Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Archangel ❯ Teamwork ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Five people stand in a deadlock watching each others movements trying to decide when to attack.

“Fuck! This ain’t good.” D says to Hyde. “We need to help Mil.”
Hyde looks down at Mil sadly and then looks back up at the SERAPHS crossly.

“You have quite the pretty face boy.” SERAPH 5 says and a blade extends from her hand. “I’ll try not to scar it to badly while I hack up your body.”

“Just try you robotic bitch.” Hyde snaps snidely.

SERAPH 5 giggles. “Pretty boys mine, you two take down the bimbo.”

“I’m not a bimbo you ass!” D snaps.

“Shut up D! This is no time for name calling! We have to save Mil!”

“You’re welcome to try.” SERAPH 5 giggles girlishly and starts to charge at him.

“Shit. This isn’t gonna be easy.” Hyde thinks to himself.

SERAPH 5 pulls the blade back preparing to strike. A shotgun fires hitting SERAPH 5, blowing her head clear off, and sending her lifeless body sprawling to the ground. D, Hyde, and the remaining SERAPH turn their heads towards the source of the blast. There stands Brooklyn holding a smoking shotgun as Kira and the rest of her gang come running out of the club.

"MIL!" Kira yells and then goes pale when she sees Mil’s lifeless form on the ground.

"Well look what we have here. The responsible baby sitter makes her appearance, but you’re to late." SERAPH 6 chuckles.

"Shut up! No one touches Princess but me!" Kira snaps and then points an angry finger at D. "And you! You’re not doing a very good job of watching him!"

"Don't yell at me I just got here!"

"Would the two of you shut up! We have more important things to worry about!" Hyde barks getting glares from both women.

"Yeah like us." SERAPH 2 says, takes out a beam rifle, and shoots at Brooklyn who dodges it.

Brooklyn takes out a staff that turns into a spear and starts to do battle with SERAPH 2, drawing her attention away from the others. Hyde runs over to Mil and lifts up his head. Mil doesn’t move but after and soft tap to his face, gasps for air.

"Good, he's still alive." Hyde says to himself. Something grazes the man’s back and al of a sudden, blood spirts from his back as he flinches forward yelping in pain. He looks back to see SERAPH 6, laughing at him, with bloody claws extending out of each of her fingers. Hyde growls lowly and goes to stand but D and Kira jump in front of him like a shield and motion for him to stop.

"Take Princess to safety. We’ll hold her off." Kira commands.

"Sure.” Hyde says and runs towards the door of the club with Mil in his arms. Before he enters the club, he stops and turns to D. “D!" He yells making her look at him. Hyde takes a knife that he was carrying and throws it to her. "Use this! It’ll come in handy!"

D nods and picks it up getting into a battle stance along with Kira.

“Two against one? That’s unfair.” SERAPH 6 says. “Here let me even up the odds.” She giggles and splits into four separate forms.

“Now who’s the unfair one?” Kira grumbles.

“Care if we help?” A voice chimes in.

Kira and D look back and see Trish and Royce standing there.

“The more the merrier.” D says.

“You pathetic creatures can’t possibly hope to defeat me.” SERAPH 6 says.

“Quite arrogant. I like that in a woman.” Trish says flirtatiously.

SERAPH 6 snickers and one of the clones charges at Trish. She reels back and then slashes at Trish but his gets a hand clamped on her face. Royce lifts SERAPH 6 in the air with ease and chucks her against a wall causing the clone to disappear.

“Damn. You make it seem easy.” D says in awe.

“Hmm.” Is his reply.

“I guess I misjudged you four. Oh well no matter.” SERAPH 6 says and starts preparing another clone.

Trish takes out a Rapier she has attached to her belt, Kira puts on a pair of knuckle blades, and D holds the knife Hyde gave her at her side. SERAPH 6 makes an annoyed sound and another clone appears. Brooklyn and SERAPH 2's battle is still under way with nether seeming to get a good hit off the other. SERAPH 2 swings her rifle at Brooklyn but he blocks it with his spear. He pushes her back a bit causing her to stumble and does a sweep kick knocking her on the ground. He quickly stands up and thrusts his spear downward but SERAPH 2 grabs the tip and diverts it to her left. She kicks up but Brooklyn catches her foot and whips her around before slamming her against the ground. He goes to retrieve his spear when SERAPH 2 shoots a beam at him but the stoic tactician somersaults back avoiding the blast. He reaches into his coat, grabs a small hand grenade, and chucks it at SERAPH 2. It explodes but when the smoke clears it reveals an energy shield surrounding SERAPH 2. The armor clad android snickers and lunges forward swinging the rifle at him again. She misses the first time but hits him upside the head the second time causing him to fall back, hitting the ground hard. The silver haired boy slowly gets up as SERAPH 2 laughs gleefully.

“Why do you try and protect that brat so much when you hardly even know him?”

“It’s my job to protect him.”

"Pathetic little boy. You can’t protect anyone, so don’t even TRY!" She yells and charges him.

Brooklyn blocks her with the spear again but she kicks him in the stomach causing him to retract a bit. SERAPH 2 pushes forward with great strength and knocks him down. She points the Beam Rifle inches from the boys head and begins to press the trigger making a high pitch squeal emit from it. The SERAPH gives a snide giggle and goes to deliver the fatal blow but a long shard of ice impales her left shoulder causing her to flinch and shoot behind Brooklyn.

"BROOKLYN!"

Brooklyn looks over to see Sophia, Shylah, and Elijah running to him frantically.

"Well I think it's time to go." She groans and then whistles.

SERAPH 6 stops fighting and makes her clones disappear in a puff of smoke. “Well it was fun playing with you all, I’m sure we’ll see each other again. She says and the two androids disappear in a flash.

Everyone stands still and then give a sigh of relief. D groans and slumps to the ground as Kira cracks her knuckles. Trish puts her Rapier away and fixes her cloths as Royce just stands there. Shylah walks over to her male teammate and looks curiously at him.

" Brooklyn, are you all right?” She asks but he doesn’t reply.

"Brook?" Elijah says curiously.

"....Yeah." He replies and then looks forward as D, Kira, Trish, and Royce walk over.

"Hey. You guys okay?" Sophia asks.

"Yup.”

"Of coarse."

"Uh huh."

"I've been better.”

"That's good but what the hell's going on and who what were those creatures?" Elijah wonders out loud.

"They're called SERAPH and they're a new weapon the U.N. built to eliminate possible threats." Hyde says from out of no where making Elijah and Shylah retract back. “Oh and Mil is all right now. I took him to Mr. Faust like you said.”

"Who are you?" Elijah asks.

"My names Yuri Nikolsky, but I go by the code name Hyde." He says and takes out a badge. "I was hired by Randy Faust as a secret bodyguard for Mil."

"What!? Why!? What’s wrong with Princess!?” Kira asks and then thinks of something. “Wait. Does this have to do with his real father?"

"I can't tell you any more information, sorry.”

Kira grumbles and gives him an odd look before she heads back into the club. Hyde and everyone else follows soon after. Brooklyn gets off the ground and starts walking but stops and looks down at his feet.

“What...did she mean by that?” Brooklyn wonders.

D leans a bit to look up at his face concerned. “You all right kid?”

He doesn’t respond for a bit but then nods his head. She smiles and wipes the blood from his forehead and follows the others inside. He looks at her with confusion then goes inside as well. A few minutes pass and the ambulances arrive along with the cops and news media. A couple of medics strap Mil onto a stretcher and take him to the back of an ambulance just as another one drives off with Julius. Cindy and Randy watch the ambulance with Mil in it drive off, making the red headed woman sigh.

"It's starting.”

"Yeah. I know." Randy says and lights a cigarette. “Why did Gideon have to go and try playing god? Now Mil and Julius are injured because of it.”

“But if he didn’t they wouldn’t have been born.” She says.

“Sad to say but that might have been a good thing if we known how everything would be now.” Randy tells her and they both become silent.

Hyde finishes talking to a cop and walks over to Randy and Cindy. "Sir?"

"What is it?" Randy asks while Cindy gives Hyde an odd look.

"I would like you to meet the girl I told you about."

"All right." Randy says with a nod.

Hyde looks over to D who is getting hit on by a male paramedic and begins to twitch. “For the love of god.” He groans. "Hey you! Get over here!" Hyde yells to her.

D stops talking and glares at him. "If you want something, get it your damn self! I’m flirting!"

