The sensation of air zipping past him saddened him, because it reminded him of flying, something given his bodily circumstances he was never likely to do ever again. A sharp piece of ice, jutting out from the hole's edge caught him on one arm, startling him back to reality. Mentally chastising himself for getting distracted, he reminded himself to complete the mission. It was an important one, probably the most important of his life. Given everything that was happening on the other side of the world, this could quite literally mean saving the planet as he knew it. Focused, he called forth the mantra, the words of which were already poised in his head.
Yoyo, with Flash's permission, had connected a mental tether to his friend, just before he'd plunged into the darkness. It should in theory allow the two of them to communicate, even with Flash over half a mile deep beneath the very ice and rock they stood on. If he encountered any difficulties, at least he would be able to warn them.
It wasn't fancy, it wasn't... FLASH! That made him laugh. So many puns. It was very simple and elegant... just the right mantra, at just the right time. All it actually did was make the air thicker, which in turn cushioned his descent, allowing him to control the speed with which he dropped through the hole. The one down side was that the mantra couldn't thicken the air enough for him to just stop or even hover. There was no way to halt his motion and all the energy related to it. Sooner or later, he was going to have to hit something, to grind to a halt. Although a concern, it was something he'd deal with when the situation arose. For now, he maintained his focus, kept an eye on the walls surrounding him and the drop below him for any sign of light or anything unusual, ready to fight at a moment's notice. He hoped he wouldn't have to, but he knew it was a distinct possibility. Any way you looked at it, he had to get the naga king out of there alive, and back to where he could do some good, not just for his friends' sake, but for the whole planet.
Surrounding the hole, they all waited fearfully. Some knelt, others just stood and craned their necks, what for, who knew? They certainly weren't going to see anything, not at that distance, even with their amazing dragon senses. A tinge of fear ran through Yoyo as he looked around him. The wonderfully designed suits the others wore flickered occasionally as the snow bounced off them. He wondered what he'd got them all into, and if indeed he really should have in the first place. It was too late now, but that didn't stop him regretting it. Would they all make it back? Would the mission succeed? Just two of many questions at the forefront of his mind, right at this very moment. Very soon, he would have his answers.
Earth's surface. London, England.
Dressed in TFL overalls and high visibility jackets, the two beings skulking in and around the dark tunnels adjacent to the underground tracks between Waterloo and Bank stations on the Waterloo and City line, deep beneath the capital, looked to be going about their business with their normal dedicated professionalism. If not for the two bodies each had killed with a single gunshot to the head, locked away in a tiny little store room, tucked some way back from the track then it might have just been two workers going about their daily business... but not so. Mischief was up to no good, and had designs on creating as much chaos as was... not quite humanly... possible.
Orders had come down from on high, well at least through their group leader. They were part of a cell of eight, and knew only the other seven beings. Apart from that, they'd had no contact with the outside world. Their instructions had been clear: create as much confusion, disruption and devastation as possible, keep the authorities busy and off guard, almost mirroring what had gone on deep beneath them some time earlier.
Caution and subterfuge had been thrown to the wind, speed now the name of the game. So the two moved quickly, their destination burned deep within their memories, thoughts occasionally turning to what the rest of the cell were up to... no doubt somewhere else in the capital about to unleash a very different form of pandemonium. Ducking back into a dark recess as a tube train came rumbling along the track directly in front of them, their superhuman powers allowed them to see directly into the carriage and focus solely on the subjects there going about their daily lives, despite the speed with which the train travelled. One of them, the subordinate of the two, wondered for a split second about the humans that he'd just witnessed. Were they happy? Did they have families? Friends? What were their goals in life? Had they achieved them? If they hadn't, he knew it was unlikely now that they ever would. Soon the world would darken... forever. And everything they knew would be but a distant memory.
'Enough of that though,' he thought... 'back to the task at hand.'
As the fading light of the tube train became but a distant speck, and the rattle of carriages echoed off down the blackened tunnel, the two of them rushed out onto the tracks, mindful of the ever present threat of electrocution, knowing that even their magical abilities would not protect them from that. Sprinting now, the two travelled about a quarter mile in the same direction as the train that had just passed them. This was almost the furthest point between the two stations, and the most difficult part of the track for the emergency services to access, thus compounding the turmoil once it all happened.
With no time to lose, both of them stood opposite each other, grabbed the rail nearest them, and began to feed their murky magic into their hands. Streaks of brilliant purple and wicked dark green energy bled into the thick metal they were holding on to, sparking and arcing similar to that of a welder's torch. Mere moments later the rails started to melt and run like the wax in a candle. The two continued their mischief up the track for some five or so metres before deciding their work was complete. Taking a moment to admire the now nonexistent track, only the flattened waxwork outline visible in the limited light, both beings sprinted off in the direction of the nearest exit to the surface which was about a thousand metres away. Spotting the concealed side tunnel with their magically enhanced vision, both of them ducked into it, followed its twisting path until they reached the narrow flight of stairs, which they duly climbed, all the time discarding the high visibility jackets and the stolen overalls. Reaching out with their minds, checking for anything unusual beyond the door that they stood behind in total pitch black, they both came up blank. Their path to freedom seemed perfectly okay. Both taking deep breaths, they opened the door, slipping through in but a split second, joining the throng of unsuspecting passengers heading away from the station. Both dressed in smart suit and tie ensembles, they blended in seamlessly with their surroundings. Three minutes later they found themselves in a black cab nearly a mile away, imagining the upcoming carnage the impending tube train was about to face.
2
A King And A Prayer
For all he was worth, he'd hoped it would take them longer, much, much longer. But it hadn't. They'd arrived at the council building side of the bridge about an hour ago. A magical battle of epic proportions had been waged for over forty minutes. Nagas, as that's what he assumed they were, combined with some very unusual looking dragons, the like of which he'd never seen before, had surged across the chasm between the two buildings, in wave after wave of full on assaults. It was reckless, careless, a casual waste of life. For that very reason he detested it. In the end, the compact dragon force, trapped in the king's private residence, had little choice but to do the one thing they'd hoped not to. They'd blown the bridge to smithereens. Well, I say blown, they did in fact ignite the mantra that had been cast over it when they'd first retreated back over it. By their count, over a hundred nagas had tumbled to their doom, plummeting clumsily into the relentless depths. After that, it had all gone quiet... even the aerial attacks from the strange looking dragons had abated. Nothing could be seen on the other side. No doubt the enemy had regrouped out of sight, knowing that their prey was well and truly TRAPPED!