Two hours had passed and the interrogation wasn't going as Michael imagined. Hannah gave him coffee earlier and afterwards left him all alone, forced to suffer as he sat across the cold metal seat that sapped away at the very warmth from his body. Metal was usually lower than room temperature but this material seemed like it was a solid block of ice that made his naked skin sear with pain. He wore only thin boxers that weren't even his, and a short overalls like a patient from a hospital as if to make it as uncomfortable and painful as possible.

"Okay! Fuck at least give me some pants! Hannah?! I know you're there. This is some weird KGB shit you're pulling off here. You know I can sue you for like a lot! or something! You'll be exposed! Let me out now! I know you're there I HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"

First there was silence, and then the door opened and Hannah walked in almost as if she were indeed right next door the whole time just as he suspected. She peered at him with her cold, lifeless eyes as she returned casually to her seat across the opposite side end of the table.

"...Dugarti, What is that name anyway? Is it French?" Hannah said.

"Fuck you. Let me out."

“You know that won't happen Mr Dugarti.”

“...Are you going to kill me?"

"Lucky for you, I am required by interdimensional law to keep you alive..."

"interdimensional law? What the fuck?"

"That's right. I'm not allowed to kill you. If I did, the nanites that swim through my blood stream would instantly eject a lethal dose of poison that would kill me within seconds."

Michael said nothing. He simply stared at her.

"You know exactly what nanites are, don't you, Mr Dugarti? I know you do, because we found traces of them on you. So you can either start talking, or I'm going to have to make you."

"...What you're doing is definitely not legal. I'm a US citizen. You haven't even read me my rights which I'm pretty sure you're obligated to under the law. So I''ll tell you what...you let me go right now, and I'll pretend like this never happened, or you could keep me here and make it that much worst for you when they send your ass to guantanamo for this."

Hannah simply smiled a joyless smile. He never noticed it before but she looked miserable, sickly even, almost like she had a little too much to drink. The room next door must have been a mini bar or something he could smell alcohol from her breath. Her eyes were heavier and appeared to droop a little. At this point he began having doubts she was even a part of the government at all.

"Are you...drunk?" Michael said.

"Excuse me?" She said, looking genuinely surprised, though it was an obvious feign. He could always tell when someone had been drinking. It was obvious as hell.

"If you won't give me some pants, at least give me some of that brandy you obviously been drinking. I need it more than you."

She thought for a little before smiling slyly with her cracked lips. "Sorry. It's for government employees only. Did you really think this was going to be so easy for you? There is no pleasure for you until you tell me what I want."

"I don't know what you want!"

The door to the room then suddenly burst open and in walked a female agent with a clipboard in her hands. She had medium length brown hair that was brushed neatly to either side of her face with streaks of a lighter brown running though it. When she took off her glasses a pair fierce blue-grey eyes that locked on to him like an eagle to a mouse. She was at least ten years his senior, and yet he was stricken by her beauty. She had high cheekbones that poked out just enough to make her look sophisticated and important, glamorous, even, with a stature of someone who clearly worked out and was very fit and powerful, though still relatively slim. She gave him an intense stare of either a mass murderer or someone who was going to be his saviour. It was hard to tell, and that was the scariest part about her.

"Audrea? What are you doing here? You're not supposed to interfere with my work." Hannah said grudgingly.

Michael could tell Hannah was angry just by the sound of her voice. He didn't even have to look at her. He was busy having a stare down with Audrea as he studied her hypnotising gaze.

"You've been working for forty eight hours straight, why don't you take a break? Not all of us can afford to work as hard as you do." Audrea said sarcastically with a classic British accent that for some reason made Michael feel more at ease.

Hannah looked as though she was prepared to say something back but chose not to. She sighed in defeat. Michael was confused. He felt like he was stuck in between some odd workplace disagreement.

"I suppose I do overwork myself. That can happen when you really love your job...." Hannah said as she turned her eyes ablaze to Michael one last time. "If you think you're saved by the bell, think again Mr Dugarti. My boss will be here soon. And he isn't nearly as friendly as I."

