in a while…I’m still back on Part 1!)
I’m so lost.
69-Me too.
I liked someone’s idea earlier where, at one of the Kokonventions, someone brought a realizer or whatever they called it that brought the HPBs to life out of the magazine. Then we could go with FF’s plan. I like his. It will be easier to write out, because, if everyone is under mind control, I would find that really hard to understand, plus the thought of humans turning into HPBs…eew.
tmfa: 1
FF: 3
Actually, E2MB, it’s
A = $
B = 8
C = (
D = |)
E = 3
F = 1=
G = 6
H = |-|
I = 1
J = ,_|
K = K
L = |_ or 1
M = /\/\ or ^^
N = |\|
O = 0
P = 9
Q = Q
R = R
S = 5
T = 7
U = |_|
V = \/
W = \/\/
X = >
Whoa, that was cut off.
The last bit should be-
X= >
Whoa, that was cut off.
The last bit should be-
X= >
Y=Y
Z=2
And $ should be 4.
What the heck? that still didn’t work!
this might.
Okay, i guess you cant have to angle brackets facing like that. X=X.
Sorry for the
doublequadruple post, but l realized that post 31 contains a cross between 1337 and txt, to internet languages.English- heard
1337- 1-134RI)
txt- herd
13xt- h3r[)
50-I think I just found that out!
Okay okay people we need a 1337 thread. But for now, this is MB Fanfiction. So lets start writing again.
Okay, I’m off. Do you mind putting me in the story somehow in the next month? It is fine if you kill me off, or something, but it would be really nice if I could make a miraculous recovery at the very end… Or you could make me like a “muser gone bad” or something, if you have to. Farewell, friends!
I’d like to be in this story, but how would I fit into it??
75-Yes, I know. Rebecca was typing as fast as she could, therefor not being exactly consistaint…
77-Sorry, the muser gone bad role is taken by me!
78- I’m not sure, but we can find something for you to do. What will your occupation be in 2020?
So far, the story’s like this…
“Good night!” wrote E2MB “See you in the morning!” Little did he know, this was the last comment ever to be moderated on the MuseBlog.
When E2MB logged on the next morning, he was shocked to see that no one had posted in the time he had been sleeping. He was a good deal more shocked to see that, on the very top of the page, even above the random thread, was a single post. It said, “BLOG CLOSED DUE TO.” Due to what? He clicked on the random thread, only to find it closed. All the threads were! When he had worked through the entire year of 2010, he realized the awful truth: The MuseBlog was truly closed.
*
Beavo the Great logged onto MuseBlog that fateful morning, and too groggy to see the Blog Closed signs, he posted: ‘ *yawn* Well, good morning everyone! ‘ and clicked sumbit. Little did he know that this comment would never be moderated, and would continue to say “Comment Awaiting Moderation” for the next thirteen years.
When Beavo logged on two hours later, he began to sence something fishy. By then, he had read the Blog Closed signs, but too lazy (and laden down with homework) he forgot all about it.
Thirteen years later, Beavo recived a phone call from the producer of Punk Trash Productions. This was to be his first casting call for a major movie!!! As he flipped his phone shut, his heart pounding, a small alarm began to go off in his head. This alarm said “DO NOT GO TO THAT CASTING CALL”. Beavo’s alarm had actually been telling him something all morning, and now it was ringing profusely. He ignored it. Ever since he had seen It when he was five, he became paranoid. And he thought now was one of those times. It was not.
As soon as he started to put on a good looking shirt, he recived another call. This was a text message. As he read his caller ID, he found it was a number that he did not know. He flipped the phone open and read the message.
bv0 7h5 15 rbc4 1451y 7h3 b|\|5 h4v 74k|\| |\/|3 p1z |)0 |\|07 60 |\|3\/\/h3r3 2|)4y 1 h3r|) 7h|\/| p14|\|1|\| 7h3y |\/|3|\|70|\||) ur |\||\/|3 1|\/| b|\|6 h1|) 1|\|At this point, the message ended. Beavo, ignoring the warnings not go anywhere, immideatly got in his car. As he settled himself in the driver seat, he felt a furry paw settle over his mouth. The last thing he saw was a pink face, then black.
**
The year is 2020. The heroes: a few dozen young men and women, most in their late 20s. Fifteen years earlier, four friendly-seeming but mysterious people gathered them on what was then known as the World Wide Web, dropped hints about an important destiny or mission they were to fulfill, and then vanished. Over the years, some of the group kept in touch; others drifted apart. Now a great danger has brought them all back together again…
“Zark,” Sweet Melpomene said at last. “This is big. Really big. And BAD.”
“Do you think–” Widdershins looked around at the others. “Do you think the GAPAs knew?”
Juliette shrugged. “You mean ‘knew’ as in ‘had foreknowledge of’? Like Hari Seldon and his psychohistory? Not zarking likely.”
“I’m not so sure,” Purple Panda said. “They sounded as if they did. There was one thing in particular that Robert posted, just a few days before…”
“Robert!” FrigidSymphony scoffed. “That old fraud. He’d be the last person I’d listen to.”
Shadowkat reached across the table and tousled FrigidSymphony’s waist-long hair. “Still smarting from that time he banished you, are you, Fridgey?” she teased.
“That has nothing to do with it,” the musician shot back. “I just found Rebecca and the other Administrators more helpful.”
Alice looked pensive. “I always wondered about Rosanne,” she said. “She seemed very quiet and sweet, but I got the impression that there was a lot more to her than that. I suspect that she was the brains of the outfit, the one pulling the strings. And then one day they were all just–gone…”
For a moment, the group sat in uneasy silence.
“Anyway, they did their job,” Red-tailed HAWK said at last. “They got us together. Now we’ve got a job to do.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ebeth burst out. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s get out there and DO it.”
“Not so fast,” Prarilius Canix said. “We can’t afford to rush into this. It’s too important for that. Failure is not an option here. We have to be sure what we’re dealing with.”
E2MB smiled grimly. “Well, whatever it is,” he said, “one thing is for sure: it is definitely NOT mostly harmless.”
Shadowkat looked Prarilius Canix. “PC is right,” she said. “We have to find out what it is we’re dealing with. Those disappearances…did anyone notice any kind of order to them? Do you think it could be…the bunnies?”
FrigidSymphony glanced up from admiring his hair. “Bunnies? I’ll kill ’em. I’ll…”. He broke off, turning his attention to a small stain on his shirt. “Dammit, I just washed this crap yesterday! Bloody pasta…”
“Obsess much?” muttered Shadowkat. She raised her hands in response to the glare she got from FrigidSymphony. “Just making an observation!” she said defensively.
“Hey, I care about my appearance,” he shot back, “because it’s worth the effort.” He gave her a cocky grin.
Shadowkat grinned back, and thought, Well, at least one of us hasn’t changed…. “I care about mine, too! But, you know, you really don’t need to do anything…you’re naturally gorgeous.” She winked at him.
“Will you two stop the banter? We have a crisis on our hands!” Prarilius Canix snapped. He was irritable, having been awake for the past two nights, researching. “It’s not just the GAPAs. Whatever did this wanted to get them out of the way first, because it thought that they were the only ones who could stop it. People have been disappearing all over the world.”

“You’re talking about this as though there was some intelligence behind the disappearances,” said Lizzie. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“I think it’s probable,” Pentatonikk mused. “The bunnies…?”

“What are you talking about?” Prarilius Canix hissed. “The bunnies are imaginary and this is real.”

Silence.

“Right?”


Silence.

“Well… ” said Kiki the great, nervously fingering her red hair. “You never went to Kokonventions…”

“And you hadn’t been in contact with us much in the past few years,” the man for aeiou said. “Until now, that is… “

“I’m sorry, PraCan,” Taiwan Hippo Fan said. “We didn’t realize there was anyone here who didn’t know.”
“Know what?” asked Alice, just as clueless as Prarilius Canix. “Oh! You mean . . . that?”
Shadowkat looked at the others, then turned to Prarilius Canix. “Alright, look, you remember that day back in ’07, April Fool’s Day, when the HPBs took over MuseBlog? And we all thought, ‘Haha, what a joke, that can’t be real!’? Well…it was. I know some connections who might have some information about the disappearances…should I call them?”

“PC, the bunnies are real. Well, in a sense…it was an accident.” Sobriquet whispered, concerned.
“Wait,” interrupted Lizzie. “I seem to have missed the memo. Who are Shadowkat’s ‘people’ and what do they have to do with the disappearances?”
“I have no clue,” volunteered Alice, unhelpfully. “Shadowkat?”
FS pulled a flask ot of his pocket and took a long drink, then said: “I think we should all use our assets and dig up whatever we can about these disappearances. I’ll contact the Thelema, see if the occultists can give me some info… As for the rest of you…”
“My ‘people'” retorted Shadowkat, “are a few parties with whom I have certain useful connections. And that’s all you need to know. Now, should I contact them, or not?”
“What about the rest of us?” asked Alice. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. I mean, since the the Wawona sunk I don’t even have a ship!” She paused. “Of course, most of you don’t have ships either, so I suppose it’s not that unusual.”
“I’ll be doing some research. Again,” Prarilius Canix sighed. “I’ll look through the newspaper archives, see if I can find any pattern to the disappearances. If I can find the time and place they started, we’ll have something to work with.”
Shadowkat sighed.
”And I’ll contact my people, see what they know…and trust me, they’ll know something. Anyone else have an assignment for me? I’ll need something to keep me busy once I’m done…” She glanced at FS, who raised his eyebrows. “Well, never mind. Anyone?”
Canix left the room. Moments later, a sleek white Prius with a BOOK♥ER license plate pulled out of the parking lot below and drove off in the direction of the library.

“I wonder what he’s up to,” Alice mused. “He didn’t even wait for us to explain about the bunnies.”

“He’s probably going to catch up on some of the old MB threads, see if he can find out something about them himself.”

“Makes sense. That’s where it all started.”
“God, I feel useless,” moaned Alice. “All I can do is write, really. I suppose I could help PC research, but…” She trailed off. “I don’t know.” She rested her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands. “I’ve never been very good at making plans, either.”
Shadowkat looked around at everyone. “Well, I’m gonna go talk to a few people, alright? Everyone knows what they’re doing? Good.” She got up and headed for the door. Glancing over her shoulder at FS, she said, “You coming?” He nodded, and they left together. A black and silver Honda motorcycle with two dark-clothed figures on it glided out of the parking lot a few minutes later.
***
Prarilius Canix stood up, heaps of newspaper falling off the computer desk. It was so obvious. Why hadn’t he spotted it before?
He scribbled a few important points on a sheet of notebook paper, stuffed the sheet in his pocket, and dashed out into the rainy street, ignoring the funny look he got from the librarian.
”This could alter the fate of the entire world,” he thought. “They’ve got to know about it.”
He was so focused that he didn’t notice the figure standing nearby beneath an umbrella, or what that figure held in its free hand and was pointing at him.
There was a sharp crack, like a gunshot. In fact, that’s what it was. Prarilius Canix collapsed against the library wall and slowly slid to the ground.
****
Kagcomix looked up, from where she was sitting on the floor. “So they are real,” she muttered, coughed once and continued. “Animal shelters”.
“What do you mean?” asked Alice, bending over to look at Kagcomix.

“Well, normal rabbits multiply rapidly, right? But the HPB’s are different. Aren’t they spawned from talk of dogs vs. cats? And where better to find dogs and cats than at an animal shelter? I think we should check out the local shelters. I can do some volunteer work there while checking stuff out.” As Kagcomix finished she curled into child’s pose, her sword hugged to her stomach. She felt tired and ached. Kagcomix drifted off into thoughts and reflections, about her training, about her bionic right arm and other wounds, about her past.
A loud bang filled the air. Kagy started and banged her head on the table.

“Sorry,” Red-tailed HAWK said. “I didn’t know it actually worked.”
RtH held a gun in his hand. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry!” he said again.

“Where exactly did you get that?” asked Widdershins.
“Uh….this secret compartment thingy slid open when I put my hand on the table,” RtH explained.

“Maybe there are more, but HAWK, DON’T go pulling triggers indoors. It’s dangerous!”Alice snapped at him.
“Anybody have a laptop?” Sobriquet asked. “We should check the news. We should keep track of any more unexplained dissapearences or bunny sightings.”

Alice handed over a small silver notebook. “For writing.” she offered. “I take it everywhere.”

The group skimmed the headlines. One read “Man Shot At Chicago Library”.

“Wasn’t PC headed for the library?” E2MB asked.

Sobriquet clicked the link. At the top of the page was a picture of Pralirius Canix lying unconcious on the library steps.
Kagcomix got up. She had stopped paying attention and drifted off, but people seemed to be leaving now so she guessed she should be too. Kagy grabbed her sword and walked to the door. On the street the air felt good on her face. I’ll go to the library to see how PC is. Besides, I want to pick up a book, she thought.
A horrific scene met her eyes as she reached the steps. Police tape everywhere, and PC lying by the library doors. With a disregard for the police and everyone around her Kagy ran towards PC.
”Pralirius, who did it, where did they go?” she whispered.

“Dunno, they went down the side street,” Pralirius gasped.

“It’s okay PC, I’ll get them. Just don’t die.” She smiled down at him before running off down a sidestreet. She didn’t need anyone dying, at least not this early in the game.
“Wait!” Prarilius gasped. He held up a blood-soaked scrap of paper, with a neat, round hole through the middle of it.

“That’s evidence. Hand it over, and everything will be all right,” said a young, nervous-looking policeman.
Canix coughed, then fixed the policeman with a baleful stare.
“This is more important than you could possibly imagine. Don’t touch it.”
The policeman backed off.
Kagy took the paper. Only three words were legible, and their last few letters had been cut off.
”Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read.
*****
At that very moment, the former MuseBloggers were gathered around the tiny laptop on the big table, reading the dreadful article.
Suddenly someone asked, “Where’s Kagcomix?”

“Good point,” said Alice in surprise. “Where is Kagcomix?”
Green Qween burst into the room quite suddenly.
”Am I late? What’s going on?” she blurted out. “I saw Kagy in the street, and she was running away from something.” She stared at the small group huddled around the laptop. “What did I miss?”
******
Suddenly, a female police officer reported for duty. “What’s going on here, Cook?” she said, addressing the man. Suddenly she stepped back a ways. “PC?” she whispered faintly. “Is that you?”
“How do you know my blog name?” the bloody man whispered from the ground. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“Cat’s Meow,” the lady said. “And boy, it’s been way too long.”
*******
Cinnamon Moon stepped quietly into the room. The few people still sitting around the table turned toward her. She moved purposefully towards the table, then introduced herself.
“Cinnamon Moon. It’s been too long, my friends. Please tell me – what has happened? I don’t understand every thing. Can you explain?”

E2MB began. “It started with the bunnies…
“It happened at kokonvention #30 at Muse HQ. Shadowkat was showing her make-alive 3000 with a computer and ’07 januray muse. She typed in a random thread number and hit enter. She fed the Muse in. The make-alive made a ring sound and a thing popped out. It was a bunny! Then another, and more! Soon all of Muse HQ was filled will bunnies! Some were paper and some were from that april day in ’07.”
As E2MB finished recounting what had happened in the last few years, the room fell gloomily silent as the grave nature of what had taken place began to truly sink in.
The MBers sat silently, pensively, in the ever-darkening room, looking up on occasion, wondering what, exactly, had to be done. A disquieting atmosphere ensued until a familiar voice crackled once more through the PA speakers in the room.
“Zark, zark, zark,” muttered Sweet Melpomene. “This is already getting out of hand; I don’t think I can still risk talking to you from the lab, even if I do wipe the computers… I’ll be over to the Royal in a bit–”
A loud crash was broadcast, followed only by static before the speakers fell silent.
********
Shadowkat pulled up to the abandoned apartment building. She looked it over, noticed the broken windows, tattered curtains, unhinged door. Home, sweet home., she thought, somewhat sarcastically. She had dropped FrigidSymphony off at a phone booth outside of a “well-thought-of” bar in town. They would meet up later, when she was done with her current business.
She got off her bike, set the safety, and went into the building.
Two men were waiting for her in the kitchen just inside the front door. She turned to them.

“Buona Notte, Signor Tomaschino, Masacci.”

“Ciao, Kat.” They replied in unison.

She looked them in the eyes. “Do you have the information I asked you for?”

“Yes.”

“Well, let’s see it, then.”
Tomaschino pulled a few sheets of paper out of the front pocket of his jacket and handed them to her. She looked at the papers for a few minutes, eyes narrowing as she read each sentence, then looked up at her companions.

“Is this all you could find?” she asked them skeptically.

“Yes.” answered Masacci, with a touch of aggression.

Shadowkat returned in kind, “Well, it had better be. This is more important than any of your kind will ever know.” She spat out the last phrase as if it were poison. Which, to Tomaschino and Masacci, it was. Tomaschino took a step towards Shadowkat threateningly.

“If you weren’t my cousin…” he warned.

“If you weren’t my cousin, you’d be dead by now.” interrupted Shadowkat. She snatched the papers of the heavily-stained table where she had set them, turned on her heel, and marched out the door.
”Ciao, gentlemen!” she called from the street. With a roar and a vroom, she was gone.
*********
Ring, ring! Ring, ring!
Alice picked up the phone in the meeting room.

“Hello?” she said, a little tentatively.

“Alice?”

“Yes.”

“It’s me, Shadowkat. Have you and the other MBers meet me downstairs. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I have some extremely important information.”
Click.
**********
Back at the library, the scene of the crime was buzzing with activity. After Kagy rushed off, someone finally had the sense to call 911. Paramedics had flooded the area, and PC was rushed into an ambulance. As an authority figure, Cat’s Meow had recieved word that PC hadn’t lost a fatal amount of blood, but he was still in critical condition.
Five blocks away, Kagy swung around the sharp corner of a dank brick building. What she came face-to-face with in the alley made her stop dead in her tracks. From a distance, the dreamlike sound of sirens speeding away reached her ears, but she did not hear it.
***********
The downtown Chicago emergency room had seen better days. Minor dilemmas had been hindering progress since 8:00 that morning, especially since the latest batch of interns were starting today. Among these clueless medics was 29-year-old ‘Dotty-kay, who at the moment had quite a lot to worry about. She had recently recieved a mysterious message that her old MuseBlog friends planned to meet at a secret location this very day, supposedly for a reunion.
She had suspected the matter at hand was a bit more urgent, but she had a dilemma since her internship began today. She couldn’t afford to miss this training, and so declined the invitation. Now she doubted the wisdom in this action. With rumors of an assassination attempt so early on, it was looking like she would be giving the MuseBlog conspriacy a higher priority than her career at this point.
Cat’s Meow had been thinking along these same lines, and had stowed away on PC’s ambulance just before it left, disregarding the fact that she was still on duty. Now as the vehicle raced into the emergency entrance, she tried to communicate with PC. From his grunts and fragmented sentences, she gained that he had just made an earth-shattering discovery. She followed the strecher inside the ICU, where Dot almost collided into the party.
************
There was a barbed wire fence but it only stopped Kagy for a moment. She ripped the barbed wire aside with her right(and bionic) arm. Kagy could feel her heart pumping as she ran down the side street. It was long and it didn’t have a turn off for a long while. It was more of an alleyway, now that she thought about it. Its narrow grimy brick walls from the buildings on either side leaned in close.
She could see a figure running up ahead. Kagy clutched the paper from PC tigter in her fist and put on a spurt of speed. She was getting closer. Her muscles ached but she kept going. Her sword was strapped to her side, in its hilt, but she pulled it out. Suddenly there was gunfire. Three bullets rocketed past her bouncing off the walls, one going dangerously past her ear. Kagy ran faster. If she could just get into sword-reach…
As Kagy neared the figure she noticed it wore a long trench coat and a big hat. Both the hat and the trench coat were black, but under the hat something pink was poking out. Kagy barely had time to wonder what it was when another round of gunfire erupted.
This time Kagy couldn’t dodge them all. One was lodged in her right shoulder.
At least it wasn’t my real arm, she thought. The gunfire wasn’t stopping and Kagy noticed that more people in trenchcoats and hats were emerging from a turnoff she hadn’t noticed before.
Kagy turned. There was no way she could face this many gunmen by herself. She grabbed onto a sturdy looking pipe with her good arm and scampered up the building. Trying to doge bullets and climb up pipes was no easy task.
Kagcomix was finaly on top of the roof of one of the buildings when the gunfire died down. Kagy had two more bullets lodged in her arm.
Zark! i guess it’s another night without sleep to fix THIS! she thought. With her still intact left hand she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.
”Hello? is that Dotty Kay?”

“Uh huh”

“It’s Kagcomix. I need your help.”

“Hey Kagy. I’m kinda busy right now.”

“With PC?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’m special.”

“Uh.. okay… why are you calling me?”

“Because I don’t know anyone else’s number.”

“Okay. So what do you need?”

“I don’t know if PC told you, but he gave me a sheet of paper. I can’t really read most of it but i know that you were on MB before i was and you might know what it means. Does ‘Ljubl… uh… Lagomo…Extrater’ make any sense to you?”

“Sorry, Kagy, but you’ve caught me at a really bad time. I’m not sure what that means, but go back to HQ, someone there will be bound to know what you’re talking about.”

“Thanks anyways, Dotty Kay.”
As Kagcomix put her phone back in her pocket she realised what the pink from under the hat had been: BUNNY EARS!
*************
In a room at MIT, a girl is checking her email in an attempt to procrastinate. “Why can’t this paper make sense? I can’t do it. It’s impossible. What else can I do?” She opens a web browser, Internet Fire Safari 9.999 Optimised. “I haven’t used that email address in years. It’s some excuse.” She types a password, clicks on something. “Chicago… MuseBlog… I got this two weeks ago… oh, no.” She takes out a phone and dials.
“Potato Chip? Yes, it’s me. Remember MuseBlog? When we were thirteen. I used to be curious and questioning. You had some people’s facebook from then, right? Can you contact them? Now. There’s kind of a problem. I’m emailing you. Checking your old email accounts might help too. I’m going to try calling some other people from that DC kokonvention. If you find anything, call me or email. My thesis can wait a little bit longer.”
**************
Kagy ran across rooftops until she reached HQ. She didn’t want to make a scene with her bullet holed t-shirt and her wrecked arm. Finally Kagy was able to climb down from the roof into the building they had been in before. It seemed there were hidden passageways everywhere. As she entered the room, Sweet Melpomene looked up.

“ZARK! Kagy, what happened? Should I call the ambulance?” Sweet Melpomene asked, shocked at the holes that adorned Kagcomix’s shirt.

“Nah, ‘sokay. They only got my bionic arm.” Kagy responded.
“So, what exactly happened?” E2MB asked.

“Well, I saw PC and he gave me a note. Then I rushed down an alleyway and got shot at by people in bunny suits, black trench coats and hats. The little rascal screwed up my arm! I came over the roof tops to get here.” Kagy explained.

“Bunny suits?” E2MB asked.

“Guess so.” said Sweet Melpomene. “What did PC’s note say?”

“Most of it’s gone but what i can read is Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” said Kagy.
“It’s a good thing I left my bag here earlier, because my arm realy needs work. That’s where I keep spare parts,” she explained. Kagy took off her ripped shirt and started down to work on her arm.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Sweet Melpomene asked as Kagcomix dug out the bullet and started repairing broken wires and plates.
“Nope, only near my collarbone because that’s where the metal meets the flesh. Otherwise I don’t have that much feeling in my right arm. I mean, I can feel the bullets in there and I can feel being shot, but if you were to, say, run a feather down it I wouldn’t feel it. I always wear a tank top under my shirts for situations like this. It’s realy hard to repair my arm if I keep having to roll up my sleeves.”
“You’ve been shot at before?” asked E2MB increduously.
“Yup! And stabbed too! Wanna see my scar?”

“Not really. But why?”

“In my line of work you come to expect calamity.”

“I thought you were a cartoonist!” Sweet Melpomene jumped in.
“That and defending justice,” Kagy replied. “So do either of you know when PC might get out of the hospital? Because no one I’ve asked so far seems to know what his note means.”

“No idea.” answered E2MB.
Alice had been thinking hard. “Hang on,” she said suddenly. “What did the note say again?”

Kagcomix obligingly fished it out of her pocket with her real arm. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read. Alice took it from her.

“What?” asked agagabagabag.

Alice looked up. “I’m not sure about Ljubl and extrater, but Lagomo seems awfully similar to lagomorph.”

Everyone looked at her. No one moved.
“Which is…?” asked Fire_Falcon22.

“I can’t believe you don’t know that!” burst out Alice. “You’ve all grown up to be hugely successful, and none of you know what lagomorph is?”
When no one answered, Alice explained. “Rabbits aren’t rodents. They’re lagomorphs.”
“Oh my goodness, Alice, you’re right!” cried Cinnamon Moon “I’m so sorry for not having kept in touch. Maybe we could have found this out earlier! But after the news about Rebecca…” She looked at the blank faces around her. “You mean-” she faltered. “Robert never told you?”
***************
Shadowkat pulled into the Royal’s parking lot, the papers she’d just received folded up in her pocket. I wonder where Fridgey got to…, she thought. When she’d asked the bartender whether or not he knew what had happened to a tall, handsome, black-clad man, the ‘tender had said he’d never seen a man like that. Odd. She got off her bike and went inside.
Bursting through the door of the lobby, she immediately dropped and rolled as a dart whizzed by her head and slammed into her shoulder. She began to feel its effects even in the seconds between impact and when she pulled it out. Her vision started to cloud. No! she thought. Must…stay…awake!
She bolted for the door, whipping out her cell phone as she did so. Apparently, the gun that her attacker had used was a one-shot deal, at least for a while.

The phone on the other end rang. And rang. And rang some more. Then:
”Hello?” said a strange voice from the other line, a voice she didn’t recognize.

“What have you done with the MuseBloggers?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

“Oh, don’t worry, S-kitty…” She cringed at the use of her MB nickname by a stranger. “…they’re safe…for now.” The connection broke.

“What?! Where are they?!? WHERE ARE THEY?!?!” she screamed into the phone, desperately trying wrap her mind around all this. Just a few minutes ago, they had been fine. And now, they weren’t. She darted around to the side of the building and started to climb. For once in her life, she truly thanked Master Chi for how hard he’d made her train.
She crawled onto the roof. Luckily for her, the meeting room in which they’d been was on the top floor; she’d hear any commotion coming from it. She crept along the roof to the air vent, listening. Suddenly, the wind changed direction, and she could hear voices.

“…–couldn’t be helped, sir.” said a somewhat high-pitched, squeaky voice.

“What do you mean, couldn’t be helped?!” roared the voice from her most recent phone conversation. “We had all of the others in our grasp, and YOU let this one slip through our fingers!”

“Yes, but, sir, the poison, she got the dart out–”

“I wouldn’t have cared if she’d thrown it back into you!!!” interrupted the one who appeared to be in charge. “It was your job to get her, and you didn’t! Now she’s probably on her way to the–”

Ding-a-ding, dong, ding, ding-a-ding, dong!, went Shadowkat’s phone.
”Bursting Shnizzle Pops!!!” she swore under her breath. She heard a clatter from the room below. She hurriedly leaped onto the next roof over, which, fortunately, was quite close, as she was in the city. She scrambled down the far side of the building onto which she had just leaped, dropped into the alley at the bottom, and opened her phone. The display screen read “Alice”. She pushed the “Accept” button.
****************
“Told us what?” asked Alice. “It seems like we have a lot of information, but it’s all mixed up. Could everyone just sit down and explain in an organized fashion?”
Alice excused herself to get a drink of water, and walked out into the hall. It seemed strange to just sit there, doing nothing, but it had always been her nature to stay on top of the confusion, even at thirteen, and this confusion needed more staying on top of than any RRR. She bent down to drink from the water fountain, and her head exploded into blackness.

She woke into blackness, and were it not for her awareness of the enormous lump on the back of her head, she would not have realized that she was awake. Her eyes searched the darkness for something light to rest them on, but there was only coal-blackness. She figured that there was a lot of black here.
Then it hit her. Her cell phone! It was only for business calls, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have the phone numbers of other MuseBloggers.

Her hands weren’t bound, and she pulled her cell phone out of her bag. Its screen was glowing, and she fixed her eyes on it, glad of the relief from the darkness. She dialed Shadowkat’s number.

“Hello?” said Shadowkat.

“Hi, Shadowkat,” said Alice. “It’s Alice. I think I’ve been kidnapped. I’m in someplace dark.”
*****************
“Well, what is it?” asked Donaldo as Alice left. Finally, someone had voiced what everyone was thinking.
All the MBers turned to Cinnamon Moon as she opened her mouth to explain. Taking a deep breath, she began.
“Well, there was a reason we all called her–” she was cut off by a loud creaking sound.
“What’s happening?” shouted agagabagabag.
E2MB paled as he realized what was happening. “The whole room’s being moved!”
“What?” said several MBers simultaneously.
“That’s not possible!”
“It’s still bolted in place, for the moment!”
“I thought the Royal was safe!”
“How did they find us?”
“What’s that noise?”
Several people slammed into the door as the room began to shake. Widdershins struggled to pull it open as the lights went out. Gasping for breath, she and a few other MBers fell through as the rest realized they were trapped in what was acting like a gigantic, descending elevator.
“Zark,” she muttered as several people climbed off of her, apologizing profusely.
The group stared at the open doorway, catching a few last glimpses of their friends’ shocked faces as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.
“Well, one thing’s for sure,” said Sweet Melpomene. “We have to get out of this building, stat.”
******************
Fire_Falcon22 tried to move, but then realized he was tied up. He reached as far as he could for his sword. He grabbed the hilt, but was unable to pull it out of his sheath. He pulled and pulled until he was able to get the hilt through the rope. He grabbed the blade and moved it slowly up the rope, and after a minute of bringing the blade back and forth, he finally cut the rope.
“Ah, finally.”
Fire_Falcon22 got up, and put his sword back in its sheath. He couldn’t see a thing but he heard a voice. He tried to follow the voice, but soon hit a wall. He got up, but he sensed the presence of someone behind him. He turned around to see an odd figure, with a skin color so bright, he could see it, even through the darkness.
Hot pink.
The figure – more hopping than walking- moved slowly towards Fire_Falcon22. The figure pulled out a gun from his jacket.
Fire_Falcon grabbed the hilt of his sword. The figure shot the gun, and Fire_Falcon deflected the shot with his sword, and the bullet bounced back at the figure.
The figure jumped back and shot a few more shots at Fire_Falcon. He deflected a few, but then one hit him in the shoulder. He crouched down to the ground, clenching his wound.
The figure came closer.

“Who are you?” asked FF.
The figure didn’t say anything, he just pointed the gun towards FF.
FF sat there in shock, not knowing what to do…
*******************
The MBers still caught in the moving room fell silent as the walls began to grate on the sides of the shaft. Cables and pulleys screeched against each other, guiding what once was a safe place down, down, down. Slowly, the air began to thicken and, one by one, the members of the group fell unconscious.
They awoke groggily in what appeared to be the same room, minus the conference table. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim pink lighting.
Someone sat in a corner, next to a pile of bindings.
“Oh, look! My rescue party’s arrived,” FrigidSymphony said, coating the sentence with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Which, on a bad day, is far more than average.
Ebeth rolled her eyes and gave him a disdainful look before scanning her surroundings. A few other MBers followed suit.
“Doors are probably sealed, no windows, PA system’s cut off…” Purple Panda listed to herself. She turned sharply to FrigidSymphony. “Exactly how long have you been here?” she asked politely.
“If I had my bloody watch, I’d probably have escaped by now,” he muttered before saying, “Since a little after I left. Damn bartender… he spiked my drink…”
“Right,” said Panda absently, as she continued to scrutinize the walls.
“They couldn’t even leave the chairs,” mumbled Ebeth. She, too, was looking around curiously. “When I get out of here, I’m renaming myself Ebeth the Amazing Escape Artist,” said Ebeth suddenly.
********************
“What the zark was that?” said Widdershins, breathing heavily after her run out of the building.
“An amazing feat of engineering, if I do say so myself,” said someone behind her.
“We tried to get here sooner, but…” said another person, finishing her sentence with a tired sigh.
“Curious and Questioning! Potato Chip!” the group exclaimed.
Brief ‘hellos’ were made as the group followed the two down the street, to a modest-looking parking garage.
“There’s another place we can try to reach, if it’s not too late. We have two cars…” said curious and questioning calmly.
“Make that three,” added Sweet Melpomene. “I left mine here, too.
“Great,” Potato Chip said, “we can split up, so it’s even harder for them to capture the rest of us.” She handed a few pieces of notebook paper to SM. “Directions,” she explained.
SM scanned them, and then shoved the directions into an inner coat pocket. “We’ll meet you there; Kagy and I are going to try to get into the hospital. We’re going to try to find Canix and Cat’s Meow.”
They hurried off into the garage until Juliette stopped abruptly. “Wait, where’s Fire_Falcon22? He fell out of the door with us, didn’t he?”
*********************
Dot snapped her phone shut and quickly shoved it in her pocket. Looking around to make sure the doctor hadn’t seen her recieve a call, she spotting Cat’s Meow standing awkwardly next to PC’s bed. They exchanged worried glances, and then Dot came over to adjust an IV in PC’s arm.
“I just got word from Kagy,” she muttered to her two friends. It was hard to tell if PC was listening. “She got your paper, Prarilius, and she’s taking it to show everyone else.”
**********************
Snagging a most-likely-illegal parking spot, Kagcomix and Sweet Melpomene hopped out of the car. Slamming the doors and rushing into the hospital entrance, they quickly navigated their way to the emergency room.
“Please, ladies, what’s the problem?” a stern female voice said from the reception desk.
“We need to get in!” SM spluttered. “It’s urgent!”
The receptionist glanced them over. “If it’s not a medical emergency, I’ll have to ask you to head to the waiting room.”
“But our good friend is in there, and we have to talk to him!” said a frustrated Kagy.
“This is a matter that could alter the virtual world permanently, and now threatens our reality!” SM added.
“An online relationship crisis, eh?” sneered the receptionist. “I can’t help you. Patients’ visitors may be immediate family only.”
***********************
There was a clatter on the end of the line. “What’s that?” asked Alice uncertainly. Not much had changed since she was thirteen, when it came to bravery. “Shadowkat?” said Alice, when there was no response. “SHADOWKAT?” Still no sound came from the phone.
But somewhere in the darkness, a familiar voice called, “Who’s that?”

“Alice!” Alice yelled back. “Where are you?”

