The Dance Of The Shadow Unfinished

by Shadow Immor

When Dark Shadow had a new girl arrive at his school... he didn't think much of it... sure she was cute. But hey... so were the girls that had a crush on him. He didn't realise that an eloborate plan with him at the centre had been set in motion.

Daniel Ingleson It's not finished yet The Dance Of The Shadow

The Dance Of The Shadow

Prologue

(It's not Finished yet, but let me know what you think anyway – Author)

This is a story about a young boy, who although probably the worst candidate, was chosen to be enhanced. This story is set in the year 2022, but it is important to understand all the history behind it, so here's a timeline of events from 2003 onwards.

Year 2003- Iraq war ends.

Year 2004- Huge arguments with G.M protesters and the government.

Year 2005- Dark Shadow is born and Relina Emit (Daughter of Marcus Emit) born.

Year 2006-The U.F.C (United Federation of Countries) was created. And The EU collapsed. Conservatives win General Election in England

Year 2007 -Year 2008 -Tests carried out on all types and ages of humans except healthy boy and girl aged 16.

Year 2009-The Human Genetic Modification project set-up by the I.D.I with full backing of the government.

Year 2010-Mutator Corparation Created.

Year 2011-Mutator© becomes the biggest card game retailer and TV show in history. Mutator Corparation Owners die

Year 2012-Saddam Hussein's son declares war on Britain and America.

Year 2013-Marcus Emit sent to assassinate Uday Hussein.

Year 2014-Marcus Emit completes mission, comes home to a hero's welcome in Britain.

Year 2015-Marcus Emit made head of the I.D.I.

Year 2016 - Year 2018 – War between Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia V America and Britain. America and Britain win.

Year 2019-Assassin sent to kill Marcus Emit, assassin failed and killed.

Year 2020-Relina Emit (Marcus Emit's Daughter) catches SARS.

Year 2021-Cure for SARS found.

Year 2022-Relina Emit is genetically modified – Has to be taken out the enhancer before process complete. Our Story Begins…

Chapter 1 - A Day in the Life of….

The boy opened his eyes. He was still sleepy. He blinked, and again. Sunlight was filtering in through the window just above his bed. He sat up slowly. He was slumping. The jeans that he was wearing had faded at the knees. He got out of bed and picked up his t-shirt from the floor. The boy put it on. He stepped out of his bedroom into the living room then through to the kitchen. The floor felt cold on the soles of his feet. His father ruffled his hair and smiled. The youth looked over to the cooker his mum was standing there cooking eggs and bacon with some sausages and waffles, topped with beans. The boy could hear the sausages popping as they cooked. He could smell the egg with a hint of Tabasco, just the way he liked it. The boy could almost taste the bacon as it cooked. The boy's mum came over to him and lent down to kiss him on the cheek. Just as his mum's lips touched his cheek, the world around him shattered into shards like glass. He started falling right into his bed. He woke with a start rain was streaming down the window. This was the real Dark Shadow. Parentless. No family. Nothing. No friends, nobody to love him or for him to love. His mother had died during birth; his father had died while serving in the army. Over the years he had become cruel and heartless. Icy and cold. Dark put his head in his hands and cried he wished he had a family. But his family was long dead.

The next morning, Dark got out of bed in his jeans. It was Wednesday. He looked on the floor for a t-shirt, which he saw and put on, then went into the back room of his little apartment. In there he had his Mutator cards. He was still missing The Psychic and Devastator. He then went into the kitchen, which was a mess as usual. He felt the cold floor of the kitchen on the soles of his bare feet. He got one of the clean bowls from the sink and corn flakes. He poured the cereal into the bowl; then he poured some full fat milk into the blue bowl. He opened the draw where he kept the cutlery, took out a spoon and ate his cereal. The rain was no longer thumping against the windows of the apartment. Dark wondered how his life would be if he still had parents. Dark shrugged he didn't actually care. His life sucked that's all there is to it as far as he is concerned. He checked the time. It was 8:10. 8:10? Dark needed to be at school in ten minutes! He grabbed his denim jacket of his hook. He put some socks and his trainers on. He grabbed his school bag, which he had luckily packed the night before (knowing he'd be late). And ran out the door as fast as he could. Just before Dark closed the door he ran back inside and grabbed his key, then he ran out. Down the stairs, and off to school (Dark lived in an apartment, in a block of flats). Dark ran all the way to school. He just got to the gates as the first bell went. He ran straight to his classroom.

Dark got to his classroom's door and strolled casually in. It was a large circular room that got higher as it went back, a lot like an auditorium, but with a steeper face. Each row had a few desks, each desk could fit two people on, and on each desk there were two drawers just below the actual lump of wood that was the writing desk, one for each person. Some of the boys in the class made disgusted faces while the others just ignored him. Some of the girls giggled. He was the rebel. And as being such, was admired by some boys, hated by others, and at the same time was fancied by all the girls. Although all feared him, most of the 'cool' boys were trying to show they were better than him (Usually by beating him up). Dark went up to his seat past the group of girls who were always either talking about him, or talking about something girly. Dark sat down and opened the draw under his desk. In there was a note addressed to him. He took it out and opened it. It read –

Dear Dark,

I would like to go out with you, please say yes

Katie Davies

Dark shook his head. He wrote on the note. Here is what it then read –

Dear Dark,

I would like to go out with you, please say yes

Katie Davies

Dear Katie,

I would like you to shove it, please say yes

Dark Shadow

Dark rolled it up into a ball and threw it into the group of girls; it hit a girl in blue jeans with a black t-shirt right on the back. The girl whipped around, it was Katie. She was a darkish skinned, with brown eyes; she was about 5'4", with dark brown hair. Katie bent down, trying to reveal more to Dark the she should have, and picked up the note and unfolded it. She read it and frowned. Katie glanced at Dark then threw it back at him. It hit him in the arm and he laughed. Katie walked over to Dark.

"Why are you so mean?" asked Katie.

"Just am." Said Dark bluntly.

"How am I supposed to prove how I feel about you?"

"Dunno." Answered Dark

"Don't know, or don't care." Asked Katie. There was a pause of about

three seconds where Dark was in a position of sarcastic thinking

"Pick one." Dark shot back spitefully, Katie walked off in a big huff. Katie Davies. The coolest girl, she always had someone wanting to go out with her, but she had eyes only for Dark. Katie had beautiful brown hair and brown eyes. The form tutor came in.

"Sit down every one." The form tutor spoke with a large sense of arrogance. Dark glanced up at the tutor, it was a sub.

"Oh Smeg!" said Dark under his breath. He hated subs. He tried to ignore the sub until the sub called out Dark Shadow on the register.

"Yes sir." Said Dark in the most unenthusiastic way possible. After that, registration passed quickly, much to Dark's relief they were reminded of some very important test coming up next Monday. The first lesson was history, which was one of his favourite subjects. He liked their teacher as well, her name was Miss Ishroty; she was quite pretty and quite tall. Brown haired, brown eyed. She always wore a dress. All the boys fancied her, that was obvious, but Dark only liked her because she saw talent and helped people (who had it) use that talent. And she was a good teacher (also she was very lenient on the more talented ones). That passed very quickly they were doing something on a couple of inventors called Boulton and Watt. Who invented a good steam engine that was powered by a wheel.

The next lesson was Chemistry. Dark was very smart so he was in top set for everything except English which he really hated because he loved English (they were only in sets for Maths, Science and English) and the top set for Science was split into the three Sciences. Anyway they watched some reactions, (done by the teacher) which were boring, but they took notes. And then the lesson was over. Then break. The horror of the day (for most people). Every one hated break because the school bully, Pise Espial, went around with his two best mates, Sidi Commande and Depia Sikin, and they stole everyone's lunch money. This particular day, they decided to get Dark into trouble, by beating him up. They moved in on Dark, who was, as usual, standing by a wall, leaning against it, and doing nothing to anybody.

"What you doing?" asked Pise.

"Nothin'." Said Dark bluntly.

"Well do you wanna have some fun?" asked Pise.

"Do I have a choice?" asked Dark in reply.

"Erm……No." said Pise in a snide voice. Pise went for a punch. About 5 inches before Pise's fist hit Dark's face, Dark's hand shot up and grabbed Pise's hand in an iron grip. Pise was strong and good at fighting. But Dark was better. Pise unclenched his fist and broke free. Dark swung his arm up and pushed Pise's fist to one side. Dark, with the arm he had used to push Pise's arm, pushed Pise of balance. He fell over. Depia swung his fist, Dark grabbed it. Sidi did the same, and, again Dark grabbed the fist. Depia and Sidi both punched with the other fist just under Dark's ribs. Dark was winded. Pise got up, just as Dark went down. Pise's leg swung forward right into Dark's ribs. Dark winced.

"Cut it out!" shouted Katie, she ran forward she had to stop them beating Dark up. Katie jumped on to Pise's back. He grabbed her arm he was way too powerful and Pise just flung her off. You could hear the crunch as she hit the floor. Although Dark was a rebel, although he never followed rules that was it. One thing he firmly believed in was never hit a girl. Pise, Sidi and Depia stepped over Katie and were about to beat Katie up. They heard the playground's gravel crunching as Dark got up. Sidi didn't have a chance. Before Sidi even turned round Dark's leg had firmly planted it's self in the small of Sidi's back. Sidi flew forward.

"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." said Dark. Pise charged at Dark. Dark took a step to the side and swung up into the air with a flying rounder-house. It caught Pise right on the back. The tormentor, as Pise was better known, was thrown forward. Depia hit Dark in the stomach. Dark didn't flinch. The tormenter's right hand went to punch Dark in the face. Dark grabbed his arm and spun round so Depia's left arm was outstretched over Dark's left shoulder. Dark pushed Depia's arm up and forced it right down onto his shoulder, he then pulled it so Depia was right behind him. Dark yanked Depia's arm across his body and swung at the boy on the floor, Depia's head was pointing towards Dark, and Depia was face up so Dark swung his arm down right into Depia's stomach. Depia was badly winded. This all took only twenty seconds, but it had given Pise enough time to recover and get back up. Tormenter charged at Dark. This time Dark didn't have a chance; one of Pise's powerful fists came crashing down into Dark's back. Dark fell straight down, not because of pain but because of the sheer force of the blow. Dark made a run for it. He managed to get himself cornered between a wall and a big strong kid that wanted his blood. Pise and Dark had a face-off.

"Give it up." Said Pise in his mocking voice. Pise's fist swung forward into Dark's lip. The sheer power of the heavy blow knocked Dark into the wall. Dark managed to pull himself together and stand up. Dark put his forefinger and middle finger in his mouth when he brought them back out; there was blood on them. Dark clenched his fist. He swung. Pise wasn't ready it hit Pise hard in the stomach. Pise went down. Dark kicked him in the face. Depia got up and charged at Dark. Dark flipped backwards right onto the wall. Depia managed to stop in front of the wall Dark's foot swung out and Depia spun around in mid air as Dark's foot crashed into Depia's jaw. Sidi got up as Dark jumped down. Sidi charged at Dark. Dark ran at Sidi they both stopped. Dark kicked Sidi in the shin. Sidi went down to rub it Dark kicked him in the face. Sidi flicked back up so he was partially leaning back. Dark ran up Sidi and kicked him in the face. Dark landed on the floor. Then Sidi hit the floor with a nasty crunch. Dark stood up and walked off. No one saw him for the rest of the day.

It was about 9:33 PM and the moon was full in the sky, Dark had gone to his favourite place; it was on a hill that over looked his hometown. There was a bush that just sat there. The bush was very large, but it was sort of hollow there was about enough room for two people. Only Dark (As far as he knew) knew the way in. So that's where he sat for the rest of the day. Dark heard rustling. He held his breath someone was out there. His secret entrance opened and Katie stepped in. Dark started breathing again. Katie was a Year 11, like Dark. Katie stroked Dark's short brown hair, and looked deeply into his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Dark in his cold, hard voice.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did at break time." said Katie in a rather dreamy voice.

"I didn't do it for you I did it because they tried to beat me up." Answered Dark in a cold and almost spiteful voice. She lent forward. She had loved him from the first time she saw his eyes. She thought he was perfect his eyes were so deep like two pools of pure beauty. Katie puckered her lips ready for a kiss, and Dark turned his head at the last minute, her lips touched Darks cheek.

"Well, err, I don't care, and err, leave me alone." Dark cruelly. Katie just nodded, with tears in the corner of her eyes. Then she got up and left. So Dark, yet again was alone. Dark started to feel a bit remorseful. But no. Life was never nice to him, so why should he be nice?

Katie had only been walking for a couple of minutes, crying her eyes out. Her jeans had nice grassy stains on them. Katie walked down the hill. It turned, and Katie turned with it. Katie had been walking for about ten minutes when she saw the buildings of her town. She continued walking. Katie noticed the park. She went into the park to sit on the Bench of Hearts, a famous bench that even Katie knew about even though she lived on the other side of town. Katie cried into her arms.

"Star-light, star-bright, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight. Make Dark Shadow fall in love with me." Said Katie.

Dark crawled out of the bush. He smiled and laughed. Dark heard a scream, it was Katie. Dark just walked home, she was in the park. Dark didn't know how he knew he just did.

"Dark! HELP ME!" screamed Katie as the three boys moved in on her. They didn't go to her school

"Give us your money, or else!" said the boy who appeared to be the leader.

"Or what?" asked Katie, trying to be firm. The boy just smiled cruelly.

"Help me Dark, Help!" shouted Katie a second time. There was some movement in the trees behind the boys. CRACK, someone or something just hit the smaller one right in the back. The figure flipped back off the young boy. The second boy turned around to see what that is,

"Whatever it is bring it here!" shouted the boss. The second boy nodded. Another sickening crack as a foot smashed across the second boy's face. The figure landed just as the second boy hit the floor. Both the small and the second boy were hurt pretty badly. The boss swung around to face the figure. The figure drew itself up so the figure's back was facing the boss.

"Turn and look at me, or I'll beat you up!" shouted the boss. The figure glanced back you couldn't see his face because it was hidden by a shadow.

"You're sweating." Said the figure, WHAM, as the foot of the shadowy assailant hit the boss hard in the ribs. The boss went flying. The figure's face was still hidden by the shadows. The figure outstretched a hand to the trembling girl. She took the figure's hand knowing he was safe. The figure brought her closer to it's self. In the shadows, their bodies looked like one, the figure bent down and kissed her on the lips. Then the figure pulled away.

His mum came over to him and lent down to kiss him on the cheek. Just as his mum's lips touched his cheek, the world around him shattered into shards like glass. He started falling right into his bed.

He woke with a start sun was coming in the window. Dark looked at his watch. He hated that dream but on the up side he had plenty of time to get to school. He went to get his Mutator© Duelling Card Deck. He threw a shirt on his back. Nothing fancy just a plain black shirt. He went into the tiny kitchen, and got himself a bowl of cornflakes. He got the milk out of the tiny fridge; Dark poured some into the bowl along with the cornflakes. Dark got a spoon, and started eating. 'From Neanderthal to modern man in the time it takes to eat a bowl of cornflakes' thought Dark reciting the slogan for cornflakes in his head. He looked through his cards. He had all the ones everyone else longed for, Dark had been an avid collector from the time he could understand the rules. Dark finished his bowl of cereal. Something wasn't right, Dark couldn't put his finger on it. Dark shrugged the feeling off and put the bowl. In the sink, which was empty. Dark crossed the kitchen to the living room, and to the front door. He checked he had all the right books, his key, dinner money, and etc. he had everything he needed. Dark shrugged again and walked out the door. He went down the stairs, right to the bottom and out of the block of flats' land.

Dark arrived at the black, metal, wrought school gates. Something was not right, Dark looked over the to the group of girls, all of which could quite possibly fancy him, they were all crowded around Katie, who was probably talking about what had happened yesterday. Dark could hear the gravel crunch beneath his feet. He continued to walk past the girls his eyes made contact with Katie's. All the other girls whipped round, but Dark looked as cold and hard as ever, if not more so. Katie frowned at him. Dark remembered that he couldn't ever let emotions get in the way of his life. Dark faced his front and he saw no other than Pise Espial walking up to him. Dark heard something crunch behind him, right past the girls and on the field, he whipped around, scanned the entire field nothing. He looked at Pise again. Depia and Sidi were with him.

"Look, Pise…" said Dark as Pise grabbed him round the throat.

"You, me, Mutator Duel. NOW!" said Pise. Dark just managed to nod. Pise let go of Dark's throat.

"Okay but if I win, you leave me alone, and if you win?" stated Dark.

"We get to use you as a punch bag for as long as we are in school. Deal?" asked Pise. Dark nodded. Dark drew his deck from his pocket. Pise did the same. Dark took his Character Card from the top of his deck, Ghost, Pise did the same his was The Wall, Dark shuffled his deck. He drew the top five cards. He had a fairly good starting hand, Man, Skeleton, Camouflage, Rifle and Laser Sight.

"I'll go first." Said Dark simply. Pise shook his head.

"I'll play this Capture Card face down, and I'll play this Brute. Hope you enjoy being thumped. I end my turn," said Pise.

"I'll play this Capture Card face down and this monster, Skeleton," Dark nodded. Pise played one mutation and one monster, he also equipped a Capture Card to his monster, Pise attacked Dark's Skeleton, Dark activated his Capture Card – Camouflage, which made one monster's defence increase by three points for one turn. The Brute's attack wasn't good enough to beat the Skeleton, Dark drew a card – False Mutation, he played it and Rifle then Dark Attacked, and Pise's Character Card was destroyed.

"Too easy." Said Dark smugly. Pise was horrified. He had been defeated. Dark put his deck away, back into his pocket.

"Your dead!" shouted Pise.

"Ah! Our Deal!" said Dark smugly. Pise didn't seem care, so he swung his fist. It hit Dark hard. Dark went down because of the sheer force. A girl ran out of nowhere and in the way, to stop the pounding she held her arms and legs out so she looked like she was doing star jumps, but on the ground and in the open position, Dark had never seen her before she was almost as beautiful as an angel.

"Leave him alone," said the beautiful girl.

"Leave me, I ain't worth your life." Dark struggled, but for some reason the boys stopped, maybe because, either A) she was a girl, or B) they didn't want to hit the new kid for fear of being beaten up. Dark got up. The Bullies left.

"Uh, thanks, I guess. Who the hell are?" said Dark. The girl turned around so she was facing Dark.

"Well no duellist should be beaten up for winning," she said, smiling. Her sky blue eyes, small and delicate, but beautiful in the sun.

"Huh? Oh bugger off" Dark put his hands in his pocket and felt his cards. Dark walked off. The sink! Everything suddenly clicked into place! Of course, someone had washed up his bowl from the previous morning, it wasn't him. So who was it? The answer was simple, Dark didn't know. Dark shrugged, he guessed whoever it was would come forward sooner or later, hopefully sooner. Dark heard the bell ring.

Chapter 2 - The New Girl

"DAMN!" shouted Dark as he ran to tutorial. He strolled into his tutorial room. Dark went up to his seat. There was another note in his drawer. This time it read :-

Dear Dark,

I would like to go out with you, please say yes

Katie Davies

Dear Katie,

I would like you to shove it, please say yes

Dark Shadow

Dear Dark,

What's wrong with you today?

Dark added something to the bottom of the piece of paper, just as the teacher walked in. It was another sub, but this was a nice sub (if there is such a thing) this was Miss Ishroty, (Dark's history teacher) so he didn't mind. The teacher saw Dark writing the note, Dark shook his head mouthing 'no please' and Miss Ishroty nodded. Dark finished the note and threw it at Katie. Katie picked it up, now it read: -

Dear Dark,

I would like to go out with you, please say yes

Katie Davies

Dear Katie,

I would like you to shove it, please say yes

Dark Shadow

Dear Dark,

What's wrong with you today?

Dear Katie,

There's a wise old orphan saying that I think applies in this situation, it goes – WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT FISH BREATH?

Katie frowned at Dark.

"Settle down class," said the substitute. "It appears you have a new student. Her name is Miss, Relina Emit." Dark guessed and only guessed that it must be the girl on the playground. She was joining his class! Relina walked in the room looking nervous, then she saw Dark, and she smiled Dark ignored her. Dark copied the wave, looking puzzled. Katie was looking at Dark, and then she looked at Relina. She gave Relina the evils. No one, but no one was going to get between her and Dark, not even a new girl.

"It seems you know, our resident rebel Dark Shadow," laughed Miss Ishroty. Relina nodded slowly and nervously.

"Well, now you have your new seat, up next to Dark," said Miss Ishroty, smiling contently. Relina looked at Miss Ishroty and smiled. Miss Ishroty motioned for Relina to go and take her new seat. Relina started walking up the stairs to the seat next to Dark's. Katie was still giving Relina the evils. Relina didn't seem to care, she was transfixed on Dark, and she quite obviously fancied him. Relina sat down. She turned to look at Dark, and smiled. Katie looked like she was about to explode.

"Alright students, time for the register," said Miss Ishroty, "Darren Ackett?" a 'Yes' came as the response, the teacher continued then eventually, "Relina Emit?" said Miss Ishroty 'Yes' came the reply. Then all the way to Dark's name. Dark was thankful to be able to do something other than having Relina looking at him.

"Yes miss." said Dark.

"No-one is ever nice to me for no reason. What's the reason? Come on! Tell me!" said Dark getting aggravated.

"Well there is only one reason. I think you'd be good trainer to train me to be a better Mutator duellist." replied Relina simply. Dark didn't look convinced but it satisfied him… for now.

"Dark." said Relina nervously.

"Yeah." said Dark coldly.

"Do you want to come over to my house tonight, it's really important." said Relina bluntly. Dark frowned but he didn't see why not. Dark shrugged.

"Okay... I barely know you but hey I guess I'll have to check my schedule. Although this doesn't mean I trust you." said Dark. Katie heard this little conversation. Katie got up and walked over to Relina.

'"Alright, I've had just about enough of this! Dark's mine. Where you like it or not – he's mine! Now, I don't know where you came from, and, hell…I don't much care – but, if you don't skedaddle pronto, you're gonna see a side of me you won't much like!" commanded Katie. Dark just shrugged at Relina and gave a nervous smile. Relina stood up and stuck out her chest that was adorned with medium sized breasts.

"Yeah, well. I'll have you know that I'd kick your butt in a fight any day. So go play with your little dollies with your little friends but leave me and MY friend to talk." replied Relina. Katie stuck up her middle finger at Relina.

"Ladies, ladies, please calm down," asked Dark. Both the girls glared at Dark. Dark just shrank back into the corner.

"Swivel on it, club geek," said Katie with her middle finger still raised a large Ooooooooh! Came from the crowd.

"Look kiddo, leave mum and dad to talk. Get it. PUSH OFF!" shot Relina. Katie slapped Relina. Relina slapped back, harder. Dark got in the way of the next blow, he stood between them like Relina did earlier between himself and Pise.

"No fighting. If I see any more of this, then both of you will lose out, and neither of you will ever see me again. Ever, like." commanded Dark. Both girls nodded. And laughed at Darks joke.

"Go to your seats NOW!" said Dark in a very stern voice.Both girls did as they were told. Dark sat down.

"Sorry about that." said Dark bluntly. "She just kissed me once now she thinks she's me girlfriend." Dark shrugged, Relina just smiled. He felt he could be himself around Relina he trusted her. He didn't have to be cold or hard around her so he wasn't.

"Right, it says here you need to find something out about the person next to you that you didn't know before." said Miss Ishroty. Dark laughed silently.

"What?" asked Relina.

"Don't you think we've been given the easiest task in the class, I've never even met you, and vice versa." said Dark with a smile. Relina nodded and the left side of her lip curled then stopped.

"Well, what's your favourite food?" asked Relina.

"Macaroni Cheese. Although when I cook it its usually any old pasta." said Dark. "Right well what's your favourite hobby?" asked Dark.

"Going to clubs, like chess club, and science club. This is where Katie got her 'Club Geek' crack came from. Didn't you ask me this out on the playground?" said Relina, her blue eyes smiling.

"Err… no?" asked Dark in a whisper, Relina giggled silently her tawny white skin was soft and smooth. Her blonde her was like a flowing river. Dark was enchanted. The bell went and Dark was abruptly shaken out of the trance. He packed his things, and saw Relina was already hurrying outside the door. Dark had to run to catch up with her.

"Hi Dark. I see you caught up with Me." said Relina smiling. Dark smiled anxiously.

"Relina, err… can I ask you a question?" asked Dark. Relina nodded.

"Well. Who the hell are you?" asked Dark. Relina looked puzzled.

"I'm Relina Emit." said Relina as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Oh come on who on earth invites someone over to their house the day they met? The rest of it could be classified normal. But no one would ever invite someone over to their house the day they met!" said Dark. Relina looked at him blankly.

"I'm not saying I won't come over, but I just wanna know why it's so important." said Dark. Relina shrugged.

"It just is. All will be explained when you at my house." said Relina, "I promise." she looked like she wasn't being entirely truthful, but curiosity got the better of Dark.

"Fine." said Dark shaking his head. Relina smiled. 'Why the fuck do I trust her so much? It's not natural…'

Chapter 3 - A House?

The rest of the day passed quickly, and as the day passed, Dark's curiosity grew and grew. He met up with Relina at the gate. She was leaning up against it. As Dark walked up to her, Relina winked. They started walking, Relina was smiling. Dark put his hands against the back of his head, and his elbows were pointing outwards, he looked up at a diagonal angle into the sky.

"Dark?" said Relina.

"Yeah Relina?" asked Dark.

"Which is you favourite Mutator episode?" replied Relina.

"Oh that's easy, where Leinad Carter starts a battle with Denadu and kicks his ASS!" said Dark smiling. "Ummm… shouldn't you be leading?" asked Dark.

"I suppose so." replied Relina. Relina pointed down and alley way with one of her ten perfect fingers. Dark went down the alleyway. At the end was the Mutator© Corporation Shop and Branch for the area.

"Wh…wh…wha…what? You live here?" asked Dark.

"Sort of. The name is just a front, I know Leinad Carter. And he said we could use his company's name for the building." replied Relina.

"Cool. Well after you." said Dark, opening the door for Relina. Relina smiled. As soon as Dark walked through the door, two big men grabbed him; Relina managed mouthed 'Sorry' to Dark. Dark kicked one of them in the face and punched the other hard in the stomach, they both hit the ground. Dark hadn't even given them a chance. When the men got back up they called for back-up and four men grabbed Dark. The men took Dark down a corridor, round a corner and into a room with nothing but a table, a mirror, and a chair at each end of the table. They threw Dark into the chair opposite the mirror, and left. Dark just sat there doing nothing. He had a quick look into the mirror. After what seemed like an hour, (although according to Dark's watch it was only ten minutes.) One of the men that grabbed Dark came back in and threw about ten sheets of paper onto the table all held together by a staple at the top right corner, and then he slammed a pen down onto the table.

"Sign it." the man barked in a gruff voice. "SIGN IT!" ordered the man again in the gruff voice.

"What is it?" asked Dark.

"It's the Official Secrets Act." said the man bluntly.

"What is this MI5 or something?" asked Dark.

"I can't tell you that unless you've signed the act." said the man.

"You were just pulled off the street weren't you? They were thinking just another bozo to use that will have no idea of the grand scheme of things." said Dark shaking his head as he signed the act. Meanwhile, on the other side of the mirror,

"He's smart, but Agent 3's loyalty is unwavering." said the Commander. The Doctor nodded. Back in the interrogation room, 'Agent 3' was telling Dark what this place was.

"This is the headquarters of the most secret organization in the world." said Agent 3. "The I.D.I, which stands for Interplanetary Defence Initiative. We make sure nothing can attack out planet. We have more spy satellites in space than Russia could ever hope to have, we have probes that send us live images from Pluto with only five-second lag. We have been tracking you we want to ask you if you would like to help us. Would you? We will pay you anything you want." said 'Agent 3'.

"Okay I'll help you but I just got a couple of questions, 1) do MI5 or MI6 know about you?" asked Dark. 'Agent 3' shook his head.

"And what's your name?" asked Dark. 'Agent 3' smiled.

"Good, well for one thing my name is Robert Benson, and I'm you're new bodyguard." said the man.

"I also have another request." said Dark.

"Shoot." said Robert.

"Can I see Relina?" asked Dark. Robert smiled.

"Of course." said Robert. Dark smiled. Robert spoke into his watch and said – 'Send in Relina Emit.' Dark waited for a minute and Relina came rushing in and threw her arms around his neck. Dark felt drops of water dropping onto and soaking through his jacket. Relina was sobbing.

"I'm sorry I lied." whispered Relina timidly. Dark put his arms around Relina as well. He smiled.

"Now follow me." whispered Relina again. Dark did as he was told. They came into a room, in this room were a tube and a control panel, it had a bittersweet taste on the tongue, and it was also very humid. The control panel was directly in front of them as the walked in, the tube on the left in the corner.

"Daddy!" shouted Relina as she ran to a man who looked about 35 to 40 years old, his hair was greying, but he was still a very strong man or so it appeared, there was another man standing next to him, the man was quite clearly a scientist. His name badge read Dr. Snek,

"Nice to meet you doctor Snek." said Dark. Dr. Snek looked at him in a puzzled way. Dark pointed at the nametag.

"It's good to finally meet you, Dark Shadow." said the man Relina had called 'Daddy'.

"And you are?" asked Dark quizzically. The man smiled softly,

"I am the commander of the I.D.I, Marcus Emit." said the commander, offering his hand. Dark outstretched his hand and shook Marcus'. Marcus smiled again.

"Do you know what's about to happen?" asked Marcus. Dark shook his head. Marcus clicked his fingers, and went back to the control panel.

"Well you're about to be genetically modified. It will hurt but not that much. Basically we will be fusing all your atoms with the atoms of a new metal called Adoshw it is way stronger than it's strongest predecessor, Adamantine, which was thought be invincible. But an Adoshw bullet that was tiny could easily punch a hole in an adamantine wall. Where as an adamantine bullet couldn't even scratch the paintwork on an Adoshw wall. The Japanese discovered it, and they sent it over here in return for the GM technology. You will have the ability to fly, punch through solid adamantine with absolute ease, you will be super intelligent, and be able to move at Mach 100. Which is roughly eighteen miles per second." explained Relina. Relina nodded at her dad, she put her hands in front of her ears, so her fingers where as widespread as possible. Relina closed her eyes, and looked like she was focusing. Dark thought he saw light appear in a ball around Relina, but it disappeared instantly. Marcus pulled a pistol out, cocked it, and fired, straight into Relina's head, but like glass a reflection, of light just appeared and shot round Relina. Relina stopped concentrating. And looked at Dark.

"I was put in to the Enhancer, but I couldn't take it. So when I came out, my DNA wasn't fully changed, therefore causing me to be able to emit solid light that's invisible. Much like an impenetrable force field." explained Relina. Dark nodded. "Could you please get in the tube?" asked Relina. Dark nodded again, and stepped into the tube.

"A mask will drop down once the tube has closed, that is an oxygen mask wear it." said Dr Snek. Dark stepped into the tube.

"Wait… Erm WHAT THE FUCK? Explain please… NOW." Dark demanded.

"Well… you'll get superpowers… or don't you want super powers? I thought it's every boys dream to be a super hero." Dr Snek countered.

"Nice deflection, not going to work. What's the catch? I mean seriously you're not just going to give me super powers. There's got to be a catch. Plain and simple."

"Right… No there isn't. Well, you have to work for us. But I reckon you'd enjoy that more than what you do now. Which is nothing." Marcus said.

"And how the fuck do you know?" Dark asked. Marcus snapped his fingers; a file was given to him. A thick file. He opened it and began reading.

"Dark Shadow. Date of birth, tenth of the first, two thousand five. Convictions against his name, none. Cases taken to court, one hundred thirty six. Crimes actually committed, three hundred forty seven. Ranging from burglary to GBH. Need I go on? We can make that all disappear." Marcus said.

"Well I've never been blackmailed before… I have blackmailed. Yeah you missed that one, Crimes committed is three hundred forty nine, and I blackmailed two people." Dark said with a smile.

"Well, you do realise none of the cases are closed. If we were to hand you to the police with the evidence we have, you'd be going away for a long time." Marcus retaliated. Dark looked at his feet, defeated. He began to walk over to the tube.

"Wait! Change into this. So your clothes don't get messed up." said Marcus. Dark did as he was told while everyone turned away. Dark got into the tube. The tube closed, and the mask dropped down, as promised, and Dark put it on. A black liquid started flowing out of a vent at the bottom of the tube. As soon as it covered two thirds of Dark's torso he felt his body burning, every single atom in his body felt as if it was about to explode. Every single atom burned like they had been dropped through the centre of the earth. Everything went black. Dark had blacked out.

"What are his STATs?" asked Marcus.

"He's okay the transformations complete, he's just unconscious." replied Dr. Snek. Marcus nodded and walked outside. Relina was waiting right outside the door.

"How is he?" asked Relina.

"Fine just unconscious." replied Marcus. Relina sighed.

"Well get Agent 3 to take him home, and I'll nurse him back to health." said Relina.

"Good idea." said Marcus, ruffling Relina's hair. "But make sure he doesn't get into any fights until you can get him back here. If he does, his opponent may not be alive to tell the tale."

Chapter 4 - Emergence

His mum came over to him and lent down to kiss him on the cheek. Her lips were warm.

"Come on kiddo. I'll drive you to school after breakfast." said the boy's dad. The boy nodded. The boy and his father made eye contact as their food was placed on the table. They both smiled, simultaneously they grabbed their forks and started eating as fast as possible. The boy just finished first so he grabbed his glass of milk, and started drinking, also as quickly as possible. The boy finished first again. The boy then threw his fists straight into the air and nodded his head.

"You shouldn't eat that fast!" exclaimed the boys mother. "Here's your dinner money." The boy took £2.00 from his mother's outstretched palm. "Now off you go or you'll be late."

"Come on kiddo let's go." said The boy's father.

Dark's eyes opened softly. Light was streaming in the window. Dark could smell bacon, scrambled eggs, waffles, sausages and beans all being cooked. Just the way he liked it. Dark got out of bed, his muscles were burning and his head was thumping. Dark managed to swing his legs out of his bed, and start walking across the floor towards the door, his muscles seemed quite a lot bigger than they were yesterday morning. And the burning had subsided. Dark opened the door. Relina was in the kitchen, cooking what appeared to be breakfast.

"Good morning." said Relina cooking breakfast and smiling.

"Our tests are today." said Relina. Dark slapped his head. He had forgotten to revise.

"I forgot to revise!" exclaimed Dark. Relina was dealing with the beans.

"Don't worry I'm sure you'll do fine." said Relina smiling. Dark go two forks, two knives and two serving spoons from the cutlery draw. Dark put them on the table, he also got two glasses and filled them with milk, he placed them on the table.

"Yeah, I'm sure." said Dark, not entirely convinced. Dark sat down on the far side from Relina at the table. Relina placed the food on the table. Dark started eating. It was perfect. They finished breakfast,

"How did you get in here?" asked Dark. Relina gave a toothy smile, her teeth were perfect, so was here blonde hair, and her eyes and her nose.

"I have a spare key. I got it off the I.D.I, oh and don't get into any fights. Not until I can take you to the I.D.I headquarters okay?" asked Relina.

"Okay." replied Dark. Dark vaguely remembered something about the I.D.I and the Official Secrets act. But nothing he could be sure of. After breakfast they Dark went and got a t-shirt to put on for school. He picked up some dinner money, and went to hand some to Relina, but she refused. Dark shrugged. He packed his bag, and walked out the door, with Relina at his side. She was smiling her toothy smile. They went down the stairs, and off to school.

When they arrived the time was 8:10 and Pise was waiting at the gate for Dark. Pise swung at Dark. Time slowed only just but Dark's head was already out the way before Pise had even swung. Pise looked stunned.

"Boys, he's fast but you can take him easily. Get him." said Pise. Sidi and Depia charged at Dark one coming from either side. But Dark just stepped back at the last minute and they punched each other. Dark shook his head. Both boys were very angry. They charged at Dark but he was gone before they even moved. Dark laughed

"You won't catch me." said Dark with a snigger. The bell rang. Dark smiled and walked into the tutor room. Their form tutor was back.

"Sorry for my absence. But I was very sick," said the tutor, followed by a sneeze and a cough. "Well, today as you know you have your tests, and I expect you all to do well." said the tutor. The tutor picked a boy to hand out the test papers. Once they were all handed out, the command to 'Begin' came, Dark flipped his paper over. He knew everything on the paper, though he rarely paid attention in class. Dark tried the test and finished it first most of the class were amazed by the fact that he had not only finished first but looked quite happy with himself. Dark handed in the test paper, and walked outside. He waited for Relina just outside the door. Relina was about the fifth or sixth person to complete their test.

"You had better be careful, Pise has almost finished," said Relina. Dark shook his head.

"I don't need to worry. Pise isn't a problem." replied Dark. "I'm way faster than he'll ever be, but I can't remember how it happened. I think it's pretty cool though." Relina smiled, and Pise came charging out all most straight after they had finished their conversation.

"You, me fight after school." said Pise, letting his anger get the better of him. Dark tutted.

"Okay but don't expect to win." said Dark full of self-confidence.

"What are you doing you aren't strong enough to fight Pise, he'll cream you!" whispered Relina.

"Yeah but I'm way faster than him! I'll pummel him until I do some damage! It's easy!" whispered Dark in reply. Relina spent the rest off the day trying to convince Dark that fighting Pise was suicide. But Dark wouldn't have it. When they got their test results back at the end of the day, Dark had 100, and considering he usually got 30 – 35 this was a huge improvement. Dark easily managed to figure out that something fishy was going on, he was super smart and super fast, and he also knew it had something to do with Relina and the I.D.I. Dark was going to go with Relina to the I.D.I straight after the fight. 'Humpf. Not so god damn easy to bully now am I ass hole. Just you wait Pise, I'm taking you down.' Dark thought to himself.

The end of the day came, and about ninety percent of the school had heard about the fight, but only about 10 of those people actually turned up to watch. Pise charged, and Dark was gone, a foot in the back took Pise down that was about all that happened. Dark had beaten up Pise with a single blow. Everyone watching cheered, but some just looked at Dark with envy. Dark was smiling he walked over to Relina.

"See told you it was nothing to worry about!" exclaimed Dark. Relina and Dark walked out the gate and straight towards the alleyway.

"Hey this isn't the way we went last time!" exclaimed Dark.

"Last time I took you a longer route, because I thought you might want to speak to me. This time I need to take you to the I.D.I HQ so that you can have your training." exclaimed Relina seemingly getting aggravated, by Dark's complete non-care for anything. Dark shrugged.

"Fine." said Dark bluntly. "Go on I'll follow you." Relina eased up a bit. Relina lead Dark to the Commander.

"Marcus isn't it? Commander Marcus Emit of the I.D.I?" asked Dark. Marcus offered his hand, which Dark took.

"Yes. Now it's time for your training. Relina will show you where it is." pointed out Marcus. Dark shrugged. Relina motioned for Dark to follow. Dark did as he was told. They went into a room.

"This is a training room. Nobody has ever got past Level 3. Very few get past 2. We expect you to get past 10. You will see a number, appear on that screen." explained Relina, pointing to a screen above the door on the opposite side of the room briefly. "When the number goes to zero, you will start the training at Level 4. You should find this easy. If at any time, you think you are incapable of continuing, then press that button." explained Relina, pointing to a button on Dark's right briefly. "Then we will turn the power off. If this does not work for any reason then we will send in people fully armed to destroy the robots. Understand?" asked Relina. Dark nodded. Relina left the room, and appeared in a 'Control Box' above Dark's head. The screen completed its task. The robots came charging out, but Dark was too quick most of them where on the floor before they even got out the door. The others fell very quickly. The screen completed its task again, but this time showed LEVEL 6 after the countdown. This time the robots were much smarter, quicker, tougher and stronger than the last one, but still fell quickly.

"Final Time, Level 10, begin!" came Relina's voice of an intercom. These robots had armour Dark couldn't break through. But he thought, they were slower and less intelligent if only just than him, but just as strong. Dark managed to get them to start hitting each other by dodging out the way just in time. Their armour was getting damaged. In one of them, the armour had a sufficiently sized crack for Dark to put his fist right into the armour, he pulled the circuitry clean out, after doing this he continued to rip the arm off the robot's body, and used it to put more holes into the armour of the other robots, and continuing with the process, changing fist each time, because the fist would be so damaged. Dark looked up into the 'Control Box', and the doors opened, Relina came charging in.

"Well done. Do you know any martial arts?" asked Relina. Dark nodded.

"I made one up from loads of different movies." explained Dark. Relina shrugged she seemed content that was enough. Relina motioned for Dark to follow, which he did.

"Your memory will come back over time." said Relina as they walked, "but only as your super intelligence emerges. Simple? No?" asked Relina. Dark nodded in response. Dark suddenly remembered everything.

"Relina. I remember everything!" exclaimed Dark,

"Well that means your super intelligent? Already?" asked Relina. Dark nodded. They entered a room, inside, was a thick piece of metal,

"Punch through it." Relina ordered. Dark did as he was told, it was the easiest thing he had ever done. Relina was standing behind him, and she pulled out some kind of pistol, she cocked it, Dark moved quickly, and time slowed down a lot, every second he counted, Relina moved very, very little, Dark grabbed the gun and aimed it at Relina's head. Then time sped up to normal.

"Good," said Relina, she moved quite quickly, she grabbed the gun, twisted it, and shot Dark in the stomach. Dark was surprised by the gunshot. He felt the bullet, but it appeared to do nothing. Dark wasn't bleeding, he looked at the floor and saw a small metal disk, which he picked up, and it was the bullet.

"Cool. Bullets can't hurt me." said Dark bluntly.

"The only thing that can pierce your skin is a dart or hypodermic needle." pointed out Relina. Dark smiled.

"Any other weaknesses I shouldn't know about?" asked Dark.

"Yes a common cold can kill you, and acids can kill you. Even acids that wouldn't normally hurt anyone because of the reactivity of the metal." Relina answered. Dark just shrugged.

"But why did you decide to enhance someone?" asked Dark.

"Well it's complicated, first of all we think some aliens will attack earth, and only you can stop them." Relina said bluntly. "Could you try to fly for me?" asked Relina. Dark nodded. He tried and managed it.

"Why can't the aliens be fought by normal people with decent guns?" Dark asked.

"They could… but it's easier this way."

"Your powers are fully emerged. And for those of you with short term memory loss, which would be most of you, that's a good thing! You are now earth's protector. But you can tell NO ONE!" said the commander.

"Mr. Emit. How are you sir?" asked Dark.

"Fine, fine thank you. How are you feeling good?" asked Marcus.

"Yes thank you sir." said Dark. It appeared he was starting to think a little more respectfully for his superiors. Marcus just walked off and Dark shrugged.

"Relina can I ask you a question?" asked Dark.

"Yeah sure. What?" asked Relina in reply.

"Well, I would like to know how to get a girl to fall in love with me and go out with me? Do you think you could help me?" asked Dark. Relina nodded.

"But you have to pretend to be my boyfriend okay?" asked Relina. Dark nodded.

