“That’s an awful lot of new hardware pointed at the Director’s office,” said Donna worriedly.  She was hovering over the CSIS offices in Ottawa, a few inches tall, with Gwen and Bunhill invisible presences at her sides.  “Still, it’s time to beard the lion in its den.”

“Shield,” said Bunhill.  “And send a duplicate instead of yourself.  I don’t know what you’re seeing, but you sound worried.  If you think you should be worried, you’re probably right.”

Donna nodded, then realized her companions couldn’t see her either.  They were all invisible to prevent prying eyes from finding them.  “Good plan.  Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need it,” said Gwen.  She pulled Donna close and gave her a kiss anyway.

A crystalline woman appeared in the CSIS Director’s office, and was immediately the focus of attention of the two men there.  The ghoul, Henry, smiled briefly in vindication, but otherwise kept his expression neutral.

“You showed.  I was wondering if I’d have to send someone to fetch you,” said the Director.

“I tend to honor my promises,” said Donna, eyes on the ghoul to judge his reaction.  She did not get what she expected.

“Is this really you?” continued the Director, ignoring her comment.

Donna saw the tiniest, near-imperceptible shake of Henry’s head.  She accelerated her time-sense as she told the clone to answer, “Of course.”

Violence erupted through the room as she finished her statement.  The array of equipment she’d sensed unleashed energies of a dozen different sorts, from microwaves through gamma rays, and a variety of other energized particles.  They all converged on where Donna’s crystal clone was sitting, and only one had any effect at all... on her.  The splash onto the walls and ceiling of the room caused numerous scorch and burn marks, two of which continued to smoulder after the emitters’ capacitors had been exhausted.

“Really?” asked Donna lightly.  “You thought any of that might work?  I’ll grant the accelerated silver ions tickled a little – clever idea there, my compliments to whoever thought of it.”

She sighed as she noticed the director’s hand twitch toward a second button under his desk.  “No.  You don’t get to use that one.  The explosives it used to be wired to would vaporise this room and all its contents.  Worse, it might actually annoy me.”

The Director kept pressing the button urgently, despite the fact that it was doing nothing.

“Stop that!” growled Donna.  She tried to wash him with power to clear the influence, but it had no effect.  She frowned, and did it again.  “He’s got silver all through his body!  How did they influence him?”

“I don’t know!” protested Henry.  “I’ve been relying on the fact he can’t be influenced.  I didn’t know about the explosives either, I swear!”

Donna glared at him, but her ire was deflected when the Director started to whimper.  “What?”

“They have my daughter.  They’re going to kill her.”

“Where?” asked Donna urgently.  She didn’t wait for his spoken answer, she could feel the tug of the connection between him and his daughter as his mind focussed on it.  With the merest of warnings to Bunhill and Gwen to cover for her, she vanished from between them and raced off in what she dearly hoped was the right direction.  

An echo of recognition ahead of her suggested she had the right of it, and as she got closer she could feel a blossoming fear that made it clear she was on the right trail.

The bright flare of death energy being released a block ahead of her made it certain.  Donna appeared in the sealed room where a woman’s dying body was still collapsing to the floor.  The guard with the smoking gun was the immediate target of her fury.  He was protected by silver bracers, so direct action was out.  Two blazing planes of fire severed his arms at the shoulders, instantly cauterizing the wounds.  The man screamed and crumpled.

Donna ignored him as she gathered the woman’s spirit and set to rebuilding her body.  One shot had shredded her heart, the other had pierced her lung.  Both had gone clean through, simplifying the job.

While she was doing that, she heard the clack of a pistol racking behind her.  “Touch the trigger and meet a far worse fate than your partner,” growled Donna grimly without turning from her task.  The gun clattered to the floor.

A ripple along her bond with Gwen reminded Donna she had more to attend to.  She split her attention as best she could while handling a soul, and got a view from her crystal clone in the Director’s office.  “It’s okay,” she relayed distractedly.  “Just barely in time.  Give me a minute.”

