Tinga´s Ghost by Shannon Hearn

All character of Dark Angel are owned by Cameron-Eglee Productions and Twentieth century Fox. 

Rated "R" for mild nudity. 

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Part 4, Penitence for my sins

            "We have gotten word that a hostage circumstance has sprung up at Rodger Smith Elementary.  According to information that that we have available at this time is that there was a kidnapping attempt of one of the students.  Due to the student whose name has not been disclosed at this time that they were looking for had been withdrawn from the school several days ago.  But an unknown number of children and staff are still being held as Police Negotiators arrive on the scene."  The female reporter said on the television screen as we all watched as the situation we were all in.   The people around the room started to shift some as the men started to march around to knowing they were in a mess.  But I kept my attention on Case who was at my side.  I had told him a story of a little girl who had found a big family who owned a farm.  She had a secret power that she had kept hidden from her family that she could see in the darkest night, hear sounds no one could and speed faster than the eye.  But an Evil Sorceress had gone out and hunted her down and sent a sickness upon her and the only way it could be cured was to become her servant.  During this time she was trapped by the Sorceress she had committed evils that were so dark and evil that she was ordered to hunting down of her own sister and making her part of the sorceress's plans.  But the sorceress couldn't destroy her captured sister's spirit even as she died she had become an angel and used her strength to free her enslaved sister to fight the forces of evil for which she done in the world.  Case wondered what the girl and asked if she ever went back to her family.  All I could say was She feels that the time hasn't arisen yet for her to go home but someday she will have to go home and tell them that she misses them very much.  That was when I started to sense that there was a change in the air as I started to "Sense" Zane.  That when I saw Tinga's ghost start to motion to me to go to a particular part of the room and to gather the children there.  At that moment one of the guards yelled out wondering what I was doing. That was when the overhead tiles gave way as Zane fell through the ceiling. Using my speed and strength I grabbed the guy's arm and gave what could be best balled a Trinity Kick and slammed the guy with enough force that his arm snapped and he was flung thirty feet through the air that he left a good sized indentation in the classroom chalkboard.  Zane saw this chance to go hand to hand with another one of the hostage takers.  At that moment I realized that Zane didn't know about these guys like I did.

            "Zane they are like us.  Use the katas..." I yelled out to him as the door exploded again.  This time there was an inhuman wail of sound as I saw the guy start to quiver like he was being shaken apart from the inside out.  Between seeing the blood come out of his ears, nose, eyes and mouth his internal organs were probably being turned to liquid right before me.  Then the sound stopped as the man fell to the floor then the figure of Marzena came through the door and took her gun out and empted three rounds right into the now bleeding corpses head. 

            "Brin, when were you going to tell use that these guys were just as tough as we Manticoreians?"  Marzena said her voice real strained as I got the feeling that she used her sonic powers to do stuff to this guy that frankly that if she wanted to know his shoe size, she probably did now, included whether or not the guy had wear spots in his shoes. 

            "Sorry I was out of communication with you all but I was kinda protecting Case here at the time."  I said as Marzena just shot me a look of "Yeah right."  That was when I tuned to Zane as he finished off his soldier who he left with a broken neck. 

            "Brin what are these guy's?"  I mean they are just as tough as us but they are not us?"  Zane said as I got another "spider tingle" from the room.  That was when I saw that Case was gone.  Quickly I turned to see that Case was being held by another one of the assailants.  This one was the leader. 

            "You creatures will die the Coming and I will make an example of this child."  He said as he held Case by the Throat. Quickly I decided to play this guy's move. 

            "You know you shouldn't have chosen on of our kind's children to take hostage."  I said as Case looked at me knowing what he was going to do next.  "Case your mother said you could move like the wind.  I want you to do that."  With that Case did his first blurring of his life.  The leader of these men was caught off guard as cased with his inherited enhanced speed broke from the man's grasp and Zane emptied several rounds into the man's head.  That was When Tinga made her presence be known to us all. 

            "Brin..." The Angelic figure said to us all as she moved forward to me and placed her hand on my forehead.  "Remember."  With that I was forced to relive the events of my past starting from my run-in with the Gomez Family market through the hours after I saw the signal to go to ground. 

