The plan gets....confusing

The plan was simple. Evil Laz and Evil Opal didn’t trust Evil Sascha, so they’d never let her get near enough to their ritual to thwart it. But Sascha herself would need to be there. Evil Sascha’s plan was that they use their Laz to switch Sascha and Evil Sascha’s bodies, allowing Evil Sascha to sneak in and take out Evil Laz and Evil Opal while they were distracted with their Lilith-draining ritual.

It was a horrible plan. No way Evil Sascha would not screw Sascha over on it….but nobody had any better ideas. So Laz was called and Bastion and Sascha went over there to start things out, while Evil Sascha went back to the fight club.

At Laz’s house, they were warned how bad of an idea this was. This was meant to switch two souls, and one of the Saschas didn’t have a soul. Potentially, Evil Sascha wouldn’t be able to survive in a human body without a soul, and would die instantly, trapping Sascha in a vampire’s body.

Bastion tried to convince Sascha to ditch this plan, but she just looked at him and asked him if he had any better plans. He stalked off to wait on the bike as Laz started inscribing a complex henna tattoo on Sascha’s arm.

He watched briefly as Bastion left.
“So what’s your deal with him?”
“Umm…well he completely hates me now, and I pretty much deserve it too.”
“I don’t mean to sound like a chick here….but he obviously doesn’t hate you. You should probably talk to him. If the world is going to end tonight and all….”
“Laz….got a few things on my mind beyond boys tonight.”
“Yeah well…still.
“All finished up! All you have to do is touch her and the switch will happen. But don’t touch her again after that until you’re ready to switch back.”

She left and headed out front. Bastion had the bike started and was waiting. Sascha grabbed the keys and turned it off, grabbed Bastion and kissed him.
“I’m sorry for everything, and I’m trying to make it all better, and thank you for helping me, and please please please stop being a jerk.”
“Um…okay?”

Not sure of what else to do, she climbed up behind him, and he silently started the bike again and drove them both to the club to talk to the vamp.

Getting past the guards easily because Sascha now looked like her counterpart, we got in to see Evil Sascha easily enough. She sat in front of a mirror, brushing her red hair. She looked a lot more innocent than she should. Sascha explained the risks, and touched the vampire’s hand. A flash and a draining sensation overcame Sascha for a moment, and when she was done, she was looking across at her counterpart….who still had red hair. With a quick check, she realized she was still in her own body. But she felt disoriented and dizzy. Evil Sascha laughed.

“Damn you are gullible!”
“What…the hell…did you do?”
“Oh I didn’t do anything. Funny story….but that would be your buddy who set you up for this little fall. See now I have all my own power as well as yours. See?”

The vampire shoved Sascha, and she went down hard. Her body ached in ways it just didn’t before. Evil Sascha smiled as Sascha staggered to her feet.
“So now I have all the power I need to do whatever I want. Hey thanks.”
“But…that means I’m…”
The vampire smiled evilly “Come on….almost there.”
“Human…”
“Bingo! Atta girl. Love to stay and talk about this, but since I have to get going….someone’s going to need to take my place and fight Hawk. Boys…”
“You can’t! I’m human! He’s going to beat me into paste!”
She smiled even wider “Now you really are catching on…”

She plopped a red wig onto Sascha’s head, almost as a joke, and the two demons she called dragged her out of the room and threw her into the arena. The other door opened and Hawk walked out and squared off.

Sascha got up and tried to get his attention, but he ran at her and she clumsily dived out of the way, frantically asking him to stop. Hawk laughed and told her he wasn’t falling for it, even after she started trying to pull off the wig. He ran at her and hit, crushing two of her ribs and sending her flying one way as the wig flew another. She landed hard and blinked back tears as she grabbed her side. Hawk ran at her again, but was brought up short by a large black figure who had landed in front of Sascha.

“Dude…it’s not her. I can tell that from all the way up in the stands!”
Hawk stopped, looking concerned for the first time. Sascha was laying on the ground gasping in a very un-vampire-like way. “Uhh….yikes. Sorry?”
Bastion helped Sascha up and she glared at him. “Sorry. NEXT TIME CHECK FOR THE FREAKING PULSE YOU ASS!!!”
“Hey, I wasn’t exactly going to get close enough to do that! She...bites.”

Sascha very quickly explained to Bastion and Hawk what had happened, as a soda cup hit Bastion from behind. The fans were getting ticked at the lack of fighting. Bastion yelled back “Hey!! Leather!!”

But the three of them hightailed it to the side of the arena, where Bastion lifted the cage gate, and Hawk went under to take out the guards. Watching Hawk work again with some level of admiration, she commented to Bastion, who said he wasn’t so good. Sascha smiled briefly and said that Hawk was their world’s version of Bastion, so he shouldn’t worry too much. She slipped under as Hawk finished and the three ran for the stairs as we started discussing what had happened. Some things with their story were not adding up. Why Hawk was here, and why exactly Sascha would be trying to ensure Lilith’s return in a world not her own mystified us. Hawk looked at them confused.

