While Duncan usually found going to work a relaxing way to get away from a house with two small and demanding children in it, this particular Tuesday was anything but relaxing.  The Moon was due to rise soon, and the first quarter was not long after it.  Being at work, trying to focus on code and hardware while magic sung to him from outside the walls was gnawing at the foundation of his sense of self.

It was with a sense of profound relief that Duncan exited the building and hopped into his car.  He tried his best not to speed on the way home, and mostly succeeded.  When he pulled in to his parking spot, he noticed two familiar vehicles waiting near the house.  One was Gwen’s, the other a black SUV that had been conspicuously absent the past two weeks.

Gwen’s cute little car was empty when Duncan walked past it, but Agent Mackie was still in the SUV, and got out as Duncan approached.

“Can we talk?” asked Mackie.

Duncan raised an eyebrow at the deferential tone.  “Sure.  Come on in.”

Duncan barely had time to open the door before he was pounced on by Gwen.  “Is it magic time yet?” she asked gleefully.

Duncan laughed as he disentangled himself then closed the door.  “Yes, it’s magic time.  Let’s get business out of the way first, okay?”

Gwen finally noticed Agent Mackie’s presence, and blushed.  “Oh!  Sorry, Kenzie.  Didn’t see you there.”

Agent Mackie rolled his eyes at Gwen’s invocation of the name he’d used at the Blue Vixen.  “I’m not planning to be her again.  I’m just here to brief Duncan on what has happened since the incident at CSIS headquarters.  And ask a favour.”

Duncan nodded.  “I’m always willing to help.  You know that.”

“It’s not a favour for the Service.”

“Even better,” grinned Duncan.  “Tell me what it is and I’ll do what I can.”

Mackie shook his head and instead started talking about how CSIS had handled their rogue agents.  Unfortunately, the news was somewhat mixed.  The Toronto office had, for most intents and purposes, gone rogue.  The other offices were doing their best to contain the situation, but the Director had insisted that everything be hushed up so as not to worry the population in general.  The upshot was that CSIS wouldn’t be giving Duncan any trouble out west, but back east the rogue faction had a lot of influence.

“Well,” sighed Duncan.  “That tears it.  I’m going to have to deal with Wilhelm.  One way or another.”

“Wilhelm?” asked Mackie.

“Toronto’s ghoul.  He had hundreds of mind-slaves in Ottawa.  I cleared them out, but I don’t doubt he’ll have rebuilt at least some of his network.  I hope Henry and Bunhill can handle themselves.  Have there been any messages for me from the Director?”

Mackie shook his head.  “He’s been busy putting out fires and otherwise keeping a lid on the situation.  Can’t you communicate with Bunhill directly?”

“Not for the last couple of weeks, but now that the Moon is strong enough to keep my stores from fading... yes.”  Duncan closed his eyes for a time.  “Well, it’s not as detailed as what I can get from Gwen here, but she seems fine.  Not stressed, anyway.  We should probably work out something a little more concrete.  I don’t think she even has my phone number...”

“I’ll see if I can get a message to the Director that you’d like Bunhill to call, and pass the number along.  He’ll know it, of course.  Shall I tell him to expect you in a week?”

Duncan nodded.  “I should clean house in Ottawa and see what Henry has to say before I start anything to do with Toronto.  So, with that out of the way, what was the favour you wanted?”

“Not an onerous one,” replied Mackie with a smile.  “Armstrong’s been transferred here to recover.  Doctor O’Brien has been briefed on the need to keep him in contact with silver.”

“Recover?” asked Duncan with concern.  “I healed his wounds, didn’t I?”

“You kept him from dying.  He was already charging toward you when the bomb went off, and he caught some shrapnel from the podium.  His legs got pretty messed up, but nothing immediately life-threatening.”

“Do you know if O’Brien’s at the hospital now?” asked Duncan urgently.  “I had no idea...  How did I miss that?”

“You saved his life, Duncan.  Don’t get upset about the rest.  He isn’t.”

Duncan sighed, and agreed.  After Mackie had left, he turned to Gwen.  “Up for a trip to the hospital?  I really need to deal with this.  He was trying to save me.”

“But...  Magic!” protested Sidney, turning Duncan and Gwen’s heads.

“I promise we’ll do something fun when I get back, okay?” soothed Duncan.  “I need to put this right.  It won’t take long, we’ll be back before you have dinner ready.  There’ll be lots of time to play after the kids are in bed, the Moon doesn’t set until way after midnight tonight.”

“I suppose,” said Sidney reluctantly.  “Do you have enough magic to do at least some of the renovations before the full moon?”

Duncan grinned and led the other two to the bedroom, where he pulled a large chest out of the closet.  It was coated in silver but had non-silver handles so that he could touch it without being affected.  When he opened it, a treasure of magic crystals was revealed.

“So many...” said Gwen and Sidney together.  Gwen laughed.  “Who are you and what have you done with magic-averse Sidney?”

“But they’re so pretty!  I just want to run my hands through them.”

