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Description
The Dunwich Chronicles: The Parable of the Talents
(A Whateley Universe Fan Fiction)
DPRagan

6:35 AM Sunday,
July 23rd 2006
Independence, Missouri

Halfway up the stairs stood, what looked like a panther, only with two stinger equipped tentacles sprouting from it's shoulder blades and made of blue ice; one of which whipped down and pierced the stair Alex just above his foot.
        Alex backed down the stair slowly and back into the room, the ice beast whipped the tentacles twice more herding him to the place he least wanted to be, into the magic-arcing room and the waiting arms of the Miss Freeze.
        "Alex!" Bewitcher and Alex's Father screamed in unison as Miss Freeze's hand closed on the back of his neck.
        Miss Freeze then said a few words in some language; he wasn't sure which one, but he pretty sure it wasn't Latin.  In response, something large thick and cold slowly coiled up his body, crushing his legs together and binding his arms to his body and around his neck, he was soon face to face with an anaconda-like creature made of ice and slurry.
        "You know the drill Bewitcher!" Miss Freeze taunted the heroine, "Give yourself and your power up, and sidekick-'girl' here lives! If you don't, well we'll just see what this giant sphere will do to her"
        Bewitcher and Alex's Dad seemed to be exchanging grim looks, both they and Alex, for his part was pissed off at being called a girl (stupid costume!), It was obvious that she would never keep such a promise, his stinging lungs was more than enough of a reminder of her "mercy."
        Alex could only look at the face of the ice-snake staring him in the face, every time he moved the coils slithered tighter in some places and looser in other so he couldn't wiggle free. The part that worried him the most was that snake was made of a mix of ice and slush included a lot of glass and bits of frozen liquids and other unidentifiable bits that crossed the spectrum in colors. Parts felt cold, others hot, and still others felt awkward in ways that his brain refused to acknowledge.
        Bewitcher and Alex's Dad seemed to come to an agreement, Bewitcher slowly stepped around the summoned wall with her hands visible.
        "Smarter than I thought you would be," The Villainess grinned, then pulled Alex closer to the sphere, "No tricks!"
        Unfortunately for Alex, her demand came too late; Alex's Dad used the distraction of Bewitcher to tossed a flash-bang (Surprisingly useful items in his line of work.) over the wall just as she demanded "No Tricks"
        Two things happened at once, and to Alex it seemed to happen like a bullet-time scene in the Matrix. Miss Freeze pushed off of him to dodge, sending him headfirst into the sphere as Bewitcher performed a flying tackle.  Alex missed the exact details of what happened next when the flash-bang went off, all he knew is that he was suddenly pulled to the side and surrounded by surprisingly warm water.
        Alex was still blinking spots from his eyes when the air was forced from his lungs, he felt like his chest was in a vice, as the pressure and ice-snake quickly folded him into a near bone-breaking variation of the fetal position.
        'What is it with asphyxiation today?' Alex gasped, desperate to keep the air IN his lungs, "Whoof!"
        Outside the bubble Alex could see Bewitcher trying to fight off Miss Freeze while his dad seemed to be looking around for something.
        He had to get out of here, he was already graying out again, and this time Bewitcher couldn't be in time to save him.
        Something, there had to be something he could do, it felt like he was forgetting something, something important, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember it.
        Alex suddenly felt a sharp poke in his ribs, at first he thought it was the ice-snake, but the golem was already breaking down and forming a cocoon of slush around him, it was his Dad who was trying to push or hook him out of the sphere with a hockey stick.
        Behind Alex's Dad, Bewitcher levitated one of her cards to activate a barrier between the sphere and Miss Freeze.
        'The Card!' Alex remembered, 'It's still in my hand!'
        The basement started to erupted into a maelstrom of lightning encompassing every color of the rainbow.
        Alex's Dad couldn't seem to push nor pull Alex from the sphere, and it was becoming impossible to breathe much less move. Alex took a chance and tried to remember the feeling of activating the other bubble card, the felt the familiar warmth and pulsing.
         'Please, please God, let this work' Alex prayed as he activated the Teleportation card, 'Please let me live through this!'

        God answers prayers, however he also loves drama…and the occasional ironic, situational comedy.

