Revelation (M/F) (F/M) - A sequel to Devastation

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wolfman
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Post by wolfman »

Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago A shocking Cliffhanger ..... Sal should roast in hell. I fear for our heroes. Sounds like a massacre is about to happen .....
NotSeen wrote: 3 years ago
Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago Sounds like a massacre is about to happen .....
If history is any indication, yes - and it will be Steve and his family doing the massacring. Sal - and his paymasters - will rue the day they crossed blades with the Marks family...
:D

The scent of aircraft oil and fuel fills the air, as the mighty engines of the Hercules, rumble on, carring the assembled operatives towards La Palma. Steve looks down the fuselage at the largest operative force that Nirvana has ever deployed, "Can't believe everyone signed up for this. Usually on this kind of operation, there are at least a few drop outs."

He nods quietly to himself and gets up from his seat.smiling at his wife, sister in law and daughters, shaking his head, "As a father, I wish Sasha was at home. But, I respect her decision."

Steve crouches next to her seat and rests a hand on her knee, "Are you alright?"

With a sense of inner calm, she smiles gently and nods, "I'm good."  She takes a deep breath, "Thank you for not making me stay."

Steve winks at her, "As if I could make you do anything you didn't want to. I am surprised you were waiting on the plane, I expected you at the briefing."

"Really? You knew I was going to come." Sasha says, suprised.

"You have been chomping at the bit to get in the field. I think you need this." Steve says, in a fatherly tone.

Sasha looks over at her sisters and tentatively says, "I think we all do."

Nikita leans over and offers, "This can be your baby shower. Or a belated hen party."

Sasha playfully slaps her sisters shoulder, chuckles, "Soppy cow."



Steve's gaze sweeps the anxious faces of the men and women that will be accompanying them. He looks at his daughters and softly says, "I will be right back. There is something, I need to do"

He rises to his feet and approaches the nearest operative, he extends his hand, "I appreciate you coming on this operation, Ellis. How are you holding up?"

The operative seems to relax and he takes Steve's hand, "I am good sir."

Steve makes small talk with the man and moves his way down the fuselage, speaking to every operative, remembering every line of their face and commiting them all to memory. 



Sal watches as Steve makes his way down the cabin towards his seat and rests his head on the back of his seat, "I hate the waiting. I just want this to be over."

He gazes at the faces around him and thinks to himself, "They are all so worried about what will face them when they get on the ground, they have no idea that over half of them will be killed by it."

Sal accepts a stick of gum from the man next to him with a gracious, "Cheers mate." He winces at the sound of the word escaping his lips, thinking, "I have stood shoulder to shoulder with some of these people and consider them my friends, what have I done?"

Sal closes his eyes and thinks back to the night that sealed his fate.



Two months ago

Sal pulls his coat tighter around him as a meagre defence against the biting cold and driving rain of a dark December night. He walk against the wind, cursing his luck, "Will you never learn, you fucking moron? Always keep enough in your pocket to get yourself home."

The rain falls in sheets, as he ducks into a shop doorway for a moments respite, "Fuck's sake. I have another five miles of this." He chuckles, to himself bitterly, before a movement out of the corner of his eye draws his attention.

He takes in the street, surveying the rundown, redbrick buildings at odds with the gleaming black limousine, slowly gliding along the street towards the shop doorway in which he shelters. He crouches pretending to tie his laces, while he palms a holdout pistol from his ankle holster. He straightens up and puts his hands in his pockets, stepping out from shelter and walking towards the vehicle.

"Sometimes, you have to face things head on." He thinks, stepping in front of the slow moving vehicle, "Do me a favour and put your foot down." He whispers, daring the vehicle to speed up.

The driver guides the vehicle to a gentle stop six inches from his knees. He sits calmly and implacably behind the wheel watching Sal, as the passenger side, rear door of the vehicle opens crisply.

Sal shrugs to himself and thinks "Well if they arte here to collect they are out of luck." Straightening his coat he approaches the rear door of the vehicle, with a hand on his holdout pistol.

He looks through the open door and notes that the rear seat of the vehicle is empty. He gets in and closes the door, suspiciously sizing up the man sat opposite him.

The sharply dressed man in his forties, smiles without emotion and addresses Sal in his native Italian, "Salvatore Ercole, born in Termoli, Italy, in 1989. Called it home until your eighteenth birthday, when you enlisted in the military. Recruited by the Carabinieri two years later and served with distinction for nine years, before an injury in the line of duty saw you honorably discharged. Joined Nirvana six months later. Family members....."

Sal stops listening, knowing that the man in front of him, already knows his full life story. "Well they are not just chasing a debt. Seems like I have been targetted for some reason." 



He snaps back to focus when the man in front of him, straightens his tie and announces, "Which brings us to where we are now. You are in the hole to a number of local bookies for a considerable sum of money and the pay from Nirvana will not cover it alone."

"Wait, I think I have heard this one." Sal says raising a hand "You represent a powerful and wealthy individual or group, who can give me a way out of this hole. You have done your research and I am just the right kind of desperate for your requirements and you want to do a deal. Provided I help you, of course. How am I doing?"

"Very good Mr Ercole. You seem to have a fine grasp of things and let's not forget your sister and her children and how accidents happen." The man says, nonchalantly.

"Ok Captain Cliché what do you want from me?" Sal asks, knowing that he is out of options.

"Ther name is Roberts actually. But nevermind." Roberts says, with a cruel smile, "One day we will ask you for a service, this service you will perform immediately and without question. From that point on, we will present you with other opportunities to help yourself, by helping us."'

Sal shrugs. "Ok Mr Roberts, I guess we have a deal. You keep paying and I will keep working."



Present Day

A distant voice calls his name, pulling him from his memories back to the present with a thump. Sal looks quickly left and right and realises that he is sat alone at the rear of the plane. He looks up to see Steve staring at him Inscrutably.

Sal begins to reach for his gun, but freezes as soon as Steve speaks, "You aren't that fast."

Steve exhales slowly and rubs his chin, "During the breifing, I looked into everyones eyes. I saw anger, fear, confusion and excitement. Do you know what I saw in your eyes?"

The words catch in Sal's throat and he raises his hands submissively.

"I saw sorrow and regret, mixed with a hint of greed." Steve announces in a matter of fact tone, "Since we got on the plane, you haven't made eye contact with anyone on here and despite countless aerial deployments, you look sick as a dog." He rubs his chin and squints thoughtfully, "I am going to give you one chance to tell me what you have done. I advise you to take it, as you will not like the alternative."

Sal weighs up his options, clasping his hands in front of him, "I owed money to some scary people, I accepted a bribe to get out of trouble and have been in their pocket since. I gave them the transponder frequency for Nikita's car allowing them to track and capture her, I planted the bomb around Kim's neck and I have cut the lines on most of the parachutes. I didn't have enough time to cut them all."

"Thank you for your honesty." Steve says calmly. "If you were me, what would you do with you, right now?"

"If I were you, it would be something really horrible." Sal says, with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Steve nods, thoughtfully, "I wont lie, it is an option. But, I have other things to focus on, so you will be restrained and turned over to the authorities upon landing."

"Thank you." Sal says, bowing his head and removing his weapons and webbing and placing them on the floor before him. He slowly gets to his feet and spreads his arms.

Steve quickly searches the man, before handcuffing his wrists behind his back and taking him by the arm to a storage locker and shoving him inside. He points to the two nearest operatives and orders, "Keep him in there until this crate lands."

He raises his hands and claps loudly, "Listen up. Check your chutes for any signs of damage and report back."



"Get the fuck out of my way. I'm going to fucking kill him." Sasha screams at the men on the door, guarding Sal.

"Sasha, no!" Steve shouts, running to her side.

"He put a bomb around Kim's neck, I want to kill him." Sasha says, angrily punching the metal door, leaving an almost comedic fist sizes dent,in the thick steel.

"I know you do. But you are not a murderer." Steve pleads, wrapping his arms around her.

"Bastard." Sasha spits, angrily, before lowering her tone, "Him, not you dad. Sorry."

"I know, love. I would love nothing more than to tear him limb from limb, but the screams, would unsettle the operatives and we need them calm." Steve says, gently. "I have already asked Garvey to dump him in the Atlantic on their way back."

"I guess you are right. It is one thing to be pregnant and stand up for what you believe in, but something else entirely to become a murderer." Sasha turns to the men guarding Sal, "Sorry gents, that was not directed at you."

Steve leads her away from the cell and sits with his arm around her, as she leans on his shoulder.



Nikita catches Dani's eye and raises her eyebrows, before looking down at her hand, showing the tips of her claws.

Dani returns her gazes and subtly shakes her head. She clenches her fist lightly and begins pumping it up and down, until Nikita catches on. She pauses, then they simultaneously pump three times, before Nikita holds her fist up and Dani extends two fingers.

Dani places her hand on her chest with a smile. Nikita nods, then looks confused, as Dani rests her head on the back of the seat.



"I feel bad for the kid, but at least she is ok. I am glad about that, it never sat right with me." He shakes his head, sighing to himself, "I have no regrets over what I have done, but I am glad they stopped me."

"A half decent lawyer will get me out of this." Sal thinks to himself, sitting on the floor. "They have a confession from me, without witnesses, no real evidence against me. I will walk in a week."

"What the hell?" Sal asks himself, in disbelief, watching the belt to his trousers, undo itself. His face is a mask of fascination, unable to tear his eyes away from the belt as it slithers down his body, wrapping around his ankles and threading itself through the buckle and leaving them tightly secured.

"Steve must have drugged me." He thinks to himself, bending his legs and testing the belt.

He lays on his back, trying to pull his hands past his rump to allow him to get the handcuffs in front of him. "Damn it." He hisses in frustration, "My ass is too big for that. Mind you, when you have a big nail, you need a big hammer."

Sal chuckles to himself, then his eyes widen in horror, as the loose end of the belt around his ankles, snakes up through the chain of his handcuffs and pulls viciously tight, until his heels touch the back of his hands. He grunts in pain and frustration, fighting to separate his hands and feet.

The leather of his shoulder holster creaks, under the strain of being viciously tightened. With the pressure from the straps across his back and chest, the air is forced from his lungs, in a surprised squeak

In the centre of the room, he thrashes in place. Unable to breath in. Not enough air in his lungs to utter a sound. He stares in desperation at the door, knowing help is so close, yet so far.

The dark spots at the corners of his vision, grow and multiple, plunging him into an eternal darkness, heralded by the cracking of his ribs.



Nikita raises her eyebrows, feeling Sal's life pulse blink out. 

Dani opens her eyes and meets Nikita's surprised gaze. She gives a thumbs up and closes her eyes again with a knowing smile, creeping across her lips.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
Caesar73
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Post by Caesar73 »

That turn I did not expext :) Nicely done, [mention]wolfman[/mention] !
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wolfman
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Post by wolfman »

“Sal really did a number on us.” Kate says, looking at the relatively small pile of intact parachutes.
 
“How many have we got?” Steve asks, reluctant to hear the answer.
 
“Five.” Kate says, bitterly.
 
“Collins reckons he can land this thing about two miles away from the base of the north side of Cumbre Vieja. But due to proximity, the plane will be heard on the ground and alert hostiles.” Steve sighs, “All eyes will be on the sky and if we decide to jump, we will be sitting ducks.”
 
“What about a HAHO jump from a few miles out? We open early, that way, they won’t hear chutes opening or the aircraft. The Hercules circles the island, gathering intel as we drift in. Then when we are on the ground, Collins comes screaming in.” Nikita offers, with a shrug.
 
“That solves a lot of problems.” Steve nods, thoughtfully. “The spearhead team would be exposed for a long time and we might be too late, when we land.”
 
“The alternative is no jump, hot landing and forced march. Either way, we don’t know where we are aiming for.” Kate adds, running her fingers through her hair.
 
“I think, I might have something on that score. Local air traffic control reports four aircraft going off of radar about twenty minutes ago.” Sasha reports, “Social media reports indicate that they were Osprey tilt wing aircraft.”
 
“They would work for speed and lift capability. The VTOL is just the icing on the cake, that is why we use them. So we know Thorn’s people are in the area.” Steve concludes, with a nod. “Now we need to know where.”
 
Dani finishes typing frantically and looks up from her screen, “The Island is dotted with seismic sensors, constantly monitoring for tremors.”  She explains, before leaning back in her seat, “Ten minutes ago, there were four evenly spaced spikes just above background levels, but noticeable. If the aircraft landed in aeroplane configuration, they could have landed with a bump.” She shrugs, “It's a bit thin, I know, but the spikes have been detected by four stations in close proximity to one another.”
 
Sasha gets up from her seat and sits next to Dani looking at her screen, “Can you overlay a map of the local area over the sensor sites?” Dani nods and quickly plots the sites onto a map, before passing the lap top to her sister.
 
Sasha zooms in on the map, nodding to herself. “There is a cluster of vents within the perimeter of the sensors and a dry river bed, where the Ospreys could land.”
 
“Can you get the co-ordinates to Collins and ask him to give landing options?” Steve asks, rubbing his chin.
 
Sasha taps on the laptop and smiles, “Done.”
 
"That will take a few minutes." Kate suggests, “Dani, can I have a quick word?”
  
 

“I cross referenced sightings and reports of you, with a log of Lund’s investors Steve had, mostly the lists matched. But then an investor on the list was taken down in Melbourne, on the same day as one in Kowloon had a mysterious accident.”
 
“I was in Kowloon.” Dani confesses, sheepishly.
 
“There were a few other instances where two or more were dealt with within a very short period at opposite corners of the world. Did you have help?” Kate asks, raising an eyebrow.
 
Dani meets her aunts gaze and the moment stretches out, until she closes her eyes and simply nods.
 
“Who?” Kate asks, inscrutably.
 
