**Oy, yup, I'm trying to get this if anyone copies off I'll have their head ^.^**

**And it's already copyright on Fictionpress, so there.**

**plz review**

**Kree**

"Pay attention, Taust!" The General snapped as the Captain looked away. "What I'm telling you is important if you don't want to get booted off!"

"Yessir," the Captain mumbled, gritting her teeth. How could he make such a big deal about being the last one here? She was perfectly on time, but then again, they had been rivals for 17 years, she was the only girl on the Tavri Islands, he teased and taunted her every chance he got, and absolutely hated her, not to mention he was a total jerk .

"Sir, the meeting is about to begin," a young lieutenant behind the Captain announced. "I think you should-"

"Do I care what you think, Lieutenant?" the General demanded in exasperation. "Tell me, does it look like at all, I'm in the middle of something important?"

The lieutenant looked embarrassed as his green eyes trailed to the floor. "Well, yes sir, but-"

"Out of my sight, Harrison!" The General yelled as the lieutenant rushed out of the room anxiously. As much as everyone admired the General, they knew that his quick and fiery temper was not to be underestimated for his anger seemed to compare with Satan himself. The General sighed as he shook his head and then turned to the Captain. "As I was saying, Taust."

The 21-year-old female Captain, sat yawning, flipping her straight raven shaded hair with her brown eyes holding much disinterest to what the General was saying. Fidgeting with her black gloves, she took them off and placed them into the pocket of her trenchcoat-like open "vest". She pulled the sleeves of her black sweater up, because it was getting unbelievably hot in the room. Fixing her glasses, she then pulled her focus to her gold star shaped locket she hung around her neck with the strange inscripted symbol on it, strange to anyone else that is.

Bored, she leaned against the back of the chair that stood right across from the General's own, black, cushioned swivel chair. In comparison, the furniture in which she sat upon looked like a pauper's compared to the kingly seat in which the General comfortably rested in. She crossed her legs and began to fidget with her hands as the General continued talking. She lifted her hand up, looked at her nails, flexing and closing her fingers. She put her hand to her side and sighed as she turned her head.

She had been in this office many a time. The General had many offices throughout the entire islands, but it wasn't like she hadn't been here often. It was frequently the same situation: her, sitting in a chair facing that stuck up man as he scolded her endlessly. It seemed terribly interminable as her glance moved from side to side of the room. There, indeed, were Mitch's file cabinets, in the rear of the room hidden in the darkness for it was just as neat as a pigsty with its myriads of papers sticking out of the drawers that always remained unclosed. She rolled her eyes, knowing that he always been tremendously untidy with his chaotic organization skills ever since they had been kids in preschool. Shaking her head at the monstrous gray junk she moved her glance to the left where a void white plastered wall stood. Atop the wooden floor stood the General's weapons, some of them at least including huge K28 guns. These models were the best you could find; the gun industry and advancement was well over the top since years ago. She was pretty fond of these black beauties herself and her interest stayed on the K28 and his other handguns beside it.

However, she sighed again and looked back at the General. She began rearranging his features in her head, chopping off most of his sable black hair into a ridiculous display of different sized strands of hair. His mouth was decreased in magnitude and placed on the side where his left ear would have been positioned. That was replaced on the top of his head. Shaving his eyebrows, she imagined bloodshot eyes that replaced his own brown colored ones. It was rare a time she had seen his eyes nowadays in the army, because he mostly wore sunglasses all the time, night and day, but now, she saw the sunglasses dangling in his right hand as they shook every so often as he vigorously motioned with his hand.

How many times had she wasted her time listening to these futile remarks and lectures he consistently brought her in for? One too many ... she practically memorized every beginning. "If a female can't keep up with the Tavri ways, she shouldn't be here," seemed to start the lecture and then he would go on and on about the insignificant and miniscule mistake she committed, and magnify it into something that sounded extremely severe. Many a time she had to sit lifelessly in front of Mitch in his countless offices as he squeaked his little heart out yelling at her. She yawned as she glanced at her nails once more.

"Are you listening?" He growled at her, leaning across his desk bringing his face so close to hers. If somebody didn't know them well, they'd swear they were going to kiss having their faces so adjacent but they'd often been like this only to spit or scream at each other.

"Why of course, Mitch," she retorted still keep her eyes on her nails. "Plugging my ears doesn't even block out that loud screechy voice of yours."

"Taust!" He shouted furiously. "You shall either address me as General Lizyn, General, or "Sir". NOT by my first name."

