by M. O. McLeod
He picked up the line and said, “Hello, Mayor Wilks here.”
“Mayor, the north is being attacked!”
Mayor Wilks eyes widened. “Who do we have at the strongholds of the entrances into the north side?”
“They have broken through mayor, they have tanks sir!” the voice on the other end of the phone call yelled.
“Tanks!” the mayor stomach doubled. “What the hell do we have?”
“Sir, call in the Elite Nine,” the voice suggested. “It’s our last line of defense.”
“The Phantoms are in the north. Where the hell is Kurma and the BlueK’s?” asked the mayor.
“I have contacted her already, but sir, the same gang that broke into the police station is now trying to take over the north and they have all the weapons of the station, even the police are now the Phantoms,” the voice explained. “They have tactics, they are organized and they have an actual force like nothing we have seen. The RAID commander is recommending that you and your wife evacuate immediately.”
Sirens of the city blared loudly overhead. The sirens signified an attack on the city and Mayor Wilks hadn’t heard them ring ever since the police had cut off the downtown area from the north. Now they rang again, loud and ominous, a signal of the city’s perilous times.
“Margie!” the mayor yelled out to his wife. “Get your stuff ready to go. We are leaving the city.”
Outside, Margie stopped kicking the door. She could hear the sirens of the north. The Phantoms must have broken through the barricades blocking the untainted side of the city off. Now there was no way that she was going to leave her dog of a husband. Who would protect her from the Phantoms that were rapidly killing off the citizens of Alexandria? She slouched on the ground. How did she get here? When she met the mayor he was all hers. Her life was perfect and she was more than happy. Now, she had to depend on a man who cared nothing for her, but only of his name and his rise to prominence.
The mayor turned his attention back to his phone call. “Call the commanding officers to the HQ.”
“I am already ahead of you,” came the voice on the other end of the line. “Everyone is waiting. There is a car waiting for you outside of your house as we speak.”
“Good Wenthell, very good,” said the mayor quickly. His first assistant was always thinking ahead. “I will see you very soon, be safe.”
The mayor opened the bathroom door and found his wife crying on the floor. “Didn’t you hear me say get your stuff?” he yelled at her and ran to his room to pack. There was no way he was staying in the city of Alexandria if the Phantoms broke through. He would have to go to the sister city, Saylor Sax, and if Margie had any sense then she would want to put some pep in her step, otherwise, he had no problem leaving her.
Margie grudgingly pulled her body up off the ground. Her eyes were dull and wet; she had nothing to live for. A man that didn’t love her, a city that wanted to swallow her up whole and a future that wasn’t too bright. What else could she do? The only thing she knew how to do; Margie followed down the hall after her husband.
Chapter 28:
Kurma, a Tank, and a Pilot
Kurma signaled for the BlueK’s to disperse. The many colors that made up the formation of the Raptors split as the girls flew off into the sky. Kurma prepared for a nose dive. She was fully Raptored in the air, wings bright blue and expansive as she zeroed in on her target. Down below was the raging war that Santino’s dad had created. Nobody had succeeded in getting into the north, but from the looks of it, Darius and his Phantom gang were giving it a hell of a try.
Kurma saw machine guns going off, men running through police barricades without a second thought to the pain or the bullets. She knew that Phantoms could not be killed easily. You had to wound them through the back. Kurma flew lower and noticed how the Phantoms were gaining the streets; the police and the RAID were being backed into a corner by the assault vehicles and the tanks. Darius and his Phantoms had gotten ahold of actual tanks. Very smart, Darius, thought Kurma.
