by L. Fergus
A squad of Djinn soldiers stood on the other side of the room not paying attention. Kita drew Midnight and an arrow. She fired, hitting a Djinn in the eye through his faceplate. The other Djinn turned, and two more went down to arrows. Kita swapped Midnight for Dusk and Dawn and charged the stunned group.
Kita leaped and plunged her swords into the first Djinn’s chest. She withdrew, performed a backward handspring with a twist and stabbed her swords into the second Djinn. Spinning, she dropped to her knees and cut through the third Djinn’s legs. As he fell forward, Kita thrust upward through the Djinn’s head. Kita rolled to her right to dodge a wild burst of bullets. She sprang into the air and corkscrewed, slamming Dusk and Dawn down into the shoulders of the last Djinn. The body fell backward, a shower of sparks from the power armor erupting when it hit the floor.
On the ceiling was a trio of autocannons along with the four blinding lights. Kita smiled, grabbed a Djinn, and snapped her fingers. The Djinn’s eyes opened.
“Hang on, this is going to hurt,” she said with a giggle.
She placed her hand on his armored chest piece and melted through it. The Djinn screamed when her flaming hand touched his skin.
“Oh, that was nothing. This is what’s going to hurt.”
Thrusting her hand into his chest, she seized his beating heart and yanked it from his chest cavity. The Djinn’s roar became a whimper. The Djinn floated off the floor under one of the autocannons. Kita floated up along with him, still holding his heart. She draped the muscle over the autocannon and let the body hang.
The Djinn moaned.
“Don’t worry. I’ll give you something to sing about when I’m done with your friends.”
Kita whistled as she revived the Djinn, ripped their hearts out, and hung them from autocannons and lights.
“There,” said Kita when she finished. “Aren’t you the cutest kitty cat choir?” She chuckled at the moans she received. “Oh, you need to perk up. This isn’t a zombie convention.” She waved her hand, and the Djinns’ heads lowered. “Now, let’s hear you sing.”
“Sick bitch…”
“Fallen angel…”
“Sociopath…”
“Going to…”
“Take her…”
“Revenge.”
“Perfect,” Kita purred. “Make sure to recite that to anyone who comes in here or any gods watching.”
Kita went to the guard station’s console and found the bridge on the map. She called the bridge, stepped aside, and waved her hand at her choir as a Djinn officer appeared on the screen. The choir sang her song a few times for him.
“What is this? Someone explain,” demanded the officer.
Kita waved her hand.
“She’s coming for you,” sang Kita’s choir as she left the room.
The blinking red boarding warning light cast shadows as Kita walked down the corridor. I doubt Snowy’s forces can board Ragji. Still, there wasn’t a super-freak-on-the-loose warning system, at least not on any ship she’d been on. I doubt the kitties have that kind of imagination.
The warning put more people into the corridors, all of which she dispatched with extreme enthusiasm, but not even the soldiers were challenging. The Djinn weren’t bad fighters, just primal. They received basic training in how to use their claws, but none mastered them like Snowy. The Djinn preferred modern weapons. I’m sure they’re regretting that now.
Kita turned a corner, following a map she downloaded at a security kiosk. Ahead of her was supposed to be an authorized access only Area. Two guards stood at the door. Must be the place. Kita was searching for the elevator to the bridge, and by process of deduction, this place made logical sense—it was directly below the bridge and access was restricted. It would be better if they marked it storage or something. According to the map, most of the interior of the ship was dedicated to storage.
Forming two fireballs, Kita threw them at the guards. You didn’t get the message to be on the lookout for me? The fireballs struck the guards in their helmets. They retaliated by opening fire. Their bullets stopped in front of Kita as she waited patiently for the superheated fire to burn its way through. She laughed when they dropped their rifles and danced around trying to take their armor off. One managed to remove his helmet causing the flames to engulf his mane.
“Stop, drop, and roll,” Kita told them as she walked by.
