The Legacy Of The Seven free porn video

This is the eighteenth story in my Legacy Universe and like the others it can be read as a stand alone. However it might help to read With a Golden Staff and Lady Knight for some background. As a heads up, I focus a little less on the TG elements of this story than I have in previous Legacy stories. This is a conscious choice which I felt was better suited to the plot and main characters situation. The Legacy of the Seven By Morpheus I quickly ran a vacuum over the rec room, being careful to get all the main traffic areas even though I'd cleaned it yesterday and it had barely been used since. This was part of my job and I took pride in doing it well. Part of my job included being a janitor though I got paid less than any janitor I knew. That was all right though because I would have happily done most of my job for free. "Not bad," I mused as I looked over the room, knowing that I still had a few more rooms to clean up before everyone returned. Just then my pager began to beep with the sound that indicated it was time for me to go to work at the part of my job that I liked best. I immediately dropped the vacuum and ran down the hall to the monitor room and sat in the captain's chair. It wasn't actually a captain's chair or anything, but that was what I called it since it made me think of the captain's chair from some old sci-fi show. Once I was comfortably seated in my captain's chair, I turned my attention to the half dozen monitors on the wall in front of me and put my head set on. I looked over the monitor screens to see images of seven people in brightly colored costumes, all getting ready for a fight. "Eyes are go," I said into the radio to let them know I was ready. Then to myself I mused, "I love my job." My job had no official title, though I was effectively the mascot of a super hero group called the Seven. My name is Everett Chambers and I am a pretty normal nineteen year old, in spite of who my friends are. I have no super powers, costume, or code name...except for my radio call sign of Eyes. I'm not a super hero or even an official member of the team, just the guy who hangs around and helps them out with the more ordinary stuff. I first met the Seven about five years ago, right after they first formed. I was fourteen at the time and a bit cynical from having spent half my life living in uncaring foster homes. I was in the process of running away when I stumbled into the warehouse where they were building their headquarters, and before I knew what was happening, I was captured along with the Seven by some villain. Of course we all escaped and I even played an important part in doing so. After my adventure, I had some new role models and spent nearly every available minute hanging out with them at their headquarters. I was hungry for more and wanted to be a real part of the team, doing a few reckless and even stupid things in the process like sneaking along on a few missions. They eventually figured out how to keep me out of trouble, by giving me some responsibility around the headquarters including monitoring duty. I felt nostalgic for those days which were only five years ago, but which seemed so far away. More than half the original team was gone for one reason or another and I'd never really clicked quite as well with some of the newer ones. Then I shook my head and turned my attention back to my current duties. The Seven often went out on missions with several floating spheres that followed along, containing video cameras to feed footage back to me. It was my job to watch over the battle field, to watch their backs and see things they missed. I also had the files of not only the Seven but of several other groups right at my finger tips, so whenever they ran into another hero or villain, I could pull up the information for them to tell them who they were dealing with. At the moment, the Seven had just arrived to deal with a bank robbery in Portland Oregon being performed by a group of small time villains. I watched the monitors closely, seeing how each of my friends was doing. I had no doubt that they'd do fine without my help, but I still liked doing my part. The Umbrella was a slender man whose costume looked a little less than super. In fact, he refused to wear a costume at all and only wore a black suit though he always carried a solid black and slightly metallic looking umbrella in his hand. However this was certainly no ordinary umbrella. This was a magic umbrella, or at least everyone had always believed it was until a year ago when we'd discovered it was actually an alien artifact left on Earth long ago. For centuries the artifact was passed from warrior to warrior, bonding with each owner for the rest of their live and becoming their ideal weapon. It had been a sword, an axe, a spear, and even a shield during that time. But when it felt into the hands of the man who became the Umbrella, he was not a warrior nor looking for a weapon. Instead it was pouring rain and all he wanted at that moment was an umbrella to help him stay dry. The artifact sensed that and when it bonded to him, it took the form of an umbrella and has continued looking like one ever since. "Umbrella," I exclaimed, "look out behind you." The Umbrella snapped around and popped open his umbrella, just in time for several balls of fire to hit it and be stopped cold. A villain I didn't recognize threw several more fire balls at the Umbrella, but he easily blocked the attacks with his umbrella shield. His umbrella was pretty much indestructible, but could be used for more than just a shield. As I watched, the Umbrella raised his umbrella above his head and was lifted into the air like Mary Poppins, just in time to avoid being hit by another fire ball. A moment later, he dropped to the ground almost right in front of the villain, closing the umbrella and then hitting him with it like a club. From my monitor I could see the point of the umbrella growing longer and sharper like a blade. The Umbrella then used his umbrella like a sword to slice through a light pole on the side of the street. This was enough to make his opponent surrender. The Traveler was another of the Seven, a middle-aged Asian man wearing a black and white costume with a flowing white cloak that seemed to move a little on its own. The cloak was magic and was a portal to some other dimension which he could use to teleport through a swell as perform a few other tricks. At the moment, he was walking in mid-air as though it was solid ground, staying above the fight for the most part. One of the villains opened fire with a gun, shooting him from behind. The bullet went through the back of his cloak and then vanished into whatever dimension it was linked to. The hole in the cloak sealed up almost immediately. As long as the Traveler was wearing that cloak, it would protect him from a lot of harm as well as let him travel. I turned my attention away from the Traveler, who was dealing with his own opponent and focused on Hellshot. He had a red and black costume with white shoulder pads and belt. In his hand, he carried a strange looking white bow that had no string. However he didn't need a string as he pulled back as though drawing the string and an arrow made of fire appeared in his hand, just in time to be shot at his opponent. The arrow hit an empty car and melted a hole right through it while setting the metal on fire. Hellshot's bow was actually made from the rib bone of a powerful demon and had the power to summon hellfire which could burn just about anything. Then I saw Hellshot's opponent, a woman with long white hair and a blue and white costume. She was throwing shuriken that were painted white and shaped like snowflakes. I immediately recognized her from her file, which was easy to do since I looked through our files on villains as a sort of hobby. "Hellshot, you're fighting Snowflake," I told him. "She's an