Brett scanned the side path again. So far his search for Penny’s cell had come up with nothing but he was quietly confident. It didn’t help that his search was being hampered by his thoughts wandering back to his injured girlfriend. Part of him just wanted to tell her to stop jumping into these dangerous situations but the rest reminds him how important her fighting is and that she’s been doing it long before he ever met her. Still he couldn’t help but worried.
Brett dialed Penny’s number again this time he had a little more luck. Further down the path was the muffled sound of a cell phone ring. He traversed the length and felt around inside the hedge. Brett smiled victoriously as he pulled out the slightly bloodstained phone.
“Yes.” He exclaimed as he began to search through its phone book.
Suddenly the sunlight streaming behind him was obscured. He swung around and was hit across the head. Brett slumped to the ground unconscious before he was slowly dragged away.
~ The museum of natural history, Los Angeles California ~
Brant Jennings tidied up the display for the up coming exhibition about to be launched at the museum. He felt a slight pang of pain as he bent down to pick up one of the items. Brant stopped for a moment and waited for the pain to pass. He’s had to live through these moments ever since he was attacked by Rorgia’s demons who were on the hunt for the Signum Key. As he positioned one of the skulls he looked up to see a small bird sitting on one of the skeletons. Brant smiled to himself softly.
“One of these days you really should visit during opening hour’s Night . . .” he stated as he turned around
He jumped slightly as he saw The Wanderer standing behind him instead of Nighthawk. This threw the former Watcher of his game slightly.
“Nighthawk need’s you’re help.” The Wanderer stated seriously
“With what?” Brant replied
“I’m not sure how much info you’ve been getting from the council but Rodger’s arrived in Phoenix.”
Brant dropped the skull he was holding. He eyes the old man for any sign of deception.
“You’re not serious.”
“Deadly serious,” The Wanderer, “Pen barely made it out with her life.”
“God damn it!” Brant exclaimed, “I heard whispers that Rodger was planning on heading to the states but there was nothing conclusive.”
“You think he’s found out you’re spying on them?”
“Maybe, can’t be sure, in any case I’m going to have to find a new path for my inquiries.”
“How quickly can you do that?”
Again Brant looked at the old man curiously.
“What’s exactly is happening?” he inquired
“Penny was attacked by Slayers.”
“Slayers?”
“That’s what she said.”
Brant thought about this. It didn’t make any sense. No slayer wanted to be anywhere near the council ever since Rodger muscled his way to the top job. This definitely warranted investigating.
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Hurry,” The Wanderer replied, “from what I saw these slayers didn’t look like they would pass a sanity test.”
~ Phoenix General Hospital, Phoenix Arizona ~
Michelle filed some documents away at the nurse’s station. She turned around to continue working on her computer when the sight of the brunette smiling at her mischievously made her jump. Michelle sat down and looked at the smug girl annoyed.
“God, Lea!” Michelle exclaimed, “Scare the hell out of me why don’t you.”
Lea Gray smirked at her as she leaned casually against the station.
“Sorry I just had to see this for myself,” Lea replied, “You look way to comfortable in that uniform.”
Michelle shot her a look.
“You got anything for me or is this just insult the girl in charge day?”
“Searching was a bust. If these slayers are working with Stone they’re not leaving a trail.”
“There’s got to be something. Did you try the station?”
“You know the strange thing about the media?” Lea explained as she pushed of the counter and started to walk over to
Penny’s room, “They’re not really open to complete strangers. Besides her boss started to ask me some really weird questions so I figured it was better to get out . . .”
Lea opened the door slowly and gazed at Penny while she slept. Michelle moved from behind the station and joined her.
“. . . How’s she doing?”
“Surviving. Pen took one hell of a beating and if it wasn’t for that old guy bringing her in I’m not sure she would have made it.”
The both of them stopped for a moment and watched their sister slayer. Lea dropped her head.
“Michelle . . . I think we should . . .”
“No!” Michelle snapped
“I know how you feel.”
“None of us can trust The Divine One Lea” Michelle retorted
“Rebecca’s not working for the council trust me on this.”
“The underground is underground for a reason,” Michelle replied angrily, “I’m not gonna have everything we worked for destroyed in one hit.”
“Beck risked everything to get Katie back including going up against Rodger you can’t tell me that’s not enough to prove to you she’s on our side.”
Michelle glared at Lea.
“Proof? For the last few months we thought Penny was dead and do we need to go through the scary fact that we never found Shona’s body. You can’t tell me that’s not a little weird that both girls on Beck’s team had something happen to them.”
“I’m just saying you should talk to her. Listen to what she had to say?”
Michelle sighed and went back to watching Penny.
“Maybe, not now, not with Rodger so close.”