Hannah left the room, passing a scornfully stare at her female colleague as she went by. Nothing about this appeared professional but then again it could be a part of an act, like the old good cop bad cop routine he's seen far too many times on tv.

When the door closed, Michael took a moment to inspect this new woman a little, but as she stared back at him he felt uncomfortable and quickly averted his gaze. There was something about her. Some people had a face, that at rest appeared to be a little meaner than others; that was certainly the case with Hannah for sure, but Audrea was a little different. Her lips were cruel but she didn't use them that way. In fact, she put on a faint smile that almost made him feel like everything was going to be fine. Her eyes had a glow about them. She gave off an aura of kindness but also one of ruthlessness too. she was indeed a hard read

She walked towards him and placed her clipboard across the long metal seat next to him.

"Stand up." Audrea ordered.

He looked at her bemused but did as she asked. Due to being chained to the seat bed by his ankles he couldn't lift himself very much but enough so she could slide the clip board beneath him to provide some much needed relief from the coldness of the seat.

"Thank you..." he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Audrea sat down across the opposite end of the table, and sent another one of her faint smiles at him. It seemed genuine but there was something strange about it because she smiled more with her eyes than with her lips. Whether he wanted to or not, he was instantly charmed. He also only just smelt her cologne and it was absolutely divine. She really was a stunning woman.

"You're already uncomfortable as it is. The least I could do is keep your balls warm." She said.

"...Why is it so cold?."

"The air is actually room temperature. It's your seat thats unnaturally cold. I do believe it's manually reduced to a little above zero degrees Celsius.”

"Can I get some pants..?"

"Even if I do that, how are you going to put them on? You're shackled by the ankles."

"Then let me out. Get the key.”

"I'm sorry, can't do that."

"Can you please do something useful?"

"I already did. Shall I remove the clipboard?" Audrea said with a slightly evil tone.

He sunk his head. "You guys are nothing but criminals. I wonder if you and your colleagues can sleep at night. "

Audrea crossed her legs and looked to the side, as if thinking profusely. Before he could say anything else, she suddenly got out of her seat and moved to exit the room, leaving him behind bewildered and confused.

Where did she go?

...Is she coming back?

His second question was answered not even thirty seconds later when she made her casual return. She sat back down across the table and placed her hands across it, crossing them as she stared at him with a new sense of seriousness.

"The camera is disabled. This is off the record. Look, I feel for you. I don't know what's going on here . This is totally ridiculous, unethical and cruel." Audrea said.

"You're not American are you?"

She seemed a bit uncomfortable about it, thinking to herself for a while before looking right into his eyes in a friendly manner.

"No. As you can tell i'm British. But never mind about me. Let's talk about you. Tell me, have you committed any federal crimes?"

"No...."

Audrea had a serious face most of the time, but there was a charming aspect to her. Her eyes narrowed as they did, and he wasn't so sure if she believed him or not.

"How do you explain the satellite feeds?"

"Huh?"

"The evidence they have against you. Apparently there was an object above your residence. I had a closer look at it and to me it seems to be some kind of dust on the lens or something. What else could it be?" Audrea said.

"I don't know...swamp gas?"

She giggled. "You're funny Mr Dugarti. I'm not sure what to make of it. All this talk about nanites and interdimensional laws...sounds completely unhinged. If anything like that actually existed I'd have heard about it....it's no wonder they tried so hard to stop me from coming here, this place is real shady.”

"Why would the US government allow you to be here? You're obviously a spy, right? I mean, i'm thankful i'm not here alone with Hannah but i'm just a bit confused."

"It's standard protocol between our two countries. They call it the special relationship. Think of it like a student exchange program but for intelligence services. I'm just as an observer...nothing more.”

"You agree this is ridiculous right?"

She nodded. "It does seem to be without merit, however, I'm afraid my hands are tied. I have no real jurisdiction here."

"At least get me a lawyer then. It's my right, please."

"Sorry, cannot do that either."

"Oh. So all I get is your sympathy? Great, that's just great.. Thanks for telling me this off the record." Michael said, lowering his head on the cold table.

He felt her finger against his head, pushing him up so he faced her again. She leant forward against the table.

"Mr Dugarti. Are you an illegal immigrant?"

