Three years' worth of reminiscing passed by in fragmentary flashes as I walked through the rainy streets of Evo City. My clothes were soaked in blood and water, save some scorch marks. I desperately needed to wash up after the events of that evening. Lucky for me, Lockhart provided me with funding to live outside of the Cocoon. I owned a small run-down apartment in the cheaper parts of the Residential District. I figured it would be best to distance myself from the rest of the Demons to hunt Nina on my own. But, after the events of that night, I was beginning to doubt that my actions were as effective as I thought.

The last few moments of my trek home were blessed by clear skies. The bright blue moon cast its gaze down on the path before me. I thought it might have been a sign of things to come. That luminous rock cast rays of optimism down on me as I walked. When I entered my apartment, I was met with Terra's enraged eyes of ruby. Suddenly that optimism vanished without a trace.

"You know why I'm here, right?" Terra asked with a firm tone.

"Yeah."

I let a defeated sigh escape my lips as I sat down at the table.

"You shouldn't have killed those cops. That draws attention to us and now Lockhart is pissed."

"I needed to get Nina's attention. Besides, Nina would have killed them all regardless of my involvement. Even if they did figure out there was a second killer, there is only enough evidence to trace back to me. That’s why I left the Cocoon in the first place, to keep the rest of you safe."

Terra seemed to avert her eyes when I said that. She wasn’t the biggest supporter of me going out on my own. I wasn’t sure why, but she always had a strong bond to me ever since we met. Three years later and that bond had never been stronger. Leaving the Cocoon was definitely a choice that Terra didn’t exactly approve of, but it was a necessary decision. At least, that's how I saw it.

"But if they discover both of you they will have all the more reason to assume you two aren't the only people with superpowers in this city," Terra noted, snapping me out of my thoughts.

She wasn’t wrong. The Demon Project valued secrecy to an impossibly high regard. If I were to get too reckless it could cause repercussions further down the line. I finally let out a defeated sigh as I lowered my head in apology. It was never wise to get into an argument with her. Even though Terra could be brash at times, she always valued responsibility.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Terra stood up from the table and headed toward the kitchen, which was built right into the dining room. While Terra began to peruse through the cabinets and pantries, I sat down at the kitchen’s bar.

"Anything else to report?" Terra asked as she switched on the stove and began buttering up a frying pan.

"Nothing concrete, but I have a working theory."

"I'm listening."

Just as she spoke I began to hear the sizzle of beef against the slick cast iron. The crackle of boiling oil filled my ears and helped me to relax. Lately, Terra had taken to cooking for me whenever she got the chance. It was a rather strange occurrence at first, but it became something I looked forward to every time she was around.

"You ever notice how quiet Nina has been lately? She hasn't done anything high profile in three whole years. All of her recent attacks have been small, or even single targets," I said as I continued my report.

"What are you suggesting?"

"Three years and no explosions. No massacres. Nothing out of the ordinary. That doesn’t seem strange to you?"

Terra sighed as she turned to face me while letting her beef patties simmer.

"I won’t lie, I prefer this peace. But, you do have a point. Things could get heated at any moment."

"We’ll just need to be on our guard."

*****

It was another rainy night. Ten whole days went by in a blur with nothing new making them memorable. The same old dance between me and Nina repeated, with neither of us getting anywhere. We remained deadlocked in a pointless struggle as the very reasons we had to fight slowly eroded away. However, while I remained in a war of stagnancy, Genesis was about to open the doors to a whole new world of hardships for all of us.

A VTOL carrier soared over the coastal waters of the Big Apple. The lights of the city refracted off the water in gelatinous orbs of light. The percussive hum of the aircraft’s propellers echoed throughout the quiet waters. Aboard the vehicle, eight soldiers were strapped into their seats. Their bodies were shielded by glossy black armor that looked almost too high tech to be modern military hardware. A badge of a sword overlapping a white circle with a red band was displayed on their shoulders with pride. Within the red ring read the words EXCALIBUR PROGRAM. These were Lockhart’s personal soldiers, the Excaliburs. The ones who would put us Demons down if we ever got out of hand, at least that's what Terra told me. I didn't have a single idea of the greater purpose they served.