“Over here!” yelled the voice (which Alice was fairly sure belonged to Fire_Falcon) “I’m kind of in trouble right now!”
************************
Shadowkat was backed up against the alley wall, with a gun pointed at her head. Holding the gun was a man. A tall man, fairly good-looking. But dark, and not in a good way. He wore a jet black suit made of what appeared to be silk, and dark glasses, too. No eyes could be seen through those.
“You won’t get away this time, you little brat!” the man growled. “Too long have I lied in wait, too long have I held my grudge, itching for revenge…and now,” he smiled an evil, toothy smile, “it’s over.” He fired.
“NO!!!” Another man, quite a bit younger than either of the people present, leaped in front of the firing gun. He groaned, having taken a bullet to the left shoulder. It seemed like a never-ending moment in which Shadowkat stared down at her savior in shock, mouth agape. She knew this young man, and quite well. He was her brother.
“T.J.!!!!!!!!” she screamed, and it felt like her vocal cords ripped. She whirled on the man in the the suit, the man who had just shot her little brother. “You…” she snarled, looking as much like the cat from which she took her Blog name as was humanly possible. The man backed against the opposite wall, afraid of the thirst for blood in her eyes. She whipped out her own gun and stormed towards him, holding it aloft. She slammed him into the wall.
“What do you want with me?!” she shouted into his face.
“It’s not…just you,” the man panted.
“Who is it, then?!” She got no response. “Who is it?!?!”
“…MuseBlog…” he spat, venom dripping from his words. A groan escaped his lips. Shadowkat backed away from him in horror. The man let out a sickly laugh.
“Hahaha…you’ll never stop us, Kitty-kat, and neither will any of your little playmaaates…hahahaaa…” He trailed off as the poison with which he had injected himself took its effect.
Shadowkat let his body fall to the ground in a heap. She turned and knelt down next to her fallen brother, who was coughing up blood. The bullet in his shoulder was holding his flesh together in that spot for the most part, but he still needed medical attention, and fast.
“T.J.” she shook him, keeping him with her.
“Katie…” he groaned. “I…didn’t think I’d…make it in time…”
“Wait, Teej, what do you mean? Did you know something–?”
“Yes. Kate, it’s the creators…the creators of…”
“What, T.J., what?! The creators of WHAT?!” He passed out.
Shadowkat jumped up and called Sweet Melpomene, who, since she’d had a bit of training in chemistry, might have some idea of what to do with her brother (known as “The Tominator” on the Blog) before they could get him to the hospital.
*************************
“So, tell us now, before it’s too late. What happened to Rebecca?” asked E2MB.
“Lady Bunniful was… well… I don’t know how to say this, but I’ll try. Rebecca was being controlled by the bunnies. But she resisted, in the last few months of Museblog. Then, she was taken by them. We haven’t heard anythlng since. The rumour is that she might be – dead. I don’t know. Our forces haven’t uncovered anything substantial.”
“Wait a second!” burst in another blogger. “What do you mean – ‘our forces’?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know about those either!!!” cried Ebeth. Cinnamon Moon whirled on her.
“Ebeth, please! Calm down! Lot’s of people don’t know about lots of things, so let’s just keep our head on straight and explain, alright?” At a nod of acknowledgment from Ebeth, she continued.
“Well, a few MuseBloggers and I were kind of worried that the HPB’s would try to take over MuseBlog, again, so we arranged for monitors (the sources we were talking about) to watch Lady Bunniful, as we suspected she might be the first they’d try to take over. Our monitors, though, not only watched over Rebecca, but also made sure the Blog was always ok, and nothing “funny” was going on. To do this, they talked to the Editors, Writers, and other people related to Muse. They were very careful, and good at what they did. They never took their eyes off Rebecca, though. I know this, because I was there on that fateful day when, suddenly, Lady Bunniful disappeared. Just like that. She was sitting in front of her computer, moderating, when she was just…gone. Of course, some claim to have seen a faint pinkish glow where she’d just been, right after she vanished, but that was never proven. Nothing else that our sourced found ever led to anything. Rumors, yes, those have gone around, but never have any been shown to be true. It’s…well, it’s…scary.” she finished.
The others stared at her with wide eyes. No one knew quite what to say.
**************************
“What sort of trouble?” asked Alice. “And where are you?”
“Right here!” yelled Fire_Falcon. “And it’s -” he broke off.
“It’s what?”
There was a scuffle in the dark, and a popping noise, and silence. “FF?” Alice ventured tentatively.
“Right here,” said FF, from a few yards away. “It was a hot-pink bunny.”
“What happened to it?”
“I don’t know. It just…vanished.”
***************************
Sweet Melpomene’s phone rang. She jumped. She was a little bit paranoid, right now, after her recent experience. Looking at her phone, she saw that the display screen read, “Shadowkat”. She opened it up. She didn’t even say hello.
“Shadowkat! Where have you been?! The other MuseBloggers and I were attacked, and some of us escaped, but I don’t know where the rest are, and–”
“Yes, Mel, I know.” interrupted Shadowkat. “I was the one who tried to warn you guys, and ended up talking to some deep-voiced man, who then tried to kill me! But, Mel, he didn’t, because my brother took a bullet for me, and he’s passed out, and fading fast, and I–”
“Where are you?” asked SM.
“Behind the building east of the Royal.”
“I’m coming.”
****************************
Beavo the Great suddenly bursted around a corner, the one Shadowkat happened to be at, and crashed right into her. Shadowkat, who was very nervous by this time, jumped away and stared at this messy-haired, un-matched-clothed young man who sprawled at her feet. He looked up. She took a step back.
“Hey. You must be Shadowkat from your discription at the Muser Profiles. I’m Beavo. And that must be your brother.”
“But how did you know all this about…this stuff? You weren’t at any of the meetings, the attacks, and you weren’t even at the ER with PC!”
“That my friend, is for me to know and you… not to know. Right now, we need to get help with your brother.” Beavo took a huge bandage, a scotch tape dispenser, and a cell out of his pocket. As he started to put the bandage on Shadowkat’s brother, he handed her the phone.
“Here, call someone with this. We need help.”
“I already did!”
“Who?”
“SM.”
“And she is…?”
Sweet Melpomene rounded the same corner as Beavo did, and crashed right into Shadowkat. She heard Beavo mutter “Deja Vu” as she picked herself off the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked up at Shadowkat.
*****************************
“Now, we just need to get out of here,” said FF.
“Yes, but where is here? And how do we get out? Man, this would make a great book.”
Fire_Falcon rolled his eyes in the dark.. Alice thought that everything even remotely exciting would make a good book.
“I don’t know where we are,” he said, “or how we’re going to get out. But we always have cell phones. We could call the other Musers.”
Alice moaned. “Don’t remind me,” she said. “If I wasn’t such a Luddite, we could be out of here already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those new cell phones – not the disposable ones – have the nice tracking systems, and the maps. They can be tracked by other people, and by you, and they can have whole maps on them. But I’m so anti-tech that I didn’t even bother. You wouldn’t have one with a map, would you, FF?”
“All I have is a sheet of disposable ones,” said FF.
“Oh, great,” began Alice, but suddenly stopped. “Hang on,” she said, “I might not have high-tech cell phone, but I have a compass!”
Fire_Falcon was completely baffled. “You carry a compass, but you don’t carry anything remotely resembling a tracking device?”
Alice shrugged, though you couldn’t see it in the dark. “Like I said,” she said brightly, “I’m weird that way. Do you have a flashlight or anything?”
FF searched through his pack, that after a few seconds, he realized wasn’t there.
“They must have took my pack. Unfortunately, I dont have a flashlight, so how are we supposed to see the compass?”
Alice thought for a minute.
“Yeah, that is a bit of a downside.”
“Ya think? Did you bring a flashlight?”
“Like I said, anti-tech.”
FF slapped his hand on his face.
Just then there was a gun fire. FF and Alice spun around to see the faint glow of Hot pink. The bunny pointed the gun at Alice, and shot. FF pulled his sword out and deflected the shot. The bunny aimed the gun at FF, but FF charged at the bunny with his sword. The bunny fired, and caught FF in the hand, he dropped his sword, and hit the ground.
“Where’s my sword?!”
“I dont know.” responded Alice.
The bunny continued to shoot at FF, but he dodged as many as he could, until he hit a wall, and fell to the ground. The bunny hopped slowly towards him. He put his small handgun back into his jacket, and pulled out a machine gun.
“FF! Catch!” yelled Alice.
FF grabbed the hilt of his sword, that he surprisingly caught in the dark. He swung the sword towards the bunnies head, aiming at the back. He heard a crucnh, and could see bits of metal all from the back of the rabbit’s head. The rabbit stopped in his tracks, and dropped the gun, and simply hopped off. FF walked towards the bits of metal.
“Some kind of device.”
Alice walked up next to him. “What is it?”
“Hmm. I really dont know.”
******************************
In another room nearby, a man in a cloke stood in front of many glowing orange screens. The computers started humming.
“Unit damaged. Unit # 707654i5”
The cloaked man punched the table. “They might be on to us…”
*******************************
“Wait a sec!” said Alice suddenly. “How come we can see?” It was true. A faint light filtered through the blackness, and they could see that the room they were trapped in was absolutely enormous. Away across the several acres of floor, they could dimly see a pair of steps, ascending to a door, which was heavy and – as far as they could see – locked.
********************************
“COME ON! Do you not realize that this is a mater of life and death for more than one of your patients?” Kagcomix exclaimed angrily at the nurse at the front desk. Kagy turned to Sweet Melpomene to say “I don’t think we’ll get through this way.” only to find that SM wasn’t there.
“Whatever!” Kagy said to the nurse, “It’s not THAT important. Could you possibly tell me the room number for [pc’s real name], I want to send flowers.” she finished the last part in a pleasant voice .
“Well, I guess so. It’s room # 308 B.” said the nurse.
“Thanks.” said kagy as she strode out the door. Kagy turned into the tiny laneway beside the hospital. She scaned the side of the building for a door. She found one, right by the dumpster. IT was heavy, using all her strength she pushed open the door. Looking quickly down the hall first, Kagcomix dashed towards the flight of stairs at the end.
80- My occupation would be a translator/interpreter for the UN…
82-Maybe bunnies/some bad guy speaks another language, and when he kidnappes someone, he calls Alice or someone and you can interpret what he says! *genious*
81- Actually, Beavo, since all the threads were closed, it couldn’t possibly continue to say “Awaiting Moderation”, because you simply couldn’t post it.
82- *coughs awkwardly* What’s the UN? *dodges pies*
83- Genius. (spelling correction.)
70- the make-alive 3000 was my idea.
84- the united nations *duh* *pies alice*
84-Hmph… wait a minute, ask FS. He was banned, and closing the blog’s kind of like banning everyone, and so he could probably post, but they would never be moderated… so…
and the UN is the united nations *pies anyway*
86- Yes, I know that. More accurately, where is the UN?
85-Oh. I like that idea, but I don’t like the cat/dog idea. If we use that idea, we could then go to FF’s plot.
88-The UN is in many areas, seeing as most countries are in the UN now. In New York there is a UN building, and same in England. Can’t think of any other places right now where UN meets. Correct me if I am wrong about this.
88-The United States.
88- all nation have a meeting area but the general esebaly and the secutity conul are in the us.
Okay. I know what the UN is now.
This thread is a lot slower than the previous one.
Post 90 was past, we are going with Fire_Falcon’s idea. Now could someone please explain it to me again?
somebody’s using shadow technology to stop the museblogers from stoping them stoping the museblogs from stoping them stoping the musebloger from stoping the musebloger from stoping them from stoping them form stoping the museblogers from stoping them from stoping the museblogs stoping them
93- O-kaaaay. *head is spinning*
that is why I made one. we can still swich?
Meanwhile, thousand of miles away, a shadowy figure crouched in a windowsill of a long-abandoned church. He grinned as the repsorts filed in through his helmet computer. The foolish former MuseBloggers were falling right into his trap. Unaware of the bomb he had placed in a convenient hideout, kagcomix was descending the trapped staircase, running away from his shock troops. His HPBs were in position. Nothing on Earth could stop him now. For he was- Lawrence of Antarctica, back to destroy the last remnants of the pitiful blog he had destroyed with a virus a decade ago.
*******************************
Kagcomix ran towards the stairs, thinking, I’ve got to get to the bottom of this. She climbed dwon the stairs and she saw a door marked “Room 308B”. She remarked aloud, “well, this looks like the place.”
As she reached for the door, she heard a voice shout, “NO! WAIT!!” Then a shot rang out.
*****************************
Excellent, thought Lawrence of Antarctica. kagcomix has been disposed of, like so many others will be, in time. He smiled, and the sound of his classic cliche villain laugh filled the still night.
******************************
Kagcomix dropped to the floor, clutching her bleeding hand. She heard footsteps coming nearer, and looked up. “Are you OK?” asked BurnedMuffins.
She started to reply, but saw the gun in his hand. Instead, she lashed out with a wild blow. He fell backwards with a startled grunt and fell heavily against a wall.
“Why did you shoot me??” she shouted.
“I was…nnnghh…saving your life!” he responded. “That door is booby-trapped, if you opened it you would have been blown to smithereens.”
“And just how do you know this?”
“It’s my other self. He’s planning this, and I can feel everything he does.”
*******************************
FF stepped toward the bunny. “Hmm. that’s strange,” he said. Looks like there’s a TV screen- are you listening?”
Alice was backed against the far wall. “Nggh! Nggh! Technology! BAd! Bad!! BAD!!!!” She slumped in a dead faint.
“Great,” siad FF. “Now back to this thing…it’s a TV of some sort.”
He switched on the TV.
“Congratulations!” said a faintly familiar face. “You have suceeded in destroying the prototype of my army of bunnies who will destroy all the MuseBloggers! Mwahahha…oh dear, I’ve said too much. Now how do you erase on this stupid thing? Rrrgh..” The face disappeared, to be replaced by a logo: a fist crushing a digital globe. A robotic voice said:
“This digitape was brought to you by Lawrencia, Inc., the world’s biggest manufacturer of weapons, software, and hardware, making us, in effect, the most powerful company in the world. We’re everywhere and control everything. … have a nice day.
*********************
“In 2007, I assumed a new name on MuseBlog, Lawrence of Antarctica.”
Kagcomix was listening to BurnedMuffins’ story in a Starbucks two blocks down form the hospital. This had better be good, she thought.
“Over time, it became the only name I used. But, deep inside, I was still BurnedMuffins.
But the new name brought me more trouble than I could ever have imagined. The name, Lawrence of Antarctica, apparently belongs to a demon from the netherworld. Once I started using it, he took over my body and started making comments to make everyone trust him. But gradually, he was accumulating enough information to completely destroy MuseBlog. And, after three years, he did. He sent a virus into the Cricketmag mainframe, destroying all sites related to any Cricketmag magazine, and the magazines themselves. This included Muse.”
“Wait a minute,” Kagcomix interjected. “How are you not still possesed, if this story is true?”
“I’m getting to that! He became leader of a company that basically ruled Canada, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, and India. He was unstoppable! But, through tremendous force of will, I managed to break free from him in 2013, thereby creating two mes: one occupied by me, the other by him. ”
Kagcomix burst out laughing.
“Do you seriously expect me to believe any of that?”
“What? But it’s-”
“Don’t give me that! Thanks for the coffee and all, but I just can’t take your ridiculous fairy tale about spirits and other selves seriously on a matter of life and death. Goodbye.”
kag comix stalked out of the Starbucks.
Sitting at the table, BurnedMuffins pulled out a cell phone.
“Hello, HQ? Trace one [kagcomix’s real name] back to her MuseBlog base. Send three snipers after her. And give my regards to Lawrence.”
Oops! Sorry if I’m not going according to plan. But that’s just how villainous I am. [demonic laughter]
97-Hey! That mean’s there’s two double agents, me and you.
96: Holy guacamole I haven’t seen you in like two months. Come to Pie Isle.
Anyway, nice addition, I like it a lot. Then again, general consensus has sort of been that this is supposed to be realistic, so no elements of fantasy, etc…. okay, now I’m really undecided. Where are we supposed to draw the line? I mean, I don’t think there’s any way we can keep HBPs out of this, and they’re sort of fantasy. So whatever.
The only part I don’t get is the last four sentences. It was great up till there.
93, 95- I think the people with shadow technology were trying to take over the world, which makes it suddenly make more sense.
96- Um . . . I have a cell phone. And a laptop. I’m not fainting at the thought of technology. We need to change that, definitely. I don’t have to faint.
Two double agents . . . Well, if one is a double agent, no one will expect another.
100-Ok, sorry.
99- Hee hee! You’ll see/
99- Actually, I was thinking of doing something other than that, but it just felt right at the time.
So here are the last four sentences revised:
BurnedMuffins shook his head in exasperation. “Why won’t she believe me?” He turned back to the counter, where the barrista looked slightly scared to hear a grown man talking to himself. “If she doesn’t, it’s the end for the MuseBloggers-and the world. Venti espresso with cream and sugar, please.”
So the guy pulls out Tag and sprays LoA until he can’t breathe and then runs away and calls the police. *DUNDUNDUN* Sorry. I just ate a granola bar or two or three or a whole box.
Sorry for the 2post, I’m kinda out of it…
Alice, it’s okay to have two double agents because Kagy already suspects LoA and by the time they figure out him, I will already be… well… doing stuff… eville stuff…
104- That goes way too fast. Let’s backtrack.
106-I’m just kidding.
Kagcomix muttered to herself. “Lawrencia, lawrencia… who might know about this? Wait, i have it!”
She dialed a number on her phone.
“Cows Rule! I mean, hello?”
“Hey, agagabagabag, you’re in the technology business, right? Does the word ‘Lawrencia’ ring any bells?
“Aaargh! Lawrencia has made life a living Texas for C.M.I.T.N.E., the company that C++darkmage own! It’s as if the owner hates us! Everytime we moved to a different country, they would take it over!”
“I’m back right now. Tell me more when l get there”
When she got back, Kagy explained what BurnedMuffiins had told her.
“That no- good son of a hummer! To think that my fellow Museblogger would try to run me out of business! You see, C.M.I.T.N.E.’s motto is to help the world, so we sell hardware, software, and health drinks. But in business, the only companies that survive are the most rutheless ones.”
He pulled out a pen.
“Of course, unlike lawrencia, we don’t manufacture weapons for sale, but we made some for this purpose. When you press the green button, this pen becomes The Anti-Bunnie Cannon©. It shoots out key lime pies. I chose key lime because lime green is the opposite color of hot pink. It makes bunnies shrivel up.”
“To use it, attach it to your arm and grope with your hand till you find the trigger. Aim it with your other hand.”
“Cool. Give me some more and l’ll give em’ out later.”
As Kagy stood up, three hot pink bullets zoomed into her right arm.
“Snipers!” agagabagabag yelled.
Kagy rolled onto the floor and fired six shots at the surprised snipers. They fell to the ground and slowly dissolved.
“Nice shooting,” said agagabagabag, his mouth agape.
Let’s get back to writing…
What do you call that, pickle chugging?
108- Um . . . Kagcomix isn’t the one that knows about Lawrencia, FF and I are. And we are trapped. Please help, someone!
93- Your just trying to make it sound complicated. The people with the Shadow Technology are using it to brainwash the bunnies to take down the musebloggers, so that the musebloggers dont stop them from engulfing the world in darkness. And since post 90 passed, and I had 3 votes, and you had 1, my idea wins.
Sweet Melpomene woke up. She was in total blackness, and the effects of the chlorophyll were just beginning to wear off. She tried to move, and found that she couldn’t. Suddenly, she heard a voice.
“Aww, isn’t that so cute. The little human is trying to escape. Well, sorry to rain on your metaphorical parade, but you’re not leaving this room anytime soon, SM!”
“Who are you?” she asked. “Why am I here? What-”
“You’re starting to annoy me,” said Lawrence, as he injected a knockout drug into her arm.
**********************************
The TV switched off. FF thought, Suddenly it came to him. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Kagcomix’s number.
************************************
(this part’s a repost from agagabagabag)
Kagcomix muttered to herself. “Lawrencia, lawrencia… who might know about this? Wait, i have it!”
She dialed a number on her phone.
“Cows Rule! I mean, hello?”
“Hey, agagabagabag, you’re in the technology business, right? Does the word ‘Lawrencia’ ring any bells?
“Aaargh! Lawrencia has made life a living Texas for C.M.I.T.N.E., the company that C++darkmage own! It’s as if the owner hates us! Everytime we moved to a different country, they would take it over!”
“I’m back right now. Tell me more when l get there”
When she got back, Kagy explained what BurnedMuffiins had told her.
“That no- good son of a hummer! To think that my fellow Museblogger would try to run me out of business! You see, C.M.I.T.N.E.’s motto is to help the world, so we sell hardware, software, and health drinks. But in business, the only companies that survive are the most rutheless ones.”
He pulled out a pen.
“Of course, unlike lawrencia, we don’t manufacture weapons for sale, but we made some for this purpose. When you press the green button, this pen becomes The Anti-Bunnie Cannon©. It shoots out key lime pies. I chose key lime because lime green is the opposite color of hot pink. It makes bunnies shrivel up.”
“To use it, attach it to your arm and grope with your hand till you find the trigger. Aim it with your other hand.”
“Cool. Give me some more and l’ll give em’ out later.”
As Kagy stood up, three hot pink bullets zoomed into her right arm.
“Snipers!” agagabagabag yelled.
Kagy rolled onto the floor and fired six shots at the surprised snipers. They fell to the ground and slowly dissolved.
“Nice shooting,” said agagabagabag, his mouth agape.
110-No, but most of the posts before it were pickle chugging. And chopping chicken liver.
111-Yes she does, he tried to shoot her, and [told her] everything. And plus, do you have any way of contacting us? We don’t have any way of saving you if we can’t find you.
Just wondering, can I be the official story keeper? I already have it typed up in MS word. And everytime there’s a new post, I add it. So when it gets a bit confusing, I can just post the whole thing. Comments?
113- Just so you know, I am not slumped unconscious against the wall because of technology. To alleviate all thoughts that I might be, I will redo that section.
FF stepped toward the bunny. “Hmm. that’s strange,” he said. Looks like there’s a TV screen- are you listening?”
“Yes,” said Alice. “Why wouldn’t I be?” But she was looking nervously around her. “You don’t suppose there are any other bunnies, do you?”
“There might be.”
“Oh dear,” said Alice.
FF shrugged. “Now back to this thing…it’s a TV of some sort.”
He switched on the TV.
115- Im serverly lost. Whered the bunnie with the TV come from?
116- Dunno. Ask Lawrence of Antarctica.
Can someone post the whole story so far? I’m lost.
116- The bunny with the TV was a robot bunny that you killed.
113- AGGGH!! Stupid HTML!!!
FrigidSymphony woke with a start. he was sitting in an office swivel chair wearing…a clown suit?? “PURPLE PANDA!!!!” he roared.
Suddenly, the large TV on the wall switched on. “Hello, MuseBloggers,” siad a shadowy figure on the wall.
After watching the broadcast, FrigidSymphony franctically dialed his cell phone. “Shadowkat? Purple Panda? Pentatonnikk? Everyone? We have a full alert! Report to the metting room RIGHT NOW!!”
********************************
Alice stalked into the meeting room. “OK, FS, what is it? This had better be good, you interrupted a dream in which me and my fellow anti-technologists-”
“OK,Ok, I get the picture,” interrupted FrigidSymphony hurriedly.
The other MBers there were Shadowkat, Purple Panda, Mer/Mre, Pentatonikk, Widdershins, Red-Tailed HAWK, and several others.
“People, we have a crisis on our hands,” said FS. He swiveled in his chair and pressed “Play” on the remote control to the TV. “Hello, MuseBloggers,” said the shadowy figure on the TV. “This is a mesage direct from Lawrencia, Inc. I have here something that you might want to bargain with.” He drew aside to reveal SM, bound to a chair and gagged with a piece of duct tape, unconscious. “If you ever want to see here again, come to the Lawrencia, Inc. HQ in Lawrence City, formerly known as New York City. Oh yeah, and bring $1,000,000 and a glass of ice-cold lemonade. I’m parched.”
*********************************
the MuseBloggers stared in stunned silence.
“I told you it was important,” said FS. “But did you listen? Nooo, you had to complain and-”
“Shut up, FS,” said Shadowkat. “We need to do what he says and get her back.”
“But it’s propably a trap,” objected Purple Panda.
“Yeah, and where are we gonna get the $1,000,000?” asked Pentatonikk.
“We’ll find a way,” said Shadowkat. “And if this guy thinks he’s gonna trick us, then he’s wrong. We’ll outsmart him. Pentatonikk, Red-Tailed HAWK. Take two of the spy planes that I, uh, found and scout the Lawrence, Inc. HQ. I’m going to find out as much as I can about Lawrence, Inc.” She turned to leave. “Oh, and FS?”
“Yes?”
“Take that stupid clown suit off.”
because I can not continue where i am. i wlile be with ff and alice.
119- You misread it then. The bunny wasnt a robot, there was a device on the back of his head that was controlling him, and I destroyed it, and the bunny hopped off.
121- Okay, that’s confusing. For one, me and FF are still trapped, for another, no one can get into the meeting room who isn’t already there, and thirdly, I AM NOT THAT ANTI-TECH! I just don’t care about technology, okay? I’m not that opposed. I just don’t care to play lots of video games and I don’t need a cell phone that serves as six other things.
121-Hey!!! I would NOT talk to Fridgey like that! Please don’t make me do so. If you’re going to write what other people are doing, at least try to make them act how the really would. Please?
OK. I am lost. And aren’t FS and I still lost?
Sorry, I meant captured not lost.
123- Well the TV was on the device then!
124, 125- Well, SORRY! Just tryin my best… and Shadowkat, you don’t like it, YOU write the story for a change!
114- Yay! Pickle chugging!
128- Not to be mean, but I think you are just trying to make the story around you. I think the villian should be a totally made up character. I think we should just go back to the part where I DESTROY the SMALL divice (My point is, I destroyed it, so there would be no way to have the TV working, and its small, so a tv wouldnt fit) and we should just make a villian NOT based around any of us, so we can keep it fair. Everyone agree?
130 – None of us are very villiany anyway.
131- My point exactly. Lawrence of Antartica shouldn’t be making him/herself the main villain. We should just make one up. Everyone in the story should be equal, to make it fair.
Um, hello? Its been 25 1/2 hours and nobody has posted. @_@
Ach, I don’t actually care anymore.
134- About what? This whole thing?
135- Yeah, it’s too confusing. Sort of like the Muse RPG; after a while I just give up.
110- Oh. Then friend, we are once again in agreement.
Sorry guys. I guess l should have read more carefully. But can we still have the cannons?
l mean 114.
*gives musers 1,000,000.25 dollars*
thats the million and the lemonade.
128-Sorry…I tried writing the story, and then it died, and I couldn’t write the whole thing myself, so I had to wait, and, hey…I think Fridgey left the Blog…or did he get banned again?
Nooooooooooooooooooo! Fridgey! *Snif* What do you mean, again?
(140, 141) No, FrigidSymphony has not been banned. He must be busy with other projects.
Was he banned before?
143 – He was banned for a week in March for an incident on a Religions thread.
FrigidSymphony is traveling in the U.S. visiting relatives.
145 –
How do you know?
(146) Because he said so. He left last Tuesday for Arizona and expected to be in the States for three weeks.
What?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!! And he isn’t coming to visit ME?!?!?!??!?! *sob* I feel so unloved!!!!!
148 – How do you know he isn’t? Maybe he’s going to drop by your house and suprise you.
Well as I hate to see, what I think is, a good story die, I will continue it myself if needed. I have some more ideas in my head, I just need to get them organized.
148- *Gives cookies*
I think we should drop the parts where Lawrence of Antartica makes himself the main villain. We should just ignore all those posts and keep going from before them.
149-Hahaha! That would be cool…if he knew where I lived. Thanks, though. ♥
151-Aw, thank you!
152- I agree.
I think so too.
155- Okay, from what I remember, Alice, you and I were standing in the dark room after I destroyed the device, and you noticed a door at the end of the room, or something along those lines. Correct?
156- Yup. But it was locked and barred.
I’ll do a complation.
“Good night!” wrote E2MB “See you in the morning!” Little did he know, this was the last comment ever to be moderated on the MuseBlog.
When E2MB logged on the next morning, he was shocked to see that no one had posted in the time he had been sleeping. He was a good deal more shocked to see that, on the very top of the page, even above the random thread, was a single post. It said, “BLOG CLOSED DUE TO.” Due to what? He clicked on the random thread, only to find it closed. All the threads were! When he had worked through the entire year of 2010, he realized the awful truth: The MuseBlog was truly closed.
*
Beavo the Great logged onto MuseBlog that fateful morning, and too groggy to see the Blog Closed signs, he posted: ‘ *yawn* Well, good morning everyone! ‘ and clicked sumbit. Little did he know that this comment would never be moderated, and would continue to say “Comment Awaiting Moderation” for the next thirteen years.
When Beavo logged on two hours later, he began to sence something fishy. By then, he had read the Blog Closed signs, but too lazy (and laden down with homework) he forgot all about it.
Thirteen years later, Beavo recived a phone call from the producer of Punk Trash Productions. This was to be his first casting call for a major movie!!! As he flipped his phone shut, his heart pounding, a small alarm began to go off in his head. This alarm said “DO NOT GO TO THAT CASTING CALL”. Beavo’s alarm had actually been telling him something all morning, and now it was ringing profusely. He ignored it. Ever since he had seen It when he was five, he became paranoid. And he thought now was one of those times. It was not.
As soon as he started to put on a good looking shirt, he recived another call. This was a text message. As he read his caller ID, he found it was a number that he did not know. He flipped the phone open and read the message.
bv0 7h5 15 rbc4 1451y 7h3 b|\|5 h4v 74k|\| |\/|3 p1z |)0 |\|07 60 |\|3\/\/h3r3 2|)4y 1 h3r|) 7h|\/| p14|\|1|\| 7h3y |\/|3|\|70|\||) ur |\||\/|3 1|\/| b|\|6 h1|) 1|\|
At this point, the message ended. Beavo, ignoring the warnings not go anywhere, immideatly got in his car. As he settled himself in the driver seat, he felt a furry paw settle over his mouth. The last thing he saw was a pink face, then black.
**
The year is 2020. The heroes: a few dozen young men and women, most in their late 20s. Fifteen years earlier, four friendly-seeming but mysterious people gathered them on what was then known as the World Wide Web, dropped hints about an important destiny or mission they were to fulfill, and then vanished. Over the years, some of the group kept in touch; others drifted apart. Now a great danger has brought them all back together again…
“Zark,” Sweet Melpomene said at last. “This is big. Really big. And BAD.”
“Do you think–” Widdershins looked around at the others. “Do you think the GAPAs knew?”
Juliette shrugged. “You mean ‘knew’ as in ‘had foreknowledge of’? Like Hari Seldon and his psychohistory? Not zarking likely.”
“I’m not so sure,” Purple Panda said. “They sounded as if they did. There was one thing in particular that Robert posted, just a few days before…”
“Robert!” FrigidSymphony scoffed. “That old fraud. He’d be the last person I’d listen to.”
Shadowkat reached across the table and tousled FrigidSymphony’s waist-long hair. “Still smarting from that time he banished you, are you, Fridgey?” she teased.
“That has nothing to do with it,” the musician shot back. “I just found Rebecca and the other Administrators more helpful.”
Alice looked pensive. “I always wondered about Rosanne,” she said. “She seemed very quiet and sweet, but I got the impression that there was a lot more to her than that. I suspect that she was the brains of the outfit, the one pulling the strings. And then one day they were all just–gone…”
For a moment, the group sat in uneasy silence.
“Anyway, they did their job,” Red-tailed HAWK said at last. “They got us together. Now we’ve got a job to do.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ebeth burst out. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s get out there and DO it.”
“Not so fast,” Prarilius Canix said. “We can’t afford to rush into this. It’s too important for that. Failure is not an option here. We have to be sure what we’re dealing with.”
E2MB smiled grimly. “Well, whatever it is,” he said, “one thing is for sure: it is definitely NOT mostly harmless.”
Shadowkat looked Prarilius Canix. “PC is right,” she said. “We have to find out what it is we’re dealing with. Those disappearances…did anyone notice any kind of order to them? Do you think it could be…the bunnies?”
FrigidSymphony glanced up from admiring his hair. “Bunnies? I’ll kill ’em. I’ll…”. He broke off, turning his attention to a small stain on his shirt. “Dammit, I just washed this crap yesterday! Bloody pasta…”
“Obsess much?” muttered Shadowkat. She raised her hands in response to the glare she got from FrigidSymphony. “Just making an observation!” she said defensively.
“Hey, I care about my appearance,” he shot back, “because it’s worth the effort.” He gave her a cocky grin.
Shadowkat grinned back, and thought, Well, at least one of us hasn’t changed…. “I care about mine, too! But, you know, you really don’t need to do anything…you’re naturally gorgeous.” She winked at him.
“Will you two stop the banter? We have a crisis on our hands!” Prarilius Canix snapped. He was irritable, having been awake for the past two nights, researching. “It’s not just the GAPAs. Whatever did this wanted to get them out of the way first, because it thought that they were the only ones who could stop it. People have been disappearing all over the world.”
“You’re talking about this as though there was some intelligence behind the disappearances,” said Lizzie. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“I think it’s probable,” Pentatonikk mused. “The bunnies…?”
“What are you talking about?” Prarilius Canix hissed. “The bunnies are imaginary and this is real.”
Silence.
“Right?”
Silence.
“Well… ” said Kiki the great, nervously fingering her red hair. “You never went to Kokonventions…”
“And you hadn’t been in contact with us much in the past few years,” the man for aeiou said. “Until now, that is… ”
“I’m sorry, PraCan,” Taiwan Hippo Fan said. “We didn’t realize there was anyone here who didn’t know.”
“Know what?” asked Alice, just as clueless as Prarilius Canix. “Oh! You mean . . . that?”
Shadowkat looked at the others, then turned to Prarilius Canix. “Alright, look, you remember that day back in ’07, April Fool’s Day, when the HPBs took over MuseBlog? And we all thought, ‘Haha, what a joke, that can’t be real!’? Well…it was. I know some connections who might have some information about the disappearances…should I call them?”
“PC, the bunnies are real. Well, in a sense…it was an accident.” Sobriquet whispered, concerned.
“Wait,” interrupted Lizzie. “I seem to have missed the memo. Who are Shadowkat’s ‘people’ and what do they have to do with the disappearances?”
“I have no clue,” volunteered Alice, unhelpfully. “Shadowkat?”
FS pulled a flask ot of his pocket and took a long drink, then said: “I think we should all use our assets and dig up whatever we can about these disappearances. I’ll contact the Thelema, see if the occultists can give me some info… As for the rest of you…”
“My ‘people'” retorted Shadowkat, “are a few parties with whom I have certain useful connections. And that’s all you need to know. Now, should I contact them, or not?”
“What about the rest of us?” asked Alice. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. I mean, since the the Wawona sunk I don’t even have a ship!” She paused. “Of course, most of you don’t have ships either, so I suppose it’s not that unusual.”
“I’ll be doing some research. Again,” Prarilius Canix sighed. “I’ll look through the newspaper archives, see if I can find any pattern to the disappearances. If I can find the time and place they started, we’ll have something to work with.”
Shadowkat sighed. “And I’ll contact my people, see what they know…and trust me, they’ll know something. Anyone else have an assignment for me? I’ll need something to keep me busy once I’m done…” She glanced at FS, who raised his eyebrows. “Well, never mind. Anyone?”
Canix left the room. Moments later, a sleek white Prius with a BOOK♥ER license plate pulled out of the parking lot below and drove off in the direction of the library.
“I wonder what he’s up to,” Alice mused. “He didn’t even wait for us to explain about the bunnies.”
“He’s probably going to catch up on some of the old MB threads, see if he can find out something about them himself.”
“Makes sense. That’s where it all started.”
“God, I feel useless,” moaned Alice. “All I can do is write, really. I suppose I could help PC research, but…” She trailed off. “I don’t know.” She rested her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands. “I’ve never been very good at making plans, either.”
Shadowkat looked around at everyone. “Well, I’m gonna go talk to a few people, alright? Everyone knows what they’re doing? Good.” She got up and headed for the door. Glancing over her shoulder at FS, she said, “You coming?” He nodded, and they left together. A black and silver Honda motorcycle with two dark-clothed figures on it glided out of the parking lot a few minutes later.
***
Prarilius Canix stood up, heaps of newspaper falling off the computer desk. It was so obvious. Why hadn’t he spotted it before? He scribbled a few important points on a sheet of notebook paper, stuffed the sheet in his pocket, and dashed out into the rainy street, ignoring the funny look he got from the librarian. “This could alter the fate of the entire world,” he thought. “They’ve got to know about it.” He was so focused that he didn’t notice the figure standing nearby beneath an umbrella, or what that figure held in its free hand and was pointing at him. There was a sharp crack, like a gunshot. In fact, that’s what it was. Prarilius Canix collapsed against the library wall and slowly slid to the ground.
****
Kagcomix looked up, from where she was sitting on the floor. “So they are real,” she muttered, coughed once and continued. “Animal shelters”.
“What do you mean?” asked Alice, bending over to look at Kagcomix.
“Well, normal rabbits multiply rapidly, right? But the HPB’s are different. Aren’t they spawned from talk of dogs vs. cats? And where better to find dogs and cats than at an animal shelter? I think we should check out the local shelters. I can do some volunteer work there while checking stuff out.” As Kagcomix finished she curled into child’s pose, her sword hugged to her stomach. She felt tired and ached. Kagcomix drifted off into thoughts and reflections, about her training, about her bionic right arm and other wounds, about her past.
A loud bang filled the air. Kagy started and banged her head on the table.
“Sorry,” Red-tailed HAWK said. “I didn’t know it actually worked.” RtH held a gun in his hand. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry!” he said again.
“Where exactly did you get that?” asked Widdershins.
“Uh….this secret compartment thingy slid open when I put my hand on the table,” RtH explained.
“Maybe there are more, but HAWK, DON’T go pulling triggers indoors. It’s dangerous!”Alice snapped at him.
“Anybody have a laptop?” Sobriquet asked. “We should check the news. We should keep track of any more unexplained dissapearences or bunny sightings.”
Alice handed over a small silver notebook. “For writing.” she offered. “I take it everywhere.”
The group skimmed the headlines. One read “Man Shot At Chicago Library”.
“Wasn’t PC headed for the library?” E2MB asked.
Sobriquet clicked the link. At the top of the page was a picture of Pralirius Canix lying unconcious on the library steps.
Kagcomix got up. She had stopped paying attention and drifted off, but people seemed to be leaving now so she guessed she should be too. Kagy grabbed her sword and walked to the door. On the street the air felt good on her face. I’ll go to the library to see how PC is. Besides, I want to pick up a book, she thought.
A horrific scene met her eyes as she reached the steps. Police tape everywhere, and PC lying by the library doors. With a disregard for the police and everyone around her Kagy ran towards PC. “Pralirius, who did it, where did they go?” she whispered.
“Dunno, they went down the side street,” Pralirius gasped.
“It’s okay PC, I’ll get them. Just don’t die.” She smiled down at him before running off down a sidestreet. She didn’t need anyone dying, at least not this early in the game.
“Wait!” Prarilius gasped. He held up a blood-soaked scrap of paper, with a neat, round hole through the middle of it.
“That’s evidence. Hand it over, and everything will be all right,” said a young, nervous-looking policeman. Canix coughed, then fixed the policeman with a baleful stare.
“This is more important than you could possibly imagine. Don’t touch it.” The policeman backed off.
Kagy took the paper. Only three words were legible, and their last few letters had been cut off. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read.
*****
At that very moment, the former MuseBloggers were gathered around the tiny laptop on the big table, reading the dreadful article.
Suddenly someone asked, “Where’s Kagcomix?”
“Good point,” said Alice in surprise. “Where is Kagcomix?”
Green Qween burst into the room quite suddenly. “Am I late? What’s going on?” she blurted out. “I saw Kagy in the street, and she was running away from something.” She stared at the small group huddled around the laptop. “What did I miss?”
******
Suddenly, a female police officer reported for duty. “What’s going on here, Cook?” she said, addressing the man. Suddenly she stepped back a ways. “PC?” she whispered faintly. “Is that you?”
“How do you know my blog name?” the bloody man whispered from the ground. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“Cat’s Meow,” the lady said. “And boy, it’s been way too long.”
*******
Cinnamon Moon stepped quietly into the room. The few people still sitting around the table turned toward her. She moved purposefully towards the table, then introduced herself.
“Cinnamon Moon. It’s been too long, my friends. Please tell me – what has happened? I don’t understand every thing. Can you explain?”
E2MB began. “It started with the bunnies…
“It happened at kokonvention #30 at Muse HQ. Shadowkat was showing her make-alive 3000 with a computer and ’07 januray muse. She typed in a random thread number and hit enter. She fed the Muse in. The make-alive made a ring sound and a thing popped out. It was a bunny! Then another, and more! Soon all of Muse HQ was filled will bunnies! Some were paper and some were from that april day in ’07.”
As E2MB finished recounting what had happened in the last few years, the room fell gloomily silent as the grave nature of what had taken place began to truly sink in.
The MBers sat silently, pensively, in the ever-darkening room, looking up on occasion, wondering what, exactly, had to be done. A disquieting atmosphere ensued until a familiar voice crackled once more through the PA speakers in the room.
“Zark, zark, zark,” muttered Sweet Melpomene. “This is already getting out of hand; I don’t think I can still risk talking to you from the lab, even if I do wipe the computers… I’ll be over to the Royal in a bit–”
A loud crash was broadcast, followed only by static before the speakers fell silent.
********
Shadowkat pulled up to the abandoned apartment building. She looked it over, noticed the broken windows, tattered curtains, unhinged door. Home, sweet home., she thought, somewhat sarcastically. She had dropped FrigidSymphony off at a phone booth outside of a “well-thought-of” bar in town. They would meet up later, when she was done with her current business.
She got off her bike, set the safety, and went into the building. Two men were waiting for her in the kitchen just inside the front door. She turned to them.
“Buona Notte, Signor Tomaschino, Masacci.”
“Ciao, Kat.” They replied in unison.
She looked them in the eyes. “Do you have the information I asked you for?”
“Yes.”
“Well, let’s see it, then.”
Tomaschino pulled a few sheets of paper out of the front pocket of his jacket and handed them to her. She looked at the papers for a few minutes, eyes narrowing as she read each sentence, then looked up at her companions.
“Is this all you could find?” she asked them skeptically.
“Yes.” answered Masacci, with a touch of aggression.
Shadowkat returned in kind, “Well, it had better be. This is more important than any of your kind will ever know.” She spat out the last phrase as if it were poison. Which, to Tomaschino and Masacci, it was. Tomaschino took a step towards Shadowkat threateningly.
“If you weren’t my cousin…” he warned.
“If you weren’t my cousin, you’d be dead by now.” interrupted Shadowkat. She snatched the papers of the heavily-stained table where she had set them, turned on her heel, and marched out the door. “Ciao, gentlemen!” she called from the street. With a roar and a vroom, she was gone.
*********
Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Alice picked up the phone in the meeting room.
“Hello?” she said, a little tentatively.
“Alice?”
“Yes.”
“It’s me, Shadowkat. Have you and the other MBers meet me downstairs. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I have some extremely important information.” Click.
**********
Back at the library, the scene of the crime was buzzing with activity. After Kagy rushed off, someone finally had the sense to call 911. Paramedics had flooded the area, and PC was rushed into an ambulance. As an authority figure, Cat’s Meow had recieved word that PC hadn’t lost a fatal amount of blood, but he was still in critical condition.
Five blocks away, Kagy swung around the sharp corner of a dank brick building. What she came face-to-face with in the alley made her stop dead in her tracks. From a distance, the dreamlike sound of sirens speeding away reached her ears, but she did not hear it.
***********
The downtown Chicago emergency room had seen better days. Minor dilemmas had been hindering progress since 8:00 that morning, especially since the latest batch of interns were starting today. Among these clueless medics was 29-year-old ‘Dotty-kay, who at the moment had quite a lot to worry about. She had recently recieved a mysterious message that her old MuseBlog friends planned to meet at a secret location this very day, supposedly for a reunion.
She had suspected the matter at hand was a bit more urgent, but she had a dilemma since her internship began today. She couldn’t afford to miss this training, and so declined the invitation. Now she doubted the wisdom in this action. With rumors of an assassination attempt so early on, it was looking like she would be giving the MuseBlog conspriacy a higher priority than her career at this point.
Cat’s Meow had been thinking along these same lines, and had stowed away on PC’s ambulance just before it left, disregarding the fact that she was still on duty. Now as the vehicle raced into the emergency entrance, she tried to communicate with PC. From his grunts and fragmented sentences, she gained that he had just made an earth-shattering discovery. She followed the strecher inside the ICU, where Dot almost collided into the party.
************
There was a barbed wire fence but it only stopped Kagy for a moment. She ripped the barbed wire aside with her right(and bionic) arm. Kagy could feel her heart pumping as she ran down the side street. It was long and it didn’t have a turn off for a long while. It was more of an alleyway, now that she thought about it. Its narrow grimy brick walls from the buildings on either side leaned in close.
She could see a figure running up ahead. Kagy clutched the paper from PC tigter in her fist and put on a spurt of speed. She was getting closer. Her muscles ached but she kept going. Her sword was strapped to her side, in its hilt, but she pulled it out. Suddenly there was gunfire. Three bullets rocketed past her bouncing off the walls, one going dangerously past her ear. Kagy ran faster. If she could just get into sword-reach…
As Kagy neared the figure she noticed it wore a long trench coat and a big hat. Both the hat and the trench coat were black, but under the hat something pink was poking out. Kagy barely had time to wonder what it was when another round of gunfire erupted.
This time Kagy couldn’t dodge them all. One was lodged in her right shoulder. At least it wasn’t my real arm, she thought. The gunfire wasn’t stopping and Kagy noticed that more people in trenchcoats and hats were emerging from a turnoff she hadn’t noticed before.
Kagy turned. There was no way she could face this many gunmen by herself. She grabbed onto a sturdy looking pipe with her good arm and scampered up the building. Trying to doge bullets and climb up pipes was no easy task.
Kagcomix was finaly on top of the roof of one of the buildings when the gunfire died down. Kagy had two more bullets lodged in her arm. Zark! i guess it’s another night without sleep to fix THIS! she thought. With her still intact left hand she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Hello? is that Dotty Kay?”
“Uh huh”
“It’s Kagcomix. I need your help.”
“Hey Kagy. I’m kinda busy right now.”
“With PC?”
“How’d you know?”
“I’m special.”
“Uh.. okay… why are you calling me?”
“Because I don’t know anyone else’s number.”
“Okay. So what do you need?”
“I don’t know if PC told you, but he gave me a sheet of paper. I can’t really read most of it but i know that you were on MB before i was and you might know what it means. Does ‘Ljubl… uh… Lagomo…Extrater’ make any sense to you?”
“Sorry, Kagy, but you’ve caught me at a really bad time. I’m not sure what that means, but go back to HQ, someone there will be bound to know what you’re talking about.”
“Thanks anyways, Dotty Kay.”
As Kagcomix put her phone back in her pocket she realised what the pink from under the hat had been: BUNNY EARS!
*************
In a room at MIT, a girl is checking her email in an attempt to procrastinate. “Why can’t this paper make sense? I can’t do it. It’s impossible. What else can I do?” She opens a web browser, Internet Fire Safari 9.999 Optimised. “I haven’t used that email address in years. It’s some excuse.” She types a password, clicks on something. “Chicago… MuseBlog… I got this two weeks ago… oh, no.” She takes out a phone and dials.
“Potato Chip? Yes, it’s me. Remember MuseBlog? When we were thirteen. I used to be curious and questioning. You had some people’s facebook from then, right? Can you contact them? Now. There’s kind of a problem. I’m emailing you. Checking your old email accounts might help too. I’m going to try calling some other people from that DC kokonvention. If you find anything, call me or email. My thesis can wait a little bit longer.”
**************
Kagy ran across rooftops until she reached HQ. She didn’t want to make a scene with her bullet holed t-shirt and her wrecked arm. Finally Kagy was able to climb down from the roof into the building they had been in before. It seemed there were hidden passageways everywhere. As she entered the room, Sweet Melpomene looked up.
“ZARK! Kagy, what happened? Should I call the ambulance?” Sweet Melpomene asked, shocked at the holes that adorned Kagcomix’s shirt.
“Nah, ‘sokay. They only got my bionic arm.” Kagy responded.
“So, what exactly happened?” E2MB asked.
“Well, I saw PC and he gave me a note. Then I rushed down an alleyway and got shot at by people in bunny suits, black trench coats and hats. The little rascal screwed up my arm! I came over the roof tops to get here.” Kagy explained.
“Bunny suits?” E2MB asked.
“Guess so.” said Sweet Melpomene. “What did PC’s note say?”
“Most of it’s gone but what i can read is Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” said Kagy.
“It’s a good thing I left my bag here earlier, because my arm realy needs work. That’s where I keep spare parts,” she explained. Kagy took off her ripped shirt and started down to work on her arm.
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Sweet Melpomene asked as Kagcomix dug out the bullet and started repairing broken wires and plates.
“Nope, only near my collarbone because that’s where the metal meets the flesh. Otherwise I don’t have that much feeling in my right arm. I mean, I can feel the bullets in there and I can feel being shot, but if you were to, say, run a feather down it I wouldn’t feel it. I always wear a tank top under my shirts for situations like this. It’s realy hard to repair my arm if I keep having to roll up my sleeves.”
“You’ve been shot at before?” asked E2MB increduously.
“Yup! And stabbed too! Wanna see my scar?”
“Not really. But why?”
“In my line of work you come to expect calamity.”
“I thought you were a cartoonist!” Sweet Melpomene jumped in.
“That and defending justice,” Kagy replied. “So do either of you know when PC might get out of the hospital? Because no one I’ve asked so far seems to know what his note means.”
“No idea.” answered E2MB.
Alice had been thinking hard. “Hang on,” she said suddenly. “What did the note say again?”
Kagcomix obligingly fished it out of her pocket with her real arm. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read. Alice took it from her.
“What?” asked agagabagabag.
Alice looked up. “I’m not sure about Ljubl and extrater, but Lagomo seems awfully similar to lagomorph.”
Everyone looked at her. No one moved.
“Which is…?” asked Fire_Falcon22.
“I can’t believe you don’t know that!” burst out Alice. “You’ve all grown up to be hugely successful, and none of you know what lagomorph is?”
When no one answered, Alice explained. “Rabbits aren’t rodents. They’re lagomorphs.”
“Oh my goodness, Alice, you’re right!” cried Cinnamon Moon “I’m so sorry for not having kept in touch. Maybe we could have found this out earlier! But after the news about Rebecca…” She looked at the blank faces around her. “You mean-” she faltered. “Robert never told you?”
***************
Shadowkat pulled into the Royal’s parking lot, the papers she’d just received folded up in her pocket. I wonder where Fridgey got to…, she thought. When she’d asked the bartender whether or not he knew what had happened to a tall, handsome, black-clad man, the ‘tender had said he’d never seen a man like that. Odd. She got off her bike and went inside.
Bursting through the door of the lobby, she immediately dropped and rolled as a dart whizzed by her head and slammed into her shoulder. She began to feel its effects even in the seconds between impact and when she pulled it out. Her vision started to cloud. No! she thought. Must…stay…awake!
She bolted for the door, whipping out her cell phone as she did so. Apparently, the gun that her attacker had used was a one-shot deal, at least for a while.
The phone on the other end rang. And rang. And rang some more. Then: “Hello?” said a strange voice from the other line, a voice she didn’t recognize.
“What have you done with the MuseBloggers?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“Oh, don’t worry, S-kitty…” She cringed at the use of her MB nickname by a stranger. “…they’re safe…for now.” The connection broke.
“What?! Where are they?!? WHERE ARE THEY?!?!” she screamed into the phone, desperately trying wrap her mind around all this. Just a few minutes ago, they had been fine. And now, they weren’t. She darted around to the side of the building and started to climb. For once in her life, she truly thanked Master Chi for how hard he’d made her train.
She crawled onto the roof. Luckily for her, the meeting room in which they’d been was on the top floor; she’d hear any commotion coming from it. She crept along the roof to the air vent, listening. Suddenly, the wind changed direction, and she could hear voices.
“…–couldn’t be helped, sir.” said a somewhat high-pitched, squeaky voice.
“What do you mean, couldn’t be helped?!” roared the voice from her most recent phone conversation. “We had all of the others in our grasp, and YOU let this one slip through our fingers!”
“Yes, but, sir, the poison, she got the dart out–”
“I wouldn’t have cared if she’d thrown it back into you!!!” interrupted the one who appeared to be in charge. “It was your job to get her, and you didn’t! Now she’s probably on her way to the–”
Ding-a-ding, dong, ding, ding-a-ding, dong!, went Shadowkat’s phone. “Bursting Shnizzle Pops!!!” she swore under her breath. She heard a clatter from the room below. She hurriedly leaped onto the next roof over, which, fortunately, was quite close, as she was in the city. She scrambled down the far side of the building onto which she had just leaped, dropped into the alley at the bottom, and opened her phone. The display screen read “Alice”. She pushed the “Accept” button.
****************
“Told us what?” asked Alice. “It seems like we have a lot of information, but it’s all mixed up. Could everyone just sit down and explain in an organized fashion?”
Alice excused herself to get a drink of water, and walked out into the hall. It seemed strange to just sit there, doing nothing, but it had always been her nature to stay on top of the confusion, even at thirteen, and this confusion needed more staying on top of than any RRR. She bent down to drink from the water fountain, and her head exploded into blackness.
She woke into blackness, and were it not for her awareness of the enormous lump on the back of her head, she would not have realized that she was awake. Her eyes searched the darkness for something light to rest them on, but there was only coal-blackness. She figured that there was a lot of black here. Then it hit her. Her cell phone! It was only for business calls, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have the phone numbers of other MuseBloggers.
Her hands weren’t bound, and she pulled her cell phone out of her bag. Its screen was glowing, and she fixed her eyes on it, glad of the relief from the darkness. She dialed Shadowkat’s number.
“Hello?” said Shadowkat.
“Hi, Shadowkat,” said Alice. “It’s Alice. I think I’ve been kidnapped. I’m in someplace dark.”
*****************
“Well, what is it?” asked Donaldo as Alice left. Finally, someone had voiced what everyone was thinking.
All the MBers turned to Cinnamon Moon as she opened her mouth to explain. Taking a deep breath, she began.
“Well, there was a reason we all called her–” she was cut off by a loud creaking sound.
“What’s happening?” shouted agagabagabag.
E2MB paled as he realized what was happening. “The whole room’s being moved!”
“What?” said several MBers simultaneously.
“That’s not possible!”
“It’s still bolted in place, for the moment!”
“I thought the Royal was safe!”
“How did they find us?”
“What’s that noise?”
Several people slammed into the door as the room began to shake. Widdershins struggled to pull it open as the lights went out. Gasping for breath, she and a few other MBers fell through as the rest realized they were trapped in what was acting like a gigantic, descending elevator.
“Zark,” she muttered as several people climbed off of her, apologizing profusely.
The group stared at the open doorway, catching a few last glimpses of their friends’ shocked faces as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.
“Well, one thing’s for sure,” said Sweet Melpomene. “We have to get out of this building, stat.”
******************
Fire_Falcon22 tried to move, but then realized he was tied up. He reached as far as he could for his sword. He grabbed the hilt, but was unable to pull it out of his sheath. He pulled and pulled until he was able to get the hilt through the rope. He grabbed the blade and moved it slowly up the rope, and after a minute of bringing the blade back and forth, he finally cut the rope.
“Ah, finally.” Fire_Falcon22 got up, and put his sword back in its sheath. He couldn’t see a thing but he heard a voice. He tried to follow the voice, but soon hit a wall. He got up, but he sensed the presence of someone behind him. He turned around to see an odd figure, with a skin color so bright, he could see it, even through the darkness. Hot pink. The figure – more hopping than walking- moved slowly towards Fire_Falcon22. The figure pulled out a gun from his jacket.
Fire_Falcon grabbed the hilt of his sword. The figure shot the gun, and Fire_Falcon deflected the shot with his sword, and the bullet bounced back at the figure. The figure jumped back and shot a few more shots at Fire_Falcon. He deflected a few, but then one hit him in the shoulder. He crouched down to the ground, clenching his wound. The figure came closer.
“Who are you?” asked FF. The figure didn’t say anything, he just pointed the gun towards FF. FF sat there in shock, not knowing what to do…
*******************
The MBers still caught in the moving room fell silent as the walls began to grate on the sides of the shaft. Cables and pulleys screeched against each other, guiding what once was a safe place down, down, down. Slowly, the air began to thicken and, one by one, the members of the group fell unconscious.
They awoke groggily in what appeared to be the same room, minus the conference table. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim pink lighting.
Someone sat in a corner, next to a pile of bindings.
“Oh, look! My rescue party’s arrived,” FrigidSymphony said, coating the sentence with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Which, on a bad day, is far more than average.
Ebeth rolled her eyes and gave him a disdainful look before scanning her surroundings. A few other MBers followed suit.
“Doors are probably sealed, no windows, PA system’s cut off…” Purple Panda listed to herself. She turned sharply to FrigidSymphony. “Exactly how long have you been here?” she asked politely.
“If I had my bloody watch, I’d probably have escaped by now,” he muttered before saying, “Since a little after I left. Damn bartender… he spiked my drink…”
“Right,” said Panda absently, as she continued to scrutinize the walls.
“They couldn’t even leave the chairs,” mumbled Ebeth. She, too, was looking around curiously. “When I get out of here, I’m renaming myself Ebeth the Amazing Escape Artist,” said Ebeth suddenly.
********************
“What the zark was that?” said Widdershins, breathing heavily after her run out of the building.
“An amazing feat of engineering, if I do say so myself,” said someone behind her.
“We tried to get here sooner, but…” said another person, finishing her sentence with a tired sigh.
“Curious and Questioning! Potato Chip!” the group exclaimed.
Brief ‘hellos’ were made as the group followed the two down the street, to a modest-looking parking garage.
“There’s another place we can try to reach, if it’s not too late. We have two cars…” said curious and questioning calmly.
“Make that three,” added Sweet Melpomene. “I left mine here, too.
“Great,” Potato Chip said, “we can split up, so it’s even harder for them to capture the rest of us.” She handed a few pieces of notebook paper to SM. “Directions,” she explained.
SM scanned them, and then shoved the directions into an inner coat pocket. “We’ll meet you there; Kagy and I are going to try to get into the hospital. We’re going to try to find Canix and Cat’s Meow.”
They hurried off into the garage until Juliette stopped abruptly. “Wait, where’s Fire_Falcon22? He fell out of the door with us, didn’t he?”
*********************
Dot snapped her phone shut and quickly shoved it in her pocket. Looking around to make sure the doctor hadn’t seen her recieve a call, she spotting Cat’s Meow standing awkwardly next to PC’s bed. They exchanged worried glances, and then Dot came over to adjust an IV in PC’s arm.
“I just got word from Kagy,” she muttered to her two friends. It was hard to tell if PC was listening. “She got your paper, Prarilius, and she’s taking it to show everyone else.”
**********************
Snagging a most-likely-illegal parking spot, Kagcomix and Sweet Melpomene hopped out of the car. Slamming the doors and rushing into the hospital entrance, they quickly navigated their way to the emergency room.
“Please, ladies, what’s the problem?” a stern female voice said from the reception desk.
“We need to get in!” SM spluttered. “It’s urgent!”
The receptionist glanced them over. “If it’s not a medical emergency, I’ll have to ask you to head to the waiting room.”
“But our good friend is in there, and we have to talk to him!” said a frustrated Kagy.
“This is a matter that could alter the virtual world permanently, and now threatens our reality!” SM added.
“An online relationship crisis, eh?” sneered the receptionist. “I can’t help you. Patients’ visitors may be immediate family only.”
***********************
There was a clatter on the end of the line. “What’s that?” asked Alice uncertainly. Not much had changed since she was thirteen, when it came to bravery. “Shadowkat?” said Alice, when there was no response. “SHADOWKAT?” Still no sound came from the phone.
But somewhere in the darkness, a familiar voice called, “Who’s that?”
“Alice!” Alice yelled back. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” yelled the voice (which Alice was fairly sure belonged to Fire_Falcon) “I’m kind of in trouble right now!”
************************
Shadowkat was backed up against the alley wall, with a gun pointed at her head. Holding the gun was a man. A tall man, fairly good-looking. But dark, and not in a good way. He wore a jet black suit made of what appeared to be silk, and dark glasses, too. No eyes could be seen through those.
“You won’t get away this time, you little brat!” the man growled. “Too long have I lied in wait, too long have I held my grudge, itching for revenge…and now,” he smiled an evil, toothy smile, “it’s over.” He fired.
“NO!!!” Another man, quite a bit younger than either of the people present, leaped in front of the firing gun. He groaned, having taken a bullet to the left shoulder. It seemed like a never-ending moment in which Shadowkat stared down at her savior in shock, mouth agape. She knew this young man, and quite well. He was her brother.
“T.J.!!!!!!!!” she screamed, and it felt like her vocal cords ripped. She whirled on the man in the the suit, the man who had just shot her little brother. “You…” she snarled, looking as much like the cat from which she took her Blog name as was humanly possible. The man backed against the opposite wall, afraid of the thirst for blood in her eyes. She whipped out her own gun and stormed towards him, holding it aloft. She slammed him into the wall.
“What do you want with me?!” she shouted into his face.
“It’s not…just you,” the man panted.
“Who is it, then?!” She got no response. “Who is it?!?!”
“…MuseBlog…” he spat, venom dripping from his words. A groan escaped his lips. Shadowkat backed away from him in horror. The man let out a sickly laugh.
“Hahaha…you’ll never stop us, Kitty-kat, and neither will any of your little playmaaates…hahahaaa…” He trailed off as the poison with which he had injected himself took its effect.
Shadowkat let his body fall to the ground in a heap. She turned and knelt down next to her fallen brother, who was coughing up blood. The bullet in his shoulder was holding his flesh together in that spot for the most part, but he still needed medical attention, and fast.
“T.J.” she shook him, keeping him with her.
“Katie…” he groaned. “I…didn’t think I’d…make it in time…”
“Wait, Teej, what do you mean? Did you know something–?”
“Yes. Kate, it’s the creators…the creators of…”
“What, T.J., what?! The creators of WHAT?!” He passed out.
Shadowkat jumped up and called Sweet Melpomene, who, since she’d had a bit of training in chemistry, might have some idea of what to do with her brother (known as “The Tominator” on the Blog) before they could get him to the hospital.
*************************
“So, tell us now, before it’s too late. What happened to Rebecca?” asked E2MB.
“Lady Bunniful was… well… I don’t know how to say this, but I’ll try. Rebecca was being controlled by the bunnies. But she resisted, in the last few months of Museblog. Then, she was taken by them. We haven’t heard anythlng since. The rumour is that she might be – dead. I don’t know. Our forces haven’t uncovered anything substantial.”
“Wait a second!” burst in another blogger. “What do you mean – ‘our forces’?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know about those either!!!” cried Ebeth. Cinnamon Moon whirled on her.
“Ebeth, please! Calm down! Lot’s of people don’t know about lots of things, so let’s just keep our head on straight and explain, alright?” At a nod of acknowledgment from Ebeth, she continued.
“Well, a few MuseBloggers and I were kind of worried that the HPB’s would try to take over MuseBlog, again, so we arranged for monitors (the sources we were talking about) to watch Lady Bunniful, as we suspected she might be the first they’d try to take over. Our monitors, though, not only watched over Rebecca, but also made sure the Blog was always ok, and nothing “funny” was going on. To do this, they talked to the Editors, Writers, and other people related to Muse. They were very careful, and good at what they did. They never took their eyes off Rebecca, though. I know this, because I was there on that fateful day when, suddenly, Lady Bunniful disappeared. Just like that. She was sitting in front of her computer, moderating, when she was just…gone. Of course, some claim to have seen a faint pinkish glow where she’d just been, right after she vanished, but that was never proven. Nothing else that our sourced found ever led to anything. Rumors, yes, those have gone around, but never have any been shown to be true. It’s…well, it’s…scary.” she finished.
The others stared at her with wide eyes. No one knew quite what to say.
**************************
“What sort of trouble?” asked Alice. “And where are you?”
“Right here!” yelled Fire_Falcon. “And it’s -” he broke off.
“It’s what?”
There was a scuffle in the dark, and a popping noise, and silence. “FF?” Alice ventured tentatively.
“Right here,” said FF, from a few yards away. “It was a hot-pink bunny.”
“What happened to it?”
“I don’t know. It just…vanished.”
***************************
Sweet Melpomene’s phone rang. She jumped. She was a little bit paranoid, right now, after her recent experience. Looking at her phone, she saw that the display screen read, “Shadowkat”. She opened it up. She didn’t even say hello.
“Shadowkat! Where have you been?! The other MuseBloggers and I were attacked, and some of us escaped, but I don’t know where the rest are, and–”
“Yes, Mel, I know.” interrupted Shadowkat. “I was the one who tried to warn you guys, and ended up talking to some deep-voiced man, who then tried to kill me! But, Mel, he didn’t, because my brother took a bullet for me, and he’s passed out, and fading fast, and I–”
“Where are you?” asked SM.
“Behind the building east of the Royal.”
“I’m coming.”
****************************
Beavo the Great suddenly bursted around a corner, the one Shadowkat happened to be at, and crashed right into her. Shadowkat, who was very nervous by this time, jumped away and stared at this messy-haired, un-matched-clothed young man who sprawled at her feet. He looked up. She took a step back.
“Hey. You must be Shadowkat from your discription at the Muser Profiles. I’m Beavo. And that must be your brother.”
“But how did you know all this about…this stuff? You weren’t at any of the meetings, the attacks, and you weren’t even at the ER with PC!”
“That my friend, is for me to know and you… not to know. Right now, we need to get help with your brother.” Beavo took a huge bandage, a scotch tape dispenser, and a cell out of his pocket. As he started to put the bandage on Shadowkat’s brother, he handed her the phone.
“Here, call someone with this. We need help.”
“I already did!”
“Who?”
“SM.”
“And she is…?”
Sweet Melpomene rounded the same corner as Beavo did, and crashed right into Shadowkat. She heard Beavo mutter “Deja Vu” as she picked herself off the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked up at Shadowkat.
*****************************
“Now, we just need to get out of here,” said FF.
“Yes, but where is here? And how do we get out? Man, this would make a great book.”
Fire_Falcon rolled his eyes in the dark.. Alice thought that everything even remotely exciting would make a good book.
“I don’t know where we are,” he said, “or how we’re going to get out. But we always have cell phones. We could call the other Musers.”
Alice moaned. “Don’t remind me,” she said. “If I wasn’t such a Luddite, we could be out of here already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those new cell phones – not the disposable ones – have the nice tracking systems, and the maps. They can be tracked by other people, and by you, and they can have whole maps on them. But I’m so anti-tech that I didn’t even bother. You wouldn’t have one with a map, would you, FF?”
“All I have is a sheet of disposable ones,” said FF.
“Oh, great,” began Alice, but suddenly stopped. “Hang on,” she said, “I might not have high-tech cell phone, but I have a compass!”
Fire_Falcon was completely baffled. “You carry a compass, but you don’t carry anything remotely resembling a tracking device?”
Alice shrugged, though you couldn’t see it in the dark. “Like I said,” she said brightly, “I’m weird that way. Do you have a flashlight or anything?”
FF searched through his pack, that after a few seconds, he realized wasn’t there.
“They must have took my pack. Unfortunately, I dont have a flashlight, so how are we supposed to see the compass?”
Alice thought for a minute.
“Yeah, that is a bit of a downside.”
“Ya think? Did you bring a flashlight?”
“Like I said, anti-tech.”
FF slapped his hand on his face.
Just then there was a gun fire. FF and Alice spun around to see the faint glow of Hot pink. The bunny pointed the gun at Alice, and shot. FF pulled his sword out and deflected the shot. The bunny aimed the gun at FF, but FF charged at the bunny with his sword. The bunny fired, and caught FF in the hand, he dropped his sword, and hit the ground.
“Where’s my sword?!”
“I dont know.” responded Alice.
The bunny continued to shoot at FF, but he dodged as many as he could, until he hit a wall, and fell to the ground. The bunny hopped slowly towards him. He put his small handgun back into his jacket, and pulled out a machine gun.
“FF! Catch!” yelled Alice.
FF grabbed the hilt of his sword, that he surprisingly caught in the dark. He swung the sword towards the bunnies head, aiming at the back. He heard a crucnh, and could see bits of metal all from the back of the rabbit’s head. The rabbit stopped in his tracks, and dropped the gun, and simply hopped off. FF walked towards the bits of metal.
“Some kind of device.”
Alice walked up next to him. “What is it?”
“Hmm. I really dont know.”
******************************
In another room nearby, a man in a cloke stood in front of many glowing orange screens. The computers started humming.
“Unit damaged. Unit # 707654i5”
The cloaked man punched the table. “They might be on to us…”
*******************************
“Wait a sec!” said Alice suddenly. “How come we can see?” It was true. A faint light filtered through the blackness, and they could see that the room they were trapped in was absolutely enormous. Away across the several acres of floor, they could dimly see a pair of steps, ascending to a door, which was heavy and – as far as they could see – locked.
********************************
“COME ON! Do you not realize that this is a mater of life and death for more than one of your patients?” Kagcomix exclaimed angrily at the nurse at the front desk. Kagy turned to Sweet Melpomene to say “I don’t think we’ll get through this way.” only to find that SM wasn’t there.
“Whatever!” Kagy said to the nurse, “It’s not THAT important. Could you possibly tell me the room number for [pc’s real name], I want to send flowers.” she finished the last part in a pleasant voice .
“Well, I guess so. It’s room # 308 B.” said the nurse.
“Thanks.” said kagy as she strode out the door. Kagy turned into the tiny laneway beside the hospital. She scaned the side of the building for a door. She found one, right by the dumpster. IT was heavy, using all her strength she pushed open the door. Looking quickly down the hall first, Kagcomix dashed towards the flight of stairs at the end.
Wait… that’s just the same as Beavo’s. Oh well. It shows where we stand.
I appear twice.
Could someone write about me with the cannons and what not? I’m focusing all my writing ability iinto my book nowadays.
Hey, l wanted to talk about this:
Beavo the Great suddenly bursted around a corner, the one Shadowkat happened to be at, and crashed right into her. Shadowkat, who was very nervous by this time, jumped away and stared at this messy-haired, un-matched-clothed young man who sprawled at her feet. He looked up. She took a step back.
“Hey. You must be Shadowkat from your discription at the Muser Profiles. I’m Beavo. And that must be your brother.”
“But how did you know all this about…this stuff? You weren’t at any of the meetings, the attacks, and you weren’t even at the ER with PC!”
“That my friend, is for me to know and you… not to know. Right now, we need to get help with your brother.” Beavo took a huge bandage, a scotch tape dispenser, and a cell out of his pocket. As he started to put the bandage on Shadowkat’s brother, he handed her the phone.
“Here, call someone with this. We need help.”
“I already did!”
“Who?”
“SM.”
“And she is…?”
Sweet Melpomene rounded the same corner as Beavo did, and crashed right into Shadowkat. She heard Beavo mutter “Deja Vu” as she picked herself off the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked up at Shadowkat.
This is a good example of some common problems in writing strength. There would be many people that matched shadowkat’s discription, and that was 13 years ago! Even then, Beavo wouldn’t say outright that he thought it was her. And how would he know that it was her brother?
Another thing is that most musers center their writing around themselves. There should be a rule that you have to write about only others.
For someone who doesn’t even post on this thread, you’ve included me quite a lot. *is intruged*
160- A rule about not writing about yourself? No offence, but that would kinda make things difficult. The point is, you know yourself better than anyone, so that is why you should write about your character.
162- Look, everyone always writes mainly about themselves, trying to make themselves the main characters. It’s weakening the writing.
163- No one is trying to make themselves the main character (Except Lawrence of Antartica was). They just write about what they do in what they write, okay?
164- Yeah, well, see what they others think.
165- Okay, do you guys think we should still be able to write about ourselves? Or do you think we should make a rule saying no one can write about themselves? Of course, I vote mine, and I also take it agagabagabag vots his/her’s
FF-1
A-1
I vote you shouldn’t write about yourself.
I vote that we can write about ourselves, but we can’t try to make ourselves the main characters.
FF-2
A-2
Also, I agree with you Alice. Thats why I didnt like what Lawrence of Antartica did.
for once ff i agre with you. this is from the frist therd:I think it’s probably like an RPG, only we’re playing ourselves-shadowkat
and that is right for me.
ff-3
a-2
170- Thank you. We’ll end the vote at post #185.
I agree with FF. We should be able to write about ourselves. Look at this-
FF stepped toward the bunny. “Hmm. that’s strange,” he said. Looks like there’s a TV screen- are you listening?”
Alice was backed against the far wall. “Nggh! Nggh! Technology! BAd! Bad!! BAD!!!!” She slumped in a dead faint.
“Great,” siad FF. “Now back to this thing…it’s a TV of some sort.”
He switched on the TV.
–
Alice isn’t, as she said herself, that technology adverse. If it was her writing about herself, she wouldn’t say that.
How about, you are only allowed to control you mostly, and can only write other people if
a) they want you to
b) It affects what you are doing
c) They are with you, and you are in the scene as well.
Ok, this is insanely long… No time to read it all now, but expect me back in about a week… Oh, and if you do use me anyway (as you have a full right to do) at least make me kick some arse. I didn’t spend virtual years in Lapland fighting wolves for nothing.
172- Incase you didnt know, we are just taking out all of the parts that Lawrence of Antartica tried to make himself the main villian. We are starting back (For me an Alice) when she had just notied a door, that was locked.
I just thought I told you, cosidering you quoted part from where Lawrence of Antartica did.
Hey!!
Hmpf. I’ve been reading all these comments and I think that’s kind of not fair. I did spend a bunch of time, writing and re-writing, and now all that’s wasted. But, since everyone else is against me, I think I shall depart this wretched thread and search for more glorious entertainment.
Perhaps I SHALL destroy MuseBlog after all!!
174- Yes, I know. I’m just giving an example of the sort of things that happen when you write about other people.
174-loa look at how they din’t like my posts.life goes on. why do you want to be evil?
176 – BUT, you tried to make the story revolve around you. Now THATS not fair.
as of now you may write about your self but not make yourself the main hero/villian.
180- We’re having a vote.
End the vote at post 200! Give people time to come here!
181- Like I said earlier, vote ends at 185. The current vote is
A- 2
FF-4
I vote for me!!!
183-opps! on to many therds. thought the end was 180.but…
as of now you may write about your self but not make yourself the main hero/villian!
184- Um, no.
185- Yup. Votes to a close. You are now able to write about yourself, BUT you cannot make yourself the main character or villian. So, yeah, basically what Man for Aeiou said.
168-I agree.
173-Feel free to stop by my place (lol)! And we’re still deciding on what, exactly, we’re going to even do, here…ugh.
176-Have fun.
Gosh, I’m so dead…blech.
o.k. so I am with alice and ff and they see a door thats locked then…
“ug..ug… ug … ug …”
alice said “whats that noise?”
ff said ” sounds like where not the only ones here!”
the sound came agian, this time saying”a…e…i…o…u…”
ff said “whos there?”
the sound said ” a…e… i…o…u…”
alice said “but aeiou isn’t real!”
ff said “no but the man for aeiou is!”
the suond came up saying “u t i m e!”
ff said “he must be tied up. lets untie him.”though he said the last part begrudgingly because of a fight on the blog fiteen years ago.
they untied him.
the man for aeiou said “here,It’s a cell phone with maps,lockpicking tools, a gun,a whistle,water pruifation tablets,and mer, inc’s pateted quick-grow,food-grow.”
alice muttedered under here breath “dexes ex machince”
so how do you like it?
160-If you read one of my previous comments to Alice, I’m a double agent. Or my clone is a double agent, the real Beavo is already kidnapped.
Should I post the whole story agian? No, I shall not. I shall wait.
188-It’s good, but when writing, please write in correct capitalization so I don’t have to change it every time I copy it into MS word.
Have you noticed that this is the only thread FF is on?
189- I’m sorry! I try!
191-That’s okay. You just have to do that when you post part of the story.
192-o.k.!
Wow, three weeks away and I come back to chaos. At first, the story was, admittedly, slightly implausible, but at least coherent. Now, I have no idea what is going on. I liked the GAPA’s idea of fighting technology, but this is just strange. Sorry guys, but I’m not sure you can make this work.
194- It is chaos indeed. I’m kind of lurking right now.
How about we start again, with the same beginning, but go off in a different direction? We could post bits for the original story in italics and the new story in bold
196-no!
197- Ok! Just an idea…
195-Me too…I have no idea what to do…I’m doing that on a lot of threads, actually…:???:
Man that was confusing to read. And now I get to the end and it’s stopped. Sort of dissapointing. And I’m not even in it. *fake sobs* Haha.
200-Jadestone, you can insert yourself into the story. Please, please, please help the story along!
I don’t really know what’s supposed to be going on, though. I don’t want to mess stuff up. I read the story, but not all of the in-between posts…
200- I haven’t put anyone but me in. Sorry.
202- A summary…a summary…Someone else do it. I’m going to bed. It’s too, too, late. Or maybe I’m just too, too, tired.
203-I don’t get it (the little “razz” face)…what’s so funny?
204- Nothing was funny, really. But it seemed the best face for the moment, and besides, it’s what happens when you put : P together without a space. And it may have seemed funny THEN, because it was only ten, and ten isn’t late. I don’t understand it fully myself.
204- Probably just what happens to : P without the space, but it might be a poke at my ducking out of giving her a summery for the origanal RRR.
It wasn’t, but it could be.
206- It could be.
Come on, are we still here? What’s happening?
208- I asked that to, but they’re evading giving a summery. At the moment it looks like Kagcomix is in the hospital, then it stopped while evryone argued and voted on weither we could write about ourselves (we can), then it died.
So. People who have written, what is the plot? LoA’s parts were removed to take out magic, so who’re we fighting? There’s the hpbs working for the government, but someone mentioned fighting technology…?
208-Nothing, because we can’t decide on anything, and we’re all burned out, and nearly everyone has left!
I’m lost.
It looks as if this story needs another boost. Here goes. OK, we’ll do a little fast-forward. The MuseBloggers have various encounters with bunnies and other menacing agents (details to be supplied later, if you like). One by one, they wind up getting knocked out and kidnapped (again), until nobody is left. Everything goes dark…
…and the story resumes:
The young woman known as Widdershins stirred groggily, raked a clumsy hand across her face, and forced herself to open her eyes. She felt as if she had slept for a week and wouldn’t have needed much encouragement to try for two.
Over the edge of the pillow she could see row upon row of beds–or, rather, cots–obviously slept in but empty now. She turned over and found that she was not alone in the room.To the left of her bed stood a boy, about 13 years old, with close-cropped dark hair and a smattering of freckles, wearing an unadorned white jumpsuit. To her right, in an identical uniform, stood a girl about the same age with blond hair pulled tightly back behind her head.
The boy clapped his hands together. “Finally!†he said. “You’re the last one. Everyone else is up already.You’d better hurry, or you’ll miss breakfast.â€
“Simon!†the girl said, glaring at him. “That’s not very polite. Our orders are to treat them with respect.†She turned to Widdershins and curtsied. “We are delighted to have you as our guest,†she said, formally. “Breakfast has been served down the hall to the left. There is a restroom around the corner to your right if you need to freshen up. My colleague and I will wait here until you are ready.â€
Widdershins started to speak but decided questions could wait. Freshening up sounded wonderful to her just now. A few minutes later she followed her attendants down the hall, the girl maintaining an icy dignity while Simon swatted at her braid.
They emerged into a long room, like the sleeping room windowless and floored in institutional tile. One wall was hidden by a deep purple curtain. Down the middle of the room ran a series of folding tables, pushed together, covered with table cloths and set for breakfast, and heaped with serving dishes and vessels loaded with food: carafes of coffee and hot chocolate, pitchers of orange juice, three deep, heated trays of scrambled eggs, baskets of croissants and danishes, bowls of granola and yogurt. Around the table Widdershins recognized her fellow former MuseBloggers, about three dozen in all, their faces wearing various degrees of stunned disbelief.
Most of the men and women had not touched the food. A few had poured themselves coffee or juice and were tentatively sipping it. Red-tailed HAWK alone had piled his plate with everything available and was vigorously chewing half of a pain au chocolat. “What? Wha-at?†he said to the accusing stares of the others. “It’s free food. I’m hungry.â€
Widdershins glanced at a knobless door at the far end of the room. “Locked,†FrigidSymphony told her. “Reinforced steel. We already tried it.†She nodded and took an empty seat on the end of the table next to ShadowKat, facing the curtain. While she was pondering whether to risk the coffee, voices sounded from the far side of the door.
“Of course they will,†a man said.
“They will not,†a woman replied.
“Oh, they’re bound to.â€
“No way.â€
