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Manning the Fort

Days Ago...

Kat sat glumly in the back of the APC, looking at a small photo in her hands. It was her, a few years back in her former hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, about three months before it was razed to the ground by the Toshigan Empire. Her parents behind her, younger sister in front, older sister off to the side, and her boyfriend hugging her. God, she missed them so much.

"What's wrong?" Kat looked down to see Sora, the tiny orphaned Viximon from yesterday looking up at her. Kat sighed heavily.

"I'm just thinking little guy," she said, head hung down and eyes closed. Moments later, she felt Sora nudge her leg. And then, seconds later, she felt the fox kit climb up her leg and settle onto her lap.

"About what?" Sora asked. Kat opened an eye. For a child who had just lost his closest family yesterday, he sure was quite talkative.

"About when I lost my parents to the big scary monsters," Kat answered, a solitary tear forming at the edge of her eye. Sora tilted his head curiously, his sadly drooped ears making his somewhat adorable, even in this grim situation.

"What happened?" There was the question that Kat had been dreading. But, seeing as not telling how much it affected her got her into trouble, and that she wasn't going to meet Varak for another hour, the young private figured that she might as well talk.

"Well, Sora, you see, when the monsters attacked, I was back home, in my dimension...." And just like that, a common grief united the human and Digimon, and helped ease their respective pains.

[][][]

Coyote sat down next to Rahne, holding her hand gently. Varak had come by earlier and examined her, and after he had done some tests, declared her physically fine, and just a bit shaken up emotionally. But right now, he was looking at the vixen who stole his heart four of his years ago. The assault from yesterday had taken out a lot of their munitions, so now, Coyote had to call in an order for more ordinance. And with the Tactical Rift Gate System, not to mention the entire network of D.RIFT Recon facilities, under total lockdown, that left only one other supplier. All Coyote needed was a couple of minutes away from Rahne, who was sleeping, her lithe form twitching.

Taking a nearby blanket, Coyote draped it over his mate, gently stroking her ear as he got up. Rahne stirred briefly, and then clutched the blanket closer to her. Coyote smiled down at her as he went outside in his bodysuit's pants and the standard issue olive drab U.S. Army shirt. Stepping outside, he took out his cell phone. Sliding it open, he hit a button and waited.

Melissa Arial Monnot was working on the new Mk. IV Series of Reflex Armor when her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. Putting down the spork she was using, the young woman looked at the caller ID and flipped open her phone. "Hey big bro, what's up?" she asked cheerfully.

"Hi Mel, listen, I need your help," came the response from Coyote several universes and more than a few tangent timelines away. Melissa smirked in surprise.

"You? Needing help? That's new. So, what do you guys need this time?" she asked, sitting down atop an unfinished assault exoskeleton.

"Four crates of 5.56x45mm ammo, one in Wave, one Plasma, and the other two SAPHE; same in caseless, a long range radio receiver, and if it's possible, a portable shield generator."

Melissa's jaw dropped. "Holy shit Gabe, what the hell are you doing, storming a beach? We can't just airlift this shit to you, we need to talk with D.RIFT CENT-"

"CENTCOM's in lockdown," Coyote interrupted bluntly. "So is every other facility until we can find out who compromised us. Which means, we need Big Mama."

Melissa sighed. "I'll see what I can do. But I hope you know that Mom isn't going to be happy that you're doing this," she said. She heard her older brother snort over the phone.

"Sis, tell me something I don't know." With that, Coyote hung up. Melissa looked down at her phone. If it was really that bad, then the ammo wasn't the only thing that was going to be sent. And seeing as his call came from the Digital World, Melissa called up an old friend of her brother's and asked him to make a certain plasmid.

An hour later, the massive Rift Generator flashed, sending ordinance to a small fire team of D.Rifters.

[][][]

Coyote was sitting on the Hog, eating an MRE and listening to Kat tell Sora pretty much her entire life story when the large blue rift from Big Mama came into being. When it vanished, there in a pile were the eight crates of ammo he requested...along with the radio receiver, the shield generator, several Browning M2HB machine guns, with five boxes of four hundred fifty caliber rounds each, the same amount of Mk. 19 Grenade Launchers, and a medical case. He, Kat, Varak, and Mother, the latter two having just gotten there, approached the pile in a mixture of shock and awe. Curious, Coyote opened up the medical case to find a small multiuse syringe filled with an electric blue fluid, and with a sticky note attached to it. Taking the note, the lieutenant colonel looked over it quickly.

"If she's there, use it to show her that it is you. Otherwise, use sparingly. Works for eight hours.

"Signed, Dr. Freeman {A/N: Whose first name is not Gordon} and your little sis, Mel"

Coyote was shocked, to say the least. It was that plasmid, from nearly four years ago, back in his hands. Granted, it wouldn't last that long this time, but still. Knowing that she was still out cold, Coyote turned to Varak. "Varak, I want you, Gym, and Kat to set up that receiver, see if we can't pick up any signals from Zack. He can't possibly operate alone, not when the Toshigan are involved. Mother, I want you to start setting up MG nests, see where they would do the most good. Move out."

A chorus of affirmatives replied back to Coyote, and as he walked back to the building where Rahne lay resting, he injected the plasmid into his arm.

