Changes 07: Lifeline

"No!" John yelled. He grabbed for the salt packet inside his bag. "We lose the circle, we lose the girl! Hurry!" The three mages worked quickly to fix the circle. But with every gap they filled in, some... thing zipped around them, scattering the salt as it went.

Lisa began to fade.

First line of defense... Mick climbed to his feet to try to confront the thing.

He barely made it three steps before something grabbed hold of him. He caught a glimpse of a figure all in yellow, with burning red eyes, before he crashed into the far wall.

He pushed himself to his knees, but the blow left him too dizzy to stand.

"It's him!" Lisa cried. "That's the thing that killed me!"

"We've got to cancel the spell!" John ordered. He had to yell to be heard over the crackle of lightning.

"I can't just leave her!" Amber replied.

"We'll find her again," John promised. "We know where to look. But we can't allow that thing to—argh!"

"John!" Anne-Marie screamed.

Mick stared at the sight before him. The thing had stopped directly behind John, revealing itself to be a man in a costume, and had thrust its arm straight through the mage's back!

John stared at the hand that stuck out from his chest. His mouth moved, but only bloody bubbles came out.

Amber whirled and ran straight for Lisa.

The thing snarled and yanked its arm free to race after her.

John collapsed. The salt burned where his blood flowed into it. "The... circle..." he gasped.

Mick grabbed his gun, took aim, and fired.

The thing dodged away from the bullets easily. It moved too quickly for them to fight, but Mick's attack gave Amber the moment she needed to reach for Lisa's outstretched hand....

There was a flash of light, and then Amber and Lisa were gone.

Another flash of yellow and red, and Mick, Anne-Marie, and John found themselves miles from the nearest town.

"Stay out of my way!" the thing snarled before it, too, vanished.

Mick waited a few minutes to be sure it was gone before he climbed, shaking, to his feet.

"What was that thing?" Anne-Marie asked.

"If I had to guess," Mick said, "I'd say it was Amber's nasty piece of work."

"No," John said with a groan, startling a yelp from Mick. "Something else." He pushed himself to his knees.

Mick helped him to his feet and stared at the bloody hole in the mage's coat.

The hole in his chest was gone.

"God, do you do anything naturally?" Mick grumbled.

John shook his head. "That thing couldn't have snuck past my wards if it had any real power. No, the nasty piece of work was protecting it, whatever it was."

"But now we have an idea what we're up against," Mick said. "We can go back for Len—"

"The three of us combined ain't strong enough for another spell like that," John replied, "not until I'm done healing. And I don't think even Amber could heal me quicker than I could do...." His mouth twisted. "Naturally."

"Where is she?" Mick whispered. "And Lisa?"

"If I had to guess," John said, "I'd say Jurgen's Ridge."

—FLASH SIDEWAYS: CHANGES—

Langford Institute, April 30, 2000

"Ms. Adams tells me you've decided to accept my offer," the doctor said.

Damien nodded. "I had hoped to keep him closer to home, but I understand it is much harder to care for him properly over such distances. And asking you to keep making the trip is hardly fair to you or your patients."

"Particularly given the recent developments?" the doctor said.

"Certainly," Damien agreed. "His dedication to his other fantasies is troubling enough, though I can't begrudge him those if they keep him calm. But this 'demon' he's dreamed up bears further investigation. I trust, once you have regular access, you will be able to take care of him? I'm afraid nobody else has had much luck figuring out what's wrong with him."

"I will do all that I can to find the answers you need," the doctor promised.

"Please do. I cannot tell you how important it is that he be restored to prime condition."

—FLASH SIDEWAYS: CHANGES—

Vanishing Point, Oculus Viewing Chamber

"This has been fun," Eobard said.

"So it would seem," Damien replied. "Any more sign of the witch?"

"She won't be bothering us again." Eobard zipped back out and immediately returned with a bottle and a couple of glasses. "My turn next?"

"Good year," Damien murmured with a glance at the bottle. "I'm not so sure about that. All of our previous moves took effect almost immediately; this one will naturally take longer to produce results. I'd like to wait and see those results before we do any more to him."

Eobard frowned. "Speedsters aren't very good at waiting."

"My apologies," Damien said. "I suppose you could always jump ahead to the end game if you liked. Although, didn't you say you had another recruit in mind?"

Eobard nodded. "He won't be nearly as fun, though."

"Even so.... I would like to see what we have to work with before we continue the game."

Eobard glowered.

"If you don't mind?" Damien added. "And perhaps this would be even more fun once we have a new player to join in."

"Ugh... fine."

—FLASH SIDEWAYS: CHANGES—

Vanishing Point, Council Chamber

Damien leaned out over the railing and watched Malcolm Merlyn beat swords against a practice dummy.

"You're doing better!" Damien called. Not that it would have taken much to improve over the drunken ex-assassin they'd recruited.

Malcolm paused and stepped away from the dummy. "It helps when your captor's threatened to kill you if you're not as good as he wants you to be," he called back. "Though I wouldn't mind having a real sparring partner. It might be useful to try my blade against Eobard now and again, but his speed makes him useless for most practice, and as for you...." He shrugged.

"In time," Damien said. "Speaking of time, I have something I need to retrieve. Do you think the great Al-Saher is sober enough to join us?"

Eobard snickered.

"Of course I am!" Malcolm scoffed. "So where do you need to go?" He cast a nervous glance at the speedster. "Or should I say, when?"

"When is Christmas, 2002," Damien replied. "And as for where, first I'll need to make a stop with one of my own people, but after that.... I don't suppose either of you gentlemen is familiar with Arkham Asylum?"