Glitch IV: Chapter 2 Abduction

[Devonie]

Angela looks startled. "Page? Bob Page? What has he got to do with this?"

Her mind is racing in circles. I work for the enemy? What about my confidentiality agreement? Shit... I'm in for it

[SirNitram]

"The source of the Grey Death.. One of the bad guy's inner circle." Albert said, shaking his head. "And somehow he got here."

[Agent Fisher]

"There are combat vests in the back. May not stop a shot cold, but it will help you survive it." Jack said to Justin. He took a look at his weapons load and shook his head.

"First of all, lose the bowcaster or the E-11, and one of the pistols. This isnt a video game. One assualt rifle or SMG, a pistol, maybe some gernades and extra ammo. You cant carry an arsenal and expect to fight well."

[Comrade Tortoise]

"If you insist, I wont argue. I am a biologist, not used to being a combatant. Though, we do need to consider the logical consequences of our actions." he said, as if to emphasize his previous point about changing the timeline and not needing to worry about either the deaths of others, or infecting this timeline with Science Fiction technology.

He set the bowcaster down, as well as one of the D-11s andfound a combat vest, and a belt of granades, which he filled with a selection of stun grenades, thermal detonators, and fragmentation grenades. 3 each.

[Agent Fisher]

Jack nodded as Justin went in the back. He turned to Albert. "So, whats the plan, boss?"

[SirNitram]

"We find the vehicle, beam as close as possible, and try to take Page alive with minimal weapons discharge." Albert said simply. "I'm sure it'd be fun to play with these toys, but the last thing we need is the army going crazy because someone's got energy weapons firing left and right. Once we nab Page, we find how he crossed, and get back."

"Because when I snapped back, Darek had kidnapped Leah."

[Charon]

Matthew stepped back into the main room and looked around at everyone as they prepared to fight, not to die. Poor bastards. Matthew had, himself, picked up the discarded disrupter and an E-11.

"So make this quick, make this clean, and then get to the rescue. A hero's job is never done huh?" Matthew smiled as he walked past the others and next to Albert. He leaned in, whispering in his ear.

"Al. If Page has crossed over, and this thing is going to keep doing stuff like it has in Neo Orleans, how long do you think it's gonna be before energy weapons are gonna be fired around indiscriminantly anyway?"

[SirNitram]

"That's why we have to stop him." Albert said firmly. "Once we have his vessel, we can work on correcting their changes to the, uh, past. Or whatever. They did something to the past six months, we can undo it. But we'll need to know what they brought, hence getting Page's ship."

[Charon]

Matthew stepped back and nodded slowly. "Just what I was planning to do, but we'll have to stop all of them. Not just Page."

[LadyTevar]

Darek smirked as he pulled back from Leandra, his hand coming to stroke her cheek, and a few words slipped from his lips. Suddenly, she was without voice.

"That will deal with your spellcasting for now...my beauty." The Cathedral began to waver for a moment, as he grabbed her up, his arms tightening around her white robed self. The great temple, once showing the duality of the world, the triumphs of good and evil, was now completely black, the heroic statues crumbled to dust.

The portal appeared before them, a swirling purple and black vortex, a cloud of black mist curling about the floor around it.

"Adena shall explain it all to you m'dear...and you will know why I choose to align with her."

The Cathedral faded into nothingness as he stepped through the portal still holding the wiggling form of Leandra, and it closed behind him.

Unable to talk, unable to cast, and unable to free herself from the Dark Rider's grasp, Leah was carried into the halls of a fortress. Unlike the one where they had been ambushed, this had to be the true hideaway. The stone walls were dark and dank, shadows lying over the flagstones as if in mockery of sunlight through glass windows. The Rider urged her along, even as she glimpsed carvings on the walls.

She tugged, trying to pause and see more. The carvings were of Dark Riders... a history of them, so to speak. How they could have a history when they were so new was questionable, and yet... One carving made her stop dead, trying to get a better look.

The Dark Rider pulled her away, not letting her see. "Not now, beautiful... the mistress is waiting," he said as if to take away the sting of nearly pulling her off her feet.