She entered a chaotic room. In the center, an elevator shaft made of clear panels was surrounded by workstations. This must be the command center. As the nerve center for the entire ship, it gathered and disseminated information, but wasn’t where the senior officers were. That’s who Kita really wanted.
Kita grew four of her explosive red balls in her hands. Few in the room noticed her. Those that did looked confused by her appearance. Kita tossed the balls into the four quadrants of the room. An alert Djinn yelled something to the rest of the room. Kita smiled and waved as her heat shield expanded. She snapped her fingers four times, and the red balls exploded.
The shockwaves bounced around the room destroying the organized chaos, pulverizing and throwing the bodies around, blue blood oozing from noses and ears. Kita’s heat shield collapsed, and she surveyed the scene with a wicked smile. Most bodies lay in unnatural positions, the soft tissue turned to jelly. That should take the pressure off Snowy and her friends.
Kita walked to the elevator, stepping over dead Djinn. Around her, some of the workstations sparked or their screens blinked randomly. Entering the elevator, she hit the button for the bridge.
The elevator moved upward, stopped, and the doors opened. Two Verisom males in power armor flanked a door in front of her. Kita had never seen Verisom males in power armor before. Cotton was right. They are imposing.
“Stop and identify yourself,” said the Verisom on the right through a translation device that made his voice sound mechanical. Both Verisom aimed their large miniguns at her.
“Kita. I’m taking a tour of the ship.”
“You are not authorized to be here. Return to the command center, and you will be escorted to an authorized area.”
Kita chuckled. “At least you’re not trying to kill me outright. I—on the other hand—am.”
She raised her hands over her shoulders, drew Dusk and Dawn, and threw the blades end over end into the faceplates of the Verisom, pinning them to the wall. With a smile, Kita recovered her swords. Why are two Verisom males guarding the entrance to the bridge of a Djinn ship?
As Kita stepped up to the door, it opened. A Djinn officer bounced off her and caused a comical set of collisions by several Djinn following him. The Djinn Keystone Cops. Kita swept her blades cutting the first Djinn in half. She stabbed the second, spun, took the head of the third, and stepped around the fourth to stab him backward.
The bridge was in disarray. The crew was trying to reestablish their link with the command center. Above them, the captain sat in his chair, next to him was a Verisom female. Well, that explains the guards. Still, I didn’t know the Djinn shared with those they considered food.
“It’s the escapee!” yelled a Djinn from a workstation next to the door. He jumped to his feet while drawing a sidearm.
Kita snapped her fingers, and everyone froze in place. “None of that.” She walked across the bridge and stopped in front of the Verisom female. “Hello, Princess. What’s a good looking girl like you doing in a place like this?” Kita leaned in and kissed her. “Yum. You never forget your first bunny.”
The Verisom’s nose twitched violently in protest of the violation.
“Such a mouth,” Kita said with a chuckle. She stroked the side of the Verisom’s head to calm her. Kita turned her attention to the captain. “We have a problem. Warden Kiiz is dead. I so badly wanted to skin that cat alive. What’s a girl to do but find a replacement? Since I was thrown into that damn bubble, I’ve watched this ship circle like a carrion bird waiting for me to drop dead. YOU represent my incarceration as much as Kiiz. I’ve destroyed his prison, and n
ow I’m going to destroy this ship. The Grand Panel and the Tet will learn the price of crossing me. I would have helped them whenever they needed it. Instead, they listened to idiots like Grand Marshal Tetarax. Now, they’re going to learn what betraying me means. I’m not going to stop with Ragji. I’ll destroy the whole damn Tet and every living soul on it.” Kita’s voice became low and menacing. She ended with a growl. “But first, let’s you and I have a little fun, shall we?”
Kita reached into the captain’s mouth, grabbed his left canine, and yanked it out. The captain’s eyes went wide with pain. Kita released his head so she could listen to him howl. She held up the tooth with the root dangling. “I find it odd they call it a canine when it comes off a cat, don’t you think?”
“Dirty, sand flea encrusted barren female. You will suffer for your insolence,” the captain roared.
