Ultratech Corporation: Training Facility # 6

          They were persistent, to say the least. It would be their downfall.
          The light of a quarter moon, shining almost directly overhead, illuminated the battlefield. There were soldiers dressed in all-gray military uniforms all over the field. They were positioned in trenches, behind sandbags, within burned-out buildings, and on top of small hills. They carried an assortment of weapons, from a small pistol, to a hand-held rocket launcher and mortars. One unit was quickly advancing with a tank. All of the soldiers on this particular battlefield were all fighting against one singular enemy.
          Julie.
          She stood in the middle of the battlefield, completely out in the open. Her hair was still down, and a few errant strands strayed in front of her face. She didn’t bother to brush them out of the way. She stood with her head down and her arms folded. Bullet shots were rapidly flying around her, and at her; her plasma shield was stopping the ones that could do any harm to her. Even rockets fired directly at her, and mortar shells descending down upon her had absolutely no effect. Julie uncrossed her arms, and extended her right hand. Indiscriminately, she began to fire plasma storm shots at random, picking off any soldier that struck her fancy. She completely ignored the tank that was advancing on her.
          “Bored?”
          Julie turned around to see Fulgore-X standing behind her. “Oh, it’s you. What are you doing here?”
          “Azrael sent me to check up on you.”
          “He sure does that a lot. What, am I a security risk or something? And why doesn’t Mr. Big Shot himself come down?”
          “According to him, he just wants to ease your transition, into your new life. And he doesn’t come because he is busy right now working on the Mass Production Unit.”
          “Hmph.” Julie turned around, and killed a few more simulation soldiers. “This is ridiculous, I can just stand here all day and kill these guys, and no matter what, they can’t hurt me. What’s the point of this?”
          “It’s to prove a point. No weapon on Earth right now can harm you, as long as you know how to work your systems. And it’s to show you how powerful you are.”
          “What, by dominating the battlefield?”
          “You’re missing the point. This battle should have been over long ago.”
          Julie cut her eyes towards him. “What more do you want me to do?”
          Fulgore-X said nothing. Instead, he lifted his right arm, with his index and middle fingers pointed towards the ground. Suddenly, he jerked his arm up, at the same time twisting his wrist to point his fingers to the sky.
          Then, everything went blue.
          “Oh! Damn!” Julie exclaimed, trying to shield her eyes. The entire battlefield had just gone completely blue, from out of nowhere. Even though her shield was still up, Julie could feel the power of the attack. She felt as if she were being attacked from all directions. After only a few seconds, the onslaught faded. Julie opened her eyes, and could not believe what she saw. Or, more appropriately, what she didn’t see.
          The entire battlefield was just gone. All of the soldiers, gone. The trenches, and sandbags, gone. The hills and valleys, gone. The burnt-out buildings, gone. Even the tank, gone without a trace. She and Fulgore-X were standing in the middle of an impact crater. It didn’t actually descend into the Earth, but there was nothing but fine brown sand within the crater.
          Julie spun around, to Fulgore-X. “What the hell did you do?”
          “It’s an attack called the plasma flare.” Fulgore-X explained.
          “That was an attack?!”
          “Yes. Of course, this is just a simulation, so I didn’t really do it. But if the situation were real, then the outcome would have been the same. Incidentally, that wasn’t too strong of a plasma flare. This was a rather mild battle.”
          “I don’t believe it. There isn’t even shrapnel! You just leveled them within a few seconds.”
          “Yes, and you can do the same. You can’t do a plasma flare, because your Y-Type reactor isn’t quite as efficient as mine. But you could use your own attacks to achieve a similar result.”
          “No way.”
          “End Simulation.” A female voice sounded. Quickly, the nighttime world faded away, and Julie found herself standing in the middle of a blank Ultratech room again.
          “Despite our power, Fulgore cyborgs are not invulnerable.” Fulgore-X said. “Azrael has been killed once before, and so have I. There is only one way for a human to have a chance against one of us.”
          “Hand to hand combat.” Julie said, before Fulgore-X could say it. “If you got in close, and kept attacking, it would be hard to use those attacks, no matter how powerful they are.”
          “Correct. I see your time in the Organization has served you well. Do you have any experience in martial arts?”
