Chapter 1

This is the chapter where Data first encounters the Nephilim and their strange and unique powers.

A single light bulb that dangles from the cracked and slightly eroded ceiling of the basement is the only source of illumination that brightens the dark and misty room aside from the faint glow of the computer hacker's monitor. The light bulb occasionally flickers on and off briefly, but the hacker is far too indulged in his activities to notice as his eyes are transfixed on several lines of green code that take up majority of the screen. Sweat pours from his brow and his tongue is hanging out of his mouth in a similar fashion to that of a dog as the hacker tries to breech through the firewalls of the site and gain free entree. The hacker gets to the final part of the firewall's defense and cracks it down with ease, though he hears a large *POP* in the background that snaps him out of his trance-like state.

"S**t! What the f**k was that?!" He exclaims in surprise as he stands up from his wooden desk on wide alert.

The hacker looks around the room, though his vision is limited, and he soon discovers that his old light bulb had exploded while he was coding away at his computer. The hacker examines where the light bulb was once strung up, and carefully examines it like he had never seen it before. He let the wire that held the light bulb hang loose before he mumbled angrily to himself and walked from the center of the room to the wooden stairs that lead up the the rest of his house. 

"Don't you go anywhere, I'm not done with you." He scolded his computer monitor. The hacker looked at the remnants of the light bulb and his face contorted into anger. "F*****g piece of s**t!" He yelled in frustration before climbing the six wooden stairs to the white door that rested at the top landing.

The hacker took hold of the bronze doorknob and rustled it a bit before it finally gave way to his command and turned. The hacker pushed against the door open with his shoulder and it flung aside with a loud, sickening creak and a long scrapping sound against the wooden floor of his kitchen. A small dog barked twice before happily running over to its owner and trying to climb up his leg. The hacker bent down and picked up the tiny, white pooch with both his hands and held it close to his face.

"Who's a good little puppy, Lucy, huh? You are, yes you are!" The hacker said in a playful voice to the little dog. Lucy barked again and licked the hacker's face, leaving behind a small mass of saliva on his cheeks, and a smile painted on his face. The hacker gently let Lucy down on her paws and she circled around his legs before sitting down beside him. The hacker smiled at the dog before walking to the bathroom to gaze at his attire. Slowly mozying into the room with Lucy following close behind, the hacker looked in the cracked mirror to examine himself.

"Holy s**t, man, " The hacker jokingly scolded himself before leaning in to check out his beard. It had become a mess of tangled hair and pizza crumbs from negligence. Next, he rustled through his hair with both of his hands, which had turned a slightly lighter shade of brown due to a layer of dirt and dandruff being removed.

"Whatcha think, Lucy? Should I grow it out or no?" The hacker asked while looking down at the dog.

Lucy happily barked twice, and the hacker smiled again and simply let his hair rest on top of his head. After some other quick glances at his attire, the hacker decided that it was time for him to take a quick shower, as he felt it was well deserved by this point in time. The scent of lemon filled the bathroom, which made Lucy whimper and try to escape the room's foul odor by waiting just outside the door. Once the hacker stepped out of the sliding glass doors and wrapped his towel around his waist, Lucy ran up to him again and barked several times before running towards the front doors of the hacker's house.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" The hacker said while gripping his towel by the waist and following the dog.

He heard someone gently rapping on the wooden doors and talking to someone else who was also outside with them. The voices sounded like those of a young female and a fully grown male.

"Maybe he's not home, " Said the younger voice in a sweet tone, "Dez, maybe we should try again later."

Dez, the male voice, spoke in a cool, melodic voice as he stated, "You tracked the radio singles from his computer's electric signal, right?"

"Yeah, but-" The female voice was cut off by Dez's speech.

"Then he should be here. Frost said we'd find him at this address at this time, and since when is she ever wrong?"

The female voice groaned and gave in to Dez's request to remain at the hacker's front door. The hacker, still dripping with water from the shower, opened the doors slightly ajar and effectively cut off any remaining conversation between Dez and the young girl.

"Excuse me, " The hacker began, slightly annoyed by their presence, "But just who in the blue f**k are you?!"

