After she left Tanith, Valkyrie walked out towards the Bentley and slid into her seat. Skulduggery's facade was activated. Skulduggery waited until Valkyrie's seatbelt was on before starting the Bentley and setting off.
"Uh," said Valkyrie, "Isn't the Sanctuary in the other direction?"
"Maybe."
Valkyrie frowned, and sighed. "Okay, why are we going in the other direction?"
"Look in your wing mirror, what do you see?"
Valkyrie complied. "A white van." she said.
"Anything else?" said Skulduggery calmly, whilst taking a sudden turn at the last minute.
"Jesus!" cried Valkyrie's, and she was tossed about in her seat.
"Nope, I'm Skulduggery." he said.
Valkyrie winced at his terrible, terrible, joke and looked back at the wing mirror. She frowned as the van tried to take the turn they just did. The van, lacking the Bentley's turning ability and Skulduggery's driving skill, swerved onto the other side of the road slightly. Horns blared as angry drivers cursed.
"Is that following us?" she said.
"I believe so."
"Is that why we didn't head to the Sanctuary?"
"The roads here are busy, full of mortals. If they're smart they won't want to draw attention to themselves, so they won't do anything and they'll drive away. If not-"
"We're in trouble?"
"What?"
Valkyrie faltered. "Usually people say that at the end of that sentence."
Skulduggery tilted his head, "No. I was going to say, if not they'll try to fight us in the middle of the road, and we'll win because we are better than them and have superior fighting skills."
"Of course." said Valkyrie. She frowned, "Are they speeding up?"
Skulduggery glanced out of the mirror. "Yes." he confirmed, and piled on the speed. The van had no chance of catching them.
"Where are we going to go?" Valkyrie asked. Skulduggery was still going fast, and she was pressed back into her seat.
"We'll see if we can lose them." he said. The white van was trying vainly to keep up, but the Bentley was miles faster and it grew further and further away from it.
"Well, said Valkyrie, "This is easy."
"Surprisingly so." he said. He carried on driving at the same speed, trying to get out of sight so that they could lose them. They rounded a corner, and zoomed past a white car parked on the side of the road, Soon after, a siren began to wail as the same car started up and drove up behind them.
"Uh," said Valkyrie, looking out of the back window, "I think we're being pulled over."
"Dammit," muttered Skulduggery, and fluidly parked the Bentley at the side of road.
"Be nice." said Valkyrie as the policeman walked over.
"I'm always nice. People say I'm charming."
"Those people obviously have not met you." muttered Valkyrie beneath her breath.
The policeman tapped the Bentley's window, with maybe a little too much force.
Skulduggery turned to Valkyrie, shock on his facade, "Did you see that? He just touched my car. How can you expect me to be nice to him if he just touched my car?"
"Skulduggery. Roll the window down."
After grumbling under his breath a little, Skulduggery did as he was told.
"Hello!" beamed Skulduggery, "Nice day isn't it? Lovely day for driving around with those noisy sirens of yours."
The policeman didn't look impressed.
"The thing is," Skulduggery continued, "You can't be pulling us over right now because we've got stuff to do. We're busy people, with busy lives. We dont have the luxury of time so we have to drive everywhere fast. We're on our way to a murder scene, you're something like a policeman right? You know about murders right?"
Valkyrie stifled a laugh.
"You cannot be stopping us because we are important people. I have natural authority. I am Detective Inspector Me, and this is my battle accessory, Detective Inspector Her. We are important people with important jobs and if it isn't too much trouble, we will be on our way know."
"Step out of the car, Sir." said the policeman, unamused.
"Why?"
"Because I asked you too."
"But I have natural authority."
"Step out of the car."
"You're being rude."
"Get out."
"I can't." said Skulduggery, "The child lock is on."
The policeman's face darkened, and he pulled open Skulduggery's door.
"Much appreciated." said Skulduggery as he climbed out. The policeman waited until he was fully out before swinging Skulduggery against the bonnet. He pulled handcuffs from his belt and went to click them on, but he frowned as they hit a wall of air a few centimeters from Skulduggery's wrists. Skulduggery looked at him, "Oops." he said, and blasted wave of air into the policeman's face. The policeman stumbled backwards and Skulduggery grabbed him and hit him .
Valkyrie blinked. "The hell, Skulduggery?" she shouted.
"Mirror!" he called, and spun around to see figures darting out of the bushes from the side of the road towards him. He clicked his fingers and fire danced in his hands.
Valkyrie glanced in her wing mirror, the white van had had pulled up behind them.

