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Constance woke up to a banging sound on the apartment door. Mind flashing back to earlier, the vampire rushed to the door. Had the mysterious woman come back? Desperate to find out, the vampire threw open the door. However, it was not the woman, but two very familiar men.
"Tao? Takeo? What are you guys doing here?" Her voice was a mixture of confusion, and honest excitement as she tried to hug them. However, the panicked expressions on their faces told her that now was not the time for reunions.
"Constance, you need to come with us! We'll explain on the way," Tao gestured towards the door. Already, as he was walking, words were tumbling out of his mouth. "The Union captured your new friends! M-21 is trying to track them down as we speak, but we'll need more help to free them until Boss gets here," he was down the hallway by the time Constance got over her shock.
"Hang on for a second. I need to get my gear," Constance ran back into the apartment to grab her backpack, where she knew Takeo's various gifts were hidden. However, before she could even slide it onto her back, Maggie was trying to tug it away from her.
"Constance, if the other Daughters really are in danger as they say, you need to be kept safe. You may be the only chance for stopping the Atrox if they don't make it," Maggie moved to block the door, only for Constance to freeze her in a death glare.
"What's this trite you're suddenly spouting? I've been cooped up in here for days! Now I finally get a chance to go outside and do something worthwhile, that will actually benefit you all, and you still won't let me go?" Shoving past the old woman, the vampire sighed in disappointment. "Maybe those Union bastards were right. Humans really are pathetic and selfish. Goddesses who live amoung them are probably no different."
Constance turned back to Tao and Takeo, who were waiting by the door. "Lead the way. It's finally time to prove myself to you guys." The vampire slammed the door on Maggie, only for the old woman to smile.
Perhaps you deny it now, but you aren't doing this for the selfish reasons you are thinking of…
Jimena was the first to wake. However, when she saw the dark warehouse she had woken up in, it made her want to knock herself back out. Still, the ex-gang member had better instincts than that. Reaching over, she shook the girl laying closest to her, Catty, awake. While she did so, she watched the room to see if the four of them were alone. The room appeared to be empty, but the shadows that seemed to sway and swirl in the corners suggested otherwise.
"Jimena? What's going on? Why are you in my room?" Catty asked drowsily. Jimena groaned, the effects of sleep had not worn off yet.
"I'm not in your room. We're all in a warehouse. We got kidnapped," Jimena explained, making sure to keep her voice quiet. Now that Catty was awake, the two set to work on waking Serena and Vanessa. At the same time, the two discussed escape plans.
"Time travel doesn't really make a difference in this scenario. So my powers would probably only create a stupid paradox that would put us in the same place we began in," Catty grumbled as she nudged Vanessa.
"Maybe Vanessa turn invisible and fly us out of here. When she wakes up all the way, anyway," Jimena pondered. All the while she shook Serena into stirring.
"Still, I want to find out why we were kidnapped first. I can't remember what happened before we were knocked out. Can you?" Catty asked. Jimena shook her head in frustration.
"I say the moment these two wake up, we make a break for it. Whatever they want us for, they can't use us if we are't here," Jimena replied. Having gotten tired of Serena's lack of response, she reached down and slapped her.
Serena immediately sprung up, rubbing her cheek in pain. "Wally, why are you being mean? It's not even time for school yet," she immediately flung herself back onto the ground, only to sit up when she realized she wasn't in her house, and her raccoon was not the one who slapped her.
Their attention was almost immediately diverted to Catty, who had pinched Vanessa. The fourth and final goddess to wake up was rubbing her arm, no doubt a futile attempt to prevent bruising.
"Where are we?" Vanessa asked nervously. They were all surprised to find that she did not turn invisible. Her nerves should have caused her molecules to seperate, but now they remained put.
"Vanessa, are your powers working?" Jimena asked in worry. There was no way to tell if her own premonitions were working, because they showed up at completely random times, but if the other goddesses' powers weren't working…
"My watch isn't turning backwards," Catty said in stunned silence. Serena, meanwhile, was trying to focus. A sudden migraine overcame her when she attempted to enter a mind, and she hissed in pain. A shake from her head was all the confirmation they needed to know her telepathy wasn't working.
That was when their captors emerged from the shadows.
"Your powers wouldn't be working. I'm surprised you didn't notice as soon as you woke up." Standing before the Goddesses were several people hidden under armor. Standing between two of the guards, a person they all knew well had been the one to speak.