"What? No. What has that got to do with anything?"

She seemed uncertain. "None of this is making any sense. I read your file you're clean. No criminal record. Not traffic citations. Nothing. What would these people want from you?"

The door opened once again and in walk Hannah flanked by two other men in black suits. Michael skin instantly crawled. This wasn't going to end well for him. To his surprise, however, Audrea stood up from her seat and stood in between him and Hannah staunchly as if she were his new defence attorney.

Hannah clearly didn't take this well. She grinned sharply at Audrea. “He is under our jurisdiction Limey. Stand down."

But Audrea did not do so. She stood her ground defiantly. "I'm going to need to see some proof of these fantastic claims. Otherwise I'll have no choice but to assume this agency has gone rogue. "

Hannah and the men all looked at each other uncomfortably as if unsure how to respond, but that mean smile soon returned upon Hannah. She appeared ready for a confrontation. Michael's guts twisted. He wondered how far Audrea would go to stick up for him.

"Stand. Down. Bitch." Hannah said.

But Audrea didn't budge. Michael was flummoxed. He could feel the tension in the room and even across his skin as the two men agents behind Hannah had their hands close to their pistols.

“You have no right to keep him here with no charges. He's broken no laws, so he's coming with me. If you have a problem with that, then I guess you'll have to stop me." Audrea said, her hand drawing ever closer to her own pistol across her hip.

Both men drew their guns, but Audrea drew quicker. She was the fastest draw Michael had ever seen. Audrea was aiming right at them, alternating smartly while holding the gun with one hand while using the other for better aim. The men froze and stopped reaching for their guns. The tension was so thick if could be cut with a knife, but Audrea had nerves of steel. She was prepared to fire if need be and they all knew it.

Hannah realised the situation was not worth fighting so she gestured her men to put away their weapons, and they did. Audrea did too, albeit cautiously.

"Undo his shackles now." Audrea said.

"You're making a big mistake. This is a matter of national security. You aren't even from here." Hannah said.

Audrea smiled. "That's always the justification for doing something you shouldn't. This is a black site. Once again, show me proof or I have to assume you're a liar."

"Why don't you fuck off back to Manchester? You can start your own private vigilante start up there, not here.”

“I know a good friend in the FBI. Would you like me to give him a call? I'm sure you'll have no problem explaining all this to him.” Audrea said.

Michael could tell Hannah wasn't happy about it, but it seemed she had no choice but to go along with what Audrea wanted. She gave the order for one of her men to undo his ankle cuffs, and as soon as he was free Michael jumped out of his seat in relief. He followed Audrea out the room, and along the way both her and Hannah engaged in a second death stare. There was clearly bad blood between them, and Michael suspected it was there long before he arrived. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have been saved by someone who wasn't even from his own country.

They walked down a eerie concrete hallway which was litten up by cheap looking bulbs that hung from the roof by long dusty chains. As Michael looked around it became apparent to him there was nothing professional about this place. It was dirty and old looking, and nothing like he expected a government run operation to run. When they reached the end they turned a corner and walked down yet another hallway until they came to an exit with single scratched up door that had a green exit sign above it that was half broken. Michael heard the sound of traffic on the other side, and when Audrea opened the door he was relieved to find himself in the familiar streets of Phoenix. Due to the darkness and circumstances he wasn't exactly sure which part, but he knew the city he grew up in well enough to identify it from a single glance.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

As they walked down a side street Michael looked at the building they exited out of and figured it must have been some kind of abandoned warehouse. It was in the middle of the city, not exactly the ideal place to torture and interrogate someone, or at least he wouldn’t think.

He was so glad Audrea had freed him from this hell, but he knew very little about her. The only thing he knew was her name, she was British, and that he owed her big time. She led him to a small corner carpark where a silver Mercedes had its lights blink orange as it was unlocked from range.

"Get in." Audrea said.

Michael was in no mood to decline. It was cold and windy, and if he was any good judge of the weather he'd say it was also going to rain soon. He had no where else to go, and it was a nice car after all, so he opened the passengers side door and collapsed against the comfortable leather seat. It was heaven compared to the cold metal torture device he was forced against for the past two hours back at the warehouse. There was that new cars smell too, which was like the cherry on top for his new level of comfort. It was like being in heaven.