The next thing she knew she felt hot fire coming for her. She flew left and right, circling away from the bullets of the machine gun set on top of a tank that had turned its attention to her. Bad idea boys, she thought to herself. Kurma flew at a breakneck speed in a dive head first into the huge metal machinery. The reflection off of the skyscrapers caught her descend as she spiraled in a circle, making it hard for the marksmen to gun her down. The Phantom that was on top of the tank behind the machine gun was no match for her. He tried to quickly turn the huge firearm on her as she dropped onto the moving tank but was to slow and ended up with his neck twisted. Kurma flung his body off of the bulky machinery and opened the tanks entry door. A Phantom poked his head out and was met with a crushing blow to his temple. Kurma felt the tank jerk as she squeezed her big body down inside. The Phantom who was driving the tank bared his many rows of teeth at her and lunged for her jugular. Kurma shoved her metal dagger into stomach. The Phantom growled at her and pulled his body off of the sharp metal rod and yanked it close, bringing Kurma deathly close to his piercing teeth. Kurma maneuvered around inside the tank and twisted the Phantom up in his own feet. She had the advantage, his back was to her and she took the blow. This time, the Phantom roared out in pain as she twisted the dagger up and sideways, making sure to sever his spinal cord. The Phantom dropped dead and Kurma turned and made herself comfortable inside the newly won tank.
“I gotcha now,” she said out loud. She could see outside of the tank with tiny cameras. “I see you.” Kurma aimed a missile at a nearby tank and pressed the launch button. The tank exploded loudly, sending Phantoms screaming every reach way. Kurma pushed the tank forward and felt it inch by inch roll over rubble in the street. She turned a corner, looking for more tanks to blow up and was immediately met with a heavy rain of bullets. Buttons inside the tank started to go off. Kurma shot back at the tank, feeling her body shake and move as she controlled the channel to the tanks machine gun. Both tanks did damage to one another until a loud warning went off.
“Missile lock, please evacuate…missile locked, evacuate immediately,” the sweet voice went off inside the tank.
“Shit!” Kurma tried to hurry as she unfastened her belt from off her shoulders and undid the top latch to the tank. She jumped high in the air as she felt the rocket’s heat and wind pass by her as it connected to the tank and exploded. Kurma felt some of the hair on her body singe away from the explosion as she flew up high out of the wreck.
A loud earsplitting noise came from the right of Kurma. She turned just in time to see a fleet of coal-colored jets fly around a skyscraper.
Who in the hell are they?
Kurma had never seen a jet a day in her life. Had help from another city come to the call of Alexandria? Kurma was doing all this work; it was about time that somebody came to save Alexandria.
A single jet doubled around a glass building and let off two rockets that blasted away at the tank that had attacked Kurma’s. “Good hit!” Kurma yelled up high. Excited, she did twirls in the air, Kurma wanted to get her hands on one of those, forget the tanks down below.
Kurma flew her way up to the jet that had avenged her time as a tanker fighter. She could make out only his eyes, they were grey and piercing; other than that, the pilot was completely covered from the neck up in his gear. On the side of his jet read the words, Elite Nine 077.
The pilot saluted to Kurma and maneuvered the aircraft in a spin back into the fight down below. Kurma blushed a bit. She needed to figure out who that guy was and fast.
Chapter 29:
Mayor Wilks
HQ was the next stop for Kurma. Men and women were running around in disarray when she arrived. There were makeshift sandbag barriers eight feet high placed in front of the building. Loaded machine guns stood at the ready. The streets were being emptied out around the building and everyone was rushed inside.
Kurma entered the main room where she noticed the ceiling-high screens proje
cting the happenings of the city, paper flying everywhere, and guns being passed around. The commanding officers of the police, RAID, the city council, and the Elite Nine were there too and in a heated debate. In the middle of the room stood the mayor and the pilot from earlier, his eyes just as piercing as before. The two were in deep discussion with the commanding officers.
She only had eyes for the pilot though. He wasn’t as tall as Santino; now that he was a Phantom, no one was as tall as Santino when Kurma thought about it. The guy had a lean muscular build and thick hands and arms that were wrapped across his chest, a chest that seemed broad and solid. He stood with his legs apart and commanded the room. But his face was even better than his body. His jaw bone and nose looked strong and his goatee accentuated his smooth lips. Kurma liked his caramel-colored skin and his thick neck; she wanted to wrap her arms around him. He looked young though, he couldn’t have been older than twenty five; yet, he was a commanding officer and flying jets.
