Merchants of Death

Chapter 19



It took Kimie Li over a day to get the information Christopher Lera wanted, and once the female demon had, she felt even more certain that this Iberian affair was not something that she should get involved in. A patient person might have waited to gather more data before coming to any conclusions, but patience had never been one of the demonic porn star’s vices or virtues.



So Kimie went to find Christopher and give him the news. Finding him asleep in the bedroom where the male dark elf and female demon had made love the previous day. She knew the young Minister of Foreign Relations probably needed his sleep considering everything he had been through recently, but he had asked her to tell him as soon as she had any real news.



“What…Li?” Christopher said blearily as Kimie shook him awake, staring up at her horned head as he regained consciousness. Muttering “couldn’t you just ask me to get up?” as he got out of bed.



“I find a good shaking usually works best” Kimie replied with unusual briskness.



Christopher was finally awake enough to realize that he was still naked. So he began to search the room for his underwear and other clothes.



~How did they get there?~ Christopher wondered when he found his clothes under a pile of women’s lingerie, DVDs, batteries, and sex toys.



“I have news” Kimie said grimly as she watched Christopher get dressed. For once not in the right frame of mind to enjoy watching a handsome male put on or take off his clothes.



“Good news” Christopher said hopefully, although he was honestly expecting anything but.



“No.”



The male elf finished dressing and turned to regard Kimie. Noticing for the first time that the seductive demon was dressed unusually conservatively, wearing a black business suit tailored to her tall and shapely figure. The fun loving demon also had an unusually grave expression on her face.



Christopher found himself dreading the answer as he asked “what do you mean?”



“According to my contacts the Mind Flayers in Iberia having been getting more and more out of control…kidnapping, torturing, eating, and simply killing Iberian citizens without even an attempt at covering it up or justifying it….some of my friends even suggested that the illithids were Iberia’s new ruling class and not just its spymasters anymore” Kimie replied grimly.



“That’s…not good” the usually talkative Christopher said. Not even his years of experience as Iberia’s Foreign Minister enough to let him find a positive spin on what Kimie had just said.



“It gets worse…nobody knows just what Imperious Industries is really doing in Iberia but they keep shipping more and more stuff there…a lot more than Imperious Industries would need to do what your mother hired them to do” Kimie went on.



“Can you give me any details?” Christopher asked, hoping that he could get some idea of what specifically was going on in his home country.



“I’m afraid not….according to what my friends say everyone whose gone to Iberia to personally investigate over the last few months just disappeared…but everyone seems to agree that something seriously fucked up is going on in Iberia” Kimie answered, her words extinguishing what little hope Christopher had remaining that this was all just a misunderstanding of some sort.



*****



The system for keeping insects, mice, and other vermin out of the Imperious Industries med lab was very efficient. But no system is one hundred percent effective, and vermin occasionally got inside the building.



The rat currently fleeing for its life through the med lab was just such a creature, though of course it had no appreciation for such factors as it ran into a utility closet.



The rat was cornered there, and snarled as it raised its front paws to warn off its pursuer, intending to fight now that flight was no longer an option. But the predator chasing it merely smiled at the display, and then poked the rat with a tiny white hand.



The rat screamed piteously as its body was turned to dust, its meager life force and spirit flowing into the creature that killed it.



Mini-Selene moaned in pleasure as she grew a few inches, while her mind expanded at least as much as her body. Then the creation of Selene left in search of new prey.



She was still hungry.



*****



Susan Zweller was pleased. She had just finished negotiations with the Vampire Slayer Alliance regarding compensation over the wrongful death of their leader Buffy Summers and she felt that she had gotten the best terms that she could for Imperious Industries under the circumstances. The V.S.A. had also seemed somewhat pleased, because they had needed the monetary concessions that the company had given them. More importantly (at least as far as Susan was concerned), the V.S.A. was claiming responsibility for killing Selene, meaning that the werewolf was finally free of the sadistic old witch. Selene’s protégé Esme also seemed to have disappeared, which was good for Susan since the young telepath and witch-in-training had been anything but a friend to her.



These turn of events pleased both dominant aspects of Susan’s consciousness. As for her personalities other than Lex and Cain, they were too repressed to have much of an opinion on anything anyway (most of the time).



This good mood lasted until Susan walked through the inter-dimensional portal to arrive in the portal facility in Iberia. Only to realize that there was no one in the Portal Room (unless you counted the Epsilon robot stationed near where she was standing).



More importantly, Susan couldn’t breathe, because all the oxygen had been drained out of the airtight Portal Room. She tried to flee back through the portal, but the Epsilon robot grabbed her, its massive metal fist wrapping around her slender arm. Preventing her from getting back to the oxygen rich environment she had just left.



Under ordinary circumstances the werewolf could put up quite a fight. But Susan’s supernatural abilities made her no less vulnerable to oxygen deprivation, and the werewolf lost consciousness in seconds.



*****



Imperious Dakar did not believe in fair fights.



He always tried to weaken his enemies any way that he could and use every advantage available to him. That is why he never even seriously considered just confronting Susan directly.



The technomancer wished to interrogate the werewolf about her relationship with Selene. But Susan was cunning, strong, and incredibly resistant to injury and telepathic probing. She was also perhaps the best liar Dakar had ever met.



Getting the truth from the amoral werewolf would require extreme measures, the sort of measures that the proud and self serving spy would almost certainly violently object to. So Dakar decided to skip that violent confrontation by knocking Susan out, stripping her, and chaining her (with silver metal) to an examination table (used for dissecting large animals).



