4.03

“Michael, there have been multiple sightings of trash golems over the last few weeks. Increasing numbers. The Trash Queen is here, we just can’t find her.” Brickla’s face was on the large screen that Michael had in his hideout.

“I understand Brickla, but we’re doing everything we can. Normally she’s found by now. She’s usually started her attacks by now. We’ll keep looking.” Michael paced his room, frustration grew.

“No worries. Over and out.” The screen flicked and Brickla was gone and replaced with multiple live news feeds.

“There’s something different about it this time. I just don’t know what.” Michael activated his teleporter and showed up in a high-rise building that overlooked Athena City.

Standing at over eighty storeys high, it was an imposing building that demanded respect. The first forty levels were dedicated to business and brand development. The next twenty were top secret experiments and technological discoveries. Michael assumed the next twenty were used for living, but he had never visited himself to find out.

“Ah Michael, how good it is to see you, old friend. Would you like a glass of wine or whiskey?” The source of the voice was a middle-aged woman in a striped pantsuit. Her frizzy brown hair was swept behind her ears. She had a septum piercing with a small, fierce, red stone.

“Hello Sofia, good to see you. No thanks on the alcohol though, clouds up the already old brain.” The two embraced.

“You’re looking good for someone just over ninety. Being a hero keeps you young.” Sofia poured herself a whiskey and walked toward one of the many oversized windows.

“You sure you don’t miss it?” Michael stood next to her.

“Sometimes I do. But that kind of danger just doesn’t appeal to me anymore.”

“You were one of my greatest students.”

“You were a great teacher. How goes the newest generation?”

“They’ll do a great job. Got a few under mine and Stick’s wing at the moment. Promising bunch.”

“So I’ve heard. You’ve got the son of Keegan Hires, Blockade. What’s he like?”

“Shows a lot of promise. He’s quick to get frustrated and doubts himself a lot. But he pulls the team together well.”

“Just like Keegan hey.” The former student and teacher chuckled.

“The Trash Queen is back. But we can’t find her. She isn’t behaving normally.”

“Oh really? She was never fun. What do you need?” Sofia rounded on Michael and took a swig of her whiskey. She realised just how old and weathered Michael was looking in his age.

“I don’t know. I think we need to find one of her nests and send a team deep within. Finally see what’s on the other end. But she’s hiding well. We haven’t been able to track her like we normally do. I’m worried its going to be slaughter.”

“Okay. I’ll get a ground team going. Send some drones out too to scout. We’ll find her.”

“Thank you. Now I’ve got another meeting with somebody else. Bye Sofia, keep well.”

“You too, old man.” The two exchanged a hug as old friends and Sofia watched as her old mentor teleported himself away.

Michael arrived at The Fortress. He appeared in the middle of a room, standing in the middle of a large conference desk. The desk was a large, black timber desk, one that looked extremely heavy. Papers went flying through the room when Michael arrived.

“A grand entrance as always Michael. You’re late.” Michael looked down to see a studious young fox in a white coat. She wore the white coat everywhere she went, even on her days off. Her name was Jinsell Gig, and she was head of inter-dimensional relations for Athena City and sat on a board for the world in dealing with such matters.

“Sorry there Jinsell. I was locked up in another important meeting.” Michael jumped down from the table and sat at the desk. There was only one other sitting at the desk, a burly, tattooed, tanned woman. She had in her mouth a pipe that looked as though it had seen better days.

“Oh, hello. My name’s Michael.”

“Name’s Flamiche. You have something here from my world and I’m here to kill it.”

“Uh, okay. Is it dangerous? What is it?”

“It’s a shark lord. A very dangerous animal.”

“I need you to elaborate a little. Please.” Flamiche grunted in annoyance at Michael and looked at Jinsell.

“Where I come from, a lot more of our planet is covered in ocean. The oceans are ruled by shark lords. Large, powerful, majestic but dangerous creatures. Some are benevolent, but some aren’t.”

“I’m guessing the one you’ve been tracking isn’t too nice?” Michael looked at Jinsell. Jinsell shrugged her shoulders.

“Too right its not. It almost wiped all life that lived on the land back on my world. It took the rest of us that was left to defeat it.”

“Mmhmm.”

“However, our shamans divined that its spirit never truly passed on. In fact, in travelled through the cosmos and found itself a new host. The spirit of that shark lord lives within somebody here, and I’m here to kill it before it can cause any more destruction.”

“Okay. So you’re saying you need to find a person, potentially an innocent person, and kill them because of this shark lord?”

“Yes.”

“Jinsell, surely this is a problem. The new host may be innocent, and we’re supposed to let this hunter of sorts go and kill them?”

“I don’t know what to say Michael. She swears the shark lord is dangerous.”

“Yes, the shark lord is very dangerous. And I must kill her. No questions.” A clear sense of purpose came through Flamiche’s voice.

“I’m pretty sure we have enough power in our world to deal with such a threat.”

“You don’t have the magics that my world does.”

“Jinsell, this is crazy.”

“Michael. It needs to be done.”

“You don’t know that.”

“She needs to be killed.” Flamiche lit up her pipe and looked between Jinsell and Michael.

“This is ridiculous. Just give me some time to think on it.” With that, Michael teleported back to his hideout.

“Hey Michael, we need to talk.” Michael leapt in fright and whirled around to see Gauzelle.