Of Light, Shadow and Love: Volume 1

Prev | Index | Next

Chapter 4

Shadowdancer's Bad Day

“Shadowdancer?”

A hand on her shoulder gently shook her awake, pulling her out of half-formed dreams involving glowing feathers, and a familiar voice.

“Shadowdancer, wake up.”

Eyes flashed open, and Shadowdancer jerked upright in her chair. Mortified, she looked up at her boss, Chief Gooley. A piece of paper had stuck to her cheek. Totally embarrassed, she yanked it off and crumpled it in her hand. She had fallen asleep! Her eyes flicked over to the wall clock. It was 2:30 in the afternoon. She’d slept for over an hour! She groaned. “Chief, I can explain . . . .”

The Chief, however, did not look in the least bit angry. In fact, he looked worried. “Shadowdancer, you’ve never fallen asleep on the job before.”

“Ah . . . ah, I know, Chief . . . . I promise it won’t happen again!” Ashes and thorns, things hadn’t gone right at all today. First she’d fallen asleep in her bath, causing her to be two hours late for work. The train she needed to take to work had a technical problem and was briefly out of service, so she took the Shadows to work. She didn’t find her sketchbook there, and the next splice design was in it.

“Listen, Shadowdancer... I think you should take a vacation. You’ve been overworking yourself. I don’t want to hear that you dropped because of exhaustion...”

“But Chief, I’m not . . . .”

“You’re one of the most exemplary splicers we’ve got. I don’t want you burning your brains out when you’re so obviously exhausted!”

“I’m really sorry but . . . “

“No buts, Shadowdancer. Take a paid leave. A month’s worth, heavens know you’ve earned it. Nobody knows better than I how dedicated you are to your work . . . ,” he raised his eyebrows at her, reminding her of her latest works. “I already wrote out the authorization form and signed it.” With the decisiveness of a true businessman, he reached into his suit pocket and handed her an envelope with the notice. “I don’t want to see you here on official business until next month, or you’re fired, hear? Now come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Totally dazed by this declaration, Shadowdancer gathered up her things and slid them into a small fashionable backpack. Forced leave . . . ! She tidied her papers and slid them into the file cabinet, fully aware that Chief Gooley was waiting by the door.

If she could have died of embarrassment, she would have. She desperately wished she could step into a shadow and escape, but that was a bit of information about herself that Gooley didn’t need to know. She liked to keep the majority of Megatokyo unaware of her true magical nature and let them pin it down to her being a servant of Miho. It made it that much easier for her.

To her utter horror, Gooley escorted her off the premises, telling her to write a postcard if she decided to take a vacation out somewhere. Maybe she could visit Mt. Fuji, or go to an onsen[1] “I hear they have spectacular sunrises there,” he mentioned. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Chief Gooley waved his hand vaguely toward the afternoon sun. Shadowdancer sighed. She’d said she liked watching the sun rise as an excuse for coming in so early, so often.

Chief Gooley had no idea he was sending her into a month of utter hell. Shadowdancer pondered that thought morosely as she shuffled off crossing the street and headed to the railway station. She was normally a workaholic, but now, she needed the job as a distraction . . . from thinking about him, her lost beloved. The recent flashbacks lurked in the back of her mind like a beast waiting to strike. And then there was the lovely confusion with Dr. Lightsider.

She hadn’t wanted to think about the doctor at all . . . but somehow, the revelation that he could not look upon a woman without passing out tweaked her curiosity. It sounded strongly of a curse, a powerful one. Was he one of the ones bearing the “Curse of the Kami?” Or was it a lesser curse, one placed by say, an oni, or a human? Or, was it a vengeance seal? Why was he able to look upon her?

Whatever the reason, it made her want to break the curse, so she could look at its mechanics. She hadn’t broken any good curses in the past fifty years or so, the last one being a vengeance seal placed on a mansion and the village near it by a murdered girl. It had been a thrill, to break that one . . . .

Eh? Shadowdancer looked up. The area near the subway had turned into an image of apocalypse so popularly portrayed in futuristic sci-fi movies. The buildings looked like building blocks that had been kicked over, there was water everywhere in huge puddles, and cars were smoking, some of them obviously crushed by some great force. A truck lay on its side down the street, giving all the appearance of having been thrown.

Great Miho, I was sleeping THAT deeply??

