**********

I see the world through bloodshot eyes

Streets filled with blood from distant lies

Dogs of War never compromise

No real time for rearranging

"Help me Jesus, help me Clean My Wounds"

He said he cannot heal that kind

Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind

He said it happens every time...

(Knock it down!)

That's how the story goes

(Knock it down!)

In the land of a 1000's no's

(Knock it down!)

In all over you

In time my mind is changing

Oh, Knock it down

Black on black gives me a heart attack

And the silence makes it deadly

Some choose to kill with simple will

I've seen 'em fall fast and steady

"Help me Jesus, help me Clean My Wounds"

He said he cannot heal that kind

Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind

He said it happens every time...

(Knock it down!)

That's how the story goes

(Knock it down!)

In the land of a 1000's no's

(Knock it down!)

In all over you

In time my mind is changing

Twist of fate won't give me a break

And myself I'm slow and tired

I've got to rise with these bloodshot eyes

But I keep falling when I'm higher

"Help me Jesus, help me Clean My Wounds"

He said he cannot heal that kind

Bleeding soul becomes a bitter mind

He said it happens every time...

(Knock it down!)

That's how the story goes

(Knock it down!)

In the land of a 1000's no's

(Knock it down!)

We are bleeding sins

But our sins are always fading

Oh, fading

Oh, fading

Oh, fading

Oh, knock it down, knock it down

Oh, knock it down, knock it down

Oh, knock it down, knock it down

Oh, knock it down...

 

**********

 

Chapter Six

 

**********

 

"Loretta, Baby! Don't leave it like this! Loretta!"

 

Jenna loved these old romance movies. Right now she was watching Blood on the Sand and Surf, a romantic thriller about a two lovers on a beach resort, torn apart by a drug deal that the guy, Chad (who is played by the three time Oscar-winning Douglass Keenan) was involved in. It was kind of corny but at the same time, kind of a guilty pleasure for her. The beautiful Jenna spread herself out across her sofa in only some jeans and an orange tank top. She had a smooth blue blanket thrown across her torso. In her hands was a little tub of rum and raisin ice cream. The spoon was lodged between her lips as she kept her eyes trained on the television screen. Loretta (played by Janine Ellis Porter) had finally figured out what Chad was up to behind her back, selling cocaine at the behest of a dark crime lord on the beach. He was going it to `provide' for their future, but obviously she was having none of that. Jenna wiped a tear from her eye as Loretta ran from the beach to a metal staircase beside the peer. She curled herself up like a ball and sobbed there. It was sad in a lot of ways. That was one of the reasons that Jenna liked this movie so much. None of what was going on seemed `realistic' but at the same time there was realism in the way the people involved in the scenario handled the situation. It could probably be traced to the performances of the actors – they made it carry.

 

While Chad searched for Loretta on screen Jenna continued to lay back, eat her ice cream, and watch it all play out. Then there was a buzzing at the door. Jenna blinked when she heard her doorbell. She didn't remember expecting anyone this early in the morning. The young woman shrugged. After peeling the blanket off of her body and set the bucket of rum and raisin down on her coffee table. When the doorbell rang again, somewhat impatiently, she yelled back `I'm coming!' and hastened toward the front door. Jenna walked out into the corridor and opened it. Standing in the doorway on that cold morning was Rune. Jenna's heart warmed inside of her. The feeling of elation she always felt when she crossed Rune's path blinded her from noticing that Rune wasn't at all as pleased to see her – there wasn't so much as a smidgen of a smile on her face.

 

"Hey Baby," Jenna beamed. "You didn't tell me you were stopping by. If you would have called me I would have fixed myself up a bit."

 

Rune swallowed. "..."

 

Jenna wasn't completely oblivious however. "Is something wrong? Rune, you don't look so good."

 

All she heard from the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau operative was a sigh. It wasn't much but Jenna could read it like a book. There was definitely something up with Rune right now. Jenna's smile fell abruptly and her mind ran at speed to think of a way to handle the situation. "...Rune, if something's wrong, you have to tell me what it is."

 

Rune didn't utter a word in reply.

 

"...Baby, you're really starting to scare me," Said Jenna, nervously. "Look, why don't you come inside while I fix you up a cup of coffee. Then we can talk about it, okay?"

 

She didn't wait for any reply; Jenna just turned and left the door open for Rune. Yet in the few seconds she turned her back a strong arms snaked around and gripped her vice-like by the waist. Jenna gasped as she was dragged back forcefully into Rune's far stronger body and held in place, her bare feet kicking underneath her reflexively.

 

"Rune, what the hell are you-"

 

Immediately a cloth-covered hand slapped itself over her mouth. Jenna's protests became stifled grunts as she struggled to free herself. And then she felt lightness in her head. Jenna's thoughts became wafting and momentary whilst she resisted against Rune's hold over her. Without much work she came to the conclusion that the cloth over her mouth and nose was laced with chloroform. Those were her last thoughts as Jenna Woodworth slipped into the realm of unconsciousness.

 

An unidentifiable amount of time passed without Jenna's knowledge.

 

Her head was throbbing when she finally started to come to. Jenna moaned under her breath. Her eyes fluttered open. She found herself laid out across the padded plastic fabric of some kind of floor. She pressed her now sweaty palms into the white-coloured flooring and pushed herself up with a groan. Her long mane of ebony tresses flashed from one side to the other as she came to study her surroundings. She was in a room and a very small one at that. It was no more than 3x3.5 metres in size. There was a bed at the back and a toilet parallel to it. It didn't take much for Jenna to realize that this was a cell – not a room. Then all the memories of what happened at her house came back. What the hell had happened? She had gone to the door, Rune was acting all weird, and then as soon as she turned her back, Rune clapped a chloroform-laced cloth around her face and then... everything faded to black.

 

"...Good God..." Jenna whispered to herself. "...Did she... kidnap me?"

 

There was a door on the other side of the room. A rush of anger supplanted Jenna's feelings of confusion when she finally noticed it. She swiftly clamoured onto her feet and paced up to the iron door before slamming her fists against it with as much power as her little hands to muster. "Open this door! Open this door now! Let me out, damn you! Let me out!"

 

She heard boots knocking against a stone floor. A soldier came up to the iron door and pulled its looking slit. He glanced through and saw an irate Jenna on the other side, fuming. He sighed and adjusted his helmet. "Look, keep it down in there. Yelling isn't going to get you out of this place."

 

"Where am I? What's this about?" Shouted Jenna.

 

The solider shut his eyes. "This the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau HQ. And I don't know the details but you're under our custody now. Miss Kinborough told us not to mistreat you so you don't have to worry about anything like that. If I were you I'd just hang back until someone comes along to deal with you."

 

Jenna grit her teeth. "No way. No way! I wanna see Rune! Right now!"

 

"Who?"

 

"Rachelle Maye McNeil! She loves me and I know she would never do ANYTHING like this to me! I want an explanation right now!"

 

"That's not possible."

 

"Bullshit!" She shouted. "Where is she?"

 

The soldier opened his eyes again. "Getting riled up is not gonna bring her here any quicker. Save your energy."

 

Jenna stepped away from the door, seething. "...Bastards."

 

**********

 

It was a small operation originally – investigating a string of child murders – but it had led them toward something far larger. A maelstrom was now surrounding not just the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau but also all of Junk Town. The machinations of Drake Mahrem had gone further than anyone had expected, which made the meeting held to decide what to do about his actions all the more sombre. Rune, Zophie, Nastasia, Nyles and Frank were all gathered up in the head office, Frank's office. The Commander sat calm yet concerned behind the desk, fingers folded, all the while the nervous Zophie and the ever-concerned Nyles sat on the two metal chairs facing it. Nastasia was leaned up against the far wall with her arms crossed and her Nizhlogg balanced against her leg. As always she appeared cool and calm even in the face of such a storm. Rune on the other hand stood across from her with an emotionless blank stare. No one was pressing her about it, however.

 

Frank sighed. "We need to figure something out and quick."

 

"It's still kinda hard to believe," Zophie added. "I mean how could some ordinary computer program take over one of the most powerful companies in the state?"

 

Nyles shook his head. "Believe me, Deus is very much a reality. It took control by asserting itself over the Mahrem and rewriting its strings from the centre outward. If you stop to consider how much of our lives are controlled by computers and technology it's really not that difficult to comprehend."

 

"Forget about all of that," Nastasia offered. "What matters now is stopping Drake Mahrem from carrying out his plan. I think what we first need to do is ascertain how much time we realistically have left."

 

"I know that at least two superbioandroids have yet to be killed. One of them is Miss Jenna Woodworth who you say has already been contained. The final one is most likely out there somewhere. We would need to figure out who she is and protect her until we can dismantle Drake's plot. The bonus is that Drake can't launch the missiles until he gets clear of the city itself – so as long as we have at least one of the superbioandroids under protection he can't go ahead with it."

 

Frank frowned. "That's no solace for us. The city is still at risk. The only option is to eliminate the possibility of a nuclear strike. Too many lives are riding on this one. We cannot fail."

 

"To do that we would have to take the fight to Drake," Zophie said. "But we can't make any definite moves against him without state clearance, right? I believe what Professor Nooreen is saying could be true but we have no solid proof of any of this and we can't do anything until we have that."

 

Nastasia shut her eyes. "...Then we will have to go maverick again."

 

"And do what?"

 

"Disable Merkabah somehow. Or perhaps take out Drake. Or both."

 

Frank unlocked his fingers. "You have the right idea, Nastasia. In terms of Merkabah, I think we could begin with our copies of the disk that Clarence and LeCroix stole before. It seems that they had the same intentions we do now."

 

"Now I get it," Zophie confessed upon the thought. "They must have wanted to upload that worm cluster into Merkabah after using the information on the disk to learn more about it. Somehow they must have figured out about the nuclear launch and decided to take action by destabilizing the thing that will coordinate the strike. In the end they were only out to protect the interests of the city, just like we are."

 

Nyles blinked. "Who are these people you speak of?"

 

"Oh, you mean Georges LeCroix and Walter Clarence? They were two former employees of the Wong Trading Company that made off with a data disk about Merkabah that was stolen from the Municipal Data Preservation Building. Rune got the disk back and killed them for it – I guess the reason they were running was because they knew Drake had figured out what they intended to do."

 

"Which explains why they were so worried about Dark Christ," Frank said. "And why they stole a disk with data pertaining to something so seemingly obscure."

 

Nyles adjusted his glasses with his middle finger. "And you have a copy of this disk?"

