A teenage girl tapped on the window of a van with her perfectly manicured nails painted black.

“Come out, come out. Whoever you are.” she sang. Rosa Romero waited for a response. The van had stopped trying to escape when they realized Hanni-boo wouldn’t let them leave. Rosa tapped some more on the window. “Come out! I just want to be friends!”

Nothing. Whoever was inside refused to answer her. Rosa was feeling miffed. Everyone had been just standing around for 20 minutes. She couldn’t order Hanni-boo to break open the window because he was still holding onto the van. If he let go, they might try to leave. She couldn’t let them leave! She turned towards her Daddy.

“Daddy, who is she?” she asked. Her daddy was looking rough. His face was a total mess! Rosa didn’t know who the woman in the van was, but they were bad ass. They had kicked her dad's butt. When she'd been younger, she'd seen Daddy beat up a lot of people. She'd seen him kill even more monsters. He'd been doing his job for decades. Despite all of that, the woman inside the van had won over him.

Then again, Daddy WAS older now. He had a little bit of a belly nowadays, but he was still tough! She had a good laugh when Robbie # 6 had tried to pull daddy out from the table he’d been tied to. Daddy bit through Robbie #6’s nose. Stupid Robbies. They never took her seriously enough. They didn't believe he was still dangerous even when he was tied up. Miss Chaplain was right to put her in charge of all of them. Well, her and Hanni-boo.

That was why all the Robbies had to wear the loser robes. Rosa was wearing robes too, but it was different! Way different! Rosa shook herself out of her thoughts. Her daddy still hadn’t said who the woman was.

Esteban arched an eyebrow. “Is she not one of your new friends, daughter of mine?”

Rosa shook her head. “No way! I’d know if I had someone that kick-ass on my team! She took out the 2 Robbies I had searching the house for you. They told me she was all like Wham! And Hah! And Kiya!” Rosa performed a parody of karate moves to emphasize her point. Her father never wanted her to learn how to fight, so she only knew what she saw on T.V.

“Is that so?” Esteban looked at the van with renewed interest. It appeared Miss Danvers was telling the truth about not being part of the cult. This left Esteban with more questions than answers.

“Uh huh! I mean if I had her, I wouldn’t need all of these guys to catch you!” Rosa turned to one of the robed figures. “Especially you Robbie! How do you get your nose bitten off by someone sitting down?”, she admonished. Rosa shook her head in disappointment at him. No Nose Robbie didn't respond. Another Robbie was helping to bandage his face up.

She turned back to her father. “Sooooo, who is she? Tell me. Tell me!”

“As far as I can tell, her name is Alicia Danvers. She works for some newspaper.”

Rosa put a finger to her lips and tilted her head. Her face had visible doubt. “A newspaper? Pffft. Yeah, right. No way she works for a newspaper. You’re not lying to me again are you Daddy?”

Esteban remained stoic in the face of her accusation. He had indulged his daughter for long enough. He would not dignify her with a response.

Rosa was feeling even more miffed. Daddy still wasn’t taking her seriously. Not like Miss Chaplain did. Miss Chaplain had found her one night when she’d run away after a fight with Daddy. She said Rosa was a very special girl and that Rosa had great potential. Daddy never told her that. He always told her she’d make a good wife and mom one day. Even after the time she'd kicked a boy in the nuts so hard that they had to call an ambulance for him.

She'd promised to herself she'd show Daddy up one day and now she had. He was her captive now. Sure, the lady in the bus had done most of the work, but she was in charge here! It was her goons that had the guns and the muscle. She’d teach Daddy to take her seriously.

With an angry glare, Rosa addressed one of the robe men. “Hey Robbie! Get over here, now!” A couple of robed men looked at one another, confused as to whom she was addressing. A silent conversation happened and one of the robed men rushed up to Rosa before she got upset. They did not want her to be upset. Whenever Rosa felt unhappy, Hannibal would feel the same way.

The goon asked her, “What do you need, miss?”

Rosa pointed at her father. “Shoot him in the foot.”

The man paused. “Miss, are you sure you want me to-”

Rosa grabbed him. With surprising strength for such a small girl, she pulled him down to her eye level. Through gritted teeth she said, “Shoot. Him. Now.”

After she pushed him back, the man took out a pistol. Esteban showed no fear as the cultist pointed his gun down at Esteban's foot. Bang!

“AARRGHH” Esteban yelled out. The bullet pierced through his shoe and into his foot. Blood started seeping through his shoe and his sock. A searing hot pain bloomed in his sole as he went down on one knee. After his initial reaction to being shot, Esteban showed no other signs of pain. With great willpower, he tapered down his instinct to scream and swear at them all. He’d have his revenge. The moment he got his chance.

Rosa bent down, placing both hands on her knees. She looked her father in the eye and asked him again, “Are you lying to me?”

