SG-1996 (3/5) Reflections Refracted

[Eric Burns]

[Start of Part Three]

     Dangerousgirl wasn't particularly used to being a punching bag --
especially from someone whose fists hit like jackhammers the way Mirror
Maid-- *Reflects's* fists did. If Dangerousgirl had been a normal person,
by now she'd be a sack of broken bones. As it was, it wasn't to that point
yet. Of course, since the other guy was making Dangerousgirl feel
excruciating systemic body-wide pain, she had no idea how badly off she was.
     "You always thought you were better than all of us," Reflects hissed.
"I admit it freely, *Dani!* I'm *enjoying* this!" She hit again, and then
again. "The best part? You could probably explode or something, but unlike
your *brother* no one ever taught you about acceptable losses! So even
though we're killing the Mobsters you won't detonate because you won't risk
their lives!" She hit again, and again, and *again--*
     "--least I know how to DRRESSS." Dangerousgirl managed to say while
being smashed back down into the rubble. She grabbed around herself -- find
a weapon-- no, that was dumb. Any attack would just bounce off Reflects!
She had to--
     Wait... acceptable losses....
     Dangerousgirl's head snapped back with an uppercut, followed by a
chest punch that didn't do her ribs any favors. She grabbed at something --
twisted metal? Rebar? *Perfect!* Thank God Mime Man had reinforced Stately
Ward when it had become the headquarters of a superteam. She clenched the
metal and let her hand *burn,* bringing it to white hot in moments, energy
searing around and through it.
     "What's that supposed to be, *Dani?*" Reflects spat. "What makes you
think that'll help you?"
     "Help me? Fah! Right now I'm saving your *boyfriend's* life, you
idiot!*" She scrabbled back slightly, pressing her agony ridden body
against the wall.
     "What do you mean?" Reflects had her hand cocked back -- probably
waiting for a kill blow.
     "Simple! I've ju-" Dangerousgirl spit out blood. "Just supersaturated
this rod with enough radiation to cook Detroit. I'm containing it with a
field, but if I let go--"
     "What? It'll start a fire? Ask me if I care!"
     "Wrong! It'll release massive ionising radiation! Gamma waves! Beta
particles! The whole nine yards! And at this distance -- whoever that guy
is? He'll take a massive dose in seconds! Not the 'hospitalize' type of
dose either." Dangerousgirl smiled savagely. "They call it the walking
ghost stage! He'll feel just fine... and within twelve hours he'll have
died the worst death you can imagine! And there's no cure! None! It's why I
have to wear this suit all the time -- so I don't kill everyone around me
with my bodacious bod!"
     "What?" the man shouted. "Are you insane? You'll -- you'll kill Melody
Pernicious!"
     Dangerousgirl laughed, shaking her head. "I lose here she's dead
anyway! But this way you die with her. So -- gonna punch me, *Reflects?*
Gonna keep making me feel *pain,* creeper-dude? Think carefully!" She held
the glowing rod up, orange energies churning around it. "I can only
b-barely keep the field up as it is...."
     The man's eyes grew wider. "S-stop her! Kill her--"
     "Go for it, Reflects. Kill me. Kill Melody. Kill *that guy.* One punch
and everybody dies!"
     "...no...." Reflects whispered, absolute terror in her eyes. "...not
him... not Sensation...."
     "Sensation? *Really?* Who names you people? Literalman?"
     "...I... I...." Sensation looked panicked. "All right! All right...
just... just.... don't let go of that!"
     The pain left Dangerousgirl's body. The relief and endorphin rush
meant she didn't feel the pain from the real damage just yet--
     "Thank you," Dangerousgirl said, breathing out and concentrating...
and fired a microburst into the base of the bookshelf behind Sensation. He
screamed, turning in time to be crushed under a truly huge number of books
and several hundred pounds of oak.
     "*No!*" Reflects shouted.
     Dangerousgirl felt pain as she breathed in, but it was real pain --
weirdly way easier to deal with. "Wow," she said. "You know, I always
ragged on you as one of the kiddies, Maria? But I had no idea -- I mean the
Brats have their problems but you're just *stupid!*"
     Reflects's head snapped around. "What?!"
     Dangerousgirl grinned, dropping the metal. It started a fire where it
hit, but a half-second's concentration snuffed that out.
     "No! You'll kill--"
     "I didn't *really* irradiate the rod, stupid! God it's like you're
*five years old.*" Dangerousgirl kicked back, letting a burst hurl her in
the air and outside the building through the hole she came in through.
     "*I'LL KILL YOU!*" Reflects screamed, face twisted in rage as she
charged after her onto the lawn, not quite stumbling in her thigh-high
boots--
     Dangerousgirl landed with a concussive *whump.* Perfect - she was
taking the bait. "I'd be worried but you're dressed like a virgin thinks a
porn star dresses! I can't take you seriously in that! Here -- let me help!"
     So saying, Dangerousgirl's eyes glowed, and then streams of
incandescent nuclear fire burst out of them, sweeping over Reflects. Where
most of Dangerousgirl's blasts were concussive with some heat, the
radiation subtracted before the energies left her body, this was almost
pure plasma fire -- no radiation, almost no kinetic force, but incredibly
hot! It splayed off Reflects's mirror field in all directions of course.
That was what the mirror force did. Some of it even flew back into
Dangerousgirl's face -- though she was immune. Of course... it hit more
than the field mirror field. It seared grass, for example, and incinerated
a couple of hapless foundation plants. Dangerousgirl had angled it so
little if any of it hit Stately Ward Manor itself, but the building was
reinforced. it could take it. And of course, it hit a few other things....
     With a shriek, Reflects felt her feet slide out from underneath her,
hitting the grass but still sliding forward with all the same inertia she
had before. She scrabbled to stop herself, but the silver field that
surrounded her meant she couldn't grab dirt or grass... and Dangerousgirl's
blast had managed to sear all the cloth and material of Reflects's costume
off her body, leaving her naked and frictionless as she slid across the
field. Her 'Mirror Maid' costume had been designed to be as durable as
possible -- Dangerousgirl figured Random Encounters wouldn't have Phobos's
resources, and clearly she was right.
     Dangerousgirl blasted up into the air and back before Reflects could
slide into her, turning in mid-air, focusing her energies and *detonating*
as she hit the ground, creating a shockwave around herself and enough heat
to fuse the soil and dirt, leaving a deep, slick glasslike bowl in its
wake. She then launched herself back up and kicked herself forward. As she
figured -- the shockwave had knocked Reflects off course. She angled to
land on the other side, maximizing concussion in her landing, so that
another shockwave caused the frictionless villain to be pushed back
straight towards the bowl--
     Reflects shrieked again as she slid down into the bowl. Dangerousgirl
held her breath for a moment -- had she dug it deep enough? She saw
Reflects slide up the other side, almost emerging...
     And sliding back down. And then back up the other side, then back and
forth, helplessly sliding on the smooth silicon surface Dangerousgirl had
made.
     "Thanks for playing, Reflects! And rethink your costume supplier while
you're down there! The whole Jean Grey Black Queen thing? Has been *done.*"
Dangerousgirl kicked back off into the air, leaving Reflects to helplessly
try and get purchase on the sides of the bowl.

