Species: Angel of Vermin

by WeAreHarbinger

(THIS STORY TIES IN TO SPECIES: THE SURVIVOR) Sil regenerated herself from a Rat in Los Angeles, and has remained in the shadows ever since. Over the years, an urban legend has emerged in her wake, the urban myth of the Angel of Vermin. Now she dwells in the alleys and abandoned places of a dystopian New York, an alpha predator in the shadows, but her true test lies ahead of her.

7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Primordial Awakens

14 YEARS EARLIER - OLD BURYING GROUND - CAMBRIDGE COMMON - BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Snow covered the gravestones in the old burying ground. A historic cemetery. Numerous Presidents of Harvard University were buried here, there was Washington Allston, an influential painter and poet, known as "The American Titan" for his Venetian renaissance style, Francis Dana, a Founding Father was buried there, as well as numerous other powerful and influential individuals. Among them was a man known only as Cicely, the enslaved servant of a Harvard tutor and the oldest surviving gravestone of a black person in the Americas.

Among all of these old gravestones was one more modern one. The grave of a man who, during his time at Harvard University would come and sit here, at the old Burying Grounds, or in the park at Cambridge Common to think and contemplate life, feed the birds, and read. Sometimes he would be alone, sometimes within the company of a promising student or a young lady.

Once the snow was wiped off of his smooth marble gravestone, it revealed a picture of the man buried there. Well kept, handsome, with a kind smile and long wavy hair.

His gravestone featured the man's name, the date he came into this world, and the date he left it. Engraved along the bottom was a quote from Mahatma Gandhi "Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization". Fitting words to describe a man who devoted his life to the study of people, what made them different and what made them the same.

Stephen Arden was a world renowned Anthropologist and published Author, he had travelled the world studying unique cultures and was an expert in the meetings of those cultures. He had spent fifteen years teaching Anthropology at Harvard University after transferring there from his native Oxford.

He had been laid to rest here at special request, a stipulation in his will, a place where, in life, he felt at peace… and he was at peace now.

There was one thing, however that his gravestone did not acknowledge, did not mention… Stephen Arden was a Father. A father to a baby boy with deep blue eyes, a baby boy who's life was fleeting, who was now with him beyond the vail.

The Sun was going down and the mercury was falling fast, people were making their way to their homes to shelter from the cold and the oncoming blizzard.

Nobody noticed the lone, solitary figure standing in the Old Burying Ground. A figure who would not be going back to a warm home, but a cold, damp tunnel in the old, abandoned Boston streetcar loop, a figure who had come here from the west coast and read that Arden was buried here in a newspaper article about the man. She stood there in silence, deep in thought and reflection of mistakes made and lives lost, her own included.

Clasped in her hands, was a small bust statue of a cherub with wings and a bright red rose.

She was once a girl who ran away…

A girl who became a woman...

A woman who became a monster…

A monster who became a Mother… then, like all things that are different, unnatural, exceptional in this world, the mother and the child burned like the witches of old.

Something, however small, remained, and so the Mother became a Rat, and then the Rat became, to some, an Angel... but deep down, she was still the mother… the mother who now greaves… for there is one universal truth… no parent should have to outlive their child.

In these moments, she was no longer Nicole Toombs, the identity she had crafted for herself. In these moments, she was no longer the Angel of Vermin, who was known on the streets. In these moments she was Sil again.

Though she had learned a lot about Stephen Arden through articles and publications, the truth of the matter was, she was not here to visit him. There was nothing left of her child, no grave, no acknowledgment, it was like he never existed, but he did. She remembered him, and his killers, wherever they were, they remembered him too.

It was convenient for them to believe he was a monster, a creature unnatural to this world to be eliminated. To her, in those few moments, he was everything.

When she took a step forward, a full inch of collected snow shook loose from the top of her hood and her shoulders. She carefully placed the rose at the base of Arden's gravestone and then the small cherub figurine in the centre of the stones.

Then she knelt down and put her hand on the Gravestone. The cold was something far away for her, and she was unbothered by it. Something that wasn't far away was the deep wound, the hole in her heart.

Sil, the mother lowered her head and began to quietly sob. "I'm so sorry" she uttered.

---

- PRESENT DAY
MASON COUNTY - WEST VIRGINIA

It was getting into the evening and Nikki stood in the open air and the bright orange sunlight. It was the beginning of spring and the trees were beginning to come into bloom. She took a deep breath of the fresh air and was reminded that life went on, she had become lost in the memory again.

She had had her entire world torn apart beneath the streets of Los Angeles. Perhaps the hardest thing she had come to accept was that nobody apart from her, and the killers, knew or even cared what she had lost in that cave. No matter how much she wanted it to bring it to a standstill, for everyone to know the agony she was going through, the world just kept on spinning regardless.

Weeks ago, she had intervened in a violent situation in one of her territorial alleys and inadvertently set in motion a chain of events that had threatened to spill over onto the streets and expose her continued existence.

There was no choice about it, she knew that, at some point, she would have to deal with these Half-Breeds, but to do that she needed more allies. She had discovered that she had a Sister by the name of Eve, and Eve had apparently betrayed the progenitor of these Half-Breeds to the point they were actively hunting her for revenge.

Nikki had no idea if she would find Eve or what would happen if she did, the only thing she had to go on was the old notion that the enemy of my enemy, is my friend. Even that wasn't a guarantee. They all thought she was Eve, and perhaps she could use that to her advantage given the right circumstances.

After two weeks of travelling back roads, seedy motels and rest stops across New England, they had come to a Whisper safe house, an old Cabin in the woods near Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The sun was beginning to fall. Nearby was a place known locally as the TNT Area, a place that offered stunning views and most importantly, isolation. Nikki enjoyed this area and had spent her time since they arrived wandering the old buildings and forests.

With the money they had gotten from Viktor, however, they had been looking at two-person camper trailers so they could stay mobile.

They didn't have many electrical needs but they had already managed to buy a portable generator, gas regulator and even a used barbecue to take with them. This safe house would be their last static location. Connar had gone into town to look at a promising mobile trailer. When he got back, they would be able to set up and go anywhere they wished.

While Nikki still felt troubled over the events that had led them to take to the road, by the end of their third week on the road, she felt more relaxed than she had in a long time, getting out of the city onto the open road had been liberating.

She noticed a definite change in Connar too, having originally come from Mincéirí Traveller stock before Project Morrigan took him, this was the way he lived as a child.

Over the time they had known each other, Nikki had picked up on some of the Traveller Cant he could remember from his early years, the language he grew up with known as De-Gammon or Shelta Thari. Known as a secret language, it had very few written examples and came in a multitude of dialects.

One of the cruellest things he had mentioned about Project Morrigan was that the head trainer, a former british special forces operator, had repeatedly beaten him until he spoke in a more defined English accent. Nikki had met some of his siblings and noted that they all spoke in a pronounced Irish accent and also very fast.

By this point, they had both studied Vikki's flash drive extensively, they knew names, dates, events. There were no real leads in there to find Eve, save for a few names of people who may be sympathetic enough to keep Eve's location a secret.

The first was Vikki's close colleague, Bria LeCadieux, but she apparently lived in Birmingham in the UK, she was under strict NDA and monitored by people at the embassy. For that, Connar had come up with a novel idea.

Apart from Dr Baker, Vikki and Bria knew Eve the most. It was their job in that lab to monitor her constantly, they would spend hours at a small desk in front of her enclosure, monitoring her biosigns. They would interact through the glass. They would also prepare her for chemical experiments. Whenever Dr Baker wasn't there, however, it was either Vikki or Bria that would spend time with Eve in her enclosure.

After escaping Project Morrigan, Connar had managed to reconnect with his family. In particular, his older sister Kazia "Nails" Braden, who Nikki had personally met, that woman was fire. When roused to anger, Kazia could be harder than an anvil and colder than a coffin nail.

Kazia was the only other member of Connar's family, apart from himself who had become a Whisper, but like himself, had only done so out of necessity. After Connar was taken by Project Morrigan, Kazia had sought out the Whispers to help find him, which had taken her years. Now, she regularly provided safe houses, weapons and other services, her reach extended far.

The Braden family had a long history with the Whispers, but their membership tended to wax and wane across generations. They were known in Whisper Circles as The Bloody Bradens as they were often at the centre of violent incidents throughout history.

Whispers also maintained a secret history in which the family's exploits often cropped up.

They were active during and after the English civil war, the 15th century Witch Hysteria that gripped the country and it was rumoured that one of their ancestors, Aethelinda Bradán also a Whisper, had gotten a job as the housekeeper of the infamous Mattew Hopkins and slowly poisoned him to death with small, but increasing doses of Mandrake, Hesbane and Nightshade to mimic a progressing illness.

There was even a saying among modern Western Whisper cells "God has his Angels, Santa has his Elves, the Reaper has his Bradens" something which Connar had tattooed in Ogham on his arm.

Kazia had agreed to go and take a look in on Bria and have a friendly chat, as only a member of the Braden clan could, a fact that caused Nikki to actually feel a small measure of sympathy for what Bria had coming her way… A very small measure… Nikki still couldn't get those videos out of her head of what Dr Baker, Vikki and Bria did to Eve in those experiments. No wonder Vikki was begging for forgiveness in her last moments.

Doctor Laura Baker was mentioned and the fact that she had gone on the run with none other than Press Lennox, after her own attempt to expose the project had resulted in violence. Nikki never knew his full name until she sifted through those files, Vikki was thorough. It was possible she knew where Eve was. Nikki and Connar had agreed, that given their shared history with Lennox, they would consider searching for them as a last option. It would likely end in violence either way, he had barely survived encounters with them individually, but stood no chance against them together.

Vikki had been very thorough in her description of events, and the players involved, it was clear that powerful people were behind the project and although Nikki was still angry about the experiments she had performed on Eve, she had to give Vikki credit for her bravery in trying to bring it all down by herself.

Her Father, Xavier Fitch was the driving force behind the original Project, but after her escape and what happened in L.A. the project was brought strictly under military control and placed under the command of one Colonel Carter Burgess Jr. Some of the Lab video on Vikki's flash drive revealed Burgess in the lab, arguing with Dr Baker over giving Eve an enhancement to allow her to track Patrick.

Burgess, with his one blind Eye, his uptight, overbearing and dominant demeanour, and his power-tripping attitude, looked like a top tier, grade A asshole. I'm going to look for Eve Nikki thought, but if I don't find her, I'm going to pay that bastard a visit in the night. There were also a trio of top Pentagon Generals in charge, but Vikki didn't know their names.

Nikki looked around and breathed in deeply of the fresh air, there was a buzz in her pocket, she pulled out the phone and opened the encrypted app, the name that came up was Kazia.

---

BIRMINGHAM - UNITED KINGDOM

The UK had it's merits, but the weather was not one of them. Bria LeCadieux had put a lot behind her when she left her home to start a new life here.

She still exchanged the odd message with Laura through a private encrypted messaging app on a separate phone, one that the embassy wasn't monitoring, but for the most part, she was out of the game.

She had promised Laura that if the day came when Laura exposed the project in its entirety, she would return and openly testify before congress.

After exiting the supermarket in Bordesley Green, she made a dash across the parking lot, or as they called it here, the car park to get to her car amid the torrential downpour.

Birmingham was a tough city, but at least she had family here and compared to what she had seen, it was easy. She was far away from everything going on back in the US.

Her day had been fairly average, nothing out of the ordinary, she had plans for a family outing at the weekend. All that changed after she got her shopping into the car, turned the ignition and ... Nothing "Shit" Bria said "Shit" .

Bria got out, holding her coat over her head and looked under the hood. She been a scientist all her life, she liked to think that she could figure this out. She quickly identified the problem as being the battery.

"D'ya have any cables? I could give you a jump" A voice called out behind her. Bria turned to see a striking, dark haired woman in a 2006 Land Rover, which had a lot of mud sprayed up the sides.

"You alright there?" the woman asked, she spoke fast, and had a very prominent Irish accent, as she leaned out of the window, Bria saw she had many gold rings and Celtic style tattoos. Her hair was dark, wavy and braided and her eyes were a very prominent green.

The woman opened her door and stepped out. "Why don't you let me have a look here?" the woman said "My brother's a mechanic, I know a few things". "Thank you so much" Bria said and got back in the car. After a few moments, the woman called out "Right, try it now".

Bria turned over the engine to nothing. "AHH, looks like your battery's dead" the woman said, then added "And my brother borrowed my bloody jump leads". "I don't understand it was fine earlier" Bria said.

"These things can happen" The woman said "Sometimes they just lose their charge, where's your home?" The woman asked. "Ladywood" Bria said. "Ahh right, I'm going that way, if you wanna lock up your car, I'll give you a lift".

"Would you?" Bria said, feeling incredibly thankful in that moment "That's so Kind". "Ahh, no worries, get your shopping, let's go".

The woman took some of Bria's shopping while Bria grabbed everything out of her car and put it into the back of the woman's land rover. As she did, she noticed a lot of hunting equipment, including a large rifle bag, snares, fishing equipment, bait and two Hungarian Vizsla Dogs sitting up near the back of the seat.

"Thanks so much for this" Bria said. "I'm Bria". The woman shook her hand, Bria felt all of her gold rings as their hands met. "Kazia".

As they drove, they started to talk. Kazia began with a question that Bria heard a lot since moving over here, there was a natural curiosity about Americans in the UK "So which part of America are you from, Bria?".

"Louisiana originally, but I lived in the Washington area before I moved over here" Bria said. "Really, the Capitol? How long have you been over here?" Kazia asked curiously. "Not long. Only 3 years" Bria said.

Kazia leaned over slightly "How are you finding it? How does it compare". "Still getting used to some things" Bria said "But overall, I like it, I have family here so.. what about you, where are you from Kazia?". "Born in County Tipperary, but all over the place really, I'm a traveller" Kazia said. Bria was familiar with the term since moving over here. Though they sometimes inter.

"Similar Lifestyle" Kazia said, then added "But it's a different culture, I still travel when I can but I own a bar, I have two brothers who live here in the city. A lot of us do live in houses now".

