The Furies #12

The Furies #12

"Pop, pop, pop goes the weasel! Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, it's time for my big debut!"

Everyone who was stationed at Gregori Sokolov's manor would be staring at the woman who goes by the name of Evepool. She was hired by the dictator to be a guard should the rebels of his small country barge their way into his home. And now here she was, posing flamboyantly amidst a situation that was dire for her employer and his soldiers currently present.

The situation she would be in had involved the abrupt attack of the rebels own hired help, the group calling themselves the X-Furies; a band of three--minus four at the moment--females who operates from the sovereign island of Madripoor.

They had been enlisted by rebel captain Dimitri Fraye to assist in the annihilation of Sokolov's forces that had them beat in numbers.

In the span of one week and a half of fighting, the rebels have managed to gain leeway over their enemies, and have lead to them sending the super-powered mercenaries to attack the manor and apprehend the dictator for the rebels.

Now the group was facing off against those who protected the manor, with the spandex wearing wannabe acting as their enemy.

"Oh wait..." The woman dressed in red and black squinted within her mask at the trio of deadly women and abruptly gasped when seeing one of them. "Hey! Hey, I you! But where...?" She scratched at her head while focusing her eyes on the ginger with a band that looked to have cat ears on her head. "... Somewhere in Singapore... Noodle shop... Cut fish... Sackpit?"

"Sekhmet, ya idjit!" Growled Taylor when hearing her codename be mispronounced in front of her.

"OH YEAH! SEKHMET! Hah, funny. You got an Egyptian name but you aren't Egyptian. Aren't you Finnish?" Evepool would asked casually to the woman who only growled at her. "Ah, it's no biggie. Don't take this the wrong way, kitty-cat, but my boss wants me to totally smack you and your gal-pals down a peg -- apparently he wants to prove his authority... Although I think he might be compensating for something that isn't appropriate to young readers."

"Young readers...?" Eto blinked with a confused expression.

"Yeah, young readers! The smaller audience that reads. Can't go saying things, or else we get a problem with, ahem, hem-tay of the ommunity-cay, comprende?" Evepool would have left the three utterly confused on what she was saying. Andrea would sign and look over at her allies and said, "I care little about the ramblings of a fool. Let's just get this over with." The three stood there ground, readying themselves as the mercenary standing in their way twirled both of the desert eagles she had in both hands. "You know, I never thought I'd have my moment shine -- thought I'd be one of those characters that are just reserved, collect dust, but here I am, about to throwdown with you guys. If I do well, maybe I can get my own storyline going. OH, OH, MAYBE MY OWN TEAM OF MISFITS!"

"..... She's not all there is she?" Asked Eto to Taylor, who said in return, "Ya have no idea, ninja girl."

------

Sokolov, the man who ruled that unnamed country, would be present in his home; watching their confrontation begin as he felt the sudden vibration in his pocket. From it, a cellphone was raised and placed against his right ear as he said, "Yes?" A voice spoke from the other end, quietly and only allowing for him to hear alone. It would speak to him and a cold sweat slowly formed on his face while he nodded three times.

"I see... And if I do this, will I attain true power beyond man?" He would ask into the phone whilst staring at his mercenary take on all three women at once in a display of swords, guns, and acrobatics that could only be defined as superhuman. When seeing them move, there was a hint of jealousy for those born with the aptitude for more than being ordinary -- becoming extraordinary in one's capabilities that were handed down the moment they were born, or underwent a circumstance that made them more than a mere man. It was the motivation for him to be one who came from Russia, and dominated the small country he would rule for nearly a decade. And now, as it was obvious that sooner or later will his reign fall.

So he sighed and turned around towards his desk to show a metal briefcase that was partly cracked open.

".... Yes, I understand. I won't let you down." He finished the call and closed the phone while going to the case. Inside it, his hand would retrieve an injection filled with a blue substance, labeled as TN1-8. "The ace in the hole..." Sokolov said with a look of awe, before jamming it into the base of his neck. A pained moan immediately followed as the contents of the injection would flow into his veins, and caused him to stagger around the office and slump against the desk with his nails clawing on it's wooden surface. All he could do was groan before sighing... and then smiling.

------

"Yowza, You guys are really fast!" Evepool would be in the middle of a one on three fight between herself and the Furies.

She would be flipping over a parked truck while the Fury with the codename "Sekhmet" attacking her with her claws puncturing through the truck's head; missing her target by a hair. Evepool sighed in relief, but then ducked to avoid a swing from Andrea's slash that was aimed directly for the head; maneuvering with a roll as she then pulled out her gun to fire at the two ladies behind her.

