Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Betsy/Star Wars) Fanged Butterfly 2: Knightcross 12/? (PG-15; viol From: Phil Hartman Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:30:24 +0000 will1@earthling.net Fanged Butterfly Vol. 2: Knightcross Chapter 12 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Marvel's are Marvel's. LFL's are LFL's. Any original characters are mine. The rest belong to their owners/creators. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. WARNING: Violence, and a few royally-deserved smackdowns ... >) -------------------------------------------- "Don't **** with the Jedi Master, son!" - actual quote from Mark Hamill, July 13, 2007, at a Star Wars convention. --------------------------------------------- 40 ABY: Ganner Rhysode, Hydian Way Hyperlane, between Taris and Bogden: --------------------------------------------- Ben ran for the turbolift - that whistle on his comlink had pulled him out of his agony, to a place where he could at least pretend his world hadn't gone down a trash chute. "ARTOO!!!!" the boy whooped, not caring who heard him, as his family's faithful astromech droid rolled out of the `lift. Ben knelt and hugged his oldest friend, as Wirut, Tebut and Lekauf followed him in amazement. "Reooo-twoodt," Artoo replied, sadly, and Ben nodded - he wasn't Threepio, but he'd been around Artoo enough to know the little droid's general feelings. And droids DID feel - did care. "Thanks, pal. How'd you - you must've snuck aboard the shuttle with Mom," Ben said - his heart twinged at the words. He fought back tears as Jori dropped to one knee beside him and asked, "Ben, an astromech of this model could probably get us the recording from the Colonel's bedroom." "Woot-roo!" Artoo responded, his holoprojector activating to show Jacen leaping to his feet, a look of pain on his face. "WHY DO WE HAVE TO *SUFFER!?*" Jacen screamed, then hurled a chair against the wall, then lifted his `saber, just as another - purple - blade blocked it. "Mom," Ben whispered, watching her appear - she could do the "Force-flash" technique of static in a holocam for a second, letting her pass by undetected ... "I can put an end to your suffering, Solo," Mom said, pacing while Jacen looked at her in shock. "Mara - I can explain, please, I need your help," Jacen pleaded. "You need to have your head examined. Slicing up chairs doesn't help Ben," Mom growled. "I don't want to hurt him again - but I need him. And Luke's spinelessness isn't going to save us," Jacen said, sounding ... Colonel Solo, again. Mom went for Jacen's right shoulder - Ben gave a low cry - but Jacen reignited his lightsaber and blocked her, his back to the camera. "Sith. You've gone SITH - that's it. That promise about the skinning and the rancor is ON," Mom snarled. She swung in, two-handed and aiming for Jacen's torso, but he managed to block easily with his green lightsaber. They broke apart, pacing in a circle. And Ben's heart clenched when Jacen tossed Force lightning at Ben's Mom. She blocked it, looking amused, and teased, "Come ON - Palpatine threw that at me once a week, Jacen. Or should I call you `Darth Whiny'?" Mara taunted. "Poor Yoda impression - try this one: `All too easy,'" Jacen said in a fairly good Vader voice - and the floor dropped open, a hydraulic noise sounding - and Mom vanished in a cloud of steam. "NO -" Ben almost screamed - he bit the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood, while Jori swore something horrible and Tebut gasped. The steam cleared, and Jacen said something too soft to hear ... as a slab of carbonite hung in mid-air, suspended by repulsors. The holo ended, and Artoo "rooooo"-ed a sad trill, while Ben leaned on him. "He carbon-froze her," Wirut said, his shock shaking Ben out of his gloom. "Like Uncle Han ... like UNCLE HAN! Aunt Leia thawed him out after a year, and Uncle Han was OK! Mom might still be - if she was frozen, she couldn't use the Force, that's why I thought she'd -" Ben blurted - his mom was alive ... "She was confused, Ben." Wirut, Jori and Tebut were too well-trained not to snap to attention, while Ben did so more out of wanting to give Jacen the benefit of the doubt - he should've known "hollering" in the Force at finding Artoo would draw Jacen here. Jacen glanced at the other officers and Jori, then half-smiled sadly and said, "Lekauf - Wirut, Tebut. Thanks for coming to help the lieutenant. And Artoo ... pleasant surprise." Artoo spat static, but Ben grabbed the little droid's dome and WILLED him not to charge Jacen - and Artoo obeyed, albeit with a reluctant "oroo." "We received an emergency experimental Holonet message from HQ a few minutes ago. One of our sources at the Senate recorded ... well, Ben, you and I had better talk about this in private," Jacen asked. "Sir - forgive my insubordination, but you just CARBON-FROZE Lieutenant Skywalker's mother. After Force-killing a suspect in custody. As one of the lieutenant's squadmates and a friend, I have to question his safety being alone with you given the circumstances," Jori exclaimed, his loyalty both comforting and worrying Ben. #He carbon-froze Mom. He could've Force-jolted her - no, she's MOM, she doesn't deserve that, nobody does except a criminal - and Mom was trying to protect ME ...