It had now been a few days since Anne had left Amphibia.
The town rebuilding was coming along nicely now, there was only one building left to construct now, the mayor's mansion, which would be bigger and better than ever, the town had been outraged when Mayor Toadstool announced this, figuring that he had returned to his old ways. What was shocking was when he announced to the town his retirement, and that elections would begin next month.
Even Sprig still caught up in his loss was shocked, he and Polly had tried to convince Hop-Pop to run again, this time the elections would fairer his grandfather turned down the idea saying that he was done with adventures for now, he saw that with the ways things were going he didn't need to run.
Loggle had lost his muscles fairly quickly, as it turns out, cheat days were bad for you.
Polly was still getting used to her new body, though now she found it more difficult to get away with anything.
Grime had started hanging around town, his cottage had been finished a few weeks ago, it was a nice small house, one which shocked many of the frogs in town, it was more cozy than anyone expected, the same could be said about Lady Olivia and Yunnan, for some reason they kept coming back.
However, more shocking was how Wartwood had taken these changes, there was no hesitation, just acceptance. There were some complaints, but most just accepted it.
There was one frog however who was still having difficulties.
Sprig sat in the basement looking at the two bags Hop-Pop had packed for him, it had been a week since he had been told to choose something and move on.
However, it was hard to, whenever he'd pick something from Anne's pile and just look at it, a magazine or fake domino he made for her, or just Dragonanne fly headband, All those memories just kept flooding back, and he'd inventively start looking at her phone, watching videos she had filmed.
At that moment, he was watching the video of him and Polly pretending to be observing Anne like a wild animal when he heard a coughing noise.
He looked up from the screen and saw a yellow frog standing there, she was wearing a light blue shirt, dark blue trousers and a belt made from rope. She wore a cloak with a familiar red necklace underneath her neck, her face was slim.
The thing that amazed him however was the frog's wild red hair, something she had kept secret from the world for years.
"I.. Ivy?"
"Hey Sprig, you like the new look?"
Despite being cold-blooded, Spring his face warming, he has always liked her but for some reason she seemed prettier, in his dazed state he dropped the phone.
"Yea… Yes."
Ivy snorted, Sprig blushed even harder, he was acting like an idiot in front of the most beautiful girl in the world.
"So, do you want to do something?"
He looked at her, he actually wanted to follow her, just to do stuff of course, it wasn't weird to go out and have fun with his girlfriend.
However, as he stood one of Anne's bags fell to the floor, in a panic he dove and started to pick up the contents, he was surprised to see Ivy help him.
"Sorry, Sprig," she muttered.
"It's fine, I just need to find something to keep."
"Yeah, Hop-Pop told me and…" Sprig looked up at her, a look of panic appeared on her admittedly cute face."
Sprig looked at her shocked, a theory started to go through his head, Ivy hadn't just come down here to see him, "Hop-Pop?"
The frog girl groaned, "He figured I'd be the best one to convince you to go outside."
Sprig folded his hands in defiance, "I go outside."
"For like an hour, I haven't seen you since Toadstool announced the election."
"That was only a few days ago."
"Sprig, it's been two months."
The frog boy turned to her, "What?"
Ivy nodded, "you've been coming down here looking at Anne's stuff for two months now.
Sprog blinked, "No, it can't be, the election-"
"It's over, Toadie won."
Sprig sat there shocked, "Toadie won?"
"Yeah, There are a few frogs because he's connected to the previous administration and the toads are angry because a frog won, this democracy thing is going just make people upset."
"Oh, But seriously, two months?"
"Yes," said Ivy walking over to a photo on the ground, "and I know why?"
Sprig could see that Ivy was looking at a photo of Anne and Him pulling silly faces at the Boonchuys house, Sprig closed his eyes, she wasn't wrong.
"I know you miss her, but you can't just stay here forever."
Sprig looked at the photo then back at Ivy, she could see she looked worried about him, but he knew that if he chose now, then Hop-Pop would throw Anne's stuff away, he swallowed.
"I…just need some more time, I'm sorry, Ivy."
His girlfriend looked at him and nodded, "Okay, I understand."
She turned and walked up the stairs, Sprig continued to pick through Anne's stuff, trying to find something.
"But Sprig?"
The frog boy turned to look at her, she was halfway up the stairs, she looked at him with tears in her eyes.
"While you're down here mourning, the world's changing, she wouldn't want you to stay down here."
Ivy then left, and Sprig was left alone, looking at where the frog he loved had gone.
He sighed, and went back to looking through the bags.