Friday, August 4th 2006
Dunwich Sheriff's Office

        "That's all I remember until I woke up at Saint Luke's Mutant Burnout Ward," Alexa finished fidgeting in the chair.
        "The teleportation fizzled," Corbin continued where Alexa left off, "Too much magic in an enclosed and warded room. It all cascaded and followed the path of least resistance into the sphere and the whole experiment exploded. Most of the basement was a total loss and became flooded, Miss Freeze somehow vanished in the mayhem and we found Alex unconscious and still arcing."
        "I thought he was dead at first," Corbin concluded, "But he was thankfully alive we rushed him to Saint Luke's, the suit was fused to his skin we had to cut off the mask so he could breathe normally, we only found out how badly he was effected by the attack when they had to cut a hole for the catheter."
        "Something about 'Miss Freeze's' M.O. still sounds familiar," Agent Tim mused aloud, "But, something seems off, and yet…still familiar"
        "I remember 'Bewitcher', I think she used to have a part-time job at Rogers' Boutique," supplied the Sheriff Baker, "Nice girl, a little shy if I recall, she was a low-end telekinetic, never thought she would go superhero or learn magic."
        Alexa pondered the fact that Bewitcher went to school locally, and wondered if that was the reason the two were so blasé about superpowers; then again, Dunwich was pretty close to ARC Headquarters.
        "Did you ever find out just what was going on in that basement in the first place?" The Sheriff asked. "Or what that sphere was made of?"
        "Water," Corbin revealed, "Distilled Water, with a larger then average level of Deuterium, and contaminates from the battle. I still don't know what he was up to however, we recovered his notes but they appear to be in some sort of code, I have someone tracking down an old colleague of his to see if he might be able to translate them for us. All we know is that it was a large volume of water being compressed by a magic-effect mimicking a warper-effect."
        "She will of course, need to obtain an MID," Sheriff Baker pronounced, "That can wait until late November, when the MCO comes though Coos County like they do every semester, other than that She just needs to be officially tested and rated, they can handle that at Doyle Medical Center, you can also have it done at ARC of course."

        After that it was mostly shuffling papers, one of which excited Alexa beyond words, a Learners Permit!
        Alexa got a better look at Dunwich after they had left the Sheriff's office. Red seemed to be the primary color of the buildings and the shops.  Some of the stores seemed geared toward the interests of teenagers as well as the expected tourist traps; still somehow, the place looked like a Norman Rockwell painting.
        To Alexa the town felt like it was about to be swallowed by the surrounding woods, or pushed into the large mountain lake. In the late summer Alexa was surprised that she could only see the odd fishing boat or what might have been a camp canoe in the distance.
        "Lake Holly" Corbin nodded to the lake one of the times it was in full view, "Once we get settled in, I was thinking maybe could try fishing there?"
        "Okay." Alexa replied, without much enthusiasm, she wasn't sure if it was the fact that her dad made it sound more like a question or the reopened memories of their last attempt.
        Either way, she had the feeling of lead in her stomach; well that and the feeling of an arctic AC blast up her skirt that reminded her to cross her legs, something that was scarily easy for her now that she no longer had any obstructions.
        Corbin turned off on a gravel side road that boasted signs to a couple summer camps and several signs advertising the presence of the Medawihla Reservation just across a covered bridge you see in a lot of paintings and postcards.
        The Road to the Salts was bordered by a large willow tree on one side and a Gas Station that had a wooden façade on the other; thankfully, it looked ten-times friendlier then the one they had stopped at earlier.
        The neighborhood roads where paved, although there were no sidewalks, drainage ditches took their place, the homes had a modern look to them, although red was still the dominate color for the houses including the split-level ranch with a high peaked roof that Alexa's Dad pulled into.
        "This is our new home," Corbin announced, "Just get the necessities for tonight; we'll do most of the unpacking tomorrow."
        Alexa nodded numbly, then stepped out of the van and opened the side door, pulled her backpack, her bag of rapidly diminishing clothing, not that she had much yet, and lastly her brand-new purse.
        While Alex's dad was searching for the key to unlock the house, Alex looked around her new neighborhood; the house that stood out the most was directly across the street, the bushes where intricately trimmed and shaped into patterns that reminded her of bonsai trees, there were also large boulders artistically placed throughout the yard.
        Even the yard itself was mowed in a pattern that reminded Alexa of rock and sand gardens from anime, but other than the lawn-work and stop-sign shaped mirror above the front door, the house blended in with the rest of the neighborhood.
        Alexa could hear her dad's efforts to find the keys getting louder with words slipping in that would have gotten Alex's mouth washed-out with soap had he said them back as a boy.
        Alexa gave one last look at the neighborhood, other than spotting someone looking at them through a window a few houses down, everything seemed normal, Alexa hopped up the stairs and decided to rescue her father before he embarrassed himself.

