Before we begin, I just want to say that, yes! The first act of this chapter is indeed dark, but I want you all to know that after the initial first act, the story does get lighter in tone.
I would also like to say, that I remember certain members telling me about certain scenes they like so I hope I've managed to include a certain couple of scenes that should make some members smile. To top it all of as well, I've even included a few characters who we really haven't seen since my very early chapters. So I hope my long time readers will enjoy the nice nostalgia moments and I hope that everyone manages to find something that they enjoy.
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CHAPTER 40: ENDLESSLY CIRCLING
“Shannon, your dinner is on the table.” A female voice calls out.
Shannon hurries downstairs and into the kitchen where a young woman possibly in her early twenties has placed a plate of piping hot food on the table.
“How long before my mum comes homes?” Shannon asks as she sticks her fork into her food.
“Very soon sweetie, your mummies just text me saying that her job went very well and she’ll be home soon.” The woman says, showing Shannon the text message.
“Oh good!” Shannon says as she scoffs a mouthful of chips.
Suddenly the front to the flat is immediately smashed in and a flashbang grenade is hurled into the room. The grenade goes off causing the woman the fall to the floor, clutching her ears in agony, although before this, she manged to grab Shannon and hide her under the table. Moments later, Flacon walks into the flat with a squad of Phantoms behind her, including Elisha.
“No please, don’t hurt me. Don’t……..” BANG….. A gunshot rings out as Flacon pulls out a gun and immediately shoots the women in the head.
“Ppfftt, typical……This isn’t Blink, it must be a roommate or something.” Falcon states as she kicks the woman’s dead body.
“What the hell Falcon! You can’t just walk in and shoot people, this was an innocent woman, she was NOT an infiltrator!” Elisha snaps.
“Meh, who cares, anyone who even affiliates themselves with an infiltrator is an enemy in my book.” Flacon just shrugs off Elisha’s comment.
“Then that must be one thick book……For a thick idiot like you.” Elisha replies.
“You got something to say me?” Falcon points her gun at Elisha. To which Elisha immediately points her gun straight back at Falcon.
“Yeah, I think you’re a blood thirsty twat who’s lost sight as to what it really means to be a phantom.” Elisha says with a confident tone.
But before anything else can be said or done, they hear whimpering coming from under the table, Falcon grabs the table and flips it over, which reveals Shannon underneath huddled up and crying.
“Oh look, it’s the offspring, looks like this raid won’t be for nothing after all.” Falcon turns her gun towards Shannon.
Elisha immediately grabs Shannon though and lifts her into her arms.
“Seriously Falcon……What the fuck! This is a child, you sick freak!” Elisha says doing her best to comfort Shannon.
“She’s Blink’s daughter! Which means she’s a future infiltrator in the making!” Falcon retorts.
“You don’t know that……Look, maybe we can use this to our advantage, let’s take her with us, we can use her as bait to lure Blink into a trap, then we can kill two birds with one stone. Besides, this is what the Prophet would want.” Elisha is doing her absolute best here, she’s trying to get Shannon out of danger, but she has to be careful in case she’s seen as an infiltrator sympathizer, so even though this is killing her inside about suggesting to take Shannon with them, she also knows that this is the best way to keep her safe.
“Huh, you maybe right….Fine, we’ll take here. But YOU’RE carrying her back!” Falcon says as she lowers her gun.
Falcon and the rest of the Phantoms leave the flat, leaving Elisha alone holding onto a very scared Shannon. Elisha looks down at the dead woman and realizes that this woman must have been the babysitter. Elisha immediately holds Shannon’s head into her shoulder, so she doesn’t have to look.
“Don’t look okay, just don’t look, focus on me and me only okay.” Elisha says in a warm voice.
“I want my mummy.” Shannon cries into Elisha’s shoulder.
“I know sweetie, I know, I’ll make sure she comes to pick you up okay, try not to cry, I’ll make sure your mummy knows EXACTLY where to come and find you okay, now come on, why don’t we see if I can maybe find you some ice cream or something eh?” Elisha does her best to try and calm Shannon down.
Elisha sighs, it’s a good thing she’s still wearing her helmet, because underneath her visor, no one can see her cry…….
The Phantoms have drawn first blood……….
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Maryse hasn’t actually been living at the flat for quite some time, ever since the nine sister moved in permanently, Maryse moved into a nice quite bungalow she found near the coast, it was easier this way, plus being a woman in her fifties living in a flat with nine woman in their twenties was a heck of a lifestyle adjustment. Maryse just wanted some peace and quiet in her life, but this didn’t mean that she forgot about them, oh no, quite the opposite, as a matter of fact, Maryse occasionally stopped by for afternoon tea with the sister when they were available, it was a good way for them to stay in touch and a good way for her to feel connected to the sisters as a whole…….Maryse right now was on her way round to the sisters flat itself as she got a bit lonely this evening, so she wondered if she could spend a few hours with them, just for the company.
Maryse approaches the front door to the sisters flat, but before she can knock, she realizes that the door itself is open, she gently pushes it with her finger and it opens up fully. Maryse walks in and puts a bottle of wine she bought over on the dining room table. But what Maryse isn’t realizing, is that there is a reason why the front door was open and she is not alone.
“Damn, they might out on an assignment. Well I’ll leave a note to say I stopped by and I suppose, I’ll find a nice diner or something to sit for a couple of hours.” Maryse says as she scribbles down a note on a piece of paper she found.
Behind her though, the front door suddenly slams shut and several Phantoms deactivate their cloaking devices, Maryse can only watch as the Phantoms materialize before her eyes, trapping her in a circle, the last one to appear is none other than the Prophet herself. Maryse’s natural survival instincts kick and she goes for one of the kitchen knives, but the Prophet just grabs her arm and slams her hard into the kitchen table.
