Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.
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Jade was beyond surprised when she wasn't picked up by Eric. "I have a car, you know." Robbie argued as he led her to where he was parked.
"What happened to your so called car of the future?" Jade wondered.
"This is it." The nerdy boy explained, pointing at his vehicle. "After Tori got so wazzed, back when I gave her that ride, I went ahead and sought out something better. I mean, sure, it's ecological, and compact, but it's an electric car, with a really good battery system, and while it's not that fast, only travels around forty max, it's a really good city car."
"This looks like fortified golf cart." Jade sniped.
"It is." Rob agreed. "Thus, lots of power, lasts a while, and I got it cheap cause the previous owner, they were moving back to Europe, and wanted to get rid of this older model, selling it."
"Guess it's okay." Jade noted. "Street legal?"
"Yepper." Rob agreed. "Just, not freeway legal, but that's okay. I just, I needed a special license, but as I said, for commuting, this is awesome. Plus, Rex, he no longer has to sit in a basket as I peddle."
"Well, lets get going, cause we're finishing your testing today, and I wanna see what Sikowitz found for you." Jade smiled, getting in a car she normally wouldn't touch.
They started, only to hesitate as Trina peeled out in her car, Meredith by her side. "That's odd." Robbie said. "I had no idea they were friends."
"Yea..." Jade let slip, her mind drifting to other things she'd learned in the recent past. "Disturbing..."
They drove off towards the police main building, ready to find out just what kind of hero Robbie was going to become. Not willing to divulge any confidences, not until she knew what was going on, Jade chose to make small talk. She distracted Robbie with her questions about what everyone has been doing. She knew most of it, but used his intimate knowledge, as well as his perspective, to better understand how everyone was reacting to her being on probation.
"So, Cat's been doing okay, but I get the feeling she really wants to see you again." Robbie finished.
"I want to hang with her too." Jade sighed. "But I'm only now earning myself some privileges, and it's gonna take time. Hell, at least I have a shot now, unlike in the past, when there was no chance in hell I'd win myself the right to have friends." She looked off into the distance. "Tools don't need friends."
"But people do." Rob said, showing a connection to the pale woman that most people would be shocked to find out existed. "So, we're almost there. You ready?"
"This is all routine for me." Jade said. "You're the new guy to the program." She found her ID card, and prepared to head to the elevator. "Lets do this."
"God, why d they use our school ID's here?" The boy wondered as they waited for the elevator to descend. His electric vehicle was parked very close, because some places have preferred parking for cars like his.
"Apparently Hollywood Arts is connected to The Blue Generation Initiative, or something like that, and so the school is where they'd send meta's related to cops." Jade said, filling in on what they'd previously been told.
"Knew the first, from when I first came here. As for the second, anyone we know?" Rob wondered.
"Maybe." Jade told him, trying to focus away from that part of what she'd learned. 'Man, this secrets chiz, it's actually hard sometimes. Friends and secrets, they clash sometimes. Who knew?'
The doors opened, and Robbie was greeted by the armored guard, as well as a sight he'd never expected to see. Meredith was sitting on a couch in the entryway, arms crossed, waiting.
"Okaaay, and what's she doing here?" He asked Jade.
"Like I'd know." Jade snapped, her cold exterior returning like the defense it was. "Ask her."
"Um, Meredith..." Rob started.
"Jade, you may not know this, but they think they found a way to use me." The friendly girl ignored Rob to speak directly to the blue eyed girl.
"Really?!" Jade felt happy, but was left wondering. "Wait, what happened to Trina?"
"She Was here, visiting her mom." The shorter girl said. "Wait, he didn't… No, he knows she knows about this place, so we're all good." She caught Robbie's eyes. "Rob, I'm part of the Blue Generation Initiative, and I'm here cause The Black Dahlia may be able to help me improve my abilities enough to be of some use to the city."
"And this is the first I'm hearing about this why?" Jade demanded.
