–Meridiana, 6 Years later–
"Mom! Why in hell are you going out tonight? You said we’d be able to sit around and do nothing after you finished marking those labs." Sebena closed the braille novel she had been reading, and, with unnerving intuition, she stared directly at Sel’s face with her totally colourless eyes.
"Yeah, I know, but Six called me and wants a babysitter for Diana. So I’m just going over to collect the munchkin and bring her here until Six shows up at about three in the morning." Sel finished shrugging into her oversized leather trenchcoat, and headed for the garage. "I’ll be back in twenty minutes, so don’t get into too much trouble."
Sebena waved absently, then listened as Sel’s motorcycle started up, the dull roar of the engine suddenly rising in pitch before fading away. Sighing under her breath, Sebena carefully felt around for the TV remote on the coffee table in front of her, and, finding it, she flipped the TV onto a channel that, if Sel found her listening to, would have earned a clout upside the head.
As she listened to the varied screams, splats, and crunches emanating from the TV, Sebena opened up her book and felt around for the page number in the upper right corner, eventually finding the page she wanted. Sighing to herself, she then started to read, her fingertips dancing over the raised bumps and ridges of braille lettering.
Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang, allowing Sebena to uncurl from her spot in the couch and walk, carefully, to the door. Opening the door slowly, she let her eyes focus on where a person would be, and let her hearing pick up everything.
"Hello, Miss Naryen. It appears that you’ve once again been left to your own devices."
Sebena smiled, then ‘looked’ up with her hand until she ‘saw’ the massive muscles making up her guest’s own hand, which was at the level of her head. "Hello Mel. How are you doing? It seems to me that you’re getting bigger every year I’ve known you."
Mel chuckled, sounding like a small thunderstorm had collided with a battleship. "Well, you’re the one growing. In a few years, you’re going to be taller than your mother. But, I’m not doing too well. I was wondering if your mother was here, but I think I can guess she isn’t."
Sebena shrugged, then moved to the side of the foyer so Mel could squeeze into the house. "She’ll be back in about ten minutes. My adoptive aunt had to go hunting, and left Diana in mom’s care. Sometimes I wonder whether my mother could be the best choice, though."
Mel had moved into the living room, where he could settle his six-hundred pound bulk without accidentally squeezing someone into a wall. Sebena had followed, her movements totally silent compared to the heavy thuds of Mel’s sneakers. "Your mother remembers when you could see, and did not forgive those who took that gift from you. Even though she understands Six’s position, she doesn’t like it. Besides, she’s not the only person to pull a gun on me during my first meeting with them, but she is the first to actually try to take my head off."
"You’re lucky she didn’t. Mom’s still deadly with any of the guns she owns, but she hasn’t had much practice with the nastier weapons. From what I heard later, that gauss slug had missed your head by only a few inches."
Mel smiled and ruffled Sebena’s hair, letting the long pale strands wrap around his fingers through some trick of physics. "I’m luckier than I deserve, and it has shown many times. I’ll just leave a note for your mother, because I have some other things to do. I’ll see you soon my dear."
Sebena picked up her book as she heard Mel writing something in his unique scribble he always used, then had to smile. "Well, tell me when you turn forty and I’ll make you a cake."
"Keep dreaming my dear. Fare thee well." Mel slowly walked out, closing the door behind him as Sebena absently thumbed her pert nose at him.
"Bye Mel. Try to keep out of trouble." Sebena heard his heavy footsteps slowly lumber down the short walk to the street, then disappear with a dull rumble as he jumped away. Five minutes later, the deep thrum of Sel’s motorcycle pulled in, followed by two voices laughing at something. Soon, Sel opened the door, and Sebena was tackled by a small hurtling mass known as Diana.
"Hey Di! Seems like you’re growing even more every time I see you." Sebena ruffled the thick and smooth hair on Diana’s head, wondering if she would ever be able to see her younger friend’s hair for real. Sebena felt the couch shift as Sel took off her boots and sat down, then smiled as Sel deftly twitched the book out of reach.
