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Nevaeh had only wished to surprise her mama with a delicious home-cooked meal. It took all of her Friday evening to plan what she wanted to prepare. After a thorough search of the kitchen pantry Nevaeh realized that some items would need to be bought from the local groceria a few blocks away. She could slip away early Saturday morning and spend the entire day preparing her delicacy. Writing down a list of ingredients Nevaeh smiled as she hummed a tune from the radio. It’d been playing often enough that it had gotten stuck in her head. Finished with the list Nevaeh tucked it into her purse and started preparing for bed. Before sleep claimed her she set her alarm for an early wake-up call.

The next morning Nevaeh almost called off her mission. Dark clouds, laden with precipitation, threatened to drown even the bravest of souls. Muttering the teen dressed for inclement weather. She even grabbed an umbrella to keep the wet off. Grabbing a reusable fabric shopping bag the girl dashed out the door. On the kitchen fridge was a note to her mother telling of errands that needed running. About halfway into her journey the heavens opened. The umbrella that she had brought provided her with some relief albeit not enough. The teen was still soaked by the time the automatic doors of the groceria opened to admit her. Shaking off the rain that still clung to her petite frame Nevaeh breathed in deeply. Coming here always felt like she was coming to her second home. The teen was quite familiar with the location of everything she needed as she began to mill around the store with a shopping basket in hand.

Running fingers through her long black hair Nevaeh felt the moisture still clinging to the strands. A quick glance in a nearby reflective surface confirmed her theory: she looked like a drowned rat. Sighing the teen began to gather the items that she needed for homemade enchiladas and empanadas. She would truly surprise her hard-working mama with a feast. Smiling at the thought of the joy she’d entice from her mother was enough to keep her shopping trip fairly brief. Undaunted by the rain that was still pouring down Nevaeh sighed, paid for her groceries and prepared for the walk home. Perhaps she should have been more aware of her surroundings. Perhaps she would have noticed that she was being singled out.

Nevaeh, head tucked down under her umbrella, did not see the young woman that had followed her from the store. She did not realize that she had been singled out as perhaps being a person that no one would miss. All that she was concerned with was getting home safe and to dry off before a day of cooking.

It was her downfall.

The sensation of someone wrenching the umbrella from her hands brought Nevaeh out of her thoughts. She perhaps got one word of protest out before she found herself being pushed roughly into an alleyway. She swung up her grocery bag towards her assailant. Laden down as it was it should have made an impact. Instead the girl was horrified to be left holding onto mere scraps of fabric. Her purchases bounced and scattered on the rough pavement as her gaze was drawn to the saber-like weapon that had nearly taken a chunk of her flesh with the well-timed swing. Clutching the fabric like it was a life preserver Nevaeh felt fear wash over her. She’d never done anything to warrant something like this so why was it happening? In a last ditch attempt she dug out her wallet and offered it to the stranger that had begun to advance on her; essentially trapping her against the alley’s walls. A chilling laugh echoed around her breaking the silence. “Your money does not interest me child. I am after something that is so much more valuable than you could ever know.”

With the words spoken Nevaeh realized that her attacker was not much older than herself … and that she was a woman. It would be the last realization that she made for a while. Pressed against the wall she could go nowhere. A sudden lancing pain in her chest had her screaming in agony until a hand was pressed over her mouth muffling her cries. “Hush, it is almost over. Just close your eyes like a good girl.”

Nevaeh did not see what it was that the woman withdrew from her chest. Only moments before had she slumped to the ground seemingly devoid of life.

It would be hours later that someone would find her by accident. A vagrant stumbling after the trail of spilled groceries would find her. Perhaps she would not have been missed by many. It was her mother that now seemingly felt the acute sense of loss most. Her child was being kept alive by machines. It felt unnatural. Her fingers trembled as she stroked her daughter’s hair. Who would bring joy into her life if Nevaeh was not here? She brought her gaze to the sheet of paper that lay crumpled in her lap. Fresh tears fell silently as she recalled the words she had written down earlier.
---

Doctor’s Addendum:
This was found from an “In Memoriam” ad placement, tossed carelessly behind the patient’s bed. Please include it with patient’s file.

“Name: Nevaeh Galena Fisher
Born: May 24, 2001
Passed Away: I beg that this will not happen. However, I fear the machines can no longer keep you alive. Just hold on just a little longer. If you cannot, I understand.

Nevaeh was everything to me. She could charm her way through a room full of strangers and still wear her special smile that she kept hidden for me. I will miss you sweet child. I can only pray that if you must go that you find your way to the paradise which I named you after. Until we meet again my dearest daughter.

