Another short story me and Kobaltic did together. It was on docs for a long time and lately, we have made some minor changes and additions. I think the story is good, I've been meaning to put it up.

Harmony was rummaging through an old trunk in the basement, mostly out of boredom. The trunk belonged to her mother, who unfortunately died when her brother was born by a disease with no cure. As she rummaged through old clothes and worn-out trinkets, she stumbled across an old picture of her mom and a black-haired and green-eyed man that oddly looked like the leader of the terrorist organization she, her friends, and family were fighting against: Black Rose. She flipped the picture to the back and her suspicion was confirmed, much to her dismay.

“MD + WC” was written on the back of the picture. She recognized the initials as Mavis Dawn, her mother, and Winslow Creed, the man who now wants to destroy humanity and replace it with his own version.

Her hidden Mei'fwa ears perked up when she realized who the man actually was. Her ears folded back, indicating she was scared. Her father was a leader of a terrorist group. The weight of the realization fell upon her as she realized that this man was one of the last people she though who would be directly related to her.

She quickly rushed to a computer and began to search for events regarding Black Rose’s cover company: Black Rose Genetics Incorporated. There was to be a private party at the Black Rose headquarters at 19:30. If she was going to save her father, this may be the only opportunity she was going to be given.

She quickly looked back at the trunk to check if she missed anything. Her search revealed that there were only pictures of her mother's siblings, a surprising lack of evidence that her mom was ever with anyone else, and a letter for Winslow, as apparent from her mother’s handwriting on the front of the envelope. It had never been opened though, and it had been sealed for a little over a century. Whatever it was, it wasn’t for her eyes. It was for Winslow’s eyes only, as evidenced by her mother’s handwriting on the front.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her reflection watching from the mirror. She knew it wasn’t really her reflection, but a separate entity. Her stepsister, to be specific, dressed in red and staring at her with brown eyes. In her eyes were a light of anger and the void of confusion. She was also trapped in the Mirror Realm, so there was nothing she could do about it. Her stepsister didn't say a word as Harmony took the letter and the photo and ran upstairs.

Several minutes later, she found herself in front of the building in a grey tank top, black jacket, heeled boots, and dark pants, her hair was also no longer in short pigtails, letting her void-black hair flow to her shoulders. She crossed her arms, frustrated that her diplomatic abilities weren’t up to par.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the burly guard apologized, “but Mr. Creed himself said no one outside of the company gets let in. Not even interns.”

She sighed with frustration, moving her hands to her hips. It was at this moment that she decided to resort to a tactic she reserved for crucial moments like these. She whispered something in to the guard's ear that she thought was sure to allow her entrance.

The guard smiled, reaching for his pants. “Well,” he reasoned, “I suppose Mr. Creed would understand-“

A sudden burst of electric energy washed over the guard’s body, disrupting every nerve in his body and overloading them with pain. He fell to his knees, then fell on his face. Harmony, wide-eyes and full of adrenalin, turned to where the burst came from, and her emotions returned to frustration at the sight of her boyfriend.

His silver hair almost glowed in the pale moonlight, and his blue eyes burned with anger. His right hand was stretched forth, still arcing with power. As he lowered his arm to his side, he growled, “You CAN’T be serious! Am I so forgettable that you think you can have you way with whoever is standing in your way?!”

“It was my only way in,” she explained. “I had no other choice. I was lying to him anyway. What are you going here?”

“I was going to get some information from their network,” he replied. “I needed to know exactly what Black Rose is doing to their test subjects so I could find a way to reverse it and give them their lives back.”

Harmony considered it for a moment, then nodded. “Good reason. I also have some business here. And I'll tell you afterwards back at my place.” She began to walk into the building, stealing the guard’s identity card as she passed his twitching body.

