Merchants of Death

Chapter 13



The operation to remove Angelus’s brain from the male elf’s diseased and dying body had been surprisingly quick and easy.



Doctor Durga, the neurosurgeon (among other things) that had performed the operation had a lot of experience as a Mind Flayer in extracting brains from living bodies. Though ensuring that the brain survived the process was an unusual and pleasant novelty to the illithid.



But removing the cyborg’s brain before the malignant magic spreading throughout his body could kill his mind was only the first step to rebuilding Angelus. The next would be far harder.



Now Doctor Durga and his colleagues were in the newest section of Imperious Industries bio-weapons laboratory. A place filled with advanced technology not native to this Earth, scientific marvels that even the Mind Flayer and his fellow scientists could not completely understand.



Under other circumstances Durga would have gladly spent countless hours just examining all the wondrous devices present. But despite his curiosity and predatory nature the doctor was still a professional, and he had a job to do.



Imperious Dakar had created a new body for Angelus, employing cybernetics, cloning techniques, and robotic technology that the technomancer had taken from over a dozen different worlds. Taking the best from each to create a form Dakar considered worthy of his long time enforcer.



Angelus’s new body would be a little over seven feet tall when standing, it had the fair features of a wood elf, but was muscular even by human or orcish standards. Almost none of its mechanical components were visible, except for the black metal panel that covered the right eye socket that had a glowing robotic eye located in the center. The rest of the body was covered with tissue cloned from Angelus’s original body, healthy living flesh that framed the less organic things within.



But except for the freakish size and mechanical eye it appeared to be a perfectly normal male elf. It was clearly well constructed; the only problem was that it currently lacked a brain.



It was the task of Durga and his colleagues to assist Imperious Dakar in installing Angelus’s brain in this new body, a challenge that the Mind Flayer looked forward to.



Unfortunately Durga had never done such a thing before, and he was not completely sure how to do it.



Without anything better to do at the moment, Durga looked over all the relevant data again on a computer screen. Hoping that he would have an epiphany if he just reviewed the information enough times.



*****



On the surface Christopher Lera and his mother had a lot in common. There was a strong physical resemblance between mother and child, both Christopher and Chrissy had been born to wealth and privilege, both of them had grown up surrounded by humans and other members of the shorter lived races, thus giving them an impatience that most elves their ages lacked, and even Christopher’s name was simply a masculine version of his mother’s.



Nevertheless, they were very different people.



Unlike his mother Christopher was heterosexual and his sex life was rather mundane compared to the hedonistic Chrissy’s. He also had little interest in or talent for magic, something that had always disappointed the powerful necromancer that gave birth to him.



But the biggest difference in personality was that Christopher lacked his mother’s great arrogance.



Chrissy had never done a good job hiding the fact that she had wanted a daughter from Christopher, and that giving birth to a son instead had been a bit of a let down. Moreover, unlike her own extremely overprotective mother, Chrissy had not done much to shield her son from many of the uncomfortable or harsh realities of life. All of this had led Christopher Lera to grow up to be a somewhat insecure and more than a little neurotic male, completely lacking in the kind of toxic arrogance that so defined his mother’s actions and character.



Although Christopher sometimes wished that he had his mother’s self-confidence (especially during confrontations) its absence was probably a good thing, because it might have blinded him to things that he should have noticed. Such as the fact that something was seriously wrong inside the Presidential Palace.



The secretaries, civil servants, military officials, cleaning staff, and all the other people that Iberia’s senior diplomat encountered as he walked through the vast building on the way to his mother’s main office seemed…on edge. There was a tension in the air that was new to Christopher.



There had also been more obvious changes from the last time the young male elf had been to the palace. The Ministry of Defense soldiers who had guarded the place for most of Chrissy Lera’s reign were gone, replaced by coldly polite Imperious Industries personnel.



It was hard to tell on so little observation, but from what Christopher had seen so far it appeared that most of the people inside the Presidential Palace were afraid of the Imperious Industries guards.



~This isn’t right…mother always made sure that the Palace was filled with loyal competent people…people who WANTED to be here…if only for the perks…why does everyone seem so miserable?~ the dark elf wondered.



Christopher continued to brood until he got to his mother’s office. Stopping before the desk of the receptionist responsible for keeping track of the President’s schedule.



“Good morning Minister Lera…welcome back to the Palace” the receptionist said with obviously false cheer.



The receptionist had fair features like an elf, though she was much more voluptuous than most elfin women, possessing very large breasts and a thick curvy backside. Her skin was the color of oak bark and her hair had the texture and coloring of fall leaves. Like all dryads the receptionist was mystically tied to a tree, which was in a large pot behind her big desk.



“Willow you have known me for years…you can call me by my given name” Christopher said with a theatrical sigh.





The dark elf had always been friendly with Willow and enjoyed flirting with the unusually buxom dryad. She seemed to enjoy it as well and a bit of playful flirtatious banter was the norm whenever Christopher encountered the dryad.



But something was different this time.



Christopher noticed a momentary hesitation as the dryad cast sidelong glances at the Imperious Industries guards stationed near her desk, an obvious sign of indecisiveness very out of character for the normally flirty and extroverted dryad.



“I would never be so bold Mister Lera…unless of course you wanted me to be a bit more…informal” Willow said coyly, leanly forward in a way that emphasized her impressive cleavage.



