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Chapter Four - Deal with the Devil

Nate and August hugged each other tightly in celebration; the screen that had shown the empty vault with the bomb in it had stopped moving, which meant that the car had been successfully decoupled. Though they weren't certain of the creature's fate they knew it was not in the middle of a giant, fiery crater. "Alright, enough of that," August said as they uncoupled and looked at each other. "We have business to attend to, no doubt Amaro is going to try and regain control as soon as possible so we will have to try and reclaim as much of the power as possible before he tosses another protocol our way."

"Right, you go on ahead to the control room," Nate replied as they hugged once more. "I need to check something out first and then I'll meet you there." He saw the other feline give him a nod and ran out of the room, and as Nate turned the corner the smile fell from his face and he took his pistol out from his holster...

Major Amaro walked through the dark subterranean cave that had been formed as an expansion for the Bal'Kar project, a briefcase in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The second he had been informed that project Supernova was a failure he had left command with one of his lower officers and ran to his room. After he had packed what he could he ran into the uninhabited part of the facility where no one was allowed to go into until the specimen got to the base. Now that 'specimen' was well on its way and he made his way to the connected underground parking complex to make sure he wasn't around when that happened.

Finally after what had seemed like ages he had reached his destination, a blast door in a very narrow hallway that would have been used to try and keep the creature in containment should it try to escape. Unfortunately that meant that he was trapped as well, but luckily he had the passcode needed in open it. As he entered it in the nearby panel; however, it buzzed and flashed an angry red color and told him invalid. When he tried it a second time and failed he not only heard the same buzz but also the sound of machinery whirring up, his hairs standing on end as the air seemed to crackle around him.

"That would be the plasma flares priming," a voice caused the husky to turn around and drop his flashlight, but before he could even think of reaching for his gun he saw that the panther already had one leveled right at his chest. "Good thing I got here when I did, one more incorrect answer with that old code of yours and you would have been toast."

"Well well, if it isn't August's kitty bitch," Amaro replied as he straightened his uniform. "I'm rather surprised you two aren't off sucking each other's cocks." Nate tried to hold back his shock at the Major's accusations, but he didn't seem to do well enough as a chuckle escaped the canine's lips. "What, you think I didn't know about you two? Maybe instead of playing grab ass all day you should close your doors better."

Nate's ears flattened against his head as he continued to hold his gun steady, pulling the hammer back as Amaro started to open his briefcase. "Hands where I can see them!" Nate shouted. "You've got a lot to answer to, Amaro, starting with the sudden disappearing act."

"I think it's YOU, my boy, that has a lot to answer for," Amaro sneered as he slowly pulled out what looked like a manila folder that he held up in the air. "After I saw you two so chummy I remembered something rather interesting, that you were the one who was the volunteer for the Bal'Kar transformation. Now why would the lap cat of the Project Head be the one that would willingly give up his life? Surely there were plenty of other suitable candidates, which led me to believe that the reason you were going to give your life is that you didn't have much life left to live."

Nate swallowed hard as Amaro opened the folder and read from it, "Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer... dear oh dear, and it's already metastasized to several other organs including your brain. By the prognosis of the private doctor you went to you have, what, maybe three months left to live? Three months of rather excruciating pain, though all the painkillers and medicines I found in your locker probably dull it somewhat. Of course, if you happened to become a Bal'Kar, then poof! All your symptoms go away in exchange for becoming a monster... though I suppose that does beat death in some people's eyes."

"At least you know I have nothing left to lose," Nate retorted. "Speaking of such things, since we are doing our own version of show and tell, how about we go to my turn?"

Amaro huffed and began to shift his arms towards his gun, but was quickly stopped when Nate fired a round that whizzed by his ear before it ricocheted off the blast door and dug into the stone wall. "You see I'm rather curious, too, curious on how a thief that had smuggled himself aboard a military train not only knew our scanning procedures, but also was provided the algorithm that gave him a skeleton key to all our electronic locks and monitoring system. Now I bet you guess who is on the logs for the security detail preparation of the sample, and who the thief will point the finger at when he gets here, which is no doubt why you were preparing a hasty exit."

