The guards turned to see Alexandria and Veronica advancing on their position. Some of them froze in place since Veronica was well known in the city. A guard stepped up raising her hand. “There is no need to fear any of them. We must stop this before more of our people die at the hands of these monsters.” The guards around her didn’t run but they didn’t make an attempt to attack either. The smell of blood and the thick smoke was still assaulting everyone’s senses. A nice gust of wind would be just the thing to get this battle moving forward.

There was a silence that swept over the battlefield. Veronica and Alexandria made it to the others with the guard who was apparently a leader turning her full attention to them. A shriek came from above as V landed on Alexandria's shoulder. "I think you have things confused. We are not monsters, we are all people here, we just have abilities y'all can't control." Alexandria gave the guard a slight smirk holding her weapon at the ready.

Lyric was relieved to see Alexandria back. She was trying to wait for the right moments to go invisible again. The guard speaking was just the enemy she wanted to take out; there was no reason for anyone to speak to them that way, especially to Alexandria. Of course there was really nothing anyone could do to stop her so she flicked her wrist and disappeared.

The lead guard was too focused on Alexandria to notice Lyric's disappearance. The rest of the guards turned with her weapons pointed directly at Alexandria. The other is in the crew immediately moved between the guards and Alexandria. The main female guard raised an eyebrow. "It's interesting to note that even monsters have loyalty."

Alexandria wrinkled her nose and cracked her neck twice on both sides. "There you go again with that monster comment. How the hell do you know anything about what we go through? Perhaps it's about time someone taught you a lesson." Alexandria snapped her fingers once the echo of the sound reverberated around the area.

While the talking was going on Lyric positioned herself behind the female guard captain. She took in a deep breath and a soft giggle escaped her lips as she thrusted her rapier through the woman's back and out her chest. She took great care to avoid any vital organs when she did so, pulling the guard close to her and whispering in her ear. "If we are these monsters that you call us, shouldn't you be afraid of what we can do?"

Lyric looked up making eye contact with Alexandria. The female guard captain coughed a bit trying to struggle but lyric had full control over the situation. Alexandria put up her hand for a moment looking at the guard captain.

"We passed down judgment because no one was there to watch out for us or our monster kind as you have labeled us. Of course if you had just tried to understand us maybe there could have been some type of equal right situation. Of course any guard that serves in these facilities of their own free will doesn't deserve to live." Alexandria moved her hand across her throat turning to the other guards.

A devious smile crossed Lyric's lips and she breathed a little bit on the back of the guard captain's neck. "If you had shown even a little compassion maybe this would have gone a different way for you." Lyric pulled the rapier out of the guard captain's chest, kicked her at the knees and drove the rapier through her throat. She pulled the rapier out, wiping the blood off on the card captain's uniform.

"Any of you have a choice: put down your weapons and maybe live in indentured servitude or die where you stand a most gruesome death." Alexandria was done with pleasantries; she had no problem accepting people from the walled City who were just as trapped as her people were. However anyone that looked down upon ability users would die there was no saving them.

None of the guards made a move. Which was both disappointing and exciting since a statement was going to be made out of their unwillingness to comply. Of course they still believed that just because they had firearms they still had a chance to win. That was foolish to say the least since all of the crew members already demonstrated their skills in battle.

“If all of you wish to follow your guard captain that is fine by me. There is no room in this growing empire for those who refuse to change.” Alexandria looked at Veronica gesturing to the guards in front of them. She was going to get what she wanted. That was to kill any and all guards that called this place their home. Of course that was supposed to be just for the facility guards. However Alexandria felt it fitting that Veronica was able to finish off the rest. The next stop would be the walled cities leader who would be killed by Alexandria.

Veronica stepped forward cracking her knuckles and started to jump around as she usually did before fighting someone. “I am sure most of you know who I am. There are a few that have never been down to the facility. You all are about to feel the full rage of my ability along with the extent of my emotions.” She jumped into the air putting the full force of a right handed punch straight into one of the guard’s faces. They spiraled backwards, having died on impact from their nose bone shooting up into their brain.

The other guards tried to flee but the rest of the crew surrounded the action, not allowing anyone to escape the mayhem that was Veronica. The circle became a bit of death with blood, guts, and brain matter flying everywhere. The mayhem only lasted about ten minutes since none of the guards were a match for Veronica’s fury or her martial art skills. Silence gripped the area as the crew just stood there looking over all the carnage that had taken place around them.

“Now that all the unpleasantness is over for the moment. Everyone, this is Veronica and she will be the final member of our core crew. Once we are finished with the city all of us will sit down and discuss the future of the crew moving forward.” Alexandria was happy to have finally completed the core crew and introduced everyone to Veronica. Hopefully they would all get along and her dreams would all come true.

