"It's finally over."  Bonnie sighed in relief.  The helicopter slowly descended from the black heavens.  Never would such a loud vehicle could inspire such an overzealous joy.  That was because, to the little girl, it was a sign of blessing; the air transport of salvation that would deliver her from that nightmare city of death.

Then a blasting noise whirled in her ears. All that changed happiness dissolved when she realized what the new sound was.  The flare of a rocket projectile zoomed in the horizon, and shot down the copter.  The only means of escape for Bonnie and the Juni Hunter Team fell down in a fiery rain of debris.  Anger and rage, which bypassed all the pain surging the body, fueled a vengeful frenzy over the little girl.  Baby Bonnie turned toward the origin of the explosive trajectory.  Only to find...

“No!!!” Her eyed deceived her current visual interpretations.  There was no way that fiendish beast could had survived.

And there was certainly no way he could be standing on other end of the building, with a rocket launcher on his shoulder.

Covering an impossible distance, the creature leapt from his end towards Bonnie.  Immediately she stepped back, and reached for her trusty Uzi.  Able to take a quick draw from the basket to the fire-ready position, she didn’t have enough time to dodge or parry the monster’s strike.  The venomous tentacle streaked out from the palm, and speared the side of the child hunter.

The shrieks of aching cries could not be prevented with the ghastly appendage being pushed further into the skin.  Bonnie felt a liquid dripping from her side; blood.  Yet no faint sensation came over, because the vital fluid was being replaced.  By whatever vial the monster’s tentacle was injecting, she could not guess.  Bonnie aimed her Uzi at the snake-like extension and shot the end off.  The nemesis shot back after the painful separation.

It was not phased by the attack, and the beast proved that fact with a demonic charge.

Bonnie’s hand kept pressure over the open wound, the free hand had the Uzi and spray bursts of projectiles at the monster.  In the darkness, and with the natural resistance this creature had been documented to endue, determining the probability of whether or not direct hits had been scored was difficult.  Effective tactical moments had been replaced with limping strides of pain, and the firm firing position was compromised, as Bonnie’s one hand was needed to cling to the side.

In the end, the assault was pointless.  The monster’s charge brought down a physical wave of force upon the girl, causing her to crash through the door and down the flight of stairs.  Hari ran down to her side, poking his master’s face with its nose as if it could wake her up.  Bonnie had done her best to quickly get up, reclaim any fallen item in her basket and re-orientate herself with the present surroundings.

That was when see saw that monster lunge again.  This time, it looked like it wanted to butt stroke her with that rocket launcher. The momentum of the swing was slow enough for a swift dodge, and Bonnie ran to the nearest doorway to escape.  The puppy followed her lead down the hallway.

It would have been their avenue of escape if another rocket hadn’t just been launched to destroy all access.  The creature had a redundant persistence, that was for sure.

It came down to the fight or flight thing.  Bonnie immediately laid down her Uzi in a resting place inside the basket in favorite of the G11 rifle.

“Hari, I want you to go get the others.” She explained to her pet as she loaded the rifle.  The dog hesitated, not ready to leave his master in a time of crisis.  But, she was firm in her words, “I said shoo, puppy!”

Hari finally ran off to find the other hunters.  Bonnie took aim with the rifle, but her shot was hindered as the creature laid a roundhouse strike.  The explosive bullet fired towards a pile of debris, thus igniting it in an aura of sizzling flames while the rifle flew in the other direction and right out the window.

The monster echoed a chorusing snarl that almost sounded like laughter.  It had every right since; after all, it was winning. Bonnie found herself lifted into the air by the beast.  It was the closest she ever gotten to seeing the actual face of the creature, and she realized just how ugly it really was.  She would have struggled to free herself if she had the strength, but there was nothing she could do.  The creature threw Bonnie against a cubicle wall.  She made one last attempt to get on her feet, which failed.  Pain, combat fatigue, and a weakened body had overcome her determination to survive.  At that spot, the child hunter finally collapsed to the ground... all of her cunning, firepower, and tactical strengths had withered away after repeated offenses against the unstoppable undead fiend.

The monster took cocky, confident strides towards his fallen victim.  After numerous attempts to slay this tough prey, the monster wanted to savor his kill.  The burning flames down the hallway even whispered fanfare of the beast’s victory.

Its desire had blinded its notice as a large bladed object popped out of its chest.  It stopped, but refused to turn around.  Instead, it veered its head and the corner of vision had gazed at the image of the spiky brown-haired hunter, Terrace.

“Ah ha! Take that evil tentacle monster of death and really bad things!” The younger hunter proclaimed, and continued with a heroic rant. The monster grabbed the end of the huge sword and pushed it back through his chest; the hilt of the weapon jabbed Terrace across the nose. “Ouch, that hurts!”

“Terrace, you idiot!” Rob scolded, with his weapon anxious to open fire, “Get out of the way!”

Terrace, who came to sudden conclusion that being so close to this monster was not the best idea, decided to step back and towards the rest of the rest of the group; which consisted of Rob, Jonas, Kerikov and Terrace, all lead by the mastermind of the attack: Hari (really, the puppy just lead the four there).

The monster slowly made the about-face to bare a dreadful gaze upon the four hunters.  It emanated a snickering growl, and then turned away.

Kerikov could not believe the monster would walk out, but regardless, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to taunt. “What’s the matter you ugly monster, afraid we’ll beat you!”

“I really doubt it, after all, it knows none of weapons can hurt it.” Terrace explained, “Plus, it’s armed with that rocket launcher, so it could just blow us to kingdom come...”

“Shut up!” Jonas snapped, “You want to give that monster ideas?”

“Why do villains always use rocket launchers??” Rob couldn't help but ask.

“Wait... isn’t that Jenni’s rocket launcher.” Kerikov noticed.

Rather than to listen to such pointless debates, the monster made an exit.  With either the blazing corridor that was wrapped in flames to the left, or the open hallway free of any obstruction to the right; the demonic being made its exit-- stage left down the flames.

With the monster gone from their sights, the four hunters moved towards Bonnie.  Rob bent down to carefully pick up her little consciousness body.

“Oh, dear god...” Terrace gasped, “I think she’s dead.”

It was what, the fifth random building so far?  Juni was starting to lose count.  At any rate, the current building she was in was probably just as good as any, though this was really starting to get ridiculous.  All the hunters were starting to get annoyed at how long this was taking and how much ammo was being used up against the countless zombie hoards and invincible Hentai Beast #102.  Worst yet, the pay for this particular job wasn't even that good.  The things she had to do just to fulfill hidden agendas.  And she wasn't even trying to be the manipulating dolt yet!  Well, Terrace was having a good time though, since his comment that the monsters were armed with assault weaponry didn't seem so out of place anymore.  What the HELL was that, anyway?  Since when the heck did evil zombie monsters start using rocket launchers!?  And against hunter helicopters, too?

At least she managed to save Bonnie in time.  It wouldn't be nice to let her die.

Erm, that is to say... because Bonnie had the CD discs with all the Parasol info on them and not because letting the poor girl die would be just really mean and whatnot.  Juni realized that was supposed to be the type of train of thought she was supposed to have since she promised to do this in a gloves off Junivelle kind of manner ever since that blotched job at that Otakon vampire hunt.  And now to start with the machiavaellianess that only a cruel cold hearted practical pragmatic hunter leader like her could have!

Juni slowly laid down the red hooded girl onto a mattress then stood back as Fokken, who by the way wasn't happy with having to bail out of an exploding chopper with a parachute that opened up just in time to prevent him from becoming a splattered puddle on the ground below, knelt by her, then Juni addressed him in her sophisticatedly bitchy Junivelle voice.  Or at least her attempt at one.  "Fokken, um... dear, what's the status on BB?"

"Hmm."  The gray haired albino did some pulse checks then shrugged.  "She would appear to be unconscious and extremely sick from something."

On Juni's shoulder, her pet tabby cat Cuddles mewed then began cleaning herself.

"Well DUH!"  Jonas snapped from behind Fokken.  "Any of us could have figured that out!"

"Hmph!  Well, certainly, of course, but I'm not a bleeding doctor!"  At least a little annoyed, Folken quickly stood up and glared at the other hunter.  "Bloody hell, I'd like to see you give the girl a decent medical synopsis!  I, for one, don't make such mistakes such as assuming someone is dead without checking their pulse!"

"You know, that was Terrace, not me.  And I think I could come up with a much better 'medical synopsis' than you."  Taking up Fokken's challenge as Terrace sighed in the background, Jonas crossed his arms and a confidently grin.  "She's infected by the plague that somehow turned this entire city into a city of zombies.  Just look at her.  What else could it be?"

Granted, the girl did look like she was really sick.  And in lots of pain, though Juni figured anyone would be that way after being in a fight repeatedly with some immortal unkillable thingamajig.  But if she were really infected with the same type of disease as the rest of the citizens, which would mean that she'd share the same fate too.  Which... would really suck.  Eep!

"Kerikov, Jonas, Terrace, we're going to the hospital to see if there's any cure for this."  Juni commanded in her most MACHIAVAELLIAN JUNIVELLE TONE OF VOICE!!!!  Until she realized that helping Bonnie wasn't exactly the most Junivaellian thing to do, especially since they already accomplished their true mission objectives by finding the data disks in her basket, and once Bonnie did turn into a zombie, they'd just blow her to bits anyway and the problem would be solved.  Which was too bad, since Juni really didn't want to see her die after she helped them out so much.

Ah ha!  It'd be Junivaellian, though, if Juni could find an excuse that spending the time to save BB would be for the greater good.  Maybe she'd like... turn into a super zombie or something.  Who'd kill them all!  Yea!  That's the ticket!  And thanks to that, they had to save her lest she become a zombie that would kill them all!

Junivelle would be proud.

What luck!  There just happened to be a rather clear path to the hospital.  Almost as if some destined force wanted them to go there.  Ha!  This would be good.  So maybe Kerikov's first mission was a bit underpaid and a bit overworked, to the point where he was sure that the boss took it just to fulfill some sort of hidden agenda of hers.  No matter.  He'd show them.  Even if the boss was always dragging him around as if he were her bitch and such.  Why was that?  Something to do with him being a newbie and thus either being expendable or needing to learn the ropes.  Yes, show them all indeed!  Kerikov blew off another zombie with a clean headshot as he continued to muse with himself and cover the boss and her right hand man as they traveled through the city.

Hmph.  All he needed was a way to prove himself.  Already everyone was giving him the newbie stares.  And so far he didn't exactly lay out that good an impression on any of them.