 

"Yeah," Zophie nodded. "I decided that there might be a bit more to the LeCroix and Clarence case than just an act of revenge, but we had to return the disk to the Municipal Data Preservation Building, so we made a whole bunch of copies of it. I've been kind of... distracted recently so I haven't made any big strides to figure out what those two truly wanted to do with the disk. Now maybe we can use one of the copies to bring down Merkabah."

 

"That will not be easy. Merkabah is interconnected with Deus. The only reason that the ICBM sub-keys can bypass Deus' influence over Merkabah is that they have been designed to imitate the signal readings of maintenance software. It will mean quite a different reaction if a sustained attempt is made to hack into Merkabah's systems without that protection."

 

"I don't think we have a choice, Nyles. Unless we do something soon this entire city could be destroyed."

 

Nastasia chuckled derisively. "One hurdle over, yes? We have the means to stop the launch. Now we must figure out how to stop Drake Mahrem. He is the `queen' piece on the opposing side of the chessboard. Crush him and we crush the rival army."

 

"He will be a trickier opponent," Frank uttered. "You have no idea how much time and effort the US government put into tracking and killing that man. Then when he seemingly abandoned his hopes of concurrent coups in Africa... they had no qualms in letting him establish his conglomerate here. Now he is one of the protected few... and we cannot inform any state officials of his plans to destroy Junk Town unless, like Zophie said, we have proof."

 

"Then the answer is obvious. We must kill him." Nastasia professed.

 

Nyles exhaled. "If killing Drake were that simple the government would have done it already. Not only is he a legendary fighter in his own right but Dark Christ also guards him. To my knowledge Rune has been successful in dealing with Psychosis and Kagedo but that still leaves Lady Eraser, GOLEM, Xiang Mu Feng, Little Boy and Eileen. And now that I am no longer in their possession, Drake will likely be even more cautious. We must think without bravado about this."

 

Frank tapped his fingers. "I know it sounds like bravado, but she's right, Professor. The only way to stop Drake is to kill him here and now. We will need to steal ourselves into the Mahrem Conglomerate HQ and finish him, even if we have Miss Woodworth in our care. Even if his followers seek to continue his work, it will at least fracture their attentions and give Zophie enough time to upload the worm cluster into Merkabah."

 

At that point Nastasia glanced at Rune. "You have been rather quiet, Rune. What do you think?"

 

Both Zophie and Frank stared at her as she looked away with a defeated frown. The sight of the wrenching pain in that frown broke Zophie's heart all over again. Yet Rune paused only to say, "...I... I honestly don't care. I'll just... do what's asked of me."

 

A silence fell in the room. It was uncomfortable. And it didn't end until there was a knock on the door just a few moments later. Frank gruffly declared `come in' to that person. An armoured CSMB guard marched into the room, presented himself before the desk and saluted the Commander before saying, "Sorry to disturb you, Commander Kinborough, but it's about that girl that agent McNeil brought in. Jenna Woodworth."

 

Rune glared at him.

 

"What's the trouble?" Asked Frank.

 

The guard explained, "She has demanded to speak with agent McNeil. I think she wants to know why she was brought in."

 

Frank sighed and interlocked his fingers again. "Thank you. We'll get on that."

 

And so the guard nodded and saluted with a brief `excuse me', then left. Once the door clicked and closed the room fell into yet another silence. Yet all eyes were still on Rune. The brown-haired woman evaluated all their stares and lazily nudged her back off the wall.

 

Zophie's frown grew. "...Rune..."

 

"...I... I suppose that I... have to speak to her..." She answered.

 

Then wordlessly she exited through the door. Out in the corridor she briskly turned a left toward the elevator. Whilst on her way there she heard the Commander's office door open and close again. Rune stopped where she stood and turned around, expecting Zophie to be standing there, when in actually it was Nastasia.

 

Rune eyeballed her evenly. "...Yes?"

 

"Do not do this."

 

"Do what...?"

 

"I know that you are thinking of ending things with this `Jenna' woman," the Russian markswoman stated. "I do not think that is a good idea."

 

Rune continued to stare passionlessly. "This isn't your business."

 

"Let it go."

 

"...Why should I?"

 

"Because it does not matter that she is a bioandroid. She was real to you when you confessed that you were falling in love with her, was she not? Why should that change now? Do not let this kind of hatred ruin the single happiness I have ever seen you enjoy."

 

Rune sneered and turned away. She stepped to leave. Instantly Nastasia's surprisingly strong hand grabbed her left arm. When she felt herself being held back, she glanced angrily over her shoulder. The platinum blonde's cold stare glared back at her without hesitation. As Rune and Nastasia glowered at each other the few office workers passing through the corridor stopped and watched them nervously. 

 

"...Take your hand off of me..." Rune ordered acidly.

 

Nastasia eyes narrowed. "Are you really so selfish and pathetic that you would give up all that happiness for nothing? You do not consider for even an instant how much people yearn to feel what you have felt in the past month? Even the slightest fraction would be enough. If you turn your back on that now then I swear to you Rune, you will always regret it."

 

"I'm not gonna tell you again. Let go of me." 

 

The sniper grimaced with frustration and released her. Rune turned on her heels and walked away toward the elevator. At that point a group of people were getting off already. She got in before the doors closed and pushed a button for the floor on which was the cells. When the doors opened up again she was introduced to a less charming part of the building. It was meant to intimidate and it did. Unpainted brick walls, the constant echo of drips, no windows or carpeting of any kind, and that morbid metal door. The Rune of yesterday would have been furious at the prospect of Jenna being locked up in any one of those cells...but the Rune of now...?

 

Regardless, she marched toward cell #004, the one that Jenna now resided in. The two guards standing in front of the door soon parted for her and stepped out of the way. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her security card, then swiped it through the nearby control panel. The door bleeped and then slid open. Jenna sat on the bed, knees raised up against her chest, arms wrapped around them, head lowered. She looked up when the door opened.

 

Jenna went wide-eyed as she saw Rune standing there.

 

"...Rune...?"

 

The CSMB agent looked away.

 

"Rune, what's going on?" The singer hopped off the bed and quickly stepped to the woman that she thought was her girlfriend. Yet just as she reached out to touch her – Rune backed away, as if almost scalded. "...R-Rune...?"

 

She shivered. "...Don't..."

 

Already the tears were welling up in Jenna's beautiful aquamarine eyes. "...Rune... please... I-I-I... I don't know what's going on here... I just... I need to..." She swallowed. "I... I need you to explain..."

 

"You're... you are a..."

 

"A what?"

 

Rune winced. "...You're a bioandroid."

 

"What are you...?" Jenna clutched her fists. "What are you talking about?"

 

"You're a bioandroid!"

 

Jenna shut her eyes and trembled. "...I'm not listening to this...!"

 

"We've already... checked," Rune confessed. "While you were unconscious... samples were taken. You don't have a BIT or an Encephalon Gear... but we've confirmed that at least 5% of your body consists of the metals and plastics found in bioandroids. You even have a nanomachine colony in your bloodstream. You're not human."

 

The tears ran still by the time confusion peaked. "I am a... bioandroid...?"

 

"...Made by the Mahrem... you're a piece of a puzzle... and there are five other pieces like you. Four of them are dead. The last one... who knows? But you... we had to... isolate you. If Drake kills you and the other remaining one... it will trigger a catastrophe... that we're trying to prevent."

 

"This... this must be a mistake..." Jenna shook her head. "...I... I can't be a BA..."

 

"...That's why you don't have any memories before 2072," Rune said rigidly. "You didn't... exist yet."

 

The singer swallowed the lump in her throat. "Rune... even if ANY of this is true... t-that... that doesn't change how you feel about me... right...?"

 

"..."

 

"...Rune...?"

 

She glanced elsewhere again.

 

"R-Rune? Rune, answer me...!"

 

"You... you're a... pseudo-human," Rune watched Jenna's face crumple. "I... I can't love you."

 

The first tear dropped the instant Jenna pulled her sad smile. "...Is... that so...?"

 

"...Yes."

 

"...So... that's it? After all that... we just... don't have each other anymore? You don't love me anymore? Just like that?"

 

"...Yes..."

 

Jenna bit her lip reflexively, lost in the moment. "...I don't believe you..."

 

"..."

 

"Rune, tell me... tell me you still love me."

 

Then she probed. Jenna searched her out almost automatically, looking into Rune's quaking emerald eyes and hunted for a response, the right one; the one that she wanted. An internal battle set into the older woman. The enormous weight and pressure of that battle set in so hard her hands tightened into fists to keep herself calm. And then the confusion in Rune's face transformed utterly into rage. Rune growled aggressively and thrust her right fist straight into the left wall. The meek Jenna winced at both the sight and the sound of that impact. Blood immediately started dripping from the cracks that her knuckles had made in the wall.

 

"...I..." A tear slipped from Rune's eye. "...I..."

 

"...Yes...?"

 

"...I... I have to get out of here."

 

Jenna choked back a sob as she watched Rune pull her bloody knuckles out of the fist print in the wall and went to the iron door. The guard on the other end (who had watched the commotion through the looking slit) opened the door for her and she exited without throwing a single glance behind her. Yet as she walked down the hall to get away from that cell, Rune was far from unmindful to the echoing melancholy of the singer's crying in the background. Nor was she any less unmindful to the first tears she had shed since the Civil War.

 

**********

 

It wasn't until she had a chance to sit at her desk that Rune realized the backlog of paperwork that she had to sort out. Her in stack was backed up with a rising stack of papers pertaining to issues that she had taken up, asked about, written for, all had to be processed and filed. It would have helped if she had some form of secretary to organize the files but the current budget for the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau wouldn't cover that. No agents were allowed to have their own personal assistants. Only the big wigs in the organization (such as Commander Kinborough) had that luxury. So she had to deal with all that crap herself.

 

Rune sighed. Her fingertips were gliding and tapping rapidly over the keyboard of her computer as she started to type out the other little chore she had been neglecting, case reports. The last one she had completed was the one on Mimi Pritchard, which seemed so long ago by now. There was still the case file for the investigation she led into Drake during that wine party as well as the more recent rescuing of Nyles Nooreen. The wine party investigation was the one she was working on. But if she were completely honest with herself she would have to admit that heart was not in it. But then on the flipside of that coin, she didn't have to be. Anything, no matter how mundane, was preferable to do if it took her mind off the Jenna issue. That was something Rune struggled so hard not to think about.

 

She had gotten about halfway through the report when there was a knock at the door.

 

Rune continued to type, regardless.

