It was a cold December night in New York City as the truck trundled through the alleyway. The words 'Animal Control' were printed on the sides in all caps. The driver and his work-mate keeping watchful eyes in the alley, as bright lights illuminated their complete surroundings, as they hunted for their prey.

    "See anything?" the driver asked.

    "Nope," his passenger responded. "We haven't seen anything for a while now."

    "Maybe they know we're coming," he joked.

    "Shut up."

    "Hey, I was just trying to lighten the mood. Ya know, so we're not so bored."

    "God, why do I have to work with you?" she muttered.

    "Well damn, Sasha, what's wrong with me?"

    "You're wrong with you!"

    "What the hell does that even mean?"

    "What do you think it means, you idiot?"

    Farther in the city, a lone girl walked at a quick pace through the crowd. The night was cold and the air was gripping as frost formed in the corner of windows. She kept her hood up, but her face low. Her breaths formed momentary, billowing clouds in front of her at the same pace she walked. Her arms were crossed as she shivered. Before long, she came across a Starbucks. She stopped and stared as the people inside warmed themselves with coffee and hot cocoa. Her eyes then moved to the sign posted on the door. 'No Service to Hybrids' it read. She gave a downhearted yet angry sigh as she turned to continue walking, when a man bumped into her.

    "Watch it, you little shit!" the man raged as she fell onto the freezing cold concrete, her hood falling back, revealing a human face with feline features.

    "I-I'm sorry!" she replied.

    "Hey wait a second, you're a hybrid. What are you tryin' to do, take my money, huh?"

    "N-No!"

    "You ain't gonna rob me you little bitch!"

    "I'm sorry!"

    "Hey, what's going on over there?" a policeman across the street inquired.

    "This hybrid tried to take my wallet!" the man answered.

    "N-No I wasn't!" the girl replied. "I didn't mean to-" The police officer marched across the street.

   "That's enough," he said. "Whatever the case, I'm gonna have to take you in." He reached to grab her arm. In a flash of anger, she hissed at the officer, sounding exactly like a cat, as she stood and ran. "Hey! Get your ass back here!" She continued to run until she was sure she wasn't being chased anymore. She hid in an alleyway and sat down, as her exhaustion finally caught up with her. She pulled her hood back over her hair and ears and hugged her knees and closed her eyes for what she knew was going to be a cold night's sleep. Suddenly, the alleyway filled with bright light. She shaded her eyes.

    "What the-?" she asked. She barely saw the two animal control officers grab her.

    "So we finally found one," one, a man, said.

    "Now will you stop complaining?" the other, a woman, asked.

    "What the hell?" the girl asked.

    "Oh stop it."

    "Let go of me!" They let go of her arms. "What do you want?"

    "Do you have your I.D.?" the man asked.

    "What?"

    "Your hybrid I.D. you have to carry it on your person at all times. Do you have it?"

    "Why do you want to know?"

    "Because if you don't, we have the authority to arrest you," the woman stated.

    "So do you have your I.D.?" the man asked again. The girl didn't answer. "Where is it?" She backed away half a step. "Do you not have one?"

    "There you are!" a voice said. They all turned and saw a man standing at the end of the alley. "I was looking for you."

    "You know this girl?" the woman asked.

    "Oh yes. I was looking out for her, when she bolted. I do apologize for this. It is entirely my fault."

    "Does she have her hybrid I.D.?"

    "Oh no," he said, standing next to her. "She isn't 18 yet. So she shouldn't need one, right?"

    "You got us there," the man said. "No, she doesn't. But the next time she runs off, you better hope we don't get to her first."

    "I know, Officer. I'm sure. Thank you for seeing reason. Again, I do apologize for this." He bowed to them. The girl watched as the man lied to the officers. "Let me take her home."

    "You do whatever," the woman said as they climbed back into their truck.

    "Okay, you have a nice night." They ignored him as they drove off. "Are you okay?" he asked her after they were long gone.

    "Y-Yeah. Thanks," the girl said.

    "Do you have a place to stay?"

    "N-No."

    "You can come stay with my friend and I, if you want."

    "Really?"

    "Of course." She began to cry some cold, yet happy tears.

    "Thank you. So much." She hugged the man without thinking, surprising him, but he returned the gesture anyway.

2: 2

    The girl walked with the man as they headed out of the city and toward the more suburban part of town.

    "You know, I never introduced myself properly," he said. He pulled his hood back showing dog ears. "My name is Ozzie."

    "I-I'm Nikki," she said.

    "Well Nikki, I'm sure you'll fit in well with our little group." He showed her to a small, gated apartment complex. Then, a man with a lion's head came over to them. He was more animal than human, unlike Nikki who was more human, than cat.

    "What the hell Oz?" he asked. "Why were you gone so long? And who is this?"

    "Her name is Nikki," Ozzie said. "She was almost taken by some animal control, but I saved her."

    "That's all well and good, but why bring her here?"

    "Trust me, from what I saw, she'll fit in well here with us."

    "Wait," Nikki said. "You've been watching me all night?"

    "I've seen you a lot," Ozzie admitted. "You have no I.D. and are constantly running from police and A.C." That was the short term for animal control.

    "You creepy pervert." The lion groaned, his paw on his face.

    "Anyway, Leo, she hates those who discriminate us just as much as we do."

    "Is that so?" Leo, the lion, asked.

    "Y-Yes," Nikki answered. "Now could you please explain yourselves?"

    "Alright. Let's take this inside." They walked inside and out of the cold air. Nikki let her hood down as she took in the surroundings. "Look Nikki, we're a group of Hybrids who protest our discrimination."

    "Okay."

    "We help those of our kind in need, hoping that they join us. We're connected to many other groups across the country. We even have our own blog."

    "Wow."

    "But since that we're mostly underground, we're not entirely legal," Ozzie said.

    "Yeah," Leo said.

    "Can I join?" Nikki asked.

    "Of course!" Ozzie said.

    "Not so fast," Leo said.

    "What's wrong?" Nikki asked in a concerned tone.

    "Come with me. I have to show you something before we let you in."

    "Damn it Leo, not this again," Ozzie said.

    "Oz, this is important. She has to know of our back-up plan."

    "What back-up plan?" Nikki asked. Leo walked her down the stairs to the basement and switched on the lights. Nikki gasped as she saw a large stockpile of weapons and ammunition. "Holy shit," she awed breathlessly. The walls were lined with guns of all kinds and there were tons of boxes surely full of bullets for the guns. It felt as if she stepped into a military compound in the middle of an active war zone.

    "Nikki, if things escalate to war, then we have to be prepared. I have a guy who runs a shooting range where we constantly practice. If you really want to be a part of our revolution, then you have to be ready for anything." Nikki weighed some thoughts through her mind.

    "I... I understand," she nodded firmly. Ozzie sighed.

    "Good. So, the most important question," Leo said, causing Nikki to crack half a smile. "Do you want to join us?"

    "Yes. I do. I feel like I should join you."

    "Nice. We need a lot of people to do various jobs, should the worst come. So tomorrow, you'll choose what you can do for us, okay?"

    "Sure."

    "For now though, you should get some rest. It is late, after all."

    "I'll get you a room," Ozzie said. Nikki followed him to an unclaimed bedroom. "You have a bed there, a closet there, and a bathroom with toilet and shower in there," he said pointing to the other doors in the room. "Can I get you anything else?"

    "No. Thanks anyway, Ozzie," Nikki said.

    "Okay. I'll see you in the morning then." He left and shut the door behind him. He then looked back in. "Oh, I'm sorry. Here's the key to the room." He handed her the key to the door.

    "Alright. Thanks." He smiled and left. Nikki glanced around the room. For an old apartment, it was actually quite clean, like a decently priced hotel room. She went to the heater beneath the window and turned it on, glad it was in a working order. She crouched by the heater as it wafted the warmed air around her. It felt so nice that she actually fell asleep in the heated draft, a smile on her face. For the first time in her life, she had a good night's sleep.

    The next morning, Nikki awoke to sun shining through the blinds. She sat up and stretched her arms, yawning as she did so. She stood up and walked to the door. She opened it to find a new set of clothes on the floor along with a note from Ozzie. She didn't bother reading it, but she took the clothes and redressed, setting her old clothes by the door, hoping for some laundry service, which she would later find out that there was. She then looked at herself in the mirror and groomed her hair. She smiled as her tail moved happily and her ears perked. Her stomach growled and she left the room in a hurry to find some breakfast.

3: 3

    Downstairs on the main floor, there was a lounge with an adjacent cafeteria-like area. There was a breakfast bar set up and a few people eating. Nikki walked over and looked at the food. It was a variety mix of things that humans and animals would enjoy. When her stomach growled again, she decided to grab a bowl and she filled it up with whole grain noodles and little cubes of fish meat. She sat down alone and tried a bite of her experimental breakfast.

    "Oh my God, this is good," she said and she quickly emptied her bowl. She went back up to the bar and went through three more bowls. Some larger guys sitting together at a table nearby watched with utter disbelief as she ate through bowl after bowl. She set down her seventh and final bowl before letting out a soft belch. "Wow, that was great."

    "Hey Nikki," Ozzie said, appearing in the room, then he too stared in awe at her stack of bowls. "I see you ate some breakfast."

    "Yep. It was the best breakfast I've had in... my whole life."

    "That's... great? Anyway, Leo wanted to make sure that you didn't forget that you'd pick a job today."

    "I know," she said.

    "Okay good. You didn't forget."

    "When are we heading out?"

    "Actually, Leo said he'd stop by to get you. I actually help out around here."

    "Oh. What do you do?"

    "Well, I make sure that the people staying here have everything they need." Nikki nodded. "Yeah. Anything that people need, I get it for them."

    "Yo Oz," a voice called form the kitchen. "We could use an extra set of paws back here for a bit."

    "Be right there!" he called back. "See?"

    "Yeah."

    "Alright. Don't be late. Leo will give you a lot of shit for that," he said as he took her bowls.

    "Thanks. Oh, and thanks for the clothes."

    "No problem," he said as he walked into the kitchen. Nikki stood up and stepped outside.

    "Good, you're up," Leo said, coming over. "I thought you'd still be asleep."

    "Nope. I'm up and I ate breakfast. It's been so long since I've eaten real food."

    "Don't worry, Nikki. That's changed starting today. Welcome to the revolution. Now, back to business. Have you decided on how you want to help us out?"

    "Weapons training."

    "Nice choice. We practice at a shooting range down the road."

    "I know."

    "You have excellent memory. Let's head over there so I can show you around." Nikki nodded and they walked out of the complex and down the sidewalk. "So Nikki, how have you been living these past few days?"

    "I've lived on the streets my entire life," she replied.

    "Oh, so you're a bit of a wild one."

    "I guess so."

    "Forgive me for asking, but how old are you exactly?"

    "17."

    "Hm. Even though you're part of the revolution, you should still register for your hybrid I.D. when you turn 18."

    "Yeah, I know."

    "Oz told me what happened. He'd flip shit if he found out that you really are underage."

    "I'm sure," she said with a laugh. They heard the sound of a car behind them. Leo turned to look and he saw a large truck roll to a stop next to them.

    "Hey Leo, who's your bitch?" the driver asked rudely. His passengers laughed.

    "Hey!" Nikki yelled. "I'm a cat, damn it!"

    "Easy," Leo said to her. "She's a new recruit Jack. I'm taking her to the shooting range."

    "Oh. Sorry about that," Jack said.

    "Yeah you better be," Nikki muttered.

    "We were heading down there our selves."

    "We'll see you guys there," Leo said.

    "Later Leo," one passenger, a woman who looked like a leopard said, with a scandalous smirk on her face.

    "See ya there, Layna." The truck drove off. Nikki smirked at Leo. "What?"

    "Are you an' her hooking up?" she asked.

    "Watch it, kid," he said, giving her a light push on the shoulder.

    "Hey." She tried to shove him, but Leo didn't move.

    "If you're trying to push back, Nikki, you're going to have to get stronger than that."

    "I will. You'll see." They continued walking until they arrived at the shooting range a few minutes later.

4: 4

    Leo and Nikki walked through the doors. Nikki looked around and noticed that there was barely a soul around.

    "I thought this was a shooting range," she said.

    "That's downstairs. Up top, it's a regular gun store," Leo said. He nodded to they guy behind the desk. "S'up Maverick."

    "Yo," Maverick said back. "She new?"

    "Yeah. She's looking to join us."

    "You know how to handle a gun?" Maverick asked her.

    "Not really."

    "That's why she's here," Leo said.

    "Cool," Maverick said. "Later man."

    "See ya." Leo led Nikki behind the desk and through a door that led to the shooting range down below. Leo handed her a pair of safety goggles and a set of headphones for hearing protection. Jack and his group were already there shooting targets. "Hey Jack," Leo said over the sound of the firing guns. Jack emptied a clip of rounds for a pistol and he turned around to reload when he saw Leo. He took off his headphones and walked over.

    "Glad you made it," he said.

    "Yeah."

    "You ready for some practice?" he asked Nikki, who still didn't like him.

    "Will you be the target?" she asked flatly and Leo laughed while Jack simply stared at her dumbfounded.

    "Wow," Leo said. "You shouldn't have insulted her like you did."

    "Whatever," Jack said. "Have you ever handled a gun before?"

    "No," Nikki answered. Jack took his pistol and loaded a new clip into it. He handed it to her.

    "Give it a shot." Nikki gingerly took hold of the weapon.

    "It's heavier than I thought." She stepped over to the rail and pointed the weapon at a target directly in front of her.

    "You have to hold it steady," Leo said.

    "It's hard to do that when you've never held a gun before."

    "Then just set it down carefully." Nikki put it down. "Let me get you something a bit easier to get used to." Jack took the pistol back and loaded the first bullet.

    "Wait, it wasn't even loaded?"

