"It's not dumb," Jenny said on the radio. "It knows what we're doing."
She'd been sitting here for a while, staring down Dark Jenny. Her friends already met up at the car Saturn managed to get his hands on, and Circus was okay. Jenny didn't want to wait too long before using the emerald and asked Saturn to come to the edge of the frozen lake as soon as he could. After all, Dark Jenny had the option to run away, forcing Jenny to follow, separating her from her friends. It was clearly an intelligent creature, and it knew what Jenny was trying to do, but she believed it had no way of knowing about the emerald.
"I'll press when I can see you," radio-Saturn said.
This was the final stretch. If Saturn got close enough, he would press the wristband and Jenny would teleport to him in one jump, taking the emerald and crushing it in her hand. After that, it didn't matter what Dark Jenny did anymore. It could fly across the world, and Jenny would follow it until it dropped out of the sky. She felt nervous like never before. Everything depended on the next few minutes.
But something caught her attention to her right. When she looked, Jenny noticed a bright blue flame on top of a distant hill. Something unexpected, and she didn't like that. Dark Jenny did not remain oblivious, and it'd also noticed the distant flame. When it looked over, the blue flame fired at Dark Jenny with incredible velocity, making no audible impact. Whatever it was, it went straight through the ice without making a sound. Jenny looked back at the projectile's target to find one of the most shocking things she'd ever seen.
Dark Jenny's arm lay on the ice, severed from the shoulder, which was missing completely. For the first time in her life, Jenny could see its exposed insides—her own insides. She froze up when she saw the wires and strange materials that supposedly made up her own body. A perplexed Dark Jenny looked down at the arm it had just lost, and Jenny looked at her own.
Then, Jenny turned back to the hill where that blue projectile was fired from. All she could see now was a small black silhouette, and she had an idea who it could be. Following that revelation, it'd become clear what just happened to Dark Jenny.
When she looked over, a strange, black substance was pouring out of the wound, covering it up. Whatever the substance was, it didn't belong to her own arsenal, but it wasn't bothered by the moonlight, either.
More of the black substance emerged from its body and formed into strange looking shadow-like tendrils. Unlike the original creature's strange appendages, these were pointy at the end and looked like they were sharp all over the edges. They were so black, they reflected almost no light at all.
Jenny's hair-antenna popped out and pointed at Dark Jenny for the first time since it'd taken her form, beeping and flashing a red light. Whatever that black substance was, it wasn't from this world.
Jenny stood up, but before she could try to exploit the wound, one of the tendrils jumped at her with incredible speed and wrapped around her neck. She tried to pull it off, but with the way it was coiling around her neck, she couldn't make it budge. It didn't matter. Jenny activated her laser eyes and targeted the wound that went from Dark Jenny's shoulder to its hip. But before she could hit it and pierce through the black substance that protected it, she was lifted and flipped around to make her miss her target.
Jenny looked down and lasered the tendril that held her instead, taking more power than she expected to cut through it all the way. At the same time, another tendril formed and pointed in Tatters' direction, then lunged at her like spear. Jenny teleported all the way over to the blonde, deflected the tendril's tip with her forearm and lasered it off at the halfway point.
Jenny turned her head to check on Tatters, whose cape and left pupil were glowing pink like she'd planned to block the tendril herself. The girl looked at Jenny like she couldn't believe the robot girl traveled all the way up the hill in an instant, and she needed a second to regain her composure and turn her look of disbelief into a scowl.
"I don't need your help!"
"And I…" Jenny turned to face her, "don't need yours!" she snarked, prodding Tatters' chest with her index finger.
The two looked at each other like two angry cats fighting over territory. Dark Jenny looked amused as it sprouted more dark limbs in the background.
"We had a plan! The emerald! Everything was going perfectly! Until you—"
"Did your plan include that?" Tatters interrupted her and pointed at Dark Jenny, who had taken on a form that clearly surprised Jenny.
"Hmph!" Jenny grunted.