An electronic bolt chunked, the door opened briefly, and two figures entered the room. Both appeared to be in their mid-60s, give or take a few years. The woman was short and bore a mane of almost impossibly curly gray hair. Her eyes were pale blue, wide and mischievous, and her mouth wore a beatific smile. The man was almost a foot taller and, the MuseBloggers thought simultaneously, bore a striking resemblance, which he had obviously cultivated, to Albus Dumbledore.
“Good morning!†the man said heartily. “I hope you are all comfortable. Please forgive the improvised nature of your sleeping and breakfast arrangements. We do have real dormitories here, and a real dining room with a beautiful view, but, well–â€
“We were afraid that you might break the windows,†the woman finished.
“Let’s skip the hail-fellow-well-met routine,†ShadowKat said drily. “What is this place? And who are you?â€
The man turned to the woman, a pained expression on his face. “You were right,†he said. “They didn’t recognize us.â€
“Told you,†she whispered.
“Still, it has been a while, and some of us have changed more than others. Very well, then. My name is Robert Coontz, and this is my associate Rosanne Spector.â€
Rosanne waved. “Hi,†she said.
“Other familiar names and faces are nearby–†As if on cue, a burst of bagpipe drones sounded faintly from elsewhere in the building. “–and will be here shortly.
“As for our location, this building covers most of an island off the southern coast of Iceland–some of the youngest land on Earth, recently hardened lava fresh from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. But that doesn’t tell you what the place is. Simon, Birgitta–the curtain, please.â€
The boy and girl in the white jumpsuits trotted over to the center of the curtain, grasped plastic poles hidden behind its central folds, and walked in opposite directions, parting the curtain behind them. The MuseBloggers seated near them turned to watch it open. In meter-high gilded letters running the length of the wall, everyone at the table could read a name and a motto:
MUSE ACADEMY
CRVSTO VOLANTI NOLI OBSTARE
“um,robert?” said the man for aeiou “why did you kidnap,send bunnies,kill the blog,pretend to be kidnaped and other stuff. if you don’t mind me saying,this seems kindy small for something that big.
212- Ha, that’s great. The bagpipes were Paul, I presume?
YAY Muse Acadamy!
Okay, let’s have the MA not opended yet, the GAPAs have been setting it up in secret for an underground resistance. Okay with you all?
Let’s keep it so they have Rebecca, though. That gives us a very strong reason to go after them all and save her.
(213) There’s probably no need to to figure out the whole back story right here, so…
It was Rosanne, not Robert, who answered. “Oh, we wouldn’t have brought you here for anything small,” she said. “As for all that other stuff, well, that would take weeks to explain. The important thing is that Paul and Rebecca and Robert and I didn’t do most of it, and it’s pretty amazing that we all made it out alive.” She frowned. “Right now, though, you’ve got something more important to do: eat. You’ve been through a lot, you’re famished, it’s very good food, and I can’t eat it all. So eat!”
“See what I mean?” Alice whispered to Cinnamon Moon as she reached for the granola. “It’s just as I always suspected: she’s the brains.”
They looked at each other, very tempted to believe that their long-lost near godparents were here to save them. But, how could they be sure? So many things we going strangely…
Suspiciusly, Shadowkat spoke up.
“How do we know it’s really you? I mean, we could ask you questoins and stuff, but if you were any good imposter you’d have done research.”
“How ’bout questions about Muse? From the Q&A? No one besides them could possibly have memorized them all.” Widdershins piped in.
“Good idea!” Alice responded. “Okay… We all know the daddy long-leg is an incredibly venomous spider but it can’t bite us. How much venum would it take to kill if it did?”
Rosanne smiled. “Tricky. I’d guess around .3 grams, except for the fact that it isnt venomous.”
Alice nodded. “And, umm-”
“What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” Cinnamon Moon grinned.
“Eueropean? Or African?” Robert chuckled. “Eueropeans get roughly 9 meters per second, though of cource they slow-”
“Good enough, they’re the real ones.” Red-tailed HAWK said through a mouthful of food. Swallowing with difficulty, he added “Besides. I feel fine, and it tastes great.
The others grinned, and dug in.
Though they would pepper their old mentors with quesions in a few minutes, all of them were starving and could wait a fe more moments for their answers.
I love it! You’re brilliant, Robert!
Alice studied the sign as she ate. Finally she swallowed a last mouthful of granola, and said, “What does the motto mean?”
Before a responce could come, a gentelman wearing a green bagpipe walked in, smiling jovially.
“I think
estthat thoughdost not study enough latin,” He told them in an English accent.Several Musers chouroused a hello to Paul, while Robert explained. “It means, roughly, “Don’t obstruct the flying pies.”
Widdershins frowned slightly. “Wait- I remember. That was the motto for the school we were going to set up for Musers.”
They stared at him in astonishment.
“Wait- you mean, it’s up? And running?” Shadowkat questioned, astonished.
Rosanne smiled. “In a sense. It’s set up all right, but we’ve had a lot of trouble lately, as you may have heard. We havn’t it oped it yet, because, well, we’ll tell you after you’ve finished eating.”
[Pardon the corrections, but we can’t allow Paul to speak improperly. –ReB]
the musebloger gooble up the rest of the food so that the gapas would talk.
Much Better!
“One question?” Sobriquet was too curious to wait for breakfast to end. “Who are the kids in the jumpsuits?” She asked, nodding towards the two children, who had been standing politely, though obviously fidgeting, near the curtain.
Everyone at the table turned to look at the youngsters.
Sorry, writers block.
219- Oops. I had ‘thou’ right but it must have auto-corrected, grr mouse. It doesn’t think old english spellings (or british ones) should count. Thank you for the corrections, we definatly can’t have paul making mistakes.
Between the stories
After the man for aeiou , ff, and alice left the area of the room,the man for aeiou said “o.k. Let’s go to the er where pc is.†It to ten minutes in the man for aeiou’s plane.
***
Shadowkat took her brother to the er.
***
As all the museblogers all ended up in the er, they had pc’s bed rolled over next to the tomnator’s bed. Shadowkat said “zark,THIS is big. they’ve taken out two of the mbers all ready!â€
The man for aeiou said “all we can do is prayâ€
Frigid symphony said “you and your godâ€
All the mbers started to yell at one another. It was like a hot topics thread. The nurses said “shh!†and the mbers stopped.
***
Since medicine is so advanced in the future,both pc and the tommanatior we’re relished by morning. After the musers went back to the royal a woman met them in the lobby. She was wearing a white jumpsuit with the letters m.c. On the front.she said I’m sorry but…†that was the last thing the musers heard. (after they woke up Robert’s post happened)
____________
how do you like it?
223- With a bunch of expansion and minus the fighting about religion, sounds good.
“Yeah!” said Cinnamon Moon. “Unless you’ve started the school already. And you wouldn’t have done that, right? So who are they?”
Who so far has appeared in the story?
Purple Panda
Taiwan Hippo Fan
Prarilius Canix
Shadowkat
Fire_Falcon22
Kagcomix
Sweet Melpomene
Curious and questioning
Cat’s Meow
Cinnamon Moon
FrigidSymphony
Widdershins
Dotty-Kay
Sobriquet
The Man for Aeiou
The Tominator
Red-tailed HAWK
Beavo the Great
Potato Chip
Juliette
Ebeth
Donaldo
E2MB
Lizzie
Pentatonikk
Kiki
Alice
These are only the people who have definitely been written in.
Oh, and agagabagabag appeared earlier in the story. And Green Qween.
Robert! Genius!!!!
Thank you thank you thank you. Now we shall continue. Hopefully…
Once I get back home, I can start typing the improvements up in MSW and post it for everybody. I was a bit afraid that I would have to finish it myself.
But for now, I shall think up something that includes me… I’ve only been in twice or so you know.
And my name is not Beavo the Great. It’s Beavo the Online Stalker. Beavo TOS for short. Although I am still Great.
The children in the white jumpsuits were still not answering. Robert sighed and took a deep breath.
“Dang. I always do this. I should probably right on notecards what I’m going to say before I plan a surprise. These children are, well, orphans. Orphans of a tragedy that left them without parents. Well, obviously. Ergh.”
Robert slapped his forehead. Rosanne spoke up.
“A little before you all were brought here, you were gathered, slowly being kidnapped, harmed, and such. Beavo the Online Stalker was the first to go. Then PC was shot, and so was Shadowkat’s brother. And so on and so forth. was an opperation to take over the world. You see, you all knew, way before now, even when you were on MuseBlog, that the Blog was not a normal blog for a normal magazine. You were all just right for our plans…”
Kiki the Great piped up.
“Hey! What plans! I wasn’t aware that there were any plans! Except for the Kokonventions of course.”
“No, there were plans.” Replied Rosanne patiantly. “Big plans. We had to start a school, an acadamy, that would train children-much like yourselves ten years ago-to defend against this…perpertrator. For years, there have been books that had foreseen the future. Subtly. Many of these books were fantasy, so no one would guess what they would mean except the ones who were ready to handle the situation they fortold. Does anyone want to guess one of these books?”
E2MB raised his hand. “Harry Potter?”
Rosanne nodded.
“What about movies?” asked FS, politly for the first time in twelve years. Then he thought for a minute. “Wait a minute. What does this have to do with the orphans?”
“Im getting there.” commented Rosanne.
________________________________________________
I’m tired. Time for beddie bye. lol
is this too off topic? it needs editing, I know
BTW, the GAPAs have to edit quotes from them to sound more like them.
Beavo, we need to discuss some things. One, I don’t think you should make yourself a double agent. It’s just too close to making yourself a main character. For another, you need to deal with the place where you knew Shadowkat. That was weird.
229- I agree completely.
“Right,” said Cinnamoon, “So there is some evil taking over the world, and we have to save it. And it has something to do with Harry Potter. Fine. Just as long as we don’t have to deal with house elves and silly side kicks.” She buried her head in her hands “I’m still confused!”
“You’re not alone,” murmured Alice in agreement. “How about The Dark Is Rising? Or His Dark Materials?” she asked the GAPAs.
If you’re hoping that the year-2007 GAPAs will dream up a plot for you, you’re going to be disappointed. We have no idea what’s going on. Besides, as you’ve demonstrated on the many RRR threads, you’re much better at plots than we are.
233- Actually, I’m hoping Beavo will, since he started it.
233-Actually, you’re not too shabby, Roberto, darling. I like reading the stuff you write. It’s interesting. Definitely more interesting than Psychology…which, I suppose, I will go finish. Blech.
234-Yeah, I’m a bit confuzzled, there…
230-Main character? Hmm…. okay, since it hasn’t been introduced into the story yet, I guess we could cut that. What do you suggest with my Shadowkat encounter? I was new to the Fanfiction when I wrote that.
234-What? I started what? I’m seriously confuzzled…
(continuing)
“No, no, no… it has nothing to do with Harry Potter.” said Rosanne, slightly exasperated. “No house elves. What I’m saying is, there is a character, much like Voldermort, who’s trying to–well, we’re not so sure what he’s trying to do. But he sure is making a nuicence of himself, killing people and all. Similar to Voldermort. What would Voldermort do once he returned to “power”? Build up the economy?”
“But still, what does this have to do with the orphans?” asked Purple Panda.
“They’re parents were killed by this character. We still don’t even know his name.”
Beavo opened his mouth to say something.
“No, they do not have lightning shaped scars on their forehead. No magic involved.”
Beavo closed his mouth.
Rosanne continued. “Anyway, we are training children who were like you to use their wit to defeat him.”
There was silence around the table.
_______________________________
That’s a good stopping point…..
“Sooooo…” ventured Alice at last. “Where do we come in? Were you training us all those years, or just…” she trailed off.
“Just providing a nice environment for kids to talk to each other,” suggested Jadestone.
~~~~~
Note: It might not really be something that Jadestone would say, but it’s close enough. Besides, she wanted to be included.
“You are the teachers of this new school.”
~~~~
Peoples! Please use your imagination!!!!!!!!! Am I the only person besidse Alice who’s going to say something that moves the plot along?
“You were fed information throughout your time on MuseBlog. For example, “What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” I bet you all know that.”
The MuseBloggers began to smile.
“And as you all know, us GAPA’s don’t last forever. Although we hope to last a long time. You have to be the new GAPA’s. Of course, this wont happen until MuseBlog is reopened, and it wont be reopened until…the guy… is removed. So. Who’s gonna take the challenge?”
“but the guy,if he is a guy and not a gal, is controling the bunneys what will stop him” tmfa said
The musers looked at each other, considering.
“Why is no one else noticing? I havn’t heard anything on the news about pink bunnies with no bodies or anything.” Shadowkat mused.
“They’ve got the governments, don’t they?” FrigidSymphony said. “Well I noticed a decline in everything but I thought it was just, you know, idiots.”
“So.” Beavo started. “We… sop the gu, then teach at the school?”
“I’m not so sure about being a teacher.” Jadestone cut in. “I have a problem with kids who don’t want to learn or are just stupid. Though I suppose the ones that decided to go here would be okay…” She finished thoughtfully.
“Anyway, our first objective is to stop What’s-His-Name.” Sweet Melpomene spoke, decisively. “Do we know where he could be?”
Robert shook his head. “No, not him. But the first government to go was America’s-”
“Figures, it was doomed anyway-”
“-So it’s likely he comes from there. Here.” Robert finished, ignoring FrigidSymphony’s interruption.
The musers thought for a moment, absentmindedly chewing on peices of toast and melon. Widershins started building a castle out of forks, wathec with interest by Jadestone, who twirled a butter knife in her fingers.
Prarilius Canix cleared his throat. “Um. Well. Where do we start?”
“Well, I think a good step would be making sure you all know the whole story. Rosanne said, brushing a still remarably curly peice of hair away from her face. “Let’s head to the library.”
At first, the gathering of musers stood in silent awe. Then, they gibbered mindlessly for a few moments. Someone gasped, and then they all ran deeper into the huge, majestic room.
And magnificent it was. Shelves stretched from floor to ceiling on the walls, ocasionally leaving space for a fireplace or dorrway. The ones in the middle were slightly shorter, with artwork adorning the tops. The room itself was very large, at least 80 feet long and 60 wide.
All the shelves they could see were coverd in books, large volumes, small ones, thing books covered in intricate designs. They were sorted by lauguage, then nationality, then subject, then author. There had to be at least a thousand books on just the shelves circling around the room, with those rolling ladders kids dreamed of riding spaced intermittently across them.
“This way, please!” Robert called to the musers as they rushed around excitedly. “They’re’ll be plenty of time to explore and read after we get rid of this menace and restore Museblog!”
The musers sobered slightly, collecting themselves on plushey armchairs and couches in the middle on the great room.
Once they had gathered, Paul spoke. “Now, to business.”
“Mmmm….” Said Cinnamoon. “If we’re teaching, won’t this guy try to stop us with the bunnies? It seems to me that we’ll have to stop him first. I think I have a plan – me and Alice were discussing this a while ago, at our fourth ko konvention. We’d heard rumours through our sources that something like this was going to happen. Alice, would you like to explain?”
Well, I suppose I had better since I don’t want to strand you material-less for a whole weekend. But I don’t know what it is! Oh well. If it sucks, tell me. Or don’t, because I won’t see until Monday.
~~~~~
Alice looked uncomfortable. “Well . . .” she began hesitantly. “If the hot-pink bunnies can come to life, why can’t . . . other things?”
“What sort of other things?” asked Traggle.
~~~~~
You don’t need to tell me that it sucks, actually. Thanks all the same. I already know.
Ta-ta!
The MuseBlog Fanfiction shall not die! *hugs TMfA, Jadestone, Cinnamon Moon, and yes, even Alice*
“Yeah, what other things?” echoed Beavo. “Like statues and dolls and robots and such?”
Alice looked like she thought she shouldn’t have said anything.
“Basically, anything.” she commented.
“Well, that might just be a problem!” said FS.
“I bet he’s gonna be the teacher of how to create, preform, and perfect sarcasm,” muttered Donaldo.
“I heard that!”
“Boy-I mean gentelmen!” stuttered Rosanne. “Remember, we’re all musers here.”
There was a rustling as MuseBloggers searched their pockets for extra pies. Kiki threw an old KoKonvention nametag shaped like a Key Lime.
Jadesonte looked over to Alice. “No…” She said slowly. “I think she means… The Muses.”
Several of the group started talking over each other at once, either protesting or promoting the idea.
“Wait, quiet!” Alice cried. “Well, we wouldn’t nessicarily have to bring all of them out, maybe just one to help us find What’s-His-Name-”
Another argument broke out, everyone yelling their favorite muse.
“Chad can build-”
“They’re bunnies! Pwt’s the obvious choice-”
“Urainia-”
“KOKOPELLI FOR PRESIDENT!”
The goup stopped to glance at Ebeth, who had utterd this last proclomation. “Sorry. Old habbit.”
Before it could start up again, Robert cleared his throat.
I am now going away for a week. Don’t do anything too big without me, please?
after the hall quited down,robert said “thank you.now what we need to do is bring all the muses to life.that shound help.”
“How is that gonna help?” questioned Beavo. “Sure, Koko can throw pies, but its not like they’re a gang or superhero’s or anything… wait a minute! They CAN be superheros! All we need to do is tweak the computors that generate that HPB’s!”
“Right. And next thing you have is Koko and Pwt arguing and Craaw escaping and Urania stargazing. That will NOT work.” said Alice.
“Well what about having Koko learn to throw something else, that would be way more helpful then pies,” Cilroxmysox said, after holding her tounge this whole time.
Do you have to write about yourself or do other people write about you?
251- Either one.
“Like what?” asked Alice suspiciously. “The nice thing about pies is that they’re harmless. Let’s please not get into the not harmless department.”
“Darn,” sighed someone, who was quickly quieted.
“Well,” argued Cilroxmysox, “what good are pies? We want to defeat this person, not just get them sticky.”
“If we get them sticky enough . . .” said Koko du Pelle thoughtfully.
“Then what?” asked BiblioRose. “Then they’re sticky.”
“True.”
“Well,” Beavo began,”Thats true for regular pies. But we don’t have to make regular pies. trust me I can think of a few things that will make our enemies a lot more than sticky once I’m through with them!”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Harmless remember. We want to enable them, not send them off to the morgue.”
“Well, what exactly to bunnies hate the most,” biblioRose asked the group.
Everyone just thought for a moment.
“Arguments between cats and dogs,” replied Alice.
“o.k. and that gets us were?”the man for aeiou asked.
Jadestone sat up. “Wait, wasn’t the whole reason for the bunnies the argument between the cat-lovers and dog-lovers?”
Jadestone sat up. “Wait, wasn’t the whole reason for the bunnies the argument between the cat-lovers and dog-lovers? The bunnies were mentions of cats and dogs put therough the editors thingy. Can we shove them through the other way?”
“Yeah! Beavo said slowly. “That would be… impossible… but what about if we got the bunnies to join our side! Then… that would be impossible too.”
“I think you watch too much CSI. Or did.” commented Alice.
“Well, now we know what made the bunnies. Cat and Dog argument potion.” said Beavo sarcastically. “What if we made a gum pie? Then they would get really sticky. We could probably be able to do that. And if they were really sticky, we could…”
“Laugh at them for being stuck.” said bibloRose.
“This is going nowhere,” said Alice.
hey people,you’ve had more rrr therds in the time it takes to make 261 posts on a museblog fanfiction!
261- Come on, TMFA, this isn’t dying just because we’re sort of slow. It’s actually picking up. Be patient.
“well if we go over to the muses we might find something that will help” suggeted the man for aeiou
Gosh, you are all making me rather cynical. Entertaining but cynical.
The door burst open suddenly and a breathless Urania sped in. She scanned the group with frantic speed and then finally said “You come with me.” A wide eyed Jadestone followed wearily. ” Good luck” bibliorose called out trying to be encouraging. They sat in silence for a moment. ” What the heck was that! Anyway that roman chick was pretty hot.” Said FS. “Shes greek!” piped up sweet melpomene. “Not to mention an ancient giver of wisdom and unlimited knowledge!”
Sorry, if that was awful. You can just scrap it. I picked jadestone randomly.
264- Sorry. It’s hard to write what other people say. These are things that I would say if I wasn’t trying to avoid making myself talk too much.
the man for aeiou said “thats not the type of muses I was thinking of. but now we know the muses, at lest urania have been broght to life.”
I have know made a complete story I’ll post it soon.
this is a 89 page book and is 12,316 words long. in a few more posts we need to rap up and edt.
the story;
“Good night!” wrote E2MB “See you in the morning!” Little did he know, this was the last comment ever to be moderated on the MuseBlog.
When E2MB logged on the next morning, he was shocked to see that no one had posted in the time he had been sleeping. He was a good deal more shocked to see that, on the very top of the page, even above the random thread, was a single post. It said, “BLOG CLOSED DUE TO.” Due to what? He clicked on the random thread, only to find it closed. All the threads were! When he had worked through the entire year of 2010, he realized the awful truth: The MuseBlog was truly closed.
*
Beavo the Great logged onto MuseBlog that fateful morning, and too groggy to see the Blog Closed signs, he posted: ‘ *yawn* Well, good morning everyone! ‘ and clicked sumbit. Little did he know that this comment would never be moderated, and would continue to say “Comment Awaiting Moderation” for the next thirteen years.
When Beavo logged on two hours later, he began to sence something fishy. By then, he had read the Blog Closed signs, but too lazy (and laden down with homework) he forgot all about it.
Thirteen years later, Beavo recived a phone call from the producer of Punk Trash Productions. This was to be his first casting call for a major movie!!! As he flipped his phone shut, his heart pounding, a small alarm began to go off in his head. This alarm said “DO NOT GO TO THAT CASTING CALL”. Beavo’s alarm had actually been telling him something all morning, and now it was ringing profusely. He ignored it. Ever since he had seen It when he was five, he became paranoid. And he thought now was one of those times. It was not.
As soon as he started to put on a good looking shirt, he recived another call. This was a text message. As he read his caller ID, he found it was a number that he did not know. He flipped the phone open and read the message.
bv0 7h5 15 rbc4 1451y 7h3 b|\|5 h4v 74k|\| |\/|3 p1z |)0 |\|07 60 |\|3\/\/h3r3 2|)4y 1 h3r|) 7h|\/| p14|\|1|\| 7h3y |\/|3|\|70|\||) ur |\||\/|3 1|\/| b|\|6 h1|) 1|\|
At this point, the message ended. Beavo, ignoring the warnings not go anywhere, immideatly got in his car. As he settled himself in the driver seat, he felt a furry paw settle over his mouth. The last thing he saw was a pink face, then black.
**
The year is 2020. The heroes: a few dozen young men and women, most in their late 20s. Fifteen years earlier, four friendly-seeming but mysterious people gathered them on what was then known as the World Wide Web, dropped hints about an important destiny or mission they were to fulfill, and then vanished. Over the years, some of the group kept in touch; others drifted apart. Now a great danger has brought them all back together again…
”Zark,” Sweet Melpomene said at last. “This is big. Really big. And BAD.”
”Do you think–” Widdershins looked around at the others. “Do you think the GAPAs knew?”
Juliette shrugged. “You mean ‘knew’ as in ‘had foreknowledge of’? Like Hari Seldon and his psychohistory? Not zarking likely.”
”I’m not so sure,” Purple Panda said. “They sounded as if they did. There was one thing in particular that Robert posted, just a few days before…”
”Robert!” FrigidSymphony scoffed. “That old fraud. He’d be the last person I’d listen to.”
Shadowkat reached across the table and tousled FrigidSymphony’s waist-long hair. “Still smarting from that time he banished you, are you, Fridgey?” she teased.
”That has nothing to do with it,” the musician shot back. “I just found Rebecca and the other Administrators more helpful.”
Alice looked pensive. “I always wondered about Rosanne,” she said. “She seemed very quiet and sweet, but I got the impression that there was a lot more to her than that. I suspect that she was the brains of the outfit, the one pulling the strings. And then one day they were all just–gone…”
For a moment, the group sat in uneasy silence.
”Anyway, they did their job,” Red-tailed HAWK said at last. “They got us together. Now we’ve got a job to do.”
”Then what are we waiting for?” Ebeth burst out. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s get out there and DO it.”
”Not so fast,” Prarilius Canix said. “We can’t afford to rush into this. It’s too important for that. Failure is not an option here. We have to be sure what we’re dealing with.”
E2MB smiled grimly. “Well, whatever it is,” he said, “one thing is for sure: it is definitely NOT mostly harmless.”
Shadowkat looked Prarilius Canix. “PC is right,” she said. “We have to find out what it is we’re dealing with. Those disappearances…did anyone notice any kind of order to them? Do you think it could be…the bunnies?”
FrigidSymphony glanced up from admiring his hair. “Bunnies? I’ll kill ’em. I’ll…”. He broke off, turning his attention to a small stain on his shirt. “Dammit, I just washed this crap yesterday! Bloody pasta…”
”Obsess much?” muttered Shadowkat. She raised her hands in response to the glare she got from FrigidSymphony. “Just making an observation!” she said defensively.
”Hey, I care about my appearance,” he shot back, “because it’s worth the effort.” He gave her a cocky grin.
Shadowkat grinned back, and thought, Well, at least one of us hasn’t changed…. “I care about mine, too! But, you know, you really don’t need to do anything…you’re naturally gorgeous.” She winked at him.
”Will you two stop the banter? We have a crisis on our hands!” Prarilius Canix snapped. He was irritable, having been awake for the past two nights, researching. “It’s not just the GAPAs. Whatever did this wanted to get them out of the way first, because it thought that they were the only ones who could stop it. People have been disappearing all over the world.”
”You’re talking about this as though there was some intelligence behind the disappearances,” said Lizzie. “Do you think that’s possible?”
”I think it’s probable,” Pentatonikk mused. “The bunnies…?”
”What are you talking about?” Prarilius Canix hissed. “The bunnies are imaginary and this is real.”
Silence.
”Right?”
Silence.
”Well… ” said Kiki the great, nervously fingering her red hair. “You never went to Kokonventions…”
”And you hadn’t been in contact with us much in the past few years,” the man for aeiou said. “Until now, that is… “
”I’m sorry, PraCan,” Taiwan Hippo Fan said. “We didn’t realize there was anyone here who didn’t know.”
”Know what?” asked Alice, just as clueless as Prarilius Canix. “Oh! You mean . . . that?”
Shadowkat looked at the others, then turned to Prarilius Canix. “Alright, look, you remember that day back in ’07, April Fool’s Day, when the HPBs took over MuseBlog? And we all thought, ‘Haha, what a joke, that can’t be real!’? Well…it was. I know some connections who might have some information about the disappearances…should I call them?”
”PC, the bunnies are real. Well, in a sense…it was an accident.” Sobriquet whispered, concerned.
”Wait,” interrupted Lizzie. “I seem to have missed the memo. Who are Shadowkat’s ‘people’ and what do they have to do with the disappearances?”
”I have no clue,” volunteered Alice, unhelpfully. “Shadowkat?”
FS pulled a flask ot of his pocket and took a long drink, then said: “I think we should all use our assets and dig up whatever we can about these disappearances. I’ll contact the Thelema, see if the occultists can give me some info… As for the rest of you…”
”My ‘people'” retorted Shadowkat, “are a few parties with whom I have certain useful connections. And that’s all you need to know. Now, should I contact them, or not?”
”What about the rest of us?” asked Alice. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. I mean, since the the Wawona sunk I don’t even have a ship!” She paused. “Of course, most of you don’t have ships either, so I suppose it’s not that unusual.”
”I’ll be doing some research. Again,” Prarilius Canix sighed. “I’ll look through the newspaper archives, see if I can find any pattern to the disappearances. If I can find the time and place they started, we’ll have something to work with.”
Shadowkat sighed. “And I’ll contact my people, see what they know…and trust me, they’ll know something. Anyone else have an assignment for me? I’ll need something to keep me busy once I’m done…” She glanced at FS, who raised his eyebrows. “Well, never mind. Anyone?”
Canix left the room. Moments later, a sleek white Prius with a BOOK♥ER license plate pulled out of the parking lot below and drove off in the direction of the library.
”I wonder what he’s up to,” Alice mused. “He didn’t even wait for us to explain about the bunnies.”
”He’s probably going to catch up on some of the old MB threads, see if he can find out something about them himself.”
”Makes sense. That’s where it all started.”
”God, I feel useless,” moaned Alice. “All I can do is write, really. I suppose I could help PC research, but…” She trailed off. “I don’t know.” She rested her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands. “I’ve never been very good at making plans, either.”
Shadowkat looked around at everyone. “Well, I’m gonna go talk to a few people, alright? Everyone knows what they’re doing? Good.” She got up and headed for the door. Glancing over her shoulder at FS, she said, “You coming?” He nodded, and they left together. A black and silver Honda motorcycle with two dark-clothed figures on it glided out of the parking lot a few minutes later.
***
Prarilius Canix stood up, heaps of newspaper falling off the computer desk. It was so obvious. Why hadn’t he spotted it before? He scribbled a few important points on a sheet of notebook paper, stuffed the sheet in his pocket, and dashed out into the rainy street, ignoring the funny look he got from the librarian. “This could alter the fate of the entire world,” he thought. “They’ve got to know about it.” He was so focused that he didn’t notice the figure standing nearby beneath an umbrella, or what that figure held in its free hand and was pointing at him. There was a sharp crack, like a gunshot. In fact, that’s what it was. Prarilius Canix collapsed against the library wall and slowly slid to the ground.
****
Kagcomix looked up, from where she was sitting on the floor. “So they are real,” she muttered, coughed once and continued. “Animal shelters”.
”What do you mean?” asked Alice, bending over to look at Kagcomix.
”Well, normal rabbits multiply rapidly, right? But the HPB’s are different. Aren’t they spawned from talk of dogs vs. cats? And where better to find dogs and cats than at an animal shelter? I think we should check out the local shelters. I can do some volunteer work there while checking stuff out.” As Kagcomix finished she curled into child’s pose, her sword hugged to her stomach. She felt tired and ached. Kagcomix drifted off into thoughts and reflections, about her training, about her bionic right arm and other wounds, about her past.
A loud bang filled the air. Kagy started and banged her head on the table.
”Sorry,” Red-tailed HAWK said. “I didn’t know it actually worked.” RtH held a gun in his hand. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry!” he said again.
”Where exactly did you get that?” asked Widdershins.
”Uh….this secret compartment thingy slid open when I put my hand on the table,” RtH explained.
”Maybe there are more, but HAWK, DON’T go pulling triggers indoors. It’s dangerous!”Alice snapped at him.
”Anybody have a laptop?” Sobriquet asked. “We should check the news. We should keep track of any more unexplained dissapearences or bunny sightings.”
Alice handed over a small silver notebook. “For writing.” she offered. “I take it everywhere.”
The group skimmed the headlines. One read “Man Shot At Chicago Library”.
”Wasn’t PC headed for the library?” E2MB asked.
Sobriquet clicked the link. At the top of the page was a picture of Pralirius Canix lying unconcious on the library steps.
Kagcomix got up. She had stopped paying attention and drifted off, but people seemed to be leaving now so she guessed she should be too. Kagy grabbed her sword and walked to the door. On the street the air felt good on her face. I’ll go to the library to see how PC is. Besides, I want to pick up a book, she thought.
A horrific scene met her eyes as she reached the steps. Police tape everywhere, and PC lying by the library doors. With a disregard for the police and everyone around her Kagy ran towards PC. “Pralirius, who did it, where did they go?” she whispered.
”Dunno, they went down the side street,” Pralirius gasped.
”It’s okay PC, I’ll get them. Just don’t die.” She smiled down at him before running off down a sidestreet. She didn’t need anyone dying, at least not this early in the game.
”Wait!” Prarilius gasped. He held up a blood-soaked scrap of paper, with a neat, round hole through the middle of it.
”That’s evidence. Hand it over, and everything will be all right,” said a young, nervous-looking policeman. Canix coughed, then fixed the policeman with a baleful stare.
”This is more important than you could possibly imagine. Don’t touch it.” The policeman backed off.
Kagy took the paper. Only three words were legible, and their last few letters had been cut off. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read.
*****
At that very moment, the former MuseBloggers were gathered around the tiny laptop on the big table, reading the dreadful article.
Suddenly someone asked, “Where’s Kagcomix?”
”Good point,” said Alice in surprise. “Where is Kagcomix?”
Green Qween burst into the room quite suddenly. “Am I late? What’s going on?” she blurted out. “I saw Kagy in the street, and she was running away from something.” She stared at the small group huddled around the laptop. “What did I miss?”
******
Suddenly, a female police officer reported for duty. “What’s going on here, Cook?” she said, addressing the man. Suddenly she stepped back a ways. “PC?” she whispered faintly. “Is that you?”
”How do you know my blog name?” the bloody man whispered from the ground. “I’ve never seen you before.”
”Cat’s Meow,” the lady said. “And boy, it’s been way too long.”
*******
Cinnamon Moon stepped quietly into the room. The few people still sitting around the table turned toward her. She moved purposefully towards the table, then introduced herself.
”Cinnamon Moon. It’s been too long, my friends. Please tell me – what has happened? I don’t understand every thing. Can you explain?”
E2MB began. “It started with the bunnies…
”It happened at kokonvention #30 at Muse HQ. Shadowkat was showing her make-alive 3000 with a computer and ’07 januray muse. She typed in a random thread number and hit enter. She fed the Muse in. The make-alive made a ring sound and a thing popped out. It was a bunny! Then another, and more! Soon all of Muse HQ was filled will bunnies! Some were paper and some were from that april day in ’07.”
As E2MB finished recounting what had happened in the last few years, the room fell gloomily silent as the grave nature of what had taken place began to truly sink in.
The MBers sat silently, pensively, in the ever-darkening room, looking up on occasion, wondering what, exactly, had to be done. A disquieting atmosphere ensued until a familiar voice crackled once more through the PA speakers in the room.
”Zark, zark, zark,” muttered Sweet Melpomene. “This is already getting out of hand; I don’t think I can still risk talking to you from the lab, even if I do wipe the computers… I’ll be over to the Royal in a bit–”
A loud crash was broadcast, followed only by static before the speakers fell silent.
********
Shadowkat pulled up to the abandoned apartment building. She looked it over, noticed the broken windows, tattered curtains, unhinged door. Home, sweet home., she thought, somewhat sarcastically. She had dropped FrigidSymphony off at a phone booth outside of a “well-thought-of” bar in town. They would meet up later, when she was done with her current business.
She got off her bike, set the safety, and went into the building. Two men were waiting for her in the kitchen just inside the front door. She turned to them.
”Buona Notte, Signor Tomaschino, Masacci.”
”Ciao, Kat.” They replied in unison.
She looked them in the eyes. “Do you have the information I asked you for?”
”Yes.”
”Well, let’s see it, then.”
Tomaschino pulled a few sheets of paper out of the front pocket of his jacket and handed them to her. She looked at the papers for a few minutes, eyes narrowing as she read each sentence, then looked up at her companions.
”Is this all you could find?” she asked them skeptically.
”Yes.” answered Masacci, with a touch of aggression.
Shadowkat returned in kind, “Well, it had better be. This is more important than any of your kind will ever know.” She spat out the last phrase as if it were poison. Which, to Tomaschino and Masacci, it was. Tomaschino took a step towards Shadowkat threateningly.
”If you weren’t my cousin…” he warned.
”If you weren’t my cousin, you’d be dead by now.” interrupted Shadowkat. She snatched the papers of the heavily-stained table where she had set them, turned on her heel, and marched out the door. “Ciao, gentlemen!” she called from the street. With a roar and a vroom, she was gone.
*********
Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Alice picked up the phone in the meeting room.
”Hello?” she said, a little tentatively.
”Alice?”
”Yes.”
”It’s me, Shadowkat. Have you and the other MBers meet me downstairs. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I have some extremely important information.” Click.
**********
Back at the library, the scene of the crime was buzzing with activity. After Kagy rushed off, someone finally had the sense to call 911. Paramedics had flooded the area, and PC was rushed into an ambulance. As an authority figure, Cat’s Meow had recieved word that PC hadn’t lost a fatal amount of blood, but he was still in critical condition.
Five blocks away, Kagy swung around the sharp corner of a dank brick building. What she came face-to-face with in the alley made her stop dead in her tracks. From a distance, the dreamlike sound of sirens speeding away reached her ears, but she did not hear it.
***********
The downtown Chicago emergency room had seen better days. Minor dilemmas had been hindering progress since 8:00 that morning, especially since the latest batch of interns were starting today. Among these clueless medics was 29-year-old ‘Dotty-kay, who at the moment had quite a lot to worry about. She had recently recieved a mysterious message that her old MuseBlog friends planned to meet at a secret location this very day, supposedly for a reunion.
She had suspected the matter at hand was a bit more urgent, but she had a dilemma since her internship began today. She couldn’t afford to miss this training, and so declined the invitation. Now she doubted the wisdom in this action. With rumors of an assassination attempt so early on, it was looking like she would be giving the MuseBlog conspriacy a higher priority than her career at this point.
Cat’s Meow had been thinking along these same lines, and had stowed away on PC’s ambulance just before it left, disregarding the fact that she was still on duty. Now as the vehicle raced into the emergency entrance, she tried to communicate with PC. From his grunts and fragmented sentences, she gained that he had just made an earth-shattering discovery. She followed the strecher inside the ICU, where Dot almost collided into the party.
************
There was a barbed wire fence but it only stopped Kagy for a moment. She ripped the barbed wire aside with her right(and bionic) arm. Kagy could feel her heart pumping as she ran down the side street. It was long and it didn’t have a turn off for a long while. It was more of an alleyway, now that she thought about it. Its narrow grimy brick walls from the buildings on either side leaned in close.
She could see a figure running up ahead. Kagy clutched the paper from PC tigter in her fist and put on a spurt of speed. She was getting closer. Her muscles ached but she kept going. Her sword was strapped to her side, in its hilt, but she pulled it out. Suddenly there was gunfire. Three bullets rocketed past her bouncing off the walls, one going dangerously past her ear. Kagy ran faster. If she could just get into sword-reach…
As Kagy neared the figure she noticed it wore a long trench coat and a big hat. Both the hat and the trench coat were black, but under the hat something pink was poking out. Kagy barely had time to wonder what it was when another round of gunfire erupted.
This time Kagy couldn’t dodge them all. One was lodged in her right shoulder. At least it wasn’t my real arm, she thought. The gunfire wasn’t stopping and Kagy noticed that more people in trenchcoats and hats were emerging from a turnoff she hadn’t noticed before.
Kagy turned. There was no way she could face this many gunmen by herself. She grabbed onto a sturdy looking pipe with her good arm and scampered up the building. Trying to doge bullets and climb up pipes was no easy task.
Kagcomix was finaly on top of the roof of one of the buildings when the gunfire died down. Kagy had two more bullets lodged in her arm. Zark! i guess it’s another night without sleep to fix THIS! she thought. With her still intact left hand she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Hello? is that Dotty Kay?”
”Uh huh”
”It’s Kagcomix. I need your help.”
”Hey Kagy. I’m kinda busy right now.”
”With PC?”
”How’d you know?”
”I’m special.”
”Uh.. okay… why are you calling me?”
”Because I don’t know anyone else’s number.”
”Okay. So what do you need?”
”I don’t know if PC told you, but he gave me a sheet of paper. I can’t really read most of it but i know that you were on MB before i was and you might know what it means. Does ‘Ljubl… uh… Lagomo…Extrater’ make any sense to you?”
”Sorry, Kagy, but you’ve caught me at a really bad time. I’m not sure what that means, but go back to HQ, someone there will be bound to know what you’re talking about.”
”Thanks anyways, Dotty Kay.”
As Kagcomix put her phone back in her pocket she realised what the pink from under the hat had been: BUNNY EARS!
*************
In a room at MIT, a girl is checking her email in an attempt to procrastinate. “Why can’t this paper make sense? I can’t do it. It’s impossible. What else can I do?” She opens a web browser, Internet Fire Safari 9.999 Optimised. “I haven’t used that email address in years. It’s some excuse.” She types a password, clicks on something. “Chicago… MuseBlog… I got this two weeks ago… oh, no.” She takes out a phone and dials.
”Potato Chip? Yes, it’s me. Remember MuseBlog? When we were thirteen. I used to be curious and questioning. You had some people’s facebook from then, right? Can you contact them? Now. There’s kind of a problem. I’m emailing you. Checking your old email accounts might help too. I’m going to try calling some other people from that DC kokonvention. If you find anything, call me or email. My thesis can wait a little bit longer.”
Kagy ran across rooftops until she reached HQ. She didn’t want to make a scene with her bullet holed t-shirt and her wrecked arm. Finally Kagy was able to climb down from the roof into the building they had been in before. It seemed there were hidden passageways everywhere. As she entered the room, Sweet Melpomene looked up.
”ZARK! Kagy, what happened? Should I call the ambulance?” Sweet Melpomene asked, shocked at the holes that adorned Kagcomix’s shirt.
”Nah, ‘sokay. They only got my bionic arm.” Kagy responded.
”So, what exactly happened?” E2MB asked.
”Well, I saw PC and he gave me a note. Then I rushed down an alleyway and got shot at by people in bunny suits, black trench coats and hats. The little rascal screwed up my arm! I came over the roof tops to get here.” Kagy explained.
”Bunny suits?” E2MB asked.
”Guess so.” said Sweet Melpomene. “What did PC’s note say?”
”Most of it’s gone but what i can read is Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” said Kagy.
”It’s a good thing I left my bag here earlier, because my arm realy needs work. That’s where I keep spare parts,” she explained. Kagy took off her ripped shirt and started down to work on her arm.
”Doesn’t that hurt?” Sweet Melpomene asked as Kagcomix dug out the bullet and started repairing broken wires and plates.
”Nope, only near my collarbone because that’s where the metal meets the flesh. Otherwise I don’t have that much feeling in my right arm. I mean, I can feel the bullets in there and I can feel being shot, but if you were to, say, run a feather down it I wouldn’t feel it. I always wear a tank top under my shirts for situations like this. It’s realy hard to repair my arm if I keep having to roll up my sleeves.”
”You’ve been shot at before?” asked E2MB increduously.
”Yup! And stabbed too! Wanna see my scar?”
”Not really. But why?”
”In my line of work you come to expect calamity.”
”I thought you were a cartoonist!” Sweet Melpomene jumped in.
”That and defending justice,” Kagy replied. “So do either of you know when PC might get out of the hospital? Because no one I’ve asked so far seems to know what his note means.”
”No idea.” answered E2MB.
Alice had been thinking hard. “Hang on,” she said suddenly. “What did the note say again?”
Kagcomix obligingly fished it out of her pocket with her real arm. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read. Alice took it from her.
”What?” asked agagabagabag.
Alice looked up. “I’m not sure about Ljubl and extrater, but Lagomo seems awfully similar to lagomorph.”
Everyone looked at her. No one moved.
”Which is…?” asked Fire_Falcon22.
”I can’t believe you don’t know that!” burst out Alice. “You’ve all grown up to be hugely successful, and none of you know what lagomorph is?”
When no one answered, Alice explained. “Rabbits aren’t rodents. They’re lagomorphs.”
”Oh my goodness, Alice, you’re right!” cried Cinnamon Moon “I’m so sorry for not having kept in touch. Maybe we could have found this out earlier! But after the news about Rebecca…” She looked at the blank faces around her. “You mean-” she faltered. “Robert never told you?”
***************
Shadowkat pulled into the Royal’s parking lot, the papers she’d just received folded up in her pocket. I wonder where Fridgey got to…, she thought. When she’d asked the bartender whether or not he knew what had happened to a tall, handsome, black-clad man, the ‘tender had said he’d never seen a man like that. Odd. She got off her bike and went inside.
Bursting through the door of the lobby, she immediately dropped and rolled as a dart whizzed by her head and slammed into her shoulder. She began to feel its effects even in the seconds between impact and when she pulled it out. Her vision started to cloud. No! she thought. Must…stay…awake!
She bolted for the door, whipping out her cell phone as she did so. Apparently, the gun that her attacker had used was a one-shot deal, at least for a while.
The phone on the other end rang. And rang. And rang some more. Then: “Hello?” said a strange voice from the other line, a voice she didn’t recognize.
”What have you done with the MuseBloggers?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
”Oh, don’t worry, S-kitty…” She cringed at the use of her MB nickname by a stranger. “…they’re safe…for now.” The connection broke.
”What?! Where are they?!? WHERE ARE THEY?!?!” she screamed into the phone, desperately trying wrap her mind around all this. Just a few minutes ago, they had been fine. And now, they weren’t. She darted around to the side of the building and started to climb. For once in her life, she truly thanked Master Chi for how hard he’d made her train.
She crawled onto the roof. Luckily for her, the meeting room in which they’d been was on the top floor; she’d hear any commotion coming from it. She crept along the roof to the air vent, listening. Suddenly, the wind changed direction, and she could hear voices.
”…–couldn’t be helped, sir.” said a somewhat high-pitched, squeaky voice.
”What do you mean, couldn’t be helped?!” roared the voice from her most recent phone conversation. “We had all of the others in our grasp, and YOU let this one slip through our fingers!”
”Yes, but, sir, the poison, she got the dart out–”
”I wouldn’t have cared if she’d thrown it back into you!!!” interrupted the one who appeared to be in charge. “It was your job to get her, and you didn’t! Now she’s probably on her way to the–”
Ding-a-ding, dong, ding, ding-a-ding, dong!, went Shadowkat’s phone. “Bursting Shnizzle Pops!!!” she swore under her breath. She heard a clatter from the room below. She hurriedly leaped onto the next roof over, which, fortunately, was quite close, as she was in the city. She scrambled down the far side of the building onto which she had just leaped, dropped into the alley at the bottom, and opened her phone. The display screen read “Alice”. She pushed the “Accept” button.
****************
”Told us what?” asked Alice. “It seems like we have a lot of information, but it’s all mixed up. Could everyone just sit down and explain in an organized fashion?”
Alice excused herself to get a drink of water, and walked out into the hall. It seemed strange to just sit there, doing nothing, but it had always been her nature to stay on top of the confusion, even at thirteen, and this confusion needed more staying on top of than any RRR. She bent down to drink from the water fountain, and her head exploded into blackness.
She woke into blackness, and were it not for her awareness of the enormous lump on the back of her head, she would not have realized that she was awake. Her eyes searched the darkness for something light to rest them on, but there was only coal-blackness. She figured that there was a lot of black here. Then it hit her. Her cell phone! It was only for business calls, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have the phone numbers of other MuseBloggers.
Her hands weren’t bound, and she pulled her cell phone out of her bag. Its screen was glowing, and she fixed her eyes on it, glad of the relief from the darkness. She dialed Shadowkat’s number.
”Hello?” said Shadowkat.
”Hi, Shadowkat,” said Alice. “It’s Alice. I think I’ve been kidnapped. I’m in someplace dark.”
*****************
”Well, what is it?” asked Donaldo as Alice left. Finally, someone had voiced what everyone was thinking.
All the MBers turned to Cinnamon Moon as she opened her mouth to explain. Taking a deep breath, she began.
”Well, there was a reason we all called her–” she was cut off by a loud creaking sound.
”What’s happening?” shouted agagabagabag.
E2MB paled as he realized what was happening. “The whole room’s being moved!”
”What?” said several MBers simultaneously.
”That’s not possible!”
”It’s still bolted in place, for the moment!”
”I thought the Royal was safe!”
”How did they find us?”
”What’s that noise?”
Several people slammed into the door as the room began to shake. Widdershins struggled to pull it open as the lights went out. Gasping for breath, she and a few other MBers fell through as the rest realized they were trapped in what was acting like a gigantic, descending elevator.
”Zark,” she muttered as several people climbed off of her, apologizing profusely.
The group stared at the open doorway, catching a few last glimpses of their friends’ shocked faces as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.
”Well, one thing’s for sure,” said Sweet Melpomene. “We have to get out of this building, stat.”
******************
Fire_Falcon22 tried to move, but then realized he was tied up. He reached as far as he could for his sword. He grabbed the hilt, but was unable to pull it out of his sheath. He pulled and pulled until he was able to get the hilt through the rope. He grabbed the blade and moved it slowly up the rope, and after a minute of bringing the blade back and forth, he finally cut the rope.
”Ah, finally.” Fire_Falcon22 got up, and put his sword back in its sheath. He couldn’t see a thing but he heard a voice. He tried to follow the voice, but soon hit a wall. He got up, but he sensed the presence of someone behind him. He turned around to see an odd figure, with a skin color so bright, he could see it, even through the darkness. Hot pink. The figure – more hopping than walking- moved slowly towards Fire_Falcon22. The figure pulled out a gun from his jacket.
Fire_Falcon grabbed the hilt of his sword. The figure shot the gun, and Fire_Falcon deflected the shot with his sword, and the bullet bounced back at the figure. The figure jumped back and shot a few more shots at Fire_Falcon. He deflected a few, but then one hit him in the shoulder. He crouched down to the ground, clenching his wound. The figure came closer.
”Who are you?” asked FF. The figure didn’t say anything, he just pointed the gun towards FF. FF sat there in shock, not knowing what to do…
*******************
The MBers still caught in the moving room fell silent as the walls began to grate on the sides of the shaft. Cables and pulleys screeched against each other, guiding what once was a safe place down, down, down. Slowly, the air began to thicken and, one by one, the members of the group fell unconscious.
They awoke groggily in what appeared to be the same room, minus the conference table. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim pink lighting.
Someone sat in a corner, next to a pile of bindings.
”Oh, look! My rescue party’s arrived,” FrigidSymphony said, coating the sentence with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Which, on a bad day, is far more than average.
Ebeth rolled her eyes and gave him a disdainful look before scanning her surroundings. A few other MBers followed suit.
”Doors are probably sealed, no windows, PA system’s cut off…” Purple Panda listed to herself. She turned sharply to FrigidSymphony. “Exactly how long have you been here?” she asked politely.
”If I had my bloody watch, I’d probably have escaped by now,” he muttered before saying, “Since a little after I left. Damn bartender… he spiked my drink…”
”Right,” said Panda absently, as she continued to scrutinize the walls.
”They couldn’t even leave the chairs,” mumbled Ebeth. She, too, was looking around curiously. “When I get out of here, I’m renaming myself Ebeth the Amazing Escape Artist,” said Ebeth suddenly.
********************
”What the zark was that?” said Widdershins, breathing heavily after her run out of the building.
”An amazing feat of engineering, if I do say so myself,” said someone behind her.
”We tried to get here sooner, but…” said another person, finishing her sentence with a tired sigh.
”Curious and Questioning! Potato Chip!” the group exclaimed.
Brief ‘hellos’ were made as the group followed the two down the street, to a modest-looking parking garage.
”There’s another place we can try to reach, if it’s not too late. We have two cars…” said curious and questioning calmly.
”Make that three,” added Sweet Melpomene. “I left mine here, too.
”Great,” Potato Chip said, “we can split up, so it’s even harder for them to capture the rest of us.” She handed a few pieces of notebook paper to SM. “Directions,” she explained.
SM scanned them, and then shoved the directions into an inner coat pocket. “We’ll meet you there; Kagy and I are going to try to get into the hospital. We’re going to try to find Canix and Cat’s Meow.”
They hurried off into the garage until Juliette stopped abruptly. “Wait, where’s Fire_Falcon22? He fell out of the door with us, didn’t he?”
*********************
Dot snapped her phone shut and quickly shoved it in her pocket. Looking around to make sure the doctor hadn’t seen her recieve a call, she spotting Cat’s Meow standing awkwardly next to PC’s bed. They exchanged worried glances, and then Dot came over to adjust an IV in PC’s arm.
”I just got word from Kagy,” she muttered to her two friends. It was hard to tell if PC was listening. “She got your paper, Prarilius, and she’s taking it to show everyone else.”
**********************
Snagging a most-likely-illegal parking spot, Kagcomix and Sweet Melpomene hopped out of the car. Slamming the doors and rushing into the hospital entrance, they quickly navigated their way to the emergency room.
”Please, ladies, what’s the problem?” a stern female voice said from the reception desk.
”We need to get in!” SM spluttered. “It’s urgent!”
The receptionist glanced them over. “If it’s not a medical emergency, I’ll have to ask you to head to the waiting room.”
”But our good friend is in there, and we have to talk to him!” said a frustrated Kagy.
”This is a matter that could alter the virtual world permanently, and now threatens our reality!” SM added.
”An online relationship crisis, eh?” sneered the receptionist. “I can’t help you. Patients’ visitors may be immediate family only.”
***********************
There was a clatter on the end of the line. “What’s that?” asked Alice uncertainly. Not much had changed since she was thirteen, when it came to bravery. “Shadowkat?” said Alice, when there was no response. “SHADOWKAT?” Still no sound came from the phone.
But somewhere in the darkness, a familiar voice called, “Who’s that?”
”Alice!” Alice yelled back. “Where are you?”
”Over here!” yelled the voice (which Alice was fairly sure belonged to Fire_Falcon) “I’m kind of in trouble right now!”
************************
Shadowkat was backed up against the alley wall, with a gun pointed at her head. Holding the gun was a man. A tall man, fairly good-looking. But dark, and not in a good way. He wore a jet black suit made of what appeared to be silk, and dark glasses, too. No eyes could be seen through those.
”You won’t get away this time, you little brat!” the man growled. “Too long have I lied in wait, too long have I held my grudge, itching for revenge…and now,” he smiled an evil, toothy smile, “it’s over.” He fired.
”NO!!!” Another man, quite a bit younger than either of the people present, leaped in front of the firing gun. He groaned, having taken a bullet to the left shoulder. It seemed like a never-ending moment in which Shadowkat stared down at her savior in shock, mouth agape. She knew this young man, and quite well. He was her brother.
”T.J.!!!!!!!!” she screamed, and it felt like her vocal cords ripped. She whirled on the man in the the suit, the man who had just shot her little brother. “You…” she snarled, looking as much like the cat from which she took her Blog name as was humanly possible. The man backed against the opposite wall, afraid of the thirst for blood in her eyes. She whipped out her own gun and stormed towards him, holding it aloft. She slammed him into the wall.
”What do you want with me?!” she shouted into his face.
”It’s not…just you,” the man panted.
”Who is it, then?!” She got no response. “Who is it?!?!”
”…MuseBlog…” he spat, venom dripping from his words. A groan escaped his lips. Shadowkat backed away from him in horror. The man let out a sickly laugh.
”Hahaha…you’ll never stop us, Kitty-kat, and neither will any of your little playmaaates…hahahaaa…” He trailed off as the poison with which he had injected himself took its effect.
Shadowkat let his body fall to the ground in a heap. She turned and knelt down next to her fallen brother, who was coughing up blood. The bullet in his shoulder was holding his flesh together in that spot for the most part, but he still needed medical attention, and fast.
”T.J.” she shook him, keeping him with her.
”Katie…” he groaned. “I…didn’t think I’d…make it in time…”
”Wait, Teej, what do you mean? Did you know something–?”
”Yes. Kate, it’s the creators…the creators of…”
”What, T.J., what?! The creators of WHAT?!” He passed out.
Shadowkat jumped up and called Sweet Melpomene, who, since she’d had a bit of training in chemistry, might have some idea of what to do with her brother (known as “The Tominator” on the Blog) before they could get him to the hospital.
*************************
”So, tell us now, before it’s too late. What happened to Rebecca?” asked E2MB.
”Lady Bunniful was… well… I don’t know how to say this, but I’ll try. Rebecca was being controlled by the bunnies. But she resisted, in the last few months of Museblog. Then, she was taken by them. We haven’t heard anythlng since. The rumour is that she might be – dead. I don’t know. Our forces haven’t uncovered anything substantial.”
”Wait a second!” burst in another blogger. “What do you mean – ‘our forces’?”
”Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know about those either!!!” cried Ebeth. Cinnamon Moon whirled on her.
”Ebeth, please! Calm down! Lot’s of people don’t know about lots of things, so let’s just keep our head on straight and explain, alright?” At a nod of acknowledgment from Ebeth, she continued.
”Well, a few MuseBloggers and I were kind of worried that the HPB’s would try to take over MuseBlog, again, so we arranged for monitors (the sources we were talking about) to watch Lady Bunniful, as we suspected she might be the first they’d try to take over. Our monitors, though, not only watched over Rebecca, but also made sure the Blog was always ok, and nothing “funny” was going on. To do this, they talked to the Editors, Writers, and other people related to Muse. They were very careful, and good at what they did. They never took their eyes off Rebecca, though. I know this, because I was there on that fateful day when, suddenly, Lady Bunniful disappeared. Just like that. She was sitting in front of her computer, moderating, when she was just…gone. Of course, some claim to have seen a faint pinkish glow where she’d just been, right after she vanished, but that was never proven. Nothing else that our sourced found ever led to anything. Rumors, yes, those have gone around, but never have any been shown to be true. It’s…well, it’s…scary.” she finished.
The others stared at her with wide eyes. No one knew quite what to say.
**************************
”What sort of trouble?” asked Alice. “And where are you?”
”Right here!” yelled Fire_Falcon. “And it’s -” he broke off.
”It’s what?”
There was a scuffle in the dark, and a popping noise, and silence. “FF?” Alice ventured tentatively.
”Right here,” said FF, from a few yards away. “It was a hot-pink bunny.”
”What happened to it?”
”I don’t know. It just…vanished.”
***************************
Sweet Melpomene’s phone rang. She jumped. She was a little bit paranoid, right now, after her recent experience. Looking at her phone, she saw that the display screen read, “Shadowkat”. She opened it up. She didn’t even say hello.
”Shadowkat! Where have you been?! The other MuseBloggers and I were attacked, and some of us escaped, but I don’t know where the rest are, and–”
”Yes, Mel, I know.” interrupted Shadowkat. “I was the one who tried to warn you guys, and ended up talking to some deep-voiced man, who then tried to kill me! But, Mel, he didn’t, because my brother took a bullet for me, and he’s passed out, and fading fast, and I–”
”Where are you?” asked SM.
”Behind the building east of the Royal.”
”I’m coming.”
****************************
Beavo the Great suddenly bursted around a corner, the one Shadowkat happened to be at, and crashed right into her. Shadowkat, who was very nervous by this time, jumped away and stared at this messy-haired, un-matched-clothed young man who sprawled at her feet. He looked up. She took a step back.
”Hey. You must be Shadowkat from your discription at the Muser Profiles. I’m Beavo. And that must be your brother.”
”But how did you know all this about…this stuff? You weren’t at any of the meetings, the attacks, and you weren’t even at the ER with PC!”
”That my friend, is for me to know and you… not to know. Right now, we need to get help with your brother.” Beavo took a huge bandage, a scotch tape dispenser, and a cell out of his pocket. As he started to put the bandage on Shadowkat’s brother, he handed her the phone.
”Here, call someone with this. We need help.”
”I already did!”
”Who?”
”SM.”
”And she is…?”
Sweet Melpomene rounded the same corner as Beavo did, and crashed right into Shadowkat. She heard Beavo mutter “Deja Vu” as she picked herself off the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked up at Shadowkat.
*****************************
”Now, we just need to get out of here,” said FF.
”Yes, but where is here? And how do we get out? Man, this would make a great book.”
Fire_Falcon rolled his eyes in the dark.. Alice thought that everything even remotely exciting would make a good book.
”I don’t know where we are,” he said, “or how we’re going to get out. But we always have cell phones. We could call the other Musers.”
Alice moaned. “Don’t remind me,” she said. “If I wasn’t such a Luddite, we could be out of here already.”
”What do you mean?”
”Those new cell phones – not the disposable ones – have the nice tracking systems, and the maps. They can be tracked by other people, and by you, and they can have whole maps on them. But I’m so anti-tech that I didn’t even bother. You wouldn’t have one with a map, would you, FF?”
”All I have is a sheet of disposable ones,” said FF.
”Oh, great,” began Alice, but suddenly stopped. “Hang on,” she said, “I might not have high-tech cell phone, but I have a compass!”
Fire_Falcon was completely baffled. “You carry a compass, but you don’t carry anything remotely resembling a tracking device?”
Alice shrugged, though you couldn’t see it in the dark. “Like I said,” she said brightly, “I’m weird that way. Do you have a flashlight or anything?”
FF searched through his pack, that after a few seconds, he realized wasn’t there.
”They must have took my pack. Unfortunately, I dont have a flashlight, so how are we supposed to see the compass?”
Alice thought for a minute.
”Yeah, that is a bit of a downside.”
”Ya think? Did you bring a flashlight?”
”Like I said, anti-tech.”
FF slapped his hand on his face.
Just then there was a gun fire. FF and Alice spun around to see the faint glow of Hot pink. The bunny pointed the gun at Alice, and shot. FF pulled his sword out and deflected the shot. The bunny aimed the gun at FF, but FF charged at the bunny with his sword. The bunny fired, and caught FF in the hand, he dropped his sword, and hit the ground.
”Where’s my sword?!”
”I dont know.” responded Alice.
The bunny continued to shoot at FF, but he dodged as many as he could, until he hit a wall, and fell to the ground. The bunny hopped slowly towards him. He put his small handgun back into his jacket, and pulled out a machine gun.
”FF! Catch!” yelled Alice.
FF grabbed the hilt of his sword, that he surprisingly caught in the dark. He swung the sword towards the bunnies head, aiming at the back. He heard a crucnh, and could see bits of metal all from the back of the rabbit’s head. The rabbit stopped in his tracks, and dropped the gun, and simply hopped off. FF walked towards the bits of metal.
”Some kind of device.”
Alice walked up next to him. “What is it?”
”Hmm. I really dont know.”
******************************
In another room nearby, a man in a cloke stood in front of many glowing orange screens. The computers started humming.
”Unit damaged. Unit # 707654i5″
The cloaked man punched the table. “They might be on to us…”
*******************************
”Wait a sec!” said Alice suddenly. “How come we can see?” It was true. A faint light filtered through the blackness, and they could see that the room they were trapped in was absolutely enormous. Away across the several acres of floor, they could dimly see a pair of steps, ascending to a door, which was heavy and – as far as they could see – locked.
********************************
”COME ON! Do you not realize that this is a mater of life and death for more than one of your patients?” Kagcomix exclaimed angrily at the nurse at the front desk. Kagy turned to Sweet Melpomene to say “I don’t think we’ll get through this way.” only to find that SM wasn’t there.
“Whatever!” Kagy said to the nurse, “It’s not THAT important. Could you possibly tell me the room number for [pc’s real name], I want to send flowers.” she finished the last part in a pleasant voice .
”Well, I guess so. It’s room # 308 B.” said the nurse.
“Thanks.” said kagy as she strode out the door. Kagy turned into the tiny laneway beside the hospital. She scaned the side of the building for a door. She found one, right by the dumpster. IT was heavy, using all her strength she pushed open the door. Looking quickly down the hall first, Kagcomix dashed towards the flight of stairs at the end.
**********************************
“ug..ug… ug … ug …”
alice said “whats that noise?”
ff said ” sounds like where not the only ones here!”
the sound came agian, this time saying”a…e…i…o…u…”
ff said “whos there?”
the sound said ” a…e… i…o…u…”
alice said “but aeiou isn’t real!”
ff said “no but the man for aeiou is!”
the suond came up saying “u t i m e!”
ff said “he must be tied up. lets untie him.”though he said the last part begrudgingly because of a fight on the blog fiteen years ago.
they untied him.
the man for aeiou said “here,It’s a cell phone with maps,lockpicking tools, a gun,a whistle,water pruifation tablets,and mer, inc’s pateted quick-grow,food-grow.”
alice muttedered under here breath “dexes ex machince”
****************************
After the man for aeiou , ff, and alice left the area of the room,the man for aeiou said “o.k. Let’s go to the er where pc is.†It to ten minutes in the man for aeiou’s plane.
***
Shadowkat took her brother to the er.
***
As all the museblogers all ended up in the er, they had pc’s bed rolled over next to the tomnator’s bed. Shadowkat said “zark,THIS is big. they’ve taken out two of the mbers all ready!â€â€¨The man for aeiou said “all we can do is prayâ€â€¨Frigid symphony said “you and your godâ€â€¨All the mbers started to yell at one another. It was like a hot topics thread. The nurses said “shh!†and the mbers stopped.
***
Since medicine is so advanced in the future,both pc and the tommanatior we’re relished by morning. After the musers went back to the royal a woman met them in the lobby. She was wearing a white jumpsuit with the letters m.c. On the front.she said I’m sorry but…†that was the last thing the musers heard.
****************
The young woman known as Widdershins stirred groggily, raked a clumsy hand across her face, and forced herself to open her eyes. She felt as if she had slept for a week and wouldn’t have needed much encouragement to try for two.
Over the edge of the pillow she could see row upon row of beds–or, rather, cots–obviously slept in but empty now. She turned over and found that she was not alone in the room.To the left of her bed stood a boy, about 13 years old, with close-cropped dark hair and a smattering of freckles, wearing an unadorned white jumpsuit. To her right, in an identical uniform, stood a girl about the same age with blond hair pulled tightly back behind her head.
The boy clapped his hands together. “Finally!†he said. “You’re the last one. Everyone else is up already.You’d better hurry, or you’ll miss breakfast.â€
“Simon!†the girl said, glaring at him. “That’s not very polite. Our orders are to treat them with respect.†She turned to Widdershins and curtsied. “We are delighted to have you as our guest,†she said, formally. “Breakfast has been served down the hall to the left. There is a restroom around the corner to your right if you need to freshen up. My colleague and I will wait here until you are ready.â€
Widdershins started to speak but decided questions could wait. Freshening up sounded wonderful to her just now. A few minutes later she followed her attendants down the hall, the girl maintaining an icy dignity while Simon swatted at her braid.
They emerged into a long room, like the sleeping room windowless and floored in institutional tile. One wall was hidden by a deep purple curtain. Down the middle of the room ran a series of folding tables, pushed together, covered with table cloths and set for breakfast, and heaped with serving dishes and vessels loaded with food: carafes of coffee and hot chocolate, pitchers of orange juice, three deep, heated trays of scrambled eggs, baskets of croissants and danishes, bowls of granola and yogurt. Around the table Widdershins recognized her fellow former MuseBloggers, about three dozen in all, their faces wearing various degrees of stunned disbelief.
Most of the men and women had not touched the food. A few had poured themselves coffee or juice and were tentatively sipping it. Red-tailed HAWK alone had piled his plate with everything available and was vigorously chewing half of a pain au chocolat. “What? Wha-at?†he said to the accusing stares of the others. “It’s free food. I’m hungry.â€
Widdershins glanced at a knobless door at the far end of the room. “Locked,†FrigidSymphony told her. “Reinforced steel. We already tried it.†She nodded and took an empty seat on the end of the table next to ShadowKat, facing the curtain. While she was pondering whether to risk the coffee, voices sounded from the far side of the door.
“Of course they will,†a man said.
“They will not,†a woman replied.
“Oh, they’re bound to.â€
“No way.â€
An electronic bolt chunked, the door opened briefly, and two figures entered the room. Both appeared to be in their mid-60s, give or take a few years. The woman was short and bore a mane of almost impossibly curly gray hair. Her eyes were pale blue, wide and mischievous, and her mouth wore a beatific smile. The man was almost a foot taller and, the MuseBloggers thought simultaneously, bore a striking resemblance, which he had obviously cultivated, to Albus Dumbledore.
“Good morning!†the man said heartily. “I hope you are all comfortable. Please forgive the improvised nature of your sleeping and breakfast arrangements. We do have real dormitories here, and a real dining room with a beautiful view, but, well–â€
“We were afraid that you might break the windows,†the woman finished.
“Let’s skip the hail-fellow-well-met routine,†ShadowKat said drily. “What is this place? And who are you?â€
The man turned to the woman, a pained expression on his face. “You were right,†he said. “They didn’t recognize us.â€
“Told you,†she whispered.
“Still, it has been a while, and some of us have changed more than others. Very well, then. My name is Robert Coontz, and this is my associate Rosanne Spector.â€
Rosanne waved. “Hi,†she said.
“Other familiar names and faces are nearby–†As if on cue, a burst of bagpipe drones sounded faintly from elsewhere in the building. “–and will be here shortly.
“As for our location, this building covers most of an island off the southern coast of Iceland–some of the youngest land on Earth, recently hardened lava fresh from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. But that doesn’t tell you what the place is. Simon, Birgitta–the curtain, please.â€
The boy and girl in the white jumpsuits trotted over to the center of the curtain, grasped plastic poles hidden behind its central folds, and walked in opposite directions, parting the curtain behind them. The MuseBloggers seated near them turned to watch it open. In meter-high gilded letters running the length of the wall, everyone at the table could read a name and a motto:
MUSE ACADEMY
CRVSTO VOLANTI NOLI OBSTARE
“um,robert?” said the man for aeiou “why did you kidnap,send bunnies,kill the blog,pretend to be kidnaped and other stuff. if you don’t mind me saying,this seems kindy small for something that big.
It was Rosanne, not Robert, who answered. “Oh, we wouldn’t have brought you here for anything small,” she said. “As for all that other stuff, well, that would take weeks to explain. The important thing is that Paul and Rebecca and Robert and I didn’t do most of it, and it’s pretty amazing that we all made it out alive.” She frowned. “Right now, though, you’ve got something more important to do: eat. You’ve been through a lot, you’re famished, it’s very good food, and I can’t eat it all. So eat!”
“See what I mean?” Alice whispered to Cinnamon Moon as she reached for the granola. “It’s just as I always suspected: she’s the brains.”
They looked at each other, very tempted to believe that their long-lost near godparents were here to save them. But, how could they be sure? So many things we going strangely…
Suspiciusly, Shadowkat spoke up.
”How do we know it’s really you? I mean, we could ask you questoins and stuff, but if you were any good imposter you’d have done research.”
“How ’bout questions about Muse? From the Q&A? No one besides them could possibly have memorized them all.” Widdershins piped in.
“Good idea!” Alice responded. “Okay… We all know the daddy long-leg is an incredibly venomous spider but it can’t bite us. How much venum would it take to kill if it did?”
Rosanne smiled. “Tricky. I’d guess around .3 grams, except for the fact that it isnt venomous.”
Alice nodded. “And, umm-”
“What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” Cinnamon Moon grinned.
“Eueropean? Or African?” Robert chuckled. “Eueropeans get roughly 9 meters per second, though of cource they slow-”
“Good enough, they’re the real ones.” Red-tailed HAWK said through a mouthful of food. Swallowing with difficulty, he added “Besides. I feel fine, and it tastes great.
The others grinned, and dug in.
Though they would pepper their old mentors with quesions in a few minutes, all of them were starving and could wait a fe more moments for their answers.
Alice studied the sign as she ate. Finally she swallowed a last mouthful of granola, and said, “What does the motto mean?”
Before a responce could come, a gentelman wearing a green bagpipe walked in, smiling jovially.
“I think that thou dost not study enough latin,” He told them in an English accent.
Several Musers chouroused a hello to Paul, while Robert explained. “It means, roughly, “Don’t obstruct the flying pies.”
Widdershins frowned slightly. “Wait- I remember. That was the motto for the school we were going to set up for Musers.”
They stared at him in astonishment.
“Wait- you mean, it’s up? And running?” Shadowkat questioned, astonished.
Rosanne smiled. “In a sense. It’s set up all right, but we’ve had a lot of trouble lately, as you may have heard. We havn’t it oped it yet, because, well, we’ll tell you after you’ve finished eating.”
the musebloger gooble up the rest of the food so that the gapas would talk.
“One question?” Sobriquet was too curious to wait for breakfast to end. “Who are the kids in the jumpsuits?” She asked, nodding towards the two children, who had been standing politely, though obviously fidgeting, near the curtain.
Everyone at the table turned to look at the youngsters.
“Yeah!” said Cinnamon Moon. “Unless you’ve started the school already. And you wouldn’t have done that, right? So who are they?”
The children in the white jumpsuits were still not answering. Robert sighed and took a deep breath.
“Dang. I always do this. I should probably right on notecards what I’m going to say before I plan a surprise. These children are, well, orphans. Orphans of a tragedy that left them without parents. Well, obviously. Ergh.”
Robert slapped his forehead. Rosanne spoke up.
“A little before you all were brought here, you were gathered, slowly being kidnapped, harmed, and such. Beavo the Online Stalker was the first to go. Then PC was shot, and so was Shadowkat’s brother. And so on and so forth. was an opperation to take over the world. You see, you all knew, way before now, even when you were on MuseBlog, that the Blog was not a normal blog for a normal magazine. You were all just right for our plans…”
Kiki the Great piped up.
“Hey! What plans! I wasn’t aware that there were any plans! Except for the Kokonventions of course.”
“No, there were plans.” Replied Rosanne patiantly. “Big plans. We had to start a school, an acadamy, that would train children-much like yourselves ten years ago-to defend against this…perpertrator. For years, there have been books that had foreseen the future. Subtly. Many of these books were fantasy, so no one would guess what they would mean except the ones who were ready to handle the situation they fortold. Does anyone want to guess one of these books?”
E2MB raised his hand. “Harry Potter?”
Rosanne nodded.
“What about movies?” asked FS, politly for the first time in twelve years. Then he thought for a minute. “Wait a minute. What does this have to do with the orphans?”
“Im getting there.” commented Rosanne.
”Right,” said Cinnamoon, “So there is some evil taking over the world, and we have to save it. And it has something to do with Harry Potter. Fine. Just as long as we don’t have to deal with house elves and silly side kicks.” She buried her head in her hands “I’m still confused!”
“You’re not alone,” murmured Alice in agreement. “How about The Dark Is Rising? Or His Dark Materials?” she asked the GAPAs.
“No, no, no… it has nothing to do with Harry Potter.” said Rosanne, slightly exasperated. “No house elves. What I’m saying is, there is a character, much like Voldermort, who’s trying to–well, we’re not so sure what he’s trying to do. But he sure is making a nuicence of himself, killing people and all. Similar to Voldermort. What would Voldermort do once he returned to “power”? Build up the economy?”
“But still, what does this have to do with the orphans?” asked Purple Panda.
“They’re parents were killed by this character. We still don’t even know his name.”
Beavo opened his mouth to say something.
“No, they do not have lightning shaped scars on their forehead. No magic involved.”
Beavo closed his mouth.
Rosanne continued. “Anyway, we are training children who were like you to use their wit to defeat him.”
There was silence around the table.
“Sooooo…” ventured Alice at last. “Where do we come in? Were you training us all those years, or just…” she trailed off.
”Just providing a nice environment for kids to talk to each other,” suggested Jadestone.
“You are the teachers of this new school.”
“You were fed information throughout your time on MuseBlog. For example, “What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” I bet you all know that.”
The MuseBloggers began to smile.
“And as you all know, us GAPA’s don’t last forever. Although we hope to last a long time. You have to be the new GAPA’s. Of course, this wont happen until MuseBlog is reopened, and it wont be reopened until…the guy… is removed. So. Who’s gonna take the challenge?”
“but the guy,if he is a guy and not a gal, is controling the bunneys what will stop him” tmfa said
The musers looked at each other, considering.
“Why is no one else noticing? I havn’t heard anything on the news about pink bunnies with no bodies or anything.” Shadowkat mused.
“They’ve got the governments, don’t they?” FrigidSymphony said. “Well I noticed a decline in everything but I thought it was just, you know, idiots.”
“So.” Beavo started. “We… sop the gu, then teach at the school?”
“I’m not so sure about being a teacher.” Jadestone cut in. “I have a problem with kids who don’t want to learn or are just stupid. Though I suppose the ones that decided to go here would be okay…” She finished thoughtfully.
“Anyway, our first objective is to stop What’s-His-Name.” Sweet Melpomene spoke, decisively. “Do we know where he could be?”
Robert shook his head. “No, not him. But the first government to go was America’s-”
“Figures, it was doomed anyway-”
“-So it’s likely he comes from there. Here.” Robert finished, ignoring FrigidSymphony’s interruption.
The musers thought for a moment, absentmindedly chewing on peices of toast and melon. Widershins started building a castle out of forks, wathec with interest by Jadestone, who twirled a butter knife in her fingers.
Prarilius Canix cleared his throat. “Um. Well. Where do we start?”
“Well, I think a good step would be making sure you all know the whole story. Rosanne said, brushing a still remarably curly peice of hair away from her face. “Let’s head to the library.”
At first, the gathering of musers stood in silent awe. Then, they gibbered mindlessly for a few moments. Someone gasped, and then they all ran deeper into the huge, majestic room.
And magnificent it was. Shelves stretched from floor to ceiling on the walls, ocasionally leaving space for a fireplace or dorrway. The ones in the middle were slightly shorter, with artwork adorning the tops. The room itself was very large, at least 80 feet long and 60 wide.
All the shelves they could see were coverd in books, large volumes, small ones, thing books covered in intricate designs. They were sorted by lauguage, then nationality, then subject, then author. There had to be at least a thousand books on just the shelves circling around the room, with those rolling ladders kids dreamed of riding
oh drat! the rest of the story:
spaced intermittently across them.
“This way, please!” Robert called to the musers as they rushed around excitedly. “They’re’ll be plenty of time to explore and read after we get rid of this menace and restore Museblog!”
The musers sobered slightly, collecting themselves on plushey armchairs and couches in the middle on the great room.
Once they had gathered, Paul spoke. “Now, to business.”
“Mmmm….” Said Cinnamoon. “If we’re teaching, won’t this guy try to stop us with the bunnies? It seems to me that we’ll have to stop him first. I think I have a plan – me and Alice were discussing this a while ago, at our fourth ko konvention. We’d heard rumours through our sources that something like this was going to happen. Alice, would you like to explain?”
Alice looked uncomfortable. “Well . . .” she began hesitantly. “If the hot-pink bunnies can come to life, why can’t . . . other things?”
”What sort of other things?” asked Traggle.
“Yeah, what other things?” echoed Beavo. “Like statues and dolls and robots and such?”
Alice looked like she thought she shouldn’t have said anything.
“Basically, anything.” she commented.
“Well, that might just be a problem!” said FS.
“I bet he’s gonna be the teacher of how to create, preform, and perfect sarcasm,” muttered Donaldo.
“I heard that!”
“Boy-I mean gentelmen!” stuttered Rosanne. “Remember, we’re all musers here.”
There was a rustling as MuseBloggers searched their pockets for extra pies. Kiki threw an old KoKonvention nametag shaped like a Key Lime.
Jadesonte looked over to Alice. “No…” She said slowly. “I think she means… The Muses.”
Several of the group started talking over each other at once, either protesting or promoting the idea.
“Wait, quiet!” Alice cried. “Well, we wouldn’t nessicarily have to bring all of them out, maybe just one to help us find What’s-His-Name-”
Another argument broke out, everyone yelling their favorite muse.
”Chad can build-“
”They’re bunnies! Pwt’s the obvious choice-“
”Urainia-“
”KOKOPELLI FOR PRESIDENT!”
The goup stopped to glance at Ebeth, who had utterd this last proclomation. “Sorry. Old habbit.”
Before it could start up again, Robert cleared his throat.
after the hall quited down,robert said “thank you.now what we need to do is bring all the muses to life.that shound help.”
“How is that gonna help?” questioned Beavo. “Sure, Koko can throw pies, but its not like they’re a gang or superhero’s or anything… wait a minute! They CAN be superheros! All we need to do is tweak the computors that generate that HPB’s!”
“Right. And next thing you have is Koko and Pwt arguing and Craaw escaping and Urania stargazing. That will NOT work.” said Alice.
“Well what about having Koko learn to throw something else, that would be way more helpful then pies,” Cilroxmysox said, after holding her tounge this whole time.
“Like what?” asked Alice suspiciously. “The nice thing about pies is that they’re harmless. Let’s please not get into the not harmless department.”
”Darn,” sighed someone, who was quickly quieted.
”Well,” argued Cilroxmysox, “what good are pies? We want to defeat this person, not just get them sticky.”
”If we get them sticky enough . . .” said Koko du Pelle thoughtfully.
”Then what?” asked BiblioRose. “Then they’re sticky.”
”True.”
“Well,” Beavo began,”Thats true for regular pies. But we don’t have to make regular pies. trust me I can think of a few things that will make our enemies a lot more than sticky once I’m through with them!”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Harmless remember. We want to enable them, not send them off to the morgue.”
”Well, what exactly to bunnies hate the most,” biblioRose asked the group.
Everyone just thought for a moment.
“Arguments between cats and dogs,” replied Alice.
“o.k. and that gets us were?”the man for aeiou asked.
Jadestone sat up. “Wait, wasn’t the whole reason for the bunnies the argument between the cat-lovers and dog-lovers?”The bunnies were mentions of cats and dogs put therough the editors thingy. Can we shove them through the other way?”
“Yeah! Beavo said slowly. “That would be… impossible… but what about if we got the bunnies to join our side! Then… that would be impossible too.”
“I think you watch too much CSI. Or did.” commented Alice.
“Well, now we know what made the bunnies. Cat and Dog argument potion.” said Beavo sarcastically. “What if we made a gum pie? Then they would get really sticky. We could probably be able to do that. And if they were really sticky, we could…”
“Laugh at them for being stuck.” said bibloRose.
“This is going nowhere,” said Alice.
“well if we go over to the muses we might find something that will help” suggeted the man for aeiou
The door burst open suddenly and a breathless Urania sped in. She scanned the group with frantic speed and then finally said “You come with me.” A wide eyed Jadestone followed wearily. ” Good luck” bibliorose called out trying to be encouraging. They sat in silence for a moment. ” What the heck was that! Anyway that roman chick was pretty hot.” Said FS. “Shes greek!” piped up sweet melpomene. “Not to mention an ancient giver of wisdom and unlimited knowledge!”
the man for aeiou said “thats not the type of muses I was thinking of.but know we know the muses ,at lest urania have been broght to life.”
**************