        "Gezuz-Fuck!"  a teenage blond with black tips hid herself beside her window, and cussed up a storm, "I nearly shit myself!"
        She thought she had been cleverly hidden while looking-okay SPYING on the new neighbors, but the girl had looked straight at her!
        The girl wandered from the window to her desk deep in thought, and picked up a pen with a skull pencil-topper and scribbled down a few starter theories.
        The house across from Mr. Ito was rarely occupied, and even when it was, they never stayed long, besides,  the so-called family currently moving in seemed suspicious to her, father and daughter, for one, the "daughter" looked way-too-fucking-hot-to-be-fifteen and looked nothing like her father!
        Who where they? Were they spies, Dr. Pygmalion wannabe, witness protection? The girl did have an odd way of walking, but that might have been due to the luggage she was carrying.
"Who ever the fuck they are," the teen promised, "If they are up to something freaky, they've met their fucking match in me!"
        "BARBRA ANNE DOLLIS!"
        "Sheeeeit!" The teen jumped half-out of her skin at the sound of her mother, invoking the full-name wrath technique.
        "Language!"
        "Yes Mom." Barbra apologized as soon as her heart restarted; she hadn't even heard her mother come up the stairs much less open her door, 'Is Mom really a scientist?'
        "Come downstairs and set the table, dinner is ready" Barbra's Mother ordered-then added, "And don't forget to drop a quarter in the jar for each of those cuss words you know I heard coming up the stairs."
        "Yes Mom." Barbra's defeated reply came out as a near whisper.

        "Looking for these?" Alexa slapped the keys into her Father's hand.
        "Whu-where were they?"
        "In my purse," Alexa replied, "Where you asked me to keep them."
        "Thanks Sp-Hun." Corbin returned with a suitably embarrassed look on his face, and then finally opened the door to their new home.
        It was like stepping into an oven, Alexa was in the middle of the room when her dad finally found the light switch. The Room had plain white walls, and stained wooden floors, the most notable feature was the rock fireplace and the stairs up to a loft of some sort.
        "Kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms are upstairs we also have a finished basement" Corbin informed his daughter, "I'll see if I can get the AC working before…Go on up and pick out your room"
        "Yeah, thanks Dad" Alex answered as her father wandered off.

        The loft turned out to be the dining room with an attached kitchen, with the other wall being the common bathroom, the next door was the master-bedroom it was large, had its own private bathroom walk-in closet and balcony. The other three doors were two smaller bedrooms and a hall-closet, Alex decided on the bedroom furthest from the master-bedroom as her dad talked in his sleep.
        Like the front rooms the walls where a sterile white with wooden floors, Alexa set her backpack, purse and other bags near the closet
        'This is home now.' Alexa stood in the middle of her new room, her new closet door had a mirror on it, "And this is me now…forever."

        Corbin finally located the wall unit for the AC, turned out to be next to the upstairs common bathroom, and was soon rewarded with the sound of air flowing through the vents; still it would take a while for it to cool the entire house down.
        'Perhaps I should take Alex..Alexa, down to Berlin to look around?'  Corbin pondered, any further thoughts were forgotten as there was a loud crash from the only bedroom with a light on.
        Alexa was kneeling in the middle of the room, facing a door with a mirror, tears dripping down her eerily expressionless face.
        "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry…"
        The almost whispered mantra stabbed Corbin with feelings of guilt, he knelt down in front of his former son, and after fumbling for a bit hugged her tightly.
        Whatever resolve Alexa still had broke as she balled into her father's chest, Corbin said nothing, but just rocked his new daughter gently in his arms.

