Monique

Randy, as is unsurprising for someone his age and with his interests, has a great number of t-shirts printed with interesting slogans on them. My favorite, though I would of course never tell him so, reads "Professional soldiers are predictable. The world is full of dangerous amateurs." Considering that the team I am currently a part of is mostly composed of said dangerous, competent amateurs, I can't help but find it appropriate.

That said, there is a certain satisfaction in working with another professional, which Major Hicks most certainly is. I know exactly how good he is, and vice versa. Nor was there any worry or need to cover him as the two of us slipped back around the island's coast to the isolated beach on the west side, where the Wind Guardian and its obelisk had been stationed.

Much like Privates Flynn and Wojciechovski, we were armed with automatic weapons loaded with armor-piercing ammunition, several extra magazines tucked about our persons. A few other surprises were along, but we'd left those concealed under the undergrowth at the treeline. I checked my weapon over one more time, as we watched the creature drifting along the beach, patrolling its territory. A legless body consisting of crystalline hips, torso, and head, with blue energy forming a pair of arms– one equipped with a clawed hand, and a second that terminated in what was unmistakably an energy rifle of some kind. The head had a featureless flat "face" marked only by a single staring blue eye and a mane of hair the same color as Dr. Chapman's.

"Think it hunts by sight?" Hicks asked in an undertone, checking his own weapon.

I shook my head. "While it can, no doubt, process visual information, it is composed of crystals that seem very similar to quartz, and no doubt have piezoelectric properties. I suspect it has a certain range for sensing bioelectric fields– we cannot sneak up on it."

"Flank it, then?"

I nodded. "Oui. I will come at it from that clump on the north."

"Right. Wait until it's almost up to you, lure it out. I'll come from the middle, plant the tap, then we'll pincer it. Center of mass for a target, at least until we see if anything else is vulnerable."

With a rudimentary plan laid down, we moved to our respective positions. I waited until the Guardian had reached the most northern part of the beach and had turned to go back, then stepped out of shelter and squeezed off a burst directly into the creature's back. It was already whirling as I did so, and the force of the bullets knocked it off its axis into a spin. Even as it tried to right itself, Hicks was directing another burst into its torso. With a sound like a thousand chimes, chips of crystal sprayed in every direction. The clawed hand swung up, then down, spinning up a swirl of sand and air into an actual miniature tornado that roared across the beach to me.

I threw myself out of the way, feeling the breeze tug at my clothing as it passed. Not enough to get any appreciable lift, then, but the wind might well throw a target to the ground, or into parts of the scenery. Which seemed odd– Flynn had described the tornados as being strong enough to dissuade the giant bat, and these did not seem nearly so intense.

Meanwhile, the Guardian had apparently decided that its best direction for dodging was vertical, rising into the air and aiming bursts of energy at Major Hicks. The major was running in a zig-zag pattern around the edge of the beach area, doing his best to lead the creature's shots… which seemed to be aimed more at his feet. Perhaps an attempt to deal with his mobility and buy time to focus on me?

Still, it was not focusing on me at the moment, and I picked my moment and walked a burst up the creature's torso right into that staring blue eye. It let out an almost hideous scream and seemed to dissolve into an orb of blue fire that retreated to hover over the obelisk that sat where the waves met the shore. Reconstituting, it spread both arms and launched a mass of crystalline shards into the air. They seemed to hover, glinting ominously in the moonlight. Then the shards zoomed towards us like a horde of glimmering bees. I quickly threw myself behind a palm tree, and I saw Major Hicks take cover behind a large boulder that had no doubt broken loose from the island's volcano some time ago.

It was then that the Guardian revealed its plan, aiming a burst of energy from its cannon, not at us but at one of the flying shards. The burst of energy bounced from one crystal to another, almost too fast to follow, striking the sand at Major Hicks's feet and sending him flying into the air to land heavily upon the beach. I quickly slammed another magazine home and began to direct sustained fire on the Guardian, hoping to keep it from following up on its advantage.

Unfortunately, it seemed to realize this, tossing a tornado at me almost negligently. The vortex scattered the bullets and forced me to dodge back into the undergrowth, where the rough terrain caused the pressure system to break up more quickly. Ignoring me, the Guardian bore down on Major Hicks, who was just now pushing himself to his hands and knees. It loomed above him, reaching down with that massive clawed hand–

And Hicks burst into action, knocking the cannon-arm away and combat-rolling through the opening in the creature's guard, bringing his weapon up to loose a burst of fire into its face before twisting to get his feet under him in a gymnastic maneuver that I suspected owed more to his association with the Slayer than anything he had learned in the US Army.

