A/N: So I didn't forget about this story, I'm just trying to work out how the ending is gonna go. Got lots of scraps thrown together for it. Trying not to make it too cheesy. Okay, I lied. It's going to be super cheesy.

I hope the story is still good! The husband likes it, but you know... he probably just doesn't want to hurt my feelings haha.

/

"Interesting," echoed a voice in Shane's head.

She felt like she might die... at any moment, life could be ripped from her body. Being impaled through the abdomen had hurt less than this.

"You are much more resistant than Travis, I must admit... impressive," the gravelly voice continued.

The girl's eyes snapped open. When her vision cleared, a skull in a pool of sludge was looking back at her.

Panic gave her the will to move her aching body. She jerked herself away, slamming into a wall. An entire skeleton was resting in front of her.

"Oh..." she moaned, her bare legs shaking against a cold concrete floor. She was in a room, a tiny, dark, dank room that smelled like rot and decay...

"Forgive me, I forgot to remove this cell's previous occupant."

No... no... that was real! I'm really here... Captured by a lunatic...

"I believe you two have already met...?" the voice said cordially. "Though you may not have been properly introduced... Shannon Hunter, meet Travis Muller, my former assistant."

Shane backed up as far as she could go, curling up in the corner furthest away from the gravelly voice and the skeleton. A chill was settling into her bones... she knew pain, and something else...

A second later, someone had grabbed her arm. Shane immediately started to struggle, but she still felt dazed, unable to reach her power. That man in the white coat was in here with her.

"Let go," she moaned, trying to pull away, but the grip was much too strong and unnaturally cold. She felt a sharp sting in her arm, but it only lasted a few moments.

"There..." the cruel voice said. "That should be enough."

Shane looked up blearily to see the white coated man holding up a vial of blood in his metal hand.

"What secrets does your blood hold, hm?" the man said with sick curiosity in his voice. "Because you should have died in that explosion, you know... I'd love to study you more, but we are rather short on time. And you are not part of my future, my dear... So tell me, what secrets will I uncover?"

"I don't know," Shane hissed.

Kessler gave the tube a little shake. Shane couldn't understand what was so interesting about it.

"Well, well... this might be a challenge... It seems your body doesn't know what state to exist in. Your blood is neither liquid nor gaseous..." the madman mused to himself. "Really, killing you would be a merciful act. Better to kill you before you tear yourself apart."

Shane didn't know what he was talking about. She didn't feel like she was tearing herself apart... Well, except when she couldn't control her power.

"It would have been so much easier to kill you if you hadn't gone and bonded yourself to MacGrath... but you had to make things difficult, didn't you?" Kessler continued like Shane wasn't even present. "Now I must sever this connection first. What a bother..."

"He'll be here," she managed, tugging at the metal collar around her neck. That was what was causing most of her pain...

"Oh, I'm sure of that..." Kessler said agreeably. "But by the time he finds you, he'll be too late."

Shane clenched her tiny fists, trying to force herself to stay conscious. There had to be something she could do, anything...

A connection... she'd made a connection with Cole. She'd seen inside his head, seen the things that tormented him the most. He'd willingly offered them up after he'd seen her own memories...

"You can't have me," she hissed.

We're not just things you can mess around with! We're not your experiments!

Cole had promised he would come for her, and she believed him. But she had to help, she couldn't let him fight alone.

Anger rose in her chest, burning in her guts like fire. But some other fuel was helping it to burn... Cole's desperation. She could feel it, she could feel how badly he wanted her back. He had to know, he had to sense it as well... That meant he was hurting, too.

Cole, when you were worried last night, I knew it somehow... Do you feel me, too?

"You can't have me!" she howled. Shane Hunter stared at her hands as she screamed, putting everything she had into her abilities. Over the past few weeks, she'd gotten so used to being invisible, to being a spirit, to being all but dead...

And then Cole had seen her. She'd been dead, and he saw her.

It doesn't matter if I disappear. He still sees me.

Maybe that was why she liked him so much when she'd first met him... Even before the explosion, she felt that he was just like her, lost and alone in this city. Maybe he worried that nobody could see him, either.

But I saw him, too.

