Two Wrongs Chapters 5 & 6

By

Jason Wilhelm

and

Bryan Nickelberry

Chapter 5

Ego was working late in his office putting the final touches on the spells holding together his own version of the amulet stone. The light was fading quickly outside as time quickly got away from him and he had to finally reach up and turn on his desk lamp just to see the intricate parts clearly. He had lost track of how many times he had attempted creating his own amulet stone, but with each passing minute, he was more and more confident that this would be the one to work. Besides, when had he not been able to make something work before? He was just about to tap the nano-technology into activity when he was startled by the radio at his desk, causing him to jump and scatter the stone into useless sand over the desk top.

“Guard desk to office. Can you hear me, Sir?” came the voice over the radio. Ego Blaster slowly clenched one fist in fury, and snatched the radio in his other hand.

“What could be so important at this time of the evening that you find it necessary to interrupt me?” Ego asked.

“Well Sir, Post three and four are not responding to radio contact for a status update and I'm pretty sure I just saw a mysterious man walk through a wall in the entrance to the south hallway.” It took Ego a second to comprehend what he had just heard. Turning to his camera monitor behind him, he used his mind to command the camera views to switch as he tried to find his missing guards.

“Office to Post three, status update” Ego Blaster finally said into the radio. “Status update now Post three!” Ego shouted, as he pulled up the screen for the hallway where Post three was supposed to be... he switched it to Post four and once again found his guard missing.

“Office to guard desk, did you get a good look at this mysterious man?”

“Not really Sir. In fact, I would say I’m not sure I saw it, but you told us at training that wondering if you saw something means you definitely saw something. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all, if not for the two bright glowing-” Ego Blaster waited… but the guard at the front desk said nothing more.

Ego quickly switched the screen to the front desk just to the guard’s lifeless body leaning back in his chair with blood coming out of a wound in his neck. Something moved off in the corner of the screen and Ego realized the source of the chaos with a sigh. A large shadow removed itself from the wall, and with it’s two, bright glowing eyes, looked right into the camera before slowly disappearing into the floor beneath it. Blaster shook his head, as with a thought, he activated the shields of his suit. There were only two people he knew of that could summon a Shadow spirit, and he was pretty sure Legion wasn’t in the business of killing innocent bystanders. Ego turned back towards his desk only to find that Shadow was standing just on the other side of the desk, not moving a single muscle other than the occasional cocking of his head either to one side of the other, as if studying him from behind a glass screen. There was no emotion on its face, and without even a single blink of his eyes, it was very hard to get a read on what exactly it was doing or planning on doing.

Before Ego could figure out what to do with his intruder, Shadow quickly disappeared and he was once again left alone in his office, at least that’s what it was supposed to feel like. He felt a cold chill run down his spine as if the air around him had suddenly gotten colder for a brief moment, leaving as quickly as it came. The lamp on the corner of his desk started to slowly slide towards the edge before it finally fell off, plunging the room into darkness as the bulb busted on the floor. Ego reached for the light switch he had under his desk, only to find out that it was no longer working. As soon as he realized this, the lights started flashing on and off very quickly and just as he started toward the light switch on the wall, they stopped flashing for a brief moment. When they came back on, a very gruesome image of Shahara as a ghost was floating right in front of him. The lights flickered off and back on one more time, leaving him alone in his office once again.

*****

Shahara was thoroughly enjoying herself at this point. She had been holed up behind this false painting in Ego’s office for about eighteen hours now just biding her time until the moment was right. Her plan was simple; distract him and get in his head just enough to really throw him off his game and then she would make her move. She was hoping that her ruse was working well enough to at least make him wonder whether she really was back from the dead to haunt him or not, which would hopefully even the playing field since she wasn’t quite sure just how resourceful or powerful he was, but she had seen enough over the few months she worked for him to know better than to underestimate him.