"Well first you have to throw a party, I can organize that. Then you need to show this girl that you want to go out with that you and I are going out. Follow me?" asked Relina, Dark nodded.

"Well then you invite her to the party, and just before we break up, and I'll make her jealous, and then you pull her. Simple? No?" asked Relina, just double-checking Dark had got it all. Dark nodded again. Relina nodded in response. Relina's eyes gleamed.

"Excellent"

Chapter 5 - Plan Into Action

The next morning Dark and Relina were walking to school; Relina was carrying lots of A3 sheets of paper.

"What are they?" asked Dark.

"These are the posters for our party. Boyfriend." Relina said smiling.

"Ha ha." said Dark sarcastically as they came to the painted black wrought iron gates. Dark opened the gate for Relina.

"Thank you." Relina said. Katie came up to them,

"Hey look it's the club geek." Katie said, laughing. "Hey Dark wanna be my boyfriend?"

"Sorry I'm already taken. But please at least come to our party. Please?" asked Dark. Katie nodded. She turned around and walked off. It looked like she was crying. Dark sort of felt bad.

"Don't worry it's all for the best." Relina said in a convincing voice,

"I'll catch you later, I gotta go after her." Dark said confidently, and with that Dark ran off. He caught up with Katie quickly.

"Katie! Hey! Wait up!" shouted Dark. Katie stopped and turned around. Her eyes were full of tears.

"Please at least come to the party? Please, for me?" asked Dark. Katie nodded.

"That club geek isn't your girlfriend, is she?" asked Katie. Dark nodded.

"I know this is gonna sound corny, but we can always be friends. And if you don't come to the party I'll will come over and drag you over to it okay?" asked Dark. Katie let out a small giggle, and nodded again.

"Come here." said Dark as he drew Katie into a hug. Katie cried into Dark's shoulder.

"See you'll always have my shoulder to cry on." Dark pointed out in a futile attempt to cheer Katie up.

"See ya at the party!" shouted Dark as he ran off. Katie stood there for a minute. Katie smiled. She was going to pull the most desirable boy in the school, at his own asking-out party.

"She should come to the party. Anything else we need to do?" asked Dark. Relina handed him about half the posters.

"We need to put these up." Relina said smiling. Dark shook his head with a great big smirk across his face.

A few days later on Saturday the 7/9, right at the end of the school day, at 2:50, just 5 hours and 10 minutes from the beginning of the party,

"Dark I hate you! I dumping you!" shouted Relina in the middle of a crowd. Dark put on a fake sad face.

"Even when we make out and you do your worst and even then I can't compare!" shouted Relina again.

"But Relina what di…" said Dark in a sort of 'what the hell?' voice as he got cut off.

"I just hate you!" shouted Relina at the top of her lungs. No one noticed Relina's slight nod to Dark as she slapped him. Dark moved quicker than her but it looked real, as far as the on lookers were concerned, Relina had just slapped Dark. Dark fell to the floor. Relina stormed off. Dark got up a dragged himself away, to his house to get ready for the party.

When Dark got home, Relina was waiting, leaning against the door. Relina smiled at Dark, and Dark returned the smile.

"How'd it go?" asked Relina.

"You were brilliant. I almost thought you were dumping me, and I knew it was an act!" exclaimed Dark. Relina smiled.

"I had drama lessons so I could make you want to come to my 'house' more easily." Relina said. Dark opened the door. He went inside, Dark motioned for Relina to come in, whom did as instructed.

"I like this house. It's nice and cosy, and I can spend the night with my best friend." Relina said. Dark smiled. Dark outstretched his arms,

"Thanks. I owe you one." Dark pointed out. He hugged Relina, Relina hugged back. They let go.

"Want something to eat?" asked Dark.

"If your offering." replied Relina.

"Whadda you want?" asked Dark.

"Well what do you have?" asked Relina in reply.

"Name something. I'll see if I got it." said Dark.

"Umm……… how about, some hot chocolate with marshmallows, and some double chocolate chip cookies?" asked Relina. Dark frowned,

"Not sure I got that, but……" said Dark as he opened a cupboard, "look we do! I read your file so I knew what you would like and I went out and bought it. Okay Mutator episode, which one? You do actually like it don't you?" asked Dark, suddenly realising that Relina may have been acting that bit too.

"Yeah I do like it. Episode 1 Series 1 onwards until the party." said Relina. Dark smiled.

"Good choice, you go sit down, I'll make the hot chocolates, actually, if you go to my bedroom, the door on your left is the back room, go in there you'll find the episodes. They're in DVD format, but you if you wanna start go ahead." instructed Dark. Relina did so, and started watching the first episode, but before it had actually started, during the start up sequence, Dark came in with a plate full of double choc chip cookies (BIG ones) in one hand and two mugs with hot chocolate with marshmallows on in the other hand. Dark put them down, and sat down himself. Just as he did there was a knock at the door.

"Typical. Tell me what I miss." said Dark as he got up. He walked over to the door, and opened it.

"Help… someone's just taken my car, my daughters in it…" the man said. Relina came round the corner

"Dark? What's going on?" Relina asked.

"Relina I'll be right back." Said Dark. Dark was gone. In about a minute, he was back with the car sitting across the road.

"There you go." Dark said. Closing the door and going back to the episode.

Dark glanced at the clock. It was 6:30, and they had finished all their cookies and hot chocolate.

"Come on we had better get ready for the party." Said Dark pointing towards the clock. Relina nodded.

"I'll take you home." said Dark.

"No it's okay, I left some clothes here after I nursed you back to health after the enhancement." Relina said, smiling. Dark shook his head smiling.

"Well come on, you get ready first." Dark offered. Relina smiled.

"Thanks. But you'll regret it. Do you have any idea how long I will take in the shower and getting ready?" asked Relina jokingly. Dark shook his head.

"No, but I've got an idea I'm about to find out." Dark replied to the joke. "Get in there and please don't take too long." Dark pleaded. Relina shook her head.

"I won't. Or will I?" Relina said. "No I won't." Dark let out a huge sigh of relief.

Relina did as she promised; she was out within half an hour, looking beautiful. Dark was very quick, he was in and out within 20 minutes, looking extremely handsome. He quickly slapped on some aftershave, Relina put on her make-up.

"I'll get you there in a few seconds, then I'll come over in half an hour." Dark said. Relina nodded. He picked her up and, BOOM! Dark let off a loud sonic boom. He was in and out in a few seconds and Relina was left standing on her own. She smiled to herself. Then a tear dropped from her eye. Relina stopped crying immediately.

"Get a-hold of yourself Relina." said Relina. Relina shook her head, and then sighed. Relina headed for the school (The party was being held in the school hall). Relina pushed open the black wrought iron gates they creaked loudly. Relina walked into the school hall it was empty. Relina flipped the lights on. The only things in the room were rows of tables; some with refreshments on, and some that were just empty, quite obviously just for sitting at to relax with friends. Relina smiled, she could imagine her and Dark dancing as the sun and the moon dance at dusk and dawn.

Dark sat deep into his chair. Half an hour to kill. What he'd do? He had no idea whatsoever. Dark thought, watch Mutator©? Nay, he'd seen them all before. Listen to music and sing along. He put on Everything I Do, by Bryan Adams.

"Look into my eyes, you will see, what, you mean to me. Search your heart, search your soul, then find me there you'll search no more. Don't tell me it's not worth trying for. Can't tell me it's not worth dying for…" sung Dark in perfect tune. But he wasn't thinking about Katie. He was thinking about Relina.

"Uncanny" said Dark, and then he continued singing. He started crying, full of happiness. Dark sat there and sung, and sung, the same song over and over again.

The time for Dark to go to the party came. A sonic boom went off and Dark was outside the school. Dark breathed out heavily, shook his head, and walked into the party, Pise was standing at the door, and he was wearing a cold, hard face.

"Cheer up or you'll scare everyone away!" exclaimed Dark. Pise put on a very cheerful face. Dark walked in, Relina was nowhere.

"Pise? Where's Relina?" asked Dark looking very puzzled.

"Oh she left as soon as the party started, she said she was going to a club that she had to go to." Pise answered, Dark went back into the party. Katie was standing right next to the door. Katie grabbed Dark, and dragged him into the cloakroom, which no one was using. She lent forward to kiss Dark. Dark whispered - "No Katie." Katie looked puzzled then, Dark could see it in her face, it all clicked in her head.

"You want your club geek don't you?" asked Katie. Dark nodded.

"I am a club geek Katie. I just, never joined the club." Dark smiling,

"Good for you. Go get you club geek!" ordered Katie. Dark mouthed a 'Thanks for understanding.' Dark walked out the party. Everyone in the party heard a BOOM! As Dark set off a loud sonic boom. Dark knew exactly where this 'club' was, it was at the town hall. He was there within seconds. Dark pushed open the door. He saw Relina, sitting at a table with her back to him. She was playing chess. Dark mouthed for the guy who was challenging her, and offering her a shoulder to cry on as she cried into the table (Which turned out to be Depia) to move which he did (More out of fear than friendship), Relina's head was still in her arms facing the table she had white gloves that came up to her elbows, and a blue dress that sparkled. Relina was also wearing a tiara type thing. Dark on the other hand was only wearing a black smart shirt, and a long leather jacket, along with sunglasses and black trousers. The red walls gleamed, as Dark heard 'Everything I Do' by Bryan Adams going off in his head. He walked over to the chessboard. Depia was only one move away from winning. Dark moved the piece that insured Depia's win.

"Checkmate." Dark's voice was music to Relina's ears. Relina looked up, her mascara was running thanks to the tears she had been crying. Relina suddenly smiled. She got up and grabbed Dark round the neck and embraced him, Dark did the same.

"Now pull yourself together. You club geek." Dark said, smiling.

Chapter 6 - The Next Day

During the night, Relina stayed over, luckily she still hadn't taken her clothes out of Dark's wardrobe, and so she quite obviously had clothes to wear. Dark wasn't worried about anything. Everything was all right with the world. Then Dark heard a noise, he got out of bed (He had been lying awake for quite some time), he was still wearing his jeans (A new pair now) he went into the kitchen, and his eyes were already adjusted to the light because he had been lying awake. He walked over to the door, he opened it. There was a man standing in the middle of the lounge.

"Who the HELL are you!" shouted Dark, trying to wake Relina without scaring her.

"I would like to take you into my mercenary clan. I want to hire you" said the man.

"No I won't join." Dark said bluntly. "Now leave my house. Before I make you!" said Dark angrily as he turned around to go back to bed.

"Then I have to kill you!" the man laughed. Four shots exploded onto Dark's back. He only felt the bullets turning into disks.

"Pitiful try. I can't waste my time with you." Dark said as he continued into his room. Dark lay down on his bed.

"Dark? Huh? Who are you ge…ge…g…get out!" it was Relina voice followed by a scream. Dark had his hand under his pillow, and he felt, something that was in the shape of a normal pistol. He drew it out from underneath the pillow; it was a .50 Desert Eagle. Dark got out of bed drawing the Desert Eagle to eye level; he aimed at the man's head. The man was dead before he hit the floor.

"You are so lucky you work for us, otherwise you would have had cops round here in a second." Relina pointed out.

"Yeah well. Oh, by the way, I don't want to work for the I.D.I." Dark bluntly said.

"What?" asked Relina angrily.

"I can't be tied down, I've got amazing powers, and there's no way that anyone can stop me if I go on the rampage, so why should I follow orders from someone who can do diddly squat to stop me?" asked Dark.

"Because there is someone more powerful than you remember that. But, I do see your logic." Answered Relina.

"Yeah I know who the person who is more powerful than me is, and I will serve Him from now on," Dark replied. "I will serve God from no on, no matter what. And no one, not even you is going to stand in my way."

"That's the way you want it?"

"Yeah it is, no kindly leave. I can't have you threatening my life." Answered Dark.

Relina had left, and Dark was sitting on in a field, in the middle of nowhere. He started thinking about a song, Numb, by Linkin Park. Just as hundreds of foot soldiers from the I.D.I charged at him. They were attacking him from all sides, but Dark was blocking any and all attacks aimed at him. He was throwing people everywhere, into other people and just into trees; Dark was just standing there and blocking. He grabbed an MP5 of the closest armed enemy, before any of them knew what was going on, he hit the guy in the face, and through him across the park, and then Dark fired. Thirty bullets, one bullet for one man. They were dropping like flies. All the foot soldiers charged at Dark, Dark charged at them, and he held his fist out in front of him, Dark was like a battering ram, and he was destroying the wall of men that stood in front of him. At the end all anyone could have guessed would have happened was that a terrorist had shot at least five hundred S.W.A.T members, thankfully none of whom where killed. Then ran off. The I.D.I had to cover it up otherwise it would have looked really bad.

The next day, Dark came into school, and sat down. Relina wasn't in that day, or the next day, or the next day, or the next day, or for the next month. Dark went to the I.D.I HQ in the area. It was full of people. Dark went up to the reception desk. And asked for Relina. The woman told Dark she was stationed in South Africa; she gave Dark an exact address. Boom. Dark was at the address only one and a half seconds later. He knocked on the door. Relina answered the door. Dark just smiled.

"Good to see you again."

"And you. Why did you decide to leave the I.D.I?"

"I dunno. But I've been thinking. You gave me these powers, so I owe you, and I was just thinking, I might as well work for you for at least a little while." Dark said as he flashed a dashing debonair smile, one of his specialities. Relina smiled, Dark outstretched his arms, Relina jumped into Dark's arms.

"I love you." Relina said.

"Ditto." Dark replied. Marcus came to the door.

"Dark. I heard about your massacre of our men. You were smart not to kill one of them. But I can't have you doing that again okay?" Marcus pointed out, Dark nodded as he released Relina.

"Yeah, well. I'm super intelligent aren't I?" pointed out Dark. Marcus nodded. Marcus outstretched his hand.

"Yeah. You are. Well Done." Marcus laughed.

"Sorry, about the people I hurt, I was just being a classic teenager, erratic, immature and a little spiteful, and thinking I always know best." Dark said, feebly trying to explain his situation.

"Yeah, you're right just being any old teenager. But you got one thing right, you probably do know best." Marcus replied. Relina laughed.

"Do you wanna come in? It's just I got a present for you." asked Relina. Dark shrugged then nodded, he didn't see why not. They all went inside Relina motioned for Dark to sit, which he did.

"Well I know you like the Matrix, I read your file, you watch the three movies a lot. And so I got you this." Said Relina as she put her head inside a cupboard and came back out producing a suit exactly like Neo's.

"What can I say?" asked Dark, "It's brilliant thanks." Relina did a Japanese anime smile.

"I have a couple of things for you, to help you stop the aliens." Marcus said. He produced to pistols, both .50 Desert Eagles, "Here. I read they were your favourite weapons. So I got you a couple of our highest performing ones. In fact these are the one's I used to fight in the army. They have lot's of great memories." Dark nodded. He felt honoured to be in the presence of a war hero. And looked deep into Marcus face. He noticed some similarities between himself and Marcus, for instance they both have the same nose, and the same chin. They have the same build.

"Do you have a son?" asked Dark

"No, but I wish I did, this little girl can be a little bit of an embarrassment sometimes." Marcus said warily.

"Uh!" said Relina in reply with her mouth wide in disbelief. Dark burst out laughing.

"But you do have your mothers eyes." Said Marcus.

"What? How did you know my mother?" demanded Dark.

"I read your file and her file. We have a file on every one. We also know everything about every one. I know that you were almost convicted for shoplifting on 36 accounts." Marcus pointed out.

"Uh… yeah sorry about that." Dark replied.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it. I'm just glad to have you with us." A sonic boom went off, and Dark was gone. A couple of minutes later there was a knock at the door. Relina opened the door, Dark was standing there.

"Here." He handed Relina a computer pad. "It's a holographic chess game." He then handed Relina a very large box, it weighed a lot so Dark was holding it mainly, he opened it and very quickly there was a virtual reality suite inside the living room. Dark then quickly took it apart and rebuilt outside in the back garden then came back inside. "And for you Sir," said Dark as he produced a set of books and a laptop computer. Both Relina and Marcus were surprised.

"Where did you get all this stuff?" asked Relina.

"Well, I was given some money by a big company that went bankrupt it was part of their 'Support A Homeless person' policy, and I just spent some of it. They gave me something like £2,500,000. I only spent a little bit. Now do either of you want a game or Robotech Battlecry II?" asked Dark, Relina shrugged.

"Let's have a round robin, me versus dad first, then winner stays on. By the way even with all the practice you got, you still won't beat my dad. He has actually flown every fighter jet." Relina said. They went into the back garden. They entered the Virtual Reality suite. It was huge. Dark handed Marcus a VS (Virtual Suit. This allowed the players to control things not only with their minds, but also with actual physical movements.) and then Relina. Dark plugged a third suit in.

"But…" Relina said as Dark cut her off.

"I got a Virtual Suite that can handle three suits." Said Dark smiling. Relina looked on in awe. Most Virtual Suites can only handle one or two suits, only state of the art ones can handle three, if you put three suits into a normal, your brain would be fried. Dark put on the suit, and then pressed a button on the wall, he placed a CD in the tray that came out. Dark pressed the again. On a large TV screen, a woman appeared.

"Loading Robotech Battlecry II" the Computer said.

"Thank you Michelle." Dark said. "Load it." Dark put his helmet, Relina did the same, and Marcus copied (he had never used one before). All any three of them saw was white and each other, Dark was wearing Neo's clothes, Marcus was wearing his normal clothes, and Relina was wearing her normal clothes.

"You weren't wearing that! How are you wearing that now?" asked Relina.

"Easy, this reads your mind and whatever you want to happen happens, just while it loads though, so we could muck about if we wanted. Just think you are wearing different clothes and your clothes will change." Dark explained. Relina changed clothes to a tracksuit with a grey t-shirt underneath a top that, the grey t-shirt was have been quite revealing, she gave Dark a playful and cheeky smile. Dark just smiled normally back. Marcus' clothes changed to army combats.

"Game loaded. Do you wish to play now or have some fun in a virtual world?" asked the Computer named Michelle.

"Erm… what do you guys want to do?" asked Dark. For the first time the computer noticed the other two.

"Who are you?" asked the computer.

"This is Relina, and I am her father, Marcus." Marcus said.

"Well what do you want to do?" asked Michelle.

"We'll have some fun in a virtual world please Michelle." Relina replied.

"Very Well. Choose you venue." Michelle said.

"Erm, The Matrix World. My favourite." Dark said. Michelle nodded. The world suddenly changed around them, as their bodies went limp, it was funny, a lot like if you have slept on your arm, and when it goes numb just your whole body. Suddenly they had control again. Michelle appeared herself, in a body.

"Welcome to The Matrix. Select your Character!" exclaimed Michelle.

"Neo!" shouted Dark

"Trinity!" shouted Relina

"Morpheus!" shouted Marcus.

"Morpheus?" said Relina and Dark in unison. Marcus shrugged. They suddenly appeared in The Matrix. Dark focused his mind as enemies came charging at them. Agent Smith was with them.

"Run! I'll stop them." Bullets were whizzing past Dark as he said it. He charged into the crowd. Relina and Marcus only saw enemies flying away. And a hell of a lot of Agents.

"What are we doing?" asked Relina.

"What we were told." Answered Marcus.

"Why? We got guns! Let's GOOO!" Shouted Relina, her and Marcus turned on their heels and charged into the enemies, firing bullets into the crowd, a few agents dodged, and some just got hit. But lots of agents were dropping, and then about ten turned their attention to Relina and Marcus, and charged at them, dodging bullets. Just as they reached out their hands to grab them, someone shot by and they were no longer there.

"Michelle, we're exiting now. But leave Robotech Battlecry loaded." Said Dark. Michelle appeared next to them and nodded. Dark nodded back. Suddenly they appeared in a white room that appeared to be something along the lines of The Construct from The Matrix.

"Look if you guys wanted to kill stuff you should have asked. Pulling that was the stupidest idea, I know you were trying to help, but I not only need to have some fun, but I can't also be worrying about you two as well. Look we'll go somewhere you can kill stuff. It's a program I wrote. It should be quite good. But I never tried it because I needed more people than just me at least one." Explained Dark. "Michelle, Load up, Program 4-6-5-3."

"Is that the number of the program? Like 1 was your first, 2 your second, etc. and this is the 4653rd?" asked Relina. Dark nodded.

"Well while the world loads up, this is how it works. I'm basically God. Don't piss me off. Got it? Good." explained Dark. Relina and Marcus nodded.

"Now do either of you two want any specific stuff like you to be father and daughter, anything like that?" asked Dark. Relina shrugged.

"I would like my wife back if you can do it." Asked Marcus.

"Okay, just think of her, everything you knew, any differences you may want. Now both of you close you eyes for ten seconds from NOW!" exclaimed Dark. Ten seconds later, Marcus and Relina opened their eyes, Marcus saw his wife, and looking at the same women, Relina saw a mum.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Relina.

"Lara. How are you my dear?" asked Marcus as his eyes half filled with tears. He and Lara embraced.

"Fine, and yourself?" enquired Lara.

"Good." Marcus said with tears streaming down his face.

"You must be my daughter, Relina?" asked Lara. Relina nodded.

"Mummy!" shouted Relina as she jumped onto her mum's neck. Dark smiled. Their was a loud pop, and Dark was gone.

"Where'd he go?" asked Marcus. Relina shrugged.

"Doesn't matter. He'll be back when he wants to be." Marcus said as he embraced Lara again. Dark was floating in a cloud above them watching them. Dark had already noticed that he looked more like Marcus than Relina, which was fair enough, she may have inherited more genes from here mother. But Marcus Emit and Lara Emit looked more like Dark's parents than Relina's parents. Dark shrugged this weird feeling off, maybe it was because he had no parents his mind was telling him that they were his parents to fill the gap in his heart.

"O, our lord! Please help us our town is under attack!" shouted Marcus. Dark went to their town.

"Well, well. I sent some men to attack the town? Whoops!" Dark said to himself. Dark turned into his normal size self.

"Oi! You Green skinned humanoids! Leave this town alone! Now!" shouted Dark to a bunch of Green skinned humanoids about to slaughter the town. They just turned around and pushed Dark, then laughed.

"What are you gonna do? You wimp!" shouted the leader of the Green skinned humanoids in his really dumb voice as he pushed Dark with his little finger.

"This." Dark said simply. Dark flicked the Orc and he went flying across the town and into the sea.

"Anyone else want some?" shouted Dark. All the other Green skinned humanoids ran off. "Come on guys this is getting boring. Lets return to reality." Marcus and Relina (who where hiding in a bush just metres from Dark) came out and nodded.

"Shut down program Michelle." Their bodies went limp just after Dark said this, then the got back up. They took the suits off.

"Want a cup of tea anyone?" asked Marcus.

Chapter 7 - School

"Well yesterday was an interesting development." Dark said as he sat in Marcus's car, waiting to be dropped off at school.

"Yeah. Well life's full of stuff like that eh?" asked Relina. Dark smiled.

"Here!" said Marcus.

"It's a lot quicker to fly." Dark said simply. Relina jabbed him in the ribs then let a little 'Ouch!' (Believe me it hurts if you elbow a lump of metal.) They got out the car.

"Thanks for the ride." Dark said, Relina mimicked him.

"Okay I'll pick you up at the end of school!" shouted Marcus as he drove off.

"That's a nice car." Said Dark. Relina nodded in agreement. It was the new Ferrari T2000, it had four seats, but was a convertible sports car, it had a perfect body, and boy did it move! Relina moved her hand to Dark's. Dark grasped it (Not to hard though).

"Haven't we got assembly today?" asked Relina. Dark nodded. They diverted their path to the assembly hall. Their form tutor was taking the register. After which they went inside the hall. The principal was standing at the front with the vice principal.

"Good morning year eleven." Said the principal.

"Good morning Sir." Replied year eleven in a drone.

"This is going to be so-o boring." Said Dark in a low whisper that conveyed his apparent lack of enthusiasm. But the assembly was to be more interesting than Dark had even dared to hope. It appeared that there was to be a new student joining the school today, Dark paid no attention to the assembly. So he didn't hear her name all he knew was that she was in his class. They carried on to their first lesson, which was Maths. Unfortunately, for Dark, he was sitting next to the new girl, and he was quite nervous, considering the first girl he had met, as he got to know, ended up in love with him. Which is quite possible to happen.

"Sit over there." Said the teacher, who was named Mr. Read, pointing towards the seat next to Dark.

"Oh bugger." Said Dark under his breath, so know one would hear. The new girl had shoulder length hair that was green, streamlined face, green eyes and medium height she was quite pretty because of her medium sized nose, and a slightly larger than normal mouth.

"Hi." Said Dark. The girl nodded.

"Dark could you go and get Kiyone a book?" asked the teacher.

"Yes sir." Dark replied. He got out of his chair, Dark sat next to the aisle so he didn't have to say "excuse me" which was quite a relief for Dark considering he didn't want to have to talk to Kiyone because he was nervous (Not having parents can have that effect). Dark made his way down the corridor to the Maths supply room. He took a book and made his way back. He opened the door and since he sat right next to the door he just turned to his right to sit down.

"Here you go." Said Dark simply.

"Thanks." Said Kiyone, with a smile in her eyes. Not only did Dark pick up on this but, so did Relina. And she wasn't happy. Someone was moving in on Dark. 'This calls for a little competition' thought Relina.

The next day Relina came into school and Dark was talking to Kiyone. 'Ohh!' thought Relina she marched up to Dark and took his hand, Dark grasped it.

"I need to talk to you." Dark whispered to Relina.

"Fine." answered Relina.

"I'll talk to you later Kiyone." Said Dark as he and Relina walked away. They went into their form room.

"What's this about?" enquired Relina.

"I need to know what I'm fighting. STATs and everything, okay?" asked Dark

"Okay the info is back at base." Said Relina.

"Okay I'll get your dad to sign a sick note to let me stay off school, that way I can study what I'm up against." Said Dark.

"Yeah as long as you don't fly home." Pointed out Relina. Dark left the room with Relina close behind. Dark jogged down the stairs, with Relina still on his heels. Dark went behind the school while Relina went to class. The bell has rung so every one was heading to class, once everyone had disappeared inside; Dark just flew off at top speed. To the I.D.I headquarters, (It only took him a few seconds) He entered the front door.

"Hi Myra!" Dark shouted to the receptionist.

"Marcus is in his office waiting for you!" Myra shouted back, just as Dark walked down the corridor. Dark walked to the office, and knocked on the door.

"Enter." Said Marcus. Dark opened the door.

"I want to study my enemy if you don't mind," Dark explained.

"Okay, follow me, I'll take you to the archives room. "Could you just tell me why you want to study them?" asked Marcus as he left the room, Dark close on his heels.

"Sun Tzu teaches us, 'Know thy Enemy and know Thy self, Then you are unbeatable'." Quoted Dark. Marcus shrugged.

"And exactly why aren't you in school?" asked Marcus.

"Two reasons, One, I already know everything they could possible teach me, and two, I need to study these creatures, and if I go to school then I will lose some time of learning them, and if I get homework then I lose even more time. Now my turn to ask a question. When exactly will these aliens be landing on earth?" asked Dark in reply. Marcus took Dark's excuse for not being in school as a good one.

"Very soon." Replied Marcus. "Here we are. Feel free to study anything and everything in our archives."

"Okay I will. What sort of stuff do you have in you 'Archives'" asked Dark.

"Well there's Time Travel, Inter-dimensional travel and on how to genetically modify, most of it you already know, because we already downloaded it into your brain, along with almost all the martial arts." Explained Marcus.

"Cool." Dark said, smiling. Dark pressed the 'On' switch, the hologram database started up with a low whirring sound. The room was quite dark; this allowed you to see the hologram better. The room was no bigger than 25 square feet. But it was ample room for the database.

Much later, at the end of school, Relina got picked up by Marcus, as usual, when they arrived at base a few minutes later Dark had been training hard for over five hours, he had been training his mind and body to strike, fast, hard and accurately. Marcus was greatly pleased with Dark's progress, because it meant that they stood a better chance of fighting the aliens then they had first expected. Dark had learned all there was to know about these aliens, and he thought they stood a very good chance of winning, and considering that the aliens weren't resistant to bullets, and they fired energy based weapons, which be caught and thrown back if you were wearing enough armour, or you had a special type of plasma resistant gloves, that Marcus had designed and tested with the prototype plasma weaponry. Dark was now able to control every muscle in his body even muscles the top body- builders don't know about. Marcus was dropping Relina home, while Dark was having a shower at the base. Dark just had an idea, and grabbed his Comm-Watch (A micro communications device in a watch that is voice activated, will only work for one person because of a voice analysis, and it allows visual and audio communication, on top of that it was water resistant to 500 metre, Dark thought that was the best bit) he quickly called Myra, the receptionist. Myra's face popped up on the screen, and Myra quickly went red.

"What is it Myra?" asked Dark. Myra pointed down. Dark looked down at his bare body.

"Right gimme a second." Dark got dressed at almost the speed of sound. Dark sighed and turned off the shower.

"Right Myra can you do me a favour?" asked Dark.

"Yeah sure, what is it?" asked Myra. Some of her shoulder length black hair got in her eyes, Myra just blew it away.

"Could you give me a bell when Marcus gets in please?" asked Dark. Myra nodded. Dark sat in his quarters for a little while then went on the computer in the quarters he played Black Angel© an RPG where you play a vampire that tries to build an empire over a land Dark enjoyed it. Then he played Domination© another game by the same company, LI, this one was an RTS and very good considering Age Of Empires IV – World War I had come out and was the best selling game ever, but all of the LI games had already sold at least three quarters the amount of Age Of Empires IV – World War I amount, and they had only been out for a month. The doorbell to Dark's I.D.I quarters rang.

"Come in." said Dark, in came Myra, and she handed him a bell.

"What's this for?" asked Dark,

"You asked me to give you a bell when Marcus came back." Said Myra laughing. Dark laughed.

"These jokes are gonna be the death of me!" said Dark playfully. "Where is he?" asked Dark,

"Office."

"I should have guessed." And off Dark went to Marcus' office. Dark knocked on the door; 'Enter' came the voice therein. Dark entered.

"Hey Marcus, would you be able to fund the building of Mobile Armour Suits?" asked Dark, Marcus simply nodded in agreement.

"Well if I design some Adoshw Mobile Armour Suits, then would you get them made?" asked Dark, Marcus again nodded in agreement.

"Cool." Said Dark as his Comm-watch went off signalling an incoming transmission.

"Dark here." Said Dark as he looked at the screen. "Relina? What is it?"

"The Al'Quida have managed to sneak a small army into America and are in the Empire State building threatening to blow it up if their demands of the Presidents head on a pike aren't met. And the Americans are obviously saying 'no' so they need your help." Explained Relina quickly.

"Marcus, I gotta go, I'll design the Mobile Armour Suits later okay?" asked Dark, Marcus just nodded again. Dark ran to his room at full pelt and put on a mask that was literally just a black mask that covered the area around his eyes. It was just so not everyone knows who he was. With that, Dark was off. In just a few seconds, Dark was at the base of the Empire State Building, and there were police everywhere.

"How many hostages?" Dark asked the chief.

"At least one hundred."

"Terrorists?"

"At least seventy five. Who are you anyway?" asked the police chief.

"Me? I'm The Shadow." Replied Dark, and with that, Dark flew to the top of the Empire State Building and went in the roof. The first person he met was a guard; he tapped the guard on the shoulder and flew over the guard's head. Landing behind the guard Dark gripped the guard's neck and snapped to one side. Dark picked up the guard's gun, an AK 74. Dark flew into the room where some of the hostages were kept, he was silent. A girl saw him, he brought his index finger to his lips, making the hand signal for 'Shh' the girl nodded and said nothing, a guard noticed her nodding.

"We said DON'T MOVE!" he said, then shouted something in Arabic. Grabbing her roughly, tears started swelling in her eyes as here mother grabbed for her.

"Noo!" shouted the mother as the terrorist took his pistol and aimed it at the girl's head, just as he pulled the trigger Dark grabbed the bullet in mid-air. The terrorist looked confused.

"Wha?" the terrorist said. Dark dropped the bullet in front of him in plain view of everyone. The terrorist grabbed his AK 74, and opened fire on Dark, Dark dodged all the bullets and fell to the ground face up. The terrorist aimed a pistol at Dark's head. Before the terrorist fired, Dark grabbed the man's left leg and pulled it out from under him. The terrorist fell to the floor, and Dark threw him out of a window. Some other guards in the next room heard the commotion. A couple came running in, Dark threw one of them against the wall and punched the other threw the door the guards had come from, allowing the other guards to see what happened.

"Wait here." Dark whispered to the hostages. Some of the hostages nodded, some just sat or stood there accordingly, most of them thanks to the sheer horrific encounter they had just endured. Dark glanced into the next room. There was five terrorists three hiding behind a table, one hiding behind a bookcase, and the final one waiting to open fire on anybody who entered through the door. Dark jumped in very fast, slowing down time for him, he aimed at the terrorist that was supposed to ambush him, he took aim with his Desert Eagle, way before the terrorist could even react, Dark fired two rounds, one hit the man in the chest and the other between his eyes. Dark hit the ground and a bullet hit him in the back. A terrorist came up to him and took aim at Dark's head. Dark swung round and knocked the gun out of the man's hands. Dark flipped onto his feet and opened his hand and struck the terrorist in the chest with his palm. Dark held the position of open hand, outstretched arm, with the other arm bent, and the opposite leg to the outstretched arm behind to add power to the blow, the man flew across the room, through the wall and into the corridor. Dark jumped behind the table where the three terrorists were hiding. Dark brought his leg up hard and fast into a terrorists face using a 'rounder house' kick, he then swung himself in the same direction and struck the man behind him in the small of the back, and knocked him into the table, the man he had kicked had his neck broken as the foot made contact. Dark jumped backwards, took out his two Desert Eagles, and fired off three rounds, hitting the final terrorist in the chest, in the leg, and in the roof of the mouth. The terrorist fell backward. Dark was finished he got the hostages out (obviously he had to kill a few more bad guys before their escape was insured. But he got them out.) Before anyone could ask any questions he was gone.

Back at I.D.I headquarters, Relina was waiting in the canteen, so Dark dropped his mask off in his quarters then went to see her.

"Hey! Relina. Mission Accomplished." Shouted Dark to Relina as he entered the canteen. Dark went over to the canteen attendant, she was only a little older than Dark, but was extremely smart she knew everything needed to know about the I.D.I. But she worked as the 'Lunch Lady' and as a secretary to Dark. She was very pretty, and Dark suspected she fancied him. But he could have been wrong. Relina knew she did, but didn't want Dark too big headed.

"Can I please have a can of coke Miranda?" asked Dark

"Are you sure? Isn't it an acid?" asked Miranda.

"Ah it will be all right." Said Dark.

"Okay if you say so." Miranda replied. Miranda knew everything about the I.D.I, but she didn't know about how much acid Dark could make contact with. Which was unfortunate. Dark took a can of coke and opened, Relina heard the hiss of the can opening as he walked over to her.

"No!" shouted Relina as she knocked the can of coke out Dark's hand.

"I'm sorry I just wanted some coke, I know I shouldn't have taken it but I wanted some coke!" said Dark.

"Look wait three more days we will have a surprise for you. Okay?" Relina answered. Dark looked her inquisitively. Relina pulled a puppy-dog face. Dark nodded. Dark went back to his quarters. He looked at his Comm-Watch.

"Myra – Reception" he said to the watch Myra's face popped up on the screen.

"I see you're dressed this time." Myra said.

"Your wit knows no bounds. Myra could you put my house up for sale for me?" asked Dark. Myra nodded.

"Thanks a lot." Dark went to the computer that the I.D.I had given him. He switched it on and played it for a little while then get bored. Dark got up. He went over to his bed and lay down. Dark was asleep in mere minutes.

Chapter 8 - We don't negotiate

Dark opened his eyes. He had a thumping headache. He rubbed his forehead, and had a shower. He lay on his bed again.

"Time to go!" said Relina as she entered Dark's bedroom.

"Go where?"

"School! Duh!"

"Oh I got a headache."

"You know that could be VERY bad for you, don't you?" Dark nodded in response.

"I'm going to go to the medical wing to check I'm alright." Dark said. Relina left the building to go to school, and Dark went off to the medical wing. The doctors quickly checked him over, and found nothing wrong, just a headache. Just as Dark was leaving,

"Aaaahhhh! Aahh! AAAAAAHHHHHH!" shouted Dark he clenched his stomach, He fell to the floor, his body started going into fits.

"Get him to a secure unit NOW!" shouted the Dr. Snek. Dark was in one of their confined wards within minutes. The confined wards needed plenty of access codes and passwords to enter. They also had special beds that were tubes that were half glass, half metal and regulators, with another metal base full of oxygen, antibiotics, drips and other medical equipment. Dark had a tube feeding him, a tube giving him oxygen and an injection giving him some specially designed antibiotics that won't allow Dark's extremely weak immune system from attacking it. It turns out that there was an insider who injected Dark with a common cold, although it doesn't not show the symptoms. Now it was a fight for Dark's life. One mistake, and the one person who could save the world, would be gone. Just like that. The fate of the world rested in the hands of a team of doctors, that weren't sure if they could 'Beat the Bug' so to speak. Every day Relina would check on Dark. She hated to see him like this, she was so in love with him. She hated to see him so helpless. She didn't like all the wires in him. The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, and four months later, while Relina was sleeping on the her chair in Dark's room. Her head lay on the bed. She stirred with a small touch to her hair. She opened her eyes, and blinked a few times. Relina waited for her eyes to adjust to the light. She looked at Dark he was sleeping peacefully, and a nurse had just left the room. Her hopes shattered again, she lay her head back down,

"BOO!" shouted Dark, Relina screamed at the top of her lungs, Dark was awake and laughing his head off.

"Good thing you pulled through that infection so now I can KILL you!" Relina said playfully and jumped on Dark. They both laughed a for about thirty more seconds before a I.D.I SWAT team appeared and pinned Dark against and Relina against the wall.

"Hey what are you doing! Dark stop them!" said Relina.

"I can't I'm not strong enough!" Dark replied. Relina came to the harsh realisation that in payment for pulling through the infection, Dark had lost his powers. This could spell the fate of the world.

"Shut up both of you! Oh it's you Miss Relina, and you Master Dark. Get off them!" barked the SWAT team leader.

"And who did you think it was?" asked Relina "The bogey man?" The SWAT team leader went by the name of James, he had dark skin, and a military haircut, he was a well-kept man, who along with his squad had been assigned to Dark's protection while he was in the fragile state. Now he was out that, he still had to have protection until they were sure he was safe to 're-enhance' him. But the I.D.I weren't actually were sure he would ever be ready to 're-enhance'. If he was, great! If he wasn't, then the end of the world as we know it may be on it's way. (Yeah isn't this like the eighty millionth time you've heard it:P)

Dark was worried. He was going to have to give up everything. Plus he was very scared, if the aliens did attack, he would have nothing to fall back on, he didn't have any religion, he was sort of a Christian but not really. He decided that he was going to be a Christian. So he committed his life to the Lord God and decided, in a way of paying homage to his second favourite TV and God, to call his alter-ego super hero 'Angel'. Dark had decided this just as Relina entered the room.

"Hey Dark. What up?" asked Relina.

"The sky." Dark said bluntly. Relina laughed quietly, almost just breathing.

"How you feeling?" asked Relina putting her arm over Dark's shoulder.

"Like any kid who had gained the powers of a mega super cool mega super hero, then been in a coma for the next four months losing them, and he isn't even sure he's going to come out the coma." Dark joked. Relina smiled.

"You think you're up to more training?" asked Relina.

"What the hell for? I'm now useless. I have no extra skills that could be of any use." Answered Dark.

"Who are you and what have you done with the Dark I love?" asked Relina. "The Dark I love would never ever say that. He would always try to do what's right. Well if who ever you are does want training. Be at the training area in two hours." Dark nodded. He lay in his bed as Relina left. He thought she's right. Dark would never do this.

It was two and a half hours after Relina had talked to Dark.

"Forget it he ain't coming." Said the Trainer. The door slid open.

"Who ain't coming?" asked Dark. Relina glanced over at him smiling.

"No-one. I knew you'd come." Said Relina.

"That's because you're so smart." Dark answered. "So what is this training about?"

"Jiu-Jitsu. You said that you had a sort of martial art, but you never really got a chance to show us. Which although you could do now we thought we should get someone in, mainly because your powers gave you a huge edge over any one you were going to fight. So we got the worlds foremost Jiu-Jitsu and Ninjitsu experts in to teach you their martial arts respectively." Explained Marcus. Dark nodded. Just after which an alarm went off.

"Oh bloody hell. Another terrorist attack." Marcus said

"Well I'm coming with." Dark responded.

"Too dangerous." Marcus told Dark.

"Screw you." Dark said as he made for the door. Marcus stepped in his way. Dark threw a punch in Marcus' stomach but Marcus knowing a good amount of Jiu-Jitsu grabbed it and pushed Dark to the floor. As Dark fell, and Marcus released his hand, he grabbed Marcus' wrist and thrust his feet hard into Marcus' stomach and flipped him over across the room. Using the force from this throw, he back flipped onto his feet again. The Jiu-Jitsu and Ninjitsu masters just nodded at each other in acceptance, Dark was going to be a very good pupil. Dark ran out the door, Relina ran out, and followed Dark closely. The most obvious place Dark was going to go was the Armoury. Dark grabbed an MP5 A1, and a couple of Desert Eagle's. He put on some body armour and an earpiece allowing him to communicate with the rest of the team.

"James, door now! With your team!" Dark barked down the microphone. Dark heard James' voice respond though hey could not make out what was said. Dark continued to run to the front door where he knew James and his team would have an APC ready. Dark got to the front door and there was no APC. Dark stood there for five minutes. Then shouted into his Comm-Watch

"Where the hell are you?" he shouted as James' face popped up on the screen.

"Waiting for you at the back door." James said in his cool, calm almost scary voice.

"You are supposed to be better than the SAS and you can't tell the difference between the front door and back door." Answered Dark.

"We can we just miss-heard you." Answered James. "We'll come to the front door". Relina came running up to Dark.

"Hey handsome." Relina said in an almost seductive voice. She was wearing some body armour and had a katana in her hand, with some guns strapped to her body. "Here I knew you always wanted to use one." Dark took the sword and tied the belt to his waist.

"You're not thinking of coming? Are you?" asked Dark. Relina nodded.

"Mmm umm."

"No I don't think so. There is now way I'm letting you come on this mission. It's too dangerous." Dark answered.

"Yes, but I have more powers than you now." Relina countered, with the two top front teeth over her bottom lip, like a schoolgirl. Dark had no choice but to agree with her, just as the APC pulled up.

"Sir. This APC has enough armour to handle any ammo used by terrorists and even the Americans." James told Dark.

"It isn't that thick! How can it?" Dark asked, then Relina, Dark and James all said in unison – "Adoshw."

"Right okay. We got ourselves an extra bod what we gonna do?" asked Dark.

"Well that's for you to decide sir, but one thing I must say is put this on underneath your clothes. Both of you." James told Relina and Dark.