"Excuse me for a second Sir.” Hyde says with an annoyed grumble. He walks over to the platinum haired girl and hits her upside the head. He then turns to the paramedic and says something that makes him flee in fear. Hyde grabs D’s arm and drags her over forcefully. "This is D."

"Hi it’s a…” She says while pulling her arm away but notices the shocked red haired woman looking at her.

Cindy and D stare at each other questioningly for a while and then go wide eyed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?" They shout while pointing at each other.

The two women begin to talk fast as Hyde and Randy stare at the two confusedly and then groan. Fourteen years ago on the space colony HEAVEN, a young elf man with purple hair sits at a desk sorting through papers when there is a knock at the door.

“Come in.” He says and a pregnant blonde woman walks in. “How are you feeling today?”

“I’ve been a bit light headed since this morning. That and my feet hurt.” She says with a giggle.

“Then go sit down.” He says pointing to a chair.

The woman sits and places her hand on her belly giving it a soft rub while the man goes back to looking through the papers.

“I felt the baby kick again today.”

“Really?” The man says unenthusiastically.

“I thought of a name already.”

The man sighs and starts writing on a piece of paper. “Yeah?”

“Mmm hmm. Well Cindy named her sons Julius and Janice. So we thought it would be cute to give this one a J name too. So I came up with Jamison.”

The man snaps the pencil in half and goes wide eyed. “That’s a boy’s name.”

“Surprise! The doctor called and told me it was a boy.” The woman says excitedly with a smile on her face. “Isn’t that great? I always wanted a boy. Just three more months and our son will be born. ” She says and the man begins to act strangely. “Something wrong Gideon?”

“No, why don’t you go rest up for a bit? I have a lot of work to do right now.”

“Ok. I’ll see you later.” She says and goes to give him a kiss but he turns away from her. The blonde women looks sadly at him and leaves.

Gideon grabs a pencil holder and throws it against a wall. “There is no way that child could be a boy. I made specifically sure that it had two x chromosomes. Damn it!” He thinks to himself and leans back in his chair. “I guess I’ll just have to exterminate this one and start all over again.” He says getting up and walking out the door. He spots the woman stumbling towards him, trembling and crying. A few people run over to see what’s going on. “What’s wrong?” He asks.

“My water just broke!” She screams tearfully.

A brown haired man takes out his cell and calls for a medical team as a green haired elf girl tries to calm the blonde. The purple haired man smiles happily and chuckles to himself. Back in the present, a blonde haired woman looks at a photo of herself, heavily sedated, and holding a newborn baby. Someone comes up behind her and takes the picture from her hand.

“You still moping about it sis? It’s been fourteen years.”

“So? Wouldn’t you be sad if someone took your first and only child from you?”

“I don’t have kids so I wouldn’t know.” The girl says and sits on the table. She looks at the picture and snickers. “Man you look like a cracked out heifer.” She laughs making her older sister groan as she snatches the photo back.“Oh stop, I was only joking.”

“Uh huh.” The older of the two blondes says and shoves her younger sister off the table.

“Ow! I’m telling mom on you Nova!” The girl whines and runs off.

The blonde woman, Nova, goes back to looking at the photo. A single tear drops onto it. “Gideon. Why did you have to take my son away from me?” She says and begins to cry.

Julius lays on his back lifelessly with blood splattered all over himself. He opens his eyes and looks foreword seeing someone laying a few feet away from him. He struggles to sit up as he looks around at his surroundings, nothing but an eerie darkness. He looks down at his hands which are covered in thick red blood. He hears something sniffle causing him to look over at the person lying on the ground.

"Huh?" He says, gets up, and stumbles over to the body. To his horror the body is laying in a pool of it’s own blood with some of there innards exposed. Julius kneels down and rolls the figure over. Julius looks at it closely and gasps. “Mil? But it can’t…”

"Why?" A soft voice asks.

"What?" Julius says to himself.

Mil opens his eyes slightly as tears form in them. "I thought you would protect me?"

"I know, I’m sorry." Julius says sorrowfully. Mil begins to gasp in pain and fidget in his arms. "Hey!?” Julius gasps out. A blade emerges from Mil’s chest and enters through Julius’ left breast. Blood spurts out of the corner of his mouth and Julius begins to cough. Someone laughs as the blade and Mil disappear. Julius puts his hand on his breast trying to stop the bleeding. He looks up to see a young woman with white hair standing before him, smiling. "Who...the hell...are you?"

The young woman giggles and leans down close to his face. "You are very handsome, just like he was."

"What are you talking about?"

She grabs the side of his face and kisses him causing Julius to fall into a trance. "But sadly we’ll have to wait a while before we can have our child."

"Not if I have anything to do about it." A soft voice snaps.

The woman looks up to see a cloaked figure. "It's better then him fathering the demon with that freak. Right Ridley?" The women chuckles.

"We’ll see about that." The cloaked figure says.

"Fine then. But remember, you won't be able to protect them forever.” The woman laughs and disappears.

Ridley sighs and looks down at Julius. “It seems they’re not doing a very good job of protecting you and Mil.” She says as two figures in cloaks appear behind her. One has a white scarf wrapped around it’s shoulders while the other is holding a crystal ball. “How are things progressing in the future?

“Not like I hoped. Magnolia is being a difficult little bitch.” The scarfed one replies. “How about you?”

“Not as good I’m afraid.” Ridley says and looks back down at Julius.

The one with the scarf walks up to her and looks down at Julius. “He looks like Remi...and Rei.”

“Well this boy and Remi are decedents of Rei’s. As are Mil and Fulton of Fayette. It’s amazing the lengths people will go to, to create our kind. Right Serenity?”

The figure with the scarf fidgets. “I prefer to be called Thirteen and besides, that isn’t even my real name.”

“Well Serenity is much better. I would hate it if I was referred to as One all the time. What do you think Mel?”

The other girl clutches the crystal ball to her chest. “I don’t know. I don’t have a number anymore.“

“You’re just jealous Ridley cause you don’t have a cool sounding number like mine.”

“Like I would want to be stigmatized by an unlucky number. Besides I’m the first and that’s the best.”

“Yeah but I’m a hundred times stronger then you.”

“Oh would you two stop arguing.” An annoyed girl’s voice grumbles as Ten more cloaked figures appear.

“I apologize.” Ridley says.

“I don’t.” Thirteen says and lights a cigarette. “It’s true and she knows it.”

“Please don’t smoke. It’s unhealthy and your only a child.” One with a very squeaky voice says.

“Dude, Lola. I’m already dead. How can it hurt me? Also I’m not a child I’m 59 years old.”

“Well you still look nine so please don’t.” Lola retorts.

Thirteen grumbles and puts out the cigarette with her finger.

“It’s odd seeing us all here like this. The only one missing is Fei.” The tallest of the cloaked figures says.

The rest of the figures pull down their hoods raveling a multi-raced group of girls who each have a number on there forehead. THREE is Tiara, a Feline with green hair. FOUR is Lola, an elf with pink hair. FIVE is Mina, an android with blue and pink hair. SIX is Rebecka, a crossbreed between a human and an android with brown and blonde hair. SEVEN is Aya, a human with dark black hair and tan skin. EIGHT is Jackie, a crossbreed between an elf and human with platinum blonde hair. NINE is Caity, a human girl with brown hair. TEN is Jennifer, a human with blonde hair. ELEVEN is Alexus, a Canine with cream colored hair. TWELVE is Lilith, an android with red hair and the is one of the first Androids with inverted eyes, where the pupil is white and the sclera is black. Also there is ONE, Ridley, who is a crossbreed between an Elf/Human mother and a Feline father. She has half black and half white hair, pointed ears and a black tail. Then there is THIRTEEN, who also goes by Serenity which is a fake, a human girl with brick colored hair and crimson eyes. The girl known as Mel doesn’t have a number but has some distinct features of her own. She has silver hair, tan skin, one normal brown eye and one blue, which is inverted, cat ears which she hides under a knitted bonnet even through she has normal ears which are pointed likde an elf’s, and a black cat tail.

“Well we should get back to our tombs. But let us know if you need anything. We’ll gladly help.” Mina tells them.

“I’m ok now. The only thing that I’m worried about is if Fei will be born and live past infancy.” Ridley tells them.

“Is she really that important?” Jackie asks.