It was clear he was in a hurry to get to a set of doubledoors. There he stopped, his hands on her shoulders so she was facing him. "Through there is the Mistress' throne room." The Rider said, looking at her with Darek's eyes, his hands heavy on her shoulders. "You can go in as you are, hands bound, voice silenced ... or you can swear to me now that you will cast no magic, and I will remove the bindings."

Leah thought it over. Face the woman who'd trapped Darek like this bound and gagged, or free to speak her mind, and maybe a spell or two.
As if knowing her thoughts, he added, "False promises will be punished harshly, beautiful. Don't make me hurt you."

Leah swallowed, seeing the iron in his eyes. She looked down, trying to think trying to decide before he simply gave up and took her in as is. A day in Zion was four hours RealTime. She'd be in here for more than a day before Albert could find a way to get to her... maybe a week. Maybe longer. If ever held hostage, cooperate. That bit of safety training crossed her mind. Cooperation meant you might live longer. Slowly, she raised her head to meet his eyes, and solemnly nodded.

"I have your promise, then?" he confirmed. "No magic, and you remain unbound." Again, Leah slowly nodded her head, her eyes remaining on his. The Dark Rider smirked, a touch of Darek to it, but not enough to convince Leah this was truly him. "Thank you, m'dear. Do not make me regret this."

He leaned closer, catching her lips in yet another possessive kiss, pulling away moments later with a whisper, and Leah felt her voice return. As he pulled her hands up to untie the bonds, she couldn't resist the urge to speak. "The kiss wasn't necessary, was it...." Her voice was a whisper, perhaps a leftover from the spell, although she did not want to speak too loudly. " ... I should kick you... but you're wearing armor."

The answer was a wider smirk and a mocking kiss of her fingers. "You can remove it later if you wish, beautiful." It was just the thing that Darek would say... and yet it somehow did not quite sound right from the mouth of the Dark Rider. Not as playful, a bit too eager.

Leah turned her face away, looking towards the double doors as an excuse not to answer. If this Dark Rider was Darek, then it was what the Nulls had left of him after the fight with Cloud.

"Come, my dear. We shouldn't keep the Mistress waiting any longer." He took her by the hand, and the double doors parted in front of them, opening wide.

[frigidmagi]

"That's why we have to stop him." Albert said firmly. "Once we have his vessel, we can work on correcting their changes to the, uh, past. Or whatever. They did something to the past six months, we can undo it. But we'll need to know what they brought, hence getting Page's ship."

There's something you'll want to mention.

Uh? Oh Shit!

Yeah that.

"Isn't there a time difference between the two universes? Shouldn't we be moving... Now?" Chris said.

Not bad, you want to put more command in your voice next time however. Cyclops almost got me moving when he used that tone and when Clark used it... Everyone moved, even Charles

[Rukia]

"Because when I snapped back, Darek had kidnapped Leah."

Rory had outfitted herself with a utility belt for ammo and an extra set of guns. If she was going out, she was going out with a fight. She walked back in just as Al had stated that Darek had Leah.

"....Leah?" She breathed. "Fuck..."


She listened to the others as they spoke and formed a plan.

-This is suicide...-

[Agent Fisher]

"Isn't there a time difference between the two universes? Shouldn't we be moving... Now?" Chris said.

Jack nodded. "He's right, boss. We need to get moving now."

[Charon]

Matthew looked over to Jack and Chris. "Right, lets just have you teleport right now, and when you end up in the middle of a street armed to the teeth with people all around you you might realize how bad of an idea that was. I'm as eager as you are but I'd prefer that we drop on top of Page guns blazing rather than having to fight our way there. Especially considering that almost all of us have no firefight experience."

Matt looked over at Albert. "So, any idea how long this is gonna take before we get coordinates?"

[frigidmagi]

"Right, lets just have you teleport right now, and when you end up in the middle of a street armed to the teeth with people all around you you might realize how bad of an idea that was. I'm as eager as you are but I'd prefer that we drop on top of Page guns blazing rather than having to fight our way there. Especially considering that almost all of us have no firefight experience."