"Just some friends, I made along the way." Dani admits, reluctantly, "They are solid."

"Where are they now?" Kate asks

“Now we are all done with Lund and Medteqniq, they are having a break.” Dani says, with a subtle smile.

"When are you planning to take a break?" Kate asks, gently, "You deserve it."

"I can't rest until everyone is safe." Dani says, with tears pricking her eyes, "I didn't sleep last night. For the first night in eigtheen months, I could have slept, but just didn't. I kept watch, listening to the sound of everyone sleeping."

"When we get back. If you like, we can keep watch, so you can rest." Kate says, supportively.

"I-I think I would like that." Dani says, with a tearful smile.

"Then it is settled." Kate says, placing a hand on Dani's upper arm, "You spent eighteen months, making the world safer for us. We can be there for you."

"Thank you Kate." Dani says, drying her eyes.

Kate notices the clock on the wall of the room and speaks solemnly, "We are about half an hour out. We had better get moving. I will grab Lou." 



"Bugger it." Steve says, kicking a waste paper bin.

"What's going on?" Dani asks, seeing her father's frustration and the expression on everyones faces, as she returns.

"Collins confirms that the nearest landing strip to the drop zone is about ten miles away." Sasha says, somberly.

"So, if we drop, support will be a long way away and if we land and march, we  may be too late." Nikita adds, looking defeated.

Dani nods to herself, before speaking, "Plan C then." She speaks with a firm, calm in her voice, whilst working out the details in her mind.

Steve looks up at her and smiles, "Was beginning to wonder if you had something." He takes a seat on one of the bench seats against the wall of the room.

"Do I have to get captured again?" Nikita asks, with a chuckle as she takes a seat next to her father.

"Nah, that's Plan D." Dani says with a smile before, pausing to gain her composure, "LALO drop about a mile out. Then the plane swoops in low and fast over the site, the noise of the engines will block the sound of the parachutes opening."

Steve mulls it over thoughtfully, "Risky, but possible. Good for limited insertion."

"At the jump altitude, if main chute fails, there would be no way to pull reserve in time. We could split the working mains and reserves we have, rig the reserves as main chutes and if we do tandem jumps, we could put twenty people on the ground." Dani explains, choosing her words carefully.

"The guys could get the chutes rigged up by the time we get there, so no loitering time, or delay from that." Nikita says, starting to see how this will work.

"That's a decent amount of boots on the ground. Two main teams, one secures aircraft, one secures and clears vent. This could work." Sasha chips in.

"This will work. One team on aircraft, one team on vent." Dani says, looking at Sasha, with a smile. "You, Niki and I, will be a skirmish team. We jump, as the plane clears the site and raise hell, pinning them between us and the main force." 

"If we parachute from there, we may not be on the ground, until after the main force has landed." Nikita says skeptically.

Dani walks over to the personal gear she brought from her lock up, removing two bundles. She tosses one to each sister. "Get these on, we aren't parachuting."

Sasha looks inside her bundle and after a moment, realises what she is seeing. "Erm, if anyone wants to say I shouldn't do this because I am pregnant, now is the time."

Dani chuckles to herself, as she reaches into another bag, from her personal cache, and pulls out three bullpup configuration, automatic shotguns, closely followed by three large drum magazines. She loads the weapons and readies them for use. "This will only work, if we trust each other and no one holds back. This is the night we were all born for."

"If you tell me this will work, then I believe you." Nikita says, before looking again in the bundle she has been tossed and shaking her head, "Fuck's sake."



Kate knocks on the door to the side room, slipping inside once the lone occupant says, "Come in."

Louise smiles, as her sister enters. Kate smiles brightly and asks, "How is it going?"

"I have just recorded a statement explaining our actions and outlining all evidence behind what Thorn has done. Legal are reviewing before I send it." Louise explains, leaning back and stretching in the chair.

"So are we all set?" Kate asks, raising a cigarette to her lips.

"Do you mind? It isn't good for the baby?" Louise asks, apprehensively.

Kate smiles, keeping the cigarette in her mouth and lowering her lighter, "Don't worry Lou, Sasha isn't here."

Louise cannot meet her sisters gaze as she speaks, slowly, "No, it's just you and me."

Kate lets the cigarette drop from her mouth, forgotten and she raises her hands to her mouth, "Are you serious?"

Louise nods, with tears in her eyes, "The IVF worked."

Kate rushes to her side and hugs her, "How far along are you?"

"The last treatment was five weeks ago." Louise admits tearfully.

"Oh my God. Lou that's amazing. Steve must be over the moon." Kate say in shocked, elation.

Louise cannot hold back the tears any longer and weeps, "I only took the test this afternoon. He doesn't know yet. You are the only person I have told ."

"You have to tell Steve." Kate pleads, gently.

"No. Not now, he needs to be focused right now, I will tell him when this is done." Louise says firmly. "You are the only person I have told. Promise me you wont say a word."

"You can't do this, Lou." Kate pleads, "If anything happens to you, it will crush him."

"I need to do this. I have to be there for him." Louise says, with a gentle strength. 



Sasha, Dani and Nikita stand shoulder to shoulder behind the primary jump group, each lost in their own headspace, preparing for action.

Nikita smiles to herself, quite liking the feel of the deep red motorcycle leathers, she now wears over the NAKI sheath. "Fair enough Angel. I am not tied up for this one, but you have me in leathers. I swear you are kinky."

"I resemble that accusation." Dani says with a cheeky grin, while she helps Sasha put her combat webbing on, over her black, white and grey patterned motorcycle leathers. "How does that feel?"

"Surprisingly good to be fair." Sasha says, thinking, "This is mental. They certainly wont be expecting this."

"Not too late to change your mind and go in with the parachute teams." Nikita says, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Sasha waivers for a moment, before saying, "I'm in babe. Last chance at a decent workout for a few months." Sasha pauses whilst loading a large handgun, "Deadly sisters, ride again." 

"I didn't think you liked the idea of using a gun." Dani observes, curiously.

"I have made peace with it, sometimes you have to get the lead out. However, in this case, I have a load out of sub sonic capacitor rounds." Sasha explains, "Lower velocity and range, hits like a baseball bat and delivers a high voltage electric charge on impact."

"That is a really clever idea." Dani says, impressed.

"Dad's idea." Sasha says, holstering and securing the weapon, then checking the submachine gun is a snatch rig across her chest. 

Nikita pulls on a pair of boots, with the toe caps removed, "Was his idea for these boots too, so I can use my foot claws. First time I have tried them." She pauses while securing the laces and then looks up at Dani, "I have learned more about my abilities with you today, than I have in all the time you were gone. I need to let go more and just go for it."

"I need to do that too." Sasha adds, reluctantly, "I haven't been in the field much since you left."

"You are a natural. Follow your instincts." Nikita says, with a wink.

"What are the shotguns for?" Sasha asks accepting a large weapon from Dani.

"We are going to raise a little hell on the way down." Dani says with a wink and a wicked grin, then she beckons everyone over and she and Steve lay out the plan, one last time before the drop.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
Caesar73
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Post by Caesar73 »

A totally different Genre of course, but the three sisters remind me of Charlie´s Angels :)
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wolfman
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Post by wolfman »

Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago A totally different Genre of course, but the three sisters remind me of Charlie´s Angels :)
I see where you are coming from with that. Maybe with Steve as Charlie
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by wolfman »

"Chilly night." The chief Thorn operative observes, surveying his landing zone. He picks up an encoded satellite phone and dials his employer "Good evening sir, Edgar here. We are onsite and in effect."

"Excellent work Edgar. Give me a walk through." Thorn says, with a sense of almost sensual anticipation.

"The aircraft are in a tight formation, surrounded by several men recruited from special operations teams the world over. We have roving patrols monitoring the perimeter. Team Beta has secured the vent and team Alpha is transporting the package to target."

"Any signs of interlopers?" Thorn asks, softly.

"Not at this time. We are alert for any possible interference." Edgar says, thinking of how capable his men are.

"Very good. Stay sharp, Our ploy with the child, didn't pay off. They may be en route." Thorn warns, thoughtfully.

"There is nothing that they can throw at us that we are not ready for, sir." Edgar says, signing off, troubled by a rumbling noise on the wind. 

"That's as maybe, but I will be a lot happier when this is done. Are we on schedule?" Thorn asks, with an edge to his voice.

"Yes sir.We are accessing the lower vents, as we speak and plan to be back in the air, within the hour." Edgar says, assuredly.

"Very good. Contact me when you are in the air." Thorn says, thoughtfully.



A thousand feet above the ground, the Hercules hurtles towards the south face of Cumbre Vieja, buffeted by a strong cross wind. Collins sits in the cockpit, fully in control of this beastial aircraft.

"All indicators are green, we are on approach, standby." Collins says, calmly over the intercom.

Collins eases the aircraft east in a gentle arc around the mountain, "This is good, the volcano and wind should block the noise of our approach until we are almost on top of them." He thinks aloud.

"What do you think about the plan?" Garvey asks, resting his chin on his fist, as he leans back in his seat.

"I wish we could stick around to see the fun." Collins, sighs deeply, "Just like the good old days. Wing and a prayer and the faint smell of crazy in the wind." 

"Another slice of Marks' Mayhem." Garvey chuckles, warmly, "Could you imagine if we'd had Lou, Kate and the girls, back in the old days?"

Collins laughs, "Now if they had been about in Colombia, that would have been done in minutes, not days."

"True." Garvey says, thoughtfully.

Collins banks the Hercules, west as it clears the eastern ridge and cracks his neck, "Here we go."

"Visual confirmed. I confirm four, repeat four Ospreys, on the ground in tight formation." Collins says, calmly, whilst he throttles back to a speed, that is safer for the parachutists preparing to leave the craft.

"We are getting several blooms on thermal, suspect thermally active smoke being used to conceal hostile numbers." Garvey announces concerned.

"Aircraft on final approach, commence first drop on my mark. Second drop on my signal" Collins says, gaining a little altitude. "Mark."



Edgar looks up surprises at the sudden booming roar of the large aircraft, the emerges almost on top of them, he snatches up his radio calling out, "Incoming, hostiles inbound."

Operative the length and bredth of the valley, turn their gaze skyward, needing no warning of trouble coming. Just under the rumble of the Hercules' engines, the rapid clicks of weapons being readied, ring out.



In the early morning skies above Cumbre Vieja, the rear cargo hatch of the Hercules gapes open. Operatives begin filing out of the back of the aircraft, single file, with each operative strapped to another. Their matt black equipment and clothing, reflects no light and they descend like ghosts, with deadly intent, towards their targets.

Steve and Louise drift left with their team aiming for the blind side of a ridge on the south face of the old volcano. He checks his altimeter and signals his team, by pulling the cord on his parachute. Louise hangs ready, her back pressed to Steve's chest. As they hang from the parachute, gently drifting in the wake of the aircraft, she readies her carbine, watching for incoming fire.

His team follow suit, deploying their parachutes simultaneously. Three sets of tandem jumpers, hang from their parachutes, following Steve and Louise, while the poorly rigged reserve chute used as the four tandems main, detaches from the operatives' harness, sending them plummeting towards the ground. In that moment of abject terror, the two operatives do not scream or speak, they simply keep falling in silence, until they fall no more.

Kate's team aim for a ridge to the east of the side and pulled their cords a moment, after Steve's team. They drift slowly, giving Kate a perfect vantage point to watch the aircraft overfly the target zone.



Edgar frowns, watching the rapid descent of the aircraft, wondering, "Are they coming in to land?"

The pop and rattle of small arms fire echoes in the valley, as tracers arc towards the aircraft. Operatives, scamble for cover, readying themselves for an attack.



"Dandelions away." Garvey confirmed looking at the camera feed from the rear hatch, "Commence purge on my signal."

Collins readies his hand over the fuel release switch and waits calmly, for his compatriot. "Purge." Garvey says, starting a stop watch.

Collins slams his hand down on the switch, beginning to dump the contents of the starboard fuel tank until Garvey, shouts, "Cease." After precisely four seconds.

"Releasing missile counter measures." Garvey says, flicking a switch on the console, with a flick of his wrist.

Kate watches in awe as the Hercules, unleashes a thunderous barrage of flares, designed to confuse thermally guided missiles. She cannot tear her eyes away from their gently arcs, as they descend towards the fuel covered valley. 

The ultra high octane fuel detonates wildly, sending a dense wall of flame back down the valley and igniting several large fires, in it's wake.



Collins nods, when the final counter measure is released and annouces, "Angel drop. Mark"

Dani, Sasha and Nikita stand at the edge of the cargo bay and watch the mayhem unfold below. They are dressed in leather motorcycle gear, combat webbing and loosely hold their automatic shotguns at the ready. Each is calm and focused when the singal is given. 

Dani stops her heart and in unison they step off of the back of the aircraft and into thin air.

Dani is filled with calm as they plummet thinking, "Eighteen months, moving my body by will alone. Not all of it was on the ground." Her eyes turn pure black and she seizes the leather of her sisters outfits and her own body and brings the three of them into a fast swoop over the valley. 

Sasha and Nikita look at her with giddy grins, as they settle into a "V" formation with Dani at its' head, flanked on her left and right by Nikita and Sasha, respectively.

"Controlled burst, Ospreys. Then call out your targets and engage at will." Dani raises her weapon, effectively, flying in a prone position. "On my mark, fire." Dani lines up on the nearest Osprey, breathes out slowly, "Mark."



Shotguns are so named, because they fire shells packed with metal balls, or, shot designed to pepper a target with each pull of the trigger at a limited range. However, the shells in these weapons, each carries a single 12 gauge fragmentation grenade with a range of up to a hundred and fifty metres. 

Each sister squeezes the trigger of their weapon for a meresecond, but at four hundred rounds per minute, this is more than enough to create a veritable barrage. On the ground, the hapless crews of the Ospreys, have no time to react, when around twenty fragmentation rounds, detonate aound their aircraft, in a shower of white hot metal.

