Chapter 3
Gwen slipped into the crowds that were trickling up the street towards the CN Tower. Among the many people dressed in fancy, expensive clothes or casual and smart clothes Gwen blended in once her hood was up.
The stage was set up in the area right outside the CN Tower lobby. Right behind it was the yellow police tape, and in front of it were the masses of Toronto and anybody eager enough to fly a few hundred or thousand miles to see this. Gwen handed her ticket to one of the guards by the blockade set up, and she let him push her sleeve up a bit to stamp her wrist with a blue dot so she could be identified as somebody who was invited.
She was soon near the front of the crowd and keeping an eye out. If the Morph Humans would attack they might definitely go for the stage first. They liked to make a statement, make somebody vanish on national TV and nobody even remembers. Anybody who watched TV or anybody attending would think the band never even showed up because they forgot they were there at all before they were eaten alive. Gwen shuddered, trying not to imagine the four members of the Drama Brothers being eaten.
But as she moved closer she saw the VIP seats...
"Holy crap," She whispered, wishing her hood was big enough to cover her entire head by being pulled over the top and down over her chin.
Over half of the Total Drama cast was there!
She knew that Trent, Justin, Cody and Harold would be backstage getting ready; and she knew Katie and Sadie would show up. She expected LeShawna seeing as she sent her the ticket...but she did not expect Lindsay, Geoff, Bridgette, Izzy, Owen, Ezekiel, Duncan, and DJ to be there too!
"How the hell did they persuade DJ to come?" She mumbled.
Xxx
"I don't know about this man!" DJ squeaked, curled up on his seat.
"Big guy, relax," Duncan said as he leaned back in his own, drinking a soda. "Your mom will never suspect a thing, just as Courtney won't!"
"I still don't know why I let you make me come out here," DJ mumbled.
"Because if I didn't you'd never man up," Duncan replied sagely. "Look, I use this trick with Courtney all the time. Your mom will have no clue what so ever."
"What 'trick'?" Bridgette asked suspiciously.
"Oh...nothing," Duncan said innocently.
Xxx
The phone rang and Duncan's mother answered. "Hello?"
"Hello, Mrs. Matthews?"
"Oh hi, Courtney!" Mrs. Matthews smiled. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm just calling to make sure Duncan hadn't gone to that concert. Is he there?"
"He's in his room right now. He's a little sick and decided to lie down." Mrs. Matthews opened the doors slightly, hearing a snoring sound and what looked like Duncan sleeping on his bed. "The poor dear's been asleep for almost an hour now."
"Okay, thanks." Courtney hung up.
What Duncan's mother did not realize that it was a stuffed dummy in Duncan's bed with his hair style while a small mp3 player played Duncan making snoring sounds to make everyone believe he was sleeping.
Xxx
DJ's mom hummed as she leaned on the kitchen counter, watching her TV out of the corner of her eye. She glanced out the window at the snow blower that was being driven around the back lawn of the house. "DJ when you get back in you're gonna have the biggest batch of Christmas cup cakes ever! Such a good boy...clearing the lawn on such a cold night."
Suddenly 'DJ' fell off of the Snow Blower.
"Huh?"
The Blower was tethered to the center of the lawn, causing it to move in a repeated circle that DJ's mom still had not noticed yet. But as the blower came around for another pass she became concerned.
When 'DJ' was sucked up into the blower and spat out in pieces, she shrieked and collapsed, fainting. "What a world..."
Xxx
"Yep, we're totally scott free," Duncan resisted the urge to strike a Captain Morgan pose. "Free to see the dorksters make idiots of themselves on stage."
"Aw have some confidence in them Duncan, they're pretty popular," Izzy said.
"Go back to making out with the Human Food Vacuum."
"Gladly!" Cue the make out.
"Hey guys, do you think Gwen will show up?" Katie asked remembering that Sadie bumped into her and told her about the concert.
"Oh yeah, she'd said she'd try to make it." Sadie nodded.
"Well if she does then Courtney's fears will be realized. She didn't want me to come because she thought Gwen would show up," Duncan shrugged. "Aw well, either way we still have fun and a night out."
"Ooh! It's starting!" Sadie and Katie squealed at the same time.
But then LeShawna was looking around, concerned. "Come on girl, where are you? I know Gwen wouldn't miss something like this."
"Maybe she decided not to come," Geoff said. "I mean we all got things to do sometimes."
"Maybe you're right," LeShawna muttered, looking up at the stage again.
"Dudes and dudettes!" A familiar voice called from above, amplified by a megaphone. "Welcome to the Drama Brothers Toronto Festival!"
Several rows back Gwen looked up. "What the-Tyler?" He voice was drowned out by a roar of approval from the crowd.
The red clad wannabe-athlete leaped down, hanging from a wire by one hand as he swung down towards the stage. "Weeeeeee-uh oh!"
THUD!
"Oooooooh!" Everybody winced as Tyler struck the stage floor.
"Ow..."
"Upstage pal!" Suddenly Chris McClane stepped out and used one foot to roll Tyler back. "Alright everybody! Welcome to the Drama Brothers Concert!"