"What is it?" Dark asked as both he and Relina put them on, Dark hid Relina's body from all the other men in the APC with his own.

"It's a simple vest, no armour, made out of adamantium so it's extraordinarily light, and basically when you run out of ammo, if you point your thumbs forward, so the gun is pointing down with the handle pointing into your sleeve it will reload for you. But you must have ejected the old magazine manually." explained the team's Technician. Dark nodded. They could just about see the building in question coming into view.

"Relina, just so you know, for every half an hour I don't, I can use any power for ten minutes, I basically only have a certain amount of energy, which gets depleted as I use my powers." Dark told Relina. Relina nodded. 'Even if the technicians can't fully re-enhance him, at least he could use that.' Relina thought. Dark leaned out the door and looked at the building.

"How long is it gonna take us to get there?" asked Dark the driver.

"About twenty minutes." The Driver answered. Dark nodded.

"Relina come here, we gonna take the short cut." Shouted Dark over the noise of the engine. Relina got up and walked over to Dark. He opened the door and flew out, holding tightly onto Relina. They were near the building. When Dark suddenly started descending. They were aiming directly into the building! If they kept on this course they were going to go straight into the wall of the building. Dark flipped around, so his back was against the wall and they were both facing away from the wall. Relina was furthest away from the wall. The wall suddenly collapsed. Relina saw a huge hole in the wall, as they lay there with Dark underneath her, she saw the ceiling was about to collapse she got up just as it fell. Dark didn't.

"DARK! Dark! DARK!" shouted Relina. Then she started crying. Relina felt a gruff hand grab her collar, and pick her up. She was dragged through the building and up a couple of floors. Flung into a chair, Relina looked around. There was a man sitting at a table, with a computer and what appeared to be an Adamantium cased explosive device. Another man was looking out the window; all of them were dressed in black.

"Colonel. This girl is girlfriend to the boy we are worried about. It appears that he has lost his powers and can only use them for short periods of time. A ceiling fell in on him. He is dead." The terrorist explained. The Colonel nodded in acknowledgment.

"Look little girl your boyfriend is dead. The IDI will be here in how many minutes?" asked the Colonel without turning round.

"I'll never tell you, you scum." Relina answered, trying to be firm. The Colonel nodded to one of the other terrorists. The terrorist walked over to Relina and bound her hands and feet to the chair. The colonel walked over so he was facing Relina, he knelt down to her height.

"Please tell me I don't want to have to hurt a pretty face like yours." He said. His face was handsome, big brown eyes, short brown hair, and a pointed chin, that looked like a triangle missing the top part. Relina spat in his eye. He wiped it out. He raised his hand with the back facing away from his face, and he swung. Directly into Relina's cheek. She let out an exasperated gasp. Her eyes welled up.

"Look little girl your boyfriend is not coming to save you. He's dead. Gone. Don't waste your life trying to protect them. He's dead. That's it. You can save your self." He said trying to intimidate Relina. This continued for about another minute and a half.

"They should be here in about fifteen minutes." Relina cried. She was crying so hard, she was running out of breath.

"Good." The Colonel said. "Post guards at the door, be ready for them." Relina's crying could be heard in the background. The colonel went over to a guard. Relina couldn't hear what he said to the guard. 'God. Please help me. And look after Dark too…' Relina thought. She continued to cry. The colonel came back over to her and hit her again.

"Shut up you stupid bitch!" he shouted at her.

"Sir the…CRRRRCKRARKACK" the radio went static.

"You said fifteen minutes! You lying bitch!" the Colonel went to hit her again. Then he heard gunshots. The doors flew off their hinges and Dark was standing there, he pulled out his guns and was letting off shots at all the people surrounding him before anyone could even react, but he was looking right at the Colonel. Before anyone knew what was happening all the terrorists in the room were dead.

"Aren't you a gentleman? Don't you know you should never hit a lady?" asked Dark. The Colonel just smiled and clicked his fingers. About twenty bad guys dropped between Dark and the Colonel, they were all armed with Swords. Dark shot the first one, then he ran out of ammo.

"Damn!" shouted Dark. He threw is guns to either side as he dodged the first enemies sword, which came down on his right side. He stepped on the sword, the guys hand, arm and then kicked the guy in the face with a rounder house, and Dark drew his katana on his descent to the floor. Just as he did an enemy swung their sword at Dark's head. Dark's katana was up there, and his fist quickly implanted his fist in the guy's chest. Dark laughed at the terrorists futile attempts to defeat him. Dark picked up one of the custom built kalashnikovs, quickly pulled it apart, figured out how it worked, rebuilt it and then shot everyone in the room through the head except Relina, who sat their stunned.

"I thought you died!" She shouted, Dark cut her bonds with his katana,

"You died! I saw you under the rubble! You're fucking dead!" She screamed. Relina started pounding Dark in the chest, as hard as she could, although Dark didn't react because it didn't hurt him. But it was annoying, tears were forming in her eyes, and he grabbed her wrists, Relina just looked at the floor.

"Relina look at me. Look at me!" Dark said. Relina slowly looked up at Dark's kindly face. "Look I couldn't tell you that I had all my powers other wise the terrorists would know I was alive when they used this on you." Dark produced a small vial filled with a almost clear liquid, although it was slightly milky.

"What's that?" asked Relina, with a puzzled look on her face, she still had the tears slowly rolling down her face.

"This is the prototype truth serum our scientists have been working on, it was stolen from our labs, and sold to the terrorists so they could get you to tell them if I was alive, if I was how they could kill me. So if I told you I still had my powers, and they thought I was alive they would have used this on you and you would either be dying from a brain haemorrhage, or I would be dead. That would suck, for both of us." Explained Dark. Relina nodded, Dark pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't tell anyone." Dark told Relina trying to reassure her, he kissed her on the head.

Chapter 9 - A New Day, a New Start, a New Job

A few days after the terrorist incident, Dark went to a coffee shop called 'Kiss This'. He knew they were looking for new people to work their as sort of waiter/waitress things. Dark stepped in the shop. Went over to the counter there was a girl at the Till. Dark walked over to her, and glanced at her Name Tag, it read 'Eliza'. He knew that this girl apparently made the best mochas.

"Hey Eliza. Erm… is your boss here?" asked Dark. Eliza shook her head,

"Can I help?" asked Eliza.

"Well if your boss isn't here, I will wait, if that's okay with you? I'll have a Mocha, I heard from a very reliable source that you make the best Mochas in Surrey." Dark Replied. Eliza smiled and made a Mocha. It only took a couple of minutes.

"That'll be £1.30, and your name Stranger" Eliza said as she walked back over to the till. Dark took out the money.

"My parents always told me to never give my name to strangers." Dark told Eliza, with a debonair smile afterwards. Dark took a seat, making sure it was facing Eliza and the till. Over the next fifteen minutes, while Dark was drinking his Mocha, he kept catching Eliza glancing at him. He winked back once. She smiled. The door opened, and JJ came in. Dark stood up.

"Hey I'm here about the job?" asked Dark.

"Right well, okay I'll give you a trial run, you can do the rest of today and tomorrow, and if you're good enough I will give you the job." Explained JJ. "Unfortunately, I can't give you a name tag until you work here, so you'll just have to get by."

"Don't worry I have no problem introducing myself to people." Dark told JJ. Eliza heard this.

"Eliza show err…" JJ called to Eliza inquisitively.

"Dark." Dark told JJ.

"Dark, right, err Eliza show Dark the ropes." Commanded JJ. Eliza walked over to Dark.

"What happened to not giving your name to strangers?" asked Eliza.

"Oh, that? That went out the window." Dark said nodding. Eliza Smiled

About twenty minutes later, Dark knew 'everything he needed to know' about the weird and wonderful world that is the coffee shop.

"Well that's about it, look I'll take the next customer and you can take the one after that." Eliza told Dark, Dark nodded in acknowledgement. Just a few moments later a customer walked.

"Hello, how may I help?" asked Eliza.

"Erm, can I have a large Cappuccino?" the customer inquired.

"Of Course." Eliza walked over to the machine and made a large cappuccino and then went back to the till. "That'll be 95p, please." Eliza told the customer. The man produced the money and handed it to her. The customer took a seat.

"Simple, no?" Eliza asked Dark.

"Well it could be simpler, but it's simple enough." Dark replied sarcastically, followed with a laugh. Another customer entered the shop, and came over to the till,

" Good morning" Said Dark in a pleasant way. "How can I help you?"

"Well I would like a latté, please." Dark hadn't even glanced at the girl's face, although the voice sounded familiar, it was Miranda.

"I didn't know you liked lattés." Dark said in an inquiring voice.

"Well I didn't know you worked here. Otherwise I wouldn't have come." Miranda said in a playful voice, it was almost too obvious that she fancied Dark. Eliza walked over.

"Hey Miranda." Eliza said welcomingly.

"Hey Eliza how are you?" Asked Miranda.

"You two know each other?" asked Dark, they both nodded. Dark turned around to make a latté.

"You know that really cute boy I told you ate at the canteen I work at? That's him." Miranda whispered to Eliza. But Dark had brilliant hearing and could hear what they were saying.

"He ain't that cute!" Eliza protested still whispering of course.

"Look girl, I've known you long enough to know your 'That guy is super fit and I want him so bad' look! And you are always giving that look to him!" Miranda responded (Still whispering). "Only trouble is he has a girlfriend. And it ain't me." Miranda sighed.

"Well he'll have a new girlfriend when I'm through with him." Eliza said raising one eyebrow, looking at Dark. Dark came back with Miranda's latté.

"What you looking at Eliza? Can't resist me huh? I get that a lot." Dark told Eliza, Dark winked. Eliza quickly undid her button up shirt one button, while Dark wasn't looking. Dark turned round.

"So how did I do?" Dark queried. Eliza moved closer, until her body was touching Dark's.

"You did really well." Eliza told Dark "Really well." She continued in a seductive voice.

"Miranda? That will be 50p." Dark said taking the money from Miranda.

"Thanks I'll just go and sit down." Miranda said as a quick escape. Dark, still unaffected by Eliza's new upfront approach,

"You know I have a girlfriend who I love very much. Right?" asked Dark. Eliza nodded and leant forward. Dark put his hand on her lips. Eliza kissed dark's hand.

"I'll keep that in case I need it. But thanks anyway." Dark said. Eliza frowned.

"Hey I said I had a girlfriend! What do you expect?" asked Dark.

"Well… you to cheat or go out with me," answered Eliza.

"Well you don't muddle your words do you?" Dark asked the rhetorical question. "But you wish."

"Well at least, let's go for a drink sometime?" asked Eliza. Dark nodded.

"When?" Dark asked.

"Tomorrow, at three pm." Eliza told Dark, who nodded in confirmation. Dark got out his mobile phone and quickly dialled a number.

"Hey Relina? Yeah it's me… I'm going out at three tomorrow. To have a drink with a friend. Yeah you can come. Meet me at the Kiss This coffee shop at three. Okay. Cool. See you!" Dark finished his conversation.

"You can't just invite an extra person!" Eliza exclaimed.

"Well, unless you were gonna try and seduce me there's no problem is there?" asked Dark. Eliza shook her head. "Then it's settled." Eliza just wanted Dark more, and Dark knew it. Eliza was going to flirt with him no matter who was there.

The next day after school Dark picked Relina up. Relina's mobile rang. She got it out of her pocket and answered it.

"Yeah, okay, got it, cool, sure I'll tell him." Relina stopped talking. "The aliens are going to start landing in the next 48 hours." Dark nodded in response.

"I know." Dark replied. "They shouldn't be landing until tomorrow. If my calculations are correct." Eliza came along behind them, luckily not overhearing their conversation.

"So we ready to go?" asked Eliza. Dark nodded. Relina put on a disgruntled smile. Dark put his arm round Relina and they started walking towards the shop where they were going to get their drinks. They were going have to walk through a forest to get there. So off they went talking chatting about life, music, and everything in general.

"So favourite band of all time? Mine's Queen, always there when I needed them!" Dark quizzed the other two.

"Erm… probably Queen too, my dad's really into them so I have to listen to them a lot." Relina replied. "Eliza?"

"Dunno Probably the Foo Fighters. Okay my turn, favourite person? Mine's probably, Leinad Carter, CEO of the Mutator Corporation." Eliza replied.

"Well mine's Relina and you like Mutator? Oh my god that is so weird! I love the game I'm the best Battler in my school." Dark said.

"Mine's Dark, and that is so weird how can we all like Mutator?" Relina said. Eliza moved her hand to Dark's left buttock, she squeezed it.

"Whoa! Who touched my ass? … Do it again!" Dark said jokingly. Eliza made a smug face at Relina, Relina scowled in retaliation.

"What the hell is that?" asked Dark, although he already knew what it was. It was a meteor, heading straight for them!

"Ho-ly CRAP! It's a meteor heading straight for us!" Shouted Eliza. "What are we gonna do? I'm too young to die!" she continued.

"What? It's a friggin' meteor and you're acting as if the world is ending! It's not gonna hurt us is it Dark?" asked Relina already knowing the answer.

"Well at its current speed and velocity, it could quite probably kill us. That's if we didn't have a really cool superhero to help us and defend us from EXACTLY this sort of thing." Dark replied. The meteor flew right towards Dark. He grabbed it as if someone had just thrown a football to him. It was about the size of a beach ball, and was very hot, so Dark dropped it. It cracked.

"Ohh! That's hot!" Dark said,

"Oh shit!" shouted Eliza. A greenish thick liquid leaked slowly from the rock. It slowly took the form of six aliens, one of which had a greater plume than the others, Dark thought it safe to assume this was the squad leader. The aliens stood like raptors, hunched over on their hind legs, which had large hoofs for feet, their heads were elongated, but the same width and height. They had long tails, a lot like a raptor. Their arms were clawed, and some of the aliens had weapons.

"Ho-ly Crap! It's the aliens." Dark exclaimed. One of the aliens that had only claws drew itself up to full height, and then coiled up again if ready to pounce. It did. Right at Eliza. Dark was already in front of her and smashed the alien in the face. It flew into another alien. They all started firing at Dark, who grabbed the girls and hid them, then hid in the bush with them.

"Maybe my calculations were incorrect… for once. Alright, Eliza, can you handle one of these?" Dark asked as he drew his two desert eagles. He gave one to Relina. Eliza shook her head in response.

"Relina," Dark poked his head out the bush, "You have about two minutes to teach her how to use it."

"What are you gonna do?" Relina asked him,

"Me? I'm gonna hold them off until Eliza learns how to use her weapon. Then I'm gonna give you guys a chance to get out of here." Dark replied. Dark smiled cockily. He got out the bush, and alien ran up to him and slashed at him with its symbiotic arm blades. Dark avoided them all, and punched the alien so hard in the face it flew into a nearby tree and knocked the tree down. Dark grabbed the tree and threw it away. The alien got back up and charged at Dark again, he pulled out one of his spare Desert Eagles and shot the alien in the face, blowing a large portion of the alien's head all over the place. One of the other aliens charged at Dark, and took aim with its symbiotic acid weapon.

"Today you die Dark Shadow!" it hissed at Dark. He looked puzzled; he didn't know the aliens could speak. Meanwhile the girls were practising their shooting, and heard all this commotion. Another gunshot, and another. Eliza looked out from the bush. Dark was locked in combat with the aliens.

"We have to go." Relina said to Eliza.

"What? We can't just leave Dark here!" Eliza exclaimed.

"Look, Dark and I are part of an agency called the I.D.I, it is more secret than anything you have ever met before. Dark has been enhanced; these aliens won't be able to do anything to him. Don't worry Dark can handle himself." Relina explained. Eliza nodded in response, they made a break for it. Straight into one of the aliens.

"Eliza aim for the head, on my mark!" Relina instructed, although Eliza had been told roughly how to fire the Desert Eagle, she wasn't confident in her own skills.

"NOW!" Eliza aimed and fired, the bullet flew over the assailant's head. It struck her and knocked Eliza flying.

"Eliza? Holy Crap!" Dark was in front of the alien before it managed to get ready to attack again.

"Tut, tut. Don't you know not to hit a girl?" Dark asked the alien in a sarcastic voice though he knew that the alien did not understand. The alien swiped his arm at Dark. Just before the huge, muscular powerful clawed arm hit Dark, he grabbed it twisted it breaking the aliens wrist, he then smashed his fist into the aliens face and head, shattering the alien's face. Dark carried on to grab Relina and Eliza and flew to the I.D.I's Headquarters.

"You can FLY?" asked Eliza. Dark nodded. "How can there have been so much of your life I didn't know about?" she asked, rhetorically.

"Probably because you've only known me for about 25 hours…" Dark told her, just to be cocky. Dark, although a nice guy at heart was very cocky at times, no matter how hard he tried not to be. Dark was basically a cocky, guy who would defend others to death and beyond. Dark went to the armoury and put his .50 Desert Eagles back on their rack. Dark hurried back to Relina and Eliza.

"What is this place?" Eliza asked

"This, my friend is the headquarters of the I.D.I, a service which only the workers know about. And I have no idea why Dark brought you here. He shouldn't have done, you see the only civilians who are allowed in here, either work for us, or die. Unfortunately I believe you fill the latter category" said Jonathan, one of the people on Dark's protection squad, he had been out of action for some time with pneumonia, and didn't realise Dark had his powers back, although handsome, he could be a nasty piece of work if he wanted to be. Dark stood between Eliza and Jonathan as Jonathan drew his weapon.

"No Jonathan." Dark said. Jonathan and Dark's eyes met. Dark's kindly, loyal eyes, and Jonathan's cold hard blue eyes. Jonathan's short blonde hair blew in the wind as someone entered and he aimed his gun at Dark's head.

"Move Dark. MOVE!" Jonathan shouted.

"She's going to work for us. We can use her." Dark explained.

"NO! MOVE!" Jonathan shouted. Jonathan's finger tightened around the trigger.

"Go on. Pull the trigger. I dare you to, you stupid cock head!" Dark shouted at him, Jonathan snapped and pulled the trigger, Relina managed to scream a 'no' as the bullet flew through the air, Eliza just tried to defend herself with her arms. Dark stood there for what seemed like an eternity. As the bullet moved closer to him, it slowed down. Dark managed a sideways glance at Relina who looked to be in agony. The bullet stopped in front of Dark's head.

"What?" Jonathan shouted. He fired another thirty rounds from the magazine of his Glock 18. All of them stopped in front of Dark like the first. Dark figured it out; Relina's power was doing something. Jonathan was on top of Dark and attacking him. Dark punched him in the chest with force, in time with Jonathan's heartbeat, as not to kill him. But Jonathan didn't land. He was floating above the floor. Jonathan left out a small laugh.

"They didn't tell you did they? They managed to enhance me, just after you lost your powers. I had 'pneumonia'. Pathetic." Jonathan laughed again. Dark only had one chance. If Jonathan truly was enhanced, then Dark had to rely on the fact he had better control over his powers than Jonathan.

"Yeah firing in the lobby! Come quickly James!" Myra shouted down a telephone. Jonathan clicked his tongue three times.

"Tut tut." He took out his other Glock 18 and held it down on full auto aimed at Myra's head. He fired six rounds. The explosions echoed throughout the lobby. When Myra opened her eyes, all she saw was white.

"Am I dead?" she asked to the nothingness.

"No." came the answer from a calming voice, one she recognised but couldn't put a face to. She asked herself in her head 'what happened?'

"I saved you" came the voice again as if it could read her thoughts.

"Wha… who are you?" Myra asked her eyesight started coming back. Dark was leaning over her.

"Dark, now run!" Dark told her. Myra did as she was told. She managed to get to her feet and run while Dark grabbed the bullets to stop them from hitting her.

"You can't win Jonathan don't bother." Dark taunted,

"Please, call me Light Sun." Jonathan told Dark.

"Oh because it's the opposite of me? Come on! You can do better than that. Besides there's something wrong with you, but don't worry we can sort it out." Dark said to Jonathan mockingly.

"You're going down!" The newly named Light Sun shouted. They flew at each other; Dark swung his left fist into Light Sun's stomach, he flew out of the roof, and charged straight back down at Dark. He hit Dark so hard in the face he was knocked into the floor. Dark got back up as Light Sun implanted his foot in Dark's chest. Dark grabbed Light Sun's foot and through him out of the front doors, smashing all of the doors and windows in his path.

"I obviously need to train, to beat you," Light Sun shouted.

"Yeah! Like I said, you can't beat me!" Dark shouted in retaliation. Light Sun looked like he was about to attack but obviously thought better of it as guards came, armed to the teeth with tranquillisers and dart based weapons. If he had tried to fight and had been hit with one of the darts, he would be destroyed. Light Sun took flight and disappeared.

"Aren't you gonna go after him!" Eliza shouted to Dark, as she said this, Dark remembered Relina. He ran over to her,

"Relina can you hear me? Relina? Relina! Medic! MEDIC!" Dark shouted, with tears forming in his eyes. "You're gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay..." Dark said to the lifeless body that was Relina, trying to reassure himself more than Relina. Even with all his super intelligence he didn't know what was going to happen to Relina.

"Dark… are you okay?" Eliza asked him. He turned around and smashed his fist into a wall with all his strength. Dark, with all this power, ripped the wall clean off, launching it into the car park.

"This is all your fault." He said to Eliza,

"Me? Wha? How?" she asked, completely confused by Dark's logic,

"You flirted with me… made me like you… I brought you here for a job… he didn't like you… I tried to protect you, and she protected me! It's your fault!" Dark shouted at her, Dark flew at Eliza, as if to attack, but suddenly he couldn't move.

"What the fu-?" Dark said as he go cut off by Relina.

"It's not her fault. It's mine." Relina explained. "I thought about it… I came out of the enhancer before in less time than you, and I only got one power, and I came out in about a quarter of the time you did." Dark nodded, seeing where this was going. Relina released him.

"And now the rest of your powers are manifesting themselves." Dark finished for her. Dark just floated there. "I'm sorry Eliza. But now you HAVE to work with us."

"I guess so…" Eliza laughed. "So... what powers have you got?"

"Psychic. The enhancer worked by scrolling through lots of powers, and seeing which one best fits your DNA, when it finds this it fuses your body with whatever it needs to, or enhances it however it needs to. This causes extreme pain, but only lasts a few seconds. After that, the enhancer makes your powers manifest themselves very quickly, and all of the powers hurt as they are manifested. I couldn't handle the pain and only got Telekinetic Shield." Relina explained, stopping every now and again to make sure Eliza was keeping up.

"And if my calculations are correct, then she will get a wide variety of Psychic powers. Something like, Telekinesis, which you just saw, Pyrokinesis, or the ability to control Fire, probably Telepathy, mind reading. Erm… also Chronokinesis, the ability to control time, which, to a degree I have, if I move fast enough time slows down noticeably. Possibly Projection, moving around in a ghostly non-corporeal form. And possibly Possession, the ability to knock people out and take over their motor functions. And finally, Healing, obvious, and Charm, she will make people calmer by thinking it, and can turn herself invisible by making other people believe she is not there. Pretty cool huh?" Dark asked.

"Well yeah…" Eliza said. She wasn't trying to contain the excitement, (or lack there of) Dark hugged Relina. Relina hugged him back.

"Thank god you're okay." Dark told Relina.

"Well it was just intense pain, after that stopped I just had to regain consciousness. Nothing much!" Relina jokingly exclaimed.

"Do you want me to get either of you anything?" Dark asked.

"You could get me a new wall! What the HELL happened here?" Marcus shouted.

"Yeah about that, you didn't tell me you enhanced Jonathan, and you should of ESPECIALLY since you gave him MY powers." Dark said.

"Yeah… I owe you that much I guess. Dark we enhanced Jonathan with the same powers as you." Marcus said laughing, but was the only one.

"Right… Relina is your dad ALWAYS this annoying?" Dark asked, Relina nodded her head.

"Hey! I can still hear you!" Marcus shouted jokingly.

"HELLO AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEE'S THE MISSING WALL?" shouted Eliza.

"No, we just don't really care." Dark said. "It'll be repaired soon enough anyway."

"Fair enough." Eliza said.

"So… as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," Dark shot a sideways glance at Marcus "Can I get either of you anything?"

"Yeah can I have a cup of hot chocolate?" Relina asked, Dark nodded in response,

"And can I have a coke?" Eliza asked, Dark nodded again. Dark walked off at a normal human speed. He grabbed a mug, and a can of coke; he put some milk in the mug, and placed it in the microwave in the canteen, (where he had gone) he quickly put it on for two minutes. It was done, in one hundred and twenty seconds, while Dark got out a can of coke, and sped back to Eliza,

"Ice or no ice? Oui au non?" Dark quickly asked her.

"Yes please… crushed if you have it…" Eliza Replied. Dark was gone as soon as the 'crushed' was said. He got some ice, crushed it with a knife, quickly and sharply, just as the Microwave finished. He added about three heaped teaspoonfuls of Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate powder to the hot milk. Dark was back with the ladies in a moment, without spilling a drop, he handed each lady their respective drinks.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked the girls.

"I think we should go and look at your Mech Design." Relina suggested.

"What's a Mech?" Eliza asked, looking puzzled

"It's a mechanoid, basically it's like a suit, and your movements control it's movements, so if you move you left arm, it moves it's left arm. It's controlled by thoughts, not by actual movement and thus is quicker than your nerves. I'm designing the first ever Mech, and a system that will help a pilot to fight better, so anyone can use it. I don't know how effective it's going to be though…" his voice trailed off. Dark obviously wasn't sure what his system could do to someone's mind…

Chapter 10 - A Visit From a Donor

"Dark we've been given the go-ahead on your Mech Designs, but the person who is funding us wanted to meet you first to see if you were in the right frame of mind, so you wouldn't use it for evil etc. y'know the usual." Marcus informed Dark.

"Cool… so who is it and when do I meet them?" Dark asked.

"Now." A voice said from somewhere behind Dark. A boy, about Dark's age came out of the shadows. Dark recognised him instantly it was Leinad Carter, head of Mutator Corporation.

"So you're the donor, who keeps giving money to the I.D.I?" Dark asked the rhetorical question, knowing full well the answer. Leinad Carter had always been borderline and turned over too much money to just be a computer game and card game retailer. Obviously he had been investing money in weapons research.

"Leinad Carter, I am honoured!" Dark said. Dark outstretched his arm, and clenched his fist, bringing his newly clenched fist to his chest.

"I'm sure you are. What the bloody hell are you doing?" Leinad asked.

"The Mutator Salute… the salute your team has to give you when you meet up, from the TV show… I LOVE Mutator." Dark explained.

"Let me let you in on a little secret… that's JUST from the TV show." Leinad replied. Dark nodded.

"Well anyway, you're the financier?" Dark asked, Leinad nodded.

"And I will finance your Mech, on one condition." Leinad said.

"And what would that be?" Dark asked.

"I want to have one, and I want you to make a team… of anyone, who will go with you on missions." Leinad explained.

"Well, that sounds fair. I already have two people in mind. Relina, and you, if you would honour me so?" Dark asked.

"I would love to, the honour is all mine. And drop the suck up act, it doesn't suit you. And YOU will be the head of the team, not me, so you get to tell me what to do. Do you know how long it will be until the first Mech is built?" Leinad asked.

"Oh about two weeks." Dark answered, "That's if the scientists follow instructions, and do everything right."

"Okay, get one started, I want you and me to help them. Okay?" Leinad asked. Dark nodded. Dark had expected this because he would want to make modifications, and he would want the best mind the world had to offer building it too. They got to work right away; with Eliza as a refreshment lady (which she gladly took on, because she was getting paid plenty), and Relina as the 'morale booster' she basically gave Dark massages after a hard days work building the Mech, and talked to him. Neither of them went to school. (Alright for some 'eh?)

A week later, the Mech was ready half the time Dark expected because he didn't count on himself working on it. Leinad tried out the prototype. It worked well, and was ready for field-testing. Dark tested the Mech against himself, with Leinad as the pilot. Dark beat Leinad easily, but was very surprised at the capabilities of the Mech. It was faster, stronger and harder to defeat than he expected. Which in some ways was a good thing, because it would be a better match for the aliens, but at the same time, would be bad because the system Dark had developed was pushing the pilot to his or her limits, and beyond which caused serious pain, and possibly psychosis. This was a problem Dark didn't quite know how to fix, because the system was supposed to do that, but that could cause psychosis because the mind can't handle being pushed beyond it's limits. A good analogy would be setting fire to someone, and then covering them in Napalm, and other flammable liquids until there is not much left… the outcome… a destroyed body, or in the case of the system a mind.

The next day, Dark awoke to a might crash, as did everyone else. It was some form of plasma weapon.

"The aliens are here!" Dark shouted down his communicator, Myra hit the alarm, red lights flashed and a loud ringing was waking everyone else up, the I.D.I picked up weapons and were ready to fight but they had no idea where the aliens were coming from. Suddenly, one of the squad members was grabbed by something in the shadow, he was ripped apart, his screaming the only thing more piercing than the still ringing alarm. One of the squad members looked round; only to see his comrade be ripped to shreds, and the blood fly everywhere. Within moments Dark was shooting the alien in the face with a Desert Eagle .50, the alien obviously lost it's head. Dark continued shooting the aliens trying to make sure the other fighters get to their destination, which happened to be the armoury, although they had a Glock 18, or an L85 SA80 A1, with the specially designed M203 grenade launcher on the bottom, they had only a magazine or two, and one grenade if that. Dark aimed at an alien, pulled the trigger on his Desert Eagle. He started a melee with the aliens, just to distract them. Aliens were flying down the corridor, their blue or purple blood flying everywhere. Depending on their class. The basic class had blue blood, where as the squad leader class had purple. One of the aliens had what appeared to be a sword made out of energy, unlike the 'Lightsaber' this was solid, and could be touched like a normal sword, except it was made out of energy. This allowed it to be very light, and very hard to break, while causing lots of damage. Unfortunately the swords have to be 'switched on' as it were. All the same, dark was killing the aliens, using his Katana, and shooting them, while hitting them with his Desert Eagle, and punching them. The aliens were overwhelming him with there sheer numbers, not even Dark could hold them all of with all his powers. They were smothering him, he started suffocating; he could only just defend himself, all the while suffocating, suffocating.

Relina woke up to the sound of alarm bells and red lights. She grabbed the pistol Dark had given her for protection, it was a Browning 9mm. This was good but she needed more firepower if she wanted to get anywhere. Just as Relina got to the door it blew open throwing her backward. She knocked her head, but raised her gun to fire at what came through the door. As Relina fired some rounds at the door she looked up to see aliens swarming past her door, her bullets ripping into the flesh of some of the smaller ones, while only bouncing off the armour of the bigger ones. She realised it was hopeless, so she activated the doors special second door, which would seal her in the room until she commanded otherwise. Relina could hear aliens scuttling around in the vents, and running past her door shouting in English: -

"Find the human, the special one, and when you do, kill him!" it was one of the leaders barking orders to lots of other little aliens. They were talking about Dark. Relina felt dripping on her back. She put her hand where the dripping came from, and as she brought her hand back, her fingers were red, covered in blood. She felt the back of her head, and her fingers came back with more blood on them. Her head began to throb. But she couldn't let this beat her, if it did, Dark may die, and not even he with his superpowers could hold all the aliens off. But Relina was feeling faint… a burning sensation ran through her body, she had felt this only twice before, once when she was being enhanced and again in the lobby two days ago, when she had got her telekinesis powers. Slowly, Relina lost consciousness.

Relina opened her eyes. Blinked a few times and looked around the room. She didn't recognise the room at all. But Dark was standing in front of her. He helped her to her feet.

"Am I dead?" Relina spluttered.

"No. Far from it." Dark replied. Relina ran at Dark, her arms outstretched. As she grabbed Dark her arms went through him, and she was suddenly back in her room at the I.D.I headquarters. Standing alone with her arms wrapped around herself. She checked the time. She had only been unconscious for a couple of minutes. Her senses slowly returned to her, first her sight had started working, now her hearing was back she could hear the aliens scuttling about. Then Relina's smell returned to her she could smell death. The air was electric with the smell of the energy weapons used by the aliens. Her taste then returned, and she ran to the door. When she opened it, all five of her senses had returned, and they were all being assaulted by extreme noise, smell, taste, touch, and finally sight. All Relina could see were bits of people all over the corridors. She took out the Browning 9mm. Relina strained her ears to hear for any survivors. A clang behind her and she whipped around with the nine millimetre raised to her eye level. Only to see Dark at her feet in a really bad way.

"Dark! Are you okay?" Relina asked. A bit of a stupid question but all the same,

"Yeah I'm fine. Kinda… well… no I'm not. I feel like crap." Dark replied with a laugh. Relina suddenly realised that here head didn't hurt at all. She placed her hand round the back of her head and felt her hair. With dried blood in it, but no wound. Relina started floating, completely limp, and with her toes touching the floor. Her eyes went completely white. Dark was gently picked up and was left in the same position as Relina, blue light started coming off Dark, and when Relina was done, he was fine.

"What the hell was that?" asked Relina

"Healing. It seems your psychic powers are coming out much faster than I expected, which may not be a bad thing" Dark replied. "It may give us an edge over the aliens. Come on we need some more firepower if we are going to get out of this." Relina nodded in agreement. Let's go. Dark picked Relina up and ran at top speed to the armoury.

"Right get some armour… take a SPAS 7 12 Gauge shotgun… erm… a couple of .50 Desert Eagles… plenty of ammo… and an assault rifle, some MAC 11's you know powerful guns and lot's of them." Dark told Relina. Dark grabbed all of that times two.

"Why do you need two sets?" Relina asked

"Your Dad's gonna need some weapons too." Dark explained. Relina nodded. Dark picked up Relina and ran to her Dad's quarters. There were aliens at the door firing weapons in.

"Looks like your old man is giving them hell!" Dark said as he rugby tackled one of the aliens and kept punching it in the face,

"Relina inside NOW!" shouted Dark as he go up and fired some rounds into the other aliens at the door. Turning their attention to him, they charged, talons and scythe like forearms ready. Dark walked down the corridor, ran as fast as he could to the armoury, picked up a proximity mine, and ran back. Thankfully the aliens barely noticed him disappear. He laid it on the floor at his feet, and set it to 'Loud' so when it was arming itself he would hear it. Dark went outside its maximum range, just as the aliens came charging around the corner. One beep, Dark punched the first alien back, two beeps as they all charged him, three beeps and Dark was gone. Inside Commander Emit's quarters, he ripped the panelling off a wall and pinned against the doorframe, so as to block out the explosion, which was no doubt ripping everything in the corridors apart. Dark's plan had worked; he had opened an escape route, and wiped out any aliens in his path.

"Okay people let's get going! We have to move… fast I'll hold the aliens off if they appear, you guys just keep running down the corridor on the left until you find a hole in the wall. When you get there get out help each other, even if I'm not there. I don't want any heroics. I will probably have to stay behind… wait a minute… the Mech… if I get it… Marcus, you can pilot it. We have another me working… hmm… okay I'm going to remove this makeshift 'door' as soon as I'm out I want you to close it again and get as much weight behind it as you can. If someone comes to the door and doesn't say 'Mutator' don't let them in! Got it? Good! Right then." Dark left before anyone could ask him any questions. The I.D.I SWAT got the 'door' and propped it up, then all lent on it.

A few hours later they heard someone approaching. It was the sound of metal hitting the floor.

"Open up! Open up! Damn it what's the password… what is it? Oh screw this!" The 'door' suddenly flew off the frame, tossing the I.D.I SWAT with it. As the dust cleared, Leinad was standing there in the Mech. He was carrying some bags,

"Leinad? Where the hell is Dark… and what's in that bag?" Relina asked

"Not now! Get that thing back on the door!" Leinad commanded Relina gave him a puzzled look.

"Aliens are right behind me… they're coming in force!" Leinad shouted. Just as the I.D.I SWAT recovered from being thrown across the room and into a concrete wall.

"We would but you knocked out the guys who were supposed to do it…" Relina explained. Leinad went to grab the metal slab being used as a door as the aliens started flowing in. Leinad pointed his slender metallic Mech arms at the aliens and fired, they were exploding, and he was continually firing while barking commands.

"Get that metal slab in its place. NOW DAMMIT NOW!" Leinad screamed through the helmet while firing. The I.D.I SWAT fired some rounds into the aliens while a couple grabbed the slab and started putting it back on. Leinad fired off a couple of special rounds, then turned around and began firing into the wall. The rounds flew into the special rounds fired moments before because of their special design, the bullets flew round and hit the same spot over again. This killed some of the aliens as they entered and made sure the I.D.I SWAT was not harmed.

"Taking too long!" Leinad shouted. "Move… NOW!" Leinad told the I.D.I SWAT team. The moved, and he charged into the slab, smashing it into the doorframe, and embedding it in. It would take about one and a half blocks of C4 to move it. It crushed some aliens as they came in, so Leinad just shot the ones that managed to get in before they could do any damage.

"Where's Dark?" asked Relina.

"I don't know."

The I.D.I SWAT team managed to force the door back into its place. Dark took the weapons he had and headed to the Research wing. He took out his two Desert Eagles .50. These would stand him in good stead. On the way he passed the armoury and realised he'd left all but a few magazines with the rest of the survivors. So he stepped in and took some APE rounds for his Desert Eagle .50. He grabbed lots of ammunition for the Mech as well. He put it all in a backpack and put the backpack on. It rubbed against his naked top it was a little uncomfortable. He put on some socks and shoes as well, just for comfort. He loaded the magazine of APE rounds in the Desert Eagles. He then made his way to the to the research wing… but slowly so as not to attract attention. He was as quiet as he could be. When he got there, he saw Leinad standing over the Mech.

"What are you doing?" Dark asked

"Removing that system you implanted. As soon as I heard the alarm I climbed into the ventilation system and climbed here to get the Mech. I knew it was our only chance especially if you got beaten up or knocked out or something like that." Leinad explained.

"Well that's not a bad idea you keep doing that I'll make some new rounds. That way you will be more effective against the aliens." Dark said. Dark went over to a work bench and then started placing pointed metal on the top of every round for the Mech. In these tops was a small amount of C4, enough to rip apart a man. It was designed in such a way that when the round hit something it would explode. After it pierced the armour.

"Okay you ready to rock?" asked Dark. Leinad nodded. Dark picked up a headset and set it to work on the same frequency as the Mech's communicator.

"Help!"

"Leinad it's not that bad. Come on it's only a few aliens." Dark said in a very cocky voice.

"Yeah but that wasn't me." Leinad replied in a similar cocky voice.

"Help me… someone…"

"It's coming from that vent… okay Leinad you get to the others, they're in Marcus' quarters. I'll see if I can't find out who that is. Oh and don't get yourself killed." Dark said. Leinad nodded with a smile on his face. Dark mimicked the smile.

"Okay well see you on the other side." Leinad said as he opened the door with weapons readied. Dark climbed into the vent.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Dark shouted through the vent.

"Yes… are you here to help me?" the voice called back.

"Yes. My name's Dark. What's yours?"

"Paula. Hey are you Dark as in Dark Shadow?"

"Yes… why do you think you know me?"

"Yeah… I'm in the same year as you at school… I've heard about you. You're supposed to be a nice guy." Paula continued.

"You don't sound to bad yourself. But let's save the pleasantries until we're safe." Dark replied trying to keep her talking so as to find where she was, hopefully she also wouldn't be so scared.

"Yeah, you're right. And thank you. Charming as well. Sounds like you're a good catch. I mean, for whoever, erm… yeah…" Paula said trailing off.

"Yeah you want me to find you, keep talking." Dark said laughing.

"Oh yeah sorry… so err… what music do you like?" Paula asked. Dark was right above her he just needed to find the closest exit.

"Rock… all sorts… Green Day, Queen, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Wheatus, Good Charlotte, Nickleback, Blink 182… you know the usual. What about you?"

"All of those… wow we have a lot in common for people who don't wait what are you doing here? Huh! Get away from me! Help! Dark ahhhhh!" Paula shouted she was obviously in trouble. Dark put his fist through the vent and into the room Paula was in. He kept punching and kicking it through until it fell down, right on top of the first wave of aliens. Dark was on his feet in moments. Fighting off the aliens. He threw a gun to Paula.

"Point and shoot!" Dark shouted. Paula did as she was told. Paula just fired rounds into the aliens, few hit thanks to her lack of training. Dark managed to push them back to the door. Except one… it ran straight for Paula and managed to push her out the window… on the ninth floor. Dark ran to the window after pushing the other aliens out and locking the door. Dark looked out the window Paula was barely hanging on.

"Help!" she screamed. Dark grabbed her wrist; it was too slippery to pull her up. He started to swing her.

"Hang on!" Dark shouted back. He swung her more and more until he threw her up in the air. Dark ran to the other side of the room and then charged at the window. He jumped through it and out into the air, just as Paula fell between him and the building, he kicked her, not hard, but hard enough to knock her back into the newly made hole. She'd landed fairly softly, while Dark was thrown into the ground.

"Dark! Dark!" Paula shouted out the window. Just as the door gave way. Within moments aliens were all over the room.

Paula screamed. The aliens all stopped and then started flying all over the place, being killed by some unknown force. After a few minutes of fighting, the aliens were all dead or retreating. Paula saw her saviour… Dark… again. Standing in the middle of the room.

"But you… your dead… I saw you fall… that's not possible… how?" asked Paula. Dark just smiled.

"New?" Paula nodded in response. "I've been in enhanced… I die-hard. Anyway…" Dark heard a scuttling as the entire alien force came flooding through the door. Dark flew into Paula, grabbing, her firmly, but gently. Paula felt safe. Even with all the energy bolts flying past, missing her by inches, in Dark's grasp she felt safe. Dark's weedy arms were firm enough to hold her, but gently enough to make her feel like nothing could go wrong.

"Where could Dark be?" Relina asked… forgetting her Comm-Watch.

"Relina… what's that beeping sound?" Leinad asked and Relina screamed in response… pain was searing throughout her body, and she lay on the floor unconscious. She got up. Everyone was looking at her feet.

"Hey what you guys looking at?" Relina asked. No one answered so slowly Relina looked down to her feet; she saw her body lying there. Relina let out a scream. Then quickly clasped her hands over her mouth. Relina walked over towards the door and right through it. She saw aliens on the other side, all running away… keeping one eye on the door. Relina looked at the door, there was a bomb attached to it.

"CRAP!" Relina ran back into the room where here friends were waiting she jumped into her body. She got up, everyone was staring at her.

"Bomb… on door…" Relina panted. Her Comm-Watch beeped again. "Hello… this… is… Relina." Again, panted.

"Relina are you still in the room?" Dark asked. Relina nodded at the screen.

"Okay well you have to leave there we have to re-group." Relina nodded in agreement.

"Just one problem Dark there's a bomb on the door… it's going to explode, and then aliens are gonna be all over us." Relina said calmly, getting her breath back.

"Just hold the door in place." Dark said.

"How the hell are we supposed to do that? There's a BOMB on it!" Relina shouted, wasting the air she had collected over the last couple of minutes.

"Bugger… erm… well get the door back in place as soon as you can after that bomb goes off, I'll be there as soon as I can get there okay?" Dark smiled warmly as if to reassure her it would all be okay. Relina nodded. The door flew off its hinges, with fire shooting everywhere.

