Loa Blood

[SwampThing]

Kell looks deep into the heart of the ice cavern, into Mary's memory. Far in the back of the cavern, a tiny fleck in the darkest corner of the painting, he sees the hint of flowers. He can barely make out the shape of the woaman in white, her dark hair trailing out beind her, wreathed in flowers and frozen in the wall of ice. And in this tiny painting detail, the woman is looking right at Kell.

He hears her words in his mind. "Kell Claudas. You are gazing into Mary's heart, a heart of ice. Know this, that you and she are destined for each other. And, be warned, for I have seen worlds beyond number ruined by your hand."

And behind her, deep, deep within the ice, Kell can see another world, stars, another sun. But where the Earth should be is just a small cluster of asteroids.

" . . . last name?" asks Taela. She is standing beside Kell, breaking his concentration from the vision. "And where was she born? Did she attend an art institute? Is the similarity to the anomynous ice cavern paintings of the post-war years in Locrir deliberate? Are you a relative? How do you know Mary? You're the Coda super-hero, aren't you? The healer? Is Mary at all involved in your work? How long has she been in Bay City? How old is she?"

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Mary

Mary came into the apartment happily holding two sets of keys when she saw the woman with Kell. She stumbled, mentally, and her grin dropped for a moment to be replaced by a fake greetings smile.

"Oh, Kell, I'm sorry, I didn't know you had a guest."

 

[Domhnaill]

Dalriada

He swore inwardly as he made his way to the facility kitchens and the sewer entrance he had used to infiltrate the facility, bypassing the automated security systems. That was the last time he'd offer a hand to the Coda. They were just as bad as the Bees or anyone else, trying to control the unbelievably dangerous Loa Blood.
He crept through the silent corridors to the maintenance room and pried open the hatch, before descending the grimy ladder into the darkness below. He hadn't planned on exiting this way. Who knew what lurked in the sewers of Bay City?

 

[Lady_Siren]

Nikki looked at the gun raising on eyebrow then took in all the rest of his weapons. She rolled her eyes and looked back at ghost. "Fine you want to find this women? Who better to help you then the bees. The Bees are an underground organization, we have arms that reach all over this planet. If you help us then we will help you. We are merely an organization that believes the governent has no right over substances such as Loa. We believe everyone has a right to study it. So we go to extra lengths to help those people. I cannot tell you anymore. Nor will I tell you who I am. All I can say is that with our help finding your lost love will be easy work. As our ally you will have all our resources at your disposal. It is entirely up to you. If you wish to know more come with me, If not then go on your way. Your petty weapons do not scare me." With a wave of her hand she sent the gun in his hand flying. "And I can do that to the rest of them faster then you can blink." She smiled awaiting his answer. She had been training for a while now and her telekenesis was getting easier and easier to control. Though the whole blowing up thing was still hard to control and as for her astral projection... well that just left her ready to pass out afterwards.

 

[SwampThing]

The sewers of Bay City

Dalraida moves along the edge of the drain tunnel. Dirty water drips in the darkness. The tunnel system, linking sewers, drains, abandoned subway tracks, and demolished buildings is extensive, and well traveled. Dalraida is miles away from the Coda complex when he notices that he's being followed. The figure is just at the edge of his vision, a dark shape in a black tunnel.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Kell

Kell stared, eyes unfocused, at the painting.

...it's so cold.

"Know this, that you and she are destined for each other. And, be warned, for I have seen worlds beyond number ruined by your hand..."

...Mary... you have to help me...

...what am I? What am I capable of? What are these Loa, exactly?

And why do I get the strange feeling this has happened before? Or... that it will happen later?

What am I THINKING?

What... just... happened...

The woman had been talking to him.

"How old is she?" Kell repeated. "She's... older than you'd think..."

How old is she?

Mary, before you tell me who you are, tell me who I am...

The sound of Mary's voice drew him out of his reverie.