 

The person on the other side of the door knocked its wood again. Still Rune did not answer. When that person knocked a third time and Rune continued to make no attempt to address them, that person nudged the door open without Rune's say so. It was Zophie. She came in with a gentle, tiny smile and two cups of hot cappuccino, one in either hand. She closed the door.

 

"I figured you could use a pick-me-up."

 

Things went quiet in the office (other than the sound of keyboard keys being tapped) until Rune spoke, without looking up from the computer and certainly without zest. "...I'm really not in the mood, Zophie."

 

"That's... kinda the point," She replied, blushing nervously.

 

Rune sighed and finally glanced up. "I'm busy, okay?"

 

"Yeah... yeah, yeah... I-I-I can see that."

 

The brunette returned to key tapping. "If you can see that then why haven't you fucked off yet?"

 

Zophie frowned. "Getting bitchy at me is not gonna stop Jenna from being what she is."

 

There was then a break in the key tapping.

 

"...I'm so sorry that you're going through this," Said the blonde. "I know that... you have some...very strong issues when it comes to bioandroids. I can't imagine what this might be like and... and I'm not going to. I just wanted you to know that I'm here for you... for anything, you know, even... even if it's just to talk."

 

"...I get it," Rune said somewhat harshly. "But I'm fine. I don't need anyone looking out for me."

 

It was an awkward moment and an awkward thing to say. Rune merely brushed it off her shoulder and continued typing out the report for the wine party case. Zophie held back the humiliation she felt from doing it with a weak smile and just set Rune's cappuccino down on her desk. As she turned around to leave, Rune exchanged glances between the cup and the little blonde data analyst that had brought it for her.

 

Rune shut her eyes and grunted, "Wait... wait, Zophie..."

 

With her hand on the doorknob, she paused. Zophie exhaled, did an about-face, and took a seat by one of the twin chairs in front of Rune's desk. The green-eyed one ran her hands through her short hair and growled with frustration. It wasn't the most endearing sight to see Rune like this, not in Zophie's opinion.

 

"...Are you okay?" She asked.

 

"No I'm not," Rune said with frankness. "...Everything's just... so... fucked up."

 

"...Yeah."

 

"I mean, Jesus. EVERYTHING is fucked up, Zophie. The one woman I was willing to commit my life to turns out to be a pseudo-human. Drake Mahrem is on the loose and threatening to wipe this city off the face of the Earth. God, it felt like just yesterday I was happier than I ever had been before. Now it's all falling apart and... I feel like I'm about to drown in the middle of the ocean. I'm kicking, I'm screaming, but no matter what I do I can't keep myself from going under. I hate feeling this... powerlessness. I hate-"

 

"Not being in control?" Proposed Zophie. 

 

"..."

 

"That's it, isn't?"

 

Rune heaved another sigh. "...I don't need to hear this."

 

"Look Rune, you've been through a lot, I get that. You and Grandpa don't talk to me about it much but I know you both have some history, some skeletons in your closets. That doesn't mean you're alone. Your life isn't over just because... well, because you don't have Jenna in it. I know it might not seem like that now... and I don't expect you to even believe me. But I do believe in you. You'll bounce back. You're made of sterner stuff than this."

 

Rune gave her a grim smile before burying her face in her hands. "...I just... I can't imagine not being with her..."

 

Because she had her face in her palms Rune couldn't see what Zophie was doing when she heard her chair slip back across the floor. Then she heard footsteps. Only a few moments later she felt the blonde's warmer body pressed against her own. Zophie's arms were wrapped around the older woman's mid-torso. Rune looked up from her hands and feel Zophie press her left cheek into her right, smiling. Rune was a little startled. They were `friends' but Zophie had never been this tactile.

 

"You have me," Zophie whispered into her ear. "If she can't make you happy, then... maybe you should let someone who can do that..."

 

"...Zophie...?"

 

It came as the biggest surprise to her when she darted her eyes to the right. Rune witnessed with confusion, Zophie close her eyes, tilted her head and pursed her lips. Reflexively Rune backed away. Zophie released her grip of Rune as she shot up off the chair and put space between the two of them. The ex-soldier stared with shock at the now sheepish data analyst. Rune had been completely blindsided. Had Zophie tried to... kiss her?

 

"W-what the hell are you... doing?" Rune questioned.

 

The blonde girl stood silent for a moment. It wasn't the best time for it but Rune had to know. Nastasia was aware, so was Jenna, it couldn't carry on like this. And she was sick of carrying the weight of these feelings for so long. Like Nastasia said, she had to profess them if she was ever going to get over them. Zophie exhaled. She took off her glasses then stared into Rune's eyes with a blank expression of earnest. "...I love you."

 

"You... love me...?"

 

"Yes."

 

Now it all seemed to make sense. That was why Zophie had freaked out when she'd told her and the commander that she was seeing someone. It was probably why she had been so hurt when Rune had said that they weren't `friends'. How long had this been going on for? Did anyone else know? Why hadn't she been able to see it coming? Now that Rune thought about it, the signs were all there. Why was this a shock to her?

 

Rune felt defeated. "...I... I had no idea..."

 

"Yeah, well..." Zophie rolled her eyes. "...You've kind of been wrapped up in your own life recently. I don't blame you. She made you happy. I don't know if she can still do that now that you know she's a bioandroid. But I just wanted to let you know that... I feel this way. And if... you know... you were willing... maybe I could just... try?"

 

"...Can I... just... have some time to think about... all of this...?"

 

"...Sure. Do you want me to-"

 

"No," Rune said, perhaps a little hastily. She swiftly went for her coat, without so much as saving her work on the comp or shutting it down, "I, uh... I really should be going. It's getting late and... um... I think I need a shower or something. Could you tell the Commander that I'll have my reports ready for him tomorrow?"

 

"Okay." Said Zophie.

 

"Thanks." Rune settled her jacket on her shoulders. "I'll see you tomorrow."

 

"Yeah... see you tomorrow..."

 

Rune didn't dare look at Zophie's face when she left. She bolted out of her office and traversed corridors and stairwells until she could get down to ground level and into the car park. As soon as she found her ride she clamoured inside. Rune's hands and head sought out the wheel and collapsed onto it. Everything was so fucked up. If anything, she couldn't stay here now. With Zophie expressing feelings of love and Jenna being both behind bars AND bioandroid, Rune needed to be away from this building and everything around it. So with unparalleled speed she snatched her keys out of her pocket and thrust them into the ignition. Once her car was revved up, Rune drove from the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau HQ back to her apartment in Kentish Town. She drove all the way to her apartment building's car park and locked off the car before returning to the building on foot. When one of the bellboys greeted her as she walked through the lobby's front doors she blanked him, proceeding to the elevator. It took her up to her floor. Rune strode through its corridors until she reached her door. Once she unlocked it and got inside she slammed the door behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. All she had on her mind was what had been happening in the past forty-eight hours. What she wanted more than anything else was to just get away from all that shit and be clear. How wonderful it must be to have no concerns.

 

Despite that amazing thought, reality wasn't offering her that. So in this case she merely took off her shades and her black trenchcoat, as well as her gun holsters. She walked into her bedroom and dropped all three onto her bed. Then she went into the kitchen, pulled out a glass and a bottle of chilled Irish cream. She filled the glass to its rim and then backed down the whole glass in a few gulps. Then she filled the glass again. Rather than drink outright, the CSMB agent walked into her living room and switched on the television.

 

As she sat down on one of her sofas, a newscaster started to speak on screen. "In other news, Kabula, the capital of the Central Republic of Unkulunkulu, has exploded with waves of sectarian violence. It is reported that there has been constant civil unrest since the assassination of Prime Minister Malik Ma'ad Al-Ghali of the Arab-aligned government."

 

Rune sat back and took in the information without really considering it. She couldn't think straight right then. But then there was an explosion of awareness within her psyche that finally brought her mind off of everything else. It was brief but powerful spark of alarm, that immediately told Rune that there was danger around her. Without even thinking, the CSMB agent tossed her glass and dove behind her couch. In seconds a huge and repeating wave of gunfire shattered the windows from the outside. Bullets hammered the television, the twin sofas and their pillows, the carpeting, the oak coffee table, the surround sound stereo system, the bookcase, and all of the books in the bookcase. The rattling of the rapid-fire action came to a stop. Beyond the broken glass of the window, beside the balcony, was a figure suspended on a thin but weight-strong black rope. That figure swung toward the broken window and somersaulted through it. Tough black boots landed onto cracked glass. It was a woman.

 

A woman – dressed in russet and light auburn mixed desert guerrilla military colours, black boots, and a Kangol beret. In her hands was a sword bayonet equipped Beretta AR-90 assault rifle. The belt around her thin yet muscular waist had the holster of an H&K USP attached to it. She was a chiselled yet strikingly attractive woman – short hair and all. The woman scanned the room with her dark bluish eyes and narrowed them with confusion.

 

"Where's the fucking corpse...?" She muttered.

 

Rune bounded out from behind the couch and launched herself at the assassin. The other woman ducked down as Rune kicked, mid-jump, crossing over her back. As she rose she thrust the butt of her AR-90 towards Rune's jaw. Rune pulled up her arm and blocked the strike. She and the assassin made space by separating from each other. Emerald eyes locked on sapphire ones as the two stared each other out.

 

"Who are you...?" Rune asked.

 

The woman frowned. "My name is Adelaide Mahrem. But you will call me Lady Eraser."

 

"A relation of Drake's?" Rune thought in speculation.

 

Lady Eraser, as she was called, assuming a fighting stance with her rifle. Rune went fluid and alert when Lady Eraser yelled out a horrific battle cry and thrust the bayonet weapon at her. She ducked down and tilted her head as the blade screamed past her right ear. Lady Eraser yanked the gun back and thrust it forward once more, this time aiming left. Rune ducked and tilted again to avoid it. Then came another battle cry and Lady Eraser descended into a furious explosion of thrusts and slashes with her bayonet-equipped weapon. The blade zipped in and out with piston-like precision and timing, which Rune's expert reflexes yet matched. She ducked and dived between the attacks. If Lady Eraser slashed at a horizontal 180 degrees she would duck down or jump up to avoid. The two women moved together like synchronized artists, bending to the waves that the other made with her brush, effortlessly matching each other in perfect rhythm. That was until Lady E broke out of her pattern and gave a hard slash down. It cut the shoulder sleeve of Rune's shirt – her reaction coming a few seconds off. Rune winced and grabbed the wound, backing up. Lady E smirked at this development and charged at her. A follow-up swing came. The CSMB agent growled and vaulted over the bayonet's swing to avoid it. With beautiful grace she dove over the head of the assassin and rolled behind her back, immediately pressing her hands in the ground to pause. Rune drew in one leg, thrust out the other, then turned like a top at a full, sweeping 360-degree motion.  Rune's sweep kick battered the ankles of the slightly slower Lady Eraser and knocked her off her feet. Rather then let her fall over, Rune hammered her back with a quick elbow strike. Lady E grunted, only to then be grabbed by Rune from behind. Her arm reached around and locked Lady Eraser's neck in a chokehold while her free hand made a speedy grab of the AR-90 rifle to hold it in place.

