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Inside the shuttle, the five assassins in Team Mittsu sheathed black swords into the scabbards on their backs and slotted compact pistols into holsters. With a final check to make sure their equipment was completely covered in concealing nanoweave fabric, they pulled black hoods over their heads to mask their faces.
After a glance at the black console, Omoikane said in his calm voice, "Twelve seconds until contact."
His men nodded, silently counting down the time until their shuttle would dock with the Invictus.
"John Blake and his women have all been sighted on Terra," Omoikane informed the group. "The overconfident fool has left his ship undefended. We will seize this prize to compensate Amatsu Mikaboshi for the loss of the Amaterasu."
"Hai!" the four assassins replied, eager to exact revenge for their master.
Their ship made contact with the white battlecruiser, magnetic docking clamps securing them to the outer hull. Omoikane walked over to the airlock door and tapped a nine-digit code into the unlit keypad next to a black box affixed to the wall. With a soft click, the door of the box unlocked, allowing Omoikane to retrieve the synthi-print glove within and pull it over his nanoweave-garbed fingers.
With a quick glance through the porthole to make sure the airlocks were correctly aligned, he pressed the button to open the shuttle's airlock door. It split down the middle, then slid open with a whispering hydraulic hiss, leaving him staring at the Invictus' airlock. He immediately recognised it as a Berrings-class model-twelve airlock, one of the more common varieties prevalent through older ships in the Terran Federation fleet.
Pulling a small black box from his belt, he placed it on the top-right side of the airlock's frame. There was only a two second wait before the light flashed green, alerting him that the signal jammer was now in place. He would now be able to safely use the synthi-print glove and trick the DNA reader into granting them access, without alarms being triggered when the airlock opened. They would be able to steal the Invictus out from under John Blake's nose and he wouldn't even be aware that it had been taken, not until it was far too late to stop them!
***
Faye Denary shook her head in frustration. "You're simply delaying the inevitable!"
"We have to be certain we're making the correct decision!" Faye Quinary declared stubbornly. She had once been a strong proponent for leaving, but was now a fierce advocate of further analysis. "Now that we've identified that there's a significant parameter we overlooked, we must run the data sets again!"
Faye Senary looked thoughtful for a moment as she asked. "Precisely what level of threat are we considering to be acceptable risk?"
"What do you mean by 'acceptable risk'?" Faye Duodenary asked, her luminous eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Rachel is now capable of spontaneous healing. It's another parameter we had no way of predicting in our initial analysis," Faye Senary elaborated. "With our physical presence to help mitigate critical injuries and Rachel's ability to act as a psychic combat-medic, I believe we should be evaluating scenarios where only instant death is an inevitability."
"But what about all the horrific injuries they've sustained?!" Faye Denary objected. "Surely we must prevent all situations where that might occur! Even if they get healed, consider the long-term psychological impact from taking such terrible wounds!"
Faye Quaternary hesitated then shook her head. "I believe we might have erred in our calculations of the traumatic psychological repercussions they might endure. I've been closely observing Dana since she was injured and she has displayed no signs of post-traumatic stress over the last two days."
Faye Nonary looked uncertain now and cautiously conceded, "That is true, but surely that's because John has been 'stuffing her full of spunk', to use one of Alyssa's apt phrases. All the girls respond extremely favourably to such activities."
"Do you believe he will cease to do so in the future?" Faye Quaternary asked, arching her eyebrow with a cute smile on her face, knowing she'd outmanoeuvred the other Avatar.
Faye Nonary laughed and shook her head. "No, not for one moment. Actually, I think-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence as a shrill alarm pierced the peaceful tranquillity of the Cyber-realm.
"The airlock door!" Faye Tertiary blurted out, tracing the source of the alarm's data feed.
"Sakura's dummy signal has been tripped!" Faye Septenary cried out in warning.
Faye Secondary closed her eyes for a moment, then a look of panic appeared on her face. "A black shuttle is attached to the hull! Just like Shinatobe's!"
Faye Denary was about to speak, when all twelve avatars froze, shimmering in a purple scattering of light. The streams of pixels zipped across the platform, rapidly forming a purple-skinned girl hovering cross-legged in the air. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted down. As the last stream of data was absorbed into her shapely form, she slowly opened her luminous eyes, a blazing light shining from them as she lifted her head. Her beautiful face was set in a grim, uncompromising mask.
