"It's getting quieter here" Aquarius said. "Your sarcasm notwithstanding, has merit. We cannot let this Susan Durmont keep picking us off. Nearly half of us are gone" Taurus said. "If anyone has suggestions, I'm open to them" Ares said. "Quite simple. To deal with an assassin, you send an assassin" a voice said. "Lord Ophiuchus. We were not expecting you" Ares said bowing. "My presence was obviously required. This problem should've been handled some time ago" he said casting his withering gaze at them. "How many should we send?" Pisces asked. "Only one. The one that fulfills that role in our rank" he replied. "Scorpio?! By all due respect, Scorpio's past makes him a dubious choice to go against her. Being told to kill one of his own will make him hesitate" she said. "On the contrary, his dedication will qualm that worry. If anything, his past will be the perfect weapon to use against Durmont" he said chuckling as he faded out.

"So, who sends the word? Scorpio doesn't like to be bothered" Ares asked. "Not me" Taurus said. Pisces and Aquarius both shook their heads. "Send Libra. He's more likely to stay his hand for a child" Taurus said. "What a minute! Send Taurus! Her artifact gives the highest defense besides Cancer!" the girl yelled. "The 13th zodiac himself ordered the assignment and I am second in command. Defying me is tantamount to defying Lord Ophiuchus himself" she said. Libra hung her head and disappeared. "Translocation" she muttered as she transported from her mansion. Where she appeared it was nighttime, muggy and not alone. A very small man was perched on the ledge of a rooftop just feet in front of her. "You mess up my shot I'll kill you" he muttered to the giantess behind him.

He doped his scope as information from his artifact seeped into his mind. "157 yards. Humidity 87%. Wind speed 12 knots. Ballistic drop compensated. Earth's rotation...compensated. Firing" he muttered as he pulled the trigger on his sniper rifle. Libra didn't dare more or speak. "Hmmm...target has been pacified. You may speak now Libra. The small man said getting up and standing near her sandaled feet. "Who was the target?" she asked looking down. "The best friend of a software developers’ daughter. He wouldn’t play ball, so we sent a message. A two-gram tungsten jacketed round with plutonium core. The round is embedded underneath the skull. Either bleeding or radiation poisoning will take care of her by tomorrow. Now, what are you here for?" he asked. Libra bent down and showed him a picture on her phone. "Our lord has tasked you to eliminate this threat to us. Her name is..."

"Susan Durmont of the Yorkshire Estate Durmont" he said softly. "She's very formidable" she warned. "She won't beat me. Our past history will see to that" he said. She watched the man jump over the ledge and use a wingsuit to fly away into the night. Libra sighed in relief.   

"So, you took care of it already?" Keith asked. "Shockingly, it was very routine. Just some guy that stumbled onto an arcane written in an old book. Fortunately, the damage was minor. Broke the spells and wiped a few minds. Keith, could I ask for a favor?" Susan asked. "You've earned it. What's up?" he asked. "I decided to try to find my dad. I mean Teagan. I need Hope's help through" she said. "I understand. Just forward me a photo of him that Tim sent you. Anything else?" he asked. "Wish I had someone to share this with. I had no idea Thailand could be so pretty" she said. "You should see the yaksha homeland. A beautiful mix of the old and new" he said. "Maybe one day you could show it to me yourself?" she asked. "One day when it's not so crazy. Be nice not be the only white person there" he chuckled. "Don't tell me..."

"No. Of course not. However, I do get stares. Anyway, good job defusing the situation and no zodiac in sight" he said. "Thanks. I'll be heading back first thing in the morning" she said ending the call. She went back to the tea she was sipping. She didn't know that ZODIAC was very much nearby. Scorpio sat on the top of a tiled roof aiming his rifle at her. "Wind speed 8 knots. Humidity 77%. Distance...26 feet. Firing" he muttered. "More tea?" a young woman asked. "Please" Susan said. The young Thai woman stepped forward with a teapot just as the projectile exited the barrel. The woman flinched and touched the back of her neck. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as the deadly cyanide dart no bigger than a grain of rice took effect. She face planted right on the table Susan was at. "Jesus!" Susan said jumping up as the woman landed on the ground. People rushed over as Susan checked the woman. No breathing, no heartbeat. Against her better judgment, she invoked her magic.

