Chapter 2: Don't Feed the Animals

Stella just sat there.
"...is that really you? The Kat I watched pick James up every day...the Kat who loved her brother so much
..the Kat we all thought died?"

Eyes closed, Kat fought hard to keep her guilt down. Nostrils flared she let out a sigh and said "Yes. Yes, it's me, Stella."

Stella slowly stood...walked over...
And slapped Kat.
"That. Is for making James cry. For making him cry so hard I didn't even need to hack is fucking phone."

Reeling back from the slap, Kat immediately grabbed Stella by the wrist and twisted, spinning the girl while getting her arm in a lock and forcing her down against the table. "I'll give you that one, and that one only," Kat seethed. "But you are not. Telling me. Anything I don't tell myself every day in the mirror." Letting go, Kat stepped away and said "You have no idea why I did what I did."

Stella's glasses went flying. She cried out in pain, but scowled back in Kat's general direction.
"I don't care. You hurt my friends. people cried and you couldn't find a way to alleviate the pain. You let it become a hole he won't fill."

Kat didn't have a response for that. There wasn't one, not really; how could anyone excuse faking their death, leaving their family mutilated and alone? The answer was they couldn't. She wasn't expecting understanding, or forgiveness. Still sat in the chair, she glared back at Stella and said "Let's talk about you now eh? Why Draco and Nexus are after you."

"I have been hired by Icarus to hack Nexus. I am close, but Draco found me. It's taken almost a year, but Icarus decided to just pay all the time. If I hack in, Icarus can get ahead ahead and recoup losses easy. That's why."

"Yeah well I hate to break it to ya," Kat said, thumbing through the documents on her tablet, "but that wasn't gonna work. Icarus, had no idea what they sicked you on. Nexus was aware from day one the second you touched their firewalls. Since then, the data you got.......some of it was good. Some of it bogus. But good or bogus, they bugged it all; how else do you think they found you?"

"I was careless with my tracks." Stella grumbled. "I got preoccupied with other things. Lost a container, Icarus won't be happy." She sat on the table, crossing her legs. "Anything else?"

"Well if you're wondering why we bothered saving you......look, you got sloppy, but the higher ups apparently see you as an asset. If the notes here are any indicator, they at least express you've got more skill than half our computer specialists." Looking at her now, Kat said "And you apparently did something right, if Nexus sent mercs after you. Normally they'd call the cops, let the justice system handle the rest. So think for a moment, why they'd want this to be hush hush, and handled by their own people."

Stella is quiet for a moment.
"The file I kept to myself is called Atlantis."

Kat's hand froze for a moment, her expression reserved. "Atlantis?" she asked. "You're sure that's what it was called?"

"I doubt you know of it. It's the damn file that got Draco on me. Found it and backed it up in about a hundred secret locations."

"The name's come up a few times actually," Kat said. "It's one of several projects they've been working on, but I'm surprised that was on an accessible server. Sloppy work on their end I guess."

"He can't be too much trouble." The red dressed man sat across the man in black, a cup of tea in his hand.

"He's the first, W. He's dangerous too. Even the human could deal with my best." The man in black said as he fumbled with his tie. His face a little old compared to the blond haired man across from him with young features.

"So what the first soul you turned has turned against you. Seems kinda ironic don't you think." The man in Red answered back with a smirk that angered the old man. "Oh please. I'll deal with him. It's been a while senice I killed one of those things. Revenants is what you use to call them yes?"

"Long time ago. When I gave humans from the dead powers back from Egypt times but now ones returned in his own way. Kill the Darkness and the Revenant, War. I will not be made a joke among the brothers."

"Of Course Death." War said as he sat from the table and placed the tea cup down and left towards the door. "Shall I bring about another war?" He said as he opened the door that revealed nothing but black and entered until he appeared next to his red mustang in the downtown alley of Boston he had left it. "I hate this city. But at least it's grown more fun."

"It wasn't supposed to be." she paused, then pulled out her phone. She began typing, then slid it over. "These are the files extensions and the rest of its information I remember. Everything else I pulled didn't have this. Someone fucked up and put it on the wrong server. The thing about this file, is the location of this porject. The middle of the Pacific Ocean."

"Well I can't access it from here," Kat sighed. "Faraday room, remember? I've got a larger file anyway that has Atlantis on it......though the problem is getting to it."