“Lilith isn’t in charge in our world.”
Sascha stopped. “Wait…but who the hell are the three of them then? Your world isn’t hell on earth?”
“Well we have a lot of Republicans…but they were escaped criminals from an arcane prison.”
“No Lilith? So….I was just vamped?” She looked at Hawk again. “Did….did you and she ever have a thing?”

He laughed “That chick has been a vampire since before I was born.”

Bastion shoved us towards the stairs, saying “We have to get going or we’re going to be fighting our way out of here all night.” He stopped and looked at Sascha. “You sure you want to come? I can drop you somewhere. A human isn’t going to be able to do much.”

Sascha looked down at herself “Human. Wow…it’s like I’ve been handed everything I’ve ever wanted in some horrible evil way.”
“If you don’t want to go…”
“No I have to at least go. I just…. If you get the chance to kill evil me…do it.”

The three of them got out to the parking lot, where Sascha called Laz to get some answers. He picked up and a reluctant voice said “Um…hello?”
“You realize I’m going to somehow break your neck right?”
“Look it totally wasn’t my fault! Well it was my fault….but it was evil me! I showed up and told me if I didn’t trap the spell and not tell you anything about it he’d kill you.”
“Wait EVIL LAZ did this?” She turned towards Hawk, “They really are just screwing each other over any way they can, aren’t they?”
“Laz…get Opal and Oscar ready. They’re at Cam’s house by now with the resurrection machine. Let us go in first and if we need you….you’ll know.”
She hung up and she and Bastion rode towards town, with Hawk flying above them as a…well…hawk.

One way or another, it was time to end this.

Sascha's worse day

Sascha had a very similar conversation with her alternate self. The vampire explained how she had helped release Lilith, and how in Sascha’s total despair, Lilith had become everything to her. She willingly…even gratefully let Lilith turn her into one of her children, and embraced the newfound purpose she had. Sascha knew very well Laz and Opal planned on betraying Lilith, and came along to ensure they didn’t succeed.

In the end, the vampire advised Sascha leave town quickly before she was hurt or killed. She still had use, and Lilith wasn’t in the world yet. Sascha headed out, stopping by Hawk’s cage as she left. She confronted Hawk with what she knew and who she was (she still looked like a demon at this point), and he admitted he was here to fight and kill Evil Sascha. He said he worked with Oscar and a few others fighting Lilith and the three of them that had gone bad. He also mentioned the “championship fight” between him and Evil Sascha was later that night.

Sascha had told the watcher’s council to screw off, had no desire to involve her friends with their evil selves, and Bastion had just seen her all dressed up like a Japanese floozy having dinner with Anzo. Anzo was all she had right then. So she went “home” and told him what she trusted him with (why if he was her only hope was she still refusing to trust him?). Anzo made his wetworks team available to her. Her old teammates would be ready within the hour.

1.5 hours later we assaulted the tomb, where Evil Sascha had told us they were. Cam’s “rescue” was…brief. Laz had a shield around him that deflected all the bullets we could throw at him, and all magical attacks as well. Opal gestured and all of them stopped moving at once. She came over very close to Sascha and told her the only reason she wasn’t dying tonight is that she still had a purpose to serve. The rest of them….weren’t that lucky. It was time to teach Sascha a lesson.

Sascha’s body moved of its own accord. She was telekinetically forced to walk forward to her first team member, raise her axe and, looking into their eyes the entire time, bury the axe in their chest. Opal forced Sascha to kill every one of her team as they stood their helpless to do anything about it. The Slayer, who hated showing too much emotion, was crying hysterically by the time her work was done. Opal then released her and told her to leave. She said they’d come for her when they would need her…and there was nothing she could do about it. And if she interfered again, people she cared about would die slowly and painfully. There was nothing Sascha could do. She numbly staggered out of the tomb and found the only person she knew she could count on….Bastion.

Thanks to Laz, she knew he was watching a marathon of old westerns at the movie theater. She slipped in, found his large shape in the dark (it didn’t hurt that he was the only one there), and sat down. Understandably, he wasn’t willing ot talk to her, and got up and left the theater, with her running after him begging him to stop and listen to her. He told her she’d made her choices.

Then they both stopped moving.

Evil Opal came out from behind the corner of the theater, admonishing Sascha for continuing to plot against them. And now Bastion would pay the price. Sascha lost it. She struggled frantically against the telekinetic bonds, and then broke down into begging Opal to stop. Opal looked at Sascha and laughed commenting that if she had such feelings for him, she really shouldn’t have involved him. Sascha had to be taught not to interfere. As the slayer stood there helpless and crying, Bastion’s head whipped around…and stopped.

His eyes, looking at Opal, were glowing a hot white, and he turned toward her slowly and began to walk forward, pushing against her bonds. Opal looked flabbergasted, and concentrated even more, which slowed Bastion, but it didn’t stop him. Opal’s nose began to bleed as he picked up speed, and his fist came back and snapped out at her, with a bright flash of light that blinded Sascha for a moment, Opal flew back a good 15 feet and landed on her back, unconscious.

