Once the Tithian warships entered orbit and were identified the planetary defense grid opened fire. Unfortunately there were too many ships and the grid was defeated within an hour. Soon after Tithians began landing their ships on the planet, but that turned out to be a mistake for them. Once on the ground the ships were attacked by the Centari 7 Army. Some were destroyed, some were disabled, and a few escaped.
But this victory came at a cost, the Army suffered heavy causalities fighting the ships. And the crews of some of the disabled ships managed to escape and enter the cities were they began to wreak havoc on their citizens. A lot of innocent civilians were killed and many others taken hostage.
Jim hated going into the city for anything, but he just had to make a trip into one of the warehouse districts to pick up another case of massage oil. For how much he cared for Crystal, those big paws of hers sure use up a lot of oil.
As Jim is driving down he can hear sirens in the distance, but he assumes that there is a fire somewhere and presses on. When Jim finally gets to the warehouse it appears to be abandoned. This is odd since he made an appointment to pick the shipment up. He walks in, feels something hit him and everything goes dark.
Back at the campus Crystal is woken up by the sound of the intercom doorbell. She hits the button �Who is it�
A voice says over the intercom, �It�s Judy, can I come in? It�s important!�
Crystal rolls over and looks at the clock, its 10:37am already. Well she always sleeps in when Jim and Sam rub her paws. The doorbell goes off again. �Crystal, please it�s important!�
Crystal rolls back over and hits a blue button on the intercom control panel �Alright, come in.�
Judy is panting, she ran all the way over here �Have you seen the news yet?!�
Crystal responds, �No, why what�s wrong?�
�Just turn on your monitor, set it for the local news station.� Judy say excitedly
Crystal turns on the monitor and there�s a picture of Jim, with several other blindfolded people, surrounded by armed men. She turns up the volume and hears �and although the Tithian invasion has been stopped, several groups of their forces across the planet have begun to take over buildings and are holding hostages. Locally Seven unidentified people have been taken hostage at the Sang Soon Wholesalers in the commercial district. Police believe that up to thirty heavily armed Tithians are held up at the warehouse and are demanding transportation off the planet or they will start killing hostages. It is believed that at least a dozen or more people were already killed when they took over the warehouse. Negotiations are under way, but it is not believed that the warehouse can be taken by force without the help of the Army, which is currently still engaging large pockets of Tithian forces. Stay tuned for news of this crisis.�
Judy looks up at Crystal, who is staring at a picture of the hostages on the monitor with a look of fire in her eyes. That look scares the daylights out of her. The next thing she knows Crystal has turned around and is heading for the door. �Crystal, Crystal were are you going. Crystal!�
�Sergeant Murphy, Sergeant Murphy we have a report of a giant girl heading this way�, a young excited police officer says to his boss.
�What are you talking about Smith, are you drunk or som...� Sergeant Murphy responds.
Sgt Murphy is interrupted as the earth begins to shake beneath his feet. He exclaims, �What in the Hell is that!�
Just then Crystal turns the corner of the street and walks up to the warehouse.
Shouting can be heard in the distance, �Stop! Police!�
Crystal looks down, the fiery look is still in her eyes, and says, �Please just stay back. They�re Mine!�
Sgt Murphy responds, �Ma�am we are going to have to ask that you leave this area immediately or you�ll be arrested.�
Crystal looks down at him and lets off a growl so loud it sets off car alarms for three blocks.
Murphy and Smith look at each other and start yelling, �Get Back!, Get Back!�
Crystal walks up to the warehouse, tears off the roof, and tosses it behind the building. Crystal has been filled with an uncontrollable rage since she saw Jim tied up on the monitor. Crystal�s feelings for him were really starting to surface, but there was something else driving her. Something primitive, wild, something that made her thirst for blood.
Crystal looks down into the warehouse and sees at least 20 Tithians running around screaming and firing their weapons at her. Their little laser guns didn�t even stun her. But they do manage to feed the fury that is driving her. There was nowhere for them to go, since the police had sealed off the building with heavy machinery. The more she looks at them, the more she feels that uncontrollable rage. Now it was time to make them pay!
