ROUND ROBIN PART 32

By Barb Urban (Cookiegirl) (with input from Val Kyrie)

"Anther drink, miss?", she heard the gruff voice reach out 
and claim her out of her state of induced confusion.  
Elizabeth looked up slowly, diverting her gaze from the 
swirling red liquid that filled her wine glass, and 
regarded the bartender with a less than level stare.

"No, thank you...I mean...not right now," she murmured as 
she resumed her wide eyed stare into her glass of wine.  
Life had definitely not been good to her lately, and it 
appeared to be getting worse.  "It's NOT like I ever really 
LIKED that job", she slurred to herself, wiping small tears 
from her eyes.  It had been fairly easy finding herself a 
job this time around, but once she had it, she had managed 
to screw it up yet again.  "Failure to perform duties as 
expected, and poor initiative" was the official reason for 
termination, but Elizabeth knew the truth.  Most likely 
they had gotten tired of her walking around the hotel in a 
perpetual state of Butter-cup catatonia, or possibly it was 
her recent habit of jumping out of her skin whenever the 
switchboard phone rang.  Damn Buttercup.  Oh, he had 
definitely not been happy with her failure to find and pump 
information from Shannon – not happy at all.  She had cried 
and pleaded with him that she had tried her best, but that 
Shannon was nowhere to be found.  Of course, Buttercup had 
gone through his usual routine of abuse against her – first 
the questions, then the anger, then the throwing of 
objects, then the physical insults.  Then finally, he left 
her with yet another job to be done.  Something ELSE to in 
which to fail him "Well, the HELL with him", she repeated 
to herself, "This time he can find himself ANOTHER pawn."  
Her shaking hand slid into her purse to withdraw a ten 
dollar bill.  Another drink couldn't possibly hurt, she 
thought.

"Hey!  You're not going to drink alone, are you?  You know 
what they say about people who drink alone?" the voice next 
to hers suddenly broke her misery.  She looked up with a 
start, staring right into Spiro's warm brown eyes.  

"Ummmm......well......I suppose...I guess it's just been a 
bad day" she smiled back, a slight blush to her cheeks.  
"Good lord, I probably look like a drunken fool" she 
thought to herself, but his friendly handsome face made her 
feel warm and all was forgotten.

"Anything you care to talk about?" he asked, as he ordered 
a beer from the bartender, and slowly swallowed its 
contents.

"Well, other than the fact that I lost my job...but 
look...there's plenty of hotels in this city" she smiled, 
hoping desperately that she was appearing sober to him.  
With all else that she had messed up today, a roll in the 
proverbial hay might be just what the doctor ordered, and 
the wine was making her feel warm and friendly indeed.  
"Interesting, though" she thought to herself as she studied 
him, "No Canadian accent."

He grinned at her again as if he were Santa on Christmas 
Eve and quietly placed a piece of paper in her hand.  
"Then, this is for you.  I hope it makes things at least a 
little better.  It's ummm...from Paul."

Elizabeth examined the ticket in her hand with a mixture of 
elation and shock.  She was thrilled to see a front row 
ticket for the Kiss concert, complete with a backstage 
pass, all access. "What????" she looked at Spiro with a 
blank expression.

Another smile.  "Yeah, he spotted you a time or two at the 
front desk.  He told me he knew a REAL fan when he saw one, 
and well, he wants to meet you after the show. Guess it's 
those baby blues of yours.  Paul's a real sucker for a 
pretty pair of blue eyes"

Stunned silence.  Elizabeth attempted words, but none came 
out, "P-p-p-paul STANLEY?  ME?  Backstage?  Oh my God...I'm 
just...just...not the type" she blabbered.  

She could not take her eyes off the ticket, as the tears 
began to flow freely.  Things like this just did not happen 
to her.  Her sister, maybe.  Her?  Never.  

As she allowed herself some quiet tears, Spiro looked down 
on her from his barstool, a small toothy grin slowly 
crossing his lips.  Caught up in the moment, Elizabeth was 
blissfully unaware of his beautiful brown eyes turning 
colder and colder, darker and darker, until they flashed 
momentarily a horrid blood red. 

 //Not the typpeeeeeeeee???   Oh you areeeeeeee, my 
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil little 
girllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll" he 
hissed quietly in her ear.//

Her head yanked up as she examined him, "I'm sorry.  Did 
you say something?"

"Nah", he smiled merrily, countenance transformed again to 
that of the handsome tribute band member, "I just hope you 
have a good time.  And hey, while you're at it, here's 
another one for your friend Raven."

Before there were any further questions, he was gone.  
Puzzled, Elizabeth looked down at the two tickets in her 
hand.  She quickly jammed them into her pocket.  Things 
were FINALLY looking up, it seems.

