Tempore, Monsters: Chapter 1

Journal entry 10 – 16 – 02

– -Dear Lucinda

Oh my god, Jamie treats me like a such a baby! He bought me a coloring book and a puppy , I was like , ‘Jamie I am twelve not eight,’ and he goes ‘I know that is why you didn’t get a pony , Aprilette,’.

The puppy is kinda of cute , though, strange though it has a pink streak in bangs. I will name him later tonight. I have to get ready, my mother is dragging me along to another one of her business dinners, God I HATE those damn pale dresses , all the old man always drop a fork or someone to look up the dress.

Sigh, I will write you tomorrow. –

Journal entry 11 – 05 – 02

– Dear Lucinda

I haven’t written in a while , the fighting , both the war and my parents. My mother needed a loan, really bad, for her business nonsense, I don’t see why Jamie is so upset, mom takes loans out a lot. Oh well , I am going to the mall tonight , Jamie gave me a credit card, with a two hundred limit and said I can get school clothes.

Early November, in a small town in mountain area of Arkansas, just a few miles north of Hot Springs. The snow begins to drop slowly , swirling around in the lazy chilled evening.

Aprilette, a pretty slim girl with dark brown hair and eyes , just barely beginning to get a teenager’s body, dressed in her favorite jeans , the top of the hips torn off ,tight fitting shirt, which shows her belly button, dressed in a heavy warm jacket, slides into her mother’s boyfriend’s ford pickup truck.

Jamie is barely twenty-three , she watches the handsome man, with his chiseled chin, sharp cheek bones, dark gold eyes , the product of contact lens, and his short black hair. Jamie smiles her, “Ready, babe,” Aprilette instantly liked Jamie because he treated her well, even spoiled her sometimes and was always like her big brother.

A small Chow puppy, mixed with Labrador retriever, with its lion like appearance, broad chest, and flat skull, peers around the garage. Though it’s only a few months old, it is much larger, deeper blue , finer coat than any other chow that Jamie had seen at the shelter. The feature that attracted Jamie to the puppy for his girlfriend’s daughter was, the long strand of bangs that are deep pink.

“Come on Symphony, you can come to,” Aprilette coos to the puppy, it is instantly bounding into the truck. Jamie puts the truck into reverse , pulling out of the driveway, he reaches over to the radio , turns on , a classical music station.

Aprilette strokes the small puppy, Symphony, behind his ears and neck, named because he always seem to enjoy the older music , and especially loved Aprilette computer generated musical scores.

Jamie remarks, “Your mother is a bit concern with you having a credit card, she thinks your taste in clothing is changing too fast. So don’t get anything Britney Spears , or one of those Rappers wear , ok?” Jamie already knows she has good taste in clothing , unlike other kids her age , Aprilette loves to read , composes music and draws as much as she does doing the teenage rebel without a clue thing.

The Blue Ridge Mall, and Theater , is so small you could walk across it in under two minutes. It was located on the fork in the road that would take you to a major cities , and the national park. Many of the tourist that came through used the mall instead of driving a few hours to a major city.

The shops in the mall are a motley collection, the owner of the mall bought the latest fashions from Warehouse Outlets , to stock her Jcpenny’s /the gap clone; called Hollywood Designs , there is a shop with camping gear and sporting goods, a Taco Bell, a Burger King, a Little Caesar’s Pizza, two bookshops , a liquor store with a small grocery store , a big grocery store complete with a video place and deli. And of course there was the pride of the mall , Best Buy , and Sears.

Jamie asks, as he pulls into the parking space, “Want me to wait or come back later?” Aprilette feeling like a grown up with her own credit card , says, “Do you mind coming back later? I might take in a movie or something,” Jamie smiles, “Of course I don’t mind, babe”

Symphony pads behind Aprilette on his leash , he takes in the smells and sights, as Aprilette crosses to the Hollywood Designs. Symphony really wants to go towards the food smells , but he follows Aprilette, after a gentle tug.

“Hi April , hi Symphony , do you need any help?” The woman’s name is Faith Brooks, a twenty something girl who went to high school with Jamie, she knows April and Symphony on sight. While the clothing is sealed in plastic bags , so it harder to shoplift , the owner would get pissed at seeing Symphony stalking the store.

But Faith has no problem with it, the owner won’t fire her over it , because good help is impossible to find in this area. Aprilette smiles at the pretty woman , with large breasts, deep blue eyes , bleached white hair , and dressed in tight low cut skirt and tight t-shirt.

“Jamie got me a credit card , I am suppose to pick out school clothing,” She explains, as the woman comes around the counter , and picks up Symphony , petting him and hugging him. Faith nods, “I swear , Jamie is going to spoil you rotten, your boyfriends are going to be broke trying to keep up,” Aprilette blushes , and Faith smiles at her, “If you need any help just yell,”

Aprilette spends the next few hours , looking over the clothing , asking Symphony from time to time “How does this look?” But the puppy would just whimper, and Aprilette would go back to looking at stuff.

When she was finish shopping, she went about trying her clothing on , with Faith close by to give her an opinion. In the end , Aprilette ends up with a little less than hundred and eighty dollars worth of clothing, and a pair of Nike brand shoes.

The owner, a thirty year old woman dressed like Britney Spears, arrives as Aprilette is checking out, she glares at Faith. Then the owner watches Faith rings up the clothing, telling Aprilette”Get a few candy bars from the basket , for your mom and Jamie,” The owner sighs , then crosses to them, “Hi Faith, Hi April,” Faith just smiles and Aprilette crosses to the candy bar bin and picks out six.

Aprilette finds a payphone , drops in a few dimes , the phone rings forever before the machine picks up , “Hi you reach the Ulrike residents, we are unable to get to the phone right now please leave your message at the beep,” After the beep , Aprilette, says, ” Jamie, Mom I am ready to come home one of you can come get me,”

Aprilette reaches down and picks up Symphony, “If mom comes then it will be half an hour to an hour before she gets her, and if its Jamie it will be twenty minutes or so,” She pets and strokes her little puppy , as she says , “Let’s get some dinner,”

Little Caesar’s Pizza is her favorite place to eat , especially since they employed the cutest boy in high school, she walked towards the shop.

