R: Ultra Evolution

Book 1: A Seed of Doubt

The day after Witchunt

Maddy woke up from her slumber groggily, being blinded by the sunlight. She spent a few minutes trying to get her bearings, and trying to remember what had happened for her to end up asleep. She then tried to move, only to feel an equal force pulling her back. She looked around, but the pain in her ribs prevented her from twisting far enough to see what had hold of her. Eventually she roared, and managed to get a glimpse of a large and thick metal chain, attached to a brick wall, with a church altar behind it.

As she tried to squirm out of the shackles, Akiza walked in, smiling. 'Good morning sunshine, how are you finding your new surroundings?' 'You… let me go.' 'I'm afraid that's not happening. You see, everything happens for a reason. I was brought into the Renegades for a reason, I was betrayed by you for a reason, and now you're here for a very specific reason.' Knowing she wasn't in a position to rebel, Maddy played along. 'What's that then?' Akiza laughed, and walked around the other side of Maddy.

'The only way you're going anywhere is if you complete the ritual.' 'Complete the ritual? The fuck you on about?' 'You'll soon see, preparations are being made as we speak. Your feelings mean nothing in the grand scheme of this world, you're not anything special, you're just another person, with a purpose. But that's about to change, because soon, you will have a greater meaning in this world. You will become the sacrifice.'

Meanwhile, in England

Upon receiving the news from Rio, Phil was absolutely beside himself. 'And you just LET it happen?' 'Not like we had much choice, we were busy being gassed, it's only because Hassleberry was looking for Brooke that we even got out of there.' 'Well why are you wasting time telling me all of this, get a fucking search party together and get out there looking!' 'Look where exactly? They could be anywhere in the entire world right now, and the only person who has the faintest clue has been captured.'

Sensing the anger building, Rio tried to reassure him. 'Look, you know how strong Maddy is, she's going to be giving them hell. Quite honestly they're going to regret ever taking her when she's done with them. Besides, it's not like we're not doing anything, we've got scouts all over the world keeping an eye out. The moment anybody hears anything, and someone's bound to, they're going to be contacting us immediately. So just bear with, and trust us and the process, k? I'll let you know if I know anything else.'

In Toronto

As Akiza returned to the room to admire her handiwork again, Maddy shouted over to her. 'I know everything.' This caused Akiza to turn around in surprise. 'I know all about your little "partnership", your plotting, everything.' Akiza smiled to herself, and nodded. 'I'm very impressed, I've made the correct choice here. But the truth is, you don't have the first clue what the truth is. You see, all along, everyone was focused on defending, protecting you, and why, because of you poor ickle hurt ribs?' she taunted, before casually smacking her in the ribs, as Maddy flashed her eyes defiantly in response.

'No, you're so wrong there. The plan was never, ever to hurt you, I never had any intention of causing you any harm. No, the plan was to capture you, because you're far more valuable to me in that way.' 'What - a hostage?' She just chuckled. 'Maybe, maybe not. You don't have the faintest clue what's going on, and I intend on keeping it that way until you complete our little ritual, and I have everything I want.'

'Well I don't know what that is, but I'm not exactly overflowing with generosity here.' 'Oh, don't worry, you will be. You're going to be ready to perform soon enough. That's all you are, a performing animal.' Angered, Maddy spat in her face, which Akiza wiped off calmly. 'Fine, have it your way.' She produced a barbed rose-like whip from behind her back, and slashed Maddy in the ribs, making her cry in pain. She then continued to do this, until she had performed the action a full 30 times. As Maddy winced in pain, Akiza called upon one of her minions. 'Tee, in here.'

Tee walked in calmly, hair back in two buns, each tied by a pink hair bow. She was carrying a plastic cup, and knelt to Akiza, before presenting the cup. Her mistress took the item, and Tee brought over a knife. 'Tee, do it.' 'The ritual will be complete' she responded, before slashing Akiza's wrist, shocking Maddy, as she watched the blood slowly trickle into the cup, drop by drop, for several minutes until the cup was almost full, at which point it was presented to the chained wolf. 'Maddy, drink this, and become complete!' Maddy's response was a full and frank 'Erm no, I'm not Dracula.' Unimpressed, Akiza smacked her in the ribs again, before walking off.

At the base

Rio, Blair and Astrid were sat in the office, discussing tactics. 'So what do we know?' Rio asked with clear thinking, writing on a large piece of paper. 'We know Maddy's been taken' 'That's what we're here to discuss.' 'Look Astrid, I know exactly what you're thinking, this is worse for you than nearly anybody else. But we need to work together and talk like adults, otherwise nothing's happening, aside from us wasting time.' Realising she was right, Astrid bowed her head. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't be taking it out on you Rio.'

