Colleen was seated, motionless, in the center of her dojo's floor mats in the early morning sun. She was sitting in seiza position, her feet tucked beneath her, with her sheathed blade in her lap. Her breathing was kept slow and deep, her eyes closed.
She brought herself to full attention as she heard the rapid footsteps approaching the door, opening her eyes just as Danny burst into the room like he was being chased by wolves. "Colleen!" he called, agitation and excitement woven in his tension. "She's on the move. We have to go, now!"
Giving him a single nod, Colleen leapt to her feet from her seated position while holding her sheathed sword in her left hand, and immediately grabbed her jacket from the wall before following Danny out to the car. "What happened?"
Getting in the passenger seat of the car, Danny's leg bounced up and down with nervous energy as Colleen got in the driver's seat, and drove to the place they knew Elektra was staying. "I don't know for sure, but I know I've been feeling some weird currents from her over the past few days," Danny said, staring out the window as he thought.
"So..." Colleen prompted him, as she turned down the correct back streets to get to the abandoned loft Elektra was staying in currently. "What do you mean?"
"Before, it was like she was just this... shaded patch of reality shaped like a person, like her very being was eating even the light around her," Danny said, rubbing his chin as he thought. "Over the past two or three days though, I've been feeling her try to channel the same kind of thing I was taught in Kun Lun. It was subtle, but against the... the shadow of what she normally is, it stood out. It stood out really, really strongly. And today, she rented a car, and was packing things into it when I ran back."
Furrowing her eyebrows, Colleen pursed her lips as she thought. "Did you notice anything else?"
"Yeah," Danny said, almost absently. "She was practicing the slow-movement energy forms, similar to the ones I learned in Kun Lun to channel and focus my chi. It was when she was doing those that the... the sunlight stood out against the shadow the most."
"She offered to be Jessica's teacher two days ago, Jessica said," Colleen said slowly, trying furiously to think this through and figure out the puzzle before her. "and you know she visited Matt's church yesterday - we followed her," she said, sighing after a moment. "None of this really sense."
"I don't know," Danny said, narrowing his eyes, "But this is the Black Sky we're talking about here. Matt's feelings aside, she's the avatar of the Hand's desire to dominate and cut apart the entire world. We can't afford to get suckered in by whatever games she might be playing."
Colleen was quiet for a moment. "Danny, this might be more complicated than that. We have to keep our eyes open," she said, looking at him meaningfully as she parked the car. "Come on."
"Yeah," Danny said with a sigh, getting out of the car along with Colleen, and racing along with her to the side of the old building, ascending the one across the street from it for a proper vantage point. Soon enough, they were rewarded by the sight of Elektra, wearing what looked like older exercise clothes, carrying a large box of papers out to the rental car, placing them carefully in the back seat, and returning inside.
Colleen observed this with squinted eyes. "Kind of hard to do evil with that much paperwork," she remarked with a smirk. "Unless she suddenly started being an evil banker or something."
Danny glared at her, but returned his attention to the building across the street once more. After only another moment, Elektra gracefully moved out of the building, wearing a light grey jacket, and moved to the driver's seat of the car.
"Here we go," he said, ducking backward to stay out of view before darting down the side of the building. Colleen was only a heartbeat behind him, leaping lightly from the building's railings to walls to streetlight to ground to land lightly on her feet. They both raced to the car, and dove in, Colleen only barely starting the car before Elektra's car was turning the corner.
However, it turned out to be much less of a chase than either expected. Elektra seemed to drive a bit faster than the speed limit, but she wasn't racing - and her direction was heading out of the city.
An hour later, both were feeling a bit more confused, as Elektra's car wasn't headed to an airport - of any size. Instead, both her car and theirs passed a sign, indicating Niagara Falls were only 100 miles away.
"She might be headed to the dam, or an electrical station," Danny said anxiously. "She might be trying to cut power to half the state!"
Colleen gave him a sceptical glance before returning her eyes to the road. "The last turnoff to reach the dam was last exit, Danny," she said simply. "The one we passed five minutes ago."
