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PROLOGUE

In the Ice

"Oh, how interesting, another icy mountain. Almost looks like all the other mountains we've already stopped at on all the other islands we've been to"

Dr. Axel King chuckled as the red fox next to him shivered and kept addressing geologist who was crouched down at the base of the large icy peak gathering samples. "Diane, if you're that cold you could head back to the freighter and wait there."

"And listen to Quentin drone on and on about the weather patterns? I get that he's a meteorologist, but I can only listen to him for so long before I want to jump overboard."

"Exactly. Why do you think I'm out here?"

Dr. Diane Lang grinned back at the red panda biologist beside her as the geologist, a hulking polar bear named Tyler Anderson, finally stood up and hefted his sample case as he laughed. "Alright you crybabies, I'm done here. If I'd known you two were just trying to escape another lecture from Quentin I wouldn't have gone on about the geological composition of arctic ice floes."

"Oh, you knew. That's why you did it."

He laughs out loud again, "You got me. Let's head back, I think these two are a bit chilly out here." He smiles at the fourth member of their small party.

Lieutenant Natasha Ward, a laidback snow leopard and the scientists' escort for this excursion, smiled back as she shouldered her weapon. "Can't imagine why. I think it's great out."

The panda and fox roll their eyes as all four begin the trek back around the base of the large peak towards their ship, the USNS Olympia. They were just entering the third month of their research expedition aboard the Olympia. Their task was to study and map the effects of climate change on the polar ice caps in the arctic circle, and this was just one of countless smaller expeditions inland onto one of the many large icebergs and ice islands in the area. And since the expedition, and the Olympia itself, were under the banner of the United States Navy, they had a small group of naval officers along for security, just in case.

As they walked back around to the southern side of the peak towards their zodiac to head back to the Olympia, anchored some ways offshore, Lieutenant Ward walked beside Axel and looked off towards the south, as Tyler focused on his samples and Diane hugged the side of the mountain to avoid the wind. "How much do you want to bet that Dr. Bishop is taking another dive in the Olympia's submersible?"

"No bet. No way am I taking that. She practically lives in that thing."

"That's true. Commander Paulsen asked if she wanted her bed moved into it last week." Ward laughed and shook her head. "I swear I thought she was going to sa-

A sudden yell and the sound of ice breaking cut her off as they all spun around to look at Diane, only to see that she wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was a hole in the base of the mountain.

"Dr. Lang! Dr. Lang, are you ok?" Lieutenant Ward approached the hole, her laidback demeanor instantly replaced with a serious professional one.

Moaning from the hole, "I'm fine, I'm fine"

The other scientists joined Ward at the hole and looked in to see, not actually a hole, but a cave. A cave with an entrance that looked to be a slight decline.

"Wow. It must have frozen over and your paw steps were enough for you to fall through."

"Thanks. I hadn't realized." She stood up and shook the snow out of her fur as the lieutenant stepped into the cave past her and glanced around. Tyler followed closely behind her.

"Wait a second. The walls of this cave...these aren't completely natural formations. More like someone blasted into the rock to or an existing smaller cave."

They proceeded further into the cave and stopped suddenly as they saw before them a large steel door caked in snow and ice.

"What in the world?" Axel said as Ward moved forward and used a paw to wipe a layer of snow off the door. Her eyes widened and the scientists gasped as they saw what was revealed.

"Ward to Olympia, come in. We found something. You all need to see this."

All four of them stepped back as Ward relayed her message, staring uneasily at the ominous steel door. Two things were emblazoned on freezing metal, both faded by time but still legible. Two words and a symbol. The words, presumably the name of this place, read "der Sturm." And beneath that, a symbol unmistakable to any who see it.

A Nazi swastika.

1

The Calm Before

3 days later

"Ow!"

"I told you it's sharp, you numbskull," Zephyr "Zeus" D'Kur smiled and shook his head as the fox next to him stuck a finger in his mouth, "I mean, it's a sword. You don't have to poke it to see how sharp it is."

The arctic fox pulls the finger out of his muzzle and looks at the small spot of blood on it and chuckles, "Yeah yeah, get over it. It's a damn fine blade though. And the rifle too.

Zephyr smiled back at the fox, his friend and teammate Josh "Frostbite" Caraway, and then turned back to his weapon, an impressive custom-made sniper rifle, made even more impressive by the large sword blade attached to the underside of the barrel like a massive bayonet. Zephyr himself was a black-furred wolf, dark all over except for a few orange markings. He wiped the spot of blood from the blade and finished sharpening it while Josh double checked his shotgun. He glanced around at the small cargo bay of the C-23 transport plane they were in at the rest of his team, all double checking their weapons as they talked and joked with those beside them. Despite the current laidback atmosphere, all of them knew that they'd be starting their mission soon. And for such an elite, covert team such as theirs to be deployed, the mission was either highly dangerous, highly classified, or, most likely, both.

It wasn't much longer before a female hyena stood and faced the rest of the furs in the plane. A powerful and dangerous looking woman with a large rifle strapped to the back of her armor, and the team's commanding officer, Myka "Joker" Lucas.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, we're approaching our LZ. Three days ago, a navy research vessel called the USNS Olympia stopped here to gather some data and stumbled upon what turned out to be an old Nazi ice base buried in the island. It seems like this base may have been used for some of the Reich's more extreme research and experiments. The first reason we're on site is because of the sensitive nature of whatever might be found in that base. The other reason is because yesterday we lost contact with the Olympia and the rest of the expedition. There is a storm front hitting the area right now, so that is most likely why we haven't received word from them in almost 24 hours, but the bosses don't like coincidence or taking chances." She pauses to pull a map out to display to the team, "Now, the Olympia is anchored off shore on the south side of the island, about half a mile from the island and an additional two to three miles from the base. Most of the soldiers and scientists on the ship are either in the base or on the ship currently, but a few officers have set up a small outpost on the northern side of the island, about a mile and a half north of the base. That was determined to be the best area to use as a landing strip. So that's where we'll be putting this thing down. The naval officers there have a couple of Sno-Cats waiting and they'll bring us to the base once we land. Then we just see what those Nazis were researching and doing down there that was so bad they couldn't even do it in Berlin."

Zephyr and the rest of his teammates nodded as Joker yelled up towards the cockpit, "Sandstorm, what's our ETA?"

"We'll touch down in 15 minutes boss."

"Alright then, you heard him. Be ready to offload in 15"

A chorus of 'yes ma'am's responded as Zephyr ritualistically checked his weapons and gear again to make sure all were ready to go, taking time to admire both the rifle in his paws, christened Bad News, as well as the MP7 on his hip and the custom M1911s in his shoulder holsters, Wrath and Ruin.

After another 15 minutes on the dot, the plane touched down on the makeshift runway set up for their arrival. The 11 team members in the cargo bay began to disembark as the pilot, an energetic cheetah named Colin Vanir and their twelfth team member, left the cockpit and rejoined the squad.

The team stepped out of the plane and into the stark whiteness of the island. The wind was, while not extremely intense, nevertheless quite fast, and the snow was falling. While it wasn't falling heavily yet, the storm in the area would drop visibility to just feet before too long.

As Zephyr walked with the rest of the team towards the makeshift shacks by the edge of the runway, he saw two figures approaching them from that direction. As they got closer, they appeared to be a tiger and a wolf, both dressed in navy outfits and cold weather gear. The wolf spoke up as they got closer.

"Hello there. You must be the team that was sent to go over this place with a fine-toothed comb. I'm Lieutenant Barry Kaminski, United States Navy. And this here is Lieutenant James Valda."

"Commander Myka Lucas. So, you two are going to be bringing us in to the base?"

"Two others with us as well. They're warming up the Sno-Cats. The Cats are this way." They begin heading back towards their encampment and the team follows.

"So, what do you two know about this base so far"

"Not much, to be honest. We've been watching the northern perimeter. Heard over the radio that the brainiacs discovered something in there. Not sure what to make of it yet though from what I hear."

"Hear anything else?" Joker walks beside their escorts as she inquires.

"Not really. Not much communication at all for about the past day. Ah, here are the Cats."

They look ahead to see the two large transport vehicles, along with another tiger sitting on the treads and a coyote listening to some music. Lieutenant Valda heads towards the other, very similarly patterned wolf as Kaminski speaks again, "Lieutenants Richard Jones and Travis Valda, your other two escorts."

The coyote perks his ears up and looks over, "These them, Kaminski?"

"Yep. Let's not waste their time. I for one am eager to be back inside."

Zephyr and half of the squad follow the wolf and coyote to one of the Sno-Cats, as the rest get in with the Valda brothers. He climbs inside as the coyote gets in the driver's seat and the tiger next to him. Five more soldiers climb inside after him and the Cats start their short trek to the base.

A sudden elbow in his side and a chuckle draw Zephyr's attention to the fur sitting next to him, his squad's other resident wolf, Lorella Miller. Also known by her callsign Mother to the squad, the large she-wolf was not given that callsign because she was tender and motherly. Rather she was, as many enemies discovered too late, a badass motherfucker. The fact that she was also the squad's heavy weapons specialist also helped.

"Yo Zeus, what do you bet they were doing, those Nazi fucksticks?"

Zeus thinks for a second, "I've got no freaking idea. Some crazy shit to be sure."

"My money is on some sort of weapon."

"Well duh, of course a weapon. The question is what kind." Zephyr looked over on the other side of Mother to see Rick Kennedy. The snarky deer engineer, Kingpin, chuckled, "My money is on nukes. Everyone knows they were trying to make 'em too. Bet this is where."

Mother shot back, "No way. Probably some chemical weapon."

Another voice from across from Kingpin, "Besides, what money do you even have Rick? We all know you spend most of your money on that car of yours."

"Et tu, Charlotte?"

The grinning clouded leopard leans back and chuckles. Whiplash was the team's hand-to-hand and martial arts specialist, and had a wit as sharp as the sword on her back. The other two passengers in their Cat, Gabe McPherson and Ashley Danforth just shook their heads and grinned. Mayhem and Apollo were the team's demolitionist and tech specialist.

"We're here" Jones called from the front as the Sno-Cat shuddered to a halt, the other one doing the same nearby. He pointed to a cave mouth in the side of the tall icy spire beside them, "Entrance is in there."

Zephyr and the others in the Cat climbed out to rejoin the rest of the team as the four navy men grabbed their own packs and followed, seeming eager to be reassigned indoors now that Zephyr and his team had arrived. They walked towards the mouth of the cave to see another figure waiting for them, who called out as they got close.

"Commander Lucas I presume? Glad you're here. I'm Dr. Anderson, part of the science team here. We're eager to pass along what we've discovered so far. Please follow me inside." The large polar bear turned and began to lead the way into the cave as everyone followed behind him. Quickly passing a bank of snowmobiles to their left and reaching the large metal door. The bear knocked on the door with his large white paw and pointed to the words on it as the door began to rise.