Ninpo would dash from the side, a kunai in hand that would slash the gun in two, along with the index finger that held the trigger.

"OW! THAT HURTS!" Exclaimed Evepool before leaping with a flip away from another slash of that small knife held by the woman who now worked in unison with her two Furies. "Okay, I wanted to be nice, but you forced my hand! Now you get the katanas!"

With both hands did the mercenary yank out her set of katanas from behind her back -- twirling and spinning them before aiming at the trio.

Sekhmet would growl when noticing the two weapons and said, "Careful. She ain't the type to be taken lightly."

"She has some really nimble moves, and she barely reacted to having her index cut off," said Ninpo with a focused look. "What is she, a mutant like you guys?"

Evepool laughed at this, fixed her posture and said, "Nah, I'm no mutant. And no, I didn't get my powers from some freak accident, magical elements, or a fricking radioactive spider. I got them from a taco!"

None of them said a word in response to this declaration.

Andrea herself closed her one eye, and sheathed one of the swords in her grasp with a sigh. "... I care little for this. I'm going for Sokolov -- you two deal with this buffoon."

"Hey, I'm being serious. A taco gave me my powers -- hey, where'd she go?" In the blink of an eye, within the span of a single second, Andrea had disappeared from her two associates' side; having shown herself behind Evepool. The sword she had was dripping with blood, and the spandex wearing wannabe's left hand fell to the ground, and diced into pieces by the century old mutant with that sword in her hand.

".... Hoo boy... You're definitely an A-hole for that," commented Evepool to the woman who nonchalantly made her way towards the estate.

"One handed now eh... Guess it makes sense for the theatrics of things -- oh look a beach goer and a ninja," Evepool would notice the two other Furies rush her without any intent of holding back, even with herself becoming disarmed.

Surprise, surprise though, she would immediately twirl her katana backhanded, and begin blocking both of their attacks that had claws and knives. It had shocked the two for a moment to see such precision in defense, and movement that could rival those of the Hand's finest killers -- Ninpo being one of them. "I gotta HAND it to you two, you guys got me wondering about how to get out of this without losing my noggin!" She said before delivering a hard kick to Sekhmet that sent her rolling away, and ducking and throwing Ninpo overhead into the nearby truck. "Ow... Geez, how did you deal with this weirdo, Sekh?" Ninpo groaned as her back ached from making a hard with the truck's side. When she had asked this, she would see the ginger lying beside a dead soldier while having her mouth over the exposed arm. She would then raise her head and expose her mouth to have blood creeping from it, with both of those emerald eyes becoming red and more catlike.

"With some blood... And a reason to kill a moron." Sekhmet growled as her claws became curved like hooks from her fingertips, with a wide smile that shown her canines were like a cat's. Evepool saw this and gasped, "Holy crap! She's blood drunk! I reading something about that -- like a weird version of berserker's rage, but with blood! That's so cool!"

With a stance resembling a predator on all fours, ready to pounce, Sekhmet looked at Ninpo and said, "Follow my lead, will ya?" Her tone was more aggressive and it had a gutteral sound that mixed with her growling.

Immediately the two rushed at the one-handed woman who raised her katana to continue the fight.

------

Men screamed at the top of their lungs, followed by the sound of meat being cut apart by a sword held by Andrea. She was wandering the halls of the estate seeking Sokolov, and killing any solder that opposed her. One of them even emerging from a corner where her blindspot was(thanks to her eyepatch), raising a knife with the intent to stab at her.

"Urgh--!!" Andrea's sword that was firmly held in her right hand had immediately slashed the soldier across his torso; a line forming quickly with a gush of blood that was like a fountain as the woman kept on walking, not even looking back as that man's torso slid off his waist and fell splat on the ground dead. The sheer focus she had was set on taking Sokolov and handing him over to the rebels that were waiting on her team back in the city that was three miles back the way they came. For the span of a week had she and her Furies fought in a way that seemed meaningless -- albeit from her point of view.

She had lived over two long centuries, and have seen many countries like this one fall and be led by another -- sometimes better, sometimes worse. And she had only known the man, Dimitri, to be someone reliable and perhaps strong enough to lead the nation. But to Andrea, humans tend to change with time, and with such time, ideals become warped; freedom slowly corrupting unto subjugation with it being deemed for the "greater good" of the people. It was a broken record to her, one she found tiresome while moving and cutting down any and all who appeared in front of her while in thought.