Felix rolled his eyes, following her. “At least get yourself a more convincing disguise,” he suggested. “Only wearing black can only take you so far with an organization like this.”
As if on cue, he stretched out his hand and stunned a guard who had appeared out of nowhere and attempted to attack them. Examining the newly-tased guard, he ripped a badge off the guard’s sleeve and gave it to Harmony. “You can quickly attach this, right?”
Harmony put it on in a matter of seconds with no trouble and no other materials, impressed that Black Rose had such advanced technology that their badges sewed themselves to their clothes. “We have to split up,” she suggested. “If you knew where I was going, you'd send me straight home. Besides, you have a job to do."

“Very well,” Felix surrendered. “I’ll be in the server rooms in the floor below. You’ll probably know I’m done by the sound of the electronics screaming.” With that, he tightened his left hand into a fist and disappeared in a flash of energy.

Harmony made her way to the fourth floor of the 5-story building and started to go through the crowd, she could see a handful of men staring at her, some with nosebleeds, and some with hands on their concealed weapons. She ignored them all and headed towards Winslow.

Harmony’s expectations of what the dark-haired founder of the terrorist organization was like had been shattered when she saw Winslow Gaius Creed in the flesh for the first time. As she and the others watched, Winslow danced, drank, and threw up at least once. After a minute of this, he passed out, prompting a red-haired man and one of the guards to drag him to a nearby elevator, likely taking him to his office on the 5th floor so he could recover.

Harmony just stood there for a moment, wondering if this really was her father. She had just witnessed him getting so drunk that he passed out, resulting in two guys having to drag him away. She had her doubts now, but the evidence she saw was clear. She knew this wasn’t the best scenario for a reunion, but it was her only shot.

She attempted to take the elevator, but the elevator refused to open because the guard’s keycard didn’t have the right security clearance. After being sufficiently frustrated, she spitefully took the stairs to the 5th floor.

When she arrived, she took the opportunity to hide and observe. She saw the red-haired man and the guard leave the office, clearly having dropped off her father. They stood outside of the office for a moment, while the red-haired executive ordered with a heavy Irish accent, “Keep an eye on the poor lad. If I hear even a damned peep from up here, I’ll rip yer heart out and shove it down your wretched gullet, ya’ hear?” The guard sternly nodded and stood at attention, firmly gripping his rifle. The executive left the guard, returning to the party via the elevator.

She realized that the guard would probably shoot her if he saw her, as any guard being threatened with Death By Temple Of Doom would be inclined to do. Calling upon one of her many abilities granted by the genetic mess her uncle instilled within every fiber of her being, she became invisible, shrouding herself with darkness. She crossed the hallway, her footsteps silenced by her shroud, and entered the office without anyone noticing.

The office she entered was a very nice-looking office to be sure. It honestly looked like any other office, maybe even going so far as to call it a study. That being said, it would fit anyone else if the walls weren’t pulsing with soft green light and demonic artifacts didn’t decorate the room. She felt a chill run down her spine as she realized that every decoration in the room had the same mark of the entity she only ever heard Felix mention twice: Fatal. It was almost as though the darkest evil in the universe was in the room with her, waiting for the right time to strike. She ignored her feelings and moved towards the desk.

The desk itself was completely black, only lit by small terminals and a desktop monitor. Behind the desk, near the right wall of the office, was a couch. Laying on that couch, covered in vomit and drool, was her father.

She saw a small blue holographic human suddenly appear on the desk, looking down at a tablet as though it was checking the vitals of the terrorist that was now laying on the couch and moaning in his sleep. It looked around for a moment, as though it heard a sound, and tried to find the source of the disruption. It found nothing. The hologram soon disappeared, looking disappointed as the light that formed it was deactivated.

Harmony, thinking she was now safe, became visible and silently walked over to the desk, placing the letter and photo on it when she got close enough to reach it. She looked back at her father, sound asleep on the couch, wishing that she could talk to him. Alas, it was not time for that. She then saw the hologram appear again on the panel, looking at her. Harmony looked at it with a calm expression. She gave off a small, warm smile to the hologram and backed away from the desk. It stared back at her with no expression, but was trying to figure out why she was here, and why she did that.