“We need Fei so M-“ Mel begins but Thirteen shoots her a glare. “Umm...Thirteen can do the summoning.”

“Do you really need to do the summoning Thirteen?” Lola asks.

“Well unless Fei makes it to her teenage year then none of us will be born afterward so we won’t need to worry. But is she dies then we will have to do the summoning.” Thirteen says and sighs. “Magnolia is way more powerful then I anticipated. Gannon and Regina created a very good makeshift MAIDEN, but she’ll be no match for twelve real ones.”

“Or for the all powerful “THIRTEENTH MAIDEN” if she would quit pussy footing around and reveal herself.” Ridley snaps.

“Bite me Cruella.” Thirteen says lighting another cigarette.

The others snicker as Ridley growls. “What the hell did you call me!?”

“Cru-el-la. As in the villain from 101 Dalmatians, she has the same hair color as you and is also a bitch like you. You should watch it, it’s a good movie.”

Ridley casts a water spell and hits THIRTEEN with it, drenching her and the cigarette. THIRTEEN groans and crushes the cigarette in her hand which burst into flames. Ridley growls and prepares another water spell.

“Here we go again.” Caity groans.

Alexus shakes her head. “Can’t they ever get along?”

“Of course not. It’s a power struggle between the first and last MAIDENS.” Aya chuckles.

The two girls spells collide and explode in a big blast of red and blue. In the real world, it’s the morning after the event at Zephyr and everyone is sitting in the waiting room of the hospital in complete silence exchanging curious stares. Cindy walks in and everyone looks at her with tired bloodshot eyes.

“Thank you all for waiting here through the night. I now it must have been rough.”

“How are they?” Shellie asks.

“They’re doing better. Both are out of the critical stage now. Mil’s throats damaged and they’re doing surgery right know to fix it. He also won’t be able to talk right for a bit. And thankfully the blade missed Julius’ vital organs, but he also is in surgery to repair the damaged tissue.”

“That’s good.” Randy says and sighs.

Cindy takes a seat and sighs as everyone falls back into a deep silence again, well sort of.

D grumbles lowly and reaches for the magazine Hyde has begun reading. “Give it here, I want to read it.” She demands but he just gives her a glare out the corner of his eye before continuing to read. “Damn it you stubborn son of bitch, give it!” She snaps and grabs at it again.

Hyde moves arms out of the way, rolls up the magazine, and proceeds to smack her upside the head with it. “Goddamn it, knock it off and be quiet!”

“Owww.” D whines while holding her head. She looks at Cindy, who is now staring at them in shock, and gives her sad eyes. “Cindy, tell him to stop being mean to me.”

“Well…I…just…” Cindy mumbles out. She then clears her throat and turns to the white haired man. “Mr. Nikolsky could I talk to you in private please?”
“Sure.” Hyde says with a sigh. He tosses the magazine to D and follows Cindy to another room as D sticks her tongue out at him.

Cindy turns to Hyde and folds her arms scowling. “Explain to me what’s going on with D, and don’t lie to me.” She threatens making Hyde sigh.

“This women named Natasha contacted me. She told me to take D from this lab and have her help me protect Mil. She even gave me the exact location of the lab and a time when to do it.”

“What could she possibly be up to?” Cindy wonders.

“I don’t know what exactly but I have a feeling it’s not good.”

“Yes I know what you mean. But what happened to everyone else back at the lab? I tried to call them but I don’t get any answers.”

Hyde goes wide eyed and then looks down. “They were all...dead.”

“What!? How?” Cindy asks in shock.

“I really don’t know. They were all dead when I got there.”

“This is really beginning to bother me.” Cindy says out loud and then looks down. “This couldn’t have anything to do with D being an Archangel.” She thinks to herself.

“What the hell did you say!?” A shrill voice yells from the other room.

Hyde and Cindy groan annoyedly. “What now?”

Inside the waiting room, D is having a glaring match with Kira.

“That I think you’re an idiot and I don’t believe you’ll do a good job taking care of Mil.” Kira tells her.

“Look bitch, if you want to fight me, then get the hell up and fight me! I’m not gonna sit here and have a screaming match with your bitch ass!” D snaps and Kira stands up.

”Kira sit down and knock it off.” Randy demands.

“No! She’s been getting on my nerves since we got here. And I don’t see what makes her better then me.”

“Well that’s obvious, I’m way more younger and agile then you, not to mention prettier and nicer.” D giggles.

“Well, she’s got you there.” Elijah chuckles getting a quick death glare from Kira.

“Well old hag, you wanna fight or what? I don’t have all day.” D says and puts her fists up.

“D …” Hyde growls appearing behind her suddenly. D looks back slowly as Hyde magically pulls out the rolled up magazine and whacks her with it. “QUIT BEING AN ASS! I leave you alone for five minutes and you start acting like a immature child!”

“It’s not my fault, she started in on me.” D says and points to Kira.

“Sorry if she gave you trouble.” Hyde says giving an apologetic smile.
“No don’t worry about…uh.” She begins and looks at Hyde more carefully.

“What?” Hyde says turning red and stepping back.

“Hey I know you, your that damn clown thingy that helped me on the bridge.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hyde says nervously as he watches Ron and the others look at him.

“Jeez you yelled at me when I called it a clown costume.” D grumbles.

“SHUT IT!” He snaps at her.

“Wait then you’re the guy who attacked us?” Ron says getting up and cracking his knuckles. “All right, payback time dickhead.”

“Look I’m not looking to fight you guys. I was just doing my job of protecting Mil.” Hyde says and gives him a glare. “So back off.

“Aw no. You’re not getting off that easily.” Ron says and throws a punch at Hyde. “This is for breaking my ribs!”

Hyde’s eyes begin to darken as a blade creeps from the back of his hand but before anyone gets hurt, Cindy runs in and stops Ron’s fist.

“Knock it off, this is a hospital.”

“Tch, fine.” Ron says and looks to Hyde. “You got lucky today asshole.” He snaps and sits down.

Hyde sighs and sits down as well with everyone going back to the eerie silence and staring.

“Look, I don’t care what happened between you guys before but we need to get along.” Cindy sighs and sits down while looking around. “Now then, I think it would be best if we all got to know each other better, since were all involved in this now. For starters my name is Cindy Reed and I’ve been working as a doctor for thirteen years now. I’m Julius’ mother and Tannya’s aunt. I have another son named Janice who’s still on Alpha and I’m also the legal caretaker of D. As for what is going on I don’t know much, just that someone is out to kill Mil for some unknown reason.” She says and looks at Wolfe. “Your next.”

Wolfe shifts uncomfortably in his seat and takes a drag on his cigarette. “I’m Wolfe.” He says and stops talking. They all stare expecting more but he doesn’t comply.

“Well I guess it’s my turn. My name is Randy Faust, and I’m Mil’s guardian. I’m a police chief for the NYPD and the one who hired Kira to help take care of Mil. I also hired Yuri to help protect him but from behind the scenes. I don’t really know why Mil is being targeted but I won’t let them hurt him.”

“My names Kira Adams. I’m a trained HEAVEN solider who was hired by Randy to help watch Mil. I have no idea what’s going on.”

“The names Ron Morris. I’m also a HEAVEN solider and the co-leader of these kids here.” He says pointing to the four sitting next to himself. “I was sent here along with my comrades to eliminate a child called the gatekeeper by some big top U.N. officials. But it seems they messed up and sent us after Mil.”

“My names Elijah Wong. I’m the weapons expert of the group. Um…well that’s all I really know.”

“My name is Sophia René. I’m a trained medic and sadly I don’t know anything about what’s going on.”

“…” Is the smallest of the groups response.

“Yo Brook it’s your turn.” Ron tells him.

Brooklyn cocks his head to the side confusedly and blinks.

“Tell everyone about yourself.” Kira grumbles.

“Oh…ok. I’m Brooklyn Epson....I’m the tactician and computer expert. I have no other information on myself or the situation.”

“Epson?” Randy, Cindy, Wolfe, and Shellie all think to themselves while giving him a confused look.

Hyde and D also give him an odd glance and when Brooklyn notices this, he turns away and sticks his hands in his jacket’s pockets.

“Hi I’m Shylah Beckon. I’m-”

“Useless.” Ron chortles.

“Shut up, I’m not useless! I’m the best airship and mech pilot on HEAVEN, so there!” She snaps and folds her arms getting a few chuckles.

