"Negative Merger"
A DC Collision Tie-In
By
Gary Halpin
Sean Cassidy was screaming when he woke up from a troubled sleep.
He jumped up, covered in sweat with his heart racing, as images from his dream haunted his mind. He immediately checked the power inhibitor around his neck and calmed down slightly when he saw it was still in place. He had started wearing it since destroying the ceiling in his room the first night after his daughter had been killed some weeks ago. Screaming in your sleep was very dangerous when your mutant abilities had earned you the codename of the Banshee.
"Sean?"
He turned to see the woman beside him, and his first thought was that she was a stranger. However as soon as he was consciously aware of the thought, he remembered that she was his wife. Part of him reasoned that Teresa's death was affecting him even more than he realised because recently he had kept forgetting about the Russian woman he had married three years ago, even though she was now the only person on the planet he truly loved. He did not know how he would have coped in the month since his daughter's murder if she had not been with him.
"It was just the dream again, Val," he told her, as her bandaged hand reached out to him. "Go back to sleep."
Valentina Vostok Cassidy, his wife, partner, and team leader, nodded and turned around to go back to sleep, now as accustomed to her husband's dramatic awakenings as he was. Her entire body were covered in thick bandages that were specially treated to allow her body contain an energy being she had merged with years ago. He had worked alongside her briefly in her initial Negative Woman days when her version of the Doom Patrol had teamed up with the X-Men to combat General Immortus and Magneto, but it was years later before he had got to know her properly. He had been recruited for an undercover mission to infiltrate Hydra to prevent a chemical bombing of Washington in the run up to a presidential election, and Valentina had been assigned to work alongside him as a senior Checkmate agent. She had happily lost the negative energy being that had robbed her of any human contact while with the Doom Patrol, and as a result had become one of the most vibrant, outgoing, physical women he had ever met. It had been lust at first sight, and they had eloped within two weeks of their mission being completed. They had both been spies and super-heroes, and both had been alone for a long time before finding each other. They understood each other better than anyone either had ever met. And the sex had been amazing.
Then the Barrier had appeared while they were vacationing at his ancestral home of Cassidy's Keep, trapping Europe from the rest of the world in a concealed environment where magic ran rampant. The negative energy had returned, far beyond Valentina's body's ability to cope. She had to once again cover every inch of her body in medicated bandages that she could only remove for the briefest of moments without the energy driving her insane with agony. Even with the bandages, Sean knew she was in constant pain. Another person would have gone crazy, but Valentina had responded by shutting away her emotions and dedicating herself to her work. She had jumped at the chance when Dane Whitman had approached them both about the Knights of Avalon, and had become the clear leader of the group due to her dedication and command experience. But without being able to even touch, Cassidy had feared for their marriage as he had felt her pulling away from him more and more emotionally every day.
There was a bitter irony in that Teresa's death had caused her to reach out for him once more.
"At least I still have you," he whispered to the woman who had become the love of his life as he watched her sleep, afraid to join her as he knew the demons that slumber held waiting for him. He was amazed that recently there had been moments when he could not recall who she was. "I don't know what I'd do without you".For the second time in as many months, Lightning directed his electrical powers against Ryan O'Connor, the son of Jamie Braddock.
"Missed me!" Ryan shouted, as he used his teleporting abilities to disappear from the spot he had been standing in, and reappear behind the ex-solider and tap him on the shoulder. However Lightning reacted without thinking, and instinctively let loose with a blast that sent Ryan flying across the room.
"Lightning!" Valentina shouted at him, as Magma rushed over to where her newly discovered half-brother was trying to pick himself up off the floor.
"I'm okay, I'm okay..." Ryan told them, his voice shaking. "Serves me right for trying to show off."
"I'm sorry, man!" Lightning apologised profusely. "I'm not used to having powers that are actually mine. I always thought they came from the suit the government gave me to wear as part of their New Crusaders operation. I only found out that the powers were my own after your father took control of me, and I haven't quite got them under control yet."
"It's cool, man," Ryan told the newest Knight of Avalon, enjoying the way the former Crusader was always slightly flustered around him.
"That wasn't our father," Magma told Lightning curtly with the distain she showed everyone with the exception of Ryan as she helped her half-brother to his feet. "That was... an afterthought."
"Hell of an afterthought," Lightning replied, not mentioning the nightmares he had experienced since his body had been possessed and used to kill Theresa Cassidy.
