Chapter 2

Somewhere in the north arctic, the lithe form of Samantha Reeds falls to the floor of the large, cylindrical chamber that she is in. The chamber stretches from floor to ceiling with many tubes and wires of various sizes slithering away from it into multiple places throughout the room.

Typheryian stands in front of the chamber, watching the young woman’s naked form laying curled in a ball at the floor. He has a smile spread across his face. “Did it work?”

“Yes, my lord,” a technician studying a set of complex computer screens says after a moment. “The subject has drawn the sufficient power from Merope.”

“How are her stats?”

“She is in excellent condition,” the technician confirms. “Actually, she is better than we initially thought she would be.”

“Excellent.”

“Shall I have Natalya and her group eliminate Merope?” another technician asks from behind the Sura.

“No. Let Merope have a little fun for her sacrifice.”

“Very well, my lord,” the technician says with a nod.

“And get our young subject to her quarters,” the Goji says as if it were an afterthought. “I want her well rested before the next summoning.”

Merope stands in the center of the stone circle wearing a dress-like cloth that covers one breast and hangs from a piece of jewelry which in turn wraps around the back of her neck. The dress wraps across her body and covers the opposite hip to run the length down her left leg. Her opposite breast is covered with a similar piece of swirling jewelry. Her lower legs and arms have an equal type of material lacing around them, exposing much of her skin. And her skin takes on a dark tone that shimmers in the light. A wicked grin spreads across her face, showing pearl white teeth beneath a perfect set of lips that would make any woman jealous of them.

She looks around, spinning in a circle and taking in all the sights before her. The land is full of luscious green fields. The helicopter she blasted with a wave of energy lies crumpled in a smoldering ruin. This planet is too beautiful to leave this way. She closes her eyes, trying to sense a heavily populated area. It takes only a few minutes to find a large conglomeration of people which has her perplexed briefly. It causes her to frown, yet she quickly dismisses it. Her quarry is pegged.

Julie has a private jet outfitted with the best in technology that the Black List has available. Midway to their destination, they receive word that London has fallen under attack by some kind of strange creature. Military forces have been called in shortly after it has become apparent that the police are not up to the task of stopping it. They have the pilot change course, but London isn’t allowing anyone to land. Instead, the pilot is told to turn back. But Julie has other intentions. Giving orders to the crew to bail out, she takes control of the small plane and flies it straight into the newly created no fly zone. It doesn’t take long for the military to shoot first, warn later and both Julie and Spencer find themselves parachuting into hostile territory.

Their landing doesn’t go without attracting attention. They land five miles out from where Merope is the center of the city’s attention, but they are still met by a British fireteam. Their hands go instantly to the sky while the duffel bag that Julie is carrying drops to the ground. The fireteam effectively has them covered with two in the front and two behind.

“Hi there,” Julie says smiling. “Guess you’re going to tell us we don’t need to be here.”

The Lance-Sergeant doesn’t break even a smile or stride. “On the ground or we won’t hesitate to shoot.”

“Alright, alright,” Julie says, still smiling. She starts to drop down, followed by Spencer. As her knee touches the ground, her hand goes down in front, letting a knife fly from it. Her other hand follows suit toward the second soldier. Both knives land in the chests of both, dropping them dead before their bodies hit the ground.

Spencer gets the drop on the remaining two before they have time to react. His first strike lands with an elbow to the throat of the closest, followed by a spin kick to the second. Before he can turn to regard the first again, Julie fires a round into his head and then a burst of three into the other as the soldier attempts to ick himself up off the ground.

“I hope you have some diplomatic connections to get us out of this mess,” Spencer says once they discard their parachutes and hide the bodies.

“It’s going to take more than diplomacy to get us out of this mess,” she replies sardonically. She kneels before the duffel bag and starts rummaging through it. Pulling out a belt with two holsters on either side, she relieves the bag of the matching pistol she used on the soldiers. “I know this is your weapon of choice,” Julie says, tossing Spencer an assault rifle. It is indeed his favorite gun. The last thing she pulls from the bag is a sword that closely resembles the one Samantha once had that now hangs on the wall of Spencer’s apartment. “Kogarasu Maru,” Julie says almost in a whisper.

Seeing the sword tugs at the man. He has tried to keep his feelings for Samantha close to the vest. He hasn’t gotten close to being over her death before finding out that she is alive and this causes even more conflict within him. Add the fact that she is something more now, something they have spent the last few years together fighting.

“It’s too bad you left Kotetsu behind,” Julie remarks, bringing Spencer out of his thoughts. “Hey, you with me over there?”

“Yeah,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m more of a gun guy myself.”

“Well, stealth is going to be something that we need.” She tosses him a silencer and produces two more for her pistols.

“We only need to slip the by the Brits, right?”

“Collateral damage, Reeds,” she answers with a shrug. “As much as it would be nice to keep them alive, they’re going to shoot first, ask question later.”

“I guess diplomacy is definitely out of the question,” he mumbles.

“If you got a problem with that, Reeds, then you’re more than welcome to march up to the commander and ask him to get out of the way.” Her tone sends ice through his veins.

No. he doesn’t like it, but the lives of innocent civilians are at stake. “Let’s try not to make too many unnecessary deaths, shall we?”

Julie’s only response comes in the form of a shrug. Then she slips her sword around her back and takes off for an alley.

Spencer and Julie speed from alley to alley, managing to avoid the British soldiers by sticking to the shadows. Julie holds the lead, leaving Spencer almost behind. Ahead stands two soldiers, full armored and loaded, guarding the outer perimeter. Julie glances over her shoulder at Spencer and with a high whisper tells him that she has the situation under control.

The woman then breaks off into a run, drawing both pistols out. Her footfalls echo down the alley, drawing the soldiers’ attention. They raise their rifles, taking aim. Julie, who is running a straight line, suddenly veers to the right and leaps to the wall. Her feet carry her across the length of it still in a run. If the soldiers are surprised, they don’t show it. The rifles come up, following the agent. Both her pistols come to life, firing one shot each and nailing both men in the center of their foreheads. Both of the soldiers’ heads whip back, followed by their bodies. Julie comes off the wall, holstering both pistols as she lands. The entire scene takes just a couple of seconds and leaving Spencer shaking off the awe when another soldier whips around the corner, his rifle coming to bear on Julie.