Hell on Earth: Signum - Series 1: 101: Insurance - act 4
by Timan
. . . Heidi sat on her front doorstep. She had her chin on her knees and hugged her legs tightly. Across the road a maintenance van pulled up. Heidi looked at it curiously for a moment until a look of sheer panic crossed her face.

“Explosion,” she exclaimed, “The school . . . destroyed . . . all dead.”

Quickly she stood up. Heidi thought about heading back inside and getting Rebecca’s help but she knew that the councilor had been through enough. Anxiously she headed across the road and peered in the window. Inside Gilbert Stuart was working at his workbench surrounding him was various components raining form wires to fuses. In the corner she notices cans of flammable liquids. On the back wall was the schematic to the schools boiler room.

Heidi panicked. She had to do something but couldn’t think of what. Just then she heard the front door to the house open. Quickly she moved over to the van and stood in front of the door. Bruno Cole stepped out of the house and walked to his van. He stopped and stared curiously at the small girl blocking his path.

“Out of the way grily” he said in a gruff tone, “I need to get at my stuff.”

Heidi shook her head vigorously.

“I-I’m not going to let you hurt people.” she said shyly

Bruno gave Heidi a confused look.

“What the hell are you talking about? I just wanna get a plunger from the back of my van.”

“n-no you don’t you’re g-gonna blow up the school.”

Bruno’s eyes narrowed. He hadn’t told anybody about his plan so how does this small girl know? He walked up to Heidi and grabbed her roughly by the arm. Now Heidi was really panicking.

“I think it’s time for little girls to be quiet.”

Bruno dragged Heidi inside his house just as Nigel and Rebecca stepped out of Heidi’s with Heidi’s mother. They looked around the area for any sign of Heidi but there wasn’t any.

“She does this sometimes, “Jennifer said, “Heidi likes to go for walks on her own.”

Rebecca looked at Jennifer sympathetically.

“I’m going to what I can for her.” she replied

Jennifer smiled lightly.

“Thank you.”



Rebecca entered her office and sat down heavily on her chair. As she was running the events of the last two days through her head she heard a knocking coming from her door. Rebecca sighed and put her self in professional mode.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Alex stepped in happily. Rebecca’s face lit up.

“So is this the place where I get my head shrunk?” Alex asked

Rebecca jumped up from her seat and embraced her husband.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, “I though you were teaching today at Raleighfield U?”

“What? Can I visit my loving wife with out the third degree? I had a day off and I figured that I’d drop by and see the school.”

Rebecca smirked at him and kissed him lovingly.

“Oh, while I’m thinking about it, I found a couple of thing while going through the boxes you might like for your office.”

Alex reached into his bag and pulled out a small, grey, well loved teddy bear. Rebecca covered her mouth in shock

“Oh my god,” she exclaimed, “where did you find him?”

“Turns out old Mr. Stuffy here has been keeping Angel company for the last few years. He gave him to me before we left.”

Rebecca hugged the teddy bear lovingly as Alex pulled out the second item. He handed her a framed photo. Rebecca took it and examined the image. It was a photo of Her, Shona, and Penny taken during one of the events at Club Hellmouth. Rebecca went silent as she stared at the photo.

“I figured that, you know, if you’re working you’d like your team nearby,” he continued, “I put it in a frame for you.”

Rebecca looked up and smiled.

“This is perfect. Thank you so much sweetie.”

She kissed Alex a lot more passionately this time. Rebecca noticed Alex staring at Penny in the photo. Rebecca sighed she knew how close Penny and Alex were and how much he missed his sister.

“I’m sure she’s still out there somewhere,” Rebecca replied, “Remember we never found her body, and despite what everyone else said, I swear I saw somebody carry Penny away.”

“I know. I-I just miss her so much Beck.”

Rebecca frowned and hugged Alex reassuringly.

“So,” Alex replied trying to hold back the emotion, “do I get the grand tour?”


In the library Nigel was placing some books back on the shelf. Behind him Belle and Nolan watched.

“So did you find Heidi okay?” Belle asked

“Yes, actually, it turns out she went straight home after the incident with Mathew.” Nigel replied

“What’s her deal?” Nolan asked, “Why does she act all weird all the time?”

Nigel stopped stacking and turned to face the pair.

“As it turns out young Miss Marsh is a seer.”

“A what?”

“A seer, it’s a psychic with incredibly clear vision.”

