Her eyes fluttered open slowly adjusting to the bright light of the hospital ward. The Branch had its own facility for treatment of its people due to the usually strange injuries they suffered. It was well staffed, fully equipped and Toren hated it.
There was an IV stuck in her arm, some clear liquid rhythmically dripping. Toren reached to pull it out and received a slap on her hand. The ward had a new doctor—an Asian woman with long black hair pulled back in a braid.
“Only a trained doctor or nurse is allowed to take that out. Your previous doctors may have let get away with a lot, but I am not afraid of you. In this room, you listen to me.”
“I don’t need a doctor. I’m fine.”
“As much as I hate to disappoint, I’m afraid I must. All evidence points to the contrary—your eye color changed to match that of an Avenger, you commanded the Avengers and they listened and then you promptly fainted—even for you, that is not normal.” The doctor tapped the file against her leg deliberating with herself. “I just got your blood work back…”
“You took my blood!” Toren bolted up out of the bed alarmed. No one had ever taken blood from her before except in a fight. She didn’t trust the doctors when they wanted blood from her, if just felt wrong to her.
“Yes, I did. Blood can tell us a lot and you were unconscious, so it seemed like the perfect time to take some. Unfortunately, we don’t have a previous blood sample (you were always conspicuously absent during those times), so we had to compare it against samples from the others. What we found was, well, disturbing. Toren, you have particles in your bloodstream almost identical to those of an Avenger.”
“So, maybe they got in there through a cut or something. It doesn’t mean anything.” Toren’s mind was reeling. It was impossible, wasn’t it?
“No, you see, if that was the case, your system would’ve cleaned it out already. In fact, your body is ignoring the particles just like they belong. And, there are millions of them—enough to classify you as an Avenger. Toren, do you understand what I’m saying?”
She did. She leaned back in the bed in shock.
It shouldn’t be that big of a surprise.
That voice; Toren willed it to go away.
Don’t be stupid. You knew all along and just refused to believe it. Why do you think Avengers never came after you or why you have magic or why you have a voice that is not your own helping you? If you truly believe me vile like the rest of the idiotic creatures you fight, then kill yourself and rid the world of another monster.
Magic? But Avengers didn’t…Toren’s mind raced. Miguel, she needed to talk to Miguel. Ripping the IV out from her arm, Toren sprinted to the Mage’s room slamming the door open. Miguel fumbled with the book he had been reading glaring at her accusingly.
“Don’t people know how to knock? I could’ve been in the middle of an important spell.”
“Get off your pedestal and help me,” she snapped. “Miguel, does any Avenger breed have control of magic?”
“Wha…? Why would you want to know that?”
“Because I have magic.”
“So? Someone in your family…”
Toren explained about her family.
“Okay, you’re a mutant.”
“Just answer my question!” By now, the others were gathering around them wondering about the commotion.
“Only the Queens have showed any sign of magic, but they’re the rarest breed. Has one shown up in New York? Was there a Queen in the group from earlier?”
They were all talking trying to remember if any of them saw anything. Toren sank to the floor momentarily forgotten. Was there anything more impossible than impossible? Because she had just crossed that line and couldn’t get back.
Nothing is impossible. I am a Queen. You are your mother’s Avenger.
“Shit.” She passed out again.

“She’s a danger to everyone here.”
“If she was unstable, she would have gone over the edge long ago.”
“Be that as it may, the fact is, she nearly turned into an Avenger yesterday. I can no longer allow her to go out. In fact, it would be best for everyone if she is locked up until such time as I can be sure she is the same person.”
“That Avenger helped us. It’s different than the others.”
“Precisely. We don’t know what will happen because we never ran across this before. My decision is final.”
She was in her room that much was certain. They were arguing about her, but the voices didn’t register. Toren rolled out of bed rubbing the last remnants of sleep out of her eyes. She went to open the door to confront them all, but the door was locked. She banged on it. No response. She banged on it again. She couldn’t even pick the lock because there wasn’t any keyhole on this side. She kept beating the relentless wood until finally the Director answered from the other side of the door.
“Ms. Night, I can not let you out.”
“I’m not going to kill anybody!”
“You can not be sure of that. Please understand my decision.”
“If I’m so dangerous, why haven’t you killed me yet? We can’t leave any Avengers alive. That’s the whole reason for the Branch! Fine, if you’re all too cowardly, I’ll do it.” She flung the doors to the wardrobe open and unsheathed her short sword. She always kept it sharp, so at least her death wouldn’t be painful. It would be different assassinating herself, she thought. She had dealt death for so long, now she would wield her own.