She heard footsteps coming towards the office and immediately became invisible again. As the door opened and in rushed the same man from moments ago, the hologram immediately disappeared. The guard held his rifle and was ready to fire at whatever had tripped the alarm the hologram sent a few moments after he saw Harmony smiling at him and backing away.

He found nothing.

The guard paused for a moment, reaching for something on his helmet. Within seconds, he was granted the ability to detect heat signatures through the visor on the guard’s helmet. The first heat signature he saw was his leader’s.

He looked around, and found Harmony's heat signature. In a panic, he squeezed the trigger on his rifle, lighting up the room and filling it with the sound of gunfire and waking Winslow into a panicked state. Harmony took a bullet to the stomach and her arm, which immediately made her turn visible. Her eyes flashed green for a moment before falling to her knees.
The guard held his rifle’s barrel to her head, screaming at her to not move and put her hands in the air. Harmony, out of fear, did as she was told and began to softly cry.

The guard barked into his radio, “I have an intruder in the Legate office. I require a medic and additional guards.” He glanced at Winslow, who was now asleep once more, although he was now sleeping on the floor with his butt in the air.

“I have only a taser,” she quietly explained, “But only for protection.. I wasn't going to hurt him, I swear…”

All of a sudden, a loud blaring alarm sounded throughout the entire building, and red lights pulsed in the office and down the hall. The guard’s eyes widened behind his visor as his radio called out that someone had breached their security in the server room.

Harmony was too scared to move or even say another word. The guard checked her for any weapons, and found only the taser Harmony mentioned, but drained of power. He looked as though he wanted to scratch his head from the sudden wave of confusion, realizing immediately that the taser had to have been for self defense, but she was somehow unaware that there was no juice in her only line of defense. “Why did you come here?!” The guard asked her.

Harmony was still too scared to speak, then the guard noticed that something new was on Winslow's desk.

The guard investigated the object, seeing that it was a letter addressed to Winslow Gaius Creed. The guard turned back to Harmony, only to witness her disappear in a flash of energy.

Harmony took a moment to reorient herself, since she had been pulled through a Rift. She found herself outside of the building, being held in the loving arms of Felix of House T’Hraxx.

The moment would’ve been quite sweet and romantic if Harmony wasn’t losing blood so quickly. Her vision blurred as dark blood leaked from the bullet holes, making it hard to see who was holding her. “...Who….?” she managed to get out before gasping for air.

Felix immediately sent her and himself to the hospital via a Rift, shouting for help. He stayed with her for the rest of the night, making sure she was alright while the nurses and doctors did what they had to so Harmony could live.

The next day, Winslow woke up with a ULTRA-MEGA-HANGOVER©™ headache that felt like a lumberjack had split his head open with three axes covered in barbed wire. He groaned with agony, prompting his AI assistant to reappear and check his vitals. A moment later, a shot glass full of a strange serum and a glass of water appeared on Winslow’s desk, which Winslow drank almost immediately. Half an hour later, Winslow felt like himself again: ready to perfect humanity and obliterate what could not be saved.

“Good morning, Mr. Creed,” the hologram greeted, “Since you were last awake, you received 20 emails from 13 separate contacts, 5 separate messages from the lab informing you that the process for genetic perfection had been further streamlined per your orders, and 2 security breaches were reported, one of them taking place in this very office.”

“Oh, do tell, Bertram,” Winslow ordered, his Hungarian accent accenting his deep and authoritative voice.

Bertram’s image flickered as the desk lit up, producing an image of a keyboard and two documents in front of Winslow. “The first security breach occurred at 21:29:16. An unidentified intruder entered your office under some form of invisibility and placed two objects on your desk. The second security breach occurred at 21:32:01. Felix of House T’Hraxx managed to bypass our firewalls and obtain data regarding the genetic perfection process.”