"Well, I’ll let you two get reacquainted while I make some juice."
"Mom, you’ve said that every time Di’s been over here. Try something new for once." Sebena heard Sel laugh, then joined in herself, allowing some of her worries to disappear, then turned to Di and started the now-common ritual of greeting for her, running her hands over Di’s smiling face.
–Dr. Zack’s House, 7:30 PM–
"Hi Tony. How’s your new tinkertoy set?" Six had just arrived in the basement, and had looked around in the cavernous space, marvelling at the changes three years had wrought. No longer were there sixteen different computers sitting on makeshift and oft-repaired worktables, nor were there any lathes being used as stop-gap centrifuges until the old one would finally decide to start working again. Dr. Zack had used much of the profits from his nano-processed rubies to do a complete upgrade in his basement laboratory.
Much of the original laboratory seemed to be unchanged, with the exception of better lighting and several more obvious security measures to deal with any uninvited spies, but all the computers were standardized at close to triple their highest previous speed of 2 gigahertz, and there actually was a working centrifuge gleefully spinning away in a corner, apparently separating something for Dr. Zack’s research. The extension that had slowly appeared over the period of time had also been filled, stacked from floor to roof with rows of large aquaria, all of which were filled with different shades of glowing green ‘Go Juice’.
Dr. Zack had discovered a method for processing sustenance into a fuel additive that boosted mileage by a healthy fifteen to twenty percent, and had been selling some of the stuff, at a premium, to a very limited clientele. Over three months, he had made enough money to be able to stuff his mattress and all the pillows in the house with thousands of bills, if he had ever been inclined to sleep on his cash. While waiting for Dr. Zack to look up from the circuit board he was playing with, Six nipped over to the brightest aquarium, stuck a finger into the charged solution, and licked her finger clean. She then shuddered at the cod-liver aftertaste, making her nose appear to screw itself deeper into her face.
"Well, I won’t get as many splinters as I used to. And, from the look on your face, this isn’t exactly a social visit." Dr. Zack stood up from where he had been soldering a connection between two circuits, and took off the safety goggles so he could get a better look at his long-time friend. "To be really honest, you look like someone has beaten you over the head and shoulders with a wet trout, followed up by a swim in the harbour."
Six smiled sheepishly, brushing scales off of her bodysuit. "Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened. Erin decided to pull a fast one on me, but two Fixed Ideas came by just as I was fishing my hat out of the pile of fish. They just grabbed me and threw me in the drink. Personally, I’m surprised. They normally would have tried to kill me outright, or capture me to bring to their new boss."
Dr Zack grinned at the mental image of Six fishing through a pile of fish, then shrugged off the image. "Well, so long as you and your hat’s okay, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem."
"Hey! That was cheap. It’s like me taking your pipe out for a spin in a clothes washer." Six put a look of aggrieved innocence on her face, but couldn’t help cracking up a few seconds later as Dr. Zack gave her a fish-eyed glance. "Okay, I’m attached to my hat. Is that the last step to it?"
"No, the last step is kicking your addiction to it. I swear, that thing looks like it’s going to fall apart any second now, and you still cling to it like a childhood teddy bear." Six grinned and took off her hat, gently rubbing it, then ripped off Gollum from the LOTR novel and movies. "Yesss... My Preciousss... Seriously, though, we have a problem."
"You have a problem with that hat, I’ll agree to that. Still, I’ve heard that their current boss makes Jose look positively stable."
Six smiled sadly and shook her hat, letting a few stray scales and water droplets fly off of the abused piece of headgear. "Yeah. From what Mel told me, Mikae’s lost all her previous aspects of humanity. I wish we didn’t have to fight her, but it looks like we really have no choice at all. If only we could just get her back to normal, but what then? Her mother’s in a sanitarium, and she’d be so mentally scarred that we’d probably have to do the same to her."