Crystal climbs into the structure and steps on the first Tithian she sees. It was a strange feeling, at first she feels his body crack, pop, and then nothing but a warm moist bubbling sensation. He was the first humanoid she ever killed and she did not like it. However, Crystal�s rage was pushing her to continue.
Crystal steps on a second Tithian, a third, and then it starts to happen. Crystal�s body begins to tingle every time she crushes one of them. It begins to feel good. Killing these men starts to feel natural to her, like it was what she was born to do.
After the first dozen Tithians died the rest gave up trying to fight her and began to run for their lives. It didn�t take them long to figure out that there was no way out. During the mad rush Crystal crushes a dozen more to death mercilessly. But they were the lucky ones.
Crystal finds herself starting to enjoy stomping out the little criminals that kidnapped her man. Then she notices a few of them trying to escape by climbing up an old fire escape. They don�t get far. Crystal quickly snatches one up in each hand and squeezes until their little bodies explode. Two more already made it on the fire escape and she smashes them like a couple of flies between her hands. Blood begins to splatter everywhere.
She throws the remains to the ground and goes after the last few that were running away. Those poor soles soon found themselves being scoped up into her hands and tossed into a wide-open mouth. �To bad for them I skipped breakfast� she thought to herself while chewing up the afternoon snacks.
However while Crystal was chasing the Tithians through the warehouse something deep inside made her avoid the middle of the floor. That�s where the hostages were being held. But now that nothing was left of the Tithians but crushed corpses and bloodstains, it was time to set them free.
As she walks back to their bench someone jumps out from behind and grabs a hostage. It was a Tithian who managed to hide from her and he was pointing a laser pistol at JIM!!!
Now more than ever the rage boils up in her. HE HAD TO DIE!!!
Crystal raises one of her paws up and crashes it down hard on the concrete floor. The ground shakes violently and both the Tithian and Jim fall back. Crystal quickly steps forward, grabs the Tithian�s pistol off the ground, and tosses it away. Then with two fingers, she presses down on his legs until the bones break. The Tithian starts to cry out in pain.
Crystal picks up Jim and places him outside with the waiting police and emergency workers. Then one at a time she places each of the hostages outside with him. Crystal does this slowly and gently, since the almost overwhelming urge to kill was still with her.
Once the hostages are safe it is time to finish what she had started. The Tithian is still lying on the ground, in the same spot were Crystal left him.
When he sees her he begins to beg for his life �Please, Please! Don�t! What do you want!?�
Crystal places her right paw over his body, covering it with only his head sticking out between her toes. She looks down at him with a cruel grin on her face and says, �I want to hear you scream.�
Slowly she begins applying weight. The Tithian�s painful screams fill the air as he feels his body being compressed. As the paw begins to settle on the ground, blood starts to shot out of the Tithian�s mouth. The sound of bones cracking can be heard for a moment, then only silence.
When it was all over Crystal just stands there looking down at her paw. Warm blood is now seeping out from under her pads and toes. Crystal can feel her heart racing and she is purring loudly. For the first time since she saw Jim on the news program, the rage Crystal was feeling begins to subside.
From behind a loud crashing can be heard as the police brake into the warehouse. The first few officers to get inside are horrified at what they see. There is blood, body parts, and flattened bodies everywhere. In the middle of the room is Crystal, standing over the man she just killed and covered in blood, purring like a kitten. The police start to back up as she turns around and looks down at them.
