Kasim nodded. He was well aware.
"Genie is with me. I've dealt with far worse than this, young one..."
"Liar..."
Kasim and Jody smile at each other. Kasim jumps on the magic carpet and flies into the sky. Jody looks in awe.
"That is never not going to be cool..."
Mel starts talking over Jody's earpiece.
"Boys and their toys!"
"How we doing, Mel?"
"We're still looking for Lifeforce. Maybe just circle about a bit and I'll keep you updated".
Jody nods and speeds off around the city.
Laura and Mel sit in the Archive.
"Ok, I'm going to make my way down there too",
"You? Why?"
"I'm a conduit for the Veil. I need to be there!"
"There must be another way!
"I need to be there, Mel!"
"What if Lifeforce is there again?"
"That's the plan!"
"No, I mean, what if he's there and tries to trick you again?"
Laura scowls at Mel, then leaves. Mel goes on the comms.
"Jody, Laura's on her way to the scene".
"That's ok. She's needed",
Mel looks confused.
"And you're cool with this?"
"I have to be..."
Suddenly, the screen in the Archive beeps.
"Got him! He's on the intersection between Mandela Street and Henry Avenue!"
*****
Lifeforce walks around with his hood up. No one notices him. That is, until Speedfreak appears in front of him.
"You and I need to talk..."
Lifeforce smiles.
"I'm done talking..."
Lifeforce backhands Speedfreak who, to his surprise, goes flying. He goes through a department stores window and knocks over a number of mannequins. Lifeforce removes his hood as people start to scream and run away.
"WHILE YOU LOT HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND ME, I'VE ADAPTED. I'VE KILLED 12 MORE PEOPLE SINCE THE SHOPKEEPER. BUT NO ONE NOTICED!"
Lifeforce steps into the shattered window and grabs Speedfreak by the chest and rips off his mask, revealing Jody's face.
"And I'm hearing all kind of whispers..."
He throws Speedfreak back out into the street.
"...whispers like 'Oh, Speedfreak will save us! Speedfreak will defend us!' But you're nothing more than a child..."
Speedfreak tries to recover but Lifeforce runs to him and puts his foot on Jody's throat.
"...And I have no qualms ending your life, Jody Kent...maybe Roberta will be glad to see you..."
Jody struggles to free himself but can't. Moments before the end, Lifeforce is knocked to the floor by something flying past. Jody splutters as Lifeforce quickly recovers to find Kasim hovering above the ground on the carpet.
"Ah...your highness..."
"You're coming with me..."
Kasim flies towards him but Lifeforce turns purple and causes a mini explosion of some kind. Kasim and the carpet go flying. They land next to Jody. Kasim looks confused.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"
"He's killed 12 more people. I think he's reaching capacity..."
"Unlucky 13? Isn't that what you Westerners say?"
"I'm not a Westerner, remember?"
Kasim looks confused.
"I'm from the East of my world..."
Lifeforce staggers towards them.
"Ah...an all-star team up?"
Jody defiantly stands up.
"This isn't a comic book..."
"Oh but the ending will be..."
Lifeforce turns purple again and raises his hands to the sky. A storm starts to brew. Lifeforce is struck by lightning and another mini kind of explosion occurs. After it does, a portal starts to open. Kasim looks panicked.
"THE PORTAL TO THE VEIL!"
"Where are you, Laura!?"
Lifeforce turns around to Jody and Kasim once more.
"YOU'VE FAILED! I WILL CONSUME EVERY SOUL FROM THE VEIL AND THIS WORLD WILL QUAKE IN MY WAKE!"
Kasim stands up.
"AND THEN WHAT!?"
"I WILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL BEING THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN".
Jody chuckles.
"Is that what you think? If you think you're the most powerful being the world has ever known then you're sorely mistaken..."
Jody moves closer.
"I've only been doing this a couple of weeks but I've already faced someone more powerful than you. A man who's invincible. A man who can't be reasoned with, a man who isn't of this world I'm sure. And he doesn't really like competition. Hell, he even brought a plague of Leptils down on the world just to cause pain to one person...you really think you can beat someone like that?"
"I do..."
Jody chuckles.
"Then your arrogance will be your downfall..."
Lifeforce smiles evily.
"I will not fall. I WILL BE RULER OF THIS WORLD AND COMMAND ALL OF THE SOULS WITHIN IT!"
Lifeforce opens his arms like Jesus on the cross.
"MR INVINCIBLE IS GONE, SOON SO SHALL PRINCE KASIM AND THE SPEEDFREAK...MY CHILDREN, COME TO DADDY..."
Suddenly, Laura appears in front of the portal. They all look over. Lifeforce smiles.
"The Daddy's girl..."
"The only one of these clowns that can outsmart you!"
Lifeforce laughs.
"I somewhat doubt that..."
Laura outstretches her arms too.
"Let's see shall we? Jody, Kasim, get people away!"
Jody nods. They do so. Suddenly, a beam of light comes from the portal and streaks through Laura. She gasps in shock as it does. It then goes into Lifeforce. He smiles as the power streaks into him. Laura, still in shock, tries to concentrate but the pain is unbearable.
"Concentrate, Laura..."
She says to herself as the shock subsides and she remembers the job at hand. She closes her eyes.
"NOW!"