Love your Mama”
----

Karim was predictable, when he got off work he took the same route home every night. Hit up a local shop, snagged some essentials. Takeout from the Chinese place, a few jars of the sauce they made there, and the egg drop soup, because it was cheap, greasy, and the guys daughter always gave him a discount. More out of pity than actual fondness, he was sure, but he'd take a pity discount any day!

Tonight though, something was different behind the alley he usually took. An odd pair all hunched up together in the shadows. The quick glance he took up from his phone told an interesting story. The chick looked stunning, in that 'I like to whip people for fun' kinda way, which really put the guy outta place; a business type, way more money than belonged in this alley, but who was he to judge? He kept his eyes to his phone.

Then thought better at taking the alley at all when the guy started to moan..

"Woah..sorry to uhm-" Karim's mouth froze around his next words, eyes widening when he finally saw, -and normally he didn't look, he wasn't some back alley perv- truly saw that this wasn't a simple case of a pair of drunks getting happy behind the old Chinese place.

No, the chicks hand was three inches deep in the guys chest, Slither style; or like a remake of the movie Species. Like - "The ********.." The most disturbing part? Was a lack of blood as she pulled her hand free something shiny caught tight in her fist. Second most disturbing part? The smile she leveled him as he slowly began to back out of the alley, as she ******** 'bit' into the shiny thing, before swallowing it whole; the man slumped lifelessly at her ridiculously sexy stiletto heels.

"Oh, honey no. I was just fixing for seconds, and you look like you'd be good. You're kinda plump too, it's cute." The sweet voice didn't match the way she looked at him like he was prey.

"Listen, lady I really don't wanna play Aliens with you. How about, I didn't see anything and you didn't see anything, and we just leave." He didn't want to do anything more than piss himself or run actually, and he was s**t at running.

Her lips pursed up as she sauntered closer, each step driving him back towards the street. "Mmph, sorry sugar, you're not that cute and you've already seen too much."

The bag of delicate glass and styrofoam crunched into the ground, hastily dropped as Karim tore away from the scene. Fingers flying on his phone as he dialed 911, keeping them on line while sending out a text to - he didn't get to ramble off more than the stores name before a tambourine tore his phone from his hand and left it shattered on the street; clutching his bleeding hand as he took a side street that went 'away' from his house.

Horror movie 101, never lead the psycho killers to your home! Of course 102 was don't go down dark alleys..

It didn't seem possible to lose her. No matter how fast, she was faster, no matter where he turned, there was a weapon and this horrid tittering laugh. He'd never look at tambourines the same again; it shouldn't have been able to crack asphalt like that let alone vanish the way it seemed to every time he moved.

They played for a what felt like an eternity, but was really only minutes. Until she had him cornered at the back of a dead end; stalking up slow, and looking pleased as punch.

"Shhhit...Lady, how do you run in those heels!" He panted, wincing when his back finally hit wall, cowed beneath her taller frame. Karim wasn't a fighter, even with his life hanging there. He wouldn't have known the first thing to do, and was to tired to do it.

"It's Captain Effitinite, and darling, you don't wanna know. Now, c'mere..." He blinked, and she was suddenly in right front of him, her hand agony and ice in his chest. He didn't register her snarl as she pulled something loose, the sudden flash of red-white-blue in the backdrop.

- - - - - - - -

The first week there was nothing, blessed silence, but during the second week the voices started to filter through. The familiar noise stirred something. Mostly memories, and then regrets...

The dawning realization of the staggering amounts of nothing that he'd managed to accomplish. How he'd always let himself be babied, coddled, come running to them at the first sign of trouble. He hadn't strived for..much..hadn't had to work as hard as they had..he hadn't wanted to.

He wanted to talk to Deepeika about all the boys she shouldn't date, and get scolded by Cynthia, and shown up by Leena, and have more quiet conversations with Elina! He wanted to prove that he could be a better brother, that he was worth something! He owed that to them, they were still his sisters, they needed a brother.

He still owed his dad money, but more than that he owed the man his time, he owed him proof that he could be successful, or at least independent! Karim was a spoiled grievance, and the man had always taken him with patience, even when they'd fought.

He didn't have to be useless all the time. Didn't need to be so incessantly lazy 'all' the time.

He still needed to apologize to his mother, he'd put so much of the blame on her for the way things had ended; even though they'd all known it was coming. Even when his sisters had given him all those looks that told him to just 'drop it'. Like a stubborn dog with a goddamned bone, and he hadn't, couldn't.