"Get this door back in place now!" shouted Relina. The I.D.I men did as they were told.

"Will we be safe? I mean are we going to be okay? We are going to die aren't we?" One of the men seemed close to cracking. Relina went over and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Just do as I say and you'll be fine." Relina told him. It didn't work. Marcus' Comm-Watch bleeped.

"Yeah what is it?" Marcus asked.

"Oh nothing. Get away from the west wall." It was Dark; Marcus nodded to show his acknowledgement.

"People let's get away from this wall!" Marcus said pointing towards the west wall. It suddenly blew up.

"Dudes! Fancy meeting you here! What's up?" Dark asked with Paula standing behind him.

"Not much now you're here." Relina said running over to him and kissing him.

"This is Paula. She's new, and in the same year as us at school." Dark explained.

"A pleasure to meet you." Relina said.

"Yeah. The same to you." Paula replied.

"Yeah ladies, if you don't mind we have a few of these aliens on the other side of that door. Let's save out skins before we start with the pleasantries. Alright?" Dark said. Not that the answer was going to make any difference. Dark went over to a wall. He knocked on it.

"That wall leads to… I can't remember damn…" Relina said.

"It leads out." Marcus said. Dark nodded. He went over to the Mech and started taking some ammo from its ammo drums.

"I'm gonna need this." Dark explained.

"Why? Oh… I see." Leinad said. Dark took the rounds and started removing the explosive from them. He put all the explosive together and put it on the wall.

"Back away from the C4!" Dark shouted. The wall behind them flew off, crushing some I.D.I Members against the opposite wall. Leinad managed to get Paula out the way; Relina was swept off her feet by Dark. As the dust settled, Relina looked around then screamed.

"What is it?" Dark said as he saw it for himself. Marcus hadn't got out of the way quick enough. He was trapped underneath the wall. Both his legs caught by the wall, crushed. Aliens were entering behind them. Dark started fighting with them, using his Pistols. When they ran out of ammo, he just started a melee with the Aliens. The I.D.I SWAT were shooting at the Aliens too.

"Dark… come… here… please… I have something… I need… to tell… you…" Marcus choked out. Dark kneeled down beside him.

"Dark… your father isn't dead… in fact he's been watching you grow. But could never reveal himself to you" Marcus coughed, weakening by the second. "Dark… I'm your father."

Chapter 11 - Dead Man Walking

Dark was stunned. He just kneeled there for a moment, taking in the fact that for the last 16 years, he had had no father, now suddenly his father was lying in front of him. Perhaps about to die. Rage welled up inside Dark. He couldn't control himself. It was like someone tripping a switch in his mind, the anger was converted into some form of energy, and Dark suddenly burst into flames, black flames. With the flames came a force of energy off Dark that knocked everyone around him back. He stood up. His eyes completely black, energy coming off him in the form of Electricity. He started walking towards the aliens, who felt something was wrong and started concentrating their fire on Dark. All the energy was absorbed into Dark's body.

"Dark calm down!" Relina said as she stood in his way. He just walked right up to her. He had grown about half a foot with this energy; his muscles had doubled, maybe even tripled in size. He stopped no more than a foot away from her.

"I'm not Dark. My name is Shadow. Shadow Immor." Said the person who had replaced Dark. He just swung his arm and flung Relina into a wall. Then continued walking into the Aliens. Who's fire he was still absorbing, each shot making him stronger and fuelling his rage.

"I lost my father once. You shall not take him from me again." Shadow said, the flames around his body subsiding. An energy ball appeared in his hand. He threw it into a group of Aliens, killing some and mortally wounding others. Another energy ball appeared in Shadow's hand. This one turning into a beam as he pointed it at the Aliens. Destroying all in its path. One of the I.D.I SWAT members shot Shadow with a Tranquilliser. Shadow removed it from his neck.

"Hmm Tranquilliser. Not going to help." Shadow flicked it back at the SWAT member, hitting him squarely in the kneecap, flung with such force that the Kneecap shattered.

"Shadow calm down! You can't do this!" Relina said, getting up from the floor.

"And who are you to stop me? No one. That is the answer. You are a pathetic mortal. And cannot stop me doing anything. Well Mortal, time to Die." Shadow said as an energy beam charged up in his hand. He took aim at Relina's head.

The explosion ripped around the wall behind Relina to shreds. When the dust settled there was Relina and everyone else, perfectly fine.

"My shield is Invincible. Unbreakable. Unlike you." Relina said, going straight to Shadow's ego. Shadow brought up his fist, and swung down, Relina smiled as Shadow's fist made contact with the Energy Shield she had erected like a wall around Shadow. His fist stayed in contact with the wall, energy flying off the point of contact. Relina began to feel weak. After a few more moments the shield shattered like glass. Relina was flung across the room into the wall again.

"Pathetic attempt." Shadow said. Bullets started hitting an Energy Shield to Shadow's left, erected by Shadow. Small explosions were coming off the Shield. Shadow came off the floor and started hovering about half a foot off the floor. He floated over to the wall with the C4 on it, and removed it. The bullets still doing nothing to the Shield. Shadow floated over to the Mech, which was firing at him, just as the bullets turned back to normal armour piercing. Shadow placed the C4 on the Mech.

"Bloody help me!" Shouted Leinad. The I.D.I SWAT started firing their guns at Shadow, but more shields were erected. Shadow grabbed the gun of a dead SWAT member and fired one round into the C4. The explosion went filled a small column of space.

"Another Energy Shield. I did not think you would have the strength left to erect one. Hmm… no matter." Shadow said in a cold, hard voice. As the dust settled in the Column, the Mech was standing there.

"Guess what bitch? This is Adoshw. This is damn near unbreakable, even with you strength. Tough luck mate." Leinad said over the COM System.

"I should have guessed. Looks like Dark managed to keep some things from me. Well-done Dark. But that will not save them. You people think that I am only a small amount stronger than Dark. I am not. I am more powerful than he could even dream to be." Shadow said. Shadow went over to the Mech. He thrust his hand into the Mech and pulled it back out, effortlessly, and dropped the CPU. The Mech shut down.

"Oh… shit…" Leinad said. Shadow ripped the Mech's door open, again effortlessly and pulled Leinad out.

"Shadow… please… stop… I'm begging you… stop…" Marcus weak voice coming from the back of the room.

"Dad…? Is that you?" His voice had returned to Dark's, though his body was still the evil of Shadow. Slowly his body returned to normal. Dark collapsed on the floor. Relina used her healing powers to heal herself, then Marcus.

"Dad… why did you tell him that you were his dad?" Relina asked.

"Because he finally deserved to know the truth. Relina" Marcus said. "We both knew this day was coming, but it just happened sooner rather than later." Relina began to cry. "You'll be fine. You have Dark now."

"Okay…" Relina said.

"Good now come on let's get Dark back to his Quarters, or what's left of them." Marcus said. They did as they were told.

Dark opened his eyes. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light. He sat up quickly, looking for any aliens. Relina was sitting in chair next to him, staring at him. She smiled.

"What happened?" Asked Dark.

"You don't remember?" Relina answered

"Well I remember Marcus telling me he was his dad, then getting really angry, but then I don't know. I must have blacked out." Dark replied.

"Well you kinda did… but the anger inside of you manifested itself into your body. It called itself Shadow Immor. He tried to kill everything and everyone." Relina explained.

"What? No… what did he tell you?" Dark asked.

"Nothing… just that his name was Shadow Immor and that he was far more powerful than you. And he was. Dark, he broke my shield." Relina told Dark.

"What you mean the one… the energy shield?" Dark inquired. Relina nodded in response.

"Wow… that's pretty powerful. More powerful than me…" Dark said wondering in his own thoughts. "How's Marcus?" Dark asked.

"He's fine. Thankfully Shadow Immor receded before he managed to kill Marcus or me. So I managed to heal him." Dark nodded in acknowledgement.

"Can you leave me? I have some things I need to think about…" Dark asked.

"Sure. I guessed this was coming. You have a father now… well if you need me I'll be just a call away." Relina said reassuringly.

Relina closed the door to Dark's quarters 'I wonder if he'll be okay…' she thought to herself. As a Sergeant came past. Relina started walking down the corridor to her room.

"I wonder how he'll react to all this…" Relina said to no one in particular.

"Pardon miss?" asked a technician.

"Oh nothing… just thinking out loud." Relina told him as she walked past him and continued down the corridor. Relina saw Eliza coming up to her.

"Where's Leinad?" Eliza asked.

"I don't know… I'll help you look." Relina said. They continued down the corridor. "His quarters are near mine. I'd guess that's where he'd be." Relina saw Paula heading in the same direction as them; she was about ten metres ahead of herself and Eliza though.

"I know, why don't we have like a sleepover 'girls night in' thing?" Eliza suggested.

"It could work I suppose. Let's invite Paula as well… it's no fun with just two people. Hey! Paula! Want to do a sleepover thing with us?" Relina called. Paula turned around and nodded.

"Sure. Who's room should we do it in? Oh… wait… I'm new here and don't want to get into trouble…" Paula replied. Relina and Eliza caught up with Paula.

"You'll be fine. If anything goes wrong blame it on me." Relina smiled.

"Still…" Paula said quietly.

"Oh come on. You'll be fine!" Eliza said in and almost ordering tone.

"Oh to hell with rules. Sure. Whose quarters are the biggest?" Paula asked.

"I think… mine are." Relina told the other two. "They're this way." Relina pointed down a corridor, and then went down it. The other two girls following her.

"Okay you two go and get your duvets and pyjamas and things, then bring them here. If you get lost just ask one of the staff, the all know these are my quarters." Relina explained.

"And why do they know that then?" asked Eliza in a suggestive voice.

"Marcus made sure that everyone would run to my quarters if we ever came under attack."

"Well we better go get our stuff. We'll be back in what… half an hour?" Relina and Paula nodded in acknowledgment.

About twenty minutes later a knock came at Relina's door.

"Come in! It's open." Relina called. She quickly got dressed as Eliza came in.

"Nice… could do with a more 'homey' feel." Eliza said, smiling. Relina smiled at the comment.

"Maybe. What do you want to do?" Relina asked.

"I dunno. Hey do you have any of those Mutator Cards that everyone's into? I've never really played it and I thought I might as well give it a try, y'know, so I have something to talk to other people about." Eliza told Relina.

"Yeah I have some. But I'm not the real person to ask. Dark is. He's brilliant at the game. Or you could ask Leinad, he made the game. Just think to brilliant players just down the hall. Maybe we should get them to have a Battle?" Relina said jokingly.

"Maybe could be fun to watch. But have you got any? We should do something until Paula gets here." Eliza said.

"Yeah I have. I'll get them while you get changed." Relina said. Relina left the room while Eliza changed into her pyjamas. A couple of minutes late Relina emerged and Eliza was changed. Her pyjamas did little to hid the size of everything, though full length trousers and a T-Shirt top, and by no means clear, it was obvious how good her body was. Another knock at the door.

"It's open!" Relina called. Paula entered.

"Hello. What you two up to?" Paula asked.

"We were going to play Mutator, do you want to play?" Eliza asked.

"Sure. I have my own deck back in my room… do you want me to go and get it?" Paula asked.

"No, I'll ask Dark to." Relina told Paula as she opened a Comm-Watch Channel to Dark. "Hey, Dark? Could you go to Paula's room and get her Deck of Mutator Cards? We were going to teach Eliza how to play."

"Sure." came the voice from the other end of the Comm-Watch. In less then a second. Dark was in the room with Paula's cards.

"Hmm… good deck. Looks like you are missing some cards for some of your strategies though." Dark observed.

"Yeah I am. Thanks. You play don't you?" Paula asked.

"Do I play? Yes I play. I'm the best in our school as a matter of fact. So" Dark said then stuck out his tongue, then began smiling. "What are you girls up to anyway?"

"Sleepover thing." Relina replied.

"Oh okay then. Girly stuff." Dark said. Eliza nodded, and then gave a suggestive smile. And raised her eyebrow. Dark laughed and left.

"What was that about?" Relina asked.

"What was what?" Eliza asked innocently.

"That suggestive smile!" Relina demanded.

"Just because I work here doesn't mean I'm not going to stop trying to make him my boyfriend. You and I are still at war" Eliza said jokingly and smiling.

"Oh it's on like Donkey Kong bi-atch!" Relina said in an equally joking voice.

"What about you Paula what do you think of him?" Eliza asked. Paula thought about it for a second,

"I think he's a great guy." Paula replied. Trying to hide her feelings.

"Hey can invite a couple more people here?" Asked Eliza. Relina nodded.

"As long as they supply their own gear." Relina said. Eliza went over to the phone by Relina's bed. She dialled a number.

"Hey Miranda? Yeah it's me. Call Myra and tell her to come to Relina's quarters for a sleepover thing okay? Yeah. Okay. Ten minutes. Right. Cool see you then." Eliza said into the telephone receiver. "They'll be here in about ten minutes. Now you two have to teach me this Card game."

About fifteen minutes later, Myra and Miranda came into the room.

"This is a nice room." Myra said.

"Yeah Eliza told me." Relina told them. "Go into there and get changed." Relina pointed at the en-suite bathroom. They did as they were told.

"Do you think Dark will come back? Y'know just to check up on us?" Eliza asked. Relina shrugged.

"I don't know. He might do considering his girlfriend is in here." Relina said, stressing the word girlfriend, as if to make a point.

"Good. If not I will call him at some point. Just see if he want's to play me at Mutator. That'd be a good excuse." Eliza said smiling. Myra and Miranda came out of the en-suite bathroom.

"Were you guys just talking about Dark? He's so hot don't you think?" Miranda asked. Eliza looked at her as if to say 'what the hell?'

"Aren't you a year older than him?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah? So?" Miranda asked "Is there a problem with that?"

"Yeah some guys go out with girls a few years older than themselves there's nothing wrong with it." Myra explained.

"I guess not…" Eliza said.

"You all seem to be forgetting one HUGE factor. I'm his girlfriend!" Relina exclaimed.

"So? That only makes it more fun!" Eliza said.

"Yeah. I bet it does." Relina answered. "So what do you people want to do?"

"Erm… I dunno. Why don't we talk about girly stuff. Like make-up and junk?" Miranda suggested.

"Maybe because none of us care about that." Eliza said with a patronizing tone.

"Fine be like that. You were playing Mutator? That's like the best game ever!" Myra exclaimed.

"That's the one point where myself and Myra argue. I don't like Mutator remotely." Miranda said.

"Well you don't have much of a chance with Dark then do you? He loves the game. Best player in our school." Paula explained. "Shall we just play Mutator? That way I can show off and Eliza can learn all the rules."

"Maybe. As long as Miranda doesn't mind." Relina said prompting Miranda to say 'no I don't mind.'

"No I don't mind. I'll do my nails or something." Miranda said.

"Okay it's settled. Relina do you have enough cards to make another deck for Eliza? Don't forget that Eliza needs to play. And I need to get mine." Myra said.

"I'll get Dark to pick them up. I'm sure he'll lend Eliza his deck." Relina said. Eliza quickly undid a few more buttons on her pyjama shirt. Showing off her breasts cleavage. Relina opened a Com channel to Dark.

"Okay I'll get Paula's cards. And lend Eliza mine." Dark said as soon as the Com link appeared. "You're so predictable." Dark said explaining before Relina had a chance to respond. A few seconds later, the door opened and Dark came in.

"Wow. Have I died and gone to heaven? Five extremely beautiful girls all playing Mutator, well all except one." Dark laughed. He threw his deck to Eliza. Who caught it, by forcing her chest forward and bending over. "Good luck to you all." He said and then handed Myra her deck.

"What?"

"I knew you played it. So I got you your deck. I assumed you'd all be playing together." Dark said, smiling. Dark then left. Relina got four fields set up.

"You ready? I'll go first." Relina said, drawing a card to make her hand six cards. Her deck was designed to avoid frontal confrontation, and to drain power off the Character Card while distracting the opponent. Dark's deck was designed to counter everything, and turn it into damage on the opponent, and an all out assault as well. Paula's however was made to hold off attackers until her opponent was weak then strike with utmost force. Myra's was completely different, it was an all out assault deck. It was based entirely on force. In Relina's hand she had –

Daemon Warlord

Soul Sword

Terran Sword Master

Basic Terran

Shotgun

Watch Tower

Relina played the Basic Terran face down on the first row, and then the Watch Tower in one of her Building Spaces.

"Your go Paula." Relina said.

"Hmm…" Paula said. Surveying the field. She had six cards in her hand too. She played two cards in her Trap And Mutate card zones, and a Unit face down in the second row. This was a curious move, as it left her front row completely open to take over. Someone could quite literally sit five units in her area. This should mean that it was a strong defensive unit. She nodded to Myra. Myra drew her card and placed a Skeleton Warrior in her First Row then added an Undead Blade to it. This meant its strength was now 4. A pretty strong Unit to start off with, especially considering the amount of force Relina had on the field. It was now Eliza's turn. She placed a building in one of her building spaces. It was Basic Wall. This meant nobody could enter her spaces without destroying the Wall first. It was Relina's turn. She drew 'Corruption' a Mutate card that automatically stopped whichever Mutations Relina wanted it to. She activated it. This reduced the amount of options Relina's opponents had. Just as Relina was about to finish her turn there came a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Relina called. Dark came in.

"Don't try and call me for the next hour or so. I'm going for a walk." Dark said.

"Ooooooo can I come with?" Paula asked.

"I dunno… I kinda wanted to walk on my own." Dark said.

"Oh come on. What harm could little old me do?" Paula posed the rhetorical question, the one of many questions Dark didn't have an answer to.

"Fine. Whatever. Come on." Dark said. Paula smiled and ran to get dressed. It took her about four minutes. Then she was ready to go.

"Come on then." Dark said. They walked out the front doors, which had now been rebuilt.

"They rebuilt those pretty quick." Paula pointed out.

"Yeah. Real quick." Dark said, not paying attention. They started walking through the town. Dark noticed three girls playing, two identical twins, about seven and a girl about two years older than the twins all playing. Dark noticed how happy they were. 'They're so lucky. They have no idea what sort of danger is coming. They have no idea what this planet's going to go through. Maybe that's worth saving. Bliss is ignorance.' Dark thought to himself. They'd entered the woods.

"Dark…" Paula said, waking Dark from his trance like state. "Dark… I want to ask you a question… but I'm afraid…" Paula started looking at her feet.

"Go on." Dark said encouragingly.

"If I were to kiss you now… what would the consequences be?" Paula asked.

"I don't know." Dark told Paula. He looked at her. She raised her head to look at Dark. A tear was in her eye.

"You saved my life twice, and I have no way to repay you." Paula said.

"It's my job to save people's lives. Don't worry about it." Dark said, smiling. Though it was a sad smile.

"I know… but I still want to say thanks someway. Why are you sad?" Paula asked Dark. He paused for a moment.

"I don't know. It's like there's been such a huge hole in me missing, that I slowly managed to close it. Now the stuff that was missing is trying to fit into the hole that WAS there, not the small hole it is now. And I'm sad because I know it will never fill the hole I have left." Dark explained. Paula had a tear running down her face.

"Now you owe me an explanation. Why are you sad?" Dark asked, fighting back his emotions.

"Because I have nothing to offer you in return for saving my life. And I think I love you…" Paula said. Dark seemed surprised.

"Well… that's a new one." Dark said. Paula lent in to kiss Dark. But Dark swapped places with her, so he was where she was. Just as their lips touched Dark was thrown into a tree by an energy blast. Paula screamed. Dark hit the floor.

"Crap!" Dark said getting up. It was Light Sun. Dark managed to get a Com-Watch Channel to Relina.

"We got a bad guy. Light Sun. Look for the explosions in the woods." Dark shouted as Light Sun punched him in the face. He was thrown so hard into the floor he shot back into the air. Light Sun kicked him back into the ground. Causing a huge crater.

"Fuck!" Dark shouted. Light Sun flew at him again, with his fist straight out ahead of him. Dark dodged out the way at the last moment and kicked Light Sun in the head with a rounder house, launching Light Sun into a tree, which he snapped in half and flew through. The tree fell, about to hit Paula. Paula screamed. Then there was silence.

Chapter 12 - Clash Of The Titans

Dark was holding the tree. It was stopped closer than half a centimetre from Paula. Dark held the tree like a baseball bat. Dark hit Light Sun in the face with the tree, breaking it again.

"Not built to last. Bloody things." Dark smiled. He was thrown through a few trees. As he got back up Light Sun and Dark got caught in a melee. Paula couldn't make out what they were doing. Light Sun suddenly flew behind her. Dark won. He flew over to her. His face bloodied and bruised.

"Like… fucking… ow" Dark said humorously. Light Sun's arm appeared round Paula's neck. She yelped but then went silent fearful of her life.

"Hmm…. Do you care about her Dark?" Light Sun said mockingly. Dark just glared at him.

"Oh come on now. You can tell your old buddy Light Sun! I won't tell anyone." Dark could see a pleading in Paula's eyes. Light Sun drew some form of gun and aimed at Dark. "Fine. I will give you a choice. You can go now and save yourself. Or you let me shoot you with this weapon, and I let her go." Light Sun said.

"You know I can't leave her." Dark said.

"Always honourable. So predicable. You do-gooders only set yourself up to be destroyed." Light Sun laughed. He pulled the trigger. It was a dart. It hid Dark squarely in the chest. It didn't do anything

"What was that supposed to do? Annoy me?" Dark laughed.

"Far more than that. Just wait. I will see you again soon." Light Sun said. And then he was gone. Paula was in shock. Dark went over to her and hugged her. Paula kissed Dark.

"Now you're screwed."

Dark looked down the path. Relina was there, with Eliza, who had made the comment that didn't help, and Marcus.

"Dark! How could you?" Relina shouted. Dark couldn't answer.

"I kissed him." Paula said.

"Yeah but he wasn't putting up a fight! I thought you loved me Dark! How could you? We're over!" Relina shouted.

"Probably just as well… you being my sister and all." Dark said.

"I'm not your sister! I'm Marcus adopted Daughter! MY parents did actually die! Now you are betraying me. The only guy I ever loved! How could you Dark? How could you?"

"I can't say anything but… I'm sorry." Dark said going over to her. He tried to hug her.

"Don't touch me! Get away from me! Leave me alone!" Relina shouted in Dark's face. Dark receded. Relina ran off.

"Not going to go after her?" Eliza asked.

"What's the point?" Dark asked in retaliation.

"I'll go and talk to her." Marcus said, he then promptly ran off after Relina.

"Well if you aren't going to go after her I get you all to myself." Eliza said pulling his body into hers. So close that their pelvises were touching. She leaned in for a kiss. As she did she put her hand round the back of his head and the other on his buttocks. She stuck her tongue into his mouth. He mimicked her almost exactly. He put his tongue in her mouth and both his hands on her hips, one hand for each hip. She brought the hand on Dark's buttocks and put it interlocking with her other hand, around his neck.

"Are you two done yet?" Paula asked. They suddenly stopped.

"Yeah. Come on Dark let's go!" Eliza said.

"No we can stay here. Just let me get Paula back to the base." In less than two seconds she was gone and Dark was back.

"Good. Now I have you all to myself." Eliza said smiling. Dark looked unsure.

"I dunno if I can do this. I'm just a little confused… again my entire life just got turned upside down." Dark explained. Eliza put her arms round his neck, and brought his head so he was leaning his forehead against hers. Dark just looked at the ground.

A knock at Relina's door.

"Come in!" Relina called wiping the tears from her eyes as quickly as she could and sitting up on her bed. Leinad came in.

"Hey. Heard you and Dark had a bit of a tiff." Leinad said.

"I never want to talk to him again." Relina said. Leinad came and sat down next to her on the bed.

"Bit harsh don't you think? I mean come on, it's Dark." Leinad said. "I'm not trying to defend him but I think maybe you should consider forgiving him, if not at least talking to him. You're going to have to if you are working together."

"Maybe. I just don't know. I've lost my dad, lost my boyfriend. What more do I have to live for exactly?" Relina asked. For the first time Leinad noticed the Razor blade on the bedside table.

"You aren't going to do anything stupid. Are you?" Leinad asked.

"Maybe. I'm just failing to see the point right now." Relina said.

"That's the kind of talk I expect from Dark, not you."

"Maybe. But Dark's life didn't just get screwed over by a kiss!"

"Maybe that's all it was. A kiss. It meant nothing to Dark. Don't forget they'd just been fighting Light Sun. Comfort kiss. You know Dark would do that without meaning to hurt you." Leinad explained.

"Maybe I should talk to him. Find out the circumstances." Relina said. "Yeah I'll do that."

"That's the spirit." Leinad said, smiling comfortingly.

"Do you know what the worst part is?" Relina asked. "I still love him."

"Come on Dark. It's not that bad. I know that you would like to." Eliza said to Dark.

"How do you know? I don't even know… all I know is I don't need this right now." Dark told Eliza. He started walking off. Eliza grabbed his arm, he reacted by turning around and flinging his fist at her. Stopping it not even half a centimetre from her face. Eliza was stunned. And Dark looked evil.

"Erm… should I call the police?" said a girl.

"No it's okay." Eliza said.

"Yeah… it's kind of a reflex. I used to get beaten up a lot at school." Dark explained.

"Still are you sure you don't want me to call the police?" the girl asked.

"No I was just leaving." Dark said. He took his hand down. He still looked evil, in his eyes Eliza could see evil. Dark walked off.

"So… what's your name?" Eliza asked the girl,

"Liandra. Yours?" Liandra responded.

"Eliza. So… what did you think of him?" Eliza asked.

"What that guy? He's nothing special. Now you want to know who's fit? That Leinad Carter bloke… the head of Mutator," Liandra said.

"I know that guy. Yeah he works with me." Eliza said. Liandra's mouth fell open.

"You know the richest person in the world?" Liandra asked hastily. Eliza just nodded in response.

"You have to introduce me!" Liandra exclaimed.

"Okay then. Follow me." Eliza said. They began walking out of the woods.

"So what's Leinad like?" Liandra inquired.

"He's… cool. Relaxed… even in the face of danger. I haven't talked to him that much. I talk to Dark… That other boy, the one that just left." Eliza explained.

"Oh… okay then… that's kind of a bummer for me." Liandra said, smiling with her tongue out. Eliza put her arm through Liandra's and started leading her off towards the I.D.I Headquarters.

"So… what sort of music do you like?" Eliza asked.

"Rock mainly… especially Alkaline Trio." Liandra answered.

"Hmm… haven't heard anything by them." Eliza pointed out.

"Well they're very good." Liandra said.

"So what do you do for fun?" Eliza asked.

"Go on MSN hang out with mates. The usual. What about you?" Liandra replied.

"Cool. Me? I don't do much. Just hang. With Dark and Leinad, and Relina, and Paula, and Myra and Miranda. That's our 'posse' if you like." Eliza explained. Eliza laughed. Liandra smiled. They were at the I.D.I headquarters within minutes, talking about anything and everything they could think of.

"Eliza. You can't bring her here!" Relina shouted running out the I.D.I Headquarters.

"Why not?" Eliza asked. Relina pulled Eliza aside.

"Because there are lots of Top Secret things going on in there and she hasn't signed the official secrets act. If you can get her to sign it then we might be alright… but if not we might have to kill her. And I really don't want to have to do that. But you can't just invite people in at your discretion! Don't do it again." Relina told Eliza sternly.

"Okay, okay! Calm down!" Eliza said. "If you're not careful you and I are going to have a falling out missy."

"Watch it Eliza. You're treading on very thin ice." Relina warned.

"Just as well I can swim then isn't it?" Eliza shot back. Relina scowled at Eliza as she walked off.

"Come on Liandra I'll introduce you to Leinad. But you just have to sign a form saying that whatever you see, you won't tell anyone about or you can be prosecuted." Eliza said.

"What would that be?"

"The official secrets act. Just precautionary. You understand right?" Eliza checked. Liandra nodded. "Good. Then follow me." Eliza walked into the building, straight up to Myra at the desk.

"Hey Myra, got any copies of the official secrets act?" Eliza inquired. Myra nodded and handed Eliza one with a pen. "Sign here." Eliza said pointing out where Liandra was to sign. Liandra signed.

"Now you can meet Leinad." Eliza said. They walked through a few halls chatting about all sorts of things. Boys, mostly. Leinad came round a corner.

"Hey Leinad, this is Liandra, she wanted to meet you." Eliza said to him as he passed.

"Hello." Liandra said to Leinad, who stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hey. I'm Leinad Carter, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that." Leinad said to her. Liandra nodded in response. "I think I know you from somewhere…"

"Maybe. I've had front row tickets to most of your Mutator Battles." Liandra explained.

"Oh yeah. And you won that competition to get a free deck designed by me. I happen to take a note of all the competition winners. To make sure they don't win too many." Leinad explained to Liandra. It was almost as if Eliza had faded into the background.

"Yeah I'm still here!" Eliza said, waving trying to get Leinad or Liandra's attention.

"Yeah we know." Leinad smiled. "But anyway I got to go do some stuff on the Mech, update the systems, write a basic program for it so it's compatible with anyone. Y'know programming stuff." Leinad explained. Liandra nodded. Leinad began walking off and Liandra grabbed his arm.

"You're going to need some form of contacting me." Liandra smiled, she continued to tell him her mobile number. Leinad repeated it over to himself to remember it, then continued on his way.

"Thanks" Leinad called back as he ran off.

Dark looked around. The room was completely white.

"Hello?" Dark called out. His voice just echoed back off the walls. 'Okay… trapped in a room, no visible exits, nobody can hear me, what can I do?' Dark thought to himself. He ran at a wall, and swung his fist down. A field of energy flung him back across the room.

"Fucking…. Ow…" Dark moaned. A beam of light appeared in front of him. And a figured appeared. When the light stopped Light Sun was there. He suddenly caught fire; a yellow flame surrounded his body.

"Are you capable of that power? You must be Sun Immor." Dark asked. The figure nodded.

"Yes I am capable of this power. And Yes I am Sun Immor. And Yes I am going to kill you" Sun Immor said, suddenly flinging himself at Dark. When Sun Immor's fist made contact with Dark, it flung him clean across the room and into the wall, which then zapped him again, knocking Dark to the floor. He looked up to see Relina charging into Sun Immor as if trying to fight him. Dark ran at Sun Immor.

"Don't you try anything." Sun Immor commanded as he outstretched his arm so it was pointed at Dark. A force of energy came off it and threw Dark into the floor.

"You've lost your powers! You can't even attempt to stop me." Sun Immor laughed. Dark thought about it. Sun Immor was right. He had lost his powers. Sun Immor's fist came crashing into Dark's face smashing it into little bits.

Dark woke with a start. His body was covered in cold sweat. He felt weak. He lay back down.

"Fuck… that was scary…" Dark said to himself. 'It was so real.' He thought to himself. He got out of bed. He then tried to pick up his bed with one hand. He couldn't do it. 'I've lost my powers… that's what the serum Light Sun injected me with, and oxidant. It forced all the molecules of my body and Adoshw to break apart and the Adoshw fuse with the oxygen. Crap. Fuck. Crapfuck!' Dark thought to himself as he left his room. He stumbled out the door. He had double vision. He stumbled through the corridor. He fell into the wall, with his hand on his head, he shut his eyes as tightly as he could. When he opened them again his vision had got worse, not just double vision but triple vision. Dark's vision continued to increase the fake worlds he was seeing because of the multiple vision. Dark fell on his back, and saw a black figure over him. His sight faded, all he saw was black. All he saw was the Shadow. All he saw was the Dark.

"Dark? Are you awake? Can you hear me? Dark? It's no use." Eliza said, worrying, and with no attempt to hide it. "What's wrong with him?"

"Well as far as we can tell… his body has lost it's powers and his mind has shut down. Not completely, but so he's in a coma. Most probably because of extreme psychological stress. He will wake up when his brain has figured out what is going on, as in how to sort out the stress." James explained to Eliza. The automatic door slid open with a hiss. Relina was standing there, looking at the ground. Her long blonde hair forming almost a curtain around her head. James noticed a tear drop fall from her face, and hit the floor.

"How is he?" Relina asked, also worrying.

"He's in a coma. And may not come out of it for a while." James explained. "I'll leave you two alone." He walked out the door. The soft beep of the heart monitor and the movement of the artificial lung machine Dark was hooked up to where the only sounds in the room. Then, without a word passing between them, Relina and Eliza sat down at either side of Dark, each taking one of his hands, and stroking them, as if to try and arouse Dark. Dark did not respond. Though is soft hands comforted both the girls, and they both felt the energy still coming off Dark even as he slept. Relina realised that Dark's body must be doing something otherwise it wouldn't be giving off the energy. She ran to a computer, and typed something in very fast –

NAME : RELINA EMIT

PASSWORD :

COMMAND : RUN DIAGNOSTIC ON ENERGY OUTPUT FOR PROJECT 'SHADOW'

The basic computer screen came up with the answer Relina hoped it might.

DIAGNOSTIC CHECK COMPLETE RESULTS –

PROJECT 'SHADOW' HAS HIGH ENERGY OUTPUT. THIS LEADS TO A CONLCUSION, AS PROJECT 'SHADOW' IS IN A COMA, THAT SUBJECT 'DARK' IS REALESING ENERGY TO SHOW THAT PROJECT 'SHADOW' IS STILL ALIVE AND IS HAVING SOME TROUBLE THAT COULD CAUSE A MENTAL BREAKDOWN

Relina entered a new command into the screen –

IF THE MENTAL BREKADOWN HAS ALREADY HAPPENED WHAT IS THE NEXT STAGE, AFTER BREAKDOWN AND IN COMA?

The screen waited for a few seconds. Then showed an answer Relina did not like. By now, Eliza had come to see what Relina was doing.

THEN PROJECT 'SHADOW' IS IN DIRE NEED OF HELP. IF THE ENERGY OUTPUT IS STILL ABOVE NORMAL, THEN IMMEDIATE ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN TO ENSURE SURVIVAL PROJECT 'SHADOW'. i.e. PROJECT 'SHADOW' SHOULD BE GIVEN 24 HOUR CARE. THOUGH, SURVIVAL IS NOT GUARENTEED.

SUVIVAL IS NOT GUARENTEED

Relina gasped, and Eliza turned away with her head in her hands.

"Survival is not guaranteed…" Relina whispered the words now flashing on the screen. Eliza was sobbing in the background.

"There must be something we can do? I mean surely there's a way he can pull through on his own. I mean this is Dark, he's unkillable… he's really strong he'll be okay won't he? I mean…" Eliza's voice trailed off back into sobs and crying. Relina put her arms around Eliza.

"It'll be okay. I'm sure Dark will be fine." Relina said. Trying to convince herself more than Eliza. A knock came on the door. "Come in." Relina said between sobs. Myra and Miranda came in.

"How's Dark?" They asked. Though the fact that Relina and Eliza were both sobbing gave them the answer they didn't want to hear. Leinad came in.

"Yeah most of the base has heard about Dark. We thought we'd try and get here first before everyone else comes to see how bad it is. I can tell by your faces he isn't in such a good way." Leinad's words were the truth, and reminded them all of something they only learnt ten minutes ago, and another wave of sobs emerged from the girls. "Come on ladies. Cheer up. Dark will pull through… I'm sure." James almost knocked the door down.

"We have to go. Now. Light Sun is attacking a town not far from here trying to draw Dark out." James called as he tried to catch his breath. "Come on we have to go now. Marcus will be leading the squad, and we need Leinad in his mech." James motioned for them to follow him as he ran down a corridor. Relina walked over to Dark. She kissed his forehead. And then his lips. Relina felt like an electric shock passed from Dark's forehead to her own. She pulled back rubbing her forehead.

"I love you. I know we had an argument and everything… but in case I die, or you do. Or you're stuck in this coma forever…" a sob escaped from Relina's lips, as did a tear from her eye. Relina managed to compose herself. "And if I never get to be in your arms or feel you lips, or feel you arms wrapped around me…" again she almost broke down. "I just want you to know… that I love you."

Chapter 13 - Past Shadows

"Got the plan? Good. Let's go people." James said to his team. It consisted of Marcus, Relina, Eliza, and Leinad in his Mech, with Paula and Liandra as tech support. They went to the front door. Armed to the teeth. They got in an A.P.C specially reinforced with Adoshw to fight against Light Sun. They began to drive, going over the plan one more time. Relina didn't listen to it at all. She only had one thing on her mind. And that was to kill Light Sun by any means necessary. They stopped to the explosions and screams of people outside the A.P.C Relina got on the M60 in the turret and fired at Light Sun. He dodged them all. And flew at the A.P.C ripping the front open. Relina jumped out the turret and fired her gun at Light Sun dodged all the bullets and threw Relina across the area into the floor.

"Crash team now!" One of Dark's nurses shouted. Dark's heart stopped. But after a few seconds it started up again. "What the hell?"

Relina got back up, and dusted herself off. She had hurt her arm but wasn't hurt bad. She felt like her heart stopped, but she was all right. She brought up her energy shield just as Light Sun punched at her, he suddenly burst into bright yellow flames and her shield shattered like glass.

Dark's chest rose to make him arc on his bed. The room started being pushed away; it's walls cracking under enormous amount of energy coming off Dark. He suddenly flew into the bed and burst into black flames. He opened his eyes. The pupils were white and the scalars were black. He disappeared.

Light Sun was just about to make contact with Relina's head, which would crush it, when out of nowhere Dark appeared and threw him away from himself and Relina.

"Dark?" Relina said in a confused voice. He turned around and Relina saw his eyes, and realised it wasn't Dark. "Shadow?" Relina said worriedly.

"Yes. You seem surprised. Dark wouldn't have been strong enough to break free of that power drain. His only choice was to power up to me. But how he did it I do not know. Now after I kill this bastard," Shadow said motioning to Light Sun, "I will take over this pathetic planet." Shadow gave a smile, which was one of Dark's warmest smiles, but now it was cold, and not like Dark at all. Shadow suddenly was not there, he simply vanished. But in his place a battered Light Sun appeared. As Shadow came in for the kill, energy started coming off Light Sun, and he burst into flames, flinging everyone around him back. He stood up, and as he did, his wounds began to heal, the blood running back into his body, and the wounds closing up. Light Sun ran at Shadow and punched him, knocking Shadow into the floor.

"Holy fu" Relina's voice was cut short as she brought up her energy shield to protect her self from a rogue energy bolt which came flying from Light Sun. "Light Sun! He'll kill you! Don't try and fight him"

"I'm not Light Sun. I am Sun Immor. The Ultimate Being." Light Sun said mockingly, just as Shadow punched him into the floor.

"Looks like you aren't. Felled by this pathetic excuse for a body." Shadow mocked his new enemy. He began to scream, and grabbed his hair. Shadow flew up into the sky, when he was about a mile up; he curled up into a ball, still pulling his hair. Suddenly Shadow just stopped. And began to fall, head first into the floor. Relina managed to catch him with her Telekinesis and brought him over to her. She got down on her knees and lay Dark down, his head resting on her lap. His eyes fluttered for a second, and he had a spasm.

"Dark? Can you hear me?" Relina asked him. A tear forming in her eye. He just had another spasm. The tear rolled down Relina's cheek. Her perception only hearing the soft beating of Dark's heart. The bullets and energy being fired not making a sound to her. The tear dropped off Relina's cheek and landed on Dark's closed eye. It ran down as if it was one of his tears. Relina looked up to see Sun Immor flying at her fist raised. He was stopped by a force-field far stronger than the one Relina could erect. She looked down at Dark. He was looking at her and smiling.

"Dark you're okay!" Relina said.

"Yeah I'm fine." He said trying to get up, as he did he winced and lay down again. "On second thoughts, maybe I'm not so hot." Relina smiled and kissed him. She hugged him.

"I thought I'd lost you…" She whispered in his ear. Dark put his arm round her. Dark smiled to himself. The shield wasn't going to hold, he knew. But this would be the best moment of his life. Relina screamed as the shield collapsed. Dark smiled to himself, but a switch was tripped in him, and his eyes went black and he burst into flames, and planted his first into Sun Immor's head, smashing him into the floor. Sun Immor seemed to lose the amount of energy coming off him. Shadow relaxed again back into Dark. As Dark turned around to look at Relina, she screamed, 'She's getting a new power' Dark thought. Suddenly Dark felt a sudden burst of energy and a searing pain in his stomach. He looked at his stomach and saw what can only be described as a yellow energy sword, not to dissimilar from a 'light sabre', protruding from his stomach, he turned his head to see Sun Immor, with the sword in his hand, and an evil smile on his face. Dark looked back over to Relina, to see her stop holding her head and screaming, but look at him, as if sensing something was wrong. She just looked at Dark, and he looked at her. Sun Immor took the sword back out of Dark, and as if in slow motion, he fell to the floor, firstly to his knees, then on his front. Sun Immor laughed and flew off. He had completed his mission. Relina ran over to Dark, with what was left of the I.D.I SWAT squad coming over to see what had happened. Leinad got out of his Mech. He went over to Dark's body, turned Dark on his back, and closed his eyes. He placed penny on each eye.

"NO! He'll be fine. You'll see… he'll be fine…" Relina managed to say between her tears. Eliza came over and hugged Relina, and rubbed her arms for comfort. Relina got down on her knees, and then lay next to Dark. She kissed him on the cheek. His body cold and unmoving. Relina rubbed his cheek as Marcus came over.

"My god… Dark isn't…" Marcus' voice trailed off… James nodded to confirm Marcus' worst fears. "My son… he only just found out… now he's dead… I never got to tell him I love him… or that I'm sorry…" for the first time James saw a tear appear in his boss's eye. Relina was still trying to provoke a reaction in Dark when their Com-Watches all beeped to life. On the screens in unison, images of Dark said –

"If you're receiving this, I'm dead. And I just wanted to tell you all that you were brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. And you know what?" There was a pause of a few seconds. "So was I." All the Com-Watches went off except Relina's "This is just to tell you that whatever I may have said or done, I love you. And that you have to promise me one thing. Have a good life. No, a fantastic life." The Com-Watch switched off. And at that instant, Relina felt a power enter her body like none she had ever felt, or ever expected to feel. She knew all the knowledge of the world, and seemed to be able to control it. She turned to Dark, her eyes becoming pure white, as she began to float up into the air, in a cross shape. The energy coming off her body, made her hair fly around, and like a strong gust of wind coming off of her. She opened her hand to it's fullest extent, and straightened her arm, pointed at Dark's body. The blood ran back into his body, and the wound healed. He began to breath. His eyes fluttered open, flicking the coins off. Relina's arm returned to form the cross.

"I am the Immortal. I control Life and Death. The Universe is mine to control. I am God." Relina said, her voice deep and booming. Dark seemed to figure out what was happening.

"You can't control Life and Death!" He shouted to her.

"But I can." Relina said, as if she was sad. "I just wanted to save my Dark." Again with a hint of sadness.

"No you can't contain this power… no one can!" Dark called to her. A ball of transparent energy started to surround Relina. "You have to let it go."

"Would you give it up?" Relina asked.

"No. I wouldn't, not by choice. But I don't intend to give you a choice." Dark said. His eyes went black from the extra energy that he started to absorb off Relina. He powered up to Shadow Immor.

