Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard

__________*_Craven_*__________

Axis Mundis, Draconia

I spun through the air, launching wave upon wave of cascading energy at the holographic targets that approached me, the hard light objects shattering as the waves hit them one straight after another. I bounded down the hall, leaping from wall to wall and used my tail blades to swing and decapitate the last two targets before sliding through the finish line and the door closed behind me. I looked up at the scoreboard. As per usual, in this particular simulation I maxed out the score, but the time... I was slower than my personal best by a four tenths of a second. I growled at myself between pants for being slower... again.

'Maybe it was my age? I mean, I was 1990, most Vanguard my age have receded to the role of Honour Guard by that age... No no no, I'm an Executioner! It's what I was born to do, it's what I will die doing'. In some ways it was good that we had no current wars, it meant that the role of Executioner was no longer necessary, so many of the original Executioners had left to fulfil other roles in the Vanguard or retired entirely, with their powers fading through lack of use. I couldn't stand the thought though.

While the main Vanguard were the brute force of our military, the 'arm', if you will, the Honour Guards, were the 'armour' and the executioners? We were the 'blade', silent and swift, ready to slit the throat of the enemy before anyone else ever got there and before anyone even noticed. I liked that, I adored the silent kill and the lack of rules I had to abide by, unlike the rest of the Vanguard. I was just resetting the simulation when my gauntlet chimed. I looked down at it and read the display, a message scrolled across it that I hadn't seen in a long time,

'New mission, report to her majesty, the Queen, ASAP'. My eyes widened in excitement reading the message, then I hastily made my way to the weapons bench at the side of the room, then called up a display on the wall to present a mirror image of myself.

My armour was a bit dusty from the training scenario so I grabbed a nearby cloth and started wiping myself down, revealing the true effect of my armour. It was very bland in terms of design, but an executioner's armour always was, we preferred the practicality over form, but it was the colour scheme that was the most intriguing part. Sure it was a gloss black, but that was because it was easier to make a projection over it. The armour copied what was behind it and projected the image on the opposite side. Active camouflage.

It wasn't perfect, move too quickly or if someone was to stare at you they'd notice the distortions in the air but for the most part it was effective. I gave it a quick test, chinning a button on the lower section of my helmet and with a slight electrical buzz I vanished. I looked at my reflection, or rather, lack of, I moved around, just to make sure the camouflage was mostly keeping up then chinned the button again to turn the camo off. I unlatched my visor and slid it back into the helmet, quickly checking my recent injury, now mostly a notable scar that stretched from my lip up to my left eye lid on my otherwise my averagely feminine face that I obtained from a one on one spa session a couple of months ago that nearly caused me to lose my sight in that eye. I smiled to myself, my green eyes just starting to glow again at the excitement of getting a proper mission again,

Craven: "Time to get back to work."

__________

I strode towards the queen's private study seeing another Executioner already stood waiting at attention in front of the Honour Guards covering the door.

Craven: "You got the call as well, Kai?" I asked as I stepped up to her right, I had recognised Kaiya from behind, I had seen that ass and tail many a time, in and out of the armour.

Kaiya: "Indeed... I guess I must have been called in to baby sit you." She replied glancing sideways to me with a wink. My attention snapped back forwards, I wasn't going to let her get the better of me, not right before a mission. The problem with the Executioners is that no one liked us, except for each other, and most of us were female, and our little circle had been getting smaller over the centuries, Kai was rather like me, enjoyed the job, couldn't see herself doing anything else, so we formed a bit of a bond on the first time we were partnered up on an assassination mission.

We had to stake out our target for three nights before they eventually presented themselves, it gave us ample time to talk and get to know each other, even if we got very competitive about the mission, we grew close quickly. Partners on regular occasions soon because friends, friends soon became apartment buddies, which very quickly became fuck buddies... Gods... She was about 300 years younger than me, but she was certainly more dominant when it came to the bedroom, the things she would do to me... The memories sent a shiver down my spine and were already starting to make me wet, I could tell.