The sooner she found Sokolov, the sooner she and her Furies could get paid and return to their headquarters back home. She had just recalled her third member(for altogether)Fury doing an assignment in Japan -- her little half-sister codenamed Ratel. Andrea had sent her on a task that would test her ability as a mercenary that didn't solely act as a contract killer. However, neither have spoken since their departure. Andrea herself preferring the distancing of her younger kin, who's actions were more of. vigilante than an outright killer, like her, Ninpo, and Sekhmet who's calling was killing others when on contract.

Andrea had known that her sister was different, and in truth... wanted to Ratel to fail, not to spite or to punish the teen, but to convince her to return home -- to New York. This feeling, Andrea kept to herself from her Furies.

But she did wonder though on why she hadn't received any calls from the brooding and volatile teenager; feeling some concern, though not outwardly that made her stoicism break from her expression that made Andrea, well... Andrea.

"You better be okay... Pup."

Andrea then paused in her walk down a hall, and found herself to be met by six armed soldiers who's AK-47s were aimed directly at her. "....." Her cold and monotone gaze that her left eye always kept had looked at them who were ready to fire, should she make any sudden moves. Instead, Andrea had made her body slowly lower with the sword she gripped be placed against her hip by it's handle.

"Don't move, outsider! Move and you'll be shot down!" A soldier commanded her to remain still once she was on the floor of the hallway.

She didn't say a word. Neither did she blink with the one eye she had exposed. A light and gentle inhale was all she made... then suddenly bursting forward in a sight of great speed and agility that had her opposition left in a brief daze.

What could be described from their perspective of what had occured, is a blurring motion that sped forward at them.

"GYaaah...!

"Uuuuurgh...!!"

"Aaah...!!!"

The sounds of death rattles would fill the hallway as each of those six men would find themselves with deep lacerations that had severed arteries and causing their blood to flow out of them without wavering.

A low and abrupt sigh crept out of Andrea, who would be on a knee behind the six she had quickly killed with the sword she had. She continued onwards as the soldiers crumbled to the ground out of the lethal attack done to them in less than half a minute.

Her wandering led to the office doors of Sokolov on the third floor of the estate he calls home. "Hm..." She grunted quietly before kicking the door in and stepping inside. Immediately did Andrea find the dictator sitting there in his chair, slumped into it with arms hanging on each of the armrests. Sokolov would be groaning as the woman approached him and raised her sword to have it pointed toward his head.

"... So you have come for my head, eh?" Asked Sokolov to the mercenary who said nothing in respons. "Do you know I am, woman -- WHAT I AM!?" His voice grew louder, and yet no response from the woman still. "I was this country's leader, it's treasure! When I came here, it was a backwater cesspool nobody had ever heard of; Russia didn't even care for it. Yet I did, and I built it up; Me and those who defected created a country worthy of iration and power! It would have been glorious if not for this... rebel scum, and you outsiders meddling in affairs not your own."

"Are you finished?" Andrea coldly asked the man, showing no care for his self-glorified speech about the country. Again, she had the sword aimed on him, and then quickly performed a quick, vertical slash when Sokolov had meagerly attempted to raise a simple revolver that he had hidden in his coat.

"GYAAAAH-HAAAAH...!!!" The dictator collapsed and held the stump that used to be his right hand. Andrea had cut it off with a clean slice that same hand falling some ways beside them on the carpet. He could feel that intense pain, and the phantom of feeling his fingers move despite no longer having that appendage present.

".... Are you finished, now?" Andrea asked him with her weapon now close to the top of his head.

Sokolov's body would be hunched and himself breathing in a shallow pace. Then would he start to laugh; growing louder and louder, until it was rather maniacal as he hid his face from his aggressor.

"You stupid, b@$ch... You don't know what I am," he would say, then suddenly shoot up and grab hold of Andrea's throat and lifting her up off the ground. Her one eye briefly widened before driving her sword straight through his chest, and out the other side. Strangely enough, no blood had barely been shown when having sounded him, and naturally did Andrea wonder about this. Sokolov would smile with the stump on his right arm suddenly shown tendrils emerging from it. They writhed as they formed something that baffled the cold woman; A whole new hand, skin and all.

"Hm...?"

"Surprised, outsider? I have become more than a mere man now!" Said Sokolov before throwing Andrea across the room, to which she flipped and landed while sliding some ways away. She watched Sokolov smile at that newly grown hand, then said, "I have been blessed just like your kind! I have become a true god!"

Andrea slowly stood up straight, then assumed a stance that was readying herself for combat.

