Friday, January 8, 1988
Eileen McCoy’s Condo
La Jolla, San Diego, Ca
It has been a week since New Year’s and Eileen feels more alone than she has ever felt in her life. After Corey’s estate was settled she was surprised to find out he had left his La Jolla Condo to her. At first she wanted nothing to do with it, but after a few months she gained a new perspective. She looked at the inheritance more as a gift of love than a secret he kept from her. Eileen started moving into the rather high-end Condo at the beginning of December making only a few changes to make it feel like home. Leaving many of Corey’s things just where he left them. In the hopes they will come to be cherished memories of him.
Having not worn her suit for a month Eileen finally begins feeling like herself again as she works with her new partner Officer Leo Spencer. Eileen’s new partner is young and inexperienced and being a training officer seems to suit her. Even though young Spencer gets a little too friendly sometimes. She is still trying to come to terms with what her duplicate did while she was in Avalon. Which is something she would love to talk over with Pam right now. Eileen realizes for the first time that it has been a year and a half since she has seen Pam. With the weekend off Eileen gets the strong feeling that she could really use her best friend right now.
The suit may not be able to find her Grandfather, but perhaps it can find Pam. Eileen knows she needs something Pam touched for the suit to work, like the way she found Hillary. She sits drinking a cup of coffee searching her memories for something she could use to find her best friend. Then it strikes her that thin pink lace lingerie that Pam left outside the Hotel room door before she left Vegas!
Eileen roots through several boxes of stuff that she intended to throw away to find the tiny nighty her friend gave her. Pulling it free of some of Corey’s clothing in the box, Eileen holds it up. It brings back some very good memories of her husband that she wishes she could still reenact with him. Going to the top of her closet she retrieves the metal box containing the suit. Quickly pulling on the suit she then dresses with the nighty over top of it.
At first nothing happens. It makes her think of how lost and alone she feels trying to search the world for a friend who doesn’t want to be found. Laying on the bed she thinks about the first night she wore the teddy. It makes her smile and giggle for a minute before the images in her head are replaced by others. She is not in Vegas or San Diego, the weather is much different. Then she spots something in the city skyline, the Space Needle. Pam is in Seattle! Well that is a start at least she thinks getting up from the bed. Stripping off the nighty Sentry is out the window into the sky, heading north along the coast toward Seattle, Washington.
NW 57th Street
Seattle, Washington
Behind a not so popular bar an altercation takes place as a man pushes a woman up against a graffiti brick wall. “Not so friendly now are you slut,” he growls in her face with his whiskey breath. He takes her by the throat as she struggles to escape him. She feels the effects of the drug he put in her drink making it harder for her to escape his grasp. “After tonight you will know what it is like to be with a real man,” he tells her as his other hand moves to release his pants to the pavement.
“I’ve always wondered how a real man looked,” a woman’s voice says behind the man. He feels a hand on his shoulder that pulls him back away from the woman who tumbles to the pavement unconscious. He lands on his bare ass, his pants around his ankles with knees kicking. “I always thought a real man would be bigger than that,” the blonde standing over him comments looking at his exposed penis.
“You BITCH!” he shouts, jumping to his feet pulling up his pants. “If you want to go first I have no problem with that!” He lunges at her fists ready to hit. The tall shapely blonde wears a one piece white jumper with red trim, belted at the waist. Reaching out her hand she swiftly grabs the man by the throat, lifting him from the ground as he did the other woman.
“Now what was it you were saying little man?” the blonde asks as the man dangles with his feet off the ground. The man trembles in her grasp as he looks into her eyes that glow brightly.
“Payback on one ex-boy friend at a time or what?” Sentry comments from behind the scene in the alley.
Tossing the man into a dumpster the blonde turns to face the woman dressed in red and blue. “This is none of your concern, sister,” she responds to the new arrival.
It is then that Sentry notices the woman on the pavement near the building. “Have to admit I’m a little surprised that my talk about helping others stuck this long,” Sentry says, stepping over to check on the unconscious woman. “I must admit the new glowing eyes to distract from your face is a nice trick.” Bending down, Sentry puts her fingers to the woman’s neck, she is alive just passed out. “Ruffed, I would guess.” Standing back up to face the blonde in her glowing eyes Sentry smiles. “If I hadn’t known you for most of my life it might have even fooled me.” “But the real problem is the short-shorts and halter top are a dead give away.”
“Who the hell are you lady?” the blonde demands. “I don’t think you have any right to judge my wardrobe!”
Sentry touches the side of her head to allow her mask to become invisible, revealing her face. “I would have called first but seeing as you took off without even telling me where you were going, that wasn’t happening,” Sentry replies.
“Holy shit, Eileen!” the blonde exclaims.
“It’s Sentry now,” she replies, making her mask visible again. “So, what’s new with you?” Just then the guy in the dumpster starts to climb out. Sentry raises her hand to hit him with a mild energy blast that sends him back down inside onto the trash again.
“What the hell is going on?” the blonde shouts.
“Why should I tell you, my best friend saved my life from a crazy Zeni-human in Las Vegas and then disappears from my life!” Sentry charges. “I think you own me some explanation before I tell you anything,” “At least an apology!”
“Look we can’t do this here,” the blonde suggests. “I need to call the cops on this guy if you didn’t kill him.” “Did you?”
“No, he’ll survive,” Sentry replies. “A guy like that is probably pissing his pants by now.” “I’ll handle this with the cops, then we will meet back at your place.”
“You know where I live too?” the blonde says surprised.
“I will, once you get there,” Sentry replies, reaching out to take a strand of blonde hair off of her shoulder.
11239 Greenwood Ave.
Seattle, Washington
To most passers-by the house appears rundown and abandoned. It is a place that one man has spent weeks searching for, his name is Blake Jackson but the News media has dubbed him the Shadower. Since escaping the police the Shadower has begun a new hunt. A hunt that goes completely unnoticed by the public at large.
When his family was murdered by gang violence he began to hear voices that brought with them great power. The voices whispered to him to seek out his Goddess, to build a new family. His quest led him to find many that he deemed unworthy of the honor he sought to give them. Their murders made him the hunted and gave him the name he now embraces. In the end he did find his Goddess but she rejected him. He feared her power and did as she said by turning himself in to the authorities.
While in a jail cell the voices called louder to him, telling him how he could still have his Goddess. Freeing himself from captivity he now hunts to gain more power so he can bend his Goddess to his will as she did to him in their last meeting. The voices have guided him to his goals many times since his escape.
The Shadower believed that all of his family had been killed by senseless violence but he had more family than he knew. The voice has revealed to him distant relatives, aunts, uncle, and cousins he never knew existed, living all around him. He has found three of them now and with each of their deaths at his hands his power grows. Now the fourth will soon return home to this rundown old house. All the Shadower must do is wait until nightfall when his power is at its greatest to fold this man’s soul into his own.