assassin who specializes in shuriken. Don't let one hit you... She charges them with some sort of cryogenic field so they cause severe frostbite wherever they hit." "I know who she is," Hellshot snapped in response. "I fought her once before." "Vesper," I called to another of the Seven. Vesper was a dark haired woman in her late twenties with a black and violet costume. She was currently floating about two feet above the ground, thanks to her telekinetic power, and fighting a woman dressed in a green and black costume with a snake motif. "That's Sister Serpent," I told Vesper. "She's a snake sorceress who likes using poison... Keep your distance." "Thanks," Vesper responded. I watched for a moment as Sister Serpent held up her staff and said some strange words and snakes began to appear all over the ground around her. However Vesper was able to telekinetically hold all the snakes back with ease. Sister Serpent used another spell and suddenly her staff began to spray a nasty green liquid at Vesper. However Vesper was able to easily move out of the way and then used her own powers to send a garbage can flying at the sorceress. Sister Serpent responded by throwing her staff at Vesper and it turned into a snake in mid-air and wrapped around Vesper. "I've got you," exclaimed Armory, the newest member of the Seven. Armory was a young black woman about my age and she was wearing a suit of lightweight blue and gray armor. She had no actual powers, but was a genius at inventing weapons. In fact, she carried an entire arsenal on her, stored in folded space pockets throughout her armor. She pulled an energy sword out and used it to slice through the snake that was holding Vesper, then the two of them quickly took down Sister Serpent. Since they were fine, I turned my attention to Morass, another newcomer to the team. His power was to create and control a thick and nasty black tar which he usually covered his entire body in like armor. With his tar armor he looked to be a huge and hulking tar monster who moved at a very slow pace, but was very strong and difficult to injure. Tentacles of tar came from his body and tried to wrap around one of the three opponents he was currently facing, though the tar was too slow to be very effective. However he was able to spray a burst of it at the ground and make it very difficult for two of the villains to move. "Look out behind you Morass," I told him over the radio. "One of them is trying to sneak up on you." Before Morass could even turn around, a quick blur came out of nowhere and the villain who'd been trying to sneak up on him was unconscious on the ground. Landspeed, the last member of the Seven, stood over the villain who looked to have been taken down in record speed. She was a young woman with shoulder length red hair and a blue and white costume which included a mask that covered the top part of her face. Even if her code name didn't give it away, her rapid movements would have told anyone that she was a speedster. It didn't take the Seven very long to end the fight and round up all the villains. Most of these villains were small time, with Snowflake and Sister Serpent being the only real dangerous ones. They probably just met and decided to work together for what they thought would be an easy score. However their operation was nowhere near the level of the old Black Guild, which was fortunate for us. I knew from long experience that the Seven would stick around for awhile to deal with the police and ensure the villains were in full custody before leaving. However my job was done for the moment, or at least my monitoring job was done. I still had some rooms to vacuum and other things to take care of. In spite of the fight being over, I didn't get up and leave quite yet. Instead, I watched through the monitors for another minute, feeling a longing that had never quite gone away. Even now after five years, I wasn't completely satisfied just being the team mascot and assistant. I knew it was silly since I wasn't developed and had no powers or special abilities, but I still wished I could be out there fighting the bad guys as one of them. -------------------- I grunted as I strained against the weight I was pushing, struggling to bench more than I ever have before. I strained for a moment more and did it, successfully beating my old bench press record by ten pounds. I settled the bar on the rests, then let out a sigh of relief. I sat up and grinned, feeling pleased since this had been a good workout. I looked around the weight room, knowing that it was a pretty good thing the headquarters was loaded up with something like this that I could use during my down time. It helped me get in shape, though sometimes it was hard to tell if it was working. After a moment, I looked in the mirror, not feeling all that impressed by what I saw. I was 5 foot 11 with dirty blonde hair and was a bit overweight. No matter how much I exercised, I never seemed to lose my chubbiness. I frowned at the sight, thinking that I'd probably look pretty silly in spandex. Besides not having any powers, this was another reason why I would never make it as a super hero. Since I hung around super heroes all the time, I was aware of the fact that most of them were in fantastic shape. There was a theory that the process of having super powers tends to speed up the metabolism and supercharge your body so that you burn fat faster and build muscle more easily. However knowing that didn't make me feel any less self- conscious. "Maybe I'll hit the tread mill a bit longer tomorrow," I mused as I left the gym. Just as I was leaving, Vesper was entering. "Hey Everett," she greeted me with a pleasant smile. "Vesper," I nodded back. Her real name was Amelia, but I was in the habit of using her code name when she was in costume. It was a good habit to be in around here since it prevented accidentally giving away too much information to the bad guys. "I was wondering," she said with a thoughtful look, "did you happen to update the files from yesterday?" "Yeah," I responded, "I put in everything we know about those new villains from the bank robbery yesterday. The Protectorate, Faction Zero, the Guard, the Miracle Men and Lightning Force should all have access to it now." "Good," Vesper nodded. Then she chuckled, "You know, I was never very good on keeping up with the paperwork. I never would have imagined there'd be so much of it in this link of work." Then she grinned at me and added, "I don't know how you're always able to keep on top of it all. Without you, our records would probably be nonexistent." I grinned at the compliment, definitely feeling pleased by it since I'd always looked up to Vesper. In a way, she was almost like the big sister I never had. "Thanks, but all I really do is update them after your missions." "Please," Vesper rolled her eyes. "You were the one who first suggested we share our records with the other groups. If not for you, then we'd all just be relying on our own records and experience. You not only helped make the Seven more effective, you also helped these other groups as well." By this point, I was practically beaming with pride, though I was also a little self-conscious about the praise. "So," I quickly changed the subject, "has the White Knight said anything about coming back?" "No," she shook her head, frowning slightly. "He's happy with his family and their own group Knight Force. I've told him we miss him here, but honestly, I don't blame him for leaving after all that's happened here." Just then Landspeed came down the hall, walking at a slow and easy pace which seemed a little out of place for someone who could move at super speed. "Hey Everett, how's it hanging?" "Not bad," I responded with a grin. Landspeed, or Karen as I called her outside of costume, had been the youngest of the Seven and the closest to my own age until Armory recently joined us so the two of us always got along