Hell on Earth: Signum - Series 1: 107: Id – Act 1
by Timan
Nigel examined the Signum Key closely. He scribbled down some notes as he hovered his magnifying glass over the surface of the stone disk. Nigel looked up sharply when he heard the library door close. He smiled softly as he saw Heidi hovering around the front desk.
“Heidi.” He said as he leaned back from his research.
“T-that it?” Heidi asked
“Indeed,” Nigel replied, “This is the famous Signum Key.”
Tentatively Heidi walked over. She sat on the table next to the disk and looked at the artifact curiously. Heidi ran her hand across the surface. Nigel stopped his work and looked at her.
“I must say Heidi I was extremely impressed with the effort you put into getting the key here.”
Heidi shrugged.
“I j-just knew I had to do it,” she replied, “W-what are we gonna do with this thing now?”
“Well, the way I see it there are two options. One, we store it indefinitely within the council sanctum or, two, we destroy it rendering the Signum useless.”
Heidi felt the energy crackling of the key. It travel up her arm giving off a tingling sensation. Heidi flinched slightly as she felt a strange sensation inside her head. She looked up to Nigel.
“I think we should d-destroy it.” Heidi replied
“I had the exact same idea. That’s why I’m studying the disk now. There has to be some kind of weakness or flaw that we could exploit to . . .”
Heidi winched. She started to rub her head as a pained expression crossed her face. This didn’t go unnoticed by the watcher.
“ . . . are you alright?”
Suddenly Heidi grabbed her head. Nigel rushed around as Heidi began to scream in pain. He lightly took her by the shoulder.
“Tell me what’s happening Heidi?” Nigel continued in a serious tone
“My head!” Heidi exclaimed, “It hurts!”
A coupled of seconds later Heidi eyes rolled back into her head as she began to convulse. Thinking quickly Nigel slipped of his jacket and placed it under Heidi’s head as he laid her down on the desk. He watched helplessly as the young girl shook violently. Then as quickly as it started the shaking stopped. Heidi’s head rolled over to the side as she passed out.
“Oh my lord!” Nigel said as he check her for a pulse.
Fortunately she had one and it was strong. Nigel looked over to the Signum Key seriously. It was obvious that the key was responsible he just hopped it wasn’t permanent.
~ Rebecca Whitfield’s office, Raleighfield High School, Raleighfield California – 20 minutes later ~
Rebecca rubbed the temple of her nose. Across from her sat a surly looking girl with long black hair with a neon red streak. She was wearing a long black coat, a T-shirt with the band name ‘Fallen from grace’ written on it, a black skirt, fishnet stocking, and heavy leather boots. Rebecca sighed and looked at her.
“How many times have you been sent to my office Skyler?” Rebecca asked
Skyler glared at her.
“Who cares?” She replied
“This is what I’m talking about,” Rebecca replied, “That attitude is gonna get you into hot water some day and you’re not going to have anybody to pull you out.”
Skyler didn’t reply. She just sat there playing with her coat. Rebecca studied her closely trying to find something to use to communicate with this girl.
“Why wont you let me help you?”
“Cause you’re only paid to care!”
“That’s not true.”
“Yeah right,” Skyler replied rolling her eyes, “You’re all the same.”
That’s when Rebecca found her in. she looked at the struggling girl sympathetically.
“Whose pretending with you? Is it your father?”
Rebecca noticed Skyler flinch. Just then the school bell rang. Skyler stood up and picked up her bag.
“I think we should make another time.” Rebecca continued
“I think you should go to hell!.” Skyler snapped
“Look, we’re beginning to make progress here, I don’t think we should . . .”
“Whatever I don’t care.”
Rebecca sighed. She looked back up at the angry teen.
“Just stay away from Ken and Oz okay? they’re a bad influence.”
Skyler ignored her and walked out of the room. Rebecca was about to get back to her work when she noticed paramedics tending to a student on a stretcher. Curious she left her office to investigate. When she moved in next to the stretcher she noticed the student was Heidi. One of the paramedics approached.
