Original of the Species 2B: The Mayor and the Saiyan: Wilkins Chapter Twelve, a Buffy: The Vampire Slayer + Dragon Ball Z Crossover fanfic

Chapter 12

'Sic Transit Femina'

AN: Loo and behold what my dear and valuable beta DoWnEr brought in, another chapter for your amusement! As you may have noticed by now the Sunnydale and Belmovekk/Android arcs have fallen by the wayside. To be honest, I had grown tired for a while about redoing BtVS scripts. Just assume that in Sunnydale things continue to fall apart as Faith works for the Mayor, that Belmo keeps training his soldiers and that #13 keeps evading the search for him. Originally I wasn't planning on doing this but aside for the finale I had little planned for these arcs anyway. And I was in the mood for something different. Don't worry, it will all come together again in the end. All the more sooner if you give me all good comments. ;-).

The first thing Angela noticed as she stepped through the portal was how different the sky looked than she was used too, both from Earth and from Shimrod's place. The sky in Tanjecterly was heathergray. Before her shone two suns, one green, the other lemon yellow.

She found herself standing on top of a gently sloping hill up to her ankles in blue grass, which covered the area of low lying hills that she was in as far as the eye could see. She really was in another world. Angela in Wonderland. Curiously she reached down and touched the grass. It felt coarse and sharp to her bare skin. If not careful you get some nasty cuts on the stuff.

Angela took a few steps, then she turned around. Behind her stood an exact copy of the shed that was on Earth, with the same shimmering visible in the doorway, the portal back to Earth. Only this wasn't going to be hers and Xander's portal back to Earth.

Back in his mansion, before Shimrod had transferred Angela into what she was now, he had explained to her what she could expect to happen. Portals between Earth and Tanjecterly couldn't be opened at will, only when the time was right.

"You must view the interconnectability between Earth and Tanjecterly as a clock, sweet Angela," Shimrod had explained, "only when the time is right can a gateway be opened and only for a certain time will it be open. But not one those newfangled digital clocks, no, more like one of those old clocks. One driven by weights and pendulums. In this case the pendulum is Tanjecterly's moon, which moves around in the northern sky. As it does it strikes a radius with a central pole and somewhere along the radius a node can be opened, if pulses are in synchrony. It is a matter of exacting calculation, since time moves at different rates there and on earth." "Sometimes there time goes fast and on Earth slow, and sometimes the opposite. Only when time runs at the same rate, as determined by the pulses, can the gates be opened."

"Since most of the time on the current synchrony has passed you will not make it back in time to make it through this gate. Considering that the next synchrony has shifted any gate I would make here could end up anywhere, your best chance to return would be to make one of your own."

"But how would I do that?" Angela had protested, "I'm no wizard!"

"Relax," Shimrod had said as he tried to allay her fears, "yes, it takes a lot of effort and lore to create a gateway. But there is a place in Tanjecterly where the central node is immutable. If you go to the town of Asphrodiske at the right time and strike a large iron post near the town's center with this, you and whoever you're holding will be transported back to Earth."

Shimrod held out a black nine-sided rod with a golden knob at the end. Each side was engraved with inlaid golden characters.

"Guard this with your life, Angela," he had said strenuously, "for this is your key back to Earth. Only few of these exist."

Even as she thought about it Angela reached inadvertently to the pocket inside her flexible armor Shimrod had given her which housed the rod, her key back home. Then she looked north, where a black moon hung in the sky. Just by looking at it she felt a wave of fear running down her spine, like it was a source of pure evil. Yet it was the other instrument of her return.

"When the moon is underneath a pink star it signals that both Earth and Tanjecterly are in synchrony again and you must strike the post in Asphrodiske," Shimrod had said. At this moment the black moon was still underneath a bright pink star that somehow was bright enough to make it through the combined light of two suns. But it had already moved from directly underneath it and soon the moon would move away.

"Shouldn't you be doing something?" a voice spoke derisively in her left ear, causing Angela to flinch and reach for her ear, where a large golden earring adorned her left ear.

"Aaah," she yelped as she fingered her left ear, "do you have to be so loud!"

"I'm just trying to be helpful," the earring slash efferent spoke at a more agreeable volume, sounding somewhat aggrieved at the same time, "it is not my fault your hearing is so delicate."

"Well, it is, so a little less would be much appreciated," Angela said chiding, causing the efferent to mutter.

"I'm totally unappreciated here," it muttered dejected, "I have the encyclopedic knowledge of the whole galaxy and all she does is complain about…"

When Shimrod had given her the efferent he had told her to be strict with it, like with a small child, or else it would exhaust her with endless banter. And it looked like he was right.

"Look, Smirk," she said sternly, "I appreciate your vast knowledge and I look forward to using it often, but there has to be some ground rules. First one, no speaking unless spoken too."

"You have got to be shitting me!" the efferent complained in an insulted high pitched whine, "not only is it highly insulting, you would be missing out on a world of knowledge you could learn from!"

"Nevertheless, I would prefer it if you were to keep quiet and only respond to my questions," Angela said.

"Empty headed pornstar," the efferent sulked aggrieved, "I guess they really did fuck your brains out."

It continued to sulk for a while more, but at a more tolerable level, its mutterings a soft buzz. Feeling confident she had just scored her first victory Angela felt quite pleased with herself. Until she realized it might have been better to silence the efferent after it had given her the lay of land first.

"Uh, Smirk," she asked her efferent amiably.

"What?" the efferent said coolly.

"Could you, um, please, uh, tell me, um, where I am and, um, where Mang is?"

"Why would I?" the efferent said snidely, "I mean, isn't knowledge like kryptonite to you pornstars? After all, isn't that why you got into porn in the first place? Alright. Why do I even bother?"

Taking a deep breath the efferent explained to Angela the lay of the land.

"You are near the beginning of the Lakkady hills. To your south lies the great Tang-Tang steppes and across that the river Haroo. Far to the south of that lies Asphrodiske. If you skirt the Lakkady hills to the north, north-east however you will come upon the river Bose that separates the Tang-Tang Steppe from the plains of Woe. Skirt the plains of Woe and follow the river Bose to the north then you will come upon the citadel city of Mang. There, are you happy now or do I need to skullfuck it into you brain?"

And with that the efferent said nothing. And again Angela didn't mind. Well, it was time to test her new body. Back at Shimrod's place when she had awoken in the Saiyan body she had felt great. Better then great. She had felt like Superman. Or should she say Supergirl? She had felt raw power coarse through her veins. Almost instinctively she aimed her hands towards the sky and had created a ball of deadly energy. Then she looked at Shimrod.

"How… how did I do that?" she had asked surprised as she reabsorbed her death ball. The mage looked at her appraisingly.

"You'll find that you can do a lot of those things," he said, "although they will not all come instinctively. I suggest you'll practice a lot along the way."

In Tanjecterly Angela had began to power up, just like she had seen Xander had done a few days ago. But something was wrong. There was no earth shaking, no dirt rose up in the air. As she reached the peak of her power a weak chi flame sprung into existence. But no there was no strong wind pelting her surroundings. Only a very slight breeze. Panting heavily she finally reached her maximum power.

"That's it?" she exclaimed in disappointment. Then she tried recreating the death ball she had made at Shimrod's place. Instead only a small ball came out. She tried throwing it and it flew a few hundred yards before exploding on a hill top. The explosion was big. If you consider it was Angela's first attempt at creating a chi blast. In real terms however it was more hand grenade big.

"Can I make a suggestion?" the efferent said smug, "or should I wrap my question in terms you would understand? Like 'Yo! Suck this, bitch?'"

"What?" Angela said snippily, the conscious piece of jewelry really starting to piss her off now.

"It's clear that doing the big light shows is too much for you in the conditions of Tanjecterly," the efferent continued ruefully, "so before you go and make an ass of yourself I suggest you use chi blasts only when really necessary and stick to hand to hand fighting. You still have some speed and strength advantages. Especially considering that most berserkers are very strong, but at the cost of sacrificing some of their speed. And don't forget to use that big pig sticker on your back for something else then pleasuring yourself."

The efferent was of course referring to the large blade she was carrying on her back, the sword Kahanthus, a blade of pure blue metal, inlaid with plaques of ivory in its handle and a large red ruby at the handle tip. Angela reached for the blade on her back. When Shimrod had given it to her the first time, before the transfer, it felt impossibly heavy. Now she wielded the blade and it felt like it was made for her as she swung it around a few times. Shimrod had said the blade originally had come from Tanjecterly and as she swung the blade it somehow felt like it had come home again.

Angela sheathed the blade back in its sleeve again. It was time to get a move on. She had dallied enough time here. Both as an experiment and to see how it felt she launched herself into the air and began to fly. As she experienced the thrill of flight for the first time she felt pure exhilaration. When she was still working the streets she had often daydreamed what it would be like to just fly away and get away from it all and now it felt like she was finally living out her fantasy. Wind blasted her in the face but she didn't care as she began to scream in pure exhilaration.

Her joy however was short-lived as after only a few miles she began to feel tired. Until finally she felt she could no longer keep up the pace and she landed. Panting heavily she sat down on top of a hill and tried to catch her breath back. While fun it felt like she had flown through the chi equivalent of a thick soup. Angela quickly realized that flying wasn't going to get her there quickly. If she was going to reach Mang in time it would have to be by foot. Running would go slower but at least it wouldn't tire her so quickly. Too bad Shimrod had given Xander his only pair of inexhaustible boots. Nor did he have a flying carpet of sorts.

But he had given her a bottle of a draught that would restore some of her exhaustion. She took a small sip from it and felt new energy flow throw her body, most of her tiredness gone. It wasn't a hundred percent but it would have to do as she corked the bottle and put it back in her pouch hanging from her belt. It wasn't perfect and if she didn't sleep for the night and used it to keep going there would be hell to pay at some point. But it would have to do. So she began to run at a brisk pace.

That night Angela made camp next to a small stream. She took a small miniature cottage from her pouch and put it on the ground.

"Grow big," she said and the cottage grew from a miniature into a full sized cottage. Inside she found a fire going in the mantle piece and a stocked pantry full of food, from which she eagerly ate. She surprised herself with how much she could now eat. There was no bathroom in the cottage, which meant the outside was her toilet. It did have a wooden bath tub though. She filled it with water from the stream, undressed herself and then sat down in it. It was ice cold and had she still been in her human body she would have jumped out faster then you can say cold. Now she endured and used her chi to bring the water slowly to the right temperature.

As she did she reached for a small mirror nearby and studied her face. It felt strange to have this oddly growing raven black hair. But what really felt weird was the face that was not hers staring back at her. The black irises in her eyes, the strange nose, the facial features unlike any she knew form Earth. And she had seen many on the streets of Los Angeles. But what still gave her the creeps was the brown furry tail that even now gently swayed from the tub. It just wasn't natural and she began to understand why Xander felt appalled by the small stump growing from the top of his buttocks.

After the bath Angela felt incredibly tired and made for the large comfortable bed and she was out in no time.

That night she dreamt. It was a dream she often had. She dreamt she was back on the streets of LA, back in the hands of her pimp Carlos. Who had caught her pinching money so she could escape both him and the streets. Who then punished her by beating the living shit out of her. And then the door opened and the Golden Angel would step inside and save her. In her dreams half of the time he wouldn't come and she would awake screaming as Carlos slit her throat. But in the other half the Golden Angel would come in, slaughter Carlos and then take her by the hand. And he would take her away far from the streets, far from the Carlos' in the world. She never knew to where, only that it was a better place.

But neither would happen this night in this dream. Instead of the Golden Angel a girl walked in. A girl dressed in blue and white armor, a brown furry tail wrapped around her waist, raven black hair growing in odd angles and by now very familiar facial features. She came close to Angela as Carlos choked the living shit out of her and sneered.

"You disgust me," the girl said in a hard edged tone, "why don't you fight him?"

"I… can't…" Angela managed to say with Carlos' hands choking her windpipe, but the girl just shook her head looking revolted.

"What kind of revolting piece of shit whore are you?" she said disgustedly, "You allow a man to do this to you? Where's your pride? Where's your honor? Is there nothing left? Why do you rely upon men to either hurt or save you?"

Angela couldn't respond as Carlos made it impossible for her to speak.

"Time to die, Angela," Carlos grinned behind her and all she could do was look helplessly at the girl in front of her. But by the looks of it she didn't have to expect any help from her.

Then Carlos was yanked off of her and she could breathe again. As she looked around she saw a new girl had arrived on the scene. She looked like an Aztec warrior, brightly adorned with colored stripes painted on her face and colored bands tied around her arms and legs. Effortlessly she threw Carlos against the wall with one hand and then sank a cruel looking knife in his gut with the other. As she pulled the knife out Carlos' guts came out after it as the tip of the knife had a very cruel hook on it.

"Why didn't you help her?" the newcomer said accusingly at the Saiyan girl.

"She's weak," the Saiyan girl shrugged indifferently, "If she can't help herself I see no reason to help."

"It is the duty of the strong to help the weak," the Aztec girl said berating, "didn't your precious goddess teach you this?"

"Puhlease!" the Saiyan girl snorted, "Priya instructed us to help those worthy to be helped. She however is pathetic. All of her life she has relied on others to help her. She lets herself be exploited. Never did she stand up for herself. It's only because she kids herself that helping the boy will win him over that she's here."

The Aztec girl helped Angela on her feet and took her into her arm. She used her free arm to first sheath her knife and then wrapped it around Angela.

"There is no shame in being a fool out of love," she countered the Saiyan girl, "my husband traveled halfway across Pakat to prove his love and devotion for me, even though he is just a weak man. If it is their fate to be together then they will be together. If not, then at least she can comfort herself that she did everything she could to prove herself. That in my eyes makes her worthy."

"Bah, you're just as sentimental as she is," the Saiyan girl snorted in disgust and turned around to walk away, "I will be no part of this."

"You're not even worthy to join her," the Aztec girl called out after her, then she gently stroked Angela, "shush, rest now."

After that Angela dreamt no more for the rest of the night.

The next day Angela encountered the first sign of civilization on her quest. As she came running through the hills she suddenly saw a castle on top of a hill in the distance. Its walls were made from solid black granite, with a mighty donjon dominating the structure

Halting for a moment she admired its shape. It seemed straight out of one on those fairytales she used to like when she was little. When things were still good and she still believed in happy endings. Seemingly in another life ago. But it never bode well to dwell upon those times, so Angela pushed those thoughts away to the back of her mind. Besides, it was time to move on, she had little time to take the scenic route as it was.

She was about to run off when a knight appeared on his steed. At least she thought it was a knight, all dressed from head to toe in an armored suit of black and brown metal. Only his steed wasn't a horse but a splay legged tiger like creature, a crest of sharp horns down its forehead as it roared defiantly at Angela.

"Halt!" the knight said sternly as he lowered his lance towards Angela, "I am sir Faude of Caragh Fail. Who dares to intrude upon my land?"

The tip of the lance mere inches away from her face Angela was dumbstruck. What should she do?

"I….., uh…., um…..," Angela stammered when she suddenly heard a voice speak in her mind.

"Stand your ground. Show no fear, just tell him you're just passing."

"Uh, I'm just passing through," Angela said hesitantly. The knight didn't immediately respond, nor did he lower his lance.

"Whatever you do, don't be the one that flinches first," the voice said in her head, "while fear will get you killed, a show of strength will often win you respect."

"Who're you?" Angela thought back.

"A shadow of a shadow," the voice replied gently, "do not worry girl, unlike the other one I'll look out for you."

While Angela had her inner communication the knight still didn't make a move.

"What is your name and what brings you to my lands?" the knight suddenly asked wearily. Angela wanted to say something when the efferent suddenly spoke in her ear.

"Do not give him your name, not under any circumstance," it said curtly, "He is a F'lsharn robber knight. He is waiting for you to give his name so he can challenge you to a duel. This is not some stunt cock you can appease with a blowjob. If he learns your name you will have to fight him to the death."

"The obnoxious jewelry may speak the truth," the voice in her mind spoke, "just kindly but firmly ask him right of passage."

Angela swallowed before speaking.

"Oh, good sir knight, I must decline giving you my name. For I am on a quest and, um, until I fulfill my quest I must keep my identity a secret."

"Good one, toots," the efferent said approvingly, "it would appear that silicone hasn't completely poisoned your mind yet."

The knight raised his lance somewhat

"It is most unfortunate that you cannot give me your name, young lady," the knight replied formally, "for let no one say that sir Faude of Caragh Fail does not obey the rules of chivalry, nor does he lack in courteousness. I am not unsympathetic to your plight. In fact were I given your name I would invite you back to my castle where I would treat a maiden like you to a fine meal and a warm bed to rest in. For my castle is but the last between here and the river Bose."

"This guy's not taking no for an answer," Angela thought in panic.

"Yes you can," the voice replied steadfast, "just believe in yourself. I know people have been telling you all your life you can't do anything but they're wrong. You are strong, Angela. You proved it by saving Xander's life. You can do this. Just tell this asshole to stuff it and that you'll be on your way."

"I'm not sure I can," Angela responded dispirited

"Then you might as well go back to the portal while it still exists," the voice said frowning, "for if you cannot face a single robber knight, how are you going to rescue Xander from a city full of strong berserkers?"

The voice was right. The city was going to make this single knight look like peanuts. Yet Angela was still hesitant. Habits of a lifetime were hard to break and all her tough talk at Shimrod's earlier seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Couldn't you just… do this… for me?" Angela asked the voice, "help me out here?"