First she tossed a few things of the office around, then she messed with the lights and projected a hauntingly gruesome image of herself in front of him for a brief second to really make him believe she was back from the dead. She was safe for now, hidden behind this false painting where Ego would not be able to see her tracing the necessary sigils needed to perform her haunting. She summoned Shadow once again and while she proceeded to throw every single book off of every shelf, she had Shadow knock him off balance while he covered his head to protect himself from the flying books. She was not expecting what happened next. As Ego fell to the floor, he twisted himself just enough to pull out a gun from his waist and fire a single shot from a handgun like nothing Shahara had ever seen before. What she failed to figure out until it was too late was the fact that Ego hadn’t shot at Shadow, but at another painting on the wall. She glanced over at where he had shot and when she realized that it was another fake painting, she turned back to Ego to see that he had just finished completing a sigil. She realized that Ego had figured out where she was too late as she quickly fell through a portal hole in the floor and instantly found herself falling through the ceiling of Ego’s office.

She wasn’t prepared for the sudden drop and when her feet hit the floor, her knees buckled, causing her to land straight on her tailbone. Shahara fell back in agony, hitting her head on an end table leg she had knocked over with her flailing arms during the fall. She let out an animalistic cry as she finally came to a stop on the floor, pain flooding all down her back as she tried to open her eyes through the pain, afraid that Ego wouldn’t miss an opportunity like this to finish her off once and for all.

“Shahara the Grim. I was not expecting you to come back, at least not in the flesh. She felt the cold steel of Ego’s strange gun press against the side of her head as he finished his sentence. Even with the pain still radiating down her back, she tried to squirm away until Ego brought his knee down on her chest a little harder than was necessary given her current situation.

“Sorry little girl, but I need you to stay still for just a little longer.” Ego said, pushing the odd handgun harder against her head. Shahara was beginning to panic as she attempted to summon Shadow. How could she let herself be caught off guard so easily? She spent way too much time planning this out for it to fail so quickly. She was beginning to wonder why Ego wanted her to stay still when she felt a knife slice through the top of her shirt and into her chest as Ego cut her from one collarbone to the other. The pain of that cut made her forget about her throbbing back, bringing her a small level of relief and focus she needed to summon Shadow. Her brilliant white eyes snapped open just in time to see Shadow put a choke hold on Ego, lifting him off her and the floor. Ego tried shooting at Shadow with one hand while the other was desperately pulling on the arm around his neck in a feeble attempt to free himself. The third shot came from a slotted barrel of the strange handgun, grazing the side of Shadows head and freeing Ego from the chokehold Shadow had on him. Shahara had managed to scoot to a chair during this ordeal and was in the middle of pulling herself up when Shadow reached up to the wound on the side of his head where the shot had hit him, leaving her in disbelief as she clung to the arm of the chair. Ego was leaning against his desk, trying to bring his face back to a normal color as he rubbed his neck with one hand and trained his gun on Shadow with the other.

“How the hell did you do that?” Shahara said, speaking her first words towards Ego since she had landed on her ass on the office floor. “That isn’t possible.”

“Apparently…...it is…...princess” Ego Blaster barely managed to spit out. Shahara tried to stand up from the chair, fighting the slowly receding pain in her back as Ego came back to his feet and took a step towards Shadow with the gun still pointed at his head.

“One more step and your friend here gets a bullet to the head, '' Ego said. An evil grin came across Shahara’s face as she gingerly took another step towards Ego. He was true to his word and fired another shot without even a moment's hesitation. When Shahara took a second step, he turned back towards Shadow, only to find that he was no longer there.

“You really shouldn’t take your eyes off your target Ego” Shahara said as Ego had his back to her. He turned around only to find that Shahara was also gone as well. Before he could locate her, Shahara threw a knife at one of the overhead lights, shattering it, followed by two more as the shortage of light caused a large portion of the room's edges to go dark. Shahara tried throwing a knife at Ego as he started to quickly throw a protective spell together, but the knife just bounced off the barrier field built into his suit and fell to the floor. Before she could take out the other lights, Ego had already covered the remaining lights with the spell, causing yet another knife to bounce off its intended target and fall to the floor.

