Present day
"Leave them. Their camp is harmless." Neema spoke through her communicator.
"Are you sure? The male near the far left looks dangerous enough." One of the Flair soldiers spoke while eyeing the group ahead with her scope.
The male she was referring to, stood with an ordinary weapon in his hand. He seemed on high alert of his surroundings. He had a vest on which had holes in the back for his quills that ran along his spine. There seems to be a few amongst his shoulder length hair too. The quills are the exact same colour and shape of what a porcupine use to have. These poor animals no longer exist, along with more than half of other different species. The Mars raven hair perfectly blends with the quills and if you did not notice the ones on his spine, you might have missed those that reside on his head. If he has quills, he most likely has sable coloured eyes as well.
"They aren't part of the rebel groups, that male simply protects his family. I'm sure you're aware that even they are in danger. Besides, they have a few females with them. The hostile groups refuse to work with any of us." Neema spits in disgust while she thought of the rebels.
During the time when women realised they have been blessed with gifts and men only damaged with their physical appearances, it has become increasingly difficult for some to live together. Of course, there's always people in the world who wants to take charge and the world was eventually split between two governments. Foolish leaders made choices that even the biggest idiot in this world would have seen as defective. The Flairs government are ruled by the older generations, and amongst them were individuals chosen to lead. This government started the Flair mafias, women trained to kill. They mostly protect their fellow Flairs that choose not to take part in violence.
Since no more of the old cities exist, camps and any other structures built are found underground or in between the crevices and cracks of the aftermath all those 20 years ago.
The Mars government are ruled by any alpha male willing to take a Flair head on. The males in control of this government refuse the protection of the Flairs and instead reside in their own. Not mafias but rather armies. The soldiers all of the same ranking and all following the same imprudent 'leaders'. The only successful treaty these two governments managed to achieve were the basic laws for the still remaining souls on this desolate sphere.
But not everyone follows the rules. Rebellious groups of Mars murder innocent groups of both their own kind and Flairs. Their jealousy eating away their humanity. They feel inferior towards the Flairs because of the gifts they have been given and they seem to hate Mars that do choose to live with them. The female DNA carries a hormone not found in the male DNA. It is presumed that the cause of the Mars lack of supernatural gifts is because they do not possess that hormone and therefore the radiation made home somewhere else. Thus, causing the physical appearance for males to change but gaining nothing else with it. Females did not go through any physical change but rather the reshaping of their inner self. Their brains slightly different and enhanced sensory receptors.
"Stay with the group and contact me if anything seems suspicious or out of place." Neema spoke.
"Yes donna."
Neema sat in front of her desk staring at her projected computer screen. She was at her mafia headquarters alone today. The other 6 donnas have not returned from their mafia's initiating ceremonies yet. Their headquarters were in what used to be Great Britain, so it was only a few hours journey for Neema since she runs the British mafia. Images of every person part of the group they just came across were spread out across her screen. This group are a part of the few luckier ones they found. They have better homes and enough food. They also have access to necessary medical and weapons facilities if they ever need it.
They seem to have two younglings with them as well, a Flair and a Mars. It is very rare for children to be conceived in present times. Mars tend to fear Flairs and Flairs don't particularly find comfort in the physical appearance of some of the Mars. Some of them just happen to be too dangerous. For example, the male guard that was on watch duty. If he were to be with a Flair and momentarily forgot about his quills he could easily impale and kill her. Most Flairs would rather not take the risk.
Many thought that by conceiving children that the merging of the DNA will no longer divide the world between who is Flair and who is Mars. Unfortunately, the little hope people had were shattered when everyone came to realisation that even born from both male and female genes, males and females were still divided. Boys were still born as Mars and held no gifts and Flairs were still born with their gifts and no physical appearance changes.
Neema stares at the images of the girl and boy and remembers her time with her brother. Sadly, her brother was too young and did not survive his changing process to become a Mars. Neema's mother died when her bother was born and her father passed only a few years ago. He always believed that one day the world would not be so divided and that eventually everyone will help one another. Her father had a heart of gold. Since he was older during the time of war, his appearance did not drastically change. The only difference he had was small white feathers protruding from his greying head. As the years passed on, he even grew a feathery beard and Neema used to tease him about how much he resembled Santa Claus. Neema smiled at the memory but a frown was quickly replaced upon her features when her communicator suddenly alerted her with danger.
