Redline walked backwards in front of Gothschilde and Aurora kept pace beside. They remained silent for a long period because of the fumes and a little haze of darkness rising from Gothschilde’s head like the proverbial plume of angry smoke.  After a moment, Redline turned and walked normally and Gothschilde got less angry.

 

All three shivered, feeling that they’d entered another odd bend in space.  Gothschilde raised her arm and the corridor started to darken. “Hold on,” she said. “It feels like space’s unravelling again.  It’s a good thing you waited instead of walking into this.”

 

Again, the darkness ate at Aurora’s light. Clenching her fists, she kept her brightness lowered, realizing that every time Gothschilde called her power, Aurora felt her own get spread thinly.

 

After a moment, the darkness dissipated.

 

Gothschilde gasped and grunted, staggering. Redline rushed over and wrapped her arms around the girl and Gothschilde almost squirmed free before almost slumping over. Redline eased the girl to the ground and fanned at her with a super-speed waving of her hands.

 

“S-stop it…” Gothschilde grumbled, but Redline only slowed instead of stopping.

 

“She’s burning up,” Redline said to Aurora and then looked down at Gothschilde to say, “Just relax.”

 

“Get away from me, you idiot!” The doomcloud weakly grumbled. Indeed, there was a flush of color in her normally-pale face.

 

Aurora closed the distance between herself and them to look at Redline. “I’m not doing much better.  I don’t have a fever, myself, but I’m just about tapped out. I’ve never been in this kind of a situation. It was just a theorized, ‘what if’ sort of scenario that hadn’t happened before. Aurora sighed softly. “I could use a sunbath right about now. Every time she has to use her powers it whittles away what I have. Do we press on or turn back?” Aurora sighed softly and dissipated her armor plate, forming her normal costume to conserve some energy.

 

Redline put a hand on Aurora’s shoulder. “Why don’t you stay here with her? When Crimson Coil catches up, if you feel up to it, head on with her.”

 

Gothschilde shook her head. “You two are sickeningly sweet. How are idiots like you seen as figures of respect?” She chuckled ruefully.

 

Redline smiled in general and shrugged. “Look, One of things that make us heroes is that we care about each other, even you villainous-types. If you think it’s sickening, how do you feel about other people? Don’t you have anyone that you at all care about?”

 

“No… I only care about myself,” Gothschilde said. “And how people can help me achieve my goals. That’s all.”

 

“That’s kinda sad,” Redline replied. “I hope you find people that you care about, so much that you want to help them rather than just doing things that are in your own interest.”

 

“Pathetic.” Gothschilde sneered. “You should realize that there’s not a single person who doesn’t think the way I do. Everyone’s going to try and use you just out of sheer laziness if not out of malice, so you should use them first so you don’t need them.”

 

“Wow, you guys are loud,” Crimson Coil said, walking along, looking distracted. There was a red band shivering a little extended down the hall behind her. “Should we try to be a little more quiet?”

 

“Shut up, and just make sure you retain that coil of yours,” Gothschilde angrily said.

 

“Okay,” Crimson weakly said as she slumped.

 

“All right, let’s get going again, unless you want to add anything, sparkles.” Gothschilde looked at Aurora.

 

“No, not really.” Aurora chuckled. “Time’s a premium for everyone at this point. Let’s press on. For what it’s worth, my name’s Aurora, not ‘sparkles’.”

 

Redline and the three others continued, three slumping and the speedster still quite jaunty in contrast.  Crimson Coil staggered more and more as she reeled out her coil behind her.  

 

Aurora fought a yawn.  Her power nap hadn’t been quite enough to recover her energy, nor had her short rest in the spacetime warp.

 

Gothschilde wasn’t as staggered as Crimson Coil, but every five or ten steps she’d stumble.  They moved down, down, down and the air started getting colder. Aurora rubbed her hands together to make them feel warmer and considered increasing her radiance for a short time, but thought better of it.

 

When they turned the next corner, they were looking at a humanoid being seemingly made of pure darkness.  Its powerful form had darkness steaming off it.

 

“WELCOME, TRAVELLERS,” it proclaimed in an arrogant tone. “ONE OF YOU LOOKS TO BE ALREADY A SUITABLE SERVANT… THE OTHERS… WILL KNEEL BEFORE ME. KNEEL BEFORE THE DESPOILER.”

 

Aurora shivered when he said, ‘The Despoiler.’ It triggered a memory among the files she kept in regards to the battles the Society of Sentinels had fought.

 

There was a being of utter and complete blackness called, ‘The Despoiler’ and he was a powerful villain that was capable of taking on the entire team.  They defeated him after a huge battle but at the end of it, he’d simply vanished.

 

Aurora’s eyes widened. She’d already used too much energy.  Could Gothschilde do anything to this guy? Her powers of darkness were weakened. The Coil might be able to do something to temporarily bind him, but if he really was the Despoiler and not just a poser, this was a worse crisis than anyone could have pictured.  Alone, Redline wouldn’t be able to do much to him.

 

“EYES!” Aurora yelled.  She couldn’t explain the ploy in advance.  She turned up her brightness as high as possible to buy time for an escape. They were way in over their heads.

 

There was a rush of wind as Redline sprinted into action and Aurora started to blaze as she squeezed out everything she had. The Despoiler staggered back from her brightness and Redline charged in and attacked him with flurries of punches.

 

Gothschilde growled and lashed with a limb of darkness, twining it around him as she started feeding on his darkness to sustain and boost her energy.

 

The Despoiler clenched a fist and his darkness pulled from Gothschilde’s fumbling.

 

Redline Racer dashed around their opponent, attacking him from many different angles almost at once to no apparent effect.

 

Aurora rechanneled her energy and formed a massive anvil of light over the Despoiler’s head to drop it.  She was out of ideas and cartoons were what came to mind since she was getting a little loopy.

 

The light anvil dropped firmly onto the Despoiler and his darkness seemed to erode her anvil. Aurora followed up the impact of the anvil with a powerful blast and his darkness field rippled on impact. Aurora clenched a fist, knowing she only had a few blasts left at this point.

 

Crimson Coil suddenly erupted in a mass of red tentacles and they snaked towards the Despoiler. As they touched him, the tentacles turned black and the blackness rushed along them, assimilating them as it crept quickly towards her.

 

“Damn! It’s trying to absorb her extra-dimensional powers! Separate them!” Goshschile cried.

 

“TOO LATE, FOOLS! FINALLY I WILL BE FREE OF THIS ACCURSED DIMENSION!” the Despoiler yelled as he blasted Redline with coruscating darkness that wrapped around her. She cried out and started rushing around faster, trying to get free of the energy, but it continued to swirl around her.

 

Aurora directed her light blast towards the coil connecting the villain to the Despoiler to sever the connection.

 

Aurora blasted at the coils repeatedly until she was nearly spent and at that moment, Goshschilde grabbed the red tendril that was being stained. “I’ll hold his darkness at bay,” she said on her knees.” Knock Coil out and her connection to other-dimension energies will be cut off and his grip on her!”

 

Aurora turned her hand from the red tentacles to the Coil herself. She hit her head squarely and she shrieked as she flew back, unconscious. The red tentacles disappeared, snaking back into her body as she slumped.

 

The Despoiler wailed, “NOOOO! THAT WAS MY ESCAPE! NOW… ONLY ONE PATH REMAINS! FOOLS!” He turned into smokey blackness and seemed to explode, disappearing.