The enemy of my enemy...
The moon shined down on desert sands now covered with glass sculptures patches of
reflective material, and deadly shards of the stuff that had shattered during he fight.
Alexandra was on the ground with her head down, surrounded by a circled quick fix
barrier, the runes used was the language of angles.
'I didn't think I knew how to create a barrier!' Janice thought as they dodged the snake
sword Lucy had conjured out of the said. 'I don't think you did until we did it! I think your
instinctively hardwired that part of your soul to mine that knew how to do it! Just be
careful! That barrier is hardly shatter proof! It's mean to deflect shrapnel not direct attack-
look out!'
The snake blade twisted in their direction in mid-air even as they dodged it.
'This is not good. Forgive me for saying this but we can't afford to burn off energy on her!
Call the others! We can't tip our hand just yet! Like you said! They're expecting an army of
djinn now not a small squad of angels! We need to use that to our advantage... here it
comes again!' They twisted in midair, 'It's pointless to keep turning her creations to glass
she just keeps making more, we to have do something a bit more drastic, or she'll just
wear us down and hit us while we're down. Let's do it.'
They blasted the sand snake sword into a mess of glass that fell downwards to the sandy
ground. Lucy flew backwards and began to conjure a new weapon, Tabra/Janice then did a
gamble and teleported behind her, and grabbed her from behind and began to pour
intense head into her arms.
Before Lucy's eyes... her hands... and arms... began to turn to glass, moving up from her
wrists to her elbow and beyond that, "King Tamthis!!!" She screamed as the non-glass part
of her exploded into sand and being drive on by a hot wind blew fled and didn't stop
fleeing until it had returned to Karthis City.
Alexandra slowly peaked out from under her head from when the awful battle had started,
and shook her head at own ineffectiveness, what was she or her master thinking that she
could help him? Then again, there was no one else.
Janice/Tabra looked at it all, it was all dead glass, nothing more, that included the two
arms in her hands... 'Let me guess, she'll have new ones by the time we see her again?
Yep. Didn't think we'd be that lucky.' Still, just to be on the safe side, Tabra/Janice threw
the glass arms as -far away- as possible, then blasted them to atoms.
That settled, they floated down and touched the barrier around Alexandra, undoing it. "It's
alright, you're safe now." Janice and Tabra said.
Alexandra looked up at them hopefully, "Can you, are you, are you the leader of the djinn
army Janice? Are you, an angel?"
Janice and Tabra replied, "Yes, I'm an Angel, but I'm not the one leading the dijnn, I'm
really not sure if it's a good idea for you to meet him or not."
"I have to, it is the first time my master has -asked- me -personally- to carry out a
command for me, I can't fail him."
Janice and Tabra look out the crucifix from their they had created to replace the one they
had given Vicki. It had been a much quicker and simpler task for an experienced
messenger than for the others. Something about the little cross made Alexandra
confused.
"What... what are you going to do with that? Where have I... where have I see that before?
Janice? Why are you looking at me like that? No, Janice, please keep it away, it scars me..."
Tabra and Janice looked into Alexandra's eyes. They saw fear. Dread. Anxiety. She was
scared.
They looked at her, -really- looked at her.
'Janice. Yes? You don't know it, but your spirit and that of the others were all made into a
uniform shape and structure when Karther made you his love dolls, you were all exactly
the same on the inside. When I erased the template it caused your spirits all to snap back
into place and realize the truth of things once Karther's blocks were gone keeping you
from making choices he didn't want you to. What are you saying? Alexandra's spirit it... I
think it's actually grown -past- her template... she's evolved past it. She's integrated it
directly into her own thoughts and actions. Her, this version of her, has become, is
becoming a person. One way to know for sure.'
"Alexandra, tell me, if Karther asked you to kill him, no, -commanded- you to kill him,
would you?"
"How can you even ask me that?! I could never! Would never! And I will never!"
"And if Karther commanded you to kill us, er, me? Not to defend him against us, or
someone dear to you, but just to kill us, would you?"
