As I was led over to the other members of the team, I couldn't help but wonder why I had been the only one selected. So I turned to Krauss, since he seemed to be the leader of the team; even though Hellboy resented it greatly. "Professor, how many people were sent for?"I hoped the number wasn't all that large.
"Oh, there were only three. The first wouldn't come at all, the second was a pyrokinetic like Agent Sherman, and then there is the unique little creature of you. Agent Sapien told us little about your powers; only that they were diverse and quite powerful. We hope to learn much from having a young one amongst us." Krauss made me sound like some sort of science experiment. But I was still honored to now be a part of the team.
"Young one? I can't be much younger than most of you." I murmured under my breath. But due to his close proximity, Abraham heard me.
"I'm sorry Cara, but you're not. The only one you're anywhere near is Liz. If my memory serves, when I met you fourteen years ago, you were eight. And when I last saw you nine years ago, you were thirteen. That puts you at twenty two. Hellboy is over 300 years old, I am of around 170 years, and the professor has not told us; but his state does indicate toward an age slightly less than mine."
I nodded numbly as I compared a mere 300 years to how long I have been cursed to live. By time I looked up, we were standing in a newly formed group with Hellboy and Liz. Hellboy was apparently still annoyed with me for using the silencing spell, and Liz's face was void of opinion toward me. "Wait, Abe, you've known this kid since she was eight?" Hellboy glanced between Abraham and I a few times before his eyes settled on me with a measuring stare.
"Yes, Abraham has saved me on multiple occasions, the first being when I was a little girl of eight." I was glad Abraham had not told them of our previous encounters. The first was slightly embarrassing to me now a day and the second was not something to share with those to which I was their new team mate.
"Multiple times? I recall only saving you once; the second had no heroics in it on my part." Abraham turned to look puzzled at me.
I sighed, realizing that sooner or later, I would have told me team mates, and I might as well have that sooner be now. "You're only counting when you saved me in the river when I was eight. But when I was thirteen, you quite literally saved me from myself and me losing control." Now all eyes were on me. I sighed again and began to explain. "When I was eight, I fell into a river and became trapped under a rock. Abraham saved me from being drowned. And when I was thirteen, I nearly lost control of my powers. I turned to Abraham for guidance in what I should do, since no one else I knew was able to comprehend what I was capable of if I lost control."
A few nodded to me, but soon, everyone had drifted away. Being alone did not faze me; it actually gave me a chance to explore the library. I walked along the bookshelves that took up the entirety of the walls, floor to ceiling as well. Most of the books looked either like they were ancient or well worn classics. But then I came to a section near the fireplace in the back of the room. There were a collection of books that
looked rather new. I glanced at the titles to see what newer authors could have drawn in my old and old fashioned friend. As my eyes traveled over the gold lettering, I nearly collapsed into tears again. I leaned against the bookshelf and attempted to calm down. Luckily for me, the others had all left the room. So I gave up on trying to contain my emotions and sank to my knees in quiet sobs.
After a few moments, a cold and wet hand was lightly placed on my shoulder. I glanced up to see Abraham kneeling next to me with his blue and black striped chest exposed and wet. Sudden understanding dawned on me when I realized the giant fish tank I had stood next to earlier had been his. "What is wrong, Cara?" he asked softly.
"Nothing." I mumbled. But it was impossible not to tell the truth to Abraham, he was so open and caring. "I was caught off guard by the names on some of the books here in the library and momentarily lost control of my emotions." I admitted before I dropped my gaze to the ground.
"Which books Cara?" he asked in the same soft voice.
"My books." I whispered. My tears picked up a little as I remembered the time I had spent writing those books. The time I had spent with my twin brother Damian, the co-author of all of them. My twin brother who had been killed last winter.
"Cara, what happened?" he was still using a soft voice. I raised my right hand to Abraham so he could read me. "No, Cara, tell me." Abraham pushed my hand down onto my lap. He shifted his weight so he sat next to me.
I took a deep breath before I spoke. "Last winter, Damian had traveled to New York to meet with someone our father had us looking for. Ever since we were fifteen, our father was giving us missions so he could understand how there was magic in a world that shouldn't have any. He wrote to me every day, like he always did when he went somewhere I couldn't. But then his letters stopped. It was like that for a week. Then his body was found on the bank of the Hudson River. They say he drowned, but I knew that that was impossible. I did not know what had happened until an arrowhead with my brother's name in proscription on it was sent to my apartment. I could sense some of the poison still on it. It was sent by one of our mother's minions; the same one who jabbed it into his heart." I began to cry harder, and then Abraham pulled me against his chest, which was still slightly wet. The coolness of his skin calmed me some. "He has passed his time of waiting; the year and a day when all souls must wait where they were killed. From there they either move on or stay as spirits. Father has assured me that he has not moved on, but I have not seen him." My sobs quieted, but the tears increased.