"Capo? What is happening? Is the camp under attack?"
All camps outside of the capitol living areas had a squad of Flairs watching over them. Some squads had two camps to watch over. It usually never became a problem, since if any danger occurred, the camps would help fight alongside the Flairs. Protecting their families and their younglings from harm. It was in these rare occasions where if the camps had Mars, both genders will fight alongside one another.
"Donna! Something is wrong with the camp! They seem to have turned on each other. A Flair and a Mars suddenly started attacking their fellow friends and families! They seem to have signalled a few rebels during the chaos as well!"
Neema did not think much of this situation. It has happened before where people tend to turn on one another. Mostly because a rebel group made empty promises. The ones that turned on their families were either executed by the Flair squad protecting the camp or if they managed to escape, be executed by the rebels. The rebels hated traitors and did not trust anyone that would betray their families for people they do not even know.
"Send me the coordinates." Neema spoke as she gathered her weapon and ran for her teleporter. A machine invented for fast traveling from one location to another anywhere on the planet as long as the exact location are given. "Where's your squad Capo?"
The Capo's are the names squads in the field protecting camps are addressed with and the soldiers protect the main capitol living spaces. No other rankings are given unless a Flair is working for a mafia but does no fighting but rather work with the money, gather information and any other required work. They are known as the associates.
"Two injured and one casualty. The rest of us are still trying to protect the remaining camp. The fight is not in our favour! We need help!"
"Give me two seconds. These assholes need to be taught a lesson." Neema's voice laced with venom.
She had the same fiery personality as her fellow squad member Natalya. Neema just happen to have more sympathy whereas Natalya needs to be reminded to have any at all.
Neema entered the teleport and typed in her given coordinates. The circular stepping platform she was standing on protruded a wall of light up towards a similar looking platform above her head. The light suddenly shrunk onto Neema's body, making her freeze in place and instantly transported her to the given location. Of course, these teleports were only used by some of the Flairs since a few do possess the gift of teleportation themselves.
Neema took out her energy blade from her waist and ran towards the commotion occurring at the camp. Confusion was laced on her face upon arriving at the scene. Three of the squad members laid dead in their own pool of blood, each killed with a single bullet through the head.
"They were executed. I thought there was only one casualty?" Neema whispered to herself.
She only arrived a few seconds after speaking to the Capo. The three Flairs had no other wounds on their bodies which seemed strange. She also noticed that the three dead were the ones with the strongest gifts in the squad. Each squad had at least three members with fatal gifts. This is also what made the donna squad different, all seven of them were lethal killers with deadly gifts to match.
It was too quiet here and the fighting seemed to have been elsewhere. Neema stalked past the three girls and placed a small decomposition device on each of their chests. These devices, called Vapours, were no bigger than the front part of a thumb but held so much power. They were used in situations like this to dispose of bodies. The device encloses the body and turns it into ash which when exposed to oxygen disappears and feeds the surrounding vegetation. This not only helped with the disposing of the dead but also with the healing of the environment, which was a major problem after the war. Once the devices completed their routine, it simply turns to stone.
Once the Vapours began their work Neema placed her palm and two fingers, facing the girls, in front of her left eye. She then abruptly turned around and continued towards the noise. Her enhanced hearing led her to a desolated area where the camp was situated. More bodies were sprawled around her and when she saw the empty eyes of two younglings staring back at her, all thoughts of mercy left her mind. All Neema now saw was red. A snap of a nearby branch caught her attention and from the corner of her eye she saw the movement. Her head whipped towards the three figures in front of her and she stood tall spinning her blade in her hand ready to start throwing if necessary.
"You must be the donna? I wondered when I'll meet one of you. Heard you're pretty powerful." The Mars on the right spoke.
He had a smug look on his face which only made him look uglier with his beak nose protruding from his face. His hair a shrivelled mess with a few missing feathers along with it. He also had a few holes in his shirt which was tainted with some of his blue blood.
