Several Blocks North of Imperial Hotel, 2:25 AM

Jess was leaning against a rough brick wall, watching and waiting for her quarry. Just as she
thought that the person would never show up, he walked past her, less than ten feet away. Jess
brushed some of the ever-present mortar dust off the shoulders of her mini-jacket and tugged on the
hem of her extra-tight skirt. *The next time Jose gives me a suggestion like this, I'll have his balls
for bookends.*
Jess walked behind the man, trying (and succeeding) in looking like a young woman out for
the first time. Rather innocently, she walked past the man, who had a very difficult time trying to not
ogle her butt. Just as she walked past another alley, the Type she had planted there reached out and
grabbed her by the lapels of her jacket, violently pulling her into the very dark alley. Even though
she had planned the entire operation from the get-go, Jess was still surprised and let out a small
shriek of terror as the Type yanked her farther into the alley.
Behind her, at the mouth of the alley, the man stood, pulling a very ugly pistol out of a holster
that had been concealed by the person's long jacket. Just as he was about to speak, a long, impossibly
thick arm holding a baseball bat swung downwards, connecting heavily with his skull and producing
a rather sickening CRUNCH. The hapless man collapsed like his bones had turned into jelly, and a
pool of blood started to form around his cracked skull.
Jess grinned, then told the Type to let her go. The Type did so, and she walked over to the
body. "Thanks ugly. Go and kill some cats or something." Jess pulled off the person's jacket and,
using her rather impressive strength, she pulled the heavy leather holster off of the man's belt. She
then pried the pistol from the man's fingers, putting the gun in the holster. Jess then put the holster
in her own jacket pocket, nodded at the Type, and the two disappeared into the alley where a car was
waiting.
Back at the collapsed body of the man, a pair of green hands reached down and clumsily
checked for a pulse. Finding one, the giant grunted in satisfaction. The huge hands easily picked up
the unconscious man, and the giant easily jumped to the nearest rooftop. He moved quickly across
the rooftops towards the only area that could restore the injured man to health. Soon, the giant
clambered down a fire escape near Meridiana General, and deposited the still-unconscious man on
a convenient stretcher.
The giant tapped the emergency call button with one finger, then ran from the scene like a
bat out of hell. Safely on a rooftop several blocks away, he sat on the stone corning and sighed
heavily.
"I understand why these people were called in, but now Jose has one of their weapons.
If he is capable of reverse-engineering it, which is likely considering that he'd put Jess on the
research team. I hope my friends can derail Jose's research program." The Giant stood up,
balancing carefully until he could move back a bit from the rooftop. When he was far enough away
from the roof, he gathered himself and started to leap towards a well-known townhouse very close
to Angel Park.

Dr. Zack's Townhouse, 3:12 AM

Dr. Zack rubbed his eyes, feeling another headache coming on as he mentally refocused on
the huge generator. The accursed hunk of metal, wires and electricity had given up the ghost again,
after processing only half a litre of sustenance. Hearing his security system beep, he looked up at a
CCTV he had installed beside his favourite computer. The screen showed a rather large mass
standing in front of the door, and instead of trying to knock the door down, it was slowly reaching
out for the doorbell with a pinky finger easily the size of a normal person's big toe.
"Heh. Well, I'd better greet him before he destroys my doorbell." Dr. Zack stood up and
walked to the front door just in time to hear a rather discreet rapping on the door. Opening the door,
Dr. Zack came face to sternum with his old friend Mel.
"Hello Dr. Zack. Can I come in? The information I'm going to tell you shouldn't be
broadcast about." Dr. Zack nodded, and retreated so Mel could enter his humble abode. After Mel
entered the house, and Dr. Zack closed the door, the only things heard were dull rumbles and an
incredulous 'WHAT?!?"

