Frying Up Trouble

The factory was shiny and well-polished, except it wasn't. It wasn't a ruin either but it did look dejected and uncared for which brought the whole smoke problem back into Silk's mind. The factory was large, easily taking up streets worth of space.

The door was firmly locked but still looked functional so rusting shut had to be rejected.

"Okay, move aside," Crusher bellowed.

Silk and Phoenix obliged as standing between him and the door would be the exact same as a rock and a hard place.

Roaring Crusher positioned himself and swung his arm back. Putting his leg forward, then swinging with the momentum he struck making an almighty crash which deafened Silk.

It buckled. Crusher's arm that is. Not the right way either.

"Oh," Silk grimaced. Activating an enchantment to reveal hidden enchantments it showed a wide array of enchantments to strengthen the door but not the lock.

"All you need is the right touch," Silk boasted. Injecting some magic into the door he started unlocking the door by imitating the expected magic imprint. The magic started unravelling causing Silk to smile happily. The magic suddenly sprang back causing the magic to repel back into him.

It doesn't matter if it's your magic or a foreign magic. Having magic forced into you is unnatural and hurts like a bitch. Magic does not discriminate for the owner.

Crusher laughed. His arm had somehow healed which annoyed Silk.

"Are you two that pathetic that you can't open a door?" Phoenix decided to mock.

"Could you do it better?" Silk rose to the bait.

Phoenix was silent to that. The magic was emitting an aura that Phoenix knew from experience she couldn't break without a few hours of hard work.

"Whatever," Silk exclaimed in annoyance. He placed his hands on the door, the lock was more devious than it looked so while the enhancing enchantments were powerful at least they weren't devious.

The enchantments on Silk's clothes started working at full pelt to enhance the power exerted. Targeting the enchantments, the magical threads constricted and sapped the magical power of the enchantments. The magic rippled out from the door and into the air like a tide.

With one last push Silk let all the magical energy dissipate.

"Crusher, try again." Silk said.

"This had better work this time," he grunted.

Taking one step forward Crusher exploded forward with a shoulder barge and this time the metal doors crashed down.

"That's how it's done," Crusher celebrated.

The inside of the building was a lot nicer than the outside. The machinery looked used but functional but Silk had no idea what any of it did. Magic production looked very different to science even an amalgamation like this was far from what he was used to.

They all scratched their heads as it was above their paygrades.

"Who is it?" a shout resonated from within the factory.

"You're just imagining things Rebeca," another more masculine voice said.

A torch bobbed into view and a young woman came into view with it. She wore a tank top and leggings but that wasn't so surprising as it was blisteringly hot. The older man wore a lab coat and had a scruffy appearance with his shirt half out and unshaven stubble.

Propping up his glasses the old man turned to Rebeca, "It seems I owe you an apology."

Silk lost his voice. What he saw shouldn't be possible. It wasn't supposed to have happened. Silk took a step back and supported himself on a machine.

"Can we ask your name?" The old man asked politely, "I'm Professor Ryan Collins and this is my assistant Rebeca." Rebeca nodded at the mention of her name.

"Good to meet you." Crusher replied in kind, "I'm known as Crusher."

"I go by the name of Phoenix," she said loftily. "The silent one is Silk."

"Not to them," Silk murmured. Taking a few steps forwards he took the Professor's hand and shook it, "I'm called James Sailor but call me Silk. I'm British. It can't be good to see you here."

"Indeed not." The Professor replied, "Chicago trained, so is Rebeca. By any chance do you know how we got here?"

"Professor, the more pressing matter is that door." Rebeca pointed. "We have to put it back up before nightfall."

"Quite so," The Professor agreed. "Could our new friends perhaps fix it for us as they caused the trouble?"

This wasn't really a question, it was rhetorical.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Silk nodded. "But I have to ask if you have another door to exit the factory?"

"There is," Rebeca answered.

"Good. Crusher put the doors in place and Phoenix will weld them to the walls. Thank god it is metal." Silk said sitting down and meditating.

"Okay boss," Phoenix snapped angrily but they did as he said.

When they were back in place Silk had finished constructing the enchantments. With a swift movement he got up and with one touch of his finger the prepared enchantments of magical energy embedded themselves into the steel.

The doors were now just as strong as before, if not stronger.

"My world keeps falling apart," Rebeca said in awe.

"You'll get used to it," Silk said grimly stroking one of the keys in his pocket. "Until then, I propose an exchange of information."

"That is a good idea," The Professor agreed. "Knowledge is always to the advantage of the holder."

"True," Silk answered.

"Where are we?" The Professor kicked off.

"A battlefield of the first demonic war. The one-million-dollar question is the factory and I have no answer for that." Silk answered honestly. "Do you two have any questions?" he shouted back to Crusher and Phoenix.

"Yeah," Phoenix piped in. "Why are you scared of nightfall?"

There was a silence. "The spirits," Rebeca's voice replied trembling. "They come knocking, I saw them when they took," her voice broke. "Callum my boyfriend."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Silk comforted. "Losing a loved one is never easy, especially from outside forces."

"Do you have superpowers?" The Professor cut in from the silence.

"No, it's magic. Magic is real by the way." Silk answered. "How did you get here?"

The Professor pondered his answer for a while before answering. "We were tracking a mutated being to find it go through a portal to another world. I was employed to recreate it but my maths was a bit off and now here we are."

Rebeca asked the question this time, "What did you mean by 'You'll get used to it'?"

"You can't go back to Earth without demons knowing about it and they will know about it. Once they have located Earth precisely in the universes, they'll break the locks on it easily. It's for the greater good." He answered honestly.

"I wouldn't worry about that too much. The demons as you call it have been popping up more recently and I think they will already have a location," The Professor noted.

"How many demons?" Silk asked.

"Only in the single digits." Rebeca answered.

Silk relaxed, "That was within my scope of prediction when I created the locks. They can't know where Earth is yet but you still can't go back there."

"We'll bench the topic for now," The Professor conceded. "On any terms we can't stay here for much longer. We are running out of food and resources so can you please help us?"

"Before I answer I have one more question," Silk said. "How many of you were here to begin with?"

"Over twenty but the army guys were picked off one by one. They go after the armed ones first." The Professor answered honestly.

"Lead us to your safe haven. We are going to have to live a bit in your shoes before we try to sort out your spirit problem." Silk said.

"I hate spirits. You can't punch them," Crusher complained. "And they have the audacity to punch you, it is unfair."

"I have to agree with the big guy," Phoenix pouted. "They just don't burn."

"They do like to give you a headache," Silk noted. "They do tend to have a good reason for being though. It is always a good experience to learn about them."

"I would rather just run away." Crusher announced. "I hate running away so yeah, that tells you something."

"That you're a coward," Phoenix snorted.

"Shut up Phoenix. You are just as afraid. You would be stupid not to be." Silk said.

"And why is that?" she retorted.

"Because this planet once held the smartest but powerful race of beings. Spirits retain the mental and physical faculties of their past selves and none of us hold a candle to them." Silk declared happily.

"So why aren't we running?" Crusher asked.

"Because we are idiot." Silk answered with a huge grin on his face.

"I don't know if I should feel safe in their hands," The Professor whispered to Rebeca.

"I don't," Rebeca answered bluntly.

While they headed deeper into the factory tapping could be heard from the door. It was only faint but it was growing slowly in loudness. Slowly creeping up from barely noticeable.