City of Heroes™

The Champions Super Group Logs

050607 Future Past: Before and After

06-29-2005 02:03:33
Angel, Krazy Joe and Xochiquetzal stand atop the Talos tram building after their Sewer Trial.
[NPC]Sharell: Isn't that Krazy Joe? The one who battled that big monster in the sewers?
Xochiquetzal: They're bragging on you, my hero.
Krazy Joe: Gotta go, babe.
He takes a kiss and bounds away.

Enter: Spirit of Pain.
DEVIL Angel 2: Hey, Spirit.
Spirit of Pain: Hi, Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2: Long time, no see.
Spirit of Pain: Yeah. I've been working with Ban. He's got me doing some undercover work.
DEVIL Angel 2: How are you both?
Xochiquetzal: Medika has expressed concern about Ban.
Spirit of Pain: Why, Xochi?
Xochiquetzal: She has not seen him in for an examination since the -- Blurr incident.
DEVIL Angel 2: Spirit, you know if either of you have need of me ..?.

DEVIL Angel 2: While I have you ...Sarah sends her love and said to tell you she misses you.
Spirit of Pain: Give her a kiss for me, Angel?
Spirit of Pain smiles
DEVIL Angel 2: Sure thing Spirit.

Spirit of Pain: Well, Xochi, he's fine. Just in a mood.
Xochiquetzal: Medika’s -- mood -- lasted for quite some time.
Spirit of Pain: I'm used to Ban's moods, though.
Spirit of Pain giggles.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
DEVIL Angel 2: As well you should be.
Spirit of Pain: He knows I can put him on the floor anytime I want.
DEVIL Angel 2: I'm not saying a thing.
Spirit of Pain: Not THAT way, Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
Spirit of Pain laughs.
Xochiquetzal: <puzzled at the apparent joke> Would he not go there willingly  if you asked?
DEVIL Angel 2: Yah  sure.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs hard.
Spirit of Pain: Oh, yes, Xochi. And he does.
Spirit of Pain grins.
DEVIL Angel 2: Of course he would, Xochi.
Xochiquetzal: I understood that you were the female who had claimed him.
DEVIL Angel 2: <mutters under her breath at Spirit, with a smile> Bitch
Spirit of Pain sticks tongue out at Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2: <still muttering> Lucky bitch.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs. Xochiquetzal shakes her head.
Xochiquetzal: I have much yet to learn about human customs.

Another figure landed on the rooftop.
Steel Fist: Powerful ladies meeting?
Xochiquetzal: Greetings, Steel Fist.  Are you in need of assistance?
Steel Fist speeds off without answering.
DEVIL Angel 2: Looks like you intimidated him, Big Green.
Xochiquetzal shrugs.

Spirit of Pain: As for learning human customs, Xochi, I still am.
Xochiquetzal: Most human males seem easily intimidated.
DEVIL Angel 2: Oh they are! Especially if you’re big and green.
Spirit of Pain: Not Ban. I had to threaten to beat him unconscious and drag him home, recently.
DEVIL Angel 2: Or small and white, it would seem.
Xochiquetzal: Ah, my understanding was that Spirit here is easily as intimidating as I seem to be. Perhaps more so.
Spirit of Pain giggles.
Xochiquetzal: I don't INTEND to intimidate
DEVIL Angel 2: And I don’t mean to be needing saving all the time either, but the men seem to do just that.

DEVIL Angel 2: I'm sure you would have, Spirit. Beat him if he didn’t come, I mean.
Spirit of Pain: I would have and intended to! Stubborn Scottish bastard.
Xochiquetzal: Why would the Bansidhe need to be dragged home, if I may ask?
Spirit of Pain: Because he would've been unconscious.
Spirit of Pain laughs. DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
Xochiquetzal: Unconscious from what?
Spirit of Pain: Me beating the crap out of him.
DEVIL Angel 2: Her kicking his ass.
Xochiquetzal pulls out a PDA and makes some notes.
Xochiquetzal: So... you beat him until he didn't want to come home, and then you forced him to come home?  Have I got that right?
Spirit of Pain: No, no!
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
Spirit of Pain: I told him I was going to beat him if he didn't come home and get some sleep.
Xochiquetzal: For what reason had he chosen to stay awake.
Spirit of Pain: He'd been awake, on a stake out, for four days straight.
Xochiquetzal: Stake out? Was he being punished?
DEVIL Angel 2: Watching something.
Spirit of Pain: An investigation.
Xochiquetzal: You tie people to poles for an investigation?
DEVIL Angel 2: No no!
Spirit of Pain: Oh, no! No. It's called a stake out because...ummm...well, I don't know why, but that's what he called it.
Xochiquetzal: Amongst my people, strapping an evil doer to a wooden framework and leaving him in the jungle is a form of punishment.
DEVIL Angel 2: Among our people, a "stake out " is when you watch something for a time. You stay in place like a stake in the ground.
Spirit of Pain: Oh. Didn't know that's how it was meant, Angel.
Xochiquetzal: Hm. Same originating concept; completely different meaning. Most curious.
Xochiquetzal makes an extensive note.
DEVIL Angel 2: Well if your hunting vampiry you could go on a stake out and "stake them with a wooden stake.
Spirit of Pain giggles. DEVIL Angel 2 grins.
Spirit of Pain: You're so silly, Angel. Now I know where Sarah gets it.
DEVIL Angel 2: Oh yes, I 'm the silly one of the group.
DEVIL Angel 2 shakes her head.

Spirit of Pain: So, what've you two been up to?
Xochiquetzal: A partial exploration of the sewers beneath Steel, Spirit.
DEVIL Angel 2: Not too much really; just taking it easy mostly now.
Spirit of Pain: Oh! That big hydra thingy?
DEVIL Angel 2: Yeah we helped Crazy Joe out with that hydra tonight.
Spirit of Pain: Cool! Yeah. I fought that thing months ago. I wonder when Portal Corp is gonna figure out how to get rid of it for good.
Xochiquetzal: My hero seemed intent on it's destruction  -- and my acquisition of the associated badge. If the humans fear the Rikti so, it would seem necessary to clear the sewers frequently.
Spirit of Pain: Your hero, Xochi?
DEVIL Angel 2 giggles.
Xochiquetzal: There was a discussion sometime ago -- a week or a month, your time units confuse me -- about nicknames.
Spirit of Pain: Nicknames?
Xochiquetzal: Joe decided to call me "Sho" -- and something happened, some civilian, I think, told me his nickname was "my hero".
Spirit of Pain and Angel join in laughing.
Xochiquetzal: This is amusing?
Spirit of Pain bursts into uncontrollable laughter.
DEVIL Angel 2: I really wouldn't listen to the citizens too much, Xochi.
Xochiquetzal: He assured me that it was an appropriate greeting, for me to say, “Heya Hero.”
DEVIL Angel 2: Well, yes, that is true, however, Joe's nickname IS Crazy Joe.
Spirit of Pain: Ah, Xochi, I think the civilian probably said "my hero" because Joe rescued the person.
Xochiquetzal: How can that be his nickname?  It is the only one he has given me to use?
DEVIL Angel 2: Do you think my name is Devil Angel 2, Xochi?
Xochiquetzal: You are Angel Rawlings, are you not?
DEVIL Angel 2: Yes.  My name is Angel.
Xochiquetzal: But Spirit of Pain is Spirit of Pain.
DEVIL Angel 2: That’s because she used to be Banished Pantheon.
Spirit of Pain: Yeah, Xochi, but most people just call me Spirit.
DEVIL Angel 2: Or PAIN.
Spirit of Pain giggles. DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
Xochiquetzal: Spirit seems most evocative.  I would think most people would like that name.

Spirit of Pain: Well, you could always do like I did. Xochi, when we're alone, I call Ban a completely different nickname.
Xochiquetzal: Medika closes her mouth tightly when I asked Bansidhe's name and said I was not to ask. Am I not to ask you, Spirit, what name it is you call Bansidhe in private?
Spirit of Pain: Ban, when I get fiesty, usually calls me bitch.
Spirit of Pain giggles.
Xochiquetzal: Ah.  We had the discussion about food animals...
Spirit of Pain: Food animals?
Xochiquetzal: Yes. Medika said that when the subject came up again I should say that dogs in pre-Columbian Meso-America were raised strictly as food animals. Then you would understand. That is the origin of the Chihuahua.