    "Nope," Jack said. He fired the gun, emptying the clip. "It just takes some practice, you'll get used to it. Then, you begin to get good." Even though Nikki still hated the guy, she knew she'd remember his words.

    "Here," Leo said, coming back with a basic hunting rifle. "A basic hunting rifle. It's not very powerful, so it doesn't kick back much at all." He gave it to Nikki. "You hold it here and here."

    "Like this?" Nikki asked, pointing it at the target.

    "Almost. Move your left hand back a bit. You should feel the grip."

    "Now I got it."

    "When you fire a shot, you pull back to reload. It can only hold two slugs at a time."

    "Slugs?"

    "Bullets, rounds, whatever you want to call them."

    "Oh."

    "I haven't loaded it yet. Let me show you how." She gave the rifle back to him  He loaded the two slugs into it and closed the gun back up. "Make sure your arm is steady as possible. When you fire, it'll kick back a little." He fired one shot and she saw the gun move back slightly, but Leo was a pro and had complete composure. "You pull back like this." He pulled back on the bolt and fired again. "It's a bit like a bolt-action rifle, only it's simple and easy to learn with."

    "Okay." He handed the gun back to her. She took ahold of it just like he had. "Like this?"

    "Perfect," he said, even though he noticed that it was a bit heavy for her. "Try to hold it steady."

    "It's kinda heavy."

    "Hm. Maybe you should start with weight training."

    "I got this." Holding it as steady as possible, she aimed for the target. She squeezed the trigger and fired the gun. It kicked back a little bit, causing her to miss the target entirely. "Damn it!"

    "Hey, it's okay. You'll get used to it."

    "Leo, have her try this," Jack suggested, giving him a sniper rifle with a stand.

    "Good idea." Nikki put the hunting rifle down and she looked at the new weapon. "This one is a sniper rifle," he explained to her. "It has a stand, so you'll only have to hold up the back." He placed it up on the rail to demonstrate. "These are long-range weapons. Wind speed and distance as well as bullet curve all play a factor in hitting your target." He fired one shot and hit the target right in the middle. "They're used for getting one kill at a time. They can still be kinda heavy, so you'll learn how to shoot, kill, and run."

    "Okay," Nikki said. Leo reloaded and moved to let her try.

    "These don't kick back at all, but their bullet clips only hold a few rounds at a time. Make sure you have plenty of ammunition."

    "Alright." She looked through the scope and lined up the shot. She pulled the trigger and hit her target. "Hot damn! This is easy!"

    "Don't get ahead of yourself now. Your target is only 10 yards away. Professional snipers can kill targets over a mile away."

    "Shit."

    "You think you can practice with this for a while?"

    "Hell yeah!"

    "Good. Practice with this, but eventually you'll have to learn close-quarter weapons combat as well."

    "Yeah, I figured."

    "Alright. Ask Jack for more ammo once you need it. I gotta help out some other newbies."

5: 5

    Nikki continued to practice with the sniper rifle until Leo came back. She was hitting targets that were 30 yards away perfectly. He tapped her shoulder and she stopped and turned, taking her earphones off.

    "I see you're getting good," Leo said.

    "Yeah," Nikki said. "It's easy for me to learn things."

    "That's a good trait to have."

    "Thanks."

    "So, have you practiced with any other weapons?"

    "Well, when I took a break a few hours ago, I tried the hunting rifle again, but it's still kinda heavy for me."

    "Try working out a bit. I can get you a small weights set for your room if you'd like."

    "Normally I'd say no, but now I think that might actually help."

    "Alright. I can have Oz drop it by your room later." He handed her a sports drink. "Here."

    "Thanks." She accepted the beverage and took a drink while Leo typed a message on his phone.

    "Oz said he'd stop by your room later tonight with the weights."

    "Oh, okay."

    "I'm done here for today. You wanna head back? I heard they're prepping dinner."

    "Yes. I'm so fucking hungry."

    "Well alright then." They walked up the stairs and out the doors and back down the road toward the apartments. "You really do learn fast, Nikki."

    "You really think so?"

    "Hell yeah. You can easily hit targets up to 30 yards away now. I've seen it take others at least a week until they're capable of doing that. You mastered it in a day."

    "Cool, I guess."

    "You guess?"

    "Well, I don't really know what to say."

    "I say that you have some real potential, Nikki. At the rate you learn, you should be able to handle all the guns we have in about two months."

    "Seriously? Only two months?"

    "So long as you also lift weights. We have some pretty big guns in our armory."

    "Like what?"

    "RPG's and other rocket launchers. We're hoping to get a .50 caliber gun soon. Those are usually only used by the military."

    "Holy shit."

    "I know. I had the same thought when I first heard. I just hope we won't have to use it."

    "Peaceful protesting?"

    "Of course. We're just prepared to go to to war if it escalates that far."

    "I just hope it doesn't," she said in a serious tone.

    "We all do." Later, they arrived back at the apartments.

    "Hey, you're back," Ozzie said. "How was it, Nikki?"

    "It was great," she answered.

    "Yeah," Leo said. "She's gotten really good with handling a sniper rifle."

    "That's good," Oz said. "We don't have very many people who are good at sniping."

    "I've still gotta practice with other weapons," Nikki noted.

    "Well I hope you get good." Nikki yawned. "You tired?"

    "I guess. I'm gonna head up to my room."

    "Alright. See you later." Oz left to help someone with their dinner.

    "We'll do more training tomorrow, Nikki," Leo said.

    "Cool," Nikki said. "See ya, Leo."

    "I'll be by," he said walking away. Nikki walked up to her room, finding the weight set that Oz dropped off. Suddenly having more energy from subconscious motivation, she sat down and started lifting some barbells.

    "Come on," she muttered to herself. "I need to get stronger." She did one hundred sets before switching to heavier weights. She continued until she could lift no longer. She set down her weights and noticed that she had gone from the first 5-pound weights up to the 15-pound weights. Her arms felt dead so she lay down with a sigh. "Damn that felt great." After a while, her arms came back to life and she stood up and walked to the bathroom to shower. "Tomorrow, I'll get stronger," she promised herself. After her shower, she repeated the same thing before she fell asleep. "I'm going to get stronger. I have to."

6: 6

    The next day, Nikki trained more with the sniper rifle. By midday, Leo decided that he would take her to an outdoor shooting range farther upstate. There was a field range and a two-story building where extra ammo was kept. There, using the same gun, she could hit targets up to 750 yards away.

    "Not bad," Leo said, looking through his binoculars. "You've definitely improved."

    "I know," Nikki said. Leo stared at her while she reloaded.

    "You seem different," he said after a few moments.

    "I've been keeping up with the news. I can't help but feel like war is inevitable."

    "You know, you make a good point. I've had this gut feeling for a while now."

    "That's why I have to get stronger."

    "It's amazing what war does to people. There are those who hide, and those who bust their ass to fight." Nikki fired a shot and Leo checked it.

    "I got it perfectly."

    "That's 800 yards away. This gun can't shoot much farther."

    "Really?" she asked, looking at him.

    "Of course. But before you upgrade I think you should practice with some other weapons."

    "I guess."

    "Where's all that motivation you had a moment ago?" he asked with some sarcasm. Nikki laughed.

    "Sorry." Leo smirked and looked at the weapons in his truck.

    "You wanna try an assault rifle?"

    "Sure." He handed her an AK-47, one of the most common and basic assault rifles.

    "You ever handled an automatic weapon before?"

    "I've seen them. I've watched you use them." She handed it back and he loaded an ammo clip.

    "While that is a good way to learn, you learn more by trying it for yourself. For assault rifles, you have to aim at your targets and know how to reload quickly and efficiently, so you don't jam the gun." He fired a full clip to demonstrate. "Now you try." She took the weapon and felt its weight. She carefully loaded an ammo clip and held the gun steady. "Remember, assault rifles don't shoot as far as normal rifles. They're meant to go some close-range damage."

    "Like a shot gun."

    "Exactly. These just shoot more bullets." Leo looked out on the range. "There's a target 15 yards in front of you."

    "Yeah, I saw that one."

    "These guns kick back a little bit, so be careful. Those clips have 50 rounds in them. Let's see how many you can hit the target with." Nikki took a deep breath and held the gun as steady as possible. Then she pulled the trigger, shooting a few rounds. She winced at the buck of the weapon. "See?"

    "No I felt it." Leo held her shoulders.

    "Just focus on aiming. I'll hold you steady." Nikki took a deep breath again and fired some more shots. "You have to hold the trigger the entire time until your clip is empty for the full-auto."

    "I know." She pulled the trigger and held it, using up the rest of the bullets. Steaming shells collected at her feet.

    "There you go," Leo said, letting go of her shoulders. "Once you get used to the weapons you'll be able to use them and hold your ground." Nikki smirked.

    "And I can't tell you how much I can't wait for that damn day to come."

    "There's that motivation." He pat her on the shoulder and checked his watch. "If we want to be back by dinner time, we should head out here soon."

    "Yeah. God, I'm starving."

    "Then it's settled. Let's blow this bullet stand." Nikki laughed, putting the gun with the others in the back of his truck. They climbed in and drove off, later making back to the hotel. "Hey Oz, is dinner ready?" Leo asked.

    "Just about!" Oz called from the kitchen. "It's fish and chips plus veggie casserole." Leo laughed and gave a mock groan in disgust as he sat down. "Hey! I heard that," Oz said, coming out of the kitchen and setting a couple plates at the table.

    "Looks good, Oz," Nikki said.

    "Thanks. At least someone appreciates my skills here." Leo laughed again.

7: 7

    After dinner, Nikki walked back toward her room. She was passed by a few people who ran into a room, where she heard screaming. Nikki ran to the door.

    "It's okay, Honey," she heard a man say. She peeked around the corner and saw Oz look back.

    "Nikki, get Penny," he said. "and bring as many towels as you can."

    "O-Okay," she said. She ran back to the main room. "I need a Penny!" she said.

    "I got one here," some burly man said from his dining table, holding up copper currency, but then a woman stepped out of the kitchen and slapped him.

    "Now's not the time for that!" she said sternly. She walked over to Nikki. "Is it Meah?"

    "I think so," Nikki said.

    "Grab some towels, quickly."

    "Okay." She was shown to the back room where spare towels and other basic items were kept and they hurried back to the room. Since Nikki was finally in here, she understood what was going on. Meah, a young hybrid woman who was part cat, was in labor, and judging by her stomach, it was more than one. Her husband, also a hybrid, was holding her hand.

    "It's okay Sweetie," he said. "You're doing fine."

    "Aaron," Meah said, crying a bit. "I'm scared."

    "Don't worry Baby, everything's going to be fine." Nikki watched as Penny placed a few towels under Meah's spread legs.

    "Nikki have you ever helped give birth before?" Oz asked her.

    "N-No!" she said, very nervous and blushing slightly. "I haven't. But shouldn't we take her to a hospital?"

    "The nearest hospital that treats hybrids is over an hour away. We wouldn't even have time to get there."

    "Don't worry, that's why I'm a certified doctor," Penny spoke up. "Okay Meah, they're going to be ready to come into the world, so when I tell you, you're going to have to push, okay?"

    "I can't!" Meah cried.

    "Yes you can Sweetie," Aaron said, holding her hand.

    "Push Meah!" Penny said. Meah screamed as she pushed. Nikki didn't see anything, but she started to hear the young crying and mewling of newborn babies. "Oz, start cleaning them!"

    "Okay," he said, carefully wrapping and cleaning the newborns in warm water. "Nikki, I'm going to need you to wrap them up in blankets once I take care of them." He cleaned the babies, cut their umbilical cords, and did everything that any other hospital would do. "Sort them by gender." Nikki worked as fast as she could but babies just kept coming.

    "...and that's nine!" Penny declared after a few tense minutes. Meah was crying, catching her breath. "That's all of them. Meah."

    "N...nine?" she asked wearily.

    "Yes, Honey," Aaron said. "Nine kittens. I'm so proud of you."

    "There's five girls and four boys," Nikki spoke up. She handed each of them to Meah and Aaron. Now Meah was crying happily, as was Aaron.

    "Aaron," she said softly. "They're so beautiful."

    "So they finally came, huh Meah?" Nikki turned and saw Leo standing in the doorway.

    "Yeah," she said. "Nine of them." Leo threw his eyebrows up in surprise, but then paused.

    "It's too bad they came into a tense world where war could break any day now..." Meah sighed sadly in agreement, Aaron rubbed his forehead. Nikki however, wasn't sure how to feel. Maybe sad?

    "Aaron?" Nikki asked him.

    "Nikki, right?" he asked. She nodded. "What's up?"

    "I'll fight, to protect your children."

    "Wow," Meah said.

    "That's very admirable," Leo said. "That's why you're training with me. Come on, we should go and leave the parents to their kids." Nikki smiled and nodded, following him out. She passed a man who was the complex's priest. Nikki thought that he was going to baptize the children. Now though, Nikki wanted to know their names.

8: 8

    A few weeks later, Nikki and Leo returned from the shooting range. She had gotten really good at shooting from automatic, semi-automatic, and sniper rifles. She still hadn't mastered pistols quite yet but she was beginning to start getting the hang of it. She was getting stronger and building some more muscle. She walked by Meah and Aaron's nursery where they were raising their nine kids.

    "Nikki," Aaron called from inside, having seen her walk by. "Are you busy?" She walked back and stepped inside, seeing the kids crawling around in cute onesies, exploring their new world and she smiled. Aaron was holding one of the babies on top of his head while it cooed playfully.

    "Nah, I'm free for a bit," she said. "Whatchya need?"

    "An extra pair of hands," Meah said.

    "Okay. Hey, have you decided their names?"

    "Oh yes, I'm holding Nico, Rikki and Kia are playing together, Harry's asleep in his crib, Akira is on Aaron's head, Alexis is playing with Cinema, Rouge is playing with the ball, and-" Meah stopped as she watched the last one crawl over to Nikki, wanting to be picked up. Nikki smiled and picked up the baby girl who giggled happily, her tiny tail moving back and forth. "And that's Angel."