"One of the easiest things to discover once we got here was the name of this place. Der Sturm, which translates to the Storm." He proceeded in and waved towards the soldier in the security shack right inside. The soldier seemed to be intently watching the monitors in the room, as he was turned away and partially blocked by screens. As they began down the stairs in front of them and the large steel slab slid closed behind them with a loud thud, Zephyr thought about the things that must have happened in this place. Whatever history they would find here, it assuredly wasn't a good one. This place caused a gnawing uneasiness, but he blocked it out as they continued down into the Storm.

2

First Blood

Descending the stairs to the first level of the facility, Dr. Anderson started briefing the team on what had been discovered so far, "The science team has started combing through the labs on levels three and four. The level three labs seem so far to be your regular science labs; biology, geology, et cetera. The level four labs seem to be where they were conducting some sort of classified project. We haven't been able to figure it out yet."

He led them out of the stairwell and into the hallway on level one. A voice spoke up from the group, and Zephyr looked over to see Kaminski speaking

"The expedition has been using the old crew quarters as a place to crash, so the boys and I are gonna go drop off our stuff since we're out of the cold."

Joker replied, "Of course. Frostbite, Kingpin, and mother, why don't you go claim some bunks for the squad too. We may be here awhile."

The three nodded and turned and walked down the hall with their escorts towards the large dorms. The rest of the team followed the scientist to the left and around the corner towards a large set of doors. He pushed through to reveal a large dining room, full of long metal tables and crates, as well as about 6 furs in lab coats sorting through them. "Please forgive the mess, we moved some of the crates from the storage room in here to go through them. More space in here." Zephyr listened as the bear started leaned against a crate and began recounting the discoveries so far.

As Josh "Frostbite" Caraway walked down the hall, he couldn't help but chuckle as Mother and Kingpin went back and forth.

"Come on, admit I was right. No way they were studying bombs and shit here."

"Still possible Mother. Maybe there's like a reactor or something on another level"

"Keep telling yourself that. I'll make room in my wallet for when you have to pay up."

Kingpin grinned and lightly punched her in the arm, "Yeah, right"

The navy men were also preoccupied talking about what they would do now that they were reassigned inside and not in the cold.

"For one, I'm gonna enjoy not listening to the wind as we sleep. That little shack was so crappy.

"Damn right"

They all pushed into the dorm room and the two tigers jogged over to the right wall to toss down their packs as the wolf and coyote went to the center row of bunks. Frostbite and Kingpin followed as Mother went to the far end of the room to find unclaimed beds.

"Looks like everyone must be on duty. Nobody in here right now. Just toss your stuff on any bed without a pack next to it. Also beds in the connecting room too. Across through the lav."

The three took a few minutes to find a few seeming unclaimed racks and Frostbite sat on one to wait for the rest of the squad to return. As they waited, he heard the door to the room open. From his position he couldn't see it, but heard the tiger Kaminski head towards the door, "must be some of the guys! Probably heard we were back." He grinned again, but this time his smile was almost immediately wiped away as he heard Kaminski's next words.

"Who the fuck are you?"

And the sound of guns cocking.

"And that's about all we have so far. We're hoping you'll be able to shed more light on this place."

Zephyr leaned against the wall beside the northern door to the galley as the rest of the squad sat and stood around listening to the briefing.

Joker, "That's what we're here for. I'd also like to speak to the lieutenant commander of the navy that's in charge of security. To get the full picture of the situation.

"Of course. I believe he's on one of the lower levels at the moment. I'd be happy to take you."

At this point one of the scientists near Anderson taps his shoulder. "Doctor Anderson, you should see this," as he gestured into the crate.

Anderson stepped beside the elk who had said that and looked inside the crate. As he reached in to grab something of interest, something about the elk bothered Zephyr. Something about the way he spoke those few words. He realized that it was the accent. He sounded...Russian? Why does an American scientist have a Russian accent?

As it turned out, he wouldn't have time to wonder about that.

Frostbite was already diving to the ground as gunfire shredded everything around him. Bullets peppered the walls and beds as unseen assailants opened fire. He rolled to his back as he unstrapped the shotgun from his back and fired through the damaged wall towards the source. As his shots seemed to throw the shooters off for a second, the quick fox bolted for the lavatory doors.

He saw that Kingpin was holding the door with Mother already inside as the Valda brothers and Lieutenant Jones were heading there as well. As he turned the corner towards the door, he saw the shape of Lieutenant Kaminski slumped on the ground, his chest ruined by bullets. As he ran, keeping low, he watched as one of the tigers spun and tumbled through the door, blood spraying from his shoulder, as Kingpin suddenly flinched back into the room. Just as the door started to close again, Frostbite shoulder rolled into it, bursting through, a line of bullets trailing right behind him as he slammed the door closed and looked around.

Lt. Travis Valda was nursing a wounded shoulder while his brother stood between him and the door. Jones the coyote was pointing his pistol at the door, while Mother did the same with her M60 machinegun. Kingpin was pointing his rifle towards the other door in the lavatory, the one leading to the second room of bunks. Frostbite noticed a trickle of blood on his cheek where a bullet had grazed him.

"Lieutenant Kaminski?"

Frostbite shook his head, "Never had a chance."

"Damn. Who the hell are these guys?" And what about the rest of the squad?"

"I don't know. We've just got to stay alive."

But based on that first barrage, Frostbite knew that would be easier said than done

Two things happened simultaneously.

The first was the sudden rifle fire from down the hall.

The second almost seemed to happen in slow motion. Zephyr watched as the scientists, Anderson included, all pulled guns out of the crates they were rooting around in. A split second later, the door from the kitchen was kicked open and a heavily armored grizzly bear with a machine gun stepped out. In the split second before the fire started, Zephyr darted for the only cover he could reach in time, back through the door behind him. As he dove through, he felt others beside him do the same as he saw half of the remaining squad, to far from the door, quickly upend table and take cover behind them. Then he lost sight of them as rounds chewed through the door behind him and he had no choice but to retreat further down the hall, back towards the stairwell.

As they rounded the corner and took cover outside the stairwell, Zephyr withdrew the rifle from his back and looked to see who had made it out into the hall with him. Sandstorm was at the corner, firing his rifle back towards the dining hall. Mayhem was facing down towards where the dormitories were, gunfire still echoing from that direction. Finally, Burke "Warbird" O'Hara was standing near the stairwell door with his shotgun drawn.

"The stairwell is our only choice."

Mayhem nodded, "Agreed"

Sandstorm chimed in, "No way we're getting back through that door in one piece. We have to get back to the others."

Zephyr nodded. "We go down and across to the other stairwell. Then up and hit them from the other side.

"We can go up and check the video feeds at that security station too."

"Alright, let's go," Zephyr growled and led the way into the stairwell, the others following, as the gunfire echoed behind them.

3

Fallen Star

Whiplash crouched behind a table and blindly fired a barrage of bullets towards the shooters. Just seconds ago, they had been talking to an ally, but suddenly that ally turned on them. A few feet away, behind another table, Ghost and Apollo let loose a few bursts at their foes as well. Right beside her, their large grizzly medic T-Rex was putting pressure on Joker's bloody stomach as the angry hyena fired with her large revolver.

When the apparent scientists pulled their guns, the whole squad reacted immediately. But the commander was farther from cover, standing close to that turncoat Anderson as they spoke. She caught a burst in the side as she dove over the table for cover

"We have to take out that machine gunner! He'll cut us apart!"

Ghost was right, the gunner was keeping them pinned down and was too heavily armored for most of their rounds to slow him down. The panther let loose another burst that just ricocheted off the gunner before ducking back down.

Joker nodded and grabbed a fragmentation grenade off her vest. She pulled the pin, holding the spoon, and groaned as she leaned back, her back against the overturned metal table. "Where is he?"

Apollo took a quick glance out from cover and pulled back, just narrowly avoiding a round through the face. "Your five o'clock! Twenty feet and behind a table."

Joker nodded, and took a deep breath, coughing up a bit of blood as she did. She released the spoon of the grenade, watching it fly away as the springs shot the grenade's final safety away, making it live. She held it for a couple seconds, letting the fuse run lower. Then, with a lob, she sent the little ball of death behind her, arcing to land behind the gunner's cover, just a foot or two away from him.

Whiplash glanced towards them to see the other assailants, shouting in Russian, taking cover as the gunner, and one other gunman who was too close, were blasted and slammed into the walls behind them by the explosion. She also saw Anderson dart from his cover towards the southern doorway to the room.

"He's running!"

She let off a burst from her P90 at him, managing to graze the surprisingly dexterous bear's leg before he slammed out of the room. A bullet slammed into the wall next to her as she returned to cover. Under fire again, but at least now, in this room, they had evened the odds.

Almost immediately after entering the stairwell, a barrage of bullets slammed into the ground near Zephyr. They hit in a space where Sandstorm had been standing a moment before. Fortunately, the cheetah lived up to his reputation and was able to dart back towards the descending stairs as the guard who was in the security station when they entered fired on them. In the split second before heading down the stairs, Zephyr saw the heavily armored gunman, who seemed to be ensuring that no escape would be possible.

So, they headed down. They rounded the stairs down, Warbird in the lead, and stacked up on the door to level two. With a deep breath and a nod between them, they swung the door open and rushed through.

They came into another hallway. Left looked to be a dead end not much farther down, so they went right, immediately at another intersection. Another dead end to the right, plus a hall to the left and another south. They looked at both and then headed to the left. They would head to the other end of the level, and then back up to take the ambushers from behind.

That plan was short lived. As they reached another T-intersection, Sandstorm and Warbird looked down the hall to clear it. At the same time, a group of six armed men rushed into the central intersection from the east and headed towards them. Both groups saw each other at the same time, and Zephyr watched as his cheetah and eagle teammates dove behind some of the columns on either side of the hallway as they opened fire and were fired upon. Sandstorm managed to hit one in the chest, but heard the ricochet as the bullet failed to pierce armor and the assailant took cover.

Zephyr had seen enough of this level to figure out that the four-way central intersection meant that their enemies could easily flank them if they were allowed to. So, Zephyr turned ran back to the south hallway they didn't take before. Pulling out his rifle and taking a knee as he steadied it, Zephyr peered through the scope and waited for any sign of enemy movement that way. Quickly glancing left, it seemed that Mayhem was watching the far corner for anyone flanking that way.

"We've got four in sight, two unaccounted for!" Sandstorm yelled.

Zephyr heard the booming sound of Warbird's Saiga-12 followed by a laugh and a yell, "Make that three in sight! Others might be coming your way Zeus!"

Then it happened. The world seemed to slow again as Zephyr saw a face round the corner in his scope. The fox was yelling something in Russian and seemingly had not noticed the dark wolf crouched at the end of the hall. A squeeze of the trigger and Zephyr watched a new hole appear in his target's forehead as he dropped. The large horse that was rounding the corner behind his ally ducked back and narrowly avoided the same outcome.