In the distance, one of Dark Jenny's shadowy limbs formed into a mouth-like shape with serrated edges on the inside, like scissors with teeth. It pointed at the sky, and a ball of light formed at the end of its mouth. The two girls looked on in surprise. It was easy to tell what that was going to do when it tilted in their direction and the ball started vibrating. Tatters preemptively pulled the hood of her cape over her head and stepped back.
"Get behind me!" Tatters yelled as she grabbed Jenny by the collar and pulled her towards herself, turning her back towards the monster.
"What are y—" Jenny uttered before an enormous beam of energy travelled around the protective cocoon of the cape. She couldn't help but close her eyes at the impact, even though she would've been fine without the cape's protection.
The attack didn't last long, and when the impact stopped, Tatters shoved Jenny away and turned around to view Dark Jenny again.
"Now we're even!" Tatters hissed without looking at her.
A cranky Jenny stood up and joined her, neglecting to complain about what Tatters just did, because it would be hypocritical. As the two watched, Dark Jenny used Jenny's own flight mode to float into the sky, dark limbs included.
Jenny covered her fist with her other hand as if to crack her knuckles, then looked over at the crossbow in Tatters' hands.
"Should I be worried about being shot?"
"Hmph!" Tatters grunted, "don't tempt me!"
Jenny turned her hair blue and gave her grumpy ally a sly, provocative smile.
"Just try to keep up!" she hissed back and teleported away with a shockwave so exaggerated it almost knocked Tatters over.
"What the hell is that? Is that Dark Jenny?" radio-Saturn asked.
Jenny snoozed her hair-antenna alarm to stop the beeping, then pressed her radio button.
"It's got some new tricks. A certain somebody shot its arm off," Jenny replied as she flew up to the same altitude as Dark Jenny, who was charging up another light ball.
"What? Who?—Hey! You can block that, right?" radio-Saturn responded as he watched the ball of light Dark Jenny was charging up get bigger.
Jenny quickly realized the ball wasn't meant for her, but for the city behind her. For her friends. Dark Jenny now had three limbs with scissor heads in total, all charging the ball, making it much bigger than the last one. Jenny fired up her laser eyes with the intent of cutting the three limbs off as they were charging it, hoping the ball would blow up in its face. But when she tried, her laser was blocked by a red force field, like the one that she used when she flew at high speeds.
Jenny stared at the abomination in disbelief when it all clicked in her head. Those dark limbs and the ball of light did not rely on the energy reserves of its Jenny-body, meaning it had far more fuel left than Jenny accounted for, like an emerald of its own. This thing had been playing a game of chess with her, and she wasn't even aware she was playing it.
In a panic, Jenny positioned herself in between the city and her opponent and pressed her radio button again.
"Saturn, you have to press—"
No time. The beam of energy fired straight at Jenny, and she had to use her force field to keep it from seeping through to the city. It was even wider and more powerful than before, and Jenny squealed as she struggled to hold it back. It was changing color from gold to white, then to light blue, like fire. The scissor-limbs were feeding it energy while it fired.
Jenny's hair-antenna went off and pointed somewhere roughly behind her, wherever Saturn was. But she couldn't just leave the path of the energy beam for even a split second, and she was at the mercy of wherever Dark Jenny decided to aim the thing. The energy beam packed such a massive punch, she wouldn't even last a whole minute like this. This creature was using her own plan against her, and it likely had this card available from the very beginning. She pictured its smiling face again, back when she was staring it down on the ice.
After a moment, one of the smaller dark tendrils siphoned a small chunk of the light ball and unleashed a single blast in the direction of Tatters. Jenny followed the impact with her eyes and spotted a black silhouette tumbling all the way down the hill. There was no hope left of Tatters hitting another shot of that blue flame now.
Jenny cursed herself for sticking with her stupid plan instead of immediately jumping on the wound that Tatters created. In hindsight, that was the only crack in Dark Jenny's game, and she let it slip right by simply because it wasn't part of her plan.
"Jen! Talk to me! How're you doing?" radio-Saturn asked her.
She felt her reserves run dry and her emotions rising. This was all happening too fast. The energy beam didn't show any signs of stopping soon. Was this really the end for her?