"Yes because I demanded we jump right into the street without any proir planning at all. I just pointed out we don't have time for dicking around. Now do you have anything with a point to say while I remind you your friend is experiencing hours for minutes." Chris snapped.

There's always one in every group who wants to look extra smart or whatever... At least he's not Logan.

[Charon]

Matthew looked back sharply. "Simply that all your telling us to go as quickly as possible isn't going to make this scan go any faster. Unless of course there's something you're not telling us about that you can do, then please, do so. But as much as the both of us want to help Leah, we can't until we find Page's ship."

[Agent Fisher]

"Both of you calm down. Getting excited isn't going to make this go any faster." He called out to the rest of the group. "Who here besides the Doc has any medical expeirence? On second thought, that won't work. Doc, your the only one who actually knows how to treat combat wounds. If you would be so inclined, could you get set up somewhere to recieve wounded?"

[LadyTevar]

"Come, my dear. We shouldn't keep the Mistress waiting any longer." He took her by the hand, and the double doors parted in front of them, opening wide. Having given her promise to not spellcast, Leah had been freed of her bonds and given back her voice. Allowing the Dark Rider - Darek's Evil Twin? - to guide her by the arm, she passed between the imposing double doors and into the dimly lit room beyond. Her first view of Adena caused her hand to curl into a fist. For a long moment, Leah simply looked the woman over.

Adena sat back on her throne, the audience room was empty. The cold dark stone stifled the otherwise oppressive heat of the realm. She was clothed only in a sheer black robe, her full breasts exposed to the chill air. Her white hair was strung back in a long tail, laying idly over her right shoulder, and her dark flesh seemed to glisten. Her ruby lips spread in a slow, seemingly benevolent smile.

The Dark Rider nudged Leah forward slightly, sticking behind the fiery redhead, even as his eyes fell adoringly upon his mistress. "There she is..." he spoke softly, almost reverently. "She who has shown me the light ... the one who introduced me to what this world truly is...."

Leah's eyes slid to Darek as he spoke from slightly behind her, and a moment of sheer jealousy spiked, followed instantly by the mental thought -That *slut*?! Oh please!!-

Adena rose from the ornate granite throne, her robe all but falling open, the thin spiderweb silk material just should not have been there at all, it offered so little decency. She descended the few steps which raised her seat above the floor, and moved her way to Darek and Leah, he voice soft, sultry and provocative, "Hello my dear Leah. I'm so glad you decided to come visit us...."

Leah's eyes snapped forward as Adena moved, and as her clothing revealed all that it was supposed to reveal, Leah's eyes narrowed. Sometimes when women meet for the first time, there's an instant where they decide to be best friends, or deepest enemies, and that moment taints every interacting between them for the rest of their life.

Leah had that moment, made her decision. "I'm sure you are ... pity you couldn't find something in your size to wear for the occasion." The cat's claws were out. Now to see if Adena was some programmer's dream NPC, or if there might be a real woman playing her. Leah rather doubted it, from the look of her. No real woman would walk that way, dress that way. This Adena was nothing more than some puerile gamer-geek's wankoff fantasy.

Adena laughed, her voice echoed off the dark stones of the room, her red eyes focusing upon Leah, her tongue moving out to wet her lips. "She is feisty ... I can see why you like her so much, my dear Darek..." She stepped up to Leah, looking down upon the shorter woman with a air of supremacy about her. "It's a pity, my dear Leandra, that we couldn't find something a bit less ... doughy for you to wear. A true pity ... from what Darek told me of you I was expecting Aphrodite and Isis combined...."

Stiffening slightly but smiling, the Dark Rider looked between the two women. Taking a step back he pulled his cloak around him and waited silently to see how this encounter would go.