“Well, well. This is a lovely surprise, I must admit when we first got here and noticed the flat was empty, I was initially disappointed, but then you come along and really make my evening.” Prophet says with a sickening joy in her tone.
“Well I might just ruin your evening, because if you expect to be beg for my life……You will be disappointed!” Maryse.
“Haha……Are you sure?” Prophet grabs Maryse by her throat and lifts her up with arm, before slamming her back onto table as hard as she can. Prophet then looks up and notices a small red blinking light.
“Aaahhh…..So your watching us, are you. Well then, shall we put on a show.” The prophet yanks Maryse off the table and hurls to the floor, where she walks over and stomps on her back, forcing Maryse to scream out in pain.
“You are the origin of the sisters correct? The original template? It’s because of YOU that they even exist in the first place!” Prophet holds out her hand. One of the Phantoms pulls a blade out from their satchels and passes it to the Prophet.
“Go ahead, kill me! But it won’t make any difference….My daughters WILL stop you……..Your biggest mistake in this life is actually believing that YOU can defeat them!” Maryse is defiant to the end.
“Hahaha, wow! Did you hear that everyone? She just called the nine sisters, her daughters! Aaawww, isn’t that sweet.” Prophet gloats. A circle of harsh giggling and laughter is heard as the other Phantoms laugh with the Prophet.
“Yep, because they ARE my daughters, I love them all…..Which is why I’m willing to die for them.” Maryse says. She secretly wants to cry, but she does not want to give the Phantoms or the Prophet, the satisfaction is seeing her do so. So Maryse remains as tough as nails and swallows hard everytime a tear forms in her eyes.
“Very well but know this. I don’t care what you call them, or yourself for that matter. Your all infiltrator scum to me and I WILL purge all of you.” Then without saying another word, the Prophet presses the blade against Maryse’s throat and…….Well………Moments later, Maryse drops dead on the floor.
The Prophet wipes the blood from the blade and passes it back to the Phantom who originally passed it to her.
“Her death will brings the sisters out of hiding or where ever they are right now, then, we will finally achieve our goal.” Prophet states.
“What about the company?” A Phantom asks.
“We will deal with them too……Let’s just say, I have someone with me who’s VERY eager on seeing this company be brought down a peg or two.” With that the Prophet gestures her hand and she leaves the flat, with her squad of Phantoms following close behind.
Maryse now lies dead on the floor to eventually be discovered………..
The Phantoms have drawn second blood………
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Kheshig had managed to convince the Prophet before hand that she had discovered the location of a trio of infiltrators known as the vigilantes who were apparently in Heartfelt, it didn’t take long for her to get permission to go an pursue this supposed lead, this of course, jest leaves Jetset to be the one commanding the forces on the front line. But naturally all of this was a lie. Kheshig had managed to send a SOS message to Tinker’s computer a couple of hours ago warning them of the Phantoms inbound attack and urging them to meet her at a discrete location. Kheshig just hoped and prayed that they listened to how urgent her message was.
Kheshig breaths deeply, then puts a backpack down on the floor. She unzips it and pulls out several large books before stacking them on top of one another. Afterwards Kheshig strips out of all of her armour until she only in her underwear. Kheshig is now only wearing a black sports bra and a pair of black panties. Kheshig neatly folds her armour up into a pile and places it next to her backpack. Then, while still in her underwear, she gets down on her knees and places her hands behind her head. She then breaths heavily and waits patiently.
Ten minutes pass……….But Kheshig doesn’t move at all.
Moments afterwards, Tina slowly emerges from the shadows and after making sure the coat is clear, the rest of the sisters emerge from the shadows too. Although Mag has both of her guns filled with rubber bullets out and she’s aiming them both straight has Kheshig’s head.
“You make one move Phantom and I’ll shoot you with a dozen of these bullets, they maybe rubber but they still hurt like hell.” Mag states.
“Tinker, what do you see?” Tina asks.
“We’re all clear, no other heat signatures detected, no electrical disturbances, no nothing.” Tinker says as she flicks her switch.
“Okay Phantom, you’ve got us here, now there better be a good reason for dragging us down here.” Tina shouts.
“Yeah, I was enjoying my dinner, so this had better be good!” Stasis adds, showing that indeed, Kheshig had interrupted Stasis’s dinner time.
“Please, I’m no threat to you, I don’t want to fight you and I don’t want to see you get hurt, I’m doing this to save you.” Kheshig replies, she’s still on her knees in her undies with her hands behind her head, she’s trying to show them that she isn’t a threat.
“What do you mean, you’re this to save us?” Angel asks.
“The Phantoms have gone on the complete offensive, they discovered where you live, they were launching a raid on you this evening, they had every intention of killing all of you.” Kheshig lowers her head in guilt. “Look, I know your not bad people, I see that now, I’ve seen all the reports about you, I’ve seen all the criminals, the gangs, the corrupt politicians you’ve arrested and taken down. I know your infiltrators, but I know your not bad……I’ve intercepted so many calls and transmissions about an anonymous woman contacting local authorities so they can go and recover dozens of women who have been left bound and gagged in their underpants. It doesn’t take a genius to work it was you.” Kheshig admits.
“So, you finally realized that we’re trying to make a difference in this city.” Tina remarks.
“Yes, but not only that, but I’ll never forget how you quite literally saved my life. I remember how broken my body was, how much pain I was in. Hell even the Prophet herself didn’t care. She said I should use every injury and a motivational tool so I can continue fighting……But…….You helped me……..I hadn’t eaten in days. So you fed me…….I was dehydrated as it had been so long since I had any liquids and you gave me water………. You healed my wounds, you stitched me up, you applied casts to my broken bones…..I can never repay you for what you did for me…….But I can HELP you.” Kheshig slowly looks up at the sisters, but her hands stay firmly behind her head. “The Prophet convinced me and all the others that infiltrators are a disease, that you bring death and destruction where ever you go, that you lack honour and are cowards…..But……After everything I’ve seen you do and after all the kindness you showed me…..How…..HOW could I ever believe that your bad people…….I’m so sorry and I humbly ask for your forgiveness.” Kheshig lowers her head in shame.
