The Other Side Chapter 9

She heard the gentle click of her own heels as she landed on Lucas’s window sill. A little light shone into the darkness around her. She paused for a moment to wonder at why she was even here, Lucas was the last person she wanted to see at the moment. However, for reasons unknown to her, Cybersix rapped softly on the window and waited patiently for him to open it. He didn’t keep her waiting long.

       A few sunrises and sunsets later Cybersix was racing over the roof tops of Meridianna, loving the wind and feeling free. A growl pierced the perfect night air before it’s dispatcher followed it.  Cybersix froze for only a split second, but it was still too late: The thing crashed into her with incredible force. It sent Cybersix sprawling across the roof. She managed to jump to her feet immediately after stopping her unplanned roll before turning to face her assailant. A snarling werewolf met her gaze. Cybersix pulled back without realizing it, repulsed by it. It couldn’t be true!

       The werewolf was on the attack again, but this time Cybersix was ready for it in a battle position. When the werewolf moved in she ducked and got a shot in it’s stomach before going on her back and flipping the wolf over her head. The beast was quick to regain her footing though. Cybersix was sure it was a woman from the long reddish/brown hair that fell across her shoulders and backside, the figure was also obviously feminine.
       “Good move Cyber woman” the wolf growled.
       “You haven’t seen the half of it yet,” Cybersix snorted. The fight would have continued with round 2 if the police hadn’t put in an unexpected appearance. A light was shone on them from the street below, and they were suddenly surrounded by police cars. The beam was bright in Cybersix’s face and she moved quickly to get out of it. Her "friend" was nowhere to be seen when she had returned to the relative safety of the dark.
       “We’ll meet again.” Cybersix pronounced to the night, Becoming air born as a stray light managed to catch her position on the ledge.

*********

       As soon as Cybersix entered her apartment she called Jose wanting to know just what the hell was going on. Had he heard something or did he have anything to do with this? She also later admitted to herself that perhaps she had also wanted an excuse to yell at someone, what with 29 and Lucas. The phone was picked up by a Techno, as usual, and not a very lively one at that.
       “Put Jose on!” she barked as always, briefly wonderiong why the clone didn’t just answer his own damn phone: She was the only one who called him, except maybe 29.
       “Yes Cybersix?”
       She decided to get right to the point which wasn’t usually her custom with Jose, “What do you know about the Werewolves?”
       “What werewolves? The ones the police are going on about?”
       “Yes and the one I ran into tonight!”
       There was a moment of silence as though he was too stunned to speak.
       “Nothing” he finally voiced, “I didn’t believe the police reports about them but…”
       “hmmmmmmmm,” Cybersix thought to herself. She wasn’t really sure what to think about Jose.
       “You’re sure?” she asked one last time waiting to see if he’d own up to anything. He didn’t, “Yes Cybersix, would you like me to send some Technos out to look into it?.”
       “Yes…send a few Technos out onto the streets to see if they find anything. I expect a report by Wednesday”
       “I have another call coming in”
       “From who?” she asked suspiciously.
       “Just a Type” he assured her.
       She hung up the phone on him. She would have conducted a longer investigation into the matter of the werewolves, but she felt her emotions might get in the way at the moment. Better to deal with it with a clear head: She didn’t want anymore mistakes like with the Eye.

       Two nights later she could again be seen soaring over the rooftops of Meridianna, only this time she was on her way to visit 29. She had called him earlier in the evening and either he hadn’t been home or didn’t want to answer his phone. Probably the latter, big surprise. She had talked to him a few days ago after her little conversation with Jose.

