Eleven: The Sequel of AlterMyth

Bare Your Teeth

Prologue

A murder of crows cawed from the windowsill of Kronii Ouro's private room at the Amelia H. Watson Memorial Clinic. The ominous cries of the birds awakened her and she sat upright on her bed. Mild pain still gripped Kronii's body from her ordeal at the Coroner's office just two days ago, but the IV tubes no longer restrained her. She had enough strength to stand up on her own two feet without assistance. She managed to open the windows of her room to shoo those noisy crows away.

Finally, some peace and quiet.

Unfortunately for Kronii, that peace and quiet wouldn't last very long.

Five knocks on her door in staccato. Kronii already knew who it was.

"Come in." Kronii called.

The door then opened and the figure of her superior officer, Major Omega, entered the room with a guarded expression. It was the kind of expression that Kronii had only seen once in a blue moon in Da Nang Air Base, so it wasn't hard for her to guess why Omega was there.

"Is it finally time?" Kronii asked.

"It is, indeed." Omega fixed her peaked cap and set down a paper bag by the door, "Get dressed and come downstairs. Breakfast will be served at 0600 hours." The officer paused, then added, "We'll talk details there too."

Kronii blinked. The gravity of the situation wasn't lost on her. She gave Omega a sharp salute, just like she had done many times before, and spoke firmly, "Ma'am, yes ma'am."

Omega returned the salute and walked out of the room and left Kronii to get dressed. The lieutenant closed her window and slipped into her battle fatigues and combat boots. When she did, though, she saw that the crows that she had shooed away were back on the windowsill.

Their caws echoed in the room. Their silhouettes cast long shadows that reached Kronii's boots. A displeased frown formed on Kronii's lips. Then, she closed the curtain and marched out of her room.

Kronii and Omega took the stairs down and made a beeline for the clinic's mess hall. A peculiar group of people were already there, helping themselves to a Continental breakfast: Lady Lowry and a cadre of officers from the Metropolitan Police, MACV soldiers under Omega's command and the inseparable couple of Irys and Bae.

The Nephilim and the Rat-Girl beckoned to Kronii and Omega. The two MACV officers furnished their plates and obliged.

"So, what's the story?" Kronii asked, glancing at her table-mates between bites of her egg sandwich.

"Mr. Squeaks sent me a distress call. A powerful signal." Bae explained and took a sip of her coffee. Then, she set it down on the table and moved it around like a piece on a chessboard, "The signals are coming from the abandoned St. Katharine Docks, but Mr. Squeaks hasn't budged much for the past few hours." She grabbed salt and pepper shakers and set them around her coffee cup, "He's probably found their hideout, but he's pinned down there."

"Your Guardian Spirit is pinned down?" Omega asked, nibbling halfheartedly on a grape, "Aren't Guardian Spirits invisible except to their masters?"

"That's what I thought too." Bae admitted, "Mr. Squeaks is a ballsy fella. If there's something there that can spook him, then it's probably bad news for us." She then grabbed a full bread basket and placed it on her makeshift map too, "That's why we're gonna assault the place with everything that we've got and prepare for the worst. All the seasonings!"

"I'm tagging along too in case we're up against Horrors again." Irys chimed in. She picked up a croissant from the bread basket while she spoke, "That one Grim Reaper that you and Mumei fought off in the Coroner's office might not be the only reaper that fell through the cosmic void with me."