Originally posted January 6, 2009
((This is not my story. This idea sprung from the creative mind of my good friend, Jim Best. After we met at GenCon in 2007, Jim's convinced me to try MMORPG's in the form of City of Heroes. He also introduced me to the ASTS, a place where Chance Thomas, then Kid Harrier, would find an RP home.
Jim's character in the All Star Teen Sentinels was the young Shaman, James Blackbear. Known as Wakan Man to the public at large, the character had great influence over the realm of dreams. In this story, Wakan Man was captured by a mystical creature, then tortured by the nightmares of his friends. As an open RP, Jim asked us to post our character's nightmares and then tell him of our dreams.
This snippet includes Chance's nightmare and Wakan Man's eventual triumph.))
-- by RexCelestis
In his dream, Chance does nothing. He stands, a member of the small crowd that has gathered, to watch the young man die. Chance does not kneel and try to comfort the bleeding boy. Chance does not hold him as the boy passes to the next word, he does not see the life leave that boy's eyes.
Chance stands in the crowd watching, too afraid to step forward; disbelieving he could make a difference. He turns his back on the boy to make his way through the crowd and returns to class.
Back in his empty bed, Kid Harrier awakens. He reaches for the bottle of water on the nightstand, sitting up as he takes a sip. He spends the rest of the night in thought, looking out over his new home through his bedroom window.
-- by Jim Best
His mind drifted out, testing the limits of the circle he was trapped in. The vampire knew his stuff, no two ways about it. There seemed to be no way that Wakan was going to be able to send his dreamself out in a call for help. Of course, “seemed” was the key word in that sentance. Wakan had been here for several weeks now, and while the beatings hadn’t been fun, he’d learned several things about his dimensional counterpart.
The first was that either due to a difference in their basic makeup, or in the transformation into a vampire, Evil James was much more physical than Wakan was. He grinned to himself as he thought about it. Despite the chiseled, manly physique that he spent hours at the gym maintaining, physically, Wakan Man was kinda the weak sister of the ASTS. Sure, if you had a ghost problem, or bad dreams, he was the guy to call, but the physical stuff? Well, you’d have to be pretty desperate to give him a ring. The vampire however, seemed to strike with his fists first, and think later, as was evidenced by the purple bruises and broken ribs Wakan’s taunts had so easily evoked. This Shaman may have a lot of the same training as Wakan, but he was a brute.
The second thing James had learned was that whomever was really calling the shots here, it wasn’t the vampire. If it was, James would have been dead long since. Someone wanted him here, trapped and out of the way, but didn’t really care about him themselves, or they would have come down to gloat. Whatever the real plan was, it had something to do with dreams, most likely those of a member of the ASTS. The vampire had boasted about toying with the dreams of his teammates, but it had to be more than that. It had to be a smoke screen for the real threat. And whatever that threat was, there was no way James was going to figure it out hanging in this circle.
The vampire was stronger than him, more violent, but James knew that he was smarter than it was. The vampire was nothing but an undead bully, but James told himself that he was more than that. The vampire may have speed and agility, but he was a master of the dreamtime, a practitioner of the mystical arts, and better looking! Oh, and one more thing, he was breakable!
It had taken days to get the vamp to hit him just right, but today it had happened. James wiggled his tongue, finally breaking the last hold of the tooth the vamp had knocked loose earlier. Inhaling through his nose, James said a silent prayer and spit the tooth across the room.
Magic is all about belief. Belief that a tooth, bone of his body, covered in his blood and saliva would create a link to the whole of his body. Simple fundamentals behind voodoo and many other forms of magic. As the tooth broke the plane of the circle, James shot his will forward as an arrow, breaking free in the wake of his talisman, the tooth. As the tooth, a real part of his body, was freed of the circle, so too was Wakan’s mind!
The hero wasted no time, drawing his energies he thundered into the dreamtime, searching for his friends and the fiend that haunted them!
Waken Man tore through the dream time, searching for his former captor. James had been gone for days and he was sure that his Praetorian self was dishing out the nightmares time and time again. Honing in on his friend's dreams, Wakan slipped from mind to mind.
KID-OLYMPUS - Sleeping fine, no nightmares.
ZEIBAN - The same. Nothing unusual.
