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"Broken Toys"

SalvatoreC. Monti took a slow sip of his coffee before grimacing at the taste and reaching for one of the tiny prepackaged creamers on the table next to him. The brown haired human had to grunt and stretch as he reached over his body with his left hand before grasping on of the thimble shaped containers. He brought it to his mouth and bit lightly down peeling off the top before dumping in into his cup as the inky black liquid turned a muddy brown.

The large machine above his shoulder beeped as feeling slowly crept back into his right arm which lay still on the padded armrest next to him. Salvatore looked down at his right arm and began to focus, making each of his metallic silver fingers move individually then clench tight in a fist. It was a ritual he had been doing every morning for years since he had first gotten the bionic prosthetic. He twisted his hand clockwise, then counter-clockwise while moving it this way and that before flexing his elbow. Everything seemed to function fine as he pulled the power coupling from the embedded slot on his upper shoulder just below where metal gave way to scared pink skin.

The tall well-built human then stood up from his chair and continued to work his cybernetic arm like a pitcher warming up. It was almost automatic as he took another sip of his coffee and looked up at the screen on the wall. The TV in the charging lounge always stayed on the news and always had a pot of coffee going for anyone who might need it. It was currently replaying footage to the most recent Gene Stealer attack on the West California Island Bridges. Huge ursines raged all across the bridge as some hero group called Arsenal fought them.

Salvatore had seen the footage before and despite the carnage it wasn't a 'warzone' like the perky blond mink on the news said. Warzones had far more bodies. This was more like some giant bar fight between supers. Had anyone normal, hell even most outsiders been hit by a blow the creatures on screen were throwing around they would need more than just a new arm to get themselves right again though. The human slowly rolled down his sleeve back down over the tidentium exoskeleton of his right arm before picking up his coffee mug and stepping out the room.

He descended two floors, passing several co-workers along the way, until he pushed open the doors to the company gym. His best friend and squad mate was busy abusing another fellow squaddie on the bench press as the sandy haired mule tried to press the four hundred pounds loaded onto the bar. Salvatore slapped his ursine friend on the back as the bear looked at him while keeping his hands under the bar as the mule tried to lift it off his chest.

The bear shook his head and pulled up placing the bar back on the hooks as the equine panted, his big body shaking. The seven foot mule slowly sat up wiping his forehead and hands off with a small towel.

"Dolf, you still can't keep up with our honey loving friend here?" asked Salvatore in a slow southern draw as the grizzly beside him let out a rumbling chuckle.

"I'd like to see you try and press all that weight sergeant," said the mule as he flicked some of his mane back across his shoulder. "Ted even wanted me to do some leg workouts with him after this."

"Figured I needed to toughen him up a bit Sally," said the ursine as he put one of his metal footpaws on top of the bench. Salvatore laughed as his friend tapped his knee with his knuckle, making a metallic clanking sound. The human knew better than most about the bear's injuries which had required that he have 90% of both legs replaced with cybernetics just like his own arm. The rest of the nearly eight foot bear was all flesh though and build like a power lifter as one of his big paws came down on his friend's shoulders.

"Sally might not look it, but I have seen him whip guys bigger than you Dolf, and that was before the arm. He might be a hairless monkey but he can throw around some iron."

"Well its waiting right here for you sarge," said Dolf grinning as he patted the bar. The bear and the human gave each other a look before the smaller one shrugged and put down his coffee. Salvatore was 220 pounds of trained muscle but he wasn't near as big as either of his other two squad mates. Dolf probably had at least fifty pounds on him and with Ted it was probably closer to 120. None of that showed on his face as he cracked the knuckles in his left hand.

"So you don't think I can move this weight," he asked as Dolf shook his head. "Well then just watch," said the human as he squared up behind the bench. He felt Ted's paw on his right shoulder bracing him as his cybernetic arm gripped the dead center of the bar. Dolf's smile fell as he watched the bar slowly rise off of the hooks. With a deliberate and careful slowness Salvatore curled the 400 hundred pounds three times before putting the weight back down.

The mule swore as the bar clanked back into the hooks and the two friends laughed at the scowling equine.

"You guys take the fun out of everything," he said before he started walking toward the showers.

"Thanks for the assist there bud," said Salvatore as he rubbed his shoulder where Ted had gripped it holding him straight enough to even balance the weight.

"No problem Sally," said the bear as he rubbed his muscled gut. "You in for breakfast?"

"Most important meal of the day. You already charged up?"

"Did it this morning before you got here. And they say us bears are lazy." Ted lightly punched his friend in his flesh and blood arm as Sally rolled to dodge the next punch. The pair were soon walking towards the company cafeteria and talking followed only by the slight clanking sound of Ted's heavy footsteps.

The pair were soon seated by a window as the morning sun shown down through the glass. The Neo Vegas strip could be seen in the distance as Salvatore glance out the window looking down into the parking lot. A ray of sunlight bounced off the shiny company logo and into the human's eyes as he stared at it. A shinny kite shield with two crossed swords was the corporate logo of White Knight Inc, a worldwide security firm. Both Salvatore and Ted had begun working there after being discharged from the UN special security forces where they had served together.

UN pension pay and medical was laughably poor and not nearly enough to adequately pay for the type of care the two mangled vets had needed after there last deployment. White Knight was a good deal more lucrative. The company benefits and health care policy was also the only reason that Salvatore had his arm and Ted had his legs. Maintenance and upkeep not to mention licenses for weapons grade cybernetics were all but out of reach for most normal people, but it was just a drop in the bucket for White Knight.

The bear and the human were both members of White Knight's elite HVT protection team. When you wanted something or someone valuable transported from A to B and it absolutely had to get there, you called White Knight and asked for the HVT team. Neo Vegas and its casinos provided White Knight's Vegas branch with almost all of their business. Unlike a lot of the world, they still dealt largely in cash. Large sums of untraceable cash were always a source of temptation, and ever since a highly popular series of movies in the early 21st century had shown how easy Vegas was to rob, criminals and super villains had been trying to knock over the casinos and get a piece of that pie. Neo Vegas did have its own popular super team, the High Rollers who kept the more overt threats from breaking the bank, but sometimes you wanted discretion and a minimum of property damage. That was when you called White Knight.

Salvatore slowly emptied a small box of frosted flakes out into his bowl before opening his carton of milk and pouring it over his cereal. Ted sniggered through a mouthful of his on breakfast as he pointed at the empty cereal box.

"You only eat those because of him," he said pointing to the eye popping picture of the tiger on the box hitting a most muscular.

"What Tony? You're just mad you don't look that good in a speedo," he said scooping up a spoonful of flakes.

"I think you want old kitty cat there to frost your flakes," rumbled Ted as he took another bite.

"Someone who eats no less than a pound of sausage for breakfast each morning has no room to talk," said Salvatore pointing his spoon at a stack of sausage links Ted had piled on his crowded plate.

"Sometimes I forget both of you are older than me," said Dolf catching the end of their conversation as he said down with his oatmeal. "You think the High Rollers could have handled that shit?" asked the mule pointing up at the cafeteria TV screen that was again replaying footage of the latest Gene Stealer outbreak on West California Island.

"I for one don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to become a big sexy bear," said Ted without looking up.

"Bughhh!" said equine shaking his head. "No way man, I would never be able to score again."

"You implying I'm not the sexiest motherfucker alive?!" said Ted putting down his fork as he flexed and kissed his bicep.

"Lucky for us they keep finding cures for those outbreaks," said Salvatore solemnly.

"Yeah, that Arsenal team is the only thing holding that town together," said Dolf as he began to dig in. "And they are just a bunch of outsiders with like one or two supers tossed in."

"Well they have Feral Steel, and he is the real deal," said Ted. "He would show those chumps in the High Rollers a thing or two."

"Yeah but the rest of them are a bunch of outsiders. Outsiders! Who knew they could throw down with real supers?"

"Yeah the rest of us just have to make due," said Salvatore as Ted shot him a look. Three ringtones went off simultaneously as each of the males reached for their phones and read the group text on screen. Chairs scraped as all three stood up leaving their trays behind and headed towards the central briefing room. When they arrived the trio was greeted by the fourth member of the Vegas HVT team Victoria, or Vic, a husky-malamute mix. She gave them a quite nod as they sat down. Dolf was leaning towards her just about to ask what was going on when the chief walked through the door in his usual hurry flanked by a pair of the biggest bulls any of them had ever seen.

Each one had to be scrapping nine feet and was jacked beyond belief. Both wore unmarked military fatigues and stood ramrod straight when the chief stopped at the small podium. Both were also wearing sun glasses. The gray haired human looked as pissed as Salvatore had ever seen him, his face screwed up and almost snarling as he began to bark.

"Salvatore, Teddy, Dolf, Victoria, you are now under a blackout. Phones in the bag," he said as one of the bulls tossed them a foil container to put their phones in. The bag blocked all signals from the devices going in or out as the group placed them all in the bag. Only when it was sealed did the chief start talking again.

