In the city of Brussels, capital of Belgium, the beginning of the day started off like any other. With the cold of spring giving way to summer warmth, the city came alive in a way that was at best uncommon. Cars honked, birds sang, and the sun shown. People from all walks of life embarked on their usual routines, whatever it may be. Students scampered to the schools, police strolled to their stations, workers walked to their jobs, and so on. Many of the inhabitants stopped to take a moment to admire the beautiful cloudless sky.

Along with the locals, the weather drew multitudes of tourists out of their rented dwellings. Most were there for pleasure; seeing the sights of a major city of the old world or to soak up culture. Others however, were in the city for business. Just as with the locals, the reasons for being in the city were as varied as the sky was bright. Such was the case of one group in a posh four story hotel in the outskirts area of the city, a high class occupation for well-to-do clientele. The day before, seven men, two women, and a boy checked in, intent upon resting for a day or two before moving on. Come morning, everything changed.

The hotel suite's bedroom was dimly lit. The blinds were drawn, and the door was closed. Not locked; whenever the rooms's occupant was in an unfamiliar place the door was never locked. An odd policy, but one that served her line of work. Though still early, the day's light was already considerable. But only a little bit of sunlight penetrated the defenses, just enough for a thin gloom. Too much to need to hit a light switch, too little to interrupt sleep. Proof of this state was gained by simply looking at the bed itself, at its current guest to be precise.

A young woman was splayed over much of the bed, taking up an unnecessary quantity of space. The rather expensive sheets were carelessly scattered around and below the bed. Her clothes were disheveled, consisting only of a plain white business shirt and similar underwear. The mop of long white hair atop her head was in the same condition. In daylight hours she was very ladylike, but at present little trace was visible. A light snore emanated from her open mouth. Deep rest, due for her last job.

An impact reverberated from the other room. She groaned and blinked her eyes opened, coming out of a restful sleep. The sharp mind behind her piercing cerulean eyes noted the light level, determining it to be early morning. With the time determined, she weighed the pros and cons of staying in bed further. The pro side offered more of the lazy sleep she previously enjoyed. The con warned that she would be woke up, or if necessary dragged out of bed soon anyway. After a minute of sluggish debate the latter faction won out.

Rising from the bed like a cheap horror movie zombie, she flipped her white hair up, scattering it in front of her eyes. One of her hands lazily came up and brushed it out of the way, exposing the pale woman's face to the light of day, however small it may be. Her eyes scanned the room, sweeping her head around in the process. With her mind only partially active, the observation of the otherwise empty room carried little importance. The sound that initially roused her was pushed onto the mental back burner.

As the colorless woman came to her feet, the fog of sleep cleared away to leave behind a razor sharp mind. Thoughts buzzed through her head as she prepared for the day, focusing on the day's itinerary. The route, the stops, and the exit were all planned out by the time she exited the shower. The next day was being drafted when she was finished getting dressed in her formal white business suit. Three mental notes were made as well, one of them being sending her wardrobe through the dry cleaning once her group reached Essex. What took some people hours she did in minutes, so nothing marred her smile when she opened the bedroom door.

What transpired outside however, did.

"What-"

For the entirety of her adult life she had traveled. She had bestrode through much of the world, from Cape Town and Oslo, to Moscow and Sydney, and everywhere in between. Few places were beyond her reach, fewer still that didn't know her name. As a result, she, along with her select cadre of bodyguards, had seen some of the best and a lot of the worst the human race was capable of. Apathy to the bizarre came naturally with such worldly travels.

"The hell-"

The sight before Koko Hekmatyr's eyes was strange enough that she needed a moment to process just what was going on. Two men and a woman were all present in the "living room" portion of the suite. The men had taken up opposite positions by the bathroom door and the woman was right in front of it. No one else was present. A moment ago they were utterly focused on doing what looked to her like a forced entry tactic that police and military forces the world over used. Each one had a gun in hand. At the sound of her voice, they turned to her with wide eyes.

"-Is going on here?" Koko finished. Her smile vanished.

