"Truth For Lies"

"I tire of playing games," Rakshiki sighed, smiling in amusement. Staring at the five bruised and bloody guys, he laughed. "Where's your angel now?" he taunted.

Justin spit out a glob of blood and coughed. "What are you talking about? Who are you talking about?"

"You know who I'm talking about," he chuckled deeply. "The Serpent, one of the Five Deadly Venoms."

"Sorry," Chris grunted painfully, "but we have no clue what you're talking about."

"Who are you, anyway?" Lance asked, staring at him out of one eye. His other eye had been blackened to the point where it wouldn't even open.

"You wouldn't understand," Rakshiki sighed impatiently, glancing at his watch. Glancing calmly at the boys he remarked casually, "Your friend has five minutes to get here before I torture you all to death, one by one." Turning on his heel, he strode out, leaving the guys alone with their thoughts and fears.

"Do any of you know that guy?" Lance asked stupidly.

"Of course not," JC snapped. "Do you think any of us would associate with someone like that?"

"Sorry," Lance muttered. "I just wanted to know."

"It's no problem," JC sighed, instantly regretting what he said. Being kidnapped, beaten up, then promised a night of torture didn't do much for his usually happy disposition. "I'm scared, too," he added, echoing what he knew Lance was thinking.

"I wonder who he was talking about?" Joey wondered outloud. "Who's the Serpent?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Justin saw a figure in black creep out of the shadows and slowly approach him. As his fear increased, he spotted two other figures flip over a balcony and jump to the ground quietly. Thinking that it was one of Rakshiki's henchmen coming to kill them, he got the guys' attention. "We've got trouble," he whispered, gesturing to the shadows.

"What do you mean--" Chris started, then breaking off abruptly as one of the shadows started to move. "Shit," he whispered, his heart beat accelerating rapidly.

"What is that?" JC asked fearfully as the shadows crept closer. Because they were bound to hard iron pillars, running away (or even moving, for that matter) was out of the question.

Their fear continued to build as the figures moved in, then Lance finally snapped. "Oh my God!" he screamed. "Somebody help us! Please!"

One of the shadows leapt forward and Lance closed his eyes, preparing for whatever horrible pain that they would inflict. The shadow merely covered his mouth with a hand as a familiar voice whispered, "Shut up, will ya?"

Lance opened his non-bruised eye and looked at the "shadow". "Yasmine?" he whispered.

"Yeah," she nodded, whispering also. She jerked her head and the other "shadows" crept forward. As they emerged from the darkness, the boys realized that the figures were Serena, Michelle, Isabella, and most importantly, Tammy.

"What are you all doing here?" JC hissed fearfully as Tammy started to untie him. Taking her hint, the other girls started to snap the thick black wires easily. "Get out of here!" he continued. "This is no place for you!"

"No," Tammy corrected, realizing that the guys hadn't noticed how easily they snapped the wires, "this is no place for you. That's why we gotta get you out of here."

"You think you guys might wanna lower your voices?" Isabella asked in annoyance as she untied Chris. "Someone might hear us."

"How'd you know we were here, anyway, Tammy?" Joey whispered softly, flexing his wrists after Serena freed him.

"That's easy," a deep voice said from behind them. "She knew because I called her."

Tammy and the others stood up slowly and turned around, a feeling of dread immediately filling their bodies to the core. Rakshiki was just as she remembered him. Tall and brown, with long flowing brown hair. Eyes like that of a tiger's, so gold that they glowed in the dark. His muscles bulged underneath his expensive Armani suit, and his smile appeared playful as usual.

"You know this guy?" Lance asked in amazement.

"Yeah," Michelle sighed. "We all do."

"So we meet again, Venoms," Rakshiki laughed. "I've been waiting for this day." As usual, the quiet power and confidence he exuded was enough to nearly knock the girls off their feet, but they controlled their fear and took their battle stances.

"Indeed we do," Tammy said, trying to put up a cocky front. She doubted she was fooling anyone but herself, though. Rakshiki could see through them like they could see through a window.

"I thought you'd never get here," he replied, arching an amused eyebrow. "I'm glad that you are finally here, though. Your deaths will occur that much sooner."

Isabella glanced back at the guys, who looked as lost as little kids in a mall, then said loudly, "That won't happen, Rakshiki. And even if it does, you'll still never find the child."