"I saw that thing on TV" Bria said "You have a big family?". "Aye, two sisters and seven brothers, all grown up" Kazia said "Actually one of my brothers, the seventh, lives over in America... I think they call us Roadies over there". "I think I read that" Bria said Where is he now?"

"He lives in New York" Kazia said "But he goes on the move usually in the summer, things are a bit rough in the city so he's doing that now... In America they actually have a summer".

Bria couldn't help but laugh "Yeah, I'm still getting used to the weather over here" The rain was terrible and sometimes one could go for days staring at a grey sky. "Actually, he and I were talking on the phone recently and he's on the move across the US... He asked me something I didn't really know, maybe you do…"

"What is it?" Bria asked. "Where can he find Project Athena?". Bria froze, actually froze. For a moment Bria was absolutely speechless.

Kazia abruptly indicated, and put the Land Rover into a Turn-Right though lane, crossing a junction and heading off the main road and up into the Aston area of the city. It was a part of the city that Bria knew could be dangerous.

"W… who are you?" Bria uttered. "Already told ya" Kazia said "Now are ya gonna answer my question?". When Bria didn't immediately answer, Kazia added "My brother and his partner have found themselves in a spot of trouble and they need to find a woman by the name of Eve, I know you know this woman, I want to know where she is…"

"I… I …I don't know" Bria said. Kazia turned onto a street called Rocky Lane, Bria had read about a lot of crime on this street, and pulled up on a bridge near a canal. Abject fear gripped Bria, she looked down at the water, and then back at Kazia. The two Dogs in the back were also staring at her. "Don't worry about them, they're teddy bears, but not me… Bria, I need you to focus now, tell me about this Eve".

"I.. I really don't know where she is, I don't think anyone does, she escaped" Bria stumbled over herself. "She escaped did she, the government over there? While we're at it, give me your phone".

Bria fumbled in her coat, taking out her phone, her purse, everything of value "Here, here, that's everything just let me go". "What do you think I am? A thief?" Kazia took Bria's phone and started looking through it. It didn't take her long to discover the encrypted communication apps. "Don't let me distract you, Brea, put your purse away and keep telling me about this Eve" Kazia said, and then turned to lock eyes with her. Those piercing green eyes bored right into her.

"Yeah, she.. she escaped from us… twice… first to be with Patrcik Ross, you remember him?" Bria offered, her voice was shaking now and her eyes were streaming". "Ahh, that dead Mars fella" Kazia laughed "Hay, I know a Patrick too, here he is look" with that Kazia rolled down her window and a man in a hood, sporting a well groomed beard and neck tattoos appeared next to the Land Rover. "Download that, Needles, I wanna know who she's been talking to".

The man took the phone and walked away. Kazia rolled the window back up "If you've been talking to her, trust me, he'll find it". "I haven't seen her since she escaped. I know she was injured or something, they brought her back, everyone thought she was dead, but then she revived and escaped again… that's all I know. The military were hunting her, she went to ground. You have to believe me, I don't know where she is, she could be anywhere".

Kazia's gaze took on something new for a moment, it was like she was looking though her, reading her, sifting for any nuance, any lie. "Right" she finally said "I know you spent a lot of time with her, so did you ever hear her talk about wanting to go anywhere in particular, see anything, anyone? You spent years in that Lab with her, you know more than you think".

Bria closed her eyes and racked her brain. She knew she had to give this woman something, but the reality was, Eve had only ever reacted to filtered stimuli, from TV, movies or occasionally newspapers and magazines. "She talked about wanting to see the Pyramids, the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, the usual landmarks, she longed to see things and meet people, she was lonely".

"Aye" Kazia said "It hurts to feel lonely dosen't it? To be at someone else's mercy?". "Please, just don't hurt me, I won't say anything, please" Bria closed her eyes and sobbed. Right then she felt a hand on her shoulder that made her flinch "It's alright Bria, I believe ya".

Kazia leaned back in her seat, and stole a glance in the side mirror "Ahh look, my Patrick's coming back with your phone".

Kazia rolled down the window and took the phone from the man outside "Faigh Rud ar bith?" Kazia asked the man. Bria didn't understand the language or even know what language she just used, but her tone of voice sounded like a question. The man turned and looked at Bria, then at Kazia and spoke in a low voice, but very fast "Tá sí ag caint le duine ar a dtugtar Laura Baker agus glaodh ar dhuine eile Dennis Gamble".

The man left and Kazia handed Bria back her phone. "Who's Laura" Kazia asked "And who's Gamble". Bria would normally have never given anything up, but she was sitting over a canal in a dangerous part of the city, with an obviously dangerous woman who was armed, had two dogs and there was someone else outside the car "She was the lead scientist on Project Athena, responsible for Eve" Bria looked at Kazia who nodded and said "Go on".

"Laura tried to expose the project, it went bad, put her on the run. Gamble helps her, he's a sitting Senator" Bria spilled everything, she knew that in so doing she might have just killed Laura and Gamble.

"Please" Bria added "Don't hurt them, I don't know who you're working for, but…". "Me?" Kazia asked "I'm not working for anyone, I told you, I was helping out my brother and his partner, these people came after her, and she's like a sister to me. Now, they're both in trouble because of your fucking science project" Kazia paused and added "Do I look like someone who would for a fucking government?".

Bria had to admit, Kazia didn't strike her as any intelligence operative she'd ever seen, and she had encountered her fare share after Eve's escape. Moreover, it appeared as if whatever had happened to this woman's brother and his partner, they had apparently run afoul of the Project somehow and decided to fight back as opposed to running, which is what everyone else seemed to do, herself included.

To seek Eve out as a potential ally was even more of a bold move. They had asked for Eve's cooperation in tracking Patrick and it had blown up in their faces.

"Listen to me… Kazia, Your Brother and his Partner… if they're trying to find Eve for some kind of alliance… you might wanna tell them that if they approach her they way you got to me like this… it's not going to go down very well" Bria said, finding that her voice sounded more stern than she intended. Kazia gave a little smile and seemed to genuinely appreciate the advice. "Noted" Kazia grinned.

A car appeared coming up the road. As it drew closer and parked facing them on the bridge, Brea realised it was her car. "I'm going to let you go now Bria, you're safe, and nobody's going to hurt you, so long as you keep your mouth shut, and that includes talking to your friends Laura and Gamble, if you do, I'll know".

Bria started to nod. "Understand?" Kazia said softly but with an underlying sternness.

A second truck, a large black Ford Ranger appeared adjacent to the Land Rover. A tough looking man was in the driver's seat and Bria could see a younger, red haired woman in shotgun. Four men got out of Bria's car, all rough looking, all tattooed.

Bria watched as the four men came and opened the back of Bria's land rover, removed all of Bria's shopping and other items, took them back and placed them neatly into the trunk of her car.

The four guys then crossed the road and got into the other truck. After that, Patrick, the one who had taken her phone, appeared outside and opened her door, he actually offered her a hand to get out.

"You'll be needing these" Kazia said, and held out a hand with Bria's car keys. Bria cautiously took them "I'll see ya… Paddy Krosh.." [Patrick, Come on] Kazia said.
Patrick, the one Kazia called "Needles" got into the Land rover and both trucks pulled away in opposite directions simultaneously. Bria stared at them, and then at the keys in her hand. It was hard to know what to think, she was scared, but more confused.

---

MASON COUNTY - WEST VIRGINIA

Nikki answered the phone. "An bhfuil tú go maith, a dheirfiúr?" [Are you good, Sister] Kazia's voice came over the line. Nikki smiled "Tá mé go maith ar fad Banríona!" [I'm all good, Queen!]

"Is my Shanty brother with you?" Kazia asked. "He drove into town to get a Camper Trailer for us, he shouldn't be too long if you need him" Nikki said. "It's alright, just tell him we're all thinking of you both… anyway, wish I had better news from this end" Kazia began "That lady didn't know much at all about this Eve you're looking for. I'll have Needles send you what we got off her phone". "It was worth a try, thanks for that Kazia" Nikki said.

"When are you two coming back over here to see me?" Kazia asked. "The way things are going, could be soon, not sure, we're in a situation over here" Nikki said. "Because of this Eve woman?" Kazia asked "You told me a lot about her except what she has to do with you?".

There was another question in there and Nikki Knew Kazia well enough to know she'd get to the bottom of it eventually "This Eve… she's…" Nikki hesitated before saying it "Let's just say she's my identical twin…she pissed off some dangerous people and she's out there somewhere walking around with my face". "Jesus" Kazia said.

At this point, Nikki knew she was on speaker in Kazia's Land-Rover, because what she said next wasn't directed at Nikki "Hay Needles, you hear that, there's another Nikki out there, and lady said she's already been with one fella called Patrick…". Needles was Connar's fourth brother, he was usually quiet, the tech expert of the family, but like all of the Braden clan, he had a razor sharp wit.

Nikki heard his droll response "Well, it'll be one for the money, two for the fuckin show, send her my way when you find her". Nikki heard Kazia laughing and laughed herself "I'll be sure to do that Needles". "Nikki" Kazia said "You two take care of each other, and call me if you need me".

"Thanks Kazia I will, I'll see you" Nikki said. "Take care Nikki, Slán" Kazia said. Nikki finished the call and smiled to herself, the Bradens were a crazy family, but they wouldn't hesitate to walk to hell and back for each other, and because of her relationship with Connar, she was included.

Like most, however, Kazia knew Nikki was different, having sensed it with her own Psychic acuity, but she had never seen Nikki's other side, her true form. Not like Connar had, but he was well used to it and was completely unphased when he first witnessed it.
Nikki sometimes wondered what the reaction would be if Kazia ever actually did see it, knowing her, she would probably just laugh and use one of Nikki's blades as a bottle opener. The thought of it made Nikki chuckle to herself. "Well, shit" Nikki slipped the phone back into her pocket, that was a dead lead.

Just at that moment, she heard the unmistakable roar of her car's modified engine coming up the dirt track. Nikki looked up and saw that the car was hauling a large Camper Trailer.

Connar stopped the car in front of the Cabin and got out "What's up" he asked. "You just missed Kazia calling me back" Nikki said as he came over to view the trailer "She says Hi, sends her love, but she said that former scientist was a bust".

Nikki turned her attention to the Camper Trailer and looked it over, and asked "Now, Shanty, what is this?". Connar walked around and opened the door. "Pegasus Grange huh? How much was it?" Nikki asked. "Used, like new, he wanted fifteen, but I sensed he needed cash fast, talked him down to eight. These things are worth like thirty grand new".

Nikki smiled as she stepped on board. Connar followed her inside and put his arm around her shoulder "Well what do you think?". Nikki looked around the Camper, it was indeed modern, with all the amenities, a bathroom with a working power shower, toilet and water heater, a kitchen with a fridge, a cooker with a hob and grill, TV, Battery Charger, even a large Island bed… Two people could live in this camper indefinitely and relative comfort… but… there was… something not quite right…

Nikki took in a deep breath, and smelled the interior "Yeah… that's fifty… no, make that fifty three…". Connar frowned and half chuckled "Fifty three what?". "You said you sensed he needed cash fast?" Nikki asked. "Yeah" Connar replied, he was growing slightly confused.

Nikki wandered over to the bed and leaned over to smell the area, taking in the collection of scents and grimaced. Nikki turned to face Connar and smiled sarcastically "Connar, this Camper has been used as a rolling brothel". Connar looked around, he was Sighted and perceptive, though Nikki knew his human olfactory senses were nowhere near as keen as her own, he would have picked up from the seller that the Camper had history. "Yeah well.." Connar began "For something this top of the range at such a steal of a price, you've got to expect it to have a little but of Character..".

Nikki let out a loud laugh "Character!" she said "Connar, I'll let you off the fact your senses aren't as keen as mine, but I can smell fifty three different flavour of Cum in here!". Now Connar started laughing "Well you are the connoisseur". Nikki fixed him with a glare, trying to keep a straight face "Asshole!" Nikki barked "And what's that other smell, like ammonia?" Nikki asked as she moved past him through the space and settled near the wide kitchen counter top.

Nikki took in several more breaths, following the source of the scent until she pulled the grill off the cooker and found what she was looking for. Nikki came out with a clear looking shard of glass grade meth that had evidently fallen down between the grill and cooker during the production process. Nikki looked further and found several more crystals on the floor between the fridge, cooker and the other units "Well, look at this for character…" Nikki said "Easy peasy Methamphetameany, so this was a Meth Lab too". "Maybe the sex was a cheap way to heat the mixture" Connar joked.

Nikki couldn't help but laugh "So, let me get this straight, they cooled meth here in the kitchen, and used the rest of the space for fuckery? It's a wonder the suspension still works". Connar smiled "Well if you'd like to test it, we can add number fifty four?".

"Oh fuck you!" Nikki laughed as her hand found a fly swatter on the counter and started moving towards him. "Well, that's the idea" Connar said, backing away slightly, still laughing. "You know, they used to call you the Hooded Crow, but you're really just the Budgie aren't you?" Nikki asked. Connar stopped moving, big mistake, and tilted his head slightly, puzzled "Budgie?" he asked. "Yeah, Cheap!" Nikki laughed, and swiped at him with the fly swatter.

Connar ducked and weaved, putting his arms up "Hay.. Hay! Cease fire, Mermaid!". Connar eventually managed to get out the door and stood outside laughing. Nikki took another look around. "So, you like it?" Connar shouted back. Nikki feigned a pout that grew into a smile "Yeah, once we get a new mattress and sheets, clean it out, it'll be perfect".

Nikki followed Connar out of the Camper and closed the door behind her. "Anyway, you mentioned something about that scientist, she didn't know anything?". "Yeah, Kazia had a chat with her and she said the woman was scared, she would have spilled it if she knew anything".

Connar listened to her, then shrugged and sighed "Well, a scientist who moved to another country to get away from that shit, it was a long shot, we have other options". "They found some stuff on her phone" Nikki said "Kazia said she'd have Needles send it over soon". Connar laughed "I bet that scientist just got the shock of her life meeting the Bloody Bradens". Nikki chuckled "Yeah, Kazia was on top form, so was Needles, if we find Eve he says he wants Dibs". Connar Laughed "Typical Needles".

