I edited the first few chapters so they flowed better RR thanx
7
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Mari had donned new clothes and grabbed weapons before they were in her car racing to a new hide out.
"Do you know who it was?" asked Train.
Mari sighed deeply. "Bernio. He's had it out for me as long as I have been after him. Somehow he always knows what I'm going to do to catch him next. That's why he's the only one I've never been able to get."
Train wondered upon this fact. "Do you think someone has been watching you? Does anyone else know of your plans before you execute them?"
She shook her head gripping the steering wheel. "No… No one, but Shawna and Chrystal know. I know they are trustworthy and no one has been following or watching us that I can tell. You haven't noticed anything have you?"
"No." Noticing her angered face and tensed muscles he decided to shift the conversation to something else. "Why do you wear that choker?"
Absentmindedly one of her hands came up to touch the thin white silk ribbon around her neck from which hung a small round silver bell. "I don't know. I always wear it. From what I can remember it's been mine for a long time. I don't really know why I keep it on, but I hope someday someone will have the answers I need."
He questioned "Answers?"
She laughed at herself and said, "Uh, this may seem strange, but I can't remember a few years of my life."
"Really?" He was amazed at this new insight into her past.
"I uh, woke up one morning and my sister was gone, years had passed, and I was alone with only a few memories, and this bell around my neck." She paused and hesitantly added, "Actually one of the memories I woke up with was of a mysterious Chronos assassin named Black Cat. Something in me knew that there was a connection there and to be honest I hated you. I hated the Black Cat so much I wanted to kill him."
Train was shocked at this statement. "Why didn't you try to kill me when we met?" She smiled.
"You are not what I had pictured. In essence you were not the Black Cat that stung my mind and emotions. You had changed and so much my resentment towards you disappeared. Another hatred was towards Bernio. I had wanted to kill him as well until I found my sister and she taught me the ideals of a sweeper. And I figure it's better to let him rot in prison for the crimes he's committed rather than ending it quickly. Then he will suffer here as well as in hell when he really dies."
He didn't know whether to grimace nervously or be amused at her sadistic statement but quickly pushed it aside. "So you woke up not knowing anything but Bernio and me?"
She nodded "That, and I remembered all the skills I had gained over those years I just didn't know why I had acquired them."
"Skills?" he asked wonderingly.
"Yes, it seems I was trained in weapons as well as hand to hand combat." She pulled the car into a long driveway that had been hidden by overgrown bushes.
They had been away from city for a while and all around them was black except the oval of light produced by the headlights. The car rounded a curve in the pathway and Train caught sight of a huge house that was silhouetted against the dark sky.
"This is another hide out of ours. Apparently it's been mine for years, but we only come here if we really need it. For me too many memories feel lost here. Every time I walk through the door I feel empty space taking over, like everything is familiar, but I don't know how. My sister refuses to tell me why this house is important."
"She knows?" Train's eyes roamed her face while she pulled up to the mansion and parked.
Cutting the engine she sighed."She and Chrystal set up all the technology in the house and apparently lived here during the years I can't remember. They both said it was my house, but when or how I acquired it I can't remember."
A slight tremor arose in his mind and he reached out a hand to her arm to ward off the impending pain.
"I'm going to ask Chrystal tonight what she knows. I want you to be there in case she feels she doesn't want to tell me."
"What do you expect me to do?" He said leaning back in the seat.
She grinned turning to him "Make sure I don't hit her."
He sweat dropped and sighed as they exited the car. Then he sent a mischievous glance her way "What will you give me if I help you find out?"
With a playful glare she turned and stomped up the steps and into the house.
"MARI!" She was met by yelps of joy and hugs as she stepped though the door. Questions flew and she answered readily as if knowing exactly what inquiries the girls would ask her and in what order they would be asked.
"What happened?" asked Sven when Train joined him on the main staircase.
"She had super fast healing powers. I want to help her find out why."
"She doesn't know?" Sven raised his eyebrows concerned
Train shook his head. "Nope, but apparently her sister and Chrystal might." He leaned on the railing looking at the three girls below them.
"Impressive house for a young girl to own right?" Commented Sven
"Huh?" Train looked around at the details of the house. It was huge. With a grand staircase in the middle of an open entrance hall, marble floors, golden chandeliers, crimson carpets, it looked like something out of a movie. "Wow it is really big."
"You're just now noticing?" said Sven as more comment to himself than a question to Train.
"Guys can you come down here? We need to discuss some things." They all made their way to a side chamber off the main hall on the ground level. The doors opened revealing a library with vaulted ceilings and a stained glass window. The walls were shelves completely filled with books and there were multiple tables with books and papers laid out on them.
