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her current situation. Currently she was lying on a cold hard and somewhat damp floor with her hands and feet bound and an inhibitor collar around her neck. She wasn't gagged, but she almost wished she was, for the odor that permeated her dungeon was so foul that she'd probably never get the taste out of her mouth. The ropes that bound her dug into her skin and were drenched in blood from her earlier attempts to twist free of them. Bruises covered her arms were she had been roughly grabbed and handled earlier. A huge bruise dominated the left side of her face, a reward for spitting in the face of her captor. Her breath was ragged and she felt sick to her stomach because of the blows she had recieved there when she had bit the guards for gropping her. She hoped that the life she carried inside her hadn't been aborted by the abuses against her. She didn't want to think of that though. They say your life flashes by you when you're about to die, but when your waiting to death it doesn't flash. It's more like you review it, going over your mistakes and the events that will have lead to your end. That, and she had nothing better to do. It all started with Gomurr. Gomurr used to start a lot of things, she thought. But as close as she couldplace it, her current situation started with Gomurr's death. He had been murdered. That happened about 3 years ago, and a year after the BHC had gained domination of all of North America. It had been a great triumph. Mutants had begun to compose the governments of all countries. America had been devastated with a plague and an econimical rescesion. It had been the oportunity the BHC had been waiting for. Silver and Nemesis had stepped in and saved the US and it's dependant countries, Canada and Mexico and therefore been acknowledged as the rulers. They established a system were mutants and humans were equal. Special police forces took care of mutant criminals and human cops handled most human offenders. The BHC became the elite ruling class and the public was gratefull, for each member of the team had special skills that they brought to bear for the service of everyone. Applications for membership to the BHC poured in. Gomurr was head of the country's education system leaving the training of new BHC members to Catana his fellow headmistress whom he trusted implicitly. It was the acomplishment of the main goals of the BHC. True, they didn't have the world, but they were a step closer. The other contries of the world had suffered greatly with the economic devastation of the US due to the globalist policies of previous idiot presidents of the US. Other mutant groups took advantage to seize the power, for the BHC couldn't be everywhere. The Darkfire subsidiary group went to South America to try to consolidate a holding there, but it was extremely difficult for the crisis was greater there. Things had begun to settle down in the world when Gomurr was assasinated. You could say that in a way his own powers were his undoing. The Crimson Dawn rose against him stirred up by some source that ShockWave for all her searching couldn't get a handle on. Gomurr's death had been a hard blow to the BHC, to the country, and to ShockWave herself. Nemesis and Silver handled the situation well though and the BHC hadn't lost any of it's control with the tragedy. Though ShockWave hadn't managed to discover the killer with her spy resources she had by chance discovered something very interesting. Gomurr had felt that the Ascension was due to happen soon, and told Catana that he would probably be reincarnated inmediately. She and Daryoon had found the infant that would grow into the next version of Gomurr and Daryoon was secretly raising him as the adoptive baby of his marriage to Catana. ShockWave had lost a mentor though. She didn't even know if this secret baby who was supossed to be Gomurr would have his memory, but either way he was too young to offer the same kind of comfort anf advice that Gomurr was so good at during the crisises and situations that arose for her. That was why she hadn't been able to handle it when the worst thing ever had happened to her. Catana had gone to spy out the new government forming in Australia for the BHC and as ShockWave's operative. ShockWave recieved a warning from the Dragon's Guild that it was a trap minutes before the trap was sprung. She tried to use her empathic connection to Catana to give warning, but it wasn't like telepathy. Catana had caught the anxiety and worry in her contact, but she couldn't have known why. ShockWave was linked to Catana as she fought for her life. She felt all the anguish, anger, bloodlust, despair, pain, and terror of her death. She was in the BHC palace (the seat of the government) when Catana died, and her scream of anguish had brought everyone running. It was like she herself had died as well, but somehow she was stuck still alive and all the pain kept replaying over and over. ShockWave soon became numb with it all. Rahsas, her closest friend besides Catana, hadn't been able to pull her out. Silver and Nem were worried for their Bishop. ShockWave just stood around with a blank look on her face and she didn't speak. She wouldn't even cry. After the memorial service, Nem and Silver tried to talk to her. The emotionless staring at the service had unnerved them and they had realized that Rahsas hadn't exagerated his reports. None of their words had gotten trough to her. The incident played in the captive ShockWave's mind like a movie. ShockWave sat on a couch in the Queen's elegant foyer. "ShockWave," Silver had said tenderly. He felt sympathy for her loss and had always had a soft spot for the previously happy and funny Bishop. "This isn't good for you. You need to talk about this or at least let yourself cry." He had reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she hadn't reacted. She felt too empty, too dead inside. All his coaxing yeilded no result. Nem finally lost her patience and entered ShockWave's mind. The connection seemed to burn through her head and ShockWave cut of the energy of her probe and screamed. A glowing aura of energy surrounded her clenched fists. "What did you do?" Silver asked in a somewhat accusing tone. Nem gave him a sharp look. "It was a simple probe," she replied. "ShockWave is a husk of what she was, my probe triggered a replay of Catana's death. It seems they were empathically linked when she died." "Can you help her?" Nemesis shook her head. "Our contact was too brief for me to tell. It seemed to cause her pain. She'll just block the energy fueling the probe if I try again." Silver cursed. ShockWave was now on her feet and had a wild look in her eyes as she spun madly around. "I think she's reliving what she feels that Catana went through," Nemesis said calmly. Silver's heart wrenched when he saw the look of terror on her face. He didn't want to think that loyal Cat had suffered like that. He stood and approached ShockWave. "Silver if you get near her she could kill you. She could see you as one of Catana's attackers," Nemesis warned. "You can't risk it," she said simply. "Shocky won't hurt me," Silver said, his voice trembling with emotion. The look on ShockWave's face was so very despairing that he couldn't stand looking at it, he had to do something. He closed the distance between them carefully. When he saw his moment he grabbed ShockWave and pulled her protesting form into his arms. She struggled against him, but didn't use her powers against him. This encouraged him. She wasn't completely unaware of everything around her. He forced her head onto his shoulder and whispered comfortingly to her. After a few moments she sagged against him. "I'm sorry for my behaviour, my king," she said as she revived a moment later. She pulled away from him. Her expression was still hollow, but she was speaking. "I'm dead inside, Nemesis," she told the Queen. "I'm not the sort of person to take my own life so the rest of me can be as dead as the person who I was is, but I can't live without purpose." ShockWave knelt before the queen, feeling nothing but emptiness. "I am no longer suited to be your Bishop, but I pledge to devote myself completely to to the BHC, and you my queen. My resources and my life are yours." If Nem was startled, she didn't show it. Silver gave Nem a startled look, but Nem was looking down at ShockWave. "I accept your services, my Bishop. You shall remain my Bishop and I shall give you a purpose so that you can maintain some semblace of a life." From that momemt on, all that had mattered to ShockWave was the BHC and Nem. Silver tended to stay away from her though, for she was but a shadow of the person he had known and the automaton like person she had become disconcerted him. ShockWave hadn't really been roboticlike though. She was completely dedicated to her work and her devotion to Nem made her a better Bishop than she could have been otherwise. The part that Silver didn't like about her was the way she didn't care about anything except what she could do for the BHC or Nem. She didn't have time for personal relationships, humor, or any of those things that seemed to define a person. Only work kept her from feeling her pain and emptiness, so