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His dream went out of control almost at once.

He dreamt of the Black Hat, Sygillis of Metatron. She stood in front of him in his dream wearing her scarlet robe and her featureless Black Hat sash, her face hidden behind it. Her gloved ebon hands clenched into savage claws.

And then the dream came to life.

"I am here with you, Lord of Blanchefort. Welcome," she said in a malicious voice. "I've been waiting for you."

He looked around. He was in a dark place—a sort of black churchyard with many walls, passages, and alcoves all around. Black spires and steeples clawed their way up to a vaulted, bitter sky of angry clouds. The Black Hat stood there mocking him in the distance.

"What did you think, you arrogant League Lord?" she asked in an icy whisper. "That you could simply come and go from my presence as you please? You foolishly came to me, and I became interested in you, Captain. I followed you back, like a deadly spider sitting unnoticed on your shoulder. I was patient, I waited all day for you, but every so often I gave you a little tickle, just to let you know that I was there. Now here we are, just the two of us."

Davage tried to move but was locked in place. "This is just a dream," he said.

"Yes," the Black Hat said. "Just a dream. You dream, I dream … our minds wrapped together. Here we may have a bit of privacy, you and I. Here our dreams become very, very real."

The Black Hat waved at him with her claws. "And here, in this dreamscape, I am going to kill you."

Davage clutched his head. "I could call the Sisters. I could cry out for them."

"What's the matter, Fleet Captain, are you scared? Scared of a tiny little person like me? This is a game, and I insist we play it to the finish." She bowed slightly. "Therefore, I've an offer to make to you."

Davage turned to his right. A corridor trailed away. Struggling, his legs like lead, he went down it.

"Well?" her voice echoed from behind. "Care you to hear my offer?"

Davage reached a dead end. He Sighted. He couldn't see through; his Sight didn't work. He felt very alone without it. "Fine then," he said. "What is your offer?"

"I offer you your crew, sir. We will fight here, you and I. We will battle to the death, and regardless of the outcome, I will not blow myself up and take half your ship with me. I could do a lot of damage in the brig. You know I could. Fight me, and I will spare your crew. That is my offer. Choose not to fight—choose to seek the Sisters—and your ship sinks in a spray of my bones and my guts. What say you?"

"The Sisters will not allow you to sink the ship."

"I'd not be able to build up as large of a Shadow tech charge as I wish before they became aware of what I was doing, that is true, but still … I'll make a rather large hole regardless."

Davage shook his head. "I do not wish to kill you," he said. "I want to help you."

"Help me? I need no help. A noble if foolish sentiment. Regardless of what you wish, I greatly wish to kill you, and if you do not fight me, I will ruinously damage your ship."

"I how can I trust you'll keep your word?" he asked.

"You cannot … yet, I speak truthfully when I say yours is the only soul I want to claim. Yours is the only life I wish to take. The rest are worthless. Useless!"

"I've nothing to fight with. I am unarmed."

His CARG appeared in front of him, coppery in the dark, and his MiMs too and gun belt on the ground. "Here are your weapons and your Gifts. I give them back to you. In this shadowy place, you can do everything you can in the real world … and so can I. Though this be naught but a dream landscape, to us it is very real. We will face each other, your power against mine. The winner walks away; the loser dies."

Davage strapped on his gun belt and picked up his CARG and closed his eyes. He felt his Sight returning to him, and that made him feel a bit better. "We needn't do this. I was trying to be civil—to offer you a bit of courtesy."

"And I thank you. I will remember you fondly. And never fear, we will be seeing each other again soon in hell. The Sisters will be very angry when they see what I've done to you … when they find you dead. They will tear me apart. They will feast upon my flesh. Ha! Let them—I'll have you, nevertheless."

The sky overhead became turbid and fierce. Davage held his CARG at the ready.

She looked at him and, in a mocking gesture, imitated his guard with a similar stance. So short, clad in her scarlet robe, she looked like an ancient fire plug.

She Wafted in a blast of wind and vanished. He lit his Low Sight and whirled around.

"I was hoping to find good in you," he called out into the air, "to know why you are so angry!" he shouted.

She appeared behind him. He put the horn of his CARG on her neck. Tenderly, she reached up and touched its length with her black gloved hands.