"Squad we had been given an offer that we can't refuse. A client has come to us seeking transport for an object of undisclosed value all the way to New Reno where we will hand it off."

"Where in New Reno?" asked Salvatore as both the bulls turned towards him.

"The portal terminal," said the chief without batting an eye.

"Sir, as I am sure you are aware there is such a portal right here in Neo Vegas," said Salvatore his eyes narrowing. "Reno is twelve or thirteen hours-

"The Earth-Luna portal in Neo Vegas was bombed at three o'clock this morning by someone who knew what they were doing. No one was hurt thankfully but it will be down for at least three days," said the chief his eyes flicking toward the pair of bulls.

"Flagstaff and LA are both less than five hours away and each one has a portal sir. Why Reno?"

"Or client suspects that someone might be after the-" One of the bulls cleared his throat loudly interrupting him.

"That information is classi- uh privileged. You are being tasked with delivery to New Reno and that's all you need to know."

"So you are all going to Reno," said the chief looking like he wanted to rip the head off of the bull that had interrupted him. "This job is off the books gentlemen. Two of you here today haven't had the pleasure of doing a job like this before, but payment on completion is six times the normal payout with hazard pay included. As per your White Knight employment contract you can NEVER disclose any information pertaining to this job with anyone. Are we clear?" Four "Yes Sir's" echoed though the room as the entire HVT team responded.

"The principal is already in the building down in the vault. It will be transferred to your vehicles upon roll out in an hour. Two tucks and no load out restrictions, I want all of you loaded for bear, and you stop for nothing. Not law enforcement, not grandma broke down on the side of the road, nothing. Dis-" The bull who had coughed before cleared his throat again and caught another death stare before he started again.

"The, employer, has send two agents for you to deliver along with the principal. They will observe you for the duration of the-"

"The FUCK they will!" shouted Ted standing up. "These two chuckle heads don't know shit about anything and will just get in the way. This isn't a guided tour chief!"

"Watch your mouth bear before I come down there and break the rest of you," said one of the bulls as the other quickly put his hands on his chest. Salvatore and Dolf had only a moment's notice before they both grabbed Ted as the bear surged forward nearly dragging the human and mule with him.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" roared the chief his voice filling the room. "ROLLOUT IS IN AN HOUR. YOU WILL ALL CONDUCT YOURSELFS LIKE PROFESSIONALS UNTIL THAT TIME AND FOR THE DURRATION OF THE MISSION. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"YES SIR!" said the HVT team snapping salutes as the chief stormed out with the pair of bovines following. They were barely out of the room before Dolf was up and out of his seat turning towards his sergeant.

"Sir what the fuck was that all-"

"Stow it Dolf," said the human as he stood and his squad followed him downstairs into the men's locker room then into the showers. A solitary fox was just about to start soaping up when the four walked in. Salvatore gave him a look and flicked his thumb over his shoulder as the vulpine grabbed his things and took off. Victoria gave him an appraising glace as the bear and human began turning on every shower in the room. Steam quickly billowed up and the sound of running water soon filled the air. The sergeant quickly motioned with his fingers as three other heads leaned in close to his.

"Sir what hell is going on with all this spy shit," spat Dolf as Victoria nodded.

"From time to time Uncle Sam wants a favor from people like us and you don't get to give them a rain check when they come knocking," said Salvatore

"We're working for the government? That doesn't make sense. With all the resources they have, why are they paying us to run this, whatever it is, up to Reno?"

"It sounds like they got into a bind with whatever they had going in Vegas and needed to get it out of here fast. Whoever is closing in on them blew up the transporter to make sure they have to move it out of the city," said Ted as Salvatore nodded.

"Ops, especially black ones take planning and everything the government does has a paper trail somewhere. When you need something done very fast and discretely, and you don't want the rest of the government to know what you are up to you hire someone outside like us. You can write the expense off as almost anything before you pass it up the chain and the contractor is disposable."

"So you and Ted have done one of these before?" asked Victoria.

"I might have heard rumors about a job like this before," he said winking, "but this is way sketchier."

"Wouldn't be surprised if they hired a few more firms to take decoy packages to Flagstaff and LA leaving us with the real one," said the grizzly as he starched thoughtfully at his chin.

"How do you know we have the real thing?" asked Dolf.

"You don't hire the best in town to deliver a ringer," said Ted. "Plus they have us going all the way to Reno. It's the furthest away and has the most possible routes to get there."

"I would say it's better than a fifty fifty chance that they set up us the bomb," said Salvatore.

"Bomb?!" asked Victoria quickly.

"It's a figure of speech, but I guess it could be a bomb. You never know with these types," answered the human.

"What about those roided up assholes?" asked Dolf. "How the fuck are we supposed to do our job with them tagging along?"

"They never said what condition they had to arrive in," mumbled Ted.

"Alive and breathing will cut out a lot of paperwork, but if something does go down they are expendable. I could be wrong but I don't think our clients give a fuck if the two soldier boys make it," said Salvatore.

"I wish every private looked a bit more like those two though," said Victoria wistfully.

"You're not my usual type but I've got an hour to kill," said a voice as they all turned to see one of the bulls walking toward them.

"Piss off fucker, this is team business," said Dolf striding forward as he jammed a finger in the bull's massive chest. The bovine calmly slid off his sunglasses and off his face and placed them in his pocket then in a violent lighting fast motion checked the three hundred pound equine against the bathroom wall. Everyone still standing in the room jerked at the sound of Dolf's body hitting the tile as the bull jammed his huge paw straight down into the mule's crotch.

"You know, you're kinda cute and seeing as how for the time being I own you, we might need to have a little fun!" he said as he ground his rapidly growing bulge into the horse's rump. "I guarantee once you get a taste you'll be begging for my cock! It will break you in real nice!" Dolf tried to squirm in the bull's grip only to be pressed even harder into the wall. Thick fingers wrapped around his sheath as he felt the bulls hot breath wash over one side of his face. He was starting to panic when he saw Salvatore step forward from the rest of the stunned HVT team.

Salvatore had seen the bull move in a display far too fast for someone of his own size, but his eyes were most telling. He now knew why the pair wore sunglasses. Anyone looking at them would think they were high with blown pupils and too much white showing. There was a madness there too like you saw when a junky was just about to get his next fix. Whatever these two were own it had to be some powerful shit as Salvatore's hand reached down and gripped the bull's cock which had snaked an impressive distance down the inside of one leg.

The bull grunted as his head turned. He blinked as if seeing the human for the first time, his body shifting slightly as Salvatore got a good grip.

"If you want to make it out of this room with your dick attached you are going to let him go," said the much smaller human as the bulls leer faded a bit.

"Well at least one of you has some balls," he said as his forearm moved up to press against Dolf's neck keeping him pinned. "Just what do you think you could do to me you-" Salvatore's cybernetic hand squeezed hard and began to twist as the bull bellowed and dropped the mule, who's face had started to turn purple. Pain and rage fought for space on the bovines face as his hand darted down towards were the smaller man held him as Salvatore twisted harder.

A sound slipped out of the bull's lips that none in attendance had ever heard a male make before as the fingers on each of his paws clenched. His right fist moved so fast it was barely visible and Salvatore could only twist his head as it zoomed right toward the center of his face. Everyone felt their ears pop as somehow the bull's first slipped sideways merely grazing the human's cheek raising a line of blood.

The sergeant released his hold as the bull fell back his eyes wide and confused while everyone stared at the pair. It didn't take him long to recover as he let out a hair raising roar just before another voice cut though the room.

"HAMMER!" a voice yelled as the enraged bull froze. The second bull strode into the room and quickly grabbed the others shoulder. "They will cut you off and throw you out of the program if we screw up! Get a hold of yourself!" A bit of sanity seemed to flick back into his eyes as he slowly stood still starring daggers at the smaller human.

"Sorry Sickle, it won't happen again," he said before turning and walking out of the shower room. The other bull stared at Salvatore for a moment puzzled after watching Hammer leave the room with a bit of limp.

"Police your men sergeant and keep them in line. You might can afford to get on Hammer's bad side but if you wish to stay above ground you will keep off mine," he said sliding his shades back on. He turned and walked crisply out of the room before Salvatore reached down and pulled a shaky Dolf to his feet.

"Wolf Christ, sarge! You just saved my ass!"

"Literally," snarled Victoria as she padded over to the mule.

"Sarge, that guy was insane!

"Yeah we saw," growled Ted.

"No I mean, fuck, well yeah I mean that too but that fucker was strong! Crazy strong! And I've never seen anyone move that fast!"

"Yeah they aren't normal that's for sure," said Salvatore as he pressed his cool metal hand to the cut on his face. "Victoria, Dolf, head on up to the armory and get kitted up. I want one of everything they have there and make sure everything you bring is loaded with anti-cape rounds."

"You thing we are going to run into a super sarge?" Victoria asked

"I want to be ready for it. At the very least we might need it if those two heifers give us problems."

