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Rachel walked through the gateway with Scarlet by her side, entering the large dome surrounding the crystal.  Her ears twitched as she heard the shifting of hard men’s muscles, cold eyes ready for action as they locked onto her, prepared to defend their world of any threat that might come through.

Scarlet chuckled nervously as they shifted their arms and necks, their guns making unnerving sounds as they moved in the soldier’s hands.  “Hey, guys!  No problems on the other side.”

“What’s the sound mean?”  One of the men asked in almost a growl, blue eyes moving back to the glowing crystal.  “I don’t like the way it makes me feel.”

There were a few grunts made by the other soldiers surrounding them.

Adding a smile, Rachel nodded while glancing around at the men.  “Yeah, the sound means it’s closing.  It should close in about twelve minutes; the Berets on the other side are packing up as fast as they can.”

“That’s relieving,” another man muttered, but by the look on his face, he wouldn’t be happy until the crystal was gone.

“Alright, well, we’re going to go talk with General Dallas,” Scarlet said, pulling on Rachel’s arm.  “Just make sure not to shoot the guys sending back supplies!”

A few chuckles were heard around them as the men smirked at one another.  “No promises,” one joked.

Rachel giggled while waving them off, and she turned back to Scarlet with a furrowed brow as they walked toward the tunnel leading out of the enclosed area, ears scanning conversations.  “I hear Maria and Fiona walking toward us.  You went out first?”

“Yeah, well,” Scarlet’s left fang poked through, pulling back on her lower lip.  “I just was worried about you.  We reported back, and … wait, you know about what we did?”

They walked around and passed by the guards behind concrete barriers in front of the tunnel; Maria and Fiona were following the outer edges of the dome, walking toward the entrance.  The gray texture of the walls gave the scene a bleak aesthetic.

Rachel glanced down at Scarlet to give her a wink as she looked up at her.  “The aliens were watching you guys and commentating … man, they got the wrong idea of the situation,” she mumbled, shifting the orange block held against her right hip.

Scarlet’s steps slowed, a lump dropping down her throat while her head lowered to the floor.  “E-Everything?  What about…”

“Everything,” Rachel repeated, bumping into her with a soft giggle.  “What are you embarrassed about?”

“Nothing,” Scarlet mumbled, hitting her stomach.  “So, umm, what were they like?”

“The aliens?”

“Yeah!  Don’t they have crazy tech?”

Rachel took a deep breath, smile falling slightly.  “They were something … I wonder how much damage and good we might have done.”

“What do you mean?”  She asked, leaning forward a bit to study the box in her arms.  “Are you talking about that?”

“That’s only the start of it,” Rachel whispered, ears falling a little as her mind accelerated.

The damage that we can do by spreading human culture … will they ever be the same?  Probably not.  The things we could teach and learn from the countless worlds that are opening up to us is … it’s exciting, but also terrifying.

I always thought the world would come together if we had a global crisis, but after seeing this … everyone is closing themselves off, crying out for protection rather than unifying.  People want to be protected; they want to feel safe.

It’s not about unity but survival, and I’m no different … in fact, I want more danger.  I don’t want peace, as bad as that sounds.  I want conflict, and death inevitably will follow.

Some of the things she’d heard from movies and songs touched her mind.

If you keep messing around with darkness, then you’re the one who’s losing … yet I keep being pulled toward this void.  Could it be me?  I mean, it’s by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life … Grandpa always said that.

Yet it’s said whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process they don’t become a monster themselves, but … what if I can’t help it?  This method of delving into the darkness within myself … and what I see around me is…

She licked her lips, and a pulse shot down her spine to the tip of her tail as Scarlet slowly lifted to stare at her.

Conflict fascinates me.  Is that really just Lunar Pride, or something else entirely?  If the information isn’t coming … Lunar Pride isn’t the sole cause … that’s terrifying.  Can I not escape where I’m heading?  Do I even want to?

“Rachel?”

She breathed out a long sigh before whispering, “No, it’s nothing.  I’m just thinking … I feel like my eyes have been distorted since The Oscillation.”

Scarlet’s tone lowered with her eyes.  “I get that.”

They both fell into silence, and Rachel returned to the darkness swirling inside her mind, activating Emotional Detachment.

