Floating. That’s how it usually feels. Floating in a sea of feelings and thoughts, I absorb all that is every other one of my alters. Since I was a teen, that is how I’ve kept in touch with all of the shards of my psyche. This sea can be dark and stormy, or peaceful and effervescent with the sun lighting up the day. Always, however, this sea reflects who is in charge.

I expected the sun above a stormy sea when Alice took over, like it normally does for her, but that’s not what happened, or I should say, not all that happened. A bubble formed in the midst of the dark sea below me. I could see flickering lights in the midst of that bubble, but it was just too far away for me to see clearly what was there.

I dove below the surface trying to get close to that sphere. A weakness overcame me the closer that I got to the object floating in that water. As I got closer and closer, I felt my lungs begin to burn, and my legs merged and the fur covering my skin faded. I could feel my jaw shrinking. My breath ran out just as I touched the image.

I sucked in expecting water to enter my lungs, but I got a deep breath of air. Pain began to wrack my body and the next thing I knew I was floating, no longer tied to my body. I floated through the hallways of my old home in a memory I didn’t remember ever happening. I found myself lying on the floor of the great room. Suddenly I heard someone speaking.

“Doctor, it’s happening again!”

Angela Mackenzie-Weisman held the phone close to her ear in a near panic. Carl, for that’s who it appeared to be, more it was who it felt like was lying on the floor, was having what appeared to be another seizure. But it was clearly more than that. His skin itself was undulating and writhing, as if his whole body seemed to be trying to morph and change before her eyes.

“Calm down, Angela. We talked about this.” Doctor Wendell Moore, the voice on the other end of the phone, reassured her in a calmed and measured tone. “This was an experimental treatment after all. It’s not surprising that he needs multiple doses. Can you get him to my lab?”

She looked at her son writhing in agony on the ground. His lower body was beginning to bulge and his whole frame appeared to have impossibly taken on mass. “No, I don’t think so.”

“All right then. I’m on my way to you. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

“Please hurry.”

I didn’t remember this. This was a vision or a dream because there was no way, if I had been that Carl writhing on the floor, there is no way I would have heard the conversation on the phone. When the vision ended, I found myself again floating on the calm calm sea under the blue sky.

Image from WPNature.com

I’ve seen her again. She was with a group of heroes, or so it seems by the costumes. I’m wondering what’s going on since there have never been super heroes in any of the episodes, but maybe that’s because they are modifying them for the anime, making it seem less real.

It bothers me, though. Hikari is still missing, and she’s rarely without her, or not supposed to be. Could she actually be here to kill a hero? That seems strange, and makes me almost think that she could be a fake.

Mustn’t think that. Must realize she is the Queen and not another Pawn. I couldn’t handle her being just a pawn. She is so perfect in that flirty dress. When she smiled at me at the con, I knew that my feelings were returned. Now, I just need to find a way to get her alone.

It will be perfect, the two of us…

No, I can’t think that way. She has a mission to accomplish. Maybe after the mission is over. But by then she could be older, and then where will I be. She is perfect now.

I will survive because she will still be Alice. What’s more, she will be my alice.

Could it be…maybe alice is just an actress? I know, the show is an anime, but they had to get a model to pattern the character after…no. I’ll not believe that. She is who she is, and I’ve already seen her perform some impossible acts, reacting to things behind her or out of sight.

She is my goddess, and she will prove it to me. It is going to be perfect.

Image by Adam Blyth

A clock on the wall ticks over to 8:50. The wall appears to be part of a traditional Japanese room with paper supported by a frame of wood. Men in suits are standing around the room with their hands tucked into their jackets. They are wearing sunglasses and somber expressions.

The Kenzuo, the businessman, is pacing from one end of the room to the other and periodically looking up at the clock.

“Where is she,” he mutters to himself. There is a sound from outside and he looks up at one of the men surrounding him. “Take four men with you and figure out what’s happening out here.”

