Oh, y’all are gonna hate me. But it’ll be worth it.
——————————–

“I am standing here at the main campus of the Specialized Institution For Research And Recovery, better known as SIFRAS, where witnesses say a massive explosion occurred just hours ago. As you can see here behind me, the center of the complex has been reduced to rubble and ashes. I am..” She pressed a hand to her ear, listening intently. She nodded a few times, and then looked directly into the camera.

“This just in: monsters loose in the city! Phone calls and mails are pouring into the station with claims of strange creatures roaming the streets and a – oh, I don’t believe this, Luke – reports of a person dressed in glowing red armor leading the creatures away from the city. Could this be for real? Join us with the real story, at 10. I’m Sonya Reading for channel-”

With a click, the reporter’s spiel was silenced mid-sentence.

“Explain this.”

“Sir?”

The man pounded his fists against the oak table. “This! How did this happen? How did they get in? And where are they now?”

“We’re searching the area, but the tracking devices seem to have been damaged, possibly in the-”

“Find them.”

“Sir?”

“FIND THEM! And kill them. I no longer have need for them.”

The secretary nodded, rapidly typing a note into his smartpad. “Will that be all, sir?” The older man waved his hand absentmindedly. Taking the cue, the younger man bowed slightly, and backed out of the office, closing the heavy door behind him.

He sighed as soon as he was out of sight, and ran his free hand across his face, sending his glasses upward. He pulled the frames from his face, and stuffed them in his jacket packet. From this same pocket, he withdrew a slender phone. Flipping it open, he dialed as he walked briskly down the hall, away from the madman that ran the company, and toward his own private chamber.

Listening the unanswered ring, he prayed silently and swiftly. “Please pick up,” he muttered. “Don’t do this to me. Please pick up.”

He reached his office door still praying and cursing under his breath. Squeezing the small device between his cheek and shoulder, he punched in the unlock code on the keypad, and pressed his thumb, index and ring fingertips against the blank screen next to it. With a soft hiss, the door slid open a few inches. Just as he stepped into the airlock, both his phone call and his prayer were answered.

“What?” he heard through the phone.

“Thank Goddess, you’re safe.” Allowing his smartpad to clatter to the floor, he pressed his fist to his forehead in a sign of thanks to the Goddess.

“Is that all you called me for, Trace?”

“Goddess! I was so worried about you. I saw the news. Look, where are you?”

“We’re safe.”

“All of you?”

“Yes. Sort of.”

Trace’s heart jumped in his chest. “What? What happened?”

“I succumbed to the breakdown and Sugar went berserk.”

“Oh, Goddess. Mae! So Sugar…” he trailed off.

“.. caused the explosion,” Mae Dayton finished for him.

“Can she function?”

“Oh, she functions. A little too well, if you know what I mean. Why didn’t you tell me that this could happen? What else did you hide from me?” she demanded with an accusatory tone.

Trace slipped to the floor, hugging his knees against his chest.

“I told you everything I could. You know they watch me almost as closely as they’ve always watched you. If they knew about us…” Shaking off the sudden sick feeling in his gut, Trace changed the subject. “Anyway, the old man is pissed. He wants all four of you dead. Effective immediately.”

“Shit,” Mae muttered. “Zo still doesn’t have full control, and we can’t get Daytona’s chains off to release her powers.”

With a quivering voice, Trace asked,”How is she? How is.. Daytona?”

Chuckling, Mae answered, “She’s as fine as you could expect. Now get out of there, get over here, and greet your mother and sisters, girl.”

Trace’s back and shoulders shook as she cried tears of relief and shifted back to her original feminine form. “I’m on my way, sis. I’m on my way.”

Okay, the rest of part 7. Part 8 is coming soon. The end is nigh? We shall see…

—————————————-

Long after everything was over, Mae would remember thinking that it happened just like in the movies.

Time stopped, then started again in slow motion.

She heard herself screaming her sister’s name. Saw the bird-thing attack. Saw the fear on Sugar’s face. Saw the weapon fall. Saw the weirdest, prettiest, pale blue swirling around her twin’s body.