Alexandra visibly shook, "I, I don't know, I, I really don't know, I'd beg him to reconsider,
I'd have to know the reason he'd make such a request. No, Master Karther -would- not
make that request! He just couldn't!"
'She's not reading from a script.' Tabra thought. 'And she should have answered
automatically yes to both those questions. 'Obey Karther without question' is supposed to
be rule number one.' '
Tabra calmly put away the crucifix, 'Tabra? She was born due to mental rape, but erasing
her now to bring back her original would be murder. I want to free her. And I don't think
she's obeying Karther nearly as much because her programming is telling her to. In fact,'
"Alexandra, what is Karther like right now?"
Alexandra hugged herself, "It's awful, he just lays there in the royal bed chamber, always,
rarely moving, always in that female body, he doesn't issue orders anymore, let alone
decide any policies on how the city is run, it's like someone gutted his insides, and I'm sure
Tamthis is the one, after what Master Karther told me. I didn't act before because Tamthis
kept telling me, it was for his own good...I was a fool."
'Well? She's on the brink. Less than a heart beat away, her thoughts just don't match up
with what the template Karther gave her...not to mention that she should have handed you
over the guards when you first met her... The way she's talking about Karther-didn't say
she had good taste.'
"Alexandra, to go to the Angel whose head of the djinn army, that is your choice?"
"Yes."
"... All right then... now hold still, I promise, I am not going to hurt you."
"Karther said, Angels are very serious about their promises."
"He's right."
Tabra/Janice looked her over, using their enhanced senses to ferret out any bugs or
tracers that might have been on her or in her or hot wired into her. Finding no such wires,
they did find something rather surprising, 'People like Karther always leave a trace of
themselves behind when they transform someone, it was purged from you and the others
when I freed you but... the traces of Karther that are in her, it's like they're branches of a
tree whose roots have all died... like the source is just... gone... no, I don't think this has
to do with her changes as a person but... something tells me Karther isn't going to be a
bother to anyone ever again. Are you sure? No. It's just a feeling. If we tell Alexandra it'll
kill her. No! I don't mean like a magical automatic booby trap.'
"All right then, let's go." The angel vixen takes hold of Alexandra's hand and teleported
herself and Alexandra away to the new location of the djinn camp. The djinn were not
please to see their arrival since they weren't called here. They are even less pleased to see
Alexandra. "She is emissary and ambassador and you will not touch her!" Janice shouted
right in the djinn's face when they tried to get close her.
"Take me to the Angel leader of this djinn army, I need to speak with him." Alexandra said.
"What OF it?" Says the smaller curt djinn who guided you through the camp before.
"TAKE ME to the Angel Leader of this djinn army! I need to speak with him! That is all!"
Alexandra said more sternly this time.
"Take US to the angel leader of this dijinn army!" Janice snapped. "She is emissary and
ambassador and and wishes to speak with Jasim, that is enough!"
Neither angel nor djinn is going to budge on this, but it doesn't matter as in a moment
Jasim himself appears. "What is this? T! Why do you bring that thing into my camp after
blowing your horn about us doing the same? You hypocritical idiot. Now we need to move
the camp -again-, I'll just undo the enslavement on her and-"
Janice stepped between Alexandra and Jasim, "You aren't so much as going to -touch-
her."
"Actually," Tabra said, "Janice has been doing the speaking and acting since we got here
I've been along just for the ride."
Jasim was flabbergasted.
"Are you the angel leader of this djinn army?" Alexandra asked.
"Yes he is." Janice said not sure of Jasim would be willing to answer or not.
"Master Karther comes to offer you a bargain," Alexandra said taking a step closer to the
taller angel in her presence, "I offer you a quick, effective, safe, and above all stealthy way
into the heart of Karthis City! It is unknown to any within Karthis City but myself and
Master Karther. All Master Karther asks for in return is that you spare both I, and himself,
and return to him all the power stolen from by Tamthis."