o.k. that did not work.
268- Why do we need to wrap up? We’re having fun. Or I am.
becuse we need a 14,000 word novel. at least I think so.
272- Two points.
One: 14000 words is not a novel.
Two: This is just a story for our own amusement, can’t we just stop when we feel like it?
“Wait,” BiblioRose thought suddenly. “hey Frigidsymphony why did you think that Urania was Roman?” He shrugged. “The only ancient cicvilization i care about is the Vikings. I wasn’t exactly examining her that closely. I’m no historian.”
“You don’t have to be a historian to know..” widdershins began suddenly realizing what bibliorose meant.
“To know that wasn’t the real urania!”
There was a collective gasp.
” Hey, you”re right. her robes were prussian blue, not purple!Ans she hasn’t changed them since…the beggining of time!” Alice said.
” Then where is Jadestone?” Ebeth cried, clearly distraught.
“My guess is that she was a neutral party on the cats or dogs issue. Perhaps the fake-Urania was taking her to be a sacrifice of some sort?” BiblioRose thought aloud.
My, this is exciting! I hope I don’t die.
One thing: We’re lapsing a bit on the ages here (me included). Arn’t we around 20, 25 for someof us? At some parts we aound like youngish teens instead.
And FS cares a lot about history… we should take that line outabout him only caring about vikings. The ‘ht roman chick’ can stay though. Perhaps the imposter is really Roman.
And wouldn’t the GAPAs have noticed she wasn’t supposed to be there? Or will they reassure us she’s good?
I wish I didn’t have writers block.
Oops, we’re in our late 20s, though I would be 30. Wow, that’s old. Maybe it should only be arouund 10 years earler, not 15.
I’m… twenty six… I think….
I’m going to edit the story so far for mistakes and such.
Which means I won’t be posting for a while…:(
i would be 25 in the story
275- Sorry. But maybe the adult FS doesn’t care? i don’t know. Perhaps he could point out something that made her roman. Sorry, FS. Maybe the gapas are to lost in their ownn thoughts to notice….
Also i had an idea: Could this be written from one of our childrens point of view? It has to be someone who was there early in the story and stayed strong throughout.
I’d recognize an italian. And I do know that ‘Urania’ is greek, not roman.
280- You do now. But perhaps you didn’;t then? Oh well, we’re scrapping it anyway. I’;m sorry agian!
281: ‘Then’? It’s in the future!
Okay, how about just:
“Wait,” BiblioRose thought suddenly. “hey Frigidsymphony why did you think that Urania was Roman?”
He shrugged. “She looked like she was?”
“You don’t have to be a historian to know..” widdershins began suddenly realizing what bibliorose meant.
I think that would work. Yes?
282- Its the future written in past tense.
“Huh? What?” burst in Cinnamoon, who had been lost in her thoughts. Bibliorose looked at her strangely.
“We’ve been talking about that Urania. We don’t think she was what she seemed.”
“Of course she wasn’t!” Cinnamoon cried, “Didn’t you notice? She didn’t have her telescope, and that ball that follows her around everywhere was missing.”
Peoples, I have writers block, so even though I’m not posting story parts here, I’m still working. If you dont have writers block, please post!!!!!!!!!!
Robert, Rosanne and Paul looked at each other.
“What Urania where you talking about? I didn’t see any Urania,” said Robert.
“Nor did we,” chipped in Rosanne and Paul.
“Alright,” said Cinnamoon menacingly, “You three are hiding something. And it’s time for you to talk. Where is Rebecca? You know something about this. What is it?”
Rosanne opened her mouth and slowly began to speak
If anyone wants to write me in again, feel free. I’m too dead from camp still to do any myself (6 weeks, and then a two-day car ride to Texas from Ohio == major sleep deprivation).
ACK PPLZ! THIS THREAD IS DYING!! PLZ WRIGHT!
Right now I’m working on editing the story so far… so I might not post here for adding.
BUT PLZ POST!
And Alice, if you want to talk about my entrence scene, now is the time. I’ve just been editing that part.
I imagine that Shadowkat will be at future kokons, as will you, so you should make it that you have seen her and her brother at kokons, rather than it being from the Muser Profiles thread. Cause that’s ridiculous.
291-Oh, okay, that makes sence. *changes*
Who wants to see the whole story? I’ve edited it for… stuff… later I might start posting things that should be cut out, put in, or changed, and if any other peoples think something should be changed, PLEAZ SAY SO! Remember, nothing will be changed without everyone aggreeing on it. That wouldn’t be fair.
I don’t think you should make yourself a double agent. It’s too much like making yourself the main character.
292- Sense.
293- Sure.
294-We already fixed that, remember?
Here’s the WHOLE STORY.
“Good night!” wrote E2MB “See you in the morning!” Little did he know, this was the last comment ever to be moderated on the MuseBlog.

