Twisted Path 3: Chap 11+12 [BGC][Fanfic]

[Twister]

Finally! Whew, been busy but here's 11 and 12 for everyone who's been
dying to get them. ;)

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Chapter Eleven
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"What can we _do_? Even if we take him to a hospital, how do we take
that armour off? There's no opening seams and even damaged it still looks
pretty tough," a concerned voice spoke, penatrating a veil that wrapped the
consciousness of the listener.
Slowly, Twister came out of the trance-like state he was in that
cut off pain he knew was still lurking in the background and tried to become
more fully aware of his surroundings. He cracked open his eyes.
Sylia had long ago prepared a large room with medical equipment
beside their training area at Dr. Raven's for potental cases where it
would be impossible to go to an ordinary hospital. Two beds occupied the
room; an unarmoured, unharmed, unconscious Nene, still in her softsuit for
her powered armour on one, and the battered form of the Crystal Knight
on the other. The other three Knight Sabers were in a group over by one
of the diagnosing machines installed in the wall, likely discussing
what to do about their 'guest'. Linna and Priss had changed into their
normal clothes but Sylia had not, having been too busy checking on both
Nene and the Crystal Knight.
He recognized that the voice had been Linna's.
"That's true. It seems to be made completely of diamond, which
wieghs MUCH less than it should, and that makes it difficult to scan to
see how injured he may be. What's even more remarkable is that it seems
to be repairing itself slowly," Sylia mused, her arms crossed in front of
her as she stated that bit of information.
Priss glanced at the battered form on the bed. "Well, we'd better
think of something quick. I don't think it's doing the same to _him_,"
she said sarcastically.
"True," Twister weakly got out in a barely audiable croak.
The three started, then rushed over to his bed. He noticed Mackie
also appeared to be in the room, along with Dr. Raven who had come to offer
advice on removing the armour, both watching the person on the bed who had
saved Nene. Twister wondered if Mackie was concerned or just studying his
armour. Likely both; Mackie was a pretty decent person, despite the
occasional voyorism the others sometimes complained about.
"How are you?" asked a concerned Sylia.
"Coffin handy?" Twister rasped. Progress. He had upgraded from a
croak.
"Huh. That good, Bullet?" Priss jokingly commented, trying to
lighten the mood of the room, the guy didn't look good at all with those
injuries and missing limbs.
"Nene?"
"She's just fine. Still sleeping," Linna reassured him.
"Good."
"Knight, how can we get this armour off to help you? You need serious
help though your major arteries and veins in your...missing limbs have been
sealed by the explosion's heat."
Twister struggled to answer, he did kinda want to live. "I seal. What
little sense had left after knock to head did that. Dumb. Should've Healed,
but angry at what happened to Nene. Wanted to keep her safe and blow
Boomers away."
"I can relate to that," Priss softly said. Privately she wondered
why this strange individual was concerned for Nene's welfare.
"Heh. I block pain now. Almost all energy gone with final blast.
Hungry. I take armour off now but pain come back when armour off cause of
change. Get ready."
Puzzled over his strange remarks, Sylia nevertheless got a
painkiller/sedative from the medical supplies as Twister prepared to take
off his armour.
"This not..." Darkness covered the battered Knight, startling everyone
as the Knight continued, "...take loooooaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
In the process of changing to female form, as that had been
the form Twister had been in before donning the armour, the mental
ability he had unconsciously used, but now consciously kept up to
distance himself from the pain, seemed to rapidly dwindle away as
Mind changed to Magic. Darlene screamed as the mental power being used to
block the incredible pain disappeared from the change into female form.
Her normal clothes, those she had been wearing to dinner with Linna and
the others, were on her now; they loosely covered Darlene's missing limbs.
Shocked beyond belief at the incredible change and the familiarity of
the person, Sylia still managed to wrestle, along with an equally amazed
Linna and Priss's help, Darlene's remaining right arm down and inject
the painkiller/sedative. It took almost immediate effect; Darlene's pain
faded away and her scream died. Blinking at the sudden relief, she
looked up at her disbelieving friends, smiled faintly at them as the jig was
up, and felt the sedative part of the injection kick in.
Drowsily, she chuckled, "Surprises guys." And fell asleep.
The five who had seen the incredible change stood in shocked silence.
"_Darlene_ is the..." Linna slowly began to say.
"...Crystal Knight!!?! What the fuck?!?" Priss finished
incredulously. She backed up a step, shaking her head as if to clear away
something inside. There had been some remarkable things she had seen being
part of the Knight Sabers, but this... *No _way_! It's just not possible!*
"But...how? The Crystal Knight was a _guy_ from what I saw through
those big holes in his..ah...her armour." Mackie stammered out.
"And where _did_ the armour go?" Dr. Raven asked curiously. He
had been shocked too but less visibly as his curiosity over the
disappearence of the suit overrode his surprise.
Seeing the severely wounded, now-revealed friend of her companions,
Sylia ignored the questions arising in her own mind and focused on helping
this person, however unusual, in need first. If Darlene survivied she
could ask them later, if not... She quickly grabbed a sharp knife and handed
it to a shell-shocked Linna, who snapped out of it as she felt the knife
placed into her hand. "Linna, cut off her clothes so we can bandage what
we can. I need to see what we _can_ do." She turned away to get some
bandages when Linna nodded her affirmation, eager for for a task that
occupied her mind with something else.
As Linna started to do so, Priss, recovering from the shock,
stared at the friend she thought she had known. She didn't like being
tricked. *Then again,* she sighed mentally, *Sylvie did the same thing to
me, which I know she thought was the best thing to do to survive. And I
guess surviving is probably Darlene's reason for hiding..._this_. Maybe
that's why I wanted to be friends with them both. Even though,* she
looked over Darlene's battered form as Linna struggled to cut through the
same pant leg she had started on, *I don't know what exactly she is.
Sylvie may be a Boomer but I don't think Genom can build a Boomer that
changes sexes like this.* She saw Darlene's stump of an arm, glimpsed bone,
and looked away with a shiver. *No. Boomers are metal not bone.*
Then Priss spotted something flickering on Darlene's neck. "Hey!
What's this?" she said loudly, trying to distract herself. Stepping
closer, Priss gently removed something that shimmered in and out of
visibility from around Darlene's neck and walked up to a curious Dr.
Raven and Mackie with it. It appeared to be a largish diamond to her eyes
as she dropped it into the Doctor's palm, incidentily diverting Mackie's
attention from a slowly being undressed Darlene. "Any ideas, Pops?"
"Doctor!" Doc. Raven absently replied automatically as he studied
the strange, flickering crystal Priss had dropped into his hands. He
carefully looked at it when it could be seen. "Hmm... Possibly something