Maybe when he signed up with Baxter Corp, he shouldn't have taken the first hunter group that had listed by some other crazy kid, "Hot babe for the leader."  What's worse was that the leader really wasn't even... well, she was cute but she was younger than he was, even.  Even if it was only by about a year or so.  Kerikov didn't mind that much but it made him wonder about the other older hunters.  The other guys told him that Avelle person who used to lead them was a couple years older and extremely easy on the eyes, but supposedly she got offed by someone who was even easier on the eyes than her.  At any rate, Kerikov was probably going to get what he wanted eventually.  Money!  That was the good stuff.  That Jonas guy always told him about how even though the new leader was rather odd sometimes, she at least generally took just a small portion of the pay these days.  Must have been some idealist who was doing this for some greater good.  Which was weird, because all the hunter networks chatted about how most of the idealist goodytushu hunters kinda got killed when they all did a suicide run against some great evil vampire lord a while back.  And she didn't really look like an idealist.  And had some rather straaaange mood swings.  Kerikov saw another example of it when they were at the hospital rummaging through some of the various cabinets and files while Jonas worked at the computer.

"So, boss. Why are you searching for the antidote for BB again?"

"Huh?  Oh... whatever it is, we're not searching for the antidote just to help Bonnie.  We're doing this for some sort of... um... practical Junivellian reason!"

"Um... okay.  What's the reason?"  Yeesh, if it didn't mean going through the newbie phase again, Kerikov would have considered finding a different hunter guild once the mission was done.

"I'm... um..."  Juni paused for a bit to think.  Weren't hunter leaders supposed to be calm and cool?  "We might need her later on!"

"But she's just a civilian!  Albeit... a really really skilled uzi wielding one."

Terrace's voice quickly interrupted them all.  "Hey look!  I think I found something which might be it.  The symptoms it cures are almost exactly like the symptoms that all these zombies have!  Cold pale rotting skin, bloodshot eyes, drool..."

"That's the cure for pink eye, you idiot!"  Not appreciating Terrace looking over his shoulder, Jonas continued searching the database.

"This is taking too long."  Juni remarked.  "BB could be a super powerful zombie eating everyone else’s' brains out at this very minute!"

Kerikov joined his fellow hunters with the awkward stare at the boss.  Yep, she definitely was a really weird one...

"Okay, this might be it."  The tracker hacker whatever guy Jonas motioned to the others.  "It says that to find it, you have to stare at the gem in sunlight on the hour of the lion."

"I saw a lion statue on the first floor!" recalled Terrace.

Juni enthusiastically joined in.  "The gem's on the fifth!"

Who the hell makes a HOSPITAL hide its medicine behind puzzles, anyway?  Were all the hunter missions as messed up as this one?  Ah well, it wasn't as bad as the fact that most of the freaking bathrooms were blocked off.

And so, Kerikov found his way to the first floor with Jonas to go set some sort of clock to the direction some stupid lion statue was facing or something like that while Terrace and Juni spent their time staring at a stupid gem.  Wiiieeerd.  Of course, since he was the newbie, Kerikov had to be the one to turn the dumb clock while Jonas simply stood guard and did nothing.  A couple more turns, a couple more calculations... should be done.  Kerikov was about to signal to Jonas that it was time to radio the boss when Jenni's voice interrupted him first.

"GEE, thanks for noticing that I was MISSING ALL THIS TIME!"  Jenni snapped as she pointed her rocket launcher at Jonas.

And fired.

For a hacker tracker guy who didn't fight that much, that guy sure had fast reflexes.  He was already screaming "SHIT!" as the rocket flew towards him.  Course, he unfortunately didn't have the reflexes to like, ACTUALLY GET OUT OF THE WAY OF THE BLAST.  At least, not in time to dodge the resulting explosion.  Which happened to propel him to crash right next to Kerikov.  Which also happened to be right next to the elevator.

"DAMN!  The dolt's finally making her move!"  On the ground, Jonas quickly whipped out his rifle and pointed it at Jenni, but she had already taken cover somewhere.  "Kerikov!  Go warn Junivelle!  I'll hold her off!"

Jonas was playing the old sacrifice game?  But how the hell was Kerikov supposed to prove himself to everyone if all he did was play the dumb messenger?!?  That wasn't going to get him anywhere!  And neither was leaving Jonas to die.

"Kerikov?!  What are you doing?"

Ding!  The elevator opened, and Jonas went flying in!  The guy was rather heavy but whatever.  Kerikov was going to hold off the traitorous bitch!  YES!  Ha!

Of course, he realized rather annoyedly that now HE was the one making the self-sacrifice.  And dead people don't get paid.  Doh?  What's worse was that Jenni had plenty of time to take aim and fire again while Kerikov was giving Jonas the old chuckeroo into the elevator.  Well, damn, if he died already and couldn't hold Jenni off for even a second, then everyone’d really laugh him at even after he was dead!

Fortunately, Kerikov was a bit more nimble than Jonas.  The elevator doors were blasted away but the fact that the elevator wasn't there anymore at least showed that Jonas decided to take the hint and bail.

"Do I get to hear your evil plan at least?"  Kerikov asked as he pointed his shotgun around the room, trying to figure out where Jenni was.

"Are those going to be your last words?"  An arm quickly grabbed him from behind.  "I thought that I'd kill you now, but the least you could have done was say 'Come out, bitch!' or something like that and thus die like all those macho men idiot heroes die in the movies."

"Which ones?"

"The ones in movies that involve aliens, raptors, whatever.  You know, horror suspense movies.  They always kill off at least one good guy that way."

"Does the fact that I've extended my lifespan by a good minute thanks to this pointless conversation give me brownie points?"

"That's something you'll have to ask Satan once you go to hell."  Jenni smirked.  "Give him my regards.  I'd like some brownie points, too."

"Waaaait!!!"  Kerikov shouted before Jenni could snap his neck.  He definitely wasn't taking his death very well but he didn't really care.  "You never told me your evil plan!  Come on, now you're being mean!"

"Look, this is highly unorthodox!"

"Just tell me your damn plan!"

"Okay, if I tell you my short term plan, will that at least get you to shut up and die gracefully?  I don't want to be known to them as the girl that kills whiny pansy men who die giving me incredibly stupid requests."

"I can dig it."  Kerikov happily nodded, or would have if Jenni's grip wasn't so tight.

Jenni sighed then proceeded to explain.  "I plan to blow up this building with all of you in it.  There, is that okay?  Can I kill you now?"

"Um.... I guess so."  Kerikov sighed.  "The boss was right though that you enjoyed graceful murders just like she did."

"Wait."  At Kerikov's remark, Jenni let go, allowing the young hunter to breathe again.  "Juni said that about me?  But I thought she didn't know me.  What else did she tell you about me?!?"

"Ah, what else?  Well, she also said lots of stuff like how you two were once friends a while back until you were separated by circumstance and then DIE BITCH!!!!"  With that, Kerikov quickly whipped out his shotgun.  Had he recalled what Jenni and he were just talking about, he would have realized that he just signed his death warrant.  Ah well, Kerikov figured that as Jenni slammed into him with some sort of flashing dashing charge and knocked him down with his shot gun away that at least he got to die with a cooler death quote than even in the movies.  As Jenni kicked and punched the crap out of him, Kerikov began to think how maybe he could even take it one step further.

Slamming back into the wall, beaten and bleeding heavily in the face, Kerikov slowly stood up and laughed.

Jenni sighed as she whipped out her rocket launcher again.  "Is this another 'do random tricks just to trick Jenni' thing?  You're finished!"

"You think I'm beaten?  YOU THINK I'M BEATEN?!?"

"Oh please, you're no match for..."

"Take this!"  With that shout, Kerikov opened his trench coat to reveal a HUGE assortment of all types of weaponry.  Submachine guns, rifles, high caliber pistols, and even elephant guns.  Jenni stared in shock at the wide range of various projectile weaponry as Kerikov shouted.  "SMOKIN'!!!"

"YIPE!!!"  The brunette quickly ran away as Kerikov proceeded to unload in her general direction.  And... every other direction too.

"AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!"

Bullets and blasts flew everywhere as Kerikov kept on whipping out gun after gun and firing, completely blowing up the entire place.

Somewhere, hiding in another room, Jenni was ducking behind a wall thinking to herself.  "Doesn't that moron know he's going to bring down the entire building on all of us!?"

"Okay, I've flipped the switch that opened the wall that when the light from that mirror up there is reflected specifically onto it, it emits a beam which caused that painting of the eye there to fall down and stare at the gem, thus causing it to be looked at what will hopefully be the hour of the lion."

Terrace gasped for breath as he finished that sentence, all the while Juni was doing her nails.  She held her hand up and observed her handiwork as the gem began to glow, though noticing that made her calm Junivelle demeanor quickly get replaced by her more upbeat cheerful one.  "Huh? Cool!  That should be it then.  Now we just have to go find where the safe that holds the thing is."

The glowing gem caused a secret door to open as the rather ugly flaming tentacle thingamabob stepped out.  Then the elevator dinged, and an extremely wounded Jonas came stumbling out of it.

"Junivelle!  Ack!  It's Jenni!"

"Jenni?  She die or something?"  The blonde stared at Jonas wide-eyed.  "And what happened to you?  Did you slip?"

Terrace's voice came from behind her.  "Um, Juni?  Tentacle thingamabob, if you didn't already notice."

"Oh, right, that thing."  Turning around, Juni stared at the still on fire thing (Gads, she REALLY needed a name for the stupid tentacle whachamacallit).  "Um... wow, it's even still on fire."

The beast let out a roar as it lashed out its tentacles at Terrace, slamming him against a desk that sent it tumbling over.  Juni stared in surprise at Terrace then glanced at her other wounded comrade, before diverting her attention back to the beast, which was approaching her.  She quickly whipped out Avelle's gun and kept on switching modes, hoping to find a weakness.  Blasting it with a variety of lasers, fire blasts, rays, and bullets, she continued firing away at the beast but nothing was phasing it.

Then it was right next to her.

"Juni!!! NO!"

But all Juni could do was silently stare at the large flaming monstrosity as it began to strike.

Until all its silver coating was finally burned off and the fire came off, and Juni, Terrace, and Jonas finally got to see it's true form!  After which they promptly burst out laughing.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?"  Jonas could barely shout as he continued laughing out loud at the huge walking monstrosity before them.  Thanks to the fire, it's full brown cookie-like coating was revealed, and the stitches that were in the monster’s body looked like they were made of frosting, as did the shiny eyes look like jelly beans!  Almost as if it were... some sorta... mutant gingerbread man!  The... gingerbread man (which still had its tentacle from it's arm but no one cared about it by now) angrily turned towards Jonas and frowned, looking as pissed off as a gingerbread man could look.  Which... wasn't very pissed off looking.  This only caused all three of the hunters to laugh even louder.

"All this time we've been hunted by a monster that's a stupid GINGERBREAD MAN?!?"  Juni put her hand to her forehead.  "Wow, I've seen some stupid stuff but this REALLY is ridiculous!"

