Hello there again! Well as promised, I'm updating my story (I just hope the wait wasn't too painful). Here is the sixth chapter and it is a little longer than my others. Please review and enjoy!
One's WillWhen Irons came to Raven and Ian were both gone, some of their belongings and a car was also missing as well. Irons paced his office like a caged lion.
'What to do, what to do…. Ah yes…. The Serpent….'
****
Gabriel was just going through his inventory when the phone rang.
"Talismanic; spells, charms, and artifacts, you name it I got it. Gabriel speaking."
"Hey Gabe."
"Yo Chief, how's it going? I haven't heard from you in weeks."
"Well I've been kinda busy lately. Umm… I need a favor."
"Sure, whatcha need?"
There was a brief moment of silence before Sara answered, "I need you to let a friend of mine hide out at your place."
"Sure, I can do--- wait a minute. This friend of yours wouldn't happen to be a tall, dark assassin; who thinks that he's bulletproof and spouts a cryptic language that has yet to be translated?"
"Well, yes I guess you could say that," Sara said hesitantly.
"No! No Way! Sara that guy threatened to kill me and you want me to hide him!"
"Gabe listen to me, Ian is injured and Irons will be looking for him, but I can't hide him here. Please Gabe, I need you to help me. Anyway Ian wasn't serious when he threatened you. He knew that killing you would upset me, so you're completely safe."
"Oh, the fact that he won't kill me because it would upset you, is really comforting."
There was a muffled sound in the background. It sounded like 'give me the phone,' but Gabriel wasn't sure. His thoughts were shattered by a voice.
"Gabriel… my name is Raven and I'm a friend of Ian's and Sara's. I know that you have no reason to trust Ian or me, but you at least trust Sara, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Good, now Sara and I both promise that Ian won't harm you. He will probably sleep most of the time. Anyway we're sending him there mostly as protection for you."
"What?! What are you talking about?"
"Well Ian and I no longer work for Irons. Of course Irons won't let us go without a fight. The fight is what worries me. I am needed here to protect Sara. Although you will probably be left alone, I would prefer Ian to be there just in case."
"Thanks, but I can take care of myself."
"Gabriel listen to me. Irons will send something that is much worse than anything you could possibly imagine. It is like Ian, but not. He will have Ian's skills but he won't have any mercy or pity. He is without a conscious and cares nothing for life. This man, if you could call it that, is genetically engineered. He will be able to do more damage to you with his mind than any weapon known to man."
"What do you mean, with his mind?"
"He is telepathic and telekinetic. Although he's a novice he is quite powerful."
"Wait a minute, you mean like Jean Gray from X-Men?" Gabriel started to laugh hysterically. There was a sigh and Gabriel heard Raven ask Sara to leave the room.
"I didn't want to have to do this Gabriel but you leave me no choice. When you were first starting your business you met a woman named Mac. She was your very first customer. She had come to you expressing interest in the Witchblade. You two hit it off pretty well so you invited her to have lunch with you. Since you had just bought groceries, you opted to cook. After a few mishaps you ordered pizza. You two talked well into the night, it was around midnight when she mentioned the Associates. Mac told you that she was the leader of them and that she wanted to know if you were interested. You were a little curious as to why she would need you and she explained that since your business dealt in the supernatural that it would be unsuspicious if you were to look into things related to the Witchblade; you agreed. About a month later Mac and you became intimately involved. Sara and Ian don't know about the Associates and neither does Irons for that matter. If I haven't convinced you yet I could get more personal if you want. How about the time you and Mac taped you two d—"
"I believe you! Umm… how did you know all that?"
"I'm telepathic and telekinetic, I know things that others would never know. I need you to trust me when I tell you that having Ian stay with you is the best thing considering the situation at hand."
Gabriel seemed to contemplate this for a moment.
"Okay fine. Ian can stay with me as long as there is no threatening of the Gabe!"
Raven chuckled, "All right, I promise that there will be no threatening of the Gabe. We'll be over within an hour."
****
Raven entered the living room where Sara and Ian seemed to be having an in-depth conversation about the situation.
"…and besides, it's not like there is anyone who could possibly beat you or Raven so why worry about it?"
Ian was about to comment when Raven spoke up, "Because Kenny's reach goes far beyond Ian and I. He had other projects going on besides the two of us. There is one in particular that has me worried."
Raven shot a pointed look at Ian.
'The Serpent has awakened Dragon.'
Ian nodded discreetly, he had thought as much.
"So what project is worrying you?" asked Sara.
"First we'll drop Ian off at Gabriel's and then I'll divulge the details."
Raven and Sara helped Ian to the car, along with a bag of his things and set off to Gabriel's apartment. They arrived there about thirty minutes later.
"Thanks for letting Ian stay here," Sara said after closing the door.
"No problem Chief, so… he really quit? I bet Irons isn't too happy about that."
"Well from what Raven tells me he's not overly pleased."
Sara and Gabriel watched as Raven and Ian spoke quietly to each other.