to control that armour perhaps?"
"And damaged along with the rest of it?" Mackie interjected. He
seemed torn between looking at the strange object and the slowly becoming
more exposed Darlene. He was wincing as he saw more damage revealed on her.
"Perhaps. Come on then and we'll look at it. We certainly can't do
much here." Dr. Raven firmly guided a slightly reluctant Mackie out of the
emergency room. He didn't too have much trouble since Mackie was just as
curious as he about the strange object.
Linna was sweating heavily when Priss turned to see how she was doing.
"What's taking _you_ so long?"
"This..._stuff_," Linna grunted as she finished opening another sleeve,
"is..._really_ hard...to cut! Can't believe...it could...be...so _tough_.
Done!" Setting down the knife, Linna carefully lifted Darlene's body,
with Priss' help, to get all the clothing out of the way. The view wasn't
good to look at.
"Shit," Priss softly stated and Linna silently agreed with her.
In addition to the missing left arm and leg, Darlene's body now sported
various bruises, cuts, and, to Priss's experienced eyes, broken ribs as well
as the right leg being broken, adding insult to even more injury. Possibly
hidden internal injuries as well.
Sylia turned at the quiet exclamation and inhaled with dismayed
surprise. She shook that counterproductive feeling off before going over
and carefully examining the unconscious Darlene with what medical knowledge
she had.
After a minute, she stood up straight and sighed.
"It would be better if she were in a hospital, but I doubt that would
be a good idea until I know what exactly is going on here. As it is..." She
looked at a worried Linna and a frowning Priss, "I think she'll be okay here.
I'll have to set that leg and bandage the ribs but otherwise she should pull
through since I don't _think_ there is any hemorrhaging, which is a miracle.
Or maybe not, given she's already surprised me greatly already."
As Priss became much less tense at the news, Linna breathing a
sigh of relief, a groaning sound that was getting louder from the other bed
alerted them that Nene was waking up.
"Priss! Cover her up!" Sylia didn't want Nene to see how badly her
friend was hurt and nodded when Priss quickly covered Darlene with a
folded sheet that had been on a nearby shelf.
"Uhhhh...." Nene groaned again and finally opened her eyes. All
around her were the rest of the Knight Sabers, confusing her with
expressions of relief and...something else. Worry? She blinked as
memory returned with violent surprise. Springing straight up on the bed,
Nene quickly looked at her smiling friends with open confusion. "The
_mines_! How...? What happened?" Checking herself out rapidly and finding
she wasn't hurt, Nene was even more confused. "I'm not hurt?? But..."
Trying to calm her down, Sylia started speaking, "Nene..."
Unfortunately, Nene had been looking wildly about and had locked on
a familiar face that shouldn't have been in the Knight Saber's emergency room.
"D-Darlene?" she stammered before jumping out of her bed and running over to
helplessly look at the injured face of her obviously hurt and unconscious
friend. When Sylia and the others quietly came over to stand behind her,
Nene turned her tearful visage to the Knight Saber's leader.
"S-sylia..._what happened_?!?"
Sylia put her hands on Nene's shoulders, looked at her right in the
eye, and gently said, "Nene, calm down. It won't change things." Seeing her
friend relax as Nene realized the truth Sylia was saying, she went on.
"Unbelievable as it may sound, Darlene saved you from a missile attack, after
you were knocked unconscious by the mines...as the Crystal Knight. The missiles
meant for you wounded her pretty badly." Sylia was surprised at Nene's
reaction to this information.
"Oh no!" Nene looked tearful. "I should have scanned the area
better!" She quickly turned to stand beside the wounded Darlene again,
hands together under her chin with worry as she looked at the face of her
friend.
"Sylia said she should be okay, Nene..." Linna tried to reassure her.
Priss, however, like Sylia, realized something from Nene's reaction.
"Wait a minute here!" She narrowed her eyes as she looked with a growing
suspicion at Nene. "You certainly don't _look_ very surprised that Darlene's
the Crystal Knight! Don't you find this is a _little_ odd??" Nene's
suddenly guiltly face confirmed it. "You _knew_!!" Priss cried angrily.
Sylia was impassive; Linna tried not to let her own feelings of surprise
and anger show, and was failing.
Looking down at her feet now, Nene hesitantly spoke, "Well..."
"Told few day ago," interjected a raspy voice no one had expected to
hear.
The Knight Sabers started and looked at the sheet-covered figure.
Darlene's eyes were half open and seemed a little defocused as she formed a
small smile on her face. She added, "Thought it time. Ow. Bet' tell Sylvie
an' Anri I slightly laid up." Darlene smirked weakly at her joke, the drug
making clear speech a task.
"I'm sorry, Darlene!" Nene cried out before Sylia could say anything.
Darlene blinked slowly. "No' fault. Trap. They too prepar'." Seeing
that Nene wasn't very reassured, she added, "Don' worry. Hopeful' not
permant'." Before Nene could ask what Darlene was talking about, Sylia
interrupted her and started asking a few questions of her own she wanted
answered.
"Darlene, how did your armour change you? And _why_?" She hoped
the answer wouldn't be an unpleasant one.
Smirking again, albeit weakly, Darlene directed her answer to
Nene. "Water. Hot. Head pleas'." Turning her head back to Sylia while Nene
went over to a sink to carry out her request, Darlene added, "Painkiller
stuff doesn' last lon'."
Sylia raised an eyebrow. "It _should_ have for your body weight."
Before Darlene could reply to that, Nene returned and before anybody
could object, poured a glass of hot water on Darlene's head. Blinking the
water away, the now _male_ Twister smiled at Sylia, Linna, and Priss' amazed
expressions.
He weakly chuckled. "Ther'. Answered. I'm jus' full of surprises.
Ow." Grimacing a little at the now-returning pain, tried to use that
mental trick he had discovered and applied before. It worked again and he
relaxed as the pain became remote. His stomach growled, reminding him
that he had drained himself to nil and had no spare energy for Healing. "I
_really_ need somethin' to eat," Twister apologetically said.
"I'll get something!" Nene cried before anyone could say anything and
rushed out of the room. Everyone stared at her exit.
Twister closed his eyes and sighed. "O' boy. Tha's no' good."
"Nene _is_ acting a bit strange," Linna worriedly commented.
"Ah, she's fine," Priss distractically interjected, more
concerned with the issue of her strange friend laying down on on bed.
"She had a _very_ close call tonight, Linna. That will take time to
fully recover from. Now..." Sylia turned back to Twister, who had reopened
his eyes and was smiling somewhat more weakly in the face of her stern
expression. The leader of the Knight Sabers crossed her arms, arching an
eyebrow.
"What _exactly_ is going on here?" she demanded.
Priss pulled up a chair, turned it around, and sat on it, arms
resting on the back of the chair. With a somewhat sardonic expression,
she said, "Now _this_ should be interesting."
"Gee. Thanks, Priss." Twister sourly commented, making her grin
despite the strangeness of the situation, but he reluctantly looked
up at Sylia, who hadn't wavered an inch, and started talking. "I tol' Nene
this already..." he inhaled carefully; he _did_ have broken ribs.
"...and _was_ gonna tell you later, but I'll star' from the
beginning."