"It's magically delicious!"  Terrace added.

Jonas decided to join in.  "Although not too wholesome and nutritious!"

A tear of icing came to the gingerbread monster's eye, as its feelings were hurt.  But then the building shook, causing all of the hunters to stop laughing.  A serious look appeared on Jonas' face as he finally remembered why he was there.

"OH SHIT!  JENNI!!!  She must be trying to blow up the building!"

"Why would Jenni do that?"  Juni put her hand on her hip and frowned.  "She wouldn't betray me."

The building shook again, causing Juni to stumble before regaining her balance.

"At any rate, we should get out of here!"  Terrace shouted.

Juni sighed then stared at the gingerbread monster.  "Okay, look, we'll be back to laugh at you some more later, but right now we have to go."

With that, she grabbed the two other wounded hunters and dragged them to the elevator as the gingerbread beast stood there embarrassed beyond belief.  When the elevator reached the first floor, Juni quickly ran out to find Kerikov pointing about five different guns right at Jenni.

"Boss!  Jenni set us up a bomb to destroy the building's foundation and cause it to fall down on all of us!"

"WHAT?!?"  Jenni angrily glared at the young hunter in the trench coat.  "I didn't set you up anything!  You're the idiot firing all over the place destroying everything!"

True enough, there were humongous gaping holes all over the place.  In the walls, the ceilings, the floor... apparently enough to cause the entire building to collapse because the walls were already cracking up fast.

"Kerikov, let Jenni go."

"But boss, she tried to kill me!!  And Jonas, too."

"I'm sure you just did something to piss her off, didn't you?"

Jenni blinked in surprise, then stared at the girl.  "Um... why, why yes!  I was annoyed at Jonas for not remembering me so I decided to take a playful shot at him... with my rocket launcher!  And I can honestly say that this whole building collapsing is entirely Kerikov's doing."

"Kerikov, is this true?"

"Well... sorta, I guess it is, boss, but still, she..."

Juni quickly pushed Jonas over to the hunter.  "See?  Let Jenni go.  Right now I need you to be Terrace's and Jonas' leaning support as we get back to the base.  I guess we couldn't find the antidote after all."

Normally, Juni would be depressed that Bonnie had to die.  But remembering the silly whachamacallit's identity sorta made her feel better.  Heh, silly gingerbread whachamacallit.  Jenni was staring at her rather surprised that Juni decided to spare her too.  Which was odd, since Juni didn't think she'd be that way.

"Bye Jenni!"  The blonde waved as she and the other three hunters left the building.  "This time, don't forget to write!"

The other girl paused, before looking rather annoyed.  "Forget to write?!?  You're the one that forgot to wr..."

A couch from the floor above quickly fell in front of Jenni, interrupting her.  And then Juni was out of the building, shortly before it collapsed fully.

Terrace glanced back at the heap of rubble.  "Um... aren't you worried that Jenni got crushed?"

"Huh?  Nah, she got out.  Alternate emergency exits are good."  Juni shrugged.  "I didn't think it was her at first, but now I'm pretty sure.  She always did take things way too seriously."

"Are you sure it's not you NOT taking things seriously enough?!?"  Leaning on Kerikov's shoulder, Jonas cast a sideways stare at his leader.  "Jenni tried to kill us back there!"

"Look, I know her pretty well.  I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding.  Don't worry about it.  What we need to worry about now is an angry rampaging super zombie Bonnie because we couldn't find the antidote."

Something Juni said quickly made the rest of the hunters forget what they were just talking about as they all stared at her with a resounding "Huh?"

There she lied.

A limb sleeping body that laid dormant on the old bed mattress.  Vile crude poisons mixed in with the chemistry of her very blood.  The sweet scent of the reaper faintly brushed her nostrils.  Bonnie had been unconscious for hours and her mind had not listened to the talk about her condition; but on the inside, she was in a limbo state between life and death.

Neither wrenching pain nor any heavenly lights were noted; nor did she feel herself strengthening and re-vitalizing.  It was just... nothing.  Which made Bonnie fear what would become of her.  She knew nothing about the S-Virus, therefore there was no idea on what to expect.  The lack of feeling in her body could be a either a sign that she isn’t going to among the cadre of the undead, or they could be symptoms of things to come.

The little child stirred in a soft wrenched wale of pain.  Her body still ached, but her mind had a winning battle for consciousness while her soul continued it eternal war for life.  In the meantime, the vision from her crystalline blue eyes had been the first to greet the blurry hazes of the four people there to study her.

“You think she’s a zombie yet?” A broad male voice spoke; one that was recognized as Terrace. “What if she starts eating our brains?”

“Somehow, I doubt you have to worry about that.”  The sarcastic snide, naturally from the group’s resident cynic; Jonas.

Bonnie would had leapt for joy, if not for her somehow ailing condition.  For a bunch of demon hunters that were... just a bit on the kooky-side, there was no joy ever known when their voices were heard; considering the alternative of rotting away as a fallen corpse.  The thought hadn’t really crossed her mind until the recent conversations brought it up.  A scary revelation to have, one would wager.

She surely didn’t feel like a zombie.  Uncertain to the fact what to expect to feel when one turned into the minion of the damned, of course.  But, whatever the process it entailed; Bonnie knew that her current ailment didn’t make her feel like she was mentally dissolving.  Her lungs felt congested and made it difficult for her to properly breath enough without the hampering from a stuffy nose.  The skin, still fresh, riddled with a sudden itchy rash.  Water formed around the eyes; slowing down their attempts to get a full focus.  Which made it difficult for Bonnie to figure out what the white lump that pounced on her stomach was; or even if it was in fact real and her mind wasn’t playing its assorted tricks.

“Mew!”

That sound pretty much explained the mystery behind Bonnie’s current condition.

Her eyes threw wide open to take in the full imagery of the cute little feline.  Strength granted, she would had either jumped off the mattress or threw the kitty off of her chest.  Naturally, as a lover of animals Bonnie would had hated herself for even putting the hurt on this creature.  No feelings of personal malice ever existed between her and cats.

It’s just that feline hair always warped her allergies.  Not wanting to have the allergies continue, Bonnie placed the cat on the floor.

"Hey look!  She's awake!"  The kooky hunter known as Terrace was probably going to say something well... kooky again.  Which of course he did.  "And she didn't eat Cuddle's brains, so she must not be a zombie!  Though... maybe zombies don't like kitty cat brains?"

It was at that moment that Jonas was about to give him another annoyed whack on the head, until a knocking on the door distracted him as well as everyone else.  It was soon followed by the voice of their leader.

"Helloooo?  If a super powerful Bonnie zombie has devoured you all yet, I'd appreciate it if you gave me some indication!  Spilt blood, a shout of pain, a ghoulish moan... nothing?  Okay!  We're coming in!"

And with that, the leader was in the room again.  As well as quickly taking note that Bonnie was awake.

"Wow, I have to say,"  Juni remarked.  "That's got to be one of the most unrotten looking zombifications I've ever seen.  Wait, no, let me guess.  It was just pink eye, right?"

“Zombie???” Bonnie looked at Juni in a questionable stare, her thoughts were still in blurs and her body ached as she tried to get it in a upright position. Everyone took a step back, still expecting some mad attack from the girl. On the floor beside her; her red hood was folded up on top of her basket; obviously it must had been removed when she was placed on the soiled mattress. “What the fudge are you talking about?”

"We're talking about... um..."  Some people aren't very good at telling lies.  It was obvious that Juni decided to change what she initially meant to say after she saw all of her fellow hunters looking at her with protest.  "Um... something that would make me look somewhat incompetent which of course is wrong since the great Junivelle isn't incompetent at all, so... yes, zombies!  There are lots of zombies in the city and now that you're better, we need to be devising up a plan to get out of here!"

Bonnie almost could have sworn that she could hear Juni ranting under her breath about how it was no fair that pink eye tricked her.  Of course, B.B. also was mainly keeping her eyes on 'Cuddles', since she didn't want her allergies acting up from the kitty cat, again.  Fortunately, Cuddles was off playing with Hari, though Hari was not looking very pleased at the cat's playful curiosity.  B.B. agreed to Juni's idea; first, a new escape plan was something that they need to come up with, and second, she really didn't want to look into the previous subject that the leader had tried to cover up.  She reached inside her picnic basket and dug up the pack of cigarettes that she stashed away.

She continued to lightly tap the end of the package briefly before lighting one of the smokes.  In light of the hellish situation that had been plaguing her, she was surprised that she didn't need one of these sooner.

The cat continued to play with the little puppy; rather odd for Hari to taken by a little cat, since all the monsters and demons his master had fought never scarred him-- then again, sometimes he was frightened a little too easily.  Bonnie wondered where the feline suddenly came from.  It could had belonged to one of the these hunters, or had been one a stray unaffected.  Those were the logical assumptions; even though logic was a rare commodity in Squirrel City.

"So any ideas?"

There wasn't any response to her question from anyone for a significant pause.

"What are you all staring at?"

"Mweh?"  Terrace was the first to reply.  "You smoke?  That's really..."

"Really cool!"  Terrace's boss interrupted him before he could finish what most likely would have been an insulting comment.  "Though I have to stay away from cigarettes myself.  We're not allowed to have them despite how you'd think we'd get discounts on them as an employee benefit but... um... Oh right!  Idea!"

Grabbing the nearest piece of paper, Juni began scribbling down a rough outline of her plan, complete with pictures, which were rather decently drawn.

"Okay, first of all, the first hunter squad goes here.  Second goes here, and the third lights the flares here, which signal to the second squad that they have to reach this metro here in 10 minutes while the first squad does a VALIANT SACRIFICE and gets the metro working from the power station here, though they might get out, or will they?  The suspense is one of the best parts!  But anyway, after they make it to the metro in time to catch up with everyone else, BB and I make one final epic battle against the raging zombie hordes over here before doing a great leap of faith into the speeding metro's open doors just in time to catch up with everyone!"

Jonas waited for his leader to finish speaking before giving his own comments about the plan.  "Metro?  You realize we're on an island city, right?"

"Oh.  Yea, we are, aren't we?  .....DOH!"  Crumpled up and into the wastebasket, the piece of paper went.  "Well, I guess we could just find the harbor and try to hijack a boat then, but that's not nearly as cool..."

Back to the trashed and dark streets of Squirrel City.  The team was moving towards the industrial park, heading towards the city's naval yard as it was the closet to them.

Actually, scratch that.  The city's main harbor was a shorter distance, but Juni insisted on some coolness element in their escape and stealing a naval boat seemed a lot more dramatic, even though military vessel would be better guarded against theft while a civilian vessel could be easily hot-wired and stolen.

In her argument, Juni pointed out that the path to the city harbor could be easily obstructed.

