Akhor blinked drowsily as the bright light of sunset poured into the room and yawned widely, fangs glinting in the light as he rose his head from the pillow he was curled up on, turning his gaze to Lashana who was sprawled out on her stomach on the bed, her head resting on the pillow next to him as she slept, hair and limbs askew. As far as he could tell, she had been sleeping for almost twelve hours, recovering from the fight with the Mazoku no doubt.
The Mazoku. Now that was a bit of bad news. Bad enough that it was immune to magicks, but having it stronger than Lashana was going to make their job so much harder. True, she hadn't been ready for the attack, or in her full Avatar form, but it was still bad tidings. And to have her actually admit that she needed help was a very bad sign. She must have sensed something during the fight. But what? Coming up with more questions than answers, he snorted and lay his head down on his foreclaws again, staring at the sleeping Elf's face. They were going to look for Venom tonight, and while siding with a potential nut job was never something he looked forward to, quick glances into Lashana's knowledge of him did give him a little insight into her decision to side with him. At the very least, his strength might prove equal to the demon's.
She shifted then, and he watched in amusement as she rose a hand to scratch at her scalp while she groaned and buried her face into the pillow, muttering something about coffee.
::About time you wake up,:: he chuckled in her thoughts. ::Sleep well?::
"Mrpht."
Blue eyes peeked past tangled bangs as she rose her head, and he gave her a toothy grin, eliciting another groan. ::Well hello to you too. You are planning to feed the dragon, yes?::
"Yea," she mumbled, raising her head to look at him fully. "Wha time's'it?"
::No clue. Sunset. You've been sleeping for a good twelve hours, by the way.::
"Twelve hours? Really?" Yawning, she pushed herself up and shifted to sit lotus style, raising her right arm as she lowered her left hand to her ribs, probing a sore spot. "Mfpt. I'll have to bandage these. Okay, bathroom, then food, then search. Good?"
::Good.::
With that plan in mind, she got to her feet and headed for the bathroom, stretching as she went. Once the door was closed, she pulled a clean royal purple blouse out of a portal, along with a large roll of elastic bandage. Satisfied, she headed into the shower, taking a nice long half hour to wash herself before she grabbed a towel and dried herself.
After using the blow-dryer to dry her hair into something that was manageable, she bandaged her ribs, then redressed herself, exiting along with a rolling cloud of fog as she walked back out into the bedroom, sticking her tongue out at Akhor when he gave her a long suffering sigh and mimed starving. "Alright, alright. We're going." Stooping, she pulled on her boots, then straightened and grabbed her jacket, pulling it on with a grimace.
::You're not alright,:: Akhor frowned as he flew over to her, landing on her outstretched arm. ::How bad is it?::
"Nothing serious. Just aches," she told him reassuringly as she grabbed her keys and boosted him up to her shoulder. "McDonalds okay for now? We can get Chinese later."
::Deal.::
~*~
An hour later found them wandering through the streets following a locator spell that Lashana had hastily conjured. He was just hoping that she had been serious about the Chinese food, because McDonalds was not his most favourite meal. The little bobbing green light dipped through a sewer grate then, and he took a quick glance around as she knelt and lifted the grate, magicking up a sphere of white light as she peered down into the darkness after the locator spell.
"Looks like we found the entrance," she grinned as she hopped down into the darkness, the grate slamming closed with a loud bang as she used her flight spell to slow her fall until her feet hit solid ground. Rising her right hand, she called the light spell back to her and held it gingerly as she walked along the sewer, a single brow arching when the sewer pipe suddenly changed to an underground tunnel that led down at a steeper angle.
::Are you sure about this?:: Akhor whispered. ::They're not gonna be happy that you found this place.::
"It's not the humans you should be worrying about, littling, it's Venom that's the real threat."
::Oh, there's a happy thought. And this is the guy we're going to for help?::
It was your idea, she mused silently, preferring to merely think what she wanted to say instead of speaking out loud where her voice would echo down the tunnel. Besides, I'm fairly certain I can handle him. Maybe.
