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by Trackula

Balance does not discriminate. The failure of successive dark champions present and future has created an imbalance in favor of the light. Thanks to the meddling of a fallen foe, Jade Chan will pay the price for another's tampering with destiny. Though heroes will rise yet again to face darkness, Jade has a stake in this conflict such as no dark foe before her. Post Season 5

14. Shadow's Phoenix: Part 1

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By Trackula and Co-written by Eduard Kassel

C14 – Shadow's Phoenix: Part 1

Liz Hartman stared searchingly at her reflection in her vanity mirror, and saw she looked like crap. She normally looked worse for wear after nights of grading and planning only to wake up early to get ready for the day. Such was her dedication to her chosen career. But this time felt different. The bags under her eyes were plum-colored, the eyes above them terribly bloodshot. It made the few lines in her face seem deeper and darker, almost like cracks in the low light of the bedroom.

In her humble opinion she had never been pretty. As such the pains of old age had not concerned her overly much, hardly anything there for time to ravage. And her chosen career was one where beauty was largely irrelevant, which she found fortunate.

Her grandparents and parents had been teachers, so she grew up viewing it as the reasonable career to pursue. She was good at teaching and it suited her for the same reason she had been a good student.

The sense of it all. School made sense in a way family drama or the wider world rarely did. Roles were set; curriculum and regulation dictated the course from days to quarters, to semesters and years. It was an environment that allowed her a tidy world view that let her go about her life in peace. Not to mention a warm sense of accomplishment knowing she was fulfilling an essential role in society to the best of her ability.

Then came Jade Chan. Real name; Chan Yu. The name change had surprised her; such Americanization struck her as belonging to another era. But the girl did not seem the least bit repressed so she had never sought any answer on the matter.

As a teacher she had met problem children. They tended to fall into a short list of categories. But this girl was something else. Delusional, prone to violent outbursts, and one of the biggest attention cravers she had ever seen, although apparently not aspiring to some stereotype of the so-called "popular kid".

Laid out like that, it all sounded very condemning. But Jade herself was a sweet tomboyish rascal if she wanted to put a name on it. Her violent displays were more out of some comic book fan's fantasies than a thug's. And her stories, while wild and imaginative, were strangely consistent. That and the fact that she seemed to struggle making with friends within her age group had led Liz to worry the girl was mentally unwell. Although her guardian had assured her of things being fine, and he was one of the good ones.

In her work you acquired a sense of the good ones when it came to parents and guardians. The old man she had not been sure about... but after talking with him a few times, she'd decided that he seemed harmless enough, if unpleasantly eccentric.

But that was over now. There had been no word from Jade ever since that terrible afternoon, the noise and the heat and her poor student screaming. She reached back and felt the scar along her scalp, having been rather deeply cut by the mysterious blast. Now not a day went by that she didn't think about her lost young student, that final look she had been given before Jade disappeared out the window like a phantom.

Still in her nightgown she called the school. She was not going back to work this week. The principal was concerned of course. In the last three years her sick days could be counted on one hand. A fact she'd felt a good deal of pride in until now. In her sickly aching state, she could hardly bring herself to care for her record. Her thoughts were hazy with fever even as she spoke in a dry monotone over the line.

"I remember what it feels like to fly," She muttered into the phone, hardly aware she was voicing the thought aloud.

"Excuse me?" Roy's voice came over the phone. Hartman blinked and went over her last words, surprised and somewhat embarrassed at what she'd said.

"Nothing, nothing Roy," She sighed rubbing her temples. She cringed as her fingernails slipped scrapping her brow.

"... Liz. Listen, have you been to a doctor? I know you pride yourself on that strong constitution but this can't be good. Forgive me for being blunt, but you sound just terrible. Make an appointment and cure what's ailing you," he said in that gentle but firm voice normally reserved for angry parents.

She assured him she would before sitting back down on her bed, dropping the phone clumsily back into the receiver. Her head beginning to throb in earnest. She reached for her painkillers, but her clumsy grasp knocked the bottle behind the nightstand. With a groan, she gave up on the task of retrieving it, and fell back, her head bouncing slightly on the mattress.

Suddenly struck by a fey impulse, Liz untied her nightgown and grabbed the edges of it. She lifted the robe like a glider at her sides. A pair of silk bat wings feeling strangely familiar and natural. She idly glanced to her hand holding the yellow fabric, and frowned. When had her fingernails grown so long? She tended to be rather militant on her personal grooming, her nails hardly ever getting far past the quick.

Frowning as she stared at her hands, she finally noticed their distance from her eyes. When had she seen so well without her glasses? With her arms outstretched, her hands should have been little more than fuzzy peach-colored blurs. Her glasses laid on her night stand right by the solemn red numbers of the digital clock. She rushed over to them with some alarm, and shoved the lenses over her eyes.

Blurriness and a head splitting throb sent her falling onto the bed. The glasses slipped from her nose and fell to the carpet as she pressed on her head and curled up on the tangle of covers. Tears fell from glowing red eyes as she finally remembered.

"It wasn't a dream, I slew a dragon, I flew" she whispered. Jade, it all centered on little Jade. She'd protected her back then just as she'd failed to do so now. There was no joy at the recollection. And her body ached too much for anger or fear. Only a weary despairing acceptance as every reasoning her life was built on turned to water beneath her feet.

Liz let the sensation swallow her, tired of fighting a losing battle she had not realized she was fighting. She slept, and dreamed of wings in the night, wind beneath them and the light of the moon above.

And in her sleep the change came at last.

XXX

"You gonna get that?" Viper smirked, taking a long sip from her cappuccino across from Jackie.

Both were relaxing, or at least attempting to, over a hot drink at the small neighborhood café, sitting at one of the outdoor tables. It was a rather beautiful day, all things considered, and of mild temperature, which was why the ex-thief insisted that the archeologist accompany her.

Of course, it was being such a pleasant morning that his cellphone just had to go off at that time, the call being from Uncle's shop. He sighed and looked longingly at his chai tea latte he hadn't even gotten a chance to sip, and pointedly ignored Viper's demure snickering in front of him.

With a deep groan, he finally placed the phone to his ear and answered dryly, "This is Jackie."

He winced when Uncle's shrill voice came through loud and clear directly into his ear canal, "Took nephew long enough to answer phone! You and thief must return to shop now!"

"Another Essence detected?" Jackie asked, still sounding as dry and tired as ever as he stared sadly at his drink and the promises of a nice afternoon lost forever. He noticed Viper staring at attention, waiting poised for the situation and wondered, not for the first time, how she could handle all this stress interrupting their lives so well compared to him.

"AAALWAYS Essence! And we must work quiiickly! This one is close!" Uncle admonished, though Jackie was savvy enough to hold the phone away from his ear this time. "So be back at shop before Uncle counts to ten! Starting now! TEN!"

The line went dead before Jackie could say another word. When he looked up, he blinked when he noticed Viper was already standing, arranging her purse. He smirked humorlessly and asked, "Heard all that?"

"Loud and clear," she smiled, shrugging slightly. "I'd say it's from honed thievery senses, but honestly, I think the next table over heard all that too."

He nodded and stood; taking up his drink and distastefully downing it in one go rather than savor it slowly. Well, at least if Uncle was correct, this one wouldn't require a lot of traveling.

"Who do you think it is?" Viper asked casually, as they began the short trek back to Uncle's Rare Finds.

"In San Francisco?" Jackie sighed as he walked briskly alongside her. "Probably Valmont. Who else could it be?"

XXX

Jade gave a little grunt as she steadily pushed the pineapple sized abdomen into her glamoured lower back. Frowning slightly, she gave a small twist visualizing something like a screw-on slot. As if responding to her mental imagery, she felt it actually catch and hold tight, then slowly pulled her hand back out from the mud-clay like texture of her false flesh. She was forced to admit, even knowing she was dealing with an entirely artificial form, actually doing stuff like that felt more than a little gross.

She finally turned to where Jumper kneeled attentively and asked while facing the problem area towards her loyal minion, "Mini-abdomen gone? Nothing showing?"

Jumper held up four thumbs up, her face pulled into that awkward-looking too-wide smile she did sometimes before snapping back into place.

"Ha cha!" Jade cheered pumping a fist. Smirking she dared a small jump coming alongside Jumper and pulling the Gumo into a left armed hug. The young Gumo warrior not only accepted the affectionate gesture but balanced Jade well against the fall she likely would have had.

Letting Jumper go, Jade took a few steps back before looking down, arms crossed in thought. With her abdomen problem out of the way, now was the time to consider how to handle the other problem areas.

Her experimentation was a success, naturally. Barring the blue and 'black tattoos' adorning her torso and limbs her true nature was concealed. She had managed to free her neck and hands of the markings entirely, letting them curl onto the tops of her feet. The natural coloring still accounted for at least half the affected area, but with her styling altering rather than erasure she just looked like she had a possibly unhealthy fixation with tattoos.

Realistically Jade knew she should fix the tattoo issue eventually; better to be able to blend in a bit more if needed. And more importantly the fact she could not fix it would constantly nag at her. Sensei would not have accepted settling for a sloppy move. No more than Jackie would have accepted a flawed stance or exercise as more than a stepping stone toward improving it.

Jade practically felt phantom smacking pangs beyond the grave each time her attempts to correct the errors failed.

The she-spider took a moment to note how much she had been comparing the two mentor figures lately. Jade pointedly never compared them to her parents though, the very thought made her twinge. She wished she could see them, it had been years without as much as a word between her and them. Not that they knew it. It bothered her to think that even glamoured, they'd likely not even recognize her, their only daughter.

