Author's Note: Apologies for the slow speed of my update, real life sucks. So does school.
Cattibrie393: Thanks for the compliment. I try to write in such a way that someone who's never seen any of the series will still know what's going on. It's good to know that it's effective.
X-Over: Ask and ye shall receive.
Read and review, please. If you think my stuff sucks, please, tell me about it, and why. I'd love to become a better writer.
The entity moved through space. It was a darkness against the deeper darkness between stars, the only indication of its existence a momentary blotting out of light for those who noticed. It was old, and powerful. It was not a god, but it had been mistaken as one in the past, and would be again in its nearly limitless lifetime.
It knew hunger. Its sustenance was souls, human or otherwise. It could consume them whole, or it could be nourished by small parts of multiple souls. Its favorite method was convincing smaller life forms to worship it, to willingly give up fragments of their own souls. But, it had been long since it had been able to so deceive a population. With the recent spread of humanity through the galaxy, and the technology they brought with them, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the populations to believe in anything supernatural, much less divine.
So, the entity wandered through space in search of a more...gullible planet. Just by chance, curling around a sun for whatever nourishment it could gain from the heat, it sensed something it had never expected to see.
A planet orbited this sun, one among six, but such a planet! It teemed with life, energy fairly bursting off of the surface and into the void of space. If it had possessed a corporeal form, saliva would have dripped from the entity's mouth. Hungrily, it whipped away from the star, its form undulating through the empty vacuum.
Sinking into the planet's atmosphere, the entity writhed in ecstasy. The life energy suffused its entire being, bringing warmth to parts that it had forgotten. Sinking deeper, it received a shock. Not only was their life growing on the surface of this planet, but the planet itself had a soul! The entity shook in delight.
-I must plunder this planet for all it is worth. Such power will sustain me for millennia to come! But how?-
Its hunger momentarily sated, the entity sank into a massive crater to consider the problem. A tiny spark of life caught its attention. Focusing its attention out of the astral sense it normally observed in, it saw a small ground creature. The creature was feeble, its spirit energy wavering like a flame barely holding to a wick.
As the entity watched, the creature stopped moving, and its energy broke free of its form, floating free. The creature, or its soul, the entity was never sure with these lower life forms, drifted for a moment like a leaf on a breeze. Then, suddenly taking a sense of urgency, it ghosted down beneath the surface of the planet.
Letting the real world fade, the entity continued to watch the creature's progress. It wound its way deeper into the earth, eventually coming upon a mighty flow of energy and slipping into it, like a fish in an underground river. Shortly, the creature's distinct form faded and was absorbed into the energy.
-So, that is how this planet stays so alive. This is where I will feed. But first, I need to eliminate those who would stop me. Some always exist, crying out about the sanctity of life or some such nonsense. They are always defeated, but I would rather not have my meal interrupted.-
The entity delved deep into the stream of life, sifting through it for more powerful forms that had not yet been folded into the greater power around them. Finding some, it sifted through them, measuring them and then discarding them as unsuitable to the task. Finally, it found what it was looking for. It swept a part of itself around the spirit, insulating it from the flow of energy so it would remain. Next, the entity drew as much energy into itself as it dared, knowing that it would need it for the task ahead.
Withdrawing from the stream, it rose back to the surface, hovering in the earth. Taking some of the earth from around itself, it began to mold the dirt into the form of a man, compressing it and adding moisture until it took on the consistency of clay. The entity know that it was lacking some of the materials to make its project truly complete, but that would be addressed later.
Finally, satisfied with its work, the entity took the spirit it had captured and fed it some of the energy the entity had taken from the life-river. Slowly, slowly it poured in to be absorbed into the spirit, until it blazed nearly as brightly as the living forms above. If it had a mouth, the entity would have smiled. The energy that it had fed the spirit was laced with a small portion of itself. The spirit was bound to it, now and forever.
Now that both the spirit and the pseudo-flesh were ready, it was time to introduce them. The entity formed a hollow in itself and filled it with air. It pushed back the earth and placed the body within. Then, it opened a corridor between the spirit and the cavity.
The spirit saw the body, and moved forward, intrigued. It circled it slowly, examining it. The entity nudged the spirit in an encouraging manner. The spirit, getting the picture, dove into the body. A moment of stillness, and then the body began to move, the spirit becoming acclimated to its new surroundings.
The entity knew a sense of satisfaction. Exerting itself, it drove upwards and broke through into the air. Gently, it took the newborn and set it upon the earth.
-Go, child. Go forth into the world and take what you need. When you are ready, return to me, and I will give you your task.-
The entity sensed its child's agreement, and subsided back into the earth. Now, it had only to wait. It would not take long for the child to mature, and then...