“Why does she look nervous all the time?” Belle asked

“Remember last night when I told you that we are on a Hellmouth?”

“Yeah.”

“I have reason to believe that there is a second mystical force in this town that’s influencing it doubling, even tripling, its power as a result poor Heidi and others like her are affected by this energy.”

Belle and Nolan looked at each other.

“How’s it affecting Heidi?”

“The way her Mother explained it is, before they moved to Raleighfield, Heidi’s psychic ability was only beginning to manifest. Moving to this town caused it to accelerate uncontrollably leaving her essentially with out an off switch.”

Nigel sighed sympathetically.

“This poor girl has to witness the horrors of humanity twenty four hours a day,” he continued, “Personally; I’m surprised she’s still functioning. Heidi’s resolve must be outstanding.”

“Wow,” Nolan replied, “that sucks.”

Nigel looked at Nolan curiously.

“Has anybody told you that you have an eloquent way with words Mr. Galloway?”

Nolan thought about this.

“No,” he replied, “most people tell me to shut up.”

Just then the library door opened. Rebecca walked in with Alex trailing behind her.

“. . . and this is the library,” Rebecca said proudly.

Alex looked around the room.

“Nice,” he replied, “so this is where all the books are kept huh?”

“When they’re not being borrowed.”

Nigel, Belle and Nolan stepped out from the stacks.

“Who’s that?” Alex asked

“That’s Nigel Wincroft, he’s the librarian.” Rebecca replied

Alex went over to meet him but something caught his eye. It was the old leather bound book Nigel held under his right arm with only one word beveled into its front cover.

Vampyre

Alex Glared at Nigel as the watcher approached him happily.

“You must Rebecca’s husband,” Nigel said happily as he extended his hand, “I have heard . . . Well, nothing so far but I’m sure Rebecca will tell us fascinating stories later.”

Alex looked down at Nigel’s hand then looked at the watchers face. The seething anger in his eyes caused Nigel to retract his hand.

“You’re a watcher.” Alex growled

“Yes,” Nigel replied confused, “Sorry is there a problem? I though Rebecca would have told you.”

After that statement Alex’s attention was shifted to his Wife.

“Alex . . . “Rebecca started

Alex wasn’t willing to listen. He barged past her and out into the hall. Rebecca quickly followed suit.

“Alex Wait!” she called out as she chased her husband down the hall.

“It’s starting again isn’t it?” Alex said furiously, “The fighting.”

“You don’t understand . . .”

“You promised Rebecca. You said that after that fight in the desert you were done. Didn’t the last two years mean anything to you?”

Rebecca had had enough of chasing her husband down the hallway. She stopped and raised her hand. Suddenly Alex’s feet were stuck to the ground like glue. Rebecca walked up and faced him.

“You’re right Alex Nigel is a watcher,” Rebecca replied, “But he’s not mine. I haven’t broken my promise and I’m not planning to.”

Alex examined her face carefully.

“So you’re telling me there is nothing going on with you?”

Rebecca gave Alex an intense look.

“I swear to you there is nothing going on. Come on there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Rebecca released Alex then headed back to the library. A moment later Alex began to follow her. He knew perfectly well she was lying to him but decided to give her one last chance to admit that. They both re-entered the library and Rebecca guided Alex up to Belle.

“Alex, I’d like you to meet Belle Galloway The Slayer.”

“hey.” Belle said cheerfully

Alex looked at Belle in surprise. He then passed that surprised look onto Rebecca. Nigel cleared his throat

“I think I can answer your thinking,” Nigel said, “What we originally thought was, when the two original slayers died, is that the activation process was destroyed as it turns out the process was not gone it simply reverted back to what it was. The chosen one.”

“So we’re back down to one slayer again?” Alex asked

“Aside from your wife here that’s more or less correct, though, there has been talk that some of the Generation S slayers survived the battle but when they die no slayer is going to be called after them. It’s now up to belle to save the world”

“No pressure or anything.” Belle smirked



The school was silent later on that evening. Out the front the maintenance van pulled up. Bruno jumped out the front seat then opened the side door. Heidi sat inside bound and gagged. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. It took Bruno about half an hour to load all of his supplied down into the basement. This was made easier by the fact that the school didn’t change its locks after he was fired. Heidi watched fearfully as Bruno started to work on the boiler. He had tied her to one of the pipes nearby.

