It can't be! Someone is trying to ruin Christmas (Quinn)

Snow fell peacefully from the sky on this crisp and chilly afternoon. There were several days before Christmas and troves of people flooded to their local malls as the made the mad dash to do some last minute Christmas shopping, be it for a child, a significant other, or for the purpose of playing secret Santa. Nu found herself standing outside the large brick facade of one of the malls many major department stores. The sight itself was a rarity especially for the reclusive mute, but she made a promise to Jack that she would do her best to meet new people and find new friends.

It was for this reason that Nu put her timidness aside for the day. Ever since she had met Alpha and started hanging around with him and his family on occasion, Nu had met a girl that was no more than a couple of years younger than herself. Nu and Jenna hit it off from the start and had developed a pretty close friendship.

Nu’s vibrant green eyes shifted from side to side nervously as she did her best to keep an eye out for the rather short girl. Nu was worried she wouldn’t see her through the crowd of people flooding in and out of the building. The young mute reached into the pocket of her fluffy red vest and retrieved her phone to check the time. In truth Jenna wasn’t running late at all, instead it was Nu being extremely early. With a small sigh, Nu pocked her phone and looked down at her feet, as she shuffled some snow around with one foot.

Nu’s attention was suddenly pulled away from the extremely tiny pile of snow she had accumulated. A rhythmic chime rang out over the voices of the bustling crowd. Nu’s posture perked up as she was now keen on finding the source of the quaint ringing. Nu’s quest led her around the side of the building where a small line, composed mostly of families with small children, had begun to form. With her curiosity now peaked, as she wondered what they could possibly waiting for, Nu approached the line. The naïve mute gave a sudden jump of shock as all the children cheered out in unison as some rather large individual dressed from head to toe had appeared from behind the makeshift stage.

The mall Santa parked his portly behind down in a rather ornate looking chair and held his arms wide open. A second later a small boy at the front of the line approached the robust figure and sat down on his lap. Nu drew closer to the spectacle and eventually got within earshot of the jolly looking figure and the happy child.
“Alright little lad, what would you like me to bring you for Christmas?” the Santa said. The small boy went one to list a wealth of things he was hoping to get for the holidays and shortly after he walked back to his mother and another child approached the man. Nu being the big child she was, began to suspect that there was more to the fat man than she realized and soon found herself waiting in the line, completely oblivious to the fact that she was supposed to be waiting for Jenna to arrive.

Jenna was playing one of her many games as she was driven to the mall, ignoring one of her aides that was complaining that she wasn't doing paperwork. Of course, Jenna was more than happy to blow off work to hang out with big sis Nu. It wasn't until she was almost there that she finally got fed up and looks up and glares at the aide. "I barely get any time to myself, so just shut up already! God!" Jenna continues to glare for a few seconds to drive in the fact that she wasn't going to let anyone stop her from playing with big sis Nu.

It wasn't long before they finally arrived at the mall. Jenna stores her handheld game system away in one of her many pockets before opening the door and sliding out, telling her bodyguards that they will stay with the car. Jenna gets to the meeting spot in front of the mall and looks around for Nu, not seeing her around anywhere. Sighing, Jenna pulls out her phone and fiddles with it for a moment before looking up towards the line of parents with their children. Rolling her eyes at how easy it was to distract Nu, Jenna heads around the building to find her big sis.

Turning the corner, Jenna instantly spotted Nu and then almost right after spotted the reason why Nu got distracted. "Oh of course it was Santa." She mutters to herself before going over and standing beside Nu, ignoring the looks she got from parents. There was no force in the world that would make Jenna sit on a fake Santa's lap so there was no reason for them to be worried. Jenna tugs on Nu's hand to get her attention. "Hey, I thought you were going to be waiting for me at the entrance, what gives?"

Nu was to childish for her own good. As the cheerful and festive music rang out from an overhead PA system, the young mute couldn’t help but bob back and forth to the happy tune. The energetic half alien wore a giant smile on her face as the line crawled slowly forward, leading to that all important and inevitable meeting with Santa. It went without saying that Nu was definitely drawing some confused looks from the many parents gathered in the line, but she didn’t care, she was way too into the holiday spirit to give a damn what other people thought, then again that’s how she was all time. So completely oblivious to the world around her, was Nu, that she had no idea that Jenna had arrived already, or that she was standing right next to the mute.