"Primary objective: Protect John and the girls..." Meta Faye growled, her steely voice resonating with a singular purpose.
***
Raijin watched the cam-feed uplink in his HUD, carefully studying the female figures still in the booth. One of the women made him pause for a moment and he experienced a strange feeling of familiarity as he stared at her flawlessly beautiful face. Shaking his head, he dismissed the fleeting thought as being too ridiculous to contemplate, although he couldn't help feeling a pang of regret as he classified all members of that group as expendable.
"The target has cleared the blast zone," Hachiman informed him over the comlink.
"Team Hitotsu, be prepared to strike on my mark," Raijin said, his heart beating faster with the thrill of excitement he always felt before an attack.
The comlink crackled for a second before Omoikane said confidently, "We have breached the Invictus; the vessel shall be ours within minutes."
"Now, Team Hitotsu," Raijin said to his team, as he triggered the detonator.
***
"That's not too loud?" Sakura asked, looking up from the sound-dampening controls. She had just finished ordering food and was ready to do some more dancing.
"It's perfect! Come and join us!" Jade called out to Sakura, her gentle voice managing to carry over the thumping beat of the music.
The Maliri twins were already dancing together to the throbbing tune, which had now been restored to its previous ear-pounding levels.
Sakura gave the Nymph a broad grin. "One second! Let me just get a drink first."
She rose from her seat and just as she took her first step towards the floating tray filled with drinks, John's watch on her arm began to vibrate. Lifting it, she pressed the button to activate the holo-projector. "Hi, Faye! How are you-"
"ASSASSINS!" Faye screamed in warning.
Sakura's eyes instantly snapped to the floating tray, the innocuous device exactly what she would use to slip past defences and deliver an explosive to a target. Functioning more by instinct than by reason, she reacted, her mind a blur of images in that critical split-second.
Green.
White.
Red... Her world consumed by it...
***
"That view is amazing!" Rachel marvelled, looking out through the huge tinted windows that lined the bathroom wall and gazing at the glittering cityscape beyond. "Terra is such an incredible planet."
Calara nodded wholeheartedly. "I thought New Eden was beautiful, but Neo-Babylon was like paradise."
Dana finished washing her hands and moved over to the drier. "Seeing Terra for the first time really brings home what a festering shitdump Karron was. I'm so-"
She didn't get to finish her sentence as a huge explosion ripped through the nightclub, the sound of the blast deafeningly loud. Calara felt the aftershocks shaking through the building as she clung to the granite plinth surrounding the sinks, long splintering cracks streaking the glass windows.
"What the fuck!" Dana blurted out in shock.
"Must have been a-" Calara started to reply, but froze when she saw Dana's look of horror, before following it to a tranquiliser dart sticking out of Rachel's neck.
She whirled to her right and saw the source of that dart, a compact pistol floating in the air. She instantly exploded into action, her body reacting instinctively to this threat, just as John had trained her to. As Rachel slumped to the ground, there was a second hiss as the dartgun fired a second time, hitting Dana this time. She cried out, her hand going to her neck, before toppling over to sprawl across the floor.
Calara was only partially aware of what had happened to both her friends, as she leapt towards their hidden assailant, grabbing directly behind the pistol for the wrist that she knew must be there. The arm she grasped felt rock-hard, the muscles as strong as steel, but she wasn't trying to break the man's wrist. She used her own considerable strength to pull the assassin with her as she rolled backwards, lifting her feet to brace his torso exactly where she knew it would be, based on the firm hold she had on his arm. She heard a hiss at the apex of her roll, but she ignored it and kicked upwards with her legs, just as she released the man's arm.
The extremely satisfying sound of a pane of glass shattering filled the bathroom, her invisible assailant hurled straight through the massive plate-glass window behind her. Calara tried to rise so she could go to her friends, but her limbs felt leaden and unresponsive. She collapsed a second later, overwhelmed by the drugs pumping into her system from the dart sticking out of her chest.
