[Sticks]

Episode VI – Mr Blue’s Legacy

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Sometimes we can get to drift through life with all of those horrible decisions being taken by others or by circumstance. That way we don’t have to be held accountable for why we decide on things the way we do. Sometimes when we are forced to decide we have the luxury of applying a formula or a procedure that takes control, and again we can hide behind those who created this formula who may be long gone.

Sometimes however, they can not be avoided.

We are forced to decide, and even worse, it is nothing as trivial as what clothes to put on or what to have for lunch. It is a decision that can have far reaching circumstances, like accepting a job offer, proposal of marriage or what subjects to take at college. Usually when forced to confront a decision, we are encouraged to do lots of research and do things like a swat analysis, list pros and cons and so on.

However, sometimes we have to make a decision in the split second it is pressed upon us, so what do you do then?

Jenny Green is in just such a position, after having been left on the Mystical Realms for her own safety, she enlisted the aid of the Clan Chief of the Manjura to get back to Earth and the Facility, has found a badly injured Commander Mark in the Facility’s library, tended his wounds as best as she knows how, and now she is faced with two Colonel Samuel Peters, except one is a doppelganger assassin and one is the real one. She has the commander’s gun and must shoot one, but which one.

Jenny looked from her left to her right; both colonels were identical in looks and the way they sounded.

“Come on Miss Green, this has gone on long enough” The colonel on her right insisted, “I need to look at the commander”

“Jenny, Don’t let that creature near him” yelled the colonel on the left as he started to approach her.

Jenny pointed the gun at him, “get back” she told him, that Colonel stopped in his tracks. Jenny looked up at this colonel, noticed something, and then swung round to the colonel on her right who was also starting to approach her, and pointed the gun in his direction.

“MISS GREEN I ORDER YOU TO”

BAN BANG BANG

Jenny could not believe she had just pulled the trigger and fired on the colonel on her right and she sat there for a second or two, stunned at what she had done, with the gun still in her hand. Had she picked right? But to her surprise and horror, instead of falling to the deck as she half expected, this colonel just moved back a few inches, and then gave an evil grin and morphed in to a sexless tall grey and skinny humanoid creature



Jenny dropped the gun to the floor and shook her head in disbelief, she had picked the right one to shoot, but it had not done any good. She could see where she had shot the creature, in the main part of the body, but it seemed the nine millimetre rounds were merely an irritant, a minor flesh wound.

“I am going to rip you to pieces, if that is the best you have got” The doppelganger uttered in a metallic voice and then started to approach Jenny and the commander. By now the real colonel had reached them and was pointing a 45 magnum at the creature.

The creature stopped and looked at the weapon, and grinned, “You humans are pathetic, so I will be merciful and kill you quickly”

The colonel fired a round at the doppelganger, but like the nine millimetre, it seemed to be almost a mere flesh wound to it. All it was doing was to make the creature back off a bit and make it grin.

What was it with these creatures, how could these creatures be killed if they were not affected by handguns

“Oh I am so disappointed, is that the best you can do” uttered the doppelganger.
“Who hired you” yelled the colonel
“As if I would tell you, you pathetic little creature” the doppelganger replied then it started to approach again “I do not have time for this, time for you to die”

WHOOSH THUD

Suddenly an arrow hit the creature in the neck.

Jenny had picked the small bow up along with the arrow, while the colonel had distracted it, after all if handguns were ineffective what did she have to loose.

The doppelganger stumbled back a few steps and grabbed at the arrow which seemed to have penetrated into its hide. Jenny grabbed another arrow from the quiver and looked at the arrow head briefly, she had not noticed it much before, but it was fashioned out of some mineral, rather then the metal ones she was used to, when she competed on the archery circuit.

Jenny stood up and let loose another arrow into the creature’s neck and watched it start to scream in agony.

Suddenly another arrow hit the doppelganger’s neck, but this time it was from its right side and it was not an arrow. It was a crossbow bolt. The doppelganger fell against the back wall and started to sink down, and at the same time it tried to move forward.

Jenny pulled another arrow from the quiver, but was beaten to the shot by another crossbow bolt.
The creature slumped to the floor, and then started to smoulder, Jenny put the bow down and the arrow back in the quiver and went to go and look at the downed doppelganger, but felt a hand on her bare right shoulder restraining her.
“I wouldn’t get too close if I were you Jenny” the colonel told her.

Jenny backed off as the body of the doppelganger erupted into flames in an intense heat, with in seconds it was all but ash.

“Well done Miss Green” came a familiar voice, it was the clan chief of the Manjura, “You are indeed a worthy female warrior”



Then the troll added, “And indeed you most certainly look the part, just like some of our female trolls who would go into battle as unencumbered as possible”

It was obvious to Jenny the troll was referring to how she was dressed, so she crossed her arms to try and cover herself “Thank you clan chief” she said then after a few seconds added, “we used to have such a race of female warriors in our history, they used to be called Amazons”

The troll chief smiled at her and then wandered over to look at the ash remnants with his crossbow in hand, and then looked up at the colonel and Jenny, then down at Commander Mark.

Jenny wander over to the troll “I thought the doppelganger had got you” she told him
“It was that oaf Strang, Miss Green, He was not watching where he was going when he blundered into me down on the lower level”
“Where is he now?” Jenny asked.
“I sent him to guard the entrance while I hunted the assassin down with this”, at that the troll showed the Colonel and Jenny as spherical piece of what looked like emerald, that was the size of a tennis ball.
“This is all very well clan chief” The colonel interrupted, “but I have a commander here in need of medical attention or one of your troll healing potions.”

“Of course Colonel” the troll replied and started searching through the pouches on his belt. After about half a minute of searching and muttering, he pulled from one of them a familiar green looking bottle that Jenny recognised as being of the same type that Strang the previous day had passed to her.



The troll took the top off of the bottle and squatted down to hand it to Commander Mark. Jenny watched as he took it with his left hand and without any hesitation gulped the potion down in one go, and then started to watch his injuries start to heal magically, just like hers had done.

