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Worlds Of War	By : Lasski Category: G through L > Labyrinth Views: 16038 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 2: Strange Happenings

                Johnny crowded in around the main table and rubbed his eyes, willing the haze of sleep to go away before it consumed him. The meeting had gone on for over an hour, discussing varying tactics, problems concerning protection, ammunitions, weapons, food and general basic needs. He looked up as Mac cracked his neck to relive some tension and noticed that Melinda wasn’t back yet. It wasn’t unusual if she was somehow delayed by one of the Superior’s force groups, but still…

                “Mac? Where’s Melinda?”

                Mac cracked the other side of his neck. “She’s out supervising some of the pack who went on scavenger duty. She shouldn’t be much longer.” He cracked his knuckles.

                Johnny nodded. Of course, Mac would be the first to worry, especially if anything was wrong. Johnny cast a look over the cavernous room to his own “twin”, checking to make sure Sarah was still resting quietly. She lay sprawled on the ground beneath the blanket; one arm tossed above her head and curled protectively against her body, the hand peaking out wrapped around a knife. Johnny might have rolled his eyes at the sight if he didn’t sleep with a weapon as well. Standard practice.

                “Mommy! Mommy!” a little girl yelled and launched herself at Linda, one of the team leaders for the Heart squad, who caught her easily and hoisted her up on her hip. Her pale blond pigtails swung frantically as she tried to bounce up and down. “Mommy, where’s daddy?”

                Linda tried to give her five-year-old daughter a stern look but the twinkle in her eyes gave her away. “Tasha, honey, you know you’re not meant to disturb me when I’m in a meeting. And your dad is getting some rest so I don’t want you to disturb him either.

                Tasha dropped her bottom lip. “But mummy, I drew a piccie and me want to show daddy!”

                “And I want to show daddy, poppet,” Mac corrected and ran a fond hand over the silky hair.

                Tasha rolled her eyes and tried to duck out from under his hand. “Mac! Don’t mess up my hair.”

                Mac and Johnny chuckled and shared a look In the middle of war and females were still the same.

                Tim a teenage boy jogged up to them with a look somewhere between reproach and apology. “I’m sorry team leaders but it seems that someone has a problem with obeying orders” he said throwing a look at Tasha who poked her tongue out at him, then hid her head in the crook of her mother’s neck.

                “It’s ok Tim” Mac said putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “It’s a big responsibility to look after the kids, we can’t expect you to keep an eye on all of them all the time.”

                Tim gave a look of horror more suited to facing the Superiors. “It’s no problem sir, nothing I can’t handle.” He shot another look at Tasha who was peeking out at him; “I just have to get some rope so I can tie up some problems.”

                Linda squished down a smile and pulled Tasha out of her hiding place to look firmly at her. “Tasha, honey, you have to listen to Tim. When I’m not around he’s in charge.” She said sternly but gently. She put her child on the ground where Tasha squirmed now having to face Tim on her own. “I want you to apologise to Tim” Linda said.

                Tasha remained stubbornly silent for a moment before recognising that she wasn’t going to get out of it. Her parents she could twist around her little finger but Mac she couldn’t. Having his disapproval and disappointment was bad. Having Mac unhappy with her meant that Melinda would be unhappy with her and having Melinda unhappy with her meant that Sarah would be unhappy with her and that was the worse. No Sarah meant no stories. “Sorry Tim” she mumbled.

                “Good girl” Mac praised and Linda kissed her on the head.

                Tim sighed. “Come on brat, let’s get you back with the others.”

                Tasha took a wide swing at him, missed and squealed, quickly running away as Tim took chase grinning back at the others over his shoulder.

                The three team leaders watched until they were out of sight. “One day that boy will make a great team leader:” Mac commented.

                “I heard Harold caught him trying to sneak aboveground with some of his teams.” Johnny said absently.

                Mac chuckled, “Like I said, he’ll make a great team leader.”

                “Mac!” All heads turned as a female voice rose from across the main area of the base. Johnny saw Mac look around expectantly and the voice yelled out again. The owner of the voice shot out from the crowd, it wasn’t Melinda but some girl with short black hair. Her feet and legs were soaked from running along the flooded sewer tunnels “Mac, there’s trouble in the middle zone. Everyone’s surrounded by force groups. My partner…” she bit her lips for a second, pain flashing across her eyes, “My partner is gone. We need help.”

                Mac yelled out for the rest of his squad as he grabbed his gun. “Wanna give us a hand Johnny?”

                Johnny nodded and roused his own squad, nothing like killing off the enemy to get rid of sleepiness. He gave a thought to waking Sarah but after looking at her decided against it. She was so exhausted that even the present noise hadn’t triggered her usually excellent alarm system. She had been working herself into overdrive lately and needed to slow down, she would probably yell at him later when she found out, but shit happened. Grabbing his own weapon, parts of squads Spades and Diamonds headed towards the east middle zone area. Mac divided them up into groups of four to sweep each street block by block, working outwards. Mac and Johnny were the only pair and covered the more dangerous up-front middle blocks.