Ego quickly started forming another sigil, and as Shadow tried to stop him, he drew his gun and tried shooting Shadow, letting his sigil fall apart in front of him in the process. That was all the distraction Shahara needed as she threw another knife at Ego, knocking the gun from his hand. Ego quickly tried to recover the handgun, only to be gut punched by Shadow as he pulled away from the shadows of the wall. The blow failed to make it past his suit's protective barrier, but it succeeded in bringing both Ego and Shadow to a stop. Ego tried throwing a left hook at Shadow’s head, only to have it pass right through him as the force of the hit put him off balance enough for Shadow to push him to the floor.

Shahara was half way over to where the gun had fallen when she saw Ego reach into his pocket and toss a couple small balls to the floor. Sparks began to fly all around the perimeter of the two balls and Shahara watched them as they started growing larger and larger until the light was too bright for Shahara to keep looking. The light faded as quickly as it had started and when Shahara opened her eyes, there was a young man and a young woman standing where the balls had been. Ego was once again leaning against his desk with an odd looking remote in his hand.

“Take care of these two intruders and you get to finally leave.” Ego said as he pushed a series of buttons on the remote. Arcs of electricity started forming between the fingers and up the arms of the young man as he leaned his head one way and then the next as his neck popped several times. The young woman’s eyes were fixed on Shahara as she grinned a row full of sharp pointy teeth while her fingertips slowly grew into nasty looking claws.

“You sure do know how to pick them Ego” Shahara said sarcastically as she fought down the small amount of fear that was growing in the pit of her stomach. She watched the lightning boy launch a bolt of electricity at Shadow as the demonic cat lady started running towards her. She severely underestimated the speed of the young woman as she quickly covered the distance between herself and Shahara and came at her with a slash down the front of her shirt. Shahara managed to move just enough for her claws to only slightly cut into her ribcage without leaving major damage. She quickly followed with a swipe of the right hand, forcing Shahara to block it with her prosthetic arm while she reached for a knife from her waist. The claws dug into the prosthesis, damaging some of the inner workings and causing two of her fingers to go limp and stop working. Unfortunately for demon cat, her claws got stuck in her arm, giving Shahara time to drive her knife into her side, which made her flinch wildly and forcefully ripping Shahara’s prosthetic arm from its socket at her elbow.

Demon cat howled wildly as she pulled away from Shahara, grabbing her side with her free arm as she violently flung her other arm around in an attempt to remove the prosthetic arm from her hand. Shahara took the opportunity to move in for a second attack, only to have the demon cat swing her right hand around and clocking Shahara right in the side of the head with her own prosthetic arm, knocking it loose from the demon cat’s clawed hand in the process. Dazed from the hit to the head, Shahara was in no way able to stop her opponent from digging her other hand into her lower thigh and slicing up the side of her right leg. Shahara screamed as she reached down with her only hand and grabbed her thigh in an attempt to stop the searing pain. She dropped to her left knee and looked up, awaiting the next attack, only to see the demon cat being pulled through the floor by a familiar hand. The room was once again quiet as she looked over at Ego Blaster, who had a look of utter disbelief at what had just happened.

Not wanting to lose this opportunity, Shahara had to muster up as much strength as she possibly could to stand back up, letting the little bit of blood run down her leg and side as she grabbed what may have been her last knife from her waist.

“What did your pet do with those two?” Ego asked, apparently in genuine confusion, or curiosity. “Huh. I didn’t know it could do that.” He mumbled under his breath, making Shahara grin as she spun the knife in her palm.

“Hard to tell. They could be in another room, in another realm, or just plain old dead. I really don’t care what Shadow did with them at this point. Besides, that demon cat bitch ruined one of my favorite shirts.” Shahara said with a grin on her face as she ran her fingers up the cuts on her ribcage.

