Disclaimer: Most of these characters belong to Marvel.
Confusion reigns strong
Within strange circumstances
A new chance at life
She regained consciousness in a dark shadowy place that seemed alien yet strangely familiar. She wonders if being dead is supposed to feel so surreal. Is she in heaven or hell? Is it good that she cannot even tell the difference? Everything just feels so empty and meaningless here. She shivers but she does not know whether it is because she feels cold or if it is due to the sense of foreboding deep in the pit of her stomach. She attempts to study her surroundings to give herself some form of focus, however she finds herself unable to concentrate. She tries to study her hands and is shocked to find that she cannot see them. She cannot see her body either. Has she become completely blind? She starts to panic and tries to find her voice, but no sound comes out. What is happening? Where is she? The shock and confusion overwhelms her and she loses her faint hold on consciousness.
Later, she hears voices. Unfamiliar ones. She wonders what is going on as she struggles to open her eyes, but her lids were so heavy. Hands brush over her body. She has a body! She can feel! A rush of relief fills her as she discovers that she had not become paralyzed. So why couldn't she open her eyes? She tried to move her arms and legs, but they felt heavy and cumbersome. She felt a cool metal piece inch its way across her chest and suddenly realises what is going on. A doctor must be examining her. She tries to speak but only managed grunt faintly. It seems her throat was too parched. Finally, after much struggling, she eventually manages to open her eyes and finds herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Her first instinct was to get into a defensive stance, since her last conscious memory was losing a fight to Vargas and it was possible that she might still be in enemy territory. However, she founds herself unable to move and wonders if she was paralyzed. With great difficulty, she managed to turn her head around to survey her surroundings. She sees unfamiliar people talking around her and then this awful squealing voice screeched into her ear.
"Lizzie! She's awake! Oh Mom, she's awake." The squealing voice called out excitedly, seemingly mocking. Betsy cringes slightly from the sound and frowns irritably.
A rather well dressed old lady comes to stand in front of her and stares disapprovingly down at her. Her tone is as stern as her look. "I see you have finally decided to come around after causing the family a ridiculous amount of unneeded stress and disgrace."
"So what do you have to say for yourself, Lizzie?" the high-pitched voice chips in annoyingly.
Betsy blinks in puzzlement. "Why are they calling me Lizzie?" was what she thought, but the first thing she said was, "hoo..cough mmmm...ooo..", and realised with disgust that her throat was simply too dry to enable her to speak coherently. She did not even seem to have an ounce of saliva to assist her in un-parching her throat. Fortunately, the nurse at hand also noticed this and swiftly placed a cup with a straw in front of her lips. Betsy took a quick sip, grateful for the cool liquid flowing down her throat, quenching her thirst while the stern woman continued to watch her like a hawk. Betsy took this respite to check out the area and noticed from the corner of her eye, another girl standing on the right side of her bed. The girl was a young looking brunette with whom Betsy associated the high- pitched voice. The girl continued to grin widely at her in a somewhat menacing manner. Betsy wondered briefly about her sanity when she noticed that she had used the word menacing to describe a young girl.
Betsy nodded her thanks to the nurse after she had had enough to drink and turned her attention back to the stern lady. She tried again this time, "Who are you?" and was shocked by the voice that came out of her mouth. It was deep and coarse and most definitely not her own. She would have jumped up in shock if she could, had she not noticed something worse. The size of her legs. They were absolutely immense. How can this be? They were the size of a fattened calf, no wonder she could move. What is going on? All these thoughts rushed through her head in the brief second it took for the old lady to reply sternly to her question.
"I am your mother, who do you think I am? Don't you think it is time for you to stop fooling around, Elizabeth? I am tired of your desperate attempts at trying to garner attention for yourself. Look at you!" The last statement was said with derision and what sounded like disgust and Betsy could hear an attempt by the young brunette to hide her snicker. Betsy blinked in confusion, her mind finding it hard to absorb everything that seems to be happening to her. Her brain felt like a blob of immovable lard much like what her legs looked like at this moment, and nothing seems to be making any sense. She searched her last thoughts, and they clearly showed her fighting with Vargas and being pierced in the side. She tried to look down at her side and was rewarded by large folds of unfamiliar looking flesh, making her flinch inwardly at her apparent obesity but no sign of any bandages through the thin fabric of her hospital gown. She was very sure that Vargas had pierced her through the side. "What are you looking for?" the sharp and stern voice returned to pierce through her musings.
