The Invisible Dragon
OK, so I've gone from posting a less-than-100-word commentfic to writing a 2700+ word crossover in a few days. It's a good thing I have plans for much of the rest of the weekend, as I can't seem to stop this otherwise.
This is a crossover between the Chronicles of Narnia and The Invisibles. An idea that I had this morning after using some themes from the latter in the peyote scene I posted yesterday. They do not naturally fit together in tone. And yet... the peyote vision provided a way I could see Eustace meeting them. anastigmatfic provided a way Jill could meet them (although she's not really in this one). elouise82's comment and autumnia gave Eustace a skill that fit an easy plot macguffin. And after a few small false starts, this one just went mostly start to finish (although there was a coda that got chopped- if I write a prequel explaining how Eustace met them in the first place, it may come back on its own).
Timeline: This takes place in 1996, in the gap between the 1st and 2nd Invisibles series (3rd and 4th trade paperback).
Warnings: One of the characters is very foul-mouthed.
Spoilers: Several events and character developments in the 1st Invisibles, although I don't really explain the story at all. Also, I pulled in character development themes from later on in the series.
Also, this is not proof-read, as I'd have to get some sleep and do that tomorrow, and I fear getting stuck in an editing spiral if I put it off that long. So... on to the fic.
Professor Eustace Scrubb was deep in thought, mulling over the stunning implications of Sinosauropteryx prima as a feathered, non-avian dinosaur. He had not come to New York expecting such a revelation (but really, if you expect it, it's not a revelation). Eustace did his best to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, but had come this year more to have a good jaw about dinosaurs than for any particular research purpose. And now he was blown away. Granted, he was doing better than John Ostrom, who had been staring at the same spot in the corner all evening, his drink untouched. The pioneer of the bird-dinosaur theories had barely responded to conversation since he was shown the apparently confirming evidence. Eustace himself was now plotting the best way to get on an expedition to Liaoning as soon as possible, and never mind that every other paleontologist who'd been anywhere near the American Museum of Natural History today was trying to do the same.
His preoccupation with this problem might perhaps excuse his deeper than usual state of obliviousness. Certainly no one else at the bar (except Ostrom) had missed the entrance of the six foot tall Brazilian transvestite with the bouffant hairdo and silver mini-skirt.
"Eustace, darling, I've been looking all over for you!"
Oblivious or not, there was no way Eustace would forget *that* voice, with all its flamboyance. Looking up with a start, he saw that it was no auditory hallucination. There before him was Lord Fanny, transvestite shaman extraordinare. And two companions, an athletic African-American woman with white beads in her hair and a sullen blond teenage boy. Fanny must have distracted the bouncer to get him in, easy enough for her even without resorting to the "supernatural". Seeing her here, it occurred to him that the joke in her name was wasted on Americans.
"Don't just sit there slack-jawed, be a dear and give us a hug!"
Eustace accepted Fanny's hand and was drawn up into an enthusiastic embrace. His reputation for eccentricity among his colleagues had no doubt just climbed a few more notches, but it had long since passed the point of mattering anyway. "It is very good to see you Fanny. But why in the world are you trolling a paleontology convention looking for me? And who are your friends here?"
"This", she waved towards the dark-skinned woman, "is Boy, you remember me telling you about her no doubt."
Ah, thought Eustace, so this is Invisibles business.
"And this charming young fellow from your homeland is our new recruit, Jack Frost".
"Fuck that, my name's Dane," said the new recruit, who apparently had not bought in to the whole thing yet. Interesting.
"I could not *believe* that there was a dinosaur conference in town just when we have need of your talents."
Oh dear. "I suppose it's too much to hope for that you've found some mysterious bones that need identifying?"
"I'm afraid not, darling, although if we ever encounter lizard-men I'll be certain to call you as soon as I finish running away."
Unlikely, he thought. For all of the ridiculousness of Fanny's persona, she's a good one to have around in a fight. "Surely you don't need my help with Dane's initiation. I don't carry those materials on airplanes, you know, and you're the mystic here." Seeing that Fanny did not appear likely to correct him, Eustace reluctantly plowed on. "Why on (or above) earth would you have need for a stunt pilot?"
"It's a long story and *so* much better told elsewhere, don't you think?"