"If you are quite finished..." a voice that sounded as though it had come through a computerised synthesiser chastised them. It was the unmistakable sound of Negative Woman's voice when she was using her negative energy form, which took the shape of a glowing opaque outline of her body. "That type of careless behaviour shows how vital it is for you both to master your abilities. Start the session again, from the beginning. Spaceeba"
"Yes, Mrs. Cassidy," Lightning responded to the leader of the Knights, used to following instructions without question due to his past as a soldier. Ryan, for his part, rolled his eyes at his sister. Ryan was not used to authority figures, and his disdain for any one trying to tell him what to do was but one similarity that was leading to a strong bond developing between the siblings.
"Bet she's a lot of fun at parties," Ryan joked with his sister as Negative Woman flew back to the control room to merge with the body she left in a comatose state every time she used her energy form.
Before Magma could reply, the third newly discovered Braddock sibling interrupted, having walked over to them without any one noticing. Although both had tried to connect with her, most of what she said made little sense, and in recent days she had appeared even more distracted than ever. "We will miss her when she returns to where she should be," the enigmatic bald nun novice nun who answered only to Sister Sunday informed them. "We will miss all who is lost if the Hunt begins!"
"Uh... right..." Lightning responded, unsure as ever how to respond to the precognitive guest of the Knights who saw many future possibilities but found it difficult to communicate with those who lived only in the present. He had until recently been a soldier given a combat suit by the British government to serve his country as a member of the Crusaders. The world of the Knights of Avalon was beyond all his experiences to date, even if he had been accepted into their ranks.
Ryan, Magma and Lightning watched Sister Sunday hurry off as quickly as she came, ignoring their calls for her to stay and explain herself as their voices were drowned out by the sounds of the future. "Is it just me, or is she acting even weirder than usual?" Ryan finally asked.
"Who can tell?" Magma shrugged.
"So, will we start training again?" Lightning asked, changing his body to electrical form and taking to the air, keen to return to a situation he at least semi felt in control of.
"Right behind you," Ryan waved up at him.
"He wishes..." Magma teased. "He has such a crush on you."
"Play nice," Ryan told her, making no pretense to hide the fact he was enjoying the attention and the efforts that Lightning was putting into keeping his growing feelings secret from every one, even himself.Above the training room, Negative Woman's energy form rejoined her unconscious body, which immediately started moving once the Russian woman's life-force was returned to it.
"You were a bit hard on them, weren't you, Val?" the blonde female Knight of Avalon standing beside Negative Woman told the leader she had chosen to follow.
"They are practically children. They must start taking their responsibilities seriously, Kara," Valentina Vostok Cassidy told Kara Zor-El, the last surviving daughter of the planet Krypton. "Not every Knight of Avalon can be as efficient and reliable as Supergirl, and one need only look at my late daughter-in-law for proof that one mistake can lead to devastation..."No one noticed the intruder arrive.
Muir Island was one of the most technologically advanced centres in Europe, even after the rise of magic that had swept the continent since the erection of the mystical Barrier that had separated Europe from the rest of the world. Yet not a single detection or security monitor on the Island reported the intruder as she materialised in a hallway not far from where the newest residents of the Island were training. The systems could have sensed anything on Earth, but the blue skinned, four-armed female was not from Earth.
She had travelled the universe for two dozen years, stealing and using the best technologies from every world she selected to steal even more advanced and powerful weapons for reasons no one knew. Some thought she was preparing for a sacred mission. Some thought she was developing an arsenal that could conquer a universe. What all who knew enough about her to fear her agreed was that no one had ever known her to fail. She was a one woman army with personal artillery powerful to take on the armies of an entire planet.
The intruder quickly surveyed her surroundings to ensure that had had not been seen, and then mentally programmed the tracking devices embedded in her left eye to acquire the energy signal she had traced to this backward planet.
As she began to follow the trail, she hoped that she would be able to achieve her goals without having to kill any one. Contrary to her reputation, she took no pleasure from ending lives, but her purpose was too important not to when necessary.
If the fates were kind, she mused, then perhaps this mission would be different from the previous ninety seven acquisitions and no one would die at the end of her four hands.
Even she could dream...Sister Sunday lost her balance as she walked back to her humble room within Muir Island as conflicting violent visions of the future assaulted her mind.
Everything was wrong.