Betsy cleared her throat again before attempting to speak, this time hoping that it would not be that deep and coarse voice issuing from her lips again. "I am looking for my bandages." She sighed in despair, the voice was still the same.
"What bandages? Do you even know why you are in here again?" the woman who claims to be her mother said scornfully, "Or has the drug overdose made you permanently stupid?" The brunette giggled again, this time making no attempts to hide it. It hurt. The ridicule of these people whom she did not even know puzzled and hurt her even though Betsy had always prided herself with having a good deal of self-confidence and a good self-esteem. She wondered dully if it had anything to do with her apparent obesity. Then she thought that she did not have to sit here and be insulted by these people. She did not know them. All she had to do was to call Brian and he would come and settle this. Or better yet, settle this herself. She is after all Elizabeth Braddock and she had laughed in the face of death and many other monsters in her lifetime. This woman is nothing.
"I do not know who you are and I am not sure how you get off calling yourself my mother and ridiculing me whilst I am stuck here, in this condition but I can frankly inform you that it is not appreciated and your presence here is no longer welcomed. Nurse, please show this woman and girl out. I am not receiving guests at the moment." Betsy commanded imperiously. She felt slightly gratified as she saw the jaws of the old lady and the girl drop.
"How dare you speak to me like that, you ungrateful girl! After all I have done for you! You do well to watch your tongue with me!" the old woman screeches indignantly at Betsy's blatant show of disrespect.
From the depths of the room a new voice spoke out, "Mrs. Keller, you must pardon Elizabeth's uncharacteristic behaviour. She is merely suffering short-term memory loss and cannot remember her place." Betsy craned her rather massive neck to get a look at the speaker who sounded like the calm amidst a thunderstorm, but to no avail. The speaker remained hidden in the shadows or out of the range of her sight, which was mainly centered to the front due to the immense amount of energy required to even work her massively disproportionate limbs.
"Doctor Ricochet, are you saying my daughter has amnesia? How can this be? I thought it was just a simple matter of drug overdose of which you have pumped out of her system. How can a drug overdose cause amnesia?" the older lady asked in a slightly disbelieving tone. The speaker stepped out into the light and Betsy felt her breath hitched slightly as she found the doctor to be extremely familiar. Ricochet. The name echoed within her mind as she wrecked her brains to try and think of where she had heard it before.
The doctor gave a small smile said soothingly, "Mrs. Keller, your concerns are not unwarranted. In explanation to your question, the drug overdose caused a small shock to Elizabeth's system giving her short-term memory lapse. It will all come back to her soon. Give her time. Now, if you do not mind, I wish to conduct a checkup of my patient. Please wait outside." Given in such an authoritative voice, the woman and her daughter could only comply. They left the room without too much ado. For that, Betsy was grateful. Then she noticed that only the doctor and she remained. Even the nurse had left. The doctor was staring at her and Betsy shifted uncomfortably. Usually she would enjoy garnering looks from anyone and everyone but now she felt fat and ugly and scrutiny was scary. Suddenly she noticed the doctor grinning wickedly before changing form in front of her eyes. Betsy's eyes widened as she finally recognized the name and form. It was Spiral, also sometimes known as Rita Ricochet.
"Spiral!" she exclaimed in anger and slight panic. "So it is you. What have you done to me!" She noticed that Spiral had the same red markings on her eye that means that she was somehow bonded to the Crimson Dawn.
"What have I done?" Spiral repeated her question in a singsong voice and then smiled widely "Why Psylocke, I have merely just saved you from certain death." Her statement did not sound reassuring at all and Betsy's stomach made a few turns.
"You killed Vargas? Where are the other X-Men?" Betsy demanded to know.
"Vargas? Who is that? I was sent by Gomurr to employ the Crimson Dawn and my body-switching techniques to save your sorry ass." Spiral grinned crazily. Betsy felt a deep sinking feeling after what she heard.
"You swapped my soul with whose. Where is my body now?" Betsy almost screamed that out hysterically.
Spiral only giggled. "Psylocke, oh Psylocke, you sound like you might be mad at me for saving your life."