Pamela Donaldson’s apartment
Park Meadow Apartments
10550 Lake City Way
Seattle, Washington
It has been a couple of hours since the two women met in the alley. Pam hops in the shower to wash off the filth from the alley. She can’t believe Eileen has found her and she has powers too. And that suit is so unlike her. Finishing her shower in record time she blows her hair dry. Then taking a bottle from the sink vanity she adds the brown dye massaging it in. Washing her hands Pam slips on a robe to return to her bedroom.
Surprisingly, Sentry sits on edge of the bed. “Funny, I was almost afraid to sit on your bed, I have to admit I’m surprised it hasn’t seen any action.”
“What is going on with you?” Pam asks her friend. “How did you find me and what is with that suit?”
“A lot has happened since you took off without a word or a real goodbye!” Sentry says as her mask becomes invisible again. “I would have shared all of it with you, but apparently you weren’t willing to do the same after Vegas.”
“Do you even remember what happened in Vegas?” Pam demands. “You pushed me to do the right thing!” “Made me do the stuff I’d been denying since that night with my step-dad!” “You always talked me into pushing back!” “I just wanted to be normal, not a freak that can fly!”
“You can fly too?” Eileen asks spontaneously. “It took me quite a while to get the hang of it.”
“See!” Pam shouts leaving the bedroom.
“Wait,” Eileen says jumping up from the bed to follow her friend. “You’re right I did push you to do the right thing, but I had no idea what you were hiding.” Pam sits down on the couch in the living room, her arms folded over her ample breasts. “I’ve read the reports of the vigilante taking down rapists in Seattle,” Eileen says softly. “I haven’t seen you in over a year, who pushed you to be doing that?”
Pam glares at her brightly dressed friend. “I’ve been keeping informed too, Sentry,” Pam replies. “Would have never guessed it was you, probably should have.” “This mess I’m in now all started by accident.” “I just wanted to hide here, thus the dark hair.”
“It looks good on you,” Eileen interrupts.
“It works good too,” Pam says getting up from the couch she goes to the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. Pam places the bottle and glasses on the coffee table turning to give her friend a long overdue hug. “I’ve missed you so much.” “I’m sorry for taking off like that, I just got scared again.”
“I figured as much,” Eileen says, guiding Pam back to the couch. “I’ve been scared too with everything that has happened in my life.” “I really needed you, that is why I’m here.”
“Things not going well with Corey?” Pam asks, trying not to sound too judgmental.
“Corey’s dead, shot in the line of duty last February,” Eileen reveals trying not to cry.
“Oh my God, Eileen, I didn’t know.” Pam responds giving her best friend another hug.
“It’s okay, I know you didn’t trust him,” Eileen says pushing away the hug slightly. “You were right, he was hiding a lot.” “A drug addiction to start and spying on me for my Grandfather to boot.”
“Oh God, Ei,” Pam sighs, putting her arm around her friend to hold her tight. Curiosity gets the best of Pam as she asks, “I thought both your Grandfathers were dead.”
“So did I,” Eileen explains as she leans her head on Pam’s shoulder. “This suit is from an alien race called the Argoians.” “Back in 1946 an Argoian ship crashed in New Mexico and both of my Grandfathers were there.” “The Argoians seeded everyone in the area of the crash with some of their DNA to create human/alien hybrids whose offspring could use one of these suits.” “It was my Grandfather McCoy who found the case containing the suit.”
“Wait you mean that weird metal case you got when he died, that you could never open?” Pam asks, pulling away to reach for a wine bottle.
“Apparently I needed to have a strong emotional reaction to open it,” Eileen replies. “Corey’s death did the trick.” “I’ve learned a lot about the suit and myself over the past year not to mention aliens and my Grandfathers.” “They fought over the case for years until Grandpa McCoy hid it away.” “It would appear that Grandpa Cifredo never forgot about the case and faked his own death to hide away alien artifacts and weapons he has stolen.” “It has been a lot to comprehend on my own, I really needed my besty, so I used the suit and that teddy you gave me to find you.”
“Looks like we have both done a lot of soul searching in the past year,” Pam says opening a bottle of wine. Pouring the wine into glasses she offers one to Eileen. “When I first got to Seattle I tried to be normal again, like when I returned to San Diego.” “I got a job at a Middle School as a teacher, kept a low profile with my dark hair, but…”
“Then you got horney, girl I know you too well,” Eileen giggles, taking a sip of the wine.
“For whatever reason my hair doesn’t hold the dye, all I have to do is wash it out,” Pam explains. “So one night I figured what would it hurt if I went out to have a little fun.” Eileen just smiles at her girlfriend knowing exactly what she means by a little fun. “I went to a bar clear across town, made sure no one would know me.” “I met this hot black guy.” “So tell me, what are the chances he would turn out to be a serial killer of slutty women?”
“About the same as us both turning out to be superheroes,” Eileen comments.
Pam smirks at the thought of being a Superhero. “That was never my plan, I just wanted to blend in.” “Of course it turned out that he had this weird shadow power that reacted to my own powers.” “It was the first time I discovered I could glow.” With that an aura of light appears around Pam. “This scared the hell out of him and he confessed everything to me.” “I made him turn himself in, take responsibility for the murders, I thought I was done with it all again.”
“So why didn’t you move on like before?” Eileen asks.
“I don’t know, it was different this time,” Pam says, pouring herself another glass of wine. “I was a kid when that stuff happened with my step-dad.” “That Musician guy in Vegas was all your idea.” “Now this was all my doing.” “When he escaped from the police I felt I had to stay and find him.”
“So that is what you were doing in that alley?” Eileen asks, “Catching a rapist you thought might be him?”
“I’ve caught three actually, none of them the Shadower,” Pam reveals.
“So you even gave him a name?” Eileen questions.
“No, local news did that,” Pam says standing up from the couch to go for a second bottle of wine.
Eileen follows Pam to the kitchen. “I’d be glad to help while I’m here, but there is something I need to tell you about your Step-father Joe and his son, Jon.” “Christmas before last Joe showed up on my doorstep looking for you and your mother.” “It might have been a good thing I didn’t know where you were at the time.” “He and Jon are members of some kind of cult, I think they might know about your powers.”
Pam turns with not too shocked of a look on her face. “After what happened that last night I know Joe knows what I can do,” she says, opening the wine.
“It’s called the Thelema Lodge, some kind of masculine mystic cult,” Eileen explains reaching out her empty glass. “Jon said that Helen was a part of the cult and that she wasn’t even your birth mother.” “He told us that your birth mother was murder, that you were cut from her womb in some kind of ritual to prepare you to become the Starchild.”