Saw the bird-thing explode into bloody bits.

Sugar collapsed, and Mae lost the lunch she was fighting to keep down.

And now, Mae was seeing those swirls around her sibling for the first time in 20 years.

“Oh, shit,” she said quietly.

Daytona cocked her head, raised and eyebrow, and nodded once, as if to say Glad to see that you remembered. Now stop her!

“Sugar-”

“Sugar Dayton, I guess that’s your name, right?” Zo cut in. “Look, I may not like you, but you’re going to get us all killed if we don’t get out of here soon.”

Sugar cut her eyes at the teen girl. The oxygen level dropped sharply as the air swirling around her picked up speed. Specks of blue light flashed in time with her words.

“Silence from you, little girl! I came to help my sister, not to save you. All my life, it’s been ‘Sugar, be sensible, be responsible, be a good girl and help your twin.’ I have had ENOUGH! For once, I will do things MY way, and there is no one who can stop me.”

“I’ll stop you if I must,” Zo stated confidently.

“And I would very much like to see you try,” challenged Sugar.

“Um,” Mae interjected. “Maybe we just need to worry about.. getting.. uh..”

Painful cramps twisted Mae Dayton’s gut into knots. Her breathing became, once again, ragged, and she dropped to her knees fighting for air.

“Mama!” Zo shouted.

“Mae?” Daytona stepped forward, reaching for her first born.

Sugar blocked her sister’s body with her own. “Back! Both of you. Mae is mine, and this is our fight.”

“But she needs help -”

“And I will help her. I’m the one who has been with her this long. Not either of you.”

“That was out of our hands,” Daytona said patiently.

“Stay. Out. Of. My. WAY!” Sugar growled. She bent over her sibling’s body, and enclosed her in the bubble of vicious air currents.

Almost done with part 7. Whew!

————————————-

“Shoot it, Sugar!” 7-year-old Mae Dayton shouted to her twin.

The girls were on their first unsupervised mission. The “it” in question was a large bird-like creature that appeared to have escaped from Earth’s distant past. Part lizard, part mammal, it flew overhead, circling the twins. The squawks and squeals it released from its sharp beak sounded to Mae liked cries of distress. She closed her eyes to block out the sound, and concentrated on tracking its movements without losing her grip on the lunch that was threatening to erupt from her mouth.

Armed with a cross bow and short, steel arrows, Sugar Dayton ran after the creature, stopping every few feet to line up a shot. Sweated beaded her brow and coated her palms. She had to force herself to keep a strong grip on her weapon.

“It’s moving too fast, Mae Day!” she called to her sister. “Can’t you do something? You’re connected to that thing right now, right? Since you drank that stuff?”

“It didn’t taste too good, though. I feel sick.”

“Well, well, I don’t know,” Sugar said, flustered. “But we have to do something. The director said we can’t come home until we catch this stupid bird.”

“So shoot it!”

“I can’t get a shot. Besides, this thing is heavy. It’s not like it was in class.”

“Shhh! I’m talking to it.” Frowning in concentration, Mae sat down on the grass, and reached out to touch the creature’s mind.

Um, Bird? Mr. Bird? she called silently. She felt something old and non-human brush against her thoughts. Shuddering involuntarily, she tried again. Mr. Bird?

Who’s a bird, girlie? it answered.

Um. She hesitated.

THEY sent you, didn’t they? Those SIFRAS bastards. Huh.

Here, Mae heard was sounded like a snort, and then the bird continued.

Don’t trust them. They stole everything from us. I’m the last of my line. They’ll tell you that I am a dangerous creature, but they’re the real animals.

But Mr. Bird, Mae said in her mind, I have to take you back.

Then I’m sorry girlie, but I will have to resist. Tell your mirror over there to watch out.

Mae felt herself falling through a long, dark tunnel. Her eyes snapped open as she hit the bottom, and she yelled, “SUGAR!”

