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An Introduction to the Fabulous Flying Fox
Episode 1
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Episode 3a
Episode 4a
Episode 6 |
Episode 6: "The Last Vampire"Several evenings later, Steven Lord is asleep in his bed when he hears a tapping at one of his bedroom windows. His first instinct is to reach for his gun, but it takes him only a moment to realize from the shape of the silhouette that this has to be the Flying Fox. He doesn't put the gun away, but he does go the window to let her in. And when he finally gets a good look at her, his jaw drops wide open and his heart skips a beat. She looks . . . well . . . fabulous! She has a new costume. She's dressed all in black leather, with high-heeled black boots, fishnet stockings, a metal-studded bodysuit, and fingerless gloves. There's a whip rolled up and attached to her belt. She also has a bat-shaped mask, and a flowing black cape with a bright red lining. There's mist swirling about her, her skin is very pale, her eyes are bright red, and as she grins we can see that her canine teeth are sharp and pointed. She wonders if Mister Lord is just going to stand there staring, or invite her in. He tells her she looks . . . different. She replies that of course she looks different. There's a full moon out tonight, isn't there? She adds that if he's not going to be man enough to invite in, she'll simply have to leave, and he'll never know what he missed. He invites her in. She doffs her cape and tells him she'll have to leave before morning, but assures him this is going to be a night he'll remember. She starts unbuttoning Lord's pajama top, saying she understands that there's a silly fledgling heroine out there who's using a bat motif. She says that's extremely presumptuous, and that she'd like to get some information that will help her decide whether or not to do anything about it. Fundamentally, she doesn't like the competition, but if this girl is capable of doing the job, she's willing to compromise. Wait a second. Lord pushes her away, and holds the gun on her. This isn't the Flying Fox. She smiles, catches his gaze, and assures him that he doesn't want to shoot her. She suggests that he take another look before making up his mind about who she is or isn't. As he stares at her, her appearance seems to change, and he has to conclude that he was wrong about her not being the Flying Fox. He doesn't resist as she gently takes the gun away from him, pouting that bullets won't kill her, but they definitely hurt, so he can surely understand why she doesn't like being shot. She puts herself into his arms, telling him not to worry, that for right now, all she wants is information. That, of course, she adds as she bares her fangs and goes for his neck, and just the teensiest little bit of his life's blood. The next morning, there's an ambulance in front of Steven Lord's house, and the real Flying Fox is swooping down on the scene, still wearing her old costume, looking very concerned and worried. She's surprised to see a woman there whom she vaguely recognizes. It's the occult detective, Rose, a prominent member of the League of Champions. Without thinking, the Fox challenges her, wondering, "What are you doing here?" Rose replies that she's tracking reports of a vampire, and is actually rather pleased to see that the girl Flying Fox she's been hearing so much about doesn't have any problem coming out during the day. Rose hopes the Fox won't mind if she asks a few questions? The Fox pushes past Rose, saying she doesn't have time for this. She heard on the news that Steven Lord had been attacked, and she wants to be sure he's all right. Rose assures the Fox that Mister Lord will be fine. Very little blood was taken. Whoever this vampire is, she's very careful not to leave a trail of bodies in her wake. The Fox wonders how Rose knows the vampire—assuming it is a vampire—is a she. Rose just grins and reminds the Fox that this vampire doesn't leave a trail of dead bodies. That means, over the years, she's had a lot of boyfriends who can testify as to her sex. But, for the moment, since she has the Flying Fox close at hand, Rose is much more interested in finding out about her. If the Fox is so concerned over her boyfriend's well-being that she doesn't want to talk now, Rose can understand that, but she definitely wants to talk as soon as the Fox is willing. She gives the Fox a hotel card, and says that because she's traveling incognito, the Fox should ask not for Rose but for Sylvia Hanninah. The Fox slips the card into a small pouch in her belt, saying, "Yeah, right. As if." Rose smiles at the Fox, telling her she's very pretty and that she wouldn't mind getting to know her a lot better. She lifts the Fox's chin, saying that anyone who uses a bat motif is of interest to her, and that although she would certainly prefer to have a male companion she's taken woman as lovers before and would not be averse to doing so again. This unexpected sentiment so completely baffles Raven that she doesn't even think to resist as Rose leans in closer, sprouts fangs, and bites her neck. Raven reacts quickly enough that no blood is drawn. She knocks "Rose" back, and is only slightly surprised to see the woman's form shimmer into someone else entirely. Raven puts a hand to her neck, looks east toward the rising sun, and wonders how the heck a