Untitled Pt 1

The Black Entity

The sun sank low over the horizon, casting long shadows over the land, and coating everything with an orange glow. Regina and Carmen stood beneath the Evil Queen's apple tree, awaiting the arrival of their nemesis. The trap had been set and was now waiting for its prey. Carmen's skin crawled with anticipation as the wind carried a fanfare of tobacco and whiskey into her nose, announcing his arrival.
"Greetings, Carmen." Conan called.
"Conan."
"I believe you have something of great interest to me."
"Likewise."
"Send her over."
"You first."
"In unison, then."
"Very well. On three."
"One."
Regina braced herself.
"Two."
Henry was shoved around in front of Conan.
"Three."
Carmen pushed Regina forward while Conan sent Henry. Henry's eyes were wide with fear as they passed. The moment Regina arrived in Conan's clutches, her arms were pinned behind her back.
"A pleasure doing business with you, as always." Conan sneered, and turned away. Carmen took the opportunity to activate the trap. Taking two large steps backwards, her wristband erupted with noise, followed by an explosion of cries from up ahead. In a blur of action, Regina was sprinting back towards Carmen and Henry, while Conan and his minions were trapped under a net. Blue sparks flashed from the net, causing the men to scream in agony. Carmen thought she caught a glimpse of something black fly out from under Conan, but before she could look into it, Regina was there with Henry, and Conan was being dragged away by the Wolf Gang.
"Oh Henry. Are you alright?" Regina gasped.
"I'm fine, mom. Really."
"I'm so glad you're okay."
"Henry!" Emma cried. She and the rest of the family came rushing towards them.
"Mom!"
"Hey kid. You're safe now." She grabbed Henry and pulled him close.
"Thank you." Regina said, turning to Carmen.
"Of course."
"I don't know how to thank you."
"Don't mention it."
"Forgive me, but you don't strike me as the benevolent type. Surely there must be something you want in return."
"If there is, I'll let you know."
"But why?" she asked suddenly.
"Why what?"
"Why would you help a group of strangers? Especially when we had treated you with so much prejudice."
"You asked me once if we had met before. And I said I would explain everything to you one day."
"And?"
"Well, I think that day has finally come. Go be with your son tonight. Then tomorrow, I'll tell you everything."

∞

"Is it ready?"
"We think so."
Carmen beamed with excitement as she was led down the metal stairwell, into the belly of the inventing beast. The Inventors were the rebellion's top minds, all working together to develop the best weaponry possible. Their lab was nothing more than a hole under the ground, but it was filled to the brim with the latest technology, some brought with them during the Flight, and some pilfered from Conan's ships and machines. For the past month, they had been holed up in the lab, experimenting and working to bring to life a weapon of mass destruction, found only in Dark Wing legend.
"Is this really happening?" Lucas whispered in her ear.
"I sure hope so. If they've pulled this off, imagine how many Light Wing soldiers we could eradicate with this thing."
The two Alphas were led through a thick, wooden door into a room decorated with shelves upon shelves of machine parts, tools, and every colour of wire imaginable. In the centre of the room stood a flat, steel table. But it was what lay on the table that excited Carmen the most. At the head, a small black ball, shiny and smooth, squirmed and squelched as though it were a solid trying to melt, but failing. Extending from the ball were several large, thick tentacles, each branching out into several more, and so on, until right at the end there were hundreds of tiny, wriggling worms of darkness. The whole creature gave an aura of evil and menace.
"You did it. You psycho sons of a bitch, you did it."
"Indeed, we did. Queen Carmen, Prince Lucas. May we introduce you to Razgard, named after the villain who invented them during the reign of King Hellas. He is the first of his kind to exist in over two hundred years."
"A Black Entity." Carmen smiled maliciously.
"We've tested him, and the pain is excruciating, but the removal couldn't be smoother."
"Perfect. How many more do you have?"
"Sixty-nine."
"That's a good number." Lucas smiled.
"Keep working, lads. Make sure our little friend here has lots of brothers and sisters when we let them out to play."