A Change Of Heart: Eve of Darkness

Story by DragonMercX4 on SoFurry

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#3 of A Change Of Heart: Battle For Retribution.


Author: DragonMercX4 (Sexually Corrupted...)

[Disclaimers for games and digimon and whatever else other people came up with that I'm using as spring-boards...]

It had been about a month since Shadow became a part of Alpha Team. Since then, his relationship with the team had been going very smoothly. Training Jen to use her powers was a big step to a sealed friendship with them, especially since he let her into his mind and see his past. This was his idea, feeling it to be a good way for the team to function efficiently since the captain would know his very abilities... Of course, she was no longer the official leader since the ULC scrubbed them from their database.

Recently, Shadow had acquired a small group of remote operated fighters and bombers, about the size of 21st century earth's combustion vehicles, ranging in size from the Civic Coupe, to a full sized Semi. Each held deadly payloads, and within the Asgard armory each could be equip with the most sizable abilities and advantages. Asgard, the small cruiser that Shadow had been given by the highest of the ULC before being scrubbed, was a very new, very powerful ship. It had the ability to singe-handedly take down a dreadnaught, a ship about three thousand times larger and considerably more influential. It also had the same covert-ops abilities as his personal transport/assault ship. Its main gun was a prototype quantum folding device that could create a small black hole in a designated spot, the collapsed star controllable to an extent as to be destroyed at will. His abilities also made him the only capable pilot of his ship. The cruiser could be piloted by any one of the team, though.

They had already done a few supplies raids on Plague assets, taking down small outposts long the outskirts of the beacon area, making sure to cause a little noise and a little fear in the lizard like commander in the beacon itself. Shadow, however, never tested the extent of his powers, but proved himself a great covert-ops asset with his personal abilities to almost completely vanish from existence. But, sometimes, things can get out of hand.

***

"This is Asgard to Shadow; we've got a problem up here, a very big problem..."

It was Jen, her voice loud and clear. He was finishing up a raid on a small installation on the very boarder of the secure space around the beacon, and already the situation was proving hazardous. They had been attacked by a few ships before, of course crushing them, but lately the ship's electrical grid had been fussing, understandable because it is a prototype after all, and the cloaking systems had been failing frequently, along with the weapons interface. Someone could easily control them directly, but Shadow had been working on them to be separate from the system, so again they showed just as many malfunctions as the rest of the ship. Imperfect, but perfect, this is the Asgard in essence.

"Did you try re-routing the computer's interface to override the safety protocols?" He asked in a serious tone. He could see a very large ship exiting FTLT, (Faster Then Light Transit) and it was probably about to attack the Asgard.

"Yes, I got a blue screen of death up here. Hopefully I won't have the same thing happen to me... Is there anything you can do from down there?" She asked, her voice becoming a lot more stressed, the sound of the shields buckling in the background raising Shadow's alertness and making him feel very uneasy.

"Yes, there is. Try to hand on. Tell Jess to get the shields up to block mass cannons." He said, grabbing Buck and Eagle, heading to the roof of the compound. Knowing what he had to do wasn't easy, nor was doing it, but if he didn't, he could lose the Asgard... And Jess. Felling his heart tear in two from the thought, he quickened his pace, his heart following suit.

"Alright, but this thing has plasma cannons all over it, I don't know what protection against mass accelerators is going to do..." Jen responded. Her voice strained as she tried to maneuver the ship out of the way of some of the larger blasts, their sheer size threatening to engulf the ship. The blasts were visible from the windows Shadow was running along, heading for the top floor.

"I'm going to tear that other ship in half, the debris will be extreme..." Shadow said into the comm., making both Buck and Eagle look at him funny as they got up on the roof though the observation floor, access being a ladder on the face of one of the windows. Once he climbed up, he could see the full size of the ship. It was no more than a small capital battleship. Apparently the Plague had been taking notice to the numerous strikes, and they were going to respond in a very forceful manner.

Shadow stood perfectly still, reaching out with his mind fully for the first time in a few months, and felt the very existence and size of the ship. He slowed its systems, scrambled its targeting arrays, disabled its communication abilities, and fried its FTL drive. Then, he began to delve into his true power, taking hold of the ship's physical existence, Jen chiming in over the mic.

"Wait... It's firing all over the place; the systems onboard must be going haywire. Hold on, the engines just exploded out of the back of the ship! Shadow, I don't know what the hell you're doing, but don't stop, you've got it disabled!" Jen called excitedly. Shadow felt the minds onboard in fear, so he silenced as many as he could, killing over four thousand crew in half a second, their immense fear making it possible. He killed the internal security systems targeting parameters, feeling the weapons begin to fire on the occupants of the vessel.

"Ma'am, he isn't doing anything except look at it... I think..." Buck told her, Eagle confirming it. Then, Shadow began giving off a sizable aura, making Buck and Eagle jump back and crouch down. "Holy shit! Shadow what the hell are you doing!" Buck yelled loudly, Shadow simply raising his hands towards the enemy ship. His aura raced along his hands and projected into the sky towards the ship in orbit like a great geyser, a fiery blue eruption coming forth around the dark shadowy haze of energy that was spiraling into the heavens.

"Dragging this thing down to our level." He replied in a cool, collected tone. Once he could feel every inch of the ship, every nook, every cranny and all of the life forms on board, he tightened his hands into fists and the energy spire surged violently as he felt his mental tether on the ship suddenly tighten, the concrete roof of the building below him cracking violently, sending small pieces into the air. He began to pull his arms toward his body, feeling resistance as if her were actually gasping the ship, and he could even feel the ship tear in half from the extreme amount of telekinetic force he was applying. He changed his posture, using one hand to push the center of the ship away from the planet to split the hull down the sides while using the other to pull the bridge and all the guns down to the planet, leaving the supplies and ammunition stored in orbit for the Asgard to transport to her own hangers.

***

Jen was watching the capital battleship in front of her get torn in half, looking though Buck's visual feed with mouth agape. Shadow was literally ripping it apart, his telekinetic abilities beyond exceeding what she previously believed. That ship was easily the size of New York City back on earth, weighing as much as a small moon! And here it was, being cleaved in half by a wolf a little taller than a human with his mind alone. Metal was searing hot in some places, small bodies flying out of the corridors in the ship, the lights flashing on and off as power was put into a major feedback by the forced separation of both sides of the massive vessel, wires and tubing flying around wildly as their contents were expelled into deep space.