"I won't?" Rakshiki pretended to gasp. "Perhaps I should try the subtle tactics of torture on you… or your friends," he added, glancing at the guys. As he spoke, more of his henchmen appeared. They were all of different shapes and sizes, some more humanoid than the others.

"Don't even think about it," Yasmine snapped sharply. "Your beef is with us, not them. As a matter of fact, let them go."

"Who's running the show, Sting Ray?" Rakshiki asked.

"Sting ray?" JC mouthed silently to Justin, who shrugged in confusion.

Rakshiki saw the silent exchange between Justin and JC and laughed. Turning to Tammy he grinned slightly, "You mean to tell me that they do not know the truth yet?"

"What truth?" Justin asked, staring at Tammy, who refused to look back. She merely kept her gaze on Rakshiki, as if daring him to spill the beans.

"The truth about their essence," he teased, giving Justin only a tenth of what he knew.

"Essence?" Joey asked. "What is he talking about?"

"They aren't like you," one of the henchmen snorted. As he spoke, large clots of spit and mucus flew out of his mouth and dripped down his chin.

"I'd keep quiet if I were you," Tammy threatened. "You're pissing us off, and when we're pissed off, Rakshiki's army decreases dramatically. You don't wanna end up like Tilox and Uriel, do you?"

"Or Gentro, for that matter," Isabella snickered nastily.

"It won't matter," Rakshiki remarked casually. "You all die now." That said, his henchmen immediately started to attack.

Their weapons drawn, six of the creatures leapt towards Tammy and her friends. Their weapons were swung with such abandon that they nearly fell over themselves. The disgusting, pig-looking creatures continued to attempt hitting the girls, and in doing so succeeded, but not purposely. The weapons were swung so wildly that the boys of 'NSync were nearly decapitated, only the hits they would have suffered were blocked by the girls, who would jump in front of them quickly.

One of the monsters suddenly swung a large pipe towards Lance's head. Tammy, who was involved in a fight with two of the henchmen at once, quickly leapt in front of Lance and pushed him out of the way. The pipe smacked her forcefully in the shoulder, knocking her into Lance. The two fell to the floor and slid into the far wall. "Shit," Tammy groaned, climbing to her feet.

"You okay?" Lance gasped, marveling at how she could withstand such a blow.

"Yeah," Tammy replied. "Stay here." She ran to the aid of Isabella, who was being triple-teamed by three of their adversaries, and was going down swiftly. As a matter of fact, she was being held as the other two punched her in the stomach.

"Fuck this," Tammy snarled, breaking into a run. As she neared them, she focused all her concentration on her hands, and in a bright flash of light, created a long, silver sword. Mimicking the consequence she inflicted on Gentro weeks before, she sliced thickly through the air, resulting in one of the pig-monster's head flying to the far wall.

"How the hell did she do that?" JC asked, staring quizzically at the sword in Tammy's hand. His answer never came though, for Yasmine suddenly slammed into him. She had just suffered a hard kick from one of the more humanoid creatures, and was feeling it's lasting effects.

"Dammit!" she exclaimed, yanking JC to his feet. As the foe charged them, she pushed JC out of the way and swung her fist in a wide, powerful arc. As it connected with his face, she could literally hear the cartilage shatter, and down he went. "Do me a favor," she snapped, pushing JC over to where Lance still cowered, "stay over here and don't move."

"Anything else?" JC asked. "You know, tips on how to stay safe?"

"Yeah," Yasmine called over her shoulder as she ran back to the battle scene, "try not to get killed!"

"Oh boy," JC sighed, wiping the sweat off of his head.

"This is getting hard," Tammy commented to Serena, who stood back-to-back with her. The two were partially surrounded by five of Rakshiki's henchmen, and Tammy didn't think it was looking too good for her and her friends.

"I know," she rolled her eyes in response. Focusing her mind on a large cinderblock, she telepathically willed it to fly towards another one their many foes, then dropped it on his head. As it connected with a large crack, she sighed, "No matter how many of these ugly bastards we kill, three more come in their place."

"So let's kill 'em three times as fast," Tammy nodded, still wielding her sword. Everything was moving so fast that Tammy forgot something very important, but remembered it later.

As she slashed yet another humanoid creature, she suddenly stopped. "Where are Chris, Joey, and Justin?" she asked Isabella, who had just dropped another foe.

"Dunno," she shrugged, looking around. "But we can get them now, wherever they are. We've killed everyone."