"Guys…" Jenny replied.
Jenny thought about what would happen if she shut off now. The energy beam would blast straight through and her friends would die, along with everybody else in that city. Maybe everybody in the world would die at the hands of that creature from the woods. It could throw her body into outer space or bury it where nobody would ever find her, and she'd never wake up again.
"I love you guys…" Jenny followed up. Her voice cracked a little.
Her force field faded away, and she started her free fall. When Dark Jenny's energy beam started coming through at the top, it immediately stopped firing it. She didn't get to make it to the ground before Dark Jenny swooped in, snatched her body like a hawk catching a fish and flew away with its prize.
♦
Tatters scrambled her way back up the hill as she heard the deafening sound of the energy beam stopping. The sky had gone quiet, like the two weren't even fighting anymore. Tatters didn't like the implication of that. Would she find her birthplace destroyed when she reached the top of the hill?
The first thing that entered her field of view was the creature with the black limbs. It flew overhead and circled around to land on the frozen lake again, at roughly the same spot Tatters took its arm off.
When she could see the city again, she was relieved to find it unharmed, as far as she could see. On the other hand, the Jenny with the black dress stood on the ice and turned to look at her, holding the Jenny with the brown sweater by the leg. She was unconscious but didn't look hurt or damaged. Her body made a thumping sound as the tendril that held her repeatedly slammed her against the ice.
Tatters found what remained of her crossbow, damaged by the attack that sent her flying off the hill in the first place. It was still connected by wire to the bolt she'd fired to dismember the creature. That bolt was floating underneath the ice behind it, and the wire was almost invisible, running past the creature on the right. In all likelihood, the bolt would've left a tight hole when it went through the ice, meaning it would eventually get stuck at the opening and tighten the wire if she pulled it back in.
In a swift move, Tatters cut the wire off the crossbow and ran it through one of the retractor devices on her belt. The demon on the ice had its eyes trained on her the whole time, so if this plan was going to work, she'd have to do it quickly.
Tatters started sliding down the hill, retracting the wire as she slid. The device allowed her to control the speed at which it pulled the wire back in, and she made sure to pull just hard enough to not tighten it prematurely and give her plan away.
It was a long way down, and she watched sweater Jenny's body hit the ice as black dress Jenny kept slamming it over and over again like it was taunting her. And it worked. Tatters felt enraged. All she could think about in this moment was saving that helpless girl from the clutches of this monster.
"Give her back!" she yelled at it in an effort to mislead her opponent. It in turn responded by putting its remaining hand in front of its forehead, making an L sign.
As soon as Tatters' feet touched the ice, she struggled for grip and tightened the wire at full power. But before she had a chance to dash to the left and run the tightened wire into the creature's torso, she heard the ice cracking underneath her feet. Up came a tendril, grabbing her foot tightly and dragging her down through the broken ice and into the freezing water.
Her plan failed, and she'd just walked into a trap instead. Tatters' whole body screamed in alarm as her mind scrambled for ideas to save her own life.
Reflexively, she activated her pink power on the wire and pulled on it once more. Through the dark water, she saw the glowing bolt on the other end shoot up to the surface and get stuck on the hole. The pulling force transferred to Tatters herself, pulling her back up towards the hole she fell through.
When her head emerged above the water, she gasped for air and leaned on the ice with both of her arms. Even with her hood over her head, she felt awfully vulnerable like this. Tatters frantically looked around to get her eyes on her opponent, but there was no sign of either Jenny.
She slowly climbed out of the ice, constantly turning her head in every direction to check for any signs of the monster, but it had completely disappeared and left her behind.
A defeated Tatters sat down on the ice and shivered. The world had gone silent, just like that. Her feelings slowly returned to her like they always did after the action died down. Freezing cold, fatigue, pain from her ankle, disappointment.
When she came here, there were two Jennies. Now, only the worst one remained, and she'd lost again.
♦
The dark creature stood on the ice and dropped the straggler next to the idol from the museum. To its surprise, it found one of the original subjects still inside the old bunker, lying unconscious next to a gun with the magazine removed.
