Chapter 2: Start Spreadin' the News
It was a cold night in the city, it had rained earlier but the sky was now clear and full of stars, steam was still rising from the manholes and storm drains. The alley was dark and uninviting, full of abyssal shadows. There was no one around in this part of town late at night.
Vikki Foster shivered and blew into her clasped hands while she waited, although she could barely feel her toes any more, she did her best not to stamp her feet, lest it attract attention to her presence here. Once a biologist with Doctoral Degree, and working on a top secret government project. Now, she was on the run and living on the streets.
In the wake of the death of Patrick Ross, Eve's had regenerated and subsequently escaped into the world, everything had gone wrong for all of them after that.
Dr. Laura Baker, her former Project lead, had been right to try and blow the whistle, but her attempt had gone horribly wrong leading to a gun battle in the capitol a dead journalist and her being branded a traitor, along with Press Lennox and a former Mexican cop who was somehow involved.
Vikki had to admit, she hadn't fared much better, suspicion had fallen on everyone that worked closely with Dr Baker ever since the incident. Her colleague, Bria LeCadieux had also been hounded by the government to the point she eventually went to live with her extended family in Birmingham, over in England. Last Vikki knew, Bria was still under strict NDA and monitored via the embassy over there.
Vikki had stuck it out the longest, having transferred out to the site of the original Sil Project, the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, but things had only gone from bad to worse.
She hadn't been there long before she noticed something wasn't right, sensitive materials related to the project were being closed off and shipped out, the science staff were all on edge. At first she had simply suspected that the project was being mothballed and tied off as Burgess's Operation Medusa came to the fore. She initially thought they would all, soon, be looking for other jobs, but then, after working late one night she had come face to face with her.
A glass fronted office overlooked the main lab floor that once held the first Sil, it was once the office of Xavier Fitch, the project director. The new director was a man named Karl Nolan, not a particularly talented scientist, more of a bureaucrat. Vikki took her work seriously, and had stayed late one evening in "The Pod" developing an analysis report of the alien genome found on Mars, compared to the one from the SETI transmission, as had been her assignment.
The Pod was once Sil's enclosure had been converted into a closed Biohazard containment area within the lab, set up to safely handle the alien genome. Upon finishing up and scrubbing out, she had looked up through the director's office window and unexpectedly made eye contact with the woman who was looking down over the lab.
At first Vikki thought it was Eve, having dyed her hair black, but quickly realized it wasn't her at all. It would be impossible for Eve to have tattoos, her alien physiology would register the ink as a foreign body and reject it… and those eyes, one deep blue, the other a striking hazel, both seemed to pierce into her soul.
Whoever she was, Nolan was talking to her as if she was in charge. Vikki saw her turn, put a hand on his shoulder, whispering something in his ear, and then she walked away, leaving Nolan alone in his office looking troubled.
After that, a strange Albino man named Quinn had appeared in the facility, usually in Nolan's office. Vikki had no idea whether Quinn was his first name or his last name. He was tall and well built, but always wearing black and had a brooding demeanor. Though he never spoke to Vikki, he often watched her and the others from the office window, and gave her the creeps.
It was only when project staff began mysteriously "Transferring Out" with no prior warning, that Vikki knew it was time for her to leave. Vikki suspected that a new interest was taking over the project from the top down, and it was time to finish what Laura had started before the whole thing led to another tragedy. To do this, she needed an insurance policy.
The small amount of research data Vikki had managed to smuggle on a flash drive may not be enough on its own… She needed the Helix Shard.
The Helix Shard was under special containment in the lab, only Nolan and the core research team knew of its existence, and it was part of her compositional analysis into the Mars strain.
It had been recovered from one of Patrick Ross's Martian bore samples and was likely what had caused his alien infection and subsequent transformation. A small, dark, triple spiral shaped object which periodically emitted a faint green glow from within its vented coils. It was her ticket out, and her way of finishing what Laura had started.
Using a handheld 3D scanner she smuggled into the Lab, Vikki scanned and recreated the Helix Shard using her 3D printer at home. She had replaced the duplicate in hopes it would buy her some time, but that wasn't to be. Shortly thereafter, her home had been raided by none other than Quinn and his associates, her credentials had been voided and she had been forced to live on the run.