At the counter , the heavyset woman , with big green eyes , ear and nose rings asks, “What do you want?” Aprilette searches the menu for the sale item, then smiles , a medium pizza, and soda for five dollars, she tells the woman , “The sale item please,” The heavyset woman begins to ring up her order, when a tall muscle tone teenage of eighteen comes out of the back, he smiles at her, thinking ‘She is really beginning to look good,’

“Hi April, how you doing?” She smiles, stammers, “Just fine,” the heavyset woman rolls her eyes, then Aprilette whispers, “Sorry how much is it for pepperoni , and sausage?” The teenage , says , “I will hook you up,” the heavyset woman turns away mumbling.

At the thirty minute mark , Aprilette steps outside , it is just beginning to blizzard , she pulls her coat to her body, then paces , making sure that Symphony doesn’t need to go potty. She watches the growing darkness , as a red van , with its license plates covered by slush pulls up into a handicap spot.

Two large men , jump out of the van , cross to the mall entrance, as they are nearly to the door, one of them calls to her, “Aprilette Ulrike?” She shivers, and backs up towards the door of the mall, one of the men grabs her by the wrist , she rotates her wrist, forcing his arm to let go.

The second man grabs her by her jacket , hauling her away from the door, she tries to scream but a hand covers her mouth. She twist , and pulls from the man , then slams her heel into the man’s toe, he screams , “Goddamn it”.

The first man moves to grab her , when Symphony throws himself into the man, knocking the man off balance. Before the man can get up , Symphony rushes in , growling , and snapping at the exposed hands and arms of the man.

Aprilette starts for the door again , when the second grabs her by the jacket , she twist then feels the man , toss her into the frozen ground. The impact knocks the wind from her, she watches in slow motion , as the first man uses a stun gun on Symphony.

“Give me that,” the second man says , yanking the stun gun from the first man, then processes to shock Aprilette , she lets out a low scream. Then the second man is picking her up by her jacket , and tossing her over his shoulder.

The first man kicks Symphony, causing the puppy to whimper, then the second man , tells the first man , “Come on , and take that stupid thing with you,” Aprilette watches the first man yanks Symphony by the tail and hind legs.

In the van , hands grab Aprilette , pinning her down , as she feet are bound together, a large white onion is shoved into her mouth , causing her jaw to ache instantly , the onion is tapped into place , and then Aprilette feels her hands being twisted and pulled about.

A voice , warns her , “Fight and we will kill the dog, ” Aprilette settles down , the hands let her up, she begins to cry softly, as tape placed over her eyes.

Hours pass , Aprilette feels her body begin to ache , from time to time , a voice would whisper but for the most part she loses track of time and reality. When she cried too loud , they hurt Symphony, she can hear him whimper in the darkness.

‘At some point my life went from drinking out of the toilet , living solely on animalistic needs, to being aware , to knowing nothing but darkness , anger , and pain,’ Symphony’s mind spoke to itself, it raised up , its eyes normally not made for low light vision , slowly become acute enough to make out the shapes. To Symphony’s surprise a voice spoke back , ‘You have to get out of here, you must,’ Symphony mind which before had trouble keeping thoughts from becoming jumbled messes , knowing only what the master had taught him and had allow him to get away with, snaps into reality, and Symphony begins to plot.

‘If I was bigger I could kill them, I could fight them,’ Another voice reasoned , Symphony, shakes that idea away , ‘Tried that , got hurt,’ The voice that answer Symphony ask, ‘Is anything broken?’ Symphony’s mind growls , ‘I don’t know , everything hurts,’ The third voice growls, ‘Grrrrrr let’s just rush them,’ Symphony’s mind, snaps, ‘No;’

Slowly the van pulls over, into a small rest stop, the men , four in total of roughly the same size and build , jump out into the snow covered ground. A black SUV sits in the middle on the rest stop, the four men grabs and yank Aprilette from the van, then carry her to the SUV.

A hand slaps Aprilette’s face , snapping her awake , she struggles , a voice whispers, “Your mother lost a good deal of my money , nearly a million dollars, then she has the gall to take out a loan from one of my people and lose that,” The voice continues, “Now I bet you are wondering what this has to do with you? Well kid , you belong to me now, so does your mother, her boy-toy tried to be a hero about the whole thing and got himself killed.” The voice then adds , “What is going to happen to you remains to be seen, your mother has become a whore to pay off her part of the debt. And I might make you one as well, but you are kinda of young and I know people who would pay good money for a virgin girl of elven or twelve.”

One of the men asks, “What do you want to do with her dog and her bags?” The voice whispers, “I was never fond of those books and movies with dogs, take Lassie behind the restroom, and put a bullet in its brain,” Aprilette begins to struggle , and twist, a hand crushes her throat , a furry hand at that, she begins to feel herself going to sleep.

The first man from the mall, uses the stun gun on Symphony, running the electrical pulse through the dog several times, before letting anyone take the dog.

Behind the restroom, a rise on a very small hill , with a river cutting through the forest behind it.

“I don’t want to do this,” One man says holding the dog next to his body, the man with him, the first man from the mall, smiles, “I don’t mind , stupid animal, I always hated dogs, beside you want to tell Mr. Vinsent that you can’t kill a dog,” The man holding Symphony in his arm, shakes his head, “No,”

Very carefully the man holding Symphony kneels down , and places the dog on the ground. The first man from the mall, pulls out a pistol , then fires three shots into the dog, he smiles then kicks the dog, down the embankment.

Hours pass,

‘Are you awake?’ The second voice whispers, Symphony’s mind replies, ‘So cold, so much pain,’ The third voice growls , ‘I refuse to die,’ Even though Symphony had been buried under at least a foot of snow, he pushes himself up through the snow into the cold darkness.

‘I too refuse to die,’ the second whispers, Symphony’s mind whispers, ‘refuse’ the third voice growls , ‘Aaaaaaaarccccccccccchhhhhhhhgggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooolllllllllll’

Symphony growls in pain and anger, the bullets are ejected from its body. It bows its head, as its body begins to undergo a massive physical change , huge ruff behind the head, which gives it a lion like appearance, grows to cover its spine and ribs. Its broad chest becomes a massive muscle with bone plate, and shoulders, legs; paws become much larger. The dog’s height shifts so that is stands 4 feet tall , on all fours. The kidney area is short and strong, because large muscle , with huge paws. The thickly covered tail , ends in a black tip.