"Answer the question!" Betsy demanded.
"Only because you asked so nicely. You are now in the body of Elizabeth Keller. A.." Spiral paused for a few seconds as if thinking before continuing, "A twenty year old female who lives in London. You are now 5'5 tall and possess hazel eyes as well as brown hair. You also happen to weigh a total of 250 pounds." That last statement was stated with a gleeful tone before she continued further, "You are unemployed and your favourite pastime includes pigging out on junk foods, drinking a lot of alcohol, shooting up coke and reading. Reading's good. You live with your mother and your younger sister in a.."
At this point Betsy could not take it anymore and cut her short. "Enough enough. Why this body? What happened to mine."
"Technically Elizabeth, that body is not yours but Kwannon's. As to what happened to it, it was damaged beyond repair?" Spiral replied glibly. She appeared to be enjoying this a lot.
Betsy wanted to cry out in despair, "Why didn't you just let me die." But she did not want to give Spiral the pleasure of seeing her suffer. She kept her silence and instead asked, "How long must I remain here?" To which Spiral replied with a grin, "You can actually get out anytime you want although the probability of anyone recognizing you in your current body would be close to nil. Maybe Professor X could sense you, but he nearly could not tell Kwannon and you apart now could he? You are a part of Miss Keller as she is a part of you." Spiral shrugged. "Body swapping is a confusing business."
Betsy was glaring daggers into Spiral, but she knew there was nothing that could be done at least not when she was stuck in this body and powerless. "What happened to the girl then?"
"She was grateful to die. She hated her life anyway. I showed a picture of you and she was more than eager to switch bodies with you. Of course, she didn't know that the body would be dead." Spiral answered in a non- committal voice.
"You murdered her." Betsy accused.
"Not really. No. It was you who murdered her when you lost the battle to Vargas." Spiral taunted.
Betsy felt as if a knife had pierced her heart at Spiral's statement. She really knew when to add salt to injury. Before she could ask more, Spiral said, "Well, seeing as you are up and well, I will be taking my leave. Have a good life, as Elizabeth Keller." Spiral grins before spinning a complex dance and vanishing before her eyes.
Confusion reigns strong
Within strange circumstances
A new chance at life
She regained consciousness in a dark shadowy place that seemed alien yet strangely familiar. She wonders if being dead is supposed to feel so surreal. Is she in heaven or hell? Is it good that she cannot even tell the difference? Everything just feels so empty and meaningless here. She shivers but she does not know whether it is because she feels cold or if it is due to the sense of foreboding deep in the pit of her stomach. She attempts to study her surroundings to give herself some form of focus, however she finds herself unable to concentrate. She tries to study her hands and is shocked to find that she cannot see them. She cannot see her body either. Has she become completely blind? She starts to panic and tries to find her voice, but no sound comes out. What is happening? Where is she? The shock and confusion overwhelms her and she loses her faint hold on consciousness.
Later, she hears voices. Unfamiliar ones. She wonders what is going on as she struggles to open her eyes, but her lids were so heavy. Hands brush over her body. She has a body! She can feel! A rush of relief fills her as she discovers that she had not become paralyzed. So why couldn't she open her eyes? She tried to move her arms and legs, but they felt heavy and cumbersome. She felt a cool metal piece inch its way across her chest and suddenly realises what is going on. A doctor must be examining her. She tries to speak but only managed grunt faintly. It seems her throat was too parched. Finally, after much struggling, she eventually manages to open her eyes and finds herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Her first instinct was to get into a defensive stance, since her last conscious memory was losing a fight to Vargas and it was possible that she might still be in enemy territory. However, she founds herself unable to move and wonders if she was paralyzed. With great difficulty, she managed to turn her head around to survey her surroundings. She sees unfamiliar people talking around her and then this awful squealing voice screeched into her ear.
"Lizzie! She's awake! Oh Mom, she's awake." The squealing voice called out excitedly, seemingly mocking. Betsy cringes slightly from the sound and frowns irritably.
A rather well dressed old lady comes to stand in front of her and stares disapprovingly down at her. Her tone is as stern as her look. "I see you have finally decided to come around after causing the family a ridiculous amount of unneeded stress and disgrace."
