Carl sat on the park bench. It had been two day since he had escaped from Mindshadow. Even now he was unsure if he had actually escaped, or if she had let him go, or even worse this was just another way to keep him under control. Carl shuddered, even with the fuzziness of what had happened, while under her control, she still terrified him. She was beautiful, but as deadly as a black widow spider.
Carl wondered if he had escaped, even now her voice echoed inside his head, whispering just on the edge of his perceptions. Yesterday he had found himself within a block of Prometheus before he realized where he was. It took an effort of will to turn around and walk the other way.
Last night he had slept on the roof of a building, if it could be called sleep. There were nightmares now, of Mindshadow, of Wedge and his family. He almost went back to Stafford, until he realized that he had no idea what Mindshadow had done to him. He couldn't contact anyone he knew; the risk was too great.
Carl watched several people wander by, it was quiet in this part of the park. The sun would be going down shortly. A light breeze was blowing and ruffled his hair. He checked his pocket out of habit, the device he had acquired from Mindshadow was still there.
The phone call to Tammy still whispered in his mind. He had hung up after hearing her voice. He couldn't talk with her just yet, but knowing she was ok and not some drone under Mindshadow's control was still in debate.
Carl got up and started walking, making sure it was away from Prometheus. He was walking over a bridge that had some water and a walkway running underneath when he heard a muffled cry for help. Normally he would have kept walking, but not this time. Listening harder it sounded like it was coming from under the bridge.
"You ain't go no money bitch, how's about me a Lester have some fun with you and if we like it, we might give you a fix," Carl heard someone say.
Carl ran around to the steps that led down to the path under the bridge, he still listened, but couldn't make out anything else.
He looked around into the unlit passage, one man had a young Latino woman in a strangle hold. The other man was using a long bladed knife to cut the woman's clothes off. She struggled and attempted to kick the man unsuccessfully.
"Excuse me, is there a problem here?" Carl said striding towards the two men.
"Well lookie what we got here Lester a Good Samaritan. A dead Samaritan though," he closed the distance and was within reach of Carl.
"Just let the lady go and no one will get hurt," Carl said staring at the man and his seven-inch stainless steel ivory handled knife.
The man moved and before Carl thought to react he had plunged the knife through his chest. Carl lost his balance as he backed away. The man seeing him stumble pulled the knife free and pushed him into the water flowing under the bridge.
"Com'on Lester, let's finish this up," was the last Carl heard.
As he sank to the bottom of the river, the tightness and burning in his chest started to lessen; any ordinary man would most likely be dead. Carl touched the bottom of the flowing river. Shaking away the pain he sent the mental command and the nano-coating flowed over his body. He also changed his vision and saw something in the dark water. Reaching for it, he grasped the hilt of a sword in his left hand. Somehow it felt right, like it belonged with him. Almost as if it was something he had been missing. Rising up to the surface of the water the water beaded off of him as he broke the surface.
The two men were still cutting the woman's clothes off and had reached her panties. The man named Lester was tying strip of cloth over her mouth; her hands had been bound behind her.
Tween looked at the scene and glanced at the blade he was holding, it was an oriental blade, a katana if he recalled correctly. There was an intricate pattern in or on the blade, the pommel was a dragon twined around, with its head at the base and claws for guards.
Lester was the first to notice Tween hovering over the water. "Holy shit boss!"
The other man turned as Tween unleashed an electrical discharge at him, knocking him into the woman and Lester. Lester stumbled with the woman dropping her; the panic in her eyes was noticeable. Lester scrambled back crablike away from the hovering black menace with the glowing green eyes. Tween gestured again this time with the sword, it directed the electrical charge right into Lester. The man crumpled as if squashed.
The woman fainted as Tween approached.
"A potential candidate for the jiam has been spotted. I am dispatching a kyung shi to command the mission, another of those road spirits to facilitate ease of transportation, and a drought spirit," the tentacled ball transmitted. The two mentioned stirred from their rest. The road spirit named Bahn portalled itself to the castle where the kyung shi unlocked its coffin. It then reached out with stony arms and dragged the drought spirit in. All stopped to look at the mirror where the tentacled ball had contacted them.
"Here is the report we have from the observer in the park. It's a spirit of rage. Our information on the current wielder is that it was some kind of cyborg, which emitted air ionization producing electrical lightning. Current data indicates that it is a government agent in the employment of RANDS. They are the most likely to be interested in the sword because of its powerful magic, and has the equipment to outfit cyborgs such as these. Your subcommander for this mission will be the kyung shi. The two of you will obey orders from it. Commence." The mirror cleared.
"Why didn't they just send Klsyfrx? His force is already in place," the drought spirit whined.
"Great power has been given to us for allegiance to our patron. You are now suggesting we abandon the responsibility we have because you do not possess the requisite capability to take it from a cyborg?" the kyung shi transfixed the drought spirit with a stare.
