When we last left our heroine, she had just escaped the clutches of her apparent nemesis, the dark sorceress Raven Wing. A psychic shockwave disrupted Raven’s focus allowing Aria to slip free, but so wracked with pain was the villainess that she called out, begging the heroine not to abandon her.

Aria Blade bid a hasty retreat, but as the crisp night air washed over her gold-trimmed white costume and her exposed flesh, she turned to stare back at the ruin, Raven Wing’s pleading words echoing in her mind.

---

Author's Note:
Hi guys,
I know I said I didn't have a timetable on completing this, and to be honest? I still don't ;-) But I wanted to start getting what IS ready back up as soon as possible.

This isn't a 100% complete rewrite. I tried to keep true to the original spirit of an alternate-universe Robin/Nikki, and Chapter 1 I feel needed the least amount of work overall, but I did put a lot of work in on it these last few days. This is laying the foundation at this point. :-)

Enjoy!
~Zoe

---

Staring back into that terrible abyss of a not-so-empty warehouse, I could feel a twinge of guilt. Sure, I saw the report. Everyone who joined Banshee’s taskforce knew why she turned to a life of crime. Why did she target me specifically though, and why did she beg me to stay after trying to kill me moments before?

“Aria Blade, there you are!” Commissioner Williams, our ‘mundane’ liaison to the local authorities’ voice shattered my contemplative silence. “What happened?! Is Raven Wing in there? Did you defeat her?” He barraged me with questions in rapid succession as he stepped closer, the tails of his weathered old trench coat whipping about in the light evening breeze.

I must have been out of my mind. Raven Wing tried to kill me on several occasions now with each mind game or trap more elaborate than the last, yet here I stood, willing to lie to the authorities on her behalf! I turned to face the Commissioner, shaking my head disappointedly. “I’m sorry sir. The tip was a false lead. Raven Wing wasn’t there.”

He frowned, staring over the rim of his coke-bottle glasses, even reaching out to pull at my torn shoulder pad with his free hand. His other held a styrofoam cup of steaming, black coffee. “But you look like you’ve been through Hell, and I was informed Psychic Strike infiltrated the premises to render assistance?”

I numbly nodded. I knew he wouldn’t just take it as being that simple. He had been working with supers for too long, and my costume had indeed been torn in the fight. The hem of my skirt had been ripped, and I broke a heel cleanly off one of my boots. Good thing I could fly, just like Mom.

“She left an arcane trap for me. Psy’s shockwave disrupted the energy flows and allowed me to escape. There’s no way of knowing if the trap’s deactivated though, so on Banshee’s authority, I’m ordering all mundane personnel to stay out of there for their own safety, sir.” That part wasn’t a lie at least. I mean, Raven Wing was disoriented, but now that she’d lost her quarry she was going to be furious.

“Right, then. Let’s pack it in! I’ll expect your report in the morning,” he added crisply. Good old Williams, always by the book. He turned to walk away. I simply nodded. The latex of my mask had begun to itch fiercely while Raven had me entangled, but now it seemed to be worsening. The moment the Commissioner turned his back, I peeled off one of my gloves, running a light-pink fingernail up underneath the offending apparel and scratching that annoying sensation.

Before he could turn back to thank me, I left the ground behind. Banshee would be waiting on a report as well, and unlike the Commissioner, I couldn’t lie to her. Somehow she always stayed one step ahead of me, even without Psy's assistance.

~oOo~

“Hey, Aria,” a deep male voice called out to me seconds after my bare feet met the pristine white tiles. We didn’t have a fancy name for our super-headquarters like the Amazons and their Hall of Hera or anything so awesome. Our team had been cobbled together as a literal taskforce to deal with Raven Wing so we, the mighty Raven-chasers, had a timeshare office.

But I digress. The voice belonged to Tank, the man with titanium skin and buns of steel. You may have just rolled your eyes at that nickname, but he came by it honestly. The dude bench-presses Abrams tanks. In the short time I’d known him, I watched him shrug off sniper bullets like they were peashooters. If something could put Tank down, the rest of us wouldn’t stand a chance, I figured.

Of course his skin wasn’t literally titanium, but thanks to a mad science experiment it may as well have been. His 6’6” form dwarfed me by a foot and then some as he plodded slowly over to me. He had more than usual too, as with my broken boot heel, I stood barefoot on the cold tile floor.

“Hey Tank,” I offered meekly. I knew exactly what he wanted.

“Banshee’s been looking for you. Word of advice? Lure her into the soundproof chamber.” His dark face contorted into a warped grin at his terrible joke, and twists of dreadlocks flew outward as he threw his head back and laughed.

“Oh don’t YOU start too!” I snapped back, but sighed a moment later, offering an apologetic smile. Tank cracked wise all the time. I should have been used to it by now. I certainly didn’t need to be taking my frustrations out on him, of all people. “Sorry. It’s just been one of those nights. I won’t keep Mother waiting.”

He nodded, still chuckling as I passed. “And stop flirting with the enemy for God’s sakes!”

My cheeks turned BRIGHT red at that as all thoughts of forgiving him faded entirely. I had to draw the line somewhere! He was right, though. It’s true that Raven Wing seemed to have developed an obsession with making me blush. The last several times we met, she found new and disturbing ways of, dare I say it, hitting on me! As if I’d be interested! She was kind of cute for a super-villain though.

I frowned, furiously shoving those thoughts from my mind as I meekly padded down the long hallway. By now everyone else had gone home for the night, save a skeleton crew of security. One of the benefits of having your secret base under a timeshare office is it’s so embarrassing, no one would ever believe it to be true.

“Ah, there you are darling,” Mother’s soft, melodic, and calm voice belied the coming storm. She pushed a few strands of silvered hair back behind her ear as she stood from her desk and approached me. I flinched as pale, slender arms embraced me…? Wait, what?

“Mom?” I asked hesitantly. I had expected the butt-chewing of a lifetime for what I had done, rushing in there alone as I had. Instead she simply held me close to her. My knees buckled, and I succumbed to her motherly embrace, burying my itchy face in her shoulder. Despite her slender build, mother held me up easily, stroking my back.

“Aria, I was so scared for you. Why didn’t you wait for backup?”

“The note said to come alone, or else she’d kill the hostages. Mom- I mean Banshee, you know she’s crazy enough to do it!”

“Yes, but that’s why we have a psychic on our side, remember dear?” She waited until I found my balance again then cupped my face in her hands. Her steel gray eyes locked with my jade greens as though searching for something. “She didn’t hurt you did she? I mean… ‘hurt’ you?”

I sighed. “No Mother. For the last time, there’s nothing going on between us! Just because Maria thinks she saw something while crawling around in that psycho’s head, doesn’t mean anything!” I tried to sound demanding and insistent: emphasis on the word ‘tried’.

She smirked to herself, but it quickly faded. “Yes, I suppose,” she trailed off as she released me, turning to cross back to her desk. For all that my mother Banshee was the toughest woman to carry the Banshee moniker in the long line of Banshees, she had a lady-like, delicate grace I couldn’t help admiring, and even envying.

The magic that transformed me into her daughter gave me this gorgeous body, but none of the refinement. That, along with how to run in high heels, I was forced to learn on my own. I reached up to carefully untie the mask, leaving my platinum blonde wig in place for now. Mother abruptly frowned.

“It appears you have a mild latex allergy. I TOLD that fool not to give you a latex mask until you had been properly tested,” she sighed and shook her head slowly.

I of course, had no idea what she was talking about, at least not until I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the polished frame housing her doctorate’s credentials. There in the warped, elongated, golden reflection I saw the beginnings of a rash. I shrieked, quickly covering my mouth before I could do any more damage than knocking a frame off the wall.

“Oh God, it’s hideous!” I whined, poking at it in some desperate, blind hope that it might just magically disappear.

“Now darling, it’s not that bad. You should be thankful it’s just a mild allergy and not a true weakness.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure Raven Wing would have a field day if she found out she could weaken me with rubber.” I sneered sarcastically, causing my mother’s alabaster cheeks to turn just a hint of rosy peach.

“Young lady, I’ll thank you not to even think such things! No daughter of mine is going to be … be …”

“Be what?” I paused for a long moment letting the implications of what I’d just said roll through my mind. I could feel my own cheeks burning now. “MOTHER! Ew! I’m going home now!”

“Not so fast,” she answered, holding up one delicate finger. That was all it took for her to command my attention. Without her, I would be nothing. I loved, respected, and admired her deeply. Besides, we had a psychic on the team. If you thought lying to YOUR mother was hard, try lying to someone with the manipulative skills to convince a psychic to spy on her own daughter.

“I want to know what happened with Raven Wing. Why did you lie to the authorities?”

“How did you…” Of course. “Maria," I frowned.

Psy, still dressed in her purple-with-gold-lightning-bolts super suit meekly faded into view. The beautiful Latina psychic may have become one of my best friends since joining the team, but that wouldn’t get her off the hook. Her devil red lips pursed a moment before breaking her silence. “I’m sorry! She threatened to boot me off the taskforce if I didn’t tell her everything. And you know Raven did have you in a pretty tight spot. If I hadn’t stopped her…”

“We can talk about it later,” I commanded neutrally, “But can I please ask you to step out for a minute, and not sneak back in to eavesdrop? This is kind of personal.”

“Okay,” she offered hesitantly. She stopped beside me, reaching out to place her hand on my shoulder, but I shrank away. The last thing I needed was her mischievous butt trying to sneak a peek. She pouted though, and seemed genuinely hurt by my distrust. I just couldn’t risk it; what I had to say was for Banshee’s ears alone.

“Alright, so what’s so important that you would lie to the authorities and run your own friend out?” Mother asked in a neutral tone. She folded her arms, staring at me expectantly. My breathing slowed as I took a seat across from her and slowly removed my banded, white gloves. I buried my face in my hands, causing the fake blonde bangs to fly forward, tickling my fingers.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” I mumbled, muffled by my own palms. “I know she’s like, evil incarnate, but I… I feel sorry for her.” I slowly shifted my gaze upwards. “It’s not like she wanted what happened to her to happen. What that man did to her was sadistic and monstrous.”

“But that’s never stopped you before. What happened to you down there?”

“She … She begged me, pleaded for me not to abandon her,” I finally exhaled. “It was after Maria psy-bombed her, disrupting her concentration and leaving her a babbling mess on the floor. She grabbed the hem of my skirt… Momma, she was crying, like, bawling. She looked so utterly helpless!”

“Crocodile tears, too, I’m sure. Sweetheart, you must understand, people like her are dangerous, demented lunatics,” she responded with no small amount of skepticism. “I understand now what this is about.”

I let my gaze falter, even as I clamped down on my bottom lip, nearly drawing blood. “Y-you do?”

“Yes. It’s all perfectly clear to me now. Raven Wing chose you to try and turn you against your team. Maria can see past her guile easily, and let’s face it, Tank is too old and too bitter, as am I. And Volcaness is too…”

“Bitchy?”

“… I prefer that you not use such language, but yes. So as of right now, you’re off the case.”

“What?!” I leapt to my feet, my poor bare feet. I forgot I’d taken my boots off after breaking a heel, and the sudden cold shock sent me literally flying upwards.

“Don’t you use that tone with me young lady, and come down from there,” she scolded, but her expression softened as she stood. “This is for your own good. Now get into your civilian clothes and get home. I have some paperwork to file,” she sighed. “I’ll overlook your lying to Williams this time since you at least managed to convince him to keep the area clear.”

That was probably as close to a reprieve as I would be getting. I tried pouting, but she ignored it, and I knew I wouldn’t win by arguing, so I quietly moped out of the room. Maria, waiting outside, immediately threw her arms around me.

“I am so, so sorry!” she began, but I shot her a sad smile, interrupting her pleas.

“No, I’m sorry for throwing you out like that. Friends?”

“Friends, chica, always and forever. So what happened?”

“I’m off the case,” I whined. “She’s probably right though. Raven would’ve used me against you guys, using my naivety to destroy the team. I mean I already lied to the Commissioner, and I would have lied to her too. I’m just going to go change, then head home.”

She offered a solemn nod as she let go of me, and I quietly made my way down the long, sterile hall. As I entered our ‘showers’ locker room to change, I started to reflect on how I became wrapped up in this whole mess to begin with, how I thought I’d be some awesome, muscle-bound hero with sonic abilities, a combination of Mom and Dad’s powers. I had been born powerless, and as an only child Fate had different plans for me. ‘Screaming Freedom’. That’s the name I wanted, but Mother insisted Aria Blade would sound more lady-like.

The weird thing though is being transformed into her successor fulfilled another dream for me; a secret one I’d never told anyone. I smiled a little as I pulled my white tank top down over my head. My naturally black tresses flowed freely without ‘Aria’s’ wig in the way. That, along with my tattered costume, I packed into a discrete, battered old army bag and headed out, without so much as a good night to Maria or the other team. What did it matter now that I was off the taskforce?

For the second time that night, the chill wind whipped at my exposed flesh. I pulled my heavy suede jacket closer as I walked onward. It seemed unseasonably cool, and I suddenly wished I had a cup of coffee. I didn’t want to go home yet, but I didn’t have anywhere else I could go, so I made the arbitrary decision to visit a small park between here and there. Normally a girl in a park at night would just be asking for trouble, but as someone who engaged regularly in Kung Fu battles with masked super villains, I could handle a mugger even without my sonic shriek.

As I passed through the park, I found myself aware of a faint sound, like sobbing. I looked around to see a girl about my age by a small, time-worn fountain. She looked like she’d been in a fight, but in the dim light of the nearby street lamp, I couldn’t get a good look at her face. She pulled her red leather coat more tightly around herself, but as she shifted I caught a glimpse of a purple-and-black plaid miniskirt as well.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked. She rather frantically jumped to her feet. I could now see her stiletto combat boots as well as her fishnet stockings more plainly. She stared uneasily at me, so I held up my hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. You just looked…” I hesitated, and her eyes widened. “Like I feel.”

She breathed a heavy sigh, and slowly she sank to the ground again. She drew her knees close to her chest, setting her forehead against them in silence.

“I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone,” I spoke gently, and buried my hands in the pockets of my jeans as best I could, as I turned to walk away.

“No, wait,” came a soft, barely audible response. “Stay?”

I looked back at her, and nodding slowly, I took a few tentative steps closer, sitting down on the concrete bench beside her. Upon closer inspection, even in the dim light I could see she wasn’t wearing any makeup at all. Her lip looked like it had been busted in a fight or a fall, and she was definitely in some kind of pain.

“Do you need an ambulance?” The superhero in me took over at this point. She quickly shook her head, turning away from me. I sighed to myself. I so did not need this tonight. “Fine, whatever,” I responded, perhaps more coldly than I intended. I didn’t want to take my bad mood out on this weird girl, but she wanted me to stay, but didn’t want to talk. Finally I eased myself down from the bench, bracing my back against the fountain’s base beside her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I just got fired from my er… internship. The perfect end to the perfect day.”

Ever so slowly she turned, her hazel eyes locking onto me. She shifted to a kneel and hugged me lightly. I admit I cringed, as I wasn’t expecting the sudden hug. The girl stood and walked away. By the time I could get to my feet though, she had vanished into the shadows.

“Like I said, perfect end to the perfect day,” I grumbled, and turned to head home.

~oOo~

A full two weeks passed after the incident with the strange girl. In that time all sightings of Raven Wing completely died out, as though the sorceress who fought so hard to make so many suffer had dropped off the face of the earth. Psychic Strike and I, on a routine patrol through the streets of New Heathridge City, discussed the disappearance and the disbandance of the taskforce…

“I really didn’t think I hit her that hard,” Maria — sorry, Psychic Strike mused, breaking the silence that had settled between us as we maintained our cruising altitude some fifty yards above street-level. One of the boons of being the daughter of a living ghost, and inheriting her powers, was the ability to fly. Psy, being a telekinetic and telepath, could simply lift herself with her mind.

“I don’t think you did either. It’s like it shook something loose. I can’t get the incident out of my head. I mean it’s getting so bad I’m having trouble sleeping now.”

“You know I could fix that for you,” she teased, grinning an impish little grin.

“No thanks. Volcaness is still gunning for you after you tried that on her,” I chided playfully.

She started to giggle. “What? How was I supposed to know she was a closet lesbian? Just because I go walking around in people’s minds, doesn’t mean I can find out everything about them! If she were into guys that dream would’ve made her never want to wake up!”