The creature howled again, charging up another blast of energy– which somehow overloaded, shattering the gun (and the entire arm it was composed of) into dust and motes of blue light. The Guardian reeled drunkenly, and I dropped my weapon, running for the cache we had hidden even as I realized what had occurred. Several of the crystal shards had become stuck in the sand as they sought us, and Hicks had picked one up, then lured the creature close and jammed said shard in the barrel of the cannon. With nowhere to go, the beam had reflected on itself and redoubled, shattering the weapon completely.

Reaching the black bag I had prepared earlier, I tore open the zipper and pulled out an M203 stand-alone grenade launcher. I had four high explosive rounds– hopefully that was all I would require. I waited until the Guardian's wheeling slowed, and then fired the grenade directly at the creature's chest, where I could see blue light sparkling through a web of cracks.

One shot knocked the creature backward, gaps beginning to appear in the crystal armor. A second shot, and the front of the chest cracked open entirely, exposing a shimmering blue orb approximately the size of an orange. The Guardian tossed one last tornado in my direction, and then the blue orb shattered as a single flat crack split the air. Major Hicks had brought an "ace in the hole" of his own, and as had been shown in Sunnydale this May, his aim with a precision rifle was highly impressive.

With a hideous screech, the creature broke apart into shards of sand and light, drifting away on the wind it had so recently commanded. Securing the launcher, I moved to where the Major stood.

"I do not believe you any longer have any, how do you say, 'high ground' to lecture Dr. Tatopoulos from about his recklessness," I commented. He grimaced.

"It honestly wasn't as big a risk as it looked. You saw it too– that thing was shooting to wound, or maybe just knock us unconscious. Those crystal bits could have flayed us, none of those beams were aimed at our heads– it wasn't playing for keeps. It wanted to capture us."

Because that was what Dr. Chapman would want, and her Shadow shared those desires. Merde. I was too used to dealing with soldiers and operatives, who would not let their emotions sway them into taking such risks. Especially given that I had made a promise, in that alien fighter over a year ago, and Dr. Chapman and I both knew I would still keep it, if I must.

… I have never wanted to do my duty less.

Hicks squinted up at the moon, which was almost touching the sea. "I'd guess we're coming up on sunrise here pretty soon," he said. "Think we threw off her schedule enough?"

A hideous scream of stressed crystal, far louder than any we had heard so far, rang out from the east as if in answer. The two of us exchanged glances, then dashed for the nearest trail through the brush. The time for stealth was over, and somehow, I did not believe we would meet any resistance on our way back.

Nick

I grabbed at Godzilla's thumb for support as he staggered, waist-high waves crashing into him and throwing him against the cliff side. He caught himself with his off hand, and we both looked eastward, towards the ship that the Shadow had raised. It didn't really look like a flying saucer, exactly, though I could see why Doyle had called it that, especially from a half-seen, fragmentary image. More a giant silver-blue low dome, with bits of brighter blue tracing along its sides. Of course, right now, the important part of the view was the Godzilla-sized column of seawater swelling up between us and it.

I heard/felt a twist of space collapsing that I knew had to be Elsie's Shadow teleporting out, probably back into the relative safety of the ship. I didn't spare much attention for it, though, as we had a bigger, much more pressing problem right now.

The column of seawater was glowing with blue-green energy, something different than what we'd seen before. I'd have given a lot for a PKE meter, or Mendel's thaumometer, or one of Fred's various toys, but all I had was my own, still reasonably untrained senses. I knelt down on Godzilla's palm– easier to do this if I didn't have to concentrate on my balance. Letting the warm roughness of scales ground me, I reached out, forcing my eyes to stay open. "Closing your eyes to concentrate on your other senses is entirely natural," Dr. Morris had told me. "It's also a horrible habit to get into, especially when you're going to be in the field. Keep your eyes open and be ready to dodge!"

The energy in the water felt– different. Trying to explain exactly how was rather like explaining how squares taste, but it was– sour? Like pickle brine added to a glass of water. Not actually foul, just different. Given the color and what we'd seen so far, I suspected this one wasn't connected to the tap under the ship, or at least, not so strongly. Elsie's Shadow was using her own psychic energy to buffer the creature, so that even if we destroyed it, the tap would remain. That might be a problem, but it was one to solve after we'd dealt with this one.

