Jez: I was more talking about this chapter in particular. He's got an aircraft, that doesn't show up on the radar of an F-16, a bus the size of two coast guard cutters, and nanotech armor. Sneaking past the radar systems on an oil rig isn't going to be that difficult. But you're right, it could be expanded. I was trying to push Adam into the background though, before you suggested it. As for the lack of reactions, you're right about it, but only after they left. When two hundred guys appear with handguns, holding still is a very good idea. As for Ron, Adam couldn't have told him on camera, or that would have given away the appearence of the strike team.
As usual, most of it was information that I didn't feel was particularly important to scene, because it was there only to remove her from the fighting, otherwise she'd have been around to help Adam, and Darkwolf wouldn't have been able to spring his trap.
I do write very visually, because I'm seeing what I'm writing in my head as I write it. That combines with the fact that I've written for so long on message boards, Roleplaying, and dueling, where extreme description is a good thing. I do have a hard time adding thoughts from characters that aren't mine, since the dominant theories of conduct state that if it's not your character, then you don't know how they're going to think, or react to something. I will try to change that.
"So, how is he?" Kim asked Shego, the next day. "Any better?"
"He seems to have moved onto a surplus of boring memories." Shego sighed. "Wade says something about a chemical imbalance, but isn't sure why." Ron smiled.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine." He tried to reassure her, but it was easy to see she'd been crying as well. Ron glanced over her head at Kim. Kim nodded slightly.
"Come on Shego, Ron'll keep an eye on him." Kim pulled Shego to her feet, and led her out of the room. Ron lifted his arm, and revealed the Lotus Blade. It began to hum as he approached. Adam seemed to ignore that completely, as well as Ron. There was a moment of hesitation, both on Ron's part, and that of the Lotus Blade. Rufus seemed to sense it, and took the blade.
"Rufus, what are you?" Ron asked. Rufus ignored him and laid the blade against Adam's arm. There was a flare of light, and then Rufus stood there alone on the arm of the chair, both Adam and the blade gone. "Where did they go?"
"Come on Shego, snap out of it." Kim urged. "There's nothing anyone can do to help him, not if you lose it." Shego stared at her blankly.
"Kim? What are you talking about." Shego stared.
"Adam?" Kim asked shaking her head, and staring intently at Shego.
"Oh. Yeah, I knew that." She shrugged.
"Then why were you crying?" Kim asked, startled.
"I tore finger nail, all the way back to the cuticle. See." She held up her hand. Kim glared at her. "What?"
"I thought..." Kim sighed.
"Oh, that I was crying for Adam?" Shego laughed. Kim nodded. "Hell, Kimmie, this ain't the worst of the weird things he's done." She grinned. I mean, I once saw him burst into flames. Startled the hell out of me. Then he reappeared in the middle of the room, without a scratch." She giggled. "This is nothing." Ron came in the door.
"Adam, the Lotus Blade, they're gone." Ron yelped.
"Just great." Kim sighed.
'Can I ask exactly where we are?' Adam queried the living weapon leading him along.
'We are inside your mind.' The floating Lotus Blade answered.
'Ah.' Adam smiled. 'Can I ask why?'
'Simple.' The weapon responded. 'You know how strong I am. I have seen in your mind the single memory, that is the root of everything. The one piece you keep so buried, that even you cannot touch it.' They began to approach a wall. In it sat a single door, steel, locked and barred, with a chain across it. 'I can.' The blade flashed, severing the chain. The door opened as the bar fell away.
'This is it?' Adam asked. It was the same memory he'd shown Kim, all that time ago in the lake.
'No, this is the lie, the deception.' The blade replied, and flashed through the air again. 'See the truth.'
As Kim had, he found himself standing before himself, the other's arms wrapped around Rebecca, the first one any of his incarnations had loved. It was simple, unconditional. She had forsaken it. He could no longer blame himself for it. He listened, hearing the words again, but not what he'd thought they were.
"So, Ace will be here to pick you up soon, won't he?" Adam prime asked. Rebecca nodded, leaning her head back to look up at him.
"Will you keep watch for us? Like you've done before?" She asked him.
"Of course. I never fail my friends." He smiled. But he had. Hadn't he?
"Go ahead now, I want you two to be happy. They'll not make it through me." He smiled. She nodded, and stepped out into the field. A tear ran down his cheek, and he swiped it away. He knew what he'd given up for her, but she never would, never could. Ace appeared, tall and blond, but shorter than them both. He had an athletes build. Both Adam's stretched out an arm towards their first best friend. Then the attack came. Adam had always felt he could have done more, stopped the attack, he hadn't done enough, not reacted quickly enough. He saw now he had. The attack rained down from above, and Adam prime's arm lashed out a massively powerful shield of magic blocking the attack. It flared off to the side, but it wasn't enough. They knew. The shield fell as the second attack came in, as a blow landed across the back of Adam prime's head. The last thing he saw was them explode, screaming in flames. That was what he'd tried to change.
'Understand the truth.' The scene changed. Adam prime stood in the middle of a half-verse, the empty spaces between each full universe. Across from him, another Adam stood, long sword in his hands. Prime was unarmed, except for flames lashing at the air around his hands.
