3 cylinder growls reverberate off of the concrete and red brick alleys and streets, the midday sun just about peeks through the grey winter skies above. Victoria squeezes the brake pedal on the bike and slowly comes to a halt in a parking spot for bikes. Kaa had just hit in that he had an encounter with Eunos, and had radioed for assistance. 

 

The skinny man rises from a bench by the side of the road whilst she takes off her helmet. “I got here as fast as possible, where is she?” She growls. Victoria had been itching to find Eunos for some time, especially after escaping from the restaurant. She had been driven ragged by the second Emergence, a new load of Emerged roaming the street, some violent, others peaceful. The violent ones were the real headache, causing stacks upon stacks of property damage, and the police needing her help to subdue them. At least there had been nothing truly horrific like some of the things she hears about on the news from America.

 

She kicks the stand down on the Triumph and dismounts. “Chip shop, street over” Kaa says, ever a man of few words. Victoria holds a hand out in the air and her spear materialises with a gust of wind and a clunk, frightening away a few people that were loitering about nearby.

“I’m on it” She hoists the spear over her shoulder and starts off towards the area Eunos was spotted in. 

 

***

 

I had just handed over the change to the teen behind the counter and was about to leave when my gut feeling told me danger might be close, I hurriedly opened the door of the shop, tingling the bell that hung by it. I looked around the street, scanning for anything out of the ordinary when I saw her, Victoria. She was standing by my car, much like she had before, watching me like a hawk. She already had one of her bright shining spears to hand. 

 

I signal her with a wave, trying to bluff that I wasn’t nervous by her presence. A fight is most likely inevitable, I walk towards her, unlocking my car’s doors. “Mind if I put this away Victoria? Don’t want to spoil good food, I’m sure you understand” I gesture towards the bag cheerily, trying to calm my nerves. She grunts with a shrug “Why not, although I doubt you’ll be having any of it murderer”

 

I cringe a little, closing my eyes and remembering the speeding car. I take a deep breath and recompose myself. I know I shouldn't have tried being a hero. I was never very good at it, I didn’t have the courage to stand up to bullies, to try and protect other people, not before I emerged. And even when I did, my attempts to do some form of good to people has lead to others getting hurt. I must admit though, that robbery was fun. I place the bag in the car and lock it back up again. Then I turn back to Victoria.

 

“Well, I’ve never been good at being...good I must admit. I have attempted to be! To be fair” I shrug and her face darkens. 

 

“Well your freedom ends tonight, scu-”

 

“-hang on a sec, if we’re gonna have a fight let me get at least slightly prepared” I point at my car and roll down a window, turning the stereo on and the volume to full. Then I focus on my arm and form the shield. “You gotta have music to a fight scene!” I giggle. The beginning of Hyper Super Power rings out. 

“Graah, you’re so annoying!” Victoria hefts her spear into the air and chucks it at me, I shift my shield to direct the spear upwards and it hits, staggering me slightly. The few people who hadn’t noticed us most definitely had now. Those closest screamed and ran to what they perceived was a safe distance. The spear chinked off of the shield as expected and I launch my body forwards, hoping to force her back to a more ideal position away from my car. She hadn’t expected me to charge forwards and so my shield collides heavily with her outstretched arm, which had followed through with the spear prior. The sound of metal against bone felt pretty agonising in my ears, and I wasn’t even the one feeling the pain. I hit her with enough force that she stumbled backwards and went head over heels a few meters up the street.

 

I check from side to side to see if there were any cars parked in an ideal position and I lucked out. I start one up on the further side of the road and rev its engine, as she begins to get up on her feet I send the car accelerating towards her, just in time she manages to summon another spear and uses the momentum of the car to pole vault her way over it. The tiny hatchback clatters over a kerb and into the front window of a bank where it comes to rest. “Damn, you’re good. I guess you trained your powers and your acrobatics and stuff?” I reckoned if I kept talking, she’d might not attack sensibly. I’d get into her head a little.

 

Victoria snorted derisively. “I don’t converse with criminals” She lobs two spears in quick succession, I block the first which twangs sideways and embeds itself in a Nissan Juke’s boot lid. The second hits the shield directly in the middle, driving me back a few metres. I start up two more and send them towards her one after another, she dodges the first but is clipped and sent spinning off by the second. I charge forwards again and catch her in the chin whilst she was dazed.

 

“Too bad” I tut, looking down at her. My jeans were stained black by rubbing against the tarmac on the road. Whilst she’s down I turn on another car, carefully selecting one with tall enough suspension, and move it to park on top of her, trapping her under the vehicle. I crouch down to look at her underneath “You know, Victoria. If you came at me with an open mind and not insulting me and presuming I am a cold blooded killer, then maybe you might have experienced my nice side, I’ll be seeing you” I left her there, moaning and groaning in pain. She’ll be fine, seemed tough enough.

 

As I was walking away, I couldn’t help but suddenly notice how my body aches all over and I seem to have developed a limp during the fight, all that adrenaline from the fight was slowly wearing off and I became hyper aware that my body was not built for extended melee duels. I pull open the door to my car and settle down in the seat, I don’t have the energy to drive the car physically, so I use my already extended antenna to pilot the car back home remotely.

 

Little did I know I had a tail, and not a furry kind although I must admit having one of those sounded pretty cool, as my RX7 navigated its way out of Hillchester’s outer suburbs a lithe figure could be seen from below skating along the rooftops, leaping from terraced house to terraced house. I was too busy nursing my twisted ankle to notice anything like that, both eyes on the road but my hands were free to massage the worn muscles. It was only when I’d gotten out of town and into the forests near the bunker when I noticed a figure hopping along the road to the right of the car. I switch the hazards on and pull over on the next layby at the side of the road.