[][][]

Rahne woke up to a rather familiar scent. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a tan furred Renamon in an olive drab shirt that simply said ' ARMY' on the front, and was looking at her with an amused expression. Shaking off sleep, the vixen slowly sat up from the bed. "Gabe? Please tell me that I'm not going crazy," Rahne said, holding her stomach as it reminded her that it needed to be fed.

Coyote chuckled. "Rahne, we're all crazy. Me more so than you," he said. "Besides, who else would be dumb enough to actually want to just straight up talk to Renamon when she's trying to kill you, or, better yet, use a discarded bra as a means of distracting her long enough for us to get away?"

That sealed it for Rahne. This was definitely Gabe, and the fact that she still remembered Renamon's look of disbelief, and her Tamer's look of total indignation were a bonus. Just one issue to clear up....

"Gabe, which are you? Are you really a human, or are you a Renamon?" she asked as her mate handed her a canteen of water.

Coyote shrugged. "Does it really matter? I'm still me in either form, so you'll still have good ol' lovable me," he said cheekily. "Granted, I'll only be like this for a while, but-"

"Wait, what do you mean, only for a while?" Rahne asked forcefully. Gabe's ears swung back, in obvious discomfort.

"Well, you see, I'm only a Renamon when I take a um, elixir to change me into one. This version of it lasts only for about eight hours, and I can only transform again about four more times," Coyote explained. He then looked deep into Rahne's own sapphire eyes with his darkened emerald ones. "And in those eight hours, I want to make it up to you. You know, for not being there when you needed me."

Rahne smiled coyly. "Well then, my mate," she began, "You owe me quite a bit. First is breakfast." The corner of Coyote's lips twitched upward. He leaned over to Rahne and nuzzled the crook of her neck, sending the vixen into a giggle.

"Of course,...my queen of Shinjuku."

[][][]

Firefist was in the dining hall, ladling out a morning stew when he saw Rahne and another Renamon come up to the pot. "Lady Rahne, how are you doing this morning?" he asked. "And who in the Sovereign's names is he?" he added, pointing the ladle at Coyote. This would have struck Coyote as funny if weren't for the fact that A), Firefist was an Ultimate level Digimon, and B), said Taomon had just suffered from an attack on his village.

Rahne smiled sweetly at Firefist, arm draped on Coyote's shoulders. "Why Firetail, this is the man who introduced himself to you yesterday I believe. He's also my mate," she explained, watching as the use of the Taomon's childhood name made the Digimon turn red under his fur. Coyote straightened up. Comparatively speaking, this was far worse than the time he was inspected by his prom date's parents.

"Listen, Elder Firefist, we just need some food to start the day," Coyote said hurridly. Leaning in close to Firefist, he added quietly, "Make it the best please. By this time tomorrow, the walls will be repaired, I promise." Firefist nodded and pointed them to an open table.

The two sat at the table, and after five minutes of waiting, they saw Sora walking around dejectedly, not really talking with anyone. Without a single word, Rahne went over to the little Viximon and scooped him up into her arms. She took him over to the table just as the food was delivered. It wasn't much, but the collection of vegetables, fruits, and the bread next to it did look pretty damn good to an individual who'd been stuck in a time bubble for almost a thousand years.

Coyote noticed the copper colored ball of fur in his mate's arms as Rahne sat down. "Rahne, I don't know what you're thinking, but if it involves Sora, then I'm going to be forced to say that I can't take him. The clan forbade it, saying that a human would be a 'horrendous detriment to his development and yearning of clan traditions,'" Coyote said, throwing in some air quotations for good measure. Rahne looked at Coyote in annoyance as she fed Sora some of her soup.

"Gabe, while you can't take him, as the head of the clan, I can easily overrule those old prudes and take Sora with me back to your dimension," Rahne said as Sora began eating in earnest. "And yes, you will take me back with you." Coyote nodded as he handed her a cup of juice. After a quick prayer, Coyote dug into his food, his mate, and distant descendant doing their best to outdo him.

[][][]

10 Miles Away...

Zack 667 looked over the assembled band of mercs and alien soldiers now under his command. From his verse, he would soon have the use of an entire battalion of Moxelus Assassins, the so called 'elite' of the Lupine military; them, and a company of berserkers, heavy infantry with pulse cannons grafted into their arms. The reason for them coming was that Zack had received word from a certain General Malic that they had managed to capture a device similar to the one that Tom had used to come here. They had simply gotten it from the nearest Dimensional RIFT Recon outpost, slaughtered everyone present, and took residence there. Suddenly, a blue rift formed in the air, and out came a company of the assassins. Their leader walked up to Zack and saluted. "General Zacaus, Wolfpack Company reporting in," he said, his voice much more guttural than one would expect.

Zack smiled. "Splendid," he said coldly. "Soon the real fun can begin. I want you to start setting up camp here, and make the stupid ingrates over there do some work," he ordered, pointing at the group of Chronoinsurgents behind him. They were some sort of Neo-Fascist nutjobs with outdated power armor, but their weaponry was surprising better than what they generally brought with them. The Lupine assassin smiled ferally and started ordering his men around. A shadow peeled off the darkness made by a nearby tree, revealing an eight foot tall wraith-like being.

"I still say we should attack them now, while they are still weak," the Reaver said. Zach rolled his eyes.