Spirit of Pain: In private? I call Ban "daddy".
DEVIL Angel 2: AAAhhh men. Gotta love em.
Xochiquetzal: <extremely puzzled> Daddy?  Is that not a nickname for one's sire? I thought you had accepted Bansidhe as a sensual partner and intended to espouse him.  That is what "engaged to be married" means, does it not?
Spirit of Pain: Yeah, Xochi, but it's not like he's my sire. He is, in a sense, a father figure to me.
Xochiquetzal: In my culture, it was one time thought appropriate for a woman to espouse a male from her mother's family.  But not her father.
Spirit of Pain: I've seen kids call their fathers "daddy" and I asked Ban about it. He told me that it's not the same between him and me. See, when I first took on human form, there was nothing sexual between Ban and I. He was very much a father figure to me. He took care of me and helped me adjust to this world. A few months later, we realized that we loved each other very deeply.
Xochiquetzal: <taking notes> Interesting.  I wonder when you managed to separate the paternal from the sexual.
Spirit of Pain: Well, he's still very paternal toward me, but I'm also constantly nagging him - kinda like how mothers are toward their children.
Xochiquetzal: True.
DEVIL Angel 2: That’s how you take care of each other.
Xochiquetzal: Hm.  It would be interesting to watch your approach to offspring.

A short broad figure in a stetson hops onto the rooftop.
Jack Ironbear: Howdy, ladies...whats cracken.? Ya'll have'en  little get together.? Ladies night.?
Spirit of Pain: We're discussing men and why they're such worthless creatures.
Jack Ironbear: Ahh....yeah, well we can be like that some times girls.. I'm afraid ta tell ya...it's all true.
Xochiquetzal pulls out her PDA and takes more notes.
Spirit of Pain: Pretty much.
Xochiquetzal: Why do you believe it to be true?  Do you consider yourself a worthless male?
Jack Ironbear: <Tips hat, and smiles with a half assed grin> Alright ladies...ya'll fight tha good fight now, an keep yer chins up, ya hear.
Xochiquetzal raises her eyebrows.
DEVIL Angel 2: See, Xoch, you scared another one away.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
Xochiquetzal: What does chins being up have to do with arresting malefactors?
Spirit of Pain pulls out a little brown bag.
DEVIL Angel 2: If your chin is down, then you’re in the dirt.

Xochiquetzal: I have a great deal of trouble getting human males to contribute to my research.
Spirit of Pain takes something out of the bag, pops it into her mouth and begins chewing on it.
Xochiquetzal: I am very thankful that Joe enjoys being a subject of study.
DEVIL Angel 2: OHOH.  Is that Joe's jerky, Spirit?
Spirit of Pain: Yep! He brought me some. Want some?
Spirit of Pain tosses the bag to Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2: Thank you.
Spirit of Pain: You're welcome.
DEVIL Angel 2: I love this stuff. Low fat, too.
Xochiquetzal: No, thank you.  Amongst my people, monkeys harbor the souls of evil priests.
Spirit of Pain: Oh, Xochi! This stuff isn't like that.
DEVIL Angel 2: Lil Jag eats it all the time.
Xochiquetzal: Does the xabalanque, now?  Hmmm. Monkeys are a jaguar’s natural prey, I believe.
DEVIL Angel 2: Now I don’t suggest giving her cat nip, but the jerky seems fine.

DEVIL Angel 2 tosses bag back to Spirit.
Spirit of Pain: Besides, I know where evil priests go.
Xochiquetzal: There have been enough human priests who worshipped Tezcatlipoca.  I really would rather not take the chance...
Spirit of Pain: Oh, Xochi, don't be so dramatic. Have a piece.
Xochiquetzal: No thank you.  No drama intended.
Spirit of Pain: Trust me, hon. I can tell you what happens to evil priests. Mainly because, before taking human form, I spent thousands of years torturing and destroying their souls...
Xochiquetzal: Medika said something like that about Ahau Horn, Spirit.  Did you know him?
Spirit of Pain: Don't think so.
Xochiquetzal: Interesting. The dimension for tortured souls must be an interesting place.  I should recommend it to some younger student back home for study -- when I get home....
Spirit of Pain: Well, the part where I came from...yeah, it was pretty big.

Spirit of Pain: Hey, you two, as much as I'd like to hang out longer, I do need to make sure that Ban gets some sleep. You two gonna hang out awhile?
DEVIL Angel 2: Probably  Pro went home tonight so I have no reason to go home yet.
Xochiquetzal: I am ‘at loose ends’ ... unless I wish to go home and let Nin go on patrol.
Spirit of Pain: Okies. Well, I may be able to sneak back out, later.
DEVIL Angel 2: It was good to see ya, Spirit.
Exit Spirit of Pain.

There is a shimmer unnoticed in the air nearby.
DEVIL Angel 2: So how’s it going with Joe, Xochi?
Xochiquetzal: I enjoy the time I spend with Joe so much that I wonder if it is affecting my ability to observe objectively.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
DEVIL Angel 2: Men have that effect on us sometimes.
Xochiquetzal: <seriously> They should not on me...  I am of Technoctitlan.
Rush 2.0: I'm guessing that you're both falling in love, but that's only a guess.

DEVIL Angel 2: Blur!
Rush 2.0: What's wrong, Angel?
Rush 2.0 shakes head.
DEVIL Angel 2: What's wrong?!
Rush 2.0: Tsk tsk tsk.
He shakes his head at the smaller woman and turns to the tall one.
Rush 2.0: Hello, Xochi.
Xochiquetzal: <earnestly> There are records of humans and those of Technoctitlan falling in love...  It is -- costly.
DEVIL Angel 2: You are intimidating, Blur!
Xochiquetzal: By what basis is he so, Angel?   I am not sure why I am intimidating.  It is a facet of human psyche that needs study.
Rush 2.0: Oh, Angel just thinks that I'm a cruel and sadistic gloryhound.
Xochiquetzal: Are you?
Rush 2.0: No.
Xochiquetzal takes out the PDA again.
Xochiquetzal: Then why give that impression?
Rush 2.0: I didn't know I did.

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically to Blur: Bastard!

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically to Xochiquetzal: is what he did to me and Medika a "kind thing"?

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically to Blur:  I trusted you once.

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically to Blur: More’s the pity.

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically to Blur: I am not getting any closer to you than I have to.

Rush 2.0: Xochi, take a look at my face...
Xochiquetzal: Yes?
Rush 2.0 instantly changes into more suitable clothing.
Xochiquetzal: <with certainty>You are the human male known as Eric Lawson.
Rush 2.0: Yeah. Pretty much.
DEVIL Angel 2: No, he's not; he used to be.
Rush 2.0: Just not the Eric you know. What would you guess my age as being?
Xochiquetzal: How should I know? What would you guess my age at?
Rush 2.0 closes eyes and concentrates.

[She was a young woman when the conquistadores enter Mexico. Her birthday was probably in 1500 by human time. In this incarnation.]

Xochiquetzal: A spiral of repeating events...
Rush 2.0: So, Xochi, how old do you think me?
Xochiquetzal: I cannot guess.  You are human.  You are, I think, older than Joe.
DEVIL Angel 2: <spits> Not old enough! You’re not dead yet.
Rush 2.0: Take a guess, Xochi.
Xochiquetzal: Angel, is that an appropriate expression?
Rush 2.0: Angel! Such harshness! It's not like I've ever done anything to harm you.
DEVIL Angel 2: For one such as he ....not harsh enough! <turns to Blur> OH! Only you would see it like that.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs bitterly.
Xochiquetzal: But Medika informed us that you had not been harmed by the Blur Incident, Angel.  Was she in error?
DEVIL Angel 2: He tried to give me a thousand years of pain.
Rush 2.0: From what I understand, Angel, you don't remember anything other than what you've been told.
Xochiquetzal: She said that Ban and Horn managed to safeguard you.
DEVIL Angel 2: The only reason I was not "harmed" was because Ban and Horn showed up and helped Med.

Rush 2.0: And, as I've said before...I never knew that Scot to be so damn evil.
DEVIL Angel 2: Lucky for me he is.
Xochiquetzal: A thousand years of pain.  <softly> Tezcatlipoca has wished that on me as well.
DEVIL Angel 2: ME !! an empath !! He did give it to me, but they took it from me.
Rush 2.0: Angel?
DEVIL Angel 2: At great cost to themselves. And they didn’t know if my mind would survive.
Xochiquetzal: Medika is still worried about Bansidhe.  And Nin is rather worried still about Medika.
Rush 2.0: Ad...excuse me, Ban is still investigating what I had intended.

Rush 2.0: Oh, I'd have never put you so in harm's way, darlin.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs a bit hysterically.
DEVIL Angel 2: Really?
Rush 2.0: Really what, Angel?
DEVIL Angel 2: You Fuck !! You could have just told us what you wanted and why. Instead you had to manipulate us because you could.
Rush 2.0: You still don't get it, do you? I was doing exactly the same thing you were, save that I had better results.
DEVIL Angel 2: Get what? That you think we are too stupid to understand your superior self?
Rush 2.0: I am by no means superior.
DEVIL Angel 2: <coldly> That is so true.