She looked into the icy cold eyes of her father, reading his face. His jaw was clenched in anger. His expression promised a terrible reprisal, but they held no sign of deception. He wasn’t lying to her. She stood back up.

“Hmph. Daddy doesn’t know anything about the lady. Take him to the car. We can make him tell us how to find the skinless guy later. When we do, I’ll take its power for myself. Miss Chaplain will be so happy when she finds out how great I am at being a captain.”

Rosa lost herself in her fantasies as two men carried her father away. Esteban limped due to his new injury. Then Rosa ordered more men to grab whatever weapons they could find in the garage. Hannibal had cracked one of the windows earlier. Their guns might not punch through the hull of Esteban’s reinforced vehicle, but they had all the time in the world to break through the door. It wasn’t like Hannibal ever got tired.

As Esteban was being taken away, he looked around himself. He made notes of any possible avenue of escape. Then he spotted something. Something in the sky. Esteban started laughing. He laughed uproariously as if he’d just been told the best joke of his life.

Rosa froze at the sound of his laughter. With an angry look on her face, she marched up to him. The two men escorting him halted as she approached. She poked a hard finger at Esteban’s chest. “What are you laughing at!” she demanded, stomping her foot at him.

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“Hahahaha,” he said. “You want to know how to track down the skinless pendejo?”

She nodded. “Yeah. So?”

With a smirk, he answered, “Then just turn around.”

Rosa was confused. What did he mean? A scream sounded out from behind her. Both Rosa and Hannibal turned around at the noise. Hannibal’s light shone on the variant Amicia had fought at Jeff’s Lennart house. Its half skinned form was wrapped around one of the robed men. The legs of the monster were clenched around his stomach, trapping the man’s hands to his sides. They were rendered helpless. The variant bit into the face of the cultist as they screamed in agony. With a twist of its head, the monster pulled the man’s entire face off with an unnatural ease. It threw back its head, letting the face of the cultist slide down into its gullet.

As Hannibal’s light shone on the variant, it turned to hiss at him. It pushed away the first of its prey. The variant had gained a new sickening trait. When Amicia had pierced its knee with her knife, she’d done permanent damage to it. This forced the creature to change and adapt. Now there was a large flap of skin hanging down off the back of the creature. The skin connected at the back of the creature's neck and at both of its wrists. The variant flapped its hands, launching off the ground and into the air. The powerful legs of the monster shot it 50 feet in the air. The extra flap of skin stretched out, working as a wing-suit and letting the monster glide through the sky.

Rosa stepped backwards. They were being ambushed! She ordered her men, “Shoot it! Shoot it! Hannibal get- “

She was interrupted by her father. She had stepped close enough to him that Esteban could lift his good leg and kick at her back. Rosa fell to the ground with a cry. The two men holding Esteban were surprised as he pulled one of them forward, headbutting them in the face. The other man holding him received an elbow to the jaw. Hannibal, still holding onto the van Amicia was trapped in, turned to watch as Esteban pushed away his captors. The spry older man ran off into the dark forest. He moved awfully quick for a man with a crippled foot.

The robed cultists fired their assault rifles into the sky, trying to bring down the variant soaring in the clouds. Hannibal made a decision. Rosa was the most important person in this contingent. He would protect her at all costs. Hannibal let go of the van.

Rosa looked up from the ground to see Hannibal running towards her. He had only gotten a few meters towards her. Her eyes widened as she saw what was behind Hannibal. “Hannibal! Watch out! Behind you!”

Hannibal turned back around to see a 2 ton vehicle crash into him from behind. From inside the van, Amicia put the car in reverse, stomping down on the pedal. She rammed the mass of metal into the man. Amicia caught him by surprise, pushing him off his feet. She ran the car over her as he fell to the ground. While on top of Hannibal, she shifted the vehicle again. The van ran back over the fallen man once more and drove off into the night.

Rosa screamed in frustration as both her father and Amicia escaped. The girl scrambled back to her feet, surveying the situation. The other cultists continued to fire up at the variant with their rifles. Their shots produced little result as the demon flew through the skies on wings made of skin. It dodged their attacks with fluid aerial grace. From above, the monster turned its head down at the clearing below. It chose a target. The smallest, weakest looking of all the red robed people below. Rosa.

The variant closed its wings. It dove down towards Rosa at terrifying speeds. In a heartbeat, She realized that the monster was coming for her and began to run for the trees. “Fuck, fuck, fu- AAHHHH!” The monster plucked her off the ground as if she weighed nothing. Its legs held onto her by her armpits.

“Let go of me!” she demanded. She scratched at the monster with her nails. The monster’s flesh was disgustingly mushy. The variant tilted their head downwards to peer at their latest catch. So small. So vulnerable. The little thing would make for a nice snack. Just enough to stick between its teeth. It licked its lips, giving Rosa a sinister grin.