"Like it matters to me," she shrugged sighing. "I've been calling you by your first name since we were kids so what makes you think I'll stop now or even listen to you?" She snickered sardonically. "Mitchell," she taunted. "Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell."

"We're not kids anymore," The General turned red. "You should be mature enough to void foolish teasing from your dialogue."

"But since you're General, that's perfectly acceptable for yours, am I not correct?" She derided with arrogant conviction in her tone. "But I've been asking you that since years ago, haven't I, so it's getting a bit old?'

"God, Mia, I would think by now you would respect me at the least, after all I am General," Oh, he could definitely feel a headache coming along as he rubbed his forehead softly. His tired tone was a lot different then his customary ignorant one at the moment as he pursed his lips.

"I respect you, if you'd only respect me," and she arouse from her seat and stood up. She was the only soldier who had ever turned her back on him and left without being kicked off the island.

He watched the door slam behind her. "She always got on his nerve." He thought as he rubbed his temples in frustration and detestation. Wishing he had a bit more time to rest, he grabbed his bag under his desk and the K28, and walked out the door.

Relieved and thankful to get out of that office, Mia made her way through the hallway of multiple offices of higher ranked executives, including the Admiral's. She walked quickly on the red-carpeted hallway floors and turned a corner and walked straight into Captain Owens who was carrying a huge pile of inventory papers. There went the papers, flying everywhere across the entire hall with Mia and Captain Owens on the ground.

Mia looked at Captain Owens as his face turned extremely red with resentment and with his hazel eyes glaring at her with infuriation. "I'm-" she started.

"Watch it, clutz! Now look what you did! These were specifically ordered for the presentation today, and now." He was too incensed to spit words out at her but his arms flailed in the air as he stood up.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" She replied, getting as frustrated as he was. "Let help you get this all this in order."

"Get to the meeting, Taust! I don't need clumsy hands helping me!"

"Hey, it wasn't all my fault that the papers fell! It was yours too! We both rounded the corner and we both bumped into each other! Simple as that! And you could have done something to make sure the papers would stay together, or better yet, bring the files in smaller piles!" She shouted at him, and began motioning with her hands wildly. "Or are you too lazy to get the job done in a longer period of time," she sneered at him leaving Captain Owens with nothing else to say.

"What's all the fuss about? Get to the meeting!" A voice yelled at them and a figure rounded the corner carrying a bag and a K28. As Mia recognized him as you-know-who, Mitch Lizyn, she slowly bowed her head and cursed silently. "Taust, was this your doing again?"

"Not exactly sir, you see-"

"Get to the meeting, Taust, I've had enough dealing with you today," Mitch lowered his eyes and told her coldly as he began helping Captain Owens with his papers.

Mia could only glare back at him as she turned around gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. She stormed down the rest of the hall, bumping into no more people. She was angry, at Mitch of course, not so much at Captain Owens, but she was also angry at herself. Why was she the person she is?

Forcefully opening the doors to the main meeting area, she quickly stepped inside. There was already many people who were sitting down at the innumerable quantity of chairs, but there was no one in particular she was planning to sit with. There never was. She sighed as she decided to sit in the back row all the way to the right. There was no place that was in great significance for her to sit. She spotted her place to sit, getting there, was the hard part.

As there were many officers sitting down, there were just as many, standing up and talking to one another. Sighing impatiently, she knew that it would be one huge man-jungle that she would have to make her way through. She expected some shoves and pushes as well. No matter what she did, hardly anyone would let her by if she didn't make her effort to bulldoze her way in. Asking, was not a matter that could be considered. This was the military world.

"Move it," she muttered as she pushed her way into some hotshot lieutenants. They sneered at her, but did nothing to stop her from getting through, luckily. She passed by some sergeants talking, and making no clear path for to get through. So, she had to do things the hard way, and shoved one of them softly to get past.

"Watch where you're going!" One named, Sergeant Daniels snapped at her.

"Then maybe you should let a girl get past!" Mia growled back, continuing her walk and not turning back to look at him.

"Maybe for a man, but not for a girl," he barked.

"Look all around ya, Daniels, there are many people here who don't fit the definition of "men"." She continued walking; ignoring the rest of his barks and curses. Mia was used to this kind of stuff, she walked like this every day, and it wasn't abnormal for her to come back to her apartment with a bloody nose or a black eye sometimes. Finally, she entered the area where that could be made possible-

By the Captains.

There was a clear open path around them, so she took special notice of that. She wasn't afraid to deal with them, it was just..time consuming, and she didn't feel like wasting her time with a buncha hot-shot-no- brainers. But just as she passed them-

"Hey, Girly, where ya going?" Mia felt a painful tug pulling her hair and knocking her to the ground.