The brief explanation took a little time since Nene had come back
with some form of energy food bars that were usually used after a really
exhausting mission as they were very nutritous, containing needed vitamins
and minerials. She hand-fed the injured Twister with them, much to his
mild embarrassment and irritation, during his story. The irritation
seemed to bring Nene back to her old self and she even crossly told him
that he was acting like _Priss_. When both Twister and Priss indignantly
said "He/I is/am not!" simutaniously, he and Priss stared at each other in
surprise, the others laughed at this.
The story he gave them was the same one he had told Sylvie, Anri, and
Nene. One devoid of magic but leaving in psionics, or substituting
psionic power for magical power when retelling some wilder parts of his
story. As to the shape-changing, he just repeated that he didn't know how
it worked and that he only had psi power while male, the reason he fought
as a guy. The armour was now a sophisticated creation of his mental powers
that he half-unconsciously made and wasn't sure himself how it all worked.
He did leave in the parts of the feats the martial arts in Ranma's universe
did, Linna shook her head at some ki attacks he mentioned and he promised
to show her the one that he had learned from Ranma later.
Sylia was more inclined to believe the physical feats given she had
roughly scanned Darlene's unusual body already. She theorized to herself
that whatever alterations had occured to Twister had seemingly adapted him to
the environment of the last universe, privately intrigued at the
abilities of such human beings. A more detailed examination would likely
be most informative.
Twister's story was given some credulance when the bars he was
eating gave him enough energy to Heal his broken ribs and most of
the bruises and cuts on his body, much to his relief and the other's wonder.
The flashing blue aura and his amused, "Five broken ribs in my
chest...five broken ribs...if one of those ribs should happen to
Heal...," FLASH! "ow...four broken ribs in my chest. Oh,..." caused
Priss to alternately watch the amazing specticle and wince, his
singing was painful to her. She wanted to hit him to stop the 'singing'
but she canceled the impulse as he was too banged up at the moment. Later
though...
After finishing his story, and feeling much better from the
Healing, something occurred to Twister. Something was missing.