    "Did you say Cinema?"

    "Yeah."

    "Like the movie theatre?"

    "Of course," Aaron said.

    "I've never heard that as a name before."

    "Exactly," Aaron said, looking toward Nikki, Akira squealing happily as Aaron carefully held her on the top of his head. Nikki sat down, holding Angel.

    "I still can't believe nine kids. You're going to have a lot of fun when they get older."

    "Oh," Meah groaned, "don't even get me thinking about it."

    "I'm sorry. I'll try be here to watch them whenever you need me."

    "Thank you." Then, Alexis babbled a bit as Cinema crawled over her.

    "Cinema, be careful with your sister now," Aaron said. Nikki laughed, and Angel did too, wanting to be part of the fun so Nikki carefully put her down and she crawled over.

    "So that's Cinema?" Nikki asked, watching the baby girl crawl over.

    "Yep," Meah said.

    "She's heterochromatic." Cinema had an eye that was dark green and the other one was a bright brown.

    "I know. That's what makes her so unique."

    "Like her name." She smiled and after a few minutes, she checked her watch.

    "You leaving?"

    "Yeah," Nikki said, standing up.

    "Come by anytime," Meah said.

    "I will." She smiled and walked out of the room and back to hers. She closed the door behind her and stepped into the bathroom to shower. After a bit, she shut off the water and climbed out of the shower and dried herself off, flicking her tail, sending droplets back into the shower. She perked her ears to dry them off and she rubbed them down with a soft towel. She let out a sigh of relief when she was done. "Ah, that was refreshing," she purred. She dressed in some light clothes and curled up on the pillows in front of the heater for a nap.

    It was a while before she awoke with a mewling yawn. She stretched her arms and legs before standing up to go back downstairs for dinner. "I wonder what Oz is cooking?" she wondered aloud to herself.

    "Hey Nikki," she heard. She turned around and saw Aaron standing there.

    "Hi Aaron," she said. "What's up?"

    "I'm coming down here for dinner. Meah's feeding the kids."

    "Oh." They walked to the dining room and over to the bar where dinner was simmering, waiting to be eaten. "Noodles!" Nikki exclaimed happily, grabbing a bowl and overfilling it.

    "You're welcome!" Oz's voice called from the kitchen. Aaron laughed as Nikki sat down with her overflowing bowl and he sat down with his own.

    "So Aaron," Nikki said between bites. "How long have you and Meah known each other?"

    "It's been a few years now," he said. "We married a year ago."

    "Aw, that's sweet."

    "Thanks." He paused for a moment, thinking to himself.

    "Aaron?" Nikki asked, bringing the young man back to reality.

    "Hm?" he asked, his ears twitching.

    "You okay? You had this weird look on your face."

    "Sorry. I was just... thinking."

    "Mm-hm," Nikki said sassily with a low expression.

    "Really, it's not like that. I was just thinking about... that I want the world to work itself out, for our kids."

    "Oh."

    "With an upcoming election hopefully the new president will be nice to us."

    "Yeah," Leo said, sitting down with a bowl. "Hopefully Ambassador Pantera can win."

    "Ambassador Pantera?" Nikki asked curiously, having never heard of the man.

    "Colin Pantera. He's one of the US's ambassadors for the UN," Aaron explained.

    "And he's one of us," Leo said.

    "A hybrid?" Nikki asked. Aaron and Leo nodded.

    "From the chest down, his suit looks like any other, but he has the head of a tiger." Aaron looked up a picture on his cell phone of him and showed it to Nikki.

    "Oh, I've seen him on the news a few times before."

    "Since you're registered, can he count on your vote?"

    "Of course!"

    "Good, because we're hoping he can help make our lives better. A lot better."

9: 9

    Four years later, with a new president elected, President-Elect Trump, and Colin Pantera voted for New York state Senator, the people of the hybrid communities would hope that things would become better. Nikki was now 22 and had been continuing her training. She was now an expert with every type of firearm, including pistols, but she still preferred automatic weapons. Aaron and Meah's children were 4 years old, and having fun. That is until one day when Alexis walked away from the complex.

    "This place is weird," she said to herself as she looked at the run-down buildings on both sides of the street. Aaron and Meah took precautions and made each of their children wear a collar with their phone number on it. Even though it was relatively insensitive, it was worth knowing where they were. Then, the sound of a truck startled her, and she stared forward as a big truck with the words "Animal Control" painted on it came to a stop in front of her. The two inside stepped out.

    "Hey there, little girl," one, a man in his late 30's said. "What are ya doing out here by yourself?" Alexis huffed quietly, glancing from one to the other, her tiny hands clenched into fists.

    "Well?" the other, another man who was more middle-aged, asked.

    "My Mommy said not to talk to strangers," she replied softly.

    "Well sorry, but your Mommy's not here," the first said.

    "So you know what that means?" the older one asked. Alexis's heart began to beat faster, and she took a step back before turning to run away. The men grabbed for her, and she screamed. The older man put his big, rough-skinned hand over her mouth but she bit him with her small kitten fangs. "Ah! God damnit!" He dropped her.

    "What?!"

    "The little shit bit me!" The younger man dove for her, restraining her as she struggled in his strong grasp.

    "Let me go!" she screamed. She hissed at them and the older man tied a bandana around her mouth, stopping her teeth and her screams.

    "Now she can't bite us." The other then put heavy cuffs on her small wrists, holding her down on the hard sidewalk.

    "We're gonna take you in," the first man said, dragging a still struggling Alexis to the truck and throwing her in one of the cages. They climbed back in and drove back toward the hybrid pound, which hybrids simply referred to as 'Prison'.

    Later, Meah was pacing her room nervously, since Alexis was nowhere to be found. Aaron was too, trying to keep the rest of their kids calm with the help of Nikki. Then, the phone rang and Meah answered it.

    "Hello?" she asked. She listened intently and from the other room, Aaron and Nikki heard her scream "No!" They ran over to her to see what was the matter. "You let my daughter go right now, you hear me?!" There was a moment of silence. "Of course I'll come by to pick her up, but if she's hurt you're all gonna pay with your damn lives!" She slammed down the receiver. "Aaron let's go!"

    "Okay," he said. Nikki went with them

    "Oz, watch the kids," she said.

    "What?" he asked, coming out from the kitchen, but Meah, Aaron and Nikki were already gone. Oz sighed and looked at the rest of the kids who stared back at him with blank expressions. "So," he said, getting down to their eye-level. "What do you kids do for fun?" Their response was running around him and to their playroom. "Okay, careful now. We don't want to get hurt." The kids ignored him and kept playing and Oz sighed again. "Aaron and Meah... I hope things are alright."

10: 10

    Meah, Aaron, and Nikki arrived at the pound, Meah marching right up to the desk with angry tears falling from her eyes.

    "What's wrong Miss?" the lady at the counter asked her, immediately noticing the fact that they were all hybrids.

    "My daughter was arrested and brought here and I demand that she be released!" Meah screamed. The woman picked up the desk phone and pressed a button.

    "Can we get Security to the front desk please?"

    "There's no need for security! I want my daughter back!" Aaron came up and held Meah back who was on the verge of tearing the woman to shreds. A security guard came into the room from a door that read 'Staff Only' and we walked over to them.

    "Ma'am please calm down," he said. "You can get your daughter back, just calm down and follow me please." Aaron, Meah, and Nikki followed him to the office where the manager of adoptions and check-ins was.

    "What's the-" he began to ask, but Meah slammed her hands on the desk, her clawed fingernails digging into the cheap wood.

    "My daughter was arrested and brought here!" she yelled.

    "Okay Ma'am, I just need you to fill out this release form and we'll give you your daughter back," he said, handing her a paper on a clipboard.

    "I want to see her first! If she's hurt I swear to God I'll rip your-"

    "-Ma'am I'm sorry but our policy is-"

    "Fuck your damn policy! I want my daughter!" Meah yelled.

    "Mommy!" they could hear Alexis call from the cages further in the building. Since the three of them were hybrids they could hear her easily, but the human employees couldn't.

    "I'm coming Sweetie, just hold on!"

    "Why are you yelling?" the man asked.

    "We're hybrids you asshole! I can hear my daughter's cries, unlike you... damn humans..." Nikki was holding Meah while Aaron was filling out the form.

    "Wait a minute- $1,200... release tax?!" Aaron asked in disbelief.

    "Well yes," the man said. "You're daughter was brought in by one of our animal control units."

    "We can't afford that!"

    "Aaron, hold your wife please," Nikki said. Aaron placed the clipboard on the desk and held Meah's shoulders while Nikki began to dig through her pockets and pulling out dollar bills, placing it on the desk. "Sir I have $1,108 in cash." The man looked at the money, picking it up slowly, his eyes wide from under his sunglasses.

    "But," he said, "it's not enough. What else can you give me?"

    "What else do you want?!" Meah cried. Nikki huffed in anger and pulled out a pistol from under her jacket and placed it on the desk.

    "Smith and Wesson .40 caliber pistol with a 15-round magazine," Nikki said. "With my own personal bronze touches. Worth at least 3 grand." The man carefully picked it up and looked at it for a few slow moments before he picked up his phone.

    "Release 442 please," he said.

    "That better be our daughter," Meah hissed, glaring lowly at him. An employee brought Alexis on a leash to the office.

    "Mommy!" she cried. Meah cried out happily and picked her up, yanking the leash from the employee's hands and cutting it off.

    "Oh my little girl I missed you much!" Meah cried. "Don't ever run off like that again!"

    "Now get this damn mush-fest our of my office," the man muttered.

    "You watch your mouth in front of children!" Nikki scolded him. "You just might get fired for that..."

    "Just take your kid and get out." With a final glare they left his office and the building, while Nikki sent an anonymous message to the man's superiors, who was later fired for disorderly conduct in the presence of a child. Nikki just smirked to herself when she finally heard about it.

11: 11

    The next morning, Nikki woke up early and got ready to go practice at the shooting range. She went to the dining room and saw that no food was laid out yet so she walked into the kitchen.

    "Nikki, it's early," Oz said.

    "I know," she responded. "I want to start practicing early."

    "I understand. If you want noodles, there's some in the fridge there."

    "Thanks." She took a bowl and filled it with some leftover noodles and salmon bits and she placed it in the microwave. Once it was done she ate it all and gulped down a bottle of tea. "See ya, Oz," she said, leaving the bowl in a sink, patting his shoulder as she walked by him.

    "Anytime," he said. Leo was waiting outside, smoking a cigarette.

    "You ready to go?" he asked her.

    "Hell yeah."

    "Alright, lets go." They climbed into Leo's car, a white Lamborghini Aventador, and he drove toward the shooting range. "You have a good sleep?"

    "Yeah."

    "Good. It's important to always have enough energy to at least remain alert."

    "I know."

    "Hey, at least now I know you've been paying attention to me these past few years," he said with a laugh. "You've really improved. You're no longer the nervous little girl you were back when I first met you."

    "Hmph, that me died when Oz first brought me here," she said, crossing her arms and staring out the window. Leo looked at her, his eyes widened in surprise behind his sunglasses.

    "If you ask me," Leo continued after a while, "that you died when you first picked up a gun." He turned into the parking lot. "It's a foggy morning."

    "I know." Nikki had practiced sniping in fog before, so her accuracy had improved dramatically. "I've mastered my gun skills in all kinds of weather."

    "But it's always good to practice," he said as they climbed out and went inside. She practiced sniping and when that was done she practiced some close combat with assault rifles and pistols. "Your accuracy's improved by 2 percent," Leo said as she caught her breath. "I think you may have even passed my skill level."

    "Bull... shit... Leo," she said between breaths.

    "You want proof? Come here." He led her back inside the building and up the stairs. "My buddy owns this place, and I hold the accuracy records." He pulled out some used targets from the corner of the room. "These were my record hits." Nikki looked at them, realizing that she had a better accuracy by mere millimeters.

    "Holy shit," she muttered.

    "That's right," he laughed, giving her a pat on the back. "You've passed me Nikki. You beat my records." He let out a few hearty laughs, leaving Nikki staring at the targets in disbelief. "Now he can finally throw these old things away." He took the targets back downstairs and tossed them  into a dumpster in the parking lot. Nikki walked out and saw Leo's friend taking her targets and bringing them upstairs.

    "You wanna sign the last one?" he asked her, handing her a marker. She shrugged and signed it and he laughed, taking it upstairs with the others. By then, the sun had begun to rise and the fog had long ago lifted. Leo was at the vending machine for a drink.

    "You are amazing, Nikki," Leo said.

    "Yeah yeah, could you stop saying it so much?" she asked, beginning to blush.

    "Sorry. Look, I'm gonna head out with a buddy."

    "What about me?" As an answer, Leo tossed her his car keys. "Wait, you want me to drive your-?"

    "Hell, as far as I'm concerned, you can have it."

    "What?!" she asked him with disbelief. "You're giving me your-?"

    "Yep. Take care of her." He laughed as he walked out of the building and down the street. Nikki stared at the car, unsure what to do, since she had never driven a car before.

12: 12

    Oz's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and answered it.

    "Hello?" he asked.

    "Oz, I need your help," Nikki said from the other end.

    "With what Nikki?"

    "Um, I beat Leo's record at the shooting range and-"

    "You did what?!" he yelled in surprise. Leo was the best marksman he knew.

    "I broke his accuracy record at the shooting range."

    "How the hell'd you do that?!"

    "Oz!" Nikki yelled. "Now's not the time for this shit!"

    "Okay okay! Sorry! What's the matter?"

    "Since I beat Leo's records, he just... gave me his car."

    "Leo gave you his Lambo?!"

    "Yes Oz! Listen to me!"

    "I'm sorry, I'm just..."