“Stand back please ma’am.” He said officially
“What happened?” Rebecca asked
“She passed out while studying in the library.” Principal Crawford commented
Rebecca moved over next to him. He had a look of concern in his eyes that he’s worn ever since she’s arrived in the school. Part of Rebecca figured that Simon knew what was really going on in the school and was afraid to say anything.
“Do we know why?”
“Nigel, you know the librarian, he said she passed out while studying. The paramedics think she was pushing herself to hard.”
Rebecca nodded thoughtfully. She excused herself and headed straight to the library. When Rebecca arrived the library was full of students. Nigel was at the checkout counter. He looked up as Rebecca gestured to meet her in his office. Nigel moved away from the desk quickly and closed the door behind him. Rebecca turned to Nigel.
“Do we know why Heidi passed out?” Rebecca asked
“I’m not positive yet but I am looking into it,” Nigel replied, “The only thing that’s certain is, whatever happened, it occurred when she touched the Signum Key.”
Rebecca folded her arms and stared at him curiously.
“You have the key in the school?”
“I’m trying to find a way to destroy it.”
Rebecca pondered over this.
“We’ve all touched the key before and nothing has changed why would Heidi touching it cause a problem?”
“There’s a lot about Heidi’s abilities we don’t know,” Nigel replied, “I’ll look into it further.”
“Hurry,” Rebecca replied, “if the key has the power to incapacitate I want to know the full effects.”
Nolan closed the door to his locker. As he organized his books Nolan noticed Angie walking down the hallway talking to some of her friends.
“Hey Ang,” he said awkwardly.
Angie looked around to see who called out her name. When she noticed it was Nolan she increased her pace. Nolan frowned as Belle walked up behind him.
“Wow that’s cold.” She commented
Nolan began to hurry himself.
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t like talking to me around her friends.”
“So everybody in the school likes her then?”
Nolan glares at his sister before he returned to organizing. Belle smirked at him for a moment before she wore her serious face.
“Hey, did you hear the news?”
“No.”
“Heidi went to hospital.”
Nolan slung his bag over his shoulder and looked at his sister in surprise.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. She, like, passed out or something.”
“What happened?”
“No idea,” Belle replied, “Hope it’s not bad.”
“I’m sure she’s gonna be okay. I mean it’s not like she didn’t see it coming.”
~ Franklin memorial hospital, Raleighfield California – a few hours later~
Heidi lay motionless in the bed. Hovering over the top of her Dr. McKay examined her. The cause of her sudden comatose state was mysterious and not a simple case of exhaustion. A nurse entered the room and handed Heidi’s CAT scan results to him and he scrutinized them closely. For some reason her brain activity had become erratic and there was no obvious cause why . . .
. . .Heidi! . . .
. . . Heidi’s eyes snapped open. She looked around the room wildly. Heidi tried to sit but she had incredible difficulty. It felt like she was hit by a freight train. Dr. McKay noticed this and moved over to her.
“Easy Heidi don’t try and move too quickly.” He said in a soothing tone.
“Where am i?” she asked
“You’re at the hospital,” the doctor replied, “can you tell me what happened?”
Heidi had a clear image in her head about the Signum Key but nothing after that and there was something else. Something missing.
“No.”
“Alright if anything comes back to you call me okay?”
Heidi nodded. Something was definitely different she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
Rebecca entered her office. To her surprise she found Nolan waiting for her.
“Nolan,” She asked curiously, “something I can help you with?”
“How’s Heidi?”
Rebecca sat behind her desk and calmly interlaced her fingers.
“Doctors haven’t called yet. Hopefully we should find out before the end of school today.”
“Belle was thinking of seeing her later on.”
“She’d like that.”
There was a pause for a moment. Rebecca sensed something.
“Anything else?”
Nolan thought about this.
“Nope. Not that I can think of.”
Rebecca smiled at him.
“So you’re not thinking about Angie?”
Nolan gave The Divine One a surprise look.
“How do you do that?”
“It’s a talent,” Rebecca replied, “So what’s on your mind?”
Nolan sighed and leaned in.
“Okay,” he said trying to find his words, “I really like her but she doesn’t want to talk to me.”
"Do you know why?"
Nolan shifted awkwardly
"Things might have been said." he commented
“Okay," Rebecca replied, "What is it about her that you like?”
