Malcolm Tent

A Rumble of Frost chapter 7

New York City, Midtown, February 12th 2001, 11:00 AM EDT

It  didn't take as long as I expected to get to Peter's house. I took the  Subway for the first time since moving to the city, and people gave me a  wide berth, probably because of my size. I wasn't complaining, and I  got on and off in record time, arriving at the station nearest to the  address Peter gave me and walking the rest of the way in quiet  contemplation.

When I got t...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 318

June 21st 2016 Mysterious Tower, 6:00 PM EDT

I  couldn't help it. I cracked up. Marluxia's face when his corridor  dropped him right in front of a slamming door was too good. Most of the  others seemed confused, but Zee had been close enough to notice him and  started snickering as well, while Drea rolled her eyes at our  immaturity, trying not to smirk and encourage out nonsense more. I  leaned against the wall, almost wheezing. "Oh gods."...

Greed God chapter 179

April 4th 2016 Brightedge City 1:00 PM EDT

I  admit, I thought the dragon thing would be enough to keep them from  going off on me, but apparently I was wrong. Not that it did them much  good. I barely had to try as I ducked under a bottle Bridger the rock  troll swung at my head. A pair of large arms wrapped around me from  behind, probably the Ogre I'd seen at one of the tables, but I just let a  bit of Primal Force leak into my upper bac...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 277

The next day we didn't end up going to some gambling den or fighting pit.  Instead, Abel brought us out to a corner of Doomtown where a large cavern  lake sat, and paid a guy in a small shack a few chits to rent us a boat.  As he was doing this, Wren, Vector, Sloane, the other Beast Lord  Initiates, Callie and I all stood off to one side looking confused. I  glanced over at Mel. "Is this...fishing? Is he taking us fishing?  Because honestly I didn't think he'd sc...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 317

June 21st 2016 Mysterious Tower, 5:00 PM EDT

I  considered carefully what I should do. I weighed my options, studied  all angles of the situation, and contemplated a plethora of clever  strategies designed to maximize our chances of escaping without  conflict. Then I decided to fuck all that noise and threw the biggest  dark ice thunder spell I could at scythe guy. I didn't have time for a  windup, but I could channel some serious power as ...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 276

I'd like to say I was surprised to see Wren. But after even a split  second of thinking, I'm kind of not. Weird coincidences are part and  parcel of being an Ascendant, at least in my experience. Whether it was  because I was guided to exciting things by my Fantasy stat or some kind  of grand recursive effect of all mortals idealizing the nonsense we go  through, I'd probably never know, but if something could go weird, it  would go weird.

Still, in terms o...

Greed God chapter 178

April 4th 2016 Brightedge City 12:00 PM EDT

I  was so excited to get out and wreak some havoc I headed down into the  tunnels under Brightedge without considering that they had drastically  changed from when they were below Gotham. Luckily for me, I found an  entrance pretty quickly. While the undercity had changed a bit, the  access points were still accessible from specific points, notably, very  low places and very old places.

It t...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 275

After we left the casino, Abel and Mel brought us deeper into  Doomtown. In the inner reaches of the city, the lights weren't quite as  red, bleached out by streetlamps glowing a blinding white. I noticed as  we walked that the place seemed much more relaxed here. Not completely  safe, but at the very least people seemed less likely to jump and kill  us. I was so surprised by the shift in atmosphere I had to bring it up.  "What's the deal with this place? It seem...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 316

June 21st 2016 Mysterious Tower, 4:00 PM EDT

When  we came through the portal it was into...nothing. Well, not really.  Empty air, more like. Nothing implied a howling abyss, and we'd been IN  one of those recently so I knew the difference. This was just empty sky,  albeit with a crazy train track made of hard light spiraling through  it. On the weird meter it didn't really register exactly, though the  fact that there were bright orange cl...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 274

Since we weren't the ones spinning the rainbow wheel, I wasn't too  worried about missing out. I doubted Mordaunt would allow them to screw  her over anyway, but this was clearly much more interesting. Macgregor  was clearly here to start trouble. To her credit, the Darkling Institute elite didn't seem too pressured by the big monk. She just shot him a  charming smile. "Macgregor, always good to see you. Were you looking for  me for some reason?"

The big monk (s...