pretty well. In fact she was one of my closest friends and my favorite person to just hang around with. However our relationship had never been anything beyond that since neither of us were quite what the other was interested in romantically. She was a little too hyper for me and I just wasn't active enough for her. "I just picked up a new video game," Landspeed exclaimed. "I can't wait to kick your ass on it." I winced at that, knowing that this was no idle brag. I shrugged and responded, "You wouldn't win all the time if you didn't have developed reflexes..." However that never seemed to stop me from playing against her. Landspeed just stuck her tongue out at me and teased, "There's no need to be jealous, slow poke." Then she turned her attention to Vesper and said, "Oh, Amelia... I've been wanting to talk to you about training..." As they quickly got into a conversation about training schedules, I turned and continued on my way. I remembered what Vesper had been saying about the White Knight not coming back because of everything that had happened around here. I frowned, feeling a little sad at that, though I couldn't blame him. The Seven had been a great team but we'd gone through several tragedies that sometimes made it hard to stay. With those thoughts in mind, I went into the memorial room. I've been in the headquarters of several super hero groups and they each had a room like this, a trophy or memorial room in order to help preserve some of their past. I'd always thought that part of it was bragging about their accomplishments but I think it also served as a way to make them feel more legitimate and official. Our memorial room wasn't much different, except that it was filled with my own memories, some happy and some far less so. I looked at several of the pictures hanging on the wall, my eyes stopping for just a moment on a glass case which contained a newspaper clipping. This was an article about the Seven's first public appearance when they'd fought a giant crab monster that was attacking Seattle. It had been terrifying at the time, but looking back, there was a certain ironic silliness to it. "Those were the days," I said with a faint chuckle. Then I looked at a large picture of the whole team with everyone standing there posing. I was even included in this one, standing off to the side with a grin and giving a big thumbs up to the camera. I felt a surge of sadness as I stared at this picture, knowing that those days were long gone and wouldn't be coming back. Four of the people in that picture were no longer with the Seven and two of them weren't even alive. I turned away from the picture and looked across the rest of the room, especially looking at two glass cases with uniforms stored inside of them. In the first case was a man's costume which was displayed on a mannequin. The right side of the costume was blue with white stars scattered across it and the left side had horizontal red and white stripes. A half dozen shuriken that were painted white and looked like five pointed stars were on display in the case alongside the costume. This had all belonged to Matt Reynolds, also known as the High Flying Flag. The other costume was a green and white woman's costume, also displayed on a mannequin. This had belonged to Michelle Lewis who'd also been known as Echo. She used to absorb sonic energy and then release it again with a variety of tricks such as sonic blasts or deafening her opponents, though the most interesting of which had always been what she could do at karaoke. I shook my head and then looked back at the photo, specifically looking at a beautiful young woman with black hair and tan skin. Jessica, also known as Guardian Angel, had been very special to me at one time. Back when she'd been a member of the Seven, I had a huge crush on her. Unfortunately she barely seemed to know I existed and only had eyes for Matt. That might not have been so bad except that Matt was more interested in Michelle. Jealousy can be a very powerful and dangerous thing...even among super heroes. Michelle and Jessica argued, passions flared, and it exploded into a full on fight. In the heat of the moment, Jessica killed Michelle and then ran away. The rest of us were all shocked and horrified, especially Matt who blamed himself. The next time we saw Jessica she was had become a villain and was calling herself the Fallen. That was also when she killed Matt as well. The White Knight left the Seven shortly after that, claiming that he wanted to spend more time with his family. I knew that there was more to his reasons than just that though. After all he'd just had two of his friends murdered by a young woman who until that time, had been his own protege. "Damn," I muttered, closing my eyes and thinking how things might have turned out different if only I'd had the guys to ask Jessica out. Maybe if I'd told her how I felt, that there was someone else who cared about her. Of course I knew that it wasn't my fault and she was just too obsessed with Matt...but knowing and feeling were two different things. I tore my attention from the picture and walked around the room, trying to distract myself with the other pictures and mementos. There were plenty of good memories here and I smiled faintly as I looked at a few of the other pictures. I even groaned when I saw one of me from back when I was fourteen and dressed up in ugly home-made costume which I'd somehow thought was cool at the time. At the time, I sort of thought that all I had to do to become a real hero was have a costume and code name. Of course reality quickly pointed out otherwise and in a fashion that nearly got me killed. Vesper still teased me about that occasionally. Just as I was completing my round of the room and making notes of where I should pay extra attention to when I dust in here next when a loud alarm suddenly began going off. I froze for a second, recognizing it as the intruder alarm. It was also the indication that I should go to the monitor room and lock myself inside until we at least knew what we were dealing with. I ran to the rec room to cut through it when I saw Morass was already there, powered down and wearing his normal flat black costume. However as I watched the black tar he created began to form and ooze around him. I gasped in horror at the site. I absolutely hated it when he used his powers in the headquarters because that nasty black tar got into everything and was a royal pain in the ass to clean up. Sure, he could make it dry out and crumble to dust when he was done, but that still left a huge mess that I had to clean. Then I suddenly noticed the intruder on the other side of the rec room and realized this was why Morass was armoring up. He was a tall, thin man in his mid twenties with black hair that had a white lock hanging from the front. He wore a costume that was red and gold with a little black thrown in, had a long red cape, and he held a black staff had looked like a dragons head at the top with two glowing red eyes. "Oh shit," I exclaimed, immediately recognizing our intruder since the Seven had fought him twice before. "LOKI!" Loki had no connection to god of Norse mythology but was instead a dangerous sorcerer. In fact he used to be just a small time anarchist who'd been involved in several arsons, robberies, and even a riot or two, but he'd never been a real danger until he somehow became bonded to a magic staff. The staff gave him access to very powerful chaos magic, but it was very unpredictable and dangerous even to him. The more he tried to control it the more likely it was to turn on him, so as a result, he just gave the staff general directions and let it follow them however it wished. I grimaced as I tried remembering everything I could about Loki in the hopes I could think of something useful, though unfortunately, there was very little to know. I knew that Loki was his old nickname from before he gained