"Poison. Diffusion. Healing" she muttered keeping her head down to avoid showing off her glowing eye. Her hand over the woman's heart, she broke down the molecular structure of the poison into more safe stable elements like carbon, nitrogen, and potassium. With a nudge of magical force, she revived the woman.  Susan watched carefully as the woman was helped to the hospital. "Cyanide is fast acting so what happened? Accidental exposure or something else?" she asked herself. She looked around and saw nothing. She headed back to hotel. "Hmm." Scorpio muttered. He couldn't remember the last time one of his attempts failed. He jumped off the roof and glided onto her taxi.

After arriving, he snuck under the luggage carrier and rode in with none seeing the three-inch man dressed head to toe in black. His target waited patiently in a line at the reception desk. He stood in the far corner away from the giant humans as he prepared another shot. Wearing shorts, there was more than enough exposed skin for him to aim at. He loaded the dart. This one with three times the deadly cocktail of poison. She would drop dead before she even felt the sting. He readied his shot aiming at one of the blood vessels snaking around the side of her foot that sat in her sandal. And as he squeezed the trigger, an ominous hiss and clacking from behind. He turned around just as a venomous spider lowered itself onto him. His rifle kept its fanged mouth at bay. The smell made him sick as it fought to sink its fangs into him, paralyze his body, and drink him dry. His artifact calculated the necessary trajectory to kill it. He shoved it back, it reared up, and with a flash of speed, cut its disgusting eight eyed furry head from its torso. Scorpio huffed and tore his rifle from its dead mouth. He turned back to his intended target only to see her entering the elevator. "Unbelievable" he hissed running. He dove into the elevator and hid behind the foot of a young girl.

He briefly thought of killing her there. Confined space. Nowhere to run. His odds of getting away unharmed were low though. A giant body falling on him was a good bet in that case. The young girl moved, and her five-year-old sneakered foot nearly stepped on him. She looked down bored and saw him. Her eyes lit up seeing the tiny man and she went to pick him up. "Touch me and I'll kill you" he said quietly in perfect Thai. The girl froze in terror and backed towards her mother. "Hmm?" Susan said hearing something faint. She looked behind herself seeing the mother and child. She shrugged and watched the floor light panel ding until it reached her floor. Susan stepped out just as the smell of pee hit her nose. She looked behind herself realizing it came from the young girl. The mother berated her in Thai and Susan left it alone not wanting to get involved. Scorpio slipped out of the elevator not far behind her.

He kept his distance hiding behind service carts and doorways. "Room 303" he said to himself as she entered. He waited a moment before crawling under the very tight fit of the underside of the door and carpet. His target was staring out of her window. He closed the distance and she turned. He dashed behind her suitcase as she sat on her bed. Scorpio moved quietly underneath it. Her sandaled feet rested flat on the floor. "No chances this time" he said readying his sword. Coated in botulinum toxin, one clean cut would paralyze her. She would literally suffocate as her lungs would be paralyzed with the rest of her body. Just as he got within inches, she stood up as her phone rang. Scorpio hissed frustrated. "Keith? Isn’t it late where you're at?" she asked.

"Or early depending on your pout of view. Hope will scry for your dad tomorrow" he said. "That's fine. Honestly, I'm worried what I'll find. In some ways it was easier thinking he was dead" she said. "I can understand that" he said. "What if he doesn't recognize me? Or made himself another family?" she asked worried. "I doubt he could forget someone like you" he said. "I'll be glad when I get home. Kinda missed how you make me feel" she muttered. "You were only gone two days" he chuckled. "Yeah but I feel better around you. I saw this girl die today and it scared the hell out of me" she said. "Wait. What?" he asked. "This girl dropped dead right in front of me. I was able to revive her with magic but what I found worries me" she said. Scorpio was not liking where this was going.