Rush 2.0: Well, except in that the speed force chose me as an avatar, perhaps. Of course, I shouldn't have expected different from my own son.
Xochiquetzal: The speed force is your son?
Rush 2.0: In a way, yes.
Xochiquetzal scribbles furiously.
Xochiquetzal: "In a way".  Is that not a human form of temporizing?  What do you mean?
Rush 2.0: You see, Carolly and I had a child, after I ripped Rush through time. My son had such inherent speed that he would never have been able to survive this world. I did the only thing a father could do. I rescued him before the danger presented itself.
The only place that I knew he would be safe was within the speed force.
The speed force, before that, was nothing more than a sum total the kinetic energy created by all speedsters and, in a sense, where speedsters find their Valhalla.
Xochiquetzal: Now Valhalla has an ego?
Rush 2.0: Not before my son, Xochi. Of course, if you speak of an ego as in terms of a consciousness, yes, it does now.
Xochiquetzal: I understood that "ego" meant "consciousness".
Rush 2.0: Correct. You understand. Can you reason out the problem with my son now?

Xochiquetzal: Carolly.  Lady Blur.  So... the child of two speedsters could not survive the material world.  Interesting.
Rush 2.0: Carolly was not a speedster. She was a normal human.
Xochiquetzal: Actually, I thought that the child was born after Blur took Rush away; therefore Carolly was a speedster, that being Blurs last gift to her.
Rush 2.0: Carolly was not a speedster during the entire gestation period.
Xochiquetzal: True. When the child was conceived the mother was not a speedster. Given that the acquisition of the mother's speed was magical, it seems logical that the child may have been affected by magic as well. <thoughtfully> Magic and mutagen together...
Rush 2.0: Exactly. My son grew up inside the speed force. The speed force itself is completely outside of normal time and space. My son knew nothing other than speed.

A return visit to the now-seated figures.
Jack Ironbear: What’s this...ya'll geten soft.?
DEVIL Angel 2: Hey Jack
Jack Ironbear: Hey girl  <smiles>
DEVIL Angel 2: <gesturing towards Blur> This "man" hurts women.
Xochiquetzal: Greetings, again.
Jack Ironbear: Rush must be one'o them sensitive folk right, kinda guy who understands yer needs.  <smiles>
Xochiquetzal lifts one eyebrow.
Xochiquetzal: That is not Angel's implication, I am certain.
DEVIL Angel 2: Only if giving them 1000 yeas of Pain is an understanding.
Jack Ironbear: ‘Sup there, Rush... nice ta meet ya brother.
Rush 2.0: Hello, Ironbear.
Jack Ironbear: Ya must be loven it up here, fresh air, great view, and good company <smiles>
Angel again tries to slip away. Rush 2.0 motions Angel back and manipulates her kinetic energy.
Rush 2.0: Native American?
Jack Ironbear: Yup, Native American and African American.
Rush 2.0: Please sit, Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2: Oh, I am really beginning to hate you -- you bastard.
Xochiquetzal mutters, "Fascinating," watching the interplay between the three others.
Jack Ironbear: Well, I'm just pass'en thorough here, folks, don't mind me...carry on <smiles>
Rush 2.0: Take care, Ironbear.
Jack Ironbear tips his hat.
DEVIL Angel 2: If you’re not going to help, then just leave.
Jack Ironbear: Ya'll have yerselves a real nice night now.
DEVIL Angel 2: <mutters>  Fucking no good men.
Xochiquetzal: Blur, why is it that you chose to force Angel's movements?
Rush 2.0: Because she's far too untrusting of me and needs to understand that I'm here to help.
Jack Ironbear: Hell.. if I pass through this way, I'll stop an say hello.
DEVIL Angel 2: Don’t bother!

Rush 2.0: Angel?
Xochiquetzal: Force is rarely indicative of good intentions, save, perhaps, as parent to child or jailer to miscreant.
DEVIL Angel 2: The last time I trusted you -- you used me.
Rush 2.0: Do you not use your powers? To do good, that is.
DEVIL Angel 2: Of course, I do; but you have nothing to do with that. I did it before you.
Xochiquetzal: The force we use as "super heroes" -- as Medika calls us -- is in the category of jailor to miscreant.
Rush 2.0: Wow, Xochi.

Rush 2.0: You really do have a lot to learn, darlin.
Rush 2.0 holds his hand out to Angel.
Rush 2.0: Angel?
DEVIL Angel 2 tries to bite it. Rush 2.0 chuckles.
DEVIL Angel 2: Get away from me.
Rush 2.0: You do know I could force you.
DEVIL Angel 2 is shaking with anger.
DEVIL Angel 2: One day.......If I ever get the chance ....
Rush 2.0: Xochi, please sit down with us. I'm getting a crick in my neck.
Rush 2.0 grins.
Xochiquetzal: Ah, my apologies.  I tend to forget how short humans are.
Rush 2.0 laughs.
Rush 2.0: Angel?
DEVIL Angel 2: <mutters>  What?
Rush 2.0: Take my hand, please?
DEVIL Angel 2: <through gritted teeth> No.
Rush 2.0: Why not?
Xochiquetzal: Once burned, twice shy?
DEVIL Angel 2: Thank you, Xochi.
Rush 2.0: Oh, I'm going to let her experience the truth of what happened the last time, just without any of the drama of it.
DEVIL Angel 2: OH HELL NO !!
Rush 2.0: You know I can force you, don't you?
DEVIL Angel 2: I don't want a other thousand years, thank you! You will have to force me, ‘cause I went to you willingly the last time.

Rush 2.0: Xochi?
Xochiquetzal: Yes?
Rush 2.0: Would you dial Ningal's number, please, and let Angel talk to her?
Xochiquetzal: If you think Ningal can help, I will do so.
Rush 2.0 manipulates the kinetic energies around Angel.
Rush 2.0: Please do so.
Rush 2.0 holds his hand out to Angel. Xochiquetzal switches PDA for communicator. DEVIL Angel 2 takes his hand, gritting her teeth as she does so.
Rush 2.0: See? Does that hurt?
DEVIL Angel 2: Not yet.
Rush 2.0: Oh, relax!
Xochiquetzal: <over the phone> **Greetings, Hail.  May I listen to Ningal upon this line, please?**
Rush 2.0: You keep gritting your teeth like that and you're going to kill your dental work.
DEVIL Angel 2: I can afford caps
Rush 2.0 chuckles
Hail:  **Sure Xochi.  Just a minute.**
Rush 2.0: Angel, why do you not trust me?
DEVIL Angel 2: OH GOD help me !!! Why should I?
Xochiquetzal: **Ahau Ningal, Blur would like you to speak with Angel if you would.**
Rush 2.0: Because I'd never do anything to truly harm you?
Rush 2.0: Hey, Xochi...lemme speak to her a sec?
Ningal:  **OK, Xochi.  Where can I find her?**
DEVIL Angel 2: You have already proved otherwise.
Rush 2.0: Have I, Angel?
Xochiquetzal: **On this rooftop.  One moment please.**
Rush 2.0 holds his other hand out for the phone. Xochiquetzal hands com unit to Blur.
Rush 2.0: Thanks, darlin.
Rush 2.0: **Hi, Nin.**
Ningal: **Hello.**
DEVIL Angel 2: I barely leave my home ‘cause it’s the only place you can’t come, and Ban is .....welll not the same, and Med is not Med anymore. And you ask if you've already proved it?
Rush 2.0: **It's Eric...future tense.**
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs a bit hysterically.
Ningal: **Ah.  What's up?**
Rush 2.0: **Angel doesn't believe she can trust me to be honest and I know she trusts you. Would you mind letting her know?**
Xochiquetzal pats Angel a bit awkwardly on the shoulder.
Ningal:  **I can't touch her through the phone.  And if Shock didn't convince her, why should I do better.  Shock didn't believe me until Horn did.**
Rush 2.0: **Ah, Shock is still skeptical, but the fact is that the team needs to get it through their heads - I'm here to help.**
Ningal:  **Besides, Blur, most heroes don't believe that the end justifies the means.  Most of the time, I don't believe it.**
Rush 2.0: **I didn't say it always does. Just sometimes.**
Ningal:  **Well, yes.  That's true.  <pause>  It might help if you'd apologize, you know.**
Rush 2.0: **But anyway... would you mind talking to Angel? If all else fails, mind if I drag you outta the house, so to speak?**
Rush 2.0 releases Angel's hand.
Ningal:  **Happy to talk to her.   Any way.  But the rough way. <there's a smile in her voice>**
DEVIL Angel 2 wipes her hand on her pants.
Rush 2.0: <to Angel> There. Now, did that hurt?
Rush 2.0: **<chuckles> Thanks, Nin.**
DEVIL Angel 2 still wipes her hand on her pants. Rush 2.0 passes Angel the phone; she does not take it. DEVIL Angel 2 starts humming.
Rush 2.0: Nice song. Ban taught you that one.
DEVIL Angel 2 starts rocking. Rush 2.0 manipulates the kinetic energies around Angel to take the phone and put it to her ear.

