For those as well who might think I've done a bit of a 180 with Ulla's personality in this chapter, I highly advice you to pay very close attention to two very specific scenes Ulla is in, because as you'll see, she's revealing a lot about her character and she's revealing a lot about her mindset.
I do also want to thank Rufusluciusivan who very kindly offered me some assistance with getting the white masks personalities correct, thank you.
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CHAPTER 41: A CLONE, A SIREN & A MOTHER
As the early morning sun glistens across the city, Mag is the first of the sisters to wake. She climbs out of her sleeping bag and very carefully peeks through the hotel rooms curtains with her back firmly pressed against the wall. Once she confirms it’s all clear, she relaxes before she fills up a kettle and switches it on to make herself a mug of morning tea. The rest of the sisters one by one wake up, as Tina herself climbs out of her sleeping bag, she notices Mag rubbing her eyes as she sits on top of the hotel rooms table. The kettle clicks to say it’s ready, but before Mag can grab the handle, Tina beats her to it and grasps hold of the kettle.
“Here, let me do this for you.” Tina says as she pops a teabag into the mug before filling it up with water.
“Thanks sis.” Mag replies with a yawn.
“How did you sleep?” Tina asks as she pours some milk and sugar into Mag’s cup. Tina knows how each of her sisters like their teas and coffees. She knows how much milk and how much sugar for each of them. She then passes the mug to Mag and she gently takes a sip of it.
“Perfect again.” Mag says, thanking Tina for making her tea, just the way she likes it.
“You haven’t answered my question.” Tina says as she props herself next to her sister. Mag swirls her tea in her mug, before she looks at Tina.
“Not well.” Mag now admits.
“They why didn’t you wake me? I would of more than happily sat with you.” Tina replies with a warm smile.
“I know you would have, but then I would have felt guilty for waking you, so it’s fine.” Mag takes another sip of her tea.
“Don’t worry. We’re safe here.” Tina says. She knows that Mag is stressing out about the safety of her sisters, so she’s trying to reassure her that they are indeed safe in the hotel there staying at.
“I know we are. But I just can’t shake the damn feeling, that we might get attacked again at any moment. I just need to be on alert.” Mag admits.
“Hey, come here.” Tina wraps her arm around Mag’s shoulder and gently leans her in, so Mag’s head in now resting on Tina’s shoulder. “Do you really think that anyone would be able to get close to you or our sisters with me around? I’d make them pay dearly if I thought anyone was going to lay a single finger on you.” Tina says with a warm tone.
“I just want to keep our family safe, that’s all.” Mag takes another sip of her tea. “The white masks, Kuebiko, the Phantoms….All people who want to hurt us for no reason. We never even did anything to any of them, yet here they are all the same. Blaming us for everything wrong with their lives.”
Tina watches as she sees Mag frown in both anger and annoyance.
“It makes me feel sick at times.” Mag places her mug down on the table.
Tina can see it in Mag’s eyes. Everything was indeed starting to get on Mag’s nerves and a lot of it was true. Most, if not all of the time. Tina and her sisters genuinely hadn’t done anything wrong to the people who were targeting them. Both Tina and Mag just wanted to protect each other and protect their other sisters / family. Tina holds Mag close to her, hoping to let her see that everything will be fine.
“I think I just heard Stasis brush her teeth, that means it won’t be long before she’s itching to get to the breakfast table. So come on, how about we go downstairs and have a nice meal together.” Tina replies.
Mag looks at Tina and smiles at her before she finishes her mug of tea. The hotel’s restaurant was thankfully large enough so the sisters could easily find a table and sit together. Naturally Stasis went straight for the bacon, eggs and sausages, whilst the rest of the sisters went for the lighter, more healthier options, such as fruit, cereal and even yoghurt. BB takes a bite out of her toast before she closes the book that Kheshig gave her, she then takes a sip of pink grapefruit juice.
“So, if these texts are anything to go by, then Kheshig wasn’t lying.” BB wipes her mouth with a serviette. “The Phantoms were indeed soldiers of honour once upon a time and not those blood thirsty maniacs that we’re seeing today.” BB concludes.
“But even if Kheshig is telling the truth and she does want to overthrow the Prophet to become their new leader. Who’s to say she wouldn’t resume her campaign against us?” Soph wonders as she puts a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.
“Because, we haven’t done anything wrong. Look, hear me out.” The sisters all give BB their full attention. “As we all know, infiltrators exist all over. I mean hell, there’s even governments out there who hire them as mercenaries and that’s fine. But every now and then, sometimes an infiltrator becomes addicted to infiltrating. She constantly steals women’s clothes as it gives her a kind of rush of superiority and kind of an…..Alpha, like mentality.” BB explains.
“Sounds a lot like Knipperen.” Marie adds.
“Exactly. These are women who have become so addicted to stealing uniforms, that they just now see women as nothing more than a doner. Well, if it came to light that these certain individuals were becoming like this and were even going around harming innocent women, then the Phantoms would be around to bring them to justice……Now I mean actual justice. It states here that Phantoms would only kill an infiltrator if the situation deemed it necessary, apart from that, all measures must be taken to assure that the individual their going after, gets arrested and be given a fair trial.” BB explains.
“Someone should tell that to these Phantoms then.” Mag replies to BB’s statement.
“Well that’s just it. Whoever this so-called Prophet is, is corrupting the Phantoms from the inside and launching her own private vendetta against infiltrators or anyone who considers themselves to be one.” BB finishes.
“Okay, so we find out who the Prophet really is and take it from there?” Marie ponders.
“But how do we do that? Even Kheshig herself doesn’t know who the Prophet is, and I doubt even their most loyal of soldiers such as Jetset don’t even know her real identity.” Angel points out.
“I wouldn’t worry about that, as the tracker had stopped at an unmapped location a few hours ago and it hasn’t moved since.” Tinker says as she types away at her laptop.
“So is that? Are going after them?” Soph asks, getting somewhat excited about the idea of punching a Phantoms lights out.
“Not yet, if we just go straight at them like that, we’d probably be doing more harm than good, plus Blink’s daughter is somewhere in there.” Tina adds.
“Well right now, the Phantoms are more concerned with Ulla, or the Siren as they keep calling her, as I’m seeing several Phantom threads of outposts being either evacuated or completely wiped out and all the Phantoms comm chatter are saying the same thing.” Tinker spins her laptop around for the rest of her sisters to see. “They are all saying that the Siren is doing this.” Tinker states.