The man bows and then gestures to four other men. They leave the room almost soundlessly. Kenzuo begins pacing again. Not a minute later gunshots ring out. There is a cry of pain, and then another. More gunshots sound followed by a squelching noise and then nothing.

The door to the room opens revealing the man that was put in charge of the other bodyguards.

“Is it done? Amy I safe?” Kenzuo asks only to watch the man fall into the room. A knife is sticking out from his back and a pool of blood begins to spread.

The scene cuts to the Alices lying in the darkness outside the compound. They are about to move when the sound of gunshots rings out. It seems to be the same number and pattern of gunshots from the previous scene. They look at each other and then without another word, or sound, they sprint across the grass in between the distracted guards.

They enter the building and race down the hallway. They see the man fall into the room from the outside and see a small shadow behind where the man was standing. The Alice on the right throws a knife at the shadow, only to have the shadow leap out of the way.

The small figure lands in the light coming from the other room revealing that it is Hikari.

“Alice is always Weak!” she screams and begins moving toward the pair. They split apart, moving to opposite sides of the hallway. Hikari leaps toward the one on the left while throwing a knife at the one on the right. The Alice on the left grins for a moment before Hikari draws another knife and slashes down at her.

The Right Alice slips out of the way of the thrown knife and dashes toward where Hikari will be when she lands. Left Alice brings up her knife to parry. The knives make contact, but Hikari uses the contact point to move behind Left Alice while spinning to face her. She drops her knife and grabs onto Left Alice’s arms, holding her in the path of Right Alice’s knife.

Right Alice drops into a slide and slashes at Hikari’s ankle, leaving a deep cut behind. Hikari wrenches Left Alice across the path of Right Alice’s slide and the two tangle up together. While they’re trying to free themselves, Hikari stabs Left Alice in the back.

She’s smiling as the knife descends only to have it glance off something under the other girl’s clothing.

“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you, Hikari?” Right Alice says.

A gun goes off and the front of Right Alice’s head explodes. Left Alice is covered in gore and just looking around in shock.

There is another Alice standing at the end of the hallway. “Hikari, if you’re done playing with your toys, can we get back to the mission?” Left Alice begins to rise and Gun Alice fires again. There is a spray of gore out from the back of Left Alice’s head and her body drops to the floor.

The two girls walk into the well lit room, and the body guards pull their guns out and begin firing at the girls. They fly out from the room as the bullets hit them in the body. The men continue firing, bullets putting holes in the paper and wood of the wall until they run out of bullets.

Kenzuo let’s out a sigh of relief until a shot rings out and one of the bodyguards goes down. They are looking around when another shot fells another bodyguard. Hikari and Alice step back into the room, guns in each hand, alternating shots between the guns. Within seconds (shown in slowmo in the anime) all of the bodyguards are taken out and blood is pooling on the floor.

Kenzuo sticks up his hands and says, “We can negotiate, right girls?”

They are raising their weapons and then we get a focused shot of the clock. The time is 8:59 and the second hand is ticking up past the 11 on the clock. It hits the 12 and the clock ticks over to 9:00 followed by a chime through the house.

“It seems I’ve survived yet again,” we hear the voice of Kenzuo say. The screen goes black and then we hear the sound of another gunshot.

A small figure moves through the shadows of an upscale commercial building. She’s wearing dark blue, or it could just be anime coloring and is supposed to be black. She moves stealthily through the corridors and up the stairs with a purpose.

She enters the twenty-eighth floor, which is dark except for a few emergency lights. Again she moves with purpose across the floor toward an office of the far side when a shot rings out breaking the silence. Without turning the small figure begins to talk.

“Hello, Angel. I expected you fourteen floors ago.”

“I do my best not to be predictable.”

“Too bad for you, it isn’t enough,” Alice says as she turns and takes off her balaclava.

“I’m the one with a gun, Alice. I win this round.”

“Is that what you think?”

“When are you going to stop trying to get to the eighth row, Alice. You’re still just a pawn, so you should die like a pawn.”

