Agent A did scream.
Though to call the sound that came out of her mouth a "scream" would imply that there would still be recognizable traces of human reasoning beneath all the rage she expressed.
Rage that seemed to materialize into wisps of reddish energy enveloping her body as the woman lunged at The Bright One. An attack that came to a screeching halt as she slammed into a barrier of whitish light that the murderer had materialized in front of themselves with the flick of a finger. Agent A's hands were thrust over the barrier. The magical energy contained within them oozed almost like crimson magma mixed with sparks and small detonations of power.
"Aaah! Homicidal fury!" exclaimed The Bright One, "Funny, in many universes you don't care much for Yoko. Hell, in many universes you're not even aware of her existence."
The words seemed to whip up Agent A's ire. Around the two combatants, the air began to swirl again like a small localized storm, making it difficult for whoever was near them to move. More and more magic emanated from The Addams' body to the point where she seemed to be completely bathed in the color red.
The Bright One sighed, "And there it is. The reason why you Wednesdays who become experts in magic are my least favorite."
As the monster in armor spoke, Wednesday was trying to advance without much success from the ground, as if she was suddenly facing off against a gale. Enid, in her lupine form beside her was in a similar situation.
The young Addams watched as The Bright One's words enraged Agent A even more. Her adult counterpart was still emitting raw magical energy, so blinded by her rage and pain that she failed to notice the trap she was falling into.
For a second, a roar caught her attention. Wednesday looked to her left and could see Taylor tearing off the head of one of the Shadow Hyde while Saint-Clair distracted it from the front. Another of the summoned beings lay dead a few feet away, slowly dissolving. It seemed that the two young beasts had learned to make a good team, distracting and flanking the shadow creatures to finish them off with haste. Some of the soldiers still present and alive seemed to have contributed, mostly as a distraction.
She saw Dora trudging forward as well, trying to get to them. Meanwhile Theo distracted the last of the Shadow Hyde with electric shocks.
Overhead, almost grazing the roof of the hangar, The Bright One was still talking, folding their arms, while Agent A was still trying unsuccessfully to break through the magical barrier.
"Most of the ones like you I don't even capture. You want to know why?" asked The Bright One, "You become too dependent on magic. You lose... you lose your edge. Look at you, you even got rid of the pigtails. You're the least Wednesday of all the Wednesdays."
With a simple, swift movement, The Bright One reached out their arms, grabbing Agent A's hands after momentarily stunning her with the breaking of the magic barrier. The latter suddenly felt paralyzed, unable to move and could feel her strength failing her.
"I'm not a fan of that," the armored figure continued.
"H... how...? You can't...," muttered Agent A.
"Ah, it seems some of your reason has returned. Have you finally realized it?" asked The Bright One, "I've been absorbing all your magic since the beginning."
"That... that's not possible... for such a thing…"
"It was the first trick I learned. Well, nope, actually the second. A long time ago. And I know better than anyone the price to pay," said the murderer, "But I still know how to get my hands dirty."
And without further warning, they hit Agent A with a tremendous right jab, knocking her to the ground. The Addams was still conscious, but seemed unable to move, barely managing to crawl. The Bright One descended beside her, as the maelstrom of rushing air and scattered magical energies surrounding them began to fade.
The armored figure approached the fallen woman, walking with almost contemplative slowness, ignoring everything else, the noise of combat around them, the whimpering of the last of their shadow creatures as they were impaled by Saint-Clair's claws.
No, they merely walked until they could place their foot on the fallen Agent A's head.
"Any last words?" they asked.
Agent A didn't answer. She merely looked at The Bright One with an expression of steely contempt. And then, she smiled. Before The Bright One could ask her the reason she was smiling, they felt something sharp dig into their side.
Behind their back, dagger in hand, Wednesday Addams had plunged the blade between the thin gap that jointed the hip piece and the torso of the armor, reaching the fabric and flesh beneath. The Addams girl jumped back, the blade of her dagger bathed in dark red.
The Bright One staggered, taking a few steps away from the fallen Agent A and bringing their hand to the spot where they had been wounded. The whiteness of their glove was soaked with the red of their own blood. They looked at their palm, stained, almost as if in disbelief, before they began to laugh again.
"Good! That's it! That's what I meant!"
"Medieval knights wore chain mail under their armor to avoid what just happened," Wednesday said, "You're as showy and pretentious in your appearances as you are useless."
The Bright One nodded, "And that's the edge. And very sharp, almost as sharp as your cunning. You realized I'm vulnerable to attacks I don't see coming and managed to overcome the protection I developed to work around it. Bravo!" they applauded, "But now I have you before me, Wednesday Addams, and I see you."