As the carrier made its way closer to the shores of New York City, the leader of this small squadron faced his men. The man that Lockhart put in charge of the strike was none other than Genesis. It seemed the trust between those two was deeper than one could imagine. Genesis gripped his sheathed claymore firmly before finally briefing his men on the task ahead of them.

"We picked up an abnormal spike in FST readings. The spike in question occurred in New York City. On normal circumstances, we would stay out of this and let the boys in black at CAPRA handle this. However, the spike in question is higher than all the others that came before it. We have reason to suspect we are up against a new type of anomaly. Our mission is to find it and kill it before it can cause any irreversible damage."

As the briefing came to a close, the soldiers reached for their weapons. They had but precious moments to check their equipment before disembarking. Each Excalibur was armed with an HK-417 assault rifle, a USP as a sidearm, and a small assortment of ordinances and medical supplies. Only a few seconds after checking their weapons did the Excaliburs disembark from the VTOL and onto the moonlit shores of Brighton. Genesis brought his squad to a large sewer grate hanging over the sandy beachfront. Under the cover of night, the party slipped into the rotting entrance to the underbelly of New York. Genesis revealed a small, tablet-like device from his coat that began to let out a pitched whine as he scanned the area.

"Let’s make this one quick," Genesis ordered as his soldiers moved in formation through the filthy deep of New York's sewers.

*****

While the Excaliburs had landed in Brighton, the Agents of CAPRA were already well aware of the anomaly’s existence. In New York’s Federal Plaza resided the command center for CAPRA. All personnel were hard at work prepping for an inevitable strike against one of the strongest anomalies in recent years.

"Alright people! Look alive! We got a category three event in progress. I want two teams ready to do a sweep. Alpha Team will be with Agent Jackal, Bravo Team with me! Let's move people, let's move!"

The voice of Agent Wolf overpowered all other sounds in the command center. Lackeys in suits shuffled about the place in a frenzy. Some Agents headed down to the armory, while those in logistics worked to track down the exact location of the anomaly. As the Agents of CAPRA hustled through the command center, Wolf found himself catching up to Agent Jackal.

Jackal was much younger than most of the Agents. In fact he was barely out of his twenties, while Wolf had since breached the wall of forty. He was a fairly pale and clammy young man, to the point of looking almost sickly. Black veins were clearly visible from a distance as they circulated blood through his lanky figure. His soft hair was an almost abyssal shade of onyx and draped down his sides and between his eyes. His soft, thin locks were perfectly straight and clean with the odd split ends here and there. Below his sharp bangs, were far too revealing eyes. Those pained optics were bloodshot with ichorous yellow irises. Redness spread underneath those ill-looking eyes like a sort of rash. By all standards, Jackal looked like a man that should never be seen outside of a hospital bed. Something truly terrible had plagued the Agent, but he seemed to be functioning normally despite enduring such horrifying pestilence.

Jackal wore the typical garb of any Agent of CAPRA. One could see the typical black pants and shoes seen on most Agents. However, instead of a suit jacket, Jackal wore a black shawl that covered his entire torso. Some mystery was shrouded by that shawl. What was beneath that simple cloth? Occasionally an onlooker imagined they could spot the semblance of Jackal’s diseased torso. But even more curious than the shroud were the leather gloves on Jackal’s hands. What exactly happened to Jackal to make him hide his body? It was a mystery few knew the answer to. Wolf patted Jackal on the back as he approached and spoke to him.

"You sure you are fit for duty, Jack?"

"Wolf, I’m cleared. Don’t worry about it."

"But are you able to use it?"

"Yeah. I know how to use it."

Wolf nodded to himself and placed a hand upon Jackal’s shoulder. If Jackal was confident in his abilities, then Wolf had no place to doubt him. Perhaps Wolf’s seniority brought upon him some semblance of kinship. It was as if he saw himself as a mentor, or in some cases, a father figure for Jackal.

"Good luck out there," Wolf finally said with a nod.

"You too."

