The older man accepts the hand of the Djinn agent and nodding in agreement while quietly muttering to himself about wanting to go home and rest. Once the duo was far enough, the human agent was ready to deal with the remaining zombies. Richard finally allowed the mana to follow through and produced a holy flame. The radiant light, caused the zombies to recoil and stagger. A few even simply slumped over as whatever malevolent forces that were animating the corpse was simply purified by the light. Others however, began to attack the agent.
Producing his rented holy wooden bludgeon, he swipes at the first zombie and manages to tear off it’s jaw before the force caused the zombie to fall flat onto its side. The second however was dealt with quickly as Richard produced another sacred flame, but smaller, from his free hand. The effect was instantaneous as the zombie slumped onto Richard and pinned him down. Though now the rookie agent was in trouble as the remaining zombies were approaching fast and the rotting corpse was still being pushed off his body.
Argus escorted their new ward to his car, crossing through the graveyard; chuckling to himself as he passed the tall tombstone he had previously attempted to stand atop. As they exited the field around the graveyard, the Djinn clicked the remote for the agency car to summon it back to their plane and helped Bradley into the back seat, “Alright Bradley. Just wait here for a couple of minutes, I’ll be right back.” he explained, hearing the commotion from the fight back at the fountain.
As the Djinn returned to the scene of the crime, he pulled the holy oil flask from the depths of his jacket, unscrewing the lid and taking a few swigs as he approached the ongoing battle. With a ripple of flame, the senior agent’s hands burned away to reveal his four-digited claws. Argus sprinted forward, leaping over Richard and driving his fingertips through the head of the nearest zombie, “Sorry for leaving you on your own partner, just wanted to get the old man off the scene before we started cleanup. Didn’t want to upset him when we kill George.” the red-haired man explained; silver-blue flames spreading from his claws and beginning to engulf the remains of the freshly-killed zombie.
The human agent finally pushes off the rather heavy corpse of the zombie after a few more seconds passed. ”True, poor guy needs a break. Thanks by the way.” Richard then caves a zombie’s head in with his blessed truncheon. The only zombie left was ‘George’ who was still seated on the bench. The undead had shown aggression earlier but even after his fellow zombies had reacted violently, he was still seated on that bench. ”Hey, Argus...why isn’t George attacking us?” Asked Richard.
“No problem Richard. Feel bad for the old timer, probably dementia; maybe Alzheimer's.” the Djinn sighed, shaking his hands to put out the holy flames as his human shell re-formed; approaching George and kneeling down to take a closer look at the undead, “That’s more the Professor’s area of expertise than it is mine, but if I had to hazard a guess he’s either a higher level undead, or…” the senior agent reached out and cautiously prodded at the zombie, poking it in the shoulder, “His name really is George and he’s an old friend of Bradley’s.” Argus stared into the zombie’s eyes for a few moments as he thought things over, “Help me carry George, we’ll take him with us; if nothing else he should help us keep the old man calm, maybe even give the nerds back at base something to study.”
”Understood.” Richard replies as he grasps the passive zombie by the shoulders and heaves up his portion of the weight of the animated corpse. The zombie giving them a snarl or two but doing nothing to harm either; as if the zombie was just trying to convey annoyance of being carried. ”Once we get ‘George’ in the car, should we call in the clean up crew? I suppose we’re done here and they can bury these poor souls to rest.”
”Easy George, we’re taking you to your friend.” Argus said to the zombie in a strangely reassuring tone, picking it up by the legs, ”Yeah, we can send them word to head out this way ASAP. Standard protocol is to have them mop up anyways.” the Djinn confirmed, taking point on carrying the undead towards his car, ”Besides, less work for us that way; and we need to handle Bradley quickly. Lord only knows how long his memory will hold out.”
”True. Poor guy could slip back to his ’reality’ without even noticing.” With a final heave the duo finally pushed the zombie into the back of the car. The zombie, upon seeing Bradley, calms down and pats the old gentleman on the back reassuringly. Bradley looks to the zombie and the confusion and fear behind his eyes lighten. ”Thank you, George...I could always rely on you. Even during the most confusing of days.” The zombie...nods? As if to reassure the semi-senile wizard. With both the wizard and his companion relatively calm, Richard grabs his radio and alerts HQ that the operation was coming to a close and that they needed the cleanup crew to arrive asap to begin ‘normalizing’ the graveyard.