Kate watches from the top of the ridge through the scope of her sniper rifle, shaking her head as the four aircraft detonate one after the other in less than two seconds. "They really are something." She says, with a soft whistle, before tagging a mercenary with a shot to the heart, interupting his aim at her nieces.



The sisters reach the end of the valley and bank left sharply, swooping back down the valley. "Two man team, one o' clock." Dani announces, before dispatching a trio of explosive death, towards her targets.

Dani sharply banks and dives under a burst of gunfire from the south ridge. "Support weapon team, ridge." Nikita calls squeezing of a burst of grenades.

Steve's team watches in stunned silence, from thier vantage point, watching the sisters strafe the hapless mercenaries in the valley. "Alright, you soppy sods." He shouts, "Stop acting like you have never seen, flying women raining down explosives before. Suck it up, we have a job to do."

He slowly gets to his feet and keeps low with his rifle at the ready, as Louise and the men around him ready themselves. A moment later, they move by twos and skirt the blind side of the ridge, with Steve and Louise at their head. 

Steve crouches holding up his left fist, thinking "This is it." When he hears the movement behind him stop, he points his index finger at the ridge and waves it twice. Then in synchronised silence, the men and women set up anchor points and secure ropes, ready to rappel down to the mouth of the steam vent.



"I'm out." Sasha warns as her weapon runs dry, a call echoed a moment later by Nikita.

Dani gives the thumbs up and they circle the valley one last time, taking in the massive blazes, wrecked aircraft and numerous, bodies strewn across the valley floor, less than three minutes after they left the Hercules.

Nikita shakes her head feeling humbled by the destruction that they have wrought, "We really are deadly sisters."

Sasha stares, mouth agape at the scene before her, thinking, "Well, if this is my last op, we are going out in style."

Dani calls out over comms, "Touchdown, ten seconds.", slowing the three of them, and guiding them towards the ground.

Nikita finds herself relaxing, as Dani gently brings the trio up to a gentle halt and landing behind a large rock, thinking, "So far so good."

After they touchdown, Sasha places a hand on the rock to steady herself and lays her spent weapon at her feet, she turns to Dani with a giddy grin. "We need to do this more often."

Dani giggles back, "Everyone kept saying angels could fly, but no one asked me, if I could."

"You are still full of surprises." Sasha says with a smile.

"Well this is the day of no holding back." Dani says, with a wink. She lays down her automatic shotgun and pulls a Kel-tec KSG, bullpup, pump action shotgun, with a selectable mixture of twelve guage flashbangs and buckshot.

Nikita looks up at the moon and nods to herself, with a thoughtful look in her eyes she removes her combat webbing and begins to peel off the motorcycle leathers. She removes the additional armour plates from her webbing before putting it back on. "That's better." She says, stretching and twisting, "Feel like I can move again now."

"That is not a bad shout to be fair." Sasha whispers and follows her sisters lead, but opting to leave the sub machine gun and webbing, keeping only two solid titanium batons and the handgun and knife strapped to her waist. "Shall we do, what we came here to do?"

Dani looks up and sees her fathers team rappelling down towards the mouth of the steam vent. She smiles darkly and with pure black eyes and winks at her sisters, "Ladies. Let us prey."



Edgar lays slumped over a rock, his clothing in flames, body broken, watching the three flying women head purposefully towards the mouth of the vent. With the last of his failing strength, he draws a pistol and takes aim thinking, "This far and no further, bitches." He doesn't hear the shot that kills him.

"No you bloody don't, pal." Kate says, exhaling slowly. She turns her scope towards the entrace to the tunnel , watching Steve, Lou and their team secure the entrance, as her nieces, head into the bowels of the earth. "Good luck girls, I wish we were coming with you." She thinks, tearfully saluting them.



The room is in near darkness, the only light from a few small LED’s that cast an eerie glow over the scene. Pale faces glow in suspension above invisible bodies clad in black fatigues. Huddled figures crouch in the basement of Dani’s home, hidden from the prying eyes of Nirvana’s security.

A lone figure stands before them, dressed in black military style trousers, boots and t-shirt and surveys the room, “After our escape from the ship, this meagre few souls is all that evaded authorities.” Roberts thinks bitterly, “Thorn will pay for his betrayal.”
 
He straightens up and addresses his people. “He we are. The betrayed. The unwanted. The lost.” He speaks slowly, emphasising each word, “However, today we will become a thorn in our former employers side. I will walk in to the Smith’s home and secure Mr Smith and his daughter. Then we will dig in here and use this as our base of operations. The Smith’s will be our leverage, forcing Nirvana to protect us and conduct a harassment and interdiction campaign against Shrike Industries.”
 
“Sir?” One of the men asks, “How will you just walk in there?”
 
Roberts smiles darkly and the men gasp, as he shrinks in height and becomes, altogether much more feminine before their eyes.
 
 
 
Kurt wakes wearily, roused by a soft knock at the door. He rubs his eyes and sits up, pulling his phone and logging on to the door camera. He frowns seeing his sister-in-law standing there and makes his way slowly towards the front door.
 
He unlocks and opens the door with an expression of confusion, “Niki? I thought you were heading to La Palma, with everyone else.”
 
“That was the plan but, it was decided that it was too risky to leave you without protection, so I was chosen to remain.” Roberts says, absent-mindedly rubbing the small scar on the cheek of the face he wears.
 
“You had better come in.” Kurt says, cautiously, with something nagging at the back of his mind.
 
Kurt turns back towards the living room and takes one step before he realises, “Why didn't Sasha let me know?” The dull thud of a handgun striking the base of his skull, robs him of further thought, or action on the matter.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

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Post by Caesar73 »

Roberts will hopefully get what he deserves! The Chapter itself was great, all the action :)
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Newrider
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Post by Newrider »

Have throughly enjoyed all of these stories. The imagery and story lines have been fantastic. I’m surprised you have not made these stories into novels sold on amazon. Your imagination is amazing. Can’t wait to see what happens next!
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Post by wolfman »

Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago Roberts will hopefully get what he deserves! The Chapter itself was great, all the action :)
Thank you [mention]Caesar73[/mention] . I am always looking to up the ante in this tale so rest assure there are still nore twists and mayhem to come.
Newrider wrote: 3 years ago Have throughly enjoyed all of these stories. The imagery and story lines have been fantastic. I’m surprised you have not made these stories into novels sold on amazon. Your imagination is amazing. Can’t wait to see what happens next!
Thank you [mention]Newrider[/mention] I am glad you have enjoyed my stories. Thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate it.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by wolfman »

Kim watches in horror from the other side of the living room. A moment ago she was bleary eyed and heading to the kitchen for a glass of water, but now she is rooted to the spot with her hands pressed to her mouth.
 
She watches Nikita standing over her unmoving father and then check his pulse. Kim screams when Nikita looks up at her, gazing directly into her eyes.
 
“Hello little one. I need you to come here and help me for a moment.” Nikita asks, barely above a whisper.
 
Kim runs away, bolting for the stairs, screaming at the top of her lungs, “Help.”
 
Roberts smiles to himself, “I do like it when they run.” He breaks into a clumsy run, unaccustomed to Nikita’s physique.
 
 
 
“Don’t worry sweetheart. I am not going to hurt you.” Roberts taunts, as he stalks up the stairs.
 
He stands perfectly still and listens for a moment, trying to seek out a sign. He frowns, when he hears movement from downstairs. “If this sprogs old man is back on his feet, I might have to end him this time.”
 
He considers his options, deciding, “The kid is going no-where. I need to secure the ground floor.”
 
Slowly Roberts pads down the stairs, eyes on a swivel. He squints suspiciously, reaching the foot of the stairs, “The dad is still where I left him. There must be someone else here.”
 
 
 
Kim feels the floor and base of her father and step-mothers bed, press in on her.  Her hand is pressed hard against her mouth and she tries not to cry. “Daddy.” She thinks, at the memory of her father lying motionless downstairs.
 
“It is just not fair. Why me? Why us? We haven’t done anything to anyone.” She thinks, mournfully.
 
She shifts her body, very slightly, trying to get comfortable, when her leg brushes something cold and hard.
 
 
 
Roberts moves cautiously, his silenced handgun before him, in a solid two handed grip, scanning everything in the room, looking for one thing out of place. He smiles to himself hearing soft weeping from upstairs, “She will keep herself out of the way for a while at least.”
 
He enters the kitchen and is startled to see a man looking in the fridge. “Hands up, turn around.” He barks, his voice cracking unable to attain the volume of his normal voice.
 
The man raises his hands and turns slowly, giving a lop sided grin, “Are you sure about that now?” He asks in a deep Irish accent, with a playful tone. 
 
Roberts sizes the man up, “Mid to late twenties. At least six feet tall, physique like a boxer, tailored suit and waist coat with rose coloured glasses. Doesn’t look armed. No bulges in the suit. Everything about him screams, preening wannabe.”
 
“Now, who are you then?” The man says, cocking an eyebrow.
 
“Nikita Green. Who are you?” Roberts says, pointing the gun at the man’s chest.
 
“It’s funny.” The man says, shaking his head, “Most people in your position, would just have said, I will ask the questions, who are you? Instead you tell me who you are. Why is that?”
 
“I live here. What are you doing in my house?” Roberts says, in a low voice.
 
“No, still not buying it. This is Sasha’s house not yours.” The man gives a thin smile, before continuing, “In the same way that, you are standing there in Nikita’s body and not your own.”
 
Roberts quietly panics inside, but retains his composure, “Doesn’t matter. I have the gun.”
 
“A gun only matters, if you use it.” The man says, taking a sudden step forward, closing the distance between them to a little over four metres.
 
Roberts let off an involuntary shot, sailing over the man’s shoulder. “Don’t move.”
 
The man chuckles to himself, “Well now we know two things. The gun is loaded and you have no idea how to use it.”
 
“I am done with you.” Roberts unleashes three shots at chest level, hitting nothing but air, as the Stranger effortlessly, sidesteps his aim.
 
"Funny that you chose to wear a woman's body on the day, you die like a bitch." The Irish man says, giving Roberts a predatory grin and circles around to his right, as Roberts circles left. 
 
 
 
A tortured cry of “You killed my dad.” Snaps both men’s attention towards the entrance to the room.
 
Kim stands shaking, her face puffy with tears. The ugly black weapon she holds, looks comically large in her small hands.
 
“Steady on Kim, you know me. I am your auntie Niki. I wouldn’t hurt you or your dad. This man did.” Roberts says, holding up a gentle, warding hand.
 
“I saw you do it. How could you?” Kim asks, heartbroken.
 
“This is not your aunt. She is an imposter.” The Stranger says.
 
“Who are you?” Kim says turning the barrel of the gun towards him.
 
Roberts seizes upon the movement and sweeps his pistol towards Kim. She panics, snatching the trigger of the weapon making the chunky black sub-machine gun vomit forth a lance of fire and lead, bucking wildly in her hands.
 
The Stranger leaps under the line of bullets and tackles Roberts to the ground. In one movement he places his right hand over Roberts’ right forcing the barrel to his chest and pulling the trigger twice.

Kim drops the sub-machine gun and kicks it away, then she drops to the ground and curls up into the foetal position in horror. She stares at the line of bullets she has made in the wall and at the two men laying on the floor thinking, "What have I done?"
 
 
 
The Stranger slowly gets to his feet then crosses the kitchen to crouch at Kim's side. He places a gentle hand on her shoulder, then smiles kindly down at her, “There, there now Kim. There is no need to be afraid. It is all over now.”

She recoils at his touch and scoot backwards into a cupboard door, her eyes fearful and wide staring at the body on the floor.
 
“I killed Niki.” Kim whimpers.
 
The Stranger smiles benevolently at Kim and gently says, “No you didn’t. Don’t worry.” He straightens up and walks over to the body turning its face towards Kim. “See. It is just some guy and he isn’t dead, I knocked him out when I fell on him.”
 
Drying her eyes and daring to hope she mumbles “Really?”
 
“Yeah, he will have a sore head when he wakes up.” The Stranger says, with a shrug, “I will sort him out in a bit, but first, let’s get you and your papa settled.”
 
Kim looks up anxiously at the man, "W-what do you mean?”

“Make sure he is ok and get you both to bed.” The Stranger says, softly.
 
“Oh, ok.” Kim says, warily, “Erm, what is your name?”
 
He smiles warmly and winks at her, “I’m Billy. Nice to meet you.”
 
 
 
The figures huddled in the darkness of Dani’s basement all look up in unison at the sound of automatic weapons fire. “This wasn’t part of the plan.” One of them says, drawing his sidearm and pulling back the slide to prime it.
 
The men charge up the stairs and the lead man recoils back, from the unyielding steel reinforced door.
 
In the hallway, on the other side of the door, a Spanish man in his early twenties, wearing a black suit and shirt, adjusts two heavy duty masonry support, stretched between the door and the wall opposite.
 
He smiles to himself and crouches, before he picks up the end of a hose, and carefully feeds it under the door.
 
With a flick of his wrist he opens the valve on the gas bottle, before leaning back against the wall and nonchalantly taking out his phone.
 
He sends a simple text, “You were right, they tried for the little girl. We will take care of it.”
 
Behind the door, the sound of a crescendo of laughter starts to build.
 
 
 
Kim watches Billy lift her father on to the bed and pull his boots off, before laying a blanket over him. His quick, precise movements are almost too fast for her to follow, as he cleans and treats a cut on her father’s head.
 
“Your da' will have a headache for a couple of days but should be ok.” Billy says, gently, “Get him to take paracetamol and use a cold compress for the pain if it gets too bad.”
 
“Thank you.” She says, with a yawn.
 