that was all she did. In her work many of the qualities that had endeared her to the members of the BHC were revealed. Her intelligence, determination, quickness to understand, etc. but any jokes or moves to draw out the person she once was were met with a blank look and a blink. She was emotionless. At least that's what the others thought. She was happy that she was doing something to help the BHC and her queen, and she was proud of what the BHC had become. She just had no real way to express these things. Nemesis seemed to understand her pain and kept her constantly busy, something that engendered gratitude in ShockWave. The others who had cared about ShockWave before she had 'died' inside called Nem heartless for it though. ShockWave had heard them once and had told them in no uncertain terms that she didn't belive Nem to be heartless but thought her the most compasionate person in the BHC and the only one who understood her as what she was and not as what she had been and that the were most disloyal to their queen by saying such things. That was the closest ShockWave had come to expressing emotion since Catana died. Rahsas had been shocked silent and from then on the whispers stopped as did Rahsas' attempts to rekindle the friendship he had once shared with her. Things weren't destined to remain that way though, thought ShockWave sadly. Those times seemed blissfull and happy to her now. She didn't have to worry about herself. The only thinking she had to do involved only her work, which was whatever Nem told her and whatever she knew she could do to better Nem's requests or the BHC's position. But her dependence on Nemesis was going to cost her dearly. It was a little more than a year after Catana's death that terrible news came from South America. Someone called the Psilord had wiped out the Darkfire court. Havok, the Black Warlord, took some of the country's troops and a few of the most experienced BHC members to try to hunt down the Psilord and give their friends in the other court a decent burial (the few remains of them that there were anyway). Havok couldn't have known that the Psilord would slip past him in the confusion of the anarchy in South America and head north were the army no longer had their main commander, but it happened and it was disasterous. The Psilord had an ally in the Northern continent. Someone must have been helping him remain undedected while he built a new line of durable non-metallic sentinels for ShockWave had found no evidence that such things had been going on until the sentinels started killing southern members of the BHC, moving north from state to state after killing the BHC governers. They were making their way to the palace, and the Psilord with them. Demona lead the Marauders against them, and although they destroyed some of the sentinels before being crushed, there were always more of the mechanical monsters. It wasn't that the team wasn't untrained, it was just that they couldn't stand up to the Psilord's potent mental attacks that left them in vegitative states and cannon fodder for the sentinels. Demona's powers had kept her alive just long enough to tell Nemesis this. They faced a deadly peril, but Nemesis took it all calmly. Together with Silver they delineated a plan to the BHC membership that resided in the palace. ShockWave was a shadow behind them as they stood in the conference room eplaining their plan to the membership before going to a live television feed to reassure their subjects. How regal and proud Nem had been with the stern faced confidence inspiring Silver at her side. Nem was the more public faced figure in the heriarchy and the people loved her. Silver was no less important, but he handled things quietly and competently in the sort of way that was oft overshadowed and belittled by Nem's more public and flambouyant way of doing things. She had really looked her part of queen during the briefing and the television spot afterwards. She was the sort of queen you'd be proud to swear your alligience to. Nemesis was going to be the one to take on the Psilord. She had informed the membership of it so confidently that no one doubted that she could face him down and win. The plan was for Paradox, the second strongest psi in the BHC to shield the minds of the other members and the king most of all, so that Silver could lead them against the sentinels. No one would seemed to think that maybe the Psilord was more powerfull than Nem, it just wouldn't occur to them. Nem was aware of her limitations though. Silver had known her long enough to know too. ShockWave had been there, right behind Nem, during their discussion. "The Psilord is supossed to be the most powerfull psi ever born. Do you really believe you can take him," Silver said. The King and Queen seemed to argue a lot since they had come to power. But when you thought about it you realized that they hadn't really been that similar even when the BHC was just a wealthy billionare club with global domination dreams and secret mutant powers. Ever since the stakes had been upped so had their disagreements on how to handle things. "There isn't anyone else who can even hope to distract him, Silver. I'm having Paradox shiled the rest of you in case I am not such a powerfull distraction to keep him from striking out at you and the rest while you fight the sentinels. I am still well aware of my limits," she finished acidly. "Then you plan to die as a distraction to him? It's very valiant, Nem, and a sacrifice I wouldn't have believed you capable of, but what's to keep him from crushing you and then killing us all anyway. A sacrifice is worthless if it won't really save anyone." ShockWave hadn't then realized why he was arguing, but she would realize later that it was because he had come to love Nem and didn't want her to die even if she didn't really love him in the same way. "I have a plan, Silver. I'm not some foolish rookie who thinks she can do anything. I don't plan to die either." Nem spoke calmly in the face of Silver's anger. It was the sort of calm she assumed when she knew something he didn't, which she often did. ShockWave knew that Nem kept a lot of information and plans to herself. Nemesis was still ambitious and the sort of person who always had her own little scheme on the back burner, like in the old days. ShockWave understood that Silver knew this, but that didn't keep it from bothering him. He probably thought that she'd do away with him entirely if she could. "Are you planning to tell me or not, majesty?" Silver asked through clenched teeth. "Maybe if you were a little less sarcastic with the tittles Silver," she snapped. "I deserve respect for all I've done. You couldn't have achieved all this without me and you know it!" "I know that, but I won't be a little puppet waiting for you to tug at his strings either, Nemsis. I don't work that way, and you haven't found another King to replace me yet, though Lord knows you bring enough into your bed." Nem slapped him accross the face hard. "We aren't a married couple you self-righteous bast..." Nem got a hold of herself. "Our bickering won't help the situation at hand and it won't change anything in the long run either. We'll have to continue together and present a unified front to the world." "Yes, we'll have to keep this little charade up for we can't do it without each other." "No matter how much we hate each other at times," Nem said. ShockWave thought that Nem sounded a little sad about that, but she couldn't be sure. "You know that ShockWave can manipulate all forms of energy Silver," Nem said in a softer tone than they had been using before. Silver gave ShockWave an unreadable look. "She's going set up a feed of psi energy into me so that I can combat the Psilord and kill him." "I would give even my life energy for you, my Queen," ShockWave said speaking for the first time. Some sort of conversation seemed to take place between Nem and Silver mind to mind then. "Very well," Silver said at last. Without another glance at ShockWave or Nem, he left to ready himself for the battle approaching. ShockWave had helped Nem into her armor, silent as ever even though she had had no idea of her part in the battle until the arguement with Silver. She vowed that she wouldn't fail her queen. The BHC attack force took a jet and landed it a distance off from where the Psilord was currently wreaking havoc on his journey north toward the palace. ShockWave had no idea how the rest of the attack went, for she stood proudly at her queen's side while she faced down the Psilord. She would never forget the Psilord. He had been a tall and normal looking man. You wouldn't know him from the average everyday Joe except for the look on his face and the hate in his eyes. ShockWave had never seen such hate in a person and his face was a mask of angry triumph. "So the brave Queen has come to die for her people," he said with a sneer as he looked down at Nem from his perch ontop a mini-sentinel. "Too bad your death won't even save them. I'm going to kill your whole organization and then your people will have no choice but to bow down to me or be destroyed. And if they bowed down to an arrogant slut like you and even loved you it should be no problem." His words were like