“Thirty fricken’ years I worked for this school, “Bruno explained as he worked, “Thirty years and son of a bitch principal fired me just because I saved them money.”

Bruno put down his wrench and faced the scared seer.

“D’you know what he said to me? He said I was cutting corners and kids were getting hurt, well, I told him that this was high school kids get hurt all the time and that maybe they should use the extra money I saved them for better nurses. Then he fired me just for that.”

Bruno leaned down and glared Heidi straight in the eyes.

“Let me tell you something girly,” he continued, “Bruno Cole doesn’t lie down and take it. I says if I can’t work in this school no one can.”

Bruno stood up he returned to the boiler. He finished attaching the last two wires to the boiler then adjusted one of the pressure valves. He tapped the pressure gauge.

“When this baby hits the red zone, which should be by about quarter past ten tomorrow morning, this whole building’s going sky high taking everyone with it . . .”

Bruno leaned back down and stroked Heidi’s cheek.

“That includes you and me sweetness.”



The next morning Rebecca entered the building only to run into Nigel. He had an extremely worried look on his face.

“What?” she asked

“You’d better come with me.” he replied

Nigel led Rebecca into the library where Mr. and Mrs. Marsh sat anxiously. When they saw Rebecca they stood up anxiously. Rebecca looked at Nigel nervously

“What’s going on?” she asked

“Heidi’s missing,” Jennifer said, “she didn’t come back last night after her walk. We were going to call her friends but we didn’t know who they were then I remembered that Heidi seemed to like you so I though we’d try you first.”

Rebecca looked at the parents seriously.

“Alright I’ll see what I can do.” Rebecca replied.

She pulled Nigel aside.

“You check things out here,” she said, “I’ll portal over to the Marsh’s see what I can find out.”

“Right.” Nigel replied

“Also when Belle arrives get her to look around the school. See if she can find out anything.”



At that moment Belle and Nolan were walking up to the school building. On their way up they looked at the strange van parked out the front curiously. Thinking nothing of it they wander into the building. When they both entered the library they found Nigel comforting two older people. Belle looked at the scene curiously

“Nigel?” she asked

Nigel looked up in relief

“Oh good you’re here,” he said.

Nigel moved away from the Marsh’s and sidled up to Belle.

“I want you to go around the school see if can find any involved in Heidi’s disappearance.”

“What makes you think she’s going to be here?”

“At the moment, we need to cover all bases. Just wander around see if you can find anything.”

Belle nodded and headed out the room.



In Heidi’s room a portal opened and Rebecca stepped out. As it sealed shut Rebecca started to walk around the room examining various things. On Heidi’s wall there were various drawings of different things. As it turned out Heidi was an accomplished sketch artist and she was able to draw thing in great detail. One drawing in particular caught her eye. Rebecca pulled it off the wall and looked at it closely. It was a drawing of a plaque of some kind, perfectly round and covered in symbols and hieroglyphs. It looked like this Plaque could be separated into three large pieces and one small piece that sat in the center. The more Rebecca looked at it the more it seemed familiar to her. Then suddenly she remembered where she had seen it.

~ The Trinity’s study – two years ago ~

The door leads to what looked like a study room of an extravagant mansion. The walls were filled with books and around the room were voluble objects, artifacts and pieces of artwork. This in no way looked like the home of all evil in fact it looked quite the opposite. It had a very warm and inviting feel about it. This worried Rebecca. She gripped the scythe cautiously ready for anything. Down the other end of the room there was a fireplace with a roaring fire. Above the mantle was a round plaque, Very detailed. It looked like it could separate into three pieces with a smaller circle in the centre.

“Fascinating piece isn’t it,” a voice said from the side of the room, “They say it was made over many years, of course, this is a replica. The original is housed in a very safe place.”

Rebecca turned in surprise. Standing in the corner of the room was a tall slender elderly man of about eighty years. His medium length silver hair was brushed back and styled to perfection. The old man turned and smiled a warm inviting smile.

“You must forgive my friend,” another voice said as he stepped out of the shadows, “he does tent to dribble on about the Signum a little too much.”


“The Signum.” Rebecca said to herself quietly

She folded up the drawing and placed it in her pocket. Looking around the room she sees other sketches of demons and vampires attacking humans. The more Rebecca looked at those drawing the more she felt sorry for Heidi. This is all the girl sees she probably doesn’t even dream anymore. Rebecca wandered out of her room into the lounge. on one of the shelves were all the awards Heidi had won before arriving at Raleighfield. After looking at each of them carefully she walked out to the front of the house. Rebecca stood there for a moment and tried to put herself in Heidi’s mindset.

