Two old women, they were retired and rich. They didn't have to worry about anything, until a freak from the future had to ruin it! Now a cynic needs to draw her sword and take out the new threat to not just her, but the world! A few suprises turn up, along with the return of an old friend.

In The End, I Can Be Only Numb 3

The Irony

2045. The Opera continued on, with the voices carrying all over the theater. People were seated in their seats enjoying the opera being preformed in front of them. Then were two elderly women in one of the opera boxes, watching the play and the actors performing. "I’ve heard it’s over when the fat lady sings, but this is ridiculous!" One of the ladies said to her friend wearing thin-framed glasses. "I think we aren’t going to get out of here until were skeletons." The woman with the thin-framed glasses said to her friend. "Speak for yourself. Not of all us have the choice of living forever." The women shot back at her friend. "I think I’ll stick to being an old lady than being a teenager. The first few times were bad enough." The lady wearing the thin framed glasses. "Remember Ex-Highlander." A voice in her head said. She recognized it! "Aunt Amy?" she asked herself. "Remember who you are." The woman fell asleep. She started dream, on a project years back when she was a scientist. The project was theoretical though. Time travel. A Time traveling device. "Beware, Ex-Highlander. It may not be so impossible." The voice said. "Aunt Amy! Wait!" she tried to call out to the voice.

"Daria! The show’s over! You okay?" the sixty-three year old woman asked as some of her once black hair dangled in front of her. "I’m okay, Jane. Just sleeping. I want to visit Trent." She said to her friend. "Okay, Daria. Let’s go see Trent." She said to her friend and helped to the car outside. Having all the memories of thousands of immortals can take its toll on you, especially when you’re the last. "You know, you’d think some more immortals would show up by now. You know, second generation or something." Jane said as they crawled into their car. "Don’t start, Jane. It’s been long night." Daria said as she activated the hover engine and drove off.

On the other side of the mega metropolis Lawndale, a group of four people dressed in black wearing night vision goggles broke in to a industrial Hydro Power Plant, Cobalt Incorporated. Years ago it claimed to have an under ground spring powerful enough to power a power plant. Some environmentalists had their doubts about it. They sneaked in through what looked to be a large sewage pipe that led right into it. Once in, they were able to get to a computer terminal that hooked into the main computer core. "Hurry up! We don’t know when a guard might show up!" one of the people told the one at the terminal. "I’m hacking as fast I can!" the person said in a slight monotone voice. "GOT IT! Wait a minute, spring levels normal? That can’t be right! I’m going to implant the bug now and get the real deal here!" the person said to the group.

"GUARD! There’s a guard coming! We got to book! NOW!" the look out said to them. "Wait, let me get into the rest of the system!" the person at the terminal said to him. "Is the bug in?" one person asked. "Yes, but-" "Then let’s go!" the person said and grabbed the operator by the arm! They quickly exited the way they came! By the time the alarm sounded, they were already out of the pipe and making there way to safety! "Remember, meet at safe house by midnight the day after tomorrow!" the leader said to them. "Got it!" they all said. One made his way to a car. "You two, follow me!" the leader said and ran into a different direction.

Hours later, they were changing behind a Dumpster, all three! "Could have been any slower?" the leader, a tall black haired man asked them. "Sorry, you want me to be a cyborg instead?" the woman, a woman about five foot three with pale blue eyes and raven hair. "Lay off her, Matt. She was going as fast as she could." The other man said. He was about six foot four and had brown and green eyes. "Tom, she’s your sister! You explain how important it was for us be in and out with the data!" the man said as put on his shoes and put in his bag. "Listen, I put in the bug! We can uplink and find it!" the woman said to him. "But the password may be useless by then! Let’s just get out of here!" he said and they walked out! "LOOK OUT!" a voice shouted as a car almost hit them! "AMY? TOM? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" a voice asked from car. "WHY IS MY SON, MATT, WITH YOU?" another voice asked from car. The three looked at the passengers in the car. "Hi mom." They all said at once.

2435. Lawndale Towers. "General Katana?" a person wearing a full-bodied black suit, hair like a porcupine, and wearing thick black goggles asked as twin brother followed him. "Gentlemen. I’m so glad you finally showed up. I have mission for you two, bumbling idiots. I need you to go back and kill an immortal. Code named the Highlander." General Katana, a tall man with a face of back-stabbing thoughts in his head and long hair, said to him. "But she doesn’t matter. The council said-" Before could finish, Katana’s gloved hand punched him across the cheek. "Just go back and do it. If you try to claim the prize, I’ll kill you both." He said. In an instant, both looked as if they had been teleported while both laughing an eerie laugh that could make your flesh crawl!

2045. Mega Metropolis Lawndale. As they all drove car, two bolts of lightning looked like they shot straight down to a specific spot. Daria was wondering what they were doing, but then was wracked with pain! "Not again!" she said as lightning in a cloudless sky flashed! "DARIA!"

"MOM!"

Jane looked around, and saw no clouds but lightning! "Oh no! Not again!" Jane said to herself. Soon, the lightning was gone, and Daria was gasping and pulled over. "Talk about De Ja Vu." Amy said to herself. Daria was getting her breath, and noticed the voices were still there! The prize was still there! What was going on? Then her radar picked up that feeling! Two immortals! Immortals were here, and she still had the prize! "What’s going on?" she asked herself!

Then the laughing was heard by all! They turned to see two twins with what looked like quills for hair and dark goggles. "What the hell?" Amy asked herself. "HIGHLANDER!" one said in a deep gruff voice. "Oh," Daria started "DAMN!" Jane finished. "Everyone out, NOW!" Daria shouted! The three kids piled out while Jane and Daria went to the trunk and pulled out two Katana swords. "I’m too old for this!" Jane said. "Speak for yourself." Daria said. "Let me do it!" one squeaky voice said. "Highlander, you’re going to die!" One said and floated toward them on what looked like a weird manhole! "On three?" Daria asked Jane. "On three." Jane said.

"One."

"Two."

