Shadowy Domain Ch 2

"All vital signs are stable. He's in perfect physical condition. I don't know why he's not up and running a marathon quite frankly." The doctor told them as they sat in the waiting room.

"Then why isn't he up?" Jessie asked fretfully. Benton put his arm around her, every bit the father.

"We don't know. We'll keep him here until he wakes up, but there's no reason why he should be out like this. I'm sure he'll be fine soon." The tall man assured them.

***

Race groaned, tried to open his eyes. "Shhh, take it easy fella." A female voice murmured. He relaxed again, his eyes closing.

She smiled to herself. Just as she'd planned. Everything was working out perfectly. Soon she'd have her own army.

Carefully she injected a strong, fast acting sedative into his arm, then stepped back and watched as his eyes opened in shock, then closed once again.

***

"WHATTDAYA MEAN HE'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!?!?!?!?!" Jessie screamed at Dr. Quest as they stood in the kitchen.

"Jessie, calm down. They're looking for him right now. They think he may've just been . . . misplaced."

"HOW DO YOU LOSE A MAN AS BIG AS HIM?!?!?"

"JESSIE. Stop shouting. They're doing everything they can. We just have to wait."

A knock at the door was heard and Benton moved to answer it, leaving Jessie at the table.

"Can I help you?" He asked, looking at the little stranger.

She smiled and took off her dark sunglasses, revealing clear blue eyes. Benton would've guessed her to be in her early twenties, but her eyes held wisdom older than her years. "I'm looking for a Mr. Bannon. I've heard he works here. May I speak with him?" Her voice was clear, almost musical, and young. Benton eyed her for a moment.

"I'm sorry, he's not here right now. May I help you?"

The pleasant expression she wore flickered for a minute, then strengthened again. "Could you tell me when he'll be back, it's a matter of utmost importance."

"I'm sorry, we don't know."

She bit her sunglasses, looking off into the distance. Suddenly she looked back, her eyes piercing.

"He was kidnapped? Damn. I'd hoped I'd be in time."

"How did you know that?" Benton demanded quickly.

The woman looked past him, into the kitchen. "How's Jessica? Is she here? What about Estella? Pleasant woman that one."

"I'm sorry, but could I have your name?"

She smiled again, lighting up the house. "Daisy Jonhston. Nice to meet you."

He shook her hand, baffled by the sudden changes in her.

"Mind if I come in? We really need to find Roger."

Roger? Benton thought. Few called him that anymore. "Please, come in. I'd love to hear how you know of this." He moved aside, letting her enter.

"Nice home." She commented, nodding.

Jessie walked out of the kitchen, her eyes dried. Jonny and Hadji followed her.

"Jessica?" Daisy asked.

Jessie nodded slowly.

"I'm one of your dad's old friends. Last I saw you, you were this high." She smiled, hold her hand just above her waist.

Jessie smiled hesitantly. This girl didn't look that old.

"We really need to talk. Mr. Quest, Jessica, if you'll both sit down." She smiled pleasantly, giving Benton the distinct sensation that if he told her this was his house, not hers, she'd just smile and pat his hand.

"What is going on?" He demanded, trying to sound aggravated. It was hard to stay mad at someone so cheerful though.

"Mr. Quest, may I call you Benton? Roger--"

"You call Race Roger?" Jonny interrupted laughingly.

"Oh so he goes by Race now? That was my nickname for him. He told me that he'd never use it. Humph.

"Now I'm gonna tell you guys this stuff because it'll help get Race back, but you may not believe it and you can't ever tell anyone."

She took a deep breath and started talking quickly.

"Anyway, Race and I worked for the government together. They trained us well, and asked us both if we wanted to join a program called weapon x. I said yes, he looked at the risks involved and said no. Well, they really wanted him to be a part of it, so on his next doctors visit to update shots and things, they gave him the prep. shot so that if they ever needed him to develop . . . well . . . super powers, they'd just have to give him one more shot and he would. As it turned out they didn't and he went on his way. Now, the bad guys, for lack of a better term, found out and stole him, that's were we are now. We have to get him back before A) they kill him trying to get the serum he was injected with to work, B) they figure out how and inject lots others, making their own army, and C) just brainwash and use him. That would be a Bad Thing. Any questions?" She smiled brightly.

"I have one. Could you repeat that one part?" Jonny said from his position on the floor.

"What part?"

"The one in the middle."

Daisy looked confused, then said "Which part in the middle?"

"Starting from where you said "hi" and going to the part where you said "any questions?""

Daisy looked at him in irritation, then smiled. "I want to find Race. I need your help."

"Is this 'weapon x' program the same one that was run on a pair of twins?" Hadji asked, making the connection no one else had.

"Oh, they've run it on all sorts of people. Everyone that was trained really well by the government had at least the first injection. And others have been used."

"How, precisely can we help?" Benton finally asked.

"Easy! Benny,--"

"Please don't call me that," he interrupted.

Jonny snickered.

"Aww, you're just an old fogey, and I'll call you what I want." She said, brushing him off like a flea.

Benton's face flushed as his teeth ground together. "Young lady--"

"Ex-CUSE me? No, you do not get to call ME young lady. I'm older than you are, buster."