vampire can be operating in broad daylight. Doesn't this woman have to get back into her coffin every morning before dawn? "Rose" laughs and tells her not to believe everything she hears about vampires. Some of the stories are just plain wrong. There's a very brief altercation, during which the vampire drops a few hints that she's met Raven before. But Raven has no idea what she's talking about, gets a frustrating sense that she's being toyed with, and is very angry when the vampire looks toward the sun, decides she's had enough exposure for one morning, and vanishes into nothingness. Later, Heather is helping a bandaged Raven dig up information on this vampire out of Sylph's data base. Heather's very excited. Raven actually met Sylvia Hanninah? She's supposed to be one of the few vampires—maybe the only vampire—who survived the Great Hunt a few decades ago. And the only reason she survived was because she's not one of the undead. She's actually a living, breathing woman who, a couple of hundred years ago, was imbued with the characteristics of a vampire. That's why she can tolerate sunlight for a while. That's why a cross has so little effect on her. Also, according to Sylph's file on her, she has an extremely limited ability to change her appearance. The fact that Raven saw her as that Rose person probably had a lot more to do with illusion that it did with any real change in her appearance. Heather wagers that if Raven were to quiz the paramedics who tended to Mister Lord, she'd find that they were seeing someone else entirely. Most likely, the illusion involved getting people to see whatever woman they might expect . . . or want . . . to see. Which, come to think of it, might explain why Lord invited the vampire in. Heather giggles and suggests that Lord must have been expecting or wanting to have some other girl who uses a bat motif pay him a nighttime visit. Raven gets very embarrassed, tries to kick the chair out from under Heather, and tells her that's enough speculation. Heather shrugs and says she saw the way Raven reacted when she heard that news report this morning. It would have been obvious to anyone that Raven is sweet on this guy. So how is he, anyway? Raven did go with him to the hospital, didn't she? Raven assures Heather that the doctors say Steven will be fine. It appears that this Sylvia person took slightly more than a pint out of him. That's not much more than the Red Cross takes from a blood donor. If Sylvia herself hadn't called for the paramedics first thing in the morning, there wouldn't have been any reason for them to show up at all. Heather grins and says, "If she waited until morning, that means she spent the night with him. That's what you're really mad about, isn't it? It's not the blood she drank that bothers you. It's that other bodily fluid she coaxed out of him." Raven insists that Steven would not have had sex with a strange woman. Heather replies that he would have thought he was having sex with Raven. Bottom line: Sylvia poached on Raven's turf, and Raven is furious. She's in loooove with Steven Loooooord. Which is just fine with Heather, since that's going to leave Jackson Andrews for her. Then Heather gets serious, looks Raven straight in the eye, and says, "You know, Raven, back before our old friend the Demonmaster changed me, I couldn't possibly have imagined I'd someday be talking with a beautiful young woman about how much I'd love to get her boyfriend away from her. A year-and-a-half ago, if I'd met a girl as pretty as you, it would have been her I'd have been trying to get into the sack." Raven is amazed. Heather used to be a lesbian? Heather chuckles, turns back to the computer monitor, and says that's not exactly what she means. Raven thinks about it, and says, "You know, Heather, I vaguely remember that time you and me and Belen and Josie spent together in Rio, just before Sylph brought us here. Seems to me that you were trying pretty hard to get me into the sack back then. And that wasn't all that long ago." Heather's surprised. Raven remembers that? Yeah. And come to think of it, Heather's the one who initiated it. Raven starts thinking about it, and recalls that she'd gone down to Rio on vacation. She thinks something had gone wrong with something or other she'd been trying to do up in the States, and that she'd really needed to get away from things for a while. But then she met Heather, who introduced her to Belen and Josie, and the four of them hit it off so incredibly well that by the time the Demonmaster guy Heather just mentioned hit her with a job offer she was in such an upbeat mood that she took it with no questions asked. She scratches her head, saying the last thing she remembers is heading back up to the States. After that, everything's a blank until just before they got here to Hawaii. Heather hands Raven a computer print-out, telling her this is the low-down on Sylvia. Raven takes it from her, thanking her for her help. Heather wonders if Raven is serious about having that meeting with Sylvia, and suggests that it might not be a good idea. Raven just grins, heads out the door, and wonders what Heather thinks Sylvia's going to do to her. According to the info Heather just printed out, Sylvia doesn't turn people into vampires, she avoids sucking out enough blood to kill them, and she likes keeping a low profile. Based on the information she has, it looks