Nu’s eccentric bobbing turned into a startled jump as she felt a tugging at her hand. Her gaze quickly turned to Jenna and at first all Nu did was flash a smile and wave. It then donned on her that it was Jenna standing at her side. Nu quickly turned and hugged the young girl, going so far as to lift her up off the ground and wave her around side to side before gently placing her back down. Nu looked down and the lightly snow covered ground, out of embarrassment of her own childish nature. She looked up at Jenna with puppy dog eyes hoping to get some sympathy from the young girl she had come to treat as a little sister.

Nu reached into her pocket and gingerly pulled out her phone before typing a message and showing the screen to Jenna. |-I’m sorry. I heard the music and saw that big jolly guy in the red suit and got really excited.-|

Nu put her phone away and retuned to happily bobbing to the Christmas music as she eagerly awaited her chance to meet the big red gift machine himself.

Jenna rolls her eyes at how excited Nu was at getting to meet one of the mall Santas. She had been around long enough to know that they aren't the real deal, when has Santa even decided to come down to a mall to handle kids? He is much too busy taking care of the whole world after all. Maybe later they could take a trip to see the real santa, but until they get around to doing that Jenna doesn't see a reason to ruin any of big sis Nu's fun.

She glances around a moment, glaring at everyone who was staring weirdly at them before grabbing Nu's hand and starting to hum along with the Christmas music that was blaring from the PA system, waiting for them to get to the mall Santa and get on with their day. Jenna didn't act like it, but she was actually super excited about spending time with her big sis.

Nu and Jenna drew closer and closer to the mall Santa, and the excitement was beginning to become too much to bare for the naïve mute. Deep down she knew that the Santa imposter was indeed a fake, but just the overall principle of the holiday tradition was enough to get the artificial girl excited. Just as the two girls approached the front of the line, a panic broke out as the sound of screeching tires filled the air and a group of suited individuals emerged from a small convoy of suspicious black SUVs. The men that emerged from the vehicles were all armed, some with handguns, others with assault rifles.

The first thought that popped into Nu’s mind was that these people were after her. When her and Sionas escaped that shady facility all those years ago, he told her that the people who ran the place would never stop looking for her. It was no surprise that when she saw these people, her worst fear came to life, but she had bigger things to worry about. Instinctively, Nu positioned herself in front of Jenna to shield her from harm. Nu’s attitude went from cheery to focused, to outright confusion as the men waltzed past the two girls and made a b-line for the mall Santa.

The shady group of men rushed up to the mall Santa and began to drag him off his festively decorated chair. There was a man on either side of the Santa, dragging him along by his arms, a third man followed closely behind when, rifle at the ready, while the rest of the men waited by the SUVs. Nu, still trying to shield Jenna from harm, moved into the men’s path. Her neon green eyes shot the hired goons a menacing glare. When the two men carrying the mall Santa came to an abrupt stop, the thug trailing them moved to the front and pointed his gun at Nu. “beat it kid” the man barked.

The families that lined up to meet with the mall Santa had all but scattered to the wind, though a few still lingered behind, watching as the spectacle unfolded before them. Several gasped escaped their lips when the grown man threatened the two girls, but nothing prepared them or the goons for what happened next. With the gun being pointed at her, Nu’s instincts kicked in and her psychic powers fired off, gripping the man and manipulation him like a twisted marionette. Struggle all he wanted, the man couldn’t bring himself to stave off Nu’s telekinesis and he soon found himself with the barrel of his gun against the bottom of his jaw. The rest of the guns quickly responded with a hail of gunfire at the mute and her young companion. Nu’s telekinetic grip was relinquished on the man, in favor of erecting a bright pink forcefield around her and Jenna to protect them from the wave of lead headed their way.