However, for the first time in months, he started to wonder if looking through this was what Anne wanted.
…
The Portal just hung there, doing nothing.
Max wondered if anything had tried to go through it over the past week. An image of one of the various monsters rampaging through the city like a kaiju movie played in his mind, however for all he knew it was safe, he could see that past the portal there was an empty warehouse.
"Wait," said Marcy, "Are you sure this is a good idea, I'm fine with seeing LA but…"
"It's pronounce L.A." said Lucian.
Marcy rolled her eyes, "L.A., But are we sure it's safe?"
"Of course, We just need to sneak past the F.B.I. Agent on the other end and explore the city."
"Okay, but do you have any plans for that?"
Max laughed, "I'll distract him with charm while you guys sneak out the back door."
The frog girl stood there then shrugged, "Okay."
"What," said Max slightly confused, "No objections?"
"I mean, it's not that bad of a plan, Just don't blow it."
Max gave a playful glare at Marcy, "When have my plans ever blown up?"
"The robot competition?" said Nicole.
"Your plan to trick me into helping keep Hop-Pop safe?" said Marcy, giving him a playful smile.
"Your who lets runaway to Amphibian plan?"
Max shrugged, "Okay, but this one will work."
"Famous last words," said Marcy.
Max ignored that last jibe and kept walking through the portal, he looked around the warehouse to see a man in a purple suit sitting down on a chair, he was rubbing his temples, Max walked over to the man, "Excuse me are you Mr. X?"
"Sadly yes," muttered the man he removed his hand and looked at Max, for the brief moment his face was full of weariness, there were shadows under his eyes, he looked like he had been away for several days, then the weariness vanished replaced with a judgmental look, "And you are?"
"I'm Max, I'm going to go and-"
"Ahh, Max Doe, Anne told me about you, First she said your coming back here, then she says your staying an extra day, and then she says your staying for good, Has she made up her mind yet?"
Max briefly thought about telling the F.B.I. agent that they were leaving but decided against it, it would get in the way of his plans and he didn't want to upset the man any further.
"You seem a little frustrated, is everything okay?"
The agent looked Max up and down and let out the deepest sigh Max had ever heard, he put his face in his hands Max looked at the portal and gestured his friends to go through, The three amphibians rushed through and hid behind three conveniently placed boxes, Mr. X moved his head up, and looked at Max.
"I've been here for an over a week now."
"Oh that's-"
"One. Week, Seven days of watching a portal hoping nothing bad comes, of lying to my employers, my co-workers, my husband that there's nothing wrong here, that there isn't an interdimensional portal in the middle of a major American city., and that dozens of people have been there without even warning me."
Max rubbed his arm, "Wow, that sounds bad… Maybe you should take a break?"
The older man looked at him with a tired glare.
"Kid, I can't just get some rest, Someone needs to be the adult in the room."
"Yeah, but have you actually slept?"
"Only like… Seven hours?"
"Last night?"
"This week."
"Ouch," said Max, looking sympathetic, "Why not go for a quick nap, nothing's bad has happened yet."
"No," said Mr. X stifling a yawn, "It's fine… I just."
Max started to hum a lullaby, slowly the agent's eyes started to close, just before he slept he shook his head, "No, I'm a highly trained agent I can do this I…"
"Hey check out this video," said Max pulling out his phone, on the phone was a video of the 2011 worldwide Sheep herding contest, dozens of sheep jumping over fences, again and again.
Mr. X didn't stand a chance, he fell back on his chair, snoring.
The human boy smiled, sure it might have been a deception but at least the older man seemed happy, he walked to the portal and motioned the group to follow.
"Max, What-" Lucian started to say.
The human boy placed his finger on his lips demanding quiet, and pointed to the sleeping government agent.
With that, the group walked to the nearby door, and opened it.
The L.A. heat hit him, it was more oppressive than Amphibia's, it was strange he had never noticed how the air tasted, something impure was there, he saw the graffiti on the wall, he saw the various vans parked across the road, had he really lived in this world a week ago?
"Wow" said a voice from behind him, "Another world."
Lucian was looking around the world awestruck, Max thought back to how he reacted when he first came to Amphibia, a part of him was upset that he hadn't taken the time to take in how cleaner the air seemed, how green the world was, still he remembered smiling when he saw Sprig for the first time.
Marcy wore an expression that mixed wonder with fear, Max was surprised she had come honestly, maybe he had expected too much from her, he should probably be a bit more encouraging.
Nicole was…missing.