"Where's my armour?"
Linna blinked. "You caused it to disappear Dar...ah, Twister." *I'll
never get used to that,* Linna thought to herself.
Shaking his head, Twister corrected himself. His voice clear of
the drug's effects, his accelerated metabolism while Healing having quickly
burned it off. "Sorry. I meant: Where is my armour in it's pendant form?"
"You mean that blinking in and out of sight thing was your _armour_??"
Priss gaped.
"Right. I forgot to mention that...blinking?" The thought went
through Twister's mind for a second before he said in a more alarmed
tone, "BLINKING?! It's _not_ supposed to do _that_!"
Sylia was out the door in an instant, crying, "Mackie!"

A few moments earlier, Mackie had picked up the strange object in his
hand since Doc. Raven had deemed it safe due to the fact that nothing harmful
seemed to be eminating from it. He was fascinated by the way it flickered
in and out of sight by a means the Doctor or himself hadn't figured out yet.
*Now, if I can figure out how it works and install the system
into one of _our_ transports...* Looking at it closer, he wondered how
Darlene had activated it. No connections were apparent on the surface of
the diamond, which was the substance he figured it to be. With a bit of
frustrated humor, Mackie thought, *Maybe she just thinks 'armour on'
and...WHAA?!*
"Mackie!" He heard his sister cry out but he was a little too busy
being disoriented to reply. His clothes seemed to have vanished; something
else was covering him now. Unfortunately, that something wasn't meant for his
size and when he took an instinctive step forward, he fell noisily with a
crash and a yell.
"Yahhh!"
"Mackie!" Sylia called out again when she heard his cry and was prepared
for the worst when she entered the workshop that he and Doc. Raven were in.
However, when she spotted the Doctor struggling to help a slightly shrunken
Crystal Knight up, with Mackie's arm and leg visible due to the missing pieces
of armour, she held a hand to her mouth to cover her smile.
"Are you okay, Mackie?" she said with some amusement.
The cracked helmet turned in her direction, "Yeah, sis!" came out
Mackie's voice modulated reply. "This thing's suit up procedure surprised me
that's all. Boy is it quick!" *I wonder how it took my clothes off...*
Doc. Raven sourly looked the armoured Mackie over. "You put it on, but
can you get it off?"
"I think so..." *Armour off,* Mackie thought. When nothing happened,
Mackie started getting a little panicky. *I hope this thing's circuits
or whatever are still functio....* A crackling noise interrupted that
thought.
Sylia and Doc. Raven stepped back when the sound echoed throughout the
room. Before they could react, the Crystal Knight armour Mackie was wearing
seemed to...puff outwards briefly. The armour promptly fell apart as it turned
into diamond dust, leaving a clothed Mackie behind.
He was a little uncomfortable since all his clothes were now backwards
and inside-out. Nevertheless, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least _he_
wasn't backwards and inside out.
"Whew."
Doc. Raven peered down at the pile of dust that had once been a
formidable piece of armour.
"Hmmm... Hardware crash."
Nene and Linna quickly appeared at Sylia's side. They looked a little
worried because of the sound they had heard, but when they saw Mackie's state
of dress, they both started trying to stifle their giggles, and failing.
This caused Mackie to flush red with embarrassment.
"What...happened?" Linna got out with Nene still giggling beside her.
"Mackie managed to activate the Crystal Knight armour but apparently
it was too damaged to change back." Sylia told her as she thoughtfully looked
at the pile of diamond dust. "I gather it too much of a strain and it fell
apart."
Privately, Sylia wondered about that armour. *Twister said that he
made it with his psionic powers, but I find that somewhat hard to
believe. Something else is afoot here, I know it. And I intend to find out
what it is and why our unusual guest seems reluctant to tell us.*
Meanwhile, red-faced and embarrassed, Mackie turned from glaring at
the giggling duo to go change his clothes back the way they were.
*Guess this is part of the price one pays for science,* Mackie glumly
thought on the way to his room.

Priss had stayed behind with Twister and had been about to leave
herself when she heard Linna's faint, but amused, voice along with Sylia's
reply. Raising her eyebrow, she turned a smirking face over to Twister.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who can trash a suit."
Twister groaned and lifted his remaining arm to cover his face with
a hand. He sighed into it. "Ah, well. I guess it was time for a new model
anyway. Back to the drawing board."