Bowing to the inevitable, Eustace knocked back the last of his drink (he'd need it) and left a few bills on the table. "Allright, let's go. I'll have you know I'm walking away from the discussion of the most astonishing find in the history of avian evolution for this. It had better be important!" At least he didn't have to worry about Ostrom putting together an expedition while he was away- the man *still* hadn't looked up from his corner. Even Eustace wasn't that oblivious.
***
Boy couldn't figure out Fanny's plan. Yes, a stunt plane flown by a crazy Professor would be a good distraction for their raid, but really, aren't there easier ways to draw the attention of guards? With the Professor off to use the loo (all that time in England had rubbed off on her, calling it the loo even in her head), now seemed like the last chance to ask. "Fanny, are you sure this guy's the one we need? I still know some people here, we could round up some more conventional reinforcements."
"Trust me, darling, the Professor being here is a sign. He can draw attention, and he won't fall for the kind of psychic attacks they're likely to throw at him. We already know they're not big on physical firepower."
Dane scowled from where he was slouched on the sofa. "How the fuck does some batty lizard professor get himself tangled up in all of this fucking mystic shit anyway?"
"I was abducted by a talking lion as a child." said the batty lizard professor, returning from the bathroom. "I see this one's still got a bit of the Dragon about him, doesn't he?"
"Dragon? What the fuck are you talking about? I've had it with all sorts of crazy shit attacking me, there'll be no fucking dragons."
"Jack, you're making *such* a charming impression as always. Pay him no mind, Eustace. We just need you to distract the guards at one of *their* compounds enough so that we can sneak in and get some information. It's not a high-security place, but if we can get in and out without them knowing so much the better. A stunt plane buzzing them will get their attention, especially with your aura. They'll *definitely* feel threatened by you."
"Oh wonderful. When I woke up this morning I was hoping to be a threat to the forces of psychic oppression."
"You'll be fine. They're not heavily armed enough to shoot you down, and I know you're more than a match for their psychics."
"I went with you on *one* vision quest, Fanny, which was absolutely terrifying. I'm not some kind of psychic ninja, especially not while flying a trick plane!"
"Eustace, my dear, you defeated a *dragon* within yourself and you aren't fooled by scare-tactic illusions or we never would have gotten out of that mess in Mexico. I have every confidence in you. And best of all, they don't know you, certainly not in association with us."
Dane shifted on the sofa "This is all fucking great and affirming and shit, but we need to get fucking moving if we're going to do this tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I thought you meant back in England. You don't happen to have a stunt plane with you, do you?"
Boy spoke up "That part's taken care of. The rest of our team's staying with a billionaire who backs a lot of our activities. He bought a Pitts S-2B with a good recent record of service and it's being flown over to meet us as we speak. Fanny tells me you're familiar with the model." Eustace nodded his agreement. "Our target's a ways north of the city, so as Dane says, we should get moving so we can be in position tomorrow. It's just the four of us on this one."
"So no King Mob on this trip then? At least I won't have to listen to him go on about dropping acid and whatnot at parties. If you're on hallucinogens that often, you're missing the point of doing them."
Fanny smiled indulgently. "I'll be sure to tell him that your opinion of him has not improved."
"You're a brick, Fanny."
***
The raid itself went off surprisingly close to plan. Eustace started off with lazy, not too threatening passes before coming in low and fast, and dropping into an outside loop that looked just for a few seconds as if he was about to nosedive straight into the place. That got them scurrying, and Eustace began to understand what Fanny meant about psychic defenses. He suddenly felt like he should go somewhere else, and when he shook that off, he was suddenly plagued by flocks of birds and storm clouds materializing from nothing.
Even more than the Mexico misadventures, it reminded him of comparing notes with Peter all those years ago. Depending on the strength of the dose, whether it was peyote, psilocybin, or Centaur liquor, if you kept your head you could dial the intensity back if you really wanted to. And these jokers, whoever they really were, simply didn't have the dose/strength necessary to overwhelm his concentration. Apparently the Centaurs had told Peter about this, but only *after* the first time they gave him the drink. Eustace hadn't forgotten that story, but Fanny always said he was too much of a man of science to really get lost in a mystic illusion anyway. In this case, he just knew that thunderstorms and the rest couldn't just abruptly appear, so he pushed each one away as it came on.
And then they hit him with the Dragon. It was well done, emerging from the (real) clouds rather than just popping up, and looking exactly like Eustace knew a Dragon should look. Which is where they almost got him. He wasn't scared, or even (he realized much later) feeling guilty about what the beast symbolized. But he hadn't seen a dragon in many, many years, and started trying to fly around it and get a better look.