"Nicole?" said Max worried, the two other Amphibians looked to where the young newt had been seconds ago.
"OVER HERE," shouted the enthusiastic voice, The trio turned to the left and saw the young newt girl standing next to an Electronic scooter.
"Nicole, get off that," barked Marcy.
"What is it?" asked Lucian.
"It's an electronic scooter, you can pay it then go for a ride."
"Wow," said Lucian, "I want to ride."
Max shook his head, "Nah, We don't have that much money, besides I have cooler things planned."
"Like what?" said Marcy, who was trying to pry Nicole off the scooter.
"Well, first things first, we have got to get you guys better clothes.
"What's wrong with how I dress?" said Lucian.
"How do I put nicely," said Max pondering, "medieval royalty and armor has been out of style for a while now.
Lucian looked down, then at Marcy's dress.
"Also…" said Marcy struggling, "Nicole will probably give the game away that the three of us are aliens if she keeps walking around naked."
Max snorted, he motioned the group to follow, "Come on, I think there's a goodwill somewhere around here."
…
Anne stood in the middle of town, a smile on her faced hid her real feelings, The Plantars hadn't caught on just yet, which was good for her, she wondered how they'd react when she did finally tell them.
Here they were in the middle of town, doing some shopping, Anne feigning interest, waiting for Ivy to show up, at least she'd be able to see Sprigs reaction over becoming a father. Currently, she was standing in the middle of town, looking around for the other Plantars.
"Hey Anne," said Polly, "Does this go with my outfit?"
Anne turned to see Polly standing there next to a wrench twice her size, the teenage frog was able to carry it easily, Anne nodded, "Sure, it looks great, But what can you use it for?"
"Well, building giant world destroying robots."
"World destroying robots?" asked Anne
"Yeah, just in case we need to destroy the moon again," said Polly.
With that, her adoptive sister ran off to see Hop-Pop.
Anne held back a smile, Polly would never change.
"ANNE," shouted a voice from across the square, Anne turned to see Sprig sitting on a stall next to a small shop, he was waving at her, in his hands were two ice cream cones, Anne smile, and rushed over, reaching him he passed her one of the cones.
She licked it, strawberry and crickets, her favorite.
"You still remember after all these years," said Anne, smiling.
"Forget my best friend's favorite ice cream, impossible."
Anne smiled and started to walk towards a nearby bench, Sprig followed her, "So any plans for today?"
"A few, But We have to meet up with Ivy, she got something to tell you and-"
The human was interrupted when a something hit her in the back of the head, turning to the ground, she saw a pebble lying there.
That's when another pebble hit her, on the head, looking up she saw an apologetic looking Ivy standing there motioning her to follow.
"Um, Sprig, wait here for a few seconds, I've got to go do something in that alleyway."
Sprig looked at her for a second and shock his head, "Anne, We're a farming family, you don't need to buy illegal vegetables."
"No, Sprig, it's not that, I have to talk to someone."
"Well, that sounds suspicious," said Sprig stroking his chin before shrugging, "But okay."
Standing up, Anne ran towards the ally, standing there was Ivy, looking worried, "Thanks for coming, I don't think I can do this without you."
"It's fine," said Anne smiling, "We just need to go over there and explain you're pregnant, Sprig will celebrate, and you two can be left alive to start planning the rest of your babies lives."
Ivy looked at Anne worried, "You've been planning this for a while now, haven't you?"
"Since I was sixteen," replied Anne chipperly.
Anne started to walk, she was halfway there when she turned, Ivy was still at the alleyway, trebling.
The hepatologist turned around and walked back towards the ally.
"Ivy," said gently, "I believe you're not moving."
The yellow frog stood there standing straight, her limbs stiff, her teeth clenched, "I know, I jusch kan't movve,"
Anne sighed, this was clearly a lot harder than it looked.
"Ivy, You need to tell him, it's unfair and-"
"I know, but this is possibly the biggest thing I've ever had to tell anyone," replied Ivy, "How would you know how that feels?"
Anne stood there looking at him, and sighed.
"I understand completely."
Ivy looked at her confused and gasped, "... Oh, frog, You're pregnant too?"
"NO," said Anne holding up her hands, "I-"
Ivy's face was now completely red, "It's Sprigs, isn't it? You… You… Hussy."
"No, it's not that I… Hussy?"
"Well that's what you are I have worse names, but I'm disgusted that-"
"I'm leaving Amphibia tonight."
The red vanished from Ivy's face, "What?"
Anne sat down, "I'm leaving today, and I haven't told the Plantars yet."