to Raven like Sylvia's just looking to find herself a batty little girlfriend. And as far as Raven's concerned, given how pretty Sylvia's supposed to be, there's no reason not to talk about it. Heather watches out the window as Raven flies away, waits a few clicks, then puts in a call to Sylph. She advises Sylph not to overreact, but warns her there may be a big problem developing with Raven. When she meets with Sylvia, Raven is surprised to find that she actually rather likes this two-hundred-year-old teenager. They hit it off extremely well, and after some perfunctory conversation, Sylvia explains to Raven that the person she's really looking for is someone who may not even exist any more. Perhaps Raven has heard of the other Flying Fox? The one who fights the League of Champions once in a while? Well, it seems that Sylvia and that Flying Fox had a relationship. Sylvia goes into some detail regarding the story of how, while excavating a beachfront cave as a possible new secret headquarters, that other Flying Fox came across a hidden chamber containing among other things an interesting-looking coffin that had been wrapped with chains made out of some weird kind of metal. Against the advice of his friend, Cybernotron, the Fox had broken the chains and released the beautiful vampiress who'd been trapped within. She'd been so grateful that she'd stayed with him for a while, taking only the occasional dollop of blood in order to keep her vampiric abilities at their peak. Unfortunately, after a particular embarrassing incident involving some sort of teleportation scheme, the Fox had dropped completely out of sight. By the time he came home, he'd got himself involved in some sort of fiasco involving DEMON and the Hellfire Crown. And he never came home after that. Raven stops Sylvia for a second. Is Sylvia saying that this other Flying Fox was her boyfriend? Sylvia smiles and says he wasn't exactly that, but that she definitely liked him and kind of wanted to find out if this time around it would go any farther than it did before he ran off to Rio. Rio? Yeah. Rio. Anyway, Sylvia figured there were only a couple of possibilities. The Champions hadn't caught him, because if they had he'd be in a prison cell. And if he'd got away, he'd have come back to her. So that meant either the Fox was dead, or he'd been taken prisoner by DEMON. So she started backchecking. She went to Rio and found out that the Fox had been hanging out down there with three chicks named Heather, Belen, and Josie. She did some digging and learned that those three worked for an old friend of hers. Finally, she got word that Sylph had been called in by the Inner Circle of DEMON to answer a few questions about that San Francisco fiasco. After that, it wasn't difficult to track Sylph to Hawaii, where she found Heather, Belen, Josie . . . and the Flying Fox. Sylvia grins at Raven and tells her it doesn't take a genius to put three and one together and come up with four. Raven is absolutely aghast at what Sylvia is implying, and refuses to believe it, but Sylvia insists she can prove it by restoring Raven's memories. That was the reason Sylvia tried to bite Raven this morning, not because she wanted Raven's blood so much as because she wanted a way to get into Raven's head. Despite herself, Raven is intrigued. If Sylvia can actually do what she claims she can do, if she can give Raven back her memory, that would be worth giving up a little blood. Thus, an agreement is reached, Raven bares her neck, Sylvia bites her, and under the influence of Sylvia's mental powers, the barriers blocking Raven's memories start to break down. The effort takes longer, is more strenuous than Sylvia had expected, and requires her to take a lot more blood from Raven than she'd anticipated. She starts getting worried, pulls away from Raven's neck, and suggests that they'd better stop. But a very pale, very weak Raven insists she continue. In her mind's eye, Raven can see two different doors, each one blocking a different set of memories. She breaks the first one down, and everything comes flooding back to her. Raven still can't quite picture herself as a guy. As these images of her life as the criminal Flying Fox flow into her, from her perspective it's as if she lived through them as a woman. But even so, she now knows the true. The original Flying Fox wasn't a girl. At the end of that Hellfire Crown incident, it was Mistress Sylph who changed him into a girl. But even in the midst of the cold rage that has begun to build inside Raven now that she's learned the truth of what was done to her, she realizes there's a second doorway. And if her memories of her life as a man were contained entirely behind the one, then what the heck's behind the other? Unfortunately, before Raven can open that second imaginary door, a real door comes crashing open and snaps her out of her psychic trance. An infuriated Sylph is there, showing herself in a partly demonic aspect, backed by half a dozen armed and armored DEMON agents. The half-demonic Sylph allows as to what a pleasure it is to see her old "friend" Sylvia again, but declares that this has gone quite far enough. Sylph has plans for sweet little Raven, and she's not about to have them disrupted by some lunatic vampiress who's tossing around half truths and conjecture, hoping against hope that her very dead boyfriend might somehow still be alive. |