Chapter 10

I had to think. Just for a moment. I closed my eyes and forced myself to relax. Using breathing techniques I had learned from Ozawa. I was soon in my center place. The place I had seen my sensei.

As I got there, I felt my mind calm down. I knew what was going down, but now the panic was gone. If I did what they asked, we were both dead. They wouldn’t let her go. I was being watched. If I didn’t leave soon, she was dead. I couldn’t survive losing her. I would become something I didn’t want to be.

“It is good that you are taking a moment to think, young one.”

“Sensei Ozawa! Oh, I am so glad to see you. They have Tracy!”

He smiled softly. “This I already know, young one. I have seen it all”

I held my hands to my face. “What have I done, Sensei? Tracy will die if I don’t do what they say, and she’ll die if I do what they do say”

“You comprehend the problem quite well. It is a situation fraught with danger. It could go either way. There is much danger, but you have an advantage.”

I looked to his face. “Advantage? What do you mean?”

“You have abilities far beyond what they know. Used properly, they will aid you greatly. But your greatest strength isn’t you powers. It is your ability to adapt to the situation. You are far stronger than you know, and your sense of self will carry the day.”

“I don’t understand”

“You will. I can give you access to most of your abilities, and you will know what you need to do when the time is right. But I also need to explain something to you.”

“What?”

This place, this reality, is the source of your power. It is called the Astral Plane.”

“You mean that this isn’t some place in my mind?”

“No, it is an actual place. A separate universe, if you will. The rules of the normal universe don’t apply here. Time, the rules of physics, all are different here. You are able to exist in either plane of existence. Not everyone can”

“I think I understand, at least a little. It’s like the movie you know, The Matrix?”

“He thought for a moment, then smiled. “Yes, Yes, you could say that. You can travel from place to place on Earth, almost like teleporting. But in reality, you just take a shortcut.”

“I understand”

“Shadow King thinks this plane is his exclusively. He is a dangerous opponent here. But you are a formidable foe for him as well. That is why he wants you dead. He is quite insane, and quite immortal. I have battled him for centuries, both here, and on earth.”

“Centuries? You mean you’re not dead?”

He smiled at me as a father smiles at a child who has solved a difficult homework problem.

“No, I’m not dead. I was able to escape the explosion before I was incinerated. I was not able to bring your parents with me, though. I will mourn that inability for all time. I am truly sorry”

I could feel the tears start “I know you would have helped them if you could”.

He held me as a father. “Now you must learn. Look me in the eyes”

I looked into his eyes, and time seemed to stop. I received instruction for years in my abilities. For months and months I suffered and bled to learn what I must. Then, I was back where I started. Then I realized how much time had elapsed

“Oh God, Sensei. Tracy’s dead. I was gone too long.”

“Not in the least. You will see. Time has no real meaning here. You have excelled in your training, done what you must.” My servant, Kyoko, will meet you at your house. You have made me proud, young one. Rescue your mate”

In a blink, I was back in my room, looking at the computer screen. I checked the date and time. 3 minutes had elapsed since the screen blanked. I felt like I had been through years of training, but only three minutes had elapsed.

Looking up, I saw I wasn’t alone. The Ninja looking guy I saw was in my room, only it wasn’t a guy. It was a girl, who looked like she could be my sister.

Jumping back, I assumed my fighting stance. “Who are you?”

“I am Kyoko, Betsy. I am here to assist you, if you will allow it.” She spoke her English in a heavy Japanese accent. “I am with the Hand, and Master Ozawa has committed us to your protection”

Relaxing somewhat, I let out a deep sigh. “I could use all the help I can get. I tend to make a lot of the wrong enemies these days”

She smiled a pretty smile that made me smile back. “I took care of the man following you. He won’t be shadowing anyone ever again.” She threw a pack on to the bed. “You can’t fight anyone in that dress. Change in to these, you’ll find them more to your liking for combat.

Opening the case, I found a pair of leather and spandex pants and a leather bustier. Tactical boots finished the ensemble, and a harness that had some loops on it for weapons fit around my shoulders and waist. I put everything on, and it was a perfect fit.

Looking at myself, I commented “I like it, but where did you come up with this outfit?”

“Your friend did. She picked it out as a Halloween costume. I just added a few things. It was better than anything you had.”

I picked up my katana and slid it into the loops in the back Kyoko gave me some throwing stars and a k bar. My phone buzzed. It was Finn.

“All right, Betsy. What’s this about Tracy?”

“Someone working for Shadow King has kidnapped her. I’m on my way to get her now. They’re torturing her, Finn. I don’t know how much time she has!”