"Mortis, they won't do jack shit. They're too noble to even think about abandoning these freaks to pick up the mess. No, by the time they move out, Tommie Boy will be dead, and I'll be out of this shithole," Zach replied hotly. Mortis' red eyes glared at the Spartan.

"Oh? And what of the sniper?"

Zach looked at Mortis oddly. "The sniper," Mortis said, continuing. "That left nearly two hours ago, heading the same way our scouts went, and in a much straighter path than they are."

Zach shook his head. "Then the fucker leads us to the bastard, and after I kill him, the fox freak is next."

A nearby Toshigan grunt looked up at the mention of Ronin and started panicking. Zach glared at the alien, annoyed at its constant yammering. "The fuck is it saying?" he asked a nearby Slaughter-Master.

The Slaughter-Master in question looked queasy as he answered. "He says, Lord Zacaus," the senior ranking alien translated, "That we are fools to fight the Pale Angel of San Madrid. Not to mention his master, the Demon of the Iron Wastes." At this, most of the Toshigan in the area did some weird ritual of warding off evil.

Zach barked in laughter. "Whatever. Just get them ready for conquering."

[][][]

Coyote and Rahne were walking along the edge of the village's wall when Varak approached them. Coyote looked at the dragon in concern. "What is it Varak?" Coyote asked. Varak shook his head and sighed.

"Well sir, we've isolated a signal, but we don't know who's talking," Varak responded, pointing back to where the Warthog was still parked. Coyote face-palmed.

"Varak, hook Gym up and a translator program," Coyote ordered slowly, glaring at the almost nine hundred and fifty year old dragon with a single eye. Rahne was curious on how her mate, a twenty-seven year old human, was able to command a nearly one thousand year old dragon.

"Yessir," Varak said quickly, turning around. Coyote looked back to his mate annoyed.

"Sorry about that," Coyote said apologetically. "Responsibilities of command and all." Rahne smiled softly.

"I know. I helped start this village," she said, gently hugging Coyote. "Although, there is one thing that you might need to do," she added softly. Coyote looked at her in confusion.

"What?"

Rahne smiled coyly. "What do you think?" she said huskily. Coyote's eyes widened as he was dragged back to the house where Rahne woke up. For the next three hours, he was not going to be leaving that building!

[][][]

Varak sat at the Hog, listening intently to the enemy's radio chatter. He currently had Gym hooked up to the radio to serve as a translator, but alas, nothing was coming up. And that made Varak furious. The dragon knew that every second wasted trying to find out what they were saying was a second that the other guy had to find a way to kill them. Although, he did hear references to a 'Zacaus' and a 'Malik.'

Just then, Pvt. Desserich walked up to the Hog, holding Sora in her arms. Looking at the radio, she asked, "Sir? Is there something wrong?"

Varak shook his head. "Oh no, nothing at all," he said sarcastically. "Not unless you're a code breaker who has no idea in the Abyss what the code is!" Kat looked at the headphones.

"Would you mind if I tried sir?"

In response, Varak handed her the headphones. Handing Sora over to Gym, Kat put the headphones on and listened. She didn't recognize the words at first, but then it all came back to her. Her foreign language requirement in high school, the offer for a xenolinguistics course....

"Sir, I think we're dealing with Lupine Special Forces," Kat sat as she slid one of the speakers off her head.

Varak and Gym both had expressions of utter bewilderment on their faces...well, Gym might have had a look of shock, if he even had a face. "Y-you can understand this?" Varak asked, his eyelid twitching erratically.

Kat nodded. "Yessir, three years xenolinguistics in high school sir, I studied Voxin. Lupine and Voxin are phonetically similar enough to where I can translate pretty much most of their chatter sir," Kat explained. "Why do you ask?"

Varak suddenly respected the young private in front of him far more than his old bones would like to admit. "Can you translate as they're speaking?" he asked. Kat nodded. Varak quickly handed her a datapad and a stylus. In a flash, the pink haired girl was scribbling the translated words down, her hand a blur as she listened intently. Within a minute, she handed the pad back to Varak. Looking over it, he didn't like what he saw.

A battalion of assassins, a company of berserkers, some Covenant ground vehicles, and a large Chronoinsurgent cell. And then there was the mention of Reavers, not that Varak had any damn clue what they were. They were all coming in...through a D.RIFT Recon TacRift Pad that had been taken during the lockdown?! The dragon felt his gut churn; something was about to happen, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Turning to Gym, Varak said, "Gym, trace the source of the signal and head to it. Do a quick recon, and get back quick. Do not engage unless fired upon; if you have a choice, go silent as much as possible." The massive robot nodded and loped away. Varak groaned. When his CO got done being mauled by his mate, he was not going to like the news he was about to get.

[][][]

Gym crept up silently to where the signal was coming from. It was still only about a mile away, but it was a mile that Gym could easily make. Although, the unsuspecting enemy in front of him had to go. So, with stealth rather surprising for a nine foot tall, half ton robot, he quickly grabbed the Lupine soldier's head and twisted, the muted snap barely audible. Gym looked around to see if the coast was clear, and then put the soldier down on a tree, making little adjustments to make it look like he was asleep. The bot proceeded onward, making the dead wolf number seven on his current kill count for the recon.

Five minutes later, Gym saw a pair of Lupine soldiers walking away from him, chatting in their native tongue. One was armed with what looked like an SMG, the other, a DMR. Gym switched on his translator, now set for Voxin, and listened to them.