“Then once again you are looking at the wrong person."
No sooner had Wednesday uttered such words than a huge, lupine figure leapt from behind her, ramming headlong into The Bright One and bringing the armored fiend down with a resounding huff as they suddenly had the full weight of a fully transformed Enid Sinclair on them. The lycanthrope wasted no time with words or proclamations despite her newly acquired ability to speak fully transformed. Enid merely struck repeatedly against the armor using her claws.
If Yoko, in her vampiric rage, had managed to cause a few scratches in those spots where The Bright One could not see her attacks coming, Enid's claws were beginning to leave deep indentations in the metal despite The Bright One being fully aware of her attacker's actions and moves. Like their creations, none of their defenses seemed to stop the she-wolf's blows. It was a mere matter of time before Enid managed to dent the armor and reach the vulnerable flesh it protected.
So The Bright One charged one of their fists with sizzling glowing energy and managed to punch Enid in the stomach.
The lycanthrope shot through the air, propelled by a pillar of white light that inflicted burns on the fur on her chest and belly, until she hit the hangar roof with tremendous force before falling plummeting back to the ground, stunned, almost unconscious.
The Bright One stood up again, their two clenched fists glowing with blinding light. Wednesday raised her dagger and stood on guard, waiting for a counterattack.
But something seemed to catch The Bright One's attention. The armored figure stood still for a moment, before turning their gaze to the corner where Dora and Theo were trying to reason with a transformed Taylor to get the Hyde and Saint-Clair to approach the positions where Woe and Pup were waiting.
The Bright One's gaze fell on the two young Addams girls. The armored monster turned briefly to look at Wednesday and she got the impression that the murderer was smiling.
"My apologies, I think I'll secure another couple of acquisitions first."
Wednesday lunged at them in a futile attempt to stop them, but her dagger only hit the air. The Bright One moved with the same quickness they had used in killing Weems and in the blink of an eye they were in front of Woe and Pup.
Woe raised her crossbow, ready to fire, but with a wave of The Bright One's hand the weapon disassembled into pieces. Almost out of pure reflex, Woe immediately responded with a punch but found herself motionless, her fist frozen in mid-air inches away from her target.
"I'm sorry, I don't use telekinesis very often, but I just wanted to... ah, there it is."
In Woe's clenched fist, on her forefinger, was the dimensional jump ring that Wednesday had given her a few minutes earlier.
"So this is what the last of the vermin I sent after you saw you use," The Bright One said, eyeing the ring with obvious fascination, "Ah, it reeks of Grandmama's work. No matter what universe she's from or if she’s a Frump, an Addams or something else, that woman is always going to be a pain in the..."
They couldn't finish their sentence. Their telekinesis was focused on Woe, so Pup had no problem quietly moving forward a step and grabbing The Bright One's outstretched arm. Just grabbing it, almost gently, it wasn't even perceived as an attack and none of the magical defenses were activated.
That's why The Bright One could barely whisper a surprised "What?" when they noticed how those delicate hands pulled with sudden force and suddenly the armored figure flew upside down through the air courtesy of a judo throw from Pup.
To be immediately intercepted in mid-air by Taylor Galpin.
In a manner not dissimilar to Enid, the wrathful Hyde's claws dug into the metal of the white armor ignoring any protection. Unlike the lycanthrope's, Taylor's were long and sharp enough that in one of her swipes one of her claws pierced the armor on one of the arms, skewering the limb straight through.
And for the first time The Bright One let out a cry of pain. Along with the blood previously spilled by Wednesday, the clearest sign of vulnerability they had shown up to that point.
They didn't take it well.
"ENOUGH!" they exclaimed.
There was an explosion of light and Taylor was blasted unconscious through the air, multiple burns covering her torso and limbs. Saint-Clair, still in her feline form, snatched her up in flight, both of them falling to the ground next to an alarmed Theo and Dora.
Any pretense of affability had vanished from The Bright One's posture and voice. The confident humor they had displayed up to that moment had vanished. Their whole figure glowed with a white phosphorescence, the air around them distorted by the heat and magical energy emanating from their body.
Turning around, they began to advance again toward Woe and Pup. But barely two steps in, the back of their head was struck by lightning courtesy of Theo, at the same time Dora exclaimed, "Use the ring! Go away!"
"But Taylor is..." Pup began to say, before Woe grabbed her arm as she clenched her right fist and the ring began to glow.
The Bright One recovered from the temporary distraction just to see two of their intended prey vanish in a flash of light. At least for the moment, Woe and Pup were out of their grasp.
