“Just stop it. Whatever your game is, I refuse to participate any further. You’ve won. You’ve beaten me, and I am in no shape to defend myself, so just… finish me off and be done with it!”

She slowly approached, a new, yet familiar anger on her face. I watched as she balled her fists. A torrent of shadows washed over her form, and I shut my eyes tightly waiting for the finishing blow.

SMACK!

“OW! What… Why did you slap me?!” I shouted in surprise.

~oOo~

“No!” I yelped as I sat bolt upright. This was my first mistake, as the sudden rush of blood to my already sore head caused the pounding to intensify. I groaned, falling backwards again. A soft down pillow wrapped in a silk pillowcase caught my fall. Was it all I dream? No, not a dream. This wasn’t my bed. Okay Aria, one eye at a time.

I slid one eye open, even as I reached a hand up to touch my face. I still had my mask and wig at least, but why? If Raven wanted to unmask me she could have done so. No shadowy chains bound me like the last time she tried to trap me. I removed my gloves and rubbed my eyes gently, blinking and letting my surroundings finally come into focus. The walls of the chamber seemed like stonework, with no windows that I could see.

A single white candle rested on a crude wooden table beside the bed where I had been lying. The amount of wax melted away suggested I’d been out for awhile, but without my wrist watch, which I so brilliantly left in my purse at home, I had no way of knowing the actual time.

Continuing to scan my surroundings, a heavy old door, wrought with iron ominously taunted me from the other side of the otherwise barren chamber. I knew it would be locked, but I had to try anyway. I warily stood, stumbling to the door with one hand still on my aching, throbbing cranium.

To my great surprise, the door shifted and opened with ease. “What is going on here?”

“You’re finally awake?” I didn’t think I hit you THAT hard…” the familiar voice called out from the shadows. I spun around, again, a big mistake. With a groan, I sank to my knees.

I found myself swept up in her arms. She nervously smiled as she helped me back to the windowless cell where she eased me down onto the bed. I stared blankly at her. Was this the monster, the Scourge of shadow-casting that I had been warned so often about? This couldn’t be the same sorceress with whom I’d locked horns so many times, but it had to be. This must have been another trick!

She smiled nervously back at me as she rose, turning to leave. Without her shadowy wings or her dark attire, she didn’t seem so scary, but I kept a wary eye on her nonetheless. Halfway across the room again, she paused, looking back at me.

“Your mother will be worried about you. I won’t keep you here long. I only wanted to ... to talk. But I’ve already kept you here too long.”

“Worried is an understatement,” I bit back bitterlyas I lay back on the bed. I could worry about whether she had done anything to me while I was asleep later. Right now, this blasted headache…

She turned fully around and stared at me. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but silence followed. I sighed. I couldn’t take any more of her mind games.

“Just stop it. Whatever your game is, I refuse to participate any further. You’ve won. You’ve beaten me, and I am in no shape to defend myself, so just… finish me off and be done with it!”

She slowly approached, a new, yet familiar anger on her face. I watched as she balled her fists. A torrent of shadows washed over her form, and I shut my eyes tightly waiting for the finishing blow.

SMACK!

“OW! What… Why did you slap me?!” I shouted in surprise. That hurt! As I rubbed my sore cheek, she sobbed.

“Because you’re being a jerk! All I wanted was to talk, but I knew you wouldn’t accept an open invitation after last time so I set a trap to distract your psychic friend so I could bring you here. But just go. Just leave me alone! Everyone else does!”

A wave of utter shock washed over me as she stormed out, sobbing bitterly. What in the name of the Banshee’s Curse just happened here? How did I become the villain?! I mean come on, who kidnapped who?!

I exhaled an irritated sigh and sat up, this time more slowly. Either the pain of her strike or the exasperation of the situation had at least managed to distract me from the headache. God, I needed an aspirin.

I snatched the candle from the table, letting out a startled yelp as hot wax dribbled onto my finger. I shook it dry and instinctively slid my fingertip between my lips as I left the stonework chamber behind, entering into a similarly-hewn hallway. The candle’s light pierced the shadows, but only barely.

It almost seemed as though outside my cell, supernatural shadows permeated everything, and the further away I travelled, the dimmer the candle’s light became. Left at one point in total darkness, I felt my way along the walls until, suddenly, the shadows parted along a single path.

