Anja was ripping and tearing through her own collection of training dummies. Her training was somewhat more simpler - figuring out the most effective ways to dismantle her enemies. And she had a bunch of tools which she could use to do so.
Prometheus had powers that weren’t super diverse or flashy, but were generally practical - super strength, agility and durability, she could manipulate the symbiotic flesh in a variety of ways, and Prometheus figured he probably could figure out how to trigger some sort of camouflage, and potentially even allow Anja to shapeshift, though Anja was wondering how the hell that was supposed to work.
Either way, though, she didn’t complain, and she found the best thing she could do right now was apply her martial arts training. When you can turn your fists and legs into blades and spikes, punching suddenly became significantly more deadly.
“So what was that all about? You freezing up back there,” Prometheus asked, prodding her mentally. It was a strange sensation. “I can’t read your thoughts, but I can read your emotions. You were scared.”
“Don’t wanna talk about it,” Anja replied, with another punch ripping through instant matter like a hot knife through butter. That was all she wanted to say on the matter.
“Maybe not right now, but… It might become a problem later, just saying,” Prometheus suggested, Anja feeling his concern through their bond. “If we’re gonna be working together like this, you can’t just keep me in the dark about stuff like that.”
“Fine, but later,” Anja replied. Truth be told, the blood had only momentarily bothered her, but after the bloodless carnage back at campus, it had been quite the whiplash, even if it wasn’t real. “I wanna be in a better headspace when I do.”
“Fair enough. Guess you’ve got some trauma behind those pretty looks,” Prometheus commented. “But I guess I don’t need to tell you that you won’t get over it if you just run from it.”
“Already heard that from my therapist, I know all too well,” Anja said dryly, ripping through two more dummies with a kick. “Again, later. Not now.”
Prometheus didn’t respond to that, saying silent for quite a while.
Anja felt the nearby surge of energy, and turned to see what that was about. Estella was… Oh. Yeah, fair enough, of course she’d try something like that. Prometheus whistled in her head. “Man, magic is no joke.”
“Should’ve figured she’d do something silly like that. Eh, not gonna blame her, Nat and I would do the same thing if either of us were in her shoes,” Anja remarked, as she went back to hacking and slashing. “Shame all three of us didn’t get a magic sword, a symbiote and cybernetics.”
“You’ve got plenty of magical potential yourself, babe. Maybe you can harness that in your own way? I dunno, channelling Aether into energy blasts or shit like that,” Prometheus proposed with an inquisitive humming.
“That’s not a bad idea, but how do we even start going about that?” Anja replied, pondering how it could be potentially done. “I’m a biology student, but I don’t know jack about how the human body processes ‘Aether’.”
“Neither do I!” Prometheus laughed, “so I guess I’m kinda useless there. I dunno, most of the stuff I do is pretty much instinctual. If you’ve got any ideas, I might be able to help, but besides that…”
“Maybe we could ask the aliens about that. But I think what we’ve got now should work for the moment. Not like the enemy soldiers are much of a challenge, it’s the head honcho who is the real problem,” Anja replied with another punch that smashed through a dummy’s head. “But we do need to improve quickly if we want to bust through that shield more easily. He’s not gonna be unprepared for us next time.”
Both were silent for a few minutes, until they were interuppted by Estella walking over and speaking up, “it’s getting late and I think it’s your turn to make dinner tonight, Anja. You wanna call it quits for today? I can take over cooking if you-”
“Nah, you’re right,” Anja sighed, her suit retreating into her body as she turned to Estella. “I’ll go and start cooking. I guess our two guests aren’t gonna join us?”
“Actually, Gartho said he’d like to, and Tharen probably will, so make a meal for five this time,” Estella chuckled.
Anja simply gave a thumbs up, before she started walking away. She stopped when Estella spoke up. “Sis, if you need to talk about anything-”
“Thanks for the concern, Es, but I’m fine,” Anja replied, as she kept walking. “Don’t worry about me.”