 

A contest of strength ensued as Rune struggled to maintain her chokehold and keep the rifle's bayonet at bay, while Lady Eraser strained to free herself and her weapon. The two women shouted and cried out with the groans of war and struggle and mortal combat. Then Lady Eraser relinquished her double-handed hold over the AR-90. Rune winced when Lady E rammed her elbow into her stomach. The chokehold weakened. Drake's daughter immediately took advantage of the opening and broke free. She thrust the butt of her rifle into Rune's abdomen, punting her away. The green-eyed girl was sent reeling into the floor near the window. Her teeth grit when the glass scraped her back. "Bitch!" Yelled Lady Eraser, who jumped into the air and aimed the bayonet to follow her plummet trajectory – at Rune. The floor-bound woman saw what was coming and rolled out of the way, scrapping her back and shoulders against the glass. Lady Eraser and her heavy military boots landed with a thud to the ground, the bayonet spiking the carpeting. Rune scrambled up to her feet and took a step back while Lady Eraser pulled her sword bayonet out of the ground.

 

Rune had seen those kinds of attacks before – those forward thrusting, bent knee step charges. They were attacks that belonged to some form of Bukendo, though this was the first time Rune had seen someone of Occidental descent using that fighting style in general. From the speed of her strikes and thrust, relative to the weight of the AR-90 over all, it was safe to say that Lady Eraser was fairly skilled in the art as well. Yet Rune pulled up her fists regardless. It was only a few moments after Rune's observation that Lady Eraser charged her once more. Rune frowned at her tremendous speed and backed herself up to the wall to duck. As she crouched over the blade swung overhead and scraped at the wall, cracking it. The break of time that came with the bayonet's deflection was all that Rune needed to thrust a punch up into Lady Eraser's stomach. The bigger woman lurched while Rune retracted her fist and cart wheeled left. Rune's hand quickly sought out the brown oak branch of her evening lamp, the shade of which had been pumped full of holes by Lady Eraser's bullet fire. When Lady Eraser acclimated herself she turned to Rune again who stood defensively with the long lamp in hands. The Anglo-African shrieked another tremendous battle cry. When she slashed vertically with the rifle Rune pushed her lamp up horizontally. The two weapons, one custom and the other makeshift, clacked off of each other.  When Lady E followed up the cutting slash with a sweeping one, Rune parried the blow with the lamp again. The jousting began in earnest with Rune reflecting and circumventing all of the Lady's attacks. Then came a powerful vertical rising slash. The bayonet literally sliced through the lamp's branch, effectively cutting it in two. Rune held onto either piece as she sidestepped a following slash from the bayonet. When the blade lodged itself into the carpet, Rune swung the cord and plug of the bottom half around like a lasso. The cord was then thrown around the barrel of the AR-90, securing it. The Lady's dark eyes flashed with alarm and held onto her gun as Rune strained to pull it away from her. Another desperate contest of strength took the fold. But this time Rune wasn't about to cave. After a few moments of effort she hauled off and threw the top half of the lamp at Lady Eraser. She raised her muscular free arm to block it, the wood and bullet-hole-laden lampshade clattering against her body. That break in Lady Eraser's concentration was all that she needed. She then yanked the empty gun from the larger woman's hands and swung it around so that both it and the bottom half of the lamp went flying through the door and into the corridor, clacking against a wall.

 

Now the weapon was out of the Lady's range.

 

Lady Eraser sneered and took a step back. "Not bad..."

 

"You've only got one weapon left," Rune's steely gaze paused only for a moment to stray into a glance at the USP on Lady Eraser's belt. "And as a Bukendo practitioner your main tool is out of the way. What do you plan to do?"

 

Lady Eraser frowned at her, fist shaking. "Do you really think I need my AR-90 to kill a whelp anti-existence like you? I am not like my Father. I will show you no mercy."

 

The two paused in stances waiting for the other's move therein. Rune's eyes twitched when it saw Lady Eraser's hand moving toward the USP at her belt. There was too big of a distance to cross before she had time to shoot so Rune swiftly dove toward the door. Lady E unfurled her gun and fired. The bullet cracked the doorframe while Rune rolled through it. Chips of white paint and wood fell from the hole in the frame. Rune rolled onto her feet in along the corridor's carpeting. Lady Eraser, with her USP extended, ran out of the living room and through the door and aimed down the length of that corridor. There was no one there. Unbeknownst to her Rune had ducked into her kitchen. With her back pressed stealthily against the wall she listened to the sound of Lady E's footsteps to judge her movements. There was no way she could look out to see if she were close to the door – she would be spotted. So she had to remain as she was at this point, just until the assassin's attention slacked. While she waited for that precise moment, Rune's narrowed eyes darted toward the opposing door of the corridor, her bedroom door. If this was going to turn into a duel of marksmanship then she had to get to her Desert Eagles, Solidus and Liquidus, which she had left behind in her room.

 

Rune slowed her breathing and kept all thoughts trained on following the sounds of Lady Eraser's movements and using them to map out the woman's actions in her mind. Her boots were crushing the carpeting at a loudness that would indicate that she was about two or more metres down the corridor. As opposed to that there was a 0.6 metre distance between this door and the bedroom one. Could she take the shot of making her move? She had to.

 

Rune swallowed the lump in her throat and steeled herself. With a sole act of motion she dove out of the doorway with a stride that took her across the corridor toward the bedroom door. Lady Eraser gasped and fired in her direction twice. The bullets whizzed over Rune's body and hammered the door at the end of the corridor. She growled angrily then ran toward the bedroom door. Rune rolled inside and pounced over her bed to grab Solidus and Liquidus in either hand. As she tumbled over the edge of the bed Lady Eraser came into the doorway. Rune grit her teeth and fired thrice at the door. Lady Eraser flattened herself against the corridor wall while gunshots ricocheted off the opposing kitchen doorframe. Rune landed behind her bed and breathed heavily.

 

This was a standoff but she was the one with the disadvantage. She was pinned to the ground and could only rise up or roll across it to shoot. Even if she did roll there was nothing else in her bedroom to duck behind as cover. Lady Eraser on the other hand merely had to fire when Rune made her move. If she had an Overdrive secretion she could probably move fast enough to avoid those bullets and get close enough to Lady Eraser to either kill or disarm her. But this wasn't a mission and Zophie wouldn't likely be at the control room. It was things like that that made her wish she had more in the way of control over her own nanomachine colony. There was no choice here but to shoot her way out of the situation. The young agent smoothed out over the floor so she could scuttle under the bed. It was a tight fit but it was the only way she could see what Lady E was doing without revealing herself. With both guns aimed at the bottom half of the doorway Rune kept her eyes open for Lady Eraser's next move.

 

The `next move' was a safety pin-pulled pineapple.

 

Rune's eyes flashed. As the grenade was thrown into her bedroom she subsequently rolled out from under the bed and threw herself straight through the window, smashing the glass. A rigorous explosion ripped through the bedroom and echoed throughout the apartment building. Rune landed on the fire escape beneath her window and covered up as the glass and flaming debris was spat from the broken window into the cold night air. Fire surged up in the room. Smoke now wafted from the door and the broken window. Down below on the sidewalks, Rune could hear the screams of women as they passed by. Pedestrians and plebeians stopped what they were doing and pointed to her apartment building at the smoke and fires raging from her bedroom. Rune winced at their stares and scrambled up onto feet. The CSMB agent ran around the length of the iron fire escape and back toward her balcony at the front of the apartment building. She hopped up and over the wall and treaded inside her living room through the other broken window, the one that had been shattered when Lady E first attacked her. With both guns at the ready she stepped carefully across the bits of broken glass until she came to the corridor door again. Pressing her back near it she peeked around the wall and saw first hand her assassin.

 

Lady Eraser stood near the bedroom door with a grin and slotted her USP back into its holster on her belt. As the smoke wafted around her boots and the flames crackled in the bedroom, she took out a cell phone from her back pocket and made a call.

 

"Base?" She said in her ashy voice. "It's me, Adelaide. I've taken care of my Father's `shadow'. I'll return to headquarters."

 

She switched off her cell phone and then pocketed it again. Rune listened in intently. If they were sending assassins to kill her then they were probably aware that she had been the one to free Nyles Nooreen from his prison in Negative Eden. Fortunately they couldn't report the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau to state authorities. Chances were high that if the government got involved then they'd be bringing unwanted attention to their plans to wipe out Junk Town. At least they could keep federal authorities out of this.

 

Rune turned around the corner and aimed both weapons at Lady Eraser. "Freeze!"

 

The assassin gasped and paused as she was. "...How... did you...?"

 

"Always confirm a kill before you declare it," Rune whispered acidly. "Now you're going to tell me what Drake is up to. What does he mean by sending you to kill me?"

 

Lady Eraser pulled a nervous grin. "You're overconfident... it will be your downfall."

 

"Start talking...!" Rune pulled an angry grin. "Dark Christ must be busy if they weren't sent to kill me. To think, Drake would risk losing his daughter before he would lose another member of his precious generals... that makes me believe Dark Christ is busy doing or gearing up for something else. What would that be?"

 

"...Humph," The assassin from the Mahrem looked away with a cheerless smile. "There is no love between my Father and I and I'll never pretend otherwise. I don't know anything. I'm not one of his top cronies, those Dark Christ freaks. I'm a soldier. I merely follow orders."

 

Rune chuckled darkly and slotted Solidus into one of her trouser pockets. "A `soldier', huh? If you're his daughter... and you could say something like that... then I guess you really don't know him."

 

"What's that supposed to mean...?"

 

She didn't answer that. Though Rune was beginning to understand what Drake had meant when they spoke in the Mahrem Conglomerate HQ that day, she didn't want to ponder what that might mean for a naοve following like Lady Eraser. So she merely walked up to the girl thrust a punch into her stomach. Lady Eraser doubled over and wheezed before dropping unconscious to the ground. At that point, the door to her apartment was kicked down. A bunch of regular police officers, all armed with police-grade revolvers, marched into the corridor and searched. They all took aim when they saw an armed Rune standing over the grounded and unconscious Lady Eraser.