pure vemon and his mental powers backed their acidity, but ShockWave was barely aware of it she was so deep in concentration. Nemesis had a mental shield around them for the moment and ShockWave was gathering energy from their surroundings and converting it into a form of psi energy similar enough to Nem's so as not to kill her. "It would be a grave mistake to underestimate me," Nemesis replied to his taunts. Atop his mechanical chariot, the Psilord laughed. "I can feel how much more powerfull I am than you," he said. Still laughing he shattered the psi-shield around Nem and ShockWave. Needles of pain lanced through ShockWave's mind, but she didn't let it phase her. She had deadened herself to all feeling, even pain after Catana's death. All she knew was what she must do and she wouldn't fail at it. She started feeding power into Nem as Nemesis launched an attack at the mental defenses of their foe. Psilord laughed and claimed that it tickled. "You're little pet feeds you power, eh? Let's remove her from the equation then," he said. ShockWave felt him invade her mind and lash out whips of agony. She collapsed to her knees with a gasp, but grabbed hold of the energy of his attack and started feeding it to Nem. It didn't eliminate the pain or the replaying of all the painfull moments in her life in her mind, but it brought the agony down to a bearable level and ShockWave tenaciously kept at her role in the fight. The Psilord stopped laughing, but didn't seem too perturbed at his failed attack and Nem's renewed battering on his shields. "Now you die, Nemesis," he said nastily as he got serious at last. On a subconscious level ShockWave registered Nem's gasp as the Psilord invaded her mind, but she wasn't truly aware of anything but what she had to do. She reconstructed what must have happened weeks after the battle. Nem had led the Psilord through her mind, using the power ShockWave gave to her to keep the core of her self from his grasp as he chased her through her head. Then when he was concentrating on Nemesis completely, she had let him catch her and killed herself before he could destroy her taking him with her into the arms of death. ShockWave had felt the life energy leave Nem's body, and tried desperately to keep it from leaving, but there was nothing she could do. One minute she was in a black universe of pain and horrors where the only thing that mattered was feeding energy into Nem, and an eyeblink later and she was lying on the grass with her eyes open staring at a starry sky. She looked over at Nem who lay on the ground nearby, dead eyes starring up at the sky. She was gone... The Psilords attack on ShockWave had broken down the wall she kept between herself and all feelings. It had let all the pain back in, but all those past pains were eclipsed by a new one and now she had no defense against it. She had failed! She crawled to Nem's body and craddled her head in her lap. Nem's dead eyes looked up at her. ShockWave couldn't take it. A wracking sob welled up inside her and she couldn't fight it. Years worth of tears poured out of her, tears for the pains of Catana's death, Gomurr's, but most of all for Nem. She must have blacked out because she wasn't aware of anything else until she felt a weight leave her arms. Blurry eyes swollen with crying saw someone taking Nem's body being taken away. She thought that someone was asking her something, but she didn't really hear them. All she could do was hiccup through her tears. Someone pulled her to her feet and put their arms around her. She barely registered a wetness falling on her head as she was led away. She woke up in a soft bed, but the room wasn't her own. It was in the palace, for she recognized the rmarble walls. She couldn't tell what time it was, for heavy blue drapes were drawn across every window and no candles were lit. She sat up, feeling awful and confused. 'What happened?' she had wondered. Then she had remembered. Nem was dead. The lump in her throat threatened to choke her and she could barely breathe, but she had no tears left inside of her. A weight sunk into the bed near her. "Are you okay?" asked a voice raw with pain and sorrow. She dimmly saw Silver at the edge of the bed. He looked pale and his eyes were bloodshot. "I'm never going to be okay again," she gasped out. She felt herself start to shake. Silver pulled her to him and hugged her without saying anything. "I never wanted to feel anything again," she choked out "But the Psilord tore down my defenses and the pain inside is so great I can hardly breathe." Her voice was so small that it seemed to be swallowed up in his embrace, but he seemed to understand. "I wanted to be dead and did my best to be dead inside, but Nem died instead of me," she said sobbing once again. Silver didn't say anything, he just stroked her hair in a comforting way. She realized then that he had been the one who helped her up and led her away from the battlefield crying into her hair. She felt him swallow hard and knew that he probably couldn't say anything if he wanted to because he had the same awful lump in his throat as she did. He probably hadn't sleep either and just locked himself away in his misery. She hugged him tight. He had loved Nem. She frustrated the hell out of him, but he had loved his fierce Queen. His grief was probably worse than hers. She knew how grief could swallow you up and take you prisoner, leaving you empty. That couldn't happen to him though. They had lost their Queen, they couldn't lose their King the same way she had let herself get lost. But even now her pain was so bad she wished she had stayed lost. Wasn't it more mercifull to just leave him? But she hadn't had a life for the past year. She wouldn't be able to stand seeing him that way. Not Silver who was always strong for the rest of them. "Silver?" she whispered. She pulled away from the comfort of his embrace and looked at his face. He was so pale, his eyes so full of pain. 'I want to take that pain away, even if just for a little while,' she surprised herself by thinking. Almost without realizing what she was doing, she leaned in and kissed him. ShockWave had kissed and been kissed before. In more innocent days it was almost a playful thing, and sometimes a sign of friendship. She had kissed guys she was attracted to before, but it was nothing like that kiss. It was a kiss she would never forget and the memory was a bittersweet one. It was a kiss filled with despair, pain, grief, and the desperate sort of pasion of someone who had given up. They devoured each other in an outpouring of emotion, kissing like there was no tommorow. It was like an animal attraction mixed with despair and a lust to regain what was lost, though that was impossible. It didn't end their either. Thinking about it later ShockWave had wondered if in Silver's mind he was with her or with Nem his now gone Queen. ShockWave smiled remembering how things had begun between her and Silver. She had always respected and admired him. This wasn't really such a big step up from what she had already felt for him. But oh how she had agonized. He hadn't made it any easier either. After awhile he had fallen asleep. She had gotten up and put on a bathrobe from the bathroom adjacent to his room because her clothes were the dirty one's from the battle were Nem died. She stood in the bathroom for a bit, just looking at the door that connected Nem's bedroom to Silver's. Then she went back into Silver's room and slipped out onto the balcony, trying not to let too much light in the room as she brushed through the drapes. The sun was shinning brightly. It was probably about ten in the morning. The sky was blue, the grass was green. She could appreciate that sort of thing better now, but she also wished that Catana could see the new day. ShockWave knew that Daryoon was still raising the baby Gomurr for she had kept tabs on him, but she realized that she didn't even know Gomurr's new name. She had missed so much... It was probably selfish of her to have locked herself up the way she had, but she longed for the monotony. Now she was faced with so much and she didn't want to have to deal with it. Nem was gone... The country would be in turmoil. The BHC's hold on the southern provinces would need to be re-established since the Psilord had killed the governers and aides that made those provinces their responsibility. There'd have to be some sort of memorial service for those that died. There were probably deaths in the battle with the sentinels too, and then there was the grand funeral that they'd have to give Nem. That would be the hardest. Having worked for Nem for the past year in a direct way, ShockWave knew how important she was to the political balance of the country. There could be attempts from different provinces to separate themselves from the empire of the BHC without Nem to keep the more ambitious governing BHCers in check. It was easier to think of all that had to be done than of the pain she felt. She could lose herself in those details, maybe pretend that she wasn't feeling anything again. So much easier to do that than to beat herself up for a year of seeming stupidity that didn't help her save Nem anyway, or remembering how she had sent Catana on that mission and then not even contacted Daryoon to offer her apologies and assistance, how can one deal with having killed one's dearest friend anyway? She thought tearfully. And then there was Silver. She wasn't going to be able to hide from the emotional ramifications of what had just happened anymore, the wall had come down inside her and left her exposed to the pains of feeling again it wouldn't let her hide from this. Those had been hard thoughts for her to think. They hurt in a physical way. Looking back now she wondered what was worse, the indescision and pain of then or the mess she had landed herself in now? She had been constantly forced to transform herself during her life and each transformation brought pain, but there were rewards to it. To one there had been the gladly recieved peace of unfeelingness. The other had it's rewards too. She had been leaving Silver's chambers when he woke up. "ShockWave?" he had said groggily. She paused in the doorway. 