While Jenny was watching the troll seeing to the commander, the colonel spoke to Jenny, “That was a good call Jenny, how did you tell”

Jenny turned to face the colonel, and dropped her arms by her side momentarily forgetting that the only piece of clothing she was now wearing was the shortened skirt. “Well Sam, it used my surname and you have been using my first name and” at this she gently brushed the colonel’s forehead, “you were perspiring a bit and it wasn’t”

The colonel stepped back a bit and felt the top of his forehead with his fingers, “looks like you’re right, I need to do a bit more time in the gym if I am starting to get out of condition”
“Sorry Sam, I didn’t mean to embarrass you sir” Jenny replied then she went over to where the commander was recovering with the aid of the troll’s healing potion.

Before Jenny could say anything to the commander, she felt the colonel tap her on the left shoulder, so she turned to face him again.
“You didn’t embarrass me Jenny” he told her, “Now I know you look Amazonian, but perhaps you might like to put this on”, at this he offered her his military jacket.

Jenny hesitated for a moment and looked down at what she was wearing, smiled then blushed and said a quick thank you and took off the quiver with its remaining arrows, placed it on the floor, took the jacket and put it on. This time she was able to button it up herself, and picked up the quiver again and slung it over her shoulder. It felt good to her to be covered again.

The commander stood up after the troll healing potion had taken effect, “Sorry Sam, it was a rookie’s mistake; I should have had my weapon drawn when I saw Guthrie in Williamsons office”

The colonel shook his head in surprise, “That’s odd; I thought it was Williamson, because I found Guthrie’s body downstairs, and he’s been dead for sometime.
“But Sam I swear, that was Guthrie who shot me” Commander Mark insisted

The Troll clan chief saw their confusion and got out the emerald coloured orb and peered at it. As jenny looked at it, it seemed that in it there was a small speck of green light with in the object.
“Colonel” the troll interrupted, “There is another doppelganger within this building”
“What?” Queried the colonel
“Clan chief” The commander insisted, “it was only one that came in with the flight crew, all the others are accounted for”

Jenny noticed the colonel look, slightly more distant, then she notice a realisation creep across his face.
“Mark, there was another aitch eye dee ee forty seven here” He told the Commander
“When?” Commander Mark asked
“Last year, under the old administration, Mr Blue captured one in the Isle of Dogs, the other one was killed by automatic weapons fire which were of a heavier calibre than our side arms”
“But Sam” Protested the commander, “Mr Blue ordered the extermination of all Eye dee ees after they were interrogated; it was only luck that that Spirit of Fidelity was not exterminated before that FBI observer and Mr Andrews found her here”
“Mark, maybe someone at that time had a different agenda to Mr Blue”
“You mean it’s been kept alive all this time, but why? And why arrange for another one to be smuggled into the Facility?”

“Maybe we should track it down Colonel and find out” suggested the troll clan chief
“Yeah, but we need more heavy weapons before we can take it on” The colonel replied
“But I can fell it with my trusty cross bow, and Miss Green here has proven her self in battle with the short bow” the troll insisted.
Jenny found herself blushing again, and this time it was not because of any lack of clothing, since the colonel’s jacket was excellent at covering her up, but because she felt she was being billed as some kind of super hero.
“I still would feel more comfortable if we had more firepower than crossbows and arrows” The Colonel objected
“Sam” commander Mark, chipped in “The armoury is in the basement, in the current lockdown, I don’t think we can get to it”
The colonel swore then said “if only we had tasers, we know those things work”

“So, Sam, it looks like it’s down to Jenny and the clan chief after all” The Commander responded, then went and clasped both his hands on Jenny’s arms, “That was some shooting Jenny, maybe you could teach me how to shoot one of those things”
“Thank you Mark, maybe I will some time” Jenny replied, still feeling embarrassed at being at the centre of attention, and because he had seen her in the state she was.

“Can we get on now” The colonel asked.

The clan chief troll lead the way, followed by the two American Marines with Jenny in the rear as they went down the steps to the lower level and through the corridors amongst the shelves of the library to the entrance where they found Captain Strang, guarding the entrance as he had been instructed. Jenny noticed in his belt was what looked like an arrow, possibly the one she had first shot at the doppelganger and missed, she was going to ask for it back when the colonel interrupted and told them that they needed to get on.

They all walked out of the library and headed through the doorway to the other set of stairs. Strang stayed next to Jenny, even though she had the only other distance attack weapon that could at least penetrate the hide of a doppelganger

The clan chief signalled that the doppelganger was beneath their location and so they headed down the stairs for two levels until they came across the next open doorway. It went into the corridor with the research and development laboratories.
“This was where I found Guthrie’s body, in his office on this level” the Colonel commented, pointing at a door that was partially closed, “It’s not a pretty site”
“Sam, this still doesn’t make sense.” Commander Mark responded, “Carvel looked after all the prisoners and so we might have considered it was him keeping this doppelganger alive if he wasn’t so much the by the book man, Williamson was the one who sent out the flight team after Jenny so was in the position to assist an aitch eye dee forty seven to infiltrate the Facility, but Guthrie was just RnD. All his section did was look at the artefacts the eye dee ees had when they were picked up and see if they could be reversed engineered”

“Could they have all been in on what ever it was?” Jenny asked
“Unlikely Jenny” Commander Mark responded, “Carvel may have been a by the book and an old book at that, but a conspiracy, I’don’t think so, besides he was the first person we found murdered”
“Mark, you said you had got Carvel to do an audit” the colonel asked, “What was he auditing”
“We were told there was some spending anomaly in the RnD budget, I got him to look into that, as he was not part of that section” The Commander replied, then momentarily put his right hand to his head, “He was supposed to be giving a report to a representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was coming to the facility”
The colonel shook his head, “That would explain the need for a doppelganger. Who ever is pulling the strings must have wanted a person on the inside of the Joint Chiefs”
“But Sam, even if they got someone on the Joint Chiefs, there would still be the oversight committees in Washington, or even here in London”
“Mark, who ever it is, they went and got two of them”
“And they used a third to attack me” Jenny chipped, “Sorry if I don’t seem that important”
“Of course you’re important Jenny” Commander Mark told her
“Why because I’m the patsy that allowed them to get this creature in here?”
“Jenny” The colonel started, “we don’t have time for this”
“Sam, Jenny does have a point” Commander Mark put in, “There is at least one Aitch eye dee ee forty seven out there in the wild”
“And Captain Strang and I will hunt that one down as soon as we are finished here” chipped in the Clan Chief of the Manjura, “Now the colonel is right, we must get on”

