Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 11:47:06 -0800 Reply-To: Selma McCrory Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Selma McCrory Subject: Differing Varieties, part 5/6 Differing Varieties by Selma McCrory a Highlander/Tomorrow People crossover copyright 1995 part 5 Los Angeles, 1982 The fight was over. Greer huddled closer to Helen as Antony fell to the concrete of the quadrangle. His opponent leered at him, enjoying his triumph of the fighter. And then he swung his sword. It was over. Antony was dead. Helen turned around, pain on her face, and walked off. Greer followed. "To be defeated by a punk such as Schlafer," Helen said mournfully. "Come, I have to talk to Schlafer's Watcher. And then you get to see what happens after your Immortal loses." * * * The Present "Arthur Schlafer," Greer said. She paused, and then looked up at Damon. "He wasn't good at swordfighting, but he did know how to fight dirty, and that's how he won over Antony. Granted, Antony was only about three hundred, but Schlafer wasn't over a hundred. I think he passed one hundred a year or two ago. He also wasn't a terrorist or a bomber at that time. A bully-boy, yes." "You're positive?" "Immortals rarely forget," Greer said. "Our memories are enhanced, too, when we become what we are. Certain people have worse memories than others - my teacher Alberta was rather forgetful for an Immortal." "Great. Well, now that we know that he's Immortal, what do we do now?" "Is there any pattern that he repeats?" Michael asked. "Obviously, his pattern has changed since Greer last saw him." "Let me check. Was he going by Arthur Schlafer when you last saw him?" "No, I think he was going by the name Nicolas Milligan," Greer said. "I'll see if we can find that alias," Damon said. "Roberts owes me a favor after dragging me into this." "It may not be still valid. Remember, I last saw him in 1982." "It's worth a try. Thank you for your time, Mr. Gardner, Ms. Lewis. I'll let you know if I find anything." * * * To Greer's almost total surprise, it didn't take long to find Schlafer. Only two days had passed between the time she had talked to General Damon and when she found Megabyte popping into the small parlour with the news. She was talking to Lisa, since her husband was rather taken with the quiet young woman. "Got you on messenger duty, huh?" she teased him gently. Megabyte grimaced. "He figured I might be less conspicuous." "I take it he's found him," she said. Lisa excused herself to use the restroom. The young man nodded. "He wanted to talk to you first, since this guy is your kind." "To see if there are any precautions. Sensible," she said thoughtfully. "Yeah, well he's also a little worried that he'll move on." "Then we should hurry," Greer said, picking up her sword. "I'll take you there. But one thing," Megabyte said. "What?" Greer asked. "Don't tell him that I know about the guy's plans. I mean, I read his mind, he didn't tell me." Greer raised an eyebrow. "Okay." * * * Damon was pleased when Greer Lewis reappeared with his son by her side. Greer herself looked surprised and entranced with her unexpected and unusual trip. "Ms. Lewis, I'm glad that you could come," he said. He gestured to a chair on the other side of the desk. "I'm sure you can help me with this." "You found him, I'm told." "Yes. I was wondering if you could tell me anything more about him. Habits, anything like that." "I'm afraid I can't. He wasn't my assignment. I didn't have an assignment - and after seeing what happened to Antony and Helen, I made sure I never did. I'm what's called a temp - I watched other people's assignments for a day, or maybe a week, on rare occasions, a month. I don't know a whole lot about any of my assignments, except for the rare few that I decided to learn more about." "Well, there goes that idea." "But, I did get an idea of his general disposition from that one confrontation." "That's good. Now, do you think he's one to leave after he's done what he's going to do?" "I couldn't tell, really. He challenged Antony, and he certainly showed up for that fight, and left the area after." "We have an address, he hasn't left yet, but I think he will soon." "What's the address?" "I can't tell you." "Look, General Damon, I may be a civilian, but I'm also an Immortal. He's an Immortal too. We can take care of our own business." "With all due respect, he's also possibly responsible for a series of bombs. We want a live suspect, not a dead, decapitated murder victim." Greer sighed. "I wasn't going to kill him!" "I'm sorry. I can't tell you." "Drat," Greer said. "All right, if you want to handle him your way, you can. Just don't be surprised if he finds a way to get away." "We'll do our best," Damon said. Once Megabyte had transported her home, she said to him, "Did you happen to notice an address?" Megabyte nodded. "I don't think he'd be too happy if I gave it to you, though," he replied. "As much as I understand his position, there are things that must be handled between Immortals. Besides, all this talk about motives gives me an idea." "What are you going to do?" Megabyte asked, clearly fascinated. "Challenge him to a duel, of course." "You can do that?" the Tomorrow Person asked, amazed. "Of course I can. Immortals can be pretty old-fashioned, you know. Come to think of it, Watchers are too. Do you know that higher-ups don't allow the use of video cameras?" "You're kidding." "Nope. So give me the address, okay? This way, he'll stick around longer." Megabyte gave her the address and vanished. Shortly after, her husband came in the door, Lisa by his side. He had apparently, by the way they were taking, taken her to lunch. "You look happy." "Yes," Greer said. "I have this guy's address. I'm not supposed to know it, but I got it off of Megabyte, who isn't supposed to know it either. But now I have the address, I'm going to challenge him." "Challenge him how?" Michael wanted to