❖
Anja fortunately did not suffer from any mood swings while in the kitchen. She had elected to do something simple, making tonkotsu ramen dishes with tempura prawns. She had made the broth over the course of the previous Sunday with a pretty damn big pot, which fortunately meant there was plenty for five people, just needed to heat up the broth from the fridge.
Before long, the sisters and the two aliens were at the table, enjoying the meal.
“So this is ramen? It really does live up to the hype,” Tharen grinned after finishing slurping down some noodles.
“I do have to agree, this is an excellent dish. There are others like it in the galaxy, but the native ingredients give it its own flavour,” Gartho said, eating somewhat more politely.
“You better have, the broth takes about twelve hours to prepare,” Estella remarked. “It’s not hard to make, just… Takes quite a bit of time. Sure, there’s instant ramen, but it ain’t the same…”
“Yer joking,” Tharen blinked. “That’s a lotta time for a noodle broth. Those Earth cartoons never show that part.”
That piqued Anja’s interest immediately. “Wait. You guys know about… Anime?”
“We’ve had long-range radio wave sensors for quite a long time,” Gartho said. “Hence why we became aware of Earth and the human race. Earth media has found its niche in certain corners of the galactic community.”
“There’s something old-school about Earth sports. Hard to pick a team to root for, though, when you ain’t got a local team, so it’s a bit weird,” Tharen said.
“Well, back on the topic of ramen broth… Most Japanese soup broths need like six hour minimum,” Estella said, relaxing in her chair as she ate. “Atti makes amazing Japanese food.”
“Ah, yes, you have two mothers. Atsuko and Ryana, correct?” Gartho said, looking over at the photos on the nearby wall. “How interesting that your parents are both women but you share genetic traits of both.”
“I know, right?!” Natalia said, leaning forward. “We’ve all got blue hair like Rya, Atti’s eyes, and, well, unusually curvy figures… They say we’re the result of a sperm donor, but that doesn’t gel with the facts!”
Anja glanced at the photo herself. Ryana had green eyes and shoulder-length blue hair, while Atsuko had short black hair and blue eyes. Both were fairly busty and curvy, but Atsuko was especially so, much like her daughters.
“Oh, geez, Nat, can you not bring that up in front of our guests? Atti and Rya promised they’d explain everything when they’re ready to,” Estella sighed.
“Funny you should mention your parents. Before the Salvron showed up, we actually were having trouble tracking them down,” Tharen said. “And considering the magical and technical expertise we have, that’s pretty curious, don’t you think?”
That caused Estella and Natalia to freeze. Anja was not so surprised. After several seconds of silence, Anja spoke up. “So you’re saying our parents have probable connections to paranormal stuff.”
“That’s our hypothesis at this stage in time. The fact that the three of you have distinctly differing variations of blue hair that can’t be explained by simple genetics indicates a strong magical bloodline,” Gartho said. “There are multiple potential methods your parents could have conceived you despite the same-sex partnership. Technologically, artificial sperm using one parent’s DNA could have been constructed to inseminate the other’s ovum.”
“And if it was magic it was probably because one of them grew a dick and fucked the other,” Tharen said, before slurping down more ramen.
“Dude, you said that way too casually,” Anja said dryly, rubbing her temples as she looked at her sisters. Estella was obviously in a state of bewilderment, while Natalia was on the verge of screaming from the mental image. Anja didn’t blame them for wanting to reach for the brain bleach. And unfortunately, she also had to deal with Prometheus laughing his ass off in her head. “I don’t wanna have to think about it either.”
“There is no way to handle that subject and not make it weird,” Tharen said, “so I just came out and got it over with.”
“Still, dude,” Anja sighed.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve been picking up some interesting scraps of DNA that I think are from your parents. And they definitely match bits of your DNA,” Prometheus noted in her head. “Shame I have absolutely no idea how to actually understand any of it.”