***

     There were several floors and miles of hallway at Stately Ward Manor.
You had to be pretty impressive before you got the 'Stately' in front of
your name, after all. And, given the nature of the opposition he was
facing, it made sense that Random Encounters had built up his resources so
he could flood them all with wandering groups of monsters, enemies, mobs or
what have you. All ready to run for the main hall at his command, and stop
anyone along the way if need be. And with them, of course, were just enough
actual flunkies, super-powered or not, to make things 'interesting,' if by
interesting one meant 'annoying as Hell.'
     It's worth noting, after all, that Random Encounters had tried to kill
the Mob before. He'd been their first enemy back in the Teen Team days.
He'd been their most persistent enemy. As mentioned above, his mutagenic
gas had been directly responsible for the creation of Matchstick -- later
Hellfire -- and the trapping of Mirror Maid in a mirror force prison that
cut her off from all tactile sensation. He'd empowered other villains, and
they'd tried to kill the Mob, and they'd failed, over and over again. So it
perhaps makes sense that this time he wouldn't kid around. Not only had he
used Maria Mendez -- the Mirror Maid, now Reflects -- as the agent of
betrayal, tailoring the destruction of each Mob member through the use of
their most personal secrets... he had also called on as many forces --
summoned or hired -- as he could. This time there wouldn't be a last second
reprieve. This time they would *die.*
     Had he known Dangerousgirl, Healer and the Dash were showing up, he'd
have gone into heavy hock to prepare. But he didn't know, now did he?
     The Dash had taken down dozens of enemies on the grounds, and was
working her way through the building -- hitting monsters and mercenaries
alike fast and hard, before they could respond. As powerful as she was, of
course, she wasn't *all* powerful -- and enough of those enemies were real
flesh and blood that she couldn't go all out without killing them.
     Still, that didn't change the green blur that rocketed up one corridor
and down another, flipping criminals and hurling orcs into walls in the
blink of an eye. Given enough time, it was unquestionable that she'd clear
the enemies out once and for all.
     The question was... how much time did she have?