One of the officers turns his head and yells back �Hey you guys, better get the Chief in here!�
As an older gray haired man walks in, Crystal slowly gets down on one knee and says �Am I under arrest now?�
The chief looks back at his people, then up at her and says, �Young lady I don�t think we have any handcuffs big enough to fit you! Besides after what you did today most of the city considers you a hero.�
Crystal looks around and says, �But I just murdered all of those men. How can I be a hero?�
The chief looks back at his men �Leave us alone. I want to have a talk with her alone�
�But chief� one of the officers pleads
The chief looks back with a reassuring look on his face �I�ll be fine. It looks like she is done in here.�
The room empties and the chief looks back up at Crystal �It�s Crystal, right� She nods her head �This is what it comes down to Crystal. These pirate scum invaded are planet, took its citizens hostage, and then threatened to kill them. You went in there saved the hostages and killed them in the process. In my book that�s killing in the defense of others and it perfectly legal under these circumstances.�
The chief looks down at her paws �However, Crystal I�m not going to lye to you here. Legally it may have been self-defense, but from the screams I heard coming from this warehouse� I do think you may have went a little overboard.� The chief takes off his hat and rubs his head �But off the record�. I don�t think that pirate scum deserved any mercy and I hope they give you a metal!�
�We know were to find you if we need you.� The chief puts his hat back on and begins walking toward the door. �Try not to loose any sleep over this, you did the right thing.�
With a concerned look on her face, Crystal says �Chief, what about the hostages? Are they alright?�
The chief looks back to her �The paramedics have taken them to the hospital. Last I heard they were going to be just fine.� The chief turns around and continues walking to the door �Go home now. It�s over.�
Following a short walk home, Crystal arrives at her dorm room and opens the door. It was almost 7:00 pm when she gets home. Crystal finds a man standing in the shadows of her dorm room when she walks in.
�Come in my big girl, we need to talk� he says.
Crystal�s face lights up as she hurries over to the corner and cries out �DADDY.� She gently picks up Professor Deco and raises him to her face. Professor Deco leans over and kisses her on the cheek.
Professor Deco looks over his beloved daughter, still covered in blood from the warehouse. A lump has formed in his throat as he thinks of what he must now tell her. But Crystal needs to know. She deserves to know.
Professor Deco looks up at Crystal�s smiling face and says �Baby there�s something I need to tell you and it won�t be easy. It�s about where you came from, what you are?�
�Daddy, what�s wrong?� Crystal says with a worried look on her face.
�Shhhh baby, just sit down and let your old man talk.� Professor Deco says in a soft and comforting voice.
Crystal obediently sits down and gives her father her undivided attention.
Professor Deco looks up at his daughter with a solemn look on his face �Baby you know we found you in a giant meteor from space.� Crystal nods her head in acknowledgement.
He continues, �What you don�t know is what we discovered years after we found you. Five years after you came to us an Earth starship found an unidentified ship in our system. The ship appeared to be hundreds of years old and more technologically advanced than anything we seen before. The markings on the ship appeared to be the same language as that on your meteor.�
Professor Deco takes a breath and continues, �The ship was towed back to a starbase for study. It took 6 months to access the ships computer and another 3 years to decipher their language. But when they did, that�s when they found out��
�Daddy, what is it?� Crystal could see how hard this was for her father.
Professor Deco clears his throat and continues, �They called themselves the Martonins. The Martonins were a powerful warrior race that roamed the galaxy hundreds of years ago. One day they stumbled upon your people in their natural state.�
The professor takes off his glasses, rubs his eyes, and then continues. �Baby the Martonins kidnapped newborns from your planet and began experimenting on them. Somehow they changed the genetic code of those newborns. They programmed some sort of system to enhance the natural predatorily instinct to hunt and kill. However it was adapted for use in military operations. The system helps control this instinct so it does not get out of control. Also some sort of reward system was installed. Unfortunately most of the files on your people were vague, so a lot of our information is sketchy at best.�
Crystal knew deep down inside she was one of their experiments. It explains the urges she felt in warehouse, her enjoyment of what she did, and why she was never tempted to hurt any of the hostages.
�Crystal, baby.� The professor says as Crystal starts to look away. �You were one of those newborns. They turned you into a��
�A perfect soldier.� General Sebert says as he walked in the door.
�Damn it General, I told you to wait outside.� Professor Deco yells, in an irritated voice.
�Daddy what�s going on?� Crystal asks.