SIX OF DIAMONDS - Nightmares surged around him as he entered her dreamstate. The smell of leather and blood, sounds of screams and whimpers of pain, all in the utter darkness of a blindfold or hood. James spun, searching for the source of the nightmare, but quickly realized that this nightmare was natural, not the work of the Shaman. James shivered. He hadn't talked to Wendy more than briefly since her return from the other dimension. Perhaps that needed to change. But for tonight he needed to find the Shaman. Six's nightmare was natural, and would have to wait.
BODKIN-GIRL - He saw her on the ground, the gang members closing in, and then, the scene warped and rearranged itself, Boddie's mentor and friend, Cap lying broken and bleeding and Reichs standing, ready to strike. As the blond Super-Nazi raised her fists, there suddenly was the cry of a bird of prey followed instantly by a crack of thunder. Both the villainous nightmare and the dreamer looked up to see a giant bird made of lightning scream across the sky. High above the two girls, the tattered cloak of the Crying Shaman fluttered, the hood falling back, revealing his dead face in the sudden light of the thunderbird. And beyond him, his feathered cloak fanning out behind him, the Wakan Man descended from the heavens in fury.
"Impossible!" Screamed the vampiric Shaman over the thunder. His own magicks throwing up dark shields to block the reaching shadows of the teen hero's attack.
"Not for me, you heavy handed hack! Did you think I wouldn't find you?" As he spoke, a pack of misty grey wolves glided out of the corner of Bodkin Girl's vision and set up a ring around the heroine, snarling and staring straight at Reichsmaiden. Boddie felt the brush of warm fur before they leapt, driving the Nazi back before them. "I mean, you would think a creature of stealth such as yourself would be better at hiding their actions in the dream world! But nooo!"
Crying Shaman dove forward, talons extended, fangs bared to rip out the hero's throat, when a blast of lightning dropped from the sky with a noise like the angry cry of a hawk. Wakan landed lightly, stalking toward the vampire and summoning his Spirit Axe to his hand. With a snarl, the vampire swiped his claws, rending the reality of the dream and disappearing into another.
"Oh no you don't!" Wakan grimaced. Looking over his shoulder, he shouted, "Sweet Dreams, Boddie!" and followed his nemesis to the next sleeping hero.
DANGER ROSE - Wakan came through the hole in the dreamtime to find himself surrounded by Malta, Rose on the ground, bound and helpless. There was a moment of shock as the Malta stared at him, then they opened fire. Wakan twisted the reality of the dream and pulled open a closet door between him and the Sappers. Their blasts struck the full length mirror on the door and rebounded, striking the gunslinger.
"THAT is how you manipulate a dream, you poser!" James laughed, sending his axe spinning through the air to snap Rose's bindings. She came up swinging and two Sappers went down instantly. James wrapped the other two in tentacles of shadow when the vampire struck from concealment. His claws tore Wakan's shoulder, spinning him around sending him into the wall. Before the hero could launch a counter attack, the vampire faded away into invisibility again.
As Rose pounded the Malta into the ground, using some fairly unlady-like language, Wakan surrounded himself with the stuff of the dreamtime, forming a giant spirit bear as armor against the coming attack. The vampire struck again, but the bear took the damage, not the hero, and Wakan swung a massive paw, sending the evil dreamwalker through the wall and into the next dream.
KID BEETLE - The vampire landed on the ground in front of the podium as the announcer was taking the award from Beetle's hand. He rose with a snarl and a hiss of rage, turning to see Wakan floating towards him, arms crossed. The vampire's eyes widened as he saw the rooftops lined with ravens. The teen hero simply pointed and a wave of black wings sped towards the villain. He fled again.
AHEM - James followed the Shaman again, only to be hit by an incredible surge of sonic energy. His hands flew to his ears and he dropped to the ground. He was in a convenience store and Ahem, in a strange costume was shrieking for all she was worth, her eyes wide in fear and rage. Somehow, as it is in dreams, despite the volume hitting him, he heard the whispered words of his enemy. "Fool. Thinking your pathetic dream magic is any match for the nightmares I can draw forth? Let's see how well you do!" Lifting him by the scruff of the neck, the vampire tore another hole in the dreamtime and threw Wakan Man through.