Her future sister-in-law looked at her for a few minutes then sighed and sat next to her, "You really should tell him… I mean, I know I'm not the one to give this advice, considering I'm a massive coward."
Anne laughed, "Hey, at least we're cowards together."
Ivy laughed, "Yeah… But maybe we can tell him together, you know, rip the band-aid off."
Anne nodded, "Your right, Sprigs pretty mature now, he'll probably take it calmly."
The two women stood up and walked to the alleyway entrance, about to do the hardest things both of them have ever done, but they'd nonetheless.
They walked to where Sprig was sitting, the frog man looked up and saw them, "Well this is good, my two favorite girls together."
They laughed for a second before Anne finally found her nerves, "Listen, Ivy has some news for you and-"
That's when Anne spotted something that made her heart stop.
She saw Hop-Pop standing outside the ascot store, talking to another human, an old man in an old suit.
Anne swallowed, "Oh no."
"Sprig," said Ivy firmly, "Anne and I-"
"Sorrygottago" Anne shot out before she ran off.
Ivy watched as the human ran off, whatever bravery left her instantly.
She turned back to Sprig and fear regained its grip on her.
"So, what were you talking about?"
…
Hopeidah Plantar was happy, he had been reunited with his granddaughter, and was not talking to an old friend, and introducing him to the wondered of Ascots.
The old frog watched his similar aged human friend rub a tartan actor between his fingers, "Feel that, pure silk."
"Ooh," said Humphrey, impressed.
"Yeah, and it looked good too."
That's when he heard the noise of someone running towards him, he turned slightly to see his human granddaughter arrive.
"Humphrey? What are you doing here?"
The older human shrugged, "Well I wanted to visit my old friend, can't lie it's nice."
"Ha, you haven't seen the farm."
"No, he can't see the farm," said Anne worried.
"Why not?"
Anne froze, Hopeidah looked at her confused, that's when it clicked, "Anne are you hiding something?"
Before Anne could explain there was a shrill girly scream on the other side of the square, she turned to see Polly standing there with Frobo to her dismay the I.T Gals were there, a small human boy holding on to Ally's leg looking terrified, to the side was Terri.
Anne groaned.
Hopediah watched as she ran towards the two, he followed her.
…
"So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Sprig, smiling.
Ivy swallowed, this was it, this was her chance to just tell him the truth and move on with her life, he'd know he was about to be a dad and be happy about it. After all, it meant he had to spend the rest of his life with her, and every moment looking after babies and then kids for around eighteen years and…
He'd love doing that just settling down and living his life, not going on adventures, dealing with a child, ones he might not even be able to concentrate on for more than a few minutes.
"Um, Ivy, is everything alright?"
Ivy swallowed, she couldn't do this, it was impossible, but now Sprig was looking at her, he wanted something, she just had to say something.
Out of fear, she said the first thing that came to her.
"Anne's leaving for earth tonight."
Sprig leaned back in surprise, "WHAT?"
Ivy felt terrible. "Yeah, she told me earlier when we were talking in the alley."
"No," said Sprig, shaking his head, "She can't, you must have misheard."
Ivy instantly knew this was a terrible idea she needed to correct him, however before she could say anything Sprig had leapt off the stool and started running.
…
When Anne arrived she saw Polly was standing there with a look of shame on her face, Jess and Ally looked worried, Terri looked confused, the boy looked scared.
"What happened?" Anne asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I came here to do some research into the portal to try and figure out if there was anything going on this side of the portal." said Terri.
"And we brought our son to visit Polly."
"Okay, but who let out that odd screech?"
Polly rubbed her arm, "That was me."
Anne looked at her, "What that really girly high-pitched noise was you?"
Polly threw up her arm, "They asked me to be the kid's godmother, How was I supposed to act?"
Anne looked at her, then at the former I.T Gals, "Really? Polly, no offense but-"
"Eh, it'll be cool to have an alien as a godparent," said Jess.
"Also, if anyone tries to hurt him, they'll have to deal with her."
Anne stood there for a second and nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense and-"
"Anne," said Hop-Pop, "What's going on?"
"Nothing. It's just we can't have any more humans coming here."
"ANNE!" Said Sprig running up to her, "Ivy just told me, is it true?" behind him was a terrified Ivy, a look of fear on his face.
She was shocked, "Yeah, it is, I don't see why you're acting surprised considering what you did."
Sprig mouth dropped, "What did I do?"
Anne eyes widened, "What you don't know?"
"No, I mean if I did, I wouldn't have done it."
