Starfleet Chronicles - Issue 1 - "London, 1886"

London, 1886
Written by Annabelle Robin Lewis

Synopsis
Admiral Bunny finds herself travelling to London, England, Earth, in the year 1886 AD, expecting to just enjoy the sights and explore the time, but something is afoot. A young girl, a murderer, a mystery, and a cyborg.

Chapter 1 - Entrance
A small, dimly lit alleyway just off a busy cobblestone London street, at approximately 10pm. People are walking past in suits and dresses, or worn and dirty overalls and rags - the class divide is evident as finely dressed couples navigate the street, trying hard to avoid going near peasants and the working class, lest they dirty their clothes. A young street boy runs up to a man who's dressed a waistcoat and tophat, near-shouting "Oi there mister, need those shoes shinin'? Chimney sweepin'? Want me t' fetch you a newspaper? How 'bout I come work for your factory, y'do have one, doncha?" The man's partner tugs his arm, but the man just tosses a coin at the young boy and replies "Here, just have it."

A bright blue flash occurs in the alleyway, followed by a swirling cloud of blue glowing energy. Somehow this anomaly remains unnoticed by the civilians on the street. After a few seconds, a figure steps out, and the portal implodes in on itself, closing. The figure sniffs audibly, before a familiar voice chimes "Ah, smell the smog in the air. Victorian England alright." Admiral Bunny looks up to the sky, between the two buildings either side of the alleyway "...No airships. Looks like I got the universe right", then checks a holographic screen projected from her cybernetic arm, "Right date too, aren't I on a roll?"

"Alright, now I just need to blend in a little better." She exclaimed after taking a glance at herself. She hops half way up the wall of one of the buildings, creates a holographic platform under her feet for just a second, before leaping up onto the roof of the opposite building, and running away over the rooftops, carefully avoiding chimneys undergoing cleaning, before ending up at a local factory not currently in operation.

Chapter 2 - The Lisbeth Household
In a large manor elsewhere in London, an attractive young girl sits in a richly decorated study, her father sat opposite her behind the desk. The girl is young - only 18, she has long flowing mid-brown hair, brown eyes, and pale complexion, she's skinny and wearing a cream dress with layered ruffles over the bottom half, with a light chocolate brown corset and bolero, her waist uncomfortably small. The man is dressed in ironed black trousers and shined shoes, with a white shirt, brown waistcoat and gold-stitched cravat under his black tailcoat. He appears middle-aged, his brow wrinkled and his chevron moustache turning grey towards the bottom, his hair is black, short, and neatly combed back, but turning grey at the sides.

"Father, I understand that an education is important - " starts the girl, but she is interjected by the man stating "Very important."

"Yes, but I wish to go outside! Not stay cooped up inside all day. I've been attending my lessons since I was a child, but I'm 18 now!" the young girl explains.

"Nonsense, your lessons are far more important! And why would you need to go outside? Everything you need, I provide to you! To fraternise with boys, no doubt! I'll not have it! And you may be almost an adult, but you still have much to learn, and since I've no son, you're going to have to inherit the business when I pop my clogs, which means those business lessons are all the more important!"

The girl looks dejected, but decides not to argue with her father. "Yes father, I understand..."

"Good, now get back to your lessons, Eleanor. And if your tutor says you do well today, I may well host a ball here in the manor, since you're so desperate to... Err... Socialise."

Eleanor leaves her father's study, and heads down the corridor. On her way, she passes her mother - a woman who looks very much like Eleanor, though much older and wearing a large olive green dress. "Trying to convince your father again, were you?", her mother asks. "Yes, mother." Eleanor sighs back. "I'm sorry honey, but your father knows best, you're better off just listening to him. Cheer up, I'll have the butler give you an eclair between your lessons, hmm?" Eleanor just nods gently and carries on walking.

Chapter 3 - At The Factory
The next morning, in an unoccupied factory in Southwark, a certain blue haired cyborg forges a piece of copper into shape, before polishing it and attaching it to the endoskeleton of an almost completed prosthetic right arm made from bits and pieces in the factory. Bunny welds a few more bits into place before testing the circuitry to make sure the arm moves properly, and then attaching it to her shoulder. She moves the arm around and wiggles her fingers, then flicks her arm and a bright blue glowing plasma blade forms from the back of her lower arm. She makes the blade disappear again, before picking up some more copper plating from the ground next to her and putting it into place on her shoulder. She then takes a polished brass piece - looking very much like gold - and puts it over the bare core in her chest; a cog shape is cut out of the front, and once put on, a blue glow shines brightly through. She takes a couple more brass parts, shaped almost like centipedes and puts them on the outer sides of her legs, and a similarly shaped piece with outward protrusions along her spine, another piece over her left eye and then the eye lights up blue - much like the core - and finally two pieces roughly shaped like rabbit ears clip tightly onto her head.

