Xander vol.1 Transmutation (18 page)

“
And what for? What’s the
motive? World domination?”

“
He wants a revolution,”
she explained. “An
evolution
. Mankind’s next
evolution.”

“
What, he thinks he’s
helping?” Elba turned to his left in his seat, turning on the
confiscated security footage of the lab at the community
college.

It featured the Chimera
known as Stephanie with her hand wrapped around the late Cynthia
Brown’s neck, visibly draining the life from her. Her colleague was
already dead on the floor. Elba stopped the video just as soon as
he had stared it, his eyes narrowed in aversion as he looked back
at the slightly cringing Nora.

“
He calls
this
helping?” Elba
re-uttered. “I call it murder. And so does the majority of the
population.”

Nora frowned, staring at
the frozen footage.

“
They call it
Darwinism.”

“
Victims. Where are they
and what are their abilities?”

“
He’s got them in volts in
the far ends of the forest – heavily guarded. There’s Eleanor – she
can see truth. Sense it. A human lie detector. Or – well, not
anymore. And Theodore – the mechanical shapeshifter. He can
transform any or all parts of his body into any weapon he knows the
ins and outs of.”

Elba gave a slow nod,
re-crossing his arms in consideration.

“
I can see why they’ve got
him locked up. But you? Eleanor? A tree hugger and a woman that
can’t lie.”

“
It doesn’t matter what we
can do,” Nora argued. “it’s the fact that we’re against
him.”

“
And I wouldn’t
underestimate the power of nature – nor truth,” Xander spoke up.
“I’ve heard of your ‘natural disasters’, and it seems you do that
quite often.”

“
Touché,” Elba complied.
“I’m assuming you were locked up as well,” he said, directed
towards Nora.

“
Yes.”

“
How did you
escape?”

Nora paused. “They
confined me in a place of
nature
and expected it to
contain
me.”

“
Right … Well, do you
think you could lead a team to these locations to recruit the other
Chimera?”

“
Why do you want
them?”

“
Don’t you? If we’re going
to stop this guy, I’m guessing using his creations against him will
do some damage.”

Nora hesitated, glancing
up at Xander who seemed to be agreeing with him. Her hands
tightened in her lap.

“
I need your word that you
won’t hurt them. If they’re any level of afraid as I was, any sense
of a threat will only –“

Elba raised his hand to
stop her, giving a nod and a slight grin of
understanding.

“
Yeah, we’ve learned the
hard way about that. With now
two
Athenians.”

“
And two Guardians,”
Xander added.

“
We won’t make the same
mistake with Chimera.”

Nora gave a slow nod of
easing relief.

“
That’s why you and spark
plug here are going to go get them,” Elba continued.

Nora’s face fell, while
Xander’s perked up.

Chapter 16

“
Are you sure this is it?”
Xander asked, blindly following Nora through the shockingly dense
forest, far on the outside of town.

Nora grimaced, keeping her
pace. She actually wasn’t sure. But it was her best bet of
direction in where the vault was.

Nora was to be stationed
at the South end, furthest away from Clemming because of her
outspoken protest against the project, and her verbal threats to
expose it.

Theodore was stationed at
the west end, which was where they were headed now. And Eleanor was
stationed at the east end, which was their next stop.

“
I know it’s somewhere in
the west of the forest,” Nora stated, glancing back at Xander. “We
can’t be too far.”

“
Why don’t you climb a
tree and see over head?”

Nora’s neck craned upwards
as she looked at the sky. A chill ran through her as she gave her
head a shake, and picked up her pace. Nature-woman or not, heights
were not her thing.

“
It’s not far, now. Any
minute we should see some sort of –“

Nora was cut off by the
sound of a distant, but warning growl. Far bigger, and far louder
than anything that was normally found in the wooded areas. They
both froze in their steps, Nora’s eyes far wider than Xander’s.
Nora looked back, slowly, cautiously, at Xander, who was curious of
the sound more than anything.

“
Is … Loni joining us?”
Nora asked, hopeful that the frightful noise had at least come from
a source that could be controlled. But seeing Xander scoff in
laughter made Nora’s blood run cold.

“
She’s with your
authorities.”

Nora sighed, her eyes
closing momentarily as that glimpse of hope fell away. She had
stopped walking, while Xander slowed to a stop beside her,
wondering why.

“
What was that?” he
questioned, looking out into the distance, which with the
appearance of the low growl, seemed to be that much
closer.

“
Not Loni.”

“
What?” Xander’s brows
furrowed. “I’ve just said that it’s not –“

A rustling in the near
distance interrupted Xander’s miniature rant. They both looked its
direction, Nora taking a step back upon seeing the figure of Halyn.
She smirked, her head tilting some as she stepped away from and in
front of the tree beside her.

“
Well, I’ll be damned,”
she said in amusement as she took a few more steps towards the two.
She glanced between them, slowly nodding. “You’re really trying to
go through with this,” she scoffed. “And you brought
help
. Where’d you find
this poor fool?”

Xander’s brows rose in
offense, followed by his challenging step forward. Nora grabbed
onto his sleeve warningly, not wanting to prematurely underestimate
the situation. Halyn snickered.

“
And he’s eager to die.”
She crossed her arms, shaking her head. “Lupin’s got a bounty on
you, Nora.”

Nora was silent as her
gaze shifted between Xander and Halyn. Xander was still glancing
about, as well as studying her, in search for the source of the
noise. She stepped back, closer to Xander, making Halyn
snicker.

“
You’re in over your head.
You should have gone back with Richard. Or at least let him finish
you off. At least he would have made it quick. I won’t be so
nice.”

