Chapter 3: Mission 1

Eric stood at the Gates as he waited for Heather to come out with the travel and food money they needed for the mission. The whole group was talking. Haley and Devon were talking about a TV show they both liked, How I Met Your Mother, and they were discussing when they would find out who Ted's wife was, and when Barney Stinson would actually not get laid. Amanda and Kira were having “Girl Talk,” that Eric frankly didn't want to listen to, so he talked to Cleric, who was sitting around. He didn't reveal anything about the mission, of course, but he was talking to him about enhancing his powers.

“Well, when you get back from your mission, I'll teach you how to use some cool wind abilities,” Cleric said

“Sounds like a plan,” Eric replied.

Just then, Heather returned with the money, about ten thousand dollars, and began to ready the transfer spell.

“Heather!” Cleric said.

“Yeah?” Heather replied.

“If you don't mind, make sure that whatever you are doing, you stay safe. You and the others of course,”

“Yeah,” Heather said, smiling at him.

Devon looked like he was about to explode. He seemed to have feelings for Heather, but didn't admit them. They jumped between Heaven and Earth, and immediately, Heather called a cab so that they could get to the airport.

“Okay, the cab is coming, please be good,” Heather said, almost like she was their babysitter.

A few minutes later, a yellow van pulled up, and the six young people got in. Heather was the oldest, at 17, and she told the cabbie to go to the airport.

“What's a bunch o' kids doin' goin' to a airport, anyway?”

“You don't need to ask, we have money,” Kira interpreted.

“Okay, what ever youse says,”
The cabbie pulled out and began driving. They were in the cab for about twenty minutes, and as they got out, Heather paid the cabbie, and they went into the airport. The airport was very crowded, mostly because of the New York air traffic, so the group had to work their way around a bunch of people just to get around.

“Hey, Heather, where are we going?” Eric asked as they pushed through the crowd.

“Poniatowski, Wisconsin,” She replied.

“Where?”

“The geographic center of the Northwestern Hemisphere,” Kira interpreted.

“So, the entrance to Hell is in Wisconsin?” Eric said.

“Yep,” Heather said, chuckling.

~*~

The group boarded the plane at about 11, and were place into a nearly empty first-class cabin. Eric had never been on a plane before, so this wasn't a bad first experience. Eric finally got to sit down after being molested by TSA guys, and Devon, Kira, and Amanda set off the metal detectors, so that nearly made them late for the flight. Eventually, they were allowed to pass when it was decided that none of them were walking time bombs. The in-flight movie was some movie that Eric never seen, The Quest for Fire, which was about a group of cavemen that were developing things and didn't say a word to each other. He kind of liked it, but would never admit it to anyone. He sat around, watched the movie, and talked to the others as they flew to Poniatowski, Wisconsin.

~*~

As the plane flew, Devon fell asleep, and his dream began to disturb him.

It started that he was in a room with nothing in it, and everything was completely black. Slowly, but surely, the light began to pour into the dark room, making things visible, and he saw that he wasn't alone. There was a person, about maybe twenty, standing in front of him. The person had black hair and glowing red eyes. His smile gave Devon the chills, and the man wore a long black coat.

“Well, good to see you could come, Devon,” the man said, smiling wider.

“How do you know my name?” Devon asked,

“I know a lot of things, including why you are on this flight. You should just give up now, you and your pathetic friends will never win,”

“And who might you be?”

“Well, if I told you, I wouldn't have half as much fun with my games,”

“What games?”

“The games that will kill you and your friends, of course. Why would I be playing a game that doesn't have death involved. Considering I’m only in your head, I can't die, so I like to play games with Guardians like you. I've appeared to, and killed many Guardians, and you're next, my young friend. I just need one more, and I can come back. You should feel important,” the man then chuckled and said, “You are going to be what spurs the end of the world.

“What?!”

“Yep, that's why I’m doing this, because I need to return,”

Devon stepped back because he realized who the man standing in front of him was. He was Pekaraean the Black, the horrible, original Lord of Hell.

“Y-you're Pekaraean the Black, aren't you?”

“Exactly,” Pekaraean said, “And you know too much now, good bye,”

And with that, the dream ended and sent Devon back to consciousness just as the stewardess was warning them to put on their seat belts because they were about to land. Devon buckled his seat belt and began to talk to Eric, and put his talk with Pekaraean in the back of his mind.

~*~

The plane landed in Madison, and the group stepped out and looked around the airfield as they walked out into the airport. Heather seemed to be looking for someone, and they were meandering along to keep up with her, and she walked with purpose until she saw what she was looking for. There was a man standing in a long black cloak, and he was standing with a white sign that had GUARDIANS written on it. The man smiled when he saw Heather and hugged her when she ran up to him.

“Hi dad!” Heather said.

“Dad?” everyone-except Kira - of course, said in unison.

“Yep! Everyone, this is my dad, one of the greatest Guardians who ever lived, Maxwell Williams,”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Williams,” Devon said.

“Nice to meet you all as well. Now, call me Maxwell. Micheal gave me my orders, to take you to the entrance, and then get ready to help you fight your way out. Do you all think that you can go in with four of you being Apprentices?”

“Yes. I've seen these guys fight, they're good,” Heather said.

“Well, I'd hope so, if Micheal is sending you on this hard a mission already. Now, who are these people?”