“Even a pawn can take a bishop under the right circumstances, Angel,” Alice says with a smile. “We both take other pieces off the board in the same manner, I just have to do it from a shorter range.”

“Yes, but I’m behind you, Alice. This is my capture,” Angel said and raised the gun to fire. “Goodbye, Alice. Maybe you’ll make it farther the next time.”

The gun went off…and hit the monitor behind where Alice had been standing. Before Angel could react to the change in circumstance, Alice was flying through the air, her foot connecting to Angel’s still outstretched hand. Whether from shock or the force of the blow, the gun went flying from the older girl’s grip.

Alice pulled the gun from her waistband and pointed it at Angel.

“I’m tired of being a pawn in this game, Angel. Tell me where the Spider is hiding and I’ll shoot you in somewhere you don’t need, but will kill you eventually. Refuse and I shoot you in the head.”

“You can’t do this. You have to follow orders like the rest of us.”

“Really?” Alice says as she shoots Angel in the right shoulder.

The older girl cries out in pain and grabs her ruined shoulder with her left hand.

“Funny thing about orders, Angel, I know something you don’t want anyone else to know. I know that you’re working for both sides. Whether you were originally part of Spider’s batch, or were originally part of Crane’s, you’re the only one on the field. One of you killed the other and are acting for both sides.”

“How..?” Angel begins only be cut off by Alice. “You’re missing the scar on your right hand. I have a memory from only a year ago of one of you having a scar on your right hand. It’s a bit scattered so I don’t remember which of you it was, but I know it was one of you two, and since you all start at the same age as the rest of us…”

Angel begins to laugh. “Not that it matters now,” she says, “since I’m about to die.”

“Well, one way, they are going to be able to back you up and you’ll be able to learn from your mistakes. The other way, and you’ll be clueless as to how you died. Which do you prefer, Angel.”

Angel sits for a minute or two looking up at the cold eyes of Alice before she begins to speak, “I’ll tell you where he is.”

Men with guns wander around a wooded compound. They are wearing night-vision goggles and radios. They check in periodically, stating that everything is clear. There are spotlights sweeping the grass between the woods and the buildings. A few patrols have dogs with them.

In some particularly dark shadows, two small figures can be barely seen lying on the grass and looking toward the compound. In the brief glare of a spotlight passing over the depressing they are lying in we see that both girls look like Alice. One of the two Alices looks at the other and grins.

This episode is a retrospective episode with a twist. Generally, you get the characters doing something pointless, like going on a summer holiday, and then show scenes that have happened in the past as they catch an audience that might be late to the series up with the current episode being shown. Normally, it is sometime during the second season that they would do this.

Once again, assassin dolls decides to throw us for a loop, and just after the previous one that they pulled in episode 6.

Scenes play out starting from the first one at the beginning of the series. The perspective, however is different than the one that we got at the beginning. The quality is also a bit lower than we’ve experienced in the past. The sound is slight tinny, and there is a grainy quality to the images that we’re not used to. It follows the timeline for the series as originally shown with some notable exceptions. The Goth Loli killing happens the night that Alice was taken into the clinic. Also, the killing with Alice being hit by the car happens after Alice was given the picture by Hikari and told to kill the Spider King. Some of the scenes are a little longer, showing reactions by people we haven’t seen, but just emphasise the feeling that was present the first time through.

After a run down of the entire series so far, minus the flashbacks from episode 6, there is a final, different scene.

The room is well lit with a long table down the center. The walls and table are varying shades of white, while the chairs are red. An older woman in a traditional Japanese outfit in blue, black, and gold is sitting at the head of the table staring at a cell phone. The scene changes to a shot over her shoulder showing one of the scenes that we saw earlier in the episode.

The angle changes again, framing her in the scene. We hear the sound of chairs being moved and people settling into the chairs. She looks directly into the camera and smiles.

“It would seem that the Kings have once again begun moving their pieces across the board.”