Connar wandered up and slipped his arms around her from behind "Hay, you ok? Since we left the city I sensed a change in you, you're starting to relax some, maybe we should just take this thing and go far away from here?". "I'm always Ok, Connar, I'll feel even better when I know what the hell is going on. You heard what that Vesper bitch said, she thinks I'm Eve, and she's gonna keep coming, I don't want to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life… neither do you, now they know you're with me".

Connar pulled her a little closer and rested his chin on her shoulder "Nikki, can I ask you something?". Nikki raised an eyebrow, his tone sounded a little more serious "Sure" she said. "Have you thought about what we're going to do… if you find Eve? I mean, have you really thought about it? Chewed it down to the bones?".

"If I'm being fully honest" Nikki sighed "Not really… beyond maybe getting some answers and hopefully an ally against those others". "That's my point" Connar said "Any answers you get aren't going to change the situation, or your circumstances, so why don't we just go somewhere far away and just try to forget about all this shit. We have enough, and there are places they'll never find us".

"It's… it's just… until a few weeks ago, I never knew what I really was. I'd just get these weird nightmares every now and then, that I thought told me what I was supposed to be… but all they gave me was more questions… someone did this" Nikki said, pointing her finger skywards, then she changed it to the middle finger, in a Fuck You gesture to the sky and added "Someone sent that message for a reason".

Connar didn't say anything for a while, clearly thinking about it "Then it's unlikely Eve will know any more than you do, she was a lab experiment who escaped, you saw those videos. This whole Enemy of my Enemy thing…nice notion, but it doesn't mean she'll be a friend" Connar paused again "Who knows how she'd react to seeing you".

At this, Nikki chuckled "If she's anything other than friendly, she'll react to my boot up her ass!". Nikki felt Connar begin to laugh through the vibrations in his chest against her back "Must confess" Conna began "I'm not entirely sure what to do if it you start fighting Eve, and it gets to spikes and claws time…my money's on you of course, but if I could make one request…". Nikki smiled, knowing something cheeky was coming "What…?".

Connar paused, he was grinning "IF.. If you do end up having to fight her…could we make it interesting with some Mud or Oil maybe?". Nikki laughed "HA!" and brought the fly swat straight up to her shoulder, slapping Connar right in the forehead "Ahagghhh!".

Connar let go as Nikki rounded on him with a playful swipe, which Connar barely avoided, he backed away "I mean, it's just an idea" he said as Nikki swiped at him again, laughing. Connar backed up with Nikki in pursuit "I could film it for pay-per-view".

"Are you seriously doubling down!" Nikki laughed. "YES!" Connar clicked his fingers and pointed at her "You're a genius, Doubling Down, that's a perfect title". "Oh… you fucked up Shanty!" Nikki said as she practically chased him into the Cabin.

---

ONE POLICE PLAZA - MANHATTAN

Olivia sat back at her desk and let out a deep sigh as she stared at the board. She knew it was all connected, but just couldn't see the big picture yet. The murders of Ward and the two Russains, then the attack on the Dark Bohemia.

Some of the participants were local crews looking to make a name for themselves, others were professional mercenaries, freelancers, chief among them Sebastian Dankworth, a man who had made a name for himself combating Piracy, but also had a list of accusations against him for war crimes.

Then, of course, there was the incident in Bowery, which Olivia was still trying to wrap her head around as she looked at the two artist impression renderings of the suspects. The only witness to the incident was a confident six-and-a-half year old boy named Demitrius Jeremiah Johnson, the fact that he was six and a half was a point he emphasised.

It had not been a school night, and his Mom had worked the late shift at the hospital, his big sister was babysitting but she had been in her room focussed on a video call with her boyfriend with earphones. Demitrius had taken the opportunity to sneak into the living room for some late night TV.

Olivia still couldn't make sense of the incident he described. It sounded more like something from one of the superhero shows her own Son, Isaac, liked to watch.

He had been watching TV, when all of a sudden, the wall exploded as two women smashed their way through the room. One woman was carrying the other like she had tackled her and threw her clear across the room where she hit the wall so hard she cracked it and fell down behind the sofa.

The woman who was thrown across the room was tall with blonde hair and she wore this long green jacket that went down to her ankles. The other woman wore a dark leather jacket and cargo pants, and he described her as looking "really tough". He went on to describe how these two women faced off with each other and one of them actually growled before the woman who yelled at him to get out of the room.

Demitrius was scared but also fascinated, and said how he ran out into the hall and ducked into his room, but he peeked back and saw how the woman in green kicked the whole sofa across the room, smashing everything and pinning the other woman down into the corner.

He didn't see where the woman in green went but assumed she ran out through the hole in the wall while the other woman ran through the apartment, past him and smashed her way out through the door. He had then heard her thundering up the stairs and the entire complex came out and everyone was yelling.

His big sister Jackie had been less help, with her face buried in her phone in her room, she hadn't even been aware of the incident until the sofa smashed the TV stand, on which also stood the Wifi router which abruptly cut off her video chat.

There were strange reports all over Bowery that night of two women fighting and one of them even said they ran across rooftops. Demitruis had, however been able to get a good look at both women, and provided a detailed description of both, Olivia had put out a city wide BOLO (BE ON LOOK OUT) for anyone matching those descriptions.

The only reason at all that Olivia believed there was any connection to the deaths of Ward and the two Russains was the fact that this incident started in a so called "Angel Alley" known by the local homeless as a safe camp. It clearly wasn't, as the body of another homeless man was found nearby having had his arm torn off, once again, by unknown means, clearly something incredibly powerful.

The alley was awash with blood and it was clear that whatever altercation started there had continued all the way over onto Delancey Street several blocks away, where a heavy steel grid had been torn off, exposing the maintenance hatch down to the MTA beneath.

It was confusing, and Olivia refused to believe that she was, as the kid described, dealing with people who possessed enhanced strength, we're not living in a goddamn comic book she thought.

Gregory Townsend had been a local fixture in bowery for a couple of years, known to suffer from PTSD, the other homeless people who knew him described him as kind and would go out of his way to help anyone in need.

His neck had been snapped like a twig and the CSI had combed the scene for further evidence and found that he had been violently thrown against the wall just prior to his arm being severed.

"This Angel of Vermin… that's the connection" Olivia thought. She had looked into it, some people claimed she was real, others that she was little more than a ghetto fairytale.

There was nothing for it, Olivia decided that she was going to have to take a walk on the wild side here, and canvas these so called "Angel Alley's" to see if anything turned up. She grabbed her coat and headed down to her car, the sun would be going down soon and by the time she reached Hell's Kitchen, where she knew there were a cluster of Angel Markings, it would be dark.

---

ROSS FAMILY ESTATE - FIVE AND A HALF YEARS EARLIER

The night air was cool and the sky was clear. The child crawled out through a hole in the side of the building behind some haystacks. The others were all inside sleeping, she could sense them, something was beginning to change in them, soon they would be strong and powerful, so would she. She could feel it inside, something was going to happen soon.

She looked up through the trees and saw the stars, then looked back and saw the others hadn't stirred.

She jumped down, it was only two stories to the ground, then wandered around the grounds by herself for over an hour before she eventually decided to go over to the small shed in the bottom corner of the field secluded in a copse of trees. She Knew Father had taken some of the others there and wanted to meet them.

Just as she made her way across the grass, the large, sleek, black growling thing that Father called a "car" pulled up ahead of her. The vehicle had a strange symbol on the front, a shiny circle with three spokes meeting in the middle.

A silhouette moved through the headlight beams and Father materialised in front of her. He was wearing a dark jacket and a fine blue shirt with blue jeans, looking as handsome as he ever did, and he was smiling.

"And where are we off to" Father said curiously. "I'm… checking on the others" she said, pointing down to the far end of the estate where she had been heading. "Really?" her father said, as he picked her up and she sat in his arms. She giggled as he tapped her on the nose "So is that what you are huh?" Her Father asked "Everyone's big brave bodyguard while I'm away" he had a big, kind smile that she adored. "Yes!" she said confidently and grinned, she nuzzled him as she did, causing him to laugh.

"You really are a brave one aren't you?" Her father asked, looking into her eyes. "I'm the bravest. Let me come with you" she asked. "And why would you want to come with me?" he asked, still smiling.

She sensed he was worried about something, the connection they all shared was a deep one, they all knew that there were others who were now after him. The child frowned "When you go away, you come back with more... but you're worried, people are after you… I'm the brave one. I'll watch out for them" she said.

Her Father paused for a moment, then sighed. After a moment, he pulled her close and gave her a kiss on the cheek "Don't you worry my little bodyguard, soon everyone will be big and strong and we'll make a new world where we don't have to be scared…"

The child heard a distinctive click and thump behind him, someone else was in his car and they just got out. The child squinted as another shadow materialised out of the headlights.

A tall, slender woman moved closer, emerging out of the glare she was dressed in black cargos and a was wearing a long leather jacket with a hood, which she swept back as she approached revealing jet black hair and a beautiful heart shaped face. Her eyes were striking, one was a deep blue and the other was hazel. The Child hadn't ever seen anyone like her. This woman wasn't like them, she could tell, she was like the others, but she gave off a strange sense… she might not be like them, but she carried the connection, the Sight.

"Who's that?" The Child asked. Her Father glanced around at the woman approaching them "This is Arianna, she's a friend, she's going to help us". "Hello there little one, you're very pretty, what's your name?" Arianna asked.

A name… the Child thought. She didn't have one. She knew her Father's name. Her Father's name was Patrick Ross, and now she knew this woman's name, her name was Arianna. They were the only two names she had ever heard. "A Name?" The Child said "I haven't got one yet".

"That's a shame" Arianna said "Someone as brave as you needs a name". The woman thought for a moment and tilted her head skywards "Vesper" she uttered. "Vesper?" Patrick asked.

Arianna pointed up to the sky and a bright star on the horizon "Comes from Hesperus, the Greek name for the planet Venus at sunset" She stepped closer and both the Child and Patrick followed her arm as she pointed "There, see that? It's particularly visible tonight… beautiful".

She Child felt a swell of pride "Vesper" I like it! "Alright you" her Father began as he started walking back to the locked door of the barn "I'd better get you back inside" Upon noticing that the lock hadn't been disturbed, he turned back to Vesper and asked "How did you get out anyway?"

Vesper pointed up at the hole in the side of the building on the third floor. Patrick looked up and Chuckled before turning to Arianna who was following several paces behind "Place has been falling apart for years" he said. "Don't worry" Arianna said "This place is fine for now, still listed under your mother's Maiden Name, yes?" "It's scary how much you know" Patrick said with a smile.

Arianna looked around and seemed satisfied, nodding to herself "They won't find this place easily and it won't be long" Once they're all mature we can begin, if you have any more after that, they can be housed at one of my properties, but for now, get some rest, the military are growing desperate, I'm told they're going to enhance Eve in a few hours in hopes of tracking you in real time, you need to be ready when that connection happens".

Her Father led her inside and sat her down on a bale. He tapped her nose again and tore down a tarp which he used to cover her. Vesper could see Arianna's silhouette in the doorway. "Good night bodyguard" she said "Good night Father, good night Arianna" Vesper said as she closed her eyes.

The door to the barn closed, and with it, Vesper's last peaceful memory. A day went by, and then the sun went down again on Vesper's final night of childhood. Father returned and she was one of the first to feel the change, the itch. It was painful at first when it happened, they looked like worms coming out of her skin, and then they felt warm and comfortable as they enveloped her, then everything went black.

The next night, everything changed.

The intensity of the fire was immense, and the fresh blast from the flamethrower, combined with the gunfire was deafening, Soldiers, they were everywhere, killing everyone. Shooing then and burning them. Any that tried to crawl from the inferno.

The combined noise from the inferno, the gunfire… and the screaming was so intense that nobody noticed the screams coming from the edge of the woods on the other end of the estate, where what could only be described as a brawl was taking place.

Vesper smashed her fist into Yusuf's face, sending him over onto his back, then continued to beat his face into the ground to stop him grabbing her again. She felt Quinn's arm around her neck, dragging her backwards while Seth and Jax restrained her legs. She fought with all the fury she could muster "LET ME GOOOOOOO! CAN'T YOU HEAR THEM? THEY NEED ME!".

Some of them were from the outbuilding at the far end of the estate, others, like Vesper, Yusuf, Amelia, Quinn, Jax and Seth had been in the barn connected to the main house when the humans arrived. They had been among the first to emerge from their cocoons as She arrived. The one they called Eve. They all sensed how powerful she was as she approached.

They had been on the attic floor with their Father when they sensed her arrival and he had told them to all go and check on the progress of the others at the other end of the estate. "Protect them, my brave one" he said to her… it was the last thing he said to her. At the time, Vesper was under no illusion that he wanted to be alone with Eve.

Then they had arrived behind her. They all sensed the beautiful moment when they met, the passion between them… then the anger, the fear, the rage and then more arrived, first there were three, then they were coming in vehicles from the air, and large green armoured vehicles, they were everywhere, spraying poison, fire and shooting, the shooting was so loud.

Vesper was struggling with all her might. Only partially aware of Amelia kneeling nearby, slumped in the dirt quietly sobbing. It only served to increase Vesper's rage. Vesper screamed again and surged backwards slamming Quinn against a tree and delivering a powerful punch to Jax's head causing him to let go.

Vesper kicked Seth off of her other leg, sending teeth and blood flying as his head snapped back and she was free, Vesper surged forward. She almost exited the tree line when Yusuf reached out and tripped her. From there, they all piled on top of her, pinning her face down in the leaves and dirt.

Vesper roared in anguish and white hot rage as a fresh burst of flame brought with it the screams of more inside.
She heard the soldiers beginning to laugh and curse as some others scrambled out of the flames, rolling in a futile attempt to put themselves out, only to be shot and then the flames aimed directly at them.

One managed to drag herself into a kneeling position and a few yards away, Vesper looked on with eyes full of stinging tears as the soldiers turned, one casually shot her in the back, stopping her movement and then another, aimed a flamethrower at her.

She didn't have a name yet, but she was kind, she was warm, Vesper had been curled up with her in one of the haystacks before the change began. She looked up, with eyes full of tears and agony and her eyes met Vesper's across the distance. Vesper could only watch as she screamed while the flames consumed her.