Once the director’s daughter was healed, Donna gently nudged her spirit back inside.  “Can you sit up for me?” she asked.

The woman blinked, and looked up at Donna, awed.  “Are you an angel?”

Donna took a moment to note her body’s shape.  Crystalline, and not remotely human.  She corrected the latter.  “Not exactly.  You’re still on Earth, I’m afraid.”

The woman  frowned, and looked down at her bloody shirt.  “I was shot.  I... died?”

“Yes.  The bastard who did it has been disarmed, and his buddy had better stop thinking about how to jump me or he’ll lose all his limbs.  Sit down.”

The remaining guard did so, and magic-crafted rope spun around his body and secured him tightly to the chair.

The director’s daughter stared in horror at the whimpering form on the floor and the blackened stumps of his shoulders.  “What did you do to him?”

“Less than I should have.  Why do you care?”

She choked back a sob.  “They’ve been my bodyguards for years.  He has family here, sees his mother for dinner every week.  I send them Christmas gifts!”

“They’ve been suborned, and tried to kill you.”  Donna sighed at Betty’s intransigent look.  “Fine.  I’ll fix it.”

She spent a few moments working loose the silver armbands each wore, then washed them with lunar power.  The guard in the chair shook his head then looked horrified.  “Betty!  Oh my God, I’m so...”

The disarmed guard slowly sat up.  His arms were still missing, but his shoulders were healing.  “I don’t understand.  I thought we were in Afghanistan, facing...  Jesus, Betty, are you... how are you not dead?”

“That would be my doing,” said Donna.  “Who made you do this?”

Both of the guards shook their heads.  The one on the floor frowned.  “There was a call...  I heard a word that sounded German, and then everything went sideways.”

“Was there another call to tell you to kill Betty?” asked Donna, making the named woman squeak in fresh terror.

“I don’t know.  We were in a cave, not a safe room, and I can’t trust anything I heard or saw.  But... someone gave the order.”

Donna asked for the guards’ phones, but checking the recent calls drew a blank.  Apparently their orders had included erasing the records.  She cursed at the thoroughness.  “Put your silver back on.  Keep her safe.  I’ll be back when I can.”

Donna vanished from the room.  The armless guard looked down at his shoulders.  “And how am I supposed to do that?”

Betty tentatively offered to put one of the bracelets around his ankle.  “I... I’m sure she’ll fix you.”

He accepted her help, then sighed.  “I deserve worse after what I did.  Besides, it’s not so bad.  It almost feels normal.”


Back at the Director’s office, Donna’s drone-self opened its eyes.  “She’s safe now.  Shaken up pretty bad, but...”

“What happened?” demanded the Director.  “The video cut out after she was shot, but now I can see she’s...”

“Yes, I healed her.  To forestall further questions, yes, she was dead.  Yes, I can do that, but only for the very recently dead.”

The Director nodded.  “I see.  I owe you more than I can say, then.  But how did this happen at all?  There are literally no other people on the planet I trust more.”

“Ghoul influence,” grumbled Donna.  “Far more subtle than I’ve seen before.  Nothing on the surface, but buried deep in their minds was something like a post-hypnotic trigger.  They got a call that gave the command, and thought they were in combat.”  She looked over at Henry.  “You don’t strike me as the type to be that subtle.”

Henry winced and shook his head.  “None of this was my doing.  Ottawa is my domain, I thought I was supreme here.  I appear to have been badly mistaken.”

“No kidding,” said Donna.  “So if it wasn’t you, then who?  The guards got a call that sent them into some kind of delusional state, but it also got them to erase their call history.”

The Director smiled grimly.  “Erasing the history on the phone isn’t nearly sufficient to cover their tracks.  While we’re not quite the NSA, CSIS does have substantial resources in this area.”  He tapped on his computer for a few moments, then frowned.  “Interesting.  The calls were bounced around enough that I’ll have to get some techs on this.  But it’ll definitely be productive.  In time.”