"THREE!" both said, swiped, and knocked out the floating manhole! The man went flying headfirst into a brick wall! A crunch was heard as his head was caved in and neck snapped! "My Arthritis!" Jane said as she rubbed her lower back. Then they heard another snap! They looked and saw man get up and pop his neck! He looked with a smile you’d love to hate! "Immortal?" Jane asked. "Yup." Daria said. "Okay. He’s dead." Jane said as they attacked. Both experts blocked the amateur’s blows and attacks. Each thrust blocked by their blade on both sided. Then he pulled a trick. He kicked Jane in the stomach and head butted Daria! He was then over Jane, sword raised high. "Say bye!" he said in his squeaky voice. "HEY! CROW FACE!" the man turned behind him. "You looked!" Daria said and stabbed him through the chest! Then kicked him off of it! He landed right on some train tracks! Then the train came! Both Daria and Jane turned their heads not to look. When they looked back, there was his body, and there was his mangled head four yards away. "Not this crap again." Daria said as she some electricity emerging form his wound. "Oh crap!" Jane said and covered her head.

It hit like a tidal wave! Explosions hit everywhere as the Quickening passed through her and around her! At the other end of street, a tanker was passing through when the quickening hit and made the engine explode! The driver bailed out as the tanker began to roll backwards! Meanwhile, the quickening stopped and fell to her knees. Jane looked up and saw her gasping for breath. "How come you look younger?" Jane asked her. "MOM! AUNT JANE! LOOK OUT!" Tom shouted! They looked to see the back end of tanker! "Eep." Daria said as it exploded, engulfing them with it!

"MOM!" Amy and Tom screamed! "MOMMY!" Matt screamed as he saw the explosion happen! They heard other guy laughing his head off! When they heard it end abruptly, they looked up. They couldn’t believe what they saw. Jane, and Daria, walking out with only a few smoke stains here and there! They also looked to be about eighteen years old! "Let me guess, I’m immortal?" "Surviving a fiery death looking like were teenagers again? A slight possibility." "Good. Let’s kick some ass!" Jane said and flexed her sword arm, sword in hand! "Uh oh." The other man said.

The other man bent down, and wings extended from a backpack he was wearing! He then started flying off toward Jane and Daria, with his sword drawn! Daria and Jane ducked, and Jane saw a disconnected power cable. "Keep him occupied!" Jane shouted to her. "What?" Daria asked her. "Say goodbye, Highlander!" the guy said to her as he flew closer.

When Daria looked back, she blocked a blow and sliced the guy along his leg. "Why? You going somewhere?" she asked him. When he circled around again, he saw the dark haired woman just standing there. "Come on, Crow Face! Come and get me!" she shouted at him. He started flying toward her. "Come on! COME ON!" Jane kept shouting to him! When he was close to her, she stepped to her left, lifted and pulled her sword with her, and took his head with the power line attached to her sword! He kept flying until his body hit a fuse box! Then exploded a little. "Wow! So that’s what it’s like." Jane said to herself. "Hold on, Jane. That’s not the worst part of it." Daria said as she looked at the headless corpse. "What do you mean?" Jane asked. Then her eyes went wide! "Uh oh!" Jane said.

Jane screamed in pain and terror as loud as she could! Her body racked with pain, her mind flooding with images and thoughts! Things she never knew were now second nature to her as everything flooded around and through her! This time, windows exploded, power boxes blew, and car engines exploded into pieces! Then, nothing! The quickening was gone as soon as it started! She stood there for a minute, eyes wide with shock and fear. "Ow." She mumbled, and then collapsed into a heap! "MOM!" Matt screamed as he ran to his mother! "She’s fine. Just tired. Always happens with their first quickening." Daria said her nephew. "What the hell are you two?" Matt asked his aunt who was now looking to be the same age as him! "Matt, we have to tell you something. A long story." Amy said to him as she came from behind him. "Sirens, we’ve got to go!" Daria said as her son, Tom picked up her aunt and Amy got her sword.

2435. "DAMN! I should have known better! Well, if you want something done, do it yourself!" General Katana said as he pressed a few buttons. He stood still, and teleported into the past, carrying a weird suitcase.

2045. "My head! You could have warned me!" Jane said to her friend. "You saw what happened to me all those times it happened to me. You’d think you’d learn." Daria said as she slipped on her old black framed glasses, her other ones being burned beyond recognition. "Hey! Up to about two hours, I was sixty-one year old woman with a bad memory! What a hell of a way to discover a fountain of youth!" Jane said as she continued to lay on couch with a cold wash cloth on her forehead. "Okay, what’s going on?" Matt demanded them! "Matt, sweetie, your Aunt and I are immortals. Until a while ago, Aunt Daria was last. Since I got my butt burned, I found out I was one too." She said as she removed the wash cloth. "Why the sword, then?" Matt asked his mother. "To help her if another showed up. Or two. You see, you can only can kill an immortal by cutting his head off." Jane said as she sat up. "Okay. What was that lightning crap that fried everything?" was Matt’s next question. "I’ll answer that. It’s a bolt of energy containing an immortals whole life. Memories, experiences, etc. When you take an immortals head, you take his memories too. I have about a few thousand years worth in my head!" Daria answered him. "So those two weirdoes were immortal?" Tom asked his mom and Aunt. "Yup. Of coarse with me being an immortal, you mom’s now lost the prize." Jane said to herself as she stretched her soar arms. "The prize?" Tom asked them. "You see, the immortals never grow old, or have children. They stay the same age they were when the died the first time. They can only die when their heads are cut off. Anyway, the prize is what the immortals fight for. For some immortals have got in their head that there can be only one. Whoever is left standing can hear all the thoughts, voices, and dreams of everybody in the world. They can choose to grow old, have kids, and die of old age. Or choose to live forever. Your mother won the prize.

