Many years ago
Los Angeles, California
3:41 PM
Mai was enjoying her retirement from fighting wars and dodging assassins. It had been eight years since she has activated her weapon for defense. It had also been a few years since she has had to fight for any reason. Things were quiet and joyful. Even better she was able to hold onto her job as a doctor at a children’s hospital. She was saving more lives than she was taking, and that had to be the best feeling for her. She was living her dreams out.
This evening she was sitting in front of a coffee shop, enjoying her cup of sweetened heaven, and reading a book that was recommended by one of her colleagues. Her shift was about to start in a few hours so she figured she could enjoy a moment of peace and quiet before she started. Not that she didn’t enjoy working. In fact she loved every second of it. She saved everyone she could in the most discreet way possible. She would heal them of diseases over a few visits. Ensure that broken bones healed properly every time. Everyone made a miraculous full recovery. She didn’t only help her own patients either. She found ways to help the other doctors in the building as well. She wasn’t the only one shining in her hospital.
Of course local FBI caught on to the events and tracked everything to her. It was only a few questions though. She had given the answers they wanted and even gave permission to shadow her for a few days. A man named Maxson had even visited her and offered her a position in their ranks. She humbly declined of course. Her heart was with her children at the hospital. That was months ago.
She’s dressed in a light tan blazer with a white undershirt, light blue jeans, white shoes, and gold jewelry. Her mint green hair is tied into a neat bun while she allows a few strands of hair in the front fall freely. She sits with her legs crossed while quietly reading until a woman approaches her.
“Excuse me, mind if I sit here?”
Mai looks up from her book to see a woman and her son whom was also carrying a puppy beagle. Mai smiles politely and nods. “Not at all, sit down. I have to say that is the cutest puppy around here!” She says to the boy as she closes her book and sits straight. The child only smiled shyly and turned to his mother.
“Aren’t you going to say thank you?” His mother asks.
He glances over a Mai for a second. “T-Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Mai says sweetly before turning her attention back on the mother. “I’m Mai.” And she extends her hand to shake the woman’s.
“Sarah.” She shakes Mai’s hand before putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “And this is Nathan with our newest addition to the family… It’s his birthday.”
Mai gasps while turning her gaze back to Nathan. “Aw, happy birthday! How old are you?”
He holds up four fingers and glances at his mom for confirmation that he was indeed four. “I’m four.”
“Wow you’re getting big! Have you thought of a name for your puppy?” Mai asks while keeping her sweet smile on her lips.
Nathan nods his head excitingly. “Duke!”
“That’s an amazing name!” Mai could already pick up that these two were human, but she was still happy to talk with Nathan and see Duke sniff around and be the most excited puppy in the world.
“What about you? Do you have any kids of your own?” Sarah asks as she continues the small talk while she waits for her name to be called.
“No, sadly. I always wanted a family of my own, but work has been good at keeping me busy.” Mai says with a tinge of disappointment. She wasn’t lying. Finding love and having a few children had always been what she wanted the most out of life. She was never given the opportunity though.
Sarah waves her hand as if to dismiss Mai’s worries. “Oh don’t you worry, you still look as young as ever. I’m sure you have plenty of time. Where do you work, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I’m a doctor at the nearby children’s hospital.” Mai responds.
“Oh wow-“
“For Sarah!” One of the workers steps out and calls out the name.
“That must be me. Would you mind watching Duke please? I’ll be right out.” Sarah asks as she starts getting up.
“I’d love to! Please, take your time.” She responds as she picks up Duke who only wags his tail and starts licking Mai’s chin. “I know Duke! It’s the best day ever!”
“Thank you so much, we’ll be right out!”
“Mommy, I need to use the bathwoom.” Nathan says as he follows his mom into the shop.
These kind of moments brought so much joy to Mai. Just living life, conversations with nice people, talking to children, and seeing all of the animals. Of course she came across the few strange and rude ones. This was LA after all, not a utopia, but still there was those few out there that made the day amazing. Sarah, Nathan, and Duke were one of those ones that would’ve made this another great day.
Today wasn’t going to be a great day though. It was going to be a reality check for Mai. A lesson to be learned. The lesson is: Unchecked power murders innocent people. That lesson would change the course of Mai’s life permanently and forever haunt her dreams. At the same time it would be her resolve. The spark to ignite the fire in her to defend the little one. That as long as she drew breath, she wouldn’t stand to see people carelessly slaughtered.
She got a sick feeling her stomach. Something was approaching, and it was approaching fast. The body of what looks to be a man comes crashing through the building across the street and lands in the coffee shop. People start screaming in confusion as the look around to see what’s happening. The man stands up and brings up a sword before striking a fighting stance. He’s waiting for someone to catch up to him.
