Official Report

The Downing Building

New Hebron, California

Indigo Knight sat upright. His head throbbed and his ears rung, but he was alive, for the time being. At first, he could see nothing save for a homogeneous blur through the slits in his helmet.

The current iteration of his armor utilized external cameras and sensors, and fed him an incredible amount of data. It also made him reliant on the suit's systems. When those systems failed, which only happened once before and even then only under extreme circumstances, it left him helpless. The heads-up display flared to life illuminating the room before his eyes. He made a mental note to see if he might be able increase visibility through the eye slots.

Now that the humans were keeping Chemosh occupied he stepped into action. His counterpart believed him dead, thanks to his suit. He'd gotten the idea from a human term, a dead man's switch. The suit would stop his heart and revive him after a set period.

Such an ordeal would have been traumatic to a human, but his people possessed healing capabilities that helped get him up and going where a Terran would have been down for the count. Though powerless after banishing Chemosh into the realm of the Gallu, he still possessed his healing abilities and he sensed when others used their powers around him.

As his suit finished rebooting, he looked around taking in the surrounding scene. Harrier and Garos seemed to have fallen in battle. Indigo Knight turned his attention to the center of the chamber where Agent Van den Broeke, Psyren and Chemosh stood. Bathed in light, they appeared to be locked in a battle of will. He knew the agent had no telepathic abilities from the moment he first met her, but how had she entered the fight?

As he studied them, he came to understand. It was the bond she shared with Sapphira, though a faint hum, he could sense the energies vibrating between them.

He spotted movement and turned his gaze upon Babalawo, the young man with abilities so similar to the Gallu. The other man seemed oblivious to him, moving across the chamber toward the motionless trio. Though he didn't have reason to distrust the exemplar, he tensed as he watched him walk. The man's movements were stiff, almost mechanical where before the man moved with smooth grace. It made the hair stand on the back of his neck.

He did not confront the man, but rather watched. If his instincts were correct, then it might be best if Babalawo did not know of his prescence. If he needed to stop the man, it would be much easier with the element of surprise on his side. The Gallu were hard to kill. Their ability to phase through matter meant that so long as they remained in their phased state they were impervious to most conventional weapons. Moloch suspected the same would be true of the exemplar.

The Gallu... Indigo Knight peered back out the opening in the building made by Garos as realization hit him. Why was it none of the creatures entered the building? They loved to feed on dying exemplars and the energies being unleashed within from Chemosh alone would have been enough to draw them like bees to honey.

He eyed the gateway, noting the girl laying at its base. One of Chemosh's former hosts. He tried to avoid direct confrontations with his brother over the centuries, but he was often on scene in the aftermath cleaning up her messes. He'd left a lot of hosts behind, most of those times they were dead, but there were he left one that was still breathing. This girl fell into the latter category. Which meant Chemosh had wiped her mind clean. She would be a blank slate.

Why leave the girl at all? He'd had ample opportunity to kill her, unless he intended to make use of the body. He jerked his head up, eying the gateway as understanding dawned on him. There was one way to know for certain if his suspicions were correct.

Though his suit was a technological marvel to the people of Earth, to a being who had once witnessed stars and entire solar systems destroyed in the blink of an eye the armor was a limited, but useful tool. He'd made use of human tech to build it, but he'd made many improvements with his knowledge of the sciences. The sensors alone were, perhaps the most advanced part of the armor, and it was that which he activated.

A sinking feeling formed in the pit of his stomach as the results of his scans appeared on the HUD. Chemosh had made extensive modifications to the gateway, and... she was making use of the Downing building's power source to fuel the additional power requirements. He had designed the reactor himself, and he had intended it for more than the building itself, but to also to provide energy to the Indigo Knight's new regional base.

He had provided his brother the means through which she was enacting her plan.

The chamber flooded with light and Moloch spun around in time to make out two figures become one. Agent Van den Broeke's form merged with that of her charge. Their forms contorted and bent, pulsating between their two forms, before they stabilized on one somewhere between the two but also possessed features which neither possessed. He recognized those as well, though he had not laid eyes on the being who owned them in many centuries. They belonged to Ashtar.

His breath caught in his throat as his mind raced, but before he could form any conclusions Babalawo struck. The letting out a high-pitched almost inhuman screech as he slipped his hand through the amalgamation's chest.

"Gallu!" The man shrieked and Moloch understood what force had overtaken the exemplar. He trained raised both arms training his suits weapons on the man, but hesitated. If he fired, the resulting blast might hit Babalawo's victim.

The woman's eyes, looked unfocused, as if in a daze, but the more Babalawo dug around inside her chest, the more her eyes came into focus. She gasped, and her eyes grew wide staring down in horror as she noticed the world around her. She would soon die if he did nothing.

Seeing no other alternative Moloch opened fire.

Ashira closed her eyes, fighting against the pain and attempted to muster a defense, but try as she might she could do nothing. She was not able summon her mental powers or even move a pinky. Somehow the exemplar had immobilized her.

She sensed a figure nearby, but not whether it was friend or foe. Babalawo screeched out a familiar "Gallu" and then there was a flash of light and searing hot pain. Thrown across the room and she believed the new attack was her undoing, but when she landed and her senses and abilities returned to her, she realized that nothing could be further from the truth.

Even as blood gushed from her, she felt her flesh pulsate and crawl across her bone and muscle mending the damage. She lurched to her feet and sprung forward, not waiting for her body to finish healing or for another attack to land home. Moloch leveled his weapons on Chemosh and Ashira knew the once-god had been responsible for the blast that had both saved her life and injured her. Ashira rounded on Chemosh, but as she threw her hands out Indigo Knight leveled his gaze on him.

"Destroy the gate and this will all be over!" His voice called out and spun around intent on carrying out his wishes.

Before Ashira had even taken a single step, Chemosh threw her hands out and sent the armored once-god careening across the chamber toward the woman. She saw the attack coming and lurched out of the way.

A beam of energy blasted out from Chemosh's outstretched hand and Ashira responded by raising her palms. The blast struck her with a blinding burst of light, but as the once-god's vision cleared she saw that the other being stood unaffected by the attack.

