03

North Arctic

The

lithe form of Samantha Reeds falls to the floor of the large cylindrical chamber she is in. The chamber stretches from the floor to ceiling with many tubes and wires of various sizes slithering away from it into multiple places throughout the room.

Typheryian stands in front of the chamber watching the young

Djinn's

naked form laying curled in a ball at the floor. He has a smile spread across his face.

Did it work?

"Yes my lord," a technician studying a set of computer screens says after a moment. "The subject has drawn the sufficient power from Merope."

How are her stats?

"She is in excellent condition. Actually better than we initially thought."

Excellent.

"Shall I have Natalya and her group eliminate Merope?" another man asks from behind the

Asura

.

No. Let Merope have a little fun for her sacrifice.

"Very well sir."

And get our young subject to her quarters. I want her well rested before the next summoning.

——

Merope

stands in the center of the stone circle wearing a dress-like cloth that covers one breast that hangs from a piece of jewelry which wraps around the back of her neck. The dress wraps across her body and covers the opposite hip and runs the length down her left leg.

Her opposite breast is covered with a similar piece of swirling jewelry. Her lower legs and arms have equal type of material lacing around them exposing much of her skin. Her skin takes on a dark tone that shimmers in the light.

A wicked grin spreads across her face showing of pearl white teeth beneath a perfect set of lips that would make even Angelina Jolie jealous.

She looks around, spinning in a circle taking in all the sights before her. The land is full of luscious green fields. The helicopter she blasted with a wave of energy lays crumpled in a smoldering ruin.

This planet is too beautiful to leave it that way. She closes her eyes trying to sense a heavily populated area. It takes a few minutes to find a large conglomeration of people which has her perplexed briefly. It causes a frown to form on her face, but she quickly dismisses it. Her quarry is pegged.

——

London

Julie

has a private jet outfitted with the best in technology the

Black List

had available. Midway to their destination they received word that London had fallen under attack by some kind of strange creature. The military were called in shortly after it became apparent the police weren't up to the task of stopping it.

They had the pilot change course but London wasn't allowing anyone to land. When they were told to turn back, Julie had other intentions. Giving orders to the crew to bail out, she took control of the small plane and flew it straight into the newly created

no fly zone

. It didn't take long for the military to shoot first, warn later and both Julie and Spencer found themselves parachuting into hostile territory.

Their landing didn't go without attracting attention. They landed five miles out from where Merope was the center of the city's attention. They were met by a British fireteam.

Their hands go instantly to the sky while the duffel bag Julie carries drops to the ground. The fireteam effectively has them covered with two in the front and two behind.

"Hi there," Julie says smiling. "Guess you're going to tell us we don't need to be here."

The Lance-Sergeant doesn't break a smile or stride. "On the ground or we won't hesitate to shoot."

"Alright, alright," Julie says still smiling. She starts to drop down followed by Spencer. As her knee touches the ground her right hand comes down in front letting a knife fly from it. Her left hand follows suit toward the second soldier. Both knives land in the chests of both, dropping them dead before their bodies hit the ground.

Spencer gets the drop on the remaining two before they have time to react. His first strike lands with an elbow to the throat of the closet followed by a spin kick to the second. Before Spencer can turn to regard the first Julie fires a round into his head then a burst of three on the second as he attempts to pick himself up off the ground.

"I hope you have some diplomatic connections to get us out of this mess," Spencer says once they discard their parachutes and hide the bodies.

"It's going to take more than diplomatics to get us out of this mess."

Julie kneels before the duffel bag and starts rummaging through it. She pulls out a belt with two holsters on either side along with the remaining

.40mm S&W

pistol. "I know this is your weapon of choice," she says tossing Spencer a

M4 Carbine.

It is indeed his favorite gun. The last thing she pulls from the bag is a sword that closely resembles the one Sam once had that now hung on the wall of their apartment. "

Kogarasu Maru

," she says.

Seeing the sword tugs at him. He'd tries to keep his feeling s for Sam close to the vest. He hasn't yet gotten close to being over her death only to find out she is alive. But she is something more. Something they spent the last few years fighting.

A demon.

"It's too bad you left

Kotetsu

behind," Julie remarks, bringing Spencer back to the present. "Hey, you with me?"

"Yeah," he says shaking his head. "I'm more of a gun guy myself."

"Well stealth is going to be something we need." She throws him a silencer and produces two for her pistols.

"We only need to slip by the Brits right?"

"Collateral damage Reeds," she answers with a shrug. "As much as it'd be nice to keep them alive, they're going to shoot first, ask questions later."

"Hence the diplomatics not helping," he says almost in a mumble.

"You got a problem with that, Reeds then you're more than welcome to march up to the commander and ask for him to get out of the way." Her tone sends ice through his veins. No, he didn't like it, but the lives of innocent people are at stake.

"Let's try not to make too many unnecessary deaths shall we?"

Julie's only response comes in the form of a shrug. Then she slips her sword around her back and takes off for an alley.

——

Spencer

and Julie speed from alley to alley managing to avoid the British soldiers by sticking to the shadows. Julie holds the lead leaving Spencer almost behind. Ahead stands two soldiers, fully armored and loaded, guarding the outer perimeter. Julie glances over her left shoulder and in a high whisper tells Spencer she has the situation under control.

