Prologue

Staff screamed in fear and pain as an explosion of fire and ripped metal, sending shrapnel flying through the air and tearing through the soft flesh of the men who were unfortunate enough to be stationed near the explosion. Fire began to erupt out of the computer consuls and sparks shot and flew across the melting wall paint. Men ran screaming for the door, desperately trying to escape the raging inferno that had begun to engulf the room. An alarm howled over screaming and crackling of the flames, ordering staff to get out of the building before emergency lockdown commenced. They ran in blind panic, forcing their way past each other in their desperation to get away from the fire. Gasps of relief seemed to erupt from the group as they saw a large door loom over them at the end of the corridor, the glowing 'EXIT' sign seeming to beckon them like the glow from heaven itself. At sight of the door the staff cheered and threw their whole body weight into their headlong drive towards salvation. In-between them was a long walkway that lead ran across a deep pit, at the bottom of which, machinery such as cranes and trucks could be seen wrapped in the darkness, only broken by the flashing yellow light from the alarm. But they paid no head to the sheer drop as they charged towards the door and their only chance of survival. As they drew near they stuck their arms out in praise and gripped the handle.

The terrified men barely had time to realise what was happening before they felt a burst of sheer heat as an explosion erupted behind the door and the steel door was thrown into their bodies at a terrible speed. Smashing the life out of those closest and throwing the others away, the heavy steel breaking bones and organs. The steel of the door groaned as it smashed against the wall, the already bending steel bending and causing the door to curve and sending yet more sparks flying into the air.

From the now naked doorframe more flames erupted, flowing around the walls and engulfing the already charred bodies. From the flames, a tall silhouette could be seen advancing, the flames bending around its form as if in worship. The figure stopped as it reached the pile of charred and burned corpse and looked around, seeming to tut in dissatisfaction before using its pointed foot to kick one of the bodies, sending it falling from the platform and crashing into the machinery below, crushing whatever was left of it and leaving it devastated against the floor. At this the figure seemed to shake and a high pitched laughter rang through the burning corridor, the fire seeming to crackle in laughter alongside the figure.

"Who…Who are you?"

The figure turned and fixed its eyes one the source of the voice in the blink of an eye, harsh yellow eyes narrowing on the scientist that lay against the wall on the far end. He had his back leant against the blackened wall, his coat stained with soot and blood and a large metal pipe emitted from his stomach, causing blood to leak from his jacket and drip to the floor. His glasses hung loosely and broke across his face, the shattered glass digging into his cheeks and causing yet more blood to run freely from him.

The figure grinned at the pathetic sight and began to slowly walk towards him. It was silent as it took advanced, its long legs landing on the bodies and crushing them as if under a great weight, despite how gracefully the figure's strides were. As it advanced the flames began to rise upwards and strike the lights, causing them to explode and throwing the room into darkness, the only light being from the flickering orange glow of the flames themselves, but they too now began to shrink and die.

"I said who are…"

A spray of blood shot from the man's mouth as a large lobster like claw shot out of the darkness and wrapped around his throat, lifting him slowly into the air so that he was dangling a foot above the ground and was on eye level with the figure. He gasped as his hands tried to pull the claw away from him but the grip was like ion and the harder he tried to pull it free, the harder it clamped onto him, piercing the skin. From the shadows the figure leaned forward and reviled an almost clown like face. Two yellow eyes glowed at him behind long feminine eyelashes and a hellish red skin lay stretched tightly across its skull. Pointed lips curled into a terrible grin that reviled blade like teeth that shone as if they had been polished.

"I don't see why I should answer any human questions" the figure said. Its voice was like nothing he had heard before, feminine but at the same time seeping with evil. As it spoke, the claw around his throat tightened again. "I am here for one thing and, as reluctant as I am to say it; you must help me with that. So I suggest you keep quiet and come with me or you I'll throw you into a world of pain"

"I'm only a s…scientist, how c…can I h…help you?"

"Oh that's simple. I want your voice as I can't let the three boys down below us know about me just yet. So I need you to go and tell them a little message for me and then you can go home and get on with your worthless little life."It spoke as if it was a spokesman from a game show and it was announcing a prize he had won, seeming to actually be excited as it told him that it would let him go.

The figure then fell silent and began to walk into the ruined control centre, the poor scientist still held tightly a foot above the ground by his ion like grip. The fire had now gone out completely, only a few small streams of smoke rising lazily into the air from the incinerated staff and furniture. Remarkable the fire seemed to have spared a small circle at the far end of the room was, the polished steel floor remaining completely unblemished by the heat that had all but destroyed everything else. In the centre of the 'safe zone' was the microphone that allowed the researchers to speak down to the containment hold, the reinforced room that contained their three 'specimens'. The figure gently placed him next to the consul.

"If I do this I'd be able to go home?"

"Yes of cause" the figure snapped, its voice becoming booming evil as it growled, before returning back to its high-pitched voice "now do as I say"

A shudder ran through the scientist as he turned and pushed down the red button at the base of the large microphone and tried to find a way to hide the panic that filled his voice.

……………………………………..

"Attention Boys"

The three boys stiffened as the crackly voice burst out from the speakers on each side of the room. They blinked and turned to face the giant one-way mirror that had been built into the west wall, their eyes glowed as they scanned it and saw two heat signatures emitting from behind it. They could not tell who the people were, their x-ray like sight only allowing them to make out the bare outline in the strange orange glow that the heat cast off. Each of the boys wore black uniforms and were of the exact same age and height but that seemed to be the only similarities they bore. Each had different colour eyes and hair: one blonde with blue eyes, one a blackhead with green eyes and a red head with red eyes giving the three a completely mix matched appearance. But together they stood, waiting for their orders.

"Today's the day that you finally get the thing you've been training for. You have finally been cleared to commence your operations in Megaville and terminate the targets. You are to return to base once the targets are terminated and not before and no contact shall be made with headquarters during you operation you will be going solo. We wish you the best of luck on your mission and the swift termination of the targets. Should this mission be a success then you will have been proven truly capable and sent on to work on missions sent from the Pentagon itself and get the rewards that you have always been promised Good luck"

The boys frowned as they heard the low mumble of "Can I go home now?" before the speaker went silent again, leaving the three boys in silence again. They looked at each other in confusion before grinning and tacking flight, rising into the air in massive bursts of light, each trail of energy glowing in the same colour as their owner's eyes. They joined together to form a sort of arrow formation before shooting out of the door that had begun to open at the far end of the room. Once out they curved up and vanished beyond the cloud line, internal composes homing in on the 'targets' they had waited so long to face again.

………………………..

From within the ruined command centre, the tall figure laughed as it watched the three boys disappear. It looked down at its lobster like claws, blood dripped freely from it and a long red tongue fell from the figures mouth, running along the claw and licking the warm, sticky blood from it. The figure's eyes closed and its head pointed towards the roof as it savoured the taste of the blood. It was defiantly not the best he had ever tasted but it was good, it made him think of the blood he knew he would be soon be drinking, the blood of the three females that had caused him so much trouble many years ago, the blood he had longed to taste for so long.

On the floor below was the now decapitated corpse of the scientist he had used to set the three boys free. As soon as he had finished his instructions, he had turned to face the figure and begun to beg to be allowed to return home. But the figure had merely grinned and snapped his claw around his throat, slowly squeezing tighter and tighter before the man's head had finally exploded.

The figure smiled to itself as it looked out the window, its age was coming. Soon those that had resisted it years ago would pay; soon those that had denied it its rule would tremble in fear. This was the hour of its return; this was the hour of its vengeance.

And it was a vengeance, which would bring the world crashing down around his foes.