It had quickly become clear that the government weren't the only one's after her. She had managed to avoid them in Utah, Arizona, and then again in Louisiana, but they were getting closer.
Vikki made her way to New York, and had been here for six months, Vikki knew the city, she was born here and lived here until she was 12, however, Living on the street was a whole new ball game. No phone, no ID, no ties to anyone, it had been the only way to keep off their radar, but something had to give. So a week ago, she had begun approaching a journalist with the New York Time's Optic Investigation team.
Her only way out of this was to try and blow the whistle herself, Optic had a top forensic and digital analysis team that could verify the data she had collected as well as testing the Helix Shard to confirm the presence of an alien genetic sample.
Vikki would be able to walk them through the handling of the Shard and her story outlining Project Athena, Sil, Eve, the ill fated Excursion mission and subsequent compartmentalization of the project would take care of the rest.
She had names, dates, analysis and research data. It was her only hope to get out ahead of this. They had initially been skeptical, understandably so, but through tenacity, she had connected enough dots between the death of Sampas, Ross, the missing women around Washington DC and the gun fight on Capitol Hill to convince them.
She had arranged to meet them here tonight, and after handing over the Helix Shard and a copy of her evidence, they had agreed to take her to one of their safe houses until the evidence could be verified… which she knew it would. Truth be told, she was looking forward to being rid of the damn thing once and for all.
During her time on the run and on the streets, Vikki had learned things she never imagined she would have to, like the meaning of Hobo Glyph symbols for where there is a safe camp, good water, where to avoid danger, where small jobs may be found and many more.
The one's in this alley said "Safe Camp" but there wasn't anyone around right now. Right in the center of the alley was a beautifully created, 9ft graffiti image of a hooded woman with wings. The wings did not have feathers, but instead consisted of biting rats, the woman's hands were razor sharp talons dripping blood.
There was a small offering of canned food and some alcohol on the ground beneath the graffiti. Of course Vikki had heard the stories, she had lived among the homeless in the city for months. Even in the darkest and most frightening parts of the city, and its labyrinth of underground tunnels, wherever the "Angel of Vermin" sign was painted really was a safe place, for she would tolerate no uninvited agitators.
Some people claimed to have seen this "Angel" and described her in such a way that reminded Vikki of Eve, but it couldn't be Eve, no matter how much Vikki wanted it to be, this urban legend had been around for years before Eve was created.
Unless of course Eve had found her way into the city, seen the graffiti and decided to take on the mantle, some of the science staff and even the women on guard duty would sometimes bring in comic books and newspapers for Eve, all of which she would enjoy. The thought of it made Vikki chuckle a little.
Vikki and Bria had worked closely with Eve during the run of the vulnerability tests. Mainly their duties involved monitoring her vitals and managing her medication levels to keep her alien side in check. She would regularly talk to them, ask them about the outside world, she even developed a cheeky sense of humor at times and would make them laugh.
Each one of the scientists in that Lab had come to hate what they were doing to her, she was innocent.
Vicki had eventually come to hate herself as a result. Torturing an innocent person, and that what she was, a person, wasn't what Vikki signed up for. It wasn't lost on Vikki that a need for redemption had set both herself and Dr Baker on this road. Albeit separately.
As Vikki stared up at the strangely talented vandalism, she kept thinking of Eve. Part of her wondered where she was now, whether she was still alive, and whether she had found any semblance of peace. Eve… girl, wherever you are, I hope you're doing better than me, and Laura, I'm doing this for you too…hopefully soon we can all put this behind us she thought as she blew into her hands again and looked at her cracked watch.
Vikki knelt down between two dumpsters and waited, this position should give her a good view of the alley to see if they were alone.
Detective Nathaniel Ward of the NYPD's Major Crimes squad pulled out another cigarette while he waited, the two men with him were not cops, Yuri Kuznetsov and Kirill Nikolaev were Vor V Zakone and two of the most ruthless hitmen in the city, and this was a job that needed pro's.
For the most part, he was a good cop, he did his job, but he had been on the job long enough to become disillusioned. He had joined up full of idealism about cleaning up the streets, but over time he had come to realize he was just a guy on clean up duty. The only thing he could do was keep the gradual extinction of the human race as orderly as possible. Why not make some good money in the process.