"You got it," said Dolf as the pair trotted off while Ted and Salvatore remained. The human began cutting off the showers they had turned on as his longtime friend stared at him.

"How close was it," asked the grizzly as his longtime friend switched off the last faucet.

"To close. I'm rusty."

"If he had of hit you with that it might have killed you," said Ted slowly. "Your face isn't made out metal you know."

"Of that I am aware," said Salvatore as he checked the cut which seemed to be bleeding less now.

"What do you think those two are? Supers? Outsiders maybe?

"Not supers," said Salvatore. "Whatever they are they haven't been that way very long. The one that took a swing at me looked like he was holding on by a thread."

"They look a lot like those bulls from the outbreak in West California from a little while back."

"They do," said the human as he rubbed his chin. "But I thought they either had all of the victims them locked up or cured. You think those two are infected?"

"Who knows? Makes me wonder what it is we are moving though."

"It makes me wonder who is after what we are moving if they put those two with us," said Salvatore as he patted his friend on his back once before the pair exited the showers.

It was quite as the HVT suited up in the company armory. After stripping to their skivvies each person wore a thin black bodysuit of kinetic armor filled with a shock absorbing high density gel. It was designed to soak up the impact force from rounds, blows, and anything else that might slam or pummel the White Knight employees. Light gray flecked fatigues went on next with the stitched White Knight logo on one shoulder. Ted had chopped his pants off at the knees displaying his metal prosthetics proudly as Salvatore laced up a pair of combat boots. The rest of them went bare pawed or hoofed.

A hard layer of lightweight ceramic trauma plates when on next covering their chest, back, and thighs. The chest and back plates were held in place by a load bearing kevlar plate carrier, while the thigh plates were strapped around there legs and clipped to a heavy webbing belt that went around their waists. The belt also attached to the plate carrier helping to distribute the almost twenty five pounds of armor each one wore.

Ted wore no armor on his lower body opting only for his slightly ridiculous shorts, and everyone but Salvatore wore a ballistic pauldrons made of the same ceramic as the rest of the plates. These pauldrons covered their shoulders and upper arms and also clipped to their plate carrier around their chest. All of them had their names stitched in black on the front of their plate carriers and just below the drag handle near the back of their neck.

Each member of the team then began the task of carefully checking through their personal weapons as four pairs of hands busied themselves. Dolf and Salvatore carried the same type of weapon, a NGR25 gas operated automatic rifle. The gun fired electrically ignited .25 caliber tungsten rounds at four thousand feet per second out of a thirty round magazine. It was enough to punch though most any personal armor and could even give most supers heart burn. Victoria favored a bullpup version of the same rifle since it was a little easier to handle with her shorter arms and smaller frame.

Ted, by far the largest member of the team, also carried the heaviest rifle. A great big pig of a weapon, it was a .30 caliber machine gun that fed from 200 round belts of linked ammunition. The belts alternated between tungsten penetrators and antipersonnel SLAP rounds with a tracer every fifth round. When he held down the trigger the gun would chug along spewing a torrent of lead death until its barrel glowed red hot. The rest of the team members had all seen Ted saw an entire car in half with the weapon, and he always seemed almost giddy whenever he got to use it. Not that they minded.

He petted the machinegun lovingly for a moment before flipping open the top cover and gently laying a fresh belt. The bear closed the top cover with a snap and pulled the charging handle sending a round into the chamber before flicking the safety on. The grizzly used a three point harness to help manage the twenty five pound weapon as he slid the strap over his shoulders. Rarely did the team members have to cover much ground on foot but mobility was never a bad thing. Despite its weight the bear could run and move as fast as or faster than the rest of them even while firing the big heavy weapon thanks to his bionic legs.

Every team member as carried a side arm on their hip except for Salvatore, who carried a revolver in a horizontal kydex holster that clipped to the webbing on the front of his chest. Finished in a dull gray, the double action revolver was an heirloom from the days of yore with an eight shot cylinder and a set of handsome wood grips. The human had the unique ability to snap off aimed shots with his left hand while he held his rifle to his shoulder and fired it with his right, effectively engaging two targets at once.

A bandoleer filled with 40mm grenades of various colors went over his chest next as Salvatore's fingers snapped open the clasps of a dark gray case next to him.

"You are bringing that thing along?" asked Ted as he looked up at his partner.

"Sure am," said the human as he pulled the stubby grenade launcher out of the case. It looked like a comically oversized pistol with soda can sized barrel made for the 40mm grenades. The action broke at the rear allowing the user to load one grenade at a time and then cock the hammer before firing. Even with the low velocity grenade rounds, it had a wrist rending kick to it which was the reason that almost all similar models had shoulder stocks and were meant to be fired using two hands. Salvatore had trimmed the stock allowing him to use it as a hand gun which he could draw and fire almost as fast as his revolver as he clipped it to his right hip.

The chief walked in still a bit red faced dragging a large rolling cart along with him with two olive drab crates that were nearly as big as he was each marked 'US ARMY'. He stopped and straightened up as each of the HVT team members slowly turned to look at their boss.

"Listen up team," he said starting slowly. "I'm not just blowing smoke up your ass when I say that this group is the finest team I have fielded in my tenure here at White Knight. Under normal circumstances I would never ask you to do a job like this. I turned them down three times before I was informed that if the company wanted to go on operating on American soil we would do as we were told. I am still willing to go tell them to fuck themselves if any member of this team is not willing to go along with this mission."

There was silence in the room for a moment as all of the members slowly looked to each other.

"No one will think less of you if you choose not to," said Salvatore as he stood.

"Fuck it chief, we've never pussyed out on a job before and I don't plan to start doing it now," said Ted.

"Same here," said Vic.

"I'm game," said Dolf smiling as the Chief nodded.

"I thought you all might say that, so I got them to throw a few toys for a little insurance," he said as he threw open one of the cases. Victoria and Dolf's eyes went wide as Salvatore and Ted practically scrabbled to get closer. "I assume you boys know how to use this stuff?"

"Oh yeah we do!" said Salvatore as Ted nodded grinning.

The White Knight Garage beneath the main building, smelled of oil, exhaust, and rubber as the HVT team strolled in all geared up in and ready to go. The two bulls were waiting, standing there each holding an identical slim metal attaché case. Everyone in the room was hard eyed and twitchy as Salvatore stepped forward putting himself in front of the twin bovines.

The one he had nearly maimed let out an angry snort but made no move as he looked at first one case then the other.

"Neither of you said there were two packages."

"You didn't need to know! What difference does it make?" snorted Hammer.

"Wrong, that is exactly the kind of thing I need to know to keep whatever is in these cases out of the hands of whoever is after them." The bulls shot each other a quick look and Hammer started to open his mouth when the human cut him off.

"I need to know how much they weigh. Are they fragile? Are they identical? Does the recipient need both or will one do, and are you willing to destroy them to keep them away from whoever is trying to get their hands on them."

"If it looked like we couldn't deliver them, or they were to fall outside our care we would be forced to make every effort to destroy both of them," Sickle said slowly. The human nodded in understanding before reaching into in pocket and producing two mini-coms as he handed one to each of the bulls.

"From now until Reno you two are under our care, so are we going to have any more problems?"

"No." said Sickle as he glared at his partner who only grumbled angrily as they each placed the ear bud of the com in their right ear.

"Fine, lets mount up," said Salvatore. "You're with me and Vic," he said pointing at Hammer. "You're with Dolf and Ted," he said pointing to the other bull before the group began moving toward two large black trucks.

These two vehicles in particular were an imposing pair of square shaped behemoths, different from the more pedestrian armored trucks the White Knight operated. Each had a large ram on the front of the vehicle designed for protection and to bounce lesser vehicles out of the way. The trucks also sat slightly higher than the rest of their brethren and were equipped with all terrain tires on the front and the rear duals.

The trucks also had no glass where normal front and side windows would be. Instead there were armored metal plates with golf ball sized sensors in the middle of each one that projected an image onto view screens inside the truck. The cab also wasn't sealed from the vault in the back like the other trucks, and the vault compartment itself was mission configurable. In the roof of each vehicle was a hatch with a cupola that could be accessed from either the cab or the rear vault much like the commanders hatch on a tank. It was raised just enough to have small viewports on the front sides and back. That gave whoever sat there 360 degrees of visibility to the outside of the truck and increased situational awareness. They were also Salvatore and Ted's preferred seats. The human and bear each keyed in a six digit code to a small remote they kept on their wrists as the maglocked doors of each vehicle slowly opened.

Victoria, Salvatore, and Hammer climbed slowly into until one as the other three did the same in unit two. Victoria slid into the driver's seat and hit the start button as eight hundred tinium powered horses rumbled to life. Dolf soon had unit two going as the garage doors opened and the twin beasts crawled out of their cave. Salvatore performed a quick com check getting six crisp reply's as he settled into the cupola seat below the commander's hatch as they cleared the front gate.

"Vic how about some easy listening music?" asked Salvatore as the trucks zipped toward the interstate.