She felt a cold shiver go up her spine, fear of the wolf she had called friend for a while now creeping in. ‘If he can do this... What else is he hiding?' She thought to herself, a very deep terror rooting in. Jess walked up next to her and gasped, looking into the monitor next to Jen in disbelief at what was happening.

"He-he-he can't be... Can he?" She asked herself in a very skittish voice. Jen could feel that she was terrified of this, of Shadow, that he could do this all along and he never showed it to her much less even told her.

***

Shadow could feel a sudden blow hit him in the gut, loss and fear creeping into him at the loss of a loved one. Something was wrong, and he knew what it was. He opened the lines of the mic as the others came up to the deck and saw him tearing the ship from orbit.

"I am sorry... For not telling you that I can do this... For not showing you. But to show you meant showing them, so I couldn't risk it. And if I told you, would you really believe me?" He asked, still devoting his full concentration to the ship. He could feel the last of it break in half, so he crushed it, pulling it down to the planet's surface with a mighty heave and violent motion with his arms, sending it onto a continent a long ways away so they weren't put in harm's way. He watched as the ship burst into flames, falling though the atmosphere fast, the black hull smoking fiercely as it came down to the ground, a very loud boom being herd along with rumbling across the planet as the very large ship piece left a very large creator.

"Shadow to Strike Team, head back to the transport... We're done here." He said in a low, hurting tone, believing Jess to not want him any longer. The feeling weighed on him more heavily than the ship did on the planet to which it crashed. Limbs were numb, his chest was on fire, and most of all, his love for her was tearing him apart inside. ‘It's one of my defining abilities... I should have said something.' He thought, his conscience telling him he didn't even have room to think about it with all of the tactical planning between him, Ryan, and Jack. It didn't help at all.

***

The flight back to the ship was tense... Buck had never, Never, seen so much power in any living being. He felt as though he were trapped in a bad dramatic comedy, one where a god decided to grace the mortal world and ravage the lands. He felt as though, perhaps, he would turn on them. But then again, Shadow had actually taken a proton energy blast for him and more than likely saved his tail. So now, with all gears turning, Buck decided to trust Shadow completely. He was right, showing them would show the plague, and they couldn't afford that kind of surprise to be wasted. Tearing that ship out of the sky was a good time to reveal that power, and chances are, the crew onboard that ship didn't have enough time to send out a message of warning.

He sighed and looked at his mate, giving her a fully confident smile as he got up and slapped his hand on Shadow's shoulder, receiving nothing but a soft chuckle in return. "I can't believe that you tore that thing from orbit. One hell of a show, I say. It was like the icy realm of the stars decided the fate of those benevolent creatures would be as violent as their existence, so it's a fitting end." He told the wolf, a smile on his face in return to the poetic sentence.

"I just couldn't let anything bad happen to my favorite ship, none the less the precious cargo." He replied, making a reference to Jess, Jen, and Jack, all of whom were still onboard coordinating the team and firing off precision strikes from the mass accelerator cannons on the underside meant for planetary bombardment. "I'm just afraid Jess will be mad with me..." His tone fell as he said it, ears falling slightly. Buck gripped him tightly on his thick shoulder.

"I know Jess. If she trusts you enough to let you sleep with her, much less in the ways you do as I have heard..." This comment garnered a chuckle from everyone on the transport. "She'll just slap you across the wrist and ‘tisk' you a few times. Or, she'll just start laughing at the fact you're so worried. That would be her, wouldn't it Lisa?" Buck asked, turning to the other ren in the cabin with a smile.

"Yeah, that would be her. She may be sentimental, but Jess is still a marine. She wouldn't let this little incident hurt her. Jen might be a bit pissy though, she's seen a few soldiers die under her command in ways you don't even want to imagine, and knowing your full abilities would have made us a lot safer a while ago." Lisa told him, Buck feeling his body relax slowly. He lifted his paw off the wolf and went back over to Eagle, kissing her on the nose lightly before going to the copilot seat as they got close to the Asgard.

***

Punch after punch, the bag was beginning to tear slightly, Shadow laying it on. He could feel bubbling rage building in him, seething into his core. Every time this happened, his supervisors would put him in a cage with a few captured Plague and let him tear them apart. But this was different, it was stronger. One punch he threw broke the chain because his fist had encased itself in telekinetic energy. Shadow didn't notice at all, but thoughts of what he saw in combat, the mutilated and sexually assaulted innocent natives of the planets the Plague occupied, kept his rage at the peak of unpredictability. He could feel every hair on end, feel his lips burn from being pulled into such a tight snarl, and still he continued to rape the punching bag, having jumped on it a few minutes ago to tear it apart with his claws, sending the stuffing all over the floor of the decently sized training room on the ship.

There was a very quiet hiss as one of the pressurized doors opened, letting out a bit of the pressure he had put the room under, and Ryan walked in. He must have sensed Shadow's aggression on the other side of the ship, making him wonder what Jess could be feeling. That though calmed him. Jess had been a little upset, but after a good smack across his muzzle, she felt much better and hugged him tightly while laughing, saying that she should have figured he could do it. Jack told her he had a hunch, because acoustic suppression required a lot of energy and it was a constant around Shadow.

***

Ryan just stood there, looking at the wolf with curiosity. He could tell from all the sweat dripping off his fur that he was just working himself to the point of breaking his physical limits and killing the poor punching bag. He smiled to the wolf, going over to the supply closet to get another. He hung it, hearing the wolf panting hard the entire time. Without delay, the wolf pounced on the bag, his first punch sending it off the chain again, into and almost though the wall on the other side. Ryan just laughed, watching him molest the stuffing filled canvas bag as if it were nothing more than a chew toy to a rabid dog, and then laughing harder as he could the metaphor completely true when Shadow lifted the bag with his teeth and shook it violently.

Shadow dropped it on the ground, his breath calming almost immediately. "You mind telling me what's gotten under your skin, bro?" Shadow laughed a little. Ryan had been calling him brother for a little while, like he had back when they were in the frontline infantry. It was a very soothing thing, making Shadow feel much more comfortable around him by the look in his eyes as he turned to face him.