“We’re not saying that all infiltrators are good, we’ve come across some really nasty and vicious infiltrators in our time, but for some reason, no one ever pays them any attention or tries to stop them. So instead, we stop them, because nobody else will. Then groups like you have the audacity to attack us and claim that we’re the villains in all of this!” Tina snaps.
“She’s right. We’re so sick and tired of people attacking us for no reason, we’re so sick and tired of people claiming we’re evil when they fail to notice all the true horrors that go on right in front of their eyes each and every single day.” Soph adds.
“I can help change that.” Kheshig suddenly says.
“Oh yeah and what could you possibly do to help us.” Marie asks.
“I have something for you.” Kheshig looks at BB. “I know you enjoy reading, so please, I have a small gift for you.” Kheshig slowly stands up and lifts the books and starts to walk towards BB. But as soon as she starts walking. Tina immediately rushes and stands right in front of BB.
“If you dare to take one more step towards my sister, I’ll punch you so hard, you won’t know what day of the week it is.” Tina says, acting as a shield for BB.
Kheshig stops and bends down again, she leaves the books on the floor then takes a few steps backwards before getting down on her knees and placing her hands behind her head again.
“What are they?” BB wonders.
“Those books are the original texts of the Phantoms, it contains all of our knowledge, our beliefs, our views and it even contains proof that the Phantoms of old didn’t see all infiltrators as evil and even believed that some should be spared as they were forces for good.” Kheshig admits.
“Wait here sis, I’ll get the books for you.” Tina says. Tina is right to be very cautious about all of this, given the Phantoms track record and as anyone knows, Tina will never put any of her sisters in harms way.
Tina grabs the books and brings them over to BB. BB takes a quick glance through one of the books, then her eyes light up with intrigue as she reads them.
“Remarkable……Simply remarkable. The amount of knowledge here about the Phantoms is outstanding.” BB says with excitement as she skims through one of the books.
“Why are you doing this? What are you getting out of this?” Mag asks suspiciously.
“Ever since this Prophet woman took over as the leader of us, things have changed so much. We’re just attacking anyone who even looks remotely like an infiltrator, we’re engaging in open warfare with just innocent people and soldiers and on top of all of that. The Prophet is secretly getting funding from a mysterious benefactor who wishes up destroy the company where you all originally came from.” Kheshig admits.
“Who?” Marie says whilst raising her eyebrows.
“Well, that’s just it, apart from the Prophet, nobody else knows. But here’s what I do know, in a couple of days, the Prophet is due to meet someone who works for our mysterious partner, she’s going to be bringing in a shipment of chemical, the prophet is going to commit several war crimes, by exposing these chemicals onto everyone. The company, the soldiers we’re fighting and even anyone who’s bene identified as an infiltrator…….You have to help me stop her!” Kheshig begs.
“Then what happens?” Tina asks.
“Look, I’m not the only one who knows that the Phantoms have lost their way. There are others who wish to see us returns back to our traditional routes and……”
“Wait. You’re going to form a coup against the Prophet, aren’t you?” Angel interrupts after she works it out.
“YES! I will become the new leader of the Phantoms and I promise you, my first act as the new leader will be to write and make a peace treaty with you, so you never have to worry about coming into conflict with us ever again.” Kheshig lays down her plans.
“SISTERS LOOK!” Tinker shouts to everyone.
They all gather round and watch on Tinkers pad as the Phantoms break into their home and hunt around for them. After they’ve determined their not there, the sisters watch as they activate their cloaking devices and wait……Sadly though, they also witness Maryse entering the flat before she mercilessly killed by the Prophet. The sisters all start to tear up and start to hold one another in comfort………Except for Mag and Soph……….Mag and Soph, both stare each other, whilst their breathing rapidly intensifies, both sisters then clutch their fists together and stare angrily at Kheshig.
“Wait a minute!..........Oooooffff!” Kheshig can’t plea as Mag and Soph pounce on her.
Both Mag and Soph start viciously punching, kicking and even stomping on Kheshig, moments later though, before they do any serious harm to Kheshig. Tina immediately wraps both of her arms around her two sisters and holds them tightly to calm them down.
“Okay, okay……..Calm down sisters…….Come on, please calm down……For me.” Tina says as she hold both Mag and Soph in her arms.
“They killed her!” Mag says in a venomous voice towards Kheshig.
“Please. I didn’t know anyone else was going to be there.” Kheshig gets to her feet and wipes the blood away from both her nose and her mouth.
“LIAR!” Soph shouts trying to hold back the tears.
“Wait, look at the feed.” Angels says whipping the tears away from her eyes. “Judging by the Phantoms body language and movements, they were taken by surprise by the fact that we weren’t there and judging by the look on Kheshig’s face, it seems she genuinely didn’t know.” Angel states.
“I swear to you, I didn’t know. If I knew she was on her way, I would have stopped her from going over, I promise!” Kheshig begs.
Tina holds Mag and Soph tightly in her arms and gives them a sisterly kiss on the head, she then turns to her sisters who all comforting one another.
“Where’s this meeting?” She suddenly asks.
“It’s here, it’s in two days, I’ll be there to scout out the area.” Kheshig reaches into her backpack and pulls out an envelope with some instructions and directions written inside, she slides it over to the sisters, to which Tina bends down and picks it up, but immediately puts her arms around her sister again.
“Ne need time to think and time to mourn.” With that, Tina takes all of her sisters in her arms and escorts them away, leaving Kheshig alone to wonder if this means they’ll even appear at all.
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Blink’s on her eyes in the middle of the room, she’s been crying for so long, that barely anymore tears come out of her eyes. She watches as the police cart off the deceased babysitter, Pearce is next to her trying to comfort her.