The universe had changed, but to the extent that what was now had always been. People who should have been here were gone, replaced by people who belonged on another Earth. She had stopped interacting with others when she had stopped being able to always tell what events were in the past and what were yet to come, but now the knowledge of the future that came to be was even more confusing than ever, as her visions were from three different timelines: The future of the reality that once was, the future of a reality she felt she should never have known filled with Leagues of Justices and Titans in their teens, and the future of a reality that should have the best of both but was less than either. It was this last reality that she should have had confidence in as it was the reality that every one else believed to be real and to have always been in place, but it was the one that felt most false and temporary to her.
She fell to her knees in a moment of despair and kissed the crucifix around her neck as she prayed to her God for guidance. She received what she took to be an answer when received another vision, one which she had no doubt was for this time and place.
"The Hunter..." she muttered even though no one was there to hear her. "The Hunter has arrived."
She ran to the nearest occupied living quarters and banged on the door as loudly as she could. "She's here! She's here!"Elektra climaxed as she always did, silently and on top.
The former assassin allowed herself a small number of seconds to regain her composure, and then climbed off the naked Luke Cage, who would require slightly longer after yet another session with the greatest lover he had ever been with.
He no longer bothered talking to her as she dressed because he knew she would not even feign interest, so he just lay back and watched her dress. He had never met someone so controlled before, yet so physical. She kept every emotion she might possibly feel locked away deep inside where no one could see, yet it was obvious to him that Elektra Natchios was a woman who was deeply aware of every movement of her body. She appreciated every breath the way only someone who had felt their body die and be reborn could.
Damn it, he thought, staring at her. He was starting to care for her, the one thing she had always told him he could never do...
He silently gave thanks as a loud banging on the door gave him an excuse not to think any more about it.
Elektra swung open the door of his quarters to see the dishevelled bald nun and quickly assessed the panic in her normally docile eyes. "What did you see in your vision?"
"The Hunter is here!" she babbled incoherently. "I didn't know if it was real or not! So much is false but true but conflicting, but I've seen her and she is here! She is here and on Muir Island! Now! And she will have her prey and remove those who interfere! I have seen it!"
Elektra placed her hands on the novice nun's shoulders to calm her, and quickly glanced at Cage who was pulling a white t-shirt on, as confused as she was. "Sister Sunday, are you saying there is an intruder? Here, on Muir Island, at this moment in time?"
"She is the Divine Hunter," Sunday cried, "and she will wreak havoc and despair on the Knights of Avalon! I know now that it is true but I know too late! I am too late!"
"I am never too late," the Greek member of the Knights of Avalon replied, pressing a panic button in Cage's room that immediately sent a shrill alarm shrieking throughout the facility and caused all of the security systems to activate. Nothing from this planet would be able to get in or out.
"Find your brother and seal yourselves in the bunker," Cage told Sunday as he and Elektra ran to find the intruder.
"Beware the rain of the stars!" Sunday shouted after them in vain. "Beware the rain!"Supergirl, the cousin of Superman and defender of Avalon, used her heat vision for purposes less noble than any she had ever done before. She heated up leftover lasagne for lunch.
"Good to know my reduced powers are good for something," she told Negative woman as she handed her team leader a plate of food to her team leader.
"Your powers are still of great use to us," Valentina reassured her trusted friend, "even if the Barrier has diminished them."
"It figures that half of Europe gets flooded with magical powers yet I get a power cut because less of whatever factors in the sun's rays give me my powers are getting through the Barrier."
"You are still one of the most powerful of the Knights of Avalon. I am glad you have returned from your mission in Belgium."
"Me too, apart from this food," Kara Zor-El joked. "I'm sure Ralph misses our Captain Avalon for lots of reasons on the other side of the Barrier, but it isn't for Mrs. Kelsey Dibney's cooking. It's nice of her to cook for all of us but I don't think Jamie Oliver is worried about the competition."
Valentina smiled. Supergirl was the only member of the Knights she could truly relax with these days. Supergirl was the most capable and experienced in battle, and also the most mature with nothing to prove and no inner demons to fight, despite being one of only two survivors from the dead world of Krypton. She was also the only one who never treated Valentina with pity over her condition, which is something Valentina could not even say about her own husband, despite his attempts to pretend not to.
"So how is Sean?" Kara asked, almost as though she could read her old friend's mind. "How's he coping with what happened to Teresa?"
