Chapter 14
Magnus found her way to Druitt's side, silent tears ran down her cheeks leaving clear streaks through the dust and dirt which had settled on everyone after the long struggle they had endured this day.
The Ripper, the monster responsible for eight sickening murders and however many more they didn't know about, had destroyed her family again. She stared at the pulsating ball of electrical energy in front of her. It exuded awesome power, elemental, atomic energy fluctuating continuously. Her daughter was in there. She slumped back against the solid wall behind her, her heart, broken.
"Magnus?" said Will.
She didn't react and for once, despite his annoying training, Will didn't know what else to say. He looked around at the others his eyes coming to rest on Henry, could he do anything to help Magnus? Henry looked up at the sound of his name but his eyes stared blankly. He turned back to stare at the cloud and slowly frowned.
Deep in his unconscious Druitt 'woke' up on the familiar rocky ground where once before he had found Ashley. Above him the eternal mist swirled pacifically, there was nothing in it this time. The creature was otherwise engaged.
He rolled over and up on to his feet, groaning as his head throbbed with pain. That bloody ripper certainly knew where to hit him so that it hurt. He stood up straight and stretched like a large cat, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked around. How could he get out of here without Ashley's help this time?
Meditation was where she had found focus and determination, perhaps he should try that. He sat down with his long legs crossed and tried to concentrate. All he could think of was Ashley about to face the ripper, he had to get back there. Thinking of her was all he needed to do and he achieved what Ashley had had to learn the hard way. Focused on his daughter his eyes opened back in the chamber with the beast. He turned to look around and could see his body slumped against the wall, Helen sitting next to him staring forlornly at the cloud in the centre of the room which had swallowed their daughter. He turned and determinedly walked into the cloud.
Henry could make out the shape of a body in the smoke. Ashley's body, standing upright and therefore, possibly alive.
"Doc?" he shouted, his voice rising excitedly. She looked at him without enthusiasm. "I can see her, she's still there. Look."
The cloud shifted and air currents began to move the smoke so they could see within.
Druitt stood at Ashley's shoulder, watching, waiting. She was in a deadlock with the beast. To the outside observers they were frozen still, to Druitt they were in a face off and their time had relatively stopped. He could hear her heart racing and sensed the panic steadily rising as she struggled with the beast. He had a perfectly accurate suspicion that Ashley was under the impression she had bitten off more than she could chew. He could sense her heart thundering and her strength wavering in the face of this evil.
"It's alright Ashley, you can do this," he said, his tone level and steady.
But of course, she couldn't hear him. He sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder, but of course, she couldn't feel it. Undeterred he continued to talk to her in his calm and steady voice, full of reassurance and love and belief, the voice she should have heard throughout her childhood protecting her, watching over her, inspiring her.
"Its working," he said, still talking even though she couldn't respond. "You may be on to something with this energy manipulation idea of yours. I thought of you and here I am."
He willed her to hear him his heart breaking at the sight of her here, fighting alone. He willed her to know he was there standing beside her.
"Hesitate no more. It is time."
The wind breathed between them, howling a mournful lament and tousling Ashley's hair. Slowly, she reached out her hand, still uncertain and definitely afraid, but not alone. She stepped forward and the deadlock was broken; the simple movement set the world in motion again. Her eyes were wide with fear of the unknown, but there was something else there too: hope. She had the ability to do this now, she only needed to find the nerve. She had to find out what she was up against.
Ashley's arms swirled with pure unrestricted energy. She turned them deliberately into the teleporting phase, the only way to connect with the enveloping cloud which crackled with electrical energy. Her body remained stable, her head solid, only her arms were in fluctuation. She reached into the storm and grabbed the essence of the creature, the vital piece of its being and forced it into her teleporting state which she could then control as she did her own power. The energy creature reacted to this new threat by coalescing to form the figure of a man in the smoke. It screamed, a horrible high pitched wail, its face distorting as it struggled in her grip. A thin gaunt image of a man became visible to the shocked onlookers. The cloud was fused into the shape of a human.
"You were a man once," realised Ashley, in wonder.
She was unable to hide a tinge of disgust, not that she even attempted. All they had been afraid of, all they had thought they were fighting, was a man. He struggled desperately trying to free himself and snarled in her face. Her arms reformed and still holding on, temporarily trapped it in the form of the body. Unused to solid contact it was powerless to resist.