The paws , become slightly webbed , with large claws. Its legs and calves are covered by thick bone plated. Symphony’s once amber eyes glow with an intelligent expression, becoming half amber and half blue. Its coat sheds completely then is replaced by a layer of hard , element-resistant fur, that fur is covered by a dense fur of blue and silver.

Symphony’s mind drops off to sleep , as the third voice the animal instinct part of the animal’s psyche takes control , moving into the rest area , searching for his master’s scent. Once Symphony has the scent , he moves into the forest.

Symphony’s animal mind , weaves its body through the trees and forest moving at sixty-five miles per hour, while it is thinking about its master , the animalistic needs tug at Symphony, but the second voice , that of the symbiote colony of creatures, whispers for the puppy not to give.

The SUV driver, a smallish woman , with nearly flat chest , deep grey eyes, shifts the rear view mirror to watch the half goat , half human ‘Early Sylph’, before saying “Mr. Vinsent we are heading to where?” The goat-man shrugs, “Canada, its getting crowded here, with all the heroes, even the police are getting into the Sylph business. Canada has been weaken and I know a few friends who will help me set up another business,”

The woman nods, her mind is on the gunfight that happen hours ago , before they were forced to call in so many debts. The vigilante had managed to drive Mr. Vinsent, and many of the other criminal groups from the city of West Mile.

West Mile , Kansas , the Nightshade Corporation’s depot , which is nothing more than a massive vault now under the control of the United State’s government , sits at the edge of town, surrounded by chain and steel fence.

National guard soldiers walk the area around the around the big vault. Even with the electronic sensors , spotlights , guard dogs and men , a shadow manages to slip pass them , and press itself up against the wall.

The shadow jumps straight up , then attaches to the wall, crawls up the wall , and then onto the roof. There is no sound , as shadow moves through the darkness , a bright flash reveals a female figure , clad in black.

After dropping through the hole she made on the roof , she stands in a darken room, without a word, she begins to move through the darkness , jumping up and attaching herself to the ceiling and crawling quickly.

She sits on the ceiling listening, voices are coming down the hallway,

“We have a breach at vault four,” the voice says , a second voice , female whispers, “So what are we doing in vault six,” the first voice replies, “We are suppose to check for other breaches,” She crawls on , as the soldiers pass under her , she sighs , as her curiosity tugs on her to find out what the commotion is about.

Crawling slowly she , pauses from time to time to listen , then moves towards the area marked Vault Four. In the darkness she can hear security checks , reporting all clear, she hears the sounds of dogs , and the hum of scouters.

Vault Four , a massive iron and steel room , holding the armored suits of Nightshade Corporation , as well as warmachines , and firearms. On the ground , in a blob of white and green goo , struggles are pretty girl wearing dark blue body suit , her hair is deep green pulled back to a pony tail, her eyes have no pupils , simply a silver color. Her arms are pinned behind her back, and her legs are pinned under her hips , thrusting her body out.

Standing before her are four large men , wearing dark green National guard uniforms.

“I will ask you again why the hell are you?” A large colonel, grabs her face , then whispers, “Sergeant, I am going leave you with this girl, if she does begin to talk in a few minutes, then she was never here. Understand?” The a fat round man , nods , “Understood, Colonel,” The colonel turns from the room and leaves.

Hanging from the ceiling in the darkness , she wonders what they mean. She pulls out a candy bar , and begins to get softly, waiting and watching.

Minutes tick by , the men demand she talks, then the Sergeant tells one of the men, “Go get the boys,” He turns to the girl , flicks open his knife , “I sure hope you know how to please a man, because my wife just lies there like a slack of flour,” She struggles , and twist , as the man begins to cut away her body suit.

Dropping from the ceiling , she is moving , drawing out a katana , the Sergeant turns just as watches a beautiful Chinese girl removes his hand and arm. She then upper cuts the Sergeant making him a soprano.

The other two men are drawing their side arms , the Chinese girl dances out of the way from the gunfire , she lets a handful of tiny barbed fly from her hand. One of the men drops to the ground, covering his faces , screaming. The other man drops his gun as he covers from the sparkles , in the air.

With a quick move , the Chinese girl seals the vault door , as maybe a dozen soldiers begin to run the corner. She then turns to the girl with green hair, with a flip of her wrist she pops out cutting torch and begins to cut the goo from the girl.

The green hair girl doesn’t say anything just stares at the Chinese girl , then her hand pops free, which the green hair girl puts the hand into her mouth , pulling out a wad of taffy, “Thanks, I thought was I gonna get raped. I couldn’t talk,” The Chinese girl grabs the taffy shoves it into the girl’s mouth, then finishes cutting the goo away.

The Chinese girl puts a finger to the girl’s lips , then draws the girl into the next room, bells are ringing , dogs are barking , the girl with green hair , just follows. She cast a look back to the suits, and then watches the darkness.

Out of the darkness a massively muscled girl with huge ram horns, the Chinese girl pushes the green with girl hair away , as the massively muscled girl charges.

The massively muscled girl, has amazing agility , and impressive skill, but the Chinese girl dodges , the open palm punches, several times the Chinese girl manages to strike the massively muscled girl, doing no damage.

Then the Chinese girl slides a hand into her belt , dodges , then thrust the power into massively muscled girl’s face , the girl swings , and stumbles then collapses in a heap.

Then there is a sound , the Chinese girl, hears “Chinese Spy , fire” The Colonel yells as maybe a dozen nation guard soldiers appear, then M16 gunfire explodes , the Chinese girl moves running away from the volley of gunfire.

The Chinese girl runs into a wall of force , she collapses , dazed , as she tries begins to get up, she hears the Colonel say, “Cut her down boys,” There is a immense volley of M16 , the Chinese girl closes her eyes, then slowly opens them.