# "Sir! Leave them out of this - please!" Ben all but begged, his voice cracking on the last word - he would've winced at that, if he wasn't so ... Afraid. Jacen, his big cousin and "brother," was scaring Ben. Badly. Jacen looked momentarily shocked, then hurt, and said, "Lieutenant ... very well. Wirut, Tebut, Lekauf, you're dismissed. Skywalker, with me - you can come with us, Artoo. I really won't hurt Ben." "Wrooooo," Artoo replied, sounding afraid, but Ben looked at the little droid and then at Jacen. "Sir, request permission to leave Artoo in my quarters. I ... if this is sensitive information from HQ, it should be recorded by as few sensors as necessary, right?" Ben asked. He wouldn't endanger anyone else to protect himself. Especially not someone else he cared for like Artoo, who'd protected and cared for him when Ben was little and Mom and Dad couldn't be there. #Mom ... you were right. I'm SO sorry.# Jacen looked suspicious, but finally shrugged and said - in a cold, hard tone - "Very well. Just as long as he doesn't hack any more datafiles. And I expect you to delete the duel recording before he's released, or I WILL have Artoo completely memory-wiped. Are we clear?" "Yessir," Ben said, just as icily - and he swore Jacen smirked a little at that. "Sir - Ben, are you -" Jori asked, but Ben gave his friend a smile and tried to project confidence. "It's Colonel Solo, Corporal," Ben said, deliberately using Jori's rank to get the point across. With his eyes, he pleaded, #Run, Jori - Patra, Sarge ... I'm sorry to be cold, but PLEASE -# The other troops reluctantly left, and Ben, Jacen and Artoo entered the turbolift. Once the door closed, Ben slowly looked up at Jacen and tried to see - what, he wasn't sure. #Any sign of humanity. Honesty. You lied to me again and again and again, and you FROZE MY MOM IN CARBONITE -# And Jacen suddenly filled their bond with cold fury, nothing like Jasa - "Don't make me think you knew she was aboard, Ben. She tried to KILL me. I think I was more than merciful in putting her in hibernation," Jacen hissed, looming over Ben, who found himself pinned against the rear of the lift as Artoo squealed. "Merciful!? She'll be sick and blind when she gets out of there! You kept mindkriffing me and lying and I kept thinking you were someone to look UP to!" Ben yelled back, feeling ... He tried to keep a lid on his emotions. When he'd thought Dad disliked him for joining the GAG, Ben had felt hurt, but on some level he hadn't believed Dad really hated him. #Dad. You were so right ... I thought being cold and tough was strength. I've been a stupid little kid -# "Only so long as you keep kriffing well whining in your thoughts. Do you know what I could do to you through our bond?" Jacen whispered, the entire `lift filling with ice ... and shadows. "THEN GET THE STANG OUTTA MY HEAD!" Ben raged - he tried to throw up every shield he could, and Artoo razzed Jacen - who looked at the little droid with lightning dancing around one hand. "NO -" Ben - snarled - Jacen was pushing, PUSHING - [And what the kriff will you do? You've been mine for half a decade, you sorry little excuse for a Skywalker,] Jacen - hissed - over their Force-bond - Ben couldn't keep him OUT of his mind ... The `lift door opened, and Jacen stepped out, dragging Ben by the scruff of the boy's uniform shirt - Ben only half-resisted. He had to see. He had to be sure. Artoo rolled after, shrieking panic, but Ben called, "Don't! I can't lose you too!" Jacen's laugh finally, totally shattered Ben's hope that his cousin was just playing a really sick joke. The crazy look in Jacen's eyes gutted Ben's hope that he was going to get through this without pain. They looked like the eyes of some psychos Captain Shevu had told Ben about. "Your best friends are an archaic droid, a Vader fetishist and a flaky yeoman. Your parents are too afraid to drag you home. And you? You get cold feet when it's time to crush the vermin," Jacen spat, Force-pushing his door open and almost throwing Ben into the room. It was dark, and Jacen slid the door shut with an absent flick of his fingers and the Force. Ben looked around as the lights came up a little. His throat