Kaiya: "Where were you this morning? I needed some attention." She whispered to me with another wink.

Craven: "Pleeaase... Not now... Why are we waiting anyway?" I whispered back.

Kai: "According to the Guards here, there three of us been selected for this mission."

Craven: "Three Executioners? A bit over kill isn't it?" One Executioner was normal, two was rare but not unheard of... Three?... That WAS unheard of... thinking about it, I can't ever remember hearing there being three on a mission.

Kai: "You know as much as me." Her sentence ended at the same time I heard footsteps from behind, another Executioner arriving on my right, who I knew as well.

Craven: "Diefaren." I gave a courteous nod.

Di: "Craven." He acknowledged in return. He was a brash Dragon, straight to the point, suited the role of Executioner well, extremely young in comparison to myself and Kai, I can't remember exactly but only about 600, but he was ruthless and was in the stride of earning a reputation for it back when we had clan wars break out some 300 years ago... then we entered a peace time. Now all of us Executioners grew restless without a target.

An Honour Guard stepped out from the Queen's study,

Guard: "You may now enter." And they swung both doors open and we marched forward, stopping in the center of the lower circular half of the room, we all dropped to one knee and bowed our heads as the Queen entered the room.

Arisu: "Guards, leave us..." Without hesitation or question the Honour Guards in the room filed out and once the doors had closed, the Queen continued, "...At ease, please stand..." We did as she requested, "...You maybe wondering why I have called all three of you here. According to your records you are some of the top operatives in your role. I have a mission for you all of the utmost importance. I know you are aware of the troubling Human organisation known as Sky High Technologies and the situation it has created on Earth. But what you don't know is someone who has emerged from it that goes by the name of 'Alex', she has somehow managed to obtain the Shard and is using it."

Craven: "An ex-Human using the Shard? How is that possible?"

Arisu: "I don't know... But 'how' is not important. What is important is that she must be stopped, the Shard must be returned to it's rightful place in this palace. Avoid killing Alex if possible but the Shard must be returned to our world one way or another. We can not allow the Humans to start gaining our abilities. There is a full briefing prepared for you but I need to emphasise a couple of points now. Excommunicated, stripped of the Admiral rank, Wrex is involved in this and will likely disagree with your actions, do not engage unless provoked, kill him if necessary but use him if it helps your progress. Second point is my daughter, Princess Sora, has also been involved and is likely to make herself involved again knowing her. She is NOT to be harmed, let me make that perfectly clear. Is that understood?"

"Yes my Lady." We all chanted in unison, bowing our heads in time as well as making a salute on our chest plates.

Arisu: "Very well, begin you mission as soon as you have had your briefing, dismissed."

__________*_Alex_*__________

Barcelona, Spain, Sun 23rd Jan 22 00:21

I arrived on the driveway of Sarah's villa, stepping out of the Jump, falling to my knees, sobbing away to myself.

'All those people, innocent people, dead, MURDERED, by me! Not Reikon, by ME!...' I screamed to myself in my head,

*"It felt good though, didn't it?"*

Me: "Shut up... just shut up! I snarled at her, annoyed that she could now read what I was thinking as well.

'...this change, this take-over of hers... it's going to be so subtle, I'm not even going to notice myself fade away.'

*"That's the plan sweety."* Reikon mocked, I punched the floor hard in annoyance, smashing the bricks under my fist to dust, I sniffed as I pulled the barrel from my back and looked at it.

Me: "Saving one life won't make up for what I just did... But if I can do one good thing before I go..." I sniffed again and opened my faceplates to wipe my tears away as I stood back up and headed into the garage that had opened as I approached. Once inside I looked at the large stockpile of components that I had acquired, scanned my download from SkyTech for the diagrams and blueprints for this machine and set to work.

