The doctors had said they were lucky. She would live. The bullet went through and through and somehow didn't cause as much damage as it should have. Their guess was the adrenaline kicked in.
Imara knew it was the starseed.
However Jane was a minor and Imara was not her legal guardian. Phone calls had to be made. A story had to be spun. Dear God save them all.
“Just look at the mess you got yourself into Jane. I can't get you out of this one…” oh if only she could. She'd give anything…
---
There had been no conversation when Mathias had arrived at the house to pick up Conor. Conor hadn’t said anything. He’d at least had the sense to toss his Jacket in the fireplace and burn it, and had washed his hands of Jane’s blood and had taken the coat Mathias had given him with no argument or fuss and had gotten in the car to make it to the ER.
By the time the two had joined Imara, (with some very fast talking from Mathias about how he was Imara’s significant other and he had information she needed) the two were admitted to the ICU as Mathias moved and gently placed an arm around Imara’s shoulder.
“How is she holding up?” He asked, quietly, keeping his voice low, even as Conor slowly edged his way to the bed, watching the tubes and hoses that were keeping Jane alive.
The young man’s face was devoid of color, but out of fear or shame it was hard to tell. He looked at the two adults but said nothing, instead turning his attention back to Jay as his green eyes took in the sight of her there on the hospital bed, the only thing keeping her going were the machines and the fact that the two people standing nearby had done something strange and magical and he couldn't’ comprehend it.
---
Imara had heard them come in. She hadn't moved but remained still all the while never taking her eyes off her sleeping cousin.
With a long sigh, Imara finally gave in. “She'll pull through. The bullet appeared to have hit her liver which was why so much blood. But they said that somehow the damage was….minimum.”
Words spoken without any emotion. She was hard and rigid as one machine beeped releasing another dose of antibiotics. “Between this and the system cleanse, she's in for a rough few days…”
That was when Imara’s eyes flashed over to Conor. “But nothing like the hell she will face when she's back on her feet. She has to learn a whole new world and face death every day. Stepping forward, she inched away from Mathias and put a hand on Conor’s shoulder. “She's a soldier in a war now. A war that takes more lives than it gives.” Her eyes flickered back to Jane. “She may wish she died…”
----
Mathias nodded and stayed quiet for the moment, letting Imara sow the seeds for something he knew he was going to have to ask Conor in a moment. A question that Jane had not gotten to ask, and was going to be all the more sore for later. Oh sure, he could let her live her life never knowing the power she now wielded, but he knew eventually she’d stumble into it, and that would be the worst thing to have happen.
No, he was going to have have to take these two under his wing, along with Imara, and show them this new world they had bumbled into by being stupid.
Finally, Mathias turned, seeing Conor staring at Jane as Imara spoke. “Jane didn’t get to think about it. Jane was dying and we did what was necessary to ensure she’d live to see another day.” Mathias said, keeping his voice down, moving to the other side of Conor. “By all rights she should be dead right now.”
“I wasn’t strong enough to protect her,” Conor said, his voice low, and angry. More at himself than anything else. “I should have gotten her out of there quicker, I should have stayed in front of her and taken the hit I should have… I should…”
“Enough of that,” Mathias said in a stern voice. “You both were stupid wandering into that ******** ganger meetup. What were you thinking? That you could waltz in, talk fast and work your way up the ranks. s**t doesn’t work that way. This isn’t the movies.”
“Well now what?” Conor asked, voice angry as he looked at Mathias. “I’ll join this war too, then, huh? She shouldn’t go into this whole ******** up thing alone!”
Mathias watched him for a long moment. “You so sure about that? Because, you take this road, there is no going back. This isn’t a game, Conor.”
“I know… I…” He looked back at Jane and then away again. “I’ll do it. She’s only in this mess cause I tagged along she’d of probably been fine.”
Mathias nodded his head then and sighed. “I can’t tell if you’re exceedingly brave or exceedingly stupid... “ He looked to Imara. “We’ll stay as long as you need us… Or until they kick us out.” He gave her a soft, understanding look. He knew they needed to talk privately, but for now… well… Not a lot of privacy to be had with the doctors coming in and out.
---
“Conor…” Imara spoke, moving to stand over Jane agan. She gazed down at her younger cousin with a softness rarely shown. Her voice though cut like the sharpest knife.
“You do this and you realize that from here on out, you answer to Mathias and I. We say jump, you say how high. Got it?” Red eyes flickered over to him, a dangerous murdering glow to them.
“If you though military school was going to bed bad….it's nothing compared to the training we will put you through. You will have your body, your mind, your skills perfected. I…” she stressed the world, not even looking towards Mathias “Will make sure you are a perfect weapon. And if you slip up...I will kill you.”
That was all she could say before she turned from him and walked out of the room.