                Like ants they crawled from the sewers out into a war zone. Shots rang out and splashing could be heard as feet ran through the remains of the earlier rain. The freedom fighters moved from street to street - shooting, ducking and weaving.

                Johnny ran hard down a street and stumbled upon a couple of force group guards with their backs to him firing the other way. Their mistake. Slipping one serrated knife from the band around his waist, he flipped it blade first into his palm. With precision and instinct he hefted it spinning through the air. Just as it hit its target, silently piecing the throat of one person Johnny had a drawn his handgun and fired three times into the back of the other around the heart area. Jogging up to the fallen men he knelt beside them checking for life. He snapped the neck of the first just in case he didn’t hit the heart to kill him, and snapped the neck of the second so that he couldn’t survive to claim revenge for the damaging wound, if he managed to survive.

                Closing in on the corner to the street to sweep around the block he saw some of Mac’s missing people skid around the side of the building, bullets flying after them. One of them cried out and fell to the ground clutching his leg. “Keep going!” Johnny yelled at the other as they saw their friend fall, “Keep going!” They obeyed him and sprinted past as he ran up to the fallen man with his automatic at the ready. Just as he approached the corner a force group guard rounded the corner. Johnny acted quickly bringing the butt of his gun up to crush into the man’s jaw and then across his head to knock him unconscious.

                A viscous blow to the chest winded him and knocked him backwards and he gave a passing thought to the possibility of cracked ribs. The side of the firearms held by a second force group guard knocked painfully against his jaw instantly splitting open his lip. A shout rang loudly nearby and his attacker fell to the ground dead.

                Mac lowered his gun and helped Johnny up to his feet before checking on the shot man. “Are you ok Jamie?”

                Jamie grimaced as he was helped up, keeping the weight off his foot and leaned on Mac. “There’s closing in from the right side Mac.”

                “I know. I was right behind you picking off the first lot coming in.”

                Johnny breathed to clear the dizziness from his head. “I sent some of your people back down the street.” Yelling and gunfire suddenly came from back down behind them. Johnny, Mac and Jamie stared for a moment as Mac’s people came running back down accompanied by some of Johnny’s people.

                “What the hell are you doing here?” Mac roared.

                “Freedom fighters” yelled Peta in explanation and they all fell to the ground as a fresh round of bullets was sprayed down the streets. Glass shattered and ammunition ricocheted above their heads.

                Johnny cursed as his head pounded and he heard Jamie yelp in pain. As soon as it cleared they all scrambled up and rounded the corner to the left. Halfway down they ran into Melinda and more of the Spades and Diamonds teams.

                “Turn back” Mac panted.

                Melinda shook her head. “They’re coming from this way.”

                “We can’t go back. There’re groups on all sides” Johnny gasped, his head pounding.

                A stack of other freedom fighters who were sprinting from force groups came up to them. Johnny coming to the shocking realisation ‘They’re rounding us up’ he thought, ‘like cattle, they’re caging us in!’ “Mac! It a trap” he yelled but it was too late and his voice was cut off by the sound of a helicopter rising overhead. Past Mac he could see force groups racing towards then from the front. Johnny spun around to look behind and saw more force groups blocking his way out.

                A strange feeling passed through Johnny - so it was his turn to die, so be it. He raised his gun fully intending to take out as many force group people as possible before they shot him down. Yet it seemed even that was denied to him as the force groups had already pulled their triggers and shots rang out in the night air, bullets racing towards their targets… only to be stopped in mid air and bounced harmlessly to the ground. The bullets continued to come from both sides until everyone realized that no one was being hit and a circle of bullets were forming around the caged in freedom fighters.

                ***

                A bubble floated gently against the natural flow of the breeze and barely missed the swaying grass that could damage it so easily. It bobbed up and down and darted around a large rock before coming to the edge of the cliff. It hung there for a moment as if admiring the scenery before tumbling down the vertical rock face to the vale below.

                The valley was bathed in sunlight by the midday sun and the rippling water of the lake sparkled with silvery glitter in reflection of the warm light. Drooping willow trees lined the bank in lazy abandonment, dipping their branches into the water to tangle with green reeds. A figure glided swiftly through the deep water but he was a welcomed visitor rather than an intruder in this small patch of paradise. Strong legs carried him from the embankment to dry land, the water streaming off his body, trailing down inbetween the muscles lining his naked flesh. He flicked his dark hair back from his face and reached for his pants tossed carelessly on a nearby branch.

                The bubble floated up to him and rose to hover at eye level with the man. The man gave it a cursory glance before turning away to retrieve the boiling pot from the small fire burning merrily away. He set it to one side then dipped a mug into the soup mixture bringing the sweet smelling liquid to his mouth. The bubble hung where it was for a moment then swiftly and angrily moved over to stand in front of the man again.

                He sighed and said; "Can't I even have lunch without being bothered?" The bubble took a jump towards him, then back to where it was. The man gave a low chuckle, "I suppose not then." He held out a hand palm up and the bubble drifted down to rest lightly on his skin. It gave a soft pop and transformed into a rolled up scroll. He set his mug to one side and untied the ribbon and flattened out the letter on his thigh. Scanning through it he muttered to himself "bloody hell" and threw the contents of his mug out onto the grass. It took him mere minutes to pack all his gear and dress himself; finally cloaking himself in a full-length black cloak with a hood that pulled low over his head to hide his facial features.