Greed God chapter 177

April 4th 2016 Brightedge City 10:00 AM EDT

The  house didn't collapse while we slept, which was nice. I'd seen in the  appraisal it wouldn't but some small part of me was relieved anyway.  Repairing it would have been a bitch. I'd still upgrade the place, but I  had to find the right ingredients for it. There were so many options. I  woke up, dragged headed to my room to change, and left Amy to drag an  outfit out of her destroyed dresser....

Wish upon the Stars chapter 273

Sloane was understandably upset about losing, but we made sure to let  her know how well she'd done. "You were awesome." Callie stated with  finality. "Seriously. You were so fast. You just met the exact wrong  opponent. Solomon or I would have had a hard time beating you and you're  going to do great in the tournament." I wasn't really sure that was  true, but I decided not to get involved. She was trying to help Sloane  feel better more than anything.

"Th...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 315

June 21st 2016 Twilight Town, 3:00 PM EDT

The  fenrir keyblade looked awesome. Way cooler than mine. I wondered if I  could switch, but I felt bad even thinking it. I was pretty sure some  keyblade wielders did the swapping thing, but that wasn't how I worked.  Tartarus was made from my  bloodline, custom forged for me directly. I  didn't need a bunch of different keyblades. Just mine. It suited me. I  suspected the others would feel t...

Greed God chapter 176

April 4th 2016 Brightedge City 12:00 AM EDT

Amy  did not, in fact, start without me. When I entered her room she was  lying in bed, back facing me. I could tell from her breathing she was  awake, but she didn't turn over when I came in. I walked over to sit on  the bed. "So...I know I'm a bit later than expected." My wife didn't  turn over, lying in bed with her back to me, clearly sulking. I reached  down to rest my hand on her thigh, and ...

A Rumble of Frost chapter 6

New York City, Frost Safehouse, February 12th 2001, 10:00 AM EDT

I'd  expected Felicia to stick around after she dropped me at the safe  house, but she just passed me a clean phone she with her number on it  and told me she would call when she was free. She apparently wanted to  take advantage of the gap I made in Kingpin's organization to wreak some  havoc, and didn't have time to train me at the moment. She just asked  that I keep the pho...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 314

June 21st 2016 Twilight Town, 2:00 PM EDT

The  first thing I did after we got clear was head for Rana. We didn't have a  place to stash Namine at the moment, but I needed to reach my daughter  in case the other wielder had been attacked like she had. Luckily, when I  arrived (keeping track of your kids is easier when they're made from a  piece of your heart) she was still fine, and she and Taylor were trying  to convince some pop star looki...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 272

Sloane had already merged with her companions by the time she reached  the sand. They had somehow restored the arena to its original state,  sans big circle of rock, but I noted with interest that her feet seemed  to skim over the ground without imprinting too deeply. I wasn't sure if  it was some effect of the silver wings, or some kind of light step fox  ability, but it was an interesting detail to note.

I  turned to Mel briefly. "So." I asked. "Who exact...

Greed God chapter 175

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 11:00 PM EDT

As  much as I would have liked to go bang my wife into a sex coma, I was  unfortunately going to need to discuss this whole mess with some people  who could actually give me decent advice. Zee was at Shadowcrest. She'd  been splitting her time between here and her old place, but with Barbie  so wrapped up with Hildie and Emerald, and me busy with business and  Amy, she hadn't really had much reaso...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 271

When we got back to the waiting room, Wren was gone, but Abel, Mel,  and Sloane were there waiting. Sloane was particularly impressed,  cheering loudly when she was us. "That was FANTASTIC! That guy was a monster, his Might must be insane. I was afraid he'd kill one of you by  mistake, but you kept him off balance the whole time. He never even had a  chance!"

Abel rolled his eyes, holding up a hand.  "Alright, let's not take this too far. It was a decent fight, ...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 313

June 21st 2016 Twilight Town, 1:00 PM EDT

The  biggest surprise of unleashing the new and improved ghostly wail was  that the fucking mansion wasn't leveled. My outburst had been directed  and shaped by my intentions, as one might expect of demonic energy, and  the intentions of a god were WAY more effective than the intentions of a  run of the mill devil. To my absolute shock, the waves of unnatural  force imbued into my wail exploded outw...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 270

Avoiding Wren's wrecking ball charge didn't mean that we escaped it.  As he landed from what I now saw had been an incredibly long, low leap,  the impact sent sand geysering up into the air around him and shook the  ground beneath us, displacing our footing. Unfortunately for Wren, he  made the immense mistake of picking the wrong one of us to prioritize.  Or rather, picking the RIGHT one to prioritize, leaving the other open  to defend.

