Act I

  21:29, February 1, 2295

  200 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60601, Terra Alliance territory

  For her entire life, she had grown up contending with monsters. Escaping them. Slaying them. Bedding them. Beasts. Men. Anything in between. Her feelings didn't matter; surviving them was all that did.

  Lorna Weiss stood atop a decrepit skyscraper, her blonde hair streaming in the winter wind. Below, Chicago hummed with activity, most of its citizens still blissfully unaware of humanity's decades-long war against horrors from beyond Earth. Under Osram's silver light, she could see them moving – twisted shapes skulking between buildings, drawn to something that shouldn't be there.

  "Target's definitely dumping Helionite down there," Thomas Mendoza's voice carried across the rooftop. His short wheat-colored hair and massive frame cut an imposing silhouette against the city lights, bionic arms gleaming dull silver. At six-foot-two, the Vanguard marine moved with surprising grace for someone carrying that much titanium in his body. "Illegal transport schedule. Someone's feeding these things deliberately."

  "Ready for a dramatic entrance?" she asked, the gaze of her sapphire irises catching the appreciative glance he tried to hide. That had been happening more lately - not that she minded. As a Psi Lynx agent in the Alliance, there were worse things than having a handsome partner watching one’s back.

  “Heh.” Thomas grinned, metal fingers flexing. "Ladies first."

  Stepping over the lifeless body of a massive mutated octopus, its dark brown skin blending into the rooftop, Lorna took a deep breath and leaped off the edge. Head first and feet up, she fell freely through the landscape below, fluttering her eyes shut and feeling the wind whip against her signature beige trench coat lined with ballistic-weave that fluttered behind her like a comet blazing through the sky.

  In that moment, amidst the chaos of an imminent Radi-Mon incursion, nothing else mattered. There was only destiny pulling her downward, the exhilaration of freefall, and the promise of a hefty bonus for taking out whatever was drawing these creatures here.

  "Corpus meum leve ut pluma." With a whisper and her piercing blue eyes open wide, a soft azure aura surrounded Lorna as she plummeted. The air grew thick with psionic energy, creating a cushion that slowed her descent just meters above the ground. She somersaulted, landing softly on her black military boots.

  A few meters behind her, Thomas's larger form descended in a controlled fall, the micro-thrusters in his combat boots flaring blue against the night sky. His cybernetic arms adjusted his trajectory with precise bursts of stabilizing force before he landed with a heavy thud beside her.

  "The way you show off is always beautiful. Been working out?" he said, his voice coming through clear in the quantum-encrypted earpiece nestled in her right ear canal. The device was barely visible - just a black crystalline bead that could have been mistaken for a beauty mark.

  “Always. My twenty-ninth birthday is soon, and age won’t get the better of me,” Regaining her composure, Lorna emerged from the shadows. Her form-fitting dark blue combat suit hugged her athletic figure while her coat draped elegantly over it. Golden locks, styled in an unyielding sweep back from her face, caught the dying light and shone like a warrior angel's halo. Her skin, fair and unmarred as polished ivory, contrasted sharply with the urban darkness she prowled through.

  "Another lovely night in the field, eh?" Diego Rodriguez's voice crackled through the same comm channel, tinged with warmth and the slight Mexican accent that was common among Novians like him. "And speaking of showing off - we've got company. Multiple Radi-Mon signatures converging on your position."

  “Roger,” Lorna moved with the calculated grace of a predator, every step deliberate.

  The creatures came into view - Bone Fiends, two of them. Like wolves twisted by nuclear nightmare, they stalked forward on legs of exposed bone and muscle. Spine-like protrusions jutted from their backs, and their hollow eyes gleamed with unnatural hunger. Behind them scuttled something worse - Maurs, mutated ants the size of German shepherds, their jointed legs clicking against concrete as they hauled crystallized chunks of nuclear waste.

  "Just another night," Lorna said, a haughty edge sharpening her American accent. Her fingers found Baldr's sleek silver hilt in her coat pocket, the metal cool against her skin. The weapon was a masterwork of engineering - a polished cylinder that fit perfectly in her palm, its surface flawless except for the glowing interface running along its length. As she drew it, a soft blue light pulsed from within, matching her heartbeat and the flow of her psionic energy.