Mai’s first thoughts are on Sarah and Nathan. Were they okay? Did anyone get hurt on the man’s entrance? Where’s the second person? Before any answers came a continuous beam of black flames was being fired at the man inside. The beam was stopped by his sword, but the energy was just building up a ball of compressed fire that continued to get larger as the creature at the other side continued with their attack. The man was making it into a bomb to attempt to send back to the owner.
“Stop!” Mai screams as she begins to run to the front door. “Sarah, run-!”
She was too late. The ball had grown, but before it could be thrown back, the other person made it explode. The explosion didn’t hurt the man, nor did it really harm Mai. She couldn’t speak for everyone else though.
The coffee shop was destroyed, and the blast was strong enough to knock off enough support from the neighboring sky scraper to make it collapse. Mai could feel the little life in her arms be extinguished. Incinerated right in her arms. The blast was enough to knock her back as pieces of concrete and other debris was scattered across the street. Hundreds of people were just killed. Sarah and Nathan to be among them. Mai was an amazing healer, but she could not reverse death.
She had been dazed from the explosion and thrown into the street from the blast. She had lost Duke in the process. She opens her eyes on looks at the chaos in front of her. Charred bodies laid out everywhere. So many people. Some were alive, but wouldn’t be much longer. They were walking around with burns that would soon kill them. Some without limbs. Those that would survive were screaming as they tried to run while others tried to find loved ones that were no longer beside them. Everyone was also covered in dust and ash. The smoke hasn’t settled yet, so visibility wasn’t the greatest. A few streets away the fighting resumed.
Mai took this time to get up. There was a few blocks of concrete on her, but still, nothing strong enough to hurt her. She coughed as she looked over her body. Her chest was wet. She knew it was blood, and it wasn’t her own. The dust and ash discolored it as well as the rest of her clothes and hair. The ash covered everything. Obviously her clothes were ripped in various places. Still, she stood up and continued to look at her surroundings. She hadn’t seen anything like this since her time with the Warlords. The destruction here. All of the useless death. For what? What was this all for? Why were they fighting in a heavily populated area? Why were they using that kind of power?
Again, no answers came until Mai could hear a faint voice come out of the ruins of the coffee shop.
“Nathan…”
Mai began running towards the voice. It was Sarah. Maybe she was in a condition that Mai could reverse. Maybe Nathan would be in similar or better condition. There was still hope to get some people out of this alive. So she ran into the rubble and found the voice.
Hope was lost. Sarah. The beautiful mother laid on the floor with more than half of her body burned black. It froze Mai as she took in the sight. Sarah could see Mai standing there seemingly untouched. It brought a faint smile to her burnt face. “Oh great… You’re okay… That means N-Nathan is too… H-He got outside before…” Mai drops to her knees beside Sarah and lightly places a hand on the mother’s face while fighting back tears.
“I’m sorry…” Mai chokes on her words.
“N-No… Please… Get Nathan… H-He’s okay…” Sarah says weakly.
Mai nods as tears start falling down her face. “Okay, I’ll go get him.”
“Th-Thank you… Tell him mommy’s okay… D-Duke is okay too?” Her eyes look up to Mai.
“Of course he is.” She nods again as she wipes away tears that begin to roll down her cheeks.
“That’s great… Nathan will want…” That was all Sarah had in her. Her eyes went blank as she passed on.
Mai stands up as she continues to try and hold back her emotions. She can’t do a single thing here except watch everyone die from this attack. No one could do a damn thing and no one knows why this happened.
She begins to walk towards where Nathan would have been before the blast. Hoping against all logical reasons that somehow that little boy survived a blast like that. Please, let him at least be okay.
Once again Mai walked up on another charred body. Smaller though. Small enough to be a child. Mai’s hands gave off a greenish glow as she approached the body anyways. Again, she drops to her knees and picks up the small body in her arms. Maybe it was shock. Maybe she was still hopeful the boy was hanging on. Maybe she wanted to feel like she could do something. Mai places her hands on the boy’s chest as she clutches the body in her arms.
She couldn’t hold it anymore. She began to weep over the lives lost. She began to scream as everything was finally setting in. All of the destruction and bloodshed. Flashbacks of the war flooded her mind. She was having trouble catching her breath as she choked on her own screams. She couldn’t handle it. Why would someone do something this evil to good people? Why take the life of a little boy? Why not just take her? Let these people continue their lives and punish her instead. If she knew who to beg too in order to bring these people back she would. Titles didn’t matter to her. So what if she was the granddaughter of Lilith? So what if she was the Grandmaster of the Warlords? None of that meant shit to her. She just wanted everything to go back about five minutes. Maybe she could’ve stopped this somehow. If only she knew it was going to happen.