With this the clan chief pushed forward, with the colonel in tow, and headed for the one laboratory near the end of the corridor that seemed to have a door open, crossbow in one hand and the green detecting orb in the other. Captain Strang, on instruction from his clan chief stayed at the back, with a dimension jump orb at the ready.

Jenny just found herself following the troll clan chief and the colonel, when the commander put his left arm around her shoulders, “You’re important to me Jenny, I didn’t get the chance to thank you for binding my gunshot wound up, I know you don’t really like going topless so that was some sacrifice on your part”
“Thank you Mark” she said, “I’m sorry I snapped” Then she thought for a moment, “What did you think of me as an Amazonian warrior?, the look I mean, even the clan chief thought I looked the part like that”
“So how did that come about?” Mark asked
“Well I had a run in with the troll chamberlain” Jenny explained,” and when the clan chief said I looked the part, I remembered what I had once read about the Amazon warriors and for a brief moment, I remembered when my brother used to play Dungeons and Dragons, and it seemed so like that, and with what the clan chief said, I thought for a moment if I was to helping to fight this creature, that was how I ought to be dressed for action, if this were a Dungeons and Dragons game that is”
“Jenny, is really that how you would prefer to dress?” Mark asked further, “just a very short skirt and nothing else”
Jenny thought for a moment, “Not really Mark, it really isn’t me, but if that’s how”
Mark interrupted her “Jenny, if that isn’t you then, that’s your answer, don’t get me wrong, you have a beautiful body, and from my vantage point, I just about saw all of it, but as I told you yesterday, I much prefer it if you dressed in a way that you feel comfortable with. As for your archery, as I said before, that was some shooting”

The four of them entered the laboratory. Jenny expected to see all sorts of glassware and the odd Bunsen burner, but there was none of that. This was an electronics laboratory, so there was a lot of electronic equipment instead, some she recognised such as computers or oscilloscopes, but a lot she did not recognised. At the back of the lab was a small cubicle, so the colonel and the troll clan chief approached it. Jenny decided she would follow and took an arrow from the quiver and strung it to the bow.

In the cubicle was the man Jenny recognised as Guthrie, except the colonel had said he was already dead. The Troll clan chief immediately pointed the crossbow at him
“We know what you are, Doppelganger” The Troll growled.
Jenny came round the other side of the colonel and through the narrow entrance pointed an arrow at the throat of this individual.
“The games up” The colonel added, “Now who are you working for”

The creature morphed into its natural form and looked up at the trio, “Why should I be working for anyone, why can I not be working for myself” it asked in its metallic sounding voice.

“Because there was no way you could have escaped Mr Blue’s extermination order without help” the colonel replied.
“What makes you think I was that one?” it asked
“Because you had learned how to use a gun” the Colonel responded, “The other one was not armed”

The creature shook its head, “and you come at me with a bow and arrow from a mere child and a crossbow from a mere runt of a troll, you disappoint me”
“Hold your tongue” hissed the troll clan chief, “I am the leader of the Manjura clan”
“Oh yes, I remember” it continued in its metallic and callous sounding voice, “I was there when my brother, whom these humans slaughtered, ripped your pathetic father’s head from his body and stuck it on a pike”
“I was told that was the Arch Orc” The troll replied
“Were you really?”
“Yes, when he threw his hand in with the Spirit of Lust, not that it did him any good when she turned around and betrayed even him”
“Really?, She was a most generous employer”
“And who is your employer now?” The colonel repeated
“Answer him, you scum” The troll added.

“Er that would be me” came a voice from behind in a North London accent.
They all turned around to see a man in his twenties, in a white lab coat, a Death Metal T-shirt, jeans and carrying an Uzi submachine pistol in his right hand, pointed right at them.

“Timothy Zachary!” Exclaimed the commander, “The laboratory assistant”
“Surprised Commander? Just because I am a humble lab tech, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a vision on how to run things do I?” Timothy replied, “now if you would be kind enough to hand your weapons over to my associate, Scran” he added waving the Uzi

Jenny was the first to put her bow and arrow on the desk in front of the doppelganger, followed by the troll clan chief and then the commander.

“You too, Colonel” Timothy insisted, “And along with your knife, I know you never go anywhere with out one, I saw it on NCIS”
“Do you believe everything you see on TV?” The colonel responded.
“Just do it”
The colonel removed his nine millimetre handgun from it’s holster and laid it on the table, then bent down to remove his knife from his ankle
“Slowly now” Timothy insisted
Slowly the colonel removed the knife, stood up and placed it on the table.
The doppelganger picked up the handguns and crushed them as if they were a common soft drinks can.

“Why?” The Colonel asked
“And what did I do to you?” Jenny chipped in, “Did I blow you away as well?”