Ego shrugged. “Ok. Well, I’m done playing games with you, so I’m going to end this.” Ego said as he started walking towards her. Shahara opened her mouth to reply, but stopped, as Ego formed a circle in the air with his fingers, then snatched the circle, and started tossing it back and forth between his armored hands. With each toss, the now-sphere glowed brighter. Shahara couldn't remember if she had ever seen Ego this mad before, but she didn’t really care at this point. Ego started forming a sigil on his way over and it gave Shahara an idea. She started copying him move for move which was a little difficult with only one hand, but it didn’t take long before she figured out which spell he was trying to cast and she was able to complete it just as quick afterwards despite only having one hand to trace it out. It was difficult trying to form the sigil backwards but she finished it at the same time Ego did and when he twisted his hand clockwise to activate the spell, she twisted her hand counter-clockwise and prayed. Her gamble paid off and Ego just stared stupidly at his hand in disbelief before slowly looking up to her.

“How in the hell did you do that? How did that even work?” Ego asked in genuine confusion as he turned back to his empty hand.

“Not sure. But what I do know is that you just got outsmarted by a one armed woman who’s only just begun dabbling with magic, you two bit hack!” Shahara shouted as she stepped forward and swung her knife at Ego’s face. Ego was quick, but she still managed to barely scrape his cheek with the tip of the knife, leaving a nice thin cut across his face. Ego answered back with a right hook to Shahara’s face and as the force of the blow spun her around, he followed up with a left hook straight to her lower back, returning the searing pain as she flew to the other side of the room, and slammed into the wall.

Shahara landed in a heap on the floor, and part of her mind registered that she must’ve only caught the edge of his punch if her head was still attached; though she could feel the whiplash, and she couldn’t feel much below her shoulders. She knew she only had one choice left if she was going to have any hope of getting out of this alive; and she could hear Blaster screaming something, as he flipped tables and advanced on her. She tried to focus herself enough to summon Shadow… then she had a thought.

As her eyes turned white, she traced a symbol, then resisted the urge to grab it. She heard Blaster stop over her, and saw his fist pull back as the last of the symbol turned golden. “Just like a woman.” She heard him say, as he shook his head. “Wanting it to be pretty-”

“GET…” Shahara screamed as her fingers closed around the sigil, “OVER YOURSELF!!!!” She cried at the top of her lungs, as dozens of black voids flew from before Shahara, buffeting Ego Blaster, and knocking him backward.

Ego Blaster came roaring back to his feet, to find himself in a dark room full of glowing orbs… but something wasn’t right. As he looked closer, and he realized nothing was wrong with the lights, his anger drained away, to be replaced by an emotion Blaster really wasn’t good with: Fear. His breathing started to pick up, as he realized they were sitting on his tables, and squatting over his projects. They were lounging in his chairs, crouching all over his ceiling, and even standing right in front of him. His fists uncurled as he slowly raised his hands in the air, and the power drained from his gauntlets back into the battery backpack. Some were shaped like men, others like women. Some took the forms of owls and wolves, some took the shapes of dragons and minotaur's, and some were shapes that Ego blaster couldn’t understand enough to recognize. But they were all Shadows. And they were all looking straight at him.

Then one Shadow a few feet away turned around. It bent down, and slid one arm under Shahara’s legs, while it slid the other hand beneath her arm. The creature stood up, holding Shahara in its arms, and it turned, walking her over to Ego Blaster, who swallowed hard, seeing the glowing golden sigil in her hand. The portal was still there, filled with glowing eyes looking into the room at Blaster.

“Leland and I each have one Shadow, Ego Blaster. But there are a whole lot more just looking for a host. Who knows, maybe you actually are a big enough man to hold all of them in your body…” she said in a mocking tone. Then her mouth twisted into a grin. “But I doubt it. Or maybe they’ll just rip you apart for harming one of their own.” She said, looking up to Shadow’s injuries. “But the good news is, you don’t have to find out. You can give me what you promised: Strayer’s amulet, and the piece to enhance it… and I can take my party elsewhere.”