~ The abandoned mansion, Phoenix Arizona ~
Hope flew in through the open window and landed on her perch. The Wanderer entered a moment later only to find out that he was the only one in there.
“Brett?” he called out as he conducted his search.
There was no reply. The Wanderer figured that he was still on the hunt for Penny’s Cell. He made his way over to the phone and dialed Brett's number. After a moment he rolled his eyes.
“Damn it I hate voice mail,” He grumbled, “Brett, it’s me, I got Brant in the loop he’s gonna get back to us if he finds out something. if you’re looking for me I’m gonna shake down some guys I know that might be able to help us, Oh, and I’ve been meaning to tell you I took Pen to Phoenix General if you wanna drop in. I’ll meet you there after and we’ll plot our next move. See you later.”
~ The Council of Watcher’s safe house, Phoenix Arizona ~
Rodger listened intently to the message left on Brett’s Phone. Once it was finished he place it on the table and glared at Brett who was lying unconscious in the corner of the room.
“Brant.” He said growled to himself quietly.
Rodger turned and burst into the room housing the Sentinel Slayers. This startled Professor Tillman who was double checking to see if the personality stripping was still in tact.
“Are they ready?” the Head Watcher inquired
“Just about,” Professor Tillman replied, “I need to run a couple of basic tests then they’re at your disposal.”
“Make sure they are because our objectives have just changed.”
Professor Tillman stopped and looked up at Rodger.
“Change? How?”
“We now have two targets. The slayer is located in the hospital not far from here that shouldn’t take to long to deal with. Our second target is a former Watcher named Brant Jennings he’s based somewhere in L.A. from last reports. I need both taken care of by tonight.”
“It’ll be done Roger.”
Just then there was a light groaning sound from the other room. Rodger ventured in to find Brett slowly waking up from his stupor. He nodded to the Sentinel Slayer who brought him in and she dragged him to his feet. Rodger walked up to Brett calmly.
“Ah, glad to see you’re awake,” Rodger commented, “You’re going to help me with a problem.”
“And I’m doing this why?” Brett inquired
Rodger sighed. He looked over to the Sentinel Slayer who turned Brett around and slammed him; face first, into the wall.
“I thought the knowledge that I would let my Slayer friend rip off all your extremities would be enough to convince you.”
Brett began to panic as the slayer holding him applied more pressure. Rodger walked over next to him.
“Now I would like to know exactly where Brant Jennings is hiding.”
Penny quickly buttoned up her top. She had had enough of just sitting around doing nothing she needed to be out there finding Rodger and stop him from what ever he was planning.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” Michelle said from the doorway.
“Leaving.” Penny replied, “I got things to do.”
“No way you’re no where near recovered yet.”
“Look, I don’t expect you to understand but something really big is happening and I need to be out there to deal with it.”
Penny turned to leave but Michelle blocked her path.
“Where you need to be is back in bed girly.”
Penny rolled her eyes. She tried to push past the nurse but Michelle put her hand on Penny’s chest.
“Bed, Now.” Michelle snapped
With a slight push Michelle sent Penny gently back down onto the bed. This disturbed Penny more then the Sentinel Slayers. For some reason this nurse had strength as well. That feeling of Déjà vu started to resurface.
Outside, three girls dressed in identical black, entered the building. The receptionist watched them curiously as all three of them approached the front desk.
“Can I help you?” the young receptionist asked
“We’re looking for Penny Whitfield.” The lead girl replied
“Third floor room 308.” The receptionist replied before she returned to her work.
The three girls looked at each other before heading to the elevator. After they entered the receptionist immediately jumped on the phone.
“Lea,” she said seriously, “We got three of them coming your way.”
“You can’t keep me here.” Penny snapped as she sat on her bed defensively
“You’re right I can’t,” Michelle replied, “should I go get the doctor to tell you you can’t go?”
Penny rubbed her head stressfully. She glared at Michelle who remained un-phased.
“My friends are in trouble, in fact, one of them is missing. What do I need to do to get out of here?”
Michelle walked up to Penny. She knelt down to match Penny’s eye line.
“What you need to do right now is lie down before I put you down.” Michelle replied forcefully.
The sound of the elevator door opening caught Michelle’s attention. She looked over her shoulder briefly then turned her attention back to Penny.
“Stay,” she retorted, “I’ll be right back.”
Michelle entered the corridor to find the three girls in black walking to the room slowly.
“I’m sorry visiting hours are over if you’d like to . . .”
Suddenly one of the girls grabbed a near by chair and lifted it up in one hand. She tossed it at Michelle, striking her at full force, sending her flying down the corridor. With a vacant look all three of them entered the room. It was empty. As the girls started to examine the scene Penny stood silently behind the door. The sound of the chair hitting Michelle was enough to alert her that trouble was brewing, unfortunately for her; there wasn’t enough time to come up with a plan before her hiding place was discovered. Moving at lightning speed the lead girl grabbed her by her injured shoulder and tossed her onto the bed.
