Three Square Meals Ch. 053

Dana turned and sprinted away down the corridor, returning a minute later with two of her Punisher pistols, several clips, a couple of jackets and some holsters. "Here you go!" she said eagerly.

"Great thinking!" Alyssa said to her, grabbing one jacket and passing it to Irillith, while putting on another herself.

They loaded clips into the pistols, and slotted away the others in their jackets, and when they were done, Irillith said, "We aren't far from the garage where we keep my hover-car. Let's go!"

They waved the other girls goodbye, and then sprinted out of the Docking Bay. They retraced the route they had taken the first time Alyssa had arrived on Valaden, but when they ran through the market this time, it was Irillith drawing all the attention. The Maliri women stared at her in open mouthed amazement, astonished to see the heir-apparent to House Valaden running around with her long flowing white hair billowing out behind her.

Irillith flinched away from those judgemental looks, but then remembered she had no intention of living on Valaden any longer. She laughed with carefree abandon, relishing being released from such petty minded condemnation.

Alyssa glanced at her curiously as she ran along by her side, and said, "I'm not sure our current situation is particularly funny. Did I miss something?"

"I'll explain later!" Irillith said with a joyful grin on her face, and they raced into the reception area for the car park.

Irillith charged up to the desk and the receptionist blinked at her, her eyes going wide with disbelief. Irillith rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, I've got long hair. Now, you know who I am. Give me my spare keys immediately!"

The receptionist fumbled at the desk by her side, and after what seemed an interminable wait, she handed over the keyfob. "Thanks!" Irillith said with relief, and dashed over to the small bright elevator at the back of the room. The receptionist looked astounded, having never received a kind word from Irillith in the many years she'd known her.

The clear crystal door rotated down from the ceiling, and they sank downwards for a few seconds before stopping at the underground parking facility. Irillith sprinted for her vehicle, with Alyssa running beside her, and they made a beeline for the Maliri girl's red sporty hover-car. The bubble canopy opened smoothly, and as soon as they had enough room, they dived into the vehicle. She started up the engine, and began to accelerate rapidly as the canopy lowered, sealing them inside.

"So, what's the plan?" Irillith asked, as she tore up the ramp and launched them out onto the street. She was travelling so fast they sailed several metres into the air before the hover-car dipped down, and began to glide at the normal height, half a metre above the road.

Alyssa stared away into the distance, and admitted, "I've no idea. Try and reason with him I guess? Hopefully reach out to our John, and make him see sense?"

Irillith frowned, but didn't reply, focusing instead on avoiding hitting anyone as she raced along recklessly fast.

Sensing the Maliri girl's doubts about her suggestion, Alyssa turned to her and said, "Well, I'm not sure what els- Aaaiihhhh!"

Irillith weaved on the road when Alyssa screamed, and when she took a startled glance at the blonde girl, she saw her clutching at her head, her bright blue eyes wide with shock and stunned incredulity. "What? What's the matter?" Irillith blurted out in alarm.

"It's John!" Alyssa wailed. "He just cut through our connection to him! He's completely abandoned us!" She began to weep, utterly bereft and heartbroken.

Irillith could feel a hollowness inside her, and she clutched at her chest, feeling a dull ache in her heart. With a glance at the tormented blonde at her side, she was sharply reminded just how much more intense this girl's connection with John must be. She reached out and gently patted Alyssa's shoulder, feeling woefully ill-equipped to deal with consoling the devastated young Terran. After a lifetime of callous indifference to the suffering of others, trying to offer comfort and sympathy was proving to be a novel experience.

"What now?" she eventually asked in a quiet voice, still driving onwards towards the palace.

"What does it matter?" Alyssa sobbed. "We're alone! He's cast us aside."

Irillith didn't do comfort, but she did do confrontation. Narrowing her eyes, she glanced at Alyssa and sneered, "You're pathetic. Blubbing in my car isn't going to help us, is it? I can't believe you're just giving up."

Alyssa looked up at her, eyes red from crying, amazed that Irillith could be so cruel.

"I thought you cared for him? If you want him back, then fight for him! If we have to go in there, and smash this Progenitor version of him into unconsciousness, so be it! " she snarled. "What would your John do? Would he just fall apart, or would he charge in there, and kick some ass?"

