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[i]Orchestra Mall, Courtbridge[/i] 

Taylor entered the mall about five minutes before Happiness went berserk. She entered in the middle of three men clothed in black suits. They were about as suspicious as you'd expect; standing rigidly upright with their gorilla-like chests puffed out and their fists clenched at their sides. Taylor walked over to a Starbucks just above the mall food court, heads turning as the metal woman passed, and nodded to the head guard, the one who stood at her left. The other two guards dispersed themselves into the crowd, looking for the Valos. The head guard (whose name was Bernard) followed her into the coffee shop. Unlike the other three, who looked human, Bernard had skin made of polished wood and what looked like grass for hair. He stood at least seven feet tall. 

Taylor ordered a macchiato and sat down at a small silver table just outside the restaurant. As she sipped her drink, wishing she were in Italy where the coffee was real, she pulled out her phone and sent a text to Johnny: 

[code]"Here, at the Starbucks. Second Story."[/code] Several people were stopped staring at Taylor. She looked up at them, looking them straight in the eyes, and tapped on the table with her metal fingernails. The resulting "ping!" startled them enough to run off somewhere else. 

"Putain de batards regardent," Taylor said to Bernard. (Fucking staring bastards) 

"Je suis desole, mademoiselle," Bernard said. "Que puis-je faire pour vous faire sentir mieux?" (I am sorry, madam. What can I do to help you feel better?)

"On ne peut rien y faire," she replied. "Ils ne nous comprendront jamais." (It cannot be helped. They will never understand us.) 

[hider=Crucifixion by Juno Reactor][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wqDP2ttk-Q[/youtube] [/hider]

It was about then that Taylor heard screams come from down the hall.  From down below, a massive, bulbous creature jumped onto the second-story balcony. It was ten feet tall, white as a sheet with enormous fleshy tumors covering its body. One of its arms was long and muscular, like a gorilla's, and the other was shriveled and diminutive. It had one enormous, bloodshot eye and a sharp beak like an octopus. The beast attempted to struggle to its feet, obviously not accustomed to its own body, and let out a gurgling roar that was more akin to a violent belch. Desperately, it swung its enormous arm about and swatted a teenaged girl off of the balcony, into the food court below. Before the creature could figure out how to stand, Bernard pulled his gun, a Sig Sauer P320, out of his breast pocket and unloaded half the clip into the creature. Taylor jumped to her feet and backed up against the wall, aghast at the hulking creature. Bernard's bullets ripped through it like scissors through paper, and the creature collapsed to the ground, half-heartedly belching as its eye rolled back. 

"Mademoiselle! Alons-y!" Bernard yelled, grabbing her by the arm. Taylor followed him around the corner and they sprinted for the door. Another one of the monsters stood in their way. It was long and hideous, covered in arms that all grasped at the air and floor all around it. Its head was taken up by a massive piglike nose. When they came close to it, the beast turned towards them and squealed like a pig. They turned back and ran towards the center of the mall, the creature in hot pursuit. Bernard shot at the creature and hit one of its arms, but it hardly flinched. 

As they rounded the corner and passed the beast Bernard had killed only minutes before, Taylor saw another member of her security detail running as fast as he could towards them. Just before he reached them, a third beast exploded from an alleyway and shoved him to the ground. This one was blood red, with dozens of eyes on its head and a body skeletally thin. White tumours stuck out from its sinewy muscles. Its enormous jaws tore into the security guard's shoulder, ripping out a chunk. Taylor screamed and Bernard shot at the creature. He hit it in one of its eyes and it made a hideous croaking noise, like a frog. The pig-nose creature rounded the corner and charged at Bernard on its many arms. He opened fire on it, hitting it twice in the nose and on several of its arms. As the bullet struck the creature's nose, it flinched like it was stunned and rolled into a ball. Then it bounced itself off of the balcony and crashed into the food court. 

The eyeball creature ripped at the security guard's flesh despite its injury, eating him alive. Bernard shot at it more, striking it twice on the head and once on the chest. A fourth bullet missed and cracked the linoleum floor. Wounded but not dead, the creature grabbed the security guard with its teeth and ran off. Bernard charged after it, his muscles supernaturally bulging as he ran. Before he could reach Eyeball, yet another creature slunk from out of the alley and attacked Bernard. This one was green and slimy, with one giant arm exploding out of the top of its body that had needlelike quills on its fingertips. Bernard's gun flew out of his hands and fell over the balcony as the creature pinned him to the floor. It roared in his face, its slimy tendrils pinning him to the floor. Saliva dripped from the hole in its head that counted as a mouth. Teeth shot out from the sides of its mouth like a lioness' claws. 

All of a sudden, the creature screeched as it felt its whole body go airborne. Taylor crashed into it full-force, her weight and muscle comparable to that of a small car. She tumbled to the floor, the gelatinous beast in her arms. It writhed with impressive strength; it's slimy tentacles lunged at Taylor's arms with all their might, but they couldn't get a grip on her metallic skin. She rolled to her feet and threw the creature full force through the window of a shop. Shard of glass rained down as it fell through the shop front, cutting it to ribbons. Taylor jumped through the window after it, landing on its back with a powerful stomp. It squealed and writhed away, knocking Taylor back. Before it could lunge again, she landed a kick right to its jaws and, spinning on her other heel, jumped back through the shattered window. The creature slunk after her, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Before it could attack again, Bernard ran up and kicked it as hard as he could. The creature's ribs cracked as the steel toe of Bernard's shoe collided with it. It struck with its enormous clawed hand. Taylor jumped in the way and blocked the attack. Its pointed claws turned to splinters on her metal arm. It punched at her and was once again deflected. Taylor swung an open hand at the monster. Her fingernails caught it just under its wrist and slit its arm wide open. Blood poured over the creature's head. It curled into a ball and hissed. From behind Bernard and Taylor, the wounded guard fired a shot and hit the creature in the chest. It screeched in pain and fell to the floor, writhing. 