An armored suit stands over the Chinese girl , producing a force field , the Chinese girl sits up, the voice within the armored suit is saying , “Ok guns , guns , once of these is guns? Hmmm then one?” The armored suit rockets backward , taking the Chinese girl with her through a wall and on to the cold ground outside. The voice in the suit whispers , “Oops,” The soldiers are following the Colonel is saying , “Sylph units we got a suit on the loose we need back up,”

The Chinese girl presses a button on her belt , suddenly a black van slams into though the chain fence , but get hung up on the steel bars, it spurts and dies. The voice in the armor suit, screams , “Face the might of …” A small utility laser pops out and drops on the ground.

The nation guards man , watch with a confused look, as the voice whispers, “To hell with it , I will just hit all the buttons,” The Chinese girl drops to the ground , as the suit begins to fire off flares , machine gun bullets , laser blast , as well dropping its utility items on the ground.

Then movement during this , as three Sylph appear , they duck and drop to the ground as the armored suit is throwing attacks in random directions. The leader , a large man with dark body suit of deep blues and blacks , says to a plain looking female, “Ok I want you to..” She looks , “Me? No not me, I do the sonic attack, get Hazer to do it.” The leader shakes his head, “Hazer, please go,” The third man , gets up producing a force field , he jumps as the bullets are absorb by the field.

The other two move in behind him , the Chinese girl growls, in Chinese , “Sylphs” the voice in the suit whispers, “OMG I can’t find the reload switch,” The Sylphs get closer , the armor suit turns , and thrust out both hands , the Sylph called Hazer puts more energy into his force field.

The leader breathes , “On three , Sara,” The girl nods , she gets her blast of sound ready in her throat , she can see the leader , charging up his heat blast , Hazer begins to count, “One, two ..” The armor suit suddenly emits a massive bright light and ear shattering scream.

Sara can’t control her scream , he emits a wave of sonic energy into the vault main building knocking down a wall, she watches the leader , she screams , “Ted , OMG..” The leader explodes in a massive wave of heat and plasma.

Hours pass,

“Colonel,” The soldier salutes the colonel who is cover from head to toe in bandages, the soldier continues, “We have search the grounds , and are shifting though the ruble looking for people still. General Franklin will be arriving shortly,” The colonel half mumbles through a broken jaw , “Any sign of the girls , or suit?” The soldier says , “Blown to ashes , along with private Sara Mcglokin , and Ted Mcglokin,” The colonel closes his eyes, “That will be all,”

“Sir, there is something else,” The soldier says, the Colonel watches him , “The Chinese girl is the vigilante from last night , the one that killed all those people , and General Franklin’s wife,”

Somewhere over Nebraska, a Russian made TU-160 Blackjack, characterized by low-mounted, swept-back, and tapered, variable geometry wings with large fixed-center section, soars and twists in the night sky, its body protected by a dense force shell of energy that suppresses its radar impression.

In the cockpit , the girl with the green hair , her hands bound behind her back , she watches the Chinese girl , as she shoved into the chair, strapped in , she complains, “I WAS only tr’n to help, come these things hurt… At least talk to me,” The Chinese girl grabs the girl with green hair , shoves a taffy bar into her mouth, the green haired girl begins to chew.

The Chinese girl settles down into the pilot seat , pulls out a tattered and worn photo , studying it. The green haired girl , chews the soft taffy , watching the Chinese girl, then half turns to watch the sky racing by.

The Perdita , miles below the United States from Texas to Minnesota, runs a carven both manmade and natural used for decades to run drugs from Mexico to Canada , somewhere in this series of tunnels between Iowa , and Minnesota , Mr. Vinsent’s SUV moves at eighty miles an hour.

SUV driver begins to slow down , she calls to the sleeping Mr. Vinsent , “Sir? Sir, wake up,” Mr. Vinsent shakes his head, and yawns, then demands, “Now what?” Then realizes that the road is blocked ahead by ruble, and the remains of the large truck. Mr. Vinsent grumbles, “Gun runners, how much will we have to back track to exit the tunnel?” The driver shrugs, “Half mile , maybe more,”

Minnesota, sits in the middle of the forest , watching the night, Symphony’s mind whispers, ‘We have lost the master?’ The animal part snaps, ‘I didn’t lose them,’ The second voice whispers, ‘You have been pacing for more than twenty minutes,’ The animal part growls, ‘I can sense her, she is here ,’ Symphony’s mind whispers, “I feel her too,” The second voice whispers, ‘Listen,’ The animal part begins to follow the soft sound , a pulsing beat that is so faint that it can just barely hear it.

A few miles down the road,

The phone begins to ring softly , Aprilette lies still listening her body sore , her mouth beginning crack and pop, the voice answers the phone, “Indeed,” the voice then asks, “Are you sure she is dead?” The voice listens , then says, “Thank you, I will send you a check tonight as soon as we get to where we are going,”

The driver asks , “Sir?” Mr. Vinsent waves a hand, “The vigilante tried to steal something from the Nightshade Vault, and got herself killed.” The driver reaches down just below the radio, checking her two guns.

Canada , the small town of Nelo, a small group of criminals have taken control of the town, since the Nightshade withdrawal. There are no peace officers, only a small force of hitman to keep the random violent under control. Slowly the former mafia hitman , known as Athanasia, is bringing order to the small town.

“Peter Vinsent has a lot of enemies,” Athanasia whispers, her voice beautiful , icy cold , her features are dark tan , black hair , and deep brown eyes. Sitting across from her is a former mafia under-boss , who had lost his hand and eye for sleeping with another under-boss’s wife, he watches her before saying, “I understand that, but he can supply a workforce of women, at five dollars are a month per woman, with the military base being built near her , they can double as whores. He is willing to pay more than his share for protection and ability to work for you,”

Athanasia gets up , “Seventy percentage of his action , here and abroad,” The former under-boss, “Ok,” There is no point in trying to get a better deal, Athanasia controls the area , with her small force of hitman, and is growing in power.

Minnesota, the driver of the SUV , feels the car , shift and lurch , then a soft noise cause the car to hit the road , as the front axle breaks and falls off . Mr. Vinsent is thrown forward then thrown backwards, he bangs his head.

The car skids to a stop, as the back axle breaks. The driver feels the airbag blow up in her face, she slumps forward. Then she pulls out her gun , “Come on Mr. Vinsent, the SUV’s fuel tank is spilling everywhere.” A small spark of flame dances at the front of the car.