*****

Genesis and his team slowly trudged through the sewers. The wet drip of dank water on damp metal and stone resonated throughout the cylindrical tomb beneath New York. The smell of impurity wafted through the air and mixed with other foul odors, concocting a noxious gas that Genesis and his men could barely tolerate. The ping of the tracker continued at a steady rhythm as the soldiers proceeded with caution. It was only soon after they breached the fifth intersection of those lengthy corridors that the consistent pinging began to pick up its pace. The sound of the tracker continued to increase in frequency until a single whining drone echoed throughout the muck ridden tunnels. The men felt tense as the high pitched note of the tracking device was ingrained into their ears. Within seconds, a black blur rushed past the eyes of the squadron. One soldier immediately fired a burst of rounds from his rifle. Genesis quickly pushed the panicked soldier’s gun away from the presumed target. Genesis could see several bullet holes leaking smoke from the slick stone wall. He immediately set off at a run and the squad followed suit. They turned right, down another corridor, but ultimately the tracker did not spike. Whatever that rush of shadow was, it was long gone, but Genesis refused to let it evade his sight. The swordsman turned to the Excalibur who fired his gun and approached him.

"Did you hit it?"

"Possibly, sir."

Genesis nodded and began to examine the walkway in which they spotted the hasty black specter. Sure enough, the tracker began to spike. It pinged rapidly and echoed throughout the old tunnels as Genesis examined the ground at his feet.

"I need a light here!" Genesis shouted.

Immediately a soldier shined his flashlight on the ground where Genesis was crouched. Beneath their feet was a black stain, presumably a blood stain. A splatter of black ooze tinted the stone walkway in ways that did not conform to the traditional laws of liquid matter. The bizarre liquid contaminated the ground in strange cubic patterns. The edges of the puddle of blood formed the illusion of perfect squares constructing that eldritch smear of liquid life. Genesis dipped his finger into the chemical and watched as a strand of black blood dragged itself from the puddle on his finger. Even that dangling strand reshaped and contorted itself to look angular and square like. Small cubes began to form from droplets of the black ooze hanging off of that single thread. Genesis was baffled by the laws of logic in which the blood operated within. The physics were all wrong. That strange blood did not belong in this world. Genesis looked at the soldier shining his light on the ground as he came to his conclusion.

"Take point. Follow the trail."

The soldier nodded and the squad moved through the sewers once more. The trail of black blood took them on a winding journey through the old caverns. Before long, the Excaliburs found themselves entering into a much larger underground chamber. A vast room lined by brick rafters stretched before the soldiers as they retreated from the sewers. The squad quickly filed into the mysterious and ancient tunnel systems of New York. As the Excaliburs continued to follow the trail of blood, a single voice began to reach their ears. The tracker’s ping was becoming more and more rapid. A voice of sorrow and woe continued to linger on empty space. Young feminine cries began to echo throughout the chamber as the soldiers entered one by one. Genesis moved deeper into the corridor with his troops taking formation behind him. The tracker continued to increase in frequency, the target was quite close. The Excaliburs checked all corners as Genesis walked forward. Soon the figure came into view. Genesis ordered a full stop and his squad froze in place. Before Genesis’ eyes was a young girl, dirty and ragged. Her frail body was wrapped in tattered clothes that turned grey from caked layers of dirt. Black cubic blood poured from a gunshot wound that the girl did her best to keep contained. Childish whimpers and sobs echoed throughout the halls as the girl struggled to cope with her wound. Genesis approached the girl and unsheathed his claymore. He looked down with indifference as the point of his sword was aimed directly between the young girl’s eyes.

"Forgive me," Genesis muttered as he brought his sword back ready to cleave into the girl’s skull.

Just as the blade was about to split the head of the suffering little girl, the spry child sprang up and let out an unimaginable shriek. Genesis was thrown back by the sheer force of the child’s cries. As the child screamed, her veins began to bulge and burst slowly through her skin. Cracks appeared on the surface of her face as blood began to leak in angular pathways down her soft cheeks. Her whole head and body began to contort and seize violently. The cracking and creaking of bones echoed in tandem with the girl’s inhuman shrieks and wails. Inky blood began to fall from her mouth like the waterfalls of hell itself. Black tendrils began to wriggle their way from the girl’s mouth. Her shrieking turned to blood-filled gargling as tentacles clogged her throat. Eldritch appendages sprung forth from the girl’s choked maw. Their razor-sharp points began to pierce and jab at the already tearing flesh of the girl’s face. The tendrils assisted in peeling, crushing, slashing, and twisting away any semblance of a human visage. The bloody cracks began to widen into full symmetrical gashes. Blood poured from her eyes like demonic tears before the eyes themselves fell from the skull in cubic chunks of raw human meat. The sound of her skull breaking apart and tearing into dust haunted the Excaliburs’ ears. The men watched in horror as the neck of an innocent girl twisted and contorted while cubes of cranial flesh and organs shattered onto the floor. Lacerations appeared on the ravaged neck of the child as the tendrils continued to rip away at the only coil to their fleshy prison. Cubic blood patterns painted the ground as the young girl’s transformation was complete. A forest of black tendrils poured forth from the gaping stump that was the girl’s small neck. They were like creepers in a jungle. Within that girl’s body was a horror intangible to man. Something not of this world. An abomination that’s very existence baffled any and all human understanding of reality and existence itself.