The other two moved in and held her down as the lead girl picked up a disguarded guarded pillow and smothered her head. Penny tried to struggle against them but the combination of her hurt shoulder and the three slayers was hampering her efforts. Slowly Penny began to struggle less and less until, finally, she stopped moving. After a couple more seconds of smothering the lead girl check her pause. Satisfied that the task was complete they all got up to leave. That’s when they noticed the nurse, glaring at them, holding the chair the exact same way the lead girl did.
“Okay!” Michelle yelled at them, “That hurt!”
After sharing a slightly confused look the three girls charged at Michelle. Michelle back up slightly and smashed the chair over the first girls head. She then spun around kicking the second girl in the chest. The third was about to jump in but Lea grabbed her by the wrist and flipped her onto the ground.
“Sorry I’m late.” Lea commented, “Did I miss anything?”
“Nothing you can’t catch up on. Where’s Nikki?”
“Down stairs making sure we don’t have anymore uninvited guests.”
Lea spun around sharply knocking one of the girls onto the ground. Michelle grabbed two of the broken chair legs and proceeded to pound into the lead girl. The second girl tried to sneak up on her but a quick elbow to the face stopped that plan. Lea tossed the third girl into the wall knocking her out cold as Michelle kneed the lead girl in the face rendering her unconscious. Michelle looked around the corridor
“I think that’s all of them.” She commented.
“No imagination,” Lea commented, “All of them attacked directly.”
“We better take them back with us. I think it’s time we find out . . . oh, god, Pen!”
Michelle spied Penny lying motionless on her bed. She and Lea rushed in and examined her.
“She’s not breathing,” Michelle commented, “Help me.”
Lea nodded and the both of them began to perform CPR on her. After a few anxious moments Penny coughed violently. Both Lea and Michelle sighed in relief.
Penny had no idea how long she was out for. She opened her eyes slowly, blinking a couple of times until the room came into focus. She looked around sharply. Penny was lying on a bed in what looked like an airplane hanger. Inside there were a number of girls either working on gym equipment, practicing fighting techniques or just generally sitting around talking. With marginal difficulty Penny shifted herself to a sitting position and examined the area.
“Oh, you’re up.” a cheerful voice said from next to her
Startled Penny swung around to see a young blond girl smiling at her. The girl was holding a glass of orange juice which she offered.
“Michelle said you would need this because of all the blood you lost.”
Penny took the glass while examining the girl a lot more closely. Suddenly her memory shifted back into place.
“Katie?” Penny inquired tentatively, “Oh my god, Katie?”
Katie Watson smile became broader. Penny stood up and hugged her tightly.
“Hey Pen,” Katie replied, “How’s things?”
“Oh my god, you survived the Trinity battle to?”
“A lot of us did; actually, it was mainly cause of Michelle and a couple of others.”
Penny pulled away and looked at Katie stunned.
“No way? Michelle did this?”
“Darn right I did” Michelle replied from behind Katie
Penny looked over and instantly recognized the nurse that was looking after her in the hospital. This immediately explained the déjà vu she’s been feeling. Michelle folded her arms and looked at Penny playfully.
“And Pen,” Michelle smirked, “could you stop being dead please? After about two times nobody’s impressed anymore.”
Penny laughed.
“I’ll try and remember that. What is this place?”
“Welcome to the Slayer Underground.” Michelle announced dramatically
Penny looked around the room in amazement. As she did so Lea approached. Michelle saw her and walked up.
“Do we have something on those girls?” Michelle asked
“Oh yeah,” Lea replied, “and it is creepy with a capital ‘Cre’.”
“What is it?”
“These girls it’s like the light’s are on but nobody’s home. Their entire personalities were ripped out.”
“Ripped out? How did that happen?
“No clue. But whatever it was it was not pleasant and one of them was carrying this.”
Lea pulled out a blood stained cell phone. Penny recognized it instantly.
“Hey that’s mine.” She exclaimed as she walked over and took it.
The four girls looked at each other confused.
“Weird,” Katie commented, “Why would they be holding that?”
Penny examined it closely. She noticed that she had a voicemail message. Pressing a couple of buttons she listened. The look of shock on Penny’s face didn’t sit well with Michelle.
“Hello slayer” Rodgers message stated, “although I have every confidence in my girls I have come to realize that their might be a chance you will be rescued. Fortunately for me I like to make precautions for such an event so I’m only going to say this once. You will return to the council or Mr. Carpenter will suffer a severe loss of life. I’ll be contacting you soon with the details.” *click*
Penny looked over to the others in shock.
“What is it?” Michelle asked
“I gotta get out of here now!” Penny replied sharply
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