    "Shut up! The important thing is: I don't know how to drive!"

    "I could teach her," Aaron said. Oz turned around and Aaron smiled, having heard every word.

    "Is that Aaron?" Nikki asked in her normal voice. Aaron took Oz's phone.

    "Yes," he said. "Nikki, I'll have Oz take me there and I'll get you back, okay?"

    "Thanks Aaron."

    "Sure thing." After an hour, Aaron and Oz arrived at the shooting range. "Damn. I haven't been inside Leo's Lambo before."

    "Do you know how to drive it?" Nikki asked.

    "I've seen people drive them on TV. I have no idea how to start a paddle-shift vehicle." They opened the doors and climbed in. "Where's the ignition?"

    "There isn't even a key!" Nikki said. "Just a lock and unlock button!"

    "O-Okay. Step on the brake pedal and, press this button." He pointed to a red button in the middle of the center console. Nikki put her foot on the brake pedal and pressed the button.

    "Nothing's happening."

    "Try holding it." With her foot still on the pedal, she held the button for a couple seconds and the engine fired right up. "Okay, we're making progress." Nikki pressed the pulled the paddle behind the right side of the steering wheel.

    "Okay, that's drive."

    "Okay then. We should be good. Let's just get out of this parking lot carefully." Nikki let off the brake pedal and the car began to move forward. She turned toward the street and waited for an opening in traffic. When there was, she turned onto the road and drove back toward her home.

    "How fast does this really go?"

    "Very. Just stay at this speed."

    "O-okay." She continued driving in silence for a while. "Hey Aaron?"

    "Yeah?"

    "Since I have my ID, I am legally able to drive, but I don't know much about it."

    "I'll be happy to teach you if I ever have any down time, okay?"

    "Thanks," she said with a smile. They arrived home much later. Aaron and Nikki walked into the building.

    "Yay, Daddy's back!" Alexis said, running over to him.

    "Hey Alex," Aaron said, laughing and picking her up. The little girl giggled as he nuzzled her cheek.

    "You missed lunch."

    "No, I saved some for him," Meah said, walking over as well, smiling at Nikki. "Nikki, would you mind watching the kids for a few minutes?"

    "Sure," Nikki said. "I guess it's the least I could do if Aaron's going to teach me to drive."

    "What?" Meah asked, looking at him for an explanation.

    "Well, apparently, Leo just gave her his Lamborghini," he told her.

    "Meah, I don't really know how to drive," Nikki said, as Akira, another one of Meah and Aaron's kids, came out and hugged her. Nikki smiled at her and gave her a few pats on the head.

    "Is Nikki gonna play with me?" Akira asked.

    "Yes I am in just a minute," Nikki responded. "Go ahead and go play and I'll join you, okay Akira?"

    "Okay!" she said happily before scurrying off.

    "I understand Nikki," Meah said. "I am totally fine with it. We always need help with the nine anyway."

    "Sure," Nikki said. "Come on Alex, let's go have some fun."

    "Yay!" Alexis said, taking ahold of Nikki's hand and leading her to their playroom.

    "And now," Meah said with a smirk. "We can get you some food," she poked Aaron's chest playfully.

    "Hey come on, don't do that out here," he muttered, blushing slightly. Meah giggled.

13: 13

    The following evening, Nikki was in her room exercising with the TV switched to the news. She was taking a quick break for a drink of water when she heard the TV.

    "-and tomorrow is going to be be a big day for the city of New York as part of lower Manhattan will be closed off due to protests," the news reader said.

    "What?" Nikki asked aloud. "Protests?"

    "Due to the lack of anything remotely close to help, Hybrids will be protesting-"

    "Oh shit." She ran out of her room and over to Oz who was serving some food to a Hybrid who was on crutches. "Oz, did you see the news?"

    "Yeah," he answered. "The protests are starting tomorrow. You going?"

    "What?"

    "Nikki," Leo said from the bar. "Relax. It's only peaceful protesting."

    "For now."

    "I know. It'll only take one jackass to start a riot."

    "Hey," A man with a mule's ears brayed from the other end of the bar, seemingly offended.

    "Not you Barry."

    "Damn right," he muttered.

    "Nikki, I'm saying to relax, but be ready... just in case."

    "Leo, that's contradictory," the bar tender said. Nikki looked over, seeing Layna, the cheetah-woman, as she cleaned a glass mug.

    "Yeah, I just noticed," Leo said rubbing the back of his neck. "Just be alert, okay Nikki?"

    "Sure," she agreed with a somewhat rueful tone. Layna laughed a bit and set the mug back in a cabinet. Nikki stared at Leo's back for a moment before slowly walking back to her room, her TV still on.

    "-and President Trump has announced that he will be visiting New York to see just what Hybrids want," the news reader continued.

    "Oh great," Nikki muttered.

    "-we have with us, Senator Pantera. Colin?"

    "Thank you," Colin Pantera said. Nikki turned back toward the TV, her ears moving curiously. "Fellow Hybrids and humans, please listen to me. I know that you want whatever it is that you want, but President Trump is taking time from his busy schedule to listen to what you have to say. All I really ask is that you keep this peaceful and we can hopefully resolve any complications you face. I want this to go smoothly and I hope you do as well."

    "Thank you Senator."

    "Actually, you know what? I'll give my secretary a call and I'll try to come to New York as well. I'll listen to what you Hybrids have to say as well. Brothers and sisters, I'm with you all. You all have my full support."

    "You get that, Nikki?" Leo called from down the hall.

    "Yeah," she called back. "Every word."

    "Get some sleep, cuz' we goin' tomorrow."

    "Okay." She closed her room door and continued exercising for another hour, putting every ounce of energy she had into it. By the time she finished sweating up a storm, she lay on the carpet, breathing heavily. "Damn," she muttered between breaths. "It's time for some real fun." She smiled and laughed to herself. "Tomorrow." She pulled herself up and into the shower. While she let the warm water flow over her body, she thought about what she would do. The last thing she wanted was to be arrested for having weapons at a peaceful protest. She continued thinking about this after she got out and dried herself off. "I wonder what'll happen..." she muttered to herself as she crawled under her covers, drifting off into sleep.

    Nikki awoke early that next morning. She yawned and glanced at her alarm clock. It was only 4:45. She crawled out from under her comfy covers and stretched her back, reaching her arms out and up. She stood up and put on a white t-shirt and black skirt. Once she was dressed she walked out toward the kitchen and saw that Oz was up as well.

    "Morning Oz," she said.

    "Morning Nikki," he responded. "There's noodles in the fridge."

    "Thanks." She went to the fridge and took out some noodles and put them in a bowl, and placed it in the microwave. "What are you doing up so early?"

    "Nico's up," he said. Nikki looked at the table and saw one of Aaron and Meah's kids sitting there.

    "Oh. Hi Nico." Nico just stared at her.

    "He doesn't talk much."

    "Oh." She noted. Her breakfast was done and she sat by the little boy. "Hey Nico?" He looked at her while Oz gave him a bowl of Cheerios. "There's going to be a lot of stuff going down today in the city. I want you to do me a favor." Nico's eyes showed understanding and he gave a slight nod. "I want you to make sure that you and your family stay here, okay? I want them to be safe if things go wrong."

    "Okay," he said softly. Nikki smiled and pet him. He smiled and purred softly.

    "Thanks." She kissed his small forehead. Nico blushed and stared into his cereal while Nikki giggled and ate her breakfast.

14: 14

    Nikki finished her breakfast with Nico and went back to brush her teeth. When she came back out Leo was waiting for her.

    "You ready to go?" he asked her.

    "As I'll every be," she responded with a rueful shrug.

    "Alright. Let's go." They turned to walk out the doors when Nikki heard Meah call for Nico from down the hallway.

    "Nico, where are you?" she said, coming into the dining room wearing her nightgown. Nico looked up from the table, his face dirty with a milk mustache and a Cheerio stuck to his cheek.

    "He's out here," Oz answered. "I went ahead and fed him."

    "Thanks Oz. Oh, Nico," she laughed, wiping his face as he simply watched her. "You're such a messy eater." She picked him up. "Are you guys leaving already?"

    "Yeah," Nikki answered.

    "Okay. Be safe you guys."

    "Bye-bye Nico," Nikki waved as Meah carried him back to their room. Leo smiled as they walked out into the chilly morning air. Jack was already waiting in his truck.

    "You go ahead Nikki," Leo said. "Jack and I gotta run by the shooting range for a second."

    "A-alright," she said as she climbed into her car. She turned right at the intersection whereas the truck went left. Nikki drove toward Times Square on Broadway. She was amazed by the fact that there was no one on the roads this early in the morning. She parked in a parking space and waited, the car idling with a low rumble. Checking her phone periodically, she waited until she saw a truck drive by and park. She watched as a couple of city workers began to set up some barricades. Once that was done, she noticed that the sky was starting to change from dark blue to yellow and orange. "It's almost time." She pressed the on/off switch to shut off the ignition and climbed out of the car. She only made it a few feet away when a limousine drove by and parked in front of it. A couple guards climbed out and walked over to her. She made a mental gasp at the fact they had dog ears.

    "Excuse me," one said.

    "Um y-yeah?" she asked.

    "Are you here for the protest?"

    "Yeah," she said nervously.

    "It's quite early," the other guard said. "You know it doesn't start until 10, right?"

    "I know."

    "Then what are you doing here?" the first asked.

    "Gentleman please," a voice said from the limo. Nikki watched as Colin Pantera stepped out. Nikki felt a surge of nervousness being this close to such a high-authority figure. "Stop harassing one of our own."

    "Sir be careful. We haven't surveyed the entire area yet."

    "And you shouldn't need to. This is a peaceful protest after all." He gave his guards a pat on the shoulder as he walked by them and over to Nikki. "You're a bit of an early bird, if you do forgive the terrible word-play."

    "I-It's okay, Mr. Pantera," Nikki said, her voice shaking slightly. He gave her a hearty chuckle.

    "There's no need to be nervous. Since we're both early, I'll answer any questions you may have for me."

    "Well I..." she trailed off.

    "Alright. Can I ask why you're here today?"

    "Well sir I..." Nikki trailed off again and sighed, deciding to tell him the truth. "Sir, I've been living with a group of hybrids for these last four years. They and I have been training with pistols and machine guns should protests escalate to war between humans and hybrids."

    "I see," Colin said, very intrigued, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I chose this line of work to help prevent that sort of thing from happening. Hm." He thought for a minute. "What's your name?"

    "It's Nikki, sir."

    "Well Nikki, I don't want things to get, that out of hand, but... let me speak with Mr. Trump about this. I'm quite sure that he too, would never want war in this country." Nikki nodded, understanding. "This isn't a secret group, is it?"

    "Not necessarily sir. I was told that there was an online blog."

    "Ah," he said with a nod. "Well Nikki, it was very nice to hear from you-"

    "Sir," one of his guards said. "We should probably be heading for the airport."

    "Ah yes. Sorry. Well Nikki, again it was nice meeting you and hearing what you had to say. Thank you very much."

    "Y-You're welcome sir." Colin went back to his limo and it drove off. Nikki watched it leave and she let out a huge sigh of relief.

15: 15

    Later that morning, Nikki as standing in the front of the crowd of people who were holding up signs asking for equal rights and whatnot. There was a couple podiums set up on the top end of the square where Trump and Pantera would stand. Nikki watched with apprehension waiting for the meeting to start, occasionally glancing toward her parking spot, making sure no one was messing with her car.

    "Hey," a boy with cat ears said to her.

    "Yeah?" she asked.

    "I hope Trump listens to us."

    "Me too."

    "I don't see why I have less rights than a normal human. I mean that the hell? I voted for Trump!"

    "I'm sure you did."

    "I'm gonna be pissed if this doesn't go anywhere." A couple guys on the other side of him agreed.

    "Pantera better help us out," one of them said.

    "I'm sure he will," Nikki said.

    "Hey you know, you're kinda cute," one of the guys said slyly. Nikki groaned, not looking back toward him. "What's your name?" Nikki didn't want to answer, nor did she need to, as Trump and Pantera walked out to their podiums at that moment, causing the crowd to both cheer and jeer.

    "My fellow hybrids please calm yourselves," Colin said, and the crowd quieted. "My friend would like to speak."

    "Hello everybody," Trump said. "I'm here to listen to what you people have to say. I am all ears, no pun intended." There was a few boos for that.

    "You probably shouldn't say things like that here, Donald."

    "My thoughts exactly Colin. I apologize. Before we start though, you told me something after you picked me up from the airport."

    "That is correct." Nikki gasped inside, knowing that it was what she had told him earlier. "Did you want to bring it back up?"

    "Yeah, just for clarification. You said that there was a group of hybrids who were preparing themselves if war should break out." There were murmurs of confusion spreading like wildfire through the crowd. "Now let me say this, Colin and I are having this meeting with you all here, in order to make sure that this doesn't happen. The last thing I want, and I'm sure you all want, is for war to break out."

    "I completely agree."

    "Who was it that told you this again?" Colin glanced toward Nikki, having seen her in the front and motioned for her to come over. "I'd like to hear this from them." Nikki shook her head shyly. Now, Trump saw her standing there. "Hey it's okay I won't bite." A couple more boos. "Sorry." One of Colin's guards went to Nikki and pulled her up onto the stage to his podium.

    "Hello Nikki, it's nice to see you again." Nikki could only imagine everyone's reactions back at the apartments.

    "Nikki, right?" Trump asked.

    "Y-Yes sir," Nikki said.

    "You're from this group, right?"

    "Yes s-sir. They took me in four years ago."

    "So, if I may ask, what is it you're doing to prepare for war?"

    "Well sir, we don't want to fight. O-Only if it's absolutely necessary."

    "I see."

    "But I've been practicing using firearms at shooting ranges." Trump thought for a moment.

    "These are legal firearms, I assume?"

    "Of course sir."