“Well,” Heather said, “The one that said hi was Devon, the guy next to him is his partner, Eric, the girl right there is Haley, and that is her partner, Amanda,”

“Well, nice to meet you all. Now, I'll introduce you to my partner,” He reached a hand out and called to someone behind him, and a woman appeared from behind him. She was built like Heather, small and slender, and she had the same kind of glasses Heather wore. She had a wide smile across her face when she saw Heather, “This, everyone, is my partner, Sophie Williams,”

“Hello,” Sophie said, smiling.

Devon looked at Heather and Sophie and said, “Holy crap! You two look exactly alike!”

“Well, she is my mother,” Heather said.

“Oh, yeah,” Devon said.

“I can already tell he's a bit of an idiot,” Maxwell said, “You sure he actually beat Cleric?”

“Yeah, Cleric has the scars to prove it,” Kira said, “Plus, Cleric isn't much of a liar,”

“Well, come on,” Maxwell said, “We'll take you back to my house and we'll spar and train a little bit,” And with that, Maxwell turned toward the airport parking lot. They loaded into a large Subaru minivan that could carry all of them, and Maxwell turned out of the parking lot of the airport.

“Well, do you guys live here, or did Cleric tell you guys we were coming and to meet us here?” Eric asked.

“We live here,” Maxwell said, putting his long dark hair out of his eyes, “We're the ones responsible for keeping the entrance to Hell from spilling more than the demons that come through the vortexes out. Other than that, we're just your normal Midwestern family,” He made a turn towards as small suburb where they lived. Heather looked relieved and happy to be home.

“Well, this is our humble home,” Maxwell said.

The house was a simple two-story house that probably had a basement, by the looks of the windows on the base of the house, and it was painted in a simple yellow that contrasted well with the green of the grass and the white of the picket fence. It looked like just a normal place that people could relax and still be about 161 miles from Hell. The porch was just a simple stone step with a novelty mat that said, “Nice butt.”

“It's not much, but it's home,” Maxwell said.

“Nice place,” Eric said, having never seen a house that belonged to only one person.

“Thank you,” Sophie said.

The group went into the home and got their rooms. Eric and Devon would be in the first guest room, which had two beds, Heather and Kira would be sharing Heather's room, and Haley and Amanda were to go to the last guest room. Eric walked into the room that he was staying in, and set his duffel bag on the end table. On one of the tables was a framed picture of several Guardians, Maxwell among them. One was a tall man with black hair, that Eric recognized as Argen, another was a girl who looked like Heather, most likely Sophie, another who had short cropped red hair and a plethora of freckles along his pale skin. Eric looked at the photo, just until Devon walked in and put his duffel bag on the bed and said, “Hey, Maxwell wants us to come and practice with him. He told me he'll help the girls later,”

“Okay,” Eric said, straightening up and meandering out the door.

They walked down a flight of plush carpeted stairs to the hallway where Maxwell was waiting for them. Eric walked behind Maxwell and Devon, who were just talking.

“You know, I know you have a thing for my daughter,” Maxwell said, grinning.

“What?! N-no I don't!”
“Yes you do, I can see it. The way you look at her, I can just tell,”

“W-well...” Devon stammered like a small child who had just gotten in trouble.

“Don't worry, I don't mind, just don't try anything funny,” Maxwell said in a jokingly threatening voice.

“Okay,” Devon said.

They then reached a door that seemed to just be set into the wall with no other room behind it. Maxwell grabbed the knob and opened it to reveal a stadium, larger than the training room at the Guardian headquarters, and stepped into the large room to begin the sparring.

“This is where I trained Heather,” Maxwell said proudly.

“you’re an idiot,” Eric said.

Sophie stood off to the side and came out when Maxwell called her name had her transform. Sophie changed into a scythe with a long handle that looked like it was rooted to the blade. On the other end, she had a sharp point that made her look extremely threatening.

“All right Devon, let's go,” Eric said.

Eric caught Devon without looking, feeling the familiar weight of Devon's hilt enter his hand. Eric then looked at Devon and said, “Unleash,”

Devon's form twisted and writhed until he was put into his unleashed form.

“Oh, it's that kind of game, huh?” Maxwell said, “Well, I can play along. Sophie, unleash,”

Sophie's shape changed much faster than Devon's, indicating that she has been doing this for a long time. Her blade grew to the length of about seven feet long, and her handle reached about ten. A gut hook formed on the bottom of her blade, and it turned from a solid silver to a jet black.

“Go!” Maxwell yelled.

Eric immediately dodged the first attack, which was a very fast slashing motion that very nearly hit. Eric gave Devon the order, and Devon's blade extended to hit Maxwell, but Maxwell turned and neatly blocked the attack. Eric thought and knew that in speed and reach, they were about evenly matched, so this battle was one of strength. Eric dodged another attack from the large scythe, and then lashed out. Maxwell was open from the direct center, so Eric took that route, jumped and managed a connection with Maxwell's leg, which then left Eric open to attack from behind. Maxwell then hit Eric with a good swing of his scythe, successfully knocking Eric back. Eric willed the wind to move, and used it to throw a charging Maxwell away from him. Eric got up reluctantly, and began his assault on Maxwell. Eric sprinted at Maxwell, who was just getting up from being blown away, and jumped. He entered an impressive frontflip and told Devon to extend, which allowed him to hit Maxwell directly before he could get up. Eric stepped back and admired his victory. Sophie changed back to her human form and started using healing magic on Maxwell, and Devon changed back and gave Eric a high-five.