"Better put me down, buddy," I suggested, echoing the sentiment through the bond. He was going to need his hands free for this, and I was just too small to be able to stay with him during the fight.

Godzilla rumbled assent, then very carefully climbed up the cliff and set me on the top, like tucking the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator. Then he clambered down again, while I found a handy rock to tuck myself behind, for support and concealment. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes– sorry, Dr. Morris– and reached out to Godzilla, letting myself flow along our link until my physical body was barely a blip on my radar. I was Godzilla, standing in thigh-high water facing our newest enemy.

The water was changing shape, growing a pair of long, gangling arms, a bulbous body shaped rather like a water gourd, and a head that sprouted a pair of projections almost like the horns of a bull. A single eye of sparkling blue crystal stared out from the center of said head, floating inside the watery shape rather like… honestly, all I could think of was fruit in a jello salad.

The bottom of the creature's body rested on the surface of the water, which made sense– it wasn't a separate mass. The Shadow had simply grabbed a bunch of water and formed it into this shape. Chopping bits off of it was going to be useless, the water would just fall down and be sucked right back up. There had to be some sort of focus keeping it solid.

At which point, the Guardian decided to take advantage of my pondering, forming one arm into a gigantic spear with a razor-edged head. It swung the spear in a giant arc, and we threw ourselves backward out of the path just in time to feel the breeze as it passed. It was oddly cold, considering, and I realized that the sparkling on the edge of the spear was ice, crystallized to a sharp edge.

The thing was pulling heat out of the water and surrounding energy, which meant it had to have some sort of two-way tap. The eye? Maybe, but it was so small…. Well, one way to find out. I sent a thought at Godzilla, and we spat a gout of flame into the thing's watery face, causing the seawater to boil away. More rushed up from the thing's body, but it was disoriented, giving us a chance to lash our tail through it, disrupting the column of water and sending the whole thing crashing down into the ocean. It immediately picked itself back up again, of course, but there'd been something…

"Nick!" A voice in my actual ear, tinny and oddly distant. Angel – given that stealth was no longer an option, it seemed the time for radio silence was over.

I was too far into Godzilla's mind to be able to form words, but I grunted, which hopefully would be enough to acknowledge the transmission.

"Nick, all three of the things had a blue core in their chests, some sort of power tap. Fred thinks they're pulling from the planetary energy network, like broadcast power or something. For a Guardian that big, though, it'd have to be somewhere more secure."

Where the hell was secure in a giant column of water? Semi-transparent, no armor, there wasn't– there wasn't anywhere secure. That's because the tap wasn't in the column at all!

Ducking under the next swing of the Guardian's spear-arm, we dropped down into the water. It wasn't that deep— well, not for an eighteen-story lizard, it wasn't. But there was enough room for us to maneuver under the surface. And… there! Right below the surface of the water, where the column rose up, was a sphere of crystal, blue light glimmering murkily from inside an outer semi-translucent shell.

Lashing our tail from side to side, we drove forward, hitting the sphere with open jaws at high speed. Angling up as we did so, we breached, almost like an orca, spitting the sphere into the air and hitting it with a blast of our breath. Melting crystals was almost impossible, and quartz, which this stuff strongly resembled, was almost immune to thermal shock. But heat-treating gems had a tendency to burn away inclusions and impurities, which might scramble some of the thing's abilities.

Instead of plummeting back into the water, though, the sphere stopped, hovering in place for a long moment. Then streamers of water began to rise from the ocean below it, wrapping around it and reconstituting into the same Guardian… except now it was hanging upside down in the air. Thrusting its spear down into the water, it summoned a wave that rushed towards us. Immediately, we dove forward, cutting through the wave before it reached full velocity.

This was getting us nowhere. We had to smash the sphere, but how? That blue eye sparkled again, and suddenly there were shards of ice launching from the non-spear hand. We dodged most of them, but one shard clipped Godzilla's shoulder, and we let out a roar of pain.

Wait. The eye. I forced myself to separate my mind from Godzilla's, enough to force words out of my mouth. "Guardian Eyes. Made of crystal?"

"What?" Faith's voice answered. "No, not ours. Ball of the same energy as the body. And looks like the same with the other two. Why?"

"Have idea. Be careful– will likely piss somebody off."

I heard Hicks snort. "Worm Guy, with you, that's pretty much taken as read."

It would, I decided, take too much effort to be offended by that.