 

I opened the door, pushing it all the way with my finger tips. The hooded figure approached with a noticeable bounce in their step, they’re wearing a maroon hoodie and grey jeans. I must admit the jeans looked like they barely fit. I could see that her legs were immensely toned and muscled. The figure pulled down their hood, revealing a set of ears right out of one of a Playboy cover. It was a young woman, who looked in her early twenties for sure. She had a huge grin on her face, which was accentuated by her cute nose that twitches like Sierra’s does. “I’ve been wanting to meet you for so long, you’re Eunos right? I watched that whole fight, you’re so cool. I love your hair” Her mouth went a mile a minute, which was an admirable speed, if hard to understand.

 

“Calm down there Buggs, what’s your name?” I shake my hand in the air dismissively, trying to get the word vomit to cool off a bit, she looks a bit shocked at my blase response. But then she straightens up a bit and resumes.

 

“The name’s Connie, Connie Watts” She gives me a wink and I bite back a remark about the cliche nature of her introduction. “You helped my brother escape from the army barracks, he was telling me how they were trying to indoctrinate them into the army, I’m so thankful for that!” My hand twitches a little at the mention of the breakout, and the consequences of it. I give her a slight smile and nod, at least partially glad I’d helped someone else out too.

 

“So, um, Eunos. I found a curious tidbit of information that you might be interested in. According to my brother, they were planning on moving people to a site further south, a cliffside place near Dover, that might be worth checking out” I should have known this wouldn’t be the only instance of this crap happening. I stamp a foot down, and the horn of my car goes off in frustration. 

 

“Bastards, I was too hopeful that this would be the only case. I’ll have to investigate” They have no damned right to imprison Emerged. “They’re scared of us you know? They’re frightened that we look strange and can do miraculous things they can’t” To emphasize my point I click my fingers and lower and raise the pop up headlights of my car, revving the engine at the same time. “I’m going to show them they’re right, they should be afraid, bunch of wankers” I growl. Connie itches one of her long furry ears.

 

“Well uh, if you need help I’m up for it! I was a kickboxer you know, they wouldn’t allow me to fight after I emerged” She does a few small punches and then does a jump kick in the air, I can feel the air pressure of the kick from where I stand a few metres away, my hair blows about a bit, strands flicking over my face.

 

“Very impressive, I’ll get in touch. I must get back home though, I’ve got food to deliver” Connie nods back and gives me a salute, I step back into the car and close the door. I shuffle through my Mp3 player and select another song, the news had seriously pissed me off and now I wanted nothing more than to relieve some of that anger on the tarmac. I place the car into gear, give Connie a wave and set off, dropping the clutch and spinning up the rear wheels and vanishing back into the depths of the forest.

 

***

 

In no time short I ended up back at the bunker, clutching the still warm bag. I pull open the door and venture inside, the light is on so I assume everything is alright, inside the living room I find Sierra gazing into a mirror, with Esprit standing on her shoulders running a hand through her hair. It made me a little self conscious of my now incredibly messed up white locks, which were straying all over the place after the fight with Victoria. “You took your time Cy, whats up?” Sierra asks, still preening in the mirror. I sigh and limp up to the counter by the kitchen.

 

“Nothing Sierra, carry on. I’ll grab some plates and serve it up” I make sure to stay out of sight of the mirror. I move around the corner and grab two big plates and a small one. I empty the chips onto the plates and put one or two on the small one for Esprit. Then I place the battered Cod on one and a pair of sausages on the other for me. “I’m done Sierra, Esprit” I pick up the small plate and pass it on to Esprit, who had hopped from furniture to furniture to get to the counter.

 

“Oh what is it Cynthia? It smells good!” The tiny creature sniffs at the food and takes a chunk to bite. “Tastes good too!”

 

They’re chips, I hope thats not too much for you” I smile halfheartedly at Esprit, she gives me an odd look momentarily then returns to munching down, Sierra comes up to the counter and grabs her plate, before returning to the sofa and switching on the laptop, which she and Mike have rigged to an old projector they found in a storage closet in the back, she loads up a TV catchup website and yadda yaddas the TV license warnings away. I leaned against the counter, picking at my food a little, resting my foot on a pillow I’d kicked across. 

 

Out of the blue Sierra boots up a local news site and squeaks. Right up front is a photo of me, deflecting one of Victoria’s spears. The headline reads: “Despicable Eunos defeats Victory Victoria!” With the sub-line:  “property damage at an all time high thanks to brawl in Hillchester suburb” She looks back at me, mouth hanging open. Her eyes searching my body from head to toe, you could almost see her brain working. She springs out of her seat and rushes forward to hug me. “Cy! You must be exhausted! Are you injured?” She tugs at my blouse, threatening to stretch a rip in the side of it wider. I patted her on the head, hoping she doesn’t accidentally rip me a crop top. “I’m alright, I think. I rolled my ankle though, so I have a bit of a limp” I wince as she pokes my midriff “Alright maybe a bit bruised” Esprit hops up, using my pocket as a hand hold and begins to poke around the rips in my clothing.

 

“I should be able to repair this, although I wouldn’t recommend fighting in such flimsy clothing. I may have not paid much attention when I was being taught my history but I was super good and designing and making stuff!” The diminutive Pixie pulls up a sleeve and flexes an arm  “What would you like me to make for you?” Esprit was offering to make me like a super suit? They were certainly right, my clothes had taken an absolute battering and it was going to be expensive to keep replacing them, also the risk of a wardrobe malfunction is a big no. I reach out my hand.

“I’ll take your offer on that Esprit!” Esprit grabs my finger and shakes it, creating a pact which I at this point didn’t know would lead me down a very curious path indeed...