“Ya know” Timothy started, “This is just like when a Doctor Evil explains his plans to the hero, just before the hero breaks free”
“But what is a Doctor Evil with out an audience” Commander Mark responded
“True” Timothy replied, “I just never thought I would be in that role, but first things first” With that Timothy produced from his pocket a remote control unit and pressed a green button, causing the alarm signal to end, “That was beginning to give me a head ache”

Timothy placed the remote control in his lab coat and went to the window and picked up what looked to Jenny like a Geiger counter, “Do you know what the main problem with Mr Blue was?”
“Apart from being an out of control homicidal maniac with a brain tumour?” The commander responded
“Apart from that Commander, it was his lack of vision” Timothy Grinned, “He was just catalogue and annihilate, every visitor from what we called Eye Dee Double-you oh one was a potential mass killer to be examined, interrogated and exterminated”
“We don’t do that anymore Timothy” The colonel interjected, “Mr Blue may have but we don’t”
“I am well aware of that Colonel” Timothy responded, waving his gun at the troll, “But in those days, we in RnD considered it such a waste, I mean we got their devices to try and reverse engineer, but the visitors themselves were being wasted, then came my associate Scran, a shape shifter. Imagine Colonel, a shape-shifter doing our bidding, taking over say an official in an unfriendly regime, and then systematically going through the ranks, replacing officials higher and higher until the very top, all under our control. Mr Blue, just wanted him put to death”
“So you managed to fake his execution” Colonel Peters replied.
“It was easy, as being a bit of an AV geek” Timothy explained, ”I just replayed the death of an earlier visitor, they all burst into flames when they die, and I sabotaged the stun-gun Robert Hughes, the other techie, was using when he went in to administer the lethal injection”
“His death was swift and enjoyably satisfying” The doppelganger chipped in as it stood up and started walking outside the cubicle. Jenny moved out of the way to let him past and the doppelganger went and stood by the troll clan chief.
“With my skills in faking the death, and Scran’s abilities, not even Guthrie knew about this one”
“This one?” The Colonel asked, “you mean he was in on getting the other aitch eye dee forty seven”
“Yes, he was in on that one, it was clever of me to manipulate him to do that don’t you think”
“Just like you manipulated that dirt bag up north to have Jenny attacked, what did she do to you Timothy”
Timothy looked at Jenny, “Oh sorry Miss Green, it wasn’t personal; it was just that you were convenient”
“Convenient?” Jenny repeated This man in front of her had had her battered, violated and indecently assaulted over a matter of convenience?

“Yes Miss Green, or can I call you Jenny, since you seem to be on first name terms with the colonel and the commander” Timothy responded, “I mean if say someone, who was a female manager in the same coffee shop, in the same city, as another female manager who is now wife of a certain someone who had helped caused this place some embarrassment and had been active in the Mystical Realms, were to appear to be assaulted by an I D E, then maybe some might think it was that former manager who was the real target. And if the apparent victim survived what should be a lethal attack, maybe someone might conclude this could be a put up job by two doppelgangers to establish the cover for the other, after all, they do tend to work in pairs and as the colonel has said, they are incredibly devious. Like I said Jenny, it was nothing personal, any female coffee shop manager, assistant manager or barista would have done, but your promotion and that imbecile we got to be the fall guy was a golden opportunity”

Jenny just shook her head at what she had heard and thought of all the other female baristas at her branch that could have been attacked, for what? To trick those at the Facility to bring in another doppelganger Assassin. This thoroughly sickened her at the shear callousness of this man

Timothy continued “And being the geek that I am, hacking into Frank’s system was pathetically simple, I mean using your daughter’s name as password, come one he was asking for it”

“So you ordered the flight team to pick Jenny up” The Colonel butted in, clearly showing his anger at this technician.

“Not quite, he ordered it after I left in his system a priority message made to have come from you Colonel and copied to Carvel. It was just so pathetically easy for a super geek like me”

“But you had a doppelganger already, why did you need another one” Commander Mark asked

“Commander you may well ask, because you were responsible for this sorry chain of events” Timothy sneered, “You putting Carvel onto us with that audit, we needed a doppelganger to make sure that our funding stream was not cut off, just like so many were done when Mr Blue was replaced by Mr Sepia, and I couldn’t use Scran here, as only I knew about him”

Suddenly Colonel Peters seemed to Jenny to realise what Timothy and Guthrie had been up to, “You were involved in a black project” and you had Carvel murdered because he was about to expose you

“Yes and yes, as it so happens Colonel, and this is it” Timothy replied holding up the device he had picked up, “Of the devices we reverse engineered was one of those devices the visitors used to travel between their world and ours, our project was to create an artificial one and make it better, maybe even visit other dimension and other world that could be exploited. Not even Mr Blue was aware of it, and had he not been pushed out, the way he was, we were certain he would have approved it, but Mr Sepia he wanted all these projects suspended and we were to work on this boringly conventional war on terrorism. So we kept it secret and worked on it until we had perfected it, I mean how do you think we got those doppelgangers into the North of England in the first place”

“Because if you brought them straight here, you would have triggered every alarm in the Facility” The Colonel responded

“You got it in one and the idea of tricking you high rollers into bringing them in seemed so cool”

“If you were both together on this, why did you betray your own conspirator?” The Troll clan Chief asked
“We thought he would make the perfect fall guy” the doppelganger interrupted.
Timothy looked up at the doppelganger, then back at the group, and added “besides splitting proceeds two ways is a lot more than three ways, and after all Scran and I did do most of the work”

“So what happens to us now?” Jenny Nervously asked

Timothy put down the artificial dimension jump device on a bench and pulled the remote from his pocket, “Well for everyone else locked in their offices and laboratories, I have some Phosgene gas cylinders on remote in the ventilation system, as for you, you can be shot by this” at that he waved his Uzi at them, “or if you prefer, Scran here will promise to be quick as he rips your head from your body, or you can choke to death on the phosgene, the choice as they say is yours”

“You my lad are not the first treacherous mortal I have ever had to deal with” The troll Clan Chief of the Manjura raged, “And you won’t be the last”

“Oh really” Timothy replied, raised the Uzi at the troll, took aim, then grinned and wagged his finger, then spoke to the doppelganger, “Scran, check our troll visitor for amulets of protection, I mean I wouldn’t put it past him to have me shoot myself with my own gun, just like that Colombian gang leader did”

The Doppelganger walked over to the troll and grabbed his neck with one claw, and fished in his tunic with another, finally bring out a small piece of crystal on a piece of twine. The doppelganger then gave it to Timothy, who put it on.
“It is safe to shoot the troll now Mr Zachary or do you wish me to snap his neck” The Doppelganger replied.