Jackie and Black had no doubt come up with some kind of excuse for Jade's disappearance. Which was all the better. The thought of their rejection, or a rejection of their grandchildren was too painful. She would need better material to justify herself for any reveal, or a way to avoid it entirely before she risked that heartbreak on top of all the others. She was becoming far too accustomed to rejection for her liking.

Besides, the reason she did not compare them like Jackie and Sensei, was that they were not part of this. They were not bad parents, perhaps a bit out of touch. But she knew better than to expect them to be able take all this in stride, even before the Gumo deal. She wasn't so optimistic that she didn't know that would be asking too much from good, if dull, people.

At the very least, she wanted to be able to open any reunion appearing like the kind of respectable young woman they hoped she would grow up to be. It wouldn't even be a lie from her perspective. Just a smudging of the truth.

"Well at least I am a looker," she said to Jumper, confusing the Gumo somewhat with the non-sequitur, not that Jade noticed. Earlier while walking about as practice for blending in while also scoping the city; she had been surprised to find a noticeable interest in human men. Normally she found her own spiderness and her girls to be the prettiest by far, but there was no sexuality behind it.

But for a select few human men she encountered, there was definitely SOMETHING. Not much, nothing like the attractions she had heard about or seen depicted so often in media. More like… a match flame? A small flicker of a reaction, hardly notable but definitely present.

'I hope that's typical and not just because of already having a fertilized load of eggs. I would HATE to behave like some dumb nympho or anything just because of weird spider queen hormones,' Jade thought. Frankly the whole idea of sex rather disturbed her. She knew she was at that age, but aside from some clumsy attempts from her mother, or blunt claims from the Old Queen, she hardly even knew what to expect. If possible, she would like to avoid that whole hornets' nest entirely.

Jade quickly turned her attention back to her glamour, a far more palatable line of consideration compared to that big scary S-word.

The young Queen already knew she looked "Good", she saw no benefit in false modesty. She rotated her upper body around much like she could in her true form to get a better look around. The action was so natural to her that she didn't even notice that humans, like this disguise was supposed to be mimicking, didn't work that way. Instead she focused her attention down on the area now abdomen-free. Aside from the tallness she felt a bit… typical. Sure she was not some pencil-thin model from a magazine cover, but without the tattoos she would only be remembered as a tall pretty lady.

Jade had never in her life wanted to be seen by people as typical. It was one of her main drives, she admitted.

The young queen needed something. For herself, of herself. The tattoos were nothing but an accident, and her scar merely a keepsake of her old mentor. She wanted a matter of her design that began and ended with her. Clothes might have served such a purpose for humans, but Jade was past valuing bits of modesty cloth for self-expression. She dealt in flesh.

The Spider Queen could not say where the idea came from, but seized on it eagerly. Like a missing puzzle piece, once it fell onto the table its place became so clear you could only fault yourself for failing to see it earlier.

Experimentally, she grabbed one butt cheek in each hand and began to knead the flesh like dough. Obediently, it swelled under her grip after hardly a moment. The tattoo marks on the affected area actually faded to her interest, leaving the pair of cheeks even more prominent by their cleanliness compared to her back and legs.

After a brief while, she deemed the alteration complete and finally stopped, releasing her hands to place them on her hips and assess the changes. She noted with satisfaction that she was sporting a very noticeable posterior, but not quite enough she felt to be comical. It was an apology of sorts to her hidden abdomen, and made her human body feel… right. Or perhaps just less wrong. It definitely was a comfort once more having a mass of sorts behind her, a reflection of her status.

Yes, this was that calling card for her human form, she knew that now.

Letting her upper body snap back into place, she turned her attention to Jumper. The spider girl was leaning forward to watch her queen intently. Jade noted the four fists trembling in Jumper's lap as the smaller spider practically vibrated.

"So what do you think? Do I shape up well?" Jade asked striking a pose. Jumper gave a long rasping noise as she nodded multiple times.

"Great. Now let's see how your glamour has improved. Who knows, maybe we can have ourselves a night on the town," Jade grinned.

"I think not. As entertaining as you can be when playing with your toys, Shadowkhan business is afoot," Tarakudo declared. He appeared in the mirror bedside Jumper, startling the small minion into springing backwards. With a deep sigh, Jade let the Glamour dissolve in a flash and beckoned Jumper to bring her the mirror.

"So that time again, eh?" the Queen said flexing her many joints.

XXX

Liz was roused from her dazed state by dry heaves. Her chest ached as she sucked in great breaths only to choke them out moments later like smoke. Her diaphragm ached with the force as she clutched her sides and continued to wetly hack up from an empty stomach, her throat feeling dry and cracked, flaring with pain with each hot cough.

'Worst. Wakeup call. Ever,' Liz Hartman thought while she braced herself as her head and torso went through the motion of sudden roiling nausea. Her mind tried to grasp what had happened since collapsing in bed the night before, feeling terribly like she was forgetting something of dire importance.

Food poisoning? That had happened to her twice, once with some seared beef tips from a Mexican restaurant, another time from a dish that had been recommended at a local Chinese restaurant. Evidence suggested that exotic food did not seem to agree with her. But she'd learned her lesson from the awful and messy affairs, and was sure she hadn't eaten or drank anything recently that she hadn't a million times in the past.

The fit eventually passed and she slumped down, grateful for the reprieve, even as the inside of her torso ached terribly from the heaving. She had just woken up and was already exhausted, at least she'd remembered to phone the school, there was no WAY she was up to handling a classroom feeling like she was. And to top it all off, a branch was poking into her stomach.

"What?" Hatman rasped, realizing that last detail hardly fit with her understanding of her bedroom. Nothing in it even resembled a branch. Finally opening her eyes to take a real look around, she fought back a wince at the sunlight raining down on her from above. When her eyes slowly adjusted to the scorching brightness, she saw to her disbelief that she was up in the branches of a tall deciduous tree. She was currently wrapped around a particularly thick gnarled branch. Looking over her shoulder she saw a pressed down spot littered with smaller malleable braches, like a giant bird's nest. Her recent bed, she assumed.

"What is going on?" she coughed. Oh Lord, she couldn't remember ever being so thirsty.

She climbed down and let out a sigh of relief that she did not fall and break something. Despite not being a particularly physical woman, the trek to the grass was unusually easy and effortless. Her hands and feet found purchase seemingly unconsciously as she made her way down in moments. Looking around, she found herself in the middle of the woods with no trail in sight.

Putting aside the ongoing mystery of how she found herself in the wilderness in the first place, she reached up and rubbed her temples idly. Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton and had been used by the children as a basketball recently. Though, thankfully, it seemed her fever had finally broken while she'd slept. Even so, she wanted a pain reliever pill and her bed. But what she NEEDED was water.

Water, yes. Given her sickly state upon awakening, it was a simple thing to imagine she'd spent the whole night upending her stomach until dry heaving was all she had left. It certainly explained her burning throat, and the sour taste in her mouth, not to mention the head and joint aches consistent with dehydration. Little details came back to the forefront of her mind of the first aid class she'd attended years ago.

'Get water, Elizabeth. Then try and think,' she told herself. But despite her desire to avoid any heavy thinking until she'd gotten a much-needed drink, she couldn't help the stray memory that floated to the forefront of her thoughts without warning. Choking smoke all around, sirens on the air, having to flee her apartment… it had… exploded? Gas? Was she high off something from the blast? Was she poisoned?!

'Water,' she decided, shaking her head fitfully despite the ache. 'Focus on water.'

From where she sat on the grass, she cocked her ear, and strained her neck high to try and pick up any possible sound that could lead her to her objective. Though she doubted her legs would even support her more than a handful of steps, regardless. Finally, after some moments, she heard the blessed sound of fluid trickling along some distance away. The discovery sent a jolt of lightning through her arms and legs, and like that her fatigue was long forgotten.

There. Go there. Her mind screamed at her as she drove forward, and she went. There was underbrush aplenty barring her path, but she tore through it like tissue paper with hardly a second thought as she drove on forward towards the wonderful sound. Twice she was almost flipped backwards when low branches somehow caught on her back. Each time they stopped her she was angry enough to cry out, a strangely high pitched shriek of a sound to her ears, but she gave it no mind. This day was terrible enough already. Couldn't it let her have a darn drink?!

Each time, Liz pulled herself free each time with a violent snapping of the branches impeding her and pressed on.

She did not find the little brook; she fell into it, stumbling down the suddenly steep embankment into knee deep water.

Reflexively, her arms caught her before her face hit the mud and stones of the bed. Liz immediately anticipated sharp pain in her palms from slamming hard against the wet stones, but none was forthcoming. Although she was far too distracted to comprehend the strangeness of her naked palms impacting hard stone with nary an ache.

Reorienting herself, Liz reared back up to kneel in the water up past her waist. She took a moment to catch her breath and then looked to her right towards the sound that had guided her. Slightly upstream, there was a cascade providing the convenient noise.

Though she hardly was one for the outdoors, she idly admitted the sight was quite picturesque. Though she still had no earthly idea where she was. Thankfully, despite her numerous new scrapes, bruises and scratches along her arms and legs, the water was so cool. She let it soak into her, driving back the throbbing pain.

Water.

She did not bother to cup her hands the first time; instead she simply lowered herself and opened her mouth to the water, inhaling it with long great gulps. The teacher in her warned of all the various pollutants natural and manmade likely floating in this stream, but she banished those thoughts outright. She did not care, she was thirstier than ever. This was life she was drinking, deer pee and chemical run off and all. The emptiness in her belly, and her cracked and parched throat demanded it and she had every intention of obliging even if it meant drinking up the whole damn brook.