Unknown, 4:20 AM

Something flitted into sight, then disappeared. Again it appeared, closer this time. Instead of
disappearing though, it moved even closer, revealing long hair, pale white wings, and grey robes.
Just as it got to the threshold, it turned around, revealing its face. It smiled for a few seconds
revealing pale teeth and bright eyes, then its pale skin started bubbling like it was water in a pot.
The skin slid off, revealing the muscles, bones, and staring blue eyes. As time seemed to
accelerate, the body collapsed into a boneless heap, leaking blood from its stripped face. Suddenly,
a raging red tide flowed over the dusty ground, and the sensation of thick, coppery fluid filling lungs
was overpowering.
Bubbles slowly flowed upwards in a steady stream, obscuring the dull sky above. Darkness
flared quickly, then engulfed everything except pain. A white light resolved itself into a circle of
blinding glare, which shadows moved around. Pain lanced up and down her arms, and a raspy voice
spoke in accented English, asking the same question over and over, getting the same answer.
The voice stopped quickly, and a sickening *crunch* echoed, followed by a hoarse scream.
As the scream faded, a long tube hove into view with a triple click. A fourth click echoed right
before the world exploded in fire.

Undisclosed Location, 4:21 AM

"YAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" The woman sat bolt upright, sweat covering her face and body like
a second skin. Hyperventilating, she stayed there for a few minutes as her right eye automatically
scanned the room for anything even remotely hostile. Hearing quiet footsteps, she turned to the left
and watched as a young man walked over to the bed.
"My god. Are you alright? You sounded like someone was trying to rip out your throat."
She smiled tightly and traced a ragged scar running down the side of her neck. "Someone's
already tried. Izzat you Vincent?"
The man nodded. "Yeah. It's me. How are you feeling?"
She stood up, letting her bare feet suffer from the cold floor. "Like hell. Go away and let me
get dressed in peace."
Vincent blushed up to his hairline when he realized she was naked, and hurriedly turned
around so he didn't see anything too incriminating. After a few minutes, she reappeared beside him,
wearing shorts and a sweater. "Well, who wants to talk to me now? If it's a shrink though, I will kill
the sucker."
"No, It's not a shrink. We have something for you." Vincent started walking to the door,
followed by his shorter companion.
"So tell me! I'm sick of this place, I'm sick of the crap food, and I'm definitely sick of seeing
everyone around me moving like they're on eggshells or something." She paused for a second to let
Vincent get ahead of her, then jumped on his back like she was seven. "Now, gimme a piggyback
ride to the boss."
Vincent had been sent staggering around the hallway when she had landed on him like a sack
of potatoes, but he soon compensated and started to walk towards the VIP elevator that would bring
them to the boss. Soon, both people were laughing like little children, and Vincent had collapsed into
the elevator, totally out of breath.
"Well, remind me to not let you get behind me again. Anyhow, let's get to the boss' room
before he gets angry and sends Zeta team to find you." Vincent stood up, allowing her to get to her
own feet without any trouble. Just as she finished brushing off some errant bits of dust from her
sweater, the elevator lurched upwards, causing her to stumble against Vincent. Despite the feeling
of comfort that was felt when he wrapped his arm around her to keep her from falling, she
remembered something else, and struggled to get free.
Vincent let go almost instantly, and she leaned against the elevator wall, seemingly wedging
herself into the corner. "Sorry. Maybe you should be kept under observation for another few weeks."
"When Hell gets a hockey franchise. Now shut up." It took a visible effort for her to stop
trying to go through the wall, but the elevator stopped soon enough.
As soon as the doors opened, she got out of the small space like something had died in there,
and considering Vincent's breath, that wasn't too far from the truth. She looked around at the
understated elegance of the hallway leading to a set of heavy-looking double doors, and started