The first one to recover his wits lifted himself off the wall and made a show of straightening his shirt out. Lehm Brick was his name, and protecting Koko was his game. An older gentlemen, he had been her bodyguard since she started her escapades. His hair was graying and his skin was practically leather, but only a moron thought he was harmless. He didn't become a captain in the SFO Detachment Delta for nothing, as many unlucky sods had found out. Normally nothing fazed him; whatever came their way he strode through it with a cigarette and a grin.

"Morning little lady. Er, sleep well?" he asked reservedly. Koko narrowed her eyes, noting that he didn't try to meet hers.

"Lehm. What is going on?" she asked sternly. He chuckled forcefully.

"Well, you see-"

"Just some practice" said the woman. The pale lady swiveled her head to the female who interrupted Lehm.

Valmet, real name Sofia Valmer. The only female on Koko's immediate payroll. Tall, beautiful, pale (though not to her boss's extreme), and generously endowed in the chest area. A white patch covered her right eye, possibly the only thing that tarnished her beauty. Formerly of the Finnish RDF, she joined up as her bodyguard some years ago after a career ending incident, to which the patch owed its origin. Though not carefree like Lehm, she was still a professional. Also like Lehm, she was currently very nervous and doing a poor job of hiding it.

"It was Lutz's idea, we wanted to try out a new technique" she said quickly. All of them frantically nodded in agreement.

"Practice" Koko repeated dryly.

"Thats right" added another.

Koko turned her head again to the new speaker. The dark complexioned speaker was born Renato Socchi, but these days went by the simple nickname R. Once a part of the Italian Bersaglieri, he left the army and joined up with her as a bodyguard several years ago. Like all of her men, he had a well deserved status as a skilled combatant and protector. Continuing the trend, the usually implacable man had a sheen of sweat on his brow that the brisk weather had no part of.

"You're lying" Koko spoke. It was a statement of fact, not a question. The widening of his eyes confirmed it.

"Um..." R trailed off trying to think of a response.

"I just took a dump" Lehm interrupted. Valmet shot him a disgusted look before lighting up her features.

"Yeah, it stinks real bad" she added. R and her nodded enthusiastically.

"A minute ago you said you were practicing a new technique" Koko said blandly.

"Yeah, we were. What better way to try it than a stinky bathroom?" R said weakly.

"By breaking in?" she asked rhetorically. All three twitched as they realized their mistake.

"Once again, what is going on here? And where is everyone else?" Koko questioned sternly, sweeping her head around. She wasn't normally like this, but how they were acting had tested her patience.

"I gave them a few hours off to go see the city. Its um, well you'll be fine with just us here" Lehm answered.

"Speaking of which" Valmet said, opening her ams out wide and adopting a large grin "while we're here why don't you and I go sightseeing? Its a beautiful day and Brussels is supposed to be a great desti-" she said while reaching for the younger woman.

Koko slapped her hand away. The two men shared a leery look. It wasn't often their boss lost her cool, that calm rock of stability. To see so now indicated she was at the end of her patience. Lehm knew things were about to get ugly in some fashion. R thought that they had pushed her too far, despite knowing better. In light of their predicament, there wasn't much choice. Valmet just withdrew her hand, looking shocked that Koko would do such a thing.

"Enough of this" she said through a scowl. She strode forward, casually brushing the bodyguards aside. Sharing nervous looks, they allowed it. Koko didn't know what they were keeping from her, but she was about to find out. When her hand wrapped around the bathroom's door knob, she felt a hand gently clench her shoulder. She looked over to the hand's owner to see R, looking more concerned than she could ever remember before.

"Be careful" he said solemnly, withdrawing it in an instant.

She had idea what he meant. But as Koko twisted the polished knob, a sense of unease settled over her. For the briefest moment she hesitated. A powerful and uncharacteristic pang of doubt had taken hold, a feeling that if she opened the door, something terrible might happen. What it meant or why it was even there was something she couldn't explain. There was no reason for it, and her implacable logic crushed the feeling in seconds. The others noticed the gap, but kept silent. With her resolve restored, the latch released and she pulled the door open, feeling a rush of cold air.

