Shell

Chapter 14: Regrets that Kill

"Yeah you wouldn't believe how many times the world gets into trouble, though to fair a lot of them are subtle and secret." Kyle finished after telling us about some of the times he'd been summoned to prevent the world's demise.

"So exactly how many times have you had to step in?" Marcus asked.

Kyle stared into space a little.

"Heh, I've lost count... Doesn't matter though I'm happy with what I do. Never a dull moment you know?"

"Alright now that story time is out of the way, its great to see you and all don't get me wrong but why are you giving Artemis looks full of dread?" Marcus asked seriously.

Kyle's gaze turned back to the past and filled with regret before looking back at Marcus.

"At first she just looked like someone I met from one of the times I was sent to save the world, but after I saw the daggers is when I became really worried."

"Who's the girl you met? And when did you meet her?" I asked.

"Oh I never caught her real name and I met her in London around the late 1800's."

"What was going on that made you have to go there?" Marcus asked.

"Well a group of magi were creating death and spreading their curses to any all they could, one of their doings was the poisonous smog that clouded the city, sure it didn't kill you instantly but even I was hindered just walking around. Anyways Aratashi felt if these magi were left unchecked any longer things would get to far out of hand and death would spread far to much."

"So what happened with this girl?"

"We'll one of the magi's ways of spreading death was creating curses inside of people clouding and twisting their thoughts. I met her wandering the streets, she was obviously homeless and she had the same scars Artemis has right now actually now that I'm really thinking about it Artemis is an exact replica of her. So when I met her I had offered her some food, shoes, and a little cloak I had picked up before hoping she might be able to tell me something about the magi."

"Let me guess she didn't right?" I added.

"Yeah, she didn't but I still tailed her when night fell. Well one of the mages put a curse in her that night, I didn't know it at the time because the cloak I gave was supposed to have a blessing on it so I went after the mage after seeing she was just unconscious. I was able to find the hideout and stop them and stay a while longer so I tried looking for the girl again but to no avail. A string of grisly murders happened so I pursued the killer with no luck until I found the girl dead in an alleyway covered in blood that wasn't hers with the same daggers Artemis has now. Those magi created Jack the Ripper and I could have stopped it from happening if I'd taken care of that girl before chasing that mage down."

The room was silent.

"I know I can't save everyone, I'm not that naive but its one of the biggest regrets I have."

"Damn..." Marcus said.

"So how did Artemis end up looking like that though? I can't imagine the nazis would make a body  and just cut it up like that." Kyle asked.

We regaled Kyle with what happened at the hanger with the doppelganger and all the events leading up to before he arrived. 

"I see. That still doesn't explain how she got those daggers."

"Couldn't tell you, she had em when she woke up and executed that squad that tried to retrieve her." I said remembering that gruesome scene.

"Alright we'll I hope she'll-" Kyle got out before the power went out.

We were in complete darkness for a couple seconds before the back up generators kicked in filling the room with a red light. We all got up and headed out of the briefing room and saw no one in sight not even the guards were roaming the halls.

"Guards must be headed to the power generators." Marcus said.

"I got a feeling, but I hope I'm wrong... You two head to Caren and try to find out what happened." Kyle said as he turned to go down to the med-bay.

"Hey where are you going?" I asked.

"To check on Artemis, I'll be fine now go." Kyle said as he ran off.

"Shit, come on lets go." Marcus said.

We headed down the hall towards Caren's office when a mist started to roll in from the hallways and it became hard to breathe. It felt like acid was in the air and it burned my nostrils and my eyes began to water a bit, I could see Marcus wasn't doing any better. We reached Caren's office and stopped at the window. My heart began to race rapidly as I saw the window was pasted with blood on the other side so much I couldn't see inside. Marcus rammed through the door with a loud clang of metal.

"Oh thank god, shes not in here Ray." Marcus said relieved.

I stepped in and while there was the beheaded corpses of two guards Caren was no where to be found.

"Come on lets keep looking." I asked wanting to leave that room.

We entered the mist again and began to run down the halls again. It was a few minutes of aimless searching before Artemis almost materialized out of the mist in front of us. She had on a black cloak and there was blood on the side of her face and she gave us the same cold, unblinking stare as before. I was about to speak up before it became even harder to breathe as it felt like acid was being poured into my lungs and the air stung my eyes even more intensely effectively blinding me for now. I fell to my knees trying to keep conscious from the lack of air before a swift kick to my head caused me to black out.

-Kyle-

I ran towards Artemis' room in the med-bay as a mist began to fill the hallways and I smelt something acidic in the air.

"Aw shit." I groaned as I knew where this smell came from. 18th century London.

I turned back around to head towards Ray and Marcus before I saw Artemis walking towards the exit and beside her being carried by a cloud of mist was Marcus' unconscious body.

"Artemis stop!" I called out.

She stopped and titled her head towards me. She was wearing the same cloak I had given the girl who had become Jack the Ripper.

"How did you get those daggers and that cloak." I asked creating a pair of black and white swords in my hands.

"You gave it to me..." Was all she said.

"Well, I'm the one who gave her Jack the Ripper's daggers the rest came to her when she realized who she was." a female voice near Artemis said.

I readied my swords. From behind the corner of the hall Caren stepped out carrying the demonic sword in her hand seeing it caused my vision to flicker as my brain tried to copy it.

"What are you planning Caren?" I asked angrily.

"I have my own reasons to meddle with my realm, Counter Guardian." Caren said evilly as her eyes changed to a glowing red.

"Now that I have my sword back, I'll be on my way." She said as began to walk out. "Artemis deal with the Guardian."

Artemis pulled out the two daggers and charged me with almost super sonic speed, I met her daggers head on with my swords as we traded strike for strike.

'What the hell?! Theres no way a normal person even if they're enhanced can keep up with a counter guardian!' I thought to myself.

Artemis backed off for a second and I had little time to wonder why before Caren appeared directly in front of me and I barely blocked her strike that shattered my swords and sent me flying into the wall or rather through the wall. I managed weakly get my head up before Artemis' boot kicked it back down sending me into darkness.