Superhero Adventures, UK Style

Mary woke up and immediately groaned. Her head felt as though she’d been up drinking bootleg whiskey all night, only the lack of a horrible taste of decay in her mouth refuted that as the cause. She’d no memory of anything after she had gone to bed, sober mind you. She had never suffered from migraines before, but that seemed the closest to a possible cause for her current and enduring pain.

She forced herself to open her eyes even as she swung her feet out of bed and groaned uncontrollably again as the room momentarily felt like it was spinning around her.  She looked down to stabilise her vision and saw that her boots were splattered with wet mud and there were muddy footprints from the door of her container bedsit towards their current location at the bottom of her bed.

Unlike the others in the team, Mary had elected to continue living in her apartment made out of an old shipping crate that was sited in the Container Town above the BASEment. She felt it kept her more in touch with her friends amongst the previously homeless.

She stumbled over to her clothes and sure enough the hem of her dress was also splattered with mud and green stains that she thought contained remnants of clover. She dressed without putting the lights on then walked over and opened the door only to confirm that the footprints never exited the container. She sighed deeply. What was going on with her? Ever since her return from Éire she’d been having occasional blackouts. Now it seemed she could add sleepwalking to her symptoms.

She checked the ground outside; it was dry and there were no signs of any prints. So, where had her muddy tracks originated? Could she have insubstantialised herself while sleepwalking? Hah, to do that she would need to transform into Banshee – did that aspect of their twinned personae even sleep never mind sleepwalk?

Her head felt as though it was about to explode as she shuffled back inside her home, closed the door and made herself a strong cup of tea before turning on the TV at a very low volume.

It had been a couple of weeks since they had last officially assisted the Police with a case. Being an HCP consultant was the ultimate in zero hour’s contracts, unless they were dealing with a power-related crime or assisting the Police, they weren’t paid. They still had their income from merchandising but since Young Sam’s departure that had dropped off quite dramatically and the retainer from Bethany basically paid the costs of maintaining the team and not much else at the moment as her dad was again trying to freeze her assets through the courts.

Mary never thought she’d be worried about money again, but she had to admit that setting up the latest container town project, this time in Dublin, had drained her financially. She (or the Balance?) needed a case.

She took a large, noisy sip of her hot tea and glanced at the TV. There was a report on the news of a young girl in Central Wessex who had been brutally stabbed last night. From where the reporter was standing just in front of the incident tent they had erected over the body; she could see in the background a couple of forensic investigators examining and photographing a series of isolated muddy footprints close to the body. Muddy despite it being dry everywhere else. Strikingly familiar looking prints… That woke her up!

She needed to contact Inspector Tolliver and see if she could see the files on this case. There was no way she could be involved, could she? The muddy footprints stopping at the doorway could be due to her turning insubstantial, but again why would she have no memory of doing it?

She reached for her commdot, which lay on top of her small coffee table and saw a scrunched-up scrap of paper lying on the ground underneath it. She picked it up and as she flattened it out, she saw written in her own cursive script, “He’s finally free. We must stop him before he kills again. It’s my fault he’s out and I’m sorry.” Something else she didn’t remember doing.

What was going on?  Mary pulled a wry expression as she re-read the note. “Since when did this one start using the royal plural, heh?” she muttered to herself as she dialled Marcus.  She reckoned that they have known each other enough now, in and out of all sorts of strange situations, to trust him with the truth, or at least most of it.  She elected to hold back on mentioning the note but decided to own up to the seeming muddy footprint link.  She hoped by doing so that it might at least give him a reason to fast-track her access to this particular investigation as details on the girl and her background might prove helpful.  

She had dozens of questions she wanted answering if she was to get to the bottom of this mystery.

She dialled through on their direct line to Marcus and heard his voice respond, “Morning Banshee, what can I do for you? This isn’t a great time…” Mary cleared her throat, for some reason she felt nervous. “Morning, it’s about the case of the murdered girl? Look, I know this will not make much sense, but I think the muddy footprints at the scene may be mine, but I don’t know why. I want in on the investigation…”

At the other end of the line, there was silence for about a minute then she heard his response, “I need you to come to HQ for questioning. I can’t say any more until then… As soon as possible, please?”

Quarter of an hour later Banshee floated down to the entrance of the Wessex Police Headquarters and walked across to Marcus who was standing with a couple of officers on the front steps.

He looked anxious. Banshee held out her hand to shake his and realised something was wrong as he failed to respond in kind; instead Marcus spoke softly, “Banshee, you do not have to say anything, but, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?”

To Banshee’s surprise and if she was being honest anger, the officers with him immediately got behind her and she heard one pull out her handcuffs ready to restrain her only for Marcus to wave her back.

“I’m afraid we need to ask you to answer some questions about what you were doing at the murder scene and failed to report. If you refuse, I will need to arrest you, which means you will be held in custody before being formally questioned. Don’t make me do that Banshee, please?”