The sphere was in the base of the Guardian, but all the ice attacks had come from the extremities. That much water, it would be inefficient to try draining the energy all the way through the creature. The eye had to be a secondary tap, a smaller one, and unprotected to make it easier to absorb. Which meant…

Judging our moment, we ducked under another spear swipe, then reared up and punched the Guardian directly in the face, grabbing the "eye" and yanking it out of the head. I could feel it pulsing against our palm, and I took a moment to hope my instincts were right. Then we wound up and launched a perfect fastball directly at the side of the spaceship. As I'd thought, the gem struck the forcefield surrounding the metal hull and shattered.

Behind me, the airborne sphere cracked apart, pieces raining into the ocean alongside the water that had formed the Guardian. Now we just had to deal with the Shadow–

A yell and the sounds of energy fire echoed in my ear, and I retreated from the bond as quickly as I could. I wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but one thing was clear; Monique and the others were under attack.

Elsie

With Randy's access to the island's computer systems restored, we were able to get a pretty good view of what was going on via Monster Island's surveillance cameras feeding into the main network. Everyone but Nick (and of course Godzilla) had regrouped on top of the cliff near the main deck of the observation center. Randy'd managed to lock the security doors in the base, so none of the soldiers were going to be able to deploy. Unfortunately, that didn't affect Sopler and Hoffman, who apparently had developed the Shadow's ability to teleport– though at least it didn't look like they could take anybody with them.

But they'd definitely figured out the telekinesis part of things, and our guys were mostly playing keep-away, as none of them were carrying any non-lethal ammo. The only thing weighing in for our side was that Sopler and Hoffman were pulling their punches for exactly the same reason. But sooner or later, our group was going to run out of gas, probably before the good doctors.

"Fred, how's the whole space-warping whatsis coming?" Doyle asked, looking away from the screen.

"Good news and bad news. Good news is, the intensity of the distorted space has dropped to almost nothing, and I've been able to get a… call it a stable peephole through. Bad news is, almost nothing isn't the same as actually nothing. I can open the gate wide enough for a person, but it's going to be for maybe a second, and I'll probably burn out the converter– I had to jury-rig half of this up, this thing was theoretical yesterday," she replied, pushing blond bangs out of her eyes.

"Okay, so… one person through. That would have to be Dr. Chapman, she's the only one who can reabsorb the Shadow," Wesley said. "We just need to find a safe place to open the gate."

I bit my lip. "Can you open it into the ship?" I asked. "Bypass that security forcefield?"

"Sure, I can do that. But it's a big ship, and when I say 'peephole,' I'm talking more about an energy conduit, I can't actually get visual data."

"That's fine," I replied, then took a deep breath. "Start at the top and work your way down, I can tell you when to open it– Uh, it won't get me stuck in a wall, right?"

"Nope, it's programmed only to open onto empty space, the peephole just skips over solid objects."

I let the breath out. "Okay, then." Moving over to stand where Fred had indicated the gate aperture would open, I closed my eyes and reached out for the feeling of a mind that I knew down to my bones.

Mendel. A constant flutter of consideration, of thinking, of over-thinking, cascading into spikes of anxiety. Warmth and determination and courage, and a well-buried loneliness that had only just begun to be eased by knowing that the four of us were there for him, no matter what. That constant nagging worry about being weighed and found wanting, and boy couldn't I relate there. Compassion and snark and that little blaze of triumph every time he got one over on Randy, like they were both twelve years old rather than a pair of grown men. He was important to me, so much. I couldn't really imagine being without him.

Fuck it, I was in love with him, and when I got him back, I was going to tell him so. No more running, no more hiding, no more covering old scars with snark and avoidance. I loved him, and I wasn't letting him go without a fight.

That tiny running flicker of energy that I'd been feeling through the peephole suddenly burst into a full stream, and I flung a hand up almost before I could think. "There. Stop it there!"

Fred did as ordered, then pulled a lever. The air in front of me twisted and warped, swirling apart like cream stirred into coffee, until a gap of green light appeared, barely taller and wider than a standard household door. Immediately I threw myself forward, into the light. The entire world seemed to flicker for just a second, and then I was standing on a metal floor in complete darkness, as the gap sealed itself up behind me.