She sighed, then heard something heavy thump down the stairs. Turning around, Six spotted the massive green biceps that were larger around than her chest, followed by the craggy and scarred face of Mel, also known as Fixed Idea 4. "It seems that our newest enemy has begun to flex her muscles. She’s tired of raids on banks and armoured vehicles, and will soon be going for a full out attack on the city’s infrastructure. By the way, it seems that your child is being well taken care of, Six."
Six sighed again and ran her fingers through her hair. "It appears that only Lucas will call me what I want to be called." She grinned and shrugged, than sat down on a nearby stool.
Dr. Zack couldn’t resist the opening and had to respond. "What’s that? Shnookums? I swear, Lucas is still a kid at heart, which makes you the perfect counterpart for him."
Mel laughed, his bass voice rumbling through the air and making the lighter objects in the area around him jitter madly for a few seconds, while Dr. Zack just grinned and wiggled his fingers in Six’s direction, both in response to Six’s face turning beet red. "Well, if that’s what you like. I won’t pry into your personal lives. Now, how should we go about dealing with the current threat to the city’s life, limb, and other sundry bits and pieces that I’ve forgotten about?"
Six frowned, chewing on her lower lip as she thought about what could happen if X-1's plans were brought to fruition, then she brightened up a bit. "Tell Sel, if only because she has weapons that can drop an Idea in one hit. Erm... no offense Mel, but I think you’d want to avoid her." Mel nodded, absently rubbing his side where Sel had ‘accidentally’ put a bullet into him a few years ago.
"Also, we should tell the police, mainly because they’re still on the front lines in this ongoing war, and they’re probably going to be hardest hit. Finally, we should tell everyone who needs sustenance that it’ll be open season, followed by famine in about... how long do we have Mel?"
"About seventy-two hours, give or take an hour. I think you can go to tell Sel, and take your child home at the same time. Doctor, I think it’d be best if you alerted the authorities, and I’ll try to get into contact with the others, such as Hazel and Erin."
Six snorted. "Good luck. Last I heard, Hazel was going to try to sleep for a week or two, then she’ll most likely try to knock over a bank. Just make sure you still have your gold fillings after you talk to her. Erin’s already out. She left a note saying that she’ll be visiting Sel’s grandparents for a week or two. I’ll be leaving soon anyhow, so it shouldn’t be a problem to drop in on Sel. Have a good night you two." She then headed towards the door, leaving the two men to talk about the other plans they’d have to make, as she got ready for the three-house hop over to Sel’s modest home.
In under a minute, Six was standing on the porch roof, seconds before she swung downwards and landed, quite neatly, less than three feet in front of the door. Straightening her hat, Six walked to the door and pressed the doorbell, listening to the melodic sounds echo through the house. She smiled as a loud thump was heard, followed by three people opening the door simultaneously.
Diana instantly launched herself into Six’s arms, allowing Six to plant a small kiss on Diana’s nose, which pried a giggle from both. Sebena smiled as she listened to the two, but Sel was frowning slightly. "So, what brings you about so quickly? I thought you’d need a babysitter for several hours, not one."
Six also frowned, but tried to shake it off. "I’d rather talk about it inside, if it’s all the same to you." Sel shrugged, moving aside slightly to let Six move past. Sebena, once Six had passed her, pointedly ‘looked’ at Sel and stuck her tongue out. Sel sighed and handed over a high-denomination bill.
Everyone moved back into the living room, where they all sat down in their favoured spots. Sel paused long enough to bring in a plate heaped with chocolate cookies and several glasses of juice from the kitchen, then gestured for Six to start speaking.
Six finished off the cookie she had started to munch on, then started speaking. "Well, I think you’ve seen the increased activity of Ideas, right?"
Sel smiled and leaned back in her seat. "Well, if you’re talking about the big, green and ugly variety; yes. Otherwise, the idea count is near zero."