“Raven Wing! It’s Raven Wing, run!” shouted a frightened civilian from below. Psy and I looked at each other and immediately swooped down. As we touched down we spotted the shadow sorceress in all her glory, standing almost nonchalantly on the street corner, her namesake wings spread wide, and a wicked grin on her painted lips. Since when did Raven Wing wear makeup?

“Come to me, my pretty pretty!” she cackled and took flight. Psy and I attempted to head her off, but we had to swerve away at the last minute to avoid a mid-air collision with each other.

“Okay playtime’s over. Psy, you go that way and do your weird bend-light-invisi-thing. I’ll try and steer her closer. If you see your shot take it.”

“I CAN hear you, you know?” Raven snidely remarked as she looked back over her shoulder at us. “And no, your little girlfriend won’t save you this time. I have a SPECIAL surprise for her.” She abruptly spun about to face me, cupping her talon-gloved hand to her face. “Ooohhh Mooooon-goooooo!” she sang in an ear-shattering tone that would have made Mother proud.

On its cue, a great, shadowy mist washed over the very sky itself. It began to swirl and churn into a terrible vortex. I stopped mid-air to stare at the frightening spectacle, as the shadows converged into a single, vaguely humanoid entity — a forty foot TALL vaguely humanoid entity of what appeared for all intents and purposes to be pure shadow energy.

“Go get help! I’ll hold it off!” Psychic Strike shouted at me as she entered within range, lashing out with psionic energy at the creature. I’d almost swear I heard it laughing at her as it swatted her aside.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain across my head though, and the sensation of falling. I couldn’t even find the energy to shriek. I shut my eyes waiting for the inevitable, when I suddenly felt a set of arms around me.

My ears rang and I felt lightheaded and weak, but I could hear the flapping of wings. I opened my eyes just long enough to see Raven Wing smiling softly down at me. Oh God.

Blackness followed.

“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.”

Enroute to the subway tunnel where the urban explorers found me awhile ago, we met up with Psychic Strike. She had her hand outstretched, holding a pair of zombies about ten feet off the ground. She glanced back at us with an all-too-serious stare, letting gravity do its work.

“Man am I glad to see you chica! What in the name of the Holy Mother is going on?! Oh, hi there.” She glanced toward Silver Sentinel with a brief smile, returning her attention to me.

“We’re not sure. Sil says they just appeared out of nowhere. I think Raven Wing’s involved. Volcaness is meeting us outside Raven’s lair.”

---

Author's Note:
I was going to put off posting this one a bit longer to help draw out my posting habits a little (and not clog up the front page so much :-)), but given that when I wrote the original, I was in a very bad place mentally, and I've been going through a lot this week, I decided to go ahead and post it.

~Zoe

---

A full month had passed since I last saw Raven Wing. Banshee ordered me, both as a mother and as a veteran hero, to take a break for awhile. In effect, she grounded me for interfering with the ‘plan’ by warning Raven, even though she’d already figured out our trap and had trapped me instead, in a manner of speaking.

Halloween would be upon us soon, and since I couldn’t attend the Mayor’s annual ball as Aria Blade as I'd been dreaming since June, I’d be free to go to a party as myself. The irony of that one never really stopped stinging. I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into depression of late the more I thought about Raven Wing. Nothing made sense. Why did she kiss me? Why did I warn her? What’s wrong with me? Is this because of the magic that twisted my body?

I wasn’t always the beautiful bombshell of a teen-aged superhero known as Aria Blade. Once upon a time I was just plain Robert, the first male born in a long, long line of females dating back a thousand years, when the first Banshee wailed in grief at the loss of her beloved.

Legends say her cries were so mournful and so loud that a spirit took pity and gave her the power to avenge her murdered lover, but at a large cost. The women of my family aren’t quite ‘alive’, but not exactly dead. Some believe we are for whom the Celtic legends of wailing spirits speak, but Mother says the Banshee of each generation take our name from those legends, so who knows.

As for myself, my entire life I dreamed of being the next Banshee in the long line. Traditionally the bearer of the title would train her daughter from a very young age, and then on her 21st birthday she would take up the mantle of the new Banshee, except that I didn’t actually get my powers until a few months ago.

As I sat on a park bench, staring off into space, Raven’s voice, soft and distant, reached out to me. It was not the Raven Wing with which I had done battle so many times, nor even the calm and confident girl that kissed me a month ago. No, this was the desperate and fearful cry for me to stay, not to abandon her that I heard in her tone.

“Aria … Help!” the voice cried in a fade, as though the entire cosmos stood between us.

“Raven?” I responded as I sat up and looked around. I could see no one else nearby, nor even a hint of shadows flickering. The longer I listened, the more I became acutely aware of a sound, at first like a whisper, but growing steadily to an intense, terrified roar. I turned in time to see the source, even as the sky turned as red as blood.

Hundreds of what I can only describe as walking corpses clamored through the nearby streets, chasing innocent civilians, even as our city’s heroes fought desperately to push them back.

“You, girl!” a distinctly female voice shouted. I knew that voice. I turned in time to come face to silver power-armored chest, with a human-sized blonde hair-topped head poking out. I’d have known that reflective visor anywhere: Silver Sentinel! I didn’t even know she had returned to the city. Sil and my mother were practically sisters growing up, but Sil took a job across the Atlantic, so I hardly ever saw her.

“Aunt Sil! What’s going on?!”

“’Aunt’ Sil?” she asked, confused, as she stared. Did Mom not tell her about my little magical ‘mishap’? She pointed her gauntleted glove at an encroaching wave of zombies, sending a blast of blue energy jolting the lot of them off into the distance, and vaporizing two in the process. “Come on, this is no place for civilians! Grab onto me and don’t let go!”

Sure, I could fly, but Mother would kill me if I broke rule number one — never, ever reveal your secret identity in public, ‘even during a zombie apocalypse’. Yes, that really was a special clause. I reluctantly wrapped my arms around her neck, and seconds later we left the ground behind courtesy of her jet-propelled boots. As she raced me toward the nearest barricaded checkpoint, she spoke candidly.

“For someone who’s just been plucked from the jaws of undeath by a flying tin can, you sure are taking this well. And more importantly, why’d you call me ‘Aunt Sil’? Only one person ever called me that, and you’re sure as Hera not him.” I blushed a little, shifting my gaze toward the distant ground below.

“… It’s me, Aunt Sil — Robert. Well, Robin slash Aria Blade now. It’s a long story.”

“… Robert?!” she exclaimed. She faltered which caused me to squeal just a little and let go of her. I managed to catch myself, floating mid-air for only a second before grabbing onto her again. It’s not as though anyone down below would have noticed a flying civilian with the waves of undead crawling all over the city but still.

“Yeah. Long story short, I tampered with powers beyond my comprehension and accidentally turned myself into Banshee’s daughter and successor. I’m ‘grounded’ right now, but under the circumstances I think I can be forgiven if I take up my armor again. Can you drop me off at home?”

With an abrupt course-change, she nodded. As she raced me to my house, I explained the abridged version of what’s been happening since June, for now leaving out the part about botching the attempt to capture Raven. In return she explained the situation with the zombies. Unfortunately no one knew exactly where they were coming from, or for that matter, why. The more I thought about it, the more I started to wonder. This started not long after Raven Wing contacted me. Could there be a connection?

“I think I might know who’s responsible,” I offered uneasily even as I changed into my battle armor. The new pieces had been commissioned and finished for a few weeks now, molded and sculpted to fit snugly to my body, but rigid enough to offer better protection. I also received a hand-made all-natural leather mask from, of all people, Volcaness, although she did give me a hard time about the latex allergy.

“There are innocent people dying out there. If you know who’s responsible, then tell me so we can put a stop to it!” Aunt Sil insisted.

“Well I’m not sure exactly, but I heard Raven Wing calling out to me just before this whole thing started. Either she’s done something … Or she’s in very serious danger. Either way, we have to go to her lair.”

I paused as I tied my mask into place, expertly pinning down my ‘Aria Blade’ wig. Mother warned me that my black hair would fade to silver with time, just like hers, but until the day I could take up the Banshee title, and until I had full control of my powers, I had to play by her rules, including keeping my mundane identity quiet like this.

“It’s the only lead we have,” she answered.

Enroute to the subway tunnel where the urban explorers found me awhile ago, we met up with Psychic Strike. She had her hand outstretched, holding a pair of zombies about ten feet off the ground. She glanced back at us with an all-too-serious stare, letting gravity do its work.

“Man am I glad to see you chica! What in the name of the Holy Mother is going on?! Oh, hi there.” She glanced toward Silver Sentinel with a brief smile, returning her attention to me.

“We’re not sure. Sil says they just appeared out of nowhere. I think Raven Wing’s involved. Volcaness is meeting us outside Raven’s lair.”

“What makes you think Raven’s involved? She’s been silent ever since she kissed you.” I shot her a glare that could have cut diamonds at that comment, causing her to bite her bottom lip even as Sil presumably glared at me. I say presumably because it’s kind of hard to tell with that bulky visor of hers. “… Sorry.”

“We can talk about that later,” Sil responded. “For the moment, Aria believes Raven Wing is either involved, or in trouble, because she called out to her.”

“Yeah. It was like she was in pain or scared, or something. It was like when you first psy-bombed her awhile ago, when she cried and begged me not to abandon her.”

“It could be a trap,” Psychic Strike offered with unease as we landed outside the tunnel. A brilliant flash of light shot past us, exploding ahead amid a united scream of now-flaming undead. The creatures flailed about as they collapsed to the ground, writhing and clawing at the ground, and at one another.

“That’s why I’m here,” Volcaness, dressed in her full, metallic red body armor, stated flatly as she moved past us with determination. Unlike the three of us, Volcaness couldn’t fly, either by natural ability or technology, but her tricked-out titanium-frame motorcycle got the job done just fine.

After another fiery explosion she turned back to us with a grin, tucking a lit cigarette between her lips. “I love killing zombies. I can go all out and nobody gets prissy about ‘abuse of power’.” She giggled gleefully. I couldn’t decide if it was her comment, or her giggle, that unnerved me more. One thing was for sure, when Volcaness laughed you did NOT want to be in her line of fire, so to speak.

“Just remember we’re not here to kill Raven unless she attacks us,” I added, trying to sound authoritative.

“Yeah, yeah, no roasting the brat’s girlfriend. Got it. Can we go now?” she answered dryly.

Psychic Strike peered further into the subway tunnel, narrowing her gaze. “How are we gonna find her anyway? I sure am not going fishing around for her thoughts.”

“Actually, Psy, that’s exactly what I need you to do. Look, I know what you saw the last time shook you up, but if this isn’t a trap, and if she’s genuinely in trouble, you’re the only one who can reliably reach out to her. Here,” I removed my glove, offering her my hand. “Draw on my strength if you need to, but find her, please!”

She stared reluctantly at me for what felt like an eternity, though only a few seconds passed before she sighed and accepted my hand. I braced myself as, like a psychic vampire she drew upon a touch of my own life force in order to bolster herself against whatever lay beyond. She brought her free hand to her temple as she shut her eyes.

“Aria!” Raven’s voice called out to me more clearly and distinctly. It hadn’t lost its terrified edge though.

“Raven! Where are you? What’s going on?”

“Aria! Please help me! I screwed up and now I’m in trouble! I’ll light the path for you, but please hur–“

“Ungh!” Psychic Strike shrieked as she abruptly let go of my hand, collapsing backwards. Volcaness swooped closer to catch her. She glared at me.

“That’s it. I’m goin’ in blazing and ain’t nobody gonna stop me!”

“Wait!” I shouted back. “Raven contacted me through Psychic Strike. I think she’s in serious trouble. If we can help her, she might be able to help us put a stop to this!”

Psychic Strike, blinking a couple of times, finally nodded, staggering back to her feet. “She’s right. That … wasn’t Raven that assaulted me and severed our telepathic bond. It was something else. Something darker. It was like touching the face of evil itself.” She shuddered violently, quickly shaking her head. “Something terrible is waiting for us. You guys go on ahead. I have to get something. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up!”

As Psychic Strike’s form faded from sight, I led the other two down the tunnel to the off-shoot point where I recalled emerging the last time. As promised, Raven’s shadows parted, giving us a distinct path to follow. Unlike last time, they didn’t recede behind us either. Barely a hundred yards into the tunnel, the familiar groan of undead, and an unfamiliar shriek caught our attention.

As if on cue, a trio of zombies, and something else, larger and covered in uneven, cracked red scales rushed us. These zombies though, seemed different. Unlike the mindless rotting corpses we faced outside, these creatures seemed unnaturally more powerful, larger and faster.

Volcaness directed a narrow, controlled line of fire at the demon creature, and Silver Sentinel sent a quick, firm blast of energy at the first zombie. Both creatures shrugged off the blasts as though they were in a water gun fight! I did the only thing I could think of, and began to sing.

I still had difficulty directing my sonic blasts in tight corridors like this. One false note, so to speak, could reverberate out of control, so I instead diverted my efforts to setting up a resonant frequency reverberation in an attempt to bolster and shield us.

The red creature, realizing what I was attempting to do, rushed forward. I lost my focus and shrieked as a mighty obsidian claw fell mere inches from my face, stopped only by Silver Sentinel’s power gauntlet. She gripped its hand tightly, coursing directed energy through her gauntlet and causing the creature to howl in pain, even as Volcaness then blasted it point-blank in the face.

I stumbled backwards, crawling along the floor to get behind my protectors. I had no choice but to start attacking. I contorted my lips as Mother had taught me, and uttered an ear-shattering screech. The nearest super-zombie groaned, stumbling and collapsing.

The creature broke free of Sil’s grasp and fled, but we still had two more hulking, angry undead to dispatch. Now free to set up my shield, I rose to my knees and began to sing again. Sil fired her rocket boots, propelling her forward, her gauntleted fists punching right through the chest of the second zombie.

Meanwhile Volcaness, not to be outdone by my adopted aunt, barreled into the third, grabbing the creature in a bear hug. Seconds later, both she and it were one gigantic ball of flames. The creature howled and clawed at her, but she somehow managed to avoid the worst of its strikes as she reduced it to a pile of ash.

We were left only with silence. Volcaness ripped off her crimson, mirrored sunglasses and turned to stare at us. “Okay, I’ve seen a lot of weird crap in my time, but I’ve never seen ANYTHING like that. What the Hell was that thing?!”

“I don’t know. It might have been the creature that severed the telepathic link,” I offered, uncertain, as I pressed forward.

Sil added as she followed, “We’ll have to keep an eye out for it. It knows we’re here, and it knows we’re not afraid of it, which means it’s probably going to try and sneak up on us once the odds are in its favor again.”

The waves of undead seemed almost endless, as we fought our way further into Raven Wing’s lair, and I continued to wonder, the closer we came, if perhaps this really was all one huge, elaborate trap. The shadow creature turned out to be just an illusion to throw us off while she captured me, but maybe she found a way to create or summon an endless supply of walking dead to soften us up?

But then, I heard it. A sound so soft it barely registered: a distant cry, but unlike before, this seemed real, not a telepathic projection. As the sound grew more distinct and clear, I put a direction and tangible source to the sound, like the sobbing of a little girl.

Volcaness heard it too, it seemed, as she stopped in her tracks to look around. A pair of bloody shoe-prints, about the size a small child’s Mary Jane shoes might leave, appeared in front of us on the stonework floor. The shadows receded completely, and footfalls followed new footsteps, despite no readily apparent, visible source.

Click … Click … Click. Slowly, the footfalls and their bloody footprints moved forward as the disembodied voice sobbed. The other two warily stayed back and watched, but I followed the footsteps. They turned, and disappeared into the wall.

I stopped where they had vanished, and pressed my hands against the wall, searching for some kind of loose brick or switch that might activate a secret door or panel. With no success, I stepped back, accidentally planting my foot on one of the bloody footprints. A metallic click resounded, so I put my other foot on the other print in the ‘set’. The wall slid to the side.

The chamber beyond looked like something only a madman could devise. A stone slab in one corner with bloodied straps, hooks hanging from the ceiling in another area, and in one corner, a translucent little girl sat sobbing. She couldn’t have been more than five or six. She stopped sobbing as we entered, but stared at us as though we were the ghosts.

“Stay away!” she shrieked, covering her little, ghostly face. “He’s coming!”

“Who’s coming, sweetie?” I cooed, trying to reassure this little spirit. Raven answered, as she stepped from the shadows.