 

"Freeze!" One of them yelled. "Put your weapons down and step away from the body."

 

"It's fine." Rune exhaled, reached into her pocket and then pulled out her badge. "I'm with the CSMB."

 

All five of the police officers eased up and lowered their guns. "What the fuck's going on?" One of them asked.

 

Rune pocketed her badge. "That's not your concern. This incident falls under the jurisdiction of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau. What you can do is take this woman into custody and hold her until some of our agents can collect her for questioning at the CSMB headquarters. Understand?"

 

The leader of the group nodded. "Y-yes, Ma'am. Come on you guys, let's get this bitch outta here."

 

While some of the police officers went about cuffing and capturing Lady Eraser, the others carried a fire extinguisher to put out the flames in Rune's bedroom. Rune herself paid no attention and staggered away into her living room, which was now littered with shattered glass and bullet holes. And she whispered to herself, "...Everything's so fucked up..."

 

**********

 

Things had a tendency to look worse the morning after they happen, no matter what anyone said to the contrary. For Rune that fact was made shockingly clear. Her apartment had been turned into a disaster zone after her fight with Lady Eraser. It was even worse than it had seemed the night before. Her living room was turned inside out by gunfire. Everything had at least three bullet holes in it. The walls, the television, the couch, everything that could be seen of it had been turned into Swiss cheese. Fortunately the police officers that came over last night were willing to help Rune clean things up. The glass that formerly made up the window had been splayed out over the carpeting of the living room and they had cleared that up for her. Then there was the fire in the bedroom from the grenade explosion. They had put that out themselves and they had managed to salvage a few things. Namely her trenchcoat, her wallet, a few pictures, her Naphtali knife, a couple of books and some clothes and her cell phone. Everything else, including her bed, had been destroyed. So Rune had spent the night sleeping on her sofa. It was better than nothing. But once the morning sun arose to wake her she was left with the rather accurate conclusion that she couldn't stay here until the bedroom was remodelled.

 

Both the bedroom and living room windows had been broken so they needed to be replaced too. She could handle any intruder that came her way but while she was gone there was a good chance something could be stolen. So as soon as Rune woke up she dragged herself to the phone and started ringing people -- contractors for the bedroom, carpenters for the two broken windows, and the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau to report the situation. When she got through the CSMB she asked to be transferred to Zophie.

 

"Hello, Rune?"

 

Rune sighed. She hadn't forgotten about what Zophie had said to her last night. But there were things go on now which were far more important than that. "Zophie, it's me."

 

"Rune."

 

"...Right. Look, last night I was attacked by an assassin from the Mahrem Conglomerate."

 

"God, are you alright?"

 

"I'm fine," Rune affirmed quickly. "My apartment's a mess but I'm fine. What I need from you now is to just report it for me. The regular police have the woman in custody. Have someone collect her but don't bother interrogating her. I don't think she knows anything."

 

"O-okay."

 

"Oh and one more thing. This woman wasn't a member of Dark Christ. I'm willing to guess that they have their hands full with something. Tell the Commander that the operation to take down Drake needs to go ahead faster... I don't think we can drag our feet anymore."

 

"Alright," Zophie replied. "I'll tell him."

 

"Thanks."

 

"...Wait, Rune..."

 

The former soldier exhaled. "...Yes?"

 

"Are... we good? I mean, what I told you last night...I-I-I... I don't care if you don't feel the same way, I can deal. But... we are still...`friends', right?"

 

"Yes, Zophie... we're still friends."

 

There was a sigh of relief on the other end. "...Okay."

 

"I'll speak to you later, okay?"

 

"Yeah. Bye, Rune."

 

Rune put the corridor phone down. There was, judging by Zophie's tone, a lot more that she wanted to say. But Rune honestly didn't have the heart for it right now. Then as soon as she turned to leave, her cell phone started to ring in her pants. The CSMB agent sighed. She reached into her pocket, fished out the phone, flipped it open, and to finalized it all she snapped, "Hello?"

 

"...Rune, is that you?"

 

She noted the voice. It was male. "...Sean?"

 

"Hey, I really need to talk to you."

 

"How did you get this number?" She asked irritably.

 

Sean scratched his skull on the other end. "Well, Nana gave it to me."

 

"Nana did...?" Then Rune became alarmed. "...I-is something wrong with Nana?"

 

"Nah, nah, nah... it's nothing like that. But she is pretty upset."

 

"About what?"

 

"One of the orphans... was killed last night."

 

The cogs automatically started turning in her mind. "Let me guess... it wasn't because of the gang war, was it?"

 

"Nah, I don't think so."

 

"...Shit. I'll be there in an hour. Tell Nana I'm on my way."

 

She quickly ended the call and ran into her living room for her keys, guns and coat. She didn't even have to ask Sean any questions about the girl who had been killed to know what was going on. Without further delay she bolted out of her apartment, ran downstairs and out to the car park. Then she hopped into her car and drove all the way across town to the Slums. Before long she was pulling up once again in the shantytown, no-hoper's district of Junk Town. Rune parked her car up on a side street near Nana's orphanage then got out and jogged across the road. It didn't escape her notice that there were no police cars or vans nearby investigating the murder. Law enforcement never came into the Slums.

 

She knocked on the heavy iron door. The slit moved to one side and a pair of tear-stained eyes looked through. He then whispered to himself `Nana's friend', closed the slit, and then opened the door. When Rune walked inside she saw it all. There were a good few children crying by the desks and the play area. Sean stood near the door with the Colt Single Action Army in hand. There were bloodstains on the floor near the chalkboard. Nana was nowhere to be seen. When the kid at the door shut it again, Sean lowered the Single Action Army and approached Rune with a sad smile.

 

"Glad you could make it." He said.

 

Rune frowned. "What the fuck happened?"

 

"Remember that girl in the wheelchair, Candice? She was the one killed. Some of the kids say they saw what happened. It was some Chink with a sword that did her in. I have no fucking clue why someone would just sneak in here and kill a little kid like that... but..."

 

Rune knew full well what was going on. But there was no way she could let these guys in on it. They'd get too panicked about it. "Where's the body?"

 

Sean pointed to another door on the left.

 

So Rune walked inside and investigated. Rather than let the kids see she closed the door behind her. Lying on top of a slanted table propped up by an out of date clothes catalogue was the little corpse of Candice Sieiro. It had been covered over with a ragged blanket while her wheelchair had been pushed into the corner of the room. A supply of blood was pooling underneath the sheets. Rune yanked the sheets off and inspected the body. There was a very long and rather deep slit running through the centre of her body. It started from the top of her skull to the crux of her crotch. The incision was at least three inches deep. Realistically whoever did this could have cut her in half. Rune sighed once more and covered the girl back over. It was pretty safe to assume now that Candice was one of the two remaining superbioandroids. Rune even remembered Nana saying that she'd been at the orphanage for about two years. A Dark Christ member, probably the one that Nyles had called `Xiang Mu Feng' had killed her. That also meant that Jenna was the last thing standing between Junk Town and its utter destruction.

 

Rune exited the room and gestured to Sean. "Where's Nana?"

 

"In the kitchen," He replied, keeping one eye on the door.

 

She nodded and walked through one of the other doors to enter into the kitchen. And there she was. The proud, strong woman who'd seen the flames of war and the underhandedness of government first hand, stood misty-eyed over a sink full of soapsuds with her hands scrubbing a plate.

 

"...I'm sorry, Nana."

 

The old black woman looked over her shoulder. The tear tracks in her eyes were as plain as day. "...Rachelle? You're here already? Oh honey, I'm sorry I bothered you with this..."

 

"Don't be silly," Rune walked up to her and pressed a warm hand into her shoulder. "I've got a lot of shit going on right now but I told you I'll always be here for you when you need me."

 

"Humph," Nana snorted with self-loathing. "Some `life-giver' I am. I can't even protect my kids. Why would anyone harm such a sweet girl? Candice has been nothing but a joy to take care of... she would have grown up to be such a beautiful woman... inside and out. How could someone cut down a child with that much potential, a child with that much love to give...? What is it about this city that makes us so evil?"

 

Rune lowered her hand from Nana's shoulder. "You can't blame yourself."

 

"I was supposed to protect her. I wanted that for all my kids... for them to be safe. But I'm not like you, Rachelle. I can't protect a damned thing."

 

"That's not true."

 

"Isn't it? If it weren't, Candice would still be here. I've lost my brother, my sons, and now Candice. All I can do now is hope that whatever little bit of life left in me is enough to keep the rest of my kids from suffering like that. That's all we have at the end of the day... hope... that we can change things."

 

"You're a strong woman, Nana," Rune told her. "I know you can deal."

 

"I just don't want to lose anymore of my kids. You know, sometimes I envy you, Rachelle. I know you didn't ask for your powers... but you can use them in times like these to protect those you love. I envy that."

 

Rune looked away. "...The people I love...?"

 

"Like Jenna," Nana pulled a sad smile. "You hang onto that one, honey. And you keep her safe. There aren't many women out there who'd so easily accept people with pasts like you and I. You found a good one."

 

Rune frowned. "...I don't deserve to love anyone like that."

 

"Yes you do. Look, I won't deny that you make stupid, dumbass choices every now and again. But one thing I like about you, Rachelle, is that no matter how many times you fail or regret, you always find a way to make it better. You always come through in the end. You might be a little late, but... I know that I can rely on you. I think maybe Jenna sees that in you as well."

 

"...Jenna." Rune's thoughts returned to her, that beautiful and kind woman... bioandroid or not. She'd been the only one who could see into her as deeply as Nana could. She was the only one other than Nana that she'd allowed herself to get close to in the first place. Why did thinking of what she did, throwing that away their relationship, seem so stupid now of all times?

 

Rune shook her head. "Nana, I have to go. I'm sorry I can't stay. I have work on right now. But I'll put pressure on some agents to come down here and take care of Candice's body. It'll probably freak out the kids to see her like that again, so... try not to let them hang around."

 

Nana smiled at her. "Thanks, Rachelle."

 

"...No problem. Just take care of yourself."

 

After giving the old girl a parting hug, Rune straightened out herself and exited the kitchen. She waved a quick goodbye to Sean as she exited but didn't stop to say anything. She merely rushed out of the door and back across the street to her car, which remained, thankfully, untouched. As soon as she climbed in and slammed the door behind her she sat down and took a long, deep breath.

 

 

"Well to be frank... you're the one I'm thinking of right now, Rune."

