G.O.O.D. vs. E.V.I.L. # 34 - B


	Ace felt a sharp stab of fear when he saw the woman 
curled up in the dim lit hallway.  'Not another one!' his 
mind screamed.
	//Ace!// Shandi answered immediately, sensing his 
emotions over the link between them.  //Are you okay?//
	//I'm okay but we've got a damsel in distress.//  Ace 
knelt on the floor.  He started to touch her, hesitated, 
and ended up just holding his hand inches above her 
shoulder.  "What's wrong?  Can you tell me what happened?"
	Ana sniffed and turned her head.  She pushed her hair 
back and blinked the tears form her eyes.  "Ah-Ace?"
	"Shh. If you know my ugly face then you've got to be a 
fan."  Ace helped her up.  "You look kind of familiar.  Do 
I know you?"
	"I'm Ana," she answered raggedly.  "Lady Space.  Lady 
Cat."
	//Shandi, I've got one of the fans here, Ana, Lady 
Space, upset and alone, right outside my door.//  Ace 
smiled for her.  "Did you suddenly find yourself some place 
you weren't?"  Shandi had mentioned she was picking up 
confusion from several people who had suddenly found 
themselves teleported to the hotel.  Ace had given Peter 
and Raven the unpleasant task of helping Gene and Paul 
recover emotionally from the deaths and Val's injury, and 
headed out to find some of the girltalk members who needed 
help.  He had not expected to literally stumble over one 
outside his door.
	Shandi told him, //Ana's from Brazil.  She's the one 
who visited backstage when you guys were down there and 
helped Peter with his makeup.  You spent the whole time 
talking to your boots.//
	Ana struggled to control her sobs.  "No, we were 
checking in but the hotel is a shambles and Rafael is sick 
and Breno was floating and Paul was so weird and..."
	Ace put his arm around her shoulders, his mind finally 
placing her.  It helped that she was involved with one of 
his acolytes.  With Shandi's guidance he did a fast check 
on Breno using the anchor/acolyte bond, found him calmly 
talking about music and everything apparently peaceful, and 
returned his attention to Ana.  "Come on.  Let's go in 
where we can talk.  I promise, I'll talk to you and not my 
boots this time."
	"You remember," she said in surprise.
	"Of course I remember," Ace said with a smile.
	//Yeah right,// Shandi said sarcastically.  //Mind 
like a steel trap.//  She loved Ace but she had no 
delusions about him.
	//Check on the girls in trouble,// Ace suggested.
	//I can't contact anyone I haven't directly met,// 
Shandi answered with a mental sigh.  //I can sense them, 
pick up their emotions and where they are, but I can't put 
a name to them and without a name I can't focus enough to 
talk to them.  I just sent the Erics and Bruce and Mark out 
to check around.  And told Vinnie to keep his ass out of 
sight.  E.V.I.L. may not realize he's switched sides yet.//
	//How are Paul and Gene doing?//
	Pause.
	//It helps that they can talk to Peter and Raven.  
Raven may be weak after what Val did but she's still awake 
for now.  Stephanie's recovering pretty well too.  And SiLK 
is there.  Holly's here with me, close enough her danger 
alert should let us know if anyone tries something.  We're 
all fine.  Take care of Ana.//
	Ace guided Ana to his door and into his room.  "Here, 
sit down.  You want something to drink?  I got anything 
you'd want in the frig here."  He went to the small 
refrigerator and rummaged through the bottles.
	"Anything cold," Ana sniffed, trying to wipe the 
evidence of her crying away.  "Ace, do you know where Raven 
or Shandi or Stephanie are?  I was trying to find Raven.  
Paul was acting strange and mentioned her and I..."  She 
accepted the can he handed her.  "This is going to sound 
crazy but I don't think it was Paul.  I met all of you and 
I can't say why but I don't think it was really him."
	Ace sat down on the edge of the bed with her.  "Where 
was he and when was this?"
	"Downstairs, just before I came up here," she 
answered.  "He ran right into me and knocked me down.  He 
apologized but then he started to act strange, mentioned 
Raven, and then suddenly ran out the door.  I looked up 
Raven's room number and came up to check on her but she's 
not in her room."
	"Downstairs?  Just now?"  Ace asked, sure he was not 
going to like the answers.
	She nodded.
	//SHANDI!//
	//Ouch, you don't have to shout.  I think everyone on 
the matrix heard that.//
	//Ana ran into someone who looked like Paul downstairs 
asking about Raven and it couldn't be Paul 'cause he was up 
here.//
	Shandi used some very unladylike phrases.
