Chapter 34.
"I am not mad," Samantha said, getting up and pressing against the wall, trying to get as far from Jen and Alex as she could.
Jen let out an exasperated angry sound. "Well, I tried the painless way," she said bitterly, and suddenly, Samantha saw her surroundings become the stable where she and her mutants were tied down, except that neither she nor her mutants were tied down, but Jen was. In fact only she, Jen and Goldix were left in the room.
"What is this?" she asked again, confused, not knowing what was real and what was false.
"This is reality, Samantha," Jen said clumsily, her mouth hurting and bleeding. The ropes keeping her tied began to release her, but Samantha ran.
"Goldix!" she called. The mutant approached her. "Take care of her!" she ordered and tried to make a run for it. But the doors shut and the hole Alex had opened was suddenly covered by something on the outside.
"There's no escaping for you this time, Samantha," Jen said, turning the electric light on. "If I have to fight Goldix, I will, but you'll come next."
**********************************
The fight between the mutants had been fierce, both sides knew very well how to fight, and even if the odds were slightly turned towards Nadira and Ransik, the youngsters had something that made them much stronger; desire for revenge and bottled up anger. Something Nadira and Ransik knew very well, for they had felt the strength and power it seemed to give.
Both groups had separated when Nadira had made a run for it and the girls had had to follow her. Nadira had managed to defend herself from both of her attackers, but she found that she was losing fast. Bunnistein kicked her hard in the abdomen and Fly-tag kicked her behind the knees, forcing her to fall face down to the floor.
Bunnistein turned her over by kicking her side. "This is for the other girls," she said, firing one of her arrows at Nadira's hand, and nailing her to the ground that way. "This is for me," she added and shot Nadira's other hand that was being held down by Fly-tag.
"And this is for my wings," Fly-tag said, cutting Nadira's nails in half with the help of her dagger. "Revenge is sweet, Nadira. It is really sweet," the butterfly said. "So sweet it turns sickly."
"We're done here," Bunnistein said. "Let's check on the boys." Fly-tag nodded.
The boys were fighting Ransik strongly. Centauricon was moving rapidly for someone with four legs, and Boulderac was incredibly skilled and strong. The girls looked at the fight, not wanting to meddle in the boys' business.
"I'll cause you some pain, boys, because pain is a great teacher," Ransik menaced and charged forward, managing to open a cut on Centauricon's arm. The wound began to bleed profusely, but the young centaur ignored it.
He looked up and saw the cables that brought electricity to the stable hanging over their heads. He whistled at Boulderac, who followed his eyes and understood his plan. Ransik was tired and hurt, and seeing Nadira bleeding from both of her hands did nothing to improve his fighting skills, although it did improve his anger towards the four traitors. He growled and fired an energy blast at the two girls, who were caught in the explosion.
"PAIN!!" he yelled.
"Dude, I don't know what the hell The Mistress did to you, but you need help," Centauricon said, throwing his swords towards the cables, cutting one of them, sending it falling to the hand of Boulderac. "That isn't pain. This is!" He struck Ransik with the end of the cable.
*******************************
The lights went out. A terrible yell of pain filled the air. Jen and The Mistress stood still for a second, both acknowledging the voice that was screaming. Goodbye, Ransik. You were a good ally, and a terrific adversary, Jen thought.
"Well, Goldix. I guess it's you and me," Jen began. The mutant summoned a blaster and shot. Jen barely dodged the fire and hid behind a box. Okay, Jennifer, time to trick yourself. You are healthy and fine. And this is coming to an end. The pain disappeared, even if the wounds didn't.
She rolled out of the box and was greeted by Goldix's fire. She stood and looked at him defiantly. "You should have asked Alex to take this from me," she told The Mistress showing her morpher. "Time for Time Force!" She called; her pink armor covered her body, and she could feel the healing process begin.
"Morphed or not, you can't defeat me," the mutant said.
"I defeated Steelix, and I'll defeat you," she answered. "Chrono Saber!" she summoned and stood in a fighting stance. "I'll even let you go first."
"That's okay by me," the mutant called and attacked her. He threw a kick she blocked and she rolled away from him, dancing around, trying to avoid more injuries. The healing process of the armor could close her open wounds and take the pain away for a little while, but it wouldn't heal her perfectly.