When Susan regained consciousness she saw that she was being watched by three people, Imperious Dakar, Udragoth, and a very large and muscular male elf that the werewolf had never seen before. But there was still something familiar about the elf.



He was very fair skinned with blonde hair and one glowing (blue) mechanical eye, the male elf was also staring at her with an expression of naked dislike. Susan looked directly into his one ‘real’ eye as she said coyly “oh kinky Dakar…but if you wanted to do a little bondage and have a threesome you boys didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”



Of course Susan knew that Dakar wouldn’t knock her out and chain her up just for a sex game, but she thought it was better to act ‘innocent’ for now.



“We should just kill the bitch now…she is a pathological liar and this is the best we will get out of her” the elf said ruthlessly, his voice deep yet pleasant to the ear.



The male’s words gave Lex (the intellectual and currently dominant aspect of Susan) the clue she needed, and the woman’s eyes widened as she guessed aloud “Angelus?”



“Yes Kitten…as you can see Angelus is fully recovered from his wounds” Dakar said, his words cool and casual, no hint of anger or any other negative emotion in his tone. Lex had enough intimate knowledge of Dakar to know that that meant that he was really angry.



“So you managed to put him back together” Lex said casually, wanting to keep the conversation on ‘safe’ ground, rather than talking about one of her many betrayals. Even though she was almost certain that this whole episode was about one of them.



“Aren’t you curious what this is about my girl?” Dakar asked, his red eyes gleaming with a dangerous light.



“I figured you would tell me when you were ready” Susan stated casually.



“Selene” Angelus said with his usual blunt brutality.



Susan swallowed nervously, she had been afraid of that.



“What about her?” the werewolf asked, still hoping that she could get out of here without admitting to anything, even though she was intelligent enough to know better.



“You know what I mean bitch…you and the witch have been plotting against me since you two met” Dakar replied icily.



“I had no choice Dakar…that soulless old witch used magic to force me to help her” the werewolf said truthfully.



“Yes…AFTER you had willingly helped her for months” Dakar harshly countered.



The werewolf was silent for a moment as she digested how much trouble she was in. Then she simply asked “how did you find out?”



“Selene finally went too far when she tried to get that warlock to attack you and start a war between the Slayer Army and my company…and when I took the witch down I tore the truth from her mind” Dakar harshly explained.



~I TOLD you not to underestimate Dakar, Selene…but you just wouldn’t listen would you bitch~ Lex thought vindictively. Not surprised to find out that Selene was involved in the incident where she almost got shot in the head by the V.S.A. representative.



But all things considered, the werewolf would rather have helped wipe out the Slayer Army than face this. Lex figured that even the most powerful and vengeful Vampire Slayer was less dangerous to her than an angry Imperious.



“If you took Selene’s thoughts then you know she forced me to help her” Susan said defensively.



“Oh yes…but you helped the old vampire willingly at first” Dakar said, his scarred face eerily empty of all expression.



“She…promised me and Cain bodies of our own…so that we could be our own persons…rather than…this” Lex confessed. Accepting the fact that Dakar knew all about her betrayal, and that lying to him about it (even by omission) was pointless at best right now.



“Fool…the soul can’t be divided like that…what Selene promised you is impossible” Dakar icily announced.



The werewolf sighed and replied “I know that now.”



Angelus smiled as he watched the proceedings. This was the most significant thing the cyborg elf had done since gaining his new body, and he was glad that it involved humiliating Susan. For Angelus had never trusted and had long despised the treacherous werewolf.



“So what now Dakar?” Susan asked.



“You will let me into your mind to analyze your memories…after that I will decide what to do with you” Dakar demanded.



“You can’t read my thoughts Dakar…you already tried that…you said my mind was too violent and chaotic to enter…remember” Lex answered, unable to keep a note of fear out of her voice.



“I know…but Selene didn’t seem to have trouble doing it…which means I can do it…so you will WELCOME me into your consciousness” Dakar stated.



The examination table was positioned so that Susan Zweller was flat on her back; the werewolf had to look up at Dakar, Angelus, and Udragoth (who were all standing around the table). This meant that Susan couldn’t see any of them below the waist, so the werewolf was somewhat surprised when Angelus lifted his right arm to reveal a gun bigger than her slender torso, and then placed the barrel of the weapon directly against her forehead.



Susan’s first instinct (as the brutal Cain stirred) was to try to change into her bigger and more powerful form to fight or flee. But Lex knew that if that happened the silver restraints would cut into her flesh as she grew, seriously hurting or even killing her in the process. So Lex did her best to reassure and repress Cain as she smiled and said “this really isn’t necessary Dakar.”



“If you resist…if I cannot enter your mind for any reason…Angelus will pull the trigger” Dakar coolly announced.



Angelus put the slightest pressure on the trigger, and Susan could hear the weapon emit a low whine as the plasma gun started build up a charge. Susan could also smell the faintest scent of ozone in the air as the weapon prepared to fire.



“And if anything happens to me while I’m in your mind Angelus will pull the trigger” Dakar continued in that same tone.



“One shot from this gun should be enough to destroy your whole head…just give me an excuse Susan” Angelus said grimly.



“I…guess I don’t have any real choice then do I?” Susan asked rhetorically. Though Lex could barely contain her fear and Cain’s rage was on the verge of being unleashed.