“What’s Ulla’s motivation behind all of this? She isn’t a bad woman; she’s just trying to find purpose in this world.” Angel says as she remembers full well her first encounter with Ulla and the crows.
“Maybe Anna has something that she’s using against her, so maybe Ulla genuinely doesn’t have a choice.” BB states.
“We’ll figure that out later, before we work out how to infiltrate the Phantoms main headquarters, I say we do some digging and find out just who the Phantoms have partnered themselves up with.” Tina announces.
“How do you want to do that?” Marie asks.
“We start at the source. We saw Jetset get that shipment of supplies from the docks and if you remember. When we first encountered Kheshig in that warehouse a little while back, she was protecting a shipping container filled with the same equipment as the one’s Jetset was sent to retrieve. Which clearly indicates that whoever is supplying the Phantoms with equipment, is not a native to Heartfelt City.” Tina deduces.
“Sounds logical to me.” Tinker replies.
“So here’s what we’re going to do. BB and Angel, you two are coming with me to the port and we’re going to see what we can find. I want the rest of you to please go back up to the hotel room and wait for us to return.” Tina instructs.
“You’re not leaving without these.” Tinker passes BB, Angel and Tina their hidden cameras and their hidden microphones, so she can update them, should the situation call for it.
“Thanks sis.” Tina says as she clips her on. “Please keep the do not disturb sign on the door and don’t open it for anyone.” Tina carries on.
“Hey, can I open it for Amai and Midori?” Stasis suddenly says.
“But why? You’ve just had breakfast?” Tina asks in slight confusion.
“Yeah, but they were telling me of how a new doughnut shop has opened up and I want them to bring me over a baker’s dozen.” Stasis replies with excitement.
“Fine, but make sure you pay them.” Tina rebuffs.
“Of course I will, they maybe my sidekicks, but I don’t leech off of them, I’ll pay them in full, you have my word.” Stasis replies as she quickly texts Amai, putting in her doughnut order.
With that the sisters leave the hotel dining room. BB grabs her gloves, Angel grabs her dart gun and Tina fills a bag with supplies, after that Tina, Angel and BB get changed into catsuits before leaving the hotel and making their way to the docks.
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A vehicle pulls up outside outpost Zeta, where Elisha puts some handcuffs on Blink. As there walking to the outposts main entrance, Blink is remaining calm as she knows that somewhere hidden amongst the treeline, Knipperen is watching closely.
Inside the outpost itself, the white masks are hard at work at their respective computers, although for different reasons. Magda is hunting high and low, leaving zero stones unturned as she hunts for the nine sisters. Willow is trying to find any hints systems being hacked into, although she’s hiding from the Phantoms just how much a good jacker she herself is, just in case they try to exploit her. Cassie is deliberately doing her job very slowly as she doesn’t want any conflicts with anyone. Ellie is getting chummy with some of the Phantoms and one point she even shared a sickening laugh with Jetset which made the other white masks look in concern at Ellie’s new sickening sense of humour. Louette is trying to find the sisters, just so she can give them outpost Zeta’s location, Louette is secretly worrying for her friends safety and she’s trying to get them out of their situation.
Moments later though the door opens, and Elisha walks in with Blink firmly locked in cuffs. By this point, Jetset has already left as she was needed elsewhere. It doesn’t take long for Louette’s eyes to meet Blinks and both women stair at each other with pale faces.
“You never told me the white masks were with you!” Blink loudly whisper in Elisha’s ear.
“I swear, I didn’t know! They must have only just been recruited because they weren’t here the other day.” Elisha loudly whispers back.
“WELL, well, well! Check it out girls, we’ve only been here less than a day and already, Blink is here firmly in cuffs where she belongs!” Ellie shouts after seeing Blink.
“Remember me Blink? Because I certainly remember you!” Magda says getting into Blink’s face.
“Back off vultures! She’ MY prize!” Elisha says, shoving Magda back as hard as she could, to keep up appearances.
“Oh, come on, we’re all on the same team here, perhaps we could share?” Ellie suggests staring daggers at Blink.
“Go get your own claim, Blink’s MINE and I intend to reap the rewards for her capture.” Elisha quickly shoves Ellie and escorts Blink into a holding room.
Once inside Elisha slams the door shut and sits Blink down on a chair, where she swiftly handcuffs Blinks ankles to the chair legs themselves. Elisha then pulls out her dagger and places it in Blink’s hand. Thankfully because Blink is still wearing the biker’s outfit she stole earlier, it’s easy for her slip it up her sleeve.
“Thanks.” Blink says in relief that she at least as some method to defend herself.
“We know all about the white masks and I know what they intended to do with you, so I can’t leave you unarmed. Look, I’ll be as quick as I can, I promise!” Elisha states.
“Don’t be too long, I don’t exactly feel comfortable being offered as a slab of meat to those white mask freaks.” Blink states.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they can’t get in.” Elisha says as she leaves the room. Once she leaves the room she stands in the centre and clears her throat.
“I’m going to go and get the Prophet as I’ve been informed that she wants to see Blink herself, I’ve also beem informed that the noble Prophet wants Blink unharmed, so if I get back and find even a single scratch on her, I assure you, I’ll be holding you ALL accountable, am I understood?” Elisha announces.
“Yes! Yes, don’t worry, we won’t even go in there.” Cassie quickly shouts out as she doesn’t want any confrontation.
Elisha nods and walks out the room, she makes her way out of the outpost and climbs back into her vehicle. When she’s in she turns on the engine and pulls out her phone. She dials a number and removes her helmet before holding the phone against her ear.
“Hello.” A voice is heard on the line.
“Hi sweetie, it’s me.” Elisha says over the phone.
“Hey babe, how’s the conference in Germany going?” Felicity replies and it turns out she still has no idea that Elisha is a Phantom.
“Eermm, yeah, yeah, it’s going great.” But as she says this, she starts to tear up and Felicity hears her sniff down the line.
“Honey……..What’s wrong?” Felicity asks.
“I can’t do this anymore babe. I miss you so much, I just…..I just can’t do this job anymore……I’m at my wits end and I want to come home.” Elisha holds her free hand over face in despair.
