CHAPTER ONE

Richard arrived on her black-colored motorcycle, which she parked a block away from the scene of the crime(away from the sticky fingers and prying eyes of the underworld citizens). She pulled on her black trench coat and slung her backpack across her shoulders.

Strapping her 9mm calibre pistol to her belt, she stepped out of the dark alley and approached the throng of civilians standing just before the police line.

She pushed her way through them to stand before the officer. Smiling, she pulled off her dark glasses and looked at him. The officer didn't notice her smile though, because of the nose mask that covered the lower part of her face.

"Stand back, Mister," he said, looking her up and down; taking into consideration, her buttoned up white shirt tucked into black, neatly ironed shorts. Her long, knotted tie, backpack, socks, rubber gloves and baseball boots.

She frowned and took off her trench coat, throwing it over her left shoulder. The officer was taken aback by her appearance and his usage of the wrong pronoun,

"Uh, sorry miss. But you have to stand back," he repeated, correcting himself.

"I'm…" began Richard, before she spotted the captain of the WEIS(World Extraterrestrial Investigative Society) squad, approaching them. His face was set in a scowl as usual. He approached them and nodded to Richard as he spoke, "Let her through, officer. I asked for her."

The officer was scowling at Richard as he raised the line to let her through.

"This better be worth my time, Johnson. You ruined my date," Richard complained as she followed the squad captain through the walkway of the building.

"I wonder who'd be stupid enough to sit at the same table with you dressed like that," one of the WEIS officers; Pietro, who was standing by, interrupted them. "A family is murdered and you're talking about a date?" he added, when Richard ignored his first jab.

"Fuck off, Pietro," Johnson ordered, before turning back to Richard, "I assure you, this is no waste of your time," he said, leading her upon the porch, where a mass of WEIS officers were lounging.

"Your officers seem relaxed enough," Richard noted.

"The police got here first. I don't know if they've tampered with the evidence."

"Right. Well, it's their jurisdiction."

"For now. When you solve this, we'll know for a fact who's got the ball in their court. How was this one anyway?" Johnson asked, coming to stand before the door, causing Richard to stop.

"She was fine. It could have been something. I'll never know now, thanks to these damned aliens," Richard answered, furrowing her brow at Johnson.

"You can always start where you left. So, you ate something, then?"

"It's a date, Johnson. Isn't it the norm to eat?"

"Well, be sure not to throw up," Johnson said before stepping aside for Richard to pass.

"That bad, huh?" Richard asked as she stepped into the room. She paused for a moment upon seeing the massacre. "Hmm. That bad," she answered herself before proceeding.

In the centre of the living room, lay the badly damaged corpses of the victimized family. Two bodies lay disemboweled on a shredded sofa facing a large wall television. Another body lay a few metres from the sofa, with its legs torn off. Its hand was closed tightly around an iron pole but its neck was torn open.

"Goddamn," breathed Richard as she came to squat beside the body.

"What do you think?" asked Johnson, coming to stand beside her.

"You're getting a little green. Don't throw up on my pack. It's my favourite," Richard answered frowning, as she meticulously cleaned the lens of her glass before putting them on. "It smells alien. A Shifter perhaps, although this kind of brutality is not their MO."

"You don't say."

Richard ran her gloved fingers through the blood, then raised it to her nose and inhaled deeply. The filter in her mask analysed the scent as that of blood, mixed with alien saliva. She tutted and hovered over the body before jabbing her fingers into the hole in it's neck. Jackson made a retching sound and turned away.

"Goddamn! I heard they get off on that, dude," Pietro said loudly to another WEIS officer and they burst out laughing. "Fucking Enhanced. Hey, Richard, is it warm and sticky?"

Richard ignored them as she felt about, determining the depth and diameter of the hole, then feeling the jagged edges. She nodded and pulled out her fingers, before turning to look at Johnson and frowned. "Get it together, man," she scolded.

Johnson grunted his awareness, but still kept his face turned upwards. Richard sighed and moved to the other bodies.

"What have we here, then?" she whispered to them, before squatting to examine them too.

"That Sofa's probably worth a thousand dollars," Pietro said, scowling at the Sofa.

