• The helicopter flew overtop the overcrowded city of Zeus. The mission briefing buzzed through Marek's Headphones.
    "Terrorist forces have captured military train 117-ZX. The Train is carrying a cargo of nuclear power rods that are to be installed in the new generator. Your mission is to retrieve the power cells, destroy the insurrection, and clean the area of evidence of all activities. Mission begins on my mark: 3...2...1... Mark.”
    Marek rose from his seat and moved towards the helicopter doors, clutching the rapier at his side. He pulled open the door and looked down on the train below which held the precious cargo.
    Marek took a deep breath, and three steps backwards, then flung himself out the door hurdling towards the train at top speed.
    "3rd class Marek on the job!” He shouted with a laugh as he hit the train, using his sword to slice at the trains steel hull to cushion the fall.
    The clang of the steel alerted the guards sitting in the compartment below. One popped his head out of a compartment on the roof to see what caused the noise. Before he could shout for help his decapitated body fell back into the train.
    Marek slipped his body through the open door. “Hello boys! You miss me?”
    The terrorists drew their guns at the mysterious intruder, but before they could fire off a single shot, Marek’s sword shot out like a bolt of lightning slicing off his foes thumbs. They dropped there weapons in searing pain.
    “Now, now boys! Is that any way to treat a guest?”
    One of the men rushed at Marek, with a pair of iron knuckles. Marek countered the fools blow, tossing him out of the speeding train.
    “Two guards left,” Marek thought to himself.
    One of the terrorists turned his head to shout a warning to the rest of the car to warn of the intruder, but no sound left his mouth. Marek’s sword had punctured his neck, severing his vocal chords. The last guard collapsed dead to the ground, as a dagger shot out of Marek’s sleeve, mirroring the fatal blow.
    The dagger slid back up his sleeve as Marek talked into the radio piece in his ear. “Knight One to Valkirie. Do you read me? Over.”
    The radio buzzed. “Loud and clear Knight One”
    “Valkirie, infiltration successful proceeding to phase two.”
    “Roger Knight One. Initiating phase two.”
    Marek ran over to the next car, and slid behind a crate while pulling a silenced pistol out of its holster.
    “Ok, three guards are surrounding the power rods.” Marek mused, “three guards, three bullets. If I can penetrate the frontal lobe of the cranium, I should be able to take care of them quickly and quietly.”
    Marek popped up from his shelter, and fired three well timed shots. One guard down, two guards down, third guard down.
    “Perfect.” Marek whispered to himself. “Valkirie, this is Knight One. Package secure.”
    “Roger that Knight one. Prepare for pickup.”
    The helicopter flew overhead, and tossed down a cable to pick up the power cells and Marek. Marek walked over to inspect the cells, to make sure they were intact. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he picked up movement. One of the terrorists had survived. His helmet had stopped the bullet from destroying his brain. Before Marek could do anything, he hit a panic button on his wrist. Marek rushed over, but it was too late. The entire train had burst into flames. Then, everything went black. The words “mission failed” flashed in front of Marek.
    “No! I was so close!” Marek shouted throwing off his virtual training goggles.
    A man entered the virtual arena. “Hitting the virtual missions again kid?”
    “Yeah Kyne… I just can’t seem to figure out the Hijack mission!” Marek panted; exhausted from the physical exertion of the virtual mission he had just failed.
    Kyne wore a red jacket, long black hair, stood roughly six feet tall, and wore a fake arm, which he had lost as a boy.
    “Well how about we leave the ‘playground’ and head into the field?” Kyne laughed.
    “Wha-you got me a mission? That’s great!” Marek beamed.
    “You got it kiddo. Meet me in the briefing room when you’re ready to roll.” Kyne said, leaving the virtual room, the digital environment seeming to disintegrate around him, to reveal a pure white room, with a door on one side.
    Some time later Marek meandered into the briefing room.
    “Glad to see you could make it,” Kyne waved Marek over with his mechanical arm.
    “I wouldn’t miss it for all the gold in Camelot! So what do we have today?” Marek patted Kyne on the back.
    “Do you remember back when you first became my Paige? When that ring of yours almost killed that kid?” Kyne said motioning to the ring around Marek’s finger.
    “Yeah…That wasn’t good” Marek said with his head hung low.
    “Well, we finally have a lead.” An image popped up on a computer monitor near the pair. “This man is called Giovanni. We believe he is running an underground crime syndicate. Current whereabouts are unknown, but he must be somewhere in the city of Zeus above us. We believe that he hired someone to strategically place the ring where you could find it. This raises some questions though. What would he gain by putting a weapon in the hands of a child, and how does he know about us down here in Camelot?”