“They got her……..They got my baby.” Blink says in a saddened voice.
“I’ll get them for this, I’ll make each and every single one of them pay!” Pearce says out loud.
“Our baby girl………Shannon…….I……..I….” Blink can’t bring herself to speak.
“Please darling. Let me go and get our daughter back, I’ll tear this whole damn city apart if I have to.” Pearce replies.
“No…….That’s what their expecting………I will do it.” Blink says with a dry voice.
“But how, we don’t even know where they could have taken her.” Pearce says frantically trying to come up with a plan.
“I’ll find her…….I’ll bring her home.” Blink now turns to Pearce, her eyes are bloodshot red and she looks incredibly weak.
“Please, how can I help?” Pearce wonders.
“Keep your ears to the ground and report to me any little snippet of information you find. I will make them PAY dearly, for even touching my baby girl’s beautiful head!” Sadness turns to rage as Blink makes a fist with her hand.
Indeed. The Phantoms must know that in this world, a women will always be at her most dangerous, when she’s protecting her children………The Phantoms have no idea what they’ve done.
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The operation seemed fairly straight forward on paper. The Phantoms have outposts scattered around and of course they have their temple which acts as their main HQ, but in order to press on to the temple itself, the phantoms have a makeshift base of operations where they ferried supplies to all their forces, needless to say, if the company wanted a straight shot at the Phantoms temple, they must first shut down this supply line. As stated, it seems easy enough, for Ulla. Things always seem to go from bad to worse.
Rocket light up the sky as Jetset and her jet troopers whizz around blasting their wrist mounted at any troop transport they see. The evening night sky is now ablaze with fire as troop transport ship burn and catch ablaze. Inside her ship, a stray rocket blasts one of the doors clean off, the ship is hurled around as both Ulla and her soldiers inside get smacked all around the ship. The pilot swerves to avoid an incoming missile but with the door open, this causes one of the soldiers to slide towards it. “Help! Help!” The soldier screams as they slide out the open hatch. But thankfully Ulla grabs them, just in the nick of time. Ulla stares in amazement outside as multiple ships crash and set ablaze whilst all the others doge and swerve incoming projectiles. Ulla can hear the soldiers from other transports scream as they jump out of the ships with their parachutes. Ulla looks down at the soldier dangling out the transport.
“I’ve got you, relax.” Ulla easily lifts the solder back into the transport.
“Thank you, captain, thank you!” The soldier can’t thank Ulla fast enough. But Ulla just walks around, grabs several parachutes and hurryingly passes them around to everyone. The soldiers immediately put them on and get ready to jump.
“We have to jump. Follow me now!” Ulla says as she doesn’t waste any more time and immediately jumps out of the transport.
As Ulla jumps out the transport, she turns in mid flight and thankfully watches and all the other troopers are jumping out too, although not all of them make it as Jetset fire a rocket straight at the ship. The rocket hits it’s mark and burst in flames, the radius of the explosion catches a couple of soldiers who couldn’t get out in time, all Ulla can do is listen to their screams as they burst into flames. As Ulla falls through the air, she notices the transport Izanagi was on burst in flames as it too was struck by a rocket, Ulla wonders if Izanagi survived, but moments later she spots Izanagi plummeting through the air, with an injured solider strapped around her front. Ulla watches as debris from one of the exploding transports plummets down and smacks into a couple of soldiers who had deployed their shoots too early. The sky was on fire and the flames of war tore the peaceful night to ribbons.
Ulla deploys her parachute when she close enough and lands perfectly on the ground. She watches around her as other soldiers land around her, some land safely, some crash into trees, other land awkwardly and break their legs, some even end up hitting each other on the way down. Ulla recovers her rifle and tries to make sense of her surroundings. Throughout the carnage, she can hear gunfire in the distant, she knows that her soldiers have already engaged the enemy……..Ulla’s military training kicks in and her ability to be a natural leader somehow takes over her brain and mind, she then becomes the captain that these soldiers need her to be.
“Any medics, you are ordered to stay here and treat the wounded, if you see any others landing, go and check them for injuries too, everyone else who can walk, you’re on me. Now move out!” Ulla commands as she loads her rifle.
Ulla takes all the soldiers she can and links up with the rest of the soldiers at the front, she notices several squads are pinned down and amongst them, Izanagi is there trying to draw their enemies fire.
“Friendlies on your six!” Ulla shouts as they approach.
“Captain! Oh thank god you made it, they’ve dug in just up the ridge, but we’ve got multiple soldiers with injuries and we just can’t get to them. What are your orders captain?” Izanagi asks.
Ulla stands up and listens as bullets whizz passed her ears. She secretly wished that just one of those bullets would hit her in the head, killing her, but alas, no such luck. Ulla takes a deep breath and somehow manages to drown out all the explosions and all the screams of war for a moment, she then pulls her mask down over her face and stares straight at Izanagi.
“All of you are here by ordered to hold your position here, no one moves, keep your heads down and don’t get shot. I’ll go and rescue our people.” Ulla instructs.
“Captain, it’s impossible to do it by yourself, you’ll be killed!” Izanagi pleads.
“Good!” With that Ulla rushes out from cover and runs straight through the no man’s area as fast as she can.
“God damn it. Protect the captain! Suppressing fire!” Izanagi shouts as both her and the remaining soldiers return fire.
Ulla runs and runs through a hail of bullets, smoke and debris, she ducks behind a downed troop transport where three soldiers are trying to help two additional soldiers out from under the wreckage. Ulla immediately joins in and uses all of her strength and helps lift up the wing of the ship, so they can drag the two soldiers out from underneath. But before the soldiers can thank their captain for helping them, Ulla has already rushed off as fast as she can and making her way to the next group that need help. Explosions rock the ground and bullets scream all around her, but Ulla just focuses on her soldiers. “Just let me save them……..Just one more…….I can save one more.” Ulla says, over and over again. Ulla does just this, like a guardian angel protecting the weak, Ulla rushes all across the battlefield saving as many soldiers as she can, it isn’t long before she realizes that she had indeed protected and kept all the remaining soldiers she has under her command safe.