"Nobody asks you to fight him, just stand up to him," the voice said sternly, "just decline his offer and be on your way."

"By the seven hells!"a second voice suddenly said impatiently. Suddenly Angela felt her consciousness being pushed back, like she suddenly became a passenger in her body as somebody else took the controls.

"My name is Ferucca of house Tsangaris," Angela's voice said, "and for your insolence today I will kill you and leave nothing for the scavengers to feast on."

The words had come from her mouth but they weren't hers. The knight seemed glad as he raised his lance in a salute.

"Well met, Ferucca of house Tangari," he said, "now that I know your name there is no more need to heed to honorless subterfuge. We shall meet upon the field of glorious battle."

With that the knight turned his steed and drove off, leaving Angela gob smacked.

"Foolish bitch! What have you done?" the first voice said angrily.

"What needed to be done," the second voice said offhand. Then the second presence in her mind was driven from the driver's seat and the first took its place.

As the knight reached enough distance for him to have a run up Angela's right hand reached behind her and drew the blade Kahanthus. She then held the blade up with two hands

"Angela," her own voice now said aloud, "since Ferucca forced our hands you might as well pay some attention."

The knight kicked his steed in its side and began his charge, lowering his lance towards her. Meanwhile the presence that had overtaken Angela just stood her ground, holding the blade at the ready.

"Get out of the way!" Angela screamed mentally but the presence in control paid no heed to her, remaining immovable.

Only at the least minute did it move as it tapped into her chi and brought forth her left hand, to fire off a chi blast just in front of the running creature. It exploded with enough force and noise to confuse the charging knight and throw him off his game.

"What the…?" the knight muttered confused. That was the last thing he would ever say as his opponent suddenly somersaulted over his head and with one swift stroke of the blade decapitated his head. As the steed rode on for a little longer the headless body remained upright as well.

Meanwhile the presence landed Angela's body in a perfect stance, then reached for some of the blue grass and whipped the blade clean, before sheathing it in one motion.

"Nice," the second presence said appreciatively. Then Angela was back in control.

"What? How?" she muttered but the first presence cut her off.

"You should go after the knight's steed and get it. We can use it to travel to Mang without tiring ourselves. As for Ferucca and I, me and her are going to have a chat."

As Angela did as she was told inside her mind a room grew into shape. In this large room, still bare there were no windows. A door opened and a girl with native American features and Aztec clothes stepped in. On the other side of the room another door opened and a girl in Saiyan battle armor stepped in.

"What the hell were you doing?" Aztec girl said angry as she walked up to Saiyan girl and began to thump her on her white chestplate, "She wasn't ready to fight!"

"Puhlease," Saiyan girl snorted as she swatted away Aztec's girl arm, "at the pace you're coddling her she'll never be ready. Mang is only a few days away. For better or worse, we are all bound to her fate and I don't relish dying the first time she meets with some real opposition. Besides, now at least we have transportation."

"You had no right taking her over!" Aztec girl countered but Saiyan girl waved away Aztec girl's objections.

"Firstly, the girl is inhabiting my body. That entitles me to something. Secondly you may coddle her from a sheep into a sheepdog, she may even have her brave moments, but deep down it's still in her nature to be submissive. Those instincts need to be trained out of her, not coddled. Thirdly, while she can draw on some of our battle skills, they mean nothing without training, experience and instincts. Did you see the pathetic chi attack she made earlier? I could have made it way more stronger cause I know what I'm doing. She needs to be trained, she needs to fight, and she needs to be tested. Only then can she save that boy and make it out alive."

Aztec girl didn't immediately respond as she thought it over. It was in her nature to be protective. Protect the weak was at the center of their culture's belief. Every time the Goa'uld came to their world it would be the warriors that stood, fought and died so the young, the sick, the weak, the elderly and the helpless could escape.

"It is not our creed to abandon the helpless or let harm befall them," she said softy.

"In my culture the weak either get with it or they die," Saiyan girl said, "my own sister was taken from us the day she was judged to be weak. The royal auditors took her and sent her into space to fend for herself. My parents cried dearly that day. I cried dearly that day. For we love our children more then anything in the universe. Yet as my mother saw me cry she beat me up and beat me good. If my sister was worthy she would survive, if not then we would remember her fondly but our race would be the better for it. She was never returned to us by the retrieval squad."

"That's horrible," Aztec girl gasped aghast.

"It is as is," Saiyan girl shrugged indifferent, "we are not cruel, we do not hate the weak. But the universe is a harsh place and if we allow the weakest amongst us to hold us back we will perish with them. If we coddle the girl we will perish with her. No purpose will be served by that."

"I, I see your point," Aztec girl said as she contemplated Saiyan girl's words. Both her and Saiyan girl's society were driven by the same goal, only they came to different conclusions.

"Know that I will not let any harm come to her," she finally said, "but what do you propose?"

Later that day Angela sat on top of the former knight's steed. Sitting in its saddle as the beast ran across the outskirts of the Tang-Tang steppe that skirted the Lakkady hills. Despite the fearsome look of the tiger like beast it allowed itself to be ridden just like a horse. And was she glad that in better times her grandmother used to own a farm where she could ride the ponies when she stayed there for the summers.

She hadn't heard from either of the two presences in a while, which was just as well on one hand and worrisome on the other. By now it was clear who they were. The aggressive one was most likely the girl who's body she inhabited. The other one was that Pakatchikal girl. Supposedly her guardian. But what worried Angela was that both of them were able to take her over like that. Shimrod had said she could draw on their experiences, not be taken over by them.

"Smirk," she said to the efferent on her ear.

"Is there something, your mighty pornstarness?" the efferent said mockingly, "are you missing something to wrap your lips around?"

Its flippantness was really starting to piss her off.

"Why do you have to be so insulting, Smirk?" she asked annoyed, "I just wanted to know something."

"You really have no idea," the efferent said snidely, "maybe you're content to have a brain the size of a peanut, most likely rotted away thanks to some sexually transmitted disease, but I am the repository of more knowledge then has been lost over the centuries on that insignificant planet of yours. You could have learned something, but no, instead you tell me to shut up until spoken for from the get go. Do you have any idea how insulting that is? No? Do you? Really? Sperm for brains?"

Angela wanted to say something but instead she said nothing.

"Now, what is the question?" the efferent asked.

"Never mind," Angela responded sullenly, which caused the efferent to mutter even more.

"Great! Now she not only instructs me to speak when spoken too, now she also wastes my time. Damn who…."

"Why do you allow that thing to speak to you like that?" the second presence suddenly spoke in Angela's mind, "that thing's just the bloody magical equivalent of a pocket computer. It's got nothing to be proud of."

"But I need it," Angela replied defensively, "it knows this place."

"It's still the equivalent of a pocket computer," the presence shrugged mentally, "even infants knew how to use those. By the seven hells, you show it who's boss!"

"But I don't know…."Angela tried to say but the presence cut her off.

"We have a long road to go," it sighed in disgust, "right, time to begin with the basics. I'm taking over."

And with that Angela became a passenger in her loaned body again.

"Hey!"" she protested but the Saiyan presence cut her off again.

"Look girl, we have no time to coddle you. If you die, we all die. I will oversee the business here for a while and give that glorified pocket computer a much needed lesson in humility. Pozcatetl will put you through boot camp. I get you later. Have fun!"

And with that Angela's consciousness sank deeply away, leaving Ferucca in charge. And the first thing she did was lightly tap the earring/efferent.

"Yes, your sluttiness?" the efferent said annoyed.

"I think we should have a talk, you and I," Ferucca said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Do you even know how?" the efferent sighed bored, "I thought they stopped doing acting in porn since the rise of gonzo?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ferucca said lightheartedly, "I was thinking you and I should have a chat about proper decorum."

"Don't strain your brain using big words," the efferent said quasi-worried, "you might hurt yourself."

"I don't think my brain is the one you should be worrying about," Ferucca said as she reached for the earring.

The next day Angela found herself suddenly sitting in the saddle again. She had no real idea what had happened to her other then that the other personalities had taken her over again. The Saiyan presence that had taken her body over was gone, leaving her not where she had been the last time, yet still on the vast Tang-Tang steppe. And she saw that she was no longer alone. In the distance a column was moving. Unprepared for the sudden change and this sudden sign of life she didn't immediately know what to do until someone or something gave her the mental equivalent of a slap on the head.

Next without knowing she halted her horse like tiger (the higer?) and made it lower itself until it lay on the steppe. Next she got off her stead and lay down next to the higer. Almost instinctively she reached for her pouch. The pouch, a gift from Shimrod, could hold far more things then seemed possible and from it she took a pair of binoculars. A part of her expected them to be some kind of magical binoculars but to her surprise they turned out to be regular US Army surplus. They did have night vision though.

"Good," Ferucca said appreciative as she and the Pakatchikal girl Pozcatetl observed Angela's actions from their subconscious room with no view, "she's keeping a low profile, lowering herself. Not how I would have done it though. But considering that I didn't get my hands on her yet and what we have to work with, not bad."

For more then a day Angela had spent in the care of Pozcatetl, who had trained her mercilessly in the ways of her culture until they became instinctual. Or so she hoped. Of course, this all taking place inside her mind there were no limits on what the Pakatchikal girl could do with her charge, including the perception of time. Still, the only limits she never could overcome were those posed by the girl's psyche. So she hoped the girl would pass this test she was currently facing.

Meanwhile Angela peered through the binoculars. It would appear that she was looking at a caravan, although she wasn't sure yet as to what kind. The caravan consisted mostly of eight large black creatures, each with eight legs. Their backs were flat as a board and they were heavily laden with various goods, items, and persons, many of them human, although the first and last creatures carried a small castle like structure.

Controlling the large creatures were tall thin grey creatures, eel like in their appearance, be it with limbs and with large round eyes, like made from black volcanic glass. They gave Angela the creeps just by looking at them through the binoculars. Besides the eel like creatures, nearly all of them armed, there were at least a dozen humans with them on foot, all in chains tied to one of the larger creatures and a greater number chained on banks on top of some of the large creatures.

Accompanying the caravan were six more of the eel like creatures, heavily armed with lances and armor as they rode large snakes. And to her horror some of the eel like creatures on top of the big creatures were gesturing to the riders and then towards her. It was obvious they had seen her.

"What the hell are they?" she said out loud.

"They are called Progressive Eels, mistress," the efferent spoke meekly, "they live in the river Mys basin, to the east of here. While they do engage in trade with other cultures the Progressive Eels generally tend to be xenophobic in their approach to the other cultures of Tanjecterly."

For a moment Angela wondered what the fuck had happened with the efferent's arrogant attitude. Then she ignored it. There were more pressing matters.

"What of the humans?" she asked peering through her binoculars, "Are they slaves?"

"The Progressive Eels don't keep slaves, mistress," the efferent replied, again very meekly, "at least no slaves of other races. If I were a betting man I probably wouldn't lose any money if I said they were destined to end up in the cooking pot."

"That's disgusting," Angela said in horror, looking over her shoulder as if she could see the efferent that way.

"Life on Tanjecterly is as is, mistress," the efferent said subserviently, "I did not make it this way. If it is any consolation, the arrival of man on this world has severely reduced both numbers and territory of the Progressive Eels."

As she looked through her binoculars she saw two Progressive Eel riders riding towards her.

"Shit! They found us!" she exclaimed as she felt panic rising.

"Not necessarily, mistress," the efferent said, "I detect another life form close by. There is a 98.9% chance it is human."

"Where?" Angela asked as she began to look around with her binoculars.

"To your left, mistress, 12 minutes to ten."

Angela turned her binoculars to the direction the efferent had given her and after some searching she found it. Or should she say him. Hiding behind a dark blue bush was a man, dark hair, dressed in rags with an iron collar around his neck.

"An escaped slave," she said softly.

"More like escaped dinner," the efferent said, sounding smug for the first time, then as if it remembered it quickly added in a subservient tone, "mistress."

As the two Progressive Eel riders closed in on their escapee Angela couldn't help but think of an incident back on the streets. A girl, Audrey was her name, a good friend of both Angela and Doris, had dared to defy Carlos and talked to one of his rivals to see if he would take her under his wings instead.

Then one fateful night Carlos pulled up in his car and rode up to Audrey, Doris and Angela. He opened the car door and told Audrey to get in. And from just looking at his eyes Angela, who knew about Audrey's plans, could see that he also knew. And by the look on Audrey's face it was clear that she also realized he knew.

At that moment Audrey still had the option of running away. And Angela might have done something to help her friend. Distract Carlos long enough so she could make her escape. Chances were that Carlos would still get her in the end, but still, a chance is still better then no chance.

And yet she did nothing as Audrey slowly but surely got in the car and then closed the door behind her. And as Carlos' car drove off that was the last time she ever saw her friend again. The next day Carlos came by the house where he kept his girls in to collect their earnings, drop off whatever dope they were hooked on and leave behind some polaroids of Audrey in various stages of having the living shit kicked out of her. Before he left he mentioned offhand that he had sold Audrey to the Hells Angels and that if they were done gang raping her she'd only be good for cleaning up their toilets with her tongue.

As the two eel riders wriggled their short but large snake like steeds to catch their fugitive Angela felt a sudden burst of belligerence take hold of her. She had stood by and let a good friend be taken away to her demise, she wasn't going to let a fellow human being end up in some cooking pot of these, these damn creatures!

She put away her binoculars in Shimrod's magical pouch, then she got up and mounted her higer. Once she sat in the saddle she kicked it in the sides and reached for her sword on her back. As the higer roared as it jumped forward Angela drew the sword Kahanthus and charged into the two Progressive Eel riders.

The two riders were completely taken by surprise as Angela disturbed their rounding up action of their fugitive. They had surrounded the man and lowered their lances towards him when suddenly Angela crashed by and with one fell swoop decapitated one of the Eels. As its body stiffened and still sat upright on its snake Angela turned her higer around and charged the other rider before it had time to raise its lance towards her.

To its credit it managed to overcome its surprise and swung its lance towards Angela, but it was too little, too late. Angela swung her sword and knocked the tip of the lance aside. As it deflected the tip away from her she swung the swords backwards, brought it up and as she passed the flabbergasted creature she swung down again and decapitated it from behind.

She then halted her higer and pulled out a piece of cloth to clean her blade. Next she sheathed her sword and pulled out her binoculars again. The Eels with the caravan had watched her attack on their recapture party and they still had four additional Eel riders in reserve. It all boiled down now to how badly they wanted to expend resources just to capture a single human destined for the cooking pot. It was probably wise to show them that it was going to be very costly.

She raised her power level as fast as she could, reaching as deep as she could, then she raised her arms into the air and shot as much energy into the air as she could and shouted.

"HAIL OF FIRE!"

For a moment nothing happened as the beam disappeared into the sky and in the clouds. Then it began to rain down packets of chi and it bombarded the plain between her and the caravan. The effects weren't so spectacular as she hoped, each packet striking the plain and exploding with the force of a large firecracker. And boy did it make her feel tired doing so as she panted heavily.

But there were an awful lot of the chi packets hitting the plains, like a clusterbomb that had opened on a high altitude and showering a large area with a hail of small exploding bomblets.

It was enough for the caravan leader to accept his losses and order the caravan to move on, away from this new and dangerous foe that had suddenly emerged. Better to lose a food animal and two riders, then to lose more riders and run the risk of the entire caravan falling to this menace. Or to the other known menaces that were still between them and their homelands along the river Mys.

As the caravan moved on Angela turned towards the human, a male seemingly in his thirties, who had a large facial tattoo covering the right side of his face.

"Come with me if you want to live," she said as she offered him his hand.

Meanwhile, inside her subconscious two presences had witnessed Angela's actions.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Ferucca said approvingly towards Pozcatetl, her fellow inhabitant of the girl's subconscious, "she not only charged into battle, she stood her ground."

"And it only took little encouragement from our part," the Pakatchikal girl agreed with a sense of pride. It was they who had triggered Angela's long repressed memory of what had happened in the past, the guilt she had felt at having done nothing. But after that it took the girl surprisingly little to become angry enough to overcome the inhibitions that normally held her back.

"Could this be the influence of your body?" Pozcatetl asked Ferucca, "Don't your people have an almost lust like desire for battle?"

"They have," the Saiyan girl echoed, then she rubbed her chin, a smirk appearing on her face as she contemplated, "interesting, once she let her anger take control of her she manages to tap into some of my body's abilities almost without thinking. I look forward to training her tonight when she sleeps."

"What, no more disparaging comments about her being weak?" Pozcatetl smirked.

"She wouldn't make it past the Royal Auditors back home but let's just say for now she's caught my interest," the Saiyan girl replied.

By the time Angela stopped for camp she already began to regret her decision to rescue the prisoner. No, that was wrong. She didn't regret rescuing him. That was a good thing. It was the taking along part that she now bitterly regretted.

Fisk, as he was called, just didn't know when to shut up. If he wasn't forever asking her questions he was boring her to death with details of his life. Funny thing was, even after hours of talking she still didn't have a clue where he was from.

And to make it worse Fisk had pledged his never ending loyalty towards her. To be, as he put it, the shield-bearer of the raven haired warrior maiden of justice. Upon hearing that name alone she had nearly thrown him off the higer as it ran across the steppe.

After she halted for the night she took out her pouch and reached inside for the miniature cottage which she put on the ground.

"House, grow big," she yelled and the cottage grew to life size in an instant, smoke rising from it's chimney.

"By the black moon!" Fisk exclaimed as he fell onto his knees, "Not only is she a great warrior, my fair raven haired warrior maiden of justice is also a great wizard of repute. You have built us a shelter for the night!"