"Mary!" he said, turning, sounding almost relieved to see her. "Ah... this woman... she's come about the paintings..." He smiled softly but sincerely, almost as if he had been afraid she wouldn't return, for some reason. It was then that he really looked at her, really -- she looked much nicer after she had cleaned up the night before. Her smile wasn't genuine, of course, but he knew what her real smile was like, and he could substitute that.

She really was beautiful. Slender, looking somehow soft; was he attracted most of all to women he could protect?

 

[SwampThing]

Taela held out her hand to Mary.

"Mary, they're stunning. Just exquisite. I'm Taela Barnes, from 'Art in Argo', and I'm just dying to find out every little thing about you."

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Mary took the offered hand as biefly as possiable.

"That's nice. Did you have an appointment I wasn't aware of? Call ahead?" She glanced at Kell who shook his head. "Take any photographs?" Again Kell shook his head.

"Was there any indication whatsoever that you would be stopping by today, or that you'd be welcome, other than my friend opening the door?"

The reporter opened her mouth to say something, but Mary firmly gripped her elbow and steered her towards the door. "And I'm willing to bet that you didn't present a press card or identifcation of any kind to my friend either. Interviews are by appointment only, and made through the gallery where I'll be showing."

As they stood, Mary on one side of the threshold and Taela on the other. "Quite possiably the only way I will entertain the idea of ever having an interview with you personally, however, is if you tell me how you got my address in the first place, since I've just moved and left instructions not to give it out. And which is why my number isn't listed."

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Kell gaped at Mary, shocked.

"M-Mary, y-you shouldn't..."

He stopped.

Heart of ice...

Who are you hiding from?

He looked at Taela apologetically, and winced sympathetically (though perhaps a bit dramatically) and gestured gingerly, as if it would be a good idea for her to leave before things got worse.

 

[SwampThing]

Taela apologizes quickly, and leaves.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Kell waited until the door was closed, almost trembling as he listened to the steps fade away, and then he grabbed Mary by the shoulders and turned her around. There was no anger or frustration in his eyes -- they seemed surprised. Or, was it a look of fear that was just being kept locked underneath the calm surface of his placid yet solid hazel eyes...

"Mary, you have to tell me," he said, absolutely serious. "Who is the woman in white? Why is everything ice? Why is all this so familiar?" He shook his head, staring directly into her eyes. "I don't need to know everything about you. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. I'll protect you all the same. You can trust me, above anything else. I'm warmer protection than an ice cavern, I assure you."

If you trust me, I'll trust myself. No matter what that woman said.

He didn't really know what he was talking about. But, then again, he had no idea what the hell was going on. He had stopped caring what was real and what was fake when he had become infected.

No -- when they had died, he had stopped caring...

"Mary, truly, I'm now just a high school drop-out who ran away because I couldn't accept that my entire close family was gone, and I couldn't protect any of them, because I never said things when I should have, never was brave enough, and never fast enough, and never determined enough. So much so that I'm not sure whether I fear failure or success more. No matter what, though, no matter to any of that, because I can be strong for you. For my friends. But, if I'm going to protect you..."

He moved closer, so his face was almost touching hers.

"...you should tell me what I'm protecting you from."

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Mary

Mary seemed surprised and took a few steps away from him.

"Gods, Kell, what did that woman say to you? What woman in white?" She looked at the keys in her hand and tossed a set on the counter. Happy surprises: 0, more mayhem: 1.

"There's your set of keys for the car I bought." She shrugged. "I'll show it to you later. Right now I think I just want to be alone for a while."

She grabbed a soda from the fridge and closed the door to the studio.

She leaned against it. Wasn't it bad enough that people were going to be hounding her, but she couldn't even have a safe haven at home? It was time to move. Who else knew where she was now... and Kell was even on their side. Burrowing for answers either she couldn't or wouldn't give.

She opened the soda and drank it straight down. She hadn't eaten in a few days, didn't feel the need to, but maybe it was time to fuel up again.