"Right away boss!" said Victoria as she tapped a button on the console as Run to the Hills began blaring at an ear splitting volume through the speakers. The bull in the passenger seat grabbed his ears swearing as Vic burst out laughing. The human and canine were soon singing along together quite off key as they quickly heard their two remaining team members join in over the com system.

Four and a half hours in, little had changed as the two trucks did ninety down a dessert highway. Even pestering the pair of bovines had gotten old as Dolf suddenly chirped over the coms.

"You know, its times like these I wish we knew one of the High Roller supers. We could just hand it off to one of the ones who could fly and they would get these things to New Reno in a jiffy."

"Then we wouldn't get paid," said Ted.

"Why should we rely on supers for everything?" said Sickle over the comms almost angrily. "Why should we have to go running to them every time we run into a problem?"

"Uh, because there are super villains trying to blow shit up all the time," said Dolf.

"And what are villains other than some super who just happens to decide that they are going to knock over a bank one day," said Hammer from the front seat. "Supers are just people who win the genetic lottery. They all have powers that make them more than others can ever be, but they can turn at any time. What would happen if the Elemental Alliance went rouge one day huh? What if they just decided that the government wasn't being run the way they liked and marched right into D.C.? Who would be there to stop them?"

The outburst surprised the entire HVT team as Salvatore shifted in his seat then spoke.

"So you think the government should run the Elemental Alliance? Tell all those supers what to do and how to do it?"

"You're damn right I do!" said the bull as he turned in his seat to stare at the human seated behind him. "The government is accountable to the people; the Elemental Alliance is accountable to no one. If supers were under military control you wouldn't see the rampant vigilantism you see today. Cops and the military would have the tools they needed to fight the bad guys instead of relying on a bunch of costumed glory hounds trying to sell action figures."

"Last time I fought military controlled supers I lost two legs," said Ted over the open channel as the bull halted his rant.

"There are no military controlled supers," snapped Hammer.

"Not anymore but about ten years ago there were plenty in a place called North Korea," said Salvatore as the channel went silent. "I know this because I was there."

"So you two were a pair of UN blue helmets?" asked Sickle with a bit of surprise in his voice.

"Damn straight we were," said Ted. "Kicked more ass and took more names than any other pair to ever come through there. Sal tell them the story about how we killed Kung Pow Dong."

"Kim Pal Dong," said the human as he leaned back in his seat.

"Sarge, you've never told me this story!" said Dolf.

"Me either," said Victoria as she glanced backward.

"Well I guess I've got the time," said Salvatore as he starred down the open road. "Ted and I were with the UN 3rd Brigade FAST Response Team stationed in Australia. We were the ones they would send in first to cool things down when a situation went bad. We had been in and out of a few hotspots in South Asia when Korean War went hot after Kim Pal Dong surged across the border. The South Korean's have been an economic and military powerhouse for centuries but even they weren't expecting an attack after so long," he said as he paused for a moment.

"You have to understand that the North is like the land time forgot. They have been so quiet for so long no one was expecting an attack. They've always been xenophobic, and after furs came to earth they completely barricaded their own country and turned in on themselves. Most of their tech was ancient, but it was still very effective and they managed to take the South Koreans by surprise. Still though, it wasn't enough and the South began to push them back until they released their greatest weapon, supers."

"The UN was already involved and we arrived in time to help the South push the North out of Seoul which was mostly rubble at that point, when the North's Super Team started to inflict massive casualties on South Korean and UN troops. They called themselves the Divine Justice League, and there must have been about fifty of them," said Ted his voice very serious. "They were like some twisted nightmare version of the Elemental Alliance and every one of them was pure evil."

"We found out later that the North Koreans had a government run super hero breeding program. Everyone was constantly tested for powers from birth and if they tested positive they were taken from their families and brainwashed into serving Kim Pal Dong all while being exposed to extreme trauma to try and manifest their powers. All supers were also required to copulate with the other supers and produce as many offspring as possible. Their system kind of worked, but by the time we got there all of their heroes were inbred, crazy as fuck, and believed they were gods."

"Gods? What do you mean gods?" asked Hammer.

"I mean just that. They were told that they were literal gods and the direct offspring of Kim Pal Dong. They could fuck, kill, or do whatever they liked to anyone else so long as they always followed Kim Pal Dong's orders. The North Korean government also told them that they were invincible so at fist none of them had any real fear until we started taking them down."

"I remember the first one we got, the big stone giant guy," said Ted.

"Earthshaker," said the human quietly.

"He was tearing us apart until someone realized that he still had to breathe despite being fifteen feet tall and made of rock. That same someone then had the bright idea to drop two thousand pounds of napalm on him and then someone hit him with enough white prosperous to light up half the city," said Ted.

"Most supers still to breathe air and not many can handle two lungs full of fire. You probably wouldn't know it but most people who burn to death suffocate before the flames kill them. His body wouldn't burn but the flames consumed all the oxygen around him so he eventually died from oxygen asphyxiation. I remember his partner was this female that could fly and create shock waves with sound. As soon as she saw him fall she just stopped like she couldn't believe what she was seeing," said Salvatore.

"I guess when the myth of your immortality is broken right in front of you it shakes you," rumbled Ted. "We swarmed her and slapped some anti-super dampeners on her and she just collapsed."

"Their regular troops were just as messed up as their supers," said Salvatore. "None of them had ever even seen a fur before and they treated them like they were monsters or demons. Everyone quickly figured out that you didn't surrender to the North if there were furs in your squad. Still, we had good luck against the North Korean troops who were even more scared than we were. It was the North's supers that were really hurting us. Conventional armies aren't built to take on threats like that. It was the Elemental Alliance that saved all out asses."

"Soon as they got involved, they took care of the supers and let us take care of the rest. The Alliance tore through those Nork supers like paper. I guess after fighting super powered villains the Divine Justice League must have seemed like a bunch of chumps. We were outside of Pyongyang within two months after that, and never in the history of ever was there a more fucked up place than that city," said the bear with a shiver.

"I've heard about this! The whole city was a temple or something to the North Korean leader," said Vic.

"That's close to right," said Salvatore. "We didn't really know much about Kim Pal Dong other than the instance by everyone that we captured that said he was some kind of god. We really didn't really think much of it until he came out of Pyongyang to face us. All fifty stories of him."

"I saw the movie about this!" said Dolf. "He was some giant fire breathing lizard like creature that fought all the supers on his own and almost won."

"He was one big mother fucker," said Ted. "I've never been so scared in my entire life as when I saw that thing."

"Even creepier was the fact that you could even hear the ENTIRE city chanting his name as he came at us," said Salvatore. "The supers attached and we fired everything we had at him all at once, but he just shrugged it off. We were starting to lose when one of the supers figured out what his power was. Somehow Kim Pal Dong could make what a person believed real or at least partially real. The entire country was a giant cult built around him so if they all believed he was a god, then his powers made him into one."

"I had heard that before but never believed it," said Sickle though the coms.

"They tried to wax over that part in a lot of the coverage about the war. People were concerned after our victory that if enough people believed that, Kim Pal Dong might come back," said Ted as he crossed himself.

"How did you beat him then?" asked Hammer.

"Organized religion," said Salvatore. "The same hero who realized what his power was, realized that if we destroyed some of the idols he had built to himself in Pyongyang it might weaken him. We had no cover outside the city were Kim Pal Dong was laying into us so we fought our way in and started to blow up anything that looked like an idol."

"Lucky for us we had some good back up. Feral Steel was with us though most of the fight," said Ted with a grin in his voice.

"No way! You've met Feral Steel?!" said Dolf.

"Yep! I even got an autographed picture with Feral, me and Sally. He even came to see us in the hospital afterward."

"We wouldn't have won that day without him," said the human slowly. "He helped us blow up five or six of Kim Pal Dong's weird idol statues then led us to the temple palace at the center of the city. By that time it seemed like our plan was really starting to really work. As soon as we started demoing statutes the giant lizard outside the city began to shrink. It was like we were severing his ties with his people whenever we blew one up. The more we destroyed the weaker he got, but he was still too powerful to take down until we brought his palace down."

"Now that was a furball," said Ted chuckling. "Every time I see super fights on the news I always think 'it's still no Pyongyang.' We had every Elemental Alliance member who could still stand, what was left of the Devine Justice League, and Kung Pow Dong who was still about four stories tall all packed into a giant temple with about and 200 UN troopers. I still don't know how we made it out of that. Sally even got a shot in on the big baddy before we both got put out of commission."

"Holy shit what did you do sarge?" asked Dolf excitedly.

"He fired a HEAT anti-tank rocket right into Kung Pow Dong's dong," said Ted as he started laughing almost uncontrollably. Canine and bovine faces turned and looked at the human with wide eyes as he slowly nodded.