Winslow sighed, almost growling. “Install improved firewalls where applicable. It won’t do much against that alien trash, but every little bit helps. As for the intruder incident, tell the guard who was at the door to speak with me later.”

Bertram shuddered a little bit, “Yes, sir.” He went quiet for a moment before stating, “She did have a lovely smile, though, I will admit that. And based on her actions and motives, she had no intent on hurting you at all.”

Winslow looked at him, he seemed confused yet worried. “She.. smiled at you? How did you respond?” Winslow asked.

Bertram thought for a moment, trying to recall what had happened. “I alerted the guard, as I should. Nothing more, nothing less,” the hologram replied.

Winslow looked at the hologram and told him, “Show some emotion once in a while, Bertram. It’s the least you can do if you’re ever going to become anything like humanity.”

“Affirmative,” Bertram replied. “I’ll start construction of appropriate emotional responses to various stimuli.”

It was then that he noticed the letter on his desk. Curiosity overwhelmed him and he opened the letter, reading what he found inside.

Winslow.

By the time you are reading this, you've probably met our 2 children. I never told you about them and I sincerely apologize for that. I don’t think I’ll live for much longer after I give birth to them, but I want you to know that it’s not their fault. It’s mine. I should’ve told you about my disease after I found out I was pregnant, but you were gone before I found out. I guess it’s too late for that now. I won’t be alive long enough for anything else to matter. I don’t know what the government will do with our children, but please find them. Whatever you do next is up to you, but please, for our children's sake, don't reject them and disown them.

Yours forever,
-Mavis

Winslow couldn’t believe what he was reading. His old one-night-stand, giving birth to two children? He thought it was a joke for a moment, until he realized that it was truly her handwriting. He set down the letter, rage now creeping into his system. He roared, putting a hole in the wall. He took every precaution, as had Mavis, and yet THIS happened! Was it a failure of the product, or was it a neglect of safety protocol that Mavis never admitted to? He’d never know the answer now.

“Sir, please, don't break the walls,” Bertram advised. “It costs us every time you or Haunt do that when you get upset.”

The red-haired executive then entered the office, blood covering his hand. “Sorry for being so late,” he apologized. “I was upholding my promise ta’ one of th’ guards and I had ta’ clean up th’ body-“ He paused, seeing the hole in the wall, the letter on the desk, and the anger in Winslow’s eyes. “Did I catch ya’ at a bad time?”

“No, no,” Winslow replied, calm returning to his voice. He sat down at his desk and set the letter aside. “I just… Found something unexpected.”

“Ah, I see,” the executive confirmed. Winslow noticed the blood on his friend’s hand and asked, “Did you do the Temple Of Doom thing?”

“Yeah,” the executive admitted. “The poor lad used ta’ be the guard who failed ta’ do his duty last night.” He sat down in one of the two chairs on the other side of Winslow’s desk, asking, “So, what’s tha’ letter say?”

“It’s none of your concern, Haunt,” Winslow answered. “It is of a personal matter.”

“Migh’ it have anythin’ ta’ do with tha’ lass in yer’ office last night?” Haunt interrogated. “She looked an awful lot like ya’ and that one lass you used ta’ be with on the security recordin’, though this new lass seems to be a bit on the short side, no wonder the guard didn't see her when she entered-” He joked a bit at the end, but was interrupted.

“Bertram never said she looked like me.” Winslow said and glared at the hologram.

Bertram noted, “It didn't seem to be important, but yes. Not only did she look a little bit like you, but a lot from Mavis Dawn as well.”

“That one lass from the club we went ta’ a long time ago?” Haunt muttered under his breath. “Nice.”

“I don’t need you two getting in to all of my personal business,” Winslow told them. “If you see her again, bring her here and I’ll run a DNA test myself. The plan doesn’t change.”

Haunt was silent for a moment. “Alright,” he surrendered, “let’s go over yesterday’s reports, then.”