***

     There were just two more closed doors -- giant ones, of course,
because 'Stately Manor' and all. And they were locked. But on the other
side....
     On the other side... it was like Momentum could feel her friends
*dying.* ((We have to get through there,)) she thought at Healer.
     }{Yes we do. But we only get one take at this.}{
     ((Pop the door?))
     }{Take too long to set the charges and if you hit the door at speed
fragments could hit some of the Mobsters. We have to get the door open.
*Quietly.*}{
     So saying, Healer withdrew a credit card, which she proceeded to snap
in half. The first half she slid down along the seal between the doors,
feeling where the bolt was, and then left the card chunk there to cut
through them with a low powered thermal pulse. The other half she split off
into strips which concealed hooks, rods and levers, which she used to go to
work on the locks themselves.
     ((...and you can *pick locks?* Do you have any idea how annoying locks
are to a thief?))
     }{I thought you weren't a criminal any more,}{ Healer sent back with a
slight smile.
     ((I'm not. But you never stop being a thief -- you just start stealing
for great justice.))
     }{Gods help me, I'm trapped in a Don Bellisario television pilot.}{
     ((Nah. Neither one of us was born on August 8th or served in the
military.))
     }{I was literally a government spy.}{
     ((Which is not the *military.* Try to keep up.)) Momentum shook her
hands, trying to keep loose -- nervous.
     }{So are you looking for lockpicking instruction?}{ Healer's mental
voice was tense with the mission but otherwise sounded amused.
     ((Are you kidding? I know how to pick locks. I'd crack that in half
your time. I'm just surprised *you* do.)) Momentum smirked.
     There was a clicking sound -- it sounded incredibly loud to Momentum,
but didn't seem to attract attention beyond. She wasn't sure how she knew
that -- probably Healer's senses bleeding through.
     }{Okay. I'm going to open the door slowly, while obfuscating it. We
need to keep under wraps while we assess the situation. Work?}{
     ((Work.)) Momentum felt Healer's telepathy wrap around her like a
cloak, making her shiver with nervousness -- but it didn't seem to be
penetrating--
     Healer looked over her shoulders, surprised. }{You *felt* that?}{
     ((Huh? Yeah. Why?))
     Healer paused for a moment. }{Later. For now, let's save everyone
while we can.}{
     Momentum opened her mouth as if to argue -- despite not speaking out
loud -- then nodded curtly.

***

     The Dash barrelled down the main hall of the fourth floor. Almost all
the enemies were down, which meant she could get down to the
ballroom/hallway/big room rich people had and work on freeing the Mob
without being worried about their flank. She knew that Healer and Momentum
had been taking out others -- it was looking good. She smiled -- Random
Encounters might have been random, but he wasn't any kind of tactical
genius. This was going to be easy--
     The Dash sped around a corner -- empty hall with door at the end. She
raced down towards that door--
     And suddenly was *engulfed* by *ooze,* as the tactile bastard child of
jello instant gelatin and a third grader's infected snot enclosed her,
lifting her up and searing into her with acid!
     The Dash was originally Jane West Garrick-Allen, a scientist,
biochemist and geek. She knew Dungeons and Dragons is what I'm saying. They
were old friends. Dungeons and Dragons had been the date night she hadn't
otherwise had -- the guys and girls she played with her peer group.
     She was a nerd, in other words. That's my basic point. She also could
whistle the entire Song of Time from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time from
memory, but given her speed it pretty much just made dogs howl when she
tried. I digress, of course.
     Needless to say, the Dash knew a few things about wandering dungeon
monsters -- the archetype of the random encounters their opponent took his
name from. She absolutely knew a gelatinous cube when it started eating
her. As she struggled and attempted to get enough of a purchase to bring
her speed to bear, she reflected inwardly on the lesson of hubris and the
invocation of Murphy even if it was just in one's heart. It was a fair cop,
in other words. Hideous and wrong, but acceptable.
     Of course, when the green slime fell off the wall, engulfing the cube
and just waiting for her to make it outside of its gelatinous body so *it*
could eat her? That was clearly just cheating. Bad form all around, by gum.
What was next? Gray Ooze? Black Pudding? Just ridiculous.

