FD 02. The Experiments of the 1960s Brought Back

The book had been collecting dust for years, decades, centuries even.  Written in ink made from tree sap and honey, written on pages hand stitched together, the book had been passed on generation after generation, guarded diligently, passed from paw to claw, from claw to talon, from talon to mouth, from mouth to hand, and from the hand to the human.  
The purpose of the shapeshifters guarding it was to keep the book from human hands.  However, a single little slip and it had fallen into human hands and there the book was, left in the Cambridge library deep inside Signsten University where it collected dust for years and years. The book sat, unable to keep the mice from its cover and the mold from its pages, until a curious student with amazing mind power dove deep into the library in search of enough knowledge to graduate within the year.
A thin, well cared for, manicured finger ran down the binding of a million books, its owner humming sweetly as she skipped along.  She was of human blood, the humans at one time escaping their world and fleeing to a world of creatures, human in anatomy, by not in DNA.  The humans interbred with the creatures of the new world creating beings that had the strength of legendary creatures and the mind power of the most deadly race alive: humans.  She had human blood, but was not all human.  Her underlying power was yet to be realized at her young age; her eyes wouldn’t glow for another three years.  
She recited the family tree of the rulers which she would be tested over next.  The finger soon found the decaying binding of the old book, now falling apart, and the finger hovered there as the girl came to a halt, pulling the book carefully from the dusty shelf.
The pure shapeshifter Queen of the Britain Clan, who knew everything at all times, for she was the wisest, shifted uneasily miles and miles away as the girl opened the book and slowly ran her hand down the first page, reading the words.  And the shapeshifter Queen knew then, at that precise moment, that the end had just begun.
The girl was quickly absorbed in the information the book presented to her, and she carried that information with her and made a career for herself, the book quickly being translated and mass produced for all scholars.  It was a secret uncovered that would forever change the history of life in all forms.
The book told of the history of the world since its creation when the mystical beings called shapeshifters were brought into existence to protect the lands.  The shapeshifters were created good to watch over the universes, of which there were too many to count, and make sure all the universes existed in harmony with each other.  To keep the universes connected, but separate so they wouldn’t feed off each other, the shapeshifters connected the universes with special microscopic threads, holding all the universes in place. And for a time, everything existed in peace and harmony.  
However, some of the shapeshifters were evil, and they persuaded the weak human to do their evil tasks.  Greed was born and man broke through the air in search of other worlds, breaking the threads, and the worlds collided, causing mass destruction.  The universes became attached, feeding off each other.  Some of the worlds were stronger and they received more life, pulling life from other universes, and life in those universes died, creating dead worlds.  Demons and evil creatures erupted in anger for their unexplainable death and war broke out among the universes. Perhaps the worst to come of this was the interbreeding of humans.  Life had created unstoppable creatures of Pure Blood, Half Blood, Mix Blood, and many more.  Creatures that could take over everything with minimal effort if only they realized the power they held.  
The shapeshifters, the guardians of the universes, used their powers to separate the worlds, pulling them all apart once more.  They worked from a single world, which became known as the Lost World because no one knew what happened to it, and using a special type of book, a gear box, and a metal rod, they pulled the worlds back into harmony, fixing the threads and sealing off the openings between worlds.
The shapeshifters who knew about the items and the Lost World would eventually die off, but they knew that man would become greedy again and the same thing would happen.  So the shapeshifters pooled their power and promised that if it were to ever happen again, their power would go to four children, two boys and two girls—who would be sisters—and the four children would have the power to operate the items.  Using the items, they would travel to the Lost World and set the universes back into harmony once more.  

Marcellina straightened herself quickly and took a seat beside Carlisle, Acelin sitting back in the chair Carlisle had instructed him to sit in earlier.  
“So… yeah,” Acelin nodded when neither of his company said anything, “I still don’t really know why I’m here…”
“I fear you may be a terrorist, or planning treason,” Marcellina said without trying any type of subtly.  