Karim was, in his heart of hearts, a slacker. Lazy, unmotivated, he loved having it easy.

He loved his family more, he would always love them more.

He just needed a second chance to prove it.

He deserved it.

{Meta post}

The reports given to the police three weeks prior about the assault had been corroborated by multiple witnesses. Security camera footage. Bouncers from the club, management, even a few customers that had stepped forward. They all said the same thing. The only person they might have been able to speak to about trying to identify the assailant hadn’t shown up at the club since. Co-workers of the young woman hooked up to life support tried to press the police to increase their efforts to identify him, or the assailant. Efforts that seemed to prove fruitless regardless of how much evidence was otherwise present.

She’d been new on the job, relatively speaking, but yeah, the manager from her shift had said, that hadn't been a real excuse. Not for her behavior, or the guy’s. But the club treated its employees with respect, and this guy had stepped way out of line. One co-worker had murmured to an office that if this had been any other establishment, they might have been kicking the victim’s a** out the door, not the dude whom had grabbed at her. He’d ripped the bottom half of her costume off. She’d broken his nose before security managed to wrestle them apart—or rather, one of the customers and security. The other customer helping her out had gotten across the room before security even was through the doors, and did what he could to try and pull her off the creep she was ramming on.

It’d been his third strike against her, a bouncer had snorted. His smile as he recounted her retaliation against the creep had a regretful edge. He’d been present again when she was assaulted later that evening. According to the bouncer, she’d given the creep a warning on the second strike the week before the attack, given a warning to security, and to management. Obviously, the warning didn't stick. If the idiot tried to call the cops on her about his nose, she’d have had the evidence for a self-defense… well, defense. What with the state of her expensive attire and the bloody gouges on her upper thigh from where his nails dug into her skin as he dragged the heavy fabric from her body.

The manager repeatedly said to the police that he’d assured her, after the creep was escorted from the property and she was switching into another costume backstage, that the tapes would support her side if she wanted to press charges. But her co-workers who’d been backstage at the time said it sounded like she just wanted to leave the matter where it was, hoping to let it slip into the night and not have to worry about involving the police. Against the manager’s request—as he again continuously pointed out to the officer taking his statement—she finished up her shift on the stage, and there’d been no further outbursts that evening. No one else got up and left after the guy was escorted out. No one seemed to care. If anything, they just cheered all the louder for her performances.

It was well past three by the time she stepped out of the club, purse over her shoulder, bandages wrapped around her leg under her jeans, card for the bus moved from her wallet to her jacket pocket with her keys. Had been talking to one of her co-workers about how she was supposed to pick her half-sister up from school later that day and needed to catch some sleep before she did that. The girl said the victim had seemed excited to see her sister, mentioned the kid a lot.

The street was lit well enough by lampposts and flicks of neon here and there from storefronts and signs. Enough people knew that the ATM across the street from the bus stop a few doors down from the club had a working security camera that got as much of a view of the area around the benches as it did the front of the bank. Not even two buildings down, the bouncers still lingered in front of the club. Most of them stuck around until all the performers had safely left the area. The victim usually just took the bus, so a few of them stayed outside to keep an eye out for her till she got on the bus and took off. It was the usual routine.

Couldn’t be too careful around the city at night, the guys had said. Wasn’t exactly uncommon to hear about new disappearances, rumors of monsters, or tales of terrorists in funky costumes.

They weren’t sure why they hadn’t seen the assailant coming. One minute no one was over there by her, the next, some dude in a black and yellow uniform was behind her, had a weird looking chain yanking her legs out from under her. His fist collided with the side of her face and she went down. Landed on her hand weird, one of them had said—explained how the victim had her wrist broken in the altercation. She’d tried to fight back. The guys knew she did some kickboxing and MMA. But this guy attacking her… moved a lot faster than they figured he would. Didn’t seem to feel it when she hit him in the gut or face. They couldn’t see his face, and however the security camera did provide police with a few good shots of his face during the altercation.

“Should be more grateful when someone’s shelling their money out for you. Customer’s always right, b***h.” The voice wasn’t familiar to the bouncers as they’d run over to try and help, but what he’d said, they’d heard damn clear. Made them think it might be the guy who’d gone after her earlier on the stage, but what shots of the assailant did show up on the security camera didn’t match the creep’s description. She hadn’t said anything in response to the dude, just kept slamming her other fist into his face. Didn’t seem to matter.