The sound of tires made Jenna look over her shoulder and sigh, seeing a bunch of SUVs going straight for them. Jenna reaches into her pocket and grabs a Bluetooth earbud and puts it into her ear while checking her phone to see if any of her people tried to contact her. Seeing that the men that had just jumped out of the vehicles were clearly not part of her forces she just sighs, already knowing that Nu was going to be a hero. Well it was up to the little sister to support the older ones! With that thought she sent out of a text and takes a step closer to Nu. For safety.

Jenna clutches the back of Nu's shirt, mentally complaining that their day off got ruined already. Unlike her protector, Jenna didn't just assume that they were coming for either one of them, mostly because she had made sure that their location was protected through her connections. So she watched, seeing how they headed straight for the mall Santa that Nu was super excited to meet. Jenna was already sighing even before Nu moved into the way of the men, moving with her to make sure she wasn't grabbed by anyone.

Jenna just rolls her eyes as the dumb ass decides to put his gun at the girl who could turn him inside out before he even realizes what is happen and the results were almost predictable. Of course, the rest of the men weren't really going to let that slide. Thankfully Nu put up a shield before they got turned into Swiss cheese, forcing them to just watch as they quickly dragged the Santa into one of the cars before the rest of them started to load up. As they start to file away, still aiming to make sure that Nu doesn't break them, Jenna peeks out from behind her and stares at the men before calling out loudly to the one that was giving orders. "Hey asswipe, since this is suppose to be a day of giving I'm going to give you guys one chance to let the Santa go so my sister can tell him her wish. If you don't I'm going to hurt you down and when I find you, I'm going to force feed you your own heart."

The man just laughs and flips Jenna off before getting into the SUV and having them all drive away. Jenna nods to herself and sends another text, since she wasn't strong enough to rip someone's heart out before they would die from it. "Well, Nu, shall we go find them? I always keep my promises."

Nu wrinkled her nose at one of the thugs as they walked by the protective bubble. They continued to fire on the two girls, which prevented Nu from striking back and saving the mall Santa. Nu clenched her fist in frustration as the men filed back into the black suv’s and sped off. She couldn’t understand why someone would want to ruin Christmas like that. Though she was naive Nu could only assume that the reason those men were after the lowly Santa impersonator was because he must have owned their boss money. Her eyes remained fixated on the suvs till they were out of site and then turned her gaze to Jenna.

The young girl was right with Nu in wanting to chase after the would-be mobsters, but first, the mute psion would have to deal with her new adoring fans. The children belonging to the families that were in line to see the Santa all bum rushed Nu and Jenna, once the coast was clear. The little kids gathered around the two girls, amazed with how cool they were for standing up to the mean men that kidnapped Santa. The parents of the children eventually had to step in and save the two from being swallowed by the mob gathered around them.

With the children out of the way Nu and Jenna could finally focus on the real mission. Jenna would lead Nu to the car she arrived in. Somehow, someway, Jenna had a way of tracking or finding out where the mobsters were taking the mall Santa. Nu couldn’t help but display her amazement with Jenna’s connections and way of handling things. Once they were ready to head out, Nu puffed out her cheeks and with a serious look on her face, gave Jenna a nod of confidence. She was ready to go, they would make those thugs pay. Nu would make them pay of not only ruining Christmas for all those little kids, but for also shooting at Jenna. Nu clenched her fist with determination and enthusiasm, they were going to save Christmas!

Jenna sees the crowd gathering around them and tries to escape, not wanting to be part of whatever they were planning on doing. However, before she could even take a few steps she was forced back to Nu's side. She takes cover by Nu's side by clinging to her, making sure that she isn't pulled away from her sister. Luckily the parents came up and saved her from having to deal with all of the brats. Once they wee out of the way, Jenna was finally able to get over to where her car was parked.

Once inside the car Jenna slides over so that Nu had enough room to get inside before pulling out her laptop and starting to type away. It was only when Nu had gotten inside and closed the door behind her that Jenna finally relaxed. "I hate crowds. No idea how you stand it." Not looking away from her laptop for a second, the moment her program finishes opening she gives out an evil smile. "Gotcha..." A few types later and it transfers the information to the GPS for the driver to follow.

"Well, they're still on the move so we'll be playing catchup until they stop. Sooo wanna play a game?" Shutting her laptop, Jenna turns to smile at Nu, ot having anything to do until the bad guys stop moving.