 

[amon_darknight]

Ghost

It was interesting to see that she was not afraid of the firepower that Ghost had. He knew she had immense power within her, he could feel the LOA power in her, but the only thing he didn’t know was what to expect from her, so he should be careful around her, he took in everything she said and shook his head and laughed, he laughed even when she used her power to knock the gun out of his hand. Well he now knew what she was capable of, well a little. He could have run and caught the gun in midair, but he didn’t want to use energy for nothing. He only looked to her through his sunglasses. The voices in his head were telling him to fight, but again Ghost fought the voices back and he remained sane.

“Well I have thought about everything you have told me and I see it as bullshit. You say you want to make the LOA so everyone can study it, but I know what you really want it for, and that is power and control. Whoever your boss is lied to your face, and it is clearly obvious that you don’t know the truth. I don’t want to mess with you or your people, but I do need help in finding Aya, but I don’t think she wants to be found.”

As he spoke to you, he stared only into your eyes and you could see sorrow even through his sunglasses.

“I do not wish to be part of corruption and evil, I am from a place that was invaded and destroyed by a army of some sort. I was from Marrow Island, that is the other reason I still live, I will avenge my family and friends, that is my one true reason of life now.”

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

He stared after her.

So... I'm just insane, then.

He sighed, reached up, and brushed his hair back.

No... this is too strange. This may all be a fantasy, but I don't want to wake up just yet. I want to figure out what's going on. I want to know what Mary is hiding from me...

...why won't she let me help her?

What am I supposed to do to protect people!?

He walked over to the couch, slowly, and collapsed on it.

I'm done. There's nothing I can do. Let's let this play out, and see what happens. As long as I'm here...

...will I be fast enough, this time?

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Mary

After about an hour Mary pulled her doll out from it's hiding spot and came out to the living room. Poor Kell, he looked like he'd lost his best friend.

She sat down next to him and smiled.

"Sorry." she said, and gave him a hug. "Remember this?" She held up the ragged doll. "From the night we re-met?"

She flipped it over and undressed the doll and opened it. Inside were five bundles. She spread one out: ID, Drivers License, bank card for Teeka Oli, aged 57. Another set for Moli Havanna, age 78. Another for Sissy Pek, age 34. The other two bundles she kept wrapped.

"My money comes from the miracle of compound interest. I work, I save, sometimes I stay one place long enough to retire and get benefits..." She put them back in the doll and pulled out her wallet.

"Currently, I"m Mary Monroe. Age.." She glanced at the card. "Twenty. Hey, I have a drivers license, cool. And I'm fairly rich. I do all my banking electronically, automatic deposit, ETM* cards for withdrawals, like that."

She didn't mention she had more accounts than these, hidden. Or hidden resources of gems and artifacts and antiques on every Continent. Then again, she usually didn't remember herself where they were unless she was near a cache.

"And I don't know how to answer your questions, because first off I don't know what your asking and secondly, I told you, I can't remember a lot."

She ran her hand through her pale hair. "But I do know that this place is compromised and I can't live here any longer. The rent is paid up through the end of next month and you can stay, or you can come with me to a new place. Even help me pick it out. What do you say?"

*Electronic Teller Machine

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Kell looked at her, and he forced all his emotions down.

I won't be weak for her. Never.

He stood up and took one of Mary's hands, smiling.

"Of course I'll go with you. We can travel wherever you want to. We can leave before the gallery, even, if you don't even want to stay that long. That shouldn't be too bad, though, right? I mean--"

He didn't know what she was scared of. He didn't know why her comments about using her age changing powers to lead multiple identities didn't scare him. Maybe because his brain had just decided that none of this could be real, that all of this must be some sort of illusion he cooked up...

But no matter what the illusion, could he leave here and forget about Amy?

Amy... I'll... figure something out...

He sighed softly and dropped Mary's hand.

"Just forget what I said, okay? I'm... really sorry. I just... saw something, that's all. The lady who came here had nothing to do with it. At least, I don't think so. But... it just unsettled me." He brushed his hair back thoughtfully. "I... ehh." He sat down on the couch and smiled up at Mary.