"Found as in what or how?" he asked. "Using this magic in me is weird. It's like knowing exactly what I need to do right then and there. I broke down cyanide into its basic elements. I don't even know what they fucking were until I did it" she said. "I'd refit an from using them until we get a better handle on how they work" he said. "That's just it. I think I've been using them for years and didn't know. Think about it Keith. All those missions I did where I was a hair away from dying and shit just worked in my favor. How else would you explain that other than my innate magic changing probability? Hell, it was probably the reason Lily found me in the first place" she said. "That's...that's kinda heavy" Keith said. "I saw how unstoppable I was when I used the Eye of Bast. That luck altering artifact combined with my own power could make me invincible" she muttered. "Whoa. Pump the brakes there. Didn't you say that artifact sucked luck from people? What if you sucked luck from an innocent and it ended up killing them?" he asked. "...fair point" she said.

Now it made sense to Scorpio. The reasons his assassination attempts kept failing was due to her probability altering magic. "Just don't do anything crazy supergirl" he said. "I won't. Goodnight Keith" she said ending the speaker call. Scorpio decided to get closer as she stood motionless. Speed and skill would end her lucky streak. "Time for a bath" she muttered. She lifted her left leg just as he went to slash her ankle. She shook her foot and her sandal came crashing down on top of him. The blow stunned him and pinned him underneath the insole of her sandal. His nose was filled with the smell of foot sweat and cork leather. The worn grooves of the insole resting on his face. He was angry, pissed beyond belief, but also taken aback by the smell of her feet. Her pheromones gave him pause as he could tell she had been pregnant and that they were very familiar. He passed out from the concussion.

Susan slowly got into the water. It felt so good to her as he laid back. She felt more confident about herself from these new powers but a part of her was worried. She remembered how she felt back in that CDC building. No emotions. No fear, anger, pain, nothing. Like she was a robot or something. She barely gave any thought on her possible death. Yes, that power gave her strength, but it took away who she was like it switched off her soul. Keith had told her the time Aspen had lost hers and it sounded worse that dying.

Scorpio awoke to the soft thuds of the giantess' footsteps on the carpet. Susan was looking at herself in the vanity mirror naked. "Another week to go" she muttered looking at her tits. He watched her go back into the bathroom. He followed her and hid underneath the dresser just feet away from her. He loaded a dart in his rifle not wanting a repeat of being knocked out or worse getting to close. Scorpio found a distraction as he could hear her quietly crying. He gazed up at her seeing her milk her breasts into the sink. "I even picked out a name you know. If it was a boy Teagan after my dad. Lily if it was a girl" she muttered smiling. Scorpio sat his rifle down. "I'll wait till she's asleep" he said to himself. He sat silently watching the giantess for a few more hours monitoring her.

It wasn't the first time he observed a target before killing them. Their habits, movements, reaction speed, if they ate or not. All factored in the success rate of going about the dark business.  He never hesitated doing it either. A sever year old boy he poisoned his milk when he learned his father was going to turn over evidence to Interpol. 67-year-old woman his poison stopped her heart. All because her son wouldn't sell the rights to a plot of land in Turkey. But now he found a slight hesitation for his current target. He found himself not wanting his observation to end. But end it did when she went to bed. She climbed into bed naked (as the comfort level was higher which she needed in a unfamiliar place) and went to sleep.

Scorpio left his hiding place and made his way to the bed. He took his time climbing the sheet as his file stated she could sense movement much better than a normal borrower. If it wasn't for his stealth suit, she would’ve heard and smelt him some time ago. He made his way to the top of the bed and tip toed to her. He stood inches from her right foot. Her clean rosy sole looming above him. Her toes twitching as she entered dream state. Scorpio weighed his options. His sword was the best bet but this close meant possible injury even with a fast-acting poison. Stabbing her in the sole wasn't the best idea. Her feet were sensitive enough she could react before enough poison entered her system. He ankle pivoted down lowering her toes to his height. He pushed her giant toes apart thinking. "Blood vessels would carry the venom quicker here. Skin thinner too" he thought looking between her toes. Susan had long toes which meant he would have to get between to reach her skin. Stabbing her there could cause her to reflexively scrunch them. He didn't care much for being crushed by those. Borrowers have great grip strength in their toes and in Susan’s case (who worked out), could snap a ball point pen in half with those digits.