the staff and that no one knew his real name, not even him. Shortly after gaining his power, Loki had tried hiding his identity from the police by erasing it from their memories. However the magic had been too powerful and had erased it from his own mind as well. In fact the magic had even gone so far as to destroy every record of his real name, written or digital. Morass started towards Loki who just stood there with a smirk. Loki's presence blocked my route to the monitor room, and in spite of the danger, I wasn't about to just turn around and run away. I've never been very good at keeping away from these things if I had a chance to watch. Suddenly Landspeed ran into the room at blinding speed and stopped to yell out, "It's Loki..." Vesper rushed in next, looking grim as she saw Loki standing there with a grin on his face. "Loki," she spat out. "You must be stupid coming here. You know we aren't letting you leave." "How do you plan on stopping me?" Loki asked. "I have the power to do anything." "We stopped you before," Landspeed responded with a smirk. "Twice." "You just got lucky," Loki snorted. "And I'm here to make sure it never happens again." Then he held up his staff and exclaimed, "Take us all somewhere we won't be interrupted." I suddenly felt a strange nausea which passed after just a moment and it was obvious from the others reactions that I wasn't the only one. "What the hell was that?" I muttered. Then to Loki I taunted, "It looks like whatever you were trying failed big time." Loki ignored me and suddenly snapped around to face Morass who had continued slowly approaching. "Destroy him," Loki yelled. The moment the words left Loki's mouth, the tar that covered Morass' body burst into flame. He howled a horrific sound as he staggered back, leaving flaming tar foot prints behind him. When he bumped into a wall the fire spread to it as well. "Morass," Landspeed exclaimed in shock and horror. "Let me," Armory yelled as she ran into the room, stopping to reach for her leg. She touched a spot on her thigh and a large and strange looking rifle suddenly appeared in her hands. "Shoot his ass," I called out. But to my surprise, Armory didn't point her weapon at Loki but at Morass. She fired and the rifle shot out a spray of some liquid that immediately turned to a thick foam when it hit Morass, extinguishing the fire as it did so. Once the fire on Morass was out, she turned to the other fires and neutralized them as well. Morass collapsed to his knees, the tar covering his body looking dried out and cracked. Then it all dried out and cracked further, crumbling away to dust as it usually did when he removed it. A moment later, he struggled back to his feet, no longer protected by his tar and looking exhausted but defiant. Vesper didn't say a word, but the pool table in the corner suddenly floated into the air and straight at Loki. He muttered something I couldn't quite hear and the pool table suddenly vanished. Landspeed ran at Loki but before she reached him, she suddenly bounced back as though she'd hit a rubber wall. Loki just laughed, looking like he thought this was some sort of game. "Oh no you don't," Armory exclaimed, dropping her fire extinguisher gun and reaching for her belt. As soon as she touched the buckle, a new gun appeared in her hand. She immediately aimed it at Loki and spat out, "Eat hot plasma." "Protect me," Loki commanded. Armory opened fire but the energy blasts from her gun hit an invisible force field which now seemed to surround Loki. She fired several more shots but couldn't get through. Loki just stared at her with an almost maniacal grin before saying, "Die." Armory suddenly exploded. I could only stare in horror as one second she was standing there firing at Loki and the next... body parts and armor pieces where violently flung across the room. "Oooh," Loki exclaimed with a wince. "Messy." "Beth," Vesper yelled, using Armory's real name. Vesper didn't say another word as she telekinetically flung furniture at Loki. However his force field was still there so it didn't go any good, nor did the pool balls that Landspeed was throwing at super speeds. "Get out of here Everett," Vesper told me. "Find the others." "Damn," I responded, turning and running to do as she said. As much as I hated it, I was pretty much useless in this kind of fight but Umbrella, Traveler and Hellshot wouldn't be. If I could find them, that would at least be useful. I ran into the Umbrella almost right away and he looked a little shaken. "We are no longer where we were," he told me. "I just looked outside...and I have no idea where the bloody hell we are." "It's Loki," I told him, pointing back the way I'd come. "He's killed Armory." "And he just killed Morass," another voice said. I snapped around to see the Traveler, looking very grim. Hellshot appeared next, holding his bow in hand. His other hand twitched as though he could barely keep from drawing a hellfire arrow. "He goes down," Hellshot said in a cold tone. "For good." Just then there was a loud explosion from the direction of the rec room. Hellshot, the Umbrella, and the Traveler all rushed in that direction. I hesitated a moment, then followed after them. The rec room was an even bigger mess than before, and after Armory blew up, it had looked like a slaughter house. What was left of Morass was pinned up against a wall with a dozen swords rammed through his body. All of the furniture was in shattered pieces and now there was an enormous hole through a wall through which I could see outside the headquarters. "Holy shit," I exclaimed, my heart racing as I ran out to where I could see the others fighting Loki. I was stunned to see that our headquarters was no longer where it had been but instead seemed to be in the middle of some desert. There was sand and dunes in every direction as far as I could see. "Holy shit," I repeated, remembering Loki's order to take us where we wouldn't be interrupted. "He teleported the entire headquarters..." And knowing the way Loki's magic worked, he probably had no more idea of where we were than I did. Vesper was floating in the area, moving sand around telekinetically and blasting Loki with it. Then Landspeed started running circles around our opponent, creating a vortex of wind and sand around him while Vesper began to pour more sand in from the top. "Keep him trapped and bury him alive," Hellshot muttered with a nod of approval. But then I suddenly heard Loki laughing...from a different direction. I snapped around and saw that he was no longer in Landspeed's vortex, but had teleported himself out. Hellshot didn't hesitate before pulling back his imaginary bow string and firing an arrow of pure hellfire. However Loki muttered something and suddenly the arrow changed direction and came right back at him. The Traveler jumped in front of Hellshot and held his cloak wide so when the arrow hit the inside of the cloak, it vanished into the other dimension. "Attack," Loki exclaimed and suddenly a ball of fire shot straight at me. The Umbrella jumped in the way and blocked the blast with his umbrella. "Get to safety," the Umbrella told me with a grimace. "Where?" I asked. "We're in the middle of the damn desert." Then I had an idea and turned to run back into the headquarters. The sight of the rec room covered with blood and core made me want to throw up, but I couldn't afford that now. I tried to put that out of my mind as I picked up the plasma gun that Armory had been holding when she'd been killed. In fact her hand was still wrapped around the grip, so I had to pry her fingers off it. "Oh gross," I muttered with a wince, pausing to empty my stomach for a moment. "I'm sorry about this Beth." I ran back out to rejoin the fight just in time to see that Loki had summoned a swarm of bees that were the size of birds. Vesper was grabbing as many as she could with her telekinesis while Landspeed was using her vortex trick