Description
The Dunwich Chronicles: The Parable of the Talents
(A Whateley Universe Fan Fiction)
DPRagan

6:35 AM Sunday,
July 23rd 2006
Independence, Missouri

Halfway up the stairs stood, what looked like a panther, only with two stinger equipped tentacles sprouting from it's shoulder blades and made of blue ice; one of which whipped down and pierced the stair Alex just above his foot.
        Alex backed down the stair slowly and back into the room, the ice beast whipped the tentacles twice more herding him to the place he least wanted to be, into the magic-arcing room and the waiting arms of the Miss Freeze.
        "Alex!" Bewitcher and Alex's Father screamed in unison as Miss Freeze's hand closed on the back of his neck.
        Miss Freeze then said a few words in some language; he wasn't sure which one, but he pretty sure it wasn't Latin.  In response, something large thick and cold slowly coiled up his body, crushing his legs together and binding his arms to his body and around his neck, he was soon face to face with an anaconda-like creature made of ice and slurry.
        "You know the drill Bewitcher!" Miss Freeze taunted the heroine, "Give yourself and your power up, and sidekick-'girl' here lives! If you don't, well we'll just see what this giant sphere will do to her"
        Bewitcher and Alex's Dad seemed to be exchanging grim looks, both they and Alex, for his part was pissed off at being called a girl (stupid costume!), It was obvious that she would never keep such a promise, his stinging lungs was more than enough of a reminder of her "mercy."
        Alex could only look at the face of the ice-snake staring him in the face, every time he moved the coils slithered tighter in some places and looser in other so he couldn't wiggle free. The part that worried him the most was that snake was made of a mix of ice and slush included a lot of glass and bits of frozen liquids and other unidentifiable bits that crossed the spectrum in colors. Parts felt cold, others hot, and still others felt awkward in ways that his brain refused to acknowledge.
        Bewitcher and Alex's Dad seemed to come to an agreement, Bewitcher slowly stepped around the summoned wall with her hands visible.
        "Smarter than I thought you would be," The Villainess grinned, then pulled Alex closer to the sphere, "No tricks!"
        Unfortunately for Alex, her demand came too late; Alex's Dad used the distraction of Bewitcher to tossed a flash-bang (Surprisingly useful items in his line of work.) over the wall just as she demanded "No Tricks"
        Two things happened at once, and to Alex it seemed to happen like a bullet-time scene in the Matrix. Miss Freeze pushed off of him to dodge, sending him headfirst into the sphere as Bewitcher performed a flying tackle.  Alex missed the exact details of what happened next when the flash-bang went off, all he knew is that he was suddenly pulled to the side and surrounded by surprisingly warm water.
        Alex was still blinking spots from his eyes when the air was forced from his lungs, he felt like his chest was in a vice, as the pressure and ice-snake quickly folded him into a near bone-breaking variation of the fetal position.
        'What is it with asphyxiation today?' Alex gasped, desperate to keep the air IN his lungs, "Whoof!"
        Outside the bubble Alex could see Bewitcher trying to fight off Miss Freeze while his dad seemed to be looking around for something.
        He had to get out of here, he was already graying out again, and this time Bewitcher couldn't be in time to save him.
        Something, there had to be something he could do, it felt like he was forgetting something, something important, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember it.
        Alex suddenly felt a sharp poke in his ribs, at first he thought it was the ice-snake, but the golem was already breaking down and forming a cocoon of slush around him, it was his Dad who was trying to push or hook him out of the sphere with a hockey stick.
        Behind Alex's Dad, Bewitcher levitated one of her cards to activate a barrier between the sphere and Miss Freeze.
        'The Card!' Alex remembered, 'It's still in my hand!'
        The basement started to erupted into a maelstrom of lightning encompassing every color of the rainbow.
        Alex's Dad couldn't seem to push nor pull Alex from the sphere, and it was becoming impossible to breathe much less move. Alex took a chance and tried to remember the feeling of activating the other bubble card, the felt the familiar warmth and pulsing.
         'Please, please God, let this work' Alex prayed as he activated the Teleportation card, 'Please let me live through this!'

        God answers prayers, however he also loves drama…and the occasional ironic, situational comedy.