Her hand started to break apart. The girl continued to force herself to disappear, to put everything she had into it... She put in her anger, her fury, her desperation... But she still had more to give.

Because Cole's own emotions were feeding into her. She used his pain, his desire to see her again... She started to scream, because this hurt, this hurt more than it ever had before. Her arms started to dissolve as well...

The familiar feeling of being weightless, of being part of the air hit her all at once.

Yes! You can't keep me here, you fucking ass!

The door slammed shut in her face. She searched, searched every corner of the room for a way out... but the room was sealed tight.

"I'm afraid not, my dear..." came Kessler's voice. "You may be feeding off my weapon, but I will not allow you to escape this place."

Shane howled in frustration.

"You are powerful, I must say... Struggle all you like. You will be easier to contain when you are weakened."

"Let me out!" she screamed, bashing the door with all her might. Dust rained from the ceiling as the door vibrated like it had been struck with a sledge hammer. Travis Muller's bones rattled on the floor like they wanted to come back to life...

"I will be back soon, dear," Kessler said, and Shane could practically hear the sick joy in his voice as he listened to her struggle. "We have much to accomplish, you and I, eh? But first, I must ensure that Mr. MacGrath does not reach us too soon..."

"Leave him ALONE!" Shane shrieked, slamming into the metal door once more. But the hallway beyond her prison was empty...

For hours after, Shannon Hunter's agonized screams echoed down the lonely hallways, but there was no one around to hear them.

/

Cole wandered the streets alone. He'd been searching for over twenty four hours without any success. He had to find her, he had to find her soon... There was no way he could leave the city without her, even if he wanted to. If he couldn't save her, they'd both be dead.

But he felt like he was wasting his time, and he couldn't afford to waste any more time. The young man hadn't had anything to eat since he'd left the apartment wearing his blood stained coat and Shane's brother's shirt...

Cole didn't even know what to call this city now... It was lonely, haunted... dead. This city had become a shell, a corpse covered in dirty snow and left to rot. The young man feared that would be his fate too... either dead or a shell of his former self.

No way... he couldn't let that happen, either.

"Kessler!" Cole roared, though he felt it was weak... he was exhausted. Fear and desperation were the only things keeping him going at this point. "Come out and fight me like a man! Think you're tough, hurting Shane? I'll make you hurt!"

No answer. Cole stumbled to a stop, his pants soaking wet from melted snow. He was sucking in shuddering breaths, one hand over his heart, staring at the slate gray sky.

"Ah, Cole, you'll kill yourself at the rate you're going..." came Kessler's voice.

Very funny...

"Give me Shane back!" Cole screamed down the street.

"Not yet, Cole... not until she is dead. Then you can have what's left of her," Kessler taunted him.

"You're fucking dead!" Cole howled. "Show yourself! Fight me!"

"So impatient... but you have not yet shown me the extent of your power," Kessler continued. "You still hide your power within you, unless of course... I push you."

Cole froze, his stomach clenched down on itself.

"First, it was a mob... and then my own men... I think you need a greater challenge, don't you?" Kessler's voice said conversationally.

And then it started. The ground in front of him started to shake and split... and a stone hand forced its way up out of the asphalt.

"Cole MacGrath, meet my former assistant, Travis Muller... I believe your lady friend met him already," Kessler said easily. "I, ah... convinced him to entertain you for the evening..."

The hand was followed by an arm, and then a head... A faceless head, a head that had almost no definable features. Slowly, as Cole backed away in terror, the creature clawed its way out of the ground.

"Do enjoy yourself, Cole..." the madman added, sounding like he was about to kick back and watch the ensuing carnage. "Show me what your powers really are..."

The stone man was thrashing around in the middle of the street, its hands clawing at its indistinct face. After a moment of stunned silence, Cole held his breath and began backing away faster. The creature didn't seem to notice him...

This was it, this was the thing that had torn apart all those Reapers. A man composed entirely of dirt, stone, and pieces of concrete and asphalt... But Cole didn't have time to consider how this thing had come to exist, because at any moment it was sure to realize that he was here.

Cole tripped over a fallen street light and landed sprawled in the snow. The creature's head snapped towards him.

Shit.