"You... you insubordinate little pest..." Amaro said with a twitching sneer. "You dare call me a traitor, a coward, when you two cooked up this whole thing just to save your life?! You two subverted a major military operation just to save your precious experiment! I could have killed two Bal'Kar with one bomb, and yet one flies free while the other continues to come here! You'd side with the enemy while I try to save the world like-"

"Like Sarkov?" Nate interrupted, which caused the husky to step back in shock. "Is that where you and our sample was going to go once the thief had made off with it? Was that the plan, leave our program in shambles while a disgraced, mad scientist gets his hands on yet something else he can use to try and destroy everything? He's a lunatic, Amaro! All he wants-"

Suddenly Amaro threw his briefcase straight at the feline, who was forced to recoil before the seasoned military anthro charged. The pistol fired off wildly as Nate was brought to the ground and the gun fell out of his hand and skittered a few feet back towards the entrance of the burn tunnel. Once he had the panther on his back Amaro threw several punches at Nate's head, only to receive one of his own as the two continued to scuffle. Finally Nate managed to throw off the larger male, though blood trickled from his mouth and nose as well as several open wounds.

Despite the throbbing in his head and the blurred vision Nate saw the gun behind him and made a dive for it, only to feel strong arms wrap around his legs and pull him to the ground. He looked back to see Amaro try and climb up his body towards the gun himself, though he quickly responded with a well-placed heel to the throat. When the panther felt the weight of the other male off of him Nate once more scrambled for the gun, only to feel a searing pain in his thigh that he looked back to see was a knife embedded in his thigh. Amaro smirked at him and tried to leap over his body for the gun but Nate quickly pulled out the knife, and with an agonizing jolt of pain he swung the blade down and caught Amaro in the shoulder with it.

Nate thought that he had inflicted a serious wound on the Major but the husky just looked at the knife before he brought his hands down around his neck and started to squeeze. The panther tried to push back but the other male was far stronger than him. He had been surprised that his weakened body had lasted as long as it had, but his struggles grew less as more and more of his vision began to fade to black. As the pressure increased on his windpipe he let out one last gasp and couldn't breathe in any more, his hands falling to his sides...

A sudden noise rang in Nate's ears as Amaro suddenly let go of his throat and recoiled backwards, holding a hand over a hole in his military uniform that a deep crimson color began to radiate out of. The panther took a deep, gasping breath as precious oxygen filled his lungs once more, his throat still burning as he looked up to see August pointing his gun. "Your time is up, Amaro!" August shouted with a snarl as he helped Nate up while still aiming at the retreating husky. "The MP's are already on your way to bring you to the brig, and then once the specimen is contained you will be court martialed for treason!"

The two felines watched as Amaro began to laugh, the two staring at him in confusion as he looked at the wounds he sustained before he stared at them with cold eyes. "You're never going to stop them," he said with a wheeze, one hand on his chest. "They're going to kill us all, and you two are going to hand them the keys to the kingdom. It's not a world that I accept..."

Nate was just about to shout at him to get on his knees when his eyes widened, seeing that he had managed to scoot his way to brace himself onto the control panel for the lock. The husky mashed the keys down and they could all hear the angry buzz of the door mechanism as the walls started to glow. The two felines turned and ran as they could hear Amaro laughing until the rocks around him melted and plasma rained down on his body. A few seconds later that same fireball streaked towards them, but before it could reach them they ducked into one of the shelters and the blast door slammed shut behind them. They both watched as the metal began to glow, turning red hot that caused them both to start to sweat.

After a few minutes though the door stopped glowing and August pressed the emergency release lever. The door feel away with a loud crash, hitting the slag that covered the bottom of the hallway as they looked around. Everything in the burn tunnel had been destroyed, the blast door at the end of the hallway had turned to a solid wall of immovable steel and the rock that had been built into tunnel had all melted away. Nate and August looked at where Amaro had stood only moments before, then slowly walked out of the tunnel back towards the main base.

Back in the control room August was greeted with the sounds of clapping as the researchers stood up for him. "Sir, we're glad you made it," the female researcher said happily. "We have regained control of the train and the camera feed and the specimen has been waiting for you. It's only an hour away now, without the rest of the cars it's making very good time."

August just nodded and sat down in his chair, looking once more at Nate before he turned his full attention back towards the screen itself. There stood the draconic sabre-wolf, though everyone in the room knew better, as he stared at the camera with his arms crossed. "Serathin, I'm glad to see you're alright," the Siberian tiger said.

"And you, August." Serathin replied simply.

"We have much to discuss." August said as he brought up a laptop. "With your agreement to talk to us I believe we are taking a great step towards the betterment of relationships between our kind and the Bal'Kar. With your help, perhaps we can end these hostilities once and for all."