clenched when he saw the carbonite slab hanging on the wall by Jacen's bed. Ben's mom hung there, eternally frozen until someone released her, her hands thrown up in defiance, her mouth open in a silent scream behind black ice. And the last wall of self-delusion broke, as Ben Skywalker turned to face ... Whatever was standing in Jacen Solo's outline was no longer Ben's cousin. [About time you noticed that,] the thing sent, and utter shadow poured over their bond - Ben SCREAMED, in a way he'd never heard before - he hit his knees, panting, like that time he'd grabbed a live power coupling by accident. This ... was worse. Like something barbed and poisoned, clawing at Ben's soul. The boy looked up through tears - of pain, of loss, of betrayal - as whatever his cousin had become looked down at him. With yellow-orange eyes and that sick smile. "Rather nasty little trick, that. I could hollow you out, leave you a pet on a leash. But that's not what I need in a Sith apprentice," the creature rasped, pulling Ben into mid-air in a Force-clutch the boy couldn't break. "Why ... ?!" Ben wheezed. "Because the galaxy is going to shavit in a shuura-fruit basket, that's why! Well, that was my old excuse. I loved you, you know - thought of you like a son," the ... Dark Lord breathed, looking in Ben's face with eyes burning like twin suns. The creature grinned again and leered at Ben, continuing, "But now ... I'm going to break you. Not of your will, but those karking sappy light-side emotions." "W-won't - AHH!" Ben yelped as the invisible fist holding him squeezed, and the Sith Lord paced, smirking. "Once you have nowhere else to go but down, you'll feel the caress of the darkness. Like a lover - more reliable than a woman, really" the creature taunted, Force-pulling something out of the closet. Ben's eyes widened in horror as he realized what his captor was bringing into the larger room. The creature grinned at Ben knowingly. "Bright boy. You know the Embrace of Pain without ever having seen it." "You can't - JASA, PLEASE!" Ben begged - he was hurled toward the now-writhing Vong torture rack - and the creature stopped Ben in mid-air, getting within millimeters of the boy's face with an enraged glare. "I AM CAEDUS. DON'T call me that infantile nickname. You will kneel to me, even as you long to kill me for what I've made you into, and you'll love me for it at the same time," the Sith Lord spat, his foul breath making Ben's lips curl in disgust. "I-if you put me in the Embrace, the security holocam'll -" Ben tried to reason - anything to keep from grabbing onto the fear and anger and loathing he felt ... Caedus howled with sick laughter. "Film me once, shame on you. Film me twice ... no, little Skywalker, no more voyeurism for my lapdogs in Security. Your fall will be the great unseen death-knell of the light," he sighed, almost regretful - it seemed. Ben tried one last Force-push, but his head snapped back with Caedus' slap. "For that ... I was going to leave you a trace of dignity when you hung in the Embrace. But now you'll endure it naked, hairless *and* screaming," the Sith Lord snarled, clenching his left fist. Ben's shirt tore into ribbons, thin trails of blood tracing down his chest like he'd been caught by the edge of an invisible predator's claws. He tried not to cry out as his boots were yanked off, and another claw tore at his pants, shredding them. #Great. Back in my shorts ...# Ben thought, and Caedus snorted, his hand twitching ... A hissing sound drew their gazes at the far wall, and the carbonite slab glowed red. And Caedus realized WHAT Ben had Force-pushed. "The hibernation control - YOU KARKING LITTLE -" Caedus ROARED - Ben felt his body bend backwards, and he screamed again - A knife planted itself in Caedus' thigh, forcing him to drop Ben. The Sith Lord looked across the room in growing terror, as a voice as cold as the void between worlds breathed: "You dared to touch my son with your bloody hands. "THIS Hand will choke the life from you." Mara Jade-Skywalker leapt, trusting the Force to guide her to throttle the shavit out of her son's attacker. --------------------------------------------- Bimmiel System: --------------------------------------------- #MARA!# Betsy was stirred from her concentration on looking for the asteroid Ben had described, using both sensors and the Force, when she felt her old friend resurge. The ex-Hand was cold and implacable as death, straining to protect Ben, from some kind of stain in the Force. #She's in terrible danger. So is Ben. But ... I'd never get there in time. Force ...