The thing charged him, barreling through wrecked cars like they weighed nothing. Cole leaped aside, frantically drawing energy into his limbs. He blasted away at the stone man, blowing off an arm and a leg... for one foolish moment, Cole thought that might have brought the thing down, but no... the creature merely began drawing up more pieces of asphalt to put itself back together.

I am so screwed... We should have left when we had the chance...

The young man drew in what power he could from the surrounding homes, methodically blasting away at the stone man, knocking off bits and pieces... But it only slowed the creature down. Electricity wasn't going to help him much... this monster was made of stone, not vulnerable flesh and blood.

It wasn't long before the monster got in one good hit. An inhuman stone fist hit Cole square in his aching chest, sending him crashing to the ground. Cole groaned, pushing at the asphalt, trying to get himself up...

Cole saw the creature's fist coming down as if in slow motion. He tried to move faster, but he was tired and mentally exhausted... And he was still too slow. Cole managed to get his head out of the way to avoid getting his skull smashed in, but that came at the sacrifice of his left hand.

Cole let out something between a howl and a scream as that massive, heavy hand crushed his pinkie and ring finger. He instinctively pulled back, desperately trying to take back his appendage. Panicking, he took in power from the ground wires, blasting the stone man off of him...

The stone man flew back several feet and hit the pavement... if Cole could have thought straight, he would have been satisfied to hear the sound of stone shattering. The dirt body thrashed wildly, but Cole knew it wouldn't be long before he started pulling himself back together...

The young man struggled to his feet, limping away from his opponent, gaping at the bloody piece of hamburger meat that used to be his hand. It was lucky he had a fairly strong stomach, or he might have fainted after just a glimpse of it.

Both his pinkie finger and his ring finger had been almost completely ripped off. White bone was protruding from those bloody stumps. Blood was oozing from the stumps, dribbling down his wrists... If he was feeling pain, he was unaware of it, all he knew at that moment was shock.

Oh fuck fuck fuck... this... no...

Maybe it was his panic, but his powers seemed to be slow to fix his wounds... blood kept pouring from the stumps. It was a wonder he had any blood left, he'd been hurt so many times lately...

His fingers were lying in the middle of the street like pale little worms. At least they were, until a Reaper ran out into the street and snatched up both his lifeless fingers. Cole nearly lost his lunch when he saw the Reaper begin chewing on his dismembered digit.

Cole's three fingered hand shook. Guess there would be no getting those back... not after the Reapers got done chewing on them. Cole's heart sank even further when he realized that more Reapers had to be watching this. He was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Even if he defeated Travis, there were still plenty of people who wanted him dead...

Cole just kept backing up, cradling his bleeding hand. No plan of any kind occurred to him, no thoughts on how to defeat this stone man... No, all he could think of was if Shane could still love a man with only eight fingers.

And then her face burned in his mind. She was still out there, somewhere... possibly in worse pain than he was. He couldn't let this monster get the best of him. But he couldn't let himself lose control like he had the other night, either. He might not get himself back if he did that.

And then his eyes flitted to the bay. How would this dirt man fare when submerged in water? He bolted towards the bridge, running as fast as his aching chest would allow.

"Come on, you piece of shit!" Cole shouted over his shoulder. The inhuman howl of rage behind him told him that the creature had heard.

The young man fled down the street towards the safety railing keeping cars from crashing into the water. Cole made it to the railing, climbing up on top of it, listening to the stomping of the monster as it got closer and closer... He faced the other way to see the stone man was almost to him... At the last possible moment, he dove sideways into the grass.

There was a crash as the stone man barreled through the railing, apparently unable to stop itself. Cole turned around just in time to see the monster go over the edge, straight into the bay. There was a splash a second later.

Not wasting any time, Cole clambered back onto the broken railing, drawing electricity from any available source... He raised his hand over his head... And then...

BOOM!

Lightning split the sky, crashing into the bay, hopefully frying the creature... But Cole didn't have the energy to look, he just slumped sideways onto the ground, a hand over his heart. This fight hadn't made the pain in his chest go away... if anything, it felt worse.

"Very good, Cole," came Kessler's voice. But now it sounded sour, disappointed... "And here I thought you lacked brains... you disabled my assistant much faster than I anticipated, and hardly had to use any power... Except, perhaps, to fix those missing fingers."