That's why he was out here in the middle of the goddamn night with these two men, these two men with vicious reputations, and not at home in bed with Debra, his wife of fifteen years.
Word had come down from the big man, Viktor Nikoliev, Kirill's older brother and one of the biggest underworld heads in the city, that two journalists with the New York Times's Optic investigative team were about to meet a source, someone who could break a big scandal.
Evidently, someone in either a high place, or in a low one, Ward knew better than to look, didn't want that information coming to light. Moreover, this "Source" was a woman named Vikki Foster, a former biologist apparently. Ward knew better than to look too deeply at any of the parties involved. He knew she may be carrying information in the form of a flash drive and also another object of great value to whoever wanted this done. They were to retrieve everything and clean the scene. Ward wasn't stupid, he knew someone had likely approached Viktor to take care of this so they could keep their own hands clean, someone with deep pockets.
"What is this thing we gotta find?" asked Nikolaev. "Dunno what it is, but Viktor said that it should be in a small plastic container and not to touch it with your bare hands".
The three of them didn't talk much, but all conversation died into complete silence as the hour approached.
Sure enough, at midnight, a saloon car came slowly by, turned, and parked down the street near the docks.
The three of them watched closely as two men got out, the older man was Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Ramos, the younger man with him was another member of the Optic team, Henry Reeve.
Ward and the others watched as the two men crossed the street and disappeared behind one of the disused buildings.
"Ok, Yuri, go around the other side, make sure they don't get out that way" Without a word, Kuznetsov got out of the car, looked around and quietly made his way to the other side of the building where the only other exit to the alley could be found. "Alright it's showtime" Ward said, as he reached across Kirill to open the glove box, where he kept his separate pistol, a "Ghost Gun" with 3D manufactured parts and completely untraceable.
Kirill pulled out his own, the latest full auto version of the FGC-9 "That's a bit excessive they're only journo's" Ward said, to which Kirill shrugged "That's the idea, spray some bullets around, makes us look like amateurs, common street thugs... I'll even hold it on the side" he explained as he racked the bolt. Ward sighed, he was right, Ward had enough years looking at Crime scenes to figure out something like that, but a lesser detective would think exactly what Kirill wanted them to think, and start looking at local street gangs. Someone making their bones or something.
"Well, come on, let's get this done". Ward said. They both exited the car, and after a brief look around to make sure the area was quiet, they made their way across the street and followed the two journalists down the alley.
John Ramos had been a reporter for over thirty years and had broken some major stories, but this. He had been a personal friend of Edward Jacobi, who had lost his life in an exchange of gunfire in the capitol. Rumour had it, he was indeed working on a big story, and had been intercepted while meeting with his source. Up until now, he didn't know the name of Jacobi's course, but according to his, it was a former renowned molecular biologist by the name of Baker.
The picture this woman had painted had initially seemed completely insane, but she was persistent, and outlined enough names, dates and events for him to think it was worth checking out, tonight she had agreed to bring hard evidence in exchange for safety, to which he had agreed.
If her evidence checked out, this story would be bigger than anything he had ever investigated before, a secret government program in collusion with the old SETI institute had actually been experimenting with Alien technology, several unsolved murders in Los Angeles years ago, more unsolved murdered in DC more recently, and the sudden, tragic deaths of two of the Mars Excursion mission crew.
They had found something up there, something dangerous, something that could potentially change the way humans viewed themselves and their place in the universe… something deadly that the government was warned about but chose to go ahead, putting the lives of everyone on earth at risk.
In the last few years, there had been congressional hearings regarding recovered alien technology, but no hard evidence had been presented to coincide with the accounts. If he could break this, it would make every political scandal for the past twenty years look like a sideshow.
"Listen, Henry, she doesn't know you and she's very nervous, so let me do the talking OK?" Ramos said as they walked. The younger man had only just finished his internship and was eager to make his bones "Why would she wanna meet us down here, you hear about the shit that goes on in this neighborhood?" the younger man was clearly nervous, jumping at shadows. "If you're afraid of a little darkness, then you're in the wrong business, kid" Ramos grinned "But this is some ugly shit she's selling, if her evidence is legit, it's gonna cause some serious damage".
