"It won't open, mistress."
Jin chuckled. "We own this space now, bitch. Prepare to be disappointed."
Her eyes narrowed as she turned to give him a look of dislike. She shrugged graceful shoulders. "No matter. I'm sure my companions can figure out how to reverse what you've done."
Jin got close to the cage’s barrier. "They're not going to have time to do much of anything. You shouldn't have done that. Now you're all going to die."
Ayela's head tilted with confusion.
Behind her, Kira rose, her hair covering her face as she straightened so very slowly.
"That was a mortal wound," Quillon murmured, rising from where he tended to the Luathan Overlord. His cloak whispered into place around him.
It had been. Graydon was sure of it.
"Kira," Joule and Ziva shouted in relief.
"Guess again," Raider said in a soft voice. "It's something much more dangerous."
"The Phoenix," the blue-haired woman whispered, her voice hushed as tangled notes of fear and awe ran through it.
The figure finally lifted her head, her expression feral, her entire focus locked on Ayela, the rest of the world forgotten.
Graydon saw what he and the rest of the Tuann had missed.
It wore Kira's shape, it had her face, but there were subtle differences. The pale creaminess of her skin was replaced by a dark gray. Violet symbols etched themselves across every exposed piece of skin, lines linking them in swooping patterns only the oldest of the ancients would be able to decipher.
To the uneducated eye, some might have mistaken her for a female Tsavitee general, but Graydon knew her for what she really was. Primus. Precious and rare.
Her eyes opened at last, glowing violet as she focused on Ayela's head.
"Primus form," Graydon said in stunned understanding.
"What are you looking at?" Ayela asked with a frown.
Kira's hands appeared on either side of Ayela’s head. They closed on it and wrenched, a crack piercing the room. Ayela's body slumped to the floor, her neck broken. She stared sightlessly up at the ceiling.
Kira stepped over the body, her attention turning to the occupants of the cage for the first time.
"Weapons up," Raider said.
Kira struck in the next second, the cage shuddering from the force of the blow. The walls of the cage crackled as she continued to press her hand against it, the smell of scorched flesh reaching Graydon.
She was damaging herself as she tried to break into the cage.
The humans had their weapons trained on her, fear and pheromones flooding the air.
"Will the cage hold?" Raider snapped.
"Probably." Jin didn't sound convinced.
"Not good enough," the human snarled.
Jin snorted. "That's the best you're going to get. I'm not a magician. I had seconds to switch the polarity to give us this much protection. Next time give me more of a head’s up if you want a more quality product."
"Can our weapons pass through?" the big man asked.
Both Graydon and Jin voiced an immediate denial.
