Cassidy Lockheart stood in front of the floor length mirror in the walk-in closet with a dazed expression on her face. Everything was different, she was different…darker. There had been small personality changes in the last few weeks; she had started taking a small measure of enjoyment in her kills and thriving more than usual in the violence. Her relations had grown a little strained and she had been keeping everything bottle up. Nobody knew about the trip she had taken to France, the land now called Paese di Tenebra and nobody knew about her encounter there with Darkchild and his teammates Lady Death and Eternal Chaos. She had faced her fears, she had gone to gain closure, she was finally moving on with her life. The rape had forever changed her, she had been betrayed in quite possibly the worst was imaginable by a man who had once been her teammate. The day that he and Donnie fought was the day that her life had changed, for the better for the most part, but for the worse in others. Rape was something that you never really got entirely over; the best that one could hope for was closure. That was what she had been aiming for in her trip to; Cass wanted to be able to live a happy life with Ethan, with her mother, with Sovereign Son, the man who treated her as if she was his blood daughter. She had a brother and sister now and god was she happy, so damn happy, but she had noticed something dark lurking inside her and those fears had been affirmed. Darkchild had left more than his seed in her; he had tainted her powers and quite possibly something more fundamental, her very soul.
Looking into the mirror she could see the changes that had come over her. There were dark hollows beneath her normally radiant green eyes that were now so dull and lifeless. She had been wearing cosmetic contacts that past few weeks as the pigmentation in her eyes had started to change as well. Her skin was paler than normal, had a waxy-looking sheen to it and was drawn taut against her face. She ran her fingers through her hair, tugging at it gently; it was one of her nervous habits. She barely recognized herself anymore. What had started as personality changes had now started affecting her physical aspects as well. It had all come to a point in the last few days when her powers had taken a turn for the worse. Her powers had changed on a somewhat fundamental level. Instead of the electric blue tint that her telekinetic force fields had, they were now displaying a deep purple and were swirling with Darkness itself, a power of Darkchild’s. It set her on edge and made her extremely nervous. He was taking over her from the inside out. She had started questioning everything. Who she was, what she did, what her true intents were. Perhaps happiness was not hers to want, perhaps it was not something she would ever have. She had committed so many sins in her life, wronged so many people. Perhaps that was what she was destined for? Had her life as a Champion been a facade? Had she been fooling herself and everybody else all the while denying her true nature. These were questions that she needed to find the answers to.
There was one person whom she could turn to to help her solve all these problems in one go. It had taken a lot of thought and introspection for her to reach this conclusion and it wasn't an easy decision by any means, but Cass needed to rediscover and redefine herself. If there was anybody in this world who knew Darkchild well enough to be able to formulate a way to get rid of his taint and who actually had the resources to carry out that plan, it was the King of Assassins himself, Jean Luc LeBeau. Cassidy had spent two of the best years of her life on the Champions of Peace and her heart ached at the thought of leaving them, but it was time to rediscover herself. She needed to find out how much of her dark thoughts lately were her own and how much of them were due to Darkchild’s influence and there was no better place to do that then by Gambler's side once again. She had veered away from him those years ago and she had run from the only home she had been able to truly remember at the time. She had needed that time to set things straight in her mind, to form her own identity separate from him and his teachings and she had done so. However, there were blank spots in her mind, missing chunks of memory of her time with him, of what she had done. She needed those back, as well. It killed her to leave like this, to leave for him, a piece of her was dying inside and she felt physically ill. She knew that to do this, to turn her back on the Champions, on her family, in this way would have horrible repercussions; yet it was something that needed to be done.
Turning away from the mirror she slid an encrypted cell phone out of her pocket and turned it on for the first time. It was of the highest encryption level available, although it would not hold up to EVE and her mom’s tech capabilities. Holding down the power button she waited for the home screen to show up, lightly dragging the tip of her index finger along it and opening up a new e-mail file. Her message was quick and concise; she was coming by air and would need his aid as soon as she landed at the air strip. He knew that she was coming with no ill intent (although she didn't expect him to believe it) and he knew that this was not like any of her other two visits to his dark utopia; this was something entirely different. After powering off the phone, she slid it back into her pokey and walked over to the luxurious walk in closet that she had filled with clothes of all sorts. Elegant dresses that she would die before admitting that she actually enjoyed wearing them, jeans of all cuts and colors, shirts of every style you could imagine and enough shoes to make any girl happy beyond her wildest dreams. The silk of one of the dresses brushed against her bare arm as she walked towards the back of the closet. She got up on her tiptoes and reached for the suitcase, pulling it off of the top shelf. She placed it on the floor in the middle of the closet and started throwing clothes in there; nothing special or extravagant, just the clothes that she wore every day and uniforms. After five minutes of frenzied packing she zipped the suitcase and carried it over to her bed, dropping it with an unceremonious thud on the king-sized bed.