Henry shook his head.  “I’m fairly sure I know who is behind it, in any case.  Wilhelm.”  He pronounced the name like a curse.

“Who?” asked Donna.

“The ghoul, to use your term, that controls Toronto.  He holds one of the three major centers of influence in the country, and has always envied my position here.  I had no idea he’d go to such lengths, or that his tentacles reached so far.”

“I wish I knew how many thralls we’re dealing with,” growled the Director.

Donna’s body went still as her mind raced outward.  She’d not tested the range of her perception in some time, and it had grown significantly.  Moments later her eyes opened once more.  “Six hundred and seventy three.  Within five kilometers or so.  There aren’t many that far out, so that represents the majority of them.  I can’t tell who controls them, so deduct however many you control.”

Henry looked pale as a ghost.  “That leaves over six hundred.  My God.”

Donna snorted.  “There is very little godly about you, sir.”

Henry’s smile was wry.  “I know.  But my habits are very old by now, madam.  Do you know, I still pray and take confession?  I have not told Father Newcomb the whole of my history, granted, but it has been a great comfort even so.”

Donna studied the ghoul and shook her head.  “I don’t know what to do with you.  While the offer to cleanse you still stands, I’m no longer sure if it’s a good idea.  Removing your power would create a vacuum here, and Wilhelm would fill it.  Given the actions he has taken tonight...”

“Allegedly taken,” said the Director.  “We haven’t proven it’s him, yet.”

“Fine.  Allegedly taken.  There are nearly seven hundred people in Ottawa and surrounding areas whose minds are not their own.  Shall I just go and tidy that mess up first?”  Donna asked acerbically.

“Can you?” asked Henry.  “Because I’d gladly give up mine to contain Wilhelm.”

“I...”  Donna’s eyes widened as she contemplated the question.  “Yes.  It will take a some time for the hundred and thirty six wearing silver.  The rest I could do right now, in little more time than it took to find them.”

“Do it,” said Henry and the Director at the same time.

Donna let her mind spread through the building.  “There are eight here, all protected by silver.  Give me a few seconds to deal with that...”

“Just like that?” asked the Director.  “I thought silver provided full immunity from magic.”

“In your case it does, because it’s spread through your body,” said Donna.  “But if it’s just a bracer like the guards are wearing, it’s easy to slip something under it so it’s no longer touching their skin.  There.  All eight done... Huh.  One of these things is not like the others.”

“What?”

Donna shook her head.  “The influence on the captain of the guard was different.  Were all of them under your control, Henry?”

“I had thought so.  Apparently I was wrong.  Can you figure out who influenced the odd one out?”

Donna’s lips twisted as she considered that.  “Not with these ones, I erased it quite thoroughly.  I’ll check the others as I go.”

A few minutes later she reported that of the ones without silver she’d found signs of three different influences.  “Most of them the same as the odd guard here.  A number of yours, Henry... and at least one other as well.   Possibly more, I’m working at some remove here and it reduces my precision.  I don’t suppose you’d be amenable to a drive around the city?  The ones with silver will go faster if I’m closer to them.”

The Director smiled at that.  “It seems like now would be a good time to head home.  We’ll take the scenic route.”  He escorted Donna and Henry to an armored limousine, driven by one of the eight people whose influence Donna had cleared earlier.  He greeted the Director warmly, calling him ‘Richard’ instead of using his title.

“He seems different,” mused Richard as they drove off.  “Much more talkative.”

Donna looked over at Henry, who nodded.  “My doing, I’m afraid.  Control suppresses the existing personality, overlaying it.  With so many under control, it’s easier to make the overlaid personality mostly my own.”

“That must be a little strange, having bits of yourself all over.”

Henry shrugged.  “You get used to it, seeing yourself in another’s eyes.  I suppose I should try to figure out what Wilhelm’s been doing, subtle control would arouse less suspicion.”

“Or no control at all,” suggested Donna.  “You have influence here beyond the creation of thralls.”