The driver opens the door , drags out Mr. Vinsent , she pauses then pulls out Aprilette. Mr Vinsent stands up , walks away from the car, the driver drags Aprilette through the road , then watches as the fuel tank explodes , throwing them all into the snow.

Aprilette comes awake slowly , she lies still listening, the driver lays on top of her, and she can feels cold fluid flowing over her body. She hears the driver gasp , then the driver goes silent, and her breathing stops.

Mr. Vinsent, picks himself up off the ground, he shakes his head, and looks down at his body, a few glass shards and metal pieces have cut him up , but he is already beginning to heal. He turns about looking for his driver, his eyes narrow as he notice his driver lying in a pool of blood , a big piece of metal sticking out of her back.

He draws the body of his driver from Aprilette , inspects her from wounds, then tears the bonds from her feet, and then from her eyes. He enjoys her frighten look , then he shakes her, “Walk” In the darkness , Mr. Vinsent shoves the girl forward.

Minnesota national emergency air defense system control room ,

“Yes sir , we are scrambling F-14 now,” The man , normally a Delta pilot , sits watching the very faint radar blimp, they had received a few seconds ago.

In another part of small station serving as a forward look out post for Nightshade attack, even though Nightshade had begun to withdraw from Canada. In a small room, sits a fat man, with thick glasses, bent over a laptop PC, he picks up the phone , “Its me,” Then softly, “I managed to hack into the aircraft’s computer system , it’s a Nightshade owned TU-160 Blackjack, it appears to be a cargo plane.” He listens, then says, “Please don’t talk to me like that, listen , from what I have gather is came out of Kansas,” He listens again , nods, “Ok, that is what I was thinking,” He listens then hangs up.

Minnesota, the town is nothing more than a post office , and bar, since the Guild sided with Nightshade , the Sasori team had out of work, and spent most of their time drinking. The team leader , a young man , Viridian, a barrel chested man with long golden blonde hair, and deep greens, enters the bar.

His people , a tall slender teenage boy , with bright orange hair , a small woman with black hair , and deep amber eyes , a greyish colored fur covered seven foot tall creature, and his wife , seven foot tall mountain of a woman with patch over her eye. He begins , “We finally got a contract,” They broke out into a cheer, he then explains, “We are suppose to retrieve and protect , some early Sylph that is near by,”

Mr. Vinsent, watches a massive canine creature, Symphony, rushes out of the wood, he is tackled , brings up an arm, as the creature crushes his forearm. He lets out a scream, and struggles to get his hand into contact with the beast.

Symphony’s animalistic mind , crushes bone , and drags the ‘early Sylph’ along the ground, its big paws , knocking the goat-man to the ground. As Symphony mouth closes around the goat-man’s throat , a blast of cold air throws him aside.

He shakes his big head , turning to face the new changer, a whirlwind of black air, a female voice , whispers, “Mr. Vinsent get behind, the others will be shortly,” The whirlwind of black air, whispers, “What in God’s name is that,” Then Symphony’s animalistic mind is moving , the whirl of black air , absorbs the creature , picking rocks , and sticks to spin them at a high rate of speed to cut the creature up.

Meanwhile just a bit overhead,

The Chinese girl cuts the bonds of the green hair girl , then drags her to the back of the TU-160 Blackjack, shoves a parachute to the girl, then puts one on herself. The green haired girl , around a mouth full of taffy, “Hey wait a minute are you nuts!” The Chinese girl grabs the girl, begins to pull her to the bomb bay , she struggles , saying , “Hey! I don’t want to jump,” The Chinese girl points out the window, to the F-14 hanging outside the window, the green haired girl, shrugs, “Ok in that case , I want to jump, let me…” The Chinese girl drags her, the green haired girl , shakes the hand off her , “Listen up” she spits out the taffy , “I want a weapon or something, I didn’t break into that Nightshade vault to come out empty handed,” The Chinese girl walks over to the armored suit , the girl had been wearing earlier , yanks off a gauntlet , and hands it to her.

“Uh…. *shrik* , the bomb bay doors are opening, *shrik*” The F-14 pilot reports, then he watches two humans drop out , “We have two crew members jumping *shrik*, I repeat two away,” A voice replies, “We copy you, Noble, our orders are to take out the plane over a remote location,”

Below, Symphony’s animalistic mind fights the whirlwind of black air, the cutting and the thumping against the ground. When its Symphony’s mind takes over , it begins to use it strength to swim within the air , going with the flow until it is near the top then it jumps out.

The whirlwind of black air, lifts a huge boulder and throws it at Symphony , but the puppy , dodges the attack easily. The whirlwind of black air, uses air to push the creature back , Mr. Vinsent takes the chance to grab Aprilette and drag her behind the whirlwind of black air.

A pickup truck pulls up , and the remaining members of Sasori team jump out, the tall slender teenage boy , with bright orange hair , the fur covered seven foot tall creature, Viridian and his wife. Viridian watches Symphony then he asks, “Bast, what is the hell is that?” The girl whispers, “God doesn’t even know , it was attacking Vinsent,” Viridian watches it then he turns to Vinsent, “Uh that thing you know what it is?” Vinsent studies the creature , he notes the bands of hot pink, then says , ‘It couldn’t be, could it?’ Vinsent whispers, “I don’t know,”

Symphony’s mind whispers, ‘this is so beyond frustrating, I can’t speak but I can reason,’ Symphony’s animalistic mind growls, ‘I want to kill that creature’ Symphony moves the whirlwind of black air lifts a hand to fire a blast of air , but before she can Symphony jumps over it and lands behind them.

They turn , the fur covered creature rushes Symphony , Symphony’s animalistic mind whispers ‘Finally something I can kill’ The creature , grabs Symphony by it fur ruff, while Symphony sinks its teeth into the creature’s shoulder , drawing blood.

Viridian turns to the teenage boy , “Faust electrocute that thing,” The boy, Faust lifts a hand, a bolt of lighting strikes Symphony, throwing him aside. Faust lifts his hand , begins to gather electricity, extends both hands , sending out a stream of lighting.

Symphony twists , getting to its feet, it begins to walk into the lighting energy , wavering as the boy extends more energy. Viridian turns to Bast, “Help him out,” He turns to his wife, “Crescent, you might have to use your growth power , but don’t unless you have to,”

Stones , ice , branches , and small objects are hurled into Symphony , the puppy has to dig into the road , to prevent from being pushed back , its Symphony’s animalistic mind only thought is to kill.