SMG huffed in annoyance. [Did they really need to waste our time looking for some dumb kid? Hell, I'd rather be back home with my mate right now, enjoying my leave!] DMR shook his head at the insolence of his comrade.

[Why Remus, do you have no sense of faith?] DMR asked. [Once we handle this weakling Spartan, and eliminate these, what were they, oh yes, D.Rifters, Lord Zacaus will call in the rest of the force so that we can free the Great Ones hidden in this world!]

SMG glared at the other wolf. [Romulus, if there was this small a force, then why bother with us? We can easily wipe them out with a full invasion force! I'm trained to fight, not believe some damn old wives tale!]

DMR looked at his friend. [Remus, the idiot Toshigan saw that this 'Demon of the Iron Wastes' is here too. Even the elites were shaking in fear when the name was mentioned. And then they were afraid of this 'Pale Angel of San Madrid.' Fools.]

SMG perked up to that last comment. [Weird, I lost a good friend about twenty years ago to slavers heading to San Madrid. Granted, she was a Voxin, but she was a nice vixen! I wonder what happened to her?]

DMR held up his hand. [Comrade, there's something wrong here.]

SMG rolled his eyes. [The only thing wrong here is your misplaced faith. Now let's go, we have better things to do than argue about religion.] They both shut up and continued walking off. Gym pondered what the two had said. So there was indeed a larger force coming in, and they were coming to kill the Spartan and if need be, eliminate Gym's teammates. And they also wanted to free some individuals who Gym could pretty well assume were supposed to stay imprisoned. So, technically, Gym had done his duty. But, what if he did a little...direct interference? That brought a nonexistent smile to the robot's also nonexistent face. So, Gym silently followed the two soldiers, keeping a good distance between him and them.

Remus didn't let his partner know that a giant robot was following them. Granted, the grizzled old wolf had no real love for most things, but the Moxelus weren't one of them. Hell, Remus would have loved to stay in regular infantry, but no, he had to be transferred over to the assassin's branch. And he was nearing retirement, and Remus heard a very enticing rumor that the Dimensional Rift Recon accepted almost anyone, so long as they spent a while under scrutiny. So, Remus let the robot follow them, in hopes that he could slip away and join the other side of the fence.

[][][]

At above five in the afternoon local time, Gym came across the enemy camp. Granted, it was now only a half mile away, but Gym stopped anyway. If the troops he had been following were SpecOps troops, then how had they not seen him? Were they that bad? Or did they just not care that an assault bot was following them? Gym shook his head. His circuit boards would fry if he kept on thinking about the why in this case. So instead, the robot activated his little used optic displacement drive that Ronin had installed nearly a year ago and crept towards the base.

Gym managed to go about ten steps when he bumped into a Lupine Berserker. The massive wolf looked around bewildered, unsure as to what in the name of the Great Alpha would be dumb enough to intentionally bump into a Berserker. Gym's central battery pack had a momentary power spike. Here was something that probably could take him out relatively easy, and it was about to find him. So, Gym did the wise thing. He grabbed the berserker by the face, and drove his other fist through its chest, taking out several internal organs and part of the wolf's spine. Now the flow of data was clocking Gym's processors to the max as he headed _ towards _ the enemy camp.

They didn't have a clue for the first few seconds as Gym came barreling down from the woods. In those few seconds however, Gym had 1) fired a plasma round at their motor pool, taking out a few Ghosts that were parked and damaging a nearby Revenant; 2) he has also gunned down quite a few enemy personnel with his minigun, and 3) Gym created a white hole right where he thought the communications tent was. However, as Gym was turning away from the camp to head back, the Spartan came out from another tent and reacted.

Zach had instantly gotten out of his tent when he heard the commotion. Seeing the giant robot, Zach grabbed a passing insurgent and took his weapon: a relatively old M6 Nonlinear Rifle. Zach charged the weapon, and as Gym was turning away, he fired.

The scarlet cluster of high intensity light beams literally burned through Gym's left shoulder plate. It also severed his arm right at the shoulder, and the beam continued until it finally ended on the side of a hill. Gym stumbled, and as the Toshigan were rushing in for the final blow, the robot disappeared. Zach's face went red in fury. "All of you," he shouted out. "I want you to find that village, and wipe it off the map! Wolfpack, you are going after the damn shithead excuse for a Spartan, am I understood?!"

A chorus of 'ayes!' followed. After all, who the hell wanted to be in front of an angry Spartan super-soldier?

Gym appeared about three miles away, right where there was a ditch to fall into. That somehow managed to cause the primary hydraulic in Gym's right knee to pop. When Gym got up, he found that he couldn't put most of his weight on that side. Now, leaking vital coolant and processing fluid, and with a blown leg, Gym rushed back to the village.

[][][]

Coyote stumbled out of the house, his body now back to normal. Even after all this time, Rahne was still a hell of a mate. Although, looking back, the power nap he took right next to her was definitely worth it. Coyote looked over to the Hog, where Mother and Varak were having a talk about what was a better way to ambush a target; a two pound block of C8 plastic explosive from Mother, or a delayed firestorm spell from Varak. Kat wasn't joining in, if only because she was checking the newly delivered weapons over. Coyote smirked good naturedly as he looked at the dragon. "Report."