          “Yes, in many different styles. I’m a black belt.”
          “Good. What degree?”
          “I don’t know, honestly.”
          “Guess.”
          “Ah…I don’t know…sixth maybe?”
          “Sixth? That’s good. My program is currently at the seventh degree, and Azrael has a tenth, the highest degree possible. You’re in good shape. How skilled are you with weapons?”
          “I know how to use them…..I don’t specialize in any one though.”
          “You should try to. As Fulgore cyborgs, Azrael and I have claws that are built into our arms. You don’t. You should master the use of one weapon, and then carry it with you at all times. This will help you to defend your weak side.”
          “Fulgore-X?”
          “Yes.”
          “Tell me. You mentioned the Organization a minute ago. How is it that you people know about us?”
          Fulgore-X’s eyes widened. It was the first time since she had been activated that Julie had actually made some sort of confession about being linked to the Organization. She had maintained the whole time that she had no idea what they were talking about. It showed that maybe, she was starting to get comfortable.
          Fulgore-X looked away. “We’ve…had a few run-ins with one of your agents.”
          “Impossible. Organization agents would never admit who they are.”
          “I don’t doubt that. But this one had to. It was during the seventh Killer Instinct tournament. I don’t understand what happened then too well, as I had not yet been activated. From what I hear, she had found out what Ultratech’s true intentions were. Reporting to the Organization, they told her to eliminate Ultratech, and recruit whatever help she could. She tried to enlist the aid of some of the other KI fighters first, but they doubted her. Her cover story was blown, and they couldn’t figure out who she was. They wouldn’t cooperate with her until they got some answers. So she was forced to tell them.”
          “She told them the truth? That’s a little extreme.”
          “Things were extreme back then.”
          “So I take it her plan worked?”
          “Eh…somewhat. She defeated Ultratech, but she, along with the building and everyone within, was pulled 2000 years into the past.”
          “Yeah, I remember hearing about that from that information rod thing you gave me. It didn’t go into too much detail though.”
          “The past was when Azrael was activated. I would be able to tell you more about it, but Azrael took his memories back from me, so I can’t recall anything from that time.”
          “Did Azrael fight this agent?”
          “No. He fought her brother.”
          “Her brother? Is he an agent too?”
          “No. He is a ninja. They didn’t even know they were related at first. Their meeting at KI7 was purely coincidental.”
          “Wow. How wild. So, Azrael fought this ninja, and is this when he died?”
          “Yes. The ninja was also responsible for the death of the first Fulgore. Before he died, Fulgore 1 input a command to kill the one who defeated him. This was transferred over to Azrael. During that time, Azrael was really unstable. He was obsessed with killing the ninja. They finally fought at the end, and Azrael lost and died. Azrael claims to have rid himself of that obsession. However, both the agent and her brother are considered to be the greatest threats to our existence right now. I’m sure Azrael has targeted them both as the first to die.”
          “So…you’re fighting against an agent, huh? That’s probably why Azrael chose to bring me back. Fight fire with fire. In three years time, I imagine the roster has completely changed. The agents during my time are all probably dead. What do you know about this agent?”
          “Not much.” Fulgore-X went over to the back wall, and activated a video screen, which encompassed the entire wall. He went into the Ultratech computer systems, and after a few sub-menus, he arrived at the roster for Killer Instinct 7. He selected the profile he was after, and brought it up to the screen.
          “What!?” Julie snapped to attention, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. On the video screen, was a profile, with a picture.
          Fulgore-X ignored her reaction. “Characteristic of all you agents, we do not know a lot about her. Her name is Black Orchid. We don’t know how long she’s been with the Organization, but supposedly, she’s one of their best agents. She is a specialist when it comes to espionage and battle tactics, and she’s also good with explosives and computer systems. She is also highly trained in the martial arts. She was the one who united the fighters against Ultratech in KI7.”
          Julie didn’t hear a word he said. She moved closer and closer to the video screen, unaware she was doing so. “I don’t believe it. I remember now. I remember it all. We were in the Rainforest. The withdrawal had gone south; it was a running firefight back to the chopper. We were so close. I got shot. Maverick went on. He gave Orchid the Case 23 scenario. And she just left. She left me there. Left me there to die. And I was killed. Killed because of her decision. And now I’m here. It’s her fault. She did this to me. Case 23 nothing, it was all her.”