    “How should I know? I was only a kid at the time?” Marek retorted.
    “This is where our mission comes in. We are going to run some reconnaissance to see if we can pick up on his trail. The sooner we find him, the sooner we get some answers. Are you with me?” Kyne asked Marek.
    “I’m way ahead of you!” Marek said, twirling a pair of keys on his finger, a light dancing in his eyes.
    Soon, Kyne and Marek were zooming through the streets of Zeus above in a Ferrari hover-jet, the essence of style.
    “How did you get a hold of this jet?” Kyne questioned his Paige.
    “Well let’s just say I borrowed it from someone on my last mission.” Marek said slyly.
    Just then the video screen on the dashboard lit up. A woman’s face was on it.
    “How did I know you to idiots took my car?” The woman muttered.
    “Speak of the Devil,” Marek whispered to Kyne.
    “Hello Sara. I’m sorry, Marek ‘forgot’ to inform me that this was your car.” Kyne stuttered out a response.
    “Listen you two, I know you’re on some important mission, and I’m far to busy back at the lab to hunt you down now, so I will tell you this: if you so much as put a scratch my on baby, you better hope that you both die in the process, because I guarantee you, death will be better than the hell I’ll put you through.” Sara warned sinisterly.
    “Hey don’t worry so much! This bucket of bolts will be fine!” Marek laughed while turning off the monitor.
    “You know we’re both dead, right?” Kyne worriedly said to Marek.
    “Do you want to be buried or cremated?” Marek said as they continued into the slums of the town.
    A few minutes later, the pair stopped by a small building with a picture of a bottle of alcohol above the door.
    “Our informant is in here. Park the car and don’t forget to lock the door. I’ll meet you inside.” Kyne commanded Marek.
    “You got it boss!” Marek responded.
    Kyne hopped out of the car, and Marek trailed behind, glancing at the sights around him his master walked into what seemed to be a tavern, surrounded by tall buildings and alleyway. Marek jogged to catch up to his master.
    Kyne pointed to the corner where a man under a hooded cloak sat. A tail protruded from the back. “Do you see that Hybrid over there?”
    “Yeah. He looks a bit paranoid. What’s up with him?” Marek responded.
    “That is our informant.” Kyne responded coolly while walking towards the cat-man.
    “Hello Jerry! Good to see you again!” Kyne said cheerfully.
    “Yeah, yeah, I guess you’re here for the goods,” Jerry said, removing his hood to reveal a feline face with orange fur and bright green eyes. He had a portly build, like the housecat he had borrowed DNA from.
    “Ah, you know me too well! What do you say? The regular price?” Kyne proceeded to pull out a box.
    “Hahaha! What are you going to pay him with? A ball of string?” Marek laughed at his own joke.
    Jerry glared crossly at Marek and gave a loud hiss. Kyne shot an angry look at Marek.
    “Just for that, the price just doubled!” Jerry said dangling an envelope out from his cloak.
    “Fine, take them. Just give me the information.” Kyne said impatiently pushing the box to Jerry.
    Jerry opened the box greedily pulling out a live white mouse by the tail. He held it over his mouth as it squeaked and squirmed. He dropped it into his jaws, slurping up the tail like a spaghetti noodle.
    “Ah that hit the spot!” Jerry said, patting his plump belly. He leaned closer to Kyne and whispered to him. “Well recently I have been hacking my way through the Sylph Corporation’s Email service. Nothing was out of the ordinary, just the standard memos and workplace romance garbage.” Jerry slurped up a second mouse. “But just recently I intercepted an email from a scientist who went by the name Dr. Simpson. The email was going to a man named...” A trickle of red blood dripped from Jerry’s forehead, just before he collapsed on the table, dead.
    Kyne spun around, just in time to see a cloaked feminine figure run out the door.
    “Quick after her!” Marek shouted while sprinting through the door.
    Kyne picked up the envelope and said goodbye to his dead friend before running after his rash Paige.
    Marek ran out the door fast enough to see the woman bolting down the street.
    “Stop!” Marek shouted, sprinting after the figure.
    The figure, hearing the shouts of her pursuer, stretched and sprinted on all fours, her cloak flying off in her wake, exposing her spotted cheetah skin and long tail.
    “Oh just great!” Marek groaned “ Another Hybrid!”
    Just then Marek spotted a motorbike about to pass him. Marek stuck out the dull end of his sword and braced himself, close-lining the cyclist. Marek quickly hopped on the flashy yellow chassis and continued his chase after the mystery woman.