Koko blinked at the sight before her. She had no idea what was in store behind the fancy barrier. At one point it occurred to her that her bodyguards could've been playing a prank on her; several of them had the personalities for it, and it wouldn't be hard to rope others into the scheme. The way they were acting shot that theory down however, being far too serious. Other possibilities included vandalism of some kind, or an inconvenient murder, or anything really. Out of all the things that she could think of, what was present in the middle of the small room wasn't one of them.

A black orb, roughly half again the size of a beachball, hovered in midair at the approximate center of the small water-closet, hanging at her chest height. It didn't bob or move, acting like it was bolted in place. But as far as she could see, nothing touched it in any way. Its surface was pitch back, with only a weak sheen from the reflected light giving it any visible definition. It was like someone had simply cut or burned a hole through the fabric of the universe in a hotel bathroom. Slowly, she raised her hand to touch it, but stopped when R put his hand on her shoulder again.

"I wouldn't" he said carefully. She withdrew the curled palm back to her side, allowing him to pull her back a few steps outside the opened door.

"What...is it?" Koko asked at last. Three exasperated sighs, done nearly in unison, revealed the answer before they said it.

"Not a clue" R spoke.

"I dont know. It just, appeared. One minute everything's normal, the next, boom, this thing's in the bathroom" Valmet added.

"So thats what it was" Koko murmured, thinking back to what woke her up. Out of the corner of her vision she saw her nodding.

"By the way, which one of you blocked my door?" she asked, out of the proverbial blue.

"That was me. We weren't sure if it was dangerous or not" R admitted.

"So you blocked my door" she replied dryly.

"In hindsight not one of my better ideas" he continued. Inexorably the three bodyguards felt their attention drifting back to the anomaly in the bathroom.

"So, what's the plan?" Lehm asked at last.

Koko answered not with words but with action. Stepping forward, she was out of arms reach in a second, bringing herself back to the front of the black orb. She heard protests behind her, but ignored them. Now that she was closer, she could examine the thing in greater detail. Peripherally she noted the cold wave she felt at first had dissipated but not vanished. The closer she approached the thing, the greater the chill. She estimated it to be ten degrees celsius cooler than the outside. Along with the drop, she noticed something else as well.

"You guys smell that?" she asked.

"What he said was just a cover Koko, it wasn't for real" Valmet defended.

"I know, not what I meant. Sniff real quick" she ordered. Exchanging confused looks, the three complied. One after the other they caught on.

"Ugh, smells like an old house" R commented, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Reminds me of the attic in my old home" Valmet observed, doing the same.

"Thats right. Damp, musty, and dirty. It smell like a decrepit house in a place thats cleaned constantly" she pointed out, fazed but not showing it. Two of the three snapped out of their petty complaining and looked her in puzzlement. The last narrowed his eyes as he analyzed the smell.

"I wouldn't say decrepit house myself. More like an inhabited cave. Either way" Lehm said thoughtfully.

The entire time they were speaking Koko's eyes didn't leave the mysterious orb. The surface of the object was as static as a rock, with no variance at all. It reflected light, but seemed to do so only grudgingly. A part of her gave off the instinctual danger warning while she was in its presence. Something about it just felt wrong, for reasons she couldn't explain. The intelligent decision would be to leave it alone and find someone else to deal with it. She could name a dozen experts that would love to investigate the thing, for free or on the cheap. That however, neglected an important fact:

Koko hadn't got where she was by being timid.

Though all three were keeping an eye on her (one a bit too closely), only R realized what she was going to do, but by the time he saw it was too late. He jumped forward, grabbing her shoulder and yanking her out of the way. He immediately stopped, gawking in bewilderment. One of the two initially looked alarmed at first, but when she and the formerly unfazed man got a good view of their boss sunk to her her forearm into the ball, they too followed suit. R gaped as he looked back and forth from her shortened arm and her stunned, grinning face.

"You, r-really-" he stuttered in shock.

"I can't believe it either" Koko answered breathlessly. Valmet was suddenly over her shoulder, seeing for herself. Behind her Lehm nonchalantly took a spectator spot.

"How...how does it feel?" Valmet said in wonder. The younger woman experimentally flexed her fingers.

"Feels alright. A little cold. A lot like air really" she observed. Though smiling, she looked as amazed as the rest of them.

