Old stories
Scion Corporation Headquarters
Tokyo, Japan
Noriko Null looks up to the top of the building. Brand new, old-fashioned and imposing: Scion couldn't ask for a more accurate image.
Kari and Bob take a step forward, but turn back when they notice Noriko is still looking up. Her hands are clenched in fists, and she's visibly shaken.
Bob follows his daughter, leaving Kari to look around. First New York, now Tokyo…she thought Earth was a paradise, left untouched by the evil gods that slaughtered her people.
The Twin Dragon, Demeter's former mothership
Over the years, Kari Zel wondered how her first travel in outer space would be like. It was just a child's dream: only males could become soldiers and leave Myridia. And they never came back.
But she could hope that space was a simpler place, where gods left people in peace.
The first harpy rips the hull apart. The air is quickly sucked out of the spaceship with enough force to lift a person off his feet. Talas Khanos uses his telekinesis to avoid this fate, but Kari is in much more trouble. She plants the lance firmly into the floor and holds on to it, fighting against the decompression. Khanos watches her for a few seconds, chuckling as she gasps for air, before sealing off the wall.
Kari doesn't have time to recover: the creature is spreading her bat-like wings. It's far more alien than Kari imagined…the bird legs, the talons that could crack her skull, the thick reptilian blue skin, wings where the arms should be…and that horrible, horrible head.
Curved horns. Four bulbous eyes. And half a face filled with white, sharp fangs.
Scion Corporation Headquarters
Leiko Tanaka enters her office, followed by her assistant carrying a holographic tablet. Noriko, Bob and Kari are sitting on the three chairs in front of her desk.
The resemblance to Noriko is striking. Mother and daughter seem to have done everything possible to look different from one another...traditional versus rebellious, long versus short hair, expensive office suit versus cheap leather jacket, skirt and high heels versus jeans and combat boots…but the similarity still shows.
Leiko sends off her assistant with a hand gesture and asks again, this time in English:
Leiko doesn't say a word. She just stares at Bob blankly, waiting for an answer.
Noriko says. Her silver eyes flash briefly when she raises her voice.
It's the only moment when Leiko shows any reaction; it's the first time she sees this. But she doesn't look surprised…just awestruck, even if it's just for a second.
The Myridian girl gets astonished looks both from Noriko and Bob.
Quantum appears suddenly, collapsing on the floor. Bob does the same. Kari creates a couple of duplicates to lift herself, but they also fall under the immense pain they are feeling.
Noriko is the only one capable to remain conscious for a while. She can feel the circuitry of the N-Watch and the N-Phone being fried, and crawls to the desk to lift herself up.
A ball of metal, not much larger than a baseball, rises up and talks with an inhumanly deep voice.
Noriko manages to stand up, but it takes all of her strength. And just looking at the Core makes her silver eyes burn.
These are the last words Noriko hears before passing out.
The Twin Dragon, Demeter's former mothership
The Harpy tries to bite Kari in the neck, which given how massive its jaw is would probably decapitate her. Kari is quick enough to avoid her; then she unstuck the lance from the floor and uses it to fence off the alien creature.
In an open environment, Kari would be dead by now. The Harpy would take flight and strike with its powerful talons; she's already seen that the creature's legs are strong enough to rip the hull to shreds. But there's not enough space to fly here, and the Harpy doesn't have arms: it can only bite, and the lance keeps it at a distance.
<"Her"? You mean this thing's female?> Kari asks, poking the Harpy in one of the eyes; the creature lets out a chilling scream, like knives on a chalkboard.
A woman comes through the wall like a ghost. She has blue skin, no nose and large bat wings coming out of her back, and her blue hair barely cover the trimmed horned crest on her forehead.
Other than that, she could easily be mistaken for a stunningly beautiful woman. The harpy roars again, waving her wings; she looks really pissed.
The blue woman spreads her own wings, hissing. The harpy groans something and steps back, crouching and wrapping herself with her wings.
Kari's answer doesn't seem to satisfy the blue woman, who draws her gun and points at her.
It's Kari's only chance: she jumps at the blue woman with the intent of knocking her out and stealing her gun. Instead, she just goes through her intangible body.
Her first thought is that she's just a hologram, but the punch in her stomach is definitely real.
Sensing the anger of her mistress, the Harpy roars.
"I'm starting to think Myridia wasn't so bad after all" Kari thinks.