The mutant was fast and strong, but so was she. She defended herself and attacked him the way she had learnt during her years in Time Force, and she could easily tell he was a young mutant. His fighting was passionate but uncontrolled, he attacked without a plan and almost blindly, and that was her biggest advantage over him.
They kept moving, Samantha was crouched in a corner, trembling and fearful. Jen had a hard time believing this was the woman who had guided all the crime in Argentums Ville, but then she knew her mind games were scary.
Goldix was a good adversary but Jen didn't have time to deal with him now. She had to get Samantha; she had to put an end to the fight. "This is it, Goldix. I don't have time to fight you anymore," she told the mutant. Her mind took hold of the young mutant and made him float in midair, paralyzed. "It's been fun, but I don't have time for you. Freezer Blaster!" she summoned, aimed and shot the mutant's DNA patch.
In a moment he was frozen and shrunk. Jen put him in a container and sent the container to her inter-dimensional locker. "Power down!" she called and looked around. "It's just you and me now, Samantha," she declared, but the woman wasn't crouching by the door anymore. All of Jen's senses went into full alert at once, but it was too late. Samantha Drake hit her in the back with the chain Goldix had found for her.
***********************************
Kevin Simmons ran out of the stable, his wife in his arms, bleeding, and his children, crying and scared, running behind him. He assumed it had been Jen and her psychic powers who had loosened the ropes that kept them tied allowing him to take his wife and escape, running in search for help for his beloved Josephine.
He ran out and into Wes and Alex, who were lying on their backs, taking deep breaths and clutching their ribs. "Kevin!" Wes called. "Are you all right?" he asked in a gasp.
"Wes, Alex, what happened to you two? You suddenly began fighting each other like mad," Kevin asked as he kept moving, followed by Alex and Wes, who had gotten to their feet.
"Wes," Alex called. "Go back to the city, and be with Jessica. I'll save Jen, don't worry," he ordered.
Wes nodded and winced. "Make sure she comes out alive," he pleaded.
"Don't worry, she's a fighter," Alex said and ran back to the stable.
"Come on, Kevin, I'll drive you to Silver Hills, it's Josephine's best chance," Wes offered and Kevin barely nodded, running to Wes's car and getting in. "Don't worry, we'll be there in no time at all!"
*************************************
The doctor finished checking on Jessica, who was looking at the door of the room in hopes of seeing Wes come back in anytime now. "Jessica, you are ready," the doctor told her.
Jessica shook her head with a pleading expression. "No, please not yet, Wes isn't here, he's not here!"
"You're ready, your baby will make his way out now and you have to help her. Neither one of you can wait any longer," the doctor told her with a sweet voice.
"But Wesley--"
"Wesley still has time, Jessica, but you have to start pushing now," the doctor said. A nurse with a kind face approached Jessica's side and offered her hand.
"It will be okay now, Jessica. Let's focus on bringing this baby girl to the world now, okay?"
Jessica nodded taking a deep breath. "Okay."
**************************************
Wes drove faster than he legally could, but he had a dying woman in his back seat and that seemed like a plausible excuse. That and his wife probably giving birth alone in the hospital to their first child. He took his cell phone and dialed Jessica's number. After a few rings, a woman who wasn't Jessica picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Wesley Collins, is that my wife's cell phone?"
"Yes, Mister Collins, this is your wife's cell phone," the woman said. "I'm Marilyn, I'm your wife's nurse, and she's already pushing."
"No, no, no pushing, no, you have to stop her, I'm on my way there!" he said desperately, driving even faster. "I'm on my way there with her wounded sister! I need an emergency team waiting for me, but don't say anything to Jessica, please!"
"What exactly happened?" the woman asked.
"I have several superficial cuts and something that looks like a stab," Wes informed. "Please, I need a pediatric psychological assistant for two five- year-olds, please."
"Okay, we'll have that ready for you."
"Let me talk to Jessica," Wes pleaded. He heard the phone been handed to someone else. "Jess? Honey, I'm sorry."
"Where the hell are you, Wesley?" she moaned in what sounded like pain and effort. "Why did you leave?"
"I'm not sure," he said. "I don't remember leaving your side, baby, but I'm driving there as fast as I can."
"Well, hurry," she said and then moaned again. "I'm pushing already."