"It's just something I got," Angela said exasperated, "It doesn't mean I know real magic."

"Whatever you say, my raven haired warrior maiden of justice," Fisk said as he bowed towards her. Angela rolled her eyes, then she closed them and sighed.

"Fisk," she said sternly.

"Yes, my raven haired warrior maiden of justice," Fisk replied, looking up to her with one eye.

"See this nice cottage, where there's food, warmth and shelter for the night inside," she asked in the same tone as she pointed to the cottage.

"Yes, my raven haired warrior maiden of justice."

"If you ever call me like that again you'll spend this night, the next night and every other night outside while I stay inside."

"But its cold outside," Fisk complained as he gestured around himself, towards the wide open steppe.

"You hear that?" Angela said as she pretended to hear something.

"What?" Fisk asked as he looked around in confusion.

"That's the sound of me not giving a damn!" Angela yelled, causing poor Fisk to recoil in shock.

"I shall do as you say," Fisk nodded, "my ra…., uh, um, how am I to address you exactly, milady?"

"That will do nicely," Angela said smiling, then she pointed towards her higer, "now go put the what's-its-name in the stable behind."

As poor Fisk slinked off leading the higer towards the back Angela went inside, savoring her little victory over Fisk. She shouldn't gloat but damn, he could be annoying. Inside a kettle with food was already hanging over a burning fire giving the place a nice aroma. It was amazing. The last time she had been here the fire had been off and she had left a lot of dirty crockery behind from breakfast. Mind you, she had missed a whole 24 hours as she had blacked out and remembered nothing of what happened.

But as she tasted from the savory stew that was inside the kettle she doubted she had a hand in its creation. Xander had been right when he had said she might know how to suck dick but didn't know a pot from a pan. Maybe she should ask Shimrod if she could keep the place. It would be nice to have a self-cleaning house that also cooked for you as well.

Then the door opened and Fisk stepped in

"I've put the Yssander in the stable," he said as he closed the door behind him, "Hmm, that smells great. Can I have some, my ra… uh, milady?"

"Grab a plate," Angela said as she opened a cupboard and took out two large and still warm loaves of bread. Next she poured stew on both of their plates and they ate dinner.

"I am not familiar with this kind of bread," Fisk said as he broke some bread of a loaf and examined its white interior.

"Your bread looks different?" Angela said as she dipped a piece of bread into her stew before wolfing it down. This plate probably wasn't going to be her last. Ever since she had gotten into this body she could eat a horse and still have room for seconds.

"Bread shouldn't look white on the inside," Fisk said, smelling the bread suspiciously, "nor brown on the outside. Decent bread should look purple with a nice black crust."

"To each his own I guess," Angela shrugged before wolfing down another chuck of stew soaked bread, "I prefer my own Earth bread thank you very much."

Fisk stopped examining his bread and looked up towards Angela.

"Earth?" he said surprised, "Isn't Earth's but a myth?"

"It's very much real thank you very much," Angela countered but Fisk looked at her like she was crazy.

"Earth's a fairy tale, a bedtime story at best," Fisk shrugged unimpressed as he took a careful bite from his bread, "not bad though."

"If Earth's a myth then why do humans live on Earth?" Angela asked the man from Tanjecterly.

"How should I know?" Fisk replied offhand, "Magic? They say some wizards can travel to other worlds. According to the Gnasters man came into Tanjecterly when the First God threw up after eating a very bad meal of G'znotcho."

"That's ridiculous," Angela exclaimed, "we have found bones in the ground that tell us man evolved over millions of years on Earth from earlier life forms."

"Yeah, right!" Fisk snorted as he dipped some bread into his stew, "bones in the grounds that speak. And my story's supposed to sound ridiculous?"

Angela wanted to say something but changed her mind at the last minute. After all, it wasn't like she had paid much attention to evolution when she had still been in high school. The Fisk began to yawn.

"Ha, what about sleep?" she said in a triumphant tone, "what's the point of sleeping on a planet where it's never night?"

"What's night?" Fisk asked flabbergasted and she explained.

"On Earth we only have one sun. It sets every evening and the sky turns completely dark. Because of that all humans have this need to go to sleep in the evening, and they wake up again when the sun rises."

"What a strange world," Fisk said ruefully, then he smiled, "although I have to say it's not the first time I heard such idiosyncrasies. My grandfather, before we sold him to the Progressive Eels, used to say similar delusions, naming Earth in particular. He claimed that throughout the decades portals would open between Tanjecterly and Earth and people would fall through. Or that they were placed here by evil wizards."

Fisk's story raised an eyebrow with Angela as it corresponded with what Shimrod had told her.

"Of course, that kind of talk was what got him into conflict with the Gnasters in the first place," Fisk continued, "they don't like it when somebody questions the Thorn Gospels. Thanks to grandpa's heresies our family was recast to a lower caste. So when the time came for our family to make a sacrifice it was only natural that he was the one to pay for it."

"Hold it a minute," Angela said as she held up a hand, "you sold your own grandfather to those things I rescued you from?"

Fisk gave her a look as if it was the most common thing to do in the world. At least in this one.

"My people live in the steppe of Sore Beggars, milady," he explained, "while our lands are harsh and barren, our people are fertile. Either we must seek work elsewhere or if that fails we must sell the only thing we have of value to survive. Our own flesh and blood."

"That's horrible," Angela said aghast but Fisk shrugged.

"Obviously it sucks to be one of them, as I know now from personal experience. But the clans must survive. And slavery is a fact of life."

"But who would want an elderly slave?" Angela countered and Fisk shrugged again.

"While they would prefer to have our younglings as they tend to be tastier the Progressive Eels still pay good dibbets for our elderly."

"But they eat them!" Angela said aghast.

"They're old and of little use, at least this way they can still serve their people through their sacrifice," Fisk replied like it was the most normal thing in this world.

Angela wanted to say something, how terrible it was but at the last minute she decided not to. After all, this was their way of life to them. Who was she to tell them they should change. And besides, were the people of Earth any better? Countless desperate foreigners were brought into the US on a daily basis by shady human traffickers exploiting their misery. Many of the girls with whom Angela had worked the streets with were forced to do so by the Carlos' in the world. Hell, she had been forced and used herself. Here it was just a little more out in the open.

"So you were sold to those things to become their dinner as well?" Angela finally asked, but Fisk shook his head and snorted.

"No way was I to be a meatling. I am Fisk, the most shining example of manhood ever to come from the steppe of Sore Beggars. Where I pass women swoon in their methalds and men glow with envy in their husaldts. Had my grandfather's heresy not condemned me to a caste of low status I could have joined the Gnasters and sold others into slavery. Even then I was of too much value to the tribe as a buck of fine quality. Had I not been caught courting a fine lady of a higher caste eager for a dose of fine Fisk I would never have been sold to the slavers as punishment."

"To those eel things?" Angela asked.

"Of course not," Fisk said in reply, "a fine buck like me fetched far more to the slavers. They in turn sold me to the Mang Berserkers."

"The city of Mang?" Angela said big eyed, "you've been there?"

"A whole decade of my life, milady," Fisk replied disgusted, "although it felt more like ten decades. But I survived. All the others that came with me from the steppe, they all perished. The hard work, the bad food, the beatings, the abuse, the treachery, none survived, except I, Fisk the magnificent. Not only did I survive, I prospered."

As if to illustrate his point Fisk hit his chest muscles, which weren't that bad to look at. There was probably not an ounce of fat on his lean body.

"Nor was my mind broken like the others," Fisk continued, growing ever more loudly in volume, "for I escaped a record breaking four times from their black citadel. The third time I almost made it to the river Mys before the Berserkers recaptured me. After the fourth time they deemed me too much trouble and sold me to the Progressive Eels."

"From which you escaped again into my hands," Angela smiled, there was something infectious about his exuberance.

"Indeed, Milady," Fisk said as he stood up and bowed towards her, then he stood up straight and raised a hand into the air, "Which I guess makes it five. But the final joke is on those damned Berserkers! For they had just sold me when the dark haired warrior hit their citadel and slew a bevy of their warriors and razed many of their buildings. And since its not the slavers season they will have to make do with one less pair of magnificent hands! Muhahahahaha."

Eyes aghast Angela reached out and took Fisk's arm.

"You…, you…, you saw Xander? When?" she stammered.

"I don't know any Xander," Fisk said somewhat surprised at her outburst.

"You spoke of a dark haired warrior that attacked the city of Mang," Angela said, "I am looking for a friend and he went to Mang and was captured. If you know what happened, then please, tell me, Fisk."

"Well, let's see," Fisk said as he looked upwards and rubbed his chin.

(Several days ago)

It had taken him seemingly like forever but now he was finally there. Curse this accursed planet with its strange energy fields for changing what would have been a short journey of a few hours (including the return journey) into an epic trek across what seemed like half the planet. But thanks to Shimrod's non-tiring boots Xander had made it to the citadel city of Mang in little over two days, running all the way as fast as he could in this accursed energy.

Now he lay on top of a hill and peered through his binoculars as he observed the city. Which was truly built like a fortress to withstand the siege of Gondor. This part of Tanjecterly had some steep and rugged hills and the one Mang had been built on rose up even steeper then most. Strategically located next to a river it would have dominated the surrounding countryside. That is if there was anything else to dominate.

Instead Mang was more like somebody had placed a city right smack in the middle of nowhere, like one of those Siberian industrial wastelands that had been created by decree by Stalin in the former Soviet-Union. Whatever had motivated the people of Mang to set up shop here, it wasn't apparent to the naked eye. There was little sign of trade going on, nor did it seem like it sat in the middle of rich well cultivated lands, instead the surrounding lands were just hills with mostly barren and windswept tundra further to the north.

Xander tapped the earring on his right ear and spoke.

"Smork, query? How come the people here don't starve to death? To quote Big Joe, there's no booze, there's no broads, there's no action."

"The economy of Mang is based on a single commodity," the efferent spoke flatly without arguing, like it had done so after Xander had taught it a lesson, "the payment of tribute. Simply put, there is nobody on Tanjecterly who can stand up to the fabled Mang Berserkers in a pitched battle. Or any other kind of battle for that matter. The rest know it so they buy them off instead. Since Mang Berserkers have been known to travel as far south as Hiro and Widemarth this gathers them quite a lot of tribute."

"So they're basically Tanjecterly's equivalent of Jack O'Toole, beating up the other kids for their lunch money?" Xander asked.

"While I don't know who Jack O'Toole is, I can make a good guess though," the efferent Smork said, "your analogy is correct up to a point. Of course the Mang Berserkers have also been known to be available for hire. And just the acquisition of a small group of them has sufficed in some cases to sway a battle. When the two cities of Enzyma and F'lar fought a bitter war over the correct worship of the 7 eyed goddess of Gor, F'lar found itself losing after 23 years of bitter struggle. Poor and starved of resources F'lar was only able to hire a single Mang Berserker. But that was enough to sway the course of the war and Enzyma found itself in ruins within a year."

"They're that good, huh?" Xander remarked, "Alright, next question, what makes these guys tick?"

"Mang Berserkers worship what they call the All Encompassing Aspect. Nobody knows what that is. Nor does it really matter. It is said that once the great warrior philosopher Mang sought the answer to life, the universe and everything. Because he hated women he withdrew himself to this place with a large group of his followers and spent fifteen years sitting on top of that hill, never moving an inch while he considered the answer to life, the universe and everything. Finally, after fifteen years of soul searching Mang got fed up with not finding the answer to life, the universe and everything and he gave up. As he left the hill top he learned that most of his faithful had perished in the harsh environment. He was about to order a return to civilization when he kicked over a large stone he had been looking at for over fifteen years and underneath the Axis of Pythia was revealed."

"Curiously he spent another ten years studying the Axis and then left the hill a second time saying he had found the answer to life, the universe and everything, what he would call the All Encompassing Aspect. Those of his followers that had survived had by now become hardened by the harsh environment. It was to them that Mang began to impart his truth. Having studied the Axis of Pythia it gave Mang access to many truths not seen in this universe, including ways of fighting and martial arts of supposed alien origin. When Mang died he left the Axis and the All Encompassing Aspect in the hands of his followers and they swore they would defend both his wisdom and the Axis of Pythia."

"Within ten decades their number had grown, construction of the citadel of Mang had begun and Tanjecterly had begun to fear the name Mang. Within another ten decades it was finished and Tanjecterly was their fiefdom. Despite their rapid growth in number this was not accomplished through natural growth as Mang's dislike of all things female meant he forbade any kind of man/female relationships. Nor did they accept willing new members."

"The Mang Berserkers therefore take young children in tribute and let them loose in the even more harsh environment to the north, to fend for themselves. Those that survive into puberty are considered worthy to become Mang Berserkers and become acolytes. They're encouraged to fight one another until the Tribulation, the great trial of manhood. During which they must withstand great pain and discomfort. Think of a student initiation combined with severe torture and physical tests and of course combat. Only those that survive the Tribulation can become Mang Berserkers and will be allowed to learn the full All Encompassing Aspect."

"Okay, so these guys are both tough and fanatic," Xander said as he began to peer through the binoculars again, "of course, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. They must have an Achilles heel or something."

"You still have the upper hand in strength," the efferent suggested hopeful, "plus you can fly short distances and use limited chi blasts. That has to account for something, right?"

"I suppose," Xander said as he studied the citadel, "now where do they keep the Axis?"

"The citadel is divided into nine circles," the efferent replied, "with only those living in the most inner circles knowing the full All Encompassing Aspect and those in the outer circle only the first tenet. It therefore stands to reason that the Axis Pythia is being kept in the most inner circle."

"A great help you are," Xander snorted, "a simple locator spell from Giles would have been more helpful."

"While it pains me to hear my services are not of satisfactory value, I must raise a word of caution," the efferent Smork said not without demur, "the usage of magic of any kind would not go without notice to the Spectral Masters who live in the most inner circle. They would then swamp you up to your ears in Berserkers in no time."

"Bummer," Xander muttered, then he peered through his binoculars again as he studied the inner circle. With the city laid out like a wedding cake every inner circle lay higher then its preceding outer circle. The inner most circle lay at the top of the hill. It was here that Xander spotted a large building, almost like a cathedral.

"I see this cathedral like building on the top circle, Smork," Xander said, "could that be where they keep the Axis?"

"The Berserkers did erect a temple on the spot where Mang spent his days contemplating the All Encompassing Aspect," Smork replied, "it is considered their holiest of holiest with many great artifacts being kept there."

"Alright, that gives us a place," Xander said as he put away his binoculars, "Let's get this show on the road.

"Whoa, wait," Smork objected, "it does not automatically follow that the Axis of Pythia is being kept there!"

"If you have a better suggestion I'd like to hear it?" Xander said in an annoyed tone of voice, whilst helpful the damn thing was also damn annoying, "if not, shut the fuck up! Oh, and no gloating if I'm wrong!"

"Your wish is my command," Smork replied meekly, with just a hint of sarcasm thrown in there for good measure. Ignoring the efferent Xander formulated a plan of action. If he made it down into the valley his approach could be seen miles away and he would still need to cross the river between him and the city. And from here it was at least two miles, as the crow flies. The location of Mang made it near impossible to approach the city unseen from anywhere. Besides the north that is. And that probably involved a two day trek across difficult terrain with a high chance of being seen as this was where the Berserkers apparently dumped their potential recruits.

Still, flying two miles as the crow flies was doable even under the accursed conditions of Tanjecterly. Problem was that Xander was only at half power and he didn't dare raise his power much further. There may be not much of the pyrotechnics involved with raising one's power level here, who knows what they could still notice. Even a slight earth tremor could set them on edge as far as he was concerned. But he needed that extra power.

That left only a slow gradual increase, one that would take hours to complete. While tedious it also offered the advantage of it being more dark. This far north the two suns were at their lowest, there might even a chance of some actual twilight to occur. Every little helps.

It took Xander six long and tedious hours for him to reach full power. And during that entire time he was unable to eat anything, as all his food was inside the grow big/grow small cottage. Which always grew big with its damn chimney smoking. Great if you wanted a roaring fire and a hot meal. Not so good when you're encamped next to an enemy city.

When he had reached his maximum Xander examined the citadel one last time. Some twilight had set in but not much. There were no visible signs of life slowing down in the city. With the constant sunlight Tanjecterly in a way truly had a 24 hour economy. Smork had explained to him that the Berserkers of Mang never slept, although they did spend some time in daily meditation.

Deciding this was as good as it was going to get Xander launched his attack on the city of Mang. He lifted himself in the air until he was a kilometer high, then he sped towards the city. Even though he was at his max there was no large blaze of chi trailing behind him. And for once Xander was profoundly glad for it, banking on the element of surprise instead. Anything that helped would be so much the better.

By the time he over flew the city however Xander would have gladly given anything to get his blazing chi trail back if only it came with the same speed he enjoyed back on Earth. He hadn't flown this slow since the days of the Angelus show down and to his horror he could see below that he had been noticed. As Xander began his final approach the first alarms already went off and the final stretch to the temple seemed to take like forever.

By the time Xander reached the temple, the lower circles, which housed the main body of Berserkers, were already stirring into action. Luckily for Xander the upper circle was only lightly defended, with only half a dozen guards guarding the temple entrance. The guards, dressed in glossy black armor over pale blue tunics tried to put a stop to Xander. And credit where credit was due, they did manage to put up quite a fight. But this seemed clearly a ceremonial position of great honor and the guards were mostly way past their prime. Despite putting some good moves they all fell to his axe.