Friday, August 4th 2006
Dunwich Sheriff's Office

        "That's all I remember until I woke up at Saint Luke's Mutant Burnout Ward," Alexa finished fidgeting in the chair.
        "The teleportation fizzled," Corbin continued where Alexa left off, "Too much magic in an enclosed and warded room. It all cascaded and followed the path of least resistance into the sphere and the whole experiment exploded. Most of the basement was a total loss and became flooded, Miss Freeze somehow vanished in the mayhem and we found Alex unconscious and still arcing."
        "I thought he was dead at first," Corbin concluded, "But he was thankfully alive we rushed him to Saint Luke's, the suit was fused to his skin we had to cut off the mask so he could breathe normally, we only found out how badly he was effected by the attack when they had to cut a hole for the catheter."
        "Something about 'Miss Freeze's' M.O. still sounds familiar," Agent Tim mused aloud, "But, something seems off, and yet…still familiar"
        "I remember 'Bewitcher', I think she used to have a part-time job at Rogers' Boutique," supplied the Sheriff Baker, "Nice girl, a little shy if I recall, she was a low-end telekinetic, never thought she would go superhero or learn magic."
        Alexa pondered the fact that Bewitcher went to school locally, and wondered if that was the reason the two were so blasé about superpowers; then again, Dunwich was pretty close to ARC Headquarters.
        "Did you ever find out just what was going on in that basement in the first place?" The Sheriff asked. "Or what that sphere was made of?"
        "Water," Corbin revealed, "Distilled Water, with a larger then average level of Deuterium, and contaminates from the battle. I still don't know what he was up to however, we recovered his notes but they appear to be in some sort of code, I have someone tracking down an old colleague of his to see if he might be able to translate them for us. All we know is that it was a large volume of water being compressed by a magic-effect mimicking a warper-effect."
        "She will of course, need to obtain an MID," Sheriff Baker pronounced, "That can wait until late November, when the MCO comes though Coos County like they do every semester, other than that She just needs to be officially tested and rated, they can handle that at Doyle Medical Center, you can also have it done at ARC of course."

        After that it was mostly shuffling papers, one of which excited Alexa beyond words, a Learners Permit!
        Alexa got a better look at Dunwich after they had left the Sheriff's office. Red seemed to be the primary color of the buildings and the shops.  Some of the stores seemed geared toward the interests of teenagers as well as the expected tourist traps; still somehow, the place looked like a Norman Rockwell painting.
        To Alexa the town felt like it was about to be swallowed by the surrounding woods, or pushed into the large mountain lake. In the late summer Alexa was surprised that she could only see the odd fishing boat or what might have been a camp canoe in the distance.
        "Lake Holly" Corbin nodded to the lake one of the times it was in full view, "Once we get settled in, I was thinking maybe could try fishing there?"
        "Okay." Alexa replied, without much enthusiasm, she wasn't sure if it was the fact that her dad made it sound more like a question or the reopened memories of their last attempt.
        Either way, she had the feeling of lead in her stomach; well that and the feeling of an arctic AC blast up her skirt that reminded her to cross her legs, something that was scarily easy for her now that she no longer had any obstructions.
        Corbin turned off on a gravel side road that boasted signs to a couple summer camps and several signs advertising the presence of the Medawihla Reservation just across a covered bridge you see in a lot of paintings and postcards.
        The Road to the Salts was bordered by a large willow tree on one side and a Gas Station that had a wooden façade on the other; thankfully, it looked ten-times friendlier then the one they had stopped at earlier.
        The neighborhood roads where paved, although there were no sidewalks, drainage ditches took their place, the homes had a modern look to them, although red was still the dominate color for the houses including the split-level ranch with a high peaked roof that Alexa's Dad pulled into.
        "This is our new home," Corbin announced, "Just get the necessities for tonight; we'll do most of the unpacking tomorrow."
        Alexa nodded numbly, then stepped out of the van and opened the side door, pulled her backpack, her bag of rapidly diminishing clothing, not that she had much yet, and lastly her brand-new purse.
        While Alex's dad was searching for the key to unlock the house, Alex looked around her new neighborhood; the house that stood out the most was directly across the street, the bushes where intricately trimmed and shaped into patterns that reminded her of bonsai trees, there were also large boulders artistically placed throughout the yard.
        Even the yard itself was mowed in a pattern that reminded Alexa of rock and sand gardens from anime, but other than the lawn-work and stop-sign shaped mirror above the front door, the house blended in with the rest of the neighborhood.
        Alexa could hear her dad's efforts to find the keys getting louder with words slipping in that would have gotten Alex's mouth washed-out with soap had he said them back as a boy.
        Alexa gave one last look at the neighborhood, other than spotting someone looking at them through a window a few houses down, everything seemed normal, Alexa hopped up the stairs and decided to rescue her father before he embarrassed himself.

