Shadow's Dance (old)

Chapter 24: Dolos

The room suddenly went pitch black as Jane could hear the whirring of electricity. "So I cant even punch something?" Jane yelled in the abyss.

Her collar still blinked green and the cold stiffness in her fingers was still there. She could hear something charge up. Then a yellow ball flew across her head just as she leaped out of the way.

"Torturing me with memories will do you nothing." Jane's eyes darted in all directions as a voice sprang from the walls.

"Then let's change them, I'll even give you a gift."

The crackling of the speakers hurt her ears as she could feel her fingers cover them. Sliding them down towards her neck she could feel the rough scarring on it just before they disappeared. Dropping her hands to her sides Jane's silver eyes sparked blue but not all the way. Completely ignorant to the sounds of the two restraints hitting the floor the soles of her feet lit up blue. Taking a few steps before getting in a running position her hands soon followed as well.

Lighting up the floor with the blue glow Jane yelled. "Hit me with what you've got!"

Just then she took off in a blurred bright ring of blue as something dropped from the ceiling. The thing clanked and had a mechanic growl. Two little orange lights lunged at her. It wheezed as her blue blade stuck out of its back and it's lights went dim.

"Come on, give me something exciting!" Jane pulled out her scythe from the mechanical mess and felt the floor beneath her slowly move as something gigantic rises out from it.

The room lit up with color. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the change. Her mouth hung open with lose words.

"How do you know about this?" Her head was down and Jane's shoulders were tense. "I said, HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?" Her eyes by now we're bursting with the blue glow and tears that dripped down.

Her voice quivered as the room also replicated bodies on the ground, the bloody streets, and the spattered of scarlet on the cracked windows of a small tavern. Men in sickly white suits dotted the area as the creature towered before her.

She created it.

The thing had a blue tongue, eyes, and back stripe. Sharp black teeth paired with deadly long claws. It resembled a hyena or perhaps a mix of bear and dog that was much taller than a human.

It gave its eerie hiss as its jaws showed off the creature's mouth.

Her stomach did circles as she placed one foot backwards. "You're not real. I killed you." Jane was frozen as the thing circled her.

"382, why are you against me?" Said the creature.

"I- you-"Jane's breathing was too short and began to gasp for air.

"Why did you come here with him?"

Jane looked toward the bodies. Her heart felt heavy with pain and regrets. Her throat felt clogged with the same black substance that the thing was made out of. Her tears betrayed her. They dropped to the floor just as her face changed expression.

She hand her head down looking at the floor just as she whispered."Fuck you." Her hands gripped a black sword. "You want to kill, so do I." Her voice projected more confidence than before.

Looking up at the thing Jane's eyes were angry with revenge. Those were her friends, people she knew, the only ones that she had relied on. They were the reason why she was here, none of this was real. It was a twisted memory meant to cripple her.

Not now, she couldn't stop.

She took strides toward the creature and looked up at it. "I'll build my own army to come and hunt all of those who've hurt the ones I know." Her voice didn't tremble and her eyes were brighter as her nose crinkled. "I am not the same fool who gave you life nor the same person who was with Phantom."

Her teeth were gritted together as she growled at the thing looking down on her. "Then who are you?" It boomed and lowered itself to have it's snout almost touch her forehead.

"Sahova."

The slick black creature chuckled as it whispered. "Think a cute little name will change things? You're still the same killer."

"Yea I am." Jane lunged to the side as her blue eyes were fixated on it. "However, I am a trained killer so I'll do what I know." She pushed off from a wall and like butter the sword cut through the creatures neck.

It wheezed as the head became disattached from the body and fell to the ground. Jane landed softly on the ground that soon turned to its blinding white. The beast became a robot with the same white coloring. It was just a room, it was just a robot, it was just a test.

Jane stood there catching her breath for a moment as she talked. "Sahova, that's what the public called me once. Thought it was cute, like an angle. What they don't know is that the sun burns and an angle holds a flaming sword." She looked straight at the one way panel where May stood.

The speakers turned on and the room was white again. "I'm surprised Ms. Moore, or should I call you Sahova?You're physical strength is off the charts, psychological control is strong as well."

"Don't piss me off again asshole or you'll be next." Jane growled, angered at how the room used her memories but still curious as to how. "How did you know about that day?"

"We didn't. This room reenacts what your worst memory, fear, or nightmare. Yours just happened to be a memory." Jane could hear that Mae was moving around.

The door slid open and Jane looked confused at it then back at the panel. She walked to grab the collar and the object on her wrists.

"You don't need those, clearly you're more useful when given freedoms and less destructive." There was a slight sharpness that angered Jane but it was quickly ignored as she walked out of the room.

Jane stepped carefully across the floor as she saw the set of stairs just outside of the room that had moments ago held something that shouldn't exist. She could see Mae casually going down towards her. Naturally she became skeptical of their intentions. Everyone had an agenda, wants, desires, needs,and rules. All you had to do was figure them out and play their game till they saw how you slowly twisted them into your own.

"You're stubborn, Moonshine 08 will join us shortly." Mae spun to go past the stares and into a different door.

"How is he?" Jane kept up with her. "Why did you keep us separate in those rooms? Why release us? Why the shrink?"

"Well, you did publicly display yourselves as threatening." Mae's voice still hummed pleasantly. "To answer your questions simply, you seem quite useful. However, both of you are equally stubborn and follow a very interesting plan that seems to include us." The two turned a corner.

"No shit. Where are we headed?"

"To breakfast." Mae's mouth curled into a smile. "Sometimes you just need to start the day right."