'Damn!' she thought. She didn't want to have to deal with him yet, she was too much of a coward. She sighed and turned, closing the door as she went. "Yes, Silver?" "I think we should talk," he said softly. 'Later, later!' her mind screamed. Her emotions were in turmoil, as they had been ever since the Psilord ripped her apart inside. But she had hid her emotions for so long, even from herself. Surely she could hide them from him now. "Alright, but we need more light in here first," she said calmly. She didn't feel calm though as she pulled open some of the drapes. Her palms were sweaty and she could hear her heart pound. The sounds behind her indicated that he had gotten up and was probably getting dressed. The light was welcome, for it made the room less gloomy, but she feared it would reveal her turmoil as well and it took a short inner battle for her to force herself to turn around to face him. She fought the urge to fidget like she always used to when nervous. A small table with two chairs was in one corner of the room, made for an intimate dinner or perhaps tea. Silver sat in one of the chairs. ShockWave hugged her bathrobe closer, wishing she was wearing anything else as she sat across from him. Silver still looked pale, but his eyes looked better after some sleep. His hair added to his disheveled appearence and somehow made her even more disconcerted. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly as he took one of her hands. She was so startled, that her confusion must have shown but he didn't seem to notice. "I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that," he said. He stared into her eyes looking very repentant. She wanted to slap him. She snatched her hand away. "I was the one that began it all, you didn't take advantage of me," she said. 'And quite willing,' she added mentally, though she wouldn't have said it out loud. He didn't seem to hear her though. "I feel worse because you'd never been with anyone before," he finished. Now she was mad. "That is none of your damn business anyway!" she said. "I'm not some innocent child. I decided this so it's not your problem." She knew that most people thought that she and Rahsas had... But what she did or didn't do was up to her and she really didn't want to discuss it with Silver. "How can you say that? I obviously had something to do with it and you were emotionally unstable at the time from the Psilord's attack." "How arrogant to think that it was all your doing," she said coldly. "You seem to forget that your emotions were just as 'unstable' from Nem's death as mine. Maybe I was the one who took advantage of you." She crossed her arms and turned away from him. He was silent for a moment. He touched her shoulder and turned her around. He looked intently into her eyes. She met his gaze challengingly. "Fine," he said, not looking happy. "On to other matters. As Black Bishop you are the Queen's succesor." She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand silencing her. "With the Dark Lady Monet dead in South America you have no other choice than to take her place. To choose someone else would bring more chaos and rebellion. The people know you for your help with Nem. You'll be the only one they'd accept." "I don't want to be queen," she said sadly. She felt tears forming in her eyes and looked down. He caressed her cheek. "I know," he said, his voice hoarse. She looked up at him. "I can never replace her," she said as she looked into his pained eyes. "You loved her," she whispered. He looked away from her. "I can see the need though," she said at last, hanging her head. Their silence had lasted a long time. Finally he reached over and squeezed her hand. "It won't be easy for either of us," he said. "But we can take strength from each other." She saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes. "I won't return to that," she said referring to her emotionless state. "I won't leave you alone," she said squeezing his hand. That's probably the moment that most brought home how she had hurt everyone. She didn't want him to hurt anymore. If she had been more aware of herself at that moment and if he hadn't gone and said what he would say next, she might have realized then that she loved him. "Marry me," he said. "What?!" "To hold the country together we need to be unified, more so than Nem and I were." She wondered if he had once asked Nem to marry him and she had refused. That would have been like her. She had probably known all along that he loved her. He loved Nem, but she was gone and he wanted her to marry him when Nem hadn't even been buried yet. He hadn't buried her in his heart either. "No," she said. She wondered if her voice sounded as horrified as she felt. He opened his mouth to argue his point but she stood up and cut him off. "NO!" Without another word she had walked out and he seemed to have known better than to stop her. She had wished that she could avoid him, but their positions ensured that they had to work together very often. Nem had a grand funeral. Silver gave the ulogy. The country cried with her. Afterwards the problems got bigger. Political concerns soon took up all their time as they struggled to hold the country together. ShockWave was in her office going over the requests of a particularly annoying governer to the restored southern provinces when Havok came in. This Whiplash fellow was demanding special considerations that the other provinces just wouldn't stand for and she had to find a way to apease him without stirring up trouble from everyone else. She was thinkin on how close everything was wouldn't stand for it. Everything seemed this close to breaking apart. She didn't even hear Havok until he finished whatever he had said with: "To crown you Queen." She looked up at him, finally paying attention. "What?" she asked. It was the first thing that popped into her head. "So that the people can recognize you as Queen. One of the reasons we have so many problems is because no one is sure we really have a queen. That's why the governers are testing you, trying to see how far they can go. Even if they acknowledge you as queen they know you aren't Nem and are trying to take advantage of you," he explained, taking her exclamation to mean that she didn't know why he wanted her crowned queen. From his explanation she understood that he wanted some ceremony crowning her queen. "True to the ways of the BHC," she said with a little smile. She hoped he wouldn't notice she hadn't heard what he was saying earlier. Havok smiled too. "If we have a ceremony were we invite them to come swear alligience and televise it so that the everyday people can watch, you'll comfort the nation and make things easier for yourself." "TV audiences love a big production," ShockWave said with a grimace. "Fine," she said. "I'd love for things to be a little easier around here," she said, waving to the piles of paper on her desk. "Why didn't Silver say anything about this? she asked. Havok gave her a funny look and then a smile. "He did. You wouldn't listen," he said as he walked out of her office. The funny look he gave her made her wonder if he knew that at first she hadn't heard him. They planned a crowning ceremony. It was incredibly elaborate, ceremonious, and long winded. She hated it, but it was just one of those things she had to do. Silver had probably sent Havok to tell her that figuring it would be easier to take from him. She had avoided talking of such things with Silverdue in part for her feelings for him. He confused her. She didn't know exactly what she felt, but things would soon be clarified. It was the night before the crowning ceremony. The practice had exhausted her. She wished feverently that the whole thing was over already. She walked into her room ready to colapse into her bed and been totally shocked by what awaited her. Her room had been a relatively simple one though she had enjoyed a high position in the new world order. Now her room was totally changed. The furnishings were elegant, velvet drapes replaced her simple curtains, and the elegant curtained bed was not her own. On top of it all that there were lit candles everywhere and a small table with two chairs and a bottle of champgne and two glasses were on top of the table. "Trying to catch flies with that open mouth?" asked an amused voice. She turned to see Silver standing next to the door. "What did you do to my room?" she asked. "Well you are about to be crowned queen. I've just made sure your room was one suitable for a queen." He took her arm and led her to the little table. "Do you have any objections to a little pre-crowning celebration?" He sat her down before she could think of any objections and started to pour the champgne. He handed her her glass with a bow and then sat down in the other chair. "To the most troublesome promotion I've given you," he said, raising his glass in a toast. "And to the most troublesome new queen I could possibly find," he said with a twinkle in his eye. She blushed realizing he refereed to her oposition to his ideas that were truly only and attempt to hold the country together and how she wouldn't hear them from him. "You never gave me so much trouble to recieve any of your other promotions," he said teasingly after taking a sip. "Yes, but things are so different now," she said somewhat sadly. "I'll never be as respested and feared by the membership the way that Nem was." "They'll love you, ShockWave. Nem was... well she wasn't exactly loveable," he said. He tried to hide the pain in his eyes with a smile. "You used to have this way of endearing people to you. You'll enchant the nation." 