Ashira jerked forward threw her hands out and went on the offensive. Chemosh lurched from the ground flying across the room. At first, she seemed at the mercy of her opponent, but as the once-god screamed out her form stabilized and she spun around moving into the opposite direction toward the gateway. She landed at its base, grin spread across her face as a sickly green bubble flared to life around the ancient device.

Moloch scrambled to his feet, raised both fists and opened fire with a volley of projectiles that detonated against Chemosh's shield with a series of muted thuds.

Indigo Knight glanced at Ashira, then back to the shield. "Cover for me. I'm going to bring down that shield. When you see my signal, get to the gateway and shut it down by whatever means necessary."

Ashira, nodded and gritted her teeth. She lowered her hands to her sides and reached down with both palms extended out. The ground beneath her quaked, and the floor cracked. Chunks of concrete rose into the open air from the ground and she hurled them on by one at the shield directing Chemosh's attention away from the armored form of the Indigo Knight.

Moloch moved with a speed that seemed to belie his bulky armored form. He dodged, concrete slabs, as they rose from the ground, with ease. When he reached the shield, Chemosh hurtled a bolt of energy at him, but that too he dodged. He pulled his fist back and slammed it into the shield, and the metal encasing his knuckles sizzled and shrieked, but as he pressed his gauntleted fist into the barrier, it pushed through.

Chemosh howled, sending another bolt of energy hurtling toward her armored sibling, but it did not hit its target, instead it ricochetted inside the barrier and struck the once-god in the shoulder. She screamed, slipping a hand over the wounded shoulder and stared at her opponent with wide eyes. Whatever Indigo Knight was doing, he seemed to have caught the other being off guard.

She took a step back, but the shield did not move with her. Chemosh gasped and cried out in pain as her backside struck the inside the barrier. Moloch lurched forward, passing the rest of the way through the barrier and stumbled a few steps forward. She threw her hands out, unleashing another wave of energy at her brother. The beam struck him in the chest, but he'd lurched forward slamming the other being down to the ground.

The shield convulsed, and pulsated, flaring with a burst of light. Though her eyes watered and the luminescent blinded her, she reached out with her mind. She felt the gateway, it was foreign, even to the part of her that was Ashtar. There was a strange quality to the energy which was surging through it, but that was the least of her worries. The power within the device was building and when she did not want to see what happened when it reached its peak.

Though Ashtar had never understood how the device worked, there were components she recognized as they were common to many devices designed by her people's engineers. The power regulator, for instance, was one such piece. She concentrated on that one little segment of the gateway and pulled at with all of her willpower. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but then it broke free, bursting out of the device with a shower of sparks.

The blue sphere swirled and rippled pulsating with energy. Though the device was loosing power it did not die out, but instead seemed to grow larger. Ashira's breath caught in her throat and she was certain she had doomed them all. Then a howl of pure anguish escaped Hailey's lips, and she saw it had worked.

Bolts of energy shot out of the gateway, hitting the wall and ceiling, Ashira, Indigo Knight and Chemosh scrambled to the ground, to avoid getting hit. Then it happened. The gateway became a vacuum, sucking everything everything into the portal. It happened with small items at first, and Ashira watched the blood drawing from Hailey's face as the first bits of gravel rose into the air.

Chemosh's previous host's inert form rose into the air and the immortal grabbed the inert girl's wrists and took off running, but before she'd gotten more than a few feet away, it sucked her back toward the rift.

Moloch, dug his heels in, and a pair of thrusters ignited on his chest. He snatched one hand out and grabbed Hailey's wrists. Thought the part of her that was Sapphira was screaming inside her to do something, Ashira kept her distance. She did not understand why Indigo Knight would try to save Chemosh after all the terrible things she had done.

"Help me!" He screamed. "It's not too late to save the host!"

Now she understood, he'd been trying to save Hailey not Chemosh. Regardless, if she did nothing, Moloch would fail. She clenched her teeth, using her abilities to keep herself from being pulled into the maelstrom and reached out, not toward Chemosh, but instead tunneling deeper where Hailey's consciousness was hanging on by a thread.

Ashira's breath caught in her throat when she touched the girl's mind. She'd been aware during Chemosh's infestation of her mind and had witnessed everything the other being had done through her own eyes. Haley recoiled from the touch of the other's mind. Huddled within the corner of her consciousness, she was curled up in the mental equivalent of the fetal position. She did not fight the other woman, but instead recoiled from the touch of her mind.

Ashira had planned to rile the other woman up and have her fight to break Chemosh's hold, but the girl's mind was a shambles.

She gritted her teeth, furrowed her brows and reached deeper. If Hailey was unable to fight for herself, she'd just have to do it for her.

No longer fed by the energies of the gateway and fighting for dear life Chemosh was no longer a powerhouse. That is not to say, however, that Ashira did not have one hell of a fight on her hands. The once-god was desperate and had been back into a corner. It was like fighting off the attacks of a wounded animal. Yes, she was dealt a terrible blow, yes it had weakened her, but if sucked into the collapsing gateway there was no telling what would become of her.

Chemosh put up a wall, trying to block Ashira from the girl, but his opponent push through it with ease. The once-god attacks became more frantic and lashed out at the woman, with the simple goal of ridding her from her mind. There fight devolved into a tug-o-war, in what amounted to a battle for Hailey's soul.

Every time Ashira tried to push through Chemosh's defenses he rallied and pushed her back. She was running short on time. if she could not finish her opponent, they would all succumb to the gateway. It was the part of her that was Sapphira that succeeded where she had failed.

She screamed out and Sapphira's desperation flooded through her. Hailey was her only living link to her daughter, and though she did not know the girl she still cared for her in her own way. Ashira clenched her teeth and hot tears stung her cheeks. She pushed again and this time a well of emotions burst out of her. Fueled by the frantic desires of a grandfather desperate to save his only living relative, Ashira gained the upper hand.

The unmovable will of the once-god crumbled away before her. A whimper escaped Hailey's lips and a dark cloud rose out and away from her form like ink into water. At first, it hovered in the air unaffected by the vacuum of the gateway. Ashira's breath caught in her throat, but as she stared into the myst, it lurched away from Hailey and toward Chemosh's previous host.

Ashira screamed, threw her hand out and with a single telekinetic shove sent Chemosh spinning away. The ink cloud careened into the gateway and a high-pitched wail filled the air just before being sucked into it. Ashira hung there, facing the gateway, a part of her expecting it to collapse or explode once the other being had met his fate, but nothing changed.