"Listen, Kahn, this is getting pretty old now ." Mia turned around and responded to the action instantaneously without even seeing who it was. However, she saw turned around only to see Captain Marks, with his arms crossed with a mug countenance to greet her with. He was surrounded by all of his other self-indulgent friends, looking like they were some New York City gang standing in their absurd positions.

Glaring at Captain Marks, the one who pulled her hair, she said, "I would think by now that you would know that pulling hair is an elementary form of violence that only third graders use. Are you immature for even that kind of nonsense?"

"Look who's talking, Miss Know-It-All," Marks sneered back. "You're the one always getting into trouble with Lizyn all the time!"

"Well Lizyn better watch it, because he just always seems to get in my of how you do." she retorted plainly. "Now move along, ladies, I must be getting to my seat, and so should you, girls," she sarcastically winked.

That did it. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Marks sent a fist flying into Mia's stomach and sent her crashing into the chairs. She clutched her stomach in pain, but she didn't whimper or moan in pain; she never did. She weakly stood up as people began to crowd around the fighting captains.

"Marks." she panted. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that you should never hit a girl?" She scorned.

"Well girls don't belong on Tavri, Taust, so what is a girl doing here?"

That was it for Mia. Captain Marks was flying into the rest of his captain buddies with a black eye. The rest of the captains began circling her and they were ready to bring her down. They tried to grab her, as Mia jabbed Captain Rosenberg in the stomach when-

"What's going on here?" spoke a strangely unperturbed voice. It was strange because, it was Mitch's, and he wasn't yelling. He stood there at the doorway, bag and K28 at hand, staring at the scene. He took one look at the bruised and bloodied faces and Mia and shook his head. "Break it up, people," he growled at them as he walked closer and closer to where Mia stood.

"Sir .it ." She started anxiously.

"This is an elite military headquarters!" Mitch yelled across the room. "I will not have these kinds of stupid foolishness under my lead! This isn't kindergarten, ladies!" He harshly and loudly rebuked and then he turned to Mia. "Captain-"

"General, I didn't start it! I-"

"Taust, don't interrupt me!" He neared his face towards her gritting his teeth. "You know perfectly well that this kind of garbage isn't appropriate behavior for professional Tavri officers. Today, you're really pushing it, and you better watch yourself Mia. Next time, I may not be as lenient."

"Mitch.I-"

"What did I tell you about the way you address me?" He turned around not even sparing a second glance at her. "Take you're seat, Mia. I don't want to hear from you for the rest of today," he tiredly walked away.

She trudged, keeping her head down and wiping the blood away with her glove. Yeah, it was pretty shameful and humiliating to pass by the ones who were staring at her. She thought she would get used to that by now, but sometimes, things never change. She slipped on her gloves and sighed as she plopped herself into a seat and kept her head down, leaning against a chair and putting her feet on top of the chair in front of her.

"Where should we sit, Doug?" she heard a voice call to another. Her guess it was probably Corporal Doug Colfer, but she still kept her down. Why waste her time looking up?

"There's an empty row back .. mind..she's sitting there."

"Hm, maybe somewhere ."

Mia sighed again looking away towards the wall now in solitude. This was life on the Tavri Islands.

The Tavri Islands had been created to house a special advanced military headquarters and training. It was also secret and only the best knew it existed at all. They had the best technology and soldiers imaginable. Only when horrendous peril was upon the Earth, would the Tavri Military go into action. The soldiers and officers were all pulled out of the military and asked to join because their capability surpassed the rest. Here, they were trained in marksmanship, man-to-man martial art fighting, and in some cases, fencing. Of course, they already knew how to do these activities already, but they strived to improve their skills to become as dexterous as possible. They also were required to have high stamina, be in top physical condition, so it was mandatory for them to work out and be involved with track and running. There is not a man or woman in the world that's ability that should superior the Tavri officers.

Technology here advanced faster than the outside world. Everything from the Automatic Voice Lock Doors to the Automatic "Kitchens" and from the Specialized Utility Glasses (like the ones Mia wore) to the K28 guns were examples of the finest technology in the world. And what more could you expect, after all, it was an advanced and elite military.

In 2006, the Tavri Islands were discovered by a group of fishermen who had been lost at sea for days miles and miles away off New York City. These islands were taken into deep consideration, and confidentiality. The greatest military officers of America including some other government officials decided that this was a perfect place to build an elite military headquarters, but they also knew that public audience must never hear them of. So, the fishermen were killed; all but one, who had shown more skill in marksmanship, martial arts, and intelligence than any other man in the military currently they'd known. His name was William Lansky. He became one of the most important founders of Tavri, and eventually, the Admiral of Tavri. In fact, the Admiral of Tavri now was the grandson of William Lansky. His name was Admiral Torre Lansky.

