Part Five: Surprise

"Oh, not again," Catherine muttered as Noel carefully put the box down behind them. By the time she turned around again the four Hellions had ranged out in front of them. Three carried baseball bats. Their leader, carrying nothing obvious and standing in the center, looked like all of his Christmases had come at once.

"Well, look who we have here," he said and Catherine went cold. She recognized his voice- he was the same one who had tried to kill her a few days before. The bruises around her neck had barely faded.

"You!" She cried out. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

The Damned laughed. "You pissed off the boss and now he wants to see you personally. We're here to bring you to him."

Catherine took a deep breath. "No."

"I'll tell you what. You come with me, and we'll leave your friend alone."

She glanced at Noel, who seemed to be off in her own little world and not paying attention to anything going on around her. She recognized the look and worked to suppress a smile.

Unfortunately for her, one of the Hellions carrying a baseball bat on one shoulder picked up on it. "Whatever you're smiling about lady, I wouldn't do it if I were you. We know everyone you know. You don't want to see anyone else hurt, do you?"

Catherine saw red. No one threatened her friends and got away with it. She strode forward, enraged, toward the group of pyromaniacs. She suddenly stopped after two paces, then closed her eyes. The Hellions held their ground warily.

The temperature around the Hellions rose sharply and a glow surrounded Catherine, white at first, then a vibrantly bright green, then black. Strands of oily darkness lashed out lightning quick towards the hapless villains and wrapped around their chests, pulling them into the air to struggle helplessly.

"Who is your boss?"

"C'mon man, don't shoot the messenger!" cried the Damned.

"Answer my question. Who is your boss?" The strands tightened their grip.

The Damned's only response was to summon a fireball and launch it at Catherine. To his surprise, it fizzled out a foot from his hand. Another strand whipped out and circled the leftmost Hellion and dragged him to the front of the group. He dropped his weapon and put both hands to his throat, trying to get enough air to breathe.

"You threatened my friend. Now I threaten yours."

He sneered. "What kind of hero are you? You're gonna kill him in cold blood?"

"I am not a hero."

He glanced over at the Blood Brother Slugger, who was beginning to turn blue. "Fine! Faculus sent us! He didn't say why, just that he wanted you alive."

Suddenly, before Catherine could reply, the temperature plummeted and ice crystals formed in the air. Noel made a complicated gesture that seemed to allow one arm to pass through the other and the crystals flew towards the Hellions, encasing them in a thin layer of ice.

A few seconds later Catherine jumped as Noel grabbed her by the arm, then leaned heavily against her friend, her legs barely able to keep her upright. She stared in confusion at the Hellions, who were laying scattered on the sidewalk and street partially encased in ice. "What's going on?"

"Run!"

Noel took off, still holding on to Catherine, who stumbled a few steps before getting her feet underneath her. "My box!"

"Forget your box. We can get it later."

Catherine slowed and glanced over her shoulder. "I can't leave it." She grabbed Noel by the shoulder. "Wait, look."

The two women watched as the Hellions broke themselves free from the ice that hadn't already melted, then ran off between two apartment buildings. None of them so much as glanced over at the two women.

The two glanced at each other, neither sure what had just happened. Catherine shook her head and walked back down the sidewalk towards her box, Noel a few steps behind. She inspected the box and its contents, found them to be damp, and put her head in her hands. "I want to go home."

An hour later, after what could be salvaged had been set up in Catherine's new apartment and everything that could be washed was in the washer down the hall, Noel leaned up against a wall while Catherine lifted herself onto the kitchen island. At least this one has better carpet, she thought.

"So... do you remember what happened earlier?" asked Noel, sounding hesitant.

"Somehow I think that's one of the many, many things since ending up here I won't ever be able to forget. How does anyone manage to live here, anyhow?"

Noel shrugged uncomfortably. "Well, usually people don't get attacked as often as you do."

Catherine sighed. "Wonderful. What do these nuts have against me, anyway?"

"You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?"

"You don't remember running straight towards them, then glowing and nearly killing one of them?"

"…No. I think I'd remember that."

"What do you remember?"

Catherine paused. "You were in a trance, I think, and then they threatened you, and then you were telling me to run."

"Wow."

"You're serious I did all of that?"

"Yeah." Noel was silent for a while, looking uncomfortable.

"What?"

Noel sighed, looking like she would rather be doing anything else but standing there. "Is there something you aren't telling me? You were glowing black. That's not normal, even here."

Catherine stared, at a loss for words. "You've known me how long? I've read comics, I know what you're implying. Do you really think I'm evil or something?"

Noel frowned. "No, of course not."

"So what do you think?"

Noel hesitated.

"Get out! Get out of my apartment right now!"

The next evening, Catherine, still angry about Noel, waited at the bus stop with a crowd of end-of-the-day commuters and her coworker Leon. Leon was a bodybuilder and one of the biggest guys on her shift and also rode the bus, and so Jason had asked him to keep an eye on her. He was talking animatedly about the upcoming football season, but she was more interested in running over the day before in her head once again.