"No pain or anything?" R asked carefully. She shook her head.

"There's a little tingle where it has skin contact. Thats all. I'm actually holding it here" she reported, swishing her hand around for emphasis. Her arm passed through the orb without resistance.

"Thats enough. Get it out" R ordered. Though excited, Koko did as told. She pulled her arm out and gently massaged it, feeling goosebumps that weren't from the cold.

"Well" Valmet said authoritatively, straightening her posture out planting her fists on her hips. Koko looked to her and adopted a playful grin. A slight ripple across its surface went unnoticed.

"What you did was reckless. You had no way of knowing what would happen. For all we know, that thing could've vaporized your arm" she lectured. Instead of an apology like she expected, Koko threw her head back and laughed.

"Jeez, you sound like my mother. Not that I'm complaining mind you" she joked.

Valmet turned scarlet and let her jaw drop, forgetting her impromptu lecture. Both R and Lehm quickly clamped their hands over their mouths, since she wouldn't have many qualms about filling them with lead. Still, muffled snickers did escape, and did not go unnoticed. She gave them both a glare that mixed in anger and indignation. That act tipped them both over, and they both broke out in unrestrained laughter. Seeing that, as well as her reaction to it, made Koko join in. Valmet turned almost purple with barely restrained fury.

"You-!" she snarled.

"Oh relax, its not like anything bad happened" Koko said through peals of laughter. It took a moment for her to realize that they had stopped.

Suspicious, her grin faded while she looked around. R avoided her gaze, Lehm studiously inspected the ceiling for imperfections, and even Valmet glanced to the floor. Of her rage, the only sign was some fading red on her cheeks. The looks they possessed were very similar to what they had when she first saw them several minutes prior. The looks that showed they were hiding something. Koko dropped her grin entirely and scowled.

"What're you not telling me?" she demanded coldly, a complete shift from before. R sighed and spoke up "there's no easy way to say-"

*BOOM*

Koko forgot about everything else after that. The sound was low toned and concussive, more like a bomb impact than anything else. A few seconds passed before she realized her immediate surroundings had vibrated a little, reinforcing the impression. Another couple passed before she noticed her bodyguards had fallen silent like her. Most likely stunned as well. An oddity unto itself considering her closeness to them. Normally she would've recognized it instantly, but there was a simple explanation for that. She hadn't just heard the impact.

She felt it.

The impact reverberated through her arm, even though it was outside of the back orb. If Koko hadn't pulled it out already, the three strapping and very nervous men and woman close by would've done it for her. What came next was entirely predictable. R and Valmet grabbed her roughly and half dragged her out of the bathroom. She was far too alarmed to protest. Despite that, her eyes still didn't leave the black surface. Whatever it was, via the thing itself compelling her or through her own will, it kept her attention locked onto it.

She noticed the moment she had left her room that all three of her guards had their guns out, but during her encounter she had glossed that fact. Out of all people she was no stranger to guns after all. But after feeling the vibration through her arm she was suddenly very aware of their weapons and how they carried them. The two had opposing muscular arms wrapped around both of hers, with both free arms aiming into the bathroom, R on the left, and Valmet on the right. To the side was Lehm, with his own gun pointed steadily at the orb.

*BOOM*

"We're leaving" Lehm stated flatly.

Neither his partners nor Koko objected. R let go and adopted the same stance as Lehm. Valmet adjusted her hold onto the pale woman to having an arm over her shoulder, gently but insistently pulling her away. The two men were only a couple of steps away from the women, their attention locked to the bathroom door. R backed away but Lehm stayed put. He took a careful step forward, intent on shutting the door and leaving whatever the black ball was to its own devices. Once that was done, he would ring up the rest of the unit and be out of the country in an hour. His hand had just touched the glossy wood. Had he done so a few seconds earlier, the sequence of events that was to follow might have never occurred.

*BOOM-CRASH*

The ear splitting crash was vastly different than the two thumps. Rather than a muffled impact, it hit like a lightning bolt. Lehm couldn't react fast enough to protect himself, and received the brunt of it's effect. All the suite's occupants were stunned, but he got the worst of it. His ears rang, his vision was swimming, and any sense of balance was temporarily knocked out. He distantly likened the resemblance to a flash bang grenade. When something large came flying out of the now two dimensional black ball, he had no idea it was there until it hit him with the speed of a bullet and slammed him against the back wall.