Priss contemplated this stranger who was no stranger. Some of
'Darlene's' slightly strange behavior, like not having anything under her
shirt all the time, now made perfect sense now that she had heard Twister's
story, as well as that unusual strength. The fact that no one to her
knowledge had really noticed anything this odd spoke a lot for Dar...Twi...,
*Argh! I'll never get that straight!*, TWISTER'S ability to adapt.
Still, she felt that he owed her for deceiving them for so long...and...
*WAIT A MINUTE!!* Trying to stay calm over the important information
she just recalled, Priss almost kicked herself. *_Darlene's_ the Crystal
Knight...and the Knight was the Blue Bullet!!! That means... Why that...*
Her confusion over the Darlene/Twister issue suddenly clarified itself
while she silently raged to herself, not wanting Twister to get any more
amusement over what he had done to annoy Priss for a very long time.
*Sylvie's my friend and I don't care what she is. You're no worse, just
very unusual, and I guess I don't care about that either for the same
reasons. _But_, I will get you back for all those tickets, embarrassing
me in front of Leon, and finally, for SITTING THERE IN FRONT OF ME
LAUGHING TO YOURSELF WHILE I TOLD YOU WHAT YOU ALREADY KNEW!!*
Suddenly, Priss' anger turned to vast amusement as, in a flash
of inspiration, she decided what she would do, for a start at least. She
smiled broadly at her idea, it was something that she was going to look
forward to. Oh, the delicous irony...

Having been silent in her thoughts for a time Priss moved up to
the bed and contemplated his remaining arm. "You certainly don't seem
very worried about your...other arm and leg," she remarked.
"Well, I checked while I still had energy from those bars and I
definitely think, well, at least reasonably sure, that I can regrow them.
Thank goodness." He sighed. "It's going to take a while and a _lot_ of
food since I'm not just Healing something already there but re-creating
it from scratch. I've got a perfect memory and I've scanned myself lots
of times before so it shouldn't be too hard to do it right."
Priss shook her head at his calm statement of something
incredible. "That you think you can _get_ them back is damn good."
Then she narrowed her eyes while still smiling, walked over to Twister's
sheet-covered form and bent closer to look into his puzzled face.
"However...I think we should..._discuss_ something, _Bullet_. Like about
all those...speeding tickets?"
*Uh oh. She remembered.* Twister was sweating a little now.
"Ahhh...tickets? What tickets?" he said weakly.
Smiling, Priss reached out and lightly tapped Twister's still broken
leg causing him to inhale slightly in surprise from the unexpected twinge
of pain, he had stopped using that pain trick so he felt it. "Oh,
you know. Especially with that _perfect memory_ you said you have..."
Twister grinned weakly as he mentally cursed himself for mentioning that part
of his psionic powers.
He sighed. "I'm sorry, Priss. I'll pay for the parking tickets. I
just thought it was funn...err..." The look on Priss' face stopped him.
She was smiling sweetly. Too sweetly.
"Yes, you will. But you _owe_ me something fierce for not telling
me about," she waved a hand at his body, "this, for constantly getting me
caught in front of Leon, which could have caused me to lose my licence..."
"You wouldn't have," Twister protested. "I made sure of that."
"You what...? Been taking lessons from Nene? ANYway, that doesn't
come close to making up for all you've done to me." Priss was grinning
now. "You _owe_ me. Big time. And by your look I think you agree with me."
Twister's expression was slightly sick and wasn't a result of his injuries.
Cheerily, she went on. "In fact, I already _have_ something in mind..."
He groaned.

Chapter Twelve
--------------

With Mackie and Doc. Raven staying behind to examine the remains of
Twister's former Crystal Knight armour, Sylia, Linna, and Nene, went back
to talk a bit more with Twister. Slyia and Nene had taken time to change
back into normal clothing as well.
Nene was puzzled when they entered the emergency room. Priss looked...
_smug_ for some reason while Twister had this resigned expression on his face.
Priss grinned at them as they entered. "Back? Great! Me and the _Blue
Bullet_ here just completed some unfinished...business."
"_What_ are you talking about, Priss?" Linna asked the singer with some
confusion. She seemed to be talking this business rather well, whereas
Linna wasn't sure on how she felt about it. Maybe she would later when it
finally sunk in that one of her friends could change sexes faster than
her clothes.
Priss just grinned while Twister's expression fell a little more as he
sighed, "Bike maintenance. Non-psionically."
Brows furrowed, Nene wondered what Twister meant by that until she
realized that Priss had been ticketed quite a few times because of the 'Bullet'
and now that she had finally found out who he was... Nene quickly hid a smile
behind her hand but her giggles still escaped from behind it.
Twister sourly looked at her. "Thank you for your support."
Linna was still confused while Sylia looked amused. She too had
divined the reason for Priss' smug smile.
"I'm sorry." Nene looked anything _but_ sorry and was trying to stop
her giggles when she noticed something odd she had missed before.
"Twister... What's wrong with your sheet? It looks...funny."
Startled at the question, Twister quickly looked at the other three
Knight Sabers and asked, "Doesn't she know?" This might be bad...
That response, and the now obviously absent lumps in the concealing
fabric, told Nene what had happened to Twister when he had rescued her.
"No..." Nene whispered in a horror filled voice. She despretely scanned
the cloth to see if she was wrong but there was no denying the fact that
Twister was missing most of an arm and leg. "Oh no...." Tears filled her
eyes.
Before anyone could react, Nene ran out of the room.