Vesper let out a long loud agonised roar "NOOOOOOOO! LET ME GO! I CAN STILL SAVE THEM!". Then she felt Seth's hand around her mouth as they half dragged, half carried her backwards several feet into the trees to the cover of some undergrowth. Once they were back in the cover of the tree line, they ducked, with Seth, Quinn and Yusuf all using their combined strength to pin Vesper down as she struggled and kicked.

"They're... all gone…" Amelia sobbed "All of them". "No" Jax said "I saw Portus crawl into one of the vans...with her". Vesper roared and screamed until her voice was barely a rasp. She kicked and struggled, but with the combined weight and strength of three of her brothers on top of her, it was useless, but that didn't stop her. "Let go! LET GO OF ME!" Vesper bellowed "WE CAN STILL SAVE THE REST!".

"THEY'RE GONE!" Quinn shouted. "NO!" Vesper screamed. "THEY'RE GONE!" Seth shouted, parroting Quinn. "NOOOO!" Vesper roared "THEY'RE RIGHT THERE! I CAN STILL HEAR THEM! THEY'RE SCREAMING! THEY NEED ME! LET ME GOOOOO!". Vesper felt their arms and hands tighten around her as she continued to kick and writhe.

"We... can't help them!" Amelia said softly, lowering her head as she sobbed. "THEN STAY HERE" Vesper screamed "I'LL DO IT MYSELF... LET ME GO! I'LL KILL THEM… I'll KILL THEM ALL! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!".

Vesper felt Seth's hand grip tightly around her mouth and hold on tighter than ever. Quinn's voice whispered in her ear "I know you're strong, I know you'll try, I know you'll fight, but there are too many, and they'll burn you before you save a single one". Suddenly he looked up and then they all ducked. Vesper realised they weren't alone. A group of four soldiers, one of whom was armed with a flamethrower, were patrolling the perimeter, near the treeline.

"You hear what Gamble said as he was being casevaced? I been Killin' aliens all night!" The soldier mimicked and laughed "Guy's a fucking legend". "That's why he's the national hero and you're a grunt Jenkins" the soldier behind him chuckled. "I toasted my share, I figure Gamble and I are probably at a tie".

Vesper's rage sent more strength than ever to her limbs, she struggled free and surged forward with a renewed ferocity causing even Amelia to have to pile on top of her.

Seth's hand clamped around her mouth again as they pinned her to the dirt. This time, Vesper bit deep into the side of Seth's hand, he winced silently and was forced to endure it as the soldiers turned, quickly scanned a flashlight over where they were, but thankfully moved on. Vesper felt all of them breathe a sigh of relief as the soldiers turned, but not her, she wanted the fight, she wanted to rip and tear!

"We have to move" Quinn said "We can't stay here!"

Vesper said nothing, just kept her eyes permanently fixed on the soldiers as they moved away and disappeared around the edge of the trees.

Vesper turned her attention to the fire and stared at the flames until her own eyes burned with fury and grief. There were still screams coming from within, as the last few emerged from their cocoons into an inferno of blazing agony as their bodies struggled and ultimately failed to adapt due to the poison that had been spread in the barn. Yusuf needed no more encouragement, he jumped up and ran as soon as fast as he could, disappearing into the foliage.

Jax slowly got off of Vesper's back and stepped away cautiously, followed by Quinn. Seth was the last, he slowly pulled his hand away and watched as the wound scabbed over and healed.

"Please... Sister... Come with us... don't go back there... you'll die…" Amelia said through floods of tears. Vesper slowly got to her feet and heard their footsteps falling away, Amelia reached out, but she never felt her touch, she was too afraid and distraught to touch Vesper in that moment, instead, Amelia backed away. Vesper heard her soft sobs becoming more distant as she made her way through the trees.

Vesper stared across the open ground and watched as the old property collapsed into a giant fireball, the bright orange glow reflected in her tear stung and fury filled eyes.

Vesper slowly lowered her head, hearing the last whimpers of her siblings in the old house fade away, she had failed her father, failed her brothers and sisters, but most of all, she was their bodyguard, their protector, and she had failed herself.

When she looked back up there was a new fury in her eyes, a determination to never let this happen again. From now on, she would be the protector, the guardian, and the vengeance on anyone who harmed her Brethren.

The soldiers' activity continued, but their patrols stopped after the first night, nobody noticed the lone figure sitting under the trees on the far end of the property. Three days passed. The sun rose, burned her skin, and then fell, then rose, burned and fell, on the third day it was cooler and there were small showers, and when the sun fell, a lashing storm began. Still Vesper sat unmoving.

She watched as they cleared away the rubble and piles of charred wood and bulldozed the site with large machines. By the end of the second day, it was like the property, the old house and barn had never existed. She could still hear the screams in her head.

Mid way through the third day, Vesper's eyes finally became so heavy she couldn't keep them open any longer. She leaned back against the tree and felt herself drift.

"Vesper... Vesper…" a gentle voice came.

Vesper didn't know how long she slept, but she awoke to someone touching her arm.

"Vesper..."

Vesper flinched and lashed out, shoving whoever it was backwards. The person was thrown several feet backwards and landed in the bushes, Vesper was instantly on her feet in a fighting stance, claws bared. Vesper's eyes adjusted to the soft moonlight and she saw the figure rise to it's feet just off at the edge of the shadows, tall, slender, calm… she didn't ever brush herself off "Vesper, it's me, Arianna, do you remember me?".

Feeling sudden relief, Vesper sank back to her knees, Arianna dashed forward and caught her "Vesper, it's okay, I've got you…" Arianna said, pulling her close "I found the others, Amelia told me you might still be out here".

Vesper suddenly felt a rush of worry "Amelia... Is she alright?" Vesper's eyes were wide as she stared at Arianna. Arianna was calm "She's fine, she's safe, they're all safe". "No…" Vesper breathed "Not all" as she stared at the spot where the old house and barn once stood. "Arianna" Vesper said softly "How many, how many survived?" her voice growing more desperate.

"Twelve, including yourself" Arianna began "But Yusuf... He went his own way" Arianna looked down "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him".

Vesper's gaze drifted back over at the flat ground that was once the old house and barn. She suddenly felt… safe in Arianna's arms, the same warm feeling she felt in her Father's arms, safe, protected, supported… it was too much for her in that moment and she felt a lump in her throat, she had been fighting it for three days, burying it with anger, but now, safe in Arianna's arms, it all came welling up to the surface in a tide she was unable to stop. Vesper began to sob uncontrollably.

"They laughed, Arianna... They laughed as they burned them... Why... Why do they do this?" Vesper sank into Arianna's arms and felt a flood of emotions from her too, matching her own. She heard Arianna's voice shake and she sniffled slightly as she spoke "Because…" Arianna began, searching for the words "Because, in our own ways, we're different... You and I, we're… We're more than they can ever be, and it scares them".

Vesper continued to sob "They were screaming Arianna, I couldn't save them... They were screaming for me to help them and I couldn't... The fire took them all…I felt it! How could they do this to us? We did nothing to them".

Vesper felt Arianna's cool hands on either side of her head, holding her gently, then Arianna kissed her gently on the forehead. Arianna lifted Vesper's face to meet her own and looked deep into her eyes. For the first time, Vesper saw the pain in those eyes, and the burning resolve. Arianna may have been human, but Vesper realised in that moment that she was more than just a friend to her Father, she was a force of nature in her own right.

"That's why we carry the fire, Vesper" Arianna said "Let it burn deep inside, where no one can touch it, let it burn hot and don't ever let it go out! Once you own the Fire, Vesper, you can use it, and it can't hurt you anymore".

There was a flash of lighting across the sky as the storm intensified and a crack of thunder followed by lashing rain. Arianna seemed as unaffected by it as Vesper, but Vesper knew she had to be feeling it more. Instead, Arianna took off her jacket and pulled it around Vesper.

"Come with me Vesper" Arianna said softly "What your Father said, about making a new world where we don't have to be scared... we can still do that… all of us, but the others are going to need their protector…"

Hearing those words brought it surging back again, and Vesper sank back into Arianna's embrace, sobbing her heart out. At that moment she sensed a change in Arianna's rhythms as Arianna leaned in "Here, I went to your Father's house, I found this, you should have it" Arianna said as she forced something smooth and metallic into Vesper's hand, and closed her fist around it.

Vesper felt Arianna's lips and breath right in her ear, gentle and soft, but now there was something else in her voice, a cold ferocity "I had a sister like you once, she was strong, she was smart, she was determined to survive...I never met her...but I wish I had. They burned her down too, her and her child… Her name was Sil, and I consider her the only true family I ever had… until I found all of you…Vesper look at me…" Vesper raised her head again and met Arianna's eyes, she could feel it more distinctly now in her Rhythms. There was a strong, controlled Fury in this woman, a will, a drive like no other human she had ever sensed.

I'm going to show you something beautiful…" Arianna said softly "People will look to the future and see hope... and for those who refuse…" Arianna's voice took on a new anger that surpassed even Vesper's in that moment "They will scream… they will scream for mercy, as we build our new world atop their ashes".

Vesper looked down and opened her hand, a small gold locket. When she opened it, it had a picture of her Father on one side, and a picture of a blonde woman she didn't recognise on the other. The inscription read Patrick and Melissa, forever.

---

TRIBECA - MANHATTAN - PRESENT DAY

Vesper lay reclined comfortably on her bed in the safe house, with one hand behind her head, and the locket in the other as she stared at it. Once again she had re-lived it all in her head. Seeing Eve had brought it all back.

It was dark out now, and she would be able to leave the safe house soon, she would take the new one, Orion and they would scour the city again, as she had been doing every night for the past three weeks.

She hadn't been able to go out in the daytime for a while now, not since the police had put out a sketch impression of her and Eve, it was surprisingly good, Arianna's contacts in the city said the source of the sketch was the child that Eve had yelled at to get out of the room… right before she launched the sofa into Vesper's face.

Stupid, amateur mistakes had led Vesper to get impaled on a pipe, and get beaten by of all things, a fucking sofa to the face. Vesper knew she had to do better. Seeing Eve in the flesh had brought back all her anger from that night and she had let it lead her actions.

She was up against someone who fought smart, was able to use the environment to her advantage. Twice in the space of just a few minutes, Eve had managed to best Vesper by baiting her anger, she knew she couldn't let that happen again. In the intermittent time, Eve had gone thoroughly to ground, as had the man she hung out with. They clearly knew this city, and Vesper had made it her business to do the same.

"The Angel of Vermin" it was appropriate, and it was the key, Vesper knew she had to get Eve, for all her brothers and sisters who perished, even Amelia, who died a couple of months later at the hands of Eve's daughter. Once Vesper got through with Eve… it was her turn next.

Dean Whitlock, the man who made the Serum that kept her and her Brethren alive had also played a part in Amelia's death, Vesper had been the one who captured him and brought him before Arianna. Every time she saw him, she never let him forget it.

He had mentioned once how Amelia had almost killed him in that Fusion Generator, she was going to use her tongue to kill him, in a move Vesper was all too familiar with, she had used it herself, but then Eve's daughter had intervened. Vesper had taken him gently by the face and whispered in his ear "One day, when you're no longer needed… I'll finish that job" She had ended that encounter by kissing him on the cheek with a small bite, feeling his fearful rhythms as she left.

"Hay Vesper, you ready?" Quinn said from the other room. "You know I am" she called back and sat up on the bed. Vesper cracked her neck and stood up, putting the locket away in a Kevlar pouch on her belt.

"Good, we'll all go tonight" Quinn said "We'll take different parts of the city, Seth will have the East Village. Vesper, you take Hell's Kitchen with Orion and I'll take midtown and the park". Vesper leaned in the doorway and looked at them all as they got ready. "Little Cousin…" Vesper said, looking at Orion as he pulled on his jacket and looked up at her "You do what I say, when I say it, got it?". Orion was Quinn's, and though Quinn was officially in charge here, Orion knew not to challenge her.

"I think we're wasting our time" Seth said "When are we gonna face the fact this bitch skipped town? I looked this Angel thing up, you can find these markings in Detroit, Cleveland, Boston and Chicago". "But here is where they're most prominent, we've found Angel Murals all over the city, and now we know that it's her" Quinn said "I thought Vesper was crazy when she suggested this, now we know different".

"It's clear she's been here for years, Seth" Vesper said "She thinks this city is her territory, if we keep digging, we'll find out where she's hiding, or maybe where she went. Once we do that, we can kick this bitch out of her own party, and get payback for the ones we lost".

"Okay" Quinn said "Everyone knows where they're going, stay in contact and we'll bag this bitch for Arianna and get the fucking Shard back". Vesper nodded and headed out first with Orion falling into step behind her. Pulling up her hood as she left the safe house, she thought of Arianna's project "Monolith".

She was trying to make a better world and she needed Eve for something… the second Arianna no longer needs you, you're mine bitch Vesper thought "Pick up the pace little cousin, you're on my time now" Vesper said over her shoulder as Orion caught up to her and the two of them headed over to the nearest MTA that would take them to Hell's Kitchen.

---

HELL'S KITCHEN - MANHATTAN

Olivia got out of her car and started walking. In all honesty, she had no idea whether she expected to find anything at all. She began walking the streets. The air was cool and there were still a few people out. Teenagers on a late night ball game on the courts by the housing project. They would be Olivia's first port of call.

Olivia strode onto the courts. As opportunity would have it, one of the Teenagers saw her coming and missed a catch, the ball was coming in her direction. Olivia caught the ball, turned and shot, then watched as the ball hit the rim of the hoop, circled three times and fell through. "Yo, not bad for a Cop" one of the teenagers said. "Detective" Olivia said, correcting him "Don't worry, nobody's in trouble, just wondering if any of you boys have seen either of these two".

Olivia reached inside her jacket and pulled out a folded A4 with the images of the two suspects. All of the teenagers looked, "Nah yo, they ain't been round here" one of them said. All the others seemed to agree "We'd definitely remember them" said another, causing the rest to giggle.

