[IC] 'How does it feel to be different?' [Dioxide x Caits]

[Dioxide]

"You pity me? YOU. PITY ME?" Big Boss spoke to the air, uncertain with the blinding light painting the room a garish white.

"YOU SHOULD BE WORSHIPING ME."

With a wild guess, he roared at the top of his lungs, a gargling mess of anger and frustration, as he launched himself in the general vicinity where Cody was. Cody easily dodged the flying mess as Big Boss crashed into wall. Behind the wooden wall laid the concrete foundation that shaped the layout and frame of the room, which Big Boss cracked, the crumbling a spiraling and spreading weakness that spread lightly to the top.

"YOU SHOULD BE BOWING DOWN TO ME YOU INFANTILE INSECT."

Cody continued his light beam barrage at Big Boss, but it was like shooting a cannonball with a firecracker, not with the momentum he was travelling, rampaging through the room blindly, hoping to spearhead Cody. Cody dodged the next lightning-speed charge and Big Boss crashed into the opposing wall.

Gathering his bearings, Big Boss knew that he was at the very far wall where he came in, and he knew that, judging by the material he stood on, that this was the barracks the soldiers made their stand. From there, he felt the ground with his ungodly speed, and threw everything he could get his hands on at Cody, projectiles flying as fast and lethal as sniper rifle rounds. With each grunt, another item was hurled at tremendous speeds at the light Anomaly, each dodged and blocked effortlessly.

"YOU CANNOT BEAT ME. I MAY DIE, BUT NOT TO YOU. YOU ARE NOTHING."

With one more charge, he flew straight into Cody, colliding hard into his shield, both of them flying towards the wall behind them. Here, Cody was pinned, not because of environmental obstruction, but because the moment Cody shifts his attention other than maintaining the strength of his shield, it would be broken and Big Boss would literally pound him to death.

Big Boss then swiftly, with his giant hands, clasped on Cody's neck, and were it not for the shield, it would have snapped inatantly. But Big Boss, with all his rage, squeezed harder and tighter to eventually be rid of this pest.

"IF YOU'RE NOT AFRAID TO DIE, THEN DIE. DIE TO ME."

---

Gershwin had trampled on many vehicles and practically bitten soldiers in half but her antagonists' numbers seemed endless. The pain was driving her and empowering her to new levels of power, while simultaneously transforming her in ways so gruesome and inhumane, but also in ways practical to her offense. It was an odd evolution, for the most practical kind of combat included a mix of defense. But in her case, she grew even more sensitive to every injury and damage, and the more she sustained, the more she became this unstoppable killing machine. Deep down, Gershwin was living a hell so infinitely painful and torturous, it was taking a toll to her already weak sanity.

She had been chasing a military jeep, which crashed through the glass of a large ground floor, the hobby of a building that was once one of many specialist buildings that held a great importance: it was the headquarters of the whole facility.



The once proud logo on the smooth flooring was now charred and cracked under Gershwin's steps, and the jeep had crashed into one of two large spiral staircases near the center of the lobby - the design representing the double helix, DNA, the very thing they were researching in the capture of Anomalies. Nearby, tables and chairs were scattered in a mess and the white walls no longer had their pristine sheen of the futuristic frontier that this place held. Now, it was a showroom, and Gershwin May, a demon-incarnate, a walking Hell, was the centre attraction.

Soldiers had been tracking Gershwin down, and now they surrounded her on the ground, and soon on the upper levels. They shot harpoons that struck and clung to her, pulling her, anchoring her to the ground and even the higher floors owing to her enormous size now. It even electrocuted her and it seemed that Gershwin actually struggled to break free.

Now with focus, Gershwin realized that they had been wearing masks, their whole uniform both combative and protective for contaminants. A soldier walked forward and pulled a pin from a metal canister. Soon, multiple soldiers did the same thing, and they all rolled their canisters towards Gershwin. They soon emitted smoke that was familiar to her: anaesthetic gas. Unfortunately, that was no longer effective. Added to the fact that the electrocuting did not help her containment, she evolved a new ability, something so horribly representative of her unbelievable transformation. She could now breathe fire.

(Author's note: not blue fire, red, because of course, her whole thing is red. :p )

Using her ability had a double-edged effect: she could breathe and spit out fire to an incredible spread and distance, but the flames actually were burning Gershwin's throat, causing yet another source of pain. At the same time, this source of pain increased the effect of the flames, hotter in temperature, larger in spread, and distance spanning the entire lobby. Soon enough, the whole military crew was incinerated.

The flames reached outside, and Agent Caits, just barely, dodged the fire. More soldiers were coming in, responding to the call of cries and pain of the soldiers, and the demonic roar. Gershwin was still pinned by the wire-harpoons, but she was still able to fight.

[MarshiestMallow]

This was going to be a battle of strength, of will. Of power. Cody knew that, as he maintained his armor, his shield, against the crushing weight that was Big Boss. The light around the room slowly faded, as Cody redirected that energy to his shield. He maintained the shield, and stayed as still as he possibly could.

"Your light is dull"

He voice was calm, as if he was merely commenting on the weather. He stared back at Big Boss, knowing that if he were to lose his control, he would be dead. And yet, Cody wasn't afraid. Why should he be? Cody couldn't go back to his home. He would forever be marked as different. There was a boiling anger under his calm, as he remembered the sound his pup being killed.

"I am not afraid, but why should I die by your hand?"

Cody knew that he couldn't maintain the shield forever. The constant pressure, the cracking of it, the fixing of it, it would wear him down. He needed to figure out a way to either free himself, or take Big Boss down.

"Yes, I pity you. Because you can't see how you have dwindled. You aren't a great man"

Cody gathered his power, maintaining his shield, while gathering the last, final attack that he had in his arsenal. Perhaps it would kill him. Perhaps it wouldn't. Cody didn't know. nor, did he particularly care.

