Revenge Wars Episode IV "Revenge's End" Section V 

*** 

"He's WHERE?!" 

"Some kind of central database, according to the transporter's map," Yuri 
replied, working the controls. 

Wyrm edged in beside her and pulled out a tricorder. "No it's not." He 
said, checking his map. "According to this it's where she keeps her old, 
outdated computer systems, probably out of sentiment. Those memory 
cores are completely blank!" 

"Then why would..." Wyrm-chan started to say, then paused. "Wyrm, what 
information does Alpha have on Fred?" 

Wyrm edged Yuri out of the way and began inputting commands into the 
transporter furiously. "Alpha has all the co-ordinates for Fred and MON, 
the _Marathon's_ prefix codes, Sysop-level access... and he has all the 
data we have on Plot Holes. He not only knows how to make them, but 
how to block them and collapse them." 

"What?" Wyrm-chan protested. "You mean you just let him walk around 
with all that data in his memory?" 

"Well I didn't expect you to waltz off with him to Washuu's lab!" Wyrm 
replied. "Dammit something's blocking the transporter! I can't get a lock 
on him!" 

*** 

"I can't get a lock on him!" Zen said, throwing his hands up in frustration. 
"A subspace dampening field has been set up around the entire area. I 
can't beam anything in or out of a sixty kilometer radius." 

"Keep trying." Ukyou said. "We'll get him back. We HAVE to!" Ukyou had 
to admit that she didn't know Prime well. Actually, not at all would be a 
better description. But he was her comrade, and she had lost too many 
collegues and friends to lose another, even a near stranger. 

"Wait!" Kyone-chan said, putting a hand to her head and concentrating. 
The tracking spell had faded a fair bit, so she quietly reinforced it. 
Webdragon stiffened, but otherwise stayed silent. "There!" 

"What?" Ukyou said. 

"There's a new life-force signature. Almost identical to Wyrm-chan's. And 
something else..." 

"Wyrm?" Webdragon asked. 

"I think so." The Magic Knight replied. "They're together, practically on top 
of each other." 

"Sounds like Wyrm." Kei quipped. 

"Can you show me on a map?" Zen asked, bringing up a schematic of the 
lab. 

"I... I think so." Kyone-chan replied uncertainly. She walked over and 
began scrolling through the images until she found a match for her 
mental picture. She zoomed in until she was sure. 

"There. In that room." 

Zen looked at the schematic. "That's another transporter. The sensors are 
scrambled, but intact. I'll see if I can get a lock on them." 

"Do that." Ukyou replied. "And keep trying to get Prime back." 

*** 

Prime stared at what appeared to be a young girl with wild red hair 
standing before him. Even if he hadn't recognized her, he would have 
known she wasn't what she seemed. Her stance, her gaze were all of 
someone much, much older. 

That, and the fact that for a telepath, even a nascent one like himself, 
being this close to Washuu was like having your mind hooked up to 
satellite TV. She literally _broadcasted_ so many images and concepts, 
just from her unconscious mind, that he had to fight to shut them out. As 
far as he could tell, her mind was also connected to cyberspace, because 
Alpha could see her there, too. 

Prime heard a chittering nose not too far away. "Those are the Pfhor." 
Washuu said quietly. He was surprised to see she had reverted to her 
adult form. "They have this annex completely sealed off. I'm afraid you 
can't escape." 

Prime drew on what little nerve he had left. "So, what now? Are you going 
to kill me?" 

Washuu shook her head. "No, you're too valuable for that. You have 
access codes, strategic information..." 

Prime blinked. She was lying! He could feel it! She didn't want the access 
codes, or any of the other information he had. But she did want him for 
something, something she had gone to a lot of trouble to get. 

Prime needed more information. "So why me? Wyrm-chan has higher 
access than I do. You could have captured all of us easily, but you let us 
run around like rodents. Why go to all the trouble to get me to come here 
myself, when you could have just snagged any of us at any time?" 

She smiled. "I found your antics... amusing." 

<Another lie.> Prime thought. It was like she was intentionally 
broadcasting her thoughts to him. She wanted something from him. 
Needed it desperately, in fact. But he had no idea what, and for some 
reason she couldn't tell him. He also knew that if he didn't figure it out 
before the Pfhor arrived, he was toast. 

<*Maybe she's desperate for a man.*> Alpha said. <*It's probably been 
awhile...*> 

<Shut UP!> 

He returned his focus to Washuu. The Pfhor were getting closer, he could 
sense their greasy, chaotic thoughts. Part of him wondered how he was 
doing it. Prime's mental vision of Washuu got sharper, and abruptly he 
realized just how wide open she was. 

<I can get in there.> He thought. <Enter her mind, like I do computers. Me 
and Alpha. Dammit, the way she's leaving herself open, it's almost as if 
she _wants_... Wait! That's IT> 

What happened next was a bit of a blur, because Prime was literally 
doing two things at once. In real space he lunged forward, grabbing 
Washuu by the nape of the neck, and instinctively placing his fingers on 
her face along her delicate cheekbone. She didn't resist. He didn't even 
notice the pain in his shoulder from the movement, or the fact that it was 
far less than it should have been. 

In cyberspace, Alpha darted forward, impacting Washuu's archetype and 
somehow entering it, like it was a doorway. Inside Washuu's mind the two 
met and fused, combining their minds in a vain hope that it would give 
them an edge. 

It didn't. Washuu's mind was a swirling, incomprehensible vortex of colors 
and non-colors, shapes and non-shapes. Prime and Alpha were buffeted 
and tossed around like the cow from 'Twister'. It was like they had been 
thrust into the great red spot of Jupiter. They were painfully aware that all 
it would take would be for Washuu to focus her mind, just a little, and they 
would be torn apart. 