She began to hear two sets of footsteps and laughing. It was a man and a woman. The noise caused her to stop crying for a moment as she looked ahead to see who the footsteps belonged too. Why the hell were they laughing? Can’t they see what’s around them? Doesn’t the bodies disgust them? Doesn’t the destruction bother them? Who the fuck is laughing at a time like this?
The two were now close enough to see Mai clutching the child’s body in her arms. Her emerald green eyes locked right on them. Everyone stood in silence as sirens began to wail around them. Mai could notice the man. He was the one from before. The one that was tossed into the shop.
“Why are you holding onto that?” The woman finally asked Mai.
Something dark was building up in Mai. “His name was Nathan… And he just turned four today.”
“I’m sure, but why are you holding him? He’s just a human, there’s billions… More…” The woman stops talking as Mai sets down the body and begins to rise. Something heavy was oppressing the area. They were beginning to feel that Mai was something much more sinister than she looked.
“C’mon let’s get-“ The man is cut off when a wall of white diamond-like begins to form behind the two.
“I’m going to ask once… You will give me a name… Who did this?” Mai’s face may still be wet from her tears, but her expression was cold. She did not look her usual bubbly self at the moment.
“They’re just people-“ Again he was cut off, but this time it was because Mai’s foot had kicked his abdomen with enough force to send him into the white wall behind him.
“Bitch!” The woman shouts as she turns to Mai, but before she could move for an attack, Mai placed six punches to her abdomen and uppercuts her chin. Mai then grabs the woman’s shoulders and head-butts her before placing another kick to the abdomen which was followed by a spinning downwards kick to the back of her head.
The woman wasn’t knocked out yet, but she wasn’t having a good time. The male held out his hand as Mai picked up the girl by the hair. “Wait! I-It was an accident!” He was holding onto his side as he was still feeling the charged kick from Mai.
“An accident?” Mai asks as she keeps a tight grip on the woman’s hair but turns her gaze to the man.
“Yes, we were just having a little sparring session and she got a little carried away. I promise it won’t happen again. Please, she was just testing her fire control.” He seems to be pleading but the woman was getting ready to catch Mai by surprise.
The woman had gotten on one knee and placed a palm on her thigh. “Sort of like this-“ She was interrupted by a metal ball coming out of the ground, passing through her internal organs, and exiting through the back of her head and into Mai’s hand. She was dead. The ball had sucked out whatever soul belonged to the creature as it passed.
Mai crushed the ball in her hand to activate the armor. Pixels covered her body entirely before solidifying into an armor. The signature triple lined light blue lights flashed on for Mai’s helmet. Her Warlord armor had finally been activated after eight years of no use. The GM and the red cross still proudly displayed on her arms. Two blades extended out of the top of her wrists as she began to approach her opponent.
He tries to take a few steps back as he brings up his sword. “Damn lady, they were just humans!” He raises his sword to swing down on Mai’s head. She moves to cut his hands off at the wrists and stabs her left handed blade into his neck. She pushes him back while her right hand repeatedly stabs in his chest. Under her helmet her eyes were no longer the usual emerald green. They were white and blinded with rage. Everyone died here because of a stupid practice round. That boy died because that woman didn’t know how to control something as simple as fire. Useless. It was all useless. She was lost in her mind as she continued to stab her blade into his chest. He had already died. Mai wasn’t stopping though. She wasn’t sure when she was going to stop. Maybe when paramedics finally show. Who knows anymore?
One week later…
She was dressed in a black dress. Her expression was still blank. She hasn’t slept since the incident. She stood several meters away from the funeral service. A mother and her boy were being buried today. The father was left with a teen daughter. She was probably wondering why the caskets weren’t open for the funeral. Why she couldn’t see her little brother one last time. The father probably saw the burned bodies. Mai couldn’t bring herself to approach them. She tried all week to find a moment to speak with them, but she couldn’t do it. She felt so guilty. Like she should’ve stopped it. She was useless.
This wasn’t the only funeral today. There was hundreds. Obviously the world knows about the supernatural. It’s impossible to hide outbursts like that. But now more than ever people were calling for justice. Everyone was demanding that something was done to control these creatures of mass destruction. The Pentagon scrambled as they wrote up law after law, but still the question followed. Who would dare enforce them? Who would stand before unchecked powers and uphold the law? Most of these creatures existed before law. To them, this land was theirs. Guns didn’t scare them. A badge sure as hell wouldn’t make them think twice. Sure, maybe there was a few vigilantes out there, but most of them still had a price. There was something that could be offered to buy them off. Usually sex. Sometimes more power.
No one was going to respect laws. Especially if no one could enforce it. Mai could already see it. Another war. People getting sick and tired of being slaughtered for pointless reasons. Non-humans being pissed that their lands are being slowly destroyed. It’s exactly what kicked off the first war. What a fucked time.