Ashley stared at it in fascinated horror. The many weird things this world continued to throw at her were unbelievable. She flinched, frightened by the face of madness, human madness. How could a man become so twisted and fall so far, to become such a terrible monster? She was so distracted by trying to figure out an answer she almost forgot her task until, she felt the touch of a hand on her shoulder. Large, warm and reassuring, reminding her of her duty. She turned her head but could see nothing in the mist. A whisper reached her but she couldn't make out what it said. For the first time in a long time she felt her confidence return. She sniffed and wrinkled up her nose.
"You are the complete opposite of what it means to be human. You are pure hatred," she spoke directly to the monster,
"Your attachment to others sickens me," it spat in her face.
Ashley turned its head forcing it to look toward John's body slumped against the wall with Helen by his side once more.
"Our attachment to others has kept him safe. It protects us from the likes of you," she hissed in what could have once been considered to be its ear.
"We could have been powerful but for his infernal preoccupation with her," it raged at Magnus, attempting to attack her.
"You sick and twisted piece of scum. Stay away from my family," she growled at it, nose to nose.
The fallen man was working itself up into a frenzy trying to pull away from this girl, this mere human girl who was stronger than it.
"Your hate is palpable, what are you waiting for?" it goaded her with relish. "You've hungered for this since you found out about your father. Take your revenge..."
The twisted scowl which had taken hold of her face was released as she understood how to beat the creature.
"I could hate you with a passion if I wanted, if I tried, for what you have done to us." She looked into what were once its eyes. "I don't give a damn about you. I don't care what happens to you. You can huff and puff and threaten us all you want. No one cares." She shoved its head in the direction of Magnus and Druitt again. "Look at them. I love them more than I hate you. Can you even comprehend that?"
The beasts screaming got louder as it tried to wrench itself free. Clouds filled the ceiling and swirled around instigating a whirlwind in the chamber, electricity fired from the cloud wildly flying around the room, bolts of lightning thrown indiscriminately.
Ashley refused to let go. Her face set in a stony determination at this beast which refused to leave her family alone. She waited for it to stop writhing, unconsciously reaching out a hand into the darkness and grasping at what should always have been there. Neither of them blinked as the Ripper stared into her eyes finally realising what pure shaking fear felt like as it began to comprehend what she was going to do to it. This shouldn't be happening. He was the one with the power. He was the one who must be obeyed.
She took the next step further into the extent of her power, a natural transition, and turned her arms into pure energy sinking her essence into what was once the heart of the monster. Its eyes opened in shock then it screamed in horror and thrashed wildly like a trapped animal. Ashley transformed the rest of herself into the teleportation state but remained in the same spot and dragged the creature with her into pure energy. The force of the teleport unknowingly shoved Druitt away from the centre of the confrontation and back to his body.
With a loud snap which sounded like the lash of a whip, Ashley rematerialized, forcing the ripper with her and transformed the infernal creature into a solid mass. The face of the man had turned, along with the rest of his body, into smoky blue, solid crystal. One of Ashley's hands was securely wrapped around its neck the other plunged into its chest where the heart should be. Silence rushed into the room filling the gap the whirling winds had left behind. All traces of the energy cloud were gone.
Breathing deeply, Ashley turned to look at her parents, Druitt once more conscious, who with the rest of the crew were staring at her in utter disbelief.
"I've got an ugly dead guy stuck on my arm and I am more than a little creeped out," she announced into the silence, sounding disgusted.
Unable to move she was helpless as Henry regained his wits first and jumped on her to hug her in relief and amazement and wonder.
"Hey c'mon, no fair, I'm stuck."
Over Henry's shoulder she smiled at her mother who was still coming out of her daze; all she could think was that Ashley's smile was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.
"What? Is that it?" she said to the Sanctuary crew still sprawled all over the floor, reeling in shock. "No, 'Well done Ash, nice job.' Hmmph. Hey, Henry. Do you want his head? It could go on your wall."
"Uh, no thanks. It would only give me nightmares. Not that this day won't have scarred me for the rest of my life anyway."
With a frown and a decisive shake of her hands Ashley snapped the statues throat and ripped her hand out of its chest. The crystal man shattered into thousands of blue beads scattering all over the floor and covering the room.
She turned to the team just beginning to stir from the events whch had unfolded in front of them. They were unable to pick their jaws up from the ground or tear their eyes away from the triumphant girl. She unconsciously glowered at them, still dealing with the effort she had put into defeating the monster. She just managed to get out a few more words before her mother silenced her by cutting off her air supply with a bear hug.
"That's what you get for messing with a Magnus."
So, what do you think? I had the idea of the creature turning to crystal and then shattering everywhere for ages but had to build up a whole fic around it. Seriously a whole fic just to get to that scene.