"But if another immortal shows up, the prize is up for grabs again. With me being here, your mom doesn’t have it anymore." Jane finished. "That’s not true. I still have it." Daria said. "WHAT?" Jane asked her. "I still have it. I just can’t grow old. I don’t know why. Even when those two showed up, I still had it. Still do. Now, I just don’t know." Daria said to them. "Okay, we need help." Amy said as she climbed down the stairs, overhearing the last part of their conversation. "If only Aunt Amy were here." Daria whispered quietly. Then the radar picked up something! In the very apartment! Jane sensed it too! "Let me guess, immortal radar?" Jane asked her. "Yeah. Take them upstairs, now!" Daria said to them as she drew sword. "Kids, upstairs right now!" Jane told them. "We are adults you know!" Matt said. "Not to us you’re not!" Jane told them! Daria shut off the lights and waited. She listened, and heard footsteps behind her! She spun and blocked the blade coming down on her! "Greetings, Ex-Highlander!" The person said, and showed her face in the window light to show AMY BARKSDALE! "AUNT AMY? HOW?" Daria asked with wide eyes. "All the miracle of cloning." She said and began to sword fight with her! Swipes blocked, lunges adverted, two very skilled masters! "You’ve remembered everything I taught you and then some!" Amy told her. "I’ve had a lot of practice lately!" Daria said and started to fight her again. "No substitute for experience!" Amy said as they battled on. "Experience? What experience? You’ve been dead for forty-six years!" Daria told her. "So what?" Amy asked as she made a swipe, missed and knocked a dent in a replica of Michael Angelo’s David! "Watch it!" she told her! "Watch what?" Aunt Amy asked her. "Watch what? The sculpture!" she told her. "That thing! It’s a cheap replica! Now I know you are being ridiculous!" she told her niece. Then Daria blocked her blow by purring her blade behind her head! "Wait a second, that’s not?" Aunt Amy started to ask. Daria then quickly raised her sword up, flipping Amy’s arm and sword up, and bring her blade to rest half a centimeter from her neck.

"Now explain!" Daria told you. "I just did. Cloning." She told her. "Cloning?" Daria asked as she flipped on the lights. "But that’s illegal! I mean, how?" Daria was asking. "AMY?" Jane asked as she and the rest were coming down the stairs. "JANE, YOU’RE AN IMMORTAL?" Amy asked her seeing how young she looked. "Y-yeah. How? You’re dead!" Jane said.

"Gather around and I’ll tale you a tale. A tale of corruption from the future and the resurrection of an immortal legend! You see, I’m a clone from the year 2435. Thanks to genetic memory, I still remember who I am. I even have a pain around my neck from when Kurgan got me!" she said while rubbing her neck. "How do you remember that?" Little Amy asked her. "You are?" Old Amy asked her. "My daughter, your name sake. Amy Jane Morgendorffer." Daria told her no longer dead immortal grandmother. "Amy? Wow!" Aunt Amy said. "Anyway, they got my hair from my dead body. Of coarse that was a few hundred years ago. They cloned me to see what I remembered." Amy said. "They?" Jane asked. "The council of immortals. Turns out, there’s are different generations of immortals. The gathering has started for Jane’s generation in my time. And the council is ruling over it with an iron fist. At least, one of them. General Katana. Worst boyfriend I ever had. Anyway, he pumped me for information on who won the prize. I didn’t know. So I escaped, and got shot to crap while doing it and fell in a drainage ditch! Woke up an hour later, way down stream. Turns out I was immortal, AGAIN! They didn’t know that. So I looked up Kurgen in every database, and found nothing. But when I looked up little Daria, I found she had been the one to win prize. She would have died of old age if Katana didn’t send those idiots!" Aunt Amy said as she fixed herself a glass of wine.

"How did you know about them?" Jane asked her. "I sneaked back in to get Katana, and saw him send the porcupine brothers. So while he was out, I came back to help. Now I find your friend is a next generation immortal, and you’re back to square one! You’ve got the prize, just can’t grow old and die like everyone else. You’re stuck like this until one of next generation immortals wins their prize!" Aunt Amy told them and took a swing of wine. Daria clutched her sword hard, got up, and walked to the other end of the room. "SON OF A B@*CH!" Daria screamed, spun, and beheaded a replica sculpture of Michelangelo David! "NO! NO! It’s not fair!" Daria shouted as her son and daughter rushed to her side as she started to cry. "She took that well." Aunt Amy said and offered Jane a glass of wine. Jane took the bottle and took a big swing instead.

The subway was traveling normally with the same boring passengers. All just wanting to get out as soon as they could. Especially the conductor, who wanted to go home and sleep. Then he heard lightning! Lightning in a subway? Then something crashed right behind him! He turned and saw a heap of a man. He had to be dead from that fall! Then he moved! He could hear joints popping and cracking, coming together! Then he jumped up like he had instant sugar rush! "THAT WAS GREAT! WHAT A RUSH! Where the hell am I?" he looked outside the window. "Oh, fun time!" the man said and elbowed the man in his nose, causing the bridge to snap and jab his brain! The conductor fell instantly, and the man sped the train to full speed! Laughing as he heard passengers screaming! Especially when the train crashed into a brick wall, and through it! "Last stop." He said as he stepped out of the wreckage.

"How is she?" Aunt Amy asked Amy. "She’s all right. She’s sleeping. You know you pissed her off! She didn’t want to live forever! She wanted to join dad, and grandpa and grandma! Now she’s has to wait who knows how long!" Amy shouted her aunt! "I’m sorry, but I had to stop Katana! And something else!" Amy told her niece. "Something else? What something else?" Amy asked Aunt. "I’m no longer apart of Daria’s generation of immortals. I’m apart of Katana’s. We are the last immortals of out generation. If I win the prize, I can grow old and die. Have a normal life! I’m glad Daria had it! But I hate being immortal! I can’t stand it anymore! I wake up screaming in the night, remembering how Kurgen killed my husband, Conner! And remembering how he killed your mother and me! I just want to be human!" Aunt Amy said, tears flowing from her eyes! "I can understand that." Amy said to her Aunt. "How?" Aunt Amy asked her. "Upstairs, first door on the left." Amy said and went to check on her brother and cousin.

Aunt Amy went upstairs to the room her niece had told her, and gasped at what she saw! It was everything she had collected her immortal life! Journal’s, Antiques, swords, everything! Daria had kept it for her! She went to a recliner near the fireplace, and noticed a sketchpad that was dog-eared in many spots. She opened to see sketched of her Conner! Different parts of their lives! From when they met, to even to their last years as husband and wife! "You know, it’s like I lived it instead of you." Daria said behind her. "I know, Daria. One of the very many pains of having to go through the quickening. So many memories you enjoy, and you realize that half of them aren’t yours! And watch your friends go, and new ones arrive just to see them die. Not even their hair is left on some of my old friends." Aunt Amy said to her. "Am I really going to stay like this until the prize is won by these new immortals?" Daria asked her. "I’m afraid so. Maybe we’ll age together if I can stay alive long enough to kill Katana." Aunt Amy said to her as she put the drawing pad up.

