Defiance

Breaking the Barriers

Hello! We're finally getting into bigger and bigger things with this story, and I sincerely hope you all are excited, because I am. 

{Author's POV}

     The four occupants of the Factory stood around various places in Jinxx's study, CC and David guarding the clone on the couch. He picked up one of the books that they had received from the other dimension, flipping through it until he found what he hoped was a Containment spell strong enough to hold any amount of Chaos that was currently in the unconscious form in front of him. It still wore Andy's face, but he figured once they trapped it, they could get it to reveal itself. 

    Jinxx rethought the plan in his head, realizing it may be a few more steps than he had originally planned.  "You look troubled. What's wrong?" Jake asked, lowering his voice to a whisper to keep David and CC from worrying.

    "No, I'm just going through what we have to do. I won't be able to give him the potion if he's contained, so I'm going to have to do that first..."

    "You know, you could just contain him and go with the original plan. I'm sure David wouldn't mind doing it still. It might be safer. I mean, this is the one controlling Ashley, right? Aren't they already linked somehow?" Jake wondered. 

    Just like that, a flip went off in Jinxx's head. "Oh my God, Jake you...you're a genius!" he said, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek and he turned and rushed over to the clone on the couch, lifting him over his shoulder and placing him in the center of the pentagram. He closed his eyes, energy thrumming to life in his fingertips as he searched through the clone's mind, smiling when he struck gold. "That's how he controls Ash. He's inside his head! They're already connected, like you said, Jake! So, we don't have to use the Mind Link ritual. I give him the potion, and it should keep him and Ashley under long enough to dismantle his spell, and track him." 

    "Except you won't live long enough to use it! I need your magic, Mystic. I don't need you alive. The Mourner will die anyway when I rip my heart from his body, and I'm going to bleed you dry, Destroyer!" The clone screamed, lunging at CC, who happened to be closest to him. David caught him off guard by jumping in front of CC and wrapping his arms around the clone, pushing him to the ground and holding him there. 

    "Jinxx, do it now!" David cried as he fought to hold down the clone. Jake and CC rushed to help, just as the clone pushed David away with a burst of dark energy. They grabbed him, holding him as steady as they could as the clone thrashed against them, screaming at the top of his lungs. He clenched his mouth shut as Jinxx approached. Jinxx held his chin in one hand, wrenching his mouth back open. He pulled the cork in the bottle with his teeth, and dumped its contents into the clone's mouth, clamping his mouth shut as soon as the bottle was empty. 

    The clone's movements grew sluggish as the potion took effect. Finally, his body seemed to shut down, slipping into a coma. Jinxx felt along the vein in his throat for a pulse, sighing in relief when he felt its slow, but steady movement. "He's out." he informed the others. 

    Jake turned at the sound of a low gasp behind him. CC's expression was blank, a far away look in his eyes, which seemed to be glued to the wall behind them. "He must be remembering everything Ashley's magic hid from him. He might be able to remember where Ashley took him and Andy!" Jinxx whispered as they anxiously awaited CC's snap back to reality. 

    "There's a town, completely abandoned, just a few miles east. You...You found me there. Ashley..." CC drifted off, as thousands of thoughts and images raced through his mind at a mile a minute. 

    Jinxx, noticing the sway in his figure, stepped around Jake, reaching out with one hand and steadying him. "Yeah, CC. What about Ashley? What did he do?"