The aura around The Bright One's body intensified. The ground at their feet began to first char and then crystallize. The armored figure turned to Dora, Theo, Saint-Clair and the unconscious Taylor, who had reverted to her human form.
Their face was hidden but undoubtedly marked by an expression of fury.
And once again in a blink of an eye they stepped in front of them. But perhaps because of all the energy they were emitting, or perhaps because they used a slightly different technique or skill, the moment they stood in front of the youngsters, the air around them shifted explosively, with a sound like thunder. The Addams teens, the werecat and the unconscious hyde were thrown a dozen yards away, landing on their backs against the concrete floor.
The Bright One began advancing toward them, this time one step at a time.
Theo was the first to react. Sitting on the ground, he extended his left hand and a flash of lightning flew from him towards The Bright One. The armored fiend intercepted the attack with the right hand. Electricity slammed into their hand, sizzling between their fingers, being redirected. And soon, Theo's lightning had become a sphere of electricity contained in The Bright One's palm.
"Oh, shit," the boy muttered.
"Pandora! Theophrastus! Use your rings!" exclaimed Wednesday as she ran towards The Bright One, her dagger at the ready.
Without even turning toward her, The Bright One waved their left hand and a telekinetic attack rammed headlong into Wednesday. The Addams felt as if a huge invisible fist slammed into her side, feeling the crack of a few broken ribs before she was thrown by the blow until she slammed into one of the military vehicles in the hangar and fell to the ground unable to move.
Some of the few soldiers still present attempted to open fire, but their bullets melted as they came in contact with the aura of burning magic. Another wave of The Bright One's hand, and they met a fate similar to Wednesday's, or worse, being hurled through the air with telekinetic blows of far less restrained strength than that used to stop The Addams.
The Bright One continued their advance, raising the hand containing the electric sphere ready to discharge its power on those who had deprived them of two of their targets.
On the ground, Theo tried to shield the unconscious Taylor. Next to him, Dora was on her knees with her fist raised and the multiversal ring beginning to glow. Behind her, Saint-Clair was preparing to jump, to try to be a last hurdle in the face of the impending attack, to perhaps buy time for the other teenagers.
But The Bright One was unable to attack. They were suddenly thrown off balance as the weight of a body fell on their shoulders and then emitted another cry of surprised pain as two sharp dagger blades stabbed into their flesh, through the almost impenetrable gaps in the armor between their shoulders and neck.
The person who had jumped on their shoulders, ignoring the pain of the burns caused by the magical aura, whispered in their ear.
"How about that edge?" asked Agent A, with sharp mockery.
The loss of concentration caused the sphere of electricity to explode in the armored intruder’s hand. Small bolts of lightning shot out in multiple directions. One struck The Bright One squarely, knocking them and Agent A down.
Another, whether by fortune, misfortune or simple twisted humor of the cosmos, flew through the air and struck Dora's ring squarely just as the teleportation was being activated. The young lycanthrope looked at the ring with alarm, feeling almost instinctively how the energy was being overloaded more than necessary.
"Oh, sh...," were the only words the young woman could utter before she, her brother, Enid Saint-Clair and Taylor Galpin vanished with an abnormally powerful burst of light and electricity. Their fates, uncertain.
Less uncertain, unfortunately, was the fate of Agent A.
Still on The Bright One's shoulders, practically unable to move with all her remaining strength concentrated on clinging to her daggers and enduring the pain of her body being literally cooked alive by the armored figure's magical aura, Agent A could do nothing when she noticed her enemy's gloved hands grab her head.
"You've found your edge, indeed," said The Bright One, "Therefore, this will be quick."
And with a single, sudden movement, they snapped Agent A's neck.
The agent's body fell to the ground with a thud, covered in burns all over her front and with her neck at an unnatural angle, her eyes staring into the void.
Death was instantaneous, or perhaps not quite. For in those last seconds of consciousness she could hear a crystalline sound, clear and pure. She could hear her she-wolf's laughter the day they met, in response to one of her vampire's jokes. She could feel them both, longing, waiting. She would have died with a smile on her visage as her last remnants of consciousness faded, had she still had control over the muscles in her face.
The Bright One looked down at the fallen body before their feet and bringing one of their hands to the gap between the neck and shoulder from which one of the daggers still protruded. They ripped it out at once, and without a second thought. Their white armor, once pristine and shining was now full of scratches, gashes and fissures, remnants of charred flesh and blood gushing from four separate wounds, splashing the whole of it with a note of color.
They knelt before the recently deceased Wednesday Tuesday Addams, Agent A, and lowered her eyelids, closing her eyes.