But she didn't. Instead the forces calmed, the maddening images faded, 
and the ESPer and AI were left drifting through a reddish pink mist, 
unharmed. 

<*We're not dead?*> Alpha asked, dumbfounded. <*Why aren't we 
dead?*> 

<Are you complaining?> Prime replied. 

<*Well, no, but...*> 

Prime noticed the thought-fog parting before them. <What she wants us 
to find is that way.> 

<*Well, duh...!*> 

Prime ignored the HentAI and slowly made his way forward. As he 
passed through the thinning mist, he could _feel_ things, things from 
Washuu, and he knew she could sense things from him as well. It was 
uncomfortably... intimate. He knew she felt so too. She didn't like this, 
laying herself open to him, but he could sense that she had no other 
choice. He steadfastly tried to ignore the images that slipped into his 
mind from her, the face of her daughter, Ryouko and the love she felt for 
her, Tenchi's face, which had something a little more primal attached to it, 
and the face of a man and a child, blurred by time which carried with it an 
enormous amount of pain. He wondered if she could see his past, the 
death of his uncle, who had been the closest thing to a grandfather he 
had ever had; Christine, who he had met when he was 16 and let slip 
away because he was too scared of what a serious relationship would 
entail. Somehow he figured it would be insignificant compared to what 
Washuu had seen and experienced. 

Finally he saw what he was looking for. Reaching from outside her mind 
and stretching down into its deepest depths was a thin, black line, an 
inch in diameter at best, if such measurements had any meaning here. 

Prime drifted closer. The line wasn't really black, but more of an absence 
of any color. Actually, it seemed more like it was an absence of 
anyTHING. 

<A line of _nothing_?> Prime thought, confused. 

<*It's a conduit, stupid!*> Alpha said haughtily. <*I've seen something 
similar, in cyberspace. It's a pathway for data and commands to flow, 
bypassing all her defenses. Any orders anybody sends her using this 
would lodge themselves deep in her mind; fighting them would be next to 
impossible.*> 

<But she's doing her best.> Prime thought. <We have to break it.> He 
reached out and touched the line. His hand passed right into it, 
seemingly engulfed by the space, even though it was far too small to do 
so. 

PAIN! 

Prime yanked his hand back out. As soon as he had touched the line, he 
had felt a cold fire run through his body, like someone had injected dry 
ice into his veins. That, and a lesser sensation of something _leaving_ 
him. 

<*Baka!*> Alpha chided. <*It's not really there, remember? It's negative 
space! You can't touch it!*> 

Prime looked back at the line. <Then how do we...> He suddenly noticed 
that the line seemed thinner. 

He drifted in a littel closer, and examined it carefully, making sure to keep 
from touching it. The anti-space _had_ shrunk! Not only that, but the 
mind-clouds surrounding it had taken on a bluish hue. 

<What the hell?> 

*** 

Some time after Iczer 2's appearance, the cantina had returned to 
normal. A number of pilots had just arrived, fresh from the simulators and 
chatting happily about their future squadron postings. Ranchan was 
among them, but he didn't feel much like speculation about the future. He 
sat perched on a bar stool, staring glumly at his beer as the foam slowly 
disappeared. <Like my chances at becoming a veritech pilot.> He 
mused, depressed. 

His latest set of simulator runs hadn't been going well. He had 
immediately retaken the Trench Run scenario, and sure enough the 
massive rock formation blocking the canyon was still there, although in a 
different place. This time Ranchan had done the 'homorable' thing and 
signaled his wingman to pull out, then proceeded to plow into the 
rockface like a good little flight commander. 

And his baka wingman had followed him right in! According to the 
simulator tech he actually impacted only three feet above the crater that 
Ranchan had made, and the combined crater had almost punched all the 
way through. It seemed that the pilot hadn't understood the message fully, 
and the dust cloud that Ranchan had created had obscured the 
formation, so the rookie pilot didn't even see it. Another failed simulator 
run. Another strike. 

Ranchan had been doodling on a bar napkin for the past few minutes, 
doing crude drawings of the Veritechs that he would almost certainly 
never fly when an idea struck him. <Fred Valks carry a lot more firepower 
than a standard Valkyrie. That rock formation was ten meters at its 
thinnest point... maybe if you hit it just right...> Ranchan threw himself into 
a detailed diagram of what he was planning, sketching out everything he 
could remember about the rock formation, and scribbling out calculations 
about explosive yields and firing times for proton torpedoes. Unnoticed 
his beer quietly went warm and flat. 

Ranchan didn't come up for air until he heard his name. He turned 
around, scanning the dingy cantina until he located the source. There 
was a table with four beefy LPAC grunts talking. Judging by their slurred 
speech and the considerable number of beer mugs on the table, they 
were quite thoroughly sloshed. 

"...Naw, that Ranchan guy doesn't got a prayer." One of the grunts said. 
"She'd chew him up an' spit him out. She'll shoot for one o' the top brass, 
mebbe Wyrm or Barry Cadwgan." 

"Or Frosty-usa?" Another smirked. 

"Tha' might be worth watchin'!" Another said. 

"Y'know what I hear? They gave ol' Nabs her own squadron! No WAY she 
pulled that off without sleepin' with SOMEBODY." 

<Nabiki has her own squadron?> Ranchan thought. Despite what the 
grunt said, she had probably earned it. If anything, since everyone knew 
her rep it was going to be harder for her to get ahead, especially since as 
far as Ranchan could tell she was playing it straight. 

Ranchan briefly considered asking the LPAC soldiers to pick another 
topic of converstation, politely of course, but decided against it. <There's 
four of them and one of me. In the state they're in, I could probably take 
them, but why cause a commotion? It's just gossip, and it's not like Nabiki 
is here to hear it.> 

Ranchan swiveled his seat around back to the bar, and as he did so, 
caught a glimpse of short brown hair. <Or maybe not.> He quickly sought 
it out again, hoping that it belonged to someone else. 