Acelin stared at her for a moment before bursting out into a fit of laugher.  Wiping away a tear he said, “Are you serious?  Treason?  A terrorist?  Really?”
Marcellina narrowed her eyes as she glared at the laughing fool sitting before her.  
Acelin continued laughing until he realized that both Marcellina and Carlisle were serious.  “I can’t believe you actually thought that,” Acelin finally said.  “I’m so shocked; I don’t really know what to say.”
“I want you to give us a full run through of your discoveries,” Marcellina said.
“What?  But I don’t have any supplies or anything, or notes, or…”
“You heard the woman,” Carlisle said, cutting Acelin off.  “Start explaining.”
“Um well…” Acelin looked around the room quickly, “have you heard of that old book which was found under Signsten in its library about five years ago?”  
“It was three years ago,” Marcellina replied, “and yes, I was the one who found it.”
Acelin was surprised by this news.  A woman, who was probably very young at the time, had found the most influential book known to the scientific world.  A woman!  “So you read it then?” Acelin asked excitedly.  “And you were the one to publish it?”
“Of course,” Marcellina nodded.  “Would you like to borrow a copy for your demonstration?  I have one in my study.”
“That would be fantastic!” Acelin exclaimed, Marcellina getting up to retrieve the book from a room down the hall.
She brought back a thick, heavy book with a saffron hardcover and handed it to Acelin.  He paged through it as he continued.  “So there’s this Lost World which is basically at the center of all the universes, of course you already knew that,” he said, “and in our past it was possible to travel between worlds, since humans came to our world.  This just sort of got me thinking that if you could manage to open a way between worlds and get to the Lost World, you would be able to go anywhere at any time.”
“So you’d have control over every world in existence?” Carlisle asked greedily.  
“But if you simply read the book,” Marcellina interrupted, “you’d know that the last time humans broke through to other worlds, mass war and chaos broke out, nearly leading to the destruction of life itself.”
“Only because the threads holding the worlds apart were broken in carelessness,” Acelin replied, “but there has to be away to get through without breaking the threads.”
“And do you know what this way is?” Marcellina asked.
“By splitting particles apart,” Acelin answered.
“And how does one do that?” Carlisle questioned.
“That’s as far as I’ve gotten,” Acelin replied.  “I am a scholar limited in his resources after all.”
Carlisle turned to Marcellina.  “When you said he was a massive threat, I thought for sure he had actually gotten somewhere in his research.”
Marcellina stood without replying and walked to the far wall where she pulled down a projector screen and turned off the lights, turning on the projector.  Acelin turned his chair around to face the screen.  
“Sir Acelin here,” Marcellina said, picking up a clicker, “would get much further in his research were he to take the time to educate himself.”
Marcellina flipped to the first slide which showed a black and white, very graphic picture of a mutated creature.  The creature looked much like a wolf with dark grey fur, mattered and tangled in dried blood.  A smear of blood beside the creature led to the body of a murdered man.
Acelin and Carlisle flinched as Marcellina started her speech.  “This is what comes about from separating particles,” she said.
“What… what happened there?” Acelin asked.
“1957,” Marcellina continued, “scientists brought natives to the cold lands of Past Russia to conduct an experiment in hopes to separate their human blood from their shapeshifter blood.  When the natives were placed in the machines and shot with high amounts of radiation, they were painfully split into two beings: a human and a type of animal.  The resulting two creatures went mad as if infected by rabies and attacked the scientists.  They had to be shot and killed.  Experiments of the such were outlawed due to terrible, inhumane consequences.”
“When did you learn about that?” Carlisle asked, though Acelin cut him off.
“Where is the machine they used?” Acelin asked.
“It was stolen ten years later.  Our enemies used it as a torturing device.  The army was sent out immediately to destroy it.  It was made into scrap metal and was recycled,” Marcellina answered Acelin.  
“I’d imagine the problem was the radiation,” Acelin said.