When E2MB logged on the next morning, he was shocked to see that no one had posted in the time he had been sleeping. He was a good deal more shocked to see that, on the very top of the page, even above the random thread, was a single post. It said, “BLOG CLOSED DUE TO.” Due to what? He clicked on the random thread, only to find it closed. All the threads were! When he had worked through the entire year of 2010, he realized the awful truth: The MuseBlog was truly closed.


***************
Beavo the Great logged onto MuseBlog that fateful morning, and too groggy to see the Blog Closed signs, he posted: ‘ *yawn* Well, good morning everyone! ‘ and clicked sumbit. Little did he know that this comment would never be moderated, and would continue to say “Comment Awaiting Moderation” for the next thirteen years.
When Beavo logged on two hours later, he began to sence something fishy. By then, he had read the Blog Closed signs, but too lazy (and laden down with homework) he forgot all about it.

Thirteen years later, Beavo recived a phone call from the producer of Punk Trash Productions. This was to be his first casting call for a major movie!!! As he flipped his phone shut, his heart pounding, a small alarm began to go off in his head. This alarm said “DO NOT GO TO THAT CASTING CALL”. Beavo’s alarm had actually been telling him something all morning, and now it was ringing profusely. He ignored it. Ever since he had seen It when he was five, he became paranoid. And he thought now was one of those times. It was not.

As soon as he started to put on a good looking shirt, he recived another call. This was a text message. As he read his caller ID, he found it was a number that he did not know. He flipped the phone open and read the message.

bv0 7h5 15 rbc4 1451y 7h3 b|\|5 h4v 74k|\| |\/|3 p1z |)0 |\|07 60 |\|3\/\/h3r3 2|)4y 1 h3r|) 7h|\/| p14|\|1|\| 7h3y |\/|3|\|70|\||) ur |\||\/|3 1|\/| b|\|6 h1|) 1|\|

At this point, the message ended. Beavo, ignoring the warnings not go anywhere, immideatly got in his car. As he settled himself in the driver seat, he felt a furry paw settle over his mouth. The last thing he saw was a pink face, then black.

***************
The year is 2020. The heroes: a few dozen young men and women, most in their late 20s. Fifteen years earlier, four friendly-seeming but mysterious people gathered them on what was then known as the World Wide Web, dropped hints about an important destiny or mission they were to fulfill, and then vanished. Over the years, some of the group kept in touch; others drifted apart. Now a great danger has brought them all back together again…

“Zark,” Sweet Melpomene said at last. “This is big. Really big. And BAD.”

“Do you think–” Widdershins looked around at the others. “Do you think the GAPAs knew?”

Juliette shrugged. “You mean ‘knew’ as in ‘had foreknowledge of’? Like Hari Seldon and his psychohistory? Not zarking likely.”

“I’m not so sure,” Purple Panda said. “They sounded as if they did. There was one thing in particular that Robert posted, just a few days before…”

“Robert!” FrigidSymphony scoffed. “That old fraud. He’d be the last person I’d listen to.”

Shadowkat reached across the table and tousled FrigidSymphony’s waist-long hair. “Still smarting from that time he banished you, are you, Fridgey?” she teased.

“That has nothing to do with it,” the musician shot back. “I just found Rebecca and the other Administrators more helpful.”

Alice looked pensive. “I always wondered about Rosanne,” she said. “She seemed very quiet and sweet, but I got the impression that there was a lot more to her than that. I suspect that she was the brains of the outfit, the one pulling the strings. And then one day they were all just–gone…”

For a moment, the group sat in uneasy silence.

“Anyway, they did their job,” Red-tailed HAWK said at last. “They got us together. Now we’ve got a job to do.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Ebeth burst out. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s get out there and DO it.”

“Not so fast,” Prarilius Canix said. “We can’t afford to rush into this. It’s too important for that. Failure is not an option here. We have to be sure what we’re dealing with.”

E2MB smiled grimly. “Well, whatever it is,” he said, “one thing is for sure: it is definitely NOT mostly harmless.”

Shadowkat looked Prarilius Canix.
“PC is right,” she said. “We have to find out what it is we’re dealing with. Those disappearances…did anyone notice any kind of order to them? Do you think it could be…the bunnies?”

FrigidSymphony glanced up from admiring his hair. “Bunnies? I’ll kill ’em. I’ll…”. He broke off, turning his attention to a small stain on his shirt.
“Dammit, I just washed this crap yesterday! Bloody pasta…”

“Obsess much?” muttered Shadowkat. She raised her hands in response to the glare she got from FrigidSymphony. “Just making an observation!” she said defensively.

“Hey, I care about my appearance,” he shot back, “because it’s worth the effort.” He gave her a cocky grin.

Shadowkat grinned back, and thought, Well, at least one of us hasn’t changed…. “I care about mine, too! But, you know, you really don’t need to do anything…you’re naturally gorgeous.” She winked at him.

“Will you two stop the banter? We have a crisis on our hands!” Prarilius Canix snapped. He was irritable, having been awake for the past two nights, researching. “It’s not just the GAPAs. Whatever did this wanted to get them out of the way first, because it thought that they were the only ones who could stop it. People have been disappearing all over the world.”

“You’re talking about this as though there was some intelligence behind the disappearances,” said Lizzie. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“I think it’s probable,” Pentatonikk mused. “The bunnies…?”
”What are you talking about?” Prarilius Canix hissed. “The bunnies are imaginary and this is real.”

Silence.

“Right?”
Silence.

“Well… ” said Kiki the great, nervously fingering her red hair. “You never went to Kokonventions…”

“And you hadn’t been in contact with us much in the past few years,” the man for aeiou said. “Until now, that is… “

“I’m sorry, PraCan,” Taiwan Hippo Fan said. “We didn’t realize there was anyone here who didn’t know.”

“Know what?” asked Alice, just as clueless as Prarilius Canix.
“Oh! You mean . . . that?”

Shadowkat looked at the others, then turned to Prarilius Canix. “Alright, look, you remember that day back in ’07, April Fool’s Day, when the HPBs took over MuseBlog? And we all thought, ‘Haha, what a joke, that can’t be real!’? Well…it was. I know some connections who might have some information about the disappearances…should I call them?”

“PC, the bunnies are real. Well, in a sense…it was an accident.” Sobriquet whispered, concerned.

“Wait,” interrupted Lizzie. “I seem to have missed the memo. Who are Shadowkat’s ‘people’ and what do they have to do with the disappearances?”

“I have no clue,” volunteered Alice, unhelpfully. “Shadowkat?”

FS pulled a flask ot of his pocket and took a long drink, then said: “I think we should all use our assets and dig up whatever we can about these disappearances. I’ll contact the Thelema, see if the occultists can give me some info… As for the rest of you…”

“My ‘people'” retorted Shadowkat, “are a few parties with whom I have certain useful connections. And that’s all you need to know. Now, should I contact them, or not?”

“What about the rest of us?” asked Alice. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. I mean, since the the Wawona sunk I don’t even have a ship!” She paused. “Of course, most of you don’t have ships either, so I suppose it’s not that unusual.”

“I’ll be doing some research. Again,” Prarilius Canix sighed. “I’ll look through the newspaper archives, see if I can find any pattern to the disappearances. If I can find the time and place they started, we’ll have something to work with.”

Shadowkat sighed. “And I’ll contact my people, see what they know…and trust me, they’ll know something. Anyone else have an assignment for me? I’ll need something to keep me busy once I’m done…” She glanced at FS, who raised his eyebrows. “Well, never mind. Anyone?”

Canix left the room. Moments later, a sleek white Prius with a BOOK♥ER license plate pulled out of the parking lot below and drove off in the direction of the library.

“I wonder what he’s up to,” Alice mused. “He didn’t even wait for us to explain about the bunnies.”

“He’s probably going to catch up on some of the old MB threads, see if he can find out something about them himself.”

“Makes sense. That’s where it all started.”

“God, I feel useless,” moaned Alice. “All I can do is write, really. I suppose I could help PC research, but…” She trailed off. “I don’t know.” She rested her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands. “I’ve never been very good at making plans, either.”

Shadowkat looked around at everyone. “Well, I’m gonna go talk to a few people, alright? Everyone knows what they’re doing? Good.” She got up and headed for the door. Glancing over her shoulder at FS, she said, “You coming?”
He nodded, and they left together. A black and silver Honda motorcycle with two dark-clothed figures on it glided out of the parking lot a few minutes later.

***************

Prarilius Canix stood up, heaps of newspaper falling off the computer desk. It was so obvious. Why hadn’t he spotted it before? He scribbled a few important points on a sheet of notebook paper, stuffed the sheet in his pocket, and dashed out into the rainy street, ignoring the funny look he got from the librarian.
“This could alter the fate of the entire world,” he thought. “They’ve got to know about it.” He was so focused that he didn’t notice the figure standing nearby beneath an umbrella, or what that figure held in its free hand and was pointing at him.
There was a sharp crack, like a gunshot. In fact, that’s what it was. Prarilius Canix collapsed against the library wall and slowly slid to the ground.

***************
Kagcomix looked up, from where she was sitting on the floor. “So they are real,” she muttered, coughed once and continued. “Animal shelters”.

“What do you mean?” asked Alice, bending over to look at Kagcomix.

“Well, normal rabbits multiply rapidly, right? But the HPB’s are different. Aren’t they spawned from talk of dogs vs. cats? And where better to find dogs and cats than at an animal shelter? I think we should check out the local shelters. I can do some volunteer work there while checking stuff out.”
As Kagcomix finished she curled into child’s pose, her sword hugged to her stomach. She felt tired and ached. Kagcomix drifted off into thoughts and reflections, about her training, about her bionic right arm and other wounds, about her past.
A loud bang filled the air. Kagy started and banged her head on the table.

“Sorry,” Red-tailed HAWK said. “I didn’t know it actually worked.” RtH held a gun in his hand. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry!” he said again.

“Where exactly did you get that?” asked Widdershins.
”Uh….this secret compartment thingy slid open when I put my hand on the table,” RtH explained.

“Maybe there are more, but HAWK, DON’T go pulling triggers indoors. It’s dangerous!”Alice snapped at him.

“Anybody have a laptop?” Sobriquet asked. “We should check the news. We should keep track of any more unexplained dissapearences or bunny sightings.”

Alice handed over a small silver notebook. “For writing.” she offered. “I take it everywhere.”

The group skimmed the headlines. One read “Man Shot At Chicago Library”.

“Wasn’t PC headed for the library?” E2MB asked.
Sobriquet clicked the link. At the top of the page was a picture of Pralirius Canix lying unconcious on the library steps.

Kagcomix got up. She had stopped paying attention and drifted off, but people seemed to be leaving now so she guessed she should be too.
Kagy grabbed her sword and walked to the door. On the street the air felt good on her face. I’ll go to the library to see how PC is. Besides, I want to pick up a book, she thought.

A horrific scene met her eyes as she reached the steps. Police tape everywhere, and PC lying by the library doors. With a disregard for the police and everyone around her Kagy ran towards PC.
“Pralirius, who did it, where did they go?” she whispered.

“Dunno, they went down the side street,” Pralirius gasped.

“It’s okay PC, I’ll get them. Just don’t die.” She smiled down at him before running off down a sidestreet. She didn’t need anyone dying, at least not this early in the game.

“Wait!” Prarilius gasped. He held up a blood-soaked scrap of paper, with a neat, round hole through the middle of it.

“That’s evidence. Hand it over, and everything will be all right,” said a young, nervous-looking policeman. Canix coughed, then fixed the policeman with a baleful stare.

“This is more important than you could possibly imagine. Don’t touch it.” The policeman backed off.
Kagy took the paper. Only three words were legible, and their last few letters had been cut off. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read.

***************
At that very moment, the former MuseBloggers were gathered around the tiny laptop on the big table, reading the dreadful article.

Suddenly someone asked, “Where’s Kagcomix?”

“Good point,” said Alice in surprise. “Where is Kagcomix?”

Green Qween burst into the room quite suddenly. “Am I late? What’s going on?” she blurted out. “I saw Kagy in the street, and she was running away from something.” She stared at the small group huddled around the laptop.
“What did I miss?”

***************

At the front of the library, a female police officer reported for duty.
“What’s going on here, Cook?” she said, addressing the man. Suddenly she stepped back a ways.
“PC?” she whispered faintly. “Is that you?”

“How do you know my blog name?” the bloody man whispered from the ground. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“Cat’s Meow,” the lady said. “And boy, it’s been way too long.”

***************
Cinnamon Moon stepped quietly into the room. The few people still sitting around the table turned toward her. She moved purposefully towards the table, then introduced herself.

“Cinnamon Moon. It’s been too long, my friends. Please tell me – what has happened? I don’t understand every thing. Can you explain?”

E2MB began. “It started with the bunnies…

“It happened at kokonvention #30 at Muse HQ. Shadowkat was showing her make-alive 3000 with a computer and ’07 januray muse. She typed in a random thread number and hit enter. She fed the Muse in. The make-alive made a ring sound and a thing popped out. It was a bunny! Then another, and more! Soon all of Muse HQ was filled will bunnies! Some were paper and some were from that april day in ’07.”

As E2MB finished recounting what had happened in the last few years, the room fell gloomily silent as the grave nature of what had taken place began to truly sink in.
The MBers sat silently, pensively, in the ever-darkening room, looking up on occasion, wondering what, exactly, had to be done. A disquieting atmosphere ensued until a familiar voice crackled once more through the PA speakers in the room.