The unexpected gentleness of the gesture did not stop a furious Enid from ramming at them once again.
The Bright One felt the werewolf's teeth piercing the armor around one of their shoulders as Enid's strong claws gripped their arms in an attempt to keep them immobile on the ground. The aura of magic born of their earlier rage had already dissipated, that being the only convenient reason the lycanthrope had not begun to burn alive.
The Bright One sighed. Almost with weariness.
They flicked a finger.
And Enid felt a telekinetic punch straight to her stomach, causing all the air to escape her lungs and her grip on The Bright One to loosen. The moment that happened, another barrage of telekinesis threw the lycanthrope through the air before sending her crashing to the ground. Enid tried to get up but it was as if she suddenly had a ton of weight on top of her. She could barely turn her head to watch as The Bright One stood up again and walked to stand in front of her.
"It's been a long day," they said, "And in the end not as much fun as I had hoped. Too many irritating elements," they added, glancing at all the corpses around.
The howl of alarms was reactivated. Metallic noises gave away that, somewhere in the Nevermore Society base they were in, whoever was now in command must be preparing a counter-offensive.
The Bright One shook their head, "Anyway... I told you I found you interesting too, Enid Sinclair. You and your Wednesday are among the most intriguing individuals I've encountered in a long time, but my gut tells me that you in particular are something special."
"You're going...to pay...for...," Enid began to growl, trying to move.
The Bright One shook their head, "Save the effort, there's no way..."
But their words died on their lips as the ground beneath Enid began to crack and the lycanthrope managed to rise up slightly. Little, very little, barely a few centimeters and with a monstrously visible effort in the tense muscles of her lupine physique. But still...
The Bright One backed up a step, in surprise and alarm. They clenched their right fist and a fresh wave of telekinesis came down on Enid, driving her back into the ground with such force that her body marked an outline in the concrete.
"That's it. That's what I'm talking about. No werewolf, no matter how powerful, could display the strength you just showed right now," The Bright One explained, "So, I'm going to drop you off at a place where I can pick you up for further study later, after I take care of the rest of my business."
The Bright One's right fist opened and with a wave of their fingers a tug of telekinesis pulled the multiversal ring from Enid's.
"Of course, I can't allow you to have an escape route," they said as the ring melted in their hands, "I have no idea where you're going to end up but I'll be able to find you later. Try to stay alive until I come for you okay?"
"I'm going to kill you," the lycanthrope said, and she said it with a certainty she had rarely felt in her life. It wasn't a promise. It wasn't a threat.
It was a statement of fact.
The Bright One did not respond, only exerted their will one last time and a putrid magic emanated from their being. Above Enid, a sphere of darkness materialized out of thin air and fell upon the she-wolf, enveloping her completely, drowning out any sound, leaving only a silhouette of shadows that soon began to fold in upon itself. Dragging Enid Sinclair into another universe.
A dozen yards away, Wednesday Addams was sitting with her back propped up against the vehicle she had been thrown against. Unable to get up without feeling nauseous and falling to the ground again, and with a delicious, stabbing pain in her rib cage that made it difficult for her to breathe. From her position, with her eyes closed to contain the dizziness, she couldn't see her beloved being thrown Hell knows how many universes away.
But she could feel it. In her innermost core, in her very soul, Wednesday Addams felt as if a part of herself had been ripped away. She was flooded with an anguish and grief beyond the capacity of any normal human being to bear. No doubt it was the same thing her father felt whenever he had to spend more than ten minutes apart from her mother. But where Gomez Addams would have fallen into the delusions of a dying man, Wednesday Addams felt only an icy, ruthless fury, which was heightened as she perceived the presence that now stood before her.
Wednesday Addams opened her eyes, fixing a hateful gaze on the figure of The Bright One, kneeling before her.
The monster in armor reached out a hand, as if making a pretense of stroking the Addams' hair, but stopped at the last moment. They sighed once more.
"I think we've had enough for today, Weds," they said, "Let's go home."
And darkness enveloped them both.
NOTES
Let's recap!
Woe and Pup are safe! Presumably back in Wednesday's dimension, having a rendezvous with Grandmama 😀
The fate of Dora, Theo, Saint-Clair and Taylor is uncertain. Dora's ring was hit by a magically redirected jolt of electricity just as it was activated. It is impossible to predict how that might have affected the jump between universes 😲
Enid has been thrown into another random universe by The Bright One. It's impossible to know where she'll end up. And without her ring, she can't go home 😨
And Wednesday, also without her ring, has just become the new unwitting guest of our nefarious villain 😱
...
Okay.
Now you can hate me.
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