"It was not one of my better ideas in retrospect. Kim Pal Dong went a little mad after that and brought down the whole temple down around him. Something happened to him after that though. It was as if when the people in the city saw the palace temple come down they realized he could be defeated so he became vulnerable. When he destroyed his last temple I think we broke their spirit somehow. He felt over dead soon as the dust settled and his body just shriveled away. Still we were in that building when it came down and a lot of guys didn't make it or came out worse than Ted or I did."

"The supers that were there tore that place apart looking for survivors but a lot of us were already gone," said Ted somberly.

"Feral Steel was closest to us when everything fell down. He dug both of us out before going back for more," said Salvatore. "Only got to see him one more time when he came into the hospital where we were afterward. He thanked us for the help but told us both that we should leave the fights against crazed dictator gods to supers."

"Never have truer words been said," said the grizzly. "After that we both punched out and came back to the states and got hooked up with White Knight. Pay is a hell of a lot better."

"Freeing an entire county is enough good deeds for one lifetime," agreed Salvatore as he settled back into his seat. His sharp eyes spotted a bridge in the distance as they zipped past a sign with the words "WEB CANYON" in block letters.

Close to thirty years ago the landscape of western Nevada and eastern California had been radically changed by a shady vulpine real estate investor turned super villain known as the F-Bomb. He had been heavily invested in the real estate market before a major crash nearly wiped him out. The event had nearly driven the fox insane and exposed his latent power. With focus and the right conditions the fox could detonate small bits of matter around him in a manner quite similar to a nuclear explosion.

In a bid to enrich himself and his family, the F-Bomb had ruined his company mortgaging it and everything thing else he owned to the hilt in order to buy up cheap dessert land on the east side of the San Andreas Fault. He planned to use his entire body as a bomb to send California sliding off into the ocean so his family could cash in on all their new found beachfront property. His plan had almost worked until a little known hero named Kinetic stopped him. Blessed with the ability to absorb almost any kind of kinetic or thermal energy the hero had sacrificed himself to redirect the blast straight up into the atmosphere.

The explosion had enough power to send a skyscraper sized chunk of Nevada slamming into the moon almost hitting some of the settlements there, and had created a spider web shaped canyon almost thirty miles wide. The blast had consumed the F-Bomb and Kinetic, killing them both but they had been the only casualties. The area was so sparsely populated that a few bumps and bruises were the worst of the damages. The impact site and Web Canyon surrounding it became a semi-popular tourist destination after the government made the land into a federal park.

The highway they were on was not to the most direct route to New Reno but it did get there and swung west clipping the outskirts of Web Canyon's east side. Here the canyon split into a 'Y' shape just before it reached the highway. The two vehicles zoomed right over the first bridge and onto the thin half mile strip of land bordered on both sides by the canyon when the engines of both trucks sputtered and died.

The screens all went black as everything electronic went dead and they slowly rolled to a stop. Salvatore was already checking the viewports in the hatch as Vic tried various controls.

"What the fuck just happened?" growled the bull. "This shit heap better not have broken down."

"Something shut us down," spat Vic as she tried various controls. "This truck is shielded from EMP blasts though, so what could it-

"Coms are dead too," said Salvatore as he checked his ear.

"I hear a tilt rotor incoming," said the bull suddenly as Salvatore stared though the small slit windows atop the vehicle. Unit 2 was sitting perhaps ten yards behind them, just as dead as they were as he checked either side of the roadway as best he could. On one side the ground gave way to canyon. On the other it opened out to flat featureless dessert. Someone could easily be out there waiting on one of them to pop there head out so he could take a shot.

"Rotor is getting close," snapped the bull as the canine and human picked up the sound. Salvatore threw open the hatch as he saw Ted raise his head though the hatch in the other truck and point to an approaching craft with twin rotor fans zipping toward them.

"What's the plan?" shouted the bear as the noise from the tilt rotor grew louder.

"Someone or something in that is stopping us from moving. When they stop and send someone down to collect their prize, I'm going to give them what they want with the old lunch box trick. You remember that one?

"Sure do," said Ted smiling.

"Soon as you see me do it, you hit the bird!" yelled the human as Ted gave him a thumbs up and ducked back into his truck.

The craft zipped over them as the wash from the blades hammered both trucks as it turned to face the two stalled vehicles. The imagers suddenly flicked back on and the trio within the trucks could now see out of them again as the craft flared its rotors and began to hover over the road. A door opened on the side of the craft as a large figure leaped out falling almost thirty yards before landing gracefully in a crouch.

Immediately the HVT team leader knew they were in trouble. No one but a powerful outsider or super could just causally fall that far without breaking every bone in their legs. He looked up and Salvatore's fears were confirmed as soon as his eyes met the yellowed ones of the black furred Tasmanian Devil. Eight feet tall and clad in a bulky suit of crimson and black armor with at least a dozen knifes strapped to his body, the cocky male slowly walked towards the first vehicle before stopping about ten yards from the first truck. He showed no fear as he crossed his thickly muscled arms with his long talon like claws gleaming.

Without warning copter fired a single missile that streaked past both trucks and slammed into the bridge behind them exploding as the shockwave rattled the trucks. The large bridge seemed to twist letting out a horrible metal rending sound as it slowly collapsed, falling in on its self. All six furs inside the trucks could hear it as the pieces of the bridge bounced off the sides of the canyon before slamming into the bottom with a dull thud.

"Your vehicles are immobilized, and you have nowhere to run. I know each of you possess a sample of the virus and I don't care which one I get. You have two minutes to give me what I want or my partner here will do to one of you the same thing she did to your that bridge!" he shouted at the two parked trucks. "Your time starts now!"

"Virus!" hissed Salvatore as his metallic fingers twitched and the tip of his revolver was suddenly against Hammer's ear. The bull's eyes went wide with fear before narrowing slowly.

"Shoot me and it will be the last thing you do human. That pop gun won't even pierce my skull!"

"It won't need to if it goes in your ear, and then we'll get to see how well a knockoff super heals with a slug in his brain," growled Salvatore as the bull's eyes went wide.

"Look he may be a super but between me and Sickle we can take him! We're both-"

"The guy out there is the Ripper!" snapped Salvatore. "He's a super powered mercenary that's been on the UN most wanted list for two decades. I've seen combat footage of him! He has healing powers that make him almost impossible to kill so I don't care how tough you and your pal think you are he would tear us all apart not to mention the gunship he has pointed at us!"

"One Minute!" shouted the ripper over the whine of the tilt rotor's engine.

"Well what the fuck is your plan?" shouted the bull as the human's revolver stayed pinned to his ear.

"Give me the case," said Salvatore flatly as the bull paled.

"I can't do that. You don't know what they will do to me if I don't deliver the virus safely. It's the next step forward for us! If someone like him gets their hands on it-"

"I didn't say the virus I said the case," said the human as Vic snatched the small metal suitcase from where it had been sitting between the bulls thick legs. Her fingers fumbled with the latches for just a second before the case popped open to reveal a metallic canister about a foot long and a bit thicker than a cigar. It had what looked like a nozzle at one end and a red button at the other as Salvatore snatched it up and tucked away in a pouch on the front of his vest.

"I'm holding on to this. If we get past that gunship and my plan doesn't work you just might just get you crack at him," he said before gabbing the suitcase and throwing open the big olive drab U.S. Army crate that had been packed into the back corner of the truck.

His hand grabbed a satchel containing several bricks of C7 explosive before activating their wireless detonators and tossing them in into the case and slamming it shut. He grabbed a detonator remote as a shout rung out from in front of the vehicle.

"YOU'VE GOT TEN SECONDS!" shouted the Ripper as Salvatore tried to hurry. The hatch on until one flew open as the human popped his head up and the tasmanian devil looked up.

"Take it," said Salvatore as he tossed the suitcase onto the road in front of the truck. It slid to a stop in front the super's feet as he stopped it with one of his long toe claws. "The job isn't worth this."

The devil bent down and picked it up with one razor tipped paw as he cocked his head in surprise and looked the human for a moment.

"It's so nice dealing with smart people. I thought I was going to have to-

Salvatore saw his eyes widen an instant before something loud and hot streaked pasted his left ear. The anti-tank rocket reached the speed of sound just before slamming into the cockpit of the hovering gunship as Ted dropped the shoulder fired launcher over the side off the roof of the second truck where he had been standing and swung his rife into position.

Before he could squeeze off a round the warhead in the missile exploded turning the entire craft into a fiery inferno as its ordinance detonated an instant latter. This explosion was so large it rocked them all scorching the road ahead of them as it flattened the villainous merc sending flying metal flying in all directions.

Whoever or whatever had been keeping the trucks from running seemed to have been in the gunship as both trucks flared to life and Salvatore heard the crackle of coms in his ear again. He shouted to Vic to punch it as he dropped down through the hatch and squeezed the detonator in his hand as the third explosion in about half a second ripped through the air slamming into the front of the vehicle as the canine driver floored it.

Smoke filled the air as the truck zipped blind through the haze and wreckage left by the exploding aircraft until something hit the front of the truck with a solid 'THUMP'. The impact didn't seem to slow them down in the least as their vehicle picked up speed and cleared the haze so they could see again. A second later Dolf's voice came over the radio shouting "We're clear!" as Salvatore shoved his head though the top hatch and saw the second truck burst free of the inky black smoke.