 

 

She couldn't tell Nana about what happened with Jenna. But speaking with her made her think about the singer all the more. Rune exhaled and slammed her head against the wheel.

 

 

"But you're not just anyone, are you? You're `Rachelle Maye McNeil', my new girlfriend."

 

 

Why was she regretting things now, of all times? Jenna was a bioandroid. Bioandroids were the biggest goddamned reminder of her own twisted genesis.

 

 

"Sure that isn't just your excuse to be near me?"

 

 

And at the very least that meant Jenna had only eight more years to live. So why was the regret dawning now of all times?

 

 

"...I love you too, Baby... don't ask me why, but I do."

 

 

Rune slotted her key into the ignition. As the engine revved up she put her foot down on the accelerator and drove off down the street. A tear and a sob escaped her as she headed off in the direction of East New Coast.

 

**********

 

Work at the reception area of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau was the same as always. A couple of female worker-model bioandroids sat behind the desk taking calls and messages, passing important people through to the heads of office. Regular paperwork operatives pushed up and down the winding metallic stairs that led to the next floor. Polly (see chapter one) walked by some of them on her way toward the reception desk. The second that she put down a file on the circular white rim of that reception a colossal explosion tore through the front wall of the building. A thundering bang echoed as combustion blew apart the metallic framework of the front wall. The squinting sight of everyone in the reception bay was bombarded by both smoke and flame. Employees found themselves screaming and surrounded by the screams of others. Anyone who was able to ducked for cover. While everyone hit the floor, shards of glass from the windows were spat over the length of the reception area, injuring the people scrambling for safety. Smoke seeped out from the blast point as the dust and debris began to settle. An urgent fire-alarm siren blared out. Uninjured eyes started opening and they turned to the huge 45metre hole in the north wall of the building. From out of the flames, smoke and rubble stepped a towering and intimidating figure, well over nine feet in height. Almost all of his abnormally muscled body was fitted with black and silver coloured poly-metallic armour, which had been infused into his very skin. The only identifiable biological flesh on him was that of his upper face – eyes, nose and forehead. The hulking figure marched with slow steps into the building and stopped to glare at the damage.

 

"...Six dead," he said in a gruff yet technological voice. "...All wounded."

 

At that moment three blackened steel girders, which had been shaken loose by the explosion, broke off from the ceiling and plummeted toward that powerfully built individual. Before they crashed into him, the girders froze in mid-air, as if grappled by invisible hands. The girders went flying off in a different course and clattered against the reception's right wall. Then from the smoke wafting around the blast point emerged another – yet far smaller – person. A young girl in a pale grey dress, carrying a cuddly teddy bear named `Saladin'... it was the child psychic, Eileen. Her tiny crimson shoes clicked against the rubble whilst walking up to the exoskeletal cyborg that preceded her, with a sallow smile.

 

"GOLEM," she said softly. "You must be more careful. My psychokinesis can only do so much."

 

The one known as `GOLEM' grunted.

 

"Well, lets not delay things," Eileen said. "Now where are those Mujajis?"

 

At that point, at least forty Mujaji Commandos (see chapter one) marched into the building. Through the smoking hole in the wall they entered from the city streets and quickly jogged up to survivors. With their SIGs at the ready they positioned themselves astride those who had survived and held them at gunpoint, telling each one not to move an inch. The other Mujajis fell behind Eileen and GOLEM to await their orders. At that point, six CSMB guards armed with FN P90s and pineapples, marched into the bay via the metal balcony hanging above their heads. They aimed over the edge and looked down at the intruders from the Mahrem Conglomerate before collectively taking aim at the leaders of the group.

 

"What the fuck's goin' on?" Yelled the first CSMB agent. "Who're they with?"

 

The second one frowned behind the visor of his helmet. "Look at that kid down there! Is she apart of this?"

 

"This is ridiculous..." Eileen shook her head. "...Don't waste your lives or my time. Stand aside."

 

The third of the CSMB agents, who seemed to be the leader of that small troop of six, sneered. "She's with them! Don't matter if she's a kid or not! Fire!"

 

"But Boss...!"

 

"Just do it!"

 

When the leader opened fire the remaining five reluctantly followed suit. All of them pulled the triggers of the FN P90s and communally fired at the duo of Eileen and GOLEM. Almost instantly the bullets refracted against an invisible wall of psychic power that none of them could penetrate. The rapid chorus of bullets was matched by the tenor of their being repulsed by the psychic shield as well as the vibrato of them clattering against the ground. Eileen's eyes, now a pulsating white due to the use of her powers, thinned out, and a tiny smile overtook her face. The leader of the six-strong troop screamed `hold your fire!' to his allies. They all stopped firing.

 

The forth soldier gasped. "What the hell! We didn't get `um!"

 

"EMS technology?" Suggested the fifth. "But the sensors in our helmets would have picked up on that."

 

Eileen snuggled close to her teddy bear. "Looks like we have some weaklings to dispose of, doesn't it, Saladin? But I don't want to sully my hands with the blood of the weak. GOLEM, would you do the honours?"

 

Without speaking a word, the immense cyborg pointed his massive right arm at the balcony of the second floor. A compartment fixed into the arm opened. The barrel of a compact but deadly minigun extended from it. When that barrel started turning it chugged a massive payload of bullets at the balcony so fast and so powerful that it appeared as a burst of golden light. The office workers and receptions, pinned to the ground by the Mujajis, all winced or screamed as the rescue team was butchered like a horde of pigs in a slaughterhouse. When each of them had been gunned down in a bloody haze, GOLEM retracted his minigun. Eileen exhaled without pity and stepped forward.

 

"The rest of you need to listen carefully," she uttered. "We came here for one thing – Jenna Woodworth. We know that she's here and we know that you know why we want her. Stand in our way and we will kill you. The men, the women, the bioandroids, every single one of you... you've all been warned."

 

All the office workers remained silent. None of them were daring or stupid enough to say anything.

 

Eileen then turned to GOLEM. "...Looks like we'll have to find her ourselves. Their personnel won't necessarily stand in our way but they won't cooperate either. So we'll split up. I'll take the upper levels; you take the lower ones, while the Mujaji Commandos hold down ground level. If either of us finds her first, we'll contact the other through nano-com and pull out, agreed?"

 

GOLEM grunted a yes.

 

"Okay then," Eileen cast her eyes to her small army. "Mujajis! Secure the perimeter!"

 

They collectively replied `yes ma'am' before clamouring from their targets and spreading out over the ground floor. Eileen and GOLEM then separated and headed for the two aluminium stairwells either side of the reception desk; one walking up with tiny steps while the other headed down with loud, clunking ones.

 

**********

 

Frank, Zophie and Nyles sat together in the Commander's office, Frank behind his desk while Nyles and Zophie in front of it. They had been talking about what to do about the Mahrem Conglomerate only a few moments before the explosion broke their concentration. It was a good few floors down but they'd certainly been interrupted by it. Frank stood up from his chair and walked to the window. Looking out into the city streets he saw smoke rising from the lower part of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau Building. When he looked down he could see flames on the streets next to the former doors of the entrance bay. Something had happened down there but what?

 

"What's going on?" Nyles asked.

 

Frank sighed. "I think the Mahrem have already made their move."

 

"They know I'm here?"

 

"I can't be sure. But I think that they're here for Jenna."

 

Zophie tightened up. "So we're under attack? But Rune isn't back yet..."

 

The leader of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau sighed. Then a moment later he cracked his knuckles. "Whether or not she is... we will do what we have to."

 

At that point the phone on his desk started to buzz. Frank returned to his chair and lifted the receiver to his ear. "Hello? I am aware... the explosion was loud enough to deduce that much. Who is it...? Uh huh... uh huh... uh... huh. Okay. All right, I understand. This is what we will do. Deploy three squads to pursue the cyborg and an additional four for that psychokinetic. Send at least seven to deal with the soldiers at ground level. Also, prepare a unit for me to rendezvous with on the third floor. With them covering me I'll head the attack on the psychic child. While we deal with that, make sure to deploy more guards to Jenna Woodworth's cell. We can't afford to lose her at this point, understood? Good."

 

Frank put the phone.

 

"So it's true?" Zophie posed.

 

Nyles held a hand to his chin. "From your conversation it sounds like Eileen and GOLEM are leading Mahrem's forces in this attack. That isn't good. Both of them are very powerful, both are members of Dark Christ. Drake must be stepping up his plans."

 

"And he made his move before we did," Frank growled and lifted himself up from his seat. He walked around the desk and marched up to a glass cabinet on the left wall of the office. It contained a selection of guns. Frank steeled himself and then pulled out one of them, a semi-automatic laser-rifle with the phrase `Knight of Faith' carved into its barrel. He removed it, along with a cartridge of .666 calibre ES bullets. Then he loaded the rifle and gestured to both the scientist and his granddaughter with his free hand, "The two of you should head off to a storeroom near the roof. I think you'll be safest there. Whatever happens to this building is irrelevant. We must protect Jenna, the copies of the Merkabah disk, and you, Nyles. If worse comes to worst then we'll smuggle you out."

 

"I want to help," Nyles said firmly. "Much of this is my fault."

 

Frank threw off the Knight of Faith's safety. "You can help by keeping yourself alive. Now both off you must get to a safe place and stay there until I tell you otherwise. I have some business to attend to."

 

**********

 

By the time GOLEM had reached sub-level B of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau, the three squads ordered by Frank Kinborough to attack him were lying in wait. He was a slow-mover. But that didn't mean the squads were counting their chances. The three units of six stood at a forked corridor in the centre of sub-level B. The crucifix-shaped corridor acted as a way through to the north, south, east and west parts of the floor. And the three units took select positions in the crux of it. The first unit occupied the central corridor, which led from the north part of that floor to the southern part. They stood in a single line formation with their FN P90s at the ready. The second and third units stood on either side of the first by the walls of the east and west corridors respectively. They awaited GOLEM's arrival also, but in reserve capacity. However GOLEM himself was not that far away. Down the length of the main central corridor was the titanic cyborg himself. His slow footsteps took him along bit-by-bit, metre-by-metre, leaving shallow footprints in the flooring beneath his metal feet. In his wake was a trail of bloodied and broken corpses belonging to both human and bioandroid personnel. When the massive GOLEM trod into the view of the first unit he paused and breathed out, as if pondering something.

 

CSMB Soldier #1of the first unit frowned, re-aiming his FN P90. "There's the bastard! He's already wiped out half the staff on this level!"

 

"All right, men..." Said CSMB Soldier #3, leader of the unit. "Open fire!"