    "Okay. Well thank you for telling me. Why don't you go ahead and go back to where you were." Nikki nodded and some people began to applaud, much to her surprise. "Now that I for sure know this, I can get to the real reason why we're here. I know for a fact that hybrids are not as well treated as normal humans." People in the crowd shouted their agreements. "Well, I am going to try to make sure that stops today."

16: 16

    Nikki watched as people continued to listen to President Trump. She hoped that things would stay under control.

    "Alright everyone," Trump announced. "I want to take this time to listen to what you have to say."

    "Equal pay!" Someone toward the middle of the crowd yelled.

    "I can't get a coffee from a coffee shop!" another person said.

    "Just because I bump into someone, they think I'm trying to steal their wallet!" Nikki found herself saying, remembering that day four years ago.

    "Okay okay," Trump said. "Those are all very good things for you to say. Listen to me. I'll be working on this for a while, so I can help you people out."

    "Then do it already!" people yelled, showing signs of restlessness.

    "Please everyone, calm down," Colin said.

    "You're supposed to make our lives easier!" A woman said, people agreeing.

    "I want to be able to get a coffee and not be thrown back on the street!" another girl said.

    "People won't hire me and I can't support my family!" a man yelled.

    "Look, that's down to the managers-" Trump said.

    "Gives us our equal rights!" people began to shout over him. Colin continued to try to calm everyone down, but the crowd broke down the barricades and Nikki jumped out of the way, running toward her car as the rioting started. She was able to climb into her car and she drove out of the square as Trump and Colin retreated to a safe distance. She pulled out her phone.

    "Leo, it's starting," she said.

    "I know," he said from his side. "I'm a few blocks east and I can hear it."

    "So what do we do?"

    "Stay calm and stay back. Let the authorities do their work."

    "Okay," she said with an unsure tone.

    "Nikki."

    "Yeah?"

    "If things get bad, and news of it spreads, then we need to be ready."

    "But it was the hybrids who went over the barricades. They're the one's who started it."

    "I know. Keep an eye on the news today. If things go wrong, then be ready."

    "Yeah, I figured."

    "Just head back to the apartments. We're gonna be stocking up."

    "Okay. I'm on my way there."

    "So are we. We'll see ya there."

    "Okay. Stay safe Leo." Nikki ended the call and sighed, driving back at a brisk pace. She arrived awhile later and saw people in the main room watching the television.

    "Nikki," Aaron said as she walked in. "You okay?"

    "I'm fine. I got out just as it started."

    "Good," he sighed. "God, they're idiots. Why would they do that?"

    "It's Trump's fault," a man muttered, a couple guys agreeing with him.

    "How's Meah?" Nikki asked.

    "She's in the room, taking care of the kids," Aaron answered.

    "Good." The TV screen changed and showed police in riot gear were beginning to use tear gas to control the rioting hybrids. People gasped as others were beaten with clubs. Nikki could sense the anger everyone.

    "That's bullshit," someone said.

    "Come on, fight back!" someone else said.

    "This is the last straw!" a third declared. Part of Nikki wanted to tell everyone to calm down, but the other part... the other part of her almost wanted to go to war with the humans. She shook her head, trying to force these thoughts away, but she wasn't sure she could. She growled in frustration and walked off toward her room. She passed Meah in the hall, who was holding Alexis.

    "Nikki?" she asked. Nikki stopped and turned back toward her. "What's the matter?"

    "I... I don't know," she said softly, her ears drooping sadly.

    "Nikki." She set Alexis down.

    "I'm not sure what to do." She wiped her eyes and looked down, seeing Alexis hug her legs. Meah looked at her worriedly, her tail moving slightly. "I'm too confused." Meah hugged her as well.

    "I know. This is all happening so fast."

17: 17

    While Oz was making some food, there was a commotion out front. He stepped out of the kitchen to see Colin Pantera in the lobby.

    "Everyone please," Colin said. "Calm yourselves."

    "Why are you here?" a burly man with the horns of a mountain goat demanded. "You said you were friends with that asshole Trump."

    "Please sir, don't blame him. I wanted for things to work out, but the crowd couldn't keep themselves in control." Colin rubbed the bridge of his nose with his paw. "I hope things don't get any worse, but I'm going to fight for us, alright?" The people exchanged glances. "Let me at least try."

    "Fine. If you can promise this, then we'll let you stay here as well." He held his arm out for Colin.

    "Thanks." Colin met the gesture. Then Leo came in.

    "Yo Oz, where's Nikki?" he asked.

    "I think she went to her room," Oz said, wiping his hands with a kitchen towel. "Why?"

    "It's Trump." Everyone glanced back toward the TV.

    "Look here Colin," Trump was saying. "I tried to be nice, I really did. But if things can't work out, then I don't know what to tell ya."

    "Please don't do this," Colin muttered, knowing that he couldn't be heard.

    "I'm going to let the police do what they need to do, but if things get out of hand, then I'll be forced to sign the Anti-H act." People muttered their confusion. "And I don't want to, as much as you don't want me to either. So I'm warning you." Then, the camera cut and went back to the live coverage of the riot. The people in the lobby yelled out in a rage.

    "So that's how it's gonna be?!" someone said.

    "You gotta 'nother thing coming!" another person yelled out.

    "You wanna fight Trump?! Let's fight!" Oz figured that if the people here were upset, then others everywhere else would be also. He glanced at Leo with apprehension. Leo nodded and ran off toward Nikki's room. Nikki was laying on her bed under the covers, trying to get some rest, but she couldn't with the yelling and she jumped up with a shriek in fright when Leo banged on her door.

    "Yo Nikki!" he yelled. She hurried over and threw it open.

    "What?" she asked.

    "It's starting." Nikki's eyes widened as his words went through her mind. The part of her mind that didn't want to fight was overpowered by the other part that did. She grabbed her car key and ran out the door, stopping my Aaron and Meah's room.

    "Nikki?" Meah asked. "Are you feeling better?"

    "Now's not the time," she said. "Meah, get the kids together and stay here."

    "Yo everyone!" Leo roared from the main room. "It's time!" Nikki looked at Meah who nodded, knowing what was happening.

    "Do not let any of the kids outside whatsoever."

    "I know," Meah nodded. "Be safe Nikki."

    "You too." Nikki ran outside to her car, seeing that others who were going to fight packing weapons into their vehicles. Nikki grabbed her guns from the armory and placed them in her car. Leo tossed some body armor to her and she caught it, nodding a quick thanks and put it on. With her weapons packed, she climbed in and started the car. Leo knocked on her window. She pressed the button to roll it down. 

    "You mind if Lily rides with you?" he asked.

    "Who's-?" She heard someone open the other door and she looked to see a young woman climb in and sit down. She had long hair and a long tail that was a very light brown and white in color and she had pale, green eyes, topped off with what appeared to be fox ears. "Oh."

    "Hey," Lily said. "Let's go." Others began to leave the parking lot. Nikki nodded and followed Jack's truck, Leo riding out in the back with a few other guys.

    "So who are you again?" Nikki asked her passenger, despite having so many thoughts rushing through her head she could barely focus on driving.

    "I'm Lily, the mechanic."

    "Oh." Nikki continued following the truck and Lily turned on the radio, turning up the volume to hear it over the sound of the V12 engine.

    "-we have reports from all over the country that hybrids have declared war on the human race," a news station said. "President Trump has announced that he has signed the Anti-H act that was passed by Congress just after his inauguration."

    "You ready for this shit?" Nikki asked.

    "Of course," Lily said with a smirk, twirling a pistol on her finger. "I always bring my tools."

18: 18

    Nikki drove into the middle of the action, with Lily riding shotgun. There were fights all over the place, people everywhere. Police were desperately trying to keep control, but the sheer number of hybrids was beginning to overwhelm them. Nikki's phone vibrated as Leo called her.

    "Nikki, it's too late for backing out now," he said.

    "I know," Nikki said.

    "Go ahead and open up everything you got!"

    "Got it." Lily smirked and pulled an assault rifle from behind the seat and she rolled down the window, holding the trigger as Nikki drove by groups of officers. Chaos erupted from the city streets as people were being shoved into alleys for protection by police, who were being beaten and killed by armed hybrids. The city of New York declared a state of emergency as police from New Jersey, Queens, and Brooklyn started crossing the rivers and into the city, barricading the bridges.

    "Nikki," Leo called after a short while.

    "Yeah?" she answered.

    "I heard from our scouts that they're blocking the bridges."

    "Really?"

    "Yeah. They're bringing in outta state forces. If you wanna make it out of this alive, then you should get out before things get out of hand." She heard shots on his side. "I'm getting surrounded here. Call ya later."

    "What's goin' on?" Lily asked.

    "We're getting outta here," Nikki answered.

    "Cool. I'm out of ammo anyway."

    "We'll have to get to the bridges on the upper ends of the island. The ones that aren't blocked off yet."

    "Yeah." Nikki pressed the accelerator pedal and the car screamed its way through the traffic as they made their way out of the city and toward the suburbs. "I just hope that everyone else back home is alright."

    "Don't talk like that. They'll be fine." Nikki turned down a road that lead across the river. There were police barricades set up across the road, a checkpoint to check traffic. Nikki floored the throttle, speeding toward the temporary gates. The officers drew their guns, and shot at the car, parts of the windshield turning into spider webs of cracks, then dove to the sides at the last moment as Nikki and Lily tore through the barriers. Nikki grimaced at the thought of Leo if he could see his car now. Lily groaned and Nikki looked over, seeing her with a hand over a bleeding shoulder. "Shit, are you alright?"

    "Yeah," Lily strained. "Damn."

    "I think there's a medkit in the back."

    "Yeah." She tried reaching for it, only to drop her arm in pain. "Augh!"

    "Shit," Nikki hissed. She pulled into the driveway of some upstate farm. She parked behind the barn and dug behind the seat, pulling the kit out and getting the roll of gauze.

    "Hold up," Lily said, biting into one of her gloves. She pulled out her pair of pliers and pulled the bullet out of her shoulder. She groaned and cringed, drawing in a breath through gritted teeth as she held the piece of bloody metal. "Fuck, that hurt." Nikki then wrapped the gauze tightly around her shoulder.

    "This'll only last so long," Nikki muttered.

    "I know." She pulled a map out of the glove box. "I got a buddy who lives nearby. Let's go to his place."

    "Okay." Nikki drove out from behind the barn and back onto the road. "So where's this guy live?"

    "Just about an hour from here."

    "Okay." Nikki followed the directions that led them even farther upstate. After awhile, they came across a ranch that was surrounded by trees and hills.

    "Hey, we're here."

    "Yeah," Nikki said, parking the car in the barn. "Looks like the place we stopped at earlier."

    "Every ranch in this state looks like that."

    "Yeah, I guess you're right."

    "Oh, leave the guns in here. Don't want to frighten the others." Nikki wondered who 'the others' were as they climbed out and walked up to the front door and Lily gave it a hearty knock with her good arm.

    "Coming," a soft voice called from inside. The door opened to reveal a young girl who was part cat. She had long, white-blonde hair that was split into long twin tails, topped with cat ears, and vivid sky-blue eyes. Her outfit matched her colors perfectly, with her hair-colored tail swaying behind her.

    "Hey Vanilla," Lily said to the girl. "Is he home?"

    "Yes," Vanilla said with a nod.

    "Guests?!" another girl's voice said inside, obviously excited. Nikki watched as the second girl came running to the door with a bright expression on her face. She had reddish-brown eyes with brown hair pulled back in a long set of twin-tails with ears on top. Her outfit mirrored Vanilla's but was red and white, with her tail waving excitedly. She saw Lily and gasped happily. "Aunt Lily!"

    "Hi Chocola," Lily said with a laugh, hugging her with her good arm and Chocola purred happily.

    "Aunt Lily, you're injured," Vanilla said.

    "Yeah," Lily said as Chocola led her inside. "This is Nikki, she's a friend of mine."

    "Hello," Nikki said politely.

    "Hey," a young man's voice said, from the other room, causing everyone to stand at attention. "What's going on out here?" He came into the living room and Nikki knew that she had seen him somewhere before.

19: 19

    "What's going on out here?" the man asked. Nikki looked at him, knowing she had seen him somewhere before. He had a bit of a beard and brown hair and eyes, however, he wasn't a hybrid.

    "Master, Aunt Lily has come for a visit," Vanilla said. "But she's injured."

    "Injured?"

    "I took a bullet to the shoulder," Lily explained.

    "Damn."

    "Really though, I'm fine."

    "If you say so. Do the others know you're back?"

    "Probably not. Chocola, go get them."

    "Okay," Chocola said with a happy nod, running into the other room and out the back door. Nikki watched as other cat girls came into the room as Lily sat down on the couch. They came up and gave her a hug.

    "Hey everybody," she said, giving all a big group hug. "It's nice to see you all too."

    "Lily, what's wrong with your shoulder?" the shortest cat girl asked. She had short brown hair and eyes.

    "It's just bullet wound, Azuki."

    "Oh my god," Azuki said with wide eyes in disbelief. "Maple, help her."

    "Okay," a cat girl with long blonde hair and green eyes said. Nikki was wondering why some of these girls were named after food flavors. Maple ran to the bathroom for the first aid kit.

    "So Nikki," Lily said. "Why don't you introduce yourself to everyone?"

    "Alright," Nikki said, brushing off the bottom of her shirt. "Hello everyone. I'm Nikki, I'm a friend of Lily's."

    "Hello Nikki," everyone aside from Lily said.

    "I'm Vanilla," Vanilla said.

    "I'm Chocola!" Chocola said with a friendly tone.

    "I'm Cinnamon," the cat girl with purple hair and yellow eyes said. Nikki noticed that Cinnamon was quite busty and she felt a slight pang of jealousness.

    "I'm Maple," she said, putting some hydroxide on Lily's wound.