Raven stepped from the shadows, still scowling, as she pointed. “There. Just leave!”

“Just hold on a minute! You KIDNAPPED me, and now you’re throwing me out?”

She sighed, glaring at me. “I TOLD you before, I wanted to talk. Would you honestly have come if I had just said,” her tone shifted to a sarcastically innocent sweetness that seemed so natural, and yet so hideously wrong coming from those dark lips, “Dear Aria Blade, please come talk to me. I promise not to try and beat you senseless if you promise the same, love Raven Wing!’? Now go!”

Emphasizing the word ‘go’, a rush of shadows lifted me off my feet, throwing me several feet down the stone corridor. I flinched as my backside unceremoniously met stone. Raven meanwhile, had already gotten a head-start the other way. The sounds of her boots rapping against the floor grew rapidly more distant and faint.

Whatever her game was, I wanted no more part of it, and continued to follow the path of light-amid-the-shadows. I looked back once or twice, long enough to see that as I continued, the shadows seemed to recede back into place behind me. I wouldn’t be able to find her again if I wanted to, which I supposed would be for the best.

Finally, after what felt like an hour of walking, I found myself in an old, abandoned subway tunnel. I left the ground behind, flying as fast as I could possibly manage for the bright light ahead.

“Oh my God, it’s Aria Blade!” a young male voice called from just beyond the source of the light. I had to shield my eyes until he turned the bright flashlight away. “There’s a huge reward for information about you.” He paused briefly, pursing his lips nervously. “Ms. Blade?”

“Look, just lead me to the surface and I promise you’ll get a reward for finding me okay? What are you doing down here anyway?”

The boy smiled wryly as he turned to start walking the other way, “Urban Exploration. I love these old condemned places like this! Hey guys, look who I found!” He shouted, running up the tunnel ahead. I had returned to walking by now, as flying took more energy than I had in me at that point.

The high school students that I met led me to the surface. Outside, night had fallen, and I still had no idea of how long I had been out. Could it really have only been a few hours since the encounter with the shadow creature?

“Aria Blade!” Banshee, dressed in civilian attire, called out as she rushed into the small, empty office where I now sat. I envied her. I wanted to get out of this costume and never put it on again. Rather than risk further danger to either myself, my secret identity, or, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, Raven Wing, I asked the group that found me to bring me to the nearest police station. Officer Jane Carlisle had already taken me aside in private for a debriefing of sorts, and now all that was left was to face my mother.

I smiled weakly and gave her a neutral hug. “Ma’am, thank you for coming to debrief me personally,” I paused, waiting for the guard to close the door behind him, then immediately ripped off my mask and threw my arms around her more tightly.

“I was so scared!” she breathlessly whispered, barely containing a sob. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. She said she just wanted to talk. It’s like… It’s like she was a completely different person.”

“Wait, what? … Well what did she want to talk about?”

I shook my head slowly, “I … I dunno. I yelled at her for kidnapping me, and told her I wouldn’t play her mind games anymore, so she slapped me and ran off crying. After that I tried to follow her, but she told me how to get out of her lair, and literally threw me out while she ran the other way. Mom, I think I’ve done something terrible.”

Mom shook her head slowly. “No, dear, you can’t blame yourself. You can’t play into her games like this.”

“But this isn’t a game anymore. I think I hurt her. As dangerous as she was when she was crazy, Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.”

Mom’s face turned a shade more pale, which I honestly did not believe possible before now. She slowly nodded. “I think it’s time to get you somewhere safe. I’ll phone your grandmother in Belfast.”

“Yes mother,” I offered meekly as I returned my mask. A week ago I would’ve hated giving up crime-fighting, but now, with this mess with Raven, there was no telling what she might be capable of.

Part of me felt incredibly guilty. As Mom walked me out to her car, I thought back to how this could have all started. I replayed everything from that last fight, and the aftermath, being thrown off the case, and then… The girl!

“Oh my God…”

“What?” Mom asked, concerned, as I dove over the seat into the back. As Mom pulled away from the police precinct I set about changing into the civilian clothes she’d brought me. I didn’t even care that she had selected a pale pink top and white jeans. I had bigger matters on my mind.

“Remember the last big fight, how Maria did her psionic explodey-thing to disrupt Raven’s concentration?” I crawled back over the seat, eliciting a grunt from her as I accidentally elbowed her jaw in the process.

“Yes. What about it?”