"So what do you have to say for yourself, Lizzie?" the high-pitched voice chips in annoyingly.
Betsy blinks in puzzlement. "Why are they calling me Lizzie?" was what she thought, but the first thing she said was, "hoo..cough mmmm...ooo..", and realised with disgust that her throat was simply too dry to enable her to speak coherently. She did not even seem to have an ounce of saliva to assist her in un-parching her throat. Fortunately, the nurse at hand also noticed this and swiftly placed a cup with a straw in front of her lips. Betsy took a quick sip, grateful for the cool liquid flowing down her throat, quenching her thirst while the stern woman continued to watch her like a hawk. Betsy took this respite to check out the area and noticed from the corner of her eye, another girl standing on the right side of her bed. The girl was a young looking brunette with whom Betsy associated the high- pitched voice. The girl continued to grin widely at her in a somewhat menacing manner. Betsy wondered briefly about her sanity when she noticed that she had used the word menacing to describe a young girl.
Betsy nodded her thanks to the nurse after she had had enough to drink and turned her attention back to the stern lady. She tried again this time, "Who are you?" and was shocked by the voice that came out of her mouth. It was deep and coarse and most definitely not her own. She would have jumped up in shock if she could, had she not noticed something worse. The size of her legs. They were absolutely immense. How can this be? They were the size of a fattened calf, no wonder she could move. What is going on? All these thoughts rushed through her head in the brief second it took for the old lady to reply sternly to her question.
"I am your mother, who do you think I am? Don't you think it is time for you to stop fooling around, Elizabeth? I am tired of your desperate attempts at trying to garner attention for yourself. Look at you!" The last statement was said with derision and what sounded like disgust and Betsy could hear an attempt by the young brunette to hide her snicker. Betsy blinked in confusion, her mind finding it hard to absorb everything that seems to be happening to her. Her brain felt like a blob of immovable lard much like what her legs looked like at this moment, and nothing seems to be making any sense. She searched her last thoughts, and they clearly showed her fighting with Vargas and being pierced in the side. She tried to look down at her side and was rewarded by large folds of unfamiliar looking flesh, making her flinch inwardly at her apparent obesity but no sign of any bandages through the thin fabric of her hospital gown. She was very sure that Vargas had pierced her through the side. "What are you looking for?" the sharp and stern voice returned to pierce through her musings.
Betsy cleared her throat again before attempting to speak, this time hoping that it would not be that deep and coarse voice issuing from her lips again. "I am looking for my bandages." She sighed in despair, the voice was still the same.
"What bandages? Do you even know why you are in here again?" the woman who claims to be her mother said scornfully, "Or has the drug overdose made you permanently stupid?" The brunette giggled again, this time making no attempts to hide it. It hurt. The ridicule of these people whom she did not even know puzzled and hurt her even though Betsy had always prided herself with having a good deal of self-confidence and a good self-esteem. She wondered dully if it had anything to do with her apparent obesity. Then she thought that she did not have to sit here and be insulted by these people. She did not know them. All she had to do was to call Brian and he would come and settle this. Or better yet, settle this herself. She is after all Elizabeth Braddock and she had laughed in the face of death and many other monsters in her lifetime. This woman is nothing.
"I do not know who you are and I am not sure how you get off calling yourself my mother and ridiculing me whilst I am stuck here, in this condition but I can frankly inform you that it is not appreciated and your presence here is no longer welcomed. Nurse, please show this woman and girl out. I am not receiving guests at the moment." Betsy commanded imperiously. She felt slightly gratified as she saw the jaws of the old lady and the girl drop.
"How dare you speak to me like that, you ungrateful girl! After all I have done for you! You do well to watch your tongue with me!" the old woman screeches indignantly at Betsy's blatant show of disrespect.
From the depths of the room a new voice spoke out, "Mrs. Keller, you must pardon Elizabeth's uncharacteristic behaviour. She is merely suffering short-term memory loss and cannot remember her place." Betsy craned her rather massive neck to get a look at the speaker who sounded like the calm amidst a thunderstorm, but to no avail. The speaker remained hidden in the shadows or out of the range of her sight, which was mainly centered to the front due to the immense amount of energy required to even work her massively disproportionate limbs.
