I walked sluggishly back to my room, beat and exhausted, ready for one of my many cat naps. Raf greeted me with the usual sideways glance as he devoted most of his attention to his latest puzzle book. I crawled under my bed sheets and didn't say a word. Sleep was great and it helped me to know that I wouldn't be dragged out at awkward times to go through another test the Whitecoats had devised. This bed was a little bit of heaven inside a hell hole.
My dreams varied in nature most of the time I had good ones …like right now my dream was pretty harmless. It was a bright sunny afternoon and I had just arrived from home from school, my backpack laden with books. Well isn't this pretty…My house…if you asked me about it I could tell you everything about it...it looked the same it always had. For an instant I felt like I was home all over again and my current situation was just a vision that rolled around in my head while I was in a coma or something. Everything in this dream happened like a movie, I was living the American dream…that was until my parents arrived and the dream turned bad. Not right away…it was slow at first then escalated. My brain played a montage of images that made no sense. Some were from the present, past, and future and they just switched places back and forth. It seemed like my subconscious made up its mind and stopped as they hauled me into Lab 7 for the first time…kicking, screaming, and cursing…favoring the "f" word. Everything was new and foreign to me and it was beginning to look like a bad teen Sci-Fi novel…nothing like this should happen to me? What did I ever do? Mom? Dad? Where are they? Let me go! I'm not supposed to be here….I told myself that for a very long time…hoping against all odds that my parents would be there to bail me out…I'm not supposed to be here…..I'm not….I"M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!
I opened my eyes quickly and sat up with a start. My headache was at it again and I didn't bother to try and soothe it. I gripped my sheets tightly, as sharp knocks on the door startled me. My fur bristled and I growled. Reluctantly I slid out of bed and answered the door.
"What do you want?" I asked sleepily.
"I came here to give you your next assignment," Kane said handing the envelope out to me. I plucked it from her fingers and opened it. Anxious to get my brain focused on something else.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said wiping away two small tears that had perched themselves on the corners of my eyes.
"It's getting to you isn't it?" she asked as I leafed through the contents.
"What?" I asked distractedly.
"Your job…your line of work?"
"Oh no…I just had a bad dream, that's all," I replied.
"Do those happen often?" she asked.
"Nope, not often."
"You mean you don't dream about the people you capture?"
"No, not really…" I sighed and leaned in the doorway…looking at the targets photo, then crossing my arms. "In all honesty…Kane, I don't dream about them, because I don't really care what happens to them. They're a job like anything else…it's better if you don't think of them as individuals or as people for that matter." There was a long pause and I waited for a rebuttal or a slap in the face, but none came. Kane gave me a look of disgust and stormed off. I smiled and looked through the papers and whistled, "Well that shut her up quick." I closed the door and sighed again throwing the envelope on my bed and laying on top of it. The room was quieter than usual and I turned my head to see that Raf wasn't there. His puzzle books were laying there scattered in all directions. What I told Kane was a lie just to get her to leave. I think that little bit about me not thinking of the targets as humans, was a little over the top. But hey she already thought I was a cold heartless cad anyway.
In actuality I DID dream about the targets we captured, mostly the ones that I had some relationship with, like Card. But I didn't let my work get to me...there was nothing I could do. I had to keep playing Jeb's sick little game and keep playing and pretending to play until the very end. I got up, collected the envelope and left the room in search of Raf. I had a good idea of where he was. So I headed towards the parking deck on the lower floors. Jeb was right about the experiments being tougher than anything we had faced and unfortunately none of them came quietly. This also caused damage to our lovely vehicle. After our first mission we had gone through several more cars borrowing them from various labs in the areas we were stranded in. After our sixth replacement Chase, the happy eraser, put his foot down and told us that this one was our last car so if it got destroyed we were going to have to walk from now on. As I made my way to an elevator I heard some commotion in a hallway not to far away. I poked me head around the corner. There were several Erasers at the scene shouting and cursing, an experiment squirming in their grip. I quickly moved on and made it to the parking deck. Raf's feet were sticking out from under the car and a bunch of tools were scattered sloppily beside him. He obviously was never taught organization. I kicked his shoe and he slid out, his face and claws were dirty.
"Hello there…have a nice nap?" he asked.