Audrea sat down in the driver's seat, closed the door and placed her hands across the steering wheel. She sighed, and for a while the two of them said nothing to each other. Michael looked out the window and wondered exactly which part of Phoenix this was. He also wondered whether Hannah would come after him again, and if Audrea or anyone else would be there to stop them.

And then his thoughts drifted back to someone he almost forgot about. Back to the color blue. He wondered about Divona, where she was, what she was doing, and if she was safe.

Audrea pushed a button near the steering wheel and the car's powerful engine roared to life. It was an automatic and across the dashboard there was an impressive array of lights and features. Even though Divona had showed him technology that was out of this world he was still impressed by what he saw. After all, he had never sat in a fancy car before.

"Is this cars yours?" Michael said.

"I'd like to think so, but no, it's a uh, a company car." Audrea said.

“A company car huh? Which company?”

"Stop asking questions. Try to be useful and keep a lookout. Tell me if you think we're being followed."

He nodded.

Audrea drove onto the road which was relatively light on traffic so they had most of the road to themselves. Audrea accelerated the Mercedes quickly and raced sped away if she were in a hurry. Michael was pretty sure she was going above the speed limit which was ironic considering she was supposedly law enforcement. Audrea drove down the end of the street and then turned left to avoid the main road ahead.

"By the way, You okay?" Audrea said, her eyes solidly on the road.

"Yeah, thanks again. You didn't have to do that." Michael said, still looking out his side window.

"Oh but I think I did. All this talk about different dimensions, nanotechnology, black holes and even time travelling aliens. I don't know how that agency even gets funding. It's likely it doesn't, well at least not legally. Don't worry Mr Dugarti, I'm going to file a report and they're going to have to do a full scale investigation into what's going on in that place. Did you see Hannah's face? one mention of the FBI and she freaked. Very fishy."

Michael looked at Audrea, but she didn't look back. She was still dead focused on both the road ahead while at the same time trying to contain her bewilderment. She appeared a little shaken but overall still gave off an unmistakable aura of confidence and professionalism. It soothed him. He had met a couple good cops before, even ones that offered to give him a ride home a couple times when he was younger and still lived in these streets. He was getting the same good vibes from Audrea, only more badass than usual.

"So are you the female James Bond or something?”

“What?”

“You know, like a secret agent? Does this car shoot rockets?”

“No it doesn't.” Audrea said, keeping a single hand on the steering wheel while she pulled out her phone and read something on it as if she received a message.

“Are you gonna call Q? Is that what he's called?”

"Just because I'm British that doesn't mean I know everything about James Bond, but yes...I do believe it is Q...”

"So in all seriousness though...are you like James Bond?"

She passed him a deadly stare, narrowing her eyes at him. "Before I tell you that Mr Dugarti, Is there anything I should know?"

“Like...what?”

“If there's anything at all, nows the time to tell me. I can protect you. You don't have to hide anything from me. Now tell me, why are they really after you?”

Audrea was clearly one of the rare good guys but the way she had a stoic expression across her made her perfectly passable for a villain too. She had a faint smile that could be interpreted either way. Michael thought about whether to tell her the truth about Divona, even if it did make him seem kind of crazy. After all, what was so strange about a blue haired girl from the future who could disassemble matter with pure thought? Or destroy the world with a black hole? Despite how thankful he was to her, he decided to lie. Not because he didn't trust her but because he didn't trust himself.

"I have no idea. One minute I was home alone and the next I wake up here. None of this makes any sense.”

“No it doesn't. Something isn't right here.”

“You know, you never did say who you are." Michael said.

She sighed, thinking quickly. "Audrea Lawson. Secret intelligent service."

"Oh my god you are James Bond....i'll have to buy you a drink after this."

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline that offer. You Americans are simply too much for me. Besides, I'm off to Manchester in two days. They sent me here just to piss me off i'm quite sure, and it seems to have worked. I'm really thinking of retiring.”

"Retire? Why? You're still young. What are you in your late twenties?" Michael said.