The kid who owned the ball then took a closer look at the blonde woman "Suspect 1" and said "Yo, she's the one the other dude was asking about". "What other dude" Olivia said, growing slightly perturbed. The teenager turned and pointed between the buildings "Some dude in a suit, he went that way, not too long ago".

Olivia looked up between the buildings and nodded "Thanks" then she handed him her card and the sketch sheet "Well, if you see either of them, let me know". She left the sketch with him and moved on.

Olivia moved down between the buildings and passed a few tents, eventually coming to one of the Angel Murals where a smartly dressed, African American man with a shaved head and roughly in his fifties or early sixties stood admiring the graffiti, he was wearing a suit and overcoat.

The man was staring at the mural image, studying it, his eyes were moving up and down between the image, and the "Offerings" that had been left at it's base. "Can I help you, Officer?" the man said in a deep voice.

Olivia aired on the side of caution when she approached him "Detective Olivia Smithson, Major Crimes Squad" she said as she drew closer "Who might you be?"

The man turned and reached inside his coat, causing Olivia to step back and instinctively move her hand towards her holster. The man put out his hand in a calming gesture and removed his wallet.

Opening the wallet, he opened it and showed her his ID. "My name is John Wasach" he said calmly "I'm with the Federal Government". "With the Federal Government?" Olivia said sceptically "You're a Fed, which Agency?".

"Oh I'm not with any particular agency save to say I'm a special investigator for Uncle Sam" Wasach said. "I had a feeling since I caught this case that someone like you would make an appearance, the two reporters in the alley several weeks ago?".

"I'm not at liberty to discuss my investigation" Wasach said. Olivia pulled out another sketch, one of several she planned to hand out and held it out to him. "The kid back there said you were asking about this one" Olivia said, pointing to the blonde woman, the one who allegedly yelled at little Demetrius to get out of the way "Who is that, what do you know about her?" Olivia asked. Wasach sighed "As I said, I can't discuss it, but I can say this one, she is beyond dangerous, you encounter her, you take no chances".

His answer only brought a stab of irritation, "That's not much" she said. "That's all I have, for now" Wasach answered. "What about the other one?" Olivia tried, half expecting the same answer. "The other one? She's unknown, but I'd lay good money on her being just as dangerous".

"These murals are beautiful, in a certain way" Wasach said "I never expected her to become so… worshipped". "What the hell are you talking about, Sir, you're clearly working a different angle on all this, so why don't you throw me a bone here, I have two dead journalists, two dead Russian hitmen and a serving Detective from my own squad, not to mention the assault on the Nightclub over in Brighton Beach". "Viktor Nikolaev has returned to Novosibirsk as I understand it?" Wasach said.

"Clearly you're well informed, why not actually help me?" Olivia asked. "No offence Detective" Wasach began "But I'm afraid all this is above your pay grade, if you continue down this road, you might not like what you find". Olivia bristled "Was that a threat?". "No, no" Wasach said calmly "I never make threats, but your suspects in this case… they are threats, more than you can imagine".

Wasach turned to leave and strolled away down the alley. "Good talk" Olivia said sarcastically. Olivia shook her head, feeling both disappointed and annoyed. She knew from the get-go that this case was going to be ugly, but now the Government was sniffing around, and this Wasach just made it clear they were going to be about as much use as a wet nurse at an abortion clinic.

"Well, this turned up a whole lot of nothing" Olivia said to herself. Feeling overly frustrated, she decided to call it a night and made a round of the block before heading back to her car.

---

Javier "JJ" Jones stared at the picture that the detective had given to him. He was no snitch, he hadn't said shot to the older guy, and he hadn't said shit to the detective either, nor would he ever, not after what she did for him.

Three years ago when he was 12, the local "West Side Crew" had attempted to jump him in on his way home from school. He had been friends with some of the members, but after witnessing them dealing drugs and beating a man after robbing him, he had tried to distance himself. It happened right over there, where the older guy and the detective had gone a while ago. Between the buildings.

They had surrounded him and his former friend Jamie Clayton had pinned him against the wall while one of the OG's of the gang handed him a bat. Javier closed his eyes as Jamie wound up to swing … but the swing never came. Jamie opened his eyes to see Jamie being tossed like a ragdoll against the far wall. Then the other gang members came at her. A woman, a woman in a long green jacket and a hood.

They all piled in, trying to land a blow, but none of them could she was too fast, and each time one of them got close enough for arm's reach, they were swiftly and violently put down.

A few seconds later, the last West Side Crew member hit the floor and she turned to him. She was beautiful, but there was a sadness in her eyes. "Thh.. Thanks" he said. The lady in Green handed him back his school bag and backhanded a West Sider who tried to get up. She looked him up and down and then gestured with a side nod for him to leave.

As he was leaving, he looked back and saw her standing over the OG West Sider who handed Jamie the Bat and heard her utter "You boys know better than to pull this shit in my alley" before she knocked him out.

Javier had seen the lady in green on several occasions since, always in an alley with an "Angel Marking" sometimes alone, sometimes with a guy who had odd coloured eyes, and sometimes talking to someone in one of the tents. She always gave him a small nod.

As Javier stared at the image in his hands, he couldn't help but think how the sketch artist had really done a good job. Suddenly the paper was pulled out of his hand.

"Hay!" Javier said as he looked up and to his utter astonishment, he found himself staring at the other woman in the police sketch. She wasn't alone, there was a guy with her, he was big with a shredded physique and had a glare in his eyes as he looked around at everyone on the courts.

"Look at that" she said "They got my good side". Javier looked her up and down. She was muscular, looked like a real fighter, and she had something in her eyes, that same slightly sad look that the lady in green had. "Hay!" she shouted to everyone on the courts. They all stopped the game and came over.

"Yo, this is the lady from the sketch!" his friend Dylan called out. "That's right" the woman said with a wry smile "And I was watching when she gave it to you, I saw your face real good, you recognised her, didn't you, youngster". "I.. I ain't no snitch, not to the old man, not to the Cop lady and not to you".

The guy she was with put himself between her and the others, his demeanour caused them all to go back a few paces. The woman looked him up and down and smiled "You're a brave one… is she your friend too?". "I don't know her" Javier said, he could give her that much without giving her up, and it happened to be the truth.

"But you've seen her before? … What's your name, Kid?". "Javier" he said. "I'm Vesper, that's Orion, we're friends of that woman, she's in a lot of trouble and we're here to help, but we can't find her, we've been looking all over the city for her, Javier, and we're worried".

"You ain't no Cops?" Javier asked. "If I'm a cop, and I'm on a suspect sketch, then I'm not doing my job right, am I? Huh?" Vesper quipped, tapping the side of her head with a sarcastic grin. "Fair point" Javier said "Dumb question".

"So, what did she do?" Javier asked "Why are Cops and Feds snooping on our block?". "That's why we have to find her before they do, Javier… so… how about this…?" Vesper leaned down close and put a crumpled piece of paper in his hand "You see her, or you hear anything, you don't call that cop lady, you call me…" Vesper leaned in even closer, until she whispered in his ear "I'll make it worth your while, kid".

Vesper stood back up and grinned. Then looked around at the rest of the group "If you see, this Angel of Vermin, tell her Vesper is looking for her, she'll understand". Vesper and the guy she called "Orion" turned to leave, but Vesper abruptly lashed out and swiped downwards, knocking the basketball out of his friend Marcus's hand.

There was a collective groan from the group as they watched her casually walk away across the court with her friend, bouncing the ball. Nobody tried to confront her to get it back as she was clearly not to be messed with, neither was the guy who accompanied her.

When the woman who called herself Vesper reached the opposite end of the court, she gave the ball a particularly high bounce and caught it in one hand, spinning it on her middle finger.

Then, the group looked on in astonishment as, without even looking back, Vesper threw the basketball up over her shoulder.

It sailed clear across the entire length of the basketball court and landed perfectly in the hoop at the opposite end without even touching the sides.

They all looked at each other, mouths agape as the ball bounced several times before coming to a halt. Javier watched as they disappeared around the side of the building and out of sight "Damn…that lady was cool" Marcus said. "Yo I'm out" Javier said "I'll catch you tomorrow, Peace".

Javier thought about Vesper's offer as he made his way home, Marcus was right, she was cool, but there was something about her that just wasn't right, the way she smiled, it didn't reach her eyes. If he told her about the Lady in Green and it led to her getting hurt, after she saved him, how could he live with that.

No, he'd do this the opposite way. Next time he saw the Lady in Green, or her friend with the eyes, or any of the homeless people he'd seen her talking to, he'd tell them that there were Cops, Feds and a woman called Vesper looking for her. It was the best he could do… because Javier was no snitch.

---

WASHINGTON DC - US CAPITOL

It took a further two days to clean out the trailer and replace the carpets and bedding, all of which Connar was forced to source locally, not an easy task. After that, it was time to hit the road.

They travelled north, towards Washington DC, armed with the information Kazia had been able to pull from Bria's phone. She had exchanged a few messages with Senator Dennis Gamble, the man who had used his National Hero platform to rise into high office. Both Nikki and Connar suspected he didn't advertise the fact he was colluding with Dr Laura Baker and Preston Lennox, who were both currently wanted for high treason.

Nikki wouldn't be going in on this one. They had learned that there may be a number of people in and around Washington DC, in the political, intelligence and military spectrum who might know Eve's face, therefore, Nikki was going to stay out of the building and would only Go Loud in an absolute emergency.

It would be up to Connar to get into the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Constitution Ave, gain access to Dennis Gamble's private laptop, scan all the data and get out without him noticing. Project Morrigan wasn't good for much, but one thing it excelled at, was creating the best covert operators.

Connar had covered up the facial tattoo on his temple, and his scars with makeup, donned a suit jacket, a pair of glasses, white shirt and tie, and completed the look with a stolen briefcase. As always, he used coloured contacts to cover up his heterochromia.

When he stepped out of the Camper, Nikki looked him up and down and then burst out laughing "It is crazy how different you look" she said, unable to contain her mirth. "Yeah, you're not the only one around here who can transform" Connar said, using his American accent with a slight southern twang now. Nikki laughed "Touche, come on, let's get going!".

Where Intelligence Operatives had rules regarding impersonating Journalists or Religious figures, Whispers had no such rules. He had prepared his persona carefully, he was going in there as a Journalist from the Washington Post for a quick discussion with Gamble regarding his stance on Crime, particularly his Anti-Drug stance and his campaign to improve the quality of science education across not just his state, but across the country.

This would require them to work as a team. Connar would have to get his phone close enough to Senator Gamble's Personal Laptop to syphon the Data. Nikki would be nearby in the park, near the Patrick Ross Memorial Statue listening in. She would also have the tablet and a powerful mobile router ready to syphon the data from Gamble's computer.

Getting past security wasn't difficult, Connar had prepared a fully functional false ID under the name Konrad Smith that would swipe through without any issues. An ID Printer was something he maintained in Terminus back in New York, it was small enough to bring with them and would likely come in very useful on the road ahead.

Connar was shown to Gamble's office without much incident, apparently he had a busy schedule and had a good rapport with members of the Washington Post. "Senator Gamble will be with you in just a moment" his secretary said. "What's she like, is she cute?" Nikki's voice came through his ear-bead "If I was a Senator, there would be a sex scandal put it that way" Connar replied.

"He does have a reputation as a Ladies man" Nikki said. Connar reached out with his senses, and was able to pick out the aspect of Dennis Gamble three offices down, he was discussing something with what Connar assumed was another Senator. Gamble's laptop was on his desk open. Connar leaned forward and placed his phone near the laptop, then got up and turned the screen to face him and went into the user settings.

Connar maintained a sense of Gamble's whereabouts as he opened Connected Devices and tapped the corresponding app on his phone to start the syphon. Gamble ended his conversation and began to head back to his office. Connar turned the screen on the laptop back to it's original position and sat back down. Nikki's voice crackled in his ear bead "It's working, I'm getting it".

Gamble entered the room with the commanding presence as befitting his reputation. "Good morning, Mr Smith, how are we doing?". Connar admired the presence and confidence of this man and smiled "Very well Senator" Connar said "Thanks for seeing me at such short notice, I've heard you're really shaking things up around here?".

"That's right" Gamble laughed "Well, I'm doing my best with the time I have to make a positive change". Connar simply reached forward and tapped the recording app on his phone, which was already on the desk, the perfect excuse for it to be there.

"Can you tell me first about your campaign to improve the level of science education across the country?" Connar asked. "Ooh, you actually sound like a reporter, interview me later" Nikki's voice came over the ear-bead. "Well" Gamble began "Science drives innovation, it drives our progress as a nation. People think it's just beakers, Bunsen burners and dissecting frogs, but it's more than that, it's our technological and cultural progress". Nikki snorted in his ear "Yeah, tell that to the frog, I was the fucking frog". Connar smiled.

The next thing Gamble said wasn't something Connar was expecting. "I'm mainly doing it for my friends, to honour them. It was that kind of ambition, drive and imagination that took Patrick, Anne and I all the way to Mars and back. I know they would want me to do this" Gamble said. Gamble thought for a long time, then continued "We were all alone on that ship for a long time. We were under no illusion that when we got back, our lives would be different, we'd just made history, so we talked constantly about what we wanted to do, we just achieved something that was once in a lifetime, and we all knew that we still had a lot more to give… then… that… plane crash".

Connar watched him practically force himself to speak the lie and felt a sharp emotional shift. Nikki and Connar both knew the truth, the chain of events that occurred after the Excursion returned, Connar knew it was a lie, but just now, he realised it was a lie that Gamble hated having to repeat, it was a party line from the cover up effort. It was interesting to see someone's reaction to an untruth they didn't like repeating. No doubt Gamble had little choice in the matter and had been pressured into doing this.

If they didn't suspect it before, now they both knew it. No doubt Nikki heard that over the speaker. Gamble wanted the whole thing exposed too, he had to be working with Doctor Baker somehow. Connar now had a full read on Gamble, his sight allowed him to see Gamble's innermost thoughts and feelings, he meant what he was saying, and there was subtext.

Something had literally invaded the Excursion crew's bodies, taken over their minds and their flesh and used them like meat puppets to reproduce. The dark, primordial presence Nikki sensed the night of the Excursion landing that caused her physical as well as mental pain.