::'Maybe'?!::
Shh! Eyes narrowing as the sound of someone else's breathing caught her attention, she sent the light spell towards the ceiling of the tunnel, reaching into her jacket for her gun as she backed up against the side of the tunnel wall, ears straining for any indication of where the other person was. Screw this. Grabbing her sunglasses, she slipped them on then fed a huge amount of energy into the light spell, bathing the entire tunnel in light that rivalled that of the sun, and she inwardly cursed as a woman screamed and ran further down the tunnel. Well crap.
::That bad?::
Venom protects these people, she told him as she reholstered her gun and banished the light spell, sighing heavily as she turned to head back to the street, pushing her sunglasses up onto the top of her head as she walked. If one of them goes down there screaming about us in the tunnel, how much of a bad mood do you think Venom will be in when he finds us?
::Good point,:: he muttered in her thoughts, not liking that outcome one damned bit. ::Well, if we're heading back up then what are we gonna do for the rest of the night?::
We wait for Venom to find us. Because he will. She reached the grate and pushed it out of the way as she climbed back out onto the street, kicking the lid closed as she headed for the sidewalk before some car came along to run her over. We can pick off some muggers while we wait.
::Oh yippee. Muggers.::
Fighting a smirk, she walked into an alley and wove her flight spell, flying above the rooftops again as she looked around the city, trying to find the highest building around. Don't be snippy, Akhor. This has to be done delicately to keep us alive.
::Please, please, tell me that you're a match for him in case he isn't happy,:: he sent pleadingly, his mindvoice worried.
His weaknesses are fire and sound. I can't do much for the latter, but I'm adept at the former, she told him reassuringly, raising a hand to lightly stroke his head as she chose a rooftop and landed, sighing softly as she turned to gaze up at the sky, wishing that she could see the stars more clearly. Akhor wriggled out from under her jacket then, and she smiled as she watched him take to the air, feeling a burst of pride for the little dragon. He had hatched as the runt of the litter, and there had been many times where she had feared that he wasn't going to make it, and she was relieved to see that all her previous fears had been unfounded. He had prospered under her care, and while he was still a bit smaller than his brothers, he more than made up for it with his wits and quick thinking. Using his smaller size to his benefit, he could now out-fly his two brothers, easily out-manoeuvring them in the air, and thanks to his link with her, he had adapted her knack of improvisation into his fighting, able to adapt to situations in a moment's notice.
The object of her thoughts gave a snort of amusement then, and she smiled sheepishly when she became aware that he had been listening in on her thoughts. As if you need a bigger ego.
He laughed and did a mid-air cartwheel, showing off for her before he turned on a wingtip and returned to her, crooning as he flew into her arms and rested there, clinging to the front of her jacket. ::There is nothing wrong with having an ego,:: he sniffed, nipping at her fingers when she chuckled. ::So what now? We just gonna sit here and wait for psycho-boy to show up?::
Pretty much. Sighing again, she went and sat on the raised edge of the roof, yawning as she lay down and rose her arms to lace her fingers behind her head. Get comfortable. This might be a while.
Groaning, he pulled away from her and spread his wings, flying over to a ventilation duct and perching on the top of it, wings folding against his back as he settled himself for a long wait. While Lashana merely rested and stared up at the stars, he distracted himself by telepathically scanning the area, listening to the surface thoughts of the various people down on the street, impatiently tapping a claw against the duct he was lying on.
By the time the moon had reached it's peak, both he and Lashana were running out of patience. Granted, the Elf had never been accused of being the patient type to being with, hence the fact that she was entertaining herself by lobbing fire arrows at some car jackers on the street, her head propped up with her left fist as she sighed heavily and lazily threw the lances at the lawbreakers feet, sending them scrambling away with melted sneakers. He meanwhile, had rolled onto his back and was idly scratching his chest, yawning widely.
::Can we go back to the hotel now?:: he asked, his voice bored and irritable.
She sighed heavily and shook her head as she stood and rose a hand to rub at the back of her neck. "You know we can't littling," she told him gently, reaching into her pocket when a low warble from her cell phone caught her attention. Thumbing the right button, she tucked her hair out of the way then rose the phone to her ear. "Yell-o."
"'Shana? It's Tvashtar. Where are you?"
"M'on a job," she replied, casually curling a lock of her hair around her left index finger as she started to pace. "It's not going so well."
"You okay? Need some help?"