But Christopher was not fooled.



“Not today Miss Rothschild…can my mother actually meet with me now or has there been another emergency requiring her immediate attention?” the diplomat formally asked.



“I believe her schedule is free at the moment…you can just walk right in Minister Lera” Willow Rothschild announced with a false smile, watching carefully as Christopher Lera opened the door to the President’s office.



Once Christopher had shut the door behind him Willow pressed a button inside her desk, telling her true mistress that the tyrant’s son had arrived.



~You poor bastard~ Willow Rothschild thought as she looked at the doorway Christopher Lera had gone through, feeling bad that she had done nothing to warn the boy about what awaited him.



*****



The ancient witch known as Selene had always liked elves.



Their seeming agelessness, slender and alluring forms, and apparently effortless grace had always attracted Selene. Perhaps most importantly, their long life spans meant that the immortal witch could ‘play’ with an individual elf much longer than she could with a human or similarly short lived creature.



That was a big part of the reason why the witch watched Christopher Lera with such greed, once his image appeared on a video monitor in a room not far from the one the Iberian diplomat had just entered.



As the psychic vampire observed Christopher move to greet the false Chrissy Lera, she brought up other images of the dark elf on the computer screen. Some of these were nudes, and showed his slender yet muscular body, surprisingly large manhood, and delicate (some would say almost feminine) features in detail.



“Such a pretty boy” the old predator murmured as she watched the images with hungry eyes.



It would not be long before she took the attractive and innocent (at least compared to his mother) male elf as a lover and servant, or simply as a meal if he proved troublesome. But Selene didn’t intend to do it just yet.



She enjoyed the chase, and preferred to let her prey get a little more…excited before moving in for the kill.



*****



Christopher Lera had been the head of the Iberian Ministry of Foreign Relations for most of Chrissy Lera’s reign in Iberia. But Christopher did not enjoy administrative duties and delegated most of them to his trusted friend and lover Yuka Chang.



Deputy Minister Chang was more than up to the task, which left Minister Lera free to focus on being Iberia’s top diplomat. Trying to put a positive face on his mother’s totalitarian and potentially warlike government was a challenge, but Christopher was a people person and usually enjoyed it.



But despite his chosen job and title, most of Christopher’s worries lately had been a result of things going on inside his nation.



For months now the dark elf had been receiving disturbing news about Ministry of Security activities from his friends and contacts in the capital. Cases of unprovoked attacks against prominent people, casual murder in the streets, and even demands for ‘protection’ money from ordinary citizens were on the rise. Moreover, instances of people in Iberia simply ‘disappearing’ had never been so high since the Lera government had crushed the main rebellious elements and firmly established its authority in the country.



The Ministry of Security had always been staffed by the most amoral, ruthless, and cruel people in the Lera government. To some extent it couldn’t be helped, nice people simply did not make good secret police or assassins.



But in the past the Security Ministry and its people had largely been held in check by deference to the power of the President and the threat of reprisals from the military. But that no longer seemed to be the case, and the maddening thing to Christopher Lera was, he had no idea why.



The Minister of Foreign Relations found further cause for concern as soon as he entered the familiar office, for it no longer looked the way he remembered.



Instead of white, black was now the predominant color in the room, and the furniture and other furnishings had a gothic and somber look to them. As the son of a necromancer Christopher had seen many strange things growing up, nevertheless he found something creepy about the office now.



“Welcome back Christopher…I hope those damn politicians didn’t give you too much trouble.”



Christopher turned his head to regard his mother.



The face and figure seemed right, the voice sounded the same, and even the clothes the elf woman was wearing were Chrissy Lera’s familiar finery. Yet Christopher couldn’t shake off a sense of wrongness as he observed his mother.



“No…things are pretty quiet at the moment…all the major powers are too busy with their own concerns to bother much with Iberia…its been a while since anybody has even accused us of humanoid rights abuses” Christopher replied after he had paused for thought.



“Good…those hypocrites have no right to lecture this government on how it treats its people” the President replied self-righteously.



~That certainly seems like the kind of thing mother would usually say~ the dictator’s son thought, hoping that there was nothing to the sense of wrongness he was getting regarding the whole thing.



“Actually mother I am more concerned about things here…I have been hearing disturbing news regarding the Ministry of Security…it looks like the Mind Flayers are really getting out of control” Christopher said cautiously, closely observing the other dark elf to see her reaction.



“Nonsense…they wouldn’t dare defy me” the President answered pompously.



As Christopher looked at the image of his mother, a horrible suspicion began to grow in his mind. There was just something…off about her.



Christopher Lera was far from stupid, but he didn’t ignore his intuition either.



He loved his mother, but he wasn’t blind to her faults. The dark elf knew his mother was imperfect in many ways, and that her greatest imperfection was probably her colossal arrogance.



Deciding to see if there was anything to his suspicion Christopher said “no…somebody has to rein the Security Ministry in…and if you can’t do it who can?”



The elf woman responded with the right words, but the offended dignity, fire, and complete self-assurance that should have been there was absent somehow. It was as though she were just mouthing the words.



Christopher Lera didn’t know who he was talking to, but he was sure of one thing. It was not his mother.



~I’ve got to get out of here now~ the tyrant’s son realized.