Having dispatched the guard Xander pushed against the massive wooden doors that gave entry to the temple and slowly they swung open. Inside the place was large and cavern like. The walls were lined with what appeared like battle trophies and scenes depicting the life of Mang. Xander turned around and examined the doors. A large did just that and picked up the heavy beam. Even despite his massive power it wasn't that easy a job. But he managed and with the doors closed he felt safe to look around for the Axis.

Figuring the holiest of holies was usually the jackpot for all things most valuable and sacred Xander ran through the temple hall which sloped gently downwards, into the hill itself. There were no benches, apparently the Berserkers didn't believe in sitting comfortably during mass, or whatever the hell passed for mass in their community. In the back of the temple a large cloth hang from wall to wall showing a huge portrait of the prophet Mang as he held up a book in one hand and a small gold shrine statue in the other. The remainder of the cloth was covered in enough writing to occupy Giles for life.

"Hello Axis of Pythia," Xander grinned. Then he studied the cloth. There had to be a door behind it somewhere. But the cloth seemed seamless. It really was a magnificent work of art, worthy of the best museums, but right now Xander's only concern was to see what was behind it. He couldn't find a seam that would give him access to what lay possibly behind, nor could he get behind it by folding the edge away. It was nailed tightly shut where it touched the floor and wall and probably the ceiling as well.

BOM!

A deep bassy sound thundered through the cavernous hall as outside the Berserkers were getting their shit together and had begun their attempts to break down the doors. Which made it all the more imperative that he got his shit together also.

Xander moved to the center of the cloth covered wall and took hold of it with both hands.

"Giles, forgive me for this sacrilege which I'm about to commit," he said before ripping the cloth with all his might from the wall. In one rip Xander tore off about 3/5ths of the cloth from the wall. It was enough to reveal what was behind it.

Which was sadly enough very little. There was only a single hollowed out space where the head of Mang had been, about 15 feet from the floor. Xander lifted himself off the floor and floated upwards until he hung in front of the niche. There was only enough space to fit a small box in it and there it was. Xander took out the box, made of heavily rusted iron and floated downwards again until he stood on the floor. Once on the ground he put the box on the ground and began to open it. It was locked but nothing a little force couldn't help overcome. With one yank Xander ripped off the lid.

Inside the box there was more cloth, covering up what was inside. Only this didn't need excessive force to get rid off and Xander pulled it off. Underneath the cloth there were bones. Lots of bones. Enough bones to build a skeleton with.

"Mang I presume?" Xander said heavily disappointed as he put the cloth back on the bones. He was in the wrong place. At best the Axis was here but hidden so well it would take him ages to find. And he didn't have ages, as behind him came the sound of a wooden door breaking.

Xander put floated upwards again and put the box back in his niche. No need to be disrespectful towards the dead. Then he floated downwards again and turned around. Where he faced hundreds of armed men in black glossy armor.

"I guess this is the wrong time to start gloating?" the efferent Smork whispered in Xander's ear but he ignored the smug little efferent.

"Gentlemen," he said as he fingered his axe, "I know you are men of great faith, but if you don't stand aside you'll find your faith to be a religion that requires a distasteful amount of personal sacrifice."

(The present)

"Now mind you I wasn't there, milady," Fisk said as he leaned back contently in a chair, feet on the table while he had a tankard full of ale in his hand, "I was already sold to the Progressive Eels. But their caravan hadn't left the city yet and I was still being held in the slave pens. So I got to talk to some of the slaves who had to clean up afterwards. They told me the Basilica not only suffered extensive damage, your friend also slayed more then five score Berserkers. The greatest single loss those bastards ever suffered in a day. Mind you, milady, had they not tried so hard to capture your friend alive it probably would have cost them a score less. But that's the Mang Berserkers for you in a nutshell. Once they got their heart set on something, nothing will persuade them."

Angela didn't immediately respond as she contemplated Fisk's dinner table tale. Xander's frontal assault had not gone down well. It also showed her that if she wanted to do any better she'd better come up with a better plan, especially since her body was not as powerful as Xander was. Nor was she as trained as he was.

"So what happened to Xander afterwards?" she asked.

"What do you think, milady?" Fisk sniggered, "he defiled the Basilica of Mang and trashed it. He might just as well have taken a piss inside Mang's skull. There is no greater sacrilege known to Mangkind. When the moon reaches the fifth quarter they will break every bone in his body and let him die a slow death in the Cage of Quiet Contemplation on the Square of Ultimate Truth."

Angela thought long and hard about that.

"When is that," she eventually asked, "the fifth quarter that is?"

"When the moon stands next, but not quite next to Ke'rang of course," Fisk replied like it was common knowledge, "you know, the pink star."

Angela got up and walked up to the window and peered outside. The pink star was the one Shimrod had told her to watch. Its position would determine when they could go home. At the moment if the pink star was the center of a clock and the black moon the little hand of a clock it was about 5 o'clock'ish. And if Fisk was right Xander would meet a very nasty end at 4 o'clock.

"Smirk, how much time do I have till this fifth quarter," she said softly.

"Little over two days, mistress," the efferent replied, "Earth days that is. I suggest you hurry."

Angela bit her lip and walked back to the table where Fisk watched her as she sat down.

"Fisk, how much time does it take to travel to Mang," she asked softly.

"Well, considering you do have a Yssander I'd say two sleeps, including this one," Fisk replied, then he leaned over towards Angela, "you're going to rescue him, aren't you, milady?"

"I have to," Angela replied, then she turned to Fisk, "will you help me free him, Fisk?"

Fisk began to grin ferally.

"Will you be killing lots of Mang Berserkers along the way, Milady?"

"So where do they keep the prisoners," Angela asked as she peered through the binoculars. She and Fisk were lying on top of a hill, three miles away from the city of Mang. Maybe even the very same hill Xander had been on earlier.

"Prisoners are kept on the fourth level, milady," Fisk said, more interested in her binoculars, "This is really a most interesting piece craftsmanship, milady. Where is it from?"

"What, this?" Angela said as she briefly lowered the binoculars and saw Fisk's almost lecherous interest in them, "it's just some ex-US Army surplus I guess."

"Then this You Es Armee must be an artisan of great renown to produce such extraordinary craftsmanship," Fisk sighed, "I have never in my life seen such a thing, not even in my time with the Mang Berserkers."

"There you go," Angela said as she resumed peering through Fisk's object to interest,

"It's from Earth."

"But Earth is just a myth, right?" Fisk said, just a tad less certain the last time he had said that.

"If you think so," Angela shrugged, not really interested in rehashing that argument again.

"It is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship though," Fisk said again, but Angela had already zoned him out as she took in the details of the citadel city.

"Where exactly in the fourth circle do they keep prisoners?" she asked observing the fourth circle.

"I think it's on the other side," Fisk said, then he held up his hand towards her, "Can I?"

Angela gave her the binoculars and Fisk took them like he was given a shiny new toy.

"Amazing," he said excited as he looked through them, "you can see such great detail! This You Es Armee must be the greatest known craftsman in existence."

"Can you see the prison?" Angela asked impatiently.

"I can see the Pearly Gates, milady," Fisk said excited, "they chain ganged me on the work detail there three years ago. And To'bee Hall, where that bastard Smaug handles the whip. And Sno'rt house, where I was housed for my first four years. And I can see…"

"The prison, Fisk! The prison!" Angela almost yelled.

"Sorry milady," Fisk said guiltily, "excitement got the better of me. It's really on the other side."

"To bad," Angela sighed. Meanwhile Fisk looked at a different section of the city.

"Damn," he exclaimed, "that friend of yours really did a number on their most holy shrine. He completely blew off the roof of Mang's tomb. They must have every slave in the city working on it."

"See any friends?" Angela asked but Fisk shook his head.

"Nah," he said, "this thing is good, but not that good. If I may ask, milady, why did your friend try to steal Mang's bones?"

Angela gave Fisk an odd look.

"Xander wasn't trying to steal some bones," she said flabbergasted.

"Then why did he break into Mang's tomb?" Fisk asked, "There's nothing really important there but his accursed bones."

"Xander was looking for something else, the Axis of Pythia."

Fisk let out a loud snort.

"Then your friend had a lousy sense of direction," he snorted, "The Axis is not being kept in Mang's tomb. They keep the Axis where it was first found, in the sixth circle, the temple of All Encompassing Truth."

Fisk pointed to a different section of the city and gave the binoculars back to Angela.

"See that temple over there?" he asked.

"Yes," Angela said as she saw the temple Fisk had pointed out to her. It was smaller then the one Xander had damaged and less ostentatious.

"That's where it is," the man from Tanjecterly said.

"You'd think they keep something so important in the most heavily fortified section," Angela said surprised, "in the upper circle. Where it's safer. They are hardly any guards around it."

"You're not thinking like a Mang Berserker" Fisk said as he shook his head, "while their inner circle walls do serve as additional protection to the outer wall, they don't believe in keeping all things guarded. They'll man the outer walls because its tradition but as far as they're concerned their reputation is all the protection they ever need. The rest is just ceremonial extra."

Angela looked up from her binoculars and glanced incredulously at Fisk.

"That's insane, what if an army invades?"

"Then they'll take notice once it arrives and then defeat them," Fisk shrugged.

"But what if it's bigger?"

"Doesn't matter," Fisk replied casually, "no army can beat the Mang Berserkers in a stand up fight."

"What if somebody steals something from them?" Angela countered, "Are they going to let that happen?"

"Obviously not," Fisk said and pointed towards the city, "and the capture of your friend proves that. But ultimately anyone who steals from the Berserkers ends up being chased by them all over Tanjecterly anyway. And they always get what they want. As I learned the hard way four times."

Angela bit her lip. This was starting to look worse and worse by the minute.

"How on Earth am I going to do this?" she sighed despairingly, "I'm nowhere near as good or as strong as Xander. And they got him."

Fisk looked at her oddly.

"Are you giving up, milady?" he asked in a sudden concerned tone of voice, "You can't give up. Not when we're this close."

"It's hopeless, Fisk," Angela replied dejected, "I was a fool coming here thinking I could rescue Xander."

"But you have great power, milady, you could beat them," Fisk argued but Angela shook her head.

"Xander had more power. And look where it got him."

Fisk looked at her incredulously, then he slammed his fist into the ground and shook his head.

"No!" he said angry, "not while we're this close!"

"It's hopele…" Angela tried to say but Fisk cut her of.

"It's only hopeless if you give up, milady," he said vehemently, "so your mate got caught. Well, obviously that's what you get when you do a frontal assault on those bastards. But your friend didn't have Fisk. And I spent a decade of my life scheming and plotting my escape from that hellhole. I know every little nook and cranny of Mang, milady, including half a dozen ways of entering and leaving the city unnoticed. Have trust in Fisk and he will lead you into the city and out again before they know what happened."

Angela looked at Fisk, not knowing what to say.

"You…you'd do that for me?" she asked choked. Fisk smiled at her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Milady," he smiled tenderly, "you are not the only one whose mate is being held in there."

AN 2017: I had a little map drawn up in paint and uploaded it to photobucket, but FF seems to keep making the link disappear. Sorry about that.

They had withdrawn from the hilltop and went a little down to plan their attack. From his memory Fisk had drown a crude map of the city in a sandy patch. One with 9 circles, next to a crude line representing the river

"We're here," Fisk said pointing to the cross in the right bottom corner, "between us and the city is the river. Your friend is being held in the prison here, on the fourth circle on the other side of the hill. My mate, Liana is being held in one of these three slave pens. Two of them are on the third level, the third is on the fifth level. Last time I was here Liana was being kept in the northern slave pen, on the third level. Which is lucky as it's close to where your friend is being kept."

Fisk drew a line from the ninth circle to the river.

"Several decades ago the city replaced its old sewer system with a new centralized one, one that runs all the way from the ninth circle. All circles now drain into that one. But before that there were more sewer lines. During one of my escapes I found an old one that ran from the northern third circle to the river."

Fisk now drew a line from the top third circle towards the river in the north.

"When I was recaptured I learned that they hadn't bothered to find out how I had escaped," Fisk continued and began to grin, "and their arrogance of course means it would be beneath them to ask me how I did it. Later I checked the sewer line and it was still there. I planned to use it for another attempt when a few weeks ago a better opportunity presented itself. The old sewer will serve us well as a means of entry into the city. The only drawback I can think off is that the current of the river is quite strong and we can only approach the river to the north or to the south. Since we can't walk to the sewer's exit we would have to swim towards it against the current. The only other alternative is to approach the river from the south and use the current to float us to the sewer's exit. But that would mean floating past the city in plain sight. While debris has been known to float in the river it also means a high chance of being spotted."

"What of the new sewer?" Angela asked as she pointed to the first line Fisk had drawn, "It comes out to the south of the city. That way we don't have to float past the city."

Fisk gave her a disdainful smile.

"That's what they want you to think, milady. The sewers have always held great attraction to both intruders and escaping slaves. That's why they changed to the centralized system. It is a well guarded maze full of deadly traps. Once a year it's cleaned out and any slave selected for cleaning detail is never seen again to keep the sewer's secrets. Trust me, no slave has ever escaped through that system, nor has anybody entered the city through it."

Fisk pointed towards the old sewer line.

"Once we're inside the city we should wait for the hour of Scampering. This is the one time security is most lax as the Berserkers are called to meditation. During that time we will have the best chance to move through the city. The old sewer begins here in the third circle, which is not far from the slave pen where Liana should be."

"How can you be sure she's still there?" Angela objected, "You've said they put all the slaves to work in the ninth circle."

"All the male slaves have been put to work there," Fisk said shaking his head, "there are relatively few female slaves in the city and they are all kept in the slave pens."

"Why would they do that?" Angela asked incredulously.

"So the Berserkers know where they are when they feel the need arise," Fisk explained, "After all, they're all men without wives or families as the prophet ordained. Wives and concubines would only distract from studying the truth. So he forbade them having any. But even the prophet knew most men have certain needs. So as long as they only go once a ten days and don't visit the same slave girl each time he deemed it alright. It's a good job. Until they get old and ugly. After that they get foisted off to a freedman if they're lucky. And if not, the Progressive Eels."

So even here in Tanjecterly women drew the short end, Angela thought, no surprise there.

"Once we rescue Liana we go up one circle and free your friend," Fisk continued as he illustrated their plan on the map, "we will free your friend and still have enough time to return to the sewer before the hour of scampering has passed. After that we make our escape from the city."

"Why rescue your friend first and not mine?" Angela asked.

"Simple," Fisk explained, "the disappearance of a simple slave girl is no cause to sound the alarm. On the other hand the disappearance of the man who tried to steal Mang's bones is. If we rescue Liana first we lessen the chance of getting caught."

"I see," Angela nodded, then she pointed to the map, "and the Axis, where is it being kept?"

Fisk pointed to a spot on the sixth circle to the south-south east.

"Here's the temple of All Encompassing Truth," he said, "but I don't think we should go there. We will be lucky indeed to escape with both our mates. Whatever desires he has on the Axis he should abandon them as he will be lucky to get out with us in one piece."

"I must think about this," Angela said as she looked at the map, "maybe you should look after the Ys-something, just go look after Joe, will you Fisk?"

"Of course, milady," Fisk said and nodded, before going to look after their mount, which Angela had named Joe after a stuffed animal she once had.

What am I going to do? Angela thought as Fisk walked away. I'm way over my head here. And even if Fisk's plan's going to work there's no way Xander will get his Axis.

"Is that so bad?" a voice spoke inside her mind. "I thought you liked him? This will be your great chance to get him after all. You've gone above and beyond for him. He can't fault you if you decide to let the Axis take care of itself."

"But I promised…," Angela tried to say when the voice cut her off.

"Promises, shmomises," it said contemptuously, "you want, you take. That's the Saiyan way. No empire has ever been built on being nice."

"Ferucca!" another voice yelled angrily in her mind, "don't you dare!"

"Or what?"

And with that the voices went away. From Angela's conscious mind that was. But subconsciously things went on.

"I told you this before, Ferucca, I've had it with you constantly trying to interfere with the girl," an angry Pozcatetl said towards the Saiyan Ferucca in the dreamscape recreation of Ferucca's favorite training ground on planet Vegeta, a large circle of compacted earth in a forest underneath a green sky.

"Oh, can it!" the Saiyan girl said not impressed as she turned her back to the Pakatchikal girl, "I'm only voicing what she was thinking. And if she had the balls to admit it she would say that she doesn't want him to go."

"That's irrelevant" the Pakatchikal girl replied pointing upwards, which represented Angela's conscious mind, "she gave her word to help him. One's word is one's honor. She's honor bound to do everything she can."

"You heard the idiot," Ferucca huffed, "there's only time to rescue the boy and the slave slut. Not the both of them and the damn statue. Of course if we were to forgo rescuing the slave slut things could be different."

"Don't even go there, you Saiyan shrew," Pozcatetl said angrily, "you just don't backstab your allies, especially if they get you into a heavily fortified city."

"Bah, what is he to us?" the Saiyan girl shrugged unimpressed, "Once this is over and she returns to her own world Tanjecterly will be but a bad dream. And who cares what happened in a dream?"

The Pakatchikal girl threw her hands into the air and screamed in frustration.

"RAAAAAAAHHHH! No wonder your species is extinct! If I could I would have blown up your world myself, just for being so annoying!"

"At least we went down fighting because somebody feared us," Ferucca smirked back, "it's not like my people are still being harvested by a bunch of worms for spare bodies to live in."