"Four left!" Zephyr grinned as he pulled back from the edge to avoid some rounds. Apparently, the horse was blind firing hoping to get lucky. But as Zephyr shot back, missing again, he wondered. After these four were dealt with, how many other enemies were laying in wait deeper in the station.

"They're bound to try to cut us off at the other dorm before long. We have to move now."

Frostbite nodded as Mother spoke and stood next to the far door, preparing to breach. With a growl she kicked open the door and spun left, ready to let off a burst towards the door if any enemies were there. Kingpin followed her lead and Lieutenant Jones went next. As the tigers were about to go through next, the door behind them splintered as a shotgun blast scattered them back into the lavatory. The first shot only managed to strike the other door, but the second shot hit James Valda, mangling part of his tail and his footpaw as he dove to the side.

"Jimmy!" Travis raised his handgun in his wounded arm as he ran to his brother, emptying the clip through the wooden door, and was rewarded with a satisfying scream of pain and a thud. He reloaded and grabbed his brother, draping his arm over his shoulder, as Frostbite held the door open for them. Just as they were reaching the door, the fox saw a small green object get tossed through the shotgun blasted hole in the far door.

"Grenade!" He grabbed both tigers, both a decent bit larger than him, and yanked both through the door as he slammed it behind them. A few seconds later the door was obliterated as the explosive detonated. As their ears were ringing from the blast, three more armed soldiers burst through the main doors to dorm two.

Two of the shooters managed to get to cover. The third, a Rottweiler, was a bit too slow. Mother had been watching that door and waiting. Her burst of fire nearly cut the canine in half before he could react. She took cover again, as the others returned fire. Things seemed to have gotten worse. Now they were under assault from both flanks. Frostbite fired back through the lavatory, now covered in water after the grenade destroyed the pipes and tiling of the room. He emptied his clip and reloaded, shaking his head and thinking. This is going to be a long fucking day

"This room is a killbox, we can't hit them from cover! We need to get to the door!"

Whiplash shouted back to T-Rex "Agreed! But there's too much open space between here and there!"

Joker coughed again, more blood splattering on the ground in front of her. "T-Rex and Apollo, you run and we'll cover you. Whiplash and Ghost will follow."

"We're not leaving you here boss!"

"Yes, you are! No way I'm making it across there with these wounds. And you cats will need cover. Now you two, go! That's an order!"

Whiplash, Ghost, and Joker sprayed lead around the room as both Apollo and T-Rex, both a bit slower than the two felines in the group, bolted from cover. The enemies ducked to avoid any stray rounds while still trying to hit the two fleeing soldiers. Apollo flew through the doors and their grizzle slammed through next, catching a round in the upper back on his way out. But he just roared and pushed through, still on his paws.

"Now you two."

Ghost was hesitant. "Boss..."

"Go!" She grunted and crouched as she yelled. Ghost and Whiplash looked at each other, and then both felines sprinted towards the door as Joker stood from cover and started firing. One Russian, a panther like ghost, darted out in their path as they ran, weapon raised to cut them off. Suddenly a growl to her side and a flick of Ghost's wrist and the enemy panther suddenly dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, a throwing knife sticking out of his eye. Her large black teammate yanked the knife out as he ran past through the door and whiplash followed, both devastated as they knew what was about to happen behind them.

Joker sighed as she watched the marbled tail of Whiplash make it through the door and touched her bloody torso. She'd known that even with the medical help from T-Rex that this wound would be fatal, felt as it had torn her up. But her team was safe for the time being. She groaned and reloaded her large revolver, a Raging Bull. She took a deep, rattling breath and jumped over the table and ran at her enemies. Time seemed to slow as the four remaining Russians popped out of cover and started to fire. She fired once, hitting one in the throat. A pain seared through her shoulder as she planted her second round right in another's jaw, blasting his lower face apart. Rounds three and four found the chest of the third, blowing her back into the wall. She turned on the final assailant, a large hardened-looking boar. They fired together, her shot going wide as his burst tore into her chest. As she fell, she pulled the trigger a final time, watching in satisfaction as his head detonated, before blackness overtook her.

Whiplash and the others heard the guns go quiet one by one as they darted away, until only one final rifle went quiet with the final booming sound of a revolver. They paused at the T-intersection on the eastern end of the floor and looked back. The fighting had stopped, but still the commander didn't emerge. After a moment, they headed towards the southeast staircase, with one less than they'd had before.

4

Maelstrom

The brothers were the next to fall.

As he fired back at the bad guys behind them, Frostbite watched as Travis Valda tried to keep the pressure on his brother's leg with one paw and fire his pistol with the other. It was clear that the shot to the leg had torn up an artery, and blood was pooling beneath him. Maybe if their medic was here, they'd be able to stabilize him, but there was no telling if T-Rex was even still alive at this point.

While he and Lieutenant Jones were keeping the two remaining baddies through the lavatory at bay, Mother and Kingpin were working on the two at the door to the dormitory. But they were still pinned down, and not able to move.

Before too long, as he fired another burst, Frostbite saw it happen. James Valda went still, his arm falling limp beside him. Travis dropped his gun and clutched James as sobs crept out from him. Sobs that quickly turned to growls of rage as the angry cat snarled towards the two pairs of enemies. Then, he did something that Frostbite still would never have expected. Travis looked up towards Lieutenant Jones, and then across the rest of them.

"You make the rest of these fuckers pay. All of them." Then he reloaded his handgun, and snatched a grenade from Mother's vest and pulled the pin. Frostbite stopped firing momentarily as he watched the tiger suddenly sprint towards the two blocking them from the hallway before anyone could stop him. He fired his gun dry as he ran, keeping the assailants down until he got closer, and roaring loudly the entire time. When he got within feet of them, they both opened fire, and Travis fell, dead before he hit the ground, but with one last surprise. As he fell, he dropped the grenade live on the ground. The shooters didn't even realize what had happened before both were sundered by flame and shrapnel.

"He bought us an opening, let's move!" Mother ran towards the door, Kingpin and Lieutenant Jones behind her. But Frostbite backed up more, into the corner. The three stopped at the door and looked back, just as the two final soldiers, having heard the blast and knowing they'd run, ran through the door and brought their weapons up at Mother and Kingpin.

But they and Jones watched as the killer in front suddenly dropped, falling onto his face, as the second fell to his knees with his throat slashed open. They watched both stop moving as the fox stepped from behind the two unmoving bodies, with a tomahawk in one paw as he pulled another from the back of the first attacker.

"Now let's go."

As Whiplash pushed into the stairwell and started heading down, she looked to the others beside her. "Before that little shit Anderson ambushed us, he said that level four has the experimental labs. I'm betting the data we're after, and that bastard, will be there."

T-Rex grunted as he put a patch on his shoulder. "Probably right. I for one can't wait to find him."

"This whole place must be crawling with Russians."

"Well we can handle any that decide to show their faces."

They rounded the stairs down, bypassing the second floor as gunfire echoed from somewhere on the level, and down towards the third floor landing. While there was no gunfire from that level, she still felt the fur on the back of her neck stand on end as uneasiness encroached upon her. But they pushed forward and downward, making it to the fourth floor landing and stacking on the door.

Whiplash slowly turned the handle on the door and pushed it open, quickly darting out and swinging her submachinegun left. Just behind her, T-Rex turned right, spinning around a corner immediately outside the stairwell.

"It looks cl-" As she spoke the sound of a door slamming open higher in the stairway caused Ghost and Apollo to swing their weapons up towards the higher floors.

Loud pawsteps echoed down as the panther and owl both fired.

"Shit! Run!" Whiplash heard Ghost yell as she was about to head back in to help. She and T-Rex watched as Ghost shoved Apollo out into the level and darted to follow. As he started to move, there was the sound of a weapon firing, and Whiplash's heart sank in her chest as she recognized the sound.

The sound of an RPG.

Before ghost could make it out of the door, a blast of fire and force tore through the stairwell. They all backed away as flames pushed them back. As the burst died away, a horrendous crashing sound echoed from the stairwell. Looking through the door revealed that apparently the stairwell for the fourth floor, and the fifth under it, had entirely collapsed, bringing the rocketeer down with it.

And there was no sign of Ghost.

More rounds peppered the floor in the center of the intersection, a few feet away from Zephyr. The horse had been firing at him while doing his best to stay behind cover. Fortunately, that meant that no rounds had come within a foot of him yet. Zephyr fired another round, making sure the horse stayed back as it ricocheted down the hall.

As Zephyr gazed through the scope towards the far end of the hallway, he listened as the gunfire over his left tapered off into silence.

"Guys? Did you get them?"

"Nah they just stopped shooting."

Mayhem spoke up from the other side of the north hallway, "Did they fall back?"

"Maybe. I'm looking and I don't see any-"

Suddenly a loud shot pierced through the quiet, followed by a shriek of pain.

"Warbird is down! He's hit bad!"

Zephyr was already darting towards the corner of the central intersection of the north hall. He recognized the sound of that shot and knew exactly what that meant.

Their enemies had a sniper too.

He reached the corner and took a deep breath. Then he turned and looked through the scope just in time to see the edge of a scope at the south end of the central corridor. He pulled back just in time to avoid the shot. The horse had gotten within feet of him, but this guy had gotten within inches. As he turned again and fired back towards the enemy sharpshooter, his foe pulled away like Zephyr just had, dodging the shot.

At that moment, the other two shooters began firing again. Seemingly one of the soldiers in the center had fallen back and readied his rifle, then the others stopped shooting to trick them into thinking they'd left and bring them into the sniper's line of sight.

And it had worked. This group of Russians had gained the upper paw. There was no way they'd be able to hold out long, not when their enemies were a man up. If it was simply a sniper duel, Zephyr knew he would win, but there wasn't time for that. They had to take out the other sniper immediately and he wouldn't be able to get him quick enough with the bastard behind that cover.

But maybe...

"Sandstorm! Shift back to the hall on my mark then flank east! Mayhem cover us on my mark!"

Both nodded and waited.

"Now!" Zephyr spun and fired towards the sniper, not intending to hit but to suppress his fire. At the same time, Mayhem and Sandstorm laid down suppressing fire too.

As all three of these enemies, with the horse still unaccounted for, pulled back into cover, Sandstorm darted out and dove backwards into the hall, on the eastern side of the intersection. Mayhem also took the opportunity to strafe to the west side of the intersection, watching for the horse. And at the same time as the other two, Zephyr dove forward into the hallway, taking cover behind one of the pillars just as the two gunners and the sniper started firing again. As he glanced over, he took a moment to sigh sadly as he saw Warbird fallen, his eyes still and the hole in his chest still bleeding.

Zephyr shot again, now only intending to keep the sniper's attention on him, a dangerous move. But he was confident in the gamble. Zephyr might not be quick enough to take out the sniper before they were flanked. But a cheetah on the other paw...