And then...
A groan sounded through the room. Someone was waking up. Spike thought to himself that he'd find out who it was when some lights came on. The hull groaned, settling itself wherever it had landed and sending a stight tremor through the deck, drawing another groan.
Simultaneously, Spike realized two things: first, that it was dark because his eyes were closed, and secondly, he had been the one groaning. He'd had good reson for it, too. His body ached all over. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up, the null-gravity devices the doctors had forced on him clinging to his skin disgustingly.
The first thing he noticed was that the emergency lights were on, so main power was probably down. Glancing around, he saw Faye slumped over her console. Jet was on the floor nearby, and he could make out Ed's ankles sticking out over the back of one of the acceleration couches. He tried to call out to them, but all that came out was a croak. Spike ran his dry tongue around his mouth. It felt like he'd been sucking on Jet's bootsoles all day. Thinking quickly, he imagined a seven-course meal. Lobster over rice, spaghetti with meatballs, bratwurst with onions and honey mustard...there we go.
His mouth now moistened, Spike tried again.
"Hey. Anybody alive?" Jet stirred and rolled over on his left side.
"Yeah, barely." He rubbed the side of his head and sat up. "Did anybody get the license plate of that truck?"
Faye's eyes fluttered open, scanned the room, and closed again. "Oh, God, why me?"
"Because nobody else." Jet snorted and stood. He knuckled his back and was rewarded with a couple pops. Glancing around, he did a quick head count and came up one short.
"Ed? You okay?"
A muffled voice came from the couch. "Ed is stuck."
Jet sighed. "Okay, we'll get you out. Just stay put."
The three bounty hunters moved around to the other side of the couch and were surprised at what they saw. The boyish girl had somehow managed to get her head stuck between the cushions and through the supporting metal grille, bending it in such a way that whe was now stuck fast. Strictly speaking, such a thing should have been impossible. Three jaws dropped. Ed grinned in her oddly innocent way.
"Help?" Jet sighed again.
"C'mon, you two. Let's get her out of here." This was not going to be fun.
After thirty minutes of grunting and straining, almost none of which Spike was forbidden to help with (No way! I'm not paying your hospital bills again!), a very relieved and very sore Ed was released from her couch prison. She promptly hugged Jet, was dodged by Faye and Spike, and went in search of Ein. The three adults sat down.
"Well, where do we stand?" Spike asked from his place on the floor.
"Main power's down, so we can't get any instrument readings on the outside. We don't even know if we're on land or not." Jet replied.
"So the first order of business is to get the power up and figure out where we are."
"Actually, I'd say we're either in a dump or an office building. Look." Faye pointed at the viewport. Sure enough, in the dim red lighting the remains of an office chair were smashed up against the transparisteel and held in place by a pile of rubble.
"Huh. Okay, well that answers the question of civilization." Jet grunted. "Still, we need that power, or we're not going anywhere."
"Okay, let's get down to the engine room and get it back on."
"Ooh, people." Spike was interrupted by Ed's singsong.
"What?" The adults scrambled to look over her shoulder. Somehow, the internal security had managed to survive the crash and a video feed from the engine room was playing on the monitor. Three people were in there, two men and a woman. They were all wearing what seemed to be tailored business suits. One of the men, the one with hair, was carrying a nightstick, but that appeared to be the only weapon they had. The engine shielding had cracked a bit, exposing a fuel rod, and the man was poking at the crack with his nightstick. They were talking, but there was no audio.
"Ed, is this live?" Jet hissed.
"Yep yep yep!" She replied.
"Shit. Let's get down there. Ed, you stay here and watch them. If they so much as twitch, let us know." She saluted him, grinning like a loon.
"Good. Spike, stay here. I don't want you-"
"No."
"What?"
"I'm coming with. There's three of them, and only two of you. If they're packing under those pinstripes, you'll need my help."
"But Spike, you're hurt. If those null-g units go offline, your bones will collapse!" Faye reasoned.
Spike ground his teeth in frustration. Opening his shirt, he grasped the offending units and ripped them from his body, taking a fair amount of skin with them. Instantly, his bones ached as they took up the strain of full gravity, but he gritted his teeth, and the pain subsided into a dull fog in the back of his mind. Spike tossed the network of small devices and wires into the corner and started buttoning his shirt again.
"Any more objections?" He threw over his shoulder.
"Ugh. Men." Faye dropped her head into her hands in despair. "If you're finished with the striptease, could we please go now?"
"Sure." When she looked again, Spike was back to his usual self, with his .357 in his hand and a grin on his face. She knew that look. Spike always looked like that right before he did something stupid. Faye sighed again.