“What would you have us do about them, Queen Arachne?” a male voice asks from off camera.

“Do? Why, nothing of course. Let them have their fun, and while they do, we will move in and accomplish something neither of them, even with their amazing intelect, has yet been able to accomplish.”

She waited for a moment for someone to ask the question. When no one did, she grinned a truly terrifying grin, “We take over.”

25 years ago

Two men sit on a bench next to the clearing in the woods. Alice and Hikari run around the grass laughing and squealing. They are acting, for once, like the children they are. “Kenzuo, Eichi, I see your children are playing well together.” and older man says as he walks up to the two men. As you watch you begin to notice that the one addressed as Eichi is the same business man we have seen previously, only much younger. “Welcome, Grandfather,” Kenzuo replies.

They are talking about family, life, and philosophy as they sit there watching the two girls play. Eventually they begin to talk about business, specifically the bioengineering firm that the two men run. They are talking about the legislation that is about to go through that will prevent a number of their advances from going through.

Eichi simply replies at the end, “it is more of the same that we have gotten over the past ten years. It will amount to nothing.”

20 years ago

Eichi is in a lab coat in a futuristic lab. Kenzuo enters the lab. What they are saying can’t be heard, but it’s pretty obvious that they’re arguing. An older Alice and Hikari sit in a sterile room and look out at the two men.

“I’m scared, Alice.”

“Be strong, Hikari. They will come up with a solution. They have to.”

“I don’t want to die.”

The argument gets more violent as the two girls continue to watch the men fight. Eventually Kenzuo storms out of the lab.

“Alice?”

“Be strong, Hikari. Always remember that you need to be strong,” Alice says, even as tears run down her cheeks.

15 years ago

An emaciated adult Alice is sitting on a chair next to a hospital bed. Hikari is lying in the bed with her eyes closed. A long continuous tone sounds in the room from the heart monitor where there is just a single flat line. A strange apparatus is attached to the girl’s head as men move around the room in hazmat suits.

After a few minutes of movement, they move the body of Hikari to a gurney and wheel her out of the room.

“Your turn, miss,” one of the faceless men says and helps her up onto the bed.

“Will it hurt?”

“You won’t feel a thing,” he says.

They connect her up to the apparatus. She closes her eyes as lightning begins to ark from one lead to another on the helmet.

Today

Kenzuo sits in a dark room without any windows wearing a lab coat. A man is relaying a report to him regarding Subjects 1, 2, 29, and 13. They talk about amino acids, life viability, and a number of other factors that sound like technobabble.

As soon as the man leaves Angel walks in through a hidden door behind the desk. “Crane King, the target has been assigned and given to Subject 1. Are you sure that you want to attack him?”

“It is not your place to question me, Subject 13.”

“If not me, then who, Crane King?”

He sits there quietly for a few moments as Angel just watches him. “You are right, Subject 13. It is time. He is pushing his public agenda to far. He is getting too public and he has stepped from the shadows into the light. It is time for the Spider King to die.”

Следователь на Небесах

I gaze down upon the broken world and wonder that the world has continued for so long in it’s broken state. America has begun to think that talking to the UN might be a good way to eliminate the rest of the world. In my opinion all that will do is allow Atlantis to take over and bring all nations into unity. While that benefits Atlantis, it does not benefit anyone else, especially not Heaven or Hell. While benefiting Hell is certainly not in my nature, neither would locking the world into the embrace of Atlantis.

Narnia has begun to be a liability. He has spoken to the Federation of Planets about the actions of the Scientist. I hope that the CIA can bring him into line. The Spy has already made inroads into taking care of it and has the possibility of locking him into the world beyond the wardrobe.

Japan is fitting in well with the New Avengers.

Poseidon is not dead. Atlantis was right. Even I did not believe that Poseidon had survived the Minotaur. It seems I must keep a closer watch on Atlantis as he seems to be more intelligent than his appearance would suggest. King Minos appeared in Narnia and confirmed that the Minotaur did not kill the king of the sea.