“Zark, zark, zark,” muttered Sweet Melpomene. “This is already getting out of hand; I don’t think I can still risk talking to you from the lab, even if I do wipe the computers… I’ll be over to the Royal in a bit–”

A loud crash was broadcast, followed only by static before the speakers fell silent.

***************
Shadowkat pulled up to the abandoned apartment building. She looked it over, noticed the broken windows, tattered curtains, unhinged door. Home, sweet home., she thought, somewhat sarcastically.
She had dropped FrigidSymphony off at a phone booth outside of a “well-thought-of” bar in town. They would meet up later, when she was done with her current business.
She got off her bike, set the safety, and went into the building. Two men were waiting for her in the kitchen just inside the front door. She turned to them.

“Buona Notte, Signor Tomaschino, Masacci.”

“Ciao, Kat.” They replied in unison.

She looked them in the eyes. “Do you have the information I asked you for?”

“Yes.”

“Well, let’s see it, then.”

Tomaschino pulled a few sheets of paper out of the front pocket of his jacket and handed them to her. She looked at the papers for a few minutes, eyes narrowing as she read each sentence, then looked up at her companions.

“Is this all you could find?” she asked them skeptically.

“Yes.” answered Masacci, with a touch of aggression.

Shadowkat returned in kind, “Well, it had better be. This is more important than any of your kind will ever know.”
She spat out the last phrase as if it were poison. Which, to Tomaschino and Masacci, it was. Tomaschino took a step towards Shadowkat threateningly.

“If you weren’t my cousin…” he warned.
”If you weren’t my cousin, you’d be dead by now.” interrupted Shadowkat. She snatched the papers of the heavily-stained table where she had set them, turned on her heel, and marched out the door.
“Ciao, gentlemen!” she called from the street. With a roar and a vroom, she was gone.
***************
Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Alice picked up the phone in the meeting room.

“Hello?” she said, a little tentatively.

“Alice?”

“Yes.”

“It’s me, Shadowkat. Have you and the other MBers meet me downstairs. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I have some extremely important information.”
Click.

***************

Back at the library, the scene of the crime was buzzing with activity. After Kagy rushed off, someone finally had the sense to call 911. Paramedics had flooded the area, and PC was rushed into an ambulance.
As an authority figure, Cat’s Meow had recieved word that PC hadn’t lost a fatal amount of blood, but he was still in critical condition.

Five blocks away, Kagy swung around the sharp corner of a dank brick building. What she came face-to-face with in the alley made her stop dead in her tracks. From a distance, the dreamlike sound of sirens speeding away reached her ears, but she did not hear it.

***********

The downtown Chicago emergency room had seen better days. Minor dilemmas had been hindering progress since 8:00 that morning, especially since the latest batch of interns were starting today. Among these clueless medics was 29-year-old ‘Dotty-kay, who at the moment had quite a lot to worry about. She had recently recieved a mysterious message that her old MuseBlog friends planned to meet at a secret location this very day, supposedly for a reunion.
She had suspected the matter at hand was a bit more urgent, but she had a dilemma since her internship began today.
She couldn’t afford to miss this training, and so declined the invitation. Now she doubted the wisdom in this action. With rumors of an assassination attempt so early on, it was looking like she would be giving the MuseBlog conspriacy a higher priority than her career at this point.

Cat’s Meow had been thinking along these same lines, and had stowed away on PC’s ambulance just before it left, disregarding the fact that she was still on duty. Now as the vehicle raced into the emergency entrance, she tried to communicate with PC. From his grunts and fragmented sentences, she gained that he had just made an earth-shattering discovery. She followed the strecher inside the ICU, where Dot almost collided into the party.

***************
There was a barbed wire fence but it only stopped Kagy for a moment. She ripped the barbed wire aside with her right (and bionic) arm. Kagy could feel her heart pumping as she ran down the side street. It was long and it didn’t have a turn off for a long while.
It was more of an alleyway, now that she thought about it. Its narrow grimy brick walls from the buildings on either side leaned in close.
She could see a figure running up ahead. Kagy clutched the paper from PC tigter in her fist and put on a spurt of speed. She was getting closer. Her muscles ached but she kept going. Her sword was strapped to her side, in its hilt, but she pulled it out.
Suddenly there was gunfire. Three bullets rocketed past her bouncing off the walls, one going dangerously past her ear. Kagy ran faster. If she could just get into sword-reach…as Kagy neared the figure she noticed it wore a long trench coat and a big hat. Both the hat and the trench coat were black, but under the hat something pink was poking out.
Kagy barely had time to wonder what it was when another round of gunfire erupted.
This time Kagy couldn’t dodge them all. One was lodged in her right shoulder. At least it wasn’t my real arm, she thought. The gunfire wasn’t stopping and Kagy noticed that more people in trenchcoats and hats were emerging from a turnoff she hadn’t noticed before.
Kagy turned. There was no way she could face this many gunmen by herself.
She grabbed onto a sturdy looking pipe with her good arm and scampered up the building. Trying to doge bullets and climb up pipes was no easy task.
Kagcomix was finaly on top of the roof of one of the buildings when the gunfire died down. Kagy had two more bullets lodged in her arm.
Zark! I guess it’s another night without sleep to fix THIS! she thought. With her still intact left hand she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.
“Hello? Is that Dotty Kay?”

“Uh huh”

“It’s Kagcomix. I need your help.”

“Hey Kagy. I’m kinda busy right now.”

“With PC?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’m special.”

“Uh.. okay… why are you calling me?”

“Because I don’t know anyone else’s number.”

“Okay. So what do you need?”

“I don’t know if PC told you, but he gave me a sheet of paper. I can’t really read most of it but i know that you were on MB before i was and you might know what it means. Does ‘Ljubl… uh… Lagomo…Extrater’ make any sense to you?”

“Sorry, Kagy, but you’ve caught me at a really bad time. I’m not sure what that means, but go back to HQ, someone there will be bound to know what you’re talking about.”

“Thanks anyways, Dotty Kay.”
As Kagcomix put her phone back in her pocket she realised what the pink from under the hat had been: BUNNY EARS!

***************

In a room at MIT, a girl is checking her email in an attempt to procrastinate.
“Why can’t this paper make sense? I can’t do it. It’s impossible. What else can I do?”
She opens a web browser, Internet Fire Safari 9.999 Optimised.
“I haven’t used that email address in years. It’s some excuse.”
She types a password, clicks on something.
“Chicago… MuseBlog… I got this two weeks ago… oh, no.”
She takes out a phone and dials.

“Potato Chip? Yes, it’s me. Remember MuseBlog? When we were thirteen. I used to be curious and questioning. You had some people’s Facebook from then, right? Can you contact them? Now. There’s kind of a problem. I’m emailing you. Checking your old email accounts might help too. I’m going to try calling some other people from that DC kokonvention. If you find anything, call me or email. My thesis can wait a little bit longer.”

Kagy ran across rooftops until she reached HQ. She didn’t want to make a scene with her bullet holed t-shirt and her wrecked arm. Finally Kagy was able to climb down from the roof into the building they had been in before. It seemed there were hidden passageways everywhere.
As she entered the room, Sweet Melpomene looked up.

“ZARK! Kagy, what happened? Should I call the ambulance?” Sweet Melpomene asked, shocked at the holes that adorned Kagcomix’s shirt.

“Nah, ‘sokay. They only got my bionic arm.” Kagy responded.

“So, what exactly happened?” E2MB asked.

“Well, I saw PC and he gave me a note. Then I rushed down an alleyway and got shot at by people in bunny suits, black trench coats and hats. The little rascal screwed up my arm! I came over the roof tops to get here.” Kagy explained.

“Bunny suits?” E2MB asked.

“Guess so.” said Sweet Melpomene.
“What did PC’s note say?”

“Most of it’s gone, but what i can read is Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” said Kagy.

“It’s a good thing I left my bag here earlier, because my arm realy needs work. That’s where I keep spare parts,” she explained. Kagy took off her ripped shirt and started down to work on her arm.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Sweet Melpomene asked as Kagcomix dug out the bullet and started repairing broken wires and plates.

“Nope, only near my collarbone, because that’s where the metal meets the flesh. Otherwise I don’t have that much feeling in my right arm. I mean, I can feel the bullets in there and I can feel being shot, but if you were to, say, run a feather down it I wouldn’t feel it. I always wear a tank top under my shirts for situations like this. It’s realy hard to repair my arm if I keep having to roll up my sleeves.”

“You’ve been shot at before?” asked E2MB increduously.

“Yup! And stabbed too! Wanna see my scar?”

“Not really. But why?”

“In my line of work you come to expect calamity.”

“I thought you were a cartoonist!” Sweet Melpomene jumped in.

“That and defending justice,” Kagy replied. “So do either of you know when PC might get out of the hospital? Because no one I’ve asked so far seems to know what his note means.”

“No idea.” answered E2MB.

Alice had been thinking hard. “Hang on,” she said suddenly. “What did the note say again?”

Kagcomix obligingly fished it out of her pocket with her real arm. “Ljubl… Lagomo… Extrater…” she read.
Alice took it from her.

“What?” asked agagabagabag.

Alice looked up. “I’m not sure about Ljubl and extrater, but Lagomo seems awfully similar to lagomorph.”

Everyone looked at her. No one moved.

“Which is…?” asked Fire_Falcon22.

“I can’t believe you don’t know that!” burst out Alice. “You’ve all grown up to be hugely successful, and none of you know what lagomorph is?”

When no one answered, Alice explained. “Rabbits aren’t rodents. They’re lagomorphs.”

“Oh my goodness, Alice, you’re right!” cried Cinnamon Moon “I’m so sorry for not having kept in touch. Maybe we could have found this out earlier! But after the news about Rebecca…”
She looked at the blank faces around her. “You mean-” she faltered. “Robert never told you?”

***************
Shadowkat pulled into the Royal’s parking lot, the papers she’d just received folded up in her pocket. I wonder where Fridgey got to…, she thought. When she’d asked the bartender whether or not he knew what had happened to a tall, handsome, black-clad man, the bartender had said he’d never seen a man like that. Odd. She got off her bike and went inside.

Bursting through the door of the lobby, she immediately dropped and rolled as a dart whizzed by her head and slammed into her shoulder. She began to feel its effects even in the seconds between impact and when she pulled it out. Her vision started to cloud.
No! she thought. Must…stay…awake!
She bolted for the door, whipping out her cell phone as she did so. Apparently, the gun that her attacker had used was a one-shot deal, at least for a while.
The phone on the other end rang. And rang. And rang some more. Then:
“Hello?” said a strange voice from the other line, a voice she didn’t recognize.

“What have you done with the MuseBloggers?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

“Oh, don’t worry, S-kitty…” She cringed at the use of her MB nickname by a stranger.
“…they’re safe…for now.” The connection broke.

“What?! Where are they?!? WHERE ARE THEY?!?!” she screamed into the phone, desperately trying wrap her mind around all this. Just a few minutes ago, they had been fine. And now, they weren’t.
She darted around to the side of the building and started to climb. For once in her life, she truly thanked Master Chi for how hard he’d made her train.
She crawled onto the roof. Luckily for her, the meeting room in which they’d been was on the top floor; she’d hear any commotion coming from it. She crept along the roof to the air vent, listening.
Suddenly, the wind changed direction, and she could hear voices.

“…–couldn’t be helped, sir.” said a somewhat high-pitched, squeaky voice.

“What do you mean, couldn’t be helped?!” roared the voice from her most recent phone conversation. “We had all of the others in our grasp, and YOU let this one slip through our fingers!”

“Yes, but, sir, the poison, she got the dart out–”

“I wouldn’t have cared if she’d thrown it back into you!!!” interrupted the one who appeared to be in charge. “It was your job to get her, and you didn’t! Now she’s probably on her way to the–”

Ding-a-ding, dong, ding, ding-a-ding, dong!, went Shadowkat’s phone.
“Bursting Shnizzle Pops!!!” she swore under her breath. She heard a clatter from the room below. She hurriedly leaped onto the next roof over, which, fortunately, was quite close, as she was in the city. She scrambled down the far side of the building onto which she had just leaped, dropped into the alley at the bottom, and opened her phone.
The display screen read “Alice”. She pushed the “Accept” button.

***************

“Told us what?” asked Alice. “It seems like we have a lot of information, but it’s all mixed up. Could everyone just sit down and explain in an organized fashion?”

Alice excused herself to get a drink of water, and walked out into the hall. It seemed strange to just sit there, doing nothing, but it had always been her nature to stay on top of the confusion, even at thirteen, and this confusion needed more staying on top of than any RRR.
She bent down to drink from the water fountain, and her head exploded into blackness.

She woke into blackness, and were it not for her awareness of the enormous lump on the back of her head, she would not have realized that she was awake. Her eyes searched the darkness for something light to rest them on, but there was only coal-blackness. She figured that there was a lot of black here.
Then it hit her. Her cell phone! It was only for business calls, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have the phone numbers of other MuseBloggers.
Her hands weren’t bound, and she pulled her cell phone out of her bag.
Its screen was glowing, and she fixed her eyes on it, glad of the relief from the darkness. She dialed Shadowkat’s number.

“Hello?” said Shadowkat.

“Hi, Shadowkat,” said Alice. “It’s Alice. I think I’ve been kidnapped. I’m in someplace dark.”

***************

“Well, what is it?” asked Donaldo as Alice left. Finally, someone had voiced what everyone was thinking.
All the MBers turned to Cinnamon Moon as she opened her mouth to explain. Taking a deep breath, she began.

“Well, there was a reason we all called her–” she was cut off by a loud creaking sound.

“What’s happening?” shouted agagabagabag.
E2MB paled as he realized what was happening.
“The whole room’s being moved!”

“What?” said several MBers simultaneously.

“That’s not possible!”

“It’s still bolted in place, for the moment!”

“I thought the Royal was safe!”

“How did they find us?”

“What’s that noise?”

Several people slammed into the door as the room began to shake. Widdershins struggled to pull it open as the lights went out. Gasping for breath, she and a few other MBers fell through as the rest realized they were trapped in what was acting like a gigantic, descending elevator.

“Zark,” she muttered as several people climbed off of her, apologizing profusely.
The group stared at the open doorway, catching a few last glimpses of their friends’ shocked faces as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.

“Well, one thing’s for sure,” said Sweet Melpomene. “We have to get out of this building, stat.”

***************
Fire_Falcon22 tried to move, but then realized he was tied up. He reached as far as he could for his sword. He grabbed the hilt, but was unable to pull it out of his sheath. He pulled and pulled until he was able to get the hilt through the rope. He grabbed the blade and moved it slowly up the rope, and after a minute of bringing the blade back and forth, he finally cut the rope.

“Ah, finally.” Fire_Falcon22 got up, and put his sword back in its sheath.
He couldn’t see a thing but he heard a voice. He tried to follow the voice, but soon hit a wall. He got up, but he sensed the presence of someone behind him. He turned around to see an odd figure, with a skin color so bright, he could see it, even through the darkness. Hot pink. The figure – more hopping than walking- moved slowly towards Fire_Falcon22. The figure pulled out a gun from his jacket.
Fire_Falcon grabbed the hilt of his sword.
The figure shot the gun, and Fire_Falcon deflected the shot with his sword, and the bullet bounced back at the figure. The figure jumped back and shot a few more shots at Fire_Falcon. He deflected a few, but then one hit him in the shoulder. He crouched down to the ground, clenching his wound. The figure came closer.

“Who are you?” asked FF. The figure didn’t say anything, he just pointed the gun towards FF.
FF sat there in shock, not knowing what to do…

***************
The MBers still caught in the moving room fell silent as the walls began to grate on the sides of the shaft. Cables and pulleys screeched against each other, guiding what once was a safe place down, down, down. Slowly, the air began to thicken and, one by one, the members of the group fell unconscious.

They awoke groggily in what appeared to be the same room, minus the conference table. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim pink lighting.
Someone sat in a corner, next to a pile of bindings.

“Oh, look! My rescue party’s arrived,” FrigidSymphony said, coating the sentence with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Which, on a bad day, is far more than average.

Ebeth rolled her eyes and gave him a disdainful look before scanning her surroundings. A few other MBers followed suit.

“Doors are probably sealed, no windows, PA system’s cut off…” Purple Panda listed to herself. She turned sharply to FrigidSymphony. “Exactly how long have you been here?” she asked politely.

“If I had my bloody watch, I’d probably have escaped by now,” he muttered before saying, “Since a little after I left. Damn bartender… he spiked my drink…”

“Right,” said Panda absently, as she continued to scrutinize the walls.

“They couldn’t even leave the chairs,” mumbled Ebeth. She, too, was looking around curiously. “When I get out of here, I’m renaming myself Ebeth the Amazing Escape Artist!â€
***************
“What the zark was that?” said Widdershins, breathing heavily after her run out of the building.

“An amazing feat of engineering, if I do say so myself,” said someone behind her.

“We tried to get here sooner, but…” said another person, finishing her sentence with a tired sigh.

“Curious and Questioning! Potato Chip!” the group exclaimed.
Brief ‘hellos’ were made as the group followed the two down the street, to a modest-looking parking garage.

“There’s another place we can try to reach, if it’s not too late. We have two cars…” said Curious and Questioning calmly.

“Make that three,” added Sweet Melpomene. “I left mine here, too.

“Great,” Potato Chip said, “we can split up, so it’s even harder for them to capture the rest of us.” She handed a few pieces of notebook paper to SM. “Directions,” she explained.

SM scanned them, and then shoved the directions into an inner coat pocket. “We’ll meet you there; Kagy and I are going to try to get into the hospital. We’re going to try to find Canix and Cat’s Meow.”

They hurried off into the garage until Juliette stopped abruptly.
“Wait, where’s Fire_Falcon22? He fell out of the door with us, didn’t he?”

***************
Dot snapped her phone shut and quickly shoved it in her pocket. Looking around to make sure the doctor hadn’t seen her recieve a call, she spotting Cat’s Meow standing awkwardly next to PC’s bed. They exchanged worried glances, and then Dot came over to adjust an IV in PC’s arm.

“I just got word from Kagy,” she muttered to her two friends. It was hard to tell if PC was listening. “She got your paper, Prarilius, and she’s taking it to show everyone else.”

***************
Snagging a most-likely-illegal parking spot, Kagcomix and Sweet Melpomene hopped out of the car. Slamming the doors and rushing into the hospital entrance, they quickly navigated their way to the emergency room.

“Please, ladies, what’s the problem?” a stern female voice said from the reception desk.

“We need to get in!” SM spluttered. “It’s urgent!”

The receptionist glanced them over. “If it’s not a medical emergency, I’ll have to ask you to head to the waiting room.”

“But our good friend is in there, and we have to talk to him!” said a frustrated Kagy.
”This is a matter that could alter the virtual world permanently, and now threatens our reality!” SM added.

“An online relationship crisis, eh?” sneered the receptionist. “I can’t help you. Patients’ visitors may be immediate family only.”

***************
There was a clatter on the end of the line.
“What’s that?” asked Alice uncertainly. Not much had changed since she was thirteen, when it came to bravery. “Shadowkat?” There was no response. “SHADOWKAT?” Still no sound came from the phone.
But somewhere in the darkness, a familiar voice called,
“Who’s that?”

“Alice!” Alice yelled back.
“Where are you?”

“Over here!” yelled the voice (which Alice was fairly sure belonged to Fire_Falcon) “I’m kind of in trouble right now!”

***************
Shadowkat was backed up against the alley wall, with a gun pointed at her head. Holding the gun was a man. A tall man, fairly good-looking. But dark, and not in a good way. He wore a jet black suit made of what appeared to be silk, and dark glasses, too. No eyes could be seen through those.

“You won’t get away this time, you little brat!” the man growled. “Too long have I lied in wait, too long have I held my grudge, itching for revenge…and now,” he smiled an evil, toothy smile, “it’s over.” He fired.

“NO!!!” Another man, quite a bit younger than either of the people present, leaped in front of the firing gun. He groaned, having taken a bullet to the left shoulder. It seemed like a never-ending moment in which Shadowkat stared down at her savior in shock, mouth agape. She knew this young man, and quite well. He was her brother.

“T.J.!!!!!!!!” she screamed, and it felt like her vocal cords ripped. She whirled on the man in the the suit, the man who had just shot her little brother. “You…” she snarled, looking as much like the cat from which she took her Blog name as was humanly possible.
The man backed against the opposite wall, afraid of the thirst for blood in her eyes. She whipped out her own gun and stormed towards him, holding it aloft. She slammed him into the wall.

“What do you want with me?!” she shouted into his face.
”It’s not…just you,” the man panted.
”Who is it, then?!” She got no response. “Who is it?!?!”

“…MuseBlog…” he spat, venom dripping from his words. A groan escaped his lips. Shadowkat backed away from him in horror. The man let out a sickly laugh.
”Hahaha…you’ll never stop us, Kitty-kat, and neither will any of your little playmaaates…hahahaaa…” He trailed off as the poison with which he had injected himself took its effect.

Shadowkat let his body fall to the ground in a heap. She turned and knelt down next to her fallen brother, who was coughing up blood. The bullet in his shoulder was holding his flesh together in that spot for the most part, but he still needed medical attention, and fast.

“T.J.” she shook him, keeping him with her.

“Katie…” he groaned. “I…didn’t think I’d…make it in time…”

“Wait, Teej, what do you mean? Did you know something–?”

“Yes. Kate, it’s the creators…the creators of…”
”What, T.J., what?! The creators of WHAT?!”
He passed out.

Shadowkat jumped up and called Sweet Melpomene, who, since she’d had a bit of training in chemistry, might have some idea of what to do with her brother (known as “The Tominator” on the Blog) before they could get him to the hospital.

***************
“So, tell us now, before it’s too late. What happened to Rebecca?” asked E2MB.

“Lady Bunniful was… well… I don’t know how to say this, but I’ll try. Rebecca was being controlled by the bunnies. But she resisted, in the last few months of Museblog. Then, she was taken by them. We haven’t heard anythlng since. The rumour is that she might be – dead. I don’t know. Our forces haven’t uncovered anything substantial.”

“Wait a second!” burst in another blogger. “What do you mean – ‘our forces’?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know about those either!!!” cried Ebeth.
Cinnamon Moon whirled on her.
”Ebeth, please! Calm down! Lot’s of people don’t know about lots of things, so let’s just keep our head on straight and explain, alright?”
At a nod of acknowledgment from Ebeth, she continued.
”Well, a few MuseBloggers and I were kind of worried that the HPB’s would try to take over MuseBlog, again, so we arranged for monitors (the sources we were talking about) to watch Lady Bunniful, as we suspected she might be the first they’d try to take over. Our monitors, though, not only watched over Rebecca, but also made sure the Blog was always okay, and nothing “funny” was going on. To do this, they talked to the Editors, Writers, and other people related to Muse. They were very careful, and good at what they did. They never took their eyes off Rebecca, though.
I know this, because I was there on that fateful day when, suddenly, Lady Bunniful disappeared. Just like that. She was sitting in front of her computer, moderating, when she was just…gone. Of course, some claim to have seen a faint pinkish glow where she’d just been, right after she vanished, but that was never proven.
Nothing else that our sourced found ever led to anything. Rumors, yes, those have gone around, but never have any been shown to be true. It’s…well, it’s…scary.” she finished.

The others stared at her with wide eyes. No one knew quite what to say.

***************
“What sort of trouble?” asked Alice. “And where are you?”

“Right here!” yelled Fire_Falcon. “And it’s -” he broke off.

“It’s what?”

There was a scuffle in the dark, and a popping noise, and silence.
“FF?” Alice ventured tentatively.

“Right here,” said FF, from a few yards away.
“It was a hot-pink bunny.”

“What happened to it?”

“I don’t know. It just…vanished.”

***************
Sweet Melpomene’s phone rang. She jumped. She was a little bit paranoid, right now, after her recent experience. Looking at her phone, she saw that the display screen read, “Shadowkat”. She opened it up. She didn’t even say hello.

“Shadowkat! Where have you been?! The other MuseBloggers and I were attacked, and some of us escaped, but I don’t know where the rest are, and–”

“Yes, Mel, I know.” interrupted Shadowkat. “I was the one who tried to warn you guys, and ended up talking to some deep-voiced man, who then tried to kill me! But, Mel, he didn’t, because my brother took a bullet for me, and he’s passed out, and fading fast, and I–”

“Where are you?” asked SM.
”Behind the building east of the Royal.”

“I’m coming.”

****************************

Beavo the Online Stalker suddenly bursted around a corner, the one Shadowkat happened to be at, and crashed right into her. Shadowkat, who was very nervous by this time, jumped away and stared at this messy-haired, un-matched-clothed young man who sprawled at her feet. He looked up. She took a step back.

“Hey. You must be Shadowkat. I remember you from the Kokonventions. I’m Beavo. And that must be your brother.”

“But how did you know all this about…this stuff? You weren’t at any of the meetings, the attacks, and you weren’t even at the ER with PC!”

“That my friend, is for me to know and you… not to know. Right now, we need to get help with your brother.”
Beavo took a huge bandage, a scotch tape dispenser, and a cell out of his pocket. As he started to put the bandage on Shadowkat’s brother, he handed her the phone.

“Here, call someone with this. We need help.”

“I already did!”

“Who?”

“SM.”

“And she is…?”

Sweet Melpomene rounded the same corner as Beavo did, and crashed right into Shadowkat. She heard Beavo mutter “Deja Vu” as she picked herself off the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked up at Shadowkat.

*****************************

“Now, we just need to get out of here,” said FF.

“Yes, but where is here? And how do we get out? Man, this would make a great book.”

Fire_Falcon rolled his eyes in the dark.. Alice thought that everything even remotely exciting would make a good book.

“I don’t know where we are,” he said, “or how we’re going to get out. But we always have cell phones. We could call the other Musers.”

Alice moaned. “Don’t remind me,” she said. “If I wasn’t such a Luddite, we could be out of here already.”

“What do you mean?”

“Those new cell phones – not the disposable ones – have the nice tracking systems, and the maps. They can be tracked by other people, and by you, and they can have whole maps on them. But I’m so anti-tech that I didn’t even bother. You wouldn’t have one with a map, would you, FF?”

“All I have is a sheet of disposable ones,” said FF.

“Oh, great,” began Alice, but suddenly stopped. “Hang on,” she said, “I might not have high-tech cell phone, but I have a compass!”

Fire_Falcon was completely baffled. “You carry a compass, but you don’t carry anything remotely resembling a tracking device?”

Alice shrugged, though you couldn’t see it in the dark. “Like I said,” she said brightly, “I’m weird that way. Do you have a flashlight or anything?”

FF searched through his pack, that after a few seconds, he realized wasn’t there.
”They must have took my pack. Unfortunately, I dont have a flashlight, so how are we supposed to see the compass?”

Alice thought for a minute.
”Yeah, that is a bit of a downside.”

“Ya think? Did you bring a flashlight?”

“Like I said, anti-tech.”

FF slapped his hand on his face.

Just then, there was a gun fire. FF and Alice spun around to see the faint glow of Hot pink. The bunny pointed the gun at Alice, and shot. FF pulled his sword out and deflected the shot. The bunny aimed the gun at FF, but FF charged at the bunny with his sword. The bunny fired, and caught FF in the hand, he dropped his sword, and hit the ground.

“Where’s my sword?!”

“I dont know.” responded Alice.
The bunny continued to shoot at FF, but he dodged as many as he could, until he hit a wall, and fell to the ground. The bunny hopped slowly towards him. He put his small handgun back into his jacket, and pulled out a machine gun.

“FF! Catch!” yelled Alice.

FF grabbed the hilt of his sword, that he surprisingly caught in the dark. He swung the sword towards the bunnies head, aiming at the back. He heard a crucnh, and could see bits of metal all from the back of the rabbit’s head. The rabbit stopped in his tracks, and dropped the gun, and simply hopped off.
FF walked towards the bits of metal.
”Some kind of device.”
Alice walked up next to him.
“What is it?”

“Hmm. I really dont know.”

“Wait a sec!” said Alice suddenly. “How come we can see?”
It was true. A faint light filtered through the blackness, and they could see that the room they were trapped in was absolutely enormous. Away across the several acres of floor, they could dimly see a pair of steps, ascending to a door, which was heavy and – as far as they could see – locked.

***************
In another room nearby, a man in a cloke stood in front of many glowing orange screens. The computers started humming.

“Unit damaged. Unit # 707654I5″
The cloaked man punched the table. “They might be on to us…”

***************
“COME ON! Do you not realize that this is a mater of life and death for more than one of your patients?” Kagcomix exclaimed angrily at the nurse at the front desk.
Kagy turned to Sweet Melpomene to say “I don’t think we’ll get through this way.” only to find that SM wasn’t there.
“Whatever!” Kagy said to the nurse, “It’s not THAT important. Could you possibly tell me the room number for Prallius Canix, I want to send flowers.” she finished the last part in a pleasant voice .

“Well, I guess so. It’s room #308 B.” said the nurse.
“Thanks.” said Kagy as she strode out the door. Kagy turned into the tiny laneway beside the hospital. She scaned the side of the building for a door. She found one, right by the dumpster. It was heavy, using all her strength she pushed open the door. Looking quickly down the hall first, Kagcomix dashed towards the flight of stairs at the end.
***************
“Ug..ug… ug … ug …”

Alice said “Whats that noise?”

FF said “Sounds like where not the only ones here!”

The sound came agian, this time saying “a…e…i…o…u…”

FF said “Who’s there?”

The sound said “a…e… i…o…u…”

Alice said “But aeiou isn’t real!”

FF said “No, but The Man for Aeiou is!”

The sound came up saying “Utieme!”

FF said “He must be tied up. Lets untie him.” Though he said the last part begrudgingly because of a fight on the blog fiteen years ago.

They untied him.
The Man for Aeiou said “Here, it’s a cell phone with maps, lockpicking tools, a gun, a whistle, water pruifation tablets, and mer, INC’s pateted quick-grow food-grow.”

Alice muttedered under here breath “Dexes ex machince!”
***************
After the Man for Aeiou , FF, and Alice left the area of the room, The Man for Aeiou said “Okay, let’s go to the ER where PC is.â€
It took ten minutes in The Man for Aeiou’s plane.

***************
As all the MuseBlogers all ended up in the ER, they had PC’s bed rolled over next to the Tommanator’s bed.
Shadowkat said “Zark, THIS is big. They’ve taken out two of the MBers all ready!â€â€¨
The man for aeiou said “All we can do is pray.â€â€¨
Frigid Symphony said “You and your god.â€â€¨
All the MBers started to yell at one another. It was like a Hot Topics thread.
The nurses said “Shh!†and the MBers stopped.

Since medicine is so advanced in the future, both PC and the Tommanatior were relished by morning. After the MBers went back to the royal, a woman met them in the lobby. She was wearing a white jumpsuit with the letters M.C. on the front.
She said “I’m sorry but…â€
That was the last thing the MBers heard.
****************
The young woman known as Widdershins stirred groggily, raked a clumsy hand across her face, and forced herself to open her eyes. She felt as if she had slept for a week and wouldn’t have needed much encouragement to try for two.
Over the edge of the pillow she could see row upon row of beds–or, rather, cots–obviously slept in but empty now. She turned over and found that she was not alone in the room.To the left of her bed stood a boy, about 13 years old, with close-cropped dark hair and a smattering of freckles, wearing an unadorned white jumpsuit. To her right, in an identical uniform, stood a girl about the same age with blond hair pulled tightly back behind her head.
The boy clapped his hands together. “Finally!†he said. “You’re the last one. Everyone else is up already.You’d better hurry, or you’ll miss breakfast.â€
“Simon!†the girl said, glaring at him. “That’s not very polite. Our orders are to treat them with respect.†She turned to Widdershins and curtsied.
“We are delighted to have you as our guest,†she said, formally. “Breakfast has been served down the hall to the left. There is a restroom around the corner to your right if you need to freshen up. My colleague and I will wait here until you are ready.â€
Widdershins started to speak but decided questions could wait. Freshening up sounded wonderful to her just now. A few minutes later she followed her attendants down the hall, the girl maintaining an icy dignity while Simon swatted at her braid.
They emerged into a long room, like the sleeping room windowless and floored in institutional tile. One wall was hidden by a deep purple curtain. Down the middle of the room ran a series of folding tables, pushed together, covered with table cloths and set for breakfast, and heaped with serving dishes and vessels loaded with food: carafes of coffee and hot chocolate, pitchers of orange juice, three deep, heated trays of scrambled eggs, baskets of croissants and danishes, bowls of granola and yogurt. Around the table Widdershins recognized her fellow former MuseBloggers, about three dozen in all, their faces wearing various degrees of stunned disbelief.
Most of the men and women had not touched the food. A few had poured themselves coffee or juice and were tentatively sipping it. Red-tailed HAWK alone had piled his plate with everything available and was vigorously chewing half of a pain au chocolat.
“What? Wha-at?†he said to the accusing stares of the others. “It’s free food. I’m hungry.â€
Widdershins glanced at a knobless door at the far end of the room.
“Locked,†FrigidSymphony told her. “Reinforced steel. We already tried it.â€
She nodded and took an empty seat on the end of the table next to Shadowkat, facing the curtain. While she was pondering whether to risk the coffee, voices sounded from the far side of the door.
“Of course they will,†a man said.
“They will not,†a woman replied.
“Oh, they’re bound to.â€
“No way.â€
An electronic bolt chunked, the door opened briefly, and two figures entered the room. Both appeared to be in their mid-60s, give or take a few years. The woman was short and bore a mane of almost impossibly curly gray hair. Her eyes were pale blue, wide and mischievous, and her mouth wore a beatific smile. The man was almost a foot taller and, the MuseBloggers thought simultaneously, bore a striking resemblance, which he had obviously cultivated, to Albus Dumbledore.
“Good morning!†the man said heartily. “I hope you are all comfortable. Please forgive the improvised nature of your sleeping and breakfast arrangements. We do have real dormitories here, and a real dining room with a beautiful view, but, well–â€
“We were afraid that you might break the windows,†the woman finished.
“Let’s skip the hail-fellow-well-met routine,†Shadowkat said drily. “What is this place? And who are you?â€
The man turned to the woman, a pained expression on his face. “You were right,†he said. “They didn’t recognize us.â€
“Told you,†she whispered.
“Still, it has been a while, and some of us have changed more than others. Very well, then. My name is Robert Coontz, and this is my associate Rosanne Spector.â€
Rosanne waved. “Hi,†she said.
“Other familiar names and faces are nearby–†As if on cue, a burst of bagpipe drones sounded faintly from elsewhere in the building. “–and will be here shortly.â€
“As for our location, this building covers most of an island off the southern coast of Iceland–some of the youngest land on Earth, recently hardened lava fresh from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. But that doesn’t tell you what the place is. Simon, Birgitta–the curtain, please.â€
The boy and girl in the white jumpsuits trotted over to the center of the curtain, grasped plastic poles hidden behind its central folds, and walked in opposite directions, parting the curtain behind them. The MuseBloggers seated near them turned to watch it open. In meter-high gilded letters running the length of the wall, everyone at the table could read a name and a motto:
MUSE ACADEMY
CRVSTO VOLANTI NOLI OBSTARE
“Um, robert?” said The Man for Aeiou “Why did you kidnap, send bunnies, kill the blog, pretend to be kidnaped and other stuff, and if you don’t mind me saying, this seems kinda small for something that big.â€
It was Rosanne, not Robert, who answered. “Oh, we wouldn’t have brought you here for anything small,” she said. “As for all that other stuff, well, that would take weeks to explain. The important thing is that Paul and Rebecca and Robert and I didn’t do most of it, and it’s pretty amazing that we all made it out alive.”
She frowned. “Right now, though, you’ve got something more important to do: eat. You’ve been through a lot, you’re famished, it’s very good food, and I can’t eat it all. So eat!”
“See what I mean?” Alice whispered to Cinnamon Moon as she reached for the granola. “It’s just as I always suspected: she’s the brains.”
They looked at each other, very tempted to believe that their long-lost near godparents were here to save them. But, how could they be sure? So many things we going strangely…
suspiciusly.
Shadowkat spoke up. “How do we know it’s really you? I mean, we could ask you questoins and stuff, but if you were any good imposter you’d have done research.”
“How ’bout questions about Muse? From the Q&A? No one besides them could possibly have memorized them all.” Widdershins piped in.
“Good idea!” Alice responded. “Okay… We all know the daddy long-leg is an incredibly venomous spider but it can’t bite us. How much venum would it take to kill if it did?”
Rosanne smiled. “Tricky. I’d guess around .3 grams, except for the fact that it isn’t venomous.”
Alice nodded. “And, umm-”
“What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” Cinnamon Moon grinned.
“Eueropean? Or African?” Robert chuckled. “Eueropeans get roughly 9 meters per second, though of cource they slow-”
“Good enough, they’re the real ones.” Red-tailed HAWK said through a mouthful of food. Swallowing with difficulty, he added “Besides. I feel fine, and it tastes great.
The others grinned, and dug in.
Though they would pepper their old mentors with quesions in a few minutes, all of them were starving and could wait a fe more moments for their answers.
Alice studied the sign as she ate. Finally she swallowed a last mouthful of granola, and said, “What does the motto mean?”
Before a responce could come, a gentelman wearing a green bagpipe walked in, smiling jovially.
“I think that thou dost not study enough latin,” He told them in an English accent.
Several Musers chouroused a hello to Paul, while Robert explained. “It means, roughly, “Don’t obstruct the flying pies.”
Widdershins frowned slightly. “Wait- I remember. That was the motto for the school we were going to set up for Musers.”
They stared at him in astonishment.
“Wait- you mean, it’s up? And running?” Shadowkat questioned, astonished.
Rosanne smiled. “In a sense. It’s set up all right, but we’ve had a lot of trouble lately, as you may have heard. We havn’t it oped it yet, because, well, we’ll tell you after you’ve finished eating.”
The museblogers goobled up the rest of the food so that the GAPAs would talk.
“One question?” Sobriquet was too curious to wait for breakfast to end. “Who are the kids in the jumpsuits?” She asked, nodding towards the two children, who had been standing politely, though obviously fidgeting, near the curtain.
Everyone at the table turned to look at the youngsters.
“Yeah!” said Cinnamon Moon. “Unless you’ve started the school already. And you wouldn’t have done that, right? So who are they?”
The children in the white jumpsuits were still not answering. Robert sighed and took a deep breath.
“Dang. I always do this. I should probably right on notecards what I’m going to say before I plan a surprise. These children are, well, orphans. Orphans of a tragedy that left them without parents. Well, obviously. Ergh.”
Robert slapped his forehead. Rosanne spoke up.
“A little before you all were brought here, you were gathered, slowly being kidnapped, shot, etc., etc. Beavo the Online Stalker was the first to go. Then PC was shot, and so was Shadowkat’s brother, although that was an attempt at Shadowkat, not him. And so on and so forth. was an opperation to take over the world. You see, you all knew, way before now, even when you were on MuseBlog, that the Blog was not a normal blog for a normal magazine. You were all just right for our plans…”
Kiki the Great piped up. “Hey! What plans! I wasn’t aware that there were any plans! Except for the Kokonventions of course.”
“No, there were plans.” Replied Rosanne patiantly. “Big plans. We had to start a school, an acadamy, that would train children-much like yourselves ten years ago-to defend against this…perpertrator. For years, there have been books that had foreseen the future. Subtly. Many of these books were fantasy, so no one would guess what they would mean except the ones who were ready to handle the situation they fortold. Does anyone want to guess one of these books?”
E2MB raised his hand. “Harry Potter?”
Rosanne nodded.
“What about movies?” asked FS, politly for the first time in twelve years. Then he thought for a minute. “Wait a minute. What does this have to do with the orphans?”
“I’m getting there.” commented Rosanne.

“Right,” said Cinnamoon, “So there is some evil taking over the world, and we have to save it. And it has something to do with Harry Potter. Fine. Just as long as we don’t have to deal with house elves and silly side kicks.” She buried her head in her hands “I’m still confused!”
“You’re not alone,” murmured Alice in agreement. “How about The Dark Is Rising? Or His Dark Materials?” she asked the GAPAs.
“No, no, no… it has nothing to do with Harry Potter.” said Rosanne, slightly exasperated. “No house elves. What I’m saying is, there is a character, much like Voldermort, who’s trying to–well, we’re not so sure what he’s trying to do. But he sure is making a nuicence of himself, killing people and all. Similar to Voldermort. What would Voldermort do once he returned to “power”? Build up the economy?”
“But still, what does this have to do with the orphans?” asked Purple Panda.
“They’re parents were killed by this character. We still don’t even know his name.”
Beavo opened his mouth to say something.
“No, they do not have lightning shaped scars on their forehead. No magic involved.”
Beavo closed his mouth.
Rosanne continued. “Anyway, we are training children who were like you to use their wit to defeat him.”
There was silence around the table.
“Sooooo…” ventured Alice at last. “Where do we come in? Were you training us all those years, or just…” she trailed off.
“Just providing a nice environment for kids to talk to each other,” suggested Jadestone.
“You are the teachers of this new school.”
“You were fed information throughout your time on MuseBlog. For example, “What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” I bet you all know that.”
The MuseBloggers began to smile.
“And as you all know, us GAPA’s don’t last forever. Although we hope to last a long time. You have to be the new GAPA’s. Of course, this wont happen until MuseBlog is reopened, and it wont be reopened until…the guy… is removed. So. Who’s gonna take the challenge?”
“But the guy, if he is a guy and not a gal, is controling the bunnies what will stop him?” The Man for Aeiou said.
The musers looked at each other, considering.
“Why is no one else noticing? I havn’t heard anything on the news about pink bunnies with no bodies or anything.” Shadowkat mused.
“They’ve got the governments, don’t they?” FrigidSymphony said. “Well I noticed a decline in everything but I thought it was just, you know, idiots.”
“So.” Beavo started. “We… stop the guy, then teach at the school?”
“I’m not so sure about being a teacher.” Jadestone cut in. “I have a problem with kids who don’t want to learn or are just stupid. Though I suppose the ones that decided to go here would be okay…” She finished thoughtfully.
“Anyway, our first objective is to stop What’s-His-Name.” Sweet Melpomene spoke, decisively. “Do we know where he could be?”
Robert shook his head. “No, not him. But the first government to go was America’s-”
“Figures, it was doomed anyway-”
“-So it’s likely he comes from there. Here.” Robert finished, ignoring FrigidSymphony’s interruption.
The musers thought for a moment, absentmindedly chewing on peices of toast and melon. Widershins started building a castle out of forks, with interest by Jadestone, who twirled a butter knife in her fingers.
Prarilius Canix cleared his throat. “Um. Well. Where do we start?”
“Well, I think a good step would be making sure you all know the whole story. Rosanne said, brushing a still remarably curly peice of hair away from her face. “Let’s head to the library.”
At first, the gathering of musers stood in silent awe. Then, they gibbered mindlessly for a few moments. Someone gasped, and then they all ran deep
Continued…
er into the huge, majestic room.
And magnificent it was. Shelves stretched from floor to ceiling on the walls, ocasionally leaving space for a fireplace or dorrway. The ones in the middle were slightly shorter, with artwork adorning the tops. The room itself was very large, at least 80 feet long and 60 wide.
All the shelves they could see were coverd in books, large volumes, small ones, thing books covered in intricate designs.
They were sorted by lauguage, then nationality, then subject, then author. There had to be at least a thousand books on just the shelves circling around the room, with those rolling ladders kids dreamed of riding.
“This way, please!” Robert called to the musers as they rushed around excitedly. “They’re’ll be plenty of time to explore and read after we get rid of this menace and restore Museblog!”
The musers sobered slightly, collecting themselves on plushey armchairs and couches in the middle on the great room.
Once they had gathered, Paul spoke. “Now, to business.”
“Mmmm….” Said Cinnamoon. “If we’re teaching, won’t this guy try to stop us with the bunnies? It seems to me that we’ll have to stop him first. I think I have a plan – me and Alice were discussing this a while ago, at our fourth ko konvention. We’d heard rumours through our sources that something like this was going to happen. Alice, would you like to explain?”
Alice looked uncomfortable. “Well . . .” she began hesitantly. “If the hot-pink bunnies can come to life, why can’t . . . other things?”
”What sort of other things?” asked Traggle.
“Yeah, what other things?” echoed Beavo. “Like statues and dolls and robots and such?”
Alice looked like she thought she shouldn’t have said anything.
“Basically, anything.” she commented.
“Well, that might just be a problem!” said FS.
“I bet he’s gonna be the teacher of how to create, preform, and perfect sarcasm,” muttered Donaldo.
“I heard that!”
“Boy-I mean gentelmen!” stuttered Rosanne. “Remember, we’re all musers here.”
There was a rustling as MuseBloggers searched their pockets for extra pies. Kiki threw an old KoKonvention nametag shaped like a Key Lime.
Jadesonte looked over to Alice. “No…” She said slowly. “I think she means… The Muses.”
Several of the group started talking over each other at once, either protesting or promoting the idea.
“Wait, quiet!” Alice cried. “Well, we wouldn’t nessicarily have to bring all of them out, maybe just one to help us find What’s-His-Name-”
Another argument broke out, everyone yelling their favorite muse.