"If I die, I die on my terms, not yours"

Cody seemed to explode outwards, his shield bursting, light expanding out, engulfing Big Boss, almost quite similar to an atomic bomb exploding. The light was bright, almost as bright as the sun, and hot, searing everything at once, destroying the walls, the roof, opening up the room, bringing in more light that paled in comparasion to Cody's explosion.

"YOU HAVE LOST"

---

Agent Caits took in the scene, and she began to move, avoiding the flames-or at least trying to. She brought up her gun, firing it at as many soliders as she could, until she ran out of ammo. Agent Caits threw the gun away, starting to make her way closer to Gerswhin, a grenade in hand.

"I'm coming, Gerswhin"

The thought of death had fled. The fear of the fires was nothing. She hadn't saved Gerswhin, only to have her trapped once more. She would do everything in her power to free her, although she didn't know just what she could do. Still, she had to do something.

Pulling the pin, Caits threw the grenade towards the remaining soliders, continuing towards Gerswhin and trying to avoid being fried.

[Dioxide]

Whatever the special move Cody used was called, it was effective. Big Boss' skin was extremely durable, but not impervious and invulnerable. Debris exploded outwards and the two stood in display to the entire world, a vicious, long-fought battle that should have been witnessed to be believed.

Cody stood tall over his towering opponent, downed but not completely out, laying on the ground. The Anomaly of Light was victorious but was exhausted, physically and mentally - never mind the healing and recovery, no one can last this long, especially not just after the confrontation with Big Boss. His opponent was a charred remain of his former self. The radiant explosion had razed off his skin, hair and most of his musculature. His eyelids could not shade the bright light and his pupils now bore a grey colour, scorched completely, blinded permanently.

Big Boss was dying. No being could survive an focused explosion like that. He, however, had one final message before passing.

"You fight without conviction. When you are not afraid to die, why live? How can you be any better than now, without the most powerful impulse of the spirit, the most inspiring motivation of all: the fear of death?"

He raised his right arm, arching it back and attempting a swing at Cody for one last time. The momentum brought and twisted Big Boss' body in half. The blind, egoistic warrior seeking glory and victory died fighting.

No sooner than later, helicopters were circling the open casket of a building Cody blew up, spotlights on the Anomaly, preparing to fire.

---

The anchorages were almost coming apart from their holds, but with new ones being replaced by more incoming soldiers from the ceiling and high peripheral entrances, it was a continuing struggle. However, even if just one arm was freed, Gershwin would be freed. In the mean time, she breathed fire at more incoming soldiers behind Agent Caits. Flames bellowed from her eyes with an intensity that seemed to burn the soul if you stared too long.

[MarshiestMallow]

The seeming motivation few lines shook Cody slightly, and his sightless gaze looked over the horizon that was now visible.

"I'm not afraid to die. I am afraid that others will suffer the same fate as me, and thus I fight for them. You say there is no cconviction when you aren't afraid of death...but you're wrong. It is not my death I am afraid for, it is theirs. Their pain and suffered. You won't harm any of them again"

His voice was oddly calm, and he looked down at the dying Big Boss, a once proud individual who had let his lust for power, and shame of what he was, the fear that he would be turned into a lab rat, control and destroy him. He didn't even bother to avoid the blow Big Boss threw at him, watching as the dull light faded from Big Boss, as he died broken, but died fighting a battle that was worthy of such a man.

He looked up as the helicopters ddescended around him, swaying, exhaustion claiming him. He closed his eyes, letting the light around him infuse his skin, his body, his very essence, dangerously fueling him so close to exhaustion. Yet he only needed a little bit, to stop the helicopters. He fired small balls of light towards them, swaying quite dangerous, nearly falling as he did so.

---

Agent Caits continued to struggle towards Gershwin, eventually reaching her, she gritted her teeth, examing the restraints. She saw the electricity, and cursing lightly, she scooped up a disgarded gun, hoping that it had bullets in it, she began to fire at the restraints.

[Dioxide]

And fall Cody O'Niel did. But the military made no attempt to capture him, let alone near him. The behaviour was bizarre, considering the high-priority offensive Anomaly, a potential governmental asset and R&D goldmine. Yet, it should be obvious, what with the destruction of multiple buildings and indiscriminate killing. They were going to leave Cody O'Niel here to die along with the rest of the place, just as Big Boss said. The only reason for the soldiers to evacuate so soon and so quickly was this: that they were going to eradicate the whole facility by means of stupidly powerful explosives. Cody, in his exhaustion, should be able to orders barked through the radio communications:

Five minutes. Everyone, move out.

After that, an ominous, powerful rumbling hum. If it was a generator, it was a very large one.

---

With the complication that Gershwin was causing, it seemed necessary to ensure her execution, that some military units would have to be sacrificed. The manner in which they will carry this out, however, seemed so ridiculous and unnecessary, it screamed of paranoia and fear. Fear that Gershwin might literally be immortal. The military forces wanted to make sure this thing was not just dead, but actually fucking 100% god-damn dead.

The military vehicles, personnel carriers, and even tanks were making their way out of the facility back through the one entrance in the crater. Soldiers that were trying to contain Gershwin noticed their retreat and reacted as expected: freaking the hell out. Some radioed in, asking "what the hell is going on? why are you leaving us?" Some immediately garnered reason enough to run after them to try and catch up. This left Agent Caits and the trapped demon Gershwin in the giant lobby. Agent Caits had managed to break Gershwin's left arm free from its anchorage restraints. In the next few seconds, the worst was about to happen.

---

On the other side of the crater, vehicles were in formation but were giving a very generous berth to the artillery piece in the centre - though the name supremely underrated the weapon's capabilities as well as its almost cartoon-ish appearance.