"Not very well," Valentina conceded. "He was always partial to drinking too much, just like Teresa was, but it was under control before her death. I fear losing her is making him reach for that crutch again, although it is not as bad as her addiction had become before her death. He blames himself for not forcing herself to address the issue before her death, and in doing so he is in danger of walking down the same path that led her to her death."
"You won't let him do that," Kara comforted her. "He has been strong for you – now you will be strong for him. You will get through this together, just like you do everything else."
"I hope so. I love him, but it is hard when I can not even touch his skin with mine, thanks to these accursed bandages."
<>Muir Island was filled with the alarms Elektra had triggered before Kara could respond. Without the need to say a word, Supergirl and Negative Woman fled the cafeteria to join their fellow Knights of Avalon in facing whatever new danger threatened them.Kelsey Leigh Dibney, Captain Avalon of the Knights of Avalon and a former member of the Justice League, swing the Sword of Might that was the source of her powers at the most bizarre foe she had ever faced. The intruder had responded by materializing a sword for each of her four hands and proceeded to effortlessly match every thrust and parry Kelsey could come up with. Kelsey saw an opening and used her sword to slice both ands from the left hand side of the intruder's body. Kelsey expected the intruder to collapse or at least surrender, but instead the intruder took the following moment of hesitation on Kelsey's part to stab her in the shoulder with one of the swords she still had hold of, and followed the attack with a swipe of the blunt side of the sword against Kelsey's head.
Captain Avalon slumped into unconsciousness as the intruders' severed hands regret in front of her, seconds before realizing the wave of heat that passed her was a sign that Magma had joined the battle.
"Breaking and entering is so rude," the young mutant attempted to intimidate her unknown foe before she gasped despite herself. She was once a student of the X-Men. She had seen natural mutations that would horrify the most shell-shocked hearts. She knew that nature and genetics could offer surprises and terrors that were beyond prediction, yet nothing could have prepared her for what she was now facing.
The intruder was definitely an alien of some sort. Magma would not have been able to vocalize how she knew that she was not facing a fellow mutant or a cyborg or some sort of magic user of some kind, but she knew it with a certainty that filled her with dread. What skin the female alien had exposed was a light blue colour, but there appeared to be little that was organic. Almost anything that could be artificially replaced had been with technologies and artefacts that Magma would have been at a loss to identify. She had four artificial arms which Magma assumed had been grafted to replace two organic ones, and there was a large hole in the centre of her torso that Magma could have placed her fist through. She was not sure if this horrified her the most, or if that honour should belong to the reptilian-like metallic snakes that were embedded into the intruder's skull instead of hair.
"Hello, I am the Divine Hunter" the intruder told her, as beams fired from a collection of the tentacles, paralysing Magma before she could react. "You are in my way."
"Then your way just got a lot more blocked," Supergirl told Hunter, as Negative Woman, Cage, Elektra and Cassidy stood behind her. She inhaled deeply and released a gale of chilled breath at Hunter, freezing her where she stood.
To the amazement of the Knights, energy emitted from the hole in hunt's torso melted the ice that surrounded her. The freed Hunt lunged at Supergirl to the astonishment of the Knights. There were few that could ever dream of besting a Kryptonian in physical combat, but Hunt was prepared for most eventualities. As she swung a fist at Supergirl, it became covered in a glove built from green kryptonite, causing Supergirl to collapse in agony.
"Is this really necessary?" Hunter asked. "Give me what I want and no one else will get hurt. I will take no pleasure in killing all of you, but I will if I have to."
"Easier said than done," Cage shouted at her, as he stood between Hunt and the others in the hope of buying them some time to come up with a plan. Valentina, Cassidy and Elektra were some of the greatest tacticians he had ever met. If the Knights had any chance of beating a foe capable of effortlessly defeating Supergirl, then he knew it would be due to them coming up with a plan. He hoped that he would be able to buy them valuable time, but that hope was proven to be in vain when he was sent hurling through the air straight towards Cassidy, eliminating both of them from the fight.
"At last," Hunter addressed Negative Woman, the rest of the Knights defeated at her fest to the best of her knowledge. "I have travelled a long way to find you. Give me what I want and you may yet live to see another day. Whether or not I have to kill you is up to you."