"RAAAAAAAHHHH!" Pozcatetl yelled again but Ferucca just smirked and looked away.

"It's a good plan though," she said, "he may be an idiot but that Fisk guy came up with a good one."

"I thought you Saiyans only believed in frontal assaults," Pozcatetl sneered. It was heavily laced with sarcasm but Ferucca either didn't pick up on it or chose to ignore it.

"True," she said, "real warriors have no need for skulking around. But there are times when it is required. Like in this accursed place."

"By the Gods," the Pakatchikal girl exclaimed, "the universe comes to an end! Ferucca actually thinks somebody else came up with a good idea!"

Ferucca glanced a deathglare at her companion/rival

"No need to get snotty, Pozcatetl, this plan can only do two things, not the three that you're so hell bent on doing."

"Oh, we'll see."

Meanwhile in the real world of Tanjecterly Angela was left to fend for herself after the voices had abruptly gone. There were times when they frightened her. She had strange dreams about them. Dreams where they put her through rigorous tests and made her do things. Dreams that seemed so vivid when she woke up, only to quickly fade away like most dreams do, no matter how hard you try. Yet somehow she never was the same after these dreams.

Before she had these dreams she knew how to do things, being able to draw on the skills and knowledge of the two girls. But after the dreams they suddenly became more part of her. It was clear they were doing something to her in her dreams. She noticed she even began to adopt certain mannerisms that weren't hers. And while it was helpful to be able to fight better it was also worrying. How much of this would she retain once she went back into her original body?

Just as abruptly as the voices had disappeared they returned.

"We think you should go with Fisk's plan."

Using the cover of a rocky hill Angela and Fisk descended down towards the river Bose to the north of the city of Mang. It had taken much discussion but eventually the Southern approach was rejected, as the chance of discovery by floating past the city was too great. Their only possible option was to use the hour of scampering to do so. But that would mean pushing back Xander's rescue by most of a day. He could be dead by then.

So Angela offered to use her strength to swim them both upstream towards the old sewer exit and Fisk reluctantly agreed. So now she stood by the river Bose's edge and dipped her toes into the cold water. It was ice cold and she understood why Fisk was so reluctant to use this approach. The combination of cold and fast streaming water would sap strength away very quickly.

It also made Angela regret bitterly that she had to take off Shimrod's comfortable, stretchy but above all warm armor. It couldn't be helped though, armor was for fighting, not swimming and it had to come off. Much to Fisk's appreciating delight, even though he had to carry both her armor and her sword. It was probably just as well that she was in a more athletic Saiyan body and not in her own. Had she unveiled her double D's they might not have made it off the river bank.

"See that cluster of rocks there on the other side?" Fisk asked as he pointed across the river. It was hard to make out anything on the other side of the river but eventually Angela saw something.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Good," Fisk continued, "aim for that. The sewer's is in that general direction."

Angela looked over her shoulder towards Fisk.

"You don't know for sure?"

"Hey, it's different if you only used it once the other way, right?" he said defensively, "I never tried to go in from there."

"Are you sure you can find it then?" Angela asked worried but Fisk waved away her objections.

"Relax, milady, I'll find it," Fisk said confidently.

In the end Fisk's confidence almost came back to bite him in the ass, as it took him longer to find the entrance to the sewer then it took Angela to swim across the river with Fisk on her back.

"Have you found it?" she asked, her tone a mixture of boredom and anxiety, with just a hint of sarcasm, as Fisk came up to the river surface for the umpteenth time for air in his search for the elusive underwater entry.

Fisk gasped frantically for air for a few seconds, then he shot a dirty look towards Angela, muttering something under his breath that seemed remarkably much like 'women'!

"Don't worry, milady, I'll find it," Fisk said, his tone a mixture of out of breath and tiredness, with just a hint of anger. Then he took a deep breath and submerged himself again in the cold water. In a way it was a miracle he could still dive. Not that Angela was in a better position. She may be by the river's edge but only her head was above the water. Still, she had a Saiyan body and he did not and she wasn't sure she wouldn't have lasted a tenth of the time had she been in her own.

For half a minute nothing happened when Fisk suddenly emerged ten meters behind her with a big grin.

"I found it!" he grinned victoriously and pointed below the water, "it would seem I only misjudged the distance to those rocks."

"You think?" Angela snorted sarcastically as she let herself float towards Fisk, "you've said it was upstream, not downstream."

"Well, excuse me for having taken only a glancing bearing at a place I never meant to see again anyway, milady," Fisk scoffed as he wiped his wet hair backwards, "The entrance is underneath the surface. This means there's a considerable length of water in the sewer. Last time I had to swim for a lengthy amount already under water to get out, so be prepared, milady. And it's going to be dark all the way."

"Darkness doesn't frighten me," Angela said bravely. And it was even true. Years of having lived on the streets of LA cured her on any fear she may have had of the dark. She knew what went bump in the night. But also how to deal with it.

"I never thought you would, milady," Fisk said, before giving her a brief impish smile, then he took a deep breath and went under water. Angela gasped and soon followed, submerging herself in the murky water. Under water visibility was almost zero but her enhanced Saiyan vision allowed her to follow Fisk as he dove into a small stone hatch. From there it was more a question of clawing and pushing herself forward through a narrow tunnel. Again Angela was amazed by the capabilities of her Saiyan body. As a porn actress she was used to, let's say, having 'objects' blocking her breathing, but never longer then ten seconds before she had to break for air. Now she was nearing a full minute without air and still felt she could go on. It also gave her renewed respect for Fisk who didn't have the advantage of a Saiyan body, and who was still moving steadily forward before her. God only knew how he did it.

It was only once even Angela felt her lungs about to burst that she suddenly emerged above water. She took in a big gulp of air and savored her first breath of air in what seemed like a long while. Only to start coughing as she noticed the air was positively rancid.

"Oh my god," she coughed, "it's horrible! I thought you'd said this sewer was no longer being used?"

"I said it was forgotten," Fisk's voice said behind her in the darkness. Angela turned around and almost instinctively she used some of her chi to create light in the darkness. She stood from the waist up in a pool of dirty water three meters wide. Above her was a low arched roof. Fisk was hunched on a stone ledge next to the pool breathing heavily. Behind him a dark corridor stretched on beyond what her chi illuminated, while she could make out another corridor further on.

"But forgotten does not mean completely disused," Fisk panted as he held out his hand so he could help Angela climb the ledge, "A few drains still empty on this sewer. Henceforth the smell."

"If a disused sewer smells like this I shudder to think what the new one smells like," Angela said as she climbed out of the rancid pool.

"A dirty smell has never stopped anybody," Fisk shrugged matter of fact, "I've smelled worse."

Angela sat down on the ledge and looked at Fisk.

"How the hell did you manage to make it through that tunnel without dying?" she asked, "I mean, it was even hard for me."

"I practiced a lot," Fisk said as he moved off into a corridor, "I had to escape, remember? Now unfortunately the sewer line we have to take still sees some use. So it might smell a little. But this one isn't. So I used it to store some stuff in here. Like this."

Fisk emerged from the corridor carrying a robe and some torches, one of which he held out towards Angela.

"Now, if you would be so kind, milady?"

"What?" Angela asked unsure.

"Light the torch, milady," Fisk nodded towards her," I could do it myself but I have this feeling you can do it faster."

Betraying a little insecurity Angela reached out her hand slowly and touched the torch. Again, what to do came almost instinctively and the torch ignited, much to Fisk's approval.

"Excellent," he said approvingly and handed her the torch, "now hold this why I put on this robe."

"Why the robe?" Angela asked as Fisk slipped the thing over his head, then tied a rope around his waist.

"It's a slave's robe, milady," Fisk said as he finished the knot, "all slaves wear them. Wearing one means you get to walk through the city without attracting attention. After all, a slave is just a slave."

"Do you have one for me?" Angela asked as Fisk signaled her to give the torch back.

"I'll get you one once we're in the city, milady," he said and handed her the bag containing her flexible armor, "We must go once you put your armor back on. It is already the hour of Horvath. Only the hour of Need separates us from the hour of Scampering. And we still have some distance to travel."

Angela nodded and began to put back on the armor Shimrod had given her. Once she was finished they moved on. The journey through the sewer was smelly, tedious and seemingly unending. It also gave Angela the creeps as she saw large eight legged creatures the size of small dogs scurry away from the light of Fisk's torch, and there was a constant buzz as greenish insects, probably Tanjecterly's equivalent of cockroaches, crawled noisily on the sewer's ceiling over her head. This wouldn't be half so bad if she didn't have to walk bent over all the time in order not to hit the ceiling.

Suddenly Fisk stopped and extinguished the torch in a puddle of water.

"We're close," he said as he walked on.

"Then why put out the torch?" Angela asked puzzled..

"That's why," Fisk said as he pointed upwards, to a shaft that went up into the roof all the way up into the city. As Angela looked upwards she could see daylight at the end of the shaft.

"Wouldn't want anyone to notice us," Fisk said low key. They had come across other shafts, probably drainage shafts but never had Angela seen daylight at the end of any of them.

"The others are bent," Fisk explained, "but this one's straight. That's how I discovered this sewer. I dropped something shiny and could see it lying below. I climbed down and found this sewer instead."

"Lucky you," Angela remarked.

"Well, we have to climb up," Fisk said as he grabbed some unseen support in the shaft and began to climb upwards, "and we have to hurry. The hour of Scampering is at hand."

Angela wanted to say something, ask how the hell Fisk could tell without a watch, but she decided not to at the last moment. Instead she climbed after Fisk and followed him up the shaft. While she didn't know every nook and cranny of this shaft, unlike Fisk who seemed to crawl up like he was Spiderman, she managed, no small thanks to her amazing body. Damn, she was sure going to miss having all these abilities once she and Xander got back. She was tempted to ask Xander for some lessons but then again, it was brutal, as she remembered from the times when she watched him do his exercises.

Near the top of the shaft Fisk suddenly halted, signaling her to halt as well.

"What?" she asked but he put a finger to his lips.

"It is almost the hour of Scampering," he whispered, "but not quite yet."

To illustrate his point a shadow moved past the shaft's opening.

"How much time do we have?" Angela whispered after both the shadow and enough time had passed.

"It starts about now," Fisk said and began to climb again, going up the last few feet to stick his head out of the shaft. Then he looked down for a moment.

"Wait here, I will get you a robe," he said. Then he climbed out leaving Angela ¾'s of the way high in the garbage shaft. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into what seemed like an eternity as she waited for him to return. She guessed nearly ten minutes had passed when Fisk's head re-appeared over the opening.

"Come, milady," he said and beckoned her to come. She climbed the final way up and stuck her head out the opening. She was in a small back alley, more a gulley to allow water to drain into the opening she was still in, with a street right around the corner. She wanted to climb out when Fisk leaned forward and gave her his most serious look. Which considering who he was was quite extraordinary.

"We are in agreement here, right, milady?" he said, "First we rescue Liana, then your friend?"

Truth be told she'd rather rescue Xander first but she knew Fisk would never stand for it. And she needed Fisk's help to get to Xander.

"Yes," she said reluctantly. Fisk nodded and helped her get through the narrow opening.

"Then come," he said and helped her out of the hole and gave her a robe, at first glance identical to the one he was wearing, only cleaner.

"Won't they notice that I'm a girl and not a guy?" Angela asked as she pulled the robe over her head, only to find there were no holes for the arms and head. There was just a small mesh near the middle.

"Fisk, what's this?" she asked puzzled.

"Nobody could ever mistake you for a man, milady," Fisk replied with a big grin, then he put the robe over her head and until the mesh was in front of her face, "so I got you a women's cloak. Mang decreed that no women should walk the streets and be seen. So all females in the city must cover up. I'll just be a simple slave escorting a servicer to her 'meeting'.

"Great," Angela muttered, "I'm in fuckin' Saudi-Arabia."

"I've never heard of this Sawdy Araabya, where's that?" Fisk asked curious.

"Never mind," Angela said once she had finished putting the garment on, "lead on, Fisk."

"Your wish is my command, milady," Fisk smiled and together they walked unto the street. As they walked Angela looked left and right to take in the city with its strange architecture. It sort of reminded her of those Tim Burton Batman movies where he remade Gotham City into stern sober architecture with harsh dark colors. It made the streets of LA look warm and inviting by contrast. This was not a place people lived in, this was a place people endured.

"Who lives in these houses?" Angela asked curiously.

"Some middle ranking Berserkers," Fisk replied, "but the main body of them lives in the first and second circle so most of it is storage. There are less of them with each ascending circle. Supply stores, armories, trophy halls, training cells and temples make up the bulk of the middle and upper city. They reckon that if any enemy were to breach the lower city they might make it into the first circle, have a slim chance of breaching the second circle, but has no chance whatsoever of making it into the third. Henceforth they stall all that they deem worthy in the middle and upper city so all any enemy could find in the lower city are worthless Berserker residences."

As they walked a trio of Mang Berserkers, clad in their characteristic glossy black armor with pale blue tunics on top passed by. Giving Angela her first close look of her enemy. They walked the street with an air of untouchability, fully expecting Fisk and Angela to step aside as they passed, not even bothering to gesture them aside or say something.

"They live in their own world," a voice said disdainfully Angela's mind, most likely the Pakatchikal girl, "their arrogance is such that they probably view anybody else as below human. It's an attitude almost Goa'uld in nature."

She uttered the word Goa'uld dripping with venom. As the Berserkers walked past Angela turned her head around to catch some more glimpses of her enemy. Their glossy back armor was mostly composed of thin and lightly interwoven strips of armor, offering some form of protection while still offering maximum freedom of movement. The knight whose steed she had taken and who seemed but a simple robber knight had far more elaborate armor by contrast. This meant that either these Berserkers wore simpler armor because they valued freedom of movement over increased protection. Or they just didn't care much about protection at all. Either way should reflect in their fighting styles as well.

"Well noticed," another voice said appreciatively, "only a fool chooses increased protection over freedom of movement. Speed is life."

It would seem the other personality was also still paying attention. This gave Angela a crowded feeling, having two other personalities sit up and take notice of everything she saw and did. Back on Earth there were shrinks who would commit people for psychiatric evaluation for less. Of course, Tanjecterly was as far from Earth as she was ever going to get.

Meanwhile Fisk led on like he owned the place himself as well, with the familiarity that comes of having walked these streets way too often. Then he halted near a corner and peaked around it.

"We're here," he said as he looked back at Angela. She walked past him and looked around the corner. The street came to a dead end against a large wooden door clad with blue metal ornaments. Two guards stood in front of the entrance on each side of the door. They didn't look like Mang Berserkers as they didn't carry the glossy black armor and Berserker livery. Instead they wore black uniforms with white armbands as each was armed with a spear. The two guards also seemed to be engaged in a lively conversation with each other, instead of paying attention to their surroundings, which was why the two of them weren't spotted yet.

"They're not Berserkers," Angela said looking over her shoulder and Fisk nodded.

"No they're not," he said nearly spitting on the floor with contempt as the two of them withdrew behind the corner, "they're worse. Freed slaves who earned their freedom through hard work, treachery and kissing Berserker ass. They're backstabbing bastards who sell out their own just so they can boss the other slaves around and pretend they're free. Strangely enough even though they're technically free men again none of them has ever taken the Berserkers up on that offer of freedom and left the city."

"Sometimes freedom can be as scary as being a slave," Angela replied, speaking more or less from experience. Sometimes the idea of leaving the protection of a pimp and having to make do for yourself seemed more scary then the actual abuse he inflicted on a street hooker.

"I think they like to boss the others around way more," Fisk snorted contemptuously, "As my grandfather used to say, shit always flows downhill, so it's better not to be the one downhill."

"Wise words," Angela concurred, "so the front entrance is guarded. Where's the back entrance"

Fisk looked at her funny.

"This is the back entrance, milady," he said like it was the most common knowledge in the world, "You do not want to take the main entrance. It's the one Berserkers use. We're going in. Just say nothing, follow my lead and do whatever I say."

Fisk walked away and turned the corner and she followed him, a bit uncertain what he was going to do. As they approached the gate the two guards finally took notice.

"I'm returning another one," Fisk said as he pointed over his shoulder at Angela.

"Okay," one of the guards said bored and stood aside to give way. The other one on the other hand looked a bit more suspicious.

"You look familiar," he said wearily.

"It's a small city," Fisk shrugged casually, "you're bound to run into another."

"No, that's not it," the guard said shaking his head, desperately trying to remember why Fisk looked familiar to him, "I know you from somewhere. I…."

Before anyone could react Fisk pulled out a knife out of nowhere and in one movement slid the guard's throat.

"Hey…" the other guard tried to say, then his throat was crushed as Angela made a revolving kick and hit his throat with her heel. It was only as his body fell to the ground that she realized what just happened.

Fisk's attack may have come as a surprise to them, to her she could see him move like it was in slow motion. It was clear Fisk was going to kill the guard. But he could only kill one guard. She needed to take care of the other one. With her arms impeded by the hideous garment she was forced to wear that left only her legs as weapons. It was cold, calculating. And she surprised herself that she had done it so easily.

She stared at the dead body. The first man she had ever killed in her life. She had killed a human being. She was no killer, right? Okay, there were the two eel creatures from the steppe that she had killed, but they were utterly alien. And disgusting as they ate humans. You don't feel remorse for killing something disgusting. But now she had really killed. But why had she done it so easily? So dispassionately?

"Milady!"

Angela looked around, Fisk looked at her and nodded towards the human being she had just killed.

"Milady, we have to hurry," Fisk said nervously, "we have to dispose of these bodies."