"No." Thoughts of how complicated things could get if some of the Guys showed up to help, only to have the Mazoku pit them against each other by assuming their images. "No, I can handle this." I hope. "I'll be back in a few more days. Just keep the Palace in one piece and don't piss Telca off. And try to get Wolverine to look at my bike, will ya? There's something screwy with the brakes."
There was a pregnant pause before he answered. "Yeah okay. You be careful though. Hunting Mazoku isn't the safest job in the universe."
"No worries, Tvashtar. I can handle him," she said, not feeling the confidence she had in her voice. "I'll call if I need anything, okay?" A telepathic warning from Akhor made her duck as a large dark form with a white spider emblazoned across his chest shot past her, and she spun to try to locate him in the darkness. "I'll, uh, talk to ya later! Ciao!"
Cutting the conversation short, she shut the cell off and slipped it into her pocket, opening her thoughts to Akhor as he relayed Venom's position to her, able to track him by telepathy instead of sight. "Well," she drawled as she flipped up the collar of her jacket and folded her arms over her chest. "Certainly took you long enough to get here."
Eddie Brock's eyes narrowed behind the symbiote's mask as he regarded the woman from the shadows, wondering how she was able to spot him in the darkness. She fit the description that had been given to him by one of the homeless people he protected, and he easily spotted the slight bulk of the gun she wore under her jacket. Whoever this woman was, she certainly didn't look like much of a threat, but then again, appearances were deceiving. "What were you doing in the sanctuary?" he growled, feeling his symbiote other shift over his skin as it picked up his anger. "Besides threatening those we protect? And generally putting us in a rather bad mood?"
She took a step backwards as he advanced on her, black and white symbiote costume shining in the moonlight as he growled, the symbiote's fang filled maw much too close for her comfort. "I threatened no one," she protested, holding her ground as he stalked up to her and glared down at her. "Well, no one from the sanctuary at least."
"Oh? Then answer us this : how do you know about the sanctuary that lies under the streets? And don't lie to us," he warned, grasping the front of her jacket in a fist and effortlessly lifting her off her feet so that they were at eye level. "Or else it will be the last thing you ever say."
Wincing at the very real threat, she wracked her mind for a way to tell him what she knew without making him think she was lying to save her hide, her eyes widening when she saw a white form dart through the air behind him. "Akhor! No!"
Ignoring her yell, the small dragon let loose with a blast of fire, wings slicing through the air as Venom dropped Lashana and screamed, the symbiote writhing in agony as the flames licked at it, and he let a smirk spread over his muzzle as he gained altitude, then dove again, flames licking at his fangs as he readied another attack. Darting in and then out again, he scored a partial hit on his target before shooting upwards to avoid the talons that came at him.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lashana looked up as Venom dodged the second belch of fire and barely managed to jump out of the way of a savage punch, her attention divided between him and her dragon. Webbing latched onto Akhor's wings then, tangling them up and leaving him to crash land on the roof, and she didn't even pause to think things through as she lunged forward, ducking around Venom as she snatched Akhor off the ground and into her arms, holding him there as she spun on her heel and leapt for an adjacent roof.
Tucking the dragon into her jacket freed her hands in time for her to block a punch that came at her, and she rolled out of the way of questing symbiote tendrils before twisting and lobbing a volley of fire arrows at him, the flames forcing him back just enough for her to jump to another roof. Faced with the knowledge that she had to get control of the situation before he got a hand on her and pounded her senseless, she backflipped up onto a small shed on top of the roof she was on and crouched here, watching Venom warily.
"Look, I'm not here to fight you!" she yelled as he attacked, forcing her to defend herself. "I need your help!"
"You'll need more than help when we're done with you!" he snarled as he feinted to the left, then came in hard on the right, scoring a solid hit to her ribs and smirking when she staggered backwards, winded.
Near panicking, she clutched at her ribs with her left hand and rose her right, gathering power to herself as flames gathered in her palm, forming a mid-level fireball. "I didn't want to have to do this! Fireball!" The roof exploded in flames and heat, the backlash of the spell washing over her as she vaulted over the shed and bolted for the fire escape, yelping when webbing snared her left ankle and yanked her feet out from under her. Instinct took over then, and she lobbed another fireball in the direction of the webs source before yanking her foot free and scrambling to her feet.