(Author's note: No Japanese symbols.)

The whole machine was 48 meters long, the weapon itself making 32.5 meters of it. It was 7 meters wide and was almost 12 meters high. It, however, only needed to house a crew of 5, given its technological sophistication, but splendid simplicity.

Its weapon was transported on an 8x8 wheel platform chassis, and this was steered by an axial 2-tank-threaded driving cabin where the crew was. Only two were necessary in the driving of the massive machinery, and the three functioned its particle-beam energy artillery piece. The technology is used to generate a tremendous amount of energy, able to be fired with a range of over 40,000 meters. In essence, with no more than four powered shots on average, it could atomize an entire city in an hour. However, only one shot was required. The artillery piece had a long charge-up time, but its destructive capability more than makes up for its easily-avoidable vulnerability. Its hum was deafening now, and in no less than 5 seconds, it would be fired.

---

Gershwin watched as the crater wall she could see over the buildings grow a sudden bright blue light, headed straight for her. Immediately, she swatted Agent Caits out of the building's window, throwing her far and long into the air. She knew that she would be badly injured, perhaps dead upon impact on the ground. But it was a better fate than being vaporized by a 20-foot diameter laser. The beam of pure energy shot through and through the building... and Gershwin. A second later, the beam stopped, a trail of red hot cement and liquid metal from melted concrete and foundations, and with absolutely no life in the ray of destruction. The headquarters looked like it never existed, and on the ground, a bubbling pool of blood, flesh, and bone, far too many to have come from one being. It seemed that they were successful.

T-minus 3 minutes.

[MarshiestMallow]

For one brief moment, Agent Caits felt like she was flying. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the ground come up to meet her. The sickening crunch, the bone jarring, breaking smash had her vision wavering, darkening, going away. When she opened her eyes, she didn't know how long she had been out. Her body was full of aches, sickening, sight wavering pain.

She started to try and take stock of her injuries. She was sure that there was something broken-a rib or maybe all of them-on her side. There was something warm and sticky falling down one arm, and as she tried to move it, she was sure that it was dislocated. The bone poking through her skin told her that it was also broken. Stomach rolling at the sight, Agent Caits carefully rolled onto her uninjured side, she threw the contents of her stomach up.

She rose, everything aching or hurting in one way, with some difficulty, struggling to do so. She swallowed around the foul taste in her mouth, and she took a few, stumbling steps. back towards the building. Her eyes hurt, and she raised her uninjured arm up to cover her eyes. She stumbled as well as she could.

If she couldn't save Gerswhin, she could get Cody out.

"Cody..."

Where he had fallen, Cody lifted his head. His sightless eyes looked for the brightness of friends. He managed to push himself up, rising, his body wannted to fall again, but he didn't. He stumbled towards Agent Caits, even as the agent stumbled towards him. Agent Caits looked like one good wind would rip her in two.

"We have to get out of here"

Cody said, his voice shaking. He nearly fell against Agent Caits. They held each other a moment, perhaps each holding the other up.

They began to make their way out.

[Dioxide]

The soldiers cheered and applauded. Two minutes remained before the explosive charges would start blowing up the entire facility. The sheer size of the whole crater meant that using the artillery piece would take literally days, and that was only scratching the surface. There is an entire underground section that the military units busily stuffed charges in. With the little time they had left, they drove away, far enough from the effective blast radius. Any observers who would notice the fireworks in the desert sky or seismic and audio activity would be given the explanation that this was another "natural occurrence of the Earth's many splendid geological activities." All information related to the military move-out and supposed bloodshed that occurred here, as well as the entire history and existence of the UNARM programme and facility will be buried under huge amounts of red tape and fabricated lies. This place will cease to exist.

With Cody and Agent Caits in terrible states, even if they managed to exit the tunnel that led to the open world, they would never be able to escape in time to avoid the blast. The two might as well have been in the middle of it all, and pinned down with metal chains just like Gershwin was.

That was when the ground shook. Agent Caits and Cody stumbled to the ground, thinking that the explosion started preemptively. Agent Caits tried to struggle, and Cody was readying, with what little energy he could spare, to shield the two from the fiery ball of death that was about to come. Instead, the ground did not stop shaking, and it was causing the nearby buildings to shake. One frail building crumbled next to them, and Cody deflected the falling debris. The epicentre was back at the literal centre of the whole facility. Where Gershwin was. Where Gershwin supposedly died.

The two turned back to see that the remains of the headquarters was now glowing a bright ruby red so strong its rays reached the dark sky and pierced the smoke and clouds. The ground before them started to crack and split, revealing deep crevices. Cars and soldiers way beyond fell through, falling and smashing into the depths and sharp walls within. Cody pulled Agent Caits away from a creeping crack and the two made their ways up a building that was stable - for now. They saw the landscape before them burn and break, and the ruby red lights in the headquarters building pulsated and grew more intense, forcing Agent Caits to have to shield his eyes. Cody, however, could see perfectly clear what was going on.

A mighty roar nearly deafened the two, and they were five kilometers away from the scene. Flames erupted in a pillar and crept outwards, spreading between the cracks before rising to the roads, nearly catching the two. A terrible rumble seemed to vibrate through the air and into the very souls of the two, and the divisions in the ground beneath them seemed to emanate howls of the burning souls of Hell. Instead, it was all too familiar; it was Gershwin May, crying in pain so titanic and unfathomable, it manifested in a miasma of terror, despair, and sadness. Within the pillar of flame, she... it... emerged.



