Half of My Heart

Lost in Transit.

Guard Six had separated from Neves after their arrival in the Enigma room and they listened as Black Robe explained everything to them, before Six instantly brought Shen Wei out of the lab to rest on a soft bed up here allowing him to sleep, and he watched as the Spirit walked slowly towards him. He was worried about his health, and he ran his hand over his host's brow as he began to correct the anaemia and anything else he could find wrong. Neves and Guard Six changed into their black robes, waiting for Ouyang to summon the Spirit, ready to take his place.

In the laboratory below, the technicians continued with their work while unaware of any changes until one of them touched Wei's arm to insert the first needle, and he felt cold. He tried to find his pulse but couldn't and panicked as he looked around hoping that Ouyang Zhen wasn't in the room, before he whispered to the nearest person beside him who also searched for a pulse in several other areas and soon realised that their prize specimen was dead. The longer they waited, the colder Wei's body became until they had no option and had to report his death to their boss.

"Are you sure he's not faking?" He said as his temper rose, because even he knew that they couldn't use Wei's blood after he was dead.

"Black Robe Show yourself."

Neves appeared in a veil of clouds with Six sharing his mind, and ignoring Ouyang, they walked straight towards Lord Shen's body and held his hand while they both silently repeated their oath of allegiance, before they knelt in respect and then turned to the old dodger in anger.

"I will agree to nothing unless my host's remains are sent home for burial." Neves demanded and stared through the mask at this psychotic old man.

Ouyang thought that this was too easy. The Spirit must have more important demands, but the only thing he wanted was to send a dead body home for the relatives to mourn, and he agreed. He thought that the Spirit would probably tire himself out, using up all his energy for such a trivial act and would not be able to defend himself afterwards. Neves moved closer to Shen Wei and slipped the device into his hand before he pressed the activation switch and watched his body disappear from the lab. Now he could play this old man at his own game and he turned to face him when he heard him speak.

"Black Robe sounds very pompous ... Do you not have another name? Something smaller which would roll off the tongue easier, now that your host is dead." Ouyang Zhen asked as he smirked at Neves thinking that he was talking to a weak Spirit.

"I used to be known as Guard Seven or Neves if you prefer, but then I can't keep calling you Ouyang, suppose I call you Zang because in time we will merge but not at the moment. I'm too weak and have reverted back to a solid state. Have one of your techs check my power level if you think I'm capable of lying," he suggested while Guard Six spoke in his host's mind questioning their safety.

"It would give me the chance to find out what gifts his staff have and they would only register your power as a spirit, not mine which I can hide," Neves answered and helped Six to calm down.

A technician walked closer and held his wrist, checking his strength while Neves scanned him and used telepathy to thank him when he found out that he was one of Gelan's guards, and explained that Lord Shen was safe and well in the Enigma room.

"He's telling the truth boss, he has no power at present," he informed the old dodger.

"Very well, go back to what you were doing... So it's true then, Black Robe never lies. How long before we can merge?" Zang asked.

"I don't know because I've never been in this position before, but I can usually recover from normal injuries very quickly, so maybe a week at most. That's not asking for too much time when you consider that it will be the last week of your life in your current condition." Neves said as he glanced over towards the guard who understood why he was here, and that he wasn't Black Robe.