Negative Woman's physical for collapsed as the glowing ebony energy form that embodied her power was released. "You may find me hard to kill," Valentina told Hunter, surging through her in the hope of disrupting the non-organic components of her body. Her plan failed though, as instead Valentina was forced to retreat to her physical body in pain as the negative energy she often hated was slowly drawn away from her and into Hunter's body.
"That's it..." hunter sighed with satisfaction as she felt the negative energy she had travelled two galaxies to collect joining her. "I have journeyed further than you could imagine to collect what you had no hope of appreciating. There is a great war coming. One that could see the omniverse fall under the control of a despot referred to only as the Roman. I take no pleasure in inflicting pain, but it must be done. My own people consider me mad for embarking on a hunt for weapons strong enough to fight the Roman when he arrives, but I am the only hope that the Kree Empire may survive when he begins his conquest."
Valentina fought the urge to give her attacker the satisfaction of hearing her scream. The pain! She had lived with pain for as long as the negative energy had been bonded to her, but never had she felt agony as excruciating as this as it was torn from every individual cell in her body, one cell at a time. She had often dreamed of losing the power and its' curse but not this way. Not like this!
She stared around desperately to see if any of her fellow Knights could help her but they were all recovering themselves. Kelsey was trying to wake Supergirl but was still incapacitated. Cage and her beloved Sean were still unconscious. Elektra... Where was Elektra?
"You talk too much," she heard the Greek assassin speak as she plunged both her adamantium sai through either side of the Hunter's neck, having silently used the confusion of the battle and Hunter's complete focus on Negative Woman to sneak up on their attacker.
Hunter screamed, and Valentina collapsed in relief as the energy transfer was severed as all Hunter's abilities immediately transferred to repair mode and self-protection.
"You... stupid... ape!" Hunter screeched at Elektra, and directed all her attention towards the one Knight of Avalon who had proven to be a threat. Elektra moved away from Hunter with a grace and speed almost faster than the human eye could follow, but Hunter was not human. The targeting device installed in her right eye locked on Elektra and predicted her next move before even Elektra could. Elektra found her body flooded with alien energy that incapacitated her before she could react. As she lay still, she recalled Sister Sunday's words. "Beware the rain of the stars."
"Elektra!" Cage shouted, regaining his consciousness in time to see his lover fall. With a cry of fear that terrified all who heard it, he grabbed one of the swords Hunter had dropped when Kelsey had cut off two of her hands and plunged it through Hunter's forehead.
Dark blue blood splattered over him but Hunter did not surrender, despite her body's internal monitoring systems telling her that life support was being depleted by having to cope with system critical damage. She swatted Cage away, and he fell hard on top of Elektra, whose body was visibly mutating.
"I think it's time you surrendered, cow!" Supergirl addressed Hunter. Hunter turned to see that not only was the Kryptonian ready for battle once more, but she was joined by Magma and Captain Avalon. "You ready for another round?"
"No," Hunter panicked. It had been over a century since she had last been ignored. If she did not retreat, she risked complete system failure. She had only one option left. It would take almost all of her remaining power, but she had no choice. With a thought, she directed all the power she could spare to a weapon even she rarely utilized.
Supergirl cried out in panic, an event that terrified her colleagues more than anything Hunter could do, as she felt the effects of a weapon she had thought long destroyed being directed at her and her colleagues.
"The Phantom Zone..." her words echoed in the air, after she, Captain Avalon and Magma had completely disappeared. "She's sending us to the Phantom Zone..."
Hunter staggered backwards almost completely exhausted in time for a stunned Cassidy to rejoin the fight by directing his sonic screams at her.
"Pray you see me again," she whispered to Negative Woman as she teleported back to her ship in her only chance of survival. "For if you do not, then it means I have fallen to the Roman, and all reality will be next."
Cassidy continued shrieking where she had been standing after she had faded away in fear that she would return, before landing beside his wife. "Val! Val! Speak to me!"
"Sean... I feel so strange..." Negative Woman told her husband as she allowed herself to be helped to her feet. "My powers... She took most of my powers. She..."
To Cassidy's amazement, his wife started ripping away the bandages that had separated them for so long to reveal the beautiful woman he had married.
"The pain is gone..." she whispered. "I... I'm free. I don't need the bandages any more..."
Cassidy pulled his wife into his arms, overjoyed that something so wonderful could happen in the midst of such carnage. For the first time since the Barrier had appeared, he was able to passionately kiss his wife without medicated bandages getting in the way.