“My father.” She knelt beside the little girl, and wrapped her arms around her as though she were actual flesh and blood. The child faded into Raven’s form, and she stood again, turning to approach us. “I’m sorry Aria. I’m so sorry. Please, please help me put this right!”

I stepped back. “Raven, what’s going on? And what is this place?”

She looked around with a forlorn sadness in her eyes, and then returned her gaze to me. “Do you really want me to answer that question? Please, just help me. I’m responsible for the zombies, but for Goddess’ sake, I’m trying to set it right. This isn’t how it was supposed to happen!”

She had a sincerity in her voice that tugged at me, begging me to give her another chance. I nodded. “Alright, I’ll help you, but if you try anything, Volcaness will roast you, understood?”

She nodded solemnly, without hesitation. “This way!” she insisted, reaching for my hand. A shiver ran right down my spine as she clutched it, tugging me along, even as the other two followed behind us.

“My father was a terrible man, Aria. You must understand this above all. That’s why I did what I did to him. I made him suffer like he made me suffer, and then I turned my rage on the rest of the world.”

She led us down a long hallway to another chamber, where shards of red crystal lay scattered across the chamber. A large chunk of it sat on its side at the center, amid arcane runes and circles drawn into the floor. What was this place?

“We have to lure him back here, so I can put him back in,” she explained, pointing to the crystal. “The demon who taught me to trap him didn’t tell me what he would become. I had no way of knowing, of seeing the true metamorphosis until it was too late.”

“Ah, but it is too late…” a deep, raspy voice hissed from beyond the shadows. Sheer, abject terror filled Raven Wing’s eyes as she turned toward the source. The red creature we had fought earlier stepped out. Though still nursing its battlescars from earlier, it smiled cruelly at her. “You will accept your destiny, my daughter. You will become like me. Sacrifice these fools and accept true power!”

“Never!” she shrieked, sending a blast of eldritch shadow energy at him. He batted it aside with a cruel laugh.

“Then I shall transform HER instead! Useless whelp. Remember the fun we had in our ‘special place’?” He grinned a cruel, demonic smirk as the tears rolled down her cheeks. The shadows seemed to ebb and flow like an intelligent liquid as they drew from throughout the labyrinth, coalescing and enveloping her.

“Yes, YES!” the creature cackled. I watched helplessly as the torrent of shadows began to swirl like a dark, mystical storm around her. Not sure what else I could do, I grabbed her hand, and the rest of the world seemed to fall away from us. Blackness surrounded me, and I found myself not holding the hand of Raven Wing, but of a little girl, about five or six. I slowly looked around at the emptiness that surrounded us, and then turned my attention to her.

“What … where are we?”

The little girl spoke eloquently and plainly, despite her child-like voice. “This is Raven’s soul. Shattered, broken, polluted as it is. This is what he has done to her.”

“How did I get here? What’s going on?” I insisted. I had no desire to be in Raven’s mind, let alone her soul!

The girl smiled forlornly. “When you touched her hand, I pulled you here. Had I not, you would have died immediately. What was it you sought to do, exactly? One does not simply reach into the void without purpose, or without price.”

“I-I thought maybe I could anchor her, remind her that she’s still human, that I … that I want to help her,” I babbled. I didn’t know what I was thinking, myself. I just couldn’t stand idly and watch her destroy herself!

Either the little girl floated upwards, or I sank, as I found myself staring into her precious blue-gray eyes. “You love her, but can you care for her, and protect her? Can you guide her from darkness?”

“I … I don’t know. But I want to help.”

“The path to destruction is paved with good intentions. We shall see what happens.”

“Who are you?”

She grinned. “Ah, now that would be telling. Right now, I am her inner child, her innocence lost. What I become, now that is up to her, and to you.”

The world around me blurred and faded back into view. I suddenly found myself clutched by the throat by the red creature, cackling maniacally in my ear. I struggled in vain against his clawed hand, his firm grip choking the life out of me. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t do anything.

Just as I began to feel my life fading, I heard Psychic Strike’s voice shouting from one side. “I strike you back to the void from which you came, creature of shadow! BE GONE from this place!”

Gravity taking its cue, I found myself unceremoniously landing on the ground even as bright light filled the room. The creature shrieked, and I managed to roll onto my side just long enough to see Psy holding the source of the light out defiantly in front of her, but I couldn’t make out what it was, exactly. Raven appeared next to me and knelt, but I could barely make out her voice.

“A…a? Aria sp…k t.. me… …y som…ing…” She looked frightened as she turned her gaze presumably towards the others, and I suddenly felt very, very tired.

The next thing I remembered, I awoke in what I could only assume was the infirmary of our new, permanent headquarters. After much debate and discussion on the subject, we had decided to join forces as a more permanent team since, despite our differences, we did work well together.

I tilted my head from one side to the other, searching for some sign or other of human contact. A woman in her twenties with long, blonde hair, dressed in pink nurse’s scrubs smiled warmly as she approached my bed.

“Hey there,” she offered cheerily. “I didn’t think you’d be awake so soon. How do you feel?”

I groaned. “Throat hurts.” She poured a fresh glass of iced water, tilting the bendy straw toward me as she offered it. I thirstily gulped down the entire glass, causing her to giggle.

“Careful now. Do you remember anything?”

“I remember,” I paused, frowning at her. “Where’s Raven?”

“Your friend is being interrogated, but don’t worry. Silver Sentinel personally told me to tell you that she’ll vouch for her, but for everyone’s safety, they’re keeping her in a power nullification chamber until all this is sorted out.”

“Can I see her?” I asked, practically begging. I felt my cheeks burn as I realized how insistent I sounded.

“I’m not sure that’s such a-” she began, but Mother’s voice interrupted her.

“Aria, you’re finally awake!” She rushed to my side. My apparent nurse smiled respectfully.

“I was just about to call you, ma’am. I’ll just give you two a minute alone.”

Mother glanced at the nurse, nodding. “Go find Volcaness. Ask her to escort ‘the prisoner’ up here.”

“But-” she started to protest, and then sighed. “Yes ma’am.” She turned to disappear off into heaven knows where, while Psychic Strike, now in casual civilian clothing slowly approached in her place.

“I was so worried about you,” Mother spoke softly as she squeezed me. “What happened to you? The others said you had a glazed look in your eyes, and then that monster grabbed you.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I laughed weakly. “But I’m okay. Mom, please don’t hate Raven.”

“I don’t ‘hate’ anyone, dear. Mistrust? Very much so. Maria,” she turned around, jumping slightly at seeing the psychic had already entered. “Ah, yes, I want you to observe. We’ll see how sincere Ms. Raven is when she thinks she’s alone.”

“Yes ma’am,” Maria offered me a wry, apologetic smile as she approached the far corner and faded from view. After a few minutes, Volcaness appeared, toting Raven along by a pair of arcane-etched handcuffs. Mother smiled approvingly, but shook her head.

“Those won’t be necessary. Let her go, and then give them a moment. I trust my daughter to behave herself.” She gave me a brief warning glance, which I assumed to mean not to warn Raven about Maria’s presence, and stepped out. Volcaness simply rolled her shoulders, removing the arcane manacles. She looked Raven Wing in the eye and smiled that dark, creepy ‘I want to roast someone’ smile of hers. She turned to follow mother, closing the door behind her.

Raven rubbed her wrists as she hesitantly approached my bed. She sat on the edge next to me, staring at me in silence. I smiled weakly at her, waiting for her to say something, and finally she sighed.

“Things got weird, didn’t they?”

“I’d call a zombie invasion and your demon father trying to kill me weird, yeah.” I managed a quiet laugh, but she frowned.

“You know what I mean. You saw ‘her’. Nobody ever sees her. I didn’t even know she’d shown you that terrible chamber until she told me so herself. You-” Tears rolled down her cheek as she turned away from me. “You weren’t supposed to see that terrible place. No one was. Never again.” She turned back to me sharply and scowled. “And why did you grab my hand like that? You could’ve been killed!”

“’She’ saved me,” I offered softly. “She told me she took me into your soul.”

“She WHAT?!” She raised her voice as she stood, then quickly looked around to be sure she didn’t just alert half the building’s security to descend on her, sitting down again.

“Well that changes things,” she grumbled.

“Raven, listen…” She glanced back at me, tucking a few stray bangs behind her ear. I reached for her hand, which she initially pulled back, but then reached back in return. I squeezed it lightly, continuing. “You’re right. Things got weird. We can’t go back to being Aria and Raven, mortal enemies constantly at each others’ throats: not anymore. I’ve seen too much, and you and I both know we don’t want to fight each other anymore.”

“So what happens now?” she asked uneasily.

“That’s up to you. What exactly were you trying to do down there in the first place?”

She frowned. “I told you before that this was my fault, but that I was trying to fix it, right? Well,” she paused briefly, turning her gaze toward the floor. “The shadow demon that bestowed my powers on me laid a trap for me, apparently. I … was trying to be like you. I wanted to set things right and release my father from that prison, to let him face real justice, you know, court system and all that crap.”

As she stood, she paced away from me, but turned back again with a renewed sadness in her expression. “But as you saw, that prison warped him, turning him into some kind of terrible monster. If you hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve ended up just like him. That’s what he wanted all along, but I would have done it if it meant protecting you,” she admitted softly.

After a moment, she sighed, turning away again. “What am I even doing here? I’m a villain; a ‘monster’. I can never make up for all the people I’ve hurt.”

“Is it true you even killed someone?”

“Yes,” she whimpered, turning and stepping closer. She sat down again, taking my hand in hers as she looked down at me. “But that was an accident. I had only just gotten my powers. Someone tried to mug me, and I freaked out. I was an abused kid who’d just been given more power than any mortal’s supposed to have.” She seemed remorseful for what had happened. I sat up a little.

“C’mere.”

“What?” She stared back at me. I smiled, motioning for her to move closer. She finally leaned close enough for me to hug her. I wrapped my arms around her, even kissing her forehead softly. I needed her to know, without question, that I wouldn’t judge her, and this was the only way I could think to do that.

“I can’t change the past, but you and I both know you’re not the insane villain you used to be,” I insisted.

She managed a weak smile as she nodded. “You asked me once before about the night your psychic friend hit me with her backlash wave. The little girl you met was ‘born’ that night, as nearly as I can tell. That’s when she first appeared, and I first felt … ‘normal’, if you can call this normal,” she added, shaking her head slowly.

“It’s like she separated from me. I found myself thinking clearly for the first time in years. She’s still a part of me, yet she carries the bulk of my pain. I can’t explain how or why it works; I just know it does, and it allows me to talk to you like this.”

Her voice grew more tense, insistent, and even afraid. “But I’m afraid for you. I’m afraid for both of us. She needs me right now because if I lose her, then I lose myself. I lose this … person I want to be. I’m sorry Aria.”

She leaned over my bed, and kissed me, and for an instant the world melted away, with only us, but an instant later, she was gone. Maria slowly faded into view, approaching my bed. She squeezed my hand, and I smiled a little.

“It’s a start,” I offered.

“Yeah. Banshee’s not gonna believe this.”

I had to laugh. “We say that a lot lately.”

She glowered, but this time not at me. “I know who’s responsible for this, and I’ll take care of it, but for now we need to put this thing down.”

“Let’s do this,” I responded, taking her hand in mine. Psy floated closer and grinned.

“Can I play too?” she chided. I could feel my cheeks burn.

“Psy this is serious! Get something to lob at its eye sensor. While it’s distracted Raven and I will move in for the-”

---

“Hey, I heard we’re getting a new squad member,” Volcaness casually commented even as she melted the head off an encroaching security robot The insane creation’s laser blasts had, until that point, handily kept me pinned behind some crates.

“Thanks,” I exhaled. We were investigating a supposedly abandoned warehouse in the downtown area where these security droids weren’t even supposed to be active. I nervously peeked around the corner, Volcaness rolling her eyes at me and laughing.

“Still a rookie.”

“Um, yeah. Unlike you I-” I started to say something I’d regret, but Tank cleared his throat, that deep baritone catching both our attention.

“Unlike Volc, you ain’t earned your stripes yet. Remember why we got stuck with this squad’s got less to do with going after Raven Wing now that she’s behaving, and more about keepin’ your scrawny hide intact.”

“Glorified babysitting,” Volcaness grumbled annoyedly. She turned to stare down a long row of shelves, almost reflexively shooting a blast of fire at a security droid that had just rounded the corner. “Let’s just get this over with so I can finish nursing my hangover,” she groaned.

A fresh wave of the droids came marching our direction, seemingly from nowhere. It’d been a couple of weeks since the zombie incident now, and while we were forced to make a token effort to search for Raven Wing, our search turned up nothing.

Raven’s old lair, the stone library, had been completely obliterated. It wasn’t a thing done with conventional weapons though. It was more like someone just phased the entire area out of reality. It simply no longer existed, leaving a gaping, unstable hole in its place.

The resulting sinkhole a few days ago caused only a single fatality in a stray cow that wandered into the field following the disappearing act, but no human casualties. A blaster round sailing inches from my face brought my thoughts back to the present rather quickly.

I curled my lips using a new, more advanced technique Mother had recently shown me. The resulting shockwave cleaved the droid’s upper half backwards, even as its legs rather comically ran around in circles for a moment, tripping up its ‘squad’.

Volcaness, now laughing hysterically, took advantage of the abrupt chaos, unleashing a veritable maelstrom of flame that melted the rest of them to slag in a mighty inferno that, to my great surprise, somehow didn’t set the entire warehouse ablaze.

She collapsed to her knees after the terrible blast though, bringing her hand quickly to her temples. “Mother of God that HURT!” she cursed under her breath, but Tank just shook his head.

“Remind me to stay on your good side. Now, what was that about a new squad member?” Tank asked rather casually even as he ripped the head off a stray droid that had ducked behind a crate to evade the fiery demise.

“Yeah, some new brat with plant powers: something about a science fair project going wrong. HellifIknow.” She shrugged. I offered her my hand, but she swatted it away, staggering to her feet. “Don’t need help. Letting loose that much energy at once just takes a lot out of me.”

I recoiled and nodded softly. Tank grunted. He crumpled the recently-detached robot’s head like an aluminum beer can against his cranium, chucking it across the length of the large room and sighed. “Just what we need. ANOTHER brat to keep an eye on. I think I’m gonna turn in my resignation.” He stated it simply and seriously.

Volcaness laughed dryly. “Good luck with that. Some of us don’t have that luxury.” She mused, striding forward.

“Whaddaya mean by that? Aren’t you here by choice too?”

“Hell no. Not unless by ‘choice’ you mean ‘little bitch here’s mother manipulated me into service’. My choice is serve or spend the rest of my life in cryo,” she shot back rather bitterly.

“Christ, Volc. No wonder you’re always so pissy.”

“It ain’t the company. Well, not JUST the company.” She glared at me. I just frowned. Why would mother do something like that? What did Volcaness do that would be so terrible to warrant cryo-stasis, but not terrible enough that she could serve the team and even protect me? There had to be a method to mother’s madness, but I resolved not to ask about it, instead pulling out my PDA.

“That’s the control room up ahead,” I tried to be helpful. Tank cracked his knuckles.

“Right, here’s the plan. I rip the door off, and you two blast anything that moves.”

Volcaness smirked, responding in what I could swear was a line from Jack Sparrow himself. “I like it. Simple and easy to remember.”

~oOo~

Later that afternoon, I found myself back in medbay, dressed in a skimpy hospital gown. I hadn’t been injured in the battle or anything so dramatic, but rather had to return for a follow-up to be sure there were no lasting effects from contact with Raven’s demon father.

While I waited for the blonde-haired nurse to tend to the scanners, Psychic Strike stepped through the door, nodding to said nurse.

“Mind if I come in?”

“Just don’t touch anything,” the nurse responded in a teasing tone, but motioned her over just the same.

“I’m just running some tests on Aria to be sure she’s not going to vanish like the Stone Library. Up until a few days ago I had no reservations about the deal I struck with Banshee,” she trailed off. She seemed to have bitten her tongue.

I poked my head around the monitor between me and the nurse. “You made a deal with Banshee too? Please tell me you’re not here against your will?”

The nurse laughed. “You’ve been talking to the firestarter haven’t you? No, I’m here by my choice. My deal with your mother was for my sister’s sake. I signed on and agreed to work exclusively here in medical in exchange for Banshee financing and looking after my little sister, Coronal Rose.”