Ramos thought for a moment, the kid was right, if this story turned out to be legitimate, there was no telling how far the ripples from tonight's meeting would go "I know, and I also know that Eddie Jacobi likely died over this same story, this is what we do, Kid, you understand? We shine a spotlight into the shadows and expose what happens there, now relax".
They turned a corner and made their way down the length of the alley to a small recessed area in the center, there was no one around and the area was quiet.
"Ms Foster, it's John Ramos and Henry Reeve from Optic". A few moments later, a woman with long brown hair and wearing a tattered winter coat stood from between two dumpsters and cautiously approached them.
Both men took out their Press ID's and the woman inspected both cards thoroughly. "Ms Foster, we're ready to see what you've got for us and take your statement, then I can get you to a safe house I have set up for confidential sources such as yourself.
The woman seemed to relax a little "You can call me Vikki" she said quietly. "Ok, Vikki, we're ready to hear what you have to tell us, we gather you brought something to back up your story". Vikki lifted a lanyard around her neck attached to the end was a flash drive. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small plastic container, and handed it to Ramos.
He held it up to the moonlight, a palm sized object with a triple helix shaped, vented spiral, as he held his hand near it, a faint green bioluminescence emitted from between the spirals. "What you're holding in your hand" Vikki began "was found inside one of the bore samples taken by Patrick Ross on the Martian surface… we call it the Helix Shard".
Henry put on his glasses and looked closely at the shard, Vikki continued "When you test it, you must make sure full biohazard procedures are in place, nobody is to touch it with their bare hands". "What is it, what does it do?" Henry asked. "Patrick Ross and Anne Sampas didn't die in a goddamn plane crash like the papers reported, that thing you're holding in your hand, it changed them, turned them into something…else".
Henry suddenly looked hesitant, he slowly waved his free hand around the shard and noted that the bioluminescence seemed to be following his hand, like the discharge of a kid's plasma ball. The surface of the object seemed to shift slightly, like the chromatophores on the skin of a cuttlefish "Something else?" Ramos said "That's right" Vikki continued "A form of advanced alien life, it has a type of Nano-Morpholgy allowing the species to essentially retain genetic memory within every cell of their body, it also makes them extremophiles, able to adapt rapidly to environmental and other threats''. Ramos clearly didn't do a good job of hiding his lack of understanding, something to which Vikki picked up on "Put simply, these things are near impossible to kill".
"Is that right?" came an accented voice from behind them, Vikki jumped back, Ramos turned to see who spoke, just in time to see Henry's head explode, spraying blood across himself and Vikki.
His ears were ringing as he slumped to his knees next to the corpse of his former intern "Oh God!" he murmured. "I only caught the end of that" came the voice from further up the alley "But he wasn't so impossible to kill". Ramos turned and looked in the direction where the voice came and all he could see was the red tip of a cigarette and the shape of a man in the dark.
Vikki took the opportunity and grabbed the Helix Shard out of Henry's dead hand and ran. The man in the dark didn't react to her making a break for it, he only stood there, taking another drag on the cigarette.
Ramos heard another two shots from somewhere behind him, followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. There was a long silence which was soon broken by the sound of a female voice whimpering.
"P… Please…" Ramos uttered. "So, who else knows? Your editor maybe?" Ramos clocked the Russian accent "W..what?". "You don't know me my friend" the man in the shadows stepped forward, he was big and muscular, with short hair and wearing a sports logo jacket "But I'll give you some advice, don't make me repeat myself"
Ramos thought for a moment, he had kept the source confidential and hadn't approached anyone but Henry about the meeting tonight, the story was too strange and potentially volatile. "No.. nobody, I… I wanted to verify it first".
Ramos heard footsteps approaching from behind him, then a man he knew stepped into the pale moonlight "W..Ward?" he whimpered. Ward wasn't exactly by the book, but he never imagined he might be moonlighting as a gangland executioner.
"Well, consider it verified" Ward said, before Ramos could respond, Ward raised a gun and pulled the trigger.