"Fire! Fire!" Genesis shouted as he charged in with his sword gripped tight.

His head began to pulse and throb like it was being squeezed by a vice. Genesis closed the distance between himself and the creature. He swung at the abomination only for his blade to be caught by a tendril wrapping around it. Two Excaliburs fired upon the stray tentacle forcing the beast to loosen its grip. Genesis took the opportunity to sever the tentacle from its host. The creature shrilled and reeled in pain as onyx blood splattered on the ground. Genesis wiped the blood from his blade and steeled himself as the parasitic monster prepared to strike. Just as it lunged its appendages at Genesis, he dodged out of the way and dashed forward hoping to catch the beast off guard. A stray tendril swiped at his legs, forcing Genesis to dodge back. Genesis clenched his teeth and barked orders at his troops as they formed up behind him.

"Get smoke on that thing, circle around it and converge!"

An Excalibur immediately tossed a smoke grenade at the foot of the creature. In seconds a cloud of smoke filled the area and shielded Genesis and his men from view. The Excaliburs opened fire again. Bullets riddled the body of the creature and brought it to the ground. It violently shook and seized as hot lead punctured its body. Unearthly shrieks and howls echoed from its hidden maw as the monstrosity seized and lurched about on the ground. Genesis watched as his men closed in on the creature. One Excalibur placed his boot heel on the chest of the monster and prepared to execute it. Just as the soldier was about to end the suffering of the poor girl whose body had been lost, a plethora of black, oozing tendrils surged forth. The girl’s chest erupted in a violent explosion of cosmic appendages that entangled the unfortunate Excalibur. His muffled screams ripped through the smoke-filled corridors in a horrifying chorus of unfathomable pain. His arms and legs were ripped from their sockets, his chest was pierced over and over until his entrails began to drape onto the monster’s body and the floor beneath. Crimson life began to blend with the black poison of the parasitic horror. The Excalibur’s helmet was punctured by several tentacles as the head was removed from the solitary torso before being shattered like a vase. Genesis gripped his blade tight as he warded off the anxiety brought on by the very presence of that terrifying creature. The Excaliburs had fallen back to cover while Genesis dashed forward in the blink of an eye. One after another, tentacles dropped to the ground in bloody heaps as Genesis cleaved them from their master. Before long, the creature swiped at Genesis and sent him flying backward into a pillar. Genesis hit the brick structure hard and struggled to his feet, while the creature began to support itself off the ground by its chest tendrils. This monster was much tougher than anticipated.

As bullets pierced and tore through the skin of the great beast, Genesis focused his energy. He summoned forth his Mind Gate and called Swan and Serpent to his hands. Genesis dashed at his foe and began to rip and tear at the host body. Every wound caused another flood of black tendrils to emerge in a tempest of old terrors. Genesis blocked and parried as many of the appendages that came at him, while he completely severed others that came too close. The beast’s many flailing limbs were like the heads of a Hydra. For every limb that was cut down, more would grow in its place. Genesis continued to cleave and cut at the monster while dodging its strikes, but, no matter how many tentacles were cut off, no matter how many bullets penetrated the being’s flesh, it did not die. Genesis was running out of options as he continued to rip away at his foe. One wrong step against this unpredictable enemy was all it took for Genesis to be swiped away.

Genesis felt the full brunt of the beast’s tentacle hit him in the gut like the trunk of a mighty oak. The wind escaped Genesis’ lungs as he was sent flying deep into the chamber. As he hit the ground he slowly began to black out. Soldiers scrambled for their lives as their commander was fading in and out of consciousness. One by one, the men were mutilated and destroyed. Organs were pulled straight from their bony containers. Limbs were broken and removed. Heads were crushed and uprooted with their spines. That underground corridor turned into a gallery of gore. It was as if Hell itself had opened its doors and unleashed its unrelenting fury on those poor men. However, fate was kind enough to lend Genesis the upper hand. Just as Genesis was losing himself, he saw a familiar face.