"You see, I knew that they knew that I knew that they knew that we would go to the harbor first, so they probably made tons of obstructions just so they could force us to go into their trap, sorta like all the other obstructions we ran into so far in the city which just happened to coincidentally force us to various places."

The hunter leader was quite proud of her assessment, since the path to the naval yard seemed to be clear enough.  Her pride was quickly shattered by a simple question from the hunter, Kerikov, though.

"Um, boss?  Who's 'they'?"

Juni abruptly stopped as everyone turned to look at her.

"Um...  I... don't... know."

"Maybe, it's that evil monster we keep running into." Bonnie replied; even though her retort was in jest, Juni's commentary brought up an interesting point that some one had to be behind all this.  If either time or any fact indicated B.B. Hood actually giving a fudge, she could have tried to focus on the details and tried to figure something out that would help solve this mystery.

But, for some odd reason, getting out of the city seemed more important.

"You think it could have been?"  Juni apparently couldn't tell the difference between a serious comment and a retort in jest.  "And don't go telling me it was Jenni, Jonas.  Just because she admitted she would be playing the manipulator doesn't mean she really IS the manipulator."

"Then why is she right there in front of us?"

True enough, there she was.

"Well, you know,"  Jenni decided to answer Jonas' question for everyone.  "It wasn't very hard to follow you guys, what with the trail of smoldering bullet ridden zombie corpses you left behind.  I hardly think that me being here proves that I'm manipulating anything."

"Hey Jenni!  The boss doesn't believe me when I tell her you told me that you planned on blowing her up!"  Bonnie didn't know what Kerikov was talking about at that time.  "Any chance we could redo the whole 'you tell me your evil plan' thing with everyone else here to watch?"

Jenni didn't even bother to reply to that, instead giving Kerikov a look the equivalent of "Um.... Huh?!" without needing to say it out loud.  Instead, she decided to address the hunter leader again.

"Look, stop with the stupid act, okay?  And I know you're just pretending, since you insist on leaving me behind to get crushed by collapsing buildings!  I'll tell you right now that I'm only here instead of someone else because I heard you would be here."  Her gaze shifted to Bonnie, herself.  "But then this unknown factor had to come in."

So instead of a civilian needing rescue, Bonnie was an 'unknown factor' now?  These kooky hunters never made any sense.

"Don't give the innocent act, blondie." Jenni approached the little girl; her gaze bared a reflection of cold confrontation, as if B.B. Hood was something more than she seemed. "Am I the only one among us that finds it strange for a little ten year old brat to be dressed like a story-book character and carrying illegal weapons?"

"I'm twelve and a half, idiot!"

"I don't care.  You're still a brat."  Jenni did a quick chuckle in the wind, mocking the crowd before her.

Juni didn't know what Jenni was talking about. Surely, seeing a little red hooded hunter wasn't that odd.  After all, Bonnie was the second that Juni actually knew about.  The first one was from an Internet chat room, who had gone by the name ChaCha Twelve or something.  That girl seemed interesting, claiming to come from the demon world Mikai, which only existed as practically a myth under the demon doctrine, compiled by Baxter.

She had to make Jenni come to her senses at any rate.

"Jenni, quite being mean to Bonnie. She's just a civilian."

Jenni turned to Juni, now taken back and shocked at the huntress' defense. She then shook her head, and made the 'tsk, tsk' gesture.

"You never were one to catch on, dear Junivelle." Jenni explained.

"I was never the one to catch on?!"  Annoyed, the hunter leader crossed her arms and shot back with a retort of her own.  "You're the one who always takes things too seriously.  Now you're implying that BB's like, secretly doing secret things and such, now!  Sheesh, Jenni, you need to lighten up or something."

"So now you think it's my problem!?"  Bonnie only had a vague idea of what the two could possibly be arguing about.  Jenni was about to continue it further until she noticed an odd creature's shadow sneaking up from behind her.  "You're the one that... oh never mind, I don't have time for this!  You know what, I hate to leave you fools, but my little pet here will handle you."

Bonnie decided to jump in on the hunter leader's behalf.  "You didn't call that thing, and you know it."

Judging by how Jenni herself didn't notice the creature until the last minute, her remark was probably right.

"Eeeeh, whatever.  I'm still going to escape while that thing distracts you."

True to her word, Jenni was quickly gone as the monster leapt from the shadows.

The team braced themselves for what would be a epic battle between them...

and a white bunny.

"This is the evil monsters that going to distract us?" Terrace couldn't help but laugh.

"First tomatoes, then cookie monsters, and now bunnies?" Kerikov added, "Man, what ever happened to vampires, demons, and zombies?"

"We encountered some zombies." Jonas replied.

"Okay what should we do with it?" Juni turned to her group.

"Kill it?"

"Shoot it?"

"Stab it?"

"Cook it and make bunny stew?"

"Considering that we haven't seen any other stray animals around here," Juni remarked, confirming to Bonnie that the kitty cat with her was in fact owned by one of the hunters and not just a random stray, "Maybe it's a really really neat killer bunny of death which can only be defeated by an all powerful explosive grenade of holy proportions but only after some really neat funny bloody sadistic killings of the people trying to kill it!"

With that, she beamed at the perplexed hunters.

"Any volunteers?"

Apparently no one was willing to voluntarily go let a bunny rabbit kill them.  The fact that none of them were really packing any grenades at the moment didn't help.

"Wait a minute." Kerikov realized that there was on member of the group who actually had some grenades on them. "Bonnie, use one of your hand grenades."

"No."

"Ah ha, that's the... what?" Everyone turned to the little girl, apparently quite shocked by her retort.

"I'm not going to kill a cute little animal... it's wrong."

The expression held on her face seemed quite serious enough to get the impression that her opposition was, in fact, not a joke at all.  Funny, a moral qualm just seemed out of character for the little girl.  Even when directly faced with the possibility that this animal was a raging killer zombie, deep down it was once gentle as all animals were.  Bonnie could not bring herself to kill such an innocent creature.

"Come on, Bonnie. I'll buy you an ice cream cone of you kill the rabbit." Juni insisted.

No response.  Damn it, where's Elmer Fudd when you need him...

"Well, I dunno about the cute animal part, but killing it before seeing some of that fun bunny murder madness would have been a shame."  Juni sighed.  "Think we could just ignore it?  Someone try it!  Dagnabbit, SOMEONE has to volunteer."

Nothing.

"Oh all right, I'll do it then."  With a sigh, Juni found herself approaching the rabbit.  "Did Avelle have to put up with stuff like this?  Hmph!  Well, yea, maybe she did!  Because the great Junivelle is a girl of action!  Who always is taking the initiative with epic resolve, fearlessly treading into the unknown and..."

Continuing to ramble incoherently, Juni proceeded to try to make her way past the rabbit.  The bunny then flew towards Juni, with was either a leap of faith or an unexplainable flying ability.  The blonde hunter made a quick duck, allowing the evil rabbit to fly above her, and right smack against a telephone. Knocking itself cold.

That was pointless: three that every one in the group had concluded that to describe the situation.

"Hey, see, we got to beat that cute little bunny rabbit without any of us even laying a finger on it!"  Motioning happily to Bonnie, Juni led everyone onwards.  "It was a win win situation!"

Well, she was sorta right.  Though Bonnie wasn't sure about whether she should try to nurse the poor evil killer bunny rabbit back to health or just leave it lying there.  She finally decided that the need to get out of the city took priority over trying to help the poor thing, since it probably was only a minor wound anyway.  So, with no further obstacles in the way, the group soon found themselves at the naval yard, and as predicted, the ships didn't exactly have the keys left in the ignition...

This was not supposed to be how things were supposed to work.  What was taking so long?  Juni complained out loud for what was probably the fifth time so far.

"Ack!  Why the heck are these stupid boats so hard to hack into?!?"

Where was Marzche when you needed her?

Jonas himself mumbled something out loud for the fifth time in reply about military boats having tight encryption codes, but Juni didn't really noticed.  This was definitely not as grand an escape as she envisioned.

Ah well, might as well find something to pass the time.  There was at least one saving grace.  They managed to hack into something really special on one of the ship's computers.  Now all she needed was a partner, since it was just no fun to not have anyone to brag to about.  Of course, most of the other hunters sadly didn't care for it but there was one person...

"So,"  Juni somewhat anxiously addressed the other girl in the group.  "Bonnie, um... do you like minesweeper?"

"Not really... then again, I never had to clear one." The young girl replied.  Bonnie moved back and forth between the door's and window's visible portals, maintaining a good scan of the area.  They weren't out the woods yet; not by a long shot.  Zombies were still abound, and someone had to keep an open eye while Juni and the other computer experts tried to get the ship's navigational systems on-line.

The dull light and steel walls inside the ship's bridge created a gloomy hue which added a spooky atmosphere.  Then again, everything environment inside Squirrel City presented a similar picture.  The sky light beyond the glass window started to shift from the dark colors towards a blue that a was a few tones lighter (albeit, not much) with a thin pink strip.  Dawn, apparently, was approaching; it was so funny how time just flew right on by during the night.

Juni turned towards Bonnie just briefly; noticing that the girl wouldn't be sitting down for any conversation in the near future.  The hunter leader did not know what to think about the twelve-year child in the same room here; little girls normally don't show such drive in the face of such danger.

"You never played Minesweeper?" She asked, hoping to lighten the mood with casual chatter.

"Played?? You mean, it's a game?"

Juni returned B.B.'s question with an odd stare; this girl had to be living in a cave not to know about one of the most addictive games ever to exist. "You're not much of a computer person, are you?"

There was a brief ten-second pause, as the child finally understood what this Minesweeper thing meant, then she answered firmly, "Not really, I never grew up around video games."

That... that was... that was so sad!  She never grew up around videogames?!?  Bonnie was still really young, though.  There was still time.  But Minesweeper might have been too sophisticated for someone... of course, she probably would never be seeing Bonnie again after this mission anyway, Bonnie being still young or not.  Because she had to...

Hmm... better not think about that.  Minesweeper would be Bonnie's only chance then.  It wasn't very Junivaellian and was a big step for someone who never played a videogame before, but she probably had to give the girl at least that much.

"Minesweeper's the bestest!  You don't know what you're missing!"  With that, Juni eagerly dragged Bonnie over to the computer and proceeded to give her some instructions about the rules.  About how masterful use of logic and fast twitch skills for clicking little boxes and marking mines where you think they might were might allow you to set a new record!  To get a high score!  To be a minesweeper master!!!

Bonnie immediately yanked her arm away from Juni, and crossed both arms as her eyes sharpened into two fine daggers. Shouldn't Juni be using that laptop to get inside the ship's control?