”I’m Shellie Ryan. I own ZEPHYR and I’ve been helping Randy raise Mil since he was a baby. Sadly I don’t anything either.”

“I’m Tannya Reed. I’m Cindy’s niece and Julius’ cousin. I’m in training to be a nurse.” She says and looks over at Hyde while blushing.

“My name is Yuri Nikolsky or Hyde as I prefer to be called. I’m a mercenary hired to protect Mil from afar. But with all that has happened I was forced to come out.”

D snickers and Hyde glares at her. “Well then, my names D. It stands for Death.” She giggles and gets a bop to the head from Hyde. “Ow! All right I was just kidding, it’s just a name Cindy gave me. I was an experiment at a lab from age nine til now. It was very fun.” She says and then points viciously at Hyde ”But this pansy-ass bitch here kidnaped me and forced me to baby-sit that Mil kid.” She snarls.

“What the hell do you mean by pansy-ass bitch?” Hyde snaps raising an eyebrow.

“Exactly what I said you’re a mean pansy-ass bitch who’s afraid of some porcelain dollies.”

“Those things are pure evil.” Hyde grumbles.

“Aw is the big tough clown afraid of some girl’s dolls.” Ron teases.

“They tried killing me, they even duct taped me to a chair.” Hyde grumbles.

“Yup, naked. And they even wrote on him. “ D says and pulls up his shirt to reveal the word Fag written in faded red marker across his abdomen. “See?” She says and Hyde smacks her hands away before fixing his shirt.

“D you really need to control them better.” Cindy chastises her.

“Wait, your serious about these dolls?” Kira asks in disbelief.

“Yes. There are twelve of them and they usually don’t act on their own unless D commands them to. Except for the one, she doesn’t do anything at all.”

“Yeah but I guess they have a new target.” D says nonchalantly.

“That’s not good.” Cindy says with a sigh.

“Dude there just dolls how bad could they be?” Ron says in disbelief.

Cindy pulls up the sleeve on her right arm with everyone staring at it confusedly as D begins to grin. Cindy grabs the skin above her elbow and begins to pull it off reveling the mechanical arm underneath. “I lost my real arm the day I found D inside this abandoned lab. They thought I was going to hurt her and they attacked me. But D stopped them before they did anything more.”

“Holy shit.” Shylah says stunned.

“So what made you take her in then?” Sophia asks.

“My curiosity.” Cindy says with a smile. Everyone then goes back to their eerie silence and staring. Cindy sighs and stands. “Why don’t you all go home now and get some rest? I’ll call you if anything changes. Ok?”

Everyone pauses for a minute and then nods.

Shellie looks to Randy.“I figure you’re going to stay?”

“Yeah. You don’t have to stay Shellie. I know you’re worried about your workers too. I’ll be sure to let you know about his progress.”

“Thank you. And thank you Cindy for taking care of Mil.”

“Well that’s what my job is, to take care of people.”

Shellie smiles and waives goodbye. Next Kira stands up and looks at her gang.

“All right kids. I think it’s time for us to leave too.”

“Good, I can go to sleep back at the room. This chair was uncomfortable and Ron’s snoring kept me up.” Shylah grumbles.

“HEY!”

“Umm...We’re not going back to LAZULI.” Kira tells them.

“Then what are we...” Elijah notices the evil glint in Kira’s eyes. “No! You can’t make us!”

“Of course I can.” Kira says and looks back at Randy. “Hey Randy? Can I have access to the training courses at the station?”

“You already do.”

“I mean the other ones.” She chuckles lowly as Ron, Shylah, Sophia, and Elijah turn pale while Brooklyn just sits there having a staring contest with the wall.

“Sadist.” Randy snorts and tosses his card to her.

She catches it and turns to her gang. “Hop to it you idiots.” She commands making four people groan as the fifth looks with confusion, at the wall. Kira looks oddly at Brooklyn. “Yo Brook? Are you alive?”

“...” Is his reply.

Kira snaps her fingers in front of his face but he doesn’t move an inch. She gives him a nudge but he still doesn’t move.

“He’s sleeping with his eyes open again.” Sophia says.

“He still does that?” Kira asks.

“Occasionally.” Elijah says.

“Well wake his ass up then.” Kira demands.

“With pleasure.” Ron says and tries grabbing at Sophia’s butt. She lets out a yelp and a hand latches onto Ron’s wrist. The brown haired man looks over to see Brooklyn, who is still staring at the wall, with his hand clamped onto his wrist.

“Morning Brooky. Ready to go train?” Kira says excitedly.

Brooklyn lets go of Ron’s wrist and stands. Kira smiles as she forcefully drags the other four out the door as Brooklyn follows behind. D and Hyde watch them leave.

“Man he’s weird.” D says.

“Oh like you’re any more normal.” Hyde retorts.

D glares at him but Hyde groans and gets up. “Where are you going?” She asks.

“Back to my apartment.”

“What about me?”

“I don’t give a damn what you do just stay away from me.” He grumbles.

“But I have no where to go.”

“Yes you do. Dr. Reed is your legal care taker. Stay here.”

“But’s it’s boring here.” She whines.

Cindy walks over and looks at Hyde. “Mr. Nikolsky, if it isn’t to much could you please take D with you. I have patients to attend too and won’t be able to keep an eye on her. I’ll treat it as though you’re babysitting her and pay you.”

Hyde sighs. “I’ll take her with but you don’t have to pay me. Just please let me know if anything changes with Mil and Julius.”

“I will.”

“Bye Cindy. See ya later.” D says with a smile as she starts to walk off after Hyde.

“Bye. Don’t give Mr. Nkolsky too much trouble.”

D and Hyde glare at each other. D then grabs Hyde’s arm and begins dragging him along “Lets go! I haven’t eaten breakfast yet.“

“I care because?”

“Well I thought you would be a gentleman and treat me.” D says flirtatiously.

“Hell no!” He snaps.

“Oh stop being such a grumpy dickhead.”

“What did you just say you brat!?”

The two leave arguing as Cindy looks concerned at them and Randy just snickers.

“Why are you laughing?” Cindy bellows.

“Nothing.”

“Randy, how did you come across Mr. Nikolsky?”

“Well I was informed by a security guard at Mil’s school that he seen some people following Mil so I decide to investigate and wanted to hire someone to keep an eye on Mil. So I went through the same agency I hired Kira from and Yuri’s name appeared on the list. Everyone recommenced him and showed me some of his work. So I hired him. He’s actually very well known in the media but was going by one of his alias’.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“You heard of the Jonathan Darby case, right?”

“Yeah. Darby was a being charged with over 100 counts of child prostituting, drug smuggling, rape, murder, kidnaping and a few other offenses. It was one of the worse gang related incidents ever they said.” Cindy says and gives Randy a curious look. “Why?”

“Well you know how most of the witnesses died mysteriously?” Randy asks and Cindy shakes her head. “Well apparently some of Darby’s men were taking them out and they were after one in particular.” He says, takes out a small computer, and presses a button on it. “ Darby’s brother-in-law Lance Bluth. He had all kinds of shit on Darby and was the one they needed to convict him.”

“Yeah he was the only one that survived out of the witnesses.”

Randy shows her the photo. On it are Lance Bluth surrounded by cops and a tan skinned man with long black hair and a beard. Randy points to the man with the black hair. “Because of that guy right there.”

“Luca? Yeah I heard of him. But what does that have to do with Mr. Nikolsky?” Cindy asks curiously.
Randy looks at her and gives a sly grin. “Because that is Yuri.”

“What? But this was four years ago? He’s what, 21?”

“23. But yeah that was him in disguise. Couldn’t believe it myself until I seen him in action.”

“Randy that’s dangerous.” Cindy berates him. “You never know if he could snap and do something bad to Mil.”

“Trust me Cindy, Yuri acts tough but he has a soft spot for kids. He was always talking about his younger siblings and how he wish he could see them. And that’s why he agreed to take on the job. Because it bothered him that someone would want to hurt a child.”

“Well...ok. I’ll let it go.” Cindy says and sighs.

“Hey Cindy? Is it all right if I go visit Mil?”

“He’s not awake, but if you want you can.”

“Yeah. I’ll stay for another hour and then go check on Kira and her group. I don’t trust her with those courses.” Randy says and walks down the hall.