It was an unimaginable... being. Cody and Agent Caits could hardly form words or wrap their minds around the idea of this being. It did not possess skin, but was instead comprised of the many bodies that represented the amount of death and pain Gershwin had suffered. She was larger than ever, standing well over 10 stories at approximately 100 meters high. Wings sprouted from her back, made up of multiple broken arms and flames in a fleshy mess. Gershwin flapped her wings, bellowing debris and flames out in deathly gales and before the two realized, she was flying. This... dragon... monster... thing... was flying at them. Then came the boom.

The explosions began, starting from the outer circle, the crater walls crumbling. A ring of fire was growing inwards, threatening to swallow everything up. Gershwin caught the two of them with her fleshy hands. Her fingers were as long as trees, and every surface of skin on her felt like hands reaching out to ingest the two. Before the entire facility was engulfed in flame, Gershwin was free from the blast radius, and flying in the air. The theatricality of the whole scene looked like a monster had escaped from the opening doors of Hell.

The UN sent its military to cover up its mistake, to cover up the dark, inhumane experiments it did on innocent Anomalies, humans gifted with supernatural abilities. They never want anyone to realize the terrible decision and lack of foresight the UNARM programme was, and wanted to keep this all a secret buried within thousands of secrets, armed with machine gun sentries if anyone were to ever find out about this. It was planned perfectly - no one could possibly know.

Gershwin May, in her most terrifying form yet, along with the Anomaly of Light whose potential knows no bounds, and the Rogue Agent Caits who knows their secrets, are in display of the whole world now. Eyes are watching as they see a monster emerge from a blast zone. They will want to know what is going on. Resistance will be met, but they will not give up, they will not give in. The world may not be ready to know the truth, but the world may not be taken away the right to know it.

They tried to end them, but this, ironically, only flamed the beginning, and the fire of their spirit will never fade.

End of Part 1

[Dioxide]

Part 2 - Chapter 4 - Standing Out of the Crowd

Summary of Part 1

UNARM is a UN-funded programme with the purpose of exploring and understanding the existence and fundamentals of rare, exceptional individuals with supernatural abilities called Anomalies. Deep down, however, they are a sinister organization whose leader, Big Boss, is adamant on researching, militarizing these anomalous powers for human gain. Many innocent "Subjects" have died to abuse and torture, and the issue is worsened when the first two real-offensive Anomalies, Cody O'Niel - The Anomaly of Light, and Gershwin May - an immortal manifestation of pain, are captured. This motivates Agents Dioxide and Agent Caits to help them escape. Chaos ensues, and the UN has called for a complete eradication of the UNARM programme. Agent Dioxide dies to the hands of Big Boss who is revealed to be an Anomaly himself. Cody duels and barely wins over Big Boss, Agent Caits tries to escape the military man-hunt for her, all the while Gershwin manifests into a demon-incarnate and single-handedly fights an entire army. The trio, badly injured and distraught, barely manage to escape the facility which blows up in a giant inferno. The UN's attempt to discretely obliterate the facility is thwarted when Gershwin manifests into a dragon-like being and flies off into the night sky. The whole world now worries over such a terrifying being, and there is growing tension over the actions and intentions of the UN military.

The world knows.

It was hard to ignore a flaming 100 foot high dragon-like monster fly into the night sky. The military had been riding off, pre-emptively cheering to their success when they all paused and observed helplessly as their mission for a clandestine obliteration failed. In a matter of moments, weather helicopters and amateur sky-watchers watched and broadcasted the whole scene to social media. Live footage and descriptions were uploaded to all media platforms of this monstrous flying beast as it flew across the expansive, 135,000 square mile large Kara Kum desert of Turkmenistan, over the city and into the A'ershan National Forest Park of inner Mongolia. Reports showed that on its last moments of its flight, the monster had seemed weak and flight patterns showed it was fatigued. No sooner than that, it curled into a ball mid-air before crashing down to the ground. Fires broke out, spreading fast and far among the dry trees. Flame and smoke covered the entire sky as the Chinese military helicopters searched for the monster that was nowhere to be seen, and the forest-fire brigade fought the forest fires hard. Rumour has it that along with the authorized visitors of the park at the time, there were sightings of a man who carried a small woman in his arms. Another woman was within them, clutching her supposedly injured side - but with the stress and pressure to prevent the flames from spreading, this was not followed up on. It's speculated that they were attempting to reach the Russian borders.

Questions were brought up as to where this beast could have come from. Many peopled pointed fingers to the Turkmenistan government for hiding secrets from the world. They admitted to no such faults, but many are skeptical. Many ventured out to the desert and found a geological formation that was recently set to flame. The trained eye would observe that there were buildings, infrastructure, and vehicles that burned in an artificial fire - an explosion, they hypothesized. Almost immediately, the UN sent soldiers to block off the premises and prevent on-lookers from further probing - but this only sparked more curious, flame, and anger as to what was going on that the public didn't know.

Internally, the UN higher-ups put pressure on Ms. Maria Gerda Jordan, who was the deciding vote of the enacting of the UNARM programme, and the leader heading the programme, as to "what the fuck is going on." The German woman sits in her office, dealing with her prepared, heavily-edited notes for the first of perhaps many emergency press conferences on "what the fuck is going on". Many eyes around the world will look to see what she, the face who the PR decided to put to blame on the most recent events, will have to say.

It's been barely a week. There has been no confirmed sightings of Agent Caits, Cody O'Niel, and Gershwin May.

The world knows, and they're worried and scared.

[MarshiestMallow]

Cody looked about the small room. There were no windows. The obly light seemed to come from the small lamp on what seemed to be a roughly made night stand. The single bed held Gerswhin, the couch made up was the former Agent Caits bed. Cody himself slept on the ground. Cody had figured enough to know that this was a secret room within a building. The darkened room was slowing Cody's own regeneration, and his exhaustion had, for the first day or so, been almost comatose as his body desperately tried to repair its damage, and give him the energy he required for even basic activities back.