"I see you are here Shadow. Good. Do as I tell you or I will destroy you." Relina said. Shadow smirked, and shook his head.

"Not if I don't allow you to." Shadow said raising his hand, as Relina had done earlier. The energy seemed to come off Relina and go into Shadow's hand.

"Ah… the power… it feels so good…" Shadow said, as he absorbed more and more. Relina returned to her normal state. Shadow's eyes returned back to Dark's.

"Dark is that you?" Relina asked. Dark nodded, and put his arms out, as if inviting a hug. Relina gladly ran into his arms. He kissed her on the lips.

"What happened?" Relina asked.

"Well, you were psychically linked to me that was the pain you felt when you kissed me while I was in a coma. Which is what brought Shadow on when you were in a life-threatening situation, bringing me out the coma. After that, to protect us from Sun Immor, I used that link to bring on a shield. Then, after Sun stabbed me, I died, but because of that link, you absorbed my energy giving you God-like powers. After you resurrected me, I allowed Shadow to come back, knowing he'd try to absorb the energy that was coming off you. This gave me the energy to force my way back into his mind. I also think that I can use Shadow's powers for limited periods of time without being Shadow. But if I use it for too long, then he will take over. But I could be wrong." Dark explained, barely stopping for a breath. Everyone just stood there, gob smacked at what had just happened, and the very off the wall explanation.

"So you're okay?" Marcus asked.

"Never felt better… well I have there was this one time when I had lots of sugar and was hyper for ages afterwards." Dark said jokingly. For someone who had just died, he seemed to extremely happy. Dark smiled so broadly it looked as if someone had pinned his face in that position. A feeling welled up inside Marcus, but he didn't know what it was. On their way back to the I.D.I headquarters, he realised it was relief. His son hadn't died. His son had somehow, unexplainably managed to survive a coma, and then being stabbed in the stomach.

"Dad?" Dark said, querying his dad's state of mind. Marcus was shaken from his thoughts.

"Yes Dark?" Marcus replied, turning round to look at his son in the back of the A.P.C. Dark looked at his feet.

"Sorry I couldn't stop Light Sun. Or Sun Immor, where he got that power from I have no idea, but I'm sorry." Dark said

"Dark. It's okay. I'm just glad you're alive. Light Sun can be dealt with another day." Marcus smiled, a warmth in his eyes that nobody had ever seen. Dark smiled back. As he sat back down he groaned.

"What?" Relina asked.

"It's a lot quicker if you fly." Dark said with a smile. Relina shook her head with a smile and looked out the window, at the world passing by.

"Chrono-kinesis?" Dark said after a few minutes. Relina looked into his eyes, she smiled and nodded. Dark lent over and kissed Relina lightly on the forehead. She closed her eyes as he did this. He then put his chin on her head. He put his arms around her and held her close. Dark's Com-Watch sprung to life.

"Dark? Are you there? What's going on? Are you okay? Dark? Speak to me! Dark? DARK!" The Com-Watch's image of Paula shouted.

"Whoa… stop and take a breath Paula." Dark said. "I'm fine, don't worry we're on our way back." Paula showed obvious signs of relief. "We'll be back in about twenty minutes," Dark told Paula, then ending the communication. He turned back to Relina.

"SHIT!" Came from James, the driver as the A.P.C veered off course and off the road. Straight into a lamppost. Dark was fine, everyone else rubbed various parts of their body.

"Smell that?" Dark asked.

"Yeah… it's the smell of pain…" Marcus replied.

"There is no talking there is only pain." James added.

"You guys are really funny sometimes… but seriously though… can you smell that?" Dark asked, James and Marcus alert now.

"Yeah I can…" James said. "It smells like… petrol." Everyone in the A.P.C shared nervous glances.

"Fuck." Dark said, speaking for everyone. "Everyone out. NOW!" Dark called. The back released and opened, everyone in the back ran out. Dark did a quick head count. They were one short. Dark looked back over at the A.P.C, in the cab, James was struggling with his belt.

"IT'S STUCK!" He shouted to Dark, a small amount of fear in his voice. Everyone was thrown to the floor as the A.P.C exploded.

Chapter 14 - Great Balls Of Fire

"Oh my god…" Relina said… staring at the now burning vehicle.

"Jesus titty fucking Christ…" Marcus said.

"What's everyone worried about?" Someone behind them said. He sounded a lot like James.

"I can still hear his voice." Marcus said as if he was cracking up.

"What's wrong?" The voice asked again.

"You're dead." Marcus said to the voice.

"No Marcus mate. I said I'd out live you and that's just what I intend to do." James said, placing his arm round Marcus' shoulders. Marcus did a double take, looking from the A.P.C, to James, and back again.

"But… you… cab… boom…" Marcus made an exploding gesture with his hands. James smiled. Over James' shoulder, Marcus saw Dark, smiling.

"He's faster than I thought." James said, beaming. Marcus embraced James, James returning the favour.

"So why'd you go off the road in the first place?" Dark asked.

"A pair of girls ran out into the road…" James explained. A very weak 'sorry' came from behind them. They all turned around, Dark instantly recognised them as Kiyone and Katie. Two girls from his school.

"Shit. This don't look good." Dark said. "Hey Kiyone… hey Katie." Dark put his left hand behind his head, his head slightly inclined to the left and forward.

"What the hell are you two doing an Armoured Personnel Carrier?" Katie demanded, giving Dark what she hoped was a stern look. "Oh and Kiyone's having trouble breathing. We thought, since you are some form of super genius that you might know what it is." Dark went over to Kiyone.

"Could you lie down please?" Kiyone did as Dark asked. "Now if you feel uncomfortable with anything I do, tell me and if you want I'll stop okay?" Kiyone nodded. Dark put his head on her chest, between her breasts, which, incidentally, was very comfortable. Her heartbeat was slightly slower than normal, he opened her eye wide, and the pupils were dilated. Dark was almost lying on top of her during this examination. While he was lying next to her, his body half on top of hers, she felt her body responding to him, and almost as if he knew it to, he shifted so without making it look like anything, made her respond even more. She looked at him in the eyes. He looked back at her. She saw a great pain, something that she had never noticed before. Almost as if he had sensed this as well, it was immediately covered up with a kindness.

"You'll be fine. You just have a slight infection. Your bodies fighting it and that's all the symptoms." Dark explained. "I would advise staying calm, and relaxing as much as possible. Okay?" Kiyone nodded, showing she understood.

"Dark… why did I see pain in your eyes?" Kiyone whispered. Dark didn't answer her. He just looked at the floor. They both stood up.

"Okay people, let's go. Back to base." Dark told them. "Katie, you and Kiyone are going to have to come too." Katie and Kiyone both followed Dark.

"Are you sure she'll be okay?" Katie asked, indicating Kiyone, who seemed more relaxed.

"Yes. She's just ingested some toxins, but it's nothing the body won't fight off." Dark said encouragingly. Katie seemed satisfied. Dark went over to Relina, and put his arm round her. He whispered something in her ear; she smiled suggestively, with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Yes okay then." Relina answered. Suddenly they were gone. And in Dark's quarters. Relina was lying on the bed, fully clothed. Dark lay down beside her. He rested his head on his hand, forming a triangle with one side of his head, and his arm. He bent in and kissed Relina, pulling her body close to hers. They continued to kiss. And without taking off their clothes, Dark rolled over onto his back, pulling Relina on top of him. She straddled over him and started moving her Pelvis back and forward, periodically kissing him and saying 'I Love You'. Dark smiled. He had never been happier. Relina started moving faster. Relina started moaning quietly, and then almost stopped, her breathing was heavy as if she'd been doing lots of running. Dark rolled over, so he was lying on top of her, and she wrapped her legs round his waste, as he started thrusting. Then after a while he stopped, also breathing heavily. He laid his head on Relina's chest, between her ample breasts. She began playing with his hair.

"What am I going to do with you huh?" Relina asked playfully.

"I dunno…" Dark answered.

"Come here." She moved out from underneath Dark, and moved so she was lying next to him. She kissed him. He kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"I Love you Dark Shadow." Relina whispered to Dark, moving closer to him, and looking into his eyes. Dark looked into Relina's eyes.

"And I couldn't live with out you." Dark said. Then kissing Relina squarely on the nose. He put his hand on her hip, and had his other arm underneath his head. Relina had her hands in a praying position, but under her head. Both of her knees were bent, while Dark's legs were straight. He kissed her on the nose again.

"That's not fair!" Relina said.

"Oh? And why not?" Dark asked.

"Because it's not!" Relina joked, trying to kiss dark on the nose, who deftly dodged.

"Aww… no fair!" Relina exclaimed, again jokingly. Dark kissed her on the nose again. She just lay stunned, with her mouth open, and her eyes looking up.

"Dammit." Relina said. Crossing her arms in front of her. "That's it no more kisses for you." Relina said.

"Like you're going to stop me." Dark said, quickly kissing her on the nose. Relina put her hand underneath his chin and kissed him on the lips. He pulled her closer, so there bodies were touching. He continued to kiss her. She wanted him so badly in that moment. As if sensing this, he pulled her in closer. Then stopped kissing her as her hands found their way to his belt buckle. As she began undoing it,

"No…" Dark whispered weakly… as if he wanted her to do it, but couldn't let her. "Don't…" Relina nodded, realising what it could do. Dark sat up. Relina sat in front of him. His legs crossed. So she sat on his lap, and began kissing him. Dark straightened his legs. And pulled her closer. Relina wrapped her legs round Dark's waist again.

Kiyone was in her room. She was snuggled in her bed trying to get some sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about Dark. Every time she closed her eyes, she kept flashing back to when he was trying to figure out what was wrong with her, when he was lying on her. Making him feel those things. Things she'd never felt before, and didn't want to feel with anyone else, ever. She rolled onto her side, her green hair, which was a blue green. She looked into the mirror on the other side of her room. In it she saw an average girl. Pretty good-looking who looked happy. But the divorce of her parents had left her upset and distraught. But Dark somehow had managed to fill that gap even in the few seconds that he was next to her, she felt good. The rain was hitting the window behind her hard. She had left the blinds open so she could see the moon. Kiyone had loved the moon for as long as she could remember. It was like something that was constant. It was one of the few things that hadn't changed in her entire life. She loved it for that. The only problem was, with her dad being an Officer in the Army, she was constantly moving around, but with any luck she was staying her for a long time. And that was good, because here, every night, she could look up at the sky and see the moon. For a minute she think something passed her window, but brushed it off. 'What do I want from life? A nice boyfriend? A good job? Dark?' Kiyone thought to herself. 'First two would be nice. But do I need them? No. Do I need Dark? I don't know. Maybe… if I try and see what it would be like to be with him, find out if it's what I want… then maybe I could keep him. But how to do it…'

'This mattress is bloody uncomfortable.'

"Mum! Dad! I need a new mattress some time! Soon preferably." Eliza called out to her parents. 'God. Parents are annoying. I've been asking for a new mattress for ages. I can't coax Dark onto this old thing.' Eliza smiled to herself. She wanted Dark. He was so cute. She wanted to be with him… but her parents probably wouldn't approve. They were rich. Her dad owned his own company, which was just a chain of shops that sold all sorts of things, from music to computer games. It was big in America, where both her parents came from, but they had come over to England to launch the shops in England, and they liked it so much they stayed. Eliza's mum was a socialite; she always threw parties and stuff. The worst thing was Eliza had to go along and play the perfect little daughter when she was far from it. Although Eliza's parents showered her in gifts because they were rarely around, she was very rebellious. And she'd had more than her fair share of boys wanting to be with her. Since she had the pick of the bunch, she wanted the one that didn't want her. Eliza's parents were going over to America for a business deal, and they were leaving Eliza behind. But, on the plus side she had a near infinite amount of money to spend, and could do anything she wanted as long as the house was the same when the got back as when Eliza's parents left. She intended do have a party and invite all her friends from the I.D.I.

"Eliza? Have you brushed your teeth?" Her mum called from the lounge. 'Crap forgot' Eliza thought to herself. She got out of bed, her pyjamas were tight. This was a different set to what she wore that time she was intending to stay over at Relina's. The bottoms were tight. pink shorts that only half way down her thigh, with the top that had no sleeves, and only very thin straps going over her shoulders, it was a matching pink, and left her mid drift visible. Eliza walked across the cold floor, thinking something was wrong, brushing off the feeling she went into her en-suite bathroom and started brushing her teeth. As she did, some movement caught her eye, something just outside the window. Eliza opened the window.

"Hello?" She called out. "Hello is anyone there?" after about a minute, she closed the window, spat out the foam that was collecting in her mouth from brushing her teeth. She looked in the mirror above the Sink. As she did,

"Boo." Eliza jumped as someone tickled her sides. Dark was right behind her, a big grin across his face.

"That wasn't very nice." Eliza said, pursing her lips and breathing out, with her eyes very slightly closed. "So what are you doing here?" Eliza asked.

"I dunno. I was kinda lonely actually." Dark said, another smile spreading across his face, this one rather more suggestive. Eliza put her arms round his neck. She was about an inch shorter than Dark. As she put her arms round Dark's neck, he put his hands on her hips, and pulled her close. He kissed Eliza lightly on the forehead. A smash came from the lounge.

"What the fuck?" Came a shout, again from the lounge. Two gunshots, just as Dark and Eliza entered. The gunman pointed his gun, fired several rounds at Dark. Dark let the bullets hit him, all of them hitting him in the face, but on impact just turning to discs of metal and falling to the floor. Eliza ran over to her parents who were lying on the floor, each with a small hole, approximately nine millimetres in diameter., in the middle their foreheads.

"You bastard!" shouted Eliza, tears streaming down her face. The assailant fired several rounds at Eliza, as she ran at him, her fist raised in an attack. Suddenly, she was against a wall with Dark on top of her, his arms against the wall, over her shoulders.

"We really should stop meeting like this." Dark said, smiling. He turned round, his body still between the gunman and Eliza. The bullets just bouncing off or falling in front of Dark. Dark began walking towards the gunman. When Dark was within range, he sprung his hand up, grabbed the barrel of the MP5, and pointed it up into the air. Dark then swiped with his foot, knocking the assailant onto the floor. As the gunman tried to get up, Dark punched him in the face, and knocked him out.

"Come on. We have to go." Dark said, seriousness in his voice that was infallible. Dark grabbed the man and disappeared, then re-appeared. "You aren't safe here. He wasn't sent to kill just your parents."

"How do you know?" Eliza asked, fear in her voice.

"Because he's trying to get to me, so he's hired people to kill people who I care about, and their families so that there is no complications. You are going to have to stay at the I.D.I headquarters from now on." Dark explained.

"Is it easy to get into someone else's room?" Eliza asked

"Why?" Dark asked, one eyebrow higher than the other.

"Because I lost my teddy bear… will you sleep with me tonight?" Eliza asked seductively. Dark lent in to kiss Eliza, Eliza closed her eyes, ready for the kiss which never came. She felt a quick gust of wind, when it stopped, mere seconds before it started, she opened her eyes. She was in an I.D.I room, with her stuff in bags. She hung her head and got into her bed.

"I will get you Dark. I will. One day." Eliza said to herself.

A scream came from Kiyone's bedroom. Dark knocked down the front door.

"Who the hell are you?" A man demanded.

"The only one who can save your daughter!" Dark said running straight into Kiyone's door, just as the assassin fired a round at Kiyone's head. Dark grabbed the bullet and threw the assassin through a wall. The assassin got up and grabbed Kiyone's father.

"Move and he dies." The assassin said.

"Get Kiyone out of here. You're fast enough. I'll deal with this punk." Kiyone's father said. Kiyone's father elbowed the assassin in the stomach, punched him in the head. Kiyone's father than grabbed the gun and shot the assassin in the head, as he brought the gun down, a bullet ripped through the air, Dark tried to grab it, but missed. It caught Kiyone's father squarely in the neck.

"DADDY!" Kiyone screamed.

"Fuck, Come here." Dark shouted over the gunfire. He grabbed her and brought her into a hug. Kiyone closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was in one of the I.D.I's many sleeping quarters. Dark wasn't with her, and she began to cry.

A smash came from the living room. Katie's window opened, and Dark climbed in.

"Can't you use the front door?" Katie whispered. "And what was that smash?"

"No I can't use the front door this way's more fun." Dark went to open the door, it was locked. "I don't have time for this!" Dark said, smashing down the door. He ran into the room, a gunman about to shoot Katie's mum. Dark was on top of the assailant as soon as the door opened. The assailant was already pummelled when they heard a gunshot from another room. Dark ran into the room, only to see a man who Dark could only guess was Katie's father, lying on the floor, with a bullet in the head. He took the gun from the gunman, tears welling in his eyes, and broke the gunman's neck. Another bullet, Dark ran out into the living room again, at full speed only to see a bullet heading towards Katie's head in slow motion. He flung himself in the way, the bullet catching his hip closest to the floor, and deflecting the bullet into Katie's foot. Dark pulled the trigger on the gun he'd taken from the other assailant, hitting this assassin in the chest. The assassin's arms flung out and his gun fired several times, hitting Katie's mother in at least two deadly spots. And with that Katie found herself in one of the I.D.I's many sleeping quarters with a note saying 'Sleep for now, you'll be checked on in the morning', it was signed by Dark.

Paula woke with a start. Something wasn't right. She was facing the wall. She turned over to see someone sitting in her swivel chair. She couldn't see his face.

"Who the fuck are you?" Paula asked.

"It's me." Said a familiar cocky voice.

"Oh Dark, you scared me for a minute there. What are you doing here?" Paula asked. He said nothing. He just pulled out a 9mm pistol and aimed at Paula's head.

"What? No! What are you doing?" The window behind her shattered and he got flung across the room and through a wall. Dark was standing in his place.

"Who the hell's that?" Paula asked.

"Light Sun. Time to go." Dark said, walking over to Paula. He brought her into a hug. Two gunshots were heard somewhere else in the house. "Weren't your parents supposed to be on holiday?" Dark asked. Paula nodded.

"Supposed to be." Paula said.

"Why aren't they?" Dark asked.

"Because they didn't want to leave me after I just suddenly disappeared. They think something happened to me." Paula explained.

"Oh… crap. Well still it's time to go." And in an instant they were back at I.D.I headquarters.

"Dark… don't leave me… not tonight. I'm scared." Paula said miserably, her arm outstretched.

"Well... I guess everyone is safe." Dark said. Smiling. "Sure I'll stay with you." Paula got into her single bed, facing away from the rest of the room. Dark sat down in a chair. After about a minute, Paula turned onto her back so she was facing Dark and the rest of the room.

"Come here." Paula said, almost ordering Dark, as she moved closer to the wall, and patted the part of the bed she wanted Dark to lie in.

"No, I don't think I should." Dark said.

"Well if you don't want to… you can sit there I still feel safe I guess." Paula said. Dark sighed, one arm across his chest, and rubbed his fore finger and thumb across his closed eyes towards his nose, he then squeezed his nose for an eighth of a second. Dark smiled, and suddenly his clothes changed, he stood there in his boxer shorts for a couple of seconds. He climbed into bed with Paula; he put his left arm over her waist. His head was right behind hers, although she was facing away from him. Paula turned over so she was facing Dark, his arm now underneath her. She moved in closer to Dark, running her hands up and down his chest. Paula mover her head closer to Dark's and kissed him lightly on the lips. He pulled her in closer and kissed her passionately on the lips. His embrace was strong and calming, powerful and caring. Paula was holding him tightly willing him to never let go, her arms comforted him. He brought his face back. Paula smiled and kissed Dark again.

"I think I love you…" Paula said pulling out of the kiss, their bodies still pressed together. Dark was stunned. He had kind of expected it… but at the same time it caught him completely by surprise.

"Well I must admit that isn't a new one…" Dark said nervously. Paula looked at him quizzically. "Loads of girls 'love me'." Dark explained. "Though I don't know how many actually mean it. But I have a feeling you do." Paula smiled at the compliment. He pulled her close. They began to kiss deeply, Paula forced her pelvis into Darks, and he made the same movements, slightly out of time, to heighten Dark's pleasure. After a few minutes, Dark was done. His hands found their way down to Paula's stomach, where her underwear stopped. And with a sharp intake of breath on Paula's part, he reached down. Past Paula's pubic hair, and began making her feel good. He kissed her on the neck, continually. As if to heighten Paula's pleasure. A breathed 'Oh my god' managed to escape Paula's lips as she reached climax.

A couple of hours later a once proud tiger was nursing his wounds.

"Sir? All the parents are dead, but this kid turned up and saved the other brats." One of the Mercenaries said.

"You're saying you didn't kill the children who were your primary targets?" Light Sun demanded. The mercenary was in the S.A.S, but has never been so scared as he was now. They were working for this guy cheaper because when they had showed him the money they wanted, he'd picked up the former leader and snapped him in two, then crunched him into a ball and played basket ball for a little while. And the fact that he could do this at any time scared the leader more than anything else.

"Hmm…. This make work to my advantage…" Light Sun said. He went back to being reserved again as if thinking of something… the Mercenary leader left, thinking it would be best.

Paula woke up. She rolled over, to find Dark gone. She smiled. He must be off saving the world, as usual. Dark was like that, he'd make you love him so much you never wanted him to leave, and when he did, you were upset because he was gone, but happy because you know it could have only been for good reason. Again Paula smiled, this time inwardly. She looked at the clock on her bedside table. It read 2:36 AM. Why would Dark have left that early in the morning? Paula can only have assumed it was saving the world… nothing else would get Dark out of his sleep. Paula went back to sleep.

Dark had left her room at about 1 AM, after watching Paula fall asleep. He'd watched her sleep for half an hour to an hour. She was so cute. She had her hands in a praying position, but under her head. Her breathing was shallow, and relaxed. Her eyes were closed and her brown hair was flowing. Every now and again Dark had to run his hand down the side of her face, just to make sure she's real. He didn't fall asleep, but after he left, he went to his room. Relina was waiting in there.

"Hey you." She said to him, exceptionally seductively.

"Hello." Dark replied, equally seductively.

"And where have you been?" Relina questioned.

"Saving the world." Dark answered, a huge smile spreading across his face with a glint in his eyes.

"How would my big strong boy like some TLC?" Relina asked, taking off her top.

"I wouldn't mind." Dark said, getting into bed. Relina got in behind him, taking off her skirt. "No sex, mind." Dark said suddenly. "I don't think I'm ready for it… don't forget I'm a pretty fucked up kid, emotionally speaking. I really doubt it would be healthy."

"Yeah I guess you're right. I guess we'll just lie here then." Relina said. Dark turned over to look at Relina.

"I love you, y'know that don't you?" Dark said. Relina nodded.

"And I never get tired of hearing you say it." Dark smiled at Relina's response. He kissed her. Her hands ran themselves up and down his chest, tickling him slightly. Dark pulled Relina closer, their bodies now pressed together. Dark tickled Relina on the stomach, and her stomach pulled in, as she drew in air fast. Dark smiled. He kissed her lightly on the forehead. And she began kissing him on the neck. She pulled him closer, and she kissed him on the neck, then as she brought her lips off, he used his hand to bring her face to look at his and kissed her. He ran his hands up her side, she almost giggled, but managed to hold herself long enough for Dark to start kissing her neck. He ran his hand up her stomach again, making her breathe in sharply, and her stomach pull in. He ran his hands over her stomach, just where her underwear began, another sharp intake of breath. Dark's hands went into her underwear, past her pubic hair. A low moan escaped her lips. Dark began making her feel better than ever. He was still kissing her neck, and Relina moaned again. Her breathing became heavier, but Dark didn't stop. After five minutes, Relina was finished, Dark brought his hand back out. Relina just lay there for a few seconds trying to collect herself while Dark pulled her closer. A very weak and quiet 'thank you' escaped Relina's lips. She kissed him with more passion than she ever thought she was capable of. Dark just smiled. She ran her hands down his chest, but as her hands made their way to his boxer shorts he stopped her, shaking his head slightly. Relina nodded in acknowledgement, not bothering to hide her disappointment. She heard Dark in her head. 'I know you love me and want me to feel like that… but like I said I'm emotionally very fucked up… probably not a good idea' Dark said, directly into Relina's brain. Relina knew he was right. Dark was one screwed up kid. At least her 'dad' had actually been there.

"When?" Relina asked, both of them knowing what she was referring too.

"I don't know. I actually don't know." Dark whispered. Relina kissed him.

"You frigid bastard." Relina whispered playfully, a huge smile spreading across her face. Dark turned over, Relina put her arms under his arms, and around his chest. Dark put one of his moderately muscular arms under his head, as Relina go in as close as she could. Dark allowed a small smile to appear on his face. He looked into the window in front of him. Dark soon felt Relina's grip loosen, and her breathing become more relaxed. He turned over to see her sleeping. He just lay there, and watched her. She was so cute. Almost as cute as a baby Panda bear.

It was morning. The light came in through the window, almost as if it was directed at Dark's face.

"Oh me god!" Dark whispered in a Scottish accent. "That's effin' bright that is." Continuing the accent. Relina lay next to him. Dark smiled, remembering ALL the events of the night before. Relina's eyes, clenched tightly, and then opened slowly, and in a fluttering motion.

"Good morning beautiful." Dark said softly, coaxing Relina out of her sleep. Only a grunt came from her. "Goddamn teenagers." Dark said jokingly, and smiling. He turned back over, and felt Relina's arms wrap round his chest, as they were last night, but this time her head lay on top of his. She kissed him on the cheek. Then on the neck.

"Morning handsome." Relina replied to Dark's earlier comment. "Don't forget you're a teenager too." A smile spread across Relina's face.

"Yeah, but I'm a genius teenager." Dark said, stressing the word genius, another smile appearing across his face.

"Yeah well genius, last night was great." Relina kissed Dark. "I love you. You really know how to make a girl feel good." Dark smiled at the compliment. He lent in and kissed her.

"Well I better get ready for work." Dark said.

"You don't have work. Remember?" Relina said.

"I'm supposed to be working at the 'Kiss This' coffee shop… but I haven't gone in for the last couple of days, OR called them up to tell them why, and Eliza hasn't been going in… they're going to be pretty pissed." Dark explained.

"Meh. Let them be. Stay here with me today. I want to spend the day with you." Relina countered.

"Yeah, no point in going into 'work'. I have everything I need right here." Dark thought out loud.

"Good, now come here." Relina said, kissing him.

"But either way I'm going to need to get dressed." Dark said, just as the door opened to reveal Leinad.

"My GOD! Bad mental images!" Leinad said jokingly, covering his eyes. "You two didn't…" Leinad's voice trailed off. Dark shook his head.

"Not yet mate." Dark said.

"Goooood. Because I wanted to be the first to get laid." Leinad said, using his hands as mock pistols and shooting Dark, making a very poor mock 'bang' sound. It sounded more like peeewwww, with the 'W's being whispered. Dark laughed.

"Not going to happen dude. Anyway what do you want?" Dark asked.

"Oh I was wondering if you wanted to play a LAN game with me, Liandra and anyone else. I managed to convince the tech guys to lend us their computer room." A smile spread across Leinad's face as he said this.

"Erm… I dunno… Relina? Do you wanna play?" Dark asked Relina. Relina shrugged. "What game are you thinking of playing?"

"We dunno, nor do we care." Leinad said.

"Meh. I can't be bothered. I use that word too much." Dark said. Leinad smiled.

"You old dog." Leinad said as he left. Dark just smiled. They were still in bed.

"What does he mean?" Relina asked.

"Hell if I know. I think it's a saying from like thirty years ago meaning you are quick to get a girl into bed." Dark replied.

"Oh well he's charming isn't he?" Relina asked rhetorically.

"Leinad's like that. He's only joking. He's a great guy." Dark answered.

"How do you know?" Relina asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Because he plays himself in 'Mutator©' The TV show. He's not changed or anything. The others all play themselves. The only thing that's actually written down is what happens in the overall thing. The Battles are all done as normal, i.e. he actually Battles with his deck, and nothing is fixed." Dark explained.

"Wow… really… that's good to know, that's actually pretty cool… I had a crush on him once." Relina said.

"Really? That's good to know." Dark said mocking Relina. Relina slapped him on the arm. Then grasped her hand.

"Oww…" Relina called out.

"You would have thought you would have learnt last time." Dark said jokingly. "Aww… come here." Dark said pulling her into a hug. Relina relaxed. Her hand didn't hurt. She lent her head against Dark's chest. She didn't want this to end. And, as if sensing this he hugger her tighter, making her want it to last even longer than forever. He then released her.

"Aww…." Relina said jokingly. He brought Relina in close. He looked into her eyes, and her into his. Dark broke gaze first. He looked away, down towards their feet.

"What's wrong?" Relina asked, using her hand to guide his face back to looking at her. Dark thought for a moment about lying to her, then realised she'd know.

"I just… I'm not strong enough…" Dark explained, obviously finding it difficult to find the correct words.

"For what baby?" Relina asked. "What aren't you strong enough for?"

"I'm not strong enough to lose you. I couldn't stand that. I know if that happened, even for a second, that I thought I was going to lose you, Shadow Immor would take over and rip apart absolutely everything. And that would be VERY bad for everyone." Dark explained. Relina nodded, realising that he was right, as usual.

"Luckily I don't intend to leave you anytime soon." Relina said, kissing Dark.

"Good." Dark answered. Kissing Relina again. Dark got out of bed. He began to get dressed, Relina got out, shivering slightly because of the cold. Dark walked over to her, with only jeans and a belt in place. He wrapped his arms around her. She kissed him lightly. He kissed her back, with more passion, and as he did, he started to float into the air, holding Relina tightly so as to bring her up too. As they floated around, Dark stopped so they were floating right in the middle of the room, halfway between the ceiling and the floor. He kissed her. She didn't want this to end. She wanted to hold him there forever. She wrapped her arms round Dark's neck as they kissed, as if to hold his head there. He then slowly floated back down to the floor. Dark stopped kissing. He reached for a top, while Relina crossed her arms, puffed out her chest and pouted playfully. Dark thought about his options, he could spend the rest of the day with Relina, or he could go out into the world and do something. Though what he had no idea. Relina seemed to sense this and walked over to Dark, put her hands on his bum, and pulled him in close. Her eyes had a seductive quality Dark hadn't seen there before. And in Dark's eyes was a weakness no one had ever seen before. He seemed to be breakable, almost like if you could just pick him up, you could snap him in half. He looked so frail. So, weak. So, breakable. It was almost saddening. Relina saw something flash into his eyes she'd see only twice before, and it scared her.

It was no more than an hour or two later, but everyone was sitting in the lounge room. Paula and Relina were sitting next to Dark on one sofa, with Eliza sitting opposite them, with Liandra and Leinad sitting on another sofa between Eliza's seat and Dark's sofa. Dark had his arms outstretched behind the girls. Myra and Miranda were busy getting the drinks for them. They were talking about how Leinad had come to own the Mutator Corparation.

"Well… it was weird, after my parents died in a freak accident, I found out they owned it… you see I never knew that I thought my dad was a moderately successful businessman, and that my mother was a socialite. We lived in a moderately small house, didn't have a super extravagant lifestyle, and we were happy. But after they died when I was only 6. It sucked. But I got the best care money could buy, still had to live with little money, though my name was put on everything, I had very little say in how the company was run, until about a year ago. When I got all the power. And that's about it." Leinad explained to them, stopping every now and then to make sure everyone understood. Dark's Com-Watch beeped. He talked into it.

"Yo. Talk to me." Dark said quickly.

"Dark? Where are you?" It was Kiyone.

"I'm in the Canteen. Get Katie and come and talk." Dark said Kiyone's image nodded in answer, then disappeared. Myra and Miranda came back with the drinks. Handing everyone a can of coke, except Dark who ordered a cup of Tea.

"Why do you drink tea?" Liandra asked Dark.

"Because it tastes good, and it the Drink Of The British as it were." Dark explained, taking a sip of his hot black, sugarless tea. "So I drink it as part of my British heritage. Or something like that." Dark let a smile appear on his face as he took another sip. Relina offered him a sip of coke. Dark took it knowing full well that this was some sort of test, or a genuine can of coke specially made so Dark could drink it. Dark took a sip. It tasted the same as normal coke.

"Thanks. Nice move, taking out the acid." Dark said.

"What ever do you mean?" Relina said pretending to be innocent. They all laughed except Dark who just smiled.

"You took the acid out. Or neutralised it or something." Dark explained.

"No we didn't." Relina insisted.

"Yes you did, because otherwise I'd already be dead." Dark said smiling. Relina grabbed her head. It hurt like hell, she began to scream. Dark cuddled her.

"It'll be okay. Don't worry." Relina was still screaming everyone in the room looked up, then went back to what they were doing except the group of friends, the all looked on in horror. After a couple of minutes Relina stopped, started floating, blue light coming off her. She was conscious

"Eurgh. That stung." Relina said. Her eyes suddenly turned completely blue, and began to glow. She stared straight ahead; Dark waved his hand in front of her face.

"Yo? Relina?" Dark asked. She still stared. After about ten seconds, Dark got smashed into the floor, and a dart flew over his head. He got lifted up into the air, and Darts kept flying past him, missing him by mere inches. Relina's hair began to get blown as if by an invisible and untouchable wind. Dark kept flying round the room, then stopped, and fell to the ground. Relina came out of her trance at the same time.

"Ow… thanks though." Dark said to Relina. Everyone looked at Dark as if puzzled.

"Chronopathy. Or Seeing into the Future." Dark explained. "So she used her Telekinesis to make sure the darts missed me. Thanks." Dark kissed Relina. She smiled.

"No problem." She answered, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth while she was smiling. Dark smiled too.

"How come you guys have powers and we don't?" Eliza asked.

"Because we got lumped with the job of saving the world." Dark said, smiling even wider than before. Someone ran up to Dark and hit him round the head with a baseball bat, Dark didn't move, and the baseball bat snapped.

"Ahh… Pise. That's not very nice now is it?" Dark asked.

"What? You should be on the floor clenching your head!" Pise exclaimed.

"Well I'm not. I'm a lot tougher than that." Dark explained. "I've got loads of cool powers, and baseball bats can't hurt me." Relina's eyes began to glow blue again.

"Look out. To your left." Dark grabbed the knife coming in at Dark's left hip.

"Behind you." Relina warned again, Dark grabbed the baseball bat being swung at the back of Dark's head. Dark flung them off, with just a blast of energy. They hit walls around them.

"So how did you get in?" Dark asked, looking at Pise, evil in his eyes.

"We came in asking for you, said we were your friends… ungh… we had to sign the Official Secrets Act… then they told us where you were…" Pise was weak. Dark had released more energy than he had wanted to.

"Well now you have to help us. I needed some more people for my team." Dark explained. "So now you work for me."

"Whoa… what happened to them?" A voice asked. They all turned around to see a chocolate brown 16 year old. He had longish black hair and dark brown eyes behind glasses. He was wearing a shirt and jeans, with a small bag on his back.

"And you are?" Dark asked.

"Sahil. Sahil Mannick. I'm here about a tech job, and they said to find Dark Shadow." The Boy said to them.

"Okay… now why should we hire you?" Dark asked.

"Because I would be a valuable asset. Plus I'm one of the fastest typers ever, and I've played so many RTS's I can co-ordinate attacks well… erm… that's all I can think of for now." Sahil answered, his voice slightly Indian sounding.

"Okay will give you a trial run. Oh and I happened to them." Dark said indicating the people who he'd flung off him.

"So I take it you're Dark Shadow?" Sahil answered. Dark nodded in response.

"Yeah. This is Relina, Eliza, Liandra, Leinad, the Head of Mutator Corporation, That's Pise, Sidi and Depia. That's Paula, Myra and Miranda." Dark said, indicating the relevant people.

"Cool…" Sahil said.

"I'll take you to your quarters." Dark said, indicating the door, "After you." Sahil went outside, and began to follow Dark.

"So… tell me about yourself." Dark said.

"Well… I'm 16, I'm Hindu, and come from Mauritius. I know French and English pretty much fluently, and am pretty intelligent." Sahil said, adding a laugh on the end. They came to one of the rooms.

"Cool. Well here we are. This is your home for however long you work for us." Dark explained. Sahil went inside.

"It will only open for you, or if you tell it to open. But make yourself at home." Dark told Sahil, Dark smiled. "You have a pretty good comp in there too… so you can load the latest games on there if you like. Every now and again we have a team wide game of something." Dark explained. Dark smiled again. "Well… I'll catch you later, oh and before I forget… on the Table, A Com-Watch, a watch allowing to communicate with anyone else who has one with a simple voice command."

"Thanks. Well I talk to you later." Sahil said. Dark left. On his way back he bumped into Paula.

"Hello you." Paula said seductively. She walked right up to him and threw her arms round Dark's neck. She kissed him lightly on the lips. He smiled. But then was gone.

"Hmpf." Paula said. Kind of disappointed that he'd gone. She felt someone's lips press into her cheek, if only for an instant. She smiled. It could only have been Dark.

Dark sat there, bleeding badly in the middle of the fiery building. He had a black eye, was bleeding from a cut above his eye, and from the side of his mouth. One of his arms was broken and the shoulder for the other arm was dislocated. Both his legs were broken, and so were most of his ribs. He could barely breath.

"Run…" Dark managed to Relina. He was using the last of his strength just to say that to her. To get her to leave him behind. She couldn't do it… it was Dark. He was so powerful, but he was dying… she didn't know what was doing it to him, but she wanted to kill it. She wanted to destroy it. She hated it. Relina ran over to Dark's quickly weakening body.

"Come on Dark. You'll be okay." Relina cried.

"No… I'm dead… you can't heal me; you have to run… ungh… save yourself. I'm already dead. But, if you like you can give me a hug." Dark managed to cough out. Relina hugged him, closing her eyes, remembering every moment they had ever spent together. The tears still flowing, she felt Dark use everything had to swap places with her, and knew what was happening. The thing that had beaten Dark was back to kill her and him. And Dark had just thrown himself in the way of it. Relina opened her eyes as Dark was pulled out of her grasp.

"No!" Relina screamed, everything moving in slow motion. Dark's legs and arms were pointing at her, both outstretched. He was smiling. Even through all his wounds, everything, he was dieing fast, and he still managed to find the strength to save her.

"Dark! No!" Relina screamed, crying. Dark mouthed I love you, as he was smashed into the floor by the creature. It was a black humanoid, it looked a lot like Light Sun, only bigger, more muscular, pitch black, and had glowing red eyes. He grabbed Dark by the ankle and flung him around like a rag doll. Relina tried to use her powers to protect Dark, but every time she tried, her powers were either absorbed or shattered by the creature. She was weak. Dark was still being thrown about like a rag doll. He was so frail, but still using everything he had to keep the creature's attention on himself. Eventually Relina ran away. She couldn't bare to see Dark like this. 'I love you. Never forget that. You have to promise me that you will have a good life, no a Fantastic life. Have a Fantastic Life Relina. Oh and before I go, I just wanted to tell you… you were bloody fantastic. Absolutely Fantastic. And you know what?' A few seconds pause from Dark's voice in her head. 'So was I'.

Relina woke with a start so scared that something had happened, she was in a cold sweat. She hopped out of bed and ran out her room. She didn't bother to check the time. She ran down the hall to Dark's room. She knocked on the door… when no answer came she became very worried.

"Door… open." Relina commanded. The door made the normal beeping sound saying that access was denied.

"Door… override command pattern Omega, Relina Emit, Emergency Protocol 2." Relina said, the door slid open as it was programmed to. The figure in the bed turned over. And looked at Relina.

"Something wrong?" Dark asked.

"No… well yes." Relina answered

"It's that dream huh?" Dark asked. Relina simple nodded in response. He was already hugging her. "It's okay I'm not dead, or dying, obviously. So it's okay." Dark said comfortingly. His grip tightened as if to reassure her that he was, in fact, real. She smiled, closed her eyes and rested her head on Dark's chest. She felt the soft beating of his heart. It was almost in time with hers, which was pounding furiously. It almost hurt. Dark began to make them float up, her feet leaving the floor. She pulled them back down with her Telekinesis. Dark knew what she was thinking, and not just because of their psychic link. Dark smiled. He swung her round, and laid her on the bed. He laid on top of her. He kissed her, and pulled the covers over them. Under the covers, there was plenty of movement, but nothing came out from underneath it. Every now and then a giggle escaped from under the cover, sometimes from Dark, sometimes for Relina.

"I was so scared we were never going to get to do this again." Relina said, Dark kissing her softly on the neck and chest.

"Well we are doing it again. So you're alright." Dark said, a huge smile on his face. He continued to kiss her. And his hands ran down into her underwear again. After a few minutes, Relina closed her eyes, and a light whispered 'Oh my god' managed to escape her lips. Dark had done his job. He stopped and lay there on top of Relina looking into her perfect eyes. He smiled. Then kissed her on the nose.

"Oh me god." Relina said with a very poor Scottish accent. "No fair!" She called out grabbing a pillow and hitting Dark with it. Dark looked horrified and shocked, but his eyes and mind said different. He picked Relina up, dropped her on top of the cover, and wrapped her up in it.

"Hey! This isn't allowed by the rules!" Relina called, it muffled by the cover.

"All is fair in love, war and Mutator!" Dark called back. He lifted her up and laughed. He put her back down again. And stuck his tongue out to the side of his mouth, with a smile on his face. He was lying on the ceiling and Relina couldn't get him with her pillow. Dark started floating down. A look of alarm on his face, as he realised Relina was using her powers to bring him down to hitting level.

"Oh shi!" Dark was cut off as Relina hit him in the face with a pillow. Relina giggled and Dark just floated in the middle of the room letting Relina hit him.

"You done yet?" Dark asked.

"Nope." Relina smiled childishly. He felt his boxer shorts go down.

"Whoa what did we agree?" Dark asked.

"Yeah but now I've got you I can do anything I want to you!" Relina exclaimed coming back over to Dark's head and kissing him. She ran her fingers down his chest and pelvis as she walked underneath him. She stopped when she got to his genitals. She began rubbing.

Paula awoke with a start. The sun was coming through the window. She smiled as memories of Dark came flooding back. She loved him, or at least she thought she did. She got out of bed got dressed and went in search of Dark. She passed loads of people, but none of them were him. 'She'll be in his room' Paula thought. Dark was always in his room. She began jogging to Dark's room. She knocked on Dark's door.

"Who is it?" Came Dark's groggy voice.

"Me. Paula." Paula called back in.

"Sure come in." Dark said, the door slid open, and Dark lay there in bed, face down in his pillow. "Yo. What do you want?"

"I just thought we could go out and get some drinks." Paula said.

"Meh. Sure. Just let me get some clothes on." Dark said. And he was suddenly standing in front of Paula, fully dressed and ready to go. Dark went to the door, it slid open, and he motioned for Paula to go through. She went through first and on her way through Dark looked at her bum. On their way out they passed Leinad.

"Yo! Dan! You wanna come for some drinks with us?" Dark asked

"Sure. Gimme a sec I'll meet you out front." Leinad ran off. Dark and Paula passed Liandra.

"Lio wanna come out for drinks with us?" Dark asked. Liandra nodded.

"Sure… I was just looking for Leinad… do you guys know where he is?" Liandra asked.

