In the church, as always the three all started doodling on the envelopes to pass the time. Jake showed his doodle to the others, and they grinned and nodded. When they were called for the children's liturgy, a side group which they all found pointless and had outgrown, they snuck away from the group by hopping over the railing. As the three landed, Ferris sprained her ankle. Jake and Max covered her mouth before she could scream.
When the group had passed above, Ferris took out her wand and pointed it at her leg, but not before slapping both Jake and Max for touching her. The tip of the wand glowed for a second, and then Ferris started testing her leg. "You should be more careful." Said Jake. "Why, I can always heal my heel." Max chuckled at the pun but Jake shook his head. "It's never a good idea to become too reliant on one thing." Ferris pointed her wand at Jake, who ducked behind Max. "I'll never run out of magic, so why shouldn't I use it as much as possible?" "Watch where you point that thing." Growled Max. "You may be able to heal yourself," supplied Jake, "but all you've ever been able to do for us is conjure bandages. Overall, we have no idea what limitations your powers may or may not have." Ferris ignored him and started walking away.
They walked across the grass towards the parking lot, just as they had done so many times before. As they passed the fallen church bell, a result of a stray missile by Mechanic, something didn't feel right to Ferris. They all looked up, and saw a dark cloud. "That's unusual." Said Jake. Ferris suddenly sensed something incredibly powerful and ran behind a tree. Max and Jake looked at her questioningly, but were called to attention by a loud clang as lightning struck the bell, shattering it and sending chunks flying everywhere.
Standing in the midst of the smoking wreckage was an old woman, dressed in blue, and carrying a staff where the bell used to be. Her face was pitted with wrinkles and her nose looked far too long to be human, and her knee length white hair was capped by a wide brimmed and pointed hat. If her appearance wasn't enough, the glowing blue staff made it obvious that she was a witch. The witch looked at the tree the Variants were hiding behind, as if she could see them. "I'm here to relieve you of your wand young Sorceress!" she declared in an ethereal voice as she swung her staff. With a flash of light the tree fell over as if something had sliced clean through it. The witch looked at Ferris and smiled. "I have been watching you for some time. I never thought that a mere child would be endowed with magical ability comparable to that of the great and powerful Dark Queen."
"The Dark Queen?" asked Jake. The witch tapped her forehead where the insignia they had encountered before was tattooed in something darker than any ink. "Ahha!" yelled Max. "So you're the bitch who's been messing with us!" Jake began thinking, "That does make sense..." "If your magic is so powerful, then why do you need my wand?" Ferris asked. "You do not know its full potential yet. In the hands of a child, even a katana can do little more than peel fruit. In your hands, that wand is nothing more than a fancy stick, but in my hands, it is the most powerful weapon in the universe."
"If you want her wand you're going to have to go through us." said Max, pulling a hunting knife from behind his back. "I wouldn't recommend it." Said Jake pulling a laser pistol out of his jacket pocket, "you are not as young as we are, and you look as if you would die of exhaustion one second after we started." "Oh really?" asked the witch, "We'll just see about that." She raised her staff, and both Jake and Max were lifted into the air. "Ok, I guess I should have expected this." Said Jake. Both of them were hurled into the middle of the street. Cars swerved to avoid them, as they ran towards the other side which was closer. The blue witch then turned to face Ferris.
Ferris shot blasts and jinxes at the witch, all of which were deflected easily. Ferris levitated the leftover chunks of the bell, and hurled them at the witch. She stopped the chunks mid throw, and sent them back at Ferris. Ferris ducked as they hit the side of the church with such force they stuck in the wall. "That was impressive," said the witch, "but you are still no match for me." The witch pointed her staff at Ferris who sent a stream of flames to intersect the incoming wave of the witches curse.
Jake started looking around frantically then saw a palm tree. "Max, do you have your grappling pistol?" "Course." He said pulling it out and clicking the safety off. "You got a plan?" Max turned to look at Jake, whose eyes were glowing green as he pointed up. "Shoot that palm tree." Max complied right away and the clawed end of the line impaled the top of the tree and secured itself.
Ferris was pouring all of her energy and concentration into the fire spell, making it compact into a solid beam and glow as bright as a welding torch. But the witch's curse was even brighter. "Come on." growled Jake as Max was pulling the rope around the fence. The grappling hook had stabbed through the palm tree, and they were turning it into a catapult by pulling it down. Max finished tying the tree to the fence and looked up "What's the rush?" Looks to me like she's handling it fine." "Look again." Ferris had fallen to one knee and the flames were being pushed back towards her. Ferris leapt out of the way of the curse. The curse hit the fallen tree, which burst into flames.
"Ok," said Max, pulling Jake on top of the palm tree catapult. "Ready?" Jake looked down. "I'm having second thoughts about this." Max took out his hunting knife. "You know what I always say, 'go with your gut'." And with that, he cut the rope and the two were sent flying across the busy street. They went further than one would expect and landed on the opposite side of the church roof. Max had to stab his knife into the tiles and grab Jake to stop them from falling. They started climbing. "I hope I don't get in trouble for that." Said Max, looking at the gash in the roof. "The great thing about being a superhero," said Jake putting on his goggles and surgical mask as they reached the top, "Prosecutors don't have an address to send you a subpoena." Max chuckled at the "subpoena" as he put on his paintball mask (a portable substitute for his helmet). "Oh Shit!" hissed Jake. The blue witch sent one final spell at Ferris. The spell took the form of a fist and hit Ferris in the stomach. Her wand flew into the air and the witch caught it.
Max and Jake looked at each other. "Plan totem?" asked Max. "Plan totem." Confirmed Jake. "Thank you," said the witch, "I'll be leaving now." From above, Jake and Max slid down the roof, Jake standing on Max's shoulders. At the last second, Jake kicked off. Max was ready to smash both of his feet into the witch's face, but she turned and held up her staff. Max's feet impacted instead on the glowing dome of a magic energy shield. Max kicked off and began firing his deagle at the shield. Jake was still in mid air on the other side of the witch as he watched the shield focus itself on Max's side. Just as I predicted. Jake activated his beamsword mid slash to cleave through the witch's head. But there was a loud clash, of the kind Jake had only heard in movies and his simulations. The witch had held up Ferris' wand, and a blade that seemed to be made up of compacted blue sparks, intersected Jake's green blade. Jake stared, "Okay, that's new." The witch smiled and sent out a shockwave spell that sent both Jake and Max backwards. With that, the witch raised both her staff and Ferris' wand and disappeared in a bolt of lightning.