          Julie was now standing directly in front of the video screen. There was an address listed for Orchid. Julie recognized it; it was Agent Mikhal’s apartment. She began to internally access her GPS program.
          “It’s all her fault!” Julie nearly screamed. Without warning, she teleported away.
          “Julie, no!” Fulgore-X called out. But it was far too late. She had already gone. Fulgore-X began to pursue, but then realized the call wasn’t really his to make. Julie was, technically, someone else’s responsibility. He opened his communications channel.
          “Azrael. Come in Azrael.”
          "Yes, what is it?” Azrael’s voice responded through the channel.
          “It’s Julie. She’s gone.”
          “What do you mean, ‘gone’?”
          “She left. I was telling her about Orchid, and she just exploded. She seemed to recognize Orchid. I think she’s gone after her. I still have time; should I pursue her?”
          There were a few moments of silence. Azrael finally responded. “No. Let her go.”
          “Let her go? Are you sure?”
          “Yes. I don’t like the fact that she’s gone, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. I’m not quite finished with my preparations yet. Right now, the world thinks we’re dead. I’d like to keep it that way for a while. I can’t risk either you or I being seen by anyone, especially Orchid. Besides, maybe she’ll be successful in her mission.”
          It made sense. Azrael had a good point. “Have it your way.” Fulgore-X said.
          “Oh, and one more thing. Please inform me when she returns. Thank you.” Azrael closed the channel.
          Fulgore-X looked up at the profile of Orchid. “I guess I’m not the only one to have had a run-in with your winning personality.”

New York: Orchid’s Apartment

          How incredibly boring.
          Orchid was lying on her couch, reading a book. She was in full relaxation mode. She wore a small, loose white t-shirt, and a baggy pair of short, gray boxers. She had more or less been forced into her current situation. Thunder and Jago had been planning this for the past two days. Orchid had been working especially hard, in order to catch up to the progress they had made and lost. She was putting in 19-hour days, and was more or less running Ultratech. However, Thunder arranged it so that today, all of Orchid’s duties would be spread out among the rest of the workers. Despite having nothing to do, Orchid insisted on staying; however, a favor called in from President Summers sent Orchid immediately home on his orders.
          Here, Jago’s role in the scheme came into play. She had taken some notes home to study with during her forced day off. She already had a small volume of notes and manuals at the apartment. Although she couldn’t be at work today, she would study at home, formulate some ideas, maybe draft up a plan or two. However, just as she was getting back, Jago was heading out for work. Unknown to her, he had taken all of her notes at home, and by accidentally bumping into her on his way out, he took the notes she’d carried home as well. He taken them to Ultratech with him, and she couldn’t go get them; if she set foot inside Ultratech today, President Summers had threatened to fire her. It was all in good fun, but Orchid wondered just how far he would carry his threat. Jago had come home from work about two hours ago, still without the notes. He said she could retrieve them tomorrow. He had gone out again; to shop for groceries he claimed. Anything distracting had been removed from the apartment, leaving Orchid with her book.
          And she hated it.
          Orchid liked her book okay. It was an enthralling novel, an interesting fictional piece about war in the middle ages. What she hated was this forced vacation. Orchid was used to working on something. Back when she was an agent, there was always a mission to prepare for. Now, she was no longer an agent, but she found she could keep herself busy by trying to solve Ultratech’s problems. Orchid hated having nothing to do. She found that her mind would wander, and she’d find herself thinking about…unpleasant subjects. It was much easier for her to focus on a task of some sort.
          Nevertheless, Jago and Thunder had some kind of point. Orchid was exhausted, although she would claim that it was from all the nothing that she did today. Even now, she could barely stay awake over her book. It was very tempting to just throw her head back, close her eyes, and just pass out for a few hours…
          Orchid woke up a few minutes later. She growled to herself. “I gotta pound Jago for this when he gets back.” She threw her head back again. However, something caught her eye. Her bedroom door was open, just slightly.
          Her bedroom door was never open.
