Jessica looks down at Victoria as she lays in bed, still as a corpse. Alex assured her that she's fine physically, Rachel Amber didn't rough her up too badly. It's what's inside that's in pain: the mind, controlled by the Sunken, and it shows with those glowing red eyes trained on her.
All she can do is hope for the best as she asks herself: What's brewing in that brain of hers?
A solution , she prays.
This sucks. Victoria sighs as she looks around at the expanse of shadows surrounding her. In the darkness, glowing red eyes stalk her every move.
Fortunately, a light flutters down, a shimmer of hope seeking to save Victoria aaaand it just got devoured by one of the Sunken… again… for the fifth time in a row. "Why did I expect any better?"
Okay, none of this is gonna work. She gets up on her feet and wonders how she'll get out of this.
"Don't try it.", says one of the ten Sunken guarding her at the moment. "We have crushed stronger souls. Not that it would matter, seeing as yours is so weak."
"That hurts.", Victoria retorts, trying to stifle her laughter.
She masks a chuckle in a deep breath, summoning a magazine into her hand. She reads it tiredly, intrigued by what it contains.
Bullets, obviously. She loads them into a gun of vaguely familiar design. She's never really kept track of any firearm names, nor has she handled many guns before. The harpoon was probably my first!
She aims at the Sunken and fires at them, with the recoil startling her greatly, until the trigger goes click . Ten down. Eighty-seven to go.
Judging by the loud mass of footsteps approaching, that would be them. Victoria looks around for a hiding spot but, being in a black void, it would seem she's shit outta luck.
Another ten Sunken shadow-people manifest, marching towards Victoria with obvious murderous intent.
Fortunately, Victoria is there to save her. Another Victoria, clad in black with messy hair on her head. And she's armed with fingers made of knives. "Let's dance, motherfuckers!", she shouts while tearing through the Sunken with moves like those of a well-trained dancer. Dark limbs go flying as the demons are destroyed.
As the new ten Sunken lie on the ground, torn to ribbons, our Victoria looks at her dark doppelganger and laughs in amazement. "That was awesome!"
The dark Victoria smirks with her arms crossed smugly. "Pssh! It's nothing!" What am I supposed to call her? "Oh, I'm your Shadow."
Our Victoria is a bit confused: "Like… the Hedgehog?"
The Shadow nods her head, confused as to why that's the first thing that popped into Victoria's head. "Sure. Whatever floats your boat." Looking around at the shredded Sunken, she states, "Let's get outta here."
Jessica holds Victoria's hand, unbothered by how cold her touch feels. "Victoria, you have to wake up. Please."
Her glowing red eyes mean nothing , she tells herself. Just a mask to hide her away. But she'll get out. I know she will. With everything she's been through, she can fight her way out.
She thinks back to when they first met; back when Victoria was a baby, the Chases tasked Jessica with babysitting their daughter while they went to some art show in Paris. When she arrived, she saw hope in her eyes and heard joy in her laughter. It never left her, she could tell, despite everything that happened to her in Arcadia Bay, everything after, and everything right now, she knows that little girl was still Victoria through it all.
Jessica kisses her on the cheek and holds her tight. "You can beat this, Victoria. I believe in you."
"She might, but it'll be too late." Jessica turns around and sees a hooded figure - a woman, judging by her voice - standing in the doorway. "Step away from her."
Jessica eyes the stranger. Just by her stance, she can tell she means trouble. "Are you the off-brand 'Power Rangers' villain the Black Goat sent for her?"
The stranger approaches slowly, step by step. "My name's Lisbeth Fischer. Step aside."
Jessica rolls her eyes before she remembers: "Oh, I've heard of you. You're the crazy Reverend bitch from Haven Point. I heard about you on the news."
Lisbeth grimaces, annoyed. "How flattering." She procures a dagger from her cloak and shows it off for Jessica to see. "Last warning, stand aside now… unless you want to end up like her."
Jessica stands tall, putting herself between Victoria and Fischer. She raises her fists and taunts Lisbeth: "Try me."