This is a girl who sees death on a regular basis where would Rebecca go if she had the power Heidi had. Just then Rebecca noticed something across the road. Looking at it curiously she scampered across and picked it up. It was a back shoe. This looked like the exact type of shoes Heidi was wearing when they last saw her. Rebecca turned and looked at the house she was standing in front of.



Nigel handed Jennifer a cup of tea when his cell phone rang. Fumbling for it quickly he answered it.

“hello?”

“Nigel it’s me,” Rebecca replied from inside the house

“Rebecca, did you find anything useful.”

“You don’t know the half of it Nige,” Rebecca replied, “turns out, Heidi’s been predicting more then just what’s in front of her.”

“Is there anything that might point to where she is?”

“not at her house but I think I found her shoe at the house across the road. Looks like some kind of plumber or repairer lives here.”

“Plumber? Why would Heidi go there? . . unless she saw something.”

“That’s my thought,” Rebecca replied, “I’ll head back to the school we’ll work out our next move there.”

“Alright I’ll be waiting.”

Nigel hung up his cell and looked concerned. Next to him Nolan look at him confused.

“What was that about a plumber?” he asked

“What? oh, Rebecca thinks she might have found one of Heidi’s shoes out the front of the house of one.”

Nolan thought about this. then something occurred to him.

“Hey, wouldn’t you need like a van or something to do that kind of work?”

“I suppose so.”

“Kinda like the van that’s parked out the front.”

Nigel looked at Nolan in surprise. this just might be the break they were looking for.



Heidi sat panicked in the boiler room. Bruno was fast asleep in the makeshift hammock he made leaving her practically alone. Heidi struggled hard against her bonds but it was no use Bruno had tied her up to tightly. As she looked at the door a curious expression crossed her face. Heidi got a vision that might just help her. it was going to hurt badly but she needed to do it. psyching her self up her bent herself forward and slammed her head hard against the pipe. A large clang sound traveled up and out of the basement.

Just then Belle was walking slowly down the hall. Her searching hadn’t been going very well and the kids she talked to didn’t seem to care Heidi was missing. Just as she was about to give up and head back to the library she heard a loud banging sound coming from the wall next to her. curiously Belle stared at the wall just as a second bang rang out. Looking around the area she noticed the door leading to the basement was near by. Breaking the lock with her strength she wandered down. it didn’t take her long to find Heidi tied to one of the pipes.

“Heidi.” She said in relief.

Belle move in to untie her but as she was doing so she noticed Heidi indicating to the boiler. The slayer looked over and saw the bomb assembly.

“Oh god,” she exclaimed, “come on I’ll get you out of this.”

As Belle began to untie Heidi she couldn’t help but notice the panicked expression on her face about something over her shoulder. Belle turned just in time to see Bruno hit her over the head with the wrench. Belle slumped onto the floor and Bruno glared at Heidi.

“Someone’s been a bad girl,” he said angrily, “you know what I do to bad girls? I punish them . . .” he said as he moved in on the seer . . .



“Yeah I know this van.” Principal Simon Crawford said curiously, “It belongs to our old maintenance guy Bruno Cole. I fire him for cutting corners after his terrible work sent five students to the hospital.”

“Can you think of any reason why it would be parked here?” Rebecca, who arrived back a few minutes earlier, asked

“He did say something about getting his own back but none of us took him seriously.”

“Why?” Nigel asked

“Bruno used to say these things all the time but he never did anything about them.”

“Until now.” Rebecca commented

Principal Crawford looked at the both of them seriously.

“You don’t think he’s going to do something to the school do you?”

“There’s only one way of finding out,” Nigel replied, “What was his job exactly.”

“Bruno mainly worked in the basement to keep the boiler running.”

Nigel and Rebecca looked at each other. Rebecca turned and headed back into the school.

“You had better call the police.” Nigel said

“What’s Rebecca going to do?” Principal Crawford asked

“I think she’s going to Bruno a counseling session.”


~ a few minutes earlier ~


“Someone’s been a bad girl,” he said angrily, “you know what I do to bad girls? I punish them . . .” he said as he moved in on the seer

“hey!” belle called out

Bruno turned in shock to see Belle already on her feet. Belle smiled at the worker

“Next time try hitting less like a girl.”