Crystals will come, and worlds will need to be conquered.  It’s a reality to us now, that the world will soon discover.  There’s bound to be pushback, but I can’t help thinking the war machine will start-up, and humanity will find a new field of discovery.  If there’s one thing that rivals humanity’s drive for war, it’s discovery … mix those, and it spells the disaster of worlds.

Can we escape the horror to come?  No … not as I see it.  We are going to boom as a world, but ultimately, this is how everything is.  Harmony with nature is only a human concept.  Insects, animals, reptiles … they don’t think about peace.  Orcas and monkeys are extremely vindictive and savage.

Even if humanity weren’t here, then another race would just climb up to the top and destroy everything.  Organisms, in general, on our planet, are conquering life forms, and we dominate this natural selection pyramid.

There really never was any hope to change this direction the moment it hit our planet.  There will always be losers; that is how this system was designed.  Only those with power have options, and humanity only has two choices, destroy or be destroyed; so, nothing really has changed.

Rachel glanced up at the sky as they left the tunnel, face devoid of emotion.  I retained a bit of my humanity, but I’m not the same person I was.  It might have been a gradual change, but I’m changing in drastic ways, and I know I’m not the only one.  One out of every hundred and forty-four people … I could walk back and kill every soldier surrounding that crystal if I wanted, and I wouldn’t blink an eye.

Deactivating Emotional Detachment, Rachel breathed out a heavy sigh as Maria and Fiona came into view, walking around the gray concrete dome that had been created around the crystal.

“Aye, chicas!”  Maria yelled.  “We rule … what’s up with y’all?  Y’all look like ya just came out of a morgue.”

“Yeah, something wrong?”  Fiona asked, floating around them while glancing down at the orange box under Rachel’s arm.  “Are the aliens going to be a problem?”

“Eh, didn’t we feel that pulse, though?  Isn’t it over?”

“Yeah, it’s over,” Rachel said, masking her inner thoughts with a bright mask.  “I was just telling Scarlet that I saw everything you guys did!  You were making me look bad in front of the aliens!”

Maria’s head cocked slightly while squinting her eyes.  “Huh?  Whatcha talkin’ about?  We killed it!”

“Yeah,” Fiona huffed, folding her arms as she huffed out her cheeks for a moment.  “We were awesome!”

“Oh, no, totally,” Rachel chuckled, holding up her hands defensively.  “The aliens thought you guys were basically gods!”

“For real?”  Fiona asked, lowering a bit and glancing back at Maria.  “I don’t know if we were that awesome.”

“Yeah, but we were totally boss!”  Maria muttered, folding her arms.  “I even teleported us.”

“Is that flower cold in there?”  Rachel asked, pointing at Maria’s bust.

Maria’s cheeks reddened.  “No, it’s actually pretty … wait, is that why you were embarrassed by us?  Well, yeah … we could have brought a bag or somethin’.”

“So, what’s up next?”  Rachel asked, glancing between them.  “I just got back with Scarlet.  You both talk to Tom?”

A dazzling smile lightened Maria’s cheeks.  “Well, I’m apparently pretty important, ya know?  They got me…”

Fiona cut in hastily, bobbing up and down in the air.  “Maria made a deal to get my family to the States!  I’m so excited!  Oh, and she’s going to go around healing a ton of people for the…”

“Aye, let a chica speak, pequeño duendecillo!”

“Right, right,” Fiona giggled.  “Didn’t mean to steal your thunder; I’m just so … I want to see my family so badly!”

“I’m so happy for you,” Rachel commented.

“Yeah, congratulations,” Scarlet said, trying to give Fiona a real smile.  “A loving family would be nice…”  She mumbled.

“Yeah, I love my little hermanito,” Maria sighed, giving her a fond smile.  “Aye, what if my lil bro hangs out with your lil sis?”

“Eh,” Fiona’s smile turned forced.  “Let’s take it one step at a time.  She can be pretty shy.”

“Didn’t she work in a bar?”

“Family bar,” Fiona chuckled.  “Everyone knows each other in our little town; no one crosses the line.”

“I look forward to meeting them,” Rachel said, folding her hands behind her back, underneath her long white pink-hued hair.  “What’s going on with you and the government, Maria?”

“Oh, so, Uncle Sam needs my help with some healing and as some kind of stability symbol or some crap.  I’m gonna fly around for the next few days doing some stuff, but then I’ll be back in Miami.”