Another cheer rose up.
"As you know there's usually crummy talk about how money for this goes to charity...but I'm gonna skip it and just tell you we've damn near ended world hunger with the shares we had to give away." He raised one hand. "Alright bring 'em on out! Presenting the Drama Brothers!"
The curtain behind him rose as Chris stepped off to the side of the stage. Trent pulled out his guitar, Cody had his keyboard, Justin had his tambourine, and Harold had the mike.
"And let the show begin!" Chris announced earning another cheer.
Xxx
"You know you cannot join your friends." Andromeda whispered in Gwen's ear.
"I know." Gwen replied as she pulled out her cell phone.
She looked through the camera and saw no sign of any spirit scents on anyone in the concert no matter how big it was. Not even the Drama Brothers on stage.
"This is getting annoying." Gwen dialled Kurt's number as she cast a spell to block out the sound of the concert.
"Yo, Gwen!" Kurt replied happily, having a method to block out the sound of the concert too so he and Gwen could talk without having to shout. "You made it! How's the view from the box?"
"I'm not there, listen Kurt, have you seen anything at all around here?"
"Actually I took the chance to run a scan of the interior. There are massive signs of spirit energy emanating inside the tower. Looks like your bad guy is keeping out of sight." Kurt replied. "You better slip out and get in there; it's coming from the basement."
"Thanks Kurt." Gwen hung up and quickly slipped through the crowd, sparing a small glance at the stage and the VIP box.
She pulled out her pepper spray and quickly sprayed herself once. If anybody saw her pulling out the pepper spray they forgot it quickly and went back to cheering for the band. Gwen was free to push her way through the crowd-and be totally ignored by the fans. Finally she slipped around the back of the stage and inside the CN Tower.
Xxx
Crash!
She kicked the top of the elevator open and drop down inside it. The metal box had been lowered to the basement level when the fire had broken out, so she had to slip inside it and open it from within to get to the basement level where her targets were hidden.
"Hm...something is odd," Andromeda said. "Merlin says that Kurt examined the blue prints for this building...we're one level below where the blue prints end. This level shouldn't exist."
"Oh well that's swell, another mystery to solve," Gwen said as she forced the doors open and slipped through. "...jinkies."
The floor was more of a series of tunnels carved into the rock. There were lights with cables attached to the ceiling.
"These tunnels are curving rather oddly...and with random secondary tunnels," Andromeda whispered. "Gwen, explore these catacombs, I believe I may know what our human friend is up to."
Gwen took out her locator light and held it ahead of her. This way she would be able to tell if she was facing a Morpher or a human working with Strauss. She did not savour the idea of killing another human like she had done hours ago on the top of the CN tower. It seemed rather odd; she had started out at the top and was now at the bottom...below the bottom actually.
She stopped walking and quickly pulled out a piece of chalk. She drew a circle on the ground and stepped back.
Gwen put both of her hands together and whispered. "Show me the path."
She separated her hands and small flashes of light flew out and traveled through the tunnels. On the circle small flashes of light began to draw lines in the circle as a map of the tunnels was made showing Gwen and her partner what it looked like.
"Hm...yes...I see..." Andromeda murmured. "Gwen... the tunnels within the circle forms a symbol for a method. A Method of Leeching!"
"No prizes for guessing what that does?"
"It's a larger version of a method spirits use to take life energy," Andromeda explained. "Since Damien is human he needs a symbol like this if he is interested in taking life energy. If this were to activate...well everything above: human, plant, anything living will be gone...in fact if it activates with you down here even I may be in danger with this connection between us."
"Life energy from humans and spirits all sucked into this? And for what?" Gwen asked.
"It's not sucked into the symbol, it can be drawn into an object or creature. Whatever stands in the center," Andromeda corrected her. "And if I am right you are nearing the center, right underneath the CN tower itself."
Gwen looked down at the map and saw that the CN was indeed in the center of the symbol.
"Time to find out what the hell this guy is doing." Gwen got up and headed for the center.
She ran ahead, not stopping or even gasping for air since she was used to this. Up ahead she saw an elevator that also was not part of the original structure. The elevator door opened making Gwen stop as the doors opened to reveal Damien Strauss.
"Now, Gwendolyn, I'm pretty sure that you're not allowed inside the CN Tower, let alone in here." Damien chuckled.
"What can I say; I guess my time on that stupid show made me a little rebellious." Gwen glared as she placed her hand on the symbol on her Omni-Glove and her sword appeared. "What's your excuse?"
"Just setting up a bonus for the audience up above after the concert," Damien leaned on a cane. "I promise that it will be a night no one will forget."
"What reason could you possibly have to justify the sacrifice of all those people?" Andromeda manifested herself in her smoke spectre form.
"Ah, the famous Andromeda, a spirit so powerful you are hailed as Heaven's Star." Damien bowed. "That reason I prefer to keep to myself."
He raised his cane and Gwen noticed a green crystal embedded in it. "The Beast Tamer."
"So you heard about it. A cunning tool to allow a human to control morphers and spirits. Here's a demonstration." Damien raised the cane and the crystal glowed.