"I wasnt going to connect, I'm not stupid. I was writing from memory." She pauses. "We need to compare files. This is big."

"Yeah well the files aren't on me," Kat said. "I'm gonna need to get them though.....and there's the rub."

As the three friends continued talking, James was reminded by Gestalt of the item he took from the Draco soldier. It was hidden in his right arm, the nanites forming it molding around to conceal the item, Gestalt himself interested by the contraption. Since the nanites were still forming his prosthetic arm, it wasn't so bad to watch the device squeeze its way out from his forearm......though it was still a little off to see. "So, Draco had this on them," he said. "Some new toy. Works like my cables, gets them places."

Stella bit her lip. "...and me? What's to ultimately be done to me?"

"Well now that you know, we can't exactly let you go," Kat said. "My status as alive is meant to be kept a secret. And hate to break it to ya, but we're not capable of wiping memories."

"Huh," Amy said, reaching to take the device. It looked like a spool of thread, the black cables woven right around it, a line of the material fed out through a port. It almost looked like a cross-section of a spray can really, one that was attached to curved panel with loops, no doubt meant to be secured to the users forearm. James took his phone out, Gestalt linked to it with the speaker setting on so he could join the conversation, the usual icon on the screen. "So how does it work?" Amy asked. "I don't see any hook or claws."

"It works through use of near trillions of setae," Gestalt said from the phone. Immediately, James asked "What's that?" He got a headache for his troubles as both Gestalt and Amy began speaking at once. He barely understood anything before saying "Whoa whoa, one at a time."

Stella actually shook. "...n...no killing though...right?"

Shrugging, Kat said "They try and avoid it. Hey if we have to fake your death, can always do you the same way I was done."

"Sorry," Amy said. "Setae are basically tiny and I mean tiny, hairs. Essentially, anyway. You find them on bugs, arachnids, and in this case especially on geckos. If this is what I'm thinking, then this works the same way a gecko's foot does; millions or as Gestalt said, trillions of these synthetic setae are spread out either along the entire cable or just the end here. Not sure how it's fired, maybe there was a trigger attached to the trooper?" she asked, to which James shrugged. "Possibly. Does it matter though? Just a souvenir, right?"

Bella had already made it back to Zerus, pass all the doors she entered the kitchen and called out for Zeru. "Z you here?"

Marcus passed by a few more streets until he was stopped by a crossing light. "I hate these." Marcus turned to the voice to see a woman in jogging outfit.

"They can be annoying yes." Marcus said in hopes of starting conversation with someone else rather then Dark. He was starting to get on nerves long forgotten.

"Just imagine what this place could look like without cars and streets. You could walk around in nature with no threat, it would be beautiful."She said as she looked at the passing cars, Marcus gave a soft laugh to her words.

"Yea I guess it would." As Marcus said that, the light turned green and the cars were forced into a stop. "Right, nice chat. Atios." Marcus said as he walked across the road and she jogged by without another word.

"over here"zeru hollerd from the other room while making sure not to drop the couch he was carrying"

"Maybe," Chris said, taking the device to examine it. "Or......well, I don't know, could make for a fun tool we can use." James gave her a flat look and said "Not funny Chris." She returned the look, saying "Was I joking? Come on man, I've already got that muscle suit. Having the mobility could mean you get an extra pair of ha--" She was cut off however, James angrily saying "No, hell no. No way are you going out there to help me. I can handle things myself."

Stella looked at her lap. "...I don't want to lose my friends...they're all I have."

"Well......if we're lucky, I have any idea," Kat said. "They just know you as Aether Rain, you covered your tracks well enough they don't know your real name. Yet anyway. I guarantee they were running facial recognition when they recovered you. Probably going through the databases now." Giving Stella a level look, she said "Accept the deal they were going to approach you with; join up with Odin, and they won't put you in a cell until my mess is over."

Silent for a moment, Chris then did something that made James go pale; she clutched at an invisible thing that was apparently jutting from her stomach, making mocking gurgling sounds. It was only fr a few seconds, but she said "Seem familiar? That was you, less than an hour ago impaled on a mutant horn!"