"It was okay." Raf grabbed a tool and crawled back under.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm fixing the car what does it look like I'm doing. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be fighting with Kane or something?"
" I guess…but I made her mad so she left me alone. She came by and dropped off another assignment envelope."
"Who's our next victim?"
I pulled out the data sheet and rattled off the details, "Real name, Sonya Murdock, type…bird kid…specialty …unknown?"
"That's creepy," Raf remarked.
"Yeah, it was like that time we got that one experiment…Bones…we never did catch him did we?"
"No, that was the night, that other experiment was caught," Raf replied. "Anyways she was last sighted in a town outside of Death Valley…she's close…that's creepy too. Maybe she has a personal vendetta with one of the Whitecoats here. To bad we are going to have too put a stop to it."
"Yeah too bad," Raf mused.
I sighed and looked at the photo "She's kind of cute."
"Uh huh…" Raf said ignoring me. "That should do it…" He crawled out and began to clean up.
"Where did you get those tools?" I asked
"Chase gave them to me."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Why do you care so much about this thing it's not even yours?"
Raf looked a little hurt, "Because…I like this car, regardless wither its mine or not. Plus we need a form of transportation and I will be darned if it breaks down or does anything funky while we're on the road."
I held up my hands "Okay, okay, just asking."
Raf snorted "Are you hungry?"
"Yeah…you?"
"Uh huh"
"Alright then let's go get some food." I said...

After eating and getting a good night sleep, Raf and I headed for the parking deck first thing in the morning, to get a jump on our new assignment. Much to our surprise and my displeasure, Kane was waiting by the car with her notebook, disdainful stare and travel attire.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. She turned her nose up at me and kept her chin high.
"Jeb wants another report…to see how you apply your new skill," she said her voice taut and airy, with an underlying layer of restrained malice.
"Okay," I said shrugging dismissively." Hop in." We drove to the small town indicated on the information sheet and on the way Raf and I discussed strategy…which only took about two minutes. We agreed on fighting Sonya on the ground as much as possible and confronting her head on, regardless of the number one collector rule: don't make a scene…because it never worked. Kane was unusually quiet; I guess my remark earlier really upset her. I would have to make it up to her some how. Although the thought of doing something for her made me not even want to try. Raf pulled into a small parking lot and parked.
"Alright, Kane you stay here with the car. One of us will call you when we need you," I said.
"Make sure to contact me as soon as you sight the target. Jeb wants a very detailed report," Kane said.
"Okay."
Raf and I stepped out and walked toward the streets." Man you must have said something pretty bad," Raf remarked as we walked. "She had the social skills of a clam." "Yeah…I'll have to apologize to her or something" I mumbled. "Hey maybe we should set a new record for shortest capture."
Raf made a smirk, "Yeah."
We stepped onto the sidewalk and the search ended just as soon as we began when the ground began to shake beneath our feet……

What a time for an earthquake, but then again it just comes with the territory. Raf and I struggled to keep our balance as a large crack lacerated the asphalt. People were running around screaming with hysteria. I think we were the stupid ones …just standing there in the middle of the street. However something was off about this quake. On average earthquakes don't last very long but this one was going on five minutes. Suddenly the earth opened up under me. I quickly reached out and grabbed a chunk of the street, but broke in my hands and I continued to fall, but I was suddenly stopped as Raf grabbed my arm. I looked down in the pit bellow. It was dark and I suspected that I would've gone "crunch" if I had fallen. Then a flash of movement caught my eye. It was fast what ever it was and big too. Raf heaved and pulled me up back onto the street.
"You okay?"
"Uh huh," I said looking down into the hole. Then just as suddenly as it began everything was still and not a person in sight.
"What's wrong?" Raf asked.
"Something's down there," I said, "Something BIG." The ground wretched in a single violent jolt, knocking us off our feet, and buildings started to fall apart. More cracks marred the street and the ground exploded beneath us, sending us high into the air and then crashing to the ground. I hit the street hard on my shoulder and rolled. I heard the sound of screeching metal as Raf grasped a lamp post and slid down it, claws embedded on either side. Dirt rained down on top of me and so did a few rocks, fortunately none of them were big. Then the shaking stopped again. Large clouds of dust fogged up the air making it difficult to see, but I knew something came out of that explosion. I shook my self off like a dog and got to my feet. Raf joining me a few seconds later. I rotated my shoulder …it seemed to be okay. It was tingling; my special ability was taking affect.