Her big drink had her suddenly coughing, aggravating her abused throat in her rather unseemly haste to quench her thirst. That calmed her a bit, the action giving her pause to sit and think; she let out a long breath and leaned back, the stream continuing to assuage all her many aches. Hartman wished he had her glasses, she felt naked without them, and adjusting them was a comfortable gesture.

Feeling at least a bit more in control, she cupped her hands and took a slow drink of the cool water flowing around her. Somewhat embarrassed of her rather feral earlier display and relieved nobody was watching. Brook water or no, it was delicious; she was finding it odd just how good it tasted, crystal clear and refreshing in a way she hardly remembered water ever being. Also, she liked the feeling of the water running over her...

When had she last shaved her legs?

Frowning, she let the water fall from the second hand cup, and after a nervous pause, turned her attention down to the reflection staring back at her in the natural mirror.

She was met with red eyes with black pupils which blinked in a face covered with thin dark fur framed by damp blonde hair. Large bat ears pulled back from where they stuck through the blonde mess, twitching as the face blinked again and again. Curiously in sync with herself as she blinked. Over and over, past the point of coincidence.

A moment was spent processing that information, before Liz reacted in the only reasonable way she knew. She screamed and fled in terror, terribly mindful that the unearthly shriek which cut through the forest was her own.

Stumbling out of the stream, water splashing chaotically about her as she thrashed, Liz registered several pairs of strong arms grasping her from all sides. Their grip was sure and firm, and in her terror and overstimulation, all she could do was surrender herself to their sure intentions, and hear the beating of many wings.

XXX

"This has GOT to be some sort of sick coincidence," Jackie muttered looking out over the blasted ruin of what had once been a modest single-bedroom apartment. Bits of simple furniture, smoldering linens and the ashen remains of graded papers littered the floor like dead leaves in autumn. The lights were out and electricity to the room had been disconnected, but a sizable hole in the bedroom wall provided plenty of bright sunlight.

All of these details would have led him to believe they had found the right place, the site of a new Shadowkhan Essence overtaking its host. But one detail hardly fit with the others enough that Jackie simply could not accept the truth.

This apartment belonged to one Elizabeth Hartman. Jade's disciplined, responsible, if somewhat dull and dry, previous teacher. Jackie had met her numerous times, usually to discuss his somewhat troublesome niece, and none of those occasions gave him any cause to think she had the black heart required to attract the corrosive Oni as an ideal host. Not the woman who had fought the dark urges of the Demon Chi and risked her own life to protect Jade's.

"Unless this Ms. Hartman was entertaining company with someone particularly twisted right before they were whacked with the demon stick, she's the only candidate for the new host," Black muttered, arms crossed as he stared out among the ruin, looking somewhat troubled himself. He'd never met the teacher personally, but admitted her record, or lack thereof did not fit any of the established patterns. This woman was so squeaky clean she was practically a ghost so far as the system was concerned.

He was experienced enough in law enforcement to know divergences from the norm like this never occurred without a good reason. He doubted supernatural disembodied evil shadow armies were some exception to the rule.

"I called the school, spoke with the principal. The man sounded nervous the moment I mentioned her name," Black continued, looking at his notes as he went on. "She's been gone for days, apparently claiming she had some bug. But last night, he mentioned she sounded like she was in some sort of fugue state. Mentioned something about flying."

At the mention of flying, Jackie, Tohru and Uncle all looked up from what they were investigating. They certainly remembered her doing just that not long ago, and if she was remembering it, too… "He'd apparently been trying to call her all day to make sure nothing was wrong. It seems his instincts were right on the mark."

"Ignorant teacher is NOT host of eviiiiil!" Uncle declared sharply, eyes on his work.

Jackie glanced briefly at Uncle; the man was waving his blowfish catalysts around, eyes narrowed in concentration as he checked every nook and cranny. From his silence, Jackie could tell he was equally vexed at the upset in Essence routine and determined to get at the truth. Otherwise he'd have already barked at them all to get a move on and hunt the poor woman down. It didn't help matters at all that Uncle's temper was already short from once again needing to leave the shop in the hands of those three ex-flunkies.

Although, some nagging part of the archeologist's mind reminded him that Jade had not been evil either. Far from it. Though there were naturally extenuating circumstances there. But then again, Hartman had experience with demonic energies herself, just like the young girl turned spider-woman…

"I know it's kind of an 'out there' selection for the forces of evil," Viper stated flatly, apparently impatient. She'd never met this Ms. Hartman herself, and her memories of public education made it rather easy for her to imagine a teacher being Hannibal Lecter in her spare time. "But isn't it best we just track down whatever the trail leads to and work from there? We're doing nothing but losing valuable time poking around like this when we could be tackling the issue head on."

Although even the thief admitted to herself this place was perhaps one of the most boring homes she'd ever seen. The only photos were of the woman in question at various ages. Some of her with people who were likely her parents, others with an old couple, grandparents most like. Yearbook photos which had been framed, some teacher awards, such as "Teacher of the Year". Viper rolled her eyes at that. Not even an explosion could liven this place up, apparently.

Something shiny caught her eye and the thief reached down, picking up a strange warped object besides the kindling that had once been a small bed. Up close she could see it was the molten frame of a pair of glasses. The plastic of its construction was twisted and melted by heat and pressure until it nearly formed a crude double helix. Pursing her lips, she put the ruined eyewear in one of the spare evidence bags and dropped it in the pile with the rest.

"Viper's right," Tohru added from where he was hunched over near the somewhat untouched kitchen, looking over a map of the San Francisco area, the tracker beads dangling from his thick fingers. "Regardless of whoever it is, this was the site of the possession. The reaction of the mask fragment has become much more energetic since we got here."

Jackie gave a deep breath and looked out through the blasted wreckage of the wall, imagining the woman as some possessed monster, springing from the flames like a bat out of hell. It was such a bizarre image; he could hardly picture it even as he looked over the evidence. But there could be nothing gained from looking around, that was certain.

"Fine, they're close so best we move out quickly," he finally agreed. Then added humorlessly, "Best we make the most of this 'good fortune'."

XXX

Several hours before the J-Teams pursuit…

The she-spider stared down at the reflection, frowning and chewing idly at her lip as she went over the new Host identity Big Red had dropped on her. He looked back at her, frowning himself, unsure why his minion would be pausing like this as she went over the revelation. It was hardly some Earth shattering announcement in his eyes, though he supposed the choice this time was rather mundane on the surface.

Finally Jade cleared her throat politely, and cautiously spoke up, "Not any commentary on your work or anything but… how about you give that one the double check? Just a thought…"

Raising his eyebrow in distaste, Tarakudo stared back at his somewhat sheepish general and stated flatly and succinctly, "I do not need to 'double check', a thing. I can feel her even now; there is no doubt or question as to the new identity. It is Elizabeth Annemarie Hartman to whom a new tribe is bound. Accept it so we can get a move on, your Majesty."

"No, see," Jade held up a hand as if to slow down her boss' hurry, and then stated, "these Essences only take the worst of the worst, right? We're talking Turbo Troll-level baddies, or no dice."

"Yes," the Oni King stated impatiently, "And?"

"Well, I mean… Hartman… isn't. At all," Jade finally managed to get out, trying to find the right words. "She's like… the Anti-You."

"Oh, please do not tell me you were taken in by her quaint little schoolmarm persona," Tarakudo shrugged off, as well as a being could with no shoulders, and rolled his eyes for good measure. "I'm sure she put on a fine show, and all. But the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows. I'm sure your old teacher has more than a few skeletons in her closet. Literally. The Essences would never make such a mistake."

There was another pause as Jade absorbed Tarakudo's words, but to his dismay, her frown only deepened. She tapped her claws against the webs beneath her, pulling and twanging the elastic threads unconsciously as she considered her words. "I see where you're going with this, Eyebrows, but your theory hits a preeetty big snag I'm not surprised you don't know about."

"See," she went on, strange memories of a tumultuous night coming to the forefront of her mind. "If this is the same Hartman, than this wouldn't be her first time possessed by evil. She was once all hopped-up on Hsi-Wu Chi-"

"Hsi-Wu?" Tarakudo interrupted, blinking once at the name. "The Sky Demon Sorceror?"

"Yeah, that little worm with wings," Jade muttered bitterly, her flames flaring briefly into life at a memory of betrayal. "Well, unlike the others, she DIDN'T go all nutzoid and try to eat my brains or whatever the hell demons do for fun. She actually SAVED me several times from that sulfur-spitting iguana, Drago. Then she LET us exorcize it outta her, no fuss, not even an argument."

The she-spider shrugged helplessly down at her boss and muttered a weak, "So forgive me, Evil Doom Lord, but that doesn't seem very 'hidden darkside' to me."

Taking a moment to arrange all that sudden new information in his head, the Shadowkhan Lord's own mood slowly began to sink. Uncertainty took hold as he looked his General over and could tell from experience that she was neither lying, nor doing her rather uncalled for embellishing. He struggled to think of any number of explanations for the Essence anchoring to such a Host, muttering aloud, "But… that can't possibly be right. She must have SOME darkness within her soul. This is BASIC magical theory!"

"Well, I mean," Jade fumbled, noticing her boss' mood beginning to sour before she'd even began the mission. "She DID give, like, WAY too many pop quizzes to not at least be a little sadistic. Also, I think I heard another teacher mention she's a horrible tipper."

Gritting his boar-like tusks, Tarakudo's eyes flared yellow.

But Jade was lost in thought as she went over memories over eight years old in her mind, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, her pedipalps crossed. "She once gave me a C+ for a paper that DESERVED a B… AND she's been a few minutes late to class a few times…"

"I think I'm getting the point," Tarakudo growled out, but on deaf ears.

"Oh! And I caught her coming out of the boy's room once, and she said Fists of Justice III was only 'OKAY'," she grumbled, digging her claws into the web as she glared into space, lost in reverie.