Marcellina flipped to the next slide, which showed a picture of a little girl in a strait jacket screaming her head off, a dead rabbit lying at her feet.  “1968,” she went on, “a girl was found in Africa complaining of burning in her chest.  Doctors ruled that her shapeshifter antibodies were killing her human blood cells.  To save her they would have to attempt to split her being.  Because of the past failed experiment with radiation, they attempted laser surgery with a laser made of aligned particles.  The idea was that the so called ‘particle gun’ would pull from her body all the human cells.  The surgery was successful; she was a pure human with a ‘ghost’ rabbit: her shapeshifter form.  They kept her under strict supervision to track her recovery.  Two days later she went mad, the same as those from the radiation experiment.  She killed the rabbit and died a day later from unknown causes.”
“So it isn’t a good idea to try splitting the particles of living beings,” Acelin said, “but what about just particles in the air?”
Marcellina flipped to the next slide and Carlisle’s stomach turned.  The picture was in black and white and showed what appeared to be a hospital room, blood smeared across the walls.  Seven dead bodies were scattered about the room and an eighth person appeared to be ripping the corpses apart.  “1961,” Marcellina said, “a doctor in a hospital claimed he saw light from a different dimension when using a surgical laser on a mirror.  He gathered the entire hospital’s staff to watch him repeat the experiment.  It was reported that light was seen, though no one knew where from.  The reporters were found murdered in the street the next day.  Curious about the situation, more reporters went back to the hospital to find the entire staff mad, killing and ripping apart the patients and then each other.  This picture was taken just before the last doctor was shot and killed.”  
“That’s absolutely terrible,” Acelin said.  “It’s like… splitting particles leaves our kind in a type of murderous rage.  Could it perhaps be killing their brain cells diminishing their ability to make good human judgment?”
“No one knows,” Marcellina replied.  “Their bodies were all cremated in fear they had a virus that might spread.  All I’m saying is, what you’re dealing with is very dangerous.  There’s a type of power here we have no control over.”
“But what if we could develop a way to contain the power?” Acelin asked.
Marcellina looked at him for a moment before replying.  “Many will die for the cause of this journey, not to mention that if we manage to actually get to another world, mass war would break out.  It may prove to be more of a suicide mission.”
Acelin nodded as he thought, finally leaping up and going to Marcellina’s side.  “You know, this is a start to something.”  Marcellina watched as the gears in Acelin’s head turned.  Finally an idea came.  “Suppose we gathered metals from the Forge Birds in Past Russia…”
“They have the strongest metal armor in the world,” Carlisle said.  “It’s impenetrable.”
“Yes,” Acelin nodded, “and we used that to create war machines and bullets and guns.”
“We’d have an unstoppable army!” Carlisle exclaimed.  
“And suppose we also, with that metal, build a containment box to hold experiments in with splitting particles, so it would be safe.”
“We would have to line the inside with Quirium,” Marcellina added.
“Yes, and then, if and when we manage to open a way to another world, we could have the army to go undefeated.”
“We don’t know the technology of any other worlds though, or the creatures that inhabit them,” Marcellina pointed out.  “Suppose we were no longer the strongest?”
“But with a true ‘particle gun’ we could basically destroy any creature who crossed our path,” Acelin said.
“I see this as a flawless plan except for two things,” Carlisle interrupted the two.  “First of all, right now we have no Quirium or impenetrable metal, the Forge Birds do.  So getting it from them will prove quite the challenge.  Second, we have no ‘particle gun’ built, and if we did, suppose it could also split the atoms which Quirium is made of?  Wouldn’t that make the containment box very unsafe?”
“We will have to find a way to set the ‘particle gun’ off from very far away, once we have one built, until we know if the containment box is safe,” Acelin answered.
“And the Forge Birds may have good armor, but their weapons are no more advanced than stone aged spears, not to mention they could be easily outwitted; they have no human blood,” Marcellina said.