"What—."
"Shh." I said. A low growl could be heard from behind the shroud of dust and then snorting noises, along with the thick whooshing sound of something large and heavy, being swung. I swallowed hard and my worst fears were confirmed as the dust cleared.
"Gozbud," I breathed. He was bigger than I remembered, and he looked different too, but his eyes and the way he waved his tail was all the evidence I needed. His skin color was different, muddy green, patched dark brown. Large spikes pierce his back and huge plates of hardened skin covered his back, forearms, and shoulders. His hands and feet were no longer webbed and his claws hard grown to enormous proportions and looked like they were used specifically for digging as well as hacking and slashing. Gozbud's head hadn't changed much and still had the forward facing eyes and crocodilian snout. He glared at us for a minute his eyes burning with anger.
" PC it's nice to see you again," he said. I don't know why he said "nice" because it was evident he didn't look very happy to see me.
"You escaped?" I said.
"No…someone let me go…"
"Lilac"
" Yeath the she-wolf," he said.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be back east telling everyone you are okay?"
" I am going to do that, but after I take care of you," he growled.
"Listen Gozbud, We can talk this out," I said nervously. Trust me if you were standing there with me in front of him you wouldn't want to fight him either.
" No we can't …you killed my brother there is nothing to explain…Lilac made you confess. You also had me captured and LOOK AT WHAT THEY'VE DONE!" Gozbud turned and swung his tail. Raf and I dodged it and we watched as it slammed into a building and demolished it. Good thing there were no people around. I bet Gozbud created the quake to empty the area.
"Raf, I need you to do something for me," I said transforming. "Call Kane…We're going to need her and whatever you do stay out of this."
"You got it," he said, then ran off to find a safe spot. I bounded forward and on all fours and dodged Gozbud's tail a second time, and then clinked to it. Gozbud whipped it around in the air trying to shake me off. I jumped onto his shoulders before he could slam me into anything. I barely avoided being skewered, by his spikes, then sunk my teeth into his skin, but it didn't draw blood and Gozbud just moaned in annoyance. Frustrated, I bit down as hard as I could and this time he felt it. Gozbud roared furiously and grabbed me, his animosity building. Before I knew it, I was heading straight for his mouth. Desperate, I grabbed his lower and upper jaw and held them. He roared and tried tossing his head. I buried my claws into his skin to get a better grip.
"You're not going….to ….eat…me." I grunted. I looked into his Gozbud's eyes he was furious. I felt his fingers begin to tighten around my torso and it was becoming difficult to breath. "You can squeeze…. me all you …WANT…I'm…not …letting go." Man his breath was rank, what ever he had been eating he was eating it raw. Suddenly a chunk of asphalt broke on the side of his head. Gozbud dropped me and turned angrily on Raf. I breathed heavily gulping for air. "
PC! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Kane's voice echoed. I moved away quickly as a large net came whooshed over me head and knocked Gozbud off his feet. Another nifty piece of equipment that we kept in the car, it was used for larger experiments and was strong enough to restrain two elephants. I walked up to Gozbud as he thrashed around in vain.
"Come on, don't bother," I said. "Nothing has been able to break this net."
"You miserable maggot…nothing can hold me."
"There is no need to call me names Gozbud…I need you to under stan—." One of Gozbud's hands wriggled free.
"I understand plenty," he said maliciously, throwing me like a rag doll, and I slammed into Raf. Then we watched as Gozbud pulled the net apart with his bare hands.
"This is not…good," I said stating the obvious, "We need to get out of here…while we still can."
"I concur." Raf tensely.
"GOZBUD!" another voice shouted. It was firm and authoritative. He turned his head angrily and then his expression softened as a young girl with dark hair dotted with black feathers walked casually down the road towards us. Mercy? What was she doing here?...

Today was just full of surprises…unfortunately none them were good. There was no sign of our real target and I had feeling we would never even see her. If she was taking residence in this town, she probably had booked it by now and I was going to have to hear about it when I returned to the School empty handed. Gozbud seemed happy to see Mercy…was this a set up?
Mercy stopped beside him, "Hello Gozbud, I'm glad to see that you are alright….sort of."