Professor Deco looks back up at her �Crystal in order to keep the government from going public with this information I had to make a deal with them. The deal was that if your special abilities were ever needed, I would tell you of your origins. Then I would allow the government to ask you for help. But Crystal you have every right to say no if you want to. It�s your decision.�
Professor Deco sits back down in Crystal�s palm, looks at the General, and says, �Very well General, tell her.�
General Sebert walks over to an interface panel, inserts a disk, and turns on Crystal�s monitor. �Are you familiar with this part of the planet Crystal?�
Crystal looks at the image and says �That�s Ji Ji island. I thought it was deserted.�
The General continues, �It was until today. Those Tithian ships that managed to escape our attack apparently chose that island to regroup. Intelligence reports that they are digging in and fortifying the area. We think they may be trying get a foothold on our planet for another invasion force.�
General Sebert changes the image on screen to show a close up of the Tithian camp. �I�d like to go in there and hit them before they can get settled in. The problem is that we sustained heavy causalities in the first assault and we are still fighting the bastards in some areas. I only have enough troops to set up a containment force around the camp, not enough to attack with. Reinforcements are on their way from Starbase 22, but they won�t get here for another two weeks.�
Crystal looks down at General Sebert, �What do you want me to do?�
The General looks up at her �If we wait for our reinforcements to get here, they would have had two weeks to fortify. A lot of good men and women will lose their lives fighting to take that camp.�
The General starts to gaze at her blood soaked legs, �But if you go in there now and hit them before they fortify, the camp should fall easily. I don�t expect you to massacre the whole camp, just break through their defenses and capture their leaders. Most of the others should surrender after that.�
Crystal looks down at her blood soaked fur and thinks about the events of the day. She knew that if the General sent her to the island nobody was coming out alive. It was obvious that the General knew that as well. However, what really scares her is that deep down inside she really wants to go. Something inside of her had tasted blood and now she craved more. After today, Crystal wants to kill every Tithian alive!
�I�m sorry General, I can�t� Crystal says as she though of how horrified she was of becoming the killing machine the Martonins tried to turn her into. She hated killing people, even if for a good cause.
Professor Deco says to the General �You have your answer. Now please leave my daughter and I alone.�
General Sebert walks over to the panel, removes his disk, and keys in a number. �Crystal if you change your mind you can reach me at this number.� Then he leaves.
Professor Deco starts to walk to the door �Wash up and get some sleep. We can talk in the morning.� He looks up at his daughter, smiles, and leaves.
Crystal walks to her bathtub, turns on some warm water, and climbs in once it is filled. It takes hour to wash all the blood out of her fur. After using the specially designed heaters to dry her fur, Crystal walks back the main room of the dorm. The monitor is flashing, someone must have called.
Crystal turns on the monitor to see Jim�s bruised face staring at her. She clicks a button and the recording starts playing back. �Crystal it�s me. I am kind of relieved to you didn�t pick up. I don�t think I have the courage to tell you this face to face. But some things became real clear to me today and you had to know...�
Jim looks down, swallows, and continues �Crystal, I know what you did today. Today was an absolute nightmare for me. The Tithians did things to us in that warehouse today� You�re the kindest, gentlest person I ever met and it eats me up inside to see what those bastards made you do. That�s why I�ve joined the Army. I want to be there when they expel the rest of them from our planet. But I have to leave tomorrow morning.�
Jim takes a deep breath and says, �Before I leave there is something else I need to tell you. Today when I felt you big warm hand lift me from that hellhole I realized that�that�I LOVE YOU. Goodbye.�
The monitor then goes blank. Crystal can see her reflection in the dark motionless screen and she is crying. But as she thinks of what the Tithians had done, sorrow begins to turn into anger. The rage Crystal felt when she first saw Jim being held hostage begins to return. Then Crystal has a moment of absolute clarity. Now she knows what has to be done.
She walks over to the panel, presses a few buttons, and the monitor in front of her lights up. A young man wearing a green uniform answers, �Can I help you.�
Crystal answers with that familiar fiery look in her eyes �I want to talk to General Sebert.�
Character based upon that created by Rogue.