It wasn't until he realized that it was too perfect that he knew they were just pulling it from his own mind somehow, and he snapped his attention back to flying, narrowly missing the hillside the dragon had been leading him towards. That, he realized, had been close.
He was starting to worry about the bad guys trying something desperate if this took much longer when Jack (Dane? He'd never understood the whole code name thing) came over the radio swearing a blue streak but confirming that they'd gotten what they needed.
***
Eustace ended up driving them back. Fanny was asleep, wiped out from maintaining defenses while they'd crept through things. Boy had on headphones and had mumbled something about how this was supposed to be vacation and she needed to just chill after all that. So Jack was up in the front seat with him, fidgeting incessantly. Apparently the teenager had played his part well in this, as Fanny had mumbled something to that effect when she'd briefly woken up as they picked Eustace up at the air strip.
Growing tired of the relentless fidgeting, Eustace tried to strike up a conversation. "So, how did you end up mixed up in, what did you call it? 'this fucking mystic shit'?"
"Fucking shit it is. They fucking came after me, the other side did. Put me in some re-education prison. King Mob got me out, and next thing I know I'm on the streets in London and the only one who gives a fuck is old Tom."
Context, it seems, was not something that young Dane valued highly. "Was he the one who did your initiation?"
"If that's what you call it. He showed me a bunch of shit and then died. I think. He's not anywhere I fucking know. Why the fuck do you care, anyway?"
Eustace chuckled. "I can't quite figure you out. You act like you don't want to be here, but here you're going on dangerous raids for whatever it was you lot were trying to find. I don't think Fanny could do anything else, same for some of the others. You heard of Jim Crow and his voodoo cell?"
"Yeah, Jim helped us get out of England and a good bit more."
"Glad to hear it. My friend Jill recruited him, you know."
"I thought you weren't an Invisible?"
"No, no blank badge for me. I'm a crazy lizard scientist with some odd hobbies. I'll go to the front lines at need, but my path is different. But Jill, she first encountered one of your cells in Cuba under the Batista regime while doing humanitarian aid. They helped her get out when things got bad and made an impression. She eventually formed a cell traveling the Caribbean doing medical relief with the usual side of getting people to think for themselves and all that. And the odd rescue mission and revolution assistance." Jill, he mused, was always braver and more active than he.
"Oh that sounds fucking right then. Think for yourself, especially if you think *this* way." Dane drummed his fingers against the car door.
"You find it odd that the secret warriors in the psychic battle for freedom want to tell you how to think? I can't image why."
"So think you've got better fucking answers, do you?"
"Dane, I've got my answers. I don't have yours. That's part of your story." And apparently, Eustace thought, irony is part of mine. Quoting Aslan at this foul-mouthed kid. "Just… don't forget, not all of the Invisibles cells see the battle the same way. Fanny, Jim Crow, they live this kind of thing. I know you don't really know me or care what I think, but remember that you can learn from this without doing exactly what they say. Something's bothering you here."
Dane looked away, fingers twitching but not, at least, making noise. "What's that dragon shit about anyway?"
Eustace supposed it was only fair to answer, under the circumstances. "I was an unpleasant child. By the grace of the Lion I was un-Dragoned."
"Brilliant. Clears things right up, that does." More finger-drumming. "This the fucking talking lion that abducted you?"
"He was doing me a favor (and I'd prefer that you'd mention Him with respect, although I'll not press the point). The part to remember is that sometimes you are given a gift of opportunity. Be certain you take it."
They drove in silence for some time, but Eustace noticed that Dane wasn't fidgeting as much now. The sun had mostly set by the time they were approaching Manhattan. And Dane was staring out the side window. "They say I'm some sort of fucking messiah, you know." He did not turn around. "It's all fucking mad and it's all real. I killed a man, a soldier, he would have killed me. I've fucking been a wreck, I have. I was OK after that mess Jim Crow helped us out of. I found out some things in that. Did some shit right, managed to forget a bit. Everyone fucking thinks I'm fine now. Vacation in New York! But they've been hanging around King Mob for years. Do you know what kind of body count that guy racks up?"
"When I met him, the battle I was drafted into was mostly spiritual. But he struck me as a violent man, if effective." Eustace hadn't much cared for the self-assured fighter. He seemed a little too certain of things, with the intensity of a newfound purpose. Eustace gathered that King Mob had impressed a lot of people, but to him he seemed to have a bit of growing left to do.