It used one tendril to carve symbols into the ice, surrounding the human and the idol.
In the other tendril, it held the most incredible lifeform it'd ever discovered. The original recipe to its favorite form. This being, which resembled a female human and was called "Jenny", brought it closer to death than it'd ever been. An exhilarating yet crippling experience. As a result, it was stuck inside this form, unable to ever leave.
On top of that, this form was already damaged and no longer invincible. The damage to its shoulder was apparently enough to disable the on-board charger. As a result, before long, this body would stop functioning and turn into a passive shield with a massive weakness in its side.
Luckily, the dark creature could still mutate into other forms it had copied throughout its life. These dark limbs, for example, came from an animal from a different world. Its second favorite and second most powerful form after Jenny. Even still, it didn't compare. The tendril shook from exhaustion as it carved the symbols. That energy beam used to drain Jenny's massive power took almost everything it had and wouldn't have lasted much longer than it did.
This secondary form had to eat and sleep to recharge, so it was going to have to devour some humans after this, especially with that sneaky blonde still running around.
Back when it pulled her under the ice, the dark creature decided on impulse not to kill her, despite her technically being the biggest threat to it with Jenny out of the picture. It didn't have the capacity to hate her, even though she permanently ruined its favorite form. It loved all life in the universe and loved playing with it. It liked seeing people struggle because they were at their most beautiful that way, and the blonde with the cape was gorgeous when she was panicking under the ice.
The dark creature stopped what it was doing when a large eye underneath the ice opened up. It was familiar with the animal, and with the ritual it performed for those it deemed worthy. The eye stared at the dark creature without moving, like it was already performing its judgment. The dark creature did not desire a shower of nightmare fuel, but it was curious whether it would be deemed worthy.
Perhaps it was the way it clutched the real Jenny like some sort of prize, or perhaps it was the distasteful deed it was about to perform, but the eye's disapproval was clear when it slowly closed again. The dark creature was not worthy.
Unbothered, the dark creature returned its attention to the symbols in the ice. When the last symbol was completed, the straggler's eyes immediately opened wide, indicating the demonic possession was successful.
The new host observed the dark creature's Jenny-form and looked shocked to see it. The dark creature waved at it like it waved at everything to make a friendly impression, but the host didn't wave back and looked intimidated instead. That made sense. The dark creature learned about how Jenny defeated and sealed this entity five years ago, and it looked just like her.
The dark creature shook the real Jenny's body using the other tendril, and the host's eyes went back and forth between the two. Then, it got to its feet and turned one of its forearms into an icy blade, eyeing the real Jenny's body with a hateful look. But before it could do anything, it was grabbed by a dark scissor-limb wider than he was tall and yanked into the air. The dark creature put an angry expression on its face to make the message clear. Jenny was worth a hundred times what he was, even if she was never going to wake up again. It was foolish to expect this entity to cooperate anyway.
The dark creature decided to make things easier and sprouted a second mutation. A pale, alien-looking limb with a glowing flower at the end that looked like it had nerves coming out of it. Using a third tendril, the dark creature cut off the host's arm at the shoulder, then inserted the flower into the free space.
The nerves at the end of the flower propagated into the body until the flower came off the stem. The dark creature dropped the spasming host back down on the ice while the second mutation's pale stem retreated to the dark creature's back, controlling the flower remotely.
When the host stopped spasming, the takeover was complete. The dark creature managed to gain full control over an entity that was already possessing someone else and could use its powers like a puppet. It took surprising focus to get it to stand up through the signals it was able to send through the flower. Too much trouble, in fact, so it grabbed the host using a tendril instead.
The dark creature found the host's supernatural ability to be much easier to control than its body when it sprouted a mysterious black thread from its head that went up into the sky. Then, the sky itself filled up eerily quickly with dark clouds that blocked the stars and dimmed the moonlight as far as the eye could see. In its place, the clouds emitted a beautiful green glow that illuminated the city instead.
The dark creature rose up into the sky as it admired the view. The other subjects had likely returned to the city. All that was left now was to wait and see which one would succumb first.