Arwyn recognized the woman coming through the portal as the one that had a beef with Abbey Chase and had been subdued by Judge Hershey. Obviously something must be wrong if she had shown up through the portal alone.

Thanks to the spell Hecate had cast on them, Arwyn was able to interrogate her. The spell didn't work for Princess Ashleigh, probably because it had faded before she arrived.

Somehow Arwyn understood her and vice versa, despite being from different worlds. Arwyn interpreted for Ashleigh in most conversations with the group.

Arwyn ordered the woman downstairs. They would wait for Sara Pezzini to return before they decided what to do. Ashleigh found some rope and tied Natalia Kassle up. Then they all sat down to wait.

Samandahl Rey phased himself into the familiar ship in a state of excitement. Here was something familiar! It was home! As soon as he entered the ship, he was greeted with an excited welcoming "Sam!"

This was because the ship was imbued with the essence of his former battle partner and best friend, Roiya. Somehow she'd been infused into the ship after her body was destroyed in a battle with the Saurians. He was dedicated to finding a way to restore her to a human body.

The two compared notes, as it hadn't been all that long since they'd been separated.

Suddenly Roiya sounded an alarm and scanners indicated the approach of three unknowns outside the ship. viewscreens indicated two similarly dressed men armed with firearms and a third armed with a drawn sword.

Sam decided to wait and watch.

Ian Nottingham and the Stix Brothers studied the ship. They couldn't see any way that they would be able to get in but Ian Nottingham was certain that whoever was inside knew full well that he and the Stix Brothers were out here.

Another reason to be p.o.ed at Rasputin. What was to be gained by exposing themselves? Did Rasputin want to see how the stranger fought at his expense?

Ian Nottingham made a silent vow to kill Rasputin if and when the opportunity ever presented itself. Hecate would die too, if possible. What the heck? Why not throw in that Torquemada creep as well?

As Ian stewed and plotted revenge, the man in the spaceship suddenly reappeared outside the ship and said something in words he didn't understand, but he certainly understood the challenge in the tone.

This guy was ready to fight!

Rasputin watched. Here was a chance to see what this stranger could do.

The Stix Brothers were expendable. They could clone more. This Ian Nottingham was formidable. He might even win! Stranger things had happened. Rasputin watched with the intensity and lascivious greed of Don King at a boxing match.

Just then Kreeg and Sara Pezzini; the Witchblade, broke through into the clearing.

Although Sara and Ian Nottingham had fought many times, he represented her first real connection to her own reality and she shouted to him, clearly glad to see him and anxious to prevent a fight with a powerful unknown from a different reality.

Rasputin recognized Sara as the other powerful presence he'd sensed before and since she seemed to have a connection to Nottingham, he whisked himself, Nottingham and Sara off to Hecate's headquarters, abandoning the two Stix Brothers.

Samandahl Rey watched incredulously as the Witchblade woman burst into the clearing heading for the one wielding the sword. He was further dumbfounded when they both suddenly disappeared just as they approached each other.

Sam turned his attention to the two identical thugs that were left behind. Those two were unnerved by their sudden abandonment and it was child's play for Samandahl Rey to drive them off.

Sam shrugged and returned to his ship. He then piloted it to the yard of the gator farm where Arwyn and Princess Ashleigh had recently acquired a prisoner.

Poor Kreeg was forced to pad back on foot after a futile attempt to claim Sara Pezzini's trail.

When Samandahl Rey returned to the gator farm, he found the two women; Arwyn and Princess Ashleigh holding a third woman prisoner and marching her out into the yard outside.

When they caught sight of the spacecraft landing in the big yard the momentary awestruck distraction was all Natalia Kassle needed to get the drop on both women and effect an escape into the marshy wilderness.

Sam was preoccupied with landing his ship and didn't notice the unknown woman's escape.

When he got out to greet the women, he was greeted with two angry ladies who berated him for causing the escape of a potentially dangerous adversary. Each woman had the lumps on her head to prove it.