Belle punched him across the jaw. Bruno spins around then fell to the ground unconscious. Not wasting a moment Belle quickly untied Heidi. Just then Rebecca stormed into the basement ready for a fight. to her surprise she found Bruno already out.

“Don’t worry I got him,” belle replied happily

“So I see.” Rebecca replied

“n-no time,” Heidi replied scared, “t-the boiler gonna blow in one minute.”

Rebecca and Belle looked at boiler, which was already straining under the pressure.

“There’s not time to get anybody out.” Belle exclaimed

Rebecca scrutinized the scene carefully. There was only one way to deal with it.

“You two go I’ll deal with this.” she said seriously

“Are you crazy,” Belle exclaimed, “That things about to go nuclear!”

“Just go!” Rebecca yelled

Not wanting to argue Belle helped Heidi out of the basement. Rebecca took a couple of deep breaths and raised both her hands. A force field manifested around the erupting boiler. Rebecca stood calmly and waited. A few seconds later the boiler exploded and Rebecca put as much energy into the field as she could to keep it stable. Once the pressure was completely released Rebecca stopped the spell and collapsed to the ground exhausted.


About half an hour later the group watched as the police lead Bruno away from the school.

“So do slayers have to do crazy things like this all the time?” Belle asked

“Believe it or not this is actually a good day.” Rebecca replied

Belle looked at her in shock.

“You mean it get’s worse?”

Rebecca shrugged.

“Depends on the demon.”

Belle slumped down on the bench.

“and I was just getting attached to being alive.” Belle replied miserably

“Don’t you worry Belle,” Nigel replied, “With the proper combat training and intense study I have no doubt you’ll be a great slayer.”

“Great, it get’s worse, more homework.”

Nigel smiled. he looked over at the Divine One.

“Are you still considering staying out of the slayer work?” he asked

“I told Alex I would,” Rebecca replied, “but I will help with Belle’s training.”

“How so?”

Rebecca looked at Nigel.

“Here’s the deal. you tech Belle the theory, I’ll teach her the combat.”

Nigel looked offended

“Are you suggesting that I don’t know how to teach my slayer to fight? I can assure you that I am fully trained in multiple fighting styles.” He replied

Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

“Really? Which volume of the council texts are you using?”

“Oh that is absurd to even think that . . .”

Rebecca gave Nigel a look.

“. . . volume three what’s your point?”

“My point is, Nigel, that maybe Belle would learn more from someone who has actual combat experience.”

Nigel rolled his eyes.

“Alright.”

Nolan smirked at how fast Nigel buckled. He looked around the area excited.

“You know I think we made a great team here.” He said

“What did you do?” belle asked

“I told them about the van.”

Belle rolled her eyes.

“Like they wouldn’t have found that anyway.”

Nolan glared at his sister.

“Oh yeah and how long did it take you find Heidi? Like, an hour?”

“It wasn’t that long!”

This also degenerated into a slap fight which caused Nigel to sigh. Rebecca smirked then looked over to where Heidi was standing with her parents.

“We have to help her Nigel.” Rebecca said quietly

“Agreed,” Nigel replied, “I know a few people in the council who have dealt with psychics before. I’ll get them to send some information. Speaking of the council I called them up this afternoon.”

“How did it go?” Rebecca asked

“They were surprised to hear you were in Raleighfield but their willing to help.”

“good.”

Nigel looked at Rebecca in concern. She seemed to be faring well with all that had been happening over the last few days.

“I’m sorry I had to tell them the reason you needed to find Willow.”

“That’s okay,” Rebecca replied, “The sooner we find Willow the better.”

Just then Rebecca remembers the drawing. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it.

“I’m going to need you to look up something for me,” Rebecca said seriously.

She hands Nigel the drawing and the watcher studies it curiously.

“This is one of the predictions Heidi drew,” Rebecca explained, “I think it’s called ‘The Signum.”

Nigel looked at Rebecca curiously.

“Are you sure of this?” he asked

“Nigel this thing was in the room that the Trinity lives in. If what you say about some other force affecting the Hellmouth in this town is true then I think this thing might be involved.”

Nigel studied the drawing closely.

“I’ll research this immediately.”

“Good,” Rebecca replied, “if this is thing can affect a Hellmouth then we’re all in danger.”


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