Xander vol.1 Transmutation (22 page)

“
We may have company,
Elba,” Whitestone warned.

“
Stay alert. We need that
serum.”

“
What are you going to do
with it?” Nora demanded, more than asked at its
mentioning.

“
Study it. Maybe there’s a
cure.”

Both Nora and Eleanor’s
eyes widened at the mentioning of a cure. At a vague shot of hope
at being able to return to their normal lives. Their normal
functioning’s. But Eleanor’s eyes narrowed, sensing mislead in
Elba’s delivery. She stepped closer to them.

“
And what else?” she
asked.

Both Elba and Nora turned
her way, Nora’s eyes returning to Elba soon after in skepticism.
Elba’s eyes lowered before returning to the projected
monitor.

“
Like I said. Study. If
there isn’t a cure, perhaps there’s a way to contain
it.”

“
There,” came the voice of
Loni.

The group, both in the
hall and at the Hive fell silent as attention was called to the end
of the hall, where the source of the sound had been found, almost
as soon as it stopped. A deafening silence filled their ears before
the startling hollow thud of a gas container hit the floor,
skidding across the tiles towards them. Their eyes fell to it in
observation, Whitestone’s shoulders slumping upon seeing the red
jug.

“
Shit,” Elba
grumbled.

The sound of clicking
heels came into play as a figure stepped casually from the
darkness. The white cat suit she wore hugged Stephanie’s curves
purposely, her open frontal zipper braggingly showing off her
supple cleavage. Her chin rose as she emerged from the peculiarly
placed shadows at the end of the hall, her figure taking on a pose
as she came to a stop, her hands perching themselves on her
hips.

Her painted red lips
curled into a smirk as she looked over the small group before her.
Her hand rose to brush her raven locks behind her shoulder before
returning to her hip, her eyes trailing to her left at the arrival
of Richard, who had been carrying the jug and leaking its contents.
He stood beside her, crossing his arms with a sigh. Theodore
grimaced at his arrival, as did Nora, who was looking on with the
group at the Hive.

“
Well, well,” Richard
exhaled, drumming his fingers on his arm. “You’re a little
early.”

“
Sucks for you,” came
Theodore.

“
Well,” Richard sang. “I’d
argue it’s the other way around.”

Theodore took a
threatening step forward, only to have his arm seized by
Whitestone.

“
Cool it.”

“
They are burning it
down,” Nora announced. Elba tightened his crossed arms as Eleanor
began to fret.

“
The serum,”

“
Whitestone,” Elba
signaled.

“
Yeah, I know,” she
answered, glancing towards Loni, who was easing herself into a
crouching position. “Loni.” The guardian glanced in her direction.
“Think you can track down the serum?” Loni gave a nod, her eyes
focusing on the two before them once again. “Then you’re
up.”

“
Richard,” Stephanie
called, her eyes falling on the slowly moving guardian. “Is that
one of ours? Look at her eyes.” She asked.

“
Don’t know.”

It was then that Loni made
a mad dash towards the end of the hallway. Her form blurred into
that of the giant lioness, catching both Stephanie and Richard off
guard as she rushed to the side of them.

“
Richard!” Stephanie
bellowed in frustration.

He immediately responded,
his metal tentacles wiping out and lashing towards Loni. She dodged
one, and the other was chopped clean off at the midsection by
Theodore, who had rushed forward, his forearms taking the form of
two battle axes. Richard scowled and stumbled to his right as Loni
pummeled past him, pivoting around the corner and following the
trail of gasoline.

“
You’re gonna regret that,
hero,” Richard threatened, glaring at Theodore.

“
Doubt it,” Theodore
countered.

“
Guess I’ve got blondie,”
Stephanie said with a soft sigh, giving Whitestone a
wink.

“
Like hell,” she grimaced
in response, raising her gun, which was seen in the projected
monitor, raising alarm in Nora.