He’d done something. She screamed but it got cut off. One of the bouncers saw her eyes roll back in her head as the guy over her pulled something out of her chest. Something that glowed and they hadn’t gotten a good look at it but… he just… vanished after that. Poof. Gone. One of those freaks seen around the city. There’d been no evidence something had been pulled out of her chest. No injures except some bruising. But three weeks later after the incident, and there she still was, out cold and hooked up to life support while police were still unable to ID her assailant.

s**t. Who’s gonna tell Rose that Kailey can’t pick up Artoria? One of the co-workers had said to the police as the ambulance had taken the unconscious Kailey O’Carroll to Destiny Medical. Desiree “Dezzy” Broadcliff had kept showing up at the police station after giving her account of the events that night. Kept visiting O’Carroll in the hospital. Doctors confirmed her systems weren’t doing good on life support. Nurses confirmed to police that it looked like they’d be upgrading the charges on the unknown assailant from assault to homicide by the rate O’Carroll was going. Just another statistic in the growing numbers of unsolved murders and disappearances in Destiny City.

Meta Post

Entry - Set to take place an hour before the Attack on the Rift

Ann was out on a mission this evening as she marched through the darkened streets of Destiny City. She and the other mothers of the Apartment complex that she lived in had solid evidence that the Police were absolutely useless in what her son claimed was 'random attacks' in their neighborhood. Her son, her angel of a son who she loved dearly but always started fights began coming home more and more brutalized. Of course he never said anything more than 'I got jumped' over and over again. Mama wasn't about to let that happen to her baby again.

Tonight was the first night that the mothers in the high rise she lived in began their night time patrol of the streets near where they lived. Armed with mace, bats, and golf clubs, they went out to search for the ones who had been terrorizing the streets near where they lived, with Ann at the head. But of course, one by one they dropped out.

”Dinner will be ready soon.” “The baby needs to be put down to sleep.” “Oswald is back, I should help him with the groceries.”. All of their reasons were understandable, but Ann just couldn’t stop.. Not yet, Not tonight. Her baby was still out (and he would get one hell of a thwapping when he got home), and until he was home in bed, she’d patrol about. And she wasn’t too worried about being alone. Not right now anyway. Her son was still out, and as big of a little jerk he could be, there was no way in hell she would give up until he heard he was home. The least he she could do was make sure home was safe.

All in all, everything was calm. It was quiet and lonely. Heck, she would have atleast liked to come across a stray animal or something but it was just silent. Up until there was a snarling behind her.

It was an awful beasty with a muzzle nearly twice as large as her own head. Yet she wasn’t about to let this little b*****d keep her from what she wished to call her duty.

“Yes, yes, come here you little creepy b*****d… I got something for you right here..” It was beginning to look like Ann’s son wouldn’t be the only one who got a thwapping, especially with how tight her fingers gripped the bat she may have ‘borrowed’ from her daughter’s room. She most certainly would be lying if she claimed she wasn’t frightened. Who wouldn’t be, with such intimidating eyes staring straight back at them! But the thought of her son coming across this monster in any way, shape, or form just made the blood of the otherwise quiet nurse boil. Though, in the moment that she was to swing there was another rummaging in her pocket and she swung around in that direction instead.

A young woman appeared before her, grinning and going through her wallet with a soft chuckle. Ann couldn’t understand how the hell she didn’t hear her approach, much less get so close to steal her wallet! The beast had distracted her, and now this woman was just... She didn’t even seem scared!

“Little piece of… You’re one of those bullies that’s been going around hurting kids like you’re some kind of… Person who’s bigger than the rest of us!” Inside, Ann couldn’t help but recognize just how silly she sounded, but that didn’t make her grip lessen. “Do something decent with your life and turn you and your people in!”

"HA! You’re a funny little human, aren’t you? Let me tell you what. I'll take you up on your deal. I'll take your starseed, and I'll make sure that my 'people' leave your little…” She took a quick glance down at the ID she pricked from the woman’s wallet. “Rhodes family alone." The woman sauntered up towards Ann, grinning wider and wider as the beast that was at her command snarled in excitement.

"What the hell is a starseed?" Ann couldn't help but ask out loud as she resumed her defensive stance. This wasn't going to go well. But before she could take a swing at the woman before her, she vanished before her eyes.

That couldn't have been real! She had to be nearby! Her eyes weren't lying though; there really wasn't anyone else around. That was until she whirled around to check behind her.

"This is a starseed." The mother couldn't breathe anymore as something began to squeeze what felt like her very heart. Then, in what seemed to be a simple flash of light, what made Ann “Ann” was gone, and an empty shell hit the ground with a dull thud. The world around her body in that tiny little alley went quiet again as the Negaverse agent vanished into the night, her loyal youma eagerly chasing her heels.