Author's Notes: Sorry for the tediousness here, but I had to build up reasons to lead up to this point. I thouroughly apolgize for parts that seemed unclear to you, but here's where I hope it counts!
Kai came to the end to the dark staircase, and found himself in a stone maze. He couldn't see very well in the dark anymore, another human setback, yet he continued forward. He had to get that key back, and the only way he could think of, was to find the Infected, and not get killed in the process. He walked at a slowed pace, since he had no idea as to where the thing might come at him. A few times, he swore he could have felt it brush past him, but the limited lighting only gave him the only option to keep going until he bumped into it.
He knew he was probably making all the same mistakes he had made when he'd fought with Vlad, but did he really have a choice? Part of him wished that the Infected would just stop playing with him, as he knew it was, and get on with trying to surprise him. He didn't so much mind the darkness, but the smell of dead flesh was starting to make him sick. How anomalous to feel nauseous again.
He got his wish however, when a huge claw came across his chest, and slammed him backwards through the air, and onto the ground. He looked up as the Infected crawled into the poor light. It had a human head, with rotting gray skin and hair, and bulging orange orbs practically hanging from their eyes sockets. Instead of a mouth, it had pinchers like a praying mantis, and instead of arms, it had several huge claws attached to a thorax. To complete the horrible disfiguration, it had two humanoid legs, yet it stood a decent three feet taller than Kai. He immediately scrambled to his feet, and backed away slightly.
He went to fire his brace into the Infected's face, but it grabbed his arm, squeezing the muscle in a way that the brace was useless unless the monster were to let go. Kai immediately went to plan B and yanked the knife out of his belt that he'd taken out of Selk's chest, and went for the Infected's throat, but it grabbed that arm too and snapped it like a burnt twig.
It then released him, and Kai fell to the dirt with a thud, crawling backwards to avoid the creature's stinger. He didn't remember if this had happened to him before he died at the hand of His Divine Shadow, but now the sparks of pain flying up his forearm and into his entire body were as vivid as ever. He couldn't do this anymore, not as well, at least. How could he protect Stan and Xev when he couldn't even protect himself? His body was now just as weak as anyone else's.
"Kai, come on!" Stan's voice echoed in his head. "Get back up here!"
He ducked a swing from the monster's claw. Apparantly, it knew why he was there, because it would simply try to eat him alive on any other occasion. Right now it was simply trying to kill him. He was sure he was going crazy now, that he was hearing voices in his head. "Kai, if you get your head ripped off, you're not gonna be able to put it back on!" the voices echoed again, this time the voice being Xev.
Kai fired his brace; it latched to a stone, and was pulling him up toward an open crevice in the wall He nearly climbed onto it, but a huge hand grabbed his ankle, and pulled him back down with ease. Kai clawed at the ground, but even in death he wouldn't have been strong enough to get away.
He fell back in the hole, his head and back slapping against the dirt. He couldn't help but scream a little as his broken limb made contact with the hard ground. Utterly useless, he cradled it in his other arm, and tried to peel himself off the ground.
He finally managed to stand with three decent limbs, and fired his brace, slicing one of the mutated human's many legs off, and staggered further into the cavern, hoping to find a decent hiding place until he could get himself into a state of tolerance from the unfamilliar feeling of having his arm broken for the first time.
He ran further into the pit, hoping that backtracking a little would buy him enough time to surprise the creature, and sure enough the monster was too blind with rage and pain to follow him accurately. Kai pressed his back to a stone shaped somewhat like a pillar, and quickly loosened one of the straps left on his chest, sliding his damaged arm into it. He then tightened the strap, solving his minor problem for the time being. Then he listened for the raspy breathing of the Infected. Sure enough, he could feel it, right behind him.
The monster headed toward his left, so Kai turned around the pillar right. He picked up a stone that he'd nearly tripped over, and threw it over the Infected's head. The creature screeched, and turned in Kai's direction. Kai took this as his chance, and fired his brace into one of the creature's eyes, hitting his target at such close range.
The brace retracted however, when the creature took this equal oppurtunity to slam him into a nearby wall.