“That will be nice,” Rachel took a deep breath.  “I’ll be heading back to see my parents.  I need to clear up a few things with them.”

Scarlet released a disapproving hum.  “You aren’t going to let them walk all over you, right?”

Rachel glanced down, ears twitching as she heard the groups of soldiers moving around the area, still preparing to receive the nuke.  “I can’t really say, to be honest.  We’ll see how things go when I get there … I handle things differently now.  I may not be the same daughter they remember, but they’re still my parents.”

“I get it,” Scarlet muttered.

Fiona and Maria looked between them with raised eyebrows but didn’t press the gloomy atmosphere.

“Anyways,” Maria muttered.  “Since Tom felt the crystal pulse, he’s said we’re clear to start preparing to head out.  He’s expecting you to make a quick report; oh, and you can ask for whatever you want!”

Rachel’s ears stiffened, and her red eyes shot to Maria’s bright smile.  “Wait … say that again; I can ask for anything I want?”

“Well, yeah!”  Maria gave her a thumbs up.  “I made a deal with Uncle Sam, remember?  I gotta look out for my chica!  Scarlet still hasn’t said what she wants, but yeah, get out your bucket list.”

Stretching out her arms, Rachel groaned, shirt rising a little to show her innie belly button and flat abs.  “So, are we going to meet up later?”

“Yeah, we should meet up at my block!”  Maria voiced before anyone else had a chance.”

“Sure, okay,” Rachel shrugged.

Fiona nodded.  “I’m cool with that; I want to see this feral teenager Maria talks about.”

Maria’s smile fell.  “Yeah … Elena is a bit of a beast; you know, it doesn’t shock me at all that she turned into a Honey Badger Beastkin … girl’s vicious and has a head as thick as a steel drum.”

“What about your mom?”  Scarlet asked.  “I haven’t heard you talk about her.”

Everyone went silent as Maria opened her mouth, picking between her teeth.  “My mom … yeah, never met her.  I mean, yeah, she was there when I was a little girl, but it’s not like I remember her.  She skipped out on my dad just after havin’ Felix.  Can’t say she didn’t give me anything, right?”  She said with a sniff.

“Oh … sorry,” Scarlet mumbled.  “I, umm…”

“Whatever,” Maria shrugged.  “Without chaos, nothin’ evolves, right?  Me and my brother had our aunt Eloisa, and she’s our jeffitas; she’s gettin’ along in years, but yeah, come around, chicas, and we’ll put it down.

“You know we puttin’ griffa in our pipas; whatever you want, we can get it, and we’ll make some homemade tortillas, throw on a barbecue, pop some twelve-packs of frias, and hang with the homies.  When we run out, we can roll down to the store in my primo to get some pisto, ya know?  Tom says we be gettin’ businesses back up soon, and I got some stuff in the works.”

Fiona giggled.  “You’re a good girl with good intentions, though I gotta say, you leave bad impressions, my chica!”

“Ya get me!”  Maria laughed.  “If I could press rewind and turn back time, I wouldn’t change a thing, cuz this is me, the way I live, homie, it’s what I bring!”

“It certainly is,” Rachel chuckled.  “I can’t wait to hang out with your friends and family.”

“The real neighborhood experience!”  Scarlet giggled, finally starting to laugh.

Rachel and Scarlet got Maria’s block information in Miami-Dade County before going their separate ways, Maria and Fiona heading to the Billings Airfield.

Scarlet and Rachel took the short walk back to the mobile home that Tom was using as a base; she could hear him breathing a heavy sigh while playing with something in his hands, a tablet by the sound of the inner components.

Glancing down at Scarlet, Rachel’s lips curved slightly.  Our life’s been on pause the last few days, but now we’re going back … that’s a lot of baggage for Scarlet.  Does she have anywhere else to go?

Rachel cleared her throat, drawing Scarlet’s blue irises.  “So, do you have any other family in the States?”

Scarlet’s long left fang poked out again as her eyes fell to the ground, and a cool gust shot through the still winter air, fluttering their hair.  After a moment, she shook her head.  “No … everyone on my dad’s side died young.  I’m pretty sure I have a cousin somewhere in Arizona, but my family never kept up with them.