She got as far as two roofs away before something huge and altogether built like a Mack truck body-slammed her, webbing binding her wrists together as a fist closed around her throat, lifting her off the ground. Coming face to face with a pissed-off Venom was not the best sight to behold, even on a good day.
"Nasty nasty, little spitfire! That hurt! But don't worry, we plan on repaying you.... ten fold!"
Panicking, she lashed out and kicked him in the stomach, grimacing when it only served to make him even madder. Talons tightened around her throat, and she fought against the urge to call upon the Chaos and merely kill him with one blast, her thoughts derailing themselves when the small form she had been trying to protect crawled out of her jacket and sunk his fangs into Venom's wrist, a belch of flame accompanying the loud shriek of rage from the dragon.
::Leave my mother alone!:: Akhor roared, telepathically buffeting the human's mind with a psychic attack, his golden eyes widening when he sensed another presence in the male's mind, the alien mind easily shifting to protect the human one it was bonded to. But his surprise didn't last long as Venom dropped the Elf and staggered backwards, clutching at his burned arm. ::Get away from her! Now!::
"Akhor, littling, I'm alright," Lashana said in between coughs and deep gasps for air.
Still holding his wrist as he and the symbiote recovered from the fire, Venom glared down at the woman before the source of the voice in his mind drew his attention, his eyes widening when he looked upon the small white form that was crouched in front of the woman. His surprise grew even more when she effortlessly ripped her way free of his webbing, the steel strong strands tearing like paper as she freed her hands. "What the hell are you?" he growled once he was recovered, ignoring the pain in his wrist as he met the dark blue gaze that was turned upon him.
"This city's only hope. Though I'm starting to regret taking this job!" She shot back angrily, eyes flashing from blue to gold as her temper broke free. "I'm hunting the killer that's been taking out the homeless! I know what it is and I know how to stop it! But I can't do it alone! I believed that you of all people would be the most interested in stopping the killings, but since you've only shown me that you're a complete fuckshit then I believe you can go straight to hell!" Fanged incisors bared in a snarl, she scooped Akhor into her arms and spun on her heel, stomping over to the edge of the roof before she opened a portal and stalked through it, not even looking back as the doorway snapped shut behind her.
She reappeared in the middle of the motel room, all temper and fangs and rage. "That... that bakayaro!" Swearing in japanese had become a bad habit for her. "Kisama!"
Wincing at her anger, Akhor flew over to land on the small table and silently watched her as she paced the length of the room, ranting in Elvish, arms gesturing wildly as her temper took over. ::Lashana. Lashana?:: When she didn't answer him, he waited a few more minutes, then tried again. ::Mommy?::
That hit the mark.
"Huh, wha?" Blinking, she froze in mid-step and mid-curse and turned to look at him worriedly. "What? What's wrong?"
::You mean despite the fact that you've been rampaging around the room for the past ten minutes?:: he asked wryly as he rose a claw to prop his head up and looked at her. ::Are you done?::
She paused for a moment, then nodded. "I suppose."
::Good! Because what you should be doing is scrying the damned city. Not wearing a path in the carpet.::
A sigh left her at that, and she shucked out of her jacket as she moved to sit at the table, slumping in the chair. "Alright. You've got a point," she admitted, reaching out to stroke his head, fingers sliding between the two gold horns on his forehead, a ghost of a smile spreading over her lips when he purred and arched his head into her hand. "Where's that map?"
He smirked. ::I'm lying on it.::
Laughing now, she scooped him into her arms and set him on her lap, patting his head a final time before she unfolded the map and spread it out over the table. "Okay, scrying...." Brow furrowed, she pulled a clear quartz crystal pendant out of a portal and held it over the map. "I can't scry for the Mazoku directly, cuz he'd feel it so...."
::Search for the locations of the murders,:: Akhor suggested as he climbed up onto the table and grabbed a pen. ::I'll mark where the crystal points.::
She nodded in agreement and held the pendant over the map as she closed her eyes and concentrated, expanding her aura as she opened herself up to the universe and the possibilities. As she fell into a trance, she moved her hand slightly, sending the pendant swinging in a clockwise motion, trusting Akhor to mark down any possible locations as she let her consciousness attain something higher.