Generally, the best of the best, the top of the top, the most elite, talented, skillful, and gifted officer from or of the military. Rumor had it that the only reason Torre Lansky was the Admiral now was because he was related to William Lansky and it would be a disgrace if he wasn't Admiral. So, if the best were the Admiral, then the assumption would be of course, that Admiral Torre Lansky was the best.

However, everyone on the Islands already knew who the best was because of the many years of knowing whose skills were superior. Or rather, who the best were.

Mitchell Aaron Lizyn and Amelia Vanessa Taust were famous at the Tavri Islands, but no one was allowed to call Mitchell his real name, or rather, his first name at all. If a lower officer didn't address him as "General", "General Lizyn", or "Sir", than they should expect a harsh and LOUD correction from him. However, Mia liked to taunt him with his real name, as it seemed to get him particularly aggravated. As for Mia, no one would dare call her "Amelia" unless it was Mitch. They were the same age differing only by a few months.

Perhaps it was by destiny or fate, but they first met in nursery school on September 5, 2026 on a Wednesday morning where their skills were superior to your average smart-smart four year old and even your average smart-smart fourth grader. Their initial squabble and competition began with the belligerence of young Mitch as he took some of Mia's building blocks. So they decided to settle this disagreement by building their own towers to see whose was stronger, and try to knock each other's down first with dirty play.

The fact was, one was not better than the other. Mia sometimes bettered him occasionally, and Mitch had his strengths too, but they were mostly equal. They received the exact same grades in every class, which of course were the top grades in the country. Everyone knew that no matter what, nothing could surpass both their intelligence and performance, even if they didn't want to admit it. However, their teachers saw it a bit differently. All had the same idea glued and rooted into their sexist minds, which Mia and Mitch bettered as well: men were the superior gender; therefore, Mitch must be the best. And that was why Mia was always second in class, while Mitch was number one. Even though both Mia and Mitch were completely unbearable to handle with their quick tempers and mouths, they still couldn't let the girl as the higher standard one. That's why she was just a captain in the Tavri Military instead of a general.

But a captain wasn't that bad, it was a pretty high position. Mia was still well respected, though many of the officers still ignored her. She was far from a beginner, and a beginner was her only friend on the island. Everyone pretty much ignored her and told her to "leave and go home; this wasn't a place for girlies". They couldn't stand having a girl better them at everything while others didn't think she was tough enough. However, this beginning didn't think the same. His name was Private Neil Batro.

Private Neil Batro spotted Captain Mia Taust sitting alone in the meeting hall. The meeting hall was a huge building, and one of the biggest ones there, besides the Aeronautics Building. The ceiling it self reached to about eighty feet high and the width was a distance of more than 400 feet. It was made of brick and a new material that had been recently discovered call "bult". It was a strong, yet flexible "metal" kind of material, except it was natural and it was proven to withstand any of Earth's forces. It was known to even survive nuclear explosions without melting down or breaking apart. Bult also lined the inside of the walls so it would stand stronger. Tavri's motto and password, "Pax vobiscum", which was Latin for, "peace be with you", was engraved in capitals, in bold silver writing on the side of the brick wall, where Alexander Taust, Mia's father, suggested it should be. There was a stage in the front where a stand and a microphone were positioned for the Admiral to speak. The Tavri flag striped with red, green, and blue with a dove with an olive branch in its mouth stood proudly in the corner of the area. Red cushioned chairs lined the inside of the massive room in countless rows and rows with splendor. Most of the rows were occupied, except for the very last one in which he spotted Mia. The red headed Private made his way through the jungle of people and chairs and took the empty seat beside her with his light sapphire blue eyes twinkling.

Private Neil was a pure visage of a cheerful and likable guy. He joined two months ago and got promoted after the first month he was there. Though he was a rookie, he was learning, and a lot of guys thought he was "cool" and "had potential". In Mia's opinion, she thought he was kind of sincere and sweet, not a jerk like Mitch, but he just seemed to use humor at the wrong times.

"This seat taken?" He joked, with a corny Mr. Macho Man accent.

"Hmmm, this is hard to remember, let me see if I can try to recall. I think a corporal was about to-but then he realized who'd he be sitting next to-no," she said sarcastically as she took a quickly glimpse to the vacant row she sat in.