"I know, I'll stay with you on the phone, okay?"
"Okay for now, but I want you here!"
*************************************
Jen tried to get up, but her back was creaking. "Damn!" she cursed softly. "What did you do to me?"
"Just beat you up," Samantha said, and Jen felt a kick on her ribs. "If someone had told me it was going to feel this good, I wouldn't have wasted my time with mutants and time-traveling."
"Really?" Jen asked sarcastically, turning face-up.
"Yeah," Samantha said, a metal bar in her hand.
"Where did you get that from?" Jen asked, looking around the best she could. "Doesn't this place run out of things you can beat me up with?"
"Apparently not," The Mistress said cruelly. She twirled the bar as if it was a sword and took it firmly in both hands. "I've got to admit that trick of the fake realities surprised me, it was pretty good." She threw a blow at Jen, but the pink Ranger rolled out of the way.
"Thanks," she said, focusing to make her pain go away, but it was getting harder and harder. As she tried to get up, she felt something running down her legs. She sighed and cursed.
Samantha ignored her cursing. "You are one powerful psychic, you know that? But what truly amazes me aren't your psychic powers, but your will power." She approached her daughter-in-law and took another swing with the bar. Jen tried to move away but she was hit this time, falling face-up to the floor. "You are truly brilliant, always trying to learn something new, a better way to make the world a better place," The Mistress said sarcastically, preparing to hit the young woman again.
"Enough!" Jen said in an authoritarian voice and the bar flew from Samantha's hand to the opposite side of the room.
"Hey, that's okay, I can fight without weapons too, want to see?" she offered and raised her leg, ready to kick the girl in the face. However, as she drew her leg forcefully down, Jen's hands stopped it, grabbed it and then twisted it, making her fall to the ground.
"No thanks, I think I'll take your word for it," Jen said, getting to her feet, wiping the blood from her face.
"You are very resistant and persistent," Samantha Drake commented, amused, as she got up. "But this is a fight you can't win."
"It won't be for lack of trying," Jen promised.
"You just never give up, do you? You'll never die, right?"
"Well, you said it yourself," Jen said. "One thing I learnt from my husband, is how to be a hero!"
To be continued.
"I am not mad," Samantha said, getting up and pressing against the wall, trying to get as far from Jen and Alex as she could.
Jen let out an exasperated angry sound. "Well, I tried the painless way," she said bitterly, and suddenly, Samantha saw her surroundings become the stable where she and her mutants were tied down, except that neither she nor her mutants were tied down, but Jen was. In fact only she, Jen and Goldix were left in the room.
"What is this?" she asked again, confused, not knowing what was real and what was false.
"This is reality, Samantha," Jen said clumsily, her mouth hurting and bleeding. The ropes keeping her tied began to release her, but Samantha ran.
"Goldix!" she called. The mutant approached her. "Take care of her!" she ordered and tried to make a run for it. But the doors shut and the hole Alex had opened was suddenly covered by something on the outside.
"There's no escaping for you this time, Samantha," Jen said, turning the electric light on. "If I have to fight Goldix, I will, but you'll come next."
**********************************
The fight between the mutants had been fierce, both sides knew very well how to fight, and even if the odds were slightly turned towards Nadira and Ransik, the youngsters had something that made them much stronger; desire for revenge and bottled up anger. Something Nadira and Ransik knew very well, for they had felt the strength and power it seemed to give.
Both groups had separated when Nadira had made a run for it and the girls had had to follow her. Nadira had managed to defend herself from both of her attackers, but she found that she was losing fast. Bunnistein kicked her hard in the abdomen and Fly-tag kicked her behind the knees, forcing her to fall face down to the floor.
Bunnistein turned her over by kicking her side. "This is for the other girls," she said, firing one of her arrows at Nadira's hand, and nailing her to the ground that way. "This is for me," she added and shot Nadira's other hand that was being held down by Fly-tag.
"And this is for my wings," Fly-tag said, cutting Nadira's nails in half with the help of her dagger. "Revenge is sweet, Nadira. It is really sweet," the butterfly said. "So sweet it turns sickly."
"We're done here," Bunnistein said. "Let's check on the boys." Fly-tag nodded.
The boys were fighting Ransik strongly. Centauricon was moving rapidly for someone with four legs, and Boulderac was incredibly skilled and strong. The girls looked at the fight, not wanting to meddle in the boys' business.