"Wh… Elsie?" I heard a groggy voice say. A rustle of fabric and then blue lights faded in around me. I blinked, and looked around. It was… pretty bare. An air mattress and blankets set on a sort of shelf dug into the metal wall, and Mendel, sitting up in the bed and looking blearily at me. He was, I was relieved to see, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants under the bedclothes. Look, I knew exactly what kind of thoughts and feelings I'd been repressing in regards to Mendel recently, and– it was just a relief, okay?

"I'd say 'the one and only,' but that isn't exactly true these days, is it?" I replied. He rubbed his eyes and looked at me again. I could practically see the moment the connection clicked in his head, and then he was up and out of the bed, arms around me in the tightest hug I think I'd ever gotten from him.

Of course, I was hugging him back just as tightly. The fact is, though I hadn't wanted to admit it to anybody else, I was a little worried that… well, that Mendel might have liked that side of me better than the boring old outer shell that everybody else got. Judging by the way he had his head bowed against my shoulder, though, I'd definitely been wrong.

He pulled back to look me in the face, and I opened my mouth to make some sort of snarky comment, but he cut me off, leaning forward and pressing his lips to mine in a gentle, but definite kiss. Any words I might have spoken went blank, and I just leaned into him, arms sliding up to wrap around his neck as his hands drifted down to my hips.

I don't think the kiss lasted more than a couple seconds, but I wouldn't swear to it. Time became sort of an academic concept there for a bit. Finally, though, I pulled back and gave him one of my best grins.

"Missed you too, Doctor Craven."

He laughed, then looked down at himself and blushed, releasing me quickly. "I… uh… hold on, let me go change." He dashed into a nook that I suspected was a bathroom of sorts. This had probably been some sort of crew cabin once.

After a few minutes, Mendel stepped out, back in the collared shirt and khakis he'd been wearing when he'd been grabbed. His hair was still a bit frizzy and snarled, but I certainly didn't care that much and I doubted he did either.

"How did you get here, anyway?" he asked me. I grinned again.

"Fred managed to use some of the stuff you two'd been working on to make a prototype jumpgate," I replied. "Unfortunately, it was single-use, so I'm all you've got. Ready to blow this popstand?"

"More than, but she locked the door on me," he replied wryly. "Said she didn't want me getting lost."

Yeah, she might even have believed it. We were separate now, that meant I could do things like facing my feelings and she could do things like lying to herself. Still, we were still physically identical, according to Ray Stanz, so…

Turning to the door, I laid a hand on it and reached out my mind again. I found the lock mechanism pretty easily– it was made to be manipulated with telekinesis, after all. Flipping the internal switch, I stepped back as the door slid silently open, showing a corridor dimly lit in shades of blue.

"Now, we need to find the central energy core of the ship," I told Mendel quietly. "Our primary problem is stopping her from basically becoming Gaia via the planet's energy network. Getting my head back together comes second to that."

"This way," he said just as quietly, starting off down the corridor. Then he sighed, peeking around a corner. "Remember when all we had to deal with was ice-spitting manta rays and sociopathic billionaires?"

I had to snort. "Yeah, those were the good old days, right?"

The ship was silent, which made sense, given that there were only two– or more likely three of us aboard. Why my Shadow hadn't caught up with us yet, I wasn't sure, but… oh. Right. We couldn't hear each other, psychically, all we'd get was static. And she'd left Mendel locked up in his room, why would she expect him to be loose? No, she'd be making the last preparations for her ascension, as the sun climbed outside. We were both on time limits, it was just a question of which one got there faster.

And it looked like it was gonna be us, as Mendel'd kept a detailed map of as much of the ship as possible when he'd been exploring it earlier today. The two of us stepped into a much larger room, where a pyramidal crystal – wait, no, it was an octahedron– no, now it was a cube– okay, the damn thing was apparently running through the platonic solids like it was on screen saver mode. The crystal, whatever its shape, was hanging in an energy field in the center of the room, glowing blue and thrumming with an almost welcoming, hypnotic hum.

I moved up to the column of energy, feeling almost like I was drifting rather than walking. My hands came up, almost without my permission, and I reached into the field and plunged my hands into the crystal, which wrapped around them like warm taffy.

For just one second, my mind was full of music, a soaring, crystalline song that seemed to explain– explain– something. Then it was gone, and I was standing in a far dimmer room, with a pair of crystal gauntlets on my hands and Mendel staring at me in awe.

"... Something in my teeth?"

"Your eyes are glowing, Elsie," he said, a little shakily. "Solid blue."

Well fuck. "I… uh, I don't have a crown of stars, do I?"

He blinked, and shook his head. "Not that I saw?"