“It sounds like a good, dangerous, but good plan then,” Carlisle said.  
“We should set up in my research facility in Key West,” Acelin said, “that way, if something goes sour it isn’t our land to fix.”
“Good idea,” Carlisle said.
“Wait, what do you mean by ‘we’?” Marcellina asked.
“Oh,” Acelin frowned, “I just figured that you and I would be in charge of the operation.  You seem well educated in the field, and I am a scholar after all.”
“That’s a good idea as well,” Carlisle nodded.  “You should both head to Key West immediately, I’ll arrange for a team of scientists to meet you there.  Once you get set up there, you can head to Past Russia to conquer those darned Forge Birds.”
“I am not working with him!” Marcellina shouted, glaring at Acelin, a feeling of resentment already forming.  He acted dumb and uneducated; he was walking straight back down the path of bad history.  History might repeat itself thanks to that stupid man.  
Acelin and Carlisle stopped in their tracks and looked at her.  “Why not?” Acelin asked, slightly offended.  
“Because I still don’t know, or trust you!” Marcellina answered. “Carlisle, what if he plans to murder me once we get there!?”
Carlisle responded to his wife’s outburst by laughing.  “You’ll go to Key West with this man, and with body guards.  Don’t worry so much, dear.  I’d never send you to some unsafe place.”        
“When will we leave?” Acelin asked excitedly.  
“You’ll both be on a government airship come morning.  Get home and pack.  We’ll conference call once you’re in Key West,” Carlisle said, dismissing Acelin.  Acelin left the room promptly, excitement in his step, but Marcellina stayed behind with her husband.  
“I can’t believe you’re shipping me off to another continent with some random guy!” Marcellina shouted at her husband, furious that she hadn’t gotten her way.  
“I can’t believe I married you!” Carlisle hissed angrily.  “You’re irritating and you can’t have anything other than your own way!  I’m a ruler you know, and I’d like an heir before I die. I don’t suppose you’ve ever thought about giving me children!?” Marcellina stared at him coldly until he sighed.  “He’s not just some random man, Marcella.  I looked into him before I sent Fillmore to retrieve him.  His factory in Past Russia is our number one weapon manufacturer.  He can be trusted.”    
Picturing the time she’d be working with Acelin irritated her, yet a feeling arose from her gut, a feeling of slight attraction, a feeling that irritated her even greater, but made her do something she’d never done before: give in.  “Fine,” Marcellina sighed, “and don’t call me Marcella!” she hissed as she stormed out.
On her way out of the building, she bumped into Acelin who was taking his merry time in leaving.  “Oh Marcía, you are absolutely going to love my research facility…” Acelin smiled.
“Marcía?” Marcellina questioned, coming to an abrupt halt. “Listen, Ass-lan,” she spat in Acelin’s face, “I don’t care about this, or your research facility, and I especially don’t care about you!” She turned quickly on her heels and stormed off down the hallway, the anger radiating from her body.  
Acelin watched her walk off with intense interest.  “It’s a bit interesting, finding such a magnificent woman in a field like this…” Acelin muttered to himself.  “But still, she’s flaming mad at me; I wonder what I ever did to her?”

*  *  *  *
Marcellina slipped quietly into her mansion, instantly being greeted by two of her workers.  “Madam Collins, we didn’t expect you home so soon!” the butler, Leighton, said.  “Can we get you anything?”  Most workers, such as the butler, were Half Blood Blues, obedient and yearning to serve in their nature, which was the number one thing Marcellina looked for when picking her work force.  A person’s eyes said many things about a person’s personality and the last thing she needed was a rebellious worker.  
Marcellina let out a heavy sigh.  “Send for my suit cases and fetch me something for this splitting headache.”
“Madam,” the other servant, Rose, tipped her head in a small respectful bow, “Helen was asking…”
“I haven’t got the time, Rose,” Marcellina said, rather annoyed, hurrying up her fancy marble staircase.  