“Well, she funny and cute and really smart.”
Rebecca nodded.
“good reasons but let me ask you a question Nolan. Do you like her for the reasons you said or because you saw her naked?”
“No, no it’s because she’s funny and smart and . . .” Nolan replied defensively
Rebecca gave him a look. Nolan rolled his eyes.
“ . . . Okay she's got a great bod what’s your point?”
“My point is that’s exactly what Angie is wondering.”
“What do I do?”
“A simple gesture would be a good start. Something that says I’m thinking of you for who you are not what you have.”
Nolan considered this.
“Simple gesture huh? I try that.”
“You’re a good guy Nolan you’ll do fine.”
Nolan smiled at her.
“Hey, not all of us are Alex’s”
~ Raleighfield University, Raleighfield California ~
Alex walked down the hallway leading to his office. he was walking past his office when he was accosted by his teacher’s aide Clare.
“What happened to you the other day? you just disappeared,” the young woman asked, “I thought we were gonna work on the lesson plan.”
“Oh, that,” Alex replied awkwardly, “Sorry I got a little . . . tied up. We have time now though we should be able to get it done before class.”
“Not today, remember, we got the mayor coming to open the new department and the Dean nominated you to give the tour.”
Alex scratched him head in frustration.
“Damn it,” he replied, “Alright we’ll make this quick. Where is he?”
“His PA is waiting in your office. She has a few things she needs to go through first.”
Alex sighed as they headed back to his office. When he entered he noticed the slender Woman standing by his desk . She was about 5 foot 7 with long strawberry blond hair. She was wearing a form fitting grey suit with a white blouse. She turned and looked Alex with her aqua blue eyes. The woman looked at the scientist in surprise.
“Alex?” she asked “Alex Whitfield?”
Alex folded his arms and smiled at her smugly.
“My god, Sasha Morgan.” He replied
Sasha smiled warmly at him.
“I haven’t seen you since . . .”
“ . . . since you dumped me back in college.” Alex replied
Sasha smiled lightly.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t remember that,” she commented, “We should catch up what are you doing later?”
Alex ran his schedule through his mind.
“Well, I got a class to teach in about an hour but I’m free after.”
Again Sasha looked at Axel in shock.
“Oh my god,” she said playfully, “I wouldn’t have believed it until you said it.”
Clare was confused.
“What?” she asked
“Alex here,” Sasha replied not taking her eyes of Alex, “He became the enemy.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Back at UCLA Alex swore to me he would never become a lecturer. He considered it selling out and a waste of knowledge.”
Alex laughed and rolled his eyes and laughed.
“Things change Sasha.”
“So I’ve noticed,” she replied, “Anyway the mayors waiting for us.”
“Right,” Alex replied as he turned his attention to Clare, “I’ll be back ASAP.”
“Have fun.” Care replied smirking
Alex lead Sasha out of the office. He looked at the dazzling smile she gave him. This was one the things about her that attracted him in the first place. And he was beginning to remember why he fell in love with her
Heidi sat up in her bed. She couldn’t shake the feeling she had that something wasn’t right about her. It was an elusive feeling but it was definitely there.
. . . Heidi! . . .
Heidi looked around the room. everything had an ethereal blue tint to it giving it a surreal quality to it.
. . . Heidi! . . .
At the end of the room stood a woman. She look like she was in her early twenties with waist length pitch back hair. Her skin was pale and harsh. She was wearing a floor length flowing black dress that reacted to a non existing wind. The woman scowled at Heidi with her dark cold eyes.
“Heidi.” A voice called out
Suddenly reality snapped violently into place. Heidi looked around in shock until she realized that the voice that called her back belonged to Belle.
“Oh, hi.” Heidi said in shock.
“Hey,” Belle replied with a smile, “feeling better?”
“Yeah.” Heidi replied unconvincingly
Belle looked at her curiously
“You sure?”
Heidi looked over to her and nodded.
“I’m fine, just a little stunned, I-I didn’t know you were coming.”
Belle laughed at her.
“Yeah, right. You didn’t see me coming.”
Then suddenly the missing piece fell into place. Heidi finally realized what the problem was. A look of disbelief crossed her face.
