The Rematch Begins

"They really don't know when to give up, do they?" Alister was almost enjoying himself. The Enforcer drones were firing, projecting blasts of heat and light which rippled against his shadow armour. Lasers stitched through the air, but they were no match for him. He laughed. It had been far too long since he had been able to fight with everything that he had.

He moved forward, a broadsword clasped in his two hands. The hilt was black, the blade was a deep, mournful blue. It seemed to draw the eye, the edge extending towards infinity the more you looked upon it. You could easily become mesmerised, seeing how the sword went on and on forever.

Of course, you would only become mesmerised like that for a very brief period. Mostly because, while in a hypothetical sense the edge of the sword might have gone on forever, in a purely _practical _sense, the edge of the sword occupied only a very small and yet very important amount of space. I.e. where your neck used to be.

It was one of the treasures that his father had stored away over the centuries. An immortal vampire, the father of both Alister and Alexi had been very far from a nice person. But he did have an eye for value, and he never used something that he might need later.

The blade swept back and forth, cleaving through the enforcers with absurd ease. Their armour was tough, designed to fight against foes who had powers. They were from a futuristic world, one which had dealt with its fair share of enemies. None of that mattered, the blade carved through them like they were nothing. it split them, it mocked their armour and the science which had gone into it. Alister had already left a trail of broken, hissing enforcers in his wake.

But for all the damage he'd done, Dusklord had unleashed a massacre. He was the centre of a corona of shadow. Tendrils lashed out around him, unformed constructs that defined themselves only at the last minute. Blades and whips and hooks that dragged his foes into nests of thrashing sharpness and edged obliteration, He walked and shadow followed in his wake. Darkness flowed across the floor where his feet touched the ground, the air grew colder for his passing. This was not a Dusklord the city had ever really seen before. This was not the gentleman thief, or the cultured gang leader or even the relentless but good hearted crime boss that he liked to portray himself as.

This was Dusklord when he was serious. He was the centre of a ring of death, a thousand thrashing tendrils lashed out around him. Enforcers fired into the mass, but walls and shields bore themselves up in an instant to take the blows. Tentacles lashed out, turned into hooks which buried themselves in metal and dragged the robots to their doom. He fired rains of arrows which tore themselves into existence behind him and speared towards their target without mercy.

Together, the two brothers had already decimated Dogma's forces.

In contrast to Alister, Dusklord didn't laugh. His face wasn't jovial, or even relaxed. It was focused. His eyes were half shut, his mouth drawn tight. Using his powers to this extent was difficult. Usually, he kept control of each and every individual construct but now he was making too many, and using them too quickly to really control them deliberately. It was down to instinct. He had to guide each one with general feeling and intent. Trust his subconscious mind to judge target and method. Shields, walls, paths and barriers all sprang into existence around him as needed and he himself often did not know they were coming until the last moment. He knew that he was performing a complex task, that if he stopped to let himself wonder how he was doing it, he'd trip up and fail. He just had to focus on the now.

The last of the Enforcers died in an explosion, Alister's sword tore it in two halves. The two brothers looked at one another.

"Where is she?" Dusklord asked.

Alister said nothing for a moment. He dropped to one knee, putting his hand on the ground. His powers were not as destructive as those of his brother, but he had other talents besides. If he closed his eyes, and extended his senses, he could project a wave of shadow, feeling it echo outwards and then back to him like a radar. It was a power that was his and his alone. Not inherited from his mother or father as his armour was. He had worked hard to hone it, even as a child he'd been proud of the fact that it was his.

"I don't know," he said after a moment. The return came back. The complex was deep. "Dogma's either been working hard here for a long time before he first vanished, or he bought it from someone who has. There are layers and layers of tunnels and corridors. It's a whole damn complex of bunkers and reinforced walls. Labs and dormitories. The place could hold an army. Doesn't have nearly that many, though. I guess he's still building up?"

Dusklord grunted.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you're not interested in that sort of thing right now," Alister said. "Look, the sheer size of this place combined with the density of the metals is messing with my ability to pinpoint specific details. But I can tell you where she's not. All of the upper levels are empty of her presence. She's supposed to be strong, right?"

"Very," Dusklord said. "I don't believe he could hold her easily. She must be lower down."

"That's right," Alister said. "Down at the bottom levels, that's where I'd guess she is. I'd also guess our arrival has been noted. I'm sensing a bunch more soldiers moving towards us. Some drones, a lot flesh and blood. Supers."