"So…what's their deal? Are they dating or something?" questioned Gabriel as he watched the two.
"No, they were raised together until Irons sent Raven away. She wasn't controllable and Irons didn't want Ian to rebel either so—"
"So he sent me to Asia where I learned balance of mind, body, and soul. I'm basically what you could call a female version of Ian. I'm not quite as fast as he is, but he doesn't have my gifts, so we're equal."
Raven had been listening to their conversation and decided to explain for Sara didn't know much about Raven's past.
"We need to be going Sara. Ian is trying to change my mind and I think that we should leave before he succeeds. Gabriel it was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope to meet you again under better circumstances."
Raven and Sara left quickly after many goodbyes.
****Sara's apartment****
Sara and Raven decided to have Chinese for dinner so they picked some up before arriving back at Sara's apartment. They were in the middle of eating when Sara's curiosity got the better of her.
"So what or who is it that has both Ian and you acting so crazy?"
"Well, you know that Ian and I were adopted, right? Well Sly was created. Sly is something that Irons is quite proud of. You see, Irons took an egg from my ovary when I hit puberty and fertilized it with Ian's sperm, thus creating Sly."
"But… that would mean that you are…and Ian is…"
"Yes, we're parents of sorts. Sly was created twelve years ago."
"But then that means that he's only twelve."
"Not necessarily… Kenny's little group of genetists are more than capable of creating an advanced form of life. You see they discovered a way to speed up the human growth process, so a year would make Sly age two years. So Sly is twenty-four."
"How is that possible?"
"How is it possible for Irons to stay so young for over sixty years? He uses the blood of the previous wielder to keep himself young, don't you think there might be other uses for it?"
"So this 'Sly' is just like Ian and you?"
"Yes and no, he looks like Ian and has my abilities but he has Kenny's disposition. The reason Kenny used Ian and I is because the combination of our talents would create the prefect warrior."
Sara sat back in udder shock, while trying to sort out the information in her mind.
"So what you're saying is that he's unbeatable."
"Not exactly. You see Kenny couldn't duplicate my abilities completely. Sly isn't as powerful as I am, also he's not as disciplined as me. You see it takes quite a bit of effort to control the gifts. If you don't have complete control it is difficult to use these abilities. Things won't move when you want them to, people's thoughts can invade yours, it can cause a major migraine."
"Well how are we going to beat him?"
'You're not…'Sara reached for her gun while Raven unsheathed her katana.
"Show yourself Serpent," Raven hissed.
A figure stepped out from the shadows of a corner in the room. Sara gasped, the man before her was an exact replica of Ian, except that his face was shaven clean save for a small triangle of hair on his chin. Sara also noticed that his eyes were not like Ian's or Raven's. They were cold and calculating, Kenneth's eyes.
"Birdie, Birdie, Birdie… still playing with knives I see. Careful there, you might cut yourself."
Raven's grip on her sword wavered slightly before tightening.
"Nice try Sly, but you're going to have to do better than that."
"Oh don't worry I haven't even begun to show the true extent of my powers."
Sly raised a hand to Sara, whose hands began to shake. She started to turn her gun around so that its aim was no longer trained on Sly, but herself. Sly smirked and looked at Raven in satisfaction. Raven snorted and made a quick gesture with her head, Sara collapsed, unconscious. Sly glared at Raven. Raven smiled,
'Harder to manipulate a person when they're incapacitated, isn't it Serpent?"Sly growled, 'No matter, I have a message for you. Meet me at Vorschlag Industries in an hour, and bring Dragon and the wielder.'
With that said Sly left and Raven went to revive Sara.
"Sara…Sara time to wake up…"
Sara stirred a bit before snapping awake.
"What happened? Where is he?"
"Hush Sara, it is all right. Sly has departed, for the time being."
"I couldn't… it felt like someone grabbing my gun and forcing me to turn it on myself…"
"I know, he tried to do the same thing to me, but I stopped him. He is able to force his will on anybody he wants, except for me because my power is stronger."
Raven helped Sara stand and told her what Sly had said.
"I want you to go get Ian and meet me there."
"But he said that the three of us—"
"Sara please listen to me. Sly can control you along with Ian. He will make you two attack me and I don't want to hurt either of you."
Sara finally relented after realizing how much of a burden Ian and her would be for Raven. Sara quickly left to get Ian while Raven went to Vorschlag to face Sly. Upon entering Vorschlag Raven noticed that it was empty save for Sly Irons and herself.
"Ah Raven so pleased to see you, where are the others?" Irons asked pleasantly.
" Not here Kenny. They had pressing matters else where, but they send their love."
Irons sneered, "The deal was all three of you!"
Raven discarded her trench coat, "There will be no deal, I will fight Sly alone. No distractions."
Before Irons could object Sly agreed.
"Fine, I prefer it this way. Shall we…mom."
~~~~~
There, Chapter six. Hope you enjoyed it. Well please be so kind as to review, flames welcomed but compliments preferred!!