The girl shrank away slightly and tried to hide her rather obvious blushing from the hacker. "U-uh... Um..." She attempted to blurt out coherent speech, but was failing terribly. She gripped her shoulder through her red shirt and swayed her hips, which made her black skirt gently move in correspondence to her body, and she tried to speak again. "M-m-my name is... uh... My n-n-name is..."

Dez stretched his arm out in front of the bewildered girl and forced her to take a step back. He briefly adjusted his dark green tie and sunglasses before flicking his head back to get the hair out of his eyes.

"What she's trying to say is that her name is Shannon Coldstuck-"

The young girl piped up from behind Dez and quickly yelled, "But you can call me Relay!" Then she mumbled under her breath, "Pretty much everyone else does except for this loser."

Dez gritted through his teeth for Relay to be quiet before returning his attention to the hacker. "Anyway, as I was saying, my name is Carlton Jennings, or Dez if you're the informal sort. My partner, Shannon, and our organization have taken notice of your... uh, situation, " Dez held an open hand to the hacker's home. The walls were old, and the wallpaper had torn in several places, and mold and mildew were growing rampant, and several holes in the wall were in plain sight. Lucy growled at Dez before barking at him from behind the hacker's leg.

"The f**k are you trying to say, man? You sayin' my life styles aren't up to par with your pretentious a*s lifestyle with you're f*****g fancy suits and nice a*s shoes and all that s**t?"

Dez raised up both his hands in an attempt to show that he meant no harm as he said, "We believe that you may be one of us and we'd hate to see one of us... Um... Suffer as you do. So if you'd like, I'd--"

The hacker cut him off with anger in his voice, "Well I'll have you know you f*****g stupid M**********r that Lucy and I are very happy with our current conditions, so if you'd please f**k off, that'd be great. I got s**t to do anyway."

Dez swallowed, and began sweating slightly. In a somewhat shaky voice, he added, "But we'd hate to leave one of our kind alone in disarray when we could do so much to help."

The hacker put his hand up on the side of the door frame and looked over his shoulder. He saw a cockroach scurry its way across the floor and into another room.

"Lucile! Go kill that thing, whatever it is. I'm gonna talk to this guy a little longer, ok?"

Lucy barked and began to chase after the cockroach, barking at it as she ran. The hacker turned his attention back to Dez, and looked over Dez's shoulder at Relay, whom was shyly playing with the red bow in her hair, "And just who are you people?"

Dez had regained his composure and the calmness steadily returned to his voice, although a single bead of sweat remained glistening on his forehead. "We are members of a group of genetically altered humans that serve under one leader named Ricky Marsh."

"Hold on a f*****g minute. 'Genetically altered humans'? The f**k are you talking about, man?"

Relay piped up again and said, "Y-you probably know us as Nephilim, which is the name normal people gave us 'cause our... um... powers make us way stronger than normal. They say we're the... um... illegitimate children of The Creator."

The hacker folded his arms and now stood on both soles of his feet. He nodded slowly to show that he at least had a vague idea of what they were saying.

"Oh yeah, "The hacker said with a slight shred of enlightenment, "Those f*****g freaks they spoke about on the news. So you two are a couple of grade A circus acts, huh, is that it?"

"Well, I suppose you could say that." Dez answered, scratching the back of his head.

"And, wait, let me guess, "The hacker put his hand on his chin and stroked his beard, pretending to think, "You think that I'm one of you circus acts or something, right? Cause of some prophecy or some other s**t like that?"

Dez nodded slowly, and was about to speak before he was cut off by more of the hacker's rant.

"Well let me tell you something m**********r, I ain't your long lost king or nothing. I'm just a lowlife, scumbag hacker who barely makes enough money off of doing the dirty work of rich, pretentious a******s like yourself. So whatever you think I am, I can assure you that I am not it."

"Give him the letter!" Relay whispered to Dez as she tugged on his arm slightly. Dez promptly reached for the inner pocket on his vest and extracted a small, white envelope with red wax that sealed it closed. He handed it to the hacker, who took it and looked it over several times before letting it rest in the palm of his hand.