"Get up, the monster I know has seen far worse."

Genesis’ hazy eyes were greeted by Agent Wolf of CAPRA looking down at him. He felt foreign hands padding down his body. He could see a medic pull out what looked to be a syringe-like device. Genesis hastily refused the medical apparatus as his regeneration began to kick in. Genesis watched as Wolf and another Agent entered the fray. They stood defiantly before that indescribable creature. It was a being that’s very existence seemed to be an affront to Nature herself. Everything about it was all wrong, and yet, those Agents did not falter in their courage.

"Watch me succeed where you have failed," Wolf said in a cocky tone just as Genesis could feel his wounds closing.

"I’d like to see you try."

Wolf readied his glaive as Genesis gripped Swan and Serpent tight in his clutches. Wolf eyed his partner who stood back with their squad mates. An entire raiding party stood behind the two CAPRA agents wearing standard issue FBI gear. In their hands were a variety of firearms, from MP5 submachine guns, to Remington shotguns, and M4 carbines. Wolf grinned as he gave a simple nod to his partner, which prompted Jackal to reveal what was hidden beneath his shawl.

Hidden by that shroud was Jackal’s body, the body of a mutant. Jackal’s entire torso and possibly even everything from the waist down was covered in a bizarre bronze carapace. Mutant feelers seemed to poke out from the armor-like plating that covered the Agent’s body. Black veins ran up Jackal's neck and began to bulge out and stretch to his cheeks as he prepared to fight. His eyes began to glow with a pestilent yellow light. A faint yellow-green glow seemed to illuminate from Jackal’s back as he bent down. In seconds, six organic looking projectiles shot out of fleshy silos deeply embedded in Jackal’s back. The missiles detonated upon impact with the creature and unleashed a highly corrosive acid. The monstrosity shrieked even louder as Jackal’s acid ate away at its flesh. Genesis and Wolf grinned to themselves and ran at their target. Their blades cleaved and cut into the monster as it suffered from the acid eating away at its cosmic body.

"Jackal! Finish it!" Wolf cried out.

"Right!"

The mutated Agent let out a roar of battle rage as a massive organic blade pierced through his forearm and curved downward like a scythe. Jackal ran towards the target while Genesis and Wolf held it down with their constant attacks. Jackal leapt into the air and soon brought his arm blade down onto the beast. His blade pierced through what was possibly the core of the horde of tendrils. The eldritch limbs seemed to freeze in place before falling limp as ear piercing shrieks ripped through the room. The beast finally let out its dying cries and fell silent. Whatever the thing was, it had finally perished.

"We make a good team," Genesis said in an almost joking manner.

"We used to make a good team," Wolf responded.

Suddenly Wolf crossed his blade in front of Genesis to block him from moving forward. Genesis shot a glare back at Wolf. Sparks flickered and flew between the gazes of the two warriors. Jackal immediately intervened before a fight could erupt between the two.

"Stand down Agent Wolf," Jackal ordered calmly.

"Since when do you start giving orders?"

"Since you started disobeying them. I don’t care what kind of past you have with that man, protocol dictates that we can’t harm him. Not only that, he helped us take down whatever the hell that thing was."

Wolf clenched his teeth and after a few moments of contemplation, he retracted his glaive. He sighed in disappointment and turned to face Genesis.

"I suppose you can start by telling me what the hell you think you are doing in New York."

"Same reason you are. This is the largest FST signature recorded thus far. Lockhart couldn’t just ignore it."

"So, what do you know about this Genesis?"

"Not much more than you. We know it’s parasitic in a way."

"Parasitic?"

"It used a little girl as its host, but she is long dead now."

"It looks different from the other recent anomalies."

"Definitely. This was something completely different from ‘his’ creations."

"I suppose you are going to ask me if you can keep the corpse."

"No, we only need samples. Corpse is all yours."

Wolf nodded and looked back at Jackal.

"Jack, call in a containment unit for transportation. Lab’s gonna love this."