“Later that night I met a girl at the park…”

“Young lady, you know I disapprove of you going out alone after dark in civilian clothing. Superhero or no, if you were to use your powers in self-defense your identity would’ve been blown!”

“Mother please, focus! This girl looked like she’d been roughed up pretty badly. We talked for a few minutes, and when I told her I’d just gotten fired from my ‘summer internship’, she hugged me and ran off.”

Mom slammed on the brakes. The car skidded sideways on the wet pavement. She turned and stared at me. “Are you saying Maria might have ‘affected’ her?”

“Yes! Now imagine a perfectly sane, vengeful, recently wounded Raven Wing with the kind of power she controls. I have to stay. I have to find her, and I have to confront her, before she hurts someone.”

“I have a better idea,” she answered with a stern clip in her tone. She backed the car up enough to continue on our way.

For the next week we plotted and planned. Well, I say ‘we’, but I had little say or input in the matter. In that time, Raven Wing never revealed herself. Truly, it seemed as though she had once more fallen off the face of the earth. Or was she simply plotting her ultimate revenge? Mother had her own plan to trap Raven Wing though.

Mother reluctantly agreed to use me as bait for the trap, with the caveat that an anti-magic barrier be prepared. It felt odd for her to exercise such concern for me.

She often believed that the ends justified the means at least to some degree. it was one of many points upon which we clashed. We let rumor spread that ‘Aria Blade’ would be reassigned across the Atlantic, and that she would be traveling incognito as a civilian.

~oOo~

The fateful day finally arrived. My bags were packed, and I was ready to go, standing outside my door as I waited for my taxi. I breathed an uneasy sigh. I really did not like this. I asked several times what they planned to do with her once they captured her, but everyone avoided the subject.

As I sat on the front steps and stared off into space, the big yellow cab pulled into the driveway. The loud horn brought me back to reality. I opened the door, piling my bags inside and sitting down.

“New Heathridge City airport,” I mumbled as I leaned back into the seat. The cab driver, a tall and shapely woman with fiery red hair adjusted her mirror before winking at me, then turning about to carefully back out of the driveway.

“Yes ma’am.” She mumbled under her breath, “Gonna kill Tank for stiffing me with this babysitting crap.” That was Volcaness for you. I’d never met such a combination of rage and alcoholism. At least she was on our side. At least, I think she was.

As we rolled on toward the airport, I suddenly saw a flash of shadow off to one side. It lasted only a moment, but it was enough to catch my attention, directing my gaze toward the park where I saw the girl that first night.

“Stop the car!” I demanded, though it practically came out as a yelp. Apparently my insistent tone was sufficient not to get an immediate back-handing from my incognito escort.

She abruptly slammed on the brakes, but before she could ask what was going on, I’d already bolted from the vehicle, sprinting down the sidewalk and into the park.

To my great dismay, she wasn’t there. I sighed as I sat with my back against the fountain. Volcaness slowly came strolling up to me, glowering as usual, but to my surprise she placed a hand on my shoulder, sitting beside me.

“Look kid, I don’t know what your deal with Raven Wing is, but if you like her, just tell her!”

“What?! I-I-I,” I stammered. She stared flatly at me, pulling a cigarette from her jacket pocket. She stuck her finger to the tip to light it, taking a long drag, which she at least had the decency to tilt her head away to blow off in another direction.

“You-you-you have been moping around for a month, ever since Maria saved your whiny butt. Doesn’t matter if she’s a ‘villain’ or not. She’s human, just like you. Remember that next time you go rushing in shooting your mouth off.”

I wanted to scowl at her for the scolding, but the literal fire in her eyes terrified me. My gaze fell, and I sighed.

“What was I supposed to do?”

“She was hurt pretty bad by someone who should’ve loved her, then she turned to you and you yelled at her.” Volcaness answered flatly. She really did not have the best way with words. Finally shaking her head, she looked right at me.

“Look, kid. I’m no expert on this crap. I light people on fire that break the law, and my remedy for all life’s problems is at the bottom of a whiskey bottle. All I’m saying is, the next time you see her, keep your mouth shut and your head down until you know what’s what, alright?”

She stood, took about five steps, then looked back at me with a grim smirk. “Oh, and hope you see her before I do because Banshee’s orders were clear this time.”

She flicked her cigarette into the fountain and turned to walk away, burying her hands in her pockets.