Gozbud growled softly, "Yes, once I am finished here I plan to return…What about you? What are you doing here?"
"I would like to know too," I said crossing my arms over my chest. Mercy smiled at me and pulled her lighter out and began to play with it in her hands.
"My business is with you…PC," she said conversationally. This was definitely odd. Mercy and I didn't really have a close relationship so for her to expend the time and energy to seek me out was irregular.
"Is that so," I said.
"Yes…You're a very hard person to track and I see you have done plenty of damage since you left the Network."
"I never left the Network…I was removed."
"That's one clever way of putting it. But no matter how you say it… the fact remains that you are no longer one of us and work for Jeb now."
"Let's quit the small talk, Mercy. What do you want?" I asked impatiently.
She raised an eyebrow. "I have been charged with getting rid of you."
"Whose order was that? Reynard's?"
"No" she said calmly, putting her lighter away and folding her hands in front of her. "It was Breeaka's." The revelation was startling and I felt a tightness in my chest. At that instant a part of me just dissolved and for once I felt even more alone than I had ever felt.
"No! I don't believe you," I said.
"It's true, PC. I didn't travel over a thousand miles ON FOOT to tell you a lie…Now I must complete my mission."
Gozbud snapped, "He's mine. He killed my brother!"
"GOZBUD!" I shouted. "I didn't kill your brother."
"You lie! Lilac made you confess!"
"That was a-a lie," I said.
"RARRRHHH! Another lie and for what to save your own skin."
"Come on Gozbud! Do you think you would've had the guts to tell someone that to their face?"
"If you didn't kill Lyle…than who?"
"It was me," Raf admitted. "Guilty as charged."
"You?" Gozbud said. "Some skinny little nobody?" Raf didn't seem to take offense to the remark and said nothing more. He kept looking at Mercy. I don' know why. It was like he was trying to figure something out. Mercy seemed to eye him analytically too.
"It was an accident…Lyle was never supposed to die that day," I said defensively. "And you were never supposed to be captured." There was silence. I was hoping that I was getting through to him.
"I don't believe you!" Gozbud thundered. "Even if it is true…how can I believe anything you say…PC you have changed. You're a full fledged liar…you may not see it but you are just as low as Jeb, perhaps even worse. You tell lies to protect yourself and you tell lies to protect the wrong kind of people. You're a hypocrite."
"WHAT-DOES-IT-MATTER!" I shouted angrily. "Your brother is dead and there is nothing you, I or anyone else here that can change it! I didn't join the School just because I got bored and decided to see what it would be like to be a bad guy for a while!"
"I've heard enough! I kill you and your little friend!" Gozbud roared and was about to charge forward when Mercy stood in his path. "Out of my way!"
Mercy cocked her head and narrowed her eyes, her voice became dark "This is official business now, stay out of it…if it pleases you …I will let you have what's left of him." Gozbud looked shaken and slightly afraid of Mercy, who was half his size and not nearly as strong. He nodded and backed away. A tranquilizer gun cocked behind me
"Kane, lower your weapon," I said making a lowering gesture with my hand, not taking my eyes off of Mercy. Thankfully she listened to me.
"Raf," I whispered.
"Yes?"
"Stay out of this…it could get messy."
"Oh I assure you, PC it will get messy," Mercy said. She shot here left arm forward and I felt an unseen force grab my spinal cord. I cried out and fell to my knees, as it threatened to tear it out of me. I had to block Mercy out and quick, if not… she was going to pop me like a zit. The pain escalated as it traveled to my brain. I held my head and I saw both of Mercy's arms outstretched, her fingers tucked into tight fists. I held up my hand to Raf, who was about to make a move.
"Wait," I said my voice strained. The pain was the first hurdle…it's a powerful deterrent. Gradually, I blocked it out, telling myself that there was no pain and searched for Mercy's consciousness that had temporarily merged into my own. Then a mental tug-of- war began, Mercy's telepathy was incredibly strong. I growled aloud and gnashed my fanged teeth, it seemed to help. I heard Mercy start to groan as my resistance grew stronger. Her nails began to dig into her palms then I let out a feral roar merged with a shrill bird cry and Mercy screamed in pain, falling backwards. Gozbud growled menacingly but didn't attack. Then Mercy slowly got up after a few minutes and she looked very displeased.
