Night One Hundred And Sixteen
Age 1981
The Lab...
Ken stared at the older girl with a curious look. It was a while since she ever seen another person besides her father... She was just four years old at this point, and had already become the Seraphin having a lock of silver hair, and bright silver eyes. In front of Ken a quiet girl rested. She was nine years old, and much like Ken had the silver lock of hair, and bright silver eyes. The girl rested in a corner both of them in a simple white cell...
"What are you looking at?" The older girl asked with a grumble.
Ken flinched and look away. "S... Sorry... It's been a while since I've seen someone... You... You're very pretty."
"P... Pretty?"
There was a loud mechanical sound as the doors opened and Mr. Hyde, and a man in black armor walked in... The man in the armor stopped in his tracks. His eyes glanced at the second girl. "Who is she and why is she in the same room as my weapon?"
"Ahh. Much like little Ken here Viper has survived the process becoming a Seraphin. I tried it on over three hundred subjects, some old, some young, some boys, some girls, some full of will, and some dead. Only these two have passed..." Mr. Hyde said letting out a small laugh. "It's amazing Lancelot... They became Seraphins. A Bestia Macht in human form..."
Ken, and Viper stared at the two men both flinching as they stood there.
Lancelot let out a hum as he scratched at his black armor. "I suppose having a back up could work..." He muttered. "Do you know what's them work? Why did these two pass?"
"I don't fully understand it myself." Mr. Hyde chuckled moving closer and placing his hand on Ken's head. "But from what I can tell it all lays within the limbic system..."
***
Age 1991
"A flaming Bestia Macht..." Jackson asked with wide eyes.
"Wait how though?" Hero yelled as more flames and pressure rolled off of the beast slowly pushing the many kids, and Jackson back. "Bestia Macht have always been ice, Equations have always been heat. Only people that are weirdos are Ken, and Irene, one of which is part monster, and the others has a literal broken Equation!"
"Also why is it dressed in clothing and look like a human?" Jackson yelled.
"No clue but I don't like what I'm thinking..." Hero hissed.
"So Jackson and Hero are having a mini panic attack... Guess it's up to us Ken!" Kitsune announced. "Ken? Ken?" He slowly turned to look at Ken and his eyes went wide.
Ken's skin was pale white, and sweat was pouring off of her body. Her eyes were wide, her body was shaking, and her chest heaved up and down as if she was having trouble breathing. She looked sick... Even worse than she had been when she saw Viper again. Like she was going to throw up.
"Ken's having a panic attack." Kitsune nodded.
"Aren't we all." Light said also nodding.
"Oh my God Ken." Irene caught the girl as she fell back. "Geez what's wrong?"
"S... S... S... S... Sera... Seraphin... W... Wrong..." She shivered shaking her head as her eyes sealed shut. "It's a Seraphin."
"What!"
"Heads up!" Jackson yelled as the Bestia Macht let out a loud roar and fired forward flames pouring off of its body. "Here she comes!"
"I got this." Kitsune fired forward drawing his blade as the flames sprouted out of his head forming his ears, and his nine tails. He slashed the blade out throwing his own flaming slash out at the monster which clashed in a big heat burst.
"Shit it's burning up..." Hero hissed. "These outfits are designed to resist the freezing ice cold of the world... It's like being in a volcano in here..." He gasped as he unzipped his jacket from the waves of heat. "Let's end this fast!" He announced changing his arm into his massive buster cannon.
"Whoa!" Irene said with wide eyes. "That's new."
"Got a bit of an upgrade!" Hero smirked.
"Don't fire it!" Jackson yelled moving in front of Hero's gun.
"What! Why not!"
"You could drop the entire building down on us! Even though we're strong enough to survive it, there could still be people trapped in here and that would kill them! We can't let this building fall apart and need to take this thing out carefully!"
"Damn it! Fine..." Hero's arm glowed and changed into his clawed form.
"Guy's here it comes!" Kitsune yelled as a massive ball of flame slammed down into them all throwing them all back. They all slammed into the back wall as the flames slammed into them making them all yell out in pain.
Ken let out a loud hiss of pain as well as she looked up staring at the Bestia Macht...
***
Age 1982
"Damn it you failed again!" Lancelot yelled.
A loud smack could be heard as Ken hit the floor letting out a loud yell. Her busted lip healed almost immediately but her nose didn't as she was out of power unable to fix the serious damage. The man gave her a small kick to the side once again likely breaking some ribs as the man walked back and forth. He slammed his fist into the metal wall leaving a large dent in it as he let out a loud curse.