Nope. It was Nabiki. She was seated less than three tables over from the 
drunkards, facing away from Ranchan. He had no doubt that she could 
hear every word. 

That made his decision for him. He might not know Nabiki terribly well, 
but she was a fellow pilot, and deserved to have someone stand up for 
her. Ranchan stood and made his way over to the LPAC grunts. He 
tapped the head grunt lightly on the shoulder. "Excuse me?" 

"Huh?" the grunt turned around, giving Ranchan and full dose of beer 
breath. "Hey, you're Ranchan, ain't ya? I heard you had sometin' going on 
wit Uk(hic) Uk(hic) Ucchan a while ago. How far didja get? I had a bet on 
for second base." 

Ranchan fought to keep his expression neutral. "Actually, could we 
discuss that later? I just wanted to ask you to reconsider your topic of 
discussion." Ranchan pointed over to where Nabiki was sitting. 

The grunt snorted. "Aww, she don' care! She don' care 'bout nobody! She 
didn' even shed one bloody tear at her sister's funeral, y'know tha'? 
Damned heartless bitch!" 

Ranchan wanted haul the bastard out of his seat and deck him, but he 
had decided that he was going to keep this civil. "Still, I think it's 
disrespectful. Perhaps if you took it somewhere else?" 

"You still haven' answered MY question." The drunk replied. "How far did 
you get wit Ukyou?" 

Ranchan colored. "That's none of your business." He hissed. 

The four grunts broke out laughing. "You couldn't get it up, couldja? Ran 
outta gas before the race even started huh?" The Grunt didn't notice 
Ranchan getting redder and redder. 

"Naw, HE wasn't the problem!" Another replied. "Mebbe Ucchan swings 
the other way, y'know?" 

Ranchan mentally chucked the civility plan down the toilet. He grabbed 
the head grunt and hauled him up. "Listen you...!" 

Someone pulled him away a little. He turned, ready to face whoever was 
coming between him and divine retribution. 

It was Nabiki. Ranchan blinked. <Why is she protecting this scumbag?> 

Nabiki smiled at the grunt, the kind of smile she reserved for someone 
she was about to take for every penny they had, the one that made grown 
men flee in terror. Unfortunately for the grunt, he was far too drunk to 
know enought to run. 

"I'm quite willing to let the comments about me slide." Nabiki said coldly. 
"But Ukyou is a friend of mine, and since she isn't here to defend herself, 
I'm going to have to defend her in her absence." 

The grunt laughed, gassing them with his beer breath. "Watcha gonna 
do, Account me to death?" 

Nabiki's response was a lighting fast strike to the gut, followed by a knee 
to the head when the grunt doubled over, then a roundhouse kick to the 
face, sending the LPAC flying into the table. Splinters of wood and beer 
mugs flew everywhere. 

"Your assets seem to have depreciated somewhat." Nabiki said, crossing 
her arms and smirking. 

Immediately the three other grunts stood and advanced on Nabiki. 

Ranchan knew he shouldn't get any more involved than he already was, 
but his sense of honour wasn't about to let him leave Nabiki to three to 
one odds, no matter how drunk her opponents were. He interposed 
himself between the thugs and Nabiki. The first simply growled and 
swung at him clumsily, which Ranchan easily ducked under. He replied 
with an uppercut to the chin that lifted the grunt off his feet. He was so 
drunk that he was unconscious before he hit the ground, landing on top 
of the LPAC soldier that Nabiki had laid out. The other two were in better 
shape, and one circled around to face Nabiki as the other dropped into a 
sloppy but passable fighting stance in front of Ranchan. 

Ranchan blocked the first three blows easily, but the fourth slipped 
through by pure fluke and nailed him in the solar plexus. Ranchan 
doubled over. He could see the grunt charging him, ready to drop him 
with a right cross. 

Ranchan dropped under the punch and lashed out with his leg, catching 
the soldier off balance and kicking his feet out from under him. He pulled 
a beautiful swan dive into the floor, a real 9.5 faceplant. Ranchan got up 
just in time to see the fourth grunt hurtle past. Nabiki had evidently used 
an over-the-shoulder throw to send the LPAC soldier flying, narrowly 
missing another table. 

"Nice moves." Ranchan said to Nabiki with a wry grin. 

She shrugged nonchalantly. "You don't live your entire life in a martial arts 
dojo without picking up a few tricks." 

There was a sound of wood scraping against wood as a third of the 
chairs in the cantina were slid away from their tables. Evidently a good 
portion of LPAC was frequenting the bar that night. 

Ranchan nervously stepped back, finding himself back-to-back with 
Nabiki. "Know any more moves?" He asked. 

"None of them are THAT good!" She replied as the crowd closed in. 

Abruptly there was another scaping of wood, and nearly another third of 
the chairs were pushed back. Ranchan considered scribbling out a quick 
will on a bar napkin when he saw the uniforms of the second group: 

Fred Defense Force, Aviation Division. 

Ranchan grinned ferally. It was about then that all hell broke loose. 

*** 

Eric cursed and smacked the side of the Guide to Realities. <Piece of cut-
rate bargain bin junk! All that time I don't want to use you and you won't 
go away, and now that I _need_ you to work you completely flake out on 
me!!> 

"Any luck?" Wyrm asked. 

"No." Eric dropped the Guide back into one of his trenchcoat pockets. 
"The Guide's being blocked, somehow." 

"I didn't think that was possible." Wyrm-chan said. 

Eric groaned. "This is Washuu we're talking about, on her home turf no 
less. _Anything_ is possible!" 

Wyrm frowned. "I've had it with this! If Washuu can block the Guide, why 
hasn't she just shown up to claim it? What the HELL is going on?!" 

