Eldritch Maiden absconds from the scene of the crime. The criminal in question, Tango. The crime stopper in question, Eldritch Maiden. Indeed, dear reader, just moments ago Tango and Eldritch Maiden tangled over the topic of a terrible scheme. Tango managed to escape, but at the cost of his villainous plot. Eldritch, however, was stuck with the boring job of calling the cops.

Her work is now done, the police on their way, and so she returns to the city prepared to continue a night of crime stopping. As she sees the first of the blue lights pull into the lot in front of Pirouette’s Piano Palace, she feels the buzz of her phone through the magic fabric of her suit.

“What’s up Erika?” she asks.

On the other end of the line, her lawyer asks in a tense voice, “What do you know about the Coven Cartel?”

“Coven? Are there witches in Liberty City?” Hailey replies.

“Aside from you? None that I know. The Coven is a new group of female supervillains led by a woman who calls herself Madam. They’re in a few cities here on the coast, mostly small time crime. The police just filed a report; someone knocked over one of her stores and stole something from the safe inside.”

“What did they steal?”

Erika pauses before saying carefully, “The cops aren’t saying. But I got the inside tip from your detective friend, apparently it was a personal item that she claims is worth nothing to anyone but herself. It’s obviously a lie though, whatever it was the cops think she’s willing to go to war over it.”

“To war? With who?” Hailey transforms her dagger into a long whip and uses it to vault onto a nearby rooftop. “And do the cops know who stole whatever it was?”

“Someone with powers, that’s about it.” Erika lets out a long, stress-filled exhalation through the phone before adding in a worried tone, “And as far as the war? Everyone. When The Deck was around, the Coven was just another low-level player in the area. But with the power vacuum somebody had to step up and take over the criminal element and maybe that’s Coven. If that’s the case, then maybe someone else is pushing back.”

Hailey pauses, reaching the rooftop of a particularly tall building and using it to survey the city. “Then that’s where we start. Let’s go after the other gangs and see what we find. The Queen of Hearts escaped not too long ago, right? Think she’s trying to rebuild The Deck and this is her way of sending a message that they’re back?”

The sound of Erika clicking her tongue comes through the phone. “Well… it’s as good a starting point as any I suppose. One moment.” The click of computer keys punctuates her words. A few seconds later she exclaims, “Okay! There have been sightings down by the docks, near the old stadium,” Erika pauses before asking, “You know where that is, right?”

Hailey rolls her eyes as she says smarmily, “Of course. Born and raised, blah, blah, blah.”

With that she puts away the phone, turns toward one of the nearby streets and begins making her way toward the next building over. As she does, she glances back. Behind her, Liberty City shines with reflected moonlight off the pale stone buildings. It is a city worth protecting, but without the comforting voice of Belinda in her ear, Hailey finds herself wondering if she is up to the task. Still, there is little time for reflection, not if she is to track down the Queen of Hearts before the sun rises!

Some time later, Hailey finds herself staring down at the hulking shape of the old Liberty City stadium. The decrepit structure still stands, despite the tears of age. Behind it sits the industrial sprawl of the docks, replete with rust and worn iron. Beyond lies the placid darkness of the water, darkness that serves as a stark backdrop to the blazing light emanating from the stadium!

With a gasp of surprise, Hailey sees the fire growing within the structure, poking out between the ruined steel beams and holes in the crumbling concrete. After observing the fire for a few moments, it becomes apparent that the blaze is controlled. Hailey’s eyes narrow.

“Nobody could see the fire unless they had a high vantage point,” she murmurs to herself, thinking. “A vantage point only someone with magical powers and a penchant for rooftops would find!”

The fire is an invitation, one that Eldritch will answer. Moving silently, she transforms her dagger into a long whip and uses it to reach one of the arcing beams that used to hold the roof of the stadium. A mystic leap later, she crouches atop the superstructure and surveys the field below.

The fire at the center is a blot of light that pushes away the darkness, casting long shadows across the seats that dance with the flames. The shadows move and writhe as if the thousands of spectators that would flock to watch the Liberty City Lads are cheering still, reveling in the violent sporting displays below. Standing in front of the fire is a figure that casts a small shadow. It carries something in each hand, in one a long thin object and the other a lump shape that drags on the ground. Then, the head turns up toward the open ceiling, staring at Eldritch’s hidden vantage point!

Eldritch feels a shiver run down her spine, some arcane premonition warning her about the mysterious figure below. The sensation is alien in its otherness, almost eldritch in nature. Despite this, there is a curious sort of familiarity to it as well, something haunting that gives Hailey the feeling she knows the figure down there.

Steeling herself against the feelings, Hailey steps off the beam and descends to the ground below, her magic delaying her descent. As her feet touch the astroturf of the stadium floor, Eldritch’s dagger snaps into her hand. With a flourish, she spins it around and points it toward the figure in front of her.

“The fire, it was to get my attention. Well you’ve got it. So what now?”