There was one place he could stab her, blood vessels, thin skin, away from her arms, feet, or head, that would do the job; her labia. She would jerk awake for damn sure, but his poison would circulate very fast. Fast enough his target would be dead in ten seconds or less. "No. Please..." Susan groaned in her sleep. Scorpio paused thinking she noticed him. She didn't sit up though, and he concluded she was having a bad dream and nothing more. He moved away from her feet and walked between her legs.

"You got some age on you. Is that your kid?" the young woman asked. "Please don't hurt her. She's just a child" Mary pleaded. "She'll go for high dollar. A cutie like that will get bought up by a breeder soon enough" the woman said. She brought Mary to her face. She flicked her tits just to hear the borrower cry out in pain. "Keeping you is actually costing me money. You'd go for maybe $50 but...lets just say you'd be a slow seller. You're even pudgier than the average woman. Naw. No point keeping you around" she said before licking her lips. "Please don't do it! She's my wife! Can't you understand that?!" Teagan screamed. "Death do you part right?" the woman said grinning. "...protect her brother. Mommy...mommy loves you sweetie. MOMMY LOVES YOU!" Mary screamed as she was shoved into the giantess mouth. She shut her mouth and began chewing. Teagan and Susan watched helplessly as the person they loved was chewed alive. Her screams suddenly silenced ominously from a loud sickening crunch. "I'll kill you. Kill you" Teagan hissed at her. Susan looked at the giantess whose lips were stained with the blood of her mother. So traumatized she pissed herself.

Scorpio got ready. The heat from her pussy made him sweat. The smell heavy and intoxicating. He ignored the urge to fuck her giant cunt. He wasn't here to rape her. He was here to bury her. And just as he prepared to deliver the stroke to doom her, Scorpio got the shock of his life. Susan pissed the bed. It felt like being struck by a fire hose of hot steaming eye stinging liquid. He fell back two feet fighting the urge to cuss out loud. It didn't help matters that the giantess had eaten asparagus for lunch. He could barely see as he stumbled back. "MOMMY NO!" Susan screeched as she bolted awake. Hearing her move, Scorpio ran backwards and tumbled off the bed. He landed right on top of her smelly sandal once more. It took him ten minutes before his eyes returned to normal. He giantess above was sobbing her heart out.

Once in a while, Susan would have this nightmare but never had it been so vivid. Breaking the seal on her powers had not only caused old memories to return but repressed ones as well. That horrible day was blurry to her, but she could feel the grief all the same. Now it was like being back there again. The coldness of the cage floor on the soles of her tiny feet. The smell of wood chips. The screaming, crunching, squelching of a living person. Susan was shaking in her bed. "Keith...Keith..." she sobbed not wanting to be alone right then. Scorpio sat there soaked in piss listening. She never did go back to sleep and Scorpio just sat underneath her bed suppressing any feeling he had good or bad.

He couldn't get near her all early morning. Susan didn't stay still. Her manic energy had kept her awake as she packed her bags. He got irritated as time moves on. Her good luck and shifting feet kept him at bay. He followed her to her taxi and even boarded her private plane. "Nowhere to run now" he muttered. The flight was turbulent which kept him from moving but after an hour had passed the plane had left the stormy area and was flying nice and clean. "Susan you sound strange" Keith said on the phone. "Been awake since 3. Bad dreams" she replied. "Sorry I wasn't there for you" he said. "There'll be other times" she said softly. "Hey. Hope is ready to scry for your dad" he said. "Cool. I need a distraction right now" she said.