"Damn it... Damn it. Damn it!" He screamed. "I spent so much money on you! The things I had to do, to get you! Why can't you be better!" He screamed.
"I... I'm sorry..." Ken flinched.
Lancelot let out a loud hiss shaking his head. "Damn... Mr. Hyde's pet Seraphin is so much better... What the hell did he do to that girl to change her..." He shook his head once again. "Still to slow..." He grabbed Ken pulling her up. "Come on. Back to your cell... I need to have a word with Mr. Hyde." He nodded. He clicked a button as the wall opened showing the same white cell which he tossed Ken into. "Don't die. I want my money back sometime this year." He clicked a button as the door closed.
"Ken!" A worried Viper asked helping the girl up. "You're hurt... You need more food right?" Ken simply let out a pained cough in a raspy tone spitting up some blood. Viper rolled up her sleeve and placed her wrist in Ken's mouth. "Bite down..."
Ken did as she was told biting into Viper's wrist and slowly drinking the blood as her body began to heal as she regained some of her power. "T... Thank you..." Ken groaned looking up at the woof as her eyes became glassy and her vision began to fade.
"Believe it or not... We're the lucky ones..." Viper said sadly. Her hand slowly moved through Ken's hair in a soft manner. "The one's that didn't make it were killed off. Mostly... They turned into mindless monsters... Mr. Hyde thought it would be funny to let some out into the world... Great One those poor kids..."
"G... Great One?" Ken asked quietly.
"He's a figure my mom told me about..." Viper nodded. "One who watches over and the world and helps them... He won't ever help us though... He only helps humans... We're just weapons... Designed to be pointed at the enemy. Beasts..." Her hand slowly moved through Ken's hair. "We just have each other..."
***
Age 1991
"Get up..."
The light began to hurt her eyes as she slowly looked up. "W... What?"
"Get up!" Hero yelled in a panic tone as Ken set up. Her eyes went wide when she saw Hero was in front of her holding up his massive clawed hand which was holding a massive fire ball back. "Seriously I don't know how much longer I can hold literal fire!"
"S... Sorry." Ken jumped back up letting out a sigh. She glanced over at the Bestia Macht which was battling Jackson, and Kitsune. Irene and Light were providing support with ranged attacks. As soon as Ken was out of the way Hero let go of the fire ball ducking down as it flew past him and slammed into the wall badly melted it. "How long was I out?" She asked slowly.
"A few seconds it's fine." Hero said shaking his head. "Let's get to work..."
"R... Right... Sorry..."
"Are you okay? Can you fight this thing-"
"I... I can... It just... It shocked me when I saw it... Brought up... Brought up bad memories-" Ken was silence when Hero pulled her in for a hug shocking her. "H... Hero!"
"Ken listen. You need to pull yourself together. We need you... Come on... Whatever is on your mind we can deal with it after this okay..."
"...O... Okay... T... Thank you..."
Over with Jackson and Kitsune they were having trouble dealing with this mighty monster. It didn't fight like a Bestia Macht... A Bestia Macht fought like a wounded animal going all over the place, but this was being smart dodging and using it's regeneration allowing itself to be hit by other attacks so it can get a sneak attack.
"Take this!" Kitsune cried out slashing his sword. It stabbed into the beast but the Bestia Macht simply grabbed the Noble Fox by the head and slammed him into the ground. It twisted its body and threw the fox into the back wall.
Light let out a loud curse shaking his head. "My guns fried..."
"What!" Irene asked in horror.
"Ever since my last mission my gun jams and crashes now..." He hissed.
Irene let out a hiss of her own and looked down at her hands. "My ice keeps melting before it can even get near that beast... Maybe... Maybe my dragon can-"
"No Irene!" Jackson called back. "Don't use that power. I can beat this thing!" He announced creating a lightning blade. He fired forward stabbing it into the monster as it let out a howl. "Lightning Arrow!" He shouted back jumping back and creating a large bow made out of lightning as he pulled back on it. "Arking Bolt!" He fired his shot as the arrow exploded into a hail of lightning arrows which rained down on the beast.
