And along came midterms – gaaah. Someone kill me, please.
A/N 1: As in the previous chapters – ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net
A/N 2: Archangel: Congratulations, you managed to give me a Vamp-crush. You bad, bad boy *g*
Alikat: You caught me right on target – I feel so bad for still not having introduced all of the characters :P. Give me a chance to throw the teams in the mutant camps, then he'll show up (after all, we'll need some new mutants when I start to kill of the regulars *eg*). Or maybe he'll show up earlier, since I only have a loose idea of where I'm going with this. I can e-mail you when he shows up if you want :) It's not like I expect people whose characters haven't been introduced yet to review every single goddamn time I update (love it – yes. Expect it – no ;) (and in that case – could you please leave an e-addy? *g*)
SilentPegasus: What do you mean? Mindgames are *fun*! *Evil grin* 'Sides, I'm not doing anything – it's the characters speaking through me...;)
Italics indicates thoughts
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Chapter Eighteen: Brutal Awakenings
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"...Come on - wake up, Blade!"
The faint, female voice tore Ryan out of the comforting darkness of unconsciousness. Out of the darkness and into one hell of a headache.
He groaned and tried to cover his ears to keep the unwelcome voice out, but he was still too weak.
"I think he's waking up now," another voice – this one male – joined in. "Blade?"
And even through the awful headache, that one word still managed to reach Ryan's foggy mind.
Blade? What the...
"Mmmmph?"
He wanted to ask what the hell they were talking about, but the words came out as nothing but inarticulate sounds, and caused the headache to intensify.
"Shhh...don't try to talk. I don't what fuck happened to you, but you look like shit," the female voice said worried. "Who was it? The FoH? Some doublecrossing client?...Ryan?"
But *I'm* Ryan! he wanted to scream, but once again it came out as incomprehensible noises.
"...Ry'n," he managed weakly, something the female obviously misunderstood.
"Cretes? I'm gonna kill him!" she half-growled.
"Easy, Jordane," the male said.
Jordane!? But...what's she doing here? And why does she keep calling me Blade?
He opened his eyes, and that's when he felt it – the first real sign that something was very wrong. His hair was partially covering his eyes, and he brushed it out of his face with a weak hand. That was wrong on so many levels...but mainly because he had short, spiked hair. His hair was nowhere near long enough to cover his eyes.
Just what the hell was going on?
He looked around and looked into Jordane's worried eyes. Next to her Aaron was watching with the same concerned expression, and Ryan started to feel more than a bit unnerved.
He tried to get up, and Jordane reached out to help him, but he ignored her. He looked around and noticed a small pond nearby.
Water. Mirror. This isn't...
He staggered to the pond and sank to his knees, never realizing how similar his actions were to Blade's. Ryan looked at the reflection...and immediately wished that he hadn't. He looked at the mirror image that stared back at him without mercy, and felt his world collapse around him.
Oh, my God...
* * *
A bit away, hidden among the shadows, Blade watched Ryan's reaction and smirked. Despite of the accidental mindswitch, this had worked out even better than he'd hoped. He would be able to get an inside look at the Guardians, and his team could have some fun with Ryan. He had no doubts that Ryan was in for a nasty surprise – the Shadow Alliance did not like mutants that protected humans, and they could be quite cruel when they put their minds to it.
Poor, little Ryan. You fucked with the wrong person.
Unnoticed by Ryan, Jordane turned around and looked at Blade. He nodded, and she blew him a kiss teasingly.
Blade shook his head, and fought back a smile. Jordane just grinned and turned back to Ryan. Blade watched for a few more moments, then disappeared among the shadows, and drove away in the old van.
* * *
Ryan shook his head slowly in disbelief, never taking his eyes from the chilling reflection.
No. This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't...
"Blade? Are you okay?" Jordane asked concerned.
Ryan took a deep breath.
Okay, I have two choices now. I can try to convince them that I'm Ryan, which they probably won't believe. And if they do, I really don't want to face their reaction. Or I can take over Blade's role, and...oh, fuck. He must have returned to the Guardians. Shit! Okay, he wouldn't kill them – if he wanted them dead, he would have handled it months ago. I have to stay alive and warn them...somehow. Fuck!
"Blade?" Jordane repeated and put a hand on his shoulder.
Here goes nothing...
"I'm fine," Ryan replied curtly, drawing on everything he knew about his enemy. "Let's go home."
"Okay," Jordane agreed and helped him to his feet. "I'll drive. You're in no condition to be put behind a wheel."
Ryan just nodded, relieved that he didn't have to explain why he had suddenly forgotten the way back.
* * *
It took an hour before Blade finally arrived at the motel. He'd had to stop halfway because the headache had gotten even worse and threatened to make him black out. And a blackout while he was driving was definitely not something he wanted.