Jaism's eyes widened, "NEVER!" He said with the voice of doom, "abu Haj, destroy the
persona placed upon this one by Karther, and she shall give us all information she has and
more willing! Karther is a fool."
"I won't let you kill her!"
"'She' is not alive! You stupid woman! She is a fake personality created by a perverted
degenerate with too much power and authority in his immature hands!"
"She is a sentient being with a heart and mind of her own! She's not just some robot you
can just delete the OS of and put a more friendly one in it's place! And if you want her,
you'll have to go through US first!"
"I always knew you were an idiot T."
"And do you want to go THROUGH this idiot to get at Alexandra? How much do you think
I'll be able to wear you down? I might even be able to send you packing back home if I'm
lucky enough? How many of your djinn will I be able to take down with me? And what
about my 'rogue unit of violations of tradition?' You have no clue which safe house they're
in. And you might have find this hard to believe, but they'll fight on their own anyway, and
likely against you too to avenge Janice... so let me ask you... is it -really- worth it?"
Silence, dead silence, tension so thick a knife could cut it, finally, Jasim shouted.
"Be gone!"
The angel vixen is more than happy to comply, taking Alexandra with her.
A few minutes later at the safe house, "I've failed... I failed him... he trusted me, and I
failed him."
"You haven't failed him yet!" Janice shouted, "Just tell US the information you wanted to
bargain with Jasim and we can fulfill the details of the bargain! We'll..." She hated beyond
words saying this, "We'll save him."
"I can't." Alexandra explained sadly, "I was to bargain for that information with the angel
leader of the djinn only... and only him... Master Karther was very clear on that, he didn't
trust me to give to anyone else on any other condition. I'd be breaking his trust, and his
faith in me if I gave it to you. I won't do that."
Tabra/Janice fall backwards, sitting on the sadly ground, tiredness of the battle finally
sinking in, "You'd make a good angel." Their body's ears perked, "If you can't tell us about
the sure fire way into the city, then can you tell us everything -else- you know?"
"Eh?" Alexandra asked.
"Yes." Tabra/Janice said, "Just what I said, you're bound by your duty not to tell us about
your secret entrance of whatever, but that duty doesn't including not telling us about the -
rest- of the city and those inside right? You were right next to Karther all this time I'll bet,
and thus you were by default almost always next to Tamthis!"
"Yes, yes I was." Alexandra nodded.
++++++++
"Hey Jasim." Said Tabra/Janice teleporting right into the djinn camp, sounding more casual
and more confident than the Muslim had ever heard the Nazarene be, it sickened him.
"You dare show your face here again Nazarene?" Jasim said darkly.
"Yes. Because I'm offering you, a chance to get into the inside of Karthis City as part of my
group's mission to end this without a full scale invasion."
"How could you possibly be able to do that! And where did the delusion come from that I'd
ever be along side you in a mission designated as 'yours?' "
"One." Tabra/Janice counted off their fingers, "We got a truck load of information out of
Alexandra that your prisoners didn't have since Alexandra is a lot closer to the enemy's
command."
"So you erased that fake persona yourself?"
"We asked politely. And two, I, that is Tabra, knows for a fact that there's no way on
Heaven and Earth that you'll pass up a chance to have a front row seat to seeing us -fail-.
And three, I, that is Tabra, won't likely exist anymore once this mission is over and done
with, so this will be your only chance to see it. And four, do you really want to risk that
some of your faithful may be killed in the full scale invasion of Karthis City?"
That silence again. Finally Jasim said, "abu Haj, if I do not return from this fool's mission
with these fools, you have my full permission to ERASE that city off the face of the planet.
-Destroy- Karther and his entourage."
"With pleasure O' Jasim!" The mighty genie nodded.
The two angels teleported away.