“But Madam, I…”
“Where’d Meredith run off to?” Marcellina snapped, pausing on the stairs for a moment to wait for the reply.
“I…”
“Your room, Madam,” the butler called as he carried out two large suitcases from the backroom. “Rose, send Helen to pack for Madam Collins,” the butler nodded as he hurried past the young girl servant.
“But Helen is…” Rose started again, but everyone shoved her comment off once more, the Butler racing up the marble stairs and Marcellina already gone.
“Meredith, darling, where are you?” Marcellina called into her room as she pushed open the door. She was greeted by her maid who was busy folding Marcellina’s clothes.  Marcellina smiled politely at her. “Do help me decide what to wear to Key West, Meredith.”
Marcellina went quickly over to her wardrobe and pulled out a couple of her favorite dresses, holding them up in front of her while looking herself over in the full body mirror that hung on her pastel pink wall.  
“Is it going to be a particularly important meeting?” Meredith asked, digging through Marcellina’s clothes.
“Not exactly, just research I’d imagine…”
“With the dresses you’ve picked you’d think you were going after another man…” Meredith said, one who was quite used to her lady’s eating habits.
“Oh no,” Marcellina shook her head, “well… I mean, Acelin is a man, but he’s an ass and I hate him terribly!”
There came a tap on the second floor bedroom window, and it was quickly opened when a fit young man swooped in.  “Well I’m glad,” the man said.  “I can’t have you going all the way to Key West for an affair.”
“William!” Marcellina hissed in her annoyed tone as the man shoved his blond hair out of his face to reveal his sparkling blue eyes, looking enough like Marcellina that he could have been her twin brother.  “My affairs are none of your concern!” she snapped.
“They might as well be since I swore to keep them a secret from your husband…” William shrugged.  “Listen… they caught on to me down at the docks… you don’t suppose there are any good ones around the square… you know… coming into town for shopping?”
Marcellina shot William a disapproving look.  “Can’t you see I’m busy here?”
William, completely ignoring her comment, shook his finger as a thought came to mind.  “There was this couple… the Harpers, looking to adopt a child… maybe I could…”
“No,” Marcellina said suddenly, “take a pirate if you must take anyone… I find your ‘hobby’ very disturbing and not at all right…”
“It’s not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle!” William said in defense, “and don’t forget that you once liked me.”
“That was before I knew you were a cannibal…”
“And like you’re much better,” William pointed out.  “I mean, your body count isn’t exactly small either.” William cocked his head in thought, spinning around in a circle before falling back onto Marcellina’s bed, sprawling out on his back.  
“I only do what I have to,” Marcellina shook her head.  “Meredith, what about this dress?”
“It’s too dark, screams funeral to me,” Meredith replied, pulling the dress from Marcellina’s hands and replacing it with a pink dress.  
“So you’re forced to screw guys and then torture them to death,” William said.
Marcellina let out a huff before storming over to William and slapping him, William leaping up into a sitting position.
“That isn’t what I do, nor would I ever,” Marcellina said sternly before going back to her mirror.
“And to think you’ve kept that husband alive as long as you have…  One may start to think you actually love him,” William sighed.
“Will you please just get out?” Marcellina said angrily.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve called me Will…” William smiled.
“I didn’t call you Will… I…” Marcellina screamed an annoyed yelp.  “Just get out!” she shouted, pointing towards the window.
“Fine, fine, I’m going,” William nodded, slipping back out the window.  Hanging onto the window sill, he added, “I promised my uncle that we’d go pirate hunting anyway…”
“Why were you named after your uncle?” Marcellina inquired.
“I don’t know… guess ma thought he’d make a good role model…”
“You don’t listen to his good ways,” Marcellina pointed out.
“Nope.  I figured though, if William Blake is going down in history as the greatest hero of all time, then there ought to be another William Blake going down in history as the worst super villain imaginable…”
“You’ll never be a better super villain than Carlisle and Fillmore…” Marcellina smiled.