"I have seen a lot, you know. Even things that you wouldn't want to. Getting into that ship I had told all of you about wasn't a cake walk, it was heavily manned. But me, no, I didn't let that stop me for a minute... But I had to walk past the detention facility to get to what I wanted..." The wolf looked down at the floor for a moment, drops of what Ryan could tell wasn't sweat hitting the ground. "So many innocent people..." He whispered, making Ryan rush over to him. Marines weren't impervious to mental strain, and with the mind he had, Shadow must have been especially vulnerable. He wouldn't ever break in combat, but like many Vietnam vets that he had read about, Shadow would no doubt break down in company he was fond of.

Ryan pulled the wolf against him, the feeling of his damp fur a little strange, but not too much. He had just been so used to the skin of him mate that fur was a little far out of his mind. It turned him on slightly. But still, Shadow was about to break down pretty good, meaning he must have seen things that even the worst of nightmares couldn't describe accurately. Ryan could feel him shaking slightly, every muscle tense as could be, but he wouldn't let it out. So, he rubbed the wolf's back soothingly, trying to make him calm down slightly.

"Shadow, listen. We're working so hard to bring them down; it's only a matter of time!" He told him in an excited whisper. This had a good effect, but he was still tense enough to be used as a blunt weapon with his ankles being the handle. He just sighed and reached out to Jen with his mind, telling her to get Jess now and bring her to the weight room to fix Shadow, saying he was broken and needed some duck tape.

***

A dark, cold room was the first thing the young man noticed as he awoke. Groaning as he tried to get off his stomach on the floor, he found that he was in a very small room. The ceiling, for that matter, was only a few feet from the floor. Rubbing his head, he found a small cut on the side and discovered, much to his dismay, it was fresh. He hissed through clenched teeth as he felt the pain searing blindingly in his skull, making him loose what little balance he had and fall to the floor again. The stone or cheap metal, he hadn't discerned which it was, happened to be very unforgiving and left a bruise on his right shoulder. ‘Just great...' he thought to himself, rubbing his shoulder and then the back of his head.

The sound of metal clicking repeatedly got his attention, and soon the ceiling actually lifted away, making the room about his height but with a few inches. A door opened, but he couldn't stand because he legs were weak, so he sat there, almost blinded by the light, looking dumb as a brick. He felt very strong, clawed hands grab him roughly, and right as he was about to put up a fight, he felt something cold get injected into his arm, then darkness engulfed him entirely.

***

Fear was ringing clear in the vixen's head as she approached the Plague destroyer. Her ship was one of their newest and she had no problem evading all detection, but still the man she had been assigned to track was on board and she needed to get him. Being a merc had its perks, and the one that she should've used was the ability to deny a mission. This man, although not too impressive besides his unusual strength, was the best technician anyone had even thought of. He was what had now been classified as a technopath, a power that allowed the bearers mind to directly interface with any kind of electrical equipment. And he was pretty sexy.

She brushed that last thought to the back of her mind, trying to concentrate on her mission at hand. Then another thought occurred to her. ‘He'll have to share my bed with me...' This alone made her legs shiver a little and a small hotspot occur between her legs. She sighed, knowing that she wouldn't see him if she messed up even once. Remembering her Shadow Ops training, the vixen set the ship into drift towards the other vessel and went into the back to put on the armor she had purchased before leaving the Deadelous, a small Battlecuiser that belonged to the ULAC. As she pulled on the gauntlets, they lit up and began to connect the armor to her nervous system, tripling its peak efficiency and allowing her senses to be directly controlled by not but her thoughts alone. A small warning tone came into the airlock room she was in from the cockpit, she was near the ship and it was about to fire on her.

Rushing into the cockpit, she pulled the engines into a hard dive as she noticed that one of the guns on the destroyer were being tested and was aimed at her small interceptor class drop ship. The hard dive almost broke her cloaking field, but it held as the generator bitched at her. She pulled it up to an external docking port and accessed the computers on board. In moments, she had the pressurization equalized and the docking port hidden from all personnel, making sure her entrance would be as discrete as possible. She locked the computers, allowing the slightly retarded A.I. take control of the cloaking controls as she went into the airlock room to get her guns and go.

***

He felt a very heavy coldness against the side of his face. No doubt the feeling of a cold steel table, judging by the position her was in, and the feeling of a very uncomfortable steel chair below him as he tried to lean back in it. Succeeding, he slowly opened his eyes to face a very ugly looking lizard thing sitting across from him. ‘Looks funny...' Was his first thought.

"You know what I want to know..." He said in a small, slither of a voice. The man chuckled at him, a little at first, but then it grew a bit louder. He could feel the light above him, and reached out with his mind, slowly absorbing as much power as he could. He could also feel the growing anger of the lizard man in front of him, most likely because of his laughing.

"I know a lot of things, too many to tell just what you want, my disconfigured friend." He laughed at the lizard, getting a very nasty snarl in return. The table was abruptly upturned and he was promptly smacked across the face, four sharp lines of pain trailing against him.

"Enough of that smart mouth, you insignificant waste of space!" The lizard hissed, looking very pissed off. However, the man continued to smile, happy to know that his strength far exceeded the scaly moron who just hit him. Without really trying, he broke the chain that held his hands behind his back on the other side of the chair and shoved his hand into the lizard's genital slit, grabbing the two orbs at the back on the bottom. The lizard hissed hard and looked a little afraid. He noticed this and smiled cruelly, getting a very fearful look from the reptile.

"You should be." The man said his face completely serious. He let that energy he had collected flow right though his hands and electrify the lizard, something he hadn't done in a while as he felt the world fade fast from the sudden loss of energy. The world around him began to go in slow motion as he slowly fell, his body not responding to any command he gave it. Before the darkness took his vision, he had enough time to see the lizard hit the ground first as two more came up from the back and out of the shadows, but then a series of flashes saw them to the ground. The world was spinning as he saw an armored thing step into view, blood starting to crawl towards him. The thing picked him up and threw him over its shoulder, making him feel really nauseous as it dashed hard and fast down corridor after corridor, heading for an exit... He hoped. His vision faded and he had to rely on his sense for the electrical systems in the ship to keep track of where he was going.

***

The vixen had found the interrogation room, and as she entered, she witnessed something unbelievable. The man's hand was in the lizard's crotch, a bright light sourcing outward from the hold. He was maiming the thing, and she was standing between its friends. After a moment of shock from apparently all parties present, the lizard he had fried slumped to the ground as the man slid off the chair, then hit the ground a bit softer. She saw the other two lizards in the room start to advance, no doubt to "punish" the man for his actions. ‘Not gonna let that happen...' She thought to herself and lit them up good with a blast from her particle accelerator rifle. Picking up the human and throwing him over her shoulder, she took off heading straight to her ship, making sure all the traps she had left along her route were armed as she passed.