"If you want to learn more, um, you can go to that address, and we'll help you, in any way we can." Dez said before turning to Relay and walking her to the black car that was parked in front of the hacker's home. The front stairs creaked under their combined weight, and Relay looked back at the hacker before stating that he should think about fixing his stairs. The hacker watched both Dez and Relay get into the car and drive down the pothole ridden street that lay in front of the hacker's house. The hacker closed his front door, and turned around, staring at the envelope the whole time. He walked forward mindlessly, and almost stepped on Lucy once he was in the door frame of his bedroom.

"Oh s**t, sorry Lucy. I'm looking at something really important right now that may finally get us out of this shithole."

Lucy barked twice in joy and jumped on the hacker's bed, patiently waiting for the hacker to take his seat beside her. The hacker, after drying himself a little bit more with his towel, and putting on a pair of floral boxers, sat down next to his dog and began to gently stroke her head. Her gentle fur was calming and relieving to him, and he smiled down at Lucy. She looked up at him and barked again. The hacker chuckled and began to tear the top of the envelope apart. Inside was just a small, folded up sheet of paper and nothing more. The hacker dumped the paper out into the palm of his hand and tossed the envelope carelessly to the floor. The sheet of paper was a note addressed directly to him, which read: "To Cody Meyers, I know that you'd rather be called Data, but this is a serious matter. The world as you know it may soon come to an end, and you need to unlock your true potential in order to prevent that from happening. I know that these people can help you, but first you must help them. Go to the brick factory at the back end of Fourth and Mills Street, it's the big building by the water, I know you can't miss it. More will be explained there, I promise. Signed by Frost"

"How do they know my name?" Data questioned himself out loud.

Data heard Lucy whimper before jumping off the bed and barking.

"You hungry, girl?" Data asked the dog as he rose from his bed. As if in accordance to his question, the dog barked in response. "Alright, fine. Let me get dressed first, ok? Then I gotta pick up a new light bulb for the basement, hopefully one that's not a full fledged piece of s**t this time, huh." Data chuckled to himself before walking over to his closet and picking out a gray tee-shirt and black jeans with a silver chain reaching from his pocket to his waistline.

"How about I rock this one today, huh, Lucy?"

Lucy let out a slight growl and walked out the door. Data put the gray shirt away, and began to put on a black tee-shirt and button-down, red and plaid just as Lucy pushed her food bowl into the room and barked. Data chuckled at her determination, and after he slipped on his jeans and a pair of gray socks, he walked into the kitchen to get the bag of dog food Lucy likes to eat and completely filled her bowl up to the brink. Lucy barked happily and casually strolled over to her food bowl to eat as Data made his way to the front door. He looked back over his shoulder, and expressed a look of genuine sadness at how poorly the house had been maintained.

"This better be worth it, " Data mumbled to himself before turning his attention to Lucy, "Lucile, you try your best to keep this place under wraps until I get back, okay?"

The white dog lifted her head from her food bowl. There were bits and pieces of dog food stuck to her mouth and fur, but she didn't seem to notice as she barking twice and spewing forth the small bits of dog food and saliva against the wooden floor. Data smiled at the dog before he opened the doorknob and stepped outside.

Data was immediately greeted by a cool breeze of the spring air and the warm embrace of the ever radiant sun above his head. He walked down his porch steps, even taking care to avoid the steps that Relay had warned him about earlier, and walked forward to the small metal fence that surrounded the front yard of his home. The front yard was still overrun with weeds and insects that Data never found the time to rid himself of. He saw a ladybug scurry its way across the gravel path that divided the front yard into two, evenly neglected for sections, and he sighed.

"Friggin' nature." Data silently scolded the ladybug's presence before him. "Friggin' light bulbs!" 

Agitated, Data disregarded the sorry state of his yard, as well as the years of rust that rendered the metal gate almost inoperable by human hands, and stormed out his gates, making headway towards the convenience store three blocks down to his right. 

Data pushed through the polished glass doors that served as the entrance to the store, and was greeted with a friendly hello and a wave from the clerk behind the counter. Instead of responding, Data glared angrily at the clerk, which caused him to put his hand down and look away from Data. The hacker made his way to the back of the store where all the electronics were kept, and began searching for a light bulb to replace the one he lost. There were many assorted items lined up along the wall, all hanging from their own individual rack with other items that matched them. At the top were the light bulbs, right next to a large, spherical mirror that the store clerks would use to look around corners in order to make sure no one would steal from them.