“You are most welcome.” Billy says, with a gracious nod, keeping his voice soft and low, “Why don’t you try to get some sleep? I will clear up the mess down stairs and notify security about our sleeping friend in the kitchen.”

She nods at him, wide eyed and wary.

Billy strokes her hair gently and speaking, softly and gently, “But first, I will tell you a story. Have you heard the story of stone soup?” With each word he says, her eyes close a little more, until she is softly snoring.

 

Billy works quickly, retrieving a bag from its hiding place under a nearby bush and returning to the kitchen. He unfolds a body bag and seals Roberts body within it.

He removes the magazine from Roberts’ handgun and clears the chamber, before stowing the weapon in the family armoury. Then he retrieves the sub-machine gun from the floor, unloads it, clearing the chamber. He places the weapon alongside Roberts’ handgun.
 
Working methodically, Billy collects all the bullet casings and digs the stray rounds out of the walls of the kitchen. With deft precision he mixes putty and fills the holes, before painting and blending to hide that they were ever there.
 
Moving like a wraith in the night, he sweeps through the house, removing finger prints and any trace of his or Roberts passing. Methodically cleaning and sanitising the blood from the kitchen floor last, with a handmade solution designed to remove traces of blood.
 
Before he leaves, Billy peers into the master bedroom, to watch father and daughter sleeping peacefully. He silently enters the room and adjusts the covers over Kim’s sleeping body.

He smiles down at her and takes out his phone, sending a simple message, "Kim is safe, chief." Hethen leaves the house as quietly, as he entered.
 
 
 
The Spaniard adjusts his gas mask at the foot of the stairs to the basement and surveys his work. “I do so love working with Nitrous Oxide. There is a certain poetry to defeating men of action with the power of laughter.”

He reaches, plucking three coils of rope from his bag, before crouching down and binding the hands of the nearest man together palm to palm, cinching the ropes tightly between his wrists. He wraps a rope around the cinch point between the mans wrists and throws the end over a beam in the basements ceiling. With strength at odds with his slim frame, he pulls the man into the air, suspending him from the ceiling.

With deft precision he coils a rope around the man's left ankle and bends his leg at the knee, he passes the rope over the mans right shoulder and across his throat, before bringing the line down the mans back and bending the mans right leg and tying off the line.

The man is roused back to consciousness by a brace of hard slaps to his face. The Spaniard seizes his captive ferociously about the jaw and speaks softly, "You are part of a conspiracy that has hurt a child. When you are taken into custody, you will tell them everything you know, or I will find you and ensure your penance is eternal." 

He releases the man, pushing him back slightly to set him swinging, before generously applying pepper spray to the man's face.

Less than ten minutes later, all fifteen men and women in the basement are bound the same way, swinging from the ceiling in unison, blubbering in their own world of pain.

He hefts the bag of seized weapons over his shoulder, and climbs the stairs slowly, turning on a sonic emitter and tossing it over his shoulder casually. Without further thought he slams the door closed and resecuring the masonry supports, leaving the bag of weapons by the door.



Billy methodically sets up a device on the front Lawn of Dani's property, before leaning back against a wall, he nods, as the Spaniard emerges from the property. "How did it go, fella?"

"As planned." The Spaniard says, removing the gas mask.

"I have to hand it to you, I'm impressed. Do you fancy a bacon, sausage and egg baguette with a cuppa, once we're clear? My shout." Billy says, in grudging admiration.

"'Not the worst idea. How did you get on?" The Spaniard asks, spotting the body bag.

"All good fella. The da' with have a sore head in the morning, but they are both safe." Billy says with a wink.

"Excellent. Are we all set here?" He asks, with a grin, as he secures his white clerical collar.

"Aye, flares will go up in about ten minutes to alert Nirvana security." Billy explains, packing his gear up, "Are you about ready to get out of here, Ming?"

Domingo shakes his head and chuckles, "Why Ming? Why not Dom, like everyone else? Eh?"

Billy cracks a lop sided grin, "Now father, what fun would that be?"

Anybody watching, would see them walk to the tree line, hear the wind in the trees and feel the cold of the morning. They would see and feel all those things, but they would not see where the two men went.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


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Post by slackywacky »

Darn, I have to catch up a lot. That's what happens if you can't check in regularly. Good to see this story still going.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment.
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wolfman
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Post by wolfman »

Sasha looks up at the ceiling of the extinct steam vent and whistles softly, "This has got to be at least thirty feet high and just as wide."

She and her sisters pause examining the vent angling down sharply before them. Rock outcropping on the walls, floor and ceiling remind them all that reading about an environment, is no substitute for being within it. The artificial lighting, making the hyaloclastite rocks, glitter subtly, as they prepare to descend.

"Sasha, do you want to set the pace?" Nikita asks, smiling, as she unsheaths her claws and fangs.

"How about you lead Niki? Call out any hostiles before we see them. I hit the area with a couple of flashbangs, then you and Sasha clean up?" Dani suggests, lifting herself a foot off of the ground, thinking to herself. "No holding back."

"Sounds good." Sasha says, with quiet strength, as she draws her metal batons, "After you Niki."

Nikita takes off at a sprint, claws digging deep into the rock underfoot, approaching the left wall. She drops down on all fours and runs with catlike grace along the wall, climbing and descending to avoid obstacles.

Sasha leaps forward, flawlessly planting her foot on an outcropping on the right hand side of the tunnel. Her limbs a blur as she leaps from ground to outcropping, keeping pace with Nikita.

Dani glides behind them, sticking to the centre of the tunnel, her shotgun held lightly in her hands as the three of them advance. 

Wordlessly they proceed, each taking a distinct weaving path, but none getting in the way of another.



They approach a bend in the vent cautiously, "Three. Ten metres past bend, two metres down." Nikita whispers.

Dani zips forward and places her back to the corner, then judging her timing, she aims around the corner and fires off a flashbang then switches to buckshot.

As the multiple blasts detonate loudly in the tunnels confines, Sasha passes the corner, along the rock on the outside of the bend. In that moment, Nikita runs along the wall above Dani's head and around the inside of the bend.

The three men laying in wait, stagger, disoriented and fire wildly at the shapes rounding the corner. Nikita drops to the ground, below the trajectory of the rounds aimed her way and charges the men. Sasha sidesteps effortlessly and swings her right baton, deflecting one round into the floor and another back at its source, dropping the shooter with a bloody gurgle.

Nikita leaps at the nearest man plunging her left claw through his stomach and snapping his spine. The last man and takes aim at point blank range. Dani rounds the corner and closes the distance between her them in an instant, ending his life with a single pull of the trigger.

The sisters gather in the aftermath of the failed ambush and nod to each other, in mutual respect. Dani looks at Nikita and says, "Well, they know we are here. Would you like to announce us properly?"

Nikita beams a glittering fang filled smile and throws her head back, issuing forth a blood curdling roar, that is niether lion, nor human, but somehow greater than both.

Every man within the vent who hears the roar, looks at those around him questioning their life choices and grips their weapon a little tighter.



"Why have I never done this?" Nikita thinks, charging at full stretch along the wall towards the next bend, "I feel so alive."

Sasha beams as she skips on the tips of rocks and stalagmites, like a stone skimming a mill pond. She glances at Nikita and Dani and feels herself filled with warmth,  "This feels so right. I have missed us being together, so much."

"Four. Five out three down." Nikita calls out, gritting her teeth and surging forward. 

Dani streaks towards the bend and ducks round, firing three flash bangs down, where the floor of the vent has given way to a lower level.

As the last explosion goes off, Sasha rounds the corner, kicking off of the wall to somersault down to the lower level. The dazed men fire wildly above her head, unable to draw a bead on the impossibly fast-moving woman.

Nikita swings her body around the corner and down the hole, planting her toe claws into the chest of one of the men. Sasha swings the metal batons across her body from right to left, delivering a brutal one-two to the temple of the man on her left, before switching to punish the man on her right in the same way.

Dani flies over her sisters heads, like a missile, before slamming her feet into the chest of the man at the rear of the group with enough force to crush his ribs. She recoils backwards into the last man, forcing him to stumble towards Nikita, who greets him with the razor sharp talons of her right hand through his throat. 

Nikita stands among the dead and dying, her sisters at her shoulder, roaring once more. Every man in the vent who can hear her roar, has the same thought, "Whatever that is, it's getting closer."



"Hold on." Dani says, softly, pausing until her sisters turn to face her, "We are doing well, but we need to keep our guard up." She warns, "Stay cool."

Nikita flicks the blood from her claws and nods, solemnly, "The celebration can wait until we are done."

"Ice cold, babe," Sasha says, cracking her neck.

Dani gives a crooked smile and gives an exaggerated bow, waving her hand towards the depths of the vent.



Four roars later, Nikita pauses, wiping her claws clean. Dani looks at her expectantly, but Nikita shakes her head, "Trouble." She says, staring at something no one else can see.

"What is it?" Sasha asks, softly.

"Up ahead. Two groups, four men each, twenty metres apart, roughly thirty metres past the bend." Nikita explains, watching their life pulses.

"That suggests a larger chamber, more space to move, possible cover." Dani says, thoughtfully, "Too far to snap shoot round the corner, options are limited."

"Come on, you sod out with it. I know you have something up your sleeve." Nikita grins, nudging Dani.



Cutter peaks over the rocky outcropping, that he and his team are hunkered behind. He nudges the man next to him who also risks a quick peak, "What are they doing back here? They have abandoned their posts." He remarks, quietly.

"Maybe they came here to escape whatever was making that howling." His compatriot offers.

Cutter nods, peaking over again at the twenty men approaching their position, "They look in a bad way." He thinks, before calling out, "You guys ok?"

One of the slow moving men nods, nod breaking his stride. He and the man next to him heads towards Cutters team while the other two men, make a bee line for the other team.

"Something is not right here." Carter thinks, troubled by something, he can't put his finger on.

"Shit." He cries out, "Ambush.", noticing that the men have expressionless dead eyes.

The dead men raise their weapons and run forward, towards the semi concealed men. There is no subtlety, no finesse, just seemingly endless gun fire, from the men approaching and the men in cover. Bullets fly with reckless abandon biting into men on both sides of the rocks. The only difference is the dead men walking, aren't at risk of losing their lives.

Sasha and Nikita leap, in unison, from their positions behind the dead men, over their heads and behind the rocks, that protect those who would ambush them. 

Sasha lands with a flourish, bringing her batons down on top of the skulls of two men before her. Nikita lands before one man and somersaults over his head twisting in mid air. Sasha spins throwing one of her batons, stiking a man in the forehead, dropping him hard. Nikita plunges her claws into the mans back before he can turn and wraps her fingers around his spine, lifting him like a flailing and screaming human shield.

Cutter take aim an unloads the rest of his weapon at Sasha. Nikita leaps in the path of the bullets, blocking them with her new shield, dropping him, when Cutter's weapon clicks empty.

Cutter and the last of his compatriots exchange a glance of terror and begin to run for all they are worth towards the surface. Nikita taps her earpiece twice and watches them leave.

Dani stops animating the dead men and steps in the path of Cutter, sweeping her left arm across her body and in front of Cutter, stopping him from raising his hands in time , to stop Dani's right palm heel slamming into his chin with deadly force. She spins and drops low, to greet the last a spilt second later. Her leg cracks into his left shin, sweeping his leg away, forcing him to land face first onto a large rock. She rises to her feet seeing both men motionless and not breathing. Swiftly she checks their pockets before entering the chamber to join her sisters.



"How much farther?" Dani asks, wiping blood from her nose, while she walks.

"About a quarter of a mile." Nikita says, trying to suppress a tic from her cheek.

"Niki? Are you ok?" Sasha asks, gently touching her sisters shoulder.

"Yeah." Nikita says, wearily, "They a quarter of a mile below us. As far as I can tell, there are no hostiles between us and them."

"We had better double time it." Dani says, staggering slightly, before placing a hand on the wall to steady herself.

Nikita rushes to her side, catching her as she slumps down, "Dani? Talk to me babe. What's wrong?"

"That many bodies in motion at once." Dani says, restarting her heart. "Took it out of me. "Just need a minute"

Nikita looks at her lifepulse and sees jagged lines run through it. "Give me a moment.", she whispers, reaching into her sisters life pulse and smoothing it to return it to normal.

"This is the first time I have shifted from Zombie form and an impediment remains, what does that mean?" Dani asks, shivering.

"Maybe the process only resets, physical wounds, not mental or brain injuries?" Sasha suggests, watching Nikita at work.

"That would make sense. I use my mind when alive or dead, but effectively it is a different body when I switch." Dani says, calmly as she begins to feel better

Nikita holds up a finger and walks away from her sisters, crouching behind a large rock. She vomits lightly and breathes deeply, allowing her body time to heal the damage, she has taken from Dani.A moment later she steps out from behind the rock to the concerned looks of her sisters, "That sucked." she takes a sip of water from the bladder in her webbing and nods to Dani, "Are you alright?"

Dani nods, sheepishly, "I wont be doing that again. Having that many men at once is just too much. From now on, I wont do more than five guys in one go."

Sasha and Nikita exchange a glance and fight not to laugh. Dani shakes her head and puts her head in her hands, "Yeah, I have just realised what I said."

Nikita is the first to break into laughter, soon followed by Sasha evem Dani relents and laughs, breaking the tension that they feel, "Shall we go and end this?"

"One small problem." Nikita says, closing her eyes, "There are a few fish between us and them."

"That explains the ship, they were probably going to go for an insertion by sea. Rebreathers have better underwater range than standard gear." Sasha says, nodding softly.

"Can you disarm a nuke underwater?" Nikita asks, with a smile.

Dani runs her fingers through her hair, "Not sure I could do it on dry land to be fair." She says smiling enigmatically.

"Why underwater anyway?" Sasha asks, with a crooked smile.