She then hatches a plan and radios into Izanagi, despite all of Izanagi’s protests, Ulla insists of doing it. A couple of minutes later and rocket is fired straight at the base point where the Phantoms are hold up and Ulla single handily rushes into the open hole with her assault rifle locked and loaded. It is at this moment as well, that Jetset lands right in front of Izanagi.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the half breed itself! I should have known you of all things would help out these heretic Infiltrator sympathizers.” Jetset belittles Izanagi.
“Jetset. I see your still kissing the Prophets fat arse.” Izanagi says drawing her weapon.
“Your just jealous because you’re not on the winning side……HALF BREED FILTH!..........Your father was such a brave and noble Phantom, why did he want to ruin it all by impregnating a disgusting infiltrator!” Jetset shouts.
“That’s love for you, I’ve seen even the most powerful of beings and angriest of creatures be brought down to their knees by the love of another. You should try it sometime.” Izanagi carries on.
“You shouldn’t even exist Half breed…….” But just as Jetset gets ready to fight, she suddenly hears all the guns stop firing. Well, from the outside at least.
Jetset and Izanagi turn and hear a huge barrage of gunshots coming from inside the Phantoms base of operations. This is followed by a load of screaming and grenade explosions. After several minutes, the gunfire stops and the front door burst open. Several remaining Phantoms rush out and run as fast as they can away from the base…..Moments later, Ulla appears absolutely covered in her enemies blood. Jetset watches as the smoke dissipates as she notices that the all the corridors behind her are littered with dead Phantoms…….Ulla had single handily wiped them out and won the battle.
Jetset initially panics. “How…..Your……Your not human!” Jetset switches on her jetpack and flies up into the air and just like a fox running with its tail between its legs, Jetset cowardly retreats…….So much for the winning side.
Up above a drone has watched the whole thing and confirmed a kill count of at least 36. It then recovrs the data it’s gathered from observing Ulla and flies back towards the direction of the company…..
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The sisters managed to sneak into their flat and recover some equipment and even their gadgets, their flat has been completely cornered by the police and it’s going through the ongoing investigation. Tinker can fix that in due course and rightfully allow the sisters to return to their home in due time, but for now, Tina was only concerned with finding her sisters somewhere warm and safe for the night.
The sisters managed to find a room at a hotel, once they inside they locked the door and huddled together, each for comfort and to remind each other that they’d always be there for each other. Tina held both Marie and Angel in arms and refused to let them go, they all knew of how Maryse assisted Angel in renouncing her way when she was “Demon” and they all know of how Maryse helped Marie with her training to be a fully fledged infiltrator, so Tina refused to let Angel and Marie out of her loving embracing, all Tina wanted to do was hold her sisters as close to her as she could, forever trying to be a beacon of strength of support for them all.
The sisters spent the next two days locked up in that hotel room. They ordered room service when they got hungry, but that was it, the nine sisters just flat out refused to leave the hotel room. They just wanted to spend every single moment that they could together, they supported each other, kept each other safe, showered each other with love and support. During this time Stasis sent a message or two to both Amai and Midori. This was because sometimes the food in the hotel was god awful and they needed stuff bringing in. Tina naturally paid both Midori and Amai in full every time they brought the sisters some food over, but afterwards both Amai and Midori left the sisters, as even they knew that the nine wanted to be left alone, so they could grieve together as a family.
Tinker at one point showed the rest of her sisters the news about the battle that happened, the new broadcasts were baffled by the factions or by what caused the battle, but the sisters knew full well, that this was the company and the Phantoms locking horns for supremacy.
“No matter what. I won’t let anything happen to you. Your all my sisters and I love you with all my heart. I won’t allow anyone to touch you, I won’t allow anyone to hurt you. I’ll be here for each and single one of you, I promise.” Tina says as she makes her round and gives each and every single one of her sisters a hug plus a sisterly kiss on the head.
“This needs to end, can’t sit idly by anymore can we?” Marie now asks.
“No. This is it sisters, we won’t allow anymore people to get injured in this senseless war. We WILL stop the Phantoms.” Tina says to her sisters.
“I’m with you, every step of the way sis.” Angel says getting to her feet.
“Count me in to, you know I’d do anything to protect you.” Mag is next to say.
“We can do this, I mean, as long as we’re together, we’re unstoppable aren’t we?” Soph says next.
“Damn right we are, and I think it’s time to prove to the Phantoms, that they’ve just messed with the wrong family!” Tina replies.
It’s been two long, stressful days, but Tina has finally noticed a smile on a couple of her sisters faces…….The sisters will always love each other, they’ll always protect each other, they’ll always be there for each other and they’ll always stand by each other.
The Phantoms have bitten off more than what they can chew.
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As Ulla returns with her soldiers, dozens of hospital staff and medical personal are awaiting to deal with he wounded. The crows immediately run up to Ulla and perform their respectful to her, to which Ulla quickly salutes them back. However just as she does this, two supposed medical staff approach her wearing rather unique looking outfits compared the rest of the medics who were waiting to heal and attend to the injured soldiers being offloaded off of the transports.
“Captain Ulla, follow us for your medical examination.” One of them says.
“No need, I’m fine.” Ulla replies.
“Sorry captain, but this isn’t optional, it applies to everyone I’m afraid.” The second states.
“Yeah I’ll bet.” Ulla whispers, being weary of these two supposed medical staff.
They take her into a tent and do a quick series of inspections of her, then one of them pulls out a couple of vials and a syringe.
“Just need to take a quick blood sample from you captain, you know for medical reasons.” One of them states.