walking to the doorway. "Well? Aren't you coming along too?"
Vincent followed her at a discreet distance, and watched as she easily opened the doors,
despite the knowledge that they outweighed her at the best of times. Just past the double doors were
six heavily armed men and a young woman sitting at a desk. The woman at the desk nodded at the
guards, looked cooly at the two people, and muttered something about the boss being in and waiting.
Vincent nodded, thanked the receptionist, and gestured grandly towards the door behind the
receptionist, earning himself three glares, two one-finger salutes, and a kick in the ass from the
woman as she passed him on her passage to the small door. "Go somewhere and die Vincent."
She opened the door far enough so she could squeeze through, and once she had entered the
room, she instantly kicked the door shut on Vincent's foot, causing him to yelp in pain. As Vincent
was extricating his foot, she walked over to the only object in the room that wasn't totally utilitarian.
She stood there, contemplating the rare painting as Vincent hobbled over to her.
"It's beautiful. Who did it?" The painting was that of a rugged landscape at sunset, and the
natural beauty was somehow enhanced by the artist's style.
"A relative unknown. I think his name's Lenoard Skinner, but he's apparently quite popular
for several children's books he wrote and illustrated."
She looked up suddenly, her left eye boring into his own. Just as quickly, she smiled and
turned back to the painting. "Gerom and Katz huh? I read those as a child. Kept my mind off... other
things"
"Sorry. Well, the boss is waiting for you." She tensed slightly at the mention of the boss, then
turned from the painting to continue to the meeting. She walked to the end of the long room, where
a conference table was sitting with several chairs around it. Already sitting in one was an old man
wearing a business suit and a smile. In another was Dr. Sorbie, and the third occupied seat had a
woman, obviously advancing to middle age.
Vincent sat down in the last chair, looking like he owned the large mixture of metal and
leather, leaving the woman to stand there in front of everyone. She looked at each member carefully,
then cracked her knuckles loudly to signal her displeasure at being examined like an insect specimen.
"Well, you seem to have undergone a full recovery." The old man leaned back in his chair,
letting the leather squeak slightly as he slouched a bit. The response was an irreverent smile that
seemed to fall flat in the muted atmosphere of the room.
Dr. Sorbie spoke up next, flipping through a small sheaf of papers in front of him as he
spoke. "Well, all the physical injuries have healed or been repaired, but we're not too sure about
your... umm... stability."
"I'm fine doc. Worry about your niece for a while. How's the lymphatic tumour?"
Dr. Sorbie smiled and relaxed a bit. "She's fine. The tumour was destroyed by the new
chemotherapy that was developed by you and Merson three months ago."
"I'm glad. I hope to meet her sometime." She turned to the next person at the table, the older
woman. "Hello Merson."
Merson nodded, then flipped something to her. "Here. You'll need this for where you're
going." She caught the small object, which turned out to be a universal VIP pass for New Los
Angeles.
"The hell? Why am I going there?" She looked up after examining the pass, and glanced over
at the old man.
"We want you to capture someone. She's currently being forced to assassinate the heads of
several mega-corporations, and could be suffering from a timed existence."
"Timed existence? Okay, spill."
"She has several packages of gel implanted under her skin. When the chemicals inside the
gel react with haemoglobin, well... boom. Apparently, someone known as the Martinet has his finger
on the switch. We want you to find the person, knock her out, and preferably kill the Martinet as
well."
"Fine. What's the person's name?"
"Lotos Abstraction. If you don't find her in a few hours, she'll probably find you, with guns
blazing. Be careful. Your flight leaves in two hours."
She sighed, then accepted the offered sheath of papers and pictures from Vincent. "Fine. If
you don't hear from me in three days, send in Alpha."