    "Hi Nikki," the tallest one said with a slight bow. "I'm Coconut." She, like Vanilla, had very light hair, but it had just a slight blonde shade to it. She was also heterochromatic with one eye being a golden color and the other a vivid blue.

    "I'm Azuki," she said. "The six of us are sisters with me being the oldest, and Chocola and Vanilla are twins and the youngest"

    "Wow," Nikki said. "It's so nice to meet you all."

    "The weirdo over there is a friend of our owner." She pointed to the one guy in the room.

    "Owner?"

    "Well, he is kinda strange," Coconut said, Azuki nodding in agreement.

    "Hey," he said, clearly offended. "I am not- well... maybe." Nikki giggled. "Anyways, it's nice to meet you Nikki, I'm Noble."

    "That's... nice," Nikki said, trying to be polite.

    "Thank you. Now, you can all go back to what you were doing." The girls nodded and went back to whatever they were doing at the time, Maple still tending to Lily's shoulder. "So Nikki, can I get you anything? A drink, a snack? Or chips?"

    "No thanks, I'm fine."

    "Okay. Are you from the city?"

    "Yeah, I am," she said sitting down, Noble sitting down on the large couch across from her.

    "I heard things had just started to get bad there, and with Trump and all that." Nikki nodded, just now remembering that all of that had occurred just this morning. She checked her watch and it was almost 5 in the afternoon. "Well, I'll be making some dinner later, and you know what?" Nikki looked up at him as he had a wide smile on his face. "The more nekos, the merrier." She blushed, as he had just used that term in front of her. "You're welcome to stay here with us."

    "Is she going to be my new sister?" Maple asked Noble. "Are you?" She turned toward Nikki.

    "Um... I'm not sure... yet," she replied with an uncertain manner.

    "Yeah come on, Maple," Lily said, standing up and moving her shoulder gingerly. "Give her some time."

    "Thank you."

    "Sure. But Nikki, if you're gonna live here, then you gotta at least earn your keep. You can help me with some of my chores, since I got a bad shoulder."

    "Oh, okay," she said with a nod, standing up.

    "By the way Noble, we parked in the barn," Lily said over her shoulder.

    "Okay," he said, making his way toward the kitchen to prepare some dinner.    

    "So what do you normally do here, Lily?" Nikki asked.

    "Well, I fix things, change light bulbs, keep coyotes away from the chickens-"

    "You have chickens here?!"

    "No," Lily laughed. "Sorry, I foxed there."

    "I understand. It happens to the best of us."

20: 20

    Nikki walked with Lily back outside and to the barn where she saw Coconut.

    "Hey Nikki," Coconut said with a smile. "Are you helping Lily?"

    "Yeah," Nikki said with a nod.

    "She and I were going to trim the bushes."

    "But I can't really do that," Lily said. "You'll have to help her, Coconut." Lily grabbed the two trimming tools from the barn wall. Coconut took the bigger one as she was much taller than Nikki.

    "I'll show you how Noble likes his trees trimmed."

    "Thanks," Nikki said as they walked over to the nearest tree surrounding the yard.

    "Try to cut them do this level," Coconut said as she clipped an inch off the bottom branches.

    "Okay." Nikki cut the edges off the tree to the right and Coconut nodded in satisfaction.

    "Good. Just like that." They worked for a minute until Nikki spoke again.

    "Hey, I've been wanting to ask you something."

    "What is it?"

    "Azuki said that you guys had an 'owner'?"

    "We come from Japan, so there's a large cultural difference in cat-girl acceptances. For example, we have to take a serious test to show that we can fit into society as a human by wearing these bells." She pointed to a small silver bell on a necklace around her neck.

    "Oh. Well here we're just called 'hybrids'."

    "I know. It's rather insulting. I can't wait until we go back home though. We're just staying here with Noble while Kashou is away on business."

    "Kashou?"

    â€‹"Kashou Minaduki. He and his sister Shigure are our owners."

    "Oh. So I guess that's why Vanilla called Noble 'Master'."

    "Yeah. We're so used to it," she said with a giggle as they moved to the next few trees. "Kashou's been trying to branch out his business in America since we're so popular back home."

    "What kind of business is it?"

    "A bakery."

    "Wow." They continued trimming for awhile in silence and they noticed that they were nearly halfway done.

    "You work fast Nikki," Coconut said, wiping some sweat from her forehead.

    "Trust me, I've done worse."

    "Hey you guys!" Azuki called from the porch. "Dinner's ready!"

    "Ooh, food," Coconut purred.

    "Come on, let's go!" Lily said, running the tools back to the barn. They all went inside to see plates of slightly burned tuna placed around the table.

    "Dinner is served everybody," Noble said proudly.

    "Dammit Noble, you burnt the tuna again," Azuki complained.

    "If you don't want it, then give it to Coconut. I know she'll eat it now matter how it's made."

    "Yeah," Coconut said.

    "Back off, Nuts," Azuki said. "This tuna is mine!" Nikki ate her tuna slowly. It was alright, despite the fact that one side tasted like charcoal.

    "I hate burnt tuna," Chocola muttered, but she stuffed bites into her mouth anyway, shuddering as she swallowed it.

    "Is it really that bad?" Noble asked. Everyone but Vanilla and Coconut nodded. "Come on... I made it just like Kashou..."

    "At least you tried your best," Vanilla said.

    "Thank you Vanilla."

    "But you still sucked at it."

    "Dammit Vanilla," he muttered.

    "Really guys," Nikki said, as everyone turned toward her. "4 years ago, I would have happily eaten this, since I grew up living off the scraps of humans."

    "Really?" Chocola asked, a look of shock on her face. Nikki finished her helping of tuna and nodded.

    "I can really only remember back when I was at least 5 or 6," she said. "I had to dig out of dumpsters and steal food. I lived in boxes and empty buildings. I had to steal the clothes that I wore. I lived like that for my whole life until a guy from the resistance group saved me from some animal control, and convinced me to join their cause. I've been with them since."

    "Wow," the girls breathed in awe. Lily knew of what Nikki was doing during her stay with the resistance, but decided not to say what. Just then, Noble's phone rang.

    "Hey, it's Kashou." He answered it, putting the phone on speaker in the middle of the table. "What's going on?"

    "Noble, tell the girls that I'll be home a bit later than I thought," Kashou said on the other end. Nikki could easily hear his Japanese accent.

    "You're on speaker."

    "Oh, hi everyone."

    "Master what's wrong?!" Chocola asked with a worried expression.

    "Well, the violence has gotten so bad down here, but right now, they're putting us on buses to get us out of the city."

    "So when will you get here?" Azuki asked.

    "Once I tell them my address, they'll put me on a bus with other people who'll be heading out that way. It'll probably be another hour or so."

    "Be safe, Master," Maple said with a downhearted expression.

    "Don't worry, I will. I gotta go, I'm up next."

    "Bye!" the six sisters said. Nikki giggled as Noble ended the call.

21: 21

    After dinner, Chocola and Vanilla were the first ones in the bath. Noble cleaned up the kitchen, knowing that there was no way he could possibly mess that up. Nikki put her plate by the sink and Lily motioned her into the living room.

    "What's up?" Nikki asked.

    "Let's head back out to the garage real quick." Nikki was confused as to why, but she nodded anyway, following Lily outside.

    "What's wrong?" she asked when they made it inside the barn.

    "Nothing," Lily said, grabbing a large tarp from a box by the wall. "I just wanna cover this car if a cop shows up."

    "Oh." Nikki understood and grabbed the other end of the tarp as Lily pulled it over the Lamborghini. "Hopefully, they won't be coming in here."

    "Yeah." When that was done, they went back inside to hear that Maple and Cinnamon were already in the bathroom while Chocola and Vanilla were getting their night clothes on.

    "Can Chocola brush Nikki's tail?" Chocola asked.

    "Maybe after my bath," Nikki said with an unsure laugh.

    "I'd like to brush Nikki's tail as well," Vanilla said.

    "Okay okay. You can brush my tail." Nikki blushed out of shyness.

    "See? She's blushing."

    "Okay guys," Noble said. "Let's not do that." Nikki saw light beams fly by the windows. "Who's that?" Noble went to the door and saw Kashou get out of the back of a police car. "Oh. Kashou, you're back."

    "Hey Noble," Kashou said. He walked inside and loosened his collar and tie. Nikki saw that he had generic brown hair and eyes, which then met Nikki's. "Hello."

    "Hi," Nikki said. "I'm Nikki,"

    "You must be a friend of Lily's I imagine?" Nikki noticed that even though he spoke perfect English, she could still here his native Japanese in his voice.

    "Yeah."

    "Can Nikki be our new sister?" Chocola asked him, zipping over to him.

    "What?"

    "Can you adopt Nikki too?" Vanilla asked him, coming over to the guy as well. Kashou looked down at them, then at Nikki. She blushed at his thoughtful expression.

    "Why are you looking at me like that?" she demanded.

    "Oh uh, nothing," he said, clearing his throat. "Sorry."

    "Sheesh," Nikki muttered, turning away. "You're just as perverted as the other guy."

    "I am not," Kashou and Noble said.

    "Yes you are, Master," Chocola purred.

    "Master is putting Nikki in heat," Vanilla said.

    "I am not in heat!" Nikki defended. "Idiot."

    "Guys, leave her alone," Lily said. "Nikki, you can bunk with me if you'd like."

    "Okay." She followed Lily to her room. It looked like any other bedroom of a mechanic but it was a bit cleaner.

    "I washed one of Noble's futons, so you can sleep in one of that."

    "F-Futon?"

    "Yeah, it's pretty much a big sleeping bag."

    "Oh."

    "Shower's free," Cinnamon said from the hallway.

    "Dibs!" Coconut shouted.

    "Dammit!" Azuki hissed. Nikki and Lily laughed.

    "Is it like this everyday?" Nikki asked Lily.

    "Only when the Minaduki's are over," Lily answered, sitting on her bed. "Otherwise it's just Noble and I."

    "Oh yeah. I forgot they're visiting from Japan." Nikki pulled the futon toward a vent on the wall, feeling for warm air. "Much better," she muttered with satisfaction.

    "Don't get too comfy," Lily said with half a smirk. "I might need you to help me with my bath."

    "I figured."

    "Move over, Nuts!" Azuki yelled from the bathroom. "I'm gettin' in with ya!" Nikki laughed again and her stomach rumbled softly.

    "Still hungry?" Lily inquired.

    "I guess," Nikki shrugged and stood up to go find a snack. She walked into the kitchen and glanced around.

    "Nikki," Kashou said, getting her attention. "What are you looking for?"

    "A snack," she answered.

    "Well I am a chef. There might be some left-over cakes in the refrigerator."

    "Cake?"

    "You've never had cake before?" Kashou asked, opening the fridge doors. Nikki peeked in curiously. "I made them myself. The girls love 'em."

    "Oh. Those cakes." Nikki picked up a cheesecake slice with a strawberry on it. "I've seen cakes before, but I've never had one."

    "Not even for your birthday?"

    "I don't know my birthday. Some guys at the resistance were gonna give me one, but that was before shit hit the fan."

    "I see."

    "So... yeah. I never got around to having a birthday." She let out a sad sigh while Kashou handed her a fork. She cut a small piece off the pointed end of the slice.

    "Well, this is my signature cheesecake topped with strawberry. Give it a try." Nikki took a bite and her ears perked up and her tail stood up straight.

    "Holy shit!" she mewed. "This is delicious."

    "Thank you. I'm glad you like it." Nikki quickly finished the rest of the slice.

    "Oh my god, that was the best food I have ever had."

    "Oh really?"

    "Yeah. It is." She went on to tell Kashou her story. "So that's it. This is the best..."

    "I'm glad you think so. It makes me happy to hear what other people think about my food, whether they like it or hate it. And to think that slice was a few days old."

    "It was?!" Nikki asked in disbelief and Kashou nodded with a laugh.

22: 22

    Later that night, Nikki and the others were fast asleep, unaware of what was going on back in New York City. Nikki didn't even hear her cell phone vibrating on the carpet next to her since she was sleeping so soundly. When she awoke the next morning, she checked it, seeing it was a message from Aaron. She rubbed her eyes and read it. Then, she stood up in shock as she read it again.

    "Oh my... God," she breathed.

    "Nikki?" Lily asked, sitting up in her bed, rubbing her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

    "There's no way... he can't do that..." she muttered.

    "Nikki!" Lily said a little louder, getting her attention as well as Coconut's and Azuki's.

    "I-It's Trump," Nikki said. "He's a madman..."

    "What's going on?" Kashou asked, peeking in from the hallway, seeing Coconut and Azuki standing in the doorway.

    "Master, turn on the TV," Azuki said.

    "On it!" Noble said from the living room, changing to a news channel. Everyone went into the living room while Nikki just stood there in total shock.

    "-and President Trump's Anti-H act has caused construction companies to immediately start work on hybrid concentration areas," the news reader said as live footage was shown of construction sites building tall fences in the middle of different cities across the country.

    "Concentration areas?!" Lily asked.

    "That's bullshit!" Noble said.

    "This isn't going to be the next...?" Kashou trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence. Chocola and Vanilla hugged each other.

    "What's going on?" Maple asked.

    "You don't know?" Cinnamon asked.

    "Know what?"

    "I looked it up," Noble said, quieting everyone and muting the television. "Back when it was first announced. The Anti-H act was a law that would be a... god there's no other way to say this. It's a containment plan to keep hybrids contained in certain areas."

    "It's unbelievably similar to the 40's," Lily said.

    "It's only a matter of time before they start rounding up all the hybrids," Nikki said, as she walked into the room, having regained some sense. "Kashou, you and the rest better head back to Japan. Before they get them."

    "Wait, are you saying they'll imprison us?!" Azuki hissed. "They can't!"

    "I'll make sure they won't. I swear to God." Just then, Nikki's phone went off again. "Leo?"