"Yeah, he's fucking violently effective, he is. Fuck. I don't want to be that kind of effective. When I first joined up, Boy told me about agents with cover stories so fucking deep they'd forgotten they were Invisibles. And I wanted to know how I knew I hadn't actually joined the other side."
"And?"
"She said it was a good question. Not what I fucking wanted to hear."
"I imagine not. Have any of the others told you that you should just get used to the killing?" He glanced over and saw Dane considering the question.
"No. They've talked about handling it, but no one's given me shit about hating it."
"Then that's a good sign, I'd say. And, there are other paths, even within the Invisibles. Fanny and Jim Crow both can find Jill. She still knows where the healer cells are. You're opportunity may be to take another path, with this cell or another one."
Dane seemed to think about that for a while. "Your friend Jill. Did she get abducted by the talking lion, too? Get an opportunity and all that?"
"Yes, the second time it happened to me."
"Hmph. Seems to do good things for people."
Dane McGowan / Jack Frost really does say fuck a lot. It's his first word in the series. Early letter columns are full of people complaining about how completely unlikeable he is (although I didn't think he was that bad even at first). I actually had to go back and make sure I had enough "fucks" in his dialogue.
King Mob is actually a very cool character (violence and all), but I don't think Eustace would like him very much. In particular, Eustace retains the view of hallucinogens he got from travelling the southwest in the 50's, and finds hippy and rave culture attitudes to be tiresome at best. King Mob has more respect for the drugs than I let on here, but the circumstances I have in mind for their meeting would not showcase his better tendencies.
The revealing of s. primus at the 1996 meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is covered here, including the assertion that John Ostrom was in shock afterwards. My interpretation of what that meant is entirely fictional, and I mean no disrespect to the late Dr. Ostrom.
The Pitts S2-B was a very well known model of stunt plane.
BTW, I am particularly interested if the Invisibles characters and story come across reasonably well or just as a confusing mess. You're not supposed to know exactly what's going on (Eustace doesn't, and as we see, Dane isn't sure that he does either). But the idea of introducing, even indirectly, Aslan and the reluctant, recalcitrant protagonist of the Invisibles, with a much older Eustace as looking in from the outside, just wouldn't go away.
This is a crossover between the Chronicles of Narnia and The Invisibles. An idea that I had this morning after using some themes from the latter in the peyote scene I posted yesterday. They do not naturally fit together in tone. And yet... the peyote vision provided a way I could see Eustace meeting them. anastigmatfic provided a way Jill could meet them (although she's not really in this one). elouise82's comment and autumnia gave Eustace a skill that fit an easy plot macguffin. And after a few small false starts, this one just went mostly start to finish (although there was a coda that got chopped- if I write a prequel explaining how Eustace met them in the first place, it may come back on its own).
Timeline: This takes place in 1996, in the gap between the 1st and 2nd Invisibles series (3rd and 4th trade paperback).
Warnings: One of the characters is very foul-mouthed.
Spoilers: Several events and character developments in the 1st Invisibles, although I don't really explain the story at all. Also, I pulled in character development themes from later on in the series.
Also, this is not proof-read, as I'd have to get some sleep and do that tomorrow, and I fear getting stuck in an editing spiral if I put it off that long. So... on to the fic.
Professor Eustace Scrubb was deep in thought, mulling over the stunning implications of Sinosauropteryx prima as a feathered, non-avian dinosaur. He had not come to New York expecting such a revelation (but really, if you expect it, it's not a revelation). Eustace did his best to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, but had come this year more to have a good jaw about dinosaurs than for any particular research purpose. And now he was blown away. Granted, he was doing better than John Ostrom, who had been staring at the same spot in the corner all evening, his drink untouched. The pioneer of the bird-dinosaur theories had barely responded to conversation since he was shown the apparently confirming evidence. Eustace himself was now plotting the best way to get on an expedition to Liaoning as soon as possible, and never mind that every other paleontologist who'd been anywhere near the American Museum of Natural History today was trying to do the same.
His preoccupation with this problem might perhaps excuse his deeper than usual state of obliviousness. Certainly no one else at the bar (except Ostrom) had missed the entrance of the six foot tall Brazilian transvestite with the bouffant hairdo and silver mini-skirt.
"Eustace, darling, I've been looking all over for you!"