again to round up as many as possible. "We need to work together," Vesper called out. "We need to nail his ass," Hellshot exclaimed. Loki muttered, "I need more time to think..." Then he looked at us all and started laughing again. "Distract them." I suddenly felt extremely dizzy and then the entire world went completely black. It came back a second later, but everything was wrong and confusing. I found myself in mid-air and screamed as I dropped about twenty feet into a sand dune. I scrambled back to my feet, feeling completely off balance and wrong. I could tell with every fiber of my being that something was seriously messed up with my body. When I looked down at myself, I was stunned to see two mounds pushing out from my chest, enough that it took me several more seconds to really register the fact that I was wearing a black and violet costume that covered everything from the neck down. "No fucking way," I blurted out, recognizing the costume and realizing what had happened to me. "He turned me into Vesper..." I fought the urge to grab the breasts I was now sporting and instead looked around, seeing that everyone was confused and off balance. Obviously I was not the only one affected by this. "I'm Landspeed," the apparent Landspeed exclaimed in horror. Loki took full advantage of our distraction and ordered, "Kill them all." Just then a strange creature appeared out of nowhere. It was eight feet tall, humanoid in shape, and definitely male. He had pale gray skin that was thick and bony looking, and instead of hands, his arms below the elbows were long and sharp looking blades made from the same bony material as his skin. The creature let out a loud roar and then charged forward, slashing out with one of its blade arms and hitting Landspeed... or whoever was in her body. She let out a scream of pain and then collapsed to the ground with her entrails spilling out around her. Whoever was in my body didn't hesitate and opened fire with the gun I'd picked up. He hit the creature several times in the chest and appeared to do some damage as well as make the creature angry. The creature charged again, going straight at my body and through anyone in the way. One arm lashed out and cut off the Umbrella's head which hit the ground before his body did. The umbrella hit the ground as well and began to melt and shrink until there was nothing left but a black metal ball the size of a cantaloupe. "Look out," I yelled in warning, though it did little good. Whoever was in my body tried jumping out of the way of the rampaging creature but it was faster than it looked. A second later, my own body had been literally cut in two in front of me. "How do I use this thing?" the person in Hellshot's body demanded, holding up the bow and trying to use it. Unfortunately it did little good as the bow didn't respond or show any sign of its power. I was absolutely horrified by what was happening around me. I'd just watched my friends die, even though I didn't know exactly which ones had been killed. And even worse, I'd watched my own body getting slaughtered with ease. In spite of my horror, I tried to think of what I could do. I ran for the Traveler and knocked him aside as the monster tried killing him, but unfortunately the creature just lashed out again, this time at me. I scrambled backwards and tried getting away but his blade came down and into my flesh. I screamed in agony as the blade sliced through my upper arm and completely severed it. I fell backwards and hit the ground, grabbing at my right arm and finding that it ended just several inches down from the shoulder. Hot sticky blood was spurting out all over the place and I knew that I'd bleed to death in no time at all. The creature came to finish me off but was suddenly hit by whoever was in Hellshot's body. He was using Hellshot's bow as a club to beat the creature but this only succeeded in attracting the monster's attention. It snapped around and rammed a blade through the apparent Hellshot's stomach, impaling him and then casually tossing him aside. A moment later, the creature impaled the apparent traveler as well, hitting him from behind so his blade went through the cloak. However the blade never came out the front side or made it to the apparent Traveler's body since it was briefly diverted to the other dimension instead. It pulled the blade back out and the cloak repaired itself immediately afterwards. "Oh no you don't," Loki exclaimed. "Stop." Suddenly the apparent traveler froze with a look of horror on his face as he began sinking into the sand. It was as though the sand beneath him had turned into quick sand. He had only sunk halfway when the creature impaled him again, this time from the front where the cloak wasn't protecting him. He collapsed dead and stopping sinking any further. "I did it," Loki yelled excitedly. "I killed the fucking Seven. Oh yeah, I am the man..." Then he laughed in delight, kicking the Umbrella's head. "Maybe next I'll take down the Protectorate." I remained where I was, trying to stay absolutely still. I was ashamed of myself for playing dead but I knew it was my only chance to survive. "So long losers," Loki called out just a moment before he vanished. Just seconds after Loki was gone, the murderous creature he'd summoned faded away as well. "No," I gasped weakly, feeling too tired to do much. I struggled to get to my feet while holding my bloody stump with my good hand. My only chance was to get a tourniquet. I staggered a few feet before I collapsed to the ground again, too weak to keep going. I'd already lost too much blood and it wasn't stopping. My whole team was dead... All my friends had been murdered in front of me and at the rate I was losing blood, I'd be dead as well in just a few more minutes. "My arm," I whispered, thankful that at least it wasn't hurting quite so much anymore. Of course a part of me was aware that this was actually a very bad sign. Then I suddenly felt something crawling on my leg, moving up my body. I groaned weakly, thinking that it was just my luck that I was laying here bleeding to death in a body that wasn't my own and now some sort of snake or spider was climbing all over me. It would be horribly ironic that after all this, I'd die from some poisonous animal. Whatever was climbing on me moved from my chest to my severed stump of an arm which made me think that this had to be some sort of predator or scavenger that was drawn by the blood and an easy meal. I opened my eyes and looked to my stump, stunned to see some sort of black metallic blob wrapping itself around the wound and sealing it completely. Then some of the black oozed up the small remaining part of my arm and only stopped once it got to my shoulder. "What...?" I gasped in confusion. If this wasn't strange enough so far, the black metallic blob began to grow and spread out from where my arm had been severed. It was like it was growing a tentacle. Then after a moment, I was stunned to realize that it was taking a familiar shape. The tentacle was turning into an arm. I was growing a black metal arm to replace the one that had been cut off. "The Umbrella," I gasped in sudden realization. When the Umbrella had died, the artifact which had been his umbrella had reverted to its basic form and searched for a new host...me. But unlike any of the previous hosts, I wasn't a warrior who needed a weapon or even an umbrella. At the moment my greatest concern was my severed arm so it must have used that as the basis for its new form. Hundreds of questions ran through my mind but just as quickly slid away. I was exhausted and drained in nearly every way imaginable so I was barely able to absorb all this before I slid into darkness. -------------------- I awoke with intense aches and discomfort through my entire body. Then, as I remembered what had happened, the pain spread to every fiber of my being, all the way down to the depths of my soul. I