        "Gezuz-Fuck!"  a teenage blond with black tips hid herself beside her window, and cussed up a storm, "I nearly shit myself!"
        She thought she had been cleverly hidden while looking-okay SPYING on the new neighbors, but the girl had looked straight at her!
        The girl wandered from the window to her desk deep in thought, and picked up a pen with a skull pencil-topper and scribbled down a few starter theories.
        The house across from Mr. Ito was rarely occupied, and even when it was, they never stayed long, besides,  the so-called family currently moving in seemed suspicious to her, father and daughter, for one, the "daughter" looked way-too-fucking-hot-to-be-fifteen and looked nothing like her father!
        Who where they? Were they spies, Dr. Pygmalion wannabe, witness protection? The girl did have an odd way of walking, but that might have been due to the luggage she was carrying.
"Who ever the fuck they are," the teen promised, "If they are up to something freaky, they've met their fucking match in me!"
        "BARBRA ANNE DOLLIS!"
        "Sheeeeit!" The teen jumped half-out of her skin at the sound of her mother, invoking the full-name wrath technique.
        "Language!"
        "Yes Mom." Barbra apologized as soon as her heart restarted; she hadn't even heard her mother come up the stairs much less open her door, 'Is Mom really a scientist?'
        "Come downstairs and set the table, dinner is ready" Barbra's Mother ordered-then added, "And don't forget to drop a quarter in the jar for each of those cuss words you know I heard coming up the stairs."
        "Yes Mom." Barbra's defeated reply came out as a near whisper.

        "Looking for these?" Alexa slapped the keys into her Father's hand.
        "Whu-where were they?"
        "In my purse," Alexa replied, "Where you asked me to keep them."
        "Thanks Sp-Hun." Corbin returned with a suitably embarrassed look on his face, and then finally opened the door to their new home.
        It was like stepping into an oven, Alexa was in the middle of the room when her dad finally found the light switch. The Room had plain white walls, and stained wooden floors, the most notable feature was the rock fireplace and the stairs up to a loft of some sort.
        "Kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms are upstairs we also have a finished basement" Corbin informed his daughter, "I'll see if I can get the AC working before…Go on up and pick out your room"
        "Yeah, thanks Dad" Alex answered as her father wandered off.

        The loft turned out to be the dining room with an attached kitchen, with the other wall being the common bathroom, the next door was the master-bedroom it was large, had its own private bathroom walk-in closet and balcony. The other three doors were two smaller bedrooms and a hall-closet, Alex decided on the bedroom furthest from the master-bedroom as her dad talked in his sleep.
        Like the front rooms the walls where a sterile white with wooden floors, Alexa set her backpack, purse and other bags near the closet
        'This is home now.' Alexa stood in the middle of her new room, her new closet door had a mirror on it, "And this is me now…forever."

        Corbin finally located the wall unit for the AC, turned out to be next to the upstairs common bathroom, and was soon rewarded with the sound of air flowing through the vents; still it would take a while for it to cool the entire house down.
        'Perhaps I should take Alex..Alexa, down to Berlin to look around?'  Corbin pondered, any further thoughts were forgotten as there was a loud crash from the only bedroom with a light on.
        Alexa was kneeling in the middle of the room, facing a door with a mirror, tears dripping down her eerily expressionless face.
        "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry…"
        The almost whispered mantra stabbed Corbin with feelings of guilt, he knelt down in front of his former son, and after fumbling for a bit hugged her tightly.
        Whatever resolve Alexa still had broke as she balled into her father's chest, Corbin said nothing, but just rocked his new daughter gently in his arms.