'It's fine, you can save the flowers for later. So we know she's been taken in Toronto. Do we have any clues where they are?' 'Freja pointed out that Akiza has this condo in Toronto, so they might be keeping her there for the time being until they take her wherever else' Blair pointed out, and Astrid was happy to share her prevailing theory. 'I'll bet this has something to do with Segolia, they've been after Maddy for months.' 'Segolia have gone quiet though.' 'That's my point Blair, they've been TOO quiet. They're so keen on Maddy, yet we basically haven't heard of them since we beat up their goons ages ago. So either they've had a sudden change of heart, or'

'Or they were regrouping and forming a new plan. Where are the Segolia offices, and we can get them under surveillance.' 'They have three offices, but their main lab appears to be in New York City.' 'Dylar's recently been moved by Maddy from Glasgow to Chicago, so she's probably going to be the closest.' 'Right, so we can do that' Rio responded as she wrote this info down. 'We also know that Akiza has plenty of allies, there are plenty of people who hate us, hate Maddy. What do we know with Shannon?'

'Childhood friend of Maddy's, jealous seemingly that Maddy's allowed to have other friends, she's really smart, supposedly a science and tech whizz, so we can't try tracking them. The wiretapping went down last week so it looks like they figured that out.' 'If anyone they have is going to work that out then it's Shannon. We also know that she has a past with the Barians, and that she's got a past with Birchall, so she probably has dangerous connections one way or the other.'

'So we can't go after her.' 'Not unless… look, I know waiting isn't always a great idea, but Shannon has a title shot in Chicago against Phil. That's where we strike her.' 'And the rest of them?' 'They might have Maddy but we have the numbers. We take everyone we can get our hands on with us, we arrange for Dylar to meet us back there, and then after the duel we get her, then force the information out of her.'

Astrid looked at Blair, who appeared to be in agreement, and then nodded herself. 'Yep, I don't think we've got many more suggestions.' 'Look, I know it's hard, but Maddy's more powerful than any of us know, don't forget, Phil said that most of her power is locked away for her own safety.' That shocked Blair. 'Wow, I'd totally forgotten that Ri, thanks.' 'You remember what she did to Shannon at In the Shadows? That was about 30% of her power. So imagine what she could do letting it all loose.'

'She's pretty banged up though' Astrid lamented, but this didn't appear to concern Rio with her calculations. 'Yeah, let's say that takes away the top 10% end of what she's got. That's still a lot of angry wolf to play with.' 'That's true. And let's face it, if even Maddy doesn't know what she's capable of, Akiza sure as hell won't.' 'So we just trust her, right?' 'Right.' Blair and Astrid then funneled out of the room, but Rio didn't join them, instead getting on the phone. 'Reginald, this is Rio. We need a meeting ASAP, and I'm not pissing about. If you don't answer in 24 hours I'm getting Girag to drag your ass all the way back to Barian.'

In Toronto

Akiza walked back into the room where Maddy was being kept after leaving her for three hours, confident that she would now be begging for forgiveness. 'Give in Maddy, fall in line, be a good little idiot.' 'Never! I don't care what you say or do, because all you're going to do is dig yer grave deeper and deeper! And never mind me, you couldn't organise a birthday party for dead people!'

Offended at what she saw as an insult on her ability, Akiza snapped. 'Lukas, give her hell.' As she put on a pair of ear defenders, Lukas walked in, and slugged Maddy in the kidneys, before putting on a brick-loaded glove, and pulling his arm back before launching a vicious punch straight into the side of Maddy's head, knocking her unconscious and making her ear bleed profusely, which Tee came over wipe off, before she uncharacteristically pushed Lukas away, catching Akiza's attention.

'You idiot! You're supposed to be softening her up, not killing her! If this is going to work, we need to keep her alive and well, you know the orders we had.' 'Fuck the orders, she's made us look stupid for so long, this is our ultimate glory.' He went for another punch, but Tee stood in front of Maddy. 'I'd rather die than betray Mistress Akiza.' Before anything else could occur, Akiza guided Lukas away. 'Trust me, what is planned is far better.' She then got a phone call. 'Yes, we have her. Not yet, but she will, I promise. You will have what you want.'