"There is no relationship between your kind and the Bal'Kar."

The words hit August like a brick to the stomach and he could hear several audible gasps in the room as well. He wanted to say anything, to ask what the hybrid meant, but the questions stopped before they could reach his mouth. Panic began to set in, had Sarkov and Amaro been right all along? Had he just doomed the entire base to either evacuate or fight a fully-formed Bal'Kar with very little in the way of weapons to combat the threat?

"I see you weren't prepared for such an answer, so let me explain before you decide to do something... rash," Serathin continued on. "The only reason I'm continuing towards you, besides my own personal curiosity, is the fact that you have information that will greatly expedite the elimination of Dr. Sarkov. That is something in the best of both our interests since his continued meddling will only result in more death and destruction. By no means does this make us allies, the Bal'Kar have no need for such things as we are biological perfection."

The way the saber-wolf spoke sent a shiver down the Siberian tiger's spine. It was like it was him, and yet there was also something... more beyond his voice. Considering this was the longest that anyone had talked to a Bal'Kar sans torture it was new territory, though the further he ventured into it the less he liked to hear. "So, what, you'll use us and then destroy us?" August asked.

"So narrow minded... we don't need to destroy you or convert you all just to live, it's far deeper than that," Serathin tried to explain. "Consider this your first lesson on the Bal'Kar; whenever someone joins us we gain the lust that person brings to the hive, and in turn that only drives us to spread more. The lust we share is something that is so far beyond your understanding that if you were to get just a taste you would understand our motivations. To us there is no you and us, there is only Bal'Kar and those who are not yet Bal'Kar."

"Dear god, it's true..." one of the researchers said out loud before Nate could hush them. "They're monsters..."

"An unfortunate if not apt name." Serathin replied, which prompted everyone to look at the outspoken scientist who shrank back before everyone went back to the screen. "I still wish to make a trade, though, in exchange for your help in eliminating Sarkov I will stay there and allow you to do all the non-torture research you want to do on us. But! You will not contain me and allow me and other Bal'Kar to come and go as we please. Or I can leave this train right now and join up with my brethren, since you saved my life I will leave the choice to you."

August swallowed hard as he considered his answer, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Nate trembling. Part of it was from his wounds, which had been getting treatment since they walked into the control room, but the rest was no doubt from facing his only alternative to death. "You make a lot of demands when we're helping you guys out," he pointed out. "What assurances do we have against our generosity?"

"Well, I won't actively seek to convert you," Serathin stated. "I will keep my spores and extract to myself, as well as my controllers, so that you can continue to cling to those inferior forms. I will also not put up a fuss with whatever you want to do to study me, provided it's not any of dear Sarkov's methods. However... if any of your kind should willingly want to become a Bal'Kar they will be embraced into our fold without resistance, and our eggs are to not be touched under any circumstance."

"I still don't know," August wavered. "How can we trust you?"

"I have no need to lie," Serathin replied with a slight hiss. "So what's it going to be, are you going to open this train car and find a Bal'Kar, or find it empty?"

************************************************

A little under an hour later the train engine pulled into the train station that was built into the side of the Starpoint base, hauling only two cars behind it as it came to a complete stop. Most of the military personnel and researchers had come up to the surface in order to see its arrival, and in the front of it was Dr. Winters. Beside him Nate stood, both of them exchanging nervous smiles as the door to the car opened and Serathin stepped out. The car had been leaning as the creature stood on it and as soon as he jumped off the whole mass of steel rocked back and forth.

"Serathin, welcome to Starpoint," August said as he started to reach out to shake Serathin's hand, only to quickly retract it which caused the hybrid to smirk. "On behalf of everyone involved I would like to thank you for coming."

"Quite the welcoming committee, August," Serathin replied. "And on behalf of the Bal'Kar, thanks for not greeting me with plasma weapons and the threat of incineration."

As Serathin passed by Nate the panther looked straight into those glowing green eyes and for a second they locked eyes. At first it was nothing, but a smile crept across that saber-toothed face which caused Nate quickly looked away towards the base proper. Even though the Bal'Kar was quickly distracted by the Siberian tiger that had started to show him to his quarters Nate found himself frozen, as though the creature knew exactly what he wanted...

...and that soon he wouldn't be the only Bal'Kar that lived on this base.