"What's the matter with you!" B.B. stamped her foot, adding to the point she trying to address while keeping all boiling tempers to a minimum, "Did you suddenly forget where we are, still!?!"

Juni was quite caught off guard by her reaction, surprised by BB's question.  It finally dawned on her, though.  Seeing BB angrily look at her like that for deviating from the mission statement, the look of frustration and sharp reality of the situation staring at her directly eye to eye.  Juni finally realized.

Not growing up around videogames sucked out all the fun from poor poor Bonnie.  Apparently it was too late, after all.

"The laptop to get inside the ship's control.  Right.  Of course."

Somewhat spaced out for a bit, Juni rediverted her attention back to the computer and closed the minesweeper game.  That's what she got for trying to deviate from the Junivelle way despite her promise not to.  It must have been a sign.  She had to carry out the plan then.  In a way, she'd be doing Bonnie a favor.  No one liked misery, after all...

"Of course, I was merely letting Jonas practice.  But if you really are that impatient, my fabulous computer skills will easily handle this situation."  Her eyes covering her hair as she typed away at the computer, Juni had a smile cross her face.  "We'll get you out of her, dear dear Bonnie.  You won't have to worry."

Bonnie was probably a bit confused by her sudden change in demeanor, but there really wasn't any time for questions, since at that moment, a scream from Terrace quickly surprised everyone.  Except Juni, who merely gradually looked up without even flinching.

"Oh what is it, now?"  Motioning to a few hunters to follow, Juni quickly shot a glare at Bonnie, herself.  "Are you coming or not?"

Bonnie readied her Uzi, and pulled the charging handle as her only reply to Juni's commentary; deciding to focus on the situation at hand rather than making any comments-- there wasn't any retort that would change the apparent fact that the teen huntress was still treating Bonnie like a child.

The hunting group slowly moved down the corridor, trying to locate the source of the scream. Bonnie kept her weapon pointed down the hallway, as her trigger finger started to itch; but not with any trigger-happy tendencies, but with a sense of anxiety and anticipation.

Then right in front of her, a brown blur zipped right in front of her. An echoing thump followed after the vision moved past her line of sight. Everything became quite after a moment...

Then...

The same swirling mass moved right past her, but this time, it came from the rear across the hallway perpendicular to the corridor she's in. What ever it was, it moved fast.

Pondering whether to go after it or not, the train of thought was once again interrupted by another of Terrace's scream.  This one accompanied by a "HELLO!?!?  Did anyone hear me scream the first time?!"

And so BB found herself along with the other hunters that were with her and Juni in a quiet room with Terrace staring at a corpse.  It was the corpse of that nameless hunter with the red shirt.  The officer navy guy that BB practically forgot about by now.

Wow, they really DO kill the nameless extras first.

Juni was apparently wondering who 'they' was.  "Who did this!?"

One of the hunters kneeled down by the body.  Folken, was it?

"He appears to have died from a gunshot wound..."

It instantly entered most everyone's mind who the killer could be.  They slowly pictured the scene, with Jenni walking up to the guy before shooting him with a pistol.

"Uuuuuuungh!" The man probably screamed.

Juni crossed her arms and frowned.  "Jenni wouldn't do that!  Besides, no one actually saw her on board the ship, anyway!  We have to have a traitor among us..."

Eyes fixated on Bonnie, who was the newest to the group.  It must have been Bonnie who shot the guy with the pistol, making him scream "Uuuuuuungh!" in pain as he fell to the floor!

Of course, Bonnie wasn't the only new person.  Kerikov was rather new to the scene too for the most part, since this was his first mission.  It wasn't very hard to picture him being the one to shoot the guy who screamed "Uuuuuuungh!" before dying.  There was also the possibility of Juni herself, considering her weird mood swings as of late.  Another quick flashback scene of the blonde grinning before firing at the man in red, who yelled "Uuuuuuungh!" before falling to the ground!

"IIIIIIITTTTTTWWWAAAAASSSSSSMMMMEEEEEE!!  I've been manipulating you, all along!"

Everyone quickly turned around to see the Gingerbread beast thing behind them, mocking them that he was the killer.  Suddenly, it all made sense!  The beast most likely grabbed the pistol, pointed at the man in red, and fired!

"Uuuuuuungh!" the man groaned before dying!

Of course, then the thought of a gingerbread man with a pistol simply made everyone burst into laughter again.

"Awwwww....yyyooouuuuggguuuyyysssssaaarrreeeeemmmeeeaaannnnnnn."

Gingerbread man always was sensitive about people laughing at him.

Bonnie, however, was completely shocked to see what she was now witnessing.  Actually, it was comprised of several things  that she apparently missed during her out-of-commission state.  The very monster that had been the center of much of the hunter's distress is made out of gingerbread, as seen almost clearly without the massive black jacket covering its body.  It didn't exactly appear to look like traditional gingerbread man that is born from the many cookie cutouts.  Rather, it was a distorted sugary macabre with it's thick cookie skin, frosting stitches, and rich cinnamon scent; even though these features were quite apparent, the creature still held it ghastly frankenstein posture.

Which made Bonnie wonder why she was the one not laughing.  Sure, the idea of a evil cookie monster seemed... rather silly. But, as much as the gingerbread features stood quite, the reminding fact that this creature was the same beast that prevailed against countless assaults from the hunter's combined weapons, and numerous crushing weights and explosions; not to mention it seemed to possess this drive to eliminate the rouge band of humans and managed to surprise them at every turn.

She couldn't really understand why Juni insisted on the teasing.  Maybe, this had to do with Bonnie's experiences, but it really isn't wise to provoke a large bully that could literally stomp the living snot out of you.

Well, not without adequate firepower.

It appeared that her assumption was correct.  This time, the beast was pissed, and it looked like it was about to go on a slaughtering rampage.  Instead, however, it simply punched a large hole in the floor, causing the entire ship to shake and several of the hunters to lose their footing, caught by surprised.  Then the monster ran away.

His laughter stopped, Terrace was the first to speak.  "Hmm.  Wonder what that was about."

Then water started gushing out of the various cracks that formed like fountains, as well as leaking in from everywhere.

"Ah.  That would be it."

Jonas's voice came from the intercom, with what should have been good news but, under the current circumstances, was simply ironic.  "It's done!  We have control of the boat!"

Juni watched as the last tip of the ship sank into the sea.

"Well now, that certainly sucked."

Bonnie was still not very amused.  "You know, if all of you weren't so busy laughing at that thing, we might have been able to stop it..."

The hunter leader closed her eyes.  Bonnie was expecting her to once again not take the situation seriously and say something like how it wasn't a big deal, but instead Juni got that weird look again with the hair over her eyes before finally looking at Bonnie with a strangely mocking expression.

"Bonnie, is that it?  Hmm.... you've handled that thing more often than us, and you most certainly know, judging from your statement, that we just aren't suited to handle it."  She brushed her hair to the side.  "Too bad.  But that's why you're here, isn't it?  You know, we can handle the hacking into a new boat by ourselves.  Why don't you go dispatch of the creature so it won't do that again?  Since you seem to know what you're doing so much."

The straws were finally starting to break the camel's back.  Whether it was a clash between two egos; a leader and an independent hunter can sometimes have problems cooperating.  The other hunters in the group had finally seen the tension between their leader and the child hunter escalate, and at one of the worse possible times.  Right now everyone needed to remain calm and cool; not act angry and moody like most people ended up doing in these situations.

B.B.'s temper had now dispelled her from admitting to Juni that she was correct regarding the fact that the creature was invincible to all their efforts; but judging from the great Junivelle's tone, it sounded like they may as well stop trying to fend off the beast.  In many of Bonnie's life experiences, she had always been against elements that were bigger and stronger than her.  It went with the territory of being small and all.  However, she refused to just stand and let whatever the bigger element would be to just bully the little girl around.  It just gone against everything Little Red Riding Hood stood for.

"Fine!" Bonnie coldly replied as she rung the water out of her red hood; the whole swimming to shore thing would cause problems of the health issues down the line.  But that would be dealt with later on. "Come on, Hari!"

The puppy followed B.B. as she walked away, separating herself from the group.  Which she was all to pleased to do, with Juni's immature attitude.

"Dork..." Was the last word muttered by young Bonnie.  After all, she was the youngest person in the group, therefore was entitled to the occasional immaturity.

"Oh, and Bonnie!"  The hunter's voice also rang out to her one last time as she left.  "We'll be waiting for you, of course.  But just don't take too long now, okay?"

Fortunately, the hunter leader at least didn't include an 'or else we might accidentally forget you' or something else obvious like that.  Not that that really mattered, since that was what she was planning on doing, anyway.  The red hooded rider was gone, and would probably be gone forever.  Ah well, she was hopeless, anyway.

Yes, Junivelle was happily musing as how she'd get another job well done AND got the information she was looking for, until a paper airplane hit her in the head.  Of course, the rest of the hunters were too busy staring at the dumb thing to shoot it down first, but that turned out to be a good thing since it had a message on it.

"Meet me at the 13th dock.  Alone.  ~Jenni Brandiwine"

"Is Jenni still trying this?  Hmm... I guess she wants me to go get her or something."  Gun at hip, beautiful hunter leader of eternity.  Time to solve all loose ends once and for all, because it was personal.

Except for the fact that she was yanked back by Jonas when she started to walk away.

"What the hell!?  That's IT?  You're going away alone AGAIN!?!?!?"

The silly hunter didn't understand.  Avelle knew it, but Juni knew it even more.  There were some things a gal just had to do, personally.

"Vampire metamorphosis with the poor poor lobstered babies extends farther than the baby would be able to see, Juni!!!  Don't you see?"

She thought she didn't believe it, but the evidence she got at the end of that last trip with Serina to Otakon revealed that she was lying to herself all the time...

"The Sailor Senshi could have one bear their burden for them, but not by us!  One needs to know what's up and what's down, and when you know, you know when you can go up up up and then things will be great!"

The next assignment couldn't have come at a better time.  It must have been fate.  Or perhaps something higher.

"But going down down down is BAD and whatnot, and the virus with the name that Desire doesn't like muchly so wouldn't be iiiiit!!!"

Serina was against it.  But what did Serina know?  Avelle herself wasn't afraid to say the truth that Serina tended to be out of it, often.

"Are you still going, Juni?  Teehee!  Silly Juni!!!  Well, okay, if that's what you want^^  Finding the cure is really hard and whatnot, and trying for something futile isn't worth the effort because it's futile, but if you really believe it, then no one can stop you!"

Serina didn't even try to stop her.  But apparently, according to everyone, Jenni did.

"Heehee!  Go go Junivelle, neh?  Learning experiences are fundamental!"