It was scuttling toward him, ready to clip his head off no doubt with it's clws, but it suddenly stopped. The Infected screamed as a red illumination pierced its thorax, and squirmed. Kai took this as his chance to fire his brace, and the Infected's human head dropped to the dirt, rolling like a wooden ball. The body of the monster thrashed, injuring his rescuer in the process. The key came shooting out of the hole, and into the palm of his hand. For some reason, it didn't feel good at all as it passed into him. It felt as if a knife had just penetrated his palm, but he just shook it off, since the pain in his arm was worse.
Vlad stood behind the body, holding an energy weapon (A/N think the thing Xev was carrying in Bad Carrot). and turned her weapon off, as the body stopped twitching. She had done some modifying to her female version of the containment suit from the base, since she'd ripped off all the straps except the ones going down the middle of her top and her skirt. She'd also ripped the shoulder sections of her sleeves off, so they became gloves. She must have used the remaining material to put her hair back up like he did, since it once again stood up off her head. Funny, he thought, how the both of them had done such a thing. "A life for a life," Vlad said coldly. "Don't grow used to it, assassin,"
She then held out her hand, and helped him up. Her skin was colder than anything he'd ever felt before, yet his ability to determine life or death hadn't been lost. She was very much alive, and he could feel her pulse clear as ever. He wondered if she could feel the same from him. That would at least mean he was real, as she seemed to be. "How did you-" he began, still cradling his arm as the pain shot through him.
She hesitated, and then stopped as she readjusted the weapon. "I...forsaw it," she said quietly.
"But-"
"Can you still lift us to the top?" she interrupted sharply. " It would be more efficient that way rather than to use the stairs again, considering that the entire forest is crawling with insects. I cannot carry you up the wall, and even if I could I would not have the patience"
Kai looked at his brace. "Yes," he said. "I believe so,"
She said nothing, but made sure the hose of the weapon was secure about her, came around behind him, and slung her arms around her neck, making sure to avoid the broken limb best she could as he held it close to his chest. "Your idiot humans await us. I have already freed them," she said. "They have returned to the ship. My moth waits for us,"
"How do I know that you are not lying?" said Kai. "It was not so long ago that you tried to destroy me,"
Vlad glowered at him. "Had I wanted to destroy you, I would not have spared you. I have nowhere to go, and if I did, I have no desire to stay on this infected rock. My only way out is your flying insect. Now carry us to the top before the insects smell the blood,"
A bit surprised, he fired the brace, and carried them up toward the ground. He turned her words over in his head a few times, wondering if she really was trustworthy in this situation. Vlad was recently suicidal, and she had already killed Xev and enslaved Stan before. She was incapable of enslaving anyone ever again, but she'd already proven that she could kill without remorse. He had never forgiven her for the first time she'd killed Xev. If she did it again, Kai wasn't exactly sure of how he'd react, but he was a little afraid of what he might to do her.
As the brace reached the end of the cable, Vlad climbed up between his shoulders and the wall like a spider, and then knelt to offer her hand to him. She effortlessly pulled him out of the hole, and the moth waited right outside for them, just as she'd promised. Kai knew she had been bluffing when she said that she couldn't lift him. He'd already seen that she was just as strong as he was back at the military annex. "See?" she said coldly. "The dead do not lie,"
"Often," Kai corrected. "The dead do not lie often,"
As she climbed into the moth, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "True," she agreed.
As Vlad had promised, they arrived back at the Lexx, and Stan and Xev waited on the bridge. Stan's forehead was bruised where the natives had bludgened him, and Xev had a few minor scratches, but they were obviously in better shape than he was. Vlad mutely helped him out of the moth, and sat him down on the step between the command pedastal and the bridge, or more likely, he collapsed from exhaustion, happy to see that they had the sense to bring the protein regenerator onto the bridge. "Hey!" said Stan. "You're still alive!"
"Forget something?" said Kai. "Hold up your hand,"
Stan complied, and Kai closed his eyes. It wasn't as hard to pass the key as everyone made it out to be, and he was quite relieved to be rid of it. He didn't want to command the Lexx, and never had the desire to. He'd brought enough death on humanity. Even though Xev constantly complained, Stan really was a suitable captain, because he normally had no violent tendencies unless something threatened him or Xev.
Stan drew his hand back as the last of the energy passed to him, and said, "Wait a sec, how did you-"
"The pain is enough for me to trick my mind into thinking I am at the point of death," Kai replied frankly.