So WHAT, exactly, do you not remember? Is it dangerous? Are you just scared of nothing? Do you realize how STRANGE you're being? Don't you see how weird, how berserk, my world has become? Can you pity me? Just for a moment? Just for a moment, so I can feel justified, and then I can be strong again?

Will you ever be able to hold me?

Or do I not want that... do I want to protect you completely... and is that a reasonable expectation of myself?

Amy... Amy holds me. In the moments when I'm too tired to fight, and it's possible I might break, I just need her eyes -- there's no pity, no judgment, just a smile. Her eyes and her smile remind me that whoever really created this world created it so we could live and see those things...

You will go off to advanced schooling anyway, Amy, I'm sure. You're more than intelligent enough, and your family is well off. You'll leave and your life will really start and you'll forget about me.

But Amy... can I leave you?

Do you really believe me when I say I love you? Even if I can't force myself to feel desire for you...

...or can I?

Realizing his smile was beginning to flicker, Kell casually turned away from Mary and leaned back farther into the couch.

"I'm sorry I asked you about those things. I promise I won't, ever again." You're killing me, Mary! "I'll go with you to pick out a new apartment. I want to see the car, after all. Will you let me drive it?" He grinned. Ash! Tell me everything you don't know! "I haven't done any driving in a while, but I have my license." How can I survive without Amy, Mary? I'm confused! Lost! I've been lost my whole life! "Heh... Do you think my friends will be impressed that I'm living with a twenty-year-old girl?" He winked.

I feel a little better... but I still need to SAY something...

...no. Not to Mary. It's not that she couldn't take it, but...

...I promised...

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Mary watched Kell struggle with everything swirling around his head; if he knew how readable his face was he would die of embarrassment. How hard he was struggling to be a man!

"I'm sorry I asked you about those things. I promise I won't, ever again." Kell said.

She took one of her hands in her own. "I don't mind you asking, but you were kinda...confrontational about it, you know? And right after that woman was here uninvited...I was off balance..and didn't know what to do."

When he slumped into the couch and turned away she felt a sadness.

"I'm remembering things, but...they are bits and pieces. They don't make sense yet. When they do, I promise by the oaths of the everliving sun and the every dying moon, I will tell you frist...and probably only. Because your the only person who never turned away from me or tried to use me when you could find out what I can do." She said it simply and sincerely.

She straightened up and grinned. "Now, for the happy news, as for the car..." She reached over to where she'd flung the keys earlier. "It's in your name. It's really your car. We can share it, I hope, but...for all legal and practical reasons, it's yours." She tossed him the keys.

"And the frist order of business is takeing the paintings to the gallery to be framed." She stood and held out her hand to him. "Help me?"

 

[Domhnaill]

Dalriada

All was silent in the tunnel as Dalriada crept carefully along by the wall, the beam of his powerful torch seeming insignificant against the sheer blackness. His nostrils were continuously assaulted by a foul stench, making him stop and gag every now and then. Then, somewhere between the edge of hearing and the imagination he heard a soft whisper, as of flesh brushing stone.
It took all his willpower not to whip around immediately and flail madly with the torch to find the source of the sound. His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline and fear making him tremble slightly. Dalriada considered himself a brave man, but down hear in the darkness, with imagined horrors flitting across his vision, it was a different matter. He kept moving, so as not to alarm whoever (or whatever, he thought, and wished he hadn't), and slowly reached into his coat, his fingers closing around the butt of his Desert Eagle.
In a lightning movement Dalriada turned off his torch and spun around brandishing the Desert Eagle before him. There was a brief flash in his eyes his visor activated its night-vision, illuminating for him whatever stood behind him......

 

[Lady_Siren]

Nikki nodded her eyes softening slightly at Ghost's sorrow. Her mind briefly flickered to Damien but she pushed those away and said "I understand your grief, and I respect your decision. The Bee's are not for everyone. I only ask that you stay out of our way and we will stay out of yours." she paused pushing her emotions away forcing herself to be heartless "If you interfere again I will have no control over the Bee's retributions. Take that as a final warning. " She climbed onto an unmarked bike left at the oasis for her preparing to leave. With one last impulse she looked at ghost "I Hope you find what your looking for" then tarted the bike and drove off. Half way back she changed back into her disguise, hailed a passing bus and rode the rest of the way thinking about Ghost's words.