She was unable to determine how long, or if the gateway would ever stop, but if she didn't do something, people would die. Ashira lashed out, severing the device from the building's power source, and though it flickered it did not stop. She could only guess it was now drawing power from another source.

It was putting out a tremendous amount of energy and she sensed that it would soon go critical. Without understanding how the device worked, she knew of no way to destroy it without risking the lives of everyone around her. The last attempt had been a desperate gamble, and it had paid off, but it could still blow up in her face.

Perhaps there was a way...

She reached deep within herself rose into the air and with sheer force of will pulled the gateway from the ground along with her. She zoomed across the chamber, dragging it through the hole left by Garos, all while laying layer after layer of shields around the device. All those caught up in the device's vacuum sped through the opening after her, but as a fourth sheet of energy snapped into place, they all collapsed to the ground outside the building.

Ashira rose into the empty sky hauling the gateway behind her. It was growing more unstable by the moment she knew she was running short on time. She put on the speed, rising higher and higher from the ground. Though she did not know how long she had, she would make every second count.

She sensed the device explode before she saw it happen and it took all of her willpower to contain the resulting explosion of energy. Sweat dripped from her brow as she fought to keep the shields contained, but one by one it ate at each layer. She screamed out, the heat from the blast rippling through her body, just before the final layer buckled against the pressure and shattered into oblivion. The force was more than Ashira could contain and she plummeted succumbing to darkness.

Official Report

The Downing Building

New Hebron, California

Outside the Downing Building, Special Agent in charge Avery Driggs dodged attacks from the Gallu and struggled to fight off the creatures. Every time one swooped in he'd open fire with his Colt M4 Carbine, but the creatures were damned near impossible to kill. He'd only downed one, and it had only been because he caught it by surprise.

He was taking on one creature, firing off round after round when it happened. All the creatures in the street, let out a high-pitched screech all at once, and then dissolved in the air. The one in front of him opened its maw, green ooze spewing out of its mouth before it fizzled out, its arms peddling through the empty air. More green ooze splattering to the ground when it completed its disappearance.

He would not find out until later that the moment the Gallu disappeared coincided with the exact time that of Chemosh defeat. AEGIS scientists would try to understand the science involved for decades to come, but it was believed that the creatures had some connection to the perp and once that link broke the little monsters could not remain in their layer of reality.

When it happened Driggs didn't stop to ponder the reason for it or even let out a sigh of relief. Instead, he moved forward, advancing on the Downing building. He motioned for the agents to follow and a full dozen moved toward the building behind him. He did not have to issue orders; they were acting on their training and securing the perimeter as he intended. Before they reached the gaping hole in the wall, a figure emerged the artifact trailing after her. He trained his weapon on her, and the other's did the same, unsure if she presented a threat, but she zoomed past them and into the sky above.

Driggs heard the clank of metal and he turned in time to see Indigo Knight emerge through the opening. He lowered his weapon and motioned for the others to do the same.

"What's the situation?" Driggs asked the armored vigilante peering up into the sky out of the corner of his eyes.

"Chemosh has been dealt with," he answered. Driggs had dealt with Indigo Knight once or twice before and he thought the other man sounded so dispassionate, but this time was different. There was a certain tone in his voice, a strain almost. It reminded the agent how he felt when his mother died. In public he kept it cool, remaining strong for his underage sister so she someone to lean on. It was that same tension, he recognized in the man's voice.

"Agents move in," he motioned the other's forward and watched Indigo Knight peer up into the sky. He followed the man's gaze, he could just make out the woman above, the machine was swirling and pulsating.

"She won't make it," the armor vigilante said shaking his head. "She cannot contain that much energy."

Indigo Knight's suit of armor flared to life, and he leapt into the sky after the woman in a burst of light. Avery called after him, but either the man did not hear or he ignored him.

He watched the man rocket toward the woman, but before he had covered half of the distance, a brilliant burst of light filled the sky and he turned away. When his vision cleared, he looked back up again, and he could just make out two forms plummeting toward the ground and Indigo Knight speeding toward them.

His his breath caught in his throat. He didn't know who the second figure might be, but one of them must have been the woman. The explosion in the sky was not something that anyone would have been able to just walk away from. He'd served in Iraq and seen more than a few bombs go off. From grenades, to car bombs to air raids during the Gulf War, he'd seen them all, and this would have leveled the whole city. The woman saved all their asses.

He waited and watched as Indigo Knight zoomed toward the pair of figures.

"Sir," a voice spoke and he jerked around to see who. It was one of his agents, Erin Shelley. Driggs point an index finger up and peered back up, but when he looked detected no sign of Indigo Knight or of the two figures.

He sighed, turned back to the woman and eyed her. "What is it agent?"

"Sir, you need to see this," the agent said, both hands on her hips, peering back into the building over her shoulder.

Driggs nodded and followed her inside. He didn't know what he expected, but what he found was unlike anything he might have imagined. For one, the giant seemed to be missing, he saw no body, or sign it'd left the building. The creature must be somewhere, but it was too big to have left without exiting through the hole in the wall or making a new one. How then had it escaped? Though strange, it was not why he'd been sought out. His eye's scanned the room, Rathdrum was checking the inert body of Harrier for signs of life and another man was kneeling over the naked body of a young woman, but he spared neither of them a second glance. The cries of a second woman rang through the chamber and he leveled his gaze on her.

The girl was college age, and she too was naked. At first, he thought she might be the girl he'd seen in the news, the one possessed by Chemosh who'd been reigning destruction down on the city, but her face was all wrong. He'd been warned that the perp possessed multiple victims and that one of them had been a girl matching this other one's description.

The girl was clawing at something dark resting on the ground. At first, he couldn't make out what it might be, but as he drew closer, he realized it was Babalawo's costume covered in the same goop the Gallu exuded. Though unusual, it was the things the girl was screaming between sobs that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"No!" she screamed clawing at her bare chest. "My body! It can't be gone! This isn't me, this isn't me!"

She curled up in a fetal position, and just lay there rocking back-and-forth sobbing and mumbling under her breath.

Avery put both hands on his hips sighed and turned his back on the girl. He spoke into his mic, in his shirt sleeve. "The Downing building is clear, but we will need medics and a recovery crew."