“Whoa, that was your sister?” Psychic Strike responded, surprised. “I talked to her earlier while Aria and the others were out on that warehouse job. Hey, how did that go anyway?”

“Volcaness turned ‘em all to slag, but no sign of who or what switched all the robots’ attack parameters. Only weird thing about the entire place was this big raven in the rafters watching us.”

Psychic Strike and the nurse both stared at me, the former adding, “And you don’t think that’s an odd coincidence given your recent history?”

“No, not really. I know what you’re thinking, but Raven’s only been that subtle with others. She’s always just come right out and approached me even if she had to kidnap me to do it. This was something else.”

“Well, we’re finished here if you girls want to go and meet your new teamma-” the nurse cut herself off as the base alarm sounded. I glanced at Psychic Strike, who nodded, racing off to find out what was going on.

With the nurse’s help I slipped into my battle armor, afterward racing down the hall to the nearest elevator. While I waited, because despite our resources we couldn’t afford anything faster, I patched my earbud communicator into our scrambled base frequency.

“Aria checking in; what’s happening?”

“Giant robot’s on a rampage downtown,” Tank responded candidly.

Volcaness quickly added, “Aria get your butt up here. I’ve been volunteered to carry the new meat into battle, and I want you by my side doing that shielding thing you do.”

A new female voice, maybe fifteen or sixteen, spoke up, “Thanks Volcaness.”

Volcaness responded smugly, “The shield’s not for you; it’s for my bike. I’m dropping you in the hot zone, and if I get so much as a scratch on that bad boy I’m holding you responsible.”

Same old Volcaness. Still I could shield the newcomer too, at least until we got into the hot zone where I’d have to focus my attention on staying alive. One does not simply fly up to a giant robot without expecting it to try and knock one into the outer stratosphere.

“So any idea who sent this thing?” I asked as I stepped into the elevator.

“Banshee’s friend’s lookin’ into it,” Tank commented. Did he mean Silver Sentinel? He added a moment later, “If she can hack its AI and shut it down we might not have to fight it.” He definitely meant Sil. If anyone could hack an AI in the middle of a firefight it was her.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Volcaness added in a disappointed tone as I stepped outside. I couldn’t see her passenger’s face for the flame-streaked helmet that Volcaness herself never wore, but the alabaster skin combined with the hunter green costume gave Rose away easily. She nodded toward me as I waved. Over the comm. link, I heard her voice.

“Sorry we’re not meeting under better circumstances.”

“You can talk about boys after this is over. Or girls in Aria’s case,” Volcaness chided with a broad grin. I think she secretly reveled in the fact we both seemed to prefer girls.

At least in my case, it was only one, specific girl though, and I still hadn’t sorted out how I felt about her. I mean, I had only been a real girl for a few months now myself, and with superhero work getting in the way of trying to sort out what all THAT even meant…

“Earth to Aria: you coming?!” Volcaness practically shouted over the link as she sped away. I lofted myself off the ground and raced to catch up with her.

We didn’t have to travel far to see the telltale path of destruction the robot had left. Parts of buildings had been disintegrated or torn down, cars had been crushed completely flat, and parts of underground pipe and conduits left exposed.

As I glanced at the ground, for just a moment I saw the shadow silhouette of a bird in flight traveling alongside us. I looked up, but could see no sign of it, and when I looked back down again, the shadow had disappeared.

“There it is, and it’s a big’un!” Tank yelled across the comm. channel. “It’s gotta be fifty feet tall. This is gonna be fun.”

As Volcaness rolled to an abrupt stop Rose peeled off the borrowed motorcycle helmet to reveal striking red hair framing a full green mask-covered face. Only her mouth and part of her chin had been left exposed. I didn’t have time to admire her ornately designed armor, as for the moment, we had a rampaging monster to stop.

Volcaness sped away, leaving the two of us plus Tank close by. Psychic Strike was already in the air, dodging the thing’s gigantic fists, though with its lack of a brain to affect, she looked more like a mosquito fighting an elephant. To her credit, she had managed to use her telekinetic abilities to hoist a sizable chunk of debris from a crumbling building nearby, which she was using to beat it about the ‘head’.

“Alright, I’m going to help Psy. Tank, Rose, you guys be careful!”

“Worry about yourself runt!” Tank bellowed as he lifted a nearby SUV, flinging it at the robot’s midsection. The fiery explosion that followed caused the mechanical monster to turn around and afforded us a good look at its ‘head’. A single, central eye-like sensor, blazing red, settled on us.

“I think you pissed it off!” Rose commented, as I lifted off the ground and sped toward the creature, shrieking a shockwave at it. It had little effect beyond earning me a swat. I yelped as its heavy arm sent me flying. Fortunately I was able to recover. I caught sight of Volcaness on the ground racing back as vines seemed to sprout from between the cracks in the ground that the monster had created, lashing out at its feet.

I rushed forward firing off another quick, short burst of sonic energy at the the monster’s optical sensor as it stomped the ground attempting to snuff out Volcaness. She rolled to the side, and though I couldn’t see it from my vantage point at the time, the stomp exposed more pipes and conduits, fracturing two of them.

“Hey cutie. Need a hand?” I suddenly heard Raven’s voice behind me. I spun about. She had gotten an upgrade in terms of appearance. The new armor shimmered like some kind of black glass, and she had replaced her wings with a raven-feather cloak. I had to barrel roll to narrowly dodge being knocked from the sky by the robot at the distraction.

“Raven!? I don’t know what you’re doing here, but we need all the help we can get!”

She laughed dryly, “Yeah, well, it’s kinda hard to miss the giant freaking robot terrorizing the city. Besides I could use some brownie points with your Mom after that whole … kidnap you while making a fool of half your squad thing awhile ago.” She grinned and launched herself right at the robot like some kind of sentient shadow missile.

She raced toward the metal behemoth, dark energy coursing and ebbing around her fists, and slammed squarely into its chest. What I can only call an explosion of liquefied shadow followed, though it barely left a dent. She woozily flew back to my side as Psychic Strike moved in, shooting her levitated steel beam like a javelin for the dent. Raven shook her head vigorously.

“What’s this thing MADE of?!”

“Well, at least now I know you’re not behind this,” I commented as I shook my head. She practically glared at me, looking more than a little hurt by that statement, so I quickly explained, “I’ve been seeing ravens all day. First at the warehouse where a bunch of security droids went bonkers, then on the way here, and now you show up.”

She glowered, but this time not at me. “I know who’s responsible for this, and I’ll take care of it, but for now we need to put this thing down.”

“Let’s do this,” I responded, taking her hand in mine. Psy floated closer and grinned.

“Can I play too?” she chided. I could feel my cheeks burn.

“Psy this is serious! Get something to lob at its eye sensor. While it’s distracted Raven and I will move in for the-”

A sudden explosion, followed by an enormous fireball, caught the three of us off-guard. The shockwave sent me flying one way, Raven another. The last thing I saw before I felt myself slam against a nearby building was three jagged pieces of a formerly fifty foot tall robot sailing off into the distance.

I nearly blacked out from the building’s impact, hurtling toward the ground. Psychic Strike swooped in to catch me, but with the momentum of the fall, she only managed to slow our descent.

On the ground a massive inferno raged where the giant robot had broken the street earlier. Rose huddled behind an overturned cab, and Tank held his bleeding arm aloft beside her. He shouted, “Get down! It broke a gas main!”

“Where’s Volcaness?!” I asked frantically as we raced to their sides. Raven descended cautiously toward the ground a few feet back. Tank shook his head slowly.

“We’ve got a meat wagon comin’ to pick up me and Rose. Kid’s okay, but I took some shrapnel.”

“Where’s Volcaness?” I repeated myself. Again, he shook his head, but Psychic Strike and I both brightened a little as we heard her coughing deeply over the sound of the heavy blaze nearby. She staggered closer, her face blackened, but not too badly burned.

“I’m a living volcano, remember?” She coughed hard, collapsing to her knees. “But I ain’t got long. Tell Banshee … Tell her I’m sorry.”

“No, Volc, you can tell her yourself!” I insisted as I raced to her side.

Raven frowned, but before she could speak, I heard a familiar, small voice. Our surroundings melted into shadows. Even Tank and Rose seemed to fade from view, leaving only Raven, Volcaness, and myself. “This is not how it was supposed to happen…” the voice whispered.

“Yeah, well,” Volcaness started, and coughed deeply, spitting blood at the ground beside her. “I ain’t one for prophecies or the whims of disembodied voices.”

“I can’t cure you. I’m sorry,” it continued, barely above a whisper now, “But I can pass your powers to another if you wish.”

“I squandered my power, my … ‘gift’. Maybe the next Volcaness’ll do better. Here,” she wheezed as she held out her hand, dangling a small tiki figurine on a simple, leather cord. I always wondered what was on the end of that cord around her neck, but she kept it hidden until now.

The tiki charm seemed to suspend in mid-air, and Volcaness lay back with a low groan. “Aria,” she called quietly. I moved closer, and she took my hand, smiling. “I’m proud of you kid. Always … was.”

As the world returned to normal, the fires had ceased. Another pair of supers, late to the party, had put out and plugged the leak while we were lost in the blackness. I hadn’t had time, what with Volcaness dying at my side, to really process what the spirit that had previously called herself Raven’s inner child meant by ‘this wasn’t supposed to happen like this’.

I had more important things on my mind. I hadn’t even noticed that Raven was long gone. I removed my cape and draped it over the fallen hero’s form, and I stayed silently by her side while we waited for transport.

~oOo~

Back at the base, Psychic Strike managed to pry me away, and along with Rose, now both unmasked, led me to one of the base’s lounge areas. I sat in silence between the two of them for several long minutes. Stunned, shocked, I had no words. I just wanted to curl up and cry. We saved the city, but at a terrible cost.

“I guess she finally got what she wanted,” I spoke softly as I untied my mask, peeling it away from my face. I stared at it, Volcaness’ gift to me. Psychic Strike hugged me, as Rose watched helplessly. “She said she didn’t have a choice, that it was work for us, protecting me, or a cryo cell. She never even told me her real name.”

“Jennifer,” a female teen-aged voice answered from the door. We all looked up in surprise to see someone who, at least superficially, looked like Volcaness. She had to be twenty years younger, and her skin, once as pale as Rose’s, was now a rich, dark olive. Instead of fiery red hair she had dark chestnut cascades down her shoulders and back. Her features were unmistakably Volcaness.

“Who… are you?” I stood, approaching the new girl. “You look like Volcaness, but much as she hated men, you couldn’t be her daughter.” As I reached up to touch her cheek, she laughed quite cheerfully and swatted my hand away.

“It’s me you dork. At least, I carry her memories. I guess the tiki gods decided to honor my sacrifice and give me a second chance.” She rolled her shoulders. “I don’t get it myself, but I’m not going to complain. And as far as not liking guys, well, that was the old me. We’ll have to see about the new me.”

Psychic Strike, still as shocked as me judging by the look on her face, slowly stood and approached us. “There’s only one way to be sure it’s really her.”

The girl immediately glared at her. “Step inside my head and I’ll break your neck. I haven’t forgotten that dream you so helpfully ‘loaned’ me.” She grinned broadly.

Psychic Strike cackled like a madwoman, “Ohhh yeah, that’s her.”

Volcaness glanced at Rose, now sitting by herself and watching us. She motioned for the new girl to approach. Rose stood slowly and walked over to us. “Volcaness, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry; I-”

She quickly shook her head, “No. No apologies. I chose to sacrifice myself to protect you, and I was rewarded for it. In a way, I owe you.” She motioned her head back toward the door.

“Come on, pizza’s on me. I may have the body of a teenager now, but I still have the savings account of a single thirty-five year old.” She beamed, turning to lead the others out.

I stayed behind a moment, slowly moving to the nearest chair to sit. What in the name of the Banshee just happened? As I sat trying to make sense of the events of the past hour, I felt a soft, small hand take mine. The little girl slowly materialized in front of me, staring up at me. I frowned down at her.

“Haven’t you caused enough trouble for one day?”

“I suppose I deserved that,” she responded sarcastically as she crawled into my lap. “But everything is as it should be now, and better, in some ways. I tried to convince Raven to deliver this message herself, but she is afraid you’ll hate her because of my involvement.”

“I don’t hate her. I could never hate her!” I quickly shot back, causing the girl to smile and kiss my cheek lightly. “What exactly was supposed to happen?”

“No spoilers,” she responded with a positively impish smile. “There are greater things than you at play, child of fate.”

“Wait, didn’t you say you were going to pass Volcaness’ power to someone else?”

“I did. That girl isn’t a bitter, self-serving alcoholic on a path to self-destruction is she?”

“No, but isn’t just handing her a second chance the same thing as what happened to me?”

“How so?” she asked innocently, tilting her head curiously, which caused her ringlet-laden pigtails to bounce.

“When I received my power, my wish granted, it was … instantaneous. I had no prior knowledge of how to be a girl, let alone a hero. I had it all just handed to me at once, and turned loose.”

She chuckled, “Yes, what was done to you was done as a lesson in being mindful of what you wish for. But she was already a hero.” She paused to let those words sink in then continued. “All I’ve done is bargained with the powers that be for her to … redeem herself, to rewrite her life with the knowledge and experience of what could be if she chooses not to change.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Consider it a balancing act, an atonement for my role in events. Until we meet again.”

“Hey, wait!”

“We ARE waiting,” Volcaness called back from beyond the door. I blinked, finding myself alone in the room once more. I shook my head slowly and stood, hurrying to catch up.

“Right, um, just give me a minute to change,” I sheepishly called back. We still had to do the debriefing, but I had had enough of being a hero for one day. I cast a quick last glance over the empty lounge then hurried out to catch up to the others.

“Maybe something came up?” she offered in a soothing tone.

“Over the course of the twenty seconds it took me to talk to Tank? I doubt it.”

“It’s up to you to decide how to proceed. Do you want to trust her, and risk having your heart broken, or do you want to not trust her, and risk breaking hers?”

“What?” I asked, turning to look at her. She wasn’t there anymore. In her place was another black feather.

---

Author's Note:
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this. "Real life happened" is my only excuse, and it's not a very good one ;-) I didn't need to do as much work on revising this one as the next chapter requires, so I went ahead and made the necessary corrections.

~Zoe

---

I was correct in my suspicion that Volcaness / Jennifer had come to find us before even letting anyone else know she was alive. Perhaps all the more disturbing, her ‘old’ body still lay lifeless in the morgue. Banshee exhausted her with questions while we all sat at the big conference table. Tank, despite his amazing survivability, had to be taken to med bay for treatment, but we’d tell him the good news later.

Mother stood from her place at the head of the conference table, slowly paced around it to stop next to the now Polynesian girl. She bent down next to her, and I could hear her ask softly but sternly, “One final question. Only the real Volcaness can answer this truthfully. What was it Volcaness learned that got her into the situation that led to her death?”

Without hesitation, Jennifer reached out to pull Mother closer, whispering something in her ear. Mother’s eyes widened. For the first time in my life, I watched as her unshakable and immutable confident façade had not just cracked, but shattered. She took a shaky step back, speaking in a quivering tone.

“That will be all. Volca–JENNIFER,” she corrected herself, “I will personally take care of your affairs. Officially you’ll be listed as Volcaness’ daughter and successor because mundane authorities will never believe any of this, but unofficially, I have no doubt who you truly are.”

Jennifer smiled smugly. “The body is different. It’s going to take some getting used to the height change too.” She paused, frowning. “I guess this means I can’t drink anymore?”

“You most certainly may not!” Mother shot back protectively, but paused. “At least not until we have had time to run a full battery of tests to see just how deeply these changes run. For all we know you may be in puberty again.”

Jennifer groaned. “Dear God. Once was enough!” she whined, as the thought of a second puberty had apparently not crossed her mind until now. “I’m gonna strangle that little girl if I find her, just for that.” Despite her harsh words, her smile betrayed her.

She turned to me and reached for my hand. “I guess it’s what I deserve for giving you such a hard time all this time.” I took her hand as I stood, pulling her up into a friendly hug. At first, she flinched, but hesitantly she returned the gesture.

“The next few weeks are going to be rough on you; even if you don’t have to re-learn your gender or your powers, you still have to learn what it means to be a teenager again.” Rose gave us both a funny look when I said that. Maria, Volcaness, and especially Mother all knew, but Rose? Apparently she didn’t get the debriefing about me. “But we’ll help you get through it.”