    The hybrid flashed in and out of traffic, taking more and more ground. But Marek was right behind her, and gaining ground slowly, but surely.
    “Marek! Marek! Can you read me? It’s Kyne.” Marek’s earpiece chirped.
    “Loud and clear! What is it? Where are you?” Marek yelled against the wind.
    “Marek, judging by her path, she is trying to escape across the irrigation dam. Follow her; I’ll cut her off on the other side of the dam.”
    “Roger that!” Marek turned off his earpiece and continued streaking closer to his target. This time she was prepared. The assassin leapt high into the air with the extreme strength of her legs. She deftly pulled a small revolver out from a holster around her waist, shooting the driver of a nearby car. The car spun out of control, crashing into more cars, causing a snowball effect and a moving barrier for Marek.
    “Is that all you got?” Marek taunted, unsheathing his blade to slice the oncoming cars out of his way.
    The hybrid had finally reached the dam and skidded to a halt halfway across, seeing the car on the other side appear out from behind a clump of trees. Kyne and Marek exited their vehicles.
    “You can give up now.” Kyne yelled at the hybrid. “It’s a twenty story drop to the bottom. Even you couldn’t survive that fall. Just tell us who you are, and who you are working for.”
    The Hybrid gave a small chuckle before saying, “My name is Hudlet. And the rest is none of your business!” With that, Hudlet threw herself off the protrusion.
    Marek reached out to jump after her. Kyne quickly grabbed him back.
    “Wait you fool!” Kyne condemned Marek.
    They watched Hudlet plummet further towards her doom. Then suddenly, she pulled a chord on the pack on her back. A small parachute flew out of its case, and she sailed off into the blackness of the orchid tree forest of the farmlands, leaving Kyne and Marek in her dust.
    “Well,” Kyne stuttered, “I wasn’t expecting that”
    “Yeah…”Marek agreed. “I guess cats do have nine lives!”
    Kyne groaned at the terrible joke.
    A few hours later, Kyne and Marek were back at the underground city known as Camelot, going over the email they had taken from the envelope on Jerry’s dead body. The email read:
    G,
    Test subject no. 2 nervous system responding
    Experiment success.
    -S.
    “Arg! What does it mean?” Marek beat his head frustrated.
    “Relax.” Kyne responded calmly. “If we pull up Dr. Simpson’s file on record…” Kyne typed in a few words into a keypad. A picture of a middle aged man popped up on the screen.
    “Here we are!” Kyne said excitedly. “Dr. Stuart Simpson. He's a biological scientist working for the Sylph Corporation. His experiments have been off record for the past two years.”
    “Well, let’s pay a house call on the doctor!” Marek said excitedly.
    “Let us indeed!” Kyne agreed. “But this time, let’s not use Sara’s car.”
    “Agreed.” Marek said with a gulp.
    --------------------------------------(*)-----------------------------------------------------
    A few hours later, the pair were outside the corporation’s headquarters in a black van. Inside they were choosing their weapons like a golfer chooses his clubs.
    “Hmm,” Marek muttered “I think I’ll take the broadsword, the throwing knives and flash grenades.”
    “Good choices.” Kyne complimented while looking at his steel arm. “ Of course, I will take this.” He said pointing at the ring on his finger.
    “Hey! Transforming your arm is cheating!” Marek complained.
    “Ha! Your only saying that ‘cuz you can’t use your ring yet!” Kyne said, his hand extending into a long lustrous blade. I’ll also take my scarlet broadsword,” patting the intricately designed crimson sword on his side.
    “You 1st rank knights and your toys,” Marek mumbled.
    “That’s right, maybe some day you’ll work your way up to this level of expertise, but for now I’m in command.”
    The man driving the van shouted to the back. “E.M.P. live in ten seconds! Brace for impact!”
    “The E.M.P. is an electro magnetic pulse that deactivates all security in this entire district.” Kyne explained. “It should give us enough time to do our dirty work.”
    Just then they heard an explosion. The lights went out in the car.
    “Ok! We’re a go! All of our communications are out so you two are in the dark! Go!” The man in the front yelled.
    Kyne and Marek rushed out of the van and up to the glass entryway, smashing through the window. Once inside Kyne rushed over to the receptionist desk, which was empty at this time of night.
    Kyne ran his finger down the list of offices and labs. “Sims…Simon…Simpson!” Found it! Room 318 floor Underground 3.”
    Marek was already running down the stairs, taking them four at a time.
    After a few minutes of searching around in the darkness left in the wake of the E.M.P., Kyne found a door that read; “Lab 5 Dr. Simpson. Authorized personnel only.”