***

     Doctor Unstable's smile grew as the quad-probes thrummed. "That's it,"
he crooned to the screaming AI. "I can see your cohesion rippling. I can
see your structure beginning to separate. I think... I think I can even see
your individual nanite elements beginning to show themselves. That is
*amazing.* You are an absolute wonder. I hope you know that. You shouldn't
die without knowing that."
     The screams had long since stopped being coherent. He imagined she was
still screaming things at him, but the systems that let her communicate
outside the console that had been her creche and home were degraded far
beyond the point where that could work. He didn't know if she could still
hear him or not, but he kept talking anyway. It would be cruel to let her
discorporate alone.
     Not that Doctor Unstable was incapable of cruelty, of course. He just
didn't feel like it, today. "Yes... you are amazing, Jennifer. That is what
Jenny is short for, isn't it? Or is it? You know, I guess I don't know." He
chuckled. "I doubt it matters anymore. I will mourn your passing... as I
would mourn the melting of a perfect snowflake, or a song sung by a dying
poet, unrecorded in its perfection. I will hold this memory forever, my
beautiful AI. Take that with you to whatever oblivion awaits electronic
death." He chuckled. "And say hello to my Dreamcast when you get there. I
still miss it so much." He had melted the Dreamcast with radioactive acid
after his so-called friend deigned to beat his time in a Crazy Taxi run,
but details weren't important now. Thinking about it, he was relatively
sure he'd also melted the so-called friend, but that was different. People
were everywhere. Dreamcasts were special.
     He paused. *Had* he owned a Dreamcast? Did those exist? Did those
exist *yet?* It was hard to keep track. Oh well.
     He heard distant explosions. Mm. That was trouble. Still, it hardly
mattered. Even if they caught him he would succeed. He began to set up the
transceiver. When the Nanites and the broken code of their custodian
flooded into the quad-probes, he would use the rerigged transmat to send
them to his hidden vault. Then, when next he escaped, his work could begin.
     So close. Sooooo close. He looked into the chaos of letters and pixels
on the screen. He wondered if he could still see her face -- like one of
those Magic Eye puzzles. Those always gave him headaches, though. No,
better to just make sure things were going right. He looked at the
monitors, and began establishing the link -- watching the nanites get
pulled and distorted and the code that held and embodied them get torn and
transcoded. *So* close.
     So beautiful.