“Of course, for…..MEDICAL reasons.” Ulla says sarcastically. Now Ulla knows exactly what these two are doing, she remembers the report that states that a sample of her blood must be acquires asap. But Ulla can’t let them catch on that she’s aware that their up to something, so as much as it annoys her inside, she has to go through with it.
“There we go, thank you captain, your clear to continue.” The two medical staff then leave.
Ulla follows them discreetly and as she does, she watches as one of them pulls out a radio. “Hello…….Yes it’s us…….Confirmed, we have the blood samples needed for project turnover, we’re bringing them to you now. Have a cooling incubator ready for our arrival.”
Ulla rushes bac and finds the crows.
“Listen to me and listen closely. Something isn’t right around here and I’m going to find out what, so I need you to go back to the penthouse and lock the door, don’t open it for anyone, is that understood?” Ulla orders the crows.
“Yes captain, but what if someone genuinely comes looking for you.” One of the crows asks.
Ulla looks and notices Izanagi being cleared from a medical tent, Ulla then whistles which draws her over.
“Yes captain, is there anything I can do?” Izanagi asks.
“I need to go on a few errands, and I need someone to look after my squad while I’m gone, I’m trusting you with this. Do NOT let anyone near them or approach them while I’m away, am I clear?” Ulla says with a cold and emotionless look on her face.
“Of course, captain, you can count on me.” Izanagi replies.
Ulla watches as the crow’s escort Izanagi back to the penthouse, when she know their all clear, Ulla turns her attention back to the facilities before her. It was time to figure out just what project turnover was all about.
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On a rooftop overlooking a multi-storey plaza, Kheshig waits patiently when she suddenly hears footsteps behind her, she turns rapidly to see th nine sisters, wearing cat suits looking at her.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d actually come, but I’m grateful you did. I never said it before, but I’m so sorry for what happened.” Kheshig says.
“We don’t want your apology, now please. Tell us the situation.” Tina immediately states.
“I understand. The Phantoms will be meeting the contact in the main dining room in just a few hours, the shipment will most likely be moved around the back for collection.” Kheshig asks.
“Is the contact the main benefactor?” BB asks.
“No, who it is always sends someone as a representative instead and the Prophet is the same, god forbid she should ever make a public appearance, she’ll probably send her loyal laptop Jetset as she usually does……Or then again, maybe not as Jetset was humiliated by the siren when she was forced to make a hastily retreat, so I’m not sure at this point.” Kheshig admits.
“So we heard. I can’t say I’m sorry, you Phantoms have been causing us nothing but trouble, so it felt nice hearing that you have suffered some hardship as for once.” Soph says in delight.
“Please take this.” Kheshig passes them a tracker. “This will allow you to track the shipment right the way back to our main temple, I wish I could show you on a map or something, but doesn’t exist on any known maps. Plus I can’t take you myself as I have other matters I need to attend to.” Kheshig replies.
“Like what?” Angel asks.
“It’s Blink……..Her daughter Shannon’s was taken when we raided her flat looking for her…….Blink is absolutely tearing the city apart searching for her. I need to make sure that Shannon is kept safe and to make sure that Blink finds her.” Kheshig says turning away.
“WAIT! If this is true, then shouldn’t we prioritize saving Shannon!” Angel suddenly shouts.
“I’m looking after her and keeping her safe and please don’t worry, I have a friend who’s getting ready to help Blink find Shannon and she’s going to reunite them.” Kheshig admits.
“Do you trust this friend of yours?” Tina asks.
“Yes…….She hates what the Phantoms have become to and you may not believe me when I tell you this, but she wants to keep you all safe too, because you’ve helped her in ways that she’ll always be thankful for.” Kheshig says whilst looking at the sisters.
“How? How have we helped her?” Marie wonders.
“I’m sorry, but she’s asked me not to reveal that part, at least. Not yet anyway. Good luck, I’ll always be nearby.” With that Kheshig leaves the roof top.
“Speaking of which.” Tinker opens up her bag and pulls out a device filled with gas. “I made this last night, it’s a chemical neutralizer, so we plug this into the chemical compartment itself and allow the two to mix together, this will cause a disruption and cancel each other out, in other words it’ll make the chemicals the Phantoms were planning on using completely useless.” Tinker says with hope in her voice.
“Amazing work sis!” Tina says as she places her hand on Tinker’s shoulder.
The nine sisters gear up and make their way down to the plaza itself, the sisters were hell bent now on stopping the Phantoms once and for all.
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Ulla waited patiently until at long last someone exited one of the facilities allowing her to slip inside before the door closed. Ulla snuck around and noticed several large holding capsules, big enough to fit that of a human were being carefully moved down one of the corridors. Ulla followed discreetly, but even for a trained special forces operative like herself, it was getting harder and harder to maintain a low profile, eventually she would be seen.
Lucky for her though, her opportunity was about to reveal itself as a lone female scientist emerged from one of the laboratories. She was 35 years of age, she had white skin, long black hair which curled at the end, blue eyes and she was wearing the following items of clothing. A pair of black slim fit trousers, black high heels, a crimson dress button up dress shirt, blue elastic gloves, a white lab coat, blue goggles were sitting neatly above her head and a face mask covered her mouth. She was carrying a clipboard and her ID badge read that her name was “Francesca”. Ulla thought that with the same type of hair and colour as well as the same sort of skin tone, she could easily replace her and this could allow her to move around with ease, plus she was secretly still trying to figure out what makes an infiltrator well…..An infiltrator.
Francesca walks with authority as she skims through her notes, but because she’s so engrossed in the notes themselves, she hears the sounds of footsteps rushing up behind too late.
“Hey! Hhhheemmpphh!” Ulla clamps her hand over Francesca’s mouth and quickly drags her into an office. Once inside the office, Ulla quickly kicks the door shut with her foot, she then uses her free hand to land a heck of chop straight to the spot just in between Francesca’s neck and shoulder blade.