Resentment and anger flared as she remembered what Noel had insinuated. She didn't remember exactly what had happened, but it certainly hadn't involved her doing what certainly seemed to sound like magic. That was Noel's thing. Noel had been born in the right universe, for a start. Catherine was sure she didn't have a magical bone in her body. Her cash register had even stopped randomly malfunctioning, so whatever weirdness she had acquired from her arrival was gone, for sure.

She jerked into awareness as Leon elbowed her. "Off in your own little world?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's been a long few days."

"Don't worry about anything while I'm around. There's a reason Jason sent me with you."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh." She shifted position as her stomach turned.

Now Leon raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm-"

"-fine." Catherine looked around at what had been the bus stop just seconds before, but was now a hilly, wooded area. "Or not. This is not going to end well." She took a deep breath and turned in a circle. She was surrounded by oak trees, thick enough that she couldn't see where they ended, assuming she was even anywhere near the edge of the woods. One area though, in front of her and to the left, was thinner.

There was nothing for it. Staying put would not only not get her help her find out where she was, it would make her a sitting duck for whoever or whatever had transported her. Considering she'd landed in a secluded area, odds were bad that the transporter was a nice person. With a sigh she set out.

After five minutes Catherine was no less lost than she had been. While the trees were spaced farther apart, they showed no signs of ending any time soon. She sighed again and surveyed the trees nearest to her for the easiest one to climb. Most of them had only scraggly lower branches, as the light didn't normally reach down this far. One, however, had a few branches spaced close enough together that she could climb quite a ways into the air. Hopefully from there she could see just exactly where she was, and even more hopefully, where everything else was as well.

She had very carefully made it ten feet into the air and was contemplating the next nearest branch, which was at waist height and just barely within reach, when she smelled the unmistakeable scent of sandalwood. She swore under her breath and lunged towards the next branch, fear and a sudden spike of adrenaline fueling her. There was only one thing she associated sandalwood with, and it was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. If she was lucky, she could make it far enough upwards to get into the thicker foliage and not be seen.

Unfortunately for her, luck was once again not on her side. A green glow sprang up around her, freezing her in place only inches short of her goal. She tumbled to the ground and landed in a heap on the leaf litter, then found herself lifted into the air as six robed mystics emerged from in between the trees. If she could have controlled her muscles well enough to swear, she would have. There was no way she was going to survive this.

Five of them carried either a crossbow or a wicked-looking knife and were dressed in brown robes with the hoods pulled so far forward she couldn't see their faces. What she could see, however, was frightening enough- two small trails of green flame where their eyes should have been. The sixth wore a robe as well, but it was colored in purple and black and without a hood, and he wore a tall, black hat. He seemed to be the one in charge, motioning the others into a rough circle around her while he positioned himself directly in front. The Mage stared upwards at her with malevolent glee

"Ah, you never expected to see me again, did you?" With that, Catherine regained control over her muscles.

"I have no idea who you are," she spat. .

The Mage shook his head. "You have a short memory. We last saw each other only a few months ago."

Catherine turned pale. The last time she had run into the Circle of Thorns wasn't something she wanted to remember. Or repeat, for that matter. The first time had landed her in Paragon City. Who knew what would happen the second time around?

"Ah, I see you do remember me. Good, good. I certainly remember you. That ceremony would have given me the power I needed to cement my position in the Circle, but you ruined it, and me. You can help me regain some of that power, you see. After a month of reflection in the facility you so laughingly call a prison I found you had gained the power I sought for so long. This cannot stand, of course. That power belongs to me, and I will tear it from your body with pleasure."

Catherine stared, then shook her head. "You're insane. I've no powers of any sort, demonic or otherwise. Let me go!"

"Ah, you fool only yourself. My Hellions, as useless as they ultimately turned out to be, have already told me of your new-found dark abilities."

Catherine said nothing, her mind racing. So that was why the Hellions seemed intent on making her life miserable! All because of an accident she hadn't had anything to do with, despite what the obvious madman thought. "I just want to go home," she said plaintively. "I swear, I won't bother you or anyone else."

Faculus laughed, a dry, scraping noise. "Ah, I weary of this banter. It is time."

Catherine screamed and attempted to lunge at Faculus, who never moved, but simply held his hands above his head and muttered something his captive couldn't hear. A very old looking book appeared several inches above his hands and continued to float at that same height as he lowered his hands enough that he could read from the tome with ease.

An intricate chant rose up from the mystics until Catherine could hear nothing else. As paralysis slowly seeped into her body she screamed again, hoping against hope that someone, anyone, would hear and come to her rescue. With her eyes open she had no choice but to watch as Faculus led the ritual to its crescendo.

Moments later, a burst of white light bright enough to be painful illuminated the area. A woman's voice cried out from behind her, and Catherine's heart rose.