Cassidy walked over to the far side of the bedroom that she shared with Ethan. The wall was paneled with deep mahogany and looked uniform and unbroken, but if one were to take a closer look they could see the palm-sized panel that was inset into the wall. Placing her right palm on it she waited for her hand to be scanned. Once it was confirmed that it was her, a retinal scan initiated, further confirming her identity. The mahogany walls slid neatly apart, revealing a weapons cache. All of her weapons were there and it was enough to power a small army or militia unit. She couldn't take them all, it would simply be too much to carry, and so she picked and chose her favorites. She strapped on the sheaths for her kukris to her upper thighs, sliding the masterfully crafted blades in, followed by the dual shoulder holster and her FiveseveNs. There was a dagger strapped to her right calf and throwing knives in wrist sheaths, all her regular equipment. Walking in the armory she picked and chose the weapons that she would be bringing with her; a semi-automatic gun here, a mini-UZI there, a butterfly knife here, a scimitar there. If there was one thing in this world that she had more of than shoes (her hidden weakness) it was weapons, her first true love. After fully packing all the weapons and ammo she felt that she would need, she laid the case next to the other one on the bed.
Next was one of the hardest things that she’d had to do…she had to write her goodbyes. She left stored messages for her mother, for Chevie, for her…father and a little something for Hudson. She knew that by leaving in this manner she may be cutting ties with them and it killed something inside of her to do it. Cass could only hope that one day maybe they would somehow understand that it was a mixture of her needing to really discover herself and her not seeing anybody better suited to this job than Gambler. She had been a young easily manipulated girl during her time with him; she needed to see how she fared with him at this stage in her life when she was stronger and new better. Shaking her head to attempt to shake the thoughts out of her head, Cass walked over to the bedside table on the right side of the luxurious bed. Grabbing the notepad and pen that were next to the handheld phone she started penning a note to her lover. She loved him and she knew that he loved her. What they had was unparalleled in her life, he knew of all her faults, he knew that she was damaged goods in so many ways and he loved her despite that. It was up to him whether he stayed with the Champions of Peace or not. She knew that he was trying to make up for some of the wrongs his father had committed, that was something that they had in common; they were both trying to prove to others that they weren’t like the men who had raised them. He knew how to contact her when he needed to, they had a minimum of five lines of secure communication set up in the event that they were separated from each other for any reason and he was always welcome in due to his training at Gambler’s hands.
Swallowing the bile in her throat she stood up and grabbed both of the cases. Keeping a firm and sturdy grip on them, she made her way to the car that Ethan had bought her for her birthday; an Aston Martin. It was one of her favorite possessions, not just because it was an insanely luxurious item, but because it catered to her personality. It was quick, sleek and when used correctly, lethal. He got her, inside and out, he got her. He knew her better than she knew herself at times and she would be lost in this world without him. The sun beamed down on her, refracting against the diamond ring that she wore on her left ring finger as she loaded the suitcases into the trunk of the vehicle. After firmly closing the lid of the trunk she walked around to the driver’s side and opened the door, sliding in and turning the key in the ignition.
Several Hours Later
The plane ride had been one of the worst experiences of her life. Things had taken a downturn for the worse and all she could thing of were thoughts of death, thoughts of darkness. She was re-living all of her worse memories over and over and over inside her head, as if they were really happening once again, right then and there. Cass wouldn’t be able to take it much longer; her body was in such mental and physical anguish. Sweat was dripping down her brow as the hatch of the plane opened. She stepped out, wearing a tank-top with a racer back, showing the edges of the phoenix brand, low-slung canvas cargo pants and her trademark combat boots. Cass was equipped with her regular equipment and everything else was stowed in the plane. Stumbling slightly, she watched as a Jeep roared up, the dusty sand spewing out in a trail behind it as it sped towards the tarmac. Coming to a halt about twenty feet away from her, the passenger side door opened up and the King of Assassins himself stepped out. Cass may have been a bit out of her mind, but she was still herself enough to take note of the vehicle. It was heavily armored with bulletproof glass. The windows were tinted a near black and she was sure that there was a sniper somewhere with her in their sights. She could practically feel the scope trained on her.
He walked towards her, his confidence and ego apparent in his demeanor. Gambler tried not to let the curiosity show on his face, she could tell that he was restraining himself, that he wanted to ask questions. He knew that something momentous had to have happened for her to return to the fold of her own volition. Before he could say anything or come any closer, Cass dropped to her knees, her case of weapons dropping to the ground. “I want to come home.” Her voice was small and weak, sounding seemingly like an echo of its normal self. “I…I want to come home, but I need…I need your help.” She turned her head to the side and vomited into the sand. Turning back to him, she wiped her hand over her mouth and looked up at him, her eyes gaunt and hollow. “Darkchild raped me, this I’m sure you know. I got…I got over it as much as anybody ever could. I moved on, I started living my life. But you know me better than most and you know that I have an unreasonable need to stir up trouble when I’m happiest. So, without telling anybody, I “borrowed” the teleporter that the Champions have access to and I paid a visit to the ruins of the country once called . I attempted to gain final closure from Darkchild, only to have more questions arise. Two of his companions detected a familiar energy signature coming from me, one that mirrored that of Darkchild’s. He left more than just his…seed…inside of me, Jean. He marked my very soul; he affected me on literally every level I could be affected on. It’s in my powers now; it’s starting to take over my personality. I need…I need you to be the man I know you can be and I need you to find a way to fix me. I don’t care what it takes, I don’t care how much it hurts I just need him out of me.” The more she spoke the more frantic her voice grew. There was an undeniable sense of urgency to the situation. “I want to come home, but I need you to help me first,” and with that, she passed out in the sand, her crimson hair mixing with the taupe sand of the desert.
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