Dark Minds/Witchblade is a one-shot comic crossover between the Dark Minds and Witchblade comic universes.
Synopsis[]
Nakiko and her new partner, Detective Takahashi must investigate a recent spree of murders that might be related to the ancient artefact, the Witchblade.
Characters[]
- Akane Nakiko
- Sam Takahashi
- Lieutenant Seldin
- Debbie Santalesa
- Brady Miller
- Josh Corolla
- Kesato
- Chris Carlisle
- Michelle
Plot Summary[]
Cyborg police detective, Akane Nakko connects to a recently murdered man, Josh Corolla in order to see his final moments before death. Josh tells the detective, that after getting home from work at night, he started to hear strange noises from his bedroom. At first he thought, that it was mice, but then he heard screech and figures it must be a big rat. As he goes to check his bedroom, he finds nothing out of the ordinary. He then notices an open window, which is supposed to be sealed shut. When Josh closes the window, he notices someone else in the room. Before he can see who is it, he's shredded apart.
Suddenly, Akane hears someone apologizing to Josh. Josh immediately recognises the mysterious female voice as the one who killed him. Akane then wakes up from her trance, confused as to what just happened. As Akane leaves the murder scene, her partner Sam Takahashi expresses his displeasure towards her cybernetic origins. She then drives home and goes to sleep. In her dreams, Akane sees someone trying to get into her apartment. As she wakes up, she decides to have a shower. Out no where, a woman appears behind her. The woman tells Akane, she believed detective could help her, but she was wrong.
Akane wakes up, realizing that it was just a nightmare. She then receives a call from doctor Kesato who urges her to come by his lab right away as her brain waves patterns are off the charts. Akane tells him, that it just nightmares, but the doctor reassures, that this is different. Moments later, Akane visits the doctor at the Aurora Industries. After few tests they conclude, that as she conducted her investigation, someone else breached her mind. Takahashi then comes by, telling them that there's been another murder in the Elysium Park. Doctor Kesato is not happy about Takahashi's behaviour towards Akane, but believes they eventually will find a common ground.
When they reach the Elysium Park, a local cop greets them and makes a misogynistic comment aimed towards Akane. She quickly points this out, embarrassing the cop. Inside the slum, Akane connects to the murdered man. The man sees the mysterious woman, which Akane has seen before, approaching the man. The man feels remorseful for what happened to her in St. Albans as the woman kills him. The woman then speaks directly to Akane, telling her that it had to be this way, which startles the detective.
Later in the car, Akane tells Takahashi to look up information about Saint Albans. While at first thinking it to be person, Akane corrects him, revealing that its actually a place. Takahashi finds that its an orphanage. Akane then hears the mysterious woman's voice, calling her. As this happens, she nearly loses control over the car. Moments before hitting a truck, Takahashi takes the wheel and stops the car. Akane then tells Takahashi to drive. Hours later, after a quick ride and a thorough exam at the Aurora Industries, the technicians find no damage done to Akane. Akane's artificial intelligent mainframe interface, AIMI for short, suggest her telling Takahashi about the killer entering her mind. Nakiko explains, that she first needs to get more information about this killer, before revealing her condition. She orders AIMI to not tell anything to her partner.
After the medical exams, Takayashi reveals, that they have a meeting with lieutenant Seldin in the conference room as they have a theory as to what is happening to her. Takayashi then tells, her that Saint Albans was local halfway house for drug-addicted runaways. Both victims were students there when a scandal broke out revolving around one father Brady Miller who molested three kids. Takayashi comes to the conclusion, that the killer will target the Miller next.
The two then meet lieutenant Seldin in the conference room. Seldin reveals, that Aurora Industries sought an outside contractor called Cyberdata to develop weaponry for the cyborgs they were developing. In response to Aurora's search, Cyberdata came here with a weapon they were experimenting, the Witchblade. Seldin explains, that the Witchblade chooses only notable wielders, that are female. If male tries to use the artefact, he will either lose his hand or die. In order to use the artefact, Cyberdata spent years trying to find the right fit. Some women were even fitted with cybernetic implants in a failed attempt to make the Witchblade work properly. Seldin believes, that the killer responsible for the two murders is the new wielder of the Witchblade. Before detectives leave, Seldin warns them, that the Witchblade is extremely difficult to defeat by force. The wielder must be convinced to give it up.
Later at SIU headquarters, Takahashi reads information about Brady Miller to Akane. For molesting three children, Miller was sentenced to a twenty four years in prison. The sentence was reduced to six years for good behaviour. After leaving the prison, Miller started another halfway house in Macropolis, under a different name. Anakine then questions if one of the victims could be the killer, but Takayashi tells her, that they all live elsewhere and have alibis that checked out. He then calls Miller, warning him that he's in danger. Miller reveals his whereabouts to Takayashi. As Akane hears this, she hears mysterious woman's voice in her head, thanking her for this information.
When they go to Miller's house, they find him already murdered. Takayashi ponders, that the killer somehow monitored them. Akane doesn't anything, although she blames herself for Miller's death. As Takayashi goes to question the kids, Akane connects to the now dead Miller. She sees Miller about to rape a girl, when the mysterious woman approaches him. The woman forces Miller to read her diary as she slowly kills him for molesting her, many years ago. As Miller dies, he tells the woman, that he loved her and he thought she loved him too. He then apologizes and dies. Akane then wakes up, seeing the same girl, Miller was about to rape, approaching her. Akane tells her, that she shouldn't be here, but the girl calms her down, saying, that she knows why it happened. Detective then asks if the girl knows where women went and the girl answers, that she went home.
Detectives then go to a local arcade, which used to be Saint Albans orphanage, where Debbie Santalesa should be. Takayashi tells Akane, that when Debbie was molested by Miller, nobody believed her. When Akane searches the arcade, she finds Debbie sitting in the corner. Through Witchblade, Debbie shows Akane how she became a drug addict and a prostitute, hating the entire world for what it did to her. She then took part in the Witchblade experiment for money. As the Witchblade bonded with Debbie, she went on a mindless rampage, killing the scientists, that were experimenting on her. Moments later, she was knocked out and put into a cell. The Witchblade kept her alive and for that, Debbie trusted it. Akane tells her, that she can trust her.
Other detectives finally notice Debbie and open fire on her. This makes her go into rage and she kills the cop that shoots her. She then nearly kills Takayashi, but is stopped by Akane. Debbie then shots a beam of fire at her and prepares to kill Akane. Through the Witchblade, Akane manages to convince Debbie, that she's being controlled by the artefact, who preys and manipulates her fears. After hearing this, Debbie casts out the Witchblade from her. Both Akane and Debbie then hug with the detective saying, that she knows how difficult is life.