Ten times the pendant stopped in mid swing and defied gravity to point at a spot on the map, and every time Akhor marked it with the pen, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the definite pattern. It seemed to him that the Mazoku was staying in one area, the same spot that they had encountered it the night before, with only one or two killings done outside the region being pointed out, and he ran through a few possibilities in his mind as he rose his gaze to look at the still tranced Elf. ::Lashana. That's enough::
His voice broke through her trance, and she shivered for a moment before opening her eyes and blinking dazedly. "Did it work?" she whispered as she dropped the pendant and rose a hand to her head, closing her eyes again as she recentered her 'self'.
::Perfectly.::
"Good," she groaned as she got to her feet and went to collapse face first onto the bed. "I have to lie down for a bit."
::You stayed under for too long, didn't you?:: he frowned, dropping the pen as he spread his wings and flew over to her, landing on the pillow before he extended a claw and stroked her hair, eliciting another groan from her. Smiling slightly, he pulled away and went to turn off the lamp, returning to her moments later to curl up next to her head, crooning at her warmly. ::Get some sleep then. I'll wake you in a few hours so you can go get that Chinese food you promised me.:: When he didn't get an answer, he frowned and glanced at her, rolling his eyes when he saw that she was already asleep.
He knew how hard it was for her to trance like she had just done. By opening herself to her surroundings, it was as if she walked into a firing range, every emotion, every pain from the people around her would be felt ten fold by her. And to add insult to injury, while she had to keep herself open enough to sense the goings on in the supernatural sense, she had to keep herself shielded enough to keep from being overwhelmed. It didn't help that she also had to keep her Light and the Chaos inside her balanced on a knives edge, if one out balanced the other while she was wide open, it would leave her soul open to all sorts of magickal attacks.
Sighing, he rested his head on his foreclaws and settled himself more comfortably on the pillow, curling his tail around himself as he watched her sleep, yawning softly after a few minutes of watching her. He could sense her exhaustion even as she slept, and it knawed at the telepathic link they shared, transmitting itself to him until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.
Truthfully, Lashana had no clue how long she slept, or what, in the end, woke her, only that one moment she was deep in a dream and the next she was wide awake and on her guard. She instinctively tensed as something grated along her senses, the feeling that something was wrong making the small hairs on the nape of her neck bristle.
Warily, she extended a bit of her Chaos senses, then narrowed her eyes when she realised that someone was in the room with her and Akhor, someone uninvited.
Acting on the fear that it might be the Mazoku, she lunged to her feet and let the Chaos take over, growling as the Avatar power flowed through her, her white hair turning to the purest gold as her eyes flashed gold, fingernails turning into black talons as five spines ripped out of the backs of both her arms. She flared her aura, the gold light illuminating the entire room, and she blinked in surprise when she saw Venom calmly leaning back against the far wall, regarding her in wary surprise as she slowly straightened out of her fighting stance.
"What," she growled, "the fuck are you doing here?"
"We.... wish to know more, about the one you are hunting," he answered after a moment of silence.
She frowned and moved to turn on the lamp before turning back to him, folding her arms over her chest as the symbiote moved away from Eddie Brock's face, letting her meet the humans bright blue gaze. "Oh? And suddenly I'm expected to trust you enough not to maul you on sight? And how the flamin' hell did you find me anyway?"
"We believe that you know him. Justin? The young lad that you saved last night."
"Justin." When he nodded, she sighed and rose a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I need a vacation. Alright, fine. But one wrong move and I'm frying your ass." As she spoke, she let herself revert to her natural form, grimacing in annoyance when she saw the five holes in both sleeves of her blouse. "I lose so many shirts that way. Akhor! Wake up." And don't freak.
::Freak? Wha....:: Drowsy golden eyes slid open at the call, his gaze focusing on the dark form standing at the head of the bed, and in his shock, he sent his thoughts in a wideband frequency. ::Holy shit!::
"We weren't aware that had been sanctified," Eddie smirked, turning to look at the source of the telepathic voice and freezing at the sight of the small dragon uncurling from it's sleep. "We didn't believe it before.... Is that.... a dragon?"
Lashana let a rather evil grin spread over her lips. "His name is, Akhor. He's not fond of you either by the way, so you may not wanna get too close to him. He breathes fire."
::You touch me and I'll claw your face off,:: the dragon growled as he spread his wings and flew over to the Elf, lightly landing on her right shoulder.