       “Hello?”
       “29” her voice had been harder then she would have liked.
       He sensed it right away, “Is something wrong?”
       “No, I…” she came very close to telling him she wanted him to head back to base immediately, but held back, “I wanted to see how things are working out with the resistance.”
       “Oh…not too bad I guess. That woman’s not on my case as much, either she’s busy or she got bored.”
       “Right, cause you have absolutely nothing to hide,” Cybersix thought to herself, “That’s good, and your job at the store is coming well?”
       He took in a quick breath: She could hear it, even though he tried to hide it. Perhaps he had met his new girlfriend there?
       “Yeah everything’s cool,” he said in a mild tone, “Is something up?”
       “No” she said a little too quickly, “I have to go!”  Again, her tone had been hard. She had given him the chance to tell her and he hadn’t. That this woman was now his girlfriend she had no doubt. She had seen them together again.
       “Come on!  I know something’s up!” he said before she could hang up on him. Cybersix took a deep breath, thinking that now was a good a time as any to confront him about it. She was opening her mouth when he rapidly cut her off, “Oh I’m sorry I have to go”. Cybersix strained her ears and heard the door open and close.
       “Who’s there?” she bit out before she could stop herself.
       “No one.”
       “Don’t lie to me!”
       “Fine! It’s a friend from work.”       
       Cybersix snorted, why did he keep lying to her??
“Right.  A friend. Do give HER my regards!”
       Understanding dawned on 29 and he got angry, “Yes it’s a woman!  So you caught me. Are you happy now?”
       “No I’m not happy at all,” Cybersix wanted dearly to ask the woman’s name and perhaps her, age, address, social security number, how fragile her neck looked…
       “Well I don’t care,” he said softly, then hung up.

       Now she was going to his house to try to maybe patch things over. She had blown it as far as confrontation went: She should have talked to him in person and not have given him the chance to hang up on her.

       The hotel was coming into view fast. She landed on a near by rooftop and looked into his window. She really hoped his new “friend” wasn’t there: She really, really didn’t want to see her again or walk in on anything. Luck was with her, for he was alone and even came to his window. But he was a werewolf!
       “This is impossible!” she said aloud. Her brother, in the form of a werewolf, jumped to the street and began to run as though looking for something. Cybersix followed from her perch above.
       “How could this have happened?!”
       Her brother stopped running, his nose in the air sniffing at something. Cybersix was silent and waited the whole moment for whatever was going to happen. A small growl notified her that another werewolf was in the area and heading for her. She jumped to avoid it, but it was close and she was splattered with the pieces of the rooftop that got dislodged when the wolf punched it. Moving in a blur, Cybersix ran to strike the wolf in front of her:  It was the same one she had encountered before. The werewolf was thrown against the side of the building, but she didn’t immediately attack.  Instead, she called for reinforcements from the sidewalk below, “Mike help me!”

       “Mike?” It took Cybersix a second to understand that the wolf was talking to 29. The said Mike leaped from the street up to the building where Cybersix and the other werewolf stood.
       “29, listen to me! we can’t fight!” Cybersix crossed her arms as she said this to emphasize her point. 29 didn’t listen. He pounced, swinging his arms, trying to hit her. She dodged them, all the while attempting to remind him who he really was. “Try to remember who you really are! Please try to remember that I’m your sister!” she jumped to prevent him from crushing her into bits. She did a back flip over the woman werewolf and pulled a screen between them. She fumbled with the controls of the elevator she was in until she started to rise. The screen didn’t stop the werewolf for long she just pulled it out and began to climb the elevator shaft. Cybersix was trapped below and up above was a roof. She turned to look were the elevator was destined to take her and saw that 29’s contorted snout was there to greet her.

