No one in their right mind wanted to go down there anyway. He emerged into a hallway which led him to a large room. There were no lights there, so Gelok was moving based on memory. He didn't have to wait long to be noticed.

{{THERE YOU ARE, }} came that sickening voice directly into Gelok's head. It was like having raw sewage poured directly into your brain.

{{ I EXPECT YOU TO EXPLAIN YOUR INCOMPETENCE! }}

[L We stopped them well away from the building, and they won't risk another push so soon, ]] Gelok replied in his native tongue, a little miffed that he and his warriors were getting blamed for something that wasn't really their fault.

{{ THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE GOTTEN THAT CLOSE! THEY SHOULD BE DEAD! }}

IL They would have been if it weren't for that . . . woman! J] he shouted at the nothingness before him. [[ There was no information on her, or even any sightings of her that we know of! ]]

{{ NO EXCUSES! }} the Dark One replied. {{ THOUGH THIS NEW HUMAN .

INTRIGUES ME! }} came the mental mutter. {{ I SENSED GREAT POWER WHEN SHE FOUGHT YOU . . . MORE THAN EVEN SHE KNOWS! }}

Gelok was a bit mystified. [[ True, she fought well, but her power is odd and not overly potent, now that we know what we're facing. ]]

{{ YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE FACING! ALL YOU SEE IS THE EFFECT OF THE POWER, NOT IT'S SOURCE! EVEN ACROSS THE MILES, I FELT IT! THE EMOTION . . . THE RAW FEELING! I FELT THE GRIEF . . . THE PAIN THE TORMENT, AND IT FILLED ME AND MADE MY VERY ESSENCE SING! }} The Dark One's enthusiasm dampened for a moment. {{ BUT I FELT SOMETHING ELSE . . . SOMETHING DISGUSTING . . . I FELT HOPE. SHE HAS BEGUN TO HOPE, AND ANY FOOL COULD SEE WHY! }} The entity went silent as it pondered something. {{ IF SHE WERE TO BE DRIVEN TO INSANITY AND HER POWER COULD BE FUELED BY THAT MADNESS, SHE WOULD BE AN INCREDIBLY POWERFUL WARRIOR! SHE WOULD BE MY AVATAR . . . MY RIGHT HAND IN THIS SAD LITTLE WORLD! }} The Dark One paused, then brought its thoughts to bear on Gelok's brain once more. {{ BRING ME THE GIRL, AND SEPARATE HER FROM THE SOURCE OF HER HOPE! }}

Gelok wasn't pleased with this at all. The Dark One obviously meant to replace him as its emissary. But at least it would mean someone else would be blamed if things went wrong. [[ How do you want me to do that? ]]

{{ ANY WAY YOU CAN! ACTUALLY, I HAVE AN IDEA. USE THE SWARM! }}

Gelok turned and walked back down the hallway, a malicious grin playing across his normally stoic face. ‘The Swarm . . . that might just do the trick,' he thought. Red's image flashed through his mind... that warrior bitch that had been a thorn in his side for so long without even knowing it. ‘By tomorrow night, you'll be dead,’ he thought, ‘and your girlfriend . . . well, she'll just wish she was dead.

Jane stood in the alley, her eyes closed to the night-time world.

Strands of her magically empowered hair were "sniffing" the air, for all intents and purposes, trying to sense her invisible foe. She felt something brush against a single hair, making her senses dance like a spider at the center of its web. Her eight braids reached out, grabbing debris and garbage cans to use as weapons when "Stop!" came a sharp voice a Little further down the alley. Jane's friend, mentor and lover emerged from the darkness. Red looked the younger woman over.

“What did you forget to do?"

Jane's pretty face was masked by confusion, and then reality seemed to dawn on her.

"I went for weapons with everything. I didn't keep anything for defense."

"Precisely," Red said, trying to sound soothing. She normally wasn't quite so polite when a trainee made a mistake, but Jane's fragile mental state earned her a few breaks.

“Anya, how was her defense up to that point?"

A small section of apparently empty space replied, “Actually, pretty good. Even with her eyes clothed, I couldn't get near her. That hair of hers is pretty frickin’ fast and sensitive." Anya materialized and started to get dressed.

Red, a red-haired lycanthrope and team leader, had decided the newest member of the Strays needed some topside training. She had wanted to launch another attack on the hellspawn that the Strays had been warring with for some time, but she realized that they had lost the advantage of surprise, so had decided to wait until her fellow leader, Tarloh, returned from Los Angeles with information about the Dark One.

Tarloh and his companion Talia had been gone for a couple of days, and the waiting was making Red jittery. Whatever this Dark One was, it had to be a major mystical player, because the hellspawn were a warrior race that didn't bow down before just any old creature.

So Red had brought Jane and Anya (a human woman with the Talent of invisibility) to train Jane in the use of her own Talent. Jane had gained the ability to manipulate her luxurious hair as if it were actual limbs. She was able to control eight braids with relative ease, and could use some of her free strands as a sensory shield. Her hair was incredibly strong and resilient, and had the ability to stretch for huge distances. What some might interpret as a silly ability had turned into something quite extraordinary, and it actually got stronger when Jane felt extreme emotion.