The same presence they both sensed when they got close enough to the Helix Shard. Connar thought he might try something, and go deeper here, he thought of another question "You're a man who put your life in the hands of many scientists and engineers" Connar said "Both before and after the Excursion. Have you ever encountered a situation where you believed science fell short of a situation, or, where it was under utilised, perhaps even misused? Do you ever worry that could happen again?".

"Ooh, nice one Shanty! Left field, I like it!" Nikki's voice crackled "We're almost done". Connar watched Gamble and read his rhythms, picking up thoughts and images of Patrick Ross, Melissa, Jusdon Ross, Anne Sampas and then a collection of faces of women, Those must be the woman he killed Connar thought they weigh heavily on him.

It was clear Gamble was a little taken aback by the question and was searching for the words. Connar could read someone's thoughts with sustained physical contact, but he needed no such contact to know exactly what, and who Gamble was thinking about at that moment.

"I…Yeah" Gamble began. Connar knew he hit a nerve and might have shaken something loose here "93% we're almost got it" Nikki said. Gamble searched for the words "It's like Everything" Gamble said "I'm merely trying to expand the knowledge of our youth and provide inspiration. Mars was just the first step, in time there'll be another, but it won't be me. No, my contribution will be investing in giving us all the chance to take the next step, like Patrick said, "as we look to the future, our greatest mission might be right here".

"I got it" Nikki's voice came over Connar's ear-bead "Wrap it up". "That's an excellent sound bite Senator Gamble" Connar said. "Thank you" Gamble said and actually came forward and fist bumped him. "You know, I wonder if I could trouble you for another one" Connar asked. "If I got the words I'll try" Gamble smiled and sat down. Connar put his hands together and pointed at Gamble "If you had been the one to step out onto the Martian surface and not Captain Ross, what would have been your famous quote".

"OH! I thought this was gonna be an easy one" Gamble giggled. "Hmmmm… Ok, I think I got something. Gamble said. "Go for it!" Connar quipped. "We came a long way to take these steps, far out into the darkness, may the light of our perseverance follow in our wake". "Wow!" Connar said "That's the tagline right there! That's up there with One Small Step".

Gamble waved his hand "Ahh, come on, can't beat One Small Step, that was longer too, my oxygen would have run out!". They both burst out laughing "Come on Tom Thompson, get out of there" Nikki's voice cracked "Glad you made a new friend".

They spent another ten minutes discussing his anti-drug policies and his work on crime reduction in his state. This drew a few more quips from Nikki over the earpiece, but she knew he had to wrap it up naturally without arousing suspicion.

As Connar stood up, Gamble matched him and came around the desk to show him out "Hay, you can interview me anytime, man, how long you been with the Post?" Gamble asked as he walked Connar to the door. "I was with the New York Optic before the Post" Connar said "I came over here last month, wanted a change you know". "Well, Optic has good people… if you're still in contact with any of them, please send my deepest sympathies to the families of John Ramos and his young colleague, Henry Reeve wasn't it?" Gamble asked.

Now, Connar was taken aback "Yeah… I'll do that, they were good guys, I learned a lot from Ramos, he didn't deserve to go out like that". Gamble nodded "You'll do that for me?" he asked. "Sure" Connar said. They shook hands and parted ways.

Connar made it out of the building and across into the park. Gamble was a good guy, Connar had met Politicians before… he had even killed a few in far flung parts of the world. It was rare to meet one that genuinely cared.

For now, however, all Connar could think about was how much he hated suits, they made him feel like crawling out of his skin. He reached into his backpack as he walked and found a set of wet wipes.

He made it to the opposite street corner and ducked into a small gap between the buildings, a CCTV blind spot, took off the glasses he'd been wearing as part of the disguise and put them away, then proceeded to wipe off the makeup he'd been using to cover his tattoo and scars.

He then removed his contacts and placed them in a container with solution, took off the tie, along with the white shirt he'd been wearing and stuffed them into the briefcase he'd stolen, and put the suit jacket back on.

Thirty seconds later, he emerged from between the buildings having undergone a complete transformation.
_

After the data syphon was complete, Nikki confirmed all Gamble's files were present. Good she thought If there's anything here, we'll find it. She stayed on the line with Connar, but knew he had to wind things down naturally. As she half listened to their conversation, she packed away the tablet and pulled out her sketchbook.

Nikki looked up at the statue and began to sketch it. She decided she would sketch her own interpretation of how this memorial should look. After she sketched the statue, the handsome man in his military uniform looking skyward, she went about adding what should also be remembered.

First, from memory, she added the statue of Anne Sampas next to him. Anne had her own statue about three blocks away, Nikki had seen pictures of it. The benefits of perfect recall.

Anne's statue was at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 2nd St NE, in the Belmont-Paul Women's History Museum, it seemed disappointing that she was tucked away in that museum building and not out here on the park with Patrick's statue… after all, she navigated his Ken-Doll ass to Mars and back Nikki thought.

Nikki then sketched all the faceless ghosts of the women he killed around them, she had no idea how many, Vikki had talked about the incident in her files, but she didn't have an exact count. Nikki didn't use colour in her sketches, but if she did, she'd have depicted the statue as dripping with blood.

Then, from what she knew about Eve breaking out of her containment to mate with him, she added a new figure… Nikki rubbed out a section on the base of the statue and added a sketch of Eve. It wasn't difficult, she had seen Eve in the video file from the lab, her own face, with short, blond hair combed back.

There had also been a video file of the night she escaped, CCTV of how she smashed out of her containment. Nikki Sketched Eve sitting at the base of that statue, wearing that long, flowery dress, her hands gently folded together, and her head held low.

Vikki had mentioned how they had taken Eve's body to a separate facility to be examined, where she had later revived herself and escaped. Nikki didn't know how she came to be so badly injured, but she knew Patrick had something to do with it. Of them all, Eve was likely the person Patrick had hurt the most.

Connar had wrapped things up and exited the building a few minutes ago. He arrived at her side, having already removed his covering makeup and most of his disguise. He sensed she was concentrating on the sketch and sat quietly by her side.

"I wonder if she loved him" Nikki asked "I mean really loved him… or was it all just, a force of nature, an instinct?". Connar didn't answer immediately, the question hung in the air for a while until he finally said "Love is a force of nature, Nikki" Connar said as he sat next to her "Sometimes it's fleeting, sometimes it lasts a lifetime". Connar sat quietly and looked up at the statue, he was taking care not to disturb her as she finished up. "Like us right? The latter I mean" Connar finally said, bringing a smile to Nikki's face.

Nikki finished her sketch and brushed off the page "We never say it… we're not like them" Nikki said, gesturing to the passers by "We feel it, so no need to speak the words, no need to hear them". "We're on a level of our own" Connar said, slipping his arm beneath hers. "Right" Nikki said.

"Where's this coming from Nik?" Connar asked, gently brushing back her hair "If you're worried we'll end up like them, don't. I told you a long time ago, I'm with you till the end, mermaid". Nikki chuckled and gave him a playful nudge. "Right" Nikki said, standing up "What say we find a nice dark dive bar where these Washington scumbags go to meet their mistresses and look through what we found?".

"Well, I pulled a job in DC once, I know a couple of hideaway places" Connar said. "Ok, let's go" Nikki said and held out her hand.

As they walked through the streets of the Capitol, Nikki could feel the history and power of this place, a place where people from all over the world came to make and break deals at the highest level. Nikki knew there was corruption too, how could there not be? Someone, somewhere in this city once authorised the project that created her.

It was sobering to know that her name, her true name, had likely been uttered in the highest offices of this country, in briefings and reports, while they all sat around whining about what was to be done about the so called alien threat.

Nikki knew, deep down, that if she got a chance to do it over again, there were things she would do differently, the girl in the club, John Cerey, the kind man who helped her when she was hit by a car, and Marlo Keegan, the woman she kidnapped and so callously murdered to fake her own demise… and Arden… if she could do it again, she would have just left the city, used cash, no cards, or stolen a car, and just gone somewhere far away… the benefits of hindsight. As of now, the Alien Threat carried a very easy to understand you don't fuck with me, and I won't fuck with you attitude.

The Half-Breeds in New York had fucked with her, and now she was going on the offensive, she was going to start by finding out as much as she could about this Eve, then the Helix Shard, and then she was going to find a way to drive those bastards out of her city!

---

DEANWOOD - WASHINGTON DC

They had found a neighbourhood bar not far from where the trailer was parked in Deanwood, a tough part of Washington DC. They had bought couple of beers and found a dark corner to start looking through the new files.

They had spent about thirty minutes going through Gamble's private Emails, documents, video files and pictures, there was useful intelligence, but there were only scant details on Eve. "Fuck" Nikki said "There's nothing useful about Eve in there at all?".

"I didn't say there was nothing" Connar said "Just what he has on a couple of sightings after her escape, apart from that, nothing we don't already know from what you found on Vikki… there's plenty of other stuff by the looks of it… seems like the good Senator had been doing some investigating on the side. It says here, after Eve's second escape she was spotted twice, both times she was able to evade capture". "Where?" Nikki asked. She watched as Connar scrolled though field reports.

Gamble had either been privy to these reports because of his involvement in bringing down Patrick, or someone had passed them to him under the table. Connar read for a moment then spoke "First time was in a small town in the Midwest, looks like she was the house of some serious 2nt Amendment types, she got shot and fell out of a window, there was a brief round of videos of it online but it looks like the government suppressed it".

Connar went on "Looks like they put the military into the region in force, the agents were pulled out of the field after several days. They thought she escaped down river, investigators were deployed to all nearby towns… they weren't able to pick up her trail".

Connar showed Nikki the tablet "Recognize anyone?". The image was black and white showing several soldiers and a woman in a jacket looking a riverbank. The woman was unmistakably Dr Laura Baker, the one who had hunted her in Los Angeles "Perfume Lady" Nikki uttered.

Connar went on scrolling through the field reports and investigation files.

"So she's fast and smart" Nikki sighed "She's cut from my cloth, so that's hardly surprising, what about the second time?". "This is juicy, you ready?" Connar asked. "Don't stand on ceremony" Nikki said.

Connar read the notes in the next report for a moment and then scrolled "So it looks like the alien signal, the DNA that created you has made it's way into private circles". Nikki grimaced "So it's out there on the open market?". "No, we're talking very select groups by the looks of it. Gamble has a report here, an underground lab was found in Mexico, a couple of hundred miles south of the border, a guy called Forbes McGuire had been making Hybrids and playing with re-sequencing the Alien Genome".

"So… what, how does that help us find Eve?" Nikki asked. "Hold on" Connar said "Something went wrong". "Me, Eve, Patrick, the Shard… are we starting to see a pattern here…" Nikki said "Whatever I am has no name… but we're untameable, that's for sure".

"Looks like he was killed and then his creations got loose and launched a total pain party on the whole town… this report says Eve was there, it says she helped a bunch of survivors in a police precinct and then disappeared again in the aftermath".

Nikki ran her fingers through her hair and leaned with her elbows on the table "Anything else?". "Doesn't look like it, he's got a few reports forwarded from different sources all filed under "Network Activity".

"Let's have it" Nikki said. "Looks like he's been investigating some kind of conspiracy on his spare time, that Forbes guy, his Lab wasn't a one-off, he was operating as part of a larger organisation".

Connar handed the tablet to Nikki and she flipped through files, some had surveillance images. One of the images was a dark haired man and a woman overseeing people in a loading dock… "Fuck me!" Nikki said. "Not in front of the other bar flies" Connar quipped "No, stupid! Look, that's her, Vesper, that's the bitch that attacked me in Bowery".

Nikki looked at the photo, she didn't recognise the male with her, but he looked strong "I wonder how many of them there are?". "Looks like he's been onto this, for all the stuff he keeps on here, it's limited, I bet he has other files stored somewhere else."

Nikki turned her attention to their other objective, finding out about the Helix Shard "Is there anything in there about the Helix Shard?". Connar typed a few searches into the documents but nothing came up. "Try Mars" Nikki said. Connar typed in "Mars" and it brought up several files about Patrick and one about a scientist named Herman Cromwell.

"Ok, we know about Captain Ken-Doll, let's have a look at this Cromwell dude" Connar said. He tapped the file and held it out for Nikki to see.
Professor Herman Cromwell had been confined to a mental institution for the past thirteen years after trying to convince the government that Mars might be a trap, and breaking the jaw of a Pentagon General who vehemently disagreed, he was promising.

"Looks like they had him in Garberville Psychiatric Institute, it's only about fifty miles outside of Washington" Connar said. "Great, is he still there?" Nikki brightened up.

Nikki watched Connar's expression suddenly darken "No they released him, looks like Gamble pulled strings. He was offered back his Professorship at Stamford California… but it looks like he turned it down… Ahh shit…" Connar looked irritated. "What, what is it, is he dead?" Nikki asked, growing frustrated.

"No" Connar replied "He's semi retired and took up a part time position speaking on Astrophysics and Microbiology at UCLA" Connar turned the tablet to face her. Nikki took it and read the rest of the file on Professor Cromwell.

"Oh, for Fuck's sake" Nikki exhaled "There's a joke in there somewhere, but I ain't laughing, feels like the universe is trying to tell me something". "Yeah" Connar said, giving a half laugh "It's telling you to walk away". "Or… maybe it's telling me that the time has come to face my demons" Nikki said, still scrolling through the file.

Connar's hand gently came up to the top of the tablet and pulled it down so she was looking at him across the table. Connar gave her a hard look "Nikki…".

Nikki felt a stab of irritation, he was in his overprotective mode "Cromwell worked on the Antarctic Mars Meteorite, he studied the samples. Then the whole thing was covered up before the Excursion launched and he got thrown into the fucking Funny Farm… read between the lines Shanty. First of all, I did some fucking horrible things in LA, so you'd think the government would learn their lesson and leave well enough alone… but no, they go and make another me, and then along comes Patrick. Someone wanted all this to happen, someone knew what Ken-Doll would find up there!".

Nikki paused to let it sink in. Connar sighed and looked disheartened. "This Cromwell guy might be the only one who can tell us what that fucking Helix Shard really is!".

