Coxx wears a formal, dark brown coat that has a high collar around his neck and is long down to his shins with ample size to accommodate his shell. The large, ornate buttons are done down the front of the coat, exposing the muscle at the top of his undershell and wrapping the rest of his chest shell down to his waist. Coxx refused the accompanying red cumberbun that would have wrapped his midsection, but he wears the fancy boots that the tailor in Two Rivers had insisted would complete the outfit without the cumberbun.
“You look very nice,” Saadiq says as he enters the dressing room. He is the same height as Coxx, but not as muscular, and his shell is more rounded to accommodate his wings. His skin is shades of light green and he has the intimidating visage of the typical Guardian, but he wears it much more genially. He seems much more approachable than Coxx even in all of his formal wear. Saadiq wears nothing but the strap over one shoulder and crossing his chest where he keeps his weapons.
“Why does anyone wear all of this?” Coxx says, turning in the mirror and looking perplexed at his reflection.
“Because it looks nice,” Saadiq says and stands between the mirror and Coxx to adjust his coat the way the tailor had before he left the dressing room. “You know it looks nice, that’s why you’re twirling in the mirror.”
“I keep imagining dorthos shimming up my leg when this fabric rubs against me,” Coxx says with a tinge of fear in his mean glare.
“Dorthos are harmless…” Saadiq laughs.
“They have those pinchers and their hard sharp feet,” Coxx spirals thinking about the dorthos, crablike pests that could be found mostly near water, but they had moved into the city like vermin.
Saadiq lifts Coxx’s coat, “No dorthos,” he says and drops it. “You’re not storming a beach, Guardian, you’re rubbing shells with the high society of Two Rivers. I would give anything to be in your position. The lives of rich blues are fascinating to me.”
“If only we could switch, but I need you in the air over the Flow Records building.”
“I don’t think the Ortue family is bold enough to attack at a heavily secured event like this one,” Saadiq says. He has knelt before Coxx and is smoothing out wrinkles in his coat, then he tightens the laces of the boots.
“The Ortue will take this opportunity to show that they can challenge what we’ve built with Beku and the Ur Gang. They want control of Two Rivers and it starts by showing the Guardians weak without our fearless leader.”
Saadiq stands before Coxx again. “All of Bludon misses the Superguardian, and we are the powerful surrogates left in his stead. The public will not stand for an attack and we will have free reign to slaughter Ortue in the streets. Why would those Ortue women bring that type of heat to their organization?”
“Because they are not their father,” Coxx says. “We are not the only ones with something to prove, Guardian. They are desperate to prove that the Ortue haven’t lost a step since the days of their father.”
Saadiq crosses his arms and thinks about it, eventually he shakes his head. “I don’t think so. They are comfortable in the Gemia Isles, and the Isles have thrived, not as prosperous as the Chain Islands, but Gemia is a booming metropolis. With the construction of the medical center there, the Ortue sisters have locked down the black market organ trade. They are swimming in rhasd.”
“You’re underestimating the emotions of the gangs involved. Beku and her allies were old and bitter enemies of their father and precisely because they are comfortable in Gemia, they are ready to make their move. Tonight will be their stand.”
“If it isn’t, you have to promise to take me to the next Flow Records gala,” Saadiq says.
“I promise. Go ahead and coordinate security,” Coxx says, shaking his head at his reflection. “I hope this is all over quickly.”
Maxx has been happy to move out of the public eye in the decade since the Outsiders arrived on Bludon. He is no longer a public figure and, the Guardian, Coxx, has largely filled the void he left. No more marathon parties on Two Rivers, no more public adoration, and no more conflicts with the Ministers. There is no time for dealing with the social aspects of being the Superguardian.
Maxx is still on Bludon, but he and Zacchaeus, and a small team of Guardians hand selected for their strength and cunning, have been dealing with the increased appearances of the Daemon that the Queen Rowen and her security track to remote and sparsely charted islands around the planet.
“I’m never letting you go back to Oin,” Maxx tells the Queen as they prepare for a long night of Daemon hunting. They are on an unnamed island in the western hemisphere and their crew is still resting as the sun slowly sets.
“You do know that I travel back to Oin often,” the Queen Rowen says. “I am the Queen, and I have duties to my people.”
“You are a blu now, Rowen,” Maxx says. “You’ve saved so many, you should be the Queen of this planet as well. You’ll do a hell of a lot better than the Ministers.”
“Why rule when I can roam the islands and oceans with you and the Trooper Guardians bashing Daemon? They are such a terror to encounter, like the vile monsters of Oin, and it is so gratifying to banish them…”
The Queen is interrupted when Maxx lifts a hand and she stops abruptly. She feels it, the stillness of the air, the drop in atmospheric pressure that makes her eyes bloodshot like she took a hit of lean off of Maxx. Maxx points from the sand to a disturbance in the nearby waters that are much darker than it had been.
“I thought we had a reprieve until sunset,” the Queen Rowen says. She stands in the same uniform that they all wear; a lightweight jumpsuit of gold and royal blue.