“Then come home! Come on honey, come home to me, I’m waiting for you, we can find you a different job closer to home, how does that sound?” Felicity replies.
“I need to, I just can’t take this anymore. I thought I could do this job, but I can’t….I just can’t.” Elisha sobs down the phone.
“Now you listen to me you big, beautiful woman! I believe in you, I have so much faith and confidence in you. I know you can do ANYTHING, I love you so much, so please. Do what you need to do then just come home to me, so I can hold you in arms and smother you with kisses all night long.” Felicity says as she herself is tearing up on the other end of the phone.
“Thank you darling. You’re the only one who’s ever had any confidence in me…….I will……As soon as I’m finished here, I am coming home to you and screw this, I’m looking for a new job.” Elisha wipes her eyes.
“I’m waiting for you. Please be safe and please come back to me safely. Remember how much you mean to me.” Felicity replies.
“And you better remember just how much you mean to me too. I love you sweetie and I’ll see you soon.” Elisha says with a cheerier tone of voice. Felicity and Elisha then share some kisses over the phone before they hang up. Elisha then dries her eyes and blows her nose before she puts her helmet back on. She then sits back in her seat and remembers the stories of what Felicity told her of how Tina saved her life.
“This isn’t right.” Elisha says to herself in the mirror. “Tina. You saved the love of my life not once, but twice. I don’t care how long it takes, I WILL protect you and I WILL protect your sisters from the Prophet and her insane views, I promise.” Elisha then clips her seatbelt on and releases the handbrake.
Outpost zeta wasn’t exactly an ordinary outpost as about a mile or two from it, lurked a gigantic underground tunnel, that currently no longer saw any use. This tunnel travelled all the way to and from the Phantoms main HQ so this is how the Phantoms were shifting their supplies without being noticed. Elisha drove down the road until she found the tunnel, after she was cleared at the main gate by a Phantom guarding the entrance, she sped off down and through the tunnel, with every intention of making everything right.
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At Heartfelt’s dock itself Angel, BB and Tina perform a quick check with Tinker to make sure that their equipment such as their microphones and cameras are working properly before they sneak inside. Their first port of call will be to infiltrate the main office and see if they can gather any useful information from there, such as shipping manifests or maybe some invoices.
The sisters make their way past several lines of different columns of shipping containers when at last an opportunity presents itself. Two female dock workers are currently making their rounds as they inspect several containers. They are both wearing baggy orange high vis trousers, black steel toed boots, baggy orange high vis jackets, a dark grey shirt underneath and white hard hats.
The first woman has tanned skin, she’s 27 years of age, she has shoulder to back length black hair, light brown eyes and her ID tag on her jacket reads “Thea”.
The second woman is 19 years old, she has white skin, shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes and her ID tag reads “Zara”.
“Okay, so what we do now is go over the shipping numbers of each of the containers arriving to make sure that it matches with what we have on the paperwork.” Thea says to Zara.
“Right, so how do we know where it is?” Zara asks as she looks at some of the shipping listings.
“I’ll show you. Remember, if even a single letter or number doesn’t add up, it means that this is potentially an incorrect shipment.” Thea says as she shows Zara the shipping locks.
BB adjusts the settings on her gloves to the knockout gas dispenser as she sneaks up behind the two unsuspecting dock workers.
“Okay so now we tick this off and head off to the next one. Whhhoopphh!” Thea shouts as a hand is immediately clamped over her face like a face hugger.
“Hey what’s going Ooommmppphhhh!” Zara is next as a second hand also clamps over her face like a face hugger.
Moments later, the gas is released and both Zara and Thea get hit straight in the face with a dosage of knockout gas. The gas is fast acting and quickly swims it way up Thea and Zara’s nose, moments later their legs turn to jelly as they both wobble around before they slump to their knees. BB knows that they are knocked out by this point, so she quickly releases her grasp and grabs both women, preventing them from falling to the ground. BB slings Thea over her left shoulder before she slings Zara over her right shoulder. Due to BB’s sheer size and strength, lifting these two average sized and built women is very easy for her and she doesn’t even break a sweat.
BB carries the two unconscious dock workers over to Angel and Tina who are currently hiding behind a load of crates and barrels that are awaiting to be despatched. As BB lays the two women down, Angel and Tina get to work in stripping them.
“Hey, do you think it was a good idea to have me tag along for this part?” BB asks. To which both Angel and Tina look at each other.
“Why, what’s the matter?” Tina asks as she pulls of Thea’s boots.
“Well, I can already tell you for starters, that neither of these women’s clothes will fit me and I very much doubt that any of the other women working here will fit me either. I don’t know, it just feels like I might be a bit of a hinderance here.” BB says whilst rubbing her arm in embarrassment.
“Hey, come on, don’t say things like that, so their clothes might be a little bit tight on you, who cares. If anyone stares at you, then screw them, let them stare at you. Because at the end of the day, they are all just jealous.” Angel says as she pulls of Zara’s trousers.
“Angel’s right. All those women are just staring at you in pure jealousy, they wish they could look as beautiful as you and they wish that they could be as tall and powerful as what you are.” Tina reinforces as she slips off Thea’s jacket.
“Besides, remember what we’re always telling you sis. Who wouldn’t want to wake up next to a tall and gorgeous woman like yourself each and single morning?” Angel further reinforces.
“I know, I just…..Find it hard to believe sometimes.” BB says as she gets embarrassed fairly easily.
Tina smiles before she gives BB a massive sisterly hug.
“Whenever you need reminding of just how beautiful you are and how much you mean to us, you come to me okay and I’ll be more than happy to remind you every single time.” Tina says as she comforts her sister.
“Me too!” Angel says with a smile as she finishes stripping Zara.
“Thank you, sisters.” BB says as she blushes in embarrassment.
Now that both Thea and Zara have been stripped, it is revealed that Thea is wearing a rust orange balconette bra and a pair of peanut brown two side knot Brazilian brief panties. Zara meanwhile is wearing a sky-blue sports bra and a pair of sun yellow boy shorts. Now both women were wearing thick heavy duty grey socks, but they’ve been stripped of those as well, purely for comfort for when the sisters put on their boots.