Oblivious or not, there was no way Eustace would forget *that* voice, with all its flamboyance. Looking up with a start, he saw that it was no auditory hallucination. There before him was Lord Fanny, transvestite shaman extraordinare. And two companions, an athletic African-American woman with white beads in her hair and a sullen blond teenage boy. Fanny must have distracted the bouncer to get him in, easy enough for her even without resorting to the "supernatural". Seeing her here, it occurred to him that the joke in her name was wasted on Americans.
"Don't just sit there slack-jawed, be a dear and give us a hug!"
Eustace accepted Fanny's hand and was drawn up into an enthusiastic embrace. His reputation for eccentricity among his colleagues had no doubt just climbed a few more notches, but it had long since passed the point of mattering anyway. "It is very good to see you Fanny. But why in the world are you trolling a paleontology convention looking for me? And who are your friends here?"
"This", she waved towards the dark-skinned woman, "is Boy, you remember me telling you about her no doubt."
Ah, thought Eustace, so this is Invisibles business.
"And this charming young fellow from your homeland is our new recruit, Jack Frost".
"Fuck that, my name's Dane," said the new recruit, who apparently had not bought in to the whole thing yet. Interesting.
"I could not *believe* that there was a dinosaur conference in town just when we have need of your talents."
Oh dear. "I suppose it's too much to hope for that you've found some mysterious bones that need identifying?"
"I'm afraid not, darling, although if we ever encounter lizard-men I'll be certain to call you as soon as I finish running away."
Unlikely, he thought. For all of the ridiculousness of Fanny's persona, she's a good one to have around in a fight. "Surely you don't need my help with Dane's initiation. I don't carry those materials on airplanes, you know, and you're the mystic here." Seeing that Fanny did not appear likely to correct him, Eustace reluctantly plowed on. "Why on (or above) earth would you have need for a stunt pilot?"
"It's a long story and *so* much better told elsewhere, don't you think?"
Bowing to the inevitable, Eustace knocked back the last of his drink (he'd need it) and left a few bills on the table. "Allright, let's go. I'll have you know I'm walking away from the discussion of the most astonishing find in the history of avian evolution for this. It had better be important!" At least he didn't have to worry about Ostrom putting together an expedition while he was away- the man *still* hadn't looked up from his corner. Even Eustace wasn't that oblivious.
***
Boy couldn't figure out Fanny's plan. Yes, a stunt plane flown by a crazy Professor would be a good distraction for their raid, but really, aren't there easier ways to draw the attention of guards? With the Professor off to use the loo (all that time in England had rubbed off on her, calling it the loo even in her head), now seemed like the last chance to ask. "Fanny, are you sure this guy's the one we need? I still know some people here, we could round up some more conventional reinforcements."
"Trust me, darling, the Professor being here is a sign. He can draw attention, and he won't fall for the kind of psychic attacks they're likely to throw at him. We already know they're not big on physical firepower."
Dane scowled from where he was slouched on the sofa. "How the fuck does some batty lizard professor get himself tangled up in all of this fucking mystic shit anyway?"
"I was abducted by a talking lion as a child." said the batty lizard professor, returning from the bathroom. "I see this one's still got a bit of the Dragon about him, doesn't he?"
"Dragon? What the fuck are you talking about? I've had it with all sorts of crazy shit attacking me, there'll be no fucking dragons."
"Jack, you're making *such* a charming impression as always. Pay him no mind, Eustace. We just need you to distract the guards at one of *their* compounds enough so that we can sneak in and get some information. It's not a high-security place, but if we can get in and out without them knowing so much the better. A stunt plane buzzing them will get their attention, especially with your aura. They'll *definitely* feel threatened by you."
"Oh wonderful. When I woke up this morning I was hoping to be a threat to the forces of psychic oppression."
"You'll be fine. They're not heavily armed enough to shoot you down, and I know you're more than a match for their psychics."
"I went with you on *one* vision quest, Fanny, which was absolutely terrifying. I'm not some kind of psychic ninja, especially not while flying a trick plane!"
"Eustace, my dear, you defeated a *dragon* within yourself and you aren't fooled by scare-tactic illusions or we never would have gotten out of that mess in Mexico. I have every confidence in you. And best of all, they don't know you, certainly not in association with us."
Dane shifted on the sofa "This is all fucking great and affirming and shit, but we need to get fucking moving if we're going to do this tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I thought you meant back in England. You don't happen to have a stunt plane with you, do you?"