“No” Dakar said coldly, as Angelus simply smiled.



*****



Susan Zweller’s mind was a place where madness took tangible form. Many sorcerers and telepaths had speculated that Susan had a little psychic power of her own, and that her mental power magnified the effect of her madness on those around her.



But whatever the reason, the fact remained that her mind was so violently chaotic that simply trying to peer into it almost always hurt those that attempted such a foolhardy task. The effect was worse on people who tried to actually enter Susan’s mind, and many of them had died screaming after immersing themselves into the insanely fragmented landscape of the werewolf’s consciousness.



Dakar had known all this for a long time, which is why he was using Angelus to ensure the insane woman’s ‘good behavior’ when he entered her mind. But even with the gun to Susan’s head as insurance, Dakar was still uneasy about the whole thing.



Lex and Cain did not want to die, and they had to know that they would if they turned on him now. But the fact remained that Susan was insane, and therefore her rationality could not be counted on.



As a result Imperious Dakar experienced something like relief when the technomancer tried to enter Susan’s mind and felt none of the usual painful feedback. It seemed as though the werewolf really was trying to welcome him in.



Susan’s mental landscape appeared to Dakar as a grassy field with mountains and forests in the distance. The representation was so vivid and powerful that Dakar seemed to feel the grass beneath his feet and smell the plants surrounding him. But Dakar was more interested in the ‘people’ standing near him.



One was a small woman with features similar to Susan Zweller’s human form, except for the fact that her flesh looked as though it were made of ice. The ice woman wore a red power suit and a fearful expression, gazing at Dakar with obvious worry. The being standing next to her wore no clothes, but he didn’t need them, for his entire body was covered with thick grey fur. But the fur did nothing to hide the doglike creature’s fury, as he stared hatefully at Dakar.



The technomancer’s own psychic avatar looked much like his real body did, but his demonic nature was much more obvious here. Dakar’s eyes blazed with a hellish red light, his teeth seemed more like fangs, and his thick fingers ended in sharp claws.



In truth his appearance unnerved both Lex and Cain, although the bestial Cain would never admit to such a thing.



“We let you in” Cain snarled.



“So what do you want now?” Lex added in chilly tones.



“Everything” Dakar whispered. Then he dropped to his knees and smashed his fist into the ground, sinking his psychic hand deep into the foundations of this place, as he drew on the collective memories of Cain and Lex.



The beast and the ice woman howled as Dakar ripped open their memories, searching for every secret and lie within them. The strain was too much for Cain and he lost control, attempting to leap on Dakar, wanting to tear the technomancer into tiny mental fragments for the agony he was causing the brute.



“NO…HE’LL KILL US BOTH” Lex screamed as she tackled the bestial creature, her momentum knocking them both to the ground. The intellectual and animalistic aspects wrestled on the grass, fighting furiously despite the pain and disorientation they were experiencing.



While Dakar immersed himself in the memories that belonged to all of Susan’s personalities, using Udragoth’s power and his own demonic strength to bring Susan’s secrets into the light. With the werewolf distracted by her own internal battles it was a relatively simple process for Dakar to search for what he wanted, and the businessman was actually impressed by what he found.



~Amazing…she was reporting to me, the Illuminati, Selene, and Magnus all at the same time….and none of us understood that she was really just working for herself…at least not until Selene forced Susan to become her familiar…this woman is definitely the best liar I have ever met~ Dakar thought as he mentally digested the data. The calm and detached way that he reviewed Susan’s memories providing a sharp contrast to the agony Lex and Cain were currently experiencing as a result of his actions.



Dakar eventually found all the answers he needed in Susan’s memories, so he stopped drawing on the werewolf’s consciousness.



“Stop Cain stop…can’t you tell he’s done” Lex pleaded as she and Susan’s more ferocious aspect continued to roll around in the dirt, being too evenly matched for either to easily achieve dominance.



“Huh…what” Cain said stupidly as he realized the pain was gone, letting go of Lex a moment later.



As they got up Dakar was able to see the results of the battle more clearly. Cain was bleeding in several places and crimson fluid stained his fur, while Lex’s clothing was in shreds and her icy flesh was severely scratched, one of her little ears even appeared to have been bitten off.



But as Dakar watched the personalities wounds rapidly healed, even Lex’s suit seemed to mend itself. Dakar also noted the fact that Lex and Cain only seemed to recover once they were no longer fighting each other.



“What now” Lex asked the technomancer bitterly.



“Take me to the others” Dakar ordered.



The beast and the woman of ice stared at Imperious in shock. They had never imagined that he would demand that of them.



“I can kill you here” Cain growled.



“Probably…but if you kill me here Angelus will kill you in the real world and all this-“ Dakar replied as he gestured to the artificial landscape “-will disappear and YOU will cease to exist.”



Cain wordlessly growled in response, seemingly on the verge of a violent outburst.



“Cain please” Lex pleaded as she put a slender hand on the beast’s shoulder.



After a moment the great beast seemed to calm down. Although he continued to glare hatefully at Dakar, his yellow eyes gleaming with rage.



Lex took a moment to finger her suit, spending a minute fiddling with her non-real clothes as she refused to look Dakar or Cain in the eye. Trying to pretend that everything was okay.



“Now girl” Dakar said condescendingly when Lex and Cain were slow to respond to his orders.



“Follow me” the ice woman said tonelessly as she started to walk away from Cain and Dakar. Not reacting as her brother personality and tormentor wordlessly followed her.