"You telepaths think you're so great…" I said getting to my feet as well. "You think the world is your toy…well how does it feel to be beat at your own game?" Mercy coughed and spit up some blood then wiped her mouth.
"PC…there is more to me than my telepathy." She suddenly broke into a run, coming at me with incredible speed and I readied myself to stop her. Mercy grabbed two chunks of asphalt and hurled them at me expertly. I caught one and swatted the other away. Before I knew it, she was right on top of me and unleashed a punishing kick into my stomach. I grunted and slid back a few feet. Then she was on to me again, coming at me with quick jabs and kicks. From a distance she didn't look all that animated. I caught Mercy's leg and pushed her back. She fell to the ground and took the opening, coming at her on all fours. Then I jumped high into the air and brought my fist down, which missed her head as she rolled away. Mercy made a lifting gesture and two huge chunks of earth rose and came barreling towards me. I ducked from one and got smacked by the other. She continued to hurl things at me using her telepathy and I dodged them. Mercy tried getting inside my head twice, but I effectively barred her from my thoughts. I started throwing things at Mercy, but she blocked them and sent them right back at me. Frustrated, I hurled as many objects at her as I could at once, hoping that while she was distracted with blocking them, I could get closer to her. BIG mistake! As the projectiles came at her Mercy didn't bother blocking them like I had hoped and teleported instead. She instantly appeared behind me and planted her heel in the side of my face, sending me flying. I tried getting to my feet quickly to counter, but she had disappeared again.
"You're no match for me, PC. I'm too quick for you… even if I can't read your mind or control you." My eyes scanned my surroundings trying to track her movements. But as soon as I caught a glimpse of her, she would vanish. I thought I would never say this but,
"Quit fooling around and fight me!" I snarled.
"As you wish," she said sweetly. Suddenly a huge chunk of road came falling from the sky. It fell on top of me and knocked the wind out of me. But this was no problem; I had been trapped under things worse than this hunk of asphalt. So I began to push it off when a pain pulsed from my leg. From what I could see a piece of metal or something had pierced my calf muscle and had pinned me there. I gently began to push anyway, but the chunk of road was becoming drastically heavier than it should have been. Mercy stood over me her hand extended. Little witch, she was using her powers to make the object heavier than I could lift. "It's been fun…PC. Just to let you know this isn't anything personal...It's strictly business."….

Uh…not again! She's got him pinned. What do I do? I know that sounds like a real stupid question. You'd think the answer would be obvious. But there was something about Mercy. Something…familiar. I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the moment, but I knew there was a strange connection between us. Every time I stared at her it felt as if a thousand needles were shoved into my stomach. Who was she? She knew PC and she was about to crush him like an egg. PC grunted as he struggled against Mercy's telepathic power, which held him down.

She's suffocating me ….not only is she using her telepathy ,she's standing on top of me.
"How does it feel to get beat at your own game?" Mercy asked mockingly. I couldn't afford to upset her.
"It's very humbling….what was I thinking trying to fight you?" A shadow moved not to far away and I held my breath, had she noticed. Mercy chuckled softly and slammed her foot on the piece of road that had my leg pierced. I yelped.
"Flattery only gets you so far with me, PC…now that you have come to your senses. Will you lay down die?"
I shook my head, "Sorry, I can't do that yet, Mercy." Suddenly, a shard of glass zipped threw the air and struck Mercy's outstretched arm. She screamed in pain and surprise then whirled around to face her attacker. Raf was a few feet away with glass shards flanking him.
"So you want to play with me too? Little nobody?" she said, picking things up with her mind. Raf snapped the glass to into tinier pieces.
"I was feeling left out."

Familiar to me or not I wasn't going to let her kill the only friend I ever had. If I hadn't known PC for as long as I have, I might've had the gall to leave, but PC had risked his neck several times for me…so why not return the favor once again. My wings were aching even though I never flew with them unless I needed to and that was just as infrequent…because of the Whitecoat's warning. To prevent me from giving in to temptation I had wrapped my wings with bandages to keep them closed. Mercy turned to look at me; she yanked the shard of glass out of her arm and picked up larger projectiles. I swallowed…she's scary.
"I was feeling left out," I said quietly.