"Is he the only reason you came back?" Daria asked her. "No. One’s to warn you. The winner of the next prize is here, but not immortal yet. Katana wasn’t after you, but the winner. He wanted the prize, all of them. He just didn’t know about you until I opened my mouth. I’m such a hopeless romantic!" Amy said as she sat down by the fire. "The old Wham, Bam, Thank you ma’am?" Daria asked as she sat on the couch next to her. "Yup, he did. The jerk! I’ll cut off his penis, then his head." Aunt Amy said and she shook her head. "There’s something else. I can tell." Daria said to her. "Katana, nor the immortal, isn’t the reason. What is it?" Daria asked her.

"The plant Amy, Tom, and Matt broke into is using the underground river to fuel their research. They are planning on building a cold fusion power core to power a gigantic shield that will cover the globe. The world will be covered in eternal night, and the corrupted council of immortals will take control over the U.N. and rule with an Iron Fist. Katana came back so he could start it early and make millions off of it. I came back to prevent that. And to keep Katana from making it happen early." Aunt Amy told her. "Shield? A global shield?" Daria asked her. "Yes, a global shield." Aunt Amy told her.

Daria got up and walked over to the window, and looked out of it. "Damn." Daria said to herself. "What is it?" Aunt Amy asked her. "A shield generator is a theory I came up with while I was working as a scientist. In case we ever the O-Zone layer. That was saved in my private files! They hacked my files an found my equations, my theories, I helped doom the future!" Daria said to herself as the shock hit her! "I got to go!" Daria said as she grabbed a jacket and ran out of the room! "DARIA!" Aunt Amy shouted to her. Too late, she heard the door close. "Oh, great!" Amy said to herself. She looked around the room and found her old sword or Daria’s sword now. She picked up and balanced it with one hand. Then the other, a few swinging tricks she taught herself, and brought it out leveled! "I missed this thing!" she said and put it back. "I wonder where the sword Conner gave me is." Aunt Amy said to herself and went looking around the house.

"Hey, Trent. Long time, no see." Daria said as she put flowers on the giant stone slab that contained the body of Trent Lane, Daria’s late husband. "You should see the kids. All grown up, and into Eco-terrorism. Tom still wants to restart a band and call it Mystic Slacker. In honor of his dad. Amy, she’s too much like us. Oh, and Jane’s an immortal. Go figure. I wish you were here, so you could maybe make this new guy’s ear drum’s bleed!" Daria said to Trent with a slight smile. Then she heard slow clapping. She looked up to see a middle-aged man with long hair and some kind of birthmark or scar on the left side of his face. "I always liked people who talked to the dead." He said and walked toward her. "The remains of your mortal husband? Nice, very artistic. So VERY DEAD!" he said, trying to piss her off, and it was working. "Let me guess, Katana? Right?" she asked. "General Katana, actually. Let me guess, Daria Morgendorffor, the Highlander! You won’t win the second prize from me. I won’t allow it." He told her. "I’m not interested. I had a long happy life, kids, a husband, a career, everything I wanted. I was ready to curl up and die, but then you send those two punks down here!" she told him. "What?" Katana asked her, puzzled. He was sure she wanted the other prize to go to the future, and stop the council! "I don’t want your damn prize! I don’t want to have anything more to do with your crazy rules of killing until one is left standing! I hate the idea of living forever! But you changed all that. Thanks to you, I’m back to square one! I’m am immortal. AGAIN!" She shouted to his face, making his eyes go wide with fear and embarrassment. "Well, crap!" Katana said to himself. "Why don’t you go back to your hell you call a future, and leave me the hell alone!" Daria told him. "I like this place too much. It has atmosphere. Something I could get used too." Katana said as he started to wipe his boot off on the grave of Trent. "GET OFF!" Daria shouted and dropped kicked him in the chest! "Remember the golden rule: Never fight on holy ground! And this is Holy Ground. Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust. If you don’t go out and use it, it’s going to rust!" he said to her, and disappeared. "Jerk." Daria muttered and wiped off the mud on Trent’s grave.

Martino Shipping warehouses. The place had been abandoned for years, Since Mr. DeMartino had his stroke, heart attack, and aneurysm all at the same time. Too much stress. Katana pulled up to the building in a taxi he had stolen. Perfect place he needed to be! Just in case, he hid his sword underneath the duster he was wearing. He didn’t want to kill too many people while he was getting in. Still, who knows? He might do it for fun. As he walked inside, all he found was an old crippled homeless person. Well, you can’t get everything you want. He looked around the place. It was old, dark, cold, and leaking water with cobwebs and mold growing everywhere. "Perfect place to call home." Katana said to himself. He traveled to the roof and looked out at the whole city. "I’m waiting Highlander. I’M WAITING!" he shouted out toward city.

Daria arrived home to the smell of lasagna. She knew it was a mistake to by a year’s worth of that frozen crap. She walked into the large living room to see Jane, Amy, Tom, & Matt eating the lasagna and talking to each other about something back in High School. "So, Kevin actually goes out and buys this little crappy motorcycle to show he’s a rebble. When he tries to do a trick to show he’s cool, he runs over and breaks the Tommy Sherman Memorial Tree and shatters his knee in the process!" Jane told them and all of them cracked up. "Too bad I don’t have Norman Rockwell with me." Daria said as she sat in a chair next to the couch. "Where did you run off to?" Amy asked her mother. "I visited your father. He says Hi." Daria sarcastically. She remembered the day Trent died. He was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to respirator. He had been an accident. The old Tank finally blew up, but Jesse and Trent were in it. Jesse wasn’t burned bad, but Trent was paralyzed from the waist down with third degree burns. "Hey, Daria. How’s it going?" he asked her. "Fine, just fine. Trent, they said –" she started. "I know. They told me. Listen, I’m sorry." Trent told her. "For what?" Daria asked her husband. "For not writing that music for yours and Jane’s project." He told her. "That old thing? Trent," Daria started again. "And, for dying on you like this. I wanted to spend forever with you. Looks like that’s not going to happen. What time is it?" Trent asked her. She checked her watch. "Seven o’clock." She told him. "Wow. Only seven o’clock in the evening, and I feel so sleepy." Trent told her and yawned. "Then sleep, Trent. Sleep. And remember I’ll always love you. Now, and forever." She said as Trent closed his eyes and squeezed her hand. Then, his grip loosened, and his hand let go of her. "Trent? Trent!" she said. Then the monitor flat lined. No pulse detected. Daria laid her head on her husband’s chest, and wept uncontrollably.