Lex led them through the dense forest of Susan’s consciousness, a labyrinthine and treacherous path that only a part of the werewolf could successfully navigate. As Dakar walked through the trees he saw strange animals and plants that had no equivalent in the real world. If not for his neural implants even the technomancer probably would have found the place a bit creepy. Because as fragmented, twisted, and dangerous as this place was, it was still a living mind and Imperious Dakar had not encountered such powerful madness even among the demons and their victims.



The schemer eventually led Dakar and Cain to a large cave entrance. The darkness inside it seemed more profound than a mere lack of light, and Dakar felt a strong sense of wrongness as he walked up to the cave.



“Is this really necessary?” Lex said meekly, with no trace of her usual smug arrogance.



“Oh yes Lex” Dakar answered as his demon eyes focused on the ice woman with awful intensity.



Lex gulped nervously while Cain merely growled, then she walked into the cave.



The place was dirty, damp, and the cave walls were almost completely bare. There seemed to be nothing of interest in the small chamber, except for the two people chained to the wall.



One looked almost exactly like Susan Zweller’s real body (at least in its human form), but the woman was dirty and skinny to the point of starvation, and there was an empty, dead look in her haunted eyes. The other appeared to be a little blonde girl, whose small body was disfigured by numerous scars. Both females were naked, but there was such a palpable aura of hopelessness and despair surrounding them that there was nothing sexual or erotic about their nudity.



“Who is that one?” Dakar asked as he pointed to the little girl.



“Susan created her to suffer in her place…I named her Mary the Martyr” Lex explained as she looked at her sister personality in contempt.



“And the other?” Dakar asked after digesting this latest bit of information.



“Susan” Cain growled as he stepped forward and slapped the woman in question, the blow knocking Susan against the cave wall behind her. However, Susan had no visible reaction to Cain’s attack beyond moving back to where she had been sitting before the brute struck her.



“THE Susan?” Dakar said curiously, watching Cain abuse the female thing with a kind of calm detachment.



“Yes…the original personality…she created Mary so the girl could suffer instead of her…Cain to do her fighting…and me to do her scheming” Lex explained.



“Was this before or after you became a werewolf?” Dakar wondered aloud.



“Before…the bastard who infected us wasn’t expecting something like me” Lex said smugly.



“Or me” Cain said with a grin, as he fondly remembered the horrified expression on the older werewolf’s face when he tore out his throat.



Dakar was interested in hearing more about how Susan Zweller became a werewolf. But that would have to wait until he took care of more pressing business.



“So how did Susan end up here?...shouldn’t the original personality be more dominant?” Dakar asked.



“In theory perhaps…but she gave up too much of herself to make us…this bitch is the weakest of the four” Lex explained as she looked at Susan distastefully.



It occurred to Dakar that you might be able to consider Susan the ‘mother’ of the other personalities, which would make Lex, Cain, and Mary all siblings. And if that was the case, this was a the most dysfunctional and twisted family the technomancer had ever met.



Exploring the theme further, Dakar asked “but don’t you feel any empathy for them?...these girls are literally a part of you…isn’t this somewhat masochistic?”



“No…Susan created us out of fear…not affection or any noble purpose” Lex countered.



“And I can’t respect a natural born victim like Mary” Cain growled.



Dakar noticed for the first time that Mary seemed more aware of her surrounding than Susan. Gazing at Lex, Dakar, and Cain fearfully; flinching whenever someone stepped closer to her as though afraid of being hit.



“You said Susan was the weakest…so Mary is stronger than her” Dakar stated, seeking clarification.



“Yes, Mary might even have strength approaching Cain or myself…but she was created to endure pain not inflict it…so she will always submit to us” Lex explained.



“Why are they bound?” Dakar asked.



“They are weaker than us…but still strong enough to sometimes surface and briefly take over the body when me and Cain are distracted or quarreling…that’s why we decided to permanently bind them in the depths of our collective consciousness…they CAN’T escape from here” Lex declared proudly.



“So the primary reason you asked Selene for bodies of your own was to escape your ties to Mary and Susan…two females you regard as useless and despise” Dakar theorized.



Cain and Lex said nothing in response to Dakar’s theory, but their silence spoke volumes to the technomancer. It also gave Dakar the last piece of information he needed to formulate a plan to control this (oh so very) mad werewolf.



Imperious walked over to Susan and Mary and gently put a hand on their shoulders, Mary flinched at his touch and even Susan seemed to stir at the contact with another mind.



“What are you doing?” Lex said nervously.



“Touch me and die” Dakar warned, and his fiery eyes seemed to blaze even more brightly as he drew on his demonic strength as well as the psychic power of his illithid familiar in the outside world.



It happened too fast for Lex and Cain to react. They didn’t know what Dakar had just done, beyond the fact that he had done SOMETHING to Mary and Susan. And that they didn’t like it.



“WHAT DID YOU DO?” Lex screamed, her anger for once overwhelming her fear.



“I arranged things so that if you betray me again…or simply piss me off enough…Susan and Mary will be freed…with enough power to repress the two of you this time” Dakar announced.



“YOU’RE BLUFFING” Cain snarled.



“I am a telepath operating inside your mind with the power of an illithid behind me…there is very little I can’t do to you right now” Dakar boasted.



“I still say your bluffing” Cain burst out, but his voice lacked conviction.



“Then I should just do it now” Dakar said calmly.



“NO!” Lex and Cain both screamed in unison.