"Almost everyone," Rakshiki laughed from atop one of the metal balconies in the factory. "You've forgotten my favorite pupils. Those others were pawns, these are the true foes." Instantly, seven humans appeared, weird (and deadly)-looking guns in their hands.

"We can't get Justin and them now," Isabella commented. "If we do, we die."

"What do you mean?" Tammy asked, unable to look away from the objects that the three women and four men held in their hands. "What are those things?" she asked, but more to herself.

Isabella answered for her. "Laser guns!" she shouted, pushing Tammy out the way as they began to fire.

As she hit the ground, Tammy glimpsed Justin and the others huddled in a corner, looking very vulnerable. "We gotta get them to safety!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Dodging the laser beams chasing them, she and Yasmine (who crept up at that moment) ran to the guys and pulled them swiftly to where JC and Lance were, which was in a dark, hidden corner. The force at which they pulled the guys was almost enough to yank their arms out of the socket, but never once did they loosen their grip. Throwing them into the corner, Yasmine commanded, "Stay still."

"Wait!" Justin protested. "What are you about to do? Who are these people?"

"There's no time to explain," Tammy said, as she and Yasmine combined their inner strength to form a force field around the guys. It was so strong that they were sure that there was no chance of the laser beams penetrating it. "Let's go!" Tammy said, running back to the center of the factory, where the fight was still going strong.

"Any progress?" she asked Michelle as they hid behind a bunch of boxes.

A laser beam burned right through the boxes, narrowly missing Michelle's head. "No," she said calmly. Standing up, she continued, "That's about to change, though." Throwing her hands in the air, she instantly stopped time.

"Whew!" Yasmine said, looking at a laser beam that was frozen in the air. "That was about to burn my uterus to a crisp. Good timing, Shelle."

"We don't have much time," Michelle said, immediately jumping into action. "Eliminate them now, before Rakshiki decides to strike. He is not affected by this."

"My pleasure," Isabella smirked, leaping forward and grabbing one of the women by the neck. Snapping it around a full three-hundred and sixty degrees, she watched as the woman sank to the floor.

Michelle meanwhile, placed her hand gently on one of the men's chest, and nodded contently as a light formed around her hand. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, smiling as she sucked up the man's life force. When she was done, only a dry, dusty skeleton stood before her. After blowing softly, Michelle watched as the skeleton crumbled to the floor.

While that was happening, Tammy and Serena were using more forceful tactics to defeat their enemies. Tammy, who had always taken a liking to her sword, hacked off two more heads, then shrugged as Serena wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Gross, Tammy," she commented as she wrenched a laser guns out of one of the men's hands, then shot him and the last woman in the head.

"If that ain't the pot callin' the kettle black," Yasmine smirked, punching the two remaining men in the stomach with so much force that their life forces literally flew out of their bodies with a loud whoosh.

As they looked at the fallen army, the girls heard loud clapping from behind them. "Bravo!" Rakshiki laughed. "I did not know that your powers grew so much since our last battle. Still," he continued, the smile dropping off of his face rapidly, "you are not strong enough to defeat me." With that, he literally flew down to where they were, and ripped off his shirt. "Let's ride," he growled, his yellow eyes flashing.

The five girls ran swiftly towards him and jumped on him at once, hoping to overpower him. Rakshiki laughed, then easily through them off of him.

Easily for him, that is…

The five young women flew across the factory at blinding speed, then collided into the far wall with resounding booms. As she slid to the floor, Tammy moaned in pain. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rakshiki stride over to Yasmine and yank her into the air by her long hair.

"Do you feel strong, Sting Ray?" he taunted. As she struggled to get out of his grasp, without warning, he suddenly flung her against the far wall. He laughed loudly, watching her slam into it with a powerful impact.

"How about you?" he asked, wrenching Michelle to her feet by her arm. "You can't very well freeze time if one of your arms is gone, can you?" he yelled at her, bending her arm behind her back, yanking it upwards.

Michelle gasped loudly, then let out an ear-piercing scream as the searing waves of pain traveled the length of her body. He continued to bend her arm until the others heard a loud snap. He dropped her, grinning as he saw her arm hang lifelessly next to her. "You'll heal," he chuckled. "Atleast I didn't rip it off."