"Cause it also involves this thing." Trina told her as she walked out from the inner offices, waiving the amulet.. "Mom wanted me to stick around, but I was only here for moral support, now that Meri here is gonna join your ranks."
"Whats that thing?" Robbie asked asked.
"Either Achilles Amulet, or a reasonable copy." The older girl said. "Thing is, the people Abra's agent, no code name yet, but the people she got it from had been using it as a form of mind control. And that required powering it up with a whole bunch of shit, and then using that concentrated energy to snag peoples minds. So… Abra told me he'd need to clean the amulet, and figured this was as good a way as any. He'll be here soon."
"Why is the apprentice always the last to know?" Jade groaned.
"Anyways, once cleansed, this thing'll give limited elemental abilities to the one wearing it, focusing on earth and sky." Sikowitz told her through their shared link. Apparently, Jade had inadvertently opened communications with the mystic. "You know, Run like the wind, or as tough as stone, that kind of chiz. Not sure of it's limits, but given what we know, it could be what made at least one version of Achilles invulnerable."
"Invulnerable to the weapons of the day." Jade amended. "Cadabra wasn't known to be bulletproof."
"No, but he knew how to use all the amulets abilities, like going invisible, or gliding on the breeze." Sikowitz announced, letting them know he was there. Only, he wasn't, and it was just a projection into Jade's mind. "Sorry, but I can't be there right now. Don't worry, Jade, You can do the ritual. I'll have my contact walk you through it, and once done, Robbie will have the abilities of the amulet, and if we're lucky, Meredith will have some of her mothers abilities. Best, cause we're draining the amulet, the odds of you getting fried are much lower."
"Always good news." Jade droned. "Okay, everyone, listen up. Abra isn't gonna be able to make it, cause he's busy someplace else. But he's entrusted me with the guide he was using to do this cleansing, and so I'm gonna be casting the spells."
"You always were." Sikowitz cautioned her. "No way I'd have anywhere near the power needed for what you're about to do." He smiled. "So, no pressure."
After moving everyone into the main physical training room, Rob watching, while Trina just hung in case Meredith needed a ride later, Jade settled down to meditate, even as she called the spirits her mentor had recommended. The shadows swirled around her, filling with the long dead and those who had never been what we'd call alive. Spirits of wind and earth, surf and fire, blended into the darkness along with the voices of all those who'd ever used the amulet. Each unique voice calling to Jade in languages she had no hope of understanding, but still they managed to communicate their intentions.
"Okay, this amulet, it does have some nifty tricks, and that involves the manipulation of mater." Jade told her friends, as well as the staff present for the conjuring. Dante had positioned himself to both help contain whatever forces Jade might be unleashing, as well as look down both girls shirts. Other scientists were just monitoring what was happening, energy output and the like, in a vain hope of understanding what they were seeing. "Oh, I see… The way it was used was based on it's ability to change things. So, the cultists, they used it to change itself, made it into both a battery, and the focus of their rituals. And yea, if we're gonna have Rob here use it right, then we need to cleans out all that icky energy." A dark smile crossed her pale features. "Lucky us, energy, once freed from it's original intention, is just energy. Neither good nor bad. So yea, Meredith, it's time to do what we came here to do, and believe it or not, we have everything we need, cause you're enough of a link to your mother…."
"Everyone getting that?" Doctor Smith asked, his glare letting the assembled know they were anything but professional at that moment. "Dahlia, please, continue."
Deep inside, something in Jade marveled at how much things really had changed. But while she was awed by the simple fact that Doctor Smith, or Zach as he let his few friends call him, was now thinking of her as more then a guinea pig spoke volumes of their changed relationship. But that though would only return to haunt her later, because at that moment, her entire concentration, every ounce of consciousness, was poured into containing and controlling the energies that were starting to dace before her eyes.