“You’re a hard girl to find, Mai Ortega.” A woman in a black suit and blue tie approaches Mai. Her dark brown hair was short, and it looked wet. Her eyes were brown and looked like they don’t sleep.
“Maybe I don’t want to be found.” She speaks to the other woman as she eyes her up and down. “The government really is desperate if they sent a human to arrest me.” She looks back to the funeral service.
“No, I’m not here for that. That’s Maxson’s job.” The woman puts her hands in her pockets as she looks at the service as well. “People like them die around the world every week… For reasons just as dumb as this one. We just had a group clean up thirty bodies because this girl got dumped. Thirty people killed in a girl’s temper tantrum.”
“I don’t want to join your stupid-“ Mai is cut off by the other woman.
“Then it’s prison.”
“I’d like to see you try.” And already Mai has the metal ball in her hand.
“Kill me and you’ll resume the war that killed your mother and drove your father mad.”
“Don’t you dare!” Mai screams.
“You’ve hunted and killed over forty supernatural beings in the past seven days!”
“They were using unchecked powers!”
“You’re the unchecked power, Mai!”
It came full circle. Mai was already wanted for abusing power. The FBI had a cell with her name on it. This woman was right though. Mai is unchecked. She’s been roaming around killing non-humans. Judging them and sentencing them to death. It was only a matter of time before she completely lost control and wiped out an entire city.
“Listen, I get what you’re going through-“
“You have no idea what I felt there.”
“Feeling useless? Oh I get it Mai. I’m human. I’m also a woman. Not sure if you’ve been noticing your surroundings but I’m not exactly given respect. I’ve had plenty of times where I’ve watched my friends ripped limb from limb and even as I tried to stop it… I was a single ant trying to push a lion.”
Mai stood quiet now. For a human, this woman knew how to talk. Still, Mai wasn’t ready to buy whatever this woman wanted from her. “Who are you anyways? Some sort of agent?”
She smirks at the remark and shakes her head. “I was. Not anymore. The name’s Ciera. I’m the Secretary of National Defense. Also known as the last voice standing between all-out war and a peaceful resolution.”
“What do you want with me?” Mai asks as she turns to look at Ciera.
“Maxson came to me and presented a file to me and told me he was on his way to arrest you. All he needed was my approval.”
“So? Where is he?”
“Obviously I didn’t sign the order.”
“Why not? He’s right to do so.”
“Because I don’t believe you’re useless, Mai. I believe you’re misused. I read the file. You’ve done so much for people that I couldn’t stand the thought of you rotting in a cell.”
“I didn’t do anything back there. I sat by and watched as hundreds were incinerated.”
“Because you were there as a doctor,” At this moment Ciera reached into her coat and pulled out an FBI badge, “And not as an agent. Imagine what you could’ve done if you were there with your shield. Imagine what you could do with a trained fire team and proper weapons to engage the enemy.”
“I’m not a soldier-“
“You’ll be a peacemaker. Mai you have the chance right now to make a difference in the world. To save people from what happened. You’ll be helping me prevent the war from starting. I know you can see it. If we make these creatures respect the law then we can avoid a war that history has already told us doesn’t work… You want me to come out and say it fine… Mai, we need you. What you did in the Warlords is unrivaled. I need you to stop the actual apocalypse from happening.”
Mai stood in silence as she considered her next words. She still looked at the funeral as the two caskets were being lowered into the dirt. Could she really do it? Could this human really prevent the chaos that was coming? She was definitely in the position to do so. Maybe she really did need Mai. Maybe she was telling the truth. The alternative is Mai being at the end of Maxson’s sword.
…
“They get whatever they need for as long as their family lives.”
“Done.”
“Give the girl a puppy.”
“We have a German Shepard pup-“
“No, give her a beagle.”
“That’s fine I wanted the German Shepard anyways.”
Mai turns to look at Ciera again whom is holding out the FBI badge. Mai looks at it for a moment before taking the badge in her left hand. For the first time in seven days a faint smile reached Mai’s lips again. She was getting the feeling of purpose again. Like she might be actually doing something for people.
Mai reaches out her hand to shake Ciera’s. “When do I start?”
She eagerly takes Mai’s hand. “Your plane leaves to New York tomorrow. I’ll be sure Maxson is there to escort you. You let me know if you ever need anything from me and I promise I’ll get it to you in no time.” She gets her phone out and begins walking away. “I’ll be by your place in the morning to get you. We’re going to change the world, Mai Ortega!”
Mai couldn’t help but smile at the enthusiasm while she looks down at the badge again. FBI Agent. Anti-terrorism. It seems she had some homework to do for the next few days. She looks back up at the funeral before quietly speaking to herself.
“Yea… I sure hope so.”
END.
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