Henry nodded slowly, and spent the drive in thought.  Donna let the matter drop, as she had a large number of delicate operations to conduct on the silver-wearing thralls around town.

An hour later, they pulled up in front of a house that Donna found familiar from her adventures earlier.  “How did the work go?” asked Richard as the limo entered a three-car garage.

“Puzzling,” reported Donna.  “I found at least four different signatures, possibly five.  I’m not sure if the subtle ones are the same as the bulk of what we’re assuming is Wilhelm’s influence.  They feel the same, but the technique is so different it’s hard to tell, and harder to get a sense of the personality behind it.  Another advantage to subtlety, I guess.”

Henry chuckled softly.  “Trying to persuade me to keep up my evil ways, now?”

“You could have tried to influence me.  You haven’t, that I’ve seen.”

“Your guardians would have taken a dim view of that.  Are you going to introduce us?”

Donna nodded.  She turned to watch the garage door finish closing, then gestured dramatically as Bunhill and Gwen expanded to full size.  “Easier to do magic out of sight, after all.  Director Richard, Henry, meet my… disciples, Gwen and Bunhill.”

Henry was staring at the rabbit-girl.  “You... what are you?”

Bunhill smiled back at him.  “Among other things, an ex-ghoul.  You’ve done a lot of damage to your soul, but it’s still there.  Right, Donna?”

“I believe so, yes.  You’ve been sparing with death energy, and...”  She frowned, looking at the ghoul more closely.  “You’re not storing any on you.  How?”

Henry hesitated.  “That may be the only valuable secret I have left.”

“Crystals,” said Bunhill.  “Same as I was, at the end.  Same as you use, Donna, though... well, not exactly the same.  Death corrupts everything.”

Henry slipped a silver-lined cigarette case out of his breast pocket, and opened it.  Inside were five slim purple crystals.  Donna recoiled from the dark energy coiling about them.  “Those are...”

Henry snapped the case shut.  “Very potent.”

Donna grinned, and forged moonlight into a crystal of her own.  It glowed brightly in the dimness of the garage.  “Not the word I was looking for.”

The ghoul’s eyes went wide, alight with avarice.  “May I?”  He reached toward the crystal, drawn as a moth to a flame.  

Donna cupped the crystal in her hand, holding it away from Henry.  She shot Bunhill a worried look.

The rabbit-girl nodded her reply, and Donna slowly uncovered the crystal.  “Be careful.  You haven’t touched this kind of magic before, it’s not the same as the old solar magic.  And others ghouls have died from taking too much at once.”

Henry nodded slowly, but his eyes never left the glowing crystal.  He brought his hands near it, as if warming them from a candle.  “It’s beautiful,” he whispered.  A wisp of magic jumped to his hands, and he took a step back, cupping it there.  The magic flickered gently, then leached away into his palms.  His hands lost their wrinkles, smoothing into the hands of a thirty year old, not an octogenarian.

“Henry?” asked Richard, as the ghoul’s wondering silence went on.

Henry slipped the case out of his pocket again, and held it out to Donna.  She took it, uncertainly.  “What?”

“If this is what you are offering, then I accept with all my heart.”  Henry looked her in the eye.  “Do it.”

Donna nodded, and the crystal cupped in her hands grew brighter still, its energy gently washing through the ghoul.  “Don’t fight it,” she murmured, unnecessarily.

“Oh, Lady, nothing is further from my mind.”  Henry’s lined face softened and he smiled as the magic glow about him drained away, leaving a middle-aged man in its place.  “I feel...  Whole.  For the first time in centuries.”

Henry darted forward and hugged Donna tight.  After a moment she returned it.  “Then it is well done.”

When Henry stepped back, Bunhill approached him and hugged him in turn.  “Welcome, brother.  The family of ex-ghouls is small, but maybe it will grow?”

Donna sighed regretfully.  “I hope so.  But...”