Neil grinned, not realizing or knowing it had really happened; he enjoyed talking to her, because of her sarcasm, unlike the others who avoided her because of it. "So, tell me again, what is this meeting, convention, thing for? This probably is my second one, but I don't remember much from last time."

"You're a Tavri officer, you should improve your memory skills."

"Aw, come on, I'm a newbie, remember? You should consider that into your memory."

"Inventory check, new soldiers, news, reports, and promotions, if you're lucky," she eyed Neil.

"I bet I'll never get to a captain, or even a lieutenant," he groaned.

"Hey," she muttered. "You were promoted in one month, and that's pretty fast for anybody. You'll become admiral before I even get promoted once more."

"Why?"

"I'm Lizyn's target for criticism and malign, remember?"

"O yes, and not to mention slander," Neil conceded and added.

"Hey, don't remind me," she rubbed her temples with her fingertips. "I already had a horrible start for a day. Not to mention, a horrible day so far."

"Aw, cheer up, things can't get possibly worse, right?" He joked again. Mia rolled her eyes.

"You didn't just ask me that, did you?" She retorted shaking her head. "Five bucks says things do get worse."

"You're on. By the end of the day, you'll be five bucks poorer, while I'll be five bucks richer."

"Put your money where you're mouth is. Why aren't you sitting with the big boys, Batro?"

"Why don't you ever sit with anyone?"

"I don't sit with losers."

"Am I a loser?" Neil chuckled.

"You're getting close to one, Batro. Just don't make any sexist comments and you'll live-ow!" Mia suddenly cried out in pain. She grit her teeth and turned around. "KAHN!" She yelled.

Mia was right on target this time: a curly light brown haired man stood chuckling not to far away from Mia and Neil's seat. Corporal Matthew Alexander Kahn was 21, the same age as she, though he joined the Tavri Islands just last year but he also attended grade school with him. Many found him to be quite annoying, including Mia. "Corporal, you've just proved that every guy on the Tavri Islands doesn't grow out of their immaturity."

"What an honor."

"Hey.." Neil looked at Mia.

"Okay Neil," she paused. "Maybe you're an exception."

"See I'm special," Neil grinned, boasting to Matt.

"Oh yeah, Private? Let me see, what rank are you?"

"You ain't so high in the food chain either."

"I'm asking you, Private, what rank are you?"

"And I'm asking you, Corporal, what rank be you?" Mia sniggered. "And Neil, forget I said that, I take that back," she said, shaking her head. The two officers grinned as Matt approached her and once again, flicked the back of her hair. "MATT!" She shouted as he came around sitting next to Neil. "How old is this??"

"Um, maybe .eight, nine years?" He shrugged. "It was 7th grade."

"Nine long years of knowing you .I'm surprised I'm not at a loony bin by now."

"No, I think it actually takes fifteen years of knowing me to get there. Don't be sad, you still got six years left!" He tried to sneak around the back again but Mia lifted her chair while sitting down, and dropped it, crushing Matt's foot.

"Agh!" Matt yelped in pain as he pushed the chair forward, bringing the weight off his foot and also pushing Mia to the ground. He grinned when he saw her tangled between the chairs in front and in back of her. "Need a hand?" He reached out his own for her to grab after he walked around to where she was.

Mia took it gladly, Neil could tell as she grabbed Matt's wrist, pulled him down to the floor violently right by her, and quickly and easily got up. "Thanks Matt, should I return the favor?" As she let him grab her own hand. He tried to do the same and pull her to the ground, but she already expected it. the only results were him pulling himself up and plopping himself right back down again. "Naughty, naughty, naughty ." she moved her pointer finger back and forth at him. "Do you think that I would be fooled by my own trick? Don't try it again, it only works when I do it."

Matt sighed, as Mia helped him to his feet and he took a seat next to Neil. "It's taking forever!" Mia exclaimed. "When is it going to start?"

"I think you've got your answer there," Neil pointed to the top of the stage in the front of the room.

"Attention!" Announced a quite tall golden haired, blue-eyed man stood up on top of the stage. This man wasn't all good looks and muscles, though; he was the Admiral of Tavri, Torre Lanksy and with his loud voice. He spoke into the microphone with General Mitch Lizyn standing right beside him. "We will begin the meeting at once. Now, onto first matters ."

But "at once" could not happen at all, because after a fraction of a second passed, a deafening ear splitting screech filled the room, silencing the mouths of every cadet, private, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain in the room, including the General and the Admiral. The room began to tremble as if it was a heart and beat the motion of a shivering child in the dark. Poundings bounced from the back corner of the room: where Neil and Mia sat. Well, now Mia stood, her hand on her weapon, which was attached to the belt around her waist.