”If you’re willing to help me try something incredibly stupid, we might be able to do something about his memory.” the senior agent mentioned as they loaded the undead into the seat next to Bradley. Once George was in, the Djinn leaned back against his car; producing a cigarette from within his jacket and lighting it up with a flame from his fingertip, electing to take a smoke break while Richard called the cleanup crew. It only took a minute for the red haired agent to finish his smoke and he climbed into the driver’s seat to wait for his partner; ”So, Bradley, How do you and George know each other?”
”George has been my best and closest friend for as long as I could remember...and the best one I could have ever asked for. Not half bad with spells too.” The zombie groans in response and Bradley, for the first time since his illusion was broken, chuckles at his friend before gently nudging the zombie’s shoulder. ”Ok.Ok. He was a decent practitioner of magic considering his age...you must be wondering how George came to be in his current state, aren’t you Argus?” It was then the human agent entered the vehicle and apologized if he interrupted something before talking to Argus. ”The cleanup crew will be arriving on scene in 5 minutes. HQ has given us the green light to head back with Bradley and George.”
The Djinn couldn’t help but smile as he saw Bradley begin to return to his more cheerful demeanor, but remained quiet so the aging warlock could finish speaking, ”Bradley, wondering is in my job description. I figured he was probably like you at some point, extending his life through magic; but it stopped working after awhile. How are off am I?” Argus queried, starting up the car as Richard buckled in, ”Perfect. Cleanup will be here in no time and we can chat some more with Bradley on the way over.”
”Half correct, Argus. You were spot on regarding George’s magical lineage. He was my childhood friend and college when we studied in London. Though you are wrong regarding the reason why he looks like this. Though true that most skilled magic users can use magics to prolong their life, I for one an example of that, George here was brought back from the dead.” The old wizard’s face then becomes sad and solemn yet again. George notices this and groans at him. ”George, your heart may be still and rotting, but you have a heart of gold. Your words are kind...but we both know it was my fault that you died during the Fire of London.” The zombie looks to Bradley and groans once again. ”You could have stopped me; I could have stopped, George...but I did not. I was too young, too optimistic, and too naive. I thought I could make a difference and help the citizens from the flames. I should have known that building was to collapse George. I-I-I should have stopped then and there...you’d still be alive if I did.” He lets out a tired sigh and grimaces at the memory of his mistake. ” ’Top ranking’ mage my ass...I couldn't even bring you back right. He goes quiet for a while. ”George. Tell me truthfully. Do you hate me for turning you into my familiar? Or that because of my waning control over my magic, your physical body is decomposing and falling apart for the past few years?”
The following action of the zombie shocked Richard as the zombie actually replied to Bradley rather than groaning or making a gesture. ”Yoxu...brought...amey...back...tzo...life; Ah...oawe...yohuu...eveyr...ting...Bard...lee.” The voice the zombie produced was harsh and guttural; sounding like he routinely gargled and ate nails and rocks, but to Bradley it was as smooth as silk. The elderly man then bit his lower lip to hold back his emotions as he looked to his oldest and closest friend misty eyed and hugged the animated corpse. ”An old coot like me don’t deserve a friend like you, George.” The zombie patted the man on the back and in the process lost a finger or two. Richard looked at the duo from the rear view mirror and a pang of sadness struck his heart. He leans over to Argus and whispers, trying not to intrude on the personal moment George and Bradley shared. ”The R&D Division does have a means to fix George, right?”