Mr. Vinsent, turns around, to a sound , he goes cold , as the Chinese girl steps out of the darkness, behind her is the cause of the noise , a green haired girl. Mr. Vinsent grabs Aprilette , instantly makes her fall asleep , the Chinese girl is moving katana in hand.

The fur cover creature rushes forward , to protect Mr. Vinsent , the Chinese girl begins to back away , when the green haired girl lifts her gauntlet, she says “Eat laser blast you overgrown rug,” But instead of a blast , a cord of wire shoots out , striking the creature it howls in pain and yanks the girl forward , she screams , as she goes flying though the air.

The Chinese girl watches as the green haired girl is whipped pass her , she tries to follow but Viridian blocks her path, he smiles, “Been expecting you , Miss Vigilante,” He rushes her, his fist missing her face by inches , she slams a forearm into his face , and draws back , it was liking hitting a block of stone. She dodges his left hand , then his right , she drops a hand to her belt , as he comes in again she throws glitter dust into his eyes.

“Christ, what the hell is this,” Viridian watches a hall of mirrors before his eyes, then the Chinese girl pulls out a small metal box , she slams it into his chest. He drops to the ground, screaming , “OH GOD, THE PAIN,” The Chinese girl is hit from behind , as she turns around , a cloud of dust envelops her.

The green haired girl , pulls the gauntlet’s buttons , but nothing happens , she closes her eyes, as she punches another , just the creature is about to hit her , the gauntlet becomes weightless , and the green haired girl is thrown over the creature, then suddenly the gauntlet becomes super heavy , and the girl is thrown backwards and downwards.

The cord entangles itself around the creature , as gauntlet shifts being weightless to heavy to super heavy to making her weight , the result is the entangling on the creature. Then the creature topples over into the whirlwind of black air, it begins to scream, and the green haired girl begins to scream, “HELP! STOP I AM GOING TO BE SICK!” The green haired girl is whipped about in the air , like a morning star.

Bast struggles to turn back into a human form but she is unable to , because of the struggling and wild strikes of the creature would kill her.

Faust screams , “Someone I need help,” But its too late Symphony jumps on the boy , he begins screaming , pushing at the big canine’s face. Symphony’s mind whispers, ‘Help the girl,’ Symphony’s animalistic mind , growls , then smashes the boy arm , as he jump into the air.

The Chinese girl takes a heavy hit in the gut , she doubles over , as Crescent, doubles her size and mass. Then Vinsent moves in kicking the girl in knee , and smashing her face, she spits up blood. Crescent rears back , to deliver a massive hit , when Symphony, body checks her. Crescent goes tumbling , as Symphony bites , and smashes her with his big paws. She puts up her hands , as best as she can , but Symphony sheer strength and weight forces to increase her mass further , she begins to sweat and her heartbeat begins to triple.

Symphony finally slams her into the ground , she drops her hands, as she passes out. Symphony’s animalistic mind goes in for the killing blow , but the thinking part , forces him to stop. The animal and human and struggle for control , the animal part finally gives in and goes back to the fight.

Finally the chord snaps, throwing the green haired girl , she slams into Faust, and hit the snow in a heap. Bast extends her wind ability launching the furred creature into the air , then she drops to the ground , in human form panting.

Vinsent moves away from the Chinese girl, he dodges, jumps , and moves backwards , until he slips a patch of ice. Then the Chinese girl is on , her open palm hits crush him chest , batter his arms, she drives kicks , open palm , elbows , knees into the goat-man , rocking his body. He feels her movements and attacking growing , as he weakens.

Then he drops to one knee , he looks up , holding his arm close to his body , as the Chinese girl draws out a long slim blade , she lifts the blade. But before she can strike Vinsent down , a hook and cord stabs him through his shoulder and yanks him upward.

Bast feels hook drive through her shoulder , yanking her upward , she grabs the chord to prevent it tearing her shoulder out. She closes her eyes.

Three soldiers drop from the sky , they move to pick up Aprilette, Faust and Viridian, then are yanked skyward. The Chinese girl watches them go , she walks to the green haired girl , and gently picks her up, checks her for wounds.

The Chinese girl turns as Symphony comes out of the woods. Then she pull out a slim metal cylinder, then yanks out a rocket , and finally a cord of fine metal rope. She points it straight up, as she does the green haired girl , says “What the hell is that?” She stares at Symphony. The Chinese girl, lowers the rocket , then walks over to the Symphony, offers he her hand , a sign of friendship.

‘She is friendly,’ Symphony’s mind tells itself , the Symphony’s animalistic mind , agrees, ‘friends’ The second voice whispers, ‘Master go up,’ Symphony walks over to the Chinese girl, and the Chinese girl pets and strokes his ear and ruff.

“Oh he is a puppy then?” The green haired girl watches the puppy nuzzle Chinese girl, who then backs up and attaches the cord to the rocket. The green haired girl says , “Hey wait! You can’t just leave me out in the middle of no where. Its really cold, too.” The Chinese girl motions for her to come , she then watches Symphony, she motions for him to follow her straight up. With that the Chinese girl grabs the green haired girl , fires the rocket into the air.

“Well Peter it seems you made a lot of friends down there,” Athanasia, watches him work the hook from his body. He whispers, “Thank you for your help, Athanasia,” She nods , then walks over to Viridian, kneels and removes the small metal box. She asks , “Who does this belong to?” Vinsent whispers , “The vigilante, she used it,” Athanasia shakes her head , “She is no vigilante , this is an assassin tool , disrupts the nervous system by over loading it, thankfully she had it set on pain or it would have been fatal.” She watches Vinsent , “Who do you know that wants to kill you,” She pauses then adds , “And has eighteen million to do so,” Vinsent shrugs, “Nobody everyone rival and friend have been killed during the race for power,” Athanasia watches him, “Someone sent an assassin after you , a well funded one at that.” Then she touches her radio, “You find Crescent, yet?” The voice replies, “Still searching,” Athanasia turns to Viridian, who is just beginning to get up, “I think your wife is dead, we aren’t picking up anything,” Viridian lowers his head.