Ningal:  **Hello?  Hello?  That you, Angel?**
DEVIL Angel 2 continues humming and rocking.
Ningal: **Angel, please be a reasonable person and talk to me?**
Rush 2.0: So, anyway, Xochi, as I was explaining...
Xochiquetzal: Yes?
Rush 2.0: My son grew up in the speed force. Most speedsters are merely absorbed into its energies, once they feel they've completed their lives.
DEVIL Angel 2 continues humming and rocking with the phone at her ear.
Ningal:  **Angel?**
Xochiquetzal: My understanding of your concepts of time is still fuzzy, but would a child of you and Carolly have reached maturity by now?
Rush 2.0: Over the years, I began realizing that my son wasn't aging normally. At times, he'd appear as a full grown adult...then sometimes as a young child...and still other times as an old man. I knew the speed force was a mysterious place, so I never questioned it.

Ningal still hears the humming.
Ningal:  **Angel, isn't this being a little childish?  More than a little?**
DEVIL Angel 2 does not respond.
Ningal:  **I can't hurt you.  I don't want to hurt you.  And you needn't believe me.  But a grown super hero ought to have an open mind.**

Rush 2.0: Not until after I turned 3000 did I realize the truth - the speed force exists so outside of time that there are no boundaries with it. My son was virtually omnipresent within the speed force.
Xochiquetzal: Ah.  As my grandparents are omnipresent within time in my home dimension....
Rush 2.0: One day, I decided to enter and visit my son. It was then that I realized my actions had joined my son with an energy force that had no conscious mind...until my son became a part of it.
Only by the lives of other speedsters, both good and evil, did my son learn and mature.
Xochiquetzal: I see.
Rush 2.0: The only part that I didn't realize, until about two centuries ago, was that pulling my son into the force merged him with something primal and timeless, virtually turning my son into a deity.
Xochiquetzal: Will your son return to this world?  Amongst my people, the cycles include our self-sacrifice and rebirth.  We often do not remember who we were for -- I believe the term is "centuries"

Rush 2.0 looks at Angel who is still humming and rocking.
Rush 2.0: You know, darlin’, as much as I like that song, Nin is gonna get worried and fly out here if you don't start talking to her.
DEVIL Angel 2 doesn’t respond.
Ningal:  **Angel, I haven't the ear for staying hooked to a phone for an hour.  Will you talk to me?**

Rush 2.0: No, Xochi. My son is different now. He has matured and accepted the responsibility of the power that was thrust upon him.
Xochiquetzal: Oh, we have powers in each reiteration too... But they change, often.  Or so I was told.  I'm still too young to remember who I was before.
DEVIL Angel 2: hums. Rush 2.0 grumbles.
Rush 2.0: Angel, I swear, if you don't talk to her, I'm going to introduce you to the Ningal that exists 4000 years from now! She's a lot less patient.
Xochiquetzal: At any rate <looking at Angel> this does not seem to be accomplishing much.
Rush 2.0 looks back to Xochi.
Rush 2.0: Oh. Kinda like reincarnation?
Xochiquetzal: Perhaps.  Although we do not die, per se.  Not unless -- <looks uncomfortable>
Rush 2.0 looks back toward Angel.
Rush 2.0: Ah, shit. Stupid, stubborn child!
Rush 2.0 grabs the phone.
Xochiquetzal: I think I'll go tell Ningal she should come here in person.  Excuse me, ahau.
The vert anthropologist bows and flies off.

Rush 2.0: **Nin, put Medika on the line! NOW!**
Nin:  **Yes sir!** 
A minute later the phone picks up again.
Rush 2.0: **Med?**
Ningal:  **Um, Blur.  Hail says Med's on a mission. Maybe you can tap into her com?**
Rush 2.0: **I don't give a rat's ass. Angel forced her own mind into a comatose state! I need Med.**
His voice suddenly changes.
Rush 2.0: **Wait a minute. What the hell am I thinking? I can rip her through time and space. Though, it might be a bit disconcerting to her... Thanks, Nin!**
He hangs up the communicator. On the other end, Ningal stares at the device in her hand as though it is about to bite.

06-29-2005 01:35:07 Rush 2.0 pulls Medika through a temporal spatial rupture.
Rush 2.0: Hi, Sable. Sorry about that.
Medika: Woof! Hey!
She sees the seated DEVIL Angel 2, rocking and humming.
Medika: I was supposed to be ready for something! But I didn't think that was it!
Rush 2.0: I didn't do that to her. She did it to herself. Stubborn ass child.
Medika: Not good.
Rush 2.0: By the way, Sable...
Medika: Rush, what happened? And is Carolly back too?
Rush 2.0: Ah, yeah. Just call me Eric, darlin’. Like I've said, I haven't gone by Rush for centuries.
Medika: Shoot. Oh, dear no. Blur!
Rush 2.0: Yes.
Medika: <jaw tightening> You just bring trouble, whether you want to or not.
Rush 2.0: Now, stubborn girl here put herself in a comatose state. I didn't do it, either.
Medika kneels down and puts her arms around Angel. DEVIL Angel 2 stops rocking but is still humming.
Medika: I don't want to go into anyone's mind without their permission, Blur. So... why don't you tell me exactly what you said or did?
Rush 2.0: What? You want me to take you to talk to a future version of Angel and get permission?
Medika: No. I want you to tell me what I asked.
Rush 2.0: Ah, well, I wouldn't let her run away, so I kept manipulating the kinetic energies around her. She kept saying such mean things, too, and all I was here to do was to talk.
Medika: You are unspeakably manipulative! <as angry as anyone has heard her> No one wants to be a puppet, Blur!
Rush 2.0: Easy, Sable! I was here to talk and explain a few things.
Medika: Then apologize and see if she will listen! You just make things worse! Was what Ban and Horn went through in vain -- just because you can't see that people don't like to be puppets?
Rush 2.0: Apologize for what? Saving lives?
Medika: No! Saving lives is commendable! But using people is not!
Rush 2.0: Then get it through your thick skull, Sable! No matter how your dad treated you, no matter the things he said, no matter how he condemned you - YOU ARE A HERO, NOW!

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically: Med?
Medika, speaking telepathically: Darling Angel. Yes, I'm here.
DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically: Oh great!! Come and play!!

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically: Come play, Med!! I got a new doll.

Medika, speaking telepathically: Angel, Angel, I've work to do. And I need you to help me. I"m very sorry.

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically: Oh darn! And I really wanted you to play with me. It’s ok. I'll just call Shock; she'll come play with me.

Rush 2.0: Do you hurt people, Sable?
Medika: And we can leave my father out of this! <blinking away tears>
Rush 2.0: Do you cause pain and suffering?
Medika: <crying> Yes! Yes, I do!
Rush 2.0 gets in her face and screams; Medika looks away.
Rush 2.0: NO! YOU DO NOT! YOU AND ONLY YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SAVING ME AND CAROLLY!!!

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically: Med? What’s wrong? You can come back and play another time; it’s ok.
Medika, speaking telepathically: Sweetie, give me a hug, please. I need you.

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically: I can’t move "outside," Med. But if you come in, I can.
Medika, speaking telepathically: Dear Angel, I shouldn't come in. It's your place. But I need you, out here. Please.

DEVIL Angel 2, speaking telepathically: Med? What’s wrong?

Rush 2.0: You could've moved at anytime, darlin'.
DEVIL Angel 2: Oh, like I wasn’t trying?
Rush 2.0: No. You weren't. You forced yourself into a comatose state.
Medika wipes away the tears that had formed.
DEVIL Angel 2: Only because you wouldn't let me go. Pig.
Medika hugs Angel who returns the hug.
Rush 2.0: Angel? I never kept control of the kinetic energies, Angel.