Then the first of the spirits moved, drawing out some of the energy from the amulet. Even as that was being done, yet another hovered over Meredith, calling forth her DNA, showing in long strands of colored lights, and from there, it extracted enough light to call forth another two sets. Jade watched with a strange fascination as the spirits did their work, pulling at the energies from the Amulet, even as they unwound the strands of Meredith's history, pulling and shaping until they could see the two parts that made up her ancestry.
Jade watched as the spirits dancing and moving about the lights of Meredith's past discarded the one set, the one that she guessed was her father, and called forth another, using the partial strand as a focus to draw in the energies, filling in what was missing. Meredith's mother, represented as a string of light and DNA, now hovered over her daughter.
Jade felt the energies being puled, drawn through and out of her, shifting and filling the parts of Meredith's past, and filling in what was needed. Then, as the energies grew red with heat, Jade felt a new pull, on her life, as the spirits started working on the agreeable girl herself.
The pale girl knew that her life was now in danger, but didn't dare end the ritual. Instead, she just prayed that somehow, she'd make it through, and focused on what they were doing.
Meredith, meanwhile, had succumbed to a sudden exhaustion, nearly falling asleep where she sat. But to the mystics, the forces around the girl were far to potent, and anyone sensitive enough to feel what was being done would agree, it was best that the sweet girl wasn't feeling much of anything.
Jade pulled and focused, hoping to not be drained past the point of no return, even as she felt the remaining spirits start pulling on her energies as well. They were more elemental, and they had their own task to perform. They were not, however, bound by the limits of the spell, and zoomed to and fro, circling Robbie and shooting off to touch the crown before returning. Their own actions seemed to be changing the energies, the enchantments, around the amulet, and Jade found it fascinating, but also, just too much.
Dante was scared. He saw the spirits, felt their presence, and knew they had their own priorities, their own goals. The spirits, these often ancient entities linked to creation or from times before even that, were changing more then he'd been led to believe, with Jade a part of their job. Even as her life and strength was poured into the tasks before her, they twisted and altered her aura, making a few changes they felt were needed. 'Not getting drained so much as… God, she's strong enough. B-But I get it. Nothing totally human would be trusted with the power they're giving her, so this had to be done…' his face soured, as he came to understand the price she paid, the same price someone else would soon have to give. 'Just completing what she started, when she read the Codex Infinitous. I understand now. Lets just hope they're crafting a guardian, and not a demon to tear down this modern world...'
Jade felt the job coming to an end, and knew she wouldn't last much longer. Her strength was ebbing, and only her will, that same thing that had kept her going through the Codex, and the trials Masters had put her though, was once again near breaking. Weakened by the many trials, she was sure she'd break soon, and just wanted her work complete before the darkness took her. 'Tori, sorry...' She managed to think, even as the spirits and elementals took the last of her consciousness.
Blue eyes fluttered open in the drab white room she'd come to know as her home in the program. 'I'm alive.' Her mind tried to fugue out how badly she hurt, and immediately got an answer. She felt burned out, like the attempt to change Meredith was worse then the overexertion she'd done a few weeks before. It was reminiscent of the aftermath of the codex, only she lacked that odd buzzing in the back of her mind her then new powers represented. 'Didn't give myself enough time to recover. Needed anther couple of days. Did I...'
"You'll be fine" A voice echoed in her head. "We made sure you weren't permanently damaged. Just, when you change the fundamental nature of someone, there is always a price."
Jade's eyes sought the source of the voice, even as she understood it was in her head. Only, this wasn't like when Sikowitz communicated with her, cause she knew, just knew, there was someone nearby who was speaking. "Where…?"
The lion lay across the far end of her room, stretched out, taking up the full eight feet of cell length, and looking like he was squishing himself just a touch as is. Sitting up, it easily outweighed her, maybe five times her mass. It saw her, and somehow seemed to smile, Disney style. A quick bow let her know this beast wasn't going anywhere. "I'm Koval, you're new familiar."