“Aaahh…..Uuunn…….Uuunn.” Francesca slowly feels faint, before she slumps straight into Ulla’s arms, Ulla brushes the hair out of Francesca’s face and yep, she’s out like a light.
Ulla lays Francesca down on the floor and starts to remove her clothing, she helps herself to Francesca’s trousers, lab coat, high heels, shirt, her gloves, her face mask and her goggles. Once she’s been stripped, it is revealed that Francesca is wearing a pair of obsidian black boy shorts and a scarlet red T-shirt bra.
Ulla remembers her tactic from before and she swiftly breaks open a computer unit that’s sitting on the desk, she helps herself to the all the wiring inside of it and she swiftly ties up Francesca. Because there isn’t that much wiring in this machine, she tied up Francesca’s ankles and wrists before rolling her on her stomach and lifting her feet up and behind her back where she uses the last of the wiring to secure both bonds in the middle, so Francesca is locked in a hogtied position. “Crude, yet effective.” Ulla thinks to herself. She then finds some Sellotape inside one of the offices draws and peels some off before sticking it over Francesca’s mouth as a gag. Finally, she drags Francesca’s body under the desk itself so she’s out of sight to anyone walking passed.
“Hhhmm, maybe infiltrators are just opportunists, they seize disguises when they can, should the situation call for it. I mean, I’m not infiltrator but even I can see that impersonating one of the workers is a lot easier that sneaking around and potentially getting caught…..Hhhmmm.” Ulla thinks to herself as she gets changed into Francesca’s clothes.
Once she’s changed, she does put the blue goggles over her eyes, just to add that extra bit of protection so nobody will recognise her, then with her newfound look, she leaves the office and closes the door behind her. Ulla pretends to skim through notes when she’s secretly following the group of people carrying the glass pods. Although she suddenly gets distracted, because as she’s following them, a certain figure captures her eye. A female who looks EXACTLY like Tina and her sisters…….
This woman is the same age as Tina and her sisters, she has pink eyes, long Magenta dyed hair, with magenta lipstick on. She’s wearing white armour with a magenta silk cape draped over her right arm.
Ulla stops as if she’s seen a ghost, she abandons her original task of stalking the group to find out what they are doing and she hurries over to this woman who’s about to enter an elevator. The door opens and this woman goes to step inside.
“Angel. Is that you? Did you dye your hair again?” Ulla asks with hope in her voice.
The woman turns around and looks at her.
“I’m sorry ma’am, I’ve never seen you before in my life and my name is not Angel.” She goes to turn around.
“But you look so much like a woman I once encountered. She…….She saved my life, she was with one of her sisters. Eeerrmm, Mag, I think her name was.” Ulla remembers who Angel was with that day.
The woman who looks like the sisters, stop and turns again, although there’s a sense of both dread and hope on her face.
“Did you say Mag? How. How do you know her and now I’m curious? Who’s Angel?” She asks.
“Wait, are you telling me, that you’re not one of the nine sisters? But how? You look exactly like them, apart from your hair colour and eye colour, you look exactly like them.” Ulla can’t make sense of it all.
“Please, this is important and forgive me for speaking out of line, but something doesn’t make sense here. How do you know Mag, who is Angel and please elaborate on the nine!” This woman was starting to get agitated.
“Well, her previous name was Demon, but she’s renounced her ways……I was so lost. I was on a self-destructive path and she……She saved me, from ME. Although she’s since renounced her old name and she now goes by the name Angel, her and her eight sisters. But then again, surely you’ve heard of the nine sisters going around the city?” Ulla is now getting suspicious of the woman in front of her.
“My god…….She’s alive………They are all alive!” The woman replies as she takes it all in.
“You’re telling me, you didn’t know any of this? Are you a cousin of there’s or something, I mean who are you?” Ulla now wonders.
“My name is CO-5052, I am the commander of the Majestic Magentas, formerly known as the 441st scout battalion.” The commander now salutes.
“Wait what?” Ulla is now very confused.
“Listen, judging by all these questions, your clearly not from around here and the fact that you’re actually taking the time to talk to me, when everyone else who works here won’t even give me the time of day, indicates that you’re an infiltrator of some kind. Listen, would you by any chance be able to speak to me more about the nine, please, I need to know!” CO-5052 nearly begs.
“NO! I have questions that need answering too. For instance, what is going on around here, what the hell is project turnover and why am I apparently involved. Who are you? Why is everyone making such a big deal about infiltrators? Who the hell are the Phantoms? And above all else, just what in the name of god is going on in this stupid city!” Ulla snaps, this is perfectly understandable as the more she digs for answers, all she seems to find are more questions.
“Very well, I will reveal to you all that I know, but please come with me and above all else be discrete, because where I’m taking you is reserved for my kind and my kind only.” CO-5052 keeps the lift door open for Ulla to step inside.
“What do you mean, your kind?” Ulla asks as the lift starts it’s decent.
“You said I look like a group of women who you know right. Well brace yourself, because I’m about to blow your mind.” CO-5052 states as the lift continues going downwards.
A short while alter the lift stops and the door opens up. Ulla takes a step out and when she see’s whose around her……She suddenly becomes all weak and almost faints, although CO-5052 quickly holds onto her so she doesn’t collapse.
“See, I told you.” CO-5052 replies.
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Don’t let the plaza grand appearance and beautiful looks fool you, inside the some of the people are rotten to the core, even the staff themselves aren’t exactly clean, with many of the workers here being ex-convicts, this plaza is basically a safe place for certain businesses to perform shady deals without the press getting wind of it, the whole place is just basically one big front. Even the young lady working the main desk at the reception has been arrested for embezzlement. Speaking of which…….