	//Tell Pete to keep Raven...//
	//Out of sight.  Already relayed.  Paul wants more 
information.//
	Ace said, "It wasn't Paul downstairs.  I just left 
Paul in Peter's room.  There's no way it could be Paul."  
He paused, briefly wondering if it could have been Paul 
doing a time jump but that wasn't likely considering recent 
developments.  "Was this guy in makeup?"
	Ana shook her head.  "But he looked just like Paul.  
Sounded like Paul.  But he didn't act right and..."  She 
giggled nervously.  It sounded so silly now that she was 
saying it.  "I don't know.  Maybe he didn't smell right.  I 
just felt like it wasn't Paul and he'd hurt me if he knew I 
knew and I was afraid he was after Raven.  I can't explain 
it."
	"Might be your power kicking in," Ace said 
thoughtfully, giving the information to Shandi to be 
relayed to everyone else and adding a firm order for Shandi 
to remain safely behind locked doors with Holly.  They 
could not afford to lose their telepathic connector.
	"Power?"  Ana was even more confused now.
	Ace took her hands in his.  "I think you ran into an 
agent of E.V.I.L.  They're after KISS and you girls, 
especially Raven and Stephanie."
	"Evil?"
	"Earthshakingly Villainous Influence League.	A nasty 
bunch out to rule the world," Ace explained.  "They've 
tried to control KISS before.  They had Peter in their 
G.R.I.P. once."
	"Evil's grip?"
	"Guarded Retreat for Innocents Programming," he 
explained.  "And they programmed me, made me leave the band 
so they could put Vinnie in.  But Eric Carr is an agent of 
G.O.O.D. and stopped that plan."  He saw her puzzled look.  
"I think it stands for Globally Opposing Oppressive 
Desperados or something like that.  Eric's not really dead.  
He faked his death because E.V.I.L. was trying to kill him.  
But he's here now, as is Vinnie and all of KISS past and 
present."
	"But why are they after KISS?"
	"It has something to do with the matrix.  Not the 
movie," he explained.  "You see, all of us KISS members are 
what's called Anchors.  We have these special powers and we 
can link up with our fans to create this awesome matrix 
that lets us talk to each other and share powers and all 
kinds of cool stuff."
	Ana gave him a look of total disbelief.
	"It's true.  Watch."  Ace floated up from the bed.
	"That's what Breno did!"  Ana exclaimed.
	"Breno's one of my Acolytes," Ace said, landing 
gently.  "Since he plays me in a tribute band, he's part of 
the matrix and can do anything I can do, only not as 
strong.  And each of you girls in girltalk have powers.  
And we can form telepathic links and marks and claims but I 
don't think we can do claims any more.  And I never got to 
Claim anyone."
	//You've still got me,// Shandi reminded, giving him a 
sudden burst of warm emotion that set his body tingling.
	//Stop that or I'll need a cold shower.//
	//I'll share it with you,// Shandi offered.
	Ace shifted position slightly, trying to hide an 
embarrassing development.  If Shandi had been in the room 
he would have spanked her.  
	"Claims?  Marks?  Links?"  Ana asked, confused.
	"We anchors can create special emotional and 
telepathic connections with others," Ace explained.  
"That's what makes us Anchors.  Our acolytes like Breno 
become connected because they're kind of extensions of us.  
With you girls, when we, uh, there's ways when we get, uh, 
close to you that we can create special connections.  
Claims meant we controlled you and you got this permanent 
tattoo of our makeup right here."  He tapped his chest over 
his heart.  He paused, thinking.  "I wonder what Lorie's 
looks like.  Bruce never wore makeup."  He shook his head.  
"Bruce Claimed Lorie, Peter got Raven, Paul Stephanie, and 
Gene Shannon.  But when Val Kyrie stopped the Drow's 
attempt to take over the matrix she broke the Claims 
although the tattoos are still there and they still have a 
strong link to each other but the guys can't order their 
'slaves' around anymore which is good because it also means 
the matrix isn't as vulnerable because Claims meant if any 
of those girls were captured E.V.I.L. could use them to 
take us.  Now they can't."
	"Marks?  Links?"
	"I Marked Shandi," Ace revealed, looking away, 
slightly embarrassed to be talking about one pretty lady 
when he had another sitting right beside him.  "The tattoo 
only shows up when the connection is active except for some 
special ones.  Marks and links can be removed if necessary 
and you can block each other so you have privacy.  Links 
don't let us use your girls' powers, we can just 
communicate.  I can actually use Shandi's telepathy if she 
allows me.  But SiLK can only 'talk' to Peter and Gene.  