Anja realised that of course it made sense that Prometheus didn’t know how to properly ‘read’ DNA, he was just a lab experiment that had been liberated. Was a shame, but it couldn’t really be helped. She’d take a look if she had her own lab and equipment, but that was also not viable.
“It makes so much sense, though!” Natalia blurted in shock and delight. “If that’s possible and at least one of our parents knows how to use magic, then that answers so many questions!”
“You sure know quite a bit about magic for a combat engineer,” Estella remarked.
“People who use magic aren’t uncommon out in the cosmos. Anyone can use magic, and anyone can train to become proficient at it, but sadly, runes are not in endless supply, nor can they be mass-produced,” Gartho noted. “Both Tharen and I both have runes - the Librarians made sure of that.”
“So the main reason only Es got runes is because Vol’Dathar simply didn’t have enough time to make runes for all three of us by the time the Salvron showed up. Shame,” Anja said.
“Vol and Sal both had the foresight to at least prepare something for the three of ya in case of an emergency. I dunno how much they prepared for the other candidates in the initial planned trial, though,” Tharen noted. "They’re gonna be mostly incommunicado until the GDF arrive to relieve the pressure on them.”
“Well, at least until then, we gotta hold out and keep that black-armoured maniac from cocooning everyone in town,” Anja said.
"Amen to that,” Estella chuckled.
Anja was silent as she ate, despite everyone else making small talk around her, all of which she barely absorbed. She never was one for the family drama initiated by Natalia, even before her depression set in. She knew it was little use trying to pressure her parents to reveal the truth before they felt it was the right time - Atsuko and Ryana weren’t the type to be pressured by their own kids into doing something like that. Previously, Anja had wondered what knowing the truth actually would change, but apparently the answer was ‘more than she thought.’
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Her thoughts wandered to the responsibility given to her. She knew the two aliens didn’t seem all that concerned. But after the simulation, all she could think about was whether she was at all mentally prepared for this. Or whether she’ll ever be. What if she froze up in the heat of battle, and…
“Sis? You’ve been staring over your bowl for a while,” Natalia said, waving a hand in front of her face, breaking her concentration.
Anja took a deep breath. Her bowl was empty, and had been for a while. She stood up, putting it away in the dishwasher. “I’m going out for a bit. Need some fresh air to clear my head.”
Natalia looked like she wanted to say something, but Estella cut her off. “Do what you need to do, Anj.”
“You’ve got a bit of communication cybernetics integrated into Prometheus, so if you need to contact us or we need to contact you, it can be done through him,” Tharen nodded.
“Some reflection may do you some good. We should have plenty of time to get ready for the next attack,” Gartho said. “If you wish to talk about anything, young lady, we’re always available. We’re not exactly therapists-”
“No, it’s fine, it’s appreciated. I might just take you up on that sometime,” Anja said, grabbing her phone and keys and heading out the front door.
❖
At this point in the evening, the sun had completely disappeared from the horizon, allowing night to fully settle over Angel Bay, the only illumination covering the streets were the street lights, light shining from windows and lit shop signs.
It was only a short walk for Anja to reach the commercial district of town. While it wasn’t as bustling as, say, Sydney or Melbourne, Angel Bay had a respectable night life. People were walking around, either getting their late night shopping done or hanging out together, or at least that’s what she figured they were doing.
She stopped right in front of a particular street crossing, freezing up. She knew where she was. She stared at a particular spot on the road that brought back memories she did not want to recall.
She really, really hated this crossing. She hadn’t consciously crossed it in years. She immediately turned to the left, and started walking down the street.
“What the hell was that about?” Prometheus inquired in her head. “You freaked out again, I felt it. If I’m gonna hazard a guess, something really bad happened there. Car accident you were involved in?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Anja muttered to herself.
“Alright, fine, but you’re not gonna get anywhere if you just bottle up your issues,” Prometheus noted.
“I know, I know, it’s… These things take time,” Anja muttered again. She noticed a nearby alleyway, and went into it. She had a better idea than just walking about.