“That’s ok Scran, I want everyone to be here before we start the fun, now if I recall we are missing a troll, Scran can you fetch him”
“Certainly Mr Zachary” at this the Doppelganger mutated to appear like the commander and headed out of the laboratory while Timothy held the others at gun point.

“How did you plan to get away with this” The Colonel asked him
“Oh Scran and I have our escape route and back up plan worked out and once we are out, we will meet up with the doppelganger I left up north and who knows what we will do, while your US oversight committees tries to account to the British why they allowed the biggest mass slaughter in a supposedly ultra secret base” Then Timothy put the remote controller on the bench next to the artificial dimension jump device and picked that up instead, without taking his eye off the group switched it on and then placed it back down facing the back wall of the laboratory.

The device started to hum, and in the back of the laboratory a wormhole appeared, similar to the one Jenny had seen before, but this one was green and quieter. “Unlike the natural ones” Timothy went on, “this is more stable”

Then he waved his gun at Jenny, “Now Jenny, I know you look fetching in the Colonel’s jacket, but I distinctively remember hearing you in the corridor talk about an Amazon look”

Jenny just shook her head and looked at the submachine pistol pointed right at her, was he thinking what she thought he was thinking? Then Timothy pulled from jeans an Iphone.



“I think” Timothy grinned, “You should hand the colonel back his jacket, so he can die with his full uniform on”
“You piece of low life scum” Colonel Peters called him
“Uh, uh Colonel” Timothy rebuked him and waved the gun at him, “It’s nothing I haven’t seen all those times I managed to bypass the Facility’s net filters to look at the porn sites”.
“We’ll add that one to the list” The commander retorted “Don’t give him the satisfaction Jenny” Commander Mark added, “Especially if he plans to kill us anyway”

“It’s ok Sam, Mark” Jenny spoke up, her head looking at the floor, “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so prudish and self conscious like my friends kept telling me, I’ll do it”

Slowly Jenny unbuttoned the jacket, all the while looking dejected and beaten, her spirit all but gone. She pulled open the jacket revealing her naked torso and slipped it off first her left arm and then her right arm.

The commander watched in disbelief as this young woman, who preferred to be conservatively and decently dressed, was being made to undress to satisfy the lust, you would expect from a teenage adolescent. Colonel Peters just glowered at the lab assistant and at the green wormhole forming at the back of the laboratory. But he had a submachine pistol with his finger on the trigger, and he could drop all of them with in the space of half a minute.

Jenny now held the jacket in her right hand, and then Timothy started to take pictures of her on his Iphone. “Jenny” he smirked, “the Amazon look does suit you a lot better”

Suddenly, because he was momentarily distracted with the Iphone, Jenny flicked the jacket at Timothy’s gun, yelling “Suit this creep”, As the jacket hit the gun it knocked Timothy’s hand upward and he let of a sudden burst into the ceiling. As Jenny pulled the jacket back, the gun was wrenched from his grip and it clattered to the floor

The colonel saw his chance and made a grab for the Uzi, but Timothy managed to grab the remote control. “Remember if I press this blue button, the whole of the Facility will be flushed with Phosgene gas, now give me back the gun and back off”

Just then Captain Strang returned, carrying the arrow he had picked up earlier, “Scratch one Doppelganger assassin My Liege” Strang told his clan leader

“What!” Timothy exclaimed

Captain Strang turned to the lab assistant and told him, “When you are a seasoned leader of a snatch squad, you learn to see through the forms doppelgangers take on, especially if you have one of these” Then he showed another green emerald style orb, “I let him think I was fooled, then I stabbed him in the back of the neck with the arrow that Miss Green shot on the lower level of the room of tomes”

The colonel turned back to Timothy, “You’re on your own now Timothy, it’s Over”
“Not while I have this remote control Colonel” Timothy replied looking at the colonel, “There is still the other doppelganger out there”

Somehow with the news of the death of the second doppelganger, they had forgot Jenny, standing there, just in nothing but the shortened skirt, still holding the colonel’s jacket in her right hand. Jenny noticed that Timothy, the man who had orchestrated the pain and humiliation she had undergone, was looking at the colonel and the trolls and not at her. She had done it once, and maybe she could do it again, but would that mean the fatal blue button would be pressed? He was going to press it anyway, Jenny reasoned, especially with the blood already on his hands.

Jenny surreptitiously moved the jacket from her right hand to her left behind her back, and then suddenly flicked the jacket at the hand with the remote control. Timothy was again caught unawares and he lost his grip on the remote which started to fall from his grasp. Jenny dropped the jacket and dived at the floor to try and catch the electronic device before it hit the ground, bruising her shoulder and her left knee in the process.

Seeing that game was up, and before anyone else could move, Timothy grabbed the artificial dimension jump device and jumped into the green wormhole. As he was entering the wormhole, Captain Strang triggered his dimension jump orb, and focused a blue wormhole into the green one.

The two wormholes became superimposed and turned turquoise, before exploding in a blinding white flash.

It took about a minute before everyone managed to regain their sight. Jenny just lay on the floor, in agony, clutching both her injured shoulder and the remote device, with the various buttons, which could do who knows.

The colonel came over to her, and gently took the remote control from her, and removed the batteries from it, just so it could do no further harm. “Strang what was that business with the second wormhole?” he asked the troll looking up at him.