Imara’s pace quickened. She moved for the stairs and feld for ground floor. She needed air.
---
Conor couldn’t even speak, he stared agape at Imara as she fled, unsure what to say or even do. Mathias kept silent as well, waiting until Imara left the room before finally lending his voice. “She will, and I will let her.” Mathias said softly. “The both of you are about to enter a living hell, Conor. You chose it, she did not. I don’t want to hear one word of negativity out of your mouth about anything in the future, do you understand?”
Conor nodded, dumbly, and moved to sit down quietly in one of the chairs, watching Jane with a frown.
“You’re lucky, you’re probably the first person other than me to survive that look,” Mathias said quietly as he sat down next to Conor and looked at Jay.
“Aren’t you gonna go after her? You know, make sure she’s okay and all?” Conor asked, still not looking at Mathias as he listened to the machine’s attached to Jay.
“Nope, I value my life and would like to keep all my limbs. If she needs me she’ll come find me. Imara is… think of her as a really, really big mountain lion. If she wants my attention she’ll come and seek my attention. If I try to get her attention I’m equal parts likely to get her attention or get my face clawed off… I’m okay with this arrangement. She knows me, I know her, and I know her enough to know that right now she’s probably going to go and clean up crime in a ten block radius if she gets the chance.”
Conor cringed and looked down at his feet. “I didn’t think it would go like this…”
“You didn’t think - period.” Mathias countered. “But, maybe, just maybe, you’ll learn.”
Conor nodded quietly, and then looked back up at Jane. He supposed he’d better.
---
Mathias had not been too far off in his range of ten blocks. She had only made it to eight when the bloody body of a robber dropped his phone and she caught sight of the time. He got to live. The rest were for the cops.
Walking back into the hospital, sweaty as if she had gone for a run, Imara headed to the lobby and pulled out her phone. “Downstairs.” She sent Mathias. “Bring the kid.”
Her parents had given her an eta. Jane's family was on the way and her own as well. With mom's strict orders to get cleaned up before her Aunt and Uncle got there, Imara knew they were on borrowed time.
“We need to settle things before Jane's parents get here….” and get Conor’s story straight…
It was alot to cover. Thankfully, they had nearly 4 more hours before her parents made.
---
Mathias didn’t ask questions, and in a very short amount of time they were downstairs. Conor might have dragged his feet leaving the room, but all it took was a pointed look from Mathias and the younger man was following him. It did not take long for Mathias to find Imara, and with Conor in tow, he nodded his head.
“I was worried things were about to get very… very complicated.” He said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers as if he were staving off a headache. “How long do we have?”
Time wasn’t as much of an issue as getting Conor to go along with the plan, but he pretty much had a feeling that the boy was feeling enough guilt right then that he’d cop to about anything.
“What’s the plan?” Mathias finally asked, looking to Conor.
Conor just stood there, waiting, admittedly a bit too scared to even think about resisting now.
---
“Just at 4 hours. They are somewhere in Pennsylvania at this point.” Imara answered, standing up to join then.
“Where did you park? I don't want to discuss anything here and I need a shower. So does sir talks alot over there.” Imara jerked her head towards Conor.
“And you need a red bull. Can you pull off another so soon?” Imara asked motioning to get going.
---
“We can work with four hours,” Mathias said with a nod, motioning for both of them to follow him as he lead them toward the nearby parking deck. “Parked in the parking garage, visitor’s section because we were visiting.” He explained as they made their way out to the car.
“Yes, you both need to get cleaned up a bit, and as much as I would prefer a nap over a red bull, I should be okay to do one more… More than that and It’d probably not end well.” He said with a low hiss. “I’m gonna be beat as hell after, but I should be able to stand.”
And at least talk convincingly. He’d look the part of belgured guardian at least.
Once they got the the car he motioned for Conor to get in the back, and waited for Imara to get in the passenger side before slipping in himself and buckling up to drive home. Suffice it to say, he drove more like Imara than himself - so he managed the trip in record time.
Once they got there. He looked to Conor. “There’s a shower across the hall from your room. Make it quick, and change clothes. We don’t have time to mess around we’re working on a three and a half hour window probably when it’s all said and done.”
Conor nodded and hopped out of the car after Mathias, who was making his way inside. He quickly found the bathroom, showering and changing quickly, coming out into the living room to find Leucite standing in the living room, arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the boy.
“Come here.” Leucite commanded, and Conor obeyed, looking up at the other man nervously.
“So like… does it hurt?” Conor asked, as Leucite’s hand moved to his chest.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Leucite said, before plunging his hand into the young man’s chest and finding his starseed, and beginning the process of corruption. It took a bit longer than it had with Jane, mainly because the energy took longer to pool and push, but by the time it was done, Leucite looked like he’d run a marathon, and Wardite was standing there, looking down at his new uniform in confusion.