Gwen heard growling sounds in the room and ducked as something leaped out her. She jumped back and took the chance to look at the two morphers that stood between her and the elevator. One resembled a Minotaur while the other was a tiger like human with yellow fur and black spots, claws on hands and feet, sharp teeth, and slitted eyes.
"Have fun." Damien waved his hand as the elevator closed.
The Minotaur morpher charged at her, intending to ram its horns through her but Gwen was faster as she jumped on its head, ran down its back and delivered a double kick that knocked it over. It fell to the ground face first giving Gwen the chance to dodge blows from the tiger morpher as it tried to claw and bite her. She blocked several slashes with her sword and quickly moved out of the way of attacks she could not risk blocking.
She quickly pushed one claw aside and lunged at the tiger morpher's body. However its reflex allowed it to dodge by an inch and kicked her in the stomach and sent her tumbling backwards and onto the floor. She rolled out of the way as the tiger morpher attempted to stomp on her. The tiger morpher lunged at her with its mouth opened wide and teeth ready to shred her. Gwen reacted by tucking in her legs and rolling backwards and onto her hands, launching herself up into the air from them and springing over the tiger morpher's head.
She landed on her feet and spun around to block several more slashes as the tiger morpher turned and charged at her. She heard the Minotaur morpher roaring and knew it was getting back into the fight. She found herself getting push into the wall by the two creatures and had to come up with a plan fast. She quickly blocked another slash from the tiger morpher and then jumped at the Minotaur morpher aiming her feet at its face. It blocked with one large arm and threw her off.
But that was Gwen's plan all along. She angled her body so that it would end up flinging her into the air. She flipped over and planted her feet on the wall as they came at her again and launched herself off it straight between the two morphers and out into the open again. As she did they tried to hit her but ended hitting each other, the Minotaur's fist slamming into the tiger's face and the tiger's claws slashing one of the Minotaur's eyes.
Gwen watched as both creatures turned to each other in anger and started attacking each other. Slashing, punching, kicking, and biting each other as Gwen took the chance to reach the elevator.
"If I'm lucky they'll kill each other and won't have to worry about some poor guy walking into this." Gwen said as the doors closed.
"An impressive plan, turning them both against each other even if you hadn't intended for it to happen." Andromeda praised.
"Guess all the training paid off." Gwen let a small smile appear as she remembered Andromeda training her until she was exhausted since they became partners.
"You asked for it when you refused to try and live a normal life." Andromeda replied. "I saw no reason to hold back."
"Or trying to discourage me." Gwen looked down at her necklace. "You of all people should understand why I wanted in."
"I know, but it doesn't make it easier." Andromeda's voice softened.
"Yeah, well time to work." Gwen said as she touched the elevator console with her Omni-Glove.
The button for the top floor glowed blue.
"Why would he head back up there...?"
"If he has drawn a secondary array up there, it would act somewhat like a lens and increase the speed of the spell," Andromeda informed her. "If he relied on this one large array it would take hours, long enough for you to stop him. But if he uses a secondary array you and I would be dead before we even knew it...and so would the whole city. We have to get up there, and I doubt we have the time to arrange a Hexagon Gate."
"Well we're heading up in a private elevator, how much better can it get?"
Xxx
LeShawna kept looking around as she and the others watched the Drama Brothers perform their first song. "She still hasn't shown up!"
"What?" Lindsay asked.
"I said Gwen still hasn't shown up!" LeShawna shouted louder.
"When has it blown up?" Izzy asked, pulling away from Noah when she heard LeShawna.
"What?" Geoff shouted, sitting next to them along with Bridgette. "What's blowing up!"
"I said Gwen hasn't shown up!"
"Gwen's blown up?" Lindsay shrieked.
Duncan face palmed. "She's saying Gwen still hasn't arrived!"
"Oh!" Lindsay nodded. "That's right. I don't see Greta anywhere!"
"How about we try her cell?" DJ asked.
"I have her number!" LeShawna pulled out her phone and speed dialled Gwen.
Xxx
Gwen pulled her phone out when it started ringing. "Bad timing!"
She saw caller ID and saw it was LeShawna calling her.
"She must be getting worried. She sent me the ticket." She had a slightly remorseful look on her face for worrying LeShawna.
"It cannot be helped." Andromeda tried to comfort her.
"I know. But knowing me I'll be lucky enough to show during the encore." Gwen put her phone away. "Sorry LeShawna."
The elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened to the charred interior of the Tower's Main Pod. Gwen stepped out, her Katana held in front of her.
"If I wanted to make a second array...where would I put it?" Gwen muttered.
"A Leeching Method forms a sort of spirit barrier around the body of a victim, right down to the flesh, so that any energy cannot escape by accident and the victim cannot flee," Andromeda said. "So for a large array like that he would need a barrier around the city. And if he tried to make the second array indoors it would go slower. So he would need it to be outside..."
"Aw man that guy must have made it on the roof!" Gwen looked at the ceiling. "Just my damn luck."