"No, subcommander. Of course not." The drought spirit made a pathetic attempt to stand ramrod straight. The scenery had shifted to a road inside a park, courtesy of the road spirit.
"Where is our contact anyway?" The kyung shi looked around. He saw the spirit of rage in its form as that of a giant-shelled four-legged bug.
"The cyborg with the sword is right over there." It pointed two of its legs to a figure with green glowing eyes, and hovering over a young woman with the jiam. The kyung shi smelled the air.
"It is human and metal. Let us communicate with it through the translators our lord has graciously provided for us." The kyung shi approached with a hood over its face and its cloak concealing its gray skin. The other spirits faded into invisibility.
"Greetings, youth. As the aphids assist the ants, may we deign to offer our humble assistance to you?" the kyung shi greeted the black menacing shape suavely.
Tween turned at the sound of the odd voice behind him. A hooded figure in stood under the soft light of the nearby streetlights. Tween switched sword to his right hand. Tween fixed his glowing green eyes onto the newcomer. "Huh? What did you say?"
The kyung shi paused for a moment, and then replied. "I offer greetings and asked how may we assist you?"
"Oh, I have everything under control those two were attempting to harm the young woman I stopped them, they should be alright in a bit," Tween said in his resonating voice.
The kyung shi sniffed the air, and could make out the scent of the woman and the two men, he could hear them breathing. The life force around him was tantalizing; this cyborg was holding a object of power, perhaps even the jiam they sought. "The sword, may we have it?"
Tween glanced at the sword and back at the hooded man. "It's mine, it belongs with me." Something stirred in the back of Tween's mind; it was as if a part of him was waking up from a long sleep.
The drought spirit spoke softly to the kyung shi. "Let me take him subcommander, he should fall as easily as the others."
The kyung shi hissed at the drought spirit, "Quiet fool."
Tween looked at the hooded figure, and laughed. For some reason he found the hooded figure humorous, something in the back of his mind stirred again, perhaps this was some more of Mindshadow's manipulations. "Go away," Tween said loudly.
The kyung shi said to Tween, "Very well then." Turning as if to leave, he spoke to the other spirits in a raspy dry voice, "Kill it and we shall retrieve the kiam for our patron."
The drought spirit moved invisibly and struck out at the cyborg, expecting an easy victory, the spirit hit a strong energy field surrounding the cyborg. The blow didn't even seem to phase the cyborg in the slightest.
Tween hovered, looking for his attacker. Something had impacted on his shields, something strong. A second blow landed, forcing him back a few feet. More blows hit Tween's energy fields, having little or no effect. The knife wielding punk attempted to stab him with his knife, but it too skipped of the shielding.
The kyung shi spoke again to the spirits, "Hold it still, I will deal with this cyborg."
The punk wrapped his arms around Tween. The kyung shi approached removing its hood. The creature looked like it had been dead for some time; its eyes were shrunken in its head. Its hair was left only in small black tufts. The skin was a dull white. "Now Cyborg, I shall drink your essence."
Tween flexed and broke the punks hold, using his left hand he tossed him into the slow moving river, with a loud splash. Several more blows impacted on his shielding. Tween took a swing and connected with something semi-solid, as the balding white skinned creature moved in closer.
Without waiting to see what it would do, Tween unleashed a blast of electrical energy, two forms were silhouetted in the discharge, one fell to the ground the other was a block square-like structure. Several of the park lamps glowed brightly before sparks flew off the metal and they were extinguished, catching the park bench on fire.
The balding white menace was within striking range, and it grabbed Tween around the throat just as the sword came down and sliced across its neck and chest in a diagonal cut. A snapping of metal was heard and the creature backed of as if burned. A golden metal disk and chain fell to the ground. It muttered something as it clutched the wound and disappeared. Tween picked up the metal object; it was an amulet. The amulet was inlayed with gold symbols on one site. The chain holding it had been cut.
Tween looked around, the punk that had went into the water was on the far side of the bank, its eyes glowing a dull red in the darkness, the punk then collapsed as if it were a marionette that had its strings cut. Glancing around he heard sirens, and decided that now was a good time to leave. He quickly searched the other punk and took his leather jacked. Inside one of the pockets he found what appeared to be drugs, he tossed them on top of the unconscious punk. In addition he found several hundred dollars in cash.
He then covered the woman with the punk's jacket and then noticed her purse nearby. He quickly looked through it and found a set of keys and couple of dollars and her ID as well as some feminine hygiene products, and two syringes. The sirens were getting closer, and Tween decided to help her out and get her home. He put the sword through his belt and recoated, the purse he put around the woman neck and lifted her. He rose up into the night sky, hoping not to attract any unwanted attention he barely cleared the tree line.
She didn't live to far away, and he managed to get to her apartment without much difficulty.
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