Keith placed the first map on the table. Scrying requires two maps for it to work properly. The first is a world map to narrow down the country. And the second is a more focused local one. In times past the second part was tricky but google maps made it immensely easier. "Okay dad. Here I go" Hope said. She focused her magic and frowned. "Something is interfering. A spell but it's not good enough!" she said smugly as the crystal on the chain jerked to the right of the map and hovered over open sea. "Honey?" Keith asked confused. "I'm sure dad" she said. Keith had her step off the map and replaced it with a zoomed in one. She stepped onto his tablet. "See?" she said moving the crystal again. "Something is wrong" he muttered. "What's wrong?" Susan asked overhearing them. "The crystal. It's pointing to open sea...but it's moving to the left very slowly. It's close to the Nicobar Islands" he said. "Really? That funny because right about now...hold on...smell something" she said looking around.

It was faint to her, but it was clearly the smell of urine. Her urine. Scorpio had waited long enough. She had detected him and was slowly walking to his hiding place. Spells were not his strong suit and he preferred poison anyway, but he couldn't afford to be choosy anymore. He drew and arcane in the carpet as she got close. It activated revealing him to her. "What the hell?!" Susan said just before a slight bump of air turbulence jostled them. Scorpio let off a light spell. The beam missed Susan' left side by an inch but it had found an unintended mark. It burned clean through the wall, right through the chest of the pilot and out the window. He slumped forward dead on the flight stick. The plane began to nose downward. Susan was thrown back into the wall and Scorpio into the air hurtling at her. "Sorry but this is the end!" he yelled holding his poisoned blade. He stabbed her just above the collarbone. She grabbed him.

She felt a burning in her chest. Her heart raced. Her vision blurred. And then her power kicked in. "Poison. Multiple varieties. No time to break them all down. Casting maximum fortification. Locking size spell" she said strangely. Her body pulsed with magic for a moment and she forced herself to the cockpit still holding the man in her grip. "Dead" she muttered before pulling the pilot from his seat. The air was extremely thin from decompression as she sat down and yanked the stick back. The plane was very slowly leveling out but still dropping. 7,000 ft. at 520 knots. Scorpio could only stare aghast at how she was still alive. He looked out from the cockpit to see her aiming for a small island. The fuselage groaned as g forces and speed it wasn't designed to handle took its toll. 5,000...4,000. And as it leveled off at 1,000 ft., Susan applied the air brakes. There was a screech of metal as the flaps tore right off. 750...500 ft. Susan jerked the throttle back and jerked the nose up hard. She knew the consequences of doing that, but a stall was preferable to slamming nose first into the ground.

The speed plummeted as the stricken plane crashed over the beach the weight of the craft pulled the nose down and seconds later belly crashed through a forest. Scorpio was shocked he was alive and soon found the reason. Susan was passed out but a orb like barrier protected them. Susan began to wake and looked dead at him. "...daddy?" she muttered before passing out once more. When she awoke once again, she first thought it had been a crazy dream. Her place crashing. Her dad dressed in black stabbing her. But sitting among the debris she saw it was no dream. "I would've killed you in your sleep if my gear had survived" he said sitting right next to her. "Lose it" she hissed. "Lose what?" he asked. "THAT FUCKING ILLUSION!" she screamed standing. She grabbed him. "No illusion. You were born in Texas and lived under the floors of a church in Georgia. Hmm...that seal must've worn off" he muttered. She was shocked beyond words. 

"Daddy?" she asked. "I am the man you call father by identity alone. No longer am I Teagan. I am Scorpio. The sting of ZODIAC" he said. Sudan climbed out of the smashed cockpit and got out of the plane. So disturbed by what he said she puked. Once done, she looked around. The wings ripped off, fire trails behind them. It was a miracle, her miracle they survived at all. She picked up a piece of metal as if to confirm the surrealness of it all. Her fingers were numb, and she dropped it. "Well I guess my poison is working after all. Slowly but surely" he said following her. "WHY? Who the fuck poisons their daughter?!" she yelled. "I was ordered to but you have gotten in the way of our plans way too many times. I will say this. Not one of my targets has survived this long" he replied. She slipped off her sandal and began writing arcane in the dirt with her big toe. "I'm gonna get my answers by fucking God" she hissed as she finished. With speed she snatched him up and dropped him on the circle. She waited for it to activate...but it didn't.

