Akaisha ended the call with Dave on a peaceful note. Which is surprising. Sometimes he made her feel annoyed. She hadn't wondered how he knew about her being in the hospital too, no matter how brief it was. There was a time she had felt that he liked her more than a coworker, but then one day that feeling was gone. It was as if they wiped the notion from his head. It didn’t bother her that the feelings vanished. A part of her thought to ask, but she didn't care to have any romantic entanglements with anyone. She finished drying off and got ready for bed. The cool satin sheets felt nice against my skin. Blue jumped on the bed right behind her. She dug her nails into the bed, scritching and scratching against the sheets until it was soft under her paws. “Blue? Are you finished?” She looked up and scratched again. ‘Not yet. Just … about… done..’ She finally laid down. Akaisha rubbed between her ears. Then the two of them fell asleep. The next day was gloomy. It was because of the dark c
Akaisha was sitting in the car, looking out the window. The FFACs glided in the sky above her head. The cars were at a standstill because of traffic. Pedestrians hover walked across the road or stood there motionless as the sidewalk moved for them. This was the world she came to know after the rumors of vampires causing the end of the world. History would never mention the truth, only that a virus broke out and zombies appeared. The authorities extinguished all the zombies. Their world now allowed for the preternatural beings to flourish and live side by side with humans. Who repopulated the world once more. When Akaisha's mind was at ease, she could control the freaky problems she had. Meditation had become her friend during her stint in the psychiatric hospital. It was during those times of meditation she wondered what her life would have been like. If her parents hadn’t disappeared. She hadn't fallen prey to a psycho. If she had lived a normal and loving life. Sadly, some of her me
Blue pranced to the car. When Akaisha opened the door, she eagerly sat in the front seat. Her head plastered to the window, looking out. A tongue print had formed on the glass. Where are we going? Isn’t some place fun? Where? Where? Where? Akaisha wanted to open the window, but now wasn’t the best time. Her windows had the darkest tint. It was hard to see who was inside. In her panic, Akaisha bolted from the restaurant. Leaving Dave there. She hadn't eaten all day. This wasn’t the best decision. “Blue settled down, girl. We’re going for a drive.” Blue turned in a circle a few times in the seat before she laid down on to relax. Her head rested against her front paws as her body curled in itself. Akaisha reached over to press the different stations to find something soothing when she heard the emergency alert system going off. The static of the radio caused Blue to lift her head. “Attention! Attention. Police are looking for an armed female. Believed to have taken out armed suspects.
Unwanted Assistance The police were all searching for her. There were several units patrolling the area. Sergeant Acheki knew it was rare for an individual to display multiple powers. Most of them would use a maximum of two, usually never more. There were a small few that could use three, but Akaisha wasn’t normal. She showed the use of three, maybe even more. They considered her a superhuman. It gave him a guilty conscious. It was illegal to use any form of superhuman traits, even if she was doing it for a good reason. Saving lives and stopping a robbery in progress was amazing. Akaisha was, by definition, breaking the law. Unfortunately. He was back at the station, trying his best to look into her. Any information would do at that point. Something. Anything at all. Thinking her name in the search box didn’t yield any results. It was abnormal. Something should've come up, but not even a dob. “What are you hiding, Miss Morningstar? Why can’t I find anything about you?” His eyes scan
Professor Mozart kept driving down the road before he reached an area that seemed the same as everything else they had passed by. Same mountains. Same rocks. Same everything. The silence in the car was deafening. Neither spoke to the other. He knew in his heart that once he told her everything, she would have understood what was going on. She would want to help him. He didn't need to resort to shameful tactics. If she didn’t understand, then he was proud of using her trash father’s face as a way to get closer to her. It was better for him to have every potential outcome known to him. So that he could have a plan for it. If it came down to her rejecting him. What could he do or say to get her to help him with this mess he unwittingly made? That mistake was surprisingly hostile towards him. They arrived at a seemingly normal patch of mountains. The only difference in front of them was the two cacti. The arms on them made it appear as a goal post. He pressed a special button on the car t
Her eyes bore into him, trying to discern his intent. His face was a mask. Not even a twitch of his brow gave anything away. He was better at keeping his emotions in check. “Where should we look for this animal?” Akaisha was worried about Blue’s safety. Considering how she wasn’t sure how big this thing was or what it even was. Were they actually sure that the animal left this secret compound or was it hiding somewhere within it? “Fortunately, during my experiments, we put a tracker inside of its leg.” He smiled at her. It was a smile filled with secrets and lies. “So, we should be able to find it with this.” He held up a small device with a screen attached. “I just need you to use any of your abilities to bring it back safely. Emphasize on the word SAFEly.” He went rummaging through several drawers, looking for something. He muttered curses when he couldn’t find it. “And if I don’t? What will you do?” She was testing him, he knew that. She was always defiant towards him. He motione