He heard Victoria scream "SARGE!" as he whirled around and saw a charred hand reach of the over the edge of the hood. With flames still licking at his body the Ripper managed to pull himself up onto the hood of the vehicle. His armor had been completely incinerated or torn away and he seemed to have very little skin on his face, but he was healing at a fantastic rate as pink flesh flowed like water onto his body.

The villain jammed his paw forward straight into the sensor on one of the window plates as the screen went dead and Vic jerked the wheel. A second latter the other went dead blocking there entire forward view as they heard a savage scream and a two sets of claws penetrated into the cab and began trying to rip off the protective window shielding.

"BRAKES!" shouted Salvatore as his hand slammed down on the window release as the explosive bolts in the frame of the truck around the window plates detonated. The tires beneath them screeched to a halt throwing all three of the trucks passengers into the dash. The Ripper went flying forward off the hood of the truck taking one of the plates with him as he managed to summersault though the air and whip his arm back towards the truck.

The heavy metal plate in his paw was sent hurling back at the cab of the first truck as unit two slammed into the back of unit one. Salvatore was thrown back into the rear of the tuck just before the Ripper's thrown projectile flew back through the now open cab and struck Victoria square in the chest. The impact of the plate caved her chest in, instantly killing her as her paws went limp on the wheel. Salvatore yelled and tried to scramble forward but the steering wheel began to spin as the entire vehicle began to tip sideways.

The massive truck flopped onto its side and slid almost forty feet before stopping as Salvatore was bounced around like a pinball inside the back of the vehicle. Long moments passed as everything spun and his head throbbed while feeling slowly came back into him limbs. The concussed human slowly picked himself up and spat out a mouthful of blood as he crawled towards the front of the truck.

His hands fell on Victoria's shoulders as he stared in shock at her body. A corner of the jagged metal plate had pierced completely through her body pinning her to her seat. She hung suspended sideways in her seat, her head hanging lifeless against her shoulder as her sergeant cradled it. Red hot battle rage like he hadn't felt in nearly a decade filled him as gunfire filled the air outside the wrecked truck. Salvatore crawled to the rear again as his hands found the still intact crate as his hands tore it open again. A metal fist wrapped around the grip stub of the thirty pound recoilless rifle lying there as the human ripped it from its packaging before his foot kicked the door release.

The rear double doors of the wrecked truck burst open as Salvatore staggered outside, the bright sun stabbing into his eyes. He fought a wave of nausea as the pain in his concussed head threatened to drive him to his knees while he took in the situation. Dolf and Ted were both in front of the smashed up second truck with both their guns trained on the trio of furs fighting in the middle of the road. A battered Hammer and Sickle were trading blows with the knife welding Ripper who seemed to be almost back to full strength. Cuts covered nearly every inch of each bull's body and blood dotted the asphalt as they moved in a dance that was hard to follow with the naked eye.

Dolf and Ted were shouting at the pair to move and allow them a clean shot but neither bull could disengage with the whirling tornado of blades they fought. Both bovines were fast, tough, and strong but neither could lay a finger on the blindingly quick super. He kept them constantly on defense, moving them so they were always between him and the HVT team's guns. Salvatore knew the pair wasn't going to last long. The end came suddenly as the Tasmanian Devil snap kicked with his right foot causing Hammer to doge. The bull's enhanced speed made his just fast enough to avoid it only to slam suddenly into his partner next to him. The collision sent Sickle crashing to the ground as Hammer tried to get his arms up to defend himself but it was already too late.

With a fluid lunge the tasmanian devil moved forward and slashed sideways as his knife made a clean pass though the neck of the bull as his head went sailing off. Sickle roared as he surged upward only to have his knee destroyed by a sharp heel kick.. The bull twisted sideways as the Ripper's arms shot out and buried a knife into each of Sickles eyes making the bull sag and go limp. He let go of his knives and as a paw reached behind his back while Ted and Dolf began firing. The belt fed stitched a line up the super's body rounds passing clean through were there wasn't any armor as a small round object left his outstretched paw.

Salvatore tried to scream out a warning as the small flash bang grenade flipped end over end. His finger squeezed the trigger on the launcher as the Ripper leaped straight upward hands covering his face. The rocket hit were the mercenary had been standing an instant before as the blast nearly knocked them all off their feet. The flash bang went off a second latter just Ted got an arm up covering his eyes and Salvatore got half a hand up covering face as the searing light and noise of the flash bang ruined what little vision or hearing any of them had left.

Dolf who was closest got the full blast as he panicked dropping his rifle and brought his paws to his face. The Tasmanian devil appeared like magic behind him as steely claws sank into one of the mules wrists and twisted it behind his back. The Ripper had knife against the hollow of the mule's throat before anyone else could move as shifted his new found shield to face his two teammates.

Ted still had his rifle up and aimed at the Ripper and Dolf as Salvatore's vision began to clear. His hand was shaking but it still held his revolver up and pointed towards where the Ripper was standing as the ringing in his ears settled into a low drone and the sounds of the world started to filter back in. Ted and Salvatore nearly jumped as the tasmanian devil coughed and spat something out onto the road.

The blood covered slug bounced and rolled across the middle of the highway as he cleared his throat again and tucked his larger muscled body in tighter behind the trembling Dolf.

"You stupid fucking bunch of corpses," coughed out the super in a voice that sounded like he was gargling tar and gravel. "You could have walked away. Gone home to your families but now all of you are going to die slowly."

"The only one dying here today is you if you don't let Dolf go," said Salvatore as he moved up beside Ted.

"Empty threats human," hacked the devil as he pressed the point of his knife further into the underside of the mule's neck. "Your clever little bomb didn't kill me, your knockoff supers didn't kill me, and your friend put a round though my throat and it still didn't kill me," he said as several bits of charred skin flaked off his forearms and new fur began to grow. "Now you are going to give it to me what I came for or I am going to carve this horse up in right in front of you!" he said as he tore the front of Dolf's heavy plate carrier right off of him. The tips of his claws quickly had the mules undershirt in tatters as he plunged two fingers into the hard muscle of his chest right above his heart.

Dolf screamed and his body jerked but the evil super held him still one eye quickly darting out from behind Dolf's head. Salvatore's gun lined up on that yellowed eye as the Ripper laughed.

"Go ahead. Do it. I can look in your eyes and tell you want to. It might kill me but don't count on it. I've survived worse. Your friend here though, I wouldn't bet on him. One little twitch of my fingers and he is as dead as that pair of cows over there. Now drop your guns and one of you get your ass into that truck and GET ME WHAT I WANT!" he shouted as Ted and Dolf slowly placed their all of their guns on the ground.

Ted slowly began to move toward the second truck as he keyed in the code to unlock the doors. The passenger door swung wide as he stepped inside it and reappeared a moment latter with the slim silver suitcase.

"Open it," said the Ripper as Ted flipped up the clasps revealing the sliver tube like container as he held it out for the mercenary to see. "Good," he said as he removed his knife from Dolf's throat and slid his hand back around behind him and placed the knife back in his sheath. "Now place it in his paw," said the black furred tasmanian devil as he gave Dolf's arm a bump. The mule's paw shot out as Ted very slowly placed the cylinder in Dolf's palm letting his fingers close around it.

"This is not over between us," growled Ted as he took a step back and the devil smiled.

"Oh I think it is," he said as his free paw flicked downward and drew Dolf's side arm. The gun barked firing a single shot straight into the bear's forehead sending his body crashing to the ground. With a savage grin his left hand plunged further into Dolf's chest as the mule shrieked and the merc's sharp claws ripped through bone and flesh pulling at his heart and tearing it out of the equines body.

Blood went everywhere as the mule stared down at the hole in his chest transfixed as his knees buckled. Tossing away the heart the mercenary deftly plucked the pressurized vile from the equines paw as the male slumped to the ground lifeless. His borrowed gun moved till it was pointing right at Salvatore as the villain spoke.

"And then there was one."

All the human could see were the limp bodies of his friends as they lay on the ground. His arms shook and his mouth was dry as his vision seemed to swim. It seemed to sharpen as he looked up at the devil standing there leering.

"You all should be proud of yourselves," he said as Dolf's blood slowly dripped off his fingers and forarm. "I've known supers who gave me less of a fight that you all did. Your little trick almost did me in. I came close enough to see wolf that waits there for me on the other side, but we're old acquaintances. I plan to keep him waiting for some time still."

"No," said Salvatore he locked eyes with the yellow eyed devil. "I'll going to send you straight to him." The Ripper almost laughed when a strange thing happened. Salvatore's left hand shot out towards him as his eardrums popped almost painfully. The air pressure on either side of his head dropped to nothing as two small vacuum pockets formed in the hollows of his ears. The sudden explosive decompression blew out both the Ripper's ear drums destroying most of his inner ear as the mercenaries hearing and balance went in an instant.