“What bullshit!” Pam exclaims. “It sounds just like that bastard Joe Morgan!”
“I don’t understand everything that happened that night but I know one thing they tortured and murdered an FBI Agent,” Eileen insists. “All of the Cultists escaped and if I know Jon, he is still looking for you!”
“Ahhh Jon, now there was a good fuck,” Pam sighs walking back to the living room carrying the bottle. “Sounds like he is an even bigger asshole than I remembered. “Just out of curiosity, how did he look?”
“You wouldn’t seriously consider getting back with him after what I just told you?” Eileen says suspiciously. Pam is silent for a moment looking at the floor as her mood drastically changed. Eileen has seen Pam like this before years ago, right before the night she had that run in with her Step-father.
“I never told you the truth about Joe and Jon,” Pam says softly, not looking up from the floor. “I only told you that Joe was abusing my Mom.” Then she is silent for a few minutes. “It started when I was nine, Joe would come into my room at night.” “When I was twelve, Jon started coming in with him.” “Joe taught me and I taught Jon.”
“Oh God, Pam no,” Eileen responds, reaching out to touch her friend’s shoulder.
“The worst part is I liked it,” Pam says sadly. Pam looks to Eileen with a tear in her eyes. “You see my whole life…. I’ve never been able to feel heat or cold or pain.” “But pleasure, I could feel that and it was amazing.” “I couldn’t get enough.” “If it weren’t for you I would have never known how wrong it all was.”
“Pam I could have never guessed you were going through that,” Eileen says sadly.
“I didn’t want anyone to know,” Pam admits looking up to her friend. “I was afraid someone would take it away from me.” “For a long time it was all I had.” “Then after you gave me the strength to put an end to it, I was ashamed.” “That is why Mom and I ran, but now I wonder if there was more to it than that.”
“She was running from the Thelema Lodge,” Eileen reveals. “They were hunting the two of you all that time.”
“I never knew anything about it, she never told me,” Pam responds.
“Now that you know I am really glad you have powers to protect yourself.” It makes me feel much better about that whole mess,” Eileen says sitting back down next to her girlfriend. “What powers do you have beyond glowing like a Starchild?”
“Funny that is what Joe always called me,” Pam says.
“I know, they all did, it makes me wonder if Joe and Jon were right about you being part of a prophecy,” Eileen suggests.
“Let’s see, I’ve never been cut, not even a scratch, never been burnt or frozen,” Pam starts. “Which makes it good that my hair really doesn’t grow that fast.” “My hearing is perfect, I can hear people talking a block away if I want.” “Of courses there is the flying thing that I discovered in Vegas.” “I’m really fast and strong when I want to be and rarely forget anything.” “Problem is some of the powers I can only do one at a time.” “Sight, hearing and strength don’t work while I’m flying for example.” “How about you?”
“Good question, up until this point the suit can do anything I want it to if I concentrate hard enough,” Eileen replies. “Flight, Strength, Invisibility, and Energy Blasts that kind of my go to stuff.” “Even some stuff that I still don’t understand.” “It is all fueled by a main power battery on the Argoian home world.”
“Ever been there?” Pam asks.
“To Argo?” Eileen replies. “No, how would I get there?”
“Sounds to me like the suit could take you,” Pam says sitting down her glass. “I kind of wonder if I’m from outer space.”
“What?” Eileen exclaims. “I think you are probably just a Zeni-human like Master Warrior.”
“Now you’re talking my language,” Pam giggles. “I have seen photos of that hottie!” “He has the tightest sweet little ass I’ve ever seen.” Eileen grins over the top of her wine glass at her friend. “No way!” Pam exclaims. “You know him?”
“Our paths have crossed once or twice,” Eileen responds. “But it was completely professional, I never even looked at his ass in those tight, paper thin, blue pants.”
“You have got to introduce me!” Pam insists. “We would make the perfect power couple!”
“I really don’t think you would be his type,” Eileen tells Pam.
“Gay?” Pam suggests.
“No, I don’t think so, I just think you’d be too much for him,” Eileen laughs. “He is very withdrawn when it comes to personal relationships.”
“Withdraw isn’t necessary with me, all the sex I’ve had getting pregnant has never been a problem,” Pam reveals as the two woman laugh at her rather dirty joke.
11239 Greenwood Ave.
Seattle, Washington
It is well after dark when Crosby Parsons returns to his small rundown home. He has worked the same hard menial job for most of his life to provide a home and happy life for his wife and children. He is old now, his wife has passed and his children have families of their own. He is alone in the home he once cherished but has now fallen into disrepair. His activities are the same every night, come home, fix dinner, watch the news, a game perhaps and go to bed. Tonight that ends.
As Crosby fries some sausage in a cast iron fry pan he doesn’t hear the approach of the shadow from the corner of the room behind him. The shadow grows expanding up the wall to the ceiling, down over the bare incandescent bulb that dangles at the end of a wire in the center of the room. Suddenly the light is doused and the room is blanketed in darkness all accept the light from the gas stove burner. Crosby continues to prepare his dinner unflinching from the darkness. “You can not scare me,” he speaks up without being distracted from his cooking. “I’m an old man, your mojo tricks are old hat to me.”
The Shadower moves in closer to the man taking form on the floor behind him. “I don’t need your fear old man,” he whispers in the darkness, still getting no reaction from Crosby Parsons.
“You do not know who you are dealing with, boy!” the old man says reaching for a plate from the drain rack. “You are not one of mine, none of them ever felt the calling of the dark force.” the old man slides his dinner onto the plate. “I can tell you are of the lineage.” Motioning toward the light it begins to shine through the darkness. “I felt you here before I entered.” He turns to face his intruder.
“Then know what happens next,” Shadower gloats, raising his hand to send the shadows to swirl around the old man. The cold builds around Crosby encasing him in a thick sheathe of ice. “Time for me to take that power of yours.” “Time to die old man!” The ice grows thicker concealing the old man’s form. It will take only minutes for the old man to suffocate and freeze to death freeing whatever power Crosby Parsons has to join the Shadower.
Then something unexpected happens, the ice is cleaved by a sickle of dark force. The two halves of the iceberg fall to the kitchen floor instantly melting into nothingness. “Foolish boy!” the old man accuses. “Now I have to reheat my dinner!” Crosby turns back to the stove rolling his sausages from his plate back into the frying pan. “Dark force can not kill Dark force!” “Have they taught you nothing?”
“Who has taught me nothing?” Shadower shouts as the shadows in the room subside. “Who are you talking about?” “I have slain all with the Dark Force!”