Cindy smiles warmly as she watches Randy. She then turns to Wolfe and begins to scowl, for the silver haired man is sleeping soundly in the chair. Cindy just huffs and walks off. At the police station, the group has almost finished their third training course. Ron, Sophia, Elijah, and Shylah are sprawled out on the ground covered in sweat and bruises. They look forward to see Brooklyn standing in front of a makeshift mine field and obstacle course. Kira stands a safe distance away holding a whistle and watch.

“Ready kitten?” Kira asks and Brooklyn nods his head.“GO!” She yells while pressing the timer.
Brooklyn runs through the field shifting from side to side occasionally. He makes it to the end, jumps up to a rope, and climbs it quickly to the top where a beam stands overtop of the whole course. Brooklyn jumps down, grabs a bar, and spins around once then precedes to grab onto one in front of it. This one starts to creak and break from it’s holder. Brooklyn swings to the next which does the same. He continues to the last one which stays in place. Brooklyn pushes himself up and stands on the bar as it begins to creak under his weight. He hops off just as it collapses and onto another platform. Brooklyn climbs down the latter and goes into a see through box. The door closes behind him as sirens buzz and the door on the other end begins to descend slowly. Brooklyn runs towards it but flinches back as a laser appears mere inches from his neck. More lasers appear moving up and down and back and forth. Brooklyn continues to run while dodging the beams effortlessly and manages to get to the end, sliding underneath the door just before it closes. Brooklyn runs towards a pool with mines and what looks like mini sharks swimming around. Two of the sharks pass through each other and send out an electrical charge. Brooklyn stops dead in his tracks at the edge of the pool. leans forward but takes a step back.

Kira groans and walks over to him. “Brook get in the damn pool. Or I’ll make you run this course again.”

“You made him do it five times already.” Shylah wheezes and coughs out. “And you made us do it all over again each time too.”

“Stop being a pussy and go!” Kira growls and pushes Brooklyn in the pool. He falls in but immediately crawls out and latches onto her leg. Kira groans and pushes him back in with her foot. “This is the last course in this section Brooklyn. Just swim across and get it over with.” She tells him. Brooklyn once again crawls out of the pool and cowers at her feet. Kira kneels down to be eye level with him and bares her teeth angrily. “Once we get past this we get to start on the next one which has no deep water and you get to use weapons. So get over this damn fear of water or I’ll throw your ass in and hold you under til you drown.”

Brooklyn just stares blankly at her making Kira rub her head. The watch beeps and five people groan annoyed.

“Not again.” Ron grumbles.

Sophia groans and looks to her leader pleadingly. “Please just let us go Kira. We done enough today. And besides, Brooklyn won’t ever do the pool part. We’ve tried so many times at HEAVEN but we can never get him in for more then ten seconds.”

Kira growls and glares at the four tired adults who gasp and retract back. Kira then turns her attention on the smallest of the group. “Brooklyn, I swear to fucking god if you do not get in that pool within the next five seconds I’m gonna dismember you bit by bit.”

“...No.” Brooklyn replies making Ron, Sophia, Shylah, and Elijah gasp in horror with Kira looking at him in shock as her eye twitches.

“Umm....excuse me? Ms. Adams?” A mellow male voice says. Kira looks over at one of her fellow officers, a mousy looking man with ash blonde hair and glasses. “I was wondering if you were done yet? Me and my team have been finished with the second course for an hour and were wondering what was taking so long.”

“Oh Ben great timing. Come here.” She says and the man reluctantly walks over to her. “I want you to pretend you’re in trouble.”

“What?” The man shouts as Kira picks him up and throws him into the middle of the pool. Some of the sharks begin to encircle the man as he thrashes around and screams.

“Brooklyn someone’s in danger! Hurry and go rescue him!” She says pointing to the man in the pool.

Brooklyn looks at the man curiously. He puts his arm out and shoots the grapple from his hand towards Ben. The man grabs hold and Brooklyn pulls him in. Ben’s squad runs up to check on their captain as the man gasps for air. Kira looks inhumanly at Brooklyn who just turns his head to the side and looks at her. Kira lets out a yell and pushes Brooklyn back in the pool and holds his head under the water. Brooklyn struggles with her but can’t get her off.

“I told you to get in the damn water! But no, you have to be a stubborn child!” Kira snarls viciously.

“KIRA NO! Your gonna kill him!” Elijah shrieks and latches onto his leader. The others try to pry her off as well but Kira somehow manages to keep Brooklyn under water.

“Get used to it Brooklyn, cause I’m not letting go until you agree to swim across the pool or you drown!” Kira tells the struggling boy.

A crowd begins to form at the windows up around the balcony as the horrifying display continues.

“KIRA STOP! This isn’t gonna help him get over his fear!” Shylah yells trying her hardest to pull the enraged woman away.

“He needs to learn!”
A gunshot fires making everyone except Kira shriek and jump away. They look up to see Randy and some other officers standing on the balcony.

“Kira what the hell are you doing to your children!?” Randy growls putting his gun away.

“Giving one swimming lessons.” Kira says with a cutesy voice.

Ben looks in the pool and goes pale. “Uhh...Kira?”

“What!?”

Ben motions towards the pool making Kira and the others look in to see Brooklyn missing. Everyone screams but that quickly ends when something crawls out from the other end of the pool. Brooklyn emerges from the water and collapses on the ground breathing laboredly as blood trickles from his foot which has a bite mark on it. Shylah and Sophia scream and run to him.

“What a horrible display of leadership. She must have not been trained properly.” One of the officers chuckle.

Randy groans and covers his face with his hand.

“Brook what happened?” Shylah freaks.

“...A shark bit me.”

Everyone becomes silent and stares at the stoic boy making him look away.

“She...used the live sharks and not the holograms?” The second officer, a female, says in disbelief.

“They were real!?” Ron shouts going wide eyed. “You damn sadistic bitch! Were you trying to kill us?”

“Well, some of the machines weren’t working so I had to do something. It wouldn’t have been scary with only two so I got three of the real ones.” Kira says and brushes him off. “But besides that, our little kitty swam across the pool. Know we can go onto the next level.” She says happily making four of her teammates whine.

“So this is why William was so thrilled to get rid of her.” Randy thinks to himself.

“Kira please let us stop now.” Sophia begs her.

“Nope, you still have nine levels left before we finish them all.”

“Kira let them go. They look beat and one of them is injured.” Randy tells her.

“But we didn’t get to the hard levels yet.”

Elijah goes wide eyed and stares at her in disbelief. “This isn’t the hard levels?”

“No we’re still on the easy levels.” Kira tells him.

“What the hell kind of precinct in this!?” Ron yells.

The officers standing with Randy chuckle.

“Welcome to the NYPD kids.”

The four new recruits look at each other in horror as Brooklyn has a starring contest with a hungry looking shark. Hyde and D are still walking around the city much to the white haired man’s dismay. D has a tight hold on Hyde’s right arm preventing him from leaving her, which he has done four times already. D spots a jewelry store and stops looking through the window amazedly.

“I want to go in here.” She says and points.

“No, we’ve been walking the past two and a half hours. Lets go back to the hotel now.”

“Oh stop being lazy.” D says and pulls Hyde forcefully into the store.

“I’m not being lazy. I didn’t sleep at all last night or have any coffee.”

“Oh shut up.”

One of the store workers walks over to them and smiles. “Hello. How may I help you?” The peppy worker asks.

“We’re just looking.” D tells her.

“Anything in particular? Earnings? Necklaces? “ She says and looks back and forth between the two while smiling. “An engagement ring?”

Hyde gets disgusted look on his face while D giggles. “We are not dating!” Hyde snaps.

“My apologies. You two just seemed really close. Well I’ll let you two alone just don’t be afraid to ask me.” The worker giggles and walks away.

“Aww how cute. She thought we were lovers.” D says flirtatiously.

“That isn’t cute it’s horrifying.” Hyde grumbles.

“Oh so you don’t find me attractive then?”

“Hell no! You look like a retarded Afghan Hound.”

“That is so mean!” D snaps.

“You’re right, that’s an offense to those dogs.”

D glares at Hyde and he glares back. Just then D gets a sad look on her face and begins to whimper. Hyde turns away and ignores her as she begins to cry. Some of the other customers begin to stare and gossip making Hyde twitch.

“Such a mean boy. Picking on his poor little sister like that.” An older woman says to her friend.

“Children are so cruel nowadays.” Another older woman says.