“That… was… not fun.” Wardite managed to croak out before sinking down onto the couch. Leucite didn’t even waste time, dropping back into Mathias and moving to the kitchen to pop open an energy-drink and chug it down with a grimace.
“I really hope I never have to do two corruptions back to back, ever again…” He grumbled, his skin pale and sweat beading his brow. “Now drop your form… Once Imara is back we’ll figure out how we spin this…”
Wardite nodded, and after a few moments, slowly became Conor again, looking a bit nervous from his chair as Mathias paced in the kitchen.
---
The shower was long and hot. Just what Imara needed though she ended it with a blast of cold water to try and wake herself back up again. It at least got her heart going again when she came out of the bedroom. Holding the phone in her hand, Imara was clearly reading something as she walked right past Conor and into the kitchen.
“Holy s**t. You look like death…” She spat out, picking her head up and looking at Mathias and then back to Conor. He seemed on edge, nervous as if not sure what was going on. Two and two clicked and she winced. “You need to sit down before you pass out on me. My idea of a training lesson doesn’t include moving your body.”
With those words, she turned from the kitchen and headed back into the living room. Taking a seat on the couch, Imara was scanning over her phone again before finally announcing.
“My parents made it to the hospital. They are going to stay with Jane until her family gets there and then try to calm them down. Mom thinks it will be better if you and I…” She looked up at Mathias “Stay clear of my Aunt and Uncle until they have calmed down a bit. However, she needs something to work with. Some story as to what happened…”
Now, she placed her phone next to her on the couch and leaned forward. “And a reason for them not to take Jane home. Because she might have nearly died here but...well back up there…” Her eyes looked towards Conor and locked on. “She’s got a laundry list a mile long. Sending her back is not a good idea…”
Finally she looked back at Mathias. “Especially now that she has abilities greater than a normal human. She’d kill someone else…”
---
Mathias nodded, moving to join them in the living room to sit down on the loveseat as he tried to not immediately give in to the urge to sleep. He looked to Imara and Conor. “If we let her loose in the wild with no support it won’t be long until she’s dead. The Negaverse will see to that. They don’t cotton to rogue agents.”
He was eying Conor as he said this. “But we need a story that isn’t going to want to make then want to take her home immediately because there is nothing we can do to help her if she’s back home.”
Conor nodded quietly. “I convinced her to sneak out and show me the city, since you said we couldn’t go earlier. I didn’t want to wait for you to come round. She showed me some of her haunts and we went to a party. Things got heated and she got shot trying to get us out of the situation. I shouldn’t have talked her into going out…”
Mathias looked to Imara and raised a brow. “Conor, I don’t think they’re going to buy that…”
---
Imara ran a hand down her face. “Conor, her parents are overly religious thick heads. Jane is only here because it was her...third attempt at running away.” The look on her face said she was trying to count moments in the past. “The deal was she was better off here because she wouldn’t try to run and at least someone could keep an eye on her.”
That was when her head fell again and she shook it. “Besides, you tell them that and they are going to want to see you pay. Then try to forgive and convert you when they calm down.” Eyes now lifted up again and she looked at Mathias. “The idea isn’t to throw someone under the bus. They know their daughter is a wild child who runs the streets. They blame demons. We call them helicopter parents…”
Falling silent again, Imara leaned back on the couch, wet hair sticking to her face. “We would be better off telling them Conor is a saint of a child and a good influence….” She rolled her eyes trying not to choke on her words. “That Jane tried to take him out for a ‘good time’ and ….blah...she’s so ******** selfish they would never believe she tried to protect anyone but herself…”
---
“...Conor, show Imara what I know you have in your pocket.” Mathias said very quietly, causing Conor to jolt for a second before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a worn wooden Rosary. “Would that help his case, Imara?”
He knew Conor could fake being a “good boy,” that wouldn’t be a problem. “You’re going to have to convince them you are the most pious, god-fearing Irish boy on the planet. That you want Jane to be saved.”
Conor sighed and nodded his head. “I can do that… yeah.”
Really he just wanted out of all this bullshit, but what choice did he have. He set his shoulders and sighed. “Saints help me, but I can.”
---
“Saints help you from me if you ******** up…” Imara added in with a glare. She didn’t give a damn about him and she was making it perfectly clear before her eyes went to the rosary.
“Why on Earth do you carry one of those things? Are you trying to be stereotypical?”
---
Conor winced. “Back home, it helped to at least claim piety. Specially out in the country.” He slipped the Rosary back into his pocket. “Helps if you got a symbol of faith, though you gotta watch it, still kinda get sour about it in the wrong neighborhoods.”
Looking away from Imara’s gaze he winced. “I won’t ******** this up, okay?”