"That's enough, littling," she murmured softly, hearing his low grumble as he curled himself along the back of her neck, tail gently wrapping around her throat. Sighing heavily, she turned her full attention onto Eddie and frowned, warring with her temper for a moment before lowering her arms. "Alright, look. I was sent here to stop the killings. The only problem is that I can't compete with it's strength without going all out. And if I do that while in the middle of a city.... well.... let's just say that it'd be very, very bad. I know how to stop it, but unless you want a big crater to replace most of San Francisco, then I need your help. And to make things worse I only have three more days before my.... superior destroys the entire city in order to stop the killer. So! It's your choice. Truce or mauling?"
Eddie sucked in a breath and held it for a bit as he regarded her. She was strong, he could testify to that, and the notion that he had wronged her in attacking her earlier did make he and his other feel a little.... guilty. The thought that she hadn't been serious in their previous fight did tug at his curiosity, as did the little light show that had occurred when she had seemingly transformed, and his other had already relayed the power it had sensed coming from her. But it was the new knowledge that if the killer wasn't stopped soon that all of San Francisco would be destroyed that finally made up his mind, making him hold out a hand to her as he met her gaze. "Truce."
She hesitated for a moment before reaching out to shake his hand, trying not to shiver at the odd sensation of the symbiote against her skin. "Okay. Good. Great. The name's Lashana. Now, first things first, I know you've dealt with demons before. It was just this past Halloween, wasn't it? With Palentine and the goblins?"
"How do you know about that?"
"I'll take that as a 'yes'. I'll answer your question in a minute." Smiling grimly, she held up her right hand and concentrated, watching as light gathered in her palm before it formed a sort of mystical mirror, the image of the Mazoku appearing on it as she continued. "This is what I hunt. In English, it's literally called a Demon. It thrives on pain, be it physical or emotional. It needs it to live and to gain strength. I don't know why it decided to come here, all that I know is that if it's not stopped in the next three days, San Fran is toast." She fisted her hand, dispelling the image, then smirked in amusement. "As for how I know, let's just say that I did my homework before coming here."
"Alright, fair enough." He knew she wasn't telling him the entire truth about that part, but let it go for now. "So this.... demon, how do we stop it?"
"Really easy. Beat it unconscious then seal it into an amulet."
"If it's so easy then why do you need our help?"
She growled and glared at him. "Don't get snippy. The only reason I need your help is because I don't want to accidentally blow up half of the city! How many times do you want me to say that?!"
"Alright, alright!" He made calming motions at her as her eyes flashed gold and wondered how short a fuse she had. "We're sorry. I'm sorry. What do we do now? All we know of the killings is what we've read in the papers. Do you have any new information?"
"Yeah...." she trailed off when her stomach growled and slumped her shoulders. "You like Chinese food?" When he shot her a baffled look and nodded, she lifted Akhor off her shoulders and set him on the table before grabbing her jacket. "Good. C'mon. Akhor, stay here, I'll be back soon."
::You'd better buy me some shrimp,:: he telepathed to her moodily, glaring at Venom as he followed Lashana out the door. ::Feel free to blast him whenever you want.::
"He holds grudges," she told Eddie as she shut the door behind them, eyeing him when the symbiote's usual guise morphed into boots, blue jeans, a tee shirt and a black jacket. "Handy."
He shrugged non-commitally and kept pace with her as she started walking. "We.... were in the wrong in attacking you earlier."
"Yup," she agreed. "You were. Lucky for you that I was pretty much expecting it."
"You know more than you're letting on," he frowned, seeing her smirk slightly. "How do you know so much about us? And what are you? You're not human."
"Half-human, unfortunately. As for how I know, it's like I said, homework."
"It's more than 'homework'. You knew how we fight, you knew where to wait for us. You know of the sanctuary! That's more than mere homework."
She chuckled softly and shoved her hands into her pockets. "Ever the reporter, aren't you? Alright. If you must know, I'm not from your dimension. The demon that's running around is from my world. It punched a hole through the time/space barrier and ended up here. That's why I was sent, I'm the only one who can seal the demon away, and one of the only ones who can travel between dimensions. That portal you saw me use earlier, for example."
Out of everything he had seen and experienced in the years, that was the most believable of them. "About time you tell us the truth. Did you think we wouldn't notice?"