"Hey, Ex-HIGHLANDER!" a voice shouted and snapped out of it! She looked up to see Amy handing her a glass of tea. "Thanks, honey." She said. "I thought I told you to stop calling that." She said. "You were fourteen at the time." Daria told her daughter. "Well, now I’m forty-five!" she told her. "I’m sixty-one and Immortal. I’ll call you anything I want, deal with it!" she told her. They looked at each other for a minute, then cracked up laughing. "I’ll tell you one thing, Aunt Daria. You look pretty hot for a sixty-one year-old." Matt told her as he drank some strawberry soda. Jane spit out her tea at hearing her son saying that about his aunt! "MATT WIND LANE!" Jane said to him in a voice that echoed the room! Matt kind of sunk back in the chair. He hadn’t heard her shout that loud since she was fifty-five years old! "Daria just drank her tea and smiled at the way Jane was yelling at her son. "At least there are some perks about being immortal again." Daria said to herself. "Yeah, my boobs don’t droop anymore!" Jane said as she lifted her breasts a little. "MOM! JEEZ! SOME OF US DON’T WANT TO HEAR THAT!" Matt said to her. "Hey, it’s your fault. You’re are the only one I breast fed." Jane told her son. "MOM!" he yelled and moaned again. Everyone else just laughed at the situation.

Daria looked around, and noticed someone was missing. "Where’s Aunt Amy?" Daria asked everyone. "Don’t know, last time I saw her she was playing on your computer, then went into your room of collectibles, then leave. It wasn’t too long after you left." Amy said to her. Daria thought, and her eyes went wide at one possible conclusion! "SHE DIDN’T!" Daria said to herself.

Martino Warehouses. Amy Barksdale had followed Katana. She had waited for a while, and heard him shouting that he was waiting. "All right. You want me, you got me you gruesome psycho." She said to herself, as she drew the sword Connor had made for her. She found it with Jane’s things. She opened the doors and looked around. No sign, but he could be lurking in the shadows. Then she heard blood-curdling scream coming from above! When she looked up, she saw a man falling! Then abruptly halt with a sick snap! Then old man had been hung from the very top! "You twisted bastard!" Amy said to herself. Only one way to find him now!

When she made it to the top, she saw no one! She looked around, just saw scaffolding and an elevator! Where was he? Then she heard the sound of medal sounding and locking! One she knew too well! She quickly ducked, rolled, got up and swung to hit the blade of Katana’s sword! "YOU! I thought you were dead!" Katana said to her! "I was! Thanks to you, I’m immortal again!" Amy told him with a sly smile! "Damn! Two mistakes in one day!" he said as he swung and missed her again! Both were giving expert swings, but each were masters. They blocked each and every one! Katana made a lunge to strike her head, but Amy ducked and buried the side of the blade in his abdamond, and pulled it free, slicing him open! Katana held his front, and looked at the blood covering his glove! "Nice move!" he said as his face turned into a scowl, and his scar grew darker! "Oh great! He’s pissed!" Amy said to herself! He lunged at her, but blocked his blow! Now their swords were being pushed together, each trying to get the blades to each other’s neck! Then Katana leaned back, and flew forward to deliver a massive headbutt to Amy’s forehead! Both fell through the paper-thin wall of the roof, and fell through the railing outside! Both were holding onto I for dear life! Katana threw his sword on the balcony, and hauled himself up. He noticed Amy had done the same thing. He grabbed her sword, and shoved it through her right shoulder! Amy cried out in pain, and groaned as she got used to it as much as possible. "Nice play, but the game isn’t over yet!" Katana said and stomped on her left hand! She let go out of instinct, and fell all the way to the ground. Katana just laughed and left!

On the ground, Amy lay in a position that showed that most of her bones were broken, if not shattered. She lay still, motionless. Then, without a hint or warning, her head turned upward, with a sickening snap! As she slowly moved her limbs, they popped and snapped back into place! She stood up, got her sword, and started walking back to Daria’s. "Too out of practice." She muttered to herself.

"What’s the inventory?" Daria asked everyone. "Everything’s pretty much here." Tom said as they got back. "Here my ass! My sword’s gone!" Jane said as she rushed to join the rest. "I knew it! She followed me and went Katana! She’s probably dead again!" Daria said to herself. "Hardly likely!" a voice said. They turned to see Amy walking in, looking like crap! "What happened to you?" Daria asked her. "I followed you, followed Katana, got my ass kicked, and every bone in my body broke! Excuse me." Aunt Amy said as she stretched backward. Then a sickening snap was heard, and she stood straight back up. "Now my spine isn’t in half! Sorry for taking the sword." Aunt Amy said and gave her back the sword. "We need to find out where the shield research and development is." Aunt Amy said as she went to the bathroom to clean up. "Don’t you know where is?" Amy asked her. "No. The location was never revealed. So, we to find it now before it can be finished and activated." Aunt Amy told them. "I might know someone." Daria said as she grabbed her coat and left.

Ruttheimer Industries. The sixty-three year old woman drank from her coffee cup titled World’s Greatest Grandma, but soon spit the liquid out! "Can’t even make a good cup of coffee!" she said as she put back on her desk. "Always too much cream." Daria said as she walked in the office. "Daria? Hey, it’s good to see you!" she said as she hugged her old friend. "How are you, Jodie?" Daria asked her. "Fine. So is Mack. We had another granddaughter." She told her as she sat back in her chair. "That’s good to hear. Listen Jodie," Daria started.

"Wait a minute! Daria, did you get a face lift?" Jodie asked her as she noticed Daria looked eighteen again. "Something like that. Listen Jodie, do you remember project protector?" Daria asked her. "Y-you mean the global shield? Yeah." Jodie said as she pointed to her flat plastic square computer screen. She started to type.

"I should have known." Daria said to herself.