Suddenly a form knocked her against a wall. Lashing out with her right foot, she kicked it so hard that the Morpher-which looked like some sort of alligator crossed with a dog fell back and scrambled to its feet. It snapped at her, but fell back again when she swung her katana once.
Then two more joined it, forming a complete pack.
"Ohhh boy," Gwen swallowed. "Andromeda I could use some ideas."
"Use a portal method!"
"And go where?"
"Not on yourself, form a portal in front of them!"
Gwen, not looking forward to being eaten stuck her Omni Glove out and traced a large circle of blue light in the air. The three Morphers lunged forward as one just as the portal formed...
And teleported them outside of the CN tower...at the same altitude as the Main Pod. They all yowled as they fell towards the city.
Gwen sighed in relief, dismissing the portal. "Where'd you get that idea?"
"Merlin often used it for getting rid of annoying guests in his life," The spirit replied plainly.
"...clever."
"Hurry to the roof child, you must stop Strauss before he can use the array!"
"Right, gotta save the city!" Gwen explored, searching for a way to the roof. After a rushed search she found a ladder that was in a section locked to the public-the door was smashed open when she found it. Climbing up, she expected to be hit in the face by a gust of wind when she opened the hatch at the top...only to realize that as she got out there was not a breeze, and she actually felt warm.
"Like the set up?" As Gwen steadied herself, using her Omni Glove to keep a grip on the slippery roof of the Main Pod, she turned to see Damien Strauss standing by the base of the needle that jutted out of the top of the pod. "I used a few other arrays to warm things up and keep out the wind. I'd like to do this in comfort."
Gwen saw the array painted onto the roof in black paint around the needle.
"This array is not what I thought it'd be." Andromeda spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Gwen looked at the array.
"This is array is designed to channel almost any type of energy, including life energy." Andromeda noticed the symbols led up to the needle. "If I'm right the array will channel the life energy from the city and release through the top of the tower. The energy will fall upon the city when released."
"Why are you doing this?" Gwen looked at Damien.
"Take a look." Damien pointed up and Gwen looked again, seeing a body with a cloth draped over it above the needle.
"A body?" Gwen had a puzzled look on her face. "What's that about?"
"Someone very dear to me, left on the edge of death by something no doctor was cure or even discover. When I discovered that she in fact was killed by a spirit that stole most of her life energy leaving her hanging on by only a mere thread. If not for one spell keeping her asleep and small amounts of life energy supplied to her by spirits and morphers that agreed to work for me." Damien explained as he paced around the roof.
"You're doing this to save one person?" Gwen had an incredulous look on her face. "You're risking the lives of an entire city for just one woman?"
Damien chuckled. "I'd thought you of all people would understand, Gwendolyn. As I recall you had a close encounter with such a death yourself."
Gwen glared harshly. "I didn't look for a way to save myself at the expense of an entire city! What happens when she finds out that you killed a whole city over her?"
"You make it sound like she and anyone will know. You don't think I haven't set up a way to cover this up?"
"Even if it works why would you need the life energy of an entire city?" Andromeda asked.
Damien chuckled quietly. "You think I got all these spells, tools, and knowledge myself. I'm flattered you believe I am that resourceful."
"You got help?" Gwen asked, not liking where this was going.
"Through a long amount of tireless negotiations it was agreed that the spirits and morphers that assisted me provided that I find a way to help gain access to large amounts of life energy hence this." Damien gestured to the needle with his cane. "The life energy not used for her will fall to the city below like water out of a fountain, for the spirits and morphers waiting at the bottom."
"Making it one big feeding ground to them," Gwen summarized the rest of his plan. "Especially if they are after Andromeda's power."
"And the best part...nobody will ever know," Damien added. "To the world it will look like they all just collapsed and fell asleep...and never woke up. Painless and without any collateral damage. And these morphers and spirits will be able to go for years without having to feed off of another human. I would further explain by lying by saying everybody wins but I hate that cliché so much."
"You think they'll stop feeding?" Gwen demanded. "Feeding on life energy to these guys is like drugs and alcohol to humans: once they get enough they will never stop no matter what! They'll just move on to the next location and start feeding again!"
Damien frowned. "I admit they never thought to explain to me how much they liked life energy...they told me it was out of necessity that they fed...but then things will just be the same as they were before," He turned towards the needle. "Now pardon me. Get her!"
Suddenly three Morphers began to crawl up over the side of the roof. Gwen threw herself at Damien, also taking herself out of range of the Morphers. She managed to tackle him around the waist, but was quickly back fisted across the face. Luckily as she tumbled away from him, she held what she had searched his pockets for: a small plastic box. After she stabilized herself she opened it and saw her prize: a deck of cards!
"I think you're gonna be too busy to use that spell," Gwen said as Damien reached for the ladder that would take him up to the top. With a groan the man turned and looked at her warily.
"Oh really-" He saw the cards in her hand. "You-what?" He checked his pockets as Gwen sorted through the cards.
"I just wanted to make sure you didn't have these on you, in case you try to pull a fast one and turn me into one of those things," She pointed at the Morphers, who had all stopped as they too spotted the deck. "And one other thing that Andromeda told me about this deck..." She withdrew a card that was blank. "That priest who made these cards once accidently turned himself into a monster. Luckily he made one card to reverse all of that. If you don't mind I'll just get rid of your little army."