"Call it a test." She gave him a thumbs up and gave him a fanged grin. "Congrats, you passed. You wanna hear the rest of it?" When he nodded, she smirked and turned her gaze back to the sidewalk. "In my dimension, you and other.... gifted individuals, only exist in stories and comic books. Where I come from, you're a work of fiction. A popular one too. I follow the storyline, that's how I know so much about you."
He actually stopped walking, staring at her in shock. "Comic books? We have our own.... comic books?!"
"Mmhm." She paused by a street lamp and looked back at him, trying hard not to giggle at the dumbfounded look he had. True, she had just dropped a rather large bomb on him, but it always amused her to see people's reactions when she told them that they had their own comic book series in her world. "You've got yourself a legion of fans too. Lots of online website shrines."
"We have fans? Then, wait...." He cut himself off and fixed her with a disbelieving look. "....you?"
"Guilty as charged," she chuckled, giving him a mock salute as she grinned. "Now are you coming or what? I'm starving and I've got a moody dragon waiting to be fed back at the hotel."
He stared at her for a moment longer, then nodded and started walking again, still shooting glances at her as they resumed heading for the nearby restaurant who's neon sign flickered irritatingly. "How much, exactly, do you know?"
"Rough bits of your past with your father after yer mum died, the whole hatred of Spiderman thing, how you got your other, a bit of history of the symbiote.... Um, what else... Carnage and the other symbiotes, the sanctuary, Beck, working with the government, the whole needing chocolate thing in order for the symbiote to stay healthy and sane..." Lashana paused and snickered. "Your 'theme song', Sister Edwina."
"What's wrong with our theme song?" he challenged, completely bypassing the whole 'Sister Edwina' bit. She avoided the question however, as they arrived at the restaurant, and he chose to wait outside while she went in to order. Having someone know his entire life was.... weird. Most of what she had listed were things that he hadn't revealed to anyone, especially the part about his mother. The bit about his 'theme song' had cinched the fact that she knew intimate things about him, because he certainly hadn't told anyone about that little bout of inspiration.
Having his own line of comic-books. Now if that wasn't good reason for him to be shocked than nothing was. To have fans.... But the knowledge that in another dimension people knew every bit about him was a little unnerving, he'd be lying if he said it wasn't. Even the symbiote seemed a little unsettled at that prospect.
Sighing, he leaned back against the wall and folded his arms over his chest, resting his head back against the brick as he gazed up at the sky, suddenly wondering what he was doing eating Chinese food when there was a killer on the loose. Better yet, if she had been sent to stop the demon, why was she taking things so lightly? She herself had said that in three days time the entire city would be destroyed if the demon wasn't captured, and who exactly was her 'supervisor', anyway?
Ugh, we have more questions than answers. Frowning, he lowered his gaze to the street again and watched the traffic that was passing by, eyeing the few pedestrians that were roaming the streets, always on the lookout for muggers that he could scare straight.
"Catch!"
He turned at the yell and automatically caught the bag of Chinese food that was tossed to him, eyeing Lashana questioningly when he saw a similar bag in her arms. "Planning a last meal?"
"Oh, hush," she smiled. "You think my powers come from thin air or something? Hell no, it saps my energy something fierce. Besides, Akhor eats more than you'd think. I really don't know where he puts it all."
"We should be looking for the demon."
"I knew you were gonna say that," she murmured tiredly. "Look, where's the intelligence in going after something powerful when you're starved and low on energy, hmm? That's just inviting death. Besides, I have to go over a few things with you. This isn't gonna be like fighting those pitiful goblins in the subway. The demon is powerful, fast, it's got shape-shifting capabilities, and it can do the same magicks that I can. That includes fire. Running off and getting yourself killed isn't gonna do this city any good, and you know that just as well as I do."
He winced at that, hating how effortlessly she could read him. "Then what do you expect us to do?"
"I expect you to chill, have a couple of egg rolls and let me explain what you're getting yourself into." She shook the restaurants flyer at him as she spoke, smirking when he irritably snatched it out of her hand and threw it over his shoulder. "Besides, all of the killings have taken place at midnight. It's only ten o'clock. Give me one hour, then you can go bust heads, okay?"
A growl left him at that, but he eventually
nodded in agreement. "One hour."
TBC