# Betsy prayed. It wasn't a deity, the energy field between all living things. But it was the closest thing Betsy had found in this galaxy to a religion she could accept, and it did occasionally answer. #Comes from rubbing elbows with gods and goddesses I made a terrible British noblewoman - always liked to play in the garden and the dirt,# Betsy recalled. A trickle of dark energy, coming from one of the nearby star systems - not Bimmiel, but very close, astronomically speaking - drew her attention. Betsy isolated the particular star, ran it through the navicomp, and asked N4-EL, "Microjump?" The astromech toodled, and they were in hyperspace maybe 15 seconds before reverting to realspace in a system with an orange sun. The darkness spiked correspondingly as Betsy closed in on the asteroid belt ... and she concentrated on one particular hemispherical hunk of rock which the sensors read as iron-rich. The sublight engines got the Angel's Wing to the asteroid with ease. Betsy checked the readouts, found a hangar bay big enough to contain four of her ships, and took the Wing in. She tightened her Force presence against the laving waves of dark energy now present - still not the most powerful she'd ever encountered, but there was something here. "Neal, stay with the ship, keep her ready for a fast departure," Betsy ordered. N4-EL protested, but obeyed; he knew Betsy didn't waste time with her assignments. #Let's just hope this doesn't take too long,# she thought, heading down the ramp. The hangar bay was tall enough to reveal a 10-story habitat of some kind, with the walls painted a sky-blue. It all felt very soothing. Soothing meant traps. Betsy cast out with a Force-pulse, triggering some kind of bomb attached to hyperdrive coolant barrels which she deflected upward and away with a Force push. After she danced past the spitting darts from the walls, she entered a hexagonal side room with some kind of tube angling down into the asteroid. A cart with 12 seats divided by a cargo container sat in the tube, ready to descend. She trusted in the Force, sensed no more traps - and a considerable increase in dark energy down below her. #Well, the action junkie rides again ...# Betsy got in the cart, careful to check for poison spikes on the seats, and flipped a switch to descend into the heart of darkness. -------------------------------------------- Ganner Rhysode: -------------------------------------------- Caedus had been unable to get his lightsaber, as Mara had been SO fast - and he was, admittedly, not a good unarmed fighter. Ben was recovering, reaching for his lightsaber - the boy was a consideration, but Mara was the deadlier threat. Her one boot knife had been thrown, striking Caedus' left thigh but hitting muscle, not tendon or artery. It didn't matter; the wound was enough to distract the Sith Lord. "Ben, GO! I'll take care of this maniac!" Mara commanded, but Caedus could tell the boy wasn't leaving his mother - and then the Ganner shuddered, as the emergency realspace reversion alarm screamed, and the blue streaks outside the window snapped to starpoints amidst the endless night. "Warning! Hyperdrive override from Command Deck - one ship inbound, shields fluctuating!" Caedus heard Kral Nevil yell, before ducking Mara's boot-kick. And the Force rippled, driving back Caedus' shadows, as a light blazed a deck below. Ben's heart leapt, and Mara's eyes jerked open - her lightsaber flew from Caedus' belt into her hands, and she and her son shared a joyous grin. Caedus' blood chilled. He ran - two armed Skywalkers were two too many, and if the third was as close as he felt - Artoo toodled an "I told you so," rolling from Ben's quarters, and Caedus HISSED - that rolling trash can was going to squeal in PAIN. "YOU. You overrode the safeties on the hyperdrive. You dragged us to where HE could get at me," Caedus accused - incensed at Artoo's taunt, he lifted a hand boiling with Sith lightning. And it curled back toward Caedus, as the Force - quaked, not a shred of new darkness in it. Ben jogged, still in his shorts, betwen Caedus and Artoo, Mara leaning on her son, as the hatch behind the Sith Lord opened. And Caedus turned ... Luke Skywalker stood before him, green blade lit and wagging his finger. "Don't kriff with the Jedi Master, son," the greatest Jedi of the age said far too patiently. And he sprang, driving Caedus almost to his knees. ---------------------------------------------- Luke had promised himself he wouldn't just attack when he confronted Jacen. He'd even been willing to talk things over when he'd sensed Mara re-enter the Force. But then Ben had screamed in pain, and Mara had become the ice-cold Hand hiding a terrified mother protecting her cub. Artoo had managed to override the Ganner's hyperdrive and scrambled the shields around the command deck hangar bay long enough to let the Jade Shadow land. The crew had, both intelligently