Her hair fades from bright aqua blue to a dark eggplant purple from the roots to the tips. Many blue lights flicker to life on cybernetics around her body. "I mean, doesn't exactly scream normal, but it'll fit in better than plastic and rubber. Now I just need to steal someone's- I mean 'borrow' someone's clothes. Should have brought some with me really, but I never pack luggage for these trips." Bunny mumbles to herself, dressed in a black corset with cyan lace over a short black lolita dress, and cyan and black striped stockings, with no shoes.

Bunny triumphantly strides out of the factory, grabbing a sheet of cloth on her way, before hopping back onto the rooftops. She looks around for the nearest alleyway and waits for a someone to walk through. The first person to walk through is a poorly dressed young man. He doesn't notice a thing as blue glows come up behind him, and he's hit in the head with a metal-plated prosthetic arm. "Oof, sorry mate, I forgot this was metal again." She briefly checks his head. "Okay, nothing serious. Good." Then takes his clothes and wraps him in the sheet, and takes off into the street before he comes to.

Chapter 4 - Finding A Tailor
Bunny walks around, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself as much as possible - albeit not very successfully - whilst looking for the nearest tailor. Finally, she finds one, it has two large windows displaying dresses and suits, and the words "Worthington's Tailor Shop" "Dresses, suits and fine clothes here." and "Custom clothes contracts available". The last sentence peaked Bunny's interest the most. She walks in and is greeted by an elderly man wearing brass framed glasses, much like Santa Claus is known to wear.

The man takes one look at Bunny, and gasps before quickly coming out from round the till to get a closer look. Bunny - expecting the man to question her cybernetics - begins to say "I can explain these - " when the old man exclaims "This won't do at all! Not only are these cheap, dirty clothes, but a woman wearing these?! Not at all, I'll have you outfitted at once!" He pauses before asking "Just how much have you got for it? Judging by these clothes, I'd say not much, huh?" "I'm looking for you to make something special for me, I have something specific in mind. I can pay whatever it costs." Bunny retorts.

"Alright, what are you looking for?" "Here, I'll draw up the plans" Bunny replies, taking a piece of paper and a pencil from next to the till. She takes a few minutes and sketches a detailed concept, then shows it to the tailor. "Quite the artistry. And the imagination. Alright, I can do this, but it won't be cheap." "Right. When can you have it done?" "Give me til three tomorrow, I should have it just about done by then, provided nobody else is askin' for something. Payment up front though, I don't want to be makin' this and then finding out you can't pay." The old man says. "I'll give you half now, half after. So how much?" "Four pounds and ten shillings."

Bunny pulls a purse out of her new trouser pocket, and takes out £2 and 5 shillings. "Didn't come completely unprepared" she remarks to herself, having remembered to fabricate gratuitous amounts of Victorian money before leaving the USS Cosmo, but not something to wear for the time period. She hands the tailor the money, has her measurements taken, thanks him, and heads outside. Next, she goes in search of a place to rent for a few nights, carefully memorising her way back to the tailor store.

Chapter 5 - The Escape
Every clock in the manor chimes five o' clock as Eleanor finishes her last lesson of the day. She is excused by her tutor and heads out of the room, a devious smile on her face. Throughout the entire lesson, she was planning how she was going to sneak out of the house and go outside. All she had to do was fake being in bed and avoid the servants and her mother on her way out, then leave through a window. She wasn't locked in, per se, it was just that she'd get into trouble for leaving, and someone might try to stop her, or at least tell her father.

She told the butler that she was feeling tired after lesson and was going to head to bed early that night, asking not to be disturbed so as to not wake her, then headed to her room upstairs. She could hardly leave through her bedroom window, at least not without getting hurt, so she knew she had to sneak back downstairs. If she headed down the main stairway, she'd almost certainly be caught, so instead she headed down one of the stairways more out of the way, making sure none of the servants came up at the same time, and hopped out of the nearest window.

Now all she had to do was get through the entire garden without being seen. Unfortunately, the gardener was watering some of the plants at this hour. "They get burned by the sun if you water them in the daytime, you see?", as he'd always say. Eleanor - keeping low - used the shadows to try and stay hidden as she moved from behind bush to bush, fence to fence, making her way down their estate and to the one thing she forgot about - the fence. The only way out of the fence was through the front gate, which was always guarded by a single servant who'd let visitors in or turn unwelcome guests away, as well as keeping her on the estate.

Thankfully, Eleanor was able to distract the guardsman with a well thrown rock, turning him around just long enough for her to slip through the gate and out of sight. With her newfound freedom, Eleanor decided she'd just wander and see what she could find. It wasn't long before she walked past a pub, and a group of drunken men began harassing her - a pretty young rich girl walking around in the evening who they could have their way with.