'I'm not the same person I was,' she thought sadly. "I... I think I can trust you more than I could Nem," he said hesitantly. His eyes searched hers. She knew he referred to Nem's constant secret agendas. He wouldn't have that to fear from her. He had been her King for almost all of her time in the BHC. She respected him to much to plot behind his back. Her confrontations with him would be face to face. He seemed to read all that in her. He broke eye contact to pour her more champgne. "I won't betray you," she said, taking another sip. He didn't say anything, just gave her a slight smile and swirled his glass. He studied the contents of his glass intently before draining it. "Thank you," he said, looking into her eyes. His eyes held such gratitude... She was caught in his gaze. He leaned forward and kissed her. It was like fire on her lips. She melted under the heat of his kiss. He slipped his tongue past her lips and deepened the kiss. She was so drawn to him that she couldn't think of anything but kissing him. He broke off the kiss to stare into her eyes. "Marry me," he said. Before she could reply or clear her head from his kissing, he was kissing her again. One thing led to another, but in one of those pauses for air she had whispered a breathless yes. It hurt afterward, to think that he likely arranged the whole thing to get the unity that he wanted between them. She knew that he had loved Nem and that he still grieved for her. She didn't have time to think of that though because of the crowning and the party that followed. She went to bed dead on her feet and the next day so much work awaited her that she couldn't really think about it either. It was something that she was just going to have to accept. Their engagement had been announced at the crowning so she was effectively trapped into it, so in a way she was glad that she didn't have to think of how much it hurt. Some nights she thought it though. That's when she knew that she loved him and that that was the reason it hurt. But any pain she felt was soon put aside by terrible news. A rebellion had arose. The Hunter was leading a rebellion against the BHC. They were all shocked, having thought him dead with the rest of the Darkfire Court in South America. He claimed that Nem's death and that of the Darkfire Court was part of a conspiracy on her part and Silver's so they could take the country for their own. Lot's of people believed him right away. The BHC governers remained neutral, likely giving lip service and little help to either side. Havok wad outraged. Security in the palace was tripled, especially after some members disappeared likely to go join the Hunter. ShockWave didn't want to think much about this part. She and Silver thought that if they could talk to the Hunter they could discover the truth and reconcile with him. Havok disagreed with them. He tried to hunt down the Hunter and his rebels either for talk or battle, but they remained elusive. Silver was sure that it could be resolved and that the wedding should go forward. Havok was sure that if it did go forward the rebels would try something. Their hold on the country remained precarious for months. The Hunter skulked around gathering followers and killing search parties out after him. He seemed to be planning a great coup. Havok gathered his own forces in preparation. It looked like war. Through it all Silver insisted that they have the wedding. The people would need the reassurance now more than ever, he would say. He agreed with Havok that the Hunter would try something though. They planned to capture him if he did. Havok wanted to kill him right out, but Silver pointed out that it they did they'd look like conspirators with something to hide like the Hunter was accusing them of being. So her wedding to someone who didn't love her was going to be both a political move and a trap. You can imagine how she felt about that. At least she still wasn't the romantic kid she used to be. They never should have believed that they could reason with the Hunter. ShockWave hadn't known him well before the Darkfire Court had been formed, and had little or no contact with him since it had been so she went with Silver's estimation of the man. He thought that the Hunter must have found some evidence of foul play and misconstrued it to belive that it pointed to them. It seemed that he couldn't imagine the Hunter, one of the oldest members of the BHC, as a traitor. How naive it seemed now, of both him and her. The night before the wedding she had awoken and gotten up from Silver's bed, were she now habitually spent her nights even though she imagined that he dreamed of Nem when he was with her, and walked out to the cool air of the balcony. She couldn't remember now what it was she was thinking about, but it was probably just some useless drivel. She had no way of knowing that the Hunter would strike so soon, but he had. She cursed herself for not fighting him, though it truth it wasn't her fault. He snapped the collar on her before she knew what was happening and then hit her on the back of her head. She had woken up a few times over the next few days of travel, but everything was fuzzy. People had forced food and drink on her, people who worked for the Hunter. Some of them were regular humans, but some were mutants and there probably were a few former members of the BHC with them. They kept her drugged for the trip and put the rough spun clothes on her that she was now wearing. She was now in the Hunter's cold, smelly, and terribly dark dungeon in some unknown place waiting to die all because she couldn't fight back. She pulled her knees up to her chin. Any position she assumed with her hands tied behind her back the way they were made the ropes dig deeper. Her wrists stung because her sweat kept running into the rubbed raw wounds. The cuts there would probably fester. She hoped that the Hunter would have the decency to execute her instead of leaving her to rot here. She wouldn't bet on any decency from him though. She didn't want to think of what might await her, so she thought instead of her baby. She wondered if it still lived inside her. They had beat her and if he or she was dead... She blinked back a tear. It was only a month old. She hadn't told Silver. She hadn't wanted to tell him and now she realized morbidly that he was better off. She would be dead and he wouldn't even have to know. He may grieve losing a queen and a former friend, but he wouldn't know that he lost a child. She fell asleep on the cold floor thinking of that bitter irony. "How did you sleep, my dear?" said a solicitous voice from far away. No, he wasn't far away, she was waking up from a dream. She opened her eyes and wished she was still dreaming. "Hunter," she said. He smiled. "I trust you enjoyed your stay in my little dungeon, my dear." She glared at him. He laughed. "I hope you haven't been beating yourself up over your capture, my queen," his tone when he said her tittle was one of mockery. "For no one can better the Hunter at taking his prey unawares." Her hands were in macles now, but bandages had been put around the cuts on her wrists. Her ankles had recieved the same treatment. "It would have been just terrible for the Queen of the BHC to die of an infected wound, now wouldn't it?" he said mockingly when he saw where she was looking. "What do you want with me?" she asked. "Why have you kept me alive?" He smiled. "Yes, why didn't I just have you killed. Well there are a number of reasons. First the confusion it would cause if you'd simply vanish. They'd of course soon find that it was me, I left them enough clues for that. If they don't find your body they won't know for sure that you are dead. Not only would that leave Silver disraught, but they couldn't just name a new Queen either," he said with a sadistic smile. He enjoyed toying with her. "That still doesn't mean you need me alive. You know how to