She changed into her suit, and extended a ‘rope’ of bio-matter up to the edge of a nearby rooftop. It was strong and durable enough to be able to actually pull her up fairly quickly. She was already on the rooftops, and she started running.
After all, if she was a superheroine now, might as well start patrolling a bit. She wasn’t expecting to fight any actual crime tonight, but who knows.
She started testing how far she could jump by leaping between adjacent buildings. She marvelled at how far and how high she could leap, able to leap multiple stories into the air and, she estimated, across an entire street.
She decided to test the latter when she reached the point where the only way to the next building was by leaping right over the street between them. She kept running, planted her feet on the edge, bent her knees, and launched herself across the street with as much force as she could muster.
While the resulting tumble wasn’t exactly what she’d call elegant, landing on her back, she had overshot her intended landing spot by several meters, which was a good problem to have, she figured.
“That’s not bad. You’ll get the hang of it, I’m sure,” Prometheus remarked.
Anja took a moment to relax, letting her ‘helmet’ retract, breathing in the cool evening air. The planetary barrier covered the entire night’s sky, but she could still see the stars, though the night’s sky was limited due to light pollution.
Then something caught her eye - a streak of light through the sky, like a shooting star. Normally, this would be a pleasant sight, but an immediate red flag flashed in her mind. The streak was clearly inside the barrier, not outside of it. “You’re seeing that, right?”
“Yeah, I see it, that ain’t right,” Prometheus said as Anja stood up, not taking her eyes off the ‘shooting star’. “Might actually be closer than it seems.”
The streak of light came down, seemingly ending right over a nearby neighbourhood. Anja took off at a run, leaping off to another roof as her helmet reformed. She barely even think about opening a communication line through Prometheus. “Tharen, Gartho, I’ve spotted a ‘shooting star’ that’s gone down to a nearby residential area. Moving to investigate.”
“We’ve already detected it, it’s supernatural in origin. Move with caution, but if it threatens civilian lives, intercept it immediately,” Tharen responded. “Let us know if you need backup.”
“Copy that, will do,” Anja said.
❖
Anja was running and jumping across rooftops. She figured the residents would mistake her footsteps as being from a couple of possums or something, she didn’t have time for much in the way of subtlety.
“I can already smell it,” Prometheus said, as they reached the approximate area of where the ‘shooting star’ landed. “It ain’t some space rock, it’s a big beastie.”
Anja stopped on a rooftop, her vision rapidly adjusting to the dim lighting. Prometheus provided her with full vision of the dark, albeit in black and white, but that was enough for her to work with.
Her eyes scanned the surrounding environment. The neighbourhood wasn’t as quiet as she would’ve liked, someone was playing loud music from a nearby house, which made detecting nearby movement through sound more challenging.
Then she spotted something hanging from a nearby window - a creature that definitely wasn’t just a possum. It was quite large, being at least two meters in length by her estimate. It looked like a quadruped, vaguely reptilian in form, with long spindly legs, ending with three razor-sharp claws.
Her immediate realisation was that it was trying to get into the window, which was open with only a screen in the way, which the creature was quietly ripping open with its sharp claws. As the screen gave way, she saw what was inside - a bedroom, with a baby’s cot right beside it.
“Namorrodor,” Anja muttered to herself, putting all the pieces together in her head as she recalled old Aboriginal tales she had been interested in as a young girl. The baby was the creature’s prey.
As the creature leaned in to try and enter, Anja moved quickly, tendrils of bio-mass zipping out from her arm as it ensnared the beast, and with as much force as she could muster she yanked the beast off the window and onto the street, sending the creature sprawling. As the tendrils retracted, the Namorrodor looked up at her with glowing reptilian eyes, hissing as it got back onto its feet.
It was black all over, its skin smooth and leathery. Along its back and on its limbs were thin gold lines and dots. On its horse-like head it had two rows of teeth, it also had notable frontal fangs that almost made it look like it had a beak.