"I'll cause you some pain, boys, because pain is a great teacher," Ransik menaced and charged forward, managing to open a cut on Centauricon's arm. The wound began to bleed profusely, but the young centaur ignored it.
He looked up and saw the cables that brought electricity to the stable hanging over their heads. He whistled at Boulderac, who followed his eyes and understood his plan. Ransik was tired and hurt, and seeing Nadira bleeding from both of her hands did nothing to improve his fighting skills, although it did improve his anger towards the four traitors. He growled and fired an energy blast at the two girls, who were caught in the explosion.
"PAIN!!" he yelled.
"Dude, I don't know what the hell The Mistress did to you, but you need help," Centauricon said, throwing his swords towards the cables, cutting one of them, sending it falling to the hand of Boulderac. "That isn't pain. This is!" He struck Ransik with the end of the cable.
*******************************
The lights went out. A terrible yell of pain filled the air. Jen and The Mistress stood still for a second, both acknowledging the voice that was screaming. Goodbye, Ransik. You were a good ally, and a terrific adversary, Jen thought.
"Well, Goldix. I guess it's you and me," Jen began. The mutant summoned a blaster and shot. Jen barely dodged the fire and hid behind a box. Okay, Jennifer, time to trick yourself. You are healthy and fine. And this is coming to an end. The pain disappeared, even if the wounds didn't.
She rolled out of the box and was greeted by Goldix's fire. She stood and looked at him defiantly. "You should have asked Alex to take this from me," she told The Mistress showing her morpher. "Time for Time Force!" She called; her pink armor covered her body, and she could feel the healing process begin.
"Morphed or not, you can't defeat me," the mutant said.
"I defeated Steelix, and I'll defeat you," she answered. "Chrono Saber!" she summoned and stood in a fighting stance. "I'll even let you go first."
"That's okay by me," the mutant called and attacked her. He threw a kick she blocked and she rolled away from him, dancing around, trying to avoid more injuries. The healing process of the armor could close her open wounds and take the pain away for a little while, but it wouldn't heal her perfectly.
The mutant was fast and strong, but so was she. She defended herself and attacked him the way she had learnt during her years in Time Force, and she could easily tell he was a young mutant. His fighting was passionate but uncontrolled, he attacked without a plan and almost blindly, and that was her biggest advantage over him.
They kept moving, Samantha was crouched in a corner, trembling and fearful. Jen had a hard time believing this was the woman who had guided all the crime in Argentums Ville, but then she knew her mind games were scary.
Goldix was a good adversary but Jen didn't have time to deal with him now. She had to get Samantha; she had to put an end to the fight. "This is it, Goldix. I don't have time to fight you anymore," she told the mutant. Her mind took hold of the young mutant and made him float in midair, paralyzed. "It's been fun, but I don't have time for you. Freezer Blaster!" she summoned, aimed and shot the mutant's DNA patch.
In a moment he was frozen and shrunk. Jen put him in a container and sent the container to her inter-dimensional locker. "Power down!" she called and looked around. "It's just you and me now, Samantha," she declared, but the woman wasn't crouching by the door anymore. All of Jen's senses went into full alert at once, but it was too late. Samantha Drake hit her in the back with the chain Goldix had found for her.
***********************************
Kevin Simmons ran out of the stable, his wife in his arms, bleeding, and his children, crying and scared, running behind him. He assumed it had been Jen and her psychic powers who had loosened the ropes that kept them tied allowing him to take his wife and escape, running in search for help for his beloved Josephine.
He ran out and into Wes and Alex, who were lying on their backs, taking deep breaths and clutching their ribs. "Kevin!" Wes called. "Are you all right?" he asked in a gasp.
"Wes, Alex, what happened to you two? You suddenly began fighting each other like mad," Kevin asked as he kept moving, followed by Alex and Wes, who had gotten to their feet.
"Wes," Alex called. "Go back to the city, and be with Jessica. I'll save Jen, don't worry," he ordered.
Wes nodded and winced. "Make sure she comes out alive," he pleaded.
"Don't worry, she's a fighter," Alex said and ran back to the stable.
"Come on, Kevin, I'll drive you to Silver Hills, it's Josephine's best chance," Wes offered and Kevin barely nodded, running to Wes's car and getting in. "Don't worry, we'll be there in no time at all!"