Now she would finally find out if what Avelle said in her journal tapes was true.  She would discover the truth behind her commander.  She would be able to come to terms with the voice of Junivelle in her head.  M. Bison, head lord of Shadowlaw, Juni's leader... her idol... her master.  The Rose girl that Junivelle never wanted her to meet?  How far could soul power corrupt someone?  Soul power... then the word soul turned up in a Baxter Corp search, and for once it wasn't simply about soul bees.  The soul virus... that had to be it.  That was what was ailing her captain.  It ended up turning an entire city into a city of flesh eating zombies.  But Lord Bison was stronger than that, right?

Even childhood friends of the past, the closest... they who had the strong will to command and keep a straight head where Juni could not... Juni soon found out that it was true.  The soul virus could corrupt someone who she thought was incorruptible.  And the proof was standing before her at that moment.

In the makeshift town square, there was silence as Jenni took center stage and confronted the blonde.  "Where are your civilians, Juni?  Wasn't that your mission?  To save them?  Oh wait... your mission was to save them with your final solution, wasn't it?  Exterminate them all, and leave only the righteous standing.  That was June's way, if I recall.  But you didn't even care to look for who was caught in your wake, didn't you?"

With a rather spaced look in her eyes, Juni was still in a state of denied disbelief.  "Jenni, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about me, you idiot!"  Juni was taken aback by Jenni's insult as the brunette continued.  "You were the one that broke the promise.  I paid for everything you did, yet in the end, you left it all behind."

"Oooooooh, that!!!"  Cupping her hands together, Juni beamed.  "Oh Jenniiiiii, you know, you could have just come along too.  Why not now?  Shadowlaw could use your abilities, and you seem to know what you're doing."

Unfortunately, the other girl didn't share Juni's mood.  She stared at Juni in shock, almost as much as Bonnie had done, earlier.

"You... you don't get it, do you!?  You prevented everything and in the end there was no space left for me to grasp.  Look, ditch the whole ditz thing, okay?  This is serious.  I am genuinely PISSED OFF at you.  Try to keep things up here, okay?"

Juni watched Jenny accompany that last question with a motion to her forehead.  Still beaming, she playfully shook her head.

"You know, Jenni, you remind me of someone a lot.  But I can't put my finger on it.  Someone who I should have been with all my life... either that or you were that someone and that other person was a nasty mix-up."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know."

Silence.  What the hell was Jenni supposed to respond to that with, anyway?  Well, if Juni was playing randomness games, she might as well join in.

"Getting back to that first quote before the 'I don't know' line, you're finally beginning to understand, aren't you?"

Grinning, the blonde closed her eyes.  "Oh yea, I'm beginning to understand.  You're jealous, aren't you?"

"WHAT?!  How... how dare you!"

"Yep, that's it."  Juni cheerfully sighed as she drew Avelle's gun out while Jenni put her hand at a pistol on her belt.  "When I finally found a source of power... a way to begin working to right everything that's wrong with the world, you thought it was a stupid idea so you didn't come along.  Now you've found your own power, but like Lord Bison, it was the wrong kind.  I studied the data disks of the soul virus, Jenni.  Power is important, but only if you're using it for the right goal.  Because you won't accept my invitation, there can only be one final solution."

Juni pointed her gun at the surprised brunette.  But Jenni stopped her with a shout before she could pull the trigger.

"Hold it!  I'm the one who led you here to kill you, remember?"

The blonde held her fire.  The girl was right.  Hmm.  Wow, cool!  So there could be a fight then?  It was good, because Juni had to see the soul virus in action, herself.  And gingerbread man was too silly for her to take seriously.  With yet another smile, Juni threw her gun off to the side.  Avelle's gun was really nice, but she decided that she'd fight the battle without it.  Because there probably was still hope for everything, maybe.  And she figured out from combining information from Avelle's journal tapes and the Parasol information disk what the cure was, anyway.  The throwing of the weapon off to the side left Jenni stunned with shock and confusion though, which was just enough time for Juni to leap into the air and slam into her from above with a cannon dive kick.  In retaliation, Jenni did a quick jab followed by dashing forward with a flashing elbow tackle, which promptly sent Juni flying and crashing into a building.

Leaping to her feet as Jenni awaited her, Juni took the pause in the battle to comment.

"Wow, that was neat!  Where did you learn to do THAT?"

"Trade secret.  You're lucky I wasn't using the hyper version.  Not that it matters, since you're finished!"  Whipping out her rocket launcher, Jenni proceeded to fire a stream of missiles at her opponent.  Having no place to really dodge too, Juni was engulfed in a sea of explosions as the recoil from the launcher sent Jenni flying back and crashing to the ground.  The M.A.R.S. member jumped to her feet expecting to be able to cheer the fact that nothing was left of Juni but a smoldering crater, only to get up just in time to see Juni coming out of a mach slide.

"Hiiiii-YAH!!!"

Grabbing Jenni, Juni immediately leaped high into the air spinning the both of them around and around, just overall making the girl really nauseous, until she slammed Jenni hard to the ground.

Jenni quickly rolled away to avoid a further attack, then stared at Juni with surprise.

"How did you survive that?  I saw the first missile hit you!"

"Yea, and the stupid thing almost instantly guard crushed me despite my psycho shield."  Juni frowned.  "I'm still working on my own special powers, okay?  My mach slide was just barely able to teleport me through the rest.  But hey!  It's all good.  I'm going to cure Lord Bison and he's going to get his priorities straight then everything will be great!  Maybe I'll figure out how to set you straight, too!"

"Where did you learn all this?"  Jenni quickly ran to the side as Juni cannon drilled past her and rolled away to avoid a possible counter attack.  "You didn't even show any hints of knowing who I was, earlier."

Standing back up, Juni flipped around to face her foe.  "How could I not figure out who you were with that name?  Jenni, Juni... and the last name, even, though it took me a while to remember where it came from since I haven't seen it in such a long time.  It wasn't really hard for me to figure out who you were, though."

"So you were playing stupid all this time?"

"Actually, no.  Then I would have been the manipulating dolt, but I really wasn't, since the dolt never wins."

"Ah."  It was Jenni's turn to smile.  "So I'm still the dolt, huh?  Well, I'll tell you there's a first time for everything."

Quickly cupping her hand around her ear since she heard something, Jenni looked back then quickly leapt up as a killer cerberus mutant dog dashed underneath her, and slammed right into Juni as it ran by, knocking her down.  As Juni stumbled back up, Jenni quickly ducked under a large mutant crow came flying overhead in an arc, slamming into Juni's head as it flew by and knocking her back down again.

"You forget, June.  I don't know where you got the crazy idea about the High Lord of Shadowlaw being corrupted by the soul virus, but the fact that I have its power means that I get the advantages of home turf here.  And the audience isn't very appreciative of the away team."

As Juni slowly got over the nausea that came from being smacked upside the head by a crazy bird that didn't look where it was going, she saw one of Squirrel City's many generic zombies slowly approaching her.

She blinked.  It was still slowly approaching her.

She continued to stare in surprise.  It was still slowly approaching her.

She began to tap her foot.  It was still slowly approaching her.

Jenni frowned at the scene as the zombie was still slowly approaching her.

"OH SCREW THIS!"  Ticked off, Jenni quickly kicked the zombie hard in the back, sending it flying for the blonde.  As the zombie slammed to the ground, it quickly grabbed the surprised Juni by the leg and chomped down hard.

"OW!!!!"  Frankly kicking around to get the stupid thing off, Juni finally managed to send it flying just in time to eat Jenni's hyper version of her elbow tackle.  In a huge flash, Jenni slammed right into Juni, crashing into the wall with her.  The hunter leader slumped to the ground as Jenni took off her beret and laughed.

"Well now, I guess this is it then, June.  It's my call.  Dolt wins."

Rather annoyed at the pretentious attitude Jenni was taking, Juni look up with an evil grin on her face.  "Ah, but you forget.  I still have an ace."

"Oh please... what could you possibly have left?"

Jenni's question was met with a painful response as Rob punched her hard in the back of the head, knocking her to the side and slamming her to the ground.

"ALL MY HUNTERS ARE STILL ALIVE, YOU IDIOT."  Juni snapped.  "Sheesh, they were watching us the entire battle for crying out loud!"

Jenni hit the ground with her fist in frustration.  "Dammit!  I keep forgetting that they all didn't die yet for some stupid reason!"

The blonde simply shrugged in reply, before Terrace handed her Avelle's gun.

"Yea, well, one of us did die.  But none of us knew him and we don't really care how right now and probably will never find out anyway, so I guess it's time to call out the final solution on you."

Pointing the gun at Jenni's head, Juni paused for a bit to let the suspense settle in.  Because suspense is cool and whatnot.  Then she slowly pulled the trigger... before putting the gun down and simply shaking her head.

Kerikov stared in surprise.  "Not going to kill her?!  Why did we even bother with all of this, boss?"

Elbowing Kerikov rather annoyedly, Juni glanced back with a frown.  "Kerikov, you're a newbie.  You aren't supposed to question your boss, you know.  We're letting Jenni go.  She's not exactly very level headed right now, but I'm sure she'll learn the right way, someday!"

The hunter leader happily beamed in her overly optimistic optimism.

"But..." protested the newbie.  "The mission objectives... Baxter Corp told us that we were supposed to make sure that there were no civilian witnesses... We're supposed to at least take them back to custody for interrogation and so that they can't leak out what happened to the global public and...  erm, I'm supposed to shut up now, huh?"

Content that Kerikov finally realized that, the hunters all turned around and began walking back to the harbor as Juni continued her explanation.

"Jenni's not a problem.  Why would she leak to the public information about the soul virus when she wants to keep it a secret, herself?  Since she's like... using it for her own power or something.  That'd be as stupid as me telling everyone that all my extra special moves were based on some sort of special nazi weapon powered thing dubbed as psycho power!"

The group was already quite a distance away when Jenni got back up, but they were still within range.  She readied her rocket launcher to send them all to oblivion, but Juni turning around made her quickly hide it.

"Oh yea.  This time, you WON'T forget to write, right?"

Jenni couldn't reply to that.  She was shocked.  There Juni was, simply mocking her again, smiling... laughing... and SHE was the one that forgot to write!  The girl let go and dropped the rocket launcher to the floor as Juni turned around and caught up to the rest of the hunters, but managed to finally shout some parting words before they were too far away to hear her.

"I HATE YOU!!!  Don't think you can get away with this!  Karma will catch up to you, and you'll have to pay your debt in spades, asshole!!!"

The facial expression on Juni's face as she continued to casually walk away turned to a frown as she complained to no one in particular.  "Sheeeesh... I'm the asshole now?  That soul virus sure knows how to make people into hypocritical jerks."

"Yea... yea, anyway..."  Kerikov broke in again.  "Boss, what about that Bonnie girl?"