*** 

<Alpha, what IS this blue stuff?> Prime asked. It seemed to occupy the 
space that had once been the line. The line had lost maybe a sixteenth of 
an inch in diameter. 

<*You're asking me?*> Alpha asked. <*YOU'RE the ESPer! Human minds 
are your territory, not mine!*> 

<Gimme a break, I'm new at this!> Prime studied the blue-tinted fog for 
another moment. An idea hit him. <Alpha, if Washuu's thoughts are red, 
what color are ours?> 

<*What? What kind of stupid inane question is THAT?!*> 

<Do you suppose they could be blue?> 

<*Who cares if they're...!*> the AI trailed off. <*Oh. Oh SHIT!*> 

Prime smiled to himself. That WAS it! The line was negative space, the 
absence of anything. So the only way to get rid of it was to fill it with 
something. 

<*So that blue stuff is from... us?*> Alpha said, sounding a little scared. 
<*What did we lose?*> 

<I dunno. Maybe nothing.> Prime replied. <The human mind doesn't 
store memories like a computer, in concrete files. People can recover 
memories even if the part of their brains that were supposed to hold them 
are destroyed. Maybe we just lost a little resolution, that's all.> 

<*Well I say we get outta here before we lose any more.*> Alpha said. <*I 
don't wanna end up like an over-compressed Jpeg, thank you very 
much.*> 

Prime didn't move. He thought about the implications. <If (?) is using this 
conduit to control Washuu, and we fill it in, would that free her? Is that 
what she wants? Would she help us if I did?> 

Prime received a reply from Washuu that wasn't so much words or 
concepts as a need, one so blinding in was almost painful. He felt a wisp 
of her experiences, of what it was like to have control of your own mind 
yanked out from under you, to have a tunnel carved into your thoughts. 
Suddenly it didn't matter whether Washuu sided with Fred. All that 
mattered was the blinding need. 

<*Prime, you're not seriously thinking...*> Alpha said, alarmed. <*Adam! If 
we do this, how do we know it'll stop with just the conduit? How do we 
know our minds won't get vacuumed out? I don't want to be a dust bunny 
in the vacuum cleaner bag of Washuu's mind!*> 

<If you've got any other ideas, I'd love to hear them.> Prime returned. 
<But otherwise... we HAVE to help her, Alpha!> 

Alpha was silent for a moment. <*... Okay. Okay, fine, but if we get out of 
this, which I seriously doubt, you HAVE to put in a good word for me with 
Nuku Nuku!*> 

<A cat-brained cyborg and a mildly deranged A.I.? Geez, _there's_ a 
match made in heaven.> Prime snorted. He edged even closer to the 
negative conduit. He took a deep breath, or at least the mental 
equivalent, then darted in. 

The pain he had felt before was nothing compared to what he felt now. 
The line had engulfed him completely, and now seemed to be doing it's 
best to tear him apart. Whatever was at the other end of the conduit, it 
was fighting him. He could feel it working, feel the conduit shrink, but he 
wasn't sure he would survive the process. 

<SHE IS _MINE_!> Something roared at him, tearing across his already 
torn and bleeding mind. <YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER!> 

Despite the words, Alpha/Prime could feel the connection closing. <You 
lose, (?)!> he crowed. 

(?) replied with a psionic attack of immense magnitude. Alpha/Prime's 
mind buckled under the assault, already overloaded. Prime felt his 
defenses beginning to fail, felt Alpha begin to slip into unconsciousness, 
further diminishing his strength. 

Just before his overtaxed mind shields fell, something flowed over him, 
bolstering him, healing his wounds. At the same time the conduit ceased 
to exist. Or perhaps a better description was that the space where the 
conduit had been resumed existing. 

Prime sought out the source of the strength that was sustaining him. It 
was Washuu. This time he could sense her thoughts easily. They 
sparkled, with gratitude and a little something else. (?)'s presence roared 
and faded away, his connection severed. 

Prime's mind slid into Washuu's, and abruptly he knew _everything_. 
Literally. All of Washuu's knowledge, all of her experiences, her joys, her 
pains, were all his. And he now knew what she had been unable to tell 
him, why it had taken his presence to break the link, why she had led 
them there in the first place. He knew what (?) was, and where he had 
come from. 

For one more sweet moment he shared Washuu's mind, and she his, 
knowing her in a way he had known no one else, and never would again. 

Then everything came apart. 

*** 

"I've got a lock!" Zen cried. "Something just disrupted the scattering field." 

"Energize!" Ukyou cried. She smiled. "I've always wanted to say that!" 

*** 

"The subspace disruption is gone!" Yuri exclaimed. "I've got a clean lock 
on Prime... and someone else, too." 

"Beam them both in, we'll sort it out later!" Wyrm cried. 

*** 

In the computer annex, two figures stood motionless, almost embracing. 
Prime's fingers lightly rested on Washuu's cheeks. Both their eyes were 
closed. 

In the lab, the sudden change in Washuu's mind disrupted several 
systems, including the fire suppression system, an antique water based 
system that Washuu had installed just for fun. Abruptly a spray of water 
drenched both figures. 

At the same moment, the figures shimmered, caught in a transporter 
beam, which shimmered oddly around Prime as the two transporters tried 
to beam the same person. 

*** 

What Prime experienced next made (?)'s psi-attack seem like a friendly 
slap on the back. 

He was being torn apart, _literally_! Both physically and mentally. 
Desperately he tried to hold onto Washuu's mind, to sustain the link, but it 
was too new, too fragile. It came apart, and he was left alone, losing 
Alpha in the process. And still the forces tore at him. 

*** 

"Something's wrong." Zen said. "Someone else is trying to transport 
Prime. I'm losing his signal! Kei, help me!" 