She felt angry and betrayed but gradually her calmer, logical side took over. She had admitted to being at the scene possibly at or close to the time of a murder. Her lack of memory didn’t mean that she wasn’t either a witness or possibly even the culprit, no wonder they wanted to continue this under caution. Of course, she could just ghost away, there would be nothing anyone could do about it, but how would that benefit her?

They took her to an interview room and she explained what she knew – that she’d woken up with muddy boots at the bottom of her bed. She agreed to arrange for one of her friends to drop them off at the station – and no, she wasn’t willing to compromise her identity by giving them her address and tough if that risked contaminating the evidence. As she suspected, the prints at the scene and her boots with their unique tread matched. Forensics hadn’t yet confirmed whether the mud on her tread and at the scene matched or where it had originated from other than it was foreign to the murder scene.

For the next three hours a Detective Sergeant Stirling and another plain clothes officer questioned her, to which she had to explain that she wasn’t being obstructive it was just that she really didn’t know how her prints had appeared at the scene wherever that was. In the process she managed to discover that the victim had been a young girl, about 14 years – she really wanted to check if she was still a virgin but realised that asking that would give the wrong impression. They did show her a small splinter of crystal that looked very familiar to the larger shards her alter ego had recently began to produce from her hands.

Thankfully, it wasn’t common knowledge that Mary could now create these as they usually dissipated after a few minutes and of course Banshee didn’t have access to that particular ability. She asked if she could see the splinter and while they wouldn’t allow her to touch the exhibit bag it was in, she reached out with her mystical senses and felt sure it had a different signature to her own but of course she couldn’t admit that. The crime photos they showed her confirmed that the victim had been stabbed several times – each wound was rough and uneven as though stabbed multiple times by an organic tapered object, just like Mary’s crystal shards.

With no progress and Banshee getting fed up with the repeat nature of the questioning, she asked for a lawyer and gave Jimmy the Fish’s contact details so he could find a criminal lawyer to represent her. Meanwhile she was taken to a cell with Meta-inhibitors. She almost laughed aloud when she saw them. Marcus had to know she wasn’t a Meta but hadn’t bothered telling the Detectives who had taken over the case. Of course, the cell was still being monitored by CCTV so if she phased away, they would know immediately. No, better to wait this out until Jimmy had arranged for her release. She still hadn’t been charged but knew that if she tried to leave that would be their response and better to not have even a false arrest on her HCP record. She unexpectedly found her eyes closing and within minutes was asleep.

To her surprise, it was Marcus who woke her up about an hour later. She had a moment of panic when she realised that she’d been asleep, because Banshee never slept! Then realised Marcus was waiting, presumably to inform her that Jimmy had arranged for a lawyer to represent and advise her. Instead, he was clearly embarrassed as he explained that she was free to go but if her memory returned could she contact them immediately? This didn’t make sense. Why were they releasing her now? She had to know…

She looked down to the floor beside the bench that doubled as a bunk and saw scrawled on the cell floor in dried blood, “he will not stop.” She closed her fists in frustration and felt a sharp pain in her left palm. She looked at the palm and then forefinger of her right and realised the blood was hers and she must have written the message. She heard Marcus explain that while she’d been being questioned, another person had been killed this time in a public location by what was informally being referred to by the investigators as the spear murderer. Banshee had the best alibi in the world as she was being interrogated when the murder had occurred.

“Where?” Banshee asked. Marcus looked really apologetic but explained that the latest victim had been visiting the changing rooms in Ladybug, a clothing store in the St. Hughes Shopping Precinct, in the nearby Castle District of the city. “I may be able to assist, if I’m allowed to visit the scenes?”

Marcus went quiet before speaking, “Unfortunately not, until the mystery of your footprints at the scene of the first murder is explained that wouldn’t be possible, but… I’ve arranged for you to view the camera footage we took at both scenes.

A few minutes later Banshee found herself seated in Marcus’ office looking at the scene of the first murder. The young victim had clearly been surprised going by the look on her face when she’d died. The wounds did resemble those inflicted by Mary’s newfound ability, though these wounds looked larger. The site of the murder was on waste ground running alongside the river and was clearly used to fly tip as next to the body someone had previously dumped a damaged sofa, a fridge with the door removed, a smashed coffee able and a full size cracked mirror as well as a dozen black bags. The body was lying on the footpath next to the rubbish having collapsed backwards and had been stabbed several times in the chest, stomach and throat. Death would have been instantaneous. Police evidence teams were in the process of conducting a fingertip search of the area.

Not for the first time recently Banshee cursed the absence of Akira and his ability to read the past, but she would need to do whatever she could with her own investigative skills. The last thing she needed was to drag her teammates into this mess.

They had also videoed the scene of the second murder which was again of a female, this time of a woman in her late twenties and she had been in a changing room half-dressed when she too have been stabbed multiple times in the front of her body before collapsing backwards against the door. The Video had been taken from above the door prior to the body being moved to allow access. Only thing in front of her was a seat and several dresses waiting to be tried on in front of the full-length mirror.