"I get the point!" Tarakudo snapped, then paused and frowned, adding, "And how is that last part evil?"

"Have you ever SEEN it?" Jade challenged, looking down her nose at the reflected visage of her employer.

"ENOUGH!" Tarakudo fumed, making his Gumo General jump slightly and look away, her cheeks somewhat flushed purple. Internally his mind worked in a hurry, going over the troubling details of his minion in quick succession. Just assuming the Essence made some sort of MISTAKE wasn't possible. That wasn't how they worked. So clearly if this teacher was some disgustingly good soul, there were unseen factors involved throwing a monkey wrench into an idiot proof system.

"We will accomplish nothing discussing this… this DEVIATION here in the base. I want you to go out with your ladies and find that teacher immediately."

"Nope," Jade waved off, placing her hands on her hips.

Tarakudo looked back up at her, eyes narrowed and voice threateningly low. "Excuse me?"

"This isn't the type of job I take the girls on," Jade expressed sternly, holding up a finger. She smiled apologetically over at where Jumper suddenly seemed crestfallen. Tarakudo's mirror dropping somewhat in the blonde's grasp.

"It'll be faster, AND easier, if I go on my own. Just leave everything to me."

It wasn't that she didn't want to bring her ladies along, but if this WAS Hartman, she wasn't going to suddenly come at her from all sides with her Ladies and scare the stuffiness out of her. A woman like Hartman, she could and would handle solo.

The Queen looked up towards where her large enforcer was busy on the upper webs violently dismembering virtual enemies in Jade's game system. Tarantula was a blunt instrument, and her defeat in Mexico only seemed to have fueled her anger management issues. She would require way more polish before she was ready for something this delicate.

Jumper was a little angel, certainly, but frankly she'd only complicate matters needlessly if taken along. Not to mention, Jade hardly trusted the other two alone without her supervision, or the supervision of her second. Jumper would be far more useful staying behind and keeping the others in line as needed. Hopefully the little blonde would understand the importance of the task.

As for Widow, Jade was at a complete loss. The pseudo-Drider was still curled up in her little corner, barely eating and completely mute to her attempts at communication. Ever since they found her passed out in her own regurgitated alcohol on some strange rooftop completely undefended. Thankfully Jade's nose could tell from here that the dark blue lump curled in on itself didn't smell of those foul drinks. But that was a cold comfort when compared to the state of her. If only Widow would just TELL her what was wrong, what ate at her so…

But that, unfortunately, had to wait. Perhaps her old teacher would even have some advice. She remembered, vaguely, that hand reaching out to her, trying to help her. Her last sight with human eyes. Yes, she would handle this her way, and soon.

Couldn't be late to class, after all.

XXX

Hartman sat doubled over in her nest, her head in her hands as she tried to will away her throbbing headache. Slowly, she turned her gaze up at the three figures perched silently atop the walls of the nest staring down at her. They were gargoyle-like, with long black wings, thick clawed hands and feet, and aggressive black uniforms hiding all features but their blood-red eyes. "Bat ninjas" she dubbed them, lacking a more descriptive term. It seemed the only detail she had, which they lacked was a long thick tail twitching back and forth behind her.

During her fit in the brook, they had appeared around her like phantoms, and flew her off back to the nest before she could even process their appearance.

Without a word, human or otherwise, they had then gone about improving the nest with sure planned efficiency. Freshly cut branches lining the floor with soft pine boughs and effectively making a loose spiral nest structure, longer branches twisted about forming a sturdy frame. She reached forward and felt the walls beneath her claws; it was almost beautiful in its functionality and let her gather her wits to take her minds off her "companions". Finally, she let the leaves fall back into place and sighed.

It was… nice, the confinement made it easier to think somehow. And on some strange level, she found the height off the ground equally assuring. Eventually, she looked back up at her silent entourage, shoulders tensing as she met the eyes of one briefly. It didn't respond, however. She couldn't even tell if they were breathing. Even from her brief overwhelming glance at herself, she could tell she resembled them now, for whatever reason. No coincidence, surely.

But even when she finally summoned the courage to try and address them, no matter what she asked, her answer was dead silence. Something told her this was not mere defiance on their part. She suspected they couldn't talk, period.

Liz grabbed the edge of the nest with her clawed hand and used it to help shift herself so that she was directly facing the nearest. She took a calming breath to steady her frayed nerves and then spoke as clearly as she could, her voice clear and commanding from a lifetime of guiding a classroom.

"You, young bat man, go to the ground now," she ordered, then tensed right as the words left her mouth, preparing for anything. Without pause or hesitation, it did so. Not flying but falling such that the wings caught the air and made a soft silent landing. Once on the ground, the Bat ninja turned back to look up at where she observed it with rapt attention, as if awaiting further instructions.

"Theory one; obedience. Confirmed," she told herself with a slight smile. Settling back while mindful of her new tail, she looked down and ran a hand over her swollen left forearm. Like the majority of this body it was covered in dark blue fur. Parting the fur, she found the flesh beneath was a robin's egg pale blue. And yes, despite the strange azure color scheme she seemed to have been struck with, it seemed she was a blonde at the moment. Loose yellow bangs dangled in front of her eyes.

Liz had once thought about dying her hair blonde as a teen. Her grandmother had not liked the idea whatsoever. The old woman viewed it as an insult to the good family hair she had inherited from her late mother. She winced at the memory, unsure if it was at the thought of losing that bit of resemblance to her mother, or recalling the very unnecessarily high volume of her grandmother that day.

A simple no, bad idea; would have been quite sufficient. But her grandmother, bless her soul, had been a… passionate woman, and a staunch traditionalist. A rather poor combination, all told.

Her stomach growled, alerting her to the next problem. She was hungry, starving in fact, but how was she supposed to get anything to eat when she didn't know where she was, and most definitely had no money?

There was certainly food in the forest, but she was hardly what one would call an outdoorsy type. She had never even joined the buttercup scouts and did not know how to forage in the least. Not to mention, even if she did have money AND knew her location, approaching people was out of the question. Liz had really scared herself to death with her reflection alone; she couldn't go around terrifying people just for a bologna, tomato and watercress on rye.

Wait did she smell... fish? Looking over the edge of her nest, she saw there was indeed a fish the size of her old hand lying on the forest floor.

The teacher felt the distinct and unfamiliar pull of hunger and instinct compelling her to go down to the sudden fish; although there was something to be said for its sudden and convenient appearance. She looked to her bat men but was hesitant to stress this strange obedience. Not to mention, she had gotten down on her own last time.

And to Hartman's shock, she did so again. Her limbs acted of their own accord as she climbed down head first. Her thick claws dug into the soft wood, her feet gripping the bark as dexterously as her hands. She was distracted from her descent by the alien sensation of her tail brushing against branches. She had a feeling that should she slip the tail would immediately try and anchor her against a fall.

Despite the height of the tree, Hartman reached the ground with surprising speed and ease, settling on the soft grass below. Rather than standing, Hartman felt more comfortable staying on all fours, her wings tucking around her. She was glad no students could see her bad posture. Though, she felt strangely natural positioned like this on her hands and feet, so perhaps this form she'd been suddenly struck with was meant to move about this way. When not flying, anyways.

Now the fish.

As if in response to her cautious approach, the fish slid across the relatively clear space only to stop at the edge of the brush. Hartman's jaw dropped.

She was not stupid, clearly a wire of some kind was at work, and someone was luring her in with all the wit and subtlety of Elmer Fudd. But she realized that intent might mean knowledge, answers. She padded after the fish carefully, tail swinging behind her as her wings tucked in protectively on her torso and shielding her head from the strangely irritating sunlight overhead.

Almost within reach of the fish the teacher stopped and leaned forward reflexively sniffing at the air. But she recoiled when she realized what she was doing, and then frowned down at her clawed hands planted on the ground. She was walking on all fours now as naturally as on two. Earlier, and before she had climbed down a tree like a monkey. It seemed her body was taking all these changes in stride, only slowed down by her human sense of displacement. It made her insides clench, thinking how easily this form was taking her for a ride without her even realizing half the time.

"There is clearly something wrong with me," she told herself, still bothered by the subtle metallic echo beneath her voice. Someone else might have laughed at stating something so obvious, but she was thinking. She was not pretty, charming, generally very pleasant company, or even terribly smart in her opinion. But Elizabeth Hartman prided herself in being able to lay out facts like a puzzle and deliberately put them together to figure out what she really had in front of her.

The problem was she was clearly missing a number of key puzzle pieces. And the fish, perhaps impatient with her hesitation, was getting away again.

Reflexively, she pounced for it, her hunger taking a firm hold of the body's reigns. The fish accelerated with a jerk, barely escaping her grasping claws and soon she was chasing it through the brush. It was not like last time. There were no branches slapping her across the face or catching her on the wings. Her foreclaws struck out slicing or batting away obstacles, and her wings were tougher than they looked, acting like leathery shields to divert away any obstruction. She was a dart swift and certain. And this time she stopped, digging into the dirt before reaching the brook.

The fish was waiting before her; she grabbed it up and took a bite that consumed half of it, scales, bones and all. She had swallowed before she realized what she had done, savoring the taste of the raw flesh and organs moving down her throat to her eager stomach. Though once reason caught up with her, she her eyes widened in horror at the tail end clasped tightly in her grasp. An onset of sudden nausea overcame her she threw the tasty looking remainder into the brook, and then slumped to lie down atop the embankment, dizzy and overwhelmed once again.

"I... do not understand," she said.