Akaisha looked at the trifling man next to her and could only swallow. The longer she stood next to him, the more he disgusted her. Bile welled in her throat. Burning as it sat there begging to come out. She swallowed it down, repeatedly. How could he do something like this? Create something so mix mashed. Why would he do something like this? Experimenting on a child is one thing. Gruesome and horrific alone, but an extinct animals was something only a madman would conjure. Could conjure. Her eyes narrowed into slits. She just stood there. What could she really do? Did she actually want to help him capture an animal that shouldn’t exist? Yet, she had given her word and her word was just as good as shackles. Professor Mozart did teach her that “Your word is your bond. If you agree to do something, then you should keep your word so you didn’t come across as a liar.” Akaisha could only sigh softly. That thought rolled around her brain. She hated it. Better to be a liar than to help this
If Akaisha focused really hard, she could imagine the device in her hand. Feel its weight and shape of it. Her eyes closed, blocking out the cries of pain. The whirling of machines. The beating of her heart. After a few minutes, a slight weight settled in her palm. She opened her eyes and exhaled in relief. There in her hand was the tracking device. The very one the professor held in his hands just minutes prior. Giving Misty a small smile, she threw it down to the floor and stomped on it. Misty had run to the assistant to help Blue out, and with one swipe of its paw, the man was down on the ground, unconscious. His wrist mangled beyond normal repair. The hand flopped to the side, held together by a few ligaments and skin. Akaisha hurried towards the two of them. Cuddling Blue into her chest, she wrapped her arms around Misty to teleport them all outside. “You two are ok?” Blue panted happily, her soft, wet tongue lying outside her mouth. “I fine. Stranger down. Who this? Smell funny
Professor Mozart arrived at the hospital just in time. He walked in like a flash of lightning. Wind billowing his trench coat behind him. He blurred on the cameras. A nurse recognized him immediately. Rushing up to greet him. “Do you need anything, Professor Mozart?”He began to wave her away, but stopped in mid-action. “There was a young man that was rushed here. He has no family. I heard he was in critical condition.”The nurse snapped her finger. “Right, his name is Junior Isaacs. Are you perhaps related to him or?”He shook his head. “No, I’m not.” He lied immediately. It was a habit by now. “It reminded me of my adoptive daughter. She had no family and suffered through an unfortunate house fire she was saved from. It's a shame. And if the young man is critical, it would be a shame to die surrounded by robots, machines, and strangers. Not that I would be any better, but I would be a somewhat familiar face.”She added her own statement to his response. “Because you’re so widely kno
Once she got back to the office, Ralev was nowhere to be found. She didn’t look for him either, outside of a passing glance around the room. Akaisha went in search of Mitchum. She wanted to give her updates on the interview. As she reached Mitchum’s office, Ralev was coming out with a grim expression. When he saw her, he turned his head, effectively ignoring her. She shrugged her shoulders and went inside the office.“If it's not about a topic, come back when I’m less busy.”Akaisha spoke up hesitantly. “Um… I wanted to talk to you about the professor. But I guess Ralev already told you how the interview went?”She looked up and smiled. “No, he didn’t. So, tell me what happened? It could explain why Ralev is on one today.”She explained in as few words as she could. Mitchum laughed. “Oh, girl, that is a riot! Did you really do that?”“Well, yeah? You wanted me to g
Ralev gave a quick knock on the door before letting himself in. Akaisha thought it was strange, but let the thought pass. Ralev had been working with journalists for a long time. Who knows how many times he was there to interview that man? She followed him inside. The professor sat on the sofa looking as regal and put together as he always did. Even when she was a child, he would want no one to see him looking disheveled. He gave them all a smile. It faltered just slightly when Akaisha stepped around Ralev. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. How long has it been since you’ve been here?”Ralev answered. “A while, but we have a new journalist for you to break in. She’ll be giving the interview. This is Akaisha.”She stepped forward with a tight smile. “It’s so good to meet the man behind all the wonderful inventions and charities that we have now.” She went into reporting mode. “You said you have some news
Akaisha and Dave were able to go home at the break of dawn. Doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with them. The cuts and bruises were healed hours after they were in the hospital. Dave seemed different to her. She couldn’t put her finger on it.When the two of them were leaving the hospital, Sergeant Acheki was waiting for them. He had questions and needed them for his report. “Akaisha? Can you tell me what happened?”She looked into those pure eyes, knowing the worst horror he had ever seen was what Junior looked like going in, and refused to speak about it. “I need to get home. I have work.”He touched her arm. “We need to talk about it.”“All we need to discuss is how Amethyst will be able to go home later today.”“That’s something the doctors will have to tell you. We need to discuss what happened in that building.”“Later. I’m leaving.”