On landing his spea...

Greed God chapter 174

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 10:00 PM EDT

Amy  and I fought for hours. I'd gone into it pretty confident, and I had  done well enough. I learned fast because of the leftover enhancements  from the blood of Apophis which helped make up for the steep learning  curve. Still, it was far from a curb stomp. Amy was pretty much at the  peak of D rank. Since the Amethyst bloodline was considered the  strongest in Gemworld, that wasn't a shock, bu...

Wish Upon the Stars chapter 269

Owen was incredibly relieved to see us go. Sloane and the others were  disappointed to leave, but when they heard we were heading for an arena  they perked up. Arenas were pretty popular among Ascendants from what  I'd been able to find. We were all show offs who loved to make a scene  and being able to make flashy moves in an open space against a strong  enemy while potentially thousands of people watched was a popular pass  time.

I couldn't pretend to be ...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 312

June 21st 2016 Twilight Town, 12:00 PM EDT

Getting  everyone sorted out for pairs was annoying. The only real bright side  was the realization that 'every team needs a powerhouse' was pretty much  pointless in my current group. Every person with us was a scary  bastard. Still, I tried to stagger the teams so we had someone with a  meta ability covering the most human of us. Artemis was with Kit, Wally  was with John, Eddie went with Tommy. ...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 268

"Dear gods." I said through a mouthful of rice and cheese and sauce.  "These enchiladas are amazing. Like, top five of all time in terms of  sheer deliciousness. These are only H-rank?" I shoveled in another bite  happily, ignoring the blistering glare Owen was shooting all of us as we  scarfed down free enchiladas for almost twenty people. I was planning  to eat here every meal for the week we got these free. They weren't that  expensive honestly, it just kind o...

Greed God chapter 173

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 7:00 PM EDT

Checking  my pouch, I easily found the Iron Dragon Cestus I was planning to use  for my bump to D rank. My physical body was strong as hell for an E  ranker already, but the Vital Tempest bloodline leaned more towards  inner power and I wanted to try to balance that. The Cestus would  massively increase my physical abilities so my body could keep up with  my magic, and should evolve my bloodline to...

Sell you a Bridge chapter 311

June 21st 2016 Twilight Town, 10:00 AM EDT

My  head hurt. I'd learned so much about myself, about the reasons for  things happening to me. Granted, I had more questions still. But most of  them were basic shit like 'why me?' which I somehow doubted I'd ever  get answers for. The world was crazy, people got powers and had  destinies and shit, it was just how things happened. It would be like  Superman asking why his planet blew up.

The...

A Rumble of Frost chapter 5

New York City February 11th 2001, 10:00 PM EDT

I  ditched my mask and took a few walks around the neighborhood about  halfway to the warehouse to make sure I wasn't being followed, then I  headed inside, ready to count my haul. I just shoved the coat and mask  into the duffel with the gloves in a nearby alley that didn't have any  cameras and then slipped into another alley, following that back for a  few streets until I came out somewhere ...

Greed God chapter 172

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 6:00 PM EDT

I  was relieved to see that Donna and her protege weren't at the house yet  by the time we got back. We'd made the arrangements for them (not hard  to do in a house the size of mine) and gone by all the territories to  check up on our new subordinates, enjoying each other's company. Amy was  a blast, her aristocratic upbringing showing in rare moments of  tyrannical expectation that she wasn't even...

Wish upon the Stars chapter 267

The Raving Baby was pretty much exactly what you would expect a dive  bar to be. Low light, smoky air, pool table, old worn chairs and tables.  It looked like someone had written up a 'seedy dive bar' checklist and  gone down the list one item a time just to make sure it was as authentic  as possible. Abel was scanning the room, but rather than serious worry  or any sort of scan for danger his eyes were wide and excited. "It  hasn't changed a bit! And that smell!...