have no idea how long I remained where I was, too exhausted to open my eyes and get up. It was more than physical exhaustion though, but a bone draining emotional exhaustion and fear of what I'd find once I finally did so. Eventually though I knew that I had to get up. I had to face the nightmare that was my reality. When I opened my eyes and sat up, my mouth was full of sand and my eyes were full of grit. My body ached even more than before, not to mention feeling strange and uncomfortable. I realized that I was lying in sand and that it was night out, that the sun had set while I'd been unconscious. The moon nearly full though and provided enough light to see something of what surrounded me. The sight of my friend's bodies scattered about and half buried in the sand sent a cold chill right through my heart. I spat out the sand and began coughing then struggled to my feet. My entire body felt weak and rubbery, not to mention completely and totally off balance. I could barely stand up, much less stand up straight. Once I was at least fairly certain that I wouldn't fall back down onto my face, I looked down at myself. I had two breasts sticking out from my chest, a clear indication that I was still in Vesper's body... as if I didn't already know that. My right arm had also grown back, though now looked as though the entire thing was made lf black metal. "Holy sh1t," I whispered, moving my arm and my fingers experimentally. I opened and closed my fist several times, thinking that it felt completely strange. As shocking as my body was though, it paled in comparison to my friends being dead. I slowly moved to the Traveler's body and checked for a pulse, even though I already knew that I wouldn't find one. Then I slowly moved from one body to the next, checking the pulse and feeling a little more of myself die each time. It was especially disconcerting to check the pulse of my own body which lay there dead as well. Once I'd checked on everyone who'd been left in the sand, I stood there in stunned silence. I felt a deep sorrow to the depths of my being greater than any that I'd ever imagined possible. Then something else began percolating there as well. A bubbling rage began to form and froth until it finally exploded from my throat as a loud and primal scream that seemed to go on forever. At the same time I was screaming, I was only vaguely aware that the sand around me began to shake and then suddenly exploded away from me. All I knew was that when my throat felt raw and sore and I had no more voice go give, I collapsed to my knees in utter exhaustion, in the middle of a small crater that had formed around me in the sand. I remained in this position for some time with tears running down my cheeks. Then I slowly forced myself back to my feet and staggered towards the gaping hole in our headquarters. I stepped inside the ruined rec room, seeing that it was dark inside since the headquarters had been removed from the main power grid. However there were battery powered emergency lights, which gave me enough light to see Morass still pinned to the wall and Armory spread over the entire floor. I didn't have enough left in my stomach to get sick again. "Oh God," I told myself with a wince. "I can't leave them like this..." I went to Morass first and began pulling the swords out of his body one at a time. It was disgusting and I was already exhausted, but I was determined not to stop until I was finished getting him down. I quickly discovered that even though my body didn't have much energy or strength left, my right arm didn't seem to have that problem. That made it easier to just use that arm to pull out the blades. Once I had Morass down, I set his body in the corner of the room then went to work collecting Armory. It was unbelievably disgusting as I picked up the pieces of her body and gathered them in one spot. It was even nastier when I slipped on some of the blood and fell right into some of her entrails. "I'm sorry Beth," I whispered tearfully as I continued with my work. I finished gathering armory up into one spot and felt as though I was going to collapse. However I wasn't finished yet. I made my way back outside and began pulling the others inside as well. I expected that it would have been more difficult dealing with my own body, but by this time I was feeling a bit numb. When I was pulling Travelers body inside, I noticed that his cloak was still perfectly clean with no sign of blood or wear. It looked as though it was still brand new though I knew it had been around for a long time and had seen a lot of action. Traveler's cloak came off while I was moving him, so after I'd placed his body inside I went back for his cloak. I brought it inside and folded it up, placing it in a clean spot. Hellshot's bow joined it a few minutes later. "There," I said once I'd had everyone inside, even Vesper's severed arm. Of course it had been my arm at the time it had been cut off, but it felt easier to think of it as hers since it had come from her real body. Until now I hadn't given much thought about what I was going to do with their bodies once I had them. Now, it suddenly seemed very appropriate to just seal up the headquarters and let the sand claim it. It would be their tomb, buried beneath the desert like the tombs of ancient pharaohs. Then another thought suddenly occurred to me. Vesper...Amelia was Catholic and would have wanted a proper funeral. Of course that would be hard to do since I was currently using her body. Hellshot...Ben had once told me that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered over a lake. Landspeed...Karen would have wanted to be buried in her family plot. And then there was Umbrella who had a sister and mother who would have wanted to say goodbye. "Damn," I said with a sigh. I was going to have to find some way of getting their bodies back home to their families, at least those who had families. I slowly turned and left the rec room, trying to form some idea of what I was going to do next. I had no idea where in the world I was much less how to get back to civilization with the bodies of my friends. How could I possibly haul them all back? Then I suddenly had an idea. It could probably wait until I'd cleaned up and rested, but I wasn't going to let my friends wait any longer than necessary. My determination gave me a second wind of energy which carried me down the hall. A minute later, I stepped into Armory's workshop. Armory hadn't been with the team long but she'd already set up a work shop where she built and repaired all of her weapons. There were benches set up along two walls while a third had shelves full of weapons, most of which I had no idea of what they were. The benches themselves were full of high tech equipment and half built devices. All of it was well lit with the flip of a switch since Armory had the lights in here hooked to her own private battery. My attention went to the largest piece of equipment in the room, a strange looking device that looked something like a large ray gun mounted on a platform. The whole thing was way too large for Armory to bring to the field, but it was on a cart so I could push it through the hallway. "I hope this works," I grunted, grabbing the device and pushing it towards the rec room. It was a lot of effort to move and I didn't have any energy to spare. Still, if it worked it would be worth it. When I reached the rec room, I turned on the device, remembering the demonstration that Armory had given me. Armory's device was not a weapon, but was a way to contain captured villains. She'd been quite proud of it, claiming that it would change the way heroes dealt with captured villains and that it could eliminate escapes. I set the device up the way Armory had shown me and fired it at Umbrella's body. Suddenly his entire body was covered in a blue glow as he was put into stasis, preventing his body changing at all. This would protect his body and prevent any decomposition as long as he remained in stasis. Next, Umbrella's body vanished as the device transferred it into a pocket of folded space, using the same technology Armory had used on her armor in order to store all her weapons. "One down," I said quietly, turning the device on the rest of my friends. I turned the device on Hellshot's body next and then Landspeed. It took nearly a full minute to process each one, but within ten minutes all of the bodies were gone including my own. Now their bodies would all be perfectly preserved until I could get them to a place they could be properly dealt with, not to mention being stored in folded space would make them much easier to transport. Since the bodies had all been dealt with for the moment, I was finally able to leave the rec room. I slowly started down the hallway, not even sure where I was going only that I needed to get cleaned up and get some rest. I hadn't even made it halfway down the hall before I collapsed to the ground and sank back into darkness again. -------------------- Waking up left me with a strong sense of d?j?