Feeling like a husband who gets blamed for problems that were out of his control; Sam flew off to try to recapture their former prisoner, mostly to escape the verbal barrage the two angry women were blasting him with.

He could find no sign of his quarry though, and was forced to return to face the music from the angry women. Luckily they seemed to have calmed down. It was time to inform them that the Witchblade, Sara Pezzini had literally disappeared along with two unsavory unknowns. This somehow led to Sam being the object of the women's ire again as they seemed to feel someone with his extroardinary abilities should have been able to do something about that. They also were sceptical when he said he could find no trace of the fugitive Natalia Kassle.

Sam shrugged his shoulders in a resigned "You can't win" gesture and returned to his ship.

Kreeg returned at that moment and gave both women a lavish greeting in inimitable canine fashion.

Both women returned to the house to get some rest.

After the two Stix Brothers were effectively driven off by a contemptuous
stranger with bewildering powers they wondered about their circumstances. They'd been abandoned by Rasputin and they were plenty steamed about it.

Now they were slogging through a dank swamp for the second time with no idea where they were. They were just mad enough to want to get some retribution.

Suddenly, they heard some commotion beyond a clump of odd looking trees. Not caring what they might find except to hurt it, they were surprised to see a lone female slogging desperately as if she needed to get away from something or someone.

They didn't care what she was running from, here was a chance for both of them to burn off some of their anger and have some fun too!

The women very nearly ran right into both of them. They each grabbed one of her arms and leered down at her.

"Here now missy; What would you be so anxious to get away from, eh?"

Natalia Kassle looked up at the two identical oafs who had stopped her and decided to play the helpless victim for a bit.

"Please, please let me go! I ---- I must get away. Horrible lizarmen are after me!"

Natalia lied convincingly, because the Stix Brothers had encountered lizardmen before and began looking for an attack. This distraction gave Natalia all the opening she needed to swiftly disarm and incapacitate one of the brothers.

Natalia held the Stix Brother's own gun to his head and warned the other brother that she wouldn't hesitate to use it.

To her surprise, the loose Stix Brother just began chuckling in a disturbing manner.

"You're good, girl! You got the drop on us real good! I never would have expected some bird with a funny accent like yours to be that good. Why don't you just let my brother go and we'll call it even eh? Cause if you don't, I'll just shoot you and my brother both, right here and now."

Natalia Kassle couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was seriously willing to sacrifice his own brother to get her?

After a few tense moments of negotiation, Natalia Kassle began to feel as if she understood the Stix Brothers better and even began to admire their twisted logic. Presently the three came to an agreement of sorts and Natalia let her hostage go.

She kept the weapon she'd confiscated on her and promised herself that she would sleep with one eye open in the near future but a new partnership was born between the three of them.

Sara Pezzini wondered what had just happened. She, Ian Nottingham and that bald wizard had been transported to some strange fortress or castle!

The sudden change in venue left her disoriented and susceptible to a binding spell cast by Rasputin.

Before she had time to get her bearings, she found herself locked in a cell that seemed to have dampening fields that inhibited her ability to call up the Witchblade.

In a cell across from her in a light that was almost blinding, she saw her old frenemy, Jackie Estacado.

They had the Darkness in their power as well!

After Hecate learned of her new acquisition, she was delighted. She was less then delighted when she learned that Rasputin had abandoned the Stix Brothers and ordered Rasputin to go back to retrieve them. Alone.

Day 6: Early morning, the Everglades in an alternate reality universe.

Danielle Baptiste, the current wielder of the Angelus power was exulting in her newfound abilities. She had successfully staved off the Angelus entity's attempts to subvert her will and was determined to use her vast power to fight for the good of the human race. She vowed to never succumb to the Angelus' attempts to control her. With this great power she could do so much good.