know. "I don't know. How does one challenge?" "You've never challenged?" Lisa asked. "I've been in one fight, he challenged me, I've never had to challenge anyone." "This is going to be fun. How about 'I've come for your head'?" "I don't want to fight him immediately!" "Do you want to fight him at all?" "Of course I do. He killed Antony, who was a very good man." Michael sighed. * * * Greer came to the address that Megabyte had specified. Once there, she settled unobtrusively against a lightpole across the street. She noted with amusement that she wasn't the only one keeping an eye on Schlafer's address. Just a few feet away, a car sat with two men in it. They must have been British Intelligence. Another man leaned against a wall and read the Times. _Must be Schlafer's Watcher,_ she thought. She pointed the three out to Lisa. She was enjoying Lisa's company too, and agreed with her husband that Lisa might make a fine Watcher. Schlafer himself didn't take too long to emerge. Maybe a half an hour, if that. Greer followed, discreetly, as did the two men in the car and the man she presumed to be Schlafer's Watcher. They came upon a relatively deserted place, and Greer felt free to challenge him. She whispered a comment to Lisa to stay where she was, and then carefully stepped within sensing range. He stopped, clearly confused for a moment. She caught a glance at his Watcher, who was himself trying to figure out who Schlafer was sensing. Greer was careful to keep her back to the Watcher - she wasn't worried about the intelligence agents, but she was worried about being identified by the Organization before she had a chance to fight him. It was bad enough that she was going to be identified after she fought him. He swung around warily, then stopped after she stepped out of the shadows. "Who are you?" "My name is Georgina Lewis. And I've come for your head." He laughed unexpectedly. "So you see fit to challenge me." She shrugged. "It's the Game. Why else?" "Why else, indeed? I'm flattered that you've heard of me." "I've heard of you, all right. And I've come for you." "Good. Let's make this short, shall we?" "Fine by me." They both drew their swords and commenced their fight. It didn't take long for the police to come. Greer looked at her opponent. "Kennington Park. Midnight, in two days." He nodded, and they both fled. * * * General Damon glared at the woman before him. She looked back, hostile. "I've got a very reliable report of two people swordfighting. One of them was Schlafer; I presume the long brown haired woman in the trenchcoat that was fighting him was you?" "Of course it was," Greer said angrily. "I found him. I followed him. I challenged him. I realize that you may not be familiar with it, but this is how our Game is played. We fight each other; we kill each other. That is who we are. It's as much a part of what we are as our healing. For that matter, your son's inability to kill is part of who he is. It's part of the package, for both of us." "Answer me one question: why is it called the Game?" "I have no idea. Both Watchers and Immortals have plenty of theories on that. Some think it's because only one person can win it. Some think it's an ironic title - fun and games it certainly isn't, unless you enjoy taking other people's heads, which some do. I could give you plenty of theories, and all or none of them could be right. Neither Watchers nor Immortals know the ultimate reason for the game - we don't even know what the winner gets." "So you're fighting for a reason you can't understand." "Yes. And soldiers don't always know either. Does the Charge of the Light Brigade ring any bells? They didn't know, either." General Damon was frustrated. "So, now our bomber is loose, he hasn't returned to his flat, and you shot up our one chance!" Greer smiled at him. "No, I haven't." "What do you mean?" "I know exactly where he's going to be- in two days' time." Damon felt his jaw drop. "How do you know that?" The Immortal shrugged. "Before we were so rudely interrupted, I challenged him. Before we parted, I named a time and place. He'll be there." "And where will he be?" "In Kennington Park. Two days from now, at 12:15 am." "Good. If you're right, and he does show up, we'll have him." "You'll have him. Trust me." Damon nodded. He shuffled some forms and stood up. "I'll get you a ride, if you want." "Well, if you can, I want to talk to Adam." "I'm sure that can be arranged," Damon said. He picked up the phone, and, minutes later, Greer disappeared off with Adam. After they had left, Damon picked up the phone and said, "We have a location for the bomber..." * * * Greer found herself very relieved to be away from Damon. She regretted lying about the exact time that Schlafer would be there. However, she figured that by the time that the intelligence agencies would be there, she and Schlafer would have time for a decent fight. She might even win. "You're awfully quiet," Adam said. She looked around wildly, and then realized that the teen had come in with a glass of water, which he offered to her. "Sorry, Adam. I guess I'm reflecting on my argument with General Damon." "Want to talk about it?" "Why not?" Greer replied. "I just thought that since he's used to you guys doing extraordinary things, that he'd accept what I am, and what I do." * * * [note: My knowledge of London's geography comes from three maps (of various ages and detail) and some very fuzzy memories (to make a long story short, I was nine, we were on an exchange program and living in Bromley, which I liked better than London, and I had no idea that I would need to remember anything about the city over a decade later), so I've probably done something geographically impossible. If I have, I apologize.] Selma McCrory "Maybe what the world needs smccrory@calweb.com are more Selmas" selmamc@aol.com -Darien Lambert, Time Trax =========================================================================