          Orchid always made it a point to shut that door. When Mikhal was alive, Orchid spent a lot of time in that room, and the door was always shut. She made it a regular practice to shut the door, whether she was in the room or not. But now, it was open, just a little bit, but definitely open.
          To most people, they would have simply shut the door and gone about their business. However, being a former agent, Orchid suspected an intruder. She didn’t open the door, which meant that someone else had. Jago never goes in her room, and even if he did, Orchid would have heard him come back in the front door first. She kept her eyes on her book, but was not reading it. She didn’t want the intruder to know that she was on to him. She quickly eyed the window at the back of the room; it was still shut. She had only fallen asleep for thirty seconds, a minute at most. Whoever had broken in had to be pretty good, with the exception of the open bedroom door.
          Or, maybe she was just imagining things. She was tired. It was entirely possible that, when she went to get the book, she didn’t close the door. She remembered doing so, but maybe she imagined that. She didn’t think that was the case. But it was entirely possible.
          Orchid felt something; there was definitely someone in the apartment. As an agent, but foremost a martial artist, she had an acute sense of awareness. She could feel a presence in the room, another person. He was advancing slowly, but surely. Orchid held her position. She would wait for him to get close enough, then surprise him with an attack. It was probably an ambitious burglar. He would soon find out that he picked the wrong apartment to break into.
          Suddenly, the presence closed in on her. Orchid was completely unprepared for it; he moved so quickly, she was caught off-guard. All she could do was throw herself off the couch, just in time. Her attacker came down with a punch so forceful, that it split the couch in two. Orchid hit the coffee table on her way off the couch; it hurt, but it wouldn’t hinder her. She brought herself to her knees, then jumped up to her feet. She was now able to take a good look at her attacker.
          For one thing, he was actually a she. She was on one knee from her attack, with her right fist buried in the floor. She had long, dirty blonde hair, which fell loosely around her head. With her head down and her long hair, Orchid couldn’t see the woman’s face. There was one intriguing thing though; she was wearing an Ultratech jumpsuit.
          The woman stood up, slowly. Her head was still down. Orchid readied herself for a fight; this was looking less and less like a burglary. The woman finally, slowly, raised her head, revealing her identity.
          Orchid’s mouth dropped in shock. “What?! Julie?!”
          Julie narrowed her eyes, then charged through the remains of the couch, nailing Orchid squarely in the face with a powerful punch. Orchid fell hard, crashing through the coffee table. It hurt immensely, but Orchid forced herself to open her eyes. Julie was immediately over her. She had her right hand extended, towards Orchid. But it was not to give a helping hand. Her hand was open, her fingers outstretched, and palm facing Orchid. The pose was very familiar. But what Orchid knew it for couldn’t possibly happen here.
          Yet it did.
          Julie’s hand glowed blue briefly, before a plasma storm shot out at Orchid. Acting purely on instinct, Orchid rolled backwards, missing the blast only by a few inches. The plasma storm shot hit the ground, and exploded into a spectacular array of sparks, leaving a black char mark on the ground. From her hands and knees, Orchid pushed herself up.
          “What the hell?” Orchid said to herself. “That couldn’t have been…”
          Julie raised her arm slightly, then fired another shot. Orchid ducked it. She looked up to see Julie still in her pose. That could only mean one thing. Orchid dived to her left, behind the kitchen counter. Julie fired a barrage of shots at her, barely missing. Orchid hit the kitchen floor hard. Julie continued to fire over the counter, decimating the refrigerator and the wall behind.
          “This…just can’t be possible!” Orchid thought to herself. “Julie? Firing plasma storm shots at me? No way! I’ve got to be dreaming, or hallucinating! Julie’s dead!”
          Orchid looked up; plasma storm shots continued to pound the kitchen wall. “But…this sure seems real. What the hell is going on?!”

A Few Minutes Ago
Ultratech Corporation: Conference Room # 8

          “Oh, and one more thing. Please inform me when she returns. Thank you.” Azrael sighed as he closed the channel with Fulgore-X.