The little mute gave a small clap in amazement with Jenna’s vast resources and ease in tracking down the crappy criminal thugs that sought to ruin Christmas. Knowing that they’d no doubt be stuck in the car for a while, Nu happily agreed to play a game with Jenna to pass the time as they trailed the mobsters to whatever crumby place it was that they called their hideout. The saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ couldn’t have been more accurate in this instance. Before long Jenna’s car would come to a stop near an abandoned warehouse. The brick and mortar building had definitely seen better days, though Nu wasn’t too shocked by the state of the building in its run-down state.

The young psion was excitedly the first one out of the vehicle. Her body burning with the raging flame of justice. She was going to stop these no-good thugs from ruining such a wonderful holiday, and she was going to rescue Santa, fake or not. Nu silently crept alongside the building till she came to a pile of wooden crates resting conveniently below one of the warehouses few windows. Pulling herself upon the pile, Nu’s neon green eyes peaked up over the ridge of the windowsill. She had a clear view of the warehouse and just several feet from where they were, Nu could see the plump mall Santa tied to a chair with several of the suited thugs standing guard.

Nu’s cat-like neon green eyes quickly snapped to her left as the rusted hinges of a metal door rubbed against one another. Another thug had entered the area with a black leather bag in his possession. He approached mall Santa and gave him several taps against his cheek.
“Fill it!” the thug demanded while shoving the leather bag into the imposter Santa’s lap.

The portly man hesitantly grasped the bag and sighed. Then in the blink of an eye the bag was suddenly full of cash. Nu’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and she let out a silent gasp of amazement. She then quickly turned to Jenna, unaware if she had seen what Nu had just seen. The young mute frantically tapped on Jenna’s shoulders. Nu then held her phone up to the young girl with a massive grin on her face. |- Did you see that! I knew it! I knew he wasn’t a fake! -|

The moment that the car stops, Jenna could only sigh as Nu leaps out of the vehicle and takes the most heroic pose that Jenna had ever seen. Jenna gets out of the car and closes the door as Nu pretended she was a ninja and moved along the building. Jenna doesn't even try to be sneaky and just follows along behind Nu, already having decided that it wasn't even worth it to try to be sneaky. Jenna climbs onto the the wood pile, but finds that she's far too short to see over the ledge and and just stands there in a huff.

Jenna can only watch as Nu first glares into the room before suddenly getting excited and typing something on her phone before showing it. Jenna reads it before sighing and pointing up at the windowsill. "Clearly not, I'm too short and I bet it's already over. Can we just get inside and beat them up now?" Jenna gets down from the pile and wanders off towards the entrance, the one that had two wannabe tough guys guarding it.

She chuckles as she pulls her out stun gun and makes a motion for Nu to stay put. "Don't worry, I got this." With that she steps out and with two quick trigger pulls has both of the guards on the ground being tasered. Once she makes sure that they'll be out for a while, she opens the door and peeks in before turning to Nu "You wanna go find the Santa? I need to find that one guy. I have a promise to keep after all." Jenna replaces the used shots on her stun gun as she enters the building, checking her bag to make sure she has her knife so she can keep her promise.

Nu was pretty awful when it came to taking orders from others, especially when that person was Jenna, who was telling her to stay put while she went to do something reckless. Instead of staying put like Jenna had asked, Nu crept down from atop the crates with catlike stealth. With each step Jenna took towards danger, Nu would follow. As Jenna sneaked into the alleyway with her stun gun drawn, Nu couldn’t help but peak her head out from behind the wall primarily out of curiosity of what would happen next, and partly out of concern for the young girl she had grown to call a friend.

The two thugs guarding the entrance to the derelict warehouse had no idea what hit them. The men went down like a pile of bricks and the way was clear for Jenna and Nu to sneak into the building. When Jenna turned around to state that the coast was clear, Nu clapped her hands in cheer of Jenna triumph. Her large innocent smile shifted to a look of out right focus and dedication. They were close to saving Santa, and the thought was getting Nu excited.