Zephyr quickly shouldered his rifle and drew Wrath and Ruin from his shoulder holsters, holding the handguns at the ready. He heard the shout from the end of the hall and barely saw the sniper shift from where Zephyr was pinned down. But as fast as the hostile sniper moved, it would never be fast enough. Zephyr saw the yellow blur flash across the far end of the hall in an instant, followed by the sight of the sniper's head rolling into the hall, no longer attached.

The two in the center, not expecting attack to come from behind them, spun and fired wildly, not coming anywhere close to hitting Sandstorm. As they were turned, their distraction and surprise compromising them, Zephyr ran from cover towards the center of the floor. As he reached it, both Russians seemed to be remembering the original direction of attack. They attempted to spin but it was too late. Zephyr raised a handgun in each paw and fired as they turned. Wrath put two rounds in the heart of the soldier to Zephyr's left, as Ruin put the first round into the soldier on the right's neck, and the second into his head. Both fell, dead before they hit the ground.

As the victorious wolf spun towards where that horse had been hiding, he turned just in time to see Mayhem, who had flanked west as they struck, fire his small secondary shotgun into the surprised palomino's back. It fell flat, and laid still.

Zephyr holstered his sidearms as the other two regrouped with him in the center, Mayhem switching back to his primary weapon as Sandstorm wiped his bloody kukri clean on one Russian's uniform and sheathing it. With one more glance towards the fallen eagle behind them, and knowing they'd return for him when their living teammates were safe, the three ran for the southeast stairwell at last.

Frostbite, Mother, Kingpin, and Lieutenant Jones pushed cautiously out into the hallway, checking both sides as they emerged from the dormitories. They all broke left towards a large set of double doors on the north side of the hall. As Frostbite neared the door, a motion from Kingpin drew his eye as the deer pointed at something on the floor near the door. It appeared to be a small trail of blood. He raised his shotgun and saw the other three all raise their weapons.

Jones led the way into the room, followed closely by Mother.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

Frostbite and Kingpin followed them in and saw bodies everywhere. Over half a dozen strewn about. And in the center of the room, one body in a familiar uniform. Frostbite moved to the body with little hope of it being alive. Even from a distance, he could tell by the fur color that the crumpled shape was that of the squad's CO, and from the blood and the wounds that she had not survived.

"Joker is KIA."

"Shit. Anymore of ours here?" Mother looked around worriedly. A quick scan of the bodies revealed that all the rest were enemy combatants. Frostbite also took some solace in the fact that many of the bodies had a large hole in them as he glanced at Joker's massive revolver lying by her side.

"Whatever went down her, looks like she took the rest of these guys down with her."

"Badass 'til the end."

Frostbite nodded as he glanced to his side to see his two squadmates looking respectfully and sadly down at their fallen leader.

"We have to go find the others. Clearly everyone else made it out of this room, so they must still be somewhere in the base."

"We'll find them" Kingpin sighed.

Suddenly Jones, who was standing back by the door as their team paid their respects to Joker, perked his ears up and backed away from the door with his weapon drawn and whispered just loud enough for them all to hear, "company coming. Can't tell who it is over the smell of the blood here."

The four of them fanned out across the room and waited, guns pointed at the door, as it began to push open.

Zephyr gently opened the door, and the first thing he saw was a white-furred fox pointing a shotgun. "Frostbite?"

"Zeus? Oh, thank god it's you man."

Zephyr watched as more forms moved from cover as Mother, Kingpin, and their coyote escort from earlier relaxed. Mayhem and Sandstorm joined them all in the room. "What happened to you guys?"

Mother spoke up, "Shitheads ambushed us in the dorms. Just opened up before any of us knew what was happening. We only just got here after dealing with them."

Kingpin nodded to the center of the room and sighed, "We found her when we got here."

Zephyr and the others who had been on level 2 sighed as they saw the bloody body of a hyena in the same uniform they all had on lying on the ground. "Is she..."

"Gone by the time we got here. So that's at least one team member KIA."

Zephyr sighed, and Mayhem shook his head, sadly as Sandstorm spoke up quietly, "Two. We lost Warbird on level 2." He saw the others take the news like a blow to the chest."

"Plus, the other three guys who were with me never made it out of the dorms," Jones spoke up, almost choking on the words, "bastards damn near cut Barry in half before he even knew what happened."

"Right now though, we need to find the rest of the team. And anyone else who might be alive in here."

Sandstorm growled and thrashed his tail angrily, "And hopefully find that goddamn traitor Anderson."

"Wait, what?" Jones stared in shock. "Doctor Anderson?"

"He was with them. Helped them shoot us up. I can only guess that he's the reason the Russians are even here."

"That son of a bitch!"

"He and the other 'scientists' here opened fire on us. We were close to the northern door and too far from the tables, so we had to fall back when they opened fire. We tried going down and across the next level to come at them from behind, but we ran into a group down there too."

"They're swarming this place. Every freaking corner of it."

"Then let's go find our people before they do." Zephyr looked at the others and led the way as the seven of them went back out into the hall and towards the northwest stairwell, ready to head down further into the depths of the base.

5

Coming Darkness

With a small cough and a groan, the crumpled shape in the rubble opened its eyes. As he looked up, he saw the missing chunks of stairwell above him and slowly began to pull himself free of the twisted metal and stone around him. Groaning as he lifted a chunk of steel enough to slide his leg and tail out, Ghost stood at the bottom of the stairwell.

In the split second before the blast, the panther knew he wouldn't make it through the doorway with his teammates. So instead he dove down, towards the lower floor, hoping the bend in the stairway would shield him enough. And it had, to a degree. Although the floor giving way under him had been unexpected.

As he turned his face from the stairs above to his surroundings, he saw that the foolish rocketeer hadn't planned on the stairs collapsing either. Judging by the metal pole sticking through the bastard's chest, he hadn't been as fortunate in his fall as Ghost had been. With a small stretch, Ghost readied his weapon and, seeing that up wasn't much of an option, slowly opened the door out onto level 5.

As he emerged into the hall, he heard voices coming from across the floor. They sounded more distressed than aggressive, and he quickly turned the corner and headed north towards a large opening in the wall on his left. As he reached it and glanced in, he held in a gasp as he saw what was inside.

Cells. A lot of them. Enough to easily identify this level of the base as a prison, although why they'd need a prison this large was a mystery. And from that prison he heard the voices again, and saw that some of the cells were occupied. Catching a glimpse of lab coats and torn naval uniforms, Ghost realized that he was looking at the surviving crew of the Olympia.

Suddenly another voice drew his attention as he glanced in another part of the large cell block to see a large group of Spetsnaz troops setting up some sort of makeshift broadcasting station. Or perhaps something along those lines. Ghost saw a camera and a backdrop in place as one particular Russian was shouting out orders. As he watched, the soldiers, about 10 in total including the leader, went over to the cells and started grabbing a number of the prisoners. He watched, helplessly outnumbered, as they dragged the terrified scientists and clearly beaten surviving seamen towards the camera setup. Ghost gulped in horror, realizing what was about to happen as the prisoners were forced to their knees, and knowing that he alone could do nothing to stop it. He saw out of the corner of his eye as the closed-circuit televisions throughout the area suddenly came to life as the internal broadcast started, the lead Russian standing by his row of prisoners.

As Zephyr and his group headed across the top level of the base, they paused as suddenly, the TV's around them lit up, the base's internal channel now in use and broadcasting throughout the facility. On the screen they saw, kneeling, terrified, and angry, about a dozen hostages.

"Goddammit" Frostbite growled, most of the rest of them doing the same. As they watched, a large white tiger stepped into frame, clad in Russian armor and smiling at the camera. Then he began to speak.

"Hello, American special forces. You've been quite a pain in my tail since you got here. And it hasn't even been that long. Allow me to introduce myself to you; I am Colonel Vladimir Durov." Durov grinned and bowed at the screen mockingly. "Now, I'm aware that you've killed quite a few of my men, so I've got some friends here to change the situation a bit." He gestured to the prisoners behind him. "Here's the thing, my men want blood, and while I'd like to kill one of these hostages for each of my men you've killed, I frankly don't have enough of them. It would be foolish to get rid of all my little bargaining chips."

"That psychotic son of a bitch," Mother growled. Zephyr did the same as Sandstorm snarled at the screen and the others angrily clutched their weapons as the bastard continued to speak.

"But, you must learn that your actions will have consequences," as he spoke, Durov began walking back and forth behind the kneeling prisoners, occasionally tapping one gently and smiling as they flinched in fear. "I'd say three will get the point across." He suddenly stopped behind a young male impala as he shook with fear, quickly drawing a handgun and firing. Zephyr and his team recoiled in horror as the impala collapsed, some of them yelling at the screen, helpless to save the young man. The other hostages screamed or cried or just glared in silent anger at their captor as he resumed walking.

He soon stopped behind a large bull kneeling and glaring angrily, one of the five prisoners in battered navy uniforms. Zephyr saw a couple Spetsnaz troops aiming rifles at the bull, clearly showing that he was capable enough to warrant that kind of watch. Jones spoke up as Durov was looking at the bull, "That's the CO, Lieutenant Commander Paulsen. He's..." Jones was cut off as Durov fired again, and Paulsen fell.

"Might as well take care of the highest-ranking navy officer here while I'm teaching you all a lesson." Durov chuckled as Jones looked about ready to vomit from seeing his commanding officer executed.

Walking again, the colonel paused behind the cowering scientists. He looked off screen to someone nearby, "My friend, would you like make the final example of one of your former associates?" A shape appeared on camera from the side and Sandstorm hissed as doctor Tyler Anderson appeared, holding a submachinegun, likely the same one from earlier. Jones growled more as his fur puffed out in rage.

Anderson walked past the scientists, pausing behind them all momentarily. First behind a frightened looking puma, then on to a female otter who flinched away from his presence. Next passed a red panda glaring back at him angrily, looking like he wanted to fight back. Then a goat in a large lab coat clearly trying to remain calm and just barely keeping himself together. And then on to a female fox shaking wildly in terror as she glanced at the impala who had been next to her. Anderson glanced past his body to the two remaining research assistants, but then refocused on the lead scientists. They all flinched as he suddenly released a burst of fire behind them.

The goat's chest exploded forward as his torso was torn apart by the rounds piercing him. He slumped to the floor, motionless as the rest cowered. Durov took this chance to speak again. "Now, with that lesson learned, I give you good news. The rest of these furs, and you yourselves, don't have to die here. At least, not all of you. All you must do is leave. My mission here is to gather the research and the data, not to kill you. Here is my proposal; one of you will surrender to me, my men are still eager to enjoy the company of one who killed so many of their comrades. And in return, the rest of you, as well as these people here," he gestured to the remaining hostages as more Spetsnaz troops began dragging them off screen, "may leave. You have ten minutes." The screen went dark again as Zephyr and his team looked to each other and silently headed onwards towards the stairs.

Ghost had watched. He watched as three innocent people were executed. He almost rushed in to try to stop it, but knew that if he did, he would be quickly gunned down by their greater numbers. Or worse, they would just mow down all the civilians. So, he made the hard decision and stayed put.