Shadow thought for a moment, and realized that even Chief Gooley didn’t tell her about an authorized rampage. Come to think of it, I didn’t hear of a scheduled rampage in this area . . . it was supposed to be elsewhere, right? Shadowdancer leaped lightly from one pile of rubble to another, her slight weight stirring nothing. A moment later, she moaned in dismay.

The railway had been smashed. The station itself was half-missing, and the rails themselves had been twisted and crushed, as if they had been straw.

“Great. I don’t want to take the Shadow Walk or fly home! Can my day get any worse?”

Crunch.

Shadowdancer’s heart sank. Wasn’t that something she learned from her Master never ever to say? Never ever say those words. They bring the pranking of the Fates upon you.

Shadowdancer turned, seeing nothing but a great lumpy pile of dark stone. She blinked, and, carefully looking, saw that it was not a pile of rubble she was looking at, but a giant, reptilian foot, with great, reddened claws.

She took a couple of leaps backward in disgust. The beast’s claws were soaked in blood. Probably from having kicked some poor person in the gut. Eww . . . . Painful way to die.

The tiny dark woman looked up, reached behind her and summoned her staff. She identified that the 75-foot tall monster before her as one of the Rent-A-Zillas[2]. It was a little smaller than the Zillae she was used to, but it still could squash her flat if she wasn’t careful. It held a large Ninja Turtle bedsheet in one paw, and something crumpled in the other.

“You have bad timing, lizard! A fight is just what I need, to work out this hell of a day! And for wrecking the railway line I need to get home, I must punish you!” She whipped into her ready-stance, the chimes on her staff jangling. “Being taken down by a mononoke warrior is more than you deserve!” She grinned, eager for a battle now. This certainly helped take her mind off things!

In reply, the beast threw back its head and roared its own battle cry. Then it bent its head over her again, teeth bared.

An energy blast. Shadowdancer thought. At this range, I have to time the spell . . . . She began to murmur the shortcut version, waiting for the whoosh of energy and breath that would unleash upon her an inferno powerful enough to melt stone.

fe

Inspector Sonoda Masamichi was a man who prided himself on bouncing back no matter what life threw at him. Considering his job in the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division[3], half the time, it literally meant bouncing back from whatever was thrown into him, or what he was thrown into.

Sonoda’s thoughts were interrupted by the breep of the communications unit on his control panel. With a flick of his finger, he answered it. “Inspector Sonoda here.”

He listened, his irritation growing. “What do you mean there is an unauthorized monster rampage there? We just got the place cleaned up two weeks ago! We promised Gooley that we wouldn’t pull any rampages in the area for a while - it’s too dangerous for the equipment there.” a long pause. “What do you mean, I am the only available unit near there!? How the hell-“ he broke off. “Damnit, all right. Sonoda out.”

The Inspector leaned back against his harness and scowled. Then, he smiled. “Just what the doctor ordered.”

fe

Shadowdancer tensed, hearing the gale-like inhalation of the beast’s breath, and watched the giant orange eyes close. Her timing had to be perfect, the word for releasing her spell on her lips. It had been too long since she felt the rush of being in battle. Her smile was wide with anticipation.

So, understandably, the little elfin sorceress was completely unprepared when she was all but drowned by a teardrop the size of a horse.

“What the . . . ! GLUB” Shadowdancer shook her bangs out of her eyes, gasping for breath. A low, ululating sound shook the ruined buildings and rattled her with the vibration. Salt water stung her eyes, and more giant globules of water fell to the ground. To her alarm, the giant reptile toppled forward, and she scrambled out of the way. The Zilla fell to its knees and the great paws covered its scaly face. That bone-rattling sound came from it again, and in shock, the elfin woman sat down on the ruined street.

The Zilla was crying!

“Oh, by all the Kami and by the ribbon of Miho-sama, don’t tell me this was just an oversized temper tantrum?!” Shadowdancer exclaimed.

Her only reply was the pitiful sobbing of the Zilla.

The last of her desire for battle drained away as surely as the tears poured from the Zilla’s eyes. Feeling awkward, Shadowdancer used her staff to pull her to her feet before banishing it. She walked up to the Zilla, who continued to sob up a literal storm, and gently patted its paw. “There, there . . . daijobu, daijobu . . . .” Honestly . . . . One moment I was ready to thrash you, the next I’m comforting you. Shadow sighed, squashing the thought of  “Can this get any stranger?” She still was still jinxed from the first time.