By now he'd reached a point where he didn't care whether or not he'd be able to pull this off, as long as he got the change to get some sleep. And if he had to stay among a group of people who wanted him in jail...then so be it.
He unlocked the door as quietly as he could and was more than a bit relieved to see that the room was completely dark. He was in no condition to face anyone now. With a little luck he would be able to get in bed, and get a good night's sleep before he had to deal with any obnoxious Guardians.
Unfortunately, Murphy's Law wanted otherwise.
"Ryan!" someone said quietly. "Where have you been?! I was worried sick about you!"
Oh, fuck. Not now, Blade groaned mentally.
"Hi, Diana," he said in a tired voice.
Diana closed the door behind him.
"God, what happened to you? You look terrible," she said worried.
Blade sighed and sat down on the bed he hoped was Ryan's.
"Long story," he replied.
Diana helped him with his clothes, as the exhaustion had kicked in for real and left him too weak to do much by himself.
"Why did you leave so suddenly? I thought I'd told you that it didn't matter what you'd done...you were just a teenager. You didn't know what you were doing," she said quietly.
What the hell's she talking about? Ryan didn't actually tell her what happened in Atlanta, did he? He wouldn't have the guts to do that, Blade thought.
Diana frowned.
"It was Blade, wasn't it? You actually fought Blade on your own."
In lack of a better explanation, Blade nodded and Diana sighed.
"Ryan, you stupid, stupid man. He wants you dead, remember? And I - *we* - don't want to see you killed," she said gently.
Would you *please* shut up and let me sleep? Blade wanted to ask, but couldn't. Instead he settled for a tired 'I know', and fell into a dreamless sleep, no longer caring where the hell he was, as long as he could get some rest.
Diana watched him for a few minutes, then shook her head and went to sleep as well.
* * *
Ryan wasn't sure how long the trip had taken. He'd been hovering at the edge of unconsciousness the entire time and couldn't have found his way back to the Guardians, even if his life depended on it.
But there was one good thing about his condition – neither Aaron nor Jordane had spoken to him during the ride, and that was something Ryan was very grateful for. Because while Aaron was one of the newer recruits and thus less likely to call Ryan's bluff, Jordane had lived with Blade for more than three and a half year. She was his long-time partner and right hand, and according to some rumors, the relationship was more than just platonic. Jordane was quite possibly the only person in the world who really knew the man beneath the cold exterior, and therefore also the person Ryan had to be extra careful around.
He managed to walk into the room without help, and was relieved to find that the rest of the Shadow Alliance was still asleep. Jordane helped him to one of the beds and nodded to Aaron. He rummaged through one of the bags and handed Jordane two small pills.
"Here," Jordane whispered and stroked Ryan's hair. "It'll help on the headache."
Those two tablets could have been anything – painkillers, poison, sleeping pills – but Ryan was beyond caring. All he wanted was sleep. Lots of sleep. He swallowed the pills and surrendered to painless oblivion.
Jordane waited for a couple of minutes until she was sure that Ryan really *was* asleep, then got up.
"We have to explain this to the others. Let's wake 'em up."
"They're gonna hate us for that," Aaron noticed, but his evil grin gave him away.
Jordane smirked.
"Too fucking bad. Let's get to work."
* * *
"Excuse me? I'm not really awake yet, so...could you repeat that?" Hal asked and ran a hand through her unruly hair. It was fifteen minutes after the trio had returned, and by now the entire Shadow Alliance was gathered in all its sleepy, grumpy glory.
There was a general agreement around the table. Complex explanations did not mix well with too little sleep.
"Basically...Blade and Ryan fought. Ryan fucked up and caused a mindswitch, and now Blade is doing a little reconnaissance among the Guardians, while we brought Ryan back with us to make sure he won't do anything stupid," Jordane explained.
"Wait, wait," Zach said. "Time out. You're saying that Blade is with the Guardians, and that he has Ryan's powers?"
"Well...yeah."
"I pity them," Laetitia mumbled. "He hates pro-humans."
Zach ignored Laetitia's comment and continued.
"And that's Ryan, in Blade's body, sleeping over there?" he asked.
"Yeah," Jordane replied.
"How can you be sure? I mean, who says Ryan didn't just act like he was Blade, or messed with your heads or something?" Zach continued.
Jordane shook her head.
"Trust me, even when they've switched bodies there's no way you can mistake one for the other. Blade might've been borrowing Ryan's body, but he was Blade, all right."
"Umm...what are we gonna do about Ryan?" Pheonix asked. "We can't keep him sedated with sleeping pills for the next three days."
Jordane's eyes grew hard.
"Blade told us to break him...so that's what we're gonna do."
* * *
Coming up: Rise and shine, Ryan. Your new teammates are expecting you to take charge – or are they...?