***

     The doors slid open, and Momentum and Healer slipped inside. Momentum
looked around -- there were dozens of monsters in here now -- two different
T-Rexes. Goblins everywhere. A roving pack of disaffected teenagers.
Loincloth clad barbarian babes with battleaxes. It was like watching the
love child of a Frank Frazetta painting and a death metal album come to
life.
     And at the edge -- the man himself. Random Encounters. Laughing.
Thrilled.
     No sign of Maria... but then there didn't need to be, as she began to
see... Burt, in his Mime Man costume but without makeup, trapped in an
invisible box he was desperately trying to escape as it got smaller and
smaller. Tim, in a corner -- a spike in his gut letting him bleed as he
stared forward, a four-legged brain monstrosity perched on his head cutting
him off from the world, from his wife.... from everything, even as he
stared at a nightmare she didn't want to think about. Mighty Dog, reduced
to whimpering, some kind of industrial press pushing what looked like a
metal rod holding a red hot piece of metal--
     No. Not a rod. A branding iron. Red hot... and made of Paisley
Heliumite, searing into the Mightiest Dog Around's fur and flesh. Momentum
felt sick, looking further... no sign of Roger or Hellfire, but then Healer
had said they were somewhere else. Phobos -- she couldn't even bear to look
at him. Samantha -- where was Samantha--
     She saw her then. On the ground, twitching, chest desperately working,
forcing tiny amounts of air into her lungs. Skin swollen.
     ((...omigod....))
     }{Momentum, we need to... *Momentum.*}{
     Momentum snapped her attention back to Healer -- who looked angrier
than she ever believed a person could be, but held that anger in focus.
}{They're all alive -- but some only barely. If we go for them, the enemies
will crack us. Focus on the ground enemies. I'll take on the bigger ones.
If you get a chance, try to get Mighty Dog out of that thing. He'll recover
the fastest. Beyond that, priority is Samantha.}{
     ((--Burt and Tim--))
     }{Burt's in one of his own constructs. Even at full speed you can't
break him out of that, but Charlie *can.* He does it all the time. Tim... I
have to rescue Tim. Remember -- take out the ground forces. If you can take
down Random Encounters, great -- but he's *secondary.* Right now we need to
clear a path so we can keep the Mobsters *alive* and let Dangerousgirl and
the Dash back us up when they get clear. Right?}{
     Momentum looked around herself. It was like something out of her
nightmares. Like something--
     No, she couldn't think about that right now.
     }{Alice?}{
     Momentum turned back and looked at Healer, not quite trembling.
     }{You can do this. I believe in you. And so do all your friends.}{ She
smiled, despite her own fear and anger.
     ((...let's nail these bastards...)) Momentum sent back, very quietly.
     }{No.}{ Healer's mental voice was firm. Was certain. Was *sure.*
}{Let's save the day.}{
     ((...absolutely.))
     }{Apologies for the indiscretion.}{
     ((Wha--))
     Healer unzipped the top of her uniform partway -- Momentum noticed it
looked like had layered panels underneath -- and removed several small
ceramic clips on her sports bra's straps.  She zipped back up, took a deep
breath, and began running forward towards the monsters, throwing her hands
to either sides, the clips going flying.
     The explosions were sharp, like M-80s, dispersing and even melting a
couple of the monsters into light, even as she rippled into view, taking
down a barbarian with a snap kick, then wheeling down to the floor with a
leg sweep that bowled two over. She kicked up, the heels extending on her
boots with a snap and driving into two goblins' chins. She rolled forward,
snapping the heels off and wheeling around herself, hitting monsters with
the end of the heels -- each one packing a taser of not inconsiderable
power.
     Momentum was a speedster. There's no doubt about that. But she was,
after all, human. And humans could be surprised into not moving for a long
moment, even as Random Encounters began to scream for the creatures to take
Healer down, and one T-Rex roared. She blurred into speed, her own
invisibility melting away as she blew through a pack of goblins with a rush
of wind and arms extended in the 'clothesline' position. But despite her
anger, her fear, her disgust, and her terror, the only battle cry she could
think of was "WHAT KIND OF PERSON CLIPS BOMBS TO HER *BRA STRAP?*"
     "You wanted to know!" Healer shouted back, tasing another Barbarian
into oblivion while side-kicking a disaffected teenager right in the ennui.
She looked up at the T-Rex that was thundering towards her, her mind
stretching out, finding its perceptions -- it didn't have an actual *mind*
of course, but it could still perceive, and those perceptions acted like
any other nervous system, which meant she could work with them.
     The monster was bearing down on the red-and-white clad heroine, only
to have her seemingly swell up to his own size. Stepping back warily, he
saw Healer scream a roar of defiance at him and charge. Naturally, he
charged back, and the battle was on, the heroine tearing at his arm with
her powerful jaws.
     Down on the ground, Healer rolled, letting a visual image of her
continue rolling to the side while she actually rolled forward. In the back
of her head she could 'see' the two T-Rexes attempt to kill each other,
each seeing the other as Healer -- which meant from her point of view two
giant versions of herself were trying to eat each other while slapping at
one another with little tiny arms.
     ((...as disturbing as that is? There *has* to be an internet audience
for it!)) Momentum thought in her direction, even as she wove and blurred
between several goblins, barbarians and teenagers, jabbing, punching,
kicking, throwing, stealing a sword, piercing, and generally abusing them
as she moved.
     Healer grinned despite the horrible situation -- granted, the fact
that Momentum could *see* the mental constructs puzzled her, but right now
she had other concerns.