"Could be that the best position is underwater." Dani says, "Makes it harder to get to and diffuse."

"Ah well, we will find a way." Sasha says, wondering if they can actually do this.

"Speaking of that, shall we see if we can find where they entered the water." Dani suggests, warmly.



"Over there. Left fork." Nikita calls out, taking the lead. "There is a hole in the floor."

Dani slows her pace, stopping her heart and assuming the mantle of the Zombie. "Hold, something feels off."

Nikita slows her pace and her eyes scan the floor before her. Sasha follows roughly ten feet behind watching the walls. Dani brings up the rear watching the ceiling. They advance in a combat crouch, scrutinising every rock, shadow and crevice they see, while they close on the crater in the floor.

"Heads up." Nikita says, quietly, "Diving gear, far end of the cave."

"Careful, could be there as a distraction." Dani says, cautiously, "There are a lot of shadows in these rocks, they could be hiding anything."

"I can't feel anybody nearby. If there is anything here, it is automated." Nikita says, approaching the threshold to the chamber.

Sasha, breathes lightly, scrutinising every inch of the cave walls, "Shame you couldn't have brought a zombie to scout for us."

"I considered it, however, I didn't want to risk myself again just yet." Dani whispers, as Nikita crosses the threshold. Dani's eyes widen, at the sight of an exposed wire overhead. She flies forward, shoving Dani and Sasha forwards towards the hole in the floor, as a ripple of explosions flows overhead.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Bandit666
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Post by Bandit666 »

What can I say. Yet another fantastically thought out and incredibly well written updates. They tale never fails to to grip the reader and leave them wanting more. It’s great.

Between yourself [mention]wolfman[/mention] and [mention]slackywacky[/mention] my reading list is complete.
wolfman
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Post by wolfman »

Bandit666 wrote: 3 years ago What can I say. Yet another fantastically thought out and incredibly well written updates. They tale never fails to to grip the reader and leave them wanting more. It’s great.

Between yourself @wolfman and @slackywacky my reading list is complete.
Thank you for your very kind words [mention]Bandit666[/mention]. I am pleased you are still enjoying this tale.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by wolfman »

Sasha coughs, clearing the thick dust from her throat in the explosions aftermath. The air is heavy with dust and the occasional tick of pebbles falling can be heard in the sudden quiet.
 
She feels a hand on her shoulder and another under her arm, steadying her and helping her to stand.
 
“You ok, Guardian?” Nikita says, concerned.
 
“Yeah, just winded. Where’s Dani?” Sasha asks, trying to peer through the settling dust, before yelling, “Dani!”
 
A weak voice comes back, in response, “Over here. Follow my voice.”
 
Nikita and Sasha run towards the source of the voice, crying out her name, as they approach.
 
“Down here.” Dani says, faintly.
 
Sasha and Nikita look down, in horror at their sister laying at their feet.
 
Dani gazes up, struggling to keep her eyes open. Blood and spittle dribble down her cheek. Her hands feebly, push against the massive slab of rock, pinning her legs and stomach.
 
Nikita crouches trying to get some form of leverage on the rock, unable to speak. She heaves and screams with exertion trying to lift the massive stone. Sasha joins her efforts and together they fail to move the stone.
 
Dani places a hand on each of their legs, when they look down at her, she beckons them, to come closer. As they crouch at their side, she whispers breathlessly, “The stone will not move and even if it does, it will take time. You need to leave me and do what we came here to do.”
 
“But…” Nikita, begins to object.
 
“But nothing. Stop wasting time and get on with it. Get me on the way back.” Dani says, softly.
 
“We can’t leave you like this.” Sasha says, stricken.
 
“You are not leaving me, you are just nipping off for a bit.” Dani says, flashing bloody teeth, when she smiles. “Once I get out from under this rock, my body will be able to recover. I will be fine.”
 
Nikita puts a gently hand on her sisters shoulder and softly says, “She’s right.” She pauses, When Sasha hugs her. “She is our beautiful, wonderful, unstoppable sister and she will be here when we get back, unless she has already got herself free.”
 
Nikita’s heart breaks inside from the thought of leaving her sister behind, but smiles, trying to put a brave face on it. For a moment, her eyes lock with Dani’s and they wordlessly, nod to one another.
 
“Ok. The quicker we go, the quicker we return.” Sasha say, trying to convince herself.
 
“Damn straight, we have a job to do.” Nikita says, forcing a smile, “We might find something on the way, we can use to help lift the rock.”
 
"This doesn't feel right." Sasha says, defiantly shaking her head.

Dani smiles weakly and she rests her head back on the floor. "I know babe. But I think my race is run." Dani says, mournfully, ”I can’t feel anything below the waist but I know, my legs are shattered and a lot of my organs have been crushed and I am losing a lot of blood. If I start my heart again, I don't know if I have enough blood in my body to keep it pumping.”

“It is not ending like this.” Sasha says, through gritted teeth, summoning every ounce of her strength. She screams with the exertion of pulling the slab and the veins on her neck and face bulge with effort. With a final scream, she slumps to her knees with tears of defeat in her eyes.

Dani rests her head on the floor, “Well, good and bad news. Good news this slab is wedged in place and not going to slip down. Bad news, both it and I are going nowhere.”
 
“I can’t believe, we have come this far and a big stone stops us.” Nikita says angrily, then freezes, wordlessly in place, as still as a statue.

"Niki? What's wrong?" Sasha asks, watching her sister. She slowly turns following Nikita's gaze, to the hole in the floor of the cavern.

"Idea. Give me two minutes." Nikita says, her hands moving like a blur, tearing off her combat webbing, NAKI suit and clothing.

Dani and Sasha watch dumbfounded, as Nikita dives without hesitation into the water and disappears from view. 



The silence following the splash of her entry to the watch become deafening in cavern, until Dani whispers, "What is it with that girl and going into action naked?"

"She is probably going to do it solo." Sasha smiles weakly, then exhales slowly and stares at the ceiling, "What the hell am I doing here?"

"You are one of us, we need you." Dani says, softly.

"It's ok, you don't have to protect me." Sasha says, "I know I am just making up the numbers. Nikita is a force of nature, can heal the sick and God knows what else. You have everything figured out. You can raise the dead, fly and can just do everything. I am a third wheel at best, all I can do is hit things."

Dani stares at her sister, with a look of disbelief on her face, "You really think that don't you." Dani shakes her head subtly, "You really have no idea."

Sasha crouches wearily by her sister, "What do you mean?"

"When I faced the Chameleon, you threw a bottle of hand sanitiser and threw yourself over Kate as a human shield. With minimal training, you fought and defeated Price. A well trained professional soldier, with PCS burning in his veins. You just knew, what to do. When you have the chance to act, nothing stops you." Sasha opens her mouth to speak, Dani holds up a finger, "Not done yet. When we stole the gold, you ran through trees faster than anyone on the planet can run on the ground.The same thing happened tonight, running on rocks. You didn't break a single branch or dislodge a single pebble. When you are in motion, it is like gravity has little meaning to you."

Sasha sits, chewing a thumb nail, listening to her sister, as she continues "I can break things down and see the truth in most situations and I have a lot of skills and more overt abilities, however, when it comes to acting in the moment, you are faster and more precise than me. You were always part of the plan." Dani pauses, looking into her sisters eyes, "Truth is, the success of this operation is on you." 

"What do you mean?" Sasha asks, alarmed.

"Your instincts are good and generally right on the money. I am sharp but even I miss things. You react to things you don't see, you just know. You could be the difference between success and failure." Dani says in a somber tone.

"No. No way. You are mental." Sasha says, shaking her head and backing away sub-consciously from her sister, "I can't do that."

"In the moment, you are amazing. Those times when you let go and just act are amazing to behold. " Dani calmy and firmly says, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep lungful of smoke. "Sorry, do you mind?"

Sasha looks down at her sister, taking in the size of the rock on top of her, knowing the damage it must be doing, "Given the amount of stone on top of you, I doubt one smoke will kill you."

Dani laughs gently, "I meant in your condition. do you mind?"

Sasha winks, "It is cool. When this is all done, we should go on a girls holiday."

Dani chuckles to herself, "Sounds good." 

"Thank you Dani." Sasha says, looking for the right words, "For everything. Saving Kim, Niki, me, everything."

"Anytime." Dani says teary-eyed, "Thank you for saving me and Nikita. When she didn't come back it was you who brought her back and I was dead inside until I saw you again."

"Why does it feel like things are coming to an end?" Sasha asks, sadly.

Dani closes her eyes and opens her mouth to speak, as Nikita explodes from the water.



Nikita lands hard, with enough force to shake the majority of the water from her body. "Sorry about that. Had to dash."

"All ok?" Sasha asks, dragging her gaze away from her pinned sister.

"All good. Did I miss something?" Nikita asks, walking slowly towards Dani. Despite being naked, neither of her sisters notice the change in her musculature.

"When this is done, we are going on a girls holiday." Sasha says with a grin.

"That sounds awesome. Somewhere hot." Nikita says reaching under the slab. "We need to get moving. They are returning." She heaves with both hands, flipping the four ton stone off of her sister.

"Whoa. How?" Dani asks, when the boom of the rock landing dies down.

"Found something that can move forty times its weight." Nikita smiles, kneeling at her sisters side, prepared to heal her for the second time, since they entered the cave. "If you come back to life, I can heal you."

"Thanks Niki." Dani says, warmly, "For everything."

Nikita beams warmly at Dani, "You never have to thank me. I am your sister, that is all that matters."'

"I believe in you." Dani says, not waiting for a response before willing herself back to life.

Nikita crouches, cradling her sisters head, she sees her lifepulse start weakly and strength quickly. "It is like you leave your pain behind when you switch between life and death."

"I was worried that I didn't have enough blood in my system for that to work." Dani admits, "Thank you."



"Niki?" Sasha asks, nervously, "Why has your skin changed to bright red?"

Nikita looks down at her body and sees that her skin has turn scarlet and is smooth as polished rubber. "Yeah." Nikita says, drawing out the word, "We probably should talk about that." She focuses for a moment and her skin changes back to normal. "But first, shall we deal with the men approaching?"

"What do you reckon, lay in wait for them and jump them when they emerge from the water?" Sasha says, pulling her batons.

"I will take them in the water. I want to try something." Nikita says, with an enigmatic smile.

"Keep at least one alive if you can?"  Dani asks, playfully. "Will you at least put some clothes on first?"

"No time, babe. Besides, I prefer being naked, when I get wet." Nikita bounds towards the hole in the floor, with a wicked look in her eyes, diving in without hesitation. 

"That girl." Sasha says, shaking her head, reaching for a dry suit.

"When she cuts loose it is a thing to behold." Dani says, with raised eyebrows.

"Why did her skin change colour?" Sasha ponders, out loud.

"She found something in these waters that can move forty times its' weight and changes colour. I wonder what it was." Dani ponders, with a faraway look in her eyes.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by wolfman »

Carston takes a deep breath from his regulator and looks at the men at his side as they ascend, lit only by their torches. "Damn, these fools can't plan for shit, but they sure can spend money. High end Soviet era ordnance and bulletproof dry suits." He shakes his head, "Not to mention the ship they had. I wonder what happened with that."

"Hope they have started the Ospreys ready for dust off. I don't want us anywhere near that thing, when it goes off." He thinks, remombering the briefing and the conservative estimates of the damage. An involuntary shudder, catches him off guard. "May God forgive us."

Waching his men around him, he rubs his earpiece, "Strange, I am only getting static, even though we are deep I would have expected to hear some chatter."

He taps his speargun with his knife to get the attention of the men around him, In Morse code he taps out, "Something is off, be ready for anything."

The other divers silently nod and gather in a tighter formation, before continuing their ascent. Each man knows Carston's instincts are rarely wrong. He has dragged them through some of the world most dangerous warzones, without a scratch.

The divers ascend with a newfound caution, to a man, they tighten their grips on their speaguns, eyes alert for trouble, lost in their own thoughts. 

"This is the worst part, when you are all set and have to get out clean." One thinks, nervously.

"Damn, It is too quiet." Another thinks, looking down into the void below.

"I am only doing this to pay for the wedding. Why do I feel like I should have been a security guard a a shopping mall instead." One thinks, in a cold sweat within his dry suit.

One of the men strokes the outline of his cross, through his dry suit. "May God forgive us, for what we have done here today."

"We shouldn't be here. Something bad lives here." One thinks, patting his trusty knife.

Carston taps his knife and speargun again, stopping the men. He peers into the gloom above him, "Is there something there?" He wonders, making out a shadow outline in the water above them limned by light from the vents lighting.

He blinks and the shape is gone. "Trick of the light. Getting jumpy in your old age." He thinks to himself with a chuckle, before checking the radiation alert badge pinned to his BCD and smiles, "Good. Less rads than an x-ray."

Carston looks up from the badge directly into a dinner plate sized eye.



A common octopus can weigh up to twenty pounds and have one metre long tentacles. The creature before the divers, however, is a little over three hundred pounds, with twelve metre tentacles.

The hapless divers, are plunged into darkess, as the water fills with thick black ink. They panic and begin kicking wildly away. Nikita lashes out wrapping a tentacle around the two nearest men pinning their arms to their sides and effortlessly crushing them, shattering bone and leaving them lifeless in an instant. 

Nikita grabs another man squeezing slower this time, getting a feel for her power. The force of her tentacle pins the man in place, allowing the her powerful suckers to tear her victims dry suit. But the real damage comes from the single lions claw, resting in the centre of each sucker. She releases her eviscerated victim and begins seeking her next target.

Carston peers through the dissipating cloud of ink and churning blood and takes aim with his spear gun, squeezing off a quick shot, striking near the base of one of her tentacles. She disdainfully reaches down, plucking the spear from her side, flinging it back at him, bursting the bladder of his BCD but failing to penetrate his dry suit.   Carston screams into his mask, struggling not to sink, as he flails in the water.