"So you're the one who kidnapped us, Stanton. Why am I not surprised," Serena remarked coldly. "What are you going to do now? Turn us over to the Atrox? Oh, I bet that first you need to take a few hours to gloat."
Stanton seemed genuinely hurt by the girls comments. But all of that faded away into a sneer. "That will come in time Goddess. However, I first need to fulfill my end of a bargain. You will make lovely bait to capture the Union's prize."
"Why are you creeps so interested in Constance?" Catty asked with disgust. "She doesn't even have any powers."
Their captors just laughed. "You'll see when that lab brat gets here," One guard remarked.
The girls skakily got onto their feet. "No… I don't think we will," Jimena whispered in defiance. "Run!"
The girls only managed to make it a few feet before a neon green blur knocked them to the ground. Landing in a crouch, the little girl Serena had seen materialized. The child looked upon them with dejected eyes. They all had a feeling that if the mussle wasn't covering her mouth, she would be whispering a thousand words of apology.
"What a stupid little pup," one of the guards muttered. "She can only sit here and serve us, while she waits for the destruction of her closest friends.
Milly tried to keep her face nuetral as tears threatened to spill over. Mina, hurry up and warn her.
"I don't think I'll be able to rescue my friends," Constance spoke. She had been travelling over the rooftops with the RK for hours. The various knives and guns she had strapped on over her new uniform did little to hamper her. Yet her thoughts were a different story, drifting to her two companions in the experiment facility. All night her mind had been wandering to dark places. Including...
Takeo looked at her with concern, "That's nonsense. After tonight, we'll convince Frankenstein to let you join us right now. Then we can bust into that facility and get your friends back. It will be easy. Afterall, Frankenstein has a particular hatred for the Union. You should know that. When he said that was where you came from during the fight, he almost stabbed you with his dark spear."
Constance laughed. If only things could be that simple. The weird skull still sat in her backpack, and she wanted to stay around long enough to figure out what it meant. Or perhaps it simply meant that she didn't have long to stay around. She heard Tao say something in front of her, coming to a stop with the rest of the group.
"This is the area where M-21 tracked the weird source of energy," Tao reported. He pointed to the alleyway below. Constance looked into the silver eyes of one of her newest comrades, offering him a small smile. The werewolf-human hybrid smiled back, gesturing for the group to come down.
When they all landed in a crouch on the ground, M-21 began his report. "Regis and Seira found different trails that the energy split into. They're following those right now. But now that I've found the end of this one, I figured we could investigate to see why it ended. I get the feeling that whoever made it didn't just turn around."
"Let me guess. You can't explain why you feel this way, you just do," Constance replied with a faraway look. M-21 nodded, a look of confusion on his face.
"Wow, Constance! How did you guess so well?" Tao asked in a teasing manner, pausing to investigate the graffiti on the alley walls. Takeo put on a pair of night vision goggles, trying to see if there was anyrthing M-21 hadn't noticed.
This "anything" came in the form of a bedraggled figure hiding near the corner of the next alleyway.
"Constance… stop," he spoke calmly, gesturing for the vampire to back away from the direction she was heading in. Constance turned to him in confusion, only to see him pointing a finger at the figure.
"It's- It's you!" Constance's joyful smile confused everyone greatly. Until their eyes all widened in realization.
"Mina!" The vampire ran towards the figure, fussing over the girl's handcuffs and bruised arms.
"Constance," the girl moaned. Mina grew tense as the founding members of the RK moved closer.
"I know it hurts, Mina. Please don't worry, we'll find a way to get Milly back too. I'm so happy that you managed to escape," the vampire didn't seem to hear the girl's pleas, probably chalking it up to nothing more than blood loss. The poor girl probably got so injured trying to get to me. Frankenstein will have to fix her up when he gets here.
"Constance," Mina whispered, tears beginning to fall down her face, leaving streaks across her dirty appearance.
"Constance, something's wrong with her," Takeo whispered, trying to get the vampire's attention.
"Of course there's something wrong with her. Just look at how beaten up she is. Don't be scared, Mina. These guys are friends. They're going to help me get rid of those Union bastards just for you," the vampire inspected the handcuffs, preparing to ask M-21 and Tao to help her get them off.
"No… Constance," the girl began to tremble, finally bringing the vampire's attention to her words.
"What is it, Mina?" Constance finally asked, noticing how terrified the girl was.
"Constance… run," the girl finally managed, before turning on her own heels.
It was then that Hell broke loose… In the form of an ambush.
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