Data reached up for one of the light bulbs, which was encased in plastic and had a green cardboard background to it that read "30 watts, for all your luminescent needs!". As Data collected the light bulb, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. An unusual figure had entered the store, dressed in a dark brown cloak, and began talking to the clerk at the register. The hooded figure seemed to be asking the clerk a series of questions, none of which the clerk was able to provide a sufficient answer for.

The hooded figure pulled out a picture from underneath their cloak, held it up to the clerk and pointed to it. The clerk nodded and pointed in Data's direction. The hooded figure nodded in appreciation, and then reached over the counter and grabbed the clerk by his collar. The hooded figure tightened her free hand into a fist and the wires that lied hidden above the ceiling began to reveal themselves. The wires homed in on the hooded figure's hand, making it look as though the hooded figure was in control of their flight pattern. The hooded figure waved her free hand towards the clerk, and the wires wrapped themselves around his body tightly. The clerk, as well as the other people in the store, began to scream. The wires tightened their grip on the store clerk, and he let out one final shriek in terror before a loud crack could be heard all throughout the store and the clerk's screams were silenced.

"Holy s**t" Data exclaimed as he watched the hooded figure release her grip on the clerk and let his body fall onto the ground with a splat. The clerk's body had become extremely distorted from it's original form, as marks where the wires once held him had now burrowed deep into his body, and his skin had torn in certain areas, creating a large mass of blood where the clerk's body lay. The hooded figure waved her hand towards the rows of shelves and the wires began to knock them over one by one.

Data took the light bulb from the shelf and ran out the front door with the rest of the people that had fled. He dare not look back at the store, and continued running back towards his house as fast as his legs would carry him. Data heard a large crashing noise come from the store, and he glanced over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of what happened. He saw the hooded figure emerge from the gaping hole where the entrance of the store once was and remove their cloak, casually tossing it to the ground beside them. It was revealed to be a woman under the cloak. A woman with long, brown hair, blue eyes that held a look of malice in them. She grinned through her ocean blue lipstick and pointed directly at Data. The wires of the store suspended themselves briefly in the air surrounding the woman before they followed her command and flew after Data at an alarming rate.

"S**t" Data yelled at the top of his lungs as he turned back around and continued to run. A new found adrenaline gave Data an extra boost of speed that allowed him to stay just out of reach of the wires, though he could hear the subtle crackles of electricity being emitted from them, even as he ran. Data reached his house, and, after jumping over the gate, ran towards the door and shut it tightly. Panting heavily, Data clutched his chest called out for Lucy.

The small, white dog came happily barking towards Data, and he quickly scooped her up with both his hands and held her close to him. Lucy whimpered once before Data held a finger up to his mouth and shushed her.

"What the hell was that?!" Data whispered in a worried tone. Sweat began to culminate on his face as Data darted his eyes back and fourth for a way to defeat the woman with the wires. "Why isn't there anything here to fight with?!" Data scolded himself.

Alarmed, Data quickly moved forth from the door and headed for his basement. After giving the door a great pull, it creaked open, and Data rushed down the old stairs into the dark room.

"Where's the freaking light bulb?!" Data paused and thought for a moment before saying to himself, "Damn! I must have dropped it when that wiry chick was chasing me."

A loud banging noise was heard from upstairs. Data clutched Lucy even tighter towards his chest and sat down on the old steps of his basement, bracing for the worst. After a few powerful knocks, Data heard the woman ask herself: "What the f**k am I doing?" before Data heard the wiring of the upstairs of his house be ripped from the walls and burst through his front door. The woman called his name, and Data could feel her presence slowly getting closer and closer to him. Data began slowly cursing to himself over and over again as he waited for the woman to find him.

"Data... C'mon, let's not make this difficult for ourselves. I just want to take you to Expunged and he's going to have a little chat with you, that's it."

Data heard the woman break something as she began to search Data's home. He was frightened, and his fear was reflected in Lucy. She was whimpering quietly and quivering in Data's arms. Data began cursing under his breath again and tightly closed his eyes. He heard the woman break something else upstairs.

"Oh Data, why don't you come out and talk to me? You scared, hacker? Is that it?"