Now he watched as the rest of the hostages were roughly thrown back into their cells and locked back up. Durov was giving orders again and Ghost watched as he, Anderson, and a handful of other soldiers ran towards the stairs. While he couldn't understand what they were saying, he recognized enough to guess that they were heading to level four, the floor above this one. Ghost knew that that meant they had probably located T-Rex, Apollo, and Whiplash.

As they left, only three soldiers remained behind to watch the prisoners. Two were patrolling the large room, and one seemed to be dragging the bodies of the executed prisoners. Ghost watched as the large dog dragged the body of the impala over to the large hole in the center of the level, towards the southwest corner of this room, and roughly dump the body over the side. Ghost heard a splash of the body seemingly hitting water below. Glancing quickly, he saw that the hole also went further up into the base, and it dawned on him now why there had been no bodies in the base so far. He imagined these intruders, after slaughtering most of the science team and seamen here, dumping their bodies into the water below to dispose of them.

Ghost snarled quietly. While ten enemies may have outmatched him, three enemies and the element of surprise on his side meant that now, he was going to make sure the rest of those civilians didn't meet the same fate. He watched and waited again, now not because he was powerless, but because he was searching for the right moment.

After a minute or so, he found it. The dog in charge of disposing of the victims called over to one of the others, a lynx, who walked over. Apparently, the large bull's body was too heavy for one of them to move alone. So, they both grabbed an arm and pulled together. Ghost grinned and slowly began to slink closer. As the two reached the open shaft, the panther struck.

Before any of the Russians could react, the dog suddenly found himself clutching at his neck, a dagger now sticking out of it. As he tumbled backwards over the railing towards the water below, the lynx began to turn, but not fast enough. The racing shadow that was ghost slammed into the lynx knocking him back against the railing and sending his gun over the edge. As Ghost glanced down quickly, he saw that only half of the shaft appeared to land in the icy water. The far half of the shaft seemed to end over the concrete pier below.

Looking back to the soldier by the cells, who was just now turning in response to the noise, Ghost fired his silenced 9mm twice towards him. He saw the facemask the soldier was wearing crack as both shots pierced through it, either one being enough to have ended him. Turning back to the lynx, Ghost ducked just in time to avoid the brunt of the claws slashing towards his muzzle. The claws just managed to scrape his face as he slashed back, catching his enemy in the chest. The cat fight was to be short lived, as Ghost grabbed the startled lynx and suddenly heaved him over the railing. Before he could even yell, the Russian cat slammed face first into the concrete as his lower half impacted the water. As he looked down at the broken feline below, he was startled as a shape in the water quickly yanked the body below. Apparently, the blood from the earlier disposal of the staff here had drawn another threat to the area.

"Great. Sharks." With a shake of his head, Ghost pulled out his lockpicks and ran to the nearest cell, as the shocked occupants watched. "Let's get you all out of here."

6

Reunions

Ghost had just finished freeing the last of the captured soldiers and scientists when a blur of white caught his eye and he spun around, weapon at the ready. After a second he lowered it in surprise as before him he saw a familiar figure.

"Apollo?"

"Ghost? You're alive!" She smiled and hugged him, her wings still extended behind her. "We thought you were killed in that blast."

Ghost shook his head and watched as a tan and black shape leaped down the shaft from the floor above as Whiplash smiled at him. "Yeah. Until we saw somebody fall down the shaft from this floor. Then we thought you might be alive."

"What happened to you guys?"

"Well we were on the fourth level when that broadcast started playing. That level looks like it was where they did some highly experimental stuff here. That'll probably be where any data we and the Russians want will be." As she was speaking, Ghost watched with a chuckle as T-Rex was awkwardly lowering himself from the upper level down to the floor of level 5. "Anyway, we were heading right to the other stairwell to come down and check for you when we heard a large group coming up. So, we fell back into the research lab and back towards the southern end of the level. Then we saw someone come flying into the shaft from this level and came on down."

"Well I'm glad you're all ok. Now, let's get to the floor security room over there and see if we can get some of these folks some weapons. Looks like we've got six science staff and four seamen." The large group moved west and into the security office.

Of the four Navy officers, only three of them were fit to fight. The snow leopard glared angrily into space as she grabbed a rifle. The nervous looking badger and the large powerful mare, lieutenants Robert Lewis and Janet Melville, did the same. The remaining lieutenant, Franklin Westford, had had his right leg and footpaw badly broken in the initial incursion. The grimacing lion was currently being supported by the two remaining research assistants, Hugo and Irene. To their surprise, doctor Axel King, the red panda biologist, also picked up a weapon as the large group left the security station.

As they cautiously approached the north stairwell, the door pushed open and Ghost found himself looking down the wrong end of a gun barrel.

Zephyr lowered his rifle as he recognized the wide-eyed, black-furred cat in front of him. "Ghost? Damn man."

"Zeus?" Ghost backed up and Zephyr looked behind him to see a large group of people behind him. "Come on, get out of the stairwell and let's regroup."

Zephyr nodded and led the way out into the floor, the rest of his team following behind. "What's your status down here?"

"I got separated from T-Rex, Whiplash, and Apollo for a bit, but we managed to regroup and free the remaining 10 prisoners. How about up there?"

Zephyr frowned, and he watched the group from level 5 look on with concern as he spoke. "Joker and Warbird are KIA, as well as three of our Navy escorts; both Valda brothers and Kaminski."

"We suspected about Joker. We were pinned down in that room and she was the only reason we got out."

Zephyr nodded sadly and shook his head before looking up determinedly. "But right now, we need to get the injured and the civilians out of harm's way. This whole place is a death trap." The others nodded as he spoke, "Mayhem and Sandstorm, get them up to the main door, past that gunner, and to the plane. At least one of you lieutenants go with them for extra support. The rest of us will clear out the base." They all nodded, and Zephyr realized he had just unintentionally stepped into the role of squad leader, but nobody else seemed to mind, happy to have instructions to follow finally.

Sandstorm and Mayhem led the way up the stairs, with Axel and lieutenants Lewis and Melville following and leading the injured lieutenant and the science staff upwards towards the exit. At the fourth floor landing, they continued up as Zephyr and his group stopped and readied themselves. They quickly and quietly breached the floor scanning the hall as they entered. Right across from them was a double door with a small window in it.

As Zephyr peeked through and scanned the room quickly he saw a few other doors, as well as six hostiles apparently gathering data from the computers and records. He quietly motioned for half of the team to go around to the far door and they would breach together.

T-Rex, Apollo, Whiplash, Ghost, and lieutenant Natasha Ward, the snow leopard, silently made their way around the level towards the opposite door, while Mother, Frostbite, Kingpin, and lieutenant Jones stayed with Zephyr.

From inside the room, "Come on we've got enough data, the case is pretty much full. Now let's get it out of here." As the voice finished talking, both the east and west doors to the room flew open gunfire erupted throughout the room. Zephyr watched as the half dozen hostiles dove for cover. Before they could though, Zephyr managed to catch one in the chest and he went down hard. From the corner of his eye he saw another fall, hit by rounds from T-Rex, Mayhem, and Whiplash all at once.

They all took cover as the Russians all started spraying blindly into the room, hoping to hit anything. It was little more than amusing, as they were vastly outnumbered. Mother fired a long burst into one of the upturned tables that one was hiding behind and her machinegun shredded it and him. The panicked Russian curses from behind the cover as a familiar voice shouted in English.

"Just die already you bastards!" Anderson yelled as suddenly a small egg-shaped object sailed through the air towards them.

"Grenade!" Zephyr watching in horror as the explosive arced towards the eastern group. There wasn't nearly enough safe cover to hide behind, just about anything would leave whatever fur was taking cover exposed to either enemy gunfire or the explosive blast. Zephyr watched with knowing dread as Whiplash leapt towards the grenade. In those split seconds he knew full well what she intended to do and would've done the same himself. But just as she was about to grab it and use her body to shield everyone else, a blur of brown slammed into her, knocking her down behind a toppled table. He watched as T-Rex dove back through the door to the hall, his paws clutched to his chest.

As the blast echoed in the hallway, an enraged Whiplash ran straight at the cover of one of the three remaining hostiles. Quicker than he could react, she had her claws in him and practically shredded his throat in retribution. As the second to last attacker raised up, careless as he focused on the furious cat mauling his ally, Apollo let loose a long stream of rounds that sent him flying back into the wall and slumping to the ground.

Zephyr looked to where Anderson was taking cover, towards the center of the room. Behind him was the open shaft running through the base, although with a pane of glass between it and the room. He sprinted with his rifle out towards where the traitorous polar bear was sheltering, vaulting a table, and arrived just as Anderson spun, stood and opened fire.

But the bullets went wide as Anderson gasped and was pushed back into the glass. He looked down to see the wicked sword blade jutting from the end of Zephyr's rifle currently shoved through his chest and through him into the glass window.

"Take that you bastard." Zephyr pulled his sword out of the stunned and bleeding, but still standing, Anderson, and kicked him in the torso. Anderson fell back, shattering through the glass and toppling out of sight. He fell past the prison on level 5, and Zephyr watched as he completely missed the water, slamming into the concrete with a sickening yet satisfying thud.

As Zephyr's group was defeating Anderson once and for all, Sandstorm's group was pinned down on the level one landing by the gunner at the entryway. The gunner was heavily armored, and firing a large machine gun from higher ground.

"How the hell are we going to take this guy out?" Lieutenant Melville fired another quick burst up at the gunner that ricochets off his armor harmlessly. "Dammit!"

Mayhem swore as bullet after bullet had no effect on the gunner. "There's no way we're going to take him down like this. He's too well armored."

"Well then what do we do? If we can't take him from the front we don't have many other options."

As they ducked behind cover, Mayhem suddenly grinned, "Oh, yes we do. Melville, follow me. Rest of you keep him occupied!" Mayhem spun and headed down the stairs, Melville giving a confused look his way before following as Sandstorm and Axel took their places firing up, still to no avail. Mayhem and Melville stopped at the landing halfway between the first and second floors, where Mayhem turned to her, "Give me a boost."

She looked confused still but consented, lifting the raccoon up high towards the ceiling while he did something up by the roof. After a few seconds he jumped down off her and grinned. "Bastard won't know what hit him. Come on." He headed back to the next landing to regroup with the others.

Sandstorm looked at the grinning raccoon with a sudden realization. "Duck!"

They watched as Mayhem pressed a button, and the C4 charge he had set right beneath the gunner detonated. The stairwell shook a bit as they looked up to see, nothing. No gunner in sight. They quickly ran up the stairwell. Where the gunner had been was now just a 3-foot diameter hole and some gore. The remains of the gunner were on the landing beneath, leaving the way to the exit clear.

Sandstorm ran into the security booth and activated the large metal door, which slowly began sliding open. But as the door began to open, they heard something that made them all stop and look back down the stairs. Gunfire, a lot of it. And much closer than it should be. The rest of the team had gotten off on the fourth floor, but the shooting sounded like it was coming from the second or third floor. Suddenly a door slammed open lower in the stairwell as voices and loud pawsteps headed up towards them. But these voices clearly weren't speaking Russian or English. Instead they were speaking something easily identifiable as...