To her eternal surprise, Ego Blaster straightened his suit, then put his hands in his pockets. “Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve cost tonight?” he said. “The cost of the raw materials that you’ve ruined-”

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE!!!!” Shahara screamed, tracing a new symbol. Raising two fingers, she moved the symbol so it was pointing toward the middle of the room, as the shadows (somehow understanding what she’d planned) moved out of the way; and a moment later when it finished turning gold, she grabbed it.

A 2 foot diameter portal opened near the ceiling, and Ego Blaster’s mouth pulled into a hard line as thick, gloppy, glowing molten rock began pouring all over a table; spilling and splattering all over the floor, and everything else. “If it’s so hard for you to give in, and pay me what you promised, then we can die together!” Shahara screamed at Ego Blaster.

To his credit, he only hesitated for about two more seconds after she finished speaking. Then he stiff-walked quickly to his desk, the shadows making way for him. He pulled a drawer open, and returned, holding the amulet out to her. She released the magma portal sigil, and grabbed Strayer’s stone.

To her surprise though, Ego Blaster didn’t let go. She felt a moment of fear that felt like a breath-taking punch to the gut, combined with a full body shiver that started at the spine; knowing she’d made a mistake in removing the threat; knowing she was going to die in a moment… But that death never came. He didn’t move. Ego Blaster was completely silent.

His face had turned a bright red, and Shahara realized she could see energy swirling in his eyes. She realized that he was literally too angry to speak, think, or really function; and the message was crystal clear: He intended to kill her at his very next opportunity. Her one hope would be not to give him that opportunity. She nodded. He released the stone. She gave a jerk of her head, and the shadows reluctantly began to re-enter the portal as the glowing magma cooled, and Shadow walked backwards toward the door, keeping its eyes on Ego Blaster. Shahara quickly created a teleportation sigil at the end of the room as Ego watched her intently.

“The next time I see you Shahara, I will kill you without a moment's hesitation” Ego said with such rage, it sent a chill down her spine. Shahara returned his glare with a quick grin before Shadow led her through the portal, returning her back home.

Chapter 6

Shahara stepped through the portal and into Strayer’s third floor apartment, scaring Strayer as she fell to her knees after letting Shadow go. Strayer quickly ran over to her, picked her up off the floor and laid her down on the sofa.

“What in the hell happened to you, and where have you been?” Strayer asked as he ran to the kitchen and grabbed his first aid kit.

“Those are all very good questions which I would love to answer later,” Shahara said. Strayer was walking back into the living room with the first aid kit in one hand and a couple of beers in the other.

“Oh you know me too well, but what in the world will you drink?” Shahara asked playfully.

“Not so fast there little girl,” Strayer said with a grin on his face, “not until you start talking.” Shahara sneered at him for calling her that. She snatched a beer off the coffee table as he grabbed the scissors out of the first aid kit and started cutting her blood soaked pants off of her.

“What do you think you're doing?” Shahara asked.

“Well I can’t exactly just pull them off with as tattered and blood soaked as these are.” Strayer reached up and started cutting her shirt off of her as well, realizing pretty quickly that she was wearing nothing else underneath. He blushed as he started treating the cuts on her chest and ribcage while Shahara chuckled and finished off the first beer while reaching for the second one. Shahara revealed what all had happened to her in the last week while Strayer moved on to the deep wounds on her leg.

“I still don’t understand what in the world possessed you to do such a foolish thing” Strayer said as he worked on her leg wounds.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Shahara asked as she propped herself up to a sitting position. He had just finished stitching up her leg and was cleaning the blood off her leg with a damp cloth while she contemplated finishing what she wanted to say, yet was afraid to say out loud.

“It might have something to do with that fact that for some reason I…. kind of like your dumb ass” Shahara said, fighting back her real feelings.

“I’m the dumbass?” Strayer asked.

“Just shut up and get over here” Shahara said as she grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.