Alyssa hiccupped, and rubbing her eyes, she smiled wanly as she said, "He'd kick some ass."

"Damn right he would!" Irillith said with conviction. "So, if you want to be deserving of such a man, what are you going to do?"

Alyssa's cerulean eyes blazed as she said grimly, "I'm going to kick some ass."

"Damn right you will!" Irillith exclaimed, feeling both immensely relieved, and slightly unsettled to see a fierce uncompromising fire igniting in Alyssa's eyes.

The startled guards at the entrance to the palace waved her through, and Irillith gritted her teeth as she saw them gossiping excitedly in the rear view mirror. She stifled her irritation, and tore around the back of the palace, clipping the wall as she topped the ramp down into the parking garage. They weaved drunkenly down the slope until she regained control, and they careened into the underground parking facility where she skidded into her parking spot. There was a muffled crunch as they collided with the parked green hover-car in the next bay, but Irillith paid it no attention, and popped open the bubbly canopy.

Scrabbling clear of her red hover-car, they both exited on Irillith's side, as they had hit the other vehicle on Alyssa's side. Running quickly for the elevators, the astonished guards tried to speak to Irillith, but she just raised her hand and snapped, "Not now!" Knowing full well how unwise it would be to provoke Irillith Valaden, they wisely stood at attention and remained silent.

Alyssa and Irillith ran into the elevators, and once the crystal doors had swung shut, they glanced nervously at each other as they rose to the foyer level. The door swung upwards into the ceiling, and they burst outside in a rush. The Foyer was bustling as before, and as Irillith stormed out, there was a wave of shocked gasps, as one Maliri woman after another turned and stared at Irillith's long, snowy-white mane.

"Yes! I've got long hair! It looks much better!" Irillith crowed defiantly, finally pushed to breaking point.

Alyssa stared at her companion with wide-eyes, and followed after her silently as they sprinted across the room, weaving between bewildered onlookers. *What was that all about?* she asked Irillith telepathically.

Irillith gave her a carefree laugh and said, "I'll tell you later, but it felt wonderful!"

They passed the reception area unchallenged, then after another short elevator ride, they ran past the security checkpoint, and into the plaza area beyond. Irillith frowned as they ran across the plaza, directly towards the twenty-foot high doors in the grand entrance way that led into Matriarch Valaden's private quarters.

"What's the matter?" Alyssa asked her, seeing the Maliri girl's tense expression.

Irillith pointed to the entrance ahead of them, and said, "The guards are missing."

They sprinted up to the huge double doors, and they drew their pistols, then nodded at each other. Alyssa took the lead, slipping inside between the partially closed doors, and as she looked around cautiously, a sudden bright flash of movement to her side made her react by instinct. She brought her hands up defensively, and the gleaming tip of a razor sharp blade stopped an inch from her nose. Alyssa recognised the Maliri assassin, Luna, holding the other end of the blade, her yellow eyes widening in surprise as her attack was thwarted. When Luna pulled back and tried to thrust forward again, Alyssa knocked her sprawling with a telekinetic push.

"Wait!" Irillith yelled at the two other Maliri girls in the short corridor, who had also drawn short blades, and were advancing menacingly. "It's me, Irillith Valaden!"

They froze when they recognised her, doing well to mask their shock at her radical new hairstyle. Luna flipped to her feet, and in a quiet, solemn voice she said, "Matriarch Valaden is in danger. Something attacked her, but we can't get past, that..." Turning, she pointed to the swirling shadowy barrier that completely sealed off the entrance into Edraele's private quarters.

Staring at the barrier in fascination, Alyssa approached it with growing curiosity. The Maliri assassins watched her warily as she walked past them, and when she raised her hand to touch the shadowy wall experimentally, Luna called out, "Watch out! It's dangero-." but her voice faltered and died as Alyssa brushed her fingertips through the barrier without coming to harm.

Alyssa turned back to look at them, and one of the other Maliri women raised her left hand, revealing an ugly blackened scorch mark. "When I touched it, my hand was burnt, and I was thrown across the room," she explained fearfully.