-My Darek- Leah thought, but did not say it aloud. Behind her she heard the Dark Rider move away from them. Funny, she'd expected this Adena to have him slap her for that opening comment. Maybe there was a touch of real woman behind her after all. "Classic beauty goes beyond clothing, I fear," Leah answered, meeting the dark elf's gaze calmly, even as her thoughts raged. --Little bitch, he's mine, and you keep your filthy little hands off him!--

"Classic beauty is nothing if you don't flaunt it a bit dear. Just think," the dark elf slid behind Leah, brushing her hand upon the shorter woman's pale shoulder, before leaning forward slowly, her tongue sliding upon Leah's earlobe. Her voice was a throaty whisper as she continued, "Men are so easily fooled by a show of thigh ... a bit of flesh. Though I must admit ... you had me fooled at first. I thought you were a grandmother already." Adena smiled to herself, as one hand slid down Leah's side and clasped her firmly on the rump.

Leah never really did much fighting in Zion; she was usually too busy spellcasting and healing Albert or whatever fighter she was partied with at the time. But she did know how to throw a punch, swinging her torso around and leading with the fist that had been clenched from the moment she walked into the room. It hit Adena's face with a satisfying meaty thwack, knocking the tall dark elf back. "I'm sorry, Dar..." Leah said liltingly, her eyes blazing hatred. "... but you did make me promise no spellcasting."

[Dark Silver]

Adena stepped back with the blow, her head turned. For a mere moment, a her face is full of rage, then a vinier of the seductress is replaced. She smiled wanely as she looks to Leandra, her eyes twinkling for a moment. "now that...." she says her voice a throaty whisper, "was uncalled for." Her own hand comes up quickly, a open hand slap with her full might across Leandra's cheek.

Leah's head turns with the blow, taking the worst out of the expected blow. "And that..." she replies, her head turning back to face Adena, "... is more what I expected of you."

Adena laughed, her hand coming up to catch Leandra's throat, squeezing only enough to make her lose breath for a handful of seconds, dragging the smaller girl closer to her, bringing her lips within centimeters of her own, "Poor poor little Leandra, are you upset with me?"

Fear. This woman could kill her. That fear showed in Leah's blue eyes, which may have led to Adena relaxing the grip slightly. Leah was simply glad that she could breathe, and censored several of the first comebacks that came to mind. But one did escape. "Is Cloud upset with you?"

Why Leah's mind was determined to get her killed was beyond her, but it was the first thing out of her mouth before she could stop herself

Adena the facade didn't crack, but her lips twinged just a moment, before forcibly dragging the smaller woman up to her, and pressing her lips hard against Leandra's. Her tongue then delved into the fiesty redhead's mouth. She held the kiss for a few long seconds, before single handedly throwing Leandra towards the feet of Darek, "Take her to one of the towers...see that she is made comfortable...."

Darek bowed his head as he looked down towards Leandra, holding his gauntletted hand out to her, his lips creased in a slow smile, "Come beautiful..."

Leah pointedly wiped her mouth, glaring at the dark elf contemptuously as she used the dark rider's offered hand to help herself to her feet. She was the one who turned her back on Adena, and she was the one that took the first steps towards the double doors. "Of course, Dar. I'm sure it's much better than being here in this draftly hall. Someone should get a better cleaner to take out the trash, tho..." Careless words, spoken more because she was too pissed at the bitch to keep her mouth shut. "Do I get to see those carvings now?"

Darek shook his head, placing his hand at the small of her back as he caught up with her. The shadows began to gather about them as they moved, the scenery changing, till they arrived on the steps leading up one of the towers, approaching a set of heavy double doors

Surprisingly, she found alittle bit of comfort from his touch. Maybe.... maybe there was a little of Darek left in him? Until she knew for sure, it couldn't hurt to be nice to him. After all, it would piss off Adena if she could get Darek back. "Think what would have happened if you'd let me have spells, Dar..." she sighed softly. "I might have been able to free you."

He stopped suddenly, a odd look upon his face. "Free me?" he said, almost flabbergasted. "Free me from what?"