***********************************************************

Unbeknownst to passerbys, the Drow quickly rushed from the 
bar, leaving the image of Spiro Papadatos as a distant 
memory, as he took giant leaping steps into the street.   
It truly killed him to have to take the shape of one who 
walked in Kiss's shadow, but he was well pleased with 
himself for arranging the downfall of his latest 
sacrificial lamb.  "Foolish girl" he thought to himself, as 
he hurried down the street, invisible to all who passed 
him.  He of course was not interested in whether that idiot 
Elizabeth showed up at the concert or not, but he was MOST 
interested in her bringing Raven, the Probability 
Manipulator.  AND, most importantly, the claim to Peter 
Criss.

As he made his way down the city street, the nasty elf 
could feel the power surging in him – the power from the 
deaths he recently arranged.  They were meant to die.  
Hell, they NEEDED to die, and it was indeed a pleasure to 
use his powers to arrange it.  As he closed his eyes, he 
delighted once again in the memory of the flames, silver-
quick as Dynasty and Calen disintegrated into nothingness 
within minutes.  The looks on the Demon and the Starchild's 
face...it was as if the word "horror" was captured into one 
moment and frozen in time for him to enjoy through 
eternity.  Too caught up in the sight before them, neither 
Gene nor Paul had been fully aware of the evil energy he 
had sent flowing through them at that moment into the 
matrix.  The Drow laughed evilly as he thought to himself 
how terribly much he was going to enjoy watching this 
unfold.  First those naughty, NAUGHTY girls and 
then...total domination of Kiss.  Buttercup shall be most 
pleased.

***********************************************************

Val Kyrie quickly closed her eyes as a rush of emotion 
swept through her.  Something had gone terribly wrong and 
some evil force was attempting to access the matrix.  
Clamping her eyes shut even tighter, she slowly steadied 
her shaking hands.  There was no one else who could stop 
it, but her, and she needed to act quickly.

She needed power.  Some means to boost her own abilities.  
Wait!  Stephanie!  She had the Rage.  If she could access 
that pure raw power she could use it to counter the 
darkness that even now was slowly spreading out along the 
links that were already forged.  If she did not do 
something soon, she might have to sever the affected parts 
and that would weaken the matrix.  She checked to see how 
the darkness had entered the matrix.

NO!  She blinked on tears.  Paul!  Gene!  And there was 
death involved somehow, maybe several deaths.  She could 
taste that bitterness on the foulness corrupting the 
matrix.

But with Paul affected she could not tap Stephanie's Rage.  
The darkness would fight her.  How could she fight it 
without Stephanie?

Val ran for the one place that might hold the key to the 
impossible.  She pounded on the door.  It took a heart-
stopping long time for anyone to answer, as she pounded and 
felt the cold black touch of death and corruption eat at 
Paul and Gene.

"What?" a befuddled Peter asked, standing barefoot, shirt 
rumpled and hair tousled.

"I need Raven."  Val pushed past him.  "And you.  We have 
to do the impossible and we have to use that Irish luck of 
yours."

"What?"  Peter closed the door.

Raven started, "I can't control the ..."

"Peter can use his Irish luck," Val said.  "If I magnify it 
and toss it at your Power.  And then we have to use the 
matrix.  I know somewhere in all the others we have to have 
another power source.  Maybe even a pure power pool, 
someone with boundless energy that can give it to others.  
But we have to try and it has to be now because we probably 
have less than ten minutes before Buttercup wins."

"What?" Peter asked.

"Just get over here!" Val ordered.

Peter shuffled across the floor.

Val yanked him down to a seat on the bed.  She gripped his 
and Raven's hands, closed her eyes, and concentrated.  She 
cautiously reached for Raven's wild probability 
manipulation while holding tightly to Peter's inner roots.  
Somewhere in Peter's roots was the Luck of the Irish.  That 
would let her aim Raven's power in the direction she 
needed.

She felt the chaotic power suddenly strain in one 
direction.  She prayed it was the right one and released it 
onto the matrix itself.

Connections blazed.  Val felt the Anchors, KISS members 
all, shudder as the energy hit them.  The energy flowed 
over the darkness, slowing its spread but not halting it 
completely.

Val felt the energy hit Lorie and she gained the ability to 
see the truth in all things.  She knew her enemy.  Drow!  
Now she knew how to fight it.

But she sensed that her enemy was aware of her attempt to 
purge the matrix and was preparing something more.  She had 
to act NOW.

She leaped to the anchor Ace, and through him reached 
Shandi.  And then the matrix exploded.

The energy ran through the communication nexus that was 
Shandi, reaching all members.  And Val sensed a pure energy 
pool somewhere.  Without bothering to seek identification, 
she grabbed the energy and hurled it straight into the 
matrix.

White fire blazed along the connections.  Powers awoke.  
Connections snapped into being.  The darkness held at bay, 
she safely accessed Stephanie's power and released the full 
fury of her Rage into the matrix.

And Raven's probability spiked, turning improbable into 
definite, impossible into possible.

And another source of magick touched her. She flinched away 
but then recognized it.  Tiger!  She gladly accepted her 
sister's support and continued with her task.