Banshee turned and again asked to see the scene for herself and, admittedly reluctantly Marcus agreed that she could accompany them to the scene of the second murder but as her presence at the first was still unexplained that had to remain unvisited to avoid possible cross-contamination of the scene.

Thirty minutes later, Banshee and Marcus found themselves inside the Ladybug fashion emporium looking at the murder scene, the body of the victim having been taken to the morgue for confirmation of her identity, the cause of death was pretty obvious but they would still swab for evidence as to what had caused the wounds. Forensic had taken their initial samples away and the remaining officers had secured the scene or were now attempting to take statements from staff and customers, leaving the changing area empty apart from themselves.

Banshee realised something was amiss here but couldn’t work out what when suddenly a blue crystal-like humanoid figure suddenly appeared from out of one of the other changing rooms and rushed at her, a spear-like arm outstretched an indication its intention to stab her. Marcus immediately tried to intervene only to be thrown against the wall with superhuman strength.

Banshee’s first instinct was to turn insubstantial and invisible and move rapidly aside whilst letting out a Shattering Shriek.  Although that usually only worked on objects, she hoped the crystalline formation of this creature might also leave it vulnerable to that sort of attack.

She also had an ulterior motive based on a hunch. She hoped that the limited area of the changing room that the Shriek’s emanations might also take out any mirrors that were behind the attacker.  

The shriek caused the attacker to hesitate, as the sound waves cracked its crystalline structure and she heard the clatter of glass breaking behind it as the mirror in the changing room shattered into a million pieces. Seven years bad luck she thought as she found herself unconsciously reacting by jumping backwards while the creature tried to stab at her. She turned halfway round turned substantial and grabbed the mirror from the murder-booth before turning again to face the creature, using it as a kind of shield. For some reason she wasn’t sure that her ghosting would work against this alien creature.

The creature hesitated for a moment, then rammed its spear-like arm through the glass. To Banshee’s amazement, the glass did not shatter, or the arm exit the frame on her side. She glanced round; Marcus was lying against the wall unconscious but otherwise unhurt. The creature was somehow repairing itself by causing the fractures on its body to travel down its arm and into the mirror. It was repairing itself by transferring the damage from her shriek into the glass. Clearly there was no need to sense the mystic forces embodied in the creature, it was also unlikely to be affected by mortal fear so would a second shriek help? It would likely shatter the mirror shield she was holding as well as her attacker. She went to fill her lungs and heard a voice in her mind, <<No, we need to capture him alive!>> What the..? Aloud she asked, “Who are you?  Why this madness?” though whether that question was aimed at her attacker or the voice in her head even she wasn’t sure.

Uncontrollably the shriek died in her throat only for her to emit a full-damage Wail instead. It filled the room and caused her attacker to rush in towards her. She found herself blocking the attack with the mirror in her hands only to find herself blacking out.

Banshee awoke. The first thing she noticed was that she was lying in mud and that it was twilight. The second thing she realised was that she was surrounded by plants formed out of mirrored glass. The blades of grass were crystalline as were the bushes and leaves. She tried to stand and found herself wincing with pain. Her exposed skin was covered in dozens of minor cuts including on the palms of her hands. Then she heard the sound of creatures screaming in unison, not unlike a series of loud hysterical coughs. As she tried to sit up, getting splashed with even more of the cold, wet mud in the process, she saw another of the crystalline humanoids coming closer. Behind him were half a dozen shadowy figures in the mist, lights shining brightly as they headed in her direction.

The creature in front of her looked sad as it reached out one of its crystal-like hands. It spoke, apparently in English as it did so, “Sorry I got you into this. Now run, if the prison guards catch us, they will imprison us both. You as an accessory for helping me escape this prison world and me for a crime I didn’t commit. Raz-seer has already fled and is looking for another mirrored surface big enough for him to again flee through. He unfortunately likes your world, as organics are so easy to kill. I’ve been trying to stop him, but he managed to escape my attempts to…” It paused and looked behind it.

It was clear that the group approaching was some sort of search party searching this glassy swamp for someone or something. The humanoids all resembled the two inorganic lifeforms she’d seen so far and they were following two large beasts. The beasts’ sort of resembled mineral-based bears running on all fours crossed with wolves and they were the source of the strange cough-like barks as they strained to break free of their leashes.

They had mere minutes before the searchers would be on top of them and the strange boy-like creature in front of him clearly wanted to flee.

He pointed across a muddy lake at a small island with a strange tree made with mirrored leaves and shimmering bark. “Quick, we need to get there if we want to escape, assuming we survive crossing the water of course. Raz-seer will want to destroy the tree after he has crossed back to your world. Get up if you want to live free…”

Banshee had always been a sucker for underdogs and tales of people (and creatures?) being wrongly accused. As a result, she didn’t hesitate to follow the creature as it skipped from crystal mound to crystal mount. Besides, the description of the murderous crystal-being in the fleshly world held up.  