  Lorna regulated her breathing, watching puffs of white smoke dissipate in the freezing air as her body heated with each exhalation. The interface scanned her vitals, confirming she was in optimal condition to wield the blade. With a swift flick of her wrist, quantum energy erupted from the cylinder - a dazzling beam of blue light that cut through the darkness brighter than any star, humming with barely contained power. “Baldr is singing tonight!” she declared.

  "There she goes!" Thomas observed, drawing his own weapons - retractable titanium blades extending from his cybernetic forearms with a deadly whisper of steel on steel.

  The Maurs, sensing the sudden surge of energy, quickened their frantic pace. The Bone Fiends tensed, preparing to spring. Chicago's neon-lit towers loomed above them like silent witnesses to the impending violence.

  "Ready, Thomas?" Lorna raised Baldr, its azure light reflecting in her eyes. The blade hummed in anticipation, an extension of her will made manifest.

  His only response was a grim smile as the monsters charged.

  The first Bone Fiend leaped, a blur of bone and rotting flesh aimed at Lorna's throat. Baldr sang through the air, quantum energy leaving trails of blue light as she sidestepped and struck in one fluid motion. The beast's flesh sizzled where the blade connected, its dying howl cut short as it dissolved into ash.

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  "Above you, Psi Lynx!" Thomas suddenly called out. The second Bone Fiend had used its packmate's death as a distraction, launching itself from a nearby dumpster. His cybernetic arms whirred as he intercepted the creature mid-air, fist blades piercing through the mutated hound’s skull. The monster thrashed once before going limp.

  "Getting sloppy, aren't we?" Lorna teased, but her eyes were already tracking the Maurs. The mutated ants had scattered during the fight, abandoning their crystallized Helionite cargo in favor of tactical positions around them. Their compound eyes gleamed with an unsettling intelligence.

  "They're not this coordinated usually," Thomas noted, shaking dead flesh from his blades. "Even the Bone Fiends. Tried to set up a tactical advantage."

  "Glacies Lunae Fulgur!" Lorna's mezzo-soprano voice rang out as she channeled psionic energy through her left palm. Blue ethereal streams crackled between her fingers before launching toward the nearest Maur. The creature's chitinous armor cracked under the impact as its lifeless form fell on the ground.

  “Remember to conserve your Aether, amiga!” Diego reminded over the comm. “This is really just a warm-up.”

  Thomas moved to guard her flank, his heavy footfalls echoing off brick walls. "Diego, we're seeing evolved behavior patterns here. You getting this?"

  "Scanning now," Diego's voice could be heard with the sounds of fingers clicking rapidly across his keyboard. "Yep, these readings are all networked somehow. Like they're receiving orders from – "

  "Incoming!" Lorna spun as a much larger shape emerged from the shadows. A Skuggr - like a mutated stink bug the size of a hoverbike, with a canine-like head growing from its sickly brown torso. Green saliva dripped from its maw, sizzling where it hit the pavement.

  "Fulmen Argentum!" Silver lightning erupted from Lorna's fingertips, buying her space as she brought Baldr to bear. The Skuggr reeled back, its armored carapace smoking, but three more Maurs used the opening to surge forward.

  Lorna moved among them like a vengeful spirit, her sword emitting a mournful hum as it met each target. One by one, the creatures fell, their burdens dropping to the ground and their glowing eyes fading into darkness.

  “Really in the mood for spell casting tonight, eh, Lorna?” Diego's voice came through their comms.

  “Got a bottle of Indra-Sprite on me, amigo,” Lorna drove Baldr through the Skuggr's skull, the quantum blade piercing straight through to emerge from the other side as the creature collapsed. “If I ever run out, I’ll use it.”

  "Right. Just make sure you have enough for the big bad later," Diego replied. "Also, these aren't random strays. They're all converging on Michigan Avenue. Someone's coordinating them."

  Thomas's blades flashed as he slowed down. "And if the Maurs are here, there must be a nearby nest," he grunted between strikes.

  "Something like that,” Lorna grinned, voice calm despite the sweating of her body.