“The others guard their power jealously,” said Henry.  “It has been too long.  My master warned me of the cost of death magic before he passed on, and I have been judicious in my use of it.”

Donna opened Henry’s crystal case once more, and a wash of luminous power erased the death that had resided within.  The floating crystal divided itself into fifths, and slotted into the case where the other crystals had been.  Donna snapped it closed, and offered it back to Henry.  “There.  I can replenish it for you next month.  Use it wisely until then.”

Bunhill stared at her wide-eyed.  “Are you serious?  No, skip that, can I have one?”

Donna laughed, tinkling like crystal.  “Of course.  You don’t need one when you are near me, but if it would please you, then yes.  I’ll forge a silvered case for you later.  Perhaps a certain jewelry box could be repurposed?”

Henry tucked the case away safely in his jacket pocket.  “Thank you.  For this, and for the trust.  I will endeavour to prove myself worthy of it.”

“All done?” asked Richard.  “I should like to see my daughter now.  For all I trust the video, I...”

Donna smiled.  “You shouldn’t.  But she is safe, I can feel her from here.  Lead the way.”

Betty had cleaned up the blood and put on an undamaged dress.  When the door to the safe room opened she looked as if nothing untoward had happened.  Even so, she burst into tears and ran to her father the moment she saw him.

“Shh, shh.  It’s all over now.”

“It’s not!” wailed Betty.  “Gary’s armless, and being all weird about...”  Her eyes widened as she saw Donna behind him.  “You!”

Donna winced at the accusation in that voice.  “I’ll heal him.  He’ll be good as new in a minute.  Once you get the silver off him, anyway.”

The guard that Donna had disabled shrugged.  “I’m fine, really.  I don’t know why she’s so upset.”

“Because you don’t have any arms!” huffed Betty.  “I don’t understand how that’s not a big deal to you.”

Donna shared a look and a brief giggle with Gwen.  “Sorry.  Silver does that.  Its touch prevents change, to harm or to heal.  Further, it makes it hard to believe that change is possible.  Since you can’t change, you have to have always been like that.  Something like that.”

Garry shuddered when the silver bracelet left his ankle.  “Oh!  I am sorry, Betty.  She’s right.  It seemed so natural.  Even... relaxing.”

Betty rolled her eyes.  “How can being armless be relaxing?”

“Less muscles to tense up?” asked Garry with a grin.  He wiggled the fingers of the tiny hands that were growing at his shoulder.  Soon he had child-sized arms, and before long he was back to normal once more.

Betty hugged him tight.  “Oh thank goodness.  Even after you shot me, seeing you like that was...”

Donna chuckled throatily.  “Not so puzzling as you thought, mmm?”

Betty blushed and looked away.  “I...  I hate feeling so helpless.  Seeing him helpless instead...  I wish...”

Gwen looked at Donna sharply, and Donna held her breath.  After a moment she said softly, “Go on.  I owe you for being too late.  And being the cause of the problem, you were a target because of me.”

Betty spoke slowly, as if feeling her way through the puzzle.  “I’m always the weak one.  Needing protection, or even just help reaching a jar on a shelf.  Gary and the others are always there, but…  I hate being small and weak and helpless.  I wish I was the big, strong one for once.”

“Done,” said Donna as Betty started to grow.  She made sure Betty’s clothes would grow with her.

Betty had started a head shorter than Gary, who was on the short side for a bodyguard to a start with.  She stared in wonder at him as she rose that far above him, and beyond.  Before long she was seven feet tall and muscled like an Olympian.  She scooped Gary up into a hug and spun him about.  “Oh!  You feel so light!”

The kiss that followed made everyone blush.

Richard harrumphed, and Betty guiltily dropped Gary.  “I, uh…”

“Have been sweet on him since shortly after he was hired,” said Richard, smiling.  “I have eyes, dear. And I know Gary has followed the rules about fraternization.”  He glowered at the guard, but Gary met his gaze fearlessly.