There was a stunned silence before Twister shouted to try to get Nene
back while Linna ran after her friend.
"NENE! Wait! It's...!" The muffled sound of Nene's scooter fading
away caused the shout to die in his throat. "...ok." He paused. "Damn. I
wish..." Suddenly, Twister's eyes closed and, now asleep, he fell back
into his pillow from the semi-sitting position he had assumed on the bed
when Nene had left.
Alarmed, Priss straightened from leaning on the wall. "Hey!"
Sylia waved Priss back and calmly looked at the prone Twister. "It's
all right, Priss. I was wondering how he was staying awake after all he had
been through tonight. He must have been using those powers he mentioned to stay
awake _this_ long after healing himself."
Priss frowned at the sleeping Twister. "Idiot."
Sylia tactfully didn't mention the times when Priss had done similar
things.
Linna came back shaking her head. "She put on her helmet and left
before I could catch her." She saw Twister's current state. "He finally
fall asleep?"
"Yes. Nene's likely going home. You and Priss should go there as well.
She's been through some shocks today and I think you two would help immensely."
Sylia sighed. "I would come too but I have to make sure something like that
trap does _not_ happen to us again. As well as keeping watch over Twister
here."
"Right." Linna motioned for Priss to follow her and the two of them
left the room.

A lone figure watched from the forest as a Genom clean-up crew removed
the disfunctional cameras and scanners as well as those Boomers destroyed by
the Knight Sabers. Several technitions were using various detection equipment
around the area that the Crystal Knight had impressively blasted ten plus
Boomers, at once, into atoms.
The concealed form gazed at the devastation in silence.
And smiled.
*Impressively done. As I would expect after seeing your performance
with Largo, Crystal Knight. Genom may not have counted your presence into their
plans when dealing with the Knight Sabers, but I will welcome it. Indeed, I
_want_ it.* The figure's gaze became thoughtful. *But I do need help in order
to accomplish this safely.*
*I will search for what I need....*

Slowly waking up, Twister opened his eyes and spied Sylia, calmly
sipping some coffee, sitting on a chair and facing him.
"Uhhhh... I hope what I think happened last time I was conscious was a
dream." Twister checked his current state and sighed.
"Darn it."
"Did you want some coffee and something to eat?" Sylia inquired.
"You've slept for twenty-four hours."
"I'm not a coffee drinker, unlike a lot of people. But I
would _love_ something to eat. Being totally tapped out is my current status
at the moment."
"Certainly. But right now I was wondering if we could talk some more."
"Ah...sure."
Sylia put down her cup of coffee, clasped her hands together, and
put them on her lap. "I realize that, because of your injuries or privacy,
you likely did not tell us _everything_ about your past. You did mention
that your psionic powers and form changing were _imposed_ upon you after
being taken from your home universe. Also, that you learned
some...unusual martial arts techniques while in the universe you arrived
in. However," Sylia calmly went on as Twister waited, a little
nervously, for her to finish, "there _are_ some facts that I believe you
deliberately left out or altered." Now Sylia's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why?"
Twister looked away from Sylia's gaze, feeling a little ashamed.
After a minute of thinking in silence, he decided to tell her. She might
believe him.
"Well...yes. I did. But...what I _have_ told you are the parts that I
felt you would...believe."
An eyebrow arched. "Believe? If it wasn't for the abilities
you've shown us all, I wouldn't have believed even your altered story.
What more is there?"
"You live in a very...advanced earth compared to my home
universe and the one from where I came. I thought that when you got used to
the true parts of the story, which are weird enough, I could tell you the
rest." He closed his eyes. "At times it's hard to believe it myself and I
had read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy _before_ this all happened."
Considering the person whom she had once thought to be only a
_slightly_ unusual individual, Sylia sighed. "Just what are you trying to
avoid telling us?"
He paused, then said, "Magic."
Sylia stared at his calm expression. "You can't be serious."
"Very serious."
"That's impossible!" Sylia snapped...but it seemed like he
actually believed it.
"So is changing sexes by means of water." Twister grinned.
"Nothing is impossible, only improbable. Besides, the only time it's
worked in this universe is with things like my suit. How else did you
think I got that diamond armour of mine that light on it's own? Magic is
my female side's specailty. Though I have been having trouble with it
since I came here."
"Assuming I believe this," Which, unfortunately, she was beginning
to in a fascinated sort of way, against all rationality, "what sort
of...trouble do you mean?"
"I'll have to show you. Could you bring a glasses of hot and cold
water for me?"
Puzzled, yet intrigued, Sylia complied and was soon shaking her
head in disbelief when she saw the almost instant change of male to female.
"That alone could convince me." Darlene giggled a bit, the first time
Sylia had ever seen her do that.
"Well, this is what I'm having trouble with." And Darlene recited:

"Power beyond imagination,
Spell to help with sight,
Give me now illumination,
Shine _forth_ magic light!"