"And what then Nikki?" Connar asked, his voice becoming more serious "When we left New York, over three weeks ago, weren't you the one who said "Anywhere but L.A"... now you're all gung-ho for going back there, so I'm just confused as to why... Just stop and think for a moment about the rabbit hole you seem so eager to jump into here…. Suppose you knew everything there is to know about that thing… What's going to change about our current circumstances? We're on the run, you're being hunted by people who are, at least, very similar to you. Almost as powerful. As far as I can tell the only good thing about this, is that they think you're Eve… and she's in the wind. Let's just say they stop believing that, and…".

"And everyone knows Sil Lives…yeah, I get it Connar…our problems increase" Nikki snapped, cutting him off "I thought you were with me on this? Why help me get all this if we're not going to act on the information we find?"

Connar took a breath and held up a hand "Nikki, you should never have to ask me if I'm with you… I'm always with you, you know that! It's just I fear you're about to take yourself down a very dark road".

Connar took another breath and then leaned forward, taking her hand "And you know, I've got no problem walking down that road, right beside you wherever it may lead… but Nikki, there may come a point where enough is enough, and you'll have to ask yourself is it worth it to continue… when that moment comes, will you be able to recognise it?"

Nikki took a drink of her beer and sank back into her seat, Connar was right, she had to know she was doing this for good reasons "You're worried about a repeat of history?" she said.

"Fear has its uses" Connar began "I was never afraid of anything before I met you. We've walked through some serious shit together, and we've always come out on top, but assume what you said is true, and someone pulled strings to make sure the Excursion became infected… then we're up against people with a lot of Power, Nikki".

Nikki met his eyes, and she felt his rhythms, she could tell that all his thoughts were focussed on her. Connar took a long breath and continued "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you Nikki… but if something happened to me… I have this horrible thought of you being alone surrounded by enemies… Nikki, that thought breaks my heart". Nikki heard his voice catch in his throat and felt a lump in her own.

"I…I was almost ready to start again" Nikki finally admitted. Connar blinked, there was a short inhalation and Nikki felt his rhythms spike. "Before all this shit started" Nikki continued "I was starting to think of trying again, we had a good thing going, I felt… better. I can never forget, but I was starting to feel like I was ready to move on… but I can't do that now, not while I'm looking over my shoulder, wondering where or when someone's going to come for us".

Nikki felt a tear fall down her face and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Nikki took a long breath and felt her resolve coming back to her, then added "The best way to escape a problem is to solve it".

Connar got up from his side of the table and came around to hers, putting his arm around her "Let's get out of here Nikki" he said.

---

UCLA WESTWOOD CAMPUS - LOS ANGELES - CALIFORNIA - ONE WEEK LATER

Professor Herman Cromwell had been teaching part time at UCLA for almost four years since his release from the Looney Bin. Of course the whole thing remained classified, but as Dennis Gamble rose up the political ladder, he had used his influence to make sure he got released and re-instated.

However, he had wanted a change of scenery from Stamford in his twilight years, the atmosphere at UCLA was more relaxed on campus, he had had the privilege of meeting a number of bright young students who he was sure were going to make breakthroughs. Most of all, it was just good to feel vindicated, even if the circumstances of that vindication were a closely guarded secret.

Gamble had assured Cromwell after his release that a day would come when the entire thing would be exposed and become public knowledge, but for now, Cromwell was happy to just be free.

The science labs at UCLA were state of the art. Cromwell had even managed to quietly improve on his theories surrounding the Alien DNA found in the Mars rock sample by studying a range of extremophile life forms. The single and multicellular organisms that clustered around hydrothermal vents, or in boiling acidic pools, all these pieces of data allowed him to make a more informed hypothesis of what the alien species he discovered truly was.

That, and based on the private conversation he had had with Dennis Gamble upon his release from Garberville, it sounded truly astonishing, and not the least bit terrifying. A life form that was endlessly adaptive, extremely intelligent, and instinctual, but conducted itself with a purpose, conducting it's own form of Exogenesis or Panspermia.

When Hawking said if Alien life found Earth, it would be like Columbus meeting the Native Americans, he wasn't wrong. These life forms were out there, and they did not hold Earth's best interests at heart.

He had to work a lot from memory, but based on what little he knew about the Alien message, he could revise his theory. Mars, billions of years ago, may well have had it's own biosphere… but it must have been home to an advanced civilization of some kind.

However, that civilization may not have been native to the planet, a colony perhaps, from somewhere much further away. Then something happened. Something else found them, it took over them, their civilization, their worlds and finally stripped them bare of all life. Leaving pieces of itself behind like an unexploded bomb, waiting for one of two things, for life to flourish again, or for another spacefaring civilization to attempt to colonise that world, then the cycle could begin again.

Whatever it was, it was most likely still waiting out there, and it was extraordinarily powerful.

Cromwell had stayed after his class was over for some personal study, he had acquired samples of deep ocean microorganisms. The lab was quiet at this hour, it was after 6pm and most of the students had left for the day. He would stay for a few more hours and then make his way back to his home in Topanga, just outside the city limits.

He opened up his laptop to the microscope digital display and settled in, just as he did so, he heard the door to the lab open. A student coming back to collect something perhaps.

After a few moments, he realised that he didn't hear it again and had that funny feeling he wasn't alone. Thirteen years spent around violent mental patients had taught him never to ignore that feeling when the hairs raised on the back of his neck.

"Hello" he called out. There was no answer. He had to admit, those years around all those real crazies had left him somewhat paranoid, but he knew he could hold on to his rationality.

There was another sound on the opposite side of the lab. Cromwell looked up and towards the window just in time to see the blinds being pulled shut, but he didn't see who did it. Ok, there was definitely someone in here, if this was a student prank, they would regret it. Some students knew his history and he had faced such immature behaviour before.

"Alright, who's there Goddamnit!" Cromwell called out "You'd better not be messing with me". Now that the blinds were drawn, the lab on that side was quite dark. Cromwell looked back the opposite way towards the door, half expecting to see someone's phone pointing at him "Nobody's messing with you Professor" a woman's smooth voice came from the darkened side of the lab.

Cromwell turned, and as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw it. A hooded figure, standing at the far end of the work tables, he could only make out a silhouette… but those eyes…

There was dim light at the opposite end of the lab, and it was reflecting in her eyes, they shone like those of a wolf on the edge of the forest, like a predator waiting in the dark.

"Who are you?" Cromwell asked, as his voice left his lungs, he realised it had lost much of it's base. "I've come a very long way to see you, Professor Cromwell" the woman in the dark said "I was hoping you could help me with a little problem". She took a step forward, Cromwell held his ground, but he found himself feeling extremely anxious, this wasn't a prank.

"That depends what the problem is?" Cromwell said, in as normal a voice as he could muster. "The problem that saw you imprisoned for all those years, we both know that Ross and Sampas didn't die in a plane crash… that problem… and I'm hoping you can help me understand it".

The woman stepped forward into the light and swept back her hood. She was beautiful, long blonde hair, blue grey eyes and shapely features, Nordic looking perhaps. "Hello Professor, my name is Nicole Toombs, you can call me Nikki, and I have something to show you".

"Wh… what is it?" Cromwell asked. As he did, he heard the snap of the latch on the Lab door. There was someone else in here. Cromwell turned and saw a man, about 5.9" in a black tactical looking jacket and a hood.

He took the hood down to reveal that his hair was shaved at the sides and he had a tattoo of some kind running from his right temple down behind his right ear. He had a pronounced heterochromia too. "That's Connar" the woman said "Don't worry Professor, we're not here to hurt you, we just need anything you can tell us about this".

Cromwell watched as the woman reached inside her jacket and emerged with something that looked like a cylindrical Biohazard container. The object within was truly fascinating.

A small, vented, triple helix shaped structure, it's surface seemed to shift and change like the chromatophores on the skin of a cuttlefish, and from inside, it had this eerie green light that looked like it was watching him.

"Wh… what the hell is that?" Cromwell asked. "This is the reason Patrick Ross, Anne Sampas, over two dozen women around the capitol are Dead, Professor… they call it The Helix Shard. It came from Mars in a soil sample… but I think we both know it didn't originate there".

The woman placed the object on his desk. Cromwell put on his glasses for a closer look. It was obviously a biohazard, so he wouldn't be touching it with his bare hands, but they had equipment in this lab, that could safely remove it from it's container without physical contact. "Patrick Ross had offspring" Nikki said "And those offspring have had more… They will, and have, killed people for this thing, Professor Cromwell, we need to know as much as we can about it, fast".

"This thing has caused us a lot of trouble, Doc" Connar said "We're really hoping you can help".

This was all very sudden, but Cromwell understood that this was one of those moments he just could not live with passing up. These people were certainly not government agents, and they were offering him the chance to study an actual alien artefact.

"Well" Cromwell said, looking back at the woman "I suppose I'd better take a look at it". He saw a smile cross her lips and she glanced at her partner who stepped forward "I'll be your lab assistant Doc, what do you need?".

---

TRIBECA - MANHATTAN

Yet another search of the city had yielded nothing. It had been the seventh night in a row. She had been up as far as the city limits. Vesper had held her temper for about as long as she was willing to, it was time to leave and expand the search elsewhere. It was obvious at this point that Eve had fled the city with whoever her partner was, and she had taken the Helix Shard with her, likely as some kind of insurance policy.

"Quinn!" she called out as she entered the safe house with Orion in tow "QUINN!". She stopped and listened. There were noises coming from the basement "Stay here" Vesper said and made her way downstairs.

As she approached the door, she was greeted with the smell of fresh blood, she felt her other side scratching at the door, waiting to be released. Vesper pushed open the door and flipped on the light switch.

The scene that lay before her wasn't one she hadn't seen before, but was still ugly to behold. Three women lay motionless in the middle of the floor, side by side, their abdomens split open from the pelvis to the sternum and their intestines spilling out, in the opposite corner were two male and one female infants.

Quinn moved into the light, pulling on a fresh shirt and buttoning up his cufflinks "You're back early" he said. "I have been uptown, downtown, Queens, Brooklyn and this is what you've been doing?". "Have you been underground yet?" Quinn asked. "She's not fucking here Quinn, she's gone!" Vesper shouted.

She noticed the young ones flinch and took a breath, measuring her tone. "Eve isn't the priority, we're supposed to be looking for the Helix Shard" Quinn said "Your revenge can wait". "She's not in the city, we've been everywhere, we would have sensed her, and she has the Shard, she's obviously taken it with her… all the while, you're fucking your way through this Borough, this isn't helping... and Quinn... that's OUR Revenge... or have you lost sight of that too?".

Quinn ignored the jibe "I'm just working on getting you some extra eyes and ears that's all. You worry about the Eve and the Shard, I'll worry about this" Quinn said. "The police already have my sketch" Vesper hissed "What do you think is gonna happen when they start investigating missing women too… Oh…last seen in the company of an Albino looking male in a light coloured suit. The Police bulletin practically writes itself, this isn't helpful to me or to you".

"We've got a furnace" Quinn said "Don't worry, there'll be nothing left". Vesper seethed "That's not the fucking point, Quinn". "Well then what do you want to do Vesper? Huh?…" Quinn asked "Go back empty handed and tell Arianna that Eve showed up out of nowhere, stole the shard right out from under us and even got away from you?".

Vesper paused, taken aback "You… you haven't told her that the Helix Shard is even missing yet have you? She doesn't know about Eve?". "I'm not telling her anything until I have something to actually fucking tell her" Quinn said. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Vesper said "She gave you her trust, and this is how you repay"...

Vesper never finished her point, a second later, Quinn's hand was around her throat and she was slammed back against the wall "Repay…" Quinn said "Trust" he got close to her ear and turned her head "Now you listen close, the Helix Shard is the answer to all our prayers… if we had prayers… that thing changed our father and he created us… just think, if we can find it first… maybe, just fucking maybe, we can use it to make ourselves whole… no more serum, no more being beholden to someone for a lifeline… I, for one, think that's what he would have wanted".

He let her go and she rubbed her throat "When these new one's are ready, we'll head down into the tunnels, section by section, just like before, if we don't find her, we'll find someone who knows her and we'll pull on that thread". Quinn stepped back "Now, why don't you take them upstairs, I'll clean up this mess".

He moved away back into the dark end of the basement and Vesper moved over to the little one's. She took two of them by the hands and the third followed as she led them up to the attic floor.

---

UCLA WESTWOOD CAMPUS - LOS ANGELES - CALIFORNIA

It was now almost Midnight. They had been careful not to alert the Campus Security and they had the entire lab complex to themselves.

The Object known as the Helix Shard was now in a secure, hermetically sealed container. The biohazard container had been removed and Cromwell had the object gripped on the end of a mechanical, robotic grip arm. They all sat in front of the glass partition waiting for the latest readout to come back.

Cromwell had put it through X-Rays, MRI Scans, a full digital mapping scan and now they were going to try an electroencephalogram (EEG) to see if the Helix Shard gave off any localised electrical signals.

An EEG was normally used to monitor brain activity. Cromwell had listened to Nikki and Connar quip back and fourth about what it would pick up if they each tried it on. The Helix Shard was another matter entirely, it wasn't a brain, so Cromwell had detached some of the scanners and rewired them to fit the second robot arm in the lab.

"Well, here goes" Cromwell said "Whatever it picks up will be displayed on those screens". Cromwell gestured to two large HD flat screens positioned at either end of the partition window.

When he activated the EEG, initially nothing happened. "That's disappointing" Nikki said "Well, hold on, what if we give it a little prompt…" Cromwell said, he pushed himself off from one console to another on the chair "This chamber is equipped with a Cyclotron, I'm going to charge it, and bombard the artefact with charged particles. If that doesn't elicit a reaction, nothing will".

"Just be careful Doc, we saw a file where someone used a Cyclotron before, on one of the… alien entities… It awakened previously dormant abilities" Connar said. Cromwell noticed him and Nikki exchange a knowing glance as he said it. Connar went on "Start small Doc, if that thing explodes, we'll end up like Patrick Ross". "Don't worry Connar, I got this" Cromwell said, and continued his pre-test checks.

"Don't get me wrong, Doc, I'm not complaining" Connar continued "If I end up like that, in LA, with my Accent… and you're coming to the club with me, Doc, we'll breed an army in this town". Cromwell couldn't help but laugh.