A curious grunt answered her, and two eyes almost as large as the elfin woman opened. A whiny sound whistled between the Zilla’s fangs and Shadowdancer realized that the creature was trying to ask her something. She searched her memory for a spell about languages and enacted it.

Five minutes later, she found herself looking at the crumpled paper. It was a photograph the size of a billboard, but still a photograph. In it was a picture of another Zilla. “So that’s your ex?” she asked. A nod of the Zilla’s head preceded another flood of tears. Shadowdancer found herself washed down the street three times while listening to the Zilla’s tale of sorrow.

The fourth time she got up and said “Look . . . , I know losing a boyfriend isn’t easy . . . .”

A whining yowl answered her.

“I know what it is like to lose the one you like.” she held up her ring to the Zilla’s eye. “So I know what you’re going through . . . .”

The Zilla’s cry of sympathy blew Shadowdancer back a good ten feet, the elf rolling to cushion the blow. At least now I’m dry again . . . . She stood up and yelled, “My point is . . . you’re going to get into trouble with the police because of that jerk! Look what you did!”

A quizzical growl answered her. Incredulous, the dark elf burst out “You mean you didn’t even notice your surroundings?!”

The Zilla screamed in horror, shattering the few windows that were left, and stood up. She looked around at the damage she had caused, not noticing that her spiked, swishing tail was finishing off the buildings around her. Panicked, the Zilla started to run in little circles, wailing loudly in dismay.

Shadowdancer bounced on the shattered asphalt, unable to regain her footing due to the localized earthquake. It also didn’t help that the epicenter was moving back and forth in front of her. She wondered what else the Fates had in store for her.

fe

Inspector Sonoda urged his ‘labor into a faster pace, the Zilla firmly in his sights. The size told him it wasn’t a fully adult Zilla. It was a young one, a teenager. He looked forward to arresting the rampaging Zilla. A small part of him almost wished it would resist arrest. What in the world is it doing though? It’s just staying in one place!

When he arrived in the street that the Zilla teenager was reducing to rubble, his heart stopped, the usual announcement of his presence and demanding that the destruction of the surroundings stop blocking his throat. A woman was kneeling helplessly on the ground, looking like she’d crawled out from underneath a building, unable to stand because of the Zilla’s footsteps. To his horror, the Zilla lunged for the woman, shrieking in apparent bloodlust.

Sonoda was moving before he realized what he was doing. He dove for the girl, snatching her up in the ‘labor’s giant hand and rolling out of the way of the raging Zilla. It was only in retrospect that he was able to recall that the ‘labors shouldn’t have been nearly as quick or responsive as that, really. He wondered if his moment of panic helped.

 “This is Inspector Sonoda of the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division!” Sonoda announced over the powered armor’s loudspeaker system. “Cease this unauthorized rampage at once! I am placing you under arrest for . . . .”

The Zilla shrieked and wailed, stepping forward and reaching for him. “Do not attempt to resist arrest! Resisting will make it much worse for you!” Sonoda warned, moving so that the labor shielded the girl still in its fist. “You are under arrest for unauthorized and unscheduled destruction of private property, and endangerment of human life . . . .”

Whack!

Sonoda broke off as something hit him hard against the head, something small and pebble-like.

Sonoda turned to look down at where the attack had originated. To his surprise, it was the girl. She held a roll of mints and was ready to flick another at him. “What is the meaning of this?! I’m trying to save you from being eaten!”

“I’m in no danger of being eaten!” the woman yelled up at him. “We were just talking . . . .”

“You are the one who instigated the Zilla rampage?!” Sonoda brought the girl up to his level, shock beginning to bleed into fury. The Zilla roared in anger, stepping toward the policeman and the ‘labor again.

“No!” the woman shouted, the gemstone in her forehead flaring in the sunlight. “Lizzette, stay right where you are! I’m not hurt, see?” she frantically waved her hands, then turned back to the confused cop. “We were talking! I was just telling Lizzette there that she was going to get into trouble with you people! She panicked, because . . . .”

“Stop shouting! Here, I’ll bring you closer so you won’t have to scream at me.” When Sonoda had, he asked her what her name was.

“Shadowdancer Duskstar. I work at SSTI.”

“Good. Now, explain. Quickly.”

fe

Sonoda Masamichi of the MTCD felt that he had seen it all . . . until today. He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Let me get this straight. She didn’t know she wasn’t in her own room when she started her tantrum?”

