Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 13:06:14 -0700 Reply-To: Hank Wyckoff Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Hank Wyckoff Subject: (28B/30) Reading the Endtrails -- HL Posting This chapter has been split for posting reasons The Cycle of Axer Carrick, Part 4 Reading the Endtrails (28B/30) A continuation of: When the Veil is Lifted The Duplicity Frostmelt *************************************************** The 'shock troops', as Caine had called them earlier, barged into the office, only to find a decapitated man. The lay of his body and sword showed that he had somehow chopped off his own head, which had everyone scratching their heads. He had somehow performed an impossible feat -- nobody has the strength to chop off their own head. That's why they started to look for clues that someone else was here. One of them made a call over the walkie-talkie, "This one needs assembly..." [squawk] [murphle] "...cute! Really cute!" [pause] "The coroners on the list have a long backlog. We're going to have to borrow one." [pause] "Look for a Dr. Natalie Lambert. She's with Reece's crowd." *************************************************** Mulroney was pulling on Axer's arm like a little child tugging at his mother's arm. "Come on! They'll be here any minute." The ones who came that minute were Jay and Coleen, who ran up to them and almost scared Mulroney out of his wits, who demanded, "What are you doing here?!" "Getting rid of those who were about to come any minute. You should be thanking me, you know." Axer seemed to be quite pensive, his face nearly folded in thought, and spoke suddenly, "Everyone get out of here -- this place is going to blow!" "What?" demanded Mulroney, disbelief -- and fear? -- on his face. "What's the problem?" "Me," smiled Axer. "Now go!" "Are you out of your mind?!" screamed Mulroney, grabbing at Axer. "First you're talking to yourself, and now you want to blow the place up?" "I've never had a clearer mind," whispered Axer, firmly pulling Mulroney's hands off his jacket. "I understand what work is going on here, which is why this lab needs to be destroyed. I'm burning in hell before I see this work continue." Coleen looked uncertainly at Axer. His expression was calm, as he usually was in a non-crisis situation, but he also looked... unusually focused, almost like Mulder. She pulled at Jay and nearly dragged him out of the lab. Mulroney followed her after a moment of hesitation. Axer walked over to the power supply, and turned knobs at random. A few minutes later, an explosion so horrible it could have been made from ten bombs rocked the very ground, throwing everyone for a little ways. Lightning and electrical fires erupted, and the sounds of fire sirens were heard. Axer was the first one to raise his head from the ground, whispering "Let's move it!" He was the first to reach the fence, nearly sailing over it. Mulroney was next, but he didn't follow Axer. ***************************************** "Can you grab it?" yelled Methos from the top of the trap. He dangled a long rope from their climb down the hole. Richie tugged on it, and began to climb as Methos began to walk back. Within a moment, Richie was out. "Whew!" he wiped sweat off his face. "I thought I was going to die in there -- I found two skeletons next to me!" Methos nodded, "I imagine he's played that trick before. He thinks it's funny." "Did you know that guy?" "Not really. Forget him -- we have more important work to do..." he sighed deeply. "We have to go through the files and get whatever we can, and if this isn't the European Headquarters, we'll have to find out where it is. I have a hard time believing that a megalomaniac like Jesus shouldn't be doubted..." Richie nodded, "Then let's get moving. I'll start on the west side; you start on the east." ********************************************************* Mulder was ready to pull out his hair. No LaCroix... No Cancerman... No files... No answers... He looked at his watch -- 30 minutes since Reece arrived. //Nnnhgh!! I need to stop drinking coffee!// Nick had recovered and left so that he could get to shelter before sunrise -- and he had no idea where Janette was. Detective Caine had gone off on his own to check out something and had not returned yet. Scully was only now beginning to recover from her exhaustion. Detective Vetter was the only one who was at all helpful, and seemed to catch onto his way of doing things pretty quickly. They had methodically -- that is, by Mulder's method -- searched the whole ground floor, and were now ready to move one level up, where the offices were. Before they did, however, Caine stumbled his way in, rubbing the back of his head, "Damned Powys! I'll kill him!" That shocked Mulder. "You *know* Powys?" "Yeah! He was my partner back during that series of decapitation murders." A lot of things clicked for Mulder, but he kept silent about that. He would have time to dig into that at a later time. "Where is he?" "He's gone now -- he was hiding up in the beams," he nodded upwards, wincing in pain, "when I saw him, and I followed him out back. I tried to get some solid answers out of him, but he pulled a fast one." "That doesn't look like a punch," Mulder observed, peering a little at the odd-shaped bruise on his forehead. "It wasn't -- he threw *this* at me!" he produced a cat figurine. "I just got up a few moments ago. ...The last thing I remember him saying was, 'You wouldn't know the answer if it hit you on the head.' Some answer!" "Let me see that!" snapped Mulder, grabbing it and examining it closely. "Of course!" He started laughing, almost doubling over. "What is it? What does it mean?" Mulder managed to stop laughing, "Don't you know what this is?" "A cat?" "It's Schroedinger's cat! This is too good!" He fell over, laughing again, tears streaming down his face. Caine chalked it up to exhaustion. The guy was as wired as a chihuahua, and needed some sleep -- bad. He took back the cat. Maybe another someone he knew might be able to make sense out of it. ******************************************* Axer and company made it back to the Raven in one piece, and just in time, because the sun had begun to rise. Jay made a big show of riding off, but Axer looked out the window long enough to see him pull back in on the other side and hide in the bushes. "What a funny guy," he muttered. "A good thing it's not April the first yet..." Coleen left to handle her own affairs, and so Axer was left with Kate, who was sort of nudging him down the hallway. "Good idea," Axer muttered, "I need to crash." Kate pouted, but nodded after a moment. ******************************************* Richie found something. "Methos! Look at this!" Methos ran over from the adjoining room only to see an old book, perhaps a century old. It was a diary written in an old-fashioned cursive that was nearly illegible due to it's sloppiness. It was a Watcher's book. The Chronicles of Odin. Methos and Richie looked at one another. More books were found in the same area -- a whole series of Chronicles: Tyr, Heimdall, Baldur, Loki... A final one said, The Prophecies of Ragnarok. Richie looked questioningly at Methos, "If these guys are supposed to be gods, then why do the Watchers have chronicles for them?" Methos scratched his head, "It could be that the Watchers didn't know that they were gods. Perhaps they thought that they were immortals playing at gods -- or were just plain immortals. Or it could be that Powys lied to you all." "There's more! Here's one called Non Videt, Sed Video." "What?? Let me see that!" He leafed through it. "This is it!" "You can read that?" "Don't you know Latin?!" He took a step back, "Sorry. I forgot -- American education is substandard!" The sounds of guards could be heard. "Let's go!" whispered Richie. They quickly gathered the books and were off. They left just in time, because if they hadn't left, they'd be answering some pretty awkward questions. --------------------------------------------------------- Henry Wyckoff -- wyckoff@ag.arizona.edu Q: Want to know how to conserve bandwitdth? A: We all stay off the web and watch the servers shut down. =========================================================================