The rocket and cord struck the massive triangle hovering transport , in the tail section , with a quick tug , the chord retracts into metal cylinder, drawing the two girls upward. They vanish into swirling snow fall.

Symphony’s animalistic mind watches then , it crouches low , he waits a few seconds , then leaps into the air. He draws in his legs , allowing claw to extent from his toes.

The Chinese girl , hooks the green haired girl to the chord , then she pulls out a handful of capsules , then throws them into the transports rear hatch. The metal of the transport begins to glow , and smoke. The Chinese girl touches the transport’s metal hull , then begins to crawl towards the developing hole , she grabs the green haired girl and drags her to hole.

Inside the transport rear area , Athanasia smells acid , and looks around then notices the back hatch metal and dissolve. She motions for her soldiers to appear , she takes a sub-machine gun from one of the men , then says , “Vinsent, your assassin is coming,”

The Chinese girl moves like a shadow , into the transport’s rear area , even Athanasia has trouble finding her in the darkness. Then the green haired girl appears , nearly falling out of the transport, but waving her arms to steady herself.

Athanasia whispers to the radio , “Sylphs?” The radio answers back, “The green haired girl is a Sylph of some kind but the new Evacska Eztli scouter says it a zero ability type.” Athanasia watches the Chinese girl , studying her face , to herself , ‘she isn’t any known assassin, or is she that good, that nobody has seen her face?’ Athanasia levels the gun on the Chinese girl , “Who are you?”

The green haired girl , replies , “She doesn’t speak much , in fact she hasn’t spoken to me,” Athanasia watches the green haired girl , then dismisses her , as a threat, “Are you her partner?” The green haired girl , begins to pace , her hands weaving in the air, “Welllll , partner is little strong.. Maybe sidekick.” The Chinese girl gives her a glance , the green haired girl , “Ok ok ok ok, not exactly a sidekick either… sheesh.. It was like this ,”The green haired girl , begins to speak faster , becoming more animated , “I lose my money , or was it stole? Nevermind, I think it was stolen AND lost.. So I goes to this town , with little to steal , you know the kind, the ones without a penny ,” She is pacing faster , and her waves, she acts out a few points in the story, “Then I goes to this big place to steal something.. I mean I just want something.. Causes I never had anything.. But that is another story.. I goes to this place , ” She uses her hands to show how she open the chain link fence , “Then goes into the place , getting in was easy … I goes and get in this goo, but I couldn’t tell them I was just there for something.. I just wanted one thing, you know what I mean?” Athanasia watches her with a confused look, ‘What in the hell,’

“So I goes to this house with a lot of beds , take some taffy , I mean the good kind of taffy you know, so I couldn’t explain to the soldier I just wanted something. Then BOOM! , the girl, ” She points to her , “Comes down and saves me … I was gonna be hurt really awfully bad, you know wha’ca I mean?” Athanasia growls , “Enough forget I asked,” The green haired girl looks hurt, “I was only tr’n to explain,”

Suddenly Symphony’s big paw grabs on to the break in the hull, then he drags his body into the transport. He watches the group, then stalks towards Aprilette, Athanasia feels herself take a step back. Her men take several involuntary steps back , as Athanasia can feel that a few have lowered their weapons , the radio voice whispers , “Athanasia, the Evacska Eztli scouter says its got two creatures , its giving both zeros though. ” Athanasia asks the radio , “What is that thing?”

The green haired girl , replies , even though the question wasn’t directed to her, “A puppy, I think,” Athanasia rises an eyebrow , “A puppy? I suppose you have some long nonsense rambling to go along with this creature?” The green haired girl shakes her, “Nope,” Then she adds, “I wouldn’t tell you anyway, cause you are meanie,” Athanasia hears Vinsent, say , “She can’t kill all of us,” Athanasia nods , “True, but she will probably only target you, and kill a few of the soldiers around you, ” The soldiers around Vinsent move back a bit.

The radio voice , states , “We are being force to back into Canada , that TU-160 Blackjack has a triggered a military response, some planes is heading our way. “

Athanasia , a soft whisper to the radio, “Options?” Then the voice replies, “Option one you fight , we only have fourteen soldiers and seven crew members, we lose twenty to fifty percent of the men, that assassin is skilled enough alone. Option two you give her Vinsent, and hope the creature wants him as well. Option three we retreat , and seal them in the transport, we will lose a handful of the soldiers. Option four we let the military catch up with us , and hope they are after the assassin and allow them to board us and take the assassin.”

Meanwhile,

“Vega, I need to call in that favor,” General Franklin spoke into the phone, he was short , badly overweight , ugly man , he chewed on his tobacco, spitting it into a cup, the voice on the other end , replies , “Name it , Tommy , and its done,” General Thomas Franklin says , “There is a transport heading to Canada , a shell protected one , that our F-14 won’t be able to damage, I want the Aurora to turn it into dust,” The voice replies , “Done.. Tommy I am sorry to hear about your wife,” General Franklin doesn’t reply he just whispers, “Yeah,”

General Franklin picks up his service firearm , then stalks down the hall, til he reaches a door , and pulls it open. The colonel from West Mile, sits in a chair , his arms tied behind his back, his knees tied together. Six soldiers are gather around the colonel.

“One more time , colonel,” General Franklin begins , “How did you survive that blast when most of your own men did not?” The colonel , whispers, “Sir I told you , a shell generator from the Nightshade vault,” General Franklin shakes his head, “Somehow you manage to let a plane slip pass you , somehow you manage to let the vigilante kill soldiers in Vinsent’s night club,” He kneels down , says , “You see how you are to blame for this mess? Now I am ordering you soldier to tell me who the vigilante is and where she is heading to,” He sucks in his tobacco, then lets it drain on the floor. The colonel , whispers, “Sir I don’t know who she is, and I don’t know where she is heading,” General Franklin turns to the six soldiers , “Begin with his fingers , break all his bones til he talks, understood?”

The Aurora aircraft appears like a flattened American football, capable of hypersonic speed, it travels at Mach eight at peak speeds. Its weapon systems include state of the art lasers.

It begins to head towards Canada , at peak speed , from Nevada desert.