“My mom was an only child, too, and my grandparents both died when I was thirteen in a freak boating accident … I think, who knows,” she muttered.  “My parents’ friends … they felt like family … they were over all the time.”  She went silent, fangs poking out, and pressing against her lips.

“Sorry,” Rachel whispered.  “I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories.”

She shook her head again.  “No, I get it … I just … no, I don’t really have anywhere to go.”  She said, rubbing her left arm while looking away.  “I’ll figure something out, though … I’m sure the government would … I don’t know, give me a job or something.”

Reaching around Scarlet’s shoulder, Rachel pulled her in, readjusting the cube against her right hip.  “Don’t worry about it, okay?  I’ll figure something out.”

“What do you mean?”  Scarlet asked, pulling back her hair to stare up at her.

Rachel slid her tongue over her lips as they felt dry.  “We’ll see, but Maria’s right.  We gotta look out for each other.”

“I—still don’t know what you’re saying,” Scarlet muttered.

“Do I need to spell it out?”  Rachel laughed, squeezing her shoulder.  “I’m going to see if I can get you to come back home with me.”

“No, what?”  Scarlet blurted.  “What about your parents?  They wouldn’t want a Vampire in their home!”

“You let me worry about that,” Rachel winked down at her.  “I’ve got something in mind with what Maria told us.  Well, let’s go see Tom, and drop this block off!  We’ve got plans to make.”

They walked the rest of the way to the mobile home in silence, but she could tell that Scarlet didn’t want to give her hopes up; Rachel knew she had to make this work, she’d already given Scarlet her word that she wouldn’t abandon her.

This shouldn’t be too big of a request … it’s the biggest thing Tom could do for me, and it could mean so much to my parents.

Tom turned around as they opened the door, and he gave them a tired chuckle.  “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle, Rachel.  You did it, and I”m sorry about dropping all that political crap on you earlier.  I was a bit stressed and just needed someone to complain to.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rachel said, sitting next to him, and Scarlet took the seat across from her.  “I’m pretty apolitical when it comes to most things unless it directly affects me.  I’m sure I should keep a sharp eye on what the government is doing with what’s to come, though.”

“No joke,” Tom muttered, setting down his tablet.  “I won’t bore you with my frustrations with bureaucracy.  What happened, and what’s with that orange box?”

She set the box on the table and nudged it to him.  “It’s basically like a nuclear reactor.”

Tom and Scarlet stiffened.

“A what?”  Tom blustered, quickly scooting back.

“Don’t worry,” Rachel giggled.  “It’s sealed in this box, and I don’t know if it’s radioactive … maybe even worse for all I know, but it should be safe in there.  It’s the Power Core of the alien ship, and from what I could tell … this thing has some serious power.  I don’t know exactly how much, but a lot to do the things those aliens did.”

“Well, dang,” Tom grunted.  Leaning back with a long yawn, he closed his eyes before relaxing a little.  “Another Power Core … China and Russia aren’t going to be happy about that if they find out.  The Azure Frost is a world destroying Relic by itself, and now we have an alien Power Core.”

“Relic?”  Rachel asked.

“It’s what we’re calling items of power brought back from other worlds, and we’re starting a ranking system for them.  We need certain protocols for certain danger levels with things brought to our country.  The Azure Frost is Negative Triple-S Tier, but what will this one be?”

“Okay, explain that again,” Scarlet pressed, eyes lighting up.  “Are you using a grading system for items?  It sounds like games do it!”

“Well,” Tom nibbled on his lower lip before opening his eyes.  “I’ve been hearing reports about a particular Class of people, which includes Demi and even Legendkin that are Artificers, basically, yes, they’re like gaming Blacksmiths and Crafters from what reports are saying… there are even magical chefs that make special food; even the food items have different tiers and ranks.

“I can’t tell you who, but there’s a Legendkin Artificer that broke some of these explanations down to us.  He can’t craft these yet, but this strange system gave him this information.

“You have Tiers, Tripple-S dropping down to F, and Grades within those, namely Negative, Standard, and Positive.  For comparison, The Azure Frost would qualify as the lowest level of Triple-S Relic.  What Artificers can craft are called Artifacts, using materials from our world or others.  It’s a pretty complicated system overall, but the possibilities are frightening.”

Rachel’s ears twitched with excitement, but she tried to keep a straight face.  “That would be difficult from a governing position.”

