Ch 14
Somewhere not far away an evil presence hangs in sheltered darkness. It wasn't a being as much as an existence in a large room almost completely devoid of light. In the center of the cavernous void weak light was thrown pitifully into the endless black by a single ball. The flickering light peeled the darkness from the front of a single woman. She wore black cloths from head to foot which made her body seem to melt into and merge with the inky black.
Her arms were outstretched towards the ball throwing light over a snake tattoo on each arm. She could feel the presence all around her in the dark. It was still most of the time but very recently it had begun to grow restless. It would shift occasionally like a caged animal sending shivers down her spine. It was terrifying but it had power; power she needed. Others might be afraid of the presence but she wasn't. In fact she had sought it out. She had managed to harness bits and pieces of it here and there with her black and violet clown experiments in other places where the thing gathered in smaller amounts. The presence was strongest here in this "place" but it still wasn't strong enough. She needed more madness.
Ultimately, she needed the Kishin itself to truly achieve her ends not just the traces of madness that crept from it and pooled throughout the world. Her experiments with the Black Blood were nearing an end so she needed to find the Kishin quickly. It was too bad her attempt to "recruit" Maka had failed. It would have been so much easier with a, um, 'living radar' to guide her.
The light from her crystal ball dimmed a little as a dark face swam into view. Ah, a spy was checking in…
"What do you have to report?"
"The girl is alive"
"…. Are you certain?"
"Yes, Medusa-Sama"
Medusa frowned dangerously at the figure in the ball. This was bad news indeed. Had her experiment really been a complete failure after all?
"Hmmm, I should have foreseen this possibility. Almost nothing gets passed Stein after all. But for Shinigami to…"
Medusa trailed off in thought. She had to hand it to the elder Death God. He had fooled her for quite a while. She had been certain that the poison was not detected and that they had assumed the worst. She had been disappointed that her plan hadn't worked perfectly but was delighted that they had apparently burned their dear Maka alive.
"Humph, he sure worked hard to deceive us." Shinigami had gone so far as to deceive all of Death City in an effort to protect Maka. *Brilliant and cruel* she thought with an evil chuckle. An idea for a new experiment was forming in her mind giving new excitement. If only Stein had joined her. He was the only person she knew who could truly appreciate her experiments.
"What should we do?"
"Plan B."
"But won't she be difficult to control? Plus they'll come for her…"
"Yes, that will make it so we will have to break her and find the Kishin quickly. We can always kill her when we are done with her. But maybe we can use this to our advantage and cause a little psychological damage as well as physical to Shibusen. If this works out Shinigami won't just lose a living 'soul radar'."