Slowly, the shadowy person walks forward away from the glare of the fire. The contrast between the blaze and the darkness around the stadium softens as the figure comes closer. As they do, it becomes apparent that part of the light does not come from the fire at all, but rather from the large broadsword in the figures right hand! Red, angry, veins run along the obsidian black blade.

Hailey’s eyes trace up the tip of the weapon, hanging barely above the ground, up across the metal of the blade itself to the arm, across the body wrapping in a dark uniform, and then the head of the shadow-wrapped figure. A dark cowl obscures the figure’s face, but the bottom half is visible. Pale, almost white, skin shines in the darkness. Her, for the shape of her body makes it evident even under the shroud that this is a woman, lips are painted black, little rivulets of ink lines running from the mouth in bizarre patterns down to the chin and continuing beyond out of sight. Then, the figure opens her mouth.

“Looking for her?”

Hailey’s eyes flit over to the woman’s other hand as she lifts it up, dragging the contents up off the ground to shine in the reflected light of the bonfire behind her. It takes Eldritch a moment to recognize the face under all the bruises. When she does, she pulls back in surprise.

“The Queen of Hearts!” she gasps.

Then, the scene in front of her flickers and the woman’s arm appears back at her side. Lifting it up again she once again says, “-for her?”

“W-what?” Eldritch says, now doubly shocked.

The mouth curves into a cruel smile.

The mouth curves into a cruel smile. “Confused? Let me make things clearer. I just took care of your errand for tonight. This is the part where you thank me.” Her voice is hollow, with a faint echo to it that seems almost supernaturally intense bouncing off the concrete of the stadium.

“I wouldn’t have done that,” Eldritch gestures to the beaten form of the Queen.

“Oh,” the cowl-covered woman says, letting go of the Queen’s hair and letting her body flop to the ground. “You mig-”

“Oh,” the cowl-covered woman says, letting go of the Queen’s hair and letting her body flop to the ground. “You might be surprised at what you’re capable of. Wanna find out together?”

Eldritch shakes her head, a hint of anger showing through. “No. And what’s with this whole repeating thing? You keep flickering or looping or whatever.”

The woman shrugs, and raises her broadsword to point at Eldritch. “I’m not exactly supposed to be here. So I’m a little out of sync, and I keep flickering -flickering- as a result. But there’s an easy fix.”

Taking on a defensive stance, Eldritch retorts, “That’s not my problem.”

“Actually, it is.” The woman steps forward, leaving the Queen lying on the ground behind her. “You came here for information on Coven. I tell you all their secrets, even the ones you don’t even know to ask about, but first you have to fight me.”

“-even the ones you don’t even know to ask about, but first you have to fight me.”

“You’re crazy!” Eldritch replies. “You did all this just to get the chance to fight me?”

The woman shrugs. “What can I say? I can’t think of anyone that I’d be better matched with.”

“Fine,” Eldritch says grimly.

Transforming her dagger into a sword similar to the one her new enemy wields, Eldritch races forward. As she closes in, she whispers a spell and kicks the ground spewing dirt and turf into the air. Then, with a magically infused leap, she closes the gap and swings the blade at her enemy!

Steel meets steel with a crash as the two blades collide. Eldritch bounces back, thrown off away by her foe’s parry. After collecting her footing, she leaps back into the fray with a wild swing.

Meeting her challenge, the other woman raises her blade and parries Eldritch back. Then she grasps that handle with both hands and swings it in a powerful arc that leaves a trail of red lightning!

Bringing her own blade up to block, Hailey feels the impact reverberate through her arm as the sword smashes into hers. Gritting her teeth, she stumbles but barely manages to stay on her feet.

“Poor choice,” the woman says with a wicked smile.

Then her body flickers. A moment later, Hailey feels the impact reverberate through her arm as the sword smashes into hers for a second time. This time, the attack is too much and Eldritch hits the ground with a crunch.

“Poor choice, like I said.” The woman steps back, giving Eldritch a chance to struggle to her feet.

Huffing as she struggles to her feet, Eldritch asks, “What, what is that?”

“I told you,” the woman says with a hauntingly familiar smirk, “I’m not supposed to be here. The universe keeps trying to kick me out, but I’m not so easy to get rid of. Y-”

“-I’m not so easy to get rid of. You’ll learn. After all, I did.”

Hailey steps back a few feet, creating some distance between her and the mystery woman. “That doesn’t make any sense! Who are you? And how did you know I would be here?”

“How did I know?” The woman chuckles as she walks forward, letting the light of the bonfire play across her cowl. “Because I know.” Then she reaches up and pulls back the cowl.

Hailey gasps, recoiling in shock and terror! “H-how?!”

The woman in front of her flickers.

“Because I know.” Then she reaches up and pulls back the cowl. “Isn’t that right, Hailey?”

Reflected in the flickering light of the fire is a face intimately familiar to Hailey, one she sees every day. Although twisted, pale, and covered in black lines, the face staring back at her with a mocking expression is none other than her own!

How is this possible? And what could it mean? Find out next time in… “Fire in the Dark!”