And watched in horror as her sister dropped the cross bow and threw up her arms to protect her head from the razor sharp talons headed straight for her.

I have a feeling this is going to be long, so I’m breaking it up into at least two parts, maybe three, in order not to overwhelm you. Enjoy.

EDIT: I have no idea why the program is not allowing me to space between paragraphs like I usually do. I’m working on. Please bear with me. Thanks!

————————————————–

“Bull. SHIT!” Sugar Dayton spat at the woman. “What mother? Where the hell were you when we were locked up and being tested ‘for our own good’? Where the fuck were you when those assholes sent two 7 year old girls out to hunt a monster by ourselves? Mother? Kiss my ass!” Sugar finished with a scream.

Half-listening to Sugar’s ongoing rant, Mae searched her memories for answers.

It’s short, but… I don’t think y’all are ready for this.
————————————-

Sugar Dayton jammed her right hand into her jacket and whipped out one of her guns. She whirled around to face the stranger, the muzzle of the weapon rising as she took aim. She needn’t have bothered; the weapon was knocked out of her hand with a length of chain that came flying toward her face.

She jumped back and landed in a fighting crouch. Rapidly, she calculated distance and odds without pausing to focus on the new threat. She flicked her eyes over to her sister to send a signal to the other woman, and found Mae standing transfixed, staring at the newcomer. Since no one was moving, which meant no one was fighting, she slowly rose to a standing position, hoping to make some sense of what she saw.

There were two females standing in the ill-lit corridor. The first was older; her shoulder stooped slightly as if life had been beating her for years and years. Her head was shaved; the little hair visible was flecked with white. Her tank top straps were loose; the left one rested on her upper arm, leaving her shoulder completely bare. A black bar code marred the smooth skin around her collarbone. Metal cuffs, each with its own short chain, graced both wrists and ankles. Her feet were bare. Cowering behind her, however, was the real shock.

The girl from the monitors looked just as damp as she did onscreen. Glowing symbols swirled around her, rippled up and down her limbs, and seemed to escape her lips as she breathed. Her eyes darted around nervously, but when they landed on Sugar, they grew dark and hard.

Shocked by the hatred in the gaze, Sugar turned away, and looked to her twin for guidance.

“Mae?”

“I don’t believe it,” Mae muttered. Her body swayed with emotion as she repeated the same phrase again. “I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it,” the elder newcomer spoke gently. “Things are not always as they seem. Especially in this place.”

“Anybody care to fill me in?” Sugar inquired.

The young newcomer hissed in Sugar’s direction. Taken aback, Sugar curled her lip up into a sneer. She thought to herself, This little bit-

The older woman spoke again. “The time has come for a end to this,” she announced. “The four of us standing here can make it so.” She turned, and spoke to the girl behind her. “You have something to say?” she prompted.

The girl stepped forward, and reached out to a trembling Mae. “You came for me,” she said, in a surprisingly sensuous and mature voice. “I waited for you, and you have come. I have been blessed by the Goddess on this day!” She shouted triumphantly. “I never gave up hope that you would return to save me.”

“But I didn’t save you,” Mae muttered. “You got out before I got there.”

“No, no,” the girl retorted, shaking her head vigorously. “It was your coming that gave us the strength.”

Mae looked lovingly at the girl, and then turned her attention to the older woman. Tears formed in her eyes. “And you-”

“Nope, I don’t need to know what’s going on,” Sugar grumbled. “I’m perfectly fine standing here like an idiot.”

Three pairs of eyes shot her looks, each one dirtier than the last.

“I’m just saying,” Sugar said.

The girl spoke up first. “I am Zo! The Wielder of Fire, the Keeper of the Eternal Flame. And I don’t like you,” she sneered.

“Zo,” Mae warned. “That’s not nice.” Zo muttered something foul
under her breath and looked away.

“And you?” Sugar asked the older woman. “Who might you be?”

“I,” the woman proclaimed regally, “am Daytona, emissary of the Goddess, leader of Her army.”

“Eh?” Sugar questioned, confused.

“And,” she added, “I am your mother.”