In Barian World

Rio (in her Barian form) was waiting as Nash walked into sight, but she was still far from impressed. 'I've been waiting here a full hour, the hell have you been?' 'I had other things to do.' 'Let's cut to the chase, where's Maddy?' 'Like I know.' 'Seriously brother, this isn't a game anymore.' Still reluctant to tell her anything, he dragged his heels in the hopes of her giving up. 'Well, she could be… I mean if you think about it… with any luck she'll be nice and' 'For god's sake Reginald, just tell me the answer!'

As he whistled to himself, it transpired he'd massively underestimated Rio. 'Look, if you don't tell me right now what's going on, I'm going to send Jana and the entire wild pack over to you and tell them that you know what happened to Maddy, and I don't think most of them know what morals or mercy are. What they do know is how to tear a carcass apart, rip flesh off bones, remove limbs, rip open your scrotum and feed it to' This was enough to scare her brother straight.

'Ok, ok, there's no need to do that. I don't know what Akiza's got planned for Maddy, nobody does outside of Akiza and probably Tee and Lukas. None of them tell me anything, the only reason I'm still with Junction 7 is to get you away from the Renegades. That's it, nothing else.' Still not sold, she applied a testicular claw and pulled him in close. 'You're going to be at the next event in Chicago. And between now and then, you're going to find something out. Something really useful, like Maddy's location. Because if you don't?' She then started to twist. 'Then I'm not the only one not living a full life. And don't even test me.'

Elsewhere, Hannah was on the phone to Dan and Emma. 'So you're telling me that Maddy's been kidnapped?' 'Yes, we have strong evidence that she's in Toronto still, because neither Maddy or anyone involved has been seen since then. We've had spotters all around Toronto Airport and the land borders with Alaska and the mainland, and they've seen no sign of anything either.' 'Right, we've got contacts in Toronto, so we'll get them on the hunt for her. Thanks for lettin' us know, we'll make sure she comes home safe and sound.' 'Thank you. Sorry to burden you with this, but I' 'I get it, don't worry, we both do. Just relax, we're on the case.' 'Thank you.'

As Dan and Emma came off the phone, there was an announcement over a tannoy. 'Boarding has now commenced for the 14:23 plane to Toronto International Airport. If you wish to board this plane, please proceed to check-in immediately.' They looked at each other with a stern gaze, then Dan looked down at a letter, which simply read "Maddy in trouble, trapped in Toronto, help please. Signed, a friend x". As they proceeded to check-in, they agreed once more that they shouldn't tell anybody where they were going.

Back in Toronto

It took Maddy nearly 12 hours to come to from her beating from Lukas. When she did, Akiza was standing in front of her, and standing at the far end of the room, was Jess, staring vacantly at Maddy. 'Jess, you're safe!' But she wasn't, as quickly occurred to Maddy, who then stared at Akiza. 'What did you do to her?' 'I mean I can't tell you all my secrets, but did you really think I was so stupid as to let you have Jess back so easily? No, give me some credit. You see, Jess was a sleeper agent all along, the moment you removed her mask, she lost all memories of what she did before, but she didn't lose the spell. All I had to do was put the… signal out there, and she would come back to me, and tell me everything she learned from you while she was there.'

'You used her!' 'Oh absolutely, and it paid off, because I knew all of your plans. Apart from the wiretapping, nice addition by the way, I'm impressed. But because of your little friend, I knew your every movement, and I knew just how to lure you in. And now I've got you here, I need to work out what to do with her next.' Maddy shouted Jess' name again, making Akiza laugh as the sleeper agent stared blankly. 'Don't waste your breath, she doesn't recognise your voice or you and even if she did, she can't say anything. It's almost like a state between life and death, she's alive but not really living if you understand me.'

She then brought the blood back over to the Renegades' Alpha. 'Now drink.' 'Which bit of no didn't you get?' 'You're going to sooner or later.' 'Yeah, never happening. What's actually going to happen is you're going to keep poking the bear until her fangs sink so far into your face that you'll hope to only be scarred for life.' Akiza responded to this by casually kicking her in the ribs, causing the Wolfblood to flash her eyes again. 'You're quite the stubborn one aren't you?' 'Not listening to anybody has its benefits.'

Back in England

Having got the call, Jana hammered on the door to the base. As Freja reached the intercom, she confidently stated 'Name and ID Number, just because Maddy ain't here doesn't exempt you' 'It's Jana, ID Number let me the f*ck in.' Freja responded by pressing the button, allowing the doors to slide open, and the redhead stormed in, almost knocking her to the floor in the process. 'What's happened, I just got a voicemail saying that Maddy's been "taken".' 'Akiza's taken her, we don't know where, all we know is that we're trying everything to find her. You don't happen to have any connections anywhere do you? Outside of Wales obviously.'