Danny slumped in the passenger seat of the car. "This doesn't make any sense."
"Well," Colleen replied with a smirk, "let's think this through. What evil could she be planning that involves a big box of papers, yoga pants, and the Niagara Falls?"
Scowling now, Danny crossed his arms. "This isn't funny, Colleen. This is Elektra we're talking about here. This is exactly the kind of person who'll come at you sideways, and only when you blink."
"She might just be going camping, Danny," Colleen said patiently. "With... a whole lot of paperwork, granted, but she could just be trying to relax and find herself after everything that happened. She did die and get brought back to life by the Hand, and turned into Alexandra's personal attack dog, from everything you told me."
"Let's not forget that she killed Alexandra the moment she could," Danny said, glaring out at the car ahead of them. "She killed Stick. She also bought the land Midland Circle stood on, and that means she has access to that underground chapter and all those dragon bones. I'm pretty sure she's just pretending to be nice and fluffy before stabbing everyone."
"And her evil plan for world domination involves a coffee shop?" Colleen asked him in disbelief. "And a big box of old papers?"
Danny shook his head, frustrated. "She's planning something, I'm sure of it. I just... have no idea what."
The rental car ahead of them began to slow, the car's blinker turning on as it exited from the freeway. Colleen followed it, keeping another car between her car and Elektra's rental car when she could. However, both could read the signs on the exit ramp. "Oh, look!" Colleen said, with feigned surprise. "The Niagara Falls campgrounds," she said, nodding sagely. "The ideal place for evil deeds."
Danny glared at her, which only made Colleen smirk as she kept following the rental car ahead of them. "Colleen, why aren't you taking this as seriously as I am? This is the most powerful weapon the Hand ever produced, now working as a free agent. From what Matt told us before, she was never a good person. He said he saw it, but he also said he was in love with her, so I don't think we can really trust his judgement here."
"You trusted his judgement when he asked you to look after Hell's Kitchen, didn't you?" Colleen asked, raising an eyebrow. "Look Danny, I get why we should be concerned. I do. But everything she's been doing since then has... matched someone trying to find themselves, not someone trying to leap right back into evil deeds," she said, lifting a hand from the steering wheel to gesture with emphasis, before giving him a smirk. "She doesn't even have a proper moustache to twirl as she kicks a puppy - it's the wrong image."
Sighing, Danny slumped more into the passenger seat of the car, and glared out the windshield. "She has the right accent though."
"Oh, so everyone with a pish-tosh English accent is evil, now?" Colleen laughed.
"Well, yeah," Danny said. "I mean, look at the movie we saw just last night..."
"You mean the Bond movie?" Colleen asked, scepticism heavily weighing on her words before she sighed. "Come on, Danny."
Scowling in annoyance, Danny crossed his arms and resumed glaring out the windshield of the car. Soon enough though, he sat up in attention as they both saw the rental car ahead of them turn down the road leading to the campgrounds.
Following it carefully, Colleen parked in another parking lot. Without a word between them, she and Danny raced quietly from their car to follow Elektra into the preserved wilds.
After about twenty minutes of following her, Colleen and Danny had to zip their jackets up, due to the chill in the air. Curiously though, Elektra was still wearing just a black tank top and black yoga pants, and seemed to show no sign of being cold. She continued walking until she reached a grassy plain surrounded by evergreen trees. She walked to the center of the grassy plain, set down the large cardboard box of papers, and sat down cross-legged next to it, reading a few pages.
Watching from the trees, Colleen and Danny both narrowed their eyes at the sight of Elektra simply reading through what looked like old papers, some so old they had yellowed with age. After a few minutes though, they saw her take a deep breath, set down the papers, and get to her feet.
She took a relaxed stance, and began moving with exaggerated slowness. Her arms and hands moved gracefully like twin windmills in slow, gentle spirals, exhaling as her hands stretched out, and inhaling as she brought her hands back in for another rotation.