          Julie’s impulsiveness was causing Azrael more trouble than he let on. Azrael sort of hoped that Julie would be able to kill Orchid, assuming that was what she set out to do. But realistically, Julie still wasn’t all that familiar with her systems, and it was doubtful that she would actually succeed. After Julie’s attack, Orchid would surely come to Ultratech, and she wouldn’t leave until she got some answers. That simply wouldn’t do. Plus, Azrael would probably have to move his plans up by a few weeks.
          Either way, Azrael found that he had to execute the first stage of his plan far earlier than he wanted to; the takeover of the Ultratech Corporation. It simply wouldn’t do to let Orchid, Jago, or any other human inside of the building at this point. With any luck, the situation could still be contained. The quarantine barriers had worked well thus far; Azrael figured he could use them once more.
          Within his mind, Azrael pictured the inside of the Chemical Storage room. The room was a mess, thanks to him, with most of the beakers broken on the floor, and their contents strewn about. There were still a handful of test tubes sitting along the shelves on the walls. Azrael picked two at random, and teleported them outside of the room. One he teleported a few feet above the directory table, at the main entrance. The other reappeared just outside of the supply doors at the South Wing of the complex, a few feet above the floor. After the teleport finished, both test tubes fell at the exact same time, breaking on impact, with their contents spilling quickly.
          Only seconds later, the tint of the lights overhead turned blue. All computer terminals displayed a warning message, also flashing blue. A loud alarm blared all throughout Ultratech.
          “And so, the saga begins.” Azrael bowed his head.

Control Room

          “Stop that.” Thunder ordered. “You’re making me sleepy.”
          A young computer technician, sitting in the main chair of the main terminal, stretched as far as he could, while yawning. “Sorry Chief.” He said. “I didn’t sleep at all last night.”
          “And who’s fault is that, Mike?” Thunder asked.
          “Yeah yeah, I know. I was working on some stuff last night, got a little carried away.”
          “Mm-hmm. I know all about the Limp Bizkit concert last night. I also know you specifically requested a short day yesterday. I’m not that old Mike.”
          “Sorry sir.”
          Thunder half-smiled. “So, how was it?”
          Mike spun around, suddenly awake. “It totally rocked!”
          “And your date?”
          “Who says I had a date?”
          Thunder raised an eyebrow at him.
          Mike dropped his head, smiling. “She was cute.”
          “Remember son, everywhere you’re going, I’ve already been. Of course, the music was much better in my day. I remember my very first concert-“
          Thunder was suddenly interrupted by a very loud alarm. All of the few working computer monitors displayed a flashing blue message. Additionally, the lights gained a blue tint. The young technicians stopped what they were doing to look around, confused and uncertain.
          “Damn, I thought we fixed this!” Mike exclaimed.
          “No, wait.” Thunder took a look over to his right, at one of the working monitors.

          “That’s a quarantine alert!” Thunder exclaimed. “This could be serious.”
          “Do you think it’s real?” Mike asked. “It could be another false alarm.”
          A female employee wandered over to the main terminal. “And it could be real.” She added.
          Thunder straightened himself. “Either way, that’s a general area quarantine alert. I’m pretty sure that calls for the quarantine of the entire building. Nothing in or out.”
          “We could be trapped in here for a very long time!” The girl pleaded.
          “If the quarantine alert stays online for a while, we can always leave by fixing the teleporters. But, if we leave, we might not be able to get back in.” Mike reasoned. “At least, not for a while. The computer systems could totally crash. It’d be disastrous!”
          “I’d rather risk the computers than our lives!”
          “You know how many false alarms we’ve had though! This is probably just another one of those.”
          “But, the quarantine system is isolated from the rest of Ultratech.” Thunder thought. “Is it possible for the virus to have somehow jumped? Or is it a real quarantine?”
          “Thunder!” Both Mike and the girl called in unison.
          “Huh?” Thunder snapped to attention.
          “Well, you’re the ranking official here.” Mike said. “It’s your call. Do we leave, or do we stay?”
          Thunder sighed, staring at the blank main video terminal. “The teleporters are in bad shape right now. I don’t know when they’ll get fixed. If we stay, we could be stuck here for a very long time. Section 27 has been under quarantine status for three months now. Plus, this could be very real. The tale of the boy who cried wolf comes to mind. We can’t risk it.” Thunder turned around, to face everyone in the Control Room. “Everybody, we’re leaving! We have less than seven minutes left to get out of here now! Take whatever you can and get out of here!” Thunder quickly accessed a working terminal, to his left. “Damn! The main exit is blocked off – that’s one of the affected areas! Use the East Gate; I think that’s closer anyway! Let’s move people!”