Jackal nodded and walked away with the rest of the squad. Wolf approached Genesis to overlook the body once more while the three surviving Excaliburs took the samples that they needed. Genesis looked at Wolf with a bit of a grave expression on his face.

"Did ‘he’ do that to your new partner?" Genesis asked.

"Yeah. It’s a miracle he’s still alive. He is the only one who to have lived through an encounter with 'him'."

"Sir! We have finished collecting samples," shouted an Excalibur from across the room.

Genesis simply nodded and left Wolf to deal with the body. It wasn’t the time nor the place to start a fight with the old Agent.

Leaving the Agents of CAPRA behind, Genesis and his Excaliburs faded into the shadows of the sewers. They headed back down the way they came in an effort to reach their extraction point. As they drew further and further away from the old tunnel, Genesis stopped. He turned to face his men and gave them new orders.

"All of you are to head to extraction. I’ll be heading back on my own. There are some things I want to take care of while I am here," Genesis said calmly.

"Understood," responded the three Excaliburs in unison.

*****

A great writer once believed that mankind’s oldest and strongest fear was that of the unknown. Far too often, humanity had stared into the abyss, but never has something other than the abyss itself dared to stare back. Humanity has long since had the desire to reveal the unknown. After all, it is much harder to fear something you understand. Humanity does not fear things like the gun or the sword, humanity fears what they are capable of.

This quest for knowledge has brought many miracles into the world, but with every solved mystery, a new one emerges. The unknown will always be one step ahead of Science, but the more we rage on against the abyss the more we risk being swallowed up within it. The unknown world that mankind fought, and continues to fight, so passionately is finally pushing back. Soon, humanity would face threats it would never understand, and ultimately humanity would fail to contain that threat.

The known and unknown create a balance. Knowledge without mystery cannot exist. With every mystery mankind solves, another weight is added to the scales. The unknown must apply greater weight to keep itself ahead and maintain the balance. To seek forbidden knowledge is to seek the disruption of the balance and of existence itself. But does that mean our journey for enlightenment is meaningless? On the one hand, it seems that the seeking and understanding of knowledge is almost futile. No matter how much humanity learns there is always something more to learn. We keep striding down a path with no end in sight, forever stuck in the middle of a winding road. While on the other hand, all that we have learned has made our lives much more convenient. More and more technological marvels are produced every day and new discoveries open the possibilities for new forms of convenience. It was humanity’s thirst for wisdom that allowed me, and so many others, to be reborn. From the womb of Science, we returned to the Earth to lead the battle against the unknown.

*****

Genesis had long since come up from the muck ridden sewer tunnels of New York City. There was someone he needed to speak with. Tension with CAPRA would be rising in the streets of New York. Genesis had a strong feeling that the emergence of a new anomaly was only the beginning of something much worse. He slowly approached a small run-down building deep within the Bronx. The building itself had no special characteristics. It was the people lurking within that interested Genesis. As Genesis entered the old ruin he could feel eyes watching him from the shadows. The place was well guarded, but Genesis expected nothing less from another Demon.

"Alright Talon, come on out. I know you’re there," Genesis shouted with a smile.

From the shadows, a whole company of Excaliburs emerged. Their black armor had violet stripes which ran along the arms. Those violet stripes were symbols of rank among the Excaliburs. When Excaliburs distinguish themselves in battle they can often secure a place in one of the few established task forces in the program. These task forces were often sent on the most crucial of missions. The violet armored company was no exception.

From the crowd of soldiers came two women who stood out among the rest. One of the women, seemingly in her twenties, immediately stared down Genesis with green eyes like neon. The glow of her vision made Genesis’ heart quake with unpleasant nostalgia. The vibrancy in those eyes was only matched by the equally neon pink hair atop the young woman’s head. Feathered bangs fell just over top her equally pink brow, contrasting her pasty skin. Her face was soft and pale like porcelain. It had a strange, ethereal softness to it, like that of a ghost. Two voluminous twin tails fell down from her doll-like head all the way to her waist. They draped down gracefully like ribbons twirled in the hands of a poised dancer. A simple black hood with a pink interior was pulled over the woman’s face forcing her tails to the front of her body. Soft pink locks of hair draped over the glossy black breastplate of her armor. She smiled and bared her fangs. Genesis was taken aback seeing those sharpened teeth, perfect for rendering flesh.