Boy spoke up "That part's taken care of. The rest of our team's staying with a billionaire who backs a lot of our activities. He bought a Pitts S-2B with a good recent record of service and it's being flown over to meet us as we speak. Fanny tells me you're familiar with the model." Eustace nodded his agreement. "Our target's a ways north of the city, so as Dane says, we should get moving so we can be in position tomorrow. It's just the four of us on this one."
"So no King Mob on this trip then? At least I won't have to listen to him go on about dropping acid and whatnot at parties. If you're on hallucinogens that often, you're missing the point of doing them."
Fanny smiled indulgently. "I'll be sure to tell him that your opinion of him has not improved."
"You're a brick, Fanny."
***
The raid itself went off surprisingly close to plan. Eustace started off with lazy, not too threatening passes before coming in low and fast, and dropping into an outside loop that looked just for a few seconds as if he was about to nosedive straight into the place. That got them scurrying, and Eustace began to understand what Fanny meant about psychic defenses. He suddenly felt like he should go somewhere else, and when he shook that off, he was suddenly plagued by flocks of birds and storm clouds materializing from nothing.
Even more than the Mexico misadventures, it reminded him of comparing notes with Peter all those years ago. Depending on the strength of the dose, whether it was peyote, psilocybin, or Centaur liquor, if you kept your head you could dial the intensity back if you really wanted to. And these jokers, whoever they really were, simply didn't have the dose/strength necessary to overwhelm his concentration. Apparently the Centaurs had told Peter about this, but only *after* the first time they gave him the drink. Eustace hadn't forgotten that story, but Fanny always said he was too much of a man of science to really get lost in a mystic illusion anyway. In this case, he just knew that thunderstorms and the rest couldn't just abruptly appear, so he pushed each one away as it came on.
And then they hit him with the Dragon. It was well done, emerging from the (real) clouds rather than just popping up, and looking exactly like Eustace knew a Dragon should look. Which is where they almost got him. He wasn't scared, or even (he realized much later) feeling guilty about what the beast symbolized. But he hadn't seen a dragon in many, many years, and started trying to fly around it and get a better look.
It wasn't until he realized that it was too perfect that he knew they were just pulling it from his own mind somehow, and he snapped his attention back to flying, narrowly missing the hillside the dragon had been leading him towards. That, he realized, had been close.
He was starting to worry about the bad guys trying something desperate if this took much longer when Jack (Dane? He'd never understood the whole code name thing) came over the radio swearing a blue streak but confirming that they'd gotten what they needed.
***
Eustace ended up driving them back. Fanny was asleep, wiped out from maintaining defenses while they'd crept through things. Boy had on headphones and had mumbled something about how this was supposed to be vacation and she needed to just chill after all that. So Jack was up in the front seat with him, fidgeting incessantly. Apparently the teenager had played his part well in this, as Fanny had mumbled something to that effect when she'd briefly woken up as they picked Eustace up at the air strip.
Growing tired of the relentless fidgeting, Eustace tried to strike up a conversation. "So, how did you end up mixed up in, what did you call it? 'this fucking mystic shit'?"
"Fucking shit it is. They fucking came after me, the other side did. Put me in some re-education prison. King Mob got me out, and next thing I know I'm on the streets in London and the only one who gives a fuck is old Tom."
Context, it seems, was not something that young Dane valued highly. "Was he the one who did your initiation?"
"If that's what you call it. He showed me a bunch of shit and then died. I think. He's not anywhere I fucking know. Why the fuck do you care, anyway?"
Eustace chuckled. "I can't quite figure you out. You act like you don't want to be here, but here you're going on dangerous raids for whatever it was you lot were trying to find. I don't think Fanny could do anything else, same for some of the others. You heard of Jim Crow and his voodoo cell?"
"Yeah, Jim helped us get out of England and a good bit more."
"Glad to hear it. My friend Jill recruited him, you know."
"I thought you weren't an Invisible?"
"No, no blank badge for me. I'm a crazy lizard scientist with some odd hobbies. I'll go to the front lines at need, but my path is different. But Jill, she first encountered one of your cells in Cuba under the Batista regime while doing humanitarian aid. They helped her get out when things got bad and made an impression. She eventually formed a cell traveling the Caribbean doing medical relief with the usual side of getting people to think for themselves and all that. And the odd rescue mission and revolution assistance." Jill, he mused, was always braver and more active than he.