As they talked, Winslow couldn’t help but to think about the children that could be out there at that moment. He had never seen their faces, never held them in his arms. He was afraid that he’d never see what he had helped to produce before the eventual extinction event he had planned.

He was wrong. The plan had changed.

1 week later…

Harmony was done recovering in the hospital. She was supposed to have Henry come visit her for the weekend. But she had no way of getting him, so she asked Felix to go get him. She was soon released from the hospital after being praised for recovering from two bullet wounds so quickly and was allowed to go home. Through the entire journey home, she could not stop thinking about her father, as well as her mother.

When she got home, she noticed something unusual about her living room. When she realized what it was, her eyes widened with shock. Sitting on her couch was Winslow Gaius Creed, relaxing with a bottle of whisky on the side table while he polished a sidearm.

“If I were you,” he suggested, “I would not make any sudden movements. No running, no fighting. No magic, no calling for help, and no alien.”

“How did you find my house?!” she shouted. “More importantly, why are you here and how did you get in?!”

“I’ll answer your questions,” he calmly replied. “and you’ll be answering mine, but none of this will happen until you sit down.” Harmony slowly sat down in an empty chair, her Mei'fwa ears still hidden from Winslow.

“Good,” he complimented. “You can follow orders. Now, on to business. To answer your first question, it was a simple matter of accessing my intelligence network. We have access to all sorts of electronics since we branched out into computer hardware. I managed to get in because I have some skill with lockpicking and I just walked in the front door. Finally, I am here to determine if the claims of one Mavis Dawn are true.”

As he continued, he pulled a small device and two vials from his pocket. “Now I get to ask you three questions. Here is my first: when did you find out about this supposed relation to me?”

“I found the picture of you and my mother in her old trunk down in the basement,” Harmony replied, still wary of the weapon Winslow kept on him. “My aunt Rachel said she's only ever been with one guy… so…”

“Your aunt may not know everything about your mother,” Winslow suggested. He finished setting up his device, put away his sidearm, and walked over to Harmony. He took her arm, asking, “Second question: What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”

This came as a surprise to her. Her Mei'fwa ears barely lifted up, revealing she is part Mei'fwa. ”Chocolate-“

Winslow’s device was suddenly placed on Harmony’s wrist, on top of a major artery. A small sample of blood was taken, filling the vial and making Harmony yelp in pain. As though it had been there the entire time, a mouth on said arm opened up and bit his hand, making him bleed heavily the razor-sharp teeth dug into his palm and the back of his hand.

His gut-reaction led him to drop the device and grab his sidearm, pointing it at Harmony’s arm. She immediately forced the mouth open and pulled her arm away, preventing any further attacks. “I am so sorry! I completely forgot that thing was there and that it has a mind of it own.” she apologized.

Winslow took a moment to calm down, putting away his weapon and using a nearby towel as a makeshift bandage for his hand. He looked at his hand, and noticed some skin and muscle missing. Nothing some regeneration won’t fix, he thought to himself.

He looked at the partially opened mouth, seeing the blood on the razor-sharp teeth, Harmony was trying to keep it shut, but the mouth was grinning at him, as though it liked the taste of his blood. Winslow was filled with anger, and the pain of the attack made it worse. “You’re not my child,” he harshly accused. “There’s no way any gene of mine or Mavis’ allows for mouths on the arms.” He considered himself an expert on the matter, since he’s seen every inch of Mavis Dawn, but he opted to keep this knowledge to himself.

“There are things you don't know about me,” Harmony clarified. “The first child… Sabrina… your original daughter. Died when she was 2 by the same disease that killed Mavis… I'm her ‘replacement clone’ as my uncle called me..”

The anger faded away, and was soon replaced by complete sadness.“I see,” Winslow noted with a somber tone. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

Harmony tried to keep herself from crying, recalling everything her uncle did to her. “I got used to all the awful things Henrick called me. He would beat me and torture me for hours on end up until I left when I was 40, when Julian, Haley, and we all moved to Nevada.. I never want to suffer all of that again..”