With eyes on the side of her head, she sees the man approaching from behind her and spins to face him, lashing out with a tentacle. He moves his right arm quickly, preventing it from being pinned to his body like his left and slams the bang stick down onto the tentacle. 

She roars in pain as the bangstick's shotgun shell propels nine projectiles through her appendage, tearing a massive hole through it. The inhuman roar chills the blood of all who hear it and feel its power. She seizes the man with two of her other tentacles with enough force to burst his body, moving on as the hole in her limb starts to close.

The man with the engagement ring , kicks wildy for the surface, not caring about the bends or his colleagues, just wanting to get away from this undersea horror. His heart sinks as the world closes around him and a blanket of flesh engulfs his body from head to toe.

Carston kicks deeper trying to get away from the dreadful abomination that has wiped out his team in less than ten seconds. "Oh God, how did this happen. We were clear." His train of thought is interrupted as something grabs his leg and he is pulled impossibly fast towards the surface.



Dani recoils back from the water at the sight of four tentacles emerging from the hole and securing themselves to the floor. Two flesh wrapped lumps explode from the water wrapped in black tentacles, in lazy arcs before they come to rest at Dani's feet. 

Sasha drops the dry suit and watches Nikita rises effortlessly from the water, her now black skin flecked with an irridescent sheen, that shines purple and green by turns. Nikita steps from the water, changing her lower tentacles to legs once again, but keeping the eight metre tentacles flowing from her shoulders just as they are.

Carston feels himself lifted bodily and pulled through the air, "What the hell is going on?" he thinks to himself, gasping as his face is unwrapped and his regulator torn from his mouth. His dark adjusted eyes take a moment to focus in the relative glare of the cave. When they do focus, he wishes that the hadn't.

He struggles furiously, trying to escape the horror before his eyes, but the flesh wrapped around him is strong as steel and no matter what he tries, he is trapped. "What in God's name is that thing?" His panicked mind reels, "It can't be real. The radiation from the device must have fried my brain."

Nikita unsheaths her fangs and leans in towards the mans face. Almost nose to nose, she emits a deafening roar, part lion, part human with the undertone of tectonic fury from the heart of the earth itself. She smiles, as the echo of the roar fades, "I think he has crapped himself." She observes, placing him before Dani, released of his tentacular bonds.

"He is not the only one." Dani says, thinking, "Fucking hell, I thought she was scary before."

She turns to the man on the floor, "You. What's your name?"

"C-Carston" The trembling man stammers.

"Tell me what I want to know, or I feed you to her. Understand?" Dani says, firmly, waiting for his inevitable nod. Satisfied with his response, she coldly asks, "Where is the device?"

"Straight down." Cartson answers, breathlessly, pointing at the hole in the floor, desperately trying not to look at Nikita.

"How do we disarm it?" Dani asks, watching the man closely.

"No idea. It was armed by one of the men that thing killed." He says, wiping blood from a cut on his forehead with the back of his hand.

Sasha pulls out a first aid kit from her webbing, and approaches him, "How long till it goes off?"

For a split second, Sasha is between the man and Nikita. In that moment, thinks, "This could be my only chance." He leaps to his feet and grabs Sasha, spinning her around, before seizing her at the waist. With his free hand he draws a bang stick and holds it under her chin, ready to strike. "No one move." He barks, before nodding towards Nikita, "You. Freakshow. Let him go."

Nikita considers her options and given the distance to him and how edgy he seems, complies with his request. The other man gasps, after pulling his regulator out, freeing his mouth.

Carston nods to Dani, "Biker babe. Give him a weapon."

Dani narrows her gaze at him and catches the subtle nod from Sasha. Slowly, she draws her sidearm and slides it across the floor to the freed man. He reaches down for the weapon looking down at it, just at the last moment. Sasha reaches up, grasping the top of the bang stick, twisting it away from his palm, out of his grasp, arcing smoothly around into the base of his rib cage. Dani draws her stilleto and throws it smoothly at the man picking up her gun. He looks up from the weapon in time to see it enter his forehead.

"You alright babe." Dani asks, in a concerned tone.

Sasha wipes the blood off of her back, "All good, but my dry cleaner is going to hate me."

Nikita's tentacles seems to shrink and become more arm-like, as she stands shaking her head. "Keep at least one alive, you said. I brought two." She raises her hands in a gesture of surrender, "I give up. This is why you don't get to play with nice things."

Dani crosses the cave to retrieve her weapon, "Will you at least put some clothes on? I asked. No time I prefer being naked when I get wet." Dani says, with a wink.

"Yeah, ok, I said that. I know what I did wrong there." Nikita says, sheepishly. Nikita and Dani try not to laugh, but it is a loosing battle.

Sasha shrugs off her combat webbing and begins putting on the dry suit, "It is always a learning experience with you two. Dani is now going to limit herself to five guys at once. You like getting wet and naked and have the ability to change your limbs into massive penises."

"That's harsh." Nikita says, with a faraway look in her eyes.

"From the way you nailed the guy with the bangstick, I would say, you don't like it from behind." Dani says, with a smile, taking a seat on the floor.

Sasha feeds her arms into the sleeves of the dry suit and pauses before pulling it up, "I wouldn't say that." She says, before shrugging into the dive gear.



Dani crosses her legs and closes her eyes. Her wrists rest on her knees and she breathes slowly and deeply. Nikita watches fascinated by the complex hand movements her sister makes as she sits, "What are you doing?" She asks, curiously.

"Nothing, just a short meditation to centre myself, before we do this." Dani says, in a serene tone.

"I had you pegged as having half a pack of smokes and a bottle of scotch before something like this." Sasha says, playfully.

"That comes after." Dani smiles, but keeps her eyes closed.

"Fair enough." Nikita says in a light tone, "Make mine a double."

"I will stick to tea, I think." Sasha says, pulling on a rebreather tank and testing the respirator.

Nikita helps Sasha with the straps for the breather and checks the fit. Unnoticed, Dani slips a single pistol round into her pocket, before getting to her feet and joining her sisters. Together they sift through the gear available and between that and the equipment on the recovered divers, each of them gets a diving mask, fins, depth gauge, inflatable bag for recovery, Nav system, diving lights and beacon.

"How will we communicate down there?" Sasha asks, in a moment of realisation.

Nikita turns to Dani and asks, "Sasha and I speak sign language, I don't suppose you do too, do you?"

"I learned last year, volunteering at an orphanage." Dani says, closing her eyes, when she realises what she has said.

"You did what?" Nikita and Sasha ask in shocked unison.

"When I wasn't on the hunt, I would volunteer at an orphanage." Dani explains, recalling the faces of the children there. "My life was filled darkness, I needed to get some light. Do you know what I mean?"

Sasha hugs Dani warmly, "It must have been so lonely for you. I wish you had come to us."

"Is that what you want me to see in Cambodia?" Nikita asks, taking a gamble.

"Among other things, yes." Dani nods, pausing, "It was lonely, but I wasn't alone." She continues, in a measured tone.

"I am glad you weren't alone. I thought you might have had help." Nikita says, watching for her sisters reaction.

"I promise, I will tell you everything. But right now, we need to get moving." Dani says, hoping to evade further questions.

Nikita moves to her sisters side and puts an arm around her shoulders, and speaks gently, "I know there is a lot you want to tell us, we are here for you when you are ready." 

"I hate to say it, but, we need to get moving." Sasha says, in a regretful tone. "We have a live nuclear weapon, in play. This is a conversation for another time. We need to focus, own this moment and get this thing done."

"I will tell you everything. But I agree with Sasha, We need to get this done." Dani says, with a subtle nod. Smiling at her sisters, as she thinks, "Lucky escape."
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
wolfman
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Post by wolfman »

Steve drops two smoke grenades and stands back. He casts his gaze skywards, waving the Spanish military helicopters in to land.
 
The dumbstruck passengers and crew of the Sea Kings stare at the destruction wrought across the valley. The large helicopters circle and come in to land one by one, their descent covered by circling Eurocopter gunships.
 
The rear hatch of the lead helicopter smoothly opens as the vehicle descends. A smartly dressed, clean shaven Naval officer marches off of the aircraft towards, the entrance to the vent, where many Nirvana personnel are gathered.
 
Steve catches the officers eye and nods to him. The officer makes a bee line for Steve and extends a hand. Steve shakes the man’s hand with a greeting in Spanish “Good morning Captain, I’m Steve Marks, nice morning for it.”
 
“Indeed.” The Captain says, Good morning Mr Marks, I was told to ask for a” He pauses checking his tablet, “Louise Marks.”
 
“That would be me.” Louise says, stepping forward and extending her hand.
 
The Captain takes her hand and shakes it firmly, “Good morning. I got a personal phone call from the President two hours ago for an immediate dust off for La Palma and to give you any help you require. Would you be able to let me know what we are doing here?”
 
“Short version, someone is seeking to destabilise the island with a Nuclear device. We have a team in play currently, to neutralise forces, then secure and deal with the device.” Louise explains, calmly.
 
The Captain removes his hat and rubs his shaven scalp. “There are thousands of people on the island. How long do we have to evacuate them?”
 
“We do not know the exact timescale for this. However the aircraft they brought with them would take at least a couple of hours to get clear of the immediate damage and the effects of the islands collapse.” Louise explains, “When we arrived, there were no signs of them leaving.”
 
“No enough time to get everyone away.” The Captain says, rubbing his chin with the back of his knuckles.
 
“We stressed the nature of the threat and the need for evacuation as a precaution.” Louise admits with an exasperated look.
 
“Tell us what they want, not what we need. Welcome to the navy.” The Captain says, bitterly.
 
“We have a team down there, who are working to secure the device.” Steve confirms, in a sombre tone.
 
 
 
Dani, Nikita and Sasha approach the device and hang in the water staring at it. “That is not what I was expecting.” Dani signs approaching the device.
 
“What do you mean?” Sasha asks, swimming around the eight foot rectangular metal box, strapped to an underwater sled.
 
“I was expecting a cone shaped device with an access and control panel.” Dani signs, tapping the side, “Sturdy, but sounds hollow.”
 
“What do you think?” Sasha asks, tapping the box.
 
“Lots of things, none of them good. What do you think?” Dani signs, “What does your gut say?”
 
“If we breach the box, the water could cause a short and set off the device. The box has been welded shut. No sign of any welding gear anywhere. This was set up and primed before it was sealed in.” Sasha signs, with a worried look in her eyes.
 
“Should we take it to the surface so we can open the box without flooding it?” Dani asks, with a knowing look.
 
“No.” Sasha says without thinking. “It could be rigged to go in the case of any type of breach.”
 
Dani nods to herself and hangs her head, before signing, “I was thinking that myself. We can’t stop it can we?”
 
“I honestly don't know. If we had a way of testing the air pressure inside and a barometric chamber, we could stabilise the pressure inside and out and open it. We would probably need to do it in the dark in case there is a light sensor. All this could be possible with time however, we don't know how long we have. At best, it will be set to allow for Thorn’s people to get out of here. We might have a couple of hours to do something with it.” Sasha signs, frantically.
 
“This cavern, must be connected to the ocean. We could get it out to sea, take it deep down.” Dani signs, “Get it far enough away from the island, to prevent a collapse and deep enough to contain it when it goes off.”
 
Dani reaches down and checks the straps securing the box to the sled, “The sled can move pretty quick underwater, I could get it ten miles from here in around half an hour. Once we get to deeper water, deflate the sled's air sacks and then, let it sink.”
 
“No. This makes no sense.  They have pretty much dropped it straight down and set up where it dropped. Why put it on a sled?” Sasha signs, with a look of concern. “My gut tells me if we start the electronics on the sled, this thing will go off.”
 
“You make a good point. We can still use the buoyancy aids, but we will need to swim with it.” Nikita signs.
 
Dani Smiles at Sasha, “Told you your instincts were good. You are better at this than you know.”
 
 
 
“We draw lots.” Sasha signs, checking her belt.
 
Dani gives a reluctant nod, slipping three rounds from a magazine on her belt, carefully removing one of the bullets from a round, slipping it into her pocket.
 
She upends the rounds, holding them with only their bases showing. Nikita pulls back allowing Sasha first pick thinking to herself, “Best odds of her not getting it.”
 
Sasha plucks the one on the right of the three and pulls free a complete round. To her and her sisters relief.
 
Nikita hesitantly reaches forward for the round on the left, but draws her hand back quickly.
 
Dani touches her hand and signs, “Don’t worry, it might be me.”
 
“That’s the problem.” Nikita replies, “I don’t want it to be you.”
 
“Thank you Niki. I don’t want it to be you either.” Dani signs, “Do you want me to choose?”
 
Nikita shakes her head, glad that the salt water around them carries away her tears. Slowly she extends her arm, reaching out and plucking a complete round from Dani’s hand.
 
Dani slips the last complete round into her pocket along with the empty casing, that she palmed when she pocketed the removed projectile. “That’s that then.”
 


Dani holds up her hand, then signs, “No long goodbyes. No sadness. This is my choice and I am at peace with it. If I don't come back, please tell Dad, Lou and Kate that I love them and give Kim a big hug from me, every time you see her.”
 
“Tell them yourself when you see them” Sasha signs, as her heart breaks.
 
Dani shakes her head, “Thanks babe. Get yourself up top. I have moved the bodies closer to the water, you might want to dump them down here, at least the ones with claw marks.”
 
“Good idea.” Sasha signs, “You always have a plan don’t you? What’s your way out of this one then?”
 
“No plan this time. My lead lined leathers are in the wash. Shouldn't need them, should you be able to go out to sea and drop it down.” Dani shrugs, before looking seriously at her sisters, “Look after each other. I love you both very much.”
 