The door to the warehouse creaked open ever so slowly as the two girls attempted to sneak into the building. The warehouse seemed empty at first as a majority of the mysterious mobsters were concentrated near the back in an effort to guard the would-be mall Santa. The young mutes eyes were drawn towards the rafters where her neon green eyes took note of two snipers. Whoever these mobsters were, they were well armed and equipped and didn’t want anyone interfering with whatever plans they had for the mall Santa.

Nu took the lead once they were inside, guiding Jenna from cover to cover as they neared the back of the building. It was times like these that Nu was thankful that Sionas had trained her. Using what she had learned, Nu weaved from cover to cover, dodging the few roaming sentries that patrolled the building and staying out of the snipers’ line of sight. The young girl was beginning to think it was a bad idea bringing Jenna along. She was certain they could reach the mall Santa but after that, they’d still have to deal with a warehouse full of thugs, and Nu was uncertain if she’d be able to fight them off and keep Jenna and the Santa impostor safe.

Nu slapped herself on the cheeks twice to pump herself up. She looked to Jenna and gave her a nod of confidence. Once she was sure her friend was ready, Nu would make her move.

Jenna let Nu take the lead after she put down the two guards at the entrance. She did, of course, roll her eyes when Nu was trying to be some elite ninja spy and move them from cover to cover instead of just blasting everyone instead. As they got deeper into the warehouse, Jenna started to have second thoughts about diving into the middle of a lair with just a stun gun. If she could go back in time she'd smack her past self and tell her to stay outside where it was safe.

All she could do now was sigh and stay close to Nu so she doesn't get shot or anything. Once they get about halfway to where the santa was, Nu stops and slaps her cheeks, seemingly trying to pump herself up for what is about to go down. Jenna just gives her a thumbs up when she was nodded at, not really sure what else to do. Just when they had started moving again Jenna mistakenly kicks a bottle that was left on the floor, the noise echoing through the warehouse and she freezes. Jenna looks at her feet like they betrayed her before looking up at Nu and shrugging. "What did you expect? I'm not a ninja."

They could hear a bunch of people responding to the noise, closing in on their position. Clearly the noise hadn't gone unnoticed.

After psyching herself up, Nu once again took the lead and rose from her crouching position when Jenna had given her the thumbs up. This had been going better than expected and if they kept up their stealthy approach they would easily have the element of surprise on their side, however, that all came to a crashing end quite literally. Just as the two girls had begun to move again, Jenna managed to inadvertently tap a glass bottle with her foot. The clanking of the empty glass against the cold concrete floor of the warehouse rang out like an alarm.

The rather still and silent warehouse sprung to life as its walls filled with the sound of rushing footsteps and firearms being prepared for a firefight. Nu’s head snapped back to look at Jenna. She put her arm out trying to signal for the young girl to stay put, much like she had been told to do earlier. It was time for Nu to go to work. She had been created for the sole purpose of being a living weapon by the government, and her the alien she was cloned from was part of an intergalactic peace keeping team. Nu would do exactly what she was made for.

Quickly leaping out form behind the stack of crates, Nu would lock eyes with two thugs patrolling the aisle. Her left arm would swing forward, releasing a fan of telekinetic knives at the bewildered mobsters, cutting them down in the blink of an eye. Nu’s momentum would carry her across the aisle and behind another set of crates. From her new post Nu would poke her head out from behind the wooden cover to make sure the coast was clear for Jenna to follow. It wasn’t. Nu looked up the aisle before turning around to find the barrel of an assault rifle in her face. One of her arms quickly shot up and knocked the gun upward just as the thug pulled the trigger.

The gun fired off into the air and alerted the whole warehouse to the two girls’ whereabouts. Nu then brought her other arm swinging across her body. Using her telekinesis, she grabbed a hold of a crate as her arm moved and brought it crashing against the side of the thug crushing him between the flying crate and the stack next to him. This literally went to hell in a matter of seconds and now Nu was not only worried about Jenna’s safety, but also at the possibility of the thugs trying to move the mall Santa out of the building.