"Use your Com-Watch." Dark pointed out. Liandra carried on in the opposite direction to them, talking into her Com-Watch. Dark shrugged as they headed out of reception and towards the door. Relina popped up behind them.

"Hello." Relina said, startling Paula. "Where you going?"

"Out for drinks… wanna come?" Paula asked.

"Sure… let's invite everyone." Relina offered. Paula looked slightly in dismay. She could perhaps handle trying to win Dark over, if Relina was her only competition. But with Myra, Miranda, Eliza AND Relina to fend off… it wasn't going to be so easy. Relina talked into her Com-Watch, and then they went outside. Leinad was there with Liandra in the Passenger seat of a Mutation 3000, a car made by the Mutator Corparation, only ten were ever made, five were in circulation, the other five Leinad owned. Leinad threw Dark some keys.

"Take the other one. It's just round the corner." Leinad called to him. Dark and Paula walked round the corner. There it was, a beautiful black sports car, with two front seats, and specially designed back seats. Relina got in the Passenger seat, Dark in the drivers. Paula got in the back. Dark adjusted the mirror, and began to drive. He glanced in the mirror to see Paula smiling at him. Dark didn't react. He just drove, constantly getting faster.

"So where do you want to go?" Leinad said over the Com-Watch.

"There's this great bar round the corner. Follow me if you can." Dark said a playful smile spreading across his face. He accelerated. Leinad was keeping up easily.

"That all you got?" Leinad asked mockingly. Dark put even more power into the car, the belts automatically tightening. Dark was going well over two hundred miles per hour. Then he suddenly stopped. Leinad did a hand brake turn and stopped next to Dark, but facing the other way.

I think I get extra points for the handbrake turn." Leinad said cockily, a smile on his face. Dark smiled.

"Well here we are." Dark said. Pointing to the building behind them. They all got out. Myra and Miranda pulled up soon after with Eliza in the back.

"We almost lost you guys." Miranda exclaimed.

"Sorry… Leinad wanted to race me. I couldn't turn down a challenge." Dark explained. "Well let's go in." Dark led the way. Opening the door for the girls and Leinad. They all found a table. Dark came and sat with them.

"Leinad you can get the drinks in. After all… you have the most money." Dark said, smiling.

"Fine then, Liandra come with me. Pulease." Leinad asked Liandra nodded and followed him. Relina put her head on Dark's chest. Paula put her hand on Dark's leg. She ran it up his inner thigh. Relina rubbed Dark's chest, the noticed Paula's hand.

"Hey what the fuck are you doing?" Relina asked, angry burning through her voice. Relina glared at Paula.

"I'm showing my affection for Dark. He's saved my life twice you know." Paula explained, staying calm.

"Well he's my boyfriend! So get your hands off him!" Relina exclaimed, almost shouting.

"Calm down…" Dark interjected.

"You weren't stopping her!" Relina shouted at Dark.

"But he's right chill out. Or can't you handle some competition?" Paula asked.

"I'm going to go now…" Dark said, attempting to get up, but being pushed back down by Relina, who was still staring at Paula. "Okay maybe I'm not."

"Yeah of course I can handle some competition. Not that any of you deserve that title." Relina shot.

"Yeah? Well Dark fingered me so fuck you!" Paula shot back.

"Oh shit." Dark said.

"What? Well he fingered me too and he let me jerk him off. But He did? Dark is his true?" Relina demanded.

"Oh this isn't good." Leinad said sitting down. Dark nodded. Paula slapped him so he was facing Leinad.

"I'm not sure I deserved that." Dark said to Leinad. As Dark turned back round, Relina slapped him, again so Dark was again facing Leinad.

"And I guess you didn't deserve that one either?" Leinad asked.

"No that one I deserved." Dark said.

"How could you Dark?" Relina asked him, a tear appearing in the corner of her eye. Dark didn't bother to put his arms around her or anything.

"I could because I'm a fucked up kid. I've told you that. I've had no parents for the last 16 years and suddenly my dad walks back into my life, and is almost taken from me again, turning me into an anger induced schizophrenic. And on top of that, I live for the fight because that's all that I've got." Dark explained. A harshness in his tone that they had only seen when they were at school.

"I'm sorry… I forgot." Relina said. It was understandable, Dark was looking for the love he hadn't had for 16 years, and was willing to look anywhere to get it.

"I shouldn't have toyed with you. That doesn't make it right. I just think I need to be alone for a little while. I don't mean physically, I mean emotionally." Dark explained.

"Okay… I'll be waiting." Relina answered.

"So will I." Paula countered

"Yeah… me too." Eliza replied.

"I think I speak for all of us when we say we'll be here for you." Leinad said. Dark nodded. Knowing they would be. Relina's eyes went blue for a few seconds.

"Where?" Dark asked Relina.

"Down the road, about two hundred yards." Relina told the group. "In about four minutes."

"Leinad go get the Mech, girls go back with him. Relina you too." Dark explained. They all knew there was going to be no arguing with him. "Okay let's go. Leinad, don't forget to tell Sahil to get to the techie room. And girls, when you get back to headquarters, no gung-ho tactics. I want you to stay put." And with that they were off. Dark went ahead to make sure that none of the Aliens left the war zone.

"Okay. Attack pattern Delta. Leave nothing alive. We need the resources though, only kill it if it runs, or attacks us. That way as much of the planet will be intact." The commander hissed.

"This guy really likes his power huh?" one of the squad members said to the guy next to him. The guy nodded. The drop pod began rumbling, as the entered Terra's atmosphere. After a couple more minutes they hit the ground, and the door opened up. There he was. Dark Shadow, or as he was better known, The Demon. He was the one standing in the way of them and the planet. And was he standing in the way, every time they landed a single assault team, which before had taken over entire planets single-handed, he wiped the squad out before they got a chance to do anything.

"Get him!" The commander screeched, and the squad members were, off shooting at The Demon, and the one's with claws were running up to him trying to slash him got snapped in half. He shouted something in Terran; none of the squad members knew what it was.

"Kill him! NOW!" The commander shouted. After a couple of minutes, more crafts landed, and more of the Assault Teams began pouring out, but at about the same time, something above them began shooting. The Assault Teams looked up to see a man sized chunk of black metal flying around firing guns from the ends of it's arms.

"Retreat!" Finally, the command came from one of the squad leaders. The Demon grabbed one of the would-be escapers. And said something that the escapee seemed to understand.

"We want the resources of your planet. It's how we survive. We move from planet to planet taking the resources from one before moving on." The escapee said, firing his gun into The Demon's torso. As the dust settled, a figure appeared in the cloud.

"So you're a virus. Guess what? I'm the Anti-Virus." The Demon said as the translators managed to figure out what he was saying. And with that… everything went black.

"Nice fighting Leinad." Dark complimented over the intercom. Leinad used the Mech to do a salute.

"Not to bad yourself."

"Don't forget, that Mech's movements are based on mine. So I'm the original you might say." Dark answered, almost laughing.

"Yeah, well why create something identical if the Original is perfect?" Leinad answered.

"Because it's more fun this way." Dark replied. That was very Dark. Everything had to be fun, or he wasn't interested. "Come on you owe us all drinks." Within a couple of minutes, they were all back in the pub drinking. Everyone had coke or lemonade, except Dark, who had a cup of tea. They were chatting about everything, and nothing. Just relaxing. One of the girls behind the bar kept looking at Dark, Leinad noticed this, and it appeared Dark did too. He looked at her every now and again, and offered to get the drinks, always going to her, as if to encourage her. Another guy working at the bar Dark had known ages ago, his name was Jacob. Jacob served dark, as the girl was already serving someone.

"Hey Dark… how are you alright?" Jacob asked in an almost overly loud voice.

"You remember my name? That's weird." Dark pointed out. Jacob just shrugged. Dark paid for the drinks and carried them all back. He began drinking his tea.

"Okay, right here's a joke. Two blonde girls were working at the city public works department. One would dig a hole, and then the other would follow the first and fill in the hole. They worked all up the dirt beside the pavement one side, and then all back down the other side. A man was watching them, and although amazed by the hard work, but couldn't understand why the second one just filled the hole. So he asked the hole digger. She wiper her brow, and answered 'Usually we are a three person team, but the girl who plants the seeds called in sick'." Eliza imitated a drum roll. A small amount of giggling arose from the group. Dark was the only one who didn't seem to even notice.

"Dark? Is something wrong?" Myra whispered to Dark.

"I dunno… something seems… out of place." Dark said trying to put his feelings into words. Without warning Dark was pulled out through the sofa, and flung into the floor like a rag doll. A seven and a half to eight foot figure appeared. His eyes were glowing a blood red. He as pitch black, no in skin colour, but as if he was standing in a room with no light whatsoever, but you could still make out the contours of his face.

"Fuck! RUN!" Dark shouted to the group, promptly getting smashed through the bar. "RUN!" Dark shouted at the top of his lungs, everyone doing as they were told. The figure picked Dark up by his ankle and swung him into the floor. Relina put a shield around him, only to have it shattered by the sheer force of the blow. 'Relina. I told you to run. Now fucking go.' Dark said into Relina's mind. 'No. If I go, you're coming with me' Relina forced into his.

Dark sat there, bleeding badly in the middle of the fiery building. He had a black eye, was bleeding from a cut above his eye, and from the side of his mouth. One of his arms was broken and the shoulder for the other arm was dislocated. Both his legs were broken, and so were most of his ribs. He could barely breath.

"Run…" Dark managed to Relina. He was using the last of his strength just to say that to her. To get her to leave him behind. She couldn't do it… it was Dark. He was so powerful, but he was dying… she didn't know what was doing it to him, but she wanted to kill it. She wanted to destroy it. She hated it. Relina ran over to Dark's quickly weakening body.

"Come on Dark. You'll be okay." Relina cried.

"No… I'm dead… you can't heal me; you have to run… ungh… save yourself. I'm already dead. But, if you like you can give me a hug." Dark managed to cough out. Relina hugged him, closing her eyes, remembering every moment they had ever spent together. The tears still flowing, she felt Dark use everything had to swap places with her, and knew what was happening. The thing that had beaten Dark was back to kill her and him. And Dark had just thrown himself in the way of it. Relina opened her eyes as Dark was pulled out of her grasp.

"No!" Relina screamed, everything moving in slow motion. Dark's legs and arms were pointing at her, both outstretched. He was smiling. Even through all his wounds, everything, he was dieing fast, and he still managed to find the strength to save her.

"Dark! No!" Relina screamed, crying. Dark mouthed I love you, as he was smashed into the floor by the creature. It was a black humanoid, it looked a lot like Light Sun, only bigger, more muscular, pitch black, and had glowing red eyes. He grabbed Dark by the ankle and flung him around like a rag doll. Relina tried to use her powers to protect Dark, but every time she tried, her powers were either absorbed or shattered by the creature. She was weak. Dark was still being thrown about like a rag doll. He was so frail, but still using everything he had to keep the creature's attention on himself. Eventually Relina ran away. She couldn't bare to see Dark like this. 'I love you. Never forget that. You have to promise me that you will have a good life, no a Fantastic life. Have a Fantastic Life Relina. Oh and before I go, I just wanted to tell you… you were bloody fantastic. Absolutely Fantastic. And you know what?' A few seconds pause from Dark's voice in her head. 'So was I'.

Relina screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Dark I won't let you die!" Relina screamed. The figure turned its attention to Relina."Oh fuck. Dark… help… please…" Relina cried, knowing Dark would not come. The figure went to grab Relina's head, but stopped. Then disappeared. A moaning came from somewhere under the rubble.

"Dark? DARK?" Relina shouted. Relina moved the rubble, the smoke filling the room. It was Dark. He was beaten up worse than ever before, Relina wasn't sure she had enough energy to heal him. It seemed he had broken ribs; most of his bones were broken. His stomach and intestines were ruptured. Dark's head had also been caved in; one of his hands was half missing. Dark didn't even bother asking the question that most people would. He knew he wasn't going to survive. He could feel his brain shutting down.

"Relina… you should have left. I didn't want you to see me like this. It's all about appearances." Dark said, and although he couldn't physically do it, Relina knew he was smiling. She took his hand and put in on the side of her face, tears streaming down her face. Dark managed to move his thumb to wipe away one of her tears. He tried to smile.

"No that hurts too much." Dark said, almost laughing. Relina smiled at Dark. He was still trying to keep her happy, even though he was dying.

"Is there no way to save you?" Relina asked, though she knew the answer, there wasn't, it almost made Relina break down. Dark smiled. His broken and battered body managed to smile. This made Relina cry more, because he was using the last of his strength reserves to try and make her happy.

"Relina. Listen to me. This building is coming down, and when it does, I don't want you in here. Understand?" Dark explained. Relina just nodded in response.

"Oh shit…" Leinad said. Eliza gasped, her tough exterior being smashed. Paula began to cry.

"What's wrong with everyone?" Myra said, then noticing Dark's wounds. Miranda just had to look away, and Liandra stood there, mouth open, obviously not realising the implications.

"No he's going to be okay." Relina said, tears streaming down her face.

"NO. All of you get the fuck out! NOW!" Dark shouted at them. Leinad put her hands on Relina's arms and picked her up, they began shuffling out.

"Leinad. Protect them. Please." Dark asked. Leinad nodded. Leinad got outside, the girls were all out there, black splodges on their bodies from the smoke. Relina was kneeling on the floor her back to the pub. Crying. Tears were streaming down her face; she'd lost something no one could replace. She'd lost him once, and now again. Leinad knelt down in front of her. He smiled what he hoped was a warm smile.

"We have to go…" no sooner had Leinad said that, had the roof collapsed. Relina let out a huge sob; as did Paula, who now fell down onto her knees, then lay on the floor on her side. "The police will be here soon… we have to go."

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO HEARTLESS? DARK'S STILL IN THERE! WE CAN SAVE HIM!" Relina screamed at Leinad. Pounding her fists against his chest.

"What the fuck?" Leinad asked.

"I said Dark's still in there… we have to save him." It was obvious Leinad's attention was not on her.

"Who needs saving?" came a familiar voice.

"What the fuck? How the fuck? FUCK!" Leinad said. Relina hoped, and turned around. There he was. Dark. Alive and well.

"What the fuck? Me alive. How the fuck? Powering up to Shadow Immor, makes me Immortal. Immor is short for Immortal. So it healed me." Dark said smiling.

"But we saw you die!" Paula said.

"No what you saw was a roof collapse on a very beaten up me. How many of you actually saw any of my organs shut down or me fall asleep? None of you." Dark explained. "So there was no reason to believe I died." Relina stood up turned around, closed her eyes, she felt Dark's warm embrace. She cried.

"I thought I'd lost you again…" Relina cried into Dark's chest.

"Nah, you won't get rid of me that easily." Dark joked. No one was in the mood to laugh. "Oh come on! Cheer up. We're all alive, no one's seriously hurt, and the I.D.I can pay for the damage. There are no problems."

"But you almost died…" A voice said from behind them. "Dark you almost fucking died!" It was Kiyone.

"Ahh yes, but I didn't. So all is well." Dark pointed out.

"Maybe but who's that?" Katie asked, pointing out the girl who was behind the counter in the bar.

"Karen are you alright?" The bar owner came charging over as he asked this.

"Yeah a little shook up but I'm alright." The girl said. The manager ran off to check on someone else.

"That's Karen." Dark smiled.

"Were you flying just then?" Karen asked, brushing her shoulder length blonde hair behind her ear.

"Erm… yeah." Dark said.

"That's weird…" Karen said.

"You don't seem to be too weirded out." Eliza pointed out.

"Well that's because when I was younger, I got taken to this place. And then put in this tube, and now… well…" Karen's voice trailed off, as she floated off the floor.

"Crap. You wouldn't happen to be..." Myra was cut off.

"Super strong, intelligent and hard to kill. And yes I do have all the same weaknesses as Dark." She smiled at Dark. Dark allowed a lopsided smile to appear. Dark was liking this girl more and more by the minute.

"Well why didn't you help him beat that thing?" Relina demanded.

"Because Dark wouldn't have let me, and if I had he would have spent more energy looking after me than looking after himself, so he could have died." Karen answered. Relina was stunned, and realised Karen was right. Of course she was. She was as intelligent as Dark.

"Who was that then?" Karen asked.

"Sun Immor. Or, Light Sun, or Jonathan. I can't remember his second name. But. I'm supposed to make a team to defend earth. You interested?" Dark asked.

"I'm in." Karen answered, again smiling.

"You sure? I mean it's pretty dangerous." Paula pointed out.

"Meh. Anything Dark can do, I can do. I'll be fine." Karen countered.

"Well dudes, I'm going to fly home. Catch you later." Dark said, before taking off. Karen began floating, then shot off after him.

"No fair!" Relina called.

"Bitch." Eliza said. They all knew they could compete with each other, but with a girl who had the same powers as Dark? Now that was a different matter.

"Well I can see your all pissed off… so I'm driving." Leinad said. Getting into his car. "Come on, get in. Oh wait erm some of you will have to go in the other car… I actually have a question… Kiyone how the hell did you get here?"

"I followed you. I thought there was something suspicious about Dark and I wanted to find out what it was."

"Hey! Dark. Wait up!" Karen called forward. Her voice wasn't reaching him. Understandable considering they were flying exceptionally fast. Karen accelerated to catch up with him. She went to tap him on the shoulder, but he swung round grabbed her wrist pulled out a pistol, and spun her round so she was closer to earth, with the pistol aimed at her head.

"Oh… sorry… I guess I'm a little jumpy." Dark said. "I didn't know it was you… I thought it was Light Sun. Well… sorry…" Dark said, while he slowed down.

"It's alright. I guess the Immor's trying to get hold of you too?" Karen asked.

"Yeah… how do you…" Dark was about to ask her a question but was cut off.

"The enhancement seems to trip something in the mind of the enhanced. And, gives a second personality, it only appears to affect our type of mutation. But, they always call themselves something 'Immor'… something to do with the structure of Adoshw." Karen explained. It seemed she knew exactly what Dark was going through. "They also tend to first show themselves at the a time of an exceptionally heightened negative emotion. Like anger or remorse." Karen looked at Dark deep into his eyes. His green eyes, but with some brown in the middle, making them Hazel. His good bone structure, in combination with his short thick light brown hair, made him desirable.

"I take it you've been through it?" Dark asked.

"Yes. But after a few accidental changes, you begin to be able to control your Immor. I can, but then again I was enhanced about a year prior to you." Karen smiled again. The trademark blue jumper of the pub she worked at was about a size too big for her.

"What's your Immor's first name?" Dark asked.

"Balance. That's another interesting thing, they also seem to have some sort of mission they have to complete, which has relevance to their first name. I've talked with my Immor, and she says that the reason for existence is to bring balance between the Sun And Shadow Immors, but I didn't quite understand what that meant." Karen explained.

"Mine's Shadow, Shadow Immor." Karen looked scared. "It's okay, I'm a good guy, my name suggests otherwise, but I am." Dark's turn for some explanation.

"Erm… okay." Karen replied, as if not quite believing it.

"Trust me. Light Sun's the bad guy. He called himself that because it was the opposite of me. No imagination nowadays huh?" Dark asked, smiling. Karen allowed herself a small laugh, before composing herself again.

"Come on. We'd better get back to the I.D.I Headquarters." Dark said. "Just follow me." He began flying towards the headquarters.

"So who are you? Really?" Karen asked. Dark stopped again. Karen stopping in time. Dark looked at her.

"You know when you're a kid and the tell you that the entire planet's spinning and you can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still?" Dark took Karen's hand. "This planet is spinning like a child's toy, and I can feel it. It's hurtling round a giant nuclear explosion and I can feel it. And our people are clinging to this little rock, because if they let go…" Dark's voice trailed off as he let Karen's hand fall to her side. "That's who I am." He flew off again. Karen close behind.

"That's a pretty cryptic answer."

"I'm a pretty cryptic guy." Karen liked this guy more and more. He was weird, sure. But he was interesting… he was likeable, but hateable. He was selfish, but at the same time more selfless than anyone else he knew. He was deserved a good kicking, but was worthy of praise. He was scary, but safe. He was perfectly balanced. 'Yeah right. You're falling for him girl.' Balance said in the back of Karen's head.

"Oh get lost Balance, not now." Karen said out loud.

"Pardon?" Dark looked at Karen quizzically.

"Balance is annoying. She act's almost like a conscience…. She tells me how I'm really feeling and junk… she tends to do it at the most inopportune moments."

"Ahh…" Dark nodded. "Here we are." Dark stopped dead. Then dropped. Karen flew down with him. He stopped about an inch off the floor. Then dropped to the floor.

"Who the hell is that?" Marcus shouted at Dark.

"Oh… you don't recognise her? The girl you first enhanced with the powers you later gave me. You dropped her like a bad habit. This is her now, exceptionally hot and ready to work with me." Dark said firmly.

"Well… back then we didn't know that the powers would slowly emerge… no one else showed or is showing signs of any enhancements. We didn't know otherwise you would have never been enhanced. Sorry Karen. I didn't realise. You should have come to see someone here." Marcus said.

"Meh. Life wasn't so bad, I mean after my parents were killed in a car crash, I got pretty depressed but I'm okay now I think." Karen pointed out.

"You think?" Dark asked.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm alright but you just don't know… y'know? No I don't suppose you do." Karen answered.

"Actually, I do. My dad 'died' before I was born, and my mother in childbirth. I just found out a couple of days ago, Marcus is in fact my dad. But I've been alone for sixteen years. So I have an inkling what you're going through." Dark said.

"I had no idea… I'm sorry for your loss." Karen said.

"No, I'm alright. I've had sixteen years to get over it… what about you?" Dark asked.

"I think I'm alright. I know I'm alright. Do you have a girlfriend?" Karen asked.

"Well you don't mince your words, and no. I don't." Dark replied.

"What a good looking guy like you? How come?" Karen asked

"Well I met this cool, pretty good looking girl called Karen. And my girlfriend found out when I was trying to cheer up another girl I went a bit too far…" Dark smiled while reminiscing.

"Oh… okay then. You know… I think I like you." Karen said, just as Leinad pulled up.

"Yo foos!" He called using the accent of a coloured person.

"Hey. What took you so long?" Dark laughed.

"Oh nothing. We just don't have superpowers like some people."

"Dark… I have something I think you should know. The person who tried to kill you by injecting you with a common cold? It was..." Marcus said,

"Robert Benson." Dark said finishing the sentence, not bothering to turn around to face Marcus.

"How'd you know?" Marcus asked.

"Well I would have thought it was obvious. As soon as I'm injected he goes AWOL, on top of that it would have been easy for him to get into my room, as his voice pattern has an override code attached to it." Dark pointed out, turning around.

"Okay then. Well I should also warn you not to use your powers so much. People are starting to talk." Marcus said.

"Oh shit, yeah I should have thought about that." Dark said as a car pulled up. The window rolled down to reveal Robert. He produced a gun. Dark and Marcus pulled out their guns as everyone else ducked. They began exchanging fire. Dark took a step to the left, so he was standing between Marcus and the car. The back window of the car rolled down to reveal someone else with a gun. He fired two shots, on at Dark, and the other at Karen. Darts flew through the air. The one aiming for Karen stopped, just as the point made contact with her jumper. Dark turned around grabbed Marcus and jumped into the air so as to avoid the dart. The car began driving off. Dark jumped into the Car with Leinad.

"GO!" Dark shouted at him, just as Karen jumped in. Leinad accelerated after the car. Dark noticed Relina in the back.

"Hey. Where are the weapons in this thing?" Dark asked.

"What? There aren't any weapons!" Leinad insisted.

"Every car left by a member of the I.D.I is outfitted with a few rifles and handguns, so as to be ready for just this sort of situation.

"One in each door. Just hit it… LIGHTLY I might add." Relina said. Dark flicked the door, and the inner part of the door turned round to reveal a rifle and a handgun. Dark grabbed the rifle and rolled down the window. Relina and Karen soon followed suit. They began opening fire on the car. None of them could get a clear shot.

"Get closer!" Dark shouted back into the car. Leinad accelerated, knowing full well that the Mutation© would out run that car, even if it began using Nitro. A voice came from inside the car.

"Maximum allowed speed reached. To go faster, engage Shadow System." Said the female voice of a computer. A small and tight fitting helmet appeared from the dashboard. Leinad put it on. The car seemed to be moving so slowly. He put his foot on the accelerator. Everything was in slow motion Leinad was able to actual see the bullets as they flew through the air. He pulled up along side the other car. Dark's gun ran out of bullets, so he popped back into the car.

"Whoa shit! You're using the Shadow System, not groovy!" Dark shouted pulling the helmet off.

"Hey!"

"Just fucking drive!" Dark shouted grabbing the pistol, leaning out the window.

"Our guns aren't doing anything!" Karen shouted. Dark pointed away from the assailants and fired a single round. The car started to wobble, then the driver lost control.

"Karen! Help me get the other cars our of here!" Dark shouted. With that they were off, getting other cars out of the way, and then moving the assailants car, and the Mutation© back to the I.D.I HQ. Dark dropped the car in front of Marcus, who was looking at his watch.

"Hmm… considering you didn't use your powers the entire time, that was pretty fast." Marcus said, looking up from his watch.

"Thanks. We got them. One of your guys can do the interrogation. I honestly can't be assed." Dark said.

"Fine then. What are you going to do?" Marcus asked.

"I dunno… I could go and play on the Virtual Suite… I dunno. I'm just bored." Dark said as he walked off. He went into the I.D.I Headquarters, greeted Miranda, and continued down a hall towards the Virtual Reality suite. Karen caught up with him.

"Hey Dark! Wait up!" Karen called after Dark. Dark stopped, and turned around. Something in his eyes scared Karen… something evil maybe it's the fact that his irises, instead of being green on the outside with a small amount of brown in the middle making them hazel, his irises were black.

"What?" He said, his voice with the slightest hint of cruelty.

"Dark… what's wrong with your eyes?" Karen asked… fear obvious in her voice.

"Nothing… I just need to calm down…" Dark explained.

"He's taking control isn't he?" Dark seemed stunned by the question. "Shadow? He's taking control isn't he?" Dark turned around and nodded.

"If I can get the virtual reality suite, I can blow up in there, and not harm anyone." Dark explained.

"You and I both know that won't work forever. He'll get suspicious. You have to let him have a fight he can't win or lose. Let him fight Balance."

"Balance is your Immor right?" Karen nodded in response. "Then no. I won't give him the chance to hurt someone. Not now, not ever." Dark said.

"He won't beat Balance. Balance is stronger than him." Karen said. Dark turned away from her. "Yeah that's right walk away. Afraid to be beaten by a girl." Dark flung round, an evil in her eyes that unsettled Karen.

"Don't push me… if you push me too much he'll take over… I can't have that. Stop trying to push me. You may think Balance will beat Shadow, but Shadow can tap into Relina's powers too… if he want's he can bend reality to his will, and believe me if he gets half a chance, he'll kill you, and then everyone in this base. I'm NOT going to give him that chance." Dark explained, anger burning though his voice like a hot knife through butter. "He's getting control now… you're going to have to run…"

"Why?" Karen said, as she was flung back, landing perfectly. Dark burst into flames, and there was so much energy coming off of him.

"Because I'm BACK!" Dark shouted, but with an evil in his voice, his irises black, his muscles bigger, hair darker.

"Dark?" Karen asked.

"No, Dark's not here right now, please call back later. But you're onto Shadow Immor if you want me to take a message." Shadow said. He flew at Karen, with his fist raised, he swung it at her. And with her eyes closed, she grabbed it, in a steel grip.

"What?" Shadow asked, the evil still in his voice. Karen opened her eyes. Her pupils were white, but her irises were black. Her hair began to float, and from root to tip changed to a Silver/grey.

"I am Balance."

"I know who you are. Why do you inhabit a girl? And such a pathetic specimen at that." Shadow asked.

"Because I am a girl. And she has the same powers as your body. Do not forget that. You were always so cocky for the men Shadow. You never did beat me." Balance said with a smile spreading across her face.

"Yes but you never beat me. If you think you're so tough, let's fight. Now." Shadow commanded. Balance threw him into a wall. He got up and began firing energy bolts at Balance. Her body merely absorbed them.

"Pathetic." She forced energy out her hand into Shadow. It did nothing.

"That was pathetic. I didn't even need to defend. You're losing your touch Balance." Shadow's voice dripped with poison and evil. She threw him into the floor. He got back up, brushed himself off, and punched Balance, flinging her into the wall, she screamed. Shadow was far more powerful than she remembered. Shadow tilted his head to the side.

"Aww… too strong for you?" Shadow asked. He grabbed his head ducking down so he could do so. This was her chance; she swung her leg at his head with all her force. Just as she did, he brought his head back up, it was Dark. He got forced into the wall to the left of him. He tried to get up, but collapsed again.

Chapter 15 - Immor War

Relina came charging round the corner. She gasped, as her hand flew up to her mouth to cover it.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" Relina screamed at Karen, who was ignoring her, and had returned to her usual state. Relina used her powers to fling Karen into the wall. Relina knelt down next to Dark. He wasn't moving.

"Dark? Can you hear me?" Relina asked his lifeless body. She began to float up and move away from him, against her will.

"Leave him alone if you want him to live." Came Balance's distorted voice. She turned back into Karen. Karen knelt down next to Dark. Put his head on her lap.

"Dark? Can you hear me?" Karen asked softly.

"You killed him! You bitch! You killed him! You fucking killed him!" Relina screamed at Karen, Eliza started holding Relina. Relina ran at Karen, a force field stopping her.

"Give me a second." Again, Balance was talking, not Karen. Then it was Karen again. She looked at Dark.

"Dark can you hear me?" Karen asked again, just as softly. A murmur escaped his lips. Karen began to cry, a tear ran down her nose and dropped off onto Dark's cheek. Karen's arms shot up, shaping her like a cross, she looked at the ceiling as her hair changed colour, and her eyes changed to Balance's. She screamed in pain, as ghost like creatures came out of her body and into Dark's. Dark's arms shot out making him into a cross, his chest rose a little bit of the ground, arching his back. His head looked into Karen's stomach. His eyes flew open as her breathed in. And in an instant it all stopped.

"Like… fucking… ow…." Dark said. Looking up at Karen, who was looking at him.

"How you feeling?" Karen asked. Dark shrugged.

"Alright… you must have forced some of you Immor's energy into me to make me regenerate super quick, and bring me back from the abyss as it were." Dark said, thinking out loud. Karen nodded, another tear forming.

"Y'know, I've died twice now, and both times I was saved by a beautiful girl." Dark said. The flattery working. She bent down even further, placing her hand on his chest.

"Ow! That hurts!" Dark yelped. She rubbed his leg, "Ow!" Dark yelped.

"Well where doesn't it hurt?" Karen asked. Dark pointed to his elbow.

"HERE." Dark said in a firm smiling. Karen kissed him on the elbow, where he was pointing.

"Here…" Dark said, pointing to his neck, and Karen kissed there too.

"Here." Dark said finally, pointing to his lips. She tried to kiss him deeply but he wouldn't allow it. "God I love Indiana Jones… and Red Dwarf actually. So you'll have to catch me first." Dark said, shooting off. Karen ran after him, although he was flying down the corridors, Karen ran.

"Come on thought you were faster than that!" Dark mocked. Karen flew after him.

"Come here dammit!" Karen called after Dark. Dark slowed up a bit so Karen could catch up. She grabbed his foot and pulled him back and her up. Dark stopped as soon as she did this, Karen did too. They just floated there for a second. Karen hovered over to Dark. And kissed him on the lips, he pulled her in close. His hands on her hips, her arms round his arms, his forehead leaning on hers. She smiled, and used her hand to brush her blonde hair behind her ear. He lent in and kissed her again. This time passionately.

"So where's my room?" Karen asked, as they finished.

"Y'know what? I don't know. Don't you remember?" Dark asked. Karen thought about it for a second.

"Yeah I do… I'll show you where it was." With that, she was off, Dark not far behind. She stopped. In front of Dark's room.

"Well that WAS your room. Tis mine now." Dark said with mock smugness.

"Well then I need a new one… unless you're willing to share…" Karen's voice was laced seductively, and she allowed her voice to trail off. She put her arms round Dark's neck, then looked at his shoes, then looked up slowly, into Dark's eyes. Dark looked into hers.

"Sorry, but no. I'm not willing to share… I'll move if you like, but I've had my head screwed with a lot lately, emotionally speaking, so I'm not ready for anything like that." Dark explained. Karen knew he was right. She kissed him lightly.

"You don't have to move. Marcus will give me a new room. I'll make sure it's near yours." Karen allowed a smile to appear.

"Karen… I don't want to ask… but could you teach me how to control my Immor? I mean I can't do it… you seem to be able to… so I was wondering if you could teach me." Dark asked. Karen nodded, kissed Dark again, then ran her hands down his toned, muscular arms, until her hands reached his. She gave them a soft squeeze, to make sure her feelings were totally known. Then turned around and walked off.

Later that evening, after Dark had had a rest, he used his Com-Watch.

"Karen." He told the Watch. Karen popped up on the screen.

"Yeah Dark?"

"I want you to teach me. Now if possible." Dark asked.

"Sure… just let me get something on." Karen said. A knock came at her door. She opened it to reveal Dark. "Wow you're fast. Good looking too." Dark smiled at the compliment. "Come in." Dark followed her in. "Sit there." Karen indicated a point in the middle of the room, on the floor. Dark did as instructed. He sat there cross-legged. Karen finished getting dressed, in a white tank top and jeans. 'God she looks hot' Dark thought to himself. He was wearing a t-shirt that was in fact long sleeved, and a pair of jeans.

"Right. Now first of all, you need to make a connection with your Immor." Karen said.

"Maybe not such a good idea… the only way I can do that is to get angry." Dark explained.

"No, it isn't. You have to talk to yourself in your mind. If you do, your Immor will hear it, and perhaps respond. You have to get him talking to you." Karen said. 'Shadow? Are you there? Come on you ass. Come here. Talk to me.' Dark got smashed into the floor. 'I'm more powerful than you Dark Shadow don't even begin to compare yourself to me!' Dark was thrown into one of the walls.

"I can't do this… it hurts…" Dark managed to say.

"Come on… I'm here… don't let him beat you."

'Pathetic. Even for a mortal. You will never defeat me. I can use your emotionally instability to control you. I will destroy you and everything you love, Dark Shadow.' Shadow was constantly mocking him. Making him feel worthless.

"Help me..." Dark could barely speak, his voice coming out as a hoarse whisper as he was thrown around the room, and into the ceiling. 'Shadow. You can't keep doing this. I won't let you' Dark thought. 'And who are you to stop me? You are just a mortal. Nothing. A mere speck on my windscreen.' Shadow retaliated.

"Dark… keep control of yourself!" Karen called, Dark's eyes turning black. Dark's body writhed every now and again. His head turning left and right, his neck cracking and face contorted with pain. Dark was losing control.

"Dark don't let him hurt me…" Karen asked, a tear running down her face. As Dark saw this his eyes faded back to their kind hazel. 'No! This is impossible! You are mortal! Not this powerful!' Shadow screamed as Dark began to fight his way back into their body. 'Shadow. Help me. Help me defeat Light Sun, and Sun Immor. Help me save the world. Don't use my anger, use my kindness. If you refuse, I will destroy you' Dark commanded. Shadow knew he had no chance. He had to succumb to Dark. If only for a while. Dark floated into the centre of the room, his body limp, with his body bent backwards. Energy began coming off him. His eyes turned to Black, and his muscles enlarged. His hair changed colour to black, and he landed on the floor, crouching.

"Dark?" Karen asked, the tear resting lightly on her cheek.

"No. Shadow." He said slowly, mockingly. He walked over to her. She shied away from him and brought her arm up to defend herself.

"Please don't hurt me." Karen begged. He grasped her arm, and stood her up, her arm still trying to defend her. He gingerly wiped the tear away with his thumb. His black eyes were warm, and kindly. Like Dark's eyes. He kissed her lightly, and carefully.

"Thank you." He whispered into her ear as he pulled her into a hug. She grabbed him tightly.

"Never let go." Karen said to him

"I won't. Shadow will never control me again."

"I meant of me… Dark I like you. As in LIKE like."

"I know. I was just letting you know." Dark smiled. And relaxed back into his normal body, releasing Karen.

"Please… don't let me go. Don't let him hurt me…"

"Don't let who?" Dark asked.

"The other Immor… Sun. He's going to want to kill me." Karen said, a tear forming.

"I promise he won't hurt you, now stop crying." Dark said, wiping the tear away and pulling her back into a warm and safe embrace.

"Dark? Are you there?" Relina knocked on Dark's door. "Dark? Are you there? Look we need to talk! Come on! Where are you?"

"Here. What do we need to talk about?" Dark asked, appearing behind Relina. With Karen in tow.

"Well Sun. He's shown little or no activity, which means he's probably planning something big." Relina explained.

"Well about this move. We'll worry about it when it happens. Right now I'm too relaxed to do anything. So… I'm going to go and chill out in the virtual suite. Either of you ladies want to join me?" Dark asked.

"Sure I will." Relina said, Karen just nodded to show she would.

"Okay then it's settled, let's go." Dark said as he went off towards the Virtual Suite. Karen and Relina followed Dark. Relina grasped Dark's hand firmly. Karen just walked beside him, stealing a sideways glance every now and again.

"You two go on ahead… I'm going to check how some of our research is doing." Dark said. He ushered them on as he popped into his room.

"So how long have you had your powers?" Relina asked Karen.

"Oh about six months now. Dark's lucky to have the support of the I.D.I I didn't. It's hard trying to control an Immor with no help." Karen explained. "What about you Relina? How long have you had your powers?"

"About a month… if that. But I have different powers. Mine are more mind orientated as opposed to physically orientated." Relina explained. "So I don't have an Immor." They came to the Virtual Reality Suite. Relina opened the door and they went in. The white room was the same as any VR suite. They put on the helmets, and went limp. Then the world flew in around them.

"Wow… what a rush!" Karen said. "Where's Dark… he shouldn't be taking this long."

"I dunno actually…" Relina said.

"I'll go find him." Karen said, and then was off. She knocked on Dark's door.

"Dark? Are you in there?" She called. "Dark? What is he doing?" Karen said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Dad?" Dark asked, knocking on Marcus' door.

"Come in Dark. What is it?" Marcus asked.

"Why was some of the research blocked out from me? I.e. I couldn't get into it?" Dark asked his father.

"Erm… well… Dark…" Marcus started, being cut off by Dark.

"Because I managed to get into the file anyway. And you're building a fucking gun specifically designed to kill me? Why?" Dark asked. Though he knew the answer as the words left his lips. "In case he gets control of me again. Well I'll have you know I have control of him. I don't want to be finding out about stuff like this again." Dark said, cruelty appearing in his voice. With that he left the room, slamming the door with such force the hinges snapped. He walked straight into Karen.

"He's a fucking cunt. Absolute cunt." Dark stormed.

"Who? And why?" Karen asked, a bit taken back by this sudden onslaught.

"My dad. He's been designing a gun to kill us. Or me, but it could kill you too." Dark said. "It just makes me angry." Karen pushed herself into him, her head resting on his chest, her arms between them.

"Don't let him take you over… I don't want us to have to fight." Karen said to him. He wrapped his arms around her.

"I won't." Dark said comfortingly.

"Can you protect me? From everything… I've been alone for so long… and you and I are so similar… it's like we were meant to be…" Karen closed her eyes, and squashed herself more into Dark. "I just don't want you to let me go." Dark tightened his grip as if to tell her he wouldn't.

"Dark! Look out!" Relina screamed from down the corridor. He threw Karen to the side as an energy bolt hit him in the chest.

"Ungh…" Dark hit the wall behind him and fell to the ground. Looking up in time to avoid the energy sword aimed at his head. He powered up to Shadow Immor and charged at Sun Immor. Shadow punched Sun in the head, forcing him into the ground. Shadow flew at Sun, forcing him deeper into the ground with each hit of his mad flurry. Sun fired an energy ball into Shadow's chest knocking him clean out of the hole. Karen sat up, her hand on her head.

"Ow…" Karen said. She glanced out the hole in the wall to see Shadow and Sun fighting. 'Come on Karen, we gotta help Dark, or Shadow, or whoever the good guy is' Balance said into Karen's mind. 'You're right.' Karen replied, followed shortly by powering up to Balance and flying into the fight. Balance kicked Sun hard in the side.

"I can handle this Balance." Shadow said.

"Let's get it done quicker." Balance countered. Shadow shrugged. 'Figures. Wants to get this done so we can have some fun' Shadow thought to himself. Before being shook out of his thoughts by Balance.

"Come on… let's get him." Balance ordered. Shadow nodded and flew at Sun with full force, Shadow's foot hitting Sun squarely in the chest, knocking him even further away. Sun flew back at Shadow with surprising power and speed. Sun's fist smashing into Shadow's face, firing him like a bullet out of a gun, straight into the I.D.I Headquarters.

"Like fucking ow…" Shadow said. He looked up to see Sun and Balance in a furious melee. He couldn't attack at all unless he wanted to take the chance he would hit Balance. Thankfully, he was willing to take that chance. He fired an energy beam directed at Sun, Balance saw it just in time and managed to jump out the way, though it still caught her arm. Sun was thrown clear over the horizon. Shadow powered down to Dark, who flew up to see Balance.

"Are you okay Balance? That's a nasty burn. Sorry for that… Shadow can still be a little… erratic. He's emotionally detached from the situation so he does what, in most cases, would be best. But anyway… how's your arm?" Dark asked, Balance took her hand away to show a whole in her top, but no marks on her skin.

"Immor's have the ability to regenerate at a super fast rate." Balance explained. Powering down to Karen. Dark nodded in acknowledgement, not knowing whether that was a good or a bad thing.

"It's both. Good for us because we can regenerate, but bad for us because so can he." Karen said, as if reading his mind. Dark smiled. He'd finally found someone who had the same sort of thoughts as him, who was almost identical to him in every way, personality wise, he's found someone who could support him and fathom what he was going through, as he could for her. 'It's like we were made for each other' Dark thought to himself.

"Yeah it is isn't it?" Karen asked.

"You can't…" Karen cut off Dark,

"No. But my mind works the same way as yours, i.e. everything you think, I'm probably thinking too." Karen let out a smile that told Dark her room would be unlocked tonight. Dark smiled too not in the same way, but it was a smile telling all that he was happy, if only for a while. Dark flew back down to the I.D.I Headquarters, and started walking towards the Virtual Reality Suite. He opened the door to see Relina already using it. He took another helmet and put it on, he went numb then regained movement of his body as the world shot in around him. He lay on the grass and looked up at the sky. A beam of light told him someone else was entering the world. Karen was standing at his feet, her back to him. She looked around as if looking for him. As she turned around he floated up and over her. He was behind her again, and made sure he stayed behind her she went to lie down on the grass, so Dark stood at her head, just out of her view, then popped his head into view

"Oger booger!" Dark shouted, Karen jumped.

"Whoa! Don't you have anything better to do than scare helpless little girls?" Karen asked.

"When you see a helpless little girl let me know, I need to scare her." Dark smiled with his tongue protruding from the side of his mouth. Karen slapped him on the shins. He lay down next to her.