“Thanks. This wasn’t exactly what I meant when I said you had a good heart, but I’m not going to complain either.” She glanced at Mother with a knowing smile. “Hey, um, since my finances are still in my ‘mother’s’ name and haven’t been transferred yet, can I borrow twenty bucks?”

Mother glowered at her at first, and I had to giggle, interrupting whatever she was about to say. “It’s okay. She promised to take us out for pizza, but she forgot about the financial situation.”

Accepting that answer with a neutral nod, she answered crisply, “Very well. Bill it to Alpine Industries and I’ll write it off as a business lunch. Dismissed. Jennifer, I want a word with you in private before you go.”

Maria, Rose and I quickly made ourselves scarce. Even Maria knew better than to eavesdrop on these private conversations, but that didn’t stop me from trying to listen at the door. I could only barely make out the muffled conversation, though, and that was before Rose blindsided me with the million dollar question.

“What was all that stuff about re-learning everything?” she asked innocently. I answered with another question.

“Do you trust psychics?”

“Do I what?”

“Psychics — telepaths, though people who can see the future are lumped into that category too.”

“I guess? I’ve never met one before today, but if you’re talking about Maria--”

Maria cleared her throat. “Guys? I’m right here. I think what she’s getting at is it’d be easier to show you. I knew Aria Blade, if briefly, before she became Aria Blade. I’m going to give you an imprint of a memory of what she was like before and after as well as the emotions tied to the memory. This won’t hurt at all, but it’s going to itch like crazy,” she teased and winked playfully.

She removed her purple gloves and offered them to me to hold, and turning back to face Rose, she reached out, placing two fingers gently against her temples. She slowly settled her palms against Rose’s cheeks. “Don’t fight it,” she whispered. Rose seemed to relax a little, and within a few seconds, Maria stepped back again, reclaiming her gloves.

Rose slowly opened her eyes and turned to look at me, confusion etched on her face. “I don’t get it. You were a tomboy or something?”

Maria and I both giggled. “Something like that.” Before I could continue, the doors opened abruptly, causing me to jump. Mother stared at me a moment and chuckled, turning to continue down the hall. Jennifer emerged next.

“What was that about?” I asked, as I’m sure the other two were wondering the same thing. Jennifer laughed.

“I’m free. Remember that thing I told you this morning, about how I didn’t work for Banshee by choice? She felt guilty about me giving my life to save one of you, and she figured since I’m a teenager now, not only is our contract no longer binding, but she thinks it would be better if I joined as a full member. Tank turned in his resignation this morning right before the giant robot fiasco so it would just be the four of us.”

“Wait, Tank what? I thought he was just joking about leaving?” I felt hurt. Tank was an ass sometimes, but he went above and beyond to put himself between me and whatever threat we faced, usually Raven Wing, in the past at least. Speaking of Raven Wing…

Jennifer rolled her shoulders. “Banshee wouldn’t give me the full story. I think my little ‘accident’ shook her up. C’mon, let’s go see the big guy.”

I only managed to get a few feet down the hall before I felt a familiar hand on my shoulder. Where I stopped, I could already see Raven Wing’s reflection in the plate glass and metal fixtures. Rather than the new armor I’d seen her wearing earlier, she stood dressed in a simple black tank top and jeans, and the stiletto-heeled combat boots I’d seen her wearing when we met in the park. That day felt like an eternity ago. The others turned around, Rose stating the obvious. “Uhh, guys? Where’s Aria?”

Maria frowned. “She’s still here. I can feel her presence, as well as…” she trailed off, her eyes widening. “Let’s go check on Tank. Aria’s a big girl. She’ll be fine.” She raced off without another word. Raven Wing giggled as I turned to face her.

“What did you do to her?” I asked bluntly. She smiled as she rolled her shoulders.

“Not a thing this time, I swear.” Her tone shifted to a more somber and serious edge. “I wanted to apologize for what happened to Volcaness. I told you once that I only ever killed one person, and that was an accident.”

She hesitated. For a moment she looked like she would cry so I pulled her into a hug. She smiled and rested her head against my shoulder, closing her eyes. “Now I feel like this is my fault because the brat was feeling mischievous.” She turned to the wall, edging away from my embrace and slowly tilting her head forward to rest her forehead against it. She breathed a long, depressed sigh.

“Raven, it’s okay. I don’t know what the little girl did, but… Well, that girl you just saw — the Hawaiian girl that ran off with Maria and Rose? That WAS Volcaness.”

“You mean that was her successor?” She turned to stare at me, utterly confused.

“No, I mean the powers that be, whoever or whatever it was that gave her her powers to start with, gave her a second chance at life. They made her our age. Your little ‘friend’ bargained with them and got her that second chance as repayment for her part in her death.”

“So that’s why… She kept saying things like ‘Go talk to her. You know she’ll understand.’ or ‘she doesn’t hate you.’ so I finally came, just to shut her up.” She laughed. “I guess I should go though, before Banshee finds out. I can evade the human mind, but as soon as someone actually looks at security cameras they’ll see me as plainly as they would you.”

“Wait!” I begged her. She paused, staring into my eyes. I stared back, perhaps a little longingly. I threw my arms around her and I kissed her cheek. “Please… Please stay.”

“W-what?” she stammered.

“Please don’t leave. Jennifer’s taking us out for pizza. Mother’s footing the bill even. Please come with us. It’ll just be five normal, average, everyday teenagers going out for pizza. I haven’t had a normal, average, everyday teenage girl moment in my entire life. Please?” I begged. I needed this so badly right now.

She slowly rested her forehead against mine as she closed her eyes. “I guess that makes two of us. It would be kind of nice just to see what it feels like to be ‘normal’ … to have normal friends and just be a normal girl. I guess you’ve had your powers hanging over you all that time too?”

“Not … exactly. I’m not ready to talk about that yet.”

“Hey, kid!” Tank bellowed from further down the hall. “I thought I told you to quit flirtin’ with the enemy!”

I felt my cheeks burn. “I thought you said no one could see us?”

She giggled. “You asked me to stay, so I stayed. We can’t very well go out for pizza if your friends can’t see us.”

Grabbing Raven Wing’s hand, I gently led her along, approaching Tank. He grinned down at me, and as I let go of Raven’s hand, placing his massive meat-hooks on my shoulders surprisingly gently. “Listen, I gotta take off for awhile. I got some news that’s gotta be dealt with.”

“You’re not going to stay gone are you?”

He laughed. “Maybe, maybe not. You’ll be fine without me. Now that Volc’s been turned into a kid though stuff’s just gettin’ too weird around here. Besides, what I gotta take care of, it’s real personal stuff. Gotta visit an old friend I thought died a long time ago.”

He turned to slowly plod down the hallway. I glanced back to find Raven Wing suddenly gone. It wasn’t as though she faded from view, or that she’d run off. She simply was no longer there. I spotted, as I sank to my knees, a single black feather where she had stood. I knelt and picked it up and stared at it, turning it over in my hands.

“You okay, chica?” Maria asked as she stepped closer, offering her hand. She’d had time to change, now wearing a pink t-shirt and jeans, and her trademark and ever-stylish hand wraps. It wasn’t that Maria was incapable of physical human contact, but whenever she made contact with someone, it opened a door.

Sometimes it gave her more information from a simple handshake than she honestly wanted to know, but if the subject had a strong will, it could backlash and hurt her, so she wrapped her hands, mainly her palms, to prevent intrusive contact. She continued to hold out her hand until I accepted it, pulling myself up again.
“Yeah … Raven…” I mumbled almost incoherently and sighed, leaving the feather in her hand. “Nothing, never mind,” I said sadly as I walked past them. “You guys go on without me.”

“Hey, if this is about what Tank said-” Volcaness started, but when I glanced back to see why she stopped, I saw Maria’s hand on her shoulder. She smiled weakly at me. Apparently Maria saw something in the feather, or in my touch. I learned on a subconscious level not to fight her some time ago. It was just easier to avoid contact when I didn’t want to be ‘read’ than to risk hurting her accidentally.

I left them standing there, wondering, as I walked down that long and lonely hall. After changing into my civilian clothes, I sat for some time in the locker and shower area, just thinking, wondering. Why did she act so interested, only to just run off the second I turned my back? Why did life have to be so complicated?

As I stood to leave, a gentle knock at the door caught my attention: so gently that I thought the little mischievous brat calling itself Raven Wing’s inner child might be on the other side. “Come,” I barked, sitting again. “But no games. I’m not in the mood-” I abruptly stopped, seeing Aunt Sil standing in the doorway, sans power armor. She smiled a little.

“Everything okay?” She stepped further inside, and as I bit my lip she sat down beside me, wrapping me in a much-needed hug. “I’m so sorry about today. I don’t know what happened. It was like someone was actively trying to keep me from interfering.”

“It’s not about that, Aunt Sil.” I rested my head on her shoulder. “Jennifer’s okay and she even got a second chance out of it, so it all worked out.”

“So what is it? You know you can tell me or your Mom anything.”

“That’s just it. I can’t tell her because she wouldn’t understand. She’s always looking for some angle to use against others, or she’s looking for the strings others are trying to use against her. She can’t accept that Raven Wing and I are…”

“Are… together?”

“No!” I shot back, a little more defensively than I intended. She chuckled to herself. “No, that we’re innocent. At least, I thought we were. I thought she was.”

“Sweetheart, what happened?” she asked as she turned to face me.

“I … Raven stood me up,” I finally stated. “One second she was there, and we were talking about going to lunch together and ... and for once in both our lives just being normal teenagers. Tank even saw her this time. But when I turned around after he left, she was gone!” I sniffed, burying my face in my hands as I tried not to lose it.

“Maybe something came up?” she offered in a soothing tone.

“Over the course of the twenty seconds it took me to talk to Tank? I doubt it.”

“It’s up to you to decide how to proceed. Do you want to trust her, and risk having your heart broken, or do you want to not trust her, and risk breaking hers?”

“What?” I asked, turning to look at her. She wasn’t there anymore. In her place was another black feather. I scowled, storming out of the room. I could see Aunt Sil approaching, still in her power armor. She smiled and waved, but I stomped right past her. I wouldn’t be fooled twice.

With her following behind, asking me repeatedly what was going on, or what was wrong, I threw the front doors open and raced out. She didn’t follow me, and before long I found myself in that old, familiar park again. Something felt different though. The place was silent as the grave itself. No people passed by, no birds sang. I could no longer hear the traffic on the street. It was as though everything had just stopped: everything, but the sound of sobbing.

I slowly, cautiously approached the fountain where even the water seemed frozen, suspended silently, not so much in mid-air, but like someone had simply shut it off. As I drew closer, the sound grew louder. I peeked cautiously around the edge to see a familiar mop of disheveled, black hair cascading over obsidian-like body armor on the other side. I took the feather left behind in the locker room, and I held it out, letting it drop into her lap.

She jumped, looking from side to side, then up at me. She scrambled to her feet, backing up slowly. “How did you… How can you… What are you doing here?!”

“Why don’t you tell me?” I snapped back, even as I tried in vain to contain my anger.

“I don’t know what you’re talking … about…” she trailed off, pointing a slender finger behind me as she took a step back. “Aria… Wh-what the hell is that?” I turned, and jumped when I came face-to-face with the ‘Raven Wing’ I met in the hall earlier, the one that stood me up for lunch. This Raven Wing giggled, smiling sweetly.

“Relax, child of fate,” she spoke in Raven Wing’s voice. I backed away, bumping into the apparent real Raven Wing in the process. “I could not bring her to you, but I knew if I pushed the right buttons, that you would inevitably come here, to her.” The figure shrank down to the size and form of the little girl, still smiling creepily at us both. “What is it about this place that fascinates you both so, I wonder?” She tilted her head slightly to one side as if to emphasize her own curiosity. She shook her head. “No matter.”

The armored Raven Wing glowered at the shapeshifter. “What do you want from me? At first I thought you were some kind of miracle, but the longer you’re here, the more of a curse you become!”

“If you want, I can return your pain to you, let you become the madwoman who seeks to destroy her,” she nodded toward me with a positively impish, dark smile.

“No! No…” she responded, shaking her head vigorously.

“Then we’ll continue to play this game to its final end. For now, I believe you both have something to say to each other. Don’t be shy. I’ll give you some privacy.” The little girl giggled, turning to skip away. I turned back to Raven Wing.

“There’s something you have to know about Volcaness, but first, I need to know if this is the real you and not another illusion.”

Raven Wing turned back to me, and leaning over, she very, very lightly kissed me. “What do you think?”

I stared, dumbfounded, but smiled a little. “Volcaness is alive.”

“What? How?!”

“Your little friend claims to have bargained for her to have a second chance. She was reborn our age, but she has all the memories of the real Volcaness, including things only she and Mother knew.”

“Like what?” she asked, still looking as dumbstruck as I felt when I heard the news myself.

“I’m not sure. It has something to do with the deal they struck for her to become my bodyguard after I became Aria Blade.”

“Ah that’s right. She doesn’t know that yet,” the little girl giggled, reappearing standing on the fountain behind us: so much for privacy. “She doesn’t know how you became Aria. So do you trust her, and risk getting your heart broken, or do you not trust her, and risk breaking her heart?”

Raven Wing slowly looked between the both of us. “What IS she talking about?”

I heaved a slow sigh, turning to walk the short distance between the fountain and one of its many matched, poured cement benches. “You may want to sit down. What I’m about to tell you is one of Banshee’s best-kept secrets.”

She sat beside me, and as I took her hand, I explained to her how I ‘became’ Aria Blade. I told her everything, how I bargained with an entity I summoned because I wanted to be a superhuman like mother. I emphasized the ‘like mother’ part especially.

“I-I used to be a boy.”

“You’re … you’re joking right? This is a joke?”

I shook my head slowly. “I tampered with mystical powers, and I got what I wished for. I became ‘like Mother’.”

“That’s no-ot the whole-truth!” the little girl responded in a sing-song tone. “But you can’t HANDLE the truth,” she cackled fiendishly, bounding off the fountain and running off.

“I think I need to talk to Mother,” I sighed. “There’s something, some big secret I’m missing here. I think Jennifer — Volcaness, knows it, that little brat knows it. I’m sorry I blamed you for all this. When ‘she’ you appeared to me, I opened up to her. I-” I flinched, shifting my gaze right to the ground. I felt so humiliated trusting that little brat.

“You what?” she asked, leaning forward. She reached a hand out, cupping my chin lightly and turning my gaze back toward her.

“I begged her to stay … asked her to come eat lunch with us because I’d never had a normal teen-aged girl moment like going out for pizza with friends, and this is why. Up until a few months ago I was a quiet, abnormal teen-aged boy who, well, wished he was a teen-aged girl. I thought maybe if I were a hero, a real ‘man’s man’, that my feelings would change. I thought maybe I wouldn’t feel so… out of place anymore.”

Without giving her the chance to respond to all that, I stood to leave. I felt her hand sharply grab mine, keeping me from moving away from her. She stood, spinning me around to face her. “You asked my doppelganger on a date.” She giggled, causing me to blush.

“Yeah, kind of. It would’ve been the five of us though.”

“But still! That’s so sweet. And under different, better circumstances I would have said yes. But right now-”

“No, please don’t’ say it. I’ve already been toyed with twice today. I don’t think I can handle another rejection,” I pleaded.

“Let me finish. Right now, we need to find out what’s going on with this entity, and how we can win its game. If it’s powerful enough to resurrect Volcaness, then I don’t want to think about what happens if we … if I lose.”

“We. We’re in this together,” I offered softly. Her eyes lit up for a moment as I continued. “It seems to be obsessed with truth. Honestly it’s like a deific version of my mother.”

“Don’t even joke,” she laughed, squeezing my hand. “But we should talk to her. Whether it likes it or not, it tied itself to me, and that link works both ways.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, I can shut it out for short periods. I’ve done it before, and it didn’t react, so I think it’s one of the rules of the ‘game’.”

As if on cue, all sound, movement, time itself seemed to return to normal at once. We could hear a girlish giggle echoing on the breeze, but nothing more. Raven Wing smiled a reserved smile. I squeezed her hand, leading her out of the park. As we drew closer to our headquarters, she spoke softly.

“Thanks for trusting me. I know I put you through a lot these last several months, and I’m the last person to deserve that kind of faith. I could very well still turn on you, and this could all just be one huge, elaborate plot.”