"Anger, sir, is all I know. Hate, sir, is all I feel."

"That isn't how it has to be. What sort of life is that? Let me help you!"

He reached out to her, and she recoiled in surprise for a moment. She tipped her sashed head to one side. "You are such a kind man," she said softly. She ran her fingers up and down the length of his CARG. "So kind …" Slowly, Shadow tech claws grew out of her fingers. Grabbing on, she stroked the length of the CARG. "Let me pleasure you," she said as her claws grew and grew until they were two feet long, their undulating black blades sparking against the surface of the CARG.

"Unfortunately, your kindness is unwarranted, unasked for … and unwanted."

And like he had once been told, Shadow tech didn't make a metallic sound when scraped. Instead it moaned and wailed, like it was alive.

They circled once or twice, she continuing to rub his CARG seductively with her moaning claws. "This…is so unfair," she said moving slowly to her left. "I can kill you at my wish, and all you have is this silly weapon. You must be very frightened."

"Not frightened. I'm disappointed. I truly wanted to help you."

She stopped and stood still. She threw her arms back, her claws rising into the air. "Oh, that hurts, Lord of Blanchefort, that stings— that I've disappointed you. Hehehehe … go on, try to kill me. I will allow you an open attempt, a free shot, if you will."

She waited, her featureless black sash floating about her head, covering all traces of her face and hair. He thought he could see her grinning beneath it.

Davage smiled and put his CARG down. "I have a demand."

"I see," she said, waggling her claws at him. "State your demand."

She Wafted with a blast of air and appeared behind him, her tiny yet cruel hands wrapping around his chest, the claws interlacing together—an odd, menacing embrace.

"I demand you remove your mask," he said, nonplussed.

The hands appeared quizzical, surprised. "H
ahahahahaha
! Request denied."

"What is the matter, Black Hat? Scared?"

The hands pulled back, and she reappeared in front of him. She seemed puzzled. "Why make such a demand?"

"You were very beautiful, sitting in my brig, where you sit right now. Fine skin, lovely red hair—those shining green eyes. I wish to see it again."

"Think me beautiful, do you?"

"I do. I wish to see your face again."

She stood there a moment. "Lord Blanchefort, I make a counter offer. You are a handsome man. If I didn't hate you so, if I didn't wish to taste your blood, I might find myself rather enamored with you."

She pulled up the lower part of her mask, exposing her mouth, only there was no mouth there. There was a Shadow tech amalgam of hairy female and male parts, squirming, rolling, dripping, reaching.

Davage was horrified. He turned away.

"
Let me kiss you!
" she said in a demonic Black Hat voice.

She approached him. He could smell her as she neared in the dank air.

"
Come here and kiss me
!" she shouted, using the Dirge.

Davage, Dirged, unable to control his actions, began moving toward her.

"Heeheeheheee," she tittered softly.

When he got to her, she put her arms around him, reached up, and kissed him with that travesty of a mouth. He gagged as parts wormed and thrust their way down his throat.

Feeling himself begin to wretch, he hauled back and delivered a crushing head butt to her mouth, sending her recoiling, holding her face. So much for the Dirge. A swollen mouth will hinder it.

Davage tried to go on the initiative. "Again, show me your whole face and be rid of your Shadow tech trappings … if you are not scared to face me as a woman and not a monster," he said.

The Black Hat stood there for a moment, confused. She suddenly lunged and sent a claw speeding toward his chest. Davage side-stepped and countered, crossing the claw with his unbending CARG. The Shadow tech screamed as it crossed the hard surface of the CARG.

She purred, impressed it seemed. She swiped again and again.

He crossed, parried, met her guard, side-stepped, and thrust. Sparks blossomed and floated from their clashing weapons.

Davage was a master with his CARG. The Black Hat, though fierce and determined, couldn't match his skill, and only his mercy left her standing. She tried an overhead swipe, which Davage met with the full weight of his CARG. It was a heavy weapon, and its mass was too much for her, her claws bent and shattered. He then gave her a shallow cut across the chest, which didn't seem to bother her in the least.