She leaped down onto the street, forming arm-blades as she took up a fighting stance. “Stop trying to eat babies and pick on someone closer to your own size, you big bastard.”
The Namorrodor hissed at her again, as Anja and her adversary circled each other, waiting for who would make the first move. The creature acted first, pouncing at her while striking with its sharp claws.
Anja side-stepped the attempted pounce, but one of the claws raked across her armour, slicing into it, but not fully. She moved in quickly, striking with swift blows, causing the creature to screech in pain as her blades sliced at the leathery flesh, but much to her frustration they barely drew blood.
The creature stepped back, now more cautious as it began moving in and out of her range, lashing out with its claws. Anja ducked and weaved as she moved in to counter, gritting her teeth as she felt a few claws strikes hit their mark - nothing too serious that can’t be repaired, but too many strikes in one area would allow it to strike at her skin. And her own attacks still only barely drawing blood, with the beast’s wounds also slowly regenerating. “This isn’t working, we need something more effective…”
“Not sure I can make these things more sharper, only thing I can think of right now is, I dunno, set them on fire or something? I think I can do that,” Prometheus suggested.
“You might be on to something, actually. Do it,” Anja said, blocking an incoming claw strike.
She could feel the blades suddenly heat up due to internal movement and friction. They began to ignite, flames flowing from the edges.
The Namorrodor seemed wary, but still pressed its offensive. Anja ducked the next incoming strike, lunging as she struck across the creature’s side. The Namorrodor screeched in agony as the heated blade ripped into its flesh and burned whatever it touched. It immediately leaped back, hissing, and began to retreat.
“Oh no you don’t,” Anja said, sprinting after it.
It leaped up onto a rooftop, and leaped high into the air, suddenly shooting off into the sky as a streak of light.
“Damn,” Anja muttered, as she stopped the flames on her blades, retracting them and retreating back into the darkness, noticing the fight had drawn some attention from people starting to emerge to see what was going on.
Once she was in a more quiet area, she dismissed her armour, and called Gartho back as she started walking along the path. “Just fought what I’m pretty sure was a Namorrodor.”
“Yes, I saw via Prometheus,” Gartho responded. “A spiritual creature, from the looks of it, which is why pure physical damage wasn’t all that effective. So it can take the form of a shooting star. Fascinating. I’m sure the Librarians will be most interested to read this particular report.”
“What I’m wondering about is why it’s so far south-east. The Namorrodor is supposed to be an entity from Arnhem Land, Aboriginal spirits and monsters don’t generally wander from their native regions,” Anja said. “Was kinda big into this sort of thing when I was a kid.”
“I’ll have to look into that. At any rate, I’ll set up something for the ship’s scanner to detect similar ‘shooting stars’ on the move, so we can detect and intercept it when it next goes out to hunt,” Gartho said. “Well done, Anja. Will you continue your patrol?”
“For a bit longer, I guess. I won’t be out for too long, don’t wanna waste all my energy.”
“Very well. Stay safe.”
Anja sighed as the line dropped, stretching as she walked. “Well. That was a thing.”
“No kidding, wasn’t expecting to fight that big beastie tonight, but it was fun,” Prometheus remarked.
“Not if more local spirits and monsters start congregating around Angel Bay,” Anja shook her head, “maybe our nemesis is drawing them in somehow.”
“Okay, yeah, I can see why that could be a problem,” Prometheus conceded. “We’ll need to be more ready for our next fight. At least we know we can fight using fire. Uses up more energy, though.”
“Makes sense,” Anja nodded. “That’s a good trick to keep in our back pocket.”
“At least you didn’t freeze up this time.”
Anja wasn’t sure if that was something she could repeat next time. But she had no other choice but to try, if only so she could make sure she was pulling her own weight. After all… The lives of everyone in town were on the line. It only felt right to her that she put her own life on the line to protect everyone else.