Caits was currently out. The medical...Cody wanted to say expert, but he wasn't so sure about that, was evidently demanding when it came to his patients satisfactions. Caits was probably the most vulnerable of them all, couldn't repair herself at will like them. Her arm had been nasty, and her side, Cody knew, was black and blue from shoulder to hip. He of course hadn't seen that, but he knew from Caits examinations that this was so. Her arm seemed to give her the most trouble however. Reset, stitched and casted, the weight of the cast seemed to bring about soreness from the dislocation. She never lay down, the pain in her chest making it hard to do so, and at times Cody heard her panting in pain.

Cody knew they were just biding their time here, while Caits held, until Gerswhin woke, if she ever did. He sighed to himself, and began to sing softly under his breath, the lamps light growing brighter as he did so.

---

For the latest Press conference, Maria Gerda Jordan stood confidently. Her notes were in front of her on the stand provided, She looked over the crowd, beginning to give her pre-written speech. Over and over and over again she said the same thing, at all these conferences. Even before she was halfway through the speech, there were questions.

"Just what was the dragon like creature witnessed in the sky?"

Maria let out a slow breath, trying to maintain her patience. "I have already said, that was the result of an experiment gone wrong. We have since contained this, and shut the experiment down. Yes, it was dangerous. Yes, we should have been more aware, but this was not our fault. The three beings found escaping the crash scene are our prime suspects for the release of this dangerous experiment"

"If it was so dangerous why did you conduct this experiment?"

She did not falter. "Sometimes in this world, you need dangerous to survive. Perhaps this experiment may have been what would save the world, if there was another world war. We wanted to be prepared"

"So you kept this highly dangerous experiment a secret?"

What more did these people want? They had stopped the anomaly known as Gerswhin from explodingin the streets if she got hit by a bus, and yet all they seemed to focus on was escape. "Yes. Because believe it or not, there are some things you do not need to know. We deemed it necessary to protect the public from this knowledge"

This went on and on, until Maria drew the conference to a close, by simply walking off.

[Dioxide]

Maria neared her office, but by the door stood her personal assistant Viccar - a young Caucasian man who bit off more than he could chew when his application came successful. He hopped incessantly, desperately needing to go to the toilet but could not afford to piss Miss Jordan off. In his arms he cradled a folder and in it were unorganized sheets of reports that he was supposed to sort out. But when you're the PA for the person most hated and talked about around the world who's shit their pants because of a fucking dragon, you're out of luck.

The two entered her office which was filled with people arguing amongst each other. There were others like him, assistants to their seniors, whose faces were stuck to their monitors trying to find answers. He had to go so badly, and he could shit his pants right then and there and no one would bat an eye - there was a bigger shit storm going on. But Maria commanded huge authority, and everyone knew from her look that she was to be left alone until they were called in again.

"He-he-here's the info you wanted - they've all come within the past 10 minutes... but I'm sure it'll be useless by the next 10... I'll do better."

He excused himself.

---

News coverage and civilian journalists reported that arrests were made with protesters becoming more and more violent as they fight the blockades to the blasted site of the destroyed UNARM facility. Many more people were coming in by the hour, hoping to get the latest scoop on the quarantine site - perhaps they wanted to catch the next beast to come out of the crater.

Many people are choosing to cancel their flights, fearing that the dragon might take to the skies again. Scared stockbrokers and investors are causing the markets to become unstable, owing to the possibility that entire markets could collapse if our governments can't protect them from the beast. General loss of trust is skyrocketing, and the people are calling a joint investigation on the issue.

Social media is littered with false information and false sightings of the dragon with heavily edited pictures, memes, and users spreading rumours like viruses. The dragon has "supposedly been seen flying across Asia, Africa, and Greenland." Maria Gerda Jordan is not exempt from public dissent, being likened to Nixon and Stalin for even allowing the "experiment" to go on. Multiple, confusing keywords were causing mayhem, and the public is being misinformed. Aliens, resurrected dinosaurs, The Rapture, inter-dimensional rift letting monsters through, all the way to "Jesus that's some amazing Photoshop. whatever its fake guys dw"

Thankfully, Viccar had unplugged her phone and her computer for her.

Viccar came back from his toilet break, and asked:

"What are you going to do?"

[MarshiestMallow]

Maria leaned back in her chair, allowing herself a moment to calm herself. She was well aware that she was being left in this crap storm, that she was to be the one to take the fall for all of its, yet she would definetely make sure that she came out of this on top. If she had to take a few people down, then so be it. She just had to figure out how to do that.

Throwing the probably useless file of information onto the desk. She glanced up as Viccar came back in.

"You're right. The files are all useless"

She rose, throwing them off the desk, annoyance radiating through every fibre of her being. "What will I do now? Find every singlel supposed sighting of this dragon, Find out where The rogue would take the subjects. find out where they are. I don't care if it takes all night, find some answers and find them now!"

She picked up the files, and sat back down. On the off chance there was something useful there, she couldn't not go through them. She glanced up at Viccar "Well? Get going!"

---

Former Agent, Caits, now going by the name Maddeline Osteria while hiding, grimaced as she walked. Every step was a jolt up her healing side. In a bag, on her uninjured arm, she carried food, and fresh clothes, the small amount of money she had scrounged up was slowly dwindling, but it enabled her to keep them alive. For now. The help she had, she knew, she couldn't expect to last.

They would have to move, and soon.

She snuck around the back of a building, entering a side entrance, she spoke briefly with what could be considered their in keeper, in flueant Russian, before slipping into the back, hidden room. Cody looked up as she entered, as she had come to expect.

"You're in pain"

Caits didn't deny that, or dignify it with an answer. She set the bag of food down, through some of the clothes towards Cody. She glanced over at Gerswhin, moving over towards the bed, she gently, well aware off Gerswhin's predisposition to pain as a volitle form of increasing her power. They didn't need her going off right then.