“Yes sir.” the woman replied, sitting in the palm of the labor’s hand. “See, it was her first boyfriend, and they’d just broken up . . . she was so devastated she didn’t really notice her surroundings. But, she really didn’t mean to cause all this. Believe me, Inspector, she was very much afraid of the consequences.”

“But she was trying to trample you,” Sonoda told her.

“No. She wasn’t. Lizzie was panicking, running around in circles, but she never came close to me.”

A quiet, apprehensive yowl interrupted them. “I’ll handle it, Lizzie dear.” Shadowdancer soothed, and the frightened Zilla girl went back to making less than successful attempts at piecing together a building.

“Why didn’t you run away?” the bewildered policeman asked.

“Uh . . . I also thought she was attacking me at first. But, she stopped short of me and started to cry, so I asked her what was wrong. In fact, we were just about finished when you came in.”

Sonoda perched his glasses on top of his head and rubbed his eyes. “Well, thank you, Ms. Duskstar, making this arrest much easier.”

“I would like it if you didn’t arrest her . . . .”

“What?”

“It’s her first offense,” Shadowdancer pointed out. “Think of it as a case of vandalism.”

Sonoda looked around him. “Some vandalism.”

“I recall that the punishment for vandalism is a fine and community service . . . .” Sonoda’s flat stare told her that she was right, so she continued brightly, “We just need to calm her down a bit more. She’s just a kid, really.”

“And how, Madam, do you propose to do that?” Sonoda drawled, not sure if he was dreaming this. It was too surreal . . . .

She crooked her finger at him. Sonoda leaned over and she whispered.

“You want me to what?!

fe

“So, since you’re still a juvenile, and it’s your first offense, and since you really didn’t mean to wreck this area, you won’t be sent to jail. However, you do have to pay a fine and render community service, as well as help rebuild.”

Finishing his explanation, Sonoda sat on the edge of the roof, bracing his feet against the wall, and took a bite out of his ice cream. Lizzette was happily digging into an ice cream cup the size of a train boxcar with a shovel-size spoon. Chocolate fudge.

Lizzette growled eagerly, bobbing her massive head up and down. She chattered at a length, then ate more ice cream.

“I know you’ll do a good job of it, Lizzie.” Shadowdancer said, smiling. She still looked like a wreck, but had managed to tie her hair into a loose foxtail, borrowing Sonoda’s hair tie. She had scrapes and bruises from being rolled down the street too many times but seemed none the worse for wear.

The Inspector eyed the strange, pointy-eared woman out of the corner of his eye. On her suggestion, he had asked to have the necessary papers brought to them, to be signed by Lizzette. The papers to be signed by her parents were sent to them. Undoubtedly, they were already on their way. Sonoda also requested that no other officers come, other than to deliver the necessary paperwork. The young Zilla was nervous enough. He also reluctantly ordered the ice cream. “Comfort food does wonders,” Shadowdancer had said. After just two bites of her ice cream, the young Zilla had indeed calmed down enough to offer a meek apology to the rattled Sonoda.

Certainly a change of pace, Sonoda thought, inviting brain freeze by taking a large bite out of his cone. He was used to most of his collars resisting arrest. Lizzette was really a sweet young Zilla girl, and he listened as Shadowdancer reassured their charge of that. She’d find better-scaled men later on. After all, she had such a nicely tended hide and bright white teeth and there were her stylishly painted claws . . . . Sonoda shook his head, hiding a smile with his cone. Teenagers are teenagers, no matter what species they are.

As he watched the elf and the Zilla converse, an idea began to take root and blossom in his mind. Perhaps he could finally wrest something good out of this miserable week.

Lizzette’s parents arrived to pick her up, frankly mortified about their daughter’s behavior. Sonoda reassured them that as long as Lizzette performed her services in apology to the community, everything would be all right.

Lizzette picked Shadowdancer up and nuzzled her. Sonoda winced, since the little woman all but vanished in the young Zilla’s paw. The older two Zillas thanked her effusively for helping calm Lizzette down, and thanked the bemused Inspector for being so considerate. Shadowdancer was set on her feet next to Sonoda, and then the Zilla family left.

“I have to say, Ms. Duskstar. That was some very fast thinking you did there. Normally, I would have simply brought her down to the station and let them sort it out. They probably would have given her a much heavier charge.” The Inspector smiled at her. “What in the world possessed you to try talk to her anyway? Most people run away from a Rent-A-Zilla on rampage.”