"Okay, that's reassuring– I'll explain later," I told him. Then I spun around, raising one hand to throw up a shield as a bolt of green energy went spanging off it.

The Shadow was here, and she was pissed. Her eyes were glowing solid green and her hair was spread out and writhing like she was Medusa with a 'do made of coral snakes. A corona of green energy swirled around her, and she was floating in the air as she approached.

"Thief!" she howled, tossing another energy bolt at me. "Give it back. Give him back! Give me what's mine!"

I blocked again, and motioned for Mendel to find something substantial to hide behind. "What's yours? He's not a purse! He's not a pair of shoes! You don't own him!"

"He's mine, he chose me! For once in my life, someone fucking chose me and I am not letting some withered old husk of what I used to be take him away from me!" That was accompanied by a wave of telekinetic force that would have snapped my neck, if I hadn't dodged.

Jesus Christ, I needed therapy.

"You don't understand, no one understands, they're coming. They'll take it all, unless we fight them, but no one will listen!"

I blocked her next energy shot and levitated up to meet her face to face. The gauntlets were making up for my weakness, making me her equal in terms of psychic power, but she had a lot more experience and understanding. I had to end this, soon.

"So you made them listen," I responded. "Because no one ever listens to us, but they do now, right? They have to."

Some of the wildness died in her eyes, and she pulled back, circling me. I moved to keep her in sight and kept talking.

"I get it, I do. I have all those memories, even if I don't feel them the way you do. But this isn't right. You're not making them listen, they're still not hearing us. They're just doing what we tell them because we hijacked their brains. They're not agreeing with us, because they never had a chance to disagree."

She launched a bolt of energy at my head, but I dodged. "You can't just paper over every disagreement like that, it doesn't solve anything. I mean, what are you going to do the first time Mendel disagrees with you? The first time he argues with you? Hell, the first time he leaves the toilet seat up? Are you going to make him fall into line the way you've done everybody else?"

"I– No, I–" the green light in her eyes stuttered and she dropped, catching herself after about a foot.

"Elsie." Mendel's voice was quiet, but firmer than I'd ever heard it before. Both of us turned to look at him, standing out in the middle of the room, hands spread before him.

"You're both right," he said, calmly. "The Hivemind will be back, and we need to do something about that. But you can't just brainwash the entire planet into following you– for one thing, it won't work. You saw it with the Hivemind, some people are just immune. What would you do about them? And how long would you hold it, forever? What good would our choices be, then? What would it matter that I chose you, when I couldn't do anything but? All my love for you, completely worthless. Do you really want that?"

The Shadow bobbled, sinking down lower, towards him. I followed suit, not trying to get in the way, but not wanting to be out of reach just in case.

"W…what did you say?"

He let out a little huff. "I love you. I know it's kind of an awful time and place to say it… I was hoping for something more romantic. Moonlight on the beach, or dinner and dancing, or something– but I do. I love you."

Green flickered, then strengthened. "You mean her, right?"

"I mean both of you," he replied, unflustered. "The woman who pisses people off rather than let anyone see her vulnerable. The woman who smiled and wore the ugliest bridesmaid dress I have ever seen, because she really does love her sister and wanted her wedding to be perfect, even if said sister is a giant brat. The woman who gets prickly when she gets called "Ms. Chapman" by yet another idiot who has more tenure than sense. The woman who let Randy cry on her shoulder for an hour when his grandmother called to say that their old cat had died. I love you, and that means all of you. I guess I've just… always been too scared to say it."

"Scared?" That came out of both of us at once, and I almost had to laugh. The Shadow smirked at me, and the two of us came down to land on the floor in front of Mendel, who smiled at both of us.

"Well, yeah. You're brilliant and beautiful, and I'm…me. I always figured sooner or later, you'd find somebody more interesting, more like… well, more like Nick. I mean, I know you guys are friends, that's not what I meant, but just somebody who'd… I guess deserve you. So I kept waiting, thinking if I didn't say it, it wouldn't hurt so much when things ended. But that's not true, and it's not going to change what I feel. So yeah. I love you, Dr. Elsie Chapman."

The Shadow looked at him for a long moment, then over at me. The green glow was completely absent from her eyes now, and I extended a hand.

"I don't know about you," I said frankly, "but I'm really tired of running away."

She stared at me for a long moment, then sighed. "Yeah," she said, taking my hand. "Yeah, I am too."

Then the entire world melted away into brilliant light.