Another Leda, Another Earth

[anarchist_queen]

The Rowan Gentleman. That's what they called him, the masked murderer who'd stalked the streets of Soho.

King o' Beer had been his first victim, and the Silver Suits had written it off as a hate crime. Then when Gorty and Q-Paul's bodies were found, it wasn't hard to deduce that the Gentleman was targeting members of the Strange Pupae. Strider had been next to die, but it was clear he hadn't gone down with a fight.

He came for Leda next. She only barely escaped, and that only due to the timely arrival of Sai and Wiseguy. It was she who provided the description that led to his moniker.

Mooner had actually been the prime suspect. He'd taken his and Leda's break up relatively well, but when she began dating his sister his attitude towards her had become toxic. And his outburst when his attempt to wrest control of Castle Pup from her failed...

It was only when he died protecting the others from their tormentor that his name was cleared. Finally Leda, battered and bloodied, had managed to kill the Rowan Gentleman in a brutal confrontation. Castle Pup burned around them as Leda desperately fought for her life amid the fiendishly displayed bodies of Sai, Wiseguy and Sunny Rico, the Silver Suit detective assigned to the case. She'd arrived just in time to attempt a rescue, only to be killed herself.

Leda had survived, but she would be a very long time recovering from the horror, the sadistic slaughter of her friends and the destruction of her home.

When Leda had been a child she'd been rendered mute by the trauma of witnessing her parents murder. As it turned out, the assassin responsible had been the same killer who'd donned a mask as the Rowan Gentleman.

When she first arrived at Fandom High, she'd been somewhat recovered from the rampage, but was once again mute. It was only through the love and friendship of her fellow students and guidance from the teachers at the unique school that she finally regained her voice.

But her life was once more torn apart by horror when the Rowan Gentleman returned. Resurrected by necromantic sorcery as a nigh unstoppable revenant, he cut a bloody swath through Leda's friends, striking first at one of her closest companions slumber parties, by the time she was able to use the skills taught to her by Morgan Le Fay and Master Arashikage, and a warded blade provided by Hephaestus, she was once more the lone survivor.


Not long after leaving Fandom High, Leda found a new home with the Federal Bureau of Paranormal Affairs. Despite her best efforts, she'd found herself once more connecting, this time with her fellow agents. They'd all suffered their own trials. Her fellow field agent Travis Knight had been the last remaining member of his platoon when they'd been attacked by a horde of Snarks.

Their healer, Joi was a powerful medium who'd been a favored target for demons and malicious spirits since she was a small child, and even now lived with the knowledge that one particular fiend may return to claim her.

And then there was their analyst, Michael. Raised by the leader of a Doomsday cult, rescued on the eve of becoming a human sacrifice, only to be recruited by another cult before Leda herself brought him into the fold of the FBPA.

His ex had not taken that well.

"Hey Baby.

"I suppose you never thought you'd hear my voice again. That's what she told you isn't it. Did she tell you I wasn't coming for you? Did she tell you I was dead? Hell, maybe she thought I was. She certainly tried her damndest to get rid of me. That...I can't think of a word bad enough to describe her. She thought she could kill me. She thought she could keep me from you. She underestimated my determination. My...love, for you.

"Yes, I love you. I'm sorry I never said it before. But...not as sorry as I am for underestimating her. Her obsession, her insanity. Her cruelty. I told you once I could protect you, that I'd never let anything happen to you, and I failed you.

"It's my fault she got to you, and I pray you can forgive me, but I don't know if I can forgive myself.

"But...but it's okay now. This time I can truly promise you that she will never hurt you again.

"For what it's worth, I made it last. I made her pay for every ounce of pain she caused you. But it's not enough. When I see you lying here, your wounds still fresh, I wish I could kill her all over again.

"It's not enough, and it's not okay and it won't be okay until I know that you're okay. Please be okay my darling.

Please, wake up!"