Jet simply raised an eyebrow at the display. Turning, he triggered the mechanism that opened the door and moved deeper into the ship. Spike followed, with Faye bringing up the rear.
They reached the engine room without incident. The door was a heavy one, designed to keep engine noise contained apart from the rest of the ship. They couldn't hear a thing. Jet pulled out his communicator and activated it. Ed's face popped up immediately.
"Hihi!" She bubbled.
"Ed, can you patch the engine room intercom into my communicator?" Jet asked.
She grinned. "Sure!"
Her face disappeared and was replaced by the security feed from inside the room. A tinny voice came from the set.
"-at do you think this stuff is? Materia?"
"I've never seen anything like it. What do you think it does?" This one was a female voice.
"I don't know. We should probably take some for study."
Jet looked at the others. He raised three fingers and then pointed at the opening device. On the count of three, he would open the door, and they would rush the intruders. Spike and Faye nodded. Jet stepped to the side, giving them a clear field of fire. He drew his gun and positioned the grip over the hatch control. He put up the three fingers again, slowly dropping them.
Three.
Two.
One.
The door hatch opened, and Faye dove through the door, coming up in a crouch with the bald one dead in her sights on the other side. Spike was hot on her heels, drawing a bead on the redhead with the nightstick. Jet was last, stepping around the doorframe to menace the woman. They shouted in unison.
"Freeze!"
The three intruders jumped and spun about. The bald man came down in a boxer's crouch. The other man, a somewhat unkempt looking redhead, quickly hid his surprise behind a cool façade. The blond woman paled and stiffened. Both sides stared at each other for a moment, before Spike broke the silence.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in our ship?" He demanded, his aim never wavering from the other man's heart. The redhead spoke up.
"Easy, there. We just came to investigate the crash. I'm Reno, this is Rude," he indicated the bald man, "and behind me is Elena. You'll have to excuse her; she's new. We're the-"
Whatever he was going to say was lost as Faye, noticing Elena's hand edge towards her suit jacket, screamed 'gun!' and fired at her. The shift in aim cost her a split second of warning, so instead of killing Elena, the bullet simply found her shoulder and tossed her back.
Quickly, Elena's hand continued its motion and ripped out of the jacket what appeared to be a green ball the size of her fist.
"Wall!" Instantly, a coruscating wall of color interposed itself in front of each business-suited combatant. It was just in time to catch the hail of bullets as Spike and Jet opened fire.
The one called Rude rushed Faye, arm cocked for a hammerblow to her jaw. She dodged to the side, and pumped three rounds into his abdomen at extreme close range, only to have them deflected by the odd shield. She cursed and saw stars as the left jab she didn't see coming connected, snapping her head back with the force of the impact.
Spike leapt over her prone form, delivering a powerful flying kick to the man's jaw. Again, the shield interposed itself, but Rude was still pushed back by the force of the blow. Spike waded in, trading punches and kicks.
Reno rushed Jet. His nightstick flashed, smashing the gun from Jet's hand. Jet grunted and lashed out with his cybernetic arm while going for his holdout pistol in his waistband. Reno was the quicker, though, dodging Jet's punch and slapping his nightstick into Jet's exposed belly. Jet's spine arched and his eyes popped as a sudden burst of electricity ripped through him. Spasming, he fell to the ground.
Keeping his presence of mind, though, Jet whipped out his pistol and emptied it into the other man. The now obviously fading shield deflected each of them. In disgust, Jet threw his weapon at Reno and went looking for a more effective weapon. Reno was having none of it, though. The impact of the handgun on the shield finally brought it down, leaving him vulnerable.
Figuring that the best defense was a good offense, Reno slapped the electrodes into Jet once, twice, and again, delivering shocks with each blow. Finally, as Jet's movements became feeble, he activated his staff's greatest power and dropped a glowing pyramid of energy over his opponent, rendering him motionless.
Faye had her own troubles. She had seen Reno's shield go down and was about to fill him with more holes than Swiss cheese when she heard Elena off to her right.
"Bolt 3!"
Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning erupted from her hand and hit Faye's weapon, blowing it from her hand and making her hair stand painfully on end. Faye spun around, ready to kill, and saw that Elena was gazing into a second green orb. Never one to turn down good fortune, Faye jumped over the railing for the three steps down into the room and headed for the kill. Three steps away, Elena's head snapped up, her eyes glowing green.
"Stop."