Rush 2.0: Now, Angel, are you ever going to answer me or should I just go ahead and kill Rush and Lady Blur, to keep them from ending up in Tyrant's hands?
DEVIL Angel 2: If they die, so do you. So you won’t do that.
Rush 2.0: Really?
Medika faces Angel and puts her hands on her shoulders, her face pale.
Medika: Angel. I've heard enough from Nin and -- and others. Blur would kill himself if it would save the worlds.
DEVIL Angel 2: So?
Medika: Shoot! Angel. Look at me! I would kill myself if I thought it would save the world. And I don’t BELIEVE in killing!
Another Eric Lawson appears to each side of Blur, all three looking slightly different from one another.
Rush 2.0: <in unison> My son will see to it that there is always a Rush or Blur. It just might not be me, Angel.
Medika: Isn't it better to try to fix the problem then to commit suicide? Let's help not hinder.
DEVIL Angel 2: Eric is the original, if he dies now then they won’t exist.
Rush 2.1: Who won't exist?
Rush 2.0: Won't I?
Rush 2.2: You really have no concept of the dimensions, do you, Angel?

Medika: But then Tyrant gets Carolly. Is that any better? Or Carolly will have died back in the first Rikti invasion because some version of Blur did not save her. You'd never have known her!
DEVIL Angel 2: He just said that they both die.
Rush 2.0: No, Angel. I said Tyrant uses her and I as batteries - for unspeakable power. You fucking idiot!
DEVIL Angel 2: I am tired of this. WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Medika: Angel, is the current Rush -- Eric Lawson -- so despicable that you'd sacrifice all the good he can do... for what?
Medika turns back to Blur. The other two Eric Lawsons fade.
DEVIL Angel 2: Let me see? Ummm, the ends justify the means? Haven’t I heard that some where before?
Medika: <to Blur> What do you think we should do?
Rush 2.0: What do I want? You really wanna know what I want?
Medika: <trying to forestall rash action> I want you not to lose your temper.
DEVIL Angel 2: <sarcastically> No, no, silly me. Please lie to us and deceive us some more.
Rush 2.0 stares at Medika.
Rush 2.0: It's way beyond that.
Medika looks at Angel.
Medika: And I want you to be civil, Angel.

Rush 2.0 grabs the two of them by the arm.
DEVIL Angel 2: See, here he goes again! Told you so.
Rush 2.0: You both wanna be so fuckin stupid and stubborn - fine! Come with me!
Medika: <trying still to rescue the situation>And I want us to learn to work together for good!
06-29-2005 02:06:47 Rush 2.0 pulls them into the time stream.

06-29-2005 02:23:06
A rip opens up in time and space and the three step out onto the roof top from which they had left. All are dressed in the styles they’d individually adopted in the future; the women both show they very slight signs of having aged 3 years. DEVIL Angel 2 is visibly shaken. Rush 2.0 growls.
Rush 2.0: I didn't wanna do that.
Rush 2.0 chokes back a sob.
Rush 2.0: That...Angel...that is what I'm trying to prevent.
Medika: Blur, we tried to prevent it then – for, what? Three years. Now -- what can we do to prevent even that?
Rush 2.0: We try to prevent the Rikti homeworld from being contacted.

DEVIL Angel 2: <in shock> So that’s what happens because we didn’t help you in the past?
Rush 2.0: <screams> ARCHANGEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Medika puts her arms around Blur.
Medika: I understand now that, even if you ripped all the heroes of now into the future, it is useless. We have to make sure that future is dammed up and never flows.
Medika looks at Angel.
Medika: Angel, we will do whatever it takes to make that dam.
Rush 2.0 cries uncontrollably.
Medika: The future has to flow in a completely different direction than that we have lived through. Something really radical has to be done...
DEVIL Angel 2 kneels beside Blur and hugs him.
DEVIL Angel 2: What can we do?
Rush 2.0 wipes away the tears.
Rush 2.0: D-d-do you see why I'm so "manipulative," now?
Medika: Eric, I know you don't know anything but that sort of future. I fought in that future; I'll fight now. We aren't your enemies and you don't have to manipulate us.
DEVIL Angel 2 stands up and slaps Blur.
DEVIL Angel 2: You bastard!
Medika: Angel!
Rush 2.0 glares at Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2: Did you think making us live through that would really help?
Medika: <frantically>Angel! Haven't we seen enough horror? Don't you want to help?
DEVIL Angel 2: <hysteria rising> Did you think that more pain would help?
Medika: <pleading> We fought and ran and hid and fought again, together! Angel, no!
DEVIL Angel 2 jumps on Blur and starts hitting him.

DEVIL Angel 2: Take us back!!!
Rush 2.0: To what, Angel?
Medika grabs Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2: To help!!!
Medika: <mentally and verbally> Angel, Angel, stop please.
Rush 2.0: To help what?
DEVIL Angel 2: Help what? The people!! My son!! Take us back!
Medika: <tears flowing> It's over, Angel. Did your mind not hear the world dying?
Rush 2.0 sobs.
Rush 2.0: <words coming in sobbing gasps>You don't understand, do you? We won, Angel.
Medika: This is what Blur tried to make us understand so long ago.
DEVIL Angel 2: <still insane with grief> That you took us when we were needed the most?
Rush 2.0: At the cost of every life on this planet...but we won. The Nyorn are dead.
DEVIL Angel 2 stares, tears streaming down her face. Medika looks at Blur.
DEVIL Angel 2: And so is everyone else, so who cares?
Medika: The cost, though. Is there nothing we can do to ameliorate such a horrific cost?
DEVIL Angel 2: Who really won?
Medika: Angel, <choke> we saved all those other worlds from the Nyorn.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs bitterly.
DEVIL Angel 2: Sure we did!
Medika: But we've got to do better.
Rush 2.0: There are still humans alive, Sable. There are still heroes alive. Just not on earth.
Medika: We have the years until then... to either save more of humanity -- or block the Nyorns forever!
DEVIL Angel 2: Why bother?
Medika: Why bother?
Rush 2.0: If I had that attitude, Angel, I wouldn't be here right now.
Medika: Angel! If we could prevent even one of the deaths we've seen these last 3 years...!
DEVIL Angel 2: If nothing’s left of earth, then, yeah, why bother?
Medika: We start now, Angel... and we save more. That's what Blur was doing. Now we'll do it too.
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
DEVIL Angel 2: You are still so idealistic, Med. Good for you.
Medika: Am I, Angel? <softly> I learned to kill in these past three years.
DEVIL Angel 2: Yes, you are still a dreamer, if you think that we will make a difference. You saw what happened. We were there and couldn’t help.
Medika: We did help! I will make a difference, Angel!
DEVIL Angel 2: Great! So you can kill now. Congratulations, Med.
Medika: <reprovingly> It's nothing to be congratulated for. Angel, you know that.
DEVIL Angel 2: Oh, I know, Med. I never had that problem.
Medika: Well... I don't know whether I'll fit better into the "now" then I did three years ago... but there's work to do. I’ve no doubt.

Rush 2.0: Angel?
Medika: Well... I don't know whether I'll fit better into the "now" then I did three years ago... but there's work to do. I’ve no doubt. Will people even remember us?
DEVIL Angel 2: Who cares?
Medika: <gently> Your sisters, Angel. They're still alive in the here and now. DEVIL Angel 2: We aren’t dead, so of course they will remember us. And maybe they will live longer this time as well.
Medika: When is "now,” Blur? How long have we been gone?
Rush 2.0: We're back in your present...about twenty minutes after we left.
Medika: <with relief> It was possible that we were gone for 3 years. Family can have one legally declared dead after 3 years in some places.

Rush 2.0: Angel?
Rush 2.0: You used to see me...and still may...as a cold, calculating, manipulative bastard...but if I'm so cold, why am I trying to prevent that from happening? Angel, I'll be the first to admit, I am manipulative...but I'm trying to prevent all of that from happening. I want everyone to survive!
Medika: We know the future can be changed. We just have to change it big time!
DEVIL Angel 2: I just want to give my son a better chance... and not blow up the world this time.
Rush 2.0: Angel?
.DEVIL Angel 2: <tiredly>Yes Blur.
Rush 2.0: Remember when Rush arrived? That was after our first big fight. He arrived there from 2000.
DEVIL Angel 2: Who cares?
Rush 2.0: Who cares? Who cares?!?!?! Think back, Angel! Remember how Eric paired up with your son! Remember how I guided him! Remember how I loved him like a brother!
Rush 2.0 turns to Medika.
Medika: I remember, Blur. <softly> I never had as much to lose as Angel did... no close family .. no lover...
Rush 2.0: Angel? Sable?
Medika: Eric?
DEVIL Angel 2: Yes?
Rush 2.0: The one thing Carolly and I've never told anyone...
Medika: What, Blur?
Rush 2.0: No matter what...I will remember everything.
Medika: Will we? If we change things, will we remember that future? I don't want to forget!
Rush 2.0: You see, I've managed to change other events... and I always remember what happened, in both sets of the timeline.
Medika: Why is he telling us he will remember?
Rush 2.0: And, because you've experienced it, so will you.
Medika: But you can't show everyone in the world the future. Adults are supposed to learn from the stories other adults tell....
DEVIL Angel 2: My son was no story.
Medika: But Angel, you saw the other Angel and she was the one who had experienced childbirth, not you.
DEVIL Angel 2: I got to know him – to love him. He will be, IS, my son!
Medika: Angel, during the 3 years, didn’t we have to think of our older selves as other people who were a heck of a lot like us? I saw my older self sacrifice herself for Archangel, Rush, and me -- as well as others. But I didn’t die. That hasn’t happened yet.
And didn’t older selves criticize us? Mine sure did! I couldn’t help think of them as "other" even though I KNEW they were our future.