Banshee knew that, despite the risks, they’d get there faster by flying. She hovered and quickly caught up with the crystal being grabbing him by the shoulders (noting that he was a lot heavier than he looked) then turned insubstantial and invisible as together they set off flying towards the indicated island and its solitary tree.

The creature in her arms muttered something about it being “easier when I was in control.”

She had to ask, “Where did you learn how to speak English?” The creature smiled, “From you when we were bonded. Language is so much easier when learned directly. Now be careful, I’m sure that Raz-seer’s presence will have disturbed the Qhe’arii nests, as he crossed to the island. Provided we get there in time there should be enough of the Mirror Tree still intact to follow him, otherwise we will both be doomed to live out the remainder of our existence on this world.”

Sure enough, as they flew above the water Banshee could see giant quartz-like ribbons, serpentine is shape, scooting around just beneath the surface of the muddy water.

Despite Banshee being invisible, several of them tried to lunge their multi-toothed stony heads out of the water to try and bite at them only for their thin glass-like fangs to clatter together as they failed to grab hold but it did seem to indicate that her invisibility wasn’t nearly as effective here as back on Earth.

As she passed above them, she unleashed a powerful silent aura of fear to try to clear away any sentient dangers lurking beneath the surface. It appeared to succeed as the wriggling creatures scattered back into the depths of the muddy waters.

In front of them they could see the island with its lone tree covered in abundant broadleaved glassy foliage and they could just make out the other crystalline creature step through the reflective surface as though it was a doorway. As his heel vanished from view, the leaves on the tree began to fall, shattering one by one on the quartz crystals that lay on the muddy soil surrounding its roots. Her passenger shouted out “Quick, we must get there before the tree loses all of its leaves and the mirror path closes completely.” Banshee went as fast as she could encumbered as she was with her passenger. It must have realised they weren’t going to be fast enough as it suddenly touched Banshee’s temples and she found herself blacking out.

She awoke in a dark, dirty alley lying on the ground. It was again daytime and there was no mud underfoot or mirrored tree nearby. Kneeling in front of her was a man in a smart business suit, brolly and briefcase in hand. “You okay?” he asked in a worried voice, “Most people don’t react to my presence the way you do in this form… Hurts both of us when we fuse.”

“What happened?” Banshee asked trying to stand while trying to figure out what was going on. The stranger in front of her smiled, an uncannily familiar-looking smile. “It’s simple, I weigh nothing when we are merged and as a result, we were able to fly faster. Unfortunately, only one of us can be in control so I had to force you to go unconscious, sorry! As a result, we reached the tree before it had shred all of its leaves and before Raz-seer’s portal closed.”

It slowly began to make sense, the man in front of her was somehow possessed by her passenger. “So why did you possess this man? What is it you want?”

The man stood up, “I ‘borrowed’ him as its easier to get assistance if I don’t show myself in my true form. I want, I need, justice. My fellow prisoner is also of the Ghemm but while I can merge with others, he had the more common power to use reflective surfaces to create doorways to other worlds.

On my world, I was falsely accused of murdering fellow Ghemms and was sent to a prison planet in another universe. Some of my people have the gift of creating mirror portals that can transcend space. I was not one of them, I always thought I was amongst the undercast of the powerless, doomed to serve the masters in the crystal spires.

There had been a spate of murders, of the high-born, their bodies always being found in the dark streets inhabited by the powerless. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was arrested and sentenced to life on the prison world we just left. While there I shared a cell with an organic. Quite by chance, during a particularly intense torture session I accidentally discovered that I could cohabit his body. Of course, the authorities assumed I had somehow managed to portal out and set of in search of me leaving me hiding inside my cellmate. Over the next couple of weeks, I discovered that I only needed to surface when I needed to take control, but of course I was still a prisoner, still trapped in that hellhole and I couldn’t remain inside my cellmate forever.

To escape, I needed someone who could portal out and that also meant finding a mirrored surface they we could use to escape. There was only one powered in the prison, a high-born that had been sent to this hell by his own family about the same time as me. He went by the name Raz-seer and was himself seeking a way to escape. My first attempt at trying to contact him almost resulted in my cellmate’s death as Raz-seer had an intense hatred of all organic lifeforms. He only survived because I emerged and revealed myself and my powers.

Stupidly we agreed to help each other escape. The Governor of the prison was a Sil, another organic. Our plan was simple. I would possess him and make his body escort Raz-seer onto the surface where we knew we should be able to find some reflective surface that we could then use to escape the planet.

It worked until Raz-seer tried to kill me and then escape using a Mirror Tree. As he killed the guards sent to the surface with us, he admitted that in fact he had been the deviant that had killed the high-born I had been blamed with murdering. His killing spree only ended because his family, having discovered the truth, had sent him to the prison in an attempt to hide the damage he was doing to their name.