make a body vanish." "Very perceptive of you, my dear. You see I have something else in mind. A little proposition for you as it were." The room was blank, empty except for her chair, his, and the desk between them. "I will let you live, if you do something for me in return." "What's that?" she said skepticaly. "Denounce Silver as the traitor who plotted the deaths of the Darkfire Court and Nem. Tell the world that he is the one who sent the Psilord and the sentinels agaisnt them for the sole purpose of killing Nem so that he'd have a more malleable queen at his side. Join with me in crushing him." She just looked at him for a minute. She knew Silver hadn't done those things. The devastation in his eyes wasn't something that could be faked, and it wasn't his style anyway. "We both know I won't go along with that," she said. The Hunter's smile widened. "Yes, we do. It's so nice to realize you've apraised the prey properly." She was getting to see the real Hunter. He wasn't the only one who could apraise people. "You are the one who did all that. You turned on your own court. You knew Havok would take his forces down there afterwards. The Psilord was your flunky and you sent him up with the sentinels while you watched from the background like a coward!" He laughed. "Your taunts are meaningless child. I was once the Watcher, I know the importance of waiting of watching. I was by no means inactive though. You have guessed correctly so far, but you did not know that I had been here in the BHC's realm for almost a year now posing as Whiplash, a governer to one of your southern provinces." 'Damn!' she thought. She knew that the governer was making trouble for her, but she hadn't detected treasonous intent behind it. He had used his fake identity to hide and corrupt the other governers in his favor. She wondered how much of the BHC truly followed it's King now. "Back again to what you are going to do with me," she said, not showing how disconcerted she was. "You still haven't explained why you kept me alive." "That's the best part. You won't cooperate as expected so you will die. Your execution will be televised and a confession for your crimes has been concocted to sound in your own voice. The media is a powerful weapon and I plan to take full advantage of it." He pressed the button on a taperecorder he held in his hand. Her voice admitted to crimes she knew were the Hunter's own. "I will give a speech on how admirable it is that you would confess and how it proves that Silver didn't corrupt you completely, but that we can not suffer someone who was a willing party to such crimes to live." He got up and walked to a door whose seams were almost invisible against the wall. "I'll know leave you to prepare for your televised finale tomorrow." He turned his back to her and left. If he thought that the wait was going to make her anxious or more willing to cooperate with him he was wrong, she thought. She couldn't move much manacled to the chair the way she was. It was uncomfortable, but no more so than the dungeon. Time dragged on, but she refused to think on the manner of her death. She would give the Hunter the least amount of satisfaccion that she could. She wished her hands were free. She wanted to put her hands on her belly and dream of the child that she hoped still lived inside her. Her baby would be the most innocent victim in all this, she thought sadly. She wondered tearfully if he/she would feel any pain. She hoped not. After awhile she just slept with her neck bent in an ackward position. She didn't know how much time had passed since the Hunter had left. She had fallen asleep several times in her wait. She felt calm inside and it amazed her. Her imenent death didn't bother her, but instead her concern was for her stiff neck. It felt like she had pulled a muscle and she hate when that happened. She was thinking of this when the door was cracked open. People came and unshackled her manacles from the armrest and feet of the chair. She didn't recognize them, but didn't look too closely at their faces. They led her outside where bright lights shinned in her face. She didn't recognize the place, and payed no attention to the details of it. She didn't particulary want to know what the place were she was going to die looked like, nor did she wish for those details to form her last memory. She was led on to a platform. It seemed that there were cameras everywhere. She almost wanted to smile at them over the irony. She didn't want to know anything about her death, but millions of tv viewers would discuss the details for years to come. When the urge to giggle uncontrolably came over her she wondered if she had gone crazy. She felt fine, but this whole spectacle seemed to ridiculous. People who cheered her coronation and would have cheered at her wedding were now quite willing to cheer at her execution. Why had she ever bothered? She thought that with the BHC she could help the people, and that's what she had been trying to do as their Queen and now they were quite happy to have her killed. They deserved whatever the tyrants of the world would subject them too, really. She wanted to laugh at the foolishness of ever caring. "Oh look they're going to cut my head of," she murmured to herself. She didn't sound the least bit worried, but actually somewhat happy about it. One of the people leading her looked at her funny. She wanted to laugh and tell him that none of this mattered, it was just some sort of entertainment and she wasn't going to be left out by being the only person unamused. It was a guillotine they led her too. She imagined that they had probably already played the recording of her fake confesion over loudspeakers. She was held tightly as one of her manacles was unlocked so that they could re-lock it behind her back. She didn't even bother struggling, but just wondered were the Hunter was in all this. She would have thought that he would pull the lever himself, but then maybe he prefered watching. She let them push her to her knees. The attached two mechanical devices to her temples. Inhibitors, she realized when they started to undo the one around her neck. They wouldn't want to waste the collar by cutting through it. 'How practical of them,' she thought whimsicaly. She lay her head down obidiently. At least her death would be quick, she thought. The guillotine was supposed to be painless too, she would soon find out if that was true. She heard a ruckus amongst the public gathered to watch. She didn't raise her head, she wasn't even curious really. She heard the snap of the lever being pulled... Silver dreamed of a happy life, of raising children and doing normal things. It was a sweet dream and he was sorry to wake from it. He had to wake though, it was his wedding day. He was happy until he noticed that ShockWave wasn't beside him. She must have gone back to her rooms in the night. She acted so strange around him sometimes. It wouldn't matter though. He realized that he loved her last night. He had whispered it to her, but thought that she was asleep and might not have heard him. He would tell her tonight then. He had loved Nem, but somehow love wasn't real love unless you were loved back. Nem had made it clear how she felt. He didn't know yet if ShockWave loved him, but it wouldn't matter. If she didn't yet he would make sure that she loved him. She had been such a sweet girl and his friend, in the old days. Friendship wasn't that far from love, and she certainly was pasionate when they were together. He had forgiven her for losing herself for a whole year after he had felt the pain of losing Nem. And she had been emotionaly linked to Catana when she died. He shuddered to think of it. He had felt bad before, about marrying ShockWave and the way he had convinced her to say yes to his proposal but he had begun loving her even then though he didn't know it. He would make it all up to her. He was tempted to go talk to her now, but it was considered bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. He smiled as he went to take a shower. It was just a few hours anyway, the wedding was going to take place at 12 noon. He felt that the day was going to go perfectly, his dream seemed a good omen. Silver was starting to get his elaborate wedding outfit on, there was no word for it but outfit. He thought it looked ridiculous and that a simple tux would do, but Marjorie the planner had said that it was the only thing for a King to get married in. There was a sudden knock on the door, and Havok walked in without waiting for a reply. Silver gave him an annoyed look. "ShockWave is missing, we've searched the whole palace and couldn't find her," he said. Silver could almost hear a thump as the perfect day fell apart. Hours later Silver sat in his study, staring into a glass of dark wine. He swirled it contemplating the color so that he wouldn't have to contemplate the thought that maybe ShockWave had run away to escape the wedding. "I won't leave you alone," he seemed to hear her voice ringing after that first time they had been together. She had taken his pain away then, even though briefly. He had used her and was sorry, but also angry. She couldn't have lied, he tried telling himself to keep from being angry. Her eyes