'No, but I can put a call out to see if anybody senses everything. If there's even the faintest scent of her, one of us will pick it up, and then we'll have like 40 wolves just on the hunt scouring everywhere. Any leads at all?' 'No, not aside from they have connections in Toronto, Belle doesn't think they'd be stupid enough to stay there but I'm not convinced.' 'Why?' 'Because they're not going to keep her there permanently. If they're working with Segolia, they'll keep her up there until they transfer her to Segolia. Meaning we probably have a few days to work out where she is or even head them off.'

This prompted Jana's memory. 'If I recall, my Dad's got a cousin who lives not too far from there, we can use them as a spy potentially. Tell you what, you probably know Akiza's groupies better than I do - you provide me details of them, and I can pass them on.' Freja then grinned. 'I can do you one better, Maddy's not the only talented artist here.' Freja then texted Blair, who got on the intercom. 'Can Astrid Hofferson please report to the foyer immediately.'

As Astrid arrived a couple of minutes later, she was surprised to see Freja and Jana there. 'Hey Fre, haven't seen you in a hot minute. What's going on?' 'Just talking to Jana about the Maddy situation, and thought you could maybe draw sketches of Akiza's group for us? Jana's going to try and head them off.' After thinking about it for a moment, she responded with 'Yeah, I mean I can try, I'm not even half the artist Maddy is but she's taught me bits. I'll do my best for you.'

She then walked out of the base, as Jana looked back at her. 'Well that was awkward.' 'I guess it's because she and Maddy haven't spoken since they had a huge argument last week.' 'I know they're close, but' 'Try almost inseparable. Until pretty recently Maddy was kind of Astrid's only proper friend, excluding Kris at least, I'm surprised she's holding up so well. But don't worry, she's being modest about her drawing, she's really good. She'll get it sorted for you.'

Back in Toronto

After almost 48 hours of torture, Maddy's will was starting to slowly fade, as Akiza once again came in, having left her to stare at Jess overnight. 'Good morning, are you ready to accept your fate yet?' Akiza brought the blood to Maddy again, but she just spat in her captor's face once more. 'I'm not interested, so stop asking me, it isn't happening. I'm never going to do anything for you, let alone whatever you want from me.' 'Oh I don't know, I can be pretty persuasive' Akiza responded confidently while wrapping her fingers around Maddy's face, resulting in her biting down on the Black Rose's digits.

'The moment the Renegades find out where you are, you're going to be absolutely laid waste to, like they're not going to leave a single trace of you. Not even the slightest hint that you ever existed. So enjoy your power while you have it you stupid bitch.' Losing her temper, Akiza called Lukas over. 'Take the brick out and pummell away.' As she stepped out of the way, the vicious Australian smacked Maddy square in the jaw, only to take a kick to the underside of the neck in return. This only angered him further though, and he fired away at her ribs, shoulder, and and finally a single shot to the back of the head saw her slump forwards, almost breaking her binds in the process.

At the base

Having returned from getting some air, Astrid went to the base's basement library in the hopes of finding some solace with which to prepare the sketches. As she sat down though, a book that was poking out slightly from the shelves caught the corner of her eye, and in a split second decision, she decided to investigate. 'Alpharic Legends? These are…' Her mind then went back to what she'd heard from Jana, reading the scriptures of old, and she eagerly grasped the battered leather-bound cover, as Freja walked into the library quietly, walking up behind Astrid and then leaning her diminutive frame over her shoulder. 'What'chu looking at?'

Immediately the Norwegian recoiled, snapping the book shut. 'Freja, what've I said about leaning over my shoulder?' 'Sorry, just Lyds said you were sneaking around.' 'I wasn't sneaking around, I just went to the library.' Freja then saw the name on the book. 'That the legends book?' 'Yeah, Maddy taught me some of the language a while back and I've been trying to get back into it. I'm just hoping this book will give me some inspiration.'

She opened the book back up as Freja sat next to her, and inspected the text. 'The great Alpha was brave, but she also had flaws, and finding herself in the enemy's trap, she was rendered powerless. But she wasn't alone, for her allies were already mustering their forces to save her soul. It was now up to them to take up the mantle, and against the most fearsome and deadly force of them all, locate the heart of the pack and save it.'