*****



The Omega Squad were the elite shock troops of Imperious Industries security forces. The people that Chief of Security Angelus sent in when all else had failed and he really wanted something destroyed.



The membership of Omega Squad was widely regarded as being tough, self-serving, and ruthless, and to a large extent the perception was accurate. But the Squad still knew how to send off one of their own in style.



“Oh you shouldn’t have” Alita Impala exclaimed as she unwrapped her gift. Her very own Harley-Davidson motorcycle, complete with custom features like built in rocket launchers and machine guns.



“Of course we should have girl…who knows when we will see ya again…this way you will remember us whenever ya ride the damn thing” Sergeant Boris said, though he was speaking for the whole group.



The Squad was in Neroka, having been sent to the capital city in case elements of the Ministry of Security decided to cause trouble as a result of Imperious Dakar’s recent actions against Iberia’s secret police. But things had been rather quiet and the members of Omega Squad were off duty now, relaxing outside a local bar. They were partying outside the bar because their Giant teammate literally wouldn’t fit in there, the bartender had initially said that he wouldn’t serve people outside, but once Alita Impala had pointed her gun at him and explained to the man just what she could do to him with it, the bartender had gotten much more cooperative.



“I wish you didn’t have to go just to babysit some whorish sorceress” the Giantess Bertha whined.



“You know the big boss better than that Bertha…Dakar wouldn’t send me to watch over this Selene unless she was a scary motherfucker or she had some real bastards gunning for her” Impala pointed out.



“Da…or both” Sergeant Boris said, having heard some rather nasty rumors himself regarding the power hungry Selene.



“Any word on Angelus?” Bertha asked hopefully.



The Giantess affectionately known as Big Bertha (for obvious reasons) had a rather poorly concealed crush on the cyborg elf, though she had always been too intimidated by Angelus to ever approach him.



The Halflings, dwarves, humans, orcs, and elves who made up the rest of the group exchanged troubled looks. Unlike most people who knew Angelus they had fought beside the ruthless elf and had a great deal of respect and admiration for him. While Angelus trusted and respected Omega Squad too much to treat its members with his usual brutality, so they were anything but happy about his current condition.



“Don’t get your hopes up Big Bertha…Lera really messed him up” the Halfling in the Squad who specialized in demolitions said cautiously.



When Bertha looked like she was about to tear up, Impala sighed and said “oh come here” as she moved over to the Giantess and quickly climbed up her tall body. Hugging the much bigger female around the neck in an effort to sooth her.



“Shhh…its okay honey…it’ll be all right” Alita murmured.



The embracing females couldn’t look more different.



Bertha was pretty, blonde, fair skinned, and had a figure that had often been called curvy or voluptuous (though she had developed a bit of a beer gut since joining Omega Squad). She was also sixteen feet tall and out massed any three of her squad mates put together. Alita Impala was five feet tall, black skinned, and had a lean and muscular figure typical of track runners and tennis players. Alita’s most distinctive physical features were probably her golden eyes, the numerous tattoos on her arms and shoulders signifying the military units she had been a part of, and the red hair on her head that Impala kept reduced to a permanent buzz cut. Impala’s ‘look’ had most often been described as butch.



Nevertheless Big Bertha had always looked up to Alita Impala like a kind of big sister. Coming to the older female for advice, comfort, and support, the rest of the Squad sometimes teased them by calling Bertha Alita’s ‘little’ sister.



Once the Giantess had calmed down Impala moved to sit on Bertha’s shoulder and relaxed there, the Frost Giant finding it easy to bear the weight of the much smaller female.



“So has Dakar briefed ya on yer new mission yet?” Boris asked, the dwarf’s words even more slurred than usual thanks to alcohol.



Impala chuckled; she had always enjoyed listening to Boris talk. The dwarf’s native language was Russian, but he spoke German, French, and English just as fluently. Unfortunately the only language that the entire Squad had in common was Spanish which was not Boris’s best language, if the Russian dwarf wasn’t careful he accidentally used words and slang from other languages when talking to the Squad.



Then what Sergeant Boris had actually said registered with the brain of the drunken dark elf. Making Impala consider the question as she absentmindedly scratched one of her long pointed ears.



“No…I think that Dakar is a little too busy to talk to me at the moment.”



*****



Imperious Dakar had never felt less relaxed in his life.



Combining all the different technologies that it had taken to build Angelus’s new body had been a challenge even for Dakar’s brilliant cybernetically enhanced mind. Some of the technologies operated on scientific principals that the technomancer not even been aware of until recently.



The construction wouldn’t have even been feasible without the help of numerous Imperious Industries scientists, biologists, and engineers. Only with their active participation had the head of Imperious Industries been able to build the body he wanted for his friend.



But there had been room for error during the process of construction and research involved in building the body of Angelus. There was no such thing now, as Imperious Dakar and his employees attempted to integrate the elf’s brain into his new techno-organic body; for the slightest misstep could kill Angelus.



Imperious Dakar was all too aware of this fact as he carried the magic glowing container that protected Angelus’s brain to the body that had been so carefully prepared for it, his mind processing scientific facts and observations at maximum speed as he walked.

If his neural implants had not actively suppressed such emotional responses Dakar might have panicked.



However, Imperious had installed his neural implants mainly to prevent such emotional vulnerability in the first place. Remaining icily calm as he began the complicated and dangerous procedure.