_________

00:43

I had barely started putting the components together when I had heard the noise I was dreading, just for a couple of seconds, but it was enough. The sound of plasma jets off in the distance, drawing in closer then suddenly cutting out.

'He's found us!'

A minute or so later there was a clatter outside, metallic footsteps landing on the drive. I raced up, looking at my pile of partially assembled components and their surroundings, already covering it all with an image, to hide their existence, then I hastily left the garage. I bounded down the hall to Raina's room and barged my way in, she gasped as she jumped up from her guest bed.

Me: "Shhh, we're in trouble, quick, into Sarah's room, not a word, not a sound, move!" I whispered. She hastily got out of bed, running out of the room in just her pajamas and down the hall to Sarah's room and I followed. She waited at the door.

Me: "In, go, go, go, go, go." I pushed her in at the same time she undid the door, our scuffling waking Sarah.

Me: "Shh... I think Wrex has caught up with us. Don't make a sound, I'll make sure he doesn't see us ok."

Sarah: "Wha...? Why are you-" she replied groggily waking up.

Me: "Shh! Raina, stay by her side and don't move." Raina scurried over and knelt down on the floor next to Sarah's bed and I positioned myself by the door and waited. We waited a good few minutes, hearing his foot steps slowly pace down the hall, going from door to door before arriving outside this one. I concentrated hard, creating an image over myself, Raina, Sarah and all of the equipment in the room.

The door handle turned and the door opened slowly, a black armoured glove holding onto the handle and a black armoured digitigrade leg stepped into the room with a faint whir. The leg and hand was followed in by the rest of Wrex in his fully sealed armour, almost seemingly looked dead at me with those dulll red glowing eye slits, but he continued to look around the the room. I heard him sigh then back out of the room, closing the door behind him. I quickly snapped back to the other two and reiterated the need to keep quiet by holding my index finger to my lips as I heard the foot steps head back down the hall. I turned back, silently turned the door handle and opened the door, slinking out to follow him down the hall. I caught up with him and followed him outside.

Wrex: "Sora, are you sure about these coordinates? The house is empty, if I had to guess then I'd say no one has been here in months." Silence followed while presumably Sora was replying to him in his ears.

Wrex: "Yes of course I checked inside, I know what Sarah was like for making hidden spaces but genuinely couldn't see anything to suggest that either of them had been here, I think this is just a vacation home." He still had no idea any of us were here, no clue that I was stood right beside him near enough. He braced and his plasma jets charged, I barely had time to recall my helmet into position before he blasted off the ground away from me. I watched depressingly as he flew away rapidly into the sky. I was almost disappointed actually that he didn't see me and I trudged back into the house, head hung low, I truly did miss him. I made my way back into the house, back towards the guest rooms down the hall and back into Sarah's Room. I closed the door behind me and pulled my helmet back, catching Sarah giving me a questioning look and a thumbs up out of the corner of my eye.

Me: "Yeah, it's safe, he's gone. Sorry about that."

Raina: "What the hell was that?! It kind of looked like you!"

Sarah: "How did he not see us? *Gasp**cough cough**splutter**cough*"

Me: "That, Raina, was Wrex, my... 'Other half' if you will... At least I think he is... was... I don't know. And he didn't see us because I tricked his mind."

Raina: "You're dating that?! That was scary as hell!"

Me: "It's just his armour, he's a big softie at heart really, there's a lot more going on here than you know, probably best to keep it that way for simplicity's sake."

Sarah: "How did you trick him?"

Me: "Side effect."

Sarah: "Alex... you really need to tell me more about what's going on with you. Why are we even hiding from Wrex?, He can be trusted!"

Me: "It's not him I don't trust!" The whispering started getting louder again as I felt the agitation and depression setting in in.

Sarah: "Wait... What do you mean?"