    Kyne unsuccessfully tried to pick the lock. Marek looked at him and laughed.
    “Allow me.” He smashed the door wide open with his foot.
    Right afterward, the lights came flickering back on.
    “Just in time.” Kyne said.
    Rushing in, following the sound of voices, the duo hid behind a generator.
    In the middle of the room was a giant cylinder of liquid, where the corpse of a mysterious beast lay floating in suspended animation.
    “Hey! I recognize that voice!” Marek whispered. “It’s Hudlet!”
    Kyne nodded. “The other voice must be Simpson.”
    “Listen Simpson! We had a deal!” Hudlet shouted. “I run your little errands, kill your enemies, and in return, you give me the vaccination for my bodies decomposition!”
    “All in time fool! It’s really your fault for becoming a Hybrid. You should have known better with your condition than to get your DNA spliced! No. I still need you.” Simpson’s voice cackled.
    “For what?” Hudlet said defiantly “You have the device! What else do you need?”
    “I need someone to test it on!” Simpson cracked a wicked grin while pointing a handgun at the Hybrid. “You see, this machine, reanimates corpses. I need a corpse to test. There is no way I am going to sell this to Giovanni if it doesn’t work properly! I must be able to control you! With it I can make an army! Giovanni can have it when I’m done with it!”
    A look of terror entered Hudlet’s cat like face, the cheetah ears on top of her head folded against her scalp.
    Just then a knife flew through the air, knocking Simpson’s gun to the ground.
    “Not today Simpson!” Marek stood sword drawn, facing his foe.
    “Who the heck are you?” Simpson shouted in anger.
    Kyne stepped out from behind the generator to accompany his Paige, shaking his head in amusement. “Well this isn’t exactly stealth, but it will have to do now wont it. Hand over the girl and the device.
    “Oh, while you’re at it I suppose you won’t tell us how to find Giovanni?”
    Dr. Simpson screeched in his insanity. Pulling a strange device out of his lab coat pocket, he shot a blast at the giant cylinder in the middle of the room, “Now you will all die for your audacity!”
    The case burst open, water flooding the floor, spewing forth its occupant. It stood 15 feet tall and had green scales on its back. It had the head and tail of a crocodile, the arms of a gorilla and the legs of an elephant.
    “I’ll take that as a no.” Kyne said to himself.
    Marek rushed over to Hudlet. “Are you all right?”
    “Why are you helping me? I’m fine!” Hudlet snapped.
    “Sorry, Knight’s code, you never leave a damsel in distress. You should get out of here before things get to ugly” Marek responded.
    Hudlet stood up. “I think I’ll stay. I want to see this.”
    .
    Marek looked over to see Dr. Simpson strapping himself into a machine cackling to himself.
    “And now to test the command center!” Dr. Simpson said, strapping himself into the machine. “I will link with my creation to my mind!” As soon as the beast opened its eyes, and let a blood curdling battle cry out of its snapping jaws. It through Kyne away, and pulled the sword out of its skull.
    Kyne leaped up with his broadsword drawn, ramming it through the beast’s skull, spurting green blood over Kyne
    “Kyne! Simpson is controlling the corpse through the machine! Keep that thing occupied while I take it out!” Marek shouted to Kyne.
    Kyne grunted back to Marek as the beast’s jaws crunched down on a barrel Kyne threw at it. It rushed at him; fists bared, and met Kyne’s swords.
    Just then, Marek reached the doctor. The beast changed its target over to Marek, to protect the control system. Marek sliced through the beast’s neck, decapitating the abomination the doctor had created.
    Seeing this, the doctor unhooked himself from the machine. “Must… Send… information… to… Giovanni…”
    Just as he was about to push the send button on his mobile pc, Hudlet shot a bullet through his head.
    “That’s for betraying me.” She said with a scoff.
    Kyne grabbed the phone from Dr. Simpson’s hand.
    “Marek, this should get us the information we need to find Giovanni.” Kyne said, deep in thought.
    “Well I’m impressed with you two.” Hudlet said with a smirk. “Maybe someday we’ll meet again.”
    “You should come with us!” Marek pleaded. “We may be able to reverse your decomposition!”
    “Sorry, I work alone.” Hudlet dropped a small marble. It exploded in a flash of bright light, temporarily blinding the pair. By the time they had regained their senses, Hudlet was gone.
    Just then, Simpson’s phone buzzed. Kyne read the text message. “S. meet me at the pier to talk about our deal. G.”
    “Well here we go again!” Marek said, high fiving Kyne as they left the building.