VII - Triad

The following night, they gathered at the door and inside Victor's Jaguar, with the owner driving, Darla and Methos in the backseat, and their weapons next to them, they headed towards the factory. Silence dominated the atmosphere. Darla was tapping her legs with her fingers. Methos and Victor were still, doing the least possible. The factory was almost next to them by the time one of them spoke.

"We need to set things straight. Kronos is mine."

Victor glanced at Darla through the mirror, expecting opposition. She returned the glance and nodded in silence. He returned his eyes to the front, as he realised his apprentice would not confront him.

"Walker won't fight anybody else but me. Is the lady fine for you, Darla?" Methos spoke softly as the car pulled up.

"As if I had a choice." She opened the door and left the car, holding a wooden spear with a sharpened short blade on the head in her hands. She felt that if Jin Ke were to be avenged, she would have to use what he had taught her, even if in the end, Kronos did not die by her hand.

Victor leaded the way towards the main door. He pushed it and it opened. A large open space was before them, dimly illuminated by malfunctioning tubes. They heard mosquitoes buzzing around them as they felt another kind of buzz. Three immortals. From the farther side, Kronos guffawed viciously as he left the darkness and came into the light. To his left, Morgan Walker was neatly dressed in a suit, his hands in his pockets, calmly waiting. To Kronos' right, Catherine Devaney was cracking the joints of her hands.

Walker moved to the left side of the factory, where Methos followed him, producing his sword. Kronos did likewise but to the right. Darla was covered briefly by the shadow of Victor as he moved. She wanted Kronos, but she knew that she was no match for the Pestilent immortal. So she would have to focus on her opponent: the lady with the fish lips. She grinned as she approached with her spear ready. She would dine fish and chips tonight. She heard noise to her left. The party had started.

-----

Methos dodged Walker's first blow and contained the second with his sword. Walker tried to retreat but Methos hooked his opponent's sword with his. A struggle began. Methos moved his blade towards Walker's face and made a superficial cut, not very painful, but sufficient to distract him enough to release his blade. He stepped back as Walker lunged again. He parried his attack. A series of clashes began, with Walker landing blows on Methos' blade. The older immortal knew that it would take time to tire Walker out. He only hoped Morgan had not improved a lot since their last meeting.

-----

Kronos and Victor studied each other before beginning to battle. Two ancient swordsmen fighting with a barbaric style. Martial arts had nothing to do here. It was a one of a kind method of combat, based on raw force and the want of consideration for the opponent. Kronos lashed out violently at Victor's shoulder, and met his opponent's broadsword. The other replied with a strong blow that hit Kronos' arm. The two retreated to study each other.

-----

"So you'll let him handle the murder of your yellow pig?"

Devaney's words had infuriated Darla so much that she attacked clumsily, hoping to stab her chest. But she overextended her thrust and Catherine slashed her stomach and her back before she could put up any defence. As her wounds healed, she parried Devaney's blows as she could, half-kneeling on the floor. Once fit, she jumped up and struck harshly on the face of the fish, who staggered back. Darla wielded her spear. The fish was good, but she knew she could outwin her even in her worst day. So long as she stayed focused.

-----

Methos retreated again. Walker had managed to cut his chest and make a serious wound in his shoulder, making his weapon hand numb. The pimp had improved since their last meeting indeed. He glanced right, and noticed that they had drawn near Darla and Devaney. His pals were going well thus far. He had to keep up to his team.

Walker went forward again, hoping to thrust at the other shoulder. Methos ducked as Walker went past him with his right arm arching above him. Methos began to rise and punched Walker on the side of the stomach. Walker bent in pain as Methos inflicted him even more by plunging his sword in his back. Walker fell, dead. He retired the sword and swung it up, glancing at the others.