OMEGA LASS, WONDER-KID, & ACE TROUBLESHOOTER - He'd barely staggered through when the punch connected with his eye, snapping his head around. If he hadn't already been falling away from the blow, it probably would have taken his head off. MJ, her face devoid of all emotion even while her eyes seemed to scream in terror, moved in on him. Behind her, James saw the rippling of the landscape, a sure sign of joined dreams. Tentacles of darkness gripped her arms, pulling her back from James when a bouncing clown kicked him in the back. A demented nightmare of Bouncing Jack taunted, "It's all your fault!" and ricocheted off a wall. Wakan barely dove out of the way in time. He took to the air, his feathered cape rustling on the wind, only to have his ankle grabbed by the blood-stained hand of Wonder-Kid, who slammed him back to the ground.
Dazed, Wakan felt himself lifted up to his knees. MJ held one arm, Wonder-Kid the other, and a giggling Jack held his head up by the hair. Crying Shaman stepped out of the shadows and slowly stalked towards them. Behind him, Wakan could see the bodies of the ASTS and others he didn't know. He saw Ace crying over Harley. He saw death, despair, and fear, and stepping through it all was the Shaman. His tattered leather cloak and pants stained with blood, his dead eyes gleaming with satisfaction, the vampire stood over the helpless hero, "It is over. Your spells was no match for mine. Time to end this." He drew back his claws to strike, and froze as the hero laughed.
Wakan Man looked up at the vampire, with a smile that didn't touch his eyes. "Oh, I couldn't agree more! Let me show you what power is!" There was an explosion of sound as the Thunderbird appeared in the sky and dropped upon them, obliterating the dream in pure, white light.
EVERYONE - When the Shaman could see again, he was standing in a forest on a strange world. James was still held by the nightmares, but the young mage exuded confidence. "Where are we?" Shaman asked.
"Welcome to the planet A'verelm. Youve been in Harley's head. You've seen her fears. Now see her hopes! An entire world, reborn! Oh, and you may not know this, but Harley? She can be pretty sneaky, too."
In a blur of black and purple, the heroine darted from the underbrush and tackled Crying Shaman, spinning once before throwing him into a tree.
"Oh. And she has Jack wrapped around her finger. Despite everything she still believes he's a good guy."
"Jack!" She cried, "Let James go and stop the vampire!"
"Yes, my Love!" The clown alley-ooped over Wakan and kicked Shaman in the head.
As the vampire counter-attacked, the scene shifted and they were back in Paragon City. As the two heroes battled the Shaman, large metal hands suddenly grabbed MJ pinning her arms. An adult version of Melanie Fantastic stepped up said, "Thanks Fantastibot!" and slapped an electrical pad to MJ's temple. "Don't worry, this will override whatever Crey did to you!" Omega Lass sighed happily, her limbs working once again.
Wakan simply stood and watched. "And Melanie Fantastic. You tried to tell her how worthless she was? Well, she believes that she might one day run a business whose scientific advances rival any in the world. Imagine the good that she could do! Imagine what all of them could do!"
And there they were, standing shoulder to shoulder, the members of the ASTS, not as teens, but as the adults they imagine they will become. Many still wore the tights and bore the badge of Hero of the City, but some others were dressed normally. There was Ahem, hand in hand with DeFrag, and Kid Harrier with American Promise and Ace Troubleshooter with Twilight Harlequin. Econaut, dressed in street clothes, looking entirely normal and not at all as someone who has complete control of the plants and the storm; Wonder-Kid standing tall with his friends and family; Atti, surrounded by his band's groupies, fresh from a concert at Ozzfest; and Sentinel of Twilight and Zeiban with their children.
"These are my friends, vampire. Heroes one and all! But more than that. They see themselves as people who can make the world a better place." As he spoke, the buildings around them took on more luster, the streets literally became cleaner. "They believe that what they do matters, they believe that their lives will make a difference in the world. You thought you were powerful because you could draw on their fears, but I draw on their hopes, their dreams, their beliefs...and magic is all about Belief!"
The shaman twisted and snarled, looking for an escape from this shining city and it's heroes, but finding no way out.
Wakan Man strode forward at the head of the throng of heroes, his voice rising to a shout as he thundered, "They believe that they can change the world. And this, you sadistic freak, is their world! And you have no place in it!!"
With those final words, painful light flooded from the heroes, burning the form of Crying Shaman, causing him to scream and writhe, and fade to nothingness.
As the light dimmed and the City of Heroes returned, James turned to his teammates and smiled. "Sleep well, my friends. I'll be home soon!"
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