[centre]"Gerswhin. I don't know about the whole coma patiences can hear you or even if that's what you are in, but...I'd rather not shove food down your throat. I'll do it. And probably hurt you"

She sighed heavily, turning back to Cody, who shook his head.

[Dioxide]

Viccar threw away the plastic packet of his third biscuit. It was approaching the third hour since he started his investigation and duty-assignment. He had a lot of power bestowed onto you that Maria did not have the time for, but it's not like he was going to get the credit for all the work he did, nor could he complain. It's too late to quit, not when he knew too much - too many dark secrets that would most likely force him into a permanent position within the UN. Some would view that as an amazing feat, but it was laborious, piteous, and even dangerous work. It looked like he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

He keyed in several hot keywords, hoping to find something, but it was hard to sift through so much data when anything true could be deemed useless by the next second. Furthermore, he looked at the location of the dragon crash site, and generalized feasible paths of traverse and escape that the three most wanted beings in the world right now could go through and end up.

He had authorized undercover spies who operated under the table, off the books by the UN. What organization did not have these? Viccar hypothesized that China and Russia were the two most realistic places the trio could go to, but would not leave Kazakhstan out of the question. There were already multiple spies stationed in the two world powers, but barely any in the frozen tundras where they could be. It would take a while for the spies to find them. In that time, they could be gone.

---

Andjela Ivanović was a typical housewife heavily wrapped in garments, shielding herself from the cold winds, trudging through the snow with thick boots. She was also fluent in 8 languages, and an exceptional liar and artist in mimicking body movement. She turned to an insignificant alleyway that saw frequent traffic with many locals. She pulled the gate and walked in, walking to a payphone which looked like it hadn't been touched since the 50's - archaic in tech, but dependable - barely. She moved her lips but did not speak, nodding her head to orders being passed on to her.

She knew what to look out for.

[MarshiestMallow]

After a while, Cody glanced to Caits, drumming his fingers against the side of his leg. He watched her for a moment, before he spoke.

"How much longer do we stay in this place? They'll find us here eventually, and we cannot put the owners in anymore danger then we already have"

Caits gave a heavy sigh, looking over to Cody, she then let her hands drop into her hands, the pain a constant to her, that she no longer noticed it.

"I know, Cody. I've been trying to figure out how we can get out of here, without being seen, I can get a wheelchair no probelm, but we are known to those looking for us, how can we escape without being seen?"

Cody rested his head against the wall, letting his mind wander. He continued to tap his leg, as if he were playing a piano. He was silent for a while longer, letting his thoughts connect and working through an argument in his head.

"I can try and wrap light about us in an illusion"

---

Maria paced her office, waiting for a breakthrough, anything, that might save her own butt. The former agent had information, they knew this, taken from the now destroyed facility. The question was, why hadn't she released it yet? What was she waiting for.Or was it too much to hope that thee Agent had died from her injuries?

Maria knew they couldn't expect that. So she sighed, and returned to her desk once more beginning to write out what could be the next statement. There was so much that she had to try and fix, and yet she didn't have the ability to do so.

[Dioxide]

The scene was hazy and the details were missing, but it was a memory familiar to Gershwin. It was the prompt story she wrote for Dr. Jiang-Ping. She remembered that it was supposed to have a dilemma with a dog between his stick and his life. The story went on as usual; the dog struggled to get his stick while the bird warned him otherwise. Insisting that the dog could do it, he persisted. He then fell into the raging river, as expected.

Except... the bird never rescued the dog. In fact, the bird laughed at its misery. Up and down did the dog's head bob, his vision blurred with the water hurting his eyes and rushing into his noses and throat. The water was cold and it froze his lung muscles. Air was rushing out and the dog could not breathe any more air in. In turn, his panic gasps for air made him swallow water, and it was now worsening for him. He was deep in the rushing waters, and his vision had black dots from oxygen deprivation. He was dying, but the rapids would not allow him the luxury of a peaceful death. The water fell downwards, and sharp jagged rocks littered the waterbed. The first rock broke his left front leg, and the second one sliced his underside. His entrails spooled out of him, and the waters were dyed a dark brick red.

The dog kept bleeding, so much so that the water no longer had its clear transparency, and was now a river of blood so thick and hot it seemed to boil. The dog's head emerged one last time, and next to him, another dog's head, then another. Soon, every bit of surface had a bobbing dog's head at the top. There must have been millions.

Then the scene became clear, and it was not a dog after all.

It was her.

---

Out from her coma, Gershwin sprung upwards, screaming into the air. She fell to the floor, ice cold to the touch, and rushed to the door, banging it hard with her fists. It started to hurt her.

[MarshiestMallow]

"Gerswhin!"

Cody's voice was sharp as a whip, the order within it fueled by his panic. He knew that if she pummeled herself too much, she would have a pain fueled...transformation. Rising, he held a hand out to stop Caits from rushing forwards, instead he closed the distance between himself and Gerswhin.

"Stop. You're safe"

His voice was now soft, comforting, as he very carefully reached out to touch Gerswhin on the shoulder, to try and guide her away from the door, away from hurting herself anymore then she already had. His hand was still the bright pink of new flesh, his nails were all but absent, the slow regrowth of them from his...supernova attack even now happening.

"its okay, Gerswhin. I'm here"

Cody smiled, trying to be comforting, his teeth where bright, shiney. New. That had been the most painful regrowth, teething in a matter of hours after the escape, the pain had been quite unbearable, new teeth piercing already tender gums in what should have been months, if not a years, process. His own light had seared his skin, practically melted his teeth, burned away his nails and hair, leaving him smooth, pink, and as soft as the day of his birth. Cody had stolen clothes from the corpse of a solider, and stumbled towards Agent Caits, even as she had stumbled towards him.