“They must be eager to die,” Maxx says, standing behind the Queen with the Superconsciousness coursing around his body.
A large whale-like creature breaches the surface. Its body is warped and grotesque, like it is covered in cancerous barnacles. It opens its enormous mouth to shout, but it is more like a screech as an oily tendril extends from deep in its maw, then the oily form of Minyak forms in front of them.
“No matter your resistance, Superguardian, the battle will not cease,” Minyak yells in a wet voice that booms.
Maxx flies at the monstrosity of the whale and at Minyak hoping to finally lay hands on him after so long battling the minions that he unleashed on Bludon, and the Queen and the other Guardians are not far behind. But they are all halted when Minyak yells and sends out a wave of sound that is powerful enough to be perceived by the eye.
“You have not earned the honor of battle with me,” Minyak says. “I am here to herald the arrival of the Daemon colony. We will blacken your skies as we descend on every corner of this world and rid it once and for all of the Bludonian menace.”
“That ain’t work out too good for the last things that tried it,” Zacchaeus yells. He floats just behind Maxx next to the Queen and they are close enough to see Minyak’s smooth, black visage.
“The swarm was confused as it entered this space time, but the Dark Ones who sent them and stirred the Omega have given us so much power to do what the swarm could not.”
“You sent the swarm, I knew it,” Maxx yells and he feels the world begin to slip and the âmuk begin to rise inside of him.
“The Dark One assured the Head that beings like you all, willful beings of goodness and dumb ideals, are not long for this existence. If not for warped experiments like you Guardians and the abomination that is Metatron and the Aerphim, this existence would already belong to beings of darkness like us. The Daemon are the true inheritors of this existence and the Dark Ones will help us realize our place. Prepare yourself Superguardian. Resistance is futile. It would be best to fall to your knees and beg for mercy. There is a place for all of you in the new existence. You need only beg for it. We know all of you now, the Dark Ones have assessed their opposition and the Daemon colony is equipped to smother this universe’s greatest powers, starting with you two and the Outsider. Your intervention here is moot. The colony will make landfall shortly after sundown.”
As he finishes, Minyak, still tethered to the large whale, begins to ascend to space, the large whale ascending as well.
“Security confirms the approach of a very large signature of Daemon,” the Queen Rowen says.
“We have to confront them in space. Someone stay here and get in touch with Coxx, we will likely need reinforcements. Everyone else, with me.”
Maxx and his team reach space before Minyak and his whale, and they quickly find the large meteor careening towards Bludon.
Coxx enjoys the music of Flow Records while he mingles with finely dressed blues who attend the gala. They are in a large hall of the Flow Records building that glitters with many lights that make the space feel magical. Coxx is with Beku, who wears a flowing, pink cape that ties around her neck with thick ribbons that hang down her front shell, down to her knees. She wears sandals that are laced with similar ribbons that are braided around her shins.
“Any sign of aggression from the Ortue or do you have me on edge for nothing?” Beku asks Coxx. “This really is a very nice party but it’s difficult to enjoy it.”
“You and Saadiq doubt me, but I sense something in the air,” Coxx says, scanning the guests who dance and mingle around the large open space of the hall floor that is framed by tables and chairs that have been sparsely used. Bludonians love dancing to music, and even when dinner was served, most chose to stand close to their tables, eating while they danced and had a good time.
He receives an alert from his communicator, the one from the security detail of the Queen Rowen that he used to maintain communication with Maxx. He explains himself to Beku who shoos him off to take his call.
“Superguardian?” Coxx asks.
“Coxx, it is Larq. Minyak has appeared on Bludon and is retreating to space. Maxx and the team have left the planet in pursuit of the Daemon colony that Maxx warned about. We need reinforcement, as many Guardians that can be spared, to rendezvous at my location.”
“It is done, Larq, I will order Guardians to you right away. Should I be there as well?”
“No, the Superguardian did not ask for you personally, so you should continue in your duties. I will keep you updated.”
“Please do,” Coxx says and turns his attention to Beku who he can tell is annoyed by the conversation that she is trapped in with two musical acts that are managed by the company. They make eye contact and Beku indicates that she is annoyed and subtly waves for Coxx to come to her rescue. He chuckles to himself and walks over to her position, weaving between the crowd.
Before he reaches her, there is commotion in the room and Coxx immediately engages the lean that smears his view but allows him to feel everything in the room. There is a blu with a large energy weapon who has forced himself into the hall and Coxx flies up, over the crowd and toward the blu to tackle him roughly to the ground. Coxx pins the blu to the ground easily, the weapon has been knocked from his hand, but he feels Beku in extraordinary pain. He feels Beku slipping away and he smashes a fist into the face of the blu, either rendering him unconscious or killing him, Coxx does not know or care which, and he is at Beku’s side in the blink of an eye. His vision of the world settles as he grabs Beku’s hand, unsure if she is still alive.
PRL Serials 