Everyone introduced themselves and it was a positive experience. Of course Tyra wasn’t there since she was still posted up outside the city. However Alexandria was sure her and Veronica would hit it off just fine. Now the only thing left to do was take care of the leader who governed this walled city. After that was taken care of the city could be razed to the ground. Alexandria was going to allow Isa to have that honor which should make her extremely happy.

The group made their way to the leader’s home in the center of the city. There were no guards posted at the gate because all of them were sent to deal with the invasion. Veronica took down the door with a single punch as the group walked in admiring the décor. A man ran down the stairs in a light body suit, most likely one of the newer models. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs looking at the crew in disbelief.

“How in the hell were you able to kill all my guards?” Of course there was no need for his question to be answered when he spotted Veronica standing in the group. The leader clicked his tongue, turning his full attention to Veronica. “Why the hell would you align yourself with these damn pirates? You are my property and as such are not allowed to do whatever you please.”

Veronica was about to move forward when Alexandria’s hand went up, stopping her for the moment. “You have no claim over anyone no matter who you are. This is one of the reasons life has not returned to this land the way it should have. People like you should be torn to pieces and fed to wild animals.” Alexandria was in no mood for anyone that spoke in that manner. She was going to put him in his place even if she had to chop him up into tiny pieces herself.

The leader pulled a pistol from his holster. A knife flew through the air boring into his hand sticking it to his leg. “Now why would you go and do a dumbass thing like that?” Eve gave the leader a sly smile putting her hand back inside her jacket. She didn’t get to kill many guards so injuring this stuck up asshole was a joy and a pleasure.

He cried out in pain trying to pull the knife free of his hand and leg. Of course that was an impossible task since Eve really knew how to get those stuck into anything just about. His cries echoed around the room for a bit until Alexandria finally moved forward getting within inches of the man. The leader tried to step backwards but tripped over the step behind him. There was nothing really he could do but stare up at her with fear in his eyes.

“You had a lot to say when you believed the upper hand was yours. Now that you’ve fallen on your back everything has changed hasn’t it?” Alexandria paused for a moment looking over the body suit trying to find a way to take it off. This man wasn’t good enough to be killed by anyone in the crew. It would be a waste of their talent and time. “How about you tell us which of the larger walled cities you serve under? After that we can sit down and write them a letter telling them everything that happened here. What do you say to that?” Alexandria moved closer to the man so close her breath fogged up the goggles that went with his suit.

No one said a word for a moment and the only sound was V moving back and forth on Alexandria’s shoulder. The leader didn’t know what to say or do at the moment. He was completely outclassed and outnumbered. No matter what he did the end result was going to be the same. They were going to kill him so he should go down on his terms not theirs. The only problem was he had no idea what his terms of dying looked like.

Alexandria backed handed the man one good time. She believed that would be enough motivation to at least get him to speak. There wasn’t time for this when she had so much planned after the city was burned to the ground. “Are you going to get up on your own or do I have to have Veronica make you move?” Alexandria’s patience was starting to tick down and it wouldn’t be long before it hit zero.

After a few moments the leader put his hands up shaking his head. “Alright let's go write this letter. Whatever you want it isn’t like I can do anything to stop you.” He crawled backwards a few steps and stood up. He walked past Alexandria making his way to the desk in the corner of the main room. This place wasn’t as high tech as the facility down below. It had a more old world feel to it which Alexandria kinda liked if only a little bit.

“Alright that is much better. Now tell the leader of your larger walled city that all of you are put on notice. The Crimson Judgment will fall upon you as a bitter rain of vengeance. Nothing will stop this storm. So hide in your walled cities for as long as you can. The storm will soon be on your doorstep and there is no place to hide from our judgment.” Alexandria watched as the leader scribbled down everything she just said. It was surreal to watch it actually happening before her eyes. Now it was time to sign it and have it sent off.

Alexandria drew her scythe blade from the cane and slit the leader’s throat with one swift motion. Blood spewed all over the place and thankfully missed ruining the letter on the desk. She pulled her quill pen from its place in her coat dabbing the end in the leader’s blood. Each of the crew members signed their name at the bottom of the letter. Even V put a bloody talon print on the paper.

The final touch was Alexandria signing Crimson Judgment at the bottom. She grabbed an envelope for the desk drawer and sealed the letter inside. A raven sat on the desk in a cage above. Alexandria opened the cage and attacked the letter to the bird whispering in its ear. “Now go and fly to your master. Deliver to them our Crimson Judgment.” She released the bird out the door. This was the beginning of what was going to be a bloody campaign on both sides. The Crimson Judgment versus The Walled Cities.