"How could any mother do that to their own children? Kill one and torture the other." He murmured against my hair. More to himself, but I still felt that the question was directed for me to answer.
"We were a threat. He was killed just before we came of age. If we had both twenty-one years, we would have been powerful enough to overthrow our mother." My mother did not know the fact that our father had asked us not to overthrow her, but to let the others of her level do so for us.
Abraham nodded and drew me closer to him. We sat there for an amount of time that I could not recall, for it just slipped by. Then Abraham's communication piece beeped. He looked down at the green dot and began to separate himself from me. I helped him by leaning away from him and beginning to draw my hand away, but he grasped it firmly in his hand. "Come, Cara. Krauss wants us to join him in the training room. But you should probably change into your new uniform." He glanced down at what I was wearing. I blushed slightly and looked away. My clothes were not considered completely suited for leaving the house in my custom. The red tunic with thick black hems just grazed the top of my knees, and the thick black belt brought in the upper half of it, making it skin tight. I knew I would have to get over that, for my friend's uniform had been tight fitting leather and Kevlar, and mine would probably be similar to his. "Liz has probably already put your uniform in your room. Meet me back here after you get changed; I'll show you to the training room."
I stepped free of him and made my way to the door. I turned to steal a glance at my perpetual savior. I saw him don the top of his uniform, the collar which allowed him to stay out of the water for long periods of time, and gloves. I had a fleeting thought that I preferred it when the top of his uniform had lain discarded in a chair next to the tank, but I quickly killed the thought. I quickly left the library shaking my head at my irrationality. Upon reaching my room, I unlocked the door and stepped into the room. Sure enough, folded on one of the chairs in the front section was a black leather uniform. I slipped the pants and looked in the mirror. Unfortunately, they showed how thin I actually was. Even with all the training in fighting and in the use of my powers, people would still think me frail. I unbuckled the belt and slipped off my tunic. The black undershirt beneath it did little to hide the long scar on my shoulder that was even paler that the rest of me. I pulled on the jacket top and zipped it up. I walked to my bag and grabbed my sword, not knowing exactly what training they had in store for us.
As I re-entered the library, Abraham had a gun belt around his belt, which gave me reason to buckle on the sword case. It felt good to have the saber tap against my right knee. Abraham looked up at the sound of my entrance and smiled. I know why he did now, but I didn't back then. "Come, Cara." He motioned for me to follow. We walked down a few hallways and came to a steel door. He opened it and I took in the scene before me. Hellboy was bunching a steel block, Liz was vaulting on a mat and catching different targets on fire, and Krauss was out of his containment suit and was floating through different objects.
Mr. Manning came up to address us, and he did not at all look comfortable. "Agents, Krauss has asked me to have you two practice spar to see what Agent Majed…"
He would have continued, but I held up my hand to stop him. "Please, Mr. Manning, call me Cara."
He nodded then continued. "He wishes us to test Cara's fighting skills. And since you, Agent Sapien, know her the most and are one of our better fighters, have been giving the task. Don't hurt her too badly, we still need to find out what her powers are." He turned and retreated back to his corner away from any of the agents.
I turned to Abraham and smiled. "Do you honestly think you have a chance at beating me?" I unhooked my sword belt, since this was going to be a hand to hand fight. Abraham did the same with his gun belt.
After depositing our weapons off to the side, we walked to the center of the mat. As soon as we reached the middle, I turned and lashed out at Abraham with a kick to his stomach. He parried my strike away, spinning me around. He shoved me in the back, which caused me to roll forward. As soon as I had control, I vaulted backwards. One of my kicks brought his defensive arm down, while the other landed on his shoulder. I was being careful not to put my full strength into my attacks, but I knew that that had to have hurt. When I landed, I was in front of him with my back to him. He grabbed my arms and pinned them behind me with one arm and put his other around my neck. I dropped down onto my back, dragging him partially down with me. I propelled my legs into my stomach and rolled him forward and past me. We stood at the same time, and I was caught off guard by Abrahams sudden burst of speed. He charged me and his palms propelled into my shoulders to knock me to the ground. But before I fell, I grabbed one of his wrists, thus taking him down with me.
He landed on top of me with our legs and arms intertwined. We were in a stalemate. If he got up, I would simply kick him in the stomach again. And any movement one of us made would open up for the other to attack. Suddenly our close proximity dawned on us. The hand that I had grabbed in order to bring him down was still in my hand was at my waist, so his hand too was resting on the curve above my hip. His other hand had slipped upward during the fall; his arm now lay curved near the side of my head. That also dropped his elevation, to a point he was directly on top of me. Our legs were intertwined with each other's: one of his knees was near the inside of my thigh, the other wrapped around my other knee. Our breathing had matched to a point I was inhaling as he exhaled and in vice versa, so we remained in contact the whole time. Our faces were only an inch or two apart, and we were looking into each other's eyes.