"I see the Circle of Thorns are still up to their old tricks. Well, you're about to have one less victim!"

Faculus had only a split second to react before he and his compatriots were literally frozen in place. With the ceremony disrupted, the magic holding Catherine still and in the air dissipated, and she crashed to the ground. Unable to see, she scrambled to her feet and ran for her life, one hand out in front of her. She touched something cold first and dodged around it with a scream, then a few feet farther the rough bark of an oak tree.

She continued to run until she was out of breath, then stopped and put her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. The pain from the flash of light was thankfully gone, but her vision was still blurry. She blinked several times, hoping it would clear, but to her dismay it didn't. She swore under her breath. She wasn't dead, but instead it looked like she was partially blind.

A woman's scream and the sounds of a battle going very badly replaced the sound of her heart beating in her head, and Catherine put her head In her hands. "Why me?"

As much as she wanted to help there was nothing she could do. Faculus had it out for her, someone was going to die, and it was her fault. A meaty thunk made her wince, and tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Despite her denials, Noel's description of the day before kept coming back to her. "You glowed black," she'd said. "You nearly killed them." But what her friend had seen had scared her, scared her enough to wonder whether her friend was evil. Which meant that, at least to Noel, her power was real. And dangerous.

Besides, even if Faculus was right and she had been infused with a demon's power, there was still a problem. She had no idea how to access those powers. She'd gotten angry and then... there was nothing.

But someone was going to die if she didn't do something. She was going to die if she didn't do something. It wasn't like Faculus was going to leave her alone. He'd made that clear. Fine then. A decision had to be made.

"I'm out of my mind," she muttered, but her step didn't falter as she headed back in the direction of the battle.

The view that greeted her as she came out from behind the last of the trees was not a good one. The five minor mystics were still encased in their icy prisons, but Faculus had broken free and gone on the attack. Her rescuer's hooded black robe was torn and scorched, and she was obviously favoring her left ankle. Faculus had lost his hat and was breathing heavily, but otherwise looked uninjured. The ground below them glittered with ice and debris.

"Leave her alone! This is between you and me."

.

Faculus turned and Catherine resisted the urge to run. Dark energy surrounded him, making him look like a demon himself. There was a crazed look in his eyes, as if the time and place he was looking at wasn't the one he was actually in. "Ah, I see you've decided to make it easier on yourself. A good choice. It will not, however, save this woman her life."

"This is between you and me," Catherine repeated. The world around her tinted green as she began to glow.

Faculus laughed and waved his right hand in the air, releasing the other mystics from the ice. "Ah, let it never be said I fight fair."

The hooded heroine sprang into action, hurling fist-seized balls of ice at the nearest mystics. "Run! I can handle these losers!"

Catherine shook her head. She could feel the power welling up in her, unlike anything she had ever experienced before. New knowledge flooded her mind and she laughed at the insignificance of the Mage in front of her. "You thought you could drain me? Have a taste of your own medicine!"

She raised her arms out to the sides and thick strands formed from the new-found darkness around her, then sent them soaring towards Faculus. To her dismay the mystic simply held up a hand and watched as the strands dissipated against it.

"Ah, you try to use my own power against me. I'm afraid it will do you no good."

Anger flared in Catherine, and something in the back of her mind flared with it. Whatever it was it felt old, as old as time itself. It wormed its way forward in her mind, leaving behind the impression of intelligence and wisdom, dust and decay. Leave the weakling to me.

Catherine jerked in surprise. "Who are you?" she said aloud.

Why, I am a part of you, came the reply in her head, while Faculus simply shook his head and began to chant. Let me show you. The air around her heated quickly, fast enough and hot enough to make her wince, but somehow it left her skin whole.

"What are you doing? Stop it!" Suddenly the Death Mage wasn't a priority. She closed her eyes, hoping it would help her focus. She could feel the thing trying to control her movement. It brought with it something interesting; the knowledge of how to create and control flame.

She screamed and opened her eyes as she felt a bone-chillingly cold wind pass through her, leaving her feeling drained and weak. She screamed again in rage as the thing in her head laughed, and created a ball of flame the size of a baseball in the palm of her right hand. She could hear it snap and crackle as if it was fueled by wood, but her hand stayed cool. She smiled, then wound up and threw it at Faculus who in his surprise misjudged the speed of the projectile and took it full in the chest.

He staggered back a pace and patted out the small fire that had started in his beard. He hunched forward, robe scorched, and leaned against a nearby tree for support. "Ah, you haven't seen the last of me!" With that, he made a complicated gesture and vanished into thin air.

With no targets left, the thing faded away until she couldn't sense it at all, leaving her feeling oddly alone. As the adrenaline wore off and her breathing slowed the magnitude of what she had just done dawned on her. Her knees gave out and she sank to the ground, then burst into tears. Only the sound of leaves crunching underfoot made her look up, to find the hooded heroine at her side. The stranger knelt down at her side and looked into her eyes.

"Who are you?"