A small smile made its way on Neema's face as she stared at him. "Seems like someone gave you a good fight. Don't tell me you fought for your life with a girl, pigeon." She spat.
The Mars's smile disappeared as soon as he realised that she was exactly right. One of the girls from the squad managed to distract the male long enough for two of her squad members to get away. Unfortunately, she was too distracted with making sure they escaped that she neglected the thought of being killed herself. The girl was decapitated with the male's sword. His smug face soon returned as he tells Neema exactly what she did not want to hear.
"Doesn't matter, I always love a good fight. I'll keep her head as a reminder of this victorious day." He spoke those words menacingly, nodding towards the girl's body and severed head a few meters from where they stood.
Neema saw the body when she first arrived, but did not stare long enough to realise that she was one of her own. Once again, she only saw red and all she wanted to do was melt the smile off the idiots' face.
She suddenly flicked her knife in her hand, her eyes glowing yellow and her knife mimicking the colour of her energy. Just as quick as the three men realised what she was doing, the knife was already halfway towards the moron on the right's face. The knife moved too fast for the three Mars's slow eyes and they only managed to see the fatality of what Neema did.
The knife went straight through the Mars's mouth, pinning him to a tree by the back of his neck. That is not what killed him, it was her gift that did. The yellow knife melted the surrounding skin and the smell of burning flesh entered Neema's nostrils. He did not scream, he couldn't have. His throat was melted away. As Neema summons her knife back to her hand the male fell to the ground, with his head rolling away from his body. It was only fair that he also dies with his head removed from his shoulders.
The Mars that stood on the left stepped forward, his intention to kill the female who took his brother's life. But the male in the middle stopped him and spoke while staring at Neema directly. She could not see his face, his hood shielding it from her. The only thing she has going for him was his voice.
"He had a big mouth and I told him it would get him killed. She only proved my point." The male sighs and nods towards his friend. The Mars moved towards his body and placed a Vapour on his chest, putting his head with it to ensure the whole body evaporates.
He abruptly stood back up and left without another word, but not without staring daggers towards the female's yellow eyes and found her eyeing him warily. As he walks away, his tail hangs with despair and his claw like hands hang loosely by his sides. Neema and who she assumed was the leader of this rebel group were the only ones left, well except for the few dead bodies around them. She stared at the male in front of her, his figure much taller than hers. She was not intimidated but she knew he would give a good fight if it has to come to that.
"Where's the rest of the camp and the remaining Flairs?" Neema spoke with gritted teeth. She can always kill this man but she needed her girls safe first. He will pay for the deaths he has caused later.
"I do not know. They ran off with the rest of the remaining camp members, but not without trailing a few of my men's bodies along the way." He said irritably. He sighed and made an attempt to turn around and leave when Neema spoke again.
"What makes you think you can just leave!? You killed innocent people and along with it my members who we, for your information, consider family!" She screamed in anger at him. Her eyes threatened tears and she threw the knife towards the Mars's head. She never truly gets used to death like this.
"I did not kill them! You did!" He screamed back at her just as the knife hovers a few centimetres in front of his forehead. He did not seem afraid at her attempt; he is used to death and accepted its invitation long ago. Death just hasn't arrived to carpool him towards his end yet.
Neema stared at the shadow in front of her as if he was crazy. She did not kill them! She wasn't even here. Just as she was about to speak again the male interrupted her.
"Try not to be so gullible and open your eyes! You might just see the world for what it truly is." He again turned around and left in silence, disappearing from her view. The knife flew back to her hand and she placed it on her side.
Confusion was written all over her face while she attempted to place Vapours on each of the bodies around her. Each Flair carried up to 10 Vapours with them. They were weightless and easy to carry. Although it was unheard of for Mars to be in possession of any Flair technology. They tended to stay away from anything related to them. She stared at the dead Capo in front of her and wondered what happened and why she did not call sooner. It was an easy task to contact your donna. The girl was a telepath and could easily have made contact with Neema without using any devices, the distance did not matter.
As the girl's body disappeared and Neema covered her eye, she summoned her portable teleport and vowed to herself that she will never forget the male's voice. She did not know what the Mars spoke of but she knew he would be important