She passed him a funny, playful look. "That's classified Mr Dugarti. Besides, even if I was interested, I don't think you could handle someone like me."

The car drove smoothly for most of the way until a loud thud interrupted them both. The car shook like something hit them. At first Michael thought it may have been a pot hole, but then he looked out of the passenger's side window and saw what appeared to be a large metal claw that reached for the side of the car. His stomach churned as he identified what it was. He ducked in his seat as the claw tore through the metal of the car frame, missing him by an inch as it threatened to tear him and the entire vehicle in half. Audrea, in a panic swerved the car off the road where they hit a tree that brought the car to a dramatic crash. Luckily the airbags softened the impact enough to soundly save their lives. A dying smoke began to emit from the crushed engine.

Michael took a few seconds to recover from the initial shock of the impact. There was a dreaded ringing in his ears that over-ridden almost all his senses. They had crashed in an abandoned road where there were no cars and no people and only one traffic light that was barely even working. His head hurt, and his chest felt overly compressed, but that was the least of his worries. Another drone had just tried to kill him, and this time Divona wasn't here to protect him.

There's more of them?

Why is it after me?

He looked over at Audrea and noticed she had already climbed out of the car before him, so he gathered himself together and managed to climb out also, though somewhat wobbly on his feet.

"Michael, are you alright?" Audrea said, her gun holstered as she scanned their surrounding frantically. He noticed she was bleeding across the right side of her head, and quite badly at that, but she seemed to pay no mind to it. She was focused and not at all shaken like he was.

"I'm fine...I think... you're bleeding...."

"I got a lot of blood. What the hell was that?” Audrea said.

“Uh...”

Audrea pressed a button in her pocket and the trunk of the car opened with a clank. She reached inside and pulled out another handgun. She turned off the safety and loaded it before hesitating to pass it to him.

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Of course, I'm an American...”

She threw it over to him.

"Stay here. I'll be right back. Look alert.""

Michael never thought of himself as a coward, but this time he couldn't help feel that way. If he were stronger he would have gone along with her, but he didn't. He couldn't even find the words to warn her about what exactly they were up against. He had a pretty good idea. The claw that caused the car to crash wasn't something even someone highly trained like Audrea could handle. Michael gulped nervously. Divona had mentioned once before that there were likely no more of these drones around, but it seemed like she may have been wrong about that after all.

Audrea moved on ahead with her weapon cocked in front of her, bravely returning to the road. Michael scanned his surroundings, hoping to find any signs of the drone but seeing none. He grew increasingly nervous and afraid. His mind wondered to many places, and every small movement whether it being the trash being blown by the wind or something like that drew the nervous swivel of his weapon. Seconds felt like minutes. His heart raced like a drum.

And then he saw it. It was barley visible in the darkness except for the reflection of the nearby streetlight that shimmered across its metallic skin. It looked exactly like the one that Divona fought before, like a giant praying mantis the size of a car with a pair of large scythe-like claws that no doubt could slice through anything. It crept silently up to an unsuspecting Audrea who didn't seem to notice it even approaching.

"Audrea! Look out!"

Michael aimed his gun right at its and fired off a burst of rounds. The distraction allowed Audrea just enough time to jump to the side to avoid a swipe of its deadly claws. Michael emptied the clip of the gun, but only about half the bullets actually hit the drone. It was thin like an insect but armoured like a tank, and all the bullets that did hit simply ricochetted off harmlessly. Audrea fired at it also, emptying her clip, and unlike him, hitting it each time, but the result was the same. Bullets clearly had no effect. The thing was unstoppable.

Michael panicked. He was out of ammo and Audrea never gave him a second clip, but even if she did, he wasn't quite sure how much good it would have done. Without even thinking, he decided to throw away the gun and ran as he could towards Audrea. He could only watch as the British agent ducked and rolled trying to avoid being instantly killed by the futuristic death machine. Audrea reloaded her gun with a fresh clip and managed to manoeuvre her way to its underbelly and fire off another set of rounds but once again to no effect. She was good, very good, but eventually her evasions failed and the drone ended up grabbed her by the neck with its long skinny arm and hoisted her up in the air, choking her out.