"Jeez Sprig, I know it's harsh but Ivy's right here and…"
"Hey, don't you bring her into this, she at least told me you're leaving."
Anne froze, Ivy had blabbed, she turned to Polly and Hop-Pop, their own shocked expression hurt her, she looked at Ivy, nothing but shame covering her face.
"Anne you're leaving?"
"Why… why didn't you tell us?"
Anne shrank a little, all eyes were on her, human and Amphibians, all glaring at her, "I was going to tell you guys later, but it's… I froze, I just…
That's when a loud, shrill noise filled the air.
…
Marcy followed Andrias to the entrance of the valley, she looked at the view ahead of her, green hills, healthy trees, she could see towns in the distance, Amphibious beauty still took her breath away at times, she turned to the king, on his face was a peaceful smile.
"It's beautiful," she said, instantly feeling stupid for saying something so simple.
"It is, isn't it, I spent years trying to recapture the glory of the past, yet I never bothered to see outside Newtopia."
"So what did you leave for?"
The king remained silent for a few seconds, then looked at her, "Marcy, do you remember anything when you were under the core's control."
Marcy blinked confused, the truth was that she remembered a lot, she remembered building weapons and fighting her friends, but there were times that seemed missing, she had hardly thought about it, truth was that when she was freed a lot of the worst moments came flooding back, the actions the core took were hers, she knew exactly how they felt, how cruel they could be, how they viewed the world, How they viewed their son.
The sad thing was that at times she felt bad for it."
"Sometimes, but there moments when I just don't remember anything."
The king stood there, and sighed, "Do you remember anything that was in the basement, other than the fear machine?"
"No," said Marcy, shaking her head, "Why?"
"Because I think my father created something down there, and… I don't think they're gone."
Marcy froze, it couldn't be, the monster that had possessed her, it had to be dead, she saw it die, she had almost lost one of her best friends.
Thousands of nightmarish thought entered her head, did it survive because of her? Did she give it the idea to survive? What happened if it was still inside her head lurking about somewhere, Last night hallucination was that a sign of something else.
"No, said Marcy, shaking, "It can't be."
"I have no proof but, I remember hearing it talk to itself back in the castle ten years ago, you told me about this cloud back up, and I remembered that there were these cylinders they might contain back-ups, I think-"
Marcy closed her eyes, trying to avoid the reality of the core's return.
When she opened them, she found herself no longer on the hill.
No, she in a dark laboratory. One that felt really familiar.
There directly in front of her was a table, sitting there was a pink glowing mushroom in a pot, taking a syringe she plunged it into the mushroom and pulled back the handle, a blue liquid started to fill the syringe.
"Mind control experiment number 13, Mind control signal devices have proven successful however still have one weakness, take out the signal device and the subjects will be free, will to attack all, recently discovered fungi near frog valley has shown mind control properties."
She walked over to a nearby workbench. On it were two small collars with exposed inner workings, she injected the contents of the syringe into a small sponge like material at the near the center of each.
"The collars inhibit the consciousness of the fungi, the signal will do the rest."
She picked up the collars and walked towards a cage in the other side of the room, the human part of Marcy tried to scream when she saw it.
Two newts, attached to the wall. Their hands and feet connected to the wall, Last Olivia, and general Yunnan.
Olivia looked at Marcy with a look of shame, "Please, let her go."
"Oh, Lady Olivia, it's far too late to start caring about her now."
The blue newt shuddered, the red newt hanging there just snarled, "I don't think you have any right to use the whole 'You're the real monsters act' when you're wearing her as a literal flesh puppet."
Marcy felt her lip curl involuntarily, "Fair, as a reward for pointing out that you'll be the first test."
A large tendril lowered from the ceiling and grabbed the first collar, it flew towards Yunnan's neck and attached itself to her.
The worst part was that Human barely reacted, her eyes just turned purple, her mouth closed, and she turned towards Marcy.
"What is your command, master?" said the greatest soldier in Amphibia.
"What Have you done to her?" Said Olivia terrified.
"Made some improvements," Marcy said smugly, "Honestly I've been planning something like this for years, worldwide mind control, It means I have to deal with fewer excuses from failures."
Tears filled Lady Olivia's eyes, "Why? What is wrong with you?"
"Nothing," replied Marcy smoothly, "I'm doing what I was created to do, ensuring Amphibia's survival."
With that, another tendril reached out and took the collar and flew it towards Olivia's throat.
Marcy watched as one of the closest friends she had vanished, only to be replaced by a mindless zombie.