"Well obviously, Teach," a strange woman's voice called out. Reverbing like a broken stereo, just like her own. Hartman's large bat-like ears sprang up and so did she. Wings spread, legs wide and arm lifted in front of her. She didn't know the first thing about self-defense, but her body apparently once again took up the slack. Though she was too scared to once again focus on the sense of vertigo it brought.

"Who is there?!" she demanded. Her increased volume exaggerated the strange alien tone in her voice, making her sound more aggressive than she'd intended.

The voice responded, sounding chipper and flippant, "A friend, duh. I figured you were probably starving. And it seemed a good way to catch up. Y'know, over a free meal. Hunting and fishing was my life for several years so it was nice to get back in the saddle. Had a few myself while I waited."

"Want more?" the voice asked coyly. "You probably do. Even if you're trying to fight it. I know allll about how tough it can be finally setting aside dumb human prejudice."

Hartman was not startled by the voice; it had been obvious she was being led by someone. However, her mental preparedness was apparently insufficient for anticipating just what sort of person might have been at the end of that line. So to her great embarrassment, she found herself jumping back, eyes bugging out and wings reflexively guarding around her when she looked up and was faced with a giant spider looming over her. One with a woman's torso in place of a face. Her many legs grasped the edges of a wide and impossibly large spider web wrapped securely around the lower branched of the tree.

The spider-woman, thankfully, didn't take offence at the rather rude response, and instead giggled somewhat childishly. The veteran teacher could tell there was no aggression in those six ruby-like eyes staring down at her in amusement. With casual ease, the spider woman slowly lowered herself down on a line, her back legs easily controlling her descent until she was down on the grass, looking down at Hartman with no hidden amusement.

Being this close and not yet having been attacked or even threatened made Hartman relax somewhat. The woman, up close was actually rather beautiful, not to mention fascinating. Her form was so incredibly alien and unlike anything she'd ever seen, and yet she held herself so naturally and moved with such casual ease it somehow belied the strangeness of it all.

Suddenly realizing how rude she'd been just staring like this, Hartman quickly lowered her eyes in shame and muttered a weak, "Um, g-good afternoon. My name is Ms. Hartman, or… you already knew that? But anyways… thank you again for the fish, Miss…?"

The spider woman grinned, and though the expression held no aggression, the full mouth of fangs made the teacher swallow apprehensively. She felt like something of a hypocrite, teaching her students to put aside their prejudices and here she was, feeling ready to run for her life just because the woman who provided her with a much-needed meal happened to look so… unique.

"Let's save introductions for a bit, Ms. Hartman," the she-spider waved off. She began slowly circling around where Liz crouched, looking her up and down, which she found rather forward. "Haven't had a chance to give you the once over, but I gotta say, loving the new you."

"Meaning you knew the old me, correct?" Hartman asked frowning, quickly turning so her front was facing the rather bold spider woman. She then asked, some calculated accusation in her voice, "I also get the impression you know what has happened to me, and why."

There was a pause as her companion just stared her way. But then the spider began snickering again, which quickly devolved into full laughter as she held her sides. Her whole body seemed to shake with the gesture, down to all eight legs. Liz crossed her arms and stared, feeling self-conscious and thus also somewhat stressed and angered by her companion's forwardness. "You find my ordeal humorous?"

"No no!" the spider waved off with one of her lower arms as she attempted to recompose herself. "It's just… kinda thrilling you're taking this all so well. No pointless freaking out, no emotional outbursts, just taking things as they come and dealing with what you can. It's nostalgic, is all."

"Well, I do try and emphasize critical thinking in my lesson plans," she frowned, her mind hovering on the word 'nostalgic'. That was an odd comment for the woman spider to make, considering she also apparently knew her name to begin with.

But her companion went on; ignorant of Hartman's puzzling out of the situation. "That's probably why you're getting so used to that hot new look so fast, like last time. Running on all fours since it's more efficient now, climbing trees, all that stuff. You aren't letting the changes drag you down."

The woman smirked and stated then, "Oh, by the way, this is a BIG improvement over the last look. Turning you into a gross copy of His Wu wasn't a flattering make over AT ALL."

Suddenly everything seemed to slow down as more puzzle pieces snapped into place within Hartman's mind. While the memories were vague, and blurred, she remembered that night of flying and fighting. In fact, the more she stayed in this form, the clearer those memories became. Even though this time somehow felt inherently different. But more so than that, only a handful of people even KNEW of those events. And of them, only one was a girl.

A very particular peculiar girl, vanished without a trace some time ago.

The spider was looking at her curiously now, but Hartman was hardly seeing any of that. All she saw was the familiar shape of the hair-spikes, the set of her full lips. The bright and inquisitive look in her eyes, the attitude and the familiarity. It was impossible, but even knowing that, her lips formed the words.

"Jade?"

The spider's eyes widened, but then her lips pulled into a broad grin and she nodded excitedly, grabbing Liz's claws in her own. "I don't believe it! You figured that out all by yourself?! That's amazing, Ms. Hartman! This is-"

Any further words from the student-turned-spider were lost on Hartman as she found this to be an excellent time to pass out.

XXX

Viper groaned as she stepped along the underbrush of the forest, looking distastefully at all the low branches, jutting roots and brush baring any clear path for her. "It's nice this one was considerate enough to keep close, but I am definitely starting to remember why I prefer working in a more urban landscape."

Tohru grunted in agreement, his massive body having far greater trouble than the slender young woman in pushing through. His narrowed and frustrated eyes were glued to the beads in one hand dangling over the map in the other.

Uncle just scoffed and stormed on ahead, hands tightly around his blowfish and lizard should quickly drawing them out prove necessary. "Thief and student do not appreciate modern demon hunting! Used to be faaar more perilous! Digging through swamps and caves in dead of night! Never knowing what may jump out and bite off head!"

"We do that NOW," Viper mumbled under her breath, ignoring the old man's ramblings. Instead she turned to where Jackie was leading at the front, eyes narrowed and focused as he forged on ahead, probably expecting Jade behind every shadow.

Steeling her resolve, the thief cleared her throat and spoke loudly in Jackie's direction, "Assuming this is who we think it is, what could she possibly want out here?"

That made Jackie pause and look back towards the ex-thief, frowning in thought. Finally he gave a defeated shrug, "There's not really anything out here TO want, just miles of scenery. And I could be wrong, but Ms. Hartman never struck me as the outdoorsy type."

"She never struck us as the Oni type either," Tohru mumbled in frustration, jumping into the conversation to rest his eyes from constantly staring at the accursed beads. "If anything, this whole quest has only shown us how far assumptions will get us…"

"Can't argue with that," Viper sighed, ducking under a low gnarled branch gracefully as she moved up closer behind Jackie. "But even if she's somehow NOT the scum of the universe like the other Hosts, why she was chosen is still probably important. I'll put money down on it not just being a dumb fluke."

"We told you about the Sky Demon Chi hunt over at that awful haunted manor, right?" Jackie asked looking back. "All I can think is it has something to do with that. Jade taught us that simply removing the Chi doesn't mean it didn't leave its mark…"

"Nephew has interesting ideas," Uncle chimed in, rubbing his chin in thought. "The Chi of Hsi Wu, the Mark of Tarakudo, both these things could leave a curse on even the most puuuure hearted spirits."

"Of course, Big Guy had the Mark too, for a bit and was possessed by Demon Jabba the Hutt," Viper pointed out surely, gesturing to Tohru, who suddenly looked a bit green around the gills.

"Bah!" Uncle scoffed, waving off the comment outright as though swatting a fly, "Tohru is regularly working with Good Chi, unlike Teacher! Offsets the bad! Would take being contaminated by Dark Chi explosion like Teacher to risk attracting Essence!"

"Well, whatever the reason Ms. Hartman's out here, hopefully getting her to cooperate is no more difficult than the last time," Jackie muttered, then winced when Uncle struck him harder than usual across the brow.

"Nephew has learned nothing about tempting fate!"

XXX

Hartman tugged at the silk sports bra that was now covering her rather noticeably increased chest, a full cup size by her estimate. The startling near-indecency of her state of dress had sunk in after Jade had revived her with a handful of chilly brook water, and then calmed her down once the disorientation of waking faded. Unfortunately her former student had responded to her discomfort by "helping". Namely ripping the tattered remnants of her nightgown off her, assuring it was more comfortable. Liz had nearly slashed her former student across the face in righteous indignation.

Well no, hardly "almost". Jade had caught her hand rather easily, and apologized sheepishly, digging one clawed foot into the grass. Apparently Jade was a committed nudist now, though she seemed to object to the label. Oddly the idea bothered Hartman more than Jade now being an adult Gumo. Jade identified that as her new race and Hartman had always strived to be politically correct.

Anyway, while Hartman covered her shame with her wings Jade had easily weaved a bra and nice big comfy panties. Apparently Jade had guessed her measurements perfectly at a mere glance. Right now the large spider-woman was weaving her something to wear over her new underwear at her request. She had to marvel at the material of the bra and panties she now wore. She'd never worn a pair so comfortable, or soft yet clearly sturdy. Although the fresh silk feeling so strangely warm was somewhat off-putting, reminding her that this was material her former student had literally produced with her own body.

Hartman took another bite of the fish Jade had caught so to distract herself. She hated how good they tasted raw. Crunching bones and all. The heads in particular had a certain sweet taste she shuddered to dwell on. Her far sharper teeth cleaved through the scales and bones with frightful ease. She glanced over at where several shriveled fish husks lay besides the brook. Jade apparently ate like a spider now, too. Jamming her sizable fangs in and then draining the meals into shrunken fish raisins.

'There's nothing disgusting about it,' Hartman chastised herself, 'I'm sure a body like that has its own unique needs. And she did provide you with your own meal.'