"You can't defeat me, because you are me. It had to happen this way. There was nothing you can do to change it." Adam snapped at Prime.
"Wrong, I can kill the fool that hit me." Prime snarled, lashing out with a gust of flame.
"Then another will take his place. It is ended, it had to be. I don't like it any more than you, but there was no choice." Adam spoke calmly. The blade sliced cleanly through the flames.
"There is always a choice. That is what we are, the other choice." Prime whispered, tears in his eyes.
"And you were the instrument of that choice. It is made, and there is nothing you can do now." Adam replied. Prime dropped to his knees, the flames subsiding.
"Is that all we are? One choice? One fatal choice?" He asked.
"No, we are the other choice. One choice? No. The right and true choice? Yes. Fatal? Sometimes. Happy? No choice is." Adam crossed the distance, blade shimmering. "Go back, finish what you must do. Then you can rest. Absolva." Prime vanished. Adam turned, a blade and pole forming before him. He snatched at the blade, and then struck the pole with such force, that it shattered into it's component elements. "No. Never a happy choice." He decided, and vanished. The Adam watching stared.
'Can you feel it?' The Lotus Blade asked.
'Yes, the truth is, I did everything I could. It simply had to be. And my power?' Adam asked.
'Your powers were never gone, you just thought they were. Take care however. Your ring was shattered as well. Do not restore your emotional walls. The protections yes, but not the walls. We return.'
"Well where could they have gone, it's not like he was in any shape to jump and run out, and the Blade can't walk, not as far as I know." Kim snapped.
"Well, it can fly. I've seen it do it." Ron replied.
"Called." Rufus snorted.
"What?" Shego asked.
"It fell down a cliff into a ravine, and only came flying when I called it." Ron winced. There was a flash of light. Adam stood in the center of the room. He reversed the Lotus Blade across his arm, offering Ron the hilt. He took it, startled when Adam slid his hands down it, leaving a trail of blood along the Blade. He swore violently.
"Damn that hurts." He clenched his hands.
"What the hell did you expect?" Kim asked. Ron touched him with the blade, and the blood halted.
"I don't know, I haven't felt pain in a long time." Adam shrugged, wiping at the blood. Shego slapped him.
"Painful enough?" She hissed into his face. She turned and stomped out of the room.
"Yes." Adam called. "What the hell did I do?" He asked Kim. She wiggled a finger, beckoning him closer. He leaned forwards.
"She loves you, stupid. You scared her to death. Now, go and apologize, before I rip your nuts off, and shove them down your throat." Kim snarled, with a tone that brooked no argument.Addm blinked a moment, and his face fell. He stepped towards the door, then lifted his hand. A baker's dozen long stemmed roses appeared. He picked one at random, and handed it to Kim.
"Thank you." He turned and walked out. She watched him go for a moment, and then crushed the blossom.
"KP?" Ron asked.
"Did I miss the memo? Or was he always an asshole?" Kim asked, discarding the rose. Ron grinned.
"No, he's always been an asshole. It's why I like him." Ron smiled. "He's always willing to do the things I'd never have the nerve to do. Just like you." He kissed her. She leaned back.
"Does that mean you think I'm an asshole too?" Kim asked. Ron stared at her.
"Do you really expect me to answer that?" He asked. She smiled.
"I guess not."
"Shego?" Adam tapped on the door. He pushed it open, to find her crying on the bed. "I'll wait." He turned to leave. A green blast nailed the door. "Or not." He turned back, to find her wiping her tears with one hand, and the other pointing at his chest. He lifted the flowers. "Can I apologize?" He asked.
"Why should you?" She asked. Her powers flared. "You seem to feel you're above us." A blast singed his hair. "You seem to be just using us." A second blast across the other side of his head. "Are we only to satisfy your urges?" A blast cut across the floor.
"No." He replied, not breaking eye contact. "Never that. I might be a lot of things, but I don't use people like that." He shook his head.
"Really? And Kim?" She fired across the top of his head.
"I've never pushed her into anything. If she wanted to back off, I'd have backed off as well." He answered quietly. "What about you?"
"What about me what?" She snapped.
"You and Kim? Was there anything there before I came back into the picture?" Adam asked, choosing his words, and phrasing carefully.
"I don't know. There might have been, there might not." She snapped. "Does it matter?"
"Yes. It does to you." He answered.
"What do you care? You've got what you want." She hissed, a blast close enough to make him step back.
"What do I want?" He asked. "Do I want to be happy?" He nodded. "Yes, I do. Would I walk away if it would make you happy? Of course. Even if it made me unhappy? Why not. Why should I be happy, if you aren't?" He shrugged. "You want me to leave? Would that make you happy?"
"Of course it wouldn't." She snapped.
"Then what do you want?" He asked.
"A guarantee." Shego replied.
"What kind of guarantee is that?" Adam wondered.
"That you won't leave me again." She replied. He nodded.
"I can promise you that much." He answered, dropping to one knee. "I solemnly vow, I will never leave you again, as long as you live." She smiled.
"I guess I can accept that." She kissed him. "But if you break that vow, I'm going to castrate you."
"I rather figured you might." He grinned, and returned the kiss. Of course, it only started with a kiss.