The ball of glowing purple light that appeared from nowhere transfixed
Sylia's attention as she gazed at the impossibility in front of her.
"This could just be another form of mental power..." she said faintly.
Irritated, Darlene snapped at Sylia. "Oh, come on! I'm not even
concentrating on it anymore. Just believe me, it's magic. You wanted the
truth, you got it." Claming down, she peered at the sphere. "It's also
the weakest spell I dare that isn't enchantment. And you'll
see...why..._now_!"
Suddenly, the ball of light was beginning to spurt magical flames
erratically and wobbling in mid-air. Quickly, Darlene used the hot water
Sylia had given her to change. Twister then trust his remaining hand into
the flaming sphere, ignoring Sylia's startled shout, and the ball of light
was sucked into his skin, without a mark.
"I'm immune to direct magic in this form," he explained to a wide-eyed
Sylia.
"You could have warned me!" Trying to clam down, she continued,
"Does that mean you are immune to direct psionics when female?" At his
nod, she sighed. "All right. Male is psionics and...female is magic. I'll
believe you, reluctantly, but what caused that...instability?"
"I wish I knew. I didn't have any trouble before I came to this
universe."
Sylia stared at him. "Did it ever _occur_ to you that it might be
the result of whatever brought you here?"
"How??"
"I don't know, you should know better than I. But when you
arrived you said you had amnesia. Something deeper might have been
affected as well."
Twister looked thoughtful. "You could be right. It's something I can
check later."
"And _later_ is when I can _hopefully_ get the full story from you,"
Sylia said meaningfully.
He seemed a little disterbed, but didn't object. "Ah, right." Changing
the topic, Twister asked a question he had been worrying about since he
woke up. "How's Nene? She didn't react...well when she realized what had
happened to me."
Now Sylia looked slightly concerned. "Priss and Linna went over to
her place and found her crying...rather heavily. They managed to help her
stop, but I'm afraid that they couldn't cheer her up much. Nene _did_ seem
relatively okay by the time they left. Relatively."
Twister shook his head and sighed. "Poor Nene..."
"Twister." When the owner of the name looked up at Sylia, she asked
him a question that _she_ had been wanting to ask for a while. "Just how
badly hurt was Nene?"
Twister stared at an expressionless Sylia before closing tired eyes and
hesitantly answering the question. "Bad. No... She was _very_ badly wounded
as you could guess from what you saw before the explosions hid everything."
He frowned. "I was standing nearby, invisible by means of my armour, because
I was curious how you guys did one of your operations. Didn't even notice
the mines until a split-second before they detonated. Wasn't fully prepared
so I was a little stunned, but in much better shape than Nene.
I should've got us both out when I caught Nene after the second explosion hid
us from your view but I was still stunned and Nene was in a _really_ bad way.
Healing someone else is difficult for me but she needed it _immediately_."
Twister took a breath. "I devoted my concentration on Healing her and fixing
her armour to better protect her. The other missiles didn't affect her because
my power protected her. I, however, didn't have the luxury as you can guess."
He sighed. "I thought my armour could stand up to it. Wrong, wrong, wrong."
In silence, Twister contemplated all the possible things he could've
done better and was racking up an impressive amount until he felt a hand on
his shoulder. Surprised, he opened his eyes and looked up at a gently smiling
Sylia.
"Don't dwell on what you think you _should_ have done. What you did
saved Nene and you both _survived_. _That's_ what counts." She cocked her
head. "I don't believe you have much experience in working with a team. Am I
right?" When Twister nodded her smile became more friendly. "Then I would
say you did the best you could in order to help save Nene. Although," she
arched an eyebrow, "_next_ time you should try to come out _intact_. Speaking
of which..." Sylia looked thoughtfully at where Twister's left arm should
have been under the cover. "Can your power fix that?" She smiled a
little ruefully. "Somehow that doesn't sound impossible now. You
certainly are full of surprises."
Twister grinned. "Yup. But I did tell Priss that I think I can...but
it's gonna take a while _and_ take a lot of food." Twister's gaze turned
pensive. "Have to tell Sylvie and Anri about this so they can look after
the shop. And...hmmm..." Sylia wondered what Twister was thinking of
before he spoke again. "You said you wanted to make sure that kind of
trap wouldn't surprise you again?"
Sylia frowned. "Yes. That must not happen again. I've taken a few
small measures already."
"Mind if Firelord helps you with that?"
Sylia blinked. "You know him too? I thought only Nene..."
Twister continued with a grin. "I _am_ a little peeved at Genom right
now."
Sylia's expression caused his grin to grow larger. She got control
of herself again and gave him an arch look.
"So _you_ are Firelord?? Why am I not surprised? Just how many
names do you _have_?"
Twister smirked. "A lot. I think you've got 'em all now."
"Just what sort of 'help' were you thinking of?"
The evil grin she got back made her amusedly think that Genom had made
a big mistake in making this particular person hostile towards them.
"Let's just say...I have a few ideas."