"I appreciate this," she told Jade, referring to both the meal and the clothes. It was fascinating to watch her student work, the movements so sure and natural despite the complexity involved. While Hartman sat on the incline, her feet and tail tip in the brook, Jade stood next to her on four legs, one pair pulling the silk from her rear while the rest wove it together. Her movements were so sure, she wasn't even looking, instead focusing on her old teacher with a bright smile.

"No problem. It's my fault jumping the gun like that. It took me years to shake off the whole clothes thing. I'm sure that once you get used to things, you'll be flying the dark winds, the air flowing unhindered through your soft blue fur," Jade said airily, clearly lost in some overly dramatic fantasy.

"I… think not," Hartman muttered, clearing her throat to try to shake the spider out of her reverie. Jade merely shrugged and smiled down at her. And wasn't that something, Jade was quite a bit taller than her now. Not that Hartman had ever been a very tall woman. But really, the more she watched, the more signs she picked up this was her spirited student. Being an adult, not to mention no longer human, seemed to hardly change anything.

"Here we go! We can dye it later or something. But for now this should be practical," Jade said holding up the new silk garment in her front legs so Hartman could get a clear look.

"There are no sleeves, skirt, or legs," Hartman deadpanned, crossing her arms as she looked the outfit up and down. It was more a leotard like the sort worn by gymnasts than a dress. Not something she'd have considered an appropriate everyday ensemble.

"Oh come on, live a little! Meet me halfway here!" Jade whined, pouting in a way wholly unbefitting her age as she held out the finished garment.

Lacking the energy or resolve to argue with the arachnid seamstress Hartman finally gave a deep sigh and nodded, rubbing her eyes carefully to mind her talons. With her wings and tail in mind, she regretfully asked Jade's help to pull the outfit on, feeling more than a little ridiculous. Thankfully, Jade had apparently put some important consideration in her design; there was no upper back to accommodate her wings, and a wide hole above the backside that her tail easily slipped through. Hartman was definitely thankful for how tough and stretchy the material was as she pulled it up on herself and stuck her head through the neck. Brushing herself off to smooth any wrinkles, she checked herself in the water.

"That is really me?" she asked herself. In any other situation, she would have been sure she was looking at a stranger, or rather, a strange monster. In her opinion, Jade was much more recognizable despite the anatomically extreme changes. One could easily see how the cute girl would have grown into a similar beauty if you merely ignored the arachnid aspects.

But as for Hartman herself, she was sure she looked younger. Perhaps a decade's worth of age seemed to have been shaved off overnight. Not to mention, she was in better shape than she had ever been in her life. Those details were clear regardless of the fact that she seemed to be part bat. She stiffened up with an unladylike yelp when Jade ran the back of her hand over her stomach.

"Hey, you have abs! That's hardly fair. I trained for years to get ripped and you go from dough to steel in one blast," Jade whined. Hartman frowned at Jade, swatting her hand away. Clearly Jade had quite forgotten personal space lessons. Another troubling puzzle piece, all things considered.

The self-proclaimed queen looked down at her own waist and thrust out her lower lip petulantly, crossing her arms. "You can't even SEE my abs anymore; they're all covered up by fur and exo…"

"I would quickly trade them for a razor in a heartbeat, I assure you. God Lord, how will I go anywhere?" Hartman asked looking back to the bat gargoyle thing staring back at her. She watched via her reflection as the tall spider woman put an arm over her shoulders, a smug smirk revealing one of her hooked fangs.

"Oh don't you worry your pretty new head about that. I can teach you a little trick that should solve that problem lickety-split."

One Hour Later:

Hartman smiled wider than she probably ever had in her life, looking down into the brook at her own human face. The teacher turned and looked at her uncovered back, bereft of wings. The only remnant of them was the backless leotard and rather embarrassing hole over her rear. The skin was smooth human flesh bereft of fur when she reached back and ran her fingers over her shoulder blades. She was so happy she almost released a rather unbecoming giggle.

The illusion wasn't quite perfect of course; her hair was still blonde and perhaps out of some misplaced sense of vanity the illusion seemed younger just like her new mutant form. But that aside, she felt elated with the result of her first attempt at magic, even as her rational mind still struggled to accept that's what this was.

Liz turned back to Jade to give an enthusiastic thank you. But then frowned raising an eyebrow to the monster woman standing nearby with her jaw dropped further than a human's ever could.

"Mind you don't let a bug fly in, Jade," Hartman admonished her old student, hands on her hips. Though after saying it she realized eating bugs were quite likely normal for Jade, though she'd likely have to have a few hundred at once for a proper meal.

"How?! I mean, it looks perfect already! That spell is tough! I still don't have it right!" Jade protested, gesticulating towards Hartman wildly. Jade was standing taller than normal and her fur was rising too, like an upset cat. Normally, the sight would have been funny, even a little cute. But Hartman realized she was alone with something very powerful, and likely not the picture of mental stability.

It was probably best Liz not say she had simply followed the directions given. Something she doubted Jade did faithfully. Having been her teacher seemingly a lifetime ago, Hartman could easily see Jade cutting corners or adding flair to make something less boring.

"You must be a natural teacher. We always need more in the staff," Hartman assured the giant spider-woman calmly. She began to feel lightheaded; an exhausting dizziness began washing over her. Quickly, she let her mental grip slip; feeling her body return to is monster state. Apparently maintaining this "glamour" was akin to flexing a mental muscle, something she would need to steadily gain more stamina in if she wanted to maintain the false form longer. She flexed the returned wings experimentally; it was like they'd never left.

"Well I am invariably awesome, and have experience helping ladies get past the human and onto the good stuff," Jade smugly agreed, nodding her head assuredly, clearly satisfied with Hartman's explanation. Some things never changed.

"But speaking of jobs... Hey! I was just getting to that, Mustache!" she suddenly snapped… at the water. Hartman blinked several times and looked on as Jade seemed to be having a heated and one-sided argument with her own reflection.

"Hey, I am doing spades better this time, so shut your big fat red face!" Jade yelled heatedly at the creek before lashing out with a claw and sending a fish flying. Hartman, to her own surprise, reached out and caught the fish from the air. Her reflexes had apparently improved along with everything else. Seeing the fish wriggle desperately in her claws, she soon lost any desire to bite its head off. With a flick of her wrist she threw it back into the water. Jade was in a huff, both sets of arms crossed and pointedly looking away from the water, brow furrowed in irritation.

"Uh, that was my boss. He's is kinda in charge of this operation despite just being a face in mirrors right now," Jade admitted with clear reluctance, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Oh, is he the reason I have dire need of a shave?" Hartman asked cocking her head, and ears.

"Yup, in all his caterpillar-eyebrows glory," Jade muttered gesturing over to the brook's surface, specifically to the area by her own reflection.

Hartman frowned and reached up to adjust her glasses before remembering she wasn't wearing any. She frowned and turned back to Jade, searching for the right way to express her confusion. "I don't suppose you're saying he's below the water's surface, correct?"

"You can't see him?" Jade asked turning her attention back to Hartman. She pointed her lower right hand towards a blank span of water again, as if whatever she claimed to see should have been obvious. Hartman very much hoped Jade was the one in the right here, she shuddered to imagine her THIS unstable.

"Should I be able to see him?" The red eyed woman asked calmly, checking that her tail could move comfortably in the hole Jade left for it. She was having a hard enough time absorbing being a bat woman, and her old student being a giant spider. She hardly needed a phantasmal demon face only Jade could see on top of everything else.

"Well I don't see why not," Jade frowned in thought, her right foot's claws tapping on the stones of the bank. "The guys could see him, and they're human. Not to mention, so could Wong and my girls-"

Jade blinked and turned her attention back to the water's surface, eyebrow quirked at whatever it was she was hearing, or believed she was anyways. After a moment's pause, she resumed her one sided conversation. "Oh? Really? Oh come on, how petty can you get… aren't you too old to act like this?"

Rolling her eyes, she looked back towards the confused teacher, smiling apologetically before explaining, "Apparently he refuses to acknowledge you as you stole an Essence."

"Stole? I am quite certain this was forced on me," Hartman snapped crossing her arms. Jade winced and held up her four hands disarmingly.

"His words, not mine," she quickly said to placate the older woman.

"Frankly, I'm still surprised you transformed so far, so fast…" Jade mused aloud, trying to divert the subject. "If I had to guess, you've been possessed for way longer than this but must have been subconsciously putting a lid on it until the pressure built so much that it just exploded all at once like a burst pipe. Pretty impressive, really… "

"You're acting like I'm some sort of major deviation," Hartman stated, she thought back on how awful she'd felt for days preempting this sudden metamorphosis. It was stressful enough imagining something like this could just happen at all, but to hear her circumstances were strange even by an insane standard was even worse.

Jade then sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck and sighed before explaining, "Weeeellll, thing is these Oni Essences seem to be meant for a certain type. And frankly I was really surprised you got the pick. May account for why you suppressed it for so long."

"What sort of 'type' do you mean?" Hartman asked feeling cautious, flexing her wings in and out once.

"Just imagine the exact opposite of you in every way," Jade shrugged off, prompting a frown from her old teacher. But before Liz could request a more detailed explanation, the spider-woman went on with her previous topic.

"Way I figure it; you got the Essence for two reasons. One, you already went bat first with the Chi of Hsi Wu, and you kicked butt with it too."

"Um… thank you Jade, I tried," Hartman nodded sheepishly. Having that eventful night talked about so frankly still made her feel somewhat awkward.

"And two," Jade went on, "I think, like my first time going Oni, that left a mark on you despite being reversed. Dark Chi stains like ketchup."