"I seriously doubt that." She looked about seventeen in her pixie hair-cut to his jaded eyes.

"Uh huh. How old are you? Nevermind. I don't want to know. Believe me, I'm older than you think. And besides, I don't really need your help anyway. I just need Jessie."

***

After three hours of fighting, cajoling, arguing, reasoning, story telling, partying--wait, no. That's what Jonny had WANTED to do. Not what they really did.

Daisy put the mini-jet down near a large field, a row of huge buildings bigger than Jonny's house about a hundred feet off. She stepped out, waiting for the others to follow.

"This is our base of operations. Here we train, play, live and anything else we want. Uh, within reason. No R rated movies or anything for you guys while you're here. And I know all and see all, so don't try to sneak any." She told them mock-sternly.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Daisy--"

"Oooh, I hate that name! Please, we're gonna be together for a while possibly, so call me Risk. Everyone does."

Jessie's head snapped up. "You're the Risk that died!"

"Uh, Sort of. See, since my power is time manipulation I sent my mind into the time stream, and waited for someone to get it out. The government figured out what happened, made a clone of my body, and here I am! Ain't cloning a great technology!"

"I thought cloning people was illegal." Jonny said.

"Yup, it is. They did it anyway." Risk winked. "I wasn't supposed to tell Race though, they said I should keep it a secret for emergencies. Good idea too, it's worked well."

Benton rubbed his eyes, trying not to trip as he made his way through the tall grass. "Is this complex government funded?"

"No, it's kept up by independent people. It's sort of like a safe house for meta-humans and anyone else who wants in, really."

They reached the gates and she put an eye by a lens looking thing, saying her name out loud. The tall entry opened and they walked in, up the drive and to the front door.

"Open up! It's me! And I have the Bannon's!" She shouted, pounding on the oak panels.

A young man opened the door, smiled at her. "You can stop wigging out now. You're in. The girl's are in the training room, they said they'd meet you there for the fitting." He walked back and into a kitchen, ignoring them.

"Excuse me but, what is a fitting?" Hadji asked.

"Don't worry, it's no big deal."

***

The training room was huge. In one corner was a gym, complete with weights and running machines. In another corner were things for gymnastics, where two girls worked out together. Between the two was a giant pool, and walled off with glass, was a fully interactive danger zone, complete with guns shooting from walls and pits filled with fire opening suddenly.

"PTERYDACTLE!!! GET THE GIRLS FOR ME!!" Risk shouted to the ceiling. Suddenly a human dropped, a red cloak wrapped tightly around her. It wasn't until she almost hit that the cloak expanded into giant red wings, bat-like in appearance.

"You brought friends." The young woman said quietly. She was tall and thin, brown hair cut oddly, one side touching her chin while the other barely made the top of her ear. Big brown eyes were lowered slightly as she refused to meet any gazes, holding her hands shyly clasped in front of her. She wore a tight black body suit, gray stripes running like arrows down it. She smiled, then jumped up and with a beat of her wings was halfway across the room, another and she was at the gymnastics area. She stopped for a minute, spoke with the women over there, then put an arm around each waist and flew up again.

Jonny and Jessie gawked. At least until Hadji hit them. Pterydactle landed, let the two go, and flew up again, settling softly on the rafters.

"Hey, Jonny! Jessie! Hadji! Dr. Quest! Great to see you again!" The blond chirped. They looked at her blankly.

"Image inducer, you dolt!" The other one said, ribbing her.

"Oh! Riiiight. Image inducer off." Her form shimmered and dissipated, leaving a stunning young woman with wavy black hair in her place. A white streak fell down one side of her locks, making the black so much darker. Blue eyes sparkled brightly, no trace of sadness or hurt in them. She wore a pink leotard, green bike shorts underneath. Green earrings and headband completed the outfit with green ankle warmers and shoes. She smiled brightly. "Hey guys. Haven't seen you in a while."

"JANUARY?!?! We thought you were dead!"* Jessie shouted.

Jonny smiled. He'd known. He hadn't told anyone about the message she'd left him, afraid he was wrong. But there she was.

"I'd give you guys all hugs, but I'm all sweaty and gross." She made a disgusted face.

Her doppelganger rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh yes. Like, it's just, like, too grody!" She said in her best valley girl imitation.

"It IS gross! I can't help that you're weird!" January teased February.

"I'm not the one who freaked out when she saw a spider, even though she has all those powers and could've incinerated it no prob." Feb retaliated.

"We're not bringing that up." January smiled at her sister and they exchanged glances.

"I don't understand, how?" Jessie said at last.

"Well, I can shadowport, and I can take passengers. So we just waited until the last second and 'ported out of there." She winked at Jess, smiling. "Maybe you can too."

"We haven't gotten that far yet, J." Risk said, eyeing the girl.

"Oh. Oops. Well, let's get her briefed and we'll start looking for Race." She turned and took her sister's hand, looked back over her shoulder and said "We're gonna go get a quick shower. Be right back." Then they stepped into the shadow Hadji cast and disappeared.

* See the previous story, Casting Shadows.

Quest-types are not copyrighted to me, Pterydactle, January and February are. Risk is up for grabs.

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