It was the Clan Chief of the Manjura who answered, “Colonel, a long time ago, we discovered that if a crossing was opened in another crossing, then who ever was going through would be sent to who knows where”
“So our friend has been sent to a dimension other than Earth or the Mystical Realms?” The colonel asked
“Indeed, even possibly to the area between dimensions, I believe that is the last we have heard of that treacherous mortal”

The commander came over and helped Jenny to her feet, and she winced due to her shoulder injury and found it painful to put weight on her left leg.
Strang noticed this as well and handed over another bottle of the troll healing potion. This time there was no hesitation as Jenny quaffed it, to feel its magical healing effects.
As soon as she had drunk the potion, Strang took out an amulet on a leather thread saying “To a most worthy female warrior, Miss Green, I have a gift that will allow you to return to your life outside”
Jenny looked at it, “what is it?”
“It is an amulet of illusion, this will make all those who do not know you have been healed, see the injuries you first had” Strang explained, “and it is designed such that the illusion of the injuries will appear to fade in time” at that, the troll gently hung it around Jenny’s neck
Jenny looked into the troll’s eyes and said “Thank you” then she looked down at the amulet as it sat daintily between her naked breasts.

Suddenly Jenny remembered, she was undressed again, and she went bright red and crossed her arms, “Bother, I seem to be making a habit of this” she said out loud to no one in particular, “May be I’m supposed to be like this” she continued.

“Here Jenny, I found this for you” Commander Mark interrupted, as he handed her a spare lab coat he had found.
Jenny looked at it for a moment, let both arms drop to her side, looked into the commander’s eyes for a few seconds, then took the lab coat and slowly put it on and buttoned it up, “Thank you Mark” she told him quietly.

“Now what Sam?” the commander asked?
“Well Mark, I can still use Carvel’s card to over-ride the lockdown and let everyone out, and then we’ll clean up here” The colonel replied
“What about me?” Jenny asked
The colonel went over to the Clan Chief of the Manjura, “can you take Jenny home” he asked him, “I believe she has a funeral to attend”.
“Yes Colonel, but we will have to go via our world first”

Jenny noticed a tag on the lab coat’s sleeve, saying “Government Issue Only” and showed it to the colonel, “Do you need this back before I go”
“Jenny, I’m sure the Brits can spare it, you can always post it back later”
“Thank you Sam” She replied, then asked, “What about the police investigation?”
“They have the guy who was manipulated into paying the aitch eye dee ee forty seven to attack you but I suspect they will just keep this as an open file”
“By the way” Jenny then added, “You can count on me to keep quiet about this, I mean who would believe me anyway”
“I appreciate that Jenny” the colonel replied

Captain Strang then picked up the bow and the quiver of the remaining arrows, and replaced the one he had found in it and handed it to Jenny, “A souvenir for a brave warrior”.
The Clan Chief of the Manjura pulled out his dimension jump orb and with in seconds, the two trolls and Jenny were enveloped by a white light and after thirty seconds they were once again at Karam Tag Chou, the ancient citadel of the troll emperors .
“What happens about the third doppelganger she asked”
“Leave that one to us” Captain Strang told her, “That’s our job to hunt that one down”
The Clan Chief then told her to grab hold of the orb, so he could send her back to her flat. Jenny thought for a moment, then removed the lab coat and folded it up. “Could you see that this is returned” she asked.
Captain Strang nodded and then Jenny asked “do I really look like the part of a warrior in just this”
“Miss Green, yes you do, just like some of our female warriors, but you look every inch the warrior in what ever you choose to wear, you do not need to follow their example, or those of your ancient Amazons to be a warrior” The troll clan chief replied
“Thank you clan chief” she answered, then took hold of the orb as directed.

Suddenly she was back in her flat. The damaged door had been repaired.

The night was drawing on, so Jenny played back the telephone messages that had accrued which were mostly of the “where are you” kind and one from the parents of her former fiancé with more details of his funeral

Then Jenny stripped off the remains of the skirt, and took a shower, went to her bedroom and put on her night clothes, which felt really good, and went to bed in her own bed.

+-+-+-+-+

It was now the morning before the funeral of her dead fiancé and Jenny still could not believe the events that had happened in the last few days. She showered, put on the amulet of illusion and got dressed. Fully and properly dressed this time. She was going to see if she could go back to where it had all begun for her, the coffee shop. She knew the magic amulet would work, she just hoped that she could remember not to do anything she could not do if she were still injured.

Jenny put her coat on and left the house and went to the bus stop. The banality of everyday life seemed starker with what she had experienced. She had wondered about talking to Angela about it, but from what she had heard, her former supervisor was also trying to put her experiences of the Mystical Realms behind her.

One of those, a woman, who saw her on the bus when she took the later shift, as effectively she was doing now, stared at her.
“What happened to you? Are you the one that was beaten up the other night in the city centre?” the woman asked
Jenny just nodded, the memory of it still haunted her, plus the fact it was done in some sick power play kind of made it worse.
“Well I hope they get the B*****D” the woman responded
Jenny just looked at the ground, dejected. She would have to get used to looks and stares and possibly lying to people about what had happened and that did not feel good at all.

Finally she got into the city centre and was in the main thoroughfare where the coffee shop was. She felt a knot in her stomach and tried to fight off the flash backs. Slowly she put one foot in front of the other as she walked towards the store. This was one of those things that had to be done, just like getting back on a horse after you had fallen off of it. This was where she worked, she had to face it and some how get back to being one of the company’s youngest coffee shop managers. After all, she still had to earn a living somehow

After what seemed like an eternity, Jenny made it to the front of the coffee shop and for a while, gazed with morbid fascination at the spot where she was attacked. Then she took a deep breath and went in.

Something was wrong

The shop was empty, and she could not see who was on duty.

Jenny reached inside her handbag for her rape alarm and held it in her hand; the previous attack had been too swift to use it before. From the door she tried to look for anything that might give a clue as to what was going on.

Suddenly Jenny heard a whimper from behind the counter, it was female and the voice sounded familiar.

Looking all around, she crept towards the serving counter, and to her horror found Stephanie, the assistant manager from the other city branch lying on the floor behind it, suffering severe bruising and concussed. She glanced at the till to see if this was a robbery gone badly, but it was untouched.

A wave of terror flooded over Jenny, the only thing that could have done this, was the last remaining doppelganger.