“Don’t fire him, Daddy!” begged Betty, her pleading expression entirely out of place atop her Amazonian body.

“Is that what you want, sweetie?  I was thinking that the person who shot and killed my daughter should no longer be on her protective detail.”

“Daddy!”

Richard’s stony look cracked into a smile.  “Perhaps a position as part of the domestic staff instead?  There are no fraternization rules for them.  I believe pool boy is traditional.”

Gary smirked.  “If... if it pleases both of you, perhaps...”  He looked over at Donna.  “Maid?”

Betty squeaked, and covered her mouth with her hands.  “Gary?”

“You know you can’t go out like this.  And it’s not everyone you want to be bigger and stronger than.  It’s me.  Can you make her a plausible size, but still strong, and make me smaller than her?”

“And female?” asked Donna, smiling.  “Yes, of course.  You have but to ask.  Betty?”

“Oh, yes please.”

Richard’s eyebrows had by this point ascended into his grey hair.  “Sweetie?”

Betty sighed happily as her height dipped below her father’s.  She hugged him tight enough to draw a protest, and a warning from Donna that she was still very strong despite not looking it.  “I’ll be careful.  Daddy, I’ve been somewhere between bi and gay forever.  I fell for Gary when he went along with playing dress-up when I was eighteen.”

Richard sighed, and wrapped his arms around her.  “I knew about that, too.  Will this make you happy?”

“So happy you can’t even begin to imagine,” gushed Betty.

Richard sighed again.  “I guess that’s it for grandkids, then.”

Donna smirked.  “Oh, I think arrangements can be made.  Gary doesn’t have to be... all female, as it were.  I have considerable leeway in the design of her body.”

Betty nodded eagerly.  “Oh!  That would be...”  She looked at Gary.  “Are you going to be okay with this?”

“I get to keep little G?  Yes please.” Gary’s new voice was soft and sweet.  “Oh!  I sound so different.”

Betty pulled her into a hug.  “Oh, you’re perfect.  Can we stay like this?”

Donna placed her hands upon the brows of each of them.  “You can, and shall.  These are now your true forms.  Be happy together.  Enjoy shopping for clothes.  I took the liberty of making Gary your old size, Betty.  So she should fit most of the outfits you’ve now outgrown.  You’ll fit his old clothes, too... but the cut might not be quite right.”

Betty giggled.  “I can wear his suits?  Oh, we so have to go out like that, at least once.”

Gary blushed, and nodded. “I’d like that.”

“C’mon!” urged Betty.  “Let’s go get you into a dress.”  She tugged Gary off down the hallway, and Richard watched her go with a smile on his face.

“I hope I didn’t overstep,” said Donna to him, softly.

“No, it’s good.  I haven’t seen her so happy since her mother died.  Thank you.  For this.  For saving her.  Anything I can do for you, I shall.”

Donna nodded, her smile turning grim.  “Good.  Because we’re not yet done with the ghouls.  And the next phase might get messy.”

Richard looked over to Henry, who nodded.  “They’re not going to go quietly.  But they have to go.  We’ll do our best to prevent a portal from forming.  Where shall we start?”

“Can you prove that Wilhelm was behind the attack?” asked Donna.

Richard shook his head.  “It’ll take a few days.  I would prefer to have actionable intelligence before we move against him.  Or any of the others you found traces of.  We’ll look into the travels of the people you listed with other influences.  That should give us some idea which ones we’re dealing with.  Until then...”

Donna nodded.  “I’ll sweep the last of the minors on my way home.  Keep in touch.  Bunhill, Gwen.  Ready to go?”

“Always,” said Gwen.

Bunhill hesitated.  “Could I stay here?  Henry needs me more than you do, right now.  His soul isn’t as damaged as mine was, but it is not whole, either.”

Donna studied Bunhill, then turned to Henry.  “If you harm her in any way...”

Henry put his hand to his heart.  “I swear upon my dead master’s soul, I shall not.”

Donna nodded sharply, then she and Gwen vanished.