The worse thing was that she didn't even feel guilty, no, if anything she was proud of what she… they had done.
"Test complete, satisfactory results," said the core.
Marcy tried to scream to gain control but nothing.
That's when she heard the voice.
"Marcy are you okay, Marcy, wake up, Come on wake Up."
The next thing she knew, she saw the giant face of King Andrias, he pulled away, "Marcy what happened?"
Marcy looked around her, she was back in the field again.
She turned back to Andrias, "Your father, he had this mind control device."
The king nodded, "Yes, It was a signal, but it was ineffective without using the collars."
"What did it do to animals?"
Andrias looked at her, his face slowly morphed into one of shock, "Of course, all the wild animal attacks, it was them."
"I just had a vision about it, I was there I was… in his head again."
"What? How?"
"I don't know, I haven't had anything like that happen for the last ten years but… I think maybe-"
That's when the noise started.
…
Mayor Toadie remembered seeing the woman only once before, ten years ago, as the moon was coming closer to the planet.
She was newt dressed up in a white robe, she was missing one arm and had a fly parrot on her shoulder.
"You need to prepare the town for an invasion."
Mayor Toadie just sat there and shock his head, She had just entered his office and already started to make demands.
"Miss…"
"Valeriana."
"Miss Valeriana, I'm sorry, but what's happening?"
The old newt glared at him like he had asked the stupidest question in the world, "The Core has returned, we must prepare an army, Newtopia is already gearing up their armies, But there are still members of the resistance who live in this town, and the heroes who once defeated the core, We must defeat them at once."
The mayor looked at her and blinked, "That's a lot of information."
"I know, I'm sorry to start this, but-"
That's when the room started to shake, Toadies neatly arranged pens and documents were moved out of their places, The picture of him and toadstool shaking hands at the election ten years ago fell to the floor.
There was a loud explosion outside, Toad jumped to his desk then to the door, he swung it open to see a large face looking at him.
"ARE YOU MAYOR TOADIE?" asked the olm.
Toadie looked at the giant olm and then turned to Val, "Is she with you?"
"No," said Val, who was confused, a feeling she did not enjoy, "This is nothing to do with me at all."
"Would you please listen," said the Olm annoyance in her voice, "I need to find the one called Sprig Plantar."
Toadie sighed, of course it was related to them.
"Well, you're a few miles out but-"
That's when the air filled with a noise.
…
In a cave near the town lived a weasel.
Many years ago it had hunted the forests for food, it was nothing personal of course, it was the way of things, She had babies, the babies were hungry, both she and her babies needed to eat, so she had to kill.
The easiest target came during the snowy days, when it would pop into the nearby town, find the smallest thing and carry them to her babies where they would consume them.
However, something changed, one of the creatures that lived in the village found her, the otter had expected to die.
To her surprise, the inhabitants of the village fed her and her babies.
The next year she had arrived in that village to hunt only to find food was being left out for her, she avoided taking any of the small creatures that year.
It had been years since then, and now she was old, her babies had left her to start their own families now.
Leaving her in the cave alone.
Her time was almost up, it hurt when she moved, her actions were growing more clouded, and she felt more tired than ever.
She closed her eyes.
That's when a voice entered her head.
"Kill, Devastate, destroy."
She opened her eyes, the pain was still there, but for some reason she listened to the voice.
Compelled to listen to it, she stood up and started to walk.
A part of her wanted to return and sit down, and prepare to move, but no, the voice it was too strong.
In time, she was joined, two birds flew above her, for some reason she knew they were with her.
"Destroy Wartwood," said the voice again.
She kept walking towards the town she had spared.
A part of her knew she wouldn't return, that the voice would never let her go.
But another part welcomed it.
Let her be what she was ten years ago.
A mother, A hunter, A Beast.
…
Frakes was starting to get antsy.
She had been sitting in the van for an hour now still waiting for the core to give her a signal, Instead of capturing the warehouse they were sitting here waiting, to her own embarrassment she had dozed off for ten minutes, for all she knew someone might have escaped already.
"Come on, Come on."
As if by magic her phone started to ring, in one move she grabbed her phone from the van dashboard and answered it.
"It's time," said the voice of her partner.
"Good." she got out of the van and walked to the back, opening up the shutter she looked at the mob of robots standing there, without her needing to say a word the first stepped out of the van and walked to the warehouse, she then walked to the next van and opened the robots did the same, in all there were sixteen robots hiding in the four vans, she smiled and directed them to the warehouse shutter.
"Rip open that door," she commanded.