Victoria looks up at the stars, past the clouds forming in the sky, as Shadow leads her down a long dirt path. "So, um, Shadow…"
"Yeah?"
"Where are we going?"
Shadow points to a mansion in the distance just a few minutes away. "We must make some sense of this place. The Animus awaits."
"The who?"
Shadow grins and tells Victoria, "I love that band." She starts humming one of their hits - Baba O'Riley - and it sounds mellow. I'm a good singer!
It shifts softly from hums to acapella; not from Shadow's tongue but instead from the skies above. The two look up and raise their fists upon seeing who is floating down from the clouds: "Ah shit, it's the Black Goat!"
As she sets hoof on the dirt, the Black Goat passively raises her hand to halt them. "Do not bother attempting to fight. You will merely be wasting time."
Victoria shakes her head, pissed to see her perceived adversary. "And you aren't? I assume you're stalling for the Sunken…"
The Black Goat blinks and answers, "You assume incorrectly. I have frozen them, though not forever."
Shadow crosses her arms and asks, "And how are we supposed to believe you?" The Black Goat reveals where the Sunken are standing with a wave of her hand. They're right behind her!
Victoria nearly falls on her butt as she steps back and exclaims, "SHIT! Okay, we believe you!"
"Good. Now, let me introduce myself. I am the Black Goat: Mistress of Nightmares and Ruler of the Astral Plane."
Victoria takes a deep breath and asks her, "What do you want?"
"To enlighten you of a coming storm." She fans away the clouds in the sky, revealing Rachel Amber blankly controlling a raging tornado. "Miss Amber is heading for your Half-Full House on the Astral Plane. It would be in both of our best interests for you to intercept and defeat her."
Victoria cuts her off to ask for some clarification: "The what House?"
"The name you came up with in your head for this little house."
Victoria strokes her chin (as does Shadow). "Damn, I'm good."
The Black Goat looks down and turns the dirt path to gold. "Continue down this path and you shall be reunited with your Animus. Once with joined hands, the three of you shall become one once more." She shoves the two forward in the direction they're headed and tells them, "Good luck."
"How am I supposed to trust you?" Victoria turns around to ask her, but she's gone. The Sunken are still there, frozen in place. "Wonderful."
She turns forward and begins walking ahead with Shadow. Follow the yellow brick road.
She looks at Shadow with a smile, who jovially rebukes walking: "No, I'm not skipping with you. I'm sprinting!"
"Good call." And so, the two sprint down the golden path to the Animus.
They arrive and ring the golden doorbell on the mansion door. It opens and the proprietor, an older Victoria dressed in a white suit, answers. "Good day to you two. Please come in." The two walk in, though our Victoria spots the Sunken unfreeze as the doors close behind the three of them. "May I interest you all in some tea?"
Shadow balls her fists up and asks, "This ain't a trap, is it?"
The older Victoria sighs, "Not at all, though I understand the apprehension."
Victoria looks back and hurriedly follows the two as they travel to the living room of the mansion. "So you're the Animus, and you're the Shadow. What does that make me?"
"You're your Self.", says the older Victoria, the Animus, as she picks up a steaming hot teapot.
"I figured." The Animus pours a cup of tea for herself and a cup for Victoria. The Shadow doesn't want any. I mean, just look at her… "Wait, am I just myself in my mind's eye or am I, like, my self ?"
The Animus explains, "You are Victoria Chase. You lead us with your body; you have my intuition and her attitude." She points to the Shadow and herself before continuing, "We are merely pieces of your mind, fractured by the Sunken menace."
Highly confused, Victoria takes a sip of the tea she has been offered. Hm. Doesn't burn… and tastes good! I might have to take Kate up on one of those old 'tea date' offers.
Not as confused, the Shadow declares, "Okay, enough chit-chat, let's get this show on the road!"
"Yes, please.", the Animus agrees as she puts down her cup. "Hold hands. Let us rejoin as one." They do so, and the winds in the living room enter them as they conjoin: six arms turn to two, as do the legs, and the three Victorias return to being of one mind.