Doctor Durga and the other scientists involved in the operation were also admirably professional. Using the equipment and tools in the bio-weapons lab with competence despite their inexperience (with the technologies involved and the operation itself).



“Be careful” Dakar commanded as Durga opened the head of the cyborg body. Watching as the skin and other cloned flesh on the top of the metal skull was peeled back to reveal the empty cavity inside, focusing his gaze on the organ-like machines that would interface directly with Angelus’s brain.



~Are you all right?~ Dakar telepathically asked the disembodied brain.



~Just get on with it~ Angelus impatiently replied, finding the complete sensory deprivation he was currently experiencing more than a little unnerving.



As Imperious Dakar placed the brain inside the space designed for it the magic protecting the organ faded away. Leaving the brain (relatively) unprotected for a brief moment, in order to prevent the magical energies from interfering with the delicate systems inside Angelus’s head. Fortunately, nothing seemed to go wrong during the brain’s brief moment of incredible vulnerability.



~Now comes the hard part~ Doctor Durga thought as the top of the cyborg’s head closed over the brain.



Dakar’s mystic senses were firmly focused on the hybrid of elf and machine. Employing his full power as a technomancer to study the mechanical systems, power sources, and organic pieces of the body before him; feeling it almost as acutely as Angelus as physical connections were established between the artificial body and the elfin brain.



Everyone in the lab knew this was the moment of truth.



The new body was very durable; if something went wrong during the installation process it might suffer only minor damage. But a humanoid brain itself was extremely fragile.



An accidental power surge or other mishap could easily destroy Angelus’s brain, reducing his powerful new body to nothing but an empty vessel.



The scientists in the room closely watched the readings they were getting from Angelus’s body on their scientific instruments. As long as nothing went wrong there was little for them to do at this point, the automated systems inside Angelus’s head and the rest of his new cybernetic body could handle the rest.



While Imperious Dakar was all too aware of the fact that if something went seriously wrong there might be nothing they could do in time.



~There is simply too much we do not know~ the technomancer thought as he telepathically scanned Angelus’s mind. Trying to make sense of the data he was getting from the elf, hopeful that he was doing everything right despite his inexperience at this sort of thing.



During the first few tense minutes after the brain was placed in its new body there was little for Doctor Durga and his colleagues to do but monitor Angelus’s vital signs. Many of them paced, fidgeted, or showed their nervousness and impatience in other obvious ways. Though their employer refused to display his emotions so openly, acting with icy professionalism as he used his powers and his machines to study what was going inside the elf’s body.



The waiting seemed to go on forever, and those in the lab became increasingly agitated. Then without warning the new blending of elf and machine opened its one organic eye and breathed for the first time.



“ITS ALIVE…ITS ALIVE” the shortest and fattest scientist there exclaimed excitedly as Angelus slowly brought his hands to his face, gazing at his powerful new limbs in wonder.



Imperious Dakar, all the man’s colleagues, and even Angelus himself all turned to glare at the speaker, angry at the biologist for ruining the moment.



The biologist flushed scarlet as he realized that everyone was staring at him. Muttering apologetically “sorry…I’ve just always wanted to say that.”



*****



To Christopher Lera’s surprise and relief, he had had little trouble leaving the Presidential Palace and going back to his private plane.



But as the Minister of Foreign Relations watched his crew prep the little jet for takeoff he was plagued by sudden indecision.



Yuka Chang had been his closest friend for many years now, and the Deputy Minister was obviously in danger as long as she remained in the capital. While same was true of his grandmother and everyone else Christopher cared about who lived in Neroka.



The necromancer’s son didn’t want to abandon them to the mercies of whoever was running the show in Iberia now. But Christopher was too much of a realist to ignore the realities of his position.



Unlike the other Iberian Ministers Christopher didn’t have much of a powerbase inside Iberia as the Minister of Foreign Relations. Without the President to back him up Christopher’s influence in the country was extremely limited.



Perhaps most importantly, in the event of any sort of violent struggle for power in Iberia the Ministry of Foreign Relations certainly didn’t have the firepower to back up its official authority the way that the Ministries of Security or Defense did.



Moreover, there were other, even more unpleasant factors that Christopher had to face now.



~Yuka has been acting very strangely for weeks now…and its looking more and more likely that the squid heads or some other telepaths got to her…and I haven’t seen Grandma for over half a year…she is probably being held somewhere outside the capital by whoever replaced mother…or…dead~ Christopher thought.



The Minister of Foreign Relations was forced to admit to himself that without any of the resources of Iberia or his mother he couldn’t protect anyone, at least not from something powerful enough to defeat his mother.



As Christopher walked up to his jet and entered the little plane he realized that the best thing he could do was to leave Iberia before his hidden enemies figured out he was onto them and moved against him. He would need to gather what resources and allies he could before hunting for his mother and the truth regarding her disappearance.



“Where are we headed sir?” the pilot asked the Iberian Minister.



Christopher considered the question for a long moment. Then he said firmly “Beverly Hills California.”



*****



Imperious Dakar would have preferred to have spent the next few hours monitoring Angelus and helping the elf adjust to his new body. However, an urgent matter had come up that required his immediate attention.



“You waste too much time and energy on these vicious games Selene…you should not have allowed Lera’s boy to leave Iberia again” the businessman stated coldly.



