Chapter two: the wisdom of a past life
Abby Sciuto sat up in her coffin gasping for breath it was the same dream again only with crystal clarity detail and scratch and sniff effects. It was not often that she got these types of dreams, but this dream had been so real that she almost thought it was a memory. Getting out of her coffin she walked around, trying to process the dream, there was a woman with long blond hair that wore dark blue and white armor, and a dark blue mist telling her that it’s her sister in arms. Listening to the mist, it told her that ‘The call to Arms’ was sounding and each armor was returning to the spirit who bore it before. But that there enemy was more powerful then Talpa was and instead of concentrating on one small area he is plunging the world into darkness.
The dream showed the past and it was so real, she could smell the air and feel the chill. The blue mist then went further, sighting that the enemy had already obtained one of the more powerful Warlord armors, that in this case was necessary for her mystical Armor to form on her as well as her wepond so she could use her magic attack.
She was then showing the previous armor bearers, the Ronin’s which she strangely enough knew there names to be Ryo, Cye, Kento, Sage, and the mist identified himself as the dark blue clad Ronin warrior of Strata Rowan. The dream ended in showing what would happen if the call to arms was not heeded, particularly the mist showed her the NCIS headquarters and entire naval base it was on destroyed.
“The enemy wants chaos and he wants power, it’s up to us to stop him. Know this others have and will heed the call just as they did before hand. Will you heed the call?”
Abby considered that this all could be a dream, but morally she thought if it was not and she did not heed it, what would that make her as a person? Turning fully towards the mist she smiled, Gibbs would do it. Gibbs would heed a call to arms, even at his age he would heed it, who was she to go against such sound advice?
“How will I know how to fight with the armor?” She asked with a smile. The mist began to pules with energy, before it answered, “I am you and you are the reborn me. My wisdom is your wisdom. Such as it was and such as it always will be, its what we Ronin’s of Strata do best, we are wise, it takes wisdom to understand the visions we get, when in female form.”
Abby smiled thinking back on the feeling she had when the mist and encircled her, caressing her skin and warming her body. Knowledge came to her mind and when she woke she felt she knew what was going on. She understood the mist was her spirit, the part of her spirit that had been attached to the Armor of Strata, just as the mist had indicated.
She also knew the armor felt a companion armor very close to her. So she started to think about the people around her, Gibbs, Tony, Tim and Ziva, but she could not figure Ziva with an armor like hers. If Kate was still alive Kate might go for it with a little talking and a lot of time. Silently she hoped it was Timothy McGee. She and he had been walking around one-another for a long time, geeking off one another often enough for him to have and hold her attention, for short periods of time. She was sure she liked him, and at times felt like she loved him. But they were like ping pong balls bouncing around and uncertain of what was to come next.
But going over the armor’s, the mist had given her, she knew the woman she saw in her dream was Torrent, and she was Strata, go figure the first ones called are water and sky. But then she saw Ryan, his armor colors made her go pale, the enemy had the Armor of Venom, that was one of the more deadly armors, due to the fact it could poison an enemy as easy as kill it.
Getting to the kitchen she fixed herself a warm cup of hot coco, seeing as how it was only three thirty in the morning. She knew she could get more sleep but questioned whether or not she wanted to. Sleep meant more memories and she was already overwhelmed with a small dose of them, Rowan of the armor Strata was not a idol guy, he was a genius. Not to mention as a Armor spirit it understood that being female with the same armor on indicated more difficultly not less, she had to have a warlord Armor present to call forth her own full body armor as well as wepond.
Her Armor of Strata without a Warlords presence was not reachable, but she did have access to an area of magical attacks, one of which looked like a shining arrow. Only thing was she had to say the words of incantation, ‘Dark Star Arrow’. Which made her feel stupid but the effect was awesome.
Getting up she figured that she should start getting ready for work anyways. She climbed into the shower and promptly started to scrub like her life depended on it. Just trying to compile information on their enemy made her feel dirty, but she also knew she should look for the face she saw. Her sister in arms will need her, she just knew they were going to need their numbers and the other three Ronin’s at the very lest.
Timothy McGee awoke clutching his chest and gasping for breath as if he had run a marathon. Looking to his clock it was five-fifteen in the morning. Knowing he would not be getting any more sleep he started to walk around.
The last few weeks he had been having strange dreams that woke him up out of a dead sleep. His dreams showed a man with a staff that shined light and clanged rather loudly. His dreams were also dark, showing three others with him, his ‘brother’s in arms’ as his dream self showed.
Nazza was a crazy fellow but when they were not competing for Talpa’s pride, they got along well, Anubis and Rajaur were on and again and off again for the first few centuries. Being friends with the competition was not easy, even though he was the head ‘Warlord’ as his dreams depicted. They also showed him a battle in a place that his dream self called ‘The human world’. He felt tears coming into his eyes as he went over the more resent dreams, he had died. Giving his life for a woman called Kayura, that had left him crying over the sheer emotional overload that was that moment.
The images and memories confused him at first, but now he just felt an overwhelming urge to type. He grabbed a floppy disk labeled dreams and set to typing out everything he remembered. It was odd how much better he felt after a hour of continues typing, getting everything documented properly.