"Where's Relina? I don't suppose you've seen her, you've only been here for about a minute." Dark said.

"I'm sure she'll find us when she needs to." Karen said. She rolled over so she was lying on her side with her head was on Dark's shoulder, and her hand on his chest.

"Look it's a pig!" Dark shouted to a very obscurely shaped cloud. "If you tilt your head to the left a little bit it looks like a pig…" Karen did this and laughed, it did indeed look like a pig, if an exceptionally demented one. Dark smiled. Karen pointed at another cloud. It looked like two people kissing. He shook his head, smiling to himself.

"What?" Karen asked.

"It's Relina. This is her world; she can do whatever she wants. Look one of them is me, the other is her." Dark said. With this having been said, Karen could see what he meant. It was indeed meant to be Relina and Dark.

Chapter 16 - A Common Enemy

Relina watched them from a tree not too far from where they were. They were laughing and joking with each other. 'Relina you're not jealous are you?' Relina thought to herself… no she couldn't be… not of Karen. It was only Karen after all… But he seemed so happy with her… and she was happy with him, and Relina was with Dark, and he seemed happy with her. But was he? 'Karen can give him understanding, a viewpoint similar to his… she's very attractive too… Can I compete with her?' Relina thought to herself. 'Yes, you can.' Dark was speaking into her mind. Relina smiled. Although she could see him smiling and laughing with Karen, and knew he hadn't glanced up, he knew where she was, and how she was feeling. She smiled to herself again. Dark always seemed able to have enough of him to go round to everyone. Karen kissed him, and he kissed her back. Relina was stunned… he couldn't do that. He was kissing her and allowing her to fondle him. Relina left the world. She wasn't having that. She had to get rid of Karen. She couldn't compete. Relina left the I.D.I HQ, making a quick stop at the research wing. And told a cabdriver to take her to a specific location. The building was exceptionally small. She knocked on the door. An armed guard answered the door.

"What do you want?" He growled.

"I'm here to see your boss. Tell him Relina Emit is here. He'll want to see me." Relina said to the thug. He disappeared for a couple of minutes then came back to the door. He nodded and motioned for her to come in. She did as she was told.

"He's down the corridor, door at the end." The thug told her. She followed his directions, and opened the door.

"And what do you want miss Emit?" the boss asked.

"To help you get rid of one of your enemies." Relina explained.

"Who would that be?" he asked her.

"Karen. Also known as Balance Immor. But you cannot harm the boy who is to no doubt be with her. That is my only condition." Relina explained.

"Very well. Those conditions are acceptable. Now how am I to kill her?" the boss asked.

"I can do that. You just have to manufacture this weapon." Relina explained, throwing a CD to the boss. "All the schematics are there. How long will it take?"

"About half an hour if the schematics are accurate and we have the material. Would you like a drink while you wait?" the boss asked Relina in a polite voice.

"A cup of tea would be lovely, thank you." Relina answered, the boss nodded to a guard, and threw him the disc.

"So what turned you against out friend Balance?" he asked.

"She's taken the most important thing I have from me." Relina explained. "And I can't lose him again. I have to stop this before it destroys me. It's simply her or me. I choose her."

"Interesting…" the boss said. A woman in very little clothing came back and gave Relina her tea.

"How'd you get all this hired help?" Relina asked.

"Me." Relina recognised the voice. It was Robert Benson.

"You tried to kill Dark!" Relina screamed at him.

"Yes. But you managed to save him." He answered

"BUT YOU TRIED TO KILL MY BOYFRIEND! WHY SHOULDN'T I KILL YOU NOW? GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON!" Relina screamed at him, so much her throat went hoarse.

"Because otherwise we will kill both Balance and Shadow." the boss said. Relina sat down again. The boss knew that would get her to stand down. Threaten her love and she'd stop. Relina sat down, defeated.

"You will keep up your end of the bargain won't you?" Relina asked, worry in her eyes.

"For as long as I can. You know my ultimate goal is to kill Shadow." the boss explained. Relina nodded. She'd expected this. They continued to talk for about three quarters of an hour. Then a thug came back in with a newly made pistol.

"Here it is. Give it to Relina. Now Relina, go and do what you must." The boss said. The thug handed Relina the pistol, and she got in the cab and drove back. She found Dark and Karen together.

"Hey would you two like to go for a walk?" Relina asked them

"Sure." Karen and Dark said in unison. They followed Relina out the front doors. Relina had concealed the gun in her sleeve. They walked down the streets of the town.

"Hey look… a squirrel." Dark pointed out the red creature jumping from tree to tree above them.

"And another one!" Karen pointed out another red one chasing the first.

"That's cute." Dark said. Relina shook her head. Classic Dark. Always thinking about how cute things were. She put her hand in his. They came to a clearing where they sat down and talked about anything and everything. Dark kept cracking jokes as usual. Both the girls laughed, stealing sideways glances at each other, almost trying to intimidate each other. After about an hour, Relina couldn't take it. Their humour was the same, the looks in their eyes were the same, the way they shifted their weight was the same. The way he looked at her, the way she was constantly looking at him. The way they just seemed to fit. Relina took out the gun and aimed at Karen's head. Dark was in the way before Relina could pull the trigger.

"Relina… what are you doing?" Dark asked.

"I have to kill her. I can't let her take you away from me." Relina explained.

"No Relina you don't… besides you and I both know that gun won't… unless Relina did you get the gun my dad designed built?" Dark asked. Relina nodded slowly with tears running down her face.

"Dark… get out the way or I'll have to shoot through you." Relina said.

"Dark if she want's to kill me. Let her. I'm just glad I got to spend some time with you." Karen smiled as if she had resigned to her fate. She stepped in front of Dark.

"You wouldn't. Relina, I know you, you wouldn't kill or hurt anyone unless they were a bad guy. And you know Karen isn't a bad guy." Dark said in a calming voice stepping in front of Karen.

"To you she isn't, to me she is." Relina said. Karen picked Dark up and threw him across the field. And with that, Relina pulled the trigger.

Chapter 17 - Betrayal

The bullet ripped through the flesh, burning like a thousand stars. In continued as it passed through a rib, into the lungs, and heading back out the other side, chipping the spine on the way out. Karen fell to the floor.

"No! Dark!" Karen screamed. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"I… I… I dunno… I… Dark?" Relina's voice was small and weak as she struggled to find the words. "Dark?"

"I have a body and his name is pain…" Dark said. Karen was up, and took the gun from Relina.

"I'm not going to let you use this gun again." Karen said, and then tried to snap it in two. She failed. Karen was confused.

"It's Adoshw, as are the bullets. You won't be able to break it. That gun is designed to kill me, or, you." Dark's voice was getting weaker by the minute. Relina began to panic, she'd just shot the one person she was trying to keep. Relina knelt down beside Dark.

"I'm sorry." She said weakly.

"Don't… worry… It's okay… I forgive… you… jealousy is… terrible." Dark managed. He didn't have much longer to live.

"What are we going to do? You just shot the hero of the story!" Karen said, rather loudly. Relina shook her head.

"Nothing we can do. He has a punctured lung, a chipped spine and a shattered rib." Relina explained.

"There is… ungh… one thing…" Dark said.

"What is it baby?" Relina asked.

"You… healing…" Dark couldn't say anymore. But that was enough. Relina stood up and took a couple of steps away from Dark. She began to float, just above the floor, so she was arched backward slightly, her toes just touching the floor with blue light coming off her. Dark began to float into the same position. The blue light came off of him too. He could feel the wounds mending, his bones un-breaking, and his lung repairing itself. After about a minute, Relina stopped. Dark pushed Relina to the floor, but suddenly he wasn't there. She saw Karen with her fist where Relina's chest was, a kill shot. Dark was holding Karen's hands in place. He was still stronger than her.

"No more fighting." Dark commanded. "Either of you. You can flirt with me if you must, but no attacking each other or trying to kill each other." Both girls nodded in acknowledgement. Agreeing that that was the best thing. 'This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.' Dark though to himself. 'Yes, it is' Relina said into his mind.

"I agree…" Karen said.

"Can you… y'know… read minds?" Relina asked.

"Nope. But I do think like Dark, so nine times out of ten I'll be thinking the same as him." Karen said. Relina suddenly realised that in reality neither of them had an advantage over the other. Dark was attracted sheerly to personality, and if Karen thought the same was as Dark did, then that meant she could do what she wanted, but Relina could do the same as she could almost read his mind. Relina smiled. This was going to get very interesting. Dark took the gun from Karen.

"I think I'll hold onto that." Dark said, pulling the top of the gun clean off. "For your information, pulling the gun like that stops it working, obviously." Dark had a huge smile. "Anyway. Time to get back to base." They all began to follow Dark on his way back to base. Relina was on Dark's right with Karen on his left. They were silent the entire way back, which unsettled both Relina and Karen. Dark wasn't usually this quiet, even when he was thinking. Something about him was different, like he didn't know what was going on, like he wasn't quite Dark, like something inside him died, he didn't smile, he didn't laugh at the jokes he would have usually. He just sat there in silence while everyone else had fun. Karen noticed it, as did Relina and they both tried to bring him into the conversations. Though they failed, he'd say something then not say anything again and ignore people's arguments against his. Eventually, he got up and left, going straight to his room. After a couple of minutes, Karen came through the door.

"Hey… is something wrong, you've been a bit weird today…" Karen asked softly. Dark was lying on his bed, facing away from her. He didn't answer, so Karen went further into his room. "Dark?"

"I'm fine… I just need a holiday." Dark replied.

A couple of days later, still with Dark silent. Dark and all his friends were given leave to have a couple of weeks anywhere in the world. They had finally settled on going to Australia. Dark had never left the country and never really had a need to, or time to for that matter. Dark never really had a holiday; he was too busy working, even though he didn't need to, he figured it best to. Dark was sitting in his room, trying to decide what to pack. He had decided on taking some of his signature clothes, the ones that everyone knew he had. He knew it was going to be a twenty-four hour flight and so had taken a Game Boy, the latest one, with as many games as he could. It was going to be interesting, especially because one of them had separated from the rest of them, Dark had volunteered, but was told no by the group, in the end he had managed to tell them it was best, as he would have time to 'sort himself out, mentally speaking' They agreed, so Dark was to sit alone on the plane. He didn't really want to, but knew he had, the hero always sacrifices himself for his friends. Karen came into his room, smiling.

"Hey Dark. How you holding up?" Karen asked, the answer obvious to both of them, the answer was not well.

"I'm fine." Dark snapped. Karen walked behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest, just underneath his arms. She relaxed her neck, her head resting on Dark's shoulder. Dark tried to move but Karen held him where he was. Dark smiled inwardly to himself. He wouldn't move unless she wanted to let him, and she didn't want to let him. She didn't want to let go, she wanted him to turn around and kiss her, kiss her until she couldn't breathe, until she went weak at the knees, until she couldn't stop but had to. Dark turned around, looked at her, she pulled him close. Dark didn't let anything on. Although about an inch shorter than him, Karen could still kiss Dark without having to stretch or fly, and she attempted to. His hazel eyes were warm, but had a great sadness hidden behind them, like he just wanted to lie down in bed and never wake up again. She recognised this, and she was the only person that would, as she had felt it. Then she had seen Dark's eyes, and her pain had gone away. All her worries evaporated. She looked at him and suddenly realised why none of her other boyfriends had worked out. He seemed so perfect, almost too perfect, but she didn't care. She had seen him, thought he was really handsome, and the way he had spoken, even though he had only asked for some cokes and a tea, he had spoken with genius, with such finesse, he just had something that she wanted, or needed. All she had known is she had to have it. Dark put his hand on her shoulder, as if to keep her down. He lent down and kissed her, pushing her hair behind her ear for her, to keep it out the way. Dark's kiss was soft, but strong, it was kind, but cruel, it was imperfect, but perfect. Karen felt weak at the knees, Dark's hand found it's way to her bottom, and supported her just as her knees gave out. Karen was running out of breath, but didn't care; Karen didn't want this to end, she couldn't let it end. As Dark stopped kissing her, pulling away slowly as if to agonize the loss. Karen grabbed his head and forced herself upon him. She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled his head in to hers, kissing him deeply and passionately. He didn't struggle, but more embraced it, like he needed it as much as she did. Be pulled her close, not as roughly as she had grabbed his head, but firmly so she couldn't get away. Not that she would, even if she could. She again couldn't let him go, because if she did she was letting go of herself, or a male version of herself, complete with super powers and pain and schizophrenia and everything. She wouldn't let him go, she wouldn't let him feel the pain she had once felt. After about a minute they had to stop kissing or they were going to turn blue.

"Don't ever let me go." Karen asked, her head on his chest, arms wrapped tightly around him.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. But I still need to finish getting packed. So unless you're going to help me…" Dark began

"Of course I'll help you." Karen answered, cutting Dark off. "You would look good in white… with… jeans… hmm…" Karen grabbed the relevant clothes, and put them in Dark's suitcase.

"I said help… not pack for me." Dark pointed out, smiling.

"So? I can save you a job." Karen answered, still packing for him, sticking out her tongue playfully. After about a minute she had finished. Smiling sweetly, with her hands clasped together resting on her bottom. Dark just shook his head, not moving from his pose of having one of his knees slightly bent, the other leg out to the side, and his arms folded with his eyebrow raised, a small smile creeping across his face. Karen took the step, maybe a step and a half towards him. She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her softly on the top of her head. She smiled. He was warm, like an electric blanket at just the right temperature. She didn't want this to end… she didn't want a lot of things to end… but she knew they must.

Chapter 18 - Like A Phoenix

Rachel Owen stood in the queue to get her tickets with her boyfriend. They were going to go on holiday to Australia. Morton was too shy to do much. But he was cute, and was sometimes sweet. A group of teenagers were behind them, and laughing and joking as teenagers would. One of them seemed slightly out of the group though… he stood like he was deep in thought. He looked some how familiar… like Rachel had seen him once before… but she couldn't put her finger on where. She shrugged the feeling off as they got their tickets.

"Thanks." Rachel said to the attendant, smiling sweetly. They carried on towards the baggage control, but Rachel overheard the teenager ask for tickets to Australia. Rachel's long black hair got in her eyes as they got to the desk; she quickly brushed it out the way. After smiling quickly at the attendant they put their bags on the scales, and had them sent off. Their hand luggage wasn't heavy but it was full. They barely had enough room for their stuff. The group of teenagers weren't far behind when the last boarding call was for their flight was sounded. Within perhaps ten minutes they were on the flight. The group of teenagers came on. Rachel noticed they were all about the same age as her and Morton. The one who was slightly out the group sat down in the chair across the aisle to her. He didn't say a word, though he obviously recognised her from earlier. He did his belt up. Within ten minutes they were off and beginning to soar. After about an hour, Rachel noticed that the boy had tensed up. He was almost crushing the armrest. In fact, he was… it was bending, and he was barely using two fingers.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked him.

"Yeah… I just have the most unnatural fear of flying." He replied.

"I'm Rachel." Rachel introduced herself.

"Dark." He replied.

"Why aren't you sitting with your friends?" Rachel asked Dark.

"Because I can't let them see me like this." Dark replied. Rachel gave him a look asking him to explain. "I'm the hero of this story… hero's aren't supposed to be scared. Look at me now, I'm shaking." Dark raised his hand, and he was indeed shaking. More violently than Rachel had ever seen before. Dark faced the front again, and again holding onto the armrest.

"Excuse me I gotta go." Morton said, climbing over Rachel, and heading back towards the toilets. Dark didn't notice… he seemed too transfixed on his fear. After a couple of minutes the plane jolted.

"We are experiencing some turbulence, would everyone please put on their seat belts." The captain said over the intercom. Dark seemed to read more into it and hear fear in his voice. The seat belt light came on. Dark's head tilted back, so his face was facing up, but his eyes were closed. The plane jolted again, far more violently this time.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Dark asked Rachel, opening his eyes and facing her as the plane jolted again.

"He went to the toilet." Rachel said, fear in her voice as the plane jolted again, constantly getting more violent.

"I'll keep you company until he gets back." Dark replied smiling. Just as he finished the sentence the back of the plane got ripped off with a huge jolt and tear. The rip was only two seats behind them, the toilets had disappeared. Oxygen masks dropped down Rachel put hers on, Dark did not. Dark undid his seat belt.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Rachel screamed at him.

"Like I told you, I'm the hero of this story!" Dark shouted back running at the gaping hole in the plane.

"Dark!" Rachel screamed as he allowed himself to be sucked out. The plane started to fall. Rachel screamed, crying. She whispered a little prayer to any god that would listen. The plane sped up, falling faster and faster. Rachel glanced back to see them falling towards a small island. She continued to cry as she faced forward again. The plane stopped without warning. Rachel glanced back to see Dark holding the plane in place. He flashed a smile and a shrug. He was rugby tackled in mid air by a man and the plane began to fall again. All Rachel could hear was screaming, it was getting louder and louder. Rachel looked back again to see the island coming up fast. They were going to miss it…

"Oh shit…" Rachel managed. She looked across the aisle to the window, seeing Dark smiling. He fell behind the plane again, and grabbed it. It was going so fast… she wasn't sure he was going to hold it. Rachel saw a blonde girl in a moderately tight white shirt and jeans fall past her, as she got to the bottom of the plane, she rolled and was next to Dark. They managed to slow the plane down. After the plane slowed down, the girl flew back into the plane. Dark moved the plane closer to the island and set it down on the island's beach.

It was after about half an hour later that in finally sank in. Most everyone on that plane was dead. Only Dark's friends were alive, Rachel had survived, her boyfriend hadn't. There were some adults, not many maybe six at most. Aside from that there was no one. No one else alive. One of the adults was in the army, another was a doctor. They almost had enough to survive… well, they had a doctor and someone who knew survival. Aside from that… they didn't have much. Rachel knelt on the beach, looking out to sea, her hands between her legs, hanging her head. She felt an arm wrap around her head, gently, and another around her torso, holding her close so she could feel the beating of the person's heart.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Dark whispered to her. A tear rolled down her face.

"Fear of flying huh?" Rachel asked between sobbed.

"Hey. Being in a plane is far scarier than flying off your own back. Planes are so flimsy and hard to control." Dark said, releasing her from his grasp and smiling weakly as Rachel looked at him. He got up and walked away to the rest of the survivors. The plane had crashed, everyone was cut or bruised, or in some way wounded, but Dark and the other girl who jumped out the plane were not.

"You guys okay?" Dark asked his friends, they all nodded, though they were all hurt in some way. "Well go into the undergrowth and Relina will heal you." Dark pointed to the area he wanted them to go. He looked around at the other survivors. One had a really badly wounded leg, she was crying with the pain. Dark noticed the wing about to fall on her. He ran over to her.

"Can you walk?" He asked her hastily.

"I don't think so…" She finished with a sharp intake of breath as her pain increased. "If the wing's going to fall you better get out from under it…" She said to Dark, a sad smile appearing.

"What and leave you here to be smushed? I don't think so." Dark replied, just as the wing fell down. He didn't want to risk moving her, because it would cause more harm than good at this stage. He was still looking at her as this was going through her head.

"You have to go now or you're going to die!" She screamed at him. Dark did not move he simply moved his hand up so it stopped the wing.

"It doesn't weight that much. I'd guess four hundred stone…" Dark said to her smiling. He pushed the wing weakly and it snapped off and went flying into the sea.

"Relina! Get over here!" Dark called out, taking off his white shirt, and tearing it down to make it into long makeshift bandages. "Now I'm not going to lie, this is going to sting a bit… or a lot depending on how much it wants to bleed." The girl nodded. He tied his shirt around her wound, stemming the blood flow.

"I'm bleeding to much… the artery in my leg must be severed. I'm going to die aren't I?" she asked him. "If I do, I welcome it. I haven't got anything left to live for anyway."

"No. You're not going to die. And I'll show you what you have to live for once my friend gets here. She'll be able to help. RELINA!" Dark shouted. Relina came out from the undergrowth, jogging over to Dark, her pleated skirt forcing her to keep a relatively slow pace.

"What is it?" Relina asked just as she noticed the wounded girl's leg.

"You have to use your healing ability… the artery in her leg is severed. You have to or she will die." Dark explained dismissing any doubts Relina might have had about using her powers in front of other people. Relina nodded and did as she was told. Dark had already run off.

"So what's your name?" the girl asked Relina.

"Relina. Yours?"

"Lori. How do you do that blue light trick?"

"Long story. I just can." Relina explained, not wanting to have to go into all the details of how she got her powers. Dark called her over to heal someone else.

"Relina you have to heal everyone while me and Karen try and figure out where we are. Okay?" Dark asked, Relina nodded, knowing full well what he meant. He was going to spend the time with her because that would give her a chance to flirt with him. But knowing Dark, he would give Relina and the other girls a chance to do it alone too. Dark took off, using all his speed. He flew into the air and stopped suddenly, being knocked down to Earth by some sort of field.

"Like… fucking… ow!" Dark shouted. Getting back up. "Well we aren't flying out of here. Karen help me search the island." Again he was off, with Karen in tow.

"So what do you think happened on the plane?" Karen asked, leaning forward while running, with her arms behind her. Dark was in the same position.

"To be honest? I think Light Sun attacked the plane, and smashed it up, knowing we'd have to make a crash land here, which is when he activated the field, holding us in here. He's somewhere on this Island I'll bet, waiting for us to try and take the control from him, so we can deactivate that field and get out of here." Dark explained, moving closer and further away to avoid the trees.

"Sounds like a viable possibility." Karen said, simply thinking out loud while she calculated the variables. She came to the same conclusion… it was pretty much the only viable possibility. "Dark?"

"Yeah Karen?"

"Are we ever going to get off this island?" Dark smiled at Karen's question.

"Of course we are."

"I don't really care… as long as I'm with you. You see Dark I think I love you…" Karen said slowly, slowing to a stop. Dark did a quick U-turn and stopped about a foot in front of Karen.

"I've heard that before and it got me no where. So I'm not going to go on that alone."

"What do I have to do?" Karen asked him, silently willing him to set the hardest task he could so she could accomplish it and prove to him.

"You have to prove it." Dark whispered.

"How do I do that?"

"You have to figure that out." And he was gone. Karen ran off in the direction Dark had, she guessed it was this direction because the plant life was damaged, and there was dust settling. She only jogged so not as to jar her legs as badly as she would have done running full speed.

Dark came bursting out the underbrush to see most of the survivors gathered round something, he couldn't make out what. He went over to see what it was.

"Yo! MOVE!" Dark shouted at them, they did as they were told. Relina was lying on the floor. Her breathing was shallow. She looked weaker than Dark had ever seen her. He bent over her… immediately knowing what had happened.

"Dark what happened to her?" Leinad asked.

"She had a brown out…" Dark said, knowing they wouldn't understand.

"What's that?" Paula asked.

"It's when all the psychic power is drained from someone, their brain shuts down, a lot like a black out. Just, not." Dark explained. "It hurts like hell. Or so I think."

"Will she be okay?" Liandra asked. Dark nodded.

"She'll be fine. She'll wake up in maybe ten minutes with a headache, nothing more. But we're still stuck here and still have wounded. I want you guys to go and find anything of use… bandages… food… water… hunting tools… that's about it. Get some of the other survivors to help if needed." Dark ordered. His friends ran off… just as Relina came to.

"Hey beautiful." Dark said softly. Relina shifted slightly into a more comfortable position, he eyes still almost closed, and her head lop-sided as she smiled a small, delicate smile.

"Hello… ooo… my head hurts." Relina managed. Dark smiled, brushing some of her hair off of her face.

"Yeah it will for an hour or two." Dark explained. He leaned down and kissed her lightly. "You'll be fine. Next time… give your psychic power time to replenish it's self. That's what caused your brown out." Relina nodded in response to Dark.

"I take it we're still on the Island?" Relina asked. Dark nodded, looking at the floor. "Don't worry… you'll get us off of this Island… I know you will."

"I might be able to… but there won't be a rescue crew… see I figured out where we were supposed to be… we're about three thousand miles from where we are supposed to be… looks like some one was jamming the positioning equipment on board. Someone who wanted us to escape as opposed to be found." Dark smiled one of his sad smiles. Although they attempted to fill you with happiness, they would cut into you like the venom of sadness, slowly sapping your strength until you had nothing left to fight the sadness with and it over took you. Dark took off his shirt, well what was left of it, and folded into a bundle, putting it under Relina's head.

"Now you stay here… I need to go and help these people." Dark pointed out. He ran over to the fuselage, and found his suitcase; he got out another top, closed the suitcase and brought it over to Relina, along with the rest of his groups bags. "Look after these." And with that, Dark was off… pulling apart the fuselage and putting it back together in the shape of a small building. With doors and everything. Relina smiled. Dark's ability to switch off his emotions, but still use them to fuel his logic and reasoning astounded her. It seemed like he could do anything. She knew he couldn't, but it felt good to think he could. It gave Relina a sense of security. After he had finished building the 'house' he came back over to Relina.

"Well that's shelter dealt with. It's not welded together or anything… but it's better than nothing. It'll at least protect us from rain, and wind to a degree." Dark smiled. Relina didn't really know why, but she was smiling. Her head was thumping, so Relina put her hand to her head as if it would take the pain away. It didn't. Relina let a small moan escape her lips. She sat up. She got a very ominous feeling… something was going to go very wrong. Dark was herding the people into the shelter. She saw why… huge black clouds were rolling very fast towards the island. They had a minute, perhaps two. Dark was next to Relina before she knew, just as he arrived, her eyes went blue. She saw the makeshift shelter collapsing. She could hear people screaming. After she came out the Trance like state she entered every time she had a vision she explained to Dark what she saw.

"Well that sucks…" Dark said with little emotion. Relina got up and ran over to the shelter knocking on it so as to check it was strong enough. As she did so she felt it wobble.

"KAREN! NOW HELP! The other survivors are in trouble!" Dark screamed into his Com-Watch. Within in seconds Dark and Karen were inside grabbing people and pulling them out. Just as Dark grabbed the last girl, the entire shelter collapsed on them. People were screaming. One mother shouted the girls name but Karen couldn't make it out. Someone had just died… an innocent person. But Dark wouldn't let that happen… would he? She couldn't think straight as Dark pushed part of the shelter off of himself, to reveal the girl underneath him. She was crying lightly, she didn't seem to understand what had just happened. Dark lifted her up, as you would a baby, and carried her to her mother, handing the little girl over.

"We thought we'd lost her." Karen said to Dark as he walked over.

"Nah. I think to fast to let that happen." He smiled. He was incredible… they were in a situation that could very well turn out to be life or death and he could still smile. No matter what he seemed to smile, even if he didn't feel it on the inside. Relina came over to them.

"Dark… I've got a bad feeling about this… you wouldn't have let people into that shelter if you didn't think it was going to hold… I think there was some tampering done with it." Relina explained. Dark knew what she was talking about. He had a similar feeling his instincts were telling him something was going to go wrong.

"Hello Dark. How are you?" Shouted the cold chilling voice that could only be one person. As Dark turned around, his suspicions were confirmed. There was Light Sun. He had one of the survivors over his shoulder.

"Let her go." Dark shouted at Light Sun. Dark took a step forward and tensed himself ready to fly at Light Sun.

"Oh I wouldn't do that. If you do I'll snap this lovely girl in two." Light Sun laughed at Dark. The twenty something year old let out a very loud audible sob.

"What do you want?" Dark asked him.

"Oh just to piss you off." Light Sun mockingly said. Taking the girl off his shoulder and snapping her in two, dropping her lifeless body. Dark shot forward and grabbed the girl's body then flew up at Light Sun.

"I'm going to kill you!" Dark screamed at Light Sun swinging his fist. Light Sun grabbed it.

"I don't think so." Light Sun whispered, throwing Dark into the sand. As Dark got up, he powered up to Shadow, and flew and Light Sun. Light Sun dodged every blow, and Dark realised why, it was Sun Immor, not Light Sun.

"Can you control your Immor?" Dark asked Light Sun mockingly.

"Yes… but you can't." Light Sun laughed in reply, and Dark suddenly realised what he'd done… his emotions had got the better of him, and since he was using Shadow's powers… Shadow would easily get into his mind. Dark bent over double, holding his head and screaming. When he stopped screaming, and became straight again, there was a great evil in his eyes.

"I'm back!" Shadow shouted. Grabbing Sun by the throat. "And guess what?" Shadow whispered menacingly in Sun's ear. "I'm more powerful than you." Shadow squeezed Sun's neck very tightly and flew into the floor, using Sun as a shield. Sun was fighting all the way, using ever ounce of his strength to try and get Shadow off. He failed. Sun's eyesight went blurry, and his face was burning as his body rushed blood to his head trying to get more oxygen to his brain. Sun felt his body going limp. He couldn't move… his body was shutting down… everything was going black. He had only one hope, to force as much energy out his neck and down Shadow's arm as possible. He tried it. Though it made Shadow seize up and feel tremendous pain, he did not stop squeezing. Sun gave up… he had been defeated. Just as he did, he felt his neck lose pressure, and he could breathe again. He took big gulps of air trying to refresh his body. Within a couple of minutes he had all feeling back and was ready to fight. He looked up to see Shadow and Balance fighting. She had saved him… why? They were enemies… though it looked now as if they had a common, more dangerous enemy. Sun flew up and attacked Shadow. Who had been easily fending off Balance. He seemed to be easily defending against both of his adversaries. He stopped. Relina was holding him.

"Hmm. Easy." Shadow said, merely tensing his muscles and smashing the shield. Relina fell over. Shadow punched Balance in the face, launching her at Relina… if she hit Relina; Relina would almost certainly be killed. Sun flew after Karen, wrapping his arms around her, and stopping her.

"Thanks…" Balance said.

"No problem… but we still have to deal with Sha…" was all Sun could manage before Shadow firmly planted his fist into Sun's jaw. Sun went flying, and Balance was only just quick enough to bring her arms into a cross shape in front of her chest as Shadow's fist hit the point where her arms crossed. She used everything she had to try and stop Shadow's fist breaking through. She tried everything she could, but Shadow was holding her where she was with force fields. Shadow suddenly was pulled down and into the floor by Sun. Balance took a moment to regain herself. 'How can we win this? We're both Immors and yet he's still more powerful than us…' She though to herself. 'He's like a fucking god… but we have to try and protect these people… with any luck he'll wear himself out.' With that she flew at Shadow putting all the force she could into her fist and aiming for the back of Shadow's head, who had his back to Balance. Sun noticed this without letting it on and kept Shadow busy, just as her fist was about to strike Shadow, Sun was launched off him at a speed unseen by anyone, and Shadow turned around grabbed Balance's fist in an iron grip, and tilted his head to the side. He looked much like a child, and true fear seeped its way into Balance. He looked so innocent, so kind, but he was going to kill her. The true evil that lay within Shadow Immor had been awakened by the fact Sun had pushed Dark over the edge. 'Wait a minute that's it! Shadow's emotions! They are what's fuelling his power… but how can we stop him feeling emotions… Relina… she might be able to force her way into his mind and cut them off. Then he'll become a normal Immor!'

"Relina! Try and cut off Shadow's powers using your link thi…" a crunch could be heard as Shadow smashed his fist into Balance's jaw, throwing her towards the ground. Relina had heard all she needed. Relina started 'mind-hacking' if you like. She was forcing her way into Shadow's mind. She used everything she had searching his mind for the place where his emotions were running from. She couldn't find it. It was impossible… unless he had anticipated this and was defending himself. Which he probably was doing as he thought as fast, if not faster than the other two. Sun and Balance were trying to distract Shadow as Relina made another attack. It still wasn't working. She couldn't get inside his mind, not anymore. It was like he'd put an iron curtain around his mind. There was no getting in. Relina didn't think he would be able to keep up the iron curtain for long… but she didn't think that she would be able to hold up as long. As she was contemplating what would happen if this didn't work, she saw a weakness. Dark was still awake somewhere inside Shadow's mind. If Relina could find him, they could stop Shadow. She found him. He was in a cage. Battered. Bruised. Broken. There was no real emphasis in his movements as he stood up and went to the entrance. He pointed to a key on the wall. Relina opened the door. Dark fell into her arms. He was weak… she took some of the water on the table next to her and gave it to Dark.

"Where do your emotions come from?" Relina asked him softly. Dark tapped his head with his fore finger. "Inside you? Inside your mind?" Relina asked. Dark barely managed a nod as his head lolled over Relina's shoulder. "How do I shut off Shadow's emotions?" Relina asked Dark. He managed to move his head in such a way that he could but his fingers to his head in the shape of a gun, and used his hands to give the impression of shooting a gun into his head. Giving the impression Relina should kill him.

"Dark you know I can't do that… I love you… killing you would be…" Relina failed to say the words.

"Merciful. Besides I'll come back, I'm just a representation. You have to." Dark finished for her, explaining at the same time. "You have to." Dark pointed to a gun on the table, the same place the water was. Relina took the gun. Aimed for Dark's head. He gave one of his sad smiles, and she pulled the trigger. Dark's brains splattered all up the wall, and blood and bone splayed all over the back wall of the room. It was the most horrific thing Relina had ever seen… her one love, dead. His already broken, bruised and battered body, now lifeless. Relina let the tears come. She didn't have anything to fight them back even if she wanted to. Relina fell to the floor, her energy, her will, it was spent. Everything was spent. For the first time she looked around. It was a damp dark and dreary place. Shadow's mind was not a place anyone would want to live. As she looked at it, it started to shift and change. She felt herself get thrown out of Shadow's mind, back into her own body, which was in the same position as her mental projection was. She could see Shadow screaming, holding his head. He turned around and looked at Relina, fire in his eyes. An evil that she had seen so many times before, but it still unsettled her. He charged at her, his fist raised, in an attack that would surely kill her. He swung down his fist. And it was over.

Chapter 19 - Failure

Relina felt Shadow's hand fly past her ear and wrap around her body, his other arm followed suit. Shadow was hugging Relina. But it didn't feel right.

"Thank you." Dark said. Now she knew what was wrong, the hug was too kindly, too much like someone who liked her, or loved her. She hugged Dark back. He was safe again. He suddenly was forced into her, he let out a cry of pain. Sun had punched him in the back. Relina used her shield to try and protect him, but to no avail. She had saved his life now he was going to be taken from her again. Sun picked up Dark by the neck and started squeezing. Dark's legs began to twitch as he began to try and get Sun off of him. After a while he stopped fighting, at this moment Balance's foot smashed into Sun's jaw. He went flying and Dark fell to the floor, trying to breathe, breathing hard and fast.

"Thanks." Dark coughed, grabbing Balance's leg and pulling it out from underneath her, making her fall to the floor as Sun flew over her with a huge amount of force.

"Thanks." Balance said, blocking another attack from Sun, and throwing him over herself using her legs. Right into the group of survivors. Dark was up and running as soon as Sun had been flung. Just as Sun hit the floor, Dark reached the group of survivors. One of which was being crushed by Sun.

"Sun… stop! You don't need to do this." Dark screamed at him, stopping.

"You're wrong Dark. I do." Sun said with evil in his voice, and he crushed the survivor. He then began to kill the others. Dark screamed at him to stop but he wouldn't. And Dark couldn't stop him. When there were perhaps three other survivors aside from Dark's friends, Sun stopped.

"There. A little incentive to let me do what the fuck I want to you and everyone. Got it?" Sun shouted into Dark's face. Dark nodded in a solemn and defeated way. He couldn't do anything… Sun had won this time. He had failed. Sun disappeared, he flew or ran, Dark didn't look nor did he care. He just knelt there, staring at the ground. Relina walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Dark?" She asked softly.

"I've failed." He said harshly.

"No you haven't." Relina started.

"YES. I HAVE. I'VE FUCKING FAILED." He cut off, again harshly. He didn't look up, Relina knelt beside him.

"No. Dark you haven't."

"You don't get it do you? It's my job to look after those people and I couldn't. That means I've failed." Dark shouted into Relina's face, tears running down his cheeks. Relina hugged Dark trying to comfort him, he didn't move. After what felt like an eternity, but was barely a minute, Dark got up and walked off. Relina got up and watched him walk into the undergrowth. Karen ran after him, but Relina blocked her path with her arm.

"No. He needs to sort himself out." Relina explained.

"But who's going to lead us? He's the only one who knows anything about survival!" Karen snapped.

"I'm not fit to lead anyone. Sort it out amongst yourselves. I'm a failure… you shouldn't be looking to me to help you." Dark said, barely more than a whisper.

"But we need you!" Karen shouted.

"No you don't… no one needs me…" Dark replied, his tone depressing.

"Well we need your powers then!" Karen shouted back.

"I didn't ask to be given these powers! If I had my way, I'd still be a lonely sixteen year old boy who no one likes!" Dark screamed at them.

"So you wouldn't want to have met us?" Relina answered, speaking up for the first time in the last couple of minutes.

"I didn't mean that… oh fucking hell… I'm such a fuck up." Dark said, before he ran off. Karen reached out as if to catch him, but Relina's arm just strengthened. Karen resigned. Dark had gone off… they had to look after themselves. The only problem is, Dark was the only one who knew about living on his own, and as such was the only one who could possibly truly help them. Without him they were lost. Karen looked at what she had to deal with. There was Relina, Eliza, Paula, Leinad, Liandra, Sahil and three other survivors. One of them was called Rachel, another Lori, the last one, a guy. Karen went over to talk to him.

"Hey I'm Karen… what's your name?" Karen asked him in a sweet voice.

"Lawrence. What's going to happen to us?" He asked… fear obvious in his voice. He had an Australian accent, and blonde hair with sky blue eyes. Karen didn't like boys who had light coloured eyes and hair like hers. She liked the darker hair, and darker eyes. She thought the boy was cute… but needed darker hair and eyes to be almost perfect, well physically at least.

"We'll be fine. Don't worry as long as we work together we'll be alright." Karen said with a smile, and although Lawrence couldn't see it, there was a great sadness behind that smile, for Karen knew without Dark, they wouldn't be fine. For some reason Dark was like a glue, no matter who you were, if he was around you could find yourself working with your worst enemy. He could bring out the good in people, even if he couldn't bring it out in himself. Karen began to walk back over to the group. A gunshot rolled out of the trees, it was close and so Karen was off into the woods. She found Dark as another gunshot went off, and another, and another. And to her horror she saw the gun was at Dark's head, and he was holding it. The bullets weren't going through him, or even penetrating his skin, but he kept firing until there were no more rounds in the magazine. He fell to his knees, Karen could hear him crying, but instead of moving forward she hid in the bushes at the edge of the clearing, watching him. He snapped the gun in two as if it was paper and threw the bits at the trees. He put his head in his hands and his hands to the ground. Crying into the ground and screaming. He only stopped screaming when his voice gave out. He started punching the ground, sending the sand flying up into the air. He started punching the ground. He went almost psychotic trying to hurt himself, and as the last thing didn't work, he got angrier and angrier. He was smashing rocks and snapping trees as if they were beans and twigs. Dark got more and more worked up, and Karen got more and more scared as she began to see what he was capable of. He was more dangerous now than he had ever been, as Shadow or not. Dark eventually stopped, worn out. He took out another pistol, and brought it up to his head. As he did Karen got full view of it. It was the pistol designed to kill him. Karen ran forward and took the pistol from him just before he pulled the trigger.

"What do you think you're doing?" Karen screamed at him.

"Ending this now. If I die then Light Sun will go away, his mission will be completed and you can fight off the aliens. And those people will be safe because Light Sun won't be killing them to get to me. Now give me the gun." Dark commanded. Karen shook her head, beginning to cry.

"Give me the fucking gun!" Dark shouted at her. Karen bent double as she backed away from Dark, her face was still forward as she cried, she was shaking her as she walked backwards, holding the gun tightly to her chest.

"Give me the fucking gun now!" Dark shouted, walking over to Karen menacingly. Karen backed into a tree, and stood upright, looking into the ground to her left.

"Give me the fucking gun bitch, NOW!" Dark screamed in her face, his hand out for the gun. Karen shook her head.

"You'll have to kill me to get it." Karen said between sobs, her voice barely above a whisper. Dark put his hand on the gun. He pulled on it gently, but Karen's grip tightened.

"Come on Karen. Give me the gun." Dark said, softly. Karen made a muffled 'uh-uh' sound, and shook her head.

"Just give me the fucking gun!" He screamed in Karen's face. He punched the tree behind she was leaning against, missing her head by no more than two millimetres. The tree snapped into two and the part above Dark's fist flew off, the part below just shook violently. Loosing Karen's grip enough for Dark to take the gun and point at his head. He backed away before Karen could move.

"Don't move! Or I'll pull the trigger!" Dark said. Karen took the gun off him before he knew what was going on and aimed it at her own head. She took a few steps back from him.

"No… stay back Dark or I'll pull the trigger." Karen warned. "You don't want to be responsible for another death do you now Dark?" Dark took a step closer to Karen, and she took a step back in response.

"By the fact your heart rate has sky rocketed, you're sweating, and the way your hand is shaking, I reckon there's about a… ooo let's be generous, two percent chance you'll pull that trigger." Dark commented. Dark took a step closer. And he was right… Karen knew there was no way she was going to pull that trigger. Suddenly the gun wasn't in her hand. The gun was at Dark's head. Karen was crying harder than she ever had before, and went to grab the gun, as she did, Dark grabbed her by the throat, lifted her off the floor and started squeezing her neck. She couldn't breathe.

"Before you ask I'm not Shadow, I am Dark. And I'm not going to kill you. I'm only going to cut your oxygen off until you fall unconscious so you can't interfere with my suicide." Dark explained. Karen could see it in his eyes… it WAS Dark… and he was killing her. Karen could feel her face going red as her body rushed the last of her oxygen to her head.

"Dark… I need you." Karen managed in a hoarse whisper… using up the last of her air. She felt Dark's grip soften and she fell to the floor. She spluttered. On her knees.

"What did you say?" Dark screamed at her.

"I need you… I need you so badly… I need you to be with me… to hold me… to make me feel loved." Karen explained, pouring out her emotions.

"What do you mean?" Dark screamed, grabbing the back of Karen's head and violently tilting her back.

"I want to be your girlfriend." Karen coughed. Dark threw her face into the floor.

"And what you say that and make it all better? You think that will make it all go away? Well? Huh?" Dark said savagely.

"Obviously not." Karen said, spitting out some sand. Dark picked her up and flung her into some trees. The trees broke with the force. Karen fell to the floor face first. Dark put his foot onto the back of her head… then stopped.

"What have I done?" Dark asked himself, covering his mouth with his hand. It was as if he hadn't realised what he'd been doing. "I'm so sorry… that was inexcusable…" Dark explained taking his foot of Karen's head, allowing her to sit up properly. Karen shook her head.

"It's okay." Karen assured Dark. Dark shook his head.

"No it isn't. If it was okay… I wouldn't feel this bad." Dark explained. Dark sat down next to her.

"I thought you broke that gun?" Karen indicated the Adoshw gun.

"No, only dismantled it." Dark explained. He had his knees in line with his shoulders, and his arms resting on his knees, with the gun in his left hand.

"You left handed then?" Karen asked. Dark shook his head.

"Ambidextrous but left hand dominant." Dark explained.