*"Why don't you just tell them I will be the death of them all? Ha ha ha!"*

I tried to block it out, but it seemed stronger than before, the memory started replaying of me killing Wrex ramming the blade through his chest, looking at his face of betrayl staring back at me. I just suddenly burst out crying again, slid down the door and sat at the base of it, sobbing into my hands on my knees. Only moments passed before I heard someone sit next to me and place their arm around my neck and placing their other hand on my arm.

Me: "I don't need your pity." I moped.

Raina: "No, but it looks like you need a friend."

Me: "We barely know each other?!"

Raina: "I know, but you seem ok, some deeper issues maybe, but you can't expect to get through life problems on your own, that's what you have friends and family for."

I stood up, pulling myself from her grip.

Me: "You have no idea what is happening to me! So don't even try to think yourself a friend!... Look, I can see you're trying to help, but honestly, I'm a lost cause. Now excuse me, before I open the door into you, I have work to do." She looked worried and scrambled out of the way as I grabbed the door handle and headed back to the garage. I pulled up the schematics again in my mind and continued assembling this thing. Using my newly found abilities, I could assemble this thing without any tools thankfully and got straight back to it.

__________

08:25

I stood back up and admired my handiwork. Effectively all it was a large tank. Sure it has electronics hooked up to it and the feeds for the blood transfusions, nutrient feeds in and waste out and the antibacterial fluids that Sarah would be suspended in, all stored in smaller tanks to each side of the main incubation tank. I powered it on, using the computer on the side of the tank, all the systems went through there testing cycles and reported back with 'Ready'. I made an unintentionally loud but satisfied sigh before leaving the garage and headed out to Sarah's room, bumping into a rather rushed Raina en route heading the opposite way.

Raina: "Oh there you are, are you ok?"

Me: "As fine as I can be, I've only been working in the garage. How is she this morning?"

Raina: "That's the thing, most of the time when I've been attending to her, here or at the hospital, I was able to wake her up to treat and see to her. But this morning-"

Me: "Then it's time, I'm ready for her now anyway."

Raina: "You still haven't told me exactly what you have in store for her."

Me: "Just help me bring her down to the garage and I will explain."

__________

09:04

After unhooking Sarah from everything in the room that was keeping her alive, Raina and myself wheeled Sarah's bed through the downstairs hall, into the garage and Raina laid eyes on the tank.

Raina: "What is that?"

Me: "Her only chance to continue living."

Raina: "That doesn't give me a lot of details."

Me: "Might be best if you don't know most of them."

She ran in front of the bed and stopped in front of it, halting our progress through the garage.

Raina: "You need to tell me what's going on, now! She's my patient!"

*"Such insolence!"* Reikon screeched at me, I smacked myself on the side of my head twice.

Me: "Grrr… stop it..." I growled at her, "...Fine!, short version! I didn't always look like this! I use to be a guy, an average Joe working a day job. I had a fiancée, a house, a car... But there's a company out the, Sky High Technologies, they're kidnapping people, like they did with me, putting us in these tanks, and with a combination of methods, turn us into Dragons."

Raina, looked at the tank, before looking back to me.

Raina: "Soo... You want to change Sarah into a 'Dragon'? Have you any idea how crazy this sounds?"

Me: "Yes! Because it's the only way she can survive, she already agreed to it."

Raina: "Are you sure?"

I searched through my memories, finding the conversation me and Sarah had in the hospital before we were attacked. I played the recording through a loudspeaker in my suit,

-'Me: "I can do it, I can definitely do it, if you want me to?"

Sarah: "How can you be so sure?"

Me: "I just know I can. Just trust me, please."

Sarah: "Well... Die as a Human or live as a Dragon... Not really a tough- *Cough cough*... Ahem... -Question eh?" '-

Raina: "She didn't seem too sure at your abilities though."

Me: "Please, don't doubt me. Now do you want to help me save her or not?" She paused, looking at the unconscious Sarah, breathing into her mask, for a few seconds before looking back up at me.