For John Ramos, Pulitzer prize winning journalist of the New York Times, the light at the end of the tunnel was nothing but a muzzle flare, and the sharply sweet smell of cordite.
Vikki had never been shot before, the pain was immense, burning. She could taste blood in her throat and as a biologist, she knew that was bad.
One of the men stayed near her, but the other walked on up the alley to where she'd left Ramos. She heard a brief exchange that she couldn't make out, then another shot rang out.
Now she heard two sets of footsteps approaching down the alley, coming closer to her. Though Vikki's eyes were full of tears, for the briefest moment, she thought she saw something, a shape, a glint. Something crouched or perched on the corner of the tall disused building to her right, the green glint of two eyes in the dark, staring down at her from above. She blinked her eyes and the shape was gone.
Three faces leaned over her now, uncaring, devoid of emotion. She might as well be a cockroach to these guys. For a brief moment she though is this how Eve used to feel?… oh god I'm so sorry…
The woman known as Nicole "Nikki" Toombs stared out across the vast city, the buildings against the backdrop of a clear night, cold but dry, was beautiful. On nights like this, she usually preferred to stay underground where it was warmer, not that the cold particularly bothered her, but city workers, construction guys had been sniffing around an abandoned building where she had one of her hideouts.
Nikki didn't have many hideouts above ground, but she liked this one and kept several things here in a small stash, hidden inside a brick wall. Books, a few stolen bits of jewelry saved for a rainy day, and something she'd forgotten about, three bottles of beer, conveniently chilled by the cool night air.
In all likelihood the building would soon be refurbished or demolished to make way for something new. A Shame, though this was a rough neighborhood, she liked to sit on top of the building late at night, especially nights like this with a full moon and stars.
The building offered a view out across the water to a shining New York City at night. Sometimes she would even bring company up here, but not tonight. There was only one who she ever brought anywhere and he was preoccupied this evening.
She would likely see him again in the Terminus, a turn of the century chamber located deep beneath Manhattan, part of a mothballed project called "Terminal City". It was perfect, down there was her domain, and it was connected to a labyrinth of old, disused tunnels which she could use to get almost anywhere in the city without being seen.
Nikki had collected the few things she wished to remove from the building and had sat there, taking in the view with one of the beers she had found in her wall stash. She enjoyed these moments to herself.
Nikki closed her eyes and breathed in the cold night air. As she did, she felt herself beginning to drift, she gave herself to it, what was a few minutes rest up here, she would likely never be up here again…
A gunshot rang out, snapping Nikki out of her slumber. It wasn't close, but it was nearby, it came from somewhere near the docks.
Nikki jumped up to her feet and leaned on the railing, peering out across the rooftops… two more gunshots rang out a few moments later.
The alley near the docks, it came from there. That alley was where she had emerged tonight, the manhole in the corner of that alley could be used to re-enter the underground and descend into the tunnels below, from there she would make her way back onto the island of Manhattan.
She took a running leap and let herself sail across to the next building, dashing along the edge until she came to the gap of the next building.
She vaulted up, caught the edge of a broken fire escape and climbed effortlessly to the top. As she hopped over the edge onto the flat rooftop, another shot rang out, Nikki knew it was likely a round. Instinctively, she entered a low, stalking stance as she crossed the rooftop quietly. This building was higher up, but offered a view down into the alley below.
She perched herself like a Raven on the corner and peered down into the alley. To a human, it would look like a black abyss of shadows, but Nikki's eyes were not human eyes, she was something more.
Two smartly dressed men lay dead in a recessed area near the manhole she needed for ingress back into the tunnels below. Several yards away, two men were approaching another and gathering around a third figure bleeding on the ground. She looked like a homeless woman, there was a wild desperation in her eyes as she struggled for breath. The woman's eyes were slowly opening and closing, filled with tears, but for a brief moment, there was eye contact, Nikki saw her pain, her helplessness, her anguish in those eyes and remembered her own, helpless, watching her child burn in a pit of fire.
Then she noticed something else. The woman had something gripped tightly in her hand. A small plastic container with something inside, something she could… feel.
Nikki felt anger bubble up from inside her, her breathing quickened and she seethed as she saw the blood beginning to pool from the woman's abdomen and leg.