+++++++++
"And the wolfens always patrol in pairs, but a third one always trails behind in case there's
trouble to sound an alarm or provide a surprise attack. The citizens follow the same
pattern each day with little variation. Natalie always stays close to the main palace, she
won't sorte unless she's been told there's a threat. Security is actually tightest along the
other rim of the city, they figure anyone who gets in close enough to Tamthis will learn
why Tamthis is in charge soon enough. Jennifer is -always- with Master Karther, always.
Roberta isn't robotic like Jennifer, she's always been made into a she wolf unlike Jen'
whose still a vixen. She's the second most autonomous. She spends most of her time
between the walls and the main palace. Lucy has no real schedule, she's pure skunk
works, she'll somethings bit on the walls of the outer city making use of her senses, but
not always, she could just as well be in the main palace. If she's hurt she can use sand to
create a new flesh and blood limb. I don't know if that'll work on a beheading or not. She
can animate sand as easily as... as easily as Queen Tammia was before she became
Tamthis. I don't know the limits are on her ability to use the sand as a medium to teleport
her awareness, but her senses don't seem to cover the whole city I think, otherwise she
wouldn't have to move herself along as the day goes by. Tamthis never leaves the palace,
and Karther never leaves the royal chambers."
Alexandra repeated everything she had told Tabra/Janice to the younger angels. All four of
them listened intently. After all, this was what all their sacrifices had been leading up after
all. Vicki made note of everything she could, while Erica and Lisa pressed for details about
their transmuted siblings and ways they might be disabled via non-leathal force. Luna just
stayed silent, absorbing everything she heard.
As per Tabra's warnings, and not needing to be told twice, Julio had created and sealed
himself behind a barrier using a combination of Tabra's talents and his own reality hacking
skills. Julio was to leave after a set time, or when Tabra gave him an very very precise 'all's
clear' signal, whichever happened first. Julio had no desire to interact with Jasim, given the
last time they had met Julio had barely escaped with his head.
As for the kitesune, Akira and Keiko had no desire to hide from the muslim messenger.
And if Jasim was to be part of their plan, then they'd need to interact with him one way or
another. Needless to say the angels were surprised but pleased to see their siblings back
so soon, but the kitesune themselves were casual about it, but underneath just as happy.
When the two angels teleported in, Jasim didn't even look them in the eyes. He however
did look at Janice/Tabra and say, "Still kitesune?"
"Foxes, and I didn't chose this form, this is how the angelic essence interacted with their
material forms when it became their souls."
"And what's wrong with having fur and a tail or three?" Asked Akira popping up on Jasim
shoulder who instantly brushed him away hard. Jasim quickly drew his weapons,
"Invasion!"
"What do you mean-HEY! Do I LOOK like a Fennec like kitesune to you?! I'm Japanese!"
"There are -other- former victims of Karther Jasim."
"Then how did they become-"
"I gave them the CHOICE to, just as I gave others the choice to just go home! As some DID!
And I hope they never have to hear a word of these events beyond the safety of those they
care about!"
"And I'll have you know I LIKE being this way, and it feels like a 'like' with a lot more
substance than the 'like' when I liked being Karther's blow up doll." Keiko says. "So you're
Jasim? You look impressive..." Keiko said nothing more on that.
"Tabra! How do you know those you have... customized to their wishes won't turn on us in
favor of their new kind?!"
"HEY!" Akira and Keiko said together.
"I'd never stab my sisters in the back!" Keiko snarled.
Akira continued, "Yip! And Karther is causing, er, sorry Alexandra, ahem, TAMTHIS, is
causing way too much bad press for kitesune right now! I figured this would help us from
being seen as down right evil if we helped clean up the mess our cousins are causing."
"Just save your -games- for after everything is said and done and don't treat this as one of
your games kitesune."
"Of course not... my games are a lot more fun than this!"
"As are mine!" Keiko stood tall on her four feet spreading her tails out in an almost
patriotic fashion.
"So do we have everything worked out?" Janice/Tabra asked.
"You bet!" Aikra yipped. "Don't worry. I know we need a performance right now and not a
game."