Shadowdancer quirked a smile. “I always was a sucker for crying kids.”

Sonoda laughed and clapped her on the shoulder. “Well, thank . . . .”

Shadowdancer immediately went down, falling forward with a low cry of pain. Alarmed, the Inspector caught her. “What’s wrong?!”

“Um . . . she broke my arm and a few ribs when she picked me up and nuzzled me.” Even through the pain and the tears streaming down her face, she smiled. “I didn’t want to upset her . . . it was an accident, after all!”

The inspector grimaced. “Very noble, Ms. Duskstar . . . all the same, we need to get you to a hospital.” He picked her up carefully, but Shadow still squeaked in surprise. “Please excuse my being too forward.”

“Ah, daijobu, daijobu! It’s quite all right . . . thank you . . . ,” she winced. “I don’t think I could walk anyway . . . .”

Inwardly, Shadowdancer sighed. She could have easily healed herself, but she was a little reluctant to use her magic in front of the inspector. She wasn’t sure if she needed a license for that kind of thing, and she certainly didn’t have one, as far as she knew.

“The UFL hospital is very close by.” Inspector Sonoda settled her onto the palm of his ‘Labor again before hopping into the cockpit. “They’ll get you patched up in no time.”

fe

Sonoda made his labor crouch down and lowered its hand to ground level before clambering out of the cockpit. In an impressive display of agility, he jumped down, landing neatly and nearly soundlessly on his feet. He jogged over to the labor’s hand, looking at the little dark elven woman lying there. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

“We’re at the hospital now, Ms. Duskstar,” the Inspector informed her as several Rei nurses came out with a gurney. Two of them lifted her onto the gurney, keeping her as straight as possible. As they wheeled her in, a Rei nurse asked him for details of her injury.

”Some ribs, and one of her arms.”

”Cause of injury?”

Sonoda looked at Shadowdancer, and said “An accident. You heard about the Zilla rampage . . . ?”

”Ah. One of those that didn’t get away fast enough,” one of the other Reis said, as they plunged headlong into a labyrinth of corridors.

They wheeled her into a room. “We have plenty to work with thanks to that,” one of the Reis said. “Will you stay with her until we can get someone to her?” They transferred her onto a bed, and set up an IV. Another nurse cleaned Shadowdancer’s face with a warm washcloth.

”That’s okay. I can write my report while I wait.” Sonoda pulled out a little palmtop computer, about the size of a pocketbook. “Right . . . .” He settled into the chair next to her and started to record the information he needed. “I’ll have to go back to the station to get some papers for you to sign after this. It shouldn’t take long. And I’m almost certain you’ll be out by evening, and completely healed within a week . The nurses here have a very good reputation with duct tape.”

Shadowdancer nodded, but thought, If you left, I’d be out of here in less than a minute! She sighed and settled back into the pillows, resigning herself to this whim of the Fates. She’d practically asked for this, anyhow.

fe

Dr. Will Trent faded into a room, and walked over to his next patient. He concentrated on the poor girl before him. Hmm . . . some sort of bug in her system. Good, this wouldn’t be that hard. The last patient had been a girl with a diddleybob embedded in the connector thingie near her elbow. That’d been a pain getting out!

Hm . . . , he wondered . . . .

Instead of touching and healing as usual, he let his consciousness sink into the blood stream. A large, alien-looking globule rushed through him. That wasn’t . . . there! That rather small little guy, latching onto the big red thing there. A sniper rifle materialized in his hands, and he picked the little guy off.

He lowered the rifle, chuckling, and swam over to the dead bug. So, symbolic fighting could be done here. In actuality, all he’d really done was use his healing power to destroy the bug. But it was so much more fun doing it this way! He shot down the blood stream, a hunter on the trail of his prey . . . .

He grinned, as another dropped dead, and sent out his senses to find the rest. Well! Only a few more to go! He’d thought there’d have been more than just four hundred, but evidently this bug didn’t spread fast. Lucky for the girl. He swam up through - what was this, the left arm? Yeah, near the shoulders. He kicked a bit harder to speed up. Best to hurry - the doctor glanced at his watch..He should have a couple ‘nother minutes to catch these last . . . .

Whoa!

A HUGE mass of bugs thundered past him, leaving a trail of dead and crippled white blood cells in their path.