I just killed a human being.

That's what she wanted to say. Instead she felt the mental equivalent of a kick in her butt followed by a rude comment.

"Hey Astro, work now, freak later!"

It was the Saiyan consciousness. And it was right. This was not the time.

So she bent down and together with Fisk they dragged the two bodies to another door which Fisk opened.

In a room with no view save one two girls sat together on a couch and observed what went on in the real world. There were no windows, or viewing screens, yet somehow they could see everything here from Angela's POV.

"This is not good," the Pakatchikal girl Pozcatetl said disheartened.

"Not good? It's a bloody shambles!" the Saiyan girl Ferucca said out loud, "She froze. If there had been more then one guard she'd be dead by now. And we with her."

"Give her some slack," Pozcatetl said defensively, "she's never killed a human being in her life. Especially up close."

"We're lucky she killed him at all," Ferucca said while shaking her head, "this is a mistake. We should take over."

"I will have none of it," Pozcatetl said resolutely, "there will be no taking over. Especially from you, you Saiyan lunatic. She must do this on her own."

"She must do this on her own," Ferucca said as she did a very bad imitation of Pozcatetl's voice and manners. Then she stuck her tongue out.

Meanwhile Pozcatetl ignored her Saiyan counterparts flippancy.

"This is just a moment," she said confidently, "Like I said before, she's never killed a human being before. It happens to the best of us."

"I never hesitated in battle," Ferucca snorted while folding her arms across her chest.

"That's because you're a crazy psychotic killer bitch," Pozcatetl bit back, "or to rephrase that, a Saiyan. Normal human beings find it hard to kill one another."

"That's certainly news to me," the Saiyan girl again snorted, "you lot seem to kill each other all the time. With glee I might add."

"Besides," the Pakatchikal girl said, ignoring Ferucca's recent outburst, "she did kill him. So my training worked. I had her kill humans until it became instinctual. It paid off. So there!"

"Good for you," Ferucca said sarcastically, "I'm sure it will look so handsomely on our tombstones."

Inside the slave pen Angela and Fisk were forced to kill another guard, the record keeper who maintained the comings and goings of every female slave being sent on a 'house call'. While Angela disposed of his body Fisk checked his records. She could now also take off her own restrictive garment, after which Fisk gave her a different one, one that looked more like his.

"Wear this," he said, "the only women allowed to walk around freely are former slaves. This will identify you as one."

"Why couldn't you give me one of these before?" she said accusingly as she pulled the new clothes on.

"Because they're only allowed to walk around freely in here," Fisk replied offhand.

"That's not much of a freedom," Angela muttered.

"It is as it is," Fisk shrugged, "it beats being sold off to the Progressive Eels."

After having finished his examination of the guard's records they moved on.

"It's this way," he said afterwards as he lead on and went up a stairs to another level. While the lower level looked like an old fashioned cell block, with rows of closed wooden doors, the upper level looked more like a light security prison. With everything looking a little better in quality, a little less harsh.

"Fisk?" Angela asked as Fisk diligently checked the numbers on each door.

"Yes, milady?" the man from Tanjecterly replied.

"If the women here make house calls, why are you so sure your Liana is here, and not on some house call?"

"Not all women go on housecalls," Fisk replied, "nor are all women used that way. Especially the pregnant ones. Liana is with child and this is where they keep those women who are with child."

"I see," Angela said, then her eyes grew wide, "wait a second? Does that mean…"

Suddenly Fisk put his hand up towards her and stopped.

"This is it," he said as looked at a door and tenderly touched its number. Then he slid the bolt aside and opened the door.

"Liana?" he whispered carefully as he stepped inside. Inside the room it was dark and Spartan with only a few signs that somebody lived in here. Central in the room was a bed that seemed criminally small if a pregnant woman had to sleep in it.

In that bed a woman slept.

"Is that her?" Angela asked.

"I think so," Fisk said and waved behind him, "close the door will you, milady? Either its Liana or it's somebody else. Either way it's going to be noisy."

Fisk wasn't kidding when he had said she'd be loud either way.

"FISK! IT'S YOU!"

It wasn't quite shrieking at full volume but still, Angela was glad she had closed the door before Fisk awoke his girlfriend.

"Of course it's me," Fisk said as he took Liana in his embrace, "I told you I'd be back."

"Oh Fisk," Liana cried, tears of relief on her face, "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"You know no cage could ever keep me, Li," Fisk said as he kissed her on the forehead.

"But they told me they had sold you to the Progressive Eels?"

"Pff," Fisk snorted contemptuously, "Why would the stick people succeed where even the Berserkers failed?"

"I can't believe it," Liana said, wiping away a tear, "you're really here, Fisk."

"And I've come to take you away, Li," he said as he wiped away a tear on her cheek, "just like I promised. You and the baby."

"Our child," Liana smiled.

"So it is your child!" Angela interjected as she stepped forward from the door.

"Fisk, who's this?" Liana said as she took notice of Angela for the first time, with even a bit of fear starting to creep in her voice again.

"Don't worry," Fisk said as he took hold of Liana again, "she is with me. She is here to help us. She can be trusted."

"Are you sure, Fisk?" Liana said fearful, "She frightens me."

"Only to our enemies, love," Fisk smiled reassuringly, "only to our enemies. Did you hear about the man who damaged Mang's tomb?"

"The Desecrator?" Liana gasped.

"He is her mate," Fisk explained, "she is just as strong as him. She is here to rescue him. I agreed to help her and she agreed to help us in return. Once we get him free they will protect us and the Berserkers can no longer touch us. No longer harm our child. Take it away from us."

"They were going to take away your child?" Angela asked incredulously.

"She's a sex slave," Fisk explained, "She'd be no good to them if she had to care for a child."

"Then what would happen to it?" Angela asked.

"It'd be taken to a nursery until it was six, then it would be released with the others in the north to survive on their own," Fisk said.

"That's horrible!" Angela said aghast.

"Of course if the child was a girl it would be killed on the spot," Fisk said.

"That's horrible," Angela said again, then her face turned to anger and she thumped him on the chest, "if you knew that, why did you leave her and your child behind when you escaped?"

"He had no choice," Liana said coming to Fisk's aid, "we were caught by a freedman. Fisk had to kill him but was caught again when he tried to get rid of the body."

"I did the only thing I could do," Fisk nodded, "if I stayed they would torture me and learn of Liana's involvement. Here the penalty for a slave to get caught sleeping with a female slave is gelding for the man and a severe flogging for the woman. But if they learned I was the father they'd kill her and the baby. So I escaped on my own. That way they'd only think I had killed a freedman and Liana and the baby would be safe. I had planned to return for them later through the drain but I was captured. Luckily by then they were more pissed off about my fourth escape then the dead freedman and they sold me to the stick people instead."

"I see," Angela said, feeling suddenly quite like an ass.

"And now you've come back to me and the baby," Liana said excitedly, "you have no idea how much I love you right now."

Fisk looked into Liana's eyes and smiled, then he put his hand on her burgeoning stomach.

"I love you too, Li," he smiled, then his smile turned serious, "but first we have to get out of here."

"She's still hesitating," Ferucca grumbled as she leaned back in the sofa in the room with no view safe one. Her companion in that room tried to look cool, but Ferucca could see she was worried as well. Oh, she hid it well, but in battle reading your opponent could mean life of death. So Ferucca had learned to do just that. Pozcatetl, despite still being outwardly confident about her charge, was also beginning to worry why she still froze in horror every time she killed a man.

After she and Fisk had dropped off Fisk's whore at the entrance to the sewer and Fisk helped her climb down, he and Angela made for the prison on the fourth circle. Again they made it there without being stopped and searched. Which was getting ridiculous in a way. So these Berserkers were top notch mofo's. That didn't completely excuse their lax security. They relied too much on slaves and freedmen for that. And slaves lacked proper motivation whereas these freedmen where often not the youngest anymore.

Take their current situation for instance. Here you have a prison with arguably the most dangerous prisoner these Berserkers had. Did they guard it themselves? No, again only slaves and freedmen were all that was present. Sloppy. Very sloppy.

There weren't even any guards directly outside prison, only inside. Which made it very convenient for Fisk and Angela to get in. Even the freedmen paid little attention to a slave walking in, which made it easy for Fisk to sink a knife into them. And clearly felt little remorse in doing so. Angela on the other hand still froze every time she killed a man. The idea of killing simply was still too much of a hurdle to overcome for her.

"You coddled her too much," Ferucca said accusingly to Pozcatetl, "You taught her the moves and how to kill, but not the killer instinct."

"Then why didn't you," Pozcatetl bit back, "you had her for a night as well."

"Hey, I had to teach her a lot of other things," Ferucca said defensively, "It's not my job to make up for your failings as a teacher."

"She'll get over once she faces Berserkers," Pozcatetl replied nodding resolutely, "She hates them already. She doesn't think they're quite human. And as you may remember from those eel creatures, she could kill non-humans quite easily."

"Pff," Ferucca snorted, "I'm starting to think that was a fluke. Why don't you let me take over and I'll see to it that the job gets done properly?"

Pozcatetl looked at Ferucca and raised an eyebrow. Then she looked away and snorted.

"Nice try," she said unimpressed, "but as long as I'm around you're only strictly advisory girl. Hell, you're just an observer. The only reason you're even still here is so I can keep an eye on you."

"You're lucky I can't use my strength in here," Ferucca complained bitterly.

"We all have our crosses to bear," Pozcatetl smiled, "And that just happens to be yours. Mine is having to tolerate you."

Finally Angela and Fisk, each baring a torch, made it into the dungeon where they kept Xander. Using the keys Fisk had taken from the last guard they had killed he opened the door to the cell Xander was being kept in.

"Go," he said as he stood back, "go see your mate. I'll wait here."

"Thanks," she said, then she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "for everything."

"You honor me too much, milady," Fisk said as he touched the cheek she had kissed him on, then he smiled at her, "Go. And hurry."

Angela took a deep swallow. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Taking a deep breath she swung the door open and stepped inside.

"Xander?" she said tentatively. Then, in her torchlight, she finally saw Xander again.

To her horror Xander leaned bound against a stone wall. Heavy, massive looking chains were chained unto him, securely fastened to that wall. His body was covered in bruises and welts, some of which looked like they were in very bad condition. But worse was that his left leg looked like it had been broken into several fractures and had not been set properly. On top of the blood and grime he looked like he had aged twenty years since she had last seen him.

She knelt next to him and began to stir him, trying to wake him up.

"Xander," she said worried, "wake up Xander, it's me!"

Xander didn't immediate respond, then he began to stir.

"Can't a guy ever sleep?" he muttered drowsily, then he opened an eye and looked at Angela, then he opened both eyes in bewilderment, "Situation check. Dungy dungeon, check. Heavy chains holding me down, check. Constant pain sapping my strength, check. Hot female Saiyan looking girl in rags trying to wake me up, does not compute. Error, error! If it weren't for the pain I'd be sure I was dreaming."

"You're not dreaming Xander," Angela said as she tenderly wiped some caked dirt, possibly dried up blood, from his forehead. Suddenly Xander recoiled and eyed her wearily.

"Look lady, while I welcome the sight of anyone not of the religious misogynist nutter persuasion, the chances of a Saiyan girl appearing in this place are a million to one they say. Who're you and please tell me your appearance has something to do with a certain wizard I know and not of a certain demon I know who likes to wear the latest in fashionable crimson robes."

"Its okay, Xander," Angela smiled, "it's me! Shimrod sent me to free you and…."

"Shimrod? That explains the why," Xander said still wearily, "but it still doesn't explain the who."

"Xander," Angela said as she pointed towards herself, "don't you recogni….."

It suddenly dawned on Angela that Xander had no chance at all of recognizing her in her present condition. She wanted to tell him who she was when an idea popped into her head. She put on a brief brave smile and continued.

"…I'm Ferucca. I'm a magical amalgam between a female Saiyan and a female Pakatchikal warrior fueled by Earth blood. I was created by Shimrod to rescue you and bring you back to him.

"So Shimrod sent you?" Xander said, more to himself then as in a real question for Angela. She wanted to say something when suddenly Fisk appeared in the cell door opening.

"Please, milady, time draws near," he said edgy, "we must leave the city."

Fisk's sudden appearance woke Xander up from his surprise and he turned to Angela.

"Who's he?" he asked wearily of the newcomer but Angela held up a hand, trying to put him at ease.

"Don't worry, he's a friend, Xander, he'll get us out of here."

Xander held up his chained arms towards Angela.

"Does he happen to have a key?" Xander said sarcastically, "otherwise I don't think we're going get very far."

Xander's verbal acidity took Angela by surprise and made her slow in taking one of his chains as she began to examine them for a lock or a weak spot.

"If you think it was that easy don't you think I would have tried already?" Xander said acerbically as he watched Angela fumble around with his chains, "they're magically enhanced. Or something like that. The guy that explained it to me was kinda heavy on the gloating but kinda skimpy on the details."

This was not the way Angela would have liked their reunion to be. While his vitriol was understandable considering the circumstances he had been in, it didn't make it any more pleasant for Angela. Lucky for her Fisk stepped in.

"There is no need to be snide towards the lady," Fisk said as he stepped into Xander's cell and held up a set of keys, "nor are there any enchanted chains in this city. There are keys though."

To illustrate his point he dangled the keys in front of Xander.

"Then why can't I break them?" Xander said as Fisk began to unlock his chains.

"Because the chains aren't enchanted," Fisk said growing annoyed with Xander's behavior and tapped a collar that had been placed around Xander's neck, "but that thing is. I have watched Lady Ferucca do things and if you can do the same it doesn't matter how strong the chains are. It is your power that needs to be contained."

"Oh," Xander said flabbergasted as he put his first freed hand on the collar.

"Unfortunately I have no key for a control collar," Fisk said once he had finished unlocking Xander, "we must take care of it later."

Xander looked at Fisk in shock as he put both hands on his collar.

"You mean I'm stuck with this," he exclaimed angrily.

"Could be worse," Fisk shrugged, "we could have left you to die."

"Har har, real funny," Xander snorted and Fisk turned towards Angela.

"And we came all the way here to save him?" he said incredulously.

"He has his moments," Angela smiled weakly, then she turned to Xander and tried to reach out to him, "look Xander, we'll just go back to Shimrod."

"No," Xander said as he shook his head. "I came here to find something and I damn well am not going to leave this Godforsaken place before I find it. So I have no power, big deal. I've survived Sunnyhell for 16 years without any power. I can do this as well."

"Your friend is not thinking straight, milady," Fisk said as he shook his head.

"Hey Chakotay," Xander said, "I may have lost my power but I still know more then 600 ways to kill a person without making any noise."

"Only 600?" Fisk snorted contemptuously, after which Angela stepped in.

"Don't," she said to Fisk, then she turned to Xander, "look, Xander, now is maybe not the time. You could always try again later…."

It was now her turn to get cut off by an angry Xander.

"Look pretty Saiyan lady. I don't really know who you are, only that apparently Shimrod sent you out of a rabbit's hat to help me. Which means you're part of his merry bag of tricks. Fine. But I'm still here, and that damn Axis is not that far away. This is my best shot at getting it. Well, either help me, Janeway, or be on your merry 70 years journey back to Earth with your lapdog Chakotay here."

As Fisk looked towards Angela he couldn't help but shudder that the woman, whom he thought to be one of the strongest persons in the world, let herself be cowed so easily by this cretin.

"You can't talk to her like that," he said angrily, "she traveled all this way to help you! She deserves better then that!"

"Oh, how cute, Chakotay now comes to the defense of Janeway," Xander said ruefully.

"The name is Fisk," the man from Tanjecterly hissed as he stood up towards Xander, "the most shining example of manhood ever to come from the steppe of Sore Beggars. Where I pass women swoon in their methalds and men glow with envy in their husaldts. I walk to the music of twelve different melodies inside my head. I am the only person to have ever escaped more then once from the city of Mang and live to tell the tale."

"You know, that would actually mean something if I had a clue what it meant," Xander said unimpressed, "and so far you make less sense then a Star Wars versus Star Trek debate. And I should know. I've been to those."

For a moment it looked like Fisk was going to assault Xander, then he turned around and walked away.

"I will not be part of this," he said halting at the cell's entrance, "the hour of Scampering is nearing its end. I will not risk Liana's safety at the hands of this… this fool. If he wants to go after the Axis, he can do so by himself."

Fisk stepped outside but then felt a hand stop him. It was Angela.

"Fisk, please," she said pleadingly, "we need you. I need you."

Fisk turned his head around and gave her a shocked look.

"You can't be serious, milady," he gasped aghast, "the city will be crawling with Berserkers again soon! It will be hard enough to escape as it is once we leave the city. Let alone if we take the second most sacred thing they possess."

He wanted to leave but felt Angela's hand stopping him again.

"You love Liana, right?" she suddenly asked

"All the more reason to leave this city," he replied and pointed outside. Upon which she bit her lip.

"He loves somebody too, Fisk," Angela said. And from the tone she spoke Fisk realized she wasn't the object of his affection.

"The Axis is the only means he has of getting to her," she continued, "You moved Heaven and Earth to free Liana and your unborn child, why would he do any different?"

"You're not the object of his affection and yet you do everything for him?" Fisk asked, curiously, "Why?"

"I made a promise," Angela replied, "and because….. because…."

Her voice broke up and she turned away. Fisk couldn't see it but suspected she was crying. Cursing his vulnerability to crying women (it was the tears of another women that had gotten him into slavery to begin with)! Fisk felt his anger dissipate and his better judgment melt away.

