With his back to the massive dome called the R.R.O.A.C.H. Hotel, Parker walked down an alley, his face to the ground and hands in his pants pockets. Ultimately, he knew what he was doing when he sent Katie and Broadway away with his Horo, that he was going to be trapped on this evil world all alone. Nevertheless, it was the only way to keep them both safe, because regardless of this Earth's attempts at protecting themselves from Geniel and the Ferramortium, Parker knew that they could only hold out for so long after the invasion occurred...and in time, the dark menace would ultimately destroy them, he was sure of it.
"What's this?" he muttered and bent over to pick up the wrinkled remains of a colorful brochure folded into a paper airplane and lying next to a dumpster. Parker skimmed over the pamphlet infused with several images of the Dome and the terrifying machines that nearly killed him several times. "Welcome to the R.R.O.A.C.H. Hotel! That's right, R.R.O.A.C.H. Hotel fan, you are here, right in the heart of the most exciting game show ever devised..."
Parker stopped reading, feeling annoyed. "Okay, great, but what the hell does freaking R.R.O.A.C.H. even mean!?!! Does anyone even know?" He flipped over the brochure, noting the bent corners, and with a shrug, scanned down the paper.
"Ah, finally!" Parker began to read aloud. "A semiautonomous blah, blah, blah...they are vintage Anti-Negexis assault machines previously used to batter their way in and kill our Negexis and Negexis Hybrid enemies in their strongholds. Strongholds?...sheesh. Okay, so, R.R.O.A.C.H. stands for Rapid Response Online Agent Combat Hardware and it says here, ...they are armed to kill by the audience's vote. So, do your part to save the world and press that button! Signed, Reginald Gilbreth - President, United Nations and Cory Steffen, former NNO Chief, now acting UNAGADD (the United Nations Anti-Geniel Agent Defense Department) Commandant. Brought to you by a generous donation from Cold Cube Brewery...cold brewed for maximum flavor...maximum fun!"
"Well, that was anticlimactic and really messed up." Parker lowered the brochure and let it slip from his fingers. As the card lighted to the sidewalk, Parker noticed the smell of smoke. He quickly exited the alley and discovered a massive building on fire a few blocks down. The enormous letters, "R.R.O.A.C.H. HOTEL STUDIOS", were attached to the face of the structure and only barely visible beneath the flames of the roaring inferno consuming it. Parker watched the letters O and the T fall from where they were mounted and crash to the sidewalk, sending a mushroom cloud of flickering ashes into the sky. "R.R.O.A.C.H. HEL. Yep, that's about right."
Parker noticed the shadows of dozens of people in the street at the base of the building and they were shouting but their voices were drowned out by the blaze. It seemed as if they were engaged in combat. Then the gunshots rang out. "Yeah, they are definitely fight..." Two drones zipped overhead followed by two more with alternating blue and red lights. Parker ducked. "What the hell?"
One of the drones stopped as it noticed him and turned. It activated a red light beneath its housing and began screaming. "Warning! Warning! Anomalous Shift In detected!"
Parker dove out the way as two blue blasts of electrical energy shot past and splattered against the brick behind him.
Unexpectedly, the drone began to sputter and its lights flickered as a black cloud enveloped it.
"What the hell!?!!" Parker exclaimed as the hovering machine crumpled like an aluminum can on a drunk's forehead. He then watched the ball of metal and plastic fly down the street and smash into two more drones, knocking them from the sky.
"That is why there are none of those worthless things flying around in the dome," gargled a gruff female voice from the shadows of the alleyway. "Hello Parker."
"Addy?"
Hovering beneath the streetlamp, the creature revealed her smoky dark form. "Adriel, but yes, to you I once was Addy."
Parker gasped.
Lifting a misty pointed finger at the young man, she beckoned him into the alley. "Come, so we may speak."
"What happened to you?" Parker asked and stepped into the darkness.
"You did," the frightening apparition said with a growl as it encircled him.
"I don't understand. I would never hurt..."
"Oh, but you did, Phantom. I was so very wrong about you," Addy hissed as she floated around Parker. He turned in response, catching weakly lit glimpses of the woman's once-pretty face, now a terrifying scowl covered in wrinkles and black mist.
"You are not what I thought you were...more like your damnable grandfather than anyone imagined. You had everyone fooled, Parker, including myself, into believing you were some mythical being. But now, now I know the truth about what you are! Arthur's pathetic human DNA must have somehow overridden your grandmother's and crushed it. This is why you were so easily tricked into allowing us to copy Arthur's Horologium, unlocking the first key and allowing the Ferramortium and our army access to the rest of the Multiverses." Adriel produced a muted laugh. "Oh, Parker, you are so disgustingly slow and dimwitted. A simple well-placed email, a video, and I moved you around like pieces on a chessboard. So unlike your older, much wiser brother."
"What? I have no brother!" Parker said, his hands shaking. "Please, I don't know what's going on, Addy!"
The smoky woman shot forward, her face only millimeters from Parker's. "Never call me that name again!" she screeched.
Parker stepped away and began to reach for the energy pistol.
"It will not work on me, Phantom and without your precious Horologium, there is no place for you to run. You may believe you have saved your daughter, but with you in Geniel's possession, Parker Raymond, no human-occupied Multiverse will be safe."
"I will die before I bow down to that planet killing asshole! I will not open this so-called Flood of Darkness for you, him, or anyone."
Adriel produced a wicked cackle. "When you know the truth, you will stand by his side, like your brother before you, or you will die. Now, it is time for us to take leave of this damnable lost world, Phantom, grandson of Abrinael. The Flood of Darkness awaits."
END of Voynich Shift Part One.
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Voynich Shift - Season One (COMPLETED)
Science FictionParker Raymond recently inherited his estranged grandfather's large plantation home in Savannah, Georgia. The Spanish Moss hanging from the estate's large oaks, its massive gardens, and a near endless bank account were, in the end, not what captured...