 

All six soldiers of the first unit pulled their triggers and started bombarding GOLEM with bullet fire. And the monstrous fusion of flesh and metal covered his face in reply. The bullets bounced off of his highly defensive composite poly-metallic armour like they were nothing at all. The unit kept firing until all the rounds in their guns had been expended. Once the rain of bullets came to an end they all stared dumbfounded at the resilience of their target. GOLEM wasn't so much as scratched.

 

CSMB Soldier #6 of the second unit peered around the corner and saw the result for himself. "Jesus! All that firepower and he isn't even fazed!"

 

GOLEM groaned behind the mouthpiece of his armour. "...Weak..."

 

He lifted up his colossal right hand and converted it into its minigun form just as he had done before. Immediately it burst to life with a chain of gunfire (once more so powerful it looked like laser fire). The second and third units watched in petrified horror, as the first unit was turned inside out. Limbs were blown off, blood was splattered, clothing was torn, and armour was shattered. Soon nothing was left of them but bloody piles of dismembered copses and fabric. GOLEM then began his slow advance down the corridor as he retracted his minigun arm into its regular form.

 

"We can't back down!" Shouted the unit leader of the second group.

 

The leader of the third unit glared at him from across the corridor. "We can't take down that monster! Challenging him in itself is suicide!"

 

"So what do you wanna do? Go against the Commander's orders? We're here to do battle!"

 

"But..."

 

The second unit leader growled angrily. "You can stay there like a dog and cower! But I'm going to fight! Men, lets go!"

 

Following their leader's actions, the second unit all ran around from the left corner wall and charged at GOLEM. They jumped over the remains of the first unit then opened fire like they had done. This time GOLEM did not stop and he made no attempt to cover his face. Rather he lifted up his left arm and opened its own compartment. From it extended the thin barrel of a weapon rather different from his minigun. It was shaped like a tuning fork. The twin nodules of the `barrel' crackled, and a thin beam of jagged electrical force appeared between them. Then from the opening in the centre of the barrel a big plume of gas was ejected. When the gas hit the electricity a flickering tongue of fire launched out from it and engulfed the charging six soldiers. The corridor echoed with both the surging sound of fire and the horrific shrieks the armoured bodies of the men that were enfolded by the luminous orange combustion of GOLEM's flamethrower. When the gust of firepower ceased, all that was left of them was six malformed torsos, each of them charred black and rendered hideous. The blackened bodies dropped to the ground lifeless. GOLEM returned his left arm from its flamethrower form back into its normal configuration – all the while he hadn't stopped walking.

 

The third unit was all that stood between him and the door that would take him to the next stairwell – one that would in turn bring him closer to Jenna.

 

"D-did you see that?" Shuddered CSMB Soldier #4 of the third unit. "He burned `em to a crisp!"

 

The unit leader shook in his nervousness only to shout, "Fire! Fire! Fire!"

 

Everyone that was left aimed their FN P90s and started shooting. GOLEM continued marched uninhibited through the forest of bullets until he was stepping over the bloodied remains of the first unit. He then stopped where he was and unlocked his right arm again... so by the time the leader of the third unit saw this it was already to late. GOLEM gunned down the last of the squads sent to kill him effortlessly. Their death cries were as vibrant as music but he looked on, unfazed at their mortality.

 

Then suddenly an ES round came screaming towards GOLEM from the far right.

 

He cried out as the shell hit him and produced a massive explosion, strong enough to burst the all windows along the doors from the mere vibrations. The walls of the corridor cracked and flames surged up. GOLEM was literally thrown off his feet and hurled backward into the corpses of the first unit. When his cyber-muscled body squished the pulped flesh he glanced up and saw a woman walk into view. That woman was Nastasia.

 

Her Nizhlogg sniper rifle was strapped to her back. There was a pouch tied to her waist carrying six ES rounds and in her elegant hands was a Groph-Hauser MX-22, the weapon from which she had shot that previous ES round. Nastasia pulled a smirk, then took a fresh round out of her pouch, loaded it into the MX-22 and pumped the handle.

 

"Who... are you...?" Asked GOLEM.

 

"Humph. Nastasia Stepanovich, at your service."

 

Once the trigger was pulled a second ES round was fired from the barrel of the MX-22. GOLEM covered up his face as the round collided with him and exploded with vacuous force. Once more fire and smoke and debris blew out from the blast point and hammered the surrounding walls of the corridor. GOLEM was tossed backward again and thrown over the crispy, mangled torsos he had made out of the second unit. When the dust and smoke settled Nastasia glanced down the corridor she was successfully pinning GOLEM to. She sneered when she saw that he was down but still unharmed.

 

"What is that armour made out of?" She bitched.

 

GOLEM grunted and lifted himself from the trench his heavy back had made in the ground. Nastasia's eyebrow twitched when she saw GOLEM's right arm open up its minigun formation. She swiftly darted back around the lower west corner of corridor junction just as a violent volley of powerful gunfire tore through the air. The bullets zoomed down the length of the hallway like flashes of energy. Nastasia pressed her back against the wall and quickly reloaded the MX-22 with a third ES round. When GOLEM's rapid-fire attack stopped chugging, Nastasia turned the corner and performed a jump out shot. The third ES round shrieked across the divide between Nastasia and GOLEM before plunging itself against his chest and blowing up. Nastasia heard GOLEM cry out again but ignored it so she could tactically reload the MX-22 then fire a forth ES round. The following shot zoomed into the cloud of smoke left behind by the previous shell and once more there was a vibrant explosion. The doors of that part of the corridor were completely blown off their hinges and thrown into the rooms they secured. Smoke slithered along the floor. The flames roared and brightened up the confined space, causing the air to become warm.

 

Nastasia glanced down the corridor at the smoke cloud lingering in the position GOLEM once stood.

 

The debris fell still. And the clouds of smoke started to dissipate. Then GOLEM walked out of it in damn near pristine condition. Nastasia's eyes widened at that. Even after all of that firepower he was still unharmed? GOLEM grunted and lifted his minigun-formed arm. It started firing. Nastasia yanked her head back from around the corridor to avoid it. When he hit nothing again, GOLEM ceased firing and once again started marching through the corridor.

 

Nastasia used the little time his slow walking gave her to open NNTL transmission. "Zophie? Zophie! Where are you?"

 

"Nastasia? Are you all right? There's been an attack on-"

 

"I already know that, I am dealing with one of the intruders! Listen, I have not much in the way of time, Zophie! Can you put Nyles Nooreen in on this frequency?"

 

Zophie paused. "...Yeah, I think I can do that. Hold on."

 

There was another pause and then a few moments later, "...This is Nyles Nooreen, Miss Stepanovich."

 

"Good, I need your help. I have managed to pin a huge cyborg from Mahrem to sub-level B but I cannot-"

 

Nastasia cut herself off when GOLEM turned the corner and came face to face with her. She broke communication and drove shoulder-first through one of the weakened doors when GOLEM started firing his minigun again. She tumbled into an empty storage room and narrowly avoided the intense burst of bullets zipping down the corridor. Nastasia sneered and loaded up another ES round. When GOLEM's gunfire came to an end, the Russian sniper darted into the corridor again and fired her gun. The ES round blew GOLEM off his feet again and knocked him back, across the corridor junction and into the eastern corridor.

 

With him down again for the moment, Nastasia re-opened NNTL. "Nyles, are you still there?"

 

"Yes, Miss Stepanovich. I can help you fight him."

 

"By all means, do so!"

 

"Okay. The one you are up against is GOLEM. His primary weapons are a minigun built into his right arm and a compact flamethrower built into his left. Beyond that is his extremely tough armour and colossal strength."

 

"I already know all of that, just tell me how to kill him!"

 

Nyles sighed. "I'm getting to it. As tough as that armour is, his inner body is just as vulnerable as yours or mine. What you need to do is shoot him through the left eye. It is one of the few points of his body that remains unprotected and there is a small devise behind it that helps regulate his body's vital functions. Shoot his left eye and you'll destroy that. And if you destroy then GOLEM is no more."

 

"Thank you, Professor. Signing off."

 

By the time Nastasia had switched off nano-com, GOLEM was getting back up onto his feet in the east corridor. So the blonde woman reloaded the MX-22 with a sixth ES round and fired at the big cyborg once again. And once again he was blown off his feet by a forceful explosion. Nastasia took out her last ES round, loaded it, and then fired she the seventh and final shot. It disappeared into the cloud of smoke surrounding GOLEM. Yet another explosion ripped at him and his strikingly powerful armour. He was thrown off of his weighty feet yet again and hurled as far back as the end of the east corridor, a good sixty metres from Nastasia.

 

She needed room to take out that device behind his left eye and since she needed to do it from a vertical and even vantage point she needed the time to do it before GOLEM counterattacked. While her metallic adversary was down, Nastasia dropped her MX-22 (now useless with no rounds left), un-strapped Nizhlogg from her back and ran to the end of the west corridor. She got down to the floor stomach-first and assumed a sniping pose, bringing her rifle's scope to her eye. The lens zoomed in and Nastasia aligned the crosshairs with GOLEM's body as he started to lift himself up from the floor.

 

Then, in the split-second she had before GOLEM could counterattack with the minigun, she aligned the crosshairs with GOLEM's left eye and fired. The monstrous being juddered backward with a groan and grabbed his face. Nastasia smirked with triumph and watched him fall to his knees, right before toppling over, dead.

 

The Russian woman stood up and caught her breath. "...I win."

 

**********

 

A few floors above the one on which GOLEM died, Eileen was cutting her own swath of destruction. Eileen took slow and composed footsteps across a barren hallway which led into a far larger chamber. That chamber was where regular meetings encompassing the entire staff of the Civil Stability Maintenance Bureau was held. As such it was full of folding wooden chairs, water coolers and plastic tables. It had a stage by the northern wall and numerous impressionist paintings, plant pots and mounted animal heads decorating it. Normally this room remained empty until it was needed. But two forces were presently encroaching on it from the eastern and the western entrances into it. One of those forces was the commander of the CSMB, Frank Kinborough, carrying his Knight of Faith laser rifle. And the eighth unit was flanking him. They came into the conference hall via the western entrance. The second force was Eileen and she got into the hall through the eastern entrance. In the hallway behind her were the wrangled and bloodstained bodies of the forth, fifth, six and seventh units, twenty-four men and women in total, all of which had been sent to kill Eileen alone. She had massacred them without so much as breaking a sweat.