"Huh?" she asked. She looked at the symbols. "They're correct but why?" she asked. "Expecting something?" he asked. "My truth spell. It won't activate" she said. She bent down and looked closely. Seeing he hadn’t chosen to flee, Susan grabbed an emergency kit from the avionics bay. The emergency transponder was flashing as she turned on the satellite phone. "Unable to connect" it said. "Impossible" she muttered. She held a compass and found the needle spinning. "The compass needle" she muttered as she held it down. He could see it spinning himself. He looked at the reddish dirt and it began to make sense. "Magnetic field. It's spinning because of intense magnetic fields. There must a be a shitload of iron ore on this island. Jamming magic too it seems" he said. "Jamming the goddamn phone too" she hissed. "How...how could you work for them?" she asked. "I don't expect a naive girl to..."

"Shut up" she said. "You're the one that asked" he said. "Not that. I hear something. Lots of somethings" she muttered. She took off her other sandal and used her bare feet to feel the vibrations. It was extremely faint but very small footsteps were rushing towards them. "We're not alone" she muttered. Suddenly, movement from the trees and undergrass as tiny somethings rushed them. Susan yelled as a dozen of them tackled her. She felt them cutting and poking her skin. She would yank one off and toss them away only to have another climb up her leg. Scorpio grabbed a piece of sharp metal using it as a makeshift blade to cut down his own attackers. Susan stumbled crushing a few as they went for her throat. Desperate, she rolled on the ground crushing more and shaking others off. Seeing their attack fail, they ran off as quickly as they appeared. "Who...what the hell was that?!" she yelled. "The locals. There's still one on you" he said. Sudan looked to see one of them hanging onto the collar of her shirt. She plucked him off it.

Susan brought it to her face. A teenage boy visibly injured. Blood ran from his mouth. "I don't recognize his species at all. Brown hair, tanned skin, blue eyes? Jesus!" she yelled as he desperately tried to latch onto her nose. He was snarling like a beast and sported an erection exposed by his torn loincloth. He twitched violently and fell from her hand. Scorpio went right to him and stabbed him in the back. "That wasn't necessary!" she yelled. "They’re hostile" he said. "They're probably afraid! There is a goddamned giantess here!" she yelled. "Which means you should just die for them? What if these little bastards put your eyes out back there? It's only because of your power you're still alive. Nobody that soft would've otherwise" he said. Susan looked around knowing she had other problems than him.

"There's a mountain. It might be possible to get a signal at the top" she said. "Assuming the damn thing ain't packed with iron" he commented. "Either we try for it or prepare to spend our lives here. I for one have someone to go home to" she said. "You're forgetting about my poison? It's already started taking effect. Vomiting, tingling in the fingers and toes. Even at the level you're at now, you won't be able to survive it. Especially with magic casting being blocked here. You got 30 hours tops" he said. "You don't even care do you? In the name of God how did you end up this way?" she asked. He didn't answer. She looked at the crushed bodes around her. "Give me the antidote" she said. "What makes you think I'd give it to you even if I had one?" he asked. "Because I'm willing to bet you're smart enough to carry one in case you poison yourself accidentally" she said.

"And?" he asked. "You're stuck small. This phone is two pounds and at your size that's like a metric ton. So good luck carrying up a fucking mountain by yourself" she said. "...what do you propose?" he asked. "Somehow I cast a continuous growth and fortification spell that won't dispel if I sleep. Not sure how I did. I just knew how. My proposal is this. I carry us up the mountain while I act as your bodyguard against the natives. Natives that even you can kill them all. I'm sure there's at least 10 times as many than we saw and without your fancy fucking guns, you're toast. In exchange you give me the antidote" she said. Scorpio thought it over. "After we reach the peak. Not before" he said. "Deal. Now let's get moving" she said reaching down. He pulled his sword. "To make it there in time I have to carry you" she said. He put it away and climbed into her hand. She placed him on her shoulder.