Danny narrowed his eyes. He could feel the subtle golden sparks within Elektra from the life-nurturing energy similar to the one he channeled. They weren't very strong, but they stood out very starkly against the shifting and thick shadows that was what he remembered of how she felt energetically. The golden sparks weren't visible to the naked eye, but they circulated within her form, seeming to slowly gain strength and speed as they did. After only a few minutes, it was as if she were circulating molten gold within her being.
However, he saw the shadows within her begin to convulse, and become thicker still. He saw Elektra had opened her eyes at this point, and had her eyebrows narrowed, but she wasn't stopping. Still moving with the same slow, gentle movements, she looked as if she were having to concentrate more and more to hold the pattern.
Suddenly, she shuddered, and slumped to the ground as if she were a puppet with her strings suddenly sliced off, unmoving. They counted a full minute at least of her laying on the ground, not even breathing.
"What the..." he heard Colleen say quietly. Just as they were about to leave their hidden spot to see what had happened to her, they saw her shudder, and then convulse.
That lent them both speed, as they raced out of the trees toward her, but then skidded to a stop as they saw her suddenly sit up, and begin to vomit - violently and continuously. Worse yet, what she was throwing up looked like a thick, black tar with streaks of blood. What she was throwing up didn't simply pool in front of her, though - it began to move on its own, collecting together like droplets of mercury.
Even after two or three minutes, she was still vomiting violently, but now whatever it was that she was throwing up was collecting into a shape in front of her. To their horror, they saw it begin to collect into the bones of a large, inhuman being, and begin to cover it over with looked like the same black, red-streaked tar Elektra was even now still throwing up.
It seemed that she was helpless to do anything else, and it seemed Danny and Colleen were just as frozen in their shock. Danny's eyes widened as he began to recognize the creature, but it didn't look anything like the one he had encountered in Kun Lun. Danny felt his blood growing cold, and his eyes widening. "Colleen," he said in a low, urgent voice, "I think that's a dragon."
As if to prove his words, the thick black and red tar-like liquid had collected into the shape of a four-limbed, winged being with a tail, and long neck. The difference was that this one appeared to be a skeleton that was bleached white, with the black and red substance acting as its skin. Nothing was seen in eye sockets of its skull, but the unnatural darkness there suggested that it didn't need any.
Elektra had collapsed onto her chest once she was finished vomiting, and didn't seem to be moving.
Worse yet, the being spoke in a whispering, but rough voice that sounded as if someone had tried to swallow ground glass. "It is as I told you before. You will never be free. Your fate was to be my puppet - and like a child, you fight against your fate. You are a failure, and I will watch as you die, and turn to dust. I'll find another host to carry on my work - one that won't constantly fight against me like a stubborn fool. Now do you see how futile your rebellion is?"
To their shock, they saw Elektra's left arm slowly pull back toward her body, her hand plant against the ground, and she began to slowly push herself up.
"You should have simply let yourself die, and let your memories go," the being growled at her, seemingly annoyed that she was moving at all. "That life of yours was over long ago. I have eaten your memories of it, and you cannot have them back."
Elektra's right arm joined her left, and pulled back to help her slowly push herself up, and pull herself from laying down to sitting on one knee, as her shoulders heaved with effort.
The being growled at her angrily, before making a hissing noise that sounded like laughter. "What gave you all of your strength and power was me, and I no longer grant you my power. Your body is running on empty, your heart stilled. You will fall down dead for the second time within a few minutes, once your body runs out of the leftover power I've granted you, and your heart stops for eternity. Accept your fate as a failure, and die."
Elektra however had pressed herself painfully to get to her feet, facing it directly, though her stance spoke volumes of her pain and exhaustion. "You will never again harm another child," she said with a shaking voice, as she drew her sai. "And a lot can happen in a few minutes."
To everyone's shock, Elektra took a deep breath, and charged directly at it. She narrowly dodged being cut in half by its claws, but still had her arm slashed open to the bone. Nonetheless, she continued her motion and stabbed both of her sai directly into its throat.
It laughed at her, and slapped her away hard enough for her to bounce against the ground twice before she came to a stop, heavy slash marks showing on her side and chest. "I do not have blood or flesh like the weak life I once was," it wheezed with laughter. "Your usual tricks are useless against me. Accept your fate as a failed puppet, and die with your strings cut!"