Chapter 6 - The Brawl
Bunny wandered around, still looking for a place with a rental sign after a couple hours of searching, it was just after 5pm now. Thankfully, her enhanced stamina meant she wasn't too tired, but she was starting to get hungry and sick of walking. She decided to stop in a nearby pub for a drink and a meal. Pub meals in Victorian England were mainly in richer pubs, but this one served English breakfasts, fish and chips, and steak dinners - all traditional English foods that were reasonably affordable to the lower class, and definitely beat the fabricated food of the 24th century.

She was just finishing her meal when she heard the men sat at the tables outside getting even more rowdy. This wasn't like her last trip to the 21st century - there wasn't a TV with the football on out there - so she wondered what could be causing all the commotion. She went outside to check, only to find 3 working-class men all so drunk they could hardly walk, shouting and grabbing at a young girl who looked afraid.

Bunny strolled up to the men and in a playful voice said "Alright, that's enough now mates, the lass has had enough." The men turned their attention to Bunny, without letting the girl go, and the one who seemed to be in charge of their little group drunkenly snapped "What?! Y'want sum toooo? Lads, lez ge'her too, 'ave sum fun, ey?" The other two exclaimed something that sounded like agreement. "Last chance, let her go, or we're gonna have a problem, alright?" Bunny said in a much harsher tone this time. "Ooooooh, she wans t' try 'er luck boys. Lez show 'er how we do bizness roun' 'ere, ey?" The one grabbing at the girl let go, and the three men advanced on Bunny.

In a blur, Bunny sent her metal plated fist into the leader's face, followed by an elbow to the second man, and a swift kick in the balls to the one who was grabbing at the girl. The three men fell like sacks of potatoes onto the ground, clenching their face, belly, and balls respectively.

"Thank you so much, miss", the girl said relieved, but still a little frightened. Bunny reassured her "Not a problem, they won't bother you again. They were pissing me off anyway. What's your name by the way?" "Eleanor, Eleanor Lucilia Lisbeth, and you?" Eleanor replied. Bunny stammered as she went to say her nickname, but quickly corrected herself to her real name, Annabelle Robin Lewis, a much more fitting name for the time.

"So what are you doing out alone at this time?" Annabelle questioned Eleanor. Eleanor, grateful for being saved, trusting this new acquaintance, and feeling a little guilty, confessed to everything and explained that she was rarely let out of her manor and decided to sneak out. The two girls talked over drinks for an hour or two, before Annabelle agreed to walk Eleanor back home. On the way, Eleanor suggested that Annabelle stay at her manor the night as a guest, since she was looking for a place to rent.

When Eleanor returned, they snuck back into the manor together, but Eleanor was quickly met by a servant saying her father wanted to see her.

Chapter 7 - The Night
The corridors were decorated with rich mahogany panels running along the bottom half of the walls and beige vine patterned wallpaper along the top half, with a wine red carpet. Every 5 metres or so was a brass candle sconce; the air was flooded with the aroma of burning wax, a pleasant and unusual smell to Annabelle. The doors were all the same mahogany used on the walls and all had curved brass door handles with engravings, looking quite fancy.

After going down a long corridor with a few turns, the two women stopped outside of a door, it was different from the others - it featured a brass panel with the words "Study of Lord Addison Lisbeth" embossed into it. "You'd probably best wait out here. I'll ask him if you can stay the night, if I can get a word in, that is..." Eleanor said before heading inside her father's study. Annabelle sat outside on a reddish-brown leather couch next to the door for about half an hour, during that time a lot of arguing could be heard from inside. Things quieted down for a minute before Eleanor opened the door and gestured for Annabelle to come inside, and so Annabelle strode into the study after Eleanor.

The man looked her up and down before Annabelle gave a slight bow and introduced herself. "Good evening, Lord Addison, I'm Lady Annabelle Robin Lewis, I apologise for my attire, it was rather last minute, I had to borrow these. I'm having new clothes tailored to be ready tomorrow afternoon." "I see... Uh, take a seat if you wish. My daughter here tells me you'd like to stay the night at my manor, yes?" The lord asked while squinting at her cybernetics. Annabelle glanced at him for a minute before replying "I'd rather stand. Eleanor here offered to host me as your guest, with your permission, of course. I felt it would be rude to refuse her offer." "Is that right? Eleanor, my dear, how is it that you met our dear ladyship here?" Eleanor stepped forward to attest to Annabelle's story "Well, while I was out... I ran into some trouble with some drunk men, and Annabelle here stopped them. So we talked and I offered for her to stay the night."

