She stared down at the black… things moving rapidly towards her; no matter how many times she used her stunner, they wouldn't die. She managed to kick several away out of pure fury, though.

"What the hell are this things?" she demanded of her partner, who was staring at the scene with wide eyes, her own stunner set on terminate, as nothing else seemed be getting through to the unknowns.

Peabody gulped and shook her head. "I don't know, sir… but there's an awful lot of them." Sweat trickled down the back of her jacket and she wished that she could back away, but she had a duty to serve and protect—even if it didn't seem that she and Eve were getting anywhere with these things.

There was suddenly a bright flash of light, like someone was taking pictures—pictures of people getting … hurt, killed by these creatures. Eve whirled around, ready to give the would-be reporter a piece of her mind, when she saw a kid, dressed in strange clothing, wielding something that looked like one those antique keys. "What…?"

Whatever he was doing with it, it was destroying the shadows; there was a hard look in his eyes, a single minded look of determination that she knew all too well. He swung the large, awkward looking weapon around with the ease of long use and she finally realized that she had to get out of his way or else he couldn't do what he needed to do. She grabbed Peabody by the scruff of her neck and dragged her backwards to where the civilians were huddled.

It seemed to drag on, every time one of the shadows crept closer, she kicked back away, right into the path of the kid, who hacked away at it. He flashed a grin in her direction at one point, then turned right back to fighting.

Soon enough, though—it was over—and the kid leaned over his weapon, eyes bright and breath coming in short gasps. She strode out of the area, confident that she could handle whatever else came her way with the kid there, all too suddenly aware of the aches and pains and bites she had gotten from the creatures.

"Who are you?" she demanded. This kid wasn't a cop—not even the fashion-plates in EDD dressed like this kid; he didn't have the look of a techno-junkie, either.

The kid brushed back impossibly spiky hair, the weapon vanishing from his hands, leaving Eve gaping and looking for where it could be. "My name's Sora," he said brightly. "Man, I'm glad I got here in time—we were all rather scattered, trying to take care of several unknown worlds at once."

"What…were those things?" Peabody asked, standing next to Eve and looking at the kid—Sora—in awe.

"Heartless," he said shortly, eyes scanning the area as if he were expecting more. "They…" he shrugged. "They're the darkness in peoples hearts."

"You expect me to believe such a ridiculous, hokey excuse like that?" she demanded. "And what was that weapon you were carrying?" Now that she wasn't in immediate danger, Eve Dallas was pissed and she wanted some answers. "I want you to come into Central with me. I have a lot to ask you."

"Central?" The kid looked as if he didn't know what she was talking about, but he gave an easy shrug. "Sure—hey… you look kinda beat up though, shouldn’t you get healed or something?"

Her look grew murderous. "I'll take care of myself, thank you very much—I don't need some kid with strange weapons and clothes and killing…little creepy shadow things to tell me to go to a med-tech."

Sora looked astonished and he shook his head. "No, no—I was just going to use a healing spell…"

"Now spells?" Eve threw her hands up in disgust. "It just gets better and better." She gestured towards her vehicle. "Get in, we need to talk."

~