From there the scene resolved into the tedium of cleanup and the follow up investigation. Though he witnessed many colleague's die that day, some of them friends, it was the image of that girl that would stick with him for years to come.

AEGIS Field Office

 

New Hebron, California

Light filtered in through the blinds illuminating the unconscious form of a woman. At first, she did not stir, but a car horn sounded in the distance and she came awake. A groan escaped her lips, and a hand came up over her eyes to shield her face. Her fingers felt wrong, but she could not say why. She lay there in a daze, not certain where she was, and, at first, who she was.

As she lay there, memories came to her, and she clenched her eyes shut just letting them wash over her like waves.

"Liv!" Amy sat bolt upright and looked around, surveilling her surroundings. An AEGIS recovery room, with the same green walls as the treatment room in which they'd housed Sapphira, but without the armored hatch.

She remembered everything until the gateway detonated in the sky over New Hebron. She didn't even know if Sapphira survived. A sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach when she realized that she couldn't sense the other's emotions.

She cupped her face with her hands and pulled them away, glancing down at them. Now that she was a little more lucid, she realized that she was right, her fingers were different. Her heart hammering in her chest, she held them in front of her face rubbing each of her fingers with her thumbs. The digits looked identical to the way they had when Chemosh invaded her mind. Her ideal form made flesh.

The agent bit her lip and let her hands slip down her chest. Her breasts had also changed to fit the mental image of herself. Though she'd never been a great judge of size, they had grown several cup-sizes, at least.

She pulled her arms up, but stopped when she felt resistance.Tearing at the bandages around her arm, she pulled the needle free. Just as she expected, there was a sting of pain, but as her hand traced over the spot where the IV had been, she found no hole. She shook her head, convinced herself that it was her imagination and slipped her feet over the edge of the bed.

She stumbled forward, catching herself on the bed before she fell to the ground. Her center of gravity had changed, which was not something she'd expected, but she should have. After she righted herself, she stepped across the room. There were two doors one which led out and the other which led into a bathroom.

Amelia stepped inside the latter, flicked the light on and found her reflection staring back at her, and her breath catch in her throat. No longer tall and skinny, she wore the hourglass figure she'd always wanted. Her hands touched her hips, and she smiled, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. Child-bearing hips.

Her brief merger with Sapphira had born an unexpected side-effect. Her body had changed, become softer, rounder, altogether more feminine. This unification made her complete in a way surgery and hormones never could have. She touched her belly, closing her eyes for a moment and imagined that a child growing inside her. She did not yet have confirmation that the transformation was more than skin deep, but in her heart she was certain it was.

After her transition, she told herself that she was content, and had been in a large part, but there was always a part of her that longed to fulfill a simple biological function.

She stepped up to the mirror, and with shaking hands she reached up to touch her face. It alone remained unchanged, but she could not say the same for her eyes. Where before they were hazel, now they were the same Sapphira blue as Sapphira's. She was getting an inkling of what might have happened.

She'd merged with Sapphira and Ashtar, in body, mind and soul. The powers that the once-goddess passed down to the other exemplar had also transformed Amy. Had a portion of that spark somehow become a part of her, or was it a byproduct of their temporary merger?

Amy heard the door creak and peered over her shoulders back into the recovery room. Matthews stood in the doorway, a paper shopping bag hanging from his left hand and, he was staring at her with wide eyes. He'd lost his composure.

He cleared his throat, adjusted his tie and held the bag out to her. "My secretary was kind enough to pick up some clothing for you."

"Sir, I gotta know. Sapphira?" Amy asked eying the bag, but not reaching for it. Her heart skipped a beat, and she waited on bated breath to hear her superior's answer. Though it seemed like an eternity, it only took seconds for him to answer.

"Indigo Knight recovered Miss Scott same as yourself. She hasn't left her granddaughter's side since coming awake."

She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. Though she'd known the other exemplar for a short period and only admitted her feelings for Sapphira, the thought of losing her was more than she could bear. It made her heart hurt just thinking about it.

"Agent?"

Hot tears stung her eyes, and she opened them to find Matthews staring at her with a single arched eyebrow. The agent wiped the tears from her cheeks and grabbed the bag from her superior's hands. Muttering a quick thanks under her breath, she retreated into the bathroom.

She rested her back against the door and cupped her face. The agent's relief that Sapphira was alive, was enough to confirm something she'd already come to suspect. It happened so fast, but she could not deny her feelings. Her heart fluttered at the mere thought of the other exemplar. Not even Alex had elicited such a response and until the day she'd left Amy thought she was her soul mate.

She bit her lip and moved toward the mirror.

She let the hospital gown drop to the ground at her feet. The agent froze, staring at her reflection with a renewed appreciation for the transformation. It was not perfect, there was a little too much fat around the waist and hips, she had no thigh gap and her breasts weren't quite round. That being said, she wouldn't change a thing about it.

She bit her lip and pulled the clothes out of the bag. A plain white t-shirt, white panties, socks, sweatpants and a pair of slip-on loafers. Not, the first outfit she would have worn for her first jaunt in her new body, but one which would suffice for the time being. She dressed as fast as she could, but even the simple task which had long since become routine had become more difficult. Unaccustomed to her larger breasts, she found that the pressed into the fabric of the too-small shirt and it forced her to tug on the bottom hem to get it in place. Even sliding on the panties proved more difficult. She needed to tug on the elastic to stretch them over her hips. The rest of the outfit offered her little trouble although the shoes were just a little too tight and dug into her toes.

She looked up at her reflection and her cheeks burned. Her nipples were visible through the shirt, but without a bra or a bulkier shirt, she could do nothing.

She slipped back out of the bathroom and folded her arms across her chest as Matthews turned to face her.

"Sir, I, uh," she bowed her head messaging the crest of her nose. "Sir, did the doctors examine me. I mean, do you know if I'm..." she trailed off her cheeks burning even hotter.

"Sorry, agent, we've been busy. Most of the medical staff is still occupied treating the wounded from the assault on the Downing building. Once they determined you weren't injured, they moved on to the next patient. Speaking of which, Director Malcolm is on premiss and wants to debrief you once you're ready."