Bella raced over to were she had heard Zeru, carefully taking his phone out. "So you might have left your phone somewhere and I found it and picked it up. Anyway when your done.. Need help?" Bella asked when she realized he was carrying a couch.

"People." Marcus said as he made a turn and took his phone out to check on current events only for a little thing to catch his eye. Oh that's nasty. Marcus thought as he looked at a worker impaled with a branch.

Nothing to what you've done.

Stella looked at Kat just as levelly. "And...if I refuse? Are you going to look me in the eye and pull the trigger?"

"What are you crazy?" Kat said. "No. We'd probably just keep you locked up." She sighed, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles on her pants. "Look Stella, Odin can be......a bit of a prick, I'll admit that. But compared to Nexus, they're a whole lot better. Morally anyway. So they're at worst gonna keep you here in a cushy cell. Best case, they let yu go with some heavy duty monitoring on you. And I mean, heavy duty."

He was livid, on his feet and ready to scream at her. But Amy stood up, palm flat to his chest in a placating gesture as she whispered "No, James don't. And Chris.....I love you, but what the fuck?" Chris glared at them both, but it didn't last long. Whatever anger she had melted away as concern and fear swept into her features. "James.....do you know what it was like, watching you get impaled like that? Watching my best friend gored like that? All while knowing you have something you can maybe use to help........I am not, going to be some idle princess on the sidelines, while you risk your life like that!"

Stella crossed her arms over her chest. "so I give up my rights, because you say so. Either I let you lock me up, and I'm forced to be alone. Or I leave, and have to wonder if some of your price are watching me shower? That's a fucking great choice Kat. Unless you're watching, then I'll be okay." She rolls her eyes.

Ignoring the Freudian comment, Kat said "Look, those are the options you've got. What do you expect, dealing with an intelligence organization?" Walking over, she loomed over the girl as she said "Especially considering you now know about one of their secrets."

"And I don't want to see you in that situation either," James seethed. "At least with me, I can recover from it. But if anything happened to you, then it's done. Lose a limb, or your life. Either way, there's no coming back from it."

"I would have avoided you but I can't say no to unhackable guns." She looked right back up. "And I guess you'll never come see me, if I take door two and make Odin look foolish?"

Smirking, Kat said "I've got no answers for ya Stella, just options and advice. Best I can offer is for you to work with Odin, and while they won't have you under watch, you'll be given way more freedom than if you declined."

Chris didn't have a response for that, only to keep the staring going. "James, I've got news for you: you are not in this alone. You've got Amy helping you on hacks and all that research stuff, and me training you to keep you from getting an ass beating. We're already involved, and if this blows back on us, we all pay. So get your head out of your ass. Let me help more than I am."

"I'd be happier if you hadn't forced me here at gunpoint." She scowled. "Gonna have to make up.for that one, if you want this to be easy."

"Hey the guy was a bit of an ass anyway," Kat said, knowing who Stella meant. "Murphy's the better of the two though, kinda balances them out. Besides, we did save your life, Draco would have gotten to you sooner or later."

Silent for a while, James truly considered the idea. Chris was the better fighter, and letting her fight with him.....would save some trouble. But she was his best friend, how could he ask her to put herself in harms way?

Simple, Gestalt said. You can't ask, because it's not up to you. It is her choice to make, and her mind is made up. You know her well enough, and therefore so do I, to know she's going to do this no matter what.

Stella slumped. "...can I work with you? I...I really...I don't want to be with strangers..."

"Oh please stop your pipe dream." Marcus said as he searched up for several places where people company's had been working at clearing forest nearby this city he had taken roots in. "So our villain has been taking these places and we can assume has some control over nature while also having a thing for. Kill all humans, nature must rule. General poison Ivy right here."

Another one of these comic villains? Dark asked as the human made many references to certain silly names only to have Marcus explain what was up and such. It did annoy the demon but at least it kept him busy learning then sifting though memory's.

"Well, a competent assistant would be nice," Kat mused. "If I can clear it up, then yeah."

Sighing in resignation, James slumped and said "Fine.....doubt I could stop you anyway." Chris didn't smile at that. All she did was nod, taking the grapple away for now.

"As long as I don't have to wear a ridiculous outfit." She said. "I'm not pledging life and limb, I'm here because the alternative is a lonely cell...and my psych evaluation should mention I have a loneliness complex."

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