Basking in the exhilaration of flight, she failed to notice a rift in reality that appeared in her flight path and flew directly into it.

The next she knew; she was in a strange, unfamiliar land that appeared to be a swamp or marsh of some sort. The change was disorienting and she immediately attempted to use her powers to return from whence she came. She attempted to use her teleportation powers to return. This had an odd and unexpected effect. She suddenly found herself in what appeared to be ancient Greece.

Now she was really confused. Her confusion was enhanced by the sudden sense that both the Witchblade and the Darkness were somewhere nearby.

This excited her; because as far as she knew, both Sara Pezzini and Jackie Estacado had been missing for several days. Now she might discover where they were.

Natalia Kassle and the Stix Brothers were surly and miserable. They were tired, grimey and aching. They'd been slogging through the swamp all night long, driving off lizardmen, a giant alligator and giant leeches.

The Stix Brothers were even surlier because their attempts to get some "affection" from Natalia Kassle were rudely and violently rebuffed. They learned quickly that she was a very skilled combatant and could very easily counteract their superior strength.

If they worked together; they might be able to overcome her, but their aching gonads suggested it wouldn't be worth the price.

So now they were reduced to following her orders and enduring her mocking commentary at their expense. They learned quickly that neither of them were a match for her in a battle of wits. She had trumped them physically and mentally.

Now she was "supervising' them as they worked to cook an opossum that they'd killed to be their breakfast. She was hardly kind as they fumbled through their attempts. Somehow, she managed to make them feel dumber then they actually were.

Hecate was busy elsewhere, Torquemada was working on the cloning devices used to make more Stix Brothers, Bron was attempting to effect the attempted overthrow of the king they had targeted without the aid of Yukio, which meant he was trying to foment a rebellion, The Dark Judges were all with Hecate on her secret mission, leaving only the remaining Stix Brothers and Ian Nottingham to try to stop the Angelus when she burst in to free the Witchblade and the Darkness.

Ian Nottingham had finally given up any attempts to defy Hecate and was willingly obeying her orders. He was in charge of the Stix Brothers when The Angelus began her assault. He was not surprised to see the Angelus but was surprised to see her this far from the swamp where everyone else had apparently first appeared.

Before any of them could react, Danielle Baptiste destroyed both cells that contained Sara Pezzini and Jackie Estacado. Realizing that they were no match for the three of them; let alone the Angelus, Ian Nottingham ordered the Stix Brothers to stand down.

Jackie Estacado was savoring his newfound freedom and relishing the irony of being rescued by the Angelus which was the ancient enemy of the Darkness.

Sara Pezzini began making an impassioned plea to Ian Nottingham to flee with them. Ian Nottingham just shook his head, saying something about seeing the writing on the wall and realizing they were fated to be enemies and that it wouldn't be long before Jackie Estacado would see that too.

At that moment Torquemada stormed in from the clone rooms to investigate the commotion and Ian Nottingham ordered them to leave before things got ugly.

Danielle Baptiste gathered Sara Pezzini in one arm and Jackie Estacado in the other and fled, but not before giving Torquemada a demonstration of her power by blasting a breath of flame inches from his face.

The Stix Brothers just stood by dumbfounded by what they'd witnessed.

Detective Judge Armitage was in a quandary. They'd located a portal similar to the two in Mega City One and upon using it, found that it led to Camelot! The Judges had barely been there a few minutes when Armitage had ordered the portal barred and no one was allowed to cross over until a full review could be engaged in. This would not be anytime soon as they were severely understaffed since half their force was away in Mega City One trying to fill the void left by the curiously absent Mega City One Judges.

Armitage was wondering if the ghosts of C. S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, T.H. White and J.R.R. Tolkien weren't having a bit of fun with them all at their expense. This whole place seemed completely, utterly mad! What the bloody hell was going on?

really LAUGHED OUT LOUD "aching gonads" nice bit of humour then a really good show of power from ANGELUS,proceless!