Valkyrie jumped out and pulled the stick from her back. She ran to Skulduggery and jumped on the nearest attacker and smacked her stick violently into his head. There was a crack and the man fell. Valkyrie smiled, and turned to the next one.
The next one was tall, but well muscled. "Darquesse." he snarled. His hands began to glow. Energythrower, thought Valkyrie, and she threw up her own hand to meet his, and white energy shot from her palm, whilst blue energy shot from his. The streams of energy met it the middle, and Valkyrie allowed hers to falter a bit so the man became more confident. Then, without warning, she increased hers and the man cried out as the white lightning struck his palm, burning it. Whilst he was panicking stumbling backwards, she rushed forwards and hit him with a good uppercut to the chin. He fell backwards and stayed on the ground.

Big arms wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground. He arms were strapped by her sides and her legs kicked wildly. Valkyrie landed a good kick to the side of his knee, but that man was huge and she doubted he even felt that. Thinking fast, Valkyrie tried to kick him between the legs but he saw that coming and avoided it. He was walking backwards, dragging her with him, and she grunted and thrashed. He pulled her into the white van, his arms still locking her in place. She began to bare her teeth a little, which was a bad habit that occurred when she was angry. An idea popped into her head. Valkyrie bit him.

It hurt her teeth. The man laughed.
"Can't hurt me, Darquesse." he said. Instead of correcting him, she went with it.
"Oh yeah, you got me. Damn."
The man cackled. He didn't seem to get sarcasm. "Oh yeah. I knew you weren't that powerful. I knew I'd get my revenge."
"Oh no." said Valkyrie, slowing and carefully moving her arms so that her hands could touch. She began to pour energy into her hands, a trick she'd learned from Darquesse. She was careful not to let any of the bright light slip out from between her fingers. She kept thrashing her legs to keep up the act, "What are you going to do?" she whispered with as much fear as her ego could bare.
"Kill you." said the man happily. Valkyrie wondered about his mental well-being as the pleasant burning in her hands intensified. She glanced out of the window and saw Skulduggery still fighting some of those guys.
"Oh," she said, trying to sound sad. "Can I at least know the name of the...great...man who will end me?"
"Fury." he said, "Big Fury."
"Big...Fury?" muttered Valkyrie. Big Fury was crazy. She didn't even know what to think. The burning in her hands reached boiling point.
"Big Fury?" she said, slightly exasperated.
"Yes?"
"Sorry."
Valkyrie opened her hands, and the van blew apart. Fury was thrown off her and she shook off the numb feeling in her arms. Fury didn't get up. The men around Skulduggery had been hit by the blast, but Skulduggery himself had made a wall of air that had shielded him. Valkyrie climbed up the crater she made and Skulduggery pulled her out. "Your doing?" he asked,
Valkyrie grinned, "Oops." she said as she stepped onto one of the vans tires, debris was scattered all around. He opened her mouth to say something but a pain so sudden tore through her body and she screamed and fell back into the hole, her head smacking onto a rock. Her body spasmed as it burned, and she gritted her teeth, only half aware of the blood dripping from her forehead into her eyes. The pain pulsated through her body making her limbs jerk out and she cried out "Skulduggery!" but she only got halfway through the word before it faded into a whimper. She didn't even know what was going on around her.

Seconds, minutes, or hours later Skulduggery was beside her. She knew he was saying something but only fragments got through. It was like a badly tuned radio.
"Valk..ie...an...ear me?" he said, and then more clearly, "Valkyrie? ...hear me?"
A moan escaped her lips. Skulduggery picked her up in his arms and ran her to the car. He strapped her in and she drifted off for a while, lost. She was slightly aware of him talking urgently into the phone, perhaps angrily, as he drove with haste. "I don...ow." he was saying. "You heard...yes...obviously..." and then clearly, as if he was shouting in her ear. "I am sure dammit!"
Valkyrie blacked out and was submerged in the fog.