Keiko barked, "If we're perfectly lucky, we will all be inside Tamthis' throne together by the
time the more screwed in the head foxes realize what's up, if we're all perfectly UN-lucky,
they'll realize what's up by the time they've let it through right past the front gate! Either
way, we'll have a free ticket in."
"Just be careful, Tammie, Tamthis, will have proofed the place against any form of
teleportation except her, his own. Thankfully most of his, her converted aren't powerful
enough magic users or what not to do so. With luck, only Lucy and Tamthis herself himself
should be able to pull them off. Above everything else, whatever happens, until our cover
is blown, DO NOT SPLIT UP! EVER! Separated we're dead meat! We are NOT having a repeat
of what happened when we fled Karther's castle! The minions and grunts shouldn't be able
to transform or posse you now, you're a level of reality above them, and Tamthis himself
can't do simple 'zap and go' on you now."
"Excuse me, no, excuse you," Jasim said reminding the angels and kitesune he was there.
"How precisely do you intend to enter Karther's city without setting off every alarm and
guard?"
Alexandra inched away from Jasim, he was easily the largest Angel in the room.
"Simple." Said Akira, "You're all going in through the front door!"
"I didn't think normal kitesune were -that- mad." Jasim said simply.
"We're crazy like foxes what did you expect? Serious! We've got a fool proof method for
getting in!"
"And that is?" Jasim asked drolly.
"THIS!" A leaf landed on Jasim's head. In a puff of smoke where Jasim had been, there was
another angel vixen in the room. Dressed in a shawl. Jasim stared at himself, herself, in
dead shock.
Akira didn't notice or pretended not to and walked around him, her. "Since our magic is so
close to the magic Tamthis uses, he'd have to inspect you personally to realize you're not
one of his, even if he tried to sense you through one of his other creations it wouldn't do
the trick to see through this trick! There's even a bogus 'censor reading' as it were if he
tries to sense through you, don't worry, he won't be able to use it to locate you, it's just
there as an emergency delaying tactic if he's tries to sense you through one of his victims,
but seriously, with the war effort going on, and with them on the look out for an army,
they won't be expecting a small group and he's not likely to be 'homing in' on you anyway.
Now Tamthis we're told sent out some of his loyalists to tell some of the surrounding
villages according to Alexandra 'Yo! The original land lord is in control of this region
again. New dress code includes fur and tails.' And a couple have been rushing to into the
city from protection of the dijinn, which to be frank, don't have that good a rep in the
middle east anyway...you SHOULD be able to sneak in as those... and as long as none of
you are carrying lamps, bottles, or large gems that glow like a blood ruby, you should get
in through with minimum inspection and without drawing Tamthis' attention. Again, since
our magics are so alike, we'll be like a white rabbit during a snow storm to him, though
he'll be like a brown rabbit in a snow storm to us, don't ask how that works, it's kitesune
magic, the finer points aren't -suppposed- to make sense."
As Akira went on and on and on and on, Jasim finally found his voice, "You.... you made
me into a ... this a.."
"Fox?"
"A WOMAN!"
"You've been female before Jasim..." Tabra cooly pointed out.
"I like to be informed ahed of time and by my own decision!"
"You agreed to be a part of this, which means we play by our, my, rules." Janice and Tabra
shook their head. "Yeah, I know, we should. I know, we have until midnight tomorrow to
save them. Alexandra, you know by instinct the current shape of the city and the quickly
way into the palace without being spotted by anyone who'd suspect us, you'll have to
guide us."
"Yes." Alexandra nodded.
"You trust, her? One of -his- creations?"
"I trust my friend, to help me save another friend." Janice breathed in deep.
"Janice, Tabra..." Vicki asked, "We were told, we know about that 'emergency training'
you're worried about giving us and... we voted, and it's unanimous. We're not scared
anymore, we chose to accept it."
'Tabra... you know what we have to do after them... I know Janice... are you scared? Out of
my head, you? Exactly the same, but, you're right, I don't want to see your, -our- sisters
die either. Any of them. You thought of a name? Let her decide that.'