"My… Wait, don't I have to call for you first?" Jade tried. Her mind was still fairly scattered, while her body aches also distracted. However, it was hard t be distracted from the raw size of this beast.
"You know better!" The loin teased. "Just think at me, and I'll hear. And you did call me. In that moment where you called the entirety of the spirit realms together, to make your will reality, I was called to help guide things when your mind became overloaded. So, you have me, and I don't have to stay in this form. I can youthen myself, cause lets be honest, this room isn't big enough for my majesty. So..." He shrank, becoming a small cub of a lion, still large enough to threaten most purse dogs. "Anyways, I know this has to be an inconvenience, cause my job is to keep you from taking risks, and that's not my strong point. But, as the saying goes, one does what one has too. But, think of the uses. I exist in another realm, and thus am not visible to those who are not sensitive to the mystic world. You can send me as a scout, see through my eyes when you wish. That should be easier then casting clairvoyance spells, save you some of that precious energies. And trust me, you'll need to keep those energies saved, for the battles to come. But for now, we're done here, except I recommend a few days with almost no spell-casting, cause you do need to recover. You're magics, those you have, are being dedicated to rebuilding your reserves."
'Okay, that seems useful.' Jade projected.
"And I'll be there to nag you about your many, many flaws." Kravel continued. "It's a brand new day, and you're gonna need your strength. Someone needs to explain to that Meredith girl the downside of her new abilities."
"Like?" Jade said out loud.
"She has her mothers gifts now, only more so." The spirit guide explained. "Stronger, with the ability to recover even faster, and with a longer lifespan. She now ages at only one sixteenth that of a normal human. She'll see the sun set on many, many more days before she's done."
Jade was soon on her feet, staggering steps carrying her to the main training area to see who was still around. "Dahlia, you're up." One of the guards called to her. Jade just gave him a smile. "Everyone's gone now. That is, except for the guards, and a couple of scientists who like to work late. But we'll be happy to have someone give you a ride home, if you just wait a bit."
"Sure." Jade replied, moving towards the kitchen, and the snack she understood was waiting for her there.
It took her only a few minutes to devour a snack, and then a second one. "You're body is craving energy." Her familiar told her. "Energy and nutrients to help contain the changes. You'll need to eat a bit more, for now. Whats important is what you eat. Let me guide you. Protein. That and a little energy foods, and you're body will recover better. They have meat, right?"
Jade headed to the cut meats, and made her sandwich, extra extra meat, and fed that to her body. Then, she felt exhausted again, her body hurting from the energy burnout. Still, she was up, and felt better after her meal. The next part was finding out how long she'd been out, and how she was gonna get home.
"We found you a ride." The guard told her. "Um, while you were out, we ran some tests with Achilles Junior, and found out the limits of that amulet of his. Turns out, it can do one thing at a time, but that thing is kinda impressive. Like, he can fly. Really fly. Not as fast as he runs, but still, he can fly when he wants too. And, and if he shunt that energy into defense, his skin protects like a wall of stone. Can bounce small caliber bullets, mostly pistol ammo, but he can resist that kind of damage. Rifles, those can potently penetrate, but assuming he's able to focus, he can just shunt that energy to healing, and heals real fast. Like, according to Dante, he'd heal so quickly he'd be fully healed in about half an hour or so. So, all's good, assuming he doesn't get too caught up in his new abilities."
"So, no side effects from my attempts to enhance the damn thing?" Jade asked.
"Just one." Meredith's voice cut through the conversation.
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Wouldn't leave you with a cliffhanger now, cause I'm not that kind of a person. Just, yea, this is where the chapter ends, and you can read the next part next time. Until then, tel me, what did you think of Jade's little ritual? Also, I have some fun facts about enchantments later, for those who keep reading. For now, lets just enjoy her new familiar. Lets hope he's nicer then Rex.
Review.