The sound of searing flesh hit her ears as a trap fried a few pursuers, more than likely setting them on fire to boot. Rounding a corner, she saw her exit, and dove into the fray. Sixteen Plagues of varying species had found it, and were trying to get in. Four lay dead on the floor, undoubtedly having set off one of her traps on the entrance to her ship. Assessing the situation, she took aim at the largest group, but feared that hitting more than four targets would damage the weapon. She lit ten of them up, killing them pretty fast, but then her weapon gave the warning sound of an overheat, and she felt that she was completely fucked. ‘Here we go... One last chance...' She yelled in her head, but then she felt weight leave her shoulder, the weapon her hand, and saw incredible speed...

***

Hearing a small beeping, he pulled himself into reality. Everything was going in slow motion as ten of the freaks dropped to the ground, cooking inside as the particle weapon used their bodies as ovens to kill them. The weapon, for that matter, just became in-operative. He leaped from her shoulder, knowing it was a her from the scent coming from her tail which had been in his face for a few minutes, and took her weapon well before she could react, and pushed as much of his power though it as possible. It was a small particle reaper rifle, much to his dismay. Giving it all he had, knowing it would be worthless afterwards; he over-loaded the weapon and launched a very powerful blast of energy, blowing five creatures to shreds in a hail of lightning like fire. The last enemy, the one farthest from them, began to run at full speed to them... To him.

Without thinking, he dropped the weapon and stood, feeling power like he had never felt before. He realized that the woman, with and oddly shaped helmet, had a hand on him and there was a very warm sensation coming from that hand. He knew she was giving him a bit of her energy, but assumed not all of it because he would be out cold after this, and gave it his best shot. Using as much force as possible, he pierced the hide of the creature not even a foot from him, having gotten closer when he paid a bit of mind to the female behind him. Not taking more than a moment, he expelled what little power he had as the woman started to move to pick him up, sending a very powerful blast of electrical energy throughout the attacker, killing it violently as it shook, in slow motion to him.

***

He was a blur, and she was speechless. Without thinking, she gave him half of the energy she had left in her body, knowing how from the ancient spells she had known for years. He used it well, killing five of the Plague with a blast from her weapon, effectively frying them and the gun. She watched it all happen so fast, and she couldn't react. Beginning to reach down to pick him up, she saw a very fast blur head right to them. Before she could react to this, even, the man had his hand though its chest and its heart in his hold. Without further a due, he fried it the same way he fried the lizard in the interrogation room. He went limp in her arms and she picked him up without missing a beat, heading straight into her ship. It undocked instantly and activated the escape protocol, jumping immediately and tearing the docking equipment off the Plague ship.

She had only a few rooms in this large ship of hers. One, thankfully, was a medical bay. She headed right to it, running down the one corridor. The second she got in there, the room lit up and a passive scanner took a quick reading of the man. It indicated a bed to put him on, and she did so, watching the machine from the ceiling drop down and restore his internal health.

***

Hours, days, weeks... The man couldn't tell how long he had been out. He knew he was safe, the scent of the woman beside him telling him so, and had gone to sleep right there on what was no doubt a medical bed. He had spent a good month on one when the army decided to enhance his powers to their maximum efficiency, and every day of it was spent in pain. Slowly, he came to, feeling a very soft hand on his forehead. It was a little too soft and he realized that the woman wasn't human, and then he remembered the tail and decided she definitely wasn't human. He gave a soft sigh as he felt, again, like a helpless prisoner. But his mind made a connection from the way she was caressing his face to the way his dead girlfriend did. Full of a tender desire... It about broke his heart as he remembered the death of his past lover, and he definitely had a tear fall from his eye as the furry creature wiped said tear away.

He could feel a depression next to him. He guessed it was her. She seemed attracted to him, in his opinion, by the way he felt her cuddle against his body. Her fur was very soft and strangely comforting, familiar even. Something about her rang a bell, and the memory came to him very quickly. It was one of a one-night-stand with a white vixen. It was something he'd never forget, and it was the one even that warmed him up to the idea of working with anthros. He could still remember every curve, and it matched perfectly with the female next to him. Slowly opening his eyes allowed him the pleasant discovery of Aurora, an arctic fox from the Rapture sector of space. She was the one he'd had a one-night-stand with that he never forgot.

"It's you..." He said softly to her, getting a small grin in return.

"I didn't know I could be anyone else." She replied. She obviously didn't recognize him anymore, but he knew her too well. They'd met at basic training for the army's special task force, and she'd gotten him to come out of his shell.

"Aurora, don't you know who I am?" He asked her, getting a very shocked expression in return. She obviously didn't. "You know, that one special night you shared your bed with another recruit..." He realized that if her mouth dropped open any further, it would fall off.

"How the hell do you know my name, much less that?!" She asked in both an angry and surprised voice.

"My name is Master Sergeant Jonathan Towsley. You and I had a bit of fun, if you can recall..." He told her, getting her to freeze on spot. She definitely didn't recognize him. He kissed her suddenly, getting no resistance, and made it perfectly match the way he did when they were separated into different units. The taste of her mouth was perfectly like he remembered, and the shape and feel of it was just as he liked. So foreign yet so familiar...

***

The feeling of his lips against hers told her he spoke the truth. This man, the one she'd been tracking for a government agent for some time now, was her lover from the academy. Knowing this now made the rest easy. Without waiting for further invitation, she wrapped her arms around his neck, closing her eyes and shifting the position of her head to better kiss him. She could feel his arms go right around her body, pulling her closer to his warmth, the feeling of his bare skin against her soft fur on the border between erotic and soothing. Even his scent made her body dance in funny ways.

Slowly, he broke the kiss, leaning back to look at her better, as she guessed. She looked him over herself, and liking the view, decided to learn a bit about his body though her hands. She started out simple, trailing them across his neck, over his shoulders, and down his chest, moving further and further south until her one hand came to rest on a solid shaft of flesh she knew she wanted. Looking into his eyes as he shivered slightly, she could tell that he wanted her too. She slowly rolled over onto her back, watching him get above of her with great anticipation.