 

The slow steps of Eileen's crimson red shoes came to a stop when the girl spotted Frank Kinborough and the eighth unit rushing into the conference hall at the exact same time she made her appearance there. "Well, what have we here, Saladin? More lambs have been sent toward the jaws of the wolf. It looks like we'll be spilling a lot of blood today, doesn't it?"

 

All six members of the eighth unit took aim with their FN P90s and Frank did the same with the Knight of Faith. Before they started firing however, Frank grit his teeth angrily. "I already know of you. You are the psychokinetic who killed that insane clown and Beth Evans, correct?"

 

Eileen pulled a slow smile that made shivers run up and down the spines of Frank's men. "You mean Coconut? I did the world a blessing by eliminating that scum. But now I'm working purely for Master Drake's wishes. You people are standing in his way. And while I didn't come here to kill all of you... I'm more than willing to do so if that's what it takes to reach Jenna Woodworth."

 

"Why you...!"

 

"So..." The child psychic's eyes turned white again. "Which of you wishes to be the first to die?"

 

Frank sneered. "Don't be fooled by her innocent looks, all of you! Open fire!"

 

Though some were clearly quite reluctant to shoot a child, no one could deny that they had to. They all started shooting at her. Eileen stood still regardless. Once again mere bullets were not enough. They simply bounced off of the invisible shield of psychic energy that Eileen formed to protect herself. Frank quickly saw that that kind of approach was worthless and so he screamed, "Hold your fire! Don't waste your ammunition!"

 

And so his six soldiers stopped firing.

 

Dozens of rounds lay near the youthful psychokinetic but not a single one had been able to pierce her psychic defences. Eileen's eyes returned to normal but the men of the eighth unit were clearly shaken. "What will you do now? It takes more than a gun to kill someone like me."

 

"...Damnit." Frank seethed.

 

Eileen turned her smile to him. "You haven't tried to shoot me yet. How about it?"

 

Perhaps out of anger, the Commander of the CSMB lifted up his laser rifle and fired. The bolt of sparkling cerulean that the laser round consisted of bolted at Eileen then shot upward at an impossible ninety degree angle before it hit her. The beam then turned a corner as it climbed toward the ceiling and headed back in the opposite direction. Then as it zoomed over the eighth unit it changed course once more and headed straight for the head of the second member of the unit. Frank and the other five soldiers gasped when the laser round cracked through the helmet of soldier #2 and pulped his skull from the inside out. With his eyes wide open he dropped dead to the floor, his juiced and bloody brain matter leaking out from the blackened hole atop his white helmet.

 

"Good Lord..." Soldier #4 whispered. "Not only can she reflect our fire but she can even control its course..."

 

Frank turned his glanced from the dead soldier to Eileen. "...Goddamn you...!"

 

Eileen tilted her head to the side and blinked. "What's wrong? All out of options, are we? Very well... I think it's my turn."

 

Once again the little girl's eyes turned a hauntingly pure white. A wave of indiscernible psychic energy coursed from her body and smashed through the floorboards of the conference hall. The energy crushed the wood in a direct path for one of the soldiers. The others scattered while the one in its path, soldier #6 was struck by it. The wave blew him off of his feet and threw him clear across the room. He screamed until his body slammed against a far wall and he was skewered through the chest on the horn of a mounted trophy bullhead, killing him. Eileen waved her left hand (the one not holding Saladin) and produced another wave that cut through the air like a razor blade. It sliced the head off of soldier #1 as she tried to run away from the smaller girl. While her head was tossed into the air like a leaf, soldier #3 growled and dropped to the floor, opening fire on Eileen again. The bullets bent around her body like a log led along by the waves of a river. They all circled around Eileen's body numerous times before being sent straight back to the sender. Soldier #3 shrieked a death cry as his own gunfire killed him, bullets hitting him in the head, heart, legs and skull. At that point soldier #4 flipped his FN P90 around to hold it like a club. He then ran at Eileen to strike her down. When soldier #4 swung his gun to clobber her across the head, the butt of it bounced off of Eileen's imperceptible psychic shield. It flew out of his hands from the sheer resistance. Eileen's sallow white eyes pulsed. And soldier #4 felt himself rising up off the ground. Before he knew it he was sent screaming into the air by the sheer relentless force of Eileen's psychic powers. He shot up like a rocket into the ceiling where his helmet and skull were shattered with the collision. The remains of his skull became a repugnant stain of blood and bone on the ceiling. His headless body dropped out of air. Meanwhile soldier #5 tried her luck and started shooting again. Once more the bullets couldn't penetrate Eileen's defences. This time the child smiled and glanced at the dead body of soldier #3. With her great telekinetic forces she broke one of the arms off of his body and then psychically hurled with tremendous velocity at soldier #5. The left arm was thrust straight through her gut like a javelin. The right arm forcefully buried itself so deep into the gut of the fifth soldier that its fingers stuck out of her back. She dropped her gun and gargled up her own blood until she passed away moments later. All six soldiers of the eighth unit were dead.

 

The only one left was Frank.

 

Eileen's eyes returned to normal. "Was that a little too much? Sorry. Weakness isn't one of my strong points."

 

"You're a monster..."

 

"Not quite," replied the childish murderer. "But that wasn't a very kind thing for him to say, was it, Saladin?"

 

Frank shook his head. "Do you have any idea what you're doing? If you gave Jenna to Drake he will kill her and destroy Junk Town! There are millions of innocent people living here!"

 

"...Innocent...?" Eileen burst out in childish giggles. "...Innocent? You mean like Coconut? Like Jackson James? Like me? Like YOU? No one in this city is innocent. Those people... those disgusting people... they are nothing but a flock of sheep who lack a shepherd. They've been manipulated into living like pigs... it doesn't matter what happens to them. All that matters is that Master Drake achieves his dream... all that matters to me is that he achieves his dream. And for that to happen Junk Town must fall."

 

Frank took aim. "...I'll kill you to stop that from happening!"

 

"Is that so...?" Eileen's eyes turned white once more. "Are you perhaps God? Because you'd need that level of strength to end my life..."

 

Whatever little restraint Frank had left in him was lost when he fired another laser shot. Eileen's cruel smile elongated and the shot immediately curved and returned in Frank's direction. The laser blast scorched through the flesh, muscle and bone of his left leg. The noble commander emitted a ghastly shriek and dropped to one knee with a bloody and scalding hot hole cleaved out of his opposing leg. Eileen giggled before taking small, short steps towards the fallen commander, all the while her dark expression of glee never waned.

 

"As the saying goes, `you're shit out of luck'," She said poisonously. "Any things you want to do before you die?"

 

Frank weakly pointed the Knight of Faith at her. "...Witch."

 

"An insult. Well, aren't you intrepid," Using her psychic powers, Eileen snatched the laser gun from Frank's grasp and levitated it so that the barrel nudged against his temple. "Perhaps I'll see you again someday in the next life."

 

Before either of them acted a sole shot was fired at Eileen from an unknown shooter. That bullet was diverted almost instantaneously and sent back in the direction it came from. The unknown shooter, obscured by shadows, fired a second shot. With deathly precision the bullets ricocheted off each other. One bullet smashed through a window while the other hit a wooden table. Eileen and Frank looked in the direction of the gunfire. Stepping out of the shadows of the eastern entrance, carrying a Desert Eagle (Solidus) in one hand and a SIG 550 in the other, was none other than Rune.

 

"Well, if it isn't the anti-existence..." Sneered Eileen as she telekinetically tossed away the rifle.

 

The smile returned to Frank's face. "Rune...!"

 

"Sorry I'm late," She said with a frown. Rune then glared at Eileen. "Long time no see."

 

The adolescent psychokinetic clenched her fist. "Do you honestly believe you can defeat ME, you replica?"

 

"I'm pretty damn-fucking-sure of it," Rune then gestured to Frank. "Commander, get out of here and have your wounds taken care of. I'll handle this one."

 

"...Okay. Do what you can." Frank reached for the Knight of Faith and hobbled out of the conference hall through the western door on his wounded right leg.

 

This of course left Rune and Eileen alone. Rune span Solidus around her middle finger and slotted it away in one of the holsters underneath her trenchcoat. Then she assumed a double-handed shooting stance with the SIG 550 aimed at Eileen. The dark-haired child giggled once more.

 

"You sad, stupid, pathetic by-product of war. Do you really think that little popgun can stop me? Haven't you seen what I am capable of? I am power itself, power incarnate. You are nothing but a pale shadow of a far superior man. What can a mere anti-existence like you do to someone like me?"

 

Rune spread her feet. "Stop masturbating your ego and fight!"

 

She pulled the trigger and started firing. While her body juddered with the force of the automatic fire the effect on Eileen was the same. The bullets were stopped in their tracks by the sheer power of her psychic shield. Rune stopped firing when she saw that that method would not work. The rounds dropped to the ground as the field around Eileen regressed. Eileen herself sneered with an angry frown at the ex-soldier. "Is this is? Is this the best you can do?"

 

"...That was just a warm-up."

 

"You're nothing by a shadow," Eileen barked, becoming considerably angrier by the second. "You don't even deserve to fight me. I'll give you an opponent on your own level..."

 

Then something very odd happened.

 

The dead bodies of the six soldiers of the eighth unit started shaking. Rune's eyes looked from side to side to see what was going on. Her emerald eyes widened in both fright and confusion as the corpses started standing up. The decapitated corpse of soldier #1 got onto its un-sturdy feet and shakily picked up its FN P90. The corpse of soldier #2, with the hole in its skull, did the same. Soldier #3's one-armed corpse, which was also riddled with blood leaking bullet holes, started waling toward Rune. Soldier #4's corpse, its head a smear on the ceiling, did the same. The corpse of the fifth soldier, which still had the third soldier's arm lancing its gut, staggered in her direction. Finally the sixth corpse slowly pulled itself off of the bullhorn it had been impaled on and dropped to the floor. It yet stood up and started stepping toward Rune like a zombie, like the rest of them.

 

"...What the fuck...?" Rune blinked and stared at Eileen. "...You can reanimate the dead...?"

 

Eileen's soft white eyes pulsated with this new display of power. "...Not quite. I just `command' their movements. It's easier to do with the dead than the living... since the dead have less in the way of resistance, thanks to that pesky thing called willpower and all."

 

"...Puppets..."

 

"Exactly, anti-existence... and I control the strings."

 

Rune pulled a competitive grin and threw the SIG 550 into the air. With that airborne she pulled out both Solidus and its brother Liquidus from their holsters. Crossing her arms over each other she fired at both soldier #1's chest and soldier #2's head. The two corpses were blown backward off their weak footing. Rune then rolled forward and shot