“You don’t want me to do it?” Dakar calmly asked.



Lex refused to meet his gaze and simply stared at the floor, while Cain glared at him hatefully. But their lack of active resistance told Dakar that he had won.



“In that case you girls belong to me now…and your soul is mine bitch” Dakar said mercilessly.



*****



Because she was so good at playing the roles of dumb bimbo, playful sex kitten, and lazy socialite, people tended to underestimate Kimie Li. And the demon liked it that way.



But these people were ignorant of the fact that Kimie had learned power politics from a balor and seduction from a succubus, that she had survived the brutal politics of the Abyssal elite for centuries, and that all these experiences had given her a keen nose for trouble. As a result Kimie had become someone with a real talent for sensing danger or opportunity.



This ‘danger sense’ was telling her that she should stay far away from Iberia. So Kimie was less than receptive when Christopher Lera suggested that she go there with him.



“But you JUST escaped from there Chris” the demon protested.



“I know…but I need to see if there’s anything I can do for mother and the others” Christopher declared.



“You will be shot or imprisoned on sight” Kimie predicted.



“Of course I would go disguised” Lera said in an attempt to reason with his hostess.



Kimie still appeared unconvinced so Christopher decided to change tactics. He lightly grasped Li’s shoulder’s and looked deeply into her yellowish eyes, pulling his face close to hers as he said in an intimate tone “I know it’s crazy Kimie…but they’re my family…please help me…I don’t have anyone else at this point.”



The demon sighed and gently but firmly pushed Christopher away, looking unusually doubtful and conflicted for a moment.



The truth was Kimie Li didn’t like risking her neck for anyone, her childhood in the Abyss had taught her to always look out for her own needs first. But Chrissy Lera had also been one of her few real friends, and besides, Christopher looked so adorably pitiful at the moment (at least from the point of view of a lusty older woman).



“All right…but you can’t take your bodyguards” Kimie said.



Christopher was relieved that Kimie said yes, but he couldn’t help objecting “why not?...they’re probably the only people I can trust other than you now.”



“Because Chris if the entire government leadership in Iberia has been infiltrated they might have gotten to your security detail too” Kimie explained.



“No my people are loyal…besides they have all been with me since before this whole mess started” the dark elf insisted.



Kimie looked at Christopher with pity wondering ~was I ever that naïve?~ but she just said dismissively “It doesn’t matter anyway.”



“Why?”



“Because while I might be able to hide your movements and conceal your identity Chris I can’t do the same with over a dozen people under these conditions” Kimie explained.



Christopher wasn’t sure how to argue with that. It seemed to make too much sense. So he took a moment to look around the room they were currently in, which appeared to be some sort of little storage room full of knickknacks.



“Why did you take us here anyway?...your office was more comfortable” Christopher asked.



“It’s the only room in the mansion that doesn’t appear on any security screens…I didn’t want anyone to eavesdrop on our conversation” Kimie explained.



Christopher was silent as he mentally digested this, then he turned to Kimie and said “you’re a lot more paranoid and cunning than you let on.”



“It’s not paranoia if they REALLY are out to get you” Kimie said as she looked up and down Christopher’s attractive form. Considering the best way to disguise the young elf male, and then grinning wickedly as she had a great idea.



Though she doubted Christopher would like it.



*****



The scientists and wizards who were employed at the Imperious Industries med lab were largely immune to shock at this point. Having a great deal of experience with the strange and unusual. But this latest project was testing even their limits in the area.



“Why won’t it die?” one of the wizards muttered in frustration after the last effort to destroy Selene’s body failed.



All that remained of the ancient witch’s once impressive physical form was a strange liquid. According to all the scientific tests they had performed on it the substance was something like blood. Magical tests revealed that the liquid was a kind of concentrated life force and magic in tangible form. All the researchers agreed that it still contained Selene’s mind and spirit, they simply couldn’t figure out how to change that state of affairs.



They had tried boiling it, freezing it, poisoning it, and even more exotic methods of killing what remained of Selene. But nothing seemed to effect the mass permanently, and it kept returning to its liquid state. Ordinarily the researchers might have gladly spent days studying this remarkable phenomena, but Imperious Dakar had ordered them to complete the destruction of Selene, and made it clear that he would not accept failure.



Most of the researchers were painfully aware of this as they studied the dark mass of Selene, which was being held in the transparent airtight and shatterproof container in the middle of the laboratory. The large sphere had a vast array of technological and magical sensory devices built into it, providing plenty of data to occupy the scientists and wizards. But the head of the project to kill Selene had other things on his mind.



~What a remarkable creature~ Doctor Durga thought, fascinated by Selene’s amazing recuperative powers. Simply killing such a being without learning all you could about it and its abilities first seemed like such a waste to the Mind Flayer.



Eventually his curiosity was too much to resist, and Durga ordered the other researchers out of the lab. Because regardless of his orders, the illithid wanted to perform some tests first before this ‘execution’ business went any further.



*****



Selene had never felt this isolated or helpless since she had first used her powers. Even the previous times that she had been captured and tortured had not been this bad.



The witch no longer had a real body, just a mass of organic liquid that her spirit was attached to. She could not see, hear, taste, or touch, cut off from the world in a way that even most of those who had undergone the torture of sensory deprivation would have trouble imagining.



It probably would have driven her crazy, if Selene had not already been a little mad to begin with.