He then set to the internet and found the meanings of each name in his dream, each color he saw and description of each person. It ended up where he had over two hundred pages of information on traditions and culture, on sword smithing and armor, each armor it turned out had a purpose and was harnessed by one particular soul.
The armor he wore in his dreams was Cruelty, with the virtue of Loyalty, which fit him perfectly. Once he was on the team he had been very loyal to Gibbs and the team, even putting up with the high school like banter and pranks. However, what his dreams also showed was that a male armor barrier and a female armor barrier were different, and needed one another.
A female barrier can use the more magical side of the armor, instead of the more weponds based like a male barrier. While the male one could only tap into the magic through the weponds, only so much without the aid of a female warrior’s mental help and physical presence. There was some kind of barrier put in place for that so that both sides would need one another.
He wondered about the strange things that had been happening to him the last few weeks, it was like his mind was growing in ways he could not understand, when the dreams first started he would hear whispers in his dreams and then the images and feelings, the memories would come clearly and sharpen to crystal clarity.
Traffic can be a pain . . .
Abby grumbled as her car would not start, so she called Timothy to give her a ride. A luck would have it they hit a huge traffic jam, so they called in. Gibbs was not happy but Abby liked the idea he was only angry because of the time but was glade they called in and explained the situation. He simply stated that he wanted them there safe and sound. Abby was sitting in the passenger seat and smiling. McGee made nice comments about her outfit, and even gave her a kiss on the face.
Traffic however, was not what it seemed as explosions came and strange armored people came out of no where attacking innocent by standards as they approached Timothy’s car. Abby and him got out of the car to get out of the way, but the armored people only sought them out individually as they moved around.
Abby was hit with a strange mist that made her glow a dark blue, her eyes charging with the color as a mist formed around her body forming white and dark blue armor as she readied to hit one of the armored enemy. His own body felt warm as he moved and dodged the attacking enemy, he never noticed how a TV crew also caught in traffic took the opportunity to film the event. Once the armor was in place it was as if a switch was flipped and he attacked back with punches and fast kicks.
Abby on the other hand seemed to be equipped with something else that made itself first out of dark blue mist and then shot to the enemy making them explode for a second then turn into a black orb no more then two inches around, after she called out ‘Black hole prison!’ The enemy then started to disappear into the black ord like candy at a caravel as she used the attack once and every armored enemy within the first ones distance was sucked into it, before the black hole disappeared.
The numbers went down, but Abby was looking worn out from using that magic so much. So Timothy did what seemed to come natural, he jumped in and ready to kick the remaining number who were after Abby’s butt, he ripped them apart, until one wrapped him up in chains and through him into wood planks he never saw coming. Abby’s voice calling for him was the last thing he heard until the doors closed behind him.
Abby watched as the remaining armored enemies disappeared like dust, leaving her and the rest of the people stuck in a traffic jam in a eerie silence as one figure came into there sights,
“I see Strata is awakened as well as Torrent, know this Ronin Brat, you and your fellow warriors, shall soon be destroyed! We have Venom and now Cruelty, soon we shall have all four and your world will turn to dust!” Abby growled low and glared at the enemy with her best Gibbs glare,
“Bring it on Dynasty trash!”, She found herself shouting at him before he vanished laughing as hard as he could at her. Abby then moved to sit in Tim’s car and lock the doors. Traffic would be way late now, a few people called law enforcement which were coming in a chopper to get everyone’s statements. Abby grabbed her long coat and extra cloths. Rushing to put them on to hide the sub armor she had on. The last things she wanted to do now was have to answer fifty million questions.
Abby waited quietly and when the officers came Abby knew Gibbs would be with them. He rushed to her side with Tony and Ziva trailing behind him. Gibbs knocked on the car window, catching her attention and frowning as he saw the tear stained face.
“Abby?” Gibbs stated as she opened the door. Gibbs frowned when she dove into his shoulder and started to violently sob,
“I could not stop it Gibbs. I was trying my hardest and they took him!”
The prison we are in . . . .
Timothy McGee felt nauseous, he closed his eyes until he felt himself fall on a hard floor. Opening his eyes he took note of his attire, the armor or rather sub armor was similar to the one in his dreams called Shuten. Standing he looked around. The room felt strange and dark, as if its purpose was to entrap the mind and weaken the spirit. He walked to a strange object with a hard black shell. Touching it the shell charged, as if his touch hurt it.
Timothy moved away from it and noted the paintings in the room. His gut dropped as several of them were depictions from his dreams. So when the chanting started he moved to the other side of the room, but found he had no means to escape. The floors started with black mist that got thicker and thicker until it formed a black jell that slowly started to crawl over to him. He did his best to avoid the jell but it found him hours later once he had tired out. It covered him and went into his nose and eyes, its went down his throat. It was freezing cold and it made him ach, it stung his eyes and body until waves of pain started to overcome his mind. The waves came to him like the waters of the sea crushing against the sand. It hurt so much his body went limp even though his mind was still fully active.