“The souls of our ancestors are the Dark Force you command,” Crosby explains, never turning from his dinner on the stove. “I can feel them all around you, there are many.” “But I possess the most important of Dark Force souls, my love, Emma.” “The ones that fuel you are out for vengeance alone.”
Shadower is confused by the old man’s words at first, but then the puzzle pieces begin to fit into place. The voices that whisper to him in his head are his mother, his father, his siblings. And now he has added more to those original five. He looks to the old man at the stove, all but ignoring his power. He brings with him two souls. Shadower reaches for a knife in a wooden block on the counter. Quietly walking up behind Crosby Parson he raises the knife to drive it down into the defenseless old man’s back.
A black cloud rises from the wound and the iron frying pan falls to the floor. “Now you have learned something,” Crosby gasps as he staggers down to the old metal sink cabinet. “You may take us as your own, but we will not be one with the others.” The old man’s body goes limp as he tumbles to the floor. The black cloud that rises from his back is released from the man’s body and travels across the room to merge with Shadower.
Shadower feels the surge of power as two more souls join his Dark Force. “Soon, soon I will have my Goddess just as you did old man,” Shadower grins spitting on the corpse on the floor.
Saturday, January 9, 1988
The Breakfast Club
12306 Lake City Way NE,
Seattle, Washington
It is eleven thirty when Pam and Eileen are seated at a table in the center of the room. The two girlfriends were up most of the night talking over everything that has happened in the past year. There were tears and laughter, but most of all there was the rekindling of a friendship they both missed.
Now they are waiting for the arrival of Pam’s boyfriend, Max. “This guy has the biggest set of balls on him I have ever seen,” Pam says grinning as she sips her white wine.
“I assume you are not referring to the fact that he is late!” Eileen replies giggling like a school girl. “I didn’t find you again to see your boyfriend’s balls!” The two women sit drinking their coffee. “Besides I thought you were obtaining from sex while you were living here.”
“I am but this guy was so persistent that I got weak, even with my dark hair,” Pam tells her friend. “Besides once I give him the brush off for the weekend so we can hang out he will probably be history.”
Pam sits with her back to the door so she doesn’t see the tall, handsome, dark haired man enter the Restaurant, but Eileen does see him. She recognized the man at once as FBI Agent Derrick Dylan who she believed Thelemas murdered. There was never a body found as far as she knew, but why would he be here now?” Pam had loaned Eileen some clothes to wear out today to go shopping after she ditched her boyfriend, but she kept the suit on underneath. As she focuses on the man who walks to the bar something happens. Suddenly his appearance changes, he no longer looks like Agent Dylan but Joe Morgan and then back again. “Oh my God it worked!” Eileen says as she sees for the first time that the transfer of Joe Morgan’s soul into the FBI Agent was real.
Only seconds before Eileen utters the words Pam hears a familiar voice ordering a drink which causes her to stand up and call out, “Max we’re over here.” Turning back to her friend at the table she finds only an empty chair. “Ei, where are you,”
“Just be quiet and get rid of him, we need to talk privately,” Eileen whispers invisible from her chair.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Pam says as the man now calling himself Max Williams approaches the table.
“Kidding about what, beautiful?” he asks, planting a big kiss on her lips.
Breaking the kiss and corralling his hands Pam tells Max, “Look something came up at school I need to take care of it.” “I have to take a rain check on our weekend plans.”
“At school, its Saturday?” Max replies looking directly at the empty chair where Eileen sits invisibly.
“That is what makes it so important,” Pam smiles. “Look I’ll give you a call on Monday morning.”
“I was hoping we would still be in my bed making love on the Monday morning,” Max says going in for another kiss.
“Okay Romeo, cool your jets,” Pam says pushing him back. “We’ve had some fun, but don’t get the idea that we are more than we are.” “I’ll give you a call on Monday afternoon then.”
Max is clearly disappointed as he looks to the empty chair again, “All the way to Monday afternoon, now?”
“Yes, I do believe we both need some space,” Pam replies, picking up her bag and heading out of the restaurant. Her invisible friend close behind her.
Thelema Lodge
8505 Olympic View Dr
Edmonds, Washington
Max Williams arrives at a large Gothic style Estate that sits further back off the road then the rest. It is sheltered by a thick growth of trees, completely unseen from the air and road. It is not as secluded as the previous Lodge location in San Diego, but the group makes due with what they could find. Williams is not in a good mood. Plans have been changed and the Grand Wizard will not be happy. He loathes the idea of telling the Grand Wizard what has happened, he knows how he would have responded when he was in charge of the Lodge. The honor guard stands at the ready just inside the large oak doors of the front entry. Max enters without a problem asking, “Where is he?”
“In the Worship room,” one of the large men dressed in robes responds. This new location allows the group of men to be open with their traditions and dress as the other one guard drapes a robe over Max’s shoulders. Max moves to begin the climb up the grand staircase like something out of a lavish movie scene from the nineteen forties. The Lodge’s quick exit from San Diego has forced them to limit their influence beyond the group and most of the remaining members live in this one large house.
As Max makes his way to the Worship room he remembers his time as Grand Wizard and how much he indulged in the Worship room that is now forbidden for him to use. At the end of the hallway on the north side of the house a heavy door stands with ornate carvings in the wooden surface. Standing in front of the door, lifting his gaze to the ceiling Max Williams speaks the words, “All praise the Grand Wizard.”
The door swings open of its own accord to allow Max Williams passage. Inside, the room is adorned with cryptic symbols painted on the walls and ceiling. At the center of the room the Grand Wizard, Jon Morgan lays on a chaise nude. Three nude women worship his well built muscular body. One stands behind him rubbing his chest and shoulders as the other two worship his manhood. His head tilted back with his eyes closed as he enjoys the worship of his slaves. “What is it, what do you want?” he demands not even lifting his head as Max enters the room.
Neither show any embarrassment over the situation as Max Williams steps up to the front of the chiase to begin talking. “The Starchild had canceled our plans for the weekend.”
Max Williams smiles as he watches the girl fight over the Grand Wizard’s attention. He remembers the days when he had the same pleasures. The Grand Wizard’s load spent, “Leave us my loyal servants!” he commands as the three women get up to hurry from the room. “This is not good News, Max!” the Grand Wizard exclaims turning his full attention to the man standing in the room. “If the ritual is not performed tonight it will take another three years before the stars are aligned properly again!”
“I know that Grand Wizard but there is more,” Max Williams says timidly. “That bitch Eileen McCoy has come to Seattle.” “And she would appear she too has power somehow.” “If not for my gift I would not have seen her at all.” “I believe she recognized me as Derrick Dylan as well.”