"Been a long time Genesis," Talon exclaimed in her own bright way.

"I hear you have been getting action on my turf. What do you have to report?" Talon asked.

"The anomaly is dead. Samples were taken and are being brought back to the Cocoon for analysis,"

"If that was all you had to say you wouldn’t be here. What happened out there?"

Genesis took a minute to think. A steady sigh of concentration escaped his lips as he carefully planned his words. Before long he finally spoke up about what had happened in the sewers of New York.

"The anomaly was completely different from the others. It had no calling cards of the Source. It was a completely new threat and I have no idea how it even got here. I just came to warn you. That thing, whatever it was, was able to infiltrate using the body of a little girl. Everything about it is just wrong and frankly, I don’t think any words I use can even begin to describe what I saw out there. You'll need to be careful if there are more of those things out there."

Talon’s gaze shifted to a much more serious one. Her eyes lowered in concentration as she held her head higher and assumed a commanding aura.

"We’ll watch our backs out there. It’s nice of you to be concerned about us, but you are more than aware how hard the Hunters are to kill."

"You’re not wrong. Either way, I want to stick around for a few more days and monitor New York before returning. If another one turns up, you may need my help."

"I don’t need your help Genesis, but you are welcome to stay as long as you like."

Talon then turned to her closest subordinate. Genesis’ eyes were drawn to another soldier without a helmet. Her skin was much darker than Talon’s, but it had a creaminess to it, almost like a soothing cup of coffee. Her face bore soft features that were friendlier in comparison to Talon’s cold, doll-like assets. Her overall look was very easy on the eyes. The subordinate's eyes were a light pink color that refracted light like stained glass. Her gaze was softer and much more inviting. Moving his glance further upwards, Genesis noticed her heavily styled hair. Most of the girl’s head was shaved on one side while her black locks flowed gracefully down the right side of her soft face and ended in a perfect braid. Hot pink streaks cut through her deep black hair like sword strokes. The streaks bled out like beams of light shining through a sea of onyx. The looks and attitudes of these two women couldn’t be further apart. So many differences between the two created an equal balance of beauty and savagery. While Talon was the Demon of the Hunt, her subordinate was the one thing that quelled her bloodlust it seemed. As Talon turned to face the young subordinate, she immediately looked towards her with complete attention.

"Camellia, mind showing Genesis to his quarters?" Talon requested.

"Of course."

With that Genesis followed the officer down the hallway to a rundown room. Genesis seemed a bit unimpressed by the state of the place, but the furnishings were decent enough. Camellia chuckled to herself before speaking softly to Genesis. Her voice was strong, yet soothing to the ears.

"Don’t get too upset, all the rooms are like this. That’s what you get when you run a covert op like this."

Genesis smiled and turned his gaze back to Camellia.

"It’s no trouble. I’ve slept in worse places."

*****

Back in Evo City, new shadows were creeping in the nooks and crannies of the Slums. A long since abandoned hotel room sat in isolation. Its outer wall was completely removed, giving a great view of the sunset and the Slums that expanded toward the horizon. One could just barely make out the sparkling dusk-lit water of the coast. The rhythmic beeping of a cell phone echoed throughout the old room. It was the single sound to accompany the roaring air of a nearby sea breeze. At a small wooden table sat a young man with snow white hair and red eyes like the Devil. An active cell phone sat on the desk in front of him. After only a few more seconds, the man answered his call.

"Have you located Alice?" asked an elderly voice on the other end of the line.

"Yes, she is a few blocks from my current location."

"Carry out your task at sunrise, report back to me when it is done."

"What of the others?"

"None of your business."

"And the Englishman?"

"Arrangements have been made. You have your orders. That will be all."

The young man smiled to himself in a strange ecstasy as the elderly man ended the call. The pale youth pocketed his phone and approached a desk drawer that stood against one of the few walls still intact. Pulling out the drawer revealed a handgun, a silver Colt M1911 to be exact. The man retrieved the pistol and a single magazine which he loaded into the gun. The crisp snap of the slide being pulled and released rippled throughout that decrepit room. After retrieving four more magazines from the drawer and a collapsible baton, the man headed for the door and made his way out onto the street. Things had been set in motion in Evo City. The next day, that quiet neighborhood would never be the same again.