The Spy and the Swordsman both went and served food to the needy. There is something strange there that I can’t quite put my finger on, and being a simple Observer has prevented me from making a closer investigation into what they are doing and why.

The Swordsman is quite the enigma. He carried the Sword of Damocles that collapsed onto the head of the Minotaur releasing it to terrorize the city. What was meant to draw our eyes to the heavens instead buried us further in the dirt when the Federation of Planets, breaking their Prime Directive and barred the planet from space.

Alexandria is a bed of snakes. Their poison inks the pages of the books and scrolls. The New Avengers have begun to investigate the snakes. The snakes are being run by a black panther of significant weight from his den in the darker jungles residing around the Temple of the Gods.

It would seem that the New Avengers are afraid of the panther. Or possibly not the panther, but the Minotaur, who hides behind the panther. The New Avengers now prepare for their venture into the jungle. What will the outcome truly be.

Alice stands in a dark park underneath a lamp. There’s a small scar under her eye from the paintball pellet in the meadow. She’s wearing a hoodie and shorts. She has her hands pulled into the sleeves of the hoodie and is blowing into her hands.

She looks around herself periodically and checks her watch frequently. When the time hits 9:24 she steps out into the road in front of a car. She goes flying down the road after the impact and rolls as soon as she hits the road. Her right arm is at a strange angle and a pool of blood is beginning to form around her body.

The man who was driving the car gets out and runs to the body of the girl. He is talking about how she came out of nowhere and how he never wanted to hurt her. He gets up next to her and rolls her onto her back.

She points the gun to his head and pulls the trigger. He collapses on top of her. She pulls her phone out from between the two of them and dials a number. “Mission accomplished.” she said in to the phone and then her eyes glaze over and she drops the phone into the pool of their mingled blood.

Alice wakes up and gets dressed in her room in the clinic. She walks out into the dining room where the TV is playing again. The news announcer said as she comes in, “Again, or top story. Mitosuri Sobaki is wanted in conjunction with a hit and run. Footage of him striking and killing a young girl was sent into numerous stations early this morning. His office has stated that he is missing, but contacts in the police are saying that he is just running from justice.”

Alice mostly ignores the TV and finishes her breakfast. When she finishes Aina wipes her smooth cheeks and sends her out to play.  The issue with the proctor hasn’t yet been resolved so Alice has not been going to school yet.

She spends the morning wandering about the neighborhood, talking to cats and dogs, smiling at old ladies, and generally acting like a little girl. As the sun goes up in the sky she makes her way to a local park and sits down on the swings.

After a couple of minutes she says, “Do they have another target for me, Hikari?”

Hikari moves out of the bushes pouting. “Did you know I was there, or did you guess?”

“Just like I knew that you killed the proctor, I knew you were in the bushes,” Alice says. Her face is suddenly serious and she no longer looks like the little girl she has always appeared to be.

“You’re just guessing.”

“The poison I gave him takes a minimum of eighteen hours to metabolize. He died on the tracks at 6:56 PM from the footage they showed on the news. That was just under seven hours after I administered the poison.”

The banter keeps going back and forth with Alice continuing to get the upper hand with logic while Hikari just gets more and more angry. Eventually Hikari throws a picture at Alice and says, “He’s your target. You have two days before he has to be dead. The King has decreed that he will die no later than nine pm on Thursday.”

The picture laying on the ground is showing the face of the businessman, the one who seems to have been in control of everything.

“Will there be anything else for you, Hitoshi-senpai?” A blonde woman says as she sets a tea set on the desk of Mr. Hitoshi. He says no and she bows and walks out through the door. He is sitting there looking at a balance sheet and moving numbers from one place to another.

He looks at the clock and shakes his head. It is showing eleven thirty and he turns back to the computer. “There’s no choice,” he says. He logs onto his bank account and makes a transfer of thirty million dollars to another account.