They were locked in a heavy embrace when reality changed once more. Far away, the Pendragon known as Polaris had been given the power to rebuild reality, and she used it to restore two merged realities to their original states*. Valentina Vostok was returned to her own reality, one where the Knights of Avalon did not exist, and Sean Cassidy suddenly realized that he was not married to any one, let alone to someone he should never have been able to meet.
*SEE PENDRAGONS 74
He fell to his knees as the memories of the life he had actually lived took prominence in his mind, somehow sitting alongside memories of his time with Valentina Vostok from the moment their realities had been merged. For Sean Cassidy and all the Knights of Avalon were Knights of Pendragon, and all those who were touched by the power of the Green Knight were the only ones to remember that their reality had been merged with another, whether they wanted to or not.
"Val..." he whispered, as he started to mourn the wife and the life he never should have had, until he heard Cage cry out for help.
Cassidy forced himself to go to his aid, only to see his team-mate crying, holding what was once Elektra. She was unrecognizable, her body changing into some thing orange and grotesque.
"She's dying, man! Help her!"
Cassidy looked around frantically, realizing that the battle had still occurred in his reality despite Val and Supergirl not belonging here. Supergirl... She had been sent to the Phantom Zone alongside Kelsey and Magma, but the Phantom Zone did not exist in this reality.
As he helped Cage bring Elektra to the infirmary, he knew he would not find them on the island.
They were missing.
As missing as the wife he had lost as definitively as his daughter a few weeks previously...
Next Issue: Join me as we catch up with the rest of Pendragons continuity by jumping forward seven months. Who's dead? Who's alive? Who is the new leader of the Knights? Plus the start of a mystery that absolutely no one will predict.
Oh, and one more thing...
Sorry for the delay in writing this issue but I've had a major case of writer's block for some time now. I'll try to get the next issue to any reader who has stuck around a lot faster! Promise!
Thanks to every one who wrote in after reading KOA 4:
From Mr. Pendragons himself, Barry Reese:
I really enjoyed
it, though I still miss Siryn. :-( The fight scenes were well
done and I liked how Kelsey and Sean seemed to bond over all this. It
makes
sense they would, given Kelsey's own pain over recent events. Elektra
got nice
play here, as well, but I'm still not feeling Cage for some reason. I
enjoyed
the stuff you did earlier with him and Elektra but that's the only time
he's
really seemed alive in the series.The
use of Val at the end was fun -- one of my favorite obscure characters.
I liked
that version of the DP and really miss them, so I wouldn't mind seeing
her
survive the Collision and stay with the group!
Thanks
Barry. Val is gone for now at least,
but not forgotten...
From Dave Evans:
Hello
Sorry
I haven't e-mailed you before to let you know how much I have enjoyed
this
series. I am glad Dane is finally back as a major player in PU. I'll
admit the
line up didn't thrill me at first but they are growing on me. I was
sorry to
see Siryn go and would much rather have Magma as the first to die, but
that's
only as I know next to nothing about her. Looking at it from a story
development point of view Siryn was definitely the right choice. I will
watch
Jaime's heirs with interest and I think Lighting could be cool.
Will
Jamie's mystery heir show up soon or has he/she already done so some
where?
Cheers
Dave
Thanks
for the mail. Yeah, I liked having Dane around in a position of
authority too.
This series originally came about after a discussion of what the impact
of him
being the Lord of the Lake would be. As recent Pendragons issues have
shown, he
no longer has that title. Come back next issue to see how the Knights
will be
affected by this.
From borntoxceed@yahoo.com:
<>I thought it was pretty cool. I was saddened to see Siryn go soquickly (I'd hoped we'd find out what happened to X-Force. I hate dangling plot threads) but I think the revelations of parentage and such paid off, as did the cliff hanger from 3. Though I have to say that I enjoyed this series a lot thus far, I hope like hell Wolfsbane's on Young Pendragons and far, far away from your cannon
fodder list ;)
<>Seems like every one is missing Siryn!
Wolfbane's
safe... for now. Bwah ha ha ha...
From Rob Rock:
Just read it. Loved it.
I really like who the first arc ended. You say in your
notes that you were unsatisfied with it, don't be. You tied up the
story really
well, throwing a great curve ball with the animated wish of Jamie
Braddock. I
thought that it was very clever. I
love how you repaired the rift between Sean and Kelsey.
Later,
folks!