Raina: "Well... What have we got to lose?... Ok... What do you need me to do?" She asked as she rounded back to the side and continued to help push the bed closer to the tank. I gave a slight smile at her willingness to help, even if it involved going out of her comfort zone. We positioned the bed near the tank and I stepped over to the computer and input the command to open the tank. The front hatch opened upwards to an almost horizontal position, almost touching the ceiling of the garage.

Me: "I need your help getting her out of the bed and to undress her, bandages too, there can be no extra materials in the tank."

We worked together, gently as possible moving her around to remove her hospital gown, any unneeded drip feeds and all her bandages. I grimaced slightly at seeing how poorly her injuries were healing. I pulled my hand and arm armour back to my shoulders, to give Sarah the softest touch, then, using my superior strength, I picked Sarah's limp body up from the bed with ease while Raina moved the bed out of the way and then guided Sara's feet into the lower half of the tank and I placed her down gently on the padding of the back rest. I caught Raina looking at my hands and arms as I withdrew them from under Sarah.

Raina: "You say you use to be a man, then a Dragon, now-"

Me: "-Now, I'm just an accident... let's finish hooking her up shall we?..."

Raina remained quiet as she continued to work and I sighed, "...this process, isn't perfect. The DNA conversion can't always differentiate between male and female, so 1 in 5 will suffer what is known as Mc Griffin Syndrome, where they will 'swap' to the opposite gender... There's no cure, what's happened has happened, I've just learnt to accept it. Anyway, I lived a few weeks as a full blown female Dragon, things got hectic, I died, then I was brought back to life by some ancient alien Dragon magic. I still don't quite know how or why but when it did, I was reformed into this hybrid thing you see now."

It was at this precise moment Wrex tried to call again,

Me: "You do pick your moments Wrex..." I muttered quietly to myself and cancelled the call.

Raina: "You say aliens and magic... Like it's nothing out of ordinary-"

Me: "To me, it's not anymore. Turns out Dragons, they're aliens, more advanced than us, Humans that is, I've been to their home world, beautiful place actually."

Raina: "So, where does Sarah come into all of this?"

Me: "Another long story short, she's pulled my arse from the fires on a few occasions now. Which is why I owe her this, to try and save her."

Raina: "I see..."

Sarah: "Does it hurt bad?" She strained to say, sounding groggy. We both snapped a look up to see that Sarah had come around, I grabbed and held her hand before replying.

Me: "Heeyyy... Erm... You'll be unconscious the whole time so you won't feel a thing." She gave a feeble nod.

Raina: "That's it, everything is hooked up, unless there's something I don't know about."

Me: "There's nothing else listed in the procedures, next step is just to put Sarah under... Are you ready?" I turned my head directly to her to ask.

Sarah: "I just want to say, thank you for trying to help me. I know the odds, if I don't make it out of the other side, then just know, I am so grateful and so proud of everything you have done and become." She weakly replied, I gave her a small smile, not sure how exactly to answer that, given what I have become and how things will go. I gave her hand one last quick squeeze before letting go and returning to the computer. I tapped in the prompts to start the sedative sequence and watched as Sarah's eyes stare at me for a few seconds before slowly closing.

Raina: "Does it really not hurt?"

Raina helped me place the awkward mask on her face, clearly it was designed to accommodate the changes in her face and head structure, being elongated down the sides with elasticated webbing.

Me: "During my process I kept waking up, I don't know how common it is, but every time I woke up in the process in the tank it felt like my body was being ripped apart, like every single nerve was being set on fire. So hopefully she won't have to go through that." With the mask on we stepped back away, I entered the prompt on the computer to continue the process. The hatch closed down and sealed, then three of the larger tanks at the side started emptying, the green fluid of the antibacterial liquid started filling up the tank, submerging Sarah.

Raina: "What do I need to do now?"

Me: "Nothing right now, the process needs to get underway before I can do my part. We just need to monitor her, the system is automated otherwise."

(-Dream State)