I sat in absolute silence. What could I say to that? Was she right, or was Mom? Why couldn’t being a superhero be as easy as it is in the comics? Beat up bad guy, save city, everybody’s happy.

As if things needed to be any more complex, I felt a sudden, brief shift in the wind. The black-haired girl suddenly sat beside me, as though one moment she wasn’t there, then the next, she was. She pressed her finger to my lips and smiled.

“Ah-ah. Before you say anything, I heard the whole thing.”

“But… How?” I stammered, still in shock at her suddenly-thereness.

“You should know that shadows are as metaphorical as they are real, when it comes to magic. And everyone has shadowy reaches in their minds. It’s a simple thing to give a little pull here, a little tug there,” she paused, her painted lips curling into a smug smirk as she twirled her finger symbolically.

“...and suddenly they only know you’re there if you want them to know. Just ask your psychic friend. Look, Aria, I’m not stupid.” She paused, letting the gravity of using my hero name sink in.

“I know your little Banshee set a trap for me. What I want to know is why did you stop here?” I turned my gaze away, developing a sudden and intense fascination with the concrete.

Her smirk broadened into a proud grin. She squeezed my hand, which I reflexively pulled away at first, but reluctantly returned a moment later.

“It’s just us here. All these people passing by? I’ve shielded us from their minds, and your little psychic friend won’t dare peek into my head after what I showed her the last time, so I can keep this up all day if I have to," she explained.

“All I want is one, simple answer.”

I nervously stared back at her. “Why me?”

“Because,” she stated matter-of-factly as she stood. “Because you’re… different. That’s all you’re getting until you answer MY question.”

She patiently sat on the edge of the fountain and crossed her legs. I couldn’t help noticing, as she dangled one of them by my face in the process, that she wore the cutest black jeans today. What? Gah! I did not just think that!

“I… I don’t know.”

“Liar,” she immediately shot back, still smiling smugly. I exhaled slowly and stood.

“I wanted to warn you okay?”

She patted my head patronizingly. “See, that wasn’t so hard was it? Now, why did you want to warn me?”

“Hey, no fair! You said if I answered your question you’d let me go.”

“I never said you were a prisoner either.” She grinned impishly. I couldn’t decide if her enjoyment was from getting back at me for yelling at her the other day, or if she was always like this. “I merely stated that, right now, in this place, we are invisible.”

She had a point.

“Fair enough. But I get a question in return.”

“Deal. So?”

“So… I wanted to warn you because I … I want to help you.”

“But why? If they do catch me they’ll just throw me in prison. I’d escape within a week after performing favors for the right people.”

“No, not this time.”

“What are you saying?” Her tone shifted more seriously as she stared at me.

“What happened to my question?”

“FINE. What do you want to know?”

“Why did you hug me?”

“Because you looked so helpless. It was cute. It made me feel a little less vulnerable knowing you didn’t come out of that scrap much better. Now, answer my freaking question.”

“Banshee’s furious. You didn’t just kidnap one of her team. You kidnapped her daugh-” I had to cut myself off at that. Raven’s eyes went deer-in-headlights wide.

“You’re Banshee’s daughter?!”

I nodded softly. “Now you get it. I reluctantly agreed to be the bait, b-but the more I thought about it, the less I liked the outcome, the fact that nobody would tell me what they would do with you. The rendezvous point has an anti-magic barrier in place-”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m here and not there,” she shot back, rubbing her temples. “So does this mean we have to go back to fighting?”

“My question first.”

“Grr!” she scowled.

“Hey, you started it,” I responded neutrally, trying not to smile. She was kind of cute when she was angry.

She sighed, waving her hand irritatedly.

“Alright. What do you remember about the night everything changed? And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

She flinched at my question. For several seconds, she stared at me in silence, then finally she turned to face me and wrapped her arms around me, whispering, “Tell your mom I’m sorry, and… that you’re lucky to have her.”

She kissed me, a brief, soft kiss, and I felt as though the entire world had just melted away, with only the two of us. Then just like that, she was gone, leaving me stunned silent and alone by the fountain.

As I slowly plodded back down the path to where Volcaness had parked, I pulled out my cell phone and hit speed-dial.

“Banshee, this is Aria Blade,” I half-heartedly gave the final word on our plan. “Abort, security code seven five six alpha. I’m sorry Mom. I failed.”