Nodding, Alyssa glanced at Irillith and said, "Stay here. I have a feeling I'm going to be the only one able to enter." She turned to walk through the barrier but paused, and smiled at Irillith gratefully as she said, "Thank you for your help, you were wonderful."

Irillith returned her smile, and with a wave goodbye, Alyssa plunged through the roiling wall of swirling shadows. As she passed through the barrier, she felt a deep chill on her skin that seemed to seep through to her bones, and when she reached the other side, she was shivering uncontrollably. She rubbed her arms, trying to bring some warmth back into them, and that feeling of deathly cold gradually began to subside.

The room beyond the shadow barrier was mostly as she remembered it, with the glass ceiling, and the path around the outside. This time though, the furniture was scattered and knocked about, and some double doors opposite were wide open. She stopped moving and listened carefully, but she couldn't hear a sound. Keeping the Punisher pistol at the ready, she crept forward towards the open doors, the hairs on the back of her neck rising up, as she instinctively sensed danger ahead of her.

Walking slowly down the corridor beyond the open doors, she saw that another door further down on her right was slightly ajar. She tiptoed closer stealthily, but despite her sneaky approach, a voice called out to her from the bedroom.

"I don't know how you got in here, but you've piqued my curiosity. Do come and introduce yourself," the voice said, and her heart lifted with joy to hear John speak. With a start she suddenly realised that there was something deeply wrong with his voice, and it echoed with a disconcerting, unnatural timbre.

Realising that a surprise attack was no longer an option, she strode purposefully up to the door, and flung it wide open. The first thing that drew her attention was Edraele Valaden, sprawled unconscious across the bed, her long dress bulging obscenely at her waist, her belly heavily swollen. Alyssa's eyes darted around the room, and settled on John, seated in a chair in the corner of the room. He grinned at her malevolently, and she stared in shock at the coiling swirls of Eldritch power that danced around his arms and hands.

Alyssa knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was in mortal danger. This unholy creature was preventing her from reuniting with her John, and even if fighting it meant her obliteration, that was still better than living a pitiful shell of a life without him. White hot anger surged within her, pooling in her stomach, and throbbing as it pulsed outwards, running down her arms to her hands. The feeling was overwhelming at first, but she'd experienced this sensation before, and embraced it with all of her being.

The lights in the room flickered and dimmed, and she discarded her pistol as her fingers were shrouded in a brilliant nimbus of power. She felt a murderous rage building within her, and crackling surges of psychic energy cascaded down her arms to gather at her fingertips. This Progenitor version of her lover had usurped his body, and now it was time to punish it for its temerity.

***

John had been fighting a losing battle with his Progenitor side for weeks. Encountering the Maliri had sparked a terrible hunger within him, which had fuelled his Progenitor instincts to dominate, enslave, and conquer. Meditation and careful focus had built a sturdy fortress that had kept this personality locked away, only able to emerge in times of terrible danger, and even then it was only a pale shadow of its true nature. That part of himself which he had suppressed and controlled for decades, had finally fought back with a vengeance.

It had started with subtle and insidious influences to his behaviour, which he knew didn't feel quite right, but had been powerless to resist. Agreeing to go with Irillith into the heart of Maliri Space had been the beginning, and he'd been sliding down a slippery slope ever since.

After the meeting with Edraele, when Alyssa had her confrontation with the Maliri Matriarch, things had got progressively worse. He'd be having a conversation with someone, and then suddenly be swamped, dragged down by this other personality, who blocked Alyssa from his thoughts, and took control of his body.

These episodes had been growing longer in duration, and his memory felt like it was shot full of holes, as he'd slipped in and out of control of himself. He'd had a period of merciful respite from these lapses after the fight with the Trankarans, Progenitor-John having exhausted himself using one taxing psychic power after another. During that brief time, he'd done what he could, working with his radiant ally to strengthen the girls' protection from his diabolical other half.

Progenitor-John had rallied his strength during that lull, and eventually become powerful enough to shut him out completely. He'd been forced to watch through an opaque barrier as the other personality plotted the conquest of the Maliri, making his plans to enslave their leaders, and take de facto control of the Maliri Regency. The only time he'd been able to intervene was with Irillith, whom he'd managed to save from Progenitor John's depredations.