*************************************
The doctor finished checking on Jessica, who was looking at the door of the room in hopes of seeing Wes come back in anytime now. "Jessica, you are ready," the doctor told her.
Jessica shook her head with a pleading expression. "No, please not yet, Wes isn't here, he's not here!"
"You're ready, your baby will make his way out now and you have to help her. Neither one of you can wait any longer," the doctor told her with a sweet voice.
"But Wesley--"
"Wesley still has time, Jessica, but you have to start pushing now," the doctor said. A nurse with a kind face approached Jessica's side and offered her hand.
"It will be okay now, Jessica. Let's focus on bringing this baby girl to the world now, okay?"
Jessica nodded taking a deep breath. "Okay."
**************************************
Wes drove faster than he legally could, but he had a dying woman in his back seat and that seemed like a plausible excuse. That and his wife probably giving birth alone in the hospital to their first child. He took his cell phone and dialed Jessica's number. After a few rings, a woman who wasn't Jessica picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hi, this is Wesley Collins, is that my wife's cell phone?"
"Yes, Mister Collins, this is your wife's cell phone," the woman said. "I'm Marilyn, I'm your wife's nurse, and she's already pushing."
"No, no, no pushing, no, you have to stop her, I'm on my way there!" he said desperately, driving even faster. "I'm on my way there with her wounded sister! I need an emergency team waiting for me, but don't say anything to Jessica, please!"
"What exactly happened?" the woman asked.
"I have several superficial cuts and something that looks like a stab," Wes informed. "Please, I need a pediatric psychological assistant for two five- year-olds, please."
"Okay, we'll have that ready for you."
"Let me talk to Jessica," Wes pleaded. He heard the phone been handed to someone else. "Jess? Honey, I'm sorry."
"Where the hell are you, Wesley?" she moaned in what sounded like pain and effort. "Why did you leave?"
"I'm not sure," he said. "I don't remember leaving your side, baby, but I'm driving there as fast as I can."
"Well, hurry," she said and then moaned again. "I'm pushing already."
"I know, I'll stay with you on the phone, okay?"
"Okay for now, but I want you here!"
*************************************
Jen tried to get up, but her back was creaking. "Damn!" she cursed softly. "What did you do to me?"
"Just beat you up," Samantha said, and Jen felt a kick on her ribs. "If someone had told me it was going to feel this good, I wouldn't have wasted my time with mutants and time-traveling."
"Really?" Jen asked sarcastically, turning face-up.
"Yeah," Samantha said, a metal bar in her hand.
"Where did you get that from?" Jen asked, looking around the best she could. "Doesn't this place run out of things you can beat me up with?"
"Apparently not," The Mistress said cruelly. She twirled the bar as if it was a sword and took it firmly in both hands. "I've got to admit that trick of the fake realities surprised me, it was pretty good." She threw a blow at Jen, but the pink Ranger rolled out of the way.
"Thanks," she said, focusing to make her pain go away, but it was getting harder and harder. As she tried to get up, she felt something running down her legs. She sighed and cursed.
Samantha ignored her cursing. "You are one powerful psychic, you know that? But what truly amazes me aren't your psychic powers, but your will power." She approached her daughter-in-law and took another swing with the bar. Jen tried to move away but she was hit this time, falling face-up to the floor. "You are truly brilliant, always trying to learn something new, a better way to make the world a better place," The Mistress said sarcastically, preparing to hit the young woman again.
"Enough!" Jen said in an authoritarian voice and the bar flew from Samantha's hand to the opposite side of the room.
"Hey, that's okay, I can fight without weapons too, want to see?" she offered and raised her leg, ready to kick the girl in the face. However, as she drew her leg forcefully down, Jen's hands stopped it, grabbed it and then twisted it, making her fall to the ground.
"No thanks, I think I'll take your word for it," Jen said, getting to her feet, wiping the blood from her face.
"You are very resistant and persistent," Samantha Drake commented, amused, as she got up. "But this is a fight you can't win."
"It won't be for lack of trying," Jen promised.
"You just never give up, do you? You'll never die, right?"
"Well, you said it yourself," Jen said. "One thing I learnt from my husband, is how to be a hero!"
To be continued.