She held the card out, blank side aimed at the Morphers. "Bye-bye."
The card shined like a star in her hand as light washed over the three Morphers...who shrunk back into their human forms. Suddenly without claws to hold them to the tower roof, the humans had to scramble to find a secure spot to hold onto. They could not risk climbing further without falling off completely.
"You just stay there for a while," Gwen said before starting towards Damien.
"You..." Damien glared but sighed to keep himself calm and even smiled. "I heard you were persistent but I have myself to blame for letting myself get caught off guard like this. Luckily I like to keep things ready for just the occasion."
He pulled out a golden hand gun and aimed it at Gwen.
"A gun? Don't you think that's a little bit useless?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.
"Gwen, that's not an ordinary handgun." Andromeda spoke up recognizing it.
"This gun was crafted by an avatar like you to destroy rogue spirits. It fires concentrated blasts powered by life energy that destroy a spirit's body completely. No amount of ectoplasm would be able to regenerate that spirit's body leaving it formless." Damien explained. "The poor avatar lost it when he was killed and discovered by me. One shot will blast your body apart and if the necklace is hit Andromeda's connection to this world is forever severed. Allow me to demonstrate."
He aimed at the former morphers.
"No wait!" Gwen shouted but it was too late.
Damien fired and the three humans were vaporized before they could even flinch or scream. Nothing was left of them when they were hit. Gwen swallowed as she turned to Damien knowing that if she was hit she was done for.
He levelled it at Gwen. "It doesn't need a reload."
He pulled the trigger and a blast of light blasted out of the gun. Gwen quickly jumped to the side and the blast flew over the roof. Damien kept on firing but Gwen kept dodging while making sure she didn't slip and fall off the roof. Scrambling, she tried to circle around the needle to use it as cover-it was the best she had available barring throwing herself off the side and making a portal to drop herself down on the ground.
"You might as well just sit down here Gwen!" Damien called to her. "This is happening whether you like it or not."
"I have a different idea," Gwen muttered as she managed to slip around the side of the needle opposite from where Damien's ladder was. She began to trace a symbol in the air with her Omni-Glove. She took a glance at the body of Damien's loved one and felt a pang of sympathy. "Sorry...but your boy friend is one messed up freak."
Damien was already climbing when she finished the symbol. Placing her Omni Glove on it, Gwen whispered. "Compress and focus!"
A large amount of air was put under massive amount of pressure, forming into a small sphere that contained itself in her palm. Drawing her arm back like a base ball player, she tossed it right at the needle...
And hit it with the force of a cannon. The metal groaned as it bent and tore under the strain of the shot, the needle beginning to tip. Damien looked down and realized what was beginning to happen. "No, no! You stupid girl what have you-!" He screamed as he fell off of the ladder and rolled along the roof, catching himself feet from the edge.
As the needle fell, Damien saw the spell keeping his lover's body floating in the air beginning to fade. He cried out as it gave out completely and she plummeted, striking the roof first and sliding along towards the edge. It flew out into open air...
And was caught around the waist by Gwen, who tugged the comatose woman back up onto the roof. She definitely had a few broken bones, but from what Gwen could tell she was still hanging onto life by a mere thread.
"Get away from her!" Damien snarled, raising his gun to fire as the needle fell over the side.
"You shoot me, you shoot her!" Gwen shouted. "It's over Damien!"
"It's not over until she's fixed," Damien growled.
"Look, calm down and we'll work this out," Gwen tried to reason with him. "It doesn't have to be like this."
"I've tried everything else! This is the only way to give her life energy back to her!" Damien snapped. "Now hand her over or I-I'll-" He couldn't shoot, he knew that much.
"Give me the Beast Tamer, and the gun, and I'll give her to you," Gwen said firmly. "There's always a better alternative, we just need to wait."
"She doesn't have time! She'll be gone in a few months! I've spent years trying to find a better solution and this is all that will work!" Damien shouted- lowering his gun anyways.
"Yeah, well we have something you don't," Gwen replied. "You've never worked with an avatar before, have you? We can find a way; we have plenty of people who can help her get her energy back without killing this whole city."
Damien hesitated, and she saw a flicker of what looked like guilt in his eyes. "...give her to me and I'll consider it." He slid the gun into its holster and held his hands out, with the Beast Tamer in it.
"Give me both the Tamer and the gun," Gwen replied.
He took the gun and holster out and held it in his other hand. Gwen held out the body of the woman as he cautiously stepped over. He slid his arms under her shoulders and let Gwen take the gun and the Beast Tamer from him. They began to pull apart when Damien suddenly grabbed Gwen and stole the Deck of Beast back while she tried to fit her fingers through the trigger guard of the pistol.
"Wha-" Gwen cried as Damien knocked her down.
"I know you mean well but it can't be done." Damien stepped back with the cards and his lover. "They will hunt us down and kill us both making this in vain. They knew you'd try to promise to help me and claimed he'd kill her first if I considered it."