"Huh?  What?  Oh, her?  Erm... well... unlike Jenni, we really can't leave her alive, can we?  We could always just leave her stranded here to become zombie food.  That was the plan, anyway..."

That was right... Bonnie... Ah well.  So they promised to wait for her... Juni lied before.  One had to do what one had to, after all.  Though... what a waste, going through all that and trying to save that Bonnie girl and vice-versa... maybe if she could figure out a machiavaellian Junivaellian reason...

Unfortunately, she couldn't figure one out.

The surroundings were quite silent as young Bonnie slowly stalked through the dead hunting grounds of Squirrel City.  The morning winds stirred a faint echoing hymn to the empty air that represented the fate of this city.  The girl’s footsteps cracked a snap as she stepped on the garbage debris.  As she looked down as the shattered walls and roads, Bonnie was reminded that there was little humanity left.  As she looked up to the signs on the ceiling...

She discovered that there was a sale on bread.  At least there might had been if the city wasn’t in shambles.  Bonnie dismissed the thought and moved down the aisle.  She really needed to find a way to cut through this commissary and find her way through the naval yard.  She was on her own again, now that she’s been separated from the great Juni’s team of rag-tag hunters.  Sure, they said that they were going get another ship hotwired while little Baby Bonnie tried to finish off the creature, alone...

Sure, they said that.  That’s why they had her take the lead during all the messy jobs so far in this ordeal.  After all, in rescue situations civilians always led in front where all the danger lurked as opposed to the rear where they might be better protected.

That’s why Bonnie believes them wholeheartedly.

Yeah, sure.  That’s why Bonnie has decided to hold her breath waiting for them.  She really didn’t know what hidden agenda the Springtime Hunting Group was playing, but Bonnie knew enough than to take their claim to the letter.  All children should had been taught the common lesson of never trusting strangers.

Besides, there were hundreds of ships in this naval yard.

Still, for one without any navigation experience, options can still be quite limited.  While Juni and company fled on a small patrol craft, Bonnie could maneuver a path onto a larger carrier or vessel.  Surely, there wouldn’t be a chance to get any of them operational, but those ships might carry wooden rowboats or some sort of lifeboat in case of emergencies.  That’s all Bonnie needed to make it at sea.

After everything she had been through with Juni’s group, Bonnie still could not just figure them out.  She didn’t know what it was, then again Bonnie never really worked well with others.  Whenever she thought about it, the statement held true for some reason.  Never had she been an exclusive member of a group.  Always too much of a tomboy to be in the girl’s crowd; wearing dresses and flower print skirts never made her one of the guys.  A bird of a different feather never flocked together.  She could never figure that out; life on Mikai was a lot easier to adjust to than life in grade school.

Demon hunting was more forgiving, but really was not different socially.  Some hunters formed teams while other had the preference to work alone.  Bonnie preferred the later.  Working alone meant all bounty profits were divided by one.  Salary considerations had always been the issue when dealing with others.

Bonnie could never really get along with others.

The child hunter passed by the freezer section and caught a glimpse at the metal reflective surface.  Black eye, bruises, cuts, swollenness, bloodstains, a dirty complexion and clothing.  The intense battles with the forces of death had took a serious toll on B.B. Hood; a naturally cute smile had transformed to a war hardened grin.  Tired eyes then asked why was she willing to hunt down the gingerbread creature.

A minute later, the girl’s mind tried to back trace the source of that determination.  Juni told her, but that’s not the reason; Bonnie’s not one of her lackeys.

Wait.

Maybe it was because Juni had ordered her.  The Springtime leader’s conviction regarding the monster is that it truly can’t be stopped, and she seemed to be convinced that Bonnie’s stubbornness is shrouding her from reaching the same conclusion.  Maybe it was some sort of mastermind game; have B.B. hopelessly fight the creature only to be beaten and come running back to the other.  Fudge no!  Such a surrendering admission would undoubtedly make them all believe she is just a little girl out of her league, which is how they all saw her-- just a ‘civilian needing rescue’.

But...

If Bonnie could deliver the cookie head of this monster... then imagine how everyone’s reaction.  She would had performed what has been impossible for all of them.  The bragging rights alone...

Wait!

Bonnie shook her head.  What was she thinking.  She’s better than that.  Pride and honor are grown-up weaknesses; not hers.  It’s the ultimate downfall, and Bonnie learned to rise above such peer-pressure.  Since there wasn’t a price on that creature’s head, there was no reason to go after it.  This was silly, even if others think of her as a ‘little kid’, there is no reason to run off just to prove them wrong.

“Come on, Hari... “ Bonnie sighed, “Let’s go.”

Hari’s bark was quickly drowned out by a demonic snarl: the Gingerbread Nemesis, wrapped in many tentacles and threatening as every, made a dramatic entrance through the brick wall.

“Gee, when I look for him, it’s never to be seen.  But the minute I decide to leave, that thing always finds me.” Bonnie jumped down to the ground taking cover as a grenade shortly flew from her grip and exploded in front of the monster. “It’s not fair!”

The monster responded with no leering reply; it just lunged with a roundhouse swing its lumbering fist.  Bonnie was not fast enough to dodge the blow.  A demonic talon clenched the little torso body with a grip that pressed hard against the rip cage.  The painful squeeze caused a grunting winch in agony.

Then Bonnie’s vision was blurred, and her body felt the impact of the nearby soup pyramid that EVERY super market is seen to have in television, yet never goes in the neighborhood markets of reality.  Fatigue.  Stings.  Disorientation.  Scratches.  Throbbing Pains.  Everything sense of feeling that Baby Bonnie had remembered so fondly during every past encounter with this wretched monster.

However, one sense registered as it coursed through her nervous system.

Tired.  Not tired in the physical sense.

This was an emotional feeling.  Her mental endurance and patience with the annoying encounters with the gingerbread monster.  It was persistent.  A little too persistent.  Unlike the rest of the metropolitan zombie census, this gingerbread monster had a good intelligence capacity of death.  Not the simple urges that most undead beings satisfy with the mortal food chain...

No, it had a similar blood lust that sadistic slayers and vicious killers could only possess.  It wanted to kill the child in front of it.

But Bonnie did not want a fight.

She was just too tired.  Just looking at the creature made her insides sprawl.

So she decided it was time to finish off.

Alas, her recent collisions had scattered her firepower across the littered floor.  Her melee fighting style is not to par against the savagery of a walking slaughterhouse.  And, she couldn’t spot any of her explosives or guns from a glimpse.  Visually scanning and rummaging through such debris would prove fatal in the distraction.

It’s fight or flight.  And without any weapons, Bonnie’s choice is clear.

She just stood in the mist of ruined grocery store.  She will not run only to be chased and inevitably mowed down.  She will hurl makeshift projectiles of discarded canned goods or stony rubble knowing more adequate firepower had failed before.  No flight.  No fight.  Just a last stand, a tribute to the living world that she fought to uphold.  Unlike the delusional champions of virtue, Baby Bonnie Hood well understood the limits of her mortality.

‘In one bite, the Gingerbread Monster had swallowed Red Riding Hood.’

Is that how this fairytale will end?  An epic defeat all summarized in a sentence which will be printed below a pencil illustration of traditional gingerbread cookie cutter-shaped character wiping it’s lips with a rosy fabric cloth that was once Hood trademark headgear.

The monster grinned (or it would if it had lips), ready to final savor the crushing victory.

Bonnie still stood in adamant defiance.  Her frame nor face displayed an emotions save for a burning concreting gaze, and traces of sweat and intense breathing as if she had to struggle to stand still. A wind picked up around Baby Bonnie; her tattered blonde hair and ragged pink dress waved with a thespian climax.  The opening breeze often felt with the cold air of death approach.

The creature stride to the little girl, ready to squeeze every once of life with its pulsing tentacles.  Bonnie could not fight back. Her only comfort is that her journey to heaven will reunite her with her grandmother.  As a last futile gesture, B.B. Hood grappled onto the monster with her two hands.

Gotcha!

Thought she was dead, huh?!?

Clinging onto the demonic cookie monster’s collar, Bonnie spun around the creature while her elemental-ki forged a huge cyclone of wind.  The sentimental twisters thundered louder and louder as the storm grew in magnitude, casting various canned goods and food items in the tempest.

Then Bonnie released her maelstrom grip, the lash back thrown her a foot in the air knocking her in a seated position on the tiled floor.

The creature was not so lucky with pastry Frankenstein form hurled in against the glass door of the dairy product section, crashing against the countless milk containers where the monster bellowed in agony.  A sound never ushered from the beast.  The white pasteurized liquid started to burn and dissolve the gingery skin; as the strongest of venomous acids.  The rest was a straight forward melting demise.

During the last seconds of life, Bonnie beamed with weird bewilderment-- once the cookie dough-like ooze rested harmlessly on the floor, the child grinned with a mischievous smirk.

“Freaky tentacle monsters don’t scare me!” And on that note, she left the monster that caused so much torment through this entire trip. Maybe those three words could be spoken...

... no.

The battle may be over, but the journey out of this city remains.  Bonnie scanned the ground, trying to find her basket and weapons.  Despite being among a vast pile of rubble, and time was still a rare commodity; it would be unwise to journey in the streets with some form of firepower.  She said to herself that too much time and effort wouldn’t be wasted too much around here.

And after a few minutes of fruitless results, she gave up and decided to call for Hari and head out.  She would need to be careful, and observant for any source that might contain a useful weapon along the way.

She tried to call for Hari again, and he did not come.  Bonnie’s cold defensive stern sank with the realization of her missing puppy.  She continued to survey the store, calling his name... until she heard a faint paw scratching.  Honing in on the noise, she found her pet pawing a small footlocker.  Curious as to wonder why he was doing so, she gently moved Hari aside and opened the chest.  Inside was enough firepower to start a major war-- that mysterious chest with the dimensional paradox, she’d guessed.

It would had been nice to have found this chest before killing the gingerbread beast, but there is no sense in crying over spilled milk.  Bonnie did not seemed to daunted over the irony, and just kept priorities in focus; she darted to the check out line and grabbed a plastic grocery hand basket as a makeshift alternative to her weaved picnic version.  She then scanned through the arsenal in the chest; assault rifles, semi-autos, pistols, gattling guns, missiles, and weapons of all kinds.

While the firepower of the heavier weapons were awesome, and even considered; Bonnie however knew a portable variant was what she needed. Another semi-automatic pistol, and miniature grenade launcher were the best-suited weapons she could find. She gathered them and the proper ammunition she could find inside.

Upon leaving the commissary, a loud piercing siren was heard across the dead city skies; it was faint inside the building, but outside it was noticeable.  The hum was a constant, bass powered klaxon.  Looking up to the telephone poles, Bonnie spotted the speaker that was sounding the sounds.  She thought as to what the noise could be; and she was reminded of the old war sirens that her grandmother told her about during the WWII bombings.  It was questionable whether the siren could mean that, but it whatever meaning one could come up with... neither of them were good.