"Lehm!" Koko cried out.

Being blocked by a wall R managed to avoid the blast, so he remained coherent. He rushed to the older man, heedless to the danger. Dropping down he saw immediately that his comrade was tangled up with a large multi-limbed creature. Its dark skin was dusted with what looked and smelled like ash, and when he touched it he felt a layered texture. With a jolt R realized it was clothing. He grabbed a handful of the human shaped thing's shirt and yanked it up. R suspected who it was, the secret that they were trying so hard to keep from their employer. But he didn't know for sure until he flipped it over to his back, turning the boy's face skyward. Beneath him Lehm groaned in pain.

"Shoulda took the offer" he growled. R ignored him. Behind the two men Koko wrestled free from Valmet and darted over, despite the latter's halfhearted protests. When she peered over R's shoulder, she beheld the dirty face of the unconscious boy laying on the floor. Her whole world stopped, and she slowly turned her head to the speechless Italian with increasing anger.

"Why is Jonah here?" Koko icily demanded. Beneath the two Lehm groaned and pinched between his eyes, coming to. One good look at his boss's furious expression and he knew they were in trouble.

"Oh hey, Jonah's here. That's, um, odd" Lehm said with false innocence. Her gaze swept to him.

"You said you sent them out" Koko spoke. He coughed and absently reached into his shirt pocket.

"I did. Never said all were out though" he said slyly. One quick brush and he found out his smokes were crushed. Between Koko's and R's shoulders Valmet came up, looking queasily at both the boy and the woman.

"Why did you keep that from me?" Koko growled. R let his eyes fall, and Valmet cringed.

"I knew you'd get mad. See?" he waved a hand at her. Her scowl deepened, and she would've launched a long tirade if another pained groan hadn't echoed. The four adults immediately swept their attention away, looking with a mixture of shock and hope. The boy was awakening. Koko dropped to her knees, hovering over his stirring form. Around her the other two carefully moved close while Lehm propped himself into his elbow, wincing in pain. The boy groaned, and his eyes flickered open to reveal dazed red irises.

His name was Jonathan Mar, shortened to simply Jonah. Age was somewhere around fourteen, though only he knew his specific birthday. No other records remained to tell, and all who could tell them were long dead. His skin was dark, contrasting sharply with his pale hair. A small scar hung below his left eye, the only one that was immediately visible. Apart from that, he was by many standards cute. He was wearing a black hoodie with khaki shorts, along with child sized combat boots. Most tellingly, fine lines that normally grew from laughter and smiling were absent. Taciturn on a good day, at an age when many boys in the civilized world were preoccupied with school friends or girls, he was with ex soldiers and similar specialists. Not as a guest, but as an equal.

"Jonah?" Koko about whispered, unconsciously holding her breath. He blinked repeatedly as he came to.

"Koko?" Jonah murmured. The pale woman's face lit up in joy.

"Are you alright? Hurt? C'mon, I'll-" she went on, stopping when R put his hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see him discreetly shaking his head.

"Uh, where am I?" Jonah said groggily, raising an arm to block the light. Koko and R hurriedly looked back, while Valmet and Lehm (who never looked away) eyed him worriedly.

"Back at the hotel. You had us worried sick kiddo. Where'd you take off to?" Lehm said casually, siting up and ignoring Koko's glower at interrupting her. The boy slowly brought his arm down, letting his vision adjust.

"I was...wait" he suddenly shot up, groaning in pain. R gently pushed him back down.

"Whoa there, whats got you worked up all of a sudden?" he asked in concern. He noted how much more lively he just became.

"Is she here too?" Jonah demanded. Collectively they raised their eyebrows.

"Um, yes. I'm right here. Valmet too" Koko explained concernedly, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. Jonah testily shook his head.

"No, her. She was right behind me" he explained, an edge of alarm to his voice. He struggled once more to get up but was blocked again by R, who was getting increasingly concerned. He continued to struggle up despite pain being written over his features.