And the attempts to destroy her physical form kept getting more severe, the only reason she had been able to maintain some sort of body up to this point was that she had figured out how to drain power from the nano-machines that had wrecked her body in the first place. But it was a temporary solution at best, even Selene wasn’t quite sure how she was draining the tiny machines of energy, and the witch had no idea whether or not she could repeat the trick if someone injected her with more of them. More importantly, Selene had already used up almost all the power she had taken from Dakar’s machines in her efforts to hold her body together.



Despite the fact that she had arrogance to rival Chrissy Lera’s, Selene was close to despair. Then something changed in the outside world, and the ancient predator felt her strength slowly returning.



*****



Imperious Dakar did not believe in wasting anything potentially useful. That is why Imperious Industries robots too damaged and/or obsolete to sell or to be of use in Dakar’s own security forces were often employed in weapons tests and combat training before being recycled.



That was also why this section of forest was full of hostile (but heavily damaged) Epsilon units, Sentinels (from Selene’s Earth), and lightly armed robots known as Battle Droids (though the Battle Droids were not damaged, they were simply judged too pathetic to sell or deploy in real combat). All these robotic fighters were programmed to kill, so the two elf women who entered the forest could be considered very foolhardy.



Especially considering the fact that they had set up this whole situation.



One of the females was black skinned, with a lean and muscular figure protected by light body armor, her distinctive red hair hidden beneath a helmet. The dark elf seemed unarmed when she entered the forest, but guns almost instantly appeared in her hands, and then she immediately opened fire.



The redhead’s companion was much taller and fair skinned, with an athletic yet curvy figure and mass approaching the Epsilon robots. But unlike the other elf she was content to just watch and observe for now.



After all, this was the closest thing to a real combat situation Angela had ever experienced; she wanted to study it a bit more before getting involved.



Alita Impala’s movements were too fast and seemingly random for any of the robots targeting her to get a decent shot. But all of Impala’s shots seemed to strike their targets, and Battle Droids began to fall by the dozen, as well as a few Epsilon robots. However, her weapon fire seemed to have no effect on the huge Sentinels, which were roughly equivalent to Giants in size and mass.



Then Impala’s guns disappeared and a large energy rifle instantly appeared in her hands. She took aim at one of the three Sentinels present and fired, unleashing a massive bolt of green energy that struck the robot in the eye and emerged on the other side of its head.



~That must be her Weapons Encyclopedia~ Angela thought as she watched the Sentinel fall, crushing several Battle Droids and Epsilon units in the process.



Angela knew that Alita Impala was linked to an artificial pocket dimension full of Imperious Industries weapons. Using the fingerless gloves Impala usually wore (which had sophisticated circuitry built into them) the dark elf could summon weapons from or send them to the mini-universe. Alita had been given the system (named Weapons Encyclopedia by Dakar) to test out new weapons for Imperious Industries in the field, a job that the adrenaline junkie was more than qualified for.



As for their current opponents, Angela felt safe dismissing the Battle Droids as a threat at this point. Though they carried powerful energy weapons, their targeting systems were too poor for the Droids to have much of a chance of hitting anything except through blind luck, and they had no other weapons. The heavy infantry Epsilon units probably would have been a genuine threat when they were in mint condition, but these particular units were so damaged that ordinary soldiers with regular infantry weapons probably could have taken them down.



Angela considered the real threat to be the two remaining Sentinels.



In perfect condition any one of them probably had more firepower than all the Battle Droids and Epsilon units involved in the battle combined. Moreover, the 20 ft. tall robots were big, strong and heavy enough to simply crush Alita or Angela beneath their massive feet.



Angela decided that that was enough analysis for now. She had memories of numerous battles but no ‘real’ combat experience yet; it was time to see if she was a real warrior or just a poor imitation of one.



*****



Alita Impala heard the sound of ripping metal and turned around to see Angela tear off the head of an Epsilon unit. The cybernetic elf woman’s display of monstrous strength all the more impressive due to the fact that she immediately used the head to crush a Battle Droid’s torso.



Then Angelus’s clone took the Droid’s blaster and opened fire, devastating the Battle Droids and Epsilon units around her. One of the Epsilon units tried to use its radiation cannon on her, but before it could fire she shot it in the cannon and resulting explosion destroyed everything around it for several feet.



Seeing that Angela could apparently handle herself, Impala turned her attention to the remaining Sentinels. Both of which seemed to be focusing on her at this point.



Since the control system for the Weapons Encyclopedia was wired directly into the dark elf’s brain, a quick thought banished the rifle in Impala’s hands and summoned a L.A.W. (Light Anti-tank Weapon) rocket launcher. The slender elf went down to one knee as she braced herself against the ground and aimed the heavy launcher, targeting the Sentinel closest to her as the massive robot extended its right arm in her direction and prepared to unleash its own weapon.



The rocket and the energy cannon built into the Sentinel’s hand struck at roughly the same time. The L.A.W. rocket hit the robot’s chest and detonated in a fiery explosion, the Sentinel’s weakened torso armor providing little defense against the explosive force, while the massive beam of energy the Sentinel unleashed incinerated the grass mere inches away from Impala.



If not for the fact that the Sentinel’s targeting computers were malfunctioning the blast would have killed Alita instantly.



But Impala had no time to dwell on the close call, because the remaining Sentinel responded to the destruction of its peer by trying to step on her, the impact of its massive foot on the ground making the earth seemingly shake.