"Now face my swift and brutal judgement, worm!" Sokolov said loudly as tendrils from that hand would burst out and shoot at Andrea. The woman, in a display of great speed and precision, had performed various slashes that sliced away the strange appendages. It had caught him of guard; more so when she closed the gap between them and made two cuts -- slicing off both of his arms simultaneously as she leapt over him, then landing with a sliding motion behind him.

For a span of two seconds that had ed, Sokolov's arms immediately grew those tendrils resembling that of gray thorns, which constructed new arms. He laughed and turned around quickly with one of them raised to throw a punch. In response, Andrea raised her guard to block the attack with the side of her weapon. "H-Hrn?" She was silently shocked by the strength behind it, which made even her stagger backwards from the force. But Sokolov didn't stop there, as he let out a strange sound, like that of a "wrrrrry" while manifesting more tendrils to slam down overhead.

Outside the building, where both Ninpo and Sekhmet were busy with the wannabe mercenary Evepool, a loud crash had made those three pause in their attention to face that. They would see Andrea fly through the air above them, and land on her knee with a pained expression and various scratches all over her face and arms.

"Wolfe!" Ninpo said, then heard Sokolov's laughter erupt from the large hole that was once a window to his office. The tendrils he had would be writhing from both his arms, and said, "Witness me and my evolution, worms! I am more than a mere man! I am a king, a god absolute in name and in being!"

Evepool, staring at him, would say, "I told him he was the bad guy. This is classic, textbook, villain stuff right here... Hmm. Am I still getting paid or...?"

Sokolov would look towards the woman he had hired to protect him, grew a scowl on his face as he answered. "Your services are no longer needed, you loudmouth sycophant! Now leave before I turn my attention to you first!"

The mercenary frowned underneath her mask when her answer wasn't fully given on the "will he, won't he pay me" part. So she formed a smile, turned to the three women and said, "Yo, X-Furies, minus one other Fury--want a temporary forth member and go ape-s#@t on this guy?"

"... What?"

"Uh...?"

"......"

"That's no a no~~~? So? Team-up? Eh? Eh?"

Both Furies looked at their leader, who patted herself down as her scratches would heal from the large attack dealt to her by those tendrils.

She knew that he had developed some kind of power, but didn't know how. And considering Evepool had been working with him, perhaps it was best to take advantage of the woman's rather... unique perspective of things.

"... So be it." Andrea said softly, causing both Ninpo and Sekhmet to blink in surprise. "Rockin'! You won't regret this! This is the start a beautiful and awesome friendship!"

Sekhmet groaned and whispered, "Note to self, rip out her tongue when all this is over."

"You foolish bugs will face the might of I, Gregori Sokolov!"

He declared loudly and allowed the tendrils to touch the ground he was standing on, then use them to leap high from the Estate and onto the ground, several feet away from them in a cloud of dirt from the landing.

The Furies and the additional ally they had received would prepare to engage him.

------

"It would appear that the test has begun, master."

Someone cloaked in a black hood would speak into a flip phone, looking through a pair of binoculars to be observing the beginning of the fight. "Yes, he has used the prototype vial. It's proven to be potent, judging by the looks of the result. Of course, I'll make sure to record the field data. Will talk soon."

With a click of the phone being shut, this stranger would watch through black tinted glasses, and a scarf that covered their mouth and nose.

Whatever is happening, this is the start of it.

To be continued

•Me, being real:

Now I won't lie, I've been doing this for... for over a year and some change. Officially, I've been on Amino for six years; reason why it says 1 year on profile is because it was my 2nd after me 1st got deactivated. But I never really thought about making stories until I made the second , and finding myself making characters that I later grew fond of.

And if you know me(maybe not lol), you know that I would always post my Ratel oc's many adventures, along with a few others in the community. Now, I won't lie, it's nice to have a few good likes to what I post -- really makes me feel, I guess, worth something to a community that I come to love above all else. Maybe that doesn't mean anything, heck I could he rambling digitally. But I wanted to say that I enjoy typing up these stories, and make it a mission to post as i can -- NOT for the likes(though it is appreciated), but because it's what I love to do and always have I wanted to be a writer since I was a wee kid. I'm not naive enough to say I'm a great writer, and that I definitely can improve on my skills. But knowing that some people read what I write, and that I find inspiration through comics and even motivation to continue when I'm down in the dumps some days, fills me with gratitude.

So hopefully, I can keep this up for however long I can.

But for now, I just wanted to say thanks to that small few in the community, and that I love ya fellow geeks.

Until then, see ya in the next post. :smile_cat: :ok_woman: 🏾‍♀