Athanasia decides on option three, the F-14s incoming aren’t responding to their attempts to find out what they want. Only a handful of soldiers, the eight soldiers, are willing to fight, and giving up Vinsent isn’t a option, his under bosses will just cut his network up , and leave her with very little.

Symphony’s animalistic mind , forces Athanasia to react before she has a had a chance to give orders. The creature rushes into three soldiers , knocking them aside, then moving towards Vinsent, Athanasia watches as Viridian steps in its path.

Viridian moves to grab Symphony , but the big puppy , dodges , then turns , as Viridian slides pass it because of the miss. Symphony slams Viridian in the back , then swats him with his paw, throwing him aside.

Athanasia grabs Vinsent, who has shouldered Aprilette , begins to pull to the exit , she watches , as the Chinese girl , moves into a group of confused four soldiers.

The Chinese girl , ducks a burst of gunfire , her katana catches the shooter in the hip, she then spins , cutting down another soldier. A third soldier cocks his M16 , he points it at the Chinese girl , she grabs it , forces it into the floor , as its burst of bullets strikes the floor. She sweeps the third soldier’s feet , knocking him down, as a fourth soldier is moving in , the Chinese girl , turns thrust a knife into his gut.

Ricochet from the M16 dance around the room , one of the ricochet , strikes Faust as he is about to unleash a blast of electrical juice into the Chinese girl , his blast barely misses her , catches a soldier in the chest.

Bast watches as Faust goes down , covering his face , she turns into a whirlwind of black air. She moves towards the Chinese girl , picking up , and throwing debris at the girl, forcing her back.

The green haired girl , watches as the furred creature suddenly comes after , she holds out the gauntlet , “Come on laser blast!” The furred creature is drench in black fluid , that is sprayed from the gauntlet , it begins to slip and slide , the green haired girl moves out of the way , as the creature is slammed into the aircraft’s hull.

The green haired girl , extends the gauntlet has she notices that the whirlwind of black air, is trying to push the Chinese girl out of the aircraft. The green haired girl , whispers, “Come on anything useful!” A metal dart is launched from the gauntlet , the whirlwind of black air pauses , then attempts to control the flying missile , she struggles then deflects it.

“Oh dear god,” A soldier drops to the floor , as the metal dart cuts through his leg.

Athanasia, whispers , “Christ, everyone is down, expect for the Sylphs,” She is able to open the door when Symphony cuts her off, she stares into the animalistic eyes , as it snorts. She backs up a bit , then thrusts out the metal box , catching Symphony in the face , the puppy drops to the ground in a immense pain.

Athanasia pulls open the door , pushes Vinsent through the door. Then follows.

“Ewwwwwwwww, oh god, you smell awful!” The green haired girl is grabbed from behind by the furred creature , it begins to squeeze her, she coughs , and struggles. The whirlwind of black air, calls to the creature , “Osiris, crush her into pulp,” The creature begins to squeeze harder, the Chinese girl makes a move to help the green haired girl, the whirlwind of black air, screams , “NO YOU DON’T!” A blast of air , takes the Chinese girl off her feet , she hits the ground, then is thrown out the break in the transport.

Viridian, kneeling over Faust , “Check to make sure she is dead, Bast,” The whirlwind of black air, replies , “Ok , Viridian.”

Osiris, the furred creature begins squeeze , the green haired girl tighter , she slams her head back into the creature’s face, only be rewarded with a light headed feeling and a lot of pain. She whimpers, “Ooooooowwwwwwwooooooow ,” then softly , “It works on WWF,” Osiris pulls her into its body harder, it hears her grunt , and cough , then it begins to smell smoke.

The green haired girl begins to pass out , her gauntlet lets out a blast of energy , catching the black fluid on fire. The girl watches as the creature drops her , she rolls instinctively and begins to pant.

Osiris is slowly consume by fire , it dances about , then drops to the ground and begins to roll. The flames only increase , Viridian appears with a fire extinguish, putting the cold mist over the creature.

“Its not working,” Viridian, the flames begin to spread , and Viridian turns on the green haired girl , screaming “WHAT DID YOU DO!” The green haired girl shakes her head , “I think I hit this button,” The black fluid sprays out , barely missing Viridian but coating the floor around him, the fluid quickly catches on fire.

Viridian sprays the fire extinguish, screaming “DON’T DO THAT!” The green haired girl slowly gets to her feet.

Meanwhile ,

Whirlwind of black air, Bast , walks to the edge of the hole in the rear of the aircraft. She peers everywhere. The screams of Viridian, and Osiris causes her to turn her back , as she does, the Chinese girl tried to place one of those metal boxes in Bast. But Bast just sucks up the Chinese girl.

“Ha! Thought you had me, now you gonna feel some major pain,” Bast whispers. The Chinese girl is tossed about , metal , spent bullets and other debris cuts her, tear her clothing , she covers her face and body , as she begins to get battered.

The spinning grows faster , the cuts begin to go deeper, the Chinese girl struggles to breath and struggles to stay awake. A metal hinge slams the Chinese girl in face , drawing a deep cut , she begins to close her eyes.

Bast demands, “Close your eyes and let yourself go painless like,” She feels the Chinese girl struggle , Bast draws a chunk of metal into her whirlwind, to finish the girl. Then the Chinese girl throws something.

The green haired girl suddenly become weightless , as a metal blade hits her gauntlet , she raises from the ground. She hovers in mid air.

Bast watches as the Chinese girl smiles , then slams her katana into the floor , then presses the small metal box to her own chest. The energy rushes from her body into Bast , into the aircraft , and into everyone but the green haired girl. Bast lets out a massive scream , then drops to the ground in human form, the Chinese girl drops to the floor.

Osiris, naked since the flame had eaten away his fur, watches as the floor , drops away , he looks up to Viridian. The man drops to his knees , extending a hand , but as Osiris takes the hand, the floor gives away , then a shock of energy rushes into both of them.

The Aurora aircraft is moving so fast , it doesn’t have time to take in what is happening with the transport , it fires its blast of energy into the transport aircraft, tearing it into three large chunks.

The transport aircraft begins to break apart , before the laser hits , the high heat before the blast , causing a massive wave of pressure to strike the transport. The insuring energy takes the ship apart.

A single pod is ejected.