Varak turned to look at Coyote grimly. "Sir, we have a problem," he said simply. Coyote stood there, arms crossed and waiting. It wouldn't be the first time that he had problems. Most of them came from his own chain of command and from Congress. "We have hostiles occupying an outpost of ours, based in this 'verse too. Made the Toshigan attack us to initiate the lockdown, and the used the comm blackout to take it over," Varak explained.

Coyote grimaced. Damn, this was even worse than all the normal bullshit Congress bitched and complained about so far this year. "Fuck," the human swore. "So, what's the good news?" he asked.

"Sir, that was the good news."

Coyote sighed, cracking his neck. "Okaay, so, what in the name of Bob are we fighting now?" Varak was about to answer when Gym came in through the gate, left arm missing, right leg busted, and leaking fluid. Kat jumped up, horrified as Gym collapsed on the ground.

"GYM!!! OHMYGOD, What happened?!" Kat cried out as she skidded to a stop right next to the bot. The robot looked at her as she cradled its boxy head, the four blue 'eyes' glowing dimly. He then took out a memory chip and gently put it in Kat's hands.

"S-Saaave...v-v-vill-aaage...." Came the strained, weak, and totally unexpected response from Gym. Before Kat, or anybody else could speak, the lights in Gym's eyes dimmed, and then extinguished; with a quiet whir, Gym's body fell limp.

Coyote was stunned; hell, everyone present was stunned. Being a soldier meant that death was often right around the corner, more so for anyone in Special Operations. This being said, it did nothing to prep Coyote for this. Gym was an XM105 Warhound class Autonomous Assault Drone. For Gym to take that much damage was rather shocking, simply because Gym was designed to kill 'Pride' class SINs. He walked over to Kat and kneeled next to her. The young soldier flinched when he touched her shoulder, but otherwise was still. "Desserich? Katherine? Kat?" Coyote asked gently, watching as Kat sniffled, tears falling from her eyes.

"Sir? H-he's gone, ...isn't he?" she asked sobbing, head low. Coyote looked down.

"Yeah," he answered simply, not wanting to beat around the bush. "Kat, we need you to be focused. It's what Gym would have wanted. Now, the chip?" Kat handed the chip over to him as she, Mother, and Varak went and picked Gym up, hauling him to the Hog's troop bay. Coyote, for his part, slid the chip into his TACPAD and watched the recon video. He saw the camp that Zack had, and the number of enemies that he had to face. Looking up, Coyote saw Firefist looking at the unmoving form of Gym in shock.

"What is the matter Coyote?" Firefist asked. Coyote sighed and rubbed his temples, the beginnings of a killer headache forming.

"We need you to evac the area. We have a lot of hostiles inbound to make sure that nothing stops them from completing their objective," Coyote explained. "We're going to pro-"

"NO, We will _ not _ run away!" Firefist said angrily to Coyote, a Kyuubimon beside him nodding. Coyote opened his mouth just as Firefist continued. "If you plan on stalling whatever it is that is coming, then our warriors can double that time!"

Coyote was stunned. "Sir, you can't, you have no idea what you're dealing with here!" Coyote said, agitation clear in his voice. Seeing the hard face that Firefist gave him, he relented. "Fine, but we only have two, three hours at most before they can get here. That means I need all the warriors who're staying here to help defend to know how to operate that equipment," Coyote pointed to the MGs, "And to know when to take cover. Clear?" Firefist nodded. Coyote looked over to Mother. "Mother, Firefist has some troops who need a crash course on how to use a Ma-Deuce, think you can oblige?"

"Hell yeah sir!" the former Marine shouted as she shoved one of the machine guns in question roughly into the arms of a Renamon warrior, causing him to grunt in pain. "I'll treat them like my kid brother."

"What kid brother?" Varak asked sarcastically. "You don't have one!"

"Exactly!" Mother said happily, like it was the best thing in the world. "And that means I can act like my mother!"

"Who was also a Marine," Varak commented dryly.

Coyote decided to ignore the banter between his medic and demowoman just as Rahne came out and saw all the new activity going about. She looked at Coyote in confusion. "Gabe, what's going on?" she asked, the kitsune walking over to her mate. Coyote gulped as he looked at her.

"Rahne, I...I need you to leave the village okay?" Coyote said sadly. Rahne was first shocked, and then, she got angry. Really, really¸angry.

"W-w-what are you talking about?! Gabe, we just got back together and now you are telling me to leave?! Wha, are you insane?" she said furiously, just before Coyote simply burst.

"Rahne, there is an army at our front door and I have to make sure that as many villagers as possible get out of here alive! Now I know that we just got back together, but making sure that you're alive is more important to me than my own life!" the lieutenant colonel shouted, any trace of calm gone out the window. Firefist took several steps back in shock, and almost everyone else just stood there in fear.

Rahne was stunned. She was confused as Hell. She was furious at Gabe for him telling her to leave, furious that there was an army about to attack her village, and furious at herself for being so damn stubborn. "Gabe, I will not leave! Do you understand that? You left once, and I will not let it happen again!" she shouted back, fangs bared.

Coyote slammed his fist into the side of the Hog, denting the titanium chassis in his anger. "Rahne, I am not prepared to worry about your status in a firefight! I don't want to lose you again!" The D.Rifter took a step away from the Hog, his face suddenly weary and aged. "I can't...I can't lose you again. Not for forever," he whispered to her, head hung down. Rahne stayed silent for a moment, her eyes tearing up. Without another word, she turned around and went back to the house, her tail flicking angrily.