“FUCK!” the Grand Wizard shouts getting up from the chair. “That bitch ruined our plans once before she will not do so again!” He glares at the man who is visibly shaken by his outburst. “If you fail the Lodge again I will castrate you myself and this time take off that pretty new head of yours, father!”
“I will find a way to make sure the ritual takes place tonight as planned!” Max Williams insists. “There is a powerful creature lurking in the shadows of the city.” “If I may use the Crowley medallion on him he will be of use to me in capturing the Starchild.”
“Have you forgotten that the Crowley medallion does not work on men?” the Grand Wizard reminds Williams as he puts on his ceremonial robe.
“The Shadower is different. He is a descendant of the Agape Lodge,” Max reveals. “He has the power we need to seduce the Starchild where we do not.” “Through birth he has a connection to the Thelema that we can exploit to gain his favor.”
“How so?” the Grand Wizard questions suspecting that this man may still be of use to him.
“Grand Wizard Crowley may have excommunicated Whiteside, but it was not a just action,” Max begins. “I suspect that the same souls that Whiteside enslaved may now have sway over this Shadower.” “If so I might sway them with the Crowley medallion.”
The Grand Wizard glares at Max Williams. “You better be right or it is your balls on the block!” The man whose soul was Joe Morgan knows all too well the punishment the Grand Wizard threatens.
Pamela Donaldson’s apartment
Park Meadow Apartments
10550 Lake City Way
Seattle, Washington
“The man you know as Max Williams was the FBI Agent Derrick Dylan that the Thelema Lodge used in their ritual,” Eileen explains. “Ever since that night, I thought they murdered him.” “Now it is clear he is alive and the only reason I can think of for him to be here using a false name is that the ritual did something to him.” “What if the Thelema Lodge really can do magic?” Eileen suggests. “What if they did transfer Joe Morgan’s soul to Derrick Dylan’s body. “What if other things they have said are true?”
Pam is silent for a moment, deep in thought. “There was something that Max said while we were going at it that reminded me of Joe, but when you have had sex with as many man as I have things like that happen,” Pam reveals.
“Well that was really a gross thing to say,” Eileen replies. “I wish I could unhear it.” “But nevertheless do you agree that it could be possible that Max Williams really is Joe Morgan?”
“I’ll tell you what if he really is that bastard he can consider himself dumped!” Pam says angrily. “Why the hell can’t they just leave me alone?”
“Because they believe that you are this Starchild from some sick prophecy,” Eileen repeats. “After crossing paths with them the last time I did some research on Aleister Crowley and he was a really sick bastard.” “He has illegitimate children scattered all over the world and followers of this Thelema Lodge that worship his depraved teachings in secret.” “Taking on an organization that large is far beyond our means.”
“I don’t care about taking down these Thelemites, all I care about is getting Joe and Jon Morgan out of my life for good!” Pam replied angrily. “For as long as I can remember I was their little Starchild, now let’s see how they handle a Star Woman!” “And I know just where to start!”
“Pam what exactly do you have in mind?” Eileen asks as she removes the clothing she wears over her powersuit.
“You will soon see, let me just get changed first,” Pam replies.
West Point Treatment Plant
1400 Discovery Park Blvd
Seattle, Washington
Shadower returns to his hideout. He has been living here at the water treatment plant since his escape from custody. The place is large enough for him to stay in the shadows for most of the day without being found out. He feels different now than he did after his first three people he killed for their power, almost sick. The old man’s words echo in his head, “You may take us as your own, but will not be one with the others.” What did he mean and why does he feel so sick?
The Shadower’s power has grown with each murder. He gained his ability to pass through transparent objects after the second killing. With the death of the old man he should have gained another power, but he can not feel that he has gained anything. The old man was different from the others. He knew things that no one else did. He knew about the voices, he said the voices were real, not just in his head.
The Shadower sits in the storage closet where he settles in to rest. The voices will be quiet now for the night. He eats from a Burger King bag that he stole from a kid at the park. He has lost all value in human life beyond his own and his Goddess. In any case he let the boy live or at least he was when Shadower left him lay bleeding in the snow. He is sure by morning he will be stronger then he was yesterday.
As Shadower finishes the last of his stolen French fries he hears a new voice call to him. This voice is different not like the one he usually hears, it speaks in a strange tongue that summons him, summons him from his hiding place. His darkness swirls around him transforming his body to allow it to become one with the darkness that slides under the door of the closet. The cloud of black keeps to the shadows at the top of the corridor as it moves irresistibly toward the calling voice.
The size of the Water Treatment Plant is such that he now ventures into places he had not before this night. He remains hidden from the cameras and the watchmen in his shadow form as he travels. Shadower finds the voice calling him through one of the departure stations that releases purified water into the river. Tens of thousands of gallons of water flow through the large pipes a day to be returned to the environment. The room is filled with the noise of powerful pumps that carry the water on its way, yet he still hears the voice call to him. It is almost a chant that he can not decipher but knows he must locate.
It is at the side of a holding pool that Shadow finds the man who calls to him. He stands in a circle painted on the floor with many symbols he does not recognize. The writing appears to be painted in blood. The white man standing within the circle wears a large medallion around his neck and he is not alone. At his feet a small African American boy lays nude. As the Shadower draws closer to the chanting man still hidden in the darkness he can see that the boy has been castrated and the strange man holds the boy’s small sex organs in his hand.
“I see you heard my call,” Max Williams says to the still unseen Shadower. “I knew this spell would be more than enough to draw you out.” “Quickly now, the boy slips away, take what you need from him!”
The Shadower swarms down from the rafters to feed on the dying boy taking his soul to become part of his Dark Force. Unexpectedly the Shadower takes human form completely for perhaps the first time in months. He looks up to the white man standing over him as he casts the boy’s severed genitals down onto the dead body. He smears the boy’s blood around the medallion that hangs from a chain on his neck. “A little something extra I added to the spell,” Max says. “I needed your full attention.”
Shadower stands up trying to envelop himself in the shadow again. But there is no answer to his call. “What have you done to me!?” the Shadower shouts realizing he is powerless. “You have destroyed me.”
“So very dramatic young man,” Max smiles. “Your gift will return after we have spoken.” “We have a common goal I would like to discuss with you.” “The woman who shines as bright as a star.” “You seek her as do I.”
“What do you know of my Goddess?” Shadower shouts stepping over the small body on the floor toward Max. Blake Jackson stands confused for a moment, it is the first time in over a year that the voices in his head are silent. He questions his actions, not sure how big of a threat this man is to him.
“She is much more than just your Goddess, the prophecy of her coming is much greater than that,” Max reveals. “If we were to work together to find her, I am sure it would be of benefit to both of us.” “I can tell that you have enough power to bend her to your will now, I only ask for the chance to bath in her power.”