Jenny heard the door of the staff room open and heavy footsteps approaching. She then heard who ever it was sniff.
“We recognise that scent anywhere” came a horrifyingly familiar metallic voice, “It was the human I attacked a few nights back” then it added, “Maybe it can tell us what has become of our brothers”

It was the third Doppelganger

Jenny did her best to hide behind the counter with an injured Stephanie, it must have been expecting the others to show, and when they did not, returned to where she worked. Stephanie had been lucky, so far, as these creatures, so Jenny had been informed, could rip someone’s head from their body in a matter of seconds.

“Maybe can find out from her instead of waiting for the other to recover from our gentle tap” came the voice of the doppelganger

So that was why Stephanie was alive, it was still after information which Stephanie did not have, but where were the trolls, weren’t they supposed to take care of this

Jenny looked at the cupboards behind the counter that were open, to see what was available as any kind of weapon. They mainly contained supplies like coffee beans for the grinder, Soya milk, paper takeaway cups, and serviettes. All stuff useful for serving coffee, but not for defending oneself against one of the most efficient killers that the Mystical Realms had produced. The only thing she could see was the piece of equipment they used for floating the whipped cream on the coffee, it used a can of compressed air to blow the cream into the cups, so slowly and quietly Jenny picked it up.

Jenny heard the doppelganger approach the counter, and then she saw it, in its natural form as it stood at the entrance to the space behind the counter. Jenny was out of options, so she triggered the rape alarm, which let out its piecing scream and set it on continuous mode. Then she noticed the doppelganger stumble back, trying to cover what she assumed were its ears. She leapt up and with the cream sprayer and aimed the jet of cream into its eyes and its nose, causing it to stumble even more, then jenny had to jump back as it started flaying its arms and giving a metallic scream above the sound of the rape alarm.

Jenny did not have much time, so she pulled Stephanie to her feet and with her arm over Jenny’s shoulders, and high on adrenaline, she dragged Stephanie past the disorientated doppelganger assassin to the main front door. With her free hand, and while her eyes were on the doppelganger, who was trying to find it’s way to the rape alarm on the counter, Jenny opened the front door. This must have sent in a cool breeze, as the creature turned towards them, briefly, before smashing its claw down on the rape alarm, thus silencing it.

Jenny continued to drag the semi conscious Stephanie into the street, yelling, “We’ve been attacked” at the passers by, who decided that they were to pass by on the other side. Jenny could only just about drag her friend two shops down to a outward-bound and camping store that was just opening up, when she noticed that the creature had finally manage to get its bearings and had left the coffee shop, in the form of, of

Darren!

It must have got the form from a photograph Jenny had had in her office

Jenny tried to drag Stephanie out of sight into the camping store, but she noticed that the doppelganger had seen them and in the guise of Darren was swiftly following them, and it looked angry.
“What‘s happened” asked a male shop worker as they entered the store
“We’ve been attacked” shouted Jenny, “and he’s still after us” before getting the male shop worker to take over from carrying Stephanie.

Before the three of them could do anything else, the doppelganger smashed open the door, and in some other accent, “You can run but you can not hide”, then it morphed into its natural form.
“What the ********!” exclaimed the shop worker, suddenly paralysed with fear as the creature approached them.
Jenny noticed a box of loose metal tent pegs on the counter, so grabbed one from the box and instantly threw it at the creature’s head.

She managed to score a direct hit

Right into the doppelgangers right eye.

The doppelganger let out a terrifying scream as it stumbled in agony, Jenny grabbed another tent peg while the male shop worker just stood there holding Stephanie, transfixed, she threw it with all her might at the creature’s neck, but the doppelganger batted it away, more out of luck and headed towards them.
Jenny looked for any other weapons, but the hunting knives were all safely locked behind the counter, suddenly she spotted halfway across the shop some long handled barbeque forks, so yelled “it’s me you want” and ran across to the grab one from the stand. The doppelganger in pain from the tent peg in its eye, headed towards Jenny. It lifted its huge muscular arms to grab at the human that had injured it, not thinking much what it was doing, and blundering on instinct. Jenny had one chance only, and with all the strength she could muster, thrust the barbeque fork upwards, into the doppelganger’s weakest point, its neck, just under what passed for a chin.

The doppelganger was stunned for moment, then Jenny had to move to the side to get out of the way as it sunk to its knees, smouldering. Then it fell forward and burst into flames.

Suddenly the fire alarm sounded, and the male shop worker looked at the ashen remains of the doppelganger, then with his free arm, pointed at something else.

Jenny turned around, it was a blue wormhole, and out of it was about four or five trolls lead by Captain Strang.

“What kept you?” Jenny yelled at them

Strang stepped out of the vortex and looked at the remains, on the scorched carpet. “I see you are indeed a most effective warrior Miss Green”
“And I did not have to strip off either” Jenny added
“Indeed” replied the troll captain, then he turned his attention to the other people in the shop, snapped his fingers and out of the vortex stepped what looked like a human, but he was very slender and tall and had pointed ears, a bit like Vulcans on Star Trek.
“We need to deal with some civilians” he told the new humanoid.
“You’re not harming them” Jenny said and got in front of the new arrival
“I will only make them forget, brave warrior” the new arrival replied, “with the finest elven magics”
“If you are going to do that” Jenny told him, “I have an idea”

+-+-+-+

Stephanie found herself coming round in the coffee shop, behind the counter, with a police officer by her side and her friend Jenny on the other side of the counter looking down at her. Stephanie could see that Jenny still looked battered and bruised from when she was attacked
“Don’t move miss, until the paramedics arrive” the police officer told Stephanie, then the police officer looked up at Jenny, “Are you sure the CCTV didn’t catch the guy”
“Sorry officer, the system seems to have gone down again” Jenny replied, “I have rung up head office and they are sending someone out to fix it”
“Did you see anything else Miss Green”
“No officer, I must have disturbed him when I came in through the back”
“This coffee shop does not seem to have had a lot of luck recently”
“Tell me about it, by the way, why the fire engine”
“Some shop just down from here has had a fault with their fire alarm”

For the rest of the day the coffee shop was closed, while the police did a search for the second assailant in a week, which had apparently knocked out the assistant manager in a robbery attempt. They never found any clues, but at least Stephanie was found to be relatively uninjured with just bruising, and she was determined to return to work, and not let who ever tried to rob the store rob her of the job she loved. Yet again the coffee shop chain offered a reward, but this case was to remain in the unsolved file.