Both Jodie and Daria looked up when they heard the door open and saw Ruttheimer IV walk into the room. "He looks exactly like his father, it must be a family curse." Daria thought. "Sorry to interrupt. Oh, who’s the foxy young women miss Jodie?" Charles IV. asked her. "This is Daria Lane. She worked with me as my partner for research and development for many years." Jodie told him. "Miss Lane? My, my, you must have gone to renew you. Feisty!" he said as he checked her out. "I hate that word so much" Daria thought to her self. "I hate to be rude, but me and Miss Jodie need to have a private meeting." Charles said with that stupid toothy grin. Just like is idiot of a father. "Sure. Sorry to interrupt." Daria said as she started walking. Before she did, she bumped into the chair, and loosened a leg on it. When the doors closed, she smiled and chuckled when she heard Charles fall on his butt!

"Miss Jodie," Charles started as he dusted himself off. "I saw your little computer message to miss Lane. Very naughty. You weren’t suppose to tell anyone about the shield project." He told her. "But the Ozone is fine. Our recycling technologies came in at the nick of time! We don’t need it!" she told him. "You know that, and I know that. But the world doesn’t know that." Charles said with his smile. "Y-you’re going to pull a con on everyone! You’re just in it for the money! But without sunlight, plants will die! No rain to help crops!" She said to him. "How do I put this, I don’t care. Security, we have a traitor here. Have her pay a visit to MAX." Charles said into an intercom on his lapel jacket. Two guards came in, and dragged Jodie away kicking and screaming. "Everything going to plan?" a voice asked behind Charles. "Yes, all according to schedule. I get the money, and you get the Lanes!" Charles said to the man behind him. "Good. Good. All their roads will lead to me." He said, as he made sure his sword was sharpened. "Let’s see Miss Amy walk away from this." Katana said as the blade of his sword extended. "You have kids?" he asked Charles. "Two, seven and eight." Charles said, as he was day dreaming. "Good." He said as he swung his sword.

Daria hammered in the small room that used to be a garage. She hammered near the furnace, bending and hammering the metal into a desired shape. Soon, she tossed it into a pile of other rejects. She couldn’t figure it out! She was doing it right, but couldn’t get the steel fold right! "What are you doing?" Aunt Amy asked her as she walked in. "I’m making you a sword so you won’t take Jane’s." Daria said. "Let me guess, you can’t fold the steel right?" Aunt Amy asked. "Yes, nut I’m doing everything according to Connor’s memory!" Daria said Frustrated. "Here." Aunt Amy said and tossed a small medal brick by her side. The ringing echoed in her ears as it hit the anvil. "Is that?" she asked her. "Yes, the same steel that makes the blade of your sword and Jane’s." Amy told her. Daria got to work.

Some hours later, Amy was balancing her new katana sword. It had nice blade length and a good balanced weight. She did a few slicing actions, and saw that it practically fitted her perfectly! "How did you get it right?" Aunt Amy asked her. "I remembered how Connor made yours." Daria told her. Aunt Amy smiled and shed one little tear. "Anyway, how do we find."

"MOM!" Tom shouted from upstairs! Jane, Aunt Amy, and Daria looked up to see what was going on. "Just picked up something on the scanner! Jodie has just been taken to MAX!" Tom told them. "What’s MAX?" Aunt Amy asked them. "It’s a high security prison facility." Daria told her. "More like a death sentence." Jane said to them. "There’s more. Charles Ruttheimer IV has just been murdered. His head was cut off! From what they say, possibly a sword!" Tom told them! "Katana!" Aunt Amy said. "We have to get into MAX!" Daria said to them. "How?" Jane asked her. "We drive right in." Daria said with her classic smirk. Amy got the idea as soon as she saw the smirk. "Daria, our time is NOW!"

MAX maximum security prison facility. All was quiet at the complex as numerous guards made their rounds. You wouldn’t expect much out here anyway. And nobody had ever tried to escape since two years after MAX had been opened. Especially since the watchman for the security gate cameras was to busy reading a comic book! "You are in an unauthorized location. Please state your name." The computerized voice said. The guard figured it was just another prisoner transfer. "The name is Amy Barksdale, formally a Lady in waiting to Queen Ann of France, and formally of Scotland before that." Amy said to the camera. "You’re that old?" Jane asked her. "Very funny. You want to tell me who you really are." The guard said microphone. "Hey, We’re just cruising. Can you point us to a Pizza Prince?" Daria asked in her good old Cynic tone of voice. "Hit, babe!" Jane said as Daria hit the gas and crashed through the gate! "Here’s it comes!" Daria said to the passengers. "I’m not going to like this!" Jane said as she held onto the door handles!

The armed guards came out and opened fire! Jane, Amy, and
Daria all grimaced in pain and yelled a few times as the bullets ripped through them! Some missing, some going through their clothes and either lodging in part of their bodies, or past right through to hit one of the other passengers! Daria lost consciousness and let go of the wheel! The car crashed headfirst into a wall! For two more minutes, the guards still fired upon them, then stopped when they saw Daria’s arm dripping with blood! "Targets are down!" one of the guards said into communicator. Then they heard banging from the trunk! They popped it open to find a woman and a man in there! "Don’t shoot! They stuffed us in here!" the man, Tom, said to them. "Yeah! We were just hitching a ride and – Oh my God!" Amy said as they crawled out, and saw the state their mother and two aunts were in!

MAX infirmary. Three gurneys with white sheets stained with red blood were sitting at one end of the room. Tom and Amy were sitting one exam tables. "Hello, I’m Doctor Marcus. You both seem to have a few bruises and scratches, nothing serious. Should heal nicely in a few days." He said as he pulled the curtain closed. "And them?" Tom asked, nodding his head toward the bodies. "They were dead long before the car they stopped the car! I’m surprised they made it that far! Must have taken a hundred bullets or so!" Doctor Marcus said. On the other side of the curtain, The bodies sat up and pulled the sheets off of them! "247." Daria said. "Four-hundred for me!" Amy said as she got up from the table. "Please! You’re not counting that little scratch, are you?" Jane asked as she hoped of the gurney. "Scratch? What scratch? It pierced my lung, spleen. And colon! Look at the size of the hole in my shirt!" Amy said to her.