The temporary loss of his guiding voices leaves Blake confused at what to do. Trusting this man could lead him to his Goddess seems like the only choice. “You can stifle her power as you did mine then?” he questions.
Max walks around behind Shadower eyeing the body on the floor. “In fact I could remove her power, to make her the docile mate you desire,” Max grins sinisterly. “She would still be your Goddess just less of a threat to your own power.” With a kick of his foot the small dismembered corpse slides into the pool of water next to them.
Sunset Villa Apartments
6736 24th Ave NW
Seattle, WA
Sentry and Pam have flown across town to the Sunset Villa Apartment complex. Pam wears the white summer jumper with red trim she wore the previous night. She looks completely out of place on the cold January day in Seattle. Sentry holds her friend’s arm to use the power of her suit to render them both invisible. On a third floor balcony they stand at the French doors of an apartment that looks more like a motel room to Sentry as she asks, “Why are we here?” “Whose apartment is this?”
“I believe this is Max William’s apartment,” Pam tells her friend.
“You believe it is his apartment?” Sentry repeats.
“Yeah, I was only here once, it was late and I might have been a little drunk,” Pam replies as she reaches for the door knob.
“A little drunk?” Sentry questions. “You better be sure before you break that knob.”
Pam squeezes the door knob with enough strength to crush it causing the mechanism inside to fall apart. “Thank you for your input, Officer.” Pam quickly pulls Sentry inside the apartment where they become visible again.
The apartment is decorated completely in a Contemporary style, all chrome and glass. Not a thing is out of place, completely perfectly arranged like a furniture showroom. A little too perfect Sentry thinks as she eyes the living room. Not lived in at all. “I didn’t think you could get drunk,” Sentry comments looking around the luxury apartment. “How do you know he isn’t home?”
“Like I told you I can only use one power at a time, so I don’t use that one and I can get drunk like anyone else,” Pam explains. “He told me he had a business trip this week.” “That is where he was taking me overnight.” “So he wouldn’t be late Monday morning.”
“Why would you believe that, I told you he has been lying to you,” Sentry charges as she walks around a rather odd looking sculpture on a pedestal near the gas burning fireplace.
“I guess he could be,” Pam comments as she heads down the hall toward the home office. “I had no reason to force the truth out of him.”
“Force the truth?” Sentry questions as she stands at the door to the home office watching her friend as she begins to go through the desk. This room’s decor is completely different from the last ones. It looks like an earlier twentieth Century Safari trophy room. There are many birds of prey mounted over the bookcases along one wall. Another wall had a variety of primitive weapons affixed to it. In the corner near the windows stands a nine foot tall stuffed Grizzly bear. A large leather sofa sits on the opposite side of the room with a large bison head mounted tackily over it. The room smells of cigar smoke and whiskey. Eileen McCoy has seen a room like this before at the Thelema Lodge mansion in San Diego after the raid. That thought concerns Sentry more than Pam’s breaking and entering.
“Yeah, its another little trick I can do,” Pam explains. “If I look someone in the eyes they can’t lie to me.”
“That is a neat trick, I could have used it with Corey,” Sentry says as Pam starts going through the books on the shelf. “Doesn’t it concern you that this room is completely different than the rest of this place?” “It looks like something out of the Addams Family.” Pam is too focused on her search to reply to her friend’s concern. “What are you looking for anyway”
“Joe had this big ugly copper key on a chain that he called The Key of Hearts,” Pam replies. “If this guy really is Joe then he will still have it hidden here some place.”
“It isn’t here,” Sentry tells Pam. “If it were I would be able to feel its power.” Pam looks at her masked friend with surprise. “When Joe came to us he had The Key of Hearts, he used it on Corey and me.” “It had real power and I would still be able to feel that power if it were in this apartment.” “Which brings me to something else,” Sentry says as Pam stops ransacking the desk. “Joe claimed that your mother stole something called the Crowley Medallion, do you know anything about that?”
“Yes, she said we had to take it with us, it was the only way we could truly escape him,” Pam explains. “It was this big ugly thing, I buried it with her in Wyoming.” “There is no way he could find it there.”
“That is what he was searching for when he came after me,” Sentry reveals stepping into the room completely. “That is why Jon had him castrated and excommunicated from the Thelema Lodge.” “From what I witnessed in that dungeon, I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” “If Joe’s magic was restored by putting his soul in Dylan’s body, like Jon claimed it would be, he could have found the grave.”
“This story of yours, how Joe and Jon Morgan are powerful occult wizards, is wearing thin on me,” Pam replies, flopping down on the leather sofa.
“Moooow,” the sound of the cow seems to come from all around them. Suddenly a second door hidden inside the wall at the door slides shut sealing then in the office.
“What the hell is happening?” Pam questions sitting up on the sofa to find that she is somehow stuck to it. Looking down to her lap the leather of the sofa has stretched up to encase her thighs. “Shit what is this?”
Sentry looks at the bison head on the wall over Pam as it moans again. The severed head twists as the leather sofa comes to life folding over on Pam taking her fully captive. Before Sentry can act the nine foot Grizzly comes to life as well, lunging at her across the room. Sentry raises her hand to fire a blast at the undead beast. The energy blast tears through the stuffed bear burning a hole in its chest. The bear continues toward Sentry. “Magic, I hate magic!” she mumbles.
Pam is not faring much better with the sofa as it appears to eat her while the head on the wall snorts. Pam is naturally stronger than the average woman her age and size but she needs more than that strength now.
The grizzly crashes down on Sentry’s force shield with enough momentum to drive her back through the wall into the hallway. Pinned to the floor, the large bear clawing at the shield above her she manages to roll onto her side ejecting the animated taxidermy into the living room. It takes only seconds for the bear to return charging at her again.
Not far away, Pam’s eyes glow as she is wrapped in the leather covered seat cushions. Pam’s strength nearly triples as she grabs hold of the sofa arm that closes in to crush her face. Forcing her feet free she stands up lifting the animated sofa from the floor. The burst of strength is more than enough to send the leather sofa across the room and out the window. It tumbles three stories to the parking lot below, setting off multiple car alarms. Turning back to the head on the wall it growls a final time before falling to the floor lifeless again.
Before Pam can make a move to help her friend she hears the squawk of large birds. Turning she watches in shock as the mount birds on the wall pull themselves loose off the wooden plaques. Instantly they swarm around the blonde woman’s head and face clawing at her invulnerable skin seeking her eyes. She staggers across the room swatting at the reanimated birds, trying to escape their attack.