“N-No I’m serious,” Heidi replied shocked, “I-I didn’t know you were coming.”
Belle stared at Heidi curiously. Slowly Heidi began to smile. She looked over at Belle excited.
“It’s gone,” Heidi continued, “I-I can’t see the future anymore.”
Belle became very concerned. Even though Heidi seemed ecstatic something wasn’t right about all of this.
Heidi was discharged a couple of hours later after a final check out from the doctors cleared her. after collecting her things she returned to school. Belle noticed a change in Heidi’s attitude and demeanor. Ever since she found out that her seer ability is gone Heidi had slowly come out of her shell and become a lot more confident. Still the mystery around why Heidi fell unconscious in the first place still needed to be answered.
“Gone?” Rebecca asked as she and Nigel sat in the library
“That’s what she said.” Belle replied
Rebecca looked over to Nigel who was looking very pensive.
“What do you think?” she asked
“Strange,” Nigel commented, “From what I know about the Signum it enhances abilities it doesn’t suppress them.”
“So what does that mean for Heidi?”
“I don’t know. This doesn’t fit the regular pattern.”
“Well what ever it is I think It helped,” Belle replied, “I haven’t seen Heidi this happy, well, ever.”
“Regardless of that I think we need to talk to her after class.” Rebecca replied
Heidi sat in class and listened intently. She felt like a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Ever since she lost her power she felt nothing but relief and finally felt like she could move on. Heidi couldn’t help but smile as she took down notes.
. . . Heidi! . . .
Heidi frowned. She looked around the classroom to see who called out her name. Everybody else was working and didn’t seem to be paying attention to her. Rattle Heidi returned to her studies.
. . . Heidi! . . .
This time the voice was louder and accompanied by a slight headache. Heidi winced and rubbed her forehead.
. . . HEIDI! . . .
The pain became more intense. Heidi grabbed her head. Suddenly, around the room, various items began to rattle. At first it was subtle like a mild earthquake then became more intense. Some of the students backed away from their desk as books and pencil cases began to shake violently.
. . . HEIDI! . . .
Suddenly everything went quiet. Heidi opened her eyes and lifted her head slowly. The entire class had frozen and the room was bathed in a similar blue glow like the one she saw in the hospital. Heidi jumped when she saw the mysteries woman sitting on the desk in front. Heidi moved back cautiously.
“You ungrateful bitch!” the woman yelled, “You inconsiderate Slut!”
The woman looked familiar to Heidi but she didn’t know why.
“W-who are you?” Heidi asked
The woman stood up and walked around the room impatiently.
“That hurts Heidi,” The woman replied, “After all I did for you.”
None of this made sense. Heidi had no idea who this person was and why she was so hostile to her. The woman walked back to the desk and shook her head in disappointed.
“I gave you a gift, Heidi, I gave you the future and what did you do to me? You tried to put me in a box. . . ”
The woman leaned in menacingly until she was inches away from Heidi’s face.
“. . . Not . . . Cool . . . Heidi.”
Heidi opened and closed her mouth awkwardly. She wasn’t sure what to say to her.
“I-I just wanted to help . . .” Heidi forced out
The woman slammed her hands down hard on Heidi’s desk hard. The woman glared at her wildly.
“WAKE UP HEIDI!” the woman screamed, “THE WORLD ISN’T RUN BY THE GOOD!”
She leaned back again keeping her intimidating presence.
“I gave you the power to rule this place and you wasted it on the Slayer and The Divine One.”
“W-what are you?” Heidi
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know me you little tramp!” The woman snapped.
She moved swift and grabbed Heidi by the throat. The woman dragged her off her seat and right into her face.
“I’ve been with you from the beginning and I am very disappointed in you. And if you try and help either the Slayer or The Divine One again I will slaughter you!”
Heidi became terrified.
“I-I don’t know who you are.” She replied
The woman pulled Heidi in closer.
“Call me Id.”
Id let go. Heidi dropped back down onto her desk gasping for air. She looked around wildly and realized that it had returned back to normal. Heidi didn’t know whether or not she just dreamt that or it actually happened. Whatever it was it left Heidi feeling rattled.
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