"I told you we'd get out. And we did. And the world knows something happened"

[Dioxide]

"We... escaped?" Gershwin barely managed to utter through her panic shocks and the drastic change in weather she was used to... when she could remember.

"What... happened? Where are we? Where's Agent Dioxide? What happened to you, Agent Caits?"

She took in the decrepit room and it was no longer the UNARM rooms of immaculate condition. The ambient temperature was terribly cold, and it felt like even the shivering was starting to hurt her, cause her great discomfort. She did not feel like her normal self - and that wasn't from her dream; her being bare-clothed was getting to her.

---

Viccar knocked on the door of Miss. Jordan's office. From what he observed, the lady never left the room ever since they got started. She really was a machine when it came to getting what she wanted. Any kink or malfunction in her moving of her gears and the progress of her work, and she will brute-force her way through them. He was about to give her a loose gear:

'Miss Jordan. Uhm. Just got a call... 3 pm Video conference with the political advisers of the US, China, France, and Russia. Computer channel feed 15... About 10 minutes before then.

Uhm... do you need anything?"

---

The twins, ដរា កែវ and ទី កែវ (Dara Keo and Thy Keo) woke up abruptly to the sound of dad slamming the house door hard. They did not own a clock other than the watch on their dad's wrist and his old mobile phone. They did not own any fans so they had the windows open to let the wind - and insects - in. The window shut hard when the door hit the rickety stability of their poor house. Dara, the older one of the two, flipped out of their thin quilt - careful not to wake her little brother Thy up - and slipped into her worn-out slippers. The twins share these two slippers, though Thy always did prefer walking barefoot. These slippers are perhaps the last bit of memory that they have of their mother. She thought back to that day when they were returning back home late at night, a whole family for once. Dad had been saving up money working as a tuk-tuk driver, bringing tourists to places for an average of 3 US dollars. They were planning a night together and that night had come. It was a joyous night, and they did some late night shopping though it was just the one pair of slippers. It was the same night a gang had decided to rob them. Dad thought he could fend them all off... and simply put, the family was never the same afterwards.

Dara snapped out of her lapse, and walked out of the room. The bedroom door never really swung so Dara lifted it up and placed it aside. It was amazing how she lifted it up anyway - Thy usually did all the heavy lifting, and Dara was the more malnourished of the two. The door opened out immediately to the biggest room of their ill-maintained house, kitchen, living room, and bathroom all at once. The Cambodian moonlight was shining through the spaces in the roof. The light illuminated her father's frame, sat upon his big chair.

Dara placed her hand on her knee and said emphatically:

"ខុសឪពុកជាអ្វី?" | What's wrong, father?

"វាជាការខូច។ តុតុរបស់ខូច" | It's broken. The tuk-tuk's broken.

Dara knew this was bad news. Dara and Thy were barely twelves years of age and were in an expensive school for the gifted. They were able to make ends meet when mom was alive. After she was gone, dad had been able to catch up but his depression spawned bad habits of illegal gambling, drinking, and working shifty jobs that did not pay back on time, if at all.

"ងដរមិនគួរឱ្យជឿ" | Unbelievable assholes, the father said.

He almost never swore. This really was a devastating thing to them all.

"វានឹងក្លាយទៅជាមិនអីទេ" | It's going to be okay.

Dad doesn't say anything because they both knew. Repairing the tuk-tuk was going to be as expensive as buying a new one, and with the school fees coming up, they were never going to make it.

Dara tried to pull her dad back to his room, to the large bed that used to keep the happily-wedded couple comfortable and warm, but he would not move. It was late at night, and they both needed sleep.

She told herself she wouldn't do this, but she had to, for the sake of both of them. Dara focused, and soon enough the dad got up and walked to his room, laying still in his bed and was in deep sleep almost instantly.

Dara forgot when was the first time she and her brother realize they were gifted with gifts from the Gods. The twins could do so many things, but fixing this... this was... she didn't know.

She went back to bed, and cried to sleep.

[MarshiestMallow]

Cody glanced away, saddened by the mention of Agent Dioxide. He waited a moment to answer, drawing in a slow breath, and letting it out slowly.

"Dioxide was killed before we could break free. We...Caits escaped, someone got back in to free you. Big Boss called in reinforcements. I ended up fighting him, while you faught everything else. He's dead"

Cody still wasn't sure about how he felt about that. On the one hand, Big Boss had needed to betaken from the world. On the other...he had taken a life. It wasn't the first time, some of those shoulders had died by his hand. It was weighing him down slightly.

"You got us out when they sought to blow up the whole compound, and Caits got us here. Somewhere in Russia, I think"

Cody glanced to Caits, as if seeking confirmation. Caits hereself was debating about what to say. If she said that she was injuried due to Gerswhin throwing her to safety, how would that affect her/

"You thought it would be safer for me to be away from the missle coming towards us and flung me away. I landed badly. But I'm okay"

She gave Gerswhin a smile, "Cody is right. We are in Russia. I have a few...I guess they're safe house about. If you wish to change clothes or have something to eat, help yourself. We need to get moving, if you feel up to it"

---

Maria glanced up as Viccer entered, clearly not pleased by what he said, "A bunch of political dicks that merely want to ensure they aren't going to get screwed over, and try and shift the blame all on us" She shook her head, but she had to play the game.

"No Viccer, i do not need anything. Just find me that information"

Turning away, she growled, annoyed, and frustrated. She leaned back in her chair, and picked up some papers, seeking anything she could use to save her own butt.

[Dioxide]

Gershwin recoiled and almost collapsed in her sudden rush of melancholy.

"No! I mean, no, not yet - not when your condition is like this. I still don't feel like myself.."