Meridiana High School, 9:20 AM

Mikae skidded around a cluster of grade nine students, ducked under the custodian's arm as
he replaced a wall clock, and body-checked the door to Mr. Siedelman's classroom. "Hey! Teach!
Talk to me for a sec."
Adrian looked up as Mikae collapsed onto a desk, looking like several very angry demons
had chased her here. "Well, if it isn't the ever aggravating Mikae Krubens. What brings you to my
humble classroom?"
"Other than the knowledge that it's my first class today, I have something to ask you."
Adrian's left eyebrow shot up to his hairline. "Okay, shoot."
"Well, how did you get out of being grounded when you had to do something vital?"
Adrian chuckled for a few seconds as he realized what the convoluted question actually
meant, and he wiggled one of his fingers at Mikae's face. "To be honest, I never really got in trouble
when I was younger, despite what happened when I was about nine. Besides, I kept almost
everything about myself a secret."
"You still do. Also, I'm somewhat concerned."
Mikae was looking anywhere except at her teacher, and that clued Adrian in."You're worried
about your mother, aren't you. Care to tell me why?"
"Well, she's going out with someone."
Adrian leaned back a bit and looked at Mikae. "Well, from my knowledge, you mother's a
single parent. What's so wrong about her dating someone?"
"The commander of that counter-ops team? I think that's going a bit too far."
"I see what you mean. However, from what I've seen of him, he's fairly nice and he's
apparently pretty easygoing."
"Right. And I'm passing all my courses."
"You are." Adrian smirked as all the wind in Mikae's sails suddenly blew out of the room,
leaving her deflated.
"Okay then. I'll just let life in general wake mom up." With that, Mikae stood up and walked
out of the room.

Meridiana General Hospital, 9:30 AM

Wilson stormed through the double doors like an angry bull in a china shop, looking like
someone had dropped a smoke grenade down his pants. "What the bloody fucking hell do you mean,
'One of my men was injured'?!?"
Three nurses ducked, two doctors dodged to the sides of the hallway, and Wilson was
stopped cold by Dr. Pearce. "I'll tell you. Someone clubbed one of your members over the head with
a baseball bat until he was knocked unconscious with a cracked skull. Just be glad that he's still
alive, primarily because the fracture alone could've driven bits of bone into his brain, thereby totally
scrambling his brains and leaving you with a corpse instead of someone in the ICU."
Wilson stopped and looked at the diminutive doctor for a few seconds, then stormed over to
the ICU. "Do you have any idea what could have done this to him?"
Reba paused for a second in her jogging to keep up with Wilson, and was quickly
outdistanced. She ran to catch up to him, and managed to get beside him by the time he had gotten
to the observation window of the ICU. "As on what could have done this, I have a small list.
Anything dropped from a great height could've caused his injuries, but there's no trauma to the neck
and shoulders, ruling that out. Secondly, a normal person with a tire iron and a good deal of surprise
could knock your man out, but that doesn't explain the magnitude of the injury. Thirdly, and most
likely, one of those greenskinned brutes got the drop on him and knocked him about with a baseball
bat."
Wilson looked at the member of his team, whose head was currently swathed in bandages,
and swore quietly for several minutes. "I had hoped to not see this for a long time. Less than two
months ago, I saw the same thing, only the injured person was my best friend. Please contact me
when he regains consciousness." Wilson reached into a rather large pocket, pulled out a slip of paper,
and scribbled a number on it with a borrowed pen. He then gave the number to Reba and walked out
of the hospital, looking like he'd happily break someone in half if they crossed him.