Michael wanted to slam himself into the drone in hopes of distracting it but he was forced to stop when its smooth metallic skin transform into a surface of razor sharp spikes instead. He barely had time to stop his own momentum before he slammed into it and pierced himself to death. Luckily he stopped just in time, but not before a single spikes almost burred into his skull.

He ignored the pain and the blood and wondered what he could do to help Audrea. She was being choked to death by a machine from the future and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had no weapon, and no real way of fighting back. In his desperation he picked up a rock from the ground and threw it as hard as he could across it.

"HEY! LET HER GO! SHE'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS! IT'S ME YOU WANT YOU FREAK!"

Interestingly, the drone did in fact let Audrea go and turn its attention on to him instead. Michael almost soiled himself. He had no real plan after successfully managing to draw its attention. He didn't think that far ahead. The drone marched towards him as if ready to grind him up like a pile of meat. He was ready to accept his fate when he heard a high pitch robotic voice emitting from it:

"W.H.E.R.E..I.S...D.I.V.O.N.A?."

He didn't know what to say. He checked to see if Audrea was alright and was glad to see her return quickly to her feet, seemingly unharmed. She gave him a questionable look though as if she had already figured out there was something he didn't tell her after all. It was long past fight or flight mode, and both of them were out of options.

But then from the corner of his eye he saw a patch of blue, and before he knew it, his savour had arrived seemingly out of no where. It was Divona, and boy was he glad to see her. She was just on time. She peered first at the creature and then at him, sending him a reassuring smile.

"Hello Michael."

Michael was too shocked to say anything back. He was simply too happy to see her again. Her smile ended and her face returned to its normal expressionless state, though her eyes had a hint of vengeance to them. There was something peculiar about them. They glowed differently than before, brighter, and more visibly artificial. It seemed like her powers had grown even more.

In the blink of an eye Divona raced towards the drone, smashing her fist straight into its head with the impact of an industrial crane. The drone was tossed away like a rag doll, slamming into a thick tree so hard it bent and almost uprooted itself. Michael couldn't believe it but it seemed that Divona was indeed much stronger than before and she just proved it. The impact of that punch was so incredible It felt like a collision between two large large trucks at top speed. He knew about physics and wondered how Divona, who likely weighted no less than a hundred and thirty pounds, could pack a punch with a force of a couple hundred tonnes behind it.

As Divona and the drone fought, Audrea approached Michael and together they watched the battle with dumbfounded looks to them.

“Who is that blue haired woman?" Audrea said.

"Uh...it's a long story..."

“You know her?”

He had no time to explain as the fight had only just begun. The drone recovered quickly from the initial punch and then quickly charged towards Divona in retaliation. It attempted to slice her up with its front claws but when that failed it morphed them instead into gun-like barrels which fired off white hot streams of plasma that travelled as fast as a bullet. Michael felt his heart skip a beat when he worried one of the streams almost hit Divona, but his worry was unfounded. Divona was much too fast. In fact, she was so fast it was like she was a clairvoyant, appearing to move the moment before the shots were even fired, hitting the ground instead and causing a small fire where each one hit.

Michael was sure why but for some reason Divona didn't use any ranged weapons similar to the drone even though he fully expected her to have that capability. It was likely she was conserving her limited energy pool and focused on less draining ways of fighting back. Her style may have been crude, and simple, but her up close and personal style was more than effective in its own right.

She dodged like a pro prepared to land another titanic strike. Instead of striking it straight on, she leapt in the air and aimed her first downwards, smashing it straight down into the ground with the force of a building falling on it. It smashed into the ground forming a mini crater in the pavement, kicking up mounds of dust and creating a mini shock wave that forced Michael and Audrea to cover their eyes to protect themselves from the debris.

But even that strike wasn't enough. As the drone got back up, and the fight continued, Michael could hear the sound of thunder in the sky above. A thunderstorm was brewing and even through the dust in the air made things foggy, he could see a couple lighting bolts clearly striking through the atmosphere. Another flash of lightning almost blinded him, and then another hit a nearby telephone pole shooting sparks and starting more fires than what the plasma had already caused.