"I suppose I can hardly turn away a guest, especially after helping my daughter. You're welcome here for the night. ...But may I ask, what in god's name is the metal strapped to your body? Some sort of armour? And how is it emitting light like that?" Finally, he decided to ask about what had clearly distracted him the entire time. "Well, your lordship, I'm what you might call a tinkerer, an inventor. My arm and eye were both lost in a tragic factory accident, so I created these mechanical replacements." Lord Addison looks flabbergasted for a moment, then recomposes himself and says "Interesting. I see. Well, I won't question it further. My daughter can show you around the manor, and guide you to our guest bedroom. I'll have the servants take care of you. And you can borrow some of Eleanor's clothes until tomorrow."

Eleanor and Annabelle left the study and Annabelle was shown around most of the manor, and eventually ended up in the guest bedroom. Eleanor left the room for a minute and came back with a few dresses and heels. The two spent the next half an hour deciding which Annabelle ought to wear, and then talked until the clock chimed 11 and interrupted them. Eleanor wished Annabelle goodnight, and went to her own room.

Annabelle got undressed, pressed down on a clip on the back of her shoulder, gave her arm a twist, and pulled it off and placed it next to the bed, then slid off the shoulder plating and unclipped the ears and left them all next to her arm, leaving her legs, cyber eye, and blue matter core in place on her body. She took a look at her scars and the mechanised shoulder that connects to her arm in the mirror, sighed, and then went to bed. The bed was easily large enough for two people, and extremely comfortable, it wasn't long before Annabelle found herself asleep and dreaming of the many nightmares of her past, and the faces of people she's killed, despite this, she slept sounder than ever.

Chapter 8 - Playing Cards Is A Good Way To Solve An Argument
The morning came in good time, and Annabelle was woken by a servant, her hair a dark purple mess over her face and forgetting that she wasn't dressed, she sat up, then quickly realised and pulled the sheets over herself and thanked the serving girl for waking her. The servant left the room. Annabelle put her cybernetics back on and got dressed in Eleanor's clothes. They didn't match her cybernetics very well, but they were surprisingly comfortable and Annabelle didn't mind wearing them.

Eleanor entered the room a few minutes later, and said she had no lessons on Saturdays, and asked if she could come with Annabelle to the tailor. Annabelle agreed, and so after breakfast the two set off. Later, the two entered the tailor, the old man looked up and said "Ah, you again! Well you only went and found some better clothes anyway. Don't suit ya though. Uh, your new clothes are just in the back, come I'll show you." The three of them head to the back of the shop, where a bizarre looking outfit is displayed on a mannequin.

Annabelle puts them on in a changing room, and then steps out. She was wearing a black frilly high-low dress, with a dark purple - almost black overbust corset with gold accents and fancy looking curls, leggings following the same colour scheme and pattern, a long coat that curved to a point at the bottom front points where the coat would close, and a large collar, the same colour as the corset with gold around all of the edges, and a gold band around the middle, with a royal purple inside, black leather high heeled knee-high boots, and to finish it off, she takes a black and purple junior top hat, with a fancy-looking six of hearts card pinned into the royal purple satin band and a little cog broach pinned onto the front-right of the body, and puts it on. It has slits cut out specifically for the rabbit ear-like adornments on her head. It's exactly like the one she has back on the Cosmo, only purple instead of burgundy.

The tailor looks very proud of his work, Annabelle is smiling and twisting herself to look at every angle, touching the fabrics, and Eleanor looks at her a little quizzically, but can clearly see that such a dark and unusual outfit suits Annabelle much better than the dress Eleanor had loaned her. The purple, gold, fancy adornments, and eccentricity of the outfit makes Annabelle look like royalty, or at least live up to her claim of being titled lady from the night before. Annabelle pulls her purse out of a convenient pocket inside the coat, and pays £2 and 10 shillings to the tailor. "You've given me an extra 5 shillings here." says the tailor, trying to hand it back, but Annabelle just tells him to keep it for doing such a good job and getting it done so quickly. Eleanor's dress is put into a bag, which Eleanor holds onto, and the two exit the shop, thanking the tailor profusely.

"So, where now?" asked Eleanor. "I was thinking we could go for a drink. Don't worry, pubs are a lot nicer during the day." So the two of them head to the nearest tavern; it's not something Eleanor is used to, but she enjoys spending time with her new friend, as well as being out of the house. They find a rather high class tavern, not like the rowdy and cheap pub from the night before. Annabelle buys Eleanor a white wine, and herself a red wine.