Then the Sentinel lost track of Impala as its sensors detected something crawling up its body. The giant robot tried knocking whatever it was off with its hands, but the Sentinel was too slow to hit the creature. Its primitive artificial intelligence experiencing something like frustration as it watched a dark elf crawl onto its shoulder.



“Game over metal-head” Impala said grimly as she pointed a massive gun at the Sentinel’s neck. Then she immediately opened fire, the gun unleashing what appeared to be a massive bolt of lightning at the vulnerable area.



The massive war machine emitted what sounded like a moan of pain as systems throughout its body shorted out. Knocking down several trees as it fell, its unwelcome rider leaping to (relative) safety just before the Sentinel hit the ground.



Once she was on the ground again Impala turned her attention back to Angela. Staring at the cyborg elf just in time to watch Angela get knocked down by a spray of machine gun fire from one of the Epsilon units. Unlike Impala the clone was wearing no armor, so there was nothing to prevent the bullets from striking her soft flesh, and Angela’s wounds bled freely.



“ALPHA SEVENTY SIX” an unnerved Impala shouted.



Upon hearing the command word all the remaining active robots shut down as they had been programmed to. But that did nothing for Angela.



~Crazy bitch…why did I let myself get talked into this…she wasn’t ready for combat….how the hell am I going to explain to Dakar that I got his newest project killed in a training exercise~ Impala thought as she rushed over to the fallen Angela’s side.



Angela slowly got up as the dark elf approached, staring down at the bullets wounds in her torso with a puzzled expression. Touching her blood as though she had never seen it before (which she had not).



“We’ve gotta get you back to the lab Angela” Alita said urgently.



“I’m fine” Angela stated firmly as she faced Impala and looked into the dark elf’s golden eyes.



“FINE…you just absorbed enough lead to choke an orcish whore to death!” Impala replied.



“It’s just cosmetic damage” Angela thought aloud as she accessed the data from her interior sensors. The computers slaved to her brain processing the information and turning it into something her mind could use.



“All my vital organs are protected by armor plating…and it would take a hell of a lot more than bullets to get through that” Angela explained to the confused dark elf.



“Then what is your skin and stuff for at all!” Impala asked in exasperation.



Angelus might have been offended by such a question. But the female version was calmer than the original elf.



“So I can enjoy things like eating and sex…unlike these poor suckers I am not just a combat unit” Angela said as she gestured to all the deactivated robots surrounding them.



Alita Impala would have protested further, saying that Angela was still losing at lot of blood and should go to the lab for that reason alone. But as the dark elf watched the cyborg’s wounds stopped bleeding and sealed themselves, leaving unmarred flesh behind.



“The nano-machines in my body can repair my organic and technological parts…I think Dakar modeled it on his own system” Angela explained.



When Impala was slow to react (having never encountered something quite like Angela before) the cyborg looked at her and said “I think that’s enough fighting for now…let’s get something to eat…I want to see what beef tastes like.”



*****



The elf’s body rapidly lost muscle mass while gaining fat in certain areas, facial features shifted, and even more intimate features changed as well. It was a strange and painful process for the poor creature, and the elf couldn’t resist screaming. Fortunately the transformation was over in moments.



“Sorry about that Chris…I don’t think there’s any way to make using the ring less painful” Kimie Li apologized.



Kimie and her guest Christopher Lera were in the Exercise Room of her mansion. The demon did not have to exercise or watch what she ate to maintain her voluptuous figure, but she frequently had guests over who did, and her guests sometimes liked to use the exercise bikes, weight lifting equipment, treadmills, and other exercise equipment there.



“What do you think of the new you?” Kimie asked Christopher as the Minister of Foreign Relations stared into the large mirrors that dominated one wall.



Christopher’s facial features appeared less angular and more delicate now, the elf’s arms and legs were more slender and frail looking, and the shape of small breasts was visible beneath the T-shirt Christopher was currently wearing. As the dark elf stared at her new female body she said “I don’t like this.”



~Gods Above and Below he looks just like Chrissy now~ Kimie mentally swore.



“This isn’t going to work” Christopher complained as she stared at the magical ring on her right index finger, which was responsible for her recent transformation.



“Of course it will…you don’t look like you at all anymore…no one will recognize you when we go to Iberia” Kimie argued.



“I look like MOM…she’s got the most well known face in Iberia…THAT’S WORSE” Christopher raged.



“Not exactly…you’re not as well endowed as Christina” Kimie pointed out.



“Please do not talk about my mother’s breasts right now” Christopher replied angrily.



Kimie had had enough, so she said coldly “we are doing this my way or not at all…I am the one whose risking the most by trying to sneak you into Iberia.”



Christopher was silent for a long moment as she gazed at her own feminized reflection. Having the disturbing thought that ‘she’ had finally become the daughter his mother always wanted.



“Where did you get this ring anyway?” Christopher asked, trying to change the subject to something less sensitive.



“A wizard gave it to me a long time ago for spending a week entertaining him and his friends” Kimie explained as she smiled fondly (that had been a good week).



“So I can become male again just by taking off the ring?” Christopher asked.



“Yes but-“ Kimie started to explain, but the dark elf didn’t wait for the explanation, and just pulled the ring off his hand. Howling in pain as she underwent the painful transformation from female to male.



“-it’s just as painful to change back” Kimie finished.



Christopher thought he handled the whole process much better than he did before. The minister was able to avoid throwing up this time.



Once he had recovered enough to speak, Christopher said “all right…I’ll do it…but I still look too much like mom.”