"Naturally that mark faded away for the most part, just like Uncle knew it would. But recently… by your perspective, anyways, it got a big ole booster shot, ripping the scar open. That shot being me exploding into a Shadowkhan again right next to you," she winced after she said it, looking down at the grass. "I guess my bad. Sorry."

"Don't," Hartman frowned, remembering that event in the hallway with horrific detail. "Please don't apologize for that day, dear. It wasn't your fault."

Jade nodded sheepishly, looking a bit uncomfortable herself before moving on, "So anyways, I guess it all piled up to make that Essence see you as ideal despite not being dark at all. What are the odds, huh? Like getting struck by lightning three times in a row."

She suddenly stiffened and turned back towards the brook before Hartman could get a word in edgewise, and shouted angrily at her "boss", "Oh sure, go ahead and blame me again! After all, it's always my fault even when it isn't, huh?! We were supposed to be past this, Bright Eyes!"

XXX

Sometime later…

"Well anyways, yeah, that's the gist of what me and Eyebrows are trying to do, and the brief up to speed on what I've been up to the last eight years!" Jade finished explaining, her eyes alight with excitement at having finally been able to give her tale and explain her goals to someone not shooting Chi Blasts at her. Her smile slipped somewhat when she noticed her audience was staring at her wide-eyed and silent, sitting back with her wings and tail curled around her.

"Uh… was it hard to follow, Ms. Hartman?" the young Queen asked, leaning back and pulling one of her stray hair-spikes out of the way of her face.

This seemed to shake Hartman out of her funk, and the older woman then blinked and looked down. A frown pulling at the edges of her lips as she mentally went over everything that had been explained in rather vivid detail regarding the events of her problem student's life. She cleared her throat and looked back up, wincing at the look of open excitement, tinged with apprehension all over Jade's face.

Feeling a tightening in her chest, Hartman took a breath in and out and felt the oxygen circulate around, then finally spoke, "Well, Jade… you have certainly been leading an eventful life these… past eight years."

"Haven't I?" she smirked, her fangs peeking out over her lips at that. "Last time you saw me I was just some little brat. Now I'm the Queen of a whole new species to come and rule!"

"Y-yes, about that…" the teacher frowned, her brow knitting as she considered how best to address her concerns. "You really intend to… well there's hardly a better way to put it…; take over the world?"

"Yup!" she nodded, giving a thumb up. "Or at least most of it. Big Red has made it pretty clear I gotta at least carve out a niche or myself so I can raise my kits without worrying."

Liz winced at the mention of Jade's status as an expecting mother, which by itself was its own can of worms. But one thing at a time, she would get to that eventually. "But, Miss Chan, surely you realize setting off this… war, even IF all things from here work out as you please… and they never do, all you'll be doing is ensuring your… kits will never have a moment's peace."

At this Jade paused and frowned, lowering her head slightly and regarding Hartman in silence. Finally she spoke, and her tone was flat and had a slight twinge of concern, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, there are seven billion humans on this planet, and only a handful of you and your… comrades. Even with your apparent armies, even if you somehow conquer them all, they will never just bow their heads accept your control," Liz explained softly, keeping her tone as non-confrontational as possible as she explained these details to her charge.

"I know you've changed, but you're still the Jade I remember inside, I'm sure of it," she went on, her wings wrapping tighter around her as she went over each of her words carefully before speaking them. "But you're planning an unprovoked attack on innocent people who don't even believe things like these Oni exist anymore."

There was a pause as Jade took all of that in, before turning her head away, her shoulders, all four, visibly tensing. "Maybe it's better we be in charge. Ever since I got back, all I keep seeing are reminders what a mess this world is. And that I don't have a place in it. I've been on both sides of the fence, so trust me when I say the world is pretty unbalanced as is."

"I'm sure things have been difficult for you to adjust to on your return," Hartman responded after a pause, hoping her words would communicate her sincerity to her less-than-receptive audience. "But from what you've told me, left on their own these beings fell to ruin. Seems a microcosm of what would become of the world should they rise to power. You mentioned a Balance, well them, you, overrunning the Earth hardly sounds any more balanced. Merely a back swing to the opposite extreme."

At this Jade froze for a moment, mouth open before turning away and snatching up a fish from the pile. Though she didn't bite into it, rather she idly began running her thumb's claw beneath the scales, scaling it as she muttered, "The world had monsters in it to start with... They were there for a reason. HAD to be."

She turned and looked down at Liz, eyes narrowed in frustration as she stressed her point, "I mean just look at books and TV! People think fantasy creatures don't exist but still obsess over them! They know deep inside how things should be. How they USED to be!"

Hartman knew what to say to that, but waited to make sure she had the how acceptable.

"Firstly Jade, things change. And it seems the supernatural creatures you are dealing with either exiled themselves or were trying to disrupt the balance before being incarcerated. Following in their footsteps hardly seems a good way to build a future, Jade. You yourself say how you have opposed such things in the past successfully."

The older woman leaned in and placed her hand over Jade's so she'd look away from the dead fish she was picking at and up into her eyes. "Do you truly think all your past actions were in error? Do you truly want to do something SO extreme? Or have you been told you should so many times you have forgotten to question it? I never once pegged you to thoughtlessly follow anyone's lead, Jade."

With a jerk, Jade pulled back several steps from Hartman's grip, head down and six eyes hidden by her wire-like hair-spines. "It's… it's NOT that simple! I'm not… I'm NOT being… thoughtless!"

"Jade, please-" Hartman began, nervous she had pressed too far. But Jade quickly turned in a huff and easily crawled back up the tree into her webs, her blue abdomen the only visible part of her jutting out between the threads.

"You're not getting it," she mumbled out loud enough to hear through the strands of thick off-white silk she was buried in. Though Hartman was just relieved her charge hadn't shut down completely. "You're looking at this all twisted up…"

"Perhaps I'm just looking at this without bias since until recently I was just one of those normal humans you planned to conquer," Hartman stated softly, trying to get across information over any sense of accusation.

"…This was all so much easier back in the caves with Sensei…" she heard mumbled from above after a moment's pause. "She would explain this better than I am…"

Surprising even herself, Hartman's wing's flared at the mention of the old Spider Queen, and she felt her tail swing side to side with enough force to snap an audibly crack one of the nearby stones lining the brook.

"The same Sensei who reminded you with regularity that she hoped you will suffer a gruesome and horrible death?" she asked, the venom in her voice wholly unlike her. Liz hadn't realized until the words were spoken just how much it sickened her to hear about how the old monster took her energetic, passionate young student and mutilate her horrifically over a period of YEARS. "Forgive me if I fail to see the value of anything such a person would have to say."

"You don't understand ANYTHING!" Jade snapped, shoving her torso up out of the webs, green flames erupting outwards from seemingly nowhere and incinerating the branches surrounding her. Hartman couldn't help but squeak and jump back, wings wrapping around herself reflexively. "She took care of me! She treated me like an adult! She told me she loved me like a daughter while she died in my arms!"

Hartman realized after a pause that her head was being shielded by her wings and slowly parted them aside, looking up into the irate face of the young spider queen. Her flames had died away, but her gaze still bored glowing red through the space between them.

Sighing, Liz shook her head and took a calming breath before straightening out and asking Jade while looking her dead in the eye, "Doesn't that only make it worse?"

The stare continued between them for longer than Hartman could follow, before Jade hurriedly looked away, shoving herself back into the web, her face tight. Once again she repeated, "You just don't get it. It's not that simple. She did what she had to do and was always honest with me."

"I'm sorry, Jade," Hartman finally said, the words burning as they left her throat like bile. "I know she… meant a great deal to you."

Suddenly, jarringly, her tone changed and Jade thrust her head out from under her web, lowered directly in front of Hartman's so quickly that she couldn't help but jump back again in shock at the nimble acrobatics exhibited by Jade's new form. "Even you have to admit, I know some really awesome stuff now, right? I made this web in like forty seconds and it's not even something I put any effort in."

"And that's just the tip of the iceberg," she went on, smiling again as she gestured to the makeshift nest she was half-inside. "I can do stuff with silk you wouldn't believe! Tricks this whole planet hasn't seen in centuries. I can't wait to get around to teaching them to my girls, and then later my kits."

Liz realized her mouth was hanging open as she stared blankly at the spider now rambling on off-topic about her training and her companions, but pointedly not about what they'd been discussing. She felt her heart sink and lowered to her knees as more terrible pieces of the puzzle came together.

Jade… was not well. Not even taking into account her new species and dark intentions, the problems were deeper still. Hartman was unsure how applicable her degree in child psychology was at this point, but it was clear Jade was showing an abundance of warning signs.

Her warped devotion to her so-called "boss" and that monstrous spider could easily be attributed to Stockholm syndrome. Not to mention, it's clear from Jade's story even edited as it was, that her transformation was a… messy unpleasant affair. Something that painful and humiliating drawn out over years, the controlled stimuli and closed environment… it could easily be argued that post-traumatic stress or even classical brainwashing was involved.

Taking her away from her loved ones by playing on her temporarily deranged mental state brought on by an already traumatic event and transformation… this Oni King was every bit the monster his title implied. He broke down a young lady until he could shape her into whatever he wanted, and now this was the result. The horror was so great; Hartman was too overwhelmed to even shed a tear for the lost future.

"Don't look at me like that!" the young queen suddenly snapped out, surprising Hartman with the venom and aggression suddenly present in her voice as she glared red daggers down at her old teacher. She was leaning down halfway from her nest, claws in tight fists as she stared down at Liz, her attitude completely different from what it had been mere moments ago.

"J-Jade, I'm not looking at you like… anything," Hartman said quickly, backing up several steps and holding her hands, well claws, up disarmingly. Equal parts shocked and disturbed by the young woman's second emotional whiplash in her presence. "I am just… very concerned for you, but not judging you. Please calm down."