“See you on the other side, you unstoppable beast.” Nikita signs, smiling sadly.
 
Dani smiles, “Yeah, see you on the other side, you unkillable maniac.” She turns to Sasha smiling warmly “Look after her you, incomparable warrior-queen.”
 
Dani smiles and hugs her sisters, before sadly signing, “I need to go.”
 
 
 
Nikita and Sasha look on numb, as Dani lifts the sled off of the sea bed and manually adds a tiny about of air to a bladder underneath it, lifting it slightly in the water.  She turns to her sisters and waves sadly, before using her force of will to propel her, the sled and it’s deadly cargo, towards the ocean.
 
They watch her depart, until she is no longer visible and exchange a hug. Wordlessly, they begin their slow ascent, each lost in their own thoughts.
 
As the ascend from the gloom of the depths to the half-light near the surface, the ocean’s pressure reduces, but the weight on their souls remains.
 
 
 
Nikita puts her arm around Sasha’s shoulder, as they sit side by side, in the steam vent. “Are you ok?”
 
“She’s done it to us again.” She says, numb. "I don't think she is coming back."
 
“If there is a way for her to come back to us, she will.” Nikita says, wanting to believe the words with all her heart, but fearing the worst.
 
“I guess so.” Sasha says skeptically, getting to her feet, “We should get back up top, or at least within radio range. Let everyone know what is going on.”
 
“Sasha. If you need to take a minute, I will clean up.” Nikita Says, gently.
 
Sasha simply nods, trying to fight back tears. She leans forward resting her face in her hands.
 
Nikita rubs her back gently, “Wait here.” She quickly gets to her feet and follows the scent of blood to where Dani had left the bodies.
 
Her arms ripple and split, each turning into two tentacles. Effortlessly, they coil around the ankles of the men that have fallen this day. She feels no sense of victory, dragging the men to the hole blasted in the floor. No sense of accomplishment. Only a sense of loss as the faces of the men sink below the waves and out of view.
 
 
 
Nikita extends a single claw and uses it to cut the legs off of her NAKI suit at mid-thigh level and remove the sleeves at mid-bicep level, before donning it. "More functional, better than being naked I guess."
 
“Sasha, it’s time to go.” She says, wearily.
 
Sasha nods, getting to her feet, slowly walking away from the water. She pauses, turning to her sister, “Why does it feel like we have lost?”
 
Nikita nods, sadly, “If she doesn't come back, we can’t allow her sacrifice to be in vain. We need to put this to bed and then we can move on. If she can, she will come back to us. If not, we live our lives giving thanks for all she has done.”
 
Sasha takes a deep breath to centre herself and nods firmly, taking her hand, “We finish this together. No half measures.”
 
 
 
Dani grimly presses on in the darkness, she checks her depth gauge and nods to herself. “One hundred metres down.” She glances at her compass and changes course slightly.
 
“The current feels different here, colder. Deep water currents. This thing needs to go deep so the pressure can contain the blast.” Dani thinks, “This is relatively low yield, so even six hundred metres should do it, but the deeper the better.”
 
Dani smiles to herself, “The currents should disperse the fall out quickly and at depth this will be contained.”
 
She clears her mind emptying her thoughts of everything except the current and the sled, with its deadly cargo. She smiles to herself, seeing the image of her family flash before her eyes. “A will strong enough to animate the dead and allow me to fly and yet, I cannot keep my mind from wandering back to those I leave behind.”
 
She alters course, heading deeper, as she goes further from the island. She checks her nav tracker seeing that she is about ten miles out. She locks the co-ordinates and activates a beacon on the tracker.
 
Using a little air from the sleds tank, she inflates a small balloon and attaches it to the tracker. She watches it lazily drift towards the surface, “Nirvana systems will ping when it breaches and they will be able to find this location and send divers down and recover it, if it doesn't go off.”

She releases the air from the sled and rests her hand on the side as it begins to descend, checking her depth gauge as it begins to tick away. “Just need to get it deep enough so that if it goes off, it doesn’t breach.”
 
“Four hundred metres. I can let this go soon and….” Her thought freezes in her mind, when she hears the first creak from the hollow box.
 
Dani stares at the box, “Of course, this box is designed to rupture before we get deep enough.” She thinks, mournfully, "I knew it was too good to be true."
 
“So much for letting it sink.” She thinks, pointing the nose of the sled straight down and exerting her will one last time. 
 
The creaking of the frame becomes louder, the deeper she goes, and the frame of the box appears to twist slightly. "Don't you bloody dare." She curses silently. 

A cavalcade of images flash through her mind, smiling up at her birth mother on the first day of school, the gala, the night under the stars in Africa, talking to Steve, The orphanage, her campaign against Lund and Medteqniq's financiers, the joy of seeing Nikita alive again, Sasha's smile, news of Sasha's baby and countless scenes from her life.

Her muscles and bones, scream at her, as the punishing pressure at this depth crushes her in a vice like grip, "I am glad I spared them from this." She thinks, barely able to string a thought together through the pain, willing herself and the device deeper.
 
In inky darkness she looks at her depth gauge and nods, “Seven hundred metres. I made it.” She thinks, closing her eyes for a moment and seeing her family. 
 
With a final creak, the box ruptures implodes, filling with sea water instantly, shorting out the device. "Niki is right, my plans suck." Dani thinks with an enigmatic smile, as her body is filled with light and then ceases to be.
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Post by Caesar73 »

The end of the last chapter was incredible dramatic - and deeply saddening.Is this the Farewell Dani? Who knows? With [mention]wolfman[/mention] everything seems possible!
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Post by Caesar73 »

A lot is possible in Wolfman´s Universe :) But this time it seems difficult to imagine Dani coming back. We will miss her :)
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Post by wolfman »

Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago A lot is possible in Wolfman´s Universe :) But this time it seems difficult to imagine Dani coming back. We will miss her :)
Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago The end of the last chapter was incredible dramatic - and deeply saddening.Is this the Farewell Dani? Who knows? With [mention]wolfman[/mention] everything seems possible!
Cheers mate. Who knows if Dani will return? Only time will tell.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by wolfman »

"We can finally relax." Louise says, dropping her bag on the floor of their living room and rubbing the back of her neck.

Steve gently cups her shoulders and kisses her neck, "You are amazing."

"I don't feel it at the moment." Louise says, stretching.

"The hearings are finally over. Thorns people have confessed to their involvement and the courts have found that whilst extreme, the actions taken were appropriate in the face of the threat. Your testimony brought us through" He assures her.

"It was just luck that one of the men in Dani's basement, was a member of the boat crew, who was originally going to arm the weapon." Louise says, bitterly, "We would have been sunk otherwise."

"Any word from Adam, on what happened that night?" Steve asks, guiding her to the sofa and helping her to sit.

"No idea. Kim mentioned an Irishman named Billy who saved her and her father. The men in the basement describe a Spaniard. We have circulated their description and they are not our people." Louise kicks off her shoes and flexes her toes, "Oh, that feels so good. They have been killing me all day."

Taking his cue, Steve sits next to his wife and gently lifts her feet onto his lap. "One thing I find odd about that night was that this Billy, filled the holes that Kim made in the wall, before he left."

"We had the holes checked and the work was high quality and he didn't leave anything in the holes but filler."  Louise says, shaking her head. 

"The main thing is that Kim and Kurt are ok." Steve says, gently but firmly massaging Louise's left stockinged foot.

"That's the spot." Louise says, feeling the tension drain from her body, "That feels so good."

Steve gently continues the kneed his wife's foot, varying the speed and tension he applies, as he thinks out loud, "How did he put the weapons away in the armoury?"

"That is a good question, Adam confirmed that there was no sign of forced entry to the armoury or the house. Indications are that he had the code, somehow?" Louise says, tensing up at the implications.

"That is a problem for another day." Steve says, continuing the kneed the sole of her foot. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for, just keep doing what you are doing." Louise purrs.

"I mean it, I'm sorry Lou. Since Dani fell from the helicopter in Africa, I have been jetting across the world. Whilst you have been looking after Sasha and Niki." He says, regretfully. "I don't think I have ever told you how much I appreciate all you have done."

"They are family." She says, beaming a smile, "And they are a delight."

"Thank you." He says earnestly, "I was wrong. I should have focused on you and them, instead of running off on a wild goose chase."

"You did what you thought was right." Louise says, with a gentle smile, "It is one of the many things, I love about you. You follow your heart."

"I could live to a thousand and I would still not have enough time to list the reasons, that I love you." He says, switching to her right foot.

"You are so lovely." Louise says, starting to relax for the first time, in the two months since the bomb went off. 

"So are you." He says, warmly, "You are the star I sail by, my port in the storm, the home that I crave. All the time I was away, I missed you. I am not going to miss you any more."

"What are you saying?" She asks, with a quizzical look.

"I am stepping back from the life. I want to stay at your side." He says, gently.

"Are you sure?" She asks, shocked. "You cant just step away. It is part of who you are."

"No. It is part of who I was. I am no longer that man. Now I am a husband, a father and soon to be a grandfather." He says, releasing her foot and placing a gentle hand on her leg. "I am now and always will be a fighter. But now, I fight to be a better man."

"Oh Steve." She says, placing her hand over his.

"That means no more running around raising hell. I need to spend more time with you and my kids." Steve says, with a gentle smile.

With an inscrutable smile, Louise speaks softly, "We could get the spare room turned into a nursery."

"That would be lovely. We could have Sasha's little one stay over." Steve says, beaming.

Louise takes a deep breath and places a hand on her stomach, "Actually, I was thinking about a nursery for our baby."

Steve holds her hand and smiles, "I would like that." He says pausing, "The IVF will work."

Louise grips his hand with tears in her eyes, "It has worked."

Steve sits open mouthed, his eyes filled with love, "Are you sure? That is incredible." She sinks into his arms, as he pulls her close, never wanting to let her go.

Louise nods with joyful tears streaming down her cheeks. Steve pulls her close and kisses her deeply, unable to speak. "When did you find out?" He asks, excitedly.

"The day we went to Cumbre Vieja." She admits, thinking, "I hope he can forgive me for the delay."

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks, gently.

"I'm sorry. It was never the right time. There was too much going on." Louise says, pensively.

"Oh Lou, you soppy sod." Steve says, compassionately. "You had no reason to worry." She feels his arms tenderly, pulling her closer, "I am so happy."



Nikita slowly exhales a plume of smoke towards the ceiling of her bedroom and strips the trouser suit she has worn for the duration of the trial, then peels off her blouse and underwear. She lays back on the bed and revels in the feel of clean sheets against her naked back, "Feels like my life has been nothing but noise since Africa. Constant flights and the bustle of crowds when I was looking for Dani. Helicopters, gunfire and explosions when on operation, constant motion when Dani did come back and constant questions when she left again."

She raises the draws deeply, the light crackle of the tobacco burning the only sound in the room, "I can't believe it's over. I feel like I could sleep for a week."

She stubs out the cigarette and rolls over, pulling the covers over herself. She closes her eyes and breathes in slowly. Her body relaxes, but scenes from the last few weeks, play out in her mind like a kaleidoscope of chaos. She lays motionless, curled up on her side unable to stop the flood of images playing out in her mind.

After an hour of tossing and turning, she sighs, "Damn it.", opening her eyes and gazes at her clock, "One AM." She exclaims with dismay, throwing off the covers and lighting another cigarette. "Let's do this properly."

Nikita gets out of bed and walks through the house slowly. She enters the kitchen, trailing smoke and crosses the room to her freezer. Without needing to see, she reaches into one of the drawers and pulls out a full bottle of scotch. She unscrews the top and takes a large gulp, then takes a drag on her cigarette. "I love the ice cold feeling as it goes down and the warmth that follows. I just wish the buzz would last longer."

She screws the cap back on the bottle and carries it lazily into the bathroom. She turn on the tap of the hot tub and adds some rock salt. While she waits for the tub to fill, she shaves her legs and armpits, relishing their smooth feel when she is done.

Nikita smiles to herself taking a seat before applying hair conditioner between her legs. The razor slips through the hair with effortless precision, leaving her hairless in seconds. She smiles gently, "Feels nice doing a little self care."

After lowering herself gently into the water and taking another large gulp of scotch, she turns on the tubs air jets and lays back. She breathes out slowly,   Purging the air from her lungs before manifesting gills and submerging herself in the torrid water. 

Nikita feels the tension leave her body under a barrage of bubbles, the constant noise of the jets filling her ears with white noise, as her long black hair dances in the water.  When the bubbles stop, she does not restart them, instead adjusting her bodies bouyancy, to float weightlessly, silently between the surface and the base of the tub.

She sighs, thinking to herself, "This feels so good, I should do this more often. It wouldn't hurt to spend a bit more time on me. In the morning I will suggest to Sasha, Kim, Lou, Kate and Amy that we have a spa day." 

As the warmth of the water and the tranquillity of the tub does it's work, she drifts gently to sleep, dreaming of the night under the stars in Africa with her sisters.



Sasha lays back on the sofa, in silk pyjama's, with a gentle smile.  Kurt places a soft kiss on his wife's swollen stomach and gently holds her hand, "It is so good to have you back." He says warmly gazing into her eyes.

"I have missed you too." Sasha says, softly. "The weeks have felt like months."

He lays on his back next to her and beckons her into his arms. She curls up into his side, resting her head on his chest. "I can't believe it has been six weeks."

"It is over now and I am home." Sasha says, playing with his chest hair. "I have missed you so much."

"I have missed you too." Kurt says, gently, "We both have. Kim was gutted that she couldn't stay up to welcome you back." Kurt says, his smile faltering almost imperceptibly.

"Bless her, she is a love." Sasha says, with a smile, noticing the slip of his expression, "How has she been?"

"The school asked that we keep her home for a little while, to let the media frenzy die down a bit." Kurt says, evasively. "I will keep her home, at least another week."

