Jane and the Guardians: Sword of the Lady

Chapter 4

Donnie and Marie bring Jane back to Mrs. Smith's house and they head for the basement.

"Why are we here? This is suicide. We need to get away," Jane questions in a panicked voice. Not wanting to give away their location, Jane is hesitant to use her power to read their minds.

"My Lady Mrs. Smith gave very specific instructions to return to the house after we escaped from John," Donnie answers calmly and unhurriedly.

"She knew this was going to happen?"

"Everything happened exactly as she said," Donnie and Marie answer simultaneously in a practiced harmony. It's as if they've said those words thousands of times before.

"She told you John was going to kill those people?" Jane asks incredulously.

"Not exactly," Marie answers with tears in her eyes, trying unsuccessfully to suppress her emotions and calm Jane down. The realization of what must have happened to the Lady for them to be here finally hits. "She told us we have to get away from John and come back here." She turns away and is shaking from her sobs.

"And darkroom," Donnie chimes in with the slightest hint of sadness that Jane can just barely pickup. The reason why they are here is no less obvious to Donnie, but unlike his empathic partner, the hardened soldier was trained to not show his feelings.

"Right, so what now?" Jane asks after taking a breathe in an uncertain tone. She senses their grief for Mrs. Smith. But not having the time to process and truly understand all that just transpired, Jane is just thankful for a moment to gather her thoughts.

"My Lady Mrs. Smith left us money," Donnie explains in his usual matter-of-fact voice and reaches into the washing machine and brings out a couple rolls of bills. "We are supposed to wait two hours and then leave."

"To meet up with her?" Jane says hopefully.

"No," Donnie replies silently. Marie continues to sob and unable to speak.

"Then where?" Jane asks after taking another moment to compose herself.

"She said you will tell us."

"What? She disappeared in front of my eyes, told me to trust my cats that turn out to be people. Now there's a super powered killer chasing after us and she said I will tell you where to go? I can't believe this. This is so like her," Jane says in an exasperated tone. "I'm just a high school girl, what do I have to do with any of this?"

"I know how you must feel," Marie says, still tearful, in her caring and kind voice. "But you are not just a high school girl. You are the Lady of Justice. The fate of the world depends on you."

#

Is the Lady still alive? John ponders nervously to himself, staring at the empty space where he is sensing Jane's energy. No, I killed her with the Sword. This is obviously thought manipulation. So how could this happen? He raises an eyebrow as the thought occurs to him. It must be the girl. The Lady must have been secretly training her. Very smart of the Lady to keep her close by so I mistook her as one of the Guardians.

But when did the coronation happen? Couldn't possibly have happened just now, I sensed her power when I entered the Palace. There was no time for the energy transfer to take place. Although, she didn't fight back and just allowed me to... John couldn't bring himself to finish the thought and looks down at the bracelet. Even though I have the Lady's powers, there is still much about the Lady that I don't understand.