Val worked feverishly, feeling the fire burn through her.  
She should not be able to use this much power.  No one 
should.  But she now had the power pool she had discovered 
and Stephanie's Rage backing Raven's probability 
manipulation controlled by Peter's luck with Tiger helping 
to focus it; all held together by Sidhe magick.  It was a 
combination that had never been before and could well never 
happen again.

The darkness screamed and burned up in the light.  The 
matrix purged all darkness, be it death or controls.

And some members found themselves freed from controls they 
never knew existed.

Val worked with the blazing web, weaving a slightly 
different structure while it was still new and malleable, 
hoping she was doing it right.  She felt it snap into place 
as sweat poured down her back.  The matrix was complete, 
its outer boundaries solid, it's inner core protected by 
its interwoven members

Now.  Bring them home.

With Shandi's nexus she accessed Jessi's teleportation and 
yanked the missing home.

Shannon appeared in the room.

She brought back the three Anchors.

Ace, Gene, and Paul appeared.

She felt others of the matrix, scattered, vulnerable; and 
brought them to the hotel.

She collapsed to her knees, wishing she could rest, wishing 
could open a portal and slip away to Underhill.  This 
burned!  It burned so hot!  Her soul was on fire but she 
needed to do a few more things.

She created the seals that would help protect the all and 
released the energy.

And collapsed.

"Val!"  Paul knelt on the floor, gently touching her face.  
"Not you too!"

Raven shivered.  "I feel different."

Shannon nodded.

Gene swept Shannon into a hug.  "You're safe!"  He stepped 
back.  "Don't you ever do that again!" he ordered.

Shannon snapped, "Don't give me orders!"

Everyone froze.

"What the...?" Peter asked.  He drew the spread up around 
the shivering Raven.  "Did Shannon just tell Gene no?  
How?"

"The matrix," Val said weakly.  "I wrapped the matrix 
itself around them.  The Claims can use the matrix itself 
to block you so you can not control them.  They can't break 
the connection ever but they can block your thoughts and 
feelings now.  And if either dies, the matrix will protect 
the survivor."  She let Paul hold her.  "I'm so cold."

"Blanket!" Paul ordered.

Val smiled, feeling the matrix settle.  "And a part of them 
is there for all.  Raven's probability, Stephanie's Rage, 
Shannon's time, Lorie's truth."

"Someone call a doctor!" Paul ordered.

"No,"  Val said.  "No doctor can help me."

"She's right," a voice said from behind them.  They turned.

The Sidhe walked across the floor, the portal shimmering 
behind him.  "She called me here to take her home."

"To Underhill?" Paul asked.

The Sidhe nodded.  "We will heal her."  The Sidhe gently 
took Val into his arms.  "No mortal nor Sidhe can do what 
she did.  It took a mixed blood to balance the two worlds 
and create what she did."  He looked at Peter and Raven.  
"You gave her the chance to do it though, you and the other 
mage."

"Will she be okay?" Raven asked.

"In time," the Sidhe promised.  "But her healing must be in 
Underhill."

Paul blinked on tears.  "Take care of her."

"We shall," the Sidhe promised.  He gazed at Raven.  "I 
sense you have no control of the Chaos.  It is too strong 
within you for my magick but..."  He touched Paul and 
warmth ran through Paul and seeped onto the matrix, 
spreading to everyone.  "Only the good possibilities will 
be allowed through to those who tap your power through your 
binding."  He rose.  "I sense a Drow hand in this.  If you 
have need of us, call."  He turned to go.

Gene stopped him.  "Val?"

"I have to go," she said weakly.  "Sorry to abandon you.  I 
did what I could.  You're free of the worst of the Claim.  
She can block your orders, your emotions, your thoughts; 
just as you can hers.  You will not die if she does, nor 
she if you.  She cannot be used as a direct attack on you 
since he matrix can block any such attack.  It's a 
permanent Mark, and the tattoo will remain as proof.  But 
you are all safe from the dangers of Claims.  I wish I 
could do more, but now it's up to you.  You have to find 
who is part of the matrix, what their powers are, and how 
to use them to fight Buttercup.  Everyone is at the hotel 
now."  She smiled slightly.  "I'm sorry I'll miss your 
welcome party tonight."

"Thank you," Gene said.

"Get Buttercup," Val said.  "Get that Drow working with him 
that set the trap that contaminated you and Paul with the 
energy from someone's death.  It would have corrupted the 
whole matrix.  That won't work now, but he'll try something 
else.  I felt at least one other of magick in the matrix.  
Seek out Tiger.  She can help against the Drow.  Good-bye 
and good luck."

The Sidhe bowed and took Val through the portal.  The 
portal closed.

"At least everyone is safely back here," Peter noted.

Gene nodded.  "And Buttercup is hopefully still in 
Australia so we have some breathing room."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Ace warned.

Paul nodded.  "We may have everyone rescued but we still 
have no idea what Buttercup will do next."