She breathed out, knowing they were close by, but there was no time to wait. They needed to get free. They needed to get them inside. Dave stood there awkwardly in his furry form. There wasn’t anything she could do to get him to fight Junior. It was up to her. “Í don’t know what to do. Junior can open portals. I don’t have that ability.”“I see. If you could steal that ability, then we could come in.”She shook her head. There were only a few ways she would be able to do that, and she didn’t want to use Amethyst blood to do it. “Where’s Amethyst? Is she out there?”“Yes, she’s in the back of Jalefel’s car. There’s bruising on her arms and puncture holes, but she’s fine.”She nodded, knowing Misty couldn’t see her. Akaisha had to act fast. Junior was dragging her over to the table with the beaker. A million
It was only a nanosecond, but that was just the time he needed to get away. When Akaisha looked back down to end Junior, he was gone. She screamed in frustration. “AHHH! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? He’ll come back. He’ll do this again and again until he gets what he wants. He needs to die. No thanks to you, we’re going to be looking over our shoulders until he’s caught.”Dave sighed. “We shouldn’t kill him. He’s still our brother! He’s the professor’s only son. His lineage needs to live on.”She went to the tube with Amethyst inside. She pressed several buttons and pulled a lever. A drain opened at the bottom of the tube. It sucked out the water. “He’s not my brother. I never claimed him or that man. If you’re still so hard on wanting to be recognized by that idiot, then you shouldn’t have asked me to help you. To protect you. That shitty bloodline needs to
She wiped her mouth and came away with blood. Akaisha spit it out on the stone floor. “Well, aren't you a big man? Smacking a defenseless woman.”Junior laughed. “Defenseless? The hell you are. I know what you can do. I’ve studied you. I'm just like you, but only better.”She stood up. “If you're so much better than me. Why don't you let Amethyst go and we can settle who's the favored child? That's all this is. You throwing a tantrum over Daddy.”Junior ran at her in a blur of motion, knocking her into a wall. She hit a box, causing sparks to fly. He yelled at her. “I'M BETTER THAN YOU! STRONGER AND FASTER! TAUNTING ME, won't do you any good.”She crumpled to the floor, catching her breath. “Whether I taunt you or fight you. You're still just throwing a tantrum.” She staggered to stand. “Admit it. You’re doing all of this just so that psychotic man will look at you. It's patheti
She knew that. She knew he wouldn’t let her be. She would never be free of him or his sociopathic son. “You haven’t bothered me since I ran away. Why do you care what I do now? Just tell me where Junior is?”“Will you kill him?”“Why does it matter? It’s not like you ever paid any attention to him.”“That’s where you’re wrong. Junior is my son. He is my mini me. Another version of myself. I wouldn’t dare give his whereabouts to someone that wanted to kill him.”She didn’t know what else to do or say to him. In his twisted way, he was trying to be a good father, despite the fact that one of those people that Junior took was Dave. “And will you forsake two of your children for one?”He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”“Junior abducted Dave. He wants my life and Dave’s abilities in exchange for having my coworker rel
She was angry. Her whole life junior refused to acknowledge her existence, but the moment she actively used her abilities and became comfortable having them, he wanted to come out. He wanted to take them from her. Akaisha looked into Jalefel’s beautiful hues. “I need to rescue them.”He stammered. “H-how are you planning on doing that? This is a matter for the police. For my unit.”“No, I can't let you or your team search for him. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”“Neither do you. This isn’t something you should do alone.”She gave him a weary smile. “I won’t be alone. Did you forget, I have my trusty pit bull, Blue, and genetically modified creature, Misty?”He sighed. “You can’t go to wherever he is with those animals. Blue is registered as an endangered breed. If something were to happen to her and you survive, you could go to jail for animal endangerment. Do you want that? And what about Misty? Did it ever occur to you that Junior could capture him? He could be working with hi