She had been walking for an hour through the dense jungle. She flinched now and then as she was barefoot stepping on twigs and whatnot. Her sensitive feet exposed to feel for any threats. "Our records are inaccurate. They don't mention you having a child" he said. "I don't biologically" she said. "Oh? I saw you milking yourself in your hotel" he said. Susan stopped. "You telling me you spied on me in my own damn room? Wait a fucking minute. You were why that woman dropped dead!" Susan yelled. "She got in my line of fire" he explained. "And if I hadn't revived her? She probably has family. Maybe even a kid. Shit like that just doesn't bother you?" she asked. "Hitler had family. Pol Pot had family. Genghis Khan had a shitload of family. Having family doesn't make you a good person" he said. Susan began walking again. "I lost your grandchild to a miscarriage. Not that you'd care" she muttered.

"I care. One less borrower for our kind" he said. They walked further until they got to a clearing with a stream. Susan sat down and rested her feet in the water. She placed him on the ground. "That smell. That sweet smell all around us" she said looking around. "I noticed it too" he said. "Reminds me of that field where wild strawberries grew. The one behind the church. Remember you and mom would take me there in the spring while Brian sat there watching?" she asked. "...I remember" he said flatly. "Or that time we got caught in the rain and had to hide in a squirrel den. Mom was so pissed when we came back muddy" Susan chuckled. "Gopher den not squirrel den" he said. She turned to look at him. "If you remember so much how it is so easy to want to kill me?" she asked. "Who said I wanted to? I was given my orders and I agree with their conclusion" he said. "Semantics!" she yelled. He looked at the giantess.

"You have not one clue how much damage you and your friends have done in the last 8 months. You think you accomplished something by getting humans to give us rights?" he asked. "Of course we did! Citizens of our countries! The right to have a paying job! Own property! MARRY!" she yelled. "Congress gave freed slaves those rights just after the civil war. Did their troubles end there? Hmm? You want the low down on what you and your buddies kicked off?" he asked. Susan took her feet out of the water and placed them before him. "Enlighten me please" she mocked.

"There's always been a trade of borrowers. All you did was move it from SaveMart to the dark web. A blonde bye eyed borrower would've fetched $500 before. $5000 now. And eating us? Fun and fetishy but now we're a fucking luxury food like caviar. While you go galivanting around the world collecting magics from bad guys, I'm taking out assholes who make bank on our suffering lives. Two months ago, I found a woman in Russia selling us off to oligarchs. A hundred of us in cages like animals and you know how I feel about fucking cages. Used poison to paralyze her and opened those cages up. Watched for two days as those borrowers literally ate her alive. Karma is a bitch when you starve your ahem...pets."

"Can we adopt human kids? Be doctors? Police officers?" he asked. "Because we're too small. There's going to be things we can't do regardless of the law" she interjected. "But what if we used growth spells? A kind of borrower affirmative action?" he asked. "Magic can't be just released into the world" she said. "Unless there were people who could enforce its usage. Regulate who used it and couldn't" he said. "Like ZODIAC?" she asked fighting the tingling in her toes. "They have the power to fix what's wrong with the world. Climate change reversed. Tribal wars gone. Nationalism gone. One world government where borders have no meaning. Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons banned. Poverty, disease, famine; that can all end" he said. "And just for the measly cost of our freedoms. I've heard this pitch already and the fine print is still the same. Surrender your freedom and if you got the right genes you get to rule over the lessers. Instead of ZODIAC you should just call yourselves Nazis" she said standing. She drank the water from the stream and picked him up.

They said nothing to one another as they walked further. She felt agitated. Angry and anxious. She picked up a stick, sharpened it slightly and suddenly leaped into the air. She stabbed an nearby mammal of some kind and used her belt to tie the furry body to her side. Scorpio was watching her. Something was amiss and it wasn't his poison. She flashed her teeth more. Wild eyed stares. They had made it halfway to the mountain before Susan chose to stop for the night. 