Data felt a mountain of anger build up inside of him, though he could not do anything about. He tried to stifle his anger to the best of his abilities and stayed silent. The woman upstairs crept closer towards the basement with every passing moment, her footsteps getting louder and louder as she drew nearer to the door. She tried to open the dilapidated piece of wood, but it wouldn't give way to her pull. She groaned and commanded the wires that lay beneath Data's wall to come forth and grip the door handle for her. Multiple wires of varying colors wrapped themselves around the brass door handle and they pulled with great force. The old, wooden door flew off its hinges and the woman saw Data clutching his dog on the stairs.

"Ah, " Said the woman, "There you are."

Data looked up at her, and raised his hand up in a tight fist before flicking up his middle finger in her direction. The woman chuckled and slowly shook her head in disappointment before asking: "Is that the best you can do?"

The woman reached out to Data, and the wires began to circle closely around him and Lucy. Just before they constricted themselves on Data and his dog, an electrifying sound rippled through the air, and the woman let out a scream in pain. Data looked back up in surprise, and the woman had turned her back to him to see what had hit her. Data looked over the wired woman's shoulder to see another woman with a yellow tee-shirt, blue jeans and black and yellow converse. The second woman's hair was rather short as it only reached a little further than her shoulders. The second woman's hair was black with vibrant yellow highlights running though it.

"Sparks?! What are you doing here?!" The wired woman said.

Sparks waved one hand through her hair and chuckled.

"Well, ya do have a habit of leavin' a mess wherever ya go, Marcy, " Sparks sarcastically said with a slight Scottish accent as she continued to say, "It was pretty easy ta follow ya here. I figured you were up ta no good, an' lookie 'ere!"

"You know my name is Stretch you fat cow!" Marcy, better known as Stretch, angrily said as she stomped her foot on the ground.

"Oh sure, I'll call ya Stretch, " Sparks joked, "The day ya learn ta beat me in a fight!"

Stretch grew furious as she sent the wires and cables of Data's house after Sparks. Stretch waved her hand in a downward motion, and the ceiling cables revealed themselves and flew after Stretch. Sparks looked at Stretch and grinned before holding up her hand. She caught the wires and held them in a tight grip. They tried to escape, but Sparks remained strong. A thin bolt of electricity crawled from her eye and down her shoulder before picking up in intensity as it reached her arm and eventually, but the time it reached her hand, it was a brilliant bolt of electricity. The electricity shocked the wires and they lied dead in Sparks's hand. She dropped them to the floor before taking a step closer to Stretch. Electricity blossomed in both her hands as she reached out to touch Stretch.

"Stay away from me!" Stretch yelled in a worried tone. She clapped her hands together once and raised them above her head. Colored wires from Data's flooring came up and formed a wall in front of Stretch. Sparks let out a slight sigh as she clenched her hands into fists and began punching the wall of wire. Bursts of electricity were emitted from each blow, which left the surrounding floor singed and in ruin. Sparks keep up her relentless assault on Stretch's wall with fierce determination. Wires soon began to fall to the ground, never to get back up again with every hit they took. Sparks finished her assault by breaking through the barrier and grabbing Stretch's face with her hand. Stretch began to bat at Spark's hand furiously and soon tried to pry away Sparks's electrified fingers from her face, but to no avail. Sparks forced a small pulse of electricity into Stretch's face, causing her to immediately drop to the floor, which also made the wires drop as well.

"Holy s**t, what the f**k did you do, woman?!" Data exclaimed once Stretch had fallen, "Why did you kill her?!"

Sparks chuckled, "No I didn't kill 'er lad, she's just... Knocked out."

Data gently put Lucy down on the floor, and she immediately went over to examine Stretch's body. She sniffed Stetch generously before growling and then barking at the unconscious woman. Data stepped over Stretch's body, carefully avoiding the large mass of rubber wire and cabling that littered his floor and surrounded it.

"What the f**k am I supposed to do now?" Data questioned Sparks once he had gotten close to her, "This f*****g b***h ruined my house!"

Sparks shrugged her shoulders and sighed. Data tilted his head back and covered his face with his hands as he sighed loudly. He walked past Sparks towards what remained of his front doors. Data's home now looked even worse then it had before. The walls were in complete ruin, and the lights had been completely demolished, leaving the sunlight as the only source of illumination for the home. Data stood in the door frame and looked down at his feet, and Lucy ran over to him and sat beside his right leg. She looked up at Data and barked happily before she rubbed her small body against Data's leg.