“I’m not barren,” Kita scoffed. “I have plenty of eggs. I just choose not to use them.” Kita showed the tooth to the rest of the crew, letting their eyes follow it. “There are worse predators in the galaxy than cats. Angels are built to be killers. Now, let’s see that other tooth.”
Kita grabbed the captain’s muzzle and forced his jaws open. “Oh, quit struggling. You want to do it the hard way?” She jabbed her finger into the socket of the missing tooth and turned up the heat. The captain roared and shook his head violently throwing Kita off. “Oh, you want to play rough? Fine.” Kita drew Dusk and held it up to the Verisom. “Give me the tooth, or I start removing body parts.”
“She is an officer. You can’t intimidate us,” snarled the captain.
Kita unfroze the Verisom’s head. “What’s your name?”
“C—Carrot.”
“Princess Carrot has a nice ring to it. You must be one of the mid-tier princesses. Do you know who I am?”
Carrot nodded. “You were Princess Cotton’s fiancée—the Angel Kita.”
“Someone’s been reading the tabloids. Do you really think I killed Cotton?”
“I…I…The Queen said you did.”
Kita patted the side of Carrot’s head, enjoying the silky soft fur. “That’s a clever attempt at sidestepping the question. I want to know what you think.” Kita held Dusk up so Carrot could see it.
Tears filled Carrot’s big eyes. “I…I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. I’m not in the warrens that are told privileged information.”
Kita grabbed one of Carrot’s ears and sliced the tip of it off. Carrot screamed. Her eyes rolled up in her head, and she passed out.
Kita held up the tip of the ear to the captain. “How many more parts do you want her in?”
“You’re a monster.”
Kita chuckled. “A monster you created. Now, tooth or I wake her up, and I’ll take something bigger.”
The captain let out a low growl but opened his mouth. Kita grabbed the tooth and yanked. The Captain roared and shook his head violently.
“Tell me something, Captain. Why risk your neck for her? Djinn see the Verisom as just above food.”
“Commander Carrot is here under a liaison program to learn how Djinn ships operate. A Djinn officer is serving aboard a Verisom ship. I’m honor bound to protect her.”
Kita laughed. “Honor, what a joke.” She touched Carrot’s nose, and the Verisom woke. “You’re going to want to be awake for the next part, Princess.”
Carrot bowed her head, but her nose was pale.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, the end will be quick.” Kita turned to the crew and held up the two canines. “Now that I’ve defanged your captain, I’m going to defang the Djinn fleet.”
Kita stepped in front of the captain’s chair and threw her arms wide forming a column of red energy around her.
Snowy clung to the back of a chair as another blast rocked the ship. She didn’t know what was happening, but the gunfire from Ragji had lessened considerably. Kita was the most logical reason. They were still determining what hit Ragji to blow apart its portside engines.
“Commander Snowy!” an urgent cry came from the sensors station.
Snowy rushed over. “What is it?”
“This just came up on imaging. There’s a massive column of energy coming from Ragji, and it disappears out into space.”
“Christ on the cross! She’s going to blow up the ship. All hands emergency FTL jump, now! Tell the other ships and jump.”
“We can’t blindly jump,” said a sailor at navigation.
“We jump, or we’re dead! We have to beat the energy wall that’s crashing down on Ragji.”
“A what?”
“She’s done this before. Just do it,” Snowy yelled. “What’s about to go off has enough energy to destroy a planet. We don’t want to be anywhere close when this goes off.”
“Other ships have been alerted and are complying,” said a sailor from communications.
“Good. Go, go!”
A brilliant white light glided through the window of Ragji’s bridge. It circled Kita’s beam of light several times before expanding into a tiny Angel with mousey brown hair, big brown eyes, and wearing a white bodysuit. She stuck her hand into Kita’s beam.
“I’m sorry, big sister, but this is extreme, even for you. Why do so many innocents have to die?”
Kita scowled. “Tina! How did I know you’d be close? Every time I’m imprisoned, you’re watching.”