Duncan smiled indulgently.  “Go ahead.  They’re pretty durable when I compress them this small, you’re not going to accidentally transform your hands.”

Sidney giggled like a little girl as she swept her hands through the glittering heap.  She poured handfuls of the tiny crystals out of her cupped hands like water.  Then she frowned.  Her hands looked like they were spangled with stardust.  She gave them a little shake, tried to brush the ‘dust’ off, but still they sparkled.  “I thought you said they wouldn’t accidentally transform me?”

“That wasn’t accidental,” said Gwen pointing at Duncan, who was doing his best to look overly innocent.

“Duncan!”

“It’ll fade away in a bit if you like.  Or if you’d prefer, I can make you sparkly all over.”

Sidney inhaled sharply at the offer.  “I...”  She looked away from Duncan, then down at her hands.  “The second one, please,” she said softly.

The sparkles spread slowly up her arms.

“There,” said Duncan.  “It’ll take a while to finish.  I’ll be back before it’s done.”

Sidney nodded distractedly.  Robo-Duncan went still, and Gwen shrank away to nothing.  Sidney wiggled her fingers experimentally and admired the sparklies.


At the hospital, Donna and Gwen found Doctor O’Brien in his office.

He looked up with a grin as Donna materialized.  “I was expecting you about now.  Here to see Mr. Armstrong?”

“Mackie told you, did he?”

“I put two and two together.  Plus, I actually talk to my patients.  They all have interesting stories if you take the time to listen.”

“And a doctor has so much time for all that?” Donna asked.

“When he has an angel looking over his shoulder for his worst cases, it frees some up,” he said with a smile.  Then his mood turned somber.  “If you have time for one other patient after we see your friend, I’d... well, I’d really appreciate it.”

Donna nodded. “I’ll do what I can.  I only brought so much magic with me, but it won’t take long to grab more.”

The doctor nodded, and then led Donna out of the office.  She summoned Gwen to tangibility, as a tiny, invisible figure riding her shoulder.  Gwen made a game of hiding in Donna’s hair.

“Mr. Armstrong, you have a guest.  Feeling up for a visit?”

Armstrong looked up to see Donna and grinned.  “Oh hell yeah.  Gettin’ tired of sitting around all day.”

Donna just stared as O’Brien scooted her into the room and closed the door behind her.  “Your legs!”

Armstrong looked down.  “Yeh.  Got kinda messy.  Figures I’d get out of Afghanistan without so much as a scratch, and lose a leg here instead.”

Donna darted over to crouch beside Armstrong’s bed, taking his hand in hers.  “I am so, so sorry.  I didn’t even notice your legs that day.”

Armstrong used his free hand to pat Donna’s.  “It’s okay.  You pulled off a flipping miracle that day.  The moon had really set, right?  I’m a little fuzzy on that bit.”

Donna nodded.  “I can’t exactly explain it myself.  And... it’s not something that it feels right to use for tests, either.”  Gwen chirped agreement in her ear.

“Did you have enough of whate’er it was to heal the rest of me?”

Donna closed her eyes and considered the problem, shuddering at dredging up those memories.  “I...  No.  I used everything I had on the bullets.  I barely made it home.  But I have enough to fix it now.  It won’t be permanent until the full Moon, but it’ll stop the pain, and give you your leg back.”

“Ah, and here I was lookin’ forward to trying out some of those fancy new prosthetics.”

Donna rolled her eyes at that.  “Sure you were.  C’mon, off with the silver.  It’s safe now.”

Two bracers and a silver neck-chain later, Armstrong sighed softly.  “Oh!  Right.  I’d be quite happy to have my own leg back, thank you kindly.”

Donna grinned.  “Ask and ye shall receive.”  She laid her hands on his leg quite unnecessarily, and started the change.  “It’ll take a bit.  Let me look at the other while...”

Donna studied the spells, a puzzled look growing on her face.  She whispered to Gwen, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

Gwen grew large enough to answer back.  “The magic on his head feels weird.  Stronger than it should be?”

“It feels... stable.”  Donna said out loud.

“Is that a problem?” asked Doctor O’Brien.

“No!  It’s good.  His wounds won’t return.  It’s an unexpected benefit of the power used to heal him.”

“I’m right here, you know,” said Armstrong.  He tossed the sheets off his bed to look at his legs, then poked at one carefully.  “Feels good to me.  Will these changes fade?”

Donna nodded.  “You need to come see me on the night of the full Moon.  Monday night, not Tuesday like the calendar shows.  Otherwise it’s another two weeks of silver...”  She paused at Armstrong’s shudder.  “No silver, hm?”

“No silver, please.  I’ll be sure to be there.”

“No getting sent off into the hinterlands by the Service.  I’ll have to go chase you down.”

Armstrong looked away and sighed.  “That won’t be a problem.  They fired this ‘loose cannon’ last week.  Think the only reason they were puttin’ up with me was because I knew about magic, and ye fixed that for them but good.”

“Oh, Chuck!  That’s not fair.  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get you fired.”