          The techs quickly ran to whatever terminal was nearest and working. The sleepy and sluggish Control Room suddenly sprang to life. The cries of frantic workers filled the room.
          “Someone save the L directory, quickly!”
          “I need a spare CD, someone please!”
          “John, help me over here! I’ll save half these files, you get the other half!”
          “Hey you! Forget that one! It’s too corrupted! Go on to the next one!”
          “Is anyone coping the system files! C’mon, somebody has to be doing it!”
          Thunder quickly slid underneath the main terminal. He pulled a few circuit boards out from under the terminal, and then sprang to his feet. “That’s enough people! Take what you’ve done and let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
          The techs reluctantly jumped up, took all the program notes, manuals, and discs they could hold, and ran out of the room. Thunder stayed behind as long as he could, ushering as many people out as he could. He gave away the circuit boards he was holding to a young girl, one of the last ones out. Thunder continued to direct until the last tech made his way out of the room. Thunder quickly followed him. He stopped in the doorway, and turned around.
          The Control Room was an absolute mess. Wires were strewn about everywhere; along the floor, hanging from the walls and ceiling. Over three fourths of the computers had been disassembled, with various parts lying about on the floor. Not to mention the torn and coffee stained manual pages tossed about. The Control Room had seen better days, but even in it’s darkest hour, it was still kind of like home. Thunder had spent a lot of time here in the past few months. A lot of things had happened as well. He remembered the first time he ever saw it, when Orchid asked the other fighters to meet her during KI7. This place had become very familiar to him, and now he was leaving it. Thunder had a strange feeling that for some reason, he may be looking at it for the last time.
          Thunder turned around, and ran down the hall. The doors to the Control Room slid shut behind him.

New York: Orchid’s Apartment

          As an agent, but foremost as a competitor in the Killer Instinct tournament, if there’s anything that Orchid learned, it’s that anything is possible.
          Certainly this proved to be true, as her former colleague, the supposedly dead Julie, stood in the middle of her apartment, firing plasma storm shots at her. Orchid had dived behind her kitchen counter, and this is where she was currently pinned.
          “Could a hallucination be this realistic?” Orchid thought. “And why is Julie…how could she be…those are the powers of…”
          Suddenly, a plasma storm shot burst through the counter next to her. “Can’t stay here!” Orchid thought. “Gotta go…now!” Acting without really thinking, Orchid stood up quickly. Before Julie could react, Orchid leapt up on the counter and lunged from it, pouncing on Julie. Both of them crashed roughly on the floor. Despite the hard landing, Orchid scrambled to her feet. She dashed over to a small coat closet by the door. This was where Jago and Orchid kept their various martial arts gear, weapons included. Orchid threw open the door and frantically searched inside, looking for anything she could use.
          Her search could not be completed though. Julie leapt to her feet, and fired a quick shot into the closet. Orchid, who sensed it coming, managed to duck, but barely in time to avoid getting hit. The blast exploded within the closet, decimating it. Most of everything that was inside was thrown all across the apartment. Orchid, lying on the floor, groped for the closest weapon she could find; she picked up Shadow’s staff. She stood up and extended the metal staff.
          Julie dropped her hand, and gave Orchid a strange look, tilting her head. Without warning, she charged at Orchid, with a punch. Orchid ducked this time. She tried a foot sweep, but Julie jumped to avoid it. Julie launched a flurry of punches at Orchid, which could only be half-blocked. They were just too fast, faster than anything Orchid had ever encountered before. Orchid was taking a few good shots to the head and body, and after a relatively short time, she was starting to reel.
          Orchid shook her head. She still had no idea what exactly was going on, but her life was definitely in danger. If she had any chance of survival at all, she’d have to go on the offensive. Orchid pulled back, and took a massive swing at Julie. Julie caught the staff with one hand, and ripped it away. Glaring at Orchid, Julie held the staff out with her right hand. She squeezed hard, breaking the metal staff in two. Orchid’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.