Firefist stood there awkwardly, and then spotted some of his warriors milling about. "You, go to the one known as Mother and do what she says! I want the wall repaired the best it can before tonight!" he yelled. Renamon soon scrambled to their assigned tasks, eager to get away from what they had just seen. Firefist took one last look at Coyote before he left to help prepare for the coming fight.

Kat slowly walked over to Coyote. "S-Sir?" she asked hesitantly, hand almost touching his shoulder in compassion. Coyote stood up straight and sighed heavily.

"Yes private?"

"Can I...can I help you sir?" Kat inquired shakily, not sure of how to deal with an emotional commander like Coyote was now. Coyote turned, and after reaching into the Hog, gave her his PCW-R.

"Yes, take the shield generator to the village center and prep it. At 1930, I want you to activate it, and head over to the dining hall with the villagers being evacuated. Seeing Kat about to protest, Coyote placed a hand on her shoulder, silencing her before she could speak. "These villagers will be scared, and I need you to be strong for them, okay Kat?"

Kat simply stood there, not sure about what to do for a second. Then she finally snapped a salute and went off to do what her commander had told her to. She may have been a lowly E-2, but she knew why her CO had asked her to do this. It was to spare her the possible anguish of seeing him die, and as she set up the shield generator, she cried in silence.

[][][]

Remus sat in the treetops, watching the villagers and D.Rifters scurry about. He was tasked with providing cover fire for the distracting force, while Wolfpack Company went after the Spartan-V and the Voxin sniper. Currently, he was bored out of his mind. It just seemed that darkness just would not fall, but as an assassin, he had to be patient. Which wasn't easy for the ex-infantry Sergeant.

Looking over the walls with a pilfered SRS99-AM3 rifle, Remus spotted what could only be described as a walking tank, laden with all manner of explosive ordinance. Currently, the demowoman was teaching the odd fox people how to use a machine gun and an automatic grenade launcher. Not that Remus really cared, but this demowoman seemed a bit...rough, especially given the fact that she was yelling right in one of the fox's faces when it didn't assemble the MG right.

Remus smiled. Oh yes, he'd have a good time being a D.Rifter. If he wasn't killed on sight first.

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Dusk

Varak huffed in annoyance. The sun had set a little while ago, and there was still no sign of the enemy force that Gym had seen. Kat had, as were her orders, activated the shield generator about five minutes ago, and the faint blue shimmer of the active shielding system was barely visible. Varak himself was ready to start healing anyone who needed it, Mother had taken the Regent turret and was hauling that thing around, a few rockets strapped to her, and Coyote was on the wall with some warriors, his assault rifle at the ready.

Varak suddenly saw movement at the treeline, and aimed his own SMG at it, looking through its scope. He could only gulp as he saw line after line of infantry, with Ghosts interspersed every few meters.

The dragon wasn't sure that the shielding was enough.

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Mortis stood outside of the village, barely ten meters away from the treeline, and he was smiling. Zack had given the order for him to attack the village so that Wolfpack could do their job, along with most of the chronoinsurgents and some of the Toshigan. Mortis would enjoy this night very much, simply because his blood called for senseless slaughter.

An underling of his soon came towards him. "My lord, we have the village surrounded. All of our forces await your command," he said, the scout's red eyes gleaming in the dark.

Mortis looked down at the scout. "Good," he said, grinning madly. "Start the attack. Leave nothing alive."

The scout smiled wickedly. "Yes m'lord!"

[][][]

The assault started with the low ranking fodder charging the walls, escorted by the Ghosts. They were soon cut down by a combination of the machine gun nests, grenade launchers, diamond shards, fireballs, exploding paper tags, and a hailstorm of lead coming from the village defenders, plus the occasional white and black hole, bouts of sudden aging to dust, and in one case, one unlucky Slaughter-Master was teleported a quartermile into the air. Needless to say, that soldier didn't survive. It was much to the Reavers' shock that the Ghost's plasma cannons weren't hitting the walls; they were hitting a shield that protected the damned village!

Next came the Revenant's, their plasma mortars now bringing the shield back into the highly visible end of the light spectrum. The Moxelus were moving in, using the husks of destroyed vehicles and craters to their advantage. Varak managed to nail one of the wolf-like soldiers in the head with his own SMG, moving on to make sure that people were still in one piece.

"Sirs, evac is at 50 percent! So far no problems!" Kat said over the comm, her voice slightly panicky at the prospect of facing what was basically a small army.

Coyote grunted as he fired his assault rifle into the crowd below. "Understood, stay on station!" he yelled back, ducking as a grenade exploded on the shield. Getting back up, he paled behind his visor. The heavy infantry had come out, and they looked tough. There were at forty of them, and half of them were armed with what looked like a cannon attached to their arms. With a thunderous roar, the Berserkers fired their pulse cannons at the same time, and with the combined onslaught from the Revenants, which now numbered five, the shields collapsed.

Coyote basically had enough time to yell out " SHIT!" right before a pulse blast hit the wall right under him. Coyote hit the ground hard, and felt his femur break in three places, along with a rib on his right side. Looking up, he saw the horde of infantry coming in. "Breach! Breach in the south wall! All units fall back to rally point Alpha!" He saw Renamon jump off the wall, land, throw a few shards, and then promptly get hosed with red-hot spikes. Coyote had somehow lost his assault rifle in his impromptu flight, and was now using his sidearm: an M6D with a fifteen round magazine instead of the normal twelve.