"Doctor Ricochet, are you saying my daughter has amnesia? How can this be? I thought it was just a simple matter of drug overdose of which you have pumped out of her system. How can a drug overdose cause amnesia?" the older lady asked in a slightly disbelieving tone. The speaker stepped out into the light and Betsy felt her breath hitched slightly as she found the doctor to be extremely familiar. Ricochet. The name echoed within her mind as she wrecked her brains to try and think of where she had heard it before.
The doctor gave a small smile said soothingly, "Mrs. Keller, your concerns are not unwarranted. In explanation to your question, the drug overdose caused a small shock to Elizabeth's system giving her short-term memory lapse. It will all come back to her soon. Give her time. Now, if you do not mind, I wish to conduct a checkup of my patient. Please wait outside." Given in such an authoritative voice, the woman and her daughter could only comply. They left the room without too much ado. For that, Betsy was grateful. Then she noticed that only the doctor and she remained. Even the nurse had left. The doctor was staring at her and Betsy shifted uncomfortably. Usually she would enjoy garnering looks from anyone and everyone but now she felt fat and ugly and scrutiny was scary. Suddenly she noticed the doctor grinning wickedly before changing form in front of her eyes. Betsy's eyes widened as she finally recognized the name and form. It was Spiral, also sometimes known as Rita Ricochet.
"Spiral!" she exclaimed in anger and slight panic. "So it is you. What have you done to me!" She noticed that Spiral had the same red markings on her eye that means that she was somehow bonded to the Crimson Dawn.
"What have I done?" Spiral repeated her question in a singsong voice and then smiled widely "Why Psylocke, I have merely just saved you from certain death." Her statement did not sound reassuring at all and Betsy's stomach made a few turns.
"You killed Vargas? Where are the other X-Men?" Betsy demanded to know.
"Vargas? Who is that? I was sent by Gomurr to employ the Crimson Dawn and my body-switching techniques to save your sorry ass." Spiral grinned crazily. Betsy felt a deep sinking feeling after what she heard.
"You swapped my soul with whose. Where is my body now?" Betsy almost screamed that out hysterically.
Spiral only giggled. "Psylocke, oh Psylocke, you sound like you might be mad at me for saving your life."
"Answer the question!" Betsy demanded.
"Only because you asked so nicely. You are now in the body of Elizabeth Keller. A.." Spiral paused for a few seconds as if thinking before continuing, "A twenty year old female who lives in London. You are now 5'5 tall and possess hazel eyes as well as brown hair. You also happen to weigh a total of 250 pounds." That last statement was stated with a gleeful tone before she continued further, "You are unemployed and your favourite pastime includes pigging out on junk foods, drinking a lot of alcohol, shooting up coke and reading. Reading's good. You live with your mother and your younger sister in a.."
At this point Betsy could not take it anymore and cut her short. "Enough enough. Why this body? What happened to mine."
"Technically Elizabeth, that body is not yours but Kwannon's. As to what happened to it, it was damaged beyond repair?" Spiral replied glibly. She appeared to be enjoying this a lot.
Betsy wanted to cry out in despair, "Why didn't you just let me die." But she did not want to give Spiral the pleasure of seeing her suffer. She kept her silence and instead asked, "How long must I remain here?" To which Spiral replied with a grin, "You can actually get out anytime you want although the probability of anyone recognizing you in your current body would be close to nil. Maybe Professor X could sense you, but he nearly could not tell Kwannon and you apart now could he? You are a part of Miss Keller as she is a part of you." Spiral shrugged. "Body swapping is a confusing business."
Betsy was glaring daggers into Spiral, but she knew there was nothing that could be done at least not when she was stuck in this body and powerless. "What happened to the girl then?"
"She was grateful to die. She hated her life anyway. I showed a picture of you and she was more than eager to switch bodies with you. Of course, she didn't know that the body would be dead." Spiral answered in a non- committal voice.
"You murdered her." Betsy accused.
"Not really. No. It was you who murdered her when you lost the battle to Vargas." Spiral taunted.
Betsy felt as if a knife had pierced her heart at Spiral's statement. She really knew when to add salt to injury. Before she could ask more, Spiral said, "Well, seeing as you are up and well, I will be taking my leave. Have a good life, as Elizabeth Keller." Spiral grins before spinning a complex dance and vanishing before her eyes.