"Calm down, its just us here. No one else. You're safe" Koko reassured. He grimaced in effort before closing his eyes and dropping. R put a finger to his neck.

"Out cold" he reported duly. The look on his face was troubling.

"Will he be alright?" she asked insistently. Over her shoulder Valmet glanced to the bathroom.

"Should be. Can only guess what he went through though" Lehm supplied.

"Koko" Valmet said quietly.

The pale woman's head picked up. The way Valmet had spoken her name; slow, higher pitched, edging into whining territory, it was reserved only for times when things had well and truly hit the fan. It sent a bolt of alarm coursing through her. Slowly, her face a stone mask, Koko turned her head. The intent was to see where the other woman was looking and react accordingly. As it turned out, she didn't need to. Where she was looking was on the way. The boy had went SOMEWHERE, that much was clear. When her gaze reached the bathroom door, she discovered that Jonah hadn't came back alone.

"A girl?" Koko whispered.

As the new arrival staggered to her feet, Koko drank in every detail. The first thing she picked up on was the girl's outfit. She wore thin boots that ended just below her knees, tiny jean shorts with a loose belt, a bikini top, small gloves, and a large open hooded jacket that covered her arms and ended close to the ground, not unlike a cape. All but the white belt was a deep black. It revealed a great deal of pale skin, but she reasoned that the jacket could act as a cowl if needed. Her height was roughly the same as Jonah's, though likely a little taller. She also had dark hair, done up in a twin ponytail that reached well past her shoulders, though the right side was considerably longer. Her skin had an almost a corpse-like pallor. Looking unhealthily thin didn't dispel the uncomfortable comparison that thought led to. Over her thudding heartbeat the woman heard audible panting, like she was out of breath. Since she kept her head down, none of them could get a good look at her face.

"The hell?" Lehm muttered. She threw an arm onto the doorframe to steady herself, revealing that under the jacket was two very large stitched scars on opposite sides of her thin torso. Once the girl was firmly on her feet and her breathing had steadied out, Koko stood up and straightened her suit out.

The girl raised her head, revealing a pretty face with large, unnaturally blue eyes.

"Well" Koko said neutrally. The girl let go of the frame and stood on her own. Except for her slight breathing and few blinks, she stood perfectly still. Each of the bodyguards' instincts went off, all subtly bringing weapons to bear.

"Hello there. Do you understand me?" Koko greeted carefully. She had to actively force herself not to stare at her eyes, distantly noting how they seemed to have rings inside of them.

The girl stared impassively, leaving her features blank.

"Okay...I'm going to assume yes. My name is Koko Hekmatyr. Yours is?" she left hanging.

The girl dropped her head, lowering herself to a crouch. Then, several things happened at once. She shot forward incredibly fast, directly towards the princess. That move was the only thing stopping the three from riddling her with lead. The girl brought her arm up and slammed her full weight into Koko, who couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. A single gunshot boomed in the enclosed space as the two flew against the wall, echoing Lehm and Jonah minutes earlier. Then, almost too quickly for the eye to follow, she rebounded and dashed away, to the suite door.

"Valmet, R, after her! Now!" Lehm commanded. For a moment they hesitated, unwilling to leave Koko behind. A loud crash, the sound of something powerful busting down the door, came from where the girl had taken off. It was enough to convince them. They shared a brief look before sprinting off after her. Lehm sucked up a breath and forced himself onto his feet, leaving Jonah for his injured boss. A trace of smoke wafted from his gun.

The bodyguard pair, one Italian and the other Finnish, came to the entranceway where a door was five minutes ago. What was left of it was pressed against the opposite wall. Wood splinters were scattered all over, and a large crack split the oak in half. Valmet peeked out the right corner, R the left. "This way" Valmet spoke, breaking into a run. R turned and followed her, catching a glimpse of black dashing around the corner.

The floor they were one was arranged as a "T"; though sizable, it was nowhere near as grand as other places they could've stayed at. Where the lady and her team had taken up was roughly in the center, only a stone's throw from the intersection. Valmet dashed around the corner, veering right. Her goal was actually unclear; on the one hand the girl had hurt Koko, and so deserved a painful death. On the other, what could only be described as a portal had materialized in the bathroom, and the bizarre girl had came from it. If nothing else they could question her for information. She was leaning towards the former.