I stopped, turning back to face her. “That’s the risk I have to take. It’s the risk that someone should have taken ten years ago. Nobody ever stopped to ask you why you tormented others. They simply assumed you were too far gone because of the source of your power. Whatever’s going on here, I feel like we have a chance to … to save you.”

“That’s what this is all about? You’re trying to save me?”

“Well… yeah. I want to help you.”

“Thanks,” she responded softly. It almost seemed there was a twinge of pain in her voice.

“Raven, I-”

“No. We can talk about it when this is all over.”

“I think I love you,” I blurted. Again the world seemed to stop, though this time through no magical effects or the interference of a sneaky little girl. She stared silently, leaned forward to give me a simple hug then kept walking. I moved to catch up, continuing the rest of the way in silence.

We found both Mother and Aunt Sil in her office. Both seemed surprised to see me back so soon, and more so that I had Raven Wing with me. I approached Aunt Sil, having changed out of her power armor by now, and immediately leaned down to hug her tightly. “I’m sorry. There’s something going on, and I thought you were someone else. It’s a long story.”

“Aria, if you’re in trouble,” Mother began, staring at my companion as she spoke, “you know you can ask us for help.”

I straightened up again, turning to Mother. “We’re both in trouble, and we both need your help. Momma,” I emphasized that word. I normally called her ‘Banshee’ or ‘Mother’. “I need to ask you something. What was it Volcaness found out that upset you so?” She hesitated, again staring at Raven Wing. I shook my head.

“No, this concerns her too. I already told her the truth about me, about who I used to be. Look, there’s a powerful entity moving, playing with both of us. It leaves raven feathers in its wake, and it told us that unless we play the game, it would return Raven Wing’s pain to her, returning her to the psychopath she was a few short months ago.

I hesitated before biting my lip. I put an arm around Raven Wing's waist. I needed Mother to see for herself that I trusted her. “We think that its obsession with exposing secrets is the key to beating it, so whatever’s going on, I need to know. I can’t have anymore secrets being turned against us.”

Mother breathed a long, slow sigh as she paced around the desk, stopping in front of me. “I always knew this day would come, but I had hoped I’d have more time.” She leaned back, sitting on the edge of her desk. Sil stood, wrapping her in a supportive, sisterly hug, which caused Mother to smile, returning the gesture.

“Aria, up until the transformation that made you who you are now, you … weren’t my child, biologically.”

“What?” I gasped. I couldn’t believe my ears!

“I loved you like my own. I raised you, cared for you, but the story about your father was a lie. There was a man I loved once, but he left me when I learned I could never have children of my own. So I adopted a child. I never dreamed that you would one day continue the thousand year old prophecy and become my daughter, but there is no question that you are indeed, my daughter.” She smiled as she stepped closer, wrapping me in a hug and kissing my forehead.

Raven Wing, still standing off to the side, lowered her head. She whispered in a broken tone, “I told you Aria, you’re lucky to have her.” She stepped closer, putting an arm around my waist as she stood before Banshee.

“I know what you think of me, which is why it’s so hard for me to even be here. But Aria’s life is in danger, and not from me. As I told her, we need to figure out what this creature is so we can beat its game. If it has the power to resurrect someone, we don’t want to know what will happen if we should lose.” Mother wrinkled her nose slightly. As she thought quietly, it was aunt Sil who spoke up.

“I seem to remember something about a raven in lore. One of the Norse gods used them as messengers I believe.”

Maria spoke up from the entrance. “Not just in Norse lore. In the traditions of many Native American tribes, Raven is a Creator and Trickster god.” She smiled, waving. “We decided to wait until Aria could join us for lunch. What did I miss?”

Raven Wing turned back to Maria, which caused the psychic to jump slightly. “Trickster god? So I have a trickster god living in me? So how do I beat it?”

Maria stepped closer, staring the raven-haired girl in the face for several seconds before responding. “I had to be sure it was really you this time. In stories, Raven is sometimes seen as benevolent, but always, a trickster. What did he say to you?”

Raven Wing shifted her gaze to her armored boots. “She said that if we didn’t play the game, she would return my pain to me, and return me to my madness.” She glanced up again. “I’ve found one of the rules of the game is that I can temporarily block her out without any repercussions, but I’m running out of time. Do what you can to learn more. I’ll keep her occupied as much as I can.”

She turned back to the rest of us. “I’m trusting you all because I have no one else to turn to. Ironically my arch foe is the closest thing I have to a friend right now.”

As she turned to leave, I shifted back to Mother’s side, burying myself in her embrace. “So all this time… All this over-protectiveness you’ve shown me since becoming Aria…”

“It’s because I love you. I have always loved you, but I know how scary the world can be for a girl, especially one who doesn’t know the first thing about being a girl.”

“About that,” I began more softly, “There’s still more we need to talk about, and then we can get to this trickster god business.”

---

“Hello child of fate.”

“Don’t screw with me you little brat.” I snapped back. “I need to talk to Raven Wing, and no, it’s not about you this time.”

She giggled vapidly. “Of course it’s about me. It’s ALL been about me. The sooner you understand that, the closer you’ll be to winning, silly goose! But if you want me to wake her, you’ll have to answer my riddle.”

---

Author's Note:
Due to language and violence against monstrosities that Once Were Human, I've rated this chapter PG-15. It's not ultra-graphic over-the-top stuff though. I just wanted to post a little heads-up that this chapter shows Hell hath no fury like an angry teen with superpowers ;-)

~Zoe

---

“This better be important,” I groaned into the phone as I rolled over in bed. Shadows and darkness, thankfully of the natural twilight of the moonless mid-November night were my only companions, the bright green LED of my alarm clock proudly declaring it 2:04 AM.

“Rose here. Aria. You’d better get down here. I-it’s Banshee,” she stammered in a quivering, uneasy tone.

I sat bolt upright, heedless of my heavy covers as I dove from the bed. “I’ll be right there!”

I didn’t want or need to know anymore of the situation until I got there. My mother was as tough as they came. If something severe enough happened to her… If that Raven god had anything to do with this, I didn’t care if he WAS a creator, I’d wring him dry personally!

It only took me a few seconds to don my new armor. Aunt Sil had made some special modifications to the design to make it easier to put on and wear without extra assistance, as well as not rooting me to one place in battle. Within a few minutes of the call, I left my little house in the suburbs behind, flying as fast as I could manage.

I hadn’t done much flying lately, focusing all my attention on researching the Native American raven god that had apparently decided to possess my would-be ally. I couldn’t call Raven Wing more than that, not knowing where she stood. Was I fooling myself? Could she even be capable of ‘love’ for all she’d been through? My mind started to wander. I had to blink back the tears as I touched down and rushed inside, and not just from the immediate threat.

Maria met me at the door, wrapping me in a hug even as the two of us sprinted down the sterile hall together. It disturbed me deeply, in retrospect, how perfect, how pristine everything felt. My mind wandered further. This was why I didn’t ask for any details. I’d rather have let my thoughts travel to such silly things rather than focusing on whatever had happened.

“There you are,” our resident blonde-haired nurse stated seriously as we appeared in the doorway to the medical bay. She quickly ushered us inside.

“What happened?” I asked as I tried to catch my breath. She simply shook her head.

“Frankly, I’m not sure. This is … beyond my expertise. Silver Sentinel found her unconscious in her office. Someone, or something, overpowered her, but the security cameras show only static. The security guys are looking into what happened.”

Maria and I looked at each other, and I scowled. “Raven. I’ll kill him!” I shrieked.

“Wait, there’s more!” the nurse called, reaching out to catch my shoulder. I spun around, staring expectantly.

“I said this was beyond my expertise because, medically, there’s nothing I can see that would cause her to not have woken up yet. I’m running scans, but It’s like she just has no energy.”

The blood began to leave Maria’s face, her jaw slackening. “I can’t believe I didn’t sense it sooner. I… I should have realized it. Oh gods, Aria I’m so sorry.”

“What?”

She brought her fingers to her temples and slowly began to massage them. “There are certain individuals who have the power to … to siphon off the life energy of others.”

“You mean vampires?” the nurse asked. “You’ve fought those before haven’t you?”

I nodded, trying to calm myself down and focus on the situation at-hand. “Yes, there was a vampire hiding in the hospital morgue recently.”

Maria shook her head quickly. “No, not like vampires. These beings are psionic in nature, like me. They’re our dirty little secret. Psionic adepts don’t like to talk about, or admit, that these monsters, these soul-devourers exist.”

“WHAT?!” I shrieked. I couldn’t believe my ears. “You mean something… ATE her soul?!”

“Well, yes and no. Look, it’s a long story and we don’t have time for me to tell you the long version. Just get everyone together.” She hesitated before adding, “If you have a way to contact Raven Wing I’d do it because this probably concerns her too. You’ve been waiting for another puzzle piece to fall into place, and this could be it.”

“Alright, but what are you going to do?”

She turned to the nurse, responding to my question in a determined tone, “I’m going into Banshee’s mind, and I pray to Santa Maria she forgives me when she wakes up, but I’ve got no choice. I have to see what she saw. I have to know what we’re dealing with.”

I still didn’t understand exactly what she was going on about, but I decided not to argue. Leaving her to her work, I ran back out of the room, barreling past two surprised security personnel in the process (and causing one of them to spill her coffee) as I raced for the communications relay room. I found Rose standing numbly at the comm. control, her arms folded as she stared blankly at the security monitors. Static and snow still covered the glass screens.

“Rose?” I whispered as I placed my hand on her shoulder. She slowly glanced back at me, wrapping me in a hug.

“Aria, I’m sorry. The alarm never went off. None of us knew anything was wrong until it was too late.”

“It’s okay. We’re going to get her back, and we’re going to get whatever did this to her. Right now we need to get Volcaness here, and I need to call Raven Wing. Will you handle Volcaness for me?”

She managed a weak laugh. “Sure, give me the hard job. Yeah, no problem.”

I planted myself in one of the office chairs at the control panel, picking up the phone and dialing the number Raven Wing had given me to relay any information on her raven god situation. Rather than Raven Wing, though, the child answered.

“Hello child of fate.”

“Don’t screw with me you little brat.” I snapped back. “I need to talk to Raven Wing, and no, it’s not about you this time.”

She giggled vapidly. “Of course it’s about me. It’s ALL been about me. The sooner you understand that, the closer you’ll be to winning, silly goose! But if you want me to wake her, you’ll have to answer my riddle.”

I groaned, exhaling slowly. “Fine. What’s your damned riddle?”

“Ooh, goodie!” she squealed with joy. “Okay, here goes. Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

“What?”

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

“That’s not funny!”

“It is too! Just answer the question!” she insisted. I could almost picture her pouting on the other end.

I sighed, defeated. “Fine. I don’t know.”

“Exactly,” the voice responded in a profoundly sage tone. A moment later, Raven Wing yawned.

“Hello?”

“Raven Wing! Thank God. Listen, I need your help.”

“Errf, Aria? What time is it?” she mumbled.

“It’s half-past two I think. I don’t have time to explain right now, but Banshee’s in trouble. Maria thinks you might be connected — or more specifically, your little ‘friend’. She asked me to call you. We’re about to go vampire hunting.”

“… If ANYONE else had called me at this hour and told me that, I’d be staking them instead. I’ll be right there.”

I exhaled slowly as I hung up the phone, Rose glancing at me with a sympathetic smile. “This is so messed up. Just once, just ONCE I’d like things to be simple.”

She chuckled quietly. “Yeah no kidding. Capes ought to come with an instruction manual. But I’m kind of glad I’m here, too. I know this whole situation with Banshee is horrible, but it makes me feel better knowing I can help you. I promise I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Thanks Rose,” I offered almost timidly as I stood, and in a moment of weakness, found myself collapsing into her arms. I sobbed into her shoulder as she comforted me. “She’s all I have… She’s all I’ve ever had. The idea of losing her…” I bit my lip, but Rose smiled as she pushed a few tresses of fake blonde hair back behind my ear.

“Hey… We’re not going to lose her, alright? We’ll get whatever did this to her, and she’ll be as good as new. C’mon, let’s go meet Volcaness and Raven Wing.” She smiled, turning to lead me toward the door. I inhaled deeply, holding it in for a moment to try and get my emotions under control again, slowly exhaling as we stepped into the hall.

Volcaness arrived first, bursting through the doors with a small trail of flames in her wake. She rushed over to us, and I could swear I saw bright blazes leaping in her irises as she spoke. “Banshee’s been true to her word through everything that’s happened to me. She didn’t have to help me after what I did to her, but she did. I swear to you, Aria, I will make whoever did this BURN for it.”

“Assuming it can burn,” Raven Wing’s voice called from behind us, standing in her full battle armor. A pair of wispy black wings protruding from her back settled against her form for only a moment before dissipating completely. She stepped closer, but kept a foot or two of distance between herself and the others. I however immediately moved to embrace her, causing her to smile a little.

“What, no test to prove it’s me?”

I smiled, kissing her lightly. She blinked several times in surprise, but before she could respond, I turned back to the others, stepping back to stand by Raven Wing’s side. “We can’t discount that this is another part of the Trickster’s game. That’s why Raven Wing’s here; there might be another clue in all this. We’ll see.” I tried to sound authoritative. With Mother absent, Silver Sentinel would handle the running of our base, but I had to assume the role of leadership: a concept that made my stomach turn.

“Right. Where’s Maria? I want to get to some head-busting,” Volcaness responded impatiently. I rolled my shoulders slightly.

“She’s with Mom right now. She said something about getting an imprint, but I didn’t quite follow it all.”

A disembodied, girlish giggle echoed through the hall. Volcaness and Rose’s expressions suggested that it wasn’t just me that heard it, either. The voice of the child-form the raven god so enjoyed teasing us with followed. “Oh, my dear Child of Fate, you cannot see what is as plain as the nose on your lover’s face?”

Raven Wing’s cheeks began to burn profusely. Rose sloooowly looked between the two of us, blinking once. Volcaness leaned over and whispered something in her ear, but I was more occupied with our tormentor.

“What exactly are you getting at?”

“For what it’s worth, my fingerprints are all over this, but as well, I am innocent.”

“What? YOU did this?!” I rushed forward, but she vanished, reappearing behind me.

“Temper temper, Child of Fate.” She giggled innocently. “I told you, I am innocent.”

Raven Wing frowned. “You set something in motion that caused this, didn’t you?”

The child smiled a knowing smile, her eyes sparkling with wisdom far beyond her current form’s years. “I knew I chose well when I selected the two of you.” She vanished, leaving Raven Wing and me staring at each other in surprise.

Maria came running up a few brief seconds later, out of breath. “I have the information we need-” she paused, staring at us. “… What did I miss?”

Volcaness smirked. “Oh, nothing much. Just more insane riddles from an apparently insane raven god.”

“Ah, okay. You’ll have to fill me in later. Right now I think I know where our creature is hiding. In my vision I saw a sea of lifeless trees. The trees were covered in a thin blanket of white snow, and it was very cold. In other words, a cold place with a lot of dead people.”

“The city morgue,” I responded immediately. She nodded.

“Exactly. I tried to call, but there was no answer.”

“That’s not good. Alright, let’s move. Maria, Raven, you’re with me. Rose, Volcaness, we’ll meet you there. Do NOT engage until we’re all together.”

Volcaness gave me a surprised glance, but she smiled approvingly. “We’ll follow your lead.”

~oOo~

Things seemed quiet outside the morgue: far, far too quiet. I tried to open the front doors, but they were locked tight. Raven placed her hand on my shoulder and smiled, stepping forward. She knelt in front of the lock, hovering her armored palm over it. Tiny threadlike tendrils of shadow shot forward and into the keyhole. A few short clicks followed, and she stood, pushing it open.

“That’s amazing. How did you do that?” Rose gasped.

Raven Wing giggled a little. “Oh, I didn’t pick it; I broke it from the inside.” She smiled proudly. We rushed inside, confirming our fears. Slumped over the front desk was a man in a white uniform. The desk, in disarray, showed some limited signs of a struggle. We crept further inside, but the sound of the front door being ripped off its hinges caught us by surprise. Volcaness lit up like a bonfire, illuminating our would-be assailant. Tank grunted.

“Jeeze, Volc! Amp down the flames! What the hell’re you kids doin’ here anyway?!”

“Tank?!” Volcaness responded in surprise. “Jesus, I nearly roasted you. We’re here to kill the creature that attacked Banshee. What are YOU doing here?!”