Amy nodded, but didn't press the matter further. As much as she wawanted some sort of confirmation she would have to wait. "I'd like to speak with Liv... Sapphira first, if that's all right, sir. I... just want to make sure he's okay. After everything we've been through, I... need to see her with my own eyes." Amy did not realize that she'd used both female and male pronouns to describe her, but Matthews picked up on it. He arched an eyebrow and then nodded.

"Malcolm's waiting in my office, we can stop by on our way out."

Matthews swung the door open and held his hand out motioning for the other exemplar to step through.

The agent's heart was hammering in her chest as Matthews closed the door behind them. Though eager to see Sapphira again, it was not why her nerves were so raw. If she revealed her feelings for the other exemplar to her superior, he might have her sanctioned or worse. The agency expected transition specialists and agents to keep a distance and there were rules in place to ensure they did. There was one thing going for her. After Sapphira stormed out of her house Amy requested reassignment.

Their confrontation left a sour taste in her mouth, but now she understood that the other exemplar was not the same bigot who'd said those terrible things. Their consciousnesses had been merged for a short time. Gone was all the anger and hated that she holded onto for so long.

Even if she convinced her superiors they developed feelings for one another after she requested a transfer, there would be questions. Footnotes would be made in her personnel file, rumors would spread and she would find it difficult to advance within the agency. It might ruin her career, but she would not back down.

Amy followed Matthews down to the end of the hallway to a room on the opposite side from the one they'd exited. Someone had propped the door open, and the agent peered inside. There were two figures insides, a girl lay unconscious atop a bed, but other than a few small bruises on her face and arms she saw no injuries. Seated beside the bed Sapphira held a hand above the girl's chest.

"The girl has been catatonic since they brought her in. Miss Scott has been in her current state for the better part of an hour." Matthews said staring inside a frown creasing hip lips.

Amy slipped through the doorway, and reached a hand out for Sapphira, but when her hand was just inches away Matthews spoke.

"It won't do any good. They have already made attempts to reach her." Amy peered back over her shoulder at Matthews and nodded. Sapphira was trying to reach her granddaughter, but doubted Amy it would be easy. Amy remembered well her experiences while joined with Sapphira and Ashtar. She'd experienced things that no human alive had ever been through and her psyche must be as fragile as porcelain. She doubted that she would ever recover from the experience.

"Sir," she turned back to Matthews hand still extended. "What about the casualties? Who did we lose?"

"We lost more than a dozen agents including Caldwell, McCall, Burley, and Payette. The clean up crew recovered Tennyo and Equalizer's bodies a few hours ago and Borrum is still unaccounted for. Aether and Harrier are both in critical condition and the doctors tell me they may not survive."

Amy's her heart sunk upon hearing those names. She knew Caldwell and McCall well. Burley was a transfer from Utah and Payette a rookie who'd only been an agent for about a month. Though she only dealt with them on a handful of occasions, their deaths still came as a blow. She was encouraged to learn that Harrier and Aether survived even if they were in critical condition.

"Any signs of Chemosh or his cohort, sir?" Amy asked heart hammering in her chest.

Matthews shook his head. "No, Chemosh has not surfaced and if what Indigo Knight has told me, we may or may not hear from it again. As far as the giant goes when agents on scene stormed the building there was no body. I think it's safe to say we haven't seen the last of Garos."

"What about Babalawo, sir?" She asked staring at her superior with wide eyes. She had mixed feelings about the exemplar. He'd saved her life, but if he survived and still under control of either Chemosh or the Gallu, he would be a liability.

"That is something you will have to see for yourself, but it will have to wait. Malcolm is waiting," Matthews said with a shake of his head.

"No, he's not," a voice spoke and almost as if Matthews summoned him, the director appeared around the corner. "Matthews, why don't you catch up on your paperwork? Agent Van den Broeke and I are due for a private conversation."

"Yessir," Matthews said, turned on the balls of his feet and disappeared down the hallway.

Amy folded her arms across her chest, her heart pounding inside of her chest. Though not her first encounter with the director, she had a new reason to be nervous around him.

"Let's go for a walk," he said holding both hands out motioning her forward. Amy complied, stepping down the corridor in the opposite direct from which she'd come.

She swallowed letting out a sigh once he stepped in sync beside her. They walked in silence, at first, but when they turned down a corner and emerged through a set of doors Matthews turned to her and smiled.

"You've done well agent, I couldn't have hoped for a better turnout."

"S-sir?" Her voice quivered. "How--"

He held a hand up and Amy clenched her jaw shut. Malcolm stopped outside a doorway and the agent eyed him with wide eyes.

"Indigo Knight has filled me in on the details, and I've already debriefed agent Driggs and a handful of others. What happened couldn't have been easy on you, but regardless of whether you intend to pursue a relationship with Miss Scott you have the agency's full blessing. As far as I'm concerned you're above reproach."

"Thank you sir," she a smile touching her lips for the first time since spotting the director. "You don't know how happy I am to hear you say that, but, sir you should be aware. I know who Indigo Knight's true identity, sir."

Malcolm did not speak, but rather eyed the agent like a criminal might regard a passing squad car.

"Your him, aren't you sir? When Sapphira and I joined, we saw into Chemosh's past. You are Moloch. Richard Downing, Indigo Knight, and Brian Malcolm, you're all the same damned person, aren't you?"

"Very good agent," he said with a sad smile. "I think I know what your next question will be. "Why did I let the agency get hold of the gateway, knowing what Chemosh would do if he discovered we had it?"

He bowed his head and let out a long sigh. "I miscalculated, Ashtar left Earth ages ago, and we agreed to bury the gateway after she left. If we recovered it she would return to prevent him from taking it. I believed him less powerful than he was, I believed, if Ashtar returned it would force a confrontation and she would destroy him, but I didn't count on his resourcefulness. If she had not passed on her spark, my mistake would have doomed us all."

Amy swallowed and met his gaze. It was disconcerting to hear the immortal admit that so much blame rested on his shoulders. "Is Chemosh dead then?"

"I can only say one thing for certain. He did not return to the realm of the Gallu, the gateway was already too unstable. It couldn't have maintained a connection to any place or realm for more than a few seconds at that point. The way I see it there were three possibilities, his awareness was destroyed in the energies of the portal, he was teleported to any random point in the known universe or he wound up in a parallel reality. We may never know for certain. We must remain vigilant should he ever return and even if he doesn't there is other cause for concern. We were never recovered Garos body. He is still out there somewhere. That's why I'm assigning you to a special detail. We'll need our best people if either of them should return."