Next BB props the two ladies back-to-back, while Angel and Tina securing their bodies together by tying several strands of rope around their stomachs and their chests, they then both of women’s arms together so it firmly locks them in place. They secure bonds around their ankles and legs before they finally pull out some fresh cloths and tie them in and around the two ladies mouths as gags. BB then lifts up the two bound beauties and hides them behind a load of drums.
Angel assembles a makeshift umbrella out of one of the sheets she’s brought with her and hangs it above the two sleeping dockworkers. With the sun beaming down as it is, Angel simply doesn’t want the two women to get sun burned.
With them out of the way, Angel gets changed into Zara’s clothes while Tina gets changed into Thea’s clothes. As Angel and Tina walk round the corner in their newly acquired disguises, BB herself hops back up onto the containers and follows closely waiting for a disguise opportunity of her own to come by.
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Willow studies a monitor closely, she’s observing one of Falcon’s main drone feeds. The drone itself is currently making its way around Heartfelt. But just as Willow zooms in on the drone feed to observe a building, the monitor suddenly turns to static. Willow looks around to see that all the other monitors have turned to static too. But just before she can say anything, a soft humming noise is heard coming down the intercom and all across everyone’s headsets and monitors. It’s a sweet gentle humming, as if the sweet tunes of a woman whose luring innocent sailors to their doom.
“It can’t be. It’s the siren!” A Phantom calls out as they grab a gun. “You wait here, we’ll handle this!” The same Phantom says as they rush out to join their comrades.
Suddenly the screen turn back on and the white masks turn to their monitors to see that their original feed has been replaced with a live recording of Ulla standing in the outposts hallways with her two Karambit blades…..The white masks watch as several Phantoms descent onto her location, yet the whole time, Ulla is just gently humming away to herself. But when the Phantoms get close, the white masks are unfortunately subjugated to the true danger, that is Ulla. Ulla opens her mouth to sing and rushes straight at the Phantoms.
“I infiltrate your dreams. I am the reason for your adultery. With my concupiscence of the flesh. I will obstruct the venereal act.” She sings softly as she throws herself towards the Phantoms.
Ulla slides along the floor and uses her blades to slice the ankles from two of the Phantoms as she glides past. Both Phantoms drop to their knees in pain, but Ulla just backward rolls and sticks her blades into the sides of their necks, killing both Phantoms.
“I am the cause of your impotence. The reason for infertility. With a touch, a look, or an amulet. Your misery is MY responsibility!” Ulla sings softly.
The remaining Phantoms open fire, but Ulla just leaps into a doorway which circles around behind them. Moments later, she bursts threw the door and without hesitation or warning she snaps one of the Phantoms neck, the fourth Phantom tries to raise their gun, But Ulla just grabs it and headbutts the Phantom staggering them backwards. As they stagger backwards Ulla fire a single bullet which penetrates the Phantoms visor before piercing their skull. Killing them instantly.
“I am a liar by nature. The cause of shipwrecks. Like the song of the sirens. Luring you to sin with my witchcraft!” Ulla sings more loudly now.
A fifth Phantoms runs out of ammunition in their clip and tries to rush Ulla with their own combat knife, but Ulla just tilts her head sideways at this fools so called attack strategy. The Phantoms swings their blade at Ulla, but Ulla just grabs their wrist, twists it until it snaps, before she slams their face into a wall, she then grabs the Phantoms by the back of the heads and uses her own shoulder to swiftly snap their neck. Ulla then picks up the dropped combat knife and hurls it straight at the sixth Phantom which pierces their armour and stabs them through the heart. Ulla knew exactly where she was aiming.
“Oh confess I must. I am driven by weakness and lust. You can blame it all me. Your filthy practises and thoughts” Ulla sings gently.
The final Phantom scans the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ulla, but alas all they hear is the sweet melody.
“So confess I must. You can blame it all on me. I AM the cause of all your loss!” She sings so loud that a sense of passive aggressiveness is heard in her tone.
The final Phantom sees a light, just before a single bullet pierces the air and hits them straight in the head. Moments later the seventh Phantom draws their last breath and they fall to the floor. Ulla emerges from the shadows and approaches the computer room.
Inside the room, the white masks are staying together for safety, Louette knows that she’s about to get into a fight so she swiftly removes her helmet and gets ready. Moments later, Ulla bursts into the room like a demonic entity. Although as she does, the white masks couldn’t see it under Ulla’s own mask, but she squints as she realizes Louette’s face.
Louette tries to throw a fist, but Ulla just grabs it. Louette uses all of her strength……But incredibly, Ulla doesn’t budge, nor does she flinch…….Louette is really using all of her force and strength itself, plus she’s using her good wrist, but Ulla just tilts her head sideways as if to say “is that really all you’ve got?” Ulla then takes advantage of Louette’s disbelief before she quickly side steps and grabs her, lifting her up and dropping her straight through a table. Ellie jumps on Ulla’s back, yet Ulla just grabs Ellie by the back of her head and manages to slam her straight to the floor before punching her in the face, knocking her out. Willow picks up a rifle from a rack, but Ulla whips out her pistol and shoots it straight out of Willow’s hand, causing Willow to jump backwards. Louette gets back to her feet only to be greeted by Ulla giving her a roundhouse kick to the side of the head knocking her out.
“I SURRENDER, I SURRENDER!” Cassie pulls off her helmet and gets down to her knees. This isn’t a diversion as she’s genuinely scared for her life.
Magda attempts to rush Ulla from the side, but she is suddenly smacked in the side of the head by the butt end of a sniper rifle. Ulla turns to see Izanagi enter the room, with her gun aimed at Willow, who also puts her hands up.
“Tie them up.” Ulla says.
“We’re not killing these one’s?” Izanagi wonders.
“No……I think I know this group and believe me…..They’re NOT Phantoms.” Ulla replies.
Izanagi gets to work in handcuffing the white mask members and sitting them down on chairs, not long afterwards the four gothic women known as the crows enter the room and take a look around. They salute their captain upon entering then Ulla sits down and waits for Izanagi to finish.
Magda, Louette and Ellie are still out cold. Willow is glaring at them in silent anger and Cassie is shaking like a leaf. Ulla cracks her knuckles before she clicks her neck. She’s going to be having words with the white masks when the rest of them wake up. But before she can, she hears what sounds like a bunch of scraping sounds. Ulla raises her hand in the air for her squad to form up on the doorway. Ulla makes a signal and Izanagi kicks open the door then steps to one side letting Ulla dash in. Inside she’s sees Blink on the chair, using the knife, hoping to somehow cut her way out of her bonds.