Four mags and a quick reload later, Coyote was busy building a small pile of corpses when he saw a really tall ass fucker stroll towards him. By now, the pain in Coyote's leg was pretty much unbearable, so it stood to reason that most of the shots fired from the pistol missed. Some did, however, ricochet off bits of rubble and kill three Reavers, a Toshigan grunt, and a Lupine soldier in what could only be described as incredibly lucky as hell headshots. Suddenly, Coyote found that the pistol was now out of his hand and feet away, and that a boot was on his chest, threatening to crack a few more ribs. With no other choice, Coyote looked up into the blazing red eyes of Mortis.

Mortis chuckled darkly. "This is the Demon of the Iron Wastes that the Toshigan were so afraid of?" Mortis asked incredulously. "No matter," he went on, not waiting for Coyote to respond. "Your village has fallen. You may have gotten the occupants out, but soon, your sacrifice will be wasted. This world, and all others will be our masters yet again."

Coyote spat a bit of blood onto the inside of his helmet as he retorted in irritation. "Last guy who said that lost two wars and is dealing with rebels at the moment. So you think you'll do any better than them?" The boot pressed down harder, now cracking a few ribs.

Mortis hunched down, snarling. "ALL WHO REFUSE TO WORSHIP WILL BE WIPED FROM EXISTANCE!!" he roared.

Coyote looked up into the sky, knowing that somewhere, the real version of him was typing this experience into reality on a computer. "Nah, a single pen stroke will do that asshole," Coyote said bluntly. Besides, that was something that his other self would say.

Mortis snorted as he drew out a borrowed Toshigan Type 2 Machine Pistol, more affectionately and painfully known as a 'Hornet.' "You think the Toshigan could even compare to our masters? They are nothing compared to them! That is why they follow us!"

"Right," Coyote said sarcastically. "And they want to sit at a campfire and sing 'Kumbaya!' They have barely working Rift Pads, which is probably the only reason that you took over ours, am I correct in that assumption?" Coyote could have sworn that Mortis smiled.

"The Dark Kings will rise, after the ten temples are reclaimed, and their treasures assembled," Mortis said, sliding the charger on the Hornet, which, by Toshigan design standards, was also the safety. "You're little village is only the first step."

Coyote chuckled, briefly startling Mortis. "Dude, what in the 'verse have you been smoking? Cause my job description basically says, stop ass-wipes like you! And for the record," Coyote said as Mortis was whacked off of him by a very enraged Firefist, "This isn't my village." Firefist slammed his giant paintbrush into Mortis's side roughly four more times, just before Mortis pulled his pistol and fired.

The first few dozen spikes missed Firefist by a mile. The next dozen impacted in Firefist's left leg and arm. Firefist went down on one knee, and as Mortis was standing back up, Firefist charged, his right fist encased in brilliant cerulean flame. Mortis took out his dagger, a sword for most people, and dashed past Firefist, dodging the flaming punch. Coyote had managed to crawl over to his fallen assault rifle and grab it when he saw the clash. Mortis stumbled, considering that he'd ducked. Firefist stumbled and then fell to his knees in agony. What happened next would haunt Coyote for a long time afterwards. Firefist was dissolving. Not the normal, orderly dissolving into red and white bits of data. No, this was much, much more disturbing. Firefist's data was literally sloughing off in bits, his flesh, muscle, and bone melting in putrid green drops. His cries of terror and agony were heard all around, and Coyote almost puked in his helmet.

What felt like an eternity was in reality only seconds as Firefist melted into a gritty green sand that blew into the wind. Coyote was struck still, too shocked to move after what he just saw. That sword, that nasty green gray jagged blade had killed an Ultimate level Digimon in seconds. Still, Mortis walked back over to where Coyote lay on the ground and aimed the pistol at his head. "Pathetic," Mortis spat out. "No matter what you do, your life is over. Any last words?"

Coyote didn't get to say anything as a red-gold furred blur slammed her flaming fist into Mortis's bottom jaw in marital fury. Mortis was sent flying away, crashing into a nearby house. Coyote looked up into his mate's eyes. "I thought I told you to get out of here," he whispered, the fight now taking its effect on him. Rahne snorted.

"Together in sickness and health, till death do us part as you humans say it my love," Rahne said softly as she lifted her mate onto her shoulders, making sure that he had his weapons attached to his armor. Rahne rushed off, and seconds later reached Varak and Mother, the latter rushing off to some part of the village.

"The evac's complete!" Varak cried out, taking Coyote and putting him in the back of the Hog, where of all people, Sora was staying.

"Where's Mother going?" Rahne asked as she hopped into the Hog. Varak shrugged as he climbed into the driver's seat and slammed the gas pedal hard into the floor.

"I don't know! She said something about giving them something to shoot!" Varak yelled as he ran over a Lupine soldier.