"Stand up," Mia hissed to Neil as she hit him lightly on the back and motioned for him to stand. Neil stood up without questioning her; after all, she was an expert and more experienced.

The wall in front of them and the ceiling above them began to crack with constant screaming, banging, as cement and bult from the ceiling tumbled to the floor like rain. Parts of the ceiling struck Mia as she tried to block the rocklike sharp bult. So much for unbreakable. Mia put her hand to her face and looked at the blood-sodden fingers. She quickly put her sleeve to her face and wiped away the blood. Everyone stared as the ceiling and wall's cracks split open slowly while some pulled out their guns, aiming it towards the cracks. Suddenly the roof was ripped apart and fell into the building and the ceiling was open into the sky.

An atrocious creature was seen. But "creature" hardly described the thing. It looked like a dragon and the head had streaks of purple lightening bolts running across its face. Its rubbery green skin was covered with glittering blade sharp scales. Two yellow blood shot eyed glared from every frightened face of a captain to a terrified face of a cadet. It opened its huge mouth, its breath hot and burning like fire, its knife blade sharp winter white teeth wore gleams of ruby red blood and the remains of bodies, gnashed in between the teeth. Gooey saliva dropped from its mouth and made huge puddles as they splashed onto the floor. It began to climb in as everyone started backing up. Its body was covered with scales as well as spear shaped ebony black spikes that decorated the back. It stood on four legs with internecine claws the size of a regular door. Its tail waved a single poisonous stinger and swished around the room as if it was a sword. It would have been beautiful and breathtaking, if it hadn't been so horrifying.

"Run, Neil. Run," she ordered blankly, still staring at the astonishing "thing" that stood in the meeting hall. She backed further and further away from where she stood, knowing that she should not let herself become petrified even though she was a bit afraid. Neil followed her too, never taking his eyes off that terrorizing creature.

"Everyone! Out of the building!" General Lizyn yelled as he jumped off the stage and started shooting at the creature. However, his gun was futile to the solid and indestructible scales of the creature so he was forced to run much to his dismay.

There was no question about it. Everyone ran. There wasn't a single soldier who would want to stay inside with a cyclopean man-eating monster anyway. Most people got out in seconds because they had been trained to run quickly and most were in top shape. The colossal but slow creature's speed was no match for these brawny and fast officers. But the knives of the creature's mouth devastatingly captured the privates and cadets, who had not been experienced enough or had neglected the gym for a while. However, it wasn't long afterward that everyone was running out of the building, except for the soldiers who had been picked off by the jaws of the monster. Almost everyone.

The General and Admiral slammed the doors to the front of the building and locked the door immediately. Panting, they stood, leaning against the door for a long time. Nearby, Mia stood panting with both hands on her knees as she looked up to see Mitch and Torre. They both let out a deep breath and looked at each other.

"Lizyn, there is only one thing we can do," Torre concluded. "We're going to have to self destruct the building." Mitch nodded in agreement.

"I'll have to go and get the Remote Control from Location 324," Mitch told him. "Call the clean up crew as well, we're gonna have one major spaghetti mess."

A piercing sound reached Mia's ears that sent a shiver down her back as she quickly and anxiously looked around. She had an acute sense of hearing and she knew the voice very well, even for the short time that she had known him. She could never be able to ignore it: it was Neil's voice, muffled and quiet, coming from the inside building.

"Mitch! Neil is in there!" Mia ran up to Mitch worriedly with inflection in her tone. "We gotta get him out!"

"You mean that private? That abrogation?" he scowled with frustration and fury. Mia could tell that he had a derogatory opinion of the poor private. "Why, couldn't he keep up with the rest?" Mia was extremely shocked by his inquisition.

"Does it matter?" She shot back in annoyance. "He's in there! I'm going in!

"Captain! Don't waste time! Don't waste your time, don't waste my time, because we gotta blow this baby to smithereens. Do not go in there! It's his own fault he's going to die!" Mitch said firmly and heartlessly.

"Are you kidding?!" She questioned. "I'm going! I can't leave him to die like that!"

"HALT! AND THAT'S A DIRECT ORDER, TAUST!" He yelled at her placing his face close to hers.

Mia just glared at him as she felt Mitch's warm breath against her cheeks. "I can't believe that you would. Mitchell Lizyn, I've known you to be an arrogant and cold guy all my life, but even now, I'm surprised that you would do something as low as this."

"I must agree that I am arrogant and maybe somewhat cold, but this is for the sake of hundreds of others! Can't we let one soldier go? There are already many who died, so why should his death matter?" He sneered.