“Wait you’re the one they call Blink aren’t you? What are you doing here?” Ulla asks as she yet gains more questions than answers.
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A female forklift driver finishes loading a container filled with pallets. She then pulls the forklift back around to the charging station and plugs it in. She then reaches into her pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes, then pops one in her mouth, she then leans back against the forklift itself to enjoy a quick smoke break.
She’s 27 years of age, she’s wearing steel toed boots, black cargo trousers, a red and white chequered shirt, with a luminous yellow sleeveless high vis jacket over it as well as a yellow hardhat. She has lightly tanned skin, probably from working outside for most of the day. She has long slightly curled brown hair which is tied back in a ponytail. She has soft green eyes and an ID card clipped to her trousers says her name is “Esme”.
Esme finishes her cigarette and starts wriggling her trousers up. She then sees a disguised Angel and Tina approach her.
“Oh hey, don’t mind me, my trousers feel a little loose, I think they gave me the wrong size or something, because I mean look at this.” Esme stretches out her trousers to show off that they are indeed a size or two too big for her.
“Wow, they do look a little big for you, but I know someone of who those trousers of yours might fit a little better on.” Tina says as she is relieved to find a worker whose clothes are too big for her.
“Oh yeah, who?” But just as Esme says that, BB wraps one hand around Esme’s mouth and wraps her other hand around Esme’s stomach.
She then lifts Esme’s up off the ground itself as all Esme can do is kick her feet around trying to get back down. BB has since activated the chloro setting on her glove and right now Esme is getting it right in the face with a big glug of chloroform. Esme starts to feel faint, plus once again due to BB’s sheer size and strength, she is unable to free herself from BB grasp.
“MMPPHH…..aaaahh……..Uuuummmm.” Esme slowly loses consciousness and passes out right in BB’s arms with her head slumped forwards. Tina walks up to Esme and brushes her fringe of out her face to check to make she is out cold. She then hears Esme very slightly snoring. She then gives BB the thumbs up before she carries her round the back of the forklift itself.
BB lays her on the ground and starts stripping.
“I know we probably wasted a few minutes here, but honestly. Thank you for taking the time to find a woman who’s close to my size.” BB says she pulls off Esme’s trousers with ease.
“it was no problem at all sis, so long as your happy, then I’m happy.” Tina says putting her hand on BB’s shoulder seeing as how BB is bent down.
Once Esme has been stripped, it is revealed that Esme is wearing a lusty pink pair of lace panties and a candy apple red lace bra.
“I’m guessing she has a hot date lined up for tonight after her shift.” Tina says as she notices Esme’s underwear choice.
“Seems like it. Do you want to get changed and I’ll tie her up for you?” Angel says as she gets some bonds ready.
BB gets changed into Esme’s clothes, Tina keeps an eye out in case anyone walks by and wonders what’s going on whilst Angel ties up Esme. Angel uses a series of zip ties to bind Esme’s ankles, legs, wrists and arms together, she then grabs hold of a roll of Tinker’s homemade tape before she peels of a piece and sticks it across Esme’s mouth as a gag. Angel then drags Esme behind a couple of forklift battery stations before she swiftly covers her modesty with a blanket, so at least she’ll have her dignity when she gets discovered.
After that BB steps out in her disguise. The boots are pinching her toes and rubbing her heels, the trousers seem to fit okay, but the top still looks quite tight on her. Both Angel and Tina noticed BB shake her head when she saw that her disguise didn’t fit her properly. Naturally Tina gently squeezes BB’s left hand whilst Angel gently squeezes BB’s right hand.
“I think you look perfect.” Angel says trying to make her sister feel better.
“I don’t exactly look it though.” BB sighs.
“Well that’s a shame you feel that way, because I think you look perfect too.” Tina replies reinforcing Angel’s comment.
“Thank you sisters, but can we do this next part fairly quickly as this woman’s boots are really hurting my feet.” BB says as she tries to walk.
“Yeah sure, come on, let’s get in those offices.” Tina responds.
All three of the sisters then leave the area and start making their way towards the offices, naturally Tina has made mental notes of where they’ve hidden the women, so she can make her usual anonymous calls later so they can be discovered.
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Izanagi cuts the cuffs off Blink before Blink pours her heart and emotions out to Ulla, because of her time in prison, Ulla knows exactly who Blink is and she knows that if there’s one person in this world, Blink will willingly go through hell for, it’s her own daughter Shannon……….
Magda wakes up and tries to move her hands, she wriggles around and soon realizes that both her hands and feet have been cuffed to the chair she’s currently sitting on. She looks around and realizes that she in a separate room from her friends, but she isn’t alone, as both Blink and Ulla are standing right in front of her. Blink is pacing back and forth vigorously biting her nails down to the ends as she fears for her daughter’s safety. Ulla is currently flicking through a data pad which Izanagi dug up for her. It contains all the necessary information on each of the individual white masks.
“Hah! should have known that even the Siren wasn’t beyond helping an infiltrator!” Magda suddenly snaps to.
“I bet you think your funny, don’t you huh? You Phantom filth, if I find out as well that you are one of the Phantoms responsible for Shannon’s abduction, I’ll beat you within an inch of your life!” Blink snaps back.
“What the hell are you on about?” Magda replies.
“Don’t play dumb with me! I know you’ve had it out for me, and you just couldn’t stomach the fact that I beat you last time we met, so you just had to take it one step further didn’t you. You had to abduct a child for your sick little games. Well, I’ve got news for you Phantom filth, you made the biggest mistake of your life, because you didn’t just abduct anyone’s daughter. Oh no, you abducted MY daughter! So I don’t care how long this takes, if I have pull every one of your nails out from your fingers, just to get you to talk, I will. Now where is my daughter!” Blink gets right into Magda’s face.
Magda notices the tears forming in Blink’s eyes, it seems she isn’t lying.
“The white masks stand for freedom and justice! We would never stoop to harming children, you should know that!” Magda replies in defence.
Blink raises her hand to slap her, but Ulla calmly walks over and puts her hand on Blink’s shoulder.
