"My name is Darla. Darla Hails." She introduced herself to the men in front of her. She had been reluctant to leave the morgue with the longhaired tall man, yet she did not have much choice when he pushed her into his car and to that abandoned store. She wasn't very tall. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and she was wearing a tee shirt far too big for her that reached her knees. She was 20 years old, yet looked like a small girl in clothes made for the Incredible Hulk.
Besides them, a third person was there. The shorthaired man known as Methos. He had driven the two others out of the morgue, had paired each of them with a sword, and was now making space in a deposit for what the tall man, who had introduced himself as Victor, planned to do.
" Have you thought about what happened lately?" Methos asked.
"According to you, I died... It was very confusing. I thought I saw bolts of lightning but there was no rain..." she shook her head. "I'm probably crazy."
"That was the Quickening. It makes us wake from the dead again and again."
"And how did it happen?" she asked.
"One of those punks." The tall man blurted out ironically, leaving the sentence unfinished. She didn't like remembering that. But he did not seem to care. "The other escaped... "
"So, I cannot die..." Darla tried to return to the topic.
"Unless someone comes and takes your head. It's the only way to get the Quickening." He added. "Let's start."
He put up his sword masterly. So did she, yet awkwardly. He attacked, and her weapon fell at the first contact. He pushed her to the ground and put his blade on her throat. She was weeping.
"I can't do this!" she said. "How can you? Aren't you afraid?"
"There is no terror in me. Death is a part of us all. We must fight until only one remains. And everyone wants to be the one... it's us or them." He wielded his weapon again. "And then, it might be you or me."
She stood up and took the sword again. This time, she managed to hold the weapon in her hand at his advance, and stopped his blow. However, in a second attack, he fiercely made her sword fly away, and sliced her stomach, bringing her to her knees. She was crying again.
"If you think some immortal will spare your life because you're pretty and lame, you're WRONG!" he yelled. "I should take your head... maybe now."
Victor retreated and took position again. She stood up again, and breathed deeply. He lunged forward. His blow was diverted and she clumsily attempted a counterattack. He dodged it and put his blade on her neck. She dropped the weapon.
"NEVER surrender until your head is gone." He let her go. "I've seen seasoned immortals do less than you did. You might be worth something after all. " She thought he looked charming when he was not aggressive. Then spotted a relic in his chest.
"That's nice. What is it?" she said
He turned back, without answering. "We will continue tomorrow," He muttered. She glanced at Methos, who looked away.
-----
"We are the Watchers. We've recorded the activities of immortals for more than you can count. We know almost everything of everyone of your kind. Always recording, never interfering."
But he has nothing on me, Darla thought.
"In 1991, a Watcher named James Horton tried to gather a group to kill all the immortals so that no one won the Prize. Unfortunately for them, this group wanted to start with a big fish. They were slaughtered. Small groups of these renegade Watchers scattered around the world, and we have been tracking them and dissolving them."
"So... where do we come in?" MacLeod asked. He had been uncertain as to Dawson's story, but Joe had puzzled him with an extensive biography of him, including facts that he, MacLeod, had almost forgotten.
"Now there is only a small group of renegade Watchers left. We've hunted them until here. The Watcher of a youngling stopped one of them before he whacked the kid. This man was taken to our quarters, where he's told us something unexpected."
"What? He's gay?" Darla joked.
"Funny girl, Methos. Where did you find her?" Joe asked, obviously pissed.
"Dawson..." MacLeod insisted.
"The leader of this faction... is an immortal, and a very strong one."
"Who?"
"I don't know. The guy said he was a very powerful one... It could be the Kurgan."
"No, he would never make others kill for him." Darla blurted out.
"Look, lady, the Kurgan is not a myth like some of the new ones think. He's evil... I've studied the guy. But what can you know about it anyway?"
"I'm more than 40 years old. I'm not a new immortal."
"An old girl." MacLeod commented with sarcasm, laughing at the remark. So did Joe. Only Methos seemed to remain serious.
"Joe... " He interrupted, "1983. San Antonio. Remember?" MacLeod's eyes fixed upon Darla with resent.
"The episode at the stadium? I could not follow MacLeod that night. I read the report of his friend's Watcher. Kurgan was involved, and then there was some delirium about an apprentice of him. The guy was sacked out for writing that... why?" At Joe's reply, Methos glanced at Darla with a knowing smile.
"Let me introduce myself again, guys." Darla said humorously. "I am Darla Hails, apprentice of Victor Kruger, better known as the Kurgan. But again, what do I know?"