She ignored him and went on. "How heartless of you to leave him, your fellow soldier, your fellow human being to die like that."

"In wars, many innocent men have died with heroes leaving them behind, what makes this situation any different?" Mitch asked with coldness in his voice.

"Because we can save Neil. I may disobey a direct order but I'm not like you," she shook her head. The look in her eyes was not filled with hatred, but with shame for her General and it made Mitch even feel embarrassed and mortified. There was no intensity in her eyes, but it made Mitch feel more stupid and helpless nonetheless in the way she stared at him. Her eyes were screaming at him with silent taunts. "No, I'm not like you, and I'm getting Neil out of there even if it's the last mission I'll ever have."

She audaciously crashed into a window on the side of the building, ignoring Mitch's barks and orders as the glass shattered everywhere showering the emerald green grass beside it. Stoic and shaken from Mia's last words, Mitch could only stare at the window Mia just crashed in to. He swore loudly and stamped his foot. "God! That girl. .JEEZ!" And he continued to swear and began to bang his head softly against the brick wall of the building.

"She seems to get on your quite often. You always lose professionalism when you're around her; always swearing, yelling, shouting ." Torre mused. "Maybe you should watch your maturity level and calm down."

"Well if you knew her as well and as long as I do, sir, you would completely understand," Mitch snapped.

"Watch yourself, Lizyn. Your tongue may cost your life as much as it irritates the ones around you already. More importantly, it annoys me." He sighed impatiently.

"I'm sorry, Admiral," Mitch grumbled, and was in a miserable mood for someone who didn't apologize very much. "It's just that every time- the very mention of her just gets me extremely worked up!"

"Worked up?" Torre eyed him "I see ."

"Wait! I didn't mean it that way." Mitch replied and corrected himself immediately.

"Well if you didn't, you said you don't seem to care much about Captain Taust, then." Torre lowered his eyes as a perceptible chill slithered down Mitch's spine.

After crashing into the window, Mia did have shards of glass sticking into her clothes and piercing her face. However, she just brushed them off with her sleeve. She thanked the tailor who made her uniform silently, grateful that blood was hard to see on black clothes. At the first glance of the room, the chairs were all array, with most of the smashed and broken to bits and pieces. The ceiling and walls were pretty much obliterated and destroyed so it was wholly open to the sky. The stage was smashed up pretty bad and everywhere on the ground was cement, brick, and bult pieces scattered like sand. But along with the broken up wall and ceiling parts, were bodies, and parts of bodies too. Mia looked down to see her foot crushing human guts squeezing all the fluid out. Stopping herself from vomiting, her eyes watered from the sight, the stench, and the taste of gag. All around the entire room, bodies were ripped and torn apart, gashed and severed, and smashed and bloodied. Mia could handle gore, but seeing her fellow officers dead, even though most hated her, was still hard to handle.

Mia didn't have to do a proper scanning because it's pretty easy to find a thirty-foot monster in a building within a first glance of the naked eye. She spotted the thing chasing after Neil, nearing him closer and closer to a corner as he struggled to sprint away. She knew that he wasn't making errant movements, but to another, it may have looked so.

She pulled out her handgun and tried shooting at the beast, but the bullets merely bounced off its scales like jellybeans off a pillow. Swearing, as she ran out of bullets, she chucked the gun to the ground and began running towards the monster. Grabbing a knife out of a nearby officer's belt whose head had been severed off by the creature's jaws, she tried not to vomit at the grotesque display of blood and flesh. She tossed it up in the air at the monster and it landed on the back of its head, but proportionately, it did just as much damage as a safety pin to a human. She hadn't even pulled the creature's attention away from Neil. Swearing again, she then pulled her attention to Neil.

"Neil! Back away from the corner!" Her heartbeat quickened for Neil's life.

He looked at her quickly and back at the monster. Mia knew that it was impossible and he couldn't get out of the corner now. The creature was lowering its head now with its gleaming white teeth bearing at the petrified Neil. There was only one thing to do and Mia took a swift sprint under the legs and body of the creature and to where Neil was.

"Having fun?" She muttered as she took his hand leaving Neil no time to reply. "Come on!" She pulled him violently, but quickly so they could once again, go under the legs of the monstrous thing. Enraged, the monster swooped his mouth towards Neil with an open mouth. It didn't miss all together.

Neil cried out in pain as he staggered to the ground pulling Mia down with him. Mia cried out slightly as her elbow smashed against the ground but not for long because she knew her pain was nothing compared to Neil's. She turned Neil around as he moaned in pain and gasped at the huge cut that line his back. The fresh blood was beginning to drip down his back and through his torn clothes and he lay down on the ground weakly.