He looked back at her jaw set. “Now when do we go?”
---
Silently she met his eyes. Imara was a predator and anyone who challenged her would be met right back with all the fires of hell.
Finally though, she rolled her eyes and went back to falling into the couch. “When we get the call. For now, we wait. So make yourself comfortable kid. You aren’t going anywhere.”
“And you…” Her eyes went back over to Mathias “Bed. Before you drop dead on your feet. You did two corruptions today and I will not be explaining you stumbling around like a drunk when trying to talk our way out of this. I’ll watch the brat and answer any questions he may have about his new life...and the new rules.”
--
Conor nodded but didn’t say anything else before dropping his gaze to the floor again. Mathias on the other hand stood, and as he passed Imara, placed a light hand on her shoulder. “Wake me when you get the call, please.”
He knew she would, but it didn’t hurt to say as much as he shambled toward their room to pass out for a bit.
When Mathias was gone, Conor finally looked back up. “So what did I just sign up for?”
---
“A war that has raged over a thousand years.” Imara spoke, her eyes not leaving the spot on the floor she was looking at. Oh she knew the song and dance. Lure them in, make them feel part of a family. Blah...she wanted them to realize the truth sooner rather than later. She saw what death did to those not ready to face it and right now she wasn’t sure if he was ready. That would need to be changed.
“Kid, you just walked into a living nightmare. You are going to see things you never believed possible. Magic and monsters are real and they are trying to kill you.” Finally she looked over at him. “We work...you work...for a group called the Negaverus now. Our Leader is Queen Laurilite and the source of our power is a being called Metallia.” Okay, secretly, she was admitting to herself the reason she wanted to do this was to cut out Mathias’ spin on everything. “Under her, the three General Kings. If you ever get in trouble with one of them, kid you better dig your own grave. They don’t take s**t.”
“But you serve under us. Your General is Leucite.” She nodded her head towards the bedroom. “I am your Captain Stibnite. And your training will begin tomorrow.” Falling silent, she watched his face. Then she twisted a smile. “Welcome to the Dark Side kid. You just joined the army now we get to turn you into a damn good soldier.”
---
Conor listened quietly and once Imara finished he nodded his head. “Alright, so I report to you and the general, what does that mean in the short term?”
He sat back a bit, arms crossed over his chest. “What changes aside from what I assume is going to be a lot of working out?”
Things seemed like they were about to really suck, he wanted to know how much.
---
“Short term…” Imara smiled. “You are basically a grunt. Your dirty work is energy collecting, not getting yourself killed, and following orders. Perks are that when you take on your other form, you are now stronger, faster, more agile and well, try jumping. Just not indoors. “
“But don’t shift forms on a whim. When you take your other form, you give off a sensor. The White Moon can feel that just as you will be able to sense them. You also can’t go around showing it off to people. The more people who know who you are, the more people you put in danger.”
“This isn’t a game kid. People are going to try and kill you without blinking an eye.”
---
“I see,” Conor said. “So both me and Jay-b… Jay, have this power now?” He could already see benefits to this, even if the cost seemed overly high.
“Well, I certainly am not about to go show it off willy-nilly in the street, this is a close to the chest kind of thing.” He added with a nod.
“Alright, so I keep it secret, can do.”
---
Imara raised an eyebrow hearing the name stop before she continued. She wouldn’t ask yet. “Yes. She has it as well. Yet in her physical condition, I wouldn’t push her the way we can you. Even with the benefits, your body is still only human. She pushes herself before she’s ready and she will end up back in the hospital.”
Rapping her knuckles on the side of the couch, Imara cocked a brow. “So what are you trying to figure out if you can use these new abilities for? I see that mind working.”
---
“Well, you know, not falling into a situation like what happened tonight.” Conor said quietly. “Being able to be stronger is good if you wanna stay on top.”
He had no illusions there would be a power vacuum in midtown now. But he doubted he’d be able to plug it alone. “People respect the strong you know, I can do some good, earn some goodwill.”
Work his way up and become king of the castle.
---
Imara sat silently for a moment, closing her eyes before shaking her head. A smile was forming on her face. “You are full of s**t.”
“Word of advice kid, don’t expect everyone you meet in this world to make good on ‘favors’. Most of them are in it for their own skin and aren’t afraid to stab you in the back if it means getting ahead.” She rose finally and moved towards the kitchen. “Unless you have any questions, get to bed kid. Training starts tomorrow.”
---
“No questions,” Conor said, standing up and moving away toward his new room. Stopping at the doorway he turned to look back. “Let me know if anything happens with Jay, please?”
He knew she had been willing to throw him under the bus, but he was willing to give her another shot. After all, if he’d been in her shoe’s he’d of done the same.
With that said, he made his way to bed, but it took him quite some time to sleep.
Torvil