"German? What the fuck, when did the Germans get here?"

"I don't know but we gotta go now!" They all turned at sprinted for the cave mouth and the Sno-Cats parked nearby. As they were loading up in the Sno-Cat, a group of German commandos ran out the main door and opened fire. Mayhem, lieutenant Melville and Axel fired back.

"Wait, where the fuck is Lewis?"

"I don't know! He was with us in the stairwell!"

Mayhem and Melville returned fire as the last civilians and Axel climbed into the Cat. Melville squeezed in past Sandstorm revving the engine. But as the fire temporarily abated as Mayhem spun to jump into the Cat, the commandos broke from cover again and sprayed the Cat with lead. Sandstorm punched it as Mayhem collapsed onto the floor of the Cat.

"He's hit!" Doctor Bishop, the otter, knelt right away next to Mayhem to try to tend to the wounds as he began to yell. As Sandstorm slowed slightly, looking back at his teammate worriedly, more bullets peppered the back of the Sno-Cat forcing him to speed up again as lieutenant Melville and doctor Axel King looked back and groaned.

"Dammit, snowmobiles! Three of them!" Axel picked up his weapon again as Melville did the same, both beginning to fire at their pursuers. Sandstorm sped up, flying across the ice as fast as the Cat would take them, heading back towards their plane from just a few hours ago, although it already seemed like so much longer.

7

Having a Blast

Zephyr crouched and growled in surprise as the sudden barrage of gunfire erupted on the floors above. Gunfire that couldn't be coming from the other group, as they'd gone straight up the stairwell towards the main door, and this gunfire was coming from the other levels.

"What the hell?"

"Whatever is happening, it can't be our people up there."

Zephyr nodded, "Let's go." He quickly moved towards the main stairwell, the others following behind. The enormous racket from above continued, and Zephyr dashed into the stairwell as four commandos were rounding the stairwell down towards them. The moment of confusion was enough time for Zephyr to raise his rifle and fire. His first shot took the first commando right across the top of his muzzle and between his eyes, dropping him hard. The second shot hit the next soldier in the chest, knocking him to his back where he lay still. As he turned to focus on one of the other shooters, just now bringing their weapons up to bear, he watched as one suddenly spasmed from over half a dozen bullet impacts and the other fell to his knees, looking in shock at the tomahawk sticking out of his chest as he collapsed. Zephyr glanced to the side and saw Frostbite and Ghost beside him, and nodded to both.

As they headed up to the level three landing, Frostbite retrieving his tomahawk from the chest of the fallen commando on the way up, they heard gunfire coming from deeper on that level. However, there was also gunfire echoing down from level two. As the arctic fox was putting his blade away, he knelt to look over the figures.

"Son of a bitch."

"What is it?"

"Well, it was only a matter of time before the German's showed up."

Lieutenant Ward looked surprised, "Germans? That's just great."

"Definitely," Frostbite nodded, "looks like these are members of the Kommando Spezialkräfte, or KSK. Elite special forces."

Apollo spoke up as they reached the landing, "It sounds like the fighting on level two is less intense than the fighting on this level. This seems to be where the brunt of it is."

Zephyr nodded as he listened, his ears perked up, "I think you're right. Apollo, Mother, Frostbite, and lieutenant Jones, you take level two. Kingpin, the three felines, and I will take level three." All nodded as Ghost, Whiplash, and lieutenant Ward gave a small chuckle as the others headed up the stairs to the next level. The five of them stacked up next to the door. With a glance at the others behind him, Zephyr flung open the door and stormed through.

Sandstorm floored it across the ice and snow as more bullets peppered their fleeing Sno-Cat. He glanced back as he drove, seeing again the chaos in the Cat behind him. Mayhem was still on the ground, barely moving, as doctors Jacobs and Bishop tended to him as best they could. While that was happening, lieutenant Westford, lieutenant Melville, and doctor Axel King were returning fire at the snowmobiles behind them. But the snowmobiles were far more maneuverable than their bulky vehicle, so hitting them proved to be difficult. Difficult, but not impossible it seemed, as Sandstorm heard crashing metal and a triumphant shout from the red panda biologist.

"Got one of them!"

"Great! Now do that five more times! I really want to be rid of them before we reach the plane!" Axel nodded in response and fired again, with less luck.

As he kept ahead of the pursuers, his heart dropped as he heard a sigh coming from doctor Jacobs. He glanced back as the puma shook his head sadly

"There's nothing more I can do, he's gone. He took at least three rounds in the back that hit his spine and kidneys."

Sandstorm looked from Jacobs' bloody paws to Mayhem limp on the floor of the vehicle as he snarled angrily at what the commandos chasing them had done. As he glanced in the side mirror of the Cat, he saw one of the snowmobiles getting closer on their right. With another glance back at Mayhem, Sandstorm opened the door to passenger side of the Cat, and as quick as the cheetah he was, pulled out his grenade, pulled the pin, and chucked it out the door. As he pulled the door closed again, he smiled in satisfaction as the snowmobile drove right over the grenade as it detonated, blasting it and the rider apart.

Then, as he watched the explosion, he got an idea.

When Mother and her team emerged into the level two hallway, they emerged into chaos. It looked like Almost a dozen KSK commandos were engaged with what sounded like half a dozen Spetsnaz throughout the level. They pushed forward through the first intersection without issue, but as they passed the first door on the north side of the hall, a Russian soldier rounded the far north corner in a sprint. He hesitated for a moment as he spotted them, which must've been just too long, as a split second later his skull was blown apart by whoever was behind him, his tail giving one final twitch before he was completely still.

The four of them darted into the door as two KSK operatives rounded the corner, clearly the ones who had killed the Russian. As she followed the others into the room, Mother fired off a burst and was satisfied to at least see one of the two get hit and go down. Unfortunately, the other made it back behind cover, and from his shouts, the rest of the KSK surely knew that they were now in play.

"We can't stay in here now. They know where we are, they'll just lay siege until they get us."

Mother nodded, "You're right. We get out and divide their forces. Can use the Russians to help too." Frostbite nodded as Mother continued, "You and Apollo go counterclockwise around the floor, we'll go opposite."

He nodded again as he and Apollo ran to the door leading out of the Medical Center they had apparently entered and waited, as Mother patted the coyote on the shoulder, "Just stick with me Jonesy."

She watched as Frostbite tossed a grenade into the hallway, but rather than an explosion, smoke filled the hall. Frostbite and Apollo darted out as gunfire echoed right outside. Jones followed Mother as she pushed through the other door to the room and into the neighboring sick bay. As the two of them readied at that door, she grinned and hefted her machinegun in anticipation.

Frostbite and Apollo ran right through the smoke down the westernmost hallway. As they reached the center hallway going towards the east, they looked across and saw clearly where the Russians must be holed up. The ceiling above the door had a large sign indicating the room was for ventilation. Quite a large number of KSK seemed to be focusing on that room as the rest were firing to the north, where Jones and Mother were at. Frostbite stopped at that hallway intersection as Apollo darted past to reach the southern center intersection.

As she was about to round the corner, a straggling KSK commando rounded it and they almost collided. But before he could even make a noise, he was headbutted in the face. Before he could regain his balance, she reached for him, and within seconds, she was continuing on her way as he was slumped on the ground with a snapped neck.

Within a few seconds, she fired. Frostbite watched from the west as one of the commandos in the center of the floor was killed before he could react, and the rest dove for cover as they were attacked from behind. Then he fired as well, forcing them between the columns on the level as they were fired upon from multiple directions. With the distraction in place, he heard as Mother's LMG started firing and watched the ricochets as she fired from the north with Jones, and suddenly the KSK were under fire from all sides.

As Zephyr opened the door out to the level three hallway, he turned towards the hallway running along the northern side of the level. Almost immediately, he darted back, bumping into Whiplash as bullets came flying towards him. He carefully glanced around the corner to what looked to be a large group of KSK at the far end of the hallway, and half a dozen Russians just starting to head down the center hall, including...

"Durov. Down that way. He's heading for the center of the level."

They all spun and darted south along the western hallway instead, rounding the corners towards the center hallway. He reached the hallway, looking across the level over the central shaft. He glanced beside him as Ward and Ghost took cover beside him and readied themselves. He didn't see Whiplash or Kingpin. He watched as one of the Germans rounded the far end of the hall and quickly put him down.

Then, the gunfire intensified as both the Russians and the Germans emerged around the center shaft, some from halls and some from nearby rooms. Both forces converged. As they did, Zephyr watched as Whiplash and Kingpin launched themselves out of a nearby door labeled "Atmospheric Lab" and into the fray, Whiplash with her sword in her paws. But before she could even cut down one enemy, something else happened.

Mother had barely begun firing when one of the Germans tried to flank her from the east. Fortunately, she was ready for one of them to try just that. She spun and fired at him, but he managed to sidestep and avoid most of the damage, taking only a round in the shoulder, still very damaging considering her weapon, but not enough to put him down. As she adjusted her target area, she saw a flash of steel and shoved her LMG in the way of the knife just in time as, ironically, the German Shephard in front of her slashed repeatedly, to close for her primary weapon to be of use. So, she dropped it.

As she pulled her large Desert Eagle, still dodging his slashes, she managed to get a shot off in his gut, which she followed up with a kick, sending him back against the door to the room behind him. She watched as, in desperation, he pulled a grenade and pulled the pin, but was nowhere near fast enough to throw it at her. Instead, four shots blasted through him and the door, sending him flying back through it.

As he fell back into the room, Mother's smile of satisfaction shifted into a look of pure horror. She turned to look at lieutenant Jones and yelled just one word.

"Run!"

As the live grenade rolled out of the dead commando's paw, it came to rest against a steel barrel. A steel barrel containing gallons and gallons of fuel. The room the man had perished was the fuel storage room. And it was filled with well over a dozen barrels. Just seconds later, the grenade detonated, and the whole room went up with it.

8

Blood in the Water, Blood on the Ice

Frostbite was thrown onto his back by the force of the sudden explosion. He had heard Mother yell just a second ago and then suddenly a massive blast. He looked towards the part of the level where the explosion had happened and saw nothing. The room to the northeast of the center was simply gone, along with the walkway around it. He saw fire and wreckage and bodies scattered. He saw three burned, but still breathing, German commandos crawling across the center panel of walkway, but with the screeching of metal, it fell away, sending the three plummeting down the shaft on the floor below.

As he coughed, he saw three of the Russians who were holed up across the way stumbling, clearly injured, around the room. He saw it easily because there was no longer a wall between that room and the hallway. Even the first few feet of that room seemed to have caved in. As he watched, one of the injured commandos stumbled and simply fell through the new hole in the floor to the level below, seeming landing on the sharp twisted wreckage below.

