by Michael Todd
They both laughed, and then there was a mutual silent pause. Katie yawned again, and the general smirked. “It sounds like you need some sleep. I’ll contact you if the world is on fire.”
“Sounds good. I’ll have my firehose ready.”
Chapter Three
“You want to be careful with that. If you drop that box, you’re gonna have to face Timothy, and you do not want to face Timothy.” Korbin’s eyes narrowed as he watched the soldiers carry boxes to the loading area on the base.
Timothy walked up behind them and put his hands on his hips. “Damn straight. One scratch and I’m coming after you.”
Korbin chuckled. “I’m pretty sure that at this point he’s not going to let it slip one inch.”
Timothy nodded but wrinkled his nose. “Am I really that scary? I mean, how scary can I be in Marc Jacobs and Valentino?”
Korbin rubbed his face as Timothy did a little pirouette to show off his outfit and asked, “Is everyone ready to move on?”
Timothy turned to Joshua, the government consultant, and the other people. They all nodded, trying to hold back smiles or laughter. Joshua stepped forward with his notebook and looked at Korbin. “Tell us about where we’re going?”
Korbin nodded. “Right. We’re moving near Groom Lake. Obviously, we won’t be able to be directly at Groom Lake because it’s a landing site for Area 51. Several of the locations around it have been closed to the public since ‘95 so they couldn’t get shots of the installation. Groom Lake and the area around it is a salt flat, but there is an airfield in the area we’re looking at already, which was decommissioned from Area 51 and sold off. Nothing has changed much, and there’s a lot of defense still in place. We’re to build it up. They will bring up more defenses and consultants to learn from the last attack and make sure that if another one happens, we’re ready. We also chose this area because it’s far from civilians. Area 51 has their own protection, and the general has written down where we’ll be, so he knows exactly how close we are to them.”
Joshua nodded as he took notes in his book. “Will there be a place for the armory?”
Korbin tilted his head back and forth. “Yes and no. We’re going to make a place for you. It isn’t set up for that right now, but neither was this place. I remember everything now, but it’s taking me a little bit of time to get back on my feet. The consultants are here to help me and help you until that happens. The armory is obviously very important to us and the world, so it’ll be the first priority after defense.”
One of the consultants stepped up. “This is supposed to be temporary, a place to go that isn’t here, and the demons aren’t aware of. Most likely, it’ll only be until we’re able to hollow out a large enough area inside a mountain.”
Korbin put up his finger and shook his head. “I’m thinking that might not be the best. What happens if the demons open a portal to hell inside the mountain? Not only will we be right next to the portal while demons are pouring out, but the intense heat will take out our communications. We can’t afford that.”
The consultants looked at each other and nodded. “That’s a good point, Korbin. We’ll put our heads together and think about it. We don’t want to put the base or you folks in unnecessary danger.”
“I second that,” Timothy put in. “It’s a shame they figured out where this place was. I feel like having everything underground was perfect. It kept us safe from any roving eyes and allowed us to put our communication efforts above ground but not be obvious with some huge building with the satellite dish on it. On top of that, it was damn quiet, which was nice.”
Joshua closed his notebook. “The only thing that would’ve been better was if the armory had been underground too. The demons could have walked right over this place and never known we were here. I was really hoping this was going to be home for a long time.”
Korbin put his arm around Joshua. “I know you’ve moved a lot in your life, kid, but just remember, it isn’t the physical building that makes it home. It’s the people who are there with you. You’re part of a family, and we’re all in this together. We will make the next place just as awesome as this one.”
Timothy wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “You’re getting right to the heart of it. I sure as hell am glad you’re back, Korbin. And I have to say, being married to Stephanie has softened you up quite a bit. I can’t imagine the old Korbin saying anything that sweet.”
Korbin chuckled. “I’m thinking it’s more the soap operas than anything else.”
Timothy put his hands on his hips. “You don’t have to be ashamed of your femininity. Embrace it, boy. Embrace it.”
Everyone laughed and then Joshua looked up, his shoulders tensing. “Well, it looks like it’s beginning.”
Korbin smiled at him before turning to the road behind them. Dust clouded the air as several large trucks headed toward the main part of the base. Korbin sighed. “I remember this.”
I seriously don’t understand how you’re still sleeping. It’s been two days, and you act like you’re no better than you were before. I’ve taken care of all your wounds and put a pain blocker on you so you wouldn’t feel the soreness from your muscles healing. Pandora wasn’t having it anymore. She was starving.
Katie groaned, rolled over in the bed, and opened her eyes. You have been bitching at me for hours now. I told you, and I told the general, that this is my goddamned vacation. I just want to get some sleep.
Pandora narrowed her eyes. Don’t you get fucking snappy with me, bitch. You got your sleep, and now I need to be fed and so do you. You’ll never regain your energy if you don’t get out of bed and eat something.
Katie rolled onto her back and slapped her hands down on the bed. Fine! Just stop complaining. Why don’t you remind me again how I pulled you out of my body?
Oh, sweetie, you do that right now, and I can promise you won’t get back up again. It just about killed you, and not because you were standing in the depths of hell.