“Right,” Tom muttered.  “The Second Amendment is in place to counter a tyrannical government, and while they meant it to mean the people can stand up to the government if it went authoritarian … I don’t think the Founders considered world-ending items in that equation, and now other countries can even get these types of weapons by the luck of the draw.

“It just means to protect ourselves, the U.S. is going to have to dive headfirst into this world conquest game.  We can’t fall behind, and we must assume China and Russia are getting this same information.  It’s a mess right now,” he groaned.  “Why’d this have to happen when I have to advise the President?”

“I can see it is quite the pickle,” Rachel said, pursing her lips.  “So, we can now craft legendary items to help us in these world conquests?  That’s really something … and I can’t see any way out of it.  We’re a world at war with the universe, now.”

Tom shook his head, rubbing his bald head with a low groan.  “The President and his advisors are going crazy over the implications.  No nation has ever survived a war on multiple fronts for very long, and there’s seemingly no end from the information we have.  It’s just a wave survival horror, but we have been given a massive advantage, I suppose, with The Oscillation event.”

Sucking on his lower lip for a moment, Tom stretched out his arms.  “I can’t imagine the stress right now on the President.  He’s literally making history with every decision he makes that affects over three hundred million people … it’s insane, but it has to happen.  Who would want to be in that position?  No matter what you do, people will criticize you.”

“Yeah, I can’t imagine,” Scarlet muttered.  “Umm … I’m going to go grab a quick blood bag.  My fangs are throbbing…”

Tom and Rachel smiled at her as the shadows embraced her.

When she left, Rachel took the opportunity to pose her question.  “I need something from the President, Tom.”

“The President?”  Tom asked, head snapping back to her.

Rachel nodded.  “Yes.  I don’t know how much time we have for me to explain, but I need to get on my parents’ good side.  They voted for our current President and really approved of him.  I need a way to show them that I’ve accomplished something important in this crisis; I know I can’t tell them about all of this, but I can imply I did something essential to national security.”

“Okay,” Tom muttered.  “Well, you will be getting The Presidential Medal of Freedom for your service here.  It might be a little bit before we can set that up, but it will be a national thing that’s publicized for your help at South Beach, and we’ll mention that you also aided the U.S. government during this time of crisis in other matters, yes, involving national security.”

Her tail and ears twitched with excitement.  Eat that Nam and Alexa!  I’ll have the last laugh, and this should give me just the fuel I need to get Scarlet and the others into the family.  Maria becoming held up as the beacon of hope for the nation will help a ton, too.

“Thank you, Tom,” Rachel sighed.  “If I may, could I ask you to have the President or even the Vice-President ready for a video call from me shortly after I get back home?  What I have planned is that I’ll call him as I step into my parents’ house; it will put weight to everything I tell them.”

Tom’s smile widened.  “Ever the schemer, eh?  I like your plan, but I can’t promise anything … I mean, their time is pretty stretched thin, as you can imagine, but … I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good, because Scarlet will be coming home with me, and well, with Vampire’s images.  It will take something big for my parents to accept her into the home.”

“Ah, I see now,” Tom nodded, clicking his tongue.  “Yeah, I could see that being an issue.  Well, okay, I’ll have a…”

He paused as Scarlet appeared back in her chair from shadows, three blood packs in hand.  “Okay, back!  Oh, sorry, was I interrupting?”  She asked with concern, glancing between them.

Tom shook his head with a soft smile.  “No, you’re good, Scarlet.  I was just telling Rachel that I’m going to have a plane ready for you guys to head back to Miami in the next two hours; it will only be a cargo plane hauling military supplies for relief, but it’ll get you there.”

“Oh, is that right,” Scarlet said, hiding her lips by biting into a blood pack; her eyes turned red as she sucked up the liquid.

Tom must have sensed the tense atmosphere, but he just continued on like he didn’t notice.  “Mhm, and I’ll have phones waiting for you when you land.  Give me a call when you arrive, Rachel, and I’ll have an answer for you; my number will be automatically programmed in.

“Thanks, Tom.  Alright, then, why don’t we get down to business?”  Rachel giggled.

Scarlet silently moved between her bags of blood while Rachel explained what happened in the alien ship and went into detail about the strange behavior the crystals exhibit.

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