    "Nikki, I don't know where you and Lily are at, but we need ya back here," Leo said between gunfire. "Shit's hittin' the fan right now."

    "I'm on my way." Nikki said before hanging up.

    "Are you going back?" Lily asked and Nikki nodded. "Good luck."

    "You're staying?"

    "Noble can't protect himself for too long."

    "I'm not even a hybrid," Noble said. "I'm sure they won't come after me."

    "They might punish you for harboring us though."

    "Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess it'll be good-bye for now."

    "I agree," Kashou said. The six sisters quickly packed up their things. Chocola and Vanilla wanted to say good-bye to Nikki, but she had already dug the Lamborghini back out of the garage and had driven away from the ranch. Kashou got them into a minivan and he gave Noble a final farewell.

    "Good luck," Noble said.

    "I'll tell you the same," Kashou said with half a smile. They gave each other a firm yet quick hug and Kashou climbed in the van and drove away. Chocola and Vanilla watched as Noble and Lily disappeared behind the hill. Lily sighed after she could no longer see the minivan.

    "I hope they make it," she said softly.

    "I do too," Noble said, turning to walk back inside. Lily went into the barn and went to her work bench. She grabbed ahold of bench clamp and turned it on the table top three times and a trapdoor underneath the bench opened up. She stepped down into the secret room where she kept a stockpile of weapons.

    "Damn," she whistled. "Never thought I'd ever have to use these." She went through her armory and made sure the guns were in working order. Meanwhile, Nikki was speeding back toward New York City, where they had set aside an area of the city where they would place all the hybrids. With her guns at the ready, she stared down the center of the road with a look of hatred as she continued on.

23: 23

    In the middle of the city, Leo and the others who were fighting in the resistance were busy keeping the police at bay, but they knew it was only a matter of time before the military back up would arrive. He figured that by now, the media would be all over the city and the country as riots began erupting in many other cities. He thought that in the matter of days, riots might be incited across the world.

    "Leo!" a hybrid revolutionist yelled.

    "What's up?!" he responded over the sound of the action.

    "The military's coming! We should start falling back!"

    "Why the hell would we do that?! We've already come this far!"

    "Are you insane?! You'll be killed!"

    "I don't care!" Leo yelled after the young man as he ran away, dropping his weapon. "I'll die fighting for what I believe in!" Leo was still holding the trigger as armored vehicles turned onto the street he was on. He pulled out his phone and called Nikki, who was now only 10 minutes outside the city.

    "Leo," she said.

    "Nikki!" Leo yelled. "The military's here in the city."

    "What?!"

    "Just shut up for a second!" He exchanged weapons as he used up his ammo. "I may not make it out of this shit."

    "Leo!" She stomped on the brakes.

    "Just make sure that everyone back home knows..." He was surrounded by soldiers who aimed their weapons at him. "...I went out fighting for our rights!"

    "LEO!" Nikki cried. All Nikki heard was him laughing before the deafening sound of firing weapons and then silence. "Leo!" she cried, tears in her eyes. "Dammit Leo... you... you dumbass..." Nikki would come to find out much later that Leo's body was left on a pile of empty guns, before it was cleaned up by damage control. Nikki wiped her eyes and continued driving toward the city, this time at full throttle. But even at her speed, she was too late.

    When she arrived back at the apartments, she found it completely ransacked and deserted, all the doors and windows broken down. The police had already cleaned the place out, taking everyone away. She walked around, horrified at the mess. She stepped on a piece of glass and looked down, seeing a broken picture of Meah, Aaron, and their nine children. She picked up the photo and stared at it downheartedly for a long time. When she finally shook her head, ridding it of bad thoughts, she placed the picture in her pocket and left the sad remnants of the complex. She drove back toward the inner city where she came across a city block that was bordered by a large, steel fence. Abandoned shops on her side and on the other side, hybrids were trying to recreate a proper living environment.

    "God dammit," she hissed, taking it all in. She drove along the fence, hybrids on the other side, staring at her as she went by, until she was stopped by police.

    "Hey!" an officer said. "How's this one out here?" The car was surrounded by guards and Nikki was pulled out before she could do anything. She was placed in chains and she had a shock collar placed around her neck, which they activated every time she struggled or hissed at them causing her hair to stand up giving her an unhealthy, ragged look. 

    "Ain't this that car that drove though our barricade?" she heard another police officer asked.

    "Hey yeah, I think it is," another cop said as Nikki was taken to the main gate. The chains were removed, as was the collar, but she was pushed inside the large prison with the door locked behind her. She walked in, having been stripped of everything but the clothes on her back and her salvaged family picture. She looked left and right, seeing people crying, and holding each other for comfort. People who were separated from and had lost their loved ones. Some were having others tend to their injuries, and those who seemed to have died where they were. Children were calling for their parents and parents calling for their children.

    "This is..." Nikki muttered, unable to come up with the right words. "This isn't right. This isn't right at all." In the middle of the intersection, she fell onto her knees and cried.

24: 24

    Nikki cried for what felt like an eternity, until she couldn't cry any more. She stood up and wiped her now bloodshot eyes, and just walked. She walked and walked, not knowing where to go or what to do. She turned down an alley way and collapsed against a building out of sheer exhaustion, her hands holding up her head as she stared at the dirty concrete. She sat there for an hour or so, until she felt someone's gaze. She looked up, her neck aching, and she was met with the sad yet curious eyes of Nico.

    "N... Nico?" she asked, her voice soft with surprise. The little boy stared at her while she reached out and pulled him into her arms. "Nico. I'm so glad you're safe." She began crying again and Nico wrapped his small arms around her neck. They stayed like this for another short while until Nikki let him go. "Where's Mommy and Daddy? Are they here too?" Nico gave her a small nod and took ahold of her hand. She stood up and Nico led her with a rather quick pace for his young age. Nikki picked him up so they could go faster and she followed his route as he pointed left and right. After a few blocks, she saw a bakery up ahead. "Nico, that's a bakery." Nico shook his head and pointed at it again. Nikki sighed and walked inside, since there wasn't really a door anymore.

    "We're closed," a voice said roughly from the kitchen. Nico was staring at the cakes and cookies behind the glass. "Hey, ya deaf? I said we're closed!" Before the voice stepped out from the kitchen, to gasp at the sight of Nikki, she knew that she had heard it before.

    "Azuki?" Nikki asked.

    "Oh my God, Nikki. You made it."

    "Into prison."

    "Amen sister."

    "Let me guess, you got stopped at the airport?"

    "Yeah. It was a mess."

    "What about Kashou?"

    "I don't know. Last we saw him, he was tellin 'em to let us go."

    "So Chocola and the others...?"

    "We're set up here," Azuki said with a nod. "And with only a few scratches. Nuts and Maple went out so get us some supplies."

    "Oh. I'm just glad to know that you're all safe."

    "So who's the kid? Yours?"

    "No. A friend's."

    "Ah." Nico whined softly and pointed at the cakes. "Is he hungry or something?"

    "Probably. He knows his words, he just doesn't use them."

    "That's so weird. Besides kid, these are fake. Why else would they stay fresh this long? I'll see if we have anything though."

    "Thanks." Nikki sat Nico down in a chair at the only table that was undamaged and Azuki came back out.

    "We found some chips and got the soda machine working, but all we have hooked up is water though."

    "Thanks anyway Azuki."

    "Sure." Nico whined when he heard that there were no sweets, but he nibbled on some chips anyway. After their snack, Nikki nodded a thanks. "Okay Nico, can you take me you your Mommy and Daddy?" Nico nodded and pointed down the road. Nikki walked that way and Nico buried his face on her shoulder. She giggled and smiled. After walking, she began to hear a voice.

    "Nico? Nico!" Nico's tiny ears perked up at the sound of his name and he jumped out of Nikki's arms and ran toward his mother. Nikki followed after him, seeing Meah standing outside an apartment building. "Nico!" Meah picked him up and hugged him close. "Oh baby, don't go running off like that!" She looked up and saw Nikki. "Nikki?"

    "Meah. I'm glad you're safe."

    "Oh me too, dear." Meah hugged her as well, setting Nico down and he walked inside.

    "How are the others?"

    "The kids are safe, aside from a few bumps and bruises. I'm just glad it only turned out that way." Meah wiped her eyes with her thumb.

    "How's Aaron?" Meah's answer was a sigh and Nikki knew that something bad happened.

    "Why don't you come on in," Meah said, leading Nikki inside the building. She followed Meah into a bedroom, and saw Aaron asleep on the bed. He had bandages wrapped around the top part of his head and one of his arms that was held up with a sling.

    "What the hell happened?" she asked softly, making sure that none of the kids would hear.

    "He fought some officers when they grabbed the kids. I tried to calm him down... but he didn't listen." Meah sat on the edge of the bed and carefully stroked his forehead. "To be honest, I was more frightened of the rage in his eyes, than of the officers who were detaining us." Nikki could only imagine his expression. "I've never seen him more angry."

    "So what happened to him?"

    "They beat him with their clubs... and I couldn't help him at all. They tied us up and put us in cages..." Meah began to cry with rage, remembering how helpless she felt when she watched her kids being placed in steel cages while her husband was being beaten. "Some day I swear... Trump's gonna pay with his blood..." Nikki looked on in disdain as she wasn't sure how she could possibly help at this point. 

25: 25

    Life in the ghettos was hard for everyone. Sure they had the freedom to move about from place to place, but only in the square miles they had been confined to. After families were finally accounted for and the dead were taken care of, even Oz showed up after awhile, the hybrids slowly began to help each other with their current accommodations. Buildings and storefronts were repaired with the help of a partially-looted hardware store. It was a slow and long effort, but by the time everything had been done, the amount of available materials and resources for the nearly one hundred-thousand hybrids living in the area, had grown to beyond scarce. They complained to the guards surrounding the border fences, and after awhile, food and other necessities were delivered to the center of the concentration area via a cargo crate drop from a military helicopter. Even though there was plenty of supplies, the hybrids were able to work together to proportionate everything for all the families. Nikki helped hand things out.

    "Thank you," a young girl with dog ears said as Nikki gave her a granola bar.

    "Sure," Nikki said, petting the little girl, whose tail wagged happily. She and her mother stepped out of the line and Nikki gave a bar to the next person. Once everything was given out, there was a note saying that whoever in the government who was delivering the crates, would only send one every three days. Nikki and some other hybrids came up with idea to recycle any available materials in order to craft things that the people would need, including the supply crates, which were immediately disassembled every time they were cleaned out. A government was set up, as well as some self-appointed guards to make sure there was no nighttime looting.

    "It's a good thing everyone's working together," Meah said as washed some dishes.

    "Yeah," Nikki agreed, drying them and putting them away. "They force everyone into an area where most of the apartments have nearly everything families need."

    "Well, it would have cost a fortune to build real camps out in the deserted parts of the country."

    "I guess you're right." Life in this area was good, given the certain circumstances. They soon learned that in other concentration areas, the hybrids were freaking out and killing each other for supplies. Nikki figured that in those areas, if almost everyone was dead, the rest would simply be killed off and the people could move back into the area. But this wasn't the case however, for when all the hybrids in some of the areas were completely exterminated, the areas were demolished and towns rebuilt. Soon, the only concentration areas were the one Nikki and Meah were in, as well as seven others along the east coast. Three in the Los Angeles area, one in Seattle, and the city of Wichita in Kansas was an all-hybrid city with a large fence built around it. Nikki figured that all other hybrids were living in underground communities.

    "They're saying that other countries are shocked at Trump's reaction to our riots," Meah said, listening to the radio, which was the only way the people could hear any news in the confined community.

    "I figured," Nikki said, sitting across the table from her, watching the kids play with some meager toys. She glanced at the calendar on the wall. "God, their fifth birthday is coming up here soon, isn't it?" she asked Meah softly. Meah nodded.

    "And to think they won't be getting any presents. I was talking to Akira about this last night and... I had to tell her to not expect much, if anything at all." While they chatted, Aaron was still resting in his room, having suffered a strong concussion and a broken arm. With the meager medical supplies and the only doctor being a retired man, it would be a while before he would fully recover.

26: 26

    It was like any normal day in the caged communities. The weather was a bit crap and the people were waiting for their crate of supplies. While there were several gardens growing, it wouldn't be until next year when they would be able to harvest the food. However, little did the hybrids know, that today, their lives would take another drastic change. The helicopter dropped their usual crate and left. But when Nikki and Oz opened the doors, they were shocked at what they found.

    "What the-?!" Nikki asked in disbelief.

    "Holy-" Oz cut himself off before he swore in front of children. There were murmured questions of confusion.

    "What is it?" a woman asked.

    "Is it empty?" an older man asked.

    "Open the doors," another woman said. Nikki and Oz opened the doors all the way revealing weapons and bulletproof clothing. Everyone gasped as they stared at the contents, uttering questions and theories.

    "It's clear what's going on here," Aaron spoke up as he walked over, surprising Nikki. The gathered crowd watched as Aaron filed through the weapons. "It's obvious that we have a guardian angel. Someone on the inside wants us to fight back!" The crowd began to cheer as Nikki nodded. "It's time for us to fight back! We need to stop this oppression! Before they know, we need to mobilize. It's time."

    The next hour or so, Nikki and Oz met with the elected leaders of the community.

    "We can't just attack," Nikki said. I know we have weapons, but if we just march up there they'll call reinforcements and we'll be slaughtered. No offense Aven," she said to a man with bull horns.

    "None taken," he smirked with a deep voice. "But you're right."

    "There isn't much to those gates," a girl who was younger than Nikki said. "I looked. The outermost gate is made of half-inch steel, but the the other layers are just chain link and barbed wire."

    "And there's the two gates at the entrance," Aven added.

    "Right. We're going to need something to charge through them," Nikki said. Aven raised his hand and waved it around like a palm tree in a hurricane.

    "Ooh, ooh!" he said excitedly.