“
Don’t! Don’t kill them!”
Nora cried, making Stephanie wince at the frequency in her
earpiece.

“
What? Why?” Whitestone
questioned, pressing against the earpiece as she steadied the gun
in her other hand. Elba grimaced.

“
Right. We’ve got a
Chimera activist over here. You’re gonna have to show off those
combat skills you’ve been bragging about, Vivian.”

“
Alright transformer,”
Richard taunted as he stormed towards Theodore, who eagerly
accepted the challenge.

“
Finally,” Theodore
groaned as he swung his blades around in preparation.

“
Careful, Theo,”
Whitestone warned, keeping her eyes on the Chimera.

“
I wouldn’t focus my
attention on them, sweetheart,” Stephanie san as she approached,
while Theodore and Richard began their brawl. Whitestone frowned,
stepped back as Stephanie drew nearer. She rose her hands, her gun
now holstered. Seeing Stephanie approaching from her view on the
projected monitor, Nora shouted a warning.

“
Don’t let her touch your
neck!”

Again, Whitestone cringed
from the frequency in her ear.

“
Right. Unless you want to
die of old age in the next five minutes,” Elba agreed.

Whitestone nodded with a
groan, her head tilting from side to side in mild
intimidation.

“
Right. The grim reaper’s
wife,” she noted.

“
How old are you? You
don’t look anything over 18. Such small pores …” Stephanie
gawked.

“
And you? How many years
have you stolen?”

“
Me? I’ll be 21
forever.”

“
Uhuh,” Whitestone hummed,
starting a gentle bounce from heel to heel to raise her reflexes.
“There’s a store for that.”

“
Where do you think I got
this suit?” she taunted before jumping into a running sprint at
Whitestone.

She opened the combat with
an aimed kick to her midsection. Whitestone swerved to the side,
throwing her forearms up to block a follow-up round of punches,
before throwing her own.

They were avoided when
Stephanie ducked down and back. Whitestone quickstepped after her,
trying to land a punch to her jaw. But Stephanie took hold of her
wrist, stopping it before it could make contact.

“
That’s my money-maker
you’re aiming at,” Stephanie chirped as she shot her hands forward,
attempting to grab hold of Whitestone’s neck. It was then her hands
that took Stephanie’s wrists, fighting to keep her hands at
bay.

Meanwhile, Richard was
going at Theodore as he had Nora, and Theodore was responding as
Xander had. Tentacle after tentacle was sliced off by Theodore’s
axes. But more were spawning to take their place, while Richard
drew closer, waiting for the opportune moment to switch up his
attacks.

And when Theodore pivoted
enough during a chop to cause a delay in correcting his stance,
Richard seized his chance. In the instant that Theodore sliced
through one tentacle, another swooped in, wrapping around his torso
and one of his arms, another wrapping around the other.

Theodore grunted in pain
as the coils constricted. Richard chuckled as he pinned Theodore to
the wall, glancing around at the pieces scattered about the floor.
He shook his head as Theodore grit his teeth in discomfort and
anger.

“
When did you get so
violent, Theo?” Richard taunted. “Thought you were a peace-maker
now. War hero gone soft.”

“
That was before you
became
terrorists
,” Theodore spat through the pain in response.

“
Terrorists!” Richard
laughed. “Is
that
what you’ve told these people?”

“
Killing innocent people.
I went to
war
against people like you!”

“
No,” Richard laughed.
“You haven’t.”

Theodore glared, his body
producing multiple layers of spikes along his body, piercing the
tentacles. Richard backed away as the spikes expanded into blades,
slicing through the metal again and allowing Theodore to slide down
the wall. As his feet touched the ground, his arms took the shape
of guns, aiming at Richard. He responded by wrapping several layers
of tentacles around himself, providing a shield for the round of
fire that came soon after.