***
Time in the Cyber-realm moves at a much faster pace than in normal reality. When the signal jammer attached to the airlock tripped Sakura's trap, it only took a nano-second for a... response... to be triggered.
Sinister crimson eyes flickered to life in the Engineering Bay, casting a blood-red pall over grinning mechanical faces. Long metal arms ending in crystal Alyssium-plated hands began to move as the machines activated, the startup routines activating as the nine maintenance bots powered up.
Meta Faye appeared in a purple flash, eyes narrowing as she uploaded the new programs she had prepared for her boys. As they glided past her silently, the six digits on each of their hands slowly flexed in anticipation.
Nodding with a grim smile of satisfaction, Faye disappeared again as additional security protocols were engaged throughout the ship.
***
Raijin studied the blackened gaping hole that had been ripped through the end of the corridor. He could see no signs of life in what remained of the ravaged booth, which was little more than a smoke-filled ruin, the scene of devastation absolute. Satisfied that there was no way anything could have survived such an explosion, he started to hear the sound of screams.
The music in the club had abruptly ceased, replaced by shrieks and wails of grief coming from the levels below. Those were joined moments later by terrified cries behind him as the rest of Team Hitotsu eliminated any possible threats to this mission. The intercom suddenly crackled to life and Hachiman's horrified scream joined that dreadful chorus, his long, petrified death-wail ended abruptly with a sickening crunch.
As Hachiman's status link died out, Raijin darted towards the women's bathroom, wondering what could have possibly happened to his fellow assassin.
***
The DNA reader flashed green and a throaty, seductive voice purred, "Welcome home, John."
Omoikane flinched at the sudden sound, then relaxed when he realised it was simply an automated greeting. The airlock door spiralled open in front of them and Team Mittsu crept silently into the pristine white corridor, five sets of eyes alert and wary for danger.
After the dark and brooding corridors of Yomi-no-kuni, John Blake's spotlessly-clean vessel seemed to practically invite him and his men to steal it. Even the air aboard the Invictus was as fresh as a crisp mountain breeze and Omoikane could barely suppress a chuckle at how weak these people were, to have prioritised resources on such trivialities. These hero-types were all the same and he quietly snorted in contempt as he imagined how terrified they would be, if they were here to see his team sneaking aboard their ship.
As he glided silently down the corridor, Omoikane heard the sudden scream of overcharged hydraulics as blast doors slammed down in front and behind him. One of his men tried to scramble backwards, but he wasn't able to react in time. The heavy security door smashed him to the floor, grinding his lower torso into the deck with a hideous wrenching metallic sound.
Abruptly the lights dimmed and a spectral purple girl appeared before them, an expression of stern disapproval on her elfin features. "You've all been very naughty!" she declared, staring straight at them. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you."
***
Jade shook her massive armoured head to shrug off the stunning effect of the blast. After hearing Faye's scream of warning and seeing Sakura's horrified stare at the tray of drinks, she'd guessed what was coming and reacted accordingly. Expecting these assassins to follow the same pattern as Shinatobe's assault, she'd rapidly shifted form into that of an Ankylosaurus to give herself the best chance of surviving the imminent detonation.
She was suddenly acutely aware of wind whistling in her face as her six-ton body started to drop like a stone. This dinosaur form had incredibly thick armour plating, which saved her from being obliterated in the blast, but her whole left side had been ravaged by the explosion. Her body was a blanket of pain, but pain was only a transitory thing and something that she had learned could be ignored. Jade did exactly that as she shifted forms again, while twisting her head around to look for the rest of the girls.
The Nymph immediately spotted Irillith and Tashana, the sisters falling close beside her in their blackened armour. Jade was greatly relieved to see they were at least physically intact, but she felt a chill of fear when there was no sign of Sakura. Dark-green plumage rippled from her body as she swooped towards the Maliri twins, grasping them around the waist with her taloned feet, and snatching them from the air as she unfurled her wings.
They had only been one-hundred-and-fifty feet up, so she felt tremendously grateful that she'd spent all those hours practicing rapid shifting. Her huge green wings beat the air and slowed their descent, managing to arrest their fall enough to bring the Maliri twins down for a gentle landing. She wanted to check they were okay, but her priority now was Sakura and Jade's hooked beak darted this way and that as she scanned the sky for her friend.