The guards pulled back the curtain, and were laid out in one punch! "Wait a minute! You guys are suppose to be – I mean you’re – LARRY!" the doctor said and fainted! Daria and Jane hauled him on a gurney, and covered him in one of the sheets soaked with blood. Little Amy and Old Amy were getting the clothes of the guards for them to wear. When they were dressed, they went looking for Jodie.

"Where are they?" Katana said in the surveillance room of MAX. "Sector 7-G. Don’t worry, no one gets out of here!" the officer said to him. "You know, I also heard a crazy rumor somewhere that no one could get in!" he told him as he squeezed the back of the chair until part of the plastic on it broke! "Yes, well, don’t worry. We have a back up plan for this." He said as he flipped a few switches.

"GREAT A FORK IN THE ROAD!" Tom said. "Let’s split up. We’ll find her faster this way. The plans also show that these paths lead to the same space anyway." Aunt Amy said to them. "Where did you get plans for MAZ?" Daria asked her. "You learn a few things when you get reborn in the future! Let’s get to it!" Aunt Amy said as she and little Amy took one way, and Tom, Daria, and Jane took the other. Daria, Tom, and Jane thought it had been hours as they traveled the dark tunnels, seeing people that had either been beaten, starved, or rapped. Daria couldn’t believe Jodie was in here! They came to a large wall that had a few broken lights, and a few still working. They were about to start going when Daria saw the person huddled up in a fetal position against the wall. Daria could tell it was a woman. Her clothes were filthy, and ripped. Then she recognized what was left of them! A dress suit! Jodie’s suit! Daria turned her over, but the woman scooted against the wall in fear! She had dried blood all over the right side of her mouth, and two black eyes! Two of her teeth were missing, and she had a broken nose form the sound of her breathing! Daria still recognized her. It was Jodie! "Jodie? Jodie, it’s me! Daria!" Daria told her as she tried to hold her. "D-Daria? Daria! Thank God it’s you!" she exclaimed and hugged her friend with all her remaining strength! "Jodie, what happened to you?" Daria asked her as Jane and Tom kept their distance, not wanting to scare Jodie. "The little puke! His guards did this to me! Broke my nose and teeth! Then threw me in here! Then, some men came and – and-" Jodie said, but didn’t need to finish. Daria already got the picture. Daria just held her close. Daria never tried to get too close with anyone except Jane. But Jodie was one she was glad she got closer too over the years. "Daria, the only way to deactivate the shield is with a tremendous amount of energy in its center, or something in the beam’s way for a certain amount of time. Then the shield will self-destruct." Jodie said. "Okay. Just stay quiet, will get you out of here." Daria said and signaled for her son to get over to her. Tom picked up Jodie and followed his mother and aunt down the tunnel.

Amy and Amy had been wandering down through different tunnels, like a rat in a maze with no sign of Jodie! When they saw an opened door they saw a ticket to maybe finding her! All they found was an empty white room with brown stains and another open door. "Is this feces or something?" Little Amy asked her aunt. Then the door slid closed and sealed! Daria, Jane, and Tom then entered with Jodie being carried, and saw both Amy’s trying to open the closed door. "Don’t let that one close!" Aunt Amy shouted! Too late! It sealed and locked! Then a small breeze was being felt, and a weird loud whooshing! They all looked up and saw a giant fan slowly lowering! "Ah, crap!" Jane said as she saw the fan lowering! "Well, you want to be blended or purée?" Jane asked her. "Let me up." Jodie said to Tom. She slowly got up, went to the door both Amy’s came through, and hit a code on the number pad near the door. As soon as it opened, she slammed her back against the space the door went in, and put both feet against the space the door locked into! "GET OUT OF HERE! I DON’T HOW LONG I CAN HOLD IT!" Jodie shouted to them! "What about you?" Jane asked her. "MY TIME HERE IS OVER! IT’LL TAKE ALL OF YOU TO STOP THE SHIELD!" Jodie shouted to them! One by one they crawled out underneath Jodie. When Daria was the last out, she held her hand out to her. "Come on, you can make it!" Daria shouted to her as she saw the fan getting close to Jodie! "It’s a fair trade! One life for the life’s of others! Good bye, Daria! You were my best friend!" Jodie told her. Jodie slipped back into the room and the door slammed shut! "JODIE!" Daria shouted and began trying to slice open the door with her sword! "DARIA! WE HAVE TO GO! SHE GAVE HER LIFE FOR OURS! She wouldn’t want you to waste it!" Aunt Jane told her. Daria stopped with tears pouring down her cheeks! They ran down the tunnels, trying to find an exit when Daria heard the sound of something being sliced to pieces! Then a giant explosion emerged from the room! Daria looked in horror at the fallen and burnt fan, along with burnt body parts! Jodie had a bomb put in her and it went off! She knew, and stayed behind! "Mom?" her daughter asked her. She looked back at all of them, with rage burning in her eyes! "Katana is dead! One way or another, his head leaves his body tonight!" Daria said and walked off. "Where are we going?" Tom asked her. "The ruins of Lawndale High. The one I went to!" Daria said and punched a guy in the gut as he lunged toward her!

"A back up plan, huh?" Katana asked the security guard at the terminal. "Well, I didn’t think that-" the man started, but didn’t finish. Katana grabbed him by his nuts, and started to crush them! The man screamed in tremendous pain as Katana crushed them, lifted him up, and threw him out of a window! "So hard to find good help these days!" Katana said as he walked up. He knew where he had to go.

As they drove down the old and abandoned road, they saw ruins of houses and stores. They saw what used be the Pizza Prince, now just an abandoned building that was falling apart. They even passed Aunt Amy’s old shop that was also in decay. "When did she fold up?" Aunt Amy had asked her. "When Lawndale started to become a Mega Metropolis. Back when I was around thirty-five." Daria told her. "And all the stuff?" Amy asked her. "Warehouses I own here and there. Couldn’t part with them. Besides, how do you think I became rich? It wasn’t just Trent’s music." Daria told her. Jane laughed a little at her joke. As they passed the old Lane home, now with the second story totally caved in, the saw a bright bluish white glow come from down the street. Then a huge beam of blue light shot up into sky! Within seconds, the night sky was covered in a red energy field! "KATANA! HE ACTIVATED THE SHIELD!" Daria shouted as she saw the shield take hold! "WE’RE TOO LATE!" Little Amy shouted. "Like hell we are!" Daria said and threw out the regulator and punched down the hammer! They saw Lawndale High appear, with the huge beam coming out of it! The place was surrounded by barbwire, but Daria rammed right through it and right through the front doors! "I always wanted to do that!" Daria said and stepped out of the car.