A series of titanic clashes from the battle melded with the growing rumbling of the thunderstorm that formed high above them. Another bolt of lightning hit the nearby streetlight causing it to explode and die out. It became darker, and the fight could only be seen from brief bursts of light every time a lightning ripped through the air. The flashes of light were getting more and more intense, as if they were getting closer and closer to them, until one got a bit too close and actually happened to strike Divona herself. Initially Michael freaked out, but he soon realised she wasn't at all hurt by it. In fact, it seemed deliberate, and the only effect it had on her was to make her glow a bright neon blue. The streetlight may have been destroyed but the light that came from Divona was strong enough to illuminate away the darkness.

Divona ran for the drone one last time, reached out her arm and fired off the very lighting bolt that struck her a moment earlier. Like a circuit, she appeared to have absorbed nature's power and redirect its on to her enemy. Afterwards, Divona's glow decreased a little, but still the fight wasn't done. The drone appeared to be relatively unsheathed even after that powerful attack.

When Michael saw some of Divona's glow scatter off into the wind, he knew she had a plan up her sleeve. Out from her skin emerged a tide of her semi transparent ribbon like arms she called her duality matrix she used earlier to absorb sunlight, but this time, she likely had different plans for it. She shot the ribbons high up into the sky to form a giant antenna, ready to receive and absorb the power the storm above. And it did just that. Bolt after bolt of lightning struck the make-do antenna, and it did so even as the battle continued between them. A single bolt of lightning clearly wasn't enough to win this battle, she needed much more power for that. Michael figured Divona was charging herself for a second strike much greater than the last, hopefully enough to finish the fight.

Beside him Audrea seemed to be in a state of shock, or awe. But even so she did notice Michael looking at her, and in that moment her state of shock seemed to disappear and was replaced with a deep sense of suspicion. He knew he was in trouble with her later on.

Michael couldn't even count the number of lightning bolts Divona's antenna had absorbed, but he figured it was in the hundreds. Hopefully it was enough to cause enough damage to burn through the drone's tough outer armour. Eventually, Divona raised a single arm in front of herself, and prepared to fire her final strike. Interestingly, the attack didn't end up being what Michael expected. Instead of simply zapping the drone with a super charged lighting bolt, she instead concentrated the energy into a thin but powerful blue laser that lasted for a single second which she aimed at its legs which upon impact were removed as if they were made out of butter. The laser was so powerful it seemed not only to melt the metal in the drone's legs but also the pavement where it stood, igniting a line of fire in its wake.

Without its legs the drone collapsed to the ground, which Divona instantly took advantage of by leaning on top of it and grabbing its body with her hands. Defensive Spikes emerged out from the drone's skin but they didn't seem to be effective against Divona. Her own skin appeared just as tough if not more so. The drone's legs quickly reformed themselves, but by then it was too late. Divona already did what she had planned to do and when she was done she leapt off and backed away. At first it seemed like nothing happened, bit then the drone began to stagger around as if it were suddenly losing its sense of balance. Within the next few second it stopped moving and fell to the ground as if it had malfunctioned. Its entire body then began to disintegrate from top to bottom as it turned into ash that scattered off into the wind.

It was finally over, and Michael felt like laying down across the ground in his relief. But then he heard the sound of a gun click beside him, and he leapt in alarm when he noticed Audrea aiming her gun threateningly Divona.

"Hands up or I'll shoot!" Audrea yelled, fear evident across her face. "I mean it! Hands up now!"

Divona didn't move, but not because she was told to. She simply stared at Audrea like an owl does into open space, focused yet still uninterested, or rather unthreatened. Of course, being herself she did not comply and before things escalated out of control Michael knew he had to do something.

He stood in between the two women, putting himself in the way of Audrea's gun.

"Put the gun down. Divona's not an enemy. She just saved us can't you see?" Michael said.

Audrea gradually lowered her weapon, though unhappily. She stared intriguingly at Divona, and Divona at her.

“Michael, you better explain all this to me and you better do it fast!” Audrea said, her voice popping. She was angry and It was understandable. Divona still appeared as calm as ever as she threw Michael an look of uncertainty about the British agent.

Michael gulped. For some reason it felt like the real drama was only just about to begin.