“Chad can build-“

“They’re bunnies! Pwt’s the obvious choice-“

“Urainia-“

“KOKOPELLI FOR PRESIDENT!”
The goup stopped to glance at Ebeth, who had utterd this last proclomation.
“Sorry. Old habbit.”
Before it could start up again, Robert cleared his throat.
After the hall quited down, Robert said “Thank you. Now what we need to do is bring all the muses to life. That shound help.”
“How is that gonna help?” questioned Beavo. “Sure, Koko can throw pies, but its not like they’re a gang or superhero’s or anything… wait a minute! They CAN be superheros! All we need to do is tweak the computors that generate that HPB’s!”
“Right. And next thing you have is Koko and Pwt arguing and Craaw escaping and Urania stargazing. That will NOT work.” said Alice.
“Well what about having Koko learn to throw something else, that would be way more helpful then pies,” Cilroxmysox said, after holding her tounge this whole time.
“Like what?” asked Alice suspiciously. “The nice thing about pies is that they’re harmless. Let’s please not get into the not harmless department.”
“Darn,” sighed someone, who was quickly quieted.
”Well,” argued Cilroxmysox, “What good are pies? We want to defeat this person, not just get them sticky.”

“If we get them sticky enough . . .” said Koko du Pelle thoughtfully.

“Then what?” asked BiblioRose. “Then they’re sticky.”

“True.”
“Well,” Beavo began,”Thats true for regular pies. But we don’t have to make regular pies. trust me I can think of a few things that will make our enemies a lot more than sticky once I’m through with them!”

Alice rolled her eyes. “Harmless, remember? We want to enable them, not send them off to the morgue.”

“Well, what exactly to bunnies hate the most?” biblioRose asked the group.