In a haste motion, Bonnie grabbed her scooter that was leaning against the brick wall, held Hari in her arms, and headed back towards the shoreline.

”The course laid in, and we're all set…” Kerikov firmly acknowledged to Terrace, who was manning the navigational controls.

“Aye, aye…”

“There's something in my eye…” The young newbie hunter asked as he tried to find a reflective surface.

“No, that was navy spea… ah nevermind.  What I meant to say is that we're good.” Terrace replied.

“Good.  Let's set sail.”

“Where to?”

Terrace thought, “How about Cancun?”

“Sounds good…”

“Roger, my good man.”

“Name's Kerikov.”

Terrace sighed, but he didn't mind. At least it isn't him being the stupid one. “Just engage.”

“Ahem!” The great huntress Juni walked in and cocked a defining eyebrow. “What are you two doing? The anchor hasn't been raised yet and we are not leaving…”

"We aren't?"  Kerikov's attention immediately switched focus to the boss.  "But you said..."

"There's been a change of plans."

"Again!?  What kind of 'Junivaellian reason' is it, this time!?  And it'd better be something better than her turning into a super zombie!"

"Whoa, easy there."  Terrace quickly broke in.  "You know, it's really not nice to snap at the ladies."

"THIS,"  Juni continued, bopping Kerikov hard at the back of his head and knocking him down, "is a personal reason.  You have to show some respect when talking to the great Lady Junivelle.  I have a special agenda for the red riding hooded girl."

Rubbing the back of his head, Kerikov slowly turned it to look from the ground up at the girl, but didn't have any time to say anything before Rob's voice was heard from outside on the deck.

"She's here, Juni!"

Juni quickly glanced at the window to see the girl in the distance, then beamed.

"Yay!  Erm, I mean, excellent!  Lower that stair thingy, then we can finally get out of here, soon!"

The ropy bridge-like ladder had been lowered, and Bonnie folded her scooter back up. She didn't know why she had returned to these people. Then again, she didn't even know why they'd hadn't left yet. That's what stymied the little girl, these little contradicting quirks just cannot be figured out. At, least she could figure other individuals she dealt with beforehand, and knew how to act accordingly. Juni's different... she's just weird. That's possibly makes her harmless enough.

Shrug.

Bonnie climbed up the stairs. The boat that Juni's goons appeared to be some light cruiser. The kind that coast guards used often. Made sense, it's crew compliment was enough for the team and anything larger would be too complicated to get hot-wired.

< But, how did I automatically know to come to this particular ship? >

Shrug.

Bonnie moved into the bridge, and eavesdropped on an interesting conversation.

"You see, you're lucky..." It was Rob speaking to that Terrace person. "You get to be the hero that saves the day and gets the girl!"

The ever-silent Jonas coughed repeatedly mentioning the word "Jailbait!"

"But I'm not the leaderly manly "save the day" hero guy!  Juni's our leader, not me." Terrace ignored Jonas's commentary and answered the other hunter's comment.

Juni suddenly turned and retorted to the remark. "Wait... did you just call me manly?" The other hunters all turned away, finding something else in the room to keep their attention. None of them noticed Bonnie walking in the bridge, and one who listened in the entire conversation.

"Eww! Stay away from me! I don't want you're cooties!" She spitted with a disgusted tone typical of most children, "Can't you just stab me in the back like most people."

"Now, Bonnie, why would we do that?" Juni slyly replied.

Shrug.

Sigh.

Bonnie... was really tired.  And it showed.  Juni, however, remained cheerful as always.

"I assume you were successful?  You don't seem too happy though.  But I know what will make you feel better.  You passed the test!"

From behind, Kerikov arched an eyebrow.

"You were giving her a test, boss?"

"Well, not really."  Juni gave a shrug of her own.  "But no matter.  Hey, why don't you all run off and do something while I have a private chat with Bonnie, okay?"

With a nod, the other hunters left the room.  Besides Kerikov, who had to be dragged out as he stared at Juni with a rather aggravated look on his face.

"Now, anyway, Bonnie... how are you feeling?  Everything went okay, I hope?"

"Yeah, great. Found out milk doesn't always do a body good." Bonnie sat down at a nearby chair. A great burden was lifted as she was finally able sit and relax for a second. Well, at least, physically. Her mind was still uneased, the uncertainty of Juni's actual intentions. But, she's too tired for run arounds and such... and Juni was up to something. Better cut to the chase. "What is this about."

Juni cupped her hands and smiled.  "Well, that's good to hear then."

She was either thinking naively that Bonnie actually trusted her, or she was plotting something.  Or perhaps both.  Either way, Bonnie was really too tired to care at the moment.

"I was thinking a lot about things lately.  You seem to know what you're doing.  You're a Darkstalker hunter, aren't you?  Even though I couldn't find any record of you from Baxter Corp's databases while I was browsing around on the computers."

"I don't associate myself with Baxter." Bonnie turned away, a faint noise was heard in her ears. The siren. "Are we waiting for someone?"

"Not really."

"Then I think we need to depart." B.B. suggested sternly.

Juni looked puzzled, "Why?  It's finally ov..."  No.  The great huntress will not jinx herself with that line.  "What's the hurry?"

"Don't you hear the emergency siren?  It started to go off, and that doesn't bother you?"

"Bonnie... Bonnie, you worry too much.  This city is in shambles, and everything is in a wreck.  Like the power and lights.  That's because the nuclear power plant is having trouble... most likely the staff are all zombies and therefore can't maintain the reactor properly.  Just because the city has a faulty radioactive generator and the doomsday whistle is going off, that doesn't me..." Juni paused, then reached for the intercom on the bridge consul, "Raise anchor... we're leaving!"

The hunters immediately replied with all sorts of clichéd "Aye aye, Captain!" quotes.  It almost made Bonnie's head hurt.  If they were going to do imitations, they could at least copy something that was actually worth imitating.  Bonnie adjusted her red riding hood again.

"Now, you see what I mean?  You were able to realize what that siren was for.  Of course, I was, too.  We, Bonnie, have power."

Bonnie didn't realize that realizing that an emergency siren meant it was time to run away if one cared at all for their self-preservation was a sign of power.

Shrug.

"You don't seem to want to align yourself with Baxter Corp.  You might be surprised to hear this from me, but that's actually okay."

In the background, the sky glowed red as Bonnie was sure that the city was probably beginning to melt under nuclear radiation, but Juni didn't seem to pay much attention to it.  Once again, she was being too quirky to realize the danger that the boat might not get far away enough in time, but it wasn't like there was anything anyone could do about that, anyway.

So, might as well pay attention to whatever the great Junivelle was trying to say.

"Baxter Corp, Bonnie, is about containment.  Contain the Darkstalkers, quell any outbursts of power before the local populace can feel or hear about it... I'm not sure if you know the drill, but it doesn't matter.  Most hunters don't care about what Baxter Corp is about as long as they get paid.  It's also about fear.  People are afraid of those with more power.  They cry and just plain out freak when they find out about it.  I would know this first hand, since I had a good friend named Bremare who outright dumped me and bailed just because of it."

Juni spun her gun around, pointed it at nothing, then put it away again and glared at Bonnie right in the eye, more serious this time.

"People wouldn't have to be afraid if those with power knew how to use it correctly.  As I've said, you seem to know what you're doing.  That's why I want to give you an offer.  In truth, I'm actually more affiliated with another organization than Baxter."

Was Bonnie supposed to be surprised?  She was expecting this truth about the great Junivelle for a while.  She wasn't expecting what Juni was going to say next, however.

"We at Shadowlaw work for a world where only the truly perfect enlightened exist, to make the world a better place for everyone.  Or at least, we will, though the vision was clouded a little when the head commander was... corrupted a little.  But I'm going to take care of that soon enough, and that's what I'm talking to you about, right now.  When all's said and done, you'd fit right in!  We could not have to worry about being the outcasts anymore, and finally make everything right for us and be appreciated for once.  So, what do you say?"

Juni beamed again.  This time more sincerely than the last few times.

"This is Roberto Goya of CNN.  We're live from Helicopter feed over what once was the city of Squirrel City in Latveria.  A recent horrible tragedy has struck this city, causing the entire city to be nearly completely destroyed in a nuclear meltdown.  Rescue teams had arrived to clear out the citizens, but sadly the death toll was in the thousands.  We bring you to the President of Latveria, Victor Von Leonclaire, for comment."

"Thank you, Robert.  My fellow Latverians, we must look at this meltdown of Squirrel City not as a disaster, but as a blessing..."

"Because a rumored plague of pink eye within the city won't spread and you think the lives of the few citizens of Squirrel city was outweighed by the threat to the lives of Latveria citizens as a whole?"

"No, I just hate squirrels."

"That was the comment of the President of Latveria, Victor Von Leonclaire, and this is Roberto Goya of CNN.  We'll bring you more reports about Squirrel City as further news develops."

In the lounge at Baxter Corp headquarters, Chika Imawano frowned at the TV.  The long black-haired Japanese girl sighed.  "This is the best they could come up with?!  That's what we get for having stupid American news casters."

"Chika, don't worry about it."  Bremare remarked.  "The city is named SQUIRREL CITY, for crying out loud.  I'm surprised there are people out there who'd take it seriously in the first place."

Shaking her head, Chika changed the channel.

With the simple gesture of waving, the televised broadcast had been turned off.  Remotes or sensor technology could had easily turned off such electronic devices, but when one has the power to alter fabrications of physics itself with magic, petty toys are meaningless.

The sole figure seated in the black horned demonesque chair remained quiet, serine with no visible facial characteristic seen with the back facing away.  The room was dark, only lit by soft candlelight that added to the chemistry of modern gothic decor.  It was a small office building, over looking the renaissance architecture horizon of a city miles away from Squirrel.  Sleek office appliances, light colored painting, certified diplomas, and bright vivid potted plants proposed a compromising clash with the hundred candles, black rug etched with the pentagram symbol, arcane volumes and antique furniture.

Even though no expressions were visual, the mysterious person was pleased.  It was no random occurrence to find that newscast.  Fools.  They really thought that the city had a meltdown?  Those fools at Baxter and in the government are so eager to gloss over important details regarding the undead.  That Martian girl had done her job well, it seems.  Now, she had to inform her two sisters of this news.  They'd be thrilled to now that Parasol had been eliminated, and their secret is safe.

An elegantly feminine hand moved from the armrest; it's skin pale as a enchanted ghost, nails black and rich as a demons blood, with the mystical refinement of an evil enchantress.  It reached over to the end table next to her, and grabbed another gingerbread cookie so neatly arranged on the plate.

Masterminding is the Devil's play after all