Modern Age Online

“So you’ve traded in your pickaxe for a vial of demon ooze?”

“I wouldn’t quite put it like that. But essentially, yes.”

“What’s it do?”

“How the hell should I know? Why do you think I turned it over to security so fast?”

Kaleb voluntarily forgot about his chemistry skill as he peered through the reinforced glass. He could feel both Jar-lock and Vivienne giving him subtle looks, but he ignored them. Meanwhile, on the other side of the glass, witches and wizards wearing protective charms studied the small black vial. Campus security had immediately passed the vial off to the campus staff for study. Thanks to Avi and Igraine, Kaleb and the others were allowed to watch the inspection. But it was going slowly.

“There was no trace of Malcolm on the grounds, apparently.” Jar-lock muttered. “They suspect he opened a portal and ran.”

“Can’t they trace that type of thing?” Vivienne asked. “Our orientation had an hour-long part where they just talked about porting on the school grounds. There has to be something in place.”

Jar-lock shrugged. “Malcolm either circumvented it or they haven’t traced him yet. Either way, we aren’t being told shit anymore. Igraine told me that the school board has contacted the police. I don’t think we want to be here when they arrive.”

“Oh, she told you that, huh? Igraine.”

Kaleb interrupted the couple as he asked. “Can’t we help the police? We aren’t unregistered, and this is a case we are working on.”

“Not our jurisdiction. Even if the Demon Gang are part of our territory. The city has hard rules on this and Supers are held to them strictly. We can stay, but be prepared to answer a dozen or so questions by an HLO sponsored Supe.”

Kaleb winced as he thought about it. Beyond the window, a mage waved a brightly colored wand over the dark vial. The vial stayed inert, and the mages looked annoyed before trying something else. Kaleb nodded at the window.

“I want my vial back, if that’s the case. It’s our lead.”

“Prof, didn’t you just hear me? The police are coming, that means the HLO is coming. Which means we are off the case. So it’s now their evidence.” Jar-lock sighed as he put a hand on Kaleb’s shoulder.

Kaleb nodded a few times, still watching the wizards and witches cast spells. With a heavy sigh, he spun on his heel and made for the door into the room. He heard Jar-lock hiss a warning at him, but Kaleb ignored it as he took a few quick breaths and ran into the room.

“The police are here! They want the evidence!”

The mages scattered away from the table in surprise before one of them registered what he said. The bird-like alien woman huffed angrily.

“But we haven’t finished examining the artifact yet? It’s demonic in nature, but we don’t know what else it contains.”

Kaleb merely shrugged helplessly as he moved toward the vial. Another wizard around the table sighed loudly as he tried to calm down the bird woman.

“Relax, Zsa. It’s just a vial of demon blood. Our preliminary findings show no other spells or tricks on the vial. So he can take it.”

Kaleb’s fingers were already wrapped around the vial when another woman asked.

“Aren’t you the one who found it?”

Kaleb nodded as he quickly pocketed the vial and gave a fake groan. “Ugh! Don’t remind me. Because of that, I have to spend the next couple of hours downtown answering some Supe’s questions.”

The entire room nodded at him, understandably, and Kaleb hurried to the door. Almost to the exit, he turned and asked. “Oh, are there any rules I should hand off to the police about handling the… specimen?”

The bird-woman, Zsa, was giving him an ugly look, but the others all shook their heads. Kaleb nodded good-naturedly and stepped from the room. Right into a dirty look from Jar-lock. Kaleb ignored him and sped-walked toward the end of the hall. The door to the outside was just a few yards away. He clutched the vial in his pocket and grinned to himself, doubling his speed.

“I can’t believe you did that.” Jar-lock hissed quietly at him.

Kaleb merely shrugged as Vivienne joined them as they rushed down the hall. She waved a hand at her before. “Oh please, this is fun. This way we can stay attached to the case and keeping working on it.”

“What about when the cops come to the Hangar? We are still impeding an investigation,” Jar-lock said quietly.

“Yeah, but we’ll be in our jurisdiction.” Kaleb argued as he slammed into the exit door and stepped outside.

“I’ll bet they have rules about evidence found in someone else’s jurisdiction!”

“Fine. We’ll bring it back after I study it for a bit.”

Jar-locked rubbed his eyes as they moved through the campus grounds toward the parking lot. “The mages already studied it. What do you think you’re going to find?”

“I don’t know. But I know this isn’t just some vial of demon blood. It had a damn face in it! Just give me a couple of hours, Jar-lock and if I don’t find anything. I’ll hand it over. No harm, no foul.”

“No harm, no foul doesn’t work with the cops!”

Kaleb snorted as he jumped into the backseat of their car. “Details.”

Vivienne and Jar-lock were slower to get in, and in that time Kaleb pulled the vial and stared into its inky blackness. But the roiling and bubbling liquid from before was replaced with a calm, stagnant sea of black. Kaleb shook the vial in his hand before looking at it again. Nothing.