“I thought that might be a problem…so I brought this” Kimie said as she held out another golden ring.



“Another magic ring?” Christopher guessed aloud.



“Yes…this one will turn you human” Kimie explained.



As Christopher stared at the magical object in her hand dubiously, Kimie considered what else might be bothering him and said “you will be able to change back into an elf by removing this ring too.”



“Are there any side effects to wearing both of them for long periods of time?” Christopher asked.



“I don’t think so…but it’s never come up before” Kimie replied.



Somehow Christopher was less than reassured.



*****



Imperious Dakar was satisfied that the situation between him and Susan Zweller had been resolved (at least for the moment). The technomancer knew that he had put off that confrontation for too long, and he did not want to make the same mistake twice. So he was on his way to meet with the dragon Magnus, an unpleasant task that he had also been putting off.



But as the Imperious Industries limousine drove Dakar and Udragoth to the ancient wyrm’s home, the businessman got a call. Dakar looked at his cell phone and saw that the call was from the man in charge of the Iberian Portal Facility.



Imperious answered the phone and listened to the administrator explain the situation. His anger and dismay growing (despite the neural implants the technomancer had installed to control them) as he heard his subordinate go into detail.



“Take us back to Neroka” Dakar told the limo driver.



The dragon would have to wait, this was more important.



*****



Willow Rosenberg had used her magic to extract all of Esme Cuckoo’s secrets. Now the young blonde telepath was locked in a room within the Vampire Slayer Alliance headquarters. But Esme didn’t care, for she was trapped in an enchanted sleep, freed from the need to eat or drink, and all but dead to the world.



However, even though Esme slept peacefully, her captors couldn’t. The information they had taken from her was too disturbing.



“What are we going to do Will?” Xander Harris asked his friend, as he brooded over all the secrets, betrayals, and lies that they had learned about from Esme. Showing Imperious Industries to be far more ruthless and dangerous than they had imagined.



“What we have to Xander” Willow Rosenberg firmly replied.



The two lifelong friends were hiking in the hills surrounding their castle headquarters. Just out of sight were numerous Vampire Slayers acting as bodyguards for their new leader and V.S.A.’s most powerful woman.



That power was on Xander’s mind as he looked at Willow, thinking about how much Willow had changed from the shy and timid girl she had been when Buffy Summers had entered both their lives. Of course he had changed a great deal too since then, something Xander was forcibly reminded of every time he looked in the mirror.



“What do you mean Will?” Xander asked gently, though he already knew.



“You know what I mean Xander…Imperious Industries is too dangerous…it’s only a matter of time before they sell weapons to our enemies or attack us themselves…we need to cut ties with them and kick them off our world” Willow said passionately.



“They have serious firepower Will…if we do this a lot of our girls will probably die” the leader of the Slayer Army objected.



“I know…and the thought of more Slayers dying on our watch tears me up inside…but if we wait too long they’ll destroy us” the witch argued.



As Xander listened to his friend speak he remembered the sight of Buffy’s corpse. Reminded of the part that Imperious Industries had played in her death, and contemplating more Slayers dying like that.



Harris simply nodded, feeling out of his depth as he started the process of going to war against Imperious Industries.



*****



His name was Todd Lehman and he was the only survivor of the massacre at the Imperious Industries weapons depot on Terra 9.



Lehman had been on the edge of the battle and had fled the scene shortly before The Phoenix had destroyed the fortress. Linking to the facility’s central computer (using his wireless communicator) to gather all the information he could on the enemy before running away.



Although his actions had been cowardly, Todd had not technically disobeyed orders (at least in his own mind). Just before Lehman had fled the battle his superior had ordered him to call for reinforcements, so the frightened corporate soldier had headed for the portal facility on Terra 9. Once he got there and told his story to the Imperious Industries people there they had immediately sent him to the main portal facility. Knowing that their boss would need to hear Todd’s story too.



Now Todd Lehman was in the Portal Room of the Iberian portal facility, meeting Imperious Dakar and his familiar Udragoth, who were surrounded by armored Imperious Industries security personnel. Desperately trying to think of a way to justify his actions.



“It wasn’t a battle sir…it was a massacre….we stood no chance against that woman” Todd said breathlessly.



“Show me” Imperious commanded, as his glowing eyes seeming to bore into the frightened man’s soul.



Todd connected his communicator to one of the computers in the room, muttering nervously to himself as he fiddled with the controls. Then images of the battle in question appeared on a nearby monitor.



As Dakar looked at video footage taken from the destroyed fortress’s security system, he used his telepathic powers to scan Lehman’s memories. This revealed Todd’s cowardice in full, but Dakar was not interested in that.



What interested the technomancer were the images of Jean Grey, the woman known as The Phoenix. Her arrival changed everything.



~I might be able to deal with her companions…but her?...no~ Dakar thought.



Imperious’s cybernetically enhanced mind processed the data at lightning speed. Weighing the value of an entire world and his assets on it versus the threat The Phoenix posed to him and his company.



The answer was obvious.



“Withdraw all personnel stationed at the Terra 9 portal facility…then shut the portal down” Dakar said coldly and precisely. Upset at having to surrender viable assets.



“But we just started to rebuild that place...and what about all the people still in the field on that planet” Todd protested.



“They’re all dead, captured, or about to become one of those things…and there is nothing we can do about it…it’s time to cut our losses and move on” Dakar stated, and no one there dared to disagree with him.