When Edraele had destroyed the mental barrier, he'd been bound in unbreakable black chains, and plunged into a bottomless abyss, tormented by apparitions of helplessness and despair. They had taunted him relentlessly, taking great delight in his defeat, and gleefully informing him that he would be falling to his doom for eternity. Though he longed for oblivion, he knew it would never come, and he would be stuck in this nightmarish purgatory forever.

***

Progenitor-John rose to his feet, then began stalking towards Alyssa ominously, the sound of his contemptuous spine-chilling laughter echoing around the room. She gritted her teeth and ignored it, having witnessed far worse. Cradling a roiling ball of white energy in the palm of her hand, she concentrated on it, ramping up its potency, and hurled it in his direction.

His laughter intensified as he raised a grey shield formed of hexagons to deflect her bold attack, grinning at her mockingly. The ball of energy crashed into the shield, exploding in a blinding blast of power. The seething detonation knocked him back a step, and his shield flickered precariously but he managed to stabilise his shadowy barrier. Blinking in shock, he rapidly re-evaluated the power this slip of a girl commanded, and he decided to eliminate this surprising threat forthwith.

He smiled at her wickedly as he opened his fists, and the black shadowy tendrils around his fingers undulated towards her with a rapid, disorientating motion. She narrowed her eyes, and guided by instinct alone, she created a scything arc of pure force that slashed down at the writhing tentacles, neatly severing them all. The black tendrils froze in mid air, then dissipated harmlessly, the shadows scattering away, unable to withstand the light.

"How did you do that?!" Progenitor-John blurted, gaping at her in amazement.

Not bothering to wait for an answer, he gathered his will, then cast a long murky grey spear of telekinetic force in her direction. It plunged towards her with an unnerving dirge, and she raised her hands defensively as though to prevent it from striking her unprotected face. He laughed at her panicked reaction, but his face fell in disbelief as a barrier of white hexagons appeared at the last second. The gleaming shield quivered with the resounding impact, but otherwise remained intact.

Alyssa concentrated on the vast amounts of power curling around her fingers, and following a strong urge, she held her arms outstretched towards Progenitor-John, with her hands clenched into fists. The pulsating nimbus of energy grew in strength, throbbing as it built to a crescendo, and she unleashed it at him with a shriek of fury. A blindingly bright beam of pure white light lanced out towards him, and his look of utter shock and bewilderment was the last thing she saw before he frantically raised a protective barrier to save himself. The beam pounded into his psychic-shield, sending him flying backwards and slamming into the wall, beating him down, and hammering him into the floor.

When the resplendent channel of brilliant energy finally disappeared, it left a few motes of light, which hung between them in the dim light of the room. He lurched unsteadily to his feet, and suddenly froze, staring at her in horror, his eyes flickering with sudden recognition.

"YOU!!" he gaped in dumbfounded astonishment. "How did a cretin like you manage to do that?!"

She had no idea herself, but before she could reply, Progenitor-John shrieked, clutching at his head as he staggered backwards. Alyssa stared at him in astonishment as he reeled away from her, twisting and thrashing in torment. Suddenly, superimposed atop the writhing form, something flickered in front of her eyes. It was a glowing white silhouette of John; the real John, and not this warped and hideous creature inhabiting his body.

***

With blindingly bright clarity, Alyssa had appeared before John as he tumbled helplessly into the abyss. The glowing radiant girl from his dreams, who protected him, and kept him safe. She reached out to him, and her slender fingers threw brilliant shards of light outwards, piercing the darkness. The scintillating streams of while light sent his tormenting apparitions fleeing in terror, punching smoking holes through them as they fled. With every last fragment of his will he roared out in defiance, and the blackened chains that were restraining him exploded outwards, freeing him from bondage. With hope surging in his chest he reached out to take her hand.

***

Alyssa felt an instinctive pull within herself, condensing into a bizarre tugging sensation in her chest, and she embraced that feeling, drawing out her spirit-form. As she adjusted to being an ethereal presence, she could see John as clear as day, reaching out to her in a final desperate act. She lunged forward, her heart filled with joy, and grasped his hand, clasping it tightly. The moment their fingers touched, a lance of pure white energy blasted out from his chest, and pierced the centre of her own. There was no pain though, only warmth, comfort, and love, and she embraced it with all of her being.