Six grinned. "Still having problems with student participation in bio class?" Sel nodded, but gestured for Six to continue with her bit. "Anyhow, I was just over at Tony’s when Mel showed up and said that his new boss has plans to waste the city’s infrastructure. Tony’s alerting the authorities already, and Mel’s heading out to give a heads-up to everyone who needs some sustenance. Both also want me to ask you for as many weapons as you can get your hands on, even if I don’t like it."
Sel smiled slightly, but spread her hands in helpless defeat. "I turned in almost all of my weapons except for my personal ones when I retired, and I really don’t want to try to get some through my black-market connections. I could call grandpa and see if he’s finished modifying that cannon of his, but I don’t think that’ll be ready within the next three days. However, if worst comes to worst, I still have my body armour."
Six smiled and nodded. "That’s about what I expected. The problem is that we don’t know what’s going to happen, and we want as much help as possible. If you showed up to help out, we’d all be greatly appreciative."
Sel shook her head. "I won’t put children at risk. I did that six years ago, and I’m still paying for that mistake. And, as far as I’m concerned, this new boss will have even less morals than the previous one. I’ll only be pulling my armour out in order to protect the children we all know and love."
Six smiled and stood up. "Okay. I think it’d be best if we sent children to shelter at Tony’s when the balloon goes up." Sel nodded.
"I’ll herd them in there so they can glue themselves to Tony’s Gamecube-3 and Playstation 5. After all, that monster TV he has is still able to separately view two different inputs and process them to each half, right?" Six nodded, preparing to leave with Diana. "Well, that’ll keep ‘em distracted as I work some magic on the top." Sel then managed to grab a damp rag to remove the smears of chocolate covering Diana’s face before Six finished getting ready to leave. After Six and Diana left, Sel looked at Sebena, who had once again curled up on the couch with her book.
"So, what do you think?" Sel slumped right back into her chair, silently counting the dimples in the ceiling from where she had thrown darts when totally bored.
"Well, before you get the darts out, I think you’d better get that suit out from wherever you stashed it. Then, go and get the thirty or so assault rifles, pistols, and other weapons from your five safe deposit boxes around the city, and hand them out to people we can trust. Finally, you’re going to be taking care of a bunch of scrubby six year olds, so you’d better have cookies and milk out the ears."
Sel grinned, shifted towards Sebena, and ruffled her daughter’s pale, pinkish-red hair. "That’s why we love you. You have all my charming personality traits, and a mind to boot." Sebena cracked up and laughed for almost five minutes. Four hours later, after Sebena went to bed, Sel pressed a hidden stud on the mantlepiece in the living room, and entered a small room that held several of her more dangerous possessions.
The walls of the small, dim room were covered in newspaper clippings, and three tables took up most of the floor space. On the first table was an assortment of edged blades, ranging from stiletto daggers to a foot long jagged knife that looked like it could be used for emergency amputations without much assistance.
The second table, on the opposite side of the room, were several guns. Two Desert Eagles were sitting together next to several boxes of .50 x 1.5" nitro cartridges, which were reputed to be so powerful a single bullet would go right through an elephant. Right beside the two magnums was a gun that made the heavy pistols look like potato guns.
The large gun was over two feet long, almost four centimetres wide, and was one of the ugliest guns ever seen. The cut-down, bolt action cannon was based on her great-grandfather’s Browning ‘Tankbuster’ 30mm Anti-Tank rifle, but had been converted into a super-sized pistol that could fire shells that were capable of going right through four inches of steel plate. Sel smiled as she lifted the gun up, feeling its six-pound weight drag on her arms as she carefully loaded the gun with a magazine marked with a red stripe around the bottom.
She then turned to the third table, which only held a small earpiece and a bracelet. She put the earpiece into her left ear, then picked up the second object on the table and carefully placed the purple, multi-ringed bracelet around her right forearm. She then returned to the first table and picked up the biggest knife, placing it into a leather sheath, which was then strapped to her left thigh, over the leather pants she was wearing.