Hyde’s eye twitches as D continues to cry loudly. She opens one eye and sees Hyde is still turned away from her. D begins to cry louder making Hyde’s last nerve snaps

“FINE GODDAMN IT! Go pick something out that cost $30 or less and that’s it!”

D cheers triumphantly and hugs him. “Thank you big brother.”

D kisses Hyde on the cheek causing him to growl in protest. She lets go and goes to search for something she likes while Hyde stands by himself rubbing his throbbing head. He turns his head to the left and glares at some women who giggle and waive flirtatiously at him. Hyde just ignores them and goes to sit down. D looks through the ring case but doesn’t see anything she likes. She goes to the next where there are an assortment of earrings. D looks down and sees a single ring with a pink jeweled encrusted cat’s head on it.

“What kind of ring is that?” She asks the worker.

“That’s a belly button ring.”

“Belly button ring?” D asks and the worker lifts her shirt to show hers. “Wow that’s so cool. Did it hurt?”

“A little.”

“How much would it cost to get done?” D asks.

“Well the cost to get it done is separated into two parts. One is the price of the procedure which is $20 here and the second comes from how much the ring costs.”

“Ok.” D says and looks down. She sees the cat costs $24 so she looks around more. D spots a single blue moon shaped jewel with beads and stars dangling. “That one.” She says and points.

“All right.” The girls says and takes out the ring along with a piece of paper. “I just need your name, age, phone number and address.”

D takes the form and fills it out as the woman goes to set up the procedure. D fills out the name and age section with ease but is stumped for what to put as the phone and address. She decides to put Hyde’s number and hotel room. The woman come back and looks at the form. She stops and looks at D. “Something wrong?” D asks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know you were underage. We can’t do this without the consent of an adult family member.”

“What? Oh man...” D grumbles and thinks of something. “Wait. I know.” She says and looks to Hyde. “Hey big brother, I need you to sign something for me.” D says childishly as Hyde sighs and walks over.

“I just need to see your I.D. to confirm your age.” The worker asks and Hyde hands her his I.D. The woman looks at it and goes wide eyed. She smiles embarrassedly at Hyde and hands it back. “All right you may proceed.”

D hands Hyde the pen and points to a blank line which Hyde signs not caring what it is for. He puts the pen down and goes back to sit. “Such a nice big brother.” D giggles. The woman then leads D into another room. Hyde shifts in his seat and leans his head back against the wall. Ten minutes pass before D and the worker emerge from the back. D walks up to him with a devilish grin on her face while holding a brown paper bag.

“Why are you grinning like a retard?” Hyde grumbles.

“Oh nothing.”

“You get what you wanted?”

“Yup. All you need to do is go pay.”

Hyde gets up and goes to pay. Once done the two leave and Hyde immediately lights a cigarette while sighing. “So what did you get?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Yes it is. I paid for them.”

“I’m not gonna show you.” She grumbles but Hyde snatches the bag from her. “Hey!”

Hyde stops, pulls out a bottle, and stares at it. “Belly ring cleaner.....YOU GOT A FUCKING BELLY BUTTON RING!?”

“Yeah so what? You signed for it.” D grumbles.

Hyde groans agitatedly. “I want it removed now!”

“What!? No! I like it and I’m keeping it!”

“Damn it D! Don’t be a pain in the ass. If Ms. Reed finds out you got a piercing she’ll kill me.”

“Oh don’t worry. She won’t find out. It’ll be our little secret.”

“I don’t care. Take it out!” Hyde demands.

“I am not removing it! It’s my body and I’ll do whatever I want to it.”

“Fine. But if Ms. Reed finds out about this it’s all on you.”

“Fine!” She says and grabs his hand dragging him forward. “Now come on. Lets go get some lunch.”

“It’s only 11:30.”

“So I’m hungry.”

“You keep eating the way you do and you’ll get fatter.”

“Fatter!?” D screeches. “Are you saying I’m fat now!?”

“What if I am?” Hyde snaps.

D growls angrily, turns around, and smacks him across the face. “You big mean asshole!” She yells and storms off.

Hyde groans and goes in another direction while grumbling venomously about the teen. D stops and turns around to glare at him but Hyde has disappeared. D stands in the middle of the side walk as tears stream down her face and rubs her eyes with a sniffle. Hyde continues walking down the sidewalk and stops at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change. He sighs and looks back before looking forward again. The light changes to green and he starts to walk across the road with other pedestrians but stops halfway. Hyde turns around and walks the way he came letting out an annoyed groan. Once he gets back to the spot where he ditched D at, he looks around but she is no where in sight.

“Damn brat. Where the hell did you get to?”
Kira and her gang walk out from the police station and begin their journey back to the hotel. Shylah and Ron keep glaring at Kira who just smiles happily, Sophia and Elijah walk next to them looking around at the surroundings, and Brooklyn walks behind them with his hands in his pockets with a slight hobble to his step.

“Yo Brook how’s your foot?” Kira asks him.

“....Ok.”

“He would be better if those live sharks you used didn’t bite him.” Shylah grumbles.

“Oh stop. They wouldn’t have killed you. Just taken a nibble, like they did with Brooklyn, and then left you alone.”

Ron, Shylah, Sophia, and Elijah give her dumb looks as Brooklyn stares off into space. Just then someone crashes into Brooklyn’s back. He turns and sees a young girl, with her hair covering her face, sitting on the ground.

“Ow.” She says.

“Hey kid what’s the problem? Don’t you look where your going?” Kira snaps.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to crash into him.” The girl laughs embarrassedly.

“There she is!”

They all look back to see four big thug like men pointing at the girl. The girl gets up and runs down the sidewalk as the four men chase after her.

“The hell?” Ron says raising an eyebrow.

“Eh, lets go back to LAZULI.” Kira says nonchalantly.

“Hey wait, shouldn’t we help her?” Elijah asks.

“Why? We’re not on duty anymore so what’s the point?”

“Kira that is so mean.” Sophia tells her.

“Well I don’t care what you think Kira I’m gonna go help her out.” Elijah say and runs after them.

“Pain in the ass.” Kira grumbles as they follow.

D runs into an alley and falls to the ground, trying to catch her breath.

“Damn what is with those guys. Just because I didn’t have money to give them they tried hitting me. Damn I hate this place.” She says and sniffles. “Damn you Hyde for leaving me all alone here.” D whines and someone touches her shoulder. “FUCKERS, DON’T TOUCH ME!” She screams, grabs a broken beer bottle off the ground, and thrust in the direction of the hand. D opens her eyes and looks at the figure next to her. It’s Elijah, but instead of having glass through his head, Brooklyn has the bottle cupped in his hand inches from Elijah. D drops the bottle and tries to run but Brooklyn grabs her arm preventing her from running. “Let go of me!” She yells and starts to smack his arm. “I said let go damn it!”

“Hey calm down we’re not gonna hurt you. We’re here to help.” Elijah tells her.
D slowly stops struggling and looks at the two men. “Hey wait a minute your those guys from the hospital. Brooklyn and Elijah?”

“Yup, that’s us.” Elijah says with a smile.

“But what happened to those guys that were chasing me?” D asks.

“Brook took care of them. And the cops are on their way to pick them up.” Kira tells her walking around the corner.

“Oh! Thank you so much!” She says cheerfully but then looks at Brooklyn’s bleeding hand and gasps. “Oh my god I’m sorry I tried stabbing you.”

“It’s fine. Brooklyn stopped it before it hit me.” Elijah says and looks over sadly while seeing D remove the sash she had around her neck and ties Brooklyn’s wound with it.

“There, that should do.” D says and smiles happily at him but Brooklyn just blinks confusedly.

“So why were those guys chasing you?” Kira asks.

“Oh they asked me for money and I told them I didn’t have any and then they told me I could pay them in other ways. Then one of them grabbed my ass, I kicked him in the face, and I started to run.”

“That’s so horrible. Men are such pigs.” Sophia says and glares at Ron who is looking down D’s shirt.

“I thought that white haired man was with you?” Shylah asks.

“He was but we got into an argument and then he took off again but this time I can’t find him.”

“Maybe we can help you find him.” Elijah says.

“That might take too long. We should probably head back to Lazuli and wait up front for him if he’s not already back.” Kira says.

D giggles. “Thank you all so much!”

“Whatever, just be quiet and follow us.” Kira tells her and they begin to walk out of the alley.

“Umm, shouldn’t we wait with those guys you took out until the cops get here?” D asks.