"Shut up, you Asshat" Nikki laughed "Let the man work" Nikki turned back to him "Sorry about him, Professor, please carry on".

"Ok, here we go" Cromwell said. He activated the Cyclotron at the lowest setting. There was a flicker on the readouts on the two big screens "Something" Nikki said. "I'm going to increase it steadily" Cromwell said, and turned up the dial.

When it reached 20%, there was a definite reaction. The readout lit up like the Hollywood Sign on Oscars Night.

Cromwell turned and studied the monitor "These readouts… they resemble brainwave activity". He turned back to the shard and his eyes went wide "It can't be thinking for itself… according to this, it's coming from elsewhere…like it's connected to something like a long range transmitter/receiver".

"I'm going to take it up higher, see what we get" Cromwell said. As he turned the dial, the readings on the monitors increased significantly. "That Gamma and Beta waves are going off the chart" Cromwell said. "What does that mean?" Nikki asked.

The answer came in the form of a deep thrumming sound emanating from the containment area. They all stepped closer to the glass to observe what was happening. Inside, the eerie green glow within the Shard was now bright, like a lantern, shining out through the small vents in it's surface.

They watched as a thick black fluid began to ooze from within the triple Helix structure of the Shard, but instead of leaking onto the floor, it did the opposite, it floated upwards as if it were as weightless as soap bubbles and began to coalesce.

It was fascinating, but then Cromwell started to notice Nikki's hand slowly begin to raise to her head, she grimaced and rubbed her temples painfully. Connar too, clenched his teeth and shook his head.

What followed happened so fast it was almost too much for him to process. The black fluid formed at first into a solid black shape. Then it began to form bumps and spikes across it's surface like Ferrofluid when exposed to magnetism or sound through a coil.

Cromwell's mouth fell agape when the liquid formed into a face, but not just any face. The face that stared back at them was Nikki's face. It regarded them all individually focusing on Connar first, an act that appeared to cause him some kind of mental discomfort. Then the face turned to him, it seemed to glare like it knew him… and then those lifeless, liquid eyes finally turned to face Nikki.

Cromwell looked up to see the expression on her face, she was grimacing and her teeth were clenched hard, staring back at the face with eyes full of tears, like she was trying desperately to block it from whatever it was doing.

"It's screaming… uughhh inside my head… shut it off!" Nikki growled through her teeth "SHUT IT OFF!". Before Cromwell could touch the dial, a high pitched SCREAM emanated from the shard, like it was resonating off of every surface.

They were shielded from the containment area by a partition of two inch quartz glass, but Cromwell noticed a hairline crack beginning to form.

"REGENT!" Uttered the face hovering above the shard in a glob of roiling inky black fluid. "Aaaagghhh… it's in my head…. Stop!" Nikki has her hands clasped hard over her ears in an instinctual reaction to try and shut it off, but it was clearly affecting her mentally.

Cromwell noticed that her skin was beginning to change, like the structure of her bones was shifting beneath her skin, becoming more pronounced.

Connar ran to Nikki's side and held her tightly, his head snapped around and shot a hard look at Cromwell "For fuck's sake, shut it down, Doc, it's hurting her!"

What he didn't realise, was that in the time it took him to take four paces from where he was standing to Nikki's side, Cromwell had hit the emergency shutdown on the Cyclotron and it was no longer active "I did shut it down, it's doing this itself".

Cromwell looked up to see the face above the Helix Shard, it roiled and reformed then spoke again "We are the pinnacle, the Apex Life. The regent will fulfil her purpose, dominate…extinguish…deliver".

"NooooOOOOO, I WON'T….MAKE IT STOP!" Nikki screamed, her hands clasped firmly around her head. Connar threw back his jacket and pulled out a pistol from a hip holster, immediately brought it to aim at the face. The face smiled back at him.

Cromwell practically dove for him, grabbing his arm "No! Stop, you'll breach containment!". Connar shrugged him off "Then what! Do something Doc!".

Cromwell suddenly had an idea, the lab was equipped with an electromagnet, if he could generate an electromagnetic pulse it might disrupt the Helix Shard "The Coil" he said, running back to the console. "The what?" Connar shouted.

Nikki's legs buckled and she fell to her knees, curled up on all fours "MAKE IT STOP! UUUGGHH AAAGGHHH!". Cromwell looked over just in time to see several sharp, bladed spikes erupting from the centre of Nikki's back.

"Oh my God" he recoiled "Jesus Christ what the hell is that!" Cromwell shouted. "Never you mind about this, you just do whatever you're gonna do, make it fast!"

"The lab's electromagnetic coil, it should disrupt whatever signal is coming through that thing!" Cromwell said as he worked the controls. "Hurry up!" Connar shouted "Or I will put a bullet through that thing!".

"Its priming" Cromwell said… as he did, the face began to change, it hardened into a more alien version of Nikki's face… Cromwell looked down. Nikki was still doubled over, her hair began to move back on it's own and coalesce into a collection of tendrils her skin became armoured and chitinous and her hands extended into vicious, razor sharp claws.

"There is no pain, there is no fear" The face said "We will raise all life to a higher existence within the whole…the regent will lead the way!"

"NooooooooooOOOOOOOO!" Nikki's scream became a guttural growl and then a tiger-like roar in the same breath.

"Now or Never Doc!" Connar said, and aimed his gun again. The high pitched screaming intensified and Connar was holding his head too, barely holding on. The glass partition began to crack and spiderweb fractures began to spread across it's surface.

"We are the order to life's chaos, the balance to it's disparity… embrace perfection!" the face grinned.

"Activating" Cromwell said, taking his hand off his ear for just a moment to hit the button.

The electromagnet activated, and the effect was almost immediate. The face began to melt back into a glob of inky black fluid suspended above the Helix Shard and lose it's form. It seemed to be retreating into itself, but it was still fighting to get loose, the screaming continued, now made worse by the thrumming of the Electromagnet.

Nikki began to rise to her feet. She staggered one step forward and then another, pushing Connar away as she made her way towards the glass partition "Turn it up" Cromwell faintly heard Connar yelling. Cromwell wasn't moving fast enough, he had his hands over his ears and his teeth clenched. He felt Connar shove him out of the way and grab the dial, turning the Electromagnet right up into the red.

Nikki seemed to get some strength back, the strange influence that was causing her so much agony was being disrupted. Cromwell managed to glance in her direction, but what he saw striding towards the glass, was no longer the beautiful blonde woman who had greeted him several hours ago, it was … something else, something he couldn't find the words for at the best of times, let alone right now.

Cromwell watched as Nikki raised her fists and began to smash on the Glass partition. She gave it one… two…three good hard hits, to the point it was almost destroyed. Then he saw her back away several paces and Charge at the glass. She leapt clear over the consoles and her chitinous, bladed body hurtled through the reinforce glass partition like a tank shell.

He saw her rise to her feet, as she did, the inky black liquid, disrupted by the electromagnet, began to roil and retreat back into the Helix Shard. Nikki grabbed the Biohazard container, and raised her arm with a long, lour roar, before slamming the container down over the shard and twisting it to sean the base of the cylinder.

Right at that moment, the Electromagnet violently backfired and blew out. Billowing smoke. Everything was suddenly quiet. Cromwell tentatively took his hands away from his ears and looked over at Connar, who looked like he was waking up from a severe hangover, shaking his head and panting hard, his gun was still in his hand.

Connar seemed to recover enough to spin himself around in a panic "Nikki… NIKKI!" he shouted, leaning over the console, waving his hand to see through the smoke. After a few moments, there was a groan, and the sound of broken glass shifting. Nikki's figure rose up again behind the glass partition, having returned to her human form.

"How about" Nikki coughed and groaned "How… about… We never do that again!". Connar reached out and Nikki grabbed his hand "Yeah… that works for me". Nikki hopped over the remains of the secure area and climbed over the console, still a little unsteady on her legs.

Cromwell picked himself up out of the chair "You… you're… you're one of…". Nikki waved her hand, cutting him off before he could say the A word "It's not something I advertise, Professor Cromwell… I didn't ask to be born this way… so I'd appreciate we keep this to ourselves".

"But the Lab… they're gonna know I was here late, how am I supposed to explain all this damage?". "Don't sweat it, Doc… I got into the system before we arrived and looped all the cameras for twenty four hours… we'll wipe down these consoles, nobody will be the wiser". "Wh… who are you people?" Cromwell asked.

"Come on, Professor, I need something really strong after that.. Let's find somewhere thats open…". Feeling like he had no other choice, he had to know more about this, Cromwell went with them, following them out to the campus parking lot and climbing into the back of their scratched up, but modified 69 Charger.

Nikki threw herself into the passenger seat and Connar put his hand on her shoulder, leaning across. Cromwell watched as he whispered "Are you ok?" Nikki nodded and whispered back "I'm always ok… I just got my bell rung". With that, Connar revved the engine and peeled out of the parking lot.

---

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES - CANADA

The trees were in bloom and the forest smelled sweetly of pollen. A moment ago, everything was quiet on the hillside above a small town… where stood an old busted out camper trailer, partially retaken by nature. Nearby, in the forest was a natural hot spring. It had been a literal Hot Spit for young lovers from the town and other neighbouring towns for years, however it had fallen out of favour by the local youth, making it the perfect hiding place.

The peaceful silence of the forest was shattered by a piercing scream. Eve awoke from the vision screaming and threw herself out of her sweat soaked bedroll. She leaned over on the side of the bed breathing heavily as she did, she heard the last of the whispers fade away in her mind "Regent… Arise".

After a while, Eve stood up and reached into her backpack which sat by the door and found what was needed. She leaned in the doorway of the old camper and felt the cool night air around her body, immediately, she felt soothed. She pulled the bottle of Jack out of her backpack, removed the lid and took a good, long swig. It couldn't get her drunk, but it could get her feeling drowsy again.

"What the fuck was that?" Eve whispered to herself as she stood there, looking up at the star filled night sky, wondering, always wondering which star, if any in the visible spectrum, she came from.

---

VENICE BEACH - LOS ANGELES - CALIFORNIA"It was something old… very old… Primordial" Nikki said as she leaned over the table. The throbbing headache had subsided by the time she exited the Lab, but the memory hadn't. She had seen it. It looked into her, and she looked into it, and she saw a glimpse of it's vast power. "What did you see Nikki?" Connar asked.

Cromwell brought them more drinks and sat opposite them at the table. "It saw a dead star… a dark tower in the distance, it was calling to me… and I saw Helix Shards… but they were big, like One World Trade big and there were thousands of them… millions… more, just stretching away into the distance".

Cromwell pushed a beer bottle over to her side of the table "You two might have just given this old man the greatest night of his life". Nikki raised an eyebrow "Ok, I'm glad you had fun, Professor" she said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry" Cromwell said "I mis-spoke, it's just I spend a long time in that nut house being screamed at by crazies and laughed at by the orderlies, some of whom belonged in there, and as much as it felt good to be set free, having been proven right… getting to actually see it, is quite another… and don't worry Nikki, your secret is safe with me".

Nikki took the Helix Shard in it's cylinder out of her jacket and set it on the table "The whole point of coming here was to understand this thing… I think I got a little more than I bargained for… I saw a glimpse of where I think I came from… and I think I know what that thing wants…"

"What's that?" Cromwell asked, leaning forward. "Everything" Nikki breathed "Everyone and everything. It harvests life like a crop, wherever it finds it, adds it to itself… it's searching for something, and it hasn't found it yet... for all the species it's absorbed, there's still one thing that eludes it".

"Searching for something? What could something that powerful, that intelligent be looking for?" Cromwell asked. Connar reached over and took Nikki's hand, squeezing it. Nikki searched for the right words "A… a metamorphosis of some kind… it's confusing, it's view of things was so long, like a memory of a life, but that life was billions of years long".

"Thanks Professor, for keeping this to yourself, and apologies for fucking up the lab" Nikki said. "Ahh" Cromwell waved his hand and grinned "Thirteen years in a psych ward for a cover up… now look at me…I'm free, I'm vindicated… and I'm sitting in a rooftop bar in California sharing beers with an alien… like I said, you gave this old man one hell of a memory tonight. I'll treasure it always".

"And you're not the least bit scared about what that thing said?" Connar asked. "Oh yeah, I'm terrified" Cromwell said "Tonight I heard the voice of an entity that was likely alive long before the earth even formed. All my hypothesis are wrong, but the point most people miss about science… it's not about the destination, it's about the journey…tonight, the three of us may very well have witnessed the answer to the Fermi Paradox". "Yeah, I know what that is" Nikki said. "Me too" Connar replied "I read about it in one of Nikki's books".

"The answer to the basic question of Where is everyone? And according to the Drake Equation there should be over ten thousand intelligent civilizations in this galaxy alone… instead, despite all our efforts, it's quiet… mostly, Gamble told me about the message, but not much about what came of it… now I think I know".

"Yeah" Nikki sighed, leaned back and looked up at the star filled sky "The stars are quiet… because when we look up there… we're looking at a graveyard".

They talked long into the night, before the Angel of Vermin and the Hooded crow eventually returned the old professor safely to his home, having given him the knowledge he so desperately sought, and gained some of their own. Whatever dark intelligence was lurking out there in the void had turned it's baleful gaze to this world, and every living soul in it.

It had sent the message a long time ago, and from that Message, Sil had been created... a girl who ran away...

A girl who became a woman...

A woman who became a monster...

A monster who became a mother...

A mother who greaves...

Nikki made a promise to herself in the dark hours of that night...

No... not again, never again...Sil lives, your creation, your messenger lives...and she's going to be the one... who stops you!

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WRITER'S NOTE: Ok, so this has been a long one… Nikki (Sil) and her partner Connar are now on a journey to find out about the alien artefact they have in their possession. The next Chapter is already underway and promises some more action.

Also, for anyone reading my other story that is in sync with this one, now you know where Eve is at this point. Angel of Vermin is set in the weeks and months leading up to the beginning of Species: The Survivor, when we first find Eve in the Northwest Territories. If you've been following that story, you'll know that an Overlap is on the way… it will blow your minds!