"No, no, no, not now!" Mia exclaimed anxiously as she tried to get Neil to sit up. "Come on, Batro, you gotta run, we gotta get outta here!"

It was obvious that the dragon-like creature was getting impatient and annoyed. Mia sensed its next action and she immediately began to drag Neil away as fast as she could. She knew that Neil might not appreciate his arm nearly coming out of his socket now, but if they ever got out of this alive, than he had to thank her that she did. After pulling Neil past the beast's legs, the ground shook like a tremendous earthquake as it crashed its bottom to the ground. Mia let out a deep breath, but she knew it wasn't over. She still had to get Neil out of the building and before this thing devoured them both up and before Mitch blew up the building. An extremely long period of time had passed already, and she wouldn't be surprised if the meeting hall burst into flames and exploded any second from now. She helped Neil to stand up, as he struggled to keep himself strong.

"Neil, we're gonna run for the door over there," she pointed to the door in the back of the room. "You think you can do it?" She asked him gently. She couldn't fail, she couldn't let Neil die.

"No sweat," Neil weakly grinned with his joking complexion. "Bring it on."

She smiled at him too. "I know we're supposed to be serious in a time like this, but, race ya?"

In tight cohesion, the two sprinted to the back door with the monster at their tail. Mia grabbed the knob of the door and turned as Neil leaned against her for support. Her face turned pale white as she jiggled the knob once more vigorously.

It was locked.

Mia swore and stared into the creature's grinning bloodshot eyes as saliva dripped and splashed just a foot away from where Mia stood. Neal whimpered and winced as he squeezed Mia's hand with worry, but she wouldn't let this be the end. That sick creature couldn't win. Mia spotted Mitch's K28 on the side of the stage and quickly grabbed it. She switched the gear to "blast", full power to this gleaming black gun with silver lining. It was a huge gun, its length two and a half feet long and 5 inches in width and depth. She wrapped her finger around the round smooth trigger, while her other hand supported the front of the gun, aiming her gun to the structures that held the building up, and shot. Then she took a quick shot at the neck of the creature, as its head was about to swoop down and turn Neil into the morning snack it planned to have.

Running under the legs and body again, they rushed to the window that Mia came in through and leapt outside landing hard on the soft grass. Mia traced her fingers through the blades of grass and let out a deep breath. She had done it, single handedly, and now, there was Neil beside her. Wounded, but alive, and she was satisfied with that. Neil landed faced down, but he managed enough energy to turn himself around to stare at the sky. So much for no excitement on such a beautiful day as it was. Panting and looking at each other, they both lay down with no intention of standing up in a long time.

As soon as Mitch saw the two come out, he pushed the button on the remote control he was holding, though it was mostly useless, for the entire fallen ceiling had already crushed the creature because of Mia's good aim.

"Nice maneuver, Captain," Mia heard a voice congratulate her in approbation and saw a pair of light blue eyes twinkle at her. It was Lieutenant Sam King, Mitch's best friend, grinned and held his hand out to her. She gladly took it and he helped her stand up and lean on him.

Lieutenant Samuel Henry King was probably one of the most spirited and gung- ho officers of Tavri. Mia knew him from way back to grade school when he transferred to her school and became Mitch's best friend. She hadn't known him much, because he didn't often went along teasing and taunting Mia, and she didn't mind that at all. But he at the times when they were together, he was pretty "nice"; he was like a best friend compared the other officers on the Islands. Sam hadn't changed much. He was still popular, spirited, and one of the most good looking guys on Tavri.

"Thanks, all in a day's work," she replied softly. Her heart was still beating fast and she couldn't get herself to think straight as she stay in his arms. "Send Batro to the Hospital Wing, he got a nasty cut from that thing and he needs treatment."

"Yes sir, I mean m'am. What about you?" Sam asked. "Looks like you've had some rough times," he said as he observed her bloodied face.

She turned around and blinked. She thought about the whole day, thinking of the lecture, bumping into Captain Owens, picking a fight, and running away from a crazy vicious monster. "I'll live," was all she could muster out and weakly smiled. "Just get Neil to the Hospital Wing, and fast."

"Yes, m'am."

But glory doesn't last for long. The General stormed over to her and "furious" was merely on understatement with his fuming complexion. "Follow me, Mia." He lowered his eyes as he grabbed her wrist and began leading her to another of his distant offices, hanging her head. This was going to be a long . long. lecture.