    "Yes, Aven?"

    "Can I come up with the plan for that?"

    "Don't be giving us any bull shit."

    "I won't be!"

    "Then let your mind do wild."

    "Hell yeah!" He did several fist pumps.

    "Make sure that whatever you get us works."

    "Battering rams?"

    "Perfect."

    "There's an old garage with some cars by the intersection," a man hissed with a snake-like voice.

    "I can get those running," Aaron said and Nikki nodded.

    "You'll need help."

    "I know. I got help."

    "Take the metal from the crates and armour those cars up once you get them running." Aaron nodded.

    "Those'll be perfect," Aven said.

    "Alright," an older man with rabbit ears said. He was the elected mayor of the community. "So I take it all of our plans are finalized?" Everyone else in the room nodded at him. "Good. Now let's get to work."

    After a few days and another drop, this time full of extra ammunition, Nikki and Oz gathered everyone who was willing to fight back and loaded them with weapons and Kevlar vests. Once everyone was set, they all stood in formation, with Nikki and Oz leading.

    "Be safe Nikki," Meah told her as everyone lined up in the middle of the square.

    "I will," Nikki said. Aaron wrapped his arm around Meah and nodded at Nikki. She and the other fighters then began to march toward the main gate in the surrounding fence. At the very same moment, at the gate, everything was quiet.

    "What do you think they're doing now?" one bored guard asked the other.

    "I don't know," he answered. "Why the hell would you ask that?"

    "I don't know either. Bored I guess." There was a moment of silence. "I still don't think we should be giving them stuff every three days. They're just animals anyway." The second guard looked through the gate, suddenly seeing two lines of people moving toward the gate.

    "What the fuck?"

    "What in the name of-?" He was cut off by the sight of a car speeding through the hybrids and right toward the gate. It drove straight into the center of the inner gate at full speed, tearing through it, and stopping toward the right side of the outer gate. The guards jumped back, their guns at the ready. Suddenly, they were alerted by the sound of another speeding vehicle, this one tearing through the outer gate. That was the cue for Nikki and the small hybrid army to charge and overwhelm the guards before anyone could call for back-up. 

27: 27

    While Nikki and the others were off fighting their way out of the gate, Aaron had managed to get an old city bus working and Oz drove it and everyone else out of what had been known as home for the past month or so. Needless to say, this was the best birthday present Aaron and Meah's children would ever get. Their freedom. Nikki and the others were able to rescue the drivers of the battering rams, not that they were too badly injured, but nevertheless, Aven and the other driver stood up and grabbed a gun, ready to fight. The guards were taken out as well as their radios, but Nikki figured that the sounds of the gunfire would be heard by the other guard posts eventually. Since there wasn't very many people who were continuing with their normal lives outside the hybrid prison, they commandeered some of the military vehicles and continued on their way out of the city, followed by the bus Oz was driving. After some phone calls, it was time for good news.

    "Hey, everyone got out!" Aven declared in the back of the truck, with cheers. Nikki smiled from the driver seat.

    "So what now?" someone asked.

    "You're all going to get somewhere safe," Nikki said.

    "What are you gonna do?" Aven asked her.

    "I'm gonna head down to DC. I have a meeting with Mr. Trump." She parked the truck outside a car dealership that had another white Lamborghini like the one she used to have and Aven climbed into the driver seat, driving the truck away, while Nikki went in with her gun and nicely asked to have the keys to the white Lamborghini. Of course they complied, even though they said that Nikki wouldn't get far. But despite their warnings, Nikki took the car and started driving south. It would be about a five hour drive, but Nikki knew that if she drove at a decent speed, she could make it there in about four. Stopping for gas and slowing for the police, she finally made it to Washington DC, and by then, the country had heard the news that the New York City hybrid prison had been broken out. She drove right up to the front of the white house, and headed inside, having hesitantly left her weapons in her stolen car.

    "Hey you," a security agent said, stopping her at the door. "You're a hybrid. What concentration prison did you break out of?"

    "I'm here to speak with the president," Nikki said with calm determination.

    "I need back-up," the man said into his watch.

    "I need to speak with President Trump," she said.

    "No you don't," he said, grabbing her arm.

    "Who needs to see me?" a voice said from down the hall.

    "Mr. President, get back to your office," another guard said.

    "What's going on here?" Trump said walking around the corner. He and Nikki made eye contact. "What's a hybrid doing here?"

    "Mr. Trump, please listen to me," Nikki said.

    "How'd she get out?"

    "I don't know sir," a guard said.

    "Mr. Trump please listen!" Nikki begged.

    "Wait a minute," Trump said, stepping closer, the guard holding Nikki's arms tighter. "You look..."

    "I'm Nikki, from New York. I was with Colin Pantera."

    "Yeah, that was you. How'd you get out of the New York camp?"

    "We broke ourselves out. Sir, we don't want to hurt anyone. We never meant to hurt you or anyone else."

    "I tried to reason with you people, but you still got angry and attacked-"

    "I never did! Blame those who couldn't keep their damn heads level!" Nikki was nearly in tears. "But you shouldn't imprison the elderly and children for the mistakes of a few jackasses!"

    "Sir-" a guard started.

    "Shut up," Trump said. "Nikki, how'd you get here so quickly?"

    "I'll admit sir, I stole a car, but I promised I'd bring it back," Nikki admitted.

    "Okay. Let me think." Trump thought for a few minutes, while the guards and other officials looked on in surprise at the entire ordeal. "Alright. I'll have Congress assign cities and districts to be all-hybrid-only areas. No fences, no walls." He almost had a disappointed tone in his voice. "But, as soon as that is done, all hybrids will be forced to choose where to live, and you'll be going to serve time for stealing a car."

    "I know sir," Nikki said softly. "I know."

    "Now get her out of here." The guards forced Nikki away from him, holding her wrists together with a zip-tie.

    "Thank you for listening to me Sir," Nikki said over her shoulder with a warm smile. Trump sighed and walked back to the oval office to call Congress.

28: 28

    Five years later, the gate of the prison opened up and Nikki walked out, breathing some real fresh air for the first time in five years. She was surprised to see a white Lamborghini waiting for her. There was an envelope under the wiper with a presidential seal. Nikki read it with wide, eager eyes. It was a typed letter from President Trump, who was elected for a second term. It read: "To Nikki, thank you for helping me see just how wrong I was about hybrids. Thanks to your and your suggestions, we are no longer a laughing stock country. As my only thanks, I've talked with the dealership, and they'll let you keep this, since it seemed to have caught your eyes. Sincerely, President Donald J. Trump." There was a copy of his signature on the bottom of the letter.

    Nikki laughed giddily, and climbed in. She started the engine and drove straight toward the hybrid district in New York City. It was the suburban area where the apartments were still standing. When she arrived, there was a welcoming party waiting for her. Oz, Aaron, Meah, their nine children, who were ten years old now, Lily, Noble, and everyone else from she remembered were applauding. Even Kashou and the others showed up, including his younger sister Shigure.

    "Welcome home, Nikki," Oz said.

    "Yay!" the kids were saying. Nico ran over to her and Nikki picked him up and he laughed and hugged her.

    "Glad you're back," Lily said.

    "Gosh guys," Nikki said. "You really shouldn't have."

    "You earned it, Nikki," Aaron said.

    "Thanks to you, Trump said that we could live our peaceful, normal lives," Meah said. "We were even able to send the kids to school."

    "So everything's back to how it was then huh?" Nikki asked, setting Nico down.

    "There's a few differences," Oz said.

    "Like...?"

    "I got a full shop set up over there," Lily said, pointing over her shoulder. "With this beautiful son-of-a-gun helpin' me out."

    "Yeah," Noble admitted. "I work there now."

    "Doing what?" Nikki asked with a tone of disbelief.

    "Eh..."

    "Retail and receptionist," Lily said with a slightly dominant smirk.

    "Yeah, that." Nikki laughed.

    "Master's business finally got expanded here in America!" Chocola said happily.

    "You couldn't let me say it, Chocola?" Kashou asked her with a laugh. "But yes. La Soleil has four locations in Japan and now 2 in the United States. One in Manhattan and the other in Los Angeles."

    "Congratulations," Nikki said.

    "Come on Nikki," Alexis said, taking her hand. "Let's go have fun!"

    "Yeah," Akira said, taking ahold of Nikki's other hand.

    "Kids," Meah said.

    "It's alright," Nikki said. The party headed inside and Nikki was surprised to see a large cake that had 'Welcome Home' written in icing. Nikki was given the first slice and once everyone had a piece, Oz raised his plate.

    "A toast, to our hybrid hero," he said. "To Nikki."

    "To Nikki," everyone else said. Nikki was beginning to cry out of sheer happiness.

    "Really guys... thanks," she said. "I wish Leo were here." A silence fell over everyone.

    "So do I," Layna said, Jack nodding in a silent agreement. "We all do. But he'll always be here in our hearts." Now Nikki nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. It took a few moments, but the life of the party was slowly resurrected and everyone had regained their happy, smiling expressions and conversations.

    "Nikki, you owe us 5 birthday presents," Cinema said.

    "I know," Nikki laughed.

    "One for each of us," Rikki added and Kia giggled.

    "Okay now, let's not get greedy." The other kids laughed with a mischievous tone, before scurrying off somewhere. With the kids either gone, in the other rooms, or out back playing on the playground, Layna unlocked the beverage cabinets at the bar.

    "Okay everyone, it'll be happy hour all afternoon!" she declared, some adults cheering while someone turned on the television to a football game. Then, the main door opened, and everyone quieted and looked over. It was Colin Pantera.

    "Am I late?" he asked.

    "Just in time, Colin," Nikki said. He laughed and joined in the festivities.

    "Glad you made it out in one piece," he said. Nikki talked about her time after she was caught up on news and events. Layna and Jack had even gotten married about a month before Nikki was released from prison. Everyone enjoyed themselves late into that evening and Nikki, she knew that she would never forget what had happened that day, the five years in prison, and the time of war, and she smiled to herself.

29: 29

    The next day, Nikki waved Aaron and Meah's kids boarded their school bus, watching as it trundled away. Once the big, yellow bus was out of sight, she walked back inside the complex, where Oz was serving breakfast. Nikki had helped herself to a big bowl of noodles with fish chunks, just like she had nearly ten years ago.

    "What's wrong Nikki?" Oz asked her as she stared at her breakfast, lost in thought.

    "Huh?" she asked, looking up at him.

    "You were staring into your food."

    "Sorry, I was just doing some thinking."

    "What about?"

    "Well, it just occurred to me... I'm almost 30, and I'm still a virgin."

    "Uh..." Oz went red in the face slightly, unsure what to do or say.

    "Oz!" someone called from the kitchen.

    "Sorry, Nikki," Oz said, leaving Nikki alone.

    "Morning Nikki," a voice said behind her. She turned and saw Lily walk in with Noble not far behind.

    "Morning Lily."

    "Did I hear you say that you were still a virgin?" Lily asked, sliding into the chair across the table, with Noble heading to the breakfast bar.

    "Well..." Now Nikki blushed slightly. "Yeah. It just hit me that I'm almost 30 and I haven't done it with anyone."

    "Ooh, looks like we need to find ya a hot tomcat," Lily said with a very sly, almost sensual, smirk.

    "Hey, come on, I'm not that desperate."

    "Well you better hurry," Noble said sitting down with a stack of pancakes.

    "You heard that too?" Nikki asked.

    "Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone did. But like I said, you better hurry, because if you're still a virgin when you turn 30, you become a wizard." Nikki and Lily stared at him in utter disbelief at what they had just heard, wondering if that was indeed, what they actually had heard.

    "What?" Lily asked.

    "If you're a virgin when you turn 30 you become a wizard," he repeated.

    "What the hell are you smoking?" Nikki asked.

    "Is Nikki going into heat?" Vanilla asked in her soft voice as she and Chocola walked by the table.

    "No!" Nikki said. "I am not!"

    "Can we please take this conversation elsewhere?" they heard Oz ask from the kitchen. Nevertheless, everyone just laughed, including Nikki. Oz started laughing too after a few moments and everyone else joined in the fun. Later around lunch time, Nikki found out that even though the shooting ranges were still open, there were no guns anywhere in the apartment complex. Everyone moved out onto the outdoor patio where Oz was serving up some good tuna, much to the enjoyment of Kashou and Shigure. Noble and Lily shared a steak while Aaron and Meah had their share of the tuna. Afterward was a different story.

    "How about him?" Lily asked Nikki.

    "What are you talking about?" Nikki asked with confusion. Lily showed Nikki her phone screen. "Really? A dating app?"

    "Come on, you said it yourself-"

    "Lily, please," Nikki dismissed her. "I said that I'm not that desperate."

    "He is pretty cute Nikki." She showed her the screen again. Nikki sighed and got a better look at the guy.

    "Damn, you're right," she muttered, and started scrolling through the profiles.

    "Maybe you should set up your own account."

    "Maybe I will." Nikki left, and went to her new room, which was actually the same room that was originally hers. She sat down at her computer and did some online surfing. She went back outside after about 45 minutes.

    "You have fun?" Lily asked.

    "No," Nikki said. "But I have a date Saturday night."

    "Ooh," Chocola and Vanilla purred as they and their sisters surrounded Nikki.

    "Tell Chocola more," Chocola said.

    "What's he look like?" Maple asked.

    "How big are his ears?" Vanilla asked.

    "How long's his... tail?" Cinnamon asked, shuddering slightly.

    "Girls please," Nikki said, stepping back away from them. "I don't know him that well yet."

   "Come on girls," Kashou said. With groans of disappointment, Nikki was left alone. She went back to her room out of boredom and laid back on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Personally, she was quite looking forward to Saturday and she hoped that her date would go well. She found herself smiling as she thought about how her life would only get better from here on out, but then she remembered, her life was already getting better since the day she followed Oz and Leo home.