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Mother was indeed giving the small army something to shoot. If only because she was firing plenty of high explosive grenades, plasma based bullets, and the occasional thrown quarter pound block of C-4. Currently, she was right next to the shield generator, wiring it to explode in a nonnuclear two kiloton explosion. She was just about done when she heard a commotion behind her. She tightened the last wire and stood up, and just barely avoided a knife slash from a Reaver scout. She growled loudly and kicked him hard away, and then blasted him in the chest and head with a fusillade of bullets.

Suddenly, a blade sliced through Mother's armor, and into her left forearm. Now the bad thing about this was, Mother's armor was designed to withstand a grenade going off right in her face, so for a sword to cut through her armor like it was wet tissue paper was quite disturbing. Yes, Melanie McShane, former U.S. Marine, cried out in pain. But then she blasted the nine foot tall bastard into another wall with a Grav Spike from her TMD and hightailed it out of there. After all, she did set the generator to go off in about a minute.

So, it was with barely seconds to spare that Mother, hauling around her gun, what remained of her explosives, Gym's Gatling gun with all four boxes of specialty ammo for it, and her knife that the makeshift bomb went off. And it went off with a spectacular boom. But that was not what concerned Mother at this point. No, it was the fact that she felt like her arm was dipped in molten glass and was burning her from the inside. Taking off the forearm guard, which was also the housing for her TMD, Mother saw with horror that her arm was slowly rotting away. And at the rate it was going, she might not be able to have an arm.

Steeling herself, Mother took out her K-Bar knife, a reminder from her days in the Marines, and stabbed into her elbow. Goddamn it hurt so much! But as the infection started heading towards her elbow, Mother jerked the knife down, slicing through tendon and bone, her forearm now hanging by only a bit of flesh. Blood was practically gushing out, and Mother wasn't even sure how long she'd last as she severed any and all ties to her former forearm. Picking up her limb, she chucked it away, and then fell flat against a nearby tree, the orange glow of the now burning village barely illuminating her features.

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Remus had joined his brethren in the initial wave against the village, but without any the wiser, he went off into the woods to avoid the fighting. He had heard the rumors about what D.Rifters could do, and he for one wanted to know if it was true. He was not disappointed. Now he knew exactly why the Toshigan lost the Second Temporal War. The D.Rifters that were on the wall picked their targets well, their bullets hitting their mark, and the TMD's powers were a sight to behold. But then the wall was breached, and then things went FUBAR.

He saw the leader get his ass handed to him, and Mortis was beaten as well. Remus almost vomited at the sight of the Taomon being melted alive. And when he saw the Hog drive off, he knew that the battle was over. The Lupine got up and hurried off into the woods. He didn't get far when he heard a massive BOOM! come from the village. Looking back, he saw that the village-or at least, what was now left of it,-was in flame. He almost turned away when he heard a cry of pain. Training said go, common sense said stay away.

Remus's training won.

He went over to where he thought he heard the cry, and was rather surprised to see what appeared to be a demolition specialist leaning against a tree, left forearm missing and bleeding profusely. Quick as a flash, he was on the ground with his personal med-kit open on the ground. Remus quickly jabbed the entire contents of a mildly potent stimulant into the other soldier's neck. That out of the way, he wiped the stump of the arm as best he could, and after the demotrooper stopped struggling, Remus quickly wrapped it tight with what gauze he had. Looking at his handiwork, Remus could only look grimly at the explosives user. Grabbing the weapons, and the odd forearm guard, Remus lifted the soldier up and started moving out. He did not want to get caught deserting.

Although he did wonder how Wolfpack Company was doing with the Spartan.

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Mortis scowled at the three scouts that made it back to him. Apparently, the mission to kill the Spartan was a complete disaster, as the white furred sniper was surprisingly quite the fighter. In his fury, Mortis lopped off the head of one scout and shot another. He was nursing a bruised jaw when Zack came up to him in anger.

"What the hell happened?!" he asked furiously. Mortis glared at the Spartan-V.

"Those D.Rifters are tougher than they look," Mortis said simply. "And they seem to be able to communicate with the rest of the Multiverse, even with their lockdown."

Zack shook his head. "I don't care! Listen, if you're little force wasn't enough to waste one little village, then we're going to call in some more troops! Maybe those Toshigan SIN units, since you obviously can't do the job right!" he yelled. Seconds later, he was pinned to the tree by a very angry Reaver.

"Do not mock my forces," Mortis said lowly. "They are many, while the forces your backer has given you are the dregs of failed attempts at war. Kind that in mind, Lord Zacuas." Mortis dropped the Spartan and walked away, eager to get back to the camp and kill a few more disposable scouts.

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Varak stopped the Hog next to a cave, having drove the Hog as far as he could from the village. Getting out, he and Rahne took Coyote out of the Hog and into the cave. Varak immediately tried to heal him with a drop shield, only for said device to spark loudly. Swearing loudly, Varak tore into a med-pack and injected Coyote with several vials of nanite filled fluid. Looking to Rahne, he shook his head. "I don't know if I can heal him like this," he said soberly. "I don't have the tools, or the conditions to help him."

Rahne shook her head in refusal. "Can't you use healing magic or something?" she asked the dragon.

Varak gulped and hung his head low. "I...I can't," he whispered.

Rahne tilted her head in confusion as Varak sighed. "Rahne," Varak explained. "My healing comes from faith, and that is something I no longer have. Haven't since I fought in the Abyss. For now, the best we can do is hope that we can get rescued by someone."

It would be five days later that Ronin would find them, and things getting even more hectic....