Kei moved in next to Zen, both working furiously to keep their friend from 
being scattered apart. 

*** 

"Something else has got a hold on Prime." Yuri said, frantically working 
the controls. "I've got a solid lock on the other signal, but I'm losing 
Prime!" 

Wyrm moved in next to her. "Abort transport on the other person. Divert all 
power to getting Prime back!" 

*** 

<I can't take anymore!> Prime screamed, but the forces pulling at him 
continued, headless. Something had to give. 

Finally, it did. 

Prime felt _something_ come away, something pulled from him in the 
most painful way possible. Then then pain, the tearing finally ended, and 
the bliss of darkness took him. 

*** 

Zen let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The signal 
stabilized as the other transport lock failed. "I've got him." 

"It was close." Kei said, wiping a little perspiration off her brow. "Too damn 
close." 

Prime materialized on the platform. Immediately he collapsed into a 
boneless heap. Kei ran up to him, popping out her scanner as she did. 

"He's alive." She said, running the small device over him. "Barely. He's 
suffering transport trauma, and is in severe neural shock." She switched 
off the scanner, looking helpless. "I... I don't know what to do for him. This 
is way out of my league." 

Nene knelt next to him, opposite Kei. "We have to get him back to Fred! I 
saw a cyber junkie go into neural shock once back at AD Police." The 
image of the cyber junkie going into convulsions filled her mind, the 
addict's face replaced with Prime's. "He'll die in minutes if we don't get 
him help!" 

"Let me try something." Kyone-chan said. She began chanting a spell, 
running the words out as fast as she could, nearly stumbling a couple of 
times. 

Webdragon stiffened, but he relaxed almost immediately, asserting 
complete control over himself. Zen looked over at him. His eyes seemed 
cold and distant to Zen, and when Webdragon glanced over at him, Zen 
quickly turned away. <Definitely in reaction to Kyone, or whatever she is 
doing.  Something is going on with him.> 

Finally Kyone-chan gestured at Prime, who took on a subtle blue aura. 
She nearly collapsed, drained from so much spellcasting in one day. 
Ukyou supported her. "There. That's a stasis spell. It should keep him 
alive for awhile longer." 

Nene ran a hand through Prime's hair. "Please don't die. I can't lose 
another friend!" She paused, and glanced at her hand. "His... his hair is 
soaking wet!" 

"So?" Kei said. 

"The Jusenkyo curse!" Ukyou replied, kneeling next to Kei. She touched 
his hair. "He's plenty wet enough. Cold water, too. The curse _should_ 
have kicked in." 

"Then why is he still male?" Zen said, confused. 

Webdragon looked hard at Prime for a moment. His face took on an 
unfamiliar cast, reminding Zen of the look he had sported while killing the 
Pfhor. Different emotions, but there was something in common between 
them. "He no longer has the curse." 

"What do you mean?" Ukyou replied. She looked at her hand. "Do you 
mean this is Naniichuan water?" She and Nene exchanged a worried 
glance, then both quickly wiped their hands off on their pant legs. 

"No," Webdragon said, frowning in concentration. "The water's normal, 
but there's no trace of his curse." 

"How do you know?" Zen asked. 

"I..." Webdragon began, his tone that of one about to explain something 
incredibly simple to an extremely stupid child. "I..." He faltered. "I don't 
know. For a second there..." Webdragon's head drooped, his expression 
back to normal. "I don't know." 

"We'll figure it out later." Ukyou said. "For now, let's just find a way out of 
here." 

*** 

Wyrm and everyone else in the transporter room stared at the transporter 
platform. What had materialized was _not_ Prime. Instead there was a 
young girl, about 11 or 12, sprawled naked on the pad, unconscious. Hok 
Pau moved protectively in front of Eric, and Wyrm- chan cautiously 
approached the platform. 

She knelt next to the girl, examining her closely. She was very slight, only 
about 4'8". Her hair was fire red, and would have fallen to the small of her 
back had she been standing. Her features were very elfin, very much like 
Washuu's or Ryouko's, but a little more rounded, and the ears weren't as 
pronounced. <A relative of Washuu's?> Wyrm-chan thought. "What 
happened?" She asked Yuri. 

"Something happened during transport." Yuri replied. "When we aborted 
the second transport, a ghost trace got mixed up with our lock on Prime. 
The second transport managed to pull him away." 

"Then this is the other person we were attempting to beam?" Eric asked, 
pushing past Hok to get a better look. 

Yuri shook her head. "No, the abort was successful, and that person is 
back in the annex. This..." Yuri checked the readings. "No, that isn't 
possible." 

"What?" Wyrm looked over her shoulder at the readings. His jaw 
dropped. "Oh boy." 

"Do you know who she is or don't you?" Wyrm-chan asked, irritated. The 
girl stirred a bit. 

"Umm..." Wyrm began. "Well... the second person we were transporting 
was... I think it was Washuu." 

Wyrm-chan blanched. "Thank god we didn't get her then!" She looked 
back at the child. "But who is this? A relative?" 

"Kind of. You have to remember that Prime and Washuu's signals were 
being scrambled by that second transport. When we aborted Washuu's 
transport, it left a ghost signature in the pattern buffer. Then when Prime 
got pulled away, he left a ghost signature too. The two ghost patterns... 
merged." 

"Merged?" Priss said. "Are you saying that this is..." 

Wyrm-chan looked down at the child. "Oh boy." 

*** 

Wyrm of Gallifrey shifted restlessly in his chair. He didn't know what was 
worse, not knowing what was going on, or not being able to do anything 
about it. So he passed the time the best way he knew how. He popped a 
Metallica CD in his CD player, put on his headphones and cranked up 
the volume. After a minute he was singing along with "King of Nothing". 

"Wish I may Wish I might Have this wish tonight Are you satisfied?" 