Seeing his shots
deflected, Theodore took his weaponry up a level, his chest
shifting and taking the shape of a bazooka and firing immediately.
Stephanie’s attention whipped around when hearing the impact the
cannon made, and the sounds of pain and injury Richard shouted in
return. Richard had been roughly thrown against the hallway wall
from the burst, and had fallen to the floor. And in that time,
Whitestone made her move for an attack, connecting her foot with
Stephanie’s midsection. Stephanie grunted as she skid across the
tiled floor. Whitestone rushed over her, straddling her chest.
Immediately, she met resistance, Stephanie’s hands coming up to
claw at her. Whitestone reached for her wrists, only able to grab
one. She pushed it to the floor, scooting up until she was more or
less sitting over Stephanie’s neck, one calf holding down the
pinned arm, and the other squishing her arm against her
head.

“
You’re pretty feisty for
an old broad,” Whitestone panted as she reached for her back pouch
attached to her belt.

She was reaching for her
tazer, but it was short lived when she felt Stephanie’s calf hook
around her shoulder and violently tug her backwards. She groaned as
her back slapped against the floor, stinging her spine and the back
of her head long enough for Stephanie to make the same move.
Whitestone grunted as she felt Stephanie’s weight on her chest,
grimacing as she looked up at the baby-faced reaper.

“
And your reaction time
sucks for a spring chicken,” Stephanie taunted in
response.

Whitestone’s arms flailed
about as she grunted upon the contact of Stephanie’s hands around
her neck. She gasped as she felt the draining shock immediately
kick in, her hands wrapping around her wrists in an attempt to pry
them from her neck. Stephanie smiled, her lids falling as she felt
Whitestone’s youth travel through her fingertips, up her arms, and
into her body.

She gritted her teeth as
Whitestone struggled, tightening the grip around her neck.
Whitestone, hissing as she pulled at her, raised her leg up,
kneeing Stephanie in the back hard enough to break her grip on her
neck. She immediately rolled over, coughing. She leaned over her
arm, her blonde pixie cut swaying beside her cheek, now sporting a
gray streak.

She hurriedly reached
behind her in a second attempt to reach her tazer. But again it was
interrupted by the pulling of her hair. She shrieked as Stephanie
jerked her back towards her, getting a groan from Whitestone as she
turned towards her.

“
Give me your youth!”
Stephanie hissed as she yanked.

Whitestone gave a sharp
jab of her elbow into Stephanie’s ribcage, knocking her away as she
held her hand to the roots of her hair.

“
You’ve
got
to be kidding me,”
Whitestone complained as she moved towards the recuperating
Chimera, who was flashing hunger in her blue eyes.

“
Careful,” Elba ordered,
having seen the succession of the attack. “On your
toes.”

“
Yeah, no shit,”
Whitestone scoffed as she and Stephanie slowly circled one
another.

Reaching the point where
the trail of gasoline curved into an open room, Loni slowed
considerably as she approached. Her nose crinkled in discomfort.
But not from the smell of gasoline in a close space, but because of
the lingering and intensifying smell of injury.

Of blood.

Stopping in front of the
open room – whose door was labelled “PROJECT EVOLUTION”, Loni
lowered her head to the floor, her nose hovering as its nostrils
flared in its observation. And it wasn’t the blood of a Chimera
that she was picking up on as she stalked into the room.

There were numerous
amounts of file cabinets, computers, and lab equipment spread about
the relatively small room. Most of the cabinets had been emptied,
computers wiped, and equipment damaged. The damage was not
intentional – the computers and equipment. But rather from trial
and error. Experiments gone wrong and tests that had failed and
backfired.

Venturing further on two
feet, Loni looked around in discomfort, trying to place the smell
that she had noticed. Looking around, she was also searching for
some remnant of the serum she was told to retrieve. And on one of
the tables, she found just that. A puddle – lilac-pink in colour.
Inching towards the table, Loni’s eyes narrowed perplexed by the
liquid’s colour and odd texture. It was thicker – denser than
water, but only barely.