I survived but my host body didn’t and I was forced to flee after him even as the tree was being destroyed as a result of his passage. I tried to follow anyway and ended up in a barren place where I could no longer maintain my mortal form and I was forced to hibernate beneath the sands, more dead than alive. That’s where you found me, reactivated me accidentally as you and your other half fought side by side against the demon. I escaped with you, hidden inside your mortal side, injured I needed to return to hibernation and heal, but I was able to give you a gift of sorts, the ability for your human form to produce the crystal splinters when needed. It’s a healing ability in my people, the ability to synthesise new crystalline structures out of the atmosphere but when Mary does it, her body automatically rejects the growths and expels them as missiles from her hands. That was an unexpected side effect of what was intended as a gift.

While I was slumbering, healing I felt Raz-seer’s presence, discovered that he had already made his way here, to your world. The passage had weakened him also and only now was he able to go forth and kill again.

I need your help. He can feel where I am when I am not merged as easily as I can track his presence. He’s in a place of entertainment, something called a Hall of Mirrors in a fairground and he’s stalking his next victim. Oh, and be warned the guards and the Chadrhi, hounds, are already on their way – they would willingly destroy this entire city rather than allow a prisoner to escape.”

Despite the pain, discomfort and alarming circumstances, Mary was delighted to hear what the crystal-being had to tell, making sense out of so much mystery. “So,” she said, “am I right in thinking that if cast these crystal shards at you – or at this Raz-seer, or indeed the wardens and their beasts – at least when you are in your native form, they would heal, rather than harm?”  She listened carefully to the answer.

The youth-like creature seemed surprised. “Tell me, if I were to grow more of myself and cast it at you would it heal or hurt you?” Before Banshee could answer, he continued, “As a species can someone else grow a replacement spine and you would be able to absorb it into yourself? My people grow our own repairs as long as we can absorb our stars light. On my world most of the life-giving energy from our star is blocked from reaching the surface and the powerless by the high-born masters in their crystal spires, in the darkness below we are rationed how much life-giving energy we are allowed based on our productivity. When we are denied starlight for too long, we can no longer renew ourselves. We grow brittle and shatter. In the prison we were allowed mere minutes each planetary rotation provided we slaved the rest of our existence for the masters. Stop working and we died, slow and painful deaths. No, your shards will not heal, they will cause damage, more so because your anatomy instantly rejects them and dispatches them as projectiles. My kind can be injured by your projectiles, though not as easily as you organics.”

Banshee nodded vigorously, before smiling fondly on the youth. “Do you have a name? I need to call you something.”

The hijacked man smiled again, “In my native world amongst my own people I was once known as ‘Sciblu’ Anan So’reflezra Suldadai’. I lost the right to a name though when I was imprisoned. If I need an identifier, it would be better to name me yourself.”

“I shall think of you as my scathan an anama, the ‘mirror of my soul’ and call you Scath for short… but now then, we must be off in haste to this Mirror Hall of yours and stop this rogue quite in his tracks.  Nor can we let the wardens and their dogs wreak havoc in this world.”  She frowned.  “If you take refuge inside me, then the wardens would not know that you were there? Am I right in thinking that? And in fact, for travelling now, had we not best leave this gentleman’s body behind?  We would not wish to see it damaged!”

Scath nodded, and suddenly appeared beside the man in his suit who momentarily collapsed to the ground even as the crystalline creature touched Banshee’s shoulder and vanished, his last words before disappearing inside her were “Sorry for the pain.”

Instead of blacking out, this time Banshee remained conscious but could feel the mental anguish that having yet another mind in her body caused. She tapped her skull and muttered, “It’s getting awfully crowded in there…” She reached over and helped the businessman to his feet and thanked him. He just looked confused and bewildered as he wandered out of the lane and away.

Inside her head she could hear Scath, <<He will remember nothing of what has just happened, most organics go unconscious when possessed and it takes them a few minutes to come back to their senses. Now can we go to this Fairground of yours, next to the river in the Castle Quarter? Why do your people refer to it as a Fair Ground when your memories clearly reveal that the entertainments are rarely fair or honest? Your memories clearly show most games are as you would say ‘rigged’ and…>> As she continued, Banshee realised that being conscious whilst transporting the creature might not be such a good thing after all.

Banshee and her passenger set off for the riverbank as fast as she could fly, guided by Scath’s senses as to where to head.  Minutes later they arrived, and she immediately ghosted, turning invisible and insubstantial, at least to ordinary eyes. Despite Scath’s insistence on rushing straight to the Hall of Mirrors Banshee wanted to take a quick look round to assess the situation.  

From above she could see that people were about to enter the tented display of distorting mirrors.

She became visible and flew down towards the box office. “You need to close this down; I believe that there is a suspect of a violent crime already inside. Are there many inside at the moment?”

The young boy collecting the tickets appeared to know who she was as he immediately replied, “Yes ma’am, Banshee, ah… There are about six people inside at the moment, but none of them looked dangerous. Are you sure? My pop will be angry as hell if I close the show down without good cause..?”

Banshee listened to Scath’s telepathic protestations that they needed to get inside now even as she explained to the boy, “Yes, close it down on my authority.” As though in response a male scream sounded from inside the tent. Banshee immediately vanished from sight, having ghosted and rushed into the hall.