Surprise was etched into every line of the rippers face but his trigger finger didn't wait as he began firing, even as his word tilted sideways. The first round zipped straight towards the human's body, but like magic the bullet was deflected about a foot or two in front of Salvatore's outstretched hand. The second, third, and forth all did the same thing glancing off to the left and right of the stationary human as the dizzy merc went to one knee.

The Ripper stared wide eyed as struggled to remain up right and cranked of a few more shots only to watch as the bullets all ricochet off some invisible barrier that seemed to hover there. He dropped the gun drew one of his many knives before hurling it at the human, but the blade careened off to the right just as the bullets had, while Salvatore's metal arm scooped up his grenade launcher. In an instant he had cocked and fired the weapon sending the soup can sized explosive flying right at the Ripper.

The super only had time to cross his arms over his head and chest before the projectile hit him. The blast sent him cartwheeling backwards nearly twenty feet, the vial flying out of his paws, as he landed on his back and immediately began to roll sideways. Only his super toughness and hyper healing saved him the devil as the next grenade went off right next to him sending him flying sideways. The Ripper managed to land with his feet under him and jerked sideways to avoid anther grenade as it grazed the fur of his side detonating behind him.

Like a black bolt of lighting the snarling super covered the open ground between himself and Salvatore in an instant, drawing another pair of knives. He lunged the last five yards, stabbing downward as Salvatore dropped the launcher and his bionic arm swung upward. A tidentium blade the length of Salvatore's forearm sprang from an almost invisible opening just behind his fingers as it caught both of the Ripper's blades on their downward swing. The shocked super's belly and side were exposed as Salvatore's left fist rocketed towards the devil's chest. A super dense pocket of air formed a hairsbreadth in front of his knuckles covering it like a gauntlet as it slammed into the merc's ribs like a sledgehammer.

The Tasmanian devil rolled with the punch and disengaged as his knee came up only to meet Salvatore's metal elbow. Blade's sparked as the two males slashed, fenced, and tried to hack each other to pieces. Even with his balance shot to hell, the speed of Salvatore's bionic arm and the added reach his blade gave him were the only thing keeping the Ripper from killing him instantly.

The merc shifted his stance a bit and began sending a flurry of kicks at the human, slashing with his foot claws, but every time he got close his foot would slam into an invisible wall of air slowing his strikes or deflecting them. The attacks were having an effect though as the humans breathing became more raged. The Ripper soon noted how his opponent seemed to flinch each time one of his invisible barriers took a hit, and how his metal arm seemed a bit slower with each swing. As his ear drums finished healing the tone of the fight seemed to change as the mercenaries attacks began to come faster and faster putting the human on the defensive.

Salvatore knew that he was beginning to lose as he fended off a pair of knife thrusts. He had been counting on the surprise over his outsider powers and his tidentium arm to give him a slim chance at victory, but that was already fading. The ability to manipulate the pressure of the air around him wasn't the flashiest outsider power but it had severed him well when he had discovered it during Korea. Layers of super dense air behaved almost like metal shields and could deflect bullets and soften blows. Using a vacuum to blow out another's ear drums was another trick he had cooked up while serving, but against this super who seemed to have an outrageous healing factor it wasn't working.

At first villain's attacks had been a bit slow and off balance but now it was all Salvartore could do to keep from getting skewered. His opponent drove him backward almost effortlessly now as he became aware of another problem. His bionic arm was reaching the limits of is endurance as the joint servos in his elbow and wrist glowed cherry red. An electric burning smell filled the air as it became more and more sluggish. Blood ran freely from his nose as he was forced to create more and more dense air shields, but now that was becoming even harder as the effort took its toll.

The Ripper slashed before spinning as his foot came around in a blur that was almost too fast to follow, while Salvatore brought his arm up to block only it didn't. The metal limb fell heavy and dead to his side, blade retreating back into it's sheath, as the savage heel kick hit him square in the middle of his chest. The impact shattered his ceramic chest plate, broke his sternum, and three upper ribs. It sent his body reeling backward as he slammed into the mangled grill of unit two. The rear of his head banged against the vehicle nearly knocking him out as a knife was buried in his left shoulder.

Salvatore yelled as the weapon went all the way through his shoulder blade and pinned him to the front of the truck. A paw grabbed a handful of the human's hair as a fist slammed hard enough into his stomach to make him choke up blood as he was pulled upright.

"Stick around," snarled the super as Salvatore's vision swirled and more blood filled his mouth. His metal arm was lifeless, and the knife through his left shoulder was a white hot lance of agony as he tried to move that arm. Everything past his elbow worked but he couldn't lift his arm high enough to even attempt to pull the blade from his body. Though his haze of pain he heard laughter as a heavy paw grabbed him by the neck and turned him until he was staring directly into the dead yellow eyes of the Ripper.

"An outsider huh? So you did have a trick or two more up those sleeves of yours. Whole lot of good it did you though," the villain said as he turned his head and forced the human to look at his dead comrades. "All because you wouldn't cough up this," he said holding the container up to Salvatore's face as his other paw squeezed his neck a bit tighter. "Not to mention the fact that- Oh what's this?" he said looking down as he released the human's neck and reached into a pouch on the front of his vest. His paw came out with the other container as he held it up for a moment looking at. His paw moved backhanding Salvatore nearly hard enough to break his jaw as the beaten human sagged against the truck.

"Just when I think you can't piss me off anymore that you already have you manage to," he said as Salvatore spat out a wad of blood along with a tooth or two. Before he could say anything the the devil's paw was back around his neck choking him again as he held one of the containers holding the virus against the human's face. "This is what you get when weaklings don't know their place try and create things like me. Those bulls they sent with you? They're just cannon fodder. They won't hold up against a real super or even a powerful outsider like yourself."

"This," he said as he tapped the container against Salvatore's forhead. "Is the next phase of their plan distilled from some new freak they just got their hands on. It's supposed to make true supers out of their soldiers but my employer tells me that all it does is kill everyone they test it on. Apparently the virus tears the victim's body apart in a most excruciatingly painful fashion. I only need to bring back one sample and I can't think of a better person to dispose of it that YOU!" he laughed as he used his paw to pry open Salvatore's mouth.

The sergeant could taste Dolf's blood, thick and coppery on the fingers jammed in his mouth as he tried to bite down only to have one of the containers was jammed down his throat. The Ripper hit the button on the top of the container as a pressurized jet of liquid mist filled Salvatore's lungs. He held the button down empting every last dose into the human, as Salvatore retched. The mercenary pulled back, releasing his victim.

A fever like heat crept through Salvortore and his lungs felt as if they were on fire. They seemed to shudder in his chest as he let out a pained cry. Each of his muscles began to burn as he jerked pulling against the knife in his shoulder. The blade came free of the truck as he fell forward unable to even catch himself with his hands or arms. The human's heart began to race faster and faster as he felt an unbearable ache start in each of his bones.

He couldn't stop himself from screaming as the pain intensified all while the villainous Ripper looked on.

"I sure hope it hurts as much as your little bomb did," laughed the mercenary as his foot slammed into Salvatore's side flipping him over onto his back. He heard another rib crack but he was in so much agony that it was indistinguishable from the rest as his body twisted into a ball. The pain in his feet was the worst as they throbbed and swelled as his boots grew tighter, but a sensation from his right side reached him even though all the other pain.

Ever since losing his arm, Salvatore had only experienced shadows of sensation in that limb. The prosthetic was wired into his nervous system but the sensations were not in any way detailed and if anything they were more like proximity sensors. He could tell when something touched his arm or when his fingers brushed up against an object, but not the objects texture, temperature, or any number of other details that one took for granted. But for the first time since losing his right arm, he could feel the rough asphalt under his fingertips, and the near scalding heat of it from being baked in the sun.

His fingers clenched and they felt the metallic texture of his palm, but unlike before he felt the metal skin of his hand give just a little as his digits pressed in harder. He tried to roll over again and right himself but a sudden seizure racked his body as his head pounded. The human's heart felt like it was was going to beat out of his chest as his BPM zipped past 200. He looked up and saw the sneering marsupial move in for another kick as a feral rage filled him. Like an animal kicked one to many times the human surged upward surprising the mercenary as his bionic arm sprung back to life.

A super compressed pocket of air formed around his fist as he drove to up into the devil hitting the other male harder that he had ever hit anything in his life. The blow sent the mercenary head over heels backward he gasped around a new hole in his chest. His body landed with a 'whump' in the middle of the road as the shocked human looked at his silver limb. Strange pulsing veins ran the length of his arm as if it was alive again, and the pain seemed to spread just as soon as he noticed it.