When Valkyrie woke she knew where she was instantly. The Sanctuary. She could tell because of the hushed voices and the wheeze of medical machines, and the smell of disinfectant that was at every hospital. Her body was heavy. Her head felt like someone had shoved bricks into it. She was elevated and her toes tingled. Her neck felt like someone had shoved a knife in it. Groaning, she peeled her eyes open. Skulduggery was sat in a chair next to her hospital bed, his facade off but facing away from her. She tried to speak but her tongue was too heavy and she couldn't. She tried again and a grunt managed to force itself out. Skulduggery looked around at her.
"Oh," he said, "Hello."
Valkyrie couldn't speak and looked at him helplessly.
"Don't worry," he said, "Doctor Synecdoche said you'd regain the use of most of your muscles within a few minutes, the rest within the hour. Hopefully the use of your vocal cords will be the latter."
She glared at him.
"Oh right, yes, sorry. I suppose you want to know what happened."
Valkyrie nodded but then realised she couldn't move her head.
"I'll take that as a yes. Do you remember Lightning Dave?" he said. She did. "He had the power to control lightning, but it was weak because he never bothered to train it. As long as it could hurt people, Lightning Dave was okay with it."
Valkyrie wanted to nod.
"You were attacked by a man called Void. We only know his last name, but I intend to find out more. He had trained for years to make his electricity powers stronger. He got good enough to be able to call down natural lightning from the sky and use it. He attacked you because you hurt his son, Fury. You were basically struck by lightning. You'll probably scar."
Valkyrie frowned.
"There's not much they can do. They fixed up the cut on your head, but your neck is different."
She could feel a tingling in her lips, "Have you found out what China wanted us for?" she croaked.
Skulduggery sighed. "Of course youwould regain control of your voice first. And no, I didn't. I was here."
"Oh." she said with a voice like sandpaper. Feeling came back to her legs, and she wiggled her toes. She moved her legs slowly, working her way up until she could feel a painful prickle in both of her legs.
"Ow." she said,
"What?"
"Pins and needles." she said, and swung her legs onto the floor. She was still wearing her boots. Valkyrie stood and stumbled slightly and Skulduggery steadied her.
"Easy." he said. "You have just been struck by lightning."
"I've had worse." she smiled and tingling lit up her face. "Why didn't Ghastly's clothes protect me?" she asked.
"They would of, but the bolt hit your neck just above your collar. Void knew how to aim."
"Ah," Valkyrie said and stretched. She touched the skin on the back of her neck and frowned, it was sore but felt smooth, like it was a horrendous sunburn.
"Here." said Skulduggery, passing her a mirror, he had another one in his hand and he allowed her to adjust it slightly. She leant forwards and angled her own mirror so that she could her her neck. She moved her hair out of the way. On her neck was a brilliant red ragged diamond, and coming from that were strands of red that mimicked lightning. She pulled her coat off and examined it more carefully. The scar or wound or whatever it was crawled down her spine and towards her shoulders.
"When is heals properly, the entrance wound," Skulduggery touched her neck and traced the ragged diamond. "will disappear. The red lightning bolts will not, but they will go white. The exit wound," he took her right hand and turned it palms up. An uneven circle of red was on her palm, and snaking down towards it were more scarlet lightning bolts. "Will also go." he dropped her hand.
"Cool," said Valkyrie.
"What?"
"It'll look cool. I'll look cool with loads of white lightning bolts on me. It'll match my tattoo." she gestured to her left arm where the Merryn Sigil was.
Skulduggery tilted his head. "Did that lightning strike effect your brain?"
She whacked him on the head.
"Ow." he said, and whacked her back, avoided the stitches on her head.
"Ouch, what was that for?"
"You hit me."
"You were being mean."
"You were being weird."
"Your always weird."
She whacked him again but then realised it was true.
He flicked her cheek.
"Hey! I'm injured!"
"You'll be more injured if you don't stop hitting me." Skulduggery murmured beneath his breath, amusement in his voice. He began to walk out and Valkyrie followed, grinning despite herself as she limped out.