“Please Blink. You haven’t slept in days, nor have you eaten anything or drank anything. Your running on sheer will power alone, if you want to be able to save your daughter, then I highly advice you have something to eat and try to calm down. Here I’ve got a bowl of noodles prepared for you with a bottle of water. Now I know it isn’t much. But please, eat something.” Ulla says.
“You’re not my captain, I don’t need to take orders from you.” Blink replies.
“Then let me talk to you as an ally. It would be in your best interest and your daughter’s best interest if you just sat down and had something to eat and drink.” Ulla calmly replied.
Blink wanted to cry, but she knew Ulla was right and even though it was just a simple bowl of noodles, they did smell good. So Blink politely nodded and sat back down on the table where she picked up some chopsticks and started eating. Ulla then turned her attention back to Magda.
“Your name is Magda Kermalo. It says here you used to be a clerk of the court in Heartfelt, until a run in with an infiltrator cost you….Well everything….You then joined the white masks and ultimately sort out to kill all infiltrators, but of course eventually you came across the nine sisters and well, the rest is history isn’t it. Why don’t you talk to me and tell me what’s going through your mind?” Ulla asks calmly.
“Where are my friends?” Magda quickly replies.
“They are all safe, they are all in the next room and I promise after we’ve had our talk, I’ll let you re-join them, but for now please answer the question.” Ulla replies.
“Infiltrators are a disease on this world. They attack other women, steal their clothing. Then they just leave them by the side of the road. Bound, gagged, helpless and left to a fate what could be worse than death.” Magda replies angrily.
“I wouldn’t do that do to you.” Blink says.
“LIAR!” Magda shouts.
“Okay, calm down, calm down.” Ulla raises her hands to keep the peace.
“Now this may come as a surprise to you, but I’ve had a run in with a couple of the sisters and let me tell you, the infiltrators who I met, were nothing like the ones you’ve just described.” Ulla states.
“Ha! We know all of Tina’s sisters by their name, so go on then, which one’s did you meet?” Magda laughs.
“Mag and Angel.” Ulla lifts up her mask to reveal her face. “Angel saved my life, I can never thank her enough, so please understand that if you’re trying to hurt her or her sisters, then I will be forced to stop you, because I will not allow you to hurt the one person who actually sees me for the person I want to be and NOT the person the world expects me to be.” Ulla frowns.
“No…..That’s……That’s impossible, the same thing happened to Willow…….But that just can’t be accurate, it can’t be. Infiltrators are the scum of the earth! A sickness that needs purging! Nobody helped me when……….WHEN……….” Magda went quiet.
“When what, come on. What aren’t you telling me?” Ulla replies softly.
“I was just out for a pleasant evening jog by myself……When I was attacked by that scumbag Helen Jacomy…….She hurt me, stole my jogging outfit and left me bound and gagged in my underwear right in the middle of the park.” Magda explains.
“Were you discovered by anyone?” Ulla asks.
“Oh I was discovered alright…..Someone discovered me and I guess the sight of a bound and gagged woman in her underwear was just too good of an opportunity for them to pass up……”
“Please. Tell me what happened?” However Ulla watches as Magda tightly squeezes her legs together as if she’s reliving that dreadful day and she’s trying to repel her attacker. “Oh……You were raped weren’t you.” Ulla sighs.
“I was so helpless…….I couldn’t fight my attacker off……I was gagged, so I couldn’t call for help!............I tried to scream, but nobody heard!” Magda starts to tear up as she just can’t hold it back anymore. Even Blink is now watching with feelings of empathy.
“I was engaged to a man…….I was going to get married……..We were planning on having a child together………But after that night……..I just LOST……All my strength………I ended the relationship because I just couldn’t even face my own fiancé anymore……..I couldn’t even look the man I loved in the eyes anymore.” Tears stream down Magda’s face.
“I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.” Blink puts down her now empty bowl.
“I WAS HAPPY!………Don’t you get it?!.............I was SO HAPPY……………..I just……….I just want my life back.” Magda breaks down into floods of tears.
These tears were a mixture of both pain and anger. Pain over the memories of what had happened to her that night and anger, over the fact that Helen had cost her every bit of happiness that she had in her life.
Ulla bends down to wipe the tears away from Magda’s eyes, but Magda just tilts her head away.
“That shouldn’t have happened to you. Nobody should ever have to go with what you went through. It’s disgusting, it’s vile and I’m so sorry it happened to you.” Ulla gently leans in to show Magda that she can support her, but Magda just shoves her body away so Ulla can’t touch her.
Blink bends down and tries to comfort Magda, but Magda just shuns her away.
“I didn’t do anything to your daughter, I really didn’t. I would never harm a child.” Magda cries angrily as tears continuously pour down her face.
“Ssshhh…..It’s okay, it’s okay. I know you didn’t. I just needed to be sure.” Ulla moves in slightly closer so she can look Magda in the eyes.
“Now I’m going to give you some truths and believe me the truth hurts. So you might not like what I have to say, but I need to say it………..What happened that night to you was a travesty and believe me, if I could go back in time, I’d grab that scumbag who sexually assaulted you before they even touched you, and I’d hurt them so much, that by the end of it, they’d be begging me to kill them………But do you want to know something else? Tina and her sisters would do the SAME for you too. You saw all the criminals they’ve put away, you’ve seen all the corrupt officials and police that they stopped…….You KNOW that they tried to save you, just like they did ME.” Ulla states.
Magda shakes her head and closes her eyes.
“The sisters themselves, view every life as precious and they wouldn’t even think of doing anything like what happened to you…..I’m not saying abandon your quest. I’m just saying, PLEASE. Aim it at those who truly deserve your anger.” Ulla calmly replies.
“Please…….Help me find my daughter. Every second I’m not with her is like a knife across my throat. I don’t care what happens to me, I just want to see her safe and sound again.” Blink pleads.
Magda looks Blink in the eyes and she can see the truth behind them. But Magda just bows her head in silence. Ulla then releases Magda’s ankle cuffs but keeps her handcuffs on.
“Go and be with your friends.” Ulla opens the door and Magda very weakly walks out. She hated revisiting that memory, but she also sees the fear for another human being in Blink’s eyes…….What was once anger and hatred was now despair and confusion.