The technomancer and the ancient witch were meeting in President Lera’s main office again. Alone except for the transformed Gennifer Lera and the newest clone of Udragoth.



The Mind Flayer stood patiently by his master’s side, loyal and obedient as a well trained dog. Gennifer simply stared dreamily into space, spells of illusion and control permeating her mind and body to such an extent that even her mistress Selene wasn’t sure how much (if anything) that the drow sorceress understood of what was really going on around her.





Dakar and Selene couldn’t match the serenity of their servants at the moment. Not that the psychic vampire or demonically enhanced cyborg were actually trying to.



“Why not…it is amusing to watch the child try so earnestly to put the clues together…and it is not like young Christopher has the power to hurt us” Selene said lazily, as she mentally contemplated what clothes would look best on Gennifer’s black body, which now possessed her daughter’s curves.



Dakar moved to step in front of Selene, making sure that the witch could not ignore him as he replied “the boy may not have his mother’s power or armies of his own…but he is the face that Iberia presents to the world…if Christopher figures out what is going on and tells people that THINGS ARE NOT RIGHT in Iberia people will listen…you should not have let him leave.”



Selene looked up into Dakar’s scarred face, staring into eyes with a crimson gleam eerily similar to her own. She did not like being talked down to, and if most people addressed her as Imperious was doing she would have tormented and/or destroyed them.



But…



~I still need this arrogant upstart…at least for now~ the Black Queen thought. All too aware of how much she still depended on the resources of Imperious Industries to build her cults.



“Then what do you want to do about it?” Selene asked softly, her beautiful mask of a face not showing a hint of the destructive urges she was suppressing.



“When Christopher Lera comes back the boy will be taken prisoner and have his mind changed…he will become our loyal supporter…we can’t waste anymore time on this sadistic nonsense of yours” Dakar said harshly, wanting be absolutely certain that he got his point across.



Selene merely smiled as her eyes flared crimson, her long hair casting deep shadows on her face as she looked down in what someone who didn’t know her might have taken as a gesture of submissiveness or humility. But Dakar had seen into the old witch’s mind, and he knew better.



In her own way Selene was just as arrogant and stubborn as Chrissy Lera.



But Imperious Dakar was not willing to give ground this time either. Dealing with Christopher Lera and the danger he posed was too important.



The air was charged with tension and sorcerous power, with both of the demonically enhanced beings on the verge of unleashing their weapons on each other. But then Selene seemed to calm herself and the moment of danger passed.



“As you wish…I was growing bored with the game anyway” Selene said airily as she turned around to leave the room.



“Selene were not done here…there is still the matter of…” Dakar began to say, but the ancient witch rudely interrupted him.



“Sorry but I have urgent business on Terra One…I am certain that a man like you can handle things here until I return.”



Selene’s voice was filled with mockery, and she did not even bother to look at Dakar as she spoke. Her face and form a perfect representation of haughty beauty.



Imperious Dakar prided himself on his self control; nevertheless it was only with the aid of his neural implants that he was able to suppress the urge to attack the witch as Selene turned her back on him, adding insult to (potential) injury.



Her constant scheming was bad enough, but risking exposing their operation to the outside world merely to play mind games with a male she had taken a fancy to bothered Dakar on multiple levels. It was petty, perverse, and worst of all (in the businessman’s eyes) it was wasteful.



Imperious Dakar still needed the witch and her skills to conduct his off world business, but the day was fast approaching when Selene would no longer be essential to Dakar’s business.



The former mercenary was looking forward to it.



*****



Although the whole process had been very traumatic and disorienting at first, Angelus was starting to get used to his new body; despite the fact that it was so different from his old body.



The descendant of wood elves enjoyed many of the differences. Such as the fact that he had a sense of touch again, unlike the sensory data that his old body had provided his brain on pressure and nearby objects, which had served much the same function as a sense of touch but felt much less natural and pleasant.



Angelus spent a long time simply holding a mechanical pencil. Marveling at the sensations he was getting from the area of his hand that was directly touching the pencil, comparing it to the rather sterile ‘feelings’ that he had possessed before in place of touch.



Doctor Durga and the Mind Flayer’s colleagues monitored the cyborg elf attentively. Watching the large naked elf for the first sign of clear problems or abnormalities.



Angelus broke the pencil in half and then crushed it to powder in his hand, pleased to see that his new body had at least some of the power of his old one.



The cyborg elf was so focused on his minor act of destruction that he did not notice Imperious Dakar and Udragoth enter the lab, only becoming aware that something had happened when Doctor Durga and his colleagues left the room at Dakar’s command.



Angelus watched intently as the scientists, biologists, and engineers walked out of the laboratory; studying them with his ‘normal’ eye and the more sophisticated sensors he now had at his disposal. Turning to Dakar once he and the technomancer were the only people left in the room (as far as Angelus was concerned Udragoth didn’t count).



“What do you think of your new body?” Imperious murmured softly as he gazed at the altered elf, studying Angelus with his full range of powers as he waited for a reply.



“It seems much better…at least for…recreational use…but I don’t like how vulnerable it is” Angelus replied slowly, clearly thinking about the answer as he spoke. Placing a hand protectively over his restored manhood (which had been all but destroyed in his old body) without being consciously aware of it.