"Oh, how touching! I’ve never been so sick to something like that in my entire life!" Katana said as he stepped out from behind the beam, with a sawed off shout gun by his side. Daria stood up, and drew her sword. "One little immortal against me?" Katana asked with a smile on his face. "Make that three!" Aunt Amy said. "Three?" Katana asked puzzled. He saw Amy step beside her with a new a sword. He expected her, but then saw Jane with her own Katana sword! "Oh no!" he said. He saw Jane, and almost wet himself. "The Highlander!" he said as he looked at Jane.
"Aunt Amy?" Daria asked her. "She’s the one Katana wanted to kill. She’s the Highlander! Winner of the second prize!" Aunt Amy said. "No matter. I’ll still kill her and win the prize." He said as he drew his broad sword, and threw down shotgun. He charged first, and they all fought! Four sword masters! For a psychotic jerk, the man was good. Fighting all of them at once, and not getting a single hit! "Try harder!" he said and punched out Jane, and kicked Aunt Amy in the gut! "Now it’s just you and me twerp!" Katana said and fought her! Daria changed tactics and was using both Judo and sword combat! Katana made a lunge, and missed Daria but hit a railing by the beam instead! Daria tripped, and was a few inches from the beam! Katana straddled her, his hand on her throat! He lifted his sword to strike, but Daria grabbed his hand, and shoved it into beam! Katana screamed in pain and yanked back his hand! He saw all four fingers were burnt off! But he could feel them start to regenerate already! Daria got up, and took her sword in her hands. "Rrroowwll! Fiesty!" Katana said as he got a better grip on the sword. Daria’s eyes widened, and filled anger. Amy and Jane had also heard Katana. "NO!" Daria shouted and sliced him across the chest! "NOT ANOTHER UPCHUCK!" Jane said and cut him down the middle of his back! "A DAMN RUTTHEIMER!" Amy said and sliced the lower back of his spine! Katana raised his sword to throw it, but a shot rang out and his shoulder exploded! Daria could feel a new immortal presence, but didn’t look! She ran toward Katana, and sliced his midsection, then turned and sliced down the middle of his back! Katana knelt down in pain, spitting blood from his mouth! "There can be only one!" he said. "But it won’t be you! For my daughter you sick fuck!" Daria said and swiped her blade down at his throat! As it cut through his throat, sparks flew! That never happened before! As his head fell back, he saw Jane and Aunt Amy with their swords dripping with Katana’s blood! "Three immortals?" Daria asked them. "At the same time?" Aunt Amy finished for her. "Who gets the quickening?" Jane asked them. They saw the sparks start to form, and form into the energy. It moved to right in between all three of them. It was like it was confused too. Then, it split into three pieces, and hit all three of them at once! All three screamed as the quickening overpowered all of three of them! Katana’s knowledge was becoming apart of their knowledge! Then it was over! It wasn’t even a minute long! "Just like in bed. Short and unenjoyable!" Aunt Amy said. Daria turned to see who fired the shot, and saw her daughter! Her leg wasn’t healed yet, she looked to be about twenty-two again, and was holding the shout gun. "AMY!" Daria shouted as she ran to her daughter and embraced her in a strong hug, like she wasn’t ever going to let her go again! "I guess it runs in the family!" Little Amy said as she hugged her mother. "I guess so. Like mother like daughter!" she said as she hugged her even tighter! "OW! Mom, the leg! It still hurts!" she told her mother. "Sorry. Jane did the same thing to me my first time!" Daria said and wiped away her tears. She then turned to her Aunt. "You knew about this, didn’t you?" Daria asked her. "Who do you think informed me about where you were living in this time?" Aunt Amy asked her. "And Jane being a Highlander?" Little Amy asked her. "He got his information wrong. He thought Jane was the one who won the prize of the first generation." Jane told her. "Who won the prize for Jane’s?" Daria asked her. "It was Jane. I'm third generation. It was down to Amy, me, the two assassins, and him! Of course, the future will be different now. Or it won’t be of we don’t take that thing down!" Amy said to her! "Amy, stay here! You two, come with me." Daria told her Aunt and Jane. They stepped up to the beam, taking a deep breath. "Freaking friends?" Jane asked Daria. "Freaking Friends." Daria told her with a smile. Then, they all three stepped into the beam!

It felt as if a vacuum was in an inferno sucking them up. "Now what?" Jane asked. "An old sorcerer’s trick! Join hands to each other!" Daria told them. They did, and Daria concentrated. Then, the quickening was surrounding them, like a force field! Then, as it got bigger and brighter, They all screamed at once as the quickening struck the pad the was beam was being emitted from like a sword! The pad exploded and took the roof with it, and the beam went out! As the satellite in space exploded, the shield diapered! Daria, Jane, and Amy were taking deep breaths as the quickening went back into them. They looked tired, and a little dirty and sweaty, When they looked up, they saw the night sky filled with stars! They smiled at the knowledge that they succeeded! "The future’s going to be very interesting!" Aunt Amy said to them.

March 2046. Daria looked over the open ocean on the same cliff in Scotland she had been there so many times before with Trent, with her Aunt Amy by her side. "It’s so good to be back here again!" Aunt Amy said. "So, how so you feel?" Daria asked her aunt. "A little scared, but mostly pissed off." She said to her. "Why?" Daria asked her. "Because I have to start that damn contest over again! It was bad enough when I was in the running with you, then worse in the future with Katana, mow I have to start over again!" she said. "Well, at least I might get to age again. To tell the truth, I didn’t like being an old lady that much." Daria told her. "So you’re an immortal still?" she asked her. "For right now." Daria told her. ""Hey, can I join?" Jane asked them. "Sure, you’re an immortal." Aunt Amy told her. "So, what’s it like from now on?" Jane asked them. "Living." Amy told her. "An fighting." Daria added. "Well, one thing’s for sure." Jane said to them. "What’s that?" Aunt Amy asked her. "In the end, we can be only numb." Jane said.