-vu and it wasn't any better than the last time. My entire body was still extremely sore and uncomfortable, a fact made even worse by the fact that this time I'd been unconscious on the hard floor rather than the soft sand. Of course this time I didn't wake up with sand in my mouth either. I got back to my feet, using the wall for balance and wondering how long I'd been out this time. That just led to me wondering what I was going to do next. I still felt emotionally drained, but I also felt a little confused and lost. It wasn't until I stepped back that I noticed there was a bloody hand print where I'd been leaning up against the wall. I looked down at myself and winced in disgust. My entire body was covered with blood and gore, much of it dried but certainly not all of it. "Oh God," I gasped, closing my eyes and taking several deep breaths as I tried to keep from throwing up. I didn't have anything left to come up which made it a little easier but no less pleasant. I knew I shouldn't be at all surprised that I was covered with this stuff only that I hadn't noticed it earlier. A lot of this was my own blood from when my arm had been cut off and of course, there was the spill I had into Armory's blood. I'd probably gotten blood from all my other friends on me as well while I'd been collecting their bodies. I'd just been so distracted by everything that I hadn't given it any thought. "I need to get cleaned," I said, feeling strangely guilty for even thinking about that. After all my friends had all been slaughtered in front of me and I was left in one of their bodies. It almost felt like I was insulting their memory and being extremely selfish for even considering something like that. However I was absolutely disgusting and new that I needed to get cleaned. "Take one thing at a time," I told myself, trying to remember everything I'd learned about dealing with a crisis situation. "Take care of the urgent things first... Prioritize..." I'd already done everything I could for my friends at the moment so the next thing I needed to do was take care of myself. That meant getting cleaned up and then deal with my own situation. I felt a little better about my decision as I walked down the hall, going slow as my body hurt and I still felt wiped out. Back when the White Knight had been with the Seven, he'd always been big about having contingency plans for emergencies. He was the one who'd had the emergency lighting installed in case we lost commercial power. He'd also installed an emergency generator so we could power the critical systems like the monitor room. I went to the generator room and started it up then flipped the switch to divert power from only the critical systems so the overhead lights came back on. That would make things a lot easier. I only wish I would have thought of it earlier. A few minutes later, I staggered into one of the bathrooms, hesitating a few seconds before I looked in the full sized mirror that hung on the wall. The sight that met me looked like something straight out of a horror movie. The reflection that looked back was that of Vesper, but not the bright Vesper that I knew. This one looked exhausted, sick, not to mention utterly filthy. She looked like she'd barely survived some sort of horror movie killer...or more accurately...like she didn't survive. "Shit," I muttered, staring at my reflection for a moment with a strange mixture of horror and curiosity. Then I turned away, feeling guilty instead. "Focus..." It took me nearly a full minute to find the hidden zipper on the one piece bodysuit costume I was wearing and to slide out of it. The costume fell to the floor and I made a mental note to burn it. Then I hesitated a moment before removing the bra and panties I was wearing. Once I was completely naked, I looked over my body again and saw that I had a few nasty bruises. I hesitantly reached up with my left hand and felt my right shoulder, right where the black metal met the skin. It said something that my first impulse was to check that and not the breasts I now had or what was missing between my legs. Of course I was curious about my new anatomy but it felt like a massive invasion of privacy. In fact I felt guilty just standing here naked in Amelia's body. I felt even more guilty at the thought that I was standing here in her body while she was dead, perhaps having been in mine when it happened. I avoided exploring my body and instead focused on what I was in here for. I climbed into the shower and turned it on, thankful that the White Knight had insisted on a large water storage tank for this place. The hot water hurt as it hit my skin, especially as it hit my face, but it still felt good at the same time. It unknotted a lot of muscles and relaxed the bruises. I closed my eyes and just felt the water flow over me, trying hard not to think of my new body and just focus on business. I finally began to actually wash myself, soaping up my skin and getting the grime off. Most of my body had been protected from the worst of the blood and grime by the costume, but even the most protected parts still had to deal with the sweat and body odor. Then I began to lather up my breasts and clean them, exploring them just a little as I did so. I ran my hands over them, feeling the nipples and the soft smooth skin. Then I reached down between my legs, wincing as I felt my new female equipment. There was absolutely nothing erotic about my self-exploration. Instead it felt sort of creepy and wrong. Because of that, I hurried through the exploration after doing just enough to satisfy my curiosity. When I was finished washing up, I stepped out of the shower feeling a little more alive. With that feeling of being alive again, I was also aware of being thirsty and hungry as well. I'd been so caught up with everything else I hadn't even noticed my body's physical needs until now. The first need I had to meet was to relieve myself. I sat on the toilet and tried to just do my business with as much clinical detachment as I could. Fortunately the plumbing all worked about the same as what I was used to, with the main difference being that I couldn't just stand up to piss anymore. And when I was done, I felt the same relief as always. "I'm sorry Amelia," I said, feeling guilty again for invading her privacy like this. However with the circumstances being what they were I didn't exactly have a lot of choice. My own body had been killed so I had no doubt about the fact that I would be in this one for the rest of my life. Next, I looked at myself in the mirror again, seeing that I looked a little better after the cleaning. I also noticed that my face was sunburned from lying out in the sun for who knows how many hours, though I suspected that my hair being over my face may have protected me from the worst of