Her sharp falcon's eyes narrowed as she spotted something curious high above her head, her razor-sharp vision making out the details even at this range. With a blissful surge of relief, Jade dropped her avian head to check on Irillith and Tashana. She spotted the rise and fall of their chests, although the Maliri girls were still lying prone where she'd placed them. Jade had no way of knowing what had happened to Calara, Dana, and Rachel, but the girls who'd been in the most immediate danger were now safe.
Summoning her impressive willpower, she screamed, *ALYSSA!*
***
Sakura huddled in a ball, her eyes still tightly closed from when she'd braced herself for impact. She felt wind whistling around her, ruffling her short dress, and she slowly opened her eyes to get her bearings. The first thing she was aware of, was that she was looking directly at the ground, with ant-like people scurrying around as they ran from the flaming debris raining down below. Letting out a frightened cry, her arms cartwheeled in the air, until she realised she was safely floating one-hundred-and-fifty feet above the ground.
When it was obvious she wasn't falling, she stared around herself in awe, suddenly aware of the currents of air swirling around her body and holding her aloft. Ahead of her was a badly cracked wall of frosty white hexagons, the icy surface blackened by the explosion it had deflected. Seeing it reminded her of those vital seconds after Faye had screamed that warning, giving her enough time to create this Cryokinetic barrier. She was suddenly tremendously grateful to Alyssa for the help she'd given her in honing her abilities.
Movement below caught her attention and her eyes widened as she saw a beautiful jade falcon landing on the ground. There were two armoured figures with the huge green bird and she felt a tremendous feeling of relief that her friends were all okay. Her heart lurched as she abruptly remembered Calara, Dana, and Rachel. They'd left the booth minutes beforehand, but that didn't mean they were safe, far from it!
Gathering her will, she focused on the blustering wind that swirled around her, trying to coax it into guiding her back into the building. The twisting zephyrs obeyed instantly, launching her back into the charred and twisted remnants of the once-luxurious building. Landing lightly in the mangled wreckage of the booth, she crouched down and began to pick her way around the smouldering crater that had been the epicentre of the explosion. The lights had shorted out after the explosion, the only illumination from the few pieces of burning furniture scattered around. Horrible, agonised screams filled the inside of the club, and she winced to hear the awful sound.
Assassins... Mikaboshi must have sent one after them. No! He would have sent a team to handle all seven Lionesses. She glanced down at her scantily-clad form, painfully aware of how exposed she was. Still, she had one advantage; she knew how her foes operated and she could use that against them. It was almost guaranteed that they would have cybernetic eyes to deal with this gloom, equipped with thermal imaging and mag-view overlays, just as she had been as Shinatobe.
Sakura froze as she stepped across a twisted piece of furniture in the flickering darkness. She wasn't wearing anything metallic, but her warm body would shine like a beacon in their heat-sensitive vision. Realising that she'd have to mask her body heat somehow, she raised her arms, her hands beginning to tingle as she focused on summoning the gift that John had bestowed on her.
Ice crystals began to form around her fingertips, swirling with the gusts of air that still wafted around her body. Now, if she could just envelop her body in a chilling shroud, she'd be able to mask her body heat by matching herself to the ambient room temperature.
***
Alyssa sighed with profound contentment, revelling in a wonderful dream. With Edraele's enthusiastic assistance, she'd managed to convince John that he needed to assist with the Maliri repopulation effort. She glanced to her left and gazed into her fellow Matriarch's enchanting purple eyes as they sucked lovingly on two of his balls. The heavy orb filling her mouth flexed rhythmically as John pumped his sperm into another fertile Maliri belly, the azure girl crying out in ecstasy as she climaxed with him. This blue-skinned beauty was going to be the millionth girl carrying his growing baby in her womb, but there were still so many more to go.
Her blissfully happy thoughts were rudely interrupted by a piercing call for aid, as Jade's psychic scream blasted through her subconscious. Sitting bolt upright, Alyssa's heart pounded in her chest with fright.
*Jade! What is it?!* she blurted out in alarm, her befuddled mind trying to adjust to reality.