Jenna listens to Nu when she tells her to stay back, not wanting to get shot or something the moment she steps out of cover. As Nu was handling the guards that were rushing their position there wasn't much that Jenna could do, so she just sits there and makes sure that her stun gun was ready to go, since she didn't plan to get close enough to use it as a melee stun, seeing as how they all had guns. It was about then that she looked up to see a man starting to turn the corner just ten feet from them. Jenna's eyes widen since Nu was busy with the people in front of them and didn't notice the threat that was sneaking up behind.

Responding without thinking, Jenna aims her stun gun at the man and let's it fly, hitting him right in the chest as he was bringing his weapon to bare on the two girls. He seizes up, his finger pulling the trigger as he was already falling, bullets flying towards the two girls, seemingly missing them both, though Jenna could feel the air being displaced as one of them passes by her ear. Jenna blinks once, a smirk appearing on her face. "Nu did you see that? I just totally got tha-" As she started to turn to talk to Nu, her words were cut off as pain shot up her arm, making her lose her balance and hit the ground. Managing to look at her left arm, she sees two different areas where blood was soaking her clothes.

"W-what?" Clearly she was a bit premature in her assessment of how bad that guy aimed, seeing as how the first two bullets managed to go straight through her left arm, with her not even knowing that she was hit until seconds later. Freaking out more then a little as how she managed to get shot for the first time, she looks over at Nu with wide eyes, not knowing that to do.

All Nu wanted to do was find the fake mall Santa and get him away from these uncharacteristically stylishly dressed goons. The young mute wanted to push forward, she wanted to carve a path of destruction through these people. She had felt anger before, but never quite like this. There was something burning within her, something that she had been struggling to control for a while now. As guard after guard continued to approach her, Nu thought back to what Jack used to tell her. She was a weapon. The people that had created her did so with the intent on unleashing her upon their enemies. Jack despite all his flaws tried his hardest to reinforce the notion in Nu’s head that she was no one’s weapon and to fight for what she believed in, not what anyone else told her.

Nu continued to tear through the goons in as nonlethal a way as possible. She made heavy use of the crates that made up her surroundings to do so. The floor of the small warehouse began to fill with unconscious bodies and an abundance of splinters and miscellaneous items from the crates Nu was using as weapons. Nu’s hand lifted to the sky ready to bring a box crashing down on the chest of a guard she had managed to knock down using a telekinetic blast. The box suddenly came crashing to the ground at Nu’s side when two gun shots rang out from behind her. The young mute flinched and tensed up expecting to get hit, but there was no pain.

Instead Nu heard Jenna’s voice call out from behind her, and that’s when one of her worst fears came true. The young girl had collapsed to the ground, blood slowly spilling out from two bullet wounds in her arm. Nu’s eyes shot wide open in shock as thoughts began to swirl around in her head. She began to question, doubt, and even mentally punish herself until she heard an extremely soothing voice boom out over her thoughts. It offered comfort and safety and in that moment Nu felt at peace in her mind. The young artificial girl’s outward appearance said otherwise as her hair began to whip violently from a sudden burst of hot air being emitted by Nu’s body.

Her neon green eyes faded to white and heatwaves began to form around Nu. With a silent roar of rage Fire erupted from Nu’s body and quickly pooled towards her back were a pair of fiery wings formed. Several guards were quickly drawn to the sudden outburst of power and as they circled around the corner they came face to face with the young girl. Her pupiless eyes stared blankly at them accompanied by a slight head tilt of confusion. The thugs raised their guns but before they could fire a single shot a powerful burst of telekinetic energy exploded outward from Nu’s body. The wave nearly vaporized the surrounding crates into splinters and when it reached the thugs they began to cry out in agony as smoke slowly leaked out their ears and noses.

The enraged Nu approached the two goon like an animal ready to pounce on wounded prey. Her right hand rose to about the same height as the two mens heads. A secondary pulse fired from her palm and sent the two goons flying with enough force into the brick wall behind them that their blood splattered in every direction around their now flattened corpses. Nu’s rampage did not stop there at all. Where she was once concerned with sticking close to Jenna, she was now actively seeking out the remaining thugs in the building and ending them in as violent a manner as possible. As Nu left Jenna’s field of vision the warehouse filled with a symphony of gunfire and screams of agony as Nu did god knows what to the poor souls trying to stop her.