Favoring the wound on her shoulder as she got back up to her feet, Elektra dropped the sai on the ground, and she took a stance. "So, I must use my bare hands, then," she said, before walking toward it.
At this point, Colleen and Danny ran out of the treeline, intent on helping her. To their surprise however, she put up a hand to them, but didn't take her eyes off the thing in front of her. "This is my fight. Don't attack it unless I fail."
Colleen nodded, even though she knew Elektra couldn't see it. "Take your honor back," she said to her. "and make that thing pay for trying to take it."
Danny said nothing, but didn't charge forward at it either. Obviously frustrated, he clenched his hands before relaxing them once more, and took a deep breath.
Satisfied, Elektra began walking once more toward the being in front of her. "You tried to take my memories," she said in a low voice. "You tried to devour who I am."
"You are not unique," the being said disdainfully. "You are only the host who was given to me as a full adult, instead of a child. Children are easier to mold into weapons than stubborn and headstrong enemies of the Hand."
Elektra kept walking. Her stride had changed from unsteady, to a stalking and angry stride that promised terrible things, written in a contract and signed with blood. "Fitting then, since that time is over now," she said, before leaping to attack.
It swung a claw at her, and she darted forward to parry the strike with her forearm, ignoring the claws that sliced open her other shoulder, and dodging the thing's hind claws that sought to rip apart her legs. Reaching forward, she grasped its upper arm with her right, and its wrist with her left hand. Simultaneously, she twisted in opposite directions, and they all heard it scream as they heard a muffled crunch.
A moment later, Elektra flung its right arm, still covered with the strange, sickly reddish-black tar-like substance onto the grass. Without pausing for effect, she darted forward again. It tried to dodge out of the way, but her outstretched hand managed to grab onto the edge of one of its wings. Grimly pulling herself toward it, Elektra ripped the wing off with one smooth motion. Throwing it behind her onto the grass, she looked at the being once more. "Now, you can't run away," she said in a cold voice.
It screamed, and leapt to slash at her with its remaining arm, trying to gut her with its hind claws. She darted into its reach - past its remaining claw, between its legs, and struck it in the chest as hard as she could. She was rewarded with a loud, echoing crack, matched only in volume by the being's ragged scream.
Grimly, she moved her other hand to its chest, and with both hands, ripped open the ribcage. It tried to dodge away, to move back and out of her grip, but she hung on, and kept pulling. With another crunching noise that made Colleen and Danny both cringe, she flung the right side of its ribcage out onto the grass, and reached into its chest.
It gave a warbling scream that suddenly stopped mid-note. Elektra seemed to be busy within its chest for a few more moments, before stepping back. She seemed to be holding a large lump of blackened and dessicated flesh, looking down on it with an unreadable expression.
They saw her eyes widen, and they saw her take a single step - then, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed onto the ground once more.
They looked at one another, and then raced out from their spots toward her. Absently, Colleen saw that the being's body, and dismembered parts strewn on the grass was beginning to crumble and blacken into ash.
Elektra lay on the ground, unmoving - blood and the blackish-red tar covered the front of her body, and the left side of her face. Strangely, it looked like the large lump of dead flesh she had torn from the being's chest was beginning to rapidly dissolve as well, so quickly that it had completely finished by the time they reached her unmoving body.
"No pulse," Colleen said, checking her wrist before checking her chest and nose. "No breathing, either," she said, a worried expression on her face. "Danny, do we have any idea what to do? Or even what's going on with her?"
Danny looked torn between being extremely frustrated and confused. "I don't have any idea," he said, running his fingers roughly through his hair in his annoyance. "I know we can't take her to a hospital, that's just asking for problems."
"We need to take her to Claire, and right now," Colleen said to Danny. "You grab her, I'll grab the box she was carrying."
"What about her rental car?" Danny asked.
"Not the time, Danny!" Colleen shouted, as she grabbed the box, and lifted it with a grunt - it was far heavier than it looked. She moved rapidly to the car, hearing Danny behind her.