The doors closed behind them while Mari perched on a table and spoke "Chrystal, please tell me what you know about my past and Bernio."
All eyes turned on the brunette as she gaped at Mari. Mari's unrelenting gaze pierced her very soul and she shuddered, but held her ground. "I can't. Not for myself, but for you. If you know too much of what had happened all of your memories of that time could come back and I don't think you would like it."
Mari dropped her gaze to the floor "At this point I don't care about what I would like and what I wouldn't like."
Chrystal exchanged glances with Shawna "Listen Mari, I met Shawna a year before you came back to her. For ten of those months that year you wandered looking for her I thought you were dead and that Bernio would seize your sister next, that's why we kept moving and it took you a while to find us. As soon as I realized you were alive I knew something had gone horribly wrong with what Bernio had been doing."
Mari looked up sharply "And just what is it that he was doing?"
Train could tell the next bit of information would be hurtful by the way Chrystal paused. He stood alert ready to move to where Mari was sitting. "
He was running experiments on the powers of ancient curses mixed with new technology. Devices planted in people's heads and such. He was building a perfect assassin and for his product he used you, in this house."
Mari looked around. "I thought you said you set up all the technology in this house, and that you and Shawna lived here."
Chrystal nodded "Bernio kept your sister and I here with you, but you were the only one experimented on. Your sister was a prisoner here."
Mari looked shocked, but kept it together surprisingly well, until Chrystal added "And I was the project assistant." Chrystal's head dropped and she couldn't bear to look up at Mari.
"You what? You! YOU TRAITOR! YOU MADE ME THIS WAY? YOU HELPED THAT VILE SCUM! WHY ARE YOU HERE! ARE YOU STILL HELPING HIM?!" Mari had made a move to run at Chrystal, but train had caught her first.
She flailed about trying to struggle against him to no avail.
Chrystal pleaded with Mari desperate to make her side known "No! No, I helped you back then! Yes I was part of it, but I made sure you stayed alive and I set up precautions so you and your sister would be safe. I hated that man for all the crimes he committed and thought if I could sabotage his greatest investment it would help to get rid of him. I knew all the files all the programming and executed my plan to rescue you at the best moment possible. I put your sister and myself into hiding and was coming back for you when I heard you had disappeared from Bernio's watch. I didn't find you and assumed you had finally been killed by your enemy."
Mari had quit struggling and let the words sink in. "Enemy?" was all she could ask in reply.
"Bernio engineered you to have a specific job. He wanted a bodyguard against Chronos. More specifically he made you the perfect match to fight the Black Cat."
Mari looked up into Train's eyes, surprise and shock mirrored on both their faces. "You were both enemies during those years. Tell me Train, were there times you couldn't account for where you'd been or what had happened?"
He closed his eyes "Yes." He had wondered for so long what had happened during the hours he had "lost" and couldn't remember.
"It was because those were the times you were going up against Mari. Apparently for some reason when all her memories were erased your memories of her disappeared as well. I'm not sure why but that's what happened."
"Then why was I never hurt after the times that I don't remember?" Train said trying to find fault in her explanation.
"Remember those precautions I said I took? I made sure Mari wouldn't be harmed by you or visa-versa. I simply explained to Bernio that he had made you two too much of equals on the battle field. He started to suspect me and I knew I didn't have much time so that's when I decided to run." She turned a worried look to Mari "You still don't remember anything? Good."
Mari shook her head. "How do you know?"
Shawna spoke this time "You're not fighting with Train. Chrystal told me that if you knew what had happened your memories might come back and along with it the same programming would awaken in your brain causing you to become just as you were before you were free."
Mari shook her head backing away from Train. "No. That can't be true I…" a surging pain engulfed her mind and she cried out falling to the floor. Train held his head as his own mind was seared. He quickly dropped to his knees and reached out to her making contact and waiting for the pain to subside.
"What is going on! Train what's wrong!" Sven rushed forward.
"It is one of the programming precautions I set in place." Chrystal explained. "They cannot inflict violence on each other or be near each other for very long without causing pain to themselves. Something I didn't originally know is that contact between the two neutralizes the wavelength that causes the pain."
It seemed like an eternity before the pain faded, but both sat up and Train held Mari as she asked "We need to do something about this. Is there any way to undo the programming?"
Chrystal looked downtrodden "I'm afraid there isn't. Not without awakening what you were when you served Bernio. That is something I don't want to risk."
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