It was a maze of mirrors inside. Most warped in some way to distort their reflections. Near the middle of the main path through the mirrors a man lay on the ground, his arm bleeding even as the mirror in front of him exploded out causing a shard of glass to pierce his upper thigh. Suddenly from behind him a blue coloured spear of an arm began to appear as though flowing out of the glass.

Banshee considered for a second unleashing a Shattering Shriek, smashing all of the mirrors in the halls to splinters, but as there were humans, the victim at least, within range of the breaking glass she refrained.  Using an Aura of Fear to get them to flee the maze would also be counterproductive as they were likely already terrified.  Instead she revered to Mary and elected to try her harp’s powers on both criminal and any bystanders – starting with Joy to try to dispel evil and anxious thoughts, and to pied-piper the innocents out of the maze at a jig-pace. She stopped though when the man in front of her collapsed through blood loss when he tried to stand and dance even as Scath materialised beside her and set off running towards the materialising arm. That ruled out a Shattering Shriek as she would likely injure Scath. She flew up and saw the victim, the bleeding from his arm was minimal but the leg wound must have severed an artery going by the large shard of glass still embedded in it and the amount of blood gushing out around the wound. Behind her, she heard a woman’s voice. Turning she saw a woman and toddler. The woman looked pale but surprisingly calm. She muttered something about having done first aid about a decade ago and what did she need to do to help? From off to one side of Banshee and Scath they heard screams, this time of multiple females in unison followed by the tinkling of falling glass. Over the tops of the frames they could see that another mirror on a different path had apparently shattered.

Behind them, coming from one of the mirrors they had just passed they both could hear a series of distant, hysterical coughs getting closer by the second. The Wardens had obviously found a powered to enable them to travel after Raz-seer.

Mary had to wonder if she managed to shatter all of the mirrors would that postpone or even cancel the problem of dealing with the wardens and their beasts? Given that Raz-seer had travelled through the fragmented leaves of a mirror tree she couldn’t guarantee that would happen though it did appear to take more out of the transporter.

Mary looked at the victim at his feet, at the woman wondering how best to help and then at Scath as he tried to navigate the hall towards the screams. Mary shouted after a fleeing Scath, “If Raz-seer were to confess the truth of his earlier murders proving you were innocent Scath…”

A distant voice shouted back, “I’d still be imprisoned in the darkest cell until I expired, for the crime of breaking out. I am a powerless, an example would be required. Nothing less than my extinction would satisfy them. No if I’m caught, I’m done. Find another way.”

Mary’s natural instinct was to heal and save lives first and foremost, but there was no time for a healing-song especially for such a serious and potentially life-threatening injury – nor was there even much time to administer physical first-aid – not with others in imminent danger.  She nodded encouragingly at the pale-looking mother as Mary quickly undid the victims belt and fastened it tightly around the top of the thigh, pulling it as tight as she could before asking the woman to gently staunch the remaining blood flow by leaving the fragment of glass in place but packing the wound around it using his scarf then try to immobilise and keep the victim safe until more help can come?  Thankfully she knelt beside the fallen man and did as she was asked. Mary asked her to call for an ambulance and Police and let them know that the man’s femoral artery had been cut and that he needed help as soon as possible, she was in pursuit of his attacker.

The woman glanced up, taking in Mary’s clothing and advanced age and was about to make a comment only for Mary to transform into Banshee before her eyes. Her toddler clapped her hands together in appreciation. The years vanished as her ghostly personae took residence in the shared body and she immediately ghosted through the wall of mirrors in a direct line for the main source of the disturbance.

She found Raz-seer and Scath violently wrestling in front of three young preteen girls who, instead of fleeing, were fearfully watching the pair of crystalline beings struggling with each other. There wasn’t time to individually ghost each of the potential victims to safety outside – instead she unleashed an aura of fear while directing them towards what she hoped was the exit. The girls immediately fled. Banshee turned to focus her attention on Raz-seer only to see him toss the youthful looking creature opposing him to the ground, his arm once again altering into a spear as he attempted to stab him through its chest. Slivers of crystal from Scath’s chest broke off under the impact.

Banshee unleashed a shattering shriek at the surrounding mirrors hoping that with Scath on the ground the worst of the scream’s effects would pass over him. The scream and the accompanying shattering of dozens of mirrors certainly captured Raz-seer’s attention and he turned to engage with her, his body covered in multiple fractures. The nearest undamaged mirrors stood behind her and he was determined to heal himself and escape, especially as the sound of the cough-like barks were sounding ever closer.

Banshee was still in her ghost form which she hoped would prove to be at least partially effective against his attacks. Her hope was to distract him and hopefully manoeuvre him away from any other potential victims – while keeping him unable to either repair himself or mirror-walk away – at least until the wardens arrive… She was glad to see that Scath, despite his injury, was able to get back onto his feet and charge him from behind.