Jose's Mansion, 11:10 AM

Jose walked into the weapons lab like he was expecting instant results, but instead got hit by
a constant volley of swearing as his eyes refocused to observe the happenings in the dim room.
"Stupid goddamned mother-fucking, father-raping, sonofabitch! Whatever you do, don't turn on the
lights! Just stay there, and I'll get to you soon enough." By the time the swearing had tapered off,
Jose's eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, and he could see the shadowy form of Jess easily hop
over the crates of ammunition on her path towards the still-open door.
"Jose? Don't touch the light switch, you'll get electrocuted. Some idiot shot it out, and I
haven't had enough time to repair the damn thing. Now, if you wanna see the newest toy in our
collection, hang on for a few seconds and I'll bring it over." Jess scrambled back over the crates,
mentally cursing the fact that she hadn't had time to change out of her undercover clothes when she
heard the stunted little bastard giggle happily.
Soon, she had returned with the salvaged pistol, and showed the gun to her 'master'. "This
is what we 'collected' from one of those troopers. Hopefully, FI-4 squashed the bastard's head into
paste."
Jose grinned as he gestured for the gun. After Jess gave it to him, he whirled around and
pretended to squeeze the trigger, aiming at a box full of C4. "Bad idea. If you pull the trigger, almost
all of the mansion will be atomized by just that crate. Point it somewhere else."
Jose grumped for a moment, but decided that life and the opportunity to torment CyberSix
were better than being reduced to component atoms. "So, how does this thing work? Just point and
squeeze?"
"Yes, but we only have the loaded magazine for ammo, so don't waste any." Jess carefully
removed the gun from Jose's hands, and placed it on a nearby table. "Also, if you want me to
reverse-engineer this thing, you'd better get another techno to help me out."
Jose looked like he was about to rip Jess' head off as she continued to speak, but common
sense (once again) prevailed, and he walked out of the room, muttering something about creating a
work gang for the guns. After he left, Jess stopped her scientific rambling, turned back to the gun,
and smiled. "Now, let's see how your insides tick."

Imperial Hotel, 12:24 PM

Wilson lay on the bed, thinking about everything that had gone wrong since he had gotten
here. First, the attack on the assembly caused much more havoc and mayhem than anticipated,
primarily because nobody had told him that the green liquid was acidic. Secondly, the attack on his
trooper managed to already make the rounds in the team, causing morale to plummet. Jenny was
taking it especially hard, but the two had worked together for the last three years as a sniping squad
inside the team.
Sighing, he stood up, and walked to the small conference room the hotel staff had cleaned
up for the team, crushing a hissing cockroach the length of his foot. "Remind me to spray this place
with about six hundred tons of raid." Wiping the dead roach off the bottom of his boot with some
tissues, he then continued on to the conference room.
Wilson opened the door to the room, instantly slammed it shut, and felt three darts impact
the heavy wood before he reopened the door. "Good job. You nearly disabled me. Now, let's get to
the chase." He looked around at the room, and sighed again, this time at the immature antics of half
the team. The team had divided themselves into two groups, and they were gleefully tossing pies at
each other.
"Hey! Children! Get to your seats!" Wilson roared at the top of his lungs, sending the rest
of the team to their seats at mach three. The only person who delayed was Jenny, and that was
because she was cleaning some cream pie out of her left ear.
"Now that you've all calmed down, I want to lay out some rules so there's no repeats of what
happened to Tsier. Now, first off, I want everyone to have their armour on, but until you see
something illegal happen, it stays at total dormancy. Got it?"
The chorus of 'Yessirs' was music to his ears, but he then continued. "Now, you can keep
the gauss pistols in concealed holsters, but they're weapons of last resort or of greenskin popping.
For normal stuff, you have the electro-grapple, which still has a ten metre range." Jenny piped up
then, looking slightly concerned.
"Sir? I understand why you want to use the pistols as last resorts, but the electro-grapples are
powerful enough to drop an elephant at forty paces. Why do you want us to use them, even though
there's a risk of frying the subject's brains?"
Wilson looked at her for a few seconds, then started to chuckle. "You never looked on the
left side of the damn thing. On the left side, just above the trigger guard, is a voltage setting easily
labelled: Munchkins, Humans and Elephants. All you have to do is turn the button to the desired
setting. I'd recommend keeping it on elephant setting just so you can drop the big green guys that
much faster."
Jenny looked like she was about to spit razor blades at Wilson, then thought better of it
because the rest of the team was also chuckling. Eventually she also started to chuckle, and the entire
team seemed to be back to normal.
"Sadly, our good friend and boss has been delayed. Apparently the higher-ups have sent her
off to New LA to stop an unwilling assassin."
One of the younger troopers spoke up, obviously self-conscious about speaking in front of
such a nasty group. "Sir? How can a person be an unwilling assassin? Either you are one, or you
aren't."
"Not true... Davidson is it? A person can be forced to assassinate others because something
dear to them is being held hostage, but in this case the person has no family, friends, or even remote
relations. She's a zero."
Davidson persisted, and Wilson mentally gave him points for tenacity. "A zero is someone
who's suffered from total identity destruction right? Well, the only way that can happen is if the LA
killer is a mindless drone."
Wilson applauded slightly, causing the younger troops to jump in their seats. "Got it in one!
>From what I've been told, the killer is being forced to knock off the heads of several states and
corporations against her will. However, the person's probably a total sociopath, and may be schizoid
as well. After all, who knows what goes on over in the west coast?"
That statement got a few chuckles from the team, and Wilson dismissed them to their duties.
*Now, if only they'd tell me if she's totally recovered or not. I'm still concerned, especially as she's
going into that little playhouse alone.* He sighed heavily, then pulled out a cellular phone and
dialled a long series of digits.