Armstrong laughed out loud.  “Hah!  It was my own damn fault.  Shooting a senior officer, and all that.”  He leaned toward Donna and whispered conspiratorially, “Felt good.  Guy was an ass, and not just because he tried to kill you.”

Donna pulled him in for a hug.  “Anything I can do to help, just ask.”

Chuck wriggled a bit, then pulled back to sit on the edge of his bed.  “Can ye get me a job at the Blue Vixen?”

“I have a little pull with management there, yeah.  Bouncer, or...”

Chuck looked away cheeks pinking slightly.  “Cherry.  I miss her.  More’n I expected.”  The longing in his voice was impossible to miss.

“Of course.  Come by any night in the next week and I’ll give you any body you like.”

This time it was Chuck that initiated the hug, wrapping Donna up tight in a big bear hug.  She patted his back softly, and ignored the trembling.

“Thank you,” he said softly at last.  Then he returned to his bed and looked at the doctor with his best puppy-dog expression.  “Can I go now?”

Doctor O’Brien harrumphed, and looked at Armstrong’s chart.  “I’ll need to do a little paperwork first, and I’ll have to get you to sign a waiver regarding being discharged before your prosthetic is ready.”

“I can set you up with prosthetic legs later, if you like,” said Donna.  “Or Gwen can.  I think she’d love the chance to design something special.”

“As Cherry?”

“Sure, why not.”

Doctor O’Brien looked concerned.  “You’re planning to remove the leg again?”

“Temporarily,” said Donna reassuringly.  “Unless the prosthetic proves good enough that Cyber Cherry becomes a thing.”

“Whatever.  Once he’s discharged, it’s not my problem.”

Donna patted Armstrong’s hand again.  “I’ll catch you later.  The doctor here wanted another favour, and I should probably see about it before I break his mind.”

Chuck laughed and waved them off.  “See you soon.”

The doctor’s other patient was on a different floor.  The nurses had a sterner look to them, and a peek at the call board showed that they were in an intensive care ward.  “Just one, in here? I’d have expected...”

“There are a couple others that are touch-and-go, but they should make it another week.  This one worries me.  She’s fading and we don’t know why.”

Donna took one look at the girl, gasped, and staggered back against the wall.  Gwen yelped, and grabbed for her hair before growing to full size.  “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t you feel it?”

“Who are you?” asked Doctor O’Brien, staring at the new appearance.

“She’s my most trusted advisor,” said Donna, still staring at the girl with wide eyes.  Fortunately, the subject of her gaze was out cold, unaware of anything around her.  “What happened to her?”

“That’s the problem.  We haven’t a clue.  She was brought to us by her foster parents, she’d been tired and sickly ever since they got her.  Her whole body is just... shutting down.”

“That’s because her soul is being eaten away!” cried Donna, as if it should be obvious.

“Wait, what?  Her soul?  What are you talking about?”  The doctor looked puzzled, almost offended at the concept.

“Hello, magic entity over here,” said Donna, waving at him.  “I’ve saved people’s lives by keeping their soul from leaving while I rebuild their bodies.  More than once.  I know what a soul looks like and hers does NOT look right.  It’s this sickly, black... awfulness.  Over half of it is gone, and the rest won’t last the night.”

“Can you do something?  I’ll take anything.  We’ve tried everything we can think of, and she just keeps getting worse.  If you say it’s her soul, I believe you.”

Donna felt a flicker of something pass between the doctor and her, frowned for a moment, then shook her head.  “I...  Right.  Let’s fix this.  I’ve got a little magic left, but souls are remarkably small.  It should be enough.”  She closed her eyes, then sucked in a pained breath.  “Whatever that is, it’s nasty.  Hurts to touch it.”

“But can you fix it?” asked Gwen, urgently.  “That first try didn’t do much.  Did it do anything?”

Donna shook her head, and summoned up the last of the energy she was holding on to.  “I...  Oh!  That helped.  It buys her a few days, anyway...”

Gwen frowned, touching her hand to Donna’s chest.  “That was something different.”   She sucked on her finger, as if trying to taste the magic.  Then her eyes went wide, and she began to sing.

 There is a house in Victoria, They call the Blue Vixen...

Donna stared at Gwen for a beat, then began to smile as she felt a now-familiar glow build within her.  Gwen gestured toward the bed, and Donna approached the girl.  This time, just the barest touch of power sent the darkness away.  Donna turned back to Gwen, and bowed.  “Thank you, my Priestess.”

Gwen hugged her tight.  “It worked?”

“Very well indeed.  The shadow on her soul is gone.  There is still damage, but that will heal in time, like all grief does.”

Doctor O’Brien moved to the other side of the bed, and took the girl’s wrist.  “Her pulse feels stronger than before, and not so sluggish.  Do you really think she’s...”

The girl opened her eyes, and blinked at the people in her room.  She quickly fixated on Donna, who was still glowing softly.  “Are you an angel?” she asked in a voice weak from disuse.

“Close,” said Donna.  “You’ll be alright now.  You’ll live.”

The girl burst into tears.