It let out a loud howl as it was shot from all sides by the many arrows and shook its head smoke rising off of its body. The smoke soon became steam as all of its wounds began to slowly seal shut leaving it without a scratch. It hissed flames pouring out of its mouth as more flames covered its arms forming giant fire claws. Seconds later a large massive tail of flames poured out from behind it which began to slap at the ground over and over again. Its horns were even covered in flames as it clicked its jaws and glared at the Enforcer.
"Didn't like that huh?" Jackson asked grinning. His bow formed into a large lighting spear which he spun around his body and pointed at the beast. "I'm ending this right here and right now!" He screamed firing forward as he stabbed the massive blade forward stabbing it into the monsters stomach as he moved at lightning speed. His spear shifted forming a massive lightning axe which he ripped out of the monster and turned on his heels slamming it into the monsters neck and slicing its head clean off. "You're done... Thor's Hammer!" He yelled slamming a massive lightning hammer into the severed head and flattening it.
"It's over?" Hero said letting out a sigh. "Good... That thing was stronger than the one we fought in our first mission..."
"N... No..." Ken said shaking her head as memories flashed through her mind. Her eyes went wide as she recalled something. "Jackson it isn't dead-"
Jackson turned just in time as the beasts tail stabbed through his gut. It twisted and through him into a wall as all the kids stared in horror as a new head began to grow out of its neck...
"B... But its head was destroyed..." Irene said falling down.
"T... Those ones are different..." Ken hissed. "They have small bugs in them... We need to break that!"
"Where?" Hero asked raising his clawed arm up.
"U... Usually in its heart-"
"Got it." Hero fired forward at a fast speed as the beast looked up. It slashed out with its flaming claws meeting Hero's own metal claw sending out a powerful shock wave. "D... Damn this thing is tough..." Hero hissed as he began to get pushed back.
'Or... Maybe you're just weak... Why not let me take control?'
"R... Row?" The beast slammed a fist into Hero's head as his eyes went wide. He gritted his teeth as his arm changed into his massive drill mode and he stabbed it forward only for the beast to grab the drill with both its arms stopping it in its tracks as it let out a loud roar. Hero smirked though as it stopped his drill. "You're up. I'm counting on you."
The beast looked at him with confusion before looking past him and seeing Kitsune, Light, Irene, and Jackson... What happened to the girl-
It looked up just in time to see Ken firing down from the roof as she stabbed out with her hand stabbing it into the beast and squeezing down... There was a quiet pop as something was crushed between her fingers. The beast stared at Hero and Ken as cracks began to cover its skin.
"T... Thank you..."
Hero's eyes went wide when he heard the voice come out of the beast as it shattered into ash which than somehow broke down even more until literally nothing was left but a crushed bug in Ken's hands.
"What... What the hell was that?" Hero said staring down at his hands. "Did... Did we just kill a human?"
"I'm one of the lucky ones..." Ken said quietly. "I didn't become that..."
***
A few Minuets Later...
"You guys made it out!" Ace said noticing the gang walk out of the building Hero holding the injured Jackson up.
"That Bestia Macht..." Jackson frowned.
"M... My wife..." The group all turned when they saw the owner once again. "It was my wife..." He cried out. "D... Did..."
"We killed her." Jackson said bluntly. "I'd say that was for the best... She must have been in a lot of pain... That was the Seraphin project... No way to reverse it... I'm sorry but putting her down was the only way to help her. May her soul return to the Great One..."
"S... She thanked... She thanked me..." Hero gulped feeling a sour feeling in his gut. "I... I think it was... I think we helped her..."
"I... I see... Thank you Enforcers." The man said taking one of Hero's hands.
"I... I... You shouldn't really be thanking me..." Hero shook his head. "She was the one that helped your wife."
The owner slowly turned to look over at Ken who looked away with an embarrassed look on her face. Ken let out a small hiss as Kitsune clapped her on the back and pushed her forward towards the man. "Y... Your wife... What was her name..."
"Martha..." The man said sadly.
"I... I'd like to say a prayer for Marth if that's okay with you? I'm a Sister of the Red Church..."
As Ken began to recite the prayer Hero walked with the injured Jackson to the car.
"D... Did we really save her?" Hero asked setting the man down in the car.
"Who knows..." Jackson sighed. He slowly looked up at all the buildings. "What I do know is someone is making a Seraphin..."
Far away across the city Bright stood on a rooftop.
"Good... They put her out of her misery..." He sighed saying a prayer of his own. "Oh Great One... How many more must suffer... Just when will I find it... The secrets of the Seraphin..."