The heat was bleeding off his body. She could feel it at her pussy, the soft flesh of his head very carefully pressed against her wet entrance, wanting to move inside. Carefully, she wrapped her tail around his waist and pulled at him, encouraging him to go in and take her again. He smiled and leaned down, kissing her sweetly first. Something odd was set off in her chest just then, something she hadn't felt in a long time... She moved the feeling aside as she felt him push into her supple body, making her shudder softly, the feeling of being slowly filled entering her mind. After so long, she finally was with a man, but even better yet, she was with the only one she'd ever been with. The feeling of surging pleasure rose within her as he pushed deeper, going to her limit, and just as she felt him go as far as he had before, he went further still.

Clutching the sheets in ecstasy, she moaned his name very softly into his mouth, his maleness rooted very deeply within her tight snatch, pleasure coursing through her body at an amazing rate. She could feel every inch of him within her, but couldn't tell just how much it was. It was something unspeakable as he pulled out slowly, making it last as he dragged it on. She let out a soft yiff as the ridge of the tip of his dick brushed her g-spot, letting a little bloom of blinding pleasure blind her for a moment, making her whither in the glow of his body.

***

Jon could feel every inch of her body against his, and every inch of her pussy wrapped so tightly around his throbbing length. "Oh Aurora..." He moaned against her softly, his hands locking behind her back as she wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him and encouraging him softly with their shaky nature.

Every thought in his mind had left nothing but pleasure in their absence, but at the same time he could focus entirely on pleasing her as they worked their way to a blissful zenith. His hands unlocked and began to roam her body as she suddenly pushed him below her, giving her the dominance. He loved it because of the newer way her body cradled his shaft within its soft, wet confines. Judging by her soft cries of ecstasy with her head thrown back, she liked this position too. Carefully, Jon began to thrust up into her so that the crown of his dick pressed perfectly against her most sensitive spot within her, making her give off a sharpened cry with each pass, feeling the strange yet amazing slight roughness of the spot. He could feel his peak coming soon, his hands finding her stomach perfectly toned, the muscles moving like liquid steel around him, both inside and out.

Feeling her move above him and while wrapped tightly around him, he came hard. It was sudden, and apparently, she was waiting. Her body surged hard and began milking him for everything he had as her own feminine juices began to run all over his lower body, making him slick as it smoothed out her fur and got it stuck together. Jet after jet of his hot cream sprayed right up into her body, filling every nook and cranny it could. Pulse after pulse it came, and wave after wave of pleasure for them both it caused until, finally, it stopped and they both passed out in a thick afterglow.

***

Jon awoke the next morning feeling very calm and peaceful. Something, he thought to himself, that hadn't happened for ages. Stretching carefully, to not wake to vixen that sleep next to him, he slowly woke up the rest of the way, making sure his mind was clear enough to use his nice little gift. Easing his way out of the bed and into the coldness of the room, he thought about what had happened to him so far. All he could think of was his ship getting detected and disabled, and his black out. Before that, he thought he had left a briefing with an incredibly important man. He was torn from his thoughts for just a moment as he stumbled over what must have been Aurora's underwear. He blushed very lightly at the thought of her in those, and nothing else. Somehow, he managed to get his mind back to the events that had led up to him getting back together with this stunning vixen.

A new thought quietly crossed his mind. ‘Something about her seemed different...' And as he looked into the next room, he figured it out by the emblem on a uniform. She was part of Talon Company. Swallowing hard, he turned on his heel to go to the next room on the hall from Aurora's room. Once he opened the door, having to force the lock with his powers, he gasped very quietly at the arsenal she had in storage. He grabbed a quantum phase pistol and headed back to her room, keeping it behind his back. She jumped when he knocked on the door. When she turned to look at him, his thoughts were racing hard, and he could just barely get out what he needed to in order to decide what he would do next.

"What were you hired to do with me?" He asked, holding his face rather sternly to get the point across that he knew what she was a part of.

"To watch you and carefully take notes on what you could do..." She replied quietly, her voice a bit shaky. Jon silently activated the weapon.

"And why did you save me?" He asked, wondering why she would bother to do that when obviously seeing if he could get out alive would be a better judge of his capabilities.

"Because I was told to. It's not like I've had this mission forever. Just recently. Besides, you know me, Jon... Why are you acting like I'm a stranger?" She asked, sounding legitimately hurt. Jon deactivated the weapon and threw in on the bed in front of her. She looked shocked that he had it.

"Because you signed on with Talon Company. One of my best friends from the A school I was sent to tried to kill me because I had a bounty on my head from destroying a major compound that was under surveillance. I had to be sure..." He told her, his face not changing. "I'm sorry, but I don't exactly want another brush with death. You know what I mean?"

To his surprise, she nodded, as if knowing perfectly well what he meant. It was a bit odd, but then again, their little fling in basic did affect her more than it did him. He walked back up to her and she took his hand in hers, the astonishing warmth from her hand spreading though him quickly as she pulled on him for support as she got up. Not letting go, she headed down the hall, dragging him more or less down a small flight of stairs and into what looked like a kitchen. Sitting him down on a love seat in what seemed to be the attached family room, she set into the task of making something to eat. He just watched her, both of them naked, and he almost instantly started getting hard again. But it only took a few seconds for the cold air of the room to make his dick play turtle, and retract into his body, albeit very, very uncomfortable for him. He sighed, bringing his legs up to his chest, his runner's body allowing such, and tried to ignore the coldness that was all around him...

***

A small blip appeared on the scanner as Jess was just finishing her shift on watch. She activated the long range, high powered penetration scanner and aimed it at the target. It was bearing Talon Company's signature along with ULAC's. Smirking, she laid in a course to get within targeting range, which at FTL speed, would only take a few moments.

Those moments passed by rather quickly, and as the ship dropped from the trans-warp conduit, is gave a soft shudder and hum as all cloak and stealth systems came online. Only a minute passed before Shadow seemed to just exist behind her, peering over her shoulder at the screen. "Deactivate the weapons, love. I know her." He whispered softly into her ear, making her shudder. Something about the way he was so quiet just turned her on...

"Alright... Who is she?" She asked, disarming the weapons, but keeping a general lock on the location for scanning needs. To Jess, something about the tone in Shadow's voice made her slightly uneasy, yet confident. It occurred to her that many things about him were two sided, which sent up a red flare in her mind to keep an eye on him. Just in case.