“Have they reached the financial district yet?” a loud voice shook Kurma out of her daze.
Kurma broke her stare and found the mayor’s wife, Margie, staring her down and way to close for comfort. “I’m not too sure. I have to double check with your husband.”
“Good luck with that,” Margie said under her breath. “If the north falls then the city is doomed.”
Kurma patted Margie’s shoulder. The city may be ruined for the humans of Alexandria, but not for the Raptors. Kurma still had some cards to play. “Have you seen my BlueK’s?”
Margie shook her head. “Why do you wear those gloves all the time?” Margie looked down at Kurma’s hands that were covered by dark blue gloves.
Kurma had almost forgotten about her gloves. Kurma wore them out of habit; she didn’t want to touch anyone–turning them into a Raptor unless she wanted them. “They are for protection.”
“Against the Phantoms, right?” Margie figured. “They say that Saylor Sax refuses to help us.” Margie turned to face her husband and stood next to Kurma who loomed over her. “We were supposed to evacuate an hour ago but the President won’t allow anyone from Alexandria into their city unless they have an official quarantined slip with them.”
“Kurma!” the mayor finally took his attention away from his council members. “We need to talk immediately!”
Margie stepped aside and disappeared into the crowd. Kurma had never seen somebody so skilled at sneaking around her.
Kurma joined Mayor Wilks and instantly became aware of what she looked like. She was inches away from the pilot and knew he would stare. Even though she was an immense Raptor, Kurma was still in a room full of humans who had never been around something that looked like her.
“What is the report going on outside?” the mayor questioned Kurma.
Kurma didn't think that he wanted her kind of report. She was doing her part as best as she could but at the end of the day–she wasn’t fighting for the humans; Kurma just wanted to give off the illusion that she was. It was nothing that the mayor, the police, RAID, nor the Elite Nine could do to stop a force of nature. She wasn’t going to put her life on the line unless it was dealing with her family or her Raptors. The humans would lose the war on Phantasm. Kurma was sure of this. She and her Raptors would no longer need immunity in the city because the city would either be the Phantoms or Kurma’s. But still, she had to skirt around the obvious and play dumb for the mayor for a few more hours until the city fell.
“Sir, the tanks are gaining territory across the north zone,” Kurma explained.
“I’m sorry Mayor Wilks, but, who is this woman?” asked the grey-eyed pilot. “Excuse me again, but… what is she?”
“A Raptor,” Kurma shot back. “Haven’t you heard of us?
“Commander Chief Zoe Bell,” the pilot extended his hand out to Kurma. “I saw you fighting out there, pretty impressive.”
Kurma couldn’t help but smile as she grabbed his hand. She no longer cared that her massive hands were bigger than his. “Thanks. You saved me back there,” she gushed.
“Don’t mention it,” he dazzled her with his smile.
“So, you haven’t taken out the leader, this Darius guy?” the mayor yelled in Kurma’s face, oblivious to the flirting that was going on. “Kurma, I gave you immunity, did I not? I gave you a charge to rid the city; in exchange you could walk about in your feathers and wings and no one would bother you!”
Kurma finally turned her attention to the mayor. She actually saw him, for the first time. To her, he was just a basic man, a man who tried to dress well so that people would think highly of him. Mayor Wilks was a man that spoke out of turn and used his power for his own gain. He didn’t care about the people; he didn’t care about Kurma, or even his wife who seemed miserable. He wanted results and kept people around him that could get him that; he never even lifted a finger. Kurma finally turned her attention to him and didn’t like what she saw.
She was real power; Santino was power. Hell, even Darius was beginning to gain some form of power. The mayor…his power was in the city and the city was being taken over by a Phantom gang.
“The city is over.” Kurma finally revealed. “Downtown and mid-town is now blacked out.” Kurma pointed her claw nails at the mayor's chest as she continued. “The west, east, and the south are done!” she finally revealed. Kurma had pent up aggression towards this man and she was finally letting him know the truth. “The north is being overrun by Phantoms as we stand here! You think I give a damn about your immunity?”