"Michelle!" Serena called, climbing painfully to her feet. Focusing on the metal balcony that he was standing under, Serena willed the metal to bend, then break. Seconds later, the entire metal railing plummeted to the ground, smashing onto Rakshiki and burying him underneath it. She wasn't given time to celebrate her mini-victory though, because not even two seconds after it dropped on him, Rakshiki emerged from the metal wasteland and lifted it high over his head. With no hesitation or strain whatsoever, he winged it forcefully at Serena as if he were throwing a basketball at her.

"Serena!" Isabella screamed. "Time to return to the black hell from which you came, Rakshiki," she scowled, harnessing all her energy and sending a large ball of fire towards him. It hit him powerfully, causing him to stumbled back a few steps, but he merely looked back at her, undaunted. "My turn," he growled, sending the ball back to her. She ducked out of the way just in time, but the next thing she knew, he was standing right next to her. It was amazing, for from Tammy's disoriented point-of-view it appeared as if he had just hyper jumped.

Wasting as little time as he did energy, he yanked Isabella into the air by her neck, then effortlessly threw her over his shoulder. She flipped partway as she soared through the air, crashing through some metal grates headfirst.

"Belle," Tammy moaned pitifully, limping painfully. She looked around and what she saw made her catch her breath. Michelle lay on the ground writhing in pain over her horribly broken arm, Serena was buried under a metal grave that weighed almost a ton, Yasmine was crumpled up in a ball next to the far wall, and Isabella lay twisted at a gruesome angle in piles of trashed metal.

Turning to Rakshiki, she felt beaten. She remembered what Isabella told her about two months ago. "Rakshiki's back… and he's stronger than ever." "Go figure," she muttered, feeling like the biggest loser in the world.

"Tired, Serpent?" Rakshiki taunted, his usual amused grin on his face. "Wanna throw in the towel? I can understand if you want to. I'll make a bargain with you," he added, taking a few steps towards her. "You tell me where the child is and I'll spare your friends."

"Liar," she muttered loud enough for him to hear her.

His smile dropped off of his face. "I'm sorry?" he asked, staring her dead in the eye.

"You won't spare anyone," she scowled. "You have no soul, and therefore don't give a damn about anyone but yourself. That's why you didn't so much as flinch when we killed your clown posse."

"Not true," he lied smoothly, "I care for the child, I really do. Just take me to him… please."

"No," Tammy glared at him, "I won't."

"You won't?" he asked in a dangerously low tone of voice.

"I won't," she repeated louder, planting her feet and readying herself for an attack.

"So be it," he said quietly. "If you will not tell me the whereabouts of the child voluntarily, then I shall torture it out of you."

"Do what you wish, Rakshiki," she laughed harshly. "You don't scare me. I have a pain tolerance higher than yours. You wanna know why? Because I'm willing to die if it will save the child."

"Oh, I know that," Rakshiki laughed lightly. Striding over to the force field that the boys were under, he added, "But I don’t think they are." With that, he shattered the dome-shaped structure surrounding them with a mere pound of his fist. Picking up a frightened Lance by the hair, he laughed wildly, "Tell me, Serpent! Where is the child?"

"Drop him!" Tammy ordered, starting to sweat nervously. She knew how impetuous and unfeeling Rakshiki could be and therefore didn't want to say or do anything that would set him off too much.

"Never," he grinned widely, showing both rows of teeth. Pulling out a long knife, he added, "You have one more chance to tell me where the child is."

"You wouldn't stab him," Tammy snorted. "You're just bluffing."

Without hesitation, Rakshiki buried the knife into Lance's stomach. As Lance yelped in pain and paled rapidly, Rakshiki said calmly, "I don't bluff."

"I don't know where the child is," she said in a quivering voice. Still, on top of her fear, Tammy could feel a tide of immense anger and frustration building up inside her, much like the time back at the hotel when she went off on Lance.

"Wrong answer," he shook his head, stabbing Lance again, this time in the leg.

Tears started to stream down Lance's face, and he looked at her sorrowfully. "Please, Tammy," he begged, "if you know where it is, just tell him. Please."

"I can't," she continued to lie, "I don't know where it is."

"Yes, you do!" Rakshiki exploded, jabbing the knife into Lance's shoulder. He immediately screamed in pain, and JC snapped at Tammy, "Just tell him where the goddamned child is!"

Rakshiki looked at him calmly, then dropped Lance and strode over to him. Grabbing roughly him by the arm, he said, "I find your choice of words ironic. If anyone is not damned by God, it is the child." Pressing the blade against JC's neck, he looked at Tammy. "The ball is in your court now."