Sticking with her ghost form, Banshee closed in, dodging around Raz-seer while Scath distracted him, before applying her corrupting touch. As she got in close behind him, she turned substantial and felt her hand being pierced as Raz-seer instantly grew a ‘coating’ of sharp glassy spikes over his body. The unexpected pain meant that the touch failed to be completed. He turned and slashed at her, his spear-like arm passing through her insubstantial body though there was a momentary pain caused by the crystal arm interacting with her phased body somehow.

Again it stabbed and Banshee realised that it was shredding crystal particles with each thrust that while they were inside her phased body prevented her from substantialising until she was able to get clear. Her hope to rapidly subdue him so that he could be handed over to the jailers, without them needing to deploy any indiscriminate violence was proving harder than expected.

She couldn’t risk turning substantial until she could get far enough away not to materialise around the particles so that ruled out using her corrupting touch until she had fully subdued her attacker. In return he was obviously frustrated that he was unable to kill this organic.

Scath suddenly jumped on Raz-seer’s back and tried punching him in the face. That’s when Banshee realised that Scath couldn’t change his arm into a weapon. Raz-seer grew a spike in his elbow and tried to stab it into Scath’s belly. Banshee felt she had no choice, she had to end this and quickly.

Nearby she could hear the sound of what she hoped was an ambulance crew arriving and the sound of the cough-like barks that indicated that the wardens were almost there. She had to work out some way to protect the humans inside the tent. It seemed as though Raz-seer had also realised what was happening and was trying to edge backwards with Scath still clinging onto his back towards one of the undamaged mirrors though whether to escape or to use it to ambush, Banshee really wasn’t sure, The good thing though was that his body was shielding Scath’s as they both struggled.

Another shattering shriek rang out taking out the remaining mirrors in the reflective walls behind him and several new cracks appeared on Raz-seer. Using the momentary confusion to step back and away from the remaining floating crystal particles, Banshee resubstantiated herself and ran at the two figures in front of her, her hand outstretched. The spikes pierced the surface of her hand causing her to bleed profusely but still she pressed her flesh until it was fully engaged and discharged her all into a corrupting touch. Waves of destruction flowed from her bloody palm into his body and he collapsed, shattered, fragile and spent.

Banshee pulled back her bloody hand and turned. A Police officer had just arrived and was staring at her and her companion open mouthed. This might work in her favour after all, she thought as she changed back into Mary even as a large carnivorous mineral-based beastie appeared just behind the officer and he stepped back and fell into a relatively undamaged mirror. The beast took a snap at his leg which he quickly pulled away from its fanged mouth. The warden holding the creature said something but it was clear he knew no English. Time for charades then.

Behind him a second beast materialised held on a leash by another crystalline figure that resembled Raz-seer and Scath. then behind them a couple of other Ghemm also stepped forth from the glass. She glanced over and saw that the officer’s bodycam was on and recording and he was calling for assistance.

Placing herself between the wardens and her companion, Mary pulled out her harp even as one of the wardens unleashed its hound, possibly thinking the instrument was a weapon of some sort. Not unreasonable given the injuries she had apparently inflicted on one of their prisoners. She just had to time this right.

She had seconds at best. She immediately strummed the harp to create a wave of sound to calm the savage beast. As soon as the first notes were liberated its effect on the beasts was immediate; they suddenly stopped their charge, sniffed the air then lay down and whimpered. Banshee immediately said aloud, for the Police primarily that the spear murder was the alien that was subdued in front of them and that he was an escaped prisoner that the ‘crystal people’ had come to take back. “None of them understand English or any Terran language I’m afraid so explaining who gets to arrest him might be an interesting negotiation especially as the beasties can travel through mirrored surfaces. The boy behind me was helping track him and…”

She got no further as one of the wardens leapt over the cowering hounds and tried to stab her only to have her crystalline arm shattered by a blow from the Officer’s baton. He might have no idea what the hell was going on and be terrified of the stone-like hounds cowering in front of him but there was no way he was going to allow a civilian, even a super like Banshee, to be attacked without a response. “Reinforcements required, we’re under attack from aliens…” he screamed down his radio.

Banshee turned his head and winked at Scath, “Be ready to jump into me, okay?” she mouthed as she then turned back as she covertly unleashed several of her shards into the floor and walls behind her and beside Scath so that the area was suddenly covered in reflective dust even as he vanished, flowing into Mary’s body but thankfully not taking control. To everyone else it looked as though Scath had somehow exploded. As some of the glass fragments and shard-debris hit her face and skin it was clear to the Ghemm that no organic would inflict such injuries on themselves though they looked mystified as to what had just occurred.

She stepped forward and continued her harp playing projecting an aura of calming peace. She wanted to say so much more but without a common language..? For a second, she considered asking Scath to translate for her but that might reveal their deception. Better to let the Police take on the next stage. She glanced down and confirmed that Raz-seer was still lying effectively lifeless on the ground.