Dakar was thinking about the sound of Angelus’s new voice at least as much male elf’s words.



The voice was a deep baritone, yet there was something melodious and pleasing to the ear about it that seemed at odds with Angelus’s forceful personality. Dakar knew that quality would make the new Angelus seem more intimidating to many people, and such a development pleased Angelus’s former subordinate.



But Dakar was still not deaf to Angelus’s concerns, and almost immediately answered “I also built detachable armor that will make you look like your ‘old’ self…but will have much more firepower and even more sophisticated defensive systems.”



“Will I still be able to control everything mentally?” Angelus asked uncertainly, hating how dependent he was on someone else for all this, even it was Imperious Dakar.



“Of course…the body’s systems have a direct neural link to your brain…including the armor…I would not make you weaker Angelus” Dakar said with trace of compassion he would have shown no one else.





Neither male was comfortable with such displays of emotion, at least not when it came to each other, and an awkward silence descended on the room. Dakar broke it by saying “come…there is something else I need to show you.”



Angelus and Udragoth followed Dakar to an area of the lab that the elf had never seen before. This section of the laboratory was unremarkable except for a large transparent cylinder near one of the walls. The cylinder was filled with liquid and a large humanoid form floated peacefully inside it.



A form that seemed disturbingly familiar to Angelus.



“WHAT IS THAT!” the cyborg elf exclaimed in shock.



It was clearly an elf, though an exceptionally tall one. The skin tone, hair color, and facial implant and mechanical eye were the same as what Angelus now had. There was even something of Angelus’s features in its facial structure. Moreover like the male elf’s new body the only hint of its artificial nature on the outside were the mechanical eye and the surrounding metal, the rest of it (including the other eye) appeared organic and healthy.



But what really grabbed Angelus’s attention were the differences between himself and this other cyborg.



It was more slender than his new self, and its form appeared substantially less muscular. It also had curves that Angelus had never possessed in any form, and a certain quality that virtually all males seemed to lack.



But all these details were secondary; Angelus understood the truth with one glance at the creature’s chest and between its legs.



“You made a female version of me?” Angelus murmured in dawning realization.



“No…just a female version of your new body…like your current body until recently…it lacks a brain” Dakar patiently explained.



Angelus stared at the female cyborg, which possessed a figure somewhere between voluptuous and athletic. His gaze repeatedly stopping at her large breasts and hairless womanhood, which in the soldier’s opinion did not belong on any version of himself.



“How?...why?”



“It was relatively easy once I figured out all the basic plans making that body you’re using now…I just had to make the internal superstructure a little smaller and put cloned flesh over everything…of course I had to use some genetic engineering to make the organic parts female…but that was child’s play thanks to the medical techniques we have access to now” the technomancer answered as he gazed at the female cyborg with evident pride.



That answered the how but not the why, as Angelus was quick to point out with an exclamation of “But why Dakar…WHY WOULD YOU DO SUCH A THING!”



Imperious Dakar turned his full attention back to his old friend, and replied “if something happens to your current body and its irreparably damaged or destroyed your brain can be transferred to this one with relative ease.”



“All right so it’s a backup body…but why make it female?” Angelus asked which for him was the heart of the matter.



Imperious Dakar was a good liar and an even better manipulator, but no one knew him better than Angelus. And the cyborg elf detected nothing but sincerity from the technomancer as Dakar answered “I wanted to see how difficult it would be to make a female version of you.”



As Angelus stared at the male he had once mentored and whose development he had done so much to shape an odd thought formed in his mind ~did I somehow make you this way or were you always so strange Dakar?~



*****



The predatory Selene arrived on Terra One to find that her high priestess Esme Cuckoo was advancing their plans to eliminate the Vampire Slayer Alliance with remarkable speed.



Driven by her Mistress’s subtle taunts and her own fierce pride Esme had set up a confrontation between Imperious Industries and the V.S.A. mere days after being given the task by Selene. Determined to demonstrate that no one was more worthy than herself to be Selene’s second-in-command.



Unaware of the fact that the ancient witch had always (barring a few rare exceptions) tried to foster a little insecurity in all her top subordinates, so that they would continually be trying to prove their loyalty and worth to her. Working harder and harder for the ‘glory’ that was Selene.



But regardless of her motives it was difficult to deny what Esme Cuckoo had accomplished. All the pawns were in position, and it seemed that soon the Vampire Slayer Alliance would be plunged into a war they could not win.



*****



Susan Zweller and a representative from the V.S.A. were meeting in a popular though relatively inexpensive restaurant in London, England, a capital city that was increasingly becoming a secondary base of operations for the Slayer Army. This was the main reason why the Slayers had arranged to meet with Zweller there.



Except for the V.S.A. headquarters itself, there was no permanent Vampire Slayer base with more Slayers than the one in London. Since the new leaders of the V.S.A. did not want to let any Imperious Industries people into their HQ again, but still wanted to meet with Susan somewhere that they felt the V.S.A. was in a position of strength, London was the natural choice.



The restaurant was busy and numerous Slayers wearing ordinary clothes and concealed weapons were able to pose as regular customers. They camouflaged themselves well and as far as most of the wait staff and other customers could tell the security detail was just a bunch of young women out on the town.