"So what're ya gonna do now, lad?" Sparks asked as she walked over to Data.

"I don't know, "Data began solemnly, almost lost in his thoughts, "I got no where else to go. My home is destroyed. My only source of income is f*****g destroyed, and worst of all, I'm f*****g destroyed!! What the hell can I do now?! What the f*****g hell can I possibly do?!"

Data slammed his fist into the side of the door frame, which caused Lucy to shrivel up and whimper. He looked down at her and sighed before bending over and carefully scooping the dog up in his hands. He pet the fur on her head gently as she lay her head down on his arm. Data gently kissed the top of her head before turning around to face Sparks.

"Well, "Sparks began as she walked forward and placed a sympathetic hand on Data's shoulder, "Ya could always come back with us, ya know. I'm sure we can work somethin' out."

Data spoke with solemn frustration as he asked, "And why would I do that? How can I be sure that you aren't lying to me and you're not gonna try to do the same s**t that she just did, huh?"

"Because, I'm with the good guys, lad. If I really wan'ed to 'ake you out, I woulda done it already. I'm offerin' you a chance." She said calmly, "I'm allowin' you to survive." 

Data turned his right ear to Sparks and asked with great concern, "What would happen to Lucile? I can live with losing a house, but Lucile is my only ray of sunshine in this fucked up world, and I can't afford to lose her."

"She'll be fine, I promise." Sparks soothed.

Data looked to Sparks and met her gaze with a stern look as he spoke, "If anything happens to me or my dog, I swear I will f*****g end you, powers or not. I don't believe any of this s**t that's going on, but I will keep Lucy safe, do you understand that?"

Sparks nodded accordingly.

Data looked down at his dog again before returning his gaze out his door frame and back onto the streets. He heard police sirens coming closer to him from a distance. Data panned his head from left to right. Every broken down, corroded fence, every piece of liter that would come together to create an almost insurmountable mess of garbage, and every negative emotion he had ever felt had made him take one long sigh of disappointment.

"Look at this shithole, Lucy. Go on, take one big ol' f*****g look. It'll be the last look you'll ever take because, "Data turned his head to Sparks, "We're getting the !@%$ outta here."

Sparks smiled in response. She chuckled a little as she walked out of Data's door frame and down his creaky, old, and rotten stairs with Data on her tail.

"What about that b***h" Data asked Sparks once they had reached the gate that lay in front of his house.

"Oh Marcy? Don't worry 'bout her, I'm sure someone'll come pick her up later. An' if no one does, I'll do it meself." Said Sparks with a chuckle before she continued to say, "C'mon. You've got some pretty important people to meet, lad."

"Right." Data said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he was led by Sparks to the corner of Fourth and Mills.

Several days after Data's departure, a man dressed in a white suit entered Data's home, carefully stepping over the bits of debris that littered the place. He found Stretch's recently awoken body laying against a wall and attempting to catch her breath. She looked to her right and stared into the man's eyes and a look of anxiety grew on her face.

"H-hey, boss," She said nervously, "I was just... um... tidying up a bit. Hahah." Stretch nervously chuckled.

"Of course you were, my friend. How's that going for you?"

"Well. It's going well."

"Wonderful weather we're having, huh? It's such a lovely day outside." The man in white spoke as if he wasn't really paying attention to anything Stretch was saying.

"Sir?" Stretch asked with curious fear growing in her voice.

The man in white looked down at his watch and then back through where the door used to be.

"Do you have the time, Stretch, there's something important that I must attend to."

"I'm afraid I don't, sir."

"Damn, that's quite a shame isn't it?" He sighs, "It's such a beautiful day outside, wouldn't you agree?"

Stretch silently nodded in agreement.

"It's just a shame that you won't be able to enjoy it."

The man in the white suit pointed his index finger at Stretch and the sound of crackling glass could have been heard from even outside of the house. Stretch let out a pained cry as a single shard of black glass had broken though her arm and had pinned her to the wall. Soon after, another shard had done the same to her leg, another to her shoulder, and yet another to her ribs. More and more shards of glass began to appear all over Stretch's body, making her wail and squirm in pain.