and kindly, gotten out of his way; a young woman with lieutenant's bars and fear for Ben in her mind had come up to Luke and offered to point him to the command deck. Luke made a mental note to reconsider yanking Ben out of the Guard. Once they had a new commander. Then, Luke had finally opened the last hatch. And he'd seen his beloved nephew looming over Artoo. Blue lightning was crackling around Jacen's outstretched hand. Jacen - whatever he'd become - had turned around, yellow-orange pools of corruption below his dark brown bangs, and Luke had Force-negated the Sith lightning. Then, Ben - in just shorts, bruised, but overjoyed to see Luke - had helped Mara out of Jacen's bedroom. A blind, half-sick Mara. Luke recognized the signs of hibernation sickness. Jacen had tried to murder Luke's loyal droid; had carbon-frozen Luke's wife; had stripped Luke's son almost naked and beaten the boy, who had done nothing but try to help Jacen. The Jedi Master had no more reason to fear fighting his nephew would tempt him to the dark side. This was a man, doing what men should do - protecting his loved ones without caging them. THIS was the living Force. And Luke Skywalker surrendered to it gladly. --------------------------------------------- The lightsaber duel was a joke. Caedus barely managed to keep his feet, parrying maybe one slash in five, spitting as Luke's blade scorched little holes in his GAG uniform and cape, burning little circles in Caedus' rapidly-graying flesh. Any attempt at lightning, chokes or pushes was simply shrugged off. Without aggression, without hatred, without even the hint of the fury any other man would have been forgiven for. That, more than anything about Luke's assault, infuriated Caedus - that the light side somehow had a RIGHT to slap around the dark - "ENOUGH!" the Sith Lord RAGED, a blast of raw dark energy flaring from him - Luke countered even THAT. But not by much. The Master had been conserving his power, giving Mara, Ben and Artoo a chance to slip around the fight and escape toward the hangar bay access tunnel. The dark-side blast threatened to slam into Ben, who was the last one at the hatch. Lekauf - LEKAUF - threw himself in front of the blastwave, shoving Ben through the portal as the boy screamed in horror. Jori Lekauf slumped, several of his bones shattered, to the floor as Luke watched in grief. Caedus just spat, "You made me waste a useful pawn. Another chunk of flesh to pull from your corpse once -" Luke's eyebrow twitched. The dark side recoiled as if backhanded. And Caedus was thrown the length of the hall, slamming into the back wall almost hard enough to snap his spine. "If you ever come near Ben again, not even bacta will repair the damage. Lekauf is under my protection. And for what you did to Mara ... " Luke trailed off, that SO aggravating voice - still a farmboy - nagging. Caedus felt himself slapped - hard. "Unless you sincerely repent, this'll happen again," Luke said, before gathering Lekauf up easily with the Force and leaving. "Th - KHAGK - IS NOT OVER, SKYWALKER!" Caedus - rasped. Jacen Solo sobbed deep inside. Caedus seethed. It was time to accelerate things. ------------------------------------------ Star System MZX32905, near Bimmiel: ------------------------------------------ The ore cart descended into the guts of the asteroid, as Betsy felt a flicker of - Light. In the deepest darkness, the Son of Skywalker was a strobe of strength, driving back whatever had placed tendrils of night near Ben and Mara. #Luke ... YES!# Betsy allowed herself to squeal - Even after all these years, she still got a thrill when the quintessential Jedi won, especially when protecting people who meant a great deal to both of them. What that meant for Jacen ... Betsy hoped, absently, that Jacen was still alive. She saved her greater worry for Mara and Ben, though. The ore cart came to an end after hundreds of feet of descent, allowing Betsy to get out in a well-lit chamber with plenty of glow rods illuminating the place. It wasn't entirely lit, of course; there were shadowed corners ... One of which disgorged an impossible figure. Betsy shielded herself; she'd read Ben's report, had read the boy's memories about how "Brisha Syo" had conjured dark-side phantoms on this asteroid. Still ... this wasn't what Betsy had expected. The figure slid from the shadows, clad in blue armor, an intricate headdress topping a lithe Oriental body. #Lady Mandarin ...# Betsy's twisted reflection, the manifestation of her time as the Mandarin's gift from the Hand, stalked the Jedi Master who had left that darkness behind. #Not here, though. This place must be keyed to our darkest fears ...