Leah also stopped, looking at him in confusion. "From her." she answered, the truth painfully obvious to her. "So you don't have to play her little puppet..." heat started to build in her voice, in her eyes and she let it out in a full rant. "So you can take that little arrogant bitch by the throat like she did me and beat the shit outta her for doing this to you... and I know you can, because if you can face down Cloud you can definately rip that little over-sexed jumped-up whore a well-deserved new asshole!"

Then Leah blushed at the rant

Darek blinked again, staring at her, "I don't know what you mean....I don't serve Adena out of any fear...or any spell..." He stepped towards Leandra, bringing a gauntletted hand to Leah's face, "I serve her because she showed me the truth of this world....and our world...she opened my eyes." He smiled slowly, "And what do you mean faced down Cloud...."

Leah blinked, blnked again. "You... you don't remember?" she asked incredulously. "You don't remember the last time you had me captive?" Inside she was boiling. The BITCH! She took his memories! Ooooo... that was the last straw, she was going to personally see that two-bit digital wanna-be female de-rezzed.

"I don't know what you mean," he said slowly, "the last time I saw you...was infront of the Keep....weeks ago..." he looked at her confused, before a dark mask clouded his face, "Your trying to confuse me...." he spoke, his voice suddenly like steel, "Stop it."

"Why would I try that, Dar, when she's already done it for me?" Leah snarled angrily. "You, and the other Dark Riders, are strong enough to take her out by yourself, so no wonder she erased your memory of that." It really, really pissed her off, and she actually started walking away from Dar, back the way they came.

His face was twisted in sudden anger, as he reached for Leandra's arm. Or at least it seemed to miss, and the cold metal gauntlet wrapped around her throat. He nearly lifted her up off her feet, and slammed her against the cold stone walls. "You will stop speaking of the mistress like that." His eyes semeed to glaze the free hand reached up to cup her cheek, then drag it down the front of her robe, "You really are.....so beautiful..."

0\-\ 5\-\1+ was Leah's first thought, as the metal hand went to her neck, choking her for the second time that night. Then the sudden glaze in his eye as his focus changed, his hand caressing her. "Dar..." she rasped out thru a sore throat. "Your... hurting me..."

His lips curled upward, as he grabbed the front of her robe, a hard yank, and the material tore loudly, the tattered cloth falling from his hand to the floor. The cold metal hand grabbed her hip, pulled her against him, and he moved towards the door, the ironwood already swinging open for them. "I will finish tonight...what I started so long ago...." he whispered, as the darkness began to swallow them both...

"No... Noo Dar... Don't... Please..." she protested, starting to struggle as the darkness warped around them, trying to push away. His eyes were still glazed, still distant, as if not fully in control of his actions, and
suddenly Leah wondered if Adena's control went beyond just tampering with memories. Anger flared inside her. This wasn't Darek, it might not even be the dark rider she was calling 'Dar'. This was Adena. "No." Leah snarled. "No, I don't think so.... GODDESS GRANT ME LIGHT!" she cried out, summoning magic light to banish the darkness, to beat back the foul little bitch who was trying to rape her by proxy.

For a brief moment, the light flared, and the disguise was gone. Gone was Darek, and his glazed eyes, before her was plainly the green tinged, broken tusked troll, his arms wrapped around her, dragging her deeper into the darkness. "Your minesssssss.." he hissed, his tongue flicked out over his lips, "all mines...." and the Darkness began to swallow the light, as the voice of the Goddess disappeared from Leandra's soul...

It wasn't Darek at all. It had never been Darek. Somehow, that made it both better and worse at the same time. Better, because Adena didn't have him. Worse...because he was still dead.

"No! Not yours.. never yours!" she hissed, fighting with all her strength, refusing to give in, frantically trying to cast something, anything that would stop him.

"Goddess STRIKE HIM DOWN!" she cried out, trying to summon holy fire.

Even as the light faded into the darkness, the troll's form again melded into Darek's.

The fire didn't answer.

The Goddess was gone, taking all Leah's spells with it, leaving her alone....

Her voice echoed in the darkness, followed by the Troll's cackling laughter....