          Julie rushed in again, relentless. She gave Orchid a fierce punch, and before she could react, Julie buried a knee in her stomach. With Orchid doubled over, Julie clasped her hands together, raised them above her head, and brought them down across Orchid’s back. She hit the ground hard.
          Julie took a few steps backwards, still glaring at Orchid. She waited patiently, while Orchid collected herself. Exhausted, and in pain, Orchid planted both hands down on the floor and pushed herself up. No sooner than the instant Orchid straightened herself, Julie extended her right hand and fired a plasma storm shot directly into Orchid. It exploded into a million sparks on contact. Orchid went flying backwards, crashing into and breaking through the door.
          Orchid hit the floor on her back, and lay prone in her doorway. The plasma storm had an adverse stun effect, and knocked Orchid near unconscious. She was thoroughly dazed, now unaware of where she was or what had happened. Julie began walking slowly towards her. On the way, she picked up a katana blade that had been thrown from the coat closet.
          Julie stopped directly over Orchid. She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving in and out. She brought the sword up over her head, in preparation for a final strike. Orchid was still stunned, and was barely moving. Her eyes rolled back in her head, while her head rolled back and forth. Julie’s eyes narrowed, and the corners of her mouth turned downwards. The once silent attacker let out a scream that shattered the sky, then brought the sword down as hard as she could.
          Orchid opened her eyes slowly. It was very hard; every time she made a little progress, her lids would clamp shut again. Her body hurt all over; in her chest especially. And her head throbbed as if it would explode at any given moment.
          And this was supposed to be her day off.
          As her sight slowly returned to her, she could make out a long, silver object, directly in front of her. Her first instinct was to move, but she hurt far too much to even attempt that. After a few seconds, it became clear that the object wasn’t moving towards her at all. Instead, it was suspended in mid air. Something was keeping it that way.
          Julie, blinded by her own rage, suddenly came to the realization that something, someone, had stopped her attack. Quickly being ripped back to her surroundings, she looked down to see Orchid, still prone and helpless underneath her. The sword had been stopped only one foot away from her. Following the blade from hilt to tip, Julie could see that someone’s hands had stopped the sword. He had clasped his hands together, open palm, and caught the blade of the sword within. There were not too many people in the world who could do that kind of thing. Julie followed the arms up, to get a good look at her opponent’s savior. Her eyes met with his, and suddenly, everything changed.
          Julie felt her heart deflate, and sink down into her stomach. Her knees felt as if they would give out there and then, and she would simply topple over. Each breath became harder than the last, and shorter as well. Her eyes widened, and her lower lip began to shake. A knot began to form within her throat. Despite that, Julie tried to speak, but couldn’t get anything out. The person on the other side of the sword was experiencing a similar reaction, but he managed to force himself to speak.
          “…Julie?” Jago said weakly.
          “…Jago? Wh…what are you doing here?” Julie whispered.
          “Apparently, saving my sister.” It was the only thing Jago could think of to say. He was at a loss for words.
          “Your sister?” Without realizing it, Julie let go of the sword. The handle fell a few inches, but Jago’s grip on the blade kept it suspended. She took a few shaky steps backwards, staggering as if she’d been punched. “…Orchid is…your sister? …That means that…no…oh God…no…Jago, listen to me. Your life is in serious danger. You have to go, you have to get out of here and find somewhere safe. Please…I’m begging you…” Julie bumped into the window on the back wall. She nearly fell through it. Somehow collecting herself, she remembered she had the ability to teleport. Giving it a few seconds of thought, Julie accessed her GPS and teleported away.
          Jago stood frozen for a few seconds. “What…she just…teleported? …Julie…I…I don’t…believe this…” Jago was still wholly in shock. However, there were things to be done. And many, many, many questions to be answered. But first, there was something to attend to.
          Jago tossed the katana blade aside, and knelt down besides his sister. “Orchid! Orchid! Are you okay? What happened?”
          Orchid sat up slowly, with Jago’s help. “She…surprised me. I wasn’t prepared…wasn’t prepared at all.” Orchid tried to stand, but she was still half unconscious and incredibly dizzy.”
          “Hey hey, don’t push yourself.” Jago said. “You’re pretty messed up.”