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Kell

"You're right. I... wasn't thinking. I won't be so abrasive." He looked genuinely ashamed of himself, despite the obliviously confrontational way he had been acting an hour before.

Then, more surprisingly, his cheeks started to redden when Mary promised to explain later. "Ah... well... I just want to be a good friend... I need friends too, after all..." Flustered, he scratched the back of his head and looked away, grimacing a little, his eyes soft.

Ugh, now I'm embarassing myself. Why can't I be cool? Suave?

...now I'm even more ashamed of myself. Good one, Kell.

He was broke out of his thoughts when Mary retrieved the keys. "What? M-My name?" He looked over, surprised. "W, Well..." He paused for a second, and chuckled. "I don't know. Should I let you drive? It's my car, after all!"

There, that was a little better. Maybe. Don't be such a nerd.

...well, I can be myself...

...but I don't want to be stupid and be myself. I know I can be fun without being fake. Right?

Stupid teenagers.

He grinned and took her hand softly with both of his, encompassing it. "Of course I'll help. But I get to drive there! I've never had a car I was able to drive around!" He got up, actually looking a bit pleased, even excited. "And we're going through a drive-through on the way there, just for kicks! Just so I can buy a drink or something. For the sake of going to a drive-through, and being the one driving! Oh, man! Ashes!" He laughed out loud, walking toward the studio, shaking his head at himself.

"Let's get packing!"

I'll call Amy when we're done... she needs to see these.

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Mary

As they wrapped the paintings that were throughly dry Mary had some other thoughts. One was that Kell was truly happy about the car, and he hadn't even seen it yet, which was so endearingly cute!

 

[SwampThing]

Dalraida finds himself staring down the barrel of a silenced auto-pistol held by a stikingly beautiful woman in a black wetsuit. She has some technical gear strapped to her suit, or held in bulging pockets. Her black hair frames Revan features.

"Don't shoot, I want to deal. I've been monitoring Coda for reasons of my own. I heard the offer you made Monolith, and I'm interested in knowing where the Crusher is. Why don't we both put away our guns and see if we can't reach an arrangement that's mutually beneficial."

 

[Domhnaill]

Dalriada

Dalriada inwardly sighed in relief when he saw that he wasn't being confronted by a tentacled monster, though a gun barrel in the face wasn't much of an improvement. The fact that a beautiful woman was pointing it didn't make him feel any better. He stood in unsure silence for a moment, gun raised, then gave a brief half-smile and slowly lowered his gun. "Unexpected but not unwelcome. Who are you and whats your stake in this mess?"

 

[Jacobo_Curious]

Kell was still grinning, even as he heaved paintings to a section of the gallery for the owners to view and price. A car! He was superior to all these foolish mortals, now that he had a vehicle! He could go to drive-throughs, and move quickly from place to place, and feebly attempt to pick up cute girls, and--

Course, there's the whole super-power thing, too, but... a car!

He had called Amy, and she would be coming by in an hour or two; hopefully after the paintings had been accepted (he was confident they would be) and placed for maximum viewing pleasure.

With the aid of some hired help, Kell managed to get all the paintings from the car (which he had driven! because it was his! oh, yes, sweet Wheel!) and into the museum. He turned to Mary, who looked radiant. He tried to tell himself it was because she wanted to look her best for the gallery owners, but he knew it was probably because she had just bought him a car, and now he worshipped her.

"So, what should I do now?" he said, smiling widely.

I'm being a fool, but for some reason, I'm letting hope grow in my heart. Why? Still, to see her smile at my antics, and to feel MYSELF smile...

 

[PoliteSuccubus]

Mary

Mary put on a mock frown of deep thought.

"We must..and I stress MUST..I'm useing the word MUST here.."She said firmly. "Have drive through." She nodded firmly.

"And cruise the strip." She tilted her head. "Is there a strip?"