City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

Sorry for the wait...here's the latest...
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Aria Four: Family Reunions

As much as she wanted to spirit Aren away right then Alyson knew she couldn't. Her first plan was the best plan and she'd better stick to it. Waiting until Baxter had turned his back she motioned the clones out of the shadows and cleared her throat. "I realize I'm a little early but then so are you."

There were a million clicks as the Soldiers all moved to aim their weapons at Alyson. She shook her head. "Bad move Baxter. You've got your troops in all the wrong places. See all I need to do is this..." and suddenly she blurred out of sight.

The next moment Soldier after Soldier began to explode in nasty sprays of red mist and pink tidbits. The clones reacted just as Victor and Suzanna would have, the little girl shrieaking and hiding in her older brother's arms while he searched for cover.

"What the hell are you?" Baxter shouted waving his gun at where the trail of bloody distruction. Suddenly he felt bloody finger's running across his shoulder and through his hair. Chill breath made goosebumps rise on his neck.

"I am something dark and scarey little boy. I am the protecter of this family and you..." Suddenly he whirled to stare into her eyes...eyes that suddenly had no pupil only swirling irises. "You stole my mortal life and now I'm going to steal yours."

Slowly her fingers began to dig into his scalp and ribcage, slowly but surely working their way through skin and meat and bone. "You...can't...I'm..." His voice faded to a gurgle as his eyes rolled up into his head.

Suddenly warning bells went off in her head. She whirled around to find three Soldiers with automatic rifels aimed at her. Behind them the Victor and Alyson clones had been trampled to so much pulp. Aren hung on the wall, unaware of anything save that some battle was going on.

Slowly Alyson evaluated the damage the rifels could do, it didn't seem like much but the Soldiers wouldn't be moving in a threat pattern if they didn't think they had the advantage. She tried to move to one side and was rewarded by a burst of gunfire...the bullets hitting the cement tore up huge chunks.

Damn, exploding rounds, their threat level upped significantly. Dodging each in turn she realized that her best bet, since she was on such a defensive she couldn't mount a good attack, so she'd have to get them to destroy each other.

Slowly lureing them away from where Aren hung on the wall she managed to catch one in the crossfire of the other two, and then had to hold him there long enough to make sure that enough damage was done. She gritted her teeth as a few shells made contact with herself.

As her body struggled to repair the damage she struggled to maintain her energy. Damn, she hadn't gotten much off Baxter. She looked around for an energy source, noticing that the rail still held a zap after all these years. Suddenly a wicked plan dawned in her mind.

Executing a series of impossible dodges and a 'Matrix' move she managed to lure the pair of Soldiers to the edge of the platform. With a neat little spin move she got behind them for a fraction of a second and shoved them onto the tracks. She was rewarded by the scent of searing flesh as the pair succoumbed to high voltage.

Slowly she reached down and drained some of the juice off the tracks for herself. No doubt Baxter had these turned on so he could use them on me. Too bad for him After a few moments, when she felt more like herself. She scrambled over to where Aren desperately struggled to maintain his concousness.

"I...told...*cough*...you that I'm not going to go easy." Slowly Alyson unhooked her son and gentley.

"Hang on. I've got you." And she slowly led him to where the others waited.

[Kalanna Rai]

Okay guys...here's the eppi...
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Finale: The Distant Horizon


Alyson sat on the chair staring out the window at the snowy landscape, her paperback forgotten on her lap. At her feet a new Christmas kitten snoozed happily. She could tell by their heart rhythems and their deep breaths that almost everyone else in the house was asleep...save her son.

Still shaken and wounded by Baxter's betrayel and Alyson's second coming, he was slow to heal these days. She was ready for him when, tousle haired and weary eyed, he stumbled down the hallway and into the living room. "Cocoa?" He looked at her with a fuzzy smile.

"You drink cocoa?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Always." Taking the warm, steaming mug from her hands he stood infront of the window and stared into the night. "What's wrong Aren?"

He sighed deeply. "I keep thinking I got off too easy. I lost my home, most of my possessions..." He choaked up a bit. "My wife..." Alyson stood, book sliding forgotten to the floor, kitten giving a mildly disapproving squeak and hopping into the warm chair she'd just left. Her warm arms slid around Aren, who'd never grown as tall as she, but had filled out with slab-like muscles and grown wide in the shoulders.

"It's hard, I know. But you're still here. Your children are still here. Your Empire is still there." She gestured behind them, in the general direction of the sleeping city that lay several miles to the east...well out of the mountains this charming little cabin sat in. "And you've got me Aren, and no silly argument is going to pull us apart again."

He looked at her, only a lifetime of training keeping his tears unshead. His hands clenched, white-knuckle, on the ceramic mug of cocoa. "But I was so blind. I vowed to catch your killer...and instead I gave him more and more power. I once told you I'd never be blind again and yet..." His entire frame quivered and she held him...just as she'd held him so many times before.

"Hey. Be proud of your achievments. You have two beautiful children, whom you did not die on, and a powerbase that a weak man could not hold together. When you were recovering in the hospital you played them like an instrument."

"Only because you were there, hovering like the Angel of Death, ready to despense swift justice to whomever denied me." She smiled at him.

"Hasn't that always been my position? Only now I don't need to go sneaking around behind your back to do it. I'm rebuilding my informant pool and, in a few months, I'll have an intelligence network to put your's to shame. Besides, the Grandkid's could benifit from a little quality time."

Aren laughed. "You'll have to steal Victor away from Yvette. They've become quite...close." Alyson looked at her son and the pair of them chuckled quietly together. Close didn't quite cover it. Intimate was a better word.

As she studied the falling snow Alyson suddenly stiffened. Aren frowned. "What." Alyson only stared more intently then quitely picked up a pair of binoculars that lay next to the window sill.

"Who's that?" She said directing Aren's gaze to a figure so faraway as to be nearly indistinguishable from his surroundings. Aren's frowned deepened.

"That's Baxter's boy...Raymon."

"And that's an X-11 Allingor Sniper Rifel right?"

"You're the gun expert not me...but I'd say that's a pretty accurate guess Alyson...Alyson?" But Alyson was no longer in the room...or the cabin. She was darting between the thickly falling snowflakes on her way toward her darkened target.

The wind rushed through her hair, the frost brought color to her cheeks, and her eye's hardened beyond the frigidity of any ice. She hadn't come all this way to have some rash fool with a passion for revenge ruined what she'd given up her eternal rest for.

Across a landscape that was any painters dream Alyson practiced her own art...the art of dying twice.
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Well that's it. Hope you enjoyed it. ;)

[Shady Stoat]

Nice ending Kal. A bit of well-earned happiness for the family, I'd say :D

[Chinaren]

Niceley done oh dragonydonkey one. :D

[mr_moochie]

That's the end of the story? And I missed it until now?? Holy hell!! It was good.

[Ravenwing]

A very anti-climatic ending. I don't like you added the ambiguity at the end, left me wondering too much. LOL. Don't worry about that, I am just too curious of a person, and always want a full explanation. A beautiful ending nonetheless.

[Kalanna Rai]

There's a sequal in the works. Also if you liked the story check out the Stories behind it...you can find them in linear...