Jade continued to stare down at the tense Hartman, both frozen in place as the seconds passed. Liz was unsure what was passing through the poor girl's damaged mind, and wasn't merely a little worried about what her losing her temper could mean. But in an act equal parts relieving and unsettling, Jade suddenly smiled and shrugged, her body language changing in a snap.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just being over sensitive," she smiled and shrugged, pulling back up towards her web, and then leaning girlishly onto her arms. "Tarakudo would probably blame hormones, but he's a sexist pig from medieval times."

Already deeply concerned by the sudden emotional whiplashes displayed by Jade, and apprehensive that anything she said from here could cause a repeat performance, the Oni King was the LAST person Hartman wanted to hear about. The more they spoke, the more Hartman realized just how many open wounds were scourged across Jade's mind.

Swallowing down her nervousness, Liz carefully chose her next words and pressed on. Leaving the matter aside would help nothing as it was. Including her own predicament, which recent revelations had made her almost forget. The second time her student's wellbeing took priority over her own monstrous metamorphosis.

"How are your uncle and the rest of your family taking all these developments?" Hartman asked softly, nervously playing with the end of her tail as she anticipated the worst possible responses.

Thankfully the reaction was a rather understated groan, followed by Jade slumping where she was positioned on her tree and hiding her face in her arms. "Urgh, could be better, that's for sure. I thought they'd be happy for me, but I guess that was pretty stupid. They didn't waste any time writing me off as the badguy, and now we've butted heads like four times... Frankly it's been one pain in the abdomen after another…"

Jade winced at the rather accurate choice of words, and then reached back to stroke the bloated and armored body part assuringly. Hartman didn't understand the gesture, biology not being her strong suit. But Jade noticed her confusion and smirked, though her smile didn't quite reach her six eyes.

"What, did you think I kept my kits in some exposed fleshy lump up front and vulnerable?" she scoffed, waving off the idea as ludicrous and disturbing. "They're back here under about three inches of armor plating. Pregnant humans have it rough…"

"Well that's… fascinating," Hartman nodded, catching once again how Jade's mind quickly switched gears from the unpleasant topic. "But dear, I know your family cares about you very much. You must admit this is a lot for them to accept, not to mention your plans, as I've mentioned, are rather… well, extreme."

"You wanna talk about extreme?" Jade suddenly asked, looked up from her arms, her expression harsh and challenging. "Spraying poison all over my babies. That's what I call extreme. They got down and dirty well before I did."

Jade looked away then, swiping at a nearby leaf with her right hand as though it were the target of her ire. At first Hartman was sure she'd missed her target, but soon after the leaf drifted from the tree in four perfect slices. Liz swallowed nervously as Jade continued. "That's when I really figured out the stakes. Jackie apologized, promised it would never happen again. As if things could still be civil after something like THAT. But even if it doesn't, the point is it happened even ONCE."

"It's just like Tarakudo said," she sighed, flopping back down in frustration, her face once again out of sight via the leaves, webbing and her arms. "If even my own family would go so far, the rest of the humans will be even worse. I've got no choice but to fight back just as hard."

Again Ms. Hartman felt the stirrings of unfamiliar rage at the manipulations of this girl at the hands of an ancient monster. The Oni King was successfully breaking down and removing all of Jade's supports so all she could fall back on was himself, and her obsessive fixation on her young. He kept enforcing this idea of persecution and "us against them" mentality especially during any moments of weakness Jade may have had. It's no wonder she was convinced of some coming struggle with him pouring poison in her ears every chance he had.

"If your Uncle Jackie apologized, isn't it reasonable that they regret what happened? Yes, it was an inexcusable attack if on purpose, or even by accident," she tried to say softly, being especially careful not to provoke the spider woman's ire. "But I truly believe their regrets are sincere. They would never want to hurt you, Jade. You know them better than anyone; do they really seem the type to knowingly harm anything innocent?"

"… That's assuming they even think of my eggs as innocent in the first place," she stated after a thoughtful pause. Rather than losing her temper outright, Jade simply narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, her voice soft and low, "No offence, Ms. Hartman, but you're sounding more like one of them than one of us."

"That's the problem, Jade. There isn't any 'us' or 'them' despite what these figures in your life have led you to believe," Hartman tried to explain, beginning to feel like she was going in circles. Her words were clearly reaching Jade but against eight years of indoctrination, all they seemed to do was spread turmoil within her. She wondered if her family even realized how deep the damage was, or if there was anything helping it.

Jade, however, just laughed bitterly and shook her head, "Easy for you to say. You're still new to this world and how ugly it can get. What, do you think you can use your Batkhan as teaching aids and nobody will bat an eye? Face it, Teach. All you have to look forward to is being dragged down and de-khan'ed or worse. There aren't compromises."

Finally Jade lowered herself back down to the grass and turned away, crossing her arms. Liz was reminded then just how much larger Jade was now, even compared to her new body. But rather than threatening, Jade just looked broken. Her eyes downcast towards the brook, and four arms hugging around her torso. "I thought you'd be different. That I'd finally have someone from my old life who would accept me. Be happy for me…"

"I'm so sorry, Jade," Ms. Hartman sighed, rubbing her eyes. She felt powerless now, wanting more than anything to help her old student-turned-weapon, but lacking any ideas as to how. "Please, let me help you? Perhaps I can untangle things between you and your uncle, we can find another way."

"Another way?" she frowned, looking up and into Hartman's warm and yet inhuman eyes. But she was suddenly distracted by something Ms. Hartman couldn't perceive and turned her attention back down to the water's surface.

Her eyes narrowed and she glared at her reflection, "What? No! I need more time; she's not like Wong or Chang!"

"Jade?" Liz frowned, feeling a tingle of uncertainty from her student's suddenly one-sided argument.

"I won't do it!" the she-spider snapped back at the water. "If that's what it means to take it, she can keep the damn thing! No means no! You trying to prove her right or somethi- huh?"

Jade suddenly surprised Hartman by stopping in mid-argument with her invisible employer and whipped around, staring at some random patch of thick woods before her. To Liz's untrained eyes, they just appeared to be more bushes and trees.

Though as she focused, the teacher found the reach of her vision lengthening, the leaves and brush far ahead getting closer to her perception like a telescope. For a woman who had spent most of her natural life wearing corrective lenses, suddenly being able to pick out every individual vein in the dead leaves meters ahead of her was both exhilarating and disorienting.

Having eyes like an eagle apparently came as a package deal with suddenly obtaining a healthy and strong set of wings. But she was shaken back out of her sensory distraction when Jade hissed and crossed her arms, still staring out at the woods. Suddenly Liz's sensitive ears were struck by the deafening percussive sound of an explosion erupting some ways in the distance Jade was glaring.

Black smoke rose in the sky above the tree line marking the location of the sudden blast. Along with it she heard loud exclamations in a familiar shrill voice in a language she didn't understand. Mandarin, perhaps?

"Wow, that one must have hit close," Jade smirked, placing her upper set of hands along what could be considered her hips. "Uncle's cursing like a sailor."

"WHAT is going on?!" Hartman demanded, momentarily losing her composure from the constant onslaught of events outside of her control or perception.

"Huh?" Jade blinked, looking over towards her old teacher. "Oh, Jackie and the rest just stepped into my fancy early warning system. You probably can't see them but I have threads and traps lining this whole area.

"Your family is here? To fight you, I mean?" Liz asked, finding the idea especially unsettling when in practice rather than theory.

"And to fight YOU, don't forget," Jade added somewhat harshly, those strange flames slowly flickering to life around her again, as if anticipating the coming struggle. "Not that I mind, frankly. Fighting them is way less of a hassle than this whole meeting has been… No offense."

"But, Jade-"

"Yeah, no more time for this so lemme just lay it out nice and clear," Jade interrupted, her expression lacking any humor as she turned her lower body towards the source of the intrusion. "A big fight is happening and I'm gonna be pretty busy soon. So you can either help me drive them off, or run off and do whatever."

Her eyes narrowed as her frown deepened, "So now is the big time to choose. Sorry you didn't have more time and I wasn't a better saleswoman. But I have no time to babysit someone who isn't on my side."

"Are… will you be in danger?" Liz managed to ask, the words catching in her throat as the sounds of approaching became louder and clearer.

"Hehe, good ol' Teach, even as a giant bat," Jade snickered, shaking her head. "I'M not the one I'm worried about. At this point I'm pretty much just sticking around so you have a chance to run."

The Queen paused and leaned forward, eyes searching. "Or should I even bother?"

"Um… well, I think… can we not just talk?" Hartman managed to blurt out, cursing her inability to clear her head given all the excitement. She'd never done well in physical activities for that very reason, if she couldn't manage gym class sports, how could she handle an actual battle that apparently would determine HER future? What was she even hoping to accomplish by staying OR running?

"Sorry you're put on the spot like this," Jade muttered, then reached over and grabbed the woman by the shoulders.

Liz yelped as she was lifted up and tossed lightly near the trees lining the other side of the brook, her four limbs barely catching her as she landed. Her wings broke the fall automatically as she rolled into the brush out of sight. Jade's voice called after her when she finally skidded to a halt, her brain addled by the sudden and unwanted trip as well as the sheer stress of the situation.

"How about you use all this time I'm graciously buying you to run and think, huh?" the spider woman stated, her voice rather commanding for what was simply a request. Lost for ideas or options, Hartman found herself nodding automatically.

She turned and quickly scampered off as fast as her four limbs could carry her.

C14 – END

Author's Notes: Not very much to say this time. Standard information applies as always.

As always, expect plenty of surprises in the second half of this arc, and beyond. Me and EK aim to shock and excite.

Please enjoy!