Taylor and Bernard ran back over to where the wounded guard was laying. He looked like he was in a poor position; blood spilled across the floor from his gaping shoulder wound. Just as Taylor reached for him, the floor shook. The linoleum exploded into dust as Pignose returned to the battle. Its enormous mouth, which was concealed under its pig nose, chomped down on the wounded guard, tearing him in half. Taylor screamed and fell backwards. Bernard ran towards it and punched at its writhing body. One of the hands caught his fist and clenched hard. He shouted in pain and stumbled back, his hand broken. Pignose chewed the guard up, leaving nothing but a few chunks of meat, and then turned towards Taylor. With no escape, Taylor struggled to her feet and, arms out, charged at Pignose. 

Taylor collided with Pignose's nose and dug her claws into the sides of its head. Her weight made it recoil quite a bit, but its arms grasped the linoleum tight enough to shatter it and kept the creature from going flying. The much heavier Pignose reared its head, bringing Taylor up into the air with it, and then leapt through the air nose-first, crashing Taylor into the floor. The tile cracked beneath her as she was driven into the ground. She let go, the wind knocked out of her, and tried to crawl away, but the creature caught her with its many crushing hands. It squeezed as tightly as it could, denting the metal on Taylor's forearm. Then it squealed and lunged at her, mouth wide open. 

Suddenly, a bullet rung out of nowhere and hit the creature square in the center of mass, followed by two more shots that pierced the beast's head. 

A twirling gun smoked as Johnny walked up, followed by the Valos siblings.

"... Why the hell can't we go anywhere without a monster going on a rampage?" Johnny asked as he walked up. "Like seriously, the fuck is going on in this city?" 

He turned to Taylor, before he said,

"Oh yeah," Johnny softly said. "Hi."

The massive beast twitched, curled into a fetal position, and stumbled through the glass railing around the balcony. It crushed a table down below and lay still. Heaving for breath, Taylor rolled over to see Johnny looking down at her smugly. 

"Perfect...fucking timing," she said. "I thought that one...had me." Bernard walked over and helped her to her feet. His broken hand leaked saplike blood. Taylor grasped what was left of the railing and caught her breath. 

"Not that it could do anything to ya'," Johnny shrugged. "Y'know, being made out of metal."

"I'm not indestructible," she gasped. "Never was." She looked down at her right forearm; the creature's supernatural grip had dented it slightly, and it hurt like a bitch. She figured it would be better in a day or so. 

"I'm not indestructible either!" Johnny said. "Just skilled."

"Let's get out of here," Gabe said, with one hand on her hip, and the other hanging... glowing with a red light. "Let RAVEN handle whatever the hell is going on here, I ain't got a clue."

"Agreed." Jake said.

Taylor stood up and looked across the mall. Absolute chaos was reigning supreme. Down below, people ran fast as they could, shoving over tables and pushing each other to the floor to get to the doors. Taylor looked down at her hands; they were stained red and little pieces of flesh were stuck under her fingernails. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. She hadn't even known that guard's name; it was his first day on the job and she hadn't talked to him yet. Now he was dead. 

"Why," Taylor shouted, regaining her breath. "Why does utter carnage seem to follow you people at every step!?" 

While Taylor was emotional... the Valos were indifferent. They all just shrugged.

"I dunno." Johnny said.

"Guess we're just a magnet for it.." Jake said.

"I've thought this was... normal," Jaska awkwardly answered as he played with his claws.

"I've been asking the same question for years now," Gabe answered. "The universe must have a hard on for us."

"At least you can handle yourselves," Taylor said. "Let's get the fuck out of here. Bernard, ou est Clemont?" 

As if to answer, Clemont came busting down the corridor towards the group of metas. He was horribly disfigured, with paper white skin and black pustules oozing with slime. His left arm was massive and took the shape of an elephant trunk. A single moth wing stuck out of his right shoulder. What was left of his suit still clung to his flailing body. 

"Fuck," Taylor said. "Why him?" 

Johnny quickly slid in and said, "... Your friend there is looking a little sick. Does he get health benefits?" 

Gabe loudly sighed as she pointed both hands at him, and they glew a blood red color that nearly seared their eyeballs as it was so bright. "... I got this."

She fired a large laser beam at the man, and it cut through the air and hit him in his center of mass. He loudly cried in pain, as his pale white skin burned. He fell backwards, and Gabe stopped the onslaught... only to hiss in pain herself.

"Jesus Christ, where's a fountain!?" Gabe damn near shouted as she hopped up and down. Her hands were smoking. 

Jaska pointed down the lane, and Gabe ran down the hall, and jammed both hands into the fountain. Steam came out as she sighed in relief... only to see an eyeball float past it. "... Oh."

"Well, I don't think health insurance is going to save him now," Taylor muttered. She felt bad for making a joke of the death. "I have two more men stationed outside. They should keep these things from following us. Where are you parked?" 

"Oh, out front," Johnny pointed towards the front door.

"Alright, we should be close by," she said. "Are you still driving that ungodly hummer?" 

"You bet your shiny metal ass I am," Johnny said. "I go everywhere in [i]style[/i]."

"Christ, so flamboyant," Taylor said. "I'll just go with you. My detail can get Bernard to the hospital." 

"I'm fine, mademoi-" 

"Not hearing it," Taylor said. "You need medical attention." Before he could fight back, she stared at him steely-eyed and he backed down. 

"...fine. Please call me when I am needed again," Bernard replied. He began to walk towards the exit of the mall, and Taylor followed. 

"Alons-y," she said. "Let's go before another monster shows up."