"Dig for gold Dig for fame You dig to make your name Are you pacified?" 

"Nitro?" Leela's hologram flickered into being in front of him. She looked 
excited. Nitro didn't hear her, still singing slightly off key. 

"All the wants you waste All the things you've chased." 

"And it all crashes down And you break your crown And you point your 
finger But there's no one around." 

"Just want one thing Just play the king But the castl's crumbled And 
you've left with just a name." 

"Where's your crown King Nothing?" 

Leela scowled. She cranked up the volume on her audio system. 
"NITRO!!!!!" 

"WAAAGH!" Nitro yelped and tumbled out of his chair. He fumbled for the 
pause button on the CD player as he got backm into the chair. "This 
better be good, Leela..." 

 "The sensor block is down! I have a clear scan of Washuu's lab!" 

Nitro bolted out of the chair. "Can you contact them? Can you transport 
them out?" 

Leela nodded. "Yes, although I don't know why. It's as if all her defenses 
simply _dropped_!" 

"We'll figure it out later! Open a channel!" 

*** 

"Give me your trenchcoat." Wyrm-chan said. 

"What?! Are you _insane_?" Eric replied, stepping back and jamming his 
hands protectively into the pockets of his Trenchcoat of Doom. "I just got 
this thing back!!" 

"Look, this girl is in shock and we need to warm her up. Being naked 
doesn't help the situation any and none of the rest of us have much in the 
way of clothing to spare." Eric looked around. Wyrm was wearing a 
standard MON morphsuit, Wyrm-chan was wearing her Mantis armor, 
Priss was in a hardsuit and Yuri was wearing the 3WA standard: Very 
little. Hok Pau was wearing his usual black suit. 

He looked back a the girl, who shivered in Wyrm-chan's arms. <Damn 
conscience. Gonna get me killed one of these days.> He reluctantly 
removed the coat and handed it to Wyrm-chan. He shivered involuntarily. 
"Now _I_ feel naked!" 

There was a chittering from outside, a sound that sent a tingle down 
Eric's spine. "What was that?" 

Priss, Wyrm, Wyrm-chan and Yuri all raised their weapons. "Pfhor." Yuri 
said, checking her scanner. "Twelve of them." 

Eric grinned in anticipation. He went to pull an explosive device out of 
one of his trenchcoat pockets, then he remembered he wasn't wearing it 
anymore. <Oops. This could be a problem...> 

Hok Pau turned to his master. "Should I got deal with them, Master?" 

"No, if we start splitting up they'll just cut us donw one by one. And don't 
call me 'Master'!" Eric looked over at his trenchcoat ruefully. "And me 
without my SPNKer..." 

A device on Wyrm's belt beeped. He unclipped it and flipped it open. 
"Nitro?" 

"<Am I glad to hear from you! What's your situation?>" 

"We've got a bunch of nasties almost on top of us. You wouldn't by 
chance be able to get us out of here, would you?" 

In reply a shimmering circle of _nothing_ appeared in the middle of the 
room. "<That'll be six boxes of Fruit Loops.>" 

"I'll take it out of your paycheck." Wyrm replied. "The group got split, 
there's more of us in another transporter room. I'm sending the 
coordinates." Wyrm hastily tapped numbers into the comlink's keypad. 
"See you on the flipside. Out" Wyrm snapped the communicator shut. 
"Okay, everybody out of the pool!" 

Wyrm-chan went through first, carrying the mysterious red-haired child. 
Yuri followed. Priss took up a firing position behind the transporter 
console and motioned for the others to go through. 

"I've got two HEAP round left." She said. "I'll cover you." 

The chittering was louder now. Eric walked over to the plot hole, followed 
by Hok Pau. Wyrm stood next to him. 

"Well?" Wyrm asked, looking impatient. 

"I always hated Plot Holes." Eric said. "You never know what they'll do to 
you." 

"It'll be safer than what _I'll_ do to you if you don't go through!" 

At that moment a blue armored Pfhor appeared in the doorway. Before 
Priss could nail it, it fired straight at Wyrm. 

Eric always wondered what came over him. Later he would chalk it up to 
a sudden attack of altruism or abject stupidity. Probably both. He shoved 
Wyrm out of the way, thrusting him into the plot hole. Unfortunately he 
himself was unable to get out of the way. The plasma blast struck him 
squarely in the chest tossing him backwards like a rag doll. The last thing 
he heard before losing consciousness was Hok Pau's snarl of fury, and 
the sound of Priss's arm cannon roaring. 

*** 

A shimmering black disk appeared in the transporter room. Everyone 
looked up. 

"Plot Hole!" Zen cried joyously. 

"We are soooo outta here!" Kyone-chan said. She ran over and helped 
Kei lift up Prime, supporting him between them, his arms draped over 
their shoulders. 

Everyone darted through immediately. No one spared a thought about a 
certain slightly deranged 3-D happyface HentAI that remained trapped in 
Washuu's archives. 

*** 

It had taken Nightelf the better part of two hours to get to sleep, so she 
was understandibly miffed when her commpanel began beeping 
insistently. Some people simply didn't appreciate how difficult it was to 
get comfortable when you were six months pregnant. Especially when 
you had been male for the better part of your life. 

Irritated, she slapped the panel, activating it. "Whoever you are, this had 
better be good, or I'll show you the TRUE meaning of the words 'mood 
swing'!" 

"<Nick, it's Tofu.>" The good doctor appeared on the panel, his face lined 
with worry. "<We have an emergency. I need you to get down here 
immediately.>" 

Nightelf snapped to full awareness. "What kind of emergency?" She 
asked, slipping on a housecoat. Tofu would have a surgeon's gown 
waiting for her when she got there. 