"Oh that sounds fucking right then. Think for yourself, especially if you think *this* way." Dane drummed his fingers against the car door.
"You find it odd that the secret warriors in the psychic battle for freedom want to tell you how to think? I can't image why."
"So think you've got better fucking answers, do you?"
"Dane, I've got my answers. I don't have yours. That's part of your story." And apparently, Eustace thought, irony is part of mine. Quoting Aslan at this foul-mouthed kid. "Just… don't forget, not all of the Invisibles cells see the battle the same way. Fanny, Jim Crow, they live this kind of thing. I know you don't really know me or care what I think, but remember that you can learn from this without doing exactly what they say. Something's bothering you here."
Dane looked away, fingers twitching but not, at least, making noise. "What's that dragon shit about anyway?"
Eustace supposed it was only fair to answer, under the circumstances. "I was an unpleasant child. By the grace of the Lion I was un-Dragoned."
"Brilliant. Clears things right up, that does." More finger-drumming. "This the fucking talking lion that abducted you?"
"He was doing me a favor (and I'd prefer that you'd mention Him with respect, although I'll not press the point). The part to remember is that sometimes you are given a gift of opportunity. Be certain you take it."
They drove in silence for some time, but Eustace noticed that Dane wasn't fidgeting as much now. The sun had mostly set by the time they were approaching Manhattan. And Dane was staring out the side window. "They say I'm some sort of fucking messiah, you know." He did not turn around. "It's all fucking mad and it's all real. I killed a man, a soldier, he would have killed me. I've fucking been a wreck, I have. I was OK after that mess Jim Crow helped us out of. I found out some things in that. Did some shit right, managed to forget a bit. Everyone fucking thinks I'm fine now. Vacation in New York! But they've been hanging around King Mob for years. Do you know what kind of body count that guy racks up?"
"When I met him, the battle I was drafted into was mostly spiritual. But he struck me as a violent man, if effective." Eustace hadn't much cared for the self-assured fighter. He seemed a little too certain of things, with the intensity of a newfound purpose. Eustace gathered that King Mob had impressed a lot of people, but to him he seemed to have a bit of growing left to do.
"Yeah, he's fucking violently effective, he is. Fuck. I don't want to be that kind of effective. When I first joined up, Boy told me about agents with cover stories so fucking deep they'd forgotten they were Invisibles. And I wanted to know how I knew I hadn't actually joined the other side."
"And?"
"She said it was a good question. Not what I fucking wanted to hear."
"I imagine not. Have any of the others told you that you should just get used to the killing?" He glanced over and saw Dane considering the question.
"No. They've talked about handling it, but no one's given me shit about hating it."
"Then that's a good sign, I'd say. And, there are other paths, even within the Invisibles. Fanny and Jim Crow both can find Jill. She still knows where the healer cells are. You're opportunity may be to take another path, with this cell or another one."
Dane seemed to think about that for a while. "Your friend Jill. Did she get abducted by the talking lion, too? Get an opportunity and all that?"
"Yes, the second time it happened to me."
"Hmph. Seems to do good things for people."
Dane McGowan / Jack Frost really does say fuck a lot. It's his first word in the series. Early letter columns are full of people complaining about how completely unlikeable he is (although I didn't think he was that bad even at first). I actually had to go back and make sure I had enough "fucks" in his dialogue.
King Mob is actually a very cool character (violence and all), but I don't think Eustace would like him very much. In particular, Eustace retains the view of hallucinogens he got from travelling the southwest in the 50's, and finds hippy and rave culture attitudes to be tiresome at best. King Mob has more respect for the drugs than I let on here, but the circumstances I have in mind for their meeting would not showcase his better tendencies.
The revealing of s. primus at the 1996 meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is covered here, including the assertion that John Ostrom was in shock afterwards. My interpretation of what that meant is entirely fictional, and I mean no disrespect to the late Dr. Ostrom.
The Pitts S2-B was a very well known model of stunt plane.
BTW, I am particularly interested if the Invisibles characters and story come across reasonably well or just as a confusing mess. You're not supposed to know exactly what's going on (Eustace doesn't, and as we see, Dane isn't sure that he does either). But the idea of introducing, even indirectly, Aslan and the reluctant, recalcitrant protagonist of the Invisibles, with a much older Eustace as looking in from the outside, just wouldn't go away.