"Fuck you," Cole growled, who was trying to avoid looking as his mangled hand. "I'm coming for Shane, and then I'm coming for you, you sick fuck."

Cole forced himself to get up when Kessler didn't respond. He limped over to a traffic light that was still flashing its lights for cars that weren't there. He leaned against it, using it's power to seal off the oozing stumps that used to be his fingers. The blood flow stopped. Cole wiggled his stumps.

Forget Sparky... just call me Stump.

Cole laughed out loud at his own stupid joke. If anyone else had been around, they might have noticed the hysterical tone of his laughter. As it was, Cole didn't stop to think about it, he simply gathered his remaining strength and staggered over to the body of a Reaper. Quick as he could, he ripped the black gloves off the Reaper's hands and tugged them onto his own hands, hiding his mangled fingers from view.

He sighed in relief as that shredded hand disappeared.

It'd be nice to pretend he was still human, just for a little while longer... Just a normal guy with all ten fingers, no unnatural powers, and an amazing girlfriend...

Move, Cole, move... after all, one out of three ain't bad...

/

Hours later, Cole's threat seemed ridiculous. He was no closer to finding where Shane was hidden than he had been when Shane had first been taken. He'd searched homes, offices, alleys... nothing.

He couldn't give up, he just couldn't... Shane needed him.

But apparently his body wasn't giving him any choice. His footsteps slowed until he fell sideways down against an alley wall...

Damnit... I need to keep going. I can't stop now...

Cole sat down and brought his knees to his chest, resting his head on them, figuring he would just rest for a few minutes. As he sat there feeling sorry for himself, he thought about how nice to would be to hear Shane's voice in his ear, feel her hand on his shoulder as she offered him a bit of her strength, letting him know that he wasn't alone.

Maybe he really was crazy, because he never thought he'd miss hearing voices so much.

Kessler had been right about one thing. Cole hated the idea of being alone, no one to hold at night. But now he didn't just have a voice to talk to... he had a beautiful young woman. A real person he could touch... someone who was like him.

And then he did hear a voice in his ear, only it wasn't Shane's voice.

"Get up, kid," the voice said.

Cole looked up, blinking what might have been tears out of his eyes, though he'd never admit to that.

The homeless guys were back, and they had surrounded him in a semicircle.

"What do you want?" Cole managed.

"Sorry about the other day, kid," the bushy eyebrow guy began slowly. "Thought you were dangerous, but we saw you trying to protect that girl..."

"I couldn't protect her," Cole said bitterly. "And I am dangerous. Just leave me alone."

He put his head down on his knees, savoring the pain in his heart, his only connection to his missing friend.

"You gotta go help that girl," one of them said.

"I don't know where she is!" Cole snarled. "I'm a fucking human lightning rod, not a... not a psychic!"

He cast his eyes down at the snowy ground, glowering at the coffee colored snow like it had personally offended him.

"We saw where he took her."

Cole's head shot up off his knees.

"Where?" he gasped.

The old guy jerked a hand over his shoulder.

"That guy, the one in the white coat... he was carrying that tiny girl... took her into the sewers," the old guy said. "That man hole, right over there."

Cole stood up, all exhaustion gone. The sewers... of course, now it made sense. Kessler would have his hideout down there, out of sight, where nobody would think to look.

But I know those sewers like the back of my hand, Kessler. Bet you didn't count on that... And now that I know you're down there... I'll find you.

He looked around at the homeless guys who were all watching him nervously. Suddenly it didn't seem right that only he and Shane should escape the city...

"Thanks," he said breathlessly. "Listen... when I get her, we're leaving. We're taking Stampton Bridge. Watch for us... follow us out. The military is going to destroy this place."

The homeless guys stepped back from him like he was carrying something contagious.

"They'd wouldn't destroy a whole city..." one of them said hesitantly. "That's crazy."

Cole let out a dry laugh.

"Wanna bet?" he said sourly. "Stampton Bridge... as soon as I get her. Be there if you want out of here."

Cole ran for the open manhole and descended into the familiar damp darkness of the sewers.