"Who did? Who told you that?" Gwen got up. "Tell me and I can protect you and her."
"I wish you could," Damien replied. "I'm not a bad person Gwen, I'm just...out for somebody more important than others. If you had somebody you love in this situation, you'd do the same, given enough time to become desperate enough." He slipped a card out of the Deck of Beasts. "I don't have any other items other than this to fight you and fix the damage you've caused." He flipped the card to show her that it was the opposite of the one that cleansed the Morphers of their infection: it was pitch black. It was the Master Card!
"Don't do it!" Gwen held out a hand. "You'll be worse off if you do that Damien! Give us a chance; at least tell us who is threatening you!"
"Sorry...but I play for the winning team on this one," Damien pressed the card to his chest as he held his lover with one arm. He kissed her forehead and whispered. "You'll be better soon...just hold on another minute." Suddenly black veins began to spread over him like paint, staining his clothes and skin.
The form was not that of a simple Morpher, but much more. By the time it was done Damien retained his basic human shape and appearance, but was covered in many of the black strands. Also his right arm-the one holding the card had become thicker past the forearm, ending in a clawed hand that had scaled flesh. Then his eyes became pitch black, and his teeth elongated and sharpened. Finally, the flesh on his back bulged under his clothes and something tore out through the expensive clothes...
Wings, large bat like wings.
The spell that he had used to keep his lover hovering in the air returned as Damien whispered the proper words-rather than using a symbol like a normal human would need. As his lover floated over them he faced Gwen. "Behold Gwen...an Alpha Morpher."
"That...that doesn't look like a Morpher to me," Gwen had her sword in hand already though.
"The original Morphers carried a strain from their creator...actual Demon DNA in the simplest terms," Damien said, examining his large claw. "Actual spiritual material made solid and used to spread the first virus to humanity. This...goes far beyond mimicking some animal Gwen; it reaches shoulder deep into the world of spirits and shows exactly what can be accomplished, given enough effort." His wings unfurled as he moved into a half crouch. "Gwen Rivers, I'll kill you and this whole city if that's what it takes to bring her back to me!"
He launched himself into the air, his wings flapping to bring him up. Along with the new transformation the card had given him knowledge of how to use it like the rest of the deck did with those it changed into morphers. That way they would not require training or practice once turned. Damien flipped over in mid air and dove for her, folding his wings slightly as he angled so that he would slam into her. He swung his right claw down, ripping through the metal on the roof and dragging a trail along the top of the tower's Main Pod. Gwen threw herself to the left and dug her katana into the surface, angling the flat side so that she would not cut through the metal and fall over the edge-something that her katana was more than capable of doing by accident.
Pulling herself to her feet, she watched as Damien circled around for another pass. Then she remembered the pistol now resting in her belt. Though she tried to avoid guns even as an avatar she felt that the situation justified the need for something with a longer range than a sword. Returning her katana to her glove, she pulled out the pistol and held it in both hands, aiming carefully for Damien as he came down. She fired once, and though the bullet clipped his shoulder it did not reduce him to ashes as it had the humans he had shot. It made him veer off however, and that bought her several seconds.
"Andromeda I can't fight like this, I keep slipping!" Gwen looked down at her necklace.
"Agreed. We must even the playing field. You know what to do." Andromeda replied.
Gwen put the gun away and touched her necklace.
That was when a bright light came from the necklace and covered her entire being. She felt Andromeda's power flowing into her, not her whole power as it would have been too much for her body to handle. But she felt stronger, faster, and better in every way. Andromeda's aura surrounded her as she pulled out her sword again, it too glowed bright.
She stood up straight, no longer affected by the roof.
Damien landed and folded his wings. "Cute trick." He swung his claws at her, and she countered by swinging her katana up counter clockwise. Surprisingly even with her using Andromeda's strength she did not slice his arm off.
"Remember, as an Alpha Morpher he is on the verge of demonhood, he is an adversary that you should not take lightly," Andromeda advised.
Damien swung his claw upwards, but only managed to leave a faint cut on Gwen's chin as she backed out of range of the appendage. She twisted and swung her left leg up in a reverse roundhouse kick that caused Damien to lose his balance momentarily. In that time she cut deep into his flesh where his claw met human flesh. Snarling, he tore his limb free and punched Gwen with his human hand, right in the side of her skull.
Dazed momentarily, Gwen was able to dodge the downwards swipe of his claw as he dug it into the roof and dragged it back. He tore out a section of metal a foot wide and two feet long. Snarling, he folded it and then sharpened one tip of the metal. Now he held a makeshift metal lance that he swung at her viciously. Her katana managed to slice through the metal cleanly however, and then the butt of her sword met his left shoulder.
With a howl he took to the air again. With most of the lights on the roof ruined by the combat and the needle being broken off-which she hoped did not crush somebody down below Gwen found it hard to locate him. A moment later she was hit in the back as he landed, swinging a foot out and connecting with the small of her back. She tumbled towards the edge and caught herself, launching herself back up and slamming her right shoulder into his solar plexus.