She had seen such things before, she had been at the mercy of people like this before and it filled her with a burning rage.
Without giving it any further thought, she vaulted herself over the edge and quietly slid twelve stories down to the alley below.
It was impossible to land without noise, but she landed in the half of the alley shaded from the moonlight. She would make herself known to them first, she wanted them to come to her.
Ignoring the three men with guns several yards away, Nikki strode across the alley and knelt at the foot of the Angel graffiti on the wall. As she did, she knew this side of the alley was illuminated by the pale moonlight and she was visible, it would only be seconds before one or all of the men spotted her, but by this point, she didn't care… they were no longer the most dangerous things in this alley tonight.
She picked up one of the two cans of food, and did something she never usually did. She began reading the ingredients, making a show of inspecting the label, she would linger here until she was spotted, then the night would belong to her!
In her head she began to count, how long will it take for them to spot me and say something... 1 one thousand… 2 one thousand… 3 one thousand… 4 one thousand… 5 one thousand… 6 one thousand… 7 one thousand… c'mon… 8 one thousand… 9 one thousand… 10 one thousand… 11 one thousand…. Should I start fucking whistling?
"HAY!"
About time…
The New York Times hacks were taken care of, they wouldn't be breaking this story, this time the story broke them. Ward grinned at the irony as he made his way back over to way back over to Kirill and the Fallen woman he'd taken down with the FGC-9.
Now the scene was nice and spread out, just like Kirill said, it would look like an amateur, street level job. Now just a quick wrap up, find out if she'd been blabbing to anyone else, get the goods and clean up.
"Let's get this done and go" said Yuri. "Why, you got a hot date or something?" Kirill said and the two of them exchanged a laugh.
"What have you got for us, lady?" Ward gave the woman a slight nudge with his foot. He noticed something in her hand, it looked like the description of the object he'd been given by Viktor. He crouched down beside her and reached for her hand. Even in her state, she maintained a tight grip on whatever the thing was. Ward put his pistol flush to her head and grabbed her wrist "Give it up, come on" he said.
Right at that moment, Yuri turned and looked back up the alley, like he heard something.
"HAY!" he yelled.
Ward looked up, following Yuri's line of sight and saw that there was indeed someone further up the alley, a hooded figure, kneeling down looking at the food that had been left out beneath one of those "Angel" markings. He couldn't quite make the figure out in the pale moonlight, but he saw blonde hair hanging down from the hood. A woman, roughly 5.10".
She wore a long, dark green jacket that he guessed would go all the way down to her ankles were she standing upright, it was ragged and tattered. Some homeless bitch thought now was a wise moment to pop out from under a dumpster and collect some canned food… and actually stick around reading the label.
"Will someone go take care of the Bum?" Ward shouted in an exasperated tone. "Go on Yuri, there's your hot date" Kirill chuckled.
Yuri was on it straight away, he marched over to her yelling something in Russian, clearly pissed off. He reached her, and towered over her, but she seemed to completely ignore him.
Ward looked up again, hearing Yuri shout "You fucking Deaf?" with that he reached down and grabbed the woman by the back of the neck, it was the last thing Ward saw of him.
In the next split second, the woman seemed to turn and lunge upwards in one fluid motion, knocking Yuri's hand away and grabbing him by the throat, taking him off his feet in her momentum.
Yuri's gun discharged twice as he was carried off into the shadows on the opposite side of the alley, back into the area where the two hacks lay with their brains in the gravel.
The next thing that happened was a blood curdling scream and something that rounded like meat being torn, not a woman's voice either, that came from a man…. that was Yuri's voice.
Ward stood and aimed his pistol down the alley "Call out to him" Ward said. Kirill called out to Yuri in Russian, but there was no response.
"For Fuck's sake go find out what he's doing!" Ward yelled. Kirill jogged down the alley and seemed to stop, looking into the shadows, from there he could clearly see something that Ward couldn't.
Kirill unlimbered the FGC-9 and began spraying bursts wildly, muzzle flashes lighting up the dark alley. It wasn't long before Kirill's clip ran dry and he stopped to change mags.
As he did, Ward swore he heard something like a loud hiss. It came from the shadows directly across from where Kirill was standing. Whatever it was, Kirill could see it from where he was and backed up against the far end of the alley still spraying wild bursts from the FGC-9..