"Alright," he sighed, "I will do ask you ask milady."

He had barely finished his sentence when Angela flew around his neck and hugged him.

"Thank you Fisk! Thank you, thank you thank you, thank you…"

"Milady…. Please….," Fisk stammered, "… breathing…."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Angela said as she let go and wiped a tear off her face.

"I will show you where the Axis is being kept," Fisk said, "but you must get it yourself. I must return to Liana before it's too late."

"What in blazes are you two cooking up now," Xander's voice said, soon followed by the rest of him as he limped from his cell.

"You're going with Fisk here," Angela said without looking at Xander, reaching over her shoulder to feel if her sword was still there.

"Look! How many times do I have to tell you two," Xander said angry, "I'm not going anywhere without the Axis."

"Don't worry about your stupid trinket," Angela said, sounding both resolute and annoyed, "I will be getting that stupid thing."

"You can't be serious!"

"But I am," came the defiant reply.

Probably few people had stood up to an angry Saiyan warrior woman and got away with it, Pozcatetl thought. Then again maybe it was time somebody did. Her fellow passenger in this strange and wild adventure had a bad habit of being a spoiled 'I want, I get' brat. Which seemed so odd since from what she could gather, Saiyan parents weren't in the habit of spoiling their kids.

They were in the room with no view save one. Angela's willingness to submit to Xander's crazed desire had not gone down well with Ferucca. While strangely enough Ferucca had disagreed the most with the whole notion of sneaking into Mang, she seemed now most determined to stick with the original plan of sneaking out again.

Saiyans!

They truly had no notion of the concept of honor. Well, maybe towards each other. But there it ended. The idea that honor was universal to all people and species, even to the Goa'uld, seemed inconceivable to them. Whereas the concept of honor sang like a bird to Pozcatetl and the Pakatchikal people. A Pakatchikal would go to any length to fulfill a promise, seek out whatever danger, regardless of the consequences. Unlike Saiyans, who seemed only interested in testing their own mettle, consequences be damned. It was clear that the girl had made a promise to help Xander fulfill his quest and as her guardian consciousness Pozcatetl would support her in whatever she felt was necessary.

Even if it meant standing up to the annoying Saiyan.

"This makes no sense," Ferucca yelled as she threw her hands in the air, "even if she were to steal that damn thing she'd never make it out of the city alive. We would never make it out of the city alive."

"It matters not," Pozcatetl smiled at her fellow consciousness in the way she knew would most drive her crazy, "after all, we are both dead anyway. The Goa'uld infesting my body died with it. And you were betrayed and killed by your horned master."

"Precisely why we shouldn't die a second time," Ferucca said rolling her eyes, "this is all we have left! At the very least take direct control yourself. At least you've got experience. Nor do you flinch after killing. All she really knows is how to open her legs for money."

"Our existence comes at an end once we return to the magician anyway, Ferucca," Pozcatetl snorted, "and this is her fight. Our role is only to help."

The Saiyan girl turned around and walked up to Pozcatetl.

"If you don't, I will," she said softly but resolutely.

If having a pissed off Saiyan threaten her phased her Pozcatetl didn't show. Instead she just smirked and leaned over until her face was close to Ferucca's.

"You have no power in here, Ferucca," she smirked, "and I know that without your power I'm the better fighter. So as they say, make me!"

For a moment it looked like Ferucca's eyes popped out of her skull, she looked that pissed off. If only looks could kill.

Then she turned around and walked back to the couch that stood at the center of the room and sat down, moping.

"Fine," she scoffed as she folded her arms across her chest, "have it your way! Don't come crying to me when things will go wrong. I'll just say I told you so."

"Oh, don't worry," Pozcatetl grinned victoriously as she reached upwards and out of seemingly nowhere materialized a hanging microphone, "Just because I'm not taking over doesn't mean I can give our girl some suggestions."

Six words

Six words that were so easy to say.

But so damn hard to fulfill.

Fisk was right. With the hour of Scampering nearly over their window of opportunity was gone. They had killed the guards at the prison Xander had been in. That would increase the risk of getting caught while stealing Xander's damned Axis.

But she didn't plan on sneaking back through the gutters. Well, she had planned to do so originally but she changed her mind when an idea popped into her head seemingly out of nowhere. Even now while she made her way through the city Fisk was guiding Liana and Xander through the sewer away from the city. If she wasn't going to make it out of the city undetected she might just as well do the opposite of what Xander had done. He had launched a full frontal assault on the city without knowing where the Axis was kept. Thanks to Fisk she knew where it was and once she had it she was going to do a full frontal escape instead. Fly away from the city. Maybe even draw off some heat from the others by going into a different direction.

As she moved through the city Angela was glad she had traded in her burqa for something more masculine. She had ripped the clothes of one of the prison guards she had killed. It didn't quite fit, but at least it beat having to look through a mesh. Plus the helmet allowed her at least some anonymity. On closer inspection it may not fool anybody, but from her short sojourn through this city Angela had learned that the only people that mattered, the Berserkers, paid no attention to anyone else but themselves. And those that did, the freedmen, she could handle.

Of course, once she stole the Axis she would get all the attention. Fisk was right in that respect. They would pay a heavy price for Xander's obsession. But what Xander wants, Xander gets. She had made a promise. And ultimately more to herself then to him.

All of her life she had been running away from things. Only looking out for herself. It wasn't that she was a selfish person. She cared about other people. It was just that when push came to shove she always chose to save herself first. When her father started to beat his up family Angela would sneak away and let her mother bear the brunt of his anger. When her father moved on to her and wanted to do more then just indulge his pugilistic desires on her she had run away, leaving her mother and her younger sister to fend for themselves. When pimps like Carlos would beat up her friends she would just walk away. Again, it wasn't selfishness, it just was survival instinct as nobody ever stood up for her either.

And then came that fateful day, when Carlos showed his true colors and gave her the beating of her lifetime. Just when she thought she couldn't sink any lower and her life was going to end the Golden Angel stepped in. For the first time somebody did stand up for her. Whatever he was, she still didn't know. After she had escaped she had gone to a safe house for battered and abused women. They had helped her trying to get her life back into order. With mixed results. She resolved to never walk the streets again. Instead she just fled into a different branch of the sex industry. Where she just fell back into familiar patters. By hooking up with that asshole Mike.

But while she did, in the back of her mind there was always one question.

Why?

Why did the Golden Angel save her?

Was it just because he was in the neighborhood? Or was there something else behind it? Was she saved for a reason? And if so, what was that reason? Did she somehow squander the chance the Golden Angel had given her? Those questions were what gave her the strength to finally stand up to Mike, in the middle of her first featuring strip club tour. And then Xander walked in.

Technically he did not come to her rescue, he just took care of Mike when he was being an asshole to others. Xander was the kind of guy she wished she had met when she had run away from home. Not the Carlos' and Mike's of this world. Xander was willing to help her without demanding anything in return, especially her body. As all the other men in her life had done. All he asked was that she respected herself. And she hadn't done a particularly good job in that respect.

It was when Xander had tried to kill himself that Angela finally understood why the Golden Angel had saved her. When she had sat in the hospital as Xander was fighting for his life she couldn't help but wonder why he had saved her, let a good man come into her life only to take it all away? It made no sense. And then it hit her.

The why was not important at all. All that mattered was that the Golden Angel had given her a new chance to start over again. To begin again. To stop running away and to begin helping others. She had once heard a saying that if you save a single person, you saved the world. That person for her was going to be Xander. And for once in her life she would not run away, but instead do whatever it takes to help somebody else for a change. She loved Xander. She really did. But he didn't love her. He loved that other girl, Buffy. So be it. She would still help him find her. And in doing so help herself as well. At least that way her life finally would have some meaning.

As she passed the gate into the sixth level she couldn't help but find it odd that again there were no guards present. Nor that any of the doors of the buildings she had passed were locked. At one time she saw a large group of freedmen coming, and unlike the Berserkers they might have noticed she wasn't a freedman herself. She jumped into a porch and to her surprise found the door unlocked. Like almost everything else in this strange godforsaken city.

"Sloppy, very sloppy," a voice spoke disapprovingly in her mind, "not even the Goa'uld would ever stand for this."

"Puhlease," another voice snorted in a bored tone of voice, "those Worms waste guards on everything, even their toilets, just so they can remind themselves how utterly awesome they are whilst taking a shit. Who has need of guards or locks when your mere reputation keeps intruders away?"

There followed no more answer as the two other consciousness' fell back again to wherever they went when they seemed gone. Gone but always somewhere around, lurking underneath the surface. Probably watching her every move. Well, nothing that could be done about that. So Angela pushed that thought to the back of her mind as well.

From the Sixth level gate it was still half a mile towards the temple of All Encompassing Truth. This high in the city there were even less Berserkers. Nor were there any slaves and freedmen to be seen. Those who had passed her earlier had been on their way to the Ninth level, to repair the damage Xander had done to the Tomb of Mang. The temple of All Encompassing Truth was however not on that road. Which was most fortunate as Angela reckoned the hour of Scampering had by now long past.

When she finally came upon it she found that the temple of All Encompassing Truth was the first structure that was actually guarded by actual Berserkers. Fisk had warned her that both Mang's Tomb and the temple of All Encompassing Truth had ceremonial guard details. An honor duty befalling mostly to old veterans, too old for active field duty. Which was why she was somewhat surprised to find a full guard detail in front of the temple. All disgustingly fit.

Before they could see her she slipped into an alcove and began to study her options. There were at least eight of them. Not four old guys. And to get to them she needed to cross a wide square. So far she hadn't fought these guys. She might be able to take them. But as Xander proved, enough of these guys could take even him down. And he was stronger and more experienced then she was. So how on Earth was she going to take these guys down? The square provided her with ample battleground, but crossing it negated any element of surprise. Climbing wasn't going to cut it. Fisk had told her that slave pens aside the Berserkers didn't believe in backdoor entrances and conveniently located windows on the roof. She'd have to go through them.

"It doesn't mean you can't use the roof," a voice said helpfully in her mind and a mental image filled her mind, providing her with a plan of attack.

"You think this will work?" she thought back.

"There are no guarantees," came back the reply, "but that is how I would do it. Just get going."

Angela looked at the wall. It looked pretty steep. Maybe Spiderman could climb up it, but not her. It looked like the only way up was through chi.

"But I'm not a good climber," she protested.

"Oh, by the seven hells of Jerherherod," another voice said impatiently, "either fly upwards or charge into those insects and get it over with!"

"Shut up, Ferucca!" the first voice shouted angrily, "She can't use chi. It may get noticed!"

"Good! I'm bored skulking," Ferucca's voice replied offhand, "I could do with some grotesque sex and violence."

"Saiyans!" Pozcatetl's voice sighed deeply exasperated, followed by some mental images of grotesque acts violence being committed on a certain Saiyan girl. The images continued for a moment, then they disappeared and parts of the wall began to glow like they were highlighted. They weren't really highlighted on the wall of course, just as her brain perceived that wall to be.

"You can use these points to lift yourself up," Pozcatetl's voice said, her anger gone, "use my memories and reflexes to guide you."

"Couldn't you just…. take over?"Angela suggested hopefully. The parts that were highlighted, she could see that possibly you could climb up that way, if you were an avid climber that is.

"This is your quest, Angela, we can only help you," came back the reply.

"But…" Angela tried to say when she was suddenly brutally interrupted.

"GET UP THAT WALL YOU STUPID COW!"

It was like having a female version of Lee Ermey shout up close in your head. And before she knew what she was doing Angela's body responded by climbing upwards.

In a room with no view, save one, a girl sat down on a couch, then looked up at the other girl frowning heavily at her and returned an innocent look.

"What?" Ferucca the Saiyan said like nothing had happened, "it got her going, didn't it?"

"Unbelievable," Pozcatetl said shaking her head, "you really are a piece of work."

"Hey, you wanted it this way, remember," Ferucca shrugged, "I just want to get it over with. Better pray that your crazy scheme works!"

Using the roofs as cover Angela crept around the square until she was near the temple of All Encompassing Truth. Only ten feet separated her from the temple roof. She looked down briefly. The eight guards were still engaged in some kind of a debate. Which possibly meant they weren't on a real guard detail after all. Maybe she just had the rotten luck of stumbling onto a debating club or something. Anyway it suited her purpose just fine.

She tensed her muscles and then she jumped the distance, landing without problems on the roof of the building. Freezing for a moment she waited to see if any of the Berserkers had heard her.

The debate went on just like before.

She then crept on until she was above the entrance, then she looked down. The eight were directly below her. It really was a crying shame there were no windows, the doorway wasn't higher or that they were having their little debate a little off the side. Then she could have snuck in unnoticed. There really was no other way then through them. So be it.

Angela removed her freedman clothes and the helmet until she was just in her flexible armor again. She had no helmet, the only things she still carried was the sword Kahanthus on her back and the little magic pouch on her side, which had her magical artifacts and hopefully soon the Axis as well. Angela reached for her sword and slowly, as to avoid any noise, she drew it from its sheath. Then she looked down one final time.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. So far she'd only faced freedmen and had sorely needed Fisk's help. Now the man from Tanjecterly was gone and she faced the Berserkers alone. Had she been some movie action hero this would be the time to deliver some witty pun or a catching one liner. Now all she could think of was please don't let me fuck up. Then she tried to jump down and to her surprise she felt frozen, unable to move.

This is ridiculous, she thought to herself, come on, jump!

But again her body refused to jump.

Now she almost wished for one of the two consciousnesses to give her a mental kick to get her going. But none was coming.

In the room with no view save one, one girl had the other in an iron grip.

"MMMMMMMMMMM!" was all Ferucca could utter as Pozcatetl held her in an iron grip.

"You! Will! Not! Interfere!" she hissed angry at the struggling Saiyan.

Stupid Saiyan girl, she thought, all so tough, snotty and mighty. But without their insane chi they weren't so tough to deal with. They relied too much on it. Take it away and suddenly it was like they had to fight with one arm tied to their back. Pozcatetl on the other hand didn't know any better.

"Stop it!" she yelled at Ferucca.

As she struggled with the Saiyan girl, unbeknownst to Pozcatetl a slight wind began to blow in a corner of the room. Then it died down.

With no assistance coming from her fellow 'passengers' Angela was left to her own devices. A third attempt didn't work either.

"Come on," she muttered to herself, "Xander's counting on you. Are you going to fail him? Like you've failed all the others?"

She did a short mental countdown and then she finally leapt down.

She landed right in the middle of the eight Berserkers and now her body moved like it had a mind of her own. With one swoop she sent one Berserker's head rolling. Using the blade's momentum she turned around and decapitated another. She shifted her stance and sent the blade into the chest of a third. All within a second. She pulled the blade from his chest and reversed it, sending it into the chest of number four. Now she only faced half of her opponents.

The remaining four looked bewildered at her. Then the first one drew his sword. Which was her cue to attack him first. Again pulling her sword from the dead man's chest she attacked him with a diagonal swoop, severing his head and right arm from his torso. She gave a spinning kick to another Berserker that hit him squarely on the nose, driving his nasal bone into his brain. That left only two.

But they had both drawn their swords. One of them began his attack and swung his sword with two hands at her. She warded it off wielding the blade Kahanthus with one hand and used her free hand to drive two fingers into his left eye socket. Having thus established a connection she unleashed some chi directly into his brain, enough to cook it.

And that left only one.

The last one proved the most difficult as he had seen how she had casually dispatched with his comrades and he seemed determined not to suffer the same fate. As they clashed with their swords he carefully maintained his distance, to avoid any sudden moves on her part.

She used that to her own advantage, making a wide swing with Kahanthus hoping he would block and thus open himself to a left handed open handed blow. But to her surprise he saw it coming and used a right handed block.

One that was lifted straight from Saiyan martial arts. Then he pushed away her open hand using a follow up move also lifted straight out of Saiyan martial arts.

She was so surprised she nearly didn't see his sword aim for her neck, jumping back two meters in the nick of time.

Inside the room with no view save one Pozcatetl still held Ferucca in a chokehold, but for now both were focused on Angela's fight.

"Did you see that?" Ferucca exclaimed flabbergasted.

"Was that one of your moves?" Pozcatetl asked.

"It damn well was," the Saiyan girl said back, "Straight from the first form of Radi'itsu.".

"Any chance that was a coincidence?" the Pakatchikal girl asked as she let go of Ferucca. Who pointed toward their view of the outside world.

"With Radi'itsu? Not bloody likely. Those guys revel in coming up with unusual moves. Somebody must have taught them. Just look at his stance. Take away the sword and you get pure Cumbri'itsu."

"If these guys do know Saiyan moves then I'm starting to understand why Xander lost in the first place," Pozcatetl said grudgingly, "this may take some time."

"Only if you continue to think like a Pakatchikal," Ferucca said and began to look smugly.

"What do you mean?" the Pakatchikal girl asked. Ferucca pointed to a wall and it turned into a viewing screen that played a memory from Angela, a movie she had once seen.

"These guys may know some Saiyan moves but moves are only one half of the Saiyan equation," Ferucca smirked.

"That's quite devious," Pozcatetl said, grudgingly admiring her counterpart's deviousness.

In the real world Angela assumed a fighting stance of her own and prepared to charge her opponent again when suddenly she had a flash of inspiration. Then to her opponents surprise she lowered her sword halfway, let her guard down and quickly glanced around.