If I’m dead, do I get to sleep? Katie shoved herself up and swung her feet over the edge of the bed, taking a minute to collect herself before walking to her dresser.
She put on a pair of jeans, a black tank top, and a light leather jacket, then sat down on the edge of the bed to tie her shoes. She grabbed a small pistol out of the bedside table, placing it in her inner jacket pocket. There. She was ready.
Pandora wasn’t sure what she needed a gun for when she was going to get donuts, but she figured it was better not to ask. Katie headed out of the apartment and downstairs, deciding to walk to the Krispy Kreme instead of worrying about catching a cab. She’d pulled her hair back in a ponytail and put on a baseball cap before she left the apartment, so none of the protesters outside paid her a bit of attention.
It’s good to see them not fighting each other today.
Pandora laughed. I find it amusing when they fight each other over you. Got a bunch of people defending your honor.
I feel like that’s what I’m constantly doing with you—defending my honor.
Katie turned the corner and stopped to stare into a small ice cream shop. Her stomach rumbled, prompting her to walk inside and order two scoops of rocky road in a waffle cone.
Pandora was confused. Uh, I thought we were getting donuts.
Yeah, yeah. I’m getting this for energy. It’ll help me get to the donuts, which will give me even more energy.
Pandora was impressed with her thought process. I like that. Keep moving, I don’t want to miss hot, recently glazed donuts.
You know, everything about this day screams I’m not taking a vacation, though I have to admit, a dozen donuts right about now sounds absolutely delicious. Of course, not as delicious as those firefighters over there.
Katie licked her ice cream cone, watching several New York City firefighters clean their truck. She whistled at them and they looked up, smiling at her. She winked and kept walking toward the donut shop, talking about men, her boobs, and everything else she normally wouldn
’t talk about.
Pandora narrowed her eyes but didn’t say a word. She wasn’t used to Katie talking like this. She also wasn’t used to Katie talking so much. In fact, everything about her was a little bit off. It made Pandora wonder if she had a different Katie. She had gone to hell and then come back to life after pulling a demon out of her soul. There were so many ways something could have gone awry.
As they turned the corner, Katie stopped to watch three guys leave a van and walk into a bank. They were pulling masks over their faces as they entered. The short guy in the back was holding a silver gun tightly in his hand. It was obvious they were going in to make a withdrawal.
Pandora was excited about it, but she knew Katie wouldn’t be. Hmmm, what do we have here? Three little piggies entering the wolf’s den. They picked the wrong bank on the wrong street on the wrong day.
Katie leaned her head back and groaned. “For fuck’s sake, really?”
She started munching her ice cream cone as fast as she could, talking out loud to Pandora. “I’m noth in anthy mood for thith shith.”
Pandora winced. Slow down on the ice cream, meatbag. You’re giving both of us a brain freeze. And aren’t you supposed to be excited about things like this? This is your whole angel side, remember?
You’re the one on the superhero kick, not me.
I would’ve been perfectly happy to chill at the house and eat donuts. But no, you have wings, which means you have to protect the innocent. Or at least that’s what you think it means.
Katie swallowed the last of her cone. I had no choice in the matter, remember? One day, I’m just Katie the volleyball player, the next day I’m Katie the demon, and the day after that, I’m Katie the angel-demon. I blame all of you, but for right now, I get to take my anger out on those assholes.
With that, Katie began trotting toward the bank. She checked her pistol and stuffed it into her side pocket.
The general leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, listening to the people on his conference call talk. He was back in his office, and very glad to be. He was pretty sure he’d spent enough time bobbing up and down on the ocean to last the rest of his life. He was in the Army, not the Navy, and his people kept their feet on the dirt.
One of the officers on the phone was talking about finding the other Leviathans. “We want to make sure those beasts aren’t going to start coming out of the woodwork. We killed this one with bombs and heavy artillery. It took everything we had, and the beast was already half-dead when it came out of the portal. We know what it was like to try to kill it when it was in good health. We need to start building a strategy for when the next one comes, or better yet, when we find the next one. We want to be able to take it out quickly and efficiently.”
One of the other officers spoke up. “Sure, but what are we going to do? Send that merc into hell every single time and have her beat the shit out of the Leviathan until we can blow it to bits? I think that’s a little bit dangerous, and pretty much not an option.”
The officer replied, “What do you propose, then? We can’t just sit here and do nothing. We don’t know anything about the other Leviathans. They could be weaker than the first one, or they could be ten times as strong. I think sitting here doing nothing is ridiculous. Are we waiting for them to track us down and eat us for an afternoon snack?”
The phone erupted as everyone began talking all at once, and the general sighed. He leaned forward, took the mute button off, and barked at the phone. “Gentlemen! Fighting amongst ourselves isn’t going to solve this problem. I need everybody to calm down for a minute. I agree, we don’t know if the others are stronger or weaker than Tiamat.”
A voice spoke up. “Great, so we’re fumbling in the dark here. All we can do is hope the next one is less fierce than that weird Godzilla creature. We need to start tracking them with sonar and find them before they know what hit them. This Leviathan was living on our planet this whole time, but we had no idea. We could’ve dropped a nuke on the bitch a long time ago and saved ourselves this trouble.”