He pulled out another clip and slammed it home, he was just about to rack the bolt when something flew out of the recessed area in the alley and hit him square in the chest. Ward heard a disgusting wet crunch as all of Kirill's ribs were destroyed in a single blow.
The thing that hit him bounced and dropped to the floor and made a loud metallic clunk as it spun like a giant coin for a few seconds before coming to rest. Was that a goddamn manhole cover?
Ward racked the slide on his weapon and stepped over the fallen woman on the ground, he aimed into the darkness. He fired a probing shot into the area where the manhole cover had been thrown.
No, that was impossible, nobody and nothing could lift and throw a one hundred and ten pound, cast iron New York City manhole cover like a Frisbee.
He fired three more probing shots into the dark "Shit, shit, shit… Fuck!". Against all his training, all his "extracurricular" experience off the clock, and despite his best efforts, Detective Nathaniel Ward of the Major Crimes division with twenty seven years on the force felt cold panic creeping up his spine.
Right then he saw … her The tall homeless woman with the long green jacket, standing in the alley just a few feet away. He couldn't see her face beneath that tattered dark green hood, only those eyes, glinting a bright, eerie green.
"What the fuck are you!" he shouted as he swung his gun in her direction. She began marching towards him at a quick pace, Ward loosed off one, two, three shots right into her… her forward momentum was unchanged.
She seized him by the arm with a might he'd never known, a second later she delivered a kick to the side of his chest. Everything went white with agony as Ward felt his body go weightless as he was propelled several feet through the air, and then an immense impact as he slammed against a brick wall at chest height before collapsing to the cold ground.
The last thing he registered before everything went black was that the woman was still standing several feet away… holding his bloody, detached arm.
When the older man's body hit the floor, everything was quiet in the alley once again.
Nikki took a breath to calm herself and looked around, involuntarily releasing a deep throated growl as her anger subsided.
This was a mess, what were these guys doing down here just shooting up the alley?
Nikki prized the gun out of the older man's hand and discarded the arm. A modified, ported Glock 21 series with a vented compensator… a bit ostentatious she thought. She also noted that there was no serial number, not filed off, just not there.
Curious, she moved over to the older man, and knelt next to him, trying to avoid the pooling blood near his arm. Quickly locating his wallet. Nikki pulled it out and flipped it open to discover a gold NYPD badge. The ID read Nathaniel Ward, Major Crimes squad dirty bastard!
This would likely bring down unwanted heat. They would find him with the two Russians and wonder who the third party was… but there was no sense worrying about that now. Nikki pocketed the wallet and badge and stood, sliding the gun into her waistband as she did so. She was about to head back to the manhole when the woman on the ground began to gasp…
"Eee….. Eeve…. I… Is that you? ….. Is that r… really you?".
Nikki looked down to see the woman's eyes were wide and staring, full of… was it recognition?
Nikki had a perfect memory, if she'd known this woman, met this woman, even seen her passing in the street, that memory would be there… but no, she had never seen her before.
"Eee Eve….. it is you… you…. remember me… don't you?"
The woman had already lost too much blood, soon her heart would give out and her brain was probably already feeling the effects of an oxygen deficit.
"I…. Ohhh it is you Eve…."
Not knowing what else to do, Nikki knelt beside her.
"It….. its m..me…. Vikki… You remember?". Nikki had no idea who this woman was, or who this Eve was, perhaps a friend or relative she was hallucinating as her brain starved for oxygen.
She was about to say something to the contrary, but these were the woman's last moments in this world, Nikki decided to play into it, give her the comfort she never had.
"Vikki" she whispered "It's ok". The woman smiled, practically beaming with elation and reached up to take Nikki's hand.
Nikki lifted her hand and to her surprise, the woman grabbed her hand with a lot more strength than she anticipated. It was likely a last wind. She felt her thrust something into her palm "E Eve… t.. take this…. It's… up to you now… let the truth come o… out!".
Nikki placed a palm on the woman's face and gently pushed back her matted hair. "I… I'm s… sorry for what we did… Eve… can… can you… forgive me?"