“Well,” Winslow suggested, “maybe you should’ve gotten that other mouth of yours to bite his d-“ he suddenly paused. He shifted his attention to her; looking concerned. “Wait, did you just say… 40? You don’t look a day over 15. How can you be older than that?” It was then that he realized he was speaking with someone that was created, not bred. “Never mind. I keep forgetting that 90 is the new 30 with genetic modification. Nevertheless… I’m sorry you had to go through that. If you joined me, joined Black Rose, you would never be treated like that again.”

Harmony's eyes soon filled with greater sadness. “I appreciate the offer,” she admitted, “but I can't-“

They both then heard a firm knocking coming from the front door. Harmony’s Mei'fwa ears perked up out of curiosity.

Winslow glanced towards the door, then picked up the device he left on the floor. It was then he noticed Harmony's black Mei'fwa ears, they looked very soft and warm, and they can easily blend in with her hair if they were folded down right. The urge to pet her ears was overwhelming, but he managed to hold back the urge. He had to finish what he started.

He replaced the vial and used the device on himself the same way he used it on Harmony. When the vial was full, he plugged in the other vial and pressed a button.

A small green light blinked on and he relaxed, defeated. “I… I really am your father,” he informed Harmony. “Despite all the strange things about you, we are still related by blood.”

Winslow moved to where he was kneeling in front of Harmony, and put his hands on her arms, but he kept his hand away from the second mouth that bit his hand before. “It is more urgent now that you come with me and become a member of my organization. You’re the only blood-relative I have left, and I don’t want to lose you when Armageddon comes. Please, I beg of you, come with me. Become what humanity could only ever hope to be.”

“I'm sorry.. I can't… and I'm not the only one related to you,” She told him. “I better go see who's at the door…” she went over to the door and opened it, only to find Felix and Henry, her 2 ½ old “adopted” son.

“Mommy!” Henry exclaimed as he hugged her legs. Harmony smiled, picked him up, and hugged him back. “You are getting so big.. Have you been good to your father?” She asked him. He nodded and there was a big smile on his face.

Felix sighed. “You have NO idea what that kid can do with a lollipop. I’m gonna have to essentially rebuild the research facility.”

Harmony snickered. “A lollipop? What exactly happened?”

Felix replied, “One of my colleagues decided that the kid was adorable and gave him a lollipop. It was gone in about 5 minutes and he was bouncing off the walls in 10.” Felix’s demeanor became more serious as he continued, “He destroyed a bunch of papers with critical research on them, he knocked over sensitive testing materials, released the test rats, and knocked over a vial containing a hyper-advanced form of smallpox, nearly causing a nation-wide epidemic.”

“What was in the lolipop?” Harmony asked with a glare.

“I have no idea,” Felix replied with a laugh, “but it was AWESOME.”

Harmony rolled her eyes and chuckled. She then remembered Winslow wasn't hiding and became scared.

When they entered the house, Harmony was both relieved and terrified at the same time. Winslow was nowhere to be seen, and neither was any evidence other than a business card left where Winslow was sitting. Harmony picked up the business card, seeing that it was  a Black Rose card, and flipped it over to find her father’s handwriting on the back.

Consider my offer.

“So.. You never told me what you were doing the night of the party,” Felix reminded her. “What happened?”

“It's... a long story,” she replied. “You know Winslow, right? The leader of Black Rose? Turns out… he's my father.”

Felix froze in place, surprised at what he heard. “Well,” he admitted, “I can see a resemblance.” After taking a minute to let the knowledge sink in, he joked, “Just, let me know if you’re feeling particularly genocidal, okay?”

Harmony stayed silent, thoughts running in and out of her head. Not only that, she was started to become nervous. Felix noticed the shift in Harmony’s emotions and hugged her, hoping it would help to make her feel better, though he knew that their fight had just gotten much harder.