The two remaining commandos seemed to have taken less damage further back in the room and tried to raise their weapons at Frostbite, but two shots echoed from behind him and both toppled over the edge and out of sight.

Frostbite turned to see Jones behind him, clearly injured. Burns on the side of his muzzle and patches of fur missing as he limped towards the fox.

"Jones! Are you okay? What happened?"

He coughed and leaned against the wall as Apollo came running around the corner as well, seemingly fine. "Guy had a grenade. Mother shot him, but he fell into the fuel room. I don't know what happened to her."

Frostbite looked back at the flames and frowned again.

The explosion occurred just as the fray was happening in the center of the floor. Zephyr watched as the ceiling above turned to flame and rubble, which came falling down. As Zephyr watched, the force of the blast hit the large cluster of commandos, who had temporarily stopped fighting, in the center of the level. Before his eyes he saw the blast push three of the six Russians, as well as about seven of the Germans, over the edge of the shaft.

But the carnage from above wasn't yet done. As the center of level two gave way, sending more men down towards the bottom, some of the large, heavy columns, now with no support, began to fall towards this level's walkway. They slammed into it, causing the weakened metal to give and sending more people sliding into the shaft. One of the columns landed on a Russian soldier, flattening him. However, the impact caused the walkway to give, sending Durov, Kingpin, and Whiplash down towards the bottom. Another three German operatives also tumbled down screaming.

Before she could even scream, Whiplash plunged into the icy water. As she kicked to the surface and turned to look around, she saw carnage. It appeared that two of the falling Russians had landed completely on the concrete and splattered across it. Four of the Germans seemed to have done the same and were laying broken just feet from the water. She noticed another three KSK agents who seemed to have partially hit the water, as they were in it now, but had clearly hit enough of the concrete to be killed instantly. Blood was quickly spreading from them.

Looking around as she recovered, she saw Kingpin treading water nearby, as well as Durov, another Russian, and half a dozen Germans, all now recovering from the fall, although a few looked like they had grazed the concrete, because some had clearly broken bones.

As all the floating soldiers looked at each other, and towards shore about twenty feet away, they all started swimming and thrashing towards shore, knowing whoever wasn't out first was as good as dead. However, all stopped when one of the dead, floating, bloody bodies was suddenly yanked down into the depths with a splash in front of them. As they all stopped in shock, Whiplash saw a fin break the surface of the water and start to circle, then another, and another.

Sharks.

Zephyr, Ghost, and Ward all ran over towards the new edge of the walkway, where it now bent down into the shaft like a hellish slide. They could barely see shapes down below through the smoke, but did manage to see that that some of the fallen had apparently landed in the water, meaning there was hope for Whiplash and Kingpin. They all turned to head back to the stairs and down. As they did, Ghost, without even looking, threw a knife into the throat of the last Russian fighter on this level as he tried to stand and point his weapon at them. The Russian silently toppled backwards into the now larger shaft, audibly hitting the railing below them before connecting with the floor far below.

As they rounded the corner, gunshots came from behind them, forcing them back into cover. Ghost spun just as he reached cover, not quick enough to avoid a shot through the shoulder before reaching safety. But as they took cover, Zephyr watched as Ward disappeared into a door right beside them. Zephyr tried to return fire at the advancing group, but their fire kept him pulled back behind the corner.

As the small group got closer, Zephyr heard a door farther down the hall slam open and gunshot from farther away. As he and Ghost swung around the corner, they saw Ward standing by the far door, as well as two KSK operatives on the ground and two more in the process of turning towards Ward. But before they could, Zephyr and Ghost were on them, Ghost yowling angrily as he slashed the throat of the one who shot him with his claws. As the final one tried to spin back, Zephyr slammed past him, hitting him with his weapon. The soldier stayed standing for a second before collapsing, his head rolling a couple feet away as blood dripped from the large blade at the end of Bad News.

Zephyr nodded at Ward appreciatively as all three ran for the stairwell again.

All the furs in the water resumed their mad swim towards the edge as the sharks struck. Since there was already blood in the water, staying in it was suicide. As she swam, Whiplash watched as one of the KSK, who was flailing particularly hard from an apparent broken arm, screamed a short scream that was cut off as he was jerked roughly from under the water. He fell limp and blood began to spread as she saw his lower half was now missing.

The next to go as the sharks swarmed and frenzied was another German, a badger. He was looking behind him as the sharks closed in and didn't notice the one that surfaced in front of him until to late. The shark bit down and the badger vanished into the water, leaving only a pool of red.

As they got closer to the pier, the sole remaining Russian other than the colonel met his end. One of the sharks came flying up from below him and leapt through the air with the screaming Russian in its jaws before crashing back into the water and disappearing.

Whiplash watched Durov reach the edge first and haul himself up. He quickly darted behind one of the many crates left on the pier and vanished. Just a few seconds later, she, Kingpin and three of the remaining KSK reached the edge and began hauling themselves up. As they did, the final KSK still in the water, a large rhino, yelled and was suddenly thrashing as he was yanked under the water. There wasn't much blood where he went down, but a few bubbles reached the surface, but didn't last long before the crimson came up instead.

Now on dry land, Kingpin and Whiplash raced to get their weapons up as the KSK did the same. Kingpin drew his revolver as two of the three German soldiers raised handguns and the third rushed at Whiplash. In the next second, Kingpin eliminated one of the shooters with a shot through the muzzle, the other shooter hit Kingpin in the arm, and Kingpin put another round through that shooter's eye. As for the fighter, he tried to throw an easily blocked right hook, which Whiplash quickly turned into a headbutt, sending him back a foot. Then one final blow to the throat crushed his windpipe and he went down hard. Both grinned at each other, panting in relief as they stood, and Kingpin clutched his arm.

But the Victory was short lived as Whiplash watched Kingpin glance over her shoulder and shove her aside as he brought his revolver up again. As Whiplash fell to the side she saw an angry white tiger with a revolver in his paw firing. She would have smiled as she saw him take a round to the gut and fall, were it not for her yelling as Kingpin took two rounds to the chest and began to fall back into the water behind him. She lunged to grab the front of his uniform as he fell.

The relief as she caught him was instantly snatched away though. Another had seen him about to enter the water. Before she could pull her limp teammate back over dry land, one of the sharks lunged up out of the water from beneath him. She screamed as it's jaws closed, and it fell back down into the water, taking with it not only Kingpin, but part of the arm she had been holding him with too.

She fell back onto the pier as she cradled her right arm, now missing from the elbow down. As she stumbled to her paws, she glared over at Durov as he crawled away, a trail of blood behind him. She yowled furiously as she kicked Durov onto his back, watching his ears flatten as she did. Without a word, she drew her sword and glared again. Before Durov could react, she swung, removing the colonel's head from his body in an instant. Then, groaning in pain, she ran north towards the doors to the rest of the level.

Meanwhile, back on the speeding Sno-Cat, Axel was looking nervously at what was in his paws. "I really don't like this idea."

"Well we don't have a lot more ammo, so this is the only other option." Sandstorm yelled over the sound of the roaring winds. He shot a glance back to Mayhem laying still and quiet, and silently thanked him that he'd be saving their tails even after he fell. "Just press the button on them, and then toss them out the back."

Axel and lieutenant Melville looked at each other and nodded as the red panda pressed the button and chucked the object out the shattered rear glass of the Cat. He smiled as the object landed in the snow in front of one of the snowmobiles. He didn't have to wait long to watch what happened.

As the snowmobile reached that spot, the landmine detonated, blasting the snowmobile apart and sending the flaming chassis and rider through the air. As that happened, lieutenant Melville threw hers. They both watched as the muscular mare's landmine flew threw the air, going farther than she had intended. It didn't land in front of one of the snowmobiles.

Instead, the landmine flew right into the chest of the driver. As it hit, it detonated, and a second later there was no driver, just an empty snowmobile careening into a snowbank.

Axel and Melville tossed the couple remaining mines, but by this point the other two snowmobile drivers had grown wise to their actions and easily avoided them. However as one moved to dodge a mine, a shot came from beside them and Axel and Melville turned to see the wounded lieutenant Franklin Westford propped against the rear seat, rifle in his paws. He had watched as the snowmobiles dodged and figured out exactly where the driver would veer to when he avoided it. And he'd been right. The driver of the snowmobile swerved around the mine, but a split second later fell of the back of his seat as a single round slammed into his head.

The three of them ducked lower as the final snowmobile throttled up closer to them as the driver fired a small submachinegun at them, bullets spraying the cab as everyone yelled. Sandstorm looked into the mirrors but couldn't see the last shooter. "Where is he?"

Lieutenant Melville yelled from the back, "a few feet behind us. He's too close, if we leave cover we're done for."

Sandstorm growled and yelled as he felt the Cat race through the powdery snow below, "Move up! Away from the back!"

Immediately, Axel darted forward with the other science staff and crowded right around Sandstorm's seat. Melville grabbed Westford and quickly carried him to a front seat as well.

As soon as they were all away from the back, Sandstorm slammed his paw down on the brakes of the Cat. Thanks to the fact that they were on snow and not ice currently, the Cat was able to stop without too much trouble.

The speeding snowmobile driver behind them, not expecting them to stop, wasn't even able to think of stopping in time. The Cat shook as the snowmobile slammed into it's rear, the pursuing driver crushed between the vehicles. With a scraping noise, the Cat pulled away from the crash snowmobile and continued onwards to the plane.

It wasn't long before they reached the makeshift runway, their plane still parked at the end of it. They all piled out of the Cat, Melville carrying both Westford and the fallen Mayhem as they ran to the plane. Sandstorm opened up the rear door and the scientists and soldiers piled in. Not wanting to wait, just in case, Sandstorm began turning the plane around at the end of the runway, in case a quick escape was necessary when the rest of the team arrived. He glanced back at the huddled survivors from the Olympia, Doctor King and the lieutenants watching out into the blinding wind with weapons raised, on guard and waiting.

9

Endgame

As Zephyr descended the stairs, Frostbite, Apollo, and Ward beside him, as Ghost was behind with the injured Jones, they paused as they passed the level five landing. Faint voices were echoing up from the bottom level. While he hoped those voices were Kingpin and Whiplash, they couldn't take chances and proceeded slowly and quietly down to the level six door.

But as they reached the door, the voices became slightly more audible. And the words they were speaking were clearly German. Holding his paw up to stop the others, Zephyr quietly cracked the door open, just enough to peek through. Across the partially filled storage room, he saw a German KSK kneeling in front of a large metal case, as another was nearby standing guard. Standing between them, looking calm and intimidating, was a vixen. Based on her demeanor, Zephyr guessed she was the one in charge of this operation.

Suddenly another voice drew his attention, a voice that, as it spoke, made Ward snarl silently in fury.

"Come on Frau Metzger, all I want is what I was promised, then I'll be out of here."

"You'll get your money when I decide to give it to you."

