Notes: Sorry for the late update. Just a reminder, this fic is dedicated to the Vergil lovers who want to see our tragic dark hero with a favored end. If you don't know the Greek mythological story, Vergil will tell it for you.


Chapter 4: The Scorpions Sting

"The line between love and obsession Is drawn by only circumstance."
-Anonymous


Voices carried from the laboratory. Arkham's own in a hysterical pitch rising, "Don't patronize me, Vergil, I'm doing the best that I can! She has not told me if she has met you in the astral plane. How am I suppose to know what really goes on in there? She is conjecturally to be my eyes and ears. Hard headed little chit she is! Just like her mother."

My heart stopped at that. Vergil? What the devil could be going on that he was able to come out from the dream landscape he said he was trapped in? My suspicions were not easily confirmed as my eyes held his astrophysical form. He was easily taller than my father, and his voice, when he spoke, carried with it authority, "Your daughter failed the first time. If she doesn't do what she's supposed to do very soon, then I'm afraid the whole deal is off."

Anger seethed inside me and being the impulsive female I am, I stood there facing them with my bow and arrow, pointing it at the offending spectral. I was so very tired of being used. My fingers pulled back the string and the noise of the arrow went like the speed of lightning, zinging through and hitting it's target. I didn't really expect to hit my mark because he was a ghostly image. What my initial thought was, if he can be threatened that I'm not going to be used by him or my father, it was the first step to my growing freedom.

His face, when he turned to me, expressed surprise before the arrow hit it's mark, exploding the spectral form apart. The arrow now made a loud thunk, now embedded in the wall. Arkham stepped back and his eyes bright with a suppressed joy, "Bravo, daughter, you've surpassed all I've hoped."

My body shook, and the arrows fell from my hands, my other hand tightened on the bow. I stared up at the man who was now taking a simple fan to spread out the smoky spectral that was once Vergil's presence.

"What are you talking about!"

My voice cracked, and I knew again, that I was being used; a constant tool in his sick quest for power? He ignored me and I aimed another arrow at him, "Answer me, father, or you'll meet the same fate as your partner."

He stopped what he was doing and laughed, "Silly girl, you wouldn't hurt your dear papa. And that young man you just saw is a demon and you're helping me rid of their kind. Disgusting creatures. You wouldn't want demons to live among us do you?"

I have heard of demons and the story of the legendary Sparda. It was father who was obsessed with the legend, searching for little bits of anything in relation to that family line. Demons were things that were imaginary and I've always thought they've had more of an ugly appearance than what I saw. Blame that on the story books and bibles I've read.

"A demon? Was that Sparda?" I heard myself saying in desperation.

He was in an agitated state, pressing buttons on the computer and designs of his experiment were displaying itself in a three dimensional pixels. The image of Vergil vaguely coming up on the screen. He didn't tear himself away from the screen has he entered more codes, "Such a smart girl, you are. Yes that was a Sparda but not Sparda himself, but his son. The best part of all, he has human blood."

"What are you talking about!" I pulled him away from the screen and he smacked me back, my body went flying against the wall. I was quick, took aim again and glared at him, "Answer me!"

"You need a lesson in manners, my dear. All you need to know is that you've helped me put away one of the most dangerous demons. It was from your arrow that would do it, and you know why?" He seemed happy to tell me this bit of news, "Because, you made contact with him in the spectral plane, where dreams are connections to the real world." He spread his arm out, "Look around you! We're in solid form but in the next realm that deals with the mind." His finger pointed to his naked skull, the grey and purple eyes unattractive beneath the sky light, "Your connection was the issue here. Once contact, flesh on flesh, you can kill him in your present form being flesh that you are. You see, you couldn't do so in the spectral realm."

"Are you saying I killed him!"

Somehow, this thought made me flinch not because I had put away a demon but because my father said he had human blood. If that is so, would that not make me a murderer in a sense?

But he confirmed otherwise, his head nodding slowly, "Not killed, daughter, but stung him."

"Speak clearly!"

"Your participation was quite effective, knowing as I know you, Mary, you're quite the compulsive girl, eager to shoot at whatever comes before your eyes. You've got more spunk and action than you do using your head first. I suppose that's my fault for allowing you to be filled with these insecurities. I did a good job raising you."

He was right in a twisted way, and I lowered my bow and arrow. Shaken, I narrowed my eyes, "So what now, father, now that you've gotten your way…..again?"

He returned to the computer screen, his voice gleeful, "I need one more thing, girl, one more thing that would tie the loose ends that a Sparda blood would give me."

"NO." My voice shook, "I won't do it."

"Ah, but you want to see him again don't you? He isn't dead you know….but he's weak right now, and if you go see him, you can extract from him the very things I need."