"Well then I will be happy to oblige," Mercy said to me. Instantly she hurled the levitating objects at me. I brought up the glass quickly to protect myself, as I expected it broke into smaller piece and I sent them at her. We continued to throwing things at each other with increasing speed. But it was difficult for me to dodge the objects that got through my glass shield. Remember I don't have telepathy, all I have is my glass. As long as there was glass around I could fight her and have a fair chance of winning. I needed to get closer though…no one ever won a battle from afar expect telepaths and people with guns. I ran at Mercy, shards flanking me and swung my right hand. The glass darted forward swarming like a bunch of angry hornets. While she was occupied I gained distance and swung my left. Mercy cried out in surprise as more than hundred a shards raked across her body. For some reason I didn't have the heart to run her through with them. Mercy sat there on her knees panting, scratches and cuts bleeding.
"Are you finished?" I asked …I didn't want to hurt her.
Mercy gave me a murderous stare and unsteadily rose, "I take it back… your not a skinny nobody….You're a stupid nobody." There was the sound of ripping cloth as two wings erupted from Mercy's back.
"I only keep these in case of an emergency." NO! Not an air battle. …..Fine…I have to take a chance. I reached back and pulled the bandages off and extended my wings.
"So do I," I said. We both took to the air…..

I told him to stay out of this….but I would have probably done the same. Now that Raf had Mercy distracted, I could take care of myself. Slowly I began to left the hunk of road off of me…I felt my muscles trembling as I attempted to move it. Kane came to my side.
"PC are you alright?"
"Help me….get this….thing…off," I said through my teeth. Kane grabbed a hold and began to push. But it was still incredibly heavy.
"Alright…alright…Place it down gently…I need a break." I laid back for a minute panting.
"Is anything broken?" Kane asked.
"Besides my pride…no."
"Okay, let's try again," she suggested. We tried again pushing as hard as we could. Suddenly, Gozbud let out a ferocious roar and came charging at us like a huge tank with teeth. Kane quickly grabbed the Trapper gun and shot another net at Gozbud.
"Kane!" I shouted irritably. In her move to slow Gozbud down, she let go of the piece of road and left me to hold it up. My arms were shaking and my elbows were against the ground. Kane dropped the Trapper and helped me put it down again. I laid back to pant so more.
"You know that net won't hold him for long," I said. No sooner had I said it we heard Gozbud rip the net apart.
"Quick help me get this thing off…Kane…KANE!"
"Give me your arm," she said.
"What why?"
"Shut your trap and hold out your arm "she said crossly. I extended my left. Kane took it in her hands and ran her fingers across it as if searching for a vein. I cried out as she sunk her teeth into my arm, drawing blood. WHAT WAS SHE DOING? She let go, just as I yanked my arm away. I looked up at her confused.
"Are you crazy? What are trying to do!" I shouted. Kane shakily got up and stood in front of me.
"I'm protecting you," she said. Gozbud roared and was approaching quickly. Kane hunched over and began to sway awkwardly, her skin becoming pale. Then I heard the all too familiar sound of joints cracking and rearranging themselves. Muscle began to swell under Kane's skin and she screamed falling on to her knees. Then she started to grow in size and became more beast like. When the transformation ended, Kane, if she stood on her hind legs was as tall as Gozbud and was covered is steely gray fur. She had a wolf's tail and lion's head…her grey wings were now tuffs of feathers between her shoulders, her body was lean and muscular and her eyes were bright orange. Kane looked incredibly lethal and even Gozbud stopped in his tracks at the very sight of her. She growled at him, her large canines bared, and ears flat against her skull. Kane paced in front of me snarling and gnashing her teeth, her tail raised, one of the wolf's signs of aggression. Gozbud growled back at Kane and swayed his tail slapping it on the ground, hissing. Kane roared, which sounded like a variety of animal sounds merged into one, deafening and intimidating sound.
"You don't scare me, little girl" Gozbud said. "PC is mine to dispose of." Kane crouched down and extended her retraceable claws.
"Come and take him from me then," she said, her voice was deeper and distorted by the growls in her throat. I felt stupid and very small at this point, trapped under this mix of concrete and debris. While Kane stood there guarding me as a ferocious monster of some kind, all that ferocity and power from my blood. I realized then… that I had horribly underestimated her……