# Betsy realized. Not even as Farouk's Shadow Queen, all Crimson Dawn and darkness on the astral plane, had Betsy savored evil like that she'd wrought as Lady Mandarin. Access to 10 alien rings of insane power did that to a girl. Toss in her twisting by the Hand, and her new toy of a psychic blade ... Jubilee had been right to fear Betsy in the days after Logan freed the telepath. #That was more than 20 years ago, though,# Betsy thought, summoning her purple lightsaber to one hand and manifesting a Force-katana in the other. The Jar'kai, or two-blade, stance was a fairly rare fighting form among Jedi. It was considered somewhat prideful, but the skill required commanded respect. Usually, the primary blade was a full `saber, the off-hand weapon a "shoto," or short lightsaber. Betsy had amazed her fellow `saber students by holding her own against *Katarn* the first day of study - with two full-length `sabers, no less. "An interesting encounter," Betsy offered, as her dark counterpart circled her. "Well met, Master Braddock. You have traveled far for answers. This one will attempt to answer them," Lady Mandarin said in Kwannon's voice. Betsy quirked an eyebrow and centered herself in the Force. As she'd expected, the illusion was just that. But it was surrounding a woman-sized solid ... being. What troubled Betsy was that much of whoever was hiding behind her dark double wasn't in the Force - electricity hummed through the parts, but there was no true life. #A cyborg. A Force-using dark-sider cyborg ...# "Oh, bloody hell -" Betsy gasped - there were two Force-users who fit that description, and one had died on the second Death Star - She pulsed raw light-side energy to dispel the illusion, and locked down her fear as the true mistress of this rock appeared. Triangular headdress, metallic bodysuit over cybernetic limbs, a red-energy lightwhip with Mandalorian-iron-shard strips of solid steel intermingled with the lightsaber-like cables. "LUMIYA ..." Betsy breathed - she'd studied the murderous disciple of Vader on Ossus, had hoped never to come across the former Shira Brie. Hell hath no fury like a scorned redhead, and if Luke wasn't in his ex-girlfriend's reach ... "My dear Lord Caedus seems to have overreached. Young Ben is safe, if heartbroken; my light reflection is free of the carbonite, and Luke ... Luke is Luke. Triumphant again," Lumiya sighed. "You really need therapy. Skywalkers make harsh lovers to pursue," Betsy tried to joke. Lumiya seemed to smile beneath her mask, and purred, "So you did want to take Jacen beneath you." "I admit, he has charisma. Had. Dark-side dabbling and screaming possessiveness kill the Solo charm," Betsy said, almost savoring the banter - it was like she was back with the X-Men. Jedi so rarely did banter. Even Luke's crowd. "But I left that rather disturbing trend of mine behind me on Earth. And I really don't like cyborgs," Betsy said, assuming a combat stance. Lumiya started lashing the rocks around her, creating a shrapnel cloud which she Force-hurled at Betsy. The ex-X-Man saved her Force energy, using the Force-katana to block the cloud and instead pushing at Lumiya's legs. The pulse cracked the ground beneath the Dark Lady of the Sith, even as she leapt - Betsy tumbled, evading the crack of breaking stone as Lumiya landed where the mutant Jedi had stood microseconds before. Neither was particularly winded, but Betsy could sense the Force shifting - Lumiya was, of course, not going to play fair. But it was what nightmare she dredged from Betsy's memories which incensed the Briton. "Oh ... oh, this is just DELICIOUS. Your little blue rock produces the most ... dark-side ... genetic freaks, doesn't it?" Lumiya taunted, sidling off a side tunnel. The scrape of claws on rock sent an involuntary shudder down Betsy's spine as she watched the new phantom stalking her. "Damn, Betts. Long, long time ... haven't tasted your blood in forever," the phantom taunted. That chuckle. That predatory, damnable CHUCKLE. That was what shook her. Betsy centered herself, then pushed. This time, the illusion stayed solid. #You HAVE to control your fears. This ... thing is a lie. There is no emotion; there is peace ...# Betsy tried to convince herself. It didn't work ... and Betsy felt a twinge of warning. Victor Creed laughed, that motherkriffing chuckle chilling Betsy's blood again. She reached out telepathically - - and while the Sabretooth-thing flickered away at last, Betsy cursed herself for what the effort cost her. SHE had replaced Creed. The Asian Psylocke, in the buttfloss costume, with a red lightsaber. "Jedi scum! I am DARTH KWANNON! Prepare to die!" the phantom raged - and lunged. #... Darth Kwannon ...?# Betsy thought, wincing at how lame the name sounded ... -------------------------------------------- tbc ...