As the bonds holding her fell, so did Sascha. Bastion came over and helped her up. She wiped at her face and looked at him in amazement, then threw her arms around him.

“…How?”

He still looked pissed, but for the first time, not at Sascha. His expression even softened somewhat as he helped hold her up. “I still have some of His gifts.”

Eventually she let go and went to dispose of Opal’s unconscious form while Bastion, who was still somewhat hurt, headed into the nearby library to rest a bit and hide. When Sascha came back, to her horror, she saw Bastion having a polite little conversation with a small readheaded vampire who looked just like Sascha.

Apparently Evil Sascha had agreed to help them…and she had a plan.

Cam's Bad Day

Cameron woke up on the worst day of his life to the sounds of orders being shouted to his parents. He had just enough time to sit up before his door was kicked in and government agents came rushing into the room, surrounding his bed. He was manhandled out of bed and through the front door with his parents and shoved into the back of a truck. One nervous half hour later, he was sitting in the police station with FBI and Homeland Security officials asking him uncomfortable questions about the explosion and strange lights at his house the night before, all the people pouring into and out of it, and the large machine they found in his basement. He also asked as to the identity of two young women who were seen in the vicinity that night. The first was Snow Tanaka, who had indeed been in his basement that evening, along with her father’s company goons. The second was Opal, who wasn’t there at all. Only…it didn’t look like Opal. I mean it looked like her, but she was kind of an older, hotter sister. She was wearing sunglasses and a business suit, and watching his house.

He played dumb about everything, but he was scared stiff. He didn’t have any answers that wouldn’t lead to them dissecting him, and they were threatening to lock him and his family away for the rest of their lives if he didn’t start talking. In the end he was thrown in a general population cell and his parents were put into another.

Ten minutes later, more police came in, escorting two oriental girls. Opal lead the way, crying and looking confused. Snow followed behind her. Snow didn’t look confused…she looked livid. The Japanese Slayer caught sight of Cameron as she passed, and her look promised death.

Wonderful….

An hour after that, Opal was released. She had a solid alibi, as she was at the Ember concert the night in question. She happily left, but Snow was not so lucky. She was escorted into Cameron’s cell, where he was making friends with the large angry looking locals. It wasn’t five seconds before she had Cameron slammed up against the cell wall and was uncomfortably close as she asked very politely why she was here. He explained….quickly….how they’d taken surveillance pictures and how he’d never have enough of a deathwish to sell her out. She still looked like she was going to break his pretty face when one of said locals came up behind Snow and made a few suggestive comments about her backside. Even as he was being held up against the wall by her, Cameron told the guy to back off. He wasn’t quite sure if it was for her benefit or for the guy’s. Snow’s eyes eeever so slightly cast in the guy’s direction as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

The police hauled the man out a bit later. He was holding the shattered remains of his hand. Luckily Snow got a phone call then and had to go. The rest of the time nobody really came over into the front half of the cell.

She returned a bit later and gestured at the guard to open the door, which he did. Instead of coming in though, she looked across at Cameron.

“Let’s go.”

“Um…pardon?”

“You really aren’t as smart as I gave you credit for, are you? We’re leaving.”

“I’m not sure if they’d love that and all….they seemed to be a bit interested in…”

“My father’s lawyers are very persuasive…and they hold one of the largest military weapons manufacturing contracts with the US government. Let’s go.”

Cam stepped out of the cell and followed her down the hall. “Not to doubt your unselfish motivations….but…why are you helping me? You hate me.”

She stopped for a moment. “Oh I do…but I also hate debts. Consider this payment in full.”

“Payment…for?”

“Ember. My brother lost a contract and significant face because of her loss.”

“Glad I could help?”

The two left and were heading on the outskirts of town on the way to Cameron’s house, when the car was forced off the road. Opal….the older hotter Opal…had used telekinesis to swat it off the road like a fly. Opal casually asked where the resurrection machine Cameron made was. Snow jumped at Opal in her anger and was caught in mid-air. Opal easily…casually… wiped the floor with Snow, careening her off of trees and rocks and beating her to a bloody pulp on anything that was available. Cam stepped up to Opal and convinced her that if she left Snow alive, he’d show her where the machine was, and would help her repair it. With a flick of her wrist, Snow went flying into the forest. Cam was picked up and he and Opal flew to the cemetery in the middle of town, where a man covered in tattoos and a shaved head met them. Evil Lazarus.

The two explained they knew Lilith was close to coming into power, as she did in their time, and they were her slaves. They both wanted to get out of that situation by resurrecting Lilith and draining her of her power, and Cam was going to help them. They explained that Sascha had a doppelganger there too, but she was Lilith’s general, and they were operating while she was…otherwise occupied.

Cam was taken into the large tomb at the center of the cemetery to wait while Laz started his rituals.