With a scoff he shoved her aside easily with his human hand and then bared his claw. "You're not cut out for this career Gwen!"
"And you're not cut out for being outside of a mental hospital, but you don't see me telling the whole world!" Gwen shouted back.
Damien growled, opening his mouth and rearing back. When is head shot forward it released a jet of what looked like water at first. Gwen dodged it; not wishing to be knocked off of the roof by the world's first walking pressure hose. The liquid hit the metal...and ate away at it until the interior was visible. It continued to melt through the structure until a hole formed in the bottom of the pod.
"Whoa!" Gwen leaped away from it.
"You're not the only one with trick's Gwen," He started forward and swung his claw hand at her, closed into a fist. She ducked under a haymaker and then rolled to the left as he brought his elbow down and made a huge dent in the much abused top of the Main Pod.
Seeing an opportunity, she swung up and cut his wings off near their base. Damien howled as the wings tumbled off, liquid squirting out like a fountain...and then his screams of pain diminished in laughter as the two stumps began to regenerate. The wings turned into spectral liquid that crawled up Damien's legs and then rejoined with him, shaping themselves back into his wings before solidifying. "It ain't that easy, avatar."
Rearing his claw hand back, a dark miasma of sorts began to collect in it. Then a red light pulsed from under the shroud of smoke like demonic energy. Swinging his claw in an under handed stroke, he sent a wave of red energy at Gwen that tore a path in the roof. Though she threw herself out of the way in time, the energy collected into a sphere and exploded outwards, blowing a chunk of the main pod up entirely!
"Okay, this is getting way out of hand!" Gwen swallowed.
At this rate the whole tower might come apart! They'd be lucky if they repaired the Main Pod by next year after that last attack. And something might fall on the crowd down below if it hadn't already.
Rushing for Damien, she surprised him as she formed a blue circle of light with her Omni Glove. Stopping right in front of him as he waited for her attack not thinking her attack would work; she thrust her sword into the portal as another portal appeared right behind him. She held out her sword as it glowed brighter and plunged into his back, through his skin and piercing his heart. Damien screamed as the power from Andromeda was channelled through the sword and began flowing through his body.
"It's over now, Damien." Gwen said as Damien fell over, her sword still in his back.
Damien desperately crawled to where his lover was. He started to change back to his human form with black smoke rising from his body.
"I can't...I can't...die...yet." Damien groaned with tears coming down his face. "I have to..."
"You won't die." Gwen said as she pulled the sword out. "It's killing the demonic life energy in you but the human part remains unharmed."
Damien collapsed and lost conscious.
"There was nothing you could have done. You tried to reach him but he fell beyond your reach." Andromeda whispered, knowing how Gwen had felt about what had just happened.
"I know...I know." Gwen bowed her head for a moment.
...
"Well that was impressive!"
"AH!" Gwen spun around and saw Kurt standing right behind her.
"That was some fight right there and you even managed to destroy the Master Card. The Deck of Beasts is now useless." Kurt commented, ducking under Gwen's fist.
"You ass! You were watching the whole time while I was fighting for my life and you show yourself now?" Gwen yelled.
"In my defence Gwen I am no fighter,"
"You ain't a lover, that's for sure!"
"Oh now that was just uncalled for." Kurt shook his head. "I kept the crowd down there safe from falling debris and made sure nobody would become suspicious until it's fixed."
"This will take years to fix!" Gwen gestured to the whole of the tower's Main Pod.
"Not with what I have in mind," Kurt clapped his hands together once and rubbed his palms together. "You really don't know me well enough yet. Don't move." He set both hands on the roof, and a light spread out from them and covered the whole tower...
Which came out looking perfectly fine, minus the missing needle.
"I'll need to go back down and reattach that needle manually, that won't take long," Kurt shrugged. "Best of all, they won't even remember damage from that fire."
"Show off," Gwen deadpanned.
"Thank you!" Kurt smiled. "Now let's see if I can do anything about these too."
He took them both. "Well her condition's bad, but not unfixable. It's a long shot but I think I can help her. It'll take a lot of time though. I'd better transfer them to an Avatar Sanctuary. That's the only place you'll find an organized amount of avatars on a regular basis and I doubt our mystery puppet master will try to strike at her there, assuming he finds the one I have in mind."
"And me..." Gwen looked down at the concert, which was continuing despite the giant needle that sunk into the street nearby. "...I have a concert to see."
Kurt grinned. "Little Gwen's opening up at last! Oh they grow up so fast."
"Shut up Kurt," She sighed, using a portal to vanish.
"...I think you'll be a much better conversation than her," Kurt said to the two comatose humans.
Xxx
With the concert almost being over some of Gwen's close friends and few more former contestants were starting to get a little worried. LeShawna had tried to calling her a dozen times but she never answered and now the Drama Brothers were taking a break. Using their VIP tickets they slipped backstage to meet Drama Brothers.
"Hey guys!" Trent waved to them as he put his water bottle down as the others came back stage.
"You were so amazing Trent!" Katie and Sadie ran up and hugged both his arms.
"How did you like the second song, LeShawna? I made it just for you." Harold asked making LeShawna rub the back her head.