“Attacked Banshee?! … Son of a- Look, I’m partly responsible for this, and I’m sorry, but I’m here to fix things. Just stay outta the way so you don’t get hurt awright?”

“What do you mean ‘partly responsible’?” I asked, utterly confused. He sighed as he stepped closer, placing his massive hands gently on my shoulders.

“Aria, the freak that’s holed up in here was a legacy of the people that experimented on me. I went to bust up the lab, but one of ‘em escaped with a dose of the revised serum, shot his self up real good, and took the train right to crazytown, screamin’ about takin’ revenge for somethin’ that happened twenty years ago. Hell’f I know what he meant, but this’ my mess, and I gotta clean it up.”

“Tank, let us help you. This is my Mom we’re talking about.”

“No. He’s hurt too many people already. Ain’t puttin’ you at risk too. You know what he did to Banshee, and you know what a tough old battleaxe she is. Think what he’d do to you?”

Volcaness growled. “Oh for God’s sakes, Tank, quit with macho bull already! We’re going and that’s final.”

He sighed reluctantly, staring at her. “God damit, Volc. You may have the body of a kid now, but you’re as stubborn as ever. FINE, come along, but if he lunges at you, for God’s sakes, turn into a fireball or somethin’.” He grumbled, stomping past us. We stayed close behind.

The first examination room looked like something out of a horror film with dismembered body parts strewn about, though thankfully it looked like they all belonged to the morgue’s resident population. At least, none of them seemed to have any clothing or other personal effects attached, not that it gave my stomach any comfort. Tank sneered.

“This ain’t right.”

As if on cue, a maniacal, male giggle — or perhaps more like a cackle, echoed throughout the room. Volcaness brightened her aura of flame to illuminate the room, and in the far corner, a twisted, rail-thin figure in the tattered remains of a lab coat knelt, its back to us as though examining something. It stood and turned, opening its mouth to reveal razor-like teeth. Its twisted claw-like hands stretched, and in an instant it lunged for Tank.

He yelled out in surprise, spinning to the side and connecting with its jaw. I shrieked, literally and power-wise as Rose and Maria leapt back. Volcaness though, strode right up to the creature. “You… I’ll kill you!” she bellowed, igniting the creature. It screamed in tortured agony, rolling around on the floor, but the harder it tried to put out the flames, the more intense they became.

Tank grabbed Volcaness by the shoulder, forcing her around to face him even despite the fact that he had essentially just shoved his hand into a furnace. “Volc, this ain’t him! Calm it down a notch before ya roast us!”

She blinked, letting both the flames surrounding her and the flames now flat-out blackening the corpse dissipate. She frowned, poking at the crispy critter with her boot. “… Sorry Tank. It’s just… Banshee’s been like the Mom I never had ever since the change, y’know? Anyway, what WAS that thing?”

“Damn if I know,” he responded, turning to continue.

I suddenly realized one member was conspicuously missing, and started looking around. In all the chaos, I’d lost sight of Raven Wing.

“Guys? Where’s Raven?”

Tank grunted, Volcaness shaking her head. Rose hesitantly spoke up. “I… I thought I saw someone heading further in.”

“Damit!” I shouted, rushing past Tank to try and find Raven Wing. I burst through a pair of wooden, swinging doors, not unlike a hospital ward door, entering into a long hallway. Further in, I caught a glimpse of Raven Wing just as she rounded a corner into a room. I raced after her, but the door wouldn’t open.

“She doesn’t want you to see,” the little girl whispered in my ear as I pounded on the door.

“See what?” I practically demanded. She giggled.

“See what she’s going to do to this poor creature.”

“… What do you mean?” I stopped trying to get the door open, knowing Tank could rip it open once he caught up.

“You haven’t figured it out yet? Come now, Child of Fate… She envies you for having a mother like Banshee. This creature hurt Banshee. She doesn’t want you to see the monster she’s about to become in order to even the score.”

“… What?! RAVEN! Damit!” I cried out as I slammed my fists against the hardwood as, in my rage, I couldn’t focus and direct my powers. Raven Wing told me once before that I saved her from herself. I almost lost her once. I would not lose her again, but the door refused to budge.

Tank easily pushed me aside, slamming his shoulder hard into the door. Not only did it splinter and shatter, he also took a sizable portion of the wall with him. Raven Wing, surrounded by shifting clouds of shadow, abruptly spun around. The shadows faded, and Tank sprinted right past her, planting his fist firmly in the slightly more human-looking figure further in.

“I’ll rip out your throat!” he bellowed as he punched the figure in the stomach. It somehow managed to worm its way loose from Tank’s grasp, sprinting at an ungodly speed right for Raven Wing as it cackled.

“I’ll take her with me!” it shrieked. It stopped dead in its tracks when the inconspicuous potted plant in the corner of the room abruptly grew to twenty times’ its length to lash out. Its thickening stem grew hard and thorny, encasing his legs and rooting him firmly.

Tank stepped up behind him, knocking him off his feet with the help of the plant’s sudden growth, and Volcaness, Raven Wing, Psychic Strike and I made short work of his now prone form, in a brilliant flurry of fire and shadows.

Volcaness breathed heavily as the carnage came to an end. “Was THAT him?” she asked as she leaned against a filing cabinet to catch her breath.

“Yeah, that was him. Cremate his ass, and I mean as hot as you can get it without roastin’ the room. I don’t wanna take no chances.”

Volcaness nodded, outstretching her hand, even as Tank stepped over the burning body, walking right past us. I moved to follow him.

“Hey, wait, where are you going?”

He paused, turning to stare down at me. “Told ya, kid, this was my fault. I’m gonna take responsibility for it. Turnin’ myself in for lettin’ this freak loose.”

“Tank… This isn’t your fault. You’re…” I paused, blinking. “… Innocent.” I could hear that faint, disembodied giggle in my ear as those words sank in. “Look, this guy got what he deserved for what he did to you and the others. I mean sure, he attacked Mot- I mean Banshee, but you couldn’t have known or helped that. And YOU!” I continued, turning to Raven Wing and throwing my arms around her.

“Don’t you dare ever do that again. I don’t care what kind of power you’re capable of summoning up, if it’s at the cost of losing you, I don’t want you to do it, even for Mom, alright?”

She blinked in surprise, and started to say something, but paused, a quiet smile crossing her lips. I had to wonder if perhaps the Trickster might be whispering something to her, now, too? She exhaled slowly. “Let’s… get you out of here.”

Maria nodded. “Good idea. Tank, come back to headquarters with us.”

“S’where I was headin’ anyway. I’ll meet y’all back there.”

As the five of us followed Tank back out, I found myself reflecting on everything the raven god had said to me. What was he leading to? There had to be something I was missing. I bit my lip, glancing at Raven Wing. “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

“I don’t know,” she responded immediately.

“Exactly,” I replied.

“… Wait, what?”

“That’s one of the clues to ‘the game’.”

Maria chuckled to herself. “Admitting you know nothing is the first step on the path to enlightenment in many philosophical traditions, most notably Buddhism.”

“So… Enlightenment, cause and effect, secrets… I still don’t get it.”

“I think we’re getting closer. What I want to know is what he gets out of this,” Raven Wing replied dryly. “Even if we do win, he has to be setting us up for something.”

“Indeed I am,” came the whispered response. Raven Wing growled and seemed to focus for a moment.

“There. I was saving my shut-it-up time for you and me to have some alone time after the dust settled, but if it means not having his-her voice in my head until we get you safely home, it’s almost worth the sacrifice.”

“Well, at least we have the morgue,” I teased. She rolled her eyes, giving me a light squeeze as we slowly stepped out into the crisp night air. One thing bothered me though. Exactly how was the raven god involved in all this? Did he set something in motion to cause that horrible monster to do those things to Tank, or did he simply tip the big guy off as to the whereabouts of the new lab?

I resolved to ask him later, once we were back at Headquarters, but for now, I had another phone call to make to the local authorities. With Banshee out, responsibilities now fell to me, at least in the field. That, perhaps more than this madman, more than the thought of losing to the Trickster Raven, terrified me greatly.

---

Raven Wing and I stared blankly at each other. When we returned our gaze to her, her grin had broadened. Her little dimpled cheeks almost seemed to glow with childlike joy. Knowing an ancient deity of charm and pranks lie in wait behind those innocent eyes made the whole surreal experience all the more unsettling.

“So do you want to ask us something in return?” I asked. She grinned.

“You just used up your question, but yes. I do.” Raven Wing elbowed me lightly, causing me to flinch. I settled on the ground beside her, waiting for the spirit’s response.

“What is love?”

---

Three weeks had passed since Mother’s assault and subsequent coma. In that time I had transitioned to leading our team full-time while, at the same time, focusing on the Raven situation. I couldn’t bring myself to go back to our empty house in the suburbs, so I ate and slept at the base. I asked Raven Wing on several occasions to come stay there as well, but she refused, so I never pressed the subject.

We increasingly spent time together though most of that time we invested in research. Still, the surrealness of having my ‘arch foe’ at arm’s length and on speed dial had finally worn off. More and more I began to consider her a dear friend, and perhaps more. I couldn’t deny my feelings for her, but at the same time we had more important problems. The media, of course, had a field day when the story broke. It didn’t help that Mother ‘mysteriously disappeared’, as one reporter put it. I had to lie and tell them she was on a sabbatical in Ireland and couldn’t be disturbed.

I was at my wit’s end with the situation with Mother, though. I couldn’t even pass by her office without breaking down. Our med bay nurse did everything she could to keep her condition stable, perhaps more than could be asked of anyone, but her condition simply would not improve, and I was getting desperate.

I began getting in touch with doctors the world over, quietly bringing them in to examine her, or sending them the relevant data on her condition, but her condition baffled them. This morning I had met with three different doctors, two medical technicians, and an acupuncturist. Mother’s physiology, like mine, is so far out of the ‘norm’ though that I think I heard one of them mumbling about consulting an exorcist instead.

“Excuse me, young lady,” an older male voice roused me from my somber reflection. A half-empty pizza box sat on the conference table before me, but I had only taken a few nibbles off one slice, Volcaness and Rose having doing most of the damage prior to an emergency calling them away. When I looked up, my gaze met his. Stormy grey eyes stared back at me.

He had an odd sort of smile. His long, gray hair rested about his shoulders, his face weathered and rough with age. His darkened, reddish skin gave away his nationality immediately, though more than that, I couldn’t have placed even with the amount of time I had invested in Native American lore lately. I managed a weak smile as I motioned for him to come closer.

“Yes, can I help you?” I tried to sound cordial. He looked down at the book in my hands, a leather bound hardback edition of a guide to ancient spirits, as a slow smile crept across his lips.

“Actually I am here to help you.” I stared at him for another moment. Something about him felt so familiar, but wrong somehow. It was then that I noticed it. He had a single raven’s feather braided into his hair just at the back. He chuckled to himself and smiled, shaking his head. “I am not who you think.”

I stood, slowly stepping around the conference table. I had thought to put forth some sort of air of authority or intimidation, but when I stopped in front of the man, and I looked up, realizing just how much his tall form dwarfed mine, I just couldn’t go through with it. I could no more be Mother than Raven Wing could be her father.

“I’m sorry, but my Mother’s life is too important for these games.”

“Then it is more serious than I thought,” he answered solemnly. “As I have said, I am not who you believe me to be. I know what torments you, Aria Blade, the Child of Fate. I come bearing a gift of wisdom.”

“What… What are you talking about?” I stammered, even more confused. I was certain this was the Trickster playing yet another of his games. The old man’s lips curled into a more curious smile.

“If you win, or if you lose is not important.”

“Of course it’s important! Raven Wing’s life is-”

Suddenly, my earbud communicator sprang to life with the excited voice of our nurse. “Aria get down here, quickly! She’s awake! I don’t know how, but she’s awake!”

My eyes widened. I looked up at my nameless guest, and he smiled back at me. He winked then stepped aside, motioning toward the door. “Do not let me keep you.”

I dumbly nodded. What else could I do? I raced past him, slamming right into Maria in the process. She groaned as she stumbled backwards, but laughed. She quickly reached out to help me up. “Sorry chica. I heard the news and came running.”

“It’s okay,” I managed, the shock shaking me from my stunned silence. “Hey why don’t you-” I began, turning back to the old man. He was gone.

“Uh, you okay?” Maria asked, peering over my shoulder into the empty room.

“The old man… He was just here a second ago.”

“I’ve been here all afternoon. Nobody’s come or gone without my knowing about it, and I definitely didn’t sense anyone new. C’mon, let’s get down to med bay. You can fill me in on the way.”

As we stepped off the elevator together, Maria shook her head. “I’m telling you, it sounds like there’s more going on here than we realized. Old men and little girls who come and go as they please, science-spawned psionic monsters. What else did he say to you?”

“It’s really weird, Psy. He… said that winning and losing aren’t what’s important.”

She shook her head slowly, furrowing her brow. “More cryptic riddles. I’m a certified genius and even I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean. How can winning make no difference when the stakes are so high?”

“Welcome to my world,” I whined, burying my head in her shoulder for just a moment. She smiled and planted a light kiss on the top of my head.

“Poor baby. You know your friends are here for you. Now come on, Banshee’s going to want to see you as much as you wanna see her.”

I nodded. As we rounded the corner into Medical, the nurse met us at the door. She looked exactly the way I felt, as though a ten ton weight had just been lifted off our shoulders.

“I don’t know how it happened,” she offered, shaking her head. “I was just going over the latest test results, getting ready to fax a copy to Doctor Lang over at the University Medical Center when the motion sensor went haywire. I thought it was Tank coming to check on her again without warning me, until he came barreling through the door wanting to know what was going on.” She chuckled as she led us further into the medical bay, down an off-shoot hall to the private room where Mother had been resting.

Tank was sitting by the bed which had been inclined to let Mother sit up. Despite the chill winter outside, he wore only a sleeveless white t-shirt and ragged, faded jeans. He had his head down, holding Mother’s hand. She smiled as she waved us over. Tank looked up, quickly clearing his throat and standing.

“Hey, there you are. I been fillin’ Banshee in on what went down after she was attacked, and how you took charge in her absence. I’ll juss’ give you some privacy.” He gave Mother a lazy two-fingered salute, which caused her to genuinely chuckle.

I stepped closer, a little cautiously, but she smiled. “It’s alright, I’m not going to break,” she spoke in a motherly tone. I felt my knees buckle as I reached her side. Somehow she managed to catch me, pulling me into her arms. I lay like that for what felt like an eternity, crying into her shoulder.

“I was so scared. I thought I had lost you forever!” I wept. She pulled away my blonde wig, stroking the black tresses that had been hidden beneath. She let my hair fall naturally around my shoulders before cupping my face in her hands and lifting my chin. She smiled.

“I am so very proud of you. You are everything I could have ever asked for in a daughter, and so much more.” Her smile brightened, and we embraced again. Maria tentatively stepped closer.

“Banshee, I … I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. When you were attacked, I had to go inside your mind to find out what happened. Your thoughts were unshielded. You have my absolute word that I won’t tell another living soul what I saw in there. I didn’t even mean, or want, to see anything. It’s just, I…” Maria stammered.

Mother shook her head. “You did what was necessary. I would have ordered you to do the same with any other member if it meant saving them. I’m sure Silver Sentinel will be as understanding. After all, that was twenty years ago,” she answered simply.

I slowly looked between the two of them. More secrets, but at least this, whatever ‘this’ was, happened before I was born. Maria shook her head ‘no’, and Mother remained stone-faced, so I instead changed the subject.

“What was it like? Do you remember anything?”

“It was as close to death as I can imagine death being. I felt as though my body and my spirit were in two different places. I can’t describe it, and I didn’t know how much time had passed. For me it felt both instantaneous, and like an eternity. I suddenly heard a voice calling out to me. It told me my role was played out, and that I could return. I awoke to Tank standing over me, apologizing profusely.” She chuckled lightly.

“It wasn’t… an older male voice was it?”

“No,” she answered, shaking her head. “More like a small child: a little girl.”

Maria and I stared at each other. “Do you think the old man works for the Trickster?” Maria asked. I just shook my head.

“None of this makes any sense. I need to let Raven Wing know you’re okay though. I don’t know if Tank mentioned her to you, but she almost sacrificed everything to avenge you.”

“She… what?” Mother asked, utterly stunned. She looked between Maria and me, then back at Maria. The psychic nodded.