"After all I've done already? You wouldn't even have known anyone was raiding your little funhouse if it wasn't for me!" Zephyr watched as the speaker stepped into view from behind one of the crates in the room. The figure was none other than lieutenant Robert Lewis, the badger who had been freed from the prison level. He must have slipped away when Sandstorm and Mayhem headed out. Zephyr continued to listen.

"Yes, Herr Lewis. And while I am grateful, you are the one who needs me now, not the other way around. My generosity is why you still breathe. Keep trying my patience and I will have you shot."

He gulped nervously, "Look, I just have a lot of debts and owe money to some very impatient people."

She sneered as she turned back to the kneeling officer as he stood up. He nodded back as Lewis asked, "so what the hell is that thing anyway."

"That, Herr Lewis, is how the Americans will not be able to tell you betrayed them. When that device goes off, the whole base will be destroyed. Meaning, they won't come looking for you when your body isn't discovered." He nodded nervously as suddenly another voice rang out from what Zephyr saw was an adjoining control room on the other side of the room.

"Frau Metzger, einer der Amerikaner ist auf dem Pier in Richtung der Luftschleuse!"

Zephyr watched as the two German soldiers in the storage area, as well as Metzger and Lewis, turned towards the large airlock door and simply waited. Zephyr and the others had heard "Amerikaner" though. Which meant that at least one of their people was out there and about to walk in front of a firing squad as soon as they were through the airlock.

Zephyr knew that they had to act now. He watched as the airlock door began to open. He quickly waved over the uninjured in his group and before the airlock door could open anymore, they burst into the room and opened fire.

Lewis, clearly twitchy and nervous, was behind cover almost right away. The Vixen, Metzger, was also quick to seek a place to shelter from the barrage. The KSK commando in the control room ducked behind the wall easily and one of the two in the storage room was fast enough to make it behind something. The other was a moment too slow, as Ward managed to hit him in the throat, splattering crimson on the wall behind him. As they took cover as well, she yowled angrily across the room

"You're fucking dead Robbie!"

A snide reply echoed back, "Desperate times, Nat." Lieutenant Ward fired a shot into Lewis' cover in anger at his betrayal. As both sides exchanged fire, they were in a stalemate, neither side able to move from cover enough to hit the other. But as he tried to fire a shot, unsuccessfully, Zephyr watched Apollo stop shooting and crouch lower behind her cover. He watched her toss something towards the side of the room, out of sight of their foes. Then he grinned as he saw what she pulled out next.

A small tablet. She pressed a few buttons on the tablet and suddenly, the small drone that she had tossed rose silently up into the air. As the rest of the room focused on each other, the silent drone rose up near the ceiling, and began to move across the room, above the sight lines of everyone. As he watched, still firing potshots, the drone made its way into the control room before lowered down behind the shooter there.

Zephyr saw the commando duck behind cover again. Then a short second later, a surprised shout came from that room as Apollo pressed a button on the tablet. With that, the small explosive charge built into the drone went off, blowing out what was left of the windows in that room.

Taking advantage of the remaining three's surprise at the explosion behind them, Frostbite used the opportunity to dart forward and roll behind another crate, a round just missing his tail as the Germans and the traitor kept firing. Unfortunately for the last commando, his cover was wooden and at this range was no match for their fox's powerful shotgun. The commando collapsed as his cover and his chest were shredded by the shot.

Just then, the airlock door opened up again and Zephyr saw a bloody and injured clouded leopard dart out and behind a crate. Then, as the door to the airlock was ajar, Zephyr saw lieutenant Lewis dart for it. As he did, Ward saw it too, darting out from her cover to fire at him, getting a graze and watching him tumble towards the airlock. But while she was out from cover and distracted, Metzger took the opportunity to fire a shot towards her head. Ward tried to flinch away as she saw the shot happen and closed her eyes.

But instead of pain and nothingness, she felt a swirl of wind as someone nearby moved and heard a screech of pain. She opened her eyes to see white feathers in front of her, which quickly withdrew back towards Apollo off to the side. The snowy owl had shot out a wing to block shot from surely killing Ward. As she grunted in pain, Zephyr took advantage of the opportunity as well. He fired two shots, the first hitting the Vixen in the paw, flinging the gun away, and the second in the chest.

As she fell, bleeding but still breathing, Ward ran forward towards the airlock, arriving just as lieutenant Lewis shut the door. She hit the metal as he smirked through the thick glass window back at her. As this happened, Frostbite ran to Whiplash and helped put pressure on where her forearm had been. Zephyr heard as she spoke up

"Kingpin didn't make it."

Zephyr walked over to the fallen Metzger and pointed his gun down at her. To his surprise, all she did was laugh.

"Foolish pup. You can't stop the success of my mission by killing me."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Unlike you and the Russians, my primary mission isn't to retrieve the data that's here. No, it's to make sure that you don't." She laughed, choking up some blood in the process.

"Well sorry to tell you, but if you're dead there's nothing to stop us from getting it."

"Well then I hope you're fast pup. Because my little insurance policy over there," she nodded towards the large case, "will sink this whole place within minutes of my last breath." Zephyr watched in horror as she laughed, spitting up more blood as her movements grew weaker. He glanced over at the bomb and could only thing of one thing to do.

"Run!"

As they turned tail and fled for the stairs, Frostbite still helping the injured Whiplash, they rejoined Ghost and Jones in the stairwell.

"Everyone to the exit now! Apollo, still have the case we took from Anderson?" She nodded as they sprinted up the stairwell as fast as their paws would carry them.

Lieutenant Lewis had thought it was a smart move to hide in the airlock from Ward and her new buddies. But as he watched Metzger fall limp and large green numbers on the device start flashing 3:00, 2:59, 2:58, he realized how foolish he'd been. He looked through the other door towards the pier, seeing no way out. He could never get the submarine operational by himself and the fins cutting through the water ruled out swimming.

So instead he turned to the door back to the storage area and began trying to open it. But as he pushed on the door, it barely budged. Looking through the glass he saw that as she left, Ward must have knocked over a stack of the crates in front of the door to keep him in. As he watched the numbers count lower, he slammed himself into the door frantically, desperate to get out.

Zephyr guessed that two minutes remained, give or take, as they reached the open main door of the base. As they ran out the door, Zephyr made a beeline for the remaining Sno-Cat. He yanked open the door and leaped to the driver's seat, starting it up as he watched. Frostbite haul Whiplash into the Cat, as Ward did the same for Jones. Apollo and Ghost jumped in next as Zephyr put the pedal to the metal and the Cat shot forward. Zephyr spun, and the Cat shot across the ice towards where their plane had landed. As he sped away from one Storm and into another, he hoped that Sandstorm had the plane ready. There wouldn't be much time.

It took a long time to finally push open the airlock door. Too long. Lewis watched as the timer flashed again. 1:14, 1:13, 1:12. He clutched his bleeding thigh as he hobbled towards the stairs. That bitch Ward had gotten lucky and hit him in the leg. He crashed into the stairwell and began climbing. Going much slower than he wanted to due to the wound.

_ 0:55, 0:54, 0:53._

Zephyr counted down his best guess for how long he had until the bomb detonated. There was no way they'd make it to the plane before the timer ran out, probably about 30-60 seconds after, but maybe the bomb wasn't large enough to reach them here. But there was no way to know for sure. He pushed the Cat harder and harder.

Lewis knew he was out of time as he rounded the level two landing. There were only seconds left and no way he would make it up in time. As he counted in his head, he glanced down the stairs.

:04

:03

:02

:01

:00

_ _

The bomb in the level six storage room of Der Sturm detonated with a thunderous blast. The level was blasted apart, the submarine in the pen scuttled by the intense explosion as the blast continued upwards. It took not even seconds for the lower levels to be no more. Lieutenant Lewis saw the flash and heard the thunder for a fraction of a second before the blast took him, leaving nothing behind.

Zephyr felt the ground shake as the bomb went off. Looking in his mirrors, he saw a ball of fire reaching up into the sky where the base had been. And not only there, but the bomb also destroyed everything within a significant distance. Zephyr refused to let up though, as he felt the ground continue to shift below him. Surely with a blast that size, this whole ice island had been severely damaged. Sure enough, looking behind, he saw the peak the base was under coming down as massive fissures began cracking out from the area.

But as he continued to speed along, within seconds he saw the edge of the runway, shooting past the other Cat and almost hitting an overturned snowmobile as, the plane came into sight, a few dozen yards away. He slammed on the breaks as they all piled out, the fracturing ice audible over the wind. They sprinted for the plane as it began to taxi away. They watched as the rear door opened, the plane still moving, as figures beckoned them. He watched as Ghost and Apollo made it on board, closely followed by Frostbite, with Whiplash over his shoulder. As the plane began picking up speed, almost pulling away, Ward and Jones made it on.

The plane was about to pull out of reach when a large arm reached out and grabbed him, yanking him into the plane. Lieutenant Melville dropped him on the floor of the plane and hit the button to close the door as she shouted.

"We got them! Go!" Zephyr felt the plane throttle up beneath him as the pilot, presumably Sandstorm, went to take off. He glanced around at the survivors as he felt the plane lift off, just barely before the ice below cracked and fell apart. As they turned away, setting course towards home, Zephyr looked around at who had made it. He saw Frostbite tending to Whiplash as the red panda biologist set down his rifle to help take care of the wound. Ward was sitting with Jones as he rested from his wounds. He saw the other two surviving Navy officers, Melville and Westford off to the side of the cargo bay. The two research assistants were sitting together off to the side, both looking nearly catatonic, but physically alright. And then there were the puma, fox, and otter scientists crowded around one of the seats.

Zephyr counted his team. Sandstorm up in the cockpit, Frostbite off to the side, Ghost, Whiplash, and Apollo all wounded, but alive. He saw a form lying covered in the cargo bay, and knew that it could be none other than Mayhem. Six. Then, as the puma moved, he saw another figure sitting down, who all three had been crowded around. As he ran up, he saw a familiar grin. There, somehow, was Mother. Burned, arm clearly broken, and missing a leg from the knee down, but alive.

"Hey there Zeus. Glad you made it back in time for takeoff. This here is the last flight out of town."

He chuckled and shook his head, "I'll be damned. How did you survive? You were almost at the center of that explosion."

"Well I managed to duck into the room across the hall right before the blast. Still got hit hard though. Ended up in some sort of library on the level below, on fire of course. Stumbled bleeding through a door into some kind of storage room, full of those tanks and shit. Mostly shattered then, but I saw something in the back corner. Turns out, it was the hatch to an escape tunnel. That's how those German troops got in. Followed it out into the snow and started towards where the plane was. Before too long I came across a snowmobile with half a commando nearby and commandeered it. Made it here not too long ago."

"Well I'm damn glad you made it. Looks like seven of us got out. Joker, Warbird, T-Rex, Kingpin, and Mayhem all KIA."

She smiled slightly and put a paw on his shoulder, "We'll mourn them properly soon. But for now, let's all go home."

Zephyr nodded and smiled back as the last bits of island sunk into the sea below them, "Sounds good to me."