What th . . . . How?! There were only a few left! And not even four hundred after the whole day! How in the world . . . ? Damn it!

Clips of ammo belted themselves around him, while grenades hooked onto his pant loops. He grimly jammed a clip into the Uzi that appeared in his right hand.

I guess now the real fighting begins. God grant me the strength to win. Double-checking everything, he shot down through the bloodstream.

Will fired shot after shot, decimating hundreds, but leaving thousands. He tossed another grenade. The huge explosion barely made a dent in their numbers.

Ok, time to stop playing. Shouldn’t have in the first place.

He jumped back to reality, and began healing in earnest, sweeping the lad’s whole body with healing energies. Yet for every bug he annihilated, three came back in its place, and to make things worse, they were beginning to resist his healing! He concentrated harder, putting more and more power into it. White blood cells multiplied in a frenzy, and regular cells strengthened their defenses. Slowly, very slowly, he began to push the viruses back, crushing any that fought back.

An hour later, he leaned back, wiping his brow. He should call a nurse . . . he needed a break. Carefully, he created a field of healing power around the remaining germs. The few that tried to break through were incinerated, but the rest stayed calmly in bounds, multiplying.

Strange, he thought. It’s as if . . . as if they’re learning . . . but bugs can’t do that . . . can they?

He shrugged the question off. That was for the nurses to take care of. The field should hold while they took care of the germs, so . . . he staggered to his feet, and walked out the door. Spotting a nurse, he stopped her, and asked her to take care of the lass. Then he began to make his way down to the lounge.

“Doctor?”

Another nurse interrupted him in the hallway.

“Er . . . yes?”

“We’ve got a female patient in Room 327 with multiple fractures and broken bones from a Zilla rampage. Dr. Lightsider’s not here at the moment - could you please take a look?”

He sighed.

“Just some broken bones, you say?” Shouldn’t be too hard . . . .

“Yes. And some fractures.”

“All right, then. If you could show me to her room . . . ?”

Sonoda got up as Will entered to room.

“You are the doctor?”

Will nodded. “Yes. My name is Dr. Trent.”

“Excellent. I trust that she will be in good hands. Ms. Duskstar, I wish you a swift recovery. I shall return as soon as possible. Good day.”

Sonoda gave respectful nod, and left the room. Will turned towards Shadowdancer. She winced as he placed his hands on her arm.

“Broken there too, eh? Let’s see if we can’t fix that.”

Summoning his strength, he poured healing into her body. She gasped from the sudden feeling of cold, as her arm realigned and knit itself back together. As the bones settled, he turned his attention to the rest of her body.

A leg, some ribs, and some minor fractures in her shoulder and thigh. Well. Not a picnic party, but not too difficult.

He quickly fixed her shoulder, and began to work on her ribs. He had just finished the second of four when he suddenly jerked to attention.

“It’s gone!”

“What’s gone?”

He glanced down at Shadowdancer, and realized that he’d spoken aloud.

“The field’s down, it’s gone, and that’s not possible, unless . . . .”

His eyes widened. Grabbing a nearby phone, he dialed up the main desk.

“I’ve got an emergency in another room, please send a doctor down to 327 to take over for me!”

“Wha . . . .”

“Thank you!” He dropped the phone, and raced out of the room. Shadowdancer stared after him, more out of curiosity than anything else.

My. That was . . . interesting.

Will ran down the corridor, all but cursing. Bursting into the boy’s room, he skidded to a halt.

The nurse he’d talked to earlier lay unconscious on the floor.

He hurriedly ran to the fangirl’s side and began probing with his mind. The virus was running rampant now, much more numerous than before. He quickly began pouring healing back into the boy’s body when suddenly it felt like an ice pick had been slammed into his head.

Dr. Trent fell to the floor, reeling from the pain piercing through his brain.

N-n-no . . . D-dammit!

He wrenched his senses back together, and forced the pain out. Fighting for every breath, he pushed back against this new force, and took a hard swipe at the germs. The force faltered, and he pushed his advantage. Shielding the entire boy with a field of healing power, he began cutting through the germs like a madman, slicing furiously at any he could reach. They fought back, hammering against the field so hard that he was forced to place all of his attention on keeping it up.

Dammit, I’m not a psychic! My power wasn’t meant to block mental attacks! Any more of this, and I’m dead!

Pushing everything he had into the field, he reached for the nearby phone.