A week later, Twister was carefully gazing at his new left arm, both
by eye and psionically. After a minute, he sighed with relief as he
opened and closed the fingers on his fist. He'd devoured enough food to
choke a horse to do it and withstood some pain during the process but it
worked.
"Finito. One brand new left arm ready for duty." He smiled.
"What's that? Feeding your face?"
Twister looked at a smirking Priss who was leaning on one of the
walls of the emergency room where he was still stuck in. Sylia had been
adamant about his staying in the room until he was done Healing himself.
Apparently, she wasn't _too_ confident about Twister's ability to regrow
his missing limbs. Then again, she could be wanting to study his progress
to see if it could be done without psionics. Only Sylia knew.
As usual.
A portable computer system had been brought in so he could connect to
Wingman. Twister had then given Sylia access to the formidable computer he had
created and while she wasn't on Nene's level, she certainly was using it well.
The 'little' ideas they were using to get Genom off-balance occupied some
of his time as they added a little chaos into the lives of Genom Corp. Wingman
couldn't be traced (after all, it was more than a mile under the ground and
had no direct connection anyhow) which made things _so_ much easier for Sylia.
He was still getting bored.
"Of course, Priss. That means I can get _out_ of here quicker." Before
she could make a retort, Twister asked Priss something that had been bugging
him. "How's Nene? She's the only one who hasn't been here the last week. She
ok?" He had a worried expression on his face.
Priss was quiet for a moment before answering. "She looks ok but..."
She sighed. "There's something in her eyes that tells me she's not. I told her
you were going to regrow your arm and leg but that didn't help."
Twister digested this bit of news and sighed as well. "I think, perhaps,
that the only way to help her is to talk to her directly and say it's not
her fault. I'd better wait until the leg is done. Bad reminder."
"Hope that does it. Anyways..." Priss grinned, "I came to work out the
details on out little 'agreement' for my bike." She definitely was
enjoying getting back at him. Little did he know Priss didn't think he
would pay nearly enough maintaining her bike and was waiting for any chance
to punish her friend a little more.
Twister rolled his eyes. "Oh, great. Does the 'cycle singer' want
her bike to go even faster? And maybe shouting out as she rides..."
Twister started singing out a part of one of Priss' songs. Badly. "Big
City, kodoku-na Heart to Heart, minna ai no mayoooffph!"
The abrupt end was the result of Priss' fist hitting Twister's diaphragm
so that Twister was now gasping for breath.
"Don't mangle my songs like that!" She glared at the recovering
Twister. "Can't you sing any better?!"
"I...wheeze...never learned...gasp...how. Though..." He was clearly
recovered now but still pretended to be breathless. "I...pant...may have
just...wheeze again...gotten incentive to do...gasp...so. Ohhhh, the pain."
"The hamming it up you mean, you idiot."
Laughter and giggling from the entrance to the room drew Priss and
Twister's attention to the source of the sound.
"Sylvie! Anri! You two been okay with the shop?" Twister smiled.
"We've managed." Sylvie smiled at Priss and Twister. "That _was_ pretty
bad, Twister." Anri was still giggling beside her.
Twister sighed. "Critics everywhere." He brightened. "Hey! Something
new to torture Priss with! First bikes, now singing! Two points!"
Bad move.
Priss had been walking towards Sylvie and Anri to give warm greetings
but froze when she heard that. *Like _hell_ you are!* she thought. Whirling
around to glare angrily at Twister, she shouted, "Don't you _dare_!"
He smirked. "Why not? You've got me going to improve your bike like I
did to mine already. And since I don't know how to sing, it doesn't bother me
at all. Only those who know how to sing well."
This is called 'putting out a fire with gasoline'.
"Listen, you sonofa..." Priss started stalking furiously towards a
grinning Twister but suddenly stopped with a thoughtful expression on her face.
Twister's grin disappeared. *Uh oh. What's she planning?*
Suddenly, Priss' face showed exactly the same sort of expression she
had on just before telling Twister that he owed her for all those parking
tickets. "You said 'those who know how to sing well'? Well, guess what? I've
been having a slow month and since you won't be able to work on my bike until
you're out of here...you're gonna get a few _singing lessons_. And I'm going
to make sure you know how to sing _decently_ at _least_ by the time your leg
is done! Remember, you _owe_ me, and don't you think for a minute that
I'm gonna forget it!"
All the while Priss talked, Twister sank deeper and deeper into his
bed's pillow. When Priss defiantly finished speaking, he quietly groaned as
Sylvie and Anri looked on with vast amusement.
*Why do I do this to myself?* Twister sighed mentally. *Oh, well.
At least I won't be bored.* Looking again at Priss' now-smug face, he added
to that thought.
*Anything _but_ bored.*

--
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Darren Steffler a.k.a "Twister"- mail at <umst...@cc.umanitoba.ca>
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