Once she’s outside she sees the rest of the white masks being held in different rooms. She sees the crows all sitting around a table together whilst Izanagi watches her in case she tries anything foolish. But Magda just sits down at the table, before one of the crows offers her a bowl of soup. Although the handcuffs are staying on.
Ulla leaves the room and secretly wipes a tear away from her own eye when no one is looking. Ulla must always maintain a cold and distant persona, but she’s still human and hearing Magda’s grief over her happy life being destroyed by a selfish infiltrator, plucked at Ulla’s heartstrings a little bit.
Ulla gets ready to speak to Cassie next……..
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A Phantom who was guarding the main entrance to the tunnel, hasn’t heard anything from outpost Zeta in a while.
“Hey, this is Callie. Everything seems to be all nice and quiet over there, is everything alright?” The Phantom now known as Callie speaks down the radio.
Moment’s pass, but all she gets is static.
“Outpost zeta, do you copy?” Callie walks round to have a look at the outpost.
Callie is a standard Phantom soldier, which means she’s wearing white laced combat boots, white combat trousers, a white shirt, white combat jacket, a white ammunitions vest, covered with spare ammunition clips and other gadgets, she’s wearing white fingerless gloves, white knee pads and white elbow pads. She’s wearing a white full head helmet with green visors. An assault rifle is firmly locked in her grip.
“This is Callie reporting in to HQ, it seems outpost Zeta has gone dark and request immediate reinforcements to……..Bbbbbzzzzztttttt!” Callie is suddenly interrupted as she radios into command.
Knipperen snuck up behind Callie when she was busy radioing back to command. Knipperen has grabbed Callie’s own taser from one of her holsters and shoved it straight into Callie’s back, before switching it on.
Callie’s body spasms as the effects of the taser vibrates through her entire body, moments later she falls to her knees, before her upper body collapse to the floor, but her knees stay put, allowing her bum to go right up into the air and right into Knipperen’s field of view.
“Thanks for your offer sweetie, but I don’t date my prey.” Knipperen chuckles at seeing Callie’s bum pointing right at her.
Knipperen shoves Callie on her back and pulls of her helmet. Revealing a woman with white skin underneath. Callie also has long cinnamon brown hair tied in a low bun look, so her hair doesn’t get pulled when she puts her helmet on. Although her eyes are closed due to the fact she is unconscious, if she was to open her eyelids, it would be revealed that she has lapis blue eyes. Judging by her appearance, Knipperen has a quick guess that Callie is in her late twenties.
“Callie, we didn’t get all that, please repeat your last, over.” A female voice speaks through the radio.
“This is Callie here, sorry about that, it seems that outpost zeta has just radioed in after all, they had a bad transmitter from there side.” Knipperen says quickly putting on Callie’s helmet.
“Are you sure, please confirm.” The female voice replies over the radio.
“Copy that command, I’m looking at the outpost now and I assure you, everyone is accounted for, over.” Knipperen bluffs.
“Solid copy, over and out.” The female on the other end, cuts the transmission.
Knipperen takes off the helmet and looks at Callie’s unconscious body.
“Well then honey, now that your friends won’t be coming to bother us. Why don’t you and I go behind these rocks together, where we can get a bit more acquainted eh.” Knipperen says as she grabs Callie by her ankles.
Knipperen drags Callie around a cluster of boulders that are situated close by, behind the rocks there also seems to be a duffle bag filled with items an infiltrator like Knipperen would need. She then gets to work and starts stripping Callie for the rest of her uniform. Once Knipperen has fully stripped Callie of her clothing, it is revealed underneath that Callie is wearing a pair of porcelain white panties and a pebble grey cage bra.
“Ppfftt, a bit desperate, are we?” Knipperen says after seeing Callie’s underwear.
Knipperen grabs a role of her modified tape and gets to work in securing Callie. Knipperen ties up Callie’s, wrists and arms before she wraps multiple layers of tape around Callie’s chest and stomach, making sure she secures her arms to her sides in the process, she then wraps more tape around Callie’s ankles, thigh and calves before she finally puts one more layer of tape across her mouth as a gag.
With Callie secured and out of the way, Knipperen puts on Callie’s uniform, including her helmet once again. Yet once Knipperen had gotten changed. Callie was waking up and starting to realize what was happening.
“Un….Un…..Hhhuuhhh……..Heeellmmmhh……..HHHEEELMMMPPHH!” Callie shouts through her gag and wriggles around on the floor.
“Now, now, hush your noise. You should be happy, because you might not know this, but there are currently zero records of anyone stealing a Phantoms uniform. Which means not only are you the first Phantom in recorded history to be stripped, but what makes this even better is that you were stripped by ME! A sheer Apex predator, who’s second to none!” Knipperen gloats.
But as Knipperen gloats, Callie is using her feet and she’s squeezing a sharp rock in-between her toes to try and cut the bonds, but unfortunately for Callie, Knipperen saw her.
“Oh, so your one of the smart one’s who thinks they can use their toes to cut their bonds are you? Well, we can’t be having THAT now, can we.” Knipperen tuts to herself as she reaches into her bag.
She pulls out a thin ball of string before she bends down and holds Callie’s feet together. She then bites of a large piece of string before she holds Callie’s two big toes together, where she quickly ties them together using the said string. Callie now can’t even use her feet to try and escape.
“Much better.” Knipperen says with delight as Callie rolls around on the floor mumbling and swearing at Knipperen under her gag.
Knipperen finishes adjusting Callie’s uniform before she steps out behind the rocks.
“Thanks for the clothes sweetie and I said, you should be happy. We’re making history today!” Knipperen gloats once more as she walks around leaving Callie humiliated and defeated.
Knipperen walks round and takes Callie’s place by the main entrance.
“With that Ulla woman here, things have just gotten bad to worse. Hhhmmm, I need to radio Tina and her sisters, they’ll come running as soon as they find out Blink’s in trouble. Hold on sister dearest, I’ve got everything under control.” Knipperen says as she starts fiddling with her radio.
It might take her a few minutes to make sure that the Phantoms aren’t listening in, but she’ll find away to get a private communication line open which will link directly to Tinker’s computer.
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Cassie hasn’t stopped shaking. She’s looks on in fear and sweat as Ulla enters the room alongside Blink, before they close the door.