"Special detail, sir?" Amelia bit her lip, her mind racing as she muddled over what Malcolm said. This man, this being, the head of a powerful government agency, wasn't even human. What were his motives? Could he be trusted? Would anyone believe her if she tried to expose him?

"Deputy Assistant Director Matthews will provide you with the details, Special Agent in Charge Van den Broeke."

She bit her lip and studied him. That was one hell of a promotion, she wasn't even a senior agent. To leap all the way up to Special Agent in Charge was tantamount to a rookie cop making senior detective.

"Thank you sir, but what about Sapphira? A SAC involved with someone with his past. Doesn't that make us a security risk?"

"You know the answer to that agent, Sapphira is a changed woman, thanks in no part to yourself. Don't worry, I've lived among your kind long enough to know how to handle a matter of this delicacy. It won't be a problem. You helped to save this city, agent, and perhaps the entire world, no one will question it."

"And my promotion? With all due respect, sir, aren't I a little young?"

"Age is but a number, Van den Broeke. You have already been confronted with the knowledge that humankind is not alone in the Universe and you've faced it with dignity and grace. You faced down an opponent many times more powerful than you. Others would have fled in terror. I need someone with the commitment you've shown and the willingness to do whatever is necessary."

"Thank you," she paused and bit her lip. There was another matter she wished to bring up, but didn't know how to broach the subject.

She gritted her teeth and stepped toward her superior. "Sir, you know Sapphira and I merged during the confrontation with Chemosh?"

Malcolm turned back toward her and nodded. "Yes, and you want to know why, don't you? It was Ashtar's doing, a way of ensuring that Miss Scott would have strength to resist Chemosh. She left an imprint of herself within Sapphira's mind to help the process along. Call it a failsafe."

Amelia nodded, the implications of what he said frightened jer. That Ashtar would know to create such a failsafe would mean she'd somehow foreseen that someone such as herself would be both willing and able to aid Sapphira. They'd already suggested that Sapphira may have a small measure of precognitive abilities, abilities she would have inherited from Ashtar, but the pure scope of what the Director suggested was far and beyond that. AEGIS had come across a few pre-cogs over the years and they'd studied their abilities. The future was not set in stone, the further out a premonition was, the less of a chance it would happen. Could she have known for certain or was this failsafe been created on the smallest chance it might come into effect?

"Your union had another effect. Your body was changed, a transwoman does not simply grow ovaries overnight," he said giving her a pointed look.

Amy stared back at him, wide-eyed and her jaw hanging open. "Ovaries?"

"My suit has a rudimentary bio scanner, the moment I pulled you out of the air I saw something your body had changed. Once we touched ground, I did a full scan and found your anatomy more resembled a female physique than it should have. It's far from conclusive, mind, but the results would seem encouraging."

"And, if it changed me, why is Sapphira still a woman? Shouldn't he be back to being a man?"

"You keep using male pronouns, agent, but I'm not sure they apply any more, are you? Look back to what Sapphira was wearing in that recovery room, a pink blouse, the ruffled skirt, and a flower in her hair? Everett Howard never would have been caught dead wearing something like that. "

Amy pictured Sapphira in the outfit. In an instant she realized that Malcolm was right. He was not the right pronoun, but pretty flowers and skirts was not all that marked the divergence. It was her attitude. It hadn't happened all at once, but the biggest shift happened when the other exemplar confronted her daughter's murderer.

"H-how? Gender identities don't just change."

"When Ashtar died, she passed on a piece of herself, call it her spark, to Everett Howard, it is what gave him her powers and transformed him into the beautiful young woman you love. Change, is in my nature, when my people came to this world, we adapted taking on a form indistinguishable from that of the dominant species, humans. Ashtar, with her dying breath guided Everett Howard's physical transformation, giving him a form she hoped would help him see through the eyes of those he hated and looked down upon."

"The mind can't be influenced in the same way, but what the spark could not accomplish on its own it did through you. You helped guide him, reshape his opinions and when you merged, you shared a piece of yourself with him. The bond had its own effect on you, reshaping your body and granting you the form you so desperately desired. You each now carry a portion of Ashtar's spark. Together you are stronger than you would have ever been apart."

"A piece of myself? I don't understand, sir."

"I'm not sure it's something that can be quantified, what is it that makes a woman a woman or a man a man? Why is it that some who are, as you put it, who are assigned male at birth, feel as if they should have been born female? You have been certain for as long as you can remember that you were meant to be a member of the fairer sex and because of that when you merged with the spark, you became that which you desired. Sapphira desired change, and in her mind, she thought the best way to do that was to leave her old life behind."

"Couldn't Sapphira, just have changed into another man? I mean, why stay a woman? You said so yourself that your people can adapt and change. Why not change again?"

"You know the answer, agent." Malcolm smiled back at her. "And if you still haven't reasoning it out, perhaps you should reexamine what has transpired between you and Miss Scott or, perhaps, more importantly how you feel about one another. On some level she remained Sapphira because she is in love with you and that is what she believed it would make her happy. So the spark helped her become comfortable within her skin."

Amy eyed the once-god and swallowed hard. Should she tell him what she saw within Chemosh's mind? That Ashtar, Chemosh and he had once been one consciousness splintered into three? What would such a realization do to him? He seemed stable enough, but what if it pushed him over the edge? She was dealing with an alien being. Chemosh was the only one of the three who remembered and she had been a homicidal maniac.

She never got the chance, Malcom turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. "There's someone inside, I think, who could use your help. Why don't you talk to her or would it be more appropriate to say him?"

The director took a step back and Amy stared into the doorway. A familiar figure waited inside, but she'd never expected to see the young woman again. The last time she'd laid eyes on her, the girl had been an empty husk. Left that way by the invasive consciousness of Chemosh.

"Sir, I don't understand," she said glancing back over her shoulder, but the director had disappeared.

A part of her wanted to chase down Malcolm, but deep down inside she knew she wouldn't be able to find him. Whoever the director might be, whatever his intentions, there was nothing she could do about it until she better understood his motives and gather clues. He helped take down Chemosh, and that much earned him her silence. She would be watching. If he proved to be a danger, Amy would make sure he would be neutralized.