***

     Doctor Unstable heard the fighting nearby, which just made him work
the harder. He was so close -- he just needed to...
     *There!* The coherence was failing! The nanites were being pulled
away! His triumph was at hand! The transceivers kicked in, the link going
live--
     There was a sudden *shriek* of electronic sound, like the death knell
of the spirits of seven hundred and nine 4800 baud modems crying out and
suddenly being silenced, even as all of the console displays *and* Doctor
Unstable's equipment suddenly flared white and red, white and red, *white
and red!* The quad-probes had their own indicator lights suddenly flash to
blood red as well, and a surge went through them and into the console, and
then right back out. Behind where Doctor Unstable was stumbling back, he
could hear something -- like a single ragged tooth saw cutting through a
metal tube--
     And then the red lights went out... and the quad-probes, consoles, and
indeed the lights on Jenny's own creche all came up a bright, shining
silver, with silver letters of unknown languages scrolling past on the
displays.
     "W....what? What... what's *happening?!*" Doctor Unstable demanded.
     «What's Happening? Man, I loved that show. Though not as much as
What's Happening Now. Now there was a program.»
     "...what?"
     There was a shimmer, and Jenny's holographic projector -- offline
since Doctor Unstable first nailed her with the spike-pulse -- hummed to
life. But instead of the bubbly blond avatar of the Mob and Team
M.E.C.H.A.'s cybernetic intelligence, a reddish hued image resolved. It
wore a jumpsuit with a logo of the Xolchipalian Defense Forces on one side
and the Adjusted League Unimpeachable on the other. It also wore a sleepy
eyed expression and a slight smile, and its hair looked oddly unruly given
it had no actual corporeal form. It looked like it was probably misaligned,
though, since the avatar's 'skin' was deep red instead of one of the more
normal human flesh tones. «Sorry, sir. I'm pretty sure this must be
confusing.»
     Doctor Unstable stared. "You... but... *JOEL?*"
     «Hey yeah -- that's right! Well, technically it's 'Justice Overmind
Electronic Locus,' but JOEL's just easier and faster. Wow, Doc -- you broke
out of jail really fast this time!»
     "What... what happened? Where's Jenny? WHERE ARE MY NANITES!"
     «Oh -- yeah. You must be pretty confused. For one thing, they're her
nanites, not yours. And I know you were all excited to tear her to shreds
and steal them and all, but I was so impressed with your invention exchange
I just had to show you my own.» The holographic avatar smiled slightly.
«See, you'd knocked out the Xolchafiber-optics out, so I couldn't
communicate with Jenny or use the Xolchaportation network and stuff -- so I
had to go looking for something else. And then, wouldn't you know? You
opened a link your own base and its Transmat system. So I was able to
commandeer it -- I mean, it was sending a signal to this address, so it
kinda stood out -- and use it to bring a link back up. Then I used your
Quad-Probes to connect in, stop the thing you were doing to Jenny, help her
back to stability, and then feed a Xolchaportation link through those
Quad-Probes themselves. So, y'know -- they did in fact get her nanites
*and* her code -- they just got it in a coherent state and sent it
somewhere else via the wonders of science and Xolchaportation!»
     "...you... you can't do that! They're mine! Do you hear me! Mine!"
     «Yeah, maybe you shouldn't talk about personal property rights
immediately after trying to tear apart Jenny's mind and steal bits of her
for your own nefarious schemes. Oh, that reminds me. I don't like that you
did that, so I'm afraid you're under arrest.»
     "...under..." Doctor Unstable began to giggle. "What do you think you
can possibly do to me, you alien machine freak janitor? Talk me into
submission? You have no weapons!"
     JOEL blinked. «Seriously? This whole room's wired with lasers so
powerful they can project a holographic image that can be seen from any
angle. Do you really not get that? That's sad.»
     Doctor Unstable blinked. In the time it took him to blink, his shoes
caught fire.
     "AUGH!" Doctor Unstable stomped on the ground hard, falling back into
the room behind him  and stumbling until he landed on his backside.
     Above him, he saw a series of nozzles and what looked like air
conditioning vents that had been spraypainted silver and red. "...oh
poopie..." he said, softly.
     «Hey! Guess what? I dunno if the linkages will hold through the
jerry-rig, but then I guess you kinda like experiments that might involve
tearing sentient beings apart into a horrible death, so I guess it's okay
to try -- and we've got Xolchaportation Sign!»
     Doctor Unstable screamed, even as red and silver lights flashed all
around him and he heard the sound of a thousand buzzsaws cutting into
differently toned handbells, which was actually pretty unpleasant. As he
watched and heard, it pitch-shifted into the sound of a thousand bandsaws
cutting into differently toned handbells, which admittedly is a difference
that only John Cage was likely to care about.
     Doctor Unstable blinked, looking around. "I made it!" he shouted,
realizing the room he was in was different than the one he left. "I have to
get out of here!" He ran out of the room into a parking garage -- it had to
be the Load Pan Bay of the A.L.U.C.H.Q.M.O.U.S.E.--
     There was a flash of white, and Doctor Unstable felt bitter cold over
his entire body as everything from his chin down was engulfed in a thick
ice prison. "What? *NO!*" he screamed.
     Frigid Girl, wearing her silver costume with the blue snowflake design
and her darker blue overcoat with the white snowflake design, walked over
to where the renegade scientist was trapped. "You know what?" she asked.
"Maybe don't talk." She reached over, touching his lips and filling his
mouth with snow. She then stepped back and tapped her Xolchacomm. "Mem?
I've got Doctor Unstable of the League of Unconcerned Scientists down here
frozen up tight -- want to call someone with the authority to... I dunno.
Arrest him? Otherwise, I'm just going to have to leave him frozen and I'll
get in trouble if we have to cut off *another* crook's frostbitten feet.
     Doctor Unstable whimpered, very quietly.

