Universal Collision

Traitor in our midst

Alex set Elizabeth by the door as he landed in the parking lot of Red's house. Ezekiel and Old Alex landed next to him.

Elizabeth looked over at Lauren's Camaro. "Her car is here. Yet, I don't sense her. She or Emma. I hope it's an enchantment Red put over the house."

Alex slid the door open and gasped. "Lauren!" He ran to her side and wiped the blood from her lip. "Lauren, are you alright?"

Lauren's eyes fluttered open. "Dad?"

Alex nodded and hugged her. "Lauren, where's Emma?"

Lauren pointed toward Tamara, who hung on the wall, impaled on a splinter of wood from her shelf of cookbooks. Alex ran to her and pulled her off the spike, then felt for a pulse. Her heart was still beating. "Elizabeth, over here."

Elizabeth knelt down and brandished a tendril before driving it into Tamara's arm. She watched as her wound healed, then pulled it out. Tamara sat up and screamed. "She took her!"

Elizabeth wiped the blood off her hands. "Who took her, Tamara? Who kidnapped our daughter?"

Old Alex stared at the doorway. "Llana. She was here."

Tamara nodded. "She was disguised as you, Liz. Emma saw through her disguise and attacked her, but suddenly, she released her. She said something about Rapture and Emma let her go."

"Emma used her tendrils?"

Tamara nodded. "Inject me. I'm gonna help you save her. I'm not going to let anything happen to her."

Elizabeth did as she asked, and seconds later, Tamara was wielding four tendrils.

Elizabeth screamed in anger and slammed all six of her tendrils against the floor. "That monster! What more does he want from us?"

Tamara slapped her with a tendril. "Get a hold of yourself. We can't beat him like this."

Elizabeth lashed her tendrils around Tamara's body. "You are a fool. We'll never beat him. Not without Stonevas."

She slammed her against the wall and dropped her.

Tamara wiped the blood from her lip. "We can. Emma's power exceeds his. All we have to do is get Emma to side with us. All we have to do is convince her that her father is the bad one."

Elizabeth aimed her tendrils at Tamara's head. "You're saying that bastard turned my daughter against me?"

Alex jumped between them and grabbed four of Elizabeth's tendrils. "Liz, calm down. I'm just as angry as you, but we need to stay level-headed."

Elizabeth lashed her two remaining tendrils around Alex's arms, forcing him to let go. She smacked him aside, then stabbed Tamara's legs with two tendrils.

"Why didn't you try to stop her?"

Tamara screamed as Elizabeth twisted her tendrils. "We thought she was you! If Emma hadn't seen through her disguise, she probably would have killed us all!"

Elizabeth retracted her tendrils and fell to her knees. "No. She can't go down that path. I can't let that happen!" She dashed outside and out of sight.

Alex watched her until she disappeared from view. "Tamara, did she leave any clues as to where she was taking her?"

Tamara nodded, her face tight from the pain of her wounds. "I overheard something about ice cream before I lost consciousness."

Alex thought for a moment. Ice cream. What would Llana mention ice cream for? Then it hit him. There was an abandoned ice cream shop a few miles away. Was it possible that they were hiding out there?

"Old me, there's something I need you to check on."

Old Alex transformed and cocked his shotgun. "Let me guess. You put two and two together and thought about the ice cream shop?"

Alex turned to him as he leveled his shotgun at Alex's chest. "What are you doing?"

Blackcaster grinned. "To save the life of my son, a deal had to be made. I couldn't let the chaos demon kill him. So, I gave my soul in exchange. Forgive me, Alex." He blasted a hole through his counterpart's chest and watched as he flew against the wall. Blackcaster looked to Tamara, then threw her his shotgun. "Take it. I'm not worthy of that weapon." He turned into a cloud of smoke and vanished through the doorway.

Lauren ran to Alex and leaned him against the wall. "Dad! Are you alright?"

Alex groaned as his wound healed. "I'm fine."

Lauren stared at the spot where a moment before, his heart was in shreds. "You're healing, and without the mask."

Alex stared at the wound for a second. "You're right," He sat up.

"I'm not wearing the mask. Yet, I still regenerated. That's great."

Ezekiel cursed and stamped his foot in anger. "Dad, why? What did that monster promise you?"

Tamara handed him his father's shotgun. "He made a deal to save your life. He must really love you to sell his soul to chaos in exchange for your life."

Ezekiel opened the gun's shell chamber and stared at the slugs it was loaded with in disbelief. "Regular shotgun slugs. No special ammunition. But, it was loaded with godkiller shells before. I loaded the damned thing. When did he change them out?"

Alex donned his mask. "Zeek, I'm gonna need your help to save my daughter. You saw that your father isn't on our side. So, I need to know. Are you with me, or against me?"

Ezekiel cocked the shotgun. "Let me reload the gun. I'm gonna kill that sonuvabitch."