Centum Malediction

Chapter 5-12

Tuesday, September 28th. 2010

Michael and Chelsea were lead into an old abandoned warehouse. There were multiple cars parked out front, all as nondescript as possible. Michael counted at least three cars other than the van. Chelsea held Michael's hand tightly as they followed Jim and Mr. Yukinawa into the office.

The doorway opened up into a huge main room. There was an MRI machine, or rather something that looked like it, sitting in the center of the large room. Wires ran from the machine into an adjacent control room with a large amount of computers inside. It looked to have bullet proof windows between the two rooms. Or rather Michael just assumed they were bullet proof given the people he was dealing with. There were others in the building wearing more casual clothing, walking from door to door.

"This is our base of operations." Jim said. "I'll find someone to get your car Chelsea if you'd lend me your keys." With that he walked to one of the people in casual clothing, a woman in her thirties. It was strange. It actually felt like an real work place. Michael knew Chelsea felt it as well as she lessened her grip on his hand.

"We'll extract the magic in that machine right there. Don't worry, it's completely harmless. Let's get to it then." Mr. Yukinawa was all business as usual. Chelsea looked to Michael in worry. Prae said if he entered that machine he would die.

"Wait, where's Fiona?" Michael asked looking to stall for time. He couldn't destroy the device without a plan to escape, and Chelsea's car was still at the store.

"I already told you she's still at the school maintaining her cover." Mr. Yukinawa seemed irritated repeating himself. "Now let's get that magic extracted."

"Wait, I want to explain my story in detail before you extract the magic." Michael said. "You said something about debriefing, let that happen first."

"Fine." Mr. Yukinawa relented. "Just understand that you cannot leave until we remove the magic from you."

"Of course." Michael nodded. The woman Jim was talking to walked up to Chelsea and politely asked for her keys. Chelsea relinquished them, but not before telling the woman to be careful. If anything happened to the car she would get in major trouble.

"I'll take it from here, come with me." Jim grinned. "Fiona used to call Mr. Yukinawa grumpy face for a reason." Michael liked Jim. He seemed to genuinely care about the situation at hand. He didn't trust Mr. Yukinawa at all, but knew Jim wouldn't willingly do something to kill him. It actually made him doubt the Pixie's words. By her own admission, Pixies led humans astray. Jim took Michael and Chelsea through one of the many doors into a room with nothing but a table. It reminded Michael of an interrogation room he'd see in a cop show. Chelsea and Michael sat next to each other, opposite of Jim.

Not knowing what else to say, Michael decided to tell Jim the truth. He explained about the armor they found in the museum, how he heard the words Centum Malediction, and the research they'd done on the hundredth warrior. He had to adjust the story slightly, leaving out the part about Lom and Stheno entirely. Chelsea remained quiet, unable to add anything to the conversation.

"Did you ever fight a giant spider? That's the video that alerted us to the magic here." Jim asked, throwing Michael off guard.

"Oh yeah." Michael chuckled nervously. He had no choice but to fill Jim in about Stheno. He told Jim about Lom but claimed he was the one who gained the spells power. They had never seen Michael use Stheno, but there was no way they'd know he didn't have it. Fiona had already mentioned Alexander, so Michael didn't feel guilty discussing how he met him or how they worked together to defeat Xkaein.