Finn replied quickly. “Wait! I’ll put together a Tactical team and we’ll get her out!”

“There’s no time, didn’t you hear me? I don’t know where they are, and I’m not waiting on you. You have my GPS coordinates on the phone. Follow me. I’m heading in to Detroit, somewhere in the Highland Park area if I’m right. I have some help, but you will need to be there to clean things up. Make sure someone is here to let Tracy’s mom and dad know what’s up, okay”

Finn paused, and then replied. “Okay, Betsy. Are you sure you’ve got this?”

“No, but I’m as prepared as I can be. Just follow me as close as you can, and don’t be late. This will get messy. I’m killing everyone there.”

“Wait! Betsy! We need them alive!”

“Then they shouldn’t have taken my girl. And Betsy isn’t on this mission. It’s Psylocke.”

“Copy that. Take ‘em out.”

Kyoto and I drove as quickly as we could into Detroit. As I thought, we got directions to a neighborhood in Highland Park, to a desolate part of a desolate part of the city. Night had fallen, and that was all right by me. I had plenty of surprises for them, and I wouldn’t be using the front door. I briefed Kyoko on the way.

“Kyoko, I know a lot of things now that I didn’t before I got home today. I will be able to get into the building without them knowing. I guess you have a way to get in there too.”

“Hai! I will get inside. You will shadow walk, no”

“Yes. Do you know these things?”

“Hai. I do. I will get your friend. She is of greatest importance, yes?”

“She is. Nothing else matters. I’ll keep them occupied. It’s me they want, so you should be able to get to her without any trouble. Okay?”

“Okay. I will do as you wish.”

A radio on Kyoko’s belt chirped. She held it to a small electronic device.

“Unit three. Is the girl being followed?”

Kyoko spoke into the device. “Unit Three. The girl is clear” Out of the device came a man’s voice.

The radio chirped again. “Very well, return to the airport and prep the plane for departure”

Kyoko replied again through the device. “Copy. Three out”

“Interesting device. Where can I get one?”

She smiled and said “Join the Hand, and you get a free one!”

I laughed. “No thanks, Kyoko, I’ll pass for now. Thanks anyway.”

We pulled within a half a block of the house where they were located. I made sure all my gear was set, and made a final text to Finn. “Going in now. u had betr be close”

Ten seconds later. I get the reply. “Go! Luck.”

Due to my training, I had picked up a new talent. I could shadow teleport. Basically, I could enter a shadow, and come out of a shadow elsewhere. Entering a shadow near my location. I exited next to the house. I heard a faint scream and some laughter. They were still torturing her. Using another shadow, I came out in the basement of the abandoned house. I drew my sword and used another shadow to enter the first floor. The heat was off, and the temperature inside was cold, maybe 50 degrees. What I saw made my blood run cold.

Tracy was hanging in the middle of what once had been the kitchen. Her feet were about three inches off the floor. She didn’t show much life. Tracy had been in this rat hole for over three hours and was quite probably in hypothermia already. I counted ten men and two women in the house. Go time.

Taking a deep breath, I leaped out and decapitated the closest one to me. I had caught them by surprise. Two men came charging me. I ducked, removed one of the men’s legs, and spun and disemboweled the other.

One of the women screamed “Kill the bitch! Then she aimed her Tec 9 at Tracy. Her head left her body a millisecond later. Kyoko had arrived. Two more men pulled weapons only to have two of my throwing stars in their hands. The weapons clattered to the floor.

One I recognized as the cocky little prick on the webcam was barking orders. “Kill that rotten whore, Forget the one hanging, I’ll get her!” Two stars hit him in both knees, and he crumple to the floor in agony.

Kyoko flashed through the room and was at Tracy’s side in a moment. A flash of her blade, and Tracy was down.

“Kyoko! Get her out of here! Now! The rest of these fuckers are MINE!”

Ducking into another shadow, I reappeared behind everyone.

“Where did she go? Where is the other one! Find them!”

The remaining woman turned around, saw me had lost her head before she had a chance to say “Oh shit!”

I bounced through the room faster than they could shoot. Three more lost their trigger fingers, hands, and arms. Ducking into a shadow and reappearing next to the two who were digging the throwing stars out of their hands. They lost their guts a half second later.

A big bastard came out from another room and charged me. Stupid. I split his head in half.
That left Mr. Computer. The cocky little son of a bitch who thought it would be funny to piss me off. This was going to be fun.

“Soooo, what do we have here? The slimy little fuck who decided to piss his life away by torturing my friend.”