It's not long before a discussion between two aristocrats starts becoming rather loud as the two argue over the future. One believes that the works of Jules Verne may become closer to reality than fiction, while another argues that such things are impossible. Annabelle, having knowledge of the future and enjoying the works of Verne, decides to head over to their table and join in. "As it happens, lads, I know that Verne's works aren't so far from the truth. A man will go round the world in a balloon, submarines will go to the deepest depths of the sea and find ancient wrecks, and men go to the moon and much, much further." "Come now, it's preposterous! They're works of fiction! Fiction! Made up! There's no way to reach the moon, and there never will be!" the man retorts. "Alright, why don't we settle this with a card game?" suggests Annabelle, knowing full well that she won't lose.

The men both agree, and Annabelle chooses to play a rather complicated game that neither the men nor Eleanor could completely understand. Without explanation, Annabelle kept drawing the six of hearts and queen of hearts from the deck every few cards, even if it had already been played. One of the men was only able to draw black cards, while the other could only draw odd numbers - not through the rules, but the men simply couldn't draw anything else. The basis of the game revolved around each card having a value relative to the other cards played and held by a complex system of multiplying by played cards from that round, and subtracting the values of the cards held in your own hand. By using what was subtracted, you could work out what the other player had and play a card to decrease the value of their next card, or increase the value of your own. While the men started to understand how to play (though not how to win) towards the end, they caught on far too late and Annabelle won the bizarre game by playing a joker which apparently was worth a base value of 13, multiplied by the sum of the final values of the other cards played, and gave Annabelle the score needed to win the game. The men were left far too confused to continue arguing and didn't understand the game well enough to accuse her of cheating, so the argument was settled.

Chapter 9 - Living In The Moment
After the bar, the two set out to find a place for Annabelle to stay, since the Lord Addison's invite in the Lisbeth household was only for one night. By the end of the night, Annabelle found a reasonably comfortable bed and breakfast to stay in, paid for the room, and then took Eleanor home before heading back. Annabelle only planned to spend a week or so in this time period, but having met Eleanor, she was now considering staying for a little longer.

Days passed in the blink of an eye, and every day Annabelle explored more of Victorian London and what it had to offer, slowly becoming more and more immersed in the world around her, and only occasionally running into trouble. There were many people questioning her cybernetics, but she was able to pass it off with the same excuse every time, though one time being asked to fix a machine for a man, which she did out of what amount of kindness was in her cybernetic heart. Annabelle wasn't used to a simple life without advanced technology or life threatening adventures, but was learning to enjoy it - though still going back to the factory from when she first arrived to build machines for no reason other than her own enjoyment every now and then. Eleanor still had to attend her regular lessons on weekdays, but her father began allowing her out on weekends, so long as she was accompanied by Annabelle.

After a few weeks had passed, Annabelle decided it was time to stop renting places and find somewhere she could own - she had more than enough money after all. But Annabelle was one to go to extremes, and she'd already claimed to be a Lady of the Manor; it was time to legitimise that claim. Annabelle bought the deed to a large manor just outside of the city, hiring servants and a personal carriage.

Before she had even realised it, 8 months had passed since her arrival and Annabelle had been living a life of luxury in her manor, and purchased her own factory, which became the first ever to be fully automatic - it featured machines in every stage, all expertly made with clockwork and hydraulics, and there were even machines to maintain other machines, with not a single human worker in sight. It assembled pocketwatches and clocks of all kind, and then they were shipped to and sold in stores all around the city under the brand name "Harmonic Resonance", which could be found engraved on every clock, with the date of production beneath it. She had a steady stream of money coming in, and with no workers to pay, she was able to keep it all to herself, but found the inclination to give some to charities and the poor, she was already rich when she arrived in 1886, she didn't need more riches.

Chapter 10 - Tragedy
It was now November, and if you've ever been to England in the winter, you'd know that there was no snow in November - only cold, wind, rain, and hail. That is, except for a few magical years like this one, in the south of England, the snow piled up several inches thick throughout the winter, while the North mainly received rain and a strange amount of sun, with wind coming from the west. The days were getting shorter, the nights were darker and bitter cold, especially on the polished copper and brass plating of Annabelle's cybernetics.

Annabelle sat on a bench reading a newspaper, her cybernetics stinging her skin with the cold, her coat wrapped up but covered in snow, her hat hardly shielding her face from the snow. On the front page of the newspaper was a headline about a series of murders by an unknown serial killer - the targets were all young women, except for one young boy who was believed to be a witness who was silenced. Annabelle's first thought, likely the same as your own, dear reader, was that it was the infamous Jack The Ripper, but after briefly researching him, she found that it was 2 years early to be Jack, so it couldn't be him. Unfortunately, records of 1886 are sparse in Starfleet's databases, so she couldn't find the identity of the killer. But she felt it was about time to look into these murders - Scotland Yard was hardly going to catch him if they hadn't after 6 targets and one dead witness.

Eleanor's lessons had started to become shorter as she started focusing on biology and medical sciences and completing her education in other subjects, and she had became confident enough to go out on her own, and her father had started allowing it, realising that she was an adult seeking independence. Her father may have been strict, but he wasn't cruel enough to keep her locked away forever.