"<One which requires your 'special touch'. I've got one patient suffering 
from mild shock, another with a severe chest wound, but I can handle 
those two. It's the third that's the problem: a severe case of telepathically 
induced neural shock.>" 

"I'll be right there." 

*** 

David unlocked the door to his quarters with his handprint. Silently he 
prayed that the pigsty he had left behind had been magically cleaned up 
during his absence. <Not like I was expecting company.> He thought. He 
glanced sheepishly at Iczer 2. <Ezpecially not a permanent resident.> 

"I'm afraid it's not much." He said, slowly opening the door. 

"I'm sure we'll make do." Iczer 2 replied, smiling at him in that peculiar 
way that he instinctively knew was reserved just for him. 

David's belt beeped. It took him a moment to remember that he was 
carrying a communicator now. <Damn, should have remembered to turn 
the stupid thing off!> He tried to ignore it. 

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Iczer 2 asked innocently. 

<ARRRGH!> David pulled the device from his belt and flipped the grille 
open. "Normally I would say that this had better be a beautiful woman, or 
I'm hanging up." He said. "But since there's already a beautiful woman 
here, I have no possible reason to want to talk with you." 

"<Commander Row, there is a disturbance at the Cantina. Something 
about a bar fight.>" 

"I'm on my way. Alert any other security officers you can find or draft, I'll 
need some muscle." David replied, snapping the device shut. <There 
goes any hope of a quite evening at home.> "C'mon, we've got our first 
job!" He said to Iczer 2. He locked the door and turned to run down the 
hall to the stairs. Iczer 2 remained motionless, and cleared her throat. 

"_Ahem_ David, aren't you forgetting something?" 

"Hmm? What?" David checked his belt. <Communicator... sidearm... 
nope, everything's here... oh, wait a minute...> 

Iczer 2 shook her head. "I see I'm going to have to break you of the bad 
habit of thinking in such limited four-dimensional terms." She walked up 
to him and put her arms around him, holding him tighter than was entirely 
necessary, and teleported. 

*** 

Washuu returned to consciousness reluctantly, pain flaring through her 
temples. It took her mind a moment to sort itself out, but the first thing she 
noticed was that his mind touch was gone. 

Part of her cried out for it, _needed_ it, desperately. Intellectually she had 
known about such sharings for a long time, but had never allowed herself 
to experience it. Now, for the first time she admitted to herself that she 
had been afraid of it. Afraid of giving up that much of herself. 

<I was certainly missing out, wasn't I?> She thought, running through 
some of Prime's memories, realizing how much more she had received in 
return. At first glance he wouldn't have been her first choice; A certain 
young descendent of the house of Jurai held that distinction. But now... 

The sharing had worked, as she had hoped, breaking (?)'s hold on her 
permanently, gifting her with the immunity that only birth on the world of 
the authors or constant contact with them could provide. But it had done 
so much more. 

Prime had given his own memories to her, freely, and she loved him 
dearly for it. She was a little startled at the intensity of the emotion, but 
decided that it did fit. When two beings were joined by such an intense 
meld there were only two options, Love or Hate. And Washuu didn't hate 
Prime, and she knew he didn't hate her. 

<Not a match made in heaven, but it'll do.> She thought. She had already 
found a word that nicely summed up what she felt. Strangely enough, she 
had found it in Prime's memories. <Never too old to learn something.> 

She turned to the bank of computers and began composing a message 
to the Fredites, aware that she had very little time. She was pleasently 
surprised to find that Prime had left her a little present in the antiquated 
system. "Well, hello Alpha." She said to a slightly derezzed 3-D 
happyface that her ministrations called up. 

"*Ooooh...*" the HentAI groaned. "*I feel like I just got recompiled on a 
IBM PC jr... Washuu?*" 

Washuu reached out with her mind, curious to see if any of her link with 
Prime carried over to the Artificial Intelligence. She felt nothing. Her link 
had been with Prime, and only Prime. 

"*Umm, not to sound inane or anything, but did it work, or am I in reeeally 
deep shit?*" 

Washuu smiled warmly at the HentAI. He may not have participated 
actively in the link, but he had helped facilitate it. "Yes, it worked. Thank 
you, Alpha." 

The happyface blushed. "*Aww, shucks!*" He blinked. "*Where's Adam?*" 

"You don't remember what happened?" 

"*After my mind got hoovered? Nope.*" 

Washuu sighed. <It's too bad, my little friend. You missed out on 
something... special.> "Prime has returned to Fred. At least, I hope he 
has. He isn't in the lab anymore, and I certainly didn't do anything with 
him." 

"*Okay, good.*" Alpha said. "*I think. Uh, not to impose, but since you're 
now nicey-nicey with us now, could you maybe...?*" 

Washuu smiled again. "Yes, don't worry, I'll send you home." As Washuu 
said the words she became aware of a presence approaching. She was 
acutely aware that her time was limited. "But first I have to give you 
something. I believe you were interested in some information on that 
Evoluder Battle Planet?" 

*** 

When Nightelf reached the infirmary, the nurse stood, handed her a 
status chart on Prime and waved her through. In the waiting room there 
was a group of haggard looking souls. Nightelf recognized Wyrm, Wyrm-
chan, Priss, Nene, Kei, Yuri and Zen. Belldanady was there gently 
tending to the arm of a young girl with long green hair dressed in a Magic 
Knight outfit. There was also a young man with long black hair in scarlet 
body armor leaning against the far wall. Something about him disturbed 
her, but she pushed the feeling to the back of her mind. She had more 
important things to worry about. 

"Nightelf?" The girl asked. Belldandy quickly finished what she was doing 
so that the Magic Knight could get up. "I'm Kyone. Dr. Tofu said I should 
go in with you when you go see Prime." 