"Hah. Who am I kidding? I got us out of the facility, you said? I flung you out, Agent Caits? What even am I...?"

She walked back to the sweat-soaked bed and laid there.

"If you guys do decide to go, leave me here. I'm not going. I'm not... I'm too dangerous to be out there. Hell, I'll walk out right now and freeze myself to death. Or is that going to trigger me too?

Fuck me."

---

Readying herself, she switched the computer channel feed to 15, and up came the different representatives of four major political world powers. Apparently they had begun arguing with each other before the appointed time. Some took video conference's feature of seeing the person face-to-face literally, and stuck their greasy, angry faces right at the monitors. When Maria's video feed came through to their ends, they ceased their bickering, but only temporarily:

"Madame," they all said in unison.

The French spokesperson began with an irate speech he most likely prepared:

"How are we now into tracking down the monster?"

"Asset." The Chinese spokesperson interrupted.

"It's not exactly an asset anymore if it's caused damage and is terrorizing everyone and everything around the world."

"Yet we're not exactly going to get rid of that thing completely - not without extracting what we can out of it," the Chinese spokesperson retorted.

"We can't be seen trying to subdue and keep the monster, however. That will only turn the public face against all of us," the US spokesperson tried to reason. His intentions were unclear, but his goals were certainly for the US gain.

"Never-mind the militarization of the powers of this beast. We can't deny that we have much to learn from its very existence. It could bring light to many of our folklores and legends in history. Consider the advances in how we understand evolution and animal genetics!"

"It's not a fucking animal. It's a monster, you drunken fool. That thing looked like it came straight out of Hell and you're talking about genetics?" The French daringly said to the Russian.

"Ты гребаный мудак. | You fucking asshole"

"I don't speak Russian you vodka-slurping couillon."

"That's enough, gentleman. Let's settle thi-"

"You're enough. You Americans are always looking out for your own end. First it's both World Wars, then it's the Middle East conflicts. Now this? Why don't you grow some actual balls instead of buying from us?" The Chinese berated.

Clearly this was not going anywhere.

[MarshiestMallow]

"I'm not going to leave you, Gerswhin"

Caits said, sighing softly, and trying to figure out what she could say.

"I don't blame you for this. I would be dead if you want. If you hadn't saved me several times in that battle. You did what I wanted to. You were just a heck of a lot better then me at it"

She grimaced, returning to the couch to sit down, and rubbing at her eyes with her uninjured hand.

"Fuck me, Gerswhin, after everything, I'm not going to let you try and kill yourself. Its dangerous here, and it isn't because of you"

The spark of anger made her look up, meet Gerswhin's gaze.

"After everything, you're going to give up? Dioxide died for you. I practically paralysed myself for you, nearly got shot several times to free you when the soliders had you down. I took on an army by myself, I'm not going to let you wallow in self-pity"

She leaned back in the chair, and closed her eyes.

"We'll find somewhere safe, Gerswhin."

Cody's voice was a stark contrast to Caits, soft, and truly genuine.

"But this place isn't"

---

Maria listened to them bicker, and finally she snaped. "Shut the fuck up, all of you"

Perhaps the curse was the strangest thing about Maria's outburst-She was known to have a slight temper, a short fuse. Yet she rarely cursed. She glared, and slammed her hand down on the desk, as if her own words cutting through the crap that the representatives were saying.

"It doesn't matter what interest anyone is has for themselves or others, the fact is, the subjects are out there. Whether they are biding their time before coming to finish us off is apparently nothing to you lot.

What do you think we are doing here, sitting back and twindling our thumbs? No, we are searchign for the subjects, for the rogue agent. I'm dealing with all the shit of the fall out, the media conferences instead of doing my damn job. And now, now I have to sit here and listen to you all bicker like old biddies in a nursing home?

Either shut up, and use your tiny brains or I will, and I swear to god I will, hunt you down and throttle you all"

[Dioxide]

For a long time, Gershwin did not reply. They were both right and wrong at the same time. She did have a right and obligation to live... but she doubted that they could begin to comprehend... the volatility of just walking out the front door. If anything, Gershwin thought she was being selfless by opting not to be with them. For now, she'll go along with them - but in protest, and in extreme exercise for caution.

"Okay," she said tersely, "but out of all of us, you need the most to rest, Agent Caits. Besides, we're in Russia - the biggest country in the world. They could be looking for us here, and we'd be gone before they know it."

---

All the respondents fell silent. One could slice the air with the tension so tangible and suffocating in this moment. The Russian respondent was first to speak:

"Our information tells us the two Subjects and one Agent are most likely within the Russian and Chinese borders, as was ordered by your right hand's direction." That was a remark to Viccar who did a lot of the action for Maria.

"I have liaised with the Chinese government and have isolated the possible areas to be within the Southern borders, in Novokuznetsk near Mongolia. The border and sea patrol have reported no sign of them, so they must still be within the southern tip."

The Chinese respondent added: "Our borders have not seen them either."

The Russian respondent concluded the event with: "One of our Agents is currently in the town where the three targets might be. Her current orders are to monitor and convey information back to us, and to you. Are there any instructions for us or our Agent?"

---

Andjela had a keen ear to listen in to conversations, and a modest, nonthreatening look entrusted by her "fellow community members." She was a part of the society, but she had no connection whatsoever to them in terms of emotional ties. She could not give a damn if she had to kill off some and have to move on and assume another identity. A lot of Agents had morals and let intuition and instinct guide them. FOr her, they'd be lucky to find some semblance of a heart in her. She was to the books.

She was closing in on her third building owner for the day, and was about to execute her plan of "punch first, ask questions while punching" to find the three targets. She could tell she was close. Each consecutive one would tell her that this one owner in a ramshackle building was acting differently from usual; but it didn't hurt to be sure.