  They soldiered on, passing by a massive voluptuous holographic figure illuminated the side of a nearby building. She was clothed in little more than a gossamer slip, her skin radiating with an otherworldly glow.

  The holographic woman gently slid her slip down her thighs, her legs parting to reveal the folds of her bare, glistening femininity. With a mischievous twinkle in her eye, she seductively started to rub an iridescent credit chip - the currency of this century - across her exposed flesh, trembling in ecstatic anticipation. The ad's flowing neon script pulsed, synchronized with the woman's hips bucking as if caught in the throes of rapture, ‘Leased Lily Services, where desire meets discretion.’

  Thomas caught Lorna staring at the ad, her expression unreadable. "Something caught your eye?"

  "Just remembering a different life," she replied with a cryptic smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes.

  Before he could press further, another tremor shook the street before she could answer. Somewhere ahead, glass shattered and people screamed.

  "Diego," Lorna called out, already moving. "What exactly are we dealing with here?"

  "Multiple threats," came Diego's reply on the voice comm, accompanied by what sounded like rapid keyboard clicks. "Got a Class-2 Diabolisk heading toward Triumph Tower, a nest in Grant Park east of Michigan Avenue, and..." He paused. "Something else. The Armed Forces just picked up unusual psionic signatures near Wacker Drive."

  “Of course. There’s always someone psionic behind these,” Lorna added with a sigh.

  "Remember that cult leader we've been tracking?" Diego continued. "Mac Watrous. Intel suggests he's there, and he might be behind all this."

  Thomas pressed his silver fingers to his ear-mounted comm. "I can handle the nest. Request Armed Forces Vanguard support - should be enough firepower to clear it out."

  "Approved. Dispatching a squad now," Diego confirmed. "And Lorna - the Diabolisk can wait. If Watrous is really coordinating these attacks, he's a priority. Only Psi Lynxes like you can deal with him."

  Lorna's grip tightened on Baldr's hilt. A psionic cult leader feeding Radi-Mons in his own country - it was exactly the kind of escalation she'd feared since Scandinavia fell. Her homeland had been consumed by these monsters, leaving nothing but frozen ruins and bitter memories.

  "Meet me at Triumph Tower when you're done?" she asked Thomas, who stepped closer, his cybernetic arms encircling her waist with surprising gentleness, his silver gray eyes meeting her oceanic blue.

  "Sure thing. Be careful out there." He leaned in for a kiss, but Lorna turned her head slightly, letting his lips brush her cheek instead.

  "Save that energy, Tom," she whispered, her hand sliding down to give his rear a playful squeeze. "We can have fun after this mission."

  "That kind of fun, Miss Psi Lynx?" Thomas asked with a sly grin.

  "Depends," Lorna replied cryptically, biting her lip before adding, "I might give you some if you behave?"

  He chuckled, the sound rumbling within his chest as he released her from the embrace. "Promise?"

  As Thomas headed east, his heavy footfalls fading into the night, Lorna paused beside the remnants of their earlier battle.

  The Maurs' abandoned cargo lay scattered across the pavement — sacs of Helionite, their translucent membranes woven from the creatures' saliva, each containing a thick, luminescent green slurry. The nuclear waste from cold fusion reactors pulsed with an otherworldly glow under the city lights, like the lifeblood of some alien earth.

  Another tremor shook the ground, stronger this time. In the distance, screams echoed off steel and glass as civilians fled the growing chaos. Lorna watched them run, families clutching each other, workers abandoning their offices, all of them blissfully unaware of how close their world had come to ending before.

  "Not this time," she muttered, activating Baldr's quantum blade. The familiar blue light cast shadows across her determined features. The Alliance might pay her well for hunting these creatures, but money wasn't everything. Every Radi-Mon she killed, every person she protected was another step toward ensuring no one else would lose their home, their family, their entire world to these monsters.

  She began to run, following Diego's coordinates toward Wacker Drive. Behind her, the Leased Lily advertisement continued its endless dance, a reminder of paths taken and left behind. Ahead lay monsters, both human and otherwise. But that was fine - contending with monsters was what she did best.