She lined up the blade to strike through her heart going under her ribcage. The door to her room burst open. Sean tackled her while Fared wrestled the sword from her hand. Toren twisted away reaching for another weapon, but Sean was stronger. He pulled her back and pinned her to the floor. Jared kneeled beside her checking for any damage that she might’ve caused before they arrived.
“We’re not going to let you kill yourself,” Sean grunted. Toren refused to look at any of them. The Director stood in the doorway straightening out his suit where the guys had rushed him to get to the door.
They are your family. They care for you.
“Get out of my head!”
“You can hear it?” asked Miguel.
“I’ve always been able to. She helps me. Sometimes she almost sounds like a mother.”
Bingo.
“Tell me again about your family.”
Toren did going into the detail of her mother’s death at Miguel’s urging. She then told them what the voice had told her about being her mother’s Avenger.
“Interesting. Can I talk to it?”
“She’s not an it. The voice is definitely female.”
“Well?”
“I don’t…” She spasmed. Her whole body throbbed and it felt like her skull was splitting in two. It was the same thing as before. They all watched as her eyes changed and her skin grayed, her nails grew into claws, her hair reddened and her voice changed into the rasp from before.
“What do you wish to talk about?” Sean jumped back as if he had been electrocuted wiping his hands on his jeans and then grabbing Toren’s short sword for a weapon. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not going to hurt any of you; Toren would be quite devastated.”
“Do you really care about her?” Sean asked.
“Yes. Don’t you? I am the Avenger created by the death of her mother. I am different because I was created, not with hate, but with the love of her mother. Her mother died so that Toren could live and so I have become Toren’s protector. Do you understand me?”
“That’s crazy!” exclaimed Fared. “Avengers were created to kill. There was nothing in the spell for protection.”
“No one foresaw my creation.” She replied calmly.
“What do we call you?” Miguel asked continuing the interrogation.
“I am a Queen. Avengers do not have names, we have no need of them, but I suppose you may call me Mary. It was…her mother’s name.”
“Wait, you want us to call you Mary after Toren’s mother who was probably named after the Virgin Mary. That’s blasphemy and disrespectful to the dead.” Miguel was a staunch Catholic like all Spaniards.
“Then what would you prefer?”
“How about Lilith, Queen of Darkness?”
“If she isn’t evil, it doesn’t really fit, Miguel.” Jared pointed out.
“We could always think about it as Bloody Mary,” said Sean.
“A truly powerful woman. I am content with that. Toren was quite upset that she was not allowed to assassinate the former Queen.” The newly dubbed Mary plucked at a loose thread on Toren’s shirt.
“You don’t look like normal Avenger Queens,” Miguel observed.
“I am not in full form. A complete change is not required just to ‘talk’. While irrelevant, I must point out that this is more of an interrogation than a true conversation.”
Ignoring the comment, Miguel continued. “What happens to Toren when you take over?”
“She experiences some pain during the change, but is otherwise unaware of what is happening.”
“So, she can not see or hear us while you are using her body?”
“Correct. Anymore questions?”
“Yeah, can we get Toren back? This is creepy even for us.” Sean commented reflecting the doctor’s earlier thought.
“Yes. May I ask something of you?” They nodded, wary. “Please help her deal with this. I intentionally kept my existence a secret preferring to act as a conscience to protect her. Her mind was still ill prepared to accept the fact her heart knew all these years. Protect her. I will have to earn her trust again; just the sheer fact of what I am was enough to turn her against me.”
“We do that anyway. Shouldn’t be too difficult, but then we are talking about Toren.” Fared laughed.
“You have my thanks, take it as you will.” Mary spasmed. Her features softened, her hair darkened, nails shortened. Toren’s consciousness came back with a ragged gasp. She fell struggling for air as Mary faded into the background.
“What…the hell?” Toren gasped.
“I’ll get the beer. You guys start explaining.” Sean left to get what he promised. Jared helped Toren to the bed and checked her over for any damage. Miguel began explaining to her what was happening to her, what had been inside of her the whole time stopping only once when Sean came back toting beer. The Director had left after the interrogation to file his report.
Toren digested the information sipping at the dark brew to help keep her nerves under control, but she still couldn’t keep her hands from shaking. She balled them into fists to hide it and the others respectfully ignored it.
“You need some sleep and time to process everything. We’ll let you get some rest and then talk to you in the morning.” Jared was using his Healer voice meaning “argue and I’ll fix a concoction that will taste worse than it feels.” Toren nodded numbly obediently rolling over to sleep. Jared took the beer from her hand and covered her with a thin blanket. She heard the door click shut as they all left and then drifted off into a dreamless sleep.