hadn't lied to him and she had squeezed his hand in reassurance that she was telling the truth. He flung the glass and the wine in it against the wall. "She is gone though," he said. She had been distant lately. He thought that maybe the rebellion had disturbed her, but now he realized that it was something else. He pounded his desk. He had no clue as to what that something else was. The opening of the door to his study made him sit up and get ahold of himself. It was Havok. He bowed to him, and Silver had to curb his impatience. He didn't have time for ceremony, he wanted answers. "ShockWave was kidnapped by the Hunter from your balcony," Havok said. "What? How could that happen? Don't we have security here?" Havok took Silver's words unflinchingly. Security for the wedding had been his duty. "He slipped in when the watch was changed. Watch was double what's normal, but not as tight as it could have been. I had men resting for the wedding and reception." Havok stood there without meeting his eyes, just gazing forward as if waiting to be scolded or punished for what he saw as his failure. Silver felt mad, but it only lasted a split second. He could have collapsed with the relief of knowing that ShockWave hadn't run from him, he hadn't been that horrible to her. He didn't blame Havok either. "The Hunter is good at his hunt, it wasn't your fault." "With all due respect, sir, I shall hold myself completely accountable until we bring her back safe," Havok said stiffly. He must have really been beating himself up over this, Silver realized. It wasn't like Havok to be so formal with him. Of course Havok had been a good friend of hers in the old days. "We'll get her back," Silver said, trying to convince himself as much as the other man. "Keep me informed of the search," he said. He wanted to help, but he knew that Havok wouldn't allow it for security reasons. Days passed with agonizing slowness and little results. The bad thing about being in politics now was that he had to put a PR spin on everything. His nerves were raw and it was hard to concentrate on anything. Havok's reports were eagarly awaited, though often they told him nothing. Days became a week, and a week became two before they had a breakthrough. Silver's patience was ready to snap when the news came. He didn't care about the everyday problems he had to deal with, but he couldn't ignore him. He was in the middle of losing his temper at another poor aide when Havok burst in. "You've found something," Silver stated when he saw him. A very relieved aide slipped out the door. "It turns out that governer Livewire was part of the rebellion. A big part. He reluctantly told us that the rebellion was going to publicly execute someone down in Argentina. He didn't know who it was going to be executed, but it's likely that it would be her." 'Asuming she isn't dead already,' Silver could almost hear Havok thinking. Livewire had been reluctant. Silver wondered how much Havok had had to torture him to find all this out. "When is this supossed to happen?" Silver asked. "Tomorrow morning." Silver felt a twinge of despair. That was only hours away. "What's our timeframe?" he asked. "Things are in chaos down there. The BHC won't be welcomed. I know that from our time there investigating the Darkfire incident. We'll have to be very carefull about an aerial approach, and even that's risky but it's the only thing we have time for though we're really pushing it." Silver cursed. It was going to be close. "No idea of the hour?" Havok shook his head. If it was at dawn she'd be dead before they got there what with the problem of having to sneak in. 'Damn!' "What about a teleporter?" he asked. "Interferance set up by the south American regimes to keep satelites from spying on them also screws up the signal for our teleportation machines." "What about a mutant?" Havok shook his head. "The only mutant teleporter we have has never been to Argentina and his powers only allow him to go to places he's physicaly been before. Aerial is the only way, we'll have to accept the risks." "Fine," Silver said with a curse. "When will everything be ready?" "Two hours minimum." "You better make damn sure everything is ready for us to go in two hours," Silver said. Havok gave him a steady look. "We can't risk losing you, sir," he said. "I don't think you will be able to stop me from going, Havok," Silver said fiercely. When Silver got onto the plane two nerve-wracking hours later, Havok was waiting for him. He handed him a package. "What is this?" Silver asked. "An armored bodysuit. It's bullet proof, fire proof, and resistant to certain amounts of kinetic force. You'll just have to keep out of the way of anything more powerfull than that." Silver opened his mouth to say something, but Havok cut him off. "You wear it or we aren't going anywhere," he said. Silver doubted that Havok would scrap the rescue, but he was perfectly capable of knocking him out and leaving him behind, so he didn't protest. Silver didn't pay much attention to what went on around him. Havok kept recieving reports, but Silver's mind was elsewhere. Their landing had apparently gone undetected. Silver fought to control his impatience as he skulked along behind Havok. The sun had risen over an hour ago. What if they were too late? He didn't know if he could stand it if she was dead. There was only so much that a man could take, and he had taken all that and more over the years. Her death now would break him. Havok silently took out a perimeter guard on the wall of the compound that was overflowing with people, were scouting had shown that the execution would take place. He looked over the wall and swore. In a second Silver would see what he would. ShockWave was on her knees, her head sticking out of a guillotine. Cameras were everywhere, ready to record the event. Someone had their hand on the lever. There was a ruckus in the crowd. Someone had been detected! Then the lever was pulled. Silver reacted almost instinctively, turning the metal of the blade into liquid as it descended to cut off ShockWave's head. It all happened in a split second. Everyone looked confused, and ShockWave turned her head as if to see what had happened. Silver leapt off the wall and into the crown, trying to ignore the stinging pain in his legs as he landed. He heard Havok curse and leap down behind him. All chaos broke lose. Guards were suddenly everywhere fighting Havok's agents. Silver ignored it as he pushed through the crowd to get to the raised execution platform. Already the guards around ShockWave were recovering from their shock and reaching for their weapons. One aimed his plasma gun at ShockWave who was still on her knees as Silver leaped on to the platform. Silver kicked the gun out of his hands and melted the metal of the gun forming it into wire that he caused to wrap itself around the man. A plasma blast hit Silver in the back. He could feel it burn through his armor as he rolled away. He rolled around wildly, avoiding gun blasts or the blasts of mutant powers and attacking while he could. Havok was suddenly by his side, his claws slashing wildly. Soon they had earned a brief respite from the attacks, and Silver rushed over to ShockWave. He lifted the thin wood piece that the metal blade had been held by from her neck. He pulled the metal of her manacles away from her, freeing her hands and feet, as he helped her up. She ripped to blinking bits of metal from her temples as soon as her hands were free. "The Hunter!" she said, grabbing him and rolling. A spear plunked into the wood were Silver had been standing a second before. Havok leapt to attack him only to be flung back. Silver jumped up and struck out to keep the Hunter from impaling the Black Warlord on his spear. The spear wasn't metallic, so he couldn't affect it, but Silver did know combat. He suddenly felt the Hunter inside his mind. Before the Hunter could do any damage, Silver felt him be pushed away. "No.You.Don't," ShockWave managed to get out. She looked to be under some strain, and her legs collapsed from under her when she tried to stand. The Hunter shoved Silver off the platform and advanced on her. Silver hit the floor with a sharp pain in his back, but forced himself to jump right back up again in time to see Havok block the Hunter's attack on ShockWave. ShockWave felt weak all over. She could hardly believe what was happening. It seemed so impossible. The battle was blurry, she was concentrating so hard on using her powers to keep the energy of the Hunter's psi abilities (abilities she had just discovered he had, though a part of her wasn't surprised and seemed to somehow have known all along) away from her mind and the minds of Havok and Silver. She hadn't used her powers in so long because of the inhibitor collar that she was getting a headache from using them now. Throughout the pounding she kept up her defense of the others, which was all she could do. The battle seemed to go on forever and her head felt like it would explode. Finally Havok found an opening and slashed the Hunter across the ribs. But his attack left him open, and before Havok could finish off the Hunter or Silver could move in, the Hunter buried his spear in Havok's gut. It was just a split second later