The wording appeared to have Freja confused. 'So what does it mean by "locate the heart of the pack"?' Astrid thought for a moment, and then came to a conclusion. 'Maddy, she's the heart of the pack, she's the one we're all looking up to. It must mean that she's waiting for us to locate her and then rescue her. And we have our chance when we're at the next event.' 'We? You're still banned, remember? Something about beating up your Uncle, you're lucky that they won't let him press charges.'

In Toronto

The near four days of solitary isolation and her only company being a mindless zombie had made Maddy lose her mind, as she started to hallucinate visions of Astrid and Freja. 'So you think Maddy will ever be back?' 'Who cares, as long as we don't have to put up with her then everything's better.' 'I mean I used to like her, but she just got so full of herself, I mean all this Alpha stuff, you just don't mean that much, I'm sorry, but it's true. She's better off staying away honestly.'

As she started to then see a vision of Phil and Hannah holding a party, tears started to well up, as Akiza walked in, with the cup again. 'You see, nobody cares about you, you might as well just give in now. Take my offer, let us be bound in blood.' There was a delay, as an exhausted and injured Maddy stared at the cup, struggling to breathe, before signalling for Akiza to walk to her. She did so, and Maddy kicked the cup up into the roof, shattered glass raining down on top of them both, gashing Maddy's flesh in several places.

Seeing this, Lukas put his glove back on and came in, but Akiza blocked his path. 'There's no need to do anymore than you already have.' Reluctantly, he backed off, as Akiza stroked Maddy's face, with her not pushing her away like normal, but instead just staring at her. 'You see my dears, the time is near. Midnight is closing in, and the end of everything is almost upon us.'

In England

Hannah had made her way to the base, and was just about to start discussing strategies with Blair when her phone rang. 'Can't say I recognise the number. Hello, Hannah Robinson, how may I help you?' 'Hi Hannah, it's Dan, Dan Smith' 'Oh Maddy's Dad, how are you?' 'We're alright, just calling because we've had a breakthrough on our end when it comes to Maddy's location.'

'Seriously?' Hannah exclaimed while prompting Blair to write down the details. 'Yeah, a friend of mine who lives up there said that she's seen Maddy being led into a church in downtown Toronto, he wouldn't have thought anything of it but the church has apparently been derelict for years and barely anybody goes there. When we put the notification out she contacted us within about ¾ of an hour to say that she'd seen her.'

'Anything on how she looked?' 'Pretty normal, a bit tired, but nothing notable. Look, if you want we can inform the Police about this' 'That would be a great idea I think, she should have been reported as missing anyway. Just warn your friend not to go in there themselves, we have no idea what's going on.' 'Absolutely, they're staying in their apartment just across the road to keep an eye on the situation. I'll let you know when we know anything else.' 'Thanks.' 'Not a problem, you keep yourself safe as well.' 'And you.'

In Toronto

After much taunting, Akiza was still sat in front of Maddy, who was tied to the same cross she had been for days, now developing blisters and sores from the hard wood. 'You're going to give in eventually. I do wonder what goes through your mind sometimes though, being as hard headed as you have been. Surely it would be so much easier to give in, be bound with ne in blood forever. You're such a good girl, I just wish you'd awaken.'

As Akiza started to leave the room though, Maddy weakly shouted over to her. 'I'm ready.' Her ears pricking up, her captor prepared a fresh glass of blood with Tee's assistance, and then she exclaimed 'It's Time', triggering her underlings to each grab a brown robe with the rose cross on it, and put them on, their faces obscured by long hoods. They stood, one on each side of the room, and bowed their heads as Akiza brought the blood over to Maddy.

'If you are truly ready, take this cup, and drink from it.' As her hand bindings were released, Maddy took the glass, and downed the entire red fluid in one gulp, blood smeared across her lips afterwards. Akiza then untied her from the rose cross completely, and the alpha slumped to the ground, battered and exhausted, while Akiza picked up a large cross and raised it into the air. 'May the fates hear me now as I claim this soul, make her life mine to rule. She accepted the offer of my blood to bind us as one, she has made her choice and now the Faustian may take place.'

As Akiza completed the ritual, she held up the rose cross, and Maddy's eyes started wavering, flashing gold, then red, then gold, then red. Soon, she started to forget everything she was leaving behind. And sure enough, her eyes started to glow a solid deep red, before fading into total blankness. 'Come with me, I will take you to your destiny.' Maddy stood silently, not responding to Akiza's voice.

Next time: Phil will stop at no length to get answers, until the answers find him. Akiza's plotting reaches its apex, and a shock return changes the game in R: Ultra Evolution Episode 2: A Bud of Deceit