Everyone just thought for a moment.
“Arguments between cats and dogs,” replied Alice.
“Okay… and that gets us where?” The Man for Aeiou asked.
Jadestone sat up. “Wait, wasn’t the whole reason for the bunnies the argument between the cat-lovers and dog-lovers?”
“The bunnies were mentions of cats and dogs put therough the editors thingy. Can we shove them through the other way?”
“Yeah! Beavo said slowly. “That would be… impossible… but what about if we got the bunnies to join our side! Then… that would be impossible too.”
“I think you watch too much CSI. Or did.” commented Alice.
“Well, now we know what made the bunnies. Cat and Dog argument potion.” said Beavo sarcastically. “What if we made a gum pie? Then they would get really sticky. We could probably be able to do that. And if they were really sticky, we could…”
“Laugh at them for being stuck.” said BibloRose.
“This is going nowhere,” said Alice.
“Well if we go over to the muses we might find something that will help,” suggeted The Man for Aeiou.
The door burst open suddenly and a breathless Urania sped in. She scanned the group with frantic speed and then finally said “You come with me.”
A wide eyed Jadestone followed wearily.
“Good luck” BiblioRose called out trying to be encouraging. They sat in silence for a moment.
“What the heck was that? Anyway that roman chick was pretty hot.” Said FS.
“She’s greek!” piped up Sweet Melpomene. “Not to mention an ancient giver of wisdom and unlimited knowledge!”
The Man for Aeiou said “Thats not the type of muses I was thinking of. But know we know the muses, at lest Urania have been broght to life.”
“Wait,” BiblioRose thought suddenly. “Hey! Frigid Symphony! Why did you think that Urania was Roman?”
He shrugged. “The only ancient cicvilization I care about is the Vikings. I wasn’t exactly examining her that closely. I’m no historian.”
“You don’t have to be a historian to know…” Widdershins began suddenly realizing what BiblioRose meant.
“To know that wasn’t the real Urania!”
There was a collective gasp.
“Hey, you”re right. her robes were prussian blue, not purple! And she hasn’t changed them since…the beggining of time!” Alice said.
“Then where is Jadestone?” Ebeth cried, clearly distraught.
“My guess is that she was a neutral party on the cats or dogs issue. Perhaps the fake-Urania was taking her to be a sacrifice of some sort?” BiblioRose thought aloud.
“Huh? What?” burst in Cinnamoon, who had been lost in her thoughts.
BiblioRose looked at her strangely.
“We’ve been talking about that Urania. We don’t think she was what she seemed.”
“Of course she wasn’t!” Cinnamoon cried, “Didn’t you notice? She didn’t have her telescope, and that ball that follows her around everywhere was missing.”
Robert, Rosanne and Paul looked at each other.
“What Urania where you talking about? I didn’t see any Urania,” said Robert.
“Nor did we,” chipped in Rosanne and Paul.
“Alright,” said Cinnamoon menacingly, “You three are hiding something. And it’s time for you to talk. Where is Rebecca? You know something about this. What is it?”
Rosanne opened her mouth and slowly began to speak.
There. Well done Beavo. *applesauce*
I also have the list of contributors to the story….
Robert Coontz, Shadowkat, FrigidSymphony, Prarilius Canix, Alice, Sobriquet, Lizzie, The Man for Aeiou, Kagomix, Mirabelle the Divine Qween of Green, Cats Meow, Donaldo the Supercoolio Awesome Nerd, Agagabagabag, Cinnamon Moon, Sweet Melpomene, ‘Dotty-kay, Curious and Questioning, Fire_Falcon22, Purplefinch, Beavo the Online Stalker, Lawrence of Antarctica (a.k.a BurnedMuffins), Jadestone, Cilroxmysox, and BibloRose
296-
Several points. One, if E2MB couldn’t post, neither could you. I vote we take out the first two sections (one written by you and one by me) and start right where Robert started the story. Then it works better with what someone says later, that the bunnies had taken over MuseBlog and we all thought it was a joke.
Two, you’re making yourself a double agent again, darn it!
Three, there are too many conflicting accounts of the bunnies. Either they came alive by the hands of the Musers, which is not my favorite theory, or there is something more sinister at work, which is what we seem to have been going with, and we should probably edit accordingly. There is also the third theory that it started on some of the old threads.
Four, Kagy was on before Dot.
Five, Canix getting out the hospital poses a bit of a problem. (No offense, Canix.) He knows what the note means, so if he was out of the hospital couldn’t we just ask him and solve the mystery? I mean, easy, right? And because none of us know what the note means, and Canix will probably never come back to this thread, then we have to do something about it. We could either leave him in the hospital or give him amnesia. OR we could just make our characters forget all about the note and try to get Canix back here. But I think one of the first two would be easiest.
I am going to do some stuff to the first part of the story. I’ll post it when I’m done. Don’t worry, it won’t be TOO drastic.
This is a lot of work, guys. And I have to actually do some housework before my mom gets home, which will be very soon. I’ll finish it later today or tomorrow.
By the way, if you read my version and decide it should be banished from existence, feel free to say so. I’m snipping liberally. In fact, I’m snipping all HPB theories but the genetic manipulation one that everyone here seems to agree on, but which wasn’t included in the story. I would have kept the “makealive3000,” except that the bunnies came to life before April 1, not after.
AAAAAAAAGGGGGG!!!!!!! I just glanced at the story from post 296, and I’m in there! Do NOT put me in this story when I’m not even writing! *stomps off*
301- Robert did it. Then we continued. I can substitute someone else though, I guess.
But he’s such a good character.
303- I know, I know.
298-1-E2MB posted,but beveo just sumit his post. it was not moderaed.
and 5-canix is in the school hospital recovering from short term amnesia.we also know that one of the words is the latin for rabbit.
305- Oh well. I’m making a version that takes away all such inconsistencies, and will probably be banished to the back of beyond.
RtH doesn’t want to be in it? Hmm. I suppose we could substitute people from the beginign we only used once in his place, but we’d have to go back…
No one’s writing? *sigh* I’ll never know what happens to me.
Heh. Maybe when I finish what ‘m currently trying to write I’ll have an insperation.
Actually, I had one right now.
***
Before Rosanne could start to speak, however, a voice crackled to life somewhere in the vicinity of Alice’s left ear.
“Guys? Hello? Can you hear me?” It said.
Alice gasped and jerked away, everyone else just stared.
“Sorry.” The disembodied voice spoke.
Robert smiled. “Ah. Hello, Jadestone.” He spoke to the room.
“Wait… what?” Shadowkat asked suspiciously. “I thought she was kidnapped.”
“No, no.” Rosanne assured them. “I was just going to tell you- You’re right. That wasn’t Urania you saw. The HPBs have made it impossible to bring the Muses we know to life.”
“Then who was- that?” Widdershins asked, frowning. “And where’s Jadestone?”
Robert grinned. “I’m glad you asked. This is Intelegent Air, brought to life. And that…. was Calliope.”
Here ’tis. I haven’t taken HAWK out yet, and we still need to write what happens between the stories, but anyway.
The year is 2020. The heroes: a few dozen young men and women, most in their late 20s. Fifteen years earlier, four friendly-seeming but mysterious people gathered them on what was then known as the World Wide Web, dropped hints about an important destiny or mission they were to fulfill, and then vanished. Over the years, some of the group kept in touch; others drifted apart. Now a great danger has brought them all back together again…
“Zark,” Sweet Melpomene said at last. “This is big. Really big. And BAD.”
“Do you think–” Widdershins looked around at the others. “Do you think the GAPAs knew?”
Juliette shrugged. “You mean ‘knew’ as in ‘had foreknowledge of’? Like Hari Seldon and his psychohistory? Not zarking likely.”
“I’m not so sure,” Purple Panda said. “They sounded as if they did. There was one thing in particular that Robert posted, just a few days before…”
“Robert!” FrigidSymphony scoffed. “That old fraud. He’d be the last person I’d listen to.”
Shadowkat reached across the table and tousled FrigidSymphony’s waist-long hair. “Still smarting from that time he banished you, are you, Fridgey?” she teased.
“That has nothing to do with it,” the musician shot back. “I just found Rebecca and the other Administrators more helpful.”
Alice looked pensive. “I always wondered about Rosanne,” she said. “She seemed very quiet and sweet, but I got the impression that there was a lot more to her than that. I suspect that she was the brains of the outfit, the one pulling the strings. And then one day they were all just–gone…”
For a moment, the group sat in uneasy silence.
“Anyway, they did their job,” Red-tailed HAWK said at last. “They got us together. Now we’ve got a job to do.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Ebeth burst out. “There’s no time to lose. Let’s get out there and DO it.”
“Not so fast,” Prarilius Canix said. “We can’t afford to rush into this. It’s too important for that. Failure is not an option here. We have to be sure what we’re dealing with.”
E2MB smiled grimly. “Well, whatever it is,” he said, “one thing is for sure: it is definitely NOT mostly harmless.”
Shadowkat looked Prarilius Canix.
“PC is right,” she said. “We have to find out what it is we’re dealing with. Those disappearances…did anyone notice any kind of order to them? Do you think it could be…the bunnies?”
FrigidSymphony glanced up from admiring his hair. “Bunnies? I’ll kill ’em. I’ll…”. He broke off, turning his attention to a small stain on his shirt.
“Dammit, I just washed this crap yesterday! Bloody pasta…”
“Obsess much?” muttered Shadowkat. She raised her hands in response to the glare she got from FrigidSymphony. “Just making an observation!” she said defensively.
“Hey, I care about my appearance,” he shot back, “because it’s worth the effort.” He gave her a cocky grin.
Shadowkat grinned back, and thought, Well, at least one of us hasn’t changed…. “I care about mine, too! But, you know, you really don’t need to do anything…you’re naturally gorgeous.” She winked at him.
“Will you two stop the banter? We have a crisis on our hands!” Prarilius Canix snapped. He was irritable, having been awake for the past two nights, researching. “It’s not just the GAPAs. Whatever did this wanted to get them out of the way first, because it thought that they were the only ones who could stop it. People have been disappearing all over the world.”
“You’re talking about this as though there was some intelligence behind the disappearances,” said Lizzie. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“I think it’s probable,” Pentatonikk mused. “The bunnies…?”
“What are you talking about?” Prarilius Canix hissed. “The bunnies are imaginary and this is real.”
Silence.
“Right?”
Silence.
“Well… ” said Kiki the great, nervously fingering her red hair. “You never went to Kokonventions…”
“And you hadn’t been in contact with us much in the past few years,” the man for aeiou said. “Until now, that is… ”
“I’m sorry, PraCan,” Taiwan Hippo Fan said. “We didn’t realize there was anyone here who didn’t know.”
“But . . .” began Alice halfheartedly. “The Blog . . . Canix must know about that.”
“I know about the Blog,” said Canix impatiently. “I don’t know what those bunnies have to do with what you’re talking about now.”
Everything,” said Koko du Pelle.
Shadowkat looked at the others, then turned to Prarilius Canix. “Alright, look, you remember that day back in ’07, April Fool’s Day, when the HPBs took over MuseBlog? And we all thought, ‘Haha, what a joke, that can’t be real!’? Well…it was. I know some connections who might have some information about the disappearances…should I call them?”
“PC, the bunnies are real. Well, in a sense…it was an accident.” Sobriquet whispered, concerned.
“Wait,” interrupted Lizzie. “I seem to have missed the memo. Who are Shadowkat’s ‘people’ and what do they have to do with the disappearances?”
“I have no clue,” volunteered Alice, unhelpfully. “Shadowkat?”
“My ‘people'” retorted Shadowkat, “are a few parties with whom I have certain useful connections. And that’s all you need to know. Now, should I contact them, or not?”
FS pulled a flask out of his pocket and took a long drink, then said: “I think we should all use our assets and dig up whatever we can about these disappearances. I’ll contact the Thelema, see if the occultists can give me some info… As for the rest of you…”
“What about the rest of us?” asked Alice. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. I mean, since the the Wawona sunk I don’t even have a ship!” She paused. “Of course, most of you don’t have ships either, so I suppose it’s not that unusual.”
“I’ll be doing some research. Again,” Prarilius Canix sighed. “I’ll look through the newspaper archives, see if I can find any pattern to the disappearances. If I can find the time and place they started, we’ll have something to work with.”
Shadowkat sighed. “And I’ll contact my people, see what they know…and trust me, they’ll know something. Anyone else have an assignment for me? I’ll need something to keep me busy once I’m done…” She glanced at FS, who raised his eyebrows. “Well, never mind. Anyone?”
Canix left the room. Moments later, a sleek white Prius with a BOOK♥ER license plate pulled out of the parking lot below and drove off in the direction of the library.
“I wonder what he’s up to,” Alice mused. “He didn’t even wait for us to explain about the bunnies.”
“He’s probably going to catch up on some of the old MB threads, see if he can find out something about them himself.”
“Makes sense. That’s where it all started.”
“God, I feel useless,” moaned Alice. “All I can do is write, really. I suppose I could help Canix research, but . . .” She trailed off. “I don’t know.” She rested her elbows on the table, and her chin in her hands. “I’ve never been very good at making plans, either.”
Shadowkat looked around at everyone. “Well, I’m gonna go talk to a few people, alright? Everyone knows what they’re doing? Good.” She got up and headed for the door. Glancing over her shoulder at FS, she said, “You coming?”
He nodded, and they left together. A black and silver Honda motorcycle with two dark-clothed figures on it glided out of the parking lot a few minutes later.
***************
Prarilius Canix stood up, heaps of newspaper falling off the computer desk. It was so obvious. Why hadn’t he spotted it before? He scribbled a few important points on a sheet of notebook paper, stuffed the sheet in his pocket, and dashed out into the rainy street, ignoring the funny look he got from the librarian.
“This could alter the fate of the entire world,” he thought. “They’ve got to know about it.” He was so focused that he didn’t notice the figure standing nearby beneath an umbrella, or what that figure held in its free hand and was pointing at him.
There was a sharp crack, like a gunshot. In fact, that’s what it was. Prarilius Canix collapsed against the library wall and slowly slid to the ground.
***************
A loud bang filled the air. Kagy, curled under the table, started and banged her head on the table.
“Sorry,” Red-tailed HAWK said. “I didn’t know it actually worked.” RtH held a gun in his hand. He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry!” he said again.
“Where exactly did you get that?” asked Widdershins.
“Uh . . . this secret compartment thingy slid open when I put my hand on the table,” RtH explained.
“Maybe there are more, but HAWK, DON’T go pulling triggers indoors. It’s dangerous!” Alice snapped at him.
Kagcomix got up. She had stopped paying attention and drifted off, but people seemed to be leaving now so she guessed she should be too.
Kagy grabbed her sword and walked to the door. On the street the air felt good on her face. I’ll go to the library to see how PC is. Besides, I want to pick up a book, she thought.
“Anybody have a laptop?” Sobriquet asked. “We should check the news. We should keep track of any more unexplained dissapearences or bunny sightings.”
Alice handed over a small silver notebook. “For writing.” she offered. “I take it everywhere.”
The group skimmed the headlines. One read “Man Shot At Chicago Library”.
“Wasn’t PC headed for the library?” E2MB asked.
Sobriquet clicked the link. At the top of the page was a picture of Prarilius Canix lying unconcious on the library steps.
A horrific scene met her eyes as she reached the steps. Police tape everywhere, and PC lying by the library doors. With a disregard for the police and everyone around her Kagy ran towards PC.
“Prarilius, who did it, where did they go?” she whispered.
“Dunno, they went down the side street,” Pralirius gasped.
“It’s okay PC, I’ll get them. Just don’t die.” She smiled down at him before running off down a sidestreet. She didn’t need anyone dying, at least not this early in the game.
“Wait!” Prarilius gasped. He held up a blood-soaked scrap of paper, with a neat, round hole through the middle of it.
“That’s evidence. Hand it over, and everything will be all right,” said a young, nervous-looking policeman. Canix coughed, then fixed the policeman with a baleful stare.
“This is more important than you could possibly imagine. Don’t touch it.” The policeman backed off.
Kagy took the paper. Only three words were legible, and their last few letters had been cut off. “Ljubl . . . Lagomo . . . Extrater . . .” she read.
***************
At that very moment, the former MuseBloggers were gathered around the tiny laptop on the big table, reading the dreadful article.
Suddenly someone asked, “Where’s Kagcomix?”
“Good point,” said Alice in surprise. “Where is Kagcomix?”
Green Qween burst into the room quite suddenly. “Am I late? What’s going on?” she blurted out. “I saw Kagy in the street, and she was running away from something.” She stared at the small group huddled around the laptop.
“What did I miss?”
***************
At the front of the library, a female police officer reported for duty.
“What’s going on here, Cook?” she said, addressing the man. Suddenly she stepped back a ways.
“PC?” she whispered faintly. “Is that you?”
“How do you know my blog name?” the bloody man whispered from the ground. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“Cat’s Meow,” the lady said. “And boy, it’s been way too long.”
***************
Cinnamon Moon stepped quietly into the room. The few people still sitting around the table turned toward her. She moved purposefully towards the table, then introduced herself.
“Cinnamon Moon. It’s been too long, my friends. Please tell me – what has happened? I don’t understand every thing. Can you explain?”
E2MB began. “It started with the bunnies . . .
“We don’t really know exactly how it happened, but we do know that all those jokes about genetic manipulation – well – they weren’t all jokes. We’re not sure exactly how it happened, and who did it, but we do know that when the editors put bunnies in Muse, they started something. The bunnies are real. And they took over MuseBlog.”
As E2MB finished recounting what had happened in the last few years, the room fell gloomily silent as the grave nature of what had taken place began to truly sink in.
The MBers sat silently, pensively, in the ever-darkening room, looking up on occasion, wondering what, exactly, had to be done. A disquieting atmosphere ensued until a familiar voice crackled once more through the PA speakers in the room.
“Zark, zark, zark,” muttered Sweet Melpomene. “This is already getting out of hand; I don’t think I can still risk talking to you from the lab, even if I do wipe the computers . . . I’ll be over to the Royal in a bit–”
A loud crash was broadcast, followed only by static before the speakers fell silent.
***************
Shadowkat pulled up to the abandoned apartment building. She looked it over, noticed the broken windows, tattered curtains, unhinged door. Home, sweet home, she thought, somewhat sarcastically.
She had dropped FrigidSymphony off at a phone booth outside of a “well-thought-of” bar in town. They would meet up later, when she was done with her current business.
She got off her bike, set the safety, and went into the building. Two men were waiting for her in the kitchen just inside the front door. She turned to them.
“Buona Notte, Signor Tomaschino, Masacci.”
“Ciao, Kat.” They replied in unison.
She looked them in the eyes. “Do you have the information I asked you for?”
“Yes.”
“Well, let’s see it, then.”
Tomaschino pulled a few sheets of paper out of the front pocket of his jacket and handed them to her. She looked at the papers for a few minutes, eyes narrowing as she read each sentence, then looked up at her companions.
“Is this all you could find?” she asked them skeptically.
“Yes.” answered Masacci, with a touch of aggression.
Shadowkat returned in kind, “Well, it had better be. This is more important than any of your kind will ever know.”
She spat out the last phrase as if it were poison. Which, to Tomaschino and Masacci, it was. Tomaschino took a step towards Shadowkat threateningly.
“If you weren’t my cousin . . .” he warned.
“If you weren’t my cousin, you’d be dead by now.” interrupted Shadowkat. She snatched the papers of the heavily-stained table where she had set them, turned on her heel, and marched out the door.
“Ciao, gentlemen!” she called from the street. With a roar and a vroom, she was gone.
***************
Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Alice picked up the phone in the meeting room.
“Hello?” she said, a little tentatively.
“Alice?”
“Yes.”
“It’s me, Shadowkat. Have you and the other MBers meet me downstairs. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I have some extremely important information.”
Click.
***************
Back at the library, the scene of the crime was buzzing with activity. After Kagy rushed off, someone finally had the sense to call 911. Paramedics had flooded the area, and PC was rushed into an ambulance.
As an authority figure, Cat’s Meow had recieved word that PC hadn’t lost a fatal amount of blood, but he was still in critical condition.
Five blocks away, Kagy swung around the sharp corner of a dank brick building. What she came face-to-face with in the alley made her stop dead in her tracks. From a distance, the dreamlike sound of sirens speeding away reached her ears, but she did not hear it.
***********
The downtown Chicago emergency room had seen better days. Minor dilemmas had been hindering progress since 8:00 that morning, especially since the latest batch of interns were starting today. Among these clueless medics was 29-year-old ‘Dotty-kay, who at the moment had quite a lot to worry about. She had recently recieved a mysterious message that her old MuseBlog friends planned to meet at a secret location this very day, supposedly for a reunion.
She had suspected the matter at hand was a bit more urgent, but she had a dilemma since her internship began today.
She couldn’t afford to miss this training, and so declined the invitation. Now she doubted the wisdom in this action. With rumors of an assassination attempt so early on, it was looking like she would be giving the MuseBlog conspriacy a higher priority than her career at this point.
Cat’s Meow had been thinking along these same lines, and had stowed away on PC’s ambulance just before it left, disregarding the fact that she was still on duty. Now as the vehicle raced into the emergency entrance, she tried to communicate with PC. From his grunts and fragmented sentences, she gained that he had just made an earth-shattering discovery. She followed the strecher inside the ICU, where Dot almost collided into the party.
***************
There was a barbed wire fence but it only stopped Kagy for a moment. She ripped the barbed wire aside with her right (and bionic) arm. Kagy could feel her heart pumping as she ran down the side street. It was long and it didn’t have a turn off for a long while.
It was more of an alleyway, now that she thought about it. Its narrow grimy brick walls from the buildings on either side leaned in close.
She could see a figure running up ahead. Kagy clutched the paper from PC tigter in her fist and put on a spurt of speed. She was getting closer. Her muscles ached but she kept going. Her sword was strapped to her side, in its hilt, but she pulled it out.
Suddenly there was gunfire. Three bullets rocketed past her bouncing off the walls, one going dangerously past her ear. Kagy ran faster. If she could just get into sword-reach . . . as Kagy neared the figure she noticed it wore a long trench coat and a big hat. Both the hat and the trench coat were black, but under the hat something pink was poking out.
Kagy barely had time to wonder what it was when another round of gunfire erupted.
This time Kagy couldn’t dodge them all. One was lodged in her right shoulder. At least it wasn’t my real arm, she thought. The gunfire wasn’t stopping and Kagy noticed that more people in trenchcoats and hats were emerging from a turnoff she hadn’t noticed before.
Kagy turned. There was no way she could face this many gunmen by herself.
She grabbed onto a sturdy looking pipe with her good arm and scampered up the building. Trying to doge bullets and climb up pipes was no easy task.
Kagcomix was finaly on top of the roof of one of the buildings when the gunfire died down. Kagy had two more bullets lodged in her arm.
Zark! I guess it’s another night without sleep to fix THIS! she thought. With her still intact left hand she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.
“Hello? Is that Dotty Kay?”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s Kagcomix. I need your help.”
“Hey Kagy. I’m kinda busy right now.”
“With PC?”
“How’d you know?”
“I’m special.”
“Uh.. okay . . . why are you calling me?”
“Because I don’t know anyone else’s number.”
“Okay. So what do you need?”
“I don’t know if PC told you, but he gave me a sheet of paper. I can’t really read most of it but I know that you were on MB before I was and you might know what it means. Does ‘Ljubl . . . uh . . . Lagomo . . . Extrater’ make any sense to you?”
“Sorry, Kagy, but you’ve caught me at a really bad time. I’m not sure what that means, but go back to HQ, someone there will be bound to know what you’re talking about.”
“Thanks anyways, Dotty Kay.”
As Kagcomix put her phone back in her pocket she realised what the pink from under the hat had been: BUNNY EARS!
***************
In a room at MIT, a girl is checking her email in an attempt to procrastinate.
“Why can’t this paper make sense? I can’t do it. It’s impossible. What else can I do?”
She opens a web browser, Internet Fire Safari 9.999 Optimised.
“I haven’t used that email address in years. It’s some excuse.”
She types a password, clicks on something.
“Chicago . . . MuseBlog . . . I got this two weeks ago . . . oh, no.”
She takes out a phone and dials.
“Potato Chip? Yes, it’s me. Remember MuseBlog? When we were kids. I used to be curious and questioning. You had some people’s Facebook from then, right? Can you contact them? Now. There’s kind of a problem. I’m emailing you. Checking your old email accounts might help too. I’m going to try calling some other people from that DC kokonvention. If you find anything, call me or email. My thesis can wait a little bit longer.”
Kagy ran across rooftops until she reached HQ. She didn’t want to make a scene with her bullet holed t-shirt and her wrecked arm. Finally Kagy was able to climb down from the roof into the building they had been in before. It seemed there were hidden passageways everywhere.
As she entered the room, Sweet Melpomene looked up.
“ZARK! Kagy, what happened? Should I call the ambulance?” Sweet Melpomene asked, shocked at the holes that adorned Kagcomix’s shirt.
“Nah, ‘sokay. They only got my bionic arm.” Kagy responded.
“So, what exactly happened?” E2MB asked.
“Well, I saw PC and he gave me a note. Then I rushed down an alleyway and got shot at by people in bunny suits, black trench coats and hats. The little rascal screwed up my arm! I came over the roof tops to get here.” Kagy explained.
“Bunny suits?” E2MB asked.
“Guess so.” said Sweet Melpomene.
“What did PC’s note say?”
“Most of it’s gone, but what i can read is Ljubl . . . Lagomo . . . Extrater . . .” said Kagy.
“It’s a good thing I left my bag here earlier, because my arm really needs work. That’s where I keep spare parts,” she explained. Kagy took off her ripped shirt and started down to work on her arm.
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Sweet Melpomene asked as Kagcomix dug out the bullet and started repairing broken wires and plates.
“Nope, only near my collarbone, because that’s where the metal meets the flesh. Otherwise I don’t have that much feeling in my right arm. I mean, I can feel the bullets in there and I can feel being shot, but if you were to, say, run a feather down it I wouldn’t feel it. I always wear a tank top under my shirts for situations like this. It’s realy hard to repair my arm if I keep having to roll up my sleeves.”
“You’ve been shot at before?” asked E2MB increduously.
“Yup! And stabbed too! Wanna see my scar?”
“Not really. But why?”
“In my line of work you come to expect calamity.”
“I thought you were a cartoonist!” Sweet Melpomene jumped in.
“That and defending justice,” Kagy replied. “So do either of you know when PC might get out of the hospital? Because no one I’ve asked so far seems to know what his note means.”
“No idea,” answered E2MB.
Alice had been thinking hard. “Hang on,” she said suddenly. “What did the note say again?”
Kagcomix obligingly fished it out of her pocket with her real arm. “Ljubl . . . Lagomo . . . Extrater . . .” she read.
Alice took it from her.
“What?” asked agagabagabag.
Alice looked up. “I’m not sure about Ljubl and extrater, but Lagomo seems awfully similar to lagomorph.”
Everyone looked at her. No one moved.
“Which is . . . ?” asked Fire_Falcon22.
“I can’t believe you don’t know that!” burst out Alice. “You’ve all grown up to be hugely successful, and none of you know what lagomorph is?”
When no one answered, Alice explained. “Rabbits aren’t rodents. They’re lagomorphs.”
“Oh my goodness, Alice, you’re right!” cried Cinnamon Moon “I’m so sorry for not having kept in touch. Maybe we could have found this out earlier! But after the news about Rebecca . . .”
She looked at the blank faces around her. “You mean-” she faltered. “Robert never told you?”
“Told us what?” asked Alice. “It seems like we have a lot of information, but it’s all mixed up. Could everyone just sit down and explain in an organized fashion? I’ll be right back.”
Alice excused herself to get a drink of water, and walked out into the hall. It seemed strange to just sit there, doing nothing, but it had always been her nature to stay on top of the confusion, even at thirteen, and this confusion needed more staying on top of than any RRR.
She bent down to drink from the water fountain, and her head exploded into blackness.
She woke into blackness, and were it not for her awareness of the enormous lump on the back of her head, she would not have realized that she was awake. Her eyes searched the darkness for something light to rest them on, but there was only coal-blackness. She figured that there was a lot of black here.
Then it hit her. Her cell phone! It was only for business calls, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have the phone numbers of other MuseBloggers.
Her hands weren’t bound, and she pulled her cell phone out of her bag.
Its screen was glowing, and she fixed her eyes on it, glad of the relief from the darkness. She dialed Shadowkat’s number.
“Hello?” said Shadowkat.
“Hi, Shadowkat,” said Alice. “It’s Alice. I think I’ve been kidnapped. I’m in someplace dark.”
***************
Shadowkat pulled into the Royal’s parking lot, the papers she’d just received folded up in her pocket. I wonder where Fridgey got to . . ., she thought. When she’d asked the bartender whether or not he knew what had happened to a tall, handsome, black-clad man, the bartender had said he’d never seen a man like that. Odd. She got off her bike and went inside.
Bursting through the door of the lobby, she immediately dropped and rolled as a dart whizzed by her head and slammed into her shoulder. She began to feel its effects even in the seconds between impact and when she pulled it out. Her vision started to cloud.
No! she thought. Must . . . stay . . . awake!
She bolted for the door, whipping out her cell phone as she did so. Apparently, the gun that her attacker had used was a one-shot deal, at least for a while.
The phone on the other end rang. And rang. And rang some more. Then:
“Hello?” said a strange voice from the other line, a voice she didn’t recognize.
“What have you done with the MuseBloggers?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
“Oh, don’t worry, S-kitty . . .” She cringed at the use of her MB nickname by a stranger.
” . . . they’re safe . . . for now.” The connection broke.
“What?! Where are they?!? WHERE ARE THEY?!?!” she screamed into the phone, desperately trying wrap her mind around all this. Just a few minutes ago, they had been fine. And now, they weren’t.
She darted around to the side of the building and started to climb. For once in her life, she truly thanked Master Chi for how hard he’d made her train.
She crawled onto the roof. Luckily for her, the meeting room in which they’d been was on the top floor; she’d hear any commotion coming from it. She crept along the roof to the air vent, listening.
Suddenly, the wind changed direction, and she could hear voices.
” . . . –couldn’t be helped, sir.” said a somewhat high-pitched, squeaky voice.
“What do you mean, couldn’t be helped?!” roared the voice from her most recent phone conversation. “We had all of the others in our grasp, and YOU let this one slip through our fingers!”
“Yes, but, sir, the poison, she got the dart out–”
“I wouldn’t have cared if she’d thrown it back into you!!!” interrupted the one who appeared to be in charge. “It was your job to get her, and you didn’t! Now she’s probably on her way to the–”
Ding-a-ding, dong, ding, ding-a-ding, dong!, went Shadowkat’s phone.
“Bursting Shnizzle Pops!!!” she swore under her breath. She heard a clatter from the room below. She hurriedly leaped onto the next roof over, which, fortunately, was quite close, as she was in the city. She scrambled down the far side of the building onto which she had just leaped, dropped into the alley at the bottom, and opened her phone.
The display screen read “Alice”. She pushed the “Accept” button.
***************
“Well, what is it?” asked Donaldo as Alice left. Finally, someone had voiced what everyone was thinking.
All the MBers turned to Cinnamon Moon as she opened her mouth to explain. Taking a deep breath, she began.
“Well, there was a reason we all called her–” she was cut off by a loud creaking sound.
“What’s happening?” shouted agagabagabag.
E2MB paled as he realized what was happening.
“The whole room’s being moved!”
“What?” said several MBers simultaneously.
“That’s not possible!”
“It’s still bolted in place, for the moment!”
“I thought the Royal was safe!”
“How did they find us?”
“What’s that noise?”
Several people slammed into the door as the room began to shake. Widdershins struggled to pull it open as the lights went out. Gasping for breath, she and a few other MBers fell through as the rest realized they were trapped in what was acting like a gigantic, descending elevator.
“Zark,” she muttered as several people climbed off of her, apologizing profusely.
The group stared at the open doorway, catching a few last glimpses of their friends’ shocked faces as they disappeared into the dark tunnel.
“Well, one thing’s for sure,” said Sweet Melpomene. “We have to get out of this building, stat.”
***************
Fire_Falcon22 tried to move, but then realized he was tied up. He reached as far as he could for his sword. He grabbed the hilt, but was unable to pull it out of his sheath. He pulled and pulled until he was able to get the hilt through the rope. He grabbed the blade and moved it slowly up the rope, and after a minute of bringing the blade back and forth, he finally cut the rope.
“Ah, finally.” Fire_Falcon22 got up, and put his sword back in its sheath.
He couldn’t see a thing but he heard a voice. He tried to follow the voice, but soon hit a wall. He got up, but he sensed the presence of someone behind him. He turned around to see an odd figure, with a skin color so bright, he could see it, even through the darkness. Hot pink. The figure – more hopping than walking- moved slowly towards Fire_Falcon22. The figure pulled out a gun from his jacket.
Fire_Falcon grabbed the hilt of his sword.
The figure shot the gun, and Fire_Falcon deflected the shot with his sword, and the bullet bounced back at the figure. The figure jumped back and shot a few more shots at Fire_Falcon. He deflected a few, but then one hit him in the shoulder. He crouched down to the ground, clenching his wound. The figure came closer.
“Who are you?” asked FF. The figure didn’t say anything, he just pointed the gun towards FF.
FF sat there in shock, not knowing what to do . . .
***************
The MBers still caught in the moving room fell silent as the walls began to grate on the sides of the shaft. Cables and pulleys screeched against each other, guiding what once was a safe place down, down, down. Slowly, the air began to thicken and, one by one, the members of the group fell unconscious.
They awoke groggily in what appeared to be the same room, minus the conference table. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the dim pink lighting.
Someone sat in a corner, next to a pile of bindings.
“Oh, look! My rescue party’s arrived,” FrigidSymphony said, coating the sentence with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Which, on a bad day, is far more than average.
Ebeth rolled her eyes and gave him a disdainful look before scanning her surroundings. A few other MBers followed suit.
“Doors are probably sealed, no windows, PA system’s cut off…” Purple Panda listed to herself. She turned sharply to FrigidSymphony. “Exactly how long have you been here?” she asked politely.
“If I had my bloody watch, I’d probably have escaped by now,” he muttered before saying, “Since a little after I left. Damn bartender . . . he spiked my drink . . .”
“Right,” said Panda absently, as she continued to scrutinize the walls.
“They couldn’t even leave the chairs,” mumbled Ebeth. She, too, was looking around curiously. “When I get out of here, I’m renaming myself Ebeth the Amazing Escape Artist!â€
***************
“What the zark was that?” said Widdershins, breathing heavily after her run out of the building.
“An amazing feat of engineering, if I do say so myself,” said someone behind her.
“We tried to get here sooner, but . . .” said another person, finishing her sentence with a tired sigh.
“Curious and Questioning! Potato Chip!” the group exclaimed.
Brief ‘hellos’ were made as the group followed the two down the street, to a modest-looking parking garage.
“There’s another place we can try to reach, if it’s not too late. We have two cars . . .” said Curious and Questioning calmly.
“Make that three,” added Sweet Melpomene. “I left mine here, too.
“Great,” Potato Chip said, “we can split up, so it’s even harder for them to capture the rest of us.” She handed a few pieces of notebook paper to SM. “Directions,” she explained.
SM scanned them, and then shoved the directions into an inner coat pocket. “We’ll meet you there; Kagy and I are going to try to get into the hospital. We’re going to try to find Canix and Cat’s Meow.”
They hurried off into the garage until Juliette stopped abruptly.
“Wait, where’s Fire_Falcon22? He fell out of the door with us, didn’t he?”
***************
Dot snapped her phone shut and quickly shoved it in her pocket. Looking around to make sure the doctor hadn’t seen her recieve a call, she spotting Cat’s Meow standing awkwardly next to PC’s bed. They exchanged worried glances, and then Dot came over to adjust an IV in PC’s arm.
“I just got word from Kagy,” she muttered to her two friends. It was hard to tell if PC was listening. “She got your paper, Prarilius, and she’s taking it to show everyone else.”
***************
Snagging a most-likely-illegal parking spot, Kagcomix and Sweet Melpomene hopped out of the car. Slamming the doors and rushing into the hospital entrance, they quickly navigated their way to the emergency room.
“Please, ladies, what’s the problem?” a stern female voice said from the reception desk.
“We need to get in!” SM spluttered. “It’s urgent!”
The receptionist glanced them over. “If it’s not a medical emergency, I’ll have to ask you to head to the waiting room.”
“But our good friend is in there, and we have to talk to him!” said a frustrated Kagy.
“This is a matter that could alter the virtual world permanently, and now threatens our reality!” SM added.
“An online relationship crisis, eh?” sneered the receptionist. “I can’t help you. Patients’ visitors may be immediate family only.”
***************
There was a clatter on the end of the line.
“What’s that?” asked Alice uncertainly. Not much had changed since she was thirteen, when it came to bravery. “Shadowkat?” There was no response. “SHADOWKAT?” Still no sound came from the phone.
But somewhere in the darkness, a familiar voice called,
“Who’s that?”
“Alice!” Alice yelled back. “Where are you?”
“Over here!” yelled the voice (which Alice was fairly sure belonged to Fire_Falcon) “I’m kind of in trouble right now!”
***************
Shadowkat was backed up against the alley wall, with a gun pointed at her head. Holding the gun was a man. A tall man, fairly good-looking. But dark, and not in a good way. He wore a jet black suit made of what appeared to be silk, and dark glasses, too. No eyes could be seen through those.
“You won’t get away this time, you little brat!” the man growled. “Too long have I lied in wait, too long have I held my grudge, itching for revenge…and now,” he smiled an evil, toothy smile, “it’s over.” He fired.
“NO!!!” Another man, quite a bit younger than either of the people present, leaped in front of the firing gun. He groaned, having taken a bullet to the left shoulder. It seemed like a never-ending moment in which Shadowkat stared down at her savior in shock, mouth agape. She knew this young man, and quite well. He was her brother.
“T.J.!!!!!!!!” she screamed, and it felt like her vocal cords ripped. She whirled on the man in the the suit, the man who had just shot her little brother. “You…” she snarled, looking as much like the cat from which she took her Blog name as was humanly possible.
The man backed against the opposite wall, afraid of the thirst for blood in her eyes. She whipped out her own gun and stormed towards him, holding it aloft. She slammed him into the wall.
“What do you want with me?!” she shouted into his face.
“It’s not . . . just you,” the man panted.
“Who is it, then?!” She got no response. “Who is it?!?!”
” . . . MuseBlog . . .” he spat, venom dripping from his words. A groan escaped his lips. Shadowkat backed away from him in horror. The man let out a sickly laugh.
“Hahaha . . . you’ll never stop us, Kitty-kat, and neither will any of your little playmaaates . . . hahahaaa . . .” He trailed off as the poison with which he had injected himself took its effect.
Shadowkat let his body fall to the ground in a heap. She turned and knelt down next to her fallen brother, who was coughing up blood. The bullet in his shoulder was holding his flesh together in that spot for the most part, but he still needed medical attention, and fast.
“T.J.” she shook him, keeping him with her.
“Katie . . .” he groaned. “I . . . didn’t think I’d . . . make it in time . . .”
“Wait, Teej, what do you mean? Did you know something–?”
“Yes. Kate, it’s the creators . . . the creators of . . .”
“What, T.J., what?! The creators of WHAT?!”
He passed out.
Shadowkat jumped up and called Sweet Melpomene, who, since she’d had a bit of training in chemistry, might have some idea of what to do with her brother (known as “The Tominator” on the Blog) before they could get him to the hospital.
***************
“So, tell us now, before it’s too late. What happened to Rebecca?” asked E2MB.
“Lady Bunniful was . . . well . . . I don’t know how to say this, but I’ll try. Rebecca was being controlled by the bunnies. But she resisted, in the last few months of Museblog. Then, she was taken by them. We haven’t heard anythlng since. The rumour is that she might be – dead. I don’t know. Our forces haven’t uncovered anything substantial.”
“Wait a second!” burst in another blogger. “What do you mean – ‘our forces’?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you don’t know about those either!!!” cried Ebeth.
Cinnamon Moon whirled on her.
“Ebeth, please! Calm down! Lot’s of people don’t know about lots of things, so let’s just keep our head on straight and explain, alright?”
At a nod of acknowledgment from Ebeth, she continued.
“Well, a few MuseBloggers and I were kind of worried that the HPB’s would try to take over MuseBlog, again, so we arranged for monitors (the sources we were talking about) to watch Lady Bunniful, as we suspected she might be the first they’d try to take over. Our monitors, though, not only watched over Rebecca, but also made sure the Blog was always okay, and nothing “funny” was going on. To do this, they talked to the Editors, Writers, and other people related to Muse. They were very careful, and good at what they did. They never took their eyes off Rebecca, though.
I know this, because I was there on that fateful day when, suddenly, Lady Bunniful disappeared. Just like that. She was sitting in front of her computer, moderating, when she was just . . . gone. Of course, some claim to have seen a faint pinkish glow where she’d just been, right after she vanished, but that was never proven.
Nothing else that our sourced found ever led to anything. Rumors, yes, those have gone around, but never have any been shown to be true. It’s . . . well, it’s . . . scary.” she finished.
The others stared at her with wide eyes. No one knew quite what to say.
***************
“What sort of trouble?” asked Alice. “And where are you?”
“Right here!” yelled Fire_Falcon. “And it’s -” he broke off.
“It’s what?”
There was a scuffle in the dark, and a popping noise, and silence.
“FF?” Alice ventured tentatively.
“Right here,” said FF, from a few yards away. “It was a hot-pink bunny.”
“What happened to it?”
“I don’t know. It just . . . vanished.”
***************
Sweet Melpomene’s phone rang. She jumped. She was a little bit paranoid, right now, after her recent experience. Looking at her phone, she saw that the display screen read, “Shadowkat”. She opened it up. She didn’t even say hello.
“Shadowkat! Where have you been?! The other MuseBloggers and I were attacked, and some of us escaped, but I don’t know where the rest are, and–”
“Yes, Mel, I know.” interrupted Shadowkat. “I was the one who tried to warn you guys, and ended up talking to some deep-voiced man, who then tried to kill me! But, Mel, he didn’t, because my brother took a bullet for me, and he’s passed out, and fading fast, and I–”
“Where are you?” asked SM.
“Behind the building east of the Royal.”
“I’m coming.”
****************************
Beavo the Online Stalker suddenly burst around a corner, the one Shadowkat happened to be at, and crashed right into her. Shadowkat, who was very nervous by this time, jumped away and stared at this messy-haired, un-matched-clothed young man who sprawled at her feet. He looked up. She took a step back.
“Hey. You must be Shadowkat. I remember you from the Kokonventions. I’m Beavo. And that must be your brother.”
“But how did you know all this about . . . this stuff? You weren’t at any of the meetings, the attacks, and you weren’t even at the ER with PC!”
“That my friend, is for me to know and you . . . not to know. I was at the kokonventions. Right now, we need to get help with your brother.”
Beavo took a huge bandage, a scotch tape dispenser, and a cell out of his pocket. As he started to put the bandage on Shadowkat’s brother, he handed her the phone.
“Here, call someone with this. We need help.”
“I already did!”
“Who?”
“SM.”
“And she is . . . ?”
Sweet Melpomene rounded the same corner as Beavo did, and crashed right into Shadowkat. She heard Beavo mutter “Deja Vu” as she picked herself off the ground, brushed off the dust, and looked up at Shadowkat.
*****************************
“Now, we just need to get out of here,” said FF.
“Yes, but where is here? And how do we get out? Man, this would make a great book.”
Fire_Falcon rolled his eyes in the dark. Alice thought that everything even remotely exciting would make a good book.
“I don’t know where we are,” he said, “or how we’re going to get out. But we always have cell phones. We could call the other Musers.”
Alice moaned. “Don’t remind me,” she said. “If I wasn’t such a Luddite, we could be out of here already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Those new cell phones – not the disposable ones – have the nice tracking systems, and the maps. They can be tracked by other people, and by you, and they can have whole maps on them. But I’m so anti-tech that I didn’t even bother. You wouldn’t have one with a map, would you, FF?”
“All I have is a sheet of disposable ones,” said FF.
“Oh, great,” began Alice, but suddenly stopped. “Hang on,” she said, “I might not have high-tech cell phone, but I have a compass!”
Fire_Falcon was completely baffled. “You carry a compass, but you don’t carry anything remotely resembling a tracking device?”
Alice shrugged, though you couldn’t see it in the dark. “Like I said,” she said brightly, “I’m weird that way. Do you have a flashlight or anything?”
FF searched through his pack, that after a few seconds, he realized wasn’t there.
“They must have took my pack. Unfortunately, I dont have a flashlight, so how are we supposed to see the compass?”
Alice thought for a minute. “Yeah, that is a bit of a downside.”
“Ya think? Did you bring a flashlight?”
“Like I said, anti-tech.”
FF slapped his hand on his face.
Just then, there was a gun fire. FF and Alice spun around to see the faint glow of Hot pink. The bunny pointed the gun at Alice, and shot. FF pulled his sword out and deflected the shot. The bunny aimed the gun at FF, but FF charged at the bunny with his sword. The bunny fired, and caught FF in the hand, he dropped his sword, and hit the ground.
“Where’s my sword?!”
“I dont know.” responded Alice.
The bunny continued to shoot at FF, but he dodged as many as he could, until he hit a wall, and fell to the ground. The bunny hopped slowly towards him. He put his small handgun back into his jacket, and pulled out a machine gun.
“FF! Catch!” yelled Alice.
FF grabbed the hilt of his sword, that he surprisingly caught in the dark. He swung the sword towards the bunnies head, aiming at the back. He heard a crucnh, and could see bits of metal all from the back of the rabbit’s head. The rabbit stopped in his tracks, and dropped the gun, and simply hopped off.
FF walked towards the bits of metal.
“Some kind of device.”
Alice walked up next to him.
“What is it?”
“Hmm. I really dont know.”
“Wait a sec!” said Alice suddenly. “How come we can see?”
It was true. A faint light filtered through the blackness, and they could see that the room they were trapped in was absolutely enormous. Away across the several acres of floor, they could dimly see a pair of steps, ascending to a door, which was heavy and – as far as they could see – locked.
***************
“COME ON! Do you not realize that this is a matter of life or death for more than one of your patients?” Kagcomix exclaimed angrily at the nurse at the front desk.
“Sorry, you have no idea how many people say that to us,” said the nurse calmly.
Kagy turned to Sweet Melpomene to say “I don’t think we’ll get through this way,” only to find that SM wasn’t there.
“Whatever!” said Kagy as she strode out the door. Kagy turned into the tiny laneway beside the hospital. She scanned the side of the building for a door. She found one, right by the dumpster. It was heavy, using all her strength she pushed open the door. Looking quickly down the hall first, Kagcomix dashed towards the flight of stairs at the end.
***************
“Ug . . . ug . . . ug . . . ug . . .” A muffled grunting filled the room.
Alice said “Whats that noise?”
FF said “Sounds like where not the only ones here!”
The sound came agian, this time saying “a . . . e . . . i . . . o . . . u . . .”
FF said “Who’s there?”
The sound said “a . . . e . . . i . . . o . . . u . . .”
Alice said “But Aeiou isn’t real!”
FF said “No, but The Man for Aeiou is!”
The sound came up saying “Utieme!”
FF said “He must be tied up. Lets untie him.” Though he said the last part begrudgingly because of a fight on the blog several years ago.
They untied him.
The Man for Aeiou said “Here, it’s a cell phone with maps, lockpicking tools, a gun, a whistle, water pruifation tablets, and mer, INC’s pateted quick-grow food-grow.”
“Now we just have to get out of here. I hope one of you knows how to pick locks.”
“I do,” said TMFA.
“So do I,” said Alice. “But only with a hairpin. And not something like that.”
[No offense, TMFA, but I snipped this bit too. No one will like this version because of all the snipping anyway, so I might as well snip this. It goes far too fast. Sorry again. – Alice]
The young woman known as Widdershins stirred groggily, raked a clumsy hand across her face, and forced herself to open her eyes. She felt as if she had slept for a week and wouldn’t have needed much encouragement to try for two.
Over the edge of the pillow she could see row upon row of beds–or, rather, cots–obviously slept in but empty now. She turned over and found that she was not alone in the room.To the left of her bed stood a boy, about 13 years old, with close-cropped dark hair and a smattering of freckles, wearing an unadorned white jumpsuit. To her right, in an identical uniform, stood a girl about the same age with blond hair pulled tightly back behind her head.
The boy clapped his hands together. “Finally!†he said. “You’re the last one. Everyone else is up already.You’d better hurry, or you’ll miss breakfast.â€
“Simon!†the girl said, glaring at him. “That’s not very polite. Our orders are to treat them with respect.†She turned to Widdershins and curtsied.
“We are delighted to have you as our guest,†she said, formally. “Breakfast has been served down the hall to the left. There is a restroom around the corner to your right if you need to freshen up. My colleague and I will wait here until you are ready.â€
Widdershins started to speak but decided questions could wait. Freshening up sounded wonderful to her just now. A few minutes later she followed her attendants down the hall, the girl maintaining an icy dignity while Simon swatted at her braid.
They emerged into a long room, like the sleeping room windowless and floored in institutional tile. One wall was hidden by a deep purple curtain. Down the middle of the room ran a series of folding tables, pushed together, covered with table cloths and set for breakfast, and heaped with serving dishes and vessels loaded with food: carafes of coffee and hot chocolate, pitchers of orange juice, three deep, heated trays of scrambled eggs, baskets of croissants and danishes, bowls of granola and yogurt. Around the table Widdershins recognized her fellow former MuseBloggers, about three dozen in all, their faces wearing various degrees of stunned disbelief.
Most of the men and women had not touched the food. A few had poured themselves coffee or juice and were tentatively sipping it. Red-tailed HAWK alone had piled his plate with everything available and was vigorously chewing half of a pain au chocolat.
“What? Wha-at?†he said to the accusing stares of the others. “It’s free food. I’m hungry.â€
Widdershins glanced at a knobless door at the far end of the room.
“Locked,†FrigidSymphony told her. “Reinforced steel. We already tried it.â€
She nodded and took an empty seat on the end of the table next to Shadowkat, facing the curtain. While she was pondering whether to risk the coffee, voices sounded from the far side of the door.
“Of course they will,†a man said.
“They will not,†a woman replied.
“Oh, they’re bound to.â€
“No way.â€
An electronic bolt chunked, the door opened briefly, and two figures entered the room. Both appeared to be in their mid-60s, give or take a few years. The woman was short and bore a mane of almost impossibly curly gray hair. Her eyes were pale blue, wide and mischievous, and her mouth wore a beatific smile. The man was almost a foot taller and, the MuseBloggers thought simultaneously, bore a striking resemblance, which he had obviously cultivated, to Albus Dumbledore.
“Good morning!†the man said heartily. “I hope you are all comfortable. Please forgive the improvised nature of your sleeping and breakfast arrangements. We do have real dormitories here, and a real dining room with a beautiful view, but, well–â€
“We were afraid that you might break the windows,†the woman finished.
“Let’s skip the hail-fellow-well-met routine,†Shadowkat said drily. “What is this place? And who are you?â€
The man turned to the woman, a pained expression on his face. “You were right,†he said. “They didn’t recognize us.â€
“Told you,†she whispered.
“Still, it has been a while, and some of us have changed more than others. Very well, then. My name is Robert Coontz, and this is my associate Rosanne Spector.â€
Rosanne waved. “Hi,†she said.
“Other familiar names and faces are nearby–†As if on cue, a burst of bagpipe drones sounded faintly from elsewhere in the building. “–and will be here shortly.â€
“As for our location, this building covers most of an island off the southern coast of Iceland–some of the youngest land on Earth, recently hardened lava fresh from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. But that doesn’t tell you what the place is. Simon, Birgitta–the curtain, please.â€
The boy and girl in the white jumpsuits trotted over to the center of the curtain, grasped plastic poles hidden behind its central folds, and walked in opposite directions, parting the curtain behind them. The MuseBloggers seated near them turned to watch it open. In meter-high gilded letters running the length of the wall, everyone at the table could read a name and a motto:
MUSE ACADEMY
CRVSTO VOLANTI NOLI OBSTARE
“Um, robert?” said The Man for Aeiou “Why did you kidnap, send bunnies, kill the blog, pretend to be kidnaped and other stuff, and if you don’t mind me saying, this seems kinda small for something that big.â€
It was Rosanne, not Robert, who answered. “Oh, we wouldn’t have brought you here for anything small,” she said. “As for all that other stuff, well, that would take weeks to explain. The important thing is that Paul and Rebecca and Robert and I didn’t do most of it, and it’s pretty amazing that we all made it out alive.”
She frowned. “Right now, though, you’ve got something more important to do: eat. You’ve been through a lot, you’re famished, it’s very good food, and I can’t eat it all. So eat!”
“See what I mean?” Alice whispered to Cinnamon Moon as she reached for the granola. “It’s just as I always suspected: she’s the brains.”
They looked at each other, very tempted to believe that their long-lost near godparents were here to save them. But, how could they be sure? So many things we going strangely . . .
suspiciusly.
Shadowkat spoke up. “How do we know it’s really you? I mean, we could ask you questions and stuff, but if you were any good imposter you’d have done research.”
“How ’bout questions about Muse? From the Q&A? No one besides them could possibly have memorized them all.” Widdershins piped in.
“Good idea!” Alice responded. “Okay . . . We all know the daddy long-leg is an incredibly venomous spider but it can’t bite us. How much venom would it take to kill if it did?”
Rosanne smiled. “Tricky. I’d guess around .3 grams, except for the fact that it isn’t venomous.”
Alice nodded. “And, umm-”
“What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” Cinnamon Moon grinned.
“Eueropean? Or African?” Robert chuckled. “Eueropeans get roughly 9 meters per second, though of course they slow-”
“Good enough, they’re the real ones.” Red-tailed HAWK said through a mouthful of food. Swallowing with difficulty, he added “Besides. I feel fine, and it tastes great.
The others grinned, and dug in.
Though they would pepper their old mentors with quesions in a few minutes, all of them were starving and could wait a few more moments for their answers.
Alice studied the sign as she ate. Finally she swallowed a last mouthful of granola, and said, “What does the motto mean?”
Before a responce could come, a gentelman wearing a green bagpipe walked in, smiling jovially.
“I think that thou dost not study enough latin,” He told them in an English accent.
Several Musers chouroused a hello to Paul, while Robert explained. “It means, roughly, “Don’t obstruct the flying pies.”
Widdershins frowned slightly. “Wait – I remember. That was the motto for the school we were going to set up for Musers.”
They stared at him in astonishment.
“Wait – you mean, it’s up? And running?” Shadowkat questioned, astonished.
Rosanne smiled. “In a sense. It’s set up all right, but we’ve had a lot of trouble lately, as you may have heard. We havn’t it oped it yet, because, well, we’ll tell you after you’ve finished eating.”
The MuseBloggers gobbled up the rest of the food so that the GAPAs would talk.
“One question?” Sobriquet was too curious to wait for breakfast to end. “Who are the kids in the jumpsuits?” She asked, nodding towards the two children, who had been standing politely, though obviously fidgeting, near the curtain.
Everyone at the table turned to look at the youngsters.
“Yeah!” said Cinnamon Moon. “Unless you’ve started the school already. And you wouldn’t have done that, right? So who are they?”
The children in the white jumpsuits were still not answering. Robert sighed and took a deep breath.
“Dang. I always do this. I should probably write on notecards what I’m going to say before I plan a surprise. These children are, well, orphans. Orphans of a tragedy that left them without parents. Well, obviously. Ergh.”
Robert slapped his forehead. Rosanne spoke up.
“A little before you all were brought here, you were gathered, slowly being kidnapped, shot, etc., etc. First PC was shot, and so was Shadowkat’s brother, although that was an attempt at Shadowkat, not him. And so on and so forth. It was an operation to take over the world. You see, you all knew, way before now, even when you were on MuseBlog, that the Blog was not a normal blog for a normal magazine. You were all just right for our plans . . .”
Kiki the Great piped up. “Hey! What plans! I wasn’t aware that there were any plans! Except for the Kokonventions of course. And Mostly Harmless, but that was just a game.”
“No, there were plans.” Replied Rosanne patiantly. “Big plans. We had to start a school, an acadamy, that would train children-much like yourselves ten years ago-to defend against this . . . perpetrator. For years, there have been books that had foreseen the future. Subtly. Many of these books were fantasy, so no one would guess what they would mean except the ones who were ready to handle the situation they fortold. Does anyone want to guess one of these books?”
E2MB raised his hand. “Harry Potter?”
Rosanne nodded.
“What about movies?” asked FS, politly for the first time in twelve years. Then he thought for a minute. “Wait a minute. What does this have to do with the orphans?”
“I’m getting there.” commented Rosanne.
“Right,” said Cinnamoon, “So there is some evil taking over the world, and we have to save it. And it has something to do with Harry Potter. Fine. Just as long as we don’t have to deal with house elves and silly side kicks.” She buried her head in her hands “I’m still confused!”
“You’re not alone,” murmured Alice in agreement. “How about The Dark Is Rising? Or His Dark Materials?” she asked the GAPAs.
“No, no, no . . . it has nothing to do with Harry Potter.” said Rosanne, slightly exasperated. “No house elves. What I’m saying is, there is a character, much like Voldermort, who’s trying to–well, we’re not so sure what he’s trying to do. But he sure is making a nuicence of himself, killing people and all. Similar to Voldermort. What would Voldermort do once he returned to “power”? Build up the economy?”
“But still, what does this have to do with the orphans?” asked Purple Panda.
“They’re parents were killed by this character. We still don’t even know his name.”
Beavo opened his mouth to say something.
“No, they do not have lightning shaped scars on their forehead. No magic involved.”
Beavo closed his mouth.
Rosanne continued. “Anyway, we are training children who were like you to use their wit to defeat him.”
There was silence around the table.
“Sooooo . . .” ventured Alice at last. “Where do we come in? Were you training us all those years, or just . . .” she trailed off.
“Just providing a nice environment for kids to talk to each other,” suggested Jadestone.
“You are the teachers of this new school.”
“You were fed information throughout your time on MuseBlog. For example, “What is the air speed velocity of an unladed swallow?” I bet you all know that.”
The MuseBloggers began to smile.
“And as you all know, us GAPA’s don’t last forever. Although we hope to last a long time. You have to be the new GAPA’s. Of course, this wont happen until MuseBlog is reopened, and it wont be reopened until . . . the guy . . . is removed. So. Who’s gonna take the challenge?”
“But the guy, if he is a guy and not a gal, is controling the bunnies what will stop him?” The Man for Aeiou said.
The musers looked at each other, considering.
“Why is no one else noticing? I haven’t heard anything on the news about pink bunnies with no bodies or anything. Disappearances, but no bunnies,” Shadowkat mused.
“They’ve got the governments, don’t they?” FrigidSymphony said. “Well I noticed a decline in everything but I thought it was just, you know, idiots.”
“So.” Beavo started. “We . . . stop the guy, then teach at the school?”
“I’m not so sure about being a teacher.” Jadestone cut in. “I have a problem with kids who don’t want to learn or are just stupid. Though I suppose the ones that decided to go here would be okay . . .” She finished thoughtfully.
“Anyway, our first objective is to stop What’s-His-Name.” Sweet Melpomene spoke, decisively. “Do we know where he could be?”
Robert shook his head. “No, not him. But the first government to go was America’s-”
“Figures, it was doomed anyway-”
“-So it’s likely he comes from there. Here.” Robert finished, ignoring FrigidSymphony’s interruption.
The musers thought for a moment, absentmindedly chewing on peices of toast and melon. Widershins started building a castle out of forks, with interest by Jadestone, who twirled a butter knife in her fingers.
Prarilius Canix cleared his throat. “Um. Well. Where do we start?”
“Well, I think a good step would be making sure you all know the whole story. Rosanne said, brushing a still remarably curly peice of hair away from her face. “Let’s head to the library.”
At first, the gathering of musers stood in silent awe. Then, they gibbered mindlessly for a few moments. Someone gasped, and then they all ran deeper into the huge, majestic room.
And magnificent it was. Shelves stretched from floor to ceiling on the walls, ocasionally leaving space for a fireplace or dorrway. The ones in the middle were slightly shorter, with artwork adorning the tops. The room itself was very large, at least 80 feet long and 60 wide.
All the shelves they could see were coverd in books, large volumes, small ones, thing books covered in intricate designs.
They were sorted by lauguage, then nationality, then subject, then author. There had to be at least a thousand books on just the shelves circling around the room, with those rolling ladders kids dreamed of riding.
“This way, please!” Robert called to the musers as they rushed around excitedly. “They’re’ll be plenty of time to explore and read after we get rid of this menace and restore Museblog!”
The musers sobered slightly, collecting themselves on plushey armchairs and couches in the middle on the great room.
Once they had gathered, Paul spoke. “Now, to business.”
“Mmmm . . .” Said Cinnamoon. “If we’re teaching, won’t this guy try to stop us with the bunnies? It seems to me that we’ll have to stop him first. I think I have a plan – me and Alice were discussing this a while ago, at our fourth ko konvention. We’d heard rumours through our sources that something like this was going to happen. Alice, would you like to explain?”
Alice looked uncomfortable. “Well . . .” she began hesitantly. “If the hot-pink bunnies can come to life, why can’t . . . other things?”
“What sort of other things?” asked Traggle.
“Yeah, what other things?” echoed Beavo. “Like statues and dolls and robots and such?”
Alice looked like she thought she shouldn’t have said anything.
“Basically, anything.” she commented.
“Well, that might just be a problem!” said FS.
“I bet he’s gonna be the teacher of how to create, preform, and perfect sarcasm,” muttered Donaldo.
“I heard that!”
“Boy-I mean gentlemen!” stuttered Rosanne. “Remember, we’re all musers here.”
There was a rustling as MuseBloggers searched their pockets for extra pies. Kiki threw an old KoKonvention nametag shaped like a Key Lime.
Jadesonte looked over to Alice. “No . . .” She said slowly. “I think she means… The Muses.”
Several of the group started talking over each other at once, either protesting or promoting the idea.
“Wait, quiet!” Alice cried. “Well, we wouldn’t nessicarily have to bring all of them out, maybe just one to help us find What’s-His-Name-”
Another argument broke out, everyone yelling their favorite muse.
“Chad can build-”
“They’re bunnies! Pwt’s the obvious choice-”
“Urania-”
“KOKOPELLI FOR PRESIDENT!”
The goup stopped to glance at Ebeth, who had utterd this last proclomation.
“Sorry. Old habbit.”
Before it could start up again, Robert cleared his throat.
After the hall quited down, Robert said “Thank you. Now what we need to do is bring all the muses to life. That should help.”
“How is that gonna help?” questioned Beavo. “Sure, Koko can throw pies, but its not like they’re a gang or superhero’s or anything . . . wait a minute! They CAN be superheros! All we need to do is tweak the computors that generate that HPB’s!”
“Right. And next thing you have is Koko and Pwt arguing and Craaw escaping and Urania stargazing. That will NOT work.” said Alice.
“Well what about having Koko learn to throw something else, that would be way more helpful then pies,” Cilroxmysox said, after holding her tongue this whole time.
“Like what?” asked Alice suspiciously. “The nice thing about pies is that they’re harmless. Let’s please not get into the not harmless department.”
“Darn,” sighed someone, who was quickly quieted.
“Well,” argued Cilroxmysox, “What good are pies? We want to defeat this person, not just get them sticky.”
“If we get them sticky enough . . .” said Koko du Pelle thoughtfully.
“Then what?” asked BiblioRose. “Then they’re sticky.”
“True.”
“Well,” Beavo began,”Thats true for regular pies. But we don’t have to make regular pies. tr
I know what the note means.
Ljubl… is Ljubljana.
Lagomo… is Lagomorph.
Extrater… is Extraterrestrial.
The last doesn’t have to mean they’re from another planet, it could just mean that there’s some sort of genetic research facility orbiting the Earth where they were created, or that their plan has something to do with outer space. Or we could cut that part out. Whatever.
“True.”
“Well,” Beavo began,”Thats true for regular pies. But we don’t have to make regular pies. trust me I can think of a few things that will make our enemies a lot more than sticky once I’m through with them!”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Harmless, remember? We want to enable them, not send them off to the morgue.”
“Well, what exactly to bunnies hate the most?” biblioRose asked the group.
Everyone just thought for a moment.
“Arguments between cats and dogs,” replied Alice.
“Okay . . . and that gets us where?” The Man for Aeiou asked.
Jadestone sat up. “Wait, wasn’t the whole reason for the bunnies the argument between the cat-lovers and dog-lovers?”
“The bunnies were mentions of cats and dogs put therough the editors thingy. Can we shove them through the other way?”
“Yeah! Beavo said slowly. “That would be . . . impossible . . . but what about if we got the bunnies to join our side! Then . . . that would be impossible too.”
“I think you watch too much CSI. Or did.” commented Alice.
“Well, now we know what made the bunnies. Cat and Dog argument potion.” said Beavo sarcastically. “What if we made a gum pie? Then they would get really sticky. We could probably be able to do that. And if they were really sticky, we could . . .”
“Laugh at them for being stuck.” said BibloRose.
“This is going nowhere,” said Alice.
“Well if we go over to the muses we might find something that will help,” suggeted The Man for Aeiou.
The door burst open suddenly and a breathless Urania sped in. She scanned the group with frantic speed and then finally said “You come with me.”
A wide eyed Jadestone followed wearily.
“Good luck” BiblioRose called out trying to be encouraging. They sat in silence for a moment.
“What the heck was that? Anyway that roman chick was pretty hot.” Said FS.
“She’s greek!” piped up Sweet Melpomene. “Not to mention an ancient giver of wisdom and unlimited knowledge!”
The Man for Aeiou said “Thats not the type of muses I was thinking of. But know we know the muses, at lest Urania have been broght to life.”
“Wait,” BiblioRose thought suddenly. “Hey! Frigid Symphony! Why did you think that Urania was Roman?”
He shrugged. “She looked like it?”
“You don’t have to be a historian to know . . .” Widdershins began suddenly realizing what BiblioRose meant.
“To know that wasn’t the real Urania!”
There was a collective gasp.
“Hey, you”re right. her robes were prussian blue, not purple! And she hasn’t changed them since . . . the beggining of time!” Alice said.
“Then where is Jadestone?” Ebeth cried, clearly distraught.
“My guess is that she was a neutral party on the cats or dogs issue. Perhaps the fake-Urania was taking her to be a sacrifice of some sort?” BiblioRose thought aloud.
“Huh? What?” burst in Cinnamoon, who had been lost in her thoughts.
BiblioRose looked at her strangely.
“We’ve been talking about that Urania. We don’t think she was what she seemed.”
“Of course she wasn’t!” Cinnamoon cried, “Didn’t you notice? She didn’t have her telescope, and that ball that follows her around everywhere was missing.”
Robert, Rosanne and Paul looked at each other.
“What Urania where you talking about? I didn’t see any Urania,” said Robert.
“Nor did we,” chipped in Rosanne and Paul.
“Alright,” said Cinnamoon menacingly, “You three are hiding something. And it’s time for you to talk. Where is Rebecca? You know something about this. What is it?”
Rosanne opened her mouth and slowly began to speak.
Feel free to pie me for doing that. I still like my version better.
310- Ah. Very good, very good.
Add 308 to the end of that, and it’ll be everything. Your version works for me, Alice. I agree that 310 is a good translation for the message.
Ugh. I was going to write, but I forgot everything I was going to say.
Aha! The Chameleon strikes!
I’ve copied and pasted parts of the story here (311, then 308), along with an addition of my own…
—
“True.”
“Well,” Beavo began,”Thats true for regular pies. But we don’t have to make regular pies. trust me I can think of a few things that will make our enemies a lot more than sticky once I’m through with them!”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Harmless, remember? We want to enable them, not send them off to the morgue.”
“Well, what exactly to bunnies hate the most?” biblioRose asked the group.
Everyone just thought for a moment.
“Arguments between cats and dogs,” replied Alice.
“Okay . . . and that gets us where?” The Man for Aeiou asked.
Jadestone sat up. “Wait, wasn’t the whole reason for the bunnies the argument between the cat-lovers and dog-lovers?”
“The bunnies were mentions of cats and dogs put therough the editors thingy. Can we shove them through the other way?”
“Yeah! Beavo said slowly. “That would be . . . impossible . . . but what about if we got the bunnies to join our side! Then . . . that would be impossible too.”
“I think you watch too much CSI. Or did.” commented Alice.
“Well, now we know what made the bunnies. Cat and Dog argument potion.” said Beavo sarcastically. “What if we made a gum pie? Then they would get really sticky. We could probably be able to do that. And if they were really sticky, we could . . .”
“Laugh at them for being stuck.” said BibloRose.
“This is going nowhere,” said Alice.
“Well if we go over to the muses we might find something that will help,” suggeted The Man for Aeiou.
The door burst open suddenly and a breathless Urania sped in. She scanned the group with frantic speed and then finally said “You come with me.”
A wide eyed Jadestone followed wearily.
“Good luck” BiblioRose called out trying to be encouraging. They sat in silence for a moment.
“What the heck was that? Anyway that roman chick was pretty hot.” Said FS.
“She’s greek!” piped up Sweet Melpomene. “Not to mention an ancient giver of wisdom and unlimited knowledge!”
The Man for Aeiou said “Thats not the type of muses I was thinking of. But know we know the muses, at lest Urania have been broght to life.”
“Wait,” BiblioRose thought suddenly. “Hey! Frigid Symphony! Why did you think that Urania was Roman?”
He shrugged. “She looked like it?”
“You don’t have to be a historian to know . . .” Widdershins began suddenly realizing what BiblioRose meant.
“To know that wasn’t the real Urania!”
There was a collective gasp.
“Hey, you”re right. her robes were prussian blue, not purple! And she hasn’t changed them since . . . the beggining of time!” Alice said.
“Then where is Jadestone?” Ebeth cried, clearly distraught.
“My guess is that she was a neutral party on the cats or dogs issue. Perhaps the fake-Urania was taking her to be a sacrifice of some sort?” BiblioRose thought aloud.
“Huh? What?” burst in Cinnamoon, who had been lost in her thoughts.
BiblioRose looked at her strangely.
“We’ve been talking about that Urania. We don’t think she was what she seemed.”
“Of course she wasn’t!” Cinnamoon cried, “Didn’t you notice? She didn’t have her telescope, and that ball that follows her around everywhere was missing.”
Robert, Rosanne and Paul looked at each other.
“What Urania where you talking about? I didn’t see any Urania,” said Robert.
“Nor did we,” chipped in Rosanne and Paul.
“Alright,” said Cinnamoon menacingly, “You three are hiding something. And it’s time for you to talk. Where is Rebecca? You know something about this. What is it?”
Rosanne opened her mouth and took a breath to speak.
Before Rosanne could start to, however, a voice crackled to life somewhere in the vicinity of Alice’s left ear.
“Guys? Hello? Can you hear me?” It said.
Alice gasped and jerked away, everyone else just stared.
“Sorry.” The disembodied voice spoke.
Robert smiled. “Ah. Hello, Jadestone.” He spoke to the room.
“Wait… what?” Shadowkat asked suspiciously. “I thought she was kidnapped.”
“No, no.” Rosanne assured them. “I was just going to tell you- You’re right. That wasn’t Urania you saw. The HPBs have made it impossible to bring the Muses we know to life.”
“Then who was- that?” Widdershins asked, frowning. “And where’s Jadestone?”
Robert grinned. “I’m glad you asked. This is Intelegent Air, brought to life. And that…. was Calliope.”
The Musers gaped at the Administrators. It was Sweet Melpomene who recovered first.
“Calliope? The Greek Muse of epic poetry?” she said. “But… what’s that old Greek Muse doing here?”
Rosanne smiled. “Do you remember, on the magazine’s birthday, a special cartoon was published?”
The bloggers nodded.
“And in it-”
“The Seven Greek Muses came for the party!†Ebeth declared.
“But what’s that got to do with us now?†This came from FS.
Robert spoke. “What you are experiencing now is what Chad created as his backup plan, in case something like this happened. He arranged for the Seven Greek Muses to come help the Musers if the Seven Mag Muses were somehow unavailable.â€
There was silence. “Weird,†Cinnamoon proclaimed. “But believable, I suppose, coming from Chad.â€
Again, silence.
“So… where’s Jadestone now? And where are the other five Greek Muses?†asked Shadowkat.
Rosanne said, “Ah, well, Jadestone is… well… somewhere…†She trailed off.
“You don’t know where Jadestone is?!†exclaimed Widdershins.
The Administrators now looked rather uncomfortable. Paul tried to explain.
“Well, we’re not too sure of anything really, Chad didn’t quite leave instructions, and we seem to be missing a page from the plan, so no, we don’t know where she is. But not to worry, she’s safe with the Muses. Calliope will have taken her somewhere from which she can help us better. Isn’t that right, Jadestone?â€
The voice answered, “Erm, I suppose… I dunno, really…â€
The musers glowered at the Adminstrators. For the first time, the GAPAs looked rather unsettled. Paul went on.
“As for Calliope, she was the first Muse listed to be called into action – we believe she and Urania were rather close out of all the sisters.â€
Still, glares came from the Musers. There was another nasty silence, then Rosanne suddenly spoke.
“Well, before we go further into this delightfully happy conversation, I think it’s time you met one of your fellow MuseBloggers. She’s rather new, but she might be able to help. May I introduce the Invisible Chameleon, also to be called Captain Viae.†She gestured to the air next to her.
The Musers stared at the space, then Alice said, “Rosanne, do you feel -?â€
She stopped. The air in front of them, next to Rosanne, was shimmering, and then there, in front of them, stood a tall girl.
Her hair was cut short with a harsh side-part and sweeping bangs that covered her eyes. A tight, green tank and jeans were worn upon her, with a large belt across her waist, its buckle in the shape of a lizard. She reached up a hand and pulled back her hair, revealing dark green eyes of a reptilian color. She gave a tentative smile and a wave.
The others looked back at her. Then BiblioRose stepped forward, held out a hand, and said, “If I had a pie, I’d chuck it, but I don’t, so welcome.†The girls shook hands.
“As you’ve noticed, Captain Viae can turn invisible and back,†said Robert.
Viae waggled the back of her fingers at the group, and upon the third finger was a ring with a large green stone in it. “I have no idea how I can help, but you can count me in.â€
—
Alright, so I admit, I just wanted to get into the story. We haven’t advanced any, but you’ve got a new person. Snip as you like, I’m new here.
315- That’s fine, but for two things. One, there are Nine Greek Muses. Two, this is 2020, so you’d be grown-up. Okay, shtere are three things. Three, I don’t think magic was a part of this. There are rules somewhere . . . just a sec . . .
32. Robert Coontz (Administrator) �|� June 22nd, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I just make two provisos:
1. If you decide to change the year so that you’re all younger, you may not be teenagers. I picked 2020 because I thought some ofyou would want to have advanced degrees and/or a bit of professional status.
2. Nobody can fly (without airplanes, I mean). You may not go hurtling around like anime characters. If you need to travel from one place to another, you must take some appropriate (and affordable) near-future vehicle.
Apart from that, it’s all yours.
True, he said nothing of turning invisible and such, but all the same, I think we should take Magic out. Care if I rewrite that? If you don’t like it, say so.
The Musers gaped at the Administrators. It was Sweet Melpomene who recovered first.
“Calliope? The Greek Muse of epic poetry?” she said. “But… what’s that old Greek Muse doing here?”
Rosanne smiled. “Do you remember, on the magazine’s birthday, a special cartoon was published?”
The bloggers nodded.
“And in it-”
“The Nine Greek Muses came for the party!†Ebeth declared.
“But what’s that got to do with us now?†This came from FS.
Robert spoke. “What you are experiencing now is what Chad created as his backup plan, in case something like this happened. He arranged for the Seven Greek Muses to come help the Musers if the Nine Mag Muses were somehow unavailable.â€
There was silence. “Weird,†Cinnamoon proclaimed. “But believable, I suppose, coming from Chad.â€
Again, silence.
“So… where’s Jadestone now? And where are the other seven Greek Muses?†asked Shadowkat.
Rosanne said, “Ah, well, Jadestone is… well… somewhere…†She trailed off.
“You don’t know where Jadestone is?!†exclaimed Widdershins.
The Administrators now looked rather uncomfortable. Paul tried to explain.
“Well, we’re not too sure of anything really, Chad didn’t quite leave instructions, and we seem to be missing a page from the plan, so no, we don’t know where she is. But not to worry, she’s safe with the Muses. Calliope will have taken her somewhere from which she can help us better. Isn’t that right, Jadestone?â€
The voice answered, “Erm, I suppose… I dunno, really…â€
The Musers glowered at the Adminstrators. For the first time, the GAPAs looked rather unsettled. Paul went on.
“As for Calliope, she was the first Muse listed to be called into action – we believe she and Urania were rather close out of all the sisters.â€
Still, glares came from the Musers. There was another nasty silence, then Rosanne suddenly spoke.
“Well, before we go further into this delightfully happy conversation, I think it’s time you met one of your fellow MuseBloggers. She’s rather new, but she might be able to help. May I introduce the Invisible Chameleon, also to be called Captain Viae.†A door opened in the far wall and in walked a tall woman of about [whatever age you will be in 2020. 29? 27?]
Her hair was cut short with a harsh side-part and sweeping bangs that covered her eyes. A tight, green tank and jeans were worn upon her, with a large belt across her waist, its buckle in the shape of a lizard. She reached up a hand and pulled back her hair, revealing dark green eyes of a reptilian color. She gave a tentative smile and a wave.
The others looked back at her. Then BiblioRose stepped forward, held out a hand, and said, “If I had a pie, I’d chuck it, but I don’t, so welcome.†The women shook hands.
“Captain Viae somehow ended up on her island,” said Robert, with a look that suggested he knew more than he told.
Viae waggled the back of her fingers at the group, and upon the third finger was a ring with a large green stone in it. “I have no idea how I can help, but you can count me in.â€
~~~~~~
How’s that for a save?
~~~~~~
“Now,” said Robert, “call us nosy, but we were wondering what this meant.” He held up, between two fingers, a small scrap of bloodstained paper.
“Oh!” said Alice. “I forgot! Canix–”
Canix stood up. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked.
“It says,” read Rosanne, taking the paper from Robert, “Ljubl – Lagomo – Extrater.”
“Lagomo for lagomorph,” said Purple Panda. “But we don’t know what the rest stands for.”
“We were hoping PC would know,” said Green Qween, “but we forgot to ask.”
Prarilius Canix explained. “Ljubl… is Ljubljana. Lagomo… is Lagomorph. Extrater… is Extraterrestrial.”
“So,” said Alice. “Ljubljana, huh? Is there an airport around here?”
Hmmm…. verrrryyy nice peoples! I think we are actually going to save this fanfiction from deadness! :sqweeness:
316 – technology is a luverly thing. In my op, we could have invisiblity in 2020 if we really wanted to. it’s just a projection of what’s behind you. but if you don’t like it, then that’s fine.
“ljubljana is in slovia” said the man for aeiou “not outer space! how can they be extraterrestrial?”
Sweet, this is moving along again!
***
“Maybe they have a shuttle that takes them too outer space from there.” Alice suggested. “Space would be a really good place to hide, there’s a lot of stuff orbiting the planet. Whoever’s doing all this could just disguise a base as a satellite or debris.”
Oh, oh, oh! More posts! w00t!
***
“Yeah,” chipped in Beavo. “Space is huge, there is any number of places to carry out plans without being detected. Although that would make it rather hard to find What’s-His-Name.”
“Well, you could use a tracking device of some sort.” commented Purple Panda. “What’s-His-Name would probably be hidden in a remote place, and remote places would not have much technology, so it could be a simple precedure of finding a large computor in the middle of the sahara desert.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Well, so to speak.”
315-Yeah, that sounds like me…. I’m a women, haha!
Alice surveyed the tired faces of the group. “This is great and all, but maybe we should get some rest? I’m exhausted.”
“We could go back to my place,” BiblioRose piped up. “It’;s not huge, but I have just enough space and herbal tea for everybody.”
They all nodded as Beavo produced a small silver sphere. “I’ll drive!” he said “everyone stand back!” The sphere expanded with a pop and the weary group clambered into beavo’s spacious sky mobile. Even though they had been around for years now, Sweet melpomene never ceased to feel strangly excited once inside one. “It’;s like something out of star trek!” she gushed to her neighbor, Lizzie. “Oh yeah, I remember Star trek!” Lizzie cried suddenly. While BiblioRose guided beavo toward her apartment building the pair reminisced fondly. After landing softly on the lawn the musers shuffled out, up a drafty starwell and into BiblioRose’;s home. “Honey, you’re home!” a voice called from another room.
323- Um, we’re in an acadamy in the middle of Iceland, though, with rooms…
On a small island off the coast of Iceland, actually.
I know, but the sky mobile can transport one anywhere with ease.
326- but there are rooms,nice ones,at muse acadamy. I’d strike the post.
Okay. I actually haven’t the whole thing. *feels guilty*. Sorry.
This needs serious editing. Another thing: FF, this is the only thread you’re on. In the story, it didn’t exist, so why would we remember you?
329-come on! it’s a fanfic!
“The Sahara?” Cinnamoon said.
“Why not?” Said Alice.
“Let’s get started!” Someone shouted.
I’m a little confused as to what is happening, could somebody explain how this works?
332- Not really, since we’re all just as confused ourselves. It’s a fanfiction, set in 2020, and it’s about us. Read the whole story, or just watch and write when you feel like you’ve got the basic idea of it.
Fine. I won’t continue contributing. I shall only edit after it’s finished.
334- It will not be eidted or finshed. thats rrr.
I think we need to get ourselves into a situation to tell what our careers are.
335- Then goodbye.
Ugh. I’m posting from my friend’s laptop somewhere in CA. Ugh. Anyway, I’m glad that there have been a few more posts. Now I’ll have something to do when I get back to VA; add the story posts.
Well then, I guess I’ll try to get this started again. Or perhaps a new thread could be in order? We are at 339.
yes new therd!