Better make his plea to his own kind “You’ll need G.R.E.E.T. to initiate first contact protocols with these creatures, they’re what we would call prison wardens seeking this one for murder of his own kind, something it continued doing when it appeared on this world. This is the so-called spear murderer. He can travel through reflective surfaces so…”

Before Banshee could continue, one of the Ghemm stepped forward, grabbed hold of Raz-seer’s body and threw him over his shoulder before stepping back amongst the handlers tugging furiously on their hounds leashes. Then one of them waved his hand in front of one of the few remaining undamaged mirrors, one designed to distort the image to make the viewer look fat and short and stepped through. The others immediately backed up tugging their hounds to follow and vanished from sight. As the last one stepped through the mirror it and its companions all shattered into fragments which crashed to the floor.

Mary gave out a loud sigh of relief but mentally warned Scath to remain inside her. This wasn’t over yet and they still had to figure out how to clear up the mess.

A few seconds later the whole tent was swarming with armed officers and a certain familiar, short, bald headed man in glasses from G.R.E.E.T. who went by the unlikely name of ‘Smith’. His presence here was way too quick, he had to have been waiting but why? A paramedic appeared before he could interrogate her and led Mary off to get urgent medical attention.

Patched up, Mary sat in the interview room with Marcus, Detective Sergeant Stirling and ‘Mr Smith’ explaining what she had learned; that she had no idea where the Ghemm’s home planet or the prison planet were, that the retrieved prisoner had been a murderer on his own world and in escaping had arrived on ours using their ability to mirror walk and she could confirm that not all of that species had the ability…

How could she know all this? She explained that another Ghemm had followed him to Earth (she left out the whole holiday in hell and accidentally returning with a hitchhiker part of the story) in the hope of capturing him. He’d somehow managed to take control of Banshee’s body, causing her to blank out. Through the use of this ability he learned how to speak English. Again she left it vague, letting them think that Scath must have some form of mind control rather than the ability to possess people’s bodies.

No, as far as she was aware that ability was not a common ability amongst the Ghemm and as for his motive, he wasn’t trying to cause any problems, his goal had been to capture and return the other Ghemm before he did any further harm. That had to be how her footprints had turned up at the site of the first murder. She asked if they had analysed the mud yet?

Reluctantly Sgt. Stirling admitted that analysis of the mud had revealed several unusual, unique even, chemicals in the composition, which would back-up the possibility that it was not of terrestrial origin. Banshee kept a straight face but realised that Raz-seer must have returned to the prison planet, or at least a different planet to Earth, between murders and that Scath must have used her body to follow him.

Banshee continued her story, explaining that in the process they had both accidentally been transported to the prison planet chasing the murderer. On returning with Banshee now no longer being controlled, they had managed to track him to the Hall of Mirrors where he was using the reflective surfaces to teleport around seeking out new victims.

However, the prison wardens had somehow got a fix on his location and were on his trail. He again tried to flee but Banshee and the other Ghemm managed to stop him only for the Wardens to turn up, the rest was as shown on the officer’s bodycam.

What had happened to the other Ghemm? Injury or suicide? All she knew was that it had apparently self-destructed which might be their normal reaction to excessive injury.

The questioning went on for a couple more hours until even Mr Smith accepted that there was nothing more to be uncovered.

Outside in the sunshine, Banshee ghosted and disappeared from sight as she flew up and away from the station. Instead of flying back to the Basement though they headed north, beyond Dragon’s Gate towards the village of St. Mary Mede.

The amalgam that was Mary, the Ban Sidhe AND Scath was proving to be a painful combination especially when Banshee was fully conscious. Changing her form had managed to lessen her injuries but having Scath inside her as Banshee was painful to say the least. Best he slumbered until they reached their destination. Reluctantly Scath agreed.

Hopefully the wardens were convinced that Scath has been destroyed, in which case he should be able to live on free of fear and pursuit, but he could never safely return to his home world. Of course, Raz-seer knew of Scath’s unique abilities and could elect to tell the wardens about his gift, in which case they might return one day looking for him.

That just meant he had to hide and not with her. She’d be the first place they would look, no she needed to find a safe haven for him, somewhere he could grow into his abilities and she thought she knew just the place.

Banshee entered the office as invited and nodded at the man behind the dark oak desk. She forced herself to make contact with Scath and awaken the slumberer within her despite the pain it caused.

A few seconds later a blue crystalline form materialised beside her and also stared at the man behind the desk, “Hello!” he said hesitantly.

The man smiled, “Welcome to Claremont Academy, my name is Mr Summers and Banshee here has asked us to help you adjust to living here on Earth. I understand from Banshee that you have a special ability not common amongst your people; what we would call a mutation? Then this is the place for you, we have many unique students including some from off-world. We also have a device called a holo-bee that can alter your appearance to enable you to better fit in amongst us. What should we call you?”

Scath thought for a moment, then replied, “I am Scathan Ananama, though I think I shall be known as Hijack… “

Summers smiled, “Then welcome again Mr Ananama. I’m sure you will fit right in.”