"Van den Broeke?" the girl's studied her as entered the room, and she saw recognition mirror in her eyes. How was that possible?

"Thank god, a familiar face," the girl said tears cascading down her face. "I've been telling theses assholes who I am and none of them will listen to a goddamned word I say."

"Look," Amy sat down at the table across from her. "I'd love to help, but you will have to help me out here. I--"

"Amelia!" The girl screamed throwing both of her hands out. "It's me Awé."

Van den Broeke leaned back in the chair and eyed the girl between pursed lips. She thrummed her fingers on the table and let out a long sigh. "What? How?"

"I don't know," Awé leaned forward bowing his head and letting his hair spill over in front of his face. He didn't bother collecting it or pulling it back over his ears, but rather sat there trembling and sobbing. When he spoke, his voice quivered, and he sobbed between sentences. "I remember losing control, watching in horror as Chemosh made me do those things. Then there was that whole thing where you and Sapphira merged, I remember my hand in your chest and then there was a lot of pain. When I came to again, I was like this, my body was gone and all that was left was my suit, drenched in that fucking green ooze."

Amy's recollections of being Ashira were fading, but she remembered that her amalgamated self believed Babalawo was on his way to transforming into a Gallu. When they severed the creature's connection to Chemosh they all vanished. He must have been far enough along in his transfiguration for his body to fade away with the rest of the Gallu. How then did his consciousness end up inside the girl? Had his awareness found its own way, or was it been helped along by Malcolm? It must be the latter, the director had access to superior technology and had lived untold millennia. He must have means of transferring consciousness.

"Okay," Amy said licking her lips and reached out to grasp Awé's hands resting atop the table. "Here's the situation. Awé Kincaide died fighting Chemosh, and the girl whose body you now possess died a tragic death at the hands of the same entity. You don't want to hear this, but we'll need relocate you, give you a new identity and you live life out wearing that face."

"What about prison? Our plea deal that just get's swept under the table?" Awé looked up at Amy, staring at her through the curtain of hair covering her face.

"Like I said, Awé Kincaide is dead, there's no reason to pursue criminal charges."

"So, I'm stuck like this? Wearing this face, pretending I'm just some prissy little white frat girl?" He said shaking his head. "I know nothing about being a woman."

Amy sighed and lowered her head, "Tell you what, I can pull some strings, you still get a new identity, but you stay in New Hebron. There's an increased chance you'll be recognized, but we can help negate that, dye your hair, get a haircut, maybe gain a little weight and cover your face in makeup. You'll be assigned a transition specialist and if you like Sapphira and I can help you deal with the changes. We both have experience in that area."

"Look like I have no choice," Awé nodded, bitting his lips. He looked down at his breasts and cupped them. "Guess that means I will have to used to these things."

"Yeah," Amy nodded and put on her best smile. She stood up and put both hands on the table. "Why don't you come with me and we can get the ball rolling?"

Awé nodded and stood up. He stared at the doorway, then with trembling hands, he pulled the hair out his face and back over his ears. He put a smile on his face as she led him away. It was a false one, but it was encouraging to see him trying.

A sob escaped the girl's lips and Sapphira jerked back. The exemplar glanced around and scrambled to her feet, heart hammering in her chest. Her nerves were still raw from the confrontation in the Downing building, but it was her foray into Hailey's mind that had gotten her agitated.

Hailey's mind was chaotic, and she was teetering upon the precipice of sanity. Was it any wonder after what she had been through? Sapphira glanced over her shoulder eying the doorway before closing her eyes, emitting a long sigh and returning to her seat. Upon entering the girl's mind she was under almost constant attack, and she could not say if the girl even knew who she was. She sensed that Hailey was lashing out, not on a rational level, but rather like a wounded animal fighting for its life.

She reached her hand out and readied herself for another try, but never had the opportunity. Hailey sat bolt upright, her eyes wild and panting, as if she'd just come up from a long dive. The girl buried her face in her palms, her whole body trembling as she sobbed into her hands.

Sapphira reach out gripping her shoulder. The girl turned and collapsed into the other's arms and she her whole body stiffened.

"Thank you, oh god, thank you," Hailey whisper in her ear, and the exemplar relaxed. She had waited decades for this chance and she couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Perhaps, it was for the better, her possession had traumatized the girl in ways few others could imagine, what she needed was a simple human comfort. So, Sapphira wrapped her arms around the young woman, and just let her weep.

She didn't know how long it was before she finally pulled away, but it seemed like hours. Hailey stared at her with wide eyes, tears still streamed down her face, but there were no sobs. She reached out to touch Sapphira's cheek. "I remember you. You were the one who fought Chemosh. She said you were my grandfather. H-how is that possible?"

"I didn't always look like this," she smiled and slipped her hand over Hailey's. "I had an encounter with Ashtar, a being with whom Chemosh shared a great deal of history. She passed on her powers and I wound up wearing this face. I can... show you."

"Show me?" She stared at the other woman with wide eyes. "How?"

"I'm psychic, it's an ability Ashtar passed on to me," Sapphira replied squeezing Hailey's hand.

The girl tensed and pulled her hand away from Sapphira's face. "I-I'd prefer you didn't."

Sapphira bit her lip and smiled. She should have guessed that the girl would be uncomfortable with abilities of that sort after being possessed by Chemosh. The once-god invaded her mind and taken over her body. Though sharing memories was a different experience altogether, it might feel like an intrusion into her mind. "Okay then, I'll just have to tell you about it."

And so Sapphira did, explaining it all starting with Ashtar's demise and describing her transformation. She glossed over any of the story involving Chemosh or the Gallu. The girl was fragile, she did not wish to agitate her. When the exemplar finished, Hailey bowed her head.

"W-why weren't you ever there for me? My other grandparents always said you passed away. I-I--"

Sapphira reached her hands out clasping both of Hailey's and she froze looking into Sapphira's eyes. "Don't judge them too harshly. After your mother passed away, I wasn't exactly in the best state of mind. I was angry at the world, full of hatred and malice and not someone you would want an impressionable child spend time around. I am ashamed to say I've only recently come to see the error of my ways. It may not count for anything, but I'm here now and I'd like the chance to get to know you."

Hailey bit her lip and nodded sniffling and rubbing the tears from her eyes. "I-I think I'd like that."