”That’s a hell of a story, old timer. Most people who study necromancy don’t use their abilities to try and save people.” the Djinn wasn’t really sure what to say, ”I lost someone too, a long time ago, so I understand why you wanted to bring George back when you lost him. If I had the kind of powers you do, I probably would have tried it myself.” he offered solemnly, turning his attention back to his partner, ”The R&D guys do a LOT of work with sapient undead; vampires, wraiths, shades and the like. I guarantee you they’ll be able to put some missing pieces back on a zombie. Hell, magical sciences have advanced a lot since the 1600s; they may even be able to… upgrade him, for lack of a better word. Make him just a little bit more human again.” Though the senior agent’s words were meant to be reassuring, it was clear he wasn’t entirely certain what could be done to improve George’s condition, ”I’m no master magician but I know they’re going to need to learn exactly what spells were used in the process first; that means Bradley is our priority. If we can repair his mind -and that something stupid I mentioned needing your help with may just be able to do the trick- then he can help our R&D team find a solution.
”For both their sakes, I do hope they can...about that something stupid. What do you have in mind? Perhaps something to do with your ability to manipulate memories?” The human agent asked the Dijin, curious as to what he had in mind.
”There’s this old technique I read about back home, it’s a collaborative spell requiring both a Djinn and an Angel -though your powers should be a viable substitute. Using a Djinn’s power to enter minds and an Angels healing ability, it’s possible to almost completely restore a damaged or degraded mind. The problem is it’s a very intense process and takes a lot out energy of the casters. We’ll both need to juice up before we can do it.” Argus explained, turning onto the street which would take them to base.
”For the sake of helping the innocent, I’d be more than willing to try.” Richard said, his voice and being filled with determination to help the unlikely pair. ”Though, I’m not a big fan of magical exhaustion, I’m curious as to how far I can use this gift.” Richard nervously chuckles. He had never exerted so much power into one spell, at most was when he cast that spell against the shadow demon. This will be a big hurdle for the rookie agent. But one that would be worth it.
”That’s the spirit, Richard. That’s why we do what we do; help people who need it.” Argus encouraged, pulling into the HQ garage, ”We’ll give you a double of mana potion once we finish to get you back up to strength and ready for the next job. It’s gonna be a bit trickier for me to recharge but I’ll pull an overnighter with the cleanup crew wiping memories.” he explained; parking near the door so it would be easier on their elderly guests.
”How considerate of you gentlemen. George and I thank you.” Bradley told the duo as Richard helped the wizard and his unusual familiar off the vehicle. Bureau personnel were shocked to say the least when they saw the human agent guiding the two to a holding cell for the meantime. He looks to both Bradley and George. ”Do understand that it’s only protocol for me to place you in a cell. Please be patient with us while we process your information to the database. You’re not being arrested, we just need to see if the bureau database has any record of you or George. Okay?” The duo nod. ”Good. Argus or I will be back with you shortly.” Richard then leaves the specialized cell and heads to one of the computer terminals beside it and inputs commands to begin scanning both of them for any records or data the system may have to offer.
“Just doing our job, old timer. Helping people like you is what we get paid for.” Argus dismissed politely, stepping away from the others before lighting a smoke; technically he wasn’t supposed to do so in the agency building, but nobody had bothered to stop him yet. The senior agent snuffed out his cigarette once Richard was done offloading their wards and followed them inside. “We’re home” he said, giving a two-fingered wave to the agent guarding the garage entrance.
The Djinn called up his memory of the spell they would be casting, needing to recall what was needed, “I’ll see you in a bit Richard, going to file my report and get together some components we’ll need for that spell; can’t even remember last time I needed to requisition something from the Spellcraft department.” with that, he split away from the group to acquire ritual components.
Richard gives his partner a polite nod before returning his attention to the computer terminal. The bureau did have data regarding Bradley’s descendants, but rather than that. They both had no previous records. They ought to register them both after the ritual had been complete. He returns to the two in the cell. ”I have very good news. The bureau has information of your lineage and knows the whereabouts of your family, Bradley. We can contact them and they can pick you up as soon as they can from here. Though before we can do any of that, we need to do one last thing.” The old man doesn't even let a second pass before he replies. ”I am ready to do anything! Just please...help me get home.” He replies with a firm and determined voice, George raises an arm as if to cheer him on. ”Great to hear, Bradley. Argus is just getting the materials for the spell that can help you and George.” The human reaffirmed the two while waiting for the djinn to return to them.
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