                He gave a loud whistle that slightly disturbed the tranquility of his surroundings and echoed softly in the air. Seconds later a massive black stallion galloped towards him at full speed and upon reaching him reared up on hind legs in a show of powerful strength. The man's lips gave a mocking twitch, "You can blame his Majesty for disturbing your time off, Hawk. It seems we've been summoned." Hawk pawed at the ground and tossed his head. The man in black attached his belongings to the horse with a quick manipulation of magick and answered, "Well don't think I'm going to complain on your behalf, if you want to anger Jareth you can do it all on your own." Hawk whinnied. "That's what I thought" the man replied cheerfully.

                Leaping up easily onto Hawk's bare back the man set him off at a gallop, running full tilt towards the edge of the valley and toward an almost ninety degrees rise out of it. Hawk's strong legs swiftly carried them up and out the steep rise without an effort.

                An hour later Hawk and the man were riding at a swift trot through the forest. Hawk snickered and tossed his head violently and the man nods, "Don't worry; we'll get away from this smell quick enough." The bog of eternal stench gulped to the right of them. The man shuddered, years of seeing the worst battlefields that both the Underground and Aboveworld had to offer - smelling the blood, burning flesh, the disease... death - and yet only the labyrinth's bog had the ability to make his stomach churn in sickening waves.

                They approached a bridge, relatively new, crossing the BOES on the road to the castle. Apparently it had had to be rebuilt just over a decade ago when travellers crossed over it and the previous fragile bridge broke. This one would see out the next millennium being made of great big rocks seamlessly put together. At the foot of the bridge the man slid down off his horse and cautiously approached the trees lining the bank. A loud voice suddenly commanded “Halt stranger and identify thyself!”

                The man chuckled. “Ah, I’m afraid I cannot disclose my identity then sir knight, for I am no stranger and am well known to thee.”

                Fox-like features peered out at the man from behind a tree, and small shiny eyes took in the man in black and his equally dark horse. Upon recognising the man Sir Didymus fully appeared and nodded a greeting. “My lord, I did not recognise thee. Welcome to my humble abode.”

                The man smiled, “I am honoured sir knight.” The BOES let out a particularly foul smell and the man cringed. “Truly Didymus, I cannot understand how you cannot smell that awful stench.”

                “What stench?”

                “You really can’t smell that?”

                The fox lifted his head sharply; “My sense of smell is impeccable.”

                The man wisely kept his mouth shut. It was better to keep quiet about some things.

                “What brings you this way my lord?” Sir Didymus asked.

                The man leaned against his horse lazily and crossed his arms. “His highness demands our presence. I think the only reason why he didn’t send you a personal invitation was because he knows I hate this place and wanted to put me through hell.” He tossed his head back, “As if I haven’t been through it already.”

                “Events are moving forward then,” mused Sir Didymus, “I do not know if this bodes ill or well. Ambrosias! Where are you, come out of hiding this instant.”

                The man chuckled at the whine which came from the bushes in answer to the fox’s call. “Knowing Jareth it’s probably good for him and bad for the rest of us.”

                Ambrosias, shaggy and small crept out from under the leaves and reluctantly trotted over to Sir Didymus. With a small grunt the fox swung a leg over his steed’s back and settled himself into the saddle, then proceeded to 'gee-up' the dog to scamper over the bridge. The man in black followed him on foot, leading Hawk carefully over the cobbled stones.

                “I can’t help but think that this isn’t going to be good,” the man said to Sir Didymus, “Why would Jareth send for two such as us? We’re so different from each other in values, let alone everything else.”

                "Perhaps not so different my lord. I would nay have thought that I would ever associate with a rouge like yourself. Your trade has no honour, yet I would still call you friend any day," commented Sir Didymus

                "And I cannot see how you live by a code of honour that limits your life so much, yet your company is amongst the first I seek. There are strange happenings in this day and age Sir Didymus. Old alliances are destroyed and new and unusual ones are formed" replied the man in black.

                Sir Didymus nodded sagely in agreement. It didn’t take them long to arrive at the imposing castle that had been seen in the distance for some time now. Ambrosias faltered at the outer wall and the man refrained from laughing as Sir Didymus kicked up his heels shouting, “Come on Ambrosias! His majesty is not going to threaten to throw you in the Bog. Just don’t piddle on his floor again!”

                At the main doors to the castle two goblins that were making horrible grunting and snorting noises were standing guard.

                “The king has sent for us,” Sir Didymus announced proudly and puffed out his chest

                “Yer majesty is busy a’ tha moment,” one goblin said and spat on the ground.

                The man leaned back against his horse, prepared to wait. “I swear Hawk, we can’t win either way. Get here as fast as I can and he’s not here, but if I had taken my time you can bet that he would have been here and threatening to toss us into the bog for being late.” Hawk snorted and shook his head in agreement.
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Worlds Of War