Discussion of Med’s Armor:
Medika: Med will probably resume her original costume eventually.
Medika: I went armored because of war.
Didn't like the armored gloves though, so decided to keep hands free for healing. Surgical instruments double as hair pins. Can be used as weapons in a pinch
Original boots held up
But the cape tattered and is very thin
The decorative belt was replaced with a utility belt for medicines, poisons, and supplies
If the skirt could have been metallic, I'd've stuck with the original tunic look. As it was, I went streamlined.
I painted the armor with "my" colours -- and the cross is always the symbol of a healer -- even in war.
06-29-2005 04:38:11 [Team]Medika: "Dark Medika."

06-29-2005 04:57:33 Blur vanished as is his wont. Bansidhe joins the team on the rooftop in Talos overlooking the tram station. He wears the death mask he wore in Angel’s mind in the Blur Incident. The women, of course, wear their Freedom Fighters armor.
Medika: Despite what Blur said, I have trouble thinking that my old room mates won't have wondered where we went.
DEVIL Angel 2: It’s a time thing, Med. I wouldn’t sweat it.
Medika: And people here live such safe lives...
Bansidhe: <looking at the two women, amazement in his voice> What the...?
Medika: Hello Bansidhe.
DEVIL Angel 2: Oh 'lo Ban.
Bansidhe: M-Med? A-Angel?
Medika: Has -- has something happened, Ban?
DEVIL Angel 2: Yes, Sir.
Bansidhe: What the hell happened to you two?
DEVIL Angel 2: We could ask the same of you.
Bansidhe coughs.
Medika: Uh... can I first ask why you look so?
Bansidhe: Oh...ah...
DEVIL Angel 2: However Blur happened to us. Again.
Bansidhe: Blur happened to you? What'd he do this time?
Medika: And you last wore that face when -- Blur happened...
DEVIL Angel 2: 3 yrs of the future.
Medika: He -- it's a long story, Ban.
Bansidhe: Let's not focus on me, Med. What did Blur do?
Medika: Blur let us see what it is we have to prevent.
Bansidhe: And what's that?
Medika: Your appearance -- makes me wonder if he shouldn't have done it sooner.
DEVIL Angel 2: Future annihilation by my son.
Medika: War, famine, pestilence, and total annihilation. Just as he told us.
Bansidhe: Angel's son? What is he? Some big, bad archvillain?
DEVIL Angel 2: Yes, it would seem I'm going to have one and he destroys the world. But, no, he was a good guy.
Medika: We went into the future, Ban. Spent three years there. And Archangel was a great hero. It was necessary. But -- we NOW have to find a way to prevent the necessity of his destroying the world. If the future flows unchecked, it will still happen.
Bansidhe: Okay, you two, you don't have to tell me the truth. Just don't inhale the next time you two raid a superadine lab.
Medika: <feeling a little like Blur must have> Ban, will you let me open that pathway to my mind that I opened -- oh so long ago to you?
Bansidhe: O' course. I trust ye.
Medika: If you trust me, you need not walk the mind path.

DEVIL Angel 2: Ban, after the 2nd Rikti invasion the Nylorn come and then Archangel blows up the world.
Bansidhe: Blows up the world? Second Rikti invasion? Nyorn?
Medika: Blur told it all to us the first time, but we didn't listen well.
DEVIL Angel 2: Actully he did a psychic nova and killed every living thing on earth.
Bansidhe: Oh, I trust ye. I'm gonna recommend both o' ye for detox, but I trust ye.
Medika: <passionately>The Rikti will invade and subjugate this world. We will fight... and eventually, we are "saved" by the Nyorn. The Nyorn wipe out the Rikti and then start on humans. For food.
DEVIL Angel 2: Till they decide to slaughter us.

Bansidhe: Med, you've got the equipment for the accidental exposure detox, right?
DEVIL Angel 2 sighs.
Medika: Yes, Ban. At least I use to have it in my office.
DEVIL Angel 2: Just show him, Medika.
Bansidhe: Okay. I'll escort both of you.
Medika: Angel, I will not do to him what Blur did originally.
DEVIL Angel 2: Do you want to know Ban ...really know?
Medika: <reminded of Blur> Angel... that's an echo from the past. Ban -- knows -- a lot already.
DEVIL Angel 2: If you don’t show him, I will.
Medika: No. I will do it. Ban?
Bansidhe: Angel, three years ago, I'd have offered you two top dollar for whatever drug you've been exposed to.
Medika: I have the earlier link. I only want .. I want us not to have to "show" every hero on earth.
DEVIL Angel 2: If anyone can convince the others it will be Bansidhe.
Medika: <moving easily in her armor> I'd rather take him in combat than show him what we've seen.
DEVIL Angel 2: Just do it, for goodness sake!
Medika puts out her hand to Ban.
Bansidhe: Me convince others? Me? The ex-supervillain?
Bansidhe takes Med's hand.
DEVIL Angel 2: You are not our Leader for nothing.
Medika: <softly> If you won't believe us without seeing, how will we ever convince the world?
Bansidhe: Alright, Med, show me what you've seen.

Med opens her mind to Bansidhe, narrowing the access to just the final few minutes.... Relative minutes ago, her psychic powers had caught the death throes of all life... Nyorn and others...

Medika, speaking telepathically in Ban's mind: Is that enough? Or would you see more?

Bansidhe: <a wicked smile plays across the lips of his psychic projection> And tell me, Sable...did it feel good to kill?
Medika, speaking telepathically: No, Adrian. It will never feel good. I may never feel good. But it was necessary.
Bansidhe: Oh, come now, lass, you can admit it - the blood looked sweet, didn't it?
Bansidhe: Once you open the path, my young lady, you open it for me to come in. Mmmmm. I like hearing you call me Adrian.
Medika: You had all my mind open before you once.
Bansidhe: Why don't you come back to the apartment with me, Sable? Spirit and I would love to have you.
Medika: <softly> No, Ban. You don't feel that way about me.

Bansidhe: The killing…. You took some satisfaction in it, didn't you?
Medika: I -- did-- my -- job.
Bansidhe: Oh, admit it, lass, it's seductive. It's addictive...
Medika: <steadily> And I will do my job until the end.
Bansidhe: To watch that last twinkle of life fade from your enemy's eyes...and know that you were a god to them - the harbinger of their death.
Medika: <sadly> I have been death, yes.
Medika: <with dawning suspicion> What have you done, Adrian?
Bansidhe: Me? Nothing.Yet.
Medika: What brings these thoughts to mind?
Bansidhe: Just an acknowledging the animal nature within.
Medika: The one thing that we are trying to preserve is allowing MOST people to not have to think such thoughts.
Bansidhe: It is, nevertheless, still what were are, Sable.

Medika: <sends a thought to Angel> Ban is in a bloodthirsty mood. Will you join me on this link.

DEVIL Angel 2, telepathically: Did you see enough, Ban?

Medika, telepathically to Angel: This is not the leader I wish to follow, Angel.
Bansidhe: Oh, yes. Oh, glorious yes!
DEVIL Angel 2: Ban!!! STOP!
Bansidhe: Stop what?
DEVIL Angel 2: Close the link, Med! Now!
Bansidhe: She can't. We're too closely tied.
Medika: <calmly> If I die here, Angel, make sure our work goes on.