Raven can talk to Gene too, but she's got a special Catman 
Mark since Peter Claimed her so Pete can use her 
probability manipulation which is good.  She doesn't have 
any control over it yet so he uses his Irish luck so we 
don't end up blowing up the hotel when they use it."
	"And all this binds us together," Ana said hesitantly.
	He nodded.  "And Buttercup wants to gain control of 
all of us.  He's the leader of E.V.I.L."
	"Evil buttercup."  Ana would have thought Ace was 
trying to pull some elaborate joke but she could not 
explain his levitation or forget the fake Paul.
	"We don't know his real name.  Only a few have 
actually seen him.  And there's Herr Doctor Herbert H. 
Herbert, the scientist that came up with their brainwashing 
techniques.  Dastardly Daffodil, an E.V.I.L.  brother-
sister team.  Lily, who's a henchman.  And there's a Drow, 
an evil elf.  Plus various others besides their foot 
soldiers who are designated by three digit numbers instead 
of names.  They tried to kidnap Peter, made several tries 
for Raven, did have Lorie and Holly and Lady M for a while.  
But everyone's been rescued now.  We're all safely back at 
the hotel except..."  Ace paused, looking down at the 
floor.  "They killed Dynasty and Calen.  And Val Kyrie got 
hurt and had to go into Underhill so she can heal."
	"Dynasty and Calen are dead?"  Ana felt numb.
	Ace nodded without looking up.  "The Drow killed them 
in an attempt to take over Paul and Gene."
	Ana thought for several moments.  "So now what do we 
do?"
	"We can't go to another hotel," Ace said quietly.  
"There's no place that can take all of us and it'd split us 
up.  We can't let E.V.I.L. get near any of you girls.  The 
hotel is moving everyone into areas that aren't badly 
damaged and they've promised to have all the services back 
running soon but I don't think the hotel is who got power 
back for the building.  Eric Singer said that Desiree can 
fix anything, that's her power, so while he's out searching 
for girls in trouble she's fixing stuff in the building 
while Eric Carr goes with Cynthia to check on any injured 
since she can heal people.  Bruce and Lorie are searching 
since she can always spot the truth about someone and 
Mark's out but we don't know what he does."
	//Mark says he's the token normal,// Shandi relayed 
with amusement.
	//Quit listening in!  It's rude.//
	//Just making sure you're okay and if you don't want 
me listening put up the barriers.//
	//Oops.//  Ace raised the privacy barriers, screening 
out Shandi.
	"So are you doing the expo tomorrow and the show?"  
Ana asked.
	Ace nodded, totally serious.  "But the dinner tonight 
is just us, the tributes, and girltalk.  No one else.  No 
Press, no celebs, no one but those of us who are part of 
the matrix.  We can't trust anyone else.  The crew will 
handle running things, and Lorie's going to check each of 
them out to make sure they're not E.V.I.L. agents."
	Ana blinked on tears.  "This was going to be so much 
fun.  We didn't want to say good-bye to KISS but if it had 
to happen we wanted you to go out with a bang.  But not 
like this!"
	"I know."  Ace hugged her close.
	Ana struggled and regained her composure.  "Why is 
this E.V.I.L. Buttercup after us?  How do we fit into their 
plan to take over the world?"
	"Our powers," Ace answered.  "Gene's got his fire and 
Paul can read minds and Pete's got animal senses and 
hunting skills and I can teleport and Singer disappears and 
walks through walls and we think Bruce is a werewolf.  And 
of course Vinnie plays around with Egyptian magic.  We 
don't know about Mark or Eric Carr yet.  And some of you 
girls are pretty powerful.  Raven can manipulate 
probability and make the impossible happen.  Stephanie has 
this really nasty Rage that can tear things apart when 
she's upset.  Those two are who wrecked the place but don't 
tell the hotel because everyone's getting refunds and free 
rooms out of this.  They didn't realize they could do that 
and E.V.I.L. was trying to kidnap Raven and Carr just sort 
of pushed Stephanie too far.  Shandi's a communications 
connection: She can talk to all of us telepathically.  And 
Lady Beth teleports like I do."  He frowned.  "Now who have 
I left out?  Oh!  SiLK talks to animals and swears there's 
a pegasus around here that's her friend but I haven't seen 
it yet.  But she does have this weird dog with her she says 
is a hellhound in disguise that she got back when they met 
Sherlock Holmes.  Shannon does time travel and accidentally 
took a bunch back but she's not able to time jump now for 
some reason.  We think Buttercup did something to her when 
he had her captured so we're without a time traveler while 
E.V.I.L. still has the Time Talker who can contact their 
people in different years."