-----

Kronos had the upper hand. Victor had suffered two deep cuts in his arm and one in his stomach. Evidently the Kurgan was extremely rusty and out of shape, he thought. He landed another blow on his blade and swiftly retreated to attack again. But he only began to swing his sword forward when he saw the massive immortal lunge at him with a deafening shriek and impale him against his sword. Kronos gasped.

"I am the end of Time!" he said as blood gushed out of his mouth.

"Really?" Victor mocked.

-----

Darla avoided Devaney's downward blow and saw an opening below her left breast. She thrust there and succeeded in wounding her. Devaney hissed as she attacked again. Darla parried and hit her on the head with the lower part of the spear, a blow strong enough to make her opponent land harshly on the floor. Catherine's sword was somewhere other than in her hands. Darla did not care, she went forward and sliced her head off before the fish could mutter anything. Dinner's ready, she thought bitterly.

She looked at Methos, who was with his sword ready to strike at Walker's corpse. Her eyes met his and she stormed towards him, wielding her blade above her head. She swung forward, taking Walker's head. Methos looked at her appalled but said nothing.

She turned to her right. A white mist was beginning to appear from Devaney's corpse. She looked for Victor, who was mightily stabbing Kronos. She ran towards him, yelling like a wild beast. Her mentor glanced at her and swung his sword up, making Kronos' gasping body dive in the air, going towards her. She froze and stood in profile, her spear on her left hip. When Kronos' flying corpse was at range, Darla extended her weapon forward and upwards, and she struck against the Horseman's neck. The body bent in the air and plummeted against the floor, as the head fell somewhere else. She had screamed out loud as the blood bathed her face as his neck said farewell to the head that had been with it for three millennia.

"Ride in hell, a---hole!"

Devaney's quickening hit her in the shape of lightning. Methos and Victor were moving towards the door. She looked at her sides. Walker's quickening gripped her and penetrated every pore of hers. Both quickenings made her shiver. It was glorious. Twice the pleasure, the twice the pain. She opened her eyes and saw a shape of a glinting black horse galloping towards her, stemming from Kronos' body.

"What the...?" she thought, before being struck by it. God almighty, a triad of quickenings. She yelled as the energy made her skin melt, her blood boil, and her heart pump. It was an orgasm of painful pleasure and pleasant pain. She began to soar as pure energy circled around her in a green whirlwind. The whirlwind began to draw in and when it touched her, it made her shriek again. It was the zenith of all quickenings. Power, power and more power.

It went off all of a sudden. She landed heavily on the floor. She opened her eyes and slowly stood up. She balled her hands, seeing the energy sparkling in them. She looked for her companions. They were nowhere to be found.

-----

"ROBERT HAILS - BELOVED FATHER." Darla read the grave and contained the tears that crammed in her eyes, struggling to break free. She bitterly wished she had had the chance to talk to him. At least a few words between them would have done. When she became immortal, she had assumed she would not see him again. But seeing him there... all those mixed emotions locked away inside her escaped.

"Hi, Darla."

Darla turned startled. Jimena Varela, her watcher, was next to her, holding a bunch of roses, dressed in a black sober dress. She placed the flowers by the grave and silently stood there by the immortal she should always watch and never talk to.

"What are you...?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry." Jimena grinned with embarrassment. "For his death, and... for writing that... you were..."

"Unstable? Perhaps I am." Darla conceded.

"I had no right to judge you. You... live in a way that I will never live. The head taking is something I'm glad will never happen to me. It would drive me crazy." Her voice broke at a point, but it levelled again.

"It doesn't matter now."

"And I have something for you." Jimena produced an envelope. "Adam... or whatever he is called, asked me to deliver this to you."

Darla took the envelope and moved away. "Watch you."

Jimena called again. "If you... feel like..." Darla turned, noting a particularity in her voice. "... I don't know..." The watcher's face went red as she spoke "... that party of four, of just the two... of us..." Darla's mind started working. My watcher is making a pass at me. It's a very mad world, she thought.

"Some other time perhaps." She said, leaving in a cheered mood.