Sel looked down at herself, and sighed angrily. "I never wanted to be like this again. I deliberately put these parts of my life aside, but now they’re being raised from the grave I had put them in. Well, at least I’ll be using them for something other than rampantly killing greenies. Still, I always wish I could come home, turn on the news, and not have to deal with another report about another greenie attack on something or someone. Well, maybe, with all of us working together, we’ll be able to end this problem, once and for all."
–Undisclosed Location, 9:30 PM–
"Sir?"
"Yes? Do we have any new information?"
"We have something all right. Police Chief Enrique just called from Meridiana. There’s a report of a massive assault being planned, and the beings doing the assault are of the pillage, rape and plunder variety, not to mention green."
"Hmm. If it had come from any other city, I’d have laughed it off as giant frogs with attitudes. But, Meridiana’s always been a special case. Sel lives there, doesn’t she?"
"Yes sir. Ever since she retired at the end of the previous mission six years ago. I think she’s in her mid-thirties right now, and her daughter’s grown up to be almost as tall as Sel."
"Keep your eyes in their sockets. Now, here’s what we’re going to do. You will send Zeta team in for covert assistance. She trained them, she debugged their weapons and armour, and she’s still the most dangerous person known to us, so they’re her guardians as of now. Also, I don’t give a shit on how you get them there, but I want the only knowledge of their existence to be when they pop up and cut the assault force into tiny little crispy strips."
"Yes sir. They’ll be heading out in four hours."
"Make it two. The APCs were useful last time, but they’re just dead weight now. Also, make sure that they don’t lose anyone. Three of our best commanders were lost because of that damn city, and I don’t want to lose any more. Oh, yes. One more thing."
"Sir?"
"Get the head of whomever’s responsible for these attacks, and separate it from the rest of the person."
"Yes Sir."
–Somewhere in South America, 10:00 PM–
The shadowed form looked out at the large computer monitor that showed multiple screens of genetic helixes and encapsulated monstrosities that seemed to shift and slide like sacs of protoplasm as they thrashed in their liquid prisons. A red light flashed twice, catching the person’s attention, and silently the screen filled with the selected image. Inside a ten-foot high tube of green liquid, a small being thrashed, seemingly in immense agony as bones, visible as lumps under its skin, moved to a pair of focal points just below the shoulder blades.
Just as the points stretched a bit too much, the skin tore in a series of spider-webbing cracks, spraying blood and chunks of matter outwards in a swirl of viscera and tissue. There, across the flensed flesh of the being’s back, a set of fully functional, if small and wet, wings finished unfurling, then curled protectively around the naked body. The person leaned forwards, letting the screen light the lined face and hideous burn scars covering both cheeks, as the small being on the screen began to heal at an immensely quick rate.
Keying an intercom button, the person spoke. "Kreumens, check on subject X-2. Apparently, the genetic sampling of X-1 as well as the partially preserved DNA from Deinonychus Antirrhopus has produced an interesting side-effect. You might want to check on the subject before it finishes regenerating from the damage done by its growth." Flicking off the intercom, The person stood and limped over to a massive window looking out over the jungle, supporting much of his weight on an ornately carved cane.
The moonlight from the skies outside cast a ghostly pallor over his features, but Dr. Maximillian Von Reichter merely smiled and nodded to himself. "Soon, the city will fall, and I will be able to end that one series that has plagued me for thirty-seven years. Soon, Cybersix will realize what pain truly is." He looked down at his right hand, which was a gnarled mass of fused flesh and badly healed bone, even with the genetic therapies to try and reverse the sustenance burns that had coated his right side when the Isle of Doom had blown up.
"Soon, she will suffer the ultimate pain. The pain of watching as all her loved ones are tortured to death in front of her. And I will be the one to pull the trigger. Then, I will be able to rest for a long time."