Susan Zweller’s bodyguards were also posing as regular customers, but they were all male (and more obviously threatening than the Slayers). So that if the negotiations went sour and the two security forces attacked each other it could become a battle of the sexes in the little restaurant.



Oddly enough, even though the Vampire Slayer Alliance was composed primarily of women it had chosen to send a man as its representative. A warlock named Rick whose magic and quick thinking had saved most of his companions at the battle where Buffy Summers fell.



The powerful warlock had quick reflexes and had already proven himself in battle, more importantly he had earned the trust of Willow Rosenberg. Which was why Rick had been chosen to meet with Zweller.

Unfortunately for Rick the warlock his mental shields were not particularly strong. At least not by the standards of a powerful telepath like Esme Cuckoo.



*****



~I can’t believe those bitches didn’t send anyone better to protect him…this is almost too easy~ Esme Cuckoo thought scornfully.



The telepath and witch-in-training was in a limousine a dozen blocks away from the restaurant where the V.S.A. and Imperious Industries representatives were meeting. Close enough that distance wouldn’t weaken the power of her telepathy at all, but far enough from the action so that she wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire when things became violent.



Using Rick’s body like a puppet Esme had the warlock pull a concealed weapon out of his pocket and aim it straight at Susan Zweller, the surprise on the werewolf’s face genuine.



Esme had not told Susan Zweller about the plan; the mentally fragmented killer thought that this was going to be a regular meeting. Cuckoo had told Selene that it was because she wanted Susan’s reactions to be real, so that no one would suspect her involvement, but that wasn’t true.



Esme was trying to establish and demonstrate her dominance over Susan Zweller in the informal hierarchy of Selene’s followers. Something that she thought could be accomplished by arranging the destruction of the Slayer Army without the (knowing) help of the insane werewolf.



~Besides it’s not like a shot to the head will even hurt her for long…and as soon as they see Susan go down her people will open fire on the Slayers~ Esme predicted as she tried to make Rick pull the trigger and shoot Susan in the head.



But something wouldn’t let her; it was fighting against her power.



~WHAT!...HE’S NOT THIS STRONG…WHAT’S GOING ON?~ Esme protested as she was pushed out of Rick’s mind.



The amateur witch felt a flare of magic right outside her car. Then the door to her limo was ripped off and Esme caught a flash of red hair and dark eyes before a bolt of mystical energy struck her in the torso, knocking her out instantly.



Even someone like Esme Cuckoo had relatively weak mental defenses when she was unconscious, leaving the telepath all but helpless when her attacker reached for her own mind.



*****



Rick the warlock was confused, he had been talking to Susan Zweller about what kind of compensation from Imperious Industries the V.S.A. would be willing to accept over the ‘incident’ where Buffy Summers had died and several other Vampire Slayers had fallen when he had experienced a horrible headache as SOMETHING attacked his mind. Now he was being held off the ground by the front of his shirt by an angry werewolf, Susan’s canine features only inches from his own as she growled a question at him over and over again.



~When did she change into her wolfwoman form?~ the dazed warlock wondered. Then he became more conscious of his surroundings and Rick realized how stupid he was being to ignore an angry werewolf getting in his face.



“Why did you point a gun at me boy?”





As the question registered Rick started to look around, seeing that his bodyguards and Susan’s people had all stood up and drawn weapons on each other. The men and women carefully aimed their guns at one another as frightened waiters and customers ran off. Rick could hear someone he thought was the restaurant manager shouting that he was calling the police in the background.



~Okay this is bad…I need to handle it carefully~ Rick thought.



“Put me down Susan…we don’t want this to turn into a fire fight…no one is wearing body armor and every one of my girls is carrying silver bullets” Rick bluffed, for he had not been able to get his hands on any silver bullets before meeting with the werewolf.



The werewolf seemed to be talking to herself for a moment, and then she slowly put Rick down; her massive furry form looking very out of place in the little restaurant.



“I do not know…I think some sort of magical force tried to make me shoot you…but I…threw it off and have no real desire to hurt you” Rick said in a conciliatory tone.



Susan still looked angry (though it was hard for Rick and his comrades to read expressions on her wolf-like face), nevertheless she commanded her people to stand down and put away their weapons. After the Imperious Industries security personnel did so Rick told his Slayers to do the same.



Remembering that the bestial looking Zweller was a woman if not a lady Rick decided that owed her an apology. Saying in a mostly sincere tone “Will you accept my apology for any anger, fear, or other negative feelings I may have caused you Susan?…that was not my intent.”



The werewolf had never looked less human to Rick, with her massive muscular body, long grey fur, dog-like face, and sharp claws and fangs. It was hard for Rick to believe at that exact moment that such a creature was capable of any of the softer emotions.



The wolfwoman just stared at the warlock for a long time, and Rick couldn’t even guess at her thoughts. But she eventually muttered in an almost normal voice “accepted.”



The meeting ended on a sour note, and the two groups being represented did not come to any agreements. However, no one was hurt or killed so under the circumstances Rick thought that he had come out ahead.



*****



Selene had not bothered to watch Esme’s scheme unfold.



The ancient witch had been too distracted playing with her latest meal, a handsome young bodybuilder who had begun to attend her club Divine Delight recently that had caught Selene’s eye. Seducing the muscular male had been an easy and pleasant diversion for the old predator, for the young man had recently broken up with his long time girlfriend and welcomed the attentions of the beautiful club owner.