“You wanna fuck with me!?” Rosa screamed at it. It laughed at her, taunting the little girl. She reached up to her right eye. With determination, she dug her finger into her eye socket and ripped out one of her eyeballs. “AAAHHHHH”, she screamed. Rather than blood, golden ichor dripped out of her eye socket.

The creature was confused by her actions. Why did the prey harm itself? Rosa looked back up to it, breathing roughly. She crushed her own eyeball in her hand. Suddenly, an orb of bright light formed next to the creature. It exploded next to the monster’s head, staggering them. The variant roared in pain as the light scorched its head, shoulders, and back. Rosa could smell the scent of charred meat in the air as the creature flew erratically. It started to slow down after the burst of searing light injured it. Eventually, its flying turned into simple hovering.

With her remaining eye, Rosa could see her men below. The monster had taken her high in the air, but had not moved too far from her father’s house. If the men wanted to, they could fire on the monster, but that would mean the possibility of hitting their leader. They were in a conundrum. If they fired, they could kill Rosa. If they didn’t, the variant would take her with it. Either scenario meant the Chaplain would punish them for their failure.

In the end, it was Hannibal who acted. He’d risen from the ground without any sign of damage. He looked up at the captive Rosa in the sky. Running over to a small tree, he ripped the entirety of it out of the ground. The brute lifted it over his shoulder, aiming it at the stunned creature above. He flung the tree, trunk first, at the hovering monster. The improvised weapon soared through the air at blinding speed, finding its intended target.

Rosa screamed as the tree smashed into the creature holding her aloft. “HANNIBAAAALLL!”

The lantern headed man ran into the forest at full speed. He powered through any obstacle in his way as he headed to where Rosa would land.

Rosa continued to scream as she fell from the sky. Multiple times, she re-oriented herself, desperately trying to grab at any branches to slow herself down. She crashed through the foliage above, slowing only slightly. She winced in pain every time her torso broke a branch. She could see the ground coming. With no way to stop herself, she closed her eyes. Seconds later. Thud.

Rosa felt a shock of pain spread from her shoulders and back. The air rushed out of her lungs. Was she dead? She couldn’t be dead! She still had so much revenge to get. Like that cashier at Kohls who said she needed a smaller bra. Her teacher, Mr Sullivan, that said she had ‘developmental’ issues and an ‘anger’ problem. The man just liked to watch her ass when she walked out the door. That was why he kept giving her detention! Then there was Jenny, her best friend. “I love you Rosa, but we can’t hang out if you keep making fun of my mom being sick.”, she said. Jenny turned into such a total bitch. Hang on, what was she doing? Oh right, death.

Rosa opened one eye, expecting to see herself crushed into a pulp from the fall. What she saw was the lantern face of Hannibal looking down at her. The big man had made it in time to catch her with his big meaty hands.

“Hanni-boo! You saved me! Come here big guy.” Rosa said. She pulled herself up to give the man a peck on the side of his lantern. Hannibal, in response, rubbed the back of his head shyly. Then he paused. The big man traced a finger over Rosa's cheek, wiping away the golden ichor dripping out of Rosa’s eye socket.

“What, this?” she said. “Pshaw. It’s nothing." Rosa waved haughtily, playing off the painful injury. "It’ll grow back in a couple of days. Swearsies.”

The sound of pained screeching rang out above. The odd pair looked towards the sky to see the demon flapping away. It flew even slower now after being hit by Hannibal's attack. Rosa was surprised that Hannibal throwing a tree hadn’t killed it. People usually died when Hannibal threw stuff at them. The pair watched as the figure of the demon vanished over the horizon.

Rosa turned back to Hannibal. She stuffed her face into his shoulder, sighing. “This was going so well until that thing showed up. Why couldn’t it have attacked us before we got here? Then we wouldn’t have needed to come out all this way! Stupid jerk monster.”

Hannibal stroked her head with his big hands, comforting her. Rosa's shoulder relaxed. She looked up with a renewed pep in her eyes. “No. No, you’re right Hanni-boo. If we did it before, we can do it again!” She leapt down from his arms.

Rosa landed and wobbled slightly at the knee before catching herself. “Oof. Come on big guy. Let’s go see how many Robbies we have left. I bet Miss Chaplain will get us more. We’ll need them anyway if we wanna take all of my dad’s books and stuff back to the Big House.”

Rosa Romero skipped back to the house of her father, humming a cheerful tune. The massive form of Hannibal lumbered after the young girl. This night hadn't gone exactly to plan, but neither had they suffered much of a setback. Rosa would think of the next move. Maybe she’d look into whoever this Alicia Danvers was. If they were good enough to beat daddy at his own game, Danvers could be an even bigger asset than her father. As long as Rosa brought her to Miss Chaplain, Miss Chaplain would convince her to join The Court. They could be very very persuasive. Alicia could even be Rosa’s big sister! Like how Hannibal was her new big brother. Just as long as they understood Rosa would be in charge.