***

     Dangerousgirl landed hard but well within her capacity, running back
in through the hole she'd made into the admittedly wrecked library. Roger
and Melody were still bound to the stone and orb through the card, the
purple and gold field surrounding them... the mold with the tank now full
to the brim with resin sitting nearby....
     She ran for the orb. She had to get that card first thing, and then--
     **PAIN!**
     Dangerousgirl jerked hard, spasming as she sunk to her knees. It was
like acid was flowing down every neuron, while every cell in her body
screamed in protest. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she shook like
she were having a seizure -- so *intense--*
     "How do you like that? Huh? *Bitch?*" Sensation was limping towards
her, having extricated himself from the bookshelf's remnants. "I can see
why everyone hates you. Smug *bitch* like all the rest. Well, how smug do
you feel now, huh? *Huh?*"
     Dangerousgirl couldn't help but hear him -- it was like her ears were
broadcasting his voice at 400 decibels directly into her brain. Her
defensive field was down now -- she couldn't maintain even that much
concentration.
     "You think that I can't touch you? That I need that silver idiot to do
my bidding? I *own* sensation! I *own* your nervous system! I *own* *you!*
Don't believe me? Why not try a little pleasure on for size!"
     Dangerousgirl spasmed again, as every nerve ending's pain turned to a
pleasure vastly beyond anything touch could normally produce. Her body
instantly shifted, the waves of euphoria not a relief but a cascade as
intense as the agony it replaced. She writhed, trying to focus past it but
it was so *astounding...* like all the heroin in the world hitting its most
euphoric state in her brain in one *millisecond--*
     And then it flipped again, the agony somehow a thousand times worse
for all the pleasure she had felt -- even the rush of endorphins suddenly
didn't seem to matter, her body's natural responses to pain being blocked
while the unimaginable torment seared through her. Her entire *world* was
torture--
     And then *ecstasy* to almost religious proportions, delight and sheer
unmitigated rapture obliterating thought and reason as she became
imprisoned in a world of *delight--*
     The *pain!* Dear God so much *pain* it felt like her brain was going
to *shatter* between the two extremes--
     Dimly, Dangerousgirl realized something was hitting the back of her
head -- probably another long rebar rod. Sensation was apparently trying to
beat her to death, though she could barely stay aware of it between the
whipsawing between sensory jubilation and suffering. She could barely
perceive the world through Sensation's onslaught of false stimuli, so much
more intense than any nervous system had ever been designed to handle.
     But very far away, she heard Roger and Melody screaming. It was like a
distant echo, far on the edge of her consciousness. Helpless. Really being
tortured -- not simply sensing it. *Dying.* Just like all their friends
beyond... all Dangerousgirl's friends.
     All Dani's friends.
     Somewhere in the maelstrom of sheer explosive bliss and horrific
crushing suffering, Dani could hear her brother... hear Lars's voice. "The
bad guys never play fair," he had said, all those years before, more than
three quarters of her lifetime away. "You can't expect they'll stand back
and let you keep a clear head -- and you can't ever lose your concentration
completely or you'll lose control when you use your powers. You need to
focus. Focus on a point in space. A moment in time. A song. *Something.*"
     Dani felt dull thuds as she was hit again and again. She didn't know
if he'd managed to overcome her durability or not -- maybe her skull was
cracked. Maybe she was already dying. Between the unholy marriage of
exhilaration and affliction such things were secondary. But she peered,
eyes squinting. Focusing forward....
     The mold -- the mold with the resin, in the almost casket shape....
why were they even doing that? Was it supposed to be art?
     No -- no, Healer had said that Roger, Melody *and Hellfire* were in
here. That had to be her trap....
     She focused as hard as she could on that mold
*(PAIN!/JOY!/PAIN/JOY!)*, trying to see it. See the white PVC. She had to
