Author's Note: Apologies for taking longer on this one, guess I'm a bit distracted with The Last Stand – Dead Zone, basically it's this zombie survival MMO game that is totally addicting (in my opinion at least). I haven't abandoned this story though; more chapters are on the way I promise.

Maya's Half-Life

Episode 37 – Deadly Confrontation

The monster catches up to Maya and her partner. A deadly confrontation ensues and with the creatures blood on their hands Maya and her partner have succeeded in both the mission and investigation.

The rumbling sounds grew louder and the very ground began to shake. Distant pops of glass could be heard as the bulbs behind the two running soldiers in the tunnel. The tunnel nearly collapsed as the shaking got so bad it was almost like the very planet was vibrating. A light fell into Virility's line of vision up ahead, but she could almost immediately tell that something was attempting to block the entrance. That something was the ceiling of the tunnel collapsing in a cave in like occurrence. Virility picked up the pace slightly, but slowed down slightly before reaching the tunnel and she dove forward hitting the ground and rolling forward out into the open.

Maya followed her partner's lead and did the same they both ended up rolling out into a spacious cavern illuminated by a floodlight built into the ceiling. What looked like the ancient remains of a primitive dwelling lay scattered around the space. Most of these objects were unrecognizable to Maya because 1) she wasn't looking at them 2) even if she was the Siren wouldn't have the faintest idea what they could possible be.

Virility recognized them from sneak peaks from a local history book; she'd asked a junior soldier what classes would be like for her next year and he had shown her the book. Many of the various odd looking items scattered around the room matched those Virility had seen in the book, however a sudden triumphant growl startled both her and Maya as they spun around to face the way they had come.

Because all the bulbs illuminating the tunnel beyond had been effectively smashed the two soldiers at first had trouble identifying if they were staring into darkness or some hulking figure of a monster. After a moment the tunnel mouth seemed to growl and both Maya and Virility backed up hurriedly, diving behind some of the more sturdier still somehow intact pieces of ancient relic that would provide cover – should rocks come flying out of the tunnel mouth.

And come flying out they did, but to only shatter against the walls in two direct lines from where Maya and Virility had stood only moments before. A growl sounded again and Maya suddenly whispered to Virility over their coms, "I think – whatever this thing is – it likes to sense things by growling. Possibly echo location?"

"That guess is probably better than mine, I've never heard of monsters on Acheron … I mean besides the big ass Kraken and sometimes smaller kraken we see I al-shit! Incoming!" Virility shouted and dove to the side her roll setting her directly behind Maya, on the right side of the room facing the tunnel.

An arm flashed from within the depths of the black tunnel and hurled a rock straight for Maya's head. The siren phaselocked the rock and flung it back very violently at the creature. The rock shattered and finally the Jagged Devourer stepped out of the tunnel at Maya's first reaction was a bit of nostalgic awe. The second reaction, which followed close behind the first, was to turn her suit into a Siren Exoskeleton.

Maya's powers flowed from her heavily tattooed left arm and empowered the suit until Maya blacked out. Virility on the other hand witnessed first-hand as Maya's power armor literally melted into the woman beneath and transformed Maya entirely into a black humanoid form composed entirely of mechanical parts composed of black steel. Each part individually moved cohesively with everything else to create seamless motion.

What happened next was that Maya Jagged Devourer hand to hand, and not only ended up ripping off the Minotaur sized head off the massive neck but also wore it down so quickly that the fight was over in less than five minutes. The only reason, that Virility could guess, as to why Maya didn't finish the fight quicker was because the Siren Exoskeleton had many drawbacks. Firstly it wouldn't be possible to get used to the sensation of temporarily transformed into the Seamless Machine.

The fight while very short seemed to last a really long time and when Virility breathed a sigh of relief when the Jagged Devourer (the size of the Minotaur but with no hair horns just bulging muscles and veins as well as double jointed limbs) Maya dropped to the ground. Virility slowly made her way forward and helped Maya to her feet.

"Damn that was, impressive. How'd you do that?" Maya's partner asked.

The Siren responded with, "I've been secretly developing my Siren powers!"

"Have they succeeded?" Richfield asked.

"Yes sir, shall I give the order?" Argyle stated.

"Very well then," Richfield sighed as he looked at the hidden camera placed deep within the mines close to where the fight had taken place. "That was absolutely amazing, I had no idea Maya was capable of something like that!"

"Really, sir?" Argyle asked skeptical. "Well you do have a crush on her? So I'm assuming the least you do is get to know her better?"

"Ah well, even I couldn't have seen this coming. Right?"

"Wrong! Maybe if you'd let her use her Siren powers more often …"

"NO!" Richfield roared. "You might not be able to understand but Maya must not ever use Siren powers in public. It must remain a secret as to her whereabouts, for not just her safety but ours as well."