She starts to fade out of existence but ends up only have fading. Just enough so the Veil can stream through her. Another beam comes from Laura and streaks into Lifeforce. Only, he wasn't expecting this one. Lifeforce looks at Laura confused.
"What are you doing?"
Laura smiles weakly.
"Even the most ravenous of beats has a breaking point..."
Lifeforce looks around as a number of spirits gather around him. He looks terrified because they look very angry.
"Vengeful ghosts exist, Lifeforce, and...wow...they're pissed at you..."
Lifeforce crouches down. The beams stop. Laura falls to the floor. The spirits edge closer to Lifeforce who gets angry.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
Laura weakly looks.
"What's the matter? Don't like it when your food fights back?"
Jody and Kasim return and see what's going on. Kasim goes to join the spirits while Jody notices Laura.
"NO"
He speeds over to her. Kasim joins the spirits. Lifeforce looks at Kasim.
"SEND THEM AWAY! SEND THEM AWAY, PLEASE!"
Kasim smiles.
"I wanted to take you back to Babylonia and face Babylonian justice. But, given these guys are here, what the hell. I think they have their own plans for you...fellas,,,all yours. And may the Gods have mercy on your souls..."
The spirits lay into Lifeforce. Piercing through his skin and grabbing him. Lifeforce screams out in agony as he's lifted into the air by the collection of spirits. Jody stands up.
"KASIM...STOP THIS!"
"IT'S OUT OF MY CONTROL NOW..."
"THIS IS NOT WHAT WE AGREED"
"WE AGREED HE'D GET JUSTICE...HE IS...BY THE VEIL'S STANDARDS..."
"THIS IS NOT HOW WE DO THINGS. IT'S NOT HOW WE SHOULD DO THINGS. KASIM, PLEASE!"
Kasim struggles with his conscience for a moment. Eventually, he sees sense.
"STOP!"
The spirits stop and turn to Kasim.
"He will face justice on this plain. I promise you. Your brothers and sister will be avenged. But properly".
The spirits delegate for a moment before letting go of Lifeforce. Defeated, he slumps to the ground. Jody and Kasim run back over to Laura to comfort her. Kasim looks at the spirits.
"You don't have a lot of time...go..."
They do so. Jody comforts Laura.
"Hey, come on sis, you'll be fine!"
Laura smiles weakly.
"I wasn't expecting this..."
"You'll be FINE. Trust me..."
Laura looks at Jody.
"...I haven't trusted you for years..."
Jody looks shocked and upset.
"I'm tired of getting the blame for Dad..."
Laura looks at him with venom in her eyes and words.
"Then you should've tried harder!"
"He did..."
The pair look over and see their Earth Dad overlooking them. Jody looks shocked and terrified.
"He did everything he could, sweetie..."
"He let you die..."
"He ran as fast as he could".
"He wasn't fast enough"
"I pushed him away!"
Laura looks confused as Jody hangs his head in shame.
"Wh...why?"
"Because if Jody succeeded in his efforts, he'd be dead. Not me. And he was needed".
"I needed you..."
"You need your brother more. You're both from another world. I'm just the guy who adopted you..."
"You're my daddy..."
Laura coughs. She's getting weaker. Jody looks at the ghost.
"Do something, Dad!"
"I can't..."
"PLEASE! YOUR LAST WORDS TO ME WERE THAT YOU OWED ME! WELL I'M CALLING IN THAT FAVOUR!"
He stands there for a moment. Laura deteriorates quickly.
"Dad...please...I need her..."
He looks sad.
"She's from another world. Anything I do won't work..."
Jody stares at him.
"No..."
"Say goodbye to her, Jody...I'll take care of her..."
Jody looks back at Laura and kneels down once more.
"I don't care you don't trust me. I don't care you've hated me all this time. I don't care that you blame me for something I didn't do. I love you all the same. You've always been there with me. From the moment we left Eden to now. And I swear, on my life, that I will do my best to try and make you proud of me. If there's any capacity for that left..."
Laura puts her hand on his cheek.
"I love you too, Jody..."
******
Mel sits in the Archive waiting for news. As she does, she hears someone behind her.
"You're as beautiful as I imagined..."
She turns around to see the figure standing there. She bursts into tears.
"Mum..."
******
Warren sits at his desk at the police station waiting to co-ordinate the response to the events downtown. As he stands up he looks to the door and sees two figures, two women, smiling.
"Roberta...Magdalena..."
******
"I'm going to need a name..."
Laura chuckles as she gets weaker still.
"Well, we'll give you a fitting one...What was that name Mum used to call you when you phased out and pranked her?"
"She called me Ghost..."
"Seems appropriate..."
Laura chuckles.
"Ghost it is..."
They smile at each other for a moments. Before Laura's smile suddenly looks blank. Her face turns blank with eyes still open. Jody realises what's happened and just stares. Kasim puts his hand on Jody's shoulder.
"Don't cry because it ended, brother..."
They look back towards Jody's Earth Dad who's still standing there. Only, Laura's next to him.
"...be glad it happened..."
Earth Dad and Laura hold hands as the portal starts to close and they fade away.
"Goodbye, Jody..."
She smiles as they fade away. Jody continues to kneel next to her physical form. He struggles to process everything that's going on. First Roberta, now her. He stands up and just continues staring.
"Jody...I'm so sorry..."
Jody doesn't reply. He just continues staring...
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