it. Amelia always had a very nice body and being in it myself hadn't made me notice that any less. Now that I was clean, I was able to appreciate that fact a little more. I was now about 5 foot 8 with dark hair that went down to my shoulder blades. My body was firm and trim with great muscle tone, the kind of body possessed by a woman who spent a lot of time in the gym trying to stay in shape. I had great curves with D cup breasts that were nice and round as well as a little more firm than I would have guessed. "You were so beautiful," I whispered, tearing my eyes away from the mirror and feeling guilty again. Ever since I'd met up with the Seven, Amelia had been almost like a big sister to me. It felt wrong seeing her naked like this even if I was the one in her body. I hadn't given any thought about what to wear until now so didn't have any clothes immediately on hand. So I wrapped myself in a towel and then made my way through the hall to Amelia's room. I knew that she kept several changes of spare clothes there, both costumes and civilian clothes. Everyone had a combo lock on their rooms to protect their privacy, but I knew what all of them were. I went inside and looked around, deciding that I'd already invaded her privacy in more ways than I could count so a little more wouldn't hurt. After all I doubted that she cared anymore. I looked through the closet, but had absolutely no desire to put on one of her spare costumes. The very idea felt wrong. I might have her body but I had no intention of impersonating Vesper. Instead I grabbed for her normal clothes, a dark red t-shirt, a pair of loose slacks, and a pair of running shoes. Of course I'd need more than this. "This is so wrong," I told myself as I went into her underwear drawer and pulled out some panties. I reminded myself that this body had worn these very panties on numerous occasions so there was nothing wrong with this. It just made sense. That helped as I put on her panties and then tried for the bra. It took me a minute of fumbling with the bra before I was able to figure out how to get that on. "Stupid thing..." A few minutes later, I was fully dressed and ready to get something to eat. I was starving and more than a little thirsty. I had lost a lot of blood and would need a lot of water to help me recover. In fact I was a little surprised at how we'll I'd been managing after the blood loss and wondered if maybe Amelia had some sort of low level enhanced endurance or healing ability to go with her telekinesis. When I reached the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of water and downed it all before I even considered what I was going to eat. The water felt fantastic, but I definitely wanted more. However I could sip that a little more slowly while I looked for food. The refrigerator wasn't on the emergency power so had warmed up and the food inside was left suspect. However there were other things around like bread, peanut butter, and dry cereal, not to mention some fruit. I was able to find myself a virtual feast. I sat at the dinner table while I ate, fully aware of the empty seats around me. There were plenty of times I'd been here alone, eating by myself. However all I could think of where the times I'd eaten with my friends and how I would never do so again. I finished my meal but continued sitting at the table, feeling better physically but not emotionally. I was filled with a horrible sense of loss and confusion as I wondered what I was going to do now. I was in a body that was not my own and knew that I would remain in this body for the rest of my life. Every time I looked in the mirror I would be reminded of Amelia and how she'd died. As strange as it was, being in Amelia's body was far from the worst part of my situation. The Seven had been my only friends and family. Without them, I was truly alone in the world. I'd lost them and the only real home I'd ever known. I felt truly and utterly lost with no sense of purpose and no hope for the future. "Loki," I spat out his named, thinking of the man who'd murdered my friends and had taken absolutely everything away from me. The burning anger that had been bubbling under the surface burst out again as I thought of Loki. I felt a surge of pure and raw hatred for the man, a hatred that was more than deserved. I'd never hated anyone this much before in my life, not even one of my foster fathers who used to beat me. I'd never even imagined I could hate someone this much. I looked up and at the chairs across the table from me and one of them suddenly went flying back and smashed against the wall. I was a little startled at that, enough that the rage receded a little. However I immediately realized what had happened. "I did that," I exclaimed, thankful for the distraction. For a moment, I stared at one of the other chairs and concentrated on it. It only took a second but that chair slid back, much more gently than the first. This time it was actually under my conscious control. "I have Vesper's powers," I whispered. "I have her telekinesis..." Of course it made perfect sense that I'd have her powers. After all I had her body. In fact I realized that I'd unconsciously used them before but had been too caught up in my own anger to really notice it at the moment. I remembered screaming in rage and forcing the sand away from me, leaving me in a small crater. I'd been using these powers then too. "I'm...I'm developed," I said quietly. For years I'd dreamed of developing powers of my own so I could actually join the Seven as an official member. However I'd never imagined it happening like this. In spite of having finally gained the powers I'd dreamed off, I knew that I'd immediately give them up if it would bring back even one of the Seven. "Loki," I exclaimed again, narrowing my eyes as I thought about what I wanted to do to him. I used my new telekinesis to reach out with my mind and pick up one of the chairs. It was easier than I would have thought and gave me a dark sense of satisfaction. That satisfaction increased as I suddenly threw it across the room and smashed it into the wall, imagining that it was Loki that I was tossing. "I'm gonna get that fucker," I nearly screamed, suddenly knowing that this was what I was going to do. Somehow, I was going to find him and kill him for what he'd done. I wasn't going to rest until I'd made him pay. Then I concentrated on the microwave oven on the counter and lifted it into the air with my mind. I stared at it intensely before suddenly smashing it into a wall. Loki had inadvertently given him the very tool I needed to fight him. No, it was Vesper... It was Amelia who'd left me with the weapon I could use to avenge her murder. Then I suddenly remembered that she hadn't been the only one to leave me a weapon. I looked down at my metallic right arm, realizing that I'd been thinking of it as just some sort of strange prosthetic and had nearly forgotten that it was actually a weapon. Over the centuries, it had been in the form of numerous different weapons...but even when it had just looked like an umbrella it had still been very dangerous. "A weapon," I whispered, remembering that at various times it had been nearly every type of weapon imaginable from a sword to an umbrella. A year ago, the Umbrella had done a lot of research into its history, which is how he'd eventually discovered its true alien origin. However I'd never heard of it being anything like this. In fact the most complicated I'd heard of it ever being was when it had turned into a pistol for one previous user. On an impulse, I slammed my fist into the table and smashed a hole in it. I pulled my hand back and stared at it in surprise. I could feel things with my new arm, though they were a bit dull and numb. However I'd just hit the table as hard as I could and hadn't felt any pain at all. I turned and punched the wall and put my fist right through it. "It's like having built in b