She felt deadlocked; stuck between a rock and a hard place. She couldn't tell him where the child was, but on the other hand, she couldn't just sit and watch as her arch-enemy slaughtered one of her friends. The emotional inertia she was feeling on top of the anger, frustration, pain, and fear that she was experiencing caused her to feel weird. Like she was making a fourth density jump, but was still aware of her body. In other words, she felt like she was existing in two places at once.

And the anger continued to grow and take on a life of it's own…

"Let them go," she growled, her eyes narrowing into slits. Deep in her chest she felt a type of power, like something was growing inside of her. Eventually, everything else fell away and all she saw was Rakshiki and JC. And her anger and frustration continued to build, feeding the power center in her chest. It was a never ending cycle though, for the more her anger fed the power, the more it grew… and the more it grew, the more angry feelings continued to grow.

"Maybe," Rakshiki said loftily, applying a tiny bit of pressure to JC's neck with the knife, causing a small nick to form. Blood immediately started to trickle out.

Seeing the blood slide down JC's neck did it for Tammy. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. She stared at JC, then at his wound, blood trickling down his neck; red swimming down a white road. The red seemed to expand, as if a coat of blood covered her eyes, and she knew that something was about to happen.

The feeling of being in two places at once continued to plague Tammy and it began to overwhelm her. She tried to fight it, but a wave of dizziness hit her, and she stumbled slightly to the left. Seeing that as a sign of weakness, Rakshiki laughed. Tammy barely heard him, though. Placing a cool hand to her hot head, she happened to glance down at her right arm. "Uh-oh," she said weakly, staring at her tattoo, "not again."

The tattoo of the viper on her hand had begun to grow and hiss again, only this time he did it with more passion and animation. His tongue flicking in and out, he actually struck out from her arm, like a character in a painting coming to life and stepping out of the canvas. "What the--?" Tammy murmured, sweating profusely. Even Rakshiki had to stop laughing to watch.

By this time, Yasmine and the others were up and watching the snake anxiously, wondering if perhaps Tammy would be controlled like Isabella was. There was no worry of that, though. Tammy didn't feel the snake taking over her, she just felt it coming to life, and she could sense what it wanted.

With a loud hiss, the snake's head and upper neck area more than tripled in size, and it leapt off of Tammy's arm. Giving a cry of both painful anguish and surprise, Tammy collapsed to the floor in fatigue, watching the snake, which had now grown to a creature that was more that eight feet long and three feet thick. Slithering swiftly towards Rakshiki, the viper bared it's teeth, preparing to sink into something warm.

"No!" Rakshiki cried, pushing JC away and throwing up his arm in defense. The gesture was useless, though, for the snake slithered up his legs and wrapped itself around Rakshiki's body. Not even stopping to get his chops wet, the snake opened his mouth, swallowing Rakshiki's head and torso. Not stopping there, the snake continued to take in the man's body, despite his cries and screams. Four minutes later, the snake had not only successfully devoured Rakshiki, but he also managed to digest all of him.

The snake turned and crawled swiftly towards Tammy. As she looked into his eyes, she became afraid that he might eat her, too. That was out of the question though, and they both knew it. Despite the fact that it was possible for them to control each other, they needed each other, and couldn't be responsible for the death of the other. True, the serpent could control Tammy if her guard was down, but right now, she controlled him.

The viper wrapped itself around her body, then shimmered into nothingness. Glancing down at her arm, she saw nothing but the kick ass tattoo of a coiled viper, ready to strike.

"That was sooo cool!" Yasmine squealed in delight, still limping.

"How the hell did you do that?" Michelle wanted to know, glancing suspiciously at the tattoo of Tammy's snake, then at the tattoo of the mammalian animal she had on her arm. "That shit was scary."

"I don’t know," Tammy gasped, still slightly out of breath. "All I know is that I was really mad… and then I felt it coming alive… I don't know."

"If you can do it," Serena nodded, stroking her chin, "then that means all of us can. We just have to learn more about how to control these things. I mean," she continued with a sound of confusion, "it was almost as if you had summoned the snake, ya know?"

"These powers," Isabella tsked, walking up to them. "They grow by the second. What are we gonna do next?"

"You can start by explaining what the hell just happened," a voice snapped from behind them.

Tammy, upon seeing that there was no way she could lie her way out of this one, sighed inaudibly. This was gonna be a hard one to explain…