The general chuckled and let out a puff of air. “You know, gentlemen, we could always just let them sleep. Just because one was sent after us doesn’t mean the others will rise. But I know one thing for sure. If we start hunting them down and wake them up, they’re all going to come after us.”
Chapter Four
Katie ripped the bank doors open and stomped inside. She scanned the bank for the three men and realized that they probably hadn’t pulled their masks all the way on. After all, no one was screaming or hitting the ground. The bank was busy, just like any other bank in New York City, with most people not paying attention to anyone or anything around them.
Katie spotted the three of them bunched together in a corner. Lookie, lookie. Found you.
Pandora was the one advising caution for once. Careful. They have guns, and there are a lot of people here.
Please, it’s me. None of these people are going to get hurt. And since when did you become the voice of reason?
Since you decided to act like a gunslinger from the Wild West, saving the day in the local bank.
Katie scoffed. My angel senses are tingling. Either those three assholes are going to go down, or they will take a whole bunch of people down trying to rob this bank. I’m making a logical decision here.
She took a step toward them, and her eyes flashed from red to blue, tingles flying all over her body. She could feel her angel power pulsing through her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. The wings she kept hidden from sight shivered invisibly on her back. Katie swallowed hard and twisted her neck from side to side, still staring at the three men. Her eyes went from red to blue and back again, as if the angel and the demon inside her were fighting.
Pandora felt the rush of energy through Katie’s body, but Katie didn’t react the way she normally did. Her attention was locked on those men; she wasn’t going to let them get away with what they were about to do. It was anger flowing through her.
The short man looked up, and his eyes immediately fell on her. She was hard to miss, especially since her eyes were glued on them. He shouted to the other two.
They grabbed for their weapons, but they were too slow. Katie already had her pistol at the ready, and her eyes blazed red as she fired directly at them through the crowd. Everyone in the place dropped to the ground and started screaming. Katie’s bullets found their mark, and all three men went down. Katie scanned the crowd, checking to make sure no one else was hurt. Everyone seemed to be fine. They were terrified of the woman firing into a crowd but fine.
She walked toward the three men on the ground but stopped when a guard came around the corner and pointed his gun at her. “Freeze!”
Katie lifted an eyebrow and started to laugh. “Put your popgun away before I take it from you.”
Pandora was taken aback. Katie was usually the nice one. Hey, that’s my line!
Katie rolled her shoulders and willed her wings out, flaring them to each side. The crowd uttered a collective gasp. The guard froze and nodded slowly, gaping. He carefully put his gun back into the holster, leaving one of his hands up so Katie could see it.
He swallowed hard as he watched Katie walk past. “You’re Katie from Katie’s Killers.”
Katie lifted an eyebrow. “What made you think that? Was it the wings, or the way my eyes flashed red?”
The guard took a step back nervously. “I don’t understand what happened here.”
Katie ignored him and stopped in front of a little boy and his mother. She bent down to lift the boy’s chin. “You were really brave today. Good job.”
The mom held tightly to the boy’s shoulders, staring at Katie. She was obviously afraid of her, even as she tried to give Katie a smile. The guard took a step forward, and Katie turned her head fast, narrowing her eyes at him. He stopped in his tracks and put both hands up. “Are they dead?”
Katie walked to the three men and kicked one in the ankle. “These guys might nee
d a medic or a coroner. It depends on whether or not they give me any shit.”
The sound of sirens echoed through the bank. Katie turned around when the flashing lights pulled up in front. She yawned and stared at the guard, who was now joined by two of his buddies. She shrugged and started walking out. “You guys got this. I need donuts.”
The guards looked at each other nervously as she put her pistol back into her jacket. Her wings folded up behind her and disappeared as she walked to the door. She tugged on the front of her leather jacket and ran her hand across her ponytail, pulling it through the hole in the back of her baseball cap.
One of the guards put up his hand and stepped toward her. “Hey, you can’t leave! You need to explain yourself! What were these men doing?”
Katie didn’t look at them. “I’m pretty sure that between the guns, the bags in their hands, and the ski masks on top of their heads, you can figure out their motivation. You’re welcome. I just saved you from a bank robbery that probably would’ve killed a bunch of people.”
The other guard stepped forward with one hand on his pistol. “That doesn’t mean you can leave. You have to stay and answer questions from the police.”
Katie showed him her middle finger. “I’ve had a shit couple of years. I’m getting donuts!”
The Krispy Kreme under Madison Square Garden was a lot less busy than it normally was. Still, after collecting her donuts, Katie went next door to the pizza place and sat at her normal table in the corner. She began shoveling donuts into her face, not caring who might be staring at her. She was starving—even hungrier than she’d thought she was—and glad Pandora had woken her up to get some food.
Slow down, hooker. You’re gonna get indigestion. Pandora groaned as Katie shoved another donut into her mouth.
Katie chuckled, not seeming to care. Just use your voodoo and make my tits bigger or something. Besides, you’re the one who wants to eat donuts so bad. Why are you complaining?