Flight 982, Somewhere over Nevada, 3:27 PM

*Remind me to kill Vincent when I get back home. I hate flying, if only for the delays from
the metal detectors. Not to mention, every male security guard always wants to try and go for a full-
body frisking session.* She sighed in resignation as she leaned back in the plush seat, then glanced
upwards as a blast of cool air ruffled her hair. Biting back a curse, she closed the air vent, then
returned to her slumped posture, head resting on one shoulder, and looking like someone who just
fell asleep.
Soon, she had fallen asleep, but instead of peace, there were roiling masses of nausea like
storms on a lake. The nausea passed quickly, but things changed quickly from there. The inner vision
some people seem to possess only intensifies when the conscious mind is dormant, and in this case,
it ran rampant. Quick flashes of quicksilver throbbing through tubes, a giant pump keeping the liquid
in motion. Beside the pump, giant bellows fed air to the system, fuelling the fire that allowed
everything to work. Below the fire, a small room, normally empty. However, something stirred, and
the system began to rebel.
She woke up, barely keeping from losing her lunch. Standing up, she slowly walked to the
nearest bathroom on the plane, closed and locked the door, and promptly lost all the food she had
eaten at noon. She left the small room after cleaning up as best she could, and went back to her seat.
There, she calmed down her breathing, then felt the plane descend. As her ears popped, she smiled
slightly and cracked her knuckles. *I can finally get off this crate. Time to find that person, and if
she shoots at me, I'll just put a cap in her ass and wipe out whoever this 'Martinet' is as well.*

Dr. Zack's House, 7:20 PM

"So, Jose has his hands on a gauss weapon. This could be very bad. Maybe he won't be able
to reverse-engineer it, but I'm not counting on that in any way, shape or form. I think I'm going to
have to derail his research program." He turned back to the sustenance generator, fitted a new piece
of copper tubing to the coolant coils, and soldered the metal tube into place. Dr. Zack paused in his
ruminations as he mentally processed some mathematical theorems that seemed to work out.
"Now, hopefully this added section of coolant will keep the thing from seizing due to an
overheat, and the surge buffers are working normally. Sadly, the fibre-optic wires cost me a bundle,
but they should suffice for the power feed." Dr. Zack flipped the switch, stepped back, and prepared
himself for the worst. However, as a reward for his concerted efforts, the generator began to hum
slowly, spooling itself up to maximum capacity as he watched the various needles and gauges for
any pressure fluctuations.
Nothing changed after five minutes, and a small stream of sustenance was beginning to pool
in a large metal trough. "So far, so good, but we'll have to see how long it lasts this time. May as
well derail Jose's little weapons research program while I'm waiting. Maybe an anonymous phone
call will do the trick..."

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