He felt the jell entering his body and it went still, as if its whole purpose was to just linger in his body. But his eyes were still open and saw the people come into the rom after the black jell had formed a shell over his whole body and turned invisible.
Timothy watched as the group separated, one touching a wall with the only depiction on the walls that was in Timothy’s dreams, a strange hollowed out log appeared. The second group picked him up and placed him in it, they chanted and a shell covered the top. Timothy did not know how to feel but knew the light left the place where he was and he soon became very afraid. He never liked the dark, but this place made him feel very afraid of it as the chanting made it all seem sinister. That was before oblivion started to overtake him. Timothy clung to the pain but found it left him. Nothingness left him weak against the onslaught of the abyss and he fell into it.
The aftermath . . .
Abby locked her lab and refused to talk to anyone, Timothy’s capture had hit her hard as well as what the man had said. She had not shown the others her armor or told them about her dreams. She had only told Kate about them when she didn’t feel it was very important.
Ducky however, managed to get into the lab.
“Abigail what troubles you?” he came out and asked. Abby moved and frowned when she saw his worry stricken face,
“Oh Ducky man, I should have told someone. But it was all so hart to do, the last person I ever really told about a lot of my dreams was . . . was Kate and she is not here now. Ziva is not like Kate, I don’t think she would understand if I tried.”
Ducky gently eased her into a hug, “What is troubling you my dear?” He asked, knowing that Jethro and the others did not know about the passage way to Abby’s lab from the Autopsy supply closet. He had found it completely by ascendent. Abby slowly disingaged herself from his arms and stood,
“I can tell you but I am sure you would not believe me. She stated then moved to her shirt and pulled it up, to revel her sub armor. Removing the rest of her added clothing, the full existent of the sub armor was shown. She then looked Ducky in the eyes,
“For the last two months I have had strange dreams that I could swear were real, every single night. Dreams that show me as someone else, with a mist of dark blue talking to me. It called me Strata. Then last night it asked me if I would help, I accepted. Then today when the goons in armor attacked, it was like a switch was through and my sub armor came on all by itself. I know that something dark, something evil is coming and I am one of those chosen to fight in the battle. I know* that the enemy and our world are balanced now. There are two Ronin Warriors awakened, and now two Warlords awakened, but captured by the enemy. I have to find Torrent and the others before the enemy gets a foot hold on this world.”
Ducky sat back and then examined the sub armor very carefully. It did not stretch at all and was harder then even the hardest metal he had ever seen. There was no zipper and there was no other way she could have gotten into the armor, no places were they become layers. It was as if the whole suet was made as once peace with groves and other places welded so perfectly you would have thought it was made that way on her skin. But the tempatures required would have burned her to the point of needing medical attention.
“Abigail, tell me about your dreams, what are they trying to tell you?” Ducky ventured wanting clarification. Abby looked out the window, and sighed,
“Darkness is on its way. This time will be different. Talpa wanted Kyoto first and then the world, but this time the place of power is different. The United States is the power house of military and population numbers. The enemy will be harvesting soon.” she started and then hugged herself,
He wants my armor and the other nine, well Nine if you count the armor that was forced into a seal by Shuten last time. But the armors are power, magical power Ducky. Each armor controls a facet of exsistance, with all of them one can destroy entire solar systems and with no resistance. That’s why I have to find the others. I know Torrent is in Miami Florida, I saw her last night. I have to start a recognition program running, maybe she is in the system.”
Ducky watched as she started the program, decked out from the neck down was an odd way for her to dress with no black on. But he at lest got her to open up. Walking to her he was ready to venture further when Tony and Jimmy managed to get into the lab.
“Abby what the . . . ?” Jimmy began, but Abby stiffened and looked at him with eyes that did not seem her own. Jethro and Tony were not ready for that. For a few tense moments the room was dead silent. That is until Abby’s computer beeped out catching her attention. The screen showed a CSI at Miami DADE crime lab, smiling Abby wrote it up and then was ready to rush up to the directors office. But Jethro got in her way,
“Abby want to tell us what’s going on?” He asked in that tone which always caught her attention before. Abby was silent for a few moments but frowned,
“I have to find the others and that’s all I can say right now. I have to get time off to go and find them, or everything falls.” She stated and moved around him in a hurry. Jethro looked to Ducky,
“Jethro I believe our dear Abigail is on a mission. Strangely enough to save the world and her dreams have been showing her that it’s real. She feels there is an approaching evil and like a mother bear defending her young. She is chosen to fight for mankind, strange enough. I was going to get more out of her but you barged in at the wrong moment. The outfit you see her wearing is no costume.”
Tony snored, “She is out to save the world . . . has she been watching too many Apocalypse movies?” Jethro smacked Tony’s head hard with that comment and walked after Abby. But Jimmy was still frozen in place, his face shocked, Abby had never looked at him with such intently before. As if a part of him was like a peace of evidence under her microscope, she wanted to know what it was. He wondered if going home early would make the cold feeling in his gut go away, but once Dr. Mallard’s voice caught him it went away slowly.
Stay tuned for the next instalment. Next time on Call to arms!
Armor of Hardrock, Armor of Wildfire!
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