The blunt threat drew
Xander from his nonchalant posture, his eyes hardening into a
glower. He stepped forward, and as a reflex of wanting protection,
so did Nora. She gripped his sleeve as she saw his lips straighten
into a hard line.

“
Xander …” came the
sheepish voice of Nora. She knew enough to know that threats were
not taken lightly by Xander.

“
Richard mentioned you,”
Halyn commented as she stepped forward, matching Xander. “The
walking sparkplug. Are you one of the doctor’s?”

“
Like
hell
I am,” Xander practically spat.
Halyn’s head rested on a tilt.

“
Hm. Regardless. This is
where your rescue mission ends,” she said, inching forward towards
them.

Xander matched her steps,
while Nora continued tugging on his sleeve, desperately wanting to
avoid the confrontation.

“
We’ll see.”

“
Xander,” Nora complained,
standing back as he stepped forward to accept the challenge. “What
are you going to do, kill her?”

Xander paused, looking
back at Nora with an arched brow.

“
Would you prefer her
alive?”

“
Well – if we could get
her to –“

“
To change my mind?” Halyn
laughed. “Let me be the one to suggest the ladder.”

“
Halyn, you don’t have to
do this. You don’t have to side with him,” Nora pleaded.

“
You’re ungrateful, Nora,”
Halyn argued. “You’ve been given a
gift
.”

“
Not everyone will be so
lucky.”

Halyn shrugged.

“
We’ve all got to go
sometime.”

Nora grimaced as Xander
continued his slow pace forward, the two closing the distance
between each other. Xander stopped a couple of yards from Nora,
slightly turning back to look at her for her decision, which he
would respect, regardless of what it was. Still she was hesitant,
not wanting it to have to come to her death. Xander gave a soft
sigh, understanding.

“
Prisoners, then,” Xander
concluded. Halyn laughed.

“
You’re pretty
confident.”

“
While I’m dealing with
her, you continue to the vault,” Xander instructed.

Nora straightened her
posture, becoming alert at the command. She gave a tense nod as
Xander and Halyn began to circle one another. Halyn didn’t bother
to give a response, her mocha skin darkening, highly contrasting
her lightening hazel eyes. Opening her mouth to grin, her slightly
extended canines were revealed.

Her changing appearance
perplexed Xander, causing him to slow down in their standoff. His
eyes narrowed, and then widened as her body began to shift. Nora
took several wary steps back as she saw the appearance of the black
jaguar, the golden nose ring she had been sporting now in her left
ear. Xander eventually slowed to a stop to watch the feline prowl
around him, admittedly amazed.

The connection between the
sound and Halyn dawned on him as she snarled, her fangs barring as
her head ducked below her shoulders. And he couldn’t help but
smile, the comparison of the black feline to his
tan one almost uncanny. Loni had Halyn beat in
size. But that expression of ‘I’m going to kick your ass’ was
anyone’s call.

“
Fascinating,” Xander
breathed, watching her every move as she circled him in agile
steps. Nora frowned.

“
Focus, Xander,” Nora
warned. “I highly doubt your curiosity is going to kill the
cat.”

Xander’s brows scrunched
at the phrase, his literal comprehension failing him. He turned
towards her, frowning at, what to him, was stupidity.

“
What?”

But before Nora could
explain or dismiss the saying, they were both alerted by the much
louder growl of Halyn as she charged at Xander, leaping when she
felt she had closed enough distance. Xander pivoted his body back
and to the left, narrowly escaping a clawed blow to the
face.

He laughed, backing away
from Halyn as she landed, hurriedly turning around and growling as
she began stalking towards him again. Xander bounced from foot to
foot, his hands raising in slightly curled fists, imitating a
boxer.

“
Too slow,” chimed Xander.
“My cat’s faster than you.”

Halyn snarled and charged
again, this time sticking to the ground. She lunged forward with an
open jaw, wanting to bite down on Xander’s calf. Nora whined at how
close she got before Xander jumped over her, kicking off her back
and landing back on the ground, bouncing again.

Halyn spun around and
charged without pause, but let out a howling whine when she was
struck with a volt of electricity. She tumbled to the ground, her
body spazzing momentarily. Nora watched with wide eyes, unable to
look away from the anxiety-building scuffle. But Xander snapped her
back into focus.

“
Nora!” he shouted as
Halyn struggled to get back to her feet.

Nora’s eyes snapped to
his, before she took off in the direction of the vault. Halyn
growled in response, violently shaking her head to rid her of the
aftershock of the voltage. Her eyes narrowed at the cocky Xander as
Nora was seen running off into the distance.

“
They’re going to be
picking you out of my teeth,” Halyn snarled.

Xander’s eyes widened in
amusement, his lips spreading to house his smile.

“
You can
talk
!” he shouted in
marvel, before spinning out the way of another attempt to charge at
him.

She swung her forearm out
when he moved, this time successful in nicking him in the side.
Xander winced as pivoted again to avoid another blow. He frowned at
the sting he felt along his ribs, shooting another volt into her
body. Again, she howled as her body spazzed against the ground, her
pupils dilating.

Meanwhile, Nora as
steadily approaching the vault containing her friend – the human
war-tank, Theodore Rossey. Periodically, she’d look back over her
shoulder, making sure that Halyn wasn’t closing in behind her,
thereby signifying Xander’s defeat, an most likely her own. But
each time, she saw nothing. And even still, each time she looked,
she felt the need to push herself further – faster.

Until finally, she came
across a large metal vault – cube-like in design. It looked as
though someone had dropped a giant safe in the middle of the woods.
Down to the tumbler on the door – which was now unguarded. Nora
exhaled a breath of relief as she came upon the clearing. She ran
right up to the door, practically colliding with it. Her hands came
slapping against it as she panted.