He shuts off his computer and leans back in his chair. He is sitting there in the darkness, his eyes closed. After a minute or two, he prepares and then begins to sip his tea. His eyes are closed and he is revelling in the taste.

When he finishes a cup, he reaches for the set to begin preparing another, but his hand falls to the table. The door opens and closes and the woman walks back in. “Angel, help me. I can’t move.”

“I have a message from the Spider King,” she says as she walks in.

“What are you talking about? How do you know the assassin master?”

Angel smiles at him as his head falls to the side, his neck muscles no longer reacting to his conscious control.

“Don’t you think it was strange that a woman who matched your specific requirements as an assistant would show up at the exact moment you needed her…by which I mean me?”

“You’ve been here for four years. I only heard about the Spider King last year.”

“That wasn’t coincidence either, Hitoshi-senpai. He has controlled this entire situation. Your rival was slated for destruction long before you were introduced to the Spider King. Your only reason for being included was for the money you would pay for your rival’s death. The money you did not pay promptly on time.”

“I’ll do better next time,” he began to plead. “I hear his message. I’ll…” and then his jaw fell open, and his eyes went wide.

“I never said that the message was for you,” Angel says and walks out through the door.

A news article begins playing on a TV. It’s talking about the two men who died in relation to the Morel International Group. One was murdered in front of his girlfriend. The other died of an apparent drug overdose. The report went on to explain that the Morel International Group was also implicated in government corruption and that some major figures in government were probably involved.

As the report was playing on the screen, the screen shifted from one shadowy group to another. Each had a note on their desk. At the top of the note was a stylized picture of a spider with a golden crown. It had a channel and time listed on it below the spider.

The groups were varied and nothing seemed to be linking any of them other than the card on each of the desks. Finally it shifted to the office of the Spider King, the businessman that we’d seen previously.

Angel walked in and stood beside the man from the shadows previously. The Spider King smiled at the two of them. Then the report finally ended, after it had repeated the specific report a number of times.

“Everything is falling into place,” the businessman says.

The businessman is sitting in an office overlooking the city. He is listening to a cell phone. It is the voice of the fatman from the glade. He is complaining to the businessman, talking about how bloody and loose the hit was. After listening for a couple of minutes the businessman asks.

“Was the target killed?”

“Yes.”

“And were you implicated?”

“No.”

“Then where is my money, Mr. Hitoshi?”

“Well, you see…”

“You’re aware of the default clause, Mr. Hitoshi. Pay me my money before midnight or the clause will go into effect.”

The businessman hangs up the phone and lights a cigarette as he sits and gazes out at the city.

“Mr. Hitoshi is going to be a problem. Get an asset in place. The moment that we get payment I want Mr. Hitoshi removed from play.” A man in the shadows bows and then exits the room without a sound.

Back in the proctor’s office, he calls Aina to come in to discuss her daughter’s acceptance to the proper class. He lets her know there is a problem with the test and that with a short meeting, it can be resolved properly. Aina came into the room with Alice in tow.

The proctor is a bit surprised, but after only a moment of indecision, sends Alice to get tea. Alice goes to get the tea and the proctor propositions Aina. Before Aina can do more than bluster a bit, Alice returns with tea.

Aina takes Alice by the hand and leads her out of the office as the proctor blusters behind her.

“At least I got my tea,” he says and begins to sip.

Aina takes Alice home. She is beyond angry and tells Ichiro about the proctor’s behavior. They discuss it for a while while Alice heads back to her room. She begins grinning the moment that she closes the door behind her. She lays down in the bed and goes to sleep. The next morning while she is eating her breakfast at the table a news broadcast comes on the TV talking about a local man who fell into the tracks of the train on his way home. They revealed that it was the proctor who had been causing problems with Aina the night before.

Ichiro calls the school to complain about the proctor who died, stating what the man did. He’s not the only one complaining about the man, now that he’s dead.

Hikari is looking down at the clinic from the roof of the building opposite.

“The point is mine. Alice is Weak.” she says.