“Don’t worry they won’t get away.” Ron says.

D looks over and see the guys unconscious and tied to a street post while pedestrians stand around them pointing and gossiping. “Man you kicked the shit out of them.”

“...They tried to hit Elijah. So I took them out.” Brooklyn says in a boring monotone.

“All by yourself?” D asks in amazement.

“...Yeah.”

D grabs his arm and giggles. “Wow that’s quiet impressive.”

“Hey I did help too.” Elijah whines.
D smiles and grabs his arm as well making Shylah glare at her. At Lazuli, Hyde walks in and looks around before going to the front counter where Mike is standing.

“Can I help you sir?” Mike asks.

Hyde takes out a photo of D and shows it to him. “Has this girl came in by any chance?”

“Nope. Haven’t seen her since you two left yesterday.”

“Shit.” Hyde mumbles.

“Is there a problem?”

“I...kind of lost her.” Hyde says emabaressedly.

“Oh dear. Would you like for me to put a message out to the cops?”

“No, I’m sure she’ll find her way back.”

Mike gives an uneasy look before looking over towards the door. “Ms. Adams welcome back.”

“Hey Mike.”

“How’s Mil doing, I heard he got injured.”

“He’s fine.” She says and spots Hyde walking towards the elevator. “Hey you! Clown dude.” She yells causing Hyde to groan and look back at her. “Did ya loose something today?”

“Why?” Hyde grumbles.

Kira steps aside to reveal a teary eyed D who starts to run to him. “Hyde!”

“Little brat.” Hyde grumbles but smiles. “You found your way back. I was getting kind of worried.”

D laughs girlishly as she bounds towards him.“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU FOR LEAVING ME ALONE LIKE THAT JACKASS!?” She growls furiously and shakes her fist at him.

Hyde retorts back as D begins to smack and claw him while shrieking illegibly. Kira and the others watch this scene shocked and slightly amused.

Hyde tries to pry her hands off but can’t shake D’s tenacious grip. “Stop pulling my hair!”

“BASTARD! ASSHOLE! Teach you to leave me alone!” D yells and tugs on his hair.

Hyde punches D upside the head causing her to drop down and hold her noggin in pain. “Damn pain in the ass.” He grumbles and begins to walk into the elevator but D quickly gets up and chases after him. They get into the elevator and a big DONG noise can be heard after the doors close. “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? ARE YOU TRYING TO BREAK MY NOSE!?” Hyde shrieks loudly.

“MAYBE I AM YOU COLD HEARTED SON OF A BITCH!” D retorts.

The elevator goes up and the yelling eventually dies out.

Ron blinks and gets a disturbed look on his face. “That was one creepy cat fight. Only instead of two hot chicks, it’s one hot chick and an effeminate man.”

“God they’re weirdos.” Kira mumbles and then looks at Brooklyn. “Kind of like you kitten. I think we found you some friends.”

Brooklyn just blinks and shrugs his shoulders making Kira snort. At the hospital, Julius is laying on his bed looking at the ceiling drowsily. He hears the door open and he quickly closes his eyes pretending to be asleep. Cindy walks in and over to the bed. She looks down at him and scowls.

“Such a little faker.” She says to herself. Cindy shakes her head and sits down. Julius peeks out of his right eye but quickly closes it when Cindy looks his way. Cindy smiles and snickers. “My little boy, I missed you so much.” She says and moves a strand of hair away from his face. “My you look just like your father.” Cindy says as Julius’ face kind of twitches. Cindy chuckles to herself slightly. “I guess he doesn’t like to hear that.” She says to herself.

“Cindy.” Wolfe says while leaning in. “We need to talk.”

Cindy looks back at Wolfe and nods. She turns back to Julius who was glaring at Wolfe but quickly goes back to his charade. Cindy kisses his forehead and walks out. “You finally going to be a father and sit with Julius?” Cindy says folding her arms.

“I’m leaving.”

“What!?” Cindy yells, grabs Wolfe’s arm, and pulls him away from the door. “What do you mean you’re leaving? Our son is in the hospital Wolfe. Show some compassion.”

“He seemed fine enough to glare at me. And besides I’m going to pick something up and bring it back. I’ll be gone for a couple of days.”

“What is more important their then our son?”

“You’ll see.” Wolfe tells her.

Cindy growls and slaps him before walking away in a huff. Julius, who is standing near the door, looks at the floor sadly. Two days pass. Julius is still faking unconsciousness and is being constantly teased by Cindy, Mil is still unconscious, but has showed signs of waking up, Kira and her gang have made it through the rest of the training courses with no one losing a limb, Wolfe hasn’t returned yet with his surprise, Randy has been swamped with paperwork, Shellie has gotten Zephyr back up and running, and Hyde and D have amazingly gone two days without talking to or killing each other. At the hospital, Cindy has just got done taking care of a patient and is finally getting a much needed break. She sits down in the cafeteria and begins to eat when a male doctor sits down across from her.

“So Cindy how are you doing today?” He says flirtatiously.

“Cut the crap Dan, I’m not in the mood.”

“Work been tough?”

“I’ve been swamped with so much stuff lately I haven’t been able to get a lot of sleep. Also my son has been running around the hospital when he’s not pretending to be asleep and I’m worried about Mil cause he should be up by now.”

“Is that all that’s bothering you?”

“No, my son’s father hasn’t called me since he left.” Cindy says with a groan. “He pisses me off with how little he cares about Julius.”

“DR. REED! I have urgent news!” A nurse yells while running in.

“What is it now? Did Julius accidently break something again?” Cindy grumbles while laying her head on the table.

“No, Mil Faust is awake.”

“He is!? All right lets go.” Cindy says enthusedly and gets up.

The nurse and Cindy leave as Julius smiles happily from behind a giant plant.Inside Mil’s room, the teen is laying on his bed hazily. Cindy walks in and over to him. Mil slightly turns his head towards her.

“Good afternoon dear, how do you feel?” Cindy says with a relieved smile. Mil lets out a small squeak and then touches his throat. “The blade damaged your vocal box. We had to repair it. You won’t be able to talk for a bit. But it’ll get better.” She tells him and gets a small smile. “Do you want me to call your dad to come see you?” Cindy asks and gets a nod. “Ok. I’ll go get him.”

Cindy walks out the door as Mil smiles and tries sitting up. He struggles a bit but manages to sit up. A nurse walks in with a small cup, filled with a pink liquid, and a cup of ice water.

“Dr. Reed asked me to give these to you.” She says and hands Mil the medicine cup.

Mil drinks it and cringes but gets it all down. The nurse then hands him the cup of water. Mil sets it on the table and nods to the nurse who smiles and walks out. Mil lays his head back on the pillow and looks at the ceiling. He catches something out of the corner of his eye and looks at the open door. But there is nothing. Mil turns his head back towards the ceiling. Once again he spots something but it disappears when he turns his head. Mil sighs and looks back at the ceiling. Julius stands on the other side of the door trying to decide whether or not to go in and see him. Julius sighs and decides to just head back to his room. At the airport, the Valentine’s airship has finally returned. Wolfe exits the craft and walks into the airport lobby. A small boy, who looks like Julius, walks after him carrying a suitcase. The boy looks around at his surroundings, inhales, and scrunches up his nose.

“It smells here.” He says snobbishly.

“Uh huh.” Is Wolfe’s reply.

“So where are we going?”

“No not really. I just want to see what kind of person my brother is in too. The kids probably some ugly looking retard.” The boy chuckles.

“Hmph.”

The two walk to a limo and Wolfe gets in but the boy doesn’t quite yet. He removes his sunglasses and looks up at Earth’s sun for the first time while smiling cheekily. Back at the hospital a nurse pokes his head inside Mil’s room and looks to the dazed boy.

“Mil your father is here to see you. Should I send him now or do you want to get ready a bit?” He asks and Mil shakes his head no. “Let him in now?” He asks and Mil nods. The nurse turns to Randy. “You may go in now.

Randy starts to walk in and Mil smiles at him. “Hey sweetie. You feeling ok?” Randy asks and Mil nods his head with a smiles. Randy smiles back. “That’s good.

“Ahh....” Mil squeaks out.