"I want a location and I want it now!" Keith yelled. "We can't get an exact fix sir. The transponder cut out here" a borrower woman said showing a map on the projector screen. "Did it sink?" he asked. "No. It's designed with redundancies to prevent that. It's possible it was totally destroyed. A midair explosion maybe?" she asked. "It's made of composite armor. Even a direct hit from an RPG wouldn't destroy it. Can you at least give me a search radius?" he asked. "Standby" she said. "Taking into account drift speed and shifting currents plus time since loss of signal...1,872 square miles" she said. Keith clenched his first. "That's the size of goddamned Delaware. Okay...is there any inhabitable land included in the search area?" he asked. "Yes. The Nicobar Island archipelago" she replied. "What info we got on there?" he asked.

"15 major islands surrounded by a series of smaller ones. Population scattered through the area is about 36,000. Some areas have high concentrations of iron ore and huh." she said. "Huh? What?" Keith asked. "Some islands are forbidden because of health hazards. Datura plants have infested them. Cross references say the plant emits a psychoactive chemical which absorbed can create hallucinations, vomiting, euphoria, and aggression. Prolonged exposure can lead to brain damage" she said. "Fuck that shit. Get Hope up here now" he said. Minutes later his daughter arrived. The giant father held her in his hand. She could see he was extremely worried. "Honey. Susan has gone missing. We need you to find her" he said. Her eyes glowed white for a moment. "She's there somewhere dad" she said pointing to the map. "Then she is on one of the islands. Can you bring her here?" he asked. She nodded and stood up in his palm.

She held out her hand and what seemed like a crack in the middle of the air began to form. Energy flowed from it and Hope began to struggle. "Something is blocking the connection! I can't make...ahhgh!" she groaned before falling into his hand. The crack in space time disappeared. He petted her head. "You did your best sweetie" he said. "Sorry daddy" she muttered. "It's okay. You confirmed she's not in the water. That's more than we had. Control. Contact the Indian government. We need permission to explore the islands" he said.

Meanwhile...

Susan and Scorpio both saw a crack in the air and it disappearing. "That had to be Hope. Guess the easy way isn’t gonna work" she muttered as she checked the meat. Scorpio watched her carefully. She had torn the skin off the animal like it was nothing. She even smiled as she impaled it on a stick for it to cook over the fire she made. "So, you gonna tell me how you ended up working for them?" she asked. "I was bought by a breeder. Spent my days fucking any borrower girl thrown into my cage. Needless to say, you got a shitload of cousins out there. And then one fine day a woman dressed in black buys us all up. I can only laugh at the irony as to why. Experimentation. I was made a lab rat again. This time though it wasn't about DNA or impregnation. ZODIAC had found an artifact called the Signet of Tantalus*. A kind of emblem cast in gold the shape and size of a coin. It's power is to recall anything asked of it. Think magical Google"

(Authors note: Tantalus was a son of Zeus. His claim to fame was stealing the food of the gods and their secrets. He even went so far as to kill and cook his son as a sacrifice. When he died, he went to Tartarus where he was tormented with water that would move when he wanted to drink and fruit which would be forever just out of reach. It's from his name that the English word tantalize comes from)

"See they tried using it on humans first but found it drove them insane. Then they figured with our photographic memories, borrowers could handle the information overload. Boy were they wrong. I still remember the muttering. Guy rattling off the periodic table over and over. A woman reciting the digits for Pi until she died of thirst. This young boy...listing off words in the Oxford dictionary until his throat bled" he said. "Wait. So, they used borrowers as experiments again. Doesn't that fly in the face of your beliefs?" Susan asked. "What they did was tragic, but they did try on humans first. Fighting a war means there will be accidents, testing, and what humans call friendly fire" he replied. "What exquisite hypocrisy" she mocked. He looked at her.