One cold and dark evening, on the 11th November 1886, Eleanor was walking home through the snow after a day out round the shops in the town. Her journey home took her down an unlit alleyway, and that's where it happened. As she got half way down the alley, a figure stepped out of the shadows into her path. He wasn't a particularly large man, but he was dressed in a long coat and top hat, his face hidden from the light coming down the end of the alleyway. Eleanor tried to step around him, but he moved to stop her in her tracks.

Scared, Eleanor tried to back away, when the figure pulled a combat knife out from inside his coat. Eleanor tried to run, but slipped on the snowy cobbles, and the man lunged for her. Fighting for her life, she grabbed his arm and tried to force the knife out of his hand. He was much stronger than her, but she managed to twist his wrist just enough to break the knife free of his grasp, before kicking him off in his surprise and trying to run, screaming.

He got up and sprinted for her, grabbing her and throwing her back into the alleyway, before drawing an Enfield Mk II Revolver from his coat pocket and pointing it at her. "Please, please! Put the gun down! Please! Please!" Eleanor pleaded for her life. A loud boom echoed through the streets, and crows on nearby rooftops took flight, cawing into the chilling wind. Eleanor fell to the ground, the pure white snow turning crimson around her. The scent of gunpowder smoke flooded the air. The man's voice sounded muffled and distant as Eleanor's vision went dark. "Sorry my dear, but you were such an interesting kill. I expected you to be another easy one. Thrilling, truly."

Chapter 11 - Investigation
By the time anyone made it to the alleyway, following the sound of the gunshot, the man was already gone, and Eleanor was dead. The police arrived on the scene in just under an hour, her body already freezing cold. Annabelle heard word about another murder and headed to the scene over rooftops. When she arrived at the alleyway, she noticed the police and decided it was best to stay on the roofs and look down on the scene, instead of trying to get the cops to let her inspect the body. As she looked down at the body, horror struck her face as she realised who the victim was. She turned away for a moment feeling sick, before anger and vengeance overtook her. In a single moment, she changed from her friendly and fun-loving self of the past few months, to the cold, calculating, unstoppable entity she was known as in the 24th century.

Using her cyber-eye, she zoomed in on her friend's corpse and examined as much as she could: She noticed a single bullet wound as the fatal injury, shot from the front. Cuts on the body's right hand, indicating a struggle with a knife. A tear in her dress, clearly she put up a fight. Without getting a closer look, there wasn't much she could get from just looking. Instead, she had her cyber-eye scan for DNA traces. The alleyway was full of them, as expected from a public place, but the body showed only a few traces. Her cyber-eye couldn't identify them with no records of DNA from 1886; she'd have to scan people to see if their DNA matched the traces, but there was no way she could possibly scan the entire population of London, instead she had to find suspects to scan.

She wasn't able to scan the bullet whilst it was inside the body, but luckily the bullet was extracted and collected as evidence by the police, and as it was extracted, she was able to scan it. The scan revealed it was a Mk II .476 Enfield bullet, used in the Mk II Enfield Revolver - a gun commonly used by the British military and police force. "Was it possible that the killer was a policeman, pretending to investigate his own crimes? It would be an excellent way to evade arrest." Bunny thought to herself. She scanned the police on the scene, but neither of them matched the DNA traces.

She looked for any tracks leading away from the alleyway, but the snow had already covered some footprints, and it was a public street, there were footprints of policemen, bystanders, and passers-by, it would be impossible to identify the footprints of the killer.

Chapter 12 - To Catch A Killer
So how could Bunny possibly catch a killer who's evaded the police, who used a weapon so common, who cannot be tracked by footprint or found by fingerprint or DNA, with not a single security camera? It was a task that seemed impossible, but Bunny was well known for doing the impossible.

She sat on the roof as Eleanor's body was taken away and pondered her next move. "Examine the other victims bodies for clues and search for a motive? No, the first few would have decayed too much by now to hold any clues, and had already been buried." She thought out loud to herself. "Follow the lead of the weapon? Pointless, it's standard to police and military, available on the black market, and anyone could have got their hands on one." She sighed, knowing that was her only lead so far. "Question witnesses? Nay, the only witness was the young boy who was killed in the fourth murder." She stopped to think for a few seconds. "Act as bait to catch him red handed?" Bunny paused and a smile formed on her face. "Hold on, I think we're on to something now... He only targets young women, and so far they've all been rich, high class ladies. And I just so happen to be a young woman who owns a manor."