“I saw it with my own eyes. She was doing the same ritual Aria Blade stopped the first time, when she tried to destroy her demonic father. She would’ve given up who she was to avenge you, ma’am.”

Mother took that bit of news in silence. She glanced away for a moment. I stood, bending down to hug her one more time before turning to follow Maria out. She needed her rest, and we had just bombarded her with quite a bit of information.

“I don’t get it,” I spoke up again as we left the med bay. “You said that you thought that monster stole her life force, right?”

“Emphasis on ‘thought’,” Maria offered sheepishly. “We’re dealing with powers beyond my understanding. If I had to guess, knowing what I know now? I’d say your Trickster probably saved her life. The psycho probably thought he killed her, when in reality the Raven god snatched her away, like what happened to you when you tried to take Raven Wing’s hand that first time, you know, to mess with your head some more.”

“I’m going to kill him,” I grumbled. Maria giggled.

“Hold your horses. Jumping to conclusions is what got me in trouble, remember?” She gave me a sisterly smile. “Remember, he’s sometimes seen as benevolent in lore. His games benefit some and punish others. Maybe there’s more to this than what we can see.”

“So what do you suggest?” I asked, trying to maintain my calm.

“Well, he’s obsessed with truth, at least in this ‘game’. Have you tried asking him directly what he wants?”

I blinked. I stopped in my tracks and turned to stare at her. That was the single craziest thing I had heard all week, and yet she might have been right. Neither Raven Wing nor I had actually stopped to ask what he/she wanted from us.

~oOo~

“Where is he now?” I asked hesitantly. We stood beneath a very large, very old oak tree on a small hilltop, in the New Heathridge City Cemetery. Raven Wing sat on the recently placed tombstone of a young woman that rested beneath the ancient branches, as though disrespect for the dead were a completely foreign concept. I cringed, causing her to shoot a concerned glance my way.

“What is it?” she asked, confused. “And to answer your question, I really don’t know. I haven’t heard from the little girl in three days now. It’s almost creepier NOT having her constantly invading my thoughts.”

“So why did you want to meet in a place like this anyway?” I asked, trying to ignore her continued desecration. She smiled and rolled her shoulders.

“You don’t like graveyards? Look at that sunset. It’s so peaceful here. The dead don’t say much, and the ones that do are usually fun to talk to.” I shot her a glare, causing her to giggle. “Would you relax? She’s not here. What was so important anyway?”

“Mother’s back. But it’s the way she returned that has me worried.”

“Uh oh.” She hopped off the tombstone and stepped closer, looking me in the eye now. “Aria, what happened?”

“I had a visitor today. He looked like a medicine man right out of an old west movie or something. He had a message for us about the Trickster.” I proceeded to explain to her everything that had happened. I even told her about Mother’s reaction to her nearly sacrificing herself to avenge her. When I finished, Raven Wing slowly shook her head. She placed her hand to her forehead as she sat beneath the tree, lightly rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“That makes no sense. So what does matter then?”

“This gave Maria a headache too,” I offered. Raven Wing laughed.

“Oh good, it’s not just me. Um, one question. You said Banshee heard a voice calling her back. Was it the old man who disappeared?”

“No, that’s the weirdest part. It was … well, it was a young girl’s.”

“What?” she stated, more than asked, as she stared up at me.

“Maria thinks that the Trickster stole mother’s spirit in order to make the madman think he killed her,” I began. She picked up on it immediately.

“So that he would leave about his business, just in time for us to converge with Tank and beat him senseless. But if that’s true, then the vision she received…”

“Would have been planted there by the Trickster,” I continued her thought this time. “Yeah, that was her thought as well. Raven, I’ve been thinking,”

I moved to kneel by her side. “This … thing is obviously interested in both of us. Why?”

“I have no idea,” she answered honestly, and with less bite in her tone than I expected.

“Exactly,” I offered. She stared blankly back at me. “Truth. It’s obsessed with truth. Maybe we should ask, and see what happens?”

As if on cue, the sound of leaves and grass crunching beneath small feet caught our attention. The small girl, dressed in an adorable red velvet holiday dress, skipped over to us. The high gloss of her Mary Jane shoes reflected the setting sun as she curtseyed deeply.

“So why don’t you ask?” the little girl echoed with an enigmatic smile.

Raven Wing stared silently at her. It was as though she suddenly found herself frozen in time. Finally, she closed her eyes. “What is it that you want with us? Why did you choose us?”

“Ah-ah,” the girl answered. “One question. That was the game you chose to play with Aria that first day, isn’t it?” she teased. “For your first question, I want to play. Isn’t that obvious?”

Raven Wing and I stared blankly at each other. When we returned our gaze to her, her grin had broadened. Her little dimpled cheeks almost seemed to glow with childlike joy. Knowing an ancient deity of charm and pranks lie in wait behind those innocent eyes made the whole surreal experience all the more unsettling.

“So do you want to ask us something in return?” I asked. She grinned.

“You just used up your question, but yes. I do.” Raven Wing elbowed me lightly, causing me to flinch. I settled on the ground beside her, waiting for the spirit’s response.

“What is love?”

“What?” Raven Wing stammered.

“Love is a willingness to sacrifice yourself for the good of another, whether or not they know it. Love is bearing your soul willingly even knowing you could get hurt. Love is trusting that you won’t.”

Raven Wing slowly turned to stare at me. “Love is a kiss between friends who have every reason to hate each other.”

The spirit giggled. “So cute! Okay, Ms. Wing, your next question is…?”

“I stand by my original question. Why did you choose us?”

“I didn’t,” the spirit answered simply. “You chose her.” She nodded toward me. Again Raven Wing and I stared at each other.

“What do you mean she chose me?” I asked, turning back to the spirit. She giggled.

“You still don’t get it, do you?”

Raven Wing grinned. “And you just used your question.”

The spirit looked, for a moment, to be completely shocked by Raven Wing’s comment. She stared baffled back at her, and then started to giggle. “So what is the answer?”

“No, I don’t get ‘it’. I don’t know what ‘it’ is.”

Raven Wing though, had a calculating smile creeping across her lips. “Why do you call Aria Blade ‘Child of fate’?”

The spirit practically cackled with glee as she clapped her hands together. “Because that’s exactly what she is. Yes, she was ‘born’ of mortal parents, once upon a time…”

“Wait a minute,” Raven Wing continued, turning back to me. “Remember what Banshee said? When you became a girl, you also became her daughter! Come on, Aria, don’t tell me you don’t see it too!” She had begun to sound like the Trickster now, but I could see where she was going with this.

“So I’m a demigod?” I asked. The little girl slapped her palm to her face, shaking her head.

“So close! My turn, my turn!” She stepped closer, looking Raven Wing in the eye. “Why do you love her?” She tilted her head curiously, her tone sounding as though she were asking Raven Wing’s favorite flavor of ice cream.

Raven Wing’s cheeks turned bright red. “I… she’s different. I can’t explain it.” She slowly turned to face me. “Even when we were fighting, part of me wanted to just reach out and embrace you, and never let you go.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you keep trying to kill me?”

Raven Wing giggled as she shook her head. “If I wanted you dead, you would’ve been a long time ago. I was trying to get your attention. That’s all. When this…” she paused, nodding toward the child, who smiled innocently back at us, “little brat came into my life though, things changed. I suddenly didn’t hurt anymore. Not as much. I saw the world, for the first time, clearly, and I realized that what I was doing to you was … “wrong”.”

“So you see, Child of Fate,” the little girl continued, “My gift to her was empathy.”

“Um… Whose turn is it again?” Raven Wing asked, apparently trying to change the subject. The spirit giggled.

“Hers,” she nodded toward me. I knew what I wanted to ask.

“Why did you become involved with us in the first place?”

The spirit gave a sage nod, and a wry smile. “Because you asked me to. Did you not even realize who it was you invoked, when you so brazenly sought empowerment?”

“I-I thought I was invoking the ancient Banshee.”

The girl giggled loudly. “You actually believed that silly legend?”

Raven Wing grinned. “Sorry, only one question per turn,” she teased. I high-fived Raven Wing. The spirit seemed less amused this time. It was slipping, which could be either good, or bad. I wasn’t sure which, just yet.

“Very well. Ask your question.” The spirit nodded toward Raven Wing, who smiled smugly, clearly enjoying the reversal of fortune.

“What did the other spirit mean when he said that winning doesn’t matter?”

The girl furrowed her brow, genuinely surprised. “Wait, hold on a moment. WHAT other spirit?”

“Setting our little game aside a moment,” I offered, “The old man who came to see me shortly before you freed Mother.”

Again, she shook her head, confused. I stood, holding my hand up. “He was about this tall with gray hair and silver-ish eyes. He looked like some sort of shaman or medicine man.”

“I see… What was he wearing?”

“The only thing that really stood out was that he had a raven feather braided into his hair, a bit like those you sometimes leave behind.”

She scowled outright. “That is why I did not know.” Her tone shifted, becoming more serious and foreboding. “What did he say to you? It is vital that I know, word for word, what it is that he said.”

“Not so fast,” Raven Wing answered, standing. “You’ve been teasing and screwing with us for months now, and now you expect Aria Blade to just be completely honest with you? Why should she trust you?”

The spirit exhaled slowly. “You are right. You have no reason to trust me, so I will give you one.”

The spirit stepped closer. She took my hand, placing it in Raven Wing’s. “I have been testing you, ‘teasing’ as you put it because I wanted to see where your potential lies. I wanted to know if you, Raven Wing, were truly worthy of my name.” She smiled up at Raven Wing. “You have bested me at my game, and in exchange I will give you a small portion of my power. Now, do you believe me? Will you trust me?”

Raven Wing hesitated. She turned her gaze to me. “What about Aria? What does she get out of all this?”

The girl laughed. “I thought we already went over this. She had her wish granted, though not exactly in the way she desired.” The girl winked playfully at me, then turned back to Raven Wing. “But does she not also have you? … Do you not love her?”

I smiled wryly. “She’s right, you know. Whatever your feelings for me, you were willing to sacrifice yourself for my mother, and for me.”

Raven Wing slowly turned to face me. She stared in silence back at me for several seconds. “You very nearly got yourself killed trying to save me too, you know.”

I turned back to the little girl and knelt. “The old man said that he had come to help me.” I closed my eyes, thinking back to the conversation earlier that day. I could almost hear his voice in my thoughts as I recited it. I felt Raven Wing’s hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to look up at her.

She was pointing at something. I stood to see the old man standing a mere few feet from us, his arms folded, and a crooked smile on his lips. He brought his hands together slowly, methodically applauding.

“And the last piece falls into place. So this is where you have been hiding yourself, old man, behind the face of an innocent. I knew if I waited long enough, these fools would lure you into the open.” He smiled smugly.

“It is time to stop all this foolishness and leave these mortals to their well-earned fate. You and I have unfinished business!” I felt my body suddenly wracked with pain. I fell to my knees.

“STOP IT!” the little girl shrieked. A clap of thunder echoed across the horizon as a sudden gust of wind knocked the old man backwards.

“You will pay for that!” he barked, staggering to his feet again. He hesitated, smirking. “You wear that form well: fragile and useless.”

I could barely move, but Raven Wing somehow seemed unaffected. She raced forward, slamming a shadowy fist into the old man’s jaw, which sent him reeling. Before he could recover, she began a rapid barrage of punches in his stomach. As he keeled over, she raised her knee to his face, sending him flying backwards. He landed with such force that the earth shook beneath us.

“Give it up old man. It’s over!” she sneered. He stumbled to his feet and began to laugh.

“Over? Oh I think not; it’s only just begun.” As he spoke, his voice shifted, darkening. He stomped closer and snatched up the little girl. “Useless, pathetic whelp. Die with your little mortal pawns!” he shouted, flinging her to the ground. To my surprise, she cried out in pain as she collapsed at my side.

My energy was almost spent, but I reached over and pulled her into my arms. I held her close, and I began to sing, attempting vainly to shield her, to shield us both. Raven Wing shook her head slowly.

“You disgust me. You’re just like my father — a coward who only shows any real initiative when picking on little girls.”

“Little girl?” the old man’s voice echoed as he laughed a dark, bone-chilling chortle. “Your father was a weakling, unworthy of my gift, even after all that time in the stone prison. You, though. You could have been so much more. You could have been a Princess among demons, and you chose this path instead?”

He outstretched his arms and at once, the sky turned red. He grew taller, and his form began to shift. His muscles bulged and contorted, tearing his clothing to shreds and leaving a large scaled demon in its place, two giant, bony horns jutting from his forehead. His scaly hide blackened, his eyes burning with hatred. He glowered at her, showing his teeth, now each sharpened to a fine point, as he parted his lips to speak. The little girl turned to look at me. She smiled, winked, and fell unconscious in my arms.

“I gave you your power. I can take it away again, and then you will be left with nothing. I give you one final chance. Submit, or die.”

Raven Wing turned to look down at me. She smiled, and turned back to our assailant.

“I would gladly sacrifice myself to save the life of the one I love, but I will not become the monster you want me to be. Take my power and kill me if you must. Leave her out of this.”

The creature snorted with disdain. “I hate it when you mortals grow a spine. Fine.” He stomped closer, clutching her entire face in his massive, clawed hand. I watched helplessly as he transferred shadowy motes of energy from her back into himself. He attempted to throw her aside though, and found that he could neither move her, nor pull his hand away. I looked down to see the girl I was sheltering had disappeared. In her place, a single black feather rested on the ground before me.

“What is THIS?!” the demon shrieked angrily. The little girl’s giggle lilted on the breeze.

“Justice,” she whispered. Bright light began to radiate from Raven Wing as the demon howled in pain. He struggled vainly to free himself, even attempting to bite off his own arm, but he was stuck fast and helpless. A full thirty seconds passed before the demon exploded in a brilliant flash of light, leaving nothing behind but shreds of clothing.

Raven Wing staggered back a step then immediately turned to me. “Oh my God, Aria,” she yelped, scooping me into her arms. “Please say something!”

I smiled weakly. “I’m alive. I can barely move, but I’m alive.”

She breathed a deep, relieved sigh at that, shaking her head. “Don’t ever scare me like that again! What just happened anyway?”

“I… think you just became the champion of a god,” I offered, uncertain. The only confirmation we received was a lilted giggle on the wind.

“We can figure it out later. Right now let’s get you back to med bay. I don’t know what that freak did to you, but it sounded painful.”

“It was,” I managed a weak groan. “Raven, I…”

“Aria, I love you,” she whispered as we left the ground behind. I smiled up at her, using the last bit of energy I could muster to lean up and kiss her cheek.

~oOo~

I had lost consciousness. That was all I could be certain about. Was it all a dream? Did any of it really happen? Raven Wing? Where was Raven Wing? I slowly sat up to take stock of my surroundings. I found myself back in my bedroom at home. I glanced down to see I was dressed in a white nightgown. I was still Aria Blade, at least. In my dizzy state, I couldn’t take anything for granted.

“Oooh,” I groaned. My head throbbed. I heard a familiar voice close by.

“Hey, you’re finally awake,” Raven Wing whispered. She squeezed my hand as she sat on the edge of my bed. “The demon did a number on you, but you’re going to be okay. How much do you remember?”

“I remember you saying you loved me,” I offered meekly. She laughed and leaned down to kiss me.

“I do. You showed me what real love is. I’m ready to take you up on that pizza date whenever you’re feeling better.”

Pizza date? … The trickster! “Hey, what happened with the raven god?”

She smiled and glanced at the door, where a little girl with her hair in pigtails peeked around the corner at me. She stepped further into the room, carrying a pitcher of ice water and a small glass with a drinking straw on a silver tray.

“It seems I’ve adopted a little sister, at least for awhile.” She mused. The girl giggled.

“The demon was right that this form suits my purposes well. I am familiar to you like this, and someone must teach Raven Wing the extent of her new abilities.”

“Remember that shadow trap I used against you when she first appeared?” She asked even as she reached over to pour me a glass of water. As she offered it to me, she continued, “Apparently she took the idea and turned it against the demon. She used me as a trap to take him out. In return, she’s given me some of her … well, ‘his’, I guess, power.”

“What happens now?” I asked.

“What do you mean ‘what happens now’?” she responded, confused.

“You’re not going to leave again are you?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Wild ravens couldn’t keep me away from you.” She paused, glancing at the little girl, patting her head lightly. “Not even this one.”