	"You're making my head hurt," Ana said.
	"I teleported us to Australia," Ace offered.
	"Australia?"
	"Australia."
	Ana sighed.  It was all too bizarre to be a trick.  
"So what's my power?"
	Ace shrugged.  "Anything unusual happen since you got 
here?"
	Ana started laughing.  "Breno floating and the hotel 
trashed and a fake Paul and some secret organization after 
us and you ask if anything unusual has happened."  She 
thought a moment.  "The lights went out and I could still 
see."
	"Anything else?"
	Ana thought.  "Not really."
	"Sounds like you got gypped," Ace laughed.  
	She smiled.  "I don't care.  It sounds like I'm better 
off not having any earthshaking power."
	"Probably."  He rubbed her back.  "You feeling 
better?"
	She nodded and leaned on his shoulder, closing her 
eyes.  It felt good to have him stroke her back.  About 
like petting a cat.  She'd had fantasies about her and the 
Catman but right now it was the Spaceman that had her 
feeling like purring.
	Ace felt the girl in his arms move in an odd way.  Her 
body twisted.  He sat looking at the jaguar he was holding 
and the only thing he could think to say was "You look good 
in spots."
	The jaguar purred and licked the side of his face with 
a sandpaper tongue.
	//Shandi!//
	//Now what's wrong?//
	//Ana just turned into a big cat.//
	Pause.
	//How big?// Shandi asked.
	//Real big,// Ace answered.  //And she's washing my 
face with her tongue.//
	//It could probably use it.  Although she might be 
sampling in case she's hungry.//
	//SHANDI!//
	//You don't have to shout.  Let me see her.  Can't you 
get her to back off some so I can get a look?//
	Ace pushed on the muscular cat.  //I think she likes 
me.//  He held one arm up in a block, trying to get the cat 
to give him some room.
	The jaguar suddenly began to shrink.  Colors flowed 
over her body as cat became bird.  The tropical bird 
perched on Ace's arm and fluffed her feathers before 
walking up his sleeve to perch on his shoulder.
	//Both are South American animals,// Shandi reported.  
//I think we know her power now.//
	Ace laughed as Ana nibbled on his ear.  //How do I get 
her back human?//
	//How would I know?  I'm just the switchboard 
operator.//
	//I'll see what I can do.  If nothing else we'll let 
Bruce and SiLK talk to her.// Ace closed the privacy 
barriers again.  "Ana, baby, that beak's a little sharp.  I 
like my ladies to be affectionate but not to draw blood.  
Come on."  He reached up and got the bird to sit on his 
hand.  As he brought his hand down, the bird became a small 
monkey.  "Come on, you're getting closer.  Human, Ana.  
Human."
	Ana shifted back to her human form.  "Wow," she said, 
eyes wide.  "That was something."
	"You okay?" he asked, stroking her back.
	She threw her arms around his neck.  "That was 
wonderful!  And you gave this to me?  Thank you!"  She 
kissed him and then suddenly pulled back, blushing.
	"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked with a laugh.
	"I shouldn't have kissed you like that," she said 
slightly embarrassed.
	"Why not?"  Ace asked.
	"You're Ace Frehley."
	He cackled, "Was last time I looked in the mirror 
though way things have gone since I got up this morning I 
wouldn't swear to anything anymore."
	She nervously stroked his arm.  "And I admire your 
guitar playing."
	"What about Ace the man?" he asked gently, cradling 
her chin in his hand.  "What do you think of Ace the man?"
	She found it hard to look away from his eyes.  He was 
here.  Right here.  Touching her.  Holding her.  And right 
now, with everything he had told her and everything that 
had happened she wanted very much to be held.
	He bent forward and slowly kissed her.  He pulled her 
close, keeping her from ending the kiss.  His hands slowly 
stroked down her back.  She shyly returned the favor, not 
believing this was really happening.  This was Ace Frehley 
and he was holding her, kissing her, his hands moving into 
more personal places...
	She stopped thinking about what was happening and just 
went with it.
	Their clothes quickly became a scattering of piles 
across the carpet.  Ana let Ace pull her under the covers 
and they made passionate love until both lay exhausted.
	Ace kissed the small tattoo of his makeup centered 
over her heart.  "I might not be able to Claim but I sure 
can Mark my territory."  
	She purred in contentment.