Over the next few days, Bunny looked closer into the murders and mapped them out, finding that they all happened within a certain part of London, the most common routes between a few of the richer and poorer boroughs ran through the area, spanning several city blocks. She also found that after each murder, the killer seemed to take a break for a week or two, during that time the news of the latest murder would circulate, but more importantly, the police would patrol the area after each murder, but reduce the patrols after a couple of weeks. The killer was smart, but not smart enough.

All Bunny had to do was make a high profile of herself to get noticed for a week or two, then go through the killer's zone for a few nights until he attacks. Two problems seemed apparent with her plan: He might already have a target, and he might only attack seemingly helpless women, so her cybernetics and reputation for bar fights could stop her from being targeted. She had a hope that if she drew enough attention, he might change his target, and a plan to seem less intimidating. She began circulating rumours of "a young amputee lady who owns a manor and may have a lead on the murderer" in the hopes that it might peak his interest.

Chapter 13 - Confrontation
Two weeks later, Bunny goes out wearing a large gown, opera gloves, and a half-face masquerade ball mask to cover her cyber-eye, with her cybernetics lights turned off, and walks alone through the area on a typical route. She catches a glimpse of a silhouette slipping past around a corner, and decides to keep walking in that direction, she takes a turn into a dark alleyway and stops for a moment, getting out a compact mirror and pretending to check her makeup, when in the reflection, she sees a figure come up silently behind her. She smirks slightly and spins around to face him.

"Hey there fella. Say, you wouldn't happen to be the killer I'm after, would you? Cause if you are, then I can't believe this actually worked." The man remained silent, but took a combat knife out of his coat. "I'll take that as a yes. Excellent." Bunny said confidently. "Suppose you'll be a challenge, huh?" The man finally spoke in a gruff and thickly accented voice. "A challenge? Dear, you don't have a chance of beating me. I'm not a challenge, I'm the end of the road." Bunny responded, pulling her mask off and throwing it aside, her cybernetics lighting up. She then flicked her wrist, her plasma blade appeared from her forearm - cutting through her opera glove. The man looked taken aback by it, but had no intention of giving up or fleeing.

The two figures engaged in an impressive dance of battle, both slowly taking turns taking swings and the other dodging effortlessly, neither taking it seriously yet. As swing after swing missed, they both started trying harder and harder to hit the other, and this strange back and forth got faster and faster until they both were swiping at each-other with such speed that the blades were nothing but a blur, and what was effortlessly leaning out of the way quickly became jumping and prancing to avoid strikes, until finally Bunny landed the first hit - a mere scratch, but a display that she had the upper hand. She grinned, knowing with that single scratch, the battle was all but guaranteed. The man glanced at the scratch before returning his focus to their lethal waltz.

Suddenly it became clear that both of them were taking it very seriously. In the blink of an eye and a flash of blazing light, they both took a swing at the same time. Afterwards, it was as if time stood still, as the man looked down at his knife, glowing orange and cut in half, then he looked up to his opponent's face, a wide and terrifying grin on her face. It was in that moment that he realised; he was facing a killer far more dangerous and deranged than himself. Fear struck him right to his core, his blood pulsed through his body, he could hear his heart throbbing, and he did the only thing he could do protect his life.

In a single movement, he reached into his coat, pulled out his revolver, and pointed it to Bunny's head. But as he looked up to aim, a terrifying sight lay before him. Before he even had the gun out of his coat, Bunny had grabbed her own gun, a white and black gun with a light blue glow, marked with the words "Cs-55", a barrel like a jaw with fearsome teeth, the end of the barrel glowing with energy, and it was aimed right for him. The two stared into each other's eyes for an elongated moment, waiting for one to blink or break eye contact as a cue to fire. Sweat dripped from the man's forehead, and his hand shook in such an intense moment, but Bunny appeared perfectly calm, her cybernetic hand was as steady as a rock. The moment seemed to last an eternity before finally, the spell was broken when the man blinked.

A flash of bright light and the unique sound of a Flatline Pistol emanated from the alleyway. The pleasant burning scent of ionised air could be faintly smelled escaping into the streets.

Chapter 14 - What Happens Next?
Reenter on the scene of the alleyway, the man is laid on the cobbled ground. Bunny scans him to see if he matches the trace of DNA found on Eleanor's body. A match. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, but you'll be avenged now, Eleanor." Annabelle laments to herself. She hides her Flatline Pistol back under her dress, picks the murderer up and hoists him over her shoulders. She walks to the nearest police station, and turns him in, making sure to tell the police who he is, but not how she defeated him or of her own identity.

Two weeks pass as Annabelle stays residing in her manor, having her servants keep her up to date with the murderer's trial. It turned out that the killer's name was John Lemoy, but he preferred the name Mack. He served four years in the military as an infantry soldier, hence the revolver and combat knife, but left after his minimum required service was complete. Eventually, Annabelle received the news; Mack had been found guilty of all 8 murders and one count of attempted murder. He was sentenced to hang, and so Annabelle went to watch over the hanging, and see it through. He died, sure enough. Everything seemed wrapped up, and Annabelle no longer had a reason to stay, but she still had a few more plans.