Nightelf spent a moment trying to sort out the mental impression she was 
getting from Kyone. She seemed to be caught halfway between male and 
female, her two sides in conflict. Then her words regiustered. <Prime?> 
Nightelf thought. <HE'S the one?> Just about everyone who had 
requested transit to Fred after the Mike Loader incident knew Prime, 
since Wyrm had delegated the job of overseeing incoming traffic to him. 
"What happened?" Nightelf place a hand on Kyone's good shoulder and 
lead her into Prime' room. 

"We're not sure." Kyone replied. "We think he was in some sort of mind-
link with someone when we tried to transport him." 

In the room, Prime lay motionless on a bio bed, left arm still in the sling. 
The indicators showed a state of suspended animation, most of his 
readings barely registering. 

"Where's Dr. Tofu?" Nightelf asked, wondering why Tofu had left his 
patient. 

"He had to go tend to Eric Jones." Kyone replied. "The guy took a hit full 
on the chest from a Pfhor energy staff. If he hadn't been wearing body 
armor..." 

Nightelf shivered a little. She had seen what the Pfhor energy weapons 
were capable of when she first arrived on Fred. Eric was probably lucky 
to still HAVE a chest. <I guess I'll have to start without him.> Nightelf 
reached out to touch Prime's forehead, and immediately drew her hand 
back when she encountered the cold tingle of the aura surrounding him. 

"Oh, sorry!" Kyone said. "I put a stasis spell on him to keep him stable 
until we could get him back here. Do you want me to take it off?" 

Nightelf nodded. "I can't do anything for him with it on." 

Kyone looked at the floor. "If I do take it off, I don't think I can put it back 
on." 

Nightelf considered the girl for a moment. 'Girl' was approximate, 
considering the number of Nyannichuan sufferers around and Kyone's 
current mental state, but she was obviously exhausted. "I understand. Go 
ahead." 

Kyone nodded and slowly passed a hand over Prime. Then she clenched 
her fist, as if grabbing something, and yanked. The aura seemed to tear, 
then fade away. 

Immediately some of Prime's readings got better, while others got worse. 
Most notably, his neurotransmitter levels were way off. Nightelf placed a 
hand on his forehead and closed her eyes, concentrating. 

"Well?" Kyone asked anxiously. "Will he be okay?" 

"I can stabilize his neurotransmitters." Nightelf replied, opening her eyes 
and removing her hand from Prime's forehead. She prepared a 
hypospray, placed it against Primes' neck and injected its contents into 
his bloodstream. Prime's neurotransmitter readings slowly began to 
return to normal. Nightelf sighed in relief. "However, his mind itself has 
taken an awful shock. He's withdrawn almost totally from the outside 
world. Coaxing him back out is going to be a little more difficult. 

*** 

Washuu smiled in triumph. "There! I told you you could hold that much 
data!" 

A rather bloated 3-D happyface looked mournfully out at her from the 
other side of the computer screen. "*I feel so... GASSY!*" 

"It'll pass once you've outputted the data. Now remember, only output this 
information to certain people." 

Alpha nodded impatiently. "*Yeah yeah yeah. Wyrm, Frosty-usa, Barry 
Cadwgan, Tenchi, Ukyou or Prime, no one else. Can I go already? I 
really gotta take a data dump!*" 

Washuu didn't reply. Instead, her eyes widened, and a look of... terror? 
Crossed her face. "He's here. Hurry, prepare for transmission!" 

"*I AM ready! Who's here? Washuu?!*" 

"And remember the message I gave you for Prime! You are to play it 
ONLY in his presence!" 

"*Washuu, who's...?*" Alpha didn't get to finish. As Washuu entered the 
final sequence, a... a SOMETHING came through the wall towards her. It 
was some kind of indistinct cloud, not one of vapour or gas, but just an 
indication that _something_ was there. 

"(?)" Washuu said quietly. 

"WASHUU," (?) voice replied. It was at once loud and quiet, deep and 
light, like that of a child and an old man at the same time. It was neither 
male nor female, yet both. "I AM DISAPPOINTED IN YOU. YOU DO NOT 
SEEM TO BE COMMITTED TO OUR CAUSE." 

"There is no cause!" She spat back. "This is all about your insecurity and 
unreasoning fear! I won't be a part of this insanity anymore!" 

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE." Part of the 'cloud' wrapped itself around 
Washuu. She flinched, but otherwise didn't move. 

"You can't control me anymore, (?)." She said smugly. "One of _them_ 
freed me. I am now as immune to your control as they are. You won't use 
me as a tool, not anymore." 

"THAT IS UNFORTUNATE." (?) replied. Abruptly Washuu was 
surrounded by jags of green lightning. She screamed and collapsed to 
the floor, writhing in agony. "IF YOU WILL NOT BE TURNED, YOU WILL 
BE DESTROYED!!" 

Washuu sent one final mental command to the computer, sending the 
HentAI and his precious cargo out of harm's way. 

*** 

Wyrm of Gallifrey checked the bridge watch, making sure everything was 
in order. He knew that Wyrm had ordered him to stay with the ship, but he 
wanted to see for himself that everyone was okay. 

He was about to leave when one of the Betties caught his arm. "Sir? We 
have an incoming transmission!" 

"From where?" 

"Washuu's lab, sir." 

Nitro frowned. "It might be a virus of some kind. Block it off." 

"Too late, sir. It's penetrated the system!" 

"What?! How the hell did it do that?" 

"It used a MONforce access code. Ident, Alpha Centauri!" 

"What?!" 

At that moment every single display and holoprojector was filled with the 
image of a bloated, not-so-happyface. "*FINALLY!*" Alpha cried out in 
relief, dumped his data and crashed. 

Nitro's eyes went wide as every screen was filled with detailed technical 
readouts, tactical data and personnel profiles. "Contact Frosty-usa." He 
said to the Betty. "Tell her I have something she should see." 

***