       Suddenly she felt the ground beneath her shift and she was bounced across the rooftop before she could regain her footing. She came to a stop at last sliding in front of 29. The woman werewolf burst through the roof of the elevator, in a mini explosion of rooftop shingles and small blocks.
       “Mike, destroy her. Do it for me?” she then flicked her hair so it came to rest on the side of her face and in that instant she looked just like the woman 29 was dating.
       “You! I should have known!” Cybersix yelled.
       “Yes…Elaine” another voice joined them. Jose walked out of the shadows, arms behind his back like an army sergeant, 4 Fixed Ideas lurked behind him. 29 still hadn’t moved: The way his mind was working currently reminded Cybersix of a Fixed Idea.
       “Elaine! Tell 29 to destroy the Cyber!” Cybersix’s breathing picked up in her anger. Jose had created Elaine to kill her so he could take over. He would have done it sooner, she saw, like with the Eye, except 29 had been a problem.  But not this time. This must have been planned for months in advance. Elaine gave the order again and 29 started toward her, crushing his sister’s hat that lay in his path. This did nothing to reassure Cybersix in her brother’s interest in her self preservation, but still she had to try one last time.
       “ Help me, Cyber29!  I love you and I need your help, please!” the words were soft yet clear and she put her head down almost as if in defeat, but it was more like she was giving the situation over to him. 29 suddenly stopped, torn between what he had become and who he really was.
       “29 kill her!” Elaine shouted. He stopped struggling and raised his claws again.
       “Please try to remember I love you, it’s me, Cybersix!” he started to struggle again but this time he ignored the command given to him by Elaine. Cybersix got up from where she had fallen and approached him, a little cautiously, but when she got there she put her arms around him and hugged him.
       “If you won’t do it then I will!” Elaine screamed leaping into the air, Cybersix turned and spread her arms in front of her brother to protect him. Elaine’s blow hit it’s mark and Cybersix was sent sprawling over the rooftop, Elaine was on her again before she could get up, one leg pinning each arm.

“29!” Cybersix whispered. She closed her eyes for a moment not wanting to see the grinning face of the woman wolf who had so far bested her. She felt the weight on her arms disappear and when she looked up she saw 29 on Elaine giving it all he could give in his new body. Now, without her controlling him, he was having trouble getting adjusted to being bigger and being less nimble, but he was getting on. He didn’t appear to be capable of speech yet.

       Jose had watched all this, and now got the idea that maybe he shouldn’t have never revealed himself, or at least not until Cybersix took her last breath. He ran but Cybersix, anger burning in her eyes, chased after him. He would die for this and the bastard knew it!
       “Elaine!” he shouted in fear and frustration. The wolf with that title cut short her present battle and ran to help her runt of a master. She landed right in front of Cybersix, snarling. Feeling more confident, Cybersix didn’t back down from the challenge, wanting nothing more then to beat Elaine into a pulp. A figure rushed past the two ladies, growling. Cybersix realized it was 29.
       So did Jose and he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him, calling for his Fixed Ideas. One did come to his rescue but was quickly killed by Cyber29. He grabbed the clone by the scruff of the neck and held him up to his face.
       “You almost made me kill my sister!!” he voice was wavering with emotion, was very low and had a throaty quality.
       “NO!” Jose screamed before 29 took his claws and stuck them in the replica’s chest. Blood spilled out all over the rooftop but that wasn’t enough to satisfy 29.  He kept stabbing his claws into the boy’s chest.
       “Never again” 29 whispered in his new voice when he was at last finished. The Von R was now officially dead.

       Cybersix had witnessed all this from the corner of her eye a few Cyber jumps away, while dealing with her own monster. Elaine made as if to grab her by the collar and punch her, but Cybersix had already been prepared for this, ducking to the side and making Elaine over throw her strike. The werewolf was on the edge of the building and on the verge of losing her balance.  Cybersix ran up behind her and did a flying kick, planting her foot right in the middle of the wolf’s back. Elaine went toppling over the side of the building, hit another on her way down before finally slamming to the ground face first.

       She was naked and had transformed back into a woman by the time Cybersix and 29 had joined her on the ground.
       “Jose made me” she said to 29 as if she was pleading for her life. Cybersix doubted the werewolf knew that her end was nearer then she could have ever before imagined. But maybe she did because she said no more but merely put her head down as she began to flicker green before disappearing. Leaving nothing but a vial of sustenance.

       To her side 29 let out a howl and clawed at his chest. His hair vanished as if melting into his skin and his ears shrank back to their normal size. When he opened his eyes he was the man he was before, if not a little disoriented. Cybersix put her head down letting her hat hide her eyes where a few tears threatened to escape. 29 looked guilty away from her, ashamed.

       Yet he reached over from his position on the ground and hugged her in iron like strength, refusing to let go, his face buried from her view. Cybersix put her hand on his head, and she could tell he was frightened and angry over what he had almost done.

End of chapter 9

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