          “I’ll be fine.” Orchid said flatly. “Help me up.”
          Jago, despite his better judgment, stood up, took Orchid by the hands, and pulled her up. Orchid wobbled, as if she would fall. Jago supported her, and began directing her through the mess that was now their apartment, to his bedroom. He opened the door with his free hand, and then helped Orchid to the bed, where she sat down heavily.
          “Here, take a minute to recover.” He said. Orchid’s head sunk into her hands.
          Jago felt the same way. There were so many questions, so many issues, he couldn’t even begin to imagine where to start. One thing seemed prevalent though – was that woman really Julie? Wasn’t she supposed to be dead? Why was she here? Why was she attacking Orchid? And why was she wearing an Ultratech jumpsuit?
          Before Jago could get very far with his frantic wondering, the phone rang. It startled him a bit, as it seemed quite sudden. Jago wasn’t even sure if he should answer it. Deciding that perhaps a little distraction would be good right now, he picked up the receiver.
          “Hello?” Jago responded weakly.
          “Jago? Is that you?” Chief Thunder’s voice asked over the phone.
          “Yeah…what’s up Thunder?”
          “You are not going to believe this…but we’ve just evacuated Ultratech!”
          “What?!”
          “Yeah! About ten minutes ago, the quarantine alarm went off! The whole building’s been barricaded!”
          “Are you serious?”
          “Yes! We took all that we could, and we left! Ultratech’s been completely evacuated, and now it’s sealed off!”
          Jago found himself breathing heavily, almost panting. “Did you call President Summers?”
          “Not yet – I thought I’d give you guys the heads up first.”
          “Uh…thanks Thunder. Hold on right there, we’ll be right down!”
          “Sure. See you guys in a little while.”
          Jago put the receiver down. He kind of stared at the phone, while not actually looking at it. “Ultratech? Sealed off?” He thought. “Another quarantine barrier? What the hell is going on? And how is Julie involved?”
          “What’s going on?” Orchid asked. She was begging to come to her wits. She grasped the edge of the bed with her hands, while trying to regulate her breaths.
          Jago turned to her. “That was Thunder. He said that Ultratech’s been completely sealed off – another quarantine barrier!”
          “What?!”
          “Yeah…everyone’s been evacuated…”
          Orchid’s eyes widened. “Jago…I don’t know what in the hell is going on, but there’s only one way to find out. We have to go to Ultratech. We have to go now.”
          “Waitaminute, I agree with you, but hold on. You still haven’t recovered. What happened?”
          Orchid’s head dropped. “We don’t have the time to wait. Julie hit me…with a plasma storm attack.”
          “What?!”
          “Jago…she had the powers…of a Fulgore cyborg…”
          “The powers of a Fulgore?! That…that…I mean…that just…no…” Jago couldn’t even find words to respond.
          Orchid looked up, directly at him. “Now you understand then…why we must go to Ultratech, and why we must go now.”
          Jago nodded in agreement. He stood up, uneasy. He made his way out of the bedroom, and returned a few moments later, holding Orchid’s Ultratech’s jumpsuit.
          “I still think you need to recover. But you are right, this is pretty serious, and the more time we let pass, the more danger we could be facing. Besides, I’ve learned that once you’ve set your mind on something, nothing will move you. So, we’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.” He tossed the jumpsuit to her.
          Orchid looked at it, almost as if it would bite her. She sneered at it. Jago turned and started to leave. Orchid stopped him.
          “Hey Jago, wait. This place…my apartment…it isn’t safe anymore. Once we leave, we leave for good. And we won’t be able to come back. Take whatever is most important to you, but nothing more than you can carry.”
          Jago nodded. He left Orchid so that she could get dressed.
          Orchid straightened herself, then got up and carried her jumpsuit with her out of Jago’s bedroom and into her own. Taking her own advice, there was something she needed to retrieve. Orchid knelt down in front of her dresser, opened the bottom drawer, and carelessly tossed out the t-shirts and underwear that had been stuffed inside. At the bottom, there was a false panel that she began to remove. Before she could fully lift it, she froze. Quickly shutting the drawer, Orchid snatched her jumpsuit and began to put it on.