Shadow, as it was, had left the room and headed back to the crew quarters for some reason. So, Jess decided to look around a bit with the scanning array to see just where they were. Within seconds the array began feeding the computers telemetry on the area and they, in turn, built a 3d map. In the middle of the Bridge was a holographic projection table. It was designed to be used as a mobile command control center, allowing the Asgard to coordinate multiple ships to execute complex strategies. It served as a great map maker. Slowly, the beams of light within the confines of the table began to form images of asteroids and slowly rise up for easy viewing.

Jess looked at the map with a bit of surprise on her face, still finding all of this technology very interesting, but what caught her attention was the visual marker pointing to one especially large asteroid. She, out of curiosity, touched it. It expanded suddenly, the scanners feeding more conclusive data to the map maker as it dissected the asteroid and exposed a small compound with what must've been a sleeping draconian within.

***

Rachel was happily sleeping, feeling free in her new domain away from the wretched laboratory that had her practically prisoner, making her work on project after project. She almost felt sympathy towards the Plague, but the second she remembered her family back on Orion Prime, that feeling went right out the window. Her dreams didn't consist of much other then the sudden turn at the last direct thought within her mind right before sleeping, which would of course be of her family.

Her dreams were rudely interrupted as one of her many alarms went off, signaling the presence of scanning rays. She bolted out of her bed and activated a force field that should've kept her new home undetectable, but the persistence of the alarm informed her that it wasn't even affecting the scanner that was trying to peer into her home. She sighed, having thought herself finally free of the conflict outside of her world, but finding it impossible to escape. A loud thump made her jump for her armory. She closed the bulkhead door once she cleared it and grabbed a tesla rifle she'd attained from the humans before departing, knowing that even phase shields buckled underneath it's raw power.

She heard the all too familiar hiss of an airlock. Tense as anything, she powered the weapon the full blast, which would make sure that if it didn't kill what she shot, it would at least be thrown across the room and most likely, though the wall behind her bed. Again, that was a very depressing thought, but she began to wonder what was going on since she couldn't hear anything going on outside of her armory. The walls were quite far from sound proof, so she began to get even more nervous. She'd worked on sound suppression before, and it required a huge amount of power to maintain for more than a few seconds. It was usually used to suppress the sound of a shot from a weapon because of the miniscule amount of time the sound would be present.

The door to the armory just came open suddenly, leaving her shocked, but what hit her more like a ton of searing plasma was that one of her "projects" was standing in the opening...

"P-project eight?" She asked in whispered astonishment. When the black wolf nodded, she passed out.

***

Slowly, Shadow pressed his mind against that of his designer's to wake her. She'd blacked out completely when she saw him, so he figured that she thought him impossible. Of course, creating him from nothing would be, but he was changed to this form unbeknownst to him at the time. He honestly didn't mind it too much, mostly because death was the alternative, but also because this path had led him to Jess. With her in his mind, the sight of this perfectly shaped, nude dragoness in front of him didn't affect him physically at all. He was, if anything, loyal.

With nothing more than a slight will, a very sleek uniform came out of her closet and swallowed her, leaving her fully dressed as Jenna made her way inside.

"So, this is your designer?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips as she looked over the draconian. She looked a bit irritated that this was the reason that she'd been woken up, but then again, Shadow knew she had no idea just how valuable this woman would be as a doctor.

"Yes, and she's the most renown medical practitioner in the known universe. Dr. Aaron Greene may have perfected her designs by solving a few problems, but she made myself and the others from nothing but ideas." He replied, sounding as if he were reminiscing. Jenna looked at him critically as he said the word ‘others' and frowned slightly.

"There are more creatures out there that have incredible power?" She asked him calmly, probably thinking he was the only one capable of so much. Shadow simply nodded to her, giving a small smile, which made her do the same. Slowly, the Dr. began to wake, looking up at Shadow first. She smiled wide and gently grasped his hand, giving it a tug to pull herself up. Shadow did even more, letting his telekinetic abilities show off a bit as they took every inch of her and lifted her to an upright position. She gasped softly.

"My god... You are just as I wanted..." She said, grasping his shoulders softly as she looked him in the eye, easily being his height. Shadow's mind was still lightly pressed against hers and because of it, he could feel her joy. He knew she'd get a sense of creation out of his existence, but he knew she thought he was forged from nothing. "How did they overcome the third stage failure?" She asked, looking his body over completely, which was easy considering he wasn't wearing more than a pair of shorts.

"They didn't. I used to be a Marine. They took my dead body, put it back together, than after a series of treatments, exposed me to your methods of power instilling. In essence, your work saved my life." He told her, getting mixed reactions.

"And in turn, the lives of my team and myself, in a way anyhow..." Jenna added in, getting a look from the good Dr. that said ‘I had no idea you were there...' which, surprisingly, didn't faze Jenna at all. "Well, we're here to ask you if you'd come with us because we need a good doctor. Jack is good, but you know, just in case it gets bad." Jen told her. Dr. Rachel looked at Shadow then, for what seemed like ten minutes, making him slightly uneasy.

"Well, it's a chance to see my work in action, and honestly..." She looked over to her computers, which were freaking out because of the massive ship right next to her home. "Being out here, just waiting for someone to find me... It's just a matter of time until someone bad comes along and decided to take a prisoner. So I guess I should. It's been a year since I've seen anyone else anyhow." She replied with a cheery tone. "By the way, who's Jack?" She asked, moving to gather a few things.

***

Four days... That all it had been, yet Jon felt it had been longer and at the same time, shorter. Aurora was not at all how he remembered. War had changed her a lot. It made her more patient, clever, responsive, and most importantly, deeper. Emotionally speaking, of course. These were the main reasons he didn't pursue a relationship with her. Besides the fact that, at the time, he was still morning the loss of his first. She was his second, yet he was her first, so Jon felt rather lucky. Maybe, just maybe, he would stay with her. He found out, rather recently, that vixens were a vice of his, and that the fact she was such turned him on almost limitlessly. Originally, he thought that anthro's at a whole were rather unattractive in that sense. Not that he disliked them from the beginning, quite the contraire; he thought them to be incredible at combat. For some reason, their animalistic nature allowed them to be far more flexible, physically, in battle more than a human being. Yet, and he was living proof of such, human were a lot more adaptable chemically and psychologically.