"Looks like it. It's definitely high-class though," Paulo, another officer replied, shoving his hands into his trousers pockets

"That TV too. How the hell did low-class citizens afford this luxury? Get a load of this carpet," Pietro added, bending down to feel the carpet.

"They worked in the upper district," Johnson answered, risking another glance at the bodies.

"Figures," replied Pietro, pulling out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. He opened it and offered one to Paulo, before taking one for himself, "These aliens sure know how to pick their targets – going for the lucky sons of bitches who stand out from others by being exceptional," he continued talking with the cigarette held between his lips, before offering one to Johnson.

"Ha, jealous of the dead now, are we, Pietro?" Johnson asked as he came over and took the offered cigarette. "A family of three, with no criminal record, and good street cred, trying to squeeze out something for themselves. Hell, I'd give almost anything to leave this hell hole."

"Me too," Paulo agreed, pulling out a lighter from his pocket and gesticulating with it as he spoke, "Seems they didn't want to leave though. The dough for that TV alone could buy them a ticket to the upper city."

"Nah. A ticket is over a thousand dollars now. Add that to the cost of transportation… and that's for one individual," Johnson said, taking the lighter from Paulo and lighting his cigarette before handing it back.

"Well, if you know, you know," Pietro said, chuckling.

"Fool," Johnson replied him before turning and walking back to where Richard stood tapping her foot rhythmically and staring at the wall behind Pietro.

"You're done?" he asked, blowing out a smoke.

"What's it look like?"

"Where is it then? The alien?"

"It's gone – poof!" Richard answered, smiling behind her mask.

Johnson gave her an exasperated look, "Right. Where is it? Be serious."

"It's a Shifter and it's still here," Richard answered, staring again at the wall where Pietro was going to lean on.

"What? Where!?" Johnson perked up, discarding his cigarette and palming his gun.

Pietro lit his cigarette and leaned his back to the wall, smiling at Paulo's inability to hold his smoke, "Watch and learn how it's…"

His sentence was cut off by a scream as the wall moved, and claws materialized, digging into his shoulders and holding him in place.

"What the fuck!?" exclaimed Paulo as he jumped back, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the alien.

"Damn! Get in here, boys!" Johnson yelled as he cocked his revolver and aimed at the creature too. The full WEIS squad burst into the room, guns drawn. Their arrival agitated the alien and it dug it's claws deeper into Pietro's shoulder with a crackling sound. Pietro cried out in pain.

"Fucking hell!" yelled one officer through the chaos of voices and cries.

"What now, boss!?" another yelled.

Richard sighed and drew her gun. She took aim and pulled the trigger.

The bang of the gun was followed by silence from Pietro and a loud screech from the alien. The other officers were shocked to inaction, staring at Richard.

She ignored them and put two more bullets in the head of the alien, silencing it forever.

"What the hell was that, Richard!?" Johnson barked as he rounded on her.

Richard holstered her gun and folded her hands across her chest, squaring her shoulders against Johnson's fury. "I did what you and your men were hesitant to do," she answered.

"By killing one of our own?"

"I shot through his left kidney. He'll be fine."

"But hospitalized!"

"The alien already made sure of that. You should be thanking me, really," Richard replied, smiling up at Johnson.

The other officers had already laid Pietro on a stretcher and were carrying him out of the room.

"Damn you," Johnson replied, holstering his weapon and following the departure of the officers with his eyes.

Richard walked past him and came to stand beside the dead alien. She kicked it lightly with the tip of her boot.

"How much is your charge?" Johnson grunted as he came to stand beside her.

"Keep your money, Captain. You nearly lost a man today. Let it stand as charity. I'll need bullets though."

Johnson stared long and hard at her, before shaking his head and chuckling. "You revenge upon a man and still pay his bills? I don't get you, Richard."

"Well, what can I say…?"

"Fuck off, you bastard," Johnson replied, slapping her on the back.

"You got it," Richard said, smiling. She pulled on the strap of her backpack and nodded.

As she was nearly out of the door, Johnson called out to her again. She stopped.

"Be safe and keep your phone close. These attacks are becoming more frequent," he said.

She turned her head and stared at him through her peripheral vision, "Hundreds of my kin out there, doing the same thing and for less pay," she said.

"And yet…"

"And yet," she echoed, nodded slowly and walked out of the door.

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