“Don’t forget yourself,” William nodded as he swooped away from the window.
After a moment of studying her image in the mirror, Marcellina stuck her head out into the hallway.  “Rose?  Where’s Helen?” Marcellina called.
“I tried to tell you that she…” Rose began again but the butler cut her off.
“She must be in the garden, I’ll go fetch her.”
“No!” Rose shouted impatiently.  “She isn’t in the garden!”
“Then where is she!?” Marcellina shouted.
“At the hospital!” Rose blurted out.
“What!?  What happened?!” Marcellina gasped, running down the stairs to Rose’s side.
“She’s having her baby…” Rose nodded.  “I figured you wouldn’t mind if she went to the hospital…”
“Was there something wrong?” Marcellina asked, heading towards the front door.
“Well… no, but the midwife thought there may be complications, so Jordan drove her to the hospital…”
“Leighton!” Marcellina shouted, and soon the butler came running with her jacket.  “Rose, call Carlisle and tell him that I won’t be able to make it tomorrow,” Marcellina said as she slipped on her coat.  
Rose grimaced with her given assignment. His Majesty was not someone who liked to be told what to do, even by his wife.  It was bad enough when he was living there with all the bickering the couple did, but now that Marcellina had kicked him out of the house and he had been staying at the office—which was complemented with guest quarters—he seemed a bit more temperamental. The conversation wouldn’t go anywhere as it was…
“Rose?”
“Um… yes Madam, right away,” Rose bowed, heading for the phone on the little table in the nearby sitting area.
With a quick break to gather her courage, Rose dialed His Majesty’s back line, the one that was only for his wife’s use, which went straight to His Majesty instead of his secretary or office mate.  She held the phone up to her ear with shaking hands waiting for him to answer.
“Yes?”
“Your… Your Majesty?” Rose stuttered.
“Oh what now?” Carlisle sighed angrily.
“Madam Collins is afraid that she will be unable to leave tomorrow morning...”
“She what!?” Carlisle screamed and Rose jerked the phone back from her ear. “And just why the hell not!?”
“Her… Her good friend is at the hospital…”
“Tell her to get her good-for-nothing ass on the phone and I’ll tell her what’s for!” Carlisle continued to shout, making it impossible for Rose to speak.
“She just left Your…”
“Tell her she’s going and I don’t care!  Don’t make me come over there!”
“Your Majesty… I…”
“That’s it, I’m coming over there right now and she’s going to be sorry!”
“Oh no, he can’t come over here.”  That would be the end of everything and the end of poor Rose’s life.  She had to think quick…
“She went to the hospital because she thinks she might be with child,” Rose spit out quickly, and the screaming Carlisle stopped immediately.
“She what?”  
“I shouldn’t have told you that,” Rose hastily replied.  “Madam Collins will surly fire me if she found out what I did… please… I…”
“Oh hush child, don’t fret about it.  Just don’t say a word and neither will I,” Carlisle answered.  “I’ll bring up the topic casually to Marcella tomorrow… she must just be uneasy about the whole thing, being as young as she is…  Thank you for calling.”  And with that, Carlisle promptly hung up.
Rose hung up the phone completely and utterly terrified; what had she just done?  “If word gets out I can just say I miss heard…” Rose thought to herself, images of an angry Marcellina storming home and strangling the poor Rose in the back of her head.  
“Perhaps it would be best if you just left…” the butler said; he must have been there the whole time and had heard the entire conversation.
“But I have nowhere to go…” Rose frowned.  
“Anywhere will be better than here…” he shrugged.  
“Yes… I suppose so…” Rose nodded, hurrying to gather her few belongings. She had done a horrible thing, in her mind at least, and she couldn’t stay, no matter what.  
When Rose disappeared down the hallway, the butler nodded, pleased with himself.  “Good riddance,” he muttered to himself as he walked away.