Faye's arm came back for a right hook. She was going to enjoy knocking the freaky glow right out of this girl's eye. She took a step, started to swing, and her movements began to slow right before her eyes. She moved as if in slow motion, her body refusing her commands to speed up. The look of glee on her face became frozen in a look of disbelief as her body slowed to a stop, inches from connecting with Elena's face.
Elena grinned and moved away. Faye turned her head to look, but discovered that not only was she unable to move her head, she couldn't move her eyes, either.
Spike and Rude were a ball of fury. Rude, his shield long evaporated by Spike's constant attention, was impressed. It wasn't often that he found a martial artist that could match him blow for blow. He went for an uppercut that would knock the wind from Spike, but the man sidestepped and went for an open palmed strike to the face. Rude's head rocked back, but he swept a foot out and managed to tangle Spike's feet enough to bring him down.
He was up in a flash, though, fists and feet flying. Rude blocked two punches, a kick, another trip attempt, and accepted a stinging blow to the jaw before he was able to grab Spike's wrist. Turning the wrist, he forced Spike to turn his back and put him in a hammerlock.
Spike turned into the lock and brought his foot up between them, landing an awkward blow to Rude's chin, but it was enough to loosen the other man's grip so he could pull away. Spinning, Spike launched a back kick at Rude, but the other ducked it and punched Spike in the chest. Spike looked up just in time to catch a powerful roundhouse to the nose. Flying back, he slammed into the wall, seeing stars and trying to get his vision to clear before he was attacked again.
Blinking tears out of his eyes, Spike tottered to his feet. His left arm wasn't working properly. Glancing at it, he saw it hanging at an unnatural angle. Damn. Broke it again. Letting the arm hang, Spike charged Rude, his arm cocked back. Rude let him come, waiting for the opportune moment. This would end it, he knew.
Spike reached him and let fly. At the same time, Rude swiftly crouched and swung an uppercut from the floor, connecting solidly with Spike's jaw and lifting him off the floor just as Spike connected, breaking Rude's sunglasses and making blood fly from his mouth.
Both opponents fell to the floor, sweating and gasping, totally exhausted. Spike looked up at Rude. Rude looked back at Spike, a trickle of blood seeping from his lip. Spike spoke first.
"You're good."
"So're you."
"Who wins?"
"Nobody wins. We're not here to fight." Spike looked up at Reno. In the chaos, he'd temporarily forgotten about the others. Glancing around, he saw Jet trapped in some sort of glowing pyramid thingie, and Faye standing in mid-stride, stock-still. Only the slight rise and fall of her chest let him know she was alive.
"Can we call a truce, and we'll explain?" Reno asked. Spike nodded. He was too out of breath to do anything else.
Reno nodded and motioned to Elena. "Elena, if you would?"
Elena stepped forward. Spike noticed that the wound in her shoulder was gone. She had two green orbs in her hands. Raising one, she looked at Rude.
"Cure 2." A purple glow enveloped Rude, and as Spike watched, the bruises starting to form faded and the trail of blood dried up as if it never were. Rude got to his feet and dusted his suit off. She repeated her actions with Jet and Faye before coming over to Spike.
She looked at his arm and frowned. "This is going to require something with a little more oomph."
She stuck her hand back into her jacket and pulled out a third orb. She stared at it, and as she did so, a green glow crept into her eyes. Finally, she glanced up at him.
"Fullcure." White light enveloped Spike, washing over him and moving through him. It soothed away his bruises, and then slipped beneath the flesh to bone. Then the itching started. At first, it was a minor irritation, but it quickly grew to be all consuming. Then, it got more intense. Spike writhed. It had gone beyond itching now, and progressed to pain. It got deeper and deeper, more powerful. It felt as if something were running him through a meat tenderizer set on high. Then, just when he couldn't bear it any more, it faded, leaving behind a cool sensation of relief. He sighed in bliss.
"Well, that was unusual." Elena spoke. "I've never heard anyone scream so loudly while being healed."
"How did you...?" Spike asked.
Reno shook his head. "I'll tell you as we walk. All that noise was bound to have attracted some unwanted attention."
Elena pulled out her last orb. She triggered it on Jet and Faye, freeing them from their stasis. Picking up her items, she shoved them back from whence they came, and stood up.
"Let's get out of here." She said. Reno nodded.
"Follow our lead as we leave. We need to get to a safe location before nightfall. Things come out after dark that you don't want to face." He looked at their mystified expressions. "Look, I'll explain everything, but for now, just trust me, okay?"
Jet rubbed his scalp. "Alright, you win. Lead on."
They moved deeper into the engine room, to a large crack in the hull that had evidently given the three entrance into the ship. Reno turned back to them before slipping into the fissure.
"Oh, by the way, I never finished my introductions earlier. We're the Turks."