Meanwhile in the living room Sentry fights the huge bear like she would any other assailant finding that no matter how much damage she causes the beast it still keeps coming at her. It has no spine, no nervous system, no blood, only fur and stuffing that covers a metal armature inside of it. Sentry knows she needs to try something new. This thing isn’t alive, how can she hurt something brought to life by magic? “Witches, you burn them!” she realizes. Sentry raises both her hands concentrating as she shouts, “Burn bear burn!” Flames pour from her glove covered hands, surging across the room to the bear. The fire is completely targeted at the bear not igniting anything else in the room as the stuffed bear is burnt to ashes on the carpet. Leaving only the metal armature from inside for move, spreading the fire as the burning stuffing falls from it.
Just as Pam ran to the hallway after defeating the flock of birds. She charges the metal monstrosity hitting it with her shoulder to send it out the window toward the parking lot. “Shit, bitch that was cool!” Pam says brushing the burning stuffing from her shoulder. “Wish you had told me you could do that.” “You could have burned up those damned birds that I tore to pieces one by one.”
“Didn’t know I could, it was my first time,” Sentry replies. “I just thought of an arsonist I met up with a while back, he used a flamethrower.” “Unfortunately doing something like that uses a lot of extra energy.” “I won’t be able to do anything like that again for a while.”
Looking back to the office Pam comments, “So this is the magic stuff the Thelema do?”
“I can think of no other explanation,” Sentry answers. “Pretty clear to me that magic is a real thing.” “Any more questions on Max having Joe’s soul?”
“I would say no,” Pam says walking over to inspect the ashes on the floor. “So you think this was a trap for us?”
“Not us specifically,” Sentry guesses. “Maybe more like a magic alarm system.” “So we should expect someone to show up to investigate it.”
“I threw that sofa and a burning stuffed bear out the window, I guarantee someone is going to show up,” Pam says. “The police and firemen most likely.”
Suddenly the room goes pitch dark. “What the hell is going on now?” Sentry calls out. “Pam where are you?”
“I’m right here,” Pam says as she is bathed in an aura of light shining in the blackness that surrounds them. “It would appear that I don’t have to search for my friend the Shadower anymore.” “He has found us.”
Still unable to see anything but her glowing friend Sentry asks, “Can’t you burn off this darkness or something?”
“I could the last time, but something has changed, I think he has gotten stronger,” Pam answers as she tries to glow brighter. “Moreover, I think we are moving.” “Either that or someone is getting closer to us.” “Sometimes, I can tell when living things are close to me.”
Former Home of Florence Monks
Capitol Hill
Seattle, Washington
It is as if all the laws of reality have been erased as Sentry and Pam Donaldson begin to lose their equilibrium. “Do you feel that, Ei?” Pam says as nausea begins to set in on her.
“Yes, I feel weightless and out of balance,” Sentry replies. “Like that time on that Hell Hole ride at the pier when we were kids.” “The suit is trying to adjust to it.”
“Wow that was a great time wasn’t it?” Pam says trying to smile through her sick feeling.
“For you maybe,” Sentry says reaching out her hand trying to move toward her glowing friend in the unending darkness. “Take my hand, I think I have the hang of this now.”
“Oh yeah, that is much better,” Pam says holding her friend’s hand. “But what is this jerk doing to us?” With that question the two women promptly hit bottom, feeling as if they had fallen from a several story high building. “SHIT!” Pam announces lifting herself up from the oriental carpeted floor. Looking around the lavishly furnished room she shouts, “Sentry are you alright?”
“Damn!” Sentry replies rolling over onto her side. “I think your boyfriend is trying to kill us!” “Where are we?”
“I think we are in Capitol Hill,” Pam says glancing out the window of the stately home. Crossing the room Pam helps her friend up. “Are you sure you are alright?” Pam asks again, taking her friend’s hand.
“I’ll be fine in a minute once the suit adjusts again,” Sentry replies as she begins to feel better. “Who’s house is this?”
“It was once owned by a wealthy widow Florence Monks in 1926,” Max Williams announces from the doorway behind them. “It was bought by the Thelema Lodge after she passed on.” “This is a place of great power!” “One of the many places created by Earle Nelson.” “The world believes him to be evil.” “In truth Earle Nelson was a very powerful member of the Thelema Lodge.” “He was convicted of 22 murders but in truth he had over 50 victims.” “He was quite prolific in his day.” “He always hid those he used in his rituals where they would never be found, using other victims as distractions to the true nature of his deeds.”
“That is horrific,” Sentry announces. “Not at all surprising he was a member of your cult, Joe Morgan!”
“I see you recognize me still, figured out our little trick, have you?” Williams replies to the woman’s surprise. “You’ve changed a bit since last we met as well, Eileen.” “My reward of this body came with a gift, I can no longer be fooled by the world’s illusions.”
“I should have known you were too good to be true!” Pam announces stepping forward reaching out to their foe. She takes only one step as a tentacle of dark matter reaches up from the floor to restrain her legs. Then more tentacles sprout up restraining Sentry as well.
“Perhaps you remember my new friend, you broke his heart too,” Williams grins as the Shadower emerges from the long shadows cast in the corner of the room as the sun sets outside the window. As the Shadower takes on human form the dark matter spreads out over each of the women spinning a web up their legs as they try to escape.
Soon Sentry and Pam are confined by the dark matter that ensnares each of them like a fishing net. Neither has the strength to break it. “Now I shall take you as my bride,” the Shadower chuckles in joy as he commands the dark force to lift Pam Donaldson from the floor toward him. “My power is beyond your ability to resist me.” “I will make you the Goddess you are meant to be!”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Pam replies, still struggling to free herself. “I’ve learned that I don’t get along well with controlling men in the long run.”
“In time I will make you see that my love is all you need,” the Shadower says, pulling her face to his to give her a kiss through the dark web. Her eyes glow with a brightness that he has never seen before and it drives him back away from his captive. “Then I will make you submit to me!” He holds up a clenched fist that makes the dark matter trapping both women constrict tighter around them.
“You will do nothing of the sort!” Max commands. “Her power will always be stronger than yours!” “It is just the nature of things.” “In truth it is I who controls these events, not you!” The Shadower stands paralyzed unable to move as Max Williams begins a monologue. “You might say the child at the treatment plant was something of a Trojan horse,” he grins pleased with himself. “Taking in his meager dark force you also took in the magic of my spell.” “The power of this place allows me to have full control of the rest of the dark force you command as well as your body.” “Now I will take the Starchild and you will die at your own hand!”
Williams has crossed an unseen line believing his magic was all powerful at this location. What he has done causes an unforeseen reaction in the Shadower. The dark force oozes from the Shadower’s pores to transform his appearance. The face of Hamilton Blake Jackson is replaced by that of Crosby Parsons. “No!” the old man’s voice speaks. “It is you who we command.” “Foolish Wizard, you and your kind can not control the dark force of humanity’s first people!” “Even in a place soiled with your dark magic, we who command the first darkness will prevail.”