The Berserker, firmly prepared to react to a renewed attack was too stunned to take immediate advantage of the opportunity being offered, expecting some kind of trick. His eyes too firmly locked on Angela he failed to notice that behind and aside him three swords of his fallen comrades slowly began to rise into the air. Then Angela raised her sword again and made a slicing movement through the air, sending the three swords crashing towards the Berserker and piercing him from three sides.

With the shock of surprise still in his face he fell on his knees and keeled over. Finally having finished off the last of her opponents Angela's mood changed. No longer operating on some atavistic combat mode the reality of what she had just done finally dawned on her. She had slain eight more human beings. She fell onto her knees and began to retch.

In the room with no view save one Ferucca shook her head again disapprovingly.

"There she goes again," she snorted in disgust, "she'll never be a true warrior if she keeps breaking down after every battle."

"As long as she does it afterwards she's doing fine," Pozcatetl said as she turned to Ferucca, "where did you dig up that little scene?"

On the viewing screen Ferucca had created could still be seen a scene from The Empire Strikes Back, where Darth Vader uses the Force to hurl objects at poor unfortunate Luke Skywalker. Granted, chi may not be the Force, but hey, if it got the job done. So in response Ferucca just shrugged.

"I had to do something to pass the time," she said evasively.

"Those are her personal memories though," Pozcatetl said chiding, "they are not for you to peruse through like just a book to you."

"By Priya, loosen up, Pozcatetl," Ferucca said as she threw her hands into the air in despair, "I was bored! Who cares? Once she makes it back to Shimrod we're done for anyway. Do you think we'll remember any of this once we're dead again?"

"I'm keeping my eye on you until then," Pozcatetl said pointing at Ferucca.

"Better keep an eye on her instead," Ferucca shrugged unimpressed, "before she buys it beforehand."

Angela finally stood inside the heart of the temple of All Encompassing Truth. It wasn't as big as the one Xander had damaged up in the ninth circle. The inside was a large circular cavernous space, with at the centre a large yellow brown marble pedestal about three feet high. On it was a marble tabletop with on it a casket made from precious metals.

She walked up to it and lifted the lid of the casket. Inside there was a small figurine on a cushion of green velvet. For a moment she looked at it, and then it began to glow. Unable to look away Angela gazed into the light. As she peered intently she could begin to see things. Scenes of other places, other worlds, other people. Some were human looking, some alien beyond her wildest dreams.

Mesmerized Angela could not get herself to break away from the sight. The longer she stared into the Axis, the more familiar things she began to see. Her old friend Doris smoking a crack pipe in a run down apartment, another girl passed out on a sofa. Her father sitting in a bar behind a bottle of cheap bourbon. A girl looking remarkably like Xander's lost girlfriend fighting in what appeared to be a Saiyan combat style with another girl, with dark hair and dressed in leather. And losing badly. The asshole formerly known as Mike sitting in a Greyhound buss looking sullen. Her sister cowering underneath her bed in a darkened room, apparently her own bedroom. Again Xander's girlfriend, fighting what appeared to be a large Saiyan male with tattooed arms dressed up like a cowboy in what looked like a gym, with another Saiyan male, a very short one, looking on bored.

More images followed, until finally she snapped out of her trance. Shaking her head to ward off the influence of the Axis she closed the casket. Then she leaned on the pedestal as she felt the world spinning around her. Bloody hell, that thing was more powerful then the strongest narcotics.

But as she leaned with both hands on the pedestal her eyes fell on her watch. And to her shock she noticed that she had spent at least fifteen minutes staring into the Axis.

"Oh no," she said aghast. She had wasted almost fifteen minutes just looking into that damn thing! Feeling time now pressing down on her like a pack of hounds she hastily pulled out Shimrod's magical pouch and reached for the casket. She tried to fit it in into the pouch. It could probably fit in there easily, as the damn thing was infinitely bigger on the inside. Unfortunately the pouch's opening wasn't and after some struggling she had put down the casket. Instead she had to open the damn thing and put the Axis in there without the casket.

Closing her eyes to avoid losing another fifteen minutes staring in the damn thing she had to grab the think blindly and then try to stuff it into Shimrod's pouch. Naturally, like it always seemed to happen at the worst possible times when you're in a crunch it got stuck as she tried to put the Axis in Shimrod's pouch. After some fumbling it finally went in there and she opened her eyes.

Just in time to see a sword swinging towards her head.

It was only her Saiyan reflexes which allowed her to lean over backwards fast enough for the sword to swoop over her face, missing her nose by an inch. Using her backwards momentum she brought up her leg and gave a vicious toe kick on her attacker's throat.

Shattering his throat the Berserker that had attacked her crumpled. But unfortunately he wasn't the only one as more and more of them stormed into the temple of All Encompassing Truth.

"I TOLD YOU SO!" Ferucca yelled angry in the room with no view save one, "I told you she would slip up. And she did! She should have gotten rid of those bodies outside, but no, you had to let her have another break down. And then she wasted valuable time gazing into that damn thing."

"Hey, I didn't hear you raise the alarm either," Pozcatetl bit back, more focused on Angela's fight then on Ferucca's recriminations, "you were as spellbound as she was. And at least now we know where these guys copied your techniques from."

"Do not shift blame on me," Ferucca said angry as she got up from the sofa, "This was your idea to begin with. We have to take over before things spin out of control."

"No we don't!" Pozcatetl said and she heavy handedly pushed Ferucca back onto the sofa, "Now sit down, ballast. This is her fight."

Having chastised Ferucca Pozcatetl returned her attention to the fight in the temple of All Encompassing Truth. Meanwhile Ferucca folded her arms across her chest and sat there sulking on the sofa, her anger fuming.

Meanwhile in a corner of the room with no view save one a small wind blew unnoticed.

In the temple of All Encompassing Truth Angela had slain half a dozen Berserkers already. But she was still holding off four more, and more of them were entering the temple. Fisk had told her that it was believed that the Mang Berserkers could commune telepathically with each other. And if that were true probably the whole city was on its way towards her.

Using the pedestal as cover she was fairly holding her own while using the sword Kahanthus, it's wide swing keeping the Berserkers at bay and preventing them from swamping her. Occasionally she used her chi to send out a blast wave that sent them backwards to get some breathing room. And she was fairly certain her little Pakatchikal guardian angel was looking out for her as well, giving her warnings from time to time when a Berserker was sneaking up on her.

As she fought she may not be able to escape but they couldn't really get to her either. Stalemate.

But time was on their side. With ever growing numbers all they had to do was bide their time and wear her down.

And then it happened.

To her horror one of them who got slashed with the sword in his dying breath grabbed the blade with both hands and impaled himself on it. Unable to extract the sword fast enough this was the cue for the others to rush her. In order to fight them in hand to hand she had to let go of the sword. That left her only hand to hand. And only Pakatchikal hand to hand techniques as again the Mang Berserkers showed that Saiyan hand to hand techniques were known to them.

For a while she held them off using vigorous Pakatchikal hand to hand techniques, but without the safety zone provided by the sword the Berserkers could finally bring their superior numbers to bear.

And then she was swamped and covered in warm bodies. A mad rugby like scrum followed, then a Berserker emerged victoriously and held up Shimrod's magical pouch and from it he took the Axis of Pythia.

"No," Angela yelped helplessly underneath the mass of bodies.

In the room with no view except for one, one girl stood up from the couch and began to scream.

"Alright, I've had enough of this shit!" she yelled angry.

"Ferucca," Pozcatetl said angry, "not now!"

"Yes now!" the Saiyan girl said angry, "you've lead us to ruin, Pozcatetl, step aside before its too late."

Pozcatetl swung her arm against her annoying roommate in order to silence her but this time Ferucca easily stopped her.

"No more," she said, her eyes blazing with anger. And as she peered into those deep black iris eyes, Pozcatetl could swear she almost felt some unseen breeze blow against her face. Then Ferucca threw her aside and stepped into the centre of the room.

"What are you going to do?" Pozcatetl said as she got herself up from the floor and faced Ferucca.

"What I should have done from the start," the Saiyan girl said, as her hair began to sway in a breeze that only she could feel. Then in front of her a pedestal appeared with a large red button underneath a glass cover.

"You wouldn't!" Pozcatetl hissed as she realized what Ferucca was planning to do.

"Oh, but I will," Ferucca said, smirking an evil grin over her shoulder.

"We agreed we wouldn't do this," the Pakatchikal girl said as she flexed her muscles, ready to storm the Saiyan girl.

"No," Ferucca said dismissively, "you decided, remember? I was against this idea from the start. And now I'm proven right. I'm taking over before there is nothing left to take over. I died once, I don't fancy dying again."

"NOOOH," Pozcatetl yelled as she threw herself at Ferucca, trying to wrestle her away from the column. But to no avail as white flames erupted around Ferucca, and with just the mere flick of her hand she sent Pozcatetl flying backwards. Only to come to a painful sudden stop against the wall.

"We tried it your way," Ferucca said she turned her attention to the pedestal, "now we're going to do it my way."

And then she smashed her other hand through the glass cover and pressed the red button.

The huddle of bodies pounding on Angela suddenly exploded as a wave of chi blew them off, sending quite a few of them crashing into the temple walls. The sudden outburst coming as a surprise to the host of on looking Berserkers. And not in the least of to Angela herself.

What the…., she tried to say but no sound came over her lips. Instead her body moved and reached for the sword Kahanthus still stuck in a dead Berserker. Taking hold of the grip her body pulled it out and then rapidly began to stab those Berserkers within reach and beyond with a fury not yet seen.

"Sit back and enjoy the ride, kiddo," a voice said in Angela's mind, a very familiar voice. One she didn't like.

"Ferucca?"

"The same," the answer came back.

As Ferucca moved through the temple she dealt out death to any Berserker she found in her way. Using the sword Kahanthus she sliced her way through their ranks utilizing superior speed and agility not seen until now. Going for one Berserker in particular, the one holding the Axis. After a swift decapitation she recovered the Axis and tucked it inside her armor, as she couldn't find the magical pouch on such short notice.

She'd just finished tucking away the Axis as another Berserker jumped on her and she pumped him full of chi, cooking him alive. Gripping the sword Kahanthus with both hands she roared defiantly.

"WHO WANTS A PIECE OF ME?!"

Swinging her blade like a scythe she began to move. The ferocity of her attack such that it had the main Berserker force stand back as she moved inexorably and resolutely towards the temple's exit.

She sidestepped an attacking Berserker and spun around, using her momentum to slice through his neck and separate his head from his body. Still spinning she drove Kahanthus into another Berserker's chest, And as she withdrew it she sent a chi blast into a third. She killed a few more, then she stepped through the door unto the square and stopped.

Even more Berserkers than the ones who had assaulted her in the temple filled the square. It looked like the whole city was there. And behind her she could hear the sounds of those berserkers she hadn't killed. But since nobody was making a move Ferucca took a moment to gather her breath, appraising the situation. There were just to damn many of them.

A single Berserker strode through the multitude. A silver stripe was painted diagonally on his glossy black armor. He looked older then the rest, the first Berserker she had seen with graying hair, his left eye gauged out and the empty socket left bare for the world to see.

"I am Spectral Master M'Kesh," he said once he had made it in front of the host, "You have fought well, for a woman. But we will not allow you to escape from our city carrying Mang's holiest tool. Surrender or die."

"Pff" Ferucca snorted unimpressed, then she spat on the square, put the tip of Kahanthus on the ground and rested her arm on the pummel, "I didn't even want to take your stupid toy at first. But now that I have it I'll be damned if you lot take it from me."

"The other one thought he could defeat us," the Spectral commander said, then he gestured towards the Berserkers behind him, "you are strong. And skilled. But he was even stronger then you are. We defeated him. Give us back Mang's holiest tool and we shall grant you a quick and painless death."

Ferucca pretended to think as she brought one finger to her lip.

"Geez, you sure know how to convince a girl," she smirked.

"The alternative is a slow and painful death, woman," the Berserker replied, with heavy vitriol on the word woman.

"No deal," Ferucca said shaking her head.

"You'll die," the Spectral Master answered solemnly.

"You were going to kill me anyway," Ferucca snorted, then she lifted the sword Kahanthus off the ground and slid it into its sheath on her back, "Listen up you worms. I am Ferucca, of house Tangari. I am death incarnate. You may have picked up the odd pointer here and there of my kind from watching your shiny little toy, but I am the real deal. I have cleansed more worlds of their measly inhabitants then the whole sorry lot of you combined. I decide here who lives and dies, not you lot."

"The prophet Mang taught us that we all die sooner or later," the Spectral Master replied, "your speeches do not frighten us.

"True," Ferucca smirked, "but I decide who gets to die sooner rather then later here."

Inside Angela had heard and seen everything when another voice spoke,

"By Cthan," the voice of Pozcatetl sighed in disgust, "she postures more then a Goa'uld who has his defeated enemies prostrated before him!"

"Brave words for a woman," the Spectral Master said meanwhile, "how do you think to defeat us? We are Mang's chosen. His teachings give us the power and strength to rule Tanjecterly. None can defeat us here. Even your kind, ape woman. Yes, do not look so surprised. We see everything using Mang's holiest tool. We have watched and learned from your kind as well."

"I thought so," Ferucca said unimpressed, then she tapped the bulge between her chest, "obviously this trinket isn't so worthless after all. Well, if you have used it to look in on my kind you may recognize what happens once we see the light of a full moon. This accursed planet may stop me from using my full potential, it will not do so once I transform."

"Don't be daft, ape woman," the Spectral Master snorted, "our black moon hardly reflects any light. Certainly not enough to trigger your ape transformation."

Ferucca's grin turned feral.

"Your black moon reflects more light then you think," she shrugged, "but I agree it's not enough. Tell me this though, your trinket, since it allows you to see into my world, does it allow you to hear as well."

"I will not answer that question to a thief," the Spectral Master sneered, "nor to a woman."

Ferucca began to laugh and held up her left hand.

"I thought so," she laughed, "your incomplete use of Saiyan techniques proved it. You only learned from watching, not listening."

A small white sphere formed over Ferucca's left hand.

"Had you been able to listen you might have learned that there are other ways then a full moon to trigger a Saiyan transformation."

"What are you doing, Ferucca?" a voice spoke in her mind but the Saiyan girl ignored that as she continued and the sphere grew, not in size but in intensity.

"Moonlight is only sunlight reflected," she smirked, "But only when reflected by a moon does it contain green-spectrum radiation. When a moon is full that radiation exceeds 17 million zeno units per second. And that amount gets absorbed through our eyes. It does not matter the size of a moon, only that the green radiation cannot exceed 17 million ZPS without a full circular reflection. A full moon. Unfortunately your moon's black surface reflects less light."

"However..."

"The greatest of our kind found a way to compress a planet's atmosphere with a power ball, creating a small artificial moon that can reflect 17 million zeno!"

Suddenly the sphere shot upwards, disappearing high into the sky.

"BURST AND MIX!" Ferucca yelled in elation.

KRAK!

With a loud boom the sphere exploded high in the sky. For a moment a light brighter then a thousand suns shone, causing everybody to look away and cover their eyes. It lasted for three full seconds. Then it died down and as the Berserkers looked up a new moon shone in their sky. A full moon.

Then Ferucca began to laugh.

"And now, my black clad friends, time to die!"

Trapped inside Ferucca's body Angela was helpless to do anything but watch.

"What's going on?" she said to no one in particular as she began to hear a heartbeat thumping, one that increased in intensity with every beat. Then she felt a pair of arms taking hold of her.

"I don't know," Pozcatetl's voice said now directly in her ear, "but this might be a good time to button up the hatches."

"Stop her!" the Spectral Master yelled aghast as the first signs of the transformation began to take place. While she laughed some of Ferucca's teeth began to elongate and her eyes turned blood red. The Berserkers were usually a very disciplined fighting force but they couldn't help but stare at Ferucca until their commander broke the spell.

As the first wave hit Ferucca her face had already began to grow a canine snout and her pelvis shifted to allow for a more apelike stance. Without breaking from her laughter she easily knocked her assailants aside. Before the next wave could hit her she began to grow in stature as well, seemingly doubling in size every second. And the armor that Shimrod had given Angela expanded with her.

Soon she had grown so big that the Berserkers stopped attacking her as they halted to rethink their strategy. Mang may have taught them to have no fear in battle, but he also taught them to use their brains and not charge blindly into danger. And this was a danger the vast majority of them knew nothing of.

"AAAAAAHHHH," Ferucca yelled as the final transformation took place, the whole process being a painful one. She now towered above the assembled Berserkers, having grown to a size of more then twenty meters, fur now covering every uncovered part of her body except for the face. Then she straightened herself out, raised her fists in the air and belched up a ball of fire that landed in the ninth circle and exploded, ripping whole sections of the city apart.

DOOM!

Finally Ferucca had enough power to overcome the accursed dampening this universe imposed on her and Xander.

And she was going to exploit it without mercy as she began to stomp onto the Berserkers like they were cockroaches.

"Stop her," the Spectral Master shouted in a last ditch effort to rally his troops, "stop he…."

SPLUT!

A grease stain was all that remained of him as Ferucca jumped from one Berserker to the next. And then the unthinkable happened. For the first time in history a host of Mang Berserkers began to waver. Then it broke up as Berserker after Berserker scoured off for safety as Ferucca rained down death and destruction on the city of Mang.

But the destruction she wreaked on the city was uncontrolled. There was no guiding intelligence behind it. Ferucca the Ozaru just pounded whatever attracted her mindless attention. And once she ran out of things that drew her attention to destroy and people to stomp on she jumped across the city walls and ran off into the hills to disappear.