            The memory of the hunger pangs from my stomach, as I hadn't eaten in several days as I snuck around the fruit market staking out the most effective escape routes for myself.  That was when my stomach made its growl for food.  Fearing my position had been made I snuck for a more secure location so I could study the activity.  The open-air produce market was closing up shop for the evening and I had to time my thefts just right so the storekeepers wouldn't notice them.  That was when I ran into two young boys in their teens, Carlos and Alex.  I remembered the comments they said about me being so skinny.  Heck I hadn't eaten in about a week but when they offered me that apple from their fruit stand.  I remember how the sweet taste of it.  It wasn't until it met their parents that I felt that they would report me but they took me in.  I went from being Brin, X5-359 to being Brin Chang on that day.  I had a normal childhood even after the tragic events of the Pulse where mostly everyone's lives were flipped upside-down.  Other than being home by evening curfew I had lots of days playing on that old swing I found on the Lopez estate.  I loved the feel of the grass under my bare feet and the hours that I felt like I could fly in that swing.  Then mages appeared before me of when I had my first heat cycle.  By this time me and Alex were dating at the time and Momma was freaking somewhat that we were close under the same roof.  But when I had come home that day even with my long dyed red hair, I felt like I was normal as I behaved like a normal teenager as my well filled out frame was catching peoples eyes even that of Alex back in the tenth or eleventh grade.  But my hormones had kicked in with full vengeance as I snuck into his room.  All I mostly remember was an urge to be with him, to have him inside of me, to feel his hand s on my skin.  Heck all I remember was my shedding of my clothes and moving to him naked in a hypersexual crazed state, as I didn't care weather or not wanted to wear any clothes ever again.  I don't know what I wanted but All that I new when I was in that states was that I wanted to fulfill my loins as they burned with lust to be filled.  Much of the event afterwards were filled with my sex filled guilt of my losing my virginity and that Alex was scared of what we did in his room for a period of an hour with the folks out of the house.   Heck me and Alex were thinking on having sex but this mood with my hormones that I didn't know about scared me more than the actual event itself.  It wasn't until my third heat cycle that I realized what it was and I partially dreaded it fearing that my animal genes had let their presence be known to be that I wasn't human.  Then another set of images appeared before me as Tinga guided me through more moments of my past.    And I was standing over a body of a burglar that I had killed in self-defense; the whole part was that I did it in front of Alex.  Between me heaving the guy right over my head and throwing him against the wall like it was nothing.   Between the broken body on the floor and me wanting to puke my guts out all I could remember saying is "Don't Touch Me."  All I remember was Alex touching me on the shoulder and me falling right into his arms.  I remember telling him everything about who I was and what I was.  Part of me just collapsed in pain as I broke down.  Between him listening to me and me throwing up in the sink I knew that he cared about me and he partially understood why I had sex with him.  Then I was flung forward again, this time a year before I came down with Progeria, Me and Alex were having fun under the sheets as I got a call on my phone stating that I got the chance for a full scholarship to go to Harvard but between the giggling and Alex kissing my naked shoulder I think that the guy on the on the side of the line thought that he had called at the wrong time.  I did get the scholarship.  But I was never to fulfill as several months later I was forced on the run as I started to develop Stage Five Progeria.  Between running place to place away from Lydecker's people I didn't know who to trust. 

            Between hiding in refrigerators and any place cool to keep my body temperature down I knew that Zack and Max were doing best to keep up with me.  But they both knew that the only place that could treat me was Manticore.  At that moment I knew they had no choice to save my life I knew that I didn't blame them for leaving me there they said that they would come back to break me out.  They said stay strong.  I knew that I failed that order.  The last free thought I had before they strapped me into that chair to do the reprogramming on me was "Max...  Zack save me so that I cam get back to Momma."  My last thoughts were of the being with the Lopez family for those near ten to eleven years of my life.  Then Tinga showed me images of the Lopez family wondering what had happened to me.  Where was I Alex knew part of the story but he knew that I was on the run.  Now I would have to explain to them that since the people chasing me were gone, but their faces still remained I did this for their safety.  Then two other sprits showed up by her adult male and female who looked like they had some of my Asian features and some of Zane's.  It took me a moment to digest who they were as I felt a subtitle kick in my belly. 

            "Brin these two beside me are the spirits of your unborn children."  Tinga said as I fell to the ground looking at her.  "Brin you have blamed the wrong people for what has happened to you.  You have to forgive yourself what has happened.  You have your freedom back down along with your soul."  Tinga said as she come and knelt down beside me. "Brin, I want you to help Charlie raise Case and let him know that that I didn't leave on purpose, but I had to do it to save his life.  You said it in the story you told him.  Tell him that the Sorceress is real and that you have defeated her but you have to care for your sister's child.  But Case will make a great big brother for your kids as they grow."  Tinga said with a grin as I started to cry.

            "Easy there Little Sister, I know that the road you are on isn't easy but know this you are not alone on it."  Tinga said as she put her hand on my chin to lift my face up.  "There is one more mission I want you to perform.  I have a Clone out there you will meet her.  Just let her know that she isn't alone.  Case is going to have a kinship with her in that she is a sister to him.  I want those two to become the people they were meant to be Brin."  With that I knew that I had a new mission Helping Case become they person that Tinga wanted him to grow up to be.  This sister was just another objective I had to fulfill.  Then Tinga brought me back to reality.   As I looked around the classroom with Zane, Marzena, Jason, Case, and Charlie standing around me. 

            "Um, guys I think we have to bail out of here, the cops are coming and I got the feeling that we shouldn't be here."  Then Tinga was standing still there as her angelic form moved over to Charlie and Case.  "I will be there for you all but now you must go, the evil that these men worked for are coming once again.  You must go."  With that I saw with a new sight.  I saw people with the glyph coming down the hallway. 

            "Everyone, I want you to follow us out."  I said to the people in the room.  "We will lead you to safety.  Zane I should take point since I can sense these guys."  Zane looked at me and understood.  Ten minutes latter after taking a zigzag path out of the school, we got the teachers and the children out before doing our own Escape and Evade from the police. 

            I look back on that day, as the day l was reborn to the world.  That was the day that I told Zane he was going to be a father. 

            Thanks Sis, for everything.

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Next Chapter

Part 5, A new life and new choices before me...