+-+-+-+-+

The following day was Darren’s funeral and so Jenny dressed appropriately and turned up at the church and met with the parents of her former fiancé. A lot of people told her how much they were sorry, and how they would have made a lovely couple. For a short time Jenny forgot all about what had happened to her and her trip to the Mystical Realms, and found herself crying for her lost Darren, along side his parents and the other mourners.

The church did not have a cemetery that was active, so she had to try and get a lift to the burial. Going with the parents seemed inappropriate, and she was almost resigned to missing the graveside committal service, but a member of his army unit turned up unexpectedly and had a spare space in his car.

The weather at the committal service was cold and clear and grey, and as the coffin sank into the grave, Jenny looked up into the sky and just thought, “WHY?” before breaking down. One of Darren’s sisters came up to her and hugged her, until she recovered and told her not to loose touch with them.

Jenny waited for the others to leave, until it was just her and Darren’s parents, and then they said their good byes and left, leaving Jenny alone at the graveside. Jenny suddenly felt cold, and then looked at her watch. A bus should be due she thought and headed for the bus stop, only to find the colonel standing there in a black full length coat.

Jenny stopped and looked at him, “Hello Colonel” she said weakly
“Hello Jenny do you need a ride” He opened with
“That’s kind of you Sam but a bus is due and” she tried to say, and then broke down in tears again, so the Colonel held her in his arms. “I loved him Sam, I loved him” she wept
“I know” The colonel said quietly then after a while said, “I’ll drive you home”
Jenny recovered her composure and looked at Colonel Peters in the eye, “Thank you Sam, I don’t suppose you came all the way up here to just drive me home”

“Your right Jenny, firstly I came to apologise, Strang told me about the doppelganger you took out, I’m sorry we didn’t get it before it attacked again”
“I took care of it Sam, I had to”
“I know, it was the one that attacked you wasn’t it”

Jenny nodded the added, “it was what you Americans call pay back”

“Jenny, Strang was very impressed with that, and the idea you had for the cover up” The colonel complimented.
“Thank you” Jenny replied
“So Jenny, what do you have planned”

Jenny was slightly puzzled by the question, “Well I was going to take the bus to town, then possibly”
The colonel interrupted her, “I mean with your life”
“Oh, I suppose I will need to try and get back to managing the coffee shop, I mean I have to earn a living, see if I can find someone else” Jenny felt slightly guilty at saying this last bit so added, “although they will never replace Darren”

“Jenny”
“Yes?”
“I have another idea”
“What?”
“We were very impressed with the way you handled yourself with that scumbag of a lab technician, the way you spotted the doppelganger, the way you took one out single handed” Then the colonel changed his tone of voice, “And you showed compassion to Rebecca, the former Spirit of Kindness” Then the colonel grinned, “and the way you flipped Mark, now that was funny”

“And?” Jenny was still confused

“We want you to come and work for us at the Facility”
“Me?”
“Yep, I’m assembling a team to help deal with handling I D Es and helping the Minor Spirits of virtue become human, and I am supposed to pick a Brit, so I want you on my team. We can smooth out some of the rough edges you have, give you extra training where you need”
“But” Jenny started, “I was in pieces when I first arrived”
“Only because you were mishandled, once you recovered, you showed you have good potential as a field agent”

Jenny thought for a moment, she had reached manager at the coffee shop, and suspected that was the highest she might rise to, especially as she did not have a car, so this offer did have some appeal.

“I may have to work a notice period sir”
“We can fix that Jenny; we could have you working for us by Monday”
“Would I have to join the army or something like that, I mean both you and Mark are..”
“You would be classed as working for your Homeland Security on secondment; you would still be classed as a civilian”
“I would need to pack, try and find a flat and”
“I can arrange that, does this mean you are saying yes?”

Jenny nodded; to her this was too good an opportunity to pass up.
“I think it would be good to get away from this place, maybe see a bit more of the world” Jenny said, then she smiled and asked, “There is one thing I was wondering, Sam”
“What’s that Jenny?”
“I still have that skirt the Troll Chamberlain shortened, would I have to be back to just wearing only that again, I mean it has now been two days, where I have not been stripped or had to strip and I kind of got used to that? If I start work down there, I would like to wear a bit more than that, maybe some undies, or a thong under the skirt, at least if that’s ok, but if that is the job requirement and the dress code, I’m certain I could learn to live with that, if you want the Amazon look that is”

The colonel looked at Jenny in surprise at what she had just asked, and then laughed, “I’m certain we will let you wear quite a bit more than that Jenny”
“Even if we go to the Mystical Realms?”
“Yep, I heard the troll clan chiefs running the citadel there have read what you Brits call the riot ac t to the Troll Chamberlain, he will not be doing that to any female anytime soon”

“Then I would like to accept your offer Sam, I would love to come and work at the Facility”
“I’m so glad you said yes, Mark will be glad as well”
“Is he on the team as well?”
“You bet”
“I like Mark, who else will be on the team with us”
“Captain Strang and some leprechaun they will be sending over from the Irish Military intelligence service”

With that, Colonel Samuel Peters gently guided Jenny to his car, and drove her back to the flat, so she could help over see special packers from the Facility who helped her move her down to North London and the Facility.

With the new team, of Colonel Samuel Peters, Commander Mark Johnston, Captain Strang, Hogan O’Brian a leprechaun and now Miss Jenny Green to help monitor and deal with cross dimensional issues between Earth and the Mystical Realms, helping the young minor spirits of virtue realise their dreams of being fully human, along with backup from others at the Facility, the Facility, was now an agency under proper management and it had finally returned to main operations.

The End

For the time being

Coming later in the year – Tales from and around the Mystical Realms