that Silver finished the hunter off with a yell. Havok sank slowly to the ground. Silver pulled out the spear before Havok impaled himself further on it, and lowered the black Warlord to the ground. Havok's hands covered the wound and his eyes went glassy as he lay there. ShockWave cut off the flow of energy that shielded their minds from the Hunter. She crawled forward to be sure that the Hunter was dead. He was, but ShockWave felt another source of life energy slowly disapating. She cut herself off from her powers and crawled forward to where Silver was with Havok. The smell of feces assaulted her, and she saw that Havok's intestines were exposed. "Thank you, thank you," she whispered feverently in his ear as his energy faded away. Silver stared down at Havok's body. He heard ShockWave whispering thank you's over and over in Havok's ear, but Havok's eyes were locked on Silver's. In them Silver could see that he had found the absolution he sought, ShockWave was safe, he had rectified what he considered a failure to her. The look in Havok's eyes as he died was one of peace. Someone tugging on Silver's arm brought him back to the compound and the sound of gunfire as the battle ragged on around them. Silver was surprised to see that it was Paradox tugging his arm. He hadn't realized that he had been on Havok's team here, but it made sense. Paradox was a friend of ShockWave's and had been a close friend to Catana. "The death of the Hunter has the rebels in chaos at the moment, but it won't be long before they call in their heavy duty mutants. We have to leave now." Paradox was a battle hardened young man, and Silver did not doubt him. It seemed that he was in charge now that Havok had died. Expressionless, Paradox's slung Havok's body over his shoulder and lead them away. Silver helped ShockWave through the chaos as she was still unsteady on her feet. Soon they slipped past the chaos and the flying bullets and made their way to their transport. They took to air quickly, forgetting about stealth in their hurry. The plane was emptier now. "Where should we head?" Paradox asked Silver. Silver thought that the answer was obvious and was about to tell Paradox when ShockWave spoke up. "We can't go back, Silver," she said. "Not only have many of the governers turned against us, but the Hunter had set things up nicely for my execution. He doctored up a confesion recording of me which he has already played to the world were I admit to plotting with you to destroy the Drakfire Court and have Nem killed." Paradox nodded. "I managed to get a copy out of one of the cameras that was smashed during the battle," he said. "I'm sure that at least one camera must have gotten us killing the Hunter, Silver," she said earnestly. "No one will believe us. If we go back now they'll execute us there." "Shit!" was all Silver could think of to say. ShockWave nodded sympathetically. "The Hunter had a great power for convincing people. I just barely escaped one execution, I don't want to go home to another," she tried to laugh about it, but her voice cracked. Silver squeezed her hand, and she gave him a startled look before quickly looking away. His mind was whirling with the recent news. They couldn't go back? The BHC was his home, his life, for longer than he could remember. His father had been King just as now he was King. He couldn't imagine not being able to go back to the BHC. It was like everything was falling apart around him and there was nothing he could do about it but hope he didn't get crushed. This wouldn't have happened if the BHC hadn't become so powerfull, he couldn't help thinking. Back then the BHC would have found out if they were truly guilty or not. He tried not to think on the fact that he had been the one to ensure such just treatment. The true flaw in the organization was the way that everyone had been allowed to have their own secret plots and agendas. He couldn't delude himself into thinking that there was someone in the group now that wouldn't want to be rid of him just for a chance at the power of the kingship. He realized suddenly that the BHC was doomed to fail eventually. Strife and corruption would slowly break it apart from within. It was only a matter of time before the whole organization would fall apart. He had thought that he could stop it, could en-noble the BHC, but he realized now how foolish and naive that was. He wasn't about to walk back to his death, he had to move on now. He despaired for a moment. He didn't know how to start over! He drew strength from one connection. The hand he held kept him from falling apart. He would find a new life. "Then where should we go?" Silver asked himself out loud. Silence hung in the air for a few moments. ShockWave cleared her throat. Silver got the vague impression that she had been on the verge of crying. "How about Genosha?" she said, trying to force a smile. "Genosha?" Silver asked. "The world is in chaos. Remember how Gomurr used to say that the Ascended one would come to bring order out of the chaos?" "Gomurr's been dead for awhile now," Paradox said. ShockWave nodded. "Yes, but before he died he felt that the Ascension was imminent. He told Catana that when he died he would be reincarnated until the found the Ascended one. He made her promise that if his current self should die before that happened she would search out his reicarnated form and raise him so that he would be prepared for the Ascended one soon. There are ways to predict reincarnations, you know." "I don't see where you're going with this," Paradox said his voice sounding a little funny at the mention of Catana. "Well, before she died Catana found Gomurr's new form, his reincarnation. She and Daryoon adopted the baby. I kept tabs on him after she died. Daryoon took him to Genosha where mutants trying to seize power has been a constant problem and ironicaly enough things aren't in such turmoil," her voice sounded a little forced as she spoke, as if talking of some of these things pained her with the memories they brought. "We can help Gomurr and the Ascended one," Silver said, his voice filling with the hope brought on by having a purpose. He smiled blindingly at ShockWave. "That's what we'll do," he said. "We'll need to stop for fuel before we get to Genosha," Paradox said, nodding. "I still have some remnants of my spy organization in Egypt. Can we make it that far?" Paradox thought for a moment, calculating in his head. Finally he nodded. "Very well then, you have our course," Silver said. Paradox nodded again and went into the cockpit. Silver looked back at ShockWave. She seemed so wonderfull. She had just given them all a purpose, something he could feel good about doing. It would be fresh start were he didn't have to worry about keeping his teammates noble. Those who didn't wish to go to Genosha could be left in Egypt to begin their own lives anew. There were only a dozen of them on the plane and for once Silver didn't think he had to worry about their secret intentions. These were Havok's people, they could be trusted. They would bury Havok in Egypt and then move on to their new lives. Silver didn't want to live a new life without this wonderfull person beside him. Maybe he hadn't been able to tell her before, but he wasn't letting her get away now. She was looking down at her hand which he still held.He caressed her cheek were a big purple bruise marred her beauty. "I'm so glad that you are ok," he said tenderly. She looked away from him. "You don't have to marry me now, Silver. Don't do this." Silver was taken aback. "ShockWave, I..." She looked back at him and cut him off before he could finish. "We have no country to unify anymore, ok?" she said sharply. She pulled her hand away and turned her back on him. He was astonished. He put his hands on her shoulder. "Don't you know I love you?" he whispered softly. She whirled around. "We can protect the baby Gomurr as mutants, we won't have to do it as a BHC. You don't need to pretend you love me anymore ok? You didn't even have to in the first place, I resented it but I understood the need of our joining." Silver didn't know what to say so he kissed her. Hardly believing that she doubted him. He knew that perhaps he deserved it, because at first it had been as she said. But as he fell for her he thought that she saw what he was feeling in his eyes, or in the love they made. When he broke away he whispered to her. "If you still don't believe I love you I'm sure that I can find somewhere private on this plane where I can prove it to you. I cared for Nem, but I've fallen in love with you, ShockWave." She looked into his eyes for a moment, and tears formed in her eyes. She laughed and hugged him."I've loved you since the first night and never thought that you'd ever love me in return," she mumbled into his chest. "I'm sorry I hurt you," he said, stroking her back. "I'll make it up to you I swear." She laughed. "You had better," she laughed looking up at him. "Let's go find that private space, I have something to tell you," she said as she took hold of his hand. When she had gotten more control over her powers as she made her way to the plane, she had felt the energy pattern of her baby inside her. |
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