Still, the thought remained. Stay with this endlessly attractive vixen, which had perfectly met his expectations in a woman's behavior and was intellectually challenging as he liked, or leave. To most people it would be a no-brainer, but to him, it was a very hard decision. He felt like she could fend for herself, no doubt having done so for a long time, but he was still afraid he'd end up morning over the loss of another. If he had a weakness, his fear of losing those he cared about was it without question.

She seemed to notice that he was locked within a mental battle with himself, and added her own two cents. Again, something else he felt was a major positive quality to her was that she could tell just what was on his mind.

"You don't have to decide on it now... I'll be with you, at a distance, but where you can reach me if you need me." She told him, putting a hand on his knee and rubbing it caringly. Her posture changed suddenly, and she threw herself over him as something came â€"through- the wall behind her. Everything went slow motion for him again as his abilities kicked into high-gear and he realized that a plasma blast about the size of a small table was being absorbed by her back when it should have just disintegrated the both of them. His mind automatically decided that he would stay since she was, without question now, part of the projects he was.

Pulling the electricity in the air around him, he created a simple static barrier. It served well as a Minotaur opened up the wall further and tried to drop the blunt side of a very big ax on top of his head. The barrier both stopped it dead and gave the smelly bull-man a very powerful shock, making him lose balance for a moment, at which he looked to Aurora. She was slowly getting up, and being what she was, this wasn't a problem. Beginning to refocus his power into a direct bolt of energy to blow the Minotaur's bulky head off, he watched carefully as it got back onto its feet; his powers letting him know there were four more outside. He grabbed his fox by the arm and slid her into the other room, hopefully getting the idea across she needed to get a bigger gun.

He collected the power he had built up in the palm of his hand and let the beast have it, right between the eyes. His head, as expected, imploded as its body was sent flying right out the hole it had made and into one of the one's outside. Something told him they weren't the only Plague in the area, which wasn't comforting, but helpful. With everything still moving in slow motion, he picked up the ax that Mr. Smell Bad had left and dashed out the hole to ‘greet' the others. It took them a few of his seconds to realize he was there, which had given him time to cleave the head of the closest one in two. Fortunately, it was the one with the plasma emitter, which Jon easily scooped up and used to completely erase the next closest one, leaving two.

Once they ‘slowly' realized that there was no way they were going to win, they began their stupid cries of defeat. He cleaved their heads from their shoulders with general ease, leaving the ax imbedded in the neck of one of them to make a point to any others that were watching. He looked up to see a small scout craft leaving in what had to be a bit of a hurry, which Jon replied to with a bit of a maniacal smile. With one swift movement, he leveled the ship with a focused blast from the plasma emitter. Parts of the ship when all over the strangely fertile surface of whatever planet they were on. He nodded as he turned around to see an astonished vixen in the hole that he'd come from.

"H-h-how?" She asked in completely astonishment. Her body was completely still, mouth open in shock, tail just hanging limply from her backside.

"I am Five of Nine. Apparently, and according to the guy that worked with me for a year and a half, I'm the first attempt at instilling heavily magnified abilities into living beings." He explained, watching her become more ridged. At first he really thought it wasn't possible, but apparently it was. He remembered the plasma bolt that hit her square in the back and didn't even singe her fur. "I assume you are Four of Nine? The Juggernaut?" She nodded slowly to what he asked, looking really, really shocked that this was happening.

Promptly, she turned on her heel and went back inside, motioning for him to follow her. He did so and found her on a console. "I thought I was the only one... They didn't tell me there were others before me, much less that they were going to continue..." She told him.

"Oh yeah. But since I left after Nine was finished, I bet they'll stop. They needed my enhanced electronics control ability to help the other four along. And Nine will be a handful." He responded as he put down the plasma emitter. Watching as she put in a series of codes that made her whole dwelling practically come alive with activity, he realized that it was part of a much larger ship. One that now had a gaping hole in the side of. Slowly it closed, showing the ship itself had regenerative capabilities. And he realized that the labs must have given her a ship designed just for her as they had him. Where his ship was now was the only think he really wanted to know, now that he thought about it.

The ship began to lift off the surface of the planet, showing it was really quite big, about the size of a small building for that matter. As the hole closed, he noticed a very large ship entering orbit...

And it was Plague.

***

Jack had just finished recalibrating the new medical scanners when the dragoness tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned, she kissed him. It was a quick peck on the cheek, but he felt a sudden knot form in the pit of his stomach. He knew Lisa was somehow watching and, sure enough, she walked in, looking a little peeved. Dr. Rachel mustn't have realized that he was taken. She had not been on the ship for more than a few hours and most of the team was busy working either on the ship or on their skills. It appeared that Lisa was working on her skills.

"Oh, hi! I'm Dr. Rachel. Cpt. Raider has invited me to use your ship's medical deck to both further my research and help her team when need be." The Draconian woman told Lisa, which seemed to calm her slightly. "What's your name? I haven't had time to familiarize myself with everyone yet." She continued, turning to adjust the layout of her main control console.

"I'm Lisa. Close Quarters Combat specialist for Alpha and Jack's mate." She responded, her voice a little sharp. She had a very subtle glow of anger at the idea of her mate being touched in such a manner by another female.

Rachel stopped cold when Lisa said ‘mate' and stiffened slightly. She lost a bit of the cheer that her body communicated. She turned around and looked Lisa right in the eye, which Jack thought took balls. "I'm very sorry, Lisa. I didn't know. I swear it won't happen again." Rachel said. Lisa's demeanor changed quite quickly, which Jack had gotten used to, to a rather calm and inviting tone.

"See that it doesn't. Since you're the doctor, your hands should be the only thing touching him, not your mouth. But now that that's straight, welcome on board. Everyone here is in a relationship, and I say so only to save you from trouble." And with that, Lisa left.

"Oh dear... Jack, you never told me you were mated." Rachel said after turning back to her console.

"Didn't think it would matter, much less that you would kiss me." He responded without missing a beat. She sighed and nodded, looking over the codes that were coming in.

"Looks like I can handle anything else that comes up. Thank you for your help, Jack. And again, I am terribly sorry." She told him, looking a bit helplessly sad.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just happy she didn't maim you or something." Jack said, giving her a little hug. "And if you need anything else, just give me a holler on the comm." With that said, he left the room, heading down to the ship's weapon's control grid to fix a bug that had been causing an over-shot on anything smaller then a shuttle, which could mean trouble if a group of small bombers decided to attack the ship.