”What’s wrong?” Randy asks. Mil places his hand on his throat and cringes in pain. Randy walks over to him and hugs him tightly as Mil begins to sniffle. “Shh. It’s ok. You’ll get your voice back.” Randy tells him but Mil shakes his head and tries to talk again. “What? You want to tell me something?” Randy says and reaches into his shirt pocket taking out a note pad and a pen. “Here use this.” He says. Mil begins to write on it and rubs his eyes. He then hands it to Randy who proceeds to read it. “Is Julius ok? Yeah he’s fine.” Randy says as Mil writes again. Randy reads it and sighs. “No you can’t see him yet. You just woke up and need to be thoroughly checked out again before you can get up.” He says. Mil glares at him and slides off the bed but falls on his knees. Randy groans and helps him up. “See. You’re not ready to be moving around.” Randy chastises Mil making him begin to sniffle again. “My little accident prone princess.” Randy hugs him again but tighter and rubs his back.

Mil cries hoarsely into Randy’s chest and the brown haired man rubs his back soothingly. Down the hall, Cindy sits next to Julius who is still pretending to be unconscious. She tickles his right fox ear causing it to twitch and Julius to groan. Cindy snickers and continues to tickle him.

“He’s not awake yet?” A voice asks.

“Nope.” Cindy giggles and looks back to see Randy and Mil standing in the doorway. “Mil what are you doing up?” She asks concernedly.

“He wanted to see Julius. I tried stopping him but he was being stubborn. So I got a nurse to check him and he’s fine.” Randy tells her.

Mil walks up to Cindy and hands her the note pad. She reads and then smiles while placing her hand on his head.

“Don’t blame yourself hun, Julius is going to be all right.”

Mil nods his head as Cindy gets up and lets him sit in the seat next to Julius. Cindy walks out with Randy and down the hall giggling slightly.

“Why are you giggling?”

“Because of Julius. He’s been awake for a couple of days now but he’s pretending to be unconscious. The nurses said they seen him up and about searching the hallways for something or someone and every time they spot him he’ll run back in his room and pretend to be asleep. I’ve caught him up a few times too. He even knocked over an IV machine once trying to hide. Then I went to his room and he was asleep again.”

“Sounds kind of like what your brother pulled back at the academy.” Randy snorts.

“You mean when he pretended he was drowning so one of the girls would give him mouth to mouth.”

“Yup, but they made Wolfe do it because he didn’t get to practice on the dummy.”

“And then Will tonged him cause he thought it was a girl and Wolfe kicked his ass.”
“Yeah and then Wolfe tried to drown him for real.” Randy laughs and then sighs fondly. “I miss those days. We were all together being stupid, no kids, none of the bullshit we put up with now, and Gideon was still alive.”

“Yeah, but I love my kids and I couldn’t possibly think of a life without them.” Cindy says.

“Speaking of the kids, should I call everyone to let them know they’re awake?”

“Yeah that would be good. Besides, I haven’t heard from D lately and I’m kind of afraid she was bad for Mr. Nikolsky”

Randy takes out his cell and heads towards the lounge. Cindy sighs happily and follows after him. When she gets their she sees Wolfe talking to a boy, who has shoulder length red hair which also drapes over his right eye completely covering it, two fox ears on top of the hair, a bushy fox tail and is the same build as Julius. Cindy stops dead in her tracks. He looks just like Julius.

“Janice?”

The boy stops talking to Wolfe and smiles at her.

“Hello mother. It’s so wonderful to finally meet you after all this time.”

Cindy chokes a sob. Over at Lazuli, Kira hangs up her cell and sighs.

“Who was that?” Sophia asks mid pushup.

“Randy. Mil and that other kid are awake.”

“That’s good. Are we gonna go see them?” Ron asks and goes down.

“Yup. Once you five finish your punishment.”

Shylah whines and struggles to do another pushup. “Come on Kira. Can’t we stop?”

“No, I told you all to do 500. You did 205, Sophia is at 125, Elijah did 187, and Ron is at 244. So get moving.” She says and looks down. “What number you at Brook?”

Brooklyn, who has Kira on his back and is doing one handed pushups, keeps going. “....752.”

Everyone looks at him dumbfounded.

“Brooklyn....you only had to do 500. You can stop now.” Kira tells him.

“....I want to continue.”

“....Whatever makes you happy.” Kira says and shrugs. She then looks at the others who are struggling. “If you guys don’t finish in the next 10 minutes I’ll make it 1000 next time.

The other four groan and try to go faster as Kira laughs sadistically. In Hyde’s room, Hyde, who is covered in scratches and bruises, is sitting at his computer desk typing while D lays on her bed reading a magazine. D sighs with boredom and looks at Hyde who ignores her. She glares at him and then goes back to reading. Just then Hyde’s cell rings. He takes it out and looks at the number before answering.

“Hello? What’s wrong? Oh they are? That’s good. Yeah I’ll be right down. See you there Mr. Faust.” Hyde hangs up and goes to get his coat as D closes her magazine and stares at him. Hyde puts on his coat and walks towards the door. He stops and looks back at her annoyedly. “Are you coming or not?”

“Where?”

“Mil and Julius are awake. I’m going to see them.”

“Yeah I’m coming. It’s so damn boring here.” D gets her shoes and puts them on. She then grabs her coat and the two leave.

They get into the elevator and it starts going down. D looks at the dent on the door and snickers as Hyde twitches while rubbing his nose.

“So Hyde, are we taking a taxi there or are you gonna make me walk again?” She snaps while walking out of the elevator.

“We’ll take a taxi.

“Good. It’s so far from here to get to the hospital.”

“Hn.” Is his reply.

They start to walk towards the door when they hear a loud yell. They look back to see Ron, Sophia, Shylah, and Elijah running away from a very pissed off Kira.

“Damn it get your asses back here! Your not finished with your punishments yet!”

Hyde and D look confused by this as Brooklyn walks by them nonchalantly. His five comrades run past, he blinks confusedly, turns, and walks after them again.

“What a weirdo.” D says.

Hyde just shakes his head and starts to walk out, ignoring the scene, but then a loud holler is heard.

“LOOK OUT!”

Hyde goes to turn but Ron, Shylah, Sophia, and Elijah all collide into him resulting in a dog pile of sweaty and irritated people. D begins to laugh at them while Kira walks over with a big grin plastered on her face.

“Ow.” Elijah whines.

Shylah fidgets and gags.“Damn it Ron, haven’t you ever heard of deodorant!?”

“Well get your nose out of my armpit!”

“Elijah dear, could you get off of me? I’m being crushed.” Sophia asks.

“Can’t, Shylah’s on my leg.”

“Whoever has their hand on my ass needs to remove it before I break their arm.” Hyde growls.

“I’m sorry.” Shylah says and shifts a little.

“Someone just kneed me in the crotch!” Ron grumbles.
“Look, it’s a pile of idiots.” Kira laughs as the five manage to untangle themselves from one another.

Hyde rubs his aching back and then gets a disgusted look on his face. “What the hell is that smell?”

“We didn’t get a chance to shower yet.” Shylah tells him uneasily.

“Why were you guys running?” D asks as the four glare at Kira.

“Because I let my guard down for a second and they decided to bolt out on their punishment, so I chased after them.” Kira says.

“What kind of punishment.” D asks.

“She made us do 500 pushups just because Ron told her she looked fat in her new jeans.” Shylah grumbles.

D and Hyde look at them oddly.

“Teach you bastards to insult a woman’s figure.” Kira growls. “But anyway I guess we can stop for today. We need to visit the monsters. So get your asses cleaned up.” She demands. The four groan and head towards the elevator. Kira turns to Hyde and D. “Sorry they crashed into you.”

“It’s fine. I’m just gonna need to scrub myself for a few hours now.” Hyde says and forces a smile.

“Hey were you two going to see Mil and that other kid?”

“Yeah.” D says.

“If you want you can go with us. We’re taking my van and it holds nine people in it.”

“Yeah that’s fine. I just need to get a shower again and change cloths.” Hyde says.

“Oh stop being a girl. You smell fine.” D tells him.

“I smell like nasty body odor.”

“Well go get cleaned up and meet me at lot 1-A.” Kira tells him.

“Ok.” Hyde says and looks to D “Can you behave yourself while I go get changed?”

“Yeah. I’m not a child.” D says but Hyde gives her a look of ”bullshit” before walking to the elevator. “Ass.” D grumbles snidely.

“I think he likes you.” Kira whispers teasingly.

D begins to blush as Kira snickers and Brooklyn, just blinks.