The demonic face didn’t appear, and Kaleb didn’t sense anything ominous about the vial anymore. He growled under his breath as Jar-lock started the car. They were off and on their way before a single cop car was anywhere on campus. Kaleb sighed as he thought about how he was going to study the liquid. His workshop was more of a crafting station than a research one. He needed a quiet place to work where he could examine the demon's blood.

“We can’t go back to the Hangar yet,” Kaleb said as he racked his brain for an answer.

“Why not?” Vivienne asked.

“Don’t want to incriminate the others?” Jar-lock sniped.

Kaleb waved a hand. “What? No. I just mean I don’t have the equipment to study this at the hangar. I need specialized equipment and a protected room.”

“What kind of equipment?”

“Why a protected room?”

Jar-lock and Vivienne spoke over each other, then smiled at each other. Kaleb raised the vial again as he explained. “Something to analyze the make-up of this blood. I have the handheld MassSpec at home. But I don’t want to risk it in case this demon blood does something to it. And I need a protected room in case the demon in here gets out.”

“Professor, there is no demon in there. The mages already cleared it. You’re being paranoid.”

“No, I’m being prudent. I don’t want to risk our equipment and people in case this shit goes sideways. Now help me think!”

Vivienne tapped her fingers on the dashboard as she thought. Kaleb stared into the vial, willing something to happen as Jar-lock kept his eyes on the road. After fifteen minutes of driving around, Vivienne slapped the dashboard and pointed out the window.

“The College!”

Kaleb grimaced as he shifted down the backseat to look out the window. “I don’t think we want to go to another magic school.”

Jar-lock shook his head as he looked at where Vivienne was pointing. “No. I think she means the actual Mundane college for the NPCs.”

“Exactly. It has to have some of what you need, right, Professor? I mean, it’s a community college, so it’s probably not state-of-the art. But you can make do with what you get, right?”

Kaleb grinned as Jar-lock turned in the building’s parking lot. “Yeah, that might just work. But we have to make sure they have a good enough safe room.”

Kaleb saw Jar-lock roll his eyes in the rear-view mirror. “I’m telling you, Doc. There’s no demon in th-”

Jar-lock was interrupted by an ungodly howl coming from Kaleb’s hand

“RELEASE ME!”

Kaleb glanced down at his hand, but was suddenly yanked forward as the vial pulled him. He hit the middle console of the car as Jar-lock and Vivienne yelped in surprise. The vial of black blood was roiling again. Its surface was full of black bubbles as the liquid inside jammed itself against the vial’s surface. Kaleb wanted to scream in triumph, but controlling the lurching vial was proving difficult. Once he yanked it back to his chest and got both hands on it, things became easier.

“Ha! Told you!” Kaleb screamed as he tried to use both hands to jam the vial into his pocket.

Jar-lock sighed heavily in the front seat as he turned the car off. “Okay then. Apparently, demons now come in liquid form. That’s only mildly terrifying.”

“But still fun!” Vivienne exclaimed as she watched Kaleb wrestle with himself.

Kaleb gave up containing the vial as it thrashed about. Maintaining a grip on it, he opened the back car door and staggered out of the car. The others joined him and all three walked across the almost empty parking lot toward the short squat building. People on the street gave Kaleb odd looks as his hand jerked around wildly.

They climbed the short steps to the main door of the College. Austin Community was written in block letters on the door. Kaleb stumbled after the others as they hurried inside, his hand gesticulating wildly. The people in the main foray gave him a wide berth as they moved, and Kaleb followed Jar-lock and Vivienne to the main counter.

A bored-looking human woman sighed as they got close. Not bothering to look up, she thrust a pile of paperwork at them.

“Fill this out and take a seat. General admittance is over, but we may be able to fit you into some classes.”

Kaleb opened his mouth to say something. But the vial chose that moment to fling itself around in his hand. Kaleb used his metal arm to control himself as Jar-lock sighed and explained.

“No. My friend here would like to use your chemistry lab.”

The woman looked up, frizzy blonde hair shaking as her head bobbed. She took in the three of them, eyes settling on Kaleb’s wild movements. With a snort, she pointed out the door.

“Pfft! The free clinic is down the road. This is a college.”

“Yes!” Kaleb shouted as his hand tried to punch him. “That’s why! I need your lab!” He wrenched control of his wrist and tried to hold it in place as he continued. “I have a specimen that needs study.”

“It looks more like you have a parasite that needs curing.” The receptionist said with a pitying sneer on her face. “But that doesn’t matter. We don’t rent out our labs to walk-ins.”

“Please!” Kaleb said as his hand slammed him into the receptionist’s desk.

The worker didn’t even bat an eye as her hand reached under her desk. Kaleb was about to make a break for it when she stopped. The woman’s pale face grew thoughtful, which quickly morphed into an evil look. Kaleb fought the shiver in his spine as he got his hand under control again.

“You know, we are a few teachers short this year.”

“Yeah…” Kaleb said uneasily.

“And you’re from the scientist caste of Basilinoids, correct?”

Kaleb nodded slowly.

“Then we may be able to come to an arrangement. You’d just have to teach a few classes. Fill a few holes in our curriculum.”

“Such as?”

“Well,” The receptionist stood from her chair and smiled. “How are you at chemistry?”