“Oh, but you weren’t saying this when you broke into my house now were you?” the mayor stepped to Kurma. "You cared about my immunity then!" He poked his finger back at her stomach; she was taller than him by several inches. “I want every last Phantom off my streets and I want it now or so help you God I will have you charged with being an enemy of the state held in the high courts of the Manor!”
Kurma lunged for the mayor’s neck. No one disrespected her like that in front of people. She was a Raptor. There was a change of command now that humans were no longer on top of the food chain.
The mayor had enough. First, his wife was trying to incriminate him with pictures, and now Kurma was trying to test his authority. Didn’t she know that he ran the city? Didn’t she know that he was the mayor? He had reach that she couldn’t imagine. Before she knew it he would have the task force scouring the city hunting down all Raptors, including her! He charged back at Kurma. She wasn’t his wife; he could hit her back and not worry about a scandal.
Zoe saw the blow up as it came to a head. The mayor would lose if he went up against the winged Raptor, but he still wouldn’t let his pride go. Zoe thought that even after the mayor’s entire city was on its way to being taken away from him he still remained irrational. Now, up against a beast of a girl, the mayor was headed for complete self-destruction. Zoe stepped in and kept Kurma from strangling the mayor, and blocked the mayor from getting himself harmed more than he had too.
“Let me go, I can take her!” the mayor screamed and tried to shove Commander Zoe away.
“Take him for a walk out back,” Zoe instructed his second officer. Zoe heard the mayor screaming and shouting the entire way out the door.
“This is my city!” Mayor Wilks screamed. “You hear me? Mines! Not yours, and damn sure not the Phantoms. Alexandria belongs to me!”
Zoe turned to Kurma. “It’s over. The best we can do is to try and stop the leader of the gang from turning everyone into Phantoms. The city is lost to us but the people inside still needs our help.”
Kurma thought about it. The city was about to fall, no doubt about that, and she was for sure about to be a player, if not the main player, picking up the pieces. She needed to get Darius out of the picture. Too many people on the court messed things up. It was between Santino and her. Darius, so sad, had to be eliminated. Kurma just couldn’t afford to be fighting two Phantom leaders at once.
“So what’s the game plan Zoe?” she eased up to him and
looked into his eyes, they were even lovelier than her Raptored ones.
“I have sources who know the position on the leader.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Kurma. “I’m up high, you fly low…”
“Wait, what?” asked Zoe.
Kurma wasn’t that great at flirting. “Nothing, let’s just go.”
As Kurma prepared to leave she was stopped by Margie again. “Damn woman, how do you keep sneaking up on me?”
“Before you go, I have a proposition for you,” Margie baited.
“My team is ready to rock and load,” Zoe cut in.
Margie quickened her pitch. “The same way you and my husband had a deal, I want to make one with you.”
“You don’t possibly have anything that I want,” Kurma shot off fast.
“I’m from Saylor Sax and I know women of that city who can be very influential, women who look up to other women of power.”
Kurma slowed her roll and turned to Margie. “You are from Saylor Sax?”
Margie shook her head yes. “And I know the President’s wife. She was one of my best friends before I moved to Alexandria to be with the mayor. I could bring her to the Raptors side, our side.”
Kurma understood now. Margie wanted to become a Raptor, one of her BlueK’s.
“Zoe, give me the coordinates to the supposed location of the gang leader,” Kurma spoke up. “I will meet you there later.” She wrapped her arm around Margie’s shoulders.
Cute face or not, Kurma was about building a dynasty. Boys would have to wait a little longer.
Chapter 30:
Darius and Santino
Darius rode on top of the armored car as it made its way through the streets of north Alexandria. He waved at his many Phantoms. He cheered and laughed and drank heavy after his win, his win for his gang, the Phantom Plague. The police lay dead in the streets. The RAID team had surrendered. It was only the jets that flew up high that still gave the Phantom Plague opposition, but down below where it counted the most, Darius had won.