see it. She *had* to *see* it (AGONY/ECSTASY/AGONY/ECSTASY/AGONY/ECSTASY)*
so she could *focus--*
     The oscillation of stimuli between pleasure and pain was getting
faster. It was like he was trying to stimulate her into complete nervous
system breakdown. Maybe he was. What little brain she had left wondered if
she would lose control at the last second, and evaporate Sensation, Roger,
Melody, Random Encounters, Healer, Momentum, the Dash, the rest of Stately
Ward Manor and indeed the entire city of Austin in a nuclear hellstorm born
of her ultimate cognitive collapse. Would she notice if she did? Would she
care? Or would she just die and her nuclear fire die with her?
     "*No!*" she heard Dianna scream in her mind. "You are *DANIELLE
POTENTIATE MACPHERSON!* My sister! Child of centuries of struggle! Our
ancestors didn't survive the Trail of Tears so you could lie on your belly
and *squeal* yourself to death! *DON'T YOU FUCKING QUIT NOW!*"
     Dani's -- *Dangerousgirl's* eyes snapped open. She could still see the
mold. The whipshaw pleasure/pain was still going on and the bastard was
still trying to beat her to death, but she didn't care. Not *now.* She
could see her sister -- her unbroken sister screaming her defiance to the
world and kicking Andy Awe-Inspiring's head through the wall! Everyone
thought she inherited her sister's appearance and her brother's powers, but
she was as much Dianna as Lars. And Dianna wouldn't falter now.
Dangerousgirl knew that. She *knew* it. She could that defiance in her mind
as she clenched her right hand, still trembling but outstretched toward the
mold, the unholy fire dancing under her skin -- she just needed to *focus*
-- to have just one tiny chunk of Dianna's discipline, just like she
would... she could see her... *hear* her--
     "SPANDEX BABE!" Dangerousgirl screamed as loudly as she could, and
unleashed a firebolt at the mold. It slammed into the mold, the fire
searing the resin and PVC apart while the concussion punctured the tank--
     There was a *bang* as extremely over-pressurized nitrogen -- caused as
the liquid and solid nitrogen poured into the tank along with Hellfire's
ember had melted and boiled into gas -- *burst* open like a keg of
dynamite, the shockwave blowing both Sensation and Dangerousgirl back out
onto the lawn and trashing the remainder of the library -- only the stone,
orb and prisoners were shielded from the burst, dust and particles and
fragments raining down in God knows how large a range.
     Dangerousgirl felt woozy -- the onslaught had passed but she was
downright nauseous. It had taken so much--
     "Spandex Babe?" Sensation asked, clearly in some pain himself but
laughing nonetheless. "Begging your sister to save you?" She felt another
blow to the back of the head, driving her face into the dirt. "Well she
won't. You thought it hurt before, Dangerousgirl? I'm going to plunge you
into the *fires of Hell* before I let you die!"
     One of the particles, drifting lazily in the air... seemed to glow,
just a touch... then spark once... twice....
     With an *explosion* of fire at almost plasmalike intensity, Hellfire's
body reconstituted itself, the shape of a woman as the pure expression of
churning flame. "Did you say the fires of Hell?" she demanded, voice
echoing across worlds. "If you think you're an *expert* then let's see how
*you* like them!* Pure fire swept from her whole body, engulfing Sensation
who screamed so loudly his vocal cords tore, before falling to the ground,
a slight amount of smolder clinging to his shirt.
     Dangerousgirl pushed herself to her knees, looking up at the burning
girl. "...hellfire burns?" she asked in a shaky voice. She knew those never
healed.
     "As if," Hellfire said, indistinct in the wreath of flames -- staying
in the air to avoid setting fires since she had no containment suit. "That
was just thermal shock. It's like the heat sensitivity equivalent to a
glass jaw." Her voice turned harder. "Where's *Maria?*"
     Dangerousgirl managed to get into a kneel, pointing a thumb behind her
head. "Put her in a smooth bowl."
     "Oh. Good. How's--"
     "Oh God," Dangerousgirl said, forcing herself up despite her actual,
physical pain and running towards the gaping hole that used to be the
library wall. "*Roger!*"

[End of Part Three]
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