Abraham broke the silence with an out of breath end to the spar. "I think we'll call that a draw." He pushed himself to his knees and then stood up. He offered his hand down to me, which I accepted. Abraham looked over my shoulder and scowled. I followed his gaze and saw the Hellboy had stopped destroying the piece of steel and was instead leaning against it as he smirked at us. I looked down and blushed from embarrassment.
I turned and was about to apologize when Krauss, now back in his containment suit, walked up to address us. "Well done, Cara. Your fighting skills are quite impressive. Considering the disadvantages of size, strength, and speed; it is quite remarkable you were able to get Agent Sapien into an impasse."
"Not to turn down your compliment, Professor, but it was Abraham who put me into the impasse; I merely just acknowledged it and didn't struggle." I realized that he really did have all the advantages, so he must have been going easy on me.
"It is quite alright, Cara. Now, about your powers. Could you possibly demonstrate your abilities for us?"
I nodded as I walked a few steps back. "Shirak." The lights all around the room that had not been lit before were now burning brightly.
"So she's a sorceress?" Liz had walked over from her mat.
I shook my head. "I am a mage; an archmage to be exact." I concentrated on Hellboy in my head before muttering yet another spell while still keeping the lights on. Suddenly the large red agent was flying through the air looking very annoyed at me, like he needed another reason to punch me. I carefully set him down, so as not to completely infuriate him. Then I concentrated on the block of steel Hellboy had been punching. After muttering yet another spell, the block burst into black flames and then melted to the ground. I turned and walked over to the puddle, casting another spell, it solidified and I tapped it with my foot. I turned back to the team, who were nodding approvingly. Abraham had a smile playing across his black lips. I smiled back at him. He and I both knew I was holding back. He cocked his head toward one of the targets Liz had spared from being incinerated. I nodded and turned to face the manikin. I brought my arms up and crossed them in front of me, muttered a more complex spell, and snapped my arms out toward the target. A shimmering wall of energy barreled toward it, ripping it to shreds once it reached it.
"I can do much more; those spells were quite simple and only examples." I walked back to the group and slowly released the lights I had turned on. "Professor, could you please leave your containment suit and remove your appearance to us please?"
"Excuse me? What does this have to do with your powers?" He was stuttering slightly.
"I am able to see spirits. I have never encountered an ectoplasmic spirit, though I have read much about them. I wish to see if my powers will also allow me to see you. Is that alright?" apparently Krauss was not used to having the technical terms of the spirit world expressed so calmly, especially when the speaker was not of the spirit world themselves.
"Of course. This shall be an interesting experiment." He opened a few of the valves in his suit; and he hissed out into the air to the shape I had first encountered him in. After a few moments, this shape began to disappear. The team murmured in questions to each other.
Abraham, who knew my powers quite well, came up behind me and whispered in my ear. "Do you see him?"
"Not yet. He is still within the stages of appearing. Soon, however, my powers will be tested." I turned my head slightly so I could see him.
He took my hand in his like he had my apartment when they had begun to read each other. "May I watch with you?" he whispered to me.
I nodded, turning my attention yet again to Krauss, who had completely disappeared to everyone but Abraham and I. Slowly but surely, the image of Krauss reappeared to us. First he was just the misty cloud, but then a more definite shape. Soon a completely colored and defined Krauss appeared before the two. He stood only slightly shorter than Abraham, making him around six feet tall. He was a little more robust than Abraham, but nothing like Hellboy. He almost reminded me of Damian in that sense. This brought a single tear rolling down my cheek. Abraham brushed it away with his hand before it had
reached my chin. Krauss' sandy blond hair was cut in a military fashion from World War II. His blue grey eyes were soft yet observant as they flickered to us.
"Well, can you two see me? I see that Agent Sapien is using his ability to see what you see; quite creative." His voice was much clearer now that it wasn't coming through his containment suit.
"Yes, Professor, we can see you. You can re-appear if you wish now." Abraham answered for me; because if he could see Krauss then of course I could.
"Amazing, this is absolutely amazing. Your powers are quite unique, Cara. You should be proud of what you're capable of." Krauss nodded in affirmation to me.
"Trust me, what I'm capable of is not good." I muttered. Only Abraham heard me, but he knew what I meant; and that I was right.
Hello! This both halves of idkaname speaking.
How do you like it so far? If you have no clue what Dragon Lance (what this crosses with), don't worry. All will be explained when it comes. Why did Abe smile? What will Hellboy say to them about the sparring incident (because you know he'll say something)? Why hasn't Damian appeared to Cara? What is Cara capable of?
Please review with your opinions on the questions we have just asked you. We LOVE your input. And we'll probably use it to fill a certain gap n our plot. We reply all reviews.
Next update will be in a few days.
Sincerely,
C M + L W idkaname