Bansidhe: You're not going to die, young Sable.
DEVIL Angel 2: Leave her alone, Ban! What do you want to know?
Bansidhe: I want her to admit something.
Medika: You threaten me with fire and I can taste blood in your mind -- why hold me so if you do not wish to kill me?
Bansidhe: Because I want you to admit something, lass.
Medika: What? That I can kill?
DEVIL Angel 2: No, Med; that you enjoyed it.
Bansidhe: Not just that you can kill. That the killing...the darkness...was something you found, how shall we say, pleasurable? And one other thing...
Medika: He cannot make me admit something that is not true.
Bansidhe: That you've looked upon me with lust in your heart, bonnie Sable.
DEVIL Angel 2: What woman with sense hasn’t, Ban?
Medika: <with resignation> I have lusted for you, Bansidhe. But I have never acted upon such a thought nor have I yet bedded anyone.

Bansidhe: I'm sorry for what you two went through.
Medika: <wearily> You have had your tests. Now I think I want to find an island and spend some time alone. For a long time.
Bansidhe: Sorry, Med. Like I said, Blur told me...less than an hour ago, actually, that I needed to test ye. And, Angel?
DEVIL Angel 2: <mutters> He's still a fucking menace.
DEVIL Angel 2: What?
Bansidhe: Thank ye for not slamming me into the wall with your telekinesis.
Bansidhe chuckles.
DEVIL Angel 2: You’re welcome.
Medika: Did you think you needed to test me, Bansidhe?
Bansidhe: Med, you're one of our staunchest allies and I've trusted ye with my life. However...
Medika: However..?
Bansidhe: When a man who claims to be over 6000 years old...and can prove it...tells me something, I tend to take his word. Not to mention what I know of ye and the thoughts of yourself.
Medika: And you knew the darkness in his mind -- as do I -- and you still couldn't trust when I said what he'd told us was true?
DEVIL Angel 2: What has her lust got to do with the end of civilization as we know it?
DEVIL Angel 2 mumbles: Fucking stupid men and their egos.
Bansidhe: See, Sable, the thing is, you think you're somehow evil and that you're not a hero. I hope this experience has taught you otherwise.
Medika: <shakes her head> I've got a world to save -- with or without allies -- and, oh, dear goodness, I think I still have a date with a demon.

Bansidhe: Med?
Medika: At least Horn took me at face value.
DEVIL Angel 2: I think he's a good sort, Med, if it helps any.
Bansidhe: And Angel...
DEVIL Angel 2: Yes, Ban?
Medika: You and the world can put whatever label you like on me, Ban. I no longer care.
Bansidhe: Like I said, the whole thing about the lust...I just wanted Med to stop acting so shyly around me. She's a respected colleague.
Bansidhe snaps a look at Med.
DEVIL Angel 2: You've been taking lesssons from Blur for too long, Ban. Get a new teacher.
Bansidhe: No, Angel. I was a master manipulator long before I met Blur. Trust me on that.
Medika: <with a touch of sarcasm> Thank you for the kind thought, Ban. <with quite sadness> But perhaps ally is all I will ever be. I've had enough.
DEVIL Angel 2: Get some rest, Med. Tomorrow is really another day.
Bansidhe: Y'know, for two women who've just been through hell, neither of you seem all that happy to see a friend.
DEVIL Angel 2: That’s ‘cause your acting like an ass.
Medika: <in a distant voice> What you let me see in your mind, Ban, was not friendship.
DEVIL Angel 2: And you look like hell -- or is that death?

Bansidhe: Alright. Fine. Would either of you like to know the answer to what you asked, before?
Medika: I would not have asked had I not wanted to know.
DEVIL Angel 2: What’s wrong with you or did you see enough?
Bansidhe: The name Melvin Langley ring any bells?
Medika: <frowns> Vaguely. Yes. But that's a long time ago. Well, a long time ago for us.
DEVIL Angel 2: No ...exactly, Med.
Bansidhe: He's that CIA clerk that Indigo and Crimson used and manipulated.
Medika: Oh, right! <voice coloured with disgust> She made him think she loved him. And Crimson--
Bansidhe: I have to kill him.
Medika: What? Why?
Bansidhe: Because he's our assassin.
DEVIL Angel 2: Well, be quick and clean and hide the body well.
Medika: No.
Bansidhe shoots a look at Angel.
Bansidhe: Funny.
Bansidhe: This deals with your sister's boyfriend.
Medika: <repeating> No. Ban has too much to lose.
DEVIL Angel 2: <callously> Better yet, dismember it, burn the hands and crush the teeth. Want some help?
Medika: <clinically> DNA, Angel.
Bansidhe: Hydrochloric acid, Med.
Medika: No, Angel. You have too much to lose too. We’re back where your family still LIVES!
DEVIL Angel 2: <relentlessly> Then burn the whole damn thing and drop the bones in an acid bath.
Bansidhe: Either of you forgetting that I've disposed of bodies before?
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs harshly.
DEVIL Angel 2: I've already seen the worst, Med.
Medika: I know, dear. But this is now. And you've lots of loves left here.
DEVIL Angel 2: Remember, I saw myself get torn to shreds and my son blown up.
Medika: Here and now, Angel. Get a grip on the here and now.
DEVIL Angel 2: Don’t condescend to me, Med. You go back to the here and now. I've got a war to stop -- however that means.
Bansidhe: Okay, both of ye, would ye stop bickerin' an' stop actin' like th' world's goin' t' end t'morrow?
Medika: It's not going to end tomorrow -- but tomorrow is none too soon to start changing things.

Bansidhe: I guess you two have been gone too long. Remember Patriot? Mr. Man I've been trying to protect from being murdered?
Medika: I remember, Ban
Bansidhe: Langley is the assassin and, if I don't do this right, I could have Indigo and Crimson ripping me to shreds.
Medika: I worked with them. You could let me do it. You've got Spirit to think of. .

DEVIL Angel 2: Just get it done. If we don’t start now on the real problem the world will end. And it’s not tomorrow, but it is too soon -- for the Earth.
Bansidhe: Aye, I saw the entire thing in Medika's mind. Aye, ‘tis a problem we'll be facing. However, both of ye are home and we have immediate problems.
Medika: List them, Ban
Bansidhe: Saving Patriot's ass. Saving the world.
DEVIL Angel 2: You know what? I don’t really care. I want a bathe and some clean food and to sleep right after I see my sisters. <swaying on her feet> What ever it is, it can wait until I wake up.
Bansidhe: We're heroes, you two. Start acting like it. You two have been fighting a war. I've been calling in old favors, for weeks, and tracking down this assassin...only to find it's a man I once saved.
DEVIL Angel 2: waaaa
Bansidhe looks sharply at Angel.
Bansidhe: Give me attitude again, lass, and I'll dock your pay. Now, I have an assignment for you.
Medika: <steadying Angel and looking at Bansidhe> OK. (1) Somebody go be bodyguard in case there's more than one, (2) somebody go after the known assassin, (3) somebody start searching for the Rikti communication device(s).
DEVIL Angel 2: He's as assassin. Just get it done; he doesn’t deserve any better than what you will give him and -- if not you -- then someone else will.
Bansidhe: Tsk tsk. Angel, do ye nae understand the world of assassinations?
DEVIL Angel 2 laughs.
DEVIL Angel 2: No, no. We just left a world of kill anything that’s not human.
Bansidhe: <explaining> Behind every assassin is the one who hired him or her. Why do ye think I've been going days at a time without sleep?
He turned to Angel to answer her sarcastic comment.
Bansidhe: I understand, Angel. That's why I have you an assignment ready, right now. DEVIL Angel 2: <swaying>You must be on superadine. I sound like I need an assignment??
Bansidhe: <patiently> Go home. Clean up. Visit with Joss. Go to Sarah's and spend the next week or so with Sarah and Patriot.
Medika: <fumbling at her belt> I've some caffeine tabs and an adrenaline shot, if that's what you need Angel.
Bansidhe: It's light duty, woman.
DEVIL Angel 2: <fuzzily> You do it, Med. I want to see what I’m saving this world for. I’ll be ready tomorrow.
Bansidhe: Ach! Damn stubborn women.
Medika: <grin> I'm not sure what "it" Angel is referring to.
DEVIL Angel 2: WHAT IS SO IMPRTANT THAT I have to do it right now?
Bansidhe: <patiently> Listen to me, Angel.
Go home.
Get cleaned up.
DEVIL Angel 2: Thank you, I will.
Bansidhe: Visit Joss.
Spend the next couple of weeks with Sarah and Patriot.
That's it.
Your assignment.
DEVIL Angel 2: <at last understanding> That’s the assignment?
Bansidhe: If ye'd spend more time listenin’ and less time bitchin’ about an assignment...that ye weren't listenin' to... Aye. That's it.
DEVIL Angel 2 walks up and hugs Ban. Bansidhe chuckles and hugs her back.
DEVIL Angel 2 mutters: Friggin’ men.
Bansidhe pops her on the ass.
DEVIL Angel 2: Get me worked up for nothing.
Bansidhe: I heard that.
DEVIL Angel 2: You were supposed to.
DEVIL Angel 2 grins. Bansidhe chuckles. Medika watches from the sidelines.
Bansidhe: Get, you.
DEVIL Angel 2 gives Med a hug.
Medika: <with concern> Good night, Angel.
DEVIL Angel 2 whispers: I’m sorry.
DEVIL Angel 2: ‘Nite, Med.
Medika: Goodnight Angel