“So, you are Cassie Williams. A former nurse working for Heartfelt’s general hospital. It says here you had run in with Mary Clyde as well as a janitress, but it seems you were the lucky one as Mary killed the unfortunate janitress. It says here that you are quite meek and it seems you have a trouble imposing yourself and….” Ulla stops as she sees Cassie absolutely shaking with fear. Ulla sighs deeply.
“Okay, you’re not going to cause me any trouble are you. Here you go.” Ulla walks up and unlocks Cassie’s ankle cuffs and her handcuffs; Ulla can see that Cassie won’t be any trouble at all.
“Please, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt my friends. I’m sorry, I never even wanted to join the Phantoms. I don’t WANT to kill anyone, I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m a nurse, which means I took an oath to SAVE lives. Not take them!” Cassie points out.
“I know you did, and I also know that your not a threat to anyone here. Because whilst you were in jail. I saw what happened.” Ulla remarks.
“Saw what?” Cassie asks confused.
“My crows and I, saw you leave with Tina and some of her sisters……Including Angel……..Then when you returned, I don’t know. You just seemed……Not happy, but….CONTENT……As if a big weight had just been lifted of your shoulders. Would you mind telling me about it?” Ulla asks.
“Yes, yes! Marie, Tina, Angel and even Mag. They helped me takedown Mary Clyde. But that’s not all, they actually SAVED a woman’s life. For you see, Mary shot a woman as she was trying to escape, and Marie saved her. She removed the bullet and patched her up perfectly.” Cassie explains.
“Wait. Then I’m confused. Why do you hate Tina and her sisters? It just sounds to me like their going around saving lives and putting bad people behind bars, so why do you hate them?” Ulla is genuinely confused.
“I don’t.” Cassie says softly under her breath.
“Okay, then what about the others? Do they share your view?” Ulla wonders.
“Maybe……I don’t know. I hope so, because I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. Please understand, that I will NEVER agree with Tina and her sisters methods of getting things done…….BUT…….I also know that they’d never hurt any of their victims, that they always make sure that the women their mugging are safe and comfortable………Now this does NOT excuse their methods at all, but at least I know that the women their mugging, are at least in safe hands and the nine sisters will always make sure they are discovered.” Cassie admits.
“Thank you for being honest with me. I hope this next question doesn’t give you any stress, but I need to know the truth.” Ulla states.
“Of course, I’ll try and help.” Cassie says seemingly a little more relaxed now.
Ulla steps to one side and allows Blink to approach.
“Please be honest with me. Did you or any of the other white masks have a hand in abducting my daughter?” Blink asks.
Cassie’s eyes widen. “Your daughter? Oh god no, that’s horrible. We only just got recruited less than twenty four hours ago, we’ve been here ever since. Please don’t think that any of us had a hand in that, we would NEVER do anything like that. That’s a line you do not cross.” Cassie has a lot on sincerity in her voice as she says this.
“Then please help me, I beg of you. I need to know, did any of the other Phantoms speak about my daughter? Her name is Shannon and she means the world to me. Please, as a nurse. You must remember seeing all the faces of all those mothers when they held their new-born babies in their arms for the first time.” Blink says softly.
“Of course, I do, it always brings such a warm feeling in my heart.” Cassie replies.
“Then you know I’m telling the truth that I love my daughter more than anything in this world. In fact, Shannon IS my world and I just want to find her, please say you know something, anything, I beg you!” Blink pleads.
“There was one here who had a bird shaped helmet, she said of how she managed to liberate a child from becoming a future infiltrator. But that’s all I know, I swear!” Cassie speaks truthfully.
“One with a bird shaped helmet? Damn it, that doesn’t ring any bells.” Blink punches the wall in annoyance.
“Don’t worry, it’s a good start, we now know what the Phantom who took her looks like, so I’ll take that over nothing.” Ulla places her hand on Blink’s shoulder.
“Please, can I go. I’m not a monster, I don’t even want to be here, I just want to see my friends and try and forget about all of this.” Cassie pleads.
“I know your not a monster, but by the sounds of it. Tina and her sisters aren’t monsters either.” Ulla points out.
“No……I know they’re not…..Originally, the idea of getting revenge was such a sweet fantasy for me, but when push came to shove and I saw the fear in Angel’s eyes…..Not for her own safety, but for her sister’s own safety……..I KNEW, that I had made a big mistake…….Yes there are monsters out there. But Tina and her sisters are not like them…..Especially Angel.” Cassie sighs.
“Angel saved my life once too you know, so I know exactly what sort of loving and kind-hearted person Angel is. So I know exactly where you’re coming from.” Ulla admits.
“Are you looking for them or something?” Cassie quizzes.
“Kind of. I’m looking for them for a few reasons. Firstly, because I genuinely want to protect them as I fear that the Phantoms are not the only ones who are hunting them. Secondly, I never got a chance to thank Angel for saving my life, so I wish to thank her in person and finally. I think I might actually need their help.” Ulla admits.
“Wait, who else is trying to hunt them?” Blink wonders.
“This Anna woman who I’m working for. I don’t know, I just get the feeling like as she’s shaking your hand with her right hand. Her left hand is concealing a dagger, just waiting to stab you in the back.” Ulla riddles.
Blink and Ulla look at Cassie.
“Magda is sitting outside. Look, I haven’t released the others yet, but I can tell that both yourself and Magda aren’t a threat. So please join your friend outside.” Ulla opens the door for Cassie.
Cassie walks out and sees her friend finishing her bowl of soup. Cassie immediately goes over and sits next to her.
“Hi!” Cassie says, thankful to see her friend safe.
“Hey. Are you okay?” Magda replies.
“Yeah, I’m fine…….Hey, do you uumm……Do you ever think that we may have been wrong about Tina and her sisters?” Cassie says testing the waters.
“I’m…….I’m not sure…….I mean…….Uuummmm…….*sighs*…….I just……..I don’t know.” Magda finds it hard to explain.
Izanagi appears behind Cassie.
“Here, I can see you shaking like a leaf, this might calm you down.” Izanagi places a large mug of camomile tea in front of Cassie and walks away.
Cassie looks around and watches as the four gothic women adjust their rifles and check their ammunition belts, she then watches as Izanagi sits back on a chair and keeps a watchful eye over on Magda and herself.
Moments later, Blink and Ulla leave the room Cassie was in and approach the next door. Ulla wanted to speak to Willow next……
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