Max lifts the medallion with the child’s blood still fresh on its surface from his chest. “It is I who controls Hamilton Jackson.” “I command him to return to the surface!” The spell that Williams cast using the child should have been twice as powerful in such a holy place to the Thelemas. “Be gone, dead thing and return to your servitude!”
The old man smiles a dark grin. “The boy was as much a fool to think he could control me, as are you using your feeble magic.” Crosby growls in a low tone. “My wife and I were of pure blood, not mongrels like so many are today that hear and speak to the dark force.” “We never joined with the rest of Jackson’s souls, we took control of them.” “Your spell may be cast on them but not us.” Crosby’s hand reaches out toward Max Williams as the dark force flows from it. “Your soul is not even of that body, making it even easier for me to sever the bond!”
The dark force flows over Max’s body twisting like a Boa constrictor to ensnare him completely. He struggles for only a moment as the dark force tightens around his body. Max Williams’ voice is stifled as the life is squeezed from him. When the deed is done the dark force returns to the Pure blood human as he addresses the captive women. The dark force that confines Sentry and Pam fades to nothingness. “This blasphemer has been defeated, do what must be done Officer,” Crosby instructs, turning back to the woman.
“Wait, what about Blake?” Pam asks, gathering her senses to show compassion for the man she once liked.
“The dark force is neither good or evil but in his case it was misguided,” Crosby responds. “His mind was too weak to understand what it was to be one with the dark force.” “He will no longer have contact with it.” “In effect what you perceive as his power, will be gone.” The darkness lifts from the man now, leaving Blake Jackson standing nude in the center of the living room. He crumbles to the floor unconscious as the women approach him.
“I have to admit, he does have an impressive body,” Sentry says looking down at the unconscious black man.
“Eileen, how judgmental of you,” Pam giggles with a sly grin. “All men’s bodies are beautiful in my book.”
It is then that Jackson begins to come around. He sits up with a confused look on his face. It is clear to the women that he has no idea where he is as he scans the room. The sight of the dead body on the floor not far from him sends him into a panic. Pushing himself across the floor with his feet, he realizes he is naked. Moving his hands quickly to his lap. “Where am I?” he demands. “Who are you people and why am I naked?”
“Blake, you don’t remember me?” Pam asks.
“I’ve never seen you before in my life, Bitch!” he exclaims as he pulls a blanket from a nearby chair. “How did I get here?” “What were you going to do to me?” It is clear that he is frightened now suffering complete amnesia of everything he had done as the Shadower.
Antonio Cifredo’s bunker
An abandoned Military Base
Location Unknown
The man who has taken the name Restless as his own finishes his training for the day. He has taken to wearing only spandex biking shorts as his primary wardrobe, staying true to his ultimate goal. Another man lays dead on the floor at his feet, the fourth in the past month. The man means nothing to him, he is but another aspiring MMA fighter who Cifredo had hired to train him. Like the last three he has proven to have fallen short of his aspirations.
Restless stands motionless with the other man’s blood splattered on his near nude body. He waits for his master to inspect his work. Antonio Cifredo has watched the entire turn of events from another room and is again pleased with the results. Restless has proven himself over and over again. Entering the room that is set up like a standard MMA gym, for the benefit of the hired man who now lays dead on the floor, Cifredo almost smiles at Restless.
“Well done!” he announces to his creation. “I do believe you are ready for the big leagues.” Cifredo examines the corpse on the floor, his neck broken and skull smashed with a fifty pound weight disc. “Your ferocity in battle never ceases to impress me.” Cifredo looks to his creation that stands several inches taller than him. The blood that runs down his face and chest has soiled his shorts. “Remove those shorts and leave them here, then go get cleaned up before returning to your chamber,” he instructs.
Restless removes his black shorts to toss them on top of the dead man on the floor. “Wait just a moment,” Cifredo instructs as he notices something has changed about his Restless creation. Cifredo walks around the nude man inspecting him closely to see that he is correct in his assumption. “Perhaps we will do a scan first,” Cifredo says, curious to the fact that the man’s musculature has increased in mass since this exercise began.
Cifredo leads his creation through the base to the scan lab passing a few of his other employees. Restless’ nudity is commonplace now, inciting no reaction from anyone. The scan room holds a Spartan medical scanner that Cifredo salvaged years ago from one of the Spartan ships that crashed years ago off the coast of South America. Without a word Restless lays down on the metal table at the center of the spherical shaped room. His body is not even registering the cold of the metal.
The scan takes only a few minutes to reveal that Restless’ body has changed in size and muscle density since the beginning of the workout. As have most of the hormone producing organs in his body. Cifredo had speculated that the changes he had made to Santoro’s DNA would allow him to incorporate machinery into his body but it would appear that he can also take in physical attributes from an opponent. “Get up boy, time for that shower,” Cifredo instructs as he follows the man out of the scan room to the shower room.
Restless has no need to question the results of the medical scan. Since almost the beginning of his new existence he has been able to hack into Cifredo’s equipment to learn all that he has not been told freely. Restless has determined that it would be best for the time being for Cifredo to believe he is nothing more than his avatar.
Cifredo stands outside the open shower room watching as Restless runs his hands over his body soaping it thoroughly to wash the MMA fighter’s blood from his skin. The voyeur can clearly see the other man’s body begin to shrink back to its previous size as the warm water washes the blood off him down the drain. This is an unexpected advantage, the old man thinks. Taking on aspects of his granddaughter’s control of the powersuit by simply using her blood is a fantastic plus to his plan.
Pamela Donaldson’s apartment
Park Meadow Apartments
10550 Lake City Way
Seattle, Washington
Returning to Pam’s apartment after calling the police to Thelema house and getting Blake home safely hoping he never remembers his life as the Shadower. “Thank god that is over!” Sentry says flopping down on the sofa. “We still make a great team, something I’m eager to have more of now.”
“I’m sorry Ei,” Pam says sadly putting a robe on over her skimpy jumper. “Max, Joe whoever he was may be gone, but Jon is still out there.” “It would probably be best if I disappeared again.”
“No, look at us!” Sentry asserts standing up. “We are not the two defenseless girls we were in High School anymore.” “Let that asshole Jon Morgan come, we can take him!” “Girl power!” she shouted, raising her fist to the ceiling.
“As much as I would love that, I know that you have your own problem with your Grandfather, you don’t need my problems adding to yours,” Pam says almost crying as she takes Sentry’s hand, lowering it to her chest. “It would be best if you didn’t come looking for me again this time.” Sentry hates to admit it but her friend might be right. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t come to visit more often now.”
“I would love that,” Sentry says, hugging her long lost best friend as final time.