“H-H-hello? T-this is W-Will T-trent,” the doctor stammered brokenly. “I’ve got a virus gone ps-psychic! I need help! I c-can’t h-heal and fight at the s-same t-time! Room 216 - h-hurry!”

fe

Shadowdancer felt the entity growing. Its need to devour and multiply was primal and relentless. Despite its base nature, it seemed to shimmer with intelligence, a sentience that was growing.

The dark elf picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. She couldn’t leave anyway, not until Sonoda came back. Certainly, she was not the kind to simply watch while innocent people got hurt and killed.

She stepped into the darkness, searching for the largest spot of fear. She felt the panic below her. Here in the shadows, she felt the emotions of others as she walked. She just had to find the one who felt the greatest panic.

The fear was so strong it seemed to shine like a star in the eternal night that was the Shadows. The Shadows sensed her need and carried her to the fear.

Tentatively, Shadowdancer reached out with her extended awareness and brushed the thoughts of the panicking Will and learned what she needed to know.

Shadowdancer frowned. She was a little out of practice, using psi-abilities. She had been trained in them, of course, but she hadn’t used them in so long . . . .

Thought shapes reality.

The memory of her master’s voice, echoing through the ages, brought her calm. Mastering her will, she reached out, remembering the lessons of discipline that allowed her to harness her mind.

She touched the group mind of the virus. A virus that evolved like this? Fascinating. She saw that in a group they were strong. They were like any other disease in principle . . . feeding upon health until there was nothing left. They were a group . . . with single stronger viruses. Like a wolf pack, she thought, with stronger, Alpha wolves.

The analogy of the bundle of sticks came to her mind, and Shadowdancer smiled as she stepped from the shadows. In that instant, she closed her mental fist around several of the key Alphas, squashing them as the vermin they were.

In that instant, the struggling Will Trent felt the sudden weakening of the virus. He didn’t ask why, or wonder. He simply reacted, reaching out with his own power of healing to destroy his foe.

“Don’t slacken, there are more yet.” The doctor glanced up from his place on the floor to see a woman standing there. He recognized her as the woman who had been brought in for broken bones.

“Who . . . ?”

“Let me help you. Time your attacks to mine!” The woman closed her eyes, and the gem on her forehead shone with dark blue light. Again, Trent felt the weakening of his foe, and lashed out at it.

fe

Some time later, Will leaned back with a weary, yet relieved sigh. After holding his head for a second, he looked up.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

Shadowdancer stared at him, agape. “What?! After all that, that’s all you can think of?!”

He grinned. “Thank you very much for your help. I would have been lost without it.” He glanced at her leg. “I take it you healed it yourself? Lightsider’s the only other healer here . . . .”

“You bother with things like that at a time like this?!” she cut him off incredulously.

Will’s eyebrow piqued. “A time like this? What do you mean? We’ve beaten the virus, and I haven’t heard of any other special emergencies . . . .”

“We haven’t ‘beaten’ the virus,” she said coldly. “This was only the first case. Can’t you feel it spreading all about us?!”

A look of shock flashed across his face briefly, and then settled into grim concern. “I’m a healer, not a telepath. I can only sense damage on contact. Can you tell me where it is now?”

Shadowdancer closed her eyes, and reached out with her mind. The darkness . . . the fear and pain were greatest . . . there. She opened her eyes, and gestured towards the darkened part of the room.

“Huh?”

“Come on!” She sighed in frustration, and pulled him into the Shadows. The darkness welcomed them into its depths.

fe

Oookay... thought William, as he floated in nothingness. This is officially freaky . . . though it’s sorta like . . . .

He crumpled to the ground in pain as the room flared into existence, for the virus knew him as the murderer of their kin. Shadowdancer calmly stepped into the light and blocked their attacks with no apparent effort.

“We’re here.” she said simply. Will unfolded as the sensation of icicles slamming into his brain dissipated.

“R-really?” he said hoarsely, “I-I hadn’t noticed.”

She gave him a look, which he promptly ignored as he made his way to the young fangirl’s bedside. Strange . . . . She didn’t seem to be in that much pain. As he placed his hands on her, he saw why. In her right hand she clutched a crumpled paper with an agonizingly-drawn stick figure on it. A Dom fan. They usually had a high resistance to pain.

He settled his breathing.

“Ready?” he asked. She nodded.

They began what would soon become a familiar routine, as the virus raged its way though the hospital. 

Prev | Index | Next