------ ------ ------


"Orbit achived, initiating full powered sensor sweep. Planetwide Sensor Scan will take approximatly two hours."

Crusher looked between the people, Chris and Albert where in command, the others were all grabbing equipment. They were all mad...

But she sighed, if they were going to do this, they were going to get hurt. None of them were trained soldiers, none of them had any true idea how these weapons worked.

"Your all insane.." she said softly, before turning to the sensor panel, and attempting to tighten the scans.

[SirNitram]

"Yes." Albert said, looking to Crusher. "Yes. You're absolutely right." He sighed softly as the scan began, sweeping over the planet. "We're outmatched, outnumbered, and there's nothing on our side." He shook his head slowly.

"But if we don't do something, our world is history. Our world. The only one. They already have a foothold, a plague, agents here. The militaries of this world couldn't defeat this ship.. Let alone the armada of the Glitch."

The PoliSci graduate stood before the sensor readouts, and sighed. And began to quote. "'If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you'd better just go home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous, filled with wonders to satiate desires both suttle and gross, but it's not for the timid.' That was Q, I think. The universe.. Multiverse, I guess.. Isn't safe. But you're gonna find some amazing things if you try. And.. Doctor. I must try. I must."

"....For her."

[Dark Silver]

"The Glitch," she said evenly, still narrowing the sensor beams, "Is gone, sealed away in the last war. What we're facing in my Universe, is simply those who followed it, that we couldn't defeat."

She sounded sure of herself, of course she also was in the last war, served in it, she knew exactly what she was talking about.

"The remaining forces were always to busy infighting to make a unified offensive, until a few years ago, and even then, the former Council members all hate each other. Without the Glitch itself to bind them....."

She sighed, turning from the console, "Your seeing a problem bigger than there really is. The Glitch is gone, If Robert Page is here, it's for his own purposes. And besides, in ordr to do the changes you people say he has, he could have unleashed the plague at any point in the past, why do it now?"

[SirNitram]

"I intend to find out." Albert said simply. "But I wouldn't trust that any enemy merely 'locked away' stays that way. Cliche' of video games: The locked away enemy will always break free until there are heros good enough to annihilate it."

[Charon]

Matthew stepped up to Crusher as she talked.

"You know what. I am insane doctor, after what I've been through, I have to be. I was torn from my world, put in yours in a way I can only describe as being torn into a million pieces and thrown through a blackhole. Then, I'm told that there's some crazy psycho followers of some old all-powerful creature that want to suck out my soul and use my skin for their purposes. Then I end up falling for a girl, only to watch her be beaten to near death by someone she'd considered a friend. And to top it all off," Matt's eyes narrowed at Crusher and he took another step forward, coming face to face with Dr. Crusher. "Because you decided that it would be a grand old time to get yourself infected by the Glitch powers that be, and then infect Yuffie with that same taint, I had to cut off the head of the woman I loved."

Matthew smiled and stepped back.

"Where's the headquarters of Page Industries? This guy might just be vain enough to keep it right there."

[Dark Silver]

Crusher listened to Matthew's triad with a stolid face until he came to the part where she was infected...then what occured to Yuffie.

She didn't have a single memory of becoming a Null, no memory of what acts she commited during that time. The only thing she could do was look into his face, her mouth slightly open, then bow her head.

"I'm sorry....I didn't know...I don't remember it happening...none of it. I'm sorry for what happened to Yuffie...I tried to save her..."

"I'll tighten the search beams for Page's headquarters....as for the Glitch, there's no way it could escape, the firewall is constantly patrolled, and reinforced. It's sealed away, forever."

Crusher went back to the sensor controls, tightened the search parameters even tighter, trying to locate the source of Page's power.

[Charon]

Matthew's eyes stayed on Crusher for a few more moments before looking away.

"Just try to hurry up, Leah's trapped with those people and we need to save her before they do something to her."

Matthew turned and looked up into the faces of the rest of the group, some now realizing that Matthew had killed Yuffie, others now knowing why he had. Matthew kept his mind on other things. "Is everybody about ready?"