Fictional Freakouts: The Phantom Brigade Issue #4

If you missed the previous "Issues" of this experiment in literary improv, you can use these links:

ISSUE 1
ISSUE 2
ISSUE 3

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"Well," said Thorn, as the hologram vanished and the office lights came up. "You should answer your phone. Jake's going to call you."

Emma's phone rang. Her custom ring-tone, the music from the shower scene from "Psycho."

"Are you psychic?" asked Emma.

Thorn shook his head. "No," he answered, "you told me this would happen. Or to be more exact, you will tell me this will happen. You should answer that."

"Hello," said Emma.

"Where are you Emma," it was Jake Carson, Emma's companion on her abbreviated studio tour. "Studio security says your with a friend."

"I am," said Emma, "sort of. Sorry to bail on you like that."

"Just wanted some confirmation on your okay," said Jake. "They're taking me on a tour of the model shop for Shadowknight's Revenge. That is just too freakin' cool."

"Have fun," said Emma, "I have to talk to you later, boring Hollywood stuff."

After their goodbyes Emma hung up and turned back to Thorn.

"What are you talking about?"

Thorn rose from his desk and went to the door.

"We deal with portals that go through space, time and alternate dimensions," said Thorn. "To you, this is the third time we've met, but to me, this is actually the fourth. To you, it hasn't happened yet, but to me, it happened a long time ago."

"This is very confusing," said Emma.

"You don't need to tell me," replied Thorn as he guided her back to the hall, "because you're talking to a man who once crashed his own wedding."

"You're married?"

Thorn shook his head.

"Long, long story," he said. "No time to talk, because we have to meet the team."

"You have a team?"

***

"She seems shorter in person," said a big burly man with close cropped black hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. He was dressed all in black, giving the impression of a massive black wall.

"All movie stars are shorter in person Leo," said Thorn. "I know for a fact that Humphrey Bogart was only four foot six."

"I'm not a movie star," said Emma, "I'm just an actor."

"Leo Cohen," said the big man, shaking Emma's relatively tiny hand in his massive grip. "I'm in charge of tactical operations."

"Mitsou Tanaka," said a tall slender woman with a slight Japanese accent. "I'm the deputy tactical person. I loved your movie."

"Jim Fahey," said an voice with a definite Irish lilt and Emma turned to see a tall, gangly fellow with hair almost as red as hers, and carrying a large plastic case. "I'm the token tech guy, and I'm helped by Lydia Montgomery. She's coming behind me."

"Don't listen to the Irishman, I'm not just the helper," said a woman with a very posh English accent as she came in behind Fahey, carrying another case, "I'm a bloody scientist."

"You have a little United Nations here," said Emma.

"We're part of a multi-national organisation," answered Thorn. "We protect the world, so you don't have to."

ARE YOU GOING TO TELL HER ABOUT US?

It was a voice, but it wasn't coming from anyone, but to Emma it seemed everywhere.

"You shouldn't do that," said Thorn, "you're going to scare the girl."

"Should I be scared?"

DON'T BE AFRAID OF US

This time the voice was different, it was vaguely feminine.

"You better introduce her to the Eight," said Montgomery. "Get it over with."

Thorn walked across the meeting room and pressed a red button on the far wall. The top half of the wall began to rise, revealing what could only be described as an aquarium filled with a luminous green liquid and...

"Are they aliens?" asked Emma.

NO said another voice, a man's voice, WE ARE HUMANS THOUGH WE UNDERSTAND THE CONFUSION

They were people, at least they vaguely looked like people. Their heads were out of proportion to the rest of their bodies, which seemed frail, if not entirely withered. They were swaying gently in the green liquid, held in place by what could only be described as an elaborate life support system.

"I'd like to introduce you to the Eight," said Thorn, "led by the fellow floating in the centre. His name is Hawkins."

"Why are they in a tank," asked Emma, "and how can they talk to us."

WE'RE TELEPATHS answered another feminine voice.

"They have a condition discovered by my grandfather," said Montgomery, "called Montgomery-Austin syndrome. The symptoms are terrible physical weakness coupled with exponential mental power."

"Outside the tank," added Thorn, "they are weak, crippled, and racked with constant agonizing pain. The suffering so intense they can't develop their mental powers. Inside the tank, they are free from their pain, and to a certain extent even their physical bodies."

THE SOLAR SYSTEM IS OUR WORLD said a chorus of voices that Emma realized were in her mind.

"They can sense activity in the quantum belt, and the threads," said Fahey.

"They also protect this planet from alien invasion," added Cohen.

THERE IS NO ARMOUR TO SET AGAINST A WEAPON THAT HAS NO FORM

"Aliens have invaded?"

"Tried," said Thorn, "but they can't get close, thanks to the Eight, and their fellows across the world."

WE SENSE ANOTHER RIFT OPENING said the chorus.

"Any idea where?"

ODD said the voice called Hawkins.

"What's odd?" asked Thorn.

THE RIFT WAS ONLY OPEN FOR A FEW SECONDS

SOMETHING CAME OUT

IT IS SCARED

IT IS CONFUSED

IT IS ANGRY

SO ANGRY

"Where is it?" asked Thorn, nodding to the others who went out the room to a door marked GARAGE.

LOST

IT DOES NOT KNOW WHERE IT IS

BUT IT KNOWS WHERE IT IS GOING

EMMA'S HOME

"Okay Emma," said Thorn, "there's no time to socialize, it's time to see what's happening."

TO BE CONTINUED...