"Ooh big words." Karen joked. Dark smiled. Karen lent over and kissed him on the cheek. As she pulled away he pulled her into a passionate kiss. They fell over so Karen was lying on top of Dark. His hands were resting on her bum, and Karen's hands were running up Dark's shirt. Every few seconds Dark squeezed his hands, and Karen would lightly tickle Dark's ribs. After a minute, Dark's left arm was wrapped around Karen's waist, and his right hand was running it's fingers through the hair on the back of Karen's head. Karen's hands found their way into Dark's jeans, and round to the back of his boxer shorts. He stopped kissing her for a moment.

"I don't want this to end." Dark whispered. "I mean the way you're touching me now, they way you look, the way you don't want this to end but you know it must." Karen nodded in response.

"I don't want it to end either." Karen whispered in Dark's ear. Nibbling it slightly as she pulled back. Dark ran his fingers up Karen's spine. Her back arched. A low moan escaped her lips. Dark's left hand went into Karen's jeans and past her underwear to find her bum, and he squeezed it as he ran his fingers up and down her spine. She lay still on top of Dark, her head resting on his collarbone. She began to play with the part of Dark's shirt that was over his nipple. Dark squeezed Karen's bottom. She looked at him, as if to ask him why.

"Hey if you get to play with my shirt, then I get to play with this." Dark said, giving Karen's bum another squeeze. He kissed her lightly on the lips, stalling for a moment before breaking off.

"I'm really sorry for exploding at you… are you okay?" Dark asked, the concern pouring out more than his voice. Karen nodded.

"I am now." She replied.

"That's cute. Very cute." Dark smiled. He kissed her softly on the top of her head. Karen's legs opened so that they were on either side of Dark's hips. She smiled at Dark, who had a look on his face as if he didn't know what was going on. She flashed him another smile to reassure him and then started moving her hips backwards and forwards. His hands went under her shirt and onto her stomach, lightly tickling it as Karen's hands rubbed his torso. Karen couldn't help but let out a giggle. Her body was still reciprocating. Dark was still tickling her, until he stopped. She looked at him as if to ask him why.

"Because I haven't earned it yet. I need to earn it. Wait until I get you off the island. Then… maybe then I will feel like I've earned it." Dark explained. Dark seemed to sense Karen's disappointment, although she wasn't really trying to hide it.

"I'll get us off the island soon. And, I just want to say thanks. You helped a lot… and I'm sorry… I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. And before you say it was okay, it wasn't. And it never will be. So don't try and excuse my actions." Dark explained to her. Karen lay back down on him, and began playing with his shirt again. He began to play with her hair.

Chapter 20 - Shield Breaker

"Where's what's left of the water?" Lori screamed at Relina.

"I'm holding on it, so we don't waste it. We don't know how long we're going to be here. Call it foresight." Relina replied.

"I'm thirsty, you didn't let me have enough water! I need some more!" Lori shouted again. This time slapping Relina. Relina went to slap Lori but someone's hand stopped her.

"No fighting. Not now. We have to be unified. So. I want some of you to collect water, one of you to look after the wounded, a couple to look for berries to eat. We should be home before dinner… but just in case." Dark explained. Dark flashed one of his smiles that let you know you were going to be okay. "Karen, could I talk to Balance I need her help in something."

"Sure…" Karen said, powering herself up to the redheaded warrior.

"What ya want?" Balance asked in a mock American accent.

"Energy bolt at the sun please." Dark asked.

"Erm… okay…" Balance replied thoughtfully. Before charging up a bolt of red energy and flinging it at the sun. It hit the shield and bounced back at Balance.

"Take four steps to the left." Dark whispered to Balance, who did as she was told, just as the energy ball was about to hit the ground Dark stepped in the way. He got blown into the floor. After the dust and debris settled Dark was lying there, legs together and arms bent so his forearms were parallel to his sides. He spat some sand out.

"Oh I'm so sorry… I didn't realise you were going to stand there." Balance quickly said, trying to apologise for something that was not her fault.

"It's fine, but you should stop apologising for things that are not your fault. I intended to do that entirely. I need to judge how much energy was put back in the bolt so I can figure out how much energy is needed to break the shield." Dark had put on the accent of an eccentric sixty year old Englishman for his little explanation.

"You put… maybe… two million joules behind it… it would have lost about four mega joules…" his voice trailed off… which had returned to normal, but it surprisingly wasn't very different. Dark began mumbling to himself. "Okay I'd guess it needs about three million kilojoules to smash through it." Dark finally said. "And we should be able to do that, if I use Balance as a rocket launcher, if you like. She has to throw me with all her force, straight at the field, then I should be able to break through." Dark explained.

"Erm… okay." Balance said. She picked up Dark, spun around four times gathering more and more speed each second until she released Dark and flung him at the field. He smashed through, the entire shield flashed red, then disappeared. Dark allowed a huge smile to cross his face.

"See a told ya!" Dark laughed to them. "Now come on… let's get these people out of here." Dark flew back to the ground and lifted up Relina and Rachel. "Where you headed Rachel?"

"Home. Back to England." Dark nodded.

"You coming Lori?" Dark asked. Lori nodded. "Then grab a leg. You too Eliza." Both girls did as asked, and Karen picked up Lawrence and was gone. In a couple of minutes she was back. She picked up Liandra and Paula. Leinad grabbed one of her legs and Sahil grabbed the other.

"Ready?" Dark asked. Everyone nodded or made a gesture to say yes. "Race you home." Dark's eyes lit up mischievously. Karen nodded as they shot off. And within in mere minutes they touched down outside the I.D.I headquarters, after dropping Lori and Rachel off at their relevant houses.

"Well that was a holiday to remember." Dark said. A smile appearing on his face, before promptly disappearing.

"What's wrong?" Relina asked.

"All our stuff's still on the island…" Dark said. "Karen, come with me, I'm going to need a hand." With that they shot off again. It took about half an hour in total, but they managed to drop all the suitcases of them to their correct owners. "Well there we go. All are stuff, well at least the stuff that didn't get torn and ripped and turned into bandages. And I really liked that shirt." Dark's tone was comical, he was trying to life the mood.

"What about the people that died?" Relina asked.

"They died in the crash. There was nothing we could do to save them." Dark said. Though this lie was blatant, and the others had agreed it was for the best, it still didn't sit right with Dark that he couldn't save them.

It was a couple of days later and everyone had chilled. Dark was still a bit off about the deaths. He'd barely been out his room. Karen and Relina were both getting worried about him. Relina knocked on Dark's door, it opened, on Dark's command, and Relina entered. Dark was just lying down, facing away from her, towards the wall.

"Haven't you moved since we got back?" Relina asked, concern filling her tone. Dark didn't answer. "Dark this isn't good for you… you need some social interaction. Look everyone else is at school; it's just you and me for the day. What do you want to do?" Again, Dark did not answer. "Dark stop moping around! Why are you doing this to yourself?" Relina's voice was almost a shout.

"Because I couldn't… I couldn't save them, with all my powers, I couldn't save those people." Dark's voice was slow, his tone deliberate.

"You shouldn't beat yourself up about it, you couldn't have saved them. You have your powers for a reason."

"I didn't ask for these powers! I didn't ask for the responsibility! I didn't ask for any of this! I was quite happy the way I was! I didn't care and neither did anyone else!" Dark shouted back at Relina, cutting her off.

"You're right, you didn't ask for the powers or any of it. But now you have them. What are you going to do about it? Let the deaths of a few people lead to the deaths of hundreds more? We can't protect the planet without you Dark! We need you! I need you!" Relina shouted at him.

"You have Karen to protect the planet. You don't need me." Dark replied.

"Maybe the I.D.I don't anymore, but I do…" Relina said appealing to Dark's sentimental and caring side.

"Why do you need me?" Dark asked. Relina knew he was kind of doing it for the ego trip but played along anyway.

"Because when I'm with you I feel safe, you're the only person left I can trust, the only man left in my life." Relina replied, she fell into Dark's chest, her hands on her collarbone. Dark's hands went to catch her but missed and were left with his fore arms parallel to the floor for a couple of seconds, twitching slightly before he closed them around her, his grip firm, and soft. Loving and protecting. Relina allowed her eyes to close and her mind to wander in Dark's grip. She opened her hand so her fingers ran up Dark's t-shirt, and she tried to tickle him through his shirt, but to no avail. He rested his head on hers, and she smiled. A small tear trickled down Relina's cheek. Dark kissed her head softly. Relina allowed herself a smile. The tear dropped off of Relina's chin, Dark caught it mid air.

"Upset?" Dark asked, knowing full well that Relina wasn't. Relina shook her head. Dark smiled weakly.

"What's wrong?" Relina asked him.

"For my entire life I wanted this… I just need to think. I'm going for a walk." Dark explained before leaving. Relina was left standing there… wondering where Dark was going. It began to rain heavily. Relina couldn't think where he was going, unless he was going to go for a walk in the rain. Which knowing Dark he might do. It would clear his head.

Dark went out the front door and out from underneath the canopy of plastic sheets. The rain was hard, like bits of rock hitting Dark, hard. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back slightly. The night air was cool, and Dark allowed his arms to rise up so he looked like a cross with his palms facing the sky. After a minute he stopped and began walking. Walking through the rain was like walking through a brick wall. Dark just hunched over slightly, the rain matting his short light brown hair to his head. His white shirt had gone see through by the time he got to the motorway that ran through town.

"God… why did you lumber me with this? Huh? What did I do to deserve this?" Dark said, hoping someone up above was listening. "I don't need this… I was barely making it through life as it was and now you lumber me with all this? What sort of God are you anyway? I could have made it through life… but no… you had to get me saving the world. I need to decide my own destiny! I don't need you… not anymore… not after all this."

"But I gave you friends to help you. I gave you powers. I gave you everything, I am not going to try and control you, but before you go, just think what I've given you." a voice in the back of Dark's head said.

"God?"

"Yes, I thought maybe you could use a little special attention since you seem to think you've missed out on it."

"Well why did you do all this?"

"Because your planet was in grave danger, I worked for six days on building you, I wasn't about to let that all get smashed because some other creatures I made got annoyed and wanted another planet."

"Maybe you're right." Dark replied. But the voice was silent. Dark continued to walk. He was on the halfway part of the motorway. Dark sat there for a while, thinking. After about ten minutes, he got up and continued walking. Maybe God did know what was best. Maybe God could look after him.

"Okay God. I tell you what. You give me a sign of good will. I surrender to your will!" Dark shouted at the top of his voice.

"Dark? Is that you?" Dark recognised Karen's voice.

"Yeah it's me." Dark replied.

"You must be freezing!"

"Nah… I'm not." Dark replied, although his teeth were chattering and he felt like he'd been living on the North Pole for the last sixteen years. Karen wrapped her coat round him anyway, which forced them to get very close.

"We really should stop meeting like this." Dark pointed out, the rain matting Karen's hair to her head as she nodded. Karen buried her face into Dark's chest, either trying to warm him up, or warm herself up. Dark suspected the latter.

"We need to go back." Karen pointed out.

"No. We don't." Dark replied.

"We do or we'll freeze do death."

"I don't care right now." Dark replied.

"Why not?" Karen asked, though in reality she knew the answer. "You haven't got over those other people's deaths yet have you?" Dark shook his head in a reply. "Why can't you get over it? The rest of us did!"

"The rest of you weren't supposed to protect them." Dark pointed out. Karen couldn't think what to say. Dark had her on the ropes. And he knew it. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I should just forget about them. And their families and all the others who will miss them." Karen was shocked that he was appealing to her nurturing side. They both knew it was working.

"Yes you should." Karen replied, trying to convince herself more than Dark.

"You're trying to convince yourself, not me." Dark pointed out, Karen was so taken aback that she stepped away right into the road. "Come out the road… now." Karen stepped so she was about a foot away from Dark, but off the road. "Before you ask, I knew that because we think alike because of our intelligence."

"I know. We should still get back." Karen pointed out. The rain seemed to be beating down harder and harder by the second.

"Yeah we should. But do you really want to? It's raining! This is the most cleansing thing that you will ever experience!" Dark explained. Raising his arms as he did earlier and spinning on the spot.

"But I think…" Karen started

"Don't think! That's the problem! The I.D.I are too busy thinking!" Dark said as he stopped spinning came right up to Karen.

"Don't think, Feel." Dark said, pointing to Karen's heart.

"Well I feel…"

"No you don't… you're just worried what the cold is doing to me. I assure you, I've stayed out a hell of a lot longer than this and been fine. And in a hell of a lot colder. And I wasn't enhanced." Dark smiled, continuing his circles from earlier. "Come on! Join in!" Karen shrugged and copied Dark. It was fun, Karen couldn't deny it. In fact, it was more fun than she ever remembered having. They had managed to spin into a field, and Karen was the first to fall over. As soon as he heard her fall, he stopped spinning and went to check on her.

"Karen are you okay?" Dark asked.

"Yes…" Karen replied not able to hold back her laughter. The rain was still pounding down so Dark moved his body so it was close to hers, but protecting her from the rain. She smiled.

"Time to get back." Dark said. Karen nodded and the ran back, both going at their top speed, Mach 100, thankfully they didn't set off a sonic boom and they arrived in seconds. As they lent against the wall under the plastic sheet canopy, they laughed.

"Where have you been?" Relina asked coming out of the building, anger in her voice. Karen turned around to look at her, and Dark looked over Karen.

"We went for a walk. A problem with that?" Karen asked.

"No… I just thought something might have happened you were out there for a good few hours. I was worried." Relina replied.

"I'll leave you two to talk…" Dark said quickly heading in. Karen and Relina just held each other's gaze for a moment.

"Trying to hit on Dark again?" Relina asked, not bothering to hide the anger that wanted to come.

"No I was worried about him too. I just wanted to know he wasn't going to do anything stupid." Karen replied.

"He doesn't need you to protect him!" Relina shot.

"And he needs you?" Karen shot back.

"No he needs me." Eliza shouted, coming out the building.

"What? Yeah right. How are you going to make him happy?" Relina asked, folding her arms.

"Because I care about him. I might not have super powers, but I don't want him to get hurt anymore than you do. I don't know what I'd do if Dark died." Eliza explained.

"Maybe you should stop fighting over him, and help him?" Leinad pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Karen asked, though as she said it she knew what he meant.

"I mean Dark isn't good at making decisions where his emotions are involved. He's never really had to do it before. Now he's being flooded with love and he's trying to give it back, but every time he does, one of you has a go at him for doing so. He can't make this sort of decision. He hasn't grown up emotionally yet. You girls keep pulling him in all directions, he can't have all of you, and he knows this, but he can't choose one of you because he cares about the others. But be careful, because if you all go into him and say 'choose one of the others, you deserve better than me' or something to that effect, then he'll A)Know something's up, and B)Won't be able to handle losing you all. I just thought I'd let you know." Leinad pointed out. He was right. They were too busy wrapped up in themselves to worry about what this was psychologically doing to Dark. They'd forgotten he wasn't the normal teenage guy who want's girls running after him, he doesn't even know love, and they were trying to force themselves on him. Leinad went back inside the building, leaving them to contemplate it.

"I think we screwed up." Relina said, the other two nodded.

"Yeah we did." Paula said coming out of the building. "Sorry I was kind of listening in."

"What are we going to do?" Eliza asked. "We all care for Dark, but can't do that because it'll psychologically destroy him. But we can't leave him because we get the same outcome. This is a tough decision."

"Yeah. It is." Dark said, they all turned to see him leaning his shoulder against the wall. He had changed his shirt, and his jeans were slightly different too, newer, as were his trainers. His necklace hadn't changed. It was still the necklace he'd been wearing for as long as any of them had known him. The black string with a pendant that looked like a demonic angel, though exceptionally simple. It was an odd sort of shape.

"I've been listening in since Leinad gave you the advice. And although he's right, he's wrong too. I may not be able to handle it, and I wouldn't be able to handle you all suddenly stopping caring for me, I still need you to care for me, all of you. Just don't get so annoyed if I'm with one of the others." Dark explained.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say, I'm sorry, we didn't mean to pull you in all directions. I love you, I don't know about the others but I do, and I don't want to hurt you, so I'm willing to try it." Relina said looking at the floor. All the other girls made some sort of acknowledgment, and Dark threw Karen a towel.

"You'll freeze out here. Go have a warm shower and get some new clothes on." Dark explained. Karen went inside.

"Now I'm going to go and try and relax and leave you to think about it." Dark said, before going back inside.

Relina was still waiting outside even ten minutes after Dark went in. She was leaning her back against the wall with her hands making a cushion for her bum. 'Dark's right… as usual. I should try and get some sleep.' Relina thought to herself, allowing a teardrop from her eye. It ran down her cheek slowly and dropped off her chin. Dark was always too busy looking after others to save himself. She pulled her self off the wall and began inside. She barely stopped to acknowledge anyone as she walked to her room, all she looked at was the floor, except for the occasional look to see she was going the right way. Relina reached her room. When the door closed she hit it with her fist, using her fist much like a hammer. She leant her head against it. She didn't want to think about Dark, she didn't want to feel this way anymore… but she did. After a minute of motionlessness, She turned around and slid down the door to sit on the floor. She brought her knees up to her chin. The tears were streaming down her face, she didn't want to stop them, and even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to. After about half an hour of just continuous crying, Relina got back up and headed for her bed, not bothering to get undressed, she just climbed into bed and cried herself to sleep.

Karen was in her shower when the knock came a to her door.

"Who is it?" Karen called through.

"Me." Dark's voice drifted through.

"Come in." Karen replied. Dark did as he was told.

"Oh… sorry… I'll leave." Dark said nervously noticing Karen was naked, he turned away from her.

"It's alright. I don't mind." Karen said smiling. Dark still didn't turn round. Karen stepped out the shower and towards Dark. She took his hand. When he did not respond, she started to take off his shirt. "Come and join me in the shower. Please?" Karen asked. Dark turned around, but kept his eyes trained on her face.

"Are you sure? I mean it's kind of a big jump." Dark pointed out, still looking into her eyes.

"Yes I'm sure. Come on." Karen replied, finishing taking Dark's shirt off. She undid his belt, and took it off… allowing to drop to the floor. Dark's jeans, although supposed to fit properly, didn't. They were too big around the waist and began to fall. With a little tug, they fell down to Dark's ankles. Dark kicked off his shoes and stepped out his jeans. He took his socks off while Karen stood up and began to kiss the back of his head. He stood up straight and kissed Karen as she removed his sky blue boxer shorts slowly. As if to make it more worthwhile.

"The shower is waiting." Karen pointed out, breaking out the kiss for a moment. Karen led the way into the shower, guiding Dark by his hand. The shower cubicle barely had enough room for them both so they were pushed closely together. Karen didn't seem to mind, and although she was a virgin she seemed comfortable. However, Dark seemed nervous… like he wasn't sure how he was going to deal with it. He became erect, and blushed.

"It's okay." Karen said, her voice soothing and assuring. She pushed herself closer to him. He seemed to pull away as if he didn't quite want it to happen. She used her flight ability to rise high enough so he could go inside her. He looked at her, worried, almost with fear in his eyes. Karen wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips, as she did this she ran her hand slowly down his cheek. Dark lifted Karen's legs up by the knees, and she began using her powers to float up and down, a soft moan escaping her lips each time. She kissed him again, and he moved from kissing her lips to her neck and then her shoulder, he was kissing her softly, and lightly, lovingly.

Chapter 21 - Casanova

Dark awoke in Karen's bed, with her naked from in front of him and facing away from him. He kissed her lightly on the shoulder. She stirred. Dark glanced at the time, it was 2.36 AM.

'Wow. We went through with it.' Dark thought to himself. He was surprised at himself for doing this; it could have caused all sorts of problems. Right now though, he wasn't going to worry himself about that. He kissed Karen again, closer to the neck this time, and continued to kiss Karen, continually getting further up the neck. Eventually Karen awoke slowly and softly. As she woke up she rubbed her eyes and grunted.

"Bloody teenagers." Dark said smiled. Karen rolled over so she was facing Dark. He was leaning into his hand, which was at about a 45-degree angle to his bicep. He smiled, a broad smile. Karen wrapped her arms around his neck and shuffled closer to him. She kissed him deeply.

"Last night was great." Karen said quietly.

"Yeah… though technically it's still the night." Dark pointed out, his smart-ass smile creeping across his face.

"Then we still have more time." Karen replied seductively.

"Yes. But I had better go to my room, if I go there now, then people won't suspect anything. You don't want people talking do you?" Dark asked. Karen shook her head. "You had better take the morning after pill… just don't let anyone see you take it." Dark winked as he finished his sentence, before getting up and getting dressed. As he made for the door, he turned around, went back to Karen and kissed her on the forehead. Then he left, winking to Karen on his way out. Dark followed down the hall, but walked past his room and into Relina's.

"Relina?" Dark asked the darkness that surrounded him. "Relina?" This time louder. Relina's bedside light came on.

"Yes? Dark what do you want?" Relina replied, obviously she wasn't a morning person. She rubbed her head as if it would wake her up more.

"You." Dark said simply.

"You sure?" Relina asked. "It's a pretty big step."

"Only if you are." Dark replied. Relina nodded, taking off her pyjamas. Dark got undressed and was in bed with her in seconds. Relina smiled as Dark kissed her, and she switched off the light.

Dark awoke as the sunlight filtered through the windows. He grunted. He noticed Relina was not in bed with him. He turned over to face the rest of the room. Relina was sitting in a chair. Wearing a buttoned up shirt and some panties, but that was it.

"Good morning sunshine." She said; a bright smile crossed her face.

"Fuck off… I'm not a morning person." Dark replied.

"Ah! Rude!" Relina feigned shock. She crossed over to him and kissed him on the neck. He smiled, turned around and got out of bed. He got his clothes on.

"Going somewhere?" Relina asked.

"Yeah back to my room. We don't want people suspecting now do we?" Dark replied.

"No. I guess you're right…" Relina replied. "I suppose you want me to take the morning after pill and everything." Dark nodded before promptly leaving, giving Relina a wink as he left. He made his way back to his room, and got into bed.

"Now for some sleep." Dark said to himself. He clambered into bed, not even bothering to remove his clothes. He fell asleep quickly. He did not move, he was breathing shallowly, and slowly. He did not stir until gone midday. At about half past one, he awoke. He grunted a few times, and blinked several times to allow his eyes to adjust to the light. After his eyes did, he rolled out of bed. He went to the canteen to get some breakfast.

"Hey Dark. What do you want for breakky?" Miranda asked politely.

"Anything with lots of sugar and caffeine in it." Dark replied, his voice low, obvious he hadn't got much sleep.

"Okay… her you go, black coffee with four sugars. And Chocolate pops with added sugar." Miranda said, handing him the appropriate meal. Dark took it, but he didn't seem to notice what it was. This fact became more apparent when he sat down and began eating it with a fork. Eliza went over to him and pointed out his mistake. He managed a smile, and although all his hair was sticking up, and he looked like he hadn't slept for days, he still looked good. He took a spoon and began eating. They were talking while Miranda was working. Talking and laughing. Miranda was jealous. She liked Dark as much as the next girl, and she wanted her to be talking to Dark, not Eliza.

"Boss can I have a break?" She asked the face on her Com-Watch.

"I figured you might now Dark's up… Hmm… okay yeah you can. But let me know when you get back to working, because then I'll add it on to the end of your day." The picture of on the other end of the Com-Watch said. Miranda could help but allow a smile to cross her face as she walked over to Dark and Eliza with a can of coke in one hand and a glass of water in the other.

"Hey Miranda. Aren't you supposed to be working?" Dark asked.

"Nah it's my break." Miranda explained. Dark nodded.

"Sit, join us, and be merry." Dark smiled.

"Hey this is for you." Miranda told Eliza, handing her the can of coke.

"Thanks." Eliza replied.

"I thought you might be thirsty, and might need caffeine." Miranda answered sweetly, before sitting next to Dark.

"So what are you planning on doing today?" Eliza asked Dark.

"I dunno… I might just chill. Maybe start writing a book. I dunno. I could end up doing anything." Dark explained. Miranda covertly put her hand into Dark's jeans back pocket. Dark continued to talk to Eliza while Miranda looked out the huge windows at the sun. Something was blocking out a part of the sun. It looked like a person. The glass in front of her smashed.

The bullet went tore Miranda's head, leaving nothing of her head left and hit Dark, stopping on impact with Dark's shoulder.

"Fuck!" Dark screamed. He was already flying at Light Sun. And before Light Sun could let off another shot, Dark punched him in the head launching Light Sun into the floor.

"It matters not. I've completed my objective." Light Sun laughed before disappearing again. Dark thought about going after him, but thought better of it, flying back down to see what was going on with Miranda. There was barely anything left of her head. About the lower half of her chin and neck was all that was left, the rest was all over the floor and on Dark's shirt.

"Shit…" Dark said solemnly. Light Sun had upped his game. He was targeting people close to Dark, hoping it would psyche him out. It was going to walk. Dark knew it. Eliza threw up all over the floor, tears in her eyes.

"Why the fuck would he do something like this?" She screamed at Dark.

"To get to me." Dark said, he allowed no emotion to enter his voice.

"What?" Eliza demanded

"He was killing her to get to me. He knows it will make me snap like a twig. He knows it will, so he's doing that so he has the psychological upper hand on me next time we encounter each other! Don't you get it? Anything bad thing that has come from him is to get me to snap. And when I do, all hell will break loose. Remember me on the island as Shadow? Think of that only far, far worse! I'm only human, and he's testing to see how far I can be pushed before he can break me, and when he does he will wipe out everything! So I can't let myself be scared, or hurt, or happy! Anything I do he will use against me!" Dark shouted at Eliza. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have exploded like that."

"No I understand. I see what you mean. But that's not an excuse. Shouldn't we clean this up?" Eliza asked. Dark shook his head.

"I can't. If I do, I'll snap I know it." Dark said before leaving as Marcus, Relina and James came running in. Marcus was about to talk to Dark before Eliza ran over to him and began to explain what was happening. Dark continued down the corridor. He managed to get to his room before collapsing from exhaustion. He hadn't down any work but he'd never felt so tired in his life. He sat on the floor against his wall, bashing his head against the wall.

"Why didn't I see that coming? Why not?" Dark asked himself. "Because it as unforeseeable." Dark replied to himself. "No it wasn't! I should have been able to see that coming. I'm so stupid." The door slid open.

"Don't blame yourself." Eliza said.

"I'll try not to…" Dark replied.

"Need some comforting?" Eliza asked. Dark nodded.

"I don't want to be alone tonight… is that okay with you?" Dark asked. Eliza couldn't believe her luck, she'd wanted this for so long, but never dared it was possible. She was really happy, but didn't let it show for fear of appearing needy, or laughing at death.

"Erm… yeah. Sure… what do you mean alone?" Eliza asked.

"I want you to sleep with me tonight." Dark replied. Eliza nodded.

The rest of the day passed quickly for Eliza, for Dark it slowed to a snail crawl. Every minute hurt him because he'd lost another person. When it came to about nine pm, Dark had a knock at his door. Eliza came in. Dark hadn't moved.

"You okay?" Eliza asked him. Her voice had concern in it, as did her eyes.

"I'll be alright… I just need some sleep." Dark replied, getting undressed down to his boxer shorts and climbing into his bed. Eliza stripped off and climbed into bed with Dark. She wrapped her arms around his torso. She kissed him on the neck. Dark turned around. Eliza ran her hands into Dark's boxers.

"Let me help you with that." Dark whispered. He began to remove his boxer shorts while Eliza wrapped her arms around his neck. Dark moved inside her. A low moan escaped her lips as he moved in and out, both of them providing some movement.

Dark awoke to sunlight burning his eyes. It was the day of the funeral. It was the day after Miranda actually died. Dark got up, and dressed in the black suit that was supplied by the I.D.I. he quickly put it on, and got into the car that was parked out front after brushing his teeth, sorting out his hair and just generally getting ready. The drive was, maybe, ten minutes. Then they were there. The hearse had already arrived, and the funeral procession was about to go ahead. Dark began to walk over there, but time seemed to go in slow motion. He couldn't make it go faster. He finally arrived next to the casket. It was closed. A tear welled up in Dark's eye. He barely noticed the procession. He just kept looking at Miranda's casket. The tear rolled down his face, it dropped to the floor. As the casket was lowered, Dark couldn't hold himself back. The tears came in full flow. When the casket had finished being lowered, Dark dropped a rose in, comforted her parents, and headed home. Before he got in the car, he turned round, allowed another tear to drop to the floor. He then fell to the floor on his knees. Another tear dropped. And another… until he was fully fledged crying. He couldn't hold it back… nor did he want to. He was only human after all.

Chapter 22 - Turncoat

It was an hour after the funeral. Dark was back at home, and was still reserved to his room. The door opened with its usual 'swoosh' sound. Dark didn't stop looking at the wall. He was lying in bed, still in the black suit. He felt a hand place itself on his shoulder. Still he didn't move.

"You okay?" Came the voice of a girl. Dark didn't respond.

"It's not healthy to stay in here all alone. You need to talk to someone." After a minute of no response, Dark felt the girl climb into bed with him.

"Fine. If you don't want to talk, we'll just lie here until you feel ready to." Dark didn't respond to the girl. The girl put her arm around Dark's torso. She kissed the back of his neck lightly.

"Paula what do you want?" Dark asked, harshness filling his tone.

"I want to make sure you're okay." Paula replied, an overwhelming caring tone to her voice. Dark took off his jacket, and his shirt and his shoes and trousers until he was just in his boxer shorts.

"Well I'm intending on getting some sleep now. So unless you're intending on sleeping with me, then I suggest you leave." Dark explained.

"Is that a threat?" Paula asked, feigning shock with her face.

"Maybe." Dark said, an almost harsh tone in his voice.

"Or was it an invitation?" Paula asked, a smile crossing her face.

"Maybe." Dark replied. Not allowing his voice to drag out the 'may' in maybe.

"Good. Because I've been waiting for one of those for a while." Paula said while taking off her top and throwing it out the bed, she did with this all her clothes, and Dark's boxer shorts. Paula moved closer to Dark, smiling a broad and almost sly smile. Dark's face was still showing no signs of emotion. Paula ran her hand down Dark's chest. He placed his hands on her hips. She smiled wrapping her arms around his head as he leaned into kiss her. They kissed a passionate kiss, before Paula pushed Dark so he ended up sitting on his bed. She slowly began to strip tease to him, when she was done, and standing naked in front of him, he got into bed properly and allowed Paula to climb in after him, once she did he kissed her, allowing her to take off his boxer shorts. She dropped them outside the bed, and began to make love to him. They both reached climax within half an hour, and just lay there looking at each other. Dark stroked the side of Paula's face, and as his hand reached the bottom of her face, she turned her head so her face was buried in his hand. She could smell her own perfume on his hand, and something that must have been his aftershave. She looked at him; face still buried in his hand, and kissed his palm. He smiled and pulled her closer, and kissed her sensually on the forehead.

The next morning, Paula awoke in her own bed.

"Was it all a dream?" Paula asked no one in particular. When she turned over, she saw a note on her bedside table, and instantly recognized it as Dark's handwriting. It read – 'No it wasn't a dream, I just figured it would be better not to let the other girls suspect anything… don't want them getting jealous now do we? – Dark.' Paula smiled, and tore it up putting it in the bin. Dark would have wanted her to do that, because it would protect their, now, secret.

But not one hundred metres down the hall, Dark had just awoke, hoping his note would suffice to keeping it a total secret. He was pretty sure it would, but he would need to check. So Dark climbed out of bed, got his clothes on and walked down the hall to Paula's room. The door opened just as he got there and Paula came out.

"I got you're note." Paula said to him.

"Good. What do you think?" Dark asked her.

"I think you have all the good ideas." Paula said. Dark smiled and leaned in and kissed her on the lips quickly. "What do you want to do today?" Dark shook his head in response to Paula's question.

"I dunno… might look over some of the archives with Sahil… teach him tactics on how to fight the aliens." Dark explained.

"Ah… okay then. Would you like to do something later?" Paula asked seductively.

"Maaaaybe." Dark answered quizzically… his classic broad smile appearing.

Sahil was standing outside the Battle Support Suite. Dark was supposed to meet him there twenty minutes ago, and just as Sahil was about to leave, Dark came charging round the corner.

"You're late." Sahil said, raising one eyebrow.

"Hey… sorry." Dark said, out of breath. "Go in… I need… to breathe…" Dark managed to catch his breath and enter. "Right… well. Sit there." Dark motioned to the chair in the middle of the room. On the other side was a keyboard, a mouse and nine two LCD Flat screens. Sahil sat in the chair.

"Right… the left screen is STATS of the team in the Field, and their info/log file. The screen on the right is the Battle Control… it's just like an RTS in which you only have squad members… you'll be like our fore warning of any bad guys coming, tell us where they are and what they are. The Keyboard and mouse are for alternate controls, mouse if you click on one of us, then you will be able to talk directly to us. You can use the keyboard to check what an enemy is, you can use the mouse too. I've loaded in a training program… a simulation which will check you know how to use the system. It will give you a tutorial, because I haven't explained everything here. Oh and that headset is your Com-Link to us. You need to put it on, and use it to talk to us… it automatically activates when it 'hears' something." Dark explained, pointing to the relevant pieces of equipment. Dark watched as Sahil did the training program. He finished it in record time, but with a few more casualties than the best score. He got an 8/10 overall, which was pretty good. Dark placed his hand on his shoulder, and smiled. Congratulating him before leaving to go and see Karen.

Marcus had to find Dark and confront him about his promiscuity. He found Dark leaving the Battle Support Suite.

"Dark we've got to talk." Marcus told his son.

"Not right now Dad… maybe later I got stuff to do." Dark replied. Marcus grabbed his son's arm and led him into a room.

"No now. You can't go sleeping with girls Dark… you're too young, their too young… and especially the whole different girls thing. Look Dark you have to tell them that you slept with them all… if you don't… you're in big trouble." Marcus said, a harshness in his tone Dark had never heard before. Dark nodded solemnly.

Karen came in the room… Relina, Paula and Eliza were already there. Dark was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room with the other girls sitting around him they were talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Marcus was at the back of the room. After Dark noticed Karen, he swung his chair round so it was in a semi circle with all the other girls. He motioned for Karen to sit, which she did.

"Right… I'm here to talk about something that I've done, which I shouldn't have done, but did. I can't change it… but I can at least apologize to you four. Last night, I slept with and had Sex with Paula. The night before, I had sex with Eliza. The night before I had sex with Karen, then halfway through the night went and had sex with Relina. Yes I had sex with the four of you in three nights… and yes it was wrong. And I'm not going to try and justify it, but I would like to say something else before leaving you to attack me and insult me and call me names. What I'd like to talk about is my mother. I was reading her file earlier. It turns out she didn't die in her sleep. She was murdered. Her head blown off with a sawn off shotgun. You see, the assailant came in intending to kill her with a lethal injection and then kill me with a smaller dose. He came into her bedroom while she slept, me in the same room in my cot. He'd taken the sawn off shotgun only in case he had to use it. As he pricked her there was a problem, she woke up. She saw his face… he panicked and took out the sawn off shotgun, and before he put his hand over her mouth. Her eyes had pure hatred in them as he put the shotgun to her face and pulled his hand away, pulling the trigger milliseconds after. He knew that was going to be a problem so quickly came over to me. He took out the lethal injection, but the gunshot had awoken me and I was crying. I wasn't scared, but I didn't know what was going on and I was sad. He was about to put the lethal injection in me, when he saw another use for me. He then disappeared, but about two years later, a trust fund was set up with £2,500,000 pounds in it. Only accessible by the person with exactly the same DNA as me. Which was fine. But I found out who killed my mum. And guess what. We all know him. He's looked after one of us for most of our life. Yes I'm talking about the grand Marcus Emit ladies. He killed my mother and meant to kill me because we threatened his career. He didn't kill me because he could use me to boost his career in a 'Enhanced Human Project' he was planning at the time. The I.D.I Officials looked after him and made sure some lowlife was put in jail instead. So that's how my family was taken from me. For a career move. Not out of passion, or love, or any emotion at all, but because someone wanted a career jump and wouldn't be allowed to if he had dependants like a wife and a son. And that, my friends is why I'm emotionally fucked up. Because my mother was murdered while I was in the same room. And then an attempted murder took place on me. So yeah, shout at me, scream at me, even hit me. I don't care. I don't have much faith in anything anymore." Dark explained. Through out this speech, Marcus was looking more and more worried, but still calm.

"Sir? Is this true?" Relina demanded.

"You don't need to stand on ceremony anymore Relina. You never really did. But yes. It's true. Every word."

Chapter 23 - Heartfelt

No one saw Dark for the rest of the day. It was understandable, he'd just found out that his dad murdered his mum and was going to murder him for no real reason. It obviously hurt. Relina reckoned he was hanging out in the Virtual Suite, in a world where if he felt pain, people would know and try and help him. And someone would eventually be able to help him. Dark figured the best way to help himself was to create a world where he could be happy, and people tried to make it so. No one dared go to the Virtual Suite for fear of pushing Dark over the edge by accidentally saying something that would make him dislike them or something that he would be unhappy about hearing. Pise didn't know about Dark's fragile state of mind and decided to try and beat him up… again. Pise entered the Virtual World with Sidi and Depia.

"Come on boys. Let's get him. Go and find him, if you do, shout." Pise ordered. They ran off in separate directions. Depia was the one who found Dark first, he shouted to the other guys to come as fast as they could, and they did. They had Dark surrounded. None of them had actually realised Dark had super powers until they charged them and he flew into the air so they bashed into each other.

"Ow!" They all shouted at one time or another.

"He can fucking fly?" Pise shouted after noticing Dark floating above them. He punched Pise in the face. Pise fell to the floor.

"Now get the fuck out. You work for me now. Go and learn the basics of combat. NOW!" Dark shouted at them as the disappeared out his world.

Relina was heading to the Virtual Suite in a hope of snapping Dark out of how he was feeling. As she did, she could easily see Pise, Sidi and Depia clambering out the door. Apparently Dark didn't want them in there. Relina went in and hooked up her suit. In seconds she was in Dark's perfect world. It was empty. There was green grass and tress and things, and animals, but no people. Not even programmed ones. It was odd… maybe Dark didn't like people. Well… that was obvious the way they'd treated him his entire life. He'd always been the underdog of life, always mistreated, even by his father. It made sense he didn't want to be around the creatures that had done it to him. Relina felt cold… the world started dieing, starting from her feet. It was as if she was the source of the death and the cold now infecting the virtual world. She could almost smell the fury in the air. Without warning Dark appeared in front of her.

"Hello Dark…" Relina said warily. Dark's head tilted to one side.

"What are you doing to my planet?" Dark asked.

"I just came to see if you were okay… are you?" Relina asked, her tone still wary. Something just didn't sit right.

"You're killing my planet." Dark replied, his head still tilted.

"I don't know what am I doing to it?" Relina asked.

"You're killing it." Dark answered, righting his head and pointing at the floor around Relina. "All your people kill my planet. The only way to save it is with the blood of an innocent." Dark explained. He was so childlike… to the point of being unsettling.

"You can't hurt yourself." Relina pointed out.

"I know. But I'm not an innocent. You are." Dark replied. Drawing the Katana Relina had given him. "And I need your blood to leak into the soil."

"Dark what are you doing?" Relina asked. Dark didn't answer. He just slashed his blade across Relina's stomach. He brought it back across, a little higher this time.

"Hmm… I can't kill you as I need as much blood as I can get. I think one more strike will do it." Dark lifted the blade and brought it down, leaveing the third and largest gash from her left shoulder to her right hip. Dark smiled as Relina's hand went to her stomach. She brought her hand up to her face and saw it was covered in her own blood. Relina fell to her knees. Then onto her front. Her blood pooled around her as she rolled onto her back. Her arms trying to limit her blood loss. She could barely breathe.

"Sir we have a problem." Myra shouted into Marcus' office.

"What is it?"

"Relina is crashing."

"What do you mean? She went to the Virtual Suite to calm Dark down. How the hell is she crashing?" Marcus shouted.

"It appears Dark has attacked and attempted to kill her." Myra explained.

"How do we save her?" Marcus asked.

"I don't think we can… well that is to say we can pull her out of the system but doing that means that her mind will make psychological and adrenal effects of the wounds real, though the wounds themselves will not manifest themselves. And unless she leaves the system by getting to an exit point, she risks having her brain re-wired. Or she'll bleed to death in the system, and when her brain within the system dies, it will die outside." Myra explained.

"Can't we send someone in to get her?" Marcus asked.

"We could… but even sending Karen and Pise, a new recruit, wouldn't help. You see we can only send two people in, and if we send Karen, he'll let Shadow Immor take over which we don't want and if we send anyone else in he'll just kill them. He's delusional. He believes Relina's blood will make 'his' world healthy again."

"Fuck." Marcus shouted punching his filing cabinet, leaving a dent. He shouted nothings. "Fuck. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! I'm open to suggestions."

"Pull her out. It's the best option. Minimum casualties." Myra replied.

"Make it happen." Marcus answered. Myra nodded and ran down the corridor talking into her Com-Watch. Within seconds medics had swarmed into the virtual suite ready to unplug Relina from the system.

"Be careful she's going to come out fighting. Literally fighting, she's going to attack everything, have a high adrenaline level and also be cold, we're going to need to warm her up… so be careful and DO NOT attack her. You can stop her killing you, but don't hurt her." Marcus explained over a Com Link. One of the Medics unplugged Relina, her hand was around his neck and squeezing before she knew what was going on, she was screaming and her powers were out of control and throwing people around. She was out of control. Relina knocked someone out before feeling the cold sweep over her and regaining control. She shivered. One of the medics wrapped a thermal blanket round her, Leinad came in and put his arm round her.

"He tried…" was all Relina managed

"I know. I know." Leinad cut her off and started rocking with her, he wrapped his other arm around her. "He's gone. He's not here."

"Wrong. I am." Came Dark's unsettling childlike voice. Relina shied away from him, curling herself into a ball in the corner, trying to protect herself from him. Dark walked out the room and bumped into Paula she fell to the floor.

"Hmm. You're not really innocent are you? But you'll do." Dark said, just thinking out loud. He was gone and back within in a few seconds while Paula got to her feet. He took out his Katana.

"Dark what are you doing?" Paula asked him, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Saving the world." Dark replied, before thrusting his sword into her stomach. Blood began to trickle down her leg. She coughed and blood came up. It trickled down her lips and off her chin like a river. Dark took his sword out of her stomach.

"You have twenty minutes until you die. That's too long." Dark told her, his voice childlike. He stabbed Paula again in her chest. She gasped for air as blood began pouring out her stomach and more trickled out her mouth. Dark withdrew the blade for her flesh again. He then slashed across her jaw, forcing her face to look at the wall. He then disappeared as she fell to her knees and just as she fell onto her front, Dark grabbed her, and put a meat hook through each of her shoulder blades and next to her hips on her back. While she was still alive. Then he hooked her to the roof. He looked into her eyes and smiled. Paula coughed more blood out. Her vision was blurring.

"Hmm. Nice ornament." Dark smiled at her.

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