Aurora’s body was as bright as a welder’s torch.  

 

Even when she didn’t look directly at herself, the light floating off from her body was painful to her own eyes.  She lowered her luminescence a bit and sighed as she surveyed the area with wet and bleary eyes.

 

Gothschilde and Big Evil were down.  The former was unconscious from the looks of it, face-down on the floor.  Redline Racer zapped to Aurora’s side to examine her work.

 

“Nice work,” Redline commented. “But do you think you might be able to dial that down a little more?” She winced, holding a hand between her eyes and Aurora.

 

Aurora blushed. It didn’t seem like it’d be hard to do, given how tired she was, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t reduce her luminosity any further at the moment. The both of the heroes were in pain thanks to how brightly Aurora shone. 

 

“It seems kind of broken,” Aurora admitted, looking apologetically at Redline who was still not looking back at her. “I think I pushed myself to some kind of a crazy level.” 

 

Do you have any idea of how to stop this? Aurora directed the question at the resident villain in her mind.

 

Black Angel materialized beside Aurora again with a burst of grey-to-white energy. “That’s quite the question.  Don’t you want power?  Come to think of it, I thought you didn’t want any of my help,” she said with a slightly mocking tone. 

 

When Aurora shot her an annoyed look, Black Angel moderated her tone, “Of course I know how.  You won’t even be able to reverse the transformation while you’re bleeding power like this.  You’ll either need to expend the rest of your energy or relax for a time. Depending on how much time you have, that’s up to you.  Right now you’re channeling the power you’re absorbing directly. If you don’t act, you’ll have to bear with it and continue to leak for a few hours at least.”

 

Aurora extended her hands towards Big Evil, suspecting that he had more in him than this. “Surrender, big guy, or I’m going to unload all this lovely light all over you. Where’s Onslaught? Did you actually manage to take him down?” Aurora prepared a blast just for the demon.

 

Big Evil hissed and jumped up. “Okay… okay. I gave him a bit of a toss. He’ll be here at some point, I imagine.” He winced and covered his face. “Shit… I’m not a Vampire. That kind of light doesn’t do anything special to me, though I’m tempted to try and unscrew you for some relief.”

 

“It’s damn hard to look at you.” Redline laughed at Aurora. “Bombshell should be here soon, too.”

 

“Ha.. ha… aha… I’d like to get a nice glass of wine and watch those two fight, brief though it’ll be.” Big Evil chuckled.

 

Aurora instead used the collected energy to generate globules of energy to grab the two limp bodies of Gothschilde and Crimson Coil.  She slammed the two together to form a single light prison for the two villains and pushed it towards Big Evil to absorb him.

 

“You don’t really think a silly soap bubble like this is going to hold me, do you?” he asked as the bubble assimilated him, holding the three together. 

 

Redline hissed as she stared at the incandescently glowing bubble. “Seriously, does everything you do have to be so bright?”

 

Aurora shrugged and smiled wryly.

 

“I’m going to put these Italian loafers up your ass, birdie.” Big Evil said menacingly, pointing to his shoes. “Or I’ll just let the big guy outside have you. But, you’re the boss for now.”

 

“The big guy?” Aurora chuckled. “Oh, Onslaught.  What do you guys want with the ship resting here? Are you looking to take some kinda stellar joyride?”

 

“Why should I tell you anything?” Big Evil asked, shielding his eyes.

 

“Why not?” Aurora smiled again and turned her eyes on Redline. “Would you mind reconing the ship real quick to get a load of it?  Unless you have another idea, I think I’m on containment duty for now.”

 

“Good idea,” Redline said. “I’m looking forward to getting far away from you, no offense.” She smiled, pointedly looking away. “Let the Avenger know how we’re doing, okay?” Redline hurried down the passageway.

 

Big Evil chuckled as Redline ran off. “You’ll never see her again, you know?”

 

“Why do you say that?” Aurora asked with slightly widened eyes.

 

“You really have no idea what’s hiding in here, do you?” The demon chuckled again. “Well, this ship… was… empowered by magical forces. Forces that will eat that speedy girl alive.”

 

“I know about that,” Aurora said dryly. But she didn’t think the ship would attack someone on sight.  Even so, Aurora flipped out her card and called Redline instead of M.A. 

 

“Big Evil here is trying to scare us off, implying that there’s something that would eat you whole in there.  Should we call in Dragonmage to deal with it? Mistral might be helpful with containment, but it’d take a long time for her to get here unless she’s set up an instant teleport to Idaho.  What do you think?”

 

“Yeah… there’s something weird down here,” Redline said. Aurora frowned the moment she spoke.  Redline was speaking slightly slower than when she purposely slowed her speaking.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

Redline coughed a laugh. “I’ve been pushing my limits again too and it seems like I’ve only been going normal speed,” she said.

 

“Ha ha ha ha!” Big Evil laughed. “Told ya. Normal space is being shredded.  I’ll tell ya something: We’re here to steal the shard inside.  We can contain it, but it’ll destroy all physics in the area.  Idaho will become a magical land of potatoes and chaos.  It’s too late for your friend. Fast as she is, she’s science and this place is gonna have its way with her.”

 

“Hmmm…” Black Angel cut in, so to speak, “We don’t need them. You only need me.  I can help you fix things if we can come to terms.”

 

Aurora eyed the villainess. What terms? She frowned at Black Angel, prepared to throw the suggestion into the trash bin, but she was curious.

 

“Very simple,” Black Angel replied. “To start with, I’ll help you stop what’s going on here, and you let me talk with these new friends of ours.”

 

The Society of Sentinels or these villains?

 

“Does it matter?” Black Angel shrugged. “You’re not going to let me do it, anyway.  You’re going to keep rebuffing my attempts to help you simply because you’re afraid. You’re certain that it’s my intention to hurt and inconvenience others at the least.”

 

You represent everything I don’t wish to be.  Corruption and power for power’s sake. To listen to you is to give you an INCH which means surrender to evil. I’ve already met your good side as we both know, and she’s the reason why I’m not dead or consumed today. I don’t know what it would take for me to trust you or work with you.  To me, you represent a constant and dire threat. But I’m not afraid. I will not fear any darkness.

 

“And listen to how judgemental you are, dear.” Black Angel shrugged. “You can’t even conceive that seeing you stay alive might make me wish to try something even slightly different.  You ARE afraid. You’re afraid that I’ll do something naughty if you let me out, even for a few seconds. Maybe you’re right to be.  I’m right when I say that the world tends towards darkness.  Perhaps your way is right and the world tends towards light and if that’s true, perhaps you should see what I’d choose to do with a second chance.  But, no… you can’t risk becoming evil, can you? It’s fine. I won’t trouble you again.”

 

Perhaps someday you’ll convince me of your sincerity. Trust that you actually care for more than yourself. You imply that because you’re a part of me, I should embrace you, but I can’t bring myself to do that when so much is at stake. I will stay strong and I will blaze through any challenge, any barrier.  To show the world that my Justice is strongest.

 

Black Angel vanished again in a fluttering of grey feathers.