As the older healer boards the tram, Bansidhe turns to Medika.
Bansidhe: Now, Med...I apologize for coming on weird.
Medika: <composedly> You have great mental control, Bansidhe.
Bansidhe: How do you mean?
Medika: I’m a pretty good mentalist now. Still… It may only be a measure of how I've changed, but I believed the blood lust in your mind.
Bansidhe: That's because the bloodlust is there.
Medika: I don't want to read it in any more minds, and, heaven willing, I won't. I know well enough that the changes in me did not make me a better or more desirable person. Just more sure.
Bansidhe: Aye. Ye are far more confident.
Medika: I have had to be. Decisions had to be made and followed through.
Bansidhe: However, ye've always been a good person and, ahem, rather attractive.
Medika: I need to start remembering my manners. Thank you, Ban. But there is no one to whom those things are important any more; least of all me.
Bansidhe: I am true to Spirit, though, so I would never approach ye with anything more than friendship. The little lust thing I threw in, lass, truly was for nothing more than to get you to stop acting so shyly with me.
Medika: I am not shy. Whatever feelings I once had for you are long gone. If brutal honesty is offensive, I apologize for offending. All that belonged to a Medika long gone now.
Bansidhe nods.
Bansidhe: Welcome home, Sable. That future has yet to happen and, to quote Blur, "the future can be changed".
Medika: It can and will be.

Bansidhe: So, Sable, tell me one thing?
Medika: I remember admiring you, Ban. As a leader particularly. I will try to call that up again.... someday.
Bansidhe: How many times have I told ye nae t' admire me?
Bansidhe chuckles.
Medika: Then we are now even, aren't we?
Bansidhe: Not quite.
Bansidhe: I have one very important question for ye.
Medika: Yes?
Bansidhe: Is Medika going to be one of the heroes that saves the world, hopefully from a fate that most will never know?
Medika: <patiently> I have a job to do, Bansidhe: saving the world. I will do it or die trying.
Bansidhe: Again... as a hero?
Medika: Pick whatever label you choose. I passed up labels long ago.
Bansidhe looks at Medika.
Bansidhe: Sable, I know your mind as you know mine. Answer me.
Medika: I broke most of my own codes in the past 3 years, Ban. Define "hero" and I will tell you if I can live up to your code.
Bansidhe: Someone who does the right thing - no matter the cost.
Medika: Then, no, I am no hero.
Bansidhe shakes his head.
Bansidhe: Then what have the last three years taught you?
Medika: That every man, woman, and child who stands up for the rights of other men is -- in my book -- a hero.
Medika: I will stand at their side and I will do my part -- and be a hero.
Bansidhe: Better. Do you consider me a hero, Sable?
Medika: I did once. My mind is coloured now by the most recent taste of yours and I will make no judgment until I again know you.
Bansidhe: Then touch my mind, lass. Know the truth.
Bansidhe offers Med his hand.
Medika: You have proved that you can hide what you wish from me and present what you wish. I have no wish for you to walk further into mine. There is no need. I am not one of yours, to risk an assignment on.
Bansidhe: There is a need, though.
Medika: I trust that you will do your job and that you will be the best hero you can be. You do not need my approval.
Bansidhe: You're not one under my leadership, but you are one of mine...one of my closest friends.
Bansidhe continues holding out his hand to her.
Medika: I -- <closes her eyes> -- I have seen too many friends die, Ban. Let's let it rest.
Bansidhe: And you may see another. That's why I want you to know the truth, now.
Medika: <sighs slightly> I recall what came of resisting Blur.
Medika offers her hand to Ban and he takes it.
Bansidhe: Touch my mind, lass.
Medika opens the recently-familiar mental pathway.
Medika: <resignedly> I am here.
She knows, instantly, that Ban is telling the truth. What she can read is that Ban is ready to give up his freedom and his life in order to save Chris/Patriot, by taking Melvin Langley's life.
Bansidhe: You see, Sable, what I mean about losing another friend... Melvin is aware that someone is tracking him and staking him out.
Medika: I had not doubted that. Will you not let me take this cup from you? I have skills now, and no one to lose.
Bansidhe: No, Sable. If it has to be done, I'm probably the best man for the job. You know my reputation. I was once the most highly skilled assassin in the world.
Medika: I know that. But you have trod the straight and narrow recently -- and I -- have had 3 years of resistance training.
Bansidhe: While you've been through hell, you still have a reputation here in Paragon City...an untarnished one.
Medika: Do I? I had forgotten. It does not seem important. <faintly, pulling things from distant memory> I have patients too. I'll have to check the records to see what's what there. I've forgotten what it's like...
Bansidhe: I came in with a tarnished one. If someone has to go down and I know that I'm saving the world... How does the line go... "Tis a far, far better thing I do now, than I have ever done"?
Medika: That, Ban, <sternly> is quoting Dickens out of context. Or at least out of spirit.
Bansidhe chuckles.
Bansidhe: It's been awhile since I've read it.
Medika: That character – Carton -- had never done anything unselfish before in his life. You -- you have redeemed yourself many times over.
Bansidhe: You know what I mean. But has my time in Paragon City not been selfish, lass?
Medika: I know what you mean. And I see little difference between us.
Bansidhe: There is a difference between us, lass. I once murdered for money and pleasure. You did it for survival.
Medika: And, if necessary for the world to survive, I will do it again. What difference is there between us NOW?
Bansidhe: This is for a friend's survival.
Medika: Yes. A friend. One who may yet play a part in the world's survival.
Bansidhe: Because you're still a hero's hero. Me? I'm still selfishly trying to be accepted.
Medika: Accepted? Yes, I wanted that. I -- remember.

Bansidhe: Oh. While I'm thinking about it... The elusive Bansidhe, of the resistance...who was he? Who would take up my mantle?
Medika: Someone who did not make himself known to me. Perhaps that is why I am having difficulty recalling our friendship. I -- don't know.
Bansidhe: Hm. I suppose, then, if that timeline has someone taking on my mantle, then I probably didn't go down in disgrace.
Medika: <smile> No. I don't think you go down in disgrace.
Bansidhe: Alright. Why don't you go get cleaned up and get some rest, in a nice warm bed. I'm sure you need it. I've got to get back to a stake out.

Medika: <looking at a clearly painful memory> Albeit more than one former villain fought in the resistance when humanity's fate was at stake. I fought next to more than one that I'd put in prison back in the "now".
Bansidhe: Wow. I suppose when fighting for survival, even the villains have to be the good guys.
Medika: <sad smile> I may have a greater faith in the goodness of humanity than I did before.
Bansidhe: Don't let it get too high, lass. I've still gotta find who hired Melvin to go after Chris.
Medika: Can I help? If you find who hired him, you might yet save Melvin.
Bansidhe: Perhaps. For now, you can help by getting some rest.
Medika: I still can't believe I'm really back....
Bansidhe: To save the world, you've got to be at your best.
Medika: Good night, Ban.
Bansidhe: Good night, Sable.
Medika: I think I remember that I was doing a stake out in the sewers when Blur ripped me. That might not be a bad place to start my Rikti hunt. Does my com still work? You can try to reach me if you need me.
Bansidhe: Aye. Go home, Sable. Sleep. Rest.
Medika: <ignoring his instructions> Could you use the caff tabs and adrenalin shot I offered Angel?
Bansidhe: I'm fresh. Just perched a couple hours ago. And woke up about three hours ago.
Medika: OK. We got sorta used to catch as catch can while we -- were away.
Bansidhe: Not here, lass.
Medika: And a lot of my <she pats her belt> medicines can be -- offensive in unhealthy doses. I've gotten good at that too.
Bansidhe: Joe mentioned something about giving the Rikti chicken pox. I'm sure we could find something else.
Medika: 100 caffeine tabs. That's sufficient, surprisingly so....
Bansidhe chuckles.
Medika: <soberly> Someday maybe I'll find it funny too.
Medika: Good bye, Ban.
Bansidhe: You will.
Medika: <whispers to her self> I hope not.
The young healer quickly passed through the old familiar-but-now-strangely peaceful zones, and lowered herself into the abandoned sewers. Today was not too soon to start.

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