They stopped a moment, both breathing hard. She then came again, her claws regrowing, and seeing her try such a move previously, Davage moved to his left, swept her legs out from under her, and sent her down with a thud.

He put his CARG to her throat.

"Will you yield and listen to reason?"

Suddenly, he felt an iron hand grip his throat. He was lifted off the ground into the air. "Certainly," she said.

TK, she had him in a total full-body TK, and there was no getting out of it.

Gripping him in her TK, she stood and brushed herself off. She regarded him for a moment. She then slammed him down to the ground hard. Repeating the action, she did it again and again, over and over until the landscape spun. His CARG jostled loose from his TK'ed hand, and she kicked it away.

She brought him down very close to her masked, featureless face. She looked at him and caressed his chin with a claw. "Pity …" she said.

And with a savage cry of victory, she sent her claws toward his chest. Again and again, his uniform shredding into tatters.

Her claws couldn't penetrate Davage, however. She found that his skin, while TK'ed, was rock hard, diamond hard, the angry claws not able to penetrate. They bounced off, the protesting Shadow tech wailing at the feast of blood denied to it.

She stopped and laughed. "Hmmm, pardon me, then, if I simply
crush you
!"

She tightened the TK, Dav feeling his guts compressing up into his throat.

Dav, feeling it all coming to an end, found as she compressed his chest, his limbs began to free up. Quickly, he drew his MiMs pistol, pointed it, and fired.

POCK!

Even in this dreamscape, its report was small and unsatisfying. A tiny toy gun, the MiMs.

She took the bullet in the shoulder. Wincing in pain, she dropped the TK, and Davage fell to the ground.

She formed a massively long Shadow tech whip with a waving cato-nine tails at its end and lashed him with it. He felt his flesh sundering at its touch.

He went to his knees, alight in agony. He dropped his MiMs. With a wave of her hand, the tiny, elegant gun vanished.

"Heheheheeeeheee," she tittered.

She hauled back and cracked Davage across the back with the whip, the shaft tearing through clothing and putting an ugly, bloody wheal on his skin. As the whip pulled back, Davage noticed the cato-nine tail was actually a grasping Shadow tech hand complete with a full, tooth-filled maw in the center of the palm.

She lashed him again. The hand gripped onto him with its horrid claws, and when she pulled back, it wrenched away a fist-sized bit of flesh.

Davage cringed.

She sent another whip stroke. Davage deftly moved to his left, seized his CARG, and sliced the whip in two. Grabbing the end of the severed whip, he gave it a good jerk, and the tiny Black Hat rocketed toward him. Roughly, he clothes-lined her across the neck. She fell, gagging.

Providing her with a taste of her own brew, he picked her tiny, robed body up and threw her down on her head where she lay on the ground and groaned. She raised her head to look up and he golfswung his CARG across her face with a thudding, non-cutting blow. A rapidly assembled Sten saved her from a bone-breaking and possibly fight-ending hit. Nevertheless, Stenned or not, she spat out bloody teeth.

She moved the Sten toward him, and he just had a moment to dive out of its way.

He dove into one of the corridors and went around a few bends.

CRACK!

He felt a sting on his leg. Looking down, the whip with the hand was back, wrapped around his right leg. With a jerk he was pulled off his feet and dragged back toward the corner. In almost surrealistic fashion, a set of long Shadow tech claws appeared from around the corner and danced about, waiting to chop him into bits.

"H
ahahahahahahaha!"

He plunged his CARG into its mouth and tore the hand in two. It let go.

Instead of running from the hideous claws, he charged toward them, and using a cutting stroke, he sliced them through again. He quickly reached around the corner and grabbed the Black Hat, who clearly wasn't ready at this point to be attacked. Again, he picked her up like a tiny red duffel bag and crashed her back down, where she groaned in pain. Her right arm snapped where she had tried to break her fall.

Stunned, bleeding from her MiMs shot, in agony from her arm and her near-toothless mouth, she Wafted away with a blast.

Dav, using his Sight, saw that she was going to reappear down the corridor to his left. He whirled and sent his CARG in a spiraling cutting arc in that direction.

She appeared a moment later, saw the CARG coming, and putting her arms out in front of her to protect her face, made the CARG vanish just as it was about to run her through.