Sasha looks up at him, seeing the look of pain in his eyes, "Kurt?" She asks, "We agreed no secrets. What's wrong?."

He closes his eyes and slumps his shoulders, "She took Dani's death hard." He admits, wincing, "She cried non stop for a week, screaming about losing you and Dani. Begging me to find a way to get you back."

"I am so sorry. How is she now?" Sasha asks, imagining what her step daughter must have gone through.

"On the surface she is fine, but." Kurt waivers, searching for the words, "She has become quiet, serious even. She buries her head in books and online tutorials and slips out of the house for hours on end. Won't tell me where she goes. I dont know if it was losing Dani or the man that broke in and tried to do God knows what, but ever since that day, she has changed.."

"Oh darling, why didn't you say something?" Sasha says, raising her hand to her mouth, as her heart sinks.

"You had enough to worry about with the hearings." He says, his normally powerful, mancunian tones, cracking slightly.

"We are a team, remember. You, me and Kim against all comers." Sasha says, with a wink. 

"I am scared I am losing her." Kurt admits, seeming somehow small despite his large frame.

"She adores you, Kurt. That will never change." Sasha says, tenderly, "Why don't we have a talk to her in the morning?"

"I would like that. I think she would like to see everyone and see for herself that you are all ok." He says, with a smile. 

They sit wrapped in each others arms in comfortable silence, until Kurt hears the soft huff of Sasha's snores against his chest. He gently shifts her weight off of his chest and then scoops her up in his arms. He lifts her in his arms and slowly moves through the house, turning off all the lights one by one, before carrying her upstairs. He pauses by Kim's room, peeking through the door to watch his sleeping daughter for a moment.

Kurt smiles and whispers a soft, "I love you.", then edges away from the door. He approaches the master bedroom and nudges the door open with his foot and carries his wife across the threshold. She sighs, as he lays her down on the bed and removes her slippers and bed socks. He pulls the silk sheets, over her sleeping body and places a gentle kiss on her forehead, before laying beside her.

He gazes at her in the dim light of the room, thinking of the ways that he loves her and how good it is to have her back, until sleep claims him.



"An hour later, Kim looks out from under the bush thinking that she heard a noise. She closes her eyes and prays no one is there. She holds her breath, thinking, "Please don't let anyone find me."

She opens her eyes and looks around, lets out a grunt of relief. She rubs her face against her shoulder, trying to peel the tape from her mouth. She huffs in frustration at her lack of progress. With determination in her eyes, she rolls onto her front and reaches back behind her and pulls the safety pin from the back pocket of her jeans and opens it, exposing the sharp pin.

The effort forces her to breath deeply through her nose. The crisp March night air, stings her nose with the cold. The scents of the bushes, soil and trees invigourate her as she continues her efforts.

The tries to insert the pin into the key hole of the handcuff secured around her left wrist, only succeeding in jabbing it into her wrist. She passes the pin to her left hand and explores the left cuff with her right thumb and forefinger. She slumps, thinking, "The key hole is on the inside."

Kim takes the pin and tries to unlock the right cuff instead, she closes her eyes, feeling the pin enter the key hole and then gently begins to manipulate the lock. She gives a muffled squeal, when she hears a click and the cuff clicks open very slightly.  She concentrates and gets back to the task at hand, breathing a sigh of relief, when the handcuff opens fully.

She rolls onto her front and sits up. Able to see the other handcuff in the gathering pre-dawn light, she makes quick work of the lock and frees her other hand. Wasting no time she uses the pin, to tear the tape holding her ankles. Ripping it off, she stuffs it into a zip lock bag and turns her attention to the tape around her mouth. 

Kim spits the sock out of her mouth and makes sure all of the tape used to bind herself is safe in the zip lock bag. She slips it and the handcuffs into a small back pack and retrieves a clean set of clothes. Changing quickly, she smiles to herself, packing the dirty clothing into a carrier bag and stuffing them into the back pack.

She checks her phone and nods excitedly, "YES! Fastest time yet." 

Silently she slips from under the bush, then with a smile she takes an empty drinks can from the bag and throws it as hard as she can. With practiced ease she draws the tranq gun and snaps of two darts into the can, sending it skittering away. She takes careful aim and shoots it again and again. She leaves one dart in the chamber of the pistol and tucks the weapon in the back of her jeans and runs to the final resting place of the can. 

She turns the can over in her hands with a satisfied nod, plucking the empty training darts from her target and re-seats then in the magazine, slipping it back into the bag and inserting a live magazine of tranquilliser darts into the weapon and stashing it into the back pack. "Need to get another gas cartridge soon." She thinks, chewing her lip.

The teenager keeps her eyes open and listens for any noises that are out of place, as she hugs the side of the bushes, trying not to show her full silhouette. Stealthily she climbs a large tree nearby and stashes the bag in the crook of two boughs and uses fishing twine to gather branches subtly closer to conceal it

She quickly drops from branch to branch ending up at the trees base. Panting lightly she smiles to herself, "Heck of a workout."

The first rays of the days sun, kiss her cheek, bathing her face in gentle warmth. A frown troubles her brow, "I had better get back, should have time for a couple of hours sleep, before dad and Sasha wake up."
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

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To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
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Post by Bandit666 »

Well what can I say. Yet more engrossing updates. More intrigue and twists. Great as always. Truly gripping and entertaining
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Post by wolfman »

Nikita's eyes open slowly and a smile lazily curls, her lips. "Best nights sleep ever." She thinks, splashing softly in the cool water. "Shame it has to go cold."

She flicks out a tentacle and turns on the hot tap, using another to monitor the water level in the tub. Once the water rises a little, she lets some out and relaxes as the tub heats up again.

"Now it is over, I have a choice." Nikita thinks closing her eyes underwater, "When Dani fell from the helicopter, I chose to be like her. Dani told me to stop holding back and she has shown me what I am capable of."

She draws water deep into herself and feels her heart rate slow, "She showed me who I am. Now I need to make peace with it."

Nikita clears the thoughts from her mind one by one as she floats weightless. She focuses on every part of her body in turn, feeling every muscle, every pore. She feels the blood rushing in her arteries, racing around her body, feeling the muscles absorb the fresh oxygen her pulse carries.

Inwardly, she nods to herself, allowing her mind to sink into her body, connecting to every part of herself.

Nikita shivers lightly, feeling the light chill of the water and sits up. "The water shouldn't have cooled that quickly." She thinks aloud, her breath condensing in the cold air of the bathroom.

"Bloody hell. There must be a window open somewhere." She thinks, as her gaze hardens. She emerged dripping from the tub and quickly towels herself dry focusing on the life pulse around her. "Dad and Lou are settled, wonder if she has told him yet?" She muses before focusing on her sisters house, "Where the hell is Kim?"

Any feelings of relaxation are dispelled, as her hackles rise. She darts into the bedroom and dressed quickly in a lycra crop top and cycling shorts. She pauses, confused, then re-enters the bathroom. "Odd, The bathroom is cold, but the bedroom is fine." She shakes her head and refocuses, "That is a puzzle for another time.", she thinks heading for the door.



Kim runs hard through the woodland, staying off of the paths and keeping as hidden from sight as she can. "I am making good time." She thinks, vaulting over a felled tree and running, barely breaking her stride.

She thinks of her step mother and smiles, "Cannot wait to see Sasha and bump again. I really hope she is ok."

As she runs, she remembers the sleepless nights of worry, when it looked like Sasha and the others were going to be blamed for the whole plot and the thoughts of loss and fears for her fathers safety, which galvanised her into action. "I have a long way to go but I will get there."

She crouches, trying to keep her breathing shallow as a troop of trainees, engages in an early morning run along the path a few feet from her position of concealment, reflecting on all she has learned, "It hasn't been easy so far. But it has been so worth it." She thinks, as her eyes moisten.

"Stop it." She berates herself silently, "She wouldn't cry, you baby. She would focus and get on with it."

Kim watches the troops recede into the distance and breaks cover, keeping low and running hard towards home. Sadly, she thinks to herself,  "I wish I was more like Angel."



Nikita whips a tentacle up catching a high branch and pulls herself skyward and swings through the trees, circling the family cottages, in the grounds of the Academy's estate. Just as she prepares to head deeper into the woods, she freezes. "Here she comes." 

Nikita stays still in the tree tops, watching as Kim approaches, watching her closely,  "Sure footed. A physical confidence to her movement. She looks to have lost a little weight, maybe gained a little muscle too."

Kim runs unaware she is being watched and climbs the wall around the garden of Dani's cottage. Nervously, she walks along the top of the wall and leaps to the roof of the rear porch. She vaults from the roof and catches the edge of the roof. She shuffles along the edge of the roof and heaves herself in through the open window of her bedroom. 

Nikita sits in the bough of the tree and raises an eyebrow, "I think, I need to have a word with that girl." She monitors Kim's lifepulse, watching it settle as she gets back into bed and falls asleep soon after.

"A part of me wants to march over there right now and confront her. But I think, it might be better to do it quietly." Nikita decides, "Better for everyone."

Silently, she lowers herself to the ground and freezes in place, staring at a bush to her left, "Is there someone there?" She wonders, cautiously. "There is no life pulse there."

She scrutinises the bush and watches closely, "Leaves and branches moving with the breeze, no out of place shadows. There is nothing there. But there was. I am sure of it."

Nikita coils her tentacle arms, ready to strike and slowly stalks towards the bush. Her senses tell her no one is watching and she nods to herself. Without warning she flexes and her tentacles, streak forward wrapping around it and shredding it effortlessly.

Examining the remains of the bush she sighs, "Jumping at shadows. Must be seeing things."



Nikita stands under the jet of her shower, letting the powerful jets pummel her muscles. She empties her mind and loses herself in the sensation of the water hitting her body. She shampoo's her hair and takes her time rinsing the lather from her locks. Taking her time she conditions her hair and reflects on her prusuit of Kim. "What the hell was she doing out at this time?"

Various scenarios play out in her mind and she feels her hackles rise, thinking of some random guy luring her into the woods for some terrible purpose.

She dispels the thoughts from her mind and focuses, "She moves like she has been doing some kind of training. She runs like she has practiced a lot and is aware of what she can do. I wonder what else she has been doing."

Nikita picks up the hair dryer, asking herself, "Why? Why has she been training herself? If indeed that is what she has been doing."

She shrugs as she finishes her hair is mostly dry, but still a little damp and then puts on a deep crimson silk robe, before leaving her bathroom to see the light flashing on her phone, indicating a missed call.

Nikita calls the number and puts the call on speaker. After three rings she is rewarded with a broad Irish accent saying, "Morning Nik."

"Morning Billy, how is it going?" She asks in an even tone.

"All quiet on the western front, boss." He says, in a playful tone.

"Excellent." She says crisply, before softening her tone, "I really appreciate your help Billy. Thank you for everything."

"No worries, boss." He says, cheerily. "Apart from that first night, it has been so quiet."

"Glad to hear it." She says warmly, "I'm sorry, I couldnt reach out sooner."

"No problem Darlin'." He says, "You have had your hands full. Besides with all you have done for me and Ming, it was our pleasure to help."

"'I mean it. You were there when I couldn't be. I owe you." Nikita says, earnestly. 

"Behave you dopey sod. You gave me my legs back." He assures her softly, "Oh, er, Ming says Hi."

"Hello Padré." She smiles, remembering the air of calm that the kindly man exudes. "Thanks for keeping Billy in line."

She can hear Domingo laughing in the back ground, as Billy protests, "Ah steady on, now."



Nikita can almost picture him sitting back at a desk with his feet up and smiles at the thought, "Where are we on locating Malachi Thorn, the other nukes and working out why he tried to blow up La Palma?"

"Thorn is in the wind, most of his assets were frozen, but he still has a lot of resources. He has vanished for now, but he will turn up again. We tracked the sale back to a dealer in Kazakhstan, the weapon was one of ten, We tipped off the local security services and they managed to recover eight." Billy reports, becoming subtly more serious.

"What about the other one?" Nikita asks, concerned.

Billy pauses, pinching the bridge of his nose, "We are still looking."

"I see." She pauses, considering the possibilities,  "Thank everyone for their efforts. Do we have any idea why?"

"Nothing at all. Erica has been on it all day every day, but as yet, we have found nothing in their systems to confirm a motive." He confirms, wearily.

"She is a trooper. Tell her to have a few days off and come back with fresh eyes." Nikita says, thoughtfully. "How is her little one?"

"That little darlin' is a delight. Always smiling, thanks to you." Billy says, with a genuine warmth to his tone, "Speaking of little darlin's. How is Kim doing?"

"Hard to say, not really seen her since I got back." She says, in a light tone, "While you were watching over her, did she do anything odd?"

"Not as far as I can tell." Billy says with a shrug, "Although, she started running about a week after that night."

"Any idea, where she goes, or what she does?" Nikita asks, lighting a cigarette.

"No idea. She avoids the cameras and motion sensors on site."  He admits, with a shrug.

"Ok." she says wearily, "Keep me posted."

"Will do." Billy pauses, softening his tone, "I am glad you're back. We all are."

"It is good to be back, but not sure how long for." Nikita says, thinking of the promise she made to Dani.
View my latest story, Revelation, here;

https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8719


To view it's prequel Devastation, please click below;
https://tugstories.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7458
Caesar73
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Post by Caesar73 »

I wonder about Kim .... something seems a little off .....
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NotSeen
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Post by NotSeen »

Caesar73 wrote: 3 years ago I wonder about Kim .... something seems a little off .....
Of course, it could be that she just doesn't want to be a victim/target any more (she's had plenty of that in the recent past)... and given what kind of people her extended family are, it's entirely plausible she's trying to emulate them.

Then again, that's probably too innocent an explanation. We're talking about wolfman, after all...
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