The insect’s eyes were wide with fear and anger. “How did you do that? This was supposed to be easy. The Arab dude who hired us said you were easy. We were all experience mercs. How did you do that?”

“You first. Why did you push me in the web cam?”

“To get you to hurry. To keep you off balance.”

“So you thought kidnapping and torturing a 16 year old girl was a good way to do that?

He smiled. “Got you here, didn’t it?”

That tore it. I sheathed my sword and kicked the bastard in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. I then picked up a 9 millimeter from the floor. “Now you see what it’s like on the other end.”

I put a bullet in each knee. He screamed in pain. “I can’t hear you!” Two more shots, one in each shoulder.

He screamed in pain. “Please stop! You can’t do this. I have rights!”

I leaned down to him. “So did Tracy, you son of a bitch.”

I lit up my fist and punched straight into his head. I left it there, boring into his brain. He screamed in agony. His eyes lit up with the same violet energy I was using. Then, he stopped screaming. He was dead.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. I guess Finn wasn’t going to get his living suspect. I ran out of the house to find Kyoko with Tracy.

“She is hurt bad. In shock, with hypothermia. We need to get her to a hospital, now.”

We got her into the car. Kyoko had come up with a blanket somehow. As we were about to go, Finn and three other cars pulled up. I ran over to Finn. “Tracy’s badly hurt. She needs to get to a hospital now!”

Finn motioned over to one of his men. “Adams! Kazansky! Take this vehicle and get the girl to Ford Hospital now!”

The two agents jumped into my car and sped off. Finn wasn’t done giving orders “Blue team! Cleanup procedure Delta. Move it!” Four agents proceeded into the house. I didn’t want to know what delta was, but I imagine it involved matches and a can of gas.

I looked for Kyoko, but she was gone.

Finn turned his attention to me. “Psylocke? You okay?”

“No, I’m not. I just killed 11 people.” I turned around and threw up. I threw up until there was nothing left to throw up. Then I turned around and began crying hysterically on Finn’s shoulder.

“Hey, Betsy. It’s okay. You did what you had to do.”

“I can’t d-do this, F-finn. I’m a m-murderer. Oh, God. What have I done?”

Finn let me cry. He didn’t say anything. He just held me.

I cried till there was nothing left to cry. I felt drained. Knowing what I had done was tearing me up inside. The house where all of the action had taken place was starting to go up in flames. There were no other houses in the area, as they had been either torn down or burned out years ago. It was an even bet that the fire department would even bother to show up.

When I had quieted, Finn said “Betsy, doing this is never easy. Killing someone always takes a little bit of your humanity. But sometimes, people make choices that, unless someone is there to stop them, end up hurting and killing even more people. Then, they become no more than rabid dogs, which need to be put down”

“I can’t just dismiss it like this, not right now. I should be worrying about homecoming or some other kid stuff.

As if on cue, I felt a pain in my head that caused me to drop to my knees. A hissing voice I knew as Shadow King entered my head. “Foolish CHILD! I am through toying with you. You die tonight.”

I held my hands to my head. “NO! You PSYCHO BASTARD! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“You will be alone after tonight, child. Behold, your doom arrives!”

Finn looked at me. “Betsy, what’s wrong! Look at me!”

Tilting my head up to Finn, I whispered, “run…”

A bluish light appeared in mid air. It quickly expanded to form a portal. Through this portal stepped the most hideous being I have ever seen. It appeared to be a demon. Twelve feet tall, it had a horrid blood red face that sprouted horns like a water buffalo and huge teeth. It had a long, muscular tail, and sick looking yellow skin. Massive legs like pile drivers and huge, muscular arms tipped in huge claws.

I screamed. No way was my little katana going to put a dent in this thing. Why was Shadow King going out of his way to kill a flea like me with an elephant like that?

What did I do? I ran. I ran my ass off. Finn wars right behind me. Then I heard gunfire. Finn had stopped and was using his pea shooter on that thing. “What are you doing, Finn! You can’t stop that thing with bullets!”

He yelled at me, “We have to try, Psylocke! Do something!”

The creature spoke in a voice that was more like an earthquake than a voice. “The female must die.” He raised a clawed fist and brought it down on Finn. Finn jumped out of the way just before impact. The street under his fist crumbled like three day old bread. Finn was thrown out of the way and knocked unconscious. The beast turned toward me, his eyes glowing and tail whipping around. I focused my psychic energy and fired several psi bolts at the creature. They did absolutely nothing. He came toward me faster than I thought something that big could move. He swung as before, but I was a lot faster than Finn. He missed by a mile. I caught some fragments of concrete, but nothing serious.