It was mid December after the weeks of waiting to catch him, and the weeks of his trial. Annabelle intended to stay for Christmas; and so on the 25th of December, Annabelle visited Eleanor's grave, leaving a white rose in front of her tombstone. She visited Eleanor's mother and father, and mourned with them. Lord Addison blamed himself for letting her go out alone, but Annabelle reassured him that despite her life's untimely end, Eleanor appreciated that she got her wish and was allowed to see the world around her. As Eleanor's close friend, Annabelle was invited to stay for Christmas dinner in the Lisbeth household. When the day was over, Bunny had one more thing to do. But not in Victorian England, no, it was time to go back to the future.

Chapter 15 - The Cult
Bunny was well acquainted with two extradimensional entities of incredible power, known as Blue Matter and Orange Matter. They appeared in the form of blue and orange glowing liquid, but the entities themselves were sentient and capable of almost anything. And, unwilling to give up on her dear Eleanor, Bunny decided to do something humanity has dreamed of for thousands of years - she was going to bring back the dead. Eleanor was dead and buried, her body decayed beyond use, her brain permanently dead, even before Bunny left 1886. Instead, Bunny returned to her long-time associate, The Engineer, and with only a little of his assistance, built a synthetic body capable of using Blue Matter as a fuel source. But the body alone was just an android without a mind. She needed to bind a soul to it - something that seemed like magic.

Bunny, however, knew of a voodoo cult, made up of many different species, who worshipped Blue and Orange Matter as gods. The cult called knew the two entities as Alowa (Meaning water, or ocean) and Laeda (meaning fire, or magma) respectively, and saw them as gods from which all creation began. They believed that the two gods balanced the universe and that a piece of both gods existed in all living things, giving us the capability to do both good and evil. The cult regularly made offerings and sacrifices to the entities, and held possessions in which a person injected Matter into their veins and was overtaken by it. Despite seeming to many like mere faith and the supernatural, it just so happens that if you offer to real, sentient god-like beings, sometimes your prayers are received.

Bunny had once had a rather steamy encounter with a priestess of this cult, and so sought out her aid, bringing the synthetic body with her to a far off planet which the cult bases itself on. She arrived on the planet, and requested the priestess's help with something never done before; to have Blue Matter permanently possess an artificial body with a specific soul. Possessions usually only lasted minutes to hours, had never been done on something that wasn't a life form, and was almost always a random soul. However, the cult had rituals to imbue dolls with power, and to contact a lost friend or relative. The priestess agreed to try, but couldn't promise to succeed.

And so Bunny, the priestess, and a few members of the cult performed a brand new ritual, combining the 3 rituals to place Eleanor's soul into the robotic body. The body's fuel pipes were flooded with Blue Matter, and the cultists began chanting in a language which Bunny couldn't even make out, except for a few words. It didn't seem to be working, until Bunny joined in and began with her own chant from a work of fiction which seemed relevant to her. She began chanting the words "Dollay oh oh, we come dollay!" and "Dollay, dollay oh oh!" The priestess glanced at her and gave a little smile for a moment, but the cultists remained focused. The Blue Matter in Bunny's body, in her cybernetics and her veins, coursed through her as she felt the attention of the all powerful entity was drawn to her. Having read her intentions, the entity did this favour for Bunny. A bright blue light shone from the synthetic body, blinding everyone in the room, before dying down into just a faint pulsing glow from within, and most visible in its eyes.

Chapter 16 - New Life / Finale
Nobody was sure if it had worked, but Bunny trusted that the faint blue glow from within was a sign that the Blue Matter had granted her wish. She had to return to active duty in the fleet now - though it had been a year for her, it had only been days for everyone in the fleet thanks to the miracles of time travel - but she brought the body back with her and worked on it in her quarters to bring life to the cold artificial body.

After some modifications, she successfully booted up the body, the lights all phased to life, and a familiar yet synthetic voice asked "Do you wish to initiate consciousness?" "Yes" Bunny replied tearfully as her creation came to life before her very eyes. "H-hello? Where am I? Who are you? Who am I?" Dollay asked. Bunny realised that though Eleanor's soul had been placed into the new body, Blue Matter was a tricky being, and didn't transfer her memories with her soul, leaving Dollay a blank slate with Eleanor's soul and personality as the base.

Bunny's beloved Eleanor was lost, but Blue Matter had given her something she never knew she needed - a daughter. Someone to care for, to look after, to raise, and to love.

'' The end? ''

'' No, a new beginning I think. ''