"Death by stereo."

- The Lost Boys

Raven was surrounded by a sea of dead Nevis as far as the eye could see. Big ones, little ones, weirdly misshapen crab-looking ones. She had tried to get there in time to help Kat, but it looked like Kat had managed to take care of things on her own. The only problem was the heroine herself was strangely absent from the scene she had created.

A small spot in the Nevi pile began to move. Kat crawled up on her hands and knees, shaking dead urchins off her back and lifting her rear half in the air while she stretched, the same way a cat wakes up from its nap. She dug herself out of the stack and stood up.

Kat daintily hovered in place with her feet three inches off the ground. She hardly had to catch her breath despite having just laid waste to an entire legion of these dark abominations. Her black leotard was spotless. Her gold embroidery still sparkled like new. Her hair was perfectly groomed. Her eyes and forehead were engulfed in the quivering black body mass of a squid-sized creature that had nestled itself firmly over her head like a living mask. Its small flailing tendrils clung to the sides of her cheeks, leaving only her mouth and the bottom of her nose free. In place of her own blindfolded eyes, she had only the Nevi's single red iris bulging in the center of her forehead.

"Kat, I'm so glad you're okay!" Raven said. "But something about you seems… different."

"Can you figure out what?" Kat quasi-blinked with her single eye.

Raven stopped to think.

"Did you get new sandals?"

"Nuh-uh." Kat shook her head frantically.

"Are those new bracelets?"

"Nuh-uh." Kat shook her head more frantically.

"New seashells?"

"Nuh-uh." Kat shook her head even more frantically.

"Did you actually remember to put on underwear today?"

"Nuh-uh." Kat shook her head frantically still.

"Trying a different eyeliner?"

"Getting warmer." Kat giggled teasingly.

"Are you wearing a new hairband?"

"Now you're really heating up."

Raven leaned closer until they were eye to eye. She squinted and slowly nodded.

"Nevi parasitism. That's a new one," she said with slight interest. "What's it like under all those tentacles? It looks kind of comfy, actually."

"Let me see your arm," Kat said in response. Thinking nothing of it, Raven simply stretched out her hand and offered Kat her left arm. Kat took Raven's wrist and elbow and closely inspected the curvature, tiptoeing her fingers up and down Raven's forearm until her hands were in position. She slowly secured her grip.

"Mind if I use this to illustrate what I've done to this girl's brain?" Kat innocently asked.

"Uh… sure, I guess?" Raven shrugged.

Kat sharply twisted her hands in opposite directions, cracking Raven's forearm into pieces until the shards of bone almost poked through the skin. Raven cowered away screaming in agony and shouting an endless tirade of Helksevillian expletives.

She immediately regretted her decision.

Raven's mangled arm went numb. Her entire body went numb. Before she knew up from down, she found herself on her back with what felt like an invisible anvil pinning her flat to the ground. Kat playfully spun her hand in the air, using her powers to keep Raven paralyzed under an immense gravity field.

Raven glanced from side to side for someone who could help her. Dusty was sitting at Kat's feet. He was the source of all of Kat's powers. If anyone could save her, Dusty would!

As Raven looked closer, she saw Dusty's twinkling coat was covered in millions of red space particles. Those particles were eyes that belonged to tiny black insects. Dusty was being driven just as mad as Kat thanks to a hearty infestation of Nevi fleas.

Another wave of Nevis spawned out of the heap of dead ones. They crawled, shambled, and floated into a circle around Raven while Kat kept her pinned down. They opened their jagged carapaces to show the fire growing in their mouths.

"Light 'em up, Nevis," Kat sneered. "It's time to roast this turkey."

Raven was incinerated under geysers of flame. Kat shook her head and squished the soft tendrils of her head-Nevi over her ears to drown out the screams. She returned the favor for that one time Raven stomped on the back of her head by stabbing her gold heel through one of Raven's eyes, instantly ending her misery. The flames died down and the Nevis quickly piled on top of their broiled feast.

Alias emerged from his hiding place behind a heap of dead Nevis. He glanced down at Raven's skeletal remains buried under munching Nevis. Kat wiggled her leg to put out a small fire that had spread to the bottom of her shoe.

"That's one way to pluck a chicken," Alias chuckled. Turning to Kat, he beckoned. "Now let me get a good look at you, Kitty."

"Meow," Kat said coquettishly.

Alias ran his fingers along Kat's ears, brushing through the slimy tendrils so he could get a sneak peek at what was happening on the border of Kat's cranium and the Nevi's irritable digestive tract. He made several "Hmm"'s and "Ahh"'s as he delicately studied.

"Fascinating. I never thought one of these things would actually manage to get a leash on you," Alias said. "I guess I know who to bet on the next time the odds are 50,000 mid-class Nevi to one cat brain."

"Hey, take it easy on the nerve endings!" Kat hissed. "It wasn't easy merging all that stuff and they aren't made for all that tugging and pulling!"

"The outer membrane is compromised. Ah, yes, this tissue decay looks splendid. I'd say you'll be able to sustain the body for four or five days before everything shuts down from severe neural necrosis," Alias said.

"And I'll stay bonded with her as long as it takes just to make sure she starves to death like a good girl."

Kat's exposed mouth curled into a grin.

"Have you gained total control?" asked Alias.

Kat nodded frantically.

"Mm-hmm. She ain't frisking her tail out of this one."

"You've completely suppressed the host's consciousness?"

Kat nodded franticallier.

"Swallowed it like it was dessert. Chocolate was always my favorite flavor."

Alias glanced toward Kat, who was playfully balancing on the balls of her feet and twiddling her fingers together as the Nevi squid throbbed ruthlessly against her brain. He glanced toward the rest of Hekseville, which was decidedly not being destroyed by an insane gravity master at the moment.

"Time to split," he said. "We've got plenty of uses for this Kitten while she still has her claws."

Alias waved his arm and disappeared into a black hole. Kat weightlessly tip-toed into oblivion behind him.

Author's note: Jushure iburu purella, Gravity Rush fans.