R's thoughts were much simpler: capture girl, niceties unnecessary. Unlike his partner, he had no wish to kill her. Immediately anyway. Though a quick sight he received changed his outlook. On the corner wall, unnoticed by Valmet in her current state, was small smear of blood. One guess for who it belonged to. His gaze followed it for a half second, pulling back just in time to catch Valmet skidding to a stop. He reacted fast, nearly tripping over himself in the process. In his opinion he did an admirable job of halting only a couple of steps past her. He wondered why she stopped, but the next words out of her mouth answered the question.

"Stop right there!" she barked, bringing her gun up. R was a heartbeat behind.

Twenty paces away was the girl, who only a moment ago was standing in the middle of the carpeted hallway frantically turning her head back and forth, froze up. Slowly, she turned herself around to face them. Her left hand was clamped over her dangling right upper arm, where the bullet must have struck. Blood seeped from between her fingers, staining her coat. Her chest shuddered with deep laborious breathing, either in exertion or pain, R couldn't tell. What struck him was her gaze: her eyes flickered between the two potential threats, but no sign of malice or anger was visible. It was if there was no emotion behind those blue orbs. He saw looks like that before, but only on truly coldhearted killers. Seeing it on a young girl brought an involuntary shiver.

"Don't move" Valmet commanded.

The girl didn't reply. R shuffled away, putting a bit of distance between themselves in case the girl decided to go on the offensive. She tracked him unnervingly, shifting her attention from him to her and back again, not locking onto either for more than a few seconds at a time. R waited until she wasn't looking at him to sneak a peek at Valmet. She appeared to be keeping a cool head, considering the circumstances. Ahead the bloody left hand dropped to the girl's side, and she raised her wounded right arm to them, with only a minuscule twitch to show how much pain she must have been in. It was then that the most extraordinary sight that either of them had ever seen occurred.

With a hard gaze she clenched her flat hand into a fist. A circle of light suddenly appeared under her elbow, quickly morphing into solid black metal that attached itself to the wounded arm. More complex patterns moved downwards, flrming a solid construct that built itself with clanking swiftness. When it reached past her hand, it elongated into a large tube with three struts an equal distance apart. The entire process took seconds. Both of the bodyguards were veterans of bloody warfare, along with many smaller conflicts over the years. Yet the sight they were witnessing left them both dumbstruck. By sheer force of will Valmet suppressed her awe and reacted to the situation. When the barrel like end of the construct began glowing, she had no clue what would happen. Instead, she made an assumption based on the girl's behavior.

"Get down!" she shouted, throwing herself towards R.

The glow blasted out, moving strangely slowly, relatively speaking. R was still in awe, but the command flipped a switch inside him. She tackled him out of the way, feeling the heat of the projectile fly past her. Her training kicked in, allowing her to roll on impact, coming to an abrupt stop on her stomach with her weapon trained on the shooter. She blocked out the crashing sound of the projectile's impact somewhere behind her, squeezing off two rounds of her own in reply. Another rang out above her, from the now alert R.

Two of the shots cleanly missed. Under normal circumstances that wouldn't have happened, since the two were notedly good marksmen. Due to the stressed situation however, their performance was notably lowered. But one, from a mixture of skill and a healthy dose of luck, hit home. The building glow discharged into the wall as the bullet tore into her formerly uninjured left shoulder. Her arm twisted to the right, letting the shot loose at the wall. She jerked back with the impact with an expression of pain as plaster flew from the blast. No scream escaped her throat.

Pressing the advantage, both of the shooters opened fire. These shots were not as panicked, and the girl knew it. She then performed another action that at rest would've left them speechless. She crouched and leaped back, moving like a tiger. The two focused on her, but she bounced from one wall of the hallway to the other, almost too quickly to follow. Their rate of fire wasn't high enough to counter her speed. But she wasn't just retreating, as another blue tinged bolt flew over. R was just helping her up when it flew past, and he pushed her back down. He squeezed the trigger one more time.

Click.

Why didnt I grab my rifle? R thought ruefully.