Victoria Chase gets back up on her feet, feeling more whole than earlier. Like a hole in her head has been filled. "Black Goat, you there?" No response. Fine, I'll make my own music.
Outside, two of the remaining seventy-seven Sunken bang their fists on the door at once. "Open up, Chase. We won't ask twice."
Suddenly, one of them hears something. Putting their ear up to the door, they ask, "Do you hear that?"
A golden chainsaw slices through the front door, impaling the curious Sunken and horrifically dispersing his essence. Before the other Sunken can truly react, a pot of hot tea splashes on his face, melting him outright.
Victoria steps out of the mansion, wielding weapons of gold - guns, swords, tools, all the toys she can carry - and glares at her seventy-five opponents awaiting her. "All right, you sorry sailors… LET'S PARTY!", she screams as she revs up the chainsaw and leaps into the Sunken horde.
She spins, she leaps, she punches, she kicks, she rips, she tears through the crowd of demons.
At the end of the path, the Admiral of the Sunken feels his forces deplete at the hands of Victoria. "Playtime's over. Let's get this over with." He opens himself up and absorbs the remaining Sunken; twenty-five in total. They become one and run towards Victoria, swinging at her with enough force to pulverize steel.
Carefully, Victoria dodges their attacks, telling how deadly a mistake will be just by the sound of the wind being torn through with the Sunken's hits. Whenever they leave themselves open, Victoria shoots at their body with a golden shotgun she manifested.
Hit by hit, the Sunken grows weaker, though still striking like a ferocious beast.
And yet, with every hit, the Sunken slowly begin to yield, unable to keep themselves focused.
Finally, as the Sunken die out and the Admiral is left as the last of his warriors, he collapses on his back. "Mercy!", he begs with a hand raised.
Victoria looks down on him and shakes her head. She pulls out a golden greatsword and raises it. For just a second, she feels another presence within her, aiding her in this justice. "Clarissa says hi."
She plunges the sword into the Sunken, banishing him and his ilk from her mind and bringing herself back to her body's full function.
Lisbeth is tossed across the room into a cabinet, which falls on top of her. However, she pushes it off of herself and growls at Jessica, readying her dagger. "You think you can save the girl?" She charges at her…
"She's done enough for me!" Victoria jumps out of bed - herself, no more red glowing eyes - and takes Lisbeth down with her. As the two struggle, Victoria manifests a baton and slams it against Lisbeth's head three times, knocking her out. "It's time I returned the favor.", she says as she gets up and dusts herself off.
"Victoria!" Jessica rushes over and wraps her up in a great big hug. I'm convinced she's about to start crying.
Victoria lets a wide grin grow on her face. "I missed you too, Jess."
"I'm sorry I let you go down there alone, I should've joined you, should've helped-"
Victoria pats her on the back soothingly, reassuring her, "You're good, Jess. Trust me, there's no way you could have known." As the two separate from the hug, she looks down at Lisbeth and chuckles. "Good work on this crazy hag."
"Put me down!", Lisbeth cries as Victoria lifts her up by her collar.
Victoria glares at her, knowing of her evil. "I will. But first, you need to do me a favor. Go back to Rachel Amber, and tell her that Victoria Chase is coming for her."
Lisbeth laughs aloud. "She's already on her way. Look out the window." Victoria and Jessica walk over to the nearest window where they look outside and see the stormy skies pouring down rain. In the distance, approaching rapidly, a tornado perhaps more powerful than the one that knocked down Arcadia Bay is set to collide with the Half-Full House. "Her wrath is upon us…"
"Even better." Victoria turns back around and exits the room, dragging Lisbeth with her.
Jessica follows quickly and asks as she heads downstairs, "Vic, what are you going to do?"
"I'm finishing this, Jess. Once and for all." She reaches the first floor and walks up to the front door, where the final battle awaits outside. "Lock the doors and stay away from the windows. Rachel Amber's not coming here with her goddamn tornado."