Sapphira sensed a familiar presence and watched Hailey's head turn toward the doorway. The exemplar followed her gaze and her heart hammering in her chest as she looked upon the figure standing in the doorway.

"Amy," she whispered under her breath and rose to her feet.

Sapphira saw the differences in the agent's appearance right off the bat. She had an inkling of what caused the changes, not that it didn't surprise her.

Amelia stepped into the room and smiled, glanced down at her chest, her cheeks burning bright red and folded her arms across it. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I thought I might check in and see how you two were doing."

Sapphira bridged the rest of the gap between them and reached out grabbing her by the shoulders. "H-how?"

"It's complicated, but it seems when we merged it had some unforeseen side effects," Amy said looking into Sapphira's eyes. She leaned in close and their lips brushed, but they never touched.

"I remember you, Chemosh tried to seduce you and I saw you kissing Sapphira, but you looked different... you were taller and your figure wasn't so..." Hailey blurted out and the pair of exemplars pulled away.

Hailey, glanced between the two of them her cheeks burning even brighter than Amelia's. She winced, closed her eyes and held a hand up to her head. "I-I'm sorry. Everything that happened while I was possessed is so muddled... unclear. I have a hard time processing it."

Sapphira, rushed back toward the girl's bed and grabbed her by the shoulder. She open her eyes again and buried her head in the other's chest. "I'm okay, it gives me a headache trying to make sense of it all."

"I'll be here for you," Sapphira whispered wrapping both her arms around the girl. "We'll make sense of it together, okay?"

Amy watched the pair and bit her lip. Circumstances had given Sapphira an opportunity to get to know her granddaughter that AEGIS would have never have otherwise allowed, but at a terrible cost. There was little she could do, and she felt that if she tried it would be an intrusion.

Amelia put a hand on Sapphira's shoulder, stood on her toes, and kissed her on the cheek. It felt good to show affection for Sapphira and she looked forward to showing that affection in more interesting ways. For the time being, it was more than sufficient.

"I'll see you at home," she whispered in her ear. It was more than just a statement, but rather an invitation. After what transpired she wanted Sapphira to know she was welcome back into her house.

She pulled away, watching the pair. A tear rolled down her cheek and reached up to wipe it away. Though their bond faded after Chemosh's defeat, she was witnessing the love of a grandfather in action. She walked toward the exit and craned her neck back around once she reached the doorway. Though the girl experienced a trauma, the likes of which few would ever understand, she sensed that everything would be okay.

She thought of Awé wondering what sort of future the former exemplar might have ahead of him. His journey would not be easy, but she would ensure AEGIS would do everything within their power to help him. He was not responsible for the acts Chemosh forced him to commit and he'd been quite heroic until the moment he lost control.

It would be hard, she understood better than anyone. She wondered if he would elect to transition or live with his new body. His transition specialist, Erin, who was meeting with him for the first time at that moment, would encourage him to try living as a woman before deciding. Though Amy had only met, the other woman once or twice she'd heard good things, and she knew he was in good hands.

She slipped out of the room, making her way down the corridor toward the administrative offices. She had a report to write.

"Sapphira Olivia Scott." She smiled as she spoke the name, for the first time certain that it belonged to her. Everett Howard was a distant memory, a part of herself, to be sure, but she no longer identified as that person. It was an odd change, one she didn't quite understand and yet it didn't concern her.

She bit her lips and wondered anew if she ever would have seen the error of her ways if not for her transformation. At her core, she believed she was still the same person. Though she despised many of the things she'd once believed were virtues, she had the same capacities and susceptible to the same failing as before. She was more than capable of hate, but she let her animosity go and instead had chosen to love.

It was the day after the incident at the downing building and they'd both been so exhausted upon returning home they had collapsed into exhausted heaps. She'd thought to surprise Amy, but had been waiting for hours. Unable to bear the cold and sterile walls of the AEGIS facility, she'd come outside to bask in the setting sun, and the orange and violet hues that sparkled upon the horizon.

Ever since she'd merged with Amy, everything seemed different. She felt different. It was wonderful.

She thought of Amelia, her cheeks burning as she did so. The things she revealed to the other woman were still at the forefront of her mind. She cared for Amy. Though she loved her wife, what she felt for the other exemplar was different. It was no less passionate, but Amy was a very different person, more focused and dedicated. Her feelings for the other exemplar reflected the other's personality as they had for Hailey's grandmother.

She might have spent hours outside, just reveling in the scenery and the beauty of it all, but then a figure stepped out into her line of site and a smile touched her lips. The woman, dressed all in black and whites, a much too severe little ensemble, in Sapphira's mind, but somehow it seemed to fit the woman and it didn't seem so harsh anymore.

"Amy," she said rising to her feet, taking care to straighten her skirt as the other woman approached.

"Liv, you... look different," Amelia stopped just a few feet away gazing at the other woman with a single eyebrow raised. Though Sapphira had worn a few feminine outfits before, this one stood out for some reason.

"You like it? Hailey helped me put it together," She smiled again, this time showing a lot more teeth and then winced before meeting Amelia's gaze. "You hate it, don't you?"

Amy shook her head and sighed. "No, it's not that. It looks good on you, in fact," she paused and pursed her lips. "I'd like to take you some place more private and maybe get a closer look."

Amelia winced the moment the words left her lips. She'd never been good at playful banter, but that didn't seem to matter to Sapphira. The other woman closed the last of the distance between the two of them and before the agent knew what had hit her, warm and soft lips lock around hers.

"Oh, I think you'll be a little more interested in what's underneath," Sapphira whispered once they'd broken for air.

Amelia nodded, but instead of answering, she pulled the other woman closer and kissed her back.

The second they broke air, Amelia took Sapphira's hand, leading her toward the parking structure. "Come on."

Much of what they shared while they'd been merged had faded. Amelia only had a few recollections of Sapphira's early childhood and the life she led until that moment, but she knew the other woman better than any person. Her dreams and aspirations, her likes and dislikes and her quirks and foibles were as familiar to her as her own. At the moment she understood one thing without reflecting on their moment of unity, but which came through simple intuition. She was in love with Sapphira and Amelia was certain it was mutual.

She smiled and met the other woman's gaze. Neither spoke, neither had to. A simple look was enough. When they reached Amelia's little home, they made love for the first time, though not the last.