The woman's breathing became more labored now, it wouldn't be long. This woman clearly thought she was someone she wasn't, but these were her last moments, if she thought this "Eve" was with her, why not give her that.
"Of course I do, Vikki, be still now… shhhhhh".
Vikki seemed to relax and even smiled, it looked like a weight had been lifted off of her. Her breathing was shallow now. Vikki still found the strength to reach up and brush back Nikki's hair "Look, there you are now… you always were beautiful".
Nikki smiled back, as she did, she gently took hold of Vikki's hand and felt the strength drain from her. Her hand became limp.
Vikki's shallow breathing eventually came to an end and her expression loosened, becoming serene. Only a single tear fell from her eye as Nikki lay her head down and closed her eyes with her hand.
Nikki gently laid her hands across her chest and felt whatever it was in Vikki's hand come loose into hers. Looking down, she saw a small clear plastic container marked with a small biohazard symbol. Within was a strange, triple spiral shaped object that was emitting a faint green glow from within. It looked… familiar, even though Nikki had never seen anything like it before, it just felt familiar.
As nikki drew her hands away, something shifted around Vikki's neck, it was a lanyard necklace, attached at the end was a flash drive of some kind. Nikki was fairly sure whatever Vikki meant, it involved whatever was on that device. It was also likely what had caused all this.
Out of curiosity more than anything, she Gently un-clipped and removed the flash drive from around Vikki's neck. Nikki knew that whoever this woman was, she definitely did not deserve an end like this, she breathed in and let out a deep sigh.
Right then she heard an ugly gurgling sound from back up the alley. Turning around, Nikki felt the rage return as she saw the man who she'd hit with the manhole cover was still alive.
His ribs and probably a few of his organs were crushed, but he was clinging on and actually trying to crawl away.
Nikki pocketed the flash drive and the object and began slowly walking back up the alley. As she did, she reached into her wristband for the modified gun she'd taken from the older man's arm.
Reaching the man on the ground, she remembered the language he spoke, he was Russian, likely from one of the Brighton Beach outfits. The snarling Puss-in-Boots tattoo on the back of his hand marked him as Vor V Zakone, they were tough. The fact that he was still moving at all after taking a speeding manhole cover to center mass was a testament to his durability.
What were two Russian hitmen and an obviously dirty cop doing shooting up an innocent woman and two guys in an alley on the opposite side of town? Then Nikki remembered, she didn't much care right at that moment.
All that mattered was this man paying for what happened to Vikki. She might not have known her, but she seemed… kind.
Nikki had moved around Brighton Beach long enough to pick up enough Russian to get by "Posmotri na menya" (look at me) she said, gently nudging him over onto his back.
Now he was the one who looked powerless.
He stared up at her, and she stared back down at him in silence as she swept back her hood, letting him get a good long look at her in the moonlight.
In these moments, within herself, the woman who called herself Nicole "Nikki" Toombs was Sil again, feeling that anger boiling up from inside.
There was nothing left for her to say except "Do Svidaniya" (goodbye).
With that, Nikki raised the modified pistol with her right hand but hooked her left index finger into the trigger well, an odd way to hold a gun, but at this range, it didn't matter.
Nikki rapidly smashed the trigger, baring her teeth in anger, causing the weapon to discharge its remaining twelve rounds in the extended clip in rapid succession. For a weapon not modified for full auto, it reached that cyclic rate under her control.
Nikki lowered the gun and slipped it back into her wristband. Then she felt around in her pocket and pulled out the strange spiral object to inspect it.
As she stared at it, it seemed to stare back at her. She frowned and watched as its surface shifted and a faint green glow emitted from within.
The moment was broken by the sound of distant police sirens. Someone nearby had clearly heard the shots and dialled 911. Time to go…
Looking around, Nikki located the manhole cover where it had come to rest and rubbed the area she had gripped with her sleeve before slipping back into the underground, replacing the cover as she went.
Sil, the woman known as Nicole "Nikki" Toombs slipped away into the darkness beneath the city, into her domain. To the few who know about Sil, she was dead, and Nikki Toombs was just a woman around the city who mostly kept to herself, a single face among millions.
As Nikki made her way deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels beneath the city, deep down she knew something was very wrong.