The evening had more or less gone as they both wanted it to, and after a pleasant meal and a long period of flirting Selene and her newest boy-toy had ended up in one of Selene’s private rooms beneath Divine Delight.



Now the horny young man was in bed with the pale skinned witch, his much larger body positioned on top of Selene’s voluptuous and deceptively soft form as he pushed inside her with every thrust. Breathing heavily as he roughly fucked the young looking woman, gripping her shoulders and breasts with punishing force as he pumped in and out of Selene, completely oblivious to the terrible danger he was in.



Selene was utterly open to the rutting male (physically at least) greeting his rough treatment with cries of encouragement and letting him explore and penetrate any part of her body that he wanted. Becoming wet and wanton more at anticipation of what was to come than anything else.



~Such an eager little boy~ Selene thought indulgently as she felt his orgasm approaching. Intent on consuming him just as he achieved release so that she could drink in his orgasm along with the foolish young man’s soul.



But just as he ejaculated inside Selene and the psychic vampire reached for his life force and spirit something pulled her lover off Selene and threw the bodybuilder against a wall with enough force to instantly knock him out, giving Selene a clear view of the slender red haired woman now standing by her bed.



“Willow Rosenberg?” Selene exclaimed in surprise just before lightning as dark as her own spirit erupted from the other witch’s hands and struck Selene with enough power to send her flying across the room.



“It was YOU…IT WAS YOU ALL ALONG” Willow said harshly as she slowly walked over to Selene. Not letting up her lightning barrage for a moment.



The Wiccan had suspected some sort of foul play when Susan Zweller had requested another meeting with the V.S.A. on behalf of Imperious Industries. So she had magically monitored the meeting between Susan and Rick from a nearby location, detecting and countering Esme Cuckoo’s attempt at manipulation and mind control with her own powerful spells almost instantly. Then plundering the witch-in-training’s mind of secrets and binding the telepath with her magic.



After that Willow had immediately teleported to Selene’s club, for she now knew everything that Esme did. Including the fact that Selene had just tried to destroy the Slayer Army.



“You will NEVER hurt my friends again” Willow said in a eerily calm voice, as the energy and heat of her lightning tore through Selene’s defensive enchantments and other protections and began to char the ancient predator’s flesh. Mercilessly ignoring Selene’s pain filled cries.



Under most circumstances Willow Rosenberg could not have so completely dominated a fight against the older and more skilled Selene. But it had been too long since the psychic vampire had fed and Selene’s powers were weakened, moreover the Black Queen had not expected the attack and the Wiccan had caught the distracted Selene completely by surprise.



Dozens of confused cultists rushed into the room, summoned by the sound of their mistress’s earsplitting shrieks. Arriving just in time to watch Willow burn off Selene’s skin.



They attacked Willow with the fury of fanatics. But for all their devotion the cultists were only human, and the angry Wiccan pushed them aside with a casual gesture and a surge of dark power.



Ever since her lover Tara died Willow had known the terrible power of the Dark Side of magic. She usually tried to resist its temptations, but in this moment she gave in, drawing on all the mystic forces she could to destroy Selene.



The mutant witch herself hardly looked human anymore, with exposed muscle, bone, and organs visible and in many cases lightly charred Selene resembled a hunk of raw meat more than anything else, appearing all but dead.



But Willow knew better, she vividly recalled watching the witch recover with superhuman speed from apparently mortal wounds before. Besides Selene’s continuing screams proved that she still had some life left.



The lightning assault suddenly ended and Selene tried to sit up, hoping that Willow could be distracted or evaded long enough for her to heal. Feeling disturbingly like prey as the redhead glowered down at her.



~Her eyes are black now…what does that mean?~ Selene thought as she gazed at the other witch, feeling the magic that emanated from Willow, which seemed at least as dark and malevolent as Selene’s own.



“Bleed” the Wiccan murmured in a casual, almost amused tone; her voice infused with so much power that it was practically a spell in its own right. Watching with a little smile as over a hundred wounds spontaneously opened up in Selene’s body and begun to gush blood.



The psychic vampire was now lying in a puddle of her own bodily fluids, covered in third degree burns, weak with blood loss, and continuing to receive physical damage faster than even her body could heal it. Perhaps worst of all, Selene was now convinced that Willow was not even going to stop her assault long enough to gloat. In desperation the wounded witch tried to write a spell to teleport away upon the floor in her own blood.



~Oh no~ Selene mentally moaned just before a ball of fire descended from Willow’s glowing hand and hit her in the face.



It struck with enough force and heat to shatter Selene’s head, but the Wiccan wasn’t finished. She kept throwing fireballs at the witch’s ruined body until there was nothing left but ash. Then she burned even the ashes down to virtually nothing.



~She’s dead~ Willow thought, her eyes returning to their normal color as she mentally and spiritually pulled back from the dark forces she had embraced only moments ago. Sickened by yet in a way perversely proud of what she had just done.



~At least Selene can’t hurt anyone else anymore~ Willow told herself as she left the club, already organizing a raid on Divine Delight and the other Cult of Selene bases in her head before she had left the building.



However, almost as soon as Willow Rosenberg left the room what remained of Selene began to re-gather. Swirling and twisting to return to a familiar form, knowing its true shape.