Salvatore found he could stand, but little else as his legs shook and his right hand gripped at the hilt of the knife in his shoulder. He ripped it free with another scream, but soon as it was clear the skin there began to close and heal. Veins soon covered his left arm, chest and legs as his muscles began to have sharp raw spasms. With each one he felt the muscle fibers tear and then rapidly heal swelling and strengthening as they did so. His vision was going crazy as his eyes tried to focus on objects around him while colors seemed to shift and change. The ache in his bones seemed to grow worse as he felt his spine pop then twist as something pushed its way out of his back as the laces on his boots popped open and tore. Salvatore stumbled trying to stay on his feet as they slowly began to fuse into two big black hooves.

The Ripper grabbed at his chest as he felt one of his broken ribs press against a lung. It was almost impossible to breathe for several long moments before he felt it begin to heal as he tried to take fuller breaths. The outsider shouldn't have been able to hit him like that even with his prosthetic arm. Even most supers didn't hit that hard that as his paw clutched at the wound on his chest. He heard a tearing sound and looked up to see the human ripping off his vest and undershirt and fling it away as change rippled over his body.

Thick worm like veins twitched and throbbed under his skin like snakes as his whole body seemed to quiver and spasm. The muscles in his chest and arms looked huge and pumped and seemed to grow a bit larger each time they contracted while his ears grew long and pointed. The mercenary's eyes widened as he slowly stood up noting that the wound on Salvatore's shoulder was almost completely healed. Whatever the virus was doing it wasn't killing the human fast enough as he watched the other males ears begin moving towards the top of his head.

Salvatore was in so much pain he didn't even see the mercenary as he darted in and landed a haymaker on the side of his chin. He barely felt it as the he doubled over from the blows the Ripper rained down on his chest and stomach that should have pulped his insides. His hands shot out and caught the villains wrists as the stunned marsupial lashed out with a kick. His foot landed square in Salvatore's groin as the human let out an animal like bellow before slamming his head forward into the forehead of his opponent. The pain seemed to ease for a brief moment as his adenine spiked and the Ripper's blunt snout broke in a spray of blood, so he just kept on attaching.

The strikes were clumsy and nearly blind but they had an effect as the mercenary attempted to ward them all off. He blocked the first few almost on instinct as his vision cleared but the rapidly changing human was moving far faster that he should have been able to. Salvatore now stood even with the seven foot Tasmanian as his spine stretched and his legs began to twist and reform. The change sent him off balance as a low kick caught him in the thigh. The attack sent him to his knees, but as the follow up kick came whistling though the air the transforming human caught it, twisted, and hurled the devil away.

Salvatore's lower body seemed to clench and explode with muscle adding almost another foot to his height and completely shedding his jeans and underwear as he sprang forward, his newfound hooves slamming into the pavement. He covered the nearly fifteen yards he had thrown the Ripper in the blink of an eye as his hoof slammed downward. The nimble mercenary bounced and rolled avoiding the hoof as it cratered the asphalt where his head had been and instant earlier and began his assault anew. Every time his fists landed on Salvatore it felt like he was punching an anvil as he scored a glancing blow on the other males chin. He heard something crack as Salvatore twisted away while his face began to push forward into a very equine muzzle.

Salvatore's vision seemed to split then shift as his face slowly changed. He saw stars as the other male landed a more solid blow to his jaw and checked a shoulder into his body, but he wasn't really thinking anymore. It was hard to remember what or who he was though all the pain that swirled through him as his body spasmed again. The virus continued to rip him apart inch by inch reshaping him in to something stronger as the ache in his bones grew worse but he continued to fight.

Panic began to grip at the Ripper as Salvatore kept coming, pushing him all over the road. He had dished out enough punishment to kill any normal human a dozen times over but to matter how hard he hit the former human nothing seemed to stop the creature in front of him. Black fur seemed to sweep over the rapidly forming stallions body as his remaining clothing simply gave up the ghost and slipped off his body leaving him nude. A sliky black mane and tall stretched down his back and over his ass as the newly minted equine senses were bombarded. Sound, sight, smell, and even the feel of air running through the fur of his body all threatened to overwhelm him as he saw the devil roll his body and wind up his arm for another haymaker as his own metallic arm shot out.

Their fists collided with a sound like a thundercrack as the impact broke every bone in the Ripper's left arm from knuckle to shoulder. The Tasmanian devil shrieked in pain as Salvatore's arm vibrated letting out a long gong like note. Even injured the fearsome mercenary didn't stop fighting as he jumped backward in a handspring catching himself on his good paw before landing right in front of Ted's discarded machine gun.

He scooped it up and leveled it at Salvatore before squeezing the trigger and sending .30 cal slugs screaming at the black furred stallion. The armor piercing rounds tore a bloody furrow through the side of one bulging quad and clipped a rib as the transforming horse roared. No more rounds made it thought as a hyper dense wall of air formed between the two causing the rounds to pancake against the invisible barrier before falling harmlessly to the ground. The gun chewed though a two hundred round belt in less than half a minute before falling quite as an enraged Salvatore charged towards him.

The stallion's arm twitched and with a metallic 'SHINK' the blade in his arm extended. It was longer now befitting the massive muscled equine as he slashed at the ripper who tried to block his swing with the gun in his hands. The sword cleaved though the weapon leaving the devil holding nothing more than the stock and grip as he tried to dodge away and failed. Salvator's next swing took his good hand off at the wrist and continued upward stabbing though the middle of the mercenary's chest and exiting out his back.

The impact of the blow drove them both down to the ground as the horse's blade sank deep into the pavement of the highway. The Ripper could feel blood welling up in his throat from his punctured lung as it dribbled out his mouth, while his body tried to cling to life like it had so many times before. He brought his still healing hand up to try and protect himself from the berserk horse but it did him no good.

The horse swung with his left and hit the devil so hard his arm went numb. The next blow completely shattered the mercenaries jaw. The following two cracked his skull. The Ripper's vision went dark after that as the pain he was feeling became more distant until a creature appeared, great and terrible. A tall wolf with jet black fur and blazing blue eyes seemed to materialize out of the darkness just inches away from him. It was the same wolf he had instinctively feared every time he had been so close to death before. He screamed and tried to jerk away but the wolf's hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat and he heard the wolf speak.

"This time you are mine."

Salvatore didn't stop punching until he couldn't raise his paw up anymore. He rolled off of the corpse of the Ripper as the adrenaline from the fight burned out of him and the pain returned in full force. The former human screamed as he felt his body jerk and shake while the virus set about tearing apart his insides before rapidly healing them again. His muscles and skin grew thicker and harder as the already huge stallion crested ten feet.

Images of his friends dying right in front of him kept flashing in front of his eyes as tears began to run down his cheeks. Each and every one of their deaths was his fault, and the fact that he had avenged them meant nothing. This pain was his punishment and it was no more that he deserved. Perhaps it was right that he should die this way.

The stallion's entire body flexed tight, then even tighter as Salvatore went ridged. The pain seemed to reach a crescendo as his teeth ground against each other till his gums bled and his vision grew blurry. How long he stayed that way he was unsure until a single blue eye appeared above him. Whoever it was attached to was almost as large as he was and slowly a pair of black wings seemed to stretch outward above him blotting out the sun. Only half conscious he stared up at that single eye unable to distinguish the features around it.

"Curious. Most curious that even with my sight I couldn't see you until now. Do you know what that might be? Has some outside force taken you into its hand perhaps?"

Salvatore found he couldn't answer the figure above him as vision flickered in an out.

"It doesn't matter as your path is quickly becoming known to me," said the voice as the horse felt something touch him softly as the eye continued to examine him with a clinical stare. "So crude their methods. Like children poking around in the dark not knowing what to expect. And yet then they go and birth something like you," he said as the eye blinked once. "Providence perhaps or some other force at work I wonder? Oh perhaps it is merely science and the life-blood of your friend combined the spark already within you."

"My lord perhaps we can use him. He could be a great asset to us," said another voice eagerly as Salvatore tried to turn his head. "I can guide him personally to make sure he-

"Oh so does this one also tickle your fancy? Your intentions can be so transparent sometimes. Not that I don't agree with your analysis, he could indeed be useful but he must make that choice. It cannot be made for him."

"If that is your wish," said the other voice sounding slightly disappointed as Salvatore saw what looked like a finger moving towards him. It touched him lightly on the forehead and like magic the stallions body seemed to calm. The pain was swept away like a bad memory as the transformed human went limp. His lips parted in amazement as he tried to say thank you when the he heard the holder of the eye laugh as it drew back.

"Your opinion of me might suffer I think when you regain your senses," the voice said as the eye blinked again.

"Master I have the container, we can go now," said the other voice as the eye moved.

"Until we meet again then," the voice said as the wings withdrew and the two creatures stepped through a shimmering blue portal. Moments or maybe hours later the sounds of sirens make Salvatore's ears twitch as the lathered horse tried to drag himself up right only to find that his fight with the virus had drained every last bit of his energy. The sounds got closer as he fought to keep his eyelids open while his breathing slowed. A black object drifted through the air as his eyes tracked it before it gently landed on his chest. It was a single large black feather as his paw reached up slowly to grab it. His steel fist wrapped around it tightly as he at last passed out and went still with the feather still clutched in his paw.