Shadow King was watching. “Give up, child. You are only delaying the inevitable”

His telepathy was causing me to lose concentration. I narrowly missed getting hit by the creature’s tail. Rolling out of the way, I got up, only to have to dodge its tail again. I couldn’t keep this up forever.

Then, the creature had me cornered. I was exhausted. I fired more psi bolts, with the same result as before. He seemed to be absorbing them. He towered over me and raised both fists to strike. I closed my eyes, and then the creature roared as it was picked up from behind and slammed into the street. I looked up, and there was my savior. Juggernaut.

“Finally, something big enough to really fight! Get outta here kid. Leave this critter to me! Now I get to pick on someone my own size.”

In truth, the creature was bigger than Marko, but He relished the fight.

The creature crawled out of the crater Juggernaut planted him in. Charging, the Juggernaut slammed several armored fists into the body of the creature, which seemed to take the punishment without damage. Then the demon cursed and struck back, slamming into Juggernaut with a roundhouse right that crashed into his body with a huge explosive sound. Juggernaut flew back and skidded to a stop some forty feet away, leaving a divot in his wake.

“Oh, really, ugly? Is that the best you have? I hope not! ”

Juggernaut charged back at the creature, who met him mid charge. The sound of the collision was deafening. The creature had temporarily slowed Marko down, but was unable to halt his progress. Juggernaut then returned the favor to the creature, with a double fist punch to the creature’s head, then a right with a left uppercut. The creature flew backwards about the same forty feet.

“That’s payback, ugly!”

Shaking its head, the creature was stunned. Juggernaut pressed the advantage and picked the creature up and slamming it into the earth, creating a huge crater. He rained more incredible blows on the creature.

The beast’s tail whipped around and took Juggernaut’s feet out from under him. With more agility than I would have thought possible, it was on its feet and delivered a kick that sent the mighty Juggernaut flying. I heard the wind leave Marko’s lungs on that one.

The two exchanged blows that would have leveled Fort Knox and neither one was giving an inch.

I then heard Ozawa’s voice. “Come to the Astral plane. It is time to end Shadow King’s persecution of you.” I phased into the Astral plane, sure that Juggernaut didn’t need my help.

Ozawa met me and spoke. “Shadow King is feeding the beast with psychic energy. Juggernaut won’t be able to best it in combat, but neither can the creature stop Juggernaut. The two will battle until the city is laid waste. We can defeat Shadow king here, and stop the flow of psychic energy into the creature.”

I looked around. “Where is he?”

Ozawa motioned me to follow him “I’ll take you to him. Come with me.”

We were soon in the presence of the Shadow King. He was focused on the battle. Visible psychic energy was flowing into the beast from the Shadow King. The two behemoths had destroyed a block of houses, and were moving toward a more populated area.

I fired several psi bolts toward the Shadow King. He howled in pain as they struck This interrupted the flow temporarily.

“CHILD! OZAWA! You fool. Will you never learn? It is because of me that you are trapped in this dimension now! I have defeated you before, this time I end it!”

“Not this time, King. The child is with me! The one you fear!”

“Bah!” He gestured, and a blast of psychic energy struck Ozawa. He took the brunt of the blast, and was blown back.”

“Sensei! I screamed.” Rushing over to him, I found him barely conscious. “What do I do? He’s too powerful?”

“child….you ..have…more ….power. Use…it. He then faded out of consciousness.

I was then hit with another blast from Shadow King, driven into the ground by it. The pain was excruciating. Rolling back, I noticed that he was growing in size. He was now over one hundred feet tall. He voice was almost unbearable. “SO, THE MASTER DIES, AND THE STUDENT SURVIVES. NO MATTER, THIS NEXT BLAST WILL SEND YOU TO THE PIT!

Another psychic blast leapt from his clawed hand, out of reflex, I held out my hand and let loose with a blast of my own. The two canceled each other out.

Shadow king roared with rage. “NO! WHAT MUST I DO TO DESTROY YOU!”

I looked up at him and said calmly “You’ll never destroy me, Shadow King. I’ve taken your best and I’m still here.” I raised my hands, and let loose a double blast of psychic power. The twin beams struck Shadow King full in the chest.

Shadow king clutched his chest. “AAAAAAGHHHH. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE! NOT FROM THIS WHELP!” He began to shrink. I hit him again with everything I could summon. This time, I didn’t stop. I gave him a continuous blast. I could feel the power flowing through me. He continued to shrink until he disappeared. Only then did I stop, and realized I was screaming. I collapsed from the effort.