She breaks off into a run, drawing both pistols out. Her footfalls echo down the alley drawing the soldier's attention. They raise their rifles, taking aim. Julie who is running a straight line suddenly veers to the right and leaps to the wall. Her feet carry her across the length of the wall in a run. If the soldiers are surprised they don't show it. The rifles come up following Julie. Both her pistols come to life, firing one shot each and nailing both men in the center of their forehead.

Both of the soldier's heads whip back, followed by their bodies. Julie comes off the wall holstering both pistols as she lands. The entire scene takes just a couple seconds. Spencer is just shaking off the awe when another soldier whips around the corner, his rifle coming to bear on Julie.

Spencer starts to bring his own up when Julie drops into a low crouch and whips out

Kogarasu Maru

. In a flash she swings it out in an arc ending subtly back in the sheath. The soldier stops and blurts a cough before his upper body splits from his bottom and falls with a splat.

Julie stands up and smiles at Spencer. "You need to pick up the pace."

"I'll work on it."

Julie jumps to her feet and once again takes the lead following the alley out into Belgrave Square. Built in the 19th century, it is one of London's grandest and largest squares. Here an entire squad sits behind statues and whatever cover they could find.

Upon taking in the scene of the bodies strewn around, Spencer guesses this is one of several squads or what is left of a platoon. In the center of the square Merope stands. She throws out energy blasts while seemingly stopping bullets in midair then using some unseen force causes them to explode.

Spencer looks over to Julie just as she is pulling out her pistols. She locks eyes with him and winks. "Let's dance." She leaps straight into the fray. Her first two bullets find the backs of two soldier's heads as they are hiding behind the edge of a statue. Their heads explode scattering brain matter and blood all over the statue and ground.

A group of three turn in response to the attack from the flank. Spencer is the faster and opens up on them mowing them down in a haze of gun fire.

A bullet tears past Spencer. He catches sight of Julie with the barrel of her pistol pointed in his direction then he spins around to see a soldier grabbing the side of his throat as he falls to the ground. Blood spurts through his fingers and Spencer knows it will only be minutes before the man loses consciousness.

Julie satisfied with herself is about to continue with the foray when an arm wraps around her throat followed by the point of a knife. "Hold bloody still bitch or find your throat cut." The man's voice comes across with anger and authority. "Now drop them."

She does as he insists then balls her hands into fists. She feels his hot breath across her neck and his hesitation. She uses that moment of uncertainty and rams her elbow into his gut. The impact causes the man to exhale forcibly and loosen his grip around her neck. She grabs his arm and throws her hip into his and with a quick thrust, the soldier flips through the air and onto his back. Julie is already coming down with

Kogarasu Maru

into the man's chest before his brain has time to register what had just happened.

Spencer doesn't see Julie in trouble. He is busy putting a three shot burst into the chest of another of the soldiers. Just as soon as the guy drops, he feels a sting in his leg. Looking down he sees his pant leg slowly turning to a deep crimson red. "Fuck!" he says to himself as he dives for cover. The spot he was just standing at is filled with bullets just seconds after.

He peers around the column he took cover behind seeing three soldiers in all. Two are firing upon Merope and the third at him. A flash of light explodes where the soldiers stand. The light is so intense Spencer has to bring his arm up over his eyes to block it out. When the flash settles, all three soldiers lay in pieces as if they were violently ripped to pieces.

Spencer feels something brush against him and working on instinct his hand pulls his knife out and around. His strike is stopped short by a forearm blocking his elbow. He turns to look; ready to counter the block when he realizes it is Julie.

"You're shot," is the only thing she has to say.

"It's only a graze," he says with a grimace. "What are we looking at?"

"Five soldiers across the way."

"Alright."

The soldiers concentrate their fire between Merope and the column Spencer and Julie sit behind. Merope continues to dissipate the bullets and is now throwing energy blasts at them. It is only now that Spencer really sees the amount of damage the demon did. The buildings surrounding the square were blasted with large chunks of building material missing or long stretches of scorch marks alongside the walls.

And the soldiers....

The square is littered with bodies. They hang over railings or under the missing pieces of building material. Many are in pieces, missing a limb or two or just completely ripped in two or more pieces.

"I've got the soldiers," he says savagely. "You take that bitch out!"

He slips around the column targeting the first three he sees and pulls the trigger three times in succession. All three men fall back as if hit by a brick. Then he slips back behind cover leaving the remaining two men stunned.

"Now!" he yells at Julie.

With

Kogarasu Maru

she leaps onto the top of the column using it as a stepping stone, gaining more air. The remaining two soldiers decide to take the distraction she is providing to eliminate both their targets.

Spencer is ready himself and as soon as both men provide their heads as targets he fires. Both drop like stones giving him enough time to see the expression on Merope's face at the shock of Julie passing through her barrier.

Kogarasu Maru

slides through Merope's chest from a high angle exiting out her lower back. The force of the impact from Julie sends them flying back into the base of the statue of Simón Bolivar.

"Welcome to Earth bitch," Julie says with as much malice just before the light fades from Merope's eyes.

Seconds after the light escapes, Merope's body turns to ash and falls apart and spread by a burst of wind. Spencer steps out from behind the column as Julie gets to her feet and pull free her sword.

"We better get out of here before someone starts asking questions," he says.

"I couldn't agree more."

——

My

lord," the computer technician says. "Merope's life signs have disappeared."

Interesting.

He says stroking his chin.

Do we know who is responsible?

"Negative."

Find out.

He orders.

I want to know if it's whoever has been attacking our transports and ready Natalia for the next summoning.