"Good," Dusklord grinned. "That means we've been noticed. Makes our job a lot easier."

"Oh? How do you reckon that?"

"If Dogma knows, Lilly knows." Dusklord said simply. "Which means all we have to do is get deep enough and then follow the explosions."

"You don't think she'll be pinned down and helpless?"

"Not even remotely."

The large door on the other side of the room was thrown open suddenly and more of Dogma's soldiers poured into the room. Guns barked, lasers seared. This time, powers were added to the mix. The two brothers shared a look and then went to work.

Lilly's body flurried with heat. Fire so intense that it didn't even leash ashes burned around and within her. The collar was gone, the vibrators were gone. All she had eyes for was the frail form of the Shadow Lady whom she was currently tackling through wall after wall. Cement, stone and metal cracked and broke around them. The whole complex seemed to shake. The old goddess' aura of fire batted at Lilly's fire, but light beat over darkness as it had before and Lilly drove them further. She'd lost track of the number of chambers they'd smashed through now. It must have been dozens at least, maybe more. Each time, Lilly would shove her enemy into the wall, using her body to crash through any barrier. Then, they would be through the room. She would have a brief impression of an empty area or a room full of startled people and they'd be off top the next.

After a while, Lilly finally started to slow. Her body began to tire, and her heat to fall. She needed to catch her breath, so when she crashed through the next wall - into a large and empty storage room of some kind, she forced herself to halt. Her chest heaved with greedy gulps as the Shadow Lady's body tumbled limply forward. It looked burned and dead. Every bone in it should have been broken and lolled like a doll which had been tossed aside by an unruly child.

But appearance was very far from truth and as soon as Lilly stopped throwing heat and force at it, it reacted. Tendrils of shadow erupted from its burned skin and hauled it to its feet. There was a sick popping sound and its legs rotated, shattered bones remade themselves in an instant and skin healed. The Shadow Lady rose as though she had never been harmed at all.

"You are holding back," she said. "When you hit me at the castle, it was with more power than that."

Lilly snarled and threw herself forward, a pair of blazing wings erupted from her back, beating to add extra speed. The Shadow Lady threw up a hand and a tide of shadow washed over the space where Lilly had been, erasing it and everything contained within it. Lilly was already moving by then, plunging forward, her fist smashed towards the other woman but the Shadow Lady raised a shield of darkness. Lilly struck it, heat flared and it cracked. But the Shadow Lady lashed out with a tendril that swept through the air. Lilly ducked back, evading it by inches. A dozen more sprung for her and she gave ground, twisting and turning. They circled around to grab her, turned into snarling snakes with venomous fangs that clove for her naked body. Lilly gave a shout and unleashed a blast of fire which burned them away to nothing.

"I hate snakes," She growled.

The Shadow Lady regarded her for a moment, then gestured. Instantly, the space around her started to warp. A bubble of darkness rose up to engulf her. Lilly gave a shout, but she was too slow and the darkness crashed down to surround her body. She struggled but it stuck to her skin, binding her in place like tar.

The Shadow Lady kept her hand extended. Feeding power into the construct. Making it stronger than either of her sons ever could. For all that each of them had their own twists on it, their powers were but pale reflections of her. She was the source, the origin. The primal first.

"You are a slave," She said. "In soul and mind. You seek domination and servitude even though your spirit rebels from it. Your flesh and blood crave a master. You are a slave who dreams she is a rebel but whose dreams seek only the cruel embrace of the collar. Is that not true? I see into your mind and into your soul, beyond your petty beliefs or history and I see someone who desires servitude. It feels good, does it not? It makes you feel more worth than you ever felt as a hero. To be used. To be tormented, to be the object of another's desire. It completes you."

Redwing grunted, feeling the pressure of the cocoon of darkness pressing in around her. It was trying to bind her in place, trying to hold her down. Trying to pin her where she was. She could feel her bones creaking under the stress, it was crushing her down inch by inch!

She took a deep breath, feeling the air flowing to her lungs. Reached for her power and _pushed. _The explosion of fire and heat ripped the binding to shreds, the darkness shrivelled away, waves of fury melted the ground beneath her feet and caused the stone above to glow red hot and begin to drip. As soon as the binding failed, Redwing was moving. She hit her enemy hard, like a bullet, smashing her back into the far wall. The impact radiated through her body, strong enough to pulp a normal human. Neither of them was normal, and Redwing's hands closed around The Shadow Lady's throat, hoisting her off the ground.