The low growl of anger from Valmet told him she was done. She was off in an instant, breaking out into a sprint before she was even fully on her feet. R looked on wondrously before getting a move on himself. One thing distracted him: as he ran past where the stray shot discharged he saw a jagged and worryingly large hole punched through the plaster. A millisecond long flash of light implied it had gone through to the other side of the wall. The hole also happened to be twice the size of his fist. He didn't want look too closely to confirm.

The girl ran as fast as she could to the end of the hall, never slowing. Though the ex-major was fit herself, it didn't come close to what the attacker was doing. She brought her gun up and fired one more time. She was running as fast as she could, was huffing air as fast as her lungs could work, and was very much pissed. Predictably, the bullet missed by a wide margin. She would've sent another, but her own pistol clicked empty as well. By sheer force of will, she redoubled her efforts.

For many other buildings, the end of a hallway was home to the stairs. But for this particular hotel they were placed to the sides of the dead end, leaving the empty wall with a large scenic window. Only a dozen paces away the girl dropped low and leaped, tucking her arms and legs in close. In flight she made herself as small as possible. No sane human being would do such an action. Valmet's anger dissipated into shock as she realized what was going to happen. By the time she did there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The window shattered, spraying glass shards far and wide. In the center of the expanding cloud, the girl flew in defiance of gravity. Despite the hazard she opened her eyes. She had only a few frantic heartbeats to comprehend the sight before her. Brussels was coming alive below her. A line of cars bustled down the paved streets. A number of people were on the sidewalks, most walking, some setting up little shops. Green foliage competed with grey cement as far as the eye could see. The buildings around weren't large by many standards, but off in the distance skyscrapers rose into the horizon. To residents, the view was nothing special.

To the girl, falling to the hard ground in a shower of broken glass, it was the most incredible sight she had ever seen.

Then gravity reasserted itself, as it was wont to do. Despite her momentum the girl plummeted down. Below the road and its accompanying sidewalks stretched into opposing directions, a growing number of people taking to them. She spotted a small fabric canvas covering a street vendor, just below her. The vendor that had set up shop there wasn't in his usual place; his alarm clock failed to go off and he slept in. By the time he got around it was too late, so he picked that spot to sell some homegrown fruit. He had no real reason for the location, it was just a whim.

What he didn't know was that if he hadn't picked there in particular, the strange girl speeding to the ground would've impacted the hard concrete and splattered. Then that would be the end of that. But since he did, the middle aged man that owned it nearly had a heart attack as his awning suddenly collapsed in. The plain canvas broke the worst of her fall and inadvertently saved her life. She still hit the ground hard, but it was hefty pain instead of crippling injury or outright death. The stands underneath her smashed and scattered.

The owner stared fearfully at the tangled mess of his awning as onlookers stopped what they were doing to observe, giving way to fearful or excited conversation. Several of them took a moment to pull out cellphones to take pictures. The canvas shook and tumbled as she struggled to get out. Finally she found a way out and crawled out of the mess, ignorant of people's reactions. To the girl her immediate problem was dealt with. Those attacker were far away, and with her new location she could easily flee to rest and recuperate. The less pressing issue of her new surroundings would have to wait however, but as far as she was concerned she was in the clear. She rolled out of the wrecked covering and fell into the street, feeling quite confident. She looked up-

Ten tons of city bus side-swiped her.

She tumbled in the air for a moment in a daze, idly wondering what that thing was. When she hit the hot pavement those thoughts ceased. She went slack, her eyes bleary and unfocused. Her pain tolerance was high, but the combined stress of several bullet wounds, a three story impact, and an encounter with public transportation was too much, even for her. Her limbs errantly spasmed, and her breathing was ragged. Darkness hemmed in as her vision blurred. Slowly she began to slip into unconsciousness. Everything took on a dreamy aspect. Above her shadows appeared, taking indistinct humanoid forms.

"...amn this is a tough one..."

"...call...hospital, stat..."

"...give me a hand Ugo..."

"...on the line...we're leaving...

"...taking her with us. Give me a hand..."

The pale girl from another world blacked out as strong arms lifted her away. She had no inkling of the changes she had wrought, and would continue to make.