Juggernaut struck the beast for what seemed like the fiftieth time. He was hurting him now. Rights and lefts rained down on the beast, until it vanished.

“And stay gone!” Juggernaut struck his hands together with a clap that sounded like thunder. “Jugs is two and oh. Bring on the next one.”

I was slowly coming back from my haze “Hey kid. You ok? Wake up, kid”

“Huh? Is it time for school already? Five more minutes, ‘kay?”

“Hey kid, it’s Marko. Wake up!”

“Oh, hi Marko, what’s up?” Suddenly I remembered where I was. I shot up bolt upright.

“Easy, kid. The fireworks are over. I sent big ugly back to wherever he came from.”

I reached forward to hug the big man to the best of my ability. I couldn’t get too far around him. It was like trying to hug a house. “Thank you for helping me! I can’t thank you enough. You saved my life.”

“Ahh, It was nothin’ kid. Glad to do it. You’re ok in my book. Takin’ on that big ape was kind of dumb though. Next time, just run.”

I punched him playfully, which was like hitting a brick wall. Hey, I tried to run, but…Finn!”

“Right here, Psylocke. You didn’t think some apocalyptic monster was going to take me out, did you?”

I smiled. “I guess not.” Looking around, I asked “Where are the police?”

“Running crowd control or something. We have a cordon around this area. Homeland Security is running the show now.” He looked at Marko. “Great job. You handled that big sumbitch like the pro you are. Congratulations on the new ‘assets’.”

Marko replied gruffly. “Thanks, Finn. You always were one of the good ones. Which ain’t sayin’ much.”

Finn winced a bit. “Can I give you a lift out of here? I’d like to talk to you about a few things, if that’s ok.”

Cain Marko rolled his eyes. “Save the pitch, g-man”

“Hey, just hear me out!” Finn protested.

I touched his hand “Do it for me, Cain? We need you. I need you. If a little girl like me can do it, so can a big earthmover like you”

He transformed into his Marko guise “Ok, kiddo. I’ll listen to him for you. But no promises!”

“Fair enough” added Finn. “Chopper’s on the way”

“Can you take me to Tracy?” I asked.

“Of course, Betsy. Let’s get you changed into something less, well blood stained.”

The chopper dropped me at the hospital. It landed at the helipad, and I was escorted to Tracy. She was in ICU, in pretty bad shape. She was sedated, and doctors were working to bring her body temp up. I could communicate with her, but I wanted her to rest. Her mom and dad were in the waiting room.

“How is she?” I asked.

“She’s in serious condition, Bets” replied her dad. “They’ve got her doped up pretty well. She’s resting”

Looking up at her father, then over at her mother, the guilt I felt spilled out. I couldn’t stand it any longer. “I’m so sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Moore. It’s my entire fault this happened. I should have left when all this happened to me. Tracy is in there because of me.”

Her mother pulled me into her arms. “You’re darn right she’s in there because of you. If it hadn’t been for you, she would have been in the morgue!”

Through my tears, I stammered, “B-but because of my powers, those people were after me!”

“So?” Her father interjected “we knew the risks when we took you in. You never lied to us, and Tracy was, and still is in love with you. You did nothing wrong, understand? Nothing.”

“Thank you for being there, Mr. and Mrs. Moore”

“Please, Tracy. It’s Mom and Dad.”

I asked if I could see her. Mom and Dad said it was okay. She looked pretty bad. Her eyes were black, and she had bruises all over her body. Her wrists were bandaged up, and the doctor said they were pretty well cut up when she got to the hospital.

I leaned over her still form. Tears fell from my eyes as I looked at her. She took this beating to protect me. How could I ever thank her for her sacrifice? “I love you, dopey. Thank you for doing what you did. You didn’t have to, you know. Don’t you leave me, Tracy. Do you hear me? I can’t live without you. You know, I took care of the people who hurt you. They won’t hurt anyone again.”

An ICU nurse came up from behind “Let her rest, Hon. We’ll take good care of her. I think she’ll be out of this tomorrow.”

I left the ward and went back to Mom and Dad. I liked that. They would never replace my real parents, but I know they would have approved.

What would the morning bring? I was exhausted and fell asleep with my head on my new Mom’s lap.

To be continued….

The monster in this story was pulled from the comics. The description is pretty accurate from the artwork I saw. See if you can guess who it is! I'll bet there's a lot of people who will guess right away!:)

Cindilee