“I’m trying to keep you safe. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Did you enjoy watching them starve me—making me too weak to move? I couldn’t even think. Is that why you watch?” Kita screamed.
Tina held up her hands against Kita’s anger. “Were you in any significant danger I would have stepped in.”
“What is significant danger, Tina? Do I have to die first? Because my resurrection systems need power to function. Starving to death means they’re inoperable.”
“Kita, I’m sorry, but I would never let it get that far. I was hoping you’d relax and take it easy.”
Kita gnashed her teeth. “Do I look relaxed? The only thing that happened was my rage and hate built like a plugged volcano.”
Tina gulped. “Please calm down. This is not the way. Doing what you’re doing will bring Y’grene and the others, and they will delete you.”
“Why? What have I done?”
“You’re trying to become a god again. They’ll never allow it. You’re too dangerous.”
“What have I done to them?” Kita roared, hoping the gods were listening.
“It’s not what you’ve done. It’s your motives and objectives.”
“I’m to be punished for something that might happen?”
“You’re a threat—to all the equations. You’re a threat like they’ve never known and you scare them.”
Kita balled her fists and her eyes burned. “Then let them know fear.” She screamed, and the energy wall crashed into the ship shredding metal and plastic. When the wall reached the beam, everything exploded in a brilliant flash.
“Why are we in the White?” said Kita to Tina. She only passed through the White on her way to Infinity. It served as the boot system for the equation that governed the universe.
“I’m sorry, Kita,” Tina said with a sad frown. “I can’t let you run wild. You’re too powerful. I heard what you want to do to the Tet. I can’t let that happen. I gave you a chance.”
Six gods, as points of light, appeared and flew around the pair of Angels. Three hovered behind Kita, while the others lined up next to Tina. One point expanded into Ht’aed, a grim reaper, the second into Y’grene, a sphere, the third, E’fil, became a woman covered in vines and leaves. Those gods behind Kita expanded into humanoid forms. Each god was made from millions of points of light.
“Y’grene,” Kita purred at the ball.
“Li’ve,” Y’grene greeted in a crisp, even voice.
“Why call this equation by one of our names?” said Ht’aed in a deep, menacing growl. “It is not worthy of it.”
“I earne
d my name,” snarled Kita. “I defeated the Harbingers and combined a universal equation with a nonstandard subset you created. None of you could have done that, and I did it in an instant.”
“That is why you should be deleted,” said Ht’aed.
“Try it,” yelled Kita. “I may not be as powerful, but I can still pack a wallop.”
“Calm yourself, Li’ve,” said E’fil in an airy and happy voice. “You chose this path and knew the outcome. Accept your fate.”
The three gods behind Kita grabbed her. Kita struggled, but they forced her to her knees. Kita bared her teeth at the elder gods. They crowded around Kita and reached out to her with an appendage glowing blue at the tip.
“Delete me, and I will gain power you can’t imagine,” said Kita menacingly.
“Your power is at an end,” said Ht’aed.
Ten pinpricks of light appeared and flew around Kita and the gods.
One broke away and flew between Kita and the elder gods. The pinprick expanded into Kamikaze. She raised her fist. “Touch her, and I’ll raze Infinity to the ground.”
The other pinpricks of light transformed into eight Angels and a raptor. They drew their weapons and put them to the other gods.
“Hold,” ordered Ht’aed. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“Anyone messing with my mom is messing with us,” said Kamikaze.
Panther, Aspen, and Toxic prodded the gods restraining Kita with swords and claws to make them let go. Kita stood and fluffed her ruffled feathers.
“You’re not the only one who comes with backup,” Kita said smiling at Y’grene. “Did you forget about the Valkyries, or did you think they would obey you?”
“This is none of their business,” Ht’aed hissed.
“Oh, but it is. They’ve been on a fool’s errand—at your direction—to find my god powers. Instead, you deleted as much of my god power as you could, but not all of it. There’s enough left I can still interact with equations. It doesn’t matter, what was lost I can find again. Now, maybe you’d like to negotiate?”