The receptionist is a young 23 year old woman. She has soft beige skin, long Havana brown hair, styled in what is known as a layered midi look, she has leaf green eyes. She is wearing a dark navy blue thigh high skirt, dark blue high heels, a blue suit shirt with small white polka dots all over it and a dark navy blue blazer. She’s wearing a gold name tag which reads “Nadia”.
Nadia is busy typing away at her computer and greeting customers as they enter, then when the coast is clear, Nadia quickly pulls out a sign from her desk draw which states “back in five minutes”. She leaves it in front of her computer and quickly does a brisk walk towards the ladies toilets. She goes inside and enters one of the cubicles. As she’s busy, the bathroom door opens again and Libido casually strolls in with her whip in hand.
Libido gently pushes on all the doors and checks to make sure all the other stall are empty, she then gives a small push on the door that Nadia is in.
“This one’s in use.” Nadia calls out.
“Ooppss, sorry, I’ll find another one.” Libido replies.
Libido walks over to the bathroom door and closes it fully before we locks it, leaving just her and Nadia the only two women inside. After a moment later, the toilet flushes and Naida exits the cubicle and starts washing her hands. She turns to see Libido leaning on a sink smiling at her.
“That’s what I get for drinking too many latte’s while I’m on shift, but I just can’t help it you know, I get so bored, I just wish sometimes that something interesting would happen to me.” Nadia explains.
Libido starts chuckling.
“What’s so funny?” Nadia asks.
“Oh nothing, nothing. It’s just, my sister once told me that sometimes, some women just have a habit of saying the really wrong things at the really wrong times. I never really knew what she meant by that, until you just said what you said.” Libido explains.
“I still don’t get it? What – Hhhuurrkkkk!” A sound of a whip cracking is heard as Libido wraps up Nadia with her whip and pulls her towards her like good Salsa dancer.
“How’s this for something interesting, you sexy, SEXY woman.” Libido says and Nadia gets pulled right into Libido’s body.
But before Nadia can reply, Libido lays one hell of a long and extremely passionate kiss on Nadia’s lips. Libido opens her eyes and watches as her fake knock out lips slowly takes hold over Nadia. Nadia herself struggles and moans for a bit as she feels the serum overwhelming her body, yet part of her can’t help but feel embarrassed as this is indeed one of the most passionate kisses she’s ever experienced. Nadia’s eyes go heavy before she closes them and gently falls asleep. Once she’s out cold, Libido stops kissing her and lays her body down on the floor, she untangles her whip from her too. Libido then walks up to the bathroom door and gently knocks three times, this is followed up by an additional four knocks, Libido then unlocks the door and opens it, which of course is revealed to be the rest of the sisters who enter the bathroom.
“Great work, okay, here is your wig and your contacts, let us know when Phantoms have arrived, the client who their meeting might already be here for all we know.” Tina says as she passes Libido a wig and a set of contact lenses so she can mimic Nadia’s appearance.
“Don’t worry sis, I’ve got this, now if you’ll excuse, seeing as I’m the one who got to knock out this lovely lady, I think it’s only fair that I get to be the one to strip her.” Libido says with anticipation as she sees the knocked out beauty in front of her.
“Fine, but only down to her undies and I’m watching you, so don’t even think about having a cheeky peek.” Mag says as she watches Libido strip her victim.
“Aaaaww, not even if she’s wearing a cheeky little G-string.” Libido says with a wink.
“Especially if she’s wearing a G-string!” Mag immediately replies.
Libido strips Nadia and much to her annoyance, Nadia was not wearing a G-string under her skirt, but instead she was wearing a pair of indigo blue panties and a sangria purple convertible bra.
“Aaahhh, no G-string.” Libido says with annoyance.
“God your lucky I love you, you horny little minx.” Tina says with a smile as she shakes her head at her sisters remarks.
While Libido gets changed into Nadia’s clothes BB holds Nadia’s body onto the toilet seat, whilst Mag and Marie secure her body to the said toilet itself. They use a whole role of Tinker’s homemade tape and secure her body by tying her ankles together then tying her ankles by wrapping tape around them and the bowl, next then apply a load of tape around Nadia’s waist and her chest and secure her body to the back of the toilet seat so she is sitting up right. Next they tie tape around her wrists before they apply multiple layers of tape around her arms and secure arms to the side of the toilet. Finally they put a couple of layers of tape over Nadia’s mouth as gag. They then disable the lock on the door, so it stays closed and they proceed to leave Nadia locked inside the cubicle. At this point Libido has already gotten changed, put on her wig and she’s putting the contact lenses into her eyes.
“So how do I look?” Libido asks.
“You look perfect sis.” Angel replies.
“Yeah, but when you’re this gorgeous, it’s hard not to look perfect.” Libido says with a cheeky wink.
Angel just smiles as she knows full well what her sister is like, so Angel just grabs Libido and gives her a massive cuddle.
“I’ve missed hearing your playful quips, I hate seeing you miserable.” Angel says as she hugs her.
“Well, it’s been a depressing couple of days, I just like to let you know, that I’m still me.” Libido replies.
“I love you just the way you are, don’t you ever change.” Tina says as she too doesn’t miss an opportunity to hug one of her sisters.
The remaining sisters climb into a vent located in the bathroom and continue to crawl their way through the building, whilst Libido leaves the bathroom and sits down at the reception desk, posing as Nadia. She pretends to look busy on the system whilst keeping her eyes open for any signs of the Phantoms.
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And a perfect way to properly introduce two villains: Falcon and Prophet. (Technically, the Prophet has been here for a while, but this is the first time we see her in action, and she doesn't disappoint!) Their sheer brutality and merciless nature were in full display. The story shows that they mean business while also displaying their evilness / despicableness. Plus, after that, the mood of the story is instantly set. A little marvel of 'in medias res' introduction.
) Same remark with the following scene with the security guards and Katie falling asleep on the Z key. Also... How did you manage to turn Stasis' horrible puns into a heartwarming moment? Because you did!
......Oh don't worry I catch your drift. 