Xev looked down, and realized that Kai was supporting his left arm, which hung limp." Your arm!" said Xev, in disbelief, as he staggered into a sitting position on the bridge.
She went to touch it, and bring it toward her. She could see it had snapped cleanly in three places, and Kai's face was as white as it could possibly be from the pain. He took a few deep breaths, and said, "You'll have to straighten it,"
"I couldn't-" she began.
"Please Xev, it will only hurt for a moment, and you are the only one strong enough to do so," he said in aggravation. "It hurts more this way, trust me!"
She'd never heard him talk that way to anyone, even when someone would wake him up the wrong way and he turned into His Shadow's assassin again, he never spoke so aggresively. "Okay," she said.
She tentatively grabbed his arm in one hand, and pushed the bone back into place with a loud crack. He didn't make a sound, but she could see he wasn't ready for it at all. She set the other places, and then hooked him up to the regenerator.
Vlad, who was gently massaging a cut on her neck from the smaller insects, sat far away from them, quiet, and sulking. She looked appalled at her companions, and kept her eyes to the floor. "I hope you know," she said quietly. "That even though I spared your life, I still have no intetion of ever being part of your crew,"
Kai nodded as Stan knelt in front of her and looked her over. "What?" she said harshly. "Your unpleasant desire for me to bite your neck is-"
"No, not this time, no," Stan said kindly, trying to pry her hand away from her wound. "It's about your neck, this time,"
"It's nothing!" she said quickly. "Tend to those who-"
"I saw it, Vlad," said Stan. "You're hurt too,"
Without warning, he dragged her over, and hooked her into the machine next to Kai, and she looked at him with a sort of blank wonder in her eyes. She lightly touched the spot where Stan had applied the suction cup, her eyes almost reflecting gratititude. "You owe me nothing," said Vlad. "If Kai and I are ever restored to our former selves, I expect that our death match will resume,"
"Though it is doubtful, I accept your challenge, Vlad," Kai said darkly.
Xev's cluster lizard side became apparent as she growled through gritted teeth, her eyes shooting daggers at the other woman. "Now for the big questions," said Xev, standing up, holding a rag to a slash on her arm as she waited her turn. "Where did you find that weapon?"
"Deep inside this forsaken insect," said Vlad. "It was the only one available,"
"You said that you forsaw my being defeated by the Infected," said Kai. "Do you mean-"
Vlad suddenly ripped herself free of the regenerator, and stormed off the bridge down the passageway. Kai followed suit, even though his arm was still a little tender.
"Oh boy," said Stan, as Kai dissapeared down the passage. "Looks like we got a problem on our hands,"
"I know," Xev whispered anxiously.
Kai caught her by the shoulder before she dissapeared into the Lexx's maze-like passageways. "Stop trying to touch me!" Vlad snapped, pulling away. "I hate that,"
"Why the sudden urge to leave?" he said, as she whirled around. "If you are hiding anything important from us...I will kill you, Vlad,"
Kai squeezed his wrist and the weapon came sliding into his hand, which he pointed at her throat. "Of course," she said. "Kill me like the murderer you are...like we both are. Then again, I already know that you could never do it. You no longer have it in you. Remorse has settled in and has made you weak,"
"You as well," he said, staring straight into her lifeless eyes.
She seemed to contemplate with herself for a few seconds, and then decided that if he really intended to kill her, that it would be better for her to simply tell him the truth. She knew the truth would hurt him in some way, and there was certainly pleasure in seeing him suffer."You do remember when I told you how I got to that planet Earth?" she said.
"You asked the Time Prophet, before you killed her. You located a bruise in the time-space fabric that separated the two universes, and ended up on Earth," Kai said systematically.
"You really are blind, assassin. You cannot see lies when they are right in front of you. I did not kill her," said Vlad.
"The Time Prophet lives?" Kai asked. "I do not understand,"
"You're looking right at her, yet you cannot even see her," said Vlad. "How like a Divine Assassin to be so obtuse,"
"But how is that possible?" Kai asked suspiciously. "You cannot be the same person,"
"I have no obligation to answer any of your questions further, assassin," Vlad said venomously "You think a hunter like me is going to bend to your will? That is not what is! You are still prey to me, and I refuse to help you again. Should you see me again, it is best that you kill me quickly...if you even can,"