On his way past the crew quarters, he saw Buck and Eagle's door sealed. He smiled to himself, thinking that it was funny how they finally got time together and yet; none of them had been too intimate with each other but Buck and Eagle. Heading down a flight of stairs, he came upon the locked hatch to the weapons grid. With a password that only he, Jenna, and Shadow knew, he opened it. Ducking in, he closed it behind him, hearing a satisfying snap as it sealed. Dropping down past a ladder rather than use it, he smiled at the daunting assembly of circuits and wires paired with the consoles that kept everything in order. It took him no more than a few seconds to set into his work, rewiring most of the grid within minutes and reprogramming the computers to match in less than a few hours. As the day progressed, his work was winding to a close until he heard a knocking on the hatch. Putting the last wire in place, he closed the conduit he finished working on and teleported back to the hatch, remembering precisely where it was, as was needed for a successful teleportation. There, on the other side of the hatch, was Ryan. Opening it without hesitation, Ryan greeted him with the usual pat on the shoulder, pulling the hatch closed behind him. Making sure it was locked, which was a bit strange to Jack, he sighed heavily.

"Jack, I've been sent here by Rachel to get you to do something. Could you somehow talk Lisa into going to see her? She thinks your mate is pregnant." Ryan told him. Jack wasn't shocked by this, really, but laughed a little. Ryan just looked at him oddly.

"She told you what happened, right?" Jack asked, a smile still on his face.

"No, just that she wanted her in for the test." Ryan told him, still a bit clueless.

"Rachel kissed me to show her thanks. Lisa saw it, somehow, and came in looking ready to kill. Well, Lisa's way of ready to kill. Anyhow, she was really agitated at the good doctor and snapped at her a bit. Once the doctor apologized, looking right into her face for that matter, she calmed down completely. You know Lisa. There isn't a thing to worry about. Besides, you would have picked up the difference in her scent yesterday since you two trained together." Jack explained.

The look on Ryan's face worried him for a moment, but it passed as he nodded. "You're right, I would have noticed. I'll talk to Rachel about Lisa's personality and the relationship you two have." He told Jack before re-opening the hatch. Right before he closed it so Jack could finish his last bit of programming, he added "Besides, I know she wears the pants in your relationship."

Jack sighed, shaking his head. That was the usual, but at the same time all the time he'd spent around humans and their "Men are dominant" attitude, it put him besides himself. Shaking it off, knowing full well he wouldn't have it any other way, he slid down the ladder and finished what he was doing in order to get on to his next task, the ship's cloaking field.

***

Looking out over the barren lands gave him the feeling of loneliness. Turning to look around the scorched world, the Draconian felt like he had betrayed his people. Dust lay were homes once did. Sludge where rivers ran, its green and orange ooze reminding him of the boils on the backs of the pale, human like monsters that had ripped fellow Draconians limb from limb. He could still hear the screams of the children. Terror, pure terror as they watched their parents torn apart, and even pain as they no doubt felt their reason for existence lost to the wind just as they were about to be consumed by the hideous creatures...

He wretched all over the ground behind him as the memories sickened him, tears staining his face as he felt a deep, seething rage towards the one's whom had brought such ill on his lands. The Lands of the Shadows. He was the true king, and knew that, so he'd given his name to one who deserved it as he left his life behind. Now, nameless and homeless, with the power of a thousand hollows at his command, he darted into the sky, spreading his great wings as he headed over the brownish orange of the charred remains of where his beautiful family once played. There, in the distance, was the last of life. It was the Great Tree of Wisdom. He landed by it, touching its ancient bark. It felt hard, unforgiving. He knew it was unhappy with him, with what he let happen.

He turned back to the land that used to be as fertile as Eden. Many rising hills, burnt black by fire of unholy cause. The thickets that used to be haven for the many birds lay as ash, grey and black. And again, his eyes fell on the river that used to be the source of life. On the banks used to be sand, but now muck. On the grounds around, lush grass... But now all that's left is roasted soil, useless except for burying the residents... Or what was left of them. His mouth fell slightly open as his eyes rest on the grave of his mate. The ring she'd given him, a promise ring, was still wrapped snugly around his middle finger. He began to silently weep as memories of soft nights with her, holding her close and kissing her softly. Then the thoughts of their passion came as he dropped to his knees, teeth gritting as he clutched his chest.

Finally, he lost it and howled out his torment on hands and knees, remembering the result of that passion... His daughters. The three of them were the most perfect children in the land. He loved them so much, and without them, felt completely hollow, useless, empty, and worth no more than a soft whisper on the wind of the king who not only failed his people, but his precious family. Falling on his side and curling up slowly, grief tearing him apart inside, he made a silent vow to bring everything that had even been part of causing this to a very painful, slow end...

After an hour of grieving over the crushing loss of everything he called home, he took to the sky with one purpose...

Kill Everything Plague.

***

Shadow shuddered hard, and everyone noticed. He was at the head of a long table where everyone was seated; listening to him lay out the final plan. They were going to assault the main nerve of the Plague and cause a ripple that would be very noticeable. It was located on the home world of the Draconians, one of the first targets that got the Plague noticed. They were a very large group, staying to themselves on the fringes of the galaxy, but this was one of their first conquests toward an unknown goal.

"Shadow, what wrong?" Jenna asked quickly, standing. He grasped the edge of the table, to which Rachel practically flew to his side, putting her index and middle finger to his temple to initiate a reading. She found that half of his body had stopped functioning completely for just a moment. Including his heart.

"Dear God, Shadow..." Rachel softly shook his free arm. "Shadow... Shadow wake up!" She exclaimed rather quietly.

"Something is terribly, terribly wrong..." Shadow whispered. Everyone was leaning forward in their seat, but no one noticed that Jess, who was at the end of the table, lay on her face... Motionless.

Okay, well, here ya'll go. Happy Thanksgiving. I finished this on my trip north for Thanksgiving, for that matter. Anyhow, much is in the works for this series, and for now it'll have my main focus, so I'm sorry to all those who are watching my other stories. Intervention's next chapter is half done, so I'll be looking into finishing it when I get a chance. Anyways, as always, comment and rate. Contact me at my email if you have suggestions, and don't worry about talking to me. I don't bite... Much. Lol. Feel free to get me on YIM. Same as my email, [email protected] Btw, I love Cliffhangers.