"I don't need you to psychoanalyse me," She growled. "What I like to do in the bed room has absolutely nothing to do what with what I am outside of it. You think that I am just going to submit? Be a good little slave and let Dogma and you destroy the world? The hell with that. Who do you think I am? I'm Redwing and I guard this city. These people. They're mine to protect, do you understand? I don't care what you are. Ancient goddess, undead monster, living shadow. It doesn't matter."

She smashed the Shadow Lady back into the wall again, so hard that it cratered.

"This city and these people are under my protection. You came to the wrong place."

The Shadow Lady laughed.

"Those words I have heard so many times in the past. Do you understand just how many? Little girl who dances in the shadow of gods and monsters, you proclaim this city is yours to protect? You have no right to it!"

Suddenly, her body dissolved, becoming a chocking mist which enveloped Lilly. But Lilly had been ready for this, she had fallen for it once before and once was already one too many times. As the mist filled her mouth and nose, she took a hold of her power once more and let it fill her up. Fire and heat engulfed every cell of her being, burning out every trace of shadow. Destroying the mist before it could affect her.

She twisted suddenly, lashing out with a fist as the Shadow Lady formed behind her. The blow struck her in the side and sent her staggering, but her own left arm extended and closed around Lilly's shoulder. Lilly felt herself jerked forward with inhuman power, the Shadow Lady's knee rammed into her gut and she doubled over. Pain flared through her body. Then, the Shadow Lady smashed a fist into the back of her head and she crashed into the ground face first.

"I have not fought like this for some time," the ancient goddess mused. "So primitive to use one's hands and feet. But your fire melts my shadow, so I shall use myself as a weapon to make my point."

Lilly tried to get up, but the Shadow Lady kicked her, _hard _She felt her body twisting as she spun through the air and hit the far wall of the storage area. This time, the impact made the room rumble. Metal screamed and bent with the impact. Lilly felt pain flare through her body and hit the ground again. This time, she pushed herself up. A trickle of blood was running from her nose. She brushed it away with one fist.

"You're using Dogma," Lilly said slowly. "He is going to give you the key you want to end the world. I am not going to let that happen. You're going to go down here and now, and I am going to make sure that he is never in any position to help you ever again. Do you understand?"

"No," Said the Shadow Lady. "You are the one who fails to understand. The key that he was to give to me he has already released. Though he knows it not."

Her form shifted suddenly, Lilly watched as the age seemed to fall from her. Her flesh became young and smooth, her fair was full, the colour was either very light blond or white depending on how you looked at it. Her hips and breasts filled out, her body becoming more alluring and desirable.

But her eyes stayed the same. They were old. As ancient as time itself and about as merciful.

"He has given me a child," She said. "I took the form he desired most and simply allowed him to think that he had seduced me. With his seed, I will birth a child who will be greater yet than any of my others."

"And that child will end the world, will they?" Lilly said. "You know, you're sounding pretty damn horrible as a mother there. Suppose I'm not surprised though. You haven't exactly been top marks so far."

The old/young woman laughed.

"A child is an anchor. Blood calls to blood across time and space. What the child will do matters less than what a child is. Born of this world, and yet also of my essence. A child of mortality and shadow mixed and combined. This is the key which will draw forth the eternal night."

"You're not going to get a chance to do anything like that," Lilly said. "Your time is over here and now."

"Foolish girl, my time is never over. That is what being an immortal means."

Lilly plunged forwards, fire flowed around her again. Heat blazed from her eyes and her hair burned like copper. Fiery wings extended from her back and feathers of heat and ash flashed around her. Firebird, that was her name and that was her nature. Unveiled now in full.

But the ancient goddess was powerful too. She drew on the fear of the old night, the terror of the unknown. The darkness and the cold, the howling voice of madness in the mind of every mortal. She wasn't just night. She was everything ascribed to it. Black and ancient, full of mystery and ruthless power.

She called it forth now. It flowed to her as it always had. Her shadow lengthened and deepened, a corona of darkness clung to her as she flung herself towards Lilly.

"You wish to court my son! Show me you are worthy!"

In the darkness of the depths of the earth, far below the city, fire and shadow met in a climactic clash.

The earth shook.