STRANGE DAYS

Chapter 260

See first chapter for disclaimers.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This came to me fully formed, just an odd idea. As usual, if you have any comments or preferences, please don't be shy. RandR.

BTVS & SCP Foundation Mythos

And now

Worm And…?

No Again

Contessa stood behind Taylor Hebert, her gun at the ready. Could the girl come back from this? The Path looked sound, but she had her doubts. So much had been said and done, by far too many, and there were never any certainties, despite the abilities her shard gave her or the image she liked to project to the world. Contessa often had doubts, even when she knew she couldn't afford them.

The fact that her own actions had brought Taylor to this point, at least partially, weighed heavily on Cauldron's most powerful thinker. A small chance, she reflected, was better than none. She reviewed the Path again, even as she talked to the girl, hoping for some sign that the human retained control, that she could, in some fashion, anyway, be saved. The answers she received meant nothing to her directly, but they had meaning to her shard.

The Path clarified before her. Yes. It would work. She took careful aim. This had to be done with a surgeon's precision, but it would work if she gave control to the Path before her and let her hand be guided.

She squeezed the trigger.

Something changed. Contessa was never sure what, exactly, happened, but light shone from the ground under Hebert in a bizarre pattern, as she began to fire the second of the two necessary shots, and her aim was thrown off, minutely by the unexpected distraction.

Taylor Hebert vanished into that pattern of light; the one Contessa had seen no trace of when searching this Path. She could only stare at the empty space where the girl who had saved humanity had been.

"What the hell?"

OOOOOOOOOO

Taylor wasn't sure what she had been expecting. What sort of afterlife had she earned, after all? It seemed unlikely to be a good one. She had no illusions about what she had done under the influence of the queen administrator shard, good and bad. In her mind, at least on an emotional level, they didn't balance out. So, she hadn't expected anything good after she died.

"Fantastic! The summoning was a success!"

Huh? With an effort, she raised herself from the marble floor and looked around taking in as many details as she could and automatically noting any potential threats. There were three young men in the room, standing in the same circle that she herself had appeared in. All three seemed as confused as she felt. One held a spear, another held a sword, and the last carried a bow. Their clothes seemed to be modern and really didn't fit with the weapons.

An unfamiliar weight on her arm made her glance down. There was a slab of metal attached to her arm. A shield? She glanced up again and took in the small group of strangely dressed men. The one who had spoken earlier stepped forward, and Taylor realized something else. The man had fleas. She could feel them, in fact, she could feel all of the insects in the area. This was such a shock and caused so many mixed emotions, that she almost missed the man's next words.

"Brave heroes, won't you please save our world from pure evil?"

HUH? She gaped at him.

"Please, oh brave heroes! Our world is in dire need of saving."

Taylor gave a small groan and dropped her head in her hands. "Not again."