"It was...good." She said sheepishly.
"If by good you mean lame." Duncan snickered earning an elbow from LeShawna and Bridgette.
"Why are you here?" Trent asked, glaring slightly at Duncan who shrugged.
"Got nothing better to do."
"He's here because Courtney wanted to have him try out her classical music so he put a decoy up to listen to it and snuck out here." Geoff snickered.
"Which I think was not very nice to her." Bridgette joined Trent in glaring at Duncan.
"Relax; she won't know I'm gone. I'll be back before she wakes up and knows that I was gone." Duncan smirked. "Unless you plan on ratting me out and letting her know you guys let me sit down and listen to half the encore."
If there was one thing everyone agreed it was trying to avoid getting on Courtney's bad side especially as she could blame them for letting Duncan sit in the VIP seats instead of calling her.
"Yo, yo, that music was...huh...what was that called again?" Ezekiel asked.
"You better off not finishing that sentence." DJ quickly said before Ezekiel said another thing that could get everyone mad at him again.
"Don't try DJ, in three seconds he's gonna-"
"Too late," Bridgette cut Geoff off and pointed to Zeke, who was now being beaten by several others-including LeShawna.
"Ok cut it out! No fighting here!" The contestants managed to pull their friends out of the beat down.
"I swear turkey, one more word outta you and I'm gonna rip your jaw off!" LeShawna snapped at a now scared Zeke.
"Eep, eh!" Zeke squeaked.
"Gwen still isn't here," Cody said, trying to look over the crowd.
"She said she'd try to show up," Sadie explained. "But she looked kind of distracted."
"Tried callin' her, girl didn't answer," LeShawna added.
"Man the one time she might actually want to be seen with me and she can't show up," Cody groaned.
Duncan's cell phone rang and he answered. "Yo!"
"DUNCAN!"
Duncan swallowed. "Aw hell!"
"You are soooo busted!" Tyler snickered.
"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'LL-" Courtney shouted from the cell phone but Duncan hung up.
"Um...that's all folks!" Duncan spun and took off.
"Should we help him?" Bridgette asked.
"I wouldn't," The whole group spun at the new voice.
"GWEN!" Katie and Sadie hugged her so tightly she thought her head would pop off.
"Ah...nice to see you too," she wheezed before Cody ran up and hugged her around the waist.
"GWEN!" He cheered, accidently knocking the whole group over.
"Agh...hi Cody," Gwen sat up. "Can we skip the hugs?"
They got off her and helped her up.
"You made it! I knew you make it! I told you she'd make it!" Sadie squealed.
"I know. You were so right!" Katie hugged Sadie.
"So, I take it Duncan was busted?" Gwen asked.
"Totally." Harold snickered at the thought of Duncan getting his ass kicked by Courtney. "She's so going to kill him."
"Nah, she won't. She'll just hurt him and then they'll start making out when he starts yelling and she starts yelling until they're inches from each other's faces." Gwen smiled, shaking her head.
"...ew," Bridgette said.
"Coming from the shameless Make Out Duo," Izzy giggled.
"How many times did they make out during the concert?" Gwen asked.
"It was on very long make out," Owen deadpanned.
"You two made out also!" Geoff pointed at Owen and Izzy.
"At least we don't do it in public every time," Izzy said. "Izzy prefers the girl's bathrooms!" She struck a dramatic pose as Owen flushed.
"I...regret...nothing!" The large blonde declared.
"Ok all weirdness and nasty business aside, where were you girl?" LeShawna asked.
"Stuck in the audience," Gwen replied. "I just showed up and I almost got trampled three times in the crowd."
"Why didn't you answer your phone?"
"My phone was ringing?" Gwen looked at her belt where her phone was kept. "I must not have heard it over the noise."
"But I thought you keep it on vibrate," LeShawna said.
"Do you know how hard it is to tell when your phone is vibrating while surrounded by screaming music fans who won't stop jumping up and down?" Gwen retorted. "I'm just lucky I wasn't knocked over...or dragged into the mosh pit they started."
"Mosh pit?" Geoff perked up.
"Down boy," Bridgette teased, patting his shoulder.
"Mosh pits are the holy grails of parties!" Geoff whined.
"He'll have bad dreams tonight," LeShawna whispered.
"Places everyone! The second half is about to start!" The director called out. "All guests please head back to your seats!"
"Better head back to the VIP seats. Have fun out there." Gwen waved to Drama Brothers, even though she didn't like Justin she did care for the other three.
They all waved back as the former contestants headed to their seats.
Xxx
After the concert was over Gwen quickly headed home, using a portal when no one was looking and entered the house quietly. Her mother and brother were no doubt